A/N: Alright, this is a new story that is going to be co-written by vocal-maiden. We hope to have alternating chapters, so I wrote this chapter, enjoy.

Rin POV:

"Are you sure that you have to leave Miku?" I asked her for the last time and hoped that for once her answer would be no, but instead she gave the same answer of yes by the nod of her head.

I didn't understand why this had to happen... That my best friend in the entire world was out of the blue transferring to some stuck-up fancy prep school, and practically abandoning me all here by myself at our plain old public school. Sure, I knew that she was like an out of control genius, since her grades were definitely the highest in the class, but I never expected that she would actually leave.

"I'm sorry Rin, but my mom thinks that I would get a better education at Crypton Academy..." She responded with a pitiful look on her face. Clearly, she was about as excited about this new school as I was, but that factor wouldn't change the fact the the two of us might never see each other again.

We shared a small embrace with each other, and I started to feel tears wield up in my eyes, while Miku's were already running down her cheeks. Yet, we both still held a smile as we looked at each other. I watched her get into her father's black car and she gave me one final wave before she would disappear out of my life, but I could barely see the car drive off as the tears finally blurred my vision so badly that I wasn't able to see a thing.

Wiping them away with my sleeve, I felt an all too familiar hand ruffle up my hair playfully, and I didn't even need to look up to tell who it was.

"I'm guessing today was Miku's last day, huh?" My Uncle Gakupo asked me, and all I was able to do was nod my head as a response. In return, he chuckled just a bit. Some kids might think that this would be an offense, your very best friend leaving forever and your uncle was just laughing at your misfortune, but I knew better than that. I had become well aware already that my uncle was one of the happiest people I've ever known. And when he chuckles, he wants to spread his happiness to others... or something cheesy like that.

I removed my sleeve from my eyes, which were now puffy and red, while he held out to me a handkerchief, which I gladly accepted, and blew my nose in it to finally stop my weeping feast. I felt like I could cry a whole lot more, but at the moment, my eyes were completely dried out. Uncle Gakupo put his hand on my back as he started to walk me back home at a unusually slow pace, but I wasn't really in a walking mood anyway.

The fact that Miku was really gone tore my heart to pieces, and was the only thing that clouded my mind most of the walk. The two of us had shared secrets that neither one of us would never tell, worked together on homework, played video games like Final Fantasy, even though the two of us were horrible at it, and most importantly, classified what kind of music was cool, and what kind was just plain idiotic.

One thing I would never forget about Miku, was her voice. She seemed to have some sort of natural talent for singing, and was really great at it. Even though she would be to humble to admit it, she sang just as good as any professional pop star, and possibly even better. Now, I wouldn't be able to hear her sing again, and that really brought me down in the dumps.

"Rin..." I heard my uncle say, causing me to lift my head up from the ground, only to see that we were already home. I hadn't even noticed that we had walked the entire way, but just let that little fact slide, and automatically went straight to my bedroom. I lifted the mattress off of my bed and pulled out the book that I kept under there.

It was a simple scrapbook, decorated with a million tiny hearts that Miku and I had glued on together, and almost every single page was filled with pictures of the two of us together. Feeling like it was my last connection to Miku, I hugged the book tight against my chest, and I heard the door to my room open, and I turned around to see my uncle, who was a little bit less cheery than usual, but still had a smile plastered on his face.

"Is eggplant stew okay for dinner?" He asked me, and I nodded yes very quickly, and he left my room without another word. He knew by now that talking to me about it would just make me feel worse, so he didn't, since he already understood what I was going through I guess. He had stopped talking to my Dad a long time ago, I was still very young at the time, so I didn't remember much. I think it had something to do with "A Samurai's Honor" or something like that, since my uncle and Dad both came from a very long line of samurais that fought back in ancient times.

My uncle had embraced it and became a swordsman, but my father seemed ashamed of it, so Uncle Gakupo didn't have much respect for him. It was around that time that Mom died, and Dad decided to ship my out here with my uncle, even if the two of them never really spoke to one another. Frankly, I like living here, this was where I met Miku, and I'll never forget something like that.

About half an hour later, the two of us were quietly eating our eggplant stew, with eggplants on the side, while I sipped on some orange juice that Uncle Gakupo had recently bought at the market for me. His drink was purple, and I was secretly hoping that it was grape juice, and not some strange eggplant flavored vegetable juice.

"Uncle Gakupo?" I asked him, and he lifted his head from his meal to look at me. "Do we have any Mandarin oranges?"

"You've barely touched your food, Rin." He stated, somewhat avoiding my question. "Are you sure that you don't want to have any more eggplant? They are quite nutritious, and they are one of the more tasteful vegetables, wouldn't you agree?" He asked me, and I gave a small sigh. I never knew why he was so obsessed with eggplants, and ever since I've lived with him, I can believe that I've had eggplant served in every shape and form possible into a meal. And even though they are sweeter than other vegetables, they did get old eventually.

"Eggplant is really tasty, but I'm really not that hungry, so can I have an orange? I asked sweetly, and he just sadly shook his head no.

"You ate the rest of them yesterday, remember? And I haven't had a chance to buy any more." And all of a sudden, I remembered that I had eaten a surplus amount of oranges yesterday, which was when Miku had called me about her news. While most girls would probably drown themselves with ice cream, I stayed more on the healthy side with an surplus amount of oranges.

"Still, may I please be excused from the table?" I asked him kindly as I watched him finish the remains of his meal before nodding his head in approval. My plans for the rest of the night were to simply crawl into my bed and mope about how much I would miss Miku, and how I would never find another friend who would be just as wonderful as she was to me. Now that she was going to that fancy prep school on a scholarship or something like that, since I heard that Crypton Academy was really a school for stuffy rich people's children. And I knew Miku would never turn into someone like that. She was way to kind to be brainwashed by the upper class.

"Oh wait, Rin!" I heard Uncle yell from the kitchen, and within seconds in was in front of me with what looked like some sort of slip of paper in his hands. "I forgot to give this to you, it came in the mail today." He said, and I took it from him while saying arigato, and marched the rest of the way into my room.

I plopped down on my bed with the letter still in my hand, and started to observe it. There was no return address or stamp on it, which to me seemed kind of peculiar, but instead was a fancy looking symbol on the front, one which I did not recognize in the slightest. With the sharper part of one of my fingernails, I opened the envelope to reveal a fancier (if that's even a proper word) piece of parchment. It was still folded into three parts, but I could tell that it was high quality paper.

It was the very thick kind that looked like a pure vanilla shade, not white, but vanilla. And as I unfolded it, I found
myself looking at some cursive penmanship that was clearly handwritten by someone, and on the top left of the letter was the exact same design as on the envelope, so I decided to skim the letter seeing as there was really no better use for my time at the moment, and upon finishing, it felt as if my eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

"UNCLE GAKUPO!" I screamed from my room in pure shock, and in about 5 seconds flat, he came rushing in with his sword, and his warrior face on instead of a grin, probably thinking that I had been attacked or something.

"What is it Rin? Are you okay?" He asked, and after a couple of seconds, lowered his sword, since he didn't see any potential harm.

"I-I-I got invited to Crypton Academy, that's where Miku is going!" I squealed with a smile, and he finally cracked one of his own, which soon turned into a full-hearted laugh, he left the room momentarily and returned without his weapon this time, and I handed him the letter, which his eyes quickly slid across until I saw them reach the bottom.

"It says here that you sure are eligible to attend, but you just have to take a placement test to be placed in a class."

A placement test, huh? I thought to myself, Miku is incredibly smart, so I'll have to try my hardest if I want to be put in her class!

"I think that you'll be able to handle it just fine there, way to go, Rin!" He told me enthusiastically before rubbing my head for the second time that day, except this time around, I giggled when he did it.

Later that night, Uncle Gakupo helped me look up all sorts of information on Crypton Academy, and even though we looked at the amazing campus and all of the learning opportunities such as advanced English and French studies, I really couldn't care less about all of that. It was no secret that this school would be my ticket to winning back my best friend, even though we had just said goodbye today, and if everything worked out I would be able to see her again very soon, it had already felt like we had been separated permanently.

But I knew that nothing would stop in my way to finding my best friend, because we once promised to stick by each other's side forever, and that's exactly what I planned to do, to do for Miku.

Look out Crypton Academy, here I come.