The Sound of Civilization
Chapter 1: Tetrodotoxin
"Oi," I grunted, opening the door to my small, barren apartment. I let my satchel hit the ground with a quiet thud. It was another lonely evening with nothing to do but lay around. Not to mention it was the middle of summer, when all of the heat waves seemed to hit at once.
My stomach grumbled at me, letting me know that it's time to feed my raggedy body. But with what? I was pretty much dead broke, not a penny to my name. I don't even have so much as bread crumbs to cram into my esophagus. I slammed my head against the wall, my hair sticking to the back of my neck from all the sweat. Damn. Why did it have to be so hot? BAM! BAM! I heard my neighbor thrashing against the wall with his fist.
"Keep it down over there! My family and I are trying to have a decent meal here!" My neighbor hollered angrily through the thin walls.
"Yeah? Well good for you! Stop rubbing it in, will ya?" I snarled back, slamming my fist against the wall for emphasis, then I turned my weary body and let my back slump against the barrier that divided my insolent neighbor and I.
I was exhausted, but it was to hot to sleep. I couldn't afford air conditioning, so I was forced to endure this excruciating heat.
Why is this happening to you?
That voice, it's back again. It always sounded off in my head at random times. I decided to ignore it, and got up, dragging my limp body to the door. I felt like a 10 ton bag of bricks. As I walked out the door and down the stairs of the building, something in the back of my mind kept on badgering me.
Are you choosing to ignore your fate?
I kept on pushing that voice aside, it's of no importance anyway. My hands thrusted the door of the building open, revealing the scorching sun of the outdoors. The sweltering heat lashed out against my face.
"This torridness is to much to handle," I said aloud to myself while letting out a brief cough, "I'm practically choking on this humidity!" I pounded my fist against the brick of the apartment's structure in defeat. Maybe I should just go back inside?
"Oi! Oi! Watch our Barynya!" I heard a young girl's voice suddenly call out, then the sound of stomping and more Russian words arose from her direction.
"Barynya! Barynya! Sudarynya-barynya!" A deep manly voice powerfully sang out.
I turned my blonde mop-head to the direction of all the commotion, and to my surprise, my eyes suddenly beheld the sight of a fair, youthful, green-haired girl with an older tall, muscular purple-haired fellow. What astonished me the most, was not that they were singing, and not their language nor their charisma, but they're ability to dance so tremendously in such hellish temperatures!
The girl, who wore 3D glasses, with her short, grassy hair and a ribbon to tie it up one side, was clapping and stomping about. The man, with his long, violet hair that was pulled back into a ribbon also, was doing a series of squats that had to take some serious thigh muscles. My guess was that they were Russian, for they wore ushankas atop their heads. Another peculiar detail about the pair is that they seemed to be each be wearing mufflers that matched their hair colors.
"Slushayte nashu muzyku! Odin, dva, tri!" The couplet shouted joyously in unison. Nobody but myself seemed to give them any attention. I didn't even know why I was, but something just entranced me about those two...
I watched their dancing and singing until the act until the very end, completely engrossed the whole entire time.
"Spasibo! Spasibo vam vsem!" The man yelled out heartily while taking the girl's hand and bowing down to the passer-bys and onlookers. Quickly, I wiped my brow of any lingering sweat and made my way to the pair. I tried to run, but the was still to intense, I could only muster up the strength to speed-walk to them.
As I was walking to them, the green-haired girl caught my eye and waved to me. I wanted to wave back, but I was afraid that if I were to lift my arm, I would reveal sweat stains from my armpits. Instead, I plastered an aching smile across my face. She smiled back instantly and ran up to me, saving me the rest of the trip.
"Privet!" She said while grabbing my arm, dragging me with her to the purple-haired man. Her grip was firm yet gentle, and her were icy cold to my astonishment.
"Gakupo! This is the boy who was watching us the whole time!" She said cheerfully, tightening her grip. The purple-haired fellow turned to face us, a huge grin was across his face. He reached his manly hand over and clapped me on the shoulder. My whole frame shook from his strength.
"Speak your name good man!" His voice boomed out, making me jump.
"L-Len. Len Kagamine," I answered. A drop of sweat fell off of my brow.
"Len?"
"Yes sir."
He placed his arm around both of my shoulders, pulling me into an awkward hug of sorts. His body seemed to have the same freezing quality as the girl's hands.
"Gakupo! That's my name!" He exclaimed loudly, "Grass-Hair over there is named Megpoid!" He pointed a slender finger at the girl in the 3D glasses.
"Oi!" She grunted, hitting Gakupo on the back of the his head, "Call me Gumi!"
Gakupo released his grip on me, and turned to rub his head, but Gumi was still holding on tightly.
"So, enjoy our dance did ya?" Gumi asked energetically, thrusting her face into mine. I could feel her warm breath upon my lips. Her emerald eyes stared into mine. Another bead of sweat dropped off of my face before I could answer her.
"Y-Yes," I murmured, "Now get out of my face! It's already hot enough without you breathing on me!" I pushed her away, and she just giggled at my harshness. What's up with her? She's so weird. I wish I would've just stayed inside.
"Well!" Gakupo sung out while slinging a cloth bag over his shoulder, "If you liked it that much, care to join us for our next performance?" He and Gumi abruptly broke out into laughter, from what? I have no clue.
It begins here.
That same voice echoed inside of me again.
"It's not hard at all to lean Barynya! We can teach you, da?" Gumi said, still catching her breath from laughter.
"I could care less. You guys are just street perfo-" Before I could even finish my protest, the Russian pair were dragging me off of my feet, away from normality.
TRANSLATION NOTES:
Barynya- A type of traditional Russian dance, including fancy stomping and squatting.
Barynya! Barynya! Sudarynya-barynya!- Usually repeated during the Barynya dance.
Ushanka- Russian fur hat.
Slushayte nashu muzyku!- Russian for "Listen to our music!"
Odin, dva, tri!- One, two, three in Russian.
Spasibo! Spasibo vam vsem!- Thank you, Thank you all; in Russian.
Privet!- Hello; in Russian.