The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku
Chapter 1: Before Everything Ends
"Onee-chan, you're sop off key, have you even practiced the new number at all?" Complaining as she collapsed onto her own bed of pale yellow sheets with black outlines of flowers and lace in an elaborate pattern, Rin sighed in exasperation as he song sheets scattered the spread. Rin blew a clump of pinned bangs out of her line of sight as her peripheral picked up on Len's form as he settled beside her.
"It was only uploaded yesterday, what's the big rush? We have plenty of time to master it before release." Exhaustion was evitable in his agitated tone as he spread out on the bed beside her, letting his legs dangle off the edge. "It's because Miku passed us on the charts again isn't it?" He yawned indifferently. "It's only to be expected, she's the 'World's No. 1 Virtual Diva' nothing gonna change that."
With a huff, Rin rolled over to turn her back to him, pulling a stray pillow into her grasp, clutching it in an effort of self-comfort.
"The sooner you come to terms with it, Rin, the easier it will be." Len sat up and moved to put her head in his lap, petting her hair soothingly, his expression softening with concern for his sister. "Why do you hate her so much anyway?"
"She's just so perfect, all of the time! Always number one, center stage, the main event, all the best songs, figure head of VOCALOID… The pride and joy of the master and producers! It makes me sick!" Gagging for effect she looked up at him and continued to rant. "If I hear one more this about the 'World's No. 1 Virtual Diva', I may vomit. She always gets the most stage time during concerts too, her and Luka… We only got two songs last time!"
"She's so fake with that grin and the goody-goody act... Oh, and if they pair you with her again for another song, I swear…" Sitting up Rin became even more furious shaking her head in annoyance. "AGH! The freaking biggest concert is even called MikuFest!"
"You realize those song sets mean nothing, right?" Len responded defensively, peaking Rin's interest, prompting her to retort back. "Says the one who gets upset when I do a song with or so much as flirt with Kaito."
"But, that's-"
"No, it's not. Does Spice mean nothing to you, 'Mr. Player-Who-Really-Just-Wants-His-Sister'?" Turning to crawl into his lap, laying her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his frame, she looked up at him with a pout.
"Gomenasai, Onii-chan." Len replied half sarcasm, half sincerely as he pulled her close, kissing her forehead before continuing to pet her hair as she nuzzled his neck. "But there's nothing to be done, we can't compete with that."
"I guess you're right…" Rin answered quietly, muffled by his embrace.
From their quarters of the ward, the Kagamine twins emerged to enter the common room to find Kaito, Meito and Mikuo sitting about casually. The room was a pristine white accented with bits of teal, blue, red, yellow, purple, pink and gray in miniscule detail such as the yellow polka dotted curtains or the red lamp base. The microfoam sofas were cubes scattered in multicolored pillows.
"What's up, Kagamines?" Meito greeted them from his lounging position over an otherwise empty loveseat. A bottle of sake dangled between two fingers from the edge of the sofa.
"Not much." Len answered coolly as he sat into a recliner folding his arms behind his head as Rin joined him to lean against the armrest. Finishing for him she questioned. "You?"
"Not much." The reply came in union with scattered contented sighs; it truly was a lazy Sunday. From there, conversation floated lazily between them all. Hardly interested, Rin only half listened until a statement came from Meiko sparked her interest, as she entered the conversation.
"Did you here?" Meiko asked no one in particular as she meandered to stand behind Kaito's seat, popping the cork of her bottle, pausing to watch it fall into Kaito's tub of ice cream as she leaned over the top of his chair. "Miku's the new face of Toyota. They've taken her on as their spokesperson."
Wrapping her arms around her latest boyfriend's neck and leaning forward to kiss behind his ear before standing up to take a swig and notice a jealous Meito grimace. An oblivious Kaito smiled up at her, running cold fingers up her bare arms in endearment. She shuddered, Meito stirred in annoyance.
"Where is he anyway?" Mikuo questioned curiously as he kicked his feet up on the ivory wooded coffee table. "I haven't seen her since breakfast…"
"Luka mentioned her going out to meet with the new sponsors, more than likely meaning Toyota." Kaito piped up for a moment before redirecting his gaze and regards to Meiko.
"That means more funding. How great is that?" Mikuo added with an enthusiastic smile the same way Miku always seemed to making Rin scowl. It was only moments like these and when he'd give that clueless expression that she was reminded that he really was nothing but a gender-bended version of her high-diva-ness. Rin really hated that word. Diva. Blech.
As they exited the Studio, Rin pulled her earpieces down to let them hang around her neck as they made their way back to the ward, tired from the vigorous dance routine in preparation of their latest piece. Running a hand through his hair, Len made a small retort to himself and shook his head but Rin was hardly interested, her mind set somewhere else.
Something was off. She wasn't quite sure what but she could sense it… A certain heaviness as she entered the ward.
"Miku isn't back yet." Luka observed in the distracted, sort of far off way she always seemed to, lapping at a pink Popsicle as Kaito worked away at yet another tub of pistachio. Mikuo paced growing more and more bothered by how late she was.
"I could-" Rin had started agitatedly but was cut off by Len. "That's peculiar; it's getting late too, isn't it?"
"Do conferences like that normally last this late?" Mikuo asked curiously.
Pausing before adding with certain disbelief, Luka's grey eyes became clouded. "No. No, they do not."
The rest of the day passed by quietly, no word of Miku, absolutely nothing. And as refreshing as it was for her not to be the hot topic, Rin like the others was actually growing nervous. After more idle chat, Len and Rin found themselves retiring to their quarters earlier than usual, exhausted from their practice.
As Len opened the door, in the dark of the cluttered room, in the luminescence of his laptop, a pop up was visible on the bright screen. Furrowing his brow at this Len couldn't recall leaving his computer on, let alone running updates. Regardless of the eeriness, Rin flicked on light and followed him in.
"A new update this late…?" They both questioned in union, piling onto Len's bed curiously as he took the sunshine yellow laptop into his lap, shifting his mouse to confirm the action letting the new audio file download onto his drive. Loading it up, the audio player opened and faintly it began.
White noise screeched from Len's laptop making the two wince at the sound but before he could make to bring up the volume control, the distorted, scratchy, almost unrecognizable iconic sound filtered through with desperation.
"It-It-It-t-t-t-t waaas a…" It was inaudible due to the noise except for the last two hurried sentences. "They have it! …Before it's too late!" And it was cut off. Nothing more, nothing less.
Moments of an unsure silence dragged by before Len stirred only to click replay, the audio only feeding with even worse quality, then finally, not at all. The feed had been corrupted as well as the file and his hard drive demanded it be deleted. Without being able to stop it, it was as soon gone as it was there. As if it had never existed.