Remember, you only exist to keep order and peace. You don't exist for any other reason. You do not feel, you do not love, you do not cry.
We control your very existence.
MONDAY. 0800 HOURS.
Sunlight poured through the curtains as they were thrown aside by wrinkled hands, a single water drop splashing against my warm cheek as my eyes fluttered open. It was Monday, sometime during fall in the city of Tokyo, Japan. Summer break for the students attending the nearby Academy had recently ended, and today was the beginning of a new term. Undoubtedly, hundreds of junior high students were loathing the return of school, and already beginning to miss the freedom of the summer.
I lay in bed rigidly, hands by my side as my dull, hetero-chromatic eyes stared up at the man in front of me. Kenmochi Hideki, better known as my Master, stood in front of me, his orange hair falling atop of his head.
"It's time for you to rise and shine, Vocaloid." He said, his damp hair clinging to his face. He'd obviously had a shower moments earlier, which also explained why his hands were slightly shriveled. His voice held no hostility - if anything, he had a kind tone.
He left my room as I shifted my legs from under the covers, my posture completely stiff. I remembered the many lessons I'd had over the months on how to act and seem human, and stiffness in posture was a 'no no'. However, I was in the company of Kenmochi Hideki, a man who had dealt with Vocaloids before.
In case you are unaware of the term 'Vocaloid', it is simply used to represent a robot that can speak and learn. Many different Vocaloids have been created and introduced to humans as a way to keep peace or start revolutions. One of the most famous Vocaloids is a public Vocaloid by the name of SF-A2 miki, who was created to travel around the world talking to ill children and keeping them happy. There are public and private Vocaloids - private vocaloids are those who's identity as a Vocaloid is kept secret, and a public Vocaloid is one that is freely announced to the world as a robotic protector of humanity.
Many are against the concept of Vocaloids - beings used to replace humans at their jobs, whereas many support them, as Vocaloids are virtually immortal and there is no risk if they die, as they can simply be remade with the exact same programming.
I got up and walked to the closet at the end of the room, opening it and taking out the neatly ironed sailor-styled uniform, shaking it down and removing the night shirt I wore, revealing the seemingly human skin with a few plugs on my back, used for charging my system and giving me programming upgrades. With upgrades, I can learn how to speak German or pilot a helicopter within a night.
Buttoning up my shirt and pulling the sailor-like hem over my shirt and tying it up took only five minutes, and I then proceeded to donning the three-quarter navy pants that came with the uniform, pulling the jacket over my shoulders, flattening it against my chest and popping the buttons into place.
I left my room and headed to the bathroom, taking a comb and straightening my shirt, brushing my teeth and applying a slight amount of lipstick to make my lips red. Due to being robots, Vocaloids' lips are not naturally red, so they must apply slight amounts of make-up to look more natural.
I puffed my cheeks with darker foundation, before applying some to my neck, shoulders and the visible parts of my legs and arms, so I was skin-coloured instead of paper white. With this done, I headed downstairs to the kitchen of the house I was staying in, Hideki eating cereal at the table, reading something from the newspaper.
"Good morning, sir," I said, as he handed me the newspaper, my eyes flicking across it, information soaking up into my brain so fast, I couldn't even compute. I handed the newspaper back and picked up the cereal box, studying it like I had the paper.
"Morning," He replied, "You should drop the sir. If I have to appear as your father, it will appear slightly odd."
"Yes, papa," I said, my voice drained of emotion. I placed down the cereal and picked up my school bag from the front door, checking through it for books and pencils.
"It's all there, I packed it last night. Remember to eat your lunch in front of the other students, okay?" Hideki reminded me and I nodded, pulling my bag over my shoulder.
Hideki waved goodbye, a piece of toast hanging from his mouth as I walked off down the pathway, letting my shoulders slouch slightly, approaching the bus stop. Several other kids were waiting there, some with smokes in their mouths, others wearing low-cut versions of the school uniform. It was my duty to stop this sort of behaviour, I was well aware, but I had no authority over them yet.
That authority would be given to me in due time. Until then, I had to, in a sort, spy on my classmates and determine which of them were trouble makers.
Learn as much as you can about humans. Imitate them. Fool them into thinking you're one of them. Protect them.
I clambered on the small, sweaty bus, chatter arising from friend groups, gossip passing through my ears.
"Is that vampire kid new?" One of the girls whispered to her companion.
"I haven't seen them before... Are they a cross-dresser? Looks really feminine, but they're wearing the male uniform. Maybe he's a shota?"
The other replied with a giggle, "Like Mr. Class President of A3?"
Ignoring them, I seated myself in a free spot behind the girls, next to a sniffling, ill, honey-haired boy, his eyes blood-shot as he reached a shaking hand up to wipe his nose, sniffing again, the noises making my stomach churn.
The bus trip passed in silent chaos, kids yelling and throwing things at the back, lunging at each other in the midst of their arguments. People laughed and giggled away, teal-haired twins singing obnoxiously loud to some popular J-Pop song. I stayed quiet and invisible, just taking in my surroundings until the bus pulled up at the curb, in which everyone at the back simultaneously shoved the nerds at the front aside, jumping off the bus.
The honey-haired boy waited until everyone was gone before even reaching for his bag, letting me out of the bus first, saying something to the bus driver before stepping off onto the foot path in front of the school. Crypton High.
It was a well-known school in the area, with an all-around good status. It was nothing compared to Yamaha Academy up the road, however, and was often over-shadowed by the neighbouring academy's achievements in sport, academics and, well, really, everything.
Crypton was larger, with a student body of over a thousand, meaning it was often difficult to bump into people twice. The school had a way of organising people into classes that made things a lot more simple: transfer students from other countries and regions of Japan shared a class, the most gifted in the school shared the advanced course, and the trouble-makers were often put on the 'watch list', which was basically a class for those dumb, reckless and smelly.
Because my job was simply to find out who was a trouble-maker, I didn't need to be transferred to the watch list class. According to my schedule, which at the present time, was firmly gripped in my hand, I was in Class A3. Shrugging my bag further over my shoulder, I began my way across campus within the swarms of students towards my designated classroom.
[...]
"Good morning everyone," Came the melodious chime from the young blonde as she strolled into the room, setting her books gently down on her desk at the front of the class. She was in her young twenties, and she had a very pretty face, blonde curls framing it perfectly, her blue eyes twinkling with enthusiasm.
"Good morning, Ann-sensei," Half the class droaned, the rest too busy flicking erasers and rulers, or staring out the window. Class A3 was relatively large, with windows lining the left wall, the right wall covered in diagrams and pictures, a door leading out into the halls. The white board hang behind the teacher's desk, scribbles of notes graffitied over it. The desks were singular, in lines of three, going six rows back.
Besides myself, this meant seventeen students attended this class. Seventeen people I had to keep an eye on.
"Today we have a new student. He transferred from Yamaha Academy down the road," Ann-sensei explained, a smile on her face, "Utatane Piko-san, can you please come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself?"
I nodded, getting up from my seat and moving to the front of the class, my eyes scanning the classroom in front of me. The teal-haired girl from the bus was there, but her twin was nowhere to be seen. It seemed the sniffling honey-haired boy sat diagonal to me in the third row, five seats back. Curiously, the seat next to me didn't seem to be occupied, despite the clutter in the pencil holder sitting upon it.
"My name is Piko Utatane," I explained to the class, "As Ann-sensei said, I transferred from Yamaha Academy, and am pleased to be attending Crypton. I transferred for personal reasons that I would prefer to be left unsaid. I may look feminine, but I'm a male, so please do not call me 'miss' or add the honorific of '-chan' to my name. I'm looking forward to my years at Crypton."
Nobody said anything, and half the class didn't even give eye contact. The only ones that seemed remotely curious were the teal-haired girl, honey-haired boy and a green-haired girl at the back of the room.
"Thank you, Piko-san, please take your seat." Ann-sensei smiled. I nodded and sat back down in my chair, as Ann-sensei began taking attendance. She scrolled through the names quickly, people's identities flying past.
"Hatsune Miku-san?" She called, and the teal-haired girl gave a chirpy 'here'.
"Hibiki Lui-san?" The honey-haired boy gave a sort of sniffle and a nod in reply.
A few more names were called before silence fell, causing me to frown and look up.
"Kagamine Len-san?" Ann-sensei repeated, met with an equal dull silence, a few people looking up to check, "Has anyone seen Kagamine-san today?"
"I saw him this morning, sensei!" Hatsune-san said obnoxiously loud, her voice almost breaking my ears, "He was on my bus!"
"I wonder where he could've gotten to-" Ann-sensei began, cut off by the loud slam of the door as it was almost ripped off its hinges, a blue-eyed blond bursting into this room, his shoulders slumping as he panted heavily.
"Sorry I'm late! Kagamine Len is present!" He said, heaving his bag over his shoulder and moving to the seat next to me, rocking into the chair and dumping his navy blue bag, covered in kitten key-chains, beside his table, hands falling against the table.
As he reached for a pen with an anime cat girl bobble head on top of it and began tapping his cheek, I frowned.
I mean; who does this guy think he is?
A/N: HELLOOOO~!
Yes, more PikoxLen. Because you can never have enough PikoxLen. This is rObOtIc and it's a collaboration between me and Digiatsu~! Also check out Digiatsu's other PikoxLen stories - give her some love guys.
I wrote this chapter, as I'm writing for Piko's P.O.V and Digiatsu is writing for Len's. Digiatsu will be writing the next chapter! Hope you all as excited for it as I am!
Disclaimer: Of course we don't own Vocaloid...