"Today's been boring," the teal-haired girl said to me. "Not that it's a bad thing, I just wish there was more to do.

"I wish I could figure out what else to do," I told her. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault."

"I dunno, I guess it's because I feel like I should do something about it."

"Well, we could get off of the bench," the girl suggested, giggling a little bit. "There's a lot of shops around here, we might find something."

"Are you getting hungry, too?"

She nodded, pointing to the food court. "I haven't even eaten breakfast, I woke up late and had to get out here to meet you here."

"Well, Miku, let's go, then," I said, getting up off the bench. Miku followed suit.

This was Hatsune Miku. A friend of mine I met around the beginning of high school. At first glance, she's a girl with dyed teal hair with shoulder-length pigtails, sporting a tee shirt, jeans, and some hair ribbons. She's adventurous, fun-loving, and charismatic. I've only known her for a few months, but we've gotten to know each other pretty well.

We tried to hang out when both of us had the chance. During this past summer, however, we really couldn't find time because I was in school, and she went to get a job. Since we're both done with our summer activities, we decided we'd spend the last few days of summer together.

"So, any idea what you wanna eat?" I ask her, looking at the available places to eat at.

"No idea," she told me, contemplating the options in front of her. "Usually I'm really good at making decisions about food, too."

I laughed. "You're as good at decision making as I am at math."

She looked at me, rolling her eyes. "Har har, Griff, har har."

After a little bit of browsing from the various food places, Miku decided to get something from the Chinese food vendor. She told me she'd never had it before.

"You've never had Bamboo Railroad?"
"I've never even heard of it, actually. Is it good?

"Yeah, I like it. Don't really eat it too much, though."

Then she came across something in the drink section.

"Ooh, vegetable juice," she exclaimed, "and the really good kind, too!"

"Vegetable juice?" I inquired. "You actually drink that?"

"Have you ever had it before?"

"Uh, no? Why would I?"

She decided then and there to buy two bottles of vegetable juice with her meal, and gave me one.

"Give it a try, really, I'm sure you'll like it!" she said, sliding the bottle my way.

I looked at it, hesitant to even consider drinking this, and fiddled with the bottle. Then I looked back to Miku, who was giggling.

"Oh, come on, nothing bad is gonna happen if you drink it!"

"Alright, I'll take your word for it."

I opened the cap to the bottle, and sipped the juice inside it.

I looked back to her, "You know, this isn't that bad."

"See?" she said, "and nothing bad happene-"

Right in the middle of our conversation, something did happen. Something very big. A loud boom came from the front of the mall, so loud that I fell out of my seat. Sounds of gunfire and glass breaking followed afterwards. I could hear loud screams from everyone around me.

A loud voice barked in the distance, "I need everyone on the ground, now! If I see anyone move, I'm going to make sure you'll never walk again!"

Miku, who was also on the ground with me, gave me a signal to look behind me. There was a door nearby where we were sitting. It was the maintenance exit. We needed to act fast before they found us, except I was too scared to move a muscle from where I was. Glass shattering, people screaming, and gunfire surrounded my ears, leaving me practically frozen. That was until Miku grabbed me, put me at her shoulders, and dragged me to the door. The strange thing is, for her size, Miku was able to pull me with ease.

I was still in a state of shock when she got us both through the door. I still couldn't move, my heart was racing, and I was babbling a little bit.

"Shh," Miku said, "calm down, we're safe in here."

"I didn't - what in the hell - why is this even happening...?"

Miku sat me down at a wall. "Look, we're okay right now. I don't know what's going on, but I need you to be brave with me here. We need to get out of here, and I can tell you these robbers aren't exactly going to be happy to see us if they find us in here. And they will find us in here in here if we stay too long."

"How do you know they're robbers?"

"It doesn't matter if I know or not, what matters is both of us getting out of this place right now."

After finally getting my head together, I got back up on my feet.

"Feeling able to move, Griff? Good, we need to get out of here."

I got up from where I was sitting. I told her to lead on from here, because I felt no confidence at all to move forward here. I wanted to be brave, but this was scary as all hell for me. Chaos ran rampant, and my mind was focused on only getting out of here alive. Miku, on the other hand, didn't seem nervous about it at all, in fact, she seemed confident that we'd get out of here. Almost like she'd done something like this before.

Whatever the reason, she knew what she was doing, and that's all that mattered to me at the very moment.

I checked my phone to see if I could get a text out to my uncle and tell him what was going on. I couldn't get a signal. I showed her my phone.

"Makes sense," Miku said, "they're probably blocking it."

We both kept moving slowly through the tunnels, trying to find an exit. We found ourselves had wandered into a part of the mall they were remodeling. Pylons, scaffolding, and construction equipment were scattered around.

"Shh, I think I hear someone. It's a few of those robbers, I'm sure of it."

She had me crouch down next to her behind a hollowed-out wall, and I could hear two people conversing.

"A'ight, the hell did they get to? I saw them duck in here on the security footage."

"I dunno, they gotta be close by, keep lookin' around."

They kept talking for a little while, searching for us, but didn't look to the area we were actually hiding behind. Lucky us.

Eventually, after they dispersed and went down separate hallways to look for us, Miku looked at me, trying to think of a solution to get out. She scanned the area, looking for signs of an escape. Then her face lit up.

"There," she said, "the map here leads to the parking garage, we can use that route to get out of here. There's still cars here, so we can take cover behind them."

I looked at her; she could definitely see how nervous I was.

"It's okay, Griff, I know you're scared, but please, just be brave with me, just a little bit longer."

"O-Okay..." I said, my voice cracking.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We've gotten this far, haven't we?"

She was right. And we needed to go, now.

She and I got up from where we were, and headed down the hallway to the parking garage. After this, we'd be home free.

At least, until we reached the door.

As I attempted to open the door, two masked figures kicked it open, forcing me to the floor.

"There they are! Alright, we got 'em!"

"Get up off the ground, you friggin' pansy." One of the masked figures pulled me up from the ground, keeping my hands up.

"Okay, check him, make sure he ain't gonna try and pull a gun out or somethin'. He might be one of those 'brave kids' that tries to be the hero."

"Yeah, sure," the one searching me said. "He's empty. Still, he had money in his wallet. I'll take that."

I'd have fought back if I wasn't so scared for my life at that very moment.

"Alright, then, hands behind your head, pally," the criminal who just took my wallet said. "Come on, we need you bacl on the ground, now."

These guys seemed really calm for criminals. They were professionals, and this was nothing to them. That, or maybe they just saw I was a kid and wouldn't put up too much of a fight. They grabbed my hands, put them behind my back, and tied me down.

"Now don't you worry your pretty little head, kid, this'll be over before you know it."

At that moment, I felt a sharp sting go into my neck. A syringe, it seemed, at least, I think it was. My body went numb, and the last thing I heard was, "Well, let's get 'em outta here. We're done here." I fell unconscious after that.

I woke up hours later, my vision was blurry and my head ached. Things were spinning around me and I had no idea where I was. Suddenly I heard a voice.

"He's up," one of the voices said, "let them know we've got someone awake over here."

I stirred, trying to recount what had happened and how I had gotten here. I looked around as my vision began to clear and I realized I was inside of an ambulance. My heart started racing remembering what happened beforehand.

"Whoa, kid, calm down, you're okay." a paramedic grabbed me, "Calm down, take a deep breath, and relax. You're in safe hands." I did as he said, and sat up.

A little while later, after I finally calmed down and got my head together, I told the paramedics that I was okay. They said they couldn't release me until I had a parental guardian come to pick me up.

I reached for my cell phone, and found out it was taken from me. Typical.

I told them David's number and they handed me the phone.

After a couple of rings, I heard someone pick up.

"Griff, that you?" He asked immediately.

"Yeah, it's me, I was-"
"Oh, thank God you're alright. I was pretty worried something happened to you."

"Huh, you know about this?" I inquired.

"Yeah, it was all over the news. I thought you were hurt in it. Came as fast as I could. Where are you anyways?"

"I'm in an ambulance, right outside the mall entrance. Can you get over here? I kinda wanna go home..."

"Definitely, I'll head over."

David came to the ambulance, and I told him the whole story.

"Christ," he said, "what a mess..."
"Yeah..." I paused, "and I still don't know why this happened..."

"And what about Miku?" David questioned, "Is she okay?"
I hadn't thought about her until he brought her up.

"I have no idea, think we should ask?" I said, "Think she might even be awake?"
"She's probably fine, come on," David grabbed my shoulder, "besides, she's probably looking for you, too."

After such a hectic day, and with everything left in such a mess, I wanted to go home and forget it ever happened. However, I wanted to find Miku and tell her I was thankful for her being able to keep hear head when I couldn't. She wasn't scared, she didn't panic, and I did. She showed a side of her I had never seen before. Maybe that was because we had never run into trouble like this. Maybe Miku was a superhero and I didn't know.

All that mattered right now was seeing Miku and telling her I was okay. David and I approached an officer and asked if he could tell us where she was.

"Gimme a second," the officer said, grabbing his radio, "This is 2-3 here, anyone have a Hatsune Miku near them?"

We waited for a response.

"Negative, sir, no names showing up from anyone. We'll keep you posted, over."

I didn't wanna believe what I had heard.

"She can't be taken- she couldn't be gone. I know she couldn't be-"

"Griff, Griff, calm down, please." David grabbed me, "they said they'll still look, so it's not a total loss."
David told the officer his phone number, and said if she was found, they should call us A.S.A.P.

I was in shock, still, and had only hoped for the best. Maybe she ran away from them. Maybe she fought back against them, and ran away!

I had to convince myself that, somewhere, somehow, Miku was okay, and that she'd be back soon. Whether or not she's okay, I wanted to believe she was fine...

David walked me to his car, and I saw an armored van drive by.

"Duodecim." I said.

"Huh?" David was confused.
"I've never heard of them before," I responded, "do you know who they are?"

"Oh, they're a security company," he explained, "most notable for bringing robotic S.W.A.T. Units to the table as a means to cut down on police mortality rates. Deadly and effective, they're able to combat threats with efficiency and accuracy. At least... that's what the ads tell you."

"You think they're the ones who saved me?"
"Probably, yeah, so chances are they saved Miku, too."

I pondered on that thought.

She was probably safe and sound. I didn't have the answers as to where she was, and driving home, I knew I wouldn't have an answer until someone sent us a call letting us know what happened. So, rather than continuously say "maybe this" or "maybe that", I'd find out soon enough what really happened.

After getting home from such a messy day today, I went to my room and laid down. I didn't change clothes, I just wanted to sleep.

I closed my eyes, and recounted on the strange happenings of today. I knew things were going to be alright. So, I fell asleep, and my worries drifted away for the time being. The coming months would bring something with it. All I can say right now is they weren't going to be ordinary at all.