Hello everyone,

I do not know how many of you are still following me. It has been a long time since I've posted anything here. A lot has happened in that time, some wonderful, some horrible, but most crushingly dull. Needless to say, I am back at least for a little while.

The basis for this story began while I was listening to Reol's LUVORATORRRRRY!, and especially the Gumi/Rin version of it. To me, Vocaloids and Utauloids have always been a very sublime commentary on the nature of popstars; they are a logical conclusion of an industry that manufactures artists' images as much as their music.

With the Character Vocal Vocalods' backstory as singing androids, I started thinking about them as pop idols in the Chobits universe. Somewhere along the line I got a massive dose of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Mixed in, along with a sprinkling of Max Headroom. Things just kept spiraling to become more and more cyberpunk after that, something which becomes more apparent in later chapters. It reached the point where I realized that I had made Miku a Rachel Rosen type character, and had to reign things back in.

Fnal notes before I begin: this story works off of manga-continuity Chobits, not anime-continuity. As good as the anime arguably is, it is the manga which is still near and dear to me. I also decided to have all the Vocaloids as being from a single company for sake of story. Story rating may change from T to M as chapters are added; I have not yet decided.

I hope you enjoy!

Track 1: Electric Angel

Motosuwa Hideki opened his eyes and groaned, once again cursing that the morning sun shone directly through his windows. In all of the years he had lived in the small Tokyo apartment, he had never managed to purchase a simple set of blinds. Instead, he was rudely awakened each and every morning by the glaring rays of the dawn.

His eyes focused on the sleeping girl who lay next to him, the sheets and long blonde hair covering her naked form. The girl looked almost human, except for her ears. Large triangular hatches stuck out from either side of her head, revealing her for what she was. She was a Persocom; a personal computer given human shape. To Hideki, however, she was more than that. The two of them had formed a special bond, one that had only strengthened in the three years since Hideki found her in the trash.

Hideki pulled her against his body. "Good morning Chi."

Chi opened her eyes and placed a hand lightly on his cheek. "Hideki."

They stayed that way, happily lost in one another's eyes. Neither said anything; neither of them needed to. Hideki wished he did not have to get up; he just wanted to spend the entire day embracing his robotic companion and gazing into her eyes.

Their cuddling was interrupted when an extremely loud and cheerful voice shouted from somewhere by their feet. "Good morning!" Its source, a plum-haired figure no larger than a doll, hopped up and down, a whistle in one hand and a pair of flags in her other. "Rise and shine master! It's time for your morning exercises!"

Hideki unwillingly jumped to his feet, following the routines shouted by the tiny figure. He did not particularly feel like exercising, but he knew that she would badger him until he did. The laptop persocom, Sumomo, had originally belonged to one of Hideki's cram school friends, and had programmed her to do it. Three years, numerous upgrades, and at least one rebuild later, and still Hideki could not figure out how to turn the program off.

Chi, for her part, had rushed to what passed for a kitchenette in the apartment. With only one organic mouth to feed among them, paying the apartment's electrical bill was more important than the weekly grocery runs. Frugality and the natural lifestyle of a bachelor meant that Hideki's diet was fairly simple. Instant rice, instant ramen, instant everything when he could not afford to order out. Still, Chi had taken it upon herself to learn how to prepare his breakfasts. It was a small gesture which nonetheless saved him a small amount of time in the mornings. Time he could spend with Chi before he had to head out.

A figure similar in size to Sumomo sat on the edge of the nearby TV, attempting to remain calm despite visible irritation. Kotoko was the last member of Hideki's household, although technically was not his. He had asked her owner let him borrow her on a semi-permanent basis. Blackmailed him into it was more like it: her former master had kidnapped Chi, and Kotoko had recorded his confession.

His miniature aerobics instructor finally allowed Hideki the chance to breathe. In the time it had taken to finish the regimen, Chi had already finished his breakfast: Instant rice, natto, and microwave miso soup. As little as it was, it was all Hideki could afford, and he was grateful to Chi for her help.

Hideki knocked over the previous day's mail as he sat down by the TV, scattering various letters and junk mail across the floor. He had spent so much time studying the previous night he had not had any time to go through it. There would be plenty of time that evening, and it was not as if anything there was particularly urgent.

Sumomo leapt up next to Kotoko and began reciting from her daily planner program. "Today master has classes at nine, eleven thirty, two and four. The earliest train after the end of your last class is five fourty-five."

"I'd have to run all the way there. What's the next train after that?"

Before Sumomo had a chance to reply, Kotoko interrupted. "Six fifteen."

"That's good enough."

Sumomo switched to her email program. "You have twelve messages!"

"Save them, I'll check them when I get back." He quickly devoured his breakfast, washing down the rice with the soup.

"You should bring a coat with you," Chi suggested, "Chi doesn't want you to get cold." Chi's language skills had improved to no end, but she still referred to herself in the third person occasionally. Hideki was not sure if it was a glitch or if she did it to sound cute.

"How about you, Chi? Any plans for today?"

The blonde persocom nodded. "Chi is going to spend today with Ms. Hibiya. She said we were going to paint together! Work isn't until three."

Hideki felt a twinge of guilt as he began to dress. Ms. Hibiya was their landlady, and Chi often spent time with her while Hideki was away. She had her own reasons for wanting to be close to Chi, reasons Hideki was not ready to tell Chi. "Sorry I've been so busy lately. I know it must be hard for you here all alone, then having me studying until all hours of the night."

"It's fine. You have to keep your grades up!"

"I don't have any classes tomorrow, so I could take a break from studying tonight."

Chi's eyes seemed to sparkle. "Really?"

Hideki nodded. The two shared another smile. The ring on Chi's left ring finger caught the rays of the morning sun and sparkled.

Sumomo's cheerful voice called out "fifteen minutes for the train!"

"Gaah! I'm going to be late!" Hideki threw his bag over his shoulder and rushed to the door.

"Hideki?" He stopped and turned around. Chi smiled at him. "Have a good day!"

Hideki smiled. "Thanks Chi! You too!"

As the sound of Hideki's footsteps faded away, Chi picked up the envelope which had fallen from the top of the pile. the material was a thick ivory parchment, obviously expensive. It bore a corporate logo above its return address. In stylized letters, it read Yanaha Cybernetics.

Hideki just barely made it to his first class, settling into his seat mere seconds before the professor stepped into the room. The lecture flew by, over before he had even managed to take a page's worth of notes. He fared little better in his next class, and the next after that. Several hours later, Hideki sighed as he trudged defeatedly out of the gates of Tokyo U. It had been a long day, and he did not feel as if he had learned anything. He was looking forward to the evening relaxing with Chi, then perhaps a quick page through one of his porn magazines before bed.

Hideki sighed. Even after making it into Tokyo U, he still had no idea what he wanted to major in. Agriculture would make sense given his background, but business and civic engineering held promise for high-paying jobs. Given his grades it was not likely to matter; he was just barely scraping by. Still, he could not help but feel a certain directionlessness; he had spent years of his life working toward the singular goal of making it into Tokyo University, but now that he was there he had no idea what to do.

He heard the honk of a horn behind him and turned to see a Limousine slowing down. Wondering who it could be for, he continued walking. He had only gone a few steps when It honked again. This time he stopped. As the limo pulled up next to him, one of its windows rolled down. Hideki recognized the boy that looked out at him.

"Minoru?"

Kokubunji Minoru simply stared back at him. "Get in."

His curiosity piqued, Hideki climbed into the limousine without protest. Minoru motioned to the driver, and Hideki was pulled back into his seat as they shot off at alarming speed. As he righted himself, he examined his companion.

It had been three years since he met the wealthy boy genius, and a great deal had changed since then. Chi had become a permanent part of his life, Hideki had made it into Tokyo University, he had even managed to learn something about maintaining the persocoms now in his life. And in all that time, Minoru had grown from a twelve-year-old mensa candidate into an even brighter teenager.

Minoru's primary persocom, Yuzuki, sat next to him, hands folded in her lap. Designed to look like his now-deceased older sister, Yuzuki had appeared several years older than her master when Hideki had first met them. Now the two looked the same age, close enough that they might be twins. It would not be long before Minoru looked like the older of the two, while Yuzuki would stay eternally 15.

"Good to see you, Yuzuki. How are you doing?"

The persocom gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Very well, sir, thank you."

"Still the nice guy as ever, even polite to persocoms," someone to his right said.

Hideki jumped at the unexpected voice. He glanced across to the seat next to him and saw another familiar face. "Shinbo? What are you doing here?"

"Moral support." He laughed, shaking his head. "Hideki, dude, what the hell have you got yourself into now?"

Hiromu Shinbo was another long-standing friend of his, and the original owner of Sumomo. He had built the laptop persocom from scratch, a fact made ironic by his present lifestyle. After eloping with and marrying their cram school teacher, he had become a virtual luddite.

"What are you talking about?" Hideki asked.

Minoru raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you get the letter as well?"

"I haven't had a chance to check my mail today," Hideki admitted. He had almost been late to class, and it had completely slipped his mind.

"That's alright," Minoru replied, "I can explain; they've asked for my help as well."

Hideki settled back into his seat. "What is this about?"

"Have you ever heard of Vocaloids?"

He shrugged. "You're the persocom expert, not me."

Minoru handed him a magazine. The front cover depicted a girl with pink hair dressed in a deep purple slip dress. She was on a stage, microphone in hand, smiling out across the crowd. He looked closer. No, he realized, not a girl, a persocom. She had humanlike ears, but was a persocom nonetheless.

"Artificial popstars," Minoru explained, "Purpose-built persocoms designed to sing."

"They're everything the record companies could want," Shinbo added, "Persocoms don't age, they don't crack under stress, they never do anything that's against their image. And the music companies can program them with any type of personality they want: upbeat, innocent, rebellious, whatever."

Hideki thumbed through the magazine. Images of beautiful girls with technicolor hair flashed by. They were all so attractive! And those outfits they wore…"So what makes them different from just normal persocoms?"

Shinbo smirked. "Ever see a persocom try to carry a tune?"

"Yeah, I've heard them play songs all the time."

Minoru shook his head. "You've heard them play music files; pre-sampled and pre-mixed. Real-time singing synthesis is quite different. The stock sound boards in most persocoms aren't good for much more than normal talking: beyond that their sound becomes distorted. Vocaloids are different. They have proprietary hardware and software that makes them far better at it."

Hideki closed the magazine and handed it back. "What does all this have to do with me?"

Minoru produced an envelope and showed it to him. The return address was stamped "Yanaha Cybernetics."

"The Vocaloid parent company has asked for our assistance in resolving some problem they have."

Hideki frowned. "Why me? You I get, but I'm just a normal college student."

Minoru nodded in agreement. "Yes, the request for your help was very interesting. Only a handful of people are fully aware of the incident three years ago, but the author mentions both you and Chi by name. Someone very high up clearly thinks that your experience qualifies you for this."

"Look, I'd like to help, but I have school and a job. I can't just up and leave them."

Minoru said nothing in reply, simply handing him a sheet from the envelope. Hideki took it curiously. A proposed payment was underlined midway down. His head spun when he saw the size of the offer; the amount would not only pay for his remaining years at Tokyo U, but also his rent for the next decade.

"We're on our way to their offices right now."

Hideki tried to pull himself back to his senses. "I'll need to let Chi, Sumomo and Kotoko know I won't be home for dinner."

Minoru gestured to the persocom seated beside him. "Yuzuki can place a call home for you."

Yuziki raised her head, her eyes unfocused. After a moment, the persocom began to speak in a different voice: a voice very familiar to all of them.

"Hello?"

"Chi, it's Hideki," He replied. "I'm going to be a little late getting home today."

There was silence for a moment. "How long will you be?" Only Hideki would have picked up on it, but she sounded disappointed.

"I'm not sure, probably another two hours or so. I'm sorry, we'll go to the park tomorrow."

"Promise?"

"I promise. No excuses, no delays."

"Ok!" Chi's voice was cheerful.

Yuzuki's eyes refocused as the call ended. "May I help you with anything else, Mr. Motosuwa?"

"Thanks, that will be everything," Hideki replied. "I hope Chi will be alright by herself."

Shinbo leaned across to him. "I see you still wear your ring on a keychain."

"I, er, don't want to lose it." Hideki fidgeted. He did not want to admit the truth. For all of his feelings, he was not yet ready to share them with the world at large. His close friends would understand, they had met Chi and had watched her as she learned. But what would his teachers and classmates think? His parents?

"Look," Shinbo replied, "we both know people who have been burned by them or others falling in love with their persocoms." He surreptitiously twisted his wedding ring. "But if you're really devoted to Chi, you need to own it. You taught Takako and I that we can't half-ass our feelings, don't half-ass your own."

Unable to come up with a suitable reply, Hideki leaned back in the limo seat and looked out the window. The streets of Tokyo passed by them one after another. Hideki knew something had started, but he was not yet sure what.