My feet were glued to the sidewalk. I stared up at the new school and couldn't take another step closer. It's a large modern Japanese high school. Student body consisted of a whopping 2,124 teenagers. All of the other facts about the school I had made sure to remember slipped from my mind.

"Excuse me, miss?" A voice said over my shoulder. My head swung around and I stared wide eyed at a teacher.

"Oh, um yes?" I said stumbling to find the right words.

"You are a student here, correct? You are wearing the uniform." The teacher said. He has side swept black bangs and wire frame glasses.

"Yes."

"Class already started." He pointed out.

"I know, but well I'm new here. I was instructed to see the principal before I attend class." I explain.

"Oh! You must be Luka Megurine. I'm the principle Hiyama Kiyoteru, but you can just call me Kiyo-Sensei." He offered his hand and I shook it. "Let's go to my office shall we?" I nodded and finally made my first step forward. Maybe a new school wouldn't be to bad after all?

"This is our new student Luka Megurine, have anything to say about yourself?" The teacher asked.

"Not really . . ." I muttered. Maybe a new school wouldn't be to bad after all? Yeah, right. I stood in front of the calls of 24 students. There was one empty desk in the back corner next to a girl with short blonde hair adorned with a big white bow. No one in the class seemed to pay attention, some reading, texting and even talking with a friend.

"Alright, then . . ." Ms. Tendo said. "How about you take your seat, the only one available is yours." No really? I sighed then trudged off to my seat saying nothing further.

I sat down smoothing out the navy blue skirt required by school uniform. A white button down blouse with a navy blue tie accompanied by a navy blue skirt knee high black socks and uncomfortable penny loafers.

The girl next to me angled her body towards me. I sighed once again then glanced at her. "What?" I ask.

"Hi I'm Rin, you're Luka right? You're okay with just using first names right? I don't like honorifics, it makes things seem so bland. I mean we're all the same age right? I'm 16, you are too right?" The blonde haired girl went on.

"Uh, no honorifics is fine. And I'm actually 17 . . ." I point out.

"Oh? Is your birthday early? Or did you get held back?" She asked continuing with the questions.

"No, last year I missed most of the school year so I had to repeat." Rin nodded. All the while I noticed her fingers were moving to chords on a guitar on her lap. "You play guitar?" I ask.

"Oh! Yes I do! Do you also? You probably noticed me motioning chords, right? What instruments do you play? Do you sing?" She asked.

"I – uh. I play guitar, piano, base and I can sing."

"Oh cool! You should join the music club, because this school is sport focused and theres the strict no music rule there's no music courses besides music club, which isn't actually official. You'll join right? I'm also part of a band! We call ourselves VOCALOID, we're popular in the school, like really popular. Know what? You should come with me to practice after school today."

"I have to-" I was cut off by the teacher slamming a book on her desk.

"Excuse me, we have class! Now I have a headache. I'm going to hang out in the teacher's lounge. It's free study. If you go anywhere be sure to be back by math, Mr. Tsurugi will be pissed at me if you guy's aren't here." Ms. Tendo said. She opened the door then it slid closed and the whole classroom was suddenly very lively.

"She just left?" I ask aloud surprised.

"Yeah she just does that all the time. Apparently her parents made her become a teacher but she hates it. Most of History is spent with her gone and us doing whatever we want. But beware Mr. Tsurugi is horrible. You do not want to get on his bad side. Oh and I'm Gumi!" A girl with dark green hair said appearing next to my desk.

"Is that so?" I asked at loss for better words. Rin twirled her hair around her finger then stood up. She leaned against my desk the winked. She began to pound on my desk in a quick beat. Gumi joined in by clapping her hands in a familiar rhythm. A bow with shaggy white hair jumped out of his seat and picked up a bucket hitting it with a pen so it made ping like noise.

Slowly everyone around the classroom in some way was contributing to the 'song'. It sounded awfully familiar. Everything fit together like a puzzle. Then they began to sing. It sounded like a complete choir some people being alto and other soprano.

No, I know this song for sure. I whispered the words as they sang them. This is a song by the popular band Vocaloid! They're a newer band known for their anime image and more popular on the internet not having once a public concert. What band did Rin say she was in again?

Did it start with a 'b'? Or was that a 'v'? The music stopped and everyone laughed and began talking. I grabbed Rin's sleeve and she looked down at me.

"Oh yeah, Luka! What did you think? Pretty cool right? We started working on being able to do that like a month ago! We all like music. Do you know that song? It'd be nice if you could join in too, wouldn't it be?" She asked.

"Um, sure. Okay, a second ago you said you're in a band right?" She nodded and began to talk bug I cut her off. "Was the name of your band . . . Vocaloid?" I asked hesitantly. Again she nodded and began to talk but I cut her off once again. "Really? That's amazing! C- Can I go with you to practice like you offered?"

"Yeah of course. And yeah we all created the band Vocaloid to bring more life and music to this school. I mean I can't blame the school for being sport prioritized because we have such an amazing athletic student body. The school gets a bunch of grants because of that. So yeah, are you good at sports?"

"No, I'm not supposed to do P.E."

"Why not?" I was actually surprised to hear only one question coming from her.

"I'm anemic." Technically that wasn't a lie but it wasn't exactly the full truth either. She shrugged it off and got distracted by a girly looking boy.

I watched her as she talked to this 'Lui' boy. She's a part of Vocaloid? How can I be sure it's not some hoax. Well I guess today's practice will prove it. I sat there silently not saying a word through the whole class, then through math and then it was lunch.

"The cafeteria is this way." Rin informed me.

"Oh, thank you." I said gratefully. I slightly blushed and started walking in the opposite direction.

"You should eat with us!" Rin exclaimed.

"Us?"

"Yeah, band V! That's short for Vocaloid by the way. We have our own little secret little hide out where we eat lunch together. I bet they won't mind having you along. It's always me, my brother Len, Meiko, Kaito, Miku and Gakupo. Have you met any of them? Because they're all really cool."

"No, I haven't actually met them. Are they all a part of the band?" I asked.

"Sort of. You see we can all sing. That's where we get 'Vocal' in our band name. And then 'Master', as we nick name him, he's the one who help get us popular online and he made our mascots and stuff you know. So Master, he really likes robots and so loid sounds all robotish you know? That's how we got our name. Now anyways back to your question. I play guitar and keyboard. Len he can play guitar and drums. Then Gakupo and Kaito can play base, drums and keyboard. Then Meiko is more of our 'manager' because she can't play any instruments except violin which isn't used often. But Meiko can still sing of course. Then Miku, well Miku plays guitar and drums. So we all switch around. Oh we all dance too! We're sort of like divas you know." Rin explained. I struggled to remember it all. It was especially hard to do without a face to match the names with.

"Oh, and Rin? I have a bento for lunch, so I don't need to go to the cafeteria." I explain holding up the small package. Rin glanced down at her own lunch in her hand then laughed.

"Oh, right. This way then!" Rin lead me down a deserted hallway. We entered a storage room and she easily pushed a stack of two crates aside. She lifted part of the carpet and revealed a wooden latch. She pulled it open and revealed stairs. The fact that such a modern building has something like this struck me as weird. Rin positioned the crates in such a way you couldn't tell there was a gaping hole in the wall.

"Welcome to paradise." She said happily. She waved her hand in a lucid manner. I smiled.

"Another question, how is there something like this in such a modern school?" I asked voicing my earlier thoughts.

"Oh, its really just that the school was renovated. Originally they sealed off all the entrances to the basement but us students found them. Just don't tell anyone alright? There's I think 17 entrances to the basement throughout the school. It's mainly music club people who know about it, them and some of the drama club. But us Band V are the only people who really use it. This is where we have our rehearsals at also." Rin began to descend the darkened stairs and I fallowed.

When I reached even ground I was in bitch black for a moment. I fallowed the sound of her feet hitting the concrete ground. Then I noticed a faint light as if coming from beneath a door. Rin opened it up and I was blinded by light momentarily.

From the room I could here a guitar and laughing. Rin stepped inside and I heard a chorus of voices say her name.

"Hey Rin, and-" They all stopped when they saw me. What looked like a third year, a girl with short brown hair and brown eyes crossed her arms.

"Rin, what have we said about bringing strangers." The third year girl turned and looked at me apologetic. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to-" She was cut off by Rin grabbing my arm and holding it to herself possessively.

"No. Luka's new to school today. I told her about her band and she wanted to come see." Rin explained stubbornly.

"Well of course she wants to come see we're Band Vocaloid! We have fans all over the world dying to meet us." A blue haired guy said. I took this moment to observe the room. Sitting next to the blue haired guy is a guy with long purple hair. I stare at him a bit longer then I did of the other guy. On the other side of blue haired guy is a girl with long teal hair in pigtails. Next to her is a guy who looks a lot like Rin.

I had to figure this was her brother. But he didn't look like third year. Maybe second like me, or maybe even a first year. Did Rin say they were twins? I stared at his blue eyes. They were a light blue like the sky on a nice day. His skin has a nice tint of a tan. He then has messy blonde hair that's held up the back with a pony tail. He wore his uniform with a few buttons of the shirt unbuttoned and he had no tie on. I figured it was his tie that the purple haired guy had tied around his forehead.

I realized that I was staring. Really staring. And the horrifying part of that? He was staring back. He had an amused grin playing on his lips. Those finely shaped lips . . . I tore my eyes away from him and stared at the blue haired boy menacingly.

"I came here because I didn't really believe Rin." I pointed out.

"Didn't believe her? Whats there to not believe? We are band Vocaloid." The brown haired girl growled.

"Just let her stay!" The girl with teal pigtails giggled. I glanced over at her to notice she had stood up. She put her hands on her hips and smiled. "If she doesn't believe us we can make her, can't we?"

Rin jumped up and down bumping her shoulder into mine playfully. "Yes! Yes we can, yes we should." She said as her bubbly self.

"Fine lets kick it." Brown haired girl said smirking.

"Let's do your song, Len! Super Hero!" Rin exclaimed, referring to her brother. She grabbed a guitar and so did pigtail girl. Blue haired guy grabbed a base and purple haired guy took the drums. Brown haired girl on the other hand just leaned against the wall smiling. Then they began to play.

There's nothing like seeing an amazing band play right in front of you. Every beat pulsing through your body. The notes caressing your skin. Then his voice. Nothing was sweeter. Something about it was entrancing. Once he began to sing I felt as if I could sing forever. I didn't even realize I was staring at him until our eyes met and he gave an almost shy smile before closing his yes for a moment. Even the fact he was singing a sort of silly song about being a hero and doing silly little tasks didn't matter.

"Will appear anew to destroy evil . . ." He sang. And with those final words he looked up and once again our eyes locked. Our gaze didn't break until Meiko suddenly stepped in front of me.

"So whatchya think? You can't deny we're band Vocaloid right?" She asked. I looked up so our eyes met. I shrugged.

"I suppose I just don't see why you're all that popular." I exaggerate.

"What?" The purple haired asked surprised.

"Well you for example got off beat a total of 3 times. You did a horrible job of trying to fix it while still beating away while you should of stopped for a moment to join in at the right time. Then you, blue haired guy you hit the g cord instead of the c cord a total of 4 times. You should work on fixing that habit. Then Rin over all you did good except you need to stop trying to take over and work along side your band members especially pigtail girl. You try to hard to be the spotlight when generally that's the singer. Now pigtail girl your chords are to soft and lack the power needed for this song. Since this is a rather heroic song it needs a strong guitar." I explain racking my brain for all the mistakes I could think of.

"Hey! Blue haired guy's name is Kaito." Blue haired guy, or well Kaito, said angrily.

"She's right." Brown haired girl said. Her tone of voice was light and she sounded confused.

"I know." I muttered under my breath.

"Whats your name again?" She asked.

"Luka Megurine."

"Luka huh? I'm Meiko. Let's see, you know Rin. Then there's Miku," she pointed at the pigtail girl, "Gakupo," purple haired guy, "Kaito and Len. Now I officially welcome you to Band Vocaloid!" She said with a grin.