Crash.
Blue eyes face blue, one pair wide, staring upward, and the other narrowed, glaring down. The thin cocktail table is still shuddering, and the decorated shards that once made a vase and its floral ornaments are scattered across the hallway.
"What do you think you're doing, Rin?" the boy with the short, high, blond ponytail yells, finally regaining his posture and pushing himself off the ground. "Master is going to be furious!"
"Me? Are you kidding me?" the addressed girl, who looks almost identical to the boy outside of her hair being down and bangs clipped, snaps. "You're the one who's been making those obnoxious faces at me all day! The performance screw-up was your fault, not mine, so stop acting like such an ass, Len!"
"Oh, here we go again!" Len exclaims, his hands forming fists. "How am I supposed to work with someone as violent and loud as you? It's your lack of ability to work peacefully that ruined everything! And now, again, you're going to get me dragged into all of your crap. Pushing someone into a delicate decoration, what a great idea!" Without realizing, the two had been gradually inching closer together as they spoke and were now neck-in-neck, one ready to physically injure the other at any second. Before either could make their move, though, a hand rested on either of their shoulders, its touch immediately silencing and bringing sweat to the foreheads of both teens.
"You two come with me."
The room they enter is small and dim, with a small lamp sitting by a computer on a desk covered in wires on the far right end of the room. The floor has wires running all over that are leading across towards two chairs sitting alone on the other side.
"So, it's only been about, hmm, two weeks since you two had been introduced to each other?" Master questions, sounding calm to the point where it gave Rin and Len shivers.
"Yes…" Rin said, staring at her feet. Len nodded.
"The two of you were programmed to have opposing personalities; we assumed the saying 'opposites attract' would work in this case," Master says, turning around to face the two. "It seems to have backfired completely. You two just can't seem to argue enough, can you? Even in front of an entire audience. Even after I gave you two warnings afterward, you both are still disrupting the house with your quarreling."
He steps towards the two chairs, motioning for the two to follow him. Len's eyes catch on to two helmet-looking devices, and he feels a plummeting in his chest.
"No… it can't…" he says, voice cracking. Rin looks over, suddenly feeling frightened by her insightful partner's tone of voice.
"I'm not deactivating you," Master states. "You two and the Kagamine Twins Project have huge potential to succeed, even after this initial fallout. That is, if you learn to get along. I've been working on this little device since the incident on stage, and it looks like we're going to have to put it into use." He picks up the helmets and nods at the two chairs. Len and Rin exchange glances, for once seeming to agree on something, and they both sit down.
"Are you gonna insert cute lovey happy feeling programs into our minds or something?" Rin asks, frowning. Len's eye twitches at her words, and he clearly agrees when she grumbles, "Ugh, that would be weird…"
"Oh, I don't plan to alter anything about your personalities," Master responds, sounding amused. "It's too late for that now; it'd be disturbing, since you two are practically human at this point." He hands each of them a helmet, and they both place it on their heads uncomfortably.
"Uhh… then, what is this…?" Len questions hesitantly, as if he isn't sure if he wants to know the answer or not. He doesn't get one.
"You'll see," Master says. He pulls out a remote device from his pocket, presses a button, and the two Vocaloids immediately slump forward.
When Rin's eyes open, she feels like she's been sleeping for a while. Her mind and vision are fuzzy; all she can see is a blur of color, and it feels like people are holding on to her arms. Somehow, she can't find the ground beneath her. In fact, she can't even feel her feet.
"What just happened…?" she starts, turning her head to look up at where the person holding her right arm is. To her shock, it's a familiar face with a completely unfamiliar expression. The girl has long pink hair, blue eyes, a bright energetic smile… and only some strange bra on?
"Surprise! Happy fifteenth birthday, Rinny!" she cheers, shaking on Rin's arm. Rin's face twists with disgust – how creepy! Luka is always cool and composed about everything, and this is completely out of character. Not to mention, those freakishly large breasts of hers are way too close.
"Gross, don't touch me!" Rin snaps, trying to tug her arm away. "Are you drunk or something? Put on some clothes, please!" Luka's face drops at these words.
"Oh, come on, Rin, dear," a voice comes from Rin's other side, and the small blond turns around, her face contorting again. This time it's a man with long purple hair in a high ponytail and eyes of the same color. He doesn't have a shirt on either.
"G-Gakupo?" Rin exclaims, turning red and trying to pull away from him now. "Why the heck are you naked too…" she trails off when she sees a flash of color and her eyes follow it, moving further down his body.
"What are you talking about?" Gakupo asks, frowning and swinging around his mermaid tail. "What does 'naked' mean?"
"Rin, why are you in such a bad mood?" Luka whines, and Rin's head shoots back to the other side, staring at… what looks to be yet another mermaid tail. "I looked everywhere to find this present for you; will you open it, pretty please?"
"Your mother has been working so hard for you, just appreciate her efforts, please," Gakupo sighs.
"M-Mother?" Rin chokes. Slowly, a realization begins to dawn on her. She holds her breath as she looks down at her own body. Sure enough, there it is. The shiny, yellow scales reflect her horrified expression back at her, and Rin feels her vision blurring again. She's has a tail, and she's somehow been breathing, speaking, and not becoming a mess of electricity underwater…
"U-Uh…" Rin stammers, her resistance going limp. And at that moment, she's grateful for the arms wrapped tightly around her own, as everything goes black for the second time that day.