Because Akikoroid-chan needs more love~
Piko stepped out of the recording studio for the third time that day and immediately went to go get a glass of water. It was a nice day out, and a rather ordinary Sunday. Or it would have been, if it weren't for the red-haired girl staring wistfully out the window…
"Miki, what's wrong?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Miki seemed really down, even her ahoge was drooping. They both watched as Miku, Rin, Len, and Gumi all piled into a limousine to go to another major recording studio. Miki sighed.
"Nothing." But it was painfully obvious to Piko that it wasn't nothing.
"Come on. Let's go steal some of Kaito's ice cream. It'll make you feel better…" Piko tugged on Miki's hand as she sluggishly rose and they made their way to the kitchen. But in the hallway they heard a sniffling noise coming from a closet that no one used anymore. Piko and Miki looked at each other, then opened the door. Behind it was another red head, crying.
"Akikoroid?" Miki asked quietly. The VocaLawson looked up, and her face became distorted with anger.
"You stupid robot freak! You're the absolute last person I want to see right now!"
Miki was about to snap back, but then a voice came from behind the three.
"That's too bad nya!" There was a blur of black and four tiny ninjas stood before them.
"Aisu Protection: Shrimp Force go!" cried the ringleader, a boy with a bird on his shoulder, and they charged forward and pushed Piko and Miki into the closet. The two fell on top of Akikoroid in a big heap, and the lock clicked.
"What the hell was that!" Piko shouted as he tried to stand up, but he felt a sharp tug on the top of his head and fell down again. "What in the…" he pulled on his ahoge and found it attached to caught on something else.
"Hey! Quit it, that hurts!" Miki snapped.
"Miki, I think our ahoges are tied together."
"Then untie them!" She reached up to undo the knot but it was too dark to see anything.
"While you two are whining about your stupid cowlicks, I'm gonna get out of here." Akiko said indifferently, but she didn't get very far when something stopped her from moving forward. She felt around for a moment, and found that the cable for her scanner was caught on…
"Stop messing with my tail!" Piko pulled his USB away from Akiko's grasp, but this pulled her back to the ground.
"Great. So we're all tangled together and locked in a dark closet. Could this day get any worse?" Miki sighed.
"What's up her butt?" Akiko asked.
"That's a good question." replied Piko.
"Like you actually care." Miki scoffed. "With your stupid famous voice provider and top secret voice bank." She gestured to Piko and Akiko respectively. "Do you know how it feels to be so unpopular? Piko, how many recording sessions have you had today?"
"Three…" Piko said, "but I don't see what that has to do with – "
"The last time I had a recording session was two weeks ago! And that was just a cover of 'Matryoshka' with Iroha. I mean, I used to be unpopular, but I could handle it because I couldn't do anything about the Crypton and Internet Co. Vocaloids. But then you showed up!" Miki yelled at Piko. "You look almost identical to me. From the stupid tunic and boots to the ahoge to the robotic-ness, and of course you had an utaite as your voice provider… you completely stole the little thunder that I had!" Miki sneered. "Get it now?"
"You…you… you total jerk!" Akiko shouted, and then began to cry. "No one knows who I am! They all think I'm you!"
"And how is that my fault? You were created after me, idiot!" Miki countered.
"So? It still hurts when people don't even know your name." Akiko looked away. "I just want to be known. I want to shout to the world, 'Here I am!'… but Lawson won't allow that." She spat. "I hate them. It's their fault I look like Miki, and it's their fault I'm unreleased. And what genius thought of advertising a convenience store chain with a virtual singer?" her voice cracked and put her head in her hands. "I'm a joke."
"No, Akiko, you are not a joke." Piko put a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I…" Miki stuttered. "I really like your voice."
"Thanks." Akiko smiled weakly.
"And… why do we even care who's more popular than who?" Piko said. "That shouldn't define how we treat each other. We're all tangled up together… so we should make the best of it."
After a moment of silence, Miki asked, "Do you guys want to play truth or dare?"
An hour later, after Piko had been dared to kiss Miki, Miki had been dared to kiss Akiko, everyone had licked the doorknob twice, and Akiko had revealed her crush on a certain Kagamine (among many other things), the door unlocked and the three were blinded by the sudden light. All they could make out was a tall silhouette with a scarf.
"So. You were going to try and thieve my precious ice cream?" the figure spoke coldly.
"What? N-no, of course not! What gave you that idea?" Miki lied badly.
"Don't even try to get out of it. Four different cameras recorded your conversation. So I just had my Shrimp Force take care of you until I could talk to you…" he paused dramatically, "in person."
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll be out of here," Akiko said nervously, but still couldn't go anywhere because of the tangle in her and Piko's cords.
"Oh ho ho, it seems there's a kink in my plans. I can't punish you two without also punishing Miss Akikoroid here… what to do, what to do?" He chortled.
"Don't punish any of us and just led it slide?" Piko suggested.
"That's an interesting concept, but I have a better idea…"
"Why do I have to do this?" Akiko groaned as she scrubbed an ice cream stain out of a black ninja uniform embroidered with a Dal Segno. "I didn't even do anything!"
"I guess we're kind of a packaged deal now," Piko sighed, as the chains that tied him to the wall jangled loudly. Kaito had made them do his laundry to make up for the near-loss of his ice cream. Piko dunked another uniform, this one embroidered with Hello Kitty's face, into a tub of soapy water. Miki hung a third uniform with the initials 'K.Y.' on a wire to dry, then went to fold the fourth that had a big green dinosaur sewn badly on the back.
"At least we can still hang out," Miki said, ever optimistic.
Akiko laughed. "Yeah. I'm glad we all got all tangled up."
Cheezy ending FTW! XDIt should be painfully obvious who's in the Shrimp Force... I just love the idea that those four get into all sorts of trouble together XD and AkikoLen BECAUSE I CAN. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. I was also trying to challenge myself to write a fic that had Piko and Miki but no fluff, and I think I did that pretty well... (the kiss was a dare so it doesn't count ;D) And I guess in this they're all wearing their cover art costumes...? Because otherwise Akiko wouldn't have her scanner on. RnR!
And also if anyone is reading this who is also reading my 'Detective of Love' fic, I've been needing some time to let the ideas grow in my head like mushrooms on a moist wall before I can scrape them off and put them in the salad that is my fic (don't worry they're not poisonous) but don't worry I haven't abandoned it!