Luka prided herself in being a wonderful older sister. Honestly, if she were in a shoujo manga, Luka felt that she would definitely be the mature upperclassman type. Luka was reasonably smart, dependable, and popular, so she felt that she fit the description to a T. For that reason, she was immensely shocked when her older sister instincts failed her.

"Luka-nee?" croaked Ia.

Without looking up, Luka replied, "Oh, perfect timing, Ia! I was just going to wake—" Luka turned around and suddenly noticed Ia sniffling pathetically. Immediately, Luka's widened and she shifted into responsible-older-sister mode. Curse her instincts for failing—how could she miss the signs of Ia's sickness? "Hey, you shouldn't be up if you're so sick!" she said with concern. Luka grabbed Ia's shoulders and hurriedly marched her back to her room. "Stay here. You checked your temperature already, right?"

Ia nodded with half-lidded eyes. "Hundred," she wheezed.

With that confirmation, Luka raced to the kitchen and brought the breakfast she had made to Ia's room. Setting it on the desk, Luka said, "Don't worry about school—I'll call the counselor." From the bed, Ia offered a weak "thanks." Luka nodded and sat on the bed. Brushing away some stray strands of hair from Ia's face, she smiled contentedly. Then, Luka looked down at her watch and yelped, "Yikes! I'm going to be late!" She scrambled up and rushed to her room to get her book bag. "Get well soon!" she called over her shoulder as she raced out the front door. Yup, nailed it.

Five minutes counting down, Luka flew down the sidewalk with a speed courtesy to her track practice. Somehow, she managed to avoid stray cats, pedestrians, and lamp posts while zooming down her route to school. "Whoops sorry gotta go!" she offered apologetically, sidestepping a particularly torpid teen. Just as she bested the obstacle, congratulated herself for her finesse, and rounded the corner to the school building in the homestretch, she nearly plowed into Lily.

Luka pivoted at the last moment and gracefully…tripped over her own ankle and kissed the pavement. Groaning, Luka spite stray hairs out of her mouth and rubbed her face, while Lily let out a hearty guffaw, nearly doubling over herself. Luka frowned sourly until Lily, still chuckling, wiped the tears from her eyes and offered her hand to Luka. "Some best friend you are," Luka huffed as she grabbed Lily's hand and righted herself.

Lily smirked, her eyes dancing with mirth. "Come on, Lulu-chan," she said. "Don't be such a sourpuss first thing in the morning!" Lily then proceeded to slap Luka on the back with all but enough force to send her kissing the ground for another round. Luka glared at Lily, who decided to whistle innocently. "Anyway," Lily said with a nonchalant smile tugging at her lips, "why were you so late today, Miss Perfect Big Sister Material?"

Luka crossed her arms and huffed again. "I was late," she said, restarting her trek to her homeroom with Lily, "because Ia's sick today."

"Oh, Iacchi?" Lily asked rhetorically. She turned to Luka and cocked her head to the side. "Isn't she basically a mini-you?"

"Hey, she's her own person, you know!" Luka protested.

"Her own person who is a mini-you person!"

Luka looked at Lily with a serious expression. "Lily," she said. "You know that that last sentence made absolutely no sense, right?"

Lily stuck out her tongue. "Totally did!" she said. "You're just too much of a sourpuss to see it!" With that exclamation, Lily winked at Luka and started skipping down the hall, and Luka was forced to follow hastily with a sigh at Lily's antics.

Suddenly, Lily stopped skipping, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her siblings. She grabbed Luka's arm, dragging her behind her as she ran down the hall to greet them again. As Lily closed the distance between them, she skidded to a stop, causing to Luka to slam into Lily for real this time. Luka scowled – was Lily hoping that she would drop and pop like candy or something? Despite her annoyance, Luka dropped her scowl when she looked at the twins, trading it for a soft smile.

At times, Luka wondered how the Kagamine siblings could be so different in spite of their shared blonde hair and blue eyes. While Lily was brash and crude, Rin and Len were sunny enough to practically project sparkles, like a cheesy shoujo manga screen tone. Anyone seeing the twins without their older sister would feel a strong inclination to pinch their cheeks and to defend them from any potential harm.

"Good morning, Rin-chan and Len-chan," Luka said happily.

"Hiya, Luka-senpai!" they chorused back.

Lily pounced on the twins and ruffled their hair for good measure. "If it isn't my favorite twins!" she declared with a wide grin. "Aren't ya going to say 'good morning' to your loving onee-san?"

"Fat chance," growled Rin, flinging Lily off her back in the perfect execution of a judo throw, while Len winced. Rin then dusted off her hands and smoothed down her hair. Turning over to Len and ignoring Lily, she said with concern, "Len, you need to start defending yourself from onee-san."

Unfazed and uninjured, Lily stood up with a smile. "Look at you, Rin-chan. You're all grown up. Onee-san has no more judo techniques left to teach you! But you need to stop being so tsun-tsun all the time…."

Rin pointedly ignored Lily and faced Luka instead. Frowning a little, she looked to Luka's left and right. Finally, she asked, "Where's your mi—I mean Ia-senpai?"

Rin was totally going to say "mini-you." I know they don't think badly of you, Ia-chan, Luka thought, clenching her fists mentally. Outwardly, Luka smiled wryly. "Ia's sick today, so she's at home resting," she responded.

"Oh," said Rin. Movement behind Luka caught Rin's attention for a second and Rin's eyes twinkled. "Hey, Miku, over here!" she called enthusiastically, waving her arm.

Miku was here? Luka tried not to panic at the thought of her adorable underclassman, fighting back a raging blush. She turned her head towards Miku and caught a glance of her running form. At the sight of Miku's silky teal hair and sparkling turquoise eyes, Luka's barely contained blush began forcing itself through the chinks in her shoddy mask of senpai-grade nonchalance. Her heart beat faster and faster, each pulse climbing up her throat and paralyzing her tongue. By the time Miku reached their group, Luka was sure that her face was bright red and that if Luka tried to open her mouth, only jumbled syllables would roll out; but Miku seemed as cheerful as always.

"Hi, everyone!" Miku said, beaming.

"Hi," everyone but Luka replied. Luka chose to nod in lieu of speaking, at which Miku frowned nearly imperceptibly. Luka felt bad, but she was in a major crisis! She had already lost her cool three times today and she was not about to lose it again.

Looking at Miku always had the effect of tongue-tying Luka. From first seeing Miku in the halls after the welcoming ceremony, Luka was stupefied by the glowing image of Miku's hair billowing in the breeze, surrounded by cherry blossoms. Luka then became convinced that Miku's visage would grow more beautiful in her eyes with each passing season. Summer would frame Miku's hair in the glow of shattered fireworks. The earthy colors of autumn would vividly contrast the aqua hues of Miku's eyes. The winter snow would reflect the purity and innocence of Miku's cheerful spirit.

Luka's infatuation only grew when Miku joined the singing club, of which Luka was already a member. Hearing Miku's voice further cemented the Luka's image of Miku as an unattainable dream. Luka wished that she had the courage to act on her feelings, but she knew there was no way that Miku would ever return them. Miku was perfect. Even if she were gay, there would be no reason for her to accept the feelings of some upperclassman who just so happened to be in the same club as her. With Luka's experience with reading shoujo manga, she knew that there was no way that the school idol would end up with the lousy upperclassman character.

Luka contended that dreams were to stay dreams, drifting back to reality with an inward sigh.

"Where's Ia?" Miku asked.

The others looked at Luka with deadpan expressions. Luka was sure they knew about her little crush, but couldn't they be a little less obvious about it?

Luka swallowed. "Right, she's my little sister, haha, who would have thought! Um, Ia's sick, so she, uh, isn't going to be at, um, school today," Luka finished with aplomb. Without turning around, Luka already knew that the others were shaking their heads at her fumbling. Smoke practically pouring out of her ears, she grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her off to homeroom without seeing Miku's reaction. "Well, won't you look at the time!" Luka said loudly. "Looks like we're off, guys. See you later!" Truly the epitome of equability and responsibility.

The rest of the day flew by with Luka's burning face buried in her arms, her mind replaying her stupidity in her morning conversation. Lily's constant egging certainly did not make matters any easier, and coupled with the thought of Ia sick and bedridden, Luka was more than ready to go home and regain some big sister points. At the sound of the bell, Luka shoved all over her books into her school bag and flew out the door homebound.

Her pace slowed flawlessly to a jog and then to a walk as she approached their house. Opening the door, Luka called "I'm home" and heard a faint "welcome back," muffled by some coughing. Luka quickly shut the door and made her way to the kitchen. After an hour and a half of cooking, the house was filled with the smell of Luka's impeccable cooking. Luka took a lot of pride in her cooking skills, as they gave her quite a bonus in big sister points. Cooking soothed her mind and brought smiles to everyone around her, so Luka turned to cooking as a way of expressing herself when there were no words that could do so accurately.

Turning off the stove, Luka smiled and carried the bowl of chicken congee upstairs. She opened Ia's door with one hand, balancing the bowl in the other. Seeing Luka, Ia sat up from her fort of fluffy pillows and smiled. "Thank you," she said, taking the bowl.

"No problem," said Luka with a smile, content that she had proven herself after her disastrous day. Luka was satisfied with watching Ia eat happily, deciding to keep it secret what their friends thought of her personality. Just as Luka opened her mouth to ask her how her day was, the doorbell rang. Luka raised an eyebrow. Who was visiting their house on a school night?

"I'll get it," Luka said as she marched downstairs.

Opening the door, she was greeted with the sight of bright teal hair. Instantly, Luka had to will her flush to stay hidden.

"Hi again, Luka-senpai." Miku said, with a more of a subdued voice than usual. "I brought over some stuff because you told me that Ia was sick."

Luka blinked. "Sure, come in," she said, gesturing inside. Although this time her voice was steady, Luka's mind was far from calm. Her mind was filled with thoughts like "OMG Miku's at my house!" and "calm down—she's not even here for you!"

"Thanks!" Miku smiled softly, walking in and taking off her shoes.

Luka nodded. "Ia's room is upstairs. First door to the left."

"Okay!" said Miku as she shuffled up the stairs towards the indicated door. As soon as Ia's door was shut, the house was silent. And Luka realized something. Somethings. Miku was the only one who didn't call Ia "Luka's mini-me". Why was the door shut? What kind of person brings stuff over to a friend's house when he or she is informed that said friend is sick? (Contrary to what anime will have you think, no one in real life is quite that nice.) All of these thoughts spun around and around in Luka's head, until the turmoil was too much for her to bear. Luka then resolved to do her homework to keep her mind off the circumstances.

After finishing three pages' worth of calculus, reading ten more chapters than what was required for English class, and writing the next five days' worth of history notes still had Miku and Ia quietly chatting up in Ia's room, Luka's mind began to fill with restlessness once again. What were they doing? What were they doing? What were they doing? Making up her mind, she marched up the stairs and swiftly opened Ia's door. Miku looked up from her chair by Ia's bed with surprise.

Seeing Miku's eyes widened so cutely, Luka's resolve began to crumble again. "Um, hi, sorry to, um, interrupt," Luka stammered. "Can I, um, talk to you, Miku?"

To her surprise, Miku blushed a little, but Luka chalked it up to the lighting or embarrassment at having to talk to a practical stranger outside of school.

As they stepped into the hall and closed Ia's door, Luka cleared her throat although the action did little to settle her nerves. Hands clenched, Luka despaired in finding out that the words she wanted to say were stuck to the roof of her mouth. Every breath she let out chased the last until her breath ran short and ragged. Miku probably thought she was a weirdo, bringing her out into the hallway just to hyperventilate. After all, every one of Luka's actions that say seemed to show that Luka was some type of weirdo who forgot her sister and panicked at the very sight of Miku. Luka, however, did not want to leave this impression on Miku. Steeling herself, Luka stood up straight and stared into Miku's eyes. "What kind of music do you like to listen to?"

"Eh?"

"What kind of food do you like to eat?"

"Eh?"

"Um…." Luka paused. What was she doing? Being some type of interviewer? Regardless, none of these questions were what she had wanted to ask Miku. While Miku and Ia were talking in Ia's room, she felt strange and unpleasant. At last, Luka was realizing that the feeling was jealousy. Jealousy was unpleasant to swallow, lumped in her throat along with her heart and jumbled up thoughts.

"What's your relationship with my sister?"

"EH?!"

Luka, eyebrows drawn closely, mouth set in a grim line, and feet planted squarely in the ground, stared intensely at Miku with serious blue eyes. Unlike the morning, now there would be no running or lame excuses. Presently, Miku was standing too close for Luka to see her as the same faraway girl with the hair dancing in the breeze. Luka was not earning anyone any points by equivocating and hesitating. Despite her shortcomings as an older sister, Luka knew that she at least had the pride not to tread upon her sister's happiness should Miku be interested in Ia. Heart beginning to crack, Luka smiled at Miku. "After all, you did come all the way over to our house to take care of her." Really, it was fine. If being an older sister meant hiding the cracks behind a mask, then Luka was simply the best. "It's okay. I understand what it feels like to like someone! Just tell me if that's how you feel about my sister." Crap, the mask was beginning to fracture more and more. Guileless crystal blue was beginning to show.

As expected, Miku ducked her head, shy eyes concealed behind her teal fringe. She brought her hands up from her sides and twiddled her fingers nervously, mumbling incoherently. Luka's smile stretched wider. It did not hurt. Not at all. "It's just that," Luka started gently, voice unwavering, "I love my sister. I can't have just anyone dating her, you know?" Luka laughed, despite her ruptured lungs. "So I'm just here to give you the standard 'if you hurt my sister, I'll hurt you' talk!" Luka's throat was filling with dust, but she kept her unwavering smile because it did not hurt. Not at all.

But it was really cracking. It was inevitable that Luka would choke on the dust that was filling her lungs. Even though it was barely a cough, barely a concealed sob, Miku's eyes snapped open, in time with the last crack in Luka's armor.

"Luka, you're wrong!" Miku shouted, panicked. Teal eyes wide with concern invaded Luka's vision, while delicate hands gripped Luka's shoulders, shaking her vigorously. "About me and Ia," Miku ducked again for a second, before she shook her head forcefully and looked up again with determination, "we're just friends! Um, actually, the truth is — " Miku slipped her arms from Luka's shoulders and held them close to her own chest. Miku took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

"The truth is that I really like you!"

Luka's eyes popped open.

Miku stood with her hands clutched earnestly to her heart. "I knew that I liked you, like, six trillion years ago, when I heard you sing. Your voice was super pretty and your hair was super pretty, oh, and your eyes were super pretty too! I've wanted to tell you since April, but I was too shy to bring it up! And then, this morning, I said hi, but you didn't say hi back, so I thought you hated me or something" - Luka paled at the thought – "but I knew that you were too nice to hate anyone. But you ran off really suddenly, so I got really scared! And then I went to bio, and we learned about bacterial infections and stuff, so I remembered that Ia was sick, and I got an idea!"

Miku suddenly stopped her speech and bowed. "I'm sorry, but I used Ia's sickness as an excuse to come to your house!" Then, she looked up with tears in her eyes. "I get it if you don't like girls or don't like me or anything like that. I can leave now if that's what you want!" Miku's voice began to quiver, and her usual soprano lowered in dejection. "I just really needed to tell you that, Luka-senpai." Miku looked up and smiled, still teary-eyed. With Miku's smile, Luka snapped out of her stupefied state and walked forward. Miku's eyes widened momentarily, before she lowered her head as if she expected Luka to slap her. Instead, she was surprised by Luka's arms wrapping her in a warm hug.

"Lu-Luka-senpai?"

Luka tightened her arms around Miku's petite frame. "I like you, too," she mumbled.

Quietly, the door opened. Luka looked over immediately. "Ia-chan?"

Ia smiled. "I'm all better now thanks to the both of you," she said. "You heard her answer, right, Miku?"

Luka and Miku blushed, before Miku hugged back with the same intensity. Luka felt warmth spreading throughout her body, melting away the remainder of any facades that she had ever put up. It was warmth blossoming beneath her skin and burning like a tender flame within her heart. Perhaps the lousy upperclassman character had a shot after all.

Omake:

Luka drove Miku home on account of how dark it was becoming, bidding her goodnight with a shy but warm hug on her front porch. After that, Luka's confidence in her big sister skills was once again restored as she assisted Ia with her English homework. Humming a sunny rondo to herself, she flipped through the pages of Ia's essay and kept an eye out for any grammatical errors.

"Hey," Ia's soft voice broke the silence between the sisters.

Luka paused her humming and looked over at her. "What's up?"

"I forgot to mention it this morning," Ia said casually, "but I'm dating Yukari now."

Luka facefaulted. How could her older sister instincts fail her yet again?

I love puns. And apparently I love making Luka suffer. Whoops lol. Yo, kudos to anyone who manages to find all nine vocaloid song puns in the story! Some of them are super obvious and some of them are super subtle. I also used the idea of "points" from Oregairu. (There's a bonus anime opening pun, too!)