Over the course of one single week, three things had been broken in the Vocaloid household, and thus, three young men had unintentionally maddened the women that loved them. May be so that there still weren't any official couples in the house, but the latter was still a fact. For instance, Luka and Gakupo had yet not proclaimed themselves boyfriend and girlfriend, but the affectionate acts between them could just as well have done it for them. There were everything from flirty smiles to intimate caresses, both of which they didn't try to keep discreet when anyone else was around. Miku supposed that was what you called "skinny love", since the two of them clearly had romantic feelings for each other but was just too shy to admit it. She wouldn't be surprised if they one day decided to come out as a pair, though. It was really leaning towards a question of when rather than if.
When it came to Kaito and Rin however, it was an entirely different story. Miku had never outright asked Luka what she felt about Gakupo, but she did once in a while ask Rin if she had feelings for Kaito. The answer had always been a furious denial, but while delivering it, she always acted far too suspiciously flustered to make it seem like an honest response. Kaito's replies were almost identical, crammed with just as stuttering and anxious eye-roving as Rin's, although not perhaps as insulting towards her. Rin's answers, on the other hand, frequently included the word moron, dumbass, or idiot, which did fit in the context but still didn't seem sincere. Besides, it wasn't that hard to spot the rosy blush that surfaced on her cheeks every time Kaito was within an arms length's reach, nor the longing, lingering glances he cast at her whenever she wasn't looking his way. At first, Miku had found their awkward methods of concealing their not-so-secret fondness towards each other rather amusing to observe, but after a while it had almost become painful. Despite that everyone else appeared to have noticed, both of them were genuinely oblivious of the fact that they shared the same feelings towards one another. But even if this was sad and troublesome at times, the other Vocaloids – except Len, who for some ironic reason (considering Rin was his twin sister) also remained clueless of what was going on – had all agreed that it'd be best if Kaito and Rin resolved this by themselves. Because of Rin's stubbornness and Kaito's fatuity, it seemed unlikely that they would end up together, but Miku still hoped they would.
This week had unfortunately not been very promising for these two relationships though. As said, things had been broken. The first thing that had been broken was a beautiful, rare tea set that Luka had brought home with her and proudly showed off for everyone to see. It was a proper catch, she'd said, overjoyed with herself. Not only did the delicate tea set possess exquisite details and grace, but it was also antique and she'd managed to get a hold of it with a great bargain. Miku had concurred that it was a good find and had commended her for it. For the next few days after that, Luka had used the tea set diligently and adopted a very elegant, regal air that suited her quite well. But that only lasted until the day Gakupo was washing the dishes and accidentally knocked the whole tea set off the shelf when he was filling it with clean plates. The tea set, fragile as it was, had shattered into a million pieces the instant it collided with the floor. With his honourable manners as a samurai, Gakupo had immediately confessed his miscue to Luka and apologised, but Luka had been beyond devastated and as punishment given him the cold shoulder ever since. Gakupo had decided to not even attempt sweet talk to earn her forgiveness, but had instead started searching high and low to find a tea set that at least resembled the one he'd ruined. So far, however, his efforts had been without any luck.
The second thing that had been broken that week was Rin's foot. Meiko had ordered her, Kaito, Len and Miku to sort out the old cardboard boxes in the garage to settle what would be kept and what would be disposed of. Rin had tried to reach the top of a tower of five boxes, but failed to due to her seize. Kaito had noticed her struggle because of her exasperated muttering and gone over to lend her a helping hand. Alas, it seemed like the weight of the top box – which for whatever reason contained a bowling ball – had taken him by surprise and therefore slipped through his fingers, crashing right down onto Rin's foot. Her pained shriek had caused both Len and Miku to fly off their feet and Kaito to start back with horror. Off they had gone to the hospital, and as expected, the diagnosis wasn't merciful.
But the fact that her foot had been crushed by a bowling ball wasn't even the main cause to why Rin was in an unusually ill-tempered mood. The injury had made her incapable of attending the group's trip to the amusement park, which she'd been looking forwards to for weeks. They hadn't been able to delay the trip any longer since the coupons they had derived (the only reason to why Meiko had agreed they should go in the first place) were about to expire, and even Rin was sensible enough to admit that there was no point of them all staying home just because she couldn't go. Kaito had volunteered to abstain for her sake, but in return she had disdainfully told him that there was no need to because "the sole sight of his stupid face made her foot ache worse". Poor Kaito hadn't been allowed to redeem himself for the disaster, because despite how much he tried to conciliate her, Rin would always snap something vicious at him to scare him away. She'd spent the rest of the week stranded on the couch, her plastered foot supported on a pile of pillows while she was watching TV and comfort-eating all the orange flavoured sweets she could think of. She'd actually bribed Len to supply her with them so she could refuse whatever Kaito attempted to offer her. Len didn't seem too happy to constantly rush back and forth to the store, but didn't want to fall as victim of his sister's rage either (even though Miku had heard him grumble "what a pain in the ass" a considerable amount of times).
The third thing that had broken that week was perhaps the most difficult to fix. Since Rin had been left at home, Miku had figured that she could take advantage of her absence to get closer with Len at the amusement park. If she'd only known how wrong she'd been. At the end of the day, she'd barely spent any time alone with him at all, because once they'd entered the gates, Gumi had promptly grabbed onto his arm and dragged him with her all over the place. When they all gathered later to eat lunch together, Miku was already consumed by envious wrath and had petulantly told Gumi it wasn't fair that she'd been hauling Len around without any consideration of his own volition.
"But if Len-kun didn't want to come with me, don't you think he'd tell me?" she'd said and flashed a taunting grin that had made Miku grit her teeth with anger. She'd then turned directly to Len, her teal eyes filled with desperation as she tried her best to convey her need for his empathy.
"Would you really, Len? Are you sure you that don't mind being jerked around like this?" she'd wondered, accenting her words with an imploring tone. His eyes had nervously switched from her to Gumi, who had batted her eyelashes and smarmily snuggled up against him.
"I…" he'd started with a slight quavering in his voice, pausing as his fleeting gaze shifted between them once more. "I r-really don't mind. I'm perfectly fine with it, actually."
Miku had shot a ferocious glare at Gumi who had smirked smugly in return as though to flaunt her triumph. Miku had nearly been forced to swallow down tears when the two of them rushed off again, a fierce sense of betrayal burning deep within her. Just how insensitive could Len be? Because of him she'd been left with Luka who didn't even dare trying out the wicked rollercoaster she'd been so excited about. Meiko hadn't wanted to go on any rides whatsoever, and Kaito and Gakupo had already strolled off together, probably discussing the "womanly issues" they were dealing with at the moment. Miku had considered trying out the roller coaster on her own, but that hadn't exactly been an attractive option either. Therefore, she'd only ended up wishing Rin could be there more than ever.
So as fast as they'd come home again, Miku had flung herself upon the couch and been more than happy to rant away with Rin about how complete morons guys could be at times. That had turned out to become the best part of the day. Their hostile attitude had kept everyone else out of the living room while they watched cheesy, romantic comedies, scribbled on Rin's plaster and stuffed themselves so full of sweets they could hardly move an inch afterwards. Still, Miku hadn't been able to get over the fact that Len had chosen Gumi over her. She'd known him for longer than Gumi had and therefore presumed she was closer to him than she was. But she'd been proven wrong on that assumption, and that was why the third and final thing that had broken that week was her heart.
The tension in the house was extremely unsettling at this point. Luka was still ignoring Gakupo, Rin was still picking on Kaito, and Miku stayed isolated in her room, unsure of how to handle her own situation. She lied in her bed, rolling back and forth as she tried to keep her thoughts sorted long enough to make sense out of them. She wondered to herself why there wasn't some kind of manual for these sorts of things. It'd make everything so much easier if she had detailed instructions which she could follow step by step to achieve the result she desired. But there she was, wallowing in her own wretchedness because she was too gutless to act upon her instincts and do something that could jeopardise her relationship with Len. Then, within a brilliant revelation, it came to her. The perfect way to distract her mind from hovering around Len would be to involve in something else – an issue that would demand her full attention. And wasn't it just a fantastic coincidence that she had not one, but two of them to pick from? Why bother to pick, by the way, when she could devote all the time she had at hand to resolve both of them? She could become like cupid, patching up the ripped bonds between two lovers that had been led astray from each other! That shouldn't be too hard to follow through with, should it? Besides, even if it would turn out to be problematic, she did enjoy a good challenge. After all, what was she not if not the most successful Vocaloid in the entire world? She could totally do this!
Suddenly brimming over with positivity and enthusiasm, Miku sat up and bounced off her bed. She scuttered over to her desk and plumped down on the office chair as she launched her computer. She knew that Gakupo most likely hadn't sought so much for tea set outside Japan since he rarely used computers (he was sometimes sort of old fashioned in his approach), so the first task she had ahead was quite simple really. All she had to do was to localise a tea set that would satisfy Luka's demands and receive her approval. She was confident she could meet these criteria since Luka was, like Rin, equivalent to a sister for her, so naturally she stored a lot of knowledge about Luka's personal preferences. To assure that she'd utilise this information, Miku quickly scribbled down a few keywords – helpful guidelines that she'd go by throughout her search – and opened the browser.
Many hours passed by as she scrolled through countless search results and gathered every possible choice to scrutinise later on. She didn't take notice of how the clock ticked away, nor how the sun crawled its way down under the horizon until it was only casting a minuscule amount of dim light into her room. Neither did she take notice of how her eyes grew weary and dry from peering at the computer screen, nor how her stomach was beginning to rumble with hunger. But, she did notice the light knock on the door that made her jolt out of her trance. Luckily, she managed to minimise the picture of an almost impeccable copy of Luka's tea set, just in time before her pink-haired friend opened the door.
"Hey there", she said softly as she stepped inside the room, pressing the lamp switch to eradicate the gloom within. "Dinner's ready. I tried calling for you but you didn't answer."
"Oh, right! I'll be down in a bit!" Miku exclaimed, hoping that her uptight smile didn't appear as shady as she suspected it did. Luka titled her head, her brows knitting together as her powder blue eyes curiously darted to the computer screen. Miku swallowed stiffly, her whole body on edge.
"You know, I haven't seen you around all day. What have you been up to?" Luka wondered, her voice emitting a mild mistrustfulness that made beads of sweat surface on Miku's skin.
"Ah, uh, I just… I found this really cool online game and I got stuck with it, I guess?" she lied with a fluttery gesture towards the computer, impressed with her success to not stutter. A thoughtful frown had taken form upon Luka's face and she nodded slowly, which was probably an indication that she was still dubious of Miku's explanation. Yet, she ended up giving it a shrug and exited the room without another word. Miku released a relieved gust of breath through her mouth, letting her back and shoulders slouch. Then, a victorious grin manifested upon her face and she raced about the room for a lap or two, overflowing with so much glee she felt like doing cartwheels just for the heck of it. The tea set she'd stumbled upon on the Internet would definitely meet Luka's requirements. It was presently located in Germany, but that shouldn't be an issue thanks to how the efficient shipping industry was these days. Now all she ought to do was to inform Gakupo of her outstanding discovery and the deal would be sealed. But she would have to operate this part of her plan with subtlety. She considered it necessary for him to believe that it was his own endeavours that had scored this bounty, or else it was likely he'd refuse to accept the credit because of his humbleness. It was crucial to the entire plot that he'd be the one to single-handedly retrieve Luka's tea set if she'd be guaranteed to forgive him. The tricky question was just how exactly Miku would be able to set that up with prosperity.
She spent the entire dinner visualising every scenario she could come up with to finish off her mastermind plan, while Luka and Gakupo sat next to each other in total silence. What fretted Miku was that none of her ideas seemed to reach the measure of realism she was in need of, which troubled her enough to plough deep creases into her forehead. In addition, everything was made worse by the fact that Gumi was sitting next to Len, prattling away as if there was no tomorrow and completely wrecking Miku's focus. So at the end of the evening, all the her intense brooding had given fruit to was, frankly, a very indiscreet act that she was about ninety per cent sure someone as alert and intelligent as Gakupo wouldn't be misled by. But she figured it was worth a shot, so later that evening, she snuck through the hall over to his bedroom. She scanned the corridor up and down first, making sure the coast was clear, before she gave his door a rapid knock and waited for it to open.
"Oh, hello, Miku-san… I wasn't expecting to see you here", Gakupo said somewhat confoundedly, as he peeked out from behind the door. It was easy to presume that she wasn't the one he'd been hoping to be visited by, even if he was skilled at concealing his disappointment.
"Hi!" Miku chirped as response, taking a quick look around once more to reassure that Luka wasn't in the vicinity. "Yeah… um, I was just wondering whether you're still looking for that tea set."
"Yep", Gakupo answered, a heavy sough emerging between his lips. "I still haven't found anything similar, though. I think I've covered almost all of Japan soon. It doesn't look too good."
"Well, maybe you should think of moving on?" Miku suggested cagily, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly. Gakupo seemed to perk and his features lightened as if he'd come to insight.
"You mean like looking abroad? I suppose that's a better than just giving up."
"Yes, that's a wonderful idea!" Miku agreed and nodded, perhaps with a bit too much excitement. "And you know what? I actually happen to know a couple of great sites that are really worth trying out first. If you have time, you can come over to my room right now and look at them on my computer."
Appearing vaguely surprised towards her unsurmised eager, Gakupo regarded her in daze for a few seconds, before he shrugged and gave her a thankful smile.
"Okay, sure then", he concurred and earned an exhilarated grin from Miku. She grabbed him by the sleeve and scurried back with him through the corridor, dragging him into her room and shutting the door before anyone had spotted them. Humming happily, offered the chair to Gakupo and clicked up the first site on her screen to show him. She'd added five sites to her bookmarks, four of which were flukes to make her staged proposal seem less suspicious. Gakupo checked each page upon the sites one by one, his good mood taking a turn for the worse every time he established it was a dead end. At last, he rummaged through the final site, rather abject since he hadn't found anything of use so far, but nearly jumped out of the chair when he came upon the same tea set Miku had discovered earlier.
"This is perfect!" he exclaimed, sounding so amazed it seemed like he couldn't believe his eyes. "This looks exactly like the one she had, right? Or am I being delusional?"
He turned towards Miku for confirmation, a mix of impatience and anxiety playing upon his aspect. Miku couldn't help but grinning from ear to ear as she nodded in agreement.
"It does look the exactly same! What an unexpected coincidence!" she said and mentally gave herself a pat on the shoulder. Her cunning plan had been implemented perfectly and Gakupo had grabbed her bait without a second thought about it. Or well, that's what she'd assumed, until his thrilled smile was transformed into a certain look of cognition, which he directed towards Miku. It was a look that appeared to say "you haven't fooled me", which was indeed what it was intended to.
"I know this wasn't a coincidence", Gakupo told her, solemn all of a sudden. "You fixed this up, didn't you? Don't try to deny it. It would have been too good to be true otherwise."
Miku's grin faded in an instant and she squirmed, uncomfortable beneath the stern surveillance of his violet gaze. After arriving at the conclusion that she had no opportunity of changing his impression with a menial prevarication, she surrendered to the option of telling the truth.
"Yes, I set it up", she admitted, at first in defeat, before she poised herself and issued him a resolute glare. "But don't you dare say that you won't take the honour for this, because if you do, all of my work will go to waste. I did this for yours and Luka's sake, so you better accept it as a favour."
Soughing again, Gakupo gave her a meek smile, slid off the chair and stood up.
"To be honest, I'm not very fond of the idea to deceive Luka", he started, primming as he gathered his thoughts to carefully choose his final decision, "but I'm not very fond of the idea to let your efforts be in vain either. I'll agree to accept this favour, but only on one condition."
"Okay, let's hear it then", Miku answered obediently, although feeling sceptical towards his suggestion. She was providing him with a favour, so shouldn't she be the one to establish the terms?
"I owe you one in return", Gakupo said, and bowed, which was such an unexpected gesture it made Miku submerge in diffidence for a moment. "I take for granted that you did this as much for Luka as for me, and I truly appreciate it. So if you ever find yourself in need of a favour, you can count on me."
"Uh… definitely, I will! Just as long as you don't tell Luka I was behind this", she responded, waving her hands as an attempt to show that his display of gratitude was a little superfluous for her liking.
"Thank you", Gakupo said, conveying an admirable amount of earnestness through no more than his voice and his appreciative aspect. Miku smiled yet again as he nodded at her and left the room. Once the door was closed, her smile took growth until it was matching up to the hyperactive flow of delight within her. "One down, one to go", she thought to herself, before going off to bed.
Eggplants and tuna, ice cream and oranges, bananas and leeks…
"Oh my, how did you find this?" Luka cried out as Gakupo presented the tea set on the kitchen table. It had taken only two days for it to be shipped between Germany and Japan since Gakupo had paid extra for a quick delivery. It was a rather hefty load of cash he'd spent in total, but Miku could tell just by reading the contentment upon his face that the price had been well worth it. She was settled in the puffy armchair in the living room and watched the couple in the corner of her eye. She was heedful enough to make sure that they wouldn't believe she was paying attention to them, but to the magazine on her lap. Still, it was tempting to observe the scene, which could've been snatched right out of a romantic novel. Luka flung her arms around Gakupo's neck and a muffled giggle was heard when he wrapped her into his embrace, the two of them pressing their bodies together for the longest while.
"I take it you like it?" Gakupo chuckled once they pulled away, his hands resting on Luka's hips.
"Of course I do! It's remarkable!" she exclaimed, her smile beaming like the sun on a blazing hot summer day. "I can't believe you went through the trouble of finding something so similar."
Gakupo reached up and gentled her cheek, the tenderness in the manners with which he treated her so lucid, Miku doubted that even someone as obtuse as Kaito would evade its presence.
"I was just hoping to… make up with you", he said, his voice a mere whisper. "I shouldn't have broken the tea set in the first place. It was a clumsy, mindless mistake. Can you forgive me?"
"I forgive you, so don't worry about it anymore", Luka mumbled as she placed her own hand upon his, curling her delicate fingers around his palm. Then, she brought both of their hands down again, used her grip to tug him closer, and planted a long-lasting smooch upon his cheek. She stepped back, casting a coy look his way as she let the hold of their hands slowly disband while she walked backwards out of the kitchen. Gakupo was left staring after her, enraptured, grinning, and looking somewhat disconnected from reality as if he was in his own little world of dreams. Unfortunately, his visit was cut short since a piercing squeal suddenly sliced through the air, causing both him and Miku to give a start.
"YOU BRAINLESS TWERP, I TOLD YOU TO LET ME BE!"
It was without question Rin's shrill voice that rung through the house. Miku sprang out of the armchair and sought out the source of the sound. She came rushing into the hallway just as Kaito rounded the corner on the upper floor and found Rin sitting at the bottom of the stairs, clutching onto her injured foot. Miku walked up to her and heard her kvetch distressfully, her mouth deforming into a grimace.
"Rin, what happened?" Miku wondered, verging closer with cautious steps. Rin's head shot up in an instant and a sullen scowl clothed her face, her cerulean eyes smouldering with resentment.
"HE STEPPED ON IT!" she spat, practically growling as she bit down on her lower lip to smother a whimper. "I told that insufferable cornball that I didn't want his help. If anyone's helping me up the stairs he's the last person I'd want to do it. But he just wouldn't listen! He wouldn't get out of my way! And then, he stepped on my foot, my broken foot – as if it wasn't broken enough already!"
"He was just trying to help, Rin…" Miku tried, but Rin disregarded her words with a spiteful snort.
"He was just trying to help the last time too, and that's how I ended up with this."
She motioned towards her foot in order to make her point, and Miku couldn't deny it was counted as valid. Despite Gakupo's misshapen with the tea set, Kaito was the one true klutz in the house. Although his intentions often were benevolent, it was seldom translated that way through his actions since he was so awkward. In addition, he tended to screw up the worst when he was flustered, which he was most around the one person he'd least like to embarrass himself in front of. It was the person he loved, Rin. But Rin wasn't aware of that and was hardly relenting towards his fumbling propensities.
"I can't understand how someone can be as impossibly empty-headed as him", she grizzled, a profound bitterness enchased in her tone. That's when Miku realised what she had to do in order to unravel their conflict. When it came to the crumb, Kaito's ineptitude wasn't the main issue at all. Rin's dishonesty was the crucial component that took toll on their relationship. Therefore, Miku's task was to set her head straight, compel her to recognise the danger of her devious behaviour. And she would do just that.
"You know, if you keep this up, Kaito might start to think that you hate him", she said grievously, crossing her arms over her chest. Rin ceased sulking abruptly and her expression betrayed her for a split second. Worry, dismay, despair… it was all there, exposing her actual feelings.
"He wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed plaintively, then seemed to recall her quarrel with the person in question and gained back her composure. "But it's not like I care if he did, though."
"But what if he started to hate you, would you care then?" Miku wondered, noting how the blonde immediately tensed and stared at her with an indignant gaze. "It's not impossible, you know. He might be an idiot but he's always as nice to you as you can and you just keep harassing him. Be honest with yourself for once, Rin. You really want him to like you, don't you?"
A shadow swept across Rin's face, her eyes darkened again and she clenched her jaw.
"For the last time, I do NOT have a crush on him!" she hissed with hushed voice, a furious flush rising to her face. Miku simply arched her eyebrows and countered Rin's glare with a critical look.
"How come you stopped calling him Kaito-nii?" she asked inquisitively, which made Rin's eyes trail away and get fixed at a spot on the floor – an unmistakable sign of insecurity.
"That's… none of your business", she grumbled, clutching her tiny fists tightly as she tried to prevent herself from getting too provoked by Miku's attempts to push her buttons.
"Was it because you didn't want him to see you as a little sister anymore?"
A sharp cringe travelled through Rin's body and her nails bit deeper into her palm. Bullseye, huh?
"But it doesn't matter, does it?" she mumbled, fiddling with a loosened piece of wallpaper on the wall behind her. "Even if I did have a crush on him – which I don't – it wouldn't make any difference."
"What do you mean by that?" Miku pressured her for elaboration, sensing that she was finally retrieving a whit of sincerity out of Rin's words. Her expression was now one of explicit dejection, presumably because of the same type of devastating heartache Miku herself had experienced.
"Isn't it obvious?" Rin snapped with an unamused sigh, the corners of her mouth stretching downwards in umbrage. "If Kaito and I became a couple it'd be the flop of the century. First, everyone would just think it's some kind of absurd joke. Then, all of our fans would riot because it's such an unthinkable, ridiculous idea. There's clearly a reason to why I never get to do songs alone with him. Nobody wants to see him and me together! I've even done more duets with Gakupo-nii than I have with him! So why would it matter if I have feelings for him? We're never going to be together like that anyway!"
The following silence was thick and suffocating from Rin's infuriated outburst. She was glowering straight at Miku again with those ardent eyes, kindled by frustration and slightly red around the edges. After realising she'd pushed her luck too far, Miku sealed her lips and withdrew to allow Rin some space and time to calm down. It'd be a lie to claim that things had gone according to plan, but at least she hoped she'd softened Rin's heart a bit. Perhaps, if she was lucky, that'd be all that was required.