(Hi! I just wanted you to know that this story was written a while ago, and then the way I write things is a bit different now, so sorry if this looks really goofy and stuff! XD Thanks for reading)
A Leek and a Ring
Prologue
Since the dawn of time, music has played its song for humanity. It is a key factor in our lives, surely something the universe wouldn't be the same without. Some people don't understand the beauty of music, you see. Music can open up doors to other worlds. It has inspired people to do good things, with its lyrics and melodies. People have changed the world with music. It's very simple-one person can do so just by writing one song. That's all it takes, and because of that reason, music is one of the most powerful things known to man.
But of course, this great power has its dark side. Not all music is good and pure. Some songs have caused people to do horrible, sinful things. When I said one song could change the world, I did not mean that this change would be good. One song can surely change the world, indeed. But this one song could bring out the evil in everyone. This song could make people become horrible demons who enjoy the pain of others. Hard to believe? I know it is, but that's all it takes. One song that will sing out what people think is the truth is truly only sin.
Since one sinful song is all it takes to make humanity riot, the gods above must use all of their power to maintain music. They would need nothing but virtuous music to keep humanity pure. They would need something (or someone) who would keep the powers of good music safe. Someone who would encourage humanity to do good things for the world with the power of this pure music.
So, the gods created something known as Vocaloid.
Vocaloid would be a synthesizer that you could upload onto your computer. One could type certain words at certain pitches to create a song using a voice that came from a human. You see, a person could insert a bunch of words at a bunch of different pitches into the synthesizer to create their Vocaloid. Each Vocaloid has their own specific voice and character image. That character's image was on the cover of the box that the synthesizer was in. (The gods also created UTAU-or, Utauloid if you prefer-because people were getting all whiny over how expensive a Vocaloid was, "WAAAH! WAAAH! THIS IS TOO EXPENSIVE! IT'S LIKE, TONS OF YEN!", so they made the UTAUs free to download. But, we'll save the story of the UTAUs for some other time.)
But the true purpose of the Vocaloid was, of course, to spread the virtue of music throughout the world. And fortunately, the gods succeeded in their attempt. The Vocaloids were incredibly famous all over the world. People would stop and listen to whatever new song came out that was sung by one of these Vocaloids.
It seemed that the Vocaloids were the pure embodiments of music itself. They sang songs about everything- from love songs to sad songs, from jazz to country, from rock to pop. But, what some people don't know is that the first Vocaloids weren't very successful. The first five, Leon, Lola, Miriam, Meiko, and Kaito sold horribly. No one seemed to pay attention to these wonderful music-makers. It wasn't until she came that Vocaloid became popular. It's her that Vocaloid owns its success to. This very special girl is the one who truly started it all.
The gods made her the chosen one. The chosen Vocaloid who would lead the world into a golden age of music. This girl would change the world forever. She would make the world laugh, cry, scream, smile, and sing. Her name, you ask? Her name is…
…Miku Hatsune.
Chapter 1
"It's true! I'm not lying! I really saw it!"
"Yeah, sure you did. Like how you saw a UFO up in the hills the other night?"
"Okay, I admit, that was probably a mushroom induced hallucination, but I'm telling you, what I saw last night was real!"
"Give it up already, Jonouchi…"
The girl with blue eyes and chestnut-colored hair, Anzu Mazaki, scolded the boy with blond hair and hazel eyes, Katsuya Jonouchi. Anzu was a proud and courageous girl. She wouldn't let anybody keep her down, her confidence shining brighter than any girl's confidence in the entire school. She had a dream to grow up and move to New York to become a Broadway dancer, and she was determined to keep that dream.
Jonouchi was a strong fighter, totally serious when it came down to a fight. But, he's truly goofy and friendly, as proud and confident as Anzu. The winner of almost all of his fights, Katsuya Jonouchi is not to be taken lightly.
They both wore school uniforms- the girl's, having a pink jacket with a blue skirt and a matching bowtie, and the boy's, a basic boy's blue uniform, only his jacket was unbuttoned so that his white shirt underneath was showing.
"Come on, Yugi! You gotta back me up on this!" Jonouchi said to another boy standing next to him.
This boy had spiky, multi-colored hair that was basically shaped like a star. It seemed like his original hair color was black, but he dyed the edges a magenta color, and his bangs were dyed yellow. This boy was a bit shorter than the rest of the group, and he wore his school uniform in a punk style. He wore a choker around his neck and he wore an unusual looking golden, pyramid shaped pendant on a chain. He was the King of Games, Yugi Mutou.
Yugi was meek and shy, but incredibly friendly and fun once you got to know him. He was the King of Duelists, the best at Duel Monsters. When armed with his Millennium Puzzle, you couldn't beat him in a game. Just like Jonouchi, he was not to be taken lightly with.
"Well, Jonouchi…I don't know if such a thing exists…" Yugi said nervously.
"Ah, what?! Not you, too!" Jonouchi groaned, giving himself a face-palm.
"You probably just ate poisonous mushrooms again, Jonouchi. Why fret over a hallucination?" A brown haired boy with brown eyes said, wrapping his arm around Hher name,Hhhh
Jonouchi's shoulder. He wore the same blue school uniform as the blond boy, also opening the jacket to where he could show his white t-shirt underneath.
He was Hiroto Honda, a boy just as tough as Jonouchi. Honda was always there to cheer on Yugi and us, helping us all when times got hard. Brave with a strong will, this teenager was good with a gun, so…I wouldn't make an enemy of him if I were you.
"I did not eat any poisonous mushrooms last night! I would know if I did. There would be a horrible stomach ache followed by deadly diarrhea…" Jonouchi said, sticking his tongue out in disgust.
"We don't want to hear about your diarrhea, Jonouchi…" The chestnut-colored hair girl said.
"Well, pick, woman! Do you want me to talk about Bigfoot or my diarrhea? 'Cuz those are the only two things on my mind right now!" He complained.
Jonouchi turned to face me. "Well, what do you think, Bakura? Do you believe me?"
"Um…" I couldn't really say yes. I mean, I guess that nothing is impossible, but I don't think Jonouchi of all people saw Bigfoot.
"No, eh? I see…" Jonouchi said disappointed.
"Where exactly did you see the so-called Bigfoot, anyways?" Honda asked.
"At the park last night! He was messin' around with the trees and bushes and stuff! He was big and furry and brown and-"
"-Did he have big feet?" Honda asked, cutting Jonouchi off in the middle of his sentence.
"…I didn't check." Jonouchi replied.
"You know, sometimes people are hired to go and trim the trees and bushes." Yugi said.
"Then why was he out late at night?" Jonouchi asked.
"So that they don't bother anybody who's playing at the park during the day." Yugi answered.
"W-Well, why was he so tall and furry?!"
"It was probably cold outside. He was more than likely wearing a coat. And a lot of people are tall. That doesn't mean that they're Bigfoot."
Yugi seemed to have an answer for every one of Jonouchi's questions. I suppose Jonouchi gave up on the thought of there being such a thing as Bigfoot…
"…I still believe he's out there, though!" Jonouchi yelled hopefully.
…or maybe not.
"It's nice to dream. A guy needs a fantasy every once in a while to keep himself unstressed." Honda said, smiling.
"I've gotta get going, guys. Grandpa wanted me to help him clean the store today." Yugi said.
"See you tomorrow, Yugi!" Anzu waved goodbye.
"Bye!" Yugi said, running up the sidewalk.
Jonouchi put a proud smile on his face. "You know, I got a feeling that something great is gonna happen today! I just know it!"
"What are you going on about now?" Honda asked.
"Call it a superstition, if you will. But I can feel it! I could bet money on the fact that something amazing will happen!"
"Too bad you don't have any money to bet on." Honda said.
"Oh, I see! Pick on the poor boy!" Jonouchi grinned sarcastically.
"Am I wrong?" Honda laughed.
Jonouchi thought for a moment. "…No." He said.
My name is Ryou Bakura. You see, the spotlight isn't shed on me much, but this time…I'm sure there's something to be said, right? My hair is long and white, and yes, it's unusual, but please don't make a fuss over it. (For every time a person went on about my hair, it would make up all of the stars in the sky, for goodness sake…) I go to Domino High School with the rest of my friends.
Suddenly, someone ran into Jonouchi and pushed him over.
"Whoa! 'Scuze me, buddy!" He said.
The man who ran into Jonouchi obviously didn't care that he pushed him onto the ground on accident. He gathered around a large crowd of people in front of a market.
"Huh? What's with the crowd?" Honda asked.
"Maybe there's a big sale?" Anzu implied.
All of us went to go check out the reason for all of this commotion.
A banner hung above a large stand in front of the store. It read "Lawson Inc. Sweepstakes". The crowd in front of it was going absolutely mad, rioting loudly.
Jonouchi grabbed the shoulder of a man in the crowd.
" 'Scuse me, would you mind telling me what the big fuss is about?" Jonouchi asked.
The man scoffed. "Don't you know? Anyone who buys something from this store and presents the receipt to the lady up front gets to participate in the sweepstakes!"
"…And?" Jonouchi asked, confused.
"The winner gets one hundred thousand yen, or-" The man explained until Jonouchi cut him off in mid-sentence.
"ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND YEN?!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "COUNT ME IN!"
"But Jonouchi, you don't have any money to buy something from this store to get a receipt. And, I don't think you have an old receipt from this store on you right now, right?" Honda said.
Jonouchi growled. "Ha ha ha. Yeah. Well, just so you know, I don't have money on me a lot, but when I do get it, I work for it. Unlike you, who sits on his butt like a pansy while his parents hand him their money, thank you very much."
Honda blushed and didn't say another word.
Jonouchi sighed. Then, he looked at the rest of us with an innocent look on his face.
"Can I borrow some money from one of you guys? PLEASE?" He whined.
Anzu, Honda, and I looked at each other.
"I don't have any money on me right now. Sorry." Anzu said.
"Me neither." Honda said.
The three of them then locked their eyes on me.
"Well? What about you, Bakura?" Jonouchi said, putting a mischievous grin on his face while rubbing his hands together.
"Um…I…uh…" I muttered.
I sighed. I guess I had no choice. I just couldn't lie to Jonouchi, telling him I have no money. So, I pulled out my wallet.
"Here. Go buy an ice-cream or something." I smiled, handing Jonouchi some money.
Suddenly, Jonouchi's face lit up like fireworks. "Bakura…"
He took the money in his hands. "You're…so…kind…"
Then, Jonouchi started jumping in the air, yelling.
"WOO-HOO! I'M GONNA WIN MYSELF SOME MONEY!"
"What makes you think you're gonna win that money, Jonouchi?" Honda asked, crossing his arms.
Jonouchi belted out one of his proud laughs. "Like I said, Honda! I've gotta feeling something great will happen today! This must be it!"
Jonouchi patted my back. "Huh?" What was he doing?
"Bakura, because of your generosity, I promise that if I win this, I'll share the winnings with ya! Whaddaya say?" He smiled.
"W-What? No! You don't have to do that! I'm fine!" My face felt hot. I think I was blushing.
"I'll be right back!" Jonouchi yelled, running into the store.
Honda sighed. "Poor Bakura. Jonouchi's gone and stolen his perfectly good money. He could've used it for something worth of value, like food or clothes. But, Jonouchi wastes it on some crappy sweepstakes."
"Honda! Come on! Have a little faith in him, would you?" Anzu said.
"Anzu, if I'm going to have faith in Jonouchi for anything, it has to be either fighting or Duel Monsters. Anything else other than that…well, let's just say that Jonouchi is pretty much just screwed." Honda explained.
"You really are being a huge buzzkill today, you know that?" Anzu sighed.
Honda laughed. "Well, I gotta get going. Tell me whether or not dog boy wins at school tomorrow, would you?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow, Honda." Anzu waved.
"Goodbye!" I said.
"See ya." Honda waved, walking home.
Jonouchi ran out of the store with a plastic bag in his right hand and a receipt in his left.
"Huh? Where'd Honda go?" He asked, looking around.
"He said he had to go home." Anzu said.
"Too bad. He won't be able to witness this amazing spectacle." Jonouchi said, handing me the plastic bag.
"Here, eat this. I'm gonna go win myself some money!" He turned around, pushing himself through the crowd.
"Cross your fingers." Anzu said. "He'll need the luck."
I crossed my fingers and looked in the plastic bag. There was ice-cream sitting alone at the bottom. I couldn't help but unwrap the treat and eat it.
Me and Anzu watched Jonouchi hand in his receipt to the woman up front. She showed him a big box with a circle shaped hole at the top.
"Katsuya Jonouchi, you say?" The woman asked.
"Yes, ma'am!" Jonouchi said confidently.
"Okay. So here's how to play-you reach your hand into the box and pull out a ball. That ball will be a specific color. If it's red, green, blue, or yellow, you will only win a consolation prize. But, if you pull out a golden ball, you win a grand prize." The woman explained.
"Alright! Let's do this!" Jonouchi rubbed his hands together. He took a deep breath and put his hand in the box.
"You can do it, Jonouchi!" Anzu yelled.
"Good luck!" I yelled with a mouth full of ice-cream.
Jonouchi looked at us and gave us a thumbs-up.
"This guy is gonna lose." One girl said.
"This thing has to be rigged! I tried ten times and I only won cup ramen every time!" Another girl said.
Jonouchi ignored the comments and pulled out a ball.
At that very moment, it seemed like the entire world held its breath.
Jonouchi closed his eyes when he pulled out the ball. When he opened them, his eyes widened.
"Well, I'll be damned…" He said.
When the crowd saw what color ball Jonouchi had pulled out, some groaned in disappointment. But, most of the crowd cheered for him.
Jonouchi had pulled out a golden ball! He actually won!
"I…I DID IT!" Jonouchi held up the golden ball in victory.
Anzu and I ran up to him.
"I can't believe it! You won the grand prize!" Anzu yelled.
"Congratulations, Jonouchi!" I said.
Jonouchi held the ball in his hands. He stared at it in awe. Then he smiled at me.
"I couldn't have done it without ya, Bakura!" Jonouchi said wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"Don't thank me! You're the one who pulled out the ball!" I said.
Jonouchi slammed the golden colored ball onto the table.
"Well, let's see the prize!" He said proudly.
"Alright! Here you go!" The woman said, handing Jonouchi a small, cardboard box. It looked about the size of a book. Maybe that was what the money was in. But, if it's a check, then why did the store go to the trouble of putting it in a box?
Jonouchi started tearing the box open.
"Oh, man! I can't believe it! I got a-"Jonouchi was suddenly silenced. He stared blankly at the open box in his hands.
"What's wrong, Jonouchi?" Anzu asked.
Me and Anzu looked at what was in Jonouchi's hands.
"Oh." Anzu said, understanding why Jonouchi suddenly stopped talking.
In Jonouchi's hands was certainly not a check for one hundred thousand yen. It was…something I have never seen before…
"Wh…What is this?" Jonouchi asked the woman.
"Huh? You don't know what it is?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion.
I stared at the strange thing in Jonouchi's hands. It was a thin, light blue colored box. On the cover of the box was a girl with turquoise pig-tails. On her right shoulder was a tattoo that read "01". She wore a gray shirt with the sleeves cut off, and turquoise ruffles lined the edges of the shirt. Her black arm-warmers had different colored digital bars on it, and so did her skirt. Wrapped around her skirt was a turquoise belt. Her sleek, black boots went above her knees and just below her skirt. The soles of her boots were turquoise like her hair. She wore black headphones with a small microphone sticking out of it, where she could sing into it. Next to this unusual, robotic looking girl was a name written in dark pink. The name was…
"Miku Hatsune is her name. She's something called a 'Vocaloid'. You see, a 'Vocaloid' is a new singing synthesizer that you upload onto your computer. You use this software to create songs. You type in lyrics and melody into the synthesizer to create a song, using vocals borrowed from a professional singer." The woman explained.
"Really…How interesting…" Jonouchi said sarcastically. "How come I got this thing instead of the one hundred thousand yen?"
"Didn't you know? There are two grand prizes in this sweepstakes. So there are two golden balls. You pulled out golden ball number two, so you won grand prize number two. Get it?" The woman said.
"Y-Yeah…thanks…" Jonouchi said sadly.
"You're welcome! Now, who wants to try for the one hundred thousand yen?" The woman yelled.
"ME! I WANT TO!" A man yelled, shoving Jonouchi out of his way.
Suddenly, the crowd started rioting again. So, the three of us ran to a safe point where we wouldn't be trampled by the large crowd.
Jonouchi sighed in disappointment. "What am I supposed to do with this stupid thing?"
"Well, do you have a computer?" Anzu asked.
"No…" Jonouchi replied sadly.
Poor Jonouchi. He wanted that money so badly.
To my surprise, Jonouchi held the software out to me.
"What?" I said, shocked.
"Here. Take it. You have a computer, right?" Jonouchi asked.
"Yes, but-"
"-then take it. You deserve it more than I do, anyways."
"Well…"
A synthesizer that you write songs with? But…I don't even know where to start when it comes to writing songs.
"Come on. Have some fun with it. Even if you don't know how to write songs, it might be a nice thing to play around with every once in a while." Jonouchi said.
I guess I might as well take it.
"Alright…thanks a lot, Jonouchi. I appreciate it!" I said, taking the blue box into my hands.
"Thanks for the help in the sweepstakes, Bakura. Since it was your money that helped me win, so the prize should be yours." He said.
"Thank you. I'll try it out when I get home!" I said.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow, kid!" Jonouchi waved goodbye.
"Bye, Bakura! Goodnight!" Anzu smiled and waved as well.
"Goodnight!" I waved back at Jonouchi and Anzu.
I heard the two of them talking to each other.
"So, win anything other than money and dump it on Bakura, eh?" Anzu joked.
"HEY!" Jonouchi yelled.
The two of them laughed, and I smiled. I walked home holding the little blue box in my hands.
I unlocked the front door of my apartment and walked in. I set down my school bag and headed for the computer.
I sat down and opened the light blue box with the turquoise hair girl on it. I pulled out a disc and turned on the computer. I inserted the disc into the computer. After that…I had no idea what to do. I fiddled around, trying to see what I should have done, but no such luck. I guess this wasn't very well thought out…
So, I went online trying to find out how to install this thing. So, apparently I'm supposed to use this… Okay…so I highlight this…and then I click on that…and then I'm supposed to drag this here and open up one of these…ugh! I just can't get the hang of it! There's so much to do and it's all so confusing!
I was determined to get this Vocaloid thing all straightened out. I messed with it until dark, but I still didn't getting anything out of it. It was getting late, and I considered going to bed. But, I didn't even make it to my bed. I fell asleep at the computer.
I woke up with a start the next morning. The computer was turned off, and the Vocaloid's box lay next to it. Then, I suddenly remembered school.
"Oh, no!" I stood up from the position I was in, and something fell off of me. I looked down and saw a blanket on the floor.
What? How did that get on me? I don't remember putting a blanket on myself last night…
I ignored that and checked the time. Looking at the time, I saw that I most certainly was going to be late for school.
"AH! NO! COME ON!" I gasped, gathering up everything I would for school.
Since I fell asleep in my school uniform, I could check that off the list. As I ran out the door, I smelled something. Something…delicious.
It was coming from the kitchen. When I went to see what it was, I saw what looked like egg wrapped in bacon, and in the egg were some…leeks?
"Wh…what?!" I couldn't believe my eyes. It was as if someone snuck into my home and took care of me last night. Maybe I was sleep-walking…yeah, that had to be it.
But this meal-this beautiful, delicious dish that was surprisingly still warm-how did I just get up and make something as amazing looking as this? I couldn't help but taste it, wherever it had come from. And it-was-awesome. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. The bacon gave it a salty taste while the leek gave it a sweet sort of taste.
I was halfway through the thing before I realized that school was still something I had to go to.
I was disappointed to leave the brilliant snack as I grabbed my schoolbag. I hastily ran out the door to the sunny morning outside.
As I stepped outside, I saw the apartment next to mine had its door open. You could hear the television from the inside blaring the comedy it was showing. Sitting on a dirty and worn out green couch in front of the television was Miss Takanaga, my new next-door neighbor.
"Good morning, ma'am!" I said.
"Piss off."
"Okay…"
Poor Miss Takanaga. She must have been dumped by another one of her boyfriends last night. She's usually so nice, but if you push too many of her buttons…
Oh, things are just refusing to go right today, aren't they?