Mean girls.
Question: What is your name?
Answer: Neru Akita
Question: Who are you?
Answer: _
Neru frowned and raised her hand, eyebrows knitted, "Kiyoteru-sensei?"
"Yes, Akita-san?"
"There seems to be typo on the paper. Question 1 and 2; they're repetitive."
Kiyoteru pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose and took Neru's paper in hand. His eyes scanned the paper one, twice, before handing it back to Neru. "I'm afraid everything is in ship shape, Akita-san."
"Looks like even the nerd can't get everything right," Len, a popular student, snickered. And, of course, likewise, the entire erupted into giggles.
Neru's lips only turned down a smidgen.
After shushing the class with his signature death glare, Kiyoteru bent sown to Neru's level and told her, his voice sympathetic, "The first questions who you are, Neru; like your interests, friends, hobbies; what makes you, you."
Neru gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you, sensei. I understand now."
Kiyoteru straightened up, "Any time, Akita-san."
Neru looked at the paper again. It was going to be so easy. Who was Akita Neru? Well, she was in her first year of high school for starters. But then, everyone in her class was. The back of her pen tapped lightly on her lip. She was smart but not the smartest. The position belonged to the almost other-worldly Meringue Luka. And what was the point of bragging, if she wasn't the best?
She liked music and sang songs when she was alone. But that was private. And, honestly, who else didn't?
Friends? Erm… She had several friendly acquaintances but none that she would purposefully go out of the way for. She wasn't the most social person. Her taste and interest in movies and books were average at best.
Neru hastily thought over Kiyoteru's words.
What made Neru Akita, Neru Akita?
The seconds ticked on and, for the first time, Neru had to give in a sheet with nothing on it but her name.
First name: Neru
Last name: Akita.
Weight: Average.
Age: 17 years old.
Family dynamics: Raised by single mother. Seemingly, there are no issues.
Academics: Average is C
Best in: Math (A)
Worst in: English (D)
Medical records: Health. No disorders.
Criminal record: Clean.
About: Neru is a confident, healthy teenage girl. She has nothing specific to work on; less than average grades but acceptable, has a snarky, sarcastic, arrogant attitude but that is ordinary in teenagers. The most prominent factor about Neru is her escapism through her cell phone (again normal behavior).
Neru's name comes up often with her peers. Feelings associated with her are; admiration, affability, envy. Strangely, there are often less positive attribute as well…
After Neru got home via long reflective walk, she shut herself up in her room. She buried her head in her pillow, trying to block the world out.
'Who are you?' 'Who are you?' The question resounded in her head as Len's mocking voice. The feelings hurt her more than she would ever care to admit, even in the confines of her own head. Her heart felt like an alarm clock and, with every second, there was a small, painfull prick against her chst.
"Who is Neru"
She groaned but it was muffled by the pillow, "Stop!"
But it wouldn't- Not until she got an answer. And she tried, looking over everything in her life until that point. Nothing was significant. Why couldn't she see it before?
She was the only daughter of an accountant, single mother. She had no friends. Her existence was monotone and dreary. She wasn't sugary sweet like Miku. She didn't have Rin's signature cuteness or mischievous humor. Len was rich and charming. Luka was smart and drop dead gorgeous. Meiko was a hot, badass with a motherly side. Even Ba-Kaito, with his blatant, ice-cream-loving stupidity, had a more appealing personality.
Who was she? Neru Akita. Just Neru.
All the playful teases and taunts from before- Neru squeezed the pillow. What if they were right? No, she knew they were.
Neru wanted to punch something. How could she have been so freaking blind?!
Hot tears seeped out of her eyes and onto her flushed face. Neru cried silently.
Behind her, the door opened with a creak and a voice called, "Neru, honey?"
"Mom?" Neru tensed, her shoulders upright at the sudden intrusion. She tried to wipe away evisence as best as she could. So, after taking a deep breathe and rubbing furiously at her eyes, she turned around.
"Hi, mom," Neru forced a smile. Her mom starred back, biting her lip, her face an evident expression of worry and anxiousness. "Neru," she tread carefully, her feet barely making a soound as she shufled against the ground, "Are you- are you okay?"
"Um, duh?"
"It's just- I heard the door slam, so I though you might be feeling upset."
"Teenagers slam the doors all the time. It's no big deal," Neru reasoned, hoping feverently her Mom wouldn't notice she was off.
But Neru had obviously forgotten that mothers have built in lie-dedicators. "Maybe you should get a sneak peak of your Birthday present. Just to cheer you up, hm?"
Neru quirked an eyebrow, "Birthday present?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten," her mom grinned back," It's only two more weeks to go."
Neru shrugged, non-committed. She didn't really care, however, if it made her mother happy...," Okay, show me."
Neru's mother giggled lightly as she left the room, obviously excited. Neru couldn't help but smile at this, her sadness temporarily forgotten though a dull ache lingered.
"Here it is!" Neru's mom beamed as she entered the room, package in hand. Her eagerness was bubbling over and was almost (but not quite) contagious. Neru took the package and began opening it, grateful. Her hands moved over the shiny, childish wrapping paper slowly, trying not to tear it.
"Hurry up!" her mom promted and Neru mock glarred at her. After carefully discarding the covering, Neru opened the box and, when she saw it, she gasped, "Mom..?"
The adressed had their hands folder on their hips and a smile smugly placed on her lips, "I knew you'd like it."
"I-I can't. it's too expensive," Neru looked at her sorrowfully, "You've got to return it."
"Nonsense! You never get anything nice and it's your birthday!"
"I don't even need it, Mom! honestly..."
"Enough! You're a teenager! What if you need to call your friends or-"
Neru stopped listening after "friends" Call who exactly? Her mom would be the only one on her contact list. WHAT. A. LOSER.
"Alright, alright, mom. I get it," she groaned but managed to keep her tone light. The blonde sighed, defeated, "I'll keep it."
"Thank you, Neru-chan," her mom gave her a gentle smile. She placed a hand on the door and looked ready to leave, "It means a lot. I love you." And the door closed.
Neru allowed herself to go limp and flopped unceremoniously on the bed. "I love you," she whispered.
After a few more seconds of painful silence, Neru's hand strayed to her present. Her hand traced the sleek metal of the object. Shiny, new and bright yellow. The exact shade of her hair, "oh, mom..." she thought fondly. It was probably an old model, they couldn't afford anything more. But still...
Whatever.
Neru put down her present and looked at the device again. She sincerely doubted she would ever have a use for a cell phone.
"Good morning, Haku."
"G-good morning, Mister Councillor."
"How are you feeling today?"
"F-f-fine, thank you..."
"So, Haku- today we'll be talking about the people in your life."
"O-okay, w-w-will we be talking about my f-family?"
"I'm afraid not today, Haku. Now, we'll be talking about school."
"I'm not so sure..."
"Haku, this is a safe place. You can say anything. No one will hear."
"I suppose..."
"Good. Now, to business, Haku, tell me, from your perspective...
Who is Akita Neru?"
Haku's legs moved as quick as they could beneath her, her breathe coming in puffs, her feet practically skimming the ground. Her heart was a beating drum and, her eyes, wide with worry.
But it wasn't enough.
She'd dashed into a dead end.
Desperately, her head looked every which way, looking for a way out, but of course there wasn't.
"Oh, Haku-chan~"
A spine chilling, mocking voice followed by a bundle of creepy giggles. Haku backed herself into the wall: damn it, damn it, DAMN IT.
They'd found her.
The footsteps grew louder but Haku could only wait, trembling. The girl tried to ready for the inevitable but thinking about it made her shake harder. A whimper escaped.
"Look what we found~ Why would you hide from us, Haku-chan? You hurt our feelings!"
Haku forcefully opened one eye, trembling more so, and saw three menacing figures. Her gaze, however, stayed on one; blonde hair, blue eyes and a wicked smirk.
"N-neru..."
A/N; Well that was that!
IMPORTANT; This story takes place in 2 timelines, one before Neru's transformation into a Mean Girl and afterwards. Also, a bit of this story will consist of the Councillor's room and his files- Neru's file was in this chapter as was Haku's conversation. Haku speaks in stutters due to nervous anxiety, a repercussion of bullying
Warning(s); Bullying, maybe some disorders, cruelty, swearing, self loathing, longwinded-ness (blame the author) -I'll add to this as we go along.
I felt that Neru was one of the most interesting characters in vocaloid and should get more attention. Neru, I've seen, is almost always cast as the bad guy, so, why not elaborate on that? She's definitely more than a one dimensional character. Prepare from character development! ...I may or may not add pairs as I go on.