" Am I worthless?"
There had been a great deal of trouble with developing the Miku Hatsune engine.
As a matter of fact, that great deal of trouble was standing next to her right now, quietly drinking a bottle of sake and looking very much like a dormouse in front of a hawk.
" Am I worthless?"
She wanted to ask, but she couldn't ask that. It was the only answer she wanted, the only answer she could possibly be content with. But she couldn't get the answer, because she was so afraid of the question...
" OHMYGAWSH! HAKU! You've GOT to try this on, it'll look positively adorable on you!" the teal-haired bubble of energy next to her squealed, thrusting a heavy white sweater covered in pink dots at her. On closer examination, Haku noticed the pink dots were just badly embroidered hearts. She disliked the pattern, but... If Miku got angry at her, she could just say, " Get rid of Haku," and they would get rid of Haku.
" It looks great, Miku-nee," Haku replied, with a barely there smile. She hated her voice; it was so scratchy and low. Miku's was bright and bubbly, like a waterfall of happiness and pop music. Haku glanced around to look for the exit of the store, but Miku seemed to mistake it for her looking for changing rooms.
" Haku-oneechan! The changing rooms are over here, silly!" she giggled, and dragged her to the changing rooms, opening a door and shoving her into one. Haku quickly swiveled around.
" Miku-nee-" she half-protested, but Miku had already closed the door.
" Don't keep me waiting!" she yelled from the other side of the door. Haku sighed and pulled her top off, already familiar with Miku's impatience.
" Am I worthless?"
Shrugging the heart-covered sweater over her head, Haku got the faint idea that the only reason she hadn't been dismantled already was that Miku needed someone to drag around to places like this. The Crypton officials wouldn't let her interact much with Vocaloids from other companies, and Meiko & Rin were much to fiery to order around like this; Luka was busy all the time, and Neru was always on her phone, messaging God-knows-who. That left her to be Miku's company on shopping trips.
" Are you done yet, Haku-oneechan?" Miku asked suddenly, her voice brimming with bubbles." We don't have much time left before I have to go sing a new song, remember? I want to go to a couple more stores!"
" Y-yeah, Miku-nee," Haku stammered, opening the door and stumbling awkwardly out. Why did she call Miku Miku-nee anyway?
Right.
Miku had asked her to call her that, after a week of Haku calling her "Hatsune-dono". Who was she to say no? As long as Miku was happy, she'd still be walking around, half-intoxicated.
" You need to stop drinking all the time, Haku-oneechan!" Miku lectured her. Haku was only half-listening- it didn't really matter to her, since it was nigh-impossible for her to go a day without an hour or two she couldn't recall. " You know it's bad for you!" Seeing Haku's apathetic expression, she quickly changed the subject.
" That sweater looks great on you, Haku-oneechan!" She clapped her hands together, smiling eagerly. " Now shoo! Put it back on the hanger, so we can buy it! You can wear it next time we go shopping!" The words sounded so sweet from her, but Haku felt something then.
She felt something break.
" Um, Miku-nee, I don't really like this sweater... It's kind of... too loud for my tastes..." she whispered, holding her sleeve tightly.
" Am I worthless?"
She had to ask it now, or she never would, would she? She would just keep wondering.
" Okay! Then we can go find something you like, Haku-oneechan!" Miku chirped, confusion in her eyes. Haku knew why- she never told Miku she disliked anything she picked out, even if she hated it.
" Miku-nee..." she whispered, her voice dry.
" Miku-nee... Am... I... worthless?" she asked, looking down. The floor was pitching in circles; her feet looked like a water-color painting.
" No, of course not, Haku-oneechan!" Haku could faintly hear her voice echoing from all directions.
" Worthless?"
" Worth?"
"Worthless?"
"Worth?"
" Haku-oneechan, are you okay?" She was falling into some sort of black, right? What was black, again? Something dark. What was dark, again? Black.
" Worth what, exactly?"
" Haku-oneechan! Are you okay? They said you got alchohol poisoning, and you hit your head when you fell, too!" She could see a turquoise blob hovering above her head. Oh, some other ones too. She sat up weakly and looked down at her clothes. She was still wearing the sweater.
" I hate this sweater..." she mumbled feebly. " I hate you..."
Everything was coming back into focus. The blobs were Miku and the rest of the Cryptonloids, even Neru(who despised gatherings of any kind). Why did she still feel so wobbly? She was laying down, you're not supposed to feel wobbly while laying down...
Miku was looking at her weird.
They were all looking at her kind of weird.
" Wh-what was that, Haku-oneechan?" Miku asked, sounding uneasy.
" I hate this sweater... I hate you, too... You're too loud, like the sweater..." Haku half-repeated. She still felt wobbly, but it was all focusing now.
" I... what?" Miku was staring at her, with that uneasy expression amplified. Everyone else was silent, awkwardly looking away. There was a series of fast clicks as Neru's figners pounded on her cell phone.
" I mean, I like this sweater, Hatsune-dono, let's go buy it now," Haku corrected herself frantically, seeing tears gathering at the edge of Miku's eyes. " It's very pretty, Hatsune-dono! You're very pretty, Hatsune-dono!"
Wait.
Why were Luka and Meiko pushing the twins and Kaito out? Why was Hatsune crying, again? Were they still at the department store, or not...? Her head hurt.
Miku ran out of the room, and Haku reached out awkwardly after her. Her legs hurt.
" Ha-hatsune-dono! W-wait! You can buy the sweater, if you want me to wear it, because I'll wear for you, Hatsune-dono!"
Also known as "The chapter that isn't based off a song". You can tell how little I researched this, amirite? I had to edit this, actually, because I forgot to put a divider in and it messed it up... Eto... I don't own Vocaloid, because if I did, there would be Nashimoto-P worshipping cults worldwide.
Update: If you're rereading this, you may have noticed I've deleted the original first chapter. It was quite a bit different than the rest of the oneshots, and it didn't fit in well at all, so I removed it.