Ever since Crypton Future Media and education in the nation of Singapore fused as one, we were all given one friend when we were 15 , the beginning of Crypton Future Media education. A friend that fits your personality, but not quite like a friend, no! A friend slightly more curious, a friend slightly more interesting, but a friend less like flesh and blood. Oh, and by the way, my name is Barzini.
Yes, for those of you whose nerves have been tingling when I mentioned Crypton Future Media, yes, you heard my inner mind loud and clear. I was referring to Vocaloids being given to us, but no, it was not easy getting one either.
The music school run by Crypton had strict criteria for entry. The School of the Future, they rightly called it, having perfected the art of allowing hologram vocaloids to look solid, and following you everywhere, wherever there is light. Their criteria, was strict, yes, but the there was only one condition for entry, which made it ironic. Wouldn't just one condition make it extremely difficult to enter?
I still remember what it said when a nationwide effort to get potential students ended up in my mailbox.
Come down to the School of the Future for an amazing opportunity to join the corporation in creating music for the world!
Terms of entry: Knowing something called, "Music"
So? What do I have to lose? I was STILL fourteen then. I didn't know how to play musical instruments, I wasn't in a choir. Pretty much screwed right? But for a vocaloid? Hell… You'll need an army to stop me from going.
The time available for interview and audition was from 7am in the morning to 6pm, so, being the computer geek, I packed up my Alienware laptop, boarded the unusually packed bus at 5am and reached the school by 5.30am, and when I was there, I was awed by the sheer grandeur of the school.
It was covered in a huge glass like structure, and when you walk into this glass structure, the air smelled different. Fresh air. Clean air. And it was relatively cool compared to outside of the structure. The areas beside the paved path was covered with grass and trees, and sheltered pavilions, now occupied by anxious looking auditionees, holding a musical instrument of some sort, or were training their vocals. Me? Just clutching that laptop. I entered the school, and queued to get a tag, and once I reached the registration section, a rather old man looked up at me, gripping his pen.
"So, what are your musical talents?" The old man croaked, and I shook my head in response.
"What do you mean?" He asked, and I shook my head again.
"I do not have any musical talents." I replied softly, and I swear I heard someone giggle behind me, and muttered something along the lines of, "… Wasting his time, this dude."
"Oh? What is that you are holding?" The old man gestured, and I held it up, removed the protective casing over the laptop.
"My laptop." I answered proudly, stroking its sleek red cover, and the old man held out his hands, and muttered, "If I may?"
"Uhm… Sure…" I replied, handing my laptop over to him, and he put on his spectacles, and lifted it up slightly and examined whatever specifications the laptop had below, and he turned on my computer, and when it reached the password screen, he turned it to me, and with a kind smile, gestured at my keyboard.
"If you please, young lad."
"Oh, sure." I rapidly keyed in the password to my computer, and turned it back to the old man, who gave a kindly smile, and turned it back to him, and I watched him type a few keys, and click a few things, but he pushed it back to me, and he smiled.
"Please go straight into the audition."
This statement took me completely off guard, and I stood there dumbfounded for a moment. I just had to make sure, taking back my laptop, my mouth opened and asked-
"Whoa whoa… Really? Or is that really trying to tell me please go out now?" I asked, and the old man did not reply. He merely shrugged, and a man at the side, wearing a shirt that said STAFF at the back, a Caucasian, gave me a pat me on the shoulder and steered me across the red line that was the no-go zone for most auditionees yet.
"Can you explain to me why I could go in?" I asked, and he cast me a weird look.
"Well, something you have on your computer interested the selecting committee I guess… Well not that everyone else won't be able to audition anyway… You're just been given a golden ticket, boy… A golden ticket…" He kept on repeating the last two words, and he took me through the door, down a grand winding staircase, carpeted red, with glass chandeliers hanging overhead, and to the left, it was paneled with glass, giving a great view across the entire school campus.
"Wow…"
Xxx
After what seemed like forever in my slight panic and excitement, I reached a great wooden door, and the man gave me a slight push forward, and winked before he left.
Taking my breath, I knocked and waited, and after a few moments…
"Come in."
I opened the door and walked in, and saw a chair in the centre of the room. In front, was a group of men dressed in suits, seated at a long table, flipping through papers, and I stood there, unsure of what to do next.
"Please take a seat." The man in the centre said, smiling, a Japanese accent hung in his words, and I bowed a little before sitting down.
"So, we are going to ask all of you a few questions. We want your most truthful answers. Is that understood?" He said slowly, his eyes staring, fixed at me, un-nerving me a little, but I nodded anyway.
"Now, we went through your laptop contents as reviewed by the selection committee, you seem to have a voice tuner and a lot of video editors… Correct?" He asked, looking down at his paper and I nodded.
"Now, what is your favourite colour by the way… Wait, sorry. Tone of colour." A man in the far right asked, and I considered it for a moment.
"Something light and cheerful!" I replied enthusiastically.
"Can you please play a random piece of music from your laptop please!" A man in the far left asked, and I hurriedly exited my computer from standby mode, and went to Windows Media Player, and selected, "Shuffle"…
"And play!" I said a bit too loudly, and my face reddened slightly.
The song, "Always Look At The Bright Side Of Life" by Monty Python came on, and I could almost smash my laptop at this point of time. They definitely wanted something intelligent! I am so… Screwed…
"What do you think of music?" The man in the centre asked, and I cocked my head a little, slightly unsure of what to say. Truthful they say…
"I don't know really. I mean. Music is there for a reason. We are only here to enjoy it, are we supposed to do anything else with music? If you're looking for a model essay, I can give you 5 pages. But you want the truth right?" I replied.
The man in the centre nodded, and took out his own laptop and keyed something into it.
"Now, if you do not mind, could you please play something with your laptop? I am sure you compiled some videos before?" He smiled, and I nodded, and as if on cue, the door behind me opened and someone pushed in a projector complete with all the cables needed.
As I was plugging in the video cables to my laptop, the man added-
"Please. At random as usual."
I bowed a little, and when I finished connecting the system, I went through my video clips and clicked the first one I saw.
"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!Doodoodoodee~!"
I hit my face with my palm, and let out a small groan. This was a random compilation of me playing Beat It by putting sounds from my ancient Gameboy.
I raised my head slightly to look at the screen and saw myself hitting the gameboy and doing a fail moon walk, and later, me playing Mario Go Kart and laughing my head off as I kept falling off that irritating winding part in the Mine where the road is narrow, still to that tune, and I felt like throwing myself off the building at that very moment.
"Thank you. That would be enough." The man in the centre said, and smiled.
I returned to my seat, and bit my lips, as I awaited their verdict. Suddenly, the computer that the man in the centre had made a voice sounding from it-
"Hello Barzini!"
I raised my head, alarmed, and saw a girl exiting the computer screen which literally made my jaw fall open, at first, she was just a bit more than pixels, but it started to "solidify" and her hair was a colour of turquoise, and she was smiling broadly, her arms wide open, the colours all clearly sharp, and almost life-like.
"Hug!" She cried out, and I jumped up, and hastily got back, knocking over the chair I was seated on.
"WHOA! WHOA! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" I shouted, hugging my laptop, and pointed at her or it or whatever it was to me then.
"Who, what, who are you?" I said, slightly out of breath, wiping perspiration with the back of my hand, and I stared at the person or thing that had just come out of a computer screen.
The girl that had just exited the computer screen stood where she was, looking at me, her face an expression of complete surprise, and her arms fell to her side.
"Barzini, this is your vocaloid. I assume you're getting scared because you know who she is and how she got out of a computer screen?" The man in the centre grinned.
"Well… She is Hatsune Miku, that is kind of obvious to all of us? But how… Did she walk out of that computer screen?" I said, slightly out of breath, keeping a wary eye on Miku, and trying to maintain eye contact with the man, who did not look the least disturbed that a vocaloid had just CLIMBED OUT of his computer screen.
"Well, it's just a way of presenting Hatsune Miku to you. Actually, you do know that now, we perfected the so-called 'art' of allowing Vocaloid to be with you as long as there is light right?" He asked, and I nodded in response. Miku was now swaying about the spot, humming a tune.
"Do you get me?" He said, and I tried to process what he was trying to say. A way of presenting Hatsune Miku to me? So it meant that I do get into the school, and they just decided to give me a bloody good shock for the fun of it.
"Yes, I do…" I nodded, and the man smiled.
"Please go to the processing counter out back. You're the second person to enter that room today." He smiled, and I bowed a little, and as I was about to move to the door, the man stopped me.
"Aren't you taking Miku along?" He asked, and I paused in my tracks, and turned around to look at Hatsune Miku, dress in her school-like costume, her long turquoise hair drifting, and I finally let a smile slip across my lips.
"Come along!" I said loudly, gesturing at her, and she practically skipped towards me, making the sound, "PYON!" every time she skipped, and I couldn't help but laugh a little as I made to the door, and entered, where there was another girl, and another vocaloid, whom I recognized as Kaito, both seated beside each other.
The girl saw me and waved, and I waved back, and Miku was waving enthusiastically at Kaito, who smiled a little and waved back, and as I was about to sit down beside Katio, Miku forced herself "through" me, effectively sitting at my place, and giving me a cheeky grin, and patting the seat beside her.
"Sit here, Barzini!" She said in an extremely high voice, and I obeyed.
"Sorry if this looks wrong, but if you don't mind…" I tried placing my hand on her shoulder, like a good old pat on the shoulder, but my hand went right through, and I jumped. This was going to take some getting used to.
"So, how old are you, Barzini?" She asked, swinging her legs up and down, looking at the floor. She was almost human-like in terms of behavior.
"15 this year!" I replied, and she clapped happily and laughed.
"I'm 16! Nice to meet you, Barzini! Hug!" She threw her arms around me, not knowing how to hug a hologram, I just hugged her like how I would hug a normal human being, but taking care that my hands do not sink through her.
"Aww that's sweet." I looked up and saw that the girl had spoken. She had white spectacles, and long black hair and she was positively beaming.
"Haha… Thanks… This is going to have to take some time to get used to though." I replied, shaking my head. But no, I can't lie. Getting Hatsune Miku as a vocaloid? Boo yeah!
"So you had a so-called Golden Ticket as well?" I asked the girl and she nodded, smiling.
"What's your name?" She asked, and I 'let go' of Miku as she finally relinquished her form of 'virtual hug' on me.
"I am Nicole! You?"
"Barzini. Pleased to meet you." I bowed my head a little, and turned on my laptop, and plugged in my USB modem, and went onto Facebook.
Update Status:
Got myself a Hatsune Miku vocaloid! How cool is that! :D
Then, I went to check on my notifications. I had sixty two likes for my previous status, with me comparing my trip to the audition as a, as what Singaporeans like to call it in our native Singlish-
Sure die. But still go anyway la.
Sighing, satisfied, I suddenly saw a new friend request, which I opened.
Hatsune Miku would like to add you as a friend.
Yes or No?
I turned my head to look at her, and her eyes seemed to be out of focus, somewhat dreamy, but after a while, she turned to look at me, and she craned her neck over, and pointed at the friend request.
"Add! Add! It's me! Add! Add!" She squealed, and I nodded quickly.
"Okay! Okay! I just had to be sure who I was adding!" I answered hastily, and clicked Yes.
Hatsune Miku has been added to your friends list! Write something on her wall!
I thought about it for a moment, and laughed a little as I wrote a response to her wall.
Looking forward to spending the awesome moments in my life with you! Shall treat you like a real human, IF YOU DON'T MIND.
As I turned to look at her, her eyes were out of focus again, and when I saw a new notification, I was about to click onto it when a door to the right opened, and a rather old and frail looking man in a lab coat came out, wearing a pair of reading glasses.
"Are you two the approved candidates..? Please come in…" He croaked, and all four of us got up, with Miku constantly pestering Kaito, only to be dismissed by him with a kind smile or a laugh that can melt the hearts of girls. Miku looked like me on a sugar rush… I just had to say that…
"Okay, this does not concern the Vocaloids for now, they may take a seat at the side. Now, for the so-called masters, in accordance to the Ministry of Education guidelines, you all have to take a subject test. Other than taking the examinable subject of Future Media- Vocaloids, you will have to take a language, for your cases, English, and one Science or Humanities or Mathematics. Now, in front of you are sheets of questions, we know that you come unprepared, thus, this gives us the most perfect opportunity of examining your aptitude for each subject. Please begin. You may submit whenever you are ready."
A test? Goodness… My mathematics is horrendous… Science is still fine when it comes to Chemistry… I'll take a look at the Humanities ones…
I opened the brown folder and saw the paper, titled-
GCE O LEVELS
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE-LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
HISTORY (CRYPTON FUTURE SCHOOL ALTERED)
With the word history, my brain awakened, and I took out the paper and borrowed a pen from Nicole, who looked surprisingly prepared to take a test, with even a calculator in her sling bag, which she has now taken out, and started hammering digits into it.
I took a look at Miku and Kaito, who were seated obediently at the corner of the room, do Vocaloids know too when we are doing something important and do not wish to be disturbed? Crypton Future Technology has really outdone themselves this time on.
Q1: Name 3 key figures in the Cold War
Wow this was easy. Castro, Kennedy and Khrushchev
Q2: What is the pact of alliance between Germany and Italy called?
Pact of Steel? I think it is… Going to write that either way…
As time progressed, and I finished the history paper, I raised my hand and submitted the history paper, and the old professor nodded after giving it a brief scan, through a machine, but he did not say a thing.
I watched in a slight twinge of envy as Nicole seemed to be able to solve the Mathematics questions as if it was as easy as 1+1=2, and after she submitted the paper, the old man nodded and rubbed his hands together.
"Now, Vocaloids? Please leave the room. I have to talk to your masters." The old man coughed, and we watched as Miku hopped out of the room while Kaito walked out of the room, and the old man walked to close the door.
"Sorry. Vocaloids can only follow you where there is light. So I guess it solves your mental question." He said at me as I looked at the door, wondering that exact question.
"So what happens when there is no light?" I asked, and the old man sat down in front of both Nicole and I, and cleared his throat.
"Vocaloid cannot enter places without light. So assuming it is a dark room, the vocaloid cannot enter it. At the very least, there MUST be a light source in the room for the vocaloid to be there."
"Also, I want to expand on a sensitive topic for Vocaloids." The old man said gravely, and we leaned forward, afraid to miss a single word he said.
"Emotions. Vocaloids are a little less than robots. We are releasing the beta to all of you who pass the audition successfully. They will try to simulate emotions. But please, I beseech you, teach our inventions emotion somehow. The normal textbook kind of drilling won't work. But I believe, or well, we believe, Vocaloids already have some sort of emotion. Your Miku was displaying happiness rather obviously right? Either way, take note that a few days later, there will be a wide commercialization of personalized Vocaloids, built to a person's design. But your Hatsune Miku and other original Vocaloids are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced." He paused, and went to take a drink of water, pushing up his reading spectacles.
"Next, I want you to understand that… In a few days time, within this compound, there will be Vocaloid simulator items for sale. So start saving up."
"Vocaloid simulator items? What are those?" Nicole opened up her mouth to speak for once, and I sat back a little, now a bit more relaxed than usual.
"Well, we sell things for your Vocaloid. Such as food. Yes, we're trying to make them as human as possible. Yes, your canteen is merged with theirs. The individual canteen sell different food, both for humans and Vocaloids. Then, also accessories for your vocaloids, as well as other things to decorate your room and your Vocaloid's. You will all be given a dormitory, which is two rooms big. One for yourself and the other for your Vocaloid. Yes, you have to move in here." The old man nodded, in response to the shocked face at his sentence.
"Oh okay… So… Vocaloids are now trying to be shaped as human as possible?" I asked, and the old man smiled.
"It is our most ambitious dream to have even one Vocaloid with all emotions in them, fully able to express themselves and think for others." He smiled, and moved to shake our hands.
"You may all leave with your Vocaloids. But I suggest you take the back entrance. You will be the first two to be accepted into the school and leaving this place with a copyrighted Vocaloid. The Caucasian man that brought you all to the meeting room will lead you there. You will do well to pack your luggage as soon as possible. You may leave. The general audition is beginning soon."
I stood up and packed my bag, and bowed a little, and as I was about to leave, I turned to face him.
"So sir, did I get history?" I asked him, and he shrugged and smiled, and I left, my heart heavy. I think I got the question on how D-Day was initiated wrongly…. Oh oh… And the collapse of the Soviet Union… Oh no…
"So how did it go?" A cheery voice greeted me as I exited the room, and I saw Miku smiling at me.
"Kind of okay… I guess…" I shrugged, hugging my laptop closer to me.
"Which paper did you attempt?" Nicole asked me, and I sighed.
"I think I completely messed up… I'm going to fail…" I moaned, and she sighed as well.
"The Mathematics paper was pretty challenging… But I messed up the calculus areas… Differentiation and intergration. Oh and Kinematics… I think I intergrated instead of differentiating…" Nicole lamented, and I nodded sympathetically. Victims of maths, all of us. At some point in time that is.
"Hey, excuse me Sir! Do you mind if you take us to the back entrance?" I asked the Caucasian, who shook our hands as he saw us with two vocaloids following behind us.
"Congratulations, young folks. First two. Now, let us leave by the back entrance you say? Very well." He smiled, and we nodded gratefully, and followed him down a corridor, past the canteen that were still shut, with white chairs and white circular tables there, and several dispensing machines. Miku was still pestering Kaito to get him to make a real conversation with her.
"Nice… The facilities are really good." I commented as we reached the backdoor, and exited, and we reached a glass structure, a door slid open, and the Caucasian man smiled.
"I'll take you this far! See you all when terms open." He winked and we greeted him farewell as he left, and Miku raised both of her hands and waved as Kaito stood there, and bowed a little.
"Alright… We are the first two?" I sad to myself.
"Yep." Nicole replied.
"Nice meeting you." I said, and she smiled back in response.
"Nice meeting you too. Do you Facebook?"
Xxx
Alright! This is my first Vocaloid Fanfiction! I hope all of you thoroughly enjoy this FF, for this one, I daresay I poured all my interest in it XD Having day-dreamed of Vocaloid being real all the time…
Anyway, I will be co-authoring this story with Nicole, who is an amazing writer whom I am sure will keep you entertained to the very end of the story in her chapter, which is the next one!
Thank you all for reading this FF, and I hope you enjoyed it! The first few submissions will allow you to pick a Vocaloid such as Rin or Len etc. The ones that belong to Crypton Future Media~!
OC SUBMISSION IS NOW CLOSED
Phew! That's done it! Thanks for reading!