Disclaimer: Vocaloid © Crypton Inc.
"Rosémarie"
by Xavqior
(and he likes the way she ignites a passion deep within him)
A figure—dressed in a long black coat—emerged from the door at the back of the room, his cerulean eyes scanning inquisitively at each and every corner of the enclosed room. The room was rather large, complete with decent and sturdy furniture with most of them made out of smooth and fine glass, and a gold chandelier hanging gloriously above the high ceiling in the middle of the room. Walls were painted a snow-white with a little tint of blue, and scarlet curtains fluttered against the windowpanes with the force of the wind from the opened windows at the side of the room.
He glanced at the furry crimson carpet on the floor that he had been stepping on with his bare foot. It felt soft; perhaps as soft as velvet… even the carpet was made of high quality wool (or whatever it was made of, he wasn't sure)! He did not expect this… he certainly did not know that he had bought this apartment himself.
You see, Kagamine Len had previously lived in Toronto. However, his father had demanded for him to move to Washington because of convenience... he had work to do here. As a result, he had to switch schools as well, and it wasn't the first damn time that this had happened because in all honesty, this had always happened to him, and he couldn't care anymore because the more he protested, the more stubborn he became, and the more he wanted to send him away.
His opinions never mattered. All that mattered was his father's. He had no say in whatever he wanted to do. He could only comply… and that was what he did.
"Do you like it?"
The nervous shuffling of the foot from the man beside him made him realize that he was not alone. He had forgotten to entertain him because he had been so caught up with admiring his new 'home'… well, it was not as if he was of great significance, anyway; he was just a man sent from his father to assist him in some way or another, although he did not see the need for him to stick with him like glue.
"I suppose, in a way." Len frowned, burying his hands inside the pockets of his coat. The temperature here was freezing. He could even see the cool air clouding the glassy windows and furniture. He was not used to it… he would have to use the heater later on.
"I'm glad you like it. This place was generally favored because it is near the high school that you will go to." The man grinned. "It will take a while for you to adapt, but I am sure you will find this place a refreshing place for you. I've heard tons of good things about Washington! Do you require me to show you around?"
Len smiled at him. "No, it's alright. I'll make my way around later on… you've been busy providing me with help. Thank you."
"Ah, no problem. I'm just doing my job. Your father's been kind enough to hire me."
Ah,yes...Len had almost forgotten to ask about him. He hadn't seen him (not even once) after he had boarded his flight and arrived here."Where is he?"
The look on the man's face told him all he needed to know.
There was no answer as the man's beady eyes shifted away from him as if he was guilty, and he pursed his lips, a cold bead of sweat forming on his brows. Len remained silent, expecting an answer straight from his mouth. He wanted to hear it. Even if he knew, he still wanted to hear it. Deep down inside he hoped that perhaps it wasn't what he thought it to be, but his mind told him that it was exactly what he thought it to be.
When Len did not manage to receive a reply from the man, he decided to apply a little pressure on him to egg him on. "So?"
With a nervous giggle, the man scratched the back of his neck. "Well, err, you see… your father isn't going to live here with you. He has given me specific orders to help attend to you, but he will be living elsewhere."
"And where is that supposed to be, exactly?"
"Oh! It's…" The man's supposed enthusiastic (or what was left of it) face fell when he saw imaginary dark clouds looming above Len, creating a horrifying image of him. If that wasn't horrifying enough, he pictured the blond brutally murdering several twigs on the grassy fields. His face looked as if he wanted to snap his neck right there and then.
It was a complete contrast from how he had acted before.
"… somewhere near his workplace," he finished somewhat lamely, not wanting to infuriate him any further.
Len thinned his lips. It was exactly what he thought it to be. He was still the same. It was always work, work and more work to him. There was nothing that kept him away from his work—not even his own son (he had scoffed when he thought of him being his father) or his wife. He hadn't changed even with the loss of his dearest wife… not even a single bit. He was not repentant at all.
The man paled, if that was even remotely possible, after seeing the repulsive look on Len's face. He gulped, an uncomfortable bulge forming at the middle of his throat. He did not have a good feeling about this. "Er, do you need me to tidy this place up for you?"
"That won't be necessary," Len said curtly, obviously in a bad mood. "I want to be alone. I apologize for making this request, but could you please leave?"
"But I have clear orders—"
"I will explain everything to him; I will tell him that I can survive alone, and I have no need of a caretaker to take care of me. Please leave."
The man knew that there was no use persuading the blond in keeping him here; his persistence was clear as ice. There was no way he would change his mind, and he knew better than to start a pointless argument or debate with an enraged person. He gave a brief nod, still shivering slightly, and then made his way out of the door.
Once the man was out of his apartment, Len sighed. He still had many things to do… he had to properly introduce himself to his classmates and teachers of his new school and familiarize himself with his new surroundings. That was why he did not like moving around a lot; you would easily confuse yourself with trademarks or places from another city.
It was going to be a long day.
.
.
.
"Psst, Miku!"
Tap, tap. No response.
"Hey, Miku! Oi, stop dreaming!"
Tap, tap. Nothing.
"Hatsune Miku."
SMACK.
With a surprised yelp, said woman with strands of hair dyed a cool turquoise leapt up from her seat immediately, jumping and wincing at the impact of a book colliding with her skull. She rubbed the area where the stupid garbage of a book had hit on her head, mumbling to herself with half opened eyes. Now that was going to form a discolored bruise… or not. She liked exaggerating things.
She was clearly still half-asleep, with her mouth widely opened as if it was inviting a fly to nestle in its warmth. Miku was oblivious to her surroundings, but the constant annoying buzzing sound in her ears was starting to bug her… she was sleeping, damn it! Who had the audacity to wake her up in the middle of her beauty sleep?
It didn't take her long to realize that the buzzing sound were roars of laughter erupting from the people around her.
With an embarrassed face, she quickly sat herself back down on her seat, but was met with another violent smack with the same book on the same spot on her head.
"Ow! What was that…" Miku groaned, glaring up at her assailant. She was intending to scream at said person, but that stupid look on the lecturer's face made her hesitate. Her voice died down together with her determination and anger. "… for…"
"Hatsune!" Miss Meiko shot an icy, killer glare at her, and that glare was ten times more intense than the one she had shot her earlier on. "I will not tolerate anyone who sleeps in the midst of my lesson. If you want to sleep so badly, get out of my class! Otherwise, you will stay here and you will keep yourself awake and listen to what I am saying to the class, no matter how tired you are. Do you understand?"
It's not like I want to sleep here, anyway… if I could choose, I would have slept in your office. There's even a sofa there that's probably too good for you to sit on. Pfft.
"Miku." Meiko let out a feral growl, one that seemed animalistic. Said girl's hair began to stand, evidently threatened by the tone of the brunette's harsh and penetrating voice. "I am asking you a question, and you will give me an answer right now."
At the corner of her eyes, Miku could see Akita Neru sticking her tongue out at her with a stupid smirk plastered on her face. That idiotic face was screaming and laughing at her predicament right now and she hated it. Serves you right, it read.
Miku glared at her. I'll get you for this, you freak.
"Hatsune Miku!" Meiko's face was now completely distorted in pure rage… and Miku could feel her teeth chattering nervously. She had been talking to her… what had she asked? Oh no… this was bad. She hadn't been listening again! What was she supposed to answer?
The brunette swung the textbook that she had been holding onto the surface of her desk, causing her to jump in alarm. She backed away from the threatening female with a squeak, hoping that the mad lecturer would just leave her be after she had vent out all her anger on the poor abused desk. Unfortunately, the goddesses weren't on her side today; Meiko folded her arms and eyed Miku as if she was expecting her to answer something.
Fearing the brunette's wrath, the whole class grew silent… but Miku could hear someone trying to control her laughter, and the brunette must have heard it too.
With another killer glare, Meiko trailed away from her table, and Miku let out a sigh of relief. That was close.
Miku watched as the insane teacher stomped towards Akita Neru; the latter was trying to make herself as small as possible on her seat. The look of glee on her face disappeared when the devil came face-to-face with her, and color was completely drained out of her face.
"Akita Neru." The reincarnation of the devil breathed out, flaring her nostrils in fury. Neru squirmed in her seat. "Do you have any problems with me?"
"N… n-no ma'am."
"Then why on earth," the brunette roared, "were you laughing when I was reprimanding your classmate? Perhaps you would like to take her place instead, and go for detention later in the afternoon?"
Serves you right now! Hah! Miku thought inwardly, doing a victory dance in her head. I hope she roasts you alive and have you for dinner. Die, Neru, die!
Neru turned blue. "S-sorry. I won't do t-that again."
As if the brunette was satisfied with her answer, she turned on her heels and trod back to the front of the classroom, continuing with her stupid brainwashing lessons of doom. The whole class let out a breath that they had been holding.
"I warned you before she spotted you dozing off like an idiot."
Miku turned around to face the source of the gruffly voice—Mikuo. He rolled her eyes at her. As in. Rolled. His. Eyes. Upward. How dare he! "But you did not listen to me… I will not do it again."
"Pfft, like I need your help!" She retorted stubbornly. Mikuo and her were always at odds. Whatever she did, he would have something to say about it… it was as if he had a grudge with her or just wanted to annoy her to piss her off. She didn't know why he did this, but this caused her to have a great dislike for the male.
The fiery brunette disregarded the noises she could hear in her class and continued rambling on something that Miku couldn't understand. It was something about… some type of a scientific law, but it sounded like Barney singing to her. Unfortunately, it was lulling her to sleep again… she could feel it; her head was nodding towards the table, barely touching it, then she brought it back up again, reminded to stay awake by the shrill voice of that ferocious demonic lecturer in front of her.
She glanced up at the clock. Ten minutes before it ends.
While Miku was inwardly having an imaginary tea party with Goldilocks and the three bears in the back of her slightly demented mind, the brunette was ranting about something else… Miku didn't catch what she was saying because she made it sound hard to catch up with her. Any remaining thoughts of a knight in shining armor coming to save her from an evil kingdom vanished, however, when she heard the lecturer's last sentence.
"… in fact, he should be arriving here soon."
Her ears perked and her eyes twitched in confusion. What was coming? Was it her knight in shining armor? Was it a stealthy ninja who had fallen hopelessly in love with her, and therefore decided to take her away to one of those faraway lands? Or, Miku gulped, was it a demon that had taken an interest in her and wanted her to be his queen?
She never felt this awake… not ever since she was stuck with this stupid lecturer.
Thump, thump…
She could hear it. Footsteps… somebody was approaching the room. Her heartbeat increased tenfold and the organ was threatening to jut out of her chest. She was finally going to be taken away from this horrendous woman, and she would finally be free from her torture! She would be taken to 'Leekland' and she would spend the rest of her life munching leeks there and then going to sleep, then repeating the cycle over and over again… but this time, with a prince.
The door was graciously opened, and a blond lad stepped into the room. Miku squealed excitedly, feeling an adrenaline rush through her system.
Dressed in a formal white dress shirt with a tie attached to it, and sleek black pants, the new guy looked hot. Miku was practically drooling at him. Well, of course she would be drooling at him. He had blond hair… and if he had blond hair and was this hot, there was only one person he could be.
"U… U… Usui…"
Behind her, Mikuo choked. "What?"
"You idiot!" Miku turned around, chiding him. "Haven't you read 'Kaichou wa Maid-sama?' He's that Takumi Usui! The one and only!"
"Are you stupid?" Mikuo spat, "you just said 'read', so that guy doesn't exist! He's from some sort of a manga! He's not Usui!"
The woman with pigtails turned to look at the newcomer again… he was now introducing himself. She couldn't believe it. He wasn't Usui? But he looked like Usui! And she looked exactly like Misaki! In fact they could be twins! They could be together just like they had been in the manga! She felt a part of her shattering as she realized that perhaps Mikuo had been right. He was not Usui.
Miku grinned as realization dawned on her.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
Mikuo's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets. "The fuck?"
"What's your problem now? You're just jealous that he's Naruto and you're not Itachi."
"What? Did I even say that I wanted to be Itachi?"
"Yeah… you don't even look like Sasuke, much less Itachi. Hmm… I suppose you can be someone else though… Let me think."
Mikuo ignored her. "If he is Naruto, then where are the… whiskers… that are supposed to be on his face, huh? Miku, there is something wrong with you!"
"Oh…. You are right…" The girl sighed dejectedly. Much to Mikuo's horror, however, Miku's face brightened up again, and she whispered another name.
"Oz."
Mikuo slammed his head on the table.
This girl, he decided, is beyond salvation.
.
.
.
"So," the first lady that had properly introduced herself to him, Miku, questioned with a tone of mild bewilderment and disbelief, "you moved here in the middle of the night?"
Len cleared his throat. "Er… yes. Why, is that hard to believe or something?"
He had just finished introducing himself to his class when this girl, Miku, had rushed all the way in front to pull him away from everyone else and had dragged him outside the corridors. He had followed, albeit reluctantly, but that was only because she said she would show him around the school campus… and apparently that wasn't working; they had been walking on and on for almost an hour and she still hadn't shown him around yet. He was beginning to think that she was merely trying to know more about him.
The girl had chatted on and on without stopping, sometimes looking at him with this weird glint of hope in her eyes. He swore that he could almost see stars in her eyes if it weren't for the harsh lighting here.
"It isn't bad… but that's just…"
Miku's voice slowly faded as Len observed his surroundings, trailing his hand down the murals and paintings that decorated the walls. There were various types of cacti painted there… the vivid colors used in the painting were enough to attract his attention, other than the fact that they all looked so realistic. It was almost as if he was on a field himself, admiring the beauty of the flora.
But Len was puzzled. He had gone to a lot of places, with his habit of moving around and whatnot… and he hadn't seen a place that has had cacti painted on the wall before. In fact, he had already managed to come across walls with flowers painted on them… but not cacti. Why cacti of all things? Cacti weren't the most beautiful plant to decorate walls. Even bamboos would look better.
A pat on his shoulder broke him from his trance. "Are you okay? You seem to be zoning out."
"Sorry." The blond gave his companion a sheepish grin. He pointed to the various paintings on the wall. "I wasn't listening. I was just wondering… why are cacti painted here?"
"Oh. Well, you see, this room here is the art room. The students probably suggested that they paint cacti and therefore they got the permission to do so." Miku shrugged casually. "I have no clue why they would choose cacti too, but ten dollars says Kaito would probably know something about it."
Len furrowed his brows in deep thought. He must be someone in the class."Kaito?"
"Oops." Miku giggled. "I forgot you're new. You probably wouldn't know him yet, then. Maybe I'd introduce you to him later on, if we catch him wandering around the site. Sorry, Oz."
Len's ears twitched. Did he just… did Miku just call him something else that wasn't his name? "Excuse me? Oz?"
Her face promptly fell. All traces of happiness were now replaced by slight disappointment. "You mean you're not Oz? You know, from Pandora Hearts?"
"No."
"What? What about Tamaki? You know, Tamaki from Ouran—"
"Err…" Len looked up at her with an apologetic look. He thought he had already introduced himself in class just now, but it seemed like he wasn't being clear or loud enough for all of them to hear. "I'm not a manga character. I'm Kagamine Len."
"Oh. So you're not here to save me after all…" He thought he could hear Miku sniffing. He had hoped not; he wouldn't want to make a female upset with him. That'd be bad. Very bad. And it was only his first day here.
"Why would you want to be saved? I'm sorry… are you upset?"
"Meiko is a horrendous prick who would never leave me alone to dream. She tries to make my life hell, and makes me suffer more than I have already been suffering. I mean, attending her lessons are already making me want to bawl out my eyes or jump down the building like an insane moron… yeah, that's the kind of effect she has on people. And I want a prince to bring me away from that cackling evil witch. Argh."
"Miss Meiko…?" Len clarified, remembering that Meiko was the one that had politely told him to introduce himself to the class. It was that brunette with cropped hair just now. "You mean that teacher just now?"
"Yeah!" She clenched her teeth. "Don't be fooled by her looks, Len. She looks like a normal lecturer but she isn't! She tries to suck souls out of everyone… she's like a replica of Aizen! No… she is the incarnation of Aizen! We are doomed! Soul society is doomed!"
But she treats me nicely,Len thought. He refrained from voicing his thoughts out because Miku looked as if she had a horrible feud with the teacher, and he didn't really know the teacher, as it was only his first day here. He remained silent as Miku continued with her random outbursts, suddenly talking about a crew of dedicated pirates looking for treasure in the middle of a big ocean. She was strange… but in a good way. She was entertaining, but still… strange.
They continued walking down the hallway with Miku bombarding questions like there was no tomorrow. The school campus was rather old, but the facilities looked good. Miku pointed to where the science laboratory was; it was huge, a complete contrast to what he had seen before in all the schools he had attended. He had managed to peep through a tinted window while she wasn't looking, and had seen several tables with racks and sinks attached on them. The racks were full of test tubes and other devices, and they looked brand new.
Then she had shown him where the gym was. A few councilors were present outside the door of the gym, which had been shut tightly. When Len tried to make his way in, he was stopped by them and was told that he had to get a permit if he wanted to go in on a daily basis. It seemed that they would conduct gym modules on selected weeks of every month, and only by completing these modules would you be able to get the permit.
"… and then there's the computer laboratory, right up ahead." Len glanced at where Miku had indicated with her thumb. The computer lab was relatively smaller then all the other facilities. "I know you're thinking how it is supposed to fit that much people… but that's not the only computer lab we have here—there are several of them scattered around the compound."
But that wasn't what Len was interested in.
Further up on the right was a deserted hallway with an abandoned room on the side. The lights there were slightly broken… they flickered on and off madly, creating an eerie atmosphere. It seemed like the room was the only room there. There were no other rooms or staircases leading away from that place. It was as if they wanted to isolate the place on purpose.
"What's that?" Len asked, trying to sate his curiosity.
Miku shifted her weight on the ground, grinning nervously. She looked like she wanted to say something, but could not phrase anything. Len noted her uneasiness. It must be something… something that she doesn't want to talk about, or something that is difficult to talk about. But what is it?
"Well… That's the music room," she finally answered with a brief moment of hesitation.
"Music room," Len repeated after her. He thought he had heard it wrong, but Miku's affirmative nod had confirmed it. He glanced back to the isolated room, noting that cobwebs were gathering at the room's ceilings now, and dirt and grease had accumulated over the years. The windows were slightly broken, but someone had sealed the broken opening with adhesive tapes. How could something like that be a music room? It looked more like a graveyard to him. In fact, how could it have ever existed when nobody had even bothered to keep the room clean?
"It's… not very nice," Len simply said, phrasing his words carefully to avoid offending the female. It looks terribly horrible. I would just have it demolished if I were the headmaster. Clearly it's vacant and it's taking up space here.
"It was nice years ago, but the…" Miku paused, sealing her lips immediately. This raised Len's suspicions. She is keeping something from me."… erm, I think I forgot why it was abandoned. Hahaha…"
"Could I go in—"
"—N-no! Stay out of that place!"
"What?" Len quirked a brow.
"Come on, Len! I'll bring you someplace else, okay?" Miku exclaimed, pushing Len away from the site. He continued to stare at the lone room in the corner, wondering what could have caused it to be sealed like that. It was just so weird.
Then something moved. He saw it. He didn't exactly see what moved, but he saw a semblance of a shadow skittering across the corner where the windows were.
If he were nearer, he could have been able to make out the outlines of the shadow, but he was too far away from the deserted site. Miku continued to drag him towards the nearest staircase that would lead them towards the big hall, and then the shadow slowly faded away from his view, until he could not see it anymore. But he was sure of it.
Something had definitely moved.