A/N (20/6/12) : I am uploading this because I'd like to see feedback on this story. I may or may not continue it, also because my friend wishes for more Vocaloid stories, so I'm uploading this from my FB to see if it's a good idea for a plot. The below A/N is written WHENEVER, but it was a long time ago. I have another chapter with me, but I'll keep this story as a one-shot. So enjoy, I guess.
The day began with a melody.
A young girl with long teal-coloured pigtails groaned as her eyelids flickered open, her rest disturbed. She laid on the ground, sprawled out in an awkward position. The teenager groaned tiredly in annoyance, lifted herself up..
And found herself standing right in the center of a torrent of people, on the streets of Shibuya.
A/N : Welcome to a brand new Fan Fiction! I usually don't do these author's notes right in the middle of a story. Sorry about that. I'd just like to address two issues at hand – this story and my other fan fiction for Persona 3.
Firstly, I'd like to say thank you to anyone who has read my other fanfiction(s, depending on future ffs and the like) and I'd like to welcome you back to another story of mine! For followers of my Persona 3 Fanfic, as of 14/3/2012, I'd like to say that I do not have a PSP/PSV yet. My game file's trapped within my old PSP and so is the game disc. Yeah. There's no way I can continue that.
Secondly, this story is not a direct threat to anyone at all. If you find this offensive, I am sorry (especially to the shippers) and I literally, 100% do not wish to offend anyone reading. I'd also like to say that this fanfiction will include the following ; Miku and Len, Teto and Neru, Rin, Meiko and Kaito, Gumi, Luka and Gakupo, IA, Yuzuki Yukari, Oliver, SHO FREAKING MINAMIMOTO, mentions of Luka x Len, Luka x Gakupo, Meiko x Kaito and friendship / IA x Oliver x Yukari.
If you object to any of these parings or characters VIOLENTLY, I suggest you leave now. Just in case. If you're ready to take the blow, then continue on ahead.
In any case, thank you kindly for stopping by, and now I present to you the rest of this story!
The flutter of bony wings distracted her from the on-going sight of the city. The girl slid her hand away from the window and turned her attention to her returned friend. "Day one has begun. Aren't you going out to greet them?" She gave her a bored look, pulled down her lower left eyelid slightly and stuck her tongue out. These simple actions were enough to send her companion in a giggling fit, and the girl smiled. "I'll take that as a no then!"
"Now when did I ever say that?" The girl pulled down her dark purple rabbit hood, grinning. "I didn't want to go down alone, so I waited for you." She took her friend's offered hand as she approached her. "So where should we go first?"
"I think the area with the most players would be nice." The girl pursed her lips, considering their destination, before dragging her friend by the wrist towards the door with an excited expression on her face. "Hachiko it is then!"
Her large teal eyes blinked, depicting an aura of confusion. Her pigtails bobbed up and down naturally. She dusted off the dirt on her grey shirt, flattened her black skirt, pulled up her arm.. accessories and adjusted her teal tie innocently. The back of her hand brushed against a name-tag, pinned on the left of her chest. Curious, the girl found herself removing the tag and reading it.
Hatsune Miku
Was that her name? With a shrug, she pinned it back on clumsily and looked around. She hadn't a place to go to anyway. Miku spun around in boredom, a comedic act to be seen, before stopping when a flash of light blue on an electronic screen blinded her temporarily. Stumbling, the girl rubbed her eyes in vain and looked back to see what the distraction was.
It was a simple advertisement, one that anyone could have seen and ignored. However, to our protagonist, it was more than words on a screen. It attracted her towards it greatly, and she rushed towards the building with the giant screen with enthusiasm.
On that screen, it had shown an image of her, with the large bold words – 'Virtual Diva Hatsune Miku's 39 Concert and Mikupa out on DVD now!'
The girl sprinted excitedly towards the building, with high hopes for meaning and purpose. Weaving in and out of the crowd with great dexterity, she made it out of the area and crashed right into an invisible wall. Mind you, this wall seemed virtual, as after comforting the pain with numbness our diva looked back up to re-define the wall and other people from the crowd were passing through. In anger, she made a big fuss and began hitting the wall in vain, white hexagon ripples made with each hit.
After a few minutes, she became tired and dropped down to the ground. The crowd of people were gone, and all that was left on the road were vehicles, going in different directions. Panting in worry, tears in her eyes formed, but were wiped away quickly. She knew she was strong enough not to cry over an invisible wa-
player criteria met. running mission_ ...
What was –
Reach 104. You have 60 minutes.
Fail and face erasure. –The Reapers
Miku blinked rapidly in confusion. She had heard the voice from somewhere, but how? Her fingers moved towards her ear – those weren't her ears. Sliding her fingers over the plastic covers, she identified the item as headphones. Sighing in relief, she turned to look up at the sky, more importantly the building in front of her.
In large red numbers, the statures on the front of the building right above the advertisement screen read 104. But with the wall in the way, how was she to get to her destination? She didn't want to disappoint anyone, and erasure sounded terrifying.. Shaking her head in denial, she picked herself up from off the ground, adjusted her clothes and turned to look for someone to ask help from.
"Hey, look down there Teto. Fresh food." Her tongue ran over her dried lips and her face pulled into a toothy grin. "Come on, the day's started already, and I want to get first blood." Her black, bony wings battered in excitement and her fingers twitched eagerly. Her pink-haired companion, Teto, did not take this lightly, as they bumped into her cheeks annoyingly. Her fingers curled around her twin-drills hairstyle and she bit her lower lip. "Neru, it's Day one. Take it easy, we have six more chances to nab that achievement."
The blonde girl shot her an expression of anger, her left wing and single left ponytail brushing against her friend's face. Teto rolled her eyes and tidied up her attire, a dark steel-blue sleeveless shirt with a pink tie, accompanied by a matching short skirt, black leather thigh-high socks and pink-rimmed arm accessories. Her companion rose from her crouch, Teto stepping back, giving her space. Neru had worn an outfit similar to Miku's, only with golden-yellow in place of the diva's teal.
Thrilled, the yellow-haired reaper leaped off of the roof top aiming for a rather short target on the ground. Her friend, giving small yelps of complaints for not telling her of her departure, dived down with her own pair of bony wings spread out, head first down the concrete, weathered building.
"It's been 30 minutes."
"Yet the mission is still not complete.."
The two girls sat idly by, watching a rush of people flood the streets near the Hachiko Statue. The loyal bronze dog stood proudly on it's post, watching the skies with hope. The girl with the bunny hood twirled her fingers around the locks of her lavender hair in boredom. Her companion blinked, questioning her movement. "Is it really that boring out here?" Bashfully, the girl lowered her head and fiddled with her hoodie's sleeves, which reached all the way to her palms and only allowed her fingers to be shown. "It's not boring, but I haven't had breakfast yet.." The girl felt her face burn slightly. "I-I was really panicked about today. It's been a month since the last game and I thought Oliver would be mad at us if we didn't take it seriously.."
"That's just like you, worry wot!" Her companion giggled once more, earning herself a cute glare from her friend. "IA! It's not funny!" IA was then sent into a laughing fit, her golden hair bouncing gracefully. She clutched her stomach tightly and tried defending herself with her left hand against her friend's light punches. At the end of the fuss, the reaper had her grey top down her stomach on her arm, revealing the jet black leather singlet underneath. Embarrassed, she quickly adjusted her top to hang on her right shoulder, her left exposed as the design was meant to be.
"Yukari, if you want we could go buy some ice cream. Would that help combat the hunger?" The girl was about to shake her head, but a noisy growl from her tummy was quicker to react. Her face flushed with red. She reluctantly nodded and had her dragged by the sleeve by IA to the nearest convenience store.
.. Or she would have if she didn't hear a girly yelp. Stopping, she lightly pulled away from her friend's grasp and looked around. A blonde male with large tuffs of hair and a tiny ponytail rushed by with haste, panicked. As he tore down the streets, his orange scarf flew behind him, holding down his grey long-sleeved t-shirt. The boy also wore a pair of blue jeans, and had a banana key-chain hooked at the side of his pockets. His shoes were black-and-white checkered, its laces tied up neatly.
"What was that about..?"
"I don't-"
"Out of the way!" Yukari directed her gaze towards the sky, where two reapers – pink and yellow – had leaped up to. The pink, whom she identified as Teto, had her left hand up to her shoulder filled with tattoos and was grinning menacingly. Her companion on the other hand, had her right hand wielding a blue flip mobile phone with a spring onion key chain at its end.
With a swift movement of her left arm, Teto had sent the tattoos off her arm and the art had solidified into strangely coloured animals – a green frog, a silver wolf with blue on its limbs and head and a blue anthropomorphic wolf with black limbs. These creatures had black markings on their backs, the blue wolf on its chest, and were rushing off towards the direction of the boy. A gust of wind blasted past the two companions as the minions were dismissed, and the two reapers dropped on to the ground.
"That took waaaayy longer that it needed to be!" Neru complained as she placed an arm on her hips, the other busy playing with her phone. Her attention quickly turned over to Yukari, who had snatched her phone away in a jiffy. "IA, talk to them please. I'm going after those Noise." Teto bit her tongue, frightened as the bunny hood bounced off in the distance, a lavender frilly skirt flowing in suit. Her shoes hit hard on the ground, making the taps loud and clear as the girl ran off.
"Huh." IA turned to the two reapers. "So, would you care to explain what's going on?" Neru sighed and rolled her eyes while Teto acted innocent with a sheepish expression.
"GYAAAA!" Miku turned around, tired and worried. Her search for answers had not been going well, and from the timer on her arm accessory, forty minutes had passed since the weird transmission. A streak of yellow had caught her eye in the crowd. A boy with blonde hair was running in her general direction, when she examined clos-
"OOF!"
A sharp pain hit her at the back of her head. Her body numbed with pain as the impact with the boy and the floor secured her for the blow. "A-Ah.." The diva opened her eyes, wincing at the pain as the boy slowly got up. "S-Sorry.. Hey wait!" The boy grabbed her hands quickly and held them in front of her. "Please, you have to help me!" Miku was clearly confused at this. "You have to make a pact with me! It's the only way!"
The teen shot the male a questioning look, before nodding her head, panicked at a few cries and roars in the distance. The boy smiled back in relief and an aqua light shined down from the heavens upon the duo. "Thank you," he muttered as the light faded from existence. The diva felt a heavy weight on her tie as the boy lifted himself up.
"Here, I'll help you," he continued, before extending his hand out to Miku. The girl accepted it, and placed her palm on his. His grip tightened and he pulled the star towards him in an affectionate manner. The girl found her face buried in his chest quickly, her heartbeat racing. The boy gave a hearty laugh. "Sorry about that! It's a habit of mine.."
Miku nodded quickly and pulled herself away, catching a glimpse of a tag right below his orange scarf, at the left of his chest.
Len Kagamine
So that was the boy's name. "Your name's Hatsune Miku, huh? I saw from your name tag." The girl nodded enthusiastically back at Len. "Nice to meet you then! However awkward the manner was." He extended his hand for proper handshake, and Miku found herself in agreement with the boy. "First things first though, we have company," the boy coolly said as a number of creatures approached him from behind. A silver wolf from the pack lunged at him and he turned, angered by the sudden assault pulled upon him.
The wolf was immediately shred to fading auxiliary pixels as it jumped into the air. "Be careful, you two!" A purple-outfitted girl had landed right beside the two characters. "Thank goodness, you were nearly erased." Turning to them, she raised a hand. "Hi there. I'm Yuzuki Yukari, your saviour."
"Is that so, little girl?" She was shorter than Miku herself, and found Len's hand messing her hair. As a green frog jumped in to attack Len, who was distracted, it was cut to pieces by a movement of her hand. The boy was shocked as his head turned to the enemy. "I said be careful, not get distracted." Yukari turned to Miku, a little annoyed by her company's reactions. "If your partner's not serious, I guess I have to trust you then."
She handed her a round, flat metallic object that resembled a button. "That there's a pin, your weapon." As Miku flipped it over, she realized it was painted aqua, with a black music note that glowed a soft light blue. In the background of the painting, there were streaks of white and bubbles. "I think this is suited for you. I'd like you to sing a note while holding that pin tightly at the wolf please."
The enemy, annoyed, towered over the shivering Len as it approached him threateningly. Miku's eyes widened, surprised at how big of a threat it was to them. How was a note going to save them? She felt a hand on her shoulder as she quivered with fear. Turning, she felt the eyes of Yukari telling her to trust her. Turning back towards the opponent, who had lifted a paw, she opened her mouth, and..
Ahhh~
The wolf stopped, its ears pricked. Its attention turned to Miku, who watched it in fright.
"Louder. Sing a song."
She trembled more as its eyes glowed red.
"Wait, your name's Hatsune Miku, right?"
It growled heavily.
"I hope this rings a bell.. Try singing World is Mine!"
She inhaled. It sheathed its claws.
Se-kaaaa-i de, i-chi-ban o-hi-me-sa-ma!
So-u iuu a-tsu-ka-i, koko-ro e~tee ––
Yo ne?
The beast covered its ears and cried out in pain, before vanishing in a splatter of pixels.
Miku panted, relief from the situation. Len sighed, sweating from panic. "W-Well, that's it huh!" His hand ran over his hair, trying to recover from looking scared from the previous situation, before turning over to the girls. "That was lucky, wasn't it? Yukari, thank you for saving us. Credit given to Miku for executing the move, of course."
The bunny-hooded girl glared at him, before rolling her eyes. "You were only lucky the girl was able to sing. And don't you have any pins of your own to use?"
"Actually, now that you mention it, no. Wasn't there supposed to be an issue of them at the start of the game?" Miku slumped down from the shock of the battle. "Yes, there was.. I'll give you some though, if you really don't have any." Yukari reached into her hoodie's pockets and dropped a handful of pins into Len's hands. "Share some with the girl, I don't think she has them either."
"Are there any requirements for her pin usage?"
"Perhaps. But she expertises greatly in vocal pins."
"I see."
"Don't you have a mission to complete?"
"Are you going off somewhere?"
"As the matter of fact, I am. Oh, and there's only ten minutes left towards the end of the day. Get moving."
"R-Right!"
Yukari placed a hand on Miku's back. "Calm down. You'll do just fine. Right now though, you two have to focus on the mission at hand." She turned towards Len. "You know about the game right? Teach her."
"Doesn't she know?"
"I don't think so. A special case indeed, but just help me out here, alright?"
"Uhh.. Got it."
"Thanks. See ya." She waved a hand at the boy and ran off into the crowd. Len turned towards the frightened girl and proceeded to stroke her back gently. "It's okay Miku. The monsters are defeated, you needn't be afraid any more. I'll tell you everything I know about what's going on, I promise. But right now, we have to finish the mission."
Quivering, the girl raised a finger and poked at the air in front of her timidly. She had expected a ripple of hexagons like last time, but her finger went straight through the air with ease. Miku heaved a sigh of relief and stood back up straight, beckoning her companion to follow along as she rushed towards the building, brimming with enthusiasm once more.
"H-Hey, wait up!"
"Welcome back Yukari!" IA jumped off her chair and flew over to her friend, landing on the ground with a small thump as she closed the door. "So, what happened on your side?" Yukari smiled. "I'd like to hear about your side first. It's more important for the reports, you know." Her companion found herself blushing with embarrassment. "I knew that! ..Kind of." Now it was Yukari's turn to chuckle. "It's okay.. But what would Oliver say about this situation?"
"I don't think he'll be too harsh on them, it was merely a simple misunderstanding with the rest of the reapers." IA stepped alongside her friend and hooked her arm around her in a friendly manner. "Come on, we'll have to go tell him about this anyway, just tell me what happened already!"
"I-I don't think so. The two of you need to hear about this though, so I'll tell you when we get there."
"T-Tease!"
When the duo reached their destination, the boy was already panting. "Gahah! Miku, you're way too fast!" Len had bent down in exhaustion, his hands on his knees. Miku bent down with her hands on her back and smiled directly at, innocently and sweetly. "So.. I guess we've made it, since we're not erased or anything.. Right?" The diva nodded as she checked her arm. A closer look at the accessory made it apparent that they were large loose arm warmers, with a digital device built into the left. There were several buttons on the panel's surface, and a digital screen that kept track of time.
"Just a minute to spare too, phew.." Len fell right onto the floor tiredly. "So, do you have any questions about your entire situation?" Miku pondered over her doubts for a moment, before pointing at the large number of people around her excitedly. "Oh, them? You can't talk to them. They're living, they can't hear us."
With a puzzled look, she sat down beside Len. "We're on a different dimension as compared to them, so take them as part of the background, okay?" Miku looked at him, not buying his explanation and folding her arms. "What? You can talk to me because we're on the same dimension. There's others here too, but I guess we haven't seen them yet."
The diva nodded for awhile, before revealing the pin she had held in her palm the entire time to Len. He took it and examined it. "This is a pin. As Yukari said, it's a weapon to defend yourself against monsters. And not just defending too." The boy reached out for his pockets and pulled out a blue phone with a banana key chain. With a few key presses, he turned the screen around for Miku to see. "This was the mission for today, remember? It was to simply reach a destination. But some missions require us to battle, so that pin will come in handy during those times."
The girl nodded, taking the information in. She then drew something in the air and looked back to Len, confused. The boy shook his head bashfully. "No.. I don't quite get what you're getting at." The diva paused for a moment, concentrating, before towering over him and making scary faces. The male grinned and laughed. "Oh! Those enemies we fought, right?" Miku nodded in agreement and sat down on the ground again. "They are what we call Noise. Noise are the monsters of this dimension. They are summoned by people with large, bony wings on their backs, which we call Reapers."
"Reapers are dangerous, and they're the people that watch over this dimension. See, the missions, monsters and these walls are all controlled by them. They're under orders by someone higher up – the Game Master. The Game Master's the person who gives out the orders, and he's under orders by the Conductor. And he's the advisor of the Composer. The last of this hierarchy is the Producer, who watches over the game. We're merely players that play the game." Len paused to catch his breath, before turning to Miku, who gave him a puzzled expression. He placed a hand behind his neck. "I'm sorry if that's too much for you to take in.. You don't have to memorize it all, really."
The teen thought for awhile, before pointing towards Len and then towards his phone, which he was holding. The boy silently tried to understand her gestures, before nodding. "Why.. are we playing this game?" The girl nodded, concerned. "Well.. It's because we want something.. A second chance at life, to be exact." Miku looked at him questionably. "Look, we're put into this trial for another chance to live. Because, the matter of fact is.."
"We're dead."