Summary: "While the Vocaloids and Boukaroids were always in the limelight, we UTAU were always struggling to find the time that we could step out of the shadows and shine on our own." A story about a stroke of luck that will test the bonds of friendship.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yamaha, Crypton, Vocaloid or any of the characters associated with it. Nor do I own UTAU, which belongs to Ameya-P. Or Sugarcape. And then, each UTAU to their creator. And of course, each song to its writer.

Notes: I suggest you look up some of the Utauloids mentioned in this chapter; they're really good~

Thanks to: The Song Of Lost Age For reviewing! :)

Songs in this Chapter: Confront! You Look so Cool!

Please Rate + Review my story!

Without further adieu, enjoy~

"Have you heard about the Vocaloid tryouts?"

I looked up at Momo and nodded. "What, are you going to try out for them?"

"Oh, sure." Momo replied, twirling her hair. "But they're so impossible anyway. No one's passed enough of their tests to get in."

"If anyone can get accepted to Crypton, it's you, Momo." I told her. She blushed.

"H-hey! I'm not that amazing!" Momo stuttered. "A-at any rate, I'm not interested anyway…" She had been twirling her hair so furiously after my comment that she had tied it in a knot, and now was clawing at the tangle, trying to get her it loose. Yup. That's exactly what Momo was interested in.

After regaining her cool, she turned to me once again. "What about you, Defoko? Surely you're interested in the Vocaloid program as well?" I thought for a moment. Honestly, I hadn't considered the idea, because I had been so comfortable right where I was.

"Not particularly. I mean…" Well, it was impossible to completely ignore the idea. Of course I wanted to do better. Better classes, and a professional education…it certainly was an intriguing offer. Even if I held a grudge against Crypton. I sighed. "Ok. You got me there."

"I knew it!" She grinned. "Can't you imagine all three of us as Vocaloids?"

"Three of us?" I asked. "You mean Teto, too?"

"Of course!" Momo replied excitedly. "I mean, it's always been our dream to make it big together, right?" That I knew to be true. Even as little kids in our elementary school choir, we had always wanted to become a group of idol singers. As best friends, we pledged we'd help each other to the top. But now? I had always wanted to work for my fame…yet here was my chance, staring me in the face. A chance for me and my friends, a group of nobodies, at accomplishing our life-long goal.

"Yeah. But hasn't there only been, like, one person who made it in the past several years? Wasn't her name something like…uh…Maiko?" I wondered.

"I think you mean Meiko," Momo corrected me. "And no, I don't think she was an UTAU. We would have been told something about it if she had been from Ameya-P, don't you think? Like some sort of award on the wall or something?"

"Probably…" I trailed off. That essentially meant no well-known Vocaloids were once UTAU's.

"Besides," She continued, "It would be difficult for an UTAU to do well at Crypton, considering the school prejudices and rivalries and such."

"I dunno about that. We've never actually been to Crypton. What if the so called 'rivalries and predjudices' are one-sided? Like, no one cares about what UTAU's think or do at Crypton?" I proposed.

"Isn't it obvious?" Momo asked, slightly flustered. "Every time we go to a competition, we get slammed for our 'inferior' singing skills."

"But that's just the critics." I argued. "I've never actually heard about any comments like that come from the Vocaloids themselves. They seem pretty nice, even if they are spoiled. Have you ever heard Hatsune Miku or Len Kagamine say anything bad about Ameya-P?"

"No…" She sighed. "I guess my scores from the fall contest are getting to me a little." Poor Momo. She had sung what I believed to be her absolute best at the Classical Singing Concert last October, but she had still gotten a 2 for a score, on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 was the best. "But did you know? I heard Miku might be coming to our school to help with judging."

"Really—?" I began to say, but Teto popped up out of nowhere and cut me off.

"You mean THE Miku Hatsune?" Teto squeaked. Teto was a huge Miku buff. She absolutely adored her. Her music, her posters, even several copies of Miku's own magazine, Hatsune Mix—you named it, and Teto would have it. Or, at least, be an expert on it.

But then, everyone could be considered an expert on Hatsune Miku. Miku was everywhere. You could find her face on billboards, buses, and telephone poles. I even found a store one day that was using Miku to advertise their produce—leeks in particular, because that was apparently her favorite food. Although the obsession was a little crazy, it was understandable to an extent, however. Hatsune Miku may have only been sixteen and in the same grade as us, but in her first year of school, she scored almost twenty radio hits. The summer between freshman and sophomore year, she held a concert, which also featured some of her friends, Luka and the Kagamine twins.

"…Did someone say 'Len Kagamine…? …I wonder if he'll be here to judge, too…" A voice whispered from behind me. My spine tingled and I nearly jumped as I turned to look at who had talked. It was a girl with grey hair and red eyes: Sukone Tei, Ameya-P's resident Yandere. If Teto was obsessed with Miku, then I don't even want to know what Tei was when it came to Len.

Tei blushed and smiled maniacally. "That would be…wonderful…" She mused in a creepy, love struck voice. Lost in her daydream, Tei wandered away from my desk across the room.

"Whew. She's gone." Momo relaxed. "How does she do that? It's like she has superhuman hearing or something!"

"I don't know," Teto answered, "But that was just plain scary."

"Try having her pop up next to your ear." I agreed.

Class that day was all abuzz. Everyone seemed to be talking about the Crypton tryouts. They were already planning out what songs they wanted to sing, play, etc. I didn't see a single face that wasn't interested. Well, except two: Macne Nana and Coco. Oh sure, they were going to try out, but I guess the reason they didn't care was because they had already done rather well before they came to UTAU. Other than that, though, everyone was hopeful that they might be the one that would get chosen for a scholarship and be accepted.

We were all disappointed, of course, that Miku wouldn't be coming to our humble little school, but since the tryouts were to be held on the Crypton campus, it made up for it. We might not only see Miku, but some of the other Vocaloids as well. You can imagine that Tei was even more excited in that creepy way of hers.

The date for the try-outs was set for early February, about a month before the Solo and Ensemble competition. Even though I spent a lot of time in the city, I never actually saw the Crypton. I had always imagined it to be like our UTAU school. Before, it had always seemed like some fictional place—there, but not really. I mean, I'd seen Rin perform live at concerts and such. However, the Vocaloid campus felt real now—I would be stepping on in less than a week.

In the end, I decided to sing "Odoru~Yukkuri There". I had spent quite a bit of time writing the song during my freshman year, and it was the only song I felt had the quality to really impress the judges from Crypton. I knew, of course, that as a CV, I probably didn't have even the slightest chance of getting in, considering the impossible odds. However, I could hope.

"Hey! Defoko! Can you tell me if this is good or not?" Teto asked me during Choir. Due to the Crypton tryouts, we had temporarily shifted off of the CV, VCV, and VC CV separation, opting for individual practice time instead.

"Sure." I agreed. "Go ahead. I'm listening." Teto took a deep breath and began.

Your bright future,
is now hidden in the mist.
Your dream is disappearing.

Who will help watch over you?
Nobody will take care of you anymore.
Nobody else can save you .
You can only trust in yourself.

Alright!
You can do it!
Facing against the difficulties you look so cool!
Alright! You will become so great!
It doesn't matter if anyone laughs at you, as long as you do not give up yourself.

Facing against the difficulties you look so cool!
You will become so great!
As long as you have courage and do your best you can do anything!

Of course this only works for cute boys...

I laughed. Her ending never failed to amuse me. Teto had once told me she had been referring to her brother in the end, who apparently had been quite popular during his sophomore year at Ameya-P.

"Well?" Teto raised her eyebrows.

"I think... that was really awesome." I told her. "You've got a great voice for that song."

"You think?" Teto grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks! You know what? I think I've actually got a shot at this Vocaloid thing!"

"I think so, too. I can't wait for the try-outs!" I smiled back. And truly, I honestly couldn't wait. Even though I hadn't tried out yet, I was so hopeful that the suspense was already killing me.

"You know what else I want for Crypton? I kind of want them to know what we UTAU's are made of. We're all good singers, really. Look at you! Perfect pitch isn't common." Teto gave me a thumbs up. I was caught a little off guard.

"Uh…thanks?" I managed to say. "Teto, I'm only in the CV class. You and Momo are the real singers here."

"Oh, come on. Don't put yourself down like that." Teto waved a finger in a that's-so-wrong-and-this-is-what-I-have-to-say kind of way. "I know you are good."

I sighed. Me, being the pessimist I was, didn't fully believe her, but there was no arguing with Teto. It was too bad there wasn't a debate team at Ameya-P, because she would dominate. Momo and I had both tried on multiple occasions, but failed miserably, as had the teacher and other classmates.

"Ok. I'll give it my best." I finally told Teto, and she winked.

"That's the spirit! We are totally going to get into Vocaloid! And if we don't, we'll beat the crap out of them at Pop Show!" Teto danced around. "Can't you just see it now? Crypton is going down!"

"Hehe, I suppose." I laughed, scratching my head and sweating.

"This year, Defoko, I promise will not only be the first year an UTAU is accepted to Vocaloid, but the first year that three UTAU's make it!" She twirled towards me. "Riiiight?"

"Yep." I answered nonchalantly. Momo had believed we'd all get in as well. I wondered, could that really be possible? It seemed a little farfetched, considering Crypton's standards. Yet, I chose to ignore that. I pulled a copy of my sheet music out of my backpack. It was just like I had remembered it—same handwriting, same little side notes and markings that I had written in two years ago. I hummed a few notes before going into one of the practice rooms.

"Ok…I'm going to call roll now." Our teacher stood at front of the bus, looking over a clipboard. One by one, he called our names. "Momone Momo…Nagone Mako…Namine Ritsu…" Momo raised her hand. She was sitting across the aisle from me and Teto, and it was clear that she was giddy with excitement. Today, those of us who were going to the tryouts were heading over to Crypton University. This was it; this was the day that could change our lives.

"Psst! Defoko! Can you believe it? Crypton! Vocaloids! We're going to be there!" Teto whispered. She could hardly contain herself.

"Not really…" I grinned. "It's sort of unreal." And it was. Although the Vocaloids were prominent, Crypton University was sort of mythical place, a place that only existed "somewhere over the rainbow" to us UTAU's. Even now, as I sat on the bus to commute across town for the tryouts, it still felt like the school was an "off-limits" sort of place. Kind of like seeing a photograph of a landmark versus actually being there to see it.

Even I, who was a total non-believer concerning the odds of this competition, could not suppress the feeling of butterflies in my stomach as the bus left our school and drove towards the city. We passed some shopping districts that I knew, and a road a few streets away from where my mom's office was, but past that point, it was all new. Eventually, we came to the Yamaha district. Yamaha was a very ritzy part of town, so it made perfect sense that Vocaloid was located smack-dab in the middle of the place. The divide between "The City" and "Yamaha" was extremely noticeable, as modern architecture and high-class centers dotted the area. It was a little amazing to think that not one person who lived here needed help paying for Crypton's tuition fees.

Crypton University was marked by a very neat and clean sign, featuring a spin-off of Crypton's logo. The entrance drive was lined by trees and fields. As I looked out the bus window, the reason for the "University" title became evident—there were a variety of buildings, making it look like a small institution or junior college. There were two dormitory buildings, a dining hall, a music hall, a performance hall, a general studies hall, a library, and more. For being a private school, Crypton had a relatively large number of students attending it—approximately 2,500, but that hardly justified its facilities. UTAU had just under 4,000 students and it didn't get any of these extras. I decided that it was just because everyone in Yamaha was rich.

We pulled up in front of a registration building, but no one was allowed off the bus until we had all received name tags labeling us as "visitors". As instructed, we left all but our sheet music folders on the bus before putting a foot onto the legendary campus. It was then that reality hit me hard—Crypton was no longer a school of myth or "that other school" to me. It was real, and right here beneath my feet. Teto, Momo, and I gaped in awe. The building in front of us may have been only the administration building, but its architecture was fantastic.

"Ok, follow me! This way!" One of the teachers motioned, and we followed. I was silent for most of the walk, as I was still surprised by the facilities that Vocaloid had. Momo pointed out that there was even a student Recreation center, something extremely unusual for a high school—private school or not.

Our teacher stopped us in front of the performance hall. I wondered why we had stopped there instead of the music hall, considering that practice rooms, which were typically used in these sorts of tryouts, were usually near the music rooms. However, I soon discovered that this performance hall was much more than a theatre. It was well equipped for such a task.

Once in the performance hall's lobby, I noticed a few other schools present, including Boukaloido and Sugarcape. Leading the group for Boukaloido was Akita Neru. I've heard that she actually has a decent voice, but always insists on having a super-high-pitched voiceover to lip-sync to. She's also apparently a celphone troll. True to that rumor, she was plugging away at her celphone. Yowane Haku, another Boukaloido student, was peering over her shoulder.

After a few minutes, rosters were handed out to our teachers, and we were assigned to different try-out groups. "Ok…when you hear your name, come to the front so we can tell you the practice room and judge you are assigned to. Alright, Haruka Nana…Midorine Rei…" One by one, students came to the front. "Oh, that's me…See you later, Defoko." Teto told me, then walked through the crowd. Soon, Momo was gone as well. I was in Amane and Ichine Luna's group (Funny, how they ended up in the same group). Kawaiine Kagami and Sekka Yufu were also in my group.

"Hey…do you know how long we have to wait?" Yufu asked. "I'm really nervous…"

"Aren't we all." I mumbled, knowing that I, too, was nervous.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Luna (Amane) smiled. "Besides, even if you don't pass, you can at least say you tried, right?" I looked over at Luna (Amane). She was so sweet, and mature. As a junior, she could be confident in her singing skills. Of course she could keep her cool in this situation. Her presence alone was calming. It gave me a little more courage—

"What? You can't just settle for something like that! You have to try harder! Aim for the goal! Don't say it's ok if you lose!"

—And then there was Luna (Ichine). Aside from their names and luxurious blonde hair (which I envied at times), the two UTAU's couldn't be more different. Ichine Luna was in my grade; she was a little immature, and had a crush on Len Kagamine. Perhaps that was where she got her fighting spirit, being the only person in the school with the guts to stand up to Tei.

I sighed. I could tell that with Luna (Ichine) in my group, it wasn't going to be a very quiet day. I felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Hey, you!" Kagami ordered me to listen, not even bothering to ask my name. "Omigosh, aren't you so excited? Like, I'm so excited! What if I get into Crypton? That would be so, like, awesome!" She squealed, as if her voice wasn't insanely high-pitched and annoying enough. I turned back to Luna (Ichine), who looked competitive as ever.

"Well, what about you?" She asked suddenly.

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. "I want to get in, but…I mean, my friends and I decided we'll try and all get into Crypton together, so…I guess, yeah. I'll try my best."

Luna had been staring me down quizzically, but now her face broke into the biggest grin I had ever seen. "That's the spirit!" She spun around and pointed at Yufu. "You can do it too! So you get out there and sing your absolute best! Got it?" Yufu shifted nervously. Luna (Amane) sweatdropped, and opened her mouth to say something, but surprisingly, Yufu beat her to it.

"…ok." She whispered quietly. I could swear that I saw the tinyiest smile creep onto her face. Looks like even the person most lacking in self-confidence had a little hope. Maybe Luna and her pep talks weren't so bad after all.

At that moment, the door to the practice room we had been standing in line next to opened. "Ok, who's first?" a man, presumably our judge, asked. He looked down at the list. "That would be…Amane Luna?" Luna stiffened, probably a little nervous that she had to go first. No matter how good a singer she was, or how calm she could always be, going first is always unnerving.

"Good luck." I whispered, and Luna (Ichine) smiled, giving a little wave. Yufu smiled, too. I felt a little sorry for Luna, having to go first, but as soon as the door shut, I wished I was her, as Kagami appeared in my face yet again.

"Omigosh omigosh omigosh I'm third to go! That means only one more person is ahead of me now! I'm so nervous, but I can't wait! I hope I wow the judge with my amazing singing! Can't you just see me, a Crypton Vocaloid, as popular as Miku? I wish I could be just like her, all kawaii, and desu, and pretty! Like, omigosh…"

I wish you would shut up, I thought. If Kagami said another word, I was sure I would barf. Her voice was just that irritating. The last thing I wanted was for her to get into Crypton, because then that would mean I would have to hear her voice everywhere. However, I could rest assured in the fact that she was too terrible a singer to have a chance. While some of the Boukaloids had some talent, Kawaiine Kagami was not one of them.

I sighed. Boukaloids.

And so the tryouts begin...!

Sorry this chapter took so long. After I had typed 8,000 words I decided I needed to split the chapter in half, so I'm a little behind.
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