the next morning...
The sun shone through Miku's window, rays beaming at her face. She turned over in her bed to get herself up. Her hair was spread out everywhere. She got herself out of bed, stretched herself out, and went to her closet to get dressed. She seemed to have been sleeping for a bit too long, so she didn't really feel like she wanted to stay up in the morning. She got dressed in her usual outfit; a gray, sleeveless shirt, armwarmers, black skirt, and stockings. She then went to her drawer to see if she had put her hair ties there. Much to her shock, she saw that part of the ties were broken. Even the bits that came out were visible.
"No. No. NOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed in agony, pulling on her locks. "My hair ties! What am I going to do without my hair ties?!"
At that moment, her cellphone beeped. She went to look at it. It was a text message from Meiko. "What's the hold up, Miku? Why are you taking so long to arrive? The concert is going to start soon! Me and the others are already ready!" it read. Two large teardrops spilled out of Miku's eyes and ran down to the corners of her mouth. She texted back, "I'll be there soon. Don't worry.". Wiping the tears from her face, she started to head out the bedroom door.
"Hey Miku! What's wrong?" Rin popped up into Miku's sight almost immediately.
"GAAAAAAH!" Rin's sudden appearance made Miku jump out of her skin. She fell backwards, landing with her feet in the hair.
"Are you alright, Miku? You coulda tripped on your hair like that. Here, let me help you up." Rin offered a helping hand.
Miku, refusing to take Rin's hand, got up herself. She yelped as her body yanked on some of her hair locks. Her long, turquoise hair was hanging down below her knees. It didn't look very neat, either. She hated to see Rin now looking at her pigtail-less.
"Meiko sent me to get you because you were taking too long. I figured you could have been still sleeping. Oh, and did you lose your special hair ties?"
Instead of answering Rin's question, Miku flinched and ran off.
"Hey! Wait up!" The smaller girl boasted, trying to catch up to Miku. Her hair was bouncing everywhere with her as she was bolting to the venue. She had to keep all of her emotions together as she ran. She turned her head back. Rin's figure was still present, but she was too far away for her face to be seen. She didn't know why she was able to run that fast from her best friend, though she had thought Rin would catch her in just a split second. It was as if Miku was sprinting away from a humongous steamroller that was about to run over and smash her flat as a pancake. Except Rin came for a more important reason, and there were no roadrollers involved. She ran and ran until she finally reached the venue. She pushed and shoved her way through the large crowd of people in hopes nobody would dart after her and want to have her autograph. She finally reached the backstage, where she saw the unsmiling faces of her friends.
"What took you so long?" Len said, crossing his arms.
At that moment, Rin came in, panting.
"I tried... to... get her but... she just ran away..." Rin was so tired after her chase for Miku.
"Miku, let me ask you this. What took you so long?" Len said again.
This wasn't the time for falling aloof. There had to be an answer or else it would escalate to worse consequences.
"Well, what happened was that I woke up and when I went to my drawer, my hair ties had broken. I think I bumped my head somewhere which caused them to break. I didn't know they were broken until I looked on my drawer. Now look at me, I'm just a regular-looking girl now who doesn't look symbolic anymore! I was reluctant to come here honestly, but I had to come because I didn't want you getting mad at me for not coming. I don't even look like myself anymore, and I believe nobody in the audience won't even recognize me!" her voice broke at the last sentence.
"They'll still recognize you! What do you mean?" said Meiko.
"They won't... know me anymore..." Miku's voice trailed off. She used every ounce of strength to keep herself from bursting.
"Come on Miku, just let it all out. It isn't healthy to keep it in." said Len, rubbing Miku's back.
At that very instant, Miku fell to the ground on her knees. She bawled, and a waterfall of tears poured down her face. Kaito took a few steps back.
Meiko knelt down to the crying girl. "Hey, it's okay. You're still Miku, even without your usual hairstyle."
Miku was crying too hard to answer. She was busy weeping for her broken hair ties, her precious pigtails, and her recognition. Right there in front of all her friends that stuck by with her time to time. There was a breath she was unable to hold in, so she ended up letting it through her nose, spraying that wet slime all over her shirt.
"Oh my god, stop, stop..." Kaito mumbled as he covered his eyes.
"Kaito, don't be mean!" Meiko gave Kaito a slight kick.
"Hey! Don't kick me! It's just that I can't stand the look of crying faces!" Kaito argued.
Len came over to Miku with something in her hand. It was a giant towel. "Here, use this." he said, handing the towel to Miku.
"Thanks Len..." Miku sniffed, taking it. While she was busy drying her face with it, she felt Rin's arm being put around her.
"You know, Miku, I felt just like you when I lost my hairbow once. I didn't want to go anywhere without it. I always had felt very happy when it was right on the top of my head. But, I soon learned to accept myself even if I didn't have one piece of accessory with me that I liked wearing on the top of my head. Nobody saw me any different. They still thought I was Rin. I realized that even if an unexpected change happened to me in any way, I would still be me. If anybody out there is going to think you are not Miku anymore or that you are some 'unknown person', then let's face it, they're the ones who aren't special at all. In fact, they're ugly, and you are prettier than them."
Although Miku wasn't actually smiling from the outside, her inside seemed to give a slight smile when she heard all those kind words from her bestie.
"I'm with Rin right there!" Kaito chimed in. "Even if your hair was down, in a bun, waist length, average length, Rin's length, or totally bald, you will always be the Miku that we all love and have known ever since the day we first met you!"
"Yeah Miku! Just because you don't have your pigtails right now, it doesn't mean any of your courage, power, skill, and talent will drain out of you! Any physical change made to you will NEVER affect your most important aspects!" said Meiko. "I'm sure that you are going to nail it out there, and that all of your fans will love you no matter how you look!"
"Like my sister said, if anybody thinks any different out of you, they can get lost!" Len added.
"It's like I've been waiting my whole life to hear that..." Miku's voice quavered as she cracked a smile.
"Miku, give me a hug." Luka spread her arms out, waiting for Miku to get in them. Miku got herself into Luka's arms. Luka supported her closely, just like how friends should.
"How about a group hug?" Rin called.
"YEEEEEEEEEEAH!" Everyone yelled, and they all surrounded Miku. Her eyes widened like a window being opened on a hot summer morning. All those people hugging her... it added sprinkles to her thankfulness.
"Alright Miku, since your shirt has stains all over it, I'm gonna get you cleaned up and make you look prettier than ever." Luka commented suddenly.
"Can't you believe that?! Luka's gonna doll you up, and you're still gonna look like yourself! SQUEEEEEEEEE!" Rin squealed, rubbing her hands together as if she were about to be served an orange flavored smoothie.
Luka helped Miku to her feet. She lead her to another room in the venue, where there would be different clothes to wear and stuff. Miku was pretty excited to see her new self, though nervous to see her friends' reactions to how Luka would style her.
She was sure to kill it.