Miku
By the time I left my apartment, it was already half-past ten. It was raining again, a usual scene during summer. I hurried towards the crowded road in front of the block of houses while placing a newspaper above my head to prevent the rainwater from wetting my hairspray-contaminated turquoise hair. It took me hours to make all the annoying strands stay in place on my unusually long pigtails.
None of the taxis were willing to stop for me. Of course, who would want to accept money from a freak? My green hair that reached to my heels was natural, but when others saw me, they'd think I'm a troubled teenagers with dead parents. Well, they got the latter correct. There were only two people who I knew who never had a problem with my hair color – my bosses Lady Luka and her husband Master Gakupo.
My parents died when I was just a newborn and I was taken care of by Madame Marie, a rich woman who claimed to be my father's friend. However, five years ago, she committed suicide due to an investment crash. I was then taken in by Lady Luka and joined the dancers of her co-owned nightclub, Manoir de Vocaloid.
At this rate, I would miss about three hours of dance practice. I was determined to hail a taxi as the nightclub was too far a walk. Lady Luka, who had spoiled me rotten, wouldn't mind if I didn't turn up without a legit reason, though Master Gakupo was a whole different story. He was technically my father even though he was only nine years my senior, but he always gave me an unsatisfied look no matter how talented I was.
When I reached the nightclub, it was already eleven, an hour before lunch. I was guessing Master Gakupo would cut my break out and the old phone in my house would be disturbing my neighbors' mornings. The description of the nightclub was no different from a castle, or maybe something similar to the White Tower in London, which was the only place I've ever been to. The nightclub may look very antique and 1500s on the outside, but the inside was renovated almost every generation to keep up with the era. The nightclub was already very old after all. There was a garden in the frontyard built for outdoor parties and performances. The inside had ten theatres, five eateries including two on the roof, two libraries, three ballrooms, ten studios and several bedrooms and guest rooms for guests-of-honor and for the directors and actors to stay. Background people were not allowed to stay there.
I ran into one of my good friends and fellow backup dancers, Teto, while I was rushing to get to my respective studio for practice. I wondered what she was doing out of practice. I also noticed she wasn't in her leotards.
"There you are, Miku! Where have you been?"
"I'm so so so so sorry I'm late! But, why are you out of the studio?"
"Practice is cancelled today, remember? Lunch is early because Master Gakupo wants to see all of us in the theater afterwards."
"Did he say anything about my absence?"
"I don't think he even has the energy to think about that. He was so flustered this morning."
Teto took me to one of the restaurants where all the dancers and other performers were waiting. By other performers, I meant actors and actresses who actually lived in the nightclub. I got along well with all of them, Teto being the closest to me, except for Rin Kagamine.
Everybody knew who Rin and Len were as long as they had Kagamine behind it. Kagamine was one of the noble families and the original owners of Manoir de Vocaloid. It was the bride price for Master Gakupo's older sister. Rin and Len were the designer babies of the Kagamine family as they were identical twins. Rin Kagamine was a very talented actress and singer but didn't know a thing about dancing. She had a great body but looked horrible when she rocked it on stage. When I first joined, I already knew she hated me from her despised looks. That hate was the hate you would feel towards someone when you didn't like them just because they were new and that they somehow didn't belong in your little clique. Her hate became more open when I accidentally bumped into her on stage, ruining the whole performance and Rin's pride even though it was just a rehearsal. Although I was appalled at Rin's unreasonable hatred, I also admired her. She was the female lead for our newest play, Daughter of Evil, a story about an evil queen and the selfless love of a loyal servant and brother. The play caused a rumor to spread among the performers that Rin was having an incestuous affair with Len, Rin seemed a bit unaffected which was unlike her normal reaction.
After lunch, the maids and servants had to herd us to the theatre, even though we still had a few minutes till our break ended. Everything was so rushed that day. Hopefully, Master Gakupo wouldn't embarrass me in front of everyone in the theatre.
"Welcome all singers, dancers, actors, playwrights and directors." Master Gakupo said as we just entered the theatre. We, being the backup dancers, were the latest group of performers to arrive. I could see Rin already sitting comfortable next to Len as if she had teleported to the theatre unknowingly. The theatre was packed with the performers, the playwrights, the stage crew and the directors and shareholders of the nightclub. All the staff were present except for the servants.
"We are gathered here today to introduce our newest play, Daughter of Evil, written by an anonymous but very talented playwright. We are very glad to be the first theatre in the world to be showing this play. I am certain that people from all over the world will come flooding in just to catch this amazing play!" Master Gakupo danced around the stage dramatically as the dancers surrounding me giggled. "The play is a story about a beautiful and powerful but cold-hearted queen and the undying, selfless love of her loyal servant who is willing to do anything for her.
"The main roles have been decided. Of course, the roles of the female and male leads will be best depicted by our most talented and youngest singer and actress, Rin Kagamine, together with her brother, Len Kagamine!" Smiling from ear to ear, Rin and Len stood up to take a bow. Master Gakupo's dramatic and exaggerative tone seemed to force the audience to put their hands together to applaud the twins and nobody dared to remark about the incest problem.
"We will be doing something new this year. We have kindly invited a very handsome young man, who is also a famous actor in Hollywood and Japan, Kaito Shion, to be playing the Blue Prince in the play." Kaito Shion? Why did that name sound so familiar? "Kaito Shion. Most of you may know he comes from the noble Shion family."
A blue-haired man came up to the stage, as if he was going to make a speech. Kaito Shion. Kaito Shion. Kaito Shion. It was Kaito from kindergarten! I went to a private kindergarten near Madame Marie's mansion and Kaito and me were considered the weird ones for our vivid hair colors, which was why we had no choice but to play together to get socialized even when the difference between our genders was extremely significant at that time. We were the only boy-girl clique in the school. Madame Marie often stroked me her metal cane when she caught me being too intimate with Kaito. We had always been very little after all.
"Thank you very much, everyone." I blushed when I heard his deepened voice. "I just think that this nightclub is very unique and it's quite ironic that nobody knows what it is. Hopefully, this is the time for Manoir de Vocaloid to shine."
"That was short." Teto mumbled.
"Of course, thanks to your most honored appearance, Mr Shion." Master Gakupo chirped. "Auditions for roles of Daughter of Evil will be available from next week onwards."
"His appearance? I bet Gakpod is just being the stupid bootlicker he always is. I've never been to America, but I'll bet we work much harder than those bigshot actors!" Teto ranted as we walked out of the theatre. It was already the end of the day and everyone was going for dinner, heading back to their rooms or going home.
"You better keep it quiet before somebody hears you." I warned her.
"Whatever."
Out of the blue, Sai, one of the more popular backup dancers, crept up behind us and scared the living hell out of us. "Hey, my girlfriends~"
"Get your cheerleading ass away from us, Sai. You're probably only talking to us because the other girls just realized how annoying you are." Teto snapped.
Sai completely ignored Teto and turned to me. "So, Miku, are you going to sign up for the auditions?"
"I think I'll be heading home first before I get sick. See you tomorrow, Miku." Teto said before shooting Sai an irritated glare and trailing off.
"I don't think dancers are allowed to sign up." I said negatively, blowing my chances of reuniting with Kaito.
"But everyone knows you can sing really well! Probably much better than that bitch Rin. Plus, I know just the perfect role for you!"
"What?"
"The Daughter of Green! She has green hair and you have green hair! And you can sing, that's the important part. I don't think acting should be a problem for you. The best part is that you get to canoodle with that sexy American actor!"
I did want to reunite with Kaito, but not in that way, at least not yet. I just wanted to say hi to him and hopefully he would recognize me. I also just realized it was the first time I heard the word canoodle and already assumed what it meant. It was not the right time to be falling in love with someone or anyone at all, especially if he was your long-lost childhood sweetheart who is now a famous actor in America.
