Wow, I am honestly floored by all the reviews! You guys rock! I'm really glad you guys liked the first chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy this one as well!
DISCLAIMER: Still don't own any- Oh c'mon, do I really need to do this? x_x
Chapter 2
She had hoped. Earnestly hoped. She had hoped that maybe whatever the school used to print its newspapers would catch fire or run out of ink. She had hoped that maybe some other awful fate would befall the papers the newspaper was printed on. She had hoped that something would cause Lily's article to not be printed.
Above all, she had hoped that she was wrong about the contents of Lily's article.
"Th-That poor girl..." a student she passed in the halls that morning sniffled as her friend reading the school newspaper over her shoulder also sniffled and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.
"She was so brave...!" another boy in the halls blubbered, burying his eyes into his sleeve and sobbing.
Another had sighed dreamily after finishing the article. "I wonder if I'll ever be brave enough to confess to Luka-hime-sama too...?"
Clearly, she had been wrong to hope.
Today was the day the newest issue of the school newspaper had been printed, much to Luka's dismay. More importantly, today was the day that Lily's newest article had come out, an eagerly anticipated column throughout the school for everyone except the pink-haired girl who had starred in every single damn one of them. From what she could gather, it was yet another drama and emotion-packed episode in the ongoing quest of Luka's admirers to confess to her and win her heart. And, judging from how many had been moved to tears by it, it looked like Lily had published yet another hit.
How wonderful for her! Luka thought acidly as she stepped into her classroom.
And Luka supposed that, as her friend and the star of Lily's highly successful articles, it was only fair that she be the first one to grant the blonde the first accolade. A golden opportunity presented itself as she caught sight of the open newspaper in the seat beside her assigned one, no doubt concealing Lily grinning from ear to ear and mentally patting herself on the back for her brilliant writing. And such success deserved to be rewarded!
And so, with that thought in mind, the Ice Princess stomped forward, snatched the newspaper from Lily's hand, rolled it up, and then viciously smacked her over the head with it.
It was practically tradition for the Ice Princess to make herself scarce the day a new article by Masuda Lily came out. Her popularity as it already stood was bad enough; on the days after a new issue, the gossip would fly like nobody's business. There would be nearly no escape from it, seeing how everyone at school would be talking about the damn thing (apparently, though the faculty officially denied it, Lily's articles were popular reading in the teachers' lounge as well).
In the name of avoiding the talk as best as they could, Luka and her friends would eat on the rooftop on those days, and today was no exception. Lily would join too, partly because she too was one of Luka's friends (even if she would be temporarily out of the princess's good graces at the time), but mostly because she loved doing her dramatic narration for the rest of their friends. The only one who didn't delight in this at all was Luka herself, but she would tolerate it. After all, there wasn't much choice. So as usual, she was eating her lunch while the others sat and listened to Lily's tale. Ordinarily, Luka would sigh and roll her eyes at the over-sensationalized story of the day, and today was no different really.
Lily was in the middle of energetically reading to her audience, conveying for them the tale of the nervous first year who had fallen at first sight for Yamaha High's own Ice Princess, her emotions steadily building up as she would feel flustered in the princess's icy presence until she could take it no longer. Feeling she must confess her love lest the flames of her passion consume her from the inside out, and summoning up every last remnant of her courage, the first year asked the school's princess to meet her, so that she could confess her undying love. But despite her best efforts, despite all the courage she'd needed to muster up until that fateful moment, despite the intensity of the fire of love in her heart, despite her hope against all hope to thaw the frost that encased the Ice Princess's heart, her ice-cold senpai had been unmoved by her ardent confession. Like all of the other boys and girls who had come before her, and had dared as she dared, the girl had been coldly rejected and left behind in the classroom to tearfully nurse her broken heart alone. Dejected and saddened, the girl nevertheless resolved to hold to her devotion and remain a part of the Ice Princess's fan club, continuing to love her from afar.
Again, Luka wondered how Lily's article maintained its stranglehold of popularity despite spouting almost the exact same melodramatic crap every freaking time.
The article had been injected with generous helpings of drama and emotion, the end predictably full of tears and a broken heart's resolve to continue to love the Ice Princess even if she could never have her (gag), and the whole nine yards. However, today's reading was different from the previous ones.
At the end of Lily's reading, as all of their other friends cheered and applauded (partly because they liked it too and partly because it was actually pretty fun to annoy Luka every so often), Luka sipped at her juice carton before deciding to speak up.
"Lily." It took some effort to keep her tone mild.
"Yes, your majesty?" came the cheeky reply.
Eye twitch. "At the end of your story, after the... 'princess' (Luka spat the word as if it were a vile taste in her mouth)... turns down her suitor, the girl resolves to continue to love her from afar... right?"
Lily nodded. "Yup!"
Another eye twitch. "Then, Lily... please... enlighten me..."
"Hm?"
From beside Luka, a teal-haired girl sniffled, visibly moved by the story. "That was beautiful!"
Bolting into a standing position, Luka aimed an accusing finger down at the girl as she raged, "JUST WHAT PART OF THIS EXACTLY IS LOVING FROM AFAR? ! ? !"
All eyes turned to the figure of Hatsune Miku sniffling beside her, dabbing her eyes with the pink handkerchief Luka had ended up letting her keep after all (she couldn't bear the thought of using it again after how it had been defiled by the younger girl's perverted fantasies...), Lily looked at her for a while before returning her gaze to Luka, grinning.
"What's the problem? Everyone knows that I like have to some fun with our lovely hime-sama's adventures, so a few inaccuracies are bound to pop up, ne?"
Luka's rage vanished instantly into a smile, a truly radiant and wondrous smile of breathtaking beauty in and of itself. She laughed, the sound reminiscent of softly ringing bells, and said, "Ahh, I see! So that's how it is!"
Lily joined in with her laughter, the sound harmonizing beautifully with her friend's. "Yup, yup! And besides, what's a good story without-"
SMACK!
The next sound following this was Lily's body thumping uselessly against the ground, having been knocked senseless courtesy of a juice box slamming at high speed right between her eyes.
As soon as Luka returned home, she trudged to her room and flopped facedown on her bed. What a week... Ever since Hatsune Miku's confession to her, she'd been dealing with her every day.
Every day.
Every day.
Every. Day.
She could hardly believe that it had only been a few days since she'd received that confession. She'd had to endure Hatsune Miku's nigh omnipresence, from when she woke up to pretty much the moment she walked into her front door... And of course, the annoying pest would have to yell from across the street, "Bye, senpai! See you tomorrow!"
Humans were good at adapting though, so the neighbors quickly grew used to it.
She sighed. Thank God it was the weekend now... Luka wearily pushed herself up into a standing position, stripping off her uniform and tossing it onto her bed before picking out a change of clothes. She supposed she should check first to see if there was anything to make for dinner, so that way she would know whether or not she needed to do some grocery shopping. To that end, she finished changing and began to head down the stairs.
Starting from when she was still young, Luka had learned to fend for herself, her skill at this improving with age. It was necessary for her, as her parents were both busy with their careers and oftentimes would not be home until very late, or if at all. Her father usually was out on business trips, like he was now, and it was only good fortune that Luka's mother was able to be home long enough to fix her daughter's breakfast on the weekdays before she needed to run out the door.
So, Luka thought sourly, it was actually good for her that Hatsune Miku had decided to barge into her daughter's life. At least someone was happy about that...
A quick peek inside of the fridge confirmed that there was enough food for Luka to make a meal with, so dinner was off the list of worries. She took the opportunity to lie down on the couch with a sigh. Her homework was already mostly done; she'd been determined to ignore people during their free study period today and had wrathfully busied herself with various equations and problems (most people knew better than to bother the Ice Princess when her aura turned deathly cold, which it usually did following a new issue's release). Lily had also been nursing her wounds at the time and had wisely decided to be silent and leave her alone.
What to do?
It was a question that was familiar to her whenever the weekend came about, even when she was just a kid. Her thoughts drifted back to those days, remembering herself as a skinny, awkward, and devastatingly shy child. It had not been particularly easy; she'd never admit to it out loud, but she'd been very lonely back then. Luka closed her eyes, a wry smile tugging at a corner of her mouth. Unlike most children, she'd never gotten much of a chance to spend time with her parents. She hadn't been one of those children who got to go out on trips with her family, or even spend time at a park together or anything; the Megurine parents were simply too busy for that.
But even if her parents were busy, she knew they loved her, and Luka supposed that was more important than anything else.
She shook her head, wiping off the expression of mild melancholy that had overtaken her features. Luka hopped to her feet, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walked over to her piano. She slid into her seat with an ease borne of long familiarity. Her fingers automatically positioned themselves over the keys, her fingertips gently touching them before she began to play.
It was a passion of hers that she kept quiet, but Luka enjoyed music. Certainly, other kids her age loved listening to music, but she also enjoyed making it, whether she was playing on her piano or singing. Her fingers began to play seemingly of their own volition, agilely flowing over the ivory and ebony keys as her eyes closed, letting the music play her almost as much as she was playing it. She had always loved music, whether she was doing it as a source of comfort, or just when she felt like it. She'd indulged in music ever since she was young, at first just singing, and then learning how to play the piano when her parents had purchased it for her, one of their many gifts to her as a sort of apology for not being able to spend time with their daughter.
The melody that issued forth from the piano filled the room and she felt herself beginning to unconsciously sway in time with the flow as her concentration intensified. She'd been told many times she had a talent for music, but Luka had no intentions of ever making a career out of it. It was her personal joy, and she only shared her love for music with those close to her. Her friends knew how well she sang, since they would all go out to karaoke every so often, and they were all close enough to her that she didn't mind sharing it with them. She'd played once or twice for her parents; she'd only played so few times because of how scarcely they were home when she was playing.
But ah well... She supposed that was life.
A dinging sound interrupted Luka in the middle of her piece, startling her out of her trance. She looked up, puzzled. That was... the doorbell, wasn't it? Had it been her imagination? It could have been... it wasn't particularly late, but who would possibly come calling at this hour? The sound rang again, apparently proving that theory wrong before it even got off the ground. Curious, she walked to the door and opened it.
"Hi, senpai!" the broadly smiling tealette at the door greeted her.
Luka stared blankly at her.
Unfazed by the lack of reaction, Miku continued, "I came to hang out! You free today? I got nothing to do, and since it's the weekend and we've got no school tomorrow, I thought maybe we could do something together! Y'know, just the two of us! I mean, we live right across the street from each other and all anyways, right? So whaddya say?"
Luka continued to stare blankly at her.
Miku's grin remained.
The door slammed in her face.
"Uuu, c'mon, senpai! Don't be like that!" Miku's muffled voice whined through the door.
Luka sighed and walked away. Idly, she wondered if her parents would allow her to move into her own apartment...
"Ne, senpai~!" the whining continued. "Ne~~~!"
Actually, first, maybe she should call the cops and say there was a suspicious person outside of her house...
This was the way to wake up, Luka decided: warm, cozy, and late in the morning. If there was one thing Luka always took advantage of on the weekends, it was being able to sleep in and get up as late as she pleased. Of course, she wouldn't sleep a whole day away; that was just irresponsible in her book. It was just that school always started about five hours before she was really ready to leave her bed... and then lately there had always been a camera shoved in her face while she was sleeping defenselessly. She forcibly shoved that dark thought from her head, looking forward to her Saturday. No school, no homework (she'd finished it off last night), no confessions, no nothing! Seeing how she was going to likely just laze the day away at home and blast some zombies, or maybe go online and thrash some people, she decided that the tank top she had on right now was fine, and slipped on a pair of teal shorts. She padded her way downstairs, smelling breakfast (Or was it late enough to be brunch? She decided not to think too hard about it.).
As she walked into the dining room, she noticed her mother standing at the kitchen stove. "Good morning," Luka greeted.
Yukari looked over her shoulder. Seeing her daughter, she smiled warmly. "Good morning, Luka-chan!"
The teal-haired girl already seated at the table smiled cheerfully at her after swallowing down a mouthful of food. "Good morning, senpai!"
"Un, good morning," Luka greeted absently. She sat at the table, rubbing her eyes; sleep had a tendency to hang on long after one had gotten out of bed. "No work today?" she asked her mother.
Yukari set out a plate of food in front of her, replying, "I have to leave in a bit; I told them I'd be coming in late today and stay later."
"Ah." Luka worked out the kinks in her neck, a yawn forcing its way out of her.
"Yukari-san, may I have seconds please?"
"Sure thing!"
"Yay!"
"Itadakimasu." Luka began to dig into her food. It was a Western-style breakfast today, with eggs, bacon, and toast. A cup of juice was set down near her utensils. She started with a bite of her eggs; her mom was clumsy with cracking eggs so it was scrambled as usual.
"Mm, this is really good, Yukari-san!"
"I'm glad you like it!"
It was so strange hearing conversation at breakfast, Luka thought. On the weekends, it would usually just be her eating alone. Sometimes during the weekdays, it would be like that as well, and every so often, she would be eating with her father (in contrast to her husband and her daughter, Megurine Yukari was actually a morning person). So strange indeed, she thought, shoving a strip of bacon into her mouth. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, really. And the voice was so very... familiar...
...
Her sleep-clouded head took its sweet time putting two and two together...
...
Luka bolted from her seat, turning a wild-eyed look onto the tealette as she pointed down at her with her fork (a few bacon crumbs still dangling between the prongs). "Y-Y-YOU!" she shouted at the astonished girl.
"Me?" Miku asked with a confused blink.
"Y-You...! What...! H-Hatsune-san, I...! I...!" Luka struggled to get a coherent sentence out, her brain going into red alert as it protested against the gargantuan load of WTF that demanded to be processed. Giving up, she whirled towards her mother and shouted, "Kaa-san! What the hell is she doing here?" Her fork pointed waveringly at the tealette.
"Eating breakfast," Miku and Yukari replied in unison, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
"BUT WHY IS SHE HERE?" Luka's voice cracked with something close to, but not quite, hysteria.
"I/She came to see you," they replied in unison.
Her eye twitched. "WHY ARE YOU TWO RESPONDING IN UNISON? !"
"It just ended up that way," they replied in unison.
"STOP DOING THAT! ! ! !"
"We don't mean to do this," they replied in unison.
Luka's eye ticked furiously. Whirling onto her unwelcome guest, she screeched, "AND YOU! EAT BREAKFAST AT YOUR OWN HOUSE!"
"But your mom makes such good food, I couldn't resist!" Miku chirped happily.
Luka extended her hands toward her, her left eye still ticking. It was hard to say whether she was doing it to beg for something (perhaps her immediate departure), doing it in hopes of strangling her despite the distance that still separated them, or doing it out of sheer frustration. It was apparent that even Luka herself wasn't sure, so she let her hands dangle at her sides after a defeated sigh. Frankly, it was far too early for this. Hanging her head, she sat down at the table with another sigh.
"Oh, forget it... Do what you want..."
"Will do, senpai!" Miku saluted with her fork before she went back to scarfing down her food.
Luka shook her head as she went back to her breakfast, wondering if there might still be some aspirin left. As she chewed on a bite of toast, she could only wonder what deity she had pissed off to deserve being plagued by Hatsune Miku's presence even on weekends, and exactly how many virgins she would have to sacrifice in order to appease said deity. She swallowed and reached for her cup of juice when she took notice of Miku gazing at her. Miku had finished her food, but still looked quite hungry, her eyes definitely locked onto... A sinking feeling started in Luka's stomach as she followed the direction of the tealette's gaze... and remembered that her tank top was a bit low cut...
Her eye twitched as a perverted "Ehehe..." fell out of the brat's grinning mouth, accompanied by a slight trickle of blood from her nose...
"AGH!"
Yukari turned around in alarm to see Miku hunched over the table, apparently in a lot of pain, while her daughter got up calmly. "Is everything alright?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes, kaa-san," Luka replied, as if nothing unusual had happened. "Hatsune-san just banged her leg on a corner of the table." She flipped her hair over her shoulder nonchalantly before heading upstairs to pick out a shirt to wear.
"Oh my... Please be more careful, Miku-chan."
"R-Roger... that..." Miku managed to squeak through teeth clenched in pain.
Such a brutal snap kick... she thought, still filled with admiration even in the midst of agony. As expected of Luka-senpai...
"Ow... My poor shin... Damn, this hurts..."
"..." Luka stared at her mother blankly.
Yukari stared at her daughter with a smile.
"I'm sorry," Luka said. "I could have sworn you just said that you want Hatsune-san to hang out here."
"Well, why not?" Yukari asked, her voice matching her sweet smile. "You'll be home alone, and Miku-chan says-"
"Why do you keep calling her 'Miku-chan'?" Luka demanded, her voice shrill with something close to, but not quite, hysteria.
"Why not?" Yukari seemed genuinely confused. "She's Miku-chan, so it's fine to call her Miku-chan, isn't it?"
Luka resisted the urge to facepalm (and she noticed she'd been doing that a lot lately). Taking this as an invitation to continue (even though it wasn't), her mother continued.
"You'll both be at home alone, so why not spend it with a friend? Ne?"
Luka opened her mouth to screech loudly that the twintailed terror perched innocently on their sofa was hardly her "friend", but thought better of it and instead deflated with a sigh. This, she could tell, was a losing battle.
She seemed to be fighting a lot of those lately...
"Sure... why not..." she sighed.
Yukari smiled at her daughter, her head tipping to the side as she did. "Good! I'll see you when I get home from work, sweetie!"
"Yeah... see ya," Luka returned glumly.
Luka stared at her nemesis, scowling and her arms folded over her chest.
Said nemesis stared back, grinning broadly with her hands clasped behind her back.
"Y'know, senpai, you're really cute when you're annoyed!"
Luka facefaulted. She broke the stare, shaking her head. Well, as long as the pest was over, she might as well make an attempt to be a decent host... she guessed. Sighing, she asked, "So what do you want to do?"
"Oh, anything's fine, senpai. I'm just happy being with you, that's all!"
Luka sighed. What the hell kind of cheesy statement was that...? Oh, whatever...
Eventually, she decided to just play a video game. Miku seemed content with just sitting beside her and watching, though Luka kept an eye on her. It was a bit strange though. In a situation like this and given how perverted the girl had already proven herself to be, Miku did not attempt to do anything. She looked quite happy just sitting beside her, even though they weren't even touching or anything. How strange... Luka doubted many of her admirers would have been able to remain still in such a situation.
...Well, maybe they would have, but it would probably have been fear of her vengeance that would have kept them still.
Such a strange girl... She was definitely different from her other admirers. All her other admirers looked at her either like she was some sort of object or some damn goddess. Miku... well, she definitely didn't treat her like she was untouchable, but she seemed to respect her without needing to worship the ground she walked on... kind of like how her friends treated her.
...Then again, the girl had far too much interest in staring up her skirt or staring at her chest...
Luka shoved the thoughts from her head. She really didn't know anymore. At the very least, she could see that Hatsune Miku wasn't all bad. So she wasn't entirely annoying.
Just mostly.
Deciding to put in a different game, Luka crawled on all fours up to her PS3 and removed the disc. She replaced it into its appropriate case and began to rummage through her available games. Definitely no survival horror right now though... she didn't like playing those in front of other people since she actually would get scared... maybe a shooter? Bah, but she played so many shooters as it was... Ultimately, Luka just decided on playing a shooter anyway.
She scooted back to where she'd been sitting at the foot of the couch, but noted the dreamy look in Miku's eyes, along with her perverted grin and slight trickle of drool out the corner of her mouth. What a weirdo... what could possibly have made... her...
She facefaulted, having a strong suspicion of what had triggered this, given her compromising position up at the console... To confirm this, Miku unwisely spoke up.
"Senpai, has anyone ever told you how nice and round your ass is? Ehehe... and when you crawl like that, it just sways so-"
WHACK!
"Uuu..." Miku nursed the large bump on her head, placed there courtesy of Luka's iron fist, whilst crying anime river tears.
Judging from Luka's "Hmph", her senpai was highly unsympathetic.
Aside from a few scattered incidents with Miku raping Luka with her eyes, the day passed rather normally. It was almost like hanging out with one of her friends, actually. She didn't even mind very much when Miku had waved at her as she left at the end of the day, cheerfully calling, "Bye, senpai! See you tomorrow!" Sure, that would mean her Sunday would have Hatsune Miku intruding on her again but... maybe it wouldn't be so bad. After all, Luka had decided to grudgingly admit to herself that maybe, just maybe, being Hatsune Miku's friend might not be so horrible.
It was due to this thought that, when the tealette showed up at her house the next morning, Luka was willing to let her in without much fuss.
"Well, you let me in really quick today, senpai!" Miku remarked happily. Checking her watch, she said, "Un, way quicker than I thought! Fifty-eight minutes and twenty-three seconds faster than expected, to be exact!"
Luka rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her guest, who continued with a sunny smile, "Perhaps there's a chance for me after all?"
"Don't count on it." While that statement ordinarily would have been delivered with a generous helping of ice and venom, Luka's tone was much lighter than either had expected.
Stupid girl.
At the time that unkind thought had passed through Luka's head, Miku was staring wide-eyed at her senpai's mouth. It was ever so faint but... Luka was... smiling! Still muted by her amazement, she whipped out her camera and took a picture. Hearing the unmistakable snapshot, Luka looked down at her with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity, mostly curiosity.
"Senpai, you smiled! It's so rare to see you smile! I mean, yeah, it was faint, but it was so pretty!" Miku gushed, all but tripping over her words as she babbled energetically. "Ne, ne! Do it again, senpai! Do it again!"
Before she had even gotten halfway through, the pinkette's expression had morphed from surprise at Miku's sudden gushing to a baleful scowl. She looked away and continued her march to the living room, all the while enduring Miku's chatter.
"Aw, c'mon, senpai! You look so much prettier when you smile! C'mon, smile!"
"I'm not gonna smile!" Luka snarled.
"Aww, don't be so stingy~!" Miku wheedled.
"I'm definitely not gonna smile!"
"You don't have to be so definite about it!" the tealette whined.
"You've gotten pretty cozy with Miku-chan, haven't you?"
Luka looked at Lily out of the corner of her eyes. The excitement that gleamed in those blue eyes was practically a warning beacon, the blonde's smile stretching from ear to ear. The pinkette sighed softly, cursing the fact that it was a free study period for them (which everyone knew was basically just a fancy term for students sitting around and goofing off). If a teacher had been here, she would have been able to get away with brushing Lily off, but at this moment, she was especially vulnerable. Still, she had to try to stave her off (half-heartedly though, she knew when she was cornered).
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her eyes returning to her homework.
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, your majesty." The sly grin and oily voice told Luka that she was cornered.
Luka sighed quietly. She'd heard of the "dumb blonde" stereotype before, and could only conclude that whoever had thought up that stereotype had never met Masuda Lily before. Certainly her grades were not the best, but Luka knew this was more from laziness than anything else. As Lily had airily explained once, "I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone's expectations." And, she was perceptive as all hell, damn her.
Glancing over at Lily, she answered, "I decided that it wouldn't offend me to be her friend."
"Oh?" Luka blinked at how quickly the notebook and pen were out and ready to write. She hadn't been aware any human being could move so quickly... "Do tell, do tell!" Lily was practically drooling all over herself, her nosiness rolling off of her in waves.
Luka facefaulted. "There's really nothing to tell though. Hatsune-san and I live across the street from each other, so she's been using that as an excuse to barge into my house every morning, weekday or not. And walk to and from school with me, and-"
"Yeah, yeah, we know that part, Luka," Lily said impatiently. (The fact that Luka had raised an eyebrow suspiciously and asked, "'We'?" went completely ignored.) "But see, before, you used to get all annoyed about it! And now, you actually don't seem to mind her company!"
"I don't mind your company either, but that doesn't mean anything," Luka retorted.
"Yes, but the difference is that I don't have a crush on you! Although..." Lily pitched her voice to be playfully seductive now. "If you ever wanna give me a whirl, you know where to find m- ah! Ah!" Luka's fist had begun to grind into Lily's cheek in a most uncomfortable manner. "Ow, ow! Give, Luka-hime! Give!"
The Ice Princess pulled her fist back, picking up her pencil with a dismissive "Hmph" and returning to her studies while her friend rubbed her jaw. "Gah... did you really have to do it that hard?" Lily complained.
"You brought that on yourself with your own foolishness," Luka replied nonchalantly, not even looking at her.
"I know you're trying to dodge me, by the way."
Luka idly wondered if she could knock the questions out of Lily by hitting her in the head hard enough. Probably not, that would be far too easy. It would be worth a try, perhaps... But that would have to wait for some other time, especially considering that Lily was staring at her in a way that definitely screamed, "Tell me more! Tell me more!"
"No, but really now, Luka. You don't mind her nearly as much as you used to."
The pinkette shrugged. "I got to know her. You were right; she's a pretty good kid. Besides, my mom's taken a liking to her."
"Oh, has she now?" The gears could almost audibly be heard churning in what passed for Lily's brain. "Well, that's great! It's always great for the partner and the parents to get along! It reduces strain between the partner and the parents and-"
Luka facepalmed. "Don't. Just... don't. Hatsune-san said the exact same thing."
"Aha, so our courageous and indomitable young heroine still clings to hope! What a wonderful story this is turning out to be!" Scribble, scribble, scribble.
Personally, Luka thought this story sucked, but she just knew that if Lily could spin it into another tale for the school newspaper, the school would hardly agree with her... Great.
The bell rang, and Luka was spared further questions, as Lily had to use the little nosy journalist's room real quick before the next class started. Nodding to her friend as she took her leave, Luka rested her chin on her fist and she looked out the window absently. It had been a little over two weeks since Hatsune Miku had confessed her feelings to her. During the entire span of that period, she'd been subjected to Miku's company over and over again. In the mornings when she woke up, there she was. When she walked to school, the tealette would be attached to her hip. At lunchtime, she would come running to her side, running over any foolish enough to stand in her way (the nurse's office had lately needed to treat a lot more people who had been hit by something moving at high speed). If she had tennis practice, Luka would have to play with a camera flashing repeatedly behind the fence (to her dismay, since that meant that even if she hit a ball in her direction, it would do absolutely nothing but ruin one snapshot). When they walked home, there she would be again. And the weekends were absolutely no reprieve from her.
But while annoying, it had ceased to be unbearable. Humans, Luka reasoned, were skilled adapters, and she had simply come to adapt to the omnipresence of Hatsune Miku in her life. While annoying and troublesome, Luka had come to see she wasn't all bad. She was much too enthusiastic and energetic, and she still had no concept of shame or modesty, and she was an incorrigible pervert, but she still had her good points. She could do worse for a friend, she knew. It wasn't like she was much different from Gakupo's younger sister Gumi, who had a tendency to absolutely barrel most people over with her own boundless energy... and pervertedness...
...
...Luka suddenly wondered what the world would be like if those two ever met.
Meanwhile, in a classroom a grade lower that was enjoying a free study period of its own...
"So!" a green-haired girl who had just transferred into the class said as she helped herself to a seat beside a certain teal-haired girl. "You're Hatsune Miku-chan, ne? I heard about you from my brother, Gakupo-nii-chan!"
"Yup, that's me! And you are?"
"I'm Kamui Gumi! Pleased to meetcha!"
"Likewise! I hope we can be good friends! Can I call you Gumi-chan?"
"Sure! Can I call you Miku-chan then?"
"Sure!"
The two shook hands vigorously, each beaming at the other in a genuinely cheerful manner.
At the exact moment that their hands touched, a church bell began to toll ominously in the distance.
"Y'know, this stuff's a lot easier than I thought!" Miku chirped, polishing off her English homework. "Thanks for all your help, senpai!"
Luka hummed out an absent response, working on her own homework. She and Miku had made it a regular occurrence to do their homework at Luka's house. They'd been spending a lot of time together anyway, and Miku had lately taken to inviting herself over to her senpai's house, something that was greeted with far less annoyance than one would have originally thought. Well, at first, it was greeted with all the enthusiasm of walking the plank in front of a hundred jeering, drunken pirates, but Luka had gotten used to it. It was another one of those losing battles anyway, so she figured the less fuss she put up, the lower her chance of giving herself gray hairs before her time.
Usually, they would do their homework, and then Miku would fix up some dinner for them. "It's the least I can do!" she'd said.
This wasn't anything she could fight either. Luka had learned by now that Hatsune Miku was a force of nature. She would have had a better fighting chance at stopping waves by throwing rocks at the ocean and screaming at the water to stop crashing on the beach than she had of stopping Hatsune Miku when her mind was set on something. It was easier to just let her do as she pleased than try to impede her in any way.
The way Luka became Miku's English tutor had been entirely by chance. It had coincidentally been a day that Miku had gotten one of her English essays back. While flipping through her book bag, she hadn't been able to find a textbook that she was looking for, so Miku had turned her bag upside down and rummaged through the mess. Following an exasperated sigh, Luka had caught notice of Miku's paper and in a rare moment of nosiness (she blamed Lily for rubbing off on her) picked it up.
Two weeks ago...
"...Hatsune-san."
"Hm?"
"Is..." Luka's eye twitched as she held up the paper in her hand. "Is this your essay?"
A massive sweatdrop rolled down the side of Miku's head, her expression suddenly looking extremely embarrassed. "Uhhhhhhhh... Maybe?"
Luka flipped through it, clearly unimpressed.
"Hatsune-san... This... This is..."
"It's...?" Miku squeaked.
"This is pathetic."
"Ehehe..." Miku scratched her cheek in an embarrassed fashion. "Sowwy..."
"This is not something you can dismiss with just an 'Ehehe'!" Luka snapped. She looked through it again with undisguised distaste. "This... This is terrible! Awful!"
"You don't have to be so mean..." Miku pouted.
The pinkette sighed, tossing the essay with disgust on the table they were sitting at. "I... simply cannot let this stand. I'll tutor you."
"Eh?"
"I'm frankly surprised your teacher hasn't given up and just failed you. There might still some hope left for you, so I'll tutor you."
"You will? Really?"
Luka didn't like how sparkly Miku's eyes became all of a sudden. A chill danced up her spine as the tealette leaned forward, and if she wasn't mistaken, the girl's pupils had turned into hearts. "Then... can I call you 'Luka-sensei'?" Her voice was pitched in a clearly turned on rasp. "And will you dress up like a sexy teacher too...? Oh, please tell me you will!"
Her drool was nearly overflowing by this point... A vein began to throb on Luka's temple...
"Ooh! And don't forget to wear stockings! Yes! You absolutely have to wear stockings! And they have to be black!"
By now, her drool really was overflowing, Luka noted with disgust. And her nose was bleeding profusely too! Luka lowered her head, trembling with barely repressed violence...
"And... And...! Oh God, and black lace panties! A sexy teacher absolutely must have black lace panties! Those are my favorites! And-"
She could take no more. "You... You... You god damn PERVERT!"
In the next instant, Miku was on the ground, caught in a cross-armlock courtesy of her wrathful senpai, who roared, "I'll knock those disgusting thoughts out of that empty head of yours!"
"Oh my GOD! Luka-sensei's loving punishment!" Miku cried out, in an ecstatic and very disturbing mixture of pleasure and pain. "Oh my God, YES! Punish me, sensei! More! Oh, please punish me more, sensei!"
"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP, YOU TWISTED LITTLE CREATURE! DIE! DIE! DIE AT ONCE! DIE!"
Present...
...At any rate, Luka had been highly successful as Miku's tutor. Miku's English teacher, who had long since given up on her, was astonished by her dramatic improvement, and the tealette herself was happy because for once, she was actually not doing horribly in English, which had apparently long been one of her weakest subjects. Her confidence in the subject had increased a hundredfold, and even when she reviewed by herself, she could actually get things right. It was likely this confidence that led to her proposal.
After finishing their homework, the girls would then eat dinner, wash the dishes, and then hang out until Miku went home. Tonight was no different, as they both sat on the sofa and watched television. Even the silence wasn't anything different, for Luka had learned that, though Hatsune Miku was often a chatterbox and liked to talk (and talk... and talk... and talk... and talk...), she also enjoyed a comfortable silence, and Luka had learned to appreciate those silences. However, it was when Miku broke the silence this time that things became a bit different.
"Ne, senpai?"
"Hm?" Luka replied absently.
"I have an English test coming up this Thursday. We'll know what we got on it on Friday."
"Mm," Luka answered noncommittally.
"Senpai... if I get a 100 on my next test, will you give me a reward?"
So this is what it was leading up to. "Sure, why not?" she replied, her tone just as bored as before. "What do you want?"
"I want you to go on a date with me this Saturday."
Luka's idle movements stilled. Slowly, she turned towards the tealette on the sofa, who gazed back at her with a smile. Ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly. "Confident, aren't you?"
"Not really. But a reward to work for might spur my efforts a bit~!"
Luka continued to glare at her. Pursing her lips, she finally said, "Fine. But on one condition."
"Hm?" Miku's head tipped to the side.
"Don't call it a date."
Her response was a cheerful grin. "Done."
Luka turned away, shaking her head. Really... she thought. She's such a kid.
Later that night, after Miku had gone home with a determined gleam in her eyes and a "I'll definitely ace that test, senpai!", Luka washed up, changed into her sleepwear and then laid down on in her bed. She thought back to her promise for a reward if the tealette indeed got a 100. Miku really had improved in English, so the possibility of being dragged along to hang out with her was a very real possibility. She sighed, shrugging mentally. Well, what of it? She'd hung out with Lily and her other friends before too, sometimes alone with just one of them. It wouldn't be much different. Nope, it wouldn't be much different at all.
...Except none of her friends had crushes on her.
Luka blinked, and her eyes slowly began to widen with dawning realization. She began to have mental images of being dragged all around town with Miku clinging to her arm, trying to pull her into dark alleys or photo booths and groping her at every possible opportunity, and whenever those opportunities were unavailable, she would doubtless burn holes through her clothes with her eyes, ravaging her defenseless body through sight alone... She imagined entire trails of bloodied tissues being left behind in their wake, alongside with puddles of Miku-drool... She stared up at the ceiling, her already pale skin white as a sheet and her expression suggesting horrific trauma.
Oh God.
What the hell had she gotten herself into?
End Chapter 2
Hope no one feels this was significantly weaker than the previous one. XD; Pacing might feel a little fast, but I think that might be cuz this was originally an (hideously) oversized one shot at first. XP
A Few Review Responses
IdrewAcow: Thanks for the tip, I think that's always been my biggest flaw when writing multi-chapter fics. XD Here's hoping I can finish this!
Lovecakes98: Admittedly, I did draw on Sakuya from Candy Boy as one of my influences for writing Miku. XD That girl was just awesome!
LukaFan: I'm glad you like my stories, and I'm glad you review them too! ^_^ Miku's million-watt smile could probably power a city and then some. XD As for Gumi, I don't actually have her part to play quite down yet, but we'll see how it goes. One day, I need to write a story for that girl. XD
Freyia: I hope she stays sane too, it'd be a shame for poor Miku to go through all that work and have a girlfriend who isn't there mentally. XP
Artemis: A special thanks to you, because I'd never seen that anime but after I saw Kuroko I was like "...Holy crap." She was fantastic for another Miku influence! XDD
Ocean Prince: That was actually my favorite part too, I made myself laugh just visualizing that scene. XD I'm glad you liked how I wrote Miku, but don't break your poor keyboard now!
roadroller: Glad you enjoyed it, and hope you'll continue to enjoy the other chapters! Just don't get locked up in that mental hospital though. XD
FisheyCakes: Good thing I got lucky on the draw! XD Thanks for the review!
SinnersLikeUs: Perverted Miku is just way too fun to write, and equally hilarious to visualize. XD I know some people can't really imagine Miku being aggressive, but for some reason, I can't help but see her like that. XP Glad you liked it!
And to each and every one of you, thank you very much! If I didn't respond to your review, please don't kill me, it still means a lot to me! Really!
Alright, alright, I'm done. XD Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well! 'Til next time! ^_^