|| I am writing! This is me, writing! Write, write, write! Writing right a write! ||
Chapter 3: "New Announcements and Miku's Nonexistent Attention Span"
Far downtown in beautiful Silicon's Gate was a large, green park, at the back of which was a rickety wooden stage which probably hadn't undergone repairs in at least a couple years. Around this stage, some peculiar loids were gathering. Somewhere upward of a hundred loids, that is. Some were male, some were female, some were short, some were tall. Some were hairy, some were scaley, some were neither. Most of them looked like they didn't want to be here.
Their attentions were turned up to the stage as the sound of a finger tapping against a microphone sounded around the park.
"Gooooooood morning, ladies and loids!" Kasane Teto's voice resounded from the one amplifier sitting up on the platform. Beside said amplifier stood Teto herself, looking peppier than ever, and that was saying something. "I'd like to thank you all for coming out today! I probably could have just texted you about this, but I figured this would be more fun!"
A couple of the loids gathered below started clapping, and one whistled, but pretty much everybody else was either staring blankly at her or exchanging glances with another. One loid in the very back of the crowd coughed.
Teto was unfazed. "So! You're all probably wondering why I called you here today!"
"Yeah, why did you call us here today?!" questioned Namine Ritsu from his spot near the front.
"An excellent question, Ritsu!" Teto replied, pointing to him enthusiastically. "I called you here today... because I have something to tell you!"
"Get on with it!" exclaimed Sukone Tei from where she stood beside Ritsu.
"You got it, Tei!" Teto flashed a wink, and Tei pressed her palm against her forehead. "I called you here today because I was talking to Hatsune Miku, and-"
This was immediately met with groans from several members of the audience, Ritsu and Tei in particular.
"Oh come on!" Teto shouted in exasperation. "You guys didn't even let me finish!" When the annoyed grumbles didn't cease, she rolled her eyes. She tapped the mic a couple of times in a feeble attempt to regain their attentions. This failed miserably, of course. Teto then shrugged nonchalantly, turned around and cleared her throat.
"Shut up!"
She screamed the words so loud that the amplifier squealed from the volume, and pretty much everyone in the audience either shrieked, covered their ears, or both. Teto paused for a moment to allow everyone to regain their composure, then turned back to beam down on them as if nothing had happened. "Thank you~!" she sang.
"Anyway, I was talking to Hatsune Miku about the End of Summer Festical. The Vocaloids have decided that they're going to make it an annual thing, since last year's was such a big hit." Somebody down there muttered "why should we care?" and despite their quietness, Teto heard anyway, and shot a death glare in their direction. "The reason you should care," she continued pointedly, "is because she and I agreed that it would be a good idea if some of us UTAUloids performed there as well!"
She stopped to listen to the crowd for their reaction, and was pleased to receive a much more tame response than before. It almost sounded like some of them were actually considering it. "Obviously there isn't enough room for all of us to go on, but there isn't enough room for all of us to go on at our own performances anyway. Besides, I'm sure that most of you are entirely opposed to even the idea of performing at Vocaloid Central." Teto cast a sideways glance to Ritsu and Tei when she said this. "So, if anyone's interested, just tell me, and we'll work something out.." She grinned brightly, holding the mic in both hands. "Alright! That's it for today! But hey, since we're all here, why don't we try to have a little fun? Who's up for some karaoke?"
The entire crowd had departed before she even realized what happened.
Teto blinked, lowering the microphone to her side. "Guess that's a 'no', then."
Miku was laying peacefully in her bed, staring up at the PSP she was holding and wiggling her feet absentmindedly. Chiptune was curled up beside her, snoring quietly and contentedly in his slumbers. Looked to be a completely average day in Vocaloid Central.
*Click*
Both Miku and Chiptune perked, and looked up curiously as the door slid open.
"Good morning, Miku."
"Morning, Luka."
Luka let herself in, only partially closing the door behind her. Chiptune had begun wagging his tail enthusiastically, though he didn't seem to have the energy in him at the time to get up and greet the new arrival.
"What's up?" Miku inquired.
"I just wanted to check and see if you were awake," Luka replied, "since I didn't see you at breakfast this morning."
"I wasn't hungry," said Miku, turning her eyes back to her game.
"I see. Just tell somebody that you're up next time, okay?"
"Okay."
Luka looked around the room, approaching the bed and scratching Chiptune's ears as she did so. "I see you cleaned your room," she observed.
Miku cast a quick glance at the trash bag sitting in the opposite corner of the room, which seemed to be leaning over a bit more than she had left it. She nodded. "Yup. Just like you asked."
"Good," said Luka, opening the door to Miku's closet and peering inside. "And, when was it that you did so?"
"Yesterday morning," Miku answered.
"Uh-huh." Luka placed her hands on her hips, turning slightly in Miku's direction. "Now, if I'm not mistaken... did I not ask that you clean your room the day before that?"
Miku froze like a deer in the headlights.
Then, as if just to add insult to injury, the trash bag in the corner of the room fell over, the contents spilling back out onto the floor.
Both stared at the now renewed mess on the ground, the papers and books once again scattered across the carpet. Then Luka slowly turned her head back and narrowed her eyes at Miku, who was screaming silently into her palms. Chiptune looked to his master with perked ears and a tilted head.
"Well," said Luka, "since you're not hungry, I suppose you wouldn't have a problem going without dinner tonight then, hm?"
"Luka, no!" Miku sobbed over-dramatically.
Luka rolled her eyes. "Actually clean your room."
"Okay."
"And do your laundry," she added, indicating the ridiculous piles of clothes in Miku's closet.
"Okay."
"Today," she clarified.
"Okay!" Miku hurled her pillow at Luka, prompting the designated elder of the two to leave, and causing Chiptune to bark.
"Teto-chan!"
Teto turned around curiously at the sound of her name, to be greeted by a pair of UTAUloids approaching her. The chimera grinned and carefully placed the hefty amplifier she had been carrying back down. "Hi Momo, Defoko!" She waved enthusiastically to them.
"Good morning!" Momo waved cheerfully in return. "How are you?"
"As fine as ever!" Teto replied. "How about you two?"
"We're fine. So, um, that was a good meeting."
"And a good 'shut up'," Defoko added, her tone apathetic. "The crowd was starting to become bothersome."
Teto chuckled. "Well, I have plenty of practice. Anyway, what's got you two hanging around?"
"I thought you might want some help cleaning up," Momo offered.
"I'm her ride home," Defoko said dryly.
"Cool. Think you could grab that for me, Momo?"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
Momo took up the amplifier with much greater ease than Teto had. "So, are you guys thinking of joining in for the festival?" Teto inquired as the three made the trek to the parking lot outside of the park.
"We were going to attend anyway, so I don't see why not," Momo answered. "What do you think, Defoko? Do you want to sing at the festival?"
"Perhaps," said Defoko. "It would certainly be an experience... Performing at Vocaloid Central in front of the entire city, with blaring sound and bright spotlights everywhere you turn."
When Teto looked back to Momo, she found that her friend's eyes were wide, and sweat was forming over her brow. "Uh, w-well," Momo stammered, "when you put it that way, it sounds pretty intimidating."
"I put it that way because that's what it is."
Momo gave a nervous sigh.
"Oh, come on!" Teto exclaimed, tossing her arms into the air. "It will be fun! Plus you get to see your name in big, bright lights that only the Vocaloids can afford to spell out for you. Don't you want the city to see your name in bright, bold letters, Momo?"
"Um, not particularly, no."
Teto's arms fell to her sides. "Well, I suppose that was a stupid question." She straightened herself. "Well, just call me when you guys decide, alright? There's more than enough time to think about it."
"Right," said Momo, and both she and Defoko nodded. After walking in silence for a moment, Teto admiring the nice weather as they did so, Momo spoke up again. "Um, I just prefer our smaller-scale performances, is all. I just don't think we really need to be as flashy as the Vocaloids. Isn't that a part of our charm?"
"Flashy sells," said Defoko. "Besides, you're the one who was actually considering this."
Momo grumbled.
"Oh, whatever." Teto rolled her eyes. "It's not like it's a publicity stunt or anything, it's just for fun."
"It sounds like a publicity stunt to me," said Defoko.
Teto shrugged defensively, slumping over slightly. "Okay, so maybe it's a little bit of a publicity stunt. But it's mostly for fun."
"Right."
Ignoring Defoko's blatant disbelief, Teto scratched her chin thoughtfully. She glanced at Momo, a thought suddenly occurring to her, and snapped her fingers. "Say, Momo!" the chimera said. "It's been a while since you performed, right?"
"Um, yes?" Tilting her head, Momo continued, "I think the last time I was on stage was in December."
Teto grinned. "Well, you're just a little out of practice, then!" The three of them halted, Momo stumbling slightly as Teto wrapped an arm over her shoulder. "Listen, I've got an idea. Let's have a small-scale performance this month like you like, just something little out here to get you back into the swing of things. Then, maybe you'll be more confident about performing at the Summer Festival! What do you say?"
Momo's eyes searched the ground for a moment, before she nodded her head lightly. "Sure. I... I think that might work."
Teto clapped excitedly and patted her friend on the back, though Defoko didn't seem quite so enthusiastic. "I hope you're not planning to sell tickets for a concert with just three UTAUloids, Teto," she pointed out. "You'll need to find at least three others to go on with us for it to be worth peoples' money."
"Oh, relax." Teto waved a hand dismissively. "I'll just make a few phone calls, I'm sure somebody will be willing to go on with us. Not a problem."
Momo smiled. "Great. Now, um, if you don't mind..." Teto and Defoko glanced at her curiously. "...Where is your car, exactly? I'd really like to put this down now."
Several hours later, Miku walked grumpily back down the fourth floor corridor, carrying a basket of her folded laundry in her arms. "'Clean your room. Do your laundry'," she was muttering. "A couple years ago you did this stuff for me. What happened to that? Now I have to do it all myself. I have better things to do than stupid laundry. Stupid."
She grumbled as she stopped in front of the door to her room, observing the closed door and her full hands. She attempted to open the door with her elbow, then her foot, then tried to hold the basket in one hand. After failing each and every one of these tasks stupendously, she just started scowling at the door handle, presumably in hopes that she could somehow mentally will it to open for her.
While she was doing this, a door on the other side of the hallway opened, and Miku turned around to see who it was.
"I'm hungry."
"When aren't you?"
"We should order pizza."
"We had pizza last night."
"You can never have enough pizza."
"Yes you can, it's unhealthy."
"Who cares?"
"Obviously not you."
"My point exactly."
"Ah!" Miku put on a smile. "Rin-chan! Len-kun!" The two had been walking in her direction, probably because that was the direction that the elevator was in. They stopped in front of her when she called.
"Oh, hey Miku," Rin greeted.
"We haven't seen you at all yet today," said Len.
"Yeah, I know. Hey, could one of you get the door for me?"
"Sure-"
Before he had the chance to do so, Len was stopped by Rin, who held her arm out in front of him. "Ah-ah." She wiggled her index finger side to side. "What's in it for us?"
"Seriously, Rin?" Len sighed.
Miku's expression flattened. "How about the satisfaction of helping your dear friend finish her incredibly annoying chores?" she offered.
Rin snickered, then pointed a finger gun at Miku. "Ha, that's a good one," she responded. "No." She then grabbed Len by his sleeve and started dragging him back down the hall. Miku watched her do so with a bitter glare.
Len glanced back at Miku, then again to Rin. Then, in a single heroic movement, he ripped himself away from his partner's grip and pounced at the door. Miku took a quick step backward to make room as Len slid the door open for her, then proceeded to fall face flat on the ground.
"Ha ha!" he exclaimed victoriously, pumping a fist in the air. "I win!"
Rin snorted and folded her arms. "Well, I hope you're proud of yourself. Your reward is a facefull of carpet."
Miku turned the basket slightly to her left so she could see Len on the floor. "Thank you," she said.
"No problem," Len replied as he pulled himself back up to his feet.
"You know," said Rin, "you could have just set the basket down and opened the door yourself."
Miku scowled at her. "Shut up."
"I'm just saying."
"Goodbye, Rin."
Rin shrugged, then turned back around and marched away to the elevator. When Len caught up to her, she smirked, and whispered to him, "Hey, watch this. Hey, Miku!" Miku perked. "Do you wanna play Mario Kart with me later today?"
"Huh? Sure, just as soon as I'm done with all this."
Rin started laughing, causing Miku to raise an eyebrow. "See? She can't even stay mad for a whole minute!" This got Len laughing too, much to Miku's shock and annoyance.
"Both of you get out of here!" she spat, and the Kagamines stormed off to the elevator, roaring with laughter all the while.
Once they were gone, Miku growled and trudged into her bedroom, setting the clothes basket down on her bed. She wiped her brow for no real reason, since she wasn't sweating, and sat down. Then her stomach grumbled.
"I guess Rin's not the only one who's hungry..." Miku smacked her palm against her forehead. "'I think I'll just skip breakfast today! What could possibly go wrong?!'" She sighed. "Well, I suppose there's always a chance that Luka won't murder me if I take just a little break..."
Teto sat at the kitchen table in her house, sunlight shining in through her broad windows and illuminating her pretty much entirely pink home. She was leaned over against her palm, brow scrunched thoughtfully as she scrolled through the indefinitely long contacts list on her phone. She glanced at the notepad sitting beside her, which had "Concert Plan" written along with her name, Defoko's, and Momo's. That was all that was on there. She then looked back to her phone and grumbled. Eventually, she scrolled nearly all the way down to stop in the Y section, her thumb hovering over a name momentarily, before she decided to press down on it. She held the phone over her ear as it rang, until somebody spoke on the other end.
"Hey, Ruko!" Teto greeted. "It's Teto. Yeah yeah, thanks for showing up this morning, and bringing Ritsu and Tei with you. Yeah. Oh yeah, they're a handful. Hehe. So, are you guys thinking of joining? Mm hm? Hm. Oh, they're just major stick-in-the-muds, they'll come around. So... speaking of Ritsu and Tei, they're there with you, right? Mm hm? Great. Listen, I have a proposition for the three of you..."
Teto explained the plans that she had made with Momo and Defoko, to a thankfully positive response. She found herself silent for a couple minutes during a loud argument in the background on the other side of the line, but eventually received a solid "we don't have anything better to do".
"Awesome!" Teto scribbled Ruko, Ritsu, and Tei's names onto the list. "Hm? Yeah, in the park. Meeting?" She tapped the pen against her chin. "Hm... Are you free on Thursday? Cool! We can meet at Defoko's house, it's closer to your place. What? Oh, yeah, she's cool with it." Her gaze averted sideways. "Totally. Sure. Awesome! Then I'll see you on Thursday! Yeah. Okay, take care. Bye!"
She tapped the "end call" button, making a cha-ching motion with her free hand. "There! Kasane Teto can plan concerts all by herself. Kasane Teto knows what she's doing." She gave herself a proud nod, before turning back to her phone. "Hm... now what?"
She selected a name from the A section of her contacts. She waited expectantly, but ultimately was sent to voicemail.
"Hey, this is Akita Neru. I'm busy right now, but leave a message and maybe I'll get back to you later."
*Beep*
"Hey, Neru! Just in case you can't recognize my voice over the phone, it's me, Kasane Teto~ Um... Just wanted to check up on you, you were still kind of in a bad mood when you went home yesterday. Hope you're feeling better! If you're interested, you can call me back later, and maybe we could talk? I was hoping we could do something later this week, if you want. So, yeah! I'll see you later. Bye!"
She tapped the "end call" button, then returned to her contacts list. This time, she selected a name from the H section. She was sent to voicemail again.
"Good morning! You've reached the personal number of Hatsune Miku. I'm sorry to say that I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll see if I can call you back first chance I get."
*Beep*
"Hi, Miku-chan! It's Teto~ Just wanted to tell you that I told my crew about the End of Summer Festival. Nobody's said anything about it yet, but I'll keep you posted. So... Uh, there's something else I'd like to talk to you about if you have time! I know you're busy and all that. But whenever you can is fine! Alright, that's it! Bye!"
Teto frowned in disappointment, staring vacantly down at the cellphone in her hands. "Well, you're all no fun." She then glanced back at her notepad, staring blankly at it for a quiet moment.
"I remember slow December-"
...then her phone went off, the voice singing the ringtone causing her to jump and throw her arms into the air defensively.
"-behind the street lights, they stared directly at you-"
Teto smacked her hand down onto the phone, then anxiously raised it to her ear. "Uh... hello?"
"You scheduled the meeting for my house without permission again, didn't you."
A nervous grin spread across the chimera's face, and she chuckled a weak "Hehe..."
Miku stealthily crept around the third floor of Vocaloid Central. There was somebody watching TV in the main living room, which meant that she couldn't get to the kitchen through there. She'd have to go the long way, around the curved corridor that circled the main living room. As much as she preferred shortcuts, she wanted to avoid running into people if at all possible for fear that they would tell Luka they saw her doing anything other than her chores.
Turned out that this was not at all possible, because the kitchen was occupied by four of the people she wanted to see least.
Meiko and Kaito were seated at the table, Meiko looking over a magazine and Kaito browsing on a tablet. Around the refrigerator, Rin and Len were arguing about what they should eat if they weren't going to order pizza.
Miku grumbled. Where these guys were, Luka likely wasn't far behind. Not to mention that none of them would hesitate to rat her out. Well, maybe Kaito, but even he would break after a bit of questioning. Indeed, Miku had found herself in an undesirable situation. But her growling stomach was demanding. She needed food, and this was the only place she was gonna get it. She was just going to have to hope for the best.
As she entered, she was suddenly stricken by a powerful, warm set drafting from the oven. It wasn't helping. Her mouth was beginning to water.
"Who's baking?" Miku inquired.
"Me!" said Kaito, waving to her from where he sat at the dining table.
Miku blinked. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, we couldn't believe it either!" Rin exclaimed.
Kaito set the tablet down in front of him, folding his hands together properly. "I've decided that I need to acquire more life skills," he declared, "so I found myself a recipe and followed it to a T!" He flashed a grin, forming an "OK" with his right hand.
"Now he just has to not burn it," remarked Meiko, causing Kaito to direct a grumble at her.
"Aw, Kaito!" said Miku cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "That's great! It's always nice to see people taking initiative like that. It really shows how responsible you are."
Kaito's lips curled up slightly, his cheeks going a bit pink. "Ah ha, thanks, Miku-chan. You know, I'm always trying..."
"Ew," came Rin again, and Miku and Kaito looked up to see the look of disgust she was wearing. "I thought you two broke up."
"So did I," Meiko added, still fixated on her reading.
Kaito adjusted his muffler nervously and Miku scowled, but Len beat both to the saying-something punch.
"Oh, come on," he said, tugging playfully on Rin's hair ribbon. "They can talk to each other without being romantic and gross and stuff. Just because they used to date doesn't mean they can't still talk to each other."
"Pfft." Rin rolled her eyes, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a carton of orange juice. "Who still talks to each other after they break up?"
"These two," said Meiko, pointing her magazine in the general direction of Miku and Kaito.
"And we're just as happy apart as we were together," Miku proclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. "Isn't that right, Kaito?"
"Huh? O-Of course!"
Rin cackled, pouring her drink into a glass. "You know, Miku, I don't think there's anyone in this entire city quite as thick as you."
Miku snarled.
Then her stomach grumbled again, causing her bold stature to falter.
"Is there a reason you came in here, Miku?" Meiko questioned.
Miku glanced sideways, fiddling with her tie. "As a matter of fact, there is."
"Interesting." Meiko turned the page over in her magazine.
"What are we talking about?"
Miku froze at the sound of this voice, the very voice that she was dreading to hear.
"Hey, Luka," said Len with the wave of his hand.
"Hello, Len-kun," Luka replied.
"We're talking about how Miku and Kaito's relationship is weird now since they broke up," said Rin. She took a sip from her drink, then shoved the carton into Len's chest. "Put that away."
"Sure."
Luka turned to Miku, who was wearing that deer-headlights look again. She could have sworn that Luka narrowed her eyes at her, but it didn't take long for her to turn her attention back to the Kagamines. "I don't see what's so weird about it."
Rin shrugged. "Well, it's just weird."
"What's up, Luka?" Meiko inquired, as Miku crept over to the refrigerator in hopes of finding the reward that she'd come here seeking.
Luka smiled. "Ah, yes. I have something to tell all of you."
"What is it?" Kaito asked.
Rin watched as Miku started browsing the fridge's shelves in search of something to eat. When the elder of the two glanced back quickly to make sure that Luka wasn't giving her any death glares, Rin set her glass down on the counter and leaned past Miku, snagging up all of the lunch meat from the drawer it was kept in whilst smirking maniacally. Miku gave an indignant gasp.
"I just got off of the phone," Luka explained, "with a customer. I've arranged a concert for us next Saturday."
"Nice," Len commented, stepping out of the way of Rin and Miku's scuffle as the former dove for the bread drawer. "What are we doing?"
"Just a small one at the southern concert hall," Luka answered. "It's for charity."
Rin was playfully dangling the bread bag just out of Miku's reach, pressing a palm against the latter's chest as she flailed her arms feebly. Then Miku's stomach growled again, and she froze. "You should probably do something about that," said Rin, and Miku's eyes burned through the smirking girl's with a look of unbridled hatred.
"That's nice!" said Kaito.
"Are we getting paid?"
"Meiko!" Kaito scolded.
"What? I'm kidding."
Rin handed a plate off to Len, placing two slices of bread on it. When she zipped off again, Miku tried to grab the plate away from Len, but he casually held it away from her, and she nearly ran into the wall.
"Next Saturday isn't very long from now," Len said, lowering the plate.
"Exactly," Luka concurred, "so we need to start working on it immediately."
Rin took the plate back from Len and started slathering the bread in mayonnaise. She side-stepped out of the way when Miku hurled herself at her again.
"Well, I'm always up for a challenge." Meiko set down her magazine. "How many of us is it gonna be?"
"Just us six," said Luka. "That's what we agreed on."
"Alright then. Sounds like we've got ourselves a project. Nice catch, Luka."
"Thank you, Meiko-san."
Rin completed her sandwich with a bit of ham and a slice of provolone, cutting it diagonally into triangles. She kissed her fingers in congratulations of a job well done, then lifted the plate from the counter, observing Miku's sorrowful expression. Miku groaned in defeat, banging her head against the fridge. However, she turned back around in confusion upon feeling a tugging on the back of her shirt. Rin was holding the plate out to her.
"What, did you think that was for me? You know I hate provolone."
Miku blinked twice at her as she processed this. Then she smiled, gladly accepting the gracious sandwich offering and affectionately ruffling the younger Vocaloid's hair. Rin giggled and readjusted her headband.
"Hatsune Miku," came Luka again, "did you hear a word that we just said?"
Miku paused for a moment, holding the hand that wasn't carrying plate over her mouth. "Um..." she said eventually, "something about a phone?"
"Keh," Rin snickered.
On the next chapter: Magic Goggles and Miku's Power Struggle
|| Next chapter is pretty obvious, really.
Teto has custom ringtones for all of her friends. That one was TODAY. Go ahead and give it a listen! It's by a western producer named Marz Mitzi. He doesn't use YouTube anymore but his username on SoundCloud now is GHOST I think don't quote me on that I didn't actually research this too much. ||
