"…uk-senpai!"
"Luka-senpai!"
Luka opened her eyes slowly just to see Miku's worried face and then quickly closed them again. She lay on the bench, in the school hallway, next to Miku.
"What happened to her?" Kaito who was also sitting in the bench asked surprised.
Miku sighed. "It's a long story… It all began when…"
-o-o-o-
"Hatsune Miku! We are going to dive! Are you prepared?"
"Y… yes!" Miku tried to show determination.
It was a foggy afternoon and Miku had come to the Mystical Sea with Luka in order to retrieve the legendary harp. They rode a boat until they were in the middle of the sea, next to a small deserted island. Luka dived without thinking about it too much but Miku was frozen. The sea water was so cold. She followed Luka until they reached a small cave… somewhere in there… they were able to find the harp but as soon as Luka touched it she fell asleep and didn't wake up until the night. Opening her eyelids when there was light was painful and small fish scales were growing in random parts of her body.
-o-o-o-
"So that's how it is…" Miku explained. Luka had her white cape on and she covered her face with the hood.
"Miku? What happened to Luka-senpai?" Gumi asked surprised when she passed by. Once they explained the situation to her Gumi just sat and looked at Luka with her mouth wide open. "That's… so weird…" She finally said.
"It is… umm… but-" a noise of glass breaking suddenly interrupted Miku.
"I don't want to know anything about you!" A female voice cried. It was Haku-sensei. She had just broken up with her boyfriend who was also a teacher in the school. She threw him a bottle of sake and ran away. Luka was sleeping soundly regardless of the noise.
"I wonder how she hasn't been fired yet…" Miku said worried. "I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing…"
"Probably a bad thing," Gumi said strictly. Miku smiled uncomfortably. Suddenly, her phone rang.
"Umm… yes?" She answered. "Curried restaurant? Where's that?" She asked surprised. "Umm… okay…" Gumi and Kaito looked at her confused. "Someone invited me to hang out…" Miku explained.
"And who may that someone be?" Kaito smirked. Miku looked away nervously, not wanting to reveal their identity.
-o-o-o-
Just as the person on the phone had said a carriage came to pick Miku up. It was a black and elegant carriage. Miku smiled uncomfortably. She felt as though the dark horses were glaring at her. The "Curried Restaurant" was in some type of abandoned city. In front of it, there was a cemetery and around it there were many large trees. The door cracked as Miku opened it. There was no one there apart from the person that had invited her. She was sitting in a wooden table near the window. Miku sat next to her. The woman looked at her.
"Miku?! What should I do?!" Haku-sensei cried. It was her; the truth is that Miku hadn't told anyone but she was secretly friends with the desperate teacher of the school.
"You should come to school… Haku-sensei…" Miku said uncomfortably.
"Another glass of brandy please…" Haku-sensei yelled.
"Of please, stop that. You are drunk!" Miku shook her.
"I'm not drunk!" Haku-sensei asserted as she drank the brandy in one sip. Miku facepalmed herself. She shouldn't have come here.
"Haku-sensei! If… If you don't listen to me, then I'm leaving!" she said strictly and stood up.
"Wait! I will listen!" Haku-sensei promised and grabbed Miku hand. Miku sighed and sat again.
"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked concerned.
"It's just that… men always reject me…" Haku-sensei cried.
"You know I can't be much help when it comes to that but…" Miku declared as she looked through the menu.
"But?" Haku-sensei asked hopeful.
"You can always stop chasing after men… like… umm… you could try dating a woman…" Miku said nervously.
"Of course! I get it! I could date you!" Haku-sensei affirmed. Miku widened her eyes.
"N… not me!" she yelled. "You are my teacher and… I like someone else…" she blushed.
"I got rejected again…" The older woman cried.
"Of course! What were you thinking asking your student out just like that?" Miku said annoyed. "Geez…"
"But I don't know who else to date…" Haku-sensei whined.
"You just don't go and date anyone! You date someone you are in love with!" Miku stated determinately. Then the waiter came over and she just blushed and looked down. He had probably heard that.
"So Miku's a romantic girl…" Haku-sensei said mischievously.
"It's not like I'm…" Miku blushed.
"You didn't tell me… who you liked…" The older woman smirked.
"If I tell you… do you promise you won't tell anyone?" Miku asked reluctantly. Haku-sensei nodded and Miku leaned over and whispered.
-o-o-o-
"Hatsune Miku! The angelical voice of the school!" Kaito said cheerfully as he jumped around.
"It's not like that…" she blushed. Gumi giggled. It had already been some time since she had last seen Luka. Luka attended the school at night now and no one knew what kind of things were going through her head.
"I'm going upstairs for a moment…" Miku excused herself.
"Wait… what are you going to do there?" Gumi asked curiously. Miku looked away and ran as fast as she could before they started asking more questions. Then she stopped in front of Luka's classroom and panted. There was no one there, fortunately. She entered.
"Next year Luka senpai is graduating… at this rate… I'll never become closer to her…" she said as she slid her hand through the desk's surface; Luka's desk.
"Kyaa!" She gasped. Someone came out of the window. The girl pulled her hood backwards. It was Luka.
"Hatsune Miku!" she stated strictly. "What are you doing in that desk?" she pointed at her.
"L… Luka-senpai?" Miku said, almost feeling grateful. "N… nothing… I was just passing by…"
"Hmph, suspicious. I repeat. What were you doing in that desk?" she went closer to Miku and pushed her towards the wall.
"As I said… I wasn't doing anything there…" Miku looked away.
"Lies. You will tell me! Hatsune Miku!" Luka demanded.
"Geez, Luka-senpai, I don't understand! I wasn't doing anything weird!" Miku exclaimed. Luka glared at her. "I was just passing by…"
"Why did you enter my classroom!?" Luka asked irritated.
"I just thought it was a nice classroom… I didn't even know this was your desk…" Miku blushed.
"Ha! Liar! You just said it! That it was my desk!" Luka declared furiously.
"Oh no!" Miku thought and covered her mouth in horror.
"This is the end, Hatsune Miku! You will confess!"
"I… I have nothing to confess…" Miku lied. "In any case. What are you doing here? I thought you attended classes at night now…"
"Don't change the topic." Luka said decisively and grasped Miku's hand. Miku tried to push her.
"I'm not going to tell you! No matter what you do!" she yelled.
"Oh, so you are hiding something!" Luka smirked. Miku looked at her reluctantly as she blushed and tears started forming in her eyes.
"I… I just missed you!" Miku admitted as she threw herself on the older girl, embracing her. Luka widened her eyes. She froze. "I missed you so…" Miku cried. Luka pushed her for a moment and whipped her tears off with her hands as she looked at her with a worried and guilty expression.
"Ugh… sorry…" she apologized with a hint of red in her cheeks.
"I thought you couldn't stay awake during the day… Did you get cured?" Miku asked concerned upon recovering.
"No… Well, it's just a temporal cure. Let's say that I can stay awake during the day at least once a week when I undergo this therapy," Luka asserted.
"What happened to you, Luka-senpai? I still don't understand…" Miku said confused.
"This is just my mermaid nature," Luka said boldly.
"Mermaid nature?" Miku repeated puzzled.
"Well, my mother was a mermaid… I don't know how but when I entered that cave I started developing more mermaid characteristics…" she explained.
"But Luka-senpai… I still don't understand why you can't stand the daylight…"
"That's because my mother was a cave mermaid… not a very normal mermaid in any case and I'm nocturnal…" Luka told her. Miku looked at her with a distracted expression for a moment. "Miku?" Luka asked worried.
"It's nothing…" she answered. "Wait, did she just call me 'Miku'?" She said to herself. "I just remember seeing a mermaid when I was young…" Miku admitted, "and if I remember correctly it was in that village… back then…"
When Miku was young she lived in a fishing village somewhere far away from the Shinju forest. Her mother had died when she was young and her father was a fisherman. Not a very common one though. He used to lure the fish with his flute every night and they would come to the shore and jump on his basket on their own. Miku remembered it clearly. After all, she had seen it with her own eyes. Somewhere at that time she had also seen a mermaid…
"If I remember correctly it was summer night when…"
