THURSDAY

Miku was tingling and her eyes were scintillating.

"Ah! It's the last full day before the concert!" She squeaked. "I'm so happy!"

The concert was to be on Friday after school.

"I really can't wait." Haku said.

"I'm so nervous!" Neru said.

"Hey um..." Akaito came in late, holding a big bag. "I brought everyone's costumes and we're going to try them on today after school."

"Really?" Neru's eyes lit up. "Do they look just like I designed them?"

"Um... sure." Akaito said. But truthfully, he wasn't all that sure. He made small changes to the designs where it would be convenient. Plus he mucked up a bit on the stitching here and there...

That afternoon...

"I can't wait to see them!" Neru said. Akaito smiled nervously and pulled out the outfits.

Suddenly, Neru's big grin turned into a look of disappointment.

"Huh?" She said.

"Well, if you don't like it, just say it." Akaito said.

"Well... um... they're interesting? Different from what I had in mind." Neru said, sugarcoating her disappointment.

"I had to change stuff, okay? I couldn't handle all the ruffles." Akaito said.

"But... but..." Neru said.

"I did my best!" Akaito suddenly raised his voice. "Don't act like you did anything to help me."

"Well, excuse me!?" Neru raised her voice as well. "I designed these costumes and you didn't do it right!"

"I'd like to see you try sewing all night for 5 days." Akaito said. "You're so lazy, you couldn't do it."

Miku tried to break up the fight, but Neru and Akaito told her to butt out.

"I'll tell the truth!" Neru yelled. "I hate what you did to my designs! I mean look at that tacky yellow one!"

"That one was supposed to be yours!" Akaito said.

"The outfit does NOT look good in yellow." Neru said. "I'm not wearing it."

Miku looked devastated.

"I think Akaito did them wonderfully..." She said. "Sure they're a little... shabby, but he's not a professional tailor."

"See! Even Miku agrees your outfits are trash!" Neru yelled.

"I... I didn't mean it like that!" Miku cried. "You guys can't fight, not now!"

Suddenly, Akaito threw Neru's outfit at her.

"Miku is right. Wear it and shut up." He said.

"Not until you fix it." Neru said.

"Fine then." Akaito said. "I'll fix them tonight."

"Hmph..." Neru said.


That night, the group meeting at Miku's house was canceled due to Akaito having to finish the costumes. He and Neru would've caused conflict by being together anyway.

Miku, feeling stressed out, began to wonder if they could all really pull off a good concert.

"No, I must stop thinking negatively." She said. "I should practice instead. I'll do it all night. I'll be extra ready."

So that's what Miku did. She practiced until she lost her voice. She jumped down from her bed in a rush, landed on the wrong side of her foot and...

"OUCH!" She collapsed on the ground with a thud. She couldn't move her ankle and the pain filled her nerves, sharp and unrelenting.

Miku's mother heard the commotion and went rushing to Miku's room.

"Miku, dear? What's wrong?"

"I... I can't..." Miku said in a raspy voice. "My ankle feels broken..."


FRIDAY

It was the day of the concert.

"I wonder where Miku is." Haku said.

"She can't be late, not today." Neru said.

"Neru." Akaito said.

"...Don't talk to me." Said Neru.

"I modified our costumes." Akaito said. "I couldn't make them perfect in one night though."

"Is mine still yellow?" Neru asked.

"Well, yeah." Akaito said.

"You idiot, I told you to change it!" Neru said.

"You never said that." Akaito said. "Plus I couldn't make one brand new outfit in one night!"

"Hmph!"

"Ungrateful brat!" Akaito said.

Before Neru could throw a comeback, Miku came walking out of her mother's car... in a cast and crutches.

The moment everyone saw her, they all gasped. No... it couldn't happen! Not now! Not today!

"Miku!" Haku ran up to her. "What... what happened?"

"Y-yeah..." Miku legitimately didn't know how to tell everyone. "I can't make the concert today."

"WHAT?!" Everyone said in unison.

"I got carried away practicing..." She said.

"No, but... we can't have the concert?" Dell said, in exasperation. "The one we've been hyping up for so long?"

Miku shook her head sadly.

"Your voice sounds terrible too." Neru said.

"Yeah, I sung so much last night that I lost my voice..." Miku said. "I'm really in no shape to perform. Sorry!"

"How..." Dell started saying. "Miku, how could you say that like it's no big deal!?"

Miku propped her head up in fear at Dell's harsh tone of voice.

"Miku, I can't believe you. I can't believe you were so careless!" Dell yelled.

"Well, do you think I'm happy too?" Miku said, her voice becoming wobbly. "I no it's no big deal. I failed. We failed. It's my fault... I'm sorry."

"Miku..." Haku's voice came. Miku thought Haku was going to cheer her up, but instead, harsh words came out of her as well...

"I can't believe you thought we could do this." Haku lamented.

Miku suddenly felt empty. The cold wind in the air felt even harsher.

"Miku, face it. We're failures. We were set up for failure all along. We can't just go and change that..."

"Haku..." Miku squeaked out desperately. "But..."

"I mean look at what you did. All you did was make us disappointed. Akaito and Neru are fighting, and..."

"Well, Akaito's outfits suck anyways. I guess now I don't have to wear it." Neru shrugged.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" Akaito yelled louder than anyone had ever heard him. His big, deep voice shook the earth. "You're treating my hard work as something to just throw away? Show some disappointment! Don't be so nonchalant!"

"You heard Haku." Neru said, shrugging and snickering in pity. "We're just a bunch of failures."

"Dell..." Miku was begging for Dell to say something to fix everything. But instead.

"Your idea was stupid all along." Dell said coldly.

Miku felt as if she was cut to the core. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe what was happening.

"N-no it wasn't!" Tears began to pool at the edges of Miku's eyes and spill down her cheeks. "Dell..."

"You have too much ambition!" Dell said. "You think that everything can magically be done if we try. Well, life isn't like that. See? We wasted days trying just to make YOU happy, and we failed!"

"Dell..." Miku pulled out the CD of their song from the case. "But we did succeed in something! We made a song..."

"Shut up!" Dell's fist slammed down on the CD Miku was holding. The fragile disk shattered the pieces that fell down onto the sidewalk."

"Dell..." Miku began to sob. "Guys..."

The last thread of hope was gone, and Miku said something that broke everyone's heart.

"You're right." She murmured through tears. "You guys are right. I'm stupid. This was a stupid idea and I need to face reality. From now on, we'll disband... We'll pretend our friendship never happened..."

"It's for the best..." Haku said.

Painfully slowly, Miku Hatsune walked away on her crutches. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to be away. She wanted to be gone, to disappear.

Not used to using crutches, Miku fell flat on the asphalt, and nobody was there to help her up. She looked behind her. Her group was gone. They had all walked away too. A pang of loneliness filled her heart, and a Miku began to bawl.


It was like none of it had ever happened.

In class, Neru was on her phone, going on the message board and leaving mean messages. She remembered when she promised she wouldn't so it anymore. She sighed, thinking it was useless. Here Neru was, back to the way she was before. And she was never going to change. She felt it was impossible.

Trolling online made Neru feel good, but deep inside it made her feel like a horrible monster. It was like poison.

"Why..." She asked herself. "Why am I such a disaster? Why couldn't things have gone better?"

But then, Neru saw an anonymous reply to one of her mean messages that was somewhat inspiring.

"Please stop." It said. "Stop being such an idiot and get a life. You can change yourself. You don't have to rely on trolling on message boards to feel satisfaction. I'm trying to help you. I believe in you. Please, find something else to do."

Neru thought that the message was so sweet, she felt like she had to reply nicely. It was the first time Neru had ever used that account to say anything nice or civil.

"Thank you for trying to help. Honestly, I've always wanted to change myself too. I'm going to start going on the right track now. Thank you for believing."


After first period, Dell hung out in his solitary corner of the campus and took out his lighter and a cigarette. He inhaled the poison and breathed out a bug puff of smoke with a heavy sigh. Things were right back to normal, but this time, Dell was alone. He couldn't possibly face Miku and the others after this.

The scent of the smoke, however poisonous it was, brought him relief.

"It's not like I can change." He thought. "Even though I really did want to..."

Then something hit him... He was happy. He was so much happier when he was with Miku and the others. Even though it didn't work out, that small, fleeting frame of time was perhaps the best he could remember... because he didn't feel alone.

He sighed heavily and promptly put his cigarette in the nearby trash can. He remembered how much he had wanted to quit smoking and how happy he was when he thought of himself smoke-free.

"What have I done?" He whispered to himself. "I can't live my life like this. Miku was right... We made memories. We accomplished things... Her idea was exactly what I needed. It was what we all needed!"

Dell, his cigarette in the trash can, decided not to skip class.


"Miku is such a fool!" Akaito thought. "But... could it be that I'm even more foolish?"

Akaito was never the one to believe in dreams. An extreme realist and pessimist, he thought life was built a certain way and attempts to change it were futile. But Miku saw the world a whole different way. Akaito finally understood.

He couldn't stand the thought that he broke the heart of Miku, a big-hearted dreamer who had never-ending ambition.

"Miku... maybe you are a fool..." Akaito thought, "But so were the people who did great things. The world needs more fools, for those are the people who change the world."


Haku was in the bathroom sobbing.

"I'm such a failure... Why?" She asked herself. "I couldn't even accomplish my dream..."

Haku being the one who scattered hope and vibrant light felt like such a distant aspiration. Ever since she was little, she wanted to inspire people. She wanted to make people smile and to fill the world with color.

She wanted her life to be a story that inspired others.

"But..." Then Haku thought. "It's not a story without hardships." She said.

That's it.

"This is a story..." Haku said, wiping her tears. "And it's up to me to make the ending happy..."

"I came this far. I need to get back on my feet."


After school, Haku took off running to their meeting place. It turned out, that right at that exact moment, Neru, Dell and Akaito were rushing there as well.

"Guys!" Everyone said at the same time. They couldn't help but smile, all of them.

"I... I was thinking, and..." Everyone said at practically the same time.

"Ah, you go first." Haku said.

"No, you go first." Said Dell.

"I'll go first." Neru said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Akaito. I'm sorry to everyone. I really want to change my life and I was so happy when we were dancing together. I don't want us to have to give up."

"Neru..." Akaito said. "Well, I'm sorry too. I feel the same way. I finally realized that dreams aren't worthless. After all, we got this far on a whim. Dreams really do hold power."

"Akaito..." Haku said. "You're right. I've always had a dream for this. And this dream led me here. I've accomplished so much, and we all should get back on our feet. We need to create the happy ending we've dreamed of."

"Haku!" Dell smiled. "You're right. Miku's idea is what brought us together. Her idea is what changed my life. And if I want to continue to change it, I have to not give up."

"I'm glad we're all thinking the same thing!" Haku said. "But I don't know about Miku. Her heart and ankle are still both broken..."

"We'll surprise Miku with how devoted we are." Dell said. "We'll wear our costumes and perform outside her house while she's in her room. We'll give her the best performance ever!"

"Dell, that's a good idea!" Haku said.


SATURDAY

"The light is on in Miku's room, and the window is open." Akaito said once they were out of her house. "Get in formation."

"Sing loudly so she'll hear." Neru said.

"Alright!" Dell counted down. "3... 2... 1..."

Haku turned on the radio and the song started playing.

From inside the house, Miku was perplexed and surprised. It was the intro to their song! Where was it coming from!

"What color is a dream? It's different for everyone. But we all have dreams that sparkle like crystals in the sun." Dell started singing.

"Dell?" Miku heard the familiar voice and rushed to the window. Looking out, she saw her four friends dancing.

"Is this a dream?" Miku wondered.

"What color is your dream? Even if it's far away. Believe in the future, we'll all get there one day." Neru sang.

"Dreaming! Dreams are exciting, aren't they? Eventually they won't be so far away." Akaito sang.

"Dreaming! A world filled with opportunities. Let's paint the sky together, you and me!" Haku sang.

The four then began to sing together in harmony.

"Oh, starlight! The way it shines down from above! Our dreams are up there giving the sky it's color."

"Oh, moonlight! So gentle, yet persistent and bright!" Let's follow the path of magical light..."

Miku's solo part was coming up next, and she felt obligated to sing it. She stuck her head out the window and sang.

"And we'll fulfill our wildest dreams tonight!" Miku sang.

"MIKU!" All four of her friends looked up cheered at the sound of her voice.

"HAKU!" Miku shouted from the window. "NERU! DELL! AKAITO! That was amazing!"

"Miku, come down here!" Neru said. "Were not going to disband. We're going to keep going!"


Miku and the others sat on the bench outside her house and talked.

"We're so sorry for saying those things. You were right, Miku. Your idea was what made us believe in dreams." Haku said.

"You brought us together and changed our lives." Neru said. "It's all thanks to you."

"Guys..." Miku began to cry. "I... I don't know what to say..."

"Come here." Haku gave Miku a hug, and everyone else joined in the hug as well, letting Miku cry.

Once the moment was over, Miku was as unstoppable as ever.

"All right! As soon as my ankle heals, we'll have a concert for real!"

"Yeah!" Everyone else said.

"Synthesis, we are shining!"