Aneko: Whoo, Christmas break. Gotta love it. :)

Diclaimer: I don't own the ingenious idea of Vocaloid. But I do claim the idea for this story!

Chapter Three

When they entered the building, it was a lot quieter than Saki imagined it would be. A smartly-dressed woman was seated behind a reception desk in the middle of a substantial lobby area. There was even a fish tank off to one side that Saki wouldn't have minded diverting her attention to, had Kaito not been dragging her by the hand. He headed past the receptionist, who gave him a brief wave and familiar greeting, before he reached the elevator.

"One hundred floors?" Saki blanched.

"Yup." Kaito pressed the button for level 58. "Most of it is stuff the boss is working on in the company, but there are also several levels with apartments for employees."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Some people are just here working so much that it's easier to live here than to commute every day."

"What about their families?"

"Well, most of them are single, like me."

"Oh, you live here?"

"Uh-huh. It's actually pretty nice, and I don't have to worry about rent since it's the company building. It's comes with the job."

"That's convenient, if nothing else…So, am I going to meet your boss today?"

"I was thinking we should wait on that. The boss can come on kind of strong sometimes, and I don't want him to scare you away when you're still trying to decide for yourself."

Saki giggled. "Is that why he sent you instead of coming to see me himself?"

"I volunteered."

"Then what are we going to do today if I'm not meeting the president?"

"I want to show you around a little and let you take a look at what we do around here—a special tour!"

"Wow, I feel like I've got the VIP pass…"

"Definitely."

The elevator gave a velvet ding as the doors slid open to the 58th floor.

"This is the official floor for the Vocaloid project."

"You have your own floor?"

Kaito shook his head. "It's not just me. There's also—"

"Well, what do we have here?"

Saki looked up and saw a woman with brown hair in a short bob. The shade of red of her clothes complimented her hair color very well, but the skirt was too short for Saki's taste. The woman looked Saki up and down. "Oh, a newbie, huh?"

"She hasn't decided if she wants participate in Vocaloid, Meiko."

"You mean not yet." Meiko winked at Saki. "Nice to meet you, cute newbie-chan. My name's Meiko, I hope we can be friends."

"Nice to meet you too. My name's Fujita Saki."

Meiko grinned. "Saki-chan? Cute. I like it. I can even imagine what your costume would look like." She stepped back and closed one eye, framing Saki's face with her hands.

"What are you doing today, Meiko?" Kaito interrupted.

Meiko tapped her chin as she thought. "Well, I was going to a meeting with the boss, and then I was going to go work on my new song until I have to go pick up Len and Rin. I was thinking about stopping by the grocery store later, too."

"Oh! Will you get me some ice cream?" Kaito asked, his eyes bright and hopeful.

"More? But I just bought you some two days ago!"

"Well, it's all gone…" Kaito mumbled, twiddling his thumbs.

Meiko sighed. "If it's on sale." Kaito's grin returned and Meiko rolled her eyes before turning to Saki. "Gotta go. Maybe I'll catch you later, Saki-chan." She waved as she sped off towards the elevator.

"Meiko-san's part of Vocaloid too, huh?"

"Yup. We all—everybody with Vocaloid, I mean—actually live here in this building. She's kind of like a mother to us all. Oh, but don't tell her I said that, or she'll get mad at me."

Saki laughed. "Okay." She paused. "Say, Kaito-kun…"

"Hmm?"

"Meiko-san said that she could imagine what my costume would look like…what did she mean by that?"

"Oh, that. Well, if you decide that you want to join us, the make-up team will give you a "look." A way for people to know you as—well, you. For my design, they went with a blue theme, as you can see." He held out his arms and did a quick turn around.

"So...the long sleeves are a part of the design? But aren't you too hot in this weather?"

Kaito shrugged. "Not particularly. I guess I'm just used to it. And Meiko's clothes are pretty simple, but they're also stylish." Kaito paused.

"What is it?"

"Come on. I want to try something."

"Um…Okay?"

"This way."

They headed back to the elevators, exiting on a lower floor. Kaito beckoned her to follow and opened a door close by. Saki's eyebrows rose. The room inside was a lot bigger than she was expecting. On one side, there was a row of curtains that blocked off a section which Saki assumed hid some supplies or something. Another wall was covered in a row of mirrors, which connected to a row of counters where a number of chairs were drawn up. There were some clothing racks with what looked like a few random articles of clothing hanging there. Two women leaned against the counters, talking in low voices.

"Hey, ladies!" Kaito called, and they both looked up.

"Can we help you, Kaito-san?"

"Yeah, I want you to work on her!"

Saki found herself grabbed by the shoulders and unexpectedly shoved in front of Kaito. She blinked. "Um…hi.?" She waved to the two women.

The brunette raised her eyebrows. "You mean…right now?"

"We don't have any outfits that are ready right now," the other girl added, adjusting her glasses.

"It doesn't have to be perfect. Just…improvise. Please?" Kaito clapped his hands together. "You two are amazing, I can't ask anyone else. I just wanted her to see what it would be like."

"Well…"

"Okay! We are pretty good at improvising." The glasses-girl winked.

They came forward to get a closer to look at Saki, who found herself being poked and pulled at, the corner of her skirt lifted, her hair brushed through. She felt a lot like cattle being inspected before it's sold.

"Hey, not too bad. I think it'll be pretty easy to work with her."

"Yep, almost no makeup, I'd say. What kind of look do you think we should go with?"

"I know the twins already have it, but I think we should go with the school-girl look."

"Sounds good, kind of refreshing. But, like, maybe with a more modern, more computerized look, know what I mean?"

"Oh! Yeah, I totally like that! Let's go with it!"

Still talking, the two women began shooing her toward the curtained area. Saki looked back at Kaito nervously, and he smiled at her reassuringly.

It turned out that the curtained off area was simply a row of dressing rooms, separated into several individual dressing rooms by more curtains.

"Come on, now, don't stop walking." Saki was wrangled into one of the changing area, and then, as one of the women slid the curtain shut, the other snapped open a tape measure. "Now," she said with a sweet smile. "Raise your arms."

Kaito was waiting in one of the chairs by the counter, leaning back on two feet. They had been in there for a while, and the two costume artists had been appearing from behind the curtains to go and fetch a bit of material every now and then.

"Sorry for the wait—we're finished!" The curtains slid back on their rings as the two designers appeared again. They looked expectedly into the shadowy changing area. "Well, come on, don't be shy."

Kaito's eyebrows rose as Saki stepped forward. Seeing his expression, she blushed. "Does it look bad on me or something?"

Kaito shook his head. "No, it's really cute. You're really cute, Saki-chan."

One of the stylists nodded to herself. "Yeah, you look good in gray…"

She and her coworker smiled at each other. "Good job!" They said in English, giving each other a high five.

"Do you like it?"

"Eh? Well I don't know. I haven't seen it on myself, there were no mirrors…"

"Really? Then look right there." Kaito pointed at the row of mirrors on the opposite wall. Saki met the eyes of her reflection, gasping as she laid eyes on her outfit.

The top was gray, and looked like the top of a school uniform, with the exception that it was sleeveless. It was long, covering the top of her short, black skirt. The black boots she wore nearly reached the bottom of the skirt. Black sleeves started near her shoulders and flared at the bottom. Everything was outlined in a teal trim, and a teal tie adorned the shirt.

"I-It's so cute!" Saki said, giving a little twirl.

"See, I knew this would be a good look on you." The brunette patted her on the back. "You totally rock the computer-girl look."

"Um…thank you?"

She laughed. "No problem."

"Okay, shall we keep going?" Kaito said.

"Sure, just let me change back fir—"

"It's fine like this, let's go!"

Saki's eyes widened. "Huh? Like this? B-but these belong to the company!"

"Just think of it like a souvenir!"

"Are you really allowed to do that…?"

"Sure, why not?"

Saki wasn't convinced by his carefree answer, but she allowed Kaito to lead the way out of the room, and back to the elevator.

"Where are we going now?"

"Now I'm going to give you the full tour."

"Ah, okay!"

"We'll start back on our floor. I'll show you the process from step one."

"Process?"

"Being an idol's not just fun and games you know. Everything has its order."

"I see."

"Okay, starting here." Kaito opened one of the doors that led off the hall.

Saki raised one eyebrow questioningly. "This looks like a science laboratory."

Kaito paused. "Yeah, I guess it kind of does. It's the first step to joining the company. Every employee must have a check up before they start working, to make sure that they're healthy. That includes the idols and regular employees, too."

Saki was only half listening to what Kaito said. As she looked around the room, she felt a strange clamminess on her skin, and she frowned. Her skin was aching, in a way that she couldn't really explain.

"Saki-chan?"

In the back of the room, there was a table. It wasn't very big, probably enough room for a child to lay down on, and just made of plain, nondescript metal. There were several computers nearby.

"What is this?"

"It's a check-up table."

"But shouldn't it be large enough for an adult to lay down on?"

"We have two. This one is just for sitting on."

Saki made her way over to it. There was something about this that felt too familiar. But that was impossible—she'd never set foot in the room before in her life. So how could she feel like she'd seen it all before?

"Saki-chan? Are you okay?"

Saki couldn't answer. Her mouth felt glued shut. She hesitated, but put her hand down on the table. It turned out to be a mistake. Her eyes were flooded with light, and as Kaito called her name again, everything turned dark.

When she opened her eyes again, she suffered a moment of disorientation. The ceiling above her wasn't hers, and there was more light than what usually came in through her bedroom window.

"Saki-chan?'

She blinked and looked over. Kaito was sitting beside her bed.

"Kaito-kun? What happened?" She sat up and looked around. They were in a different room. It looked a lot like her school infirmary.

"Well, you fainted while we were in the check up room. I brought you here to rest, but you weren't out for too long."

"I'm sorry to trouble you."

"Oh, no problem! I'm just glad that it was nothing serious. And, um…"

Saki waited for him to continue, but he said nothing, so she looked down at her hands.

Kaito cleared his throat. "If you think you're up to it, we could continue with the tour? We don't have to, if you think it would be better to go home…"

Saki shook her head. "I don't see why we can't keep going. I feel fine. I don't know what happened but whatever it was, it's over now."

Kaito perked up. "Really? Great!"

Saki pushed back the covers on the bed and stood up. Kaito was hovering right next to her, and Saki couldn't help laughing.

"Don't worry, Kaito-kun. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. I don't feel dizzy or nauseous or anything."

"Okay, then. But if you faint one more time—"

"I won't, I won't!"

"But what if you do?"

"Then you'll just have to get me to a doctor, huh? Come on, let's keep going!" She was too curious to want to stop looking around now.

Kaito showed her many rooms as he led her on the tour. She especially loved the music library, a room filled with shelves of music scores for different instruments as well as for singers. Most of the songs she had never heard of before, so she assumed that they were either classical, or songs that had been written specifically for the company. Saki hadn't had a music class since she was in middle school, but she still found the notes and lines on the pages beautiful.

Along with the library, Kaito showed her several practice rooms, recording rooms, some offices, and a room where a complete orchestra could rehearse. They went through several floors of the building, and Saki was thoroughly disoriented by the time they had stopped the tour.

"There's so much," she said faintly, feeling small.

"Well, stick around long enough, and you'll get the hang of it."

"Was that everything?"

"Everything related to the Vocaloid project, almost. The building's got a lot more stuff in it, but that's not important. There's just one more thing I want to show you."

"Okay."

They went back to the elevators once again. This time, Kaito pressed the button for the first floor. They hadn't returned there since the tour began a few hours ago.

"Wait, we're leaving the building? Then where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there. Don't worry, it's not far," Kaito reassured her as they exited through the glass doors past the lobby.

"But still, what could you have to show me that's not inside a building that huge?"

"I see your point. But anyways, here we are!"

They had approached a nondescript building with a metal door.

Saki raised one eyebrow. "It's in here? No offense, Kaito-kun, but this looks kind of sketchy."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a very direct person, Saki-chan?"

Saki shrugged. "I'm friends with Riko—she's a person you have to be direct with or else she might twist your words for her own personal use."

"And she doesn't want to be a reporter? What a waste."

Saki laughed. "Isn't it?"

"Anyways, it isn't a sketchy place, I promise. If you go inside, you'll understand."

"Okay."

Kaito opened the door, and Saki stepped inside before he closed it behind himself.

"Whoa! It's pitch black in here!" She took a few uncertain steps forward.

"Just give me a minute to hit the lights." Kaito's footsteps echoed as he walked away from her. It took a few minutes. Saki was starting to worry he'd tripped and fallen, when his voice cut through the dark. "You might want to close your eyes for a moment, Saki-chan."

Saki was curious, but she did as she was told, and was grateful she had when she felt the heat from the lights blaze to life from behind her closed eyelids. Even with her eyes closed, she still squinted, sensing the overwhelming brightness.

"The lights are still really strong, since they haven't completely worked out the details of the show yet. They're still playing around with it."

After a moment of letting her eyes adjust, Saki blinked them open warily, and immediately gasped in wonder.

It was a stage. "This is the concert area near the Yamaha building, isn't it? I see this place all the time. I went to a concert with Riko once, but I've never actually been up here before."

"Our first concert is going to be held in here. I wanted to surprise you, that's why I brought you through the side door by the stage instead of coming through the front door."

"And you're going to perform here? That's amazing." Saki could barely make out the area past the stage lights, but she imagined it filled to overflowing with people as they roared and screamed.

"Why don't you try singing a little, Saki-chan?"

"What—sing here? No way, I can't!"

Kaito put his hands in his pockets. "Why not?"

"It feels weird—in a big, empty place like this?" Saki shook her head.

"But like you said, it's empty. There's no one here but me."

"But…"

"Please? I want to hear you sing again."

Saki closed her eyes and gave in to his request, singing a phrase from the song she had sung on karaoke.

We're the mirror for each other,
in order to reflect our respective karma.
By touching it with our dirty hands,
we understand its form.

I am here, surely you can feel me.
We are here together in the sunny spot for 't forget, I am always calling out to you
from the inside of the same marble.
Yes, surely we will encounter each other
when we raise the cross in our sunken reasons.
Our promise will be finished
we will become one.

She stopped, remnants of her voice echoing like bells around them.

"Good," Kaito praised her. He walked over to her. "Now…" He covered her eyes with his hands. "This time, imagine the room filled with hundreds of people."

"What?" Saki tried to shake off his hands and look at him, but his grip held her firmly in place.

"Shh…" Kaito murmured softly. "Imagine fans who call your name, who come to hear the sound of your voice. Imagine the lights flashing in all those colors, the adrenaline you feel as your voice echoes through the speakers, how fast your heart is beating." Saki could feel her heart thrumming in response to his words. The crowd was calling her, chanting her name. Kaito pulled his hands away and stepped back. "Now, sing again."

The words burst from her without hesitation, as though she had been holding them back for years. She wasn't just singing the song—she had embodied it and made it real. When she finished the song this time, she was out of breath.

"Saki-chan." Kaito put a hand on her shoulder. "If you can sing like that at a concert, you'd be a part of Vocaloid in no time. The idea of the crowd doesn't scare you at all."

Saki took another look down at the outfit that had been made for her.

"Maybe…I would be able to do this."

"Saki-chan? Does that mean…?"

Saki looked over at him and grinned. "Kaito-kun, I want to be a part of Vocaloid."

Aneko: Whew, chapter three, over. Once again, the song Karma, by Bump of Chicken, does not belong to me.