Can't Help It - Enter Rivals!
Author's Note:
I know, I'm a horrible person, I didn't write for a long long time, I'm sorry guys but hey, I'm going to post other 2 chaps right away, I'll explain l8r.
I'm going to pre-write this story, because in all honesty it's been a pain and life sucks, so to make you guys get more chapters on a weekly basis (I HOPE) I will start doing a lot of work so I can update regularly and also be less estressed when writing the new chapters, this way all of us can be happy :D
Also, I've decided that I will keep the T rating and put the M rating in certain chapters when the time comes, so then you guys will know when s*t is going down to funky town (no worries, the rating is based solely on some themes that may not be for younger viewers, there will not be something explicit of any bad kind unless I decide it's necessary and fitting for the story).
I Will explain after the chapter is done why I was out for so long.
Luka decided that she's going to be Miku's best friend no matter what, she didn't really want to admit it but just by seeing how the twins and the tealette were happily chatting was enough to make her a bit jealous.
She imagined a perfect friendship with the tealette where they could laugh and hang out without being awkward, where Miku's smile was directed at her and not somebody else, the thought alone was enough to make her feel all warm and fuzzy.
"Fuck! why is this game so difficult!?" A certain green haired tomboy just huffed and restarted her 'PS Nita' game, focussed on beating the side quest boss, throwing some curses here and there.
Luka would of almost forgot she had to apologize to Gumi for being rude this morning if it wasn't because she just spotted her sitting for who knows what reason upside down in the couch cursing at who knows what game now. She made her way to the half circle couch hoping that Gumi wasn't too mad at her, but as she made her way she noticed Gumi's favorite panda beanie in the floor, she probably didn't even notice since she was way too focussed on her game.
When Luka arrived Gumi didn't even notice, so as to not start with the awkward apology she picked up the forgotten beanie and tapped Gumi in her shoulder, accidentally scaring her wich almost made her fall out of her position by the sudden contact, Gumi would surely consider that a jumpscare.
"WHAT THE FU- WHOA! wow wow... ooh that was close... why would you do that to me Luka!? how mean..." Gumi pouted and crossed her arms, still upside down.
Luka just gave her an 'are you serious?' look, how could someone get scared from that in a mansion full of Vocaloids? well whatever she wasn't going to question the wierd vocaloid, she just wanted to get this over with, apologies always made her uncomfortable so the sooner the better.
She extended her hand with the beanie, a very neutral look on her face "your beanie was on the floor, here." Gumi gasped, she was shocked, she would never drop something so important to her!
"How?- Why!?- What the hell were you doing in the floor Pandy!?, how is this possible?..." Gumi hugged her precious hat as if almost afraid to loose it forever, Luka just rolled her eyes, the answer was pretty obvious.
"Well, seeing as you're upside down it was pretty obvious it fell from your head, you should be more careful and put it in the table or somewhere else (and please sit normally, you're going to stain the couch with your shoes)"
"Oh, I should of figured..." Gumi complied and sat normally, pretty much embarrassed that she didn't think of such a simple answer but then again, she usually ignores gravity.
Luka felt a bit curious about why she was sitting like that, so she asked her about it to make a small conversation before apologizing.
"Oh that? well what better way to think how to destroy the bad guy in my game than making blood flow better in my brain! it was a very good idea on my part." Gumi said proud of what she thought was a smart idea.
'No it was just an idiotic idea on your part' Luka thought but then again, she didn't know Gumi even had a brain.
Luka sighed, it's not like she may be aware of it. "Well try not to sit that way too much, it can be bad for your health and give you a headache."
"Oh so that's why my head hurts! hmm I see now, I see..." Gumi took a pen out of her pocket and wrote in her hand 'Upside Down = Headache', with a small proud smile, Luka saw that she had a few other scribbles but she honestly didn't even want to know what they said.
"You know, I wanted to apologize for this morning, it was very rude of me to not greet you and the others back, sorry." Luka smiled lightly, fidgeting a bit with her fingers.
"Oh you're still getting your cereal burnt over something so small? don't worry, don't worry! whatever the reason it was, you must of have been not feeling very well, it's okay no worries." Gumi gave her a big smile to reassure she wasn't mad, she's the kind that forgives and forgets easily, just like Miku.
Luka sighed, she really wanted to be with Miku more often, just thinking about not being around her as much as Len and Rin made her heart ache a little, maybe it's better if she talks a bit with Gumi to prepare herself mentally for later when she goes to achieve the goal of becoming best friends with Miku, achieve in a hopeful optimistic way that is.
Luka eventually sat with Gumi and they chatted a bit about hobbies and songs they've worked on that had a good amount of fans listening to them lately, Luka remarked on how huge of a success Gumi's song "Panda Hero" is, though somehow that made Gumi fixate in her panda hat a bit more than usual, brushing the fabric with her thumbs.
Gumi looked at her beanie and knitted her eyebrows in deep thought, almost distant.
Curiosity got the better of Luka again, even though it's not good to pry in people's business, there was something slightly familiar about that hat, like a pattern, and it's been bugging Luka ever since Gumi got it out of nowhere with a huge love for it since already the first time she showed up with it, there's something about it that makes Luka's heart feel ice burned.
"Say Gumi..." she paused, dragging Gumi's attention towards her "Why is that hat so important to you?" Luka felt an unexplicable lump form in her throat, somehow she didn't want to know anymore, she felt that if she knew she would feel hurt but it's too late already.
Gumi seemed taken aback by the question, she fidgeted, and for a moment Luka thought she stole a quick glance at Miku's direction, checking if no one was listening and said with a voice barely above a wishper -
"Well I might as well tell you everything, I've always liked pandas, as all of you already know, they are my favorite animals so I couldn't help writing a song that involved them in some degree, but that song wasn't a-"
"Panda Hero?" Luka had to ask, she didn't know where this was going but she had a hunch that she wasn't going to like it.
"Haha yhea, exactly that one, well.. after the song was released, it didn't have much popularity, I kinda got sad about it since I made the song with all my heart- involving pandas of course, but y'know I guess it was silly at the very beginning anyways, also you know how Crypton deletes all of our songs that do not *pass* the popularity test to make sure Vocaloid has only popular songs worthy of the fans right?, so the song I spent so much effort in was going to be deleted soon by our managers so people didn't see proof of a song that didn't make it to the music industry news..." Gumi sighed and prepared herself to explain the rest of her story, her face slowly changing from slight sadness to one full of.. a feeling Luka couldn't place her finger on.
"And... Miku noticed I was sad about it, so she made this panda beanie for me to make me feel better, it was very kind of her, but after I got it for some reason the popularity of my song increased to the sky like an explosion! my song made it to the front page of popular music magazines and was a huge success, I believe the hat Miku made for me gave me luck, everytime I wear it I have good luck, I feel protected and with extra confidence, like someone is cheering for me.. That's why this panda hat is so important to me, specially because it was made by Miku.." Gumi finished with a faint blush, clutching the beanie that had an enormous sentimental value.
A really cold shiver travelled from Luka's spine directly to her heart, fear was slowly accumulating in her senses, there was no way to back down now.
"So you like Miku?" The question she did not want to ask slipped from her lips before she had a chance to stop herself from asking.
Gumi blushed fully now, the time slowed down or at least seemed like it, seconds felt like an eternity, and the answer Luka did not want to hear slipped from Gumi's lips.
"Yhea..."
After a few minutes of silence, Gumi put on the hat, playing the game she had such a hard time on and in a matter of seconds the victory music could be heard from the game, and a barely audible murmur, "I knew my hat had to fell off for me to have such bad luck..." was lost echoing in Luka's head.
Curiosity bit Luka right back at her, after all curiosity didn't kill the cat for nothing.
"Haha Miku-nee is blushing! do you have some sort of secret crush on me Miku?" A blonde girl could be heard teasing a really embarrassed teal-haired girl, while a slightly sour blond boy tried to not be too jealous on the fact that it wasn't him who made the tealette blush.
"Wha-? I-It's not like that Rin! of course I would get embarrassed if you suddenly k-k-kiss me so close to the mouth you know!" Rin just smiled mischievously and stood close to Miku's personal space, then slowly said, almost in a husky voice.
"you know you like it." Rin winked at her making Miku blush once more with a "Whaaat!?" look plastered on her face, making it the last drop in Len's patience.
"Stop flirting up Miku-nee that way you perverted sister! she obviously doesn't like it!"
"What'cha said you pipsqueak midget!? piss off! at least she likes me more than you!"
"Say what!? I'm taller than you! if any you're the midget here and she obviously likes ME better!" insults were passed from Len to Rin and from Rin to Len, at this point they already forgot why they were even fighting.
Miku tried to come up with all sorts of ways to break up the fight but none worked, the fact that the Kagamine twins usually fighted over the smallest of things was an everyday routine but lately they've been fighting more than usually for some reason.
Miku sighed hoping this was just a twins thing, suddenly a really familiar video game music reached her ears, out of the corner of her eyes she saw Green and Pink, when she turned around she saw Gumi and Luka, just sitting on the couch in silence, on the way she heard Gumi murmur something about a hat and bad luck but she paid it no attention.
And only then the twins noticed Miku was missing only to be found a few steps away about to greet Rin's #1 pink suspect and possible rival in love and Len's #1 Green haired rival in the videogames world.
Just when Luka was about to break the silence, the subject of talk both girls liked appeared right behind them, making them jump out of surprise by her voice.
"Hey guys, what are you doing?" Miku smiled, leaning her arms in the couch's backrest, not noticing how nervous she made Luka and Gumi right now.
"Oh hey Miku! I was just playing a game while Luka and me talked about work and stuff, that's all" Now that Luka knew Gumi liked Miku, it was pretty obvious she always was kind of nervous when talking to her or even by being close, though she made a better job at hiding it than her.
She turned to Miku with a kind smile "Yhea we weren't doing anything interesting by now- though where are the twins? weren't they with you?"
"We are." and as if on cue they appeared just behind Miku, slightly glaring at both Gumi and Luka.
Gumi smirked when she spotted Len, kinda in a devilishly way. "Heh, blondie-boy, come closer."
Len warily leaned on the couch's backrest only to hear Gumi tease him with what he thought was the worst thing he could ever hear.
"I beat your score on Battleyard 4, noob."
"WHAT!? HOW COULD YOU!" and at this point they were already fighting over who was the best at videogames.
But it wasn't so humorous for Luka, when she saw Rin behind Miku, she inmediately tensed, worried that the little brat may get more clues and be more suspicious about her liking Miku, right now her worst case scenario was a group talk with Miku and Rin around, and Rin's smirk didn't make her feel any better.
Luka stood up, making the ones present look at her with curiosity "W-Well, if you excuse me, I have some songs to work on, cya guys." and just when she was going to turn and leave, Rin grabbed her wrist, her smirk only growing as Luka felt more nervous.
"But Luka-san! we're all here ready to talk, why not join us? work can wait after all it's a free week!" Luka just complained with some lame escuxes as to why she couldn't join but after Miku telling her to please join them, she couldn't decline.
She relunctantly took a seat on the couch just between Rin and Miku.
Just when she was thinking of standing up once again to insist she had a job to do, Rin gripped her shoulder "You're not getting away from this one so easily." she wishpered harshly to her.
Luka just glared at her with the same intensity. "And what's stopping me to do so?"
Rin nodded towards Miku's direction "You leave, I spill everything out, simple."
Luka remained silent and crossed her arms, trying to keep it cool as to not worry Miku who was already happily chatting with Gumi and Len but glancing at them from time to time, who knew that Rin was a really dirty rival in love? if she knew she would of tried to have one up on her to atleast not be blackmailed so easily.
Wait... THAT'S IT! Yesterday when Kaito asked all the Vocaloids to help him out on winning Miku's heart, the twins confessed their love for Miku, everyone heard them.
Now this time she had one up on Rin too, if she tries annything out of this little group chat, she might as well make sure that Rin goes down too, she has the advantage that she never said she liked Miku, in fact, Rin only assumed she did but she doesn't have any way to prove it, but in the other way around, Luka DOES have proofs and also witnesses in Rin's case .
Luka grinned, now she was safe and Rin wasn't much of a threat at all anymore, not even Len and Gumi if they ever find out she likes Miku... if they ever tried to be.
"-So what do you think Luka?" Before she even had time to realize it, the four of them were already staring at Luka to get an answer of the unheard sentence, she told them she wasn't listening but that only made them more inspired to include her even more in the conversation.
"Come on, you have to snap out of it already, you've been "out of it" a lot lately" Rin smirked, she can talk so confidently, giggles were heard but somehow Luka didn't feel like laughing.
Have you ever felt like you were out of place, disconnected or just simple emptiness when being around people?
Well, Luka felt that way now, she tried her best to smile but the fact that she was around the person she liked and that everyone here liked the exact same person too, made her feel really awkward.
After all just by recalling Gumi's face, made her think, is it really ok to try to steal Miku from everyone else? it was more than obvious that the day Miku gets a lover, more than just a pair of people will be heartbroken and Luka was sure she was going to be one of them.
Just by thinking of Kaito's and Gumi's face filled with love made her sick, it makes her feel like she's commiting a crime just by going after the tealette, it sends chills to her very core.
After a few minutes of talking, it became pretty obvious that Luka wasn't even paying attention or interested in the slightest, even when they tried to talk to her she would only answer with one word like "yes" or "no", basically answers that would cut the conversation in her side, Gumi thought that she just wasn't interested in the present themes so as her friendly self, iniciated a conversation that might pique Luka's interest.
"So Miku, are you excited for your birthday? it's pretty much around the corner!"
Luka inmediately got interested and paid attention when she heard the words "Miku" and "birthday" together, when it comes to Miku Luka will always be interested no matter what.
"Oh I'm pretty excited! soon I will be 17 years old! I can't wait!" Miku was really happy about it no wonder.
Rin noticed that Luka was actually paying attention this time but why? she smirked evily and with the intent of gathering information she will force her to talk by asking something simple:
"So what did you guys get as a present for Miku?" smiling and acting innocent was her strategy.
The blond boy inmediatelly fell for the trap, going to boast about his present "Oh! I got her a super cool g-"
"Wait Len! don't you think that would just spoil the surprise for Miku?"
Well Gumi was smart after all, who would of thought?, Rin mentally cursed at Gumi's sudden usage of her brain, she could of sworn that Gumi's brain full of dust was always used at the worst timing.
Bitting her lower lip in frustation she thought of another aproach that could possibly work.
"Well.. what about giving hints then?" always using the fake smile she used so well.
"Oh yhea that way you guys can both tell me and not tell me about it!" Miku clapped her hands together in childish enthusiasm, it was so adorable.
Len furrowed his brows, obviously having a hard time thinking in hints instead of simply telling the others what his gift was "Ah.. then uhh... mmm... my gift is a super cool erhm disc... yhea! uh, that... will give you lots of fun! yep!" He smiled, proud of himself.
Rin almost rolled her eyes at the boy's stupidity, it was very obvious now what it was, only Miku wouldn't notice but that's why she liked her so much.
So Len got a videogame for Miku that was for sure, Rin made sure to secretly type that in the phone hidden in her pocket, texting so much with Neru at late nights sure made this easy, now she only had to hear Gumi's and Luka's hints.
"So what about you Gumi?"
"Eh? me? hmm... the only hint I can give is that it's made by myself, I want it to be a super surprise for you Miku!" She smiled confidently while Miku blushing slightly gave her a small smile.
Rin nodded smiling to herself and typed "Gumi: handcrafted present, possibly a scarf.", now the only one left is Luka, her initial target in this small operation of hers.
"And you Luka?"
The person in question only eyed Rin, she figured this plan of hers a while ago already, it was pretty obvious in her opinion, how she just insists on everyone telling her.
Luka sighed, this was already giving her a headache "Well I'm not saying anything, not even hints, it's a secret."
Rin narrowed her eyes, so she's really going to refuse huh?
Her smile transformed into a smirk, she wasn't going to give up so easily "Oh, come on just a little hint is fine."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Why do you insist so much?" Now it was Luka's turn to glare at her.
Rin's smirk just grew larger "Because, we all want to know! you don't have to say what it is, just a hint is fine."
Len and Gumi exchanged looks and nodded in agreement while Miku only looked between Luka and Rin with a worried expression.
Luka let out an exhasperated huff and crossed her arms "Fine, fine, the only hint that I'm going to give is that it's special, that's it."
The others smiled at Luka's stuborness, it must be something really special for her to not even give a clear hint or idea of what it is, but that's exactly what Rin feared the most, the word "special" was a threat for her and she's going to make sure that she gives the best present to Miku no matter what.
Rin stared blankly to the side and slowly typed "Luka: Special present, ultra deadly."
Just about when they were going to keep talking Miku's manager barged in startling slightly the small group, they immediately stopped talking.
He nodded towards the group, acknowledging their presence before getting serious and coming directly at Miku.
"Miku, there's work to do! you have to go on set and act for the "Love is War" PV immediately."
The girl in question beamed, she always liked work, after all it had to do with what she loved the most: singing, though the others were kind of disheartened at the fact that they felt they got so little time to talk with her.
"W-Wait! aren't we supposed to have a break this week!? Miku shouldn't be working, specially because of her birthday coming soon!" Rin snapped rather harshly at the manager, making him back away nervously.
"I-I only follow orders, and you guys been s-slacking off too much! in fact you guys have double the work thanks to that, specially Rin, Len and Gumi here!"
The three lazy ones flinched at the truth, trying to act like they would never do such a thing.
The manager sighed shaking his head slightly "You guys should learn a thing or two from Miku, really." He looked at Miku and motioned for her to follow him into the studio, before the girl left, her friends ofered to go keep her company wich she happily accepted.
Luka, Gumi, Rin and Len were very excited to be in the recording room just keeping Miku company even though she couldn't see them because of the tinted glass panel where they stand behind, though it's a good thing that she can't see them so Miku feels less embarrased recording.
Miku was taking really long on the changing room, just when Luka was going to knock on the door to check if Miku was okay the door swinged open revealing Miku on her outfit.
Miku smiled to Luka and the others as soon as she opened the door not even noticing that Luka was about to knock, she seemed kinda eager to record. "What do you guys think? I like it!" The tealette said, spinning once in a circle to show a full overview of the costume.
When Luka looked at Miku's clothes she blushed quite vividly, Miku looked really cool (the sexy kind of course), she was wearing a black uniform shirt with a teal tie and a teal colored band on her left arm with a black heart on flames, a teal skirt with a teal/black belt that had a holster on the right side, teal skirt, black tights and combat boots, it wasn't in character for Miku but for the type of song she was singing it was actually the best job the staff has done.
Luka wasn't the only one blushing though, Gumi, Len and Rin too were pretty amased with it, Rin shaked her head to clear out any lewd thoughts left and tried to reply clearly "W-Wow Miku! it looks really good on you! ...omg dat a-"
"Y-Yhea! what my sister said!"
Gumi nodded and covered her mouth "You look amazing Miku, very cool! the stylists did a pretty good job for this." it was kind of obvious to Luka that the green haired girl was drooling but who can blame her?
Luka smiled gently crossing her arms over her chest, trying to cover the fact that she was doing her best to not jump Miku "Yes, you do look pretty good, really nice."
Miku beamed at her friends, she was glad they liked it too, while Miku was talking to them the crew was finishing up the final arrangements to the stage, finally calling up Miku a few minutes later.
Miku had to sing in a plataform with megaphones on top of it, she had to do a lot of takes to ensure that the crew could mix up the good angles, like the one where she had to grab the railing and do something similar to headbanging, she slipped that time making everyone laugh while she sheepishly rubbed her head, Luka wished she had a camera right now, she would record her cutest moments or even the whole acting wich was taking over an hour.
When the filiming was over, Luka thought it was very entertaining to watch, she never saw another Vocaloid work in the studio, she usually came here alone to work and leave immediately after. Well... there was afterall more than one recording room so it was basically impossible to wait for another Vocaloid to finish up and leave it free for others to use, though Luka is happy that Miku was the first Vocaloid ever that she saw recording.
"You were so cool Miku! I'm pretty sure the PV will be a huge hit!" Rin exclaimed while she hugged her.
Miku could only blush while Rin hugged the lights out of her "I-It wasn't that good."
"Well we should probably go, it's almost time for lunch guys." Gumi closed her cellphone and went ahead first, telling them that food cannot wait.
While they were heading to the dining room Miku made small talk with the twins, recalling the first time she joined crypton, Luka thought it was pretty interesting, since she joined crypton a while later than Miku.
"- And you guys remember this time where I accidentally messed up the lyrics in my first concert? I was so embarrassed!"
"We do! that was actually what inspired us to join the music industry!"
Miku gasped, amazed by the new information about the twins "Really?"
Len and Rin smiled at Miku, they remember that concert like it was yesterday, they were so moved by Miku's singing that day that they decided to practice a lot to hopefully one day join the Crypton industry and sing by her side. They would practice all day long, at almost every hour and they would rarely take breaks.
When they auditioned in Crypton's talent show they thought that they would never make it, ever since Miku auditioned it was like the revolution of music, thanks to her a lot of people became inspired to make music of their own so there were lots and lots of people and most of them were really good singers - in fact, some of them are Vocaloids now, like Neru or Miki, even Haku (even though they have no idea on how Haku made it), but when they heard their names and saw them being displayed on the winners chart they couldn't of been happier.
After that Miku congratulated the winners in person and that's how they met, Len was pretty sure that he fell in love with her at that very moment and Rin thinks that it was the first time she saw her concert - when they met they quickly became best friends, it was like a dream come true.
"Miku-nee you really are special to us, remember that!" Luka could tell that Miku was moved, she hugged both of the twins making them sheepishly laugh and blush.
The Vocaloids reached the dining room and sat on their usual spots, the twins sitting at Miku's side, Rin to the right and Len to the left, Gumi sat in front of Miku and Luka was heading to her usual spot wich was in the really far end of the large Vocaloid table, she liked that spot because it was peaceful and more secluded from the others but just as she was heading to it Gumi shouted to her to come sit by her side, Luka politely refused but Gumi insisted with that big friendly smile of hers, Luka sighed an sat next to her - aware of how Rin was glaring at both her and Gumi, even though the last one didn't notice at all since she was happily chatting with Miku and making fun of Len and his gaming skills.
When every Vocaloid was sitting in the table kaito proceeded to serve lunch since it was his turn of both making and serving the food today, it was pretty obvious that he had Miku in mind when he was making the food, seeing as how the food was mostly leeks than anything, it was also obvious that he made a special treat for Miku, as her plate had more leeks than anyone in the room, also shaped in little hearts.
Miku squaled at how nice and cute the food looked (Luka thought she was the cute one), it also had leeks too! she thanked Kaito for making it and he gave her an embarrassed smile, he was happy to see Miku liked it- Rin, Len and Luka didn't though, they glared at Kaito and even Gumi was slightly glaring at him with a crooked smile, all of them jealous of him, he made Miku happy even if it was for a short while until she finishes her food.
After a while Gumi, Miku and the twins started talking, chatting about simple stuff, some jokes where said and laughs were shared along with smiles, Gumi noticed Luka wasn't even talking she had this I'm-not-interested kind of look in her face so Gumi elbowed her in the ribs making Luka yelp and then glare at her in a murderous way but Gumi simply laughed and told her to join the conversation because "You're our friend too! so you should go along with the flow and just have fun with us!" she playfully argued.
Luka sighed, slightly blushing, embarrassed at how easily she included her without a second thought, she looked at Miku, expecting her to be fully inmersed talking with the twins but instead she was looking at Luka, waiting for her to join the conversation with a smile on her lips - Luka gave up and with the slightest of grins she talked along, feeling for the first time the warm effect friendship had.
Well, this chapter was really hard to write, I really lost all inspiration in this story and even writing, mainly because I was so busy with life and I wanted to make another stories about different stuff and animes so I got stuck with this, but now I discovered the great art of "pre-writing" chapters, so now I can both work on this and another stuff without feeling cornered or worried that I may forget my good ideas, also because my laptop died but I finally got a new one, so now we can say I'm back and fully working on new stories and on Can't Help It :)
By the way, I will immediately upload the next chapters to this because you guys deserve it, I haven't updated in like a year or so, so I feel really guilty, hopefully you guys can forgive me, sorry for the long wait but now you guys can be sure that I'm back and also, I got better at writing and I got a new laptop so no more shitty stuck keys :3
Enjoy!