I stuck my finger down the heel of my shoe and pulled my sport shoes on, it was the day of the vocaloid store opening and I didn't know who was more enthusiastic about it, me or Kaito, it was opening at noon today and I was going to the bank first, I needed to up my credit limit, for I expected to buy lots of stuff for Kaito, and I knew it was going to be expensive, yes yes I'm one who will spoil rotten my vocaloid.
"Come on…hurry!" Kaito urged, pacing back and forth, while I was hopping on the spot trying to get the other side of my shoe on. "Go get the lift first," I waved. He stopped for a second, eyes going blank, then he reported, "it's here already!" By then, I had already thankfully locked the door and was walking to the lift. Kaito's been nagging me the whole day about how blue sea salt ice cream was his favourite and that it was a pity that they didn't have it in Singapore.
"Ok…ok…I'm here! Let's go!"
We walked to the bus stop and waited a bit for the bus, boarding the bus, I tapped my card on the reader and Kaito and I took the last two seats at the back of the bus, my favourite corner seat was taken by a girl, her white hair was long and was tied at the nape of her neck with a big ribbon, I was thinking that her hair length could rival Miku's, I was still lost in my thoughts when Kaito exclaimed, pointing a finger at my current subject of interest, "It's Haku!" I could see the gears in my brain turning, Haku…Haku…ah!...yes I remember!...she sings the same genre of songs as Miku. I glanced at her, and saw her visibly cringe at Kaito's outcry. Wait…so if a vocaloid is here so must her master, funny how I was taking this vocaloid thing easily, my eyes then drifted to the seat next to Haku, he was short, or at least that was the first thought that came to my mind, he was wearing a cap, pulled low over his face, leaning back I caught a glimpse of red hair, I was still documenting his features when the bus jerked suddenly and threw me forward, Kaito's hand shot out to stop my fall, but of course it would pass right through me, but to my surprise I stopped half way and fell back into my seat, looking at the hand on my other shoulder, a saw a shock of red hair, as the cap from the guy next to me dropped onto his lap, he quickly removed his hand and mumbled to me, "You all right?"
I stared rudely for a moment longer, cause well red hair in singapore was a rare sight, nodding, I replied, "Uhuh…thanks…" then in a more questioning voice, I asked, "That's Haku…your vocaloid?"
"Ah…yea…"
"Hehh…so you got in too!" I said brightly, wanting to dispel the awkwardness.
"Um…hmm…"
Offering my hand, I continued, "Name's Nicole…and that's Kaito," pointing to where Kaito was trying to get Haku to talk.
"Ah…Allen…" he mumbled, shaking my hand hesitantly.
"Allen…huh!...ok!...Are you coming for today's opening sale?" I chirped.
"Ah…I think maybe later…" he replied.
I looked up and saw that the bus was at my stop, then fumbling, I said, "Ahh!...My stop!...Gotta go!...See you soon!...Kaito lets go!" Giving a wave to Allen and Haku, who just limply waved back, Kaito and I just managed to slip off the bus just as the doors were closing.
Xxx
"Thank goodness we didn't miss the stop!"
"Uhuh…if we missed it, it would have been your fault…" Kaito replied, sticking out his tongue.
"What! Now it's my fault!" I was waving my arms about.
Kaito then pointed to the bank, "So…you gonna go in or not, the opening is in an hours time…"
Making a face at him, I hurried off to the bank.
Xxx
"Uwaa….! The shop is so big!"
There were multiple posters, proclaiming special promotions and offers as well as images of various vocaloids greeted me, as I walked into the school, the shop name was finally revealed to be Echo Lite, after Kaito and I were speculating weird names like Pocky Haven and Aisu Paradise, yup, imagination definitely ran away with it.
I was just wondering around when I heard someone call, "Nicole!" Turning I saw Barzini and a hyper Miku, who was already bounding over to Kaito as I waved.
Looking around I asked, "Hey, Barzini! Why is it not crowded?"
He shrugged and answered, "I guess your answer is that there are other days… Everyone has the same mentality, so they won't come here straight away to get what their Vocaloids want. It is a rather tragic mentality anyway."
"Huh…" I mumbled thinking to myself, who would want to wait, then the question was answered by me as I remembered Haku and Allen on the bus. Lost in my thoughts, I heard Barzini say Hello, looking up I saw the same man that escorted us to the back door the last time, bowing politely I said, "Ohayo…" The man bowed back and Miku cut in with her own version of a cute a slightly hyper high pitched ohayo of her own.
The man then said, "You folks better stay nearer the gates for the free promotional items. The shutters shall open anytime soon… Along with the canteen. Now, if you'll excuse me." Giving another bow, he walked away.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Barzini gave a whoop and said, "Yes… Promotional items!"
I rolled my eyes as I heard Barzini say, "What?" Thinking to myself, What's with you and cheap stuff? Cheapskate! Realising that I said that out loud, I quickly stuck my tongue out, as I caught him rolling his eyes at me! He dared!
Waving me off, he said, "I am a true Singaporean and proud of it! Come, Miku!" I watched as Miku waved bye to Kaito in her hyper ways.
Kaito came up next to me and I asked, "So…what did you guys talk about?"
"Uhh…Miku was just telling me about how awesome her stay with Barzini has been…she was talking about history something about the cold war…I didn't really manage to get a word in…" he replied.
Nodding my head in sympathy, I knew what he meant, all my facebook chats so far with Barzini had been riddled with history facts, not that I'm complaining but getting lost in the dates is confusing. I guess he rubbed off on Miku, replying to Kaito, "Yup, I guess with her personality…"
By then a crowd had gathered at the entrance of the store, Kaito and I stood a distance away, the plan we decided was to wait till the first frenzy was over then take out time, Kaito had already explained the usage of smartphones and I had already downloaded the necessary apps, there was no hurry. As everyone stampeded in, saw Kaito fidgeting, "You're just itching to get the aisu right…"
Closing his eyes, he nodded his head vigorously, causing the end of his scarf flap quickly, then he said, "But…it's ok…I'll wait…because I know Nicole-sama doesn't really like crowded places…"
I sighed, he looked so cute when he does that, but, too considerate!
"Come on! Let's go now!" it was still crowded but anything for Kaito right?
Kaito's eyes lit up and he grabbed my hand, pulling me through the crowded, he located the blue sea salt aisu that he had been talking about since I bought the Häagen-Dazs ice cream home, pointing to it, he exclaimed, "Aisu! Aisu!" hopping about on the spot, no explanations were needed as I took out my phone and scanned a picture of the barcode, I glanced at the price tag, $10 for a stick of ice cream…well I guess my savings aren't going to last for long, waiting for the purchase to process, I looked at Kaito and watched as his face became so animated as he held the stick of ice cream, his expression was one of pure delight. Waving my hand in front of him, "Uhh…Kaito…you there…" No response, I sighed, "Oookk…You better eat it before it melts ok…I'm going to the bike section now…" Turning to walk, I saw that Kaito was following in a very floaty kind of way.
Making my way through the shelves, I reached the sports department of the store, let's see, wakeboards, roller-blades, skis…wait it doesn't even snow in Singapore! Unless, we could bring our vocaloids on vacation!...hmm…definitely going to ask that question soon…umm…where was I…ah…badminton rackets, tennis, table-tennis, soccer balls, hockey, some other lesser known sports…I rounded the last shelf…where were the bikes! Back tracking, I went through the shelves again. They didn't have bikes?
I spotted the Caucasian man at the corner of the store, hurrying towards him, I asked, "They do sell bikes here, right?"
Looking up from what looked like a stock list, he said, "Hmm…I think we do have them, but they have to be specially ordered…umm…let me check…" he looked down at his list. "Ah…I'm sorry but it looks like the only way to get a bike is to parallel import it from Japan…but here's the website you can get it at…" Passing me a slip of paper with the URL written on it.
Walking around the store some more, I bought some snacks for Kaito and another scarf , blue of course but with patterns and also a box full of ice cream.
"No more…" Kaito said sadly.
I turned from scanning another barcode, to look at Kaito, he was holding out the ice cream stick. "You can have another when we get home."
"But…" he said, showing me puppy eyes in the hope that he could get another stick, no…I was determined not to give in and I think he knew it too so he settled for an, "Ok" Wanting to distract him with something, I changed the topic.
"Well, remember I said about getting you a bike?...According to the staff around here they don't seem to have bikes, so I'm going to have to fly it in from Japan, when we get home we'll see the types they have online, ok?" he nodded, "Ok!" Phew…looks like he gets over aisu as fast as he gets hyper over them.
Looking past his shoulder, I saw a familiar person, pigtails…ah! Raising my hand in a wave, I called, "Yukina! Over here!"
She turned as Kaito looked over his shoulder; he gave a little wave to Piko who was standing next to Yukina.
"Hi! So what have you gotten so far for Piko?" I asked.
"Ah…this and that I guess…but I got him marshmallows and I suppose you got Kaito ice cre-she was cut off as I cupped my hand to her mouth, "Shh…" glancing over to where Kaito was talking to Piko thankfully he didn't hear, so I continued, "it took me a long time for him to get over that…so…" Nodding her head in understanding I removed my hand.
"So…what classes are you taking?" I asked.
Nodding her head shyly, she said, "…I'll be taking…Literature as my major…and the basic classes of everything else I guess."
"Cool!... I never understood Literature…I'm taking Mathematics as my major…apparently I didn't do too bad in the calculus parts for the entry test."
"Math…huh…never got that either…" she mumbled.
Nodding I waved to Kaito, "Come on! Time for us to go!" Then to Yukina, I said, "Hope we end up in the same class!"
Waving bye, we left the school premises.
Xxx
Reaching home, I barely had the time to change, when the door bell rang.
"I'm coming!" I shouted, my feet slapping the linoleum as I ran to get the door, I was expecting the delivery of my textbooks this evening, hence the rush to get home.
Signing the delivery acknowledgement slip, I grabbed the box by the two handles and carried it into my bedroom. Flapping open the box, I started accounting for all the books I was supposed to get for my year one course.
"Lets see…Guide to writing good English compositions, check…Globe: Complete guide to Geography, check…Sums: We pretty much sum it up, check…Science: All you need to know and some, check…His-story: the one way trip to be a gHeek…Literally Alliterated Literature, check…and for my major…Plus: The additional formulas the you didn't need to know, check.
Now if you were thinking that some of these titles are a bit whack, well I thought so too, so high five!
As I was counting out all the books that I had, Kaito was starring at the pile.
"So…Nicole has to study all of that?" he pointed.
"Mmmhmm…lucky you don't have to go through all this…" I murmured. My hand hit the bottom of the box, looking down I saw a letter, with the school's crest embossed on it.
Opening the letter, it read.
Dear Miss Nicole,
It is our greatest pleasure to have you in our school, we trust that the books have been delivered and you are ready to begin the new school year. Enclosed will be the school's classroom as well as dormitory layout and general guidelines and rules of The School of the Future.
Your timetable will be accessible a week before term starts on the school's academic portal.
Regards,
HiroyukiItō
Principal
I flipped to the next page, and found the said enclosed floor plan of the school, and then on a separate sheet of paper the rules…
All students are to take note of the following general rules and guidelines.
Students are to stay in their dorms during school term and only under special permission from the principal would the student be allowed to return home during school term.
Students may wish to return home a visit their family once every fortnight.
I snorted at this statement, I didn't even think my parents will notice me missing till they run out of groceries, perhaps some time away from the house would be good for them…
Students may not visit the dorm rooms of the opposite gender, meetings may be held in the common rooms instead.
All music rooms are open for students usage at anytime, and must be booked at least 3hours beforehand.
A pass in the subject Music is compulsory and will be assessed through Course Work. (which will be further explained when term starts)
Participation in Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) is also compulsory to gain the necessary credits to graduate. (Selection of CCA will be done within the first week of school.)
I reread that line, CCAs were compulsory…oh joy…it's not that I didn't like them but I just had the natural interest for everything…in my last school I think was involved in almost every little project there was…what should I join this time, I wondered…
Vocaloids are to follow their masters to whatever classes their masters take.
After reading point number seven, I looked up at Kaito, "It looks like you have to come with me to class…"
A shocked look, passed his face, "Ehh! I have to come to class with you!...demo(but)!...You take Math major right?" he covered his eyes with his hands, then opening up his fingers he peered though them, "I'm not sure about my Math abilities…"
I looked at his cute gestures for a while before reassuring him and saying, "It's not you have will have to do the sums! It's me! Don't get too freaked out ok?"
Back to reading the rules…
There will be individual and group music competitions which will utilise your respective vocaloids and winning the competition will entitle the winner to a limited edition item from Echo Lite.
Students are free to wear what they wish, however mini skirts and other similar articles of clothing are not allowed. (Vocaloids are to also abide by this rule)
Kaito was sitting next to me by now and he exclaimed as I read rule number nine, "With that rule…Barzini-sama will not be able to by Miku her favourite mini skirts…" then Kaito eyes went out of focus.
"Umm…Kaito…you there?" I asked, waving my hand in front of him, no response, must be on Facebook online somewhere, so I went back to reading the last rule.
Laptops(equipped with the Vocaloid 3 software) are required for all lessons and the usage of mobile phones is not allowed at all times, except after official school hours or during recess.
"So, I need to get the Vocaloid 3 software, huh…" I said out loud, "I'd better start thinking about upgrading my computer RAM…"
"…who are you gonna ram, Nicole?" Kaito tilted his head to the side, in a questioning stare.
"Ahh…nothing…nevermind…so who was online?"
"Miku…" he said.
"And…" I continued, trying to coax out a more substantial answer.
"…she was spamming my wall again…" he said quickly, then, "it was about the rule for not allowing mini skirts in school…"
Now understanding I nodded, "You want me to talk to Barzini about this?"
Shaking his head vigorously in a 'No!', he said, "I already sent a message to Miku about it."
I was right! The job at East Coast Park getting him to talk to people has made him more confident, well if he thought he could handle it, then I was not going to say anything.
Packing everything back into the box according to subject, I pulled out my laptop and turned it on. Typing in the URL from this afternoon, into the browser, I pulled up the search on bicycles for vocaloids.
Lying down on the floor one hand on my chin I watched as Kaito did the same next to me, and I flicked through the catalogue online.
"How about this one?" I jabbed my computer screen.
"Not blue…" Kaito mumbled.
"Ok…ok…then this one?" I pointed to a blue bike with white rims, it looked even better than mine!
He grinned and nodded in approval.
I clicked 'Add to cart' and then proceeded to checkout.
"We can go cycling next week?" he questioned.
I broke into a smile and said, "Yup! And everyday if you wish!"
This was going to cost me about $600 plus shipping, but anything for Kaito right? Right?
Eto…sorry for taking so long for this chapter…haha…I was studying for my JLPT…once again Arigatou for reading my err…second piece on …makes me happy!...haha…so…Review (and I'll give you some Meron Pan)!...cause well some feedback is always nice Dewa Mata ne! (Till next time!)
Another fabulous piece of work by my co-author :D
OC SUBMISSION CLOSED.