Yess yes yes yes OMG I'VE FINALLY FOUND THE OFFICAL FF FANDOM FOR VOCALOID! Why the hell did I never look under the Misc. section? Urgh.

Meow.

Soo, here comes Chapter 2 (officially the fourth chapter but just forget that, hmm?) Enjoy– Alright, it's depressing and isn't exactly the stereotype of "enjoyable", I know. Whatever.

Cheers.

2.

–About a year ago–

There was a shift in the world, as if the angle of its gravity had suddenly changed. The whole room spun around him, and then tilted back down to rest in its original position, just leaving a dull pounding in the side of his skull where he sat leaning heavily into his backrest.

'Oh,' was all the reaction he could manage.

Right…?

It took about another minute or two for his brain to fully process the piece of ridiculously simple information. The man sitting in the spinning chair opposite him waited patiently with a slight bitter twist at the corner of his mouth.

'Oh,' he repeated, slower this time. 'Well, I suppose…'

He felt strangely detached, devoid of emotions. He felt weird: like he had grown heavier and lighter at the same time. Most of all he felt… calm. Calm, and bored, as one would feel when they'd exhaled a large sigh after stopping halfway through a complicated bit of mathematics to find that the whole equation was wrong. In a way this was an upset equation, but unlike mathematics it had no logical laws.

Or perhaps it was simply that he couldn't find the line of logic in it.

He stared again at the piece of printing still held in his hand and read it carefully once more, although he didn't know what it was he wanted to read in it. Perhaps he wanted it to be an interpretation mistake. Or perhaps he felt he had to read it again to believe it. …They were both the same thing.

The printed figures were as sound and plain as before. Well, he hadn't been expecting it to alter like magic. He'd expected worse of course… alright he hadn't, but that was that and not worth complaining about.

'Do you get people like this often?' he asked quietly.

The man tilted his head solemnly in acknowledgement. The answer was obvious, what with his profession.

'What do they say? Do you say anything?'

'Well. It's best not to pry into personal matters…'

'True.'

'…How old are you?'

'Thirteen.'

They both fell silent, each for different reasons.

After leaving an appropriately sympathetic margin the man broke the suspension by asking, 'Do you still want to keep to your decision? I'd personally say it isn't an advisable course of action.'

'Yes.' Obviously.

'Well, I'd very much like to object to that…'

'It's my decision.'

'Your parents…?'

'No.'

'Oh?'

'Um… Thank you,' he said robotically, as he stood to leave. He tottered slightly.

'Would you like to sit down for a while? There's a vending machine outside.'

'No I'm fine, thanks.'

'If you say so… Are you sure? You look pale.'

He carefully folded the paper and made to put it in his grey-and-yellow sling bag – stuck with cat appliques – and then thought better of it and took it out again. He held it out towards the man, who was removing his black-framed spectacles. 'You know what, I don't think I want this. Can you burn this for me? Just pretend I never came here.'

He walked away towards the door and then turned around one more time, and smiled. 'I'll see you in two years' time, if you remember? I hate red geraniums yeah? Don't you dare or I'll curse you to hell,' he laughed, pointing at the vase sitting on a shelf in the corner.

The man smiled politely in reply, tucking the paper into the drawer in his desk.

'I'll probably see you down there if you do come, of course,' he added.

The man looked slightly worried. 'Don't feel so negative about your life. Even if it's short.'

'Ahh. You don't know me.'

On the way home he dropped by the game centre, something he rarely ever did. He appreciated the lax warm air of the early summer, even voluntarily stopping by to cringe at an adorable-looking frog in a hydrangea bush. He felt a lot calmer than he had in a long while; deadlines didn't necessarily harass you, it seemed.

Sorry for the drastic changes in chapter lengths. And sorry for screwing up the sense of time. This chapter is another flashback.

Really hope you enjoyed, though – review, please? ;3