Yeah, you can kill me now. Just. Kill me. Because I am a downright horrible procrastinating person. I swear. I was kinda too busy graduating and getting into ANOTHER school. Ugh. And braces. I swear my mother bought 3 jumbo packs of chocolate and sour gummy worms just to laugh at my pain. Thanks mother.
Misakiflamehaze: :D
Thestrangedoor9: Sheer panic :D This happened to me once. Or...urm, thrice. Although I didn't cry. But the look that janitor gave me...ehem, anyway, sensible enough for you? :3
Arrow-Chan3: I have successfully explained it in this chapter! Woohoo! And POWER DOWN THE CHAINSAW SHE'S GOING TO GET OUT.
Kireina Yume: You want to murder me. Don't you. Because that's what I would want to do.
Kagamine-RinCVO2: Thanks, I love your reviews just as much as all the others, too just in case you were wondering! c:
Arrow-chan3: Ah...hahaha *awkward laugh* Len didn't meet Lily yet at that time, and he probably thought, "Oh hey, a Kagene. This must be the one." Tsk. Tsk, Len. TSK, TSK.
OrangeCreme: Luv your username ^_^. Thanks for the review, and don't worry! I'm gonna force Len-kun to say sorry before everyone decides to murder him in their minds :D
Kagamine-RinCVO2: Thaaaaanks :D And don't mind the language, you should see me with my friends. *SWEAR WORD HERE* *SWEAR WORD THERE*
Disclaimer: I am not a Japanese man named Hiroyuki Ito. Therefore I do not.
So, without further ado (Because people will probably find out my location and shoot me there on the spot if there was),
I'M NOT HER: CHAPTER 3: I'm not Lily...anymore?
After a few minutes, I regained my composure and stopped crying.
"Rin, you idiot. You've only been here for five minutes. Stop over-reacting," I had told myself a few moments ago.
Just as I was about stand up, I felt a sudden vibration in my skirt pocket.
Wait, WHAT.
I immediately reached for my skirt pocket and felt it. My phone.
My Phone.
Are you freaking kidding me.
I opened my sleek light orange flip phone and checked it. It flashed a notice of a message from Lily, and I opened it.
From: Onee-chan
To: Rin
Where are you?
A wave of relief flowed through me and I quickly replied to let them know where to find me.
From: Rin
To: Onee-chan
I got trapped in a janitor's closet, I think. I lost sight of you and Len-san so I panicked and ran towards the first door at the start of the hallway and got locked in.
I waited anxiously for a few minutes after I had received an "Okay, Len and I are coming." from her. Minutes later, the door flung open and light from the hallway flowed in, temporarily blinding my vision.
After my eyes adjusted to the light, I look up and see my sister and Len standing in front of me.
"Wow, Rin. We take our eyes off of you for a second and you get stuck in the closet." Lily said teasingly while she helped me up. In reply, I smile weakly at her.
"While you were gone, I made Len tell the producer that I, which is you now, went to the bathroom." Lily went on as we started walking, or I started following down the hallway.
"So, uhm, Rin? Is it? Er, I mean can I, uh, call you that?" Len whispered to me. I looked at him in amusement for awhile before whispering a soft "Okay,"
I've never seen a person that seems so confident get so flustered like that.
"Okay then. Rin, I'm sorry for awhile ago." He whispered after a momentary pause.
"What do you mean?" I arch an eyebrow towards him.
"I mean when I mistook you for your sister. I've never seen Lily before and all I was told to do was pick her up from the school she was in on my way over here, so I had no idea that she had a sister." He explained in a hushed tone.
"O-Okay." I managed to choke out of my complete befuddlement. I was used to everyone thinking Lily was an only child, but completely not used to them apologizing to me for it.
I faced back in front and stared at Lily's back until she stopped in front of a large oaken door.
"Well, this is it, Rin," Lily turned around to face us while saying it. "It's time for your audition. Just remember all the things I told you, and take it easy with the song okay? I know you can sing, considering the fact that you do it in your room when you think nobody's around. Good luck."
I felt my cheeks turn red. I was about to say something when she pushed both Len and I in the room.
"You're late," she said softly. "And Rin?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. Love you little sis."
We walked slowly, me taking in the wide space we were in, and Len seeming to understand what I was going through with my gaped open mouth and wide-eyed glance.
This wasn't a room. It's a freaking auditorium.
"This is where new and you could say aspiring Vocaloids audition," Len told me as we walked down a dark blue carpeted isle and past what I'm guessing is about a good thousand red velvety seats.
"It's also where the CEO asks the artists from Crypton to present to his 'business partners'." He said the last phrase with air quotes, which made me arch an eyebrow at him.
"Well, at least that's what I think they told me when I first came gawking in here. I don't really remember. I zoned out during that part." He said.
We shared a light chuckle before we reached a long desk at the end of the room, where a smiling brunette man in what seemed was a long white labcoat. He was sitting on one of the large metal seats and didn't look up from his papers on the desk when we approached him.
"Uhm..e-excuse me!" I squeaked, finally capturing his attention.
Smooth move, Rin. Smooth.
When he saw me, he looked taken aback, but then smiled warmly and started putting the papers away.
"Okay...Lily-san. You can go upstage now and sing whatever song you'd like." He told me, his smile unfaltering.
Shakily, I walked up the steps to the stage and to a mic stand. I stood there for a moment, grasping the mic so hard, my knuckles turned white.
"You can start now, Lily-san."
Gulp.
"I...uh, I'd u-um..." I stuttered. I was almost sure I was going to run away, if not for a small, crouched blonde figure that ran in.
Lily.
She sat down at the farthest right hand corner, giving me a broad smile and two thumbs up. "Good luck!" She mouthed out to me.
I took a deep breath and gave them a shaky smile before speaking the title of one of my favorite songs, "Um, I'd like to sing 'Hello, How are you'."
A few seconds later, the intro started playing. Since there is basically only three people in the audience, I mustered what little confidence I had much faster than what would have happened if more people were in the room with us. With one last deep breath, I leaned in to the mic and started to sing.
"Hello, Mado o akete chiisaku tsubuyaita."
"Hello! I opened my window and whispered."
"How are you? dare mo inai heya de hitori."
"How are you? Alone in my room with no one."
"Morning; asa ga kita you doshaburi no asa ga."
"Morning; the morning has arrived with a heavy downpour."
"Tick-tack. Watashi no neji o dare ka maite."
"Someone please rewind my spring for me."
I sang. Verse after verse, it all surprisingly flowed out of my mouth without fail nor falter. After three minutes, when the lyrics had stopped flowing and the music had died down, I find myself looking up from the ground I had been focused on once again. Although this time, instead of Lily, the first thing I see is Len and the producer.
Len just sat there, his eyes wide and mouth agape. While the producer's—I realize now that it isn't so warm— mechanical smile from awhile ago was replaced by a real smile.
It was warm and inviting, something I had yet to find out about. But this...this was a good start. It made me tingle from head to toe and made me forget about the nervousness that I had felt moments ago.
It felt good. Really good.
I saw the producer motion for me to come back down so I shook the feeling off and then quickly walked off the stage.
"Please. Take a seat, Lily-san." The Producer—which I still had no idea to what his name was—said while pulling out a chair for me.
"Y-Yes." I started stuttering once more as I took a seat in the cold metal fold-out chair in-between Len and the producer.
"So," the producer and I shifted a bit in order to face each other properly. "I take it you are not Lily Kagene."
This question caught the two of us—Len and me, I mean—by surprise, which caused us both to panic and start denying the obvious fact that I am not Lily was too fast.
"What?"
"No—,"
"—of course I she's Lily." Len and I managed to finish each other's sentence, which is really just one whole sentence and the two of us managed to cut each other off at the right moments.
"It's alright. I'm not mad," he—the apparently nameless producer—smiled. "Plus, I can see you at the back, Lily."
"Erg. Looks like you caught me." Lily cringed, standing up and walking over to us.
"So the first thing I would like to know is what you name is, young lady." He nodded his head towards me.
"I-I'm...uh. My name's Rin, Lily's younger sister." I squeak.
"Okay. Now the next thing I would like to know is why you were trying to impersonate Lily."
"I can explain that, sir," Lily said, "You see, my parents really want me to become a Vocaloid and I really really don't want to. I've already got people swarming around me at school, I don't need any more attention."
The producer nodded, asking her to continue. "She however," Lily nodded her head towards me. "Has a lot of potential. And I really do hope that you would have her."
"Hmm..." the producer said, deep in thought. After a few minutes though, he said, "Well, I don't think I can say no to a performance like that, and it would be stupid of me to reject this young girl."
Our faces all lit up, and in a split second, we started to cheer.
"Well, wasn't that fun, sis?" Lily asked me as we strolled towards our house. The producer whose name, though it was only his last, was finally revealed after that whole cheering thing, Kobayashi had offered a ride home but it seemed to much of a hassle for a company so busy.
"I guess. I'm still pondering over the fact that you convinced a producer to let me in." I kicked a pebble as I spoke.
"I didn't do anything to convince him, Rin. It was you, your voice was the one who made him agree. He wouldn't give that spot to a person who doesn't pour her heart out when she sings, I mean did you hear yourself when you were up there? You were amazing!" Lily exclaimed.
I allowed myself to smile, even a little bit as we walked across the orange- stained street.
I was amazing.