So like... I've given up hope on ever being able to update once a week. XD I'm hoping I can keep updates once every two weeks at max though. We shall see. XP Thanks for all the reviews! And I actually noticed I'd broken 100 reviews sometime ago (yes, I'm slow XP). Thank you to all of you! Here's the latest chapter, hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Last I checked, I do not own the Vocaloids. *checks again* Dammit, still don't own them...


Chapter 7


Luka's eyebrow twitched in time with the tennis ball as she bounced it against the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Across from her, another member of the girls' tennis club offered her an awkward, sympathetic smile. Luka sighed, feeling the two sets of laser beams on her body, especially on her ass... She tucked a few rebellious strands of pink hair not in her ponytail behind her ear. Tossing the ball lightly into the air, she smacked it hard with her racket. This action apparently sent her skirt flying up, as it was quickly followed by two voices howling enthusiastically.

"WHOOHOO!"

"OH YEAH!"

Whirling, Luka screamed with red-faced embarrassment at the two perverts in the stands, "WILL YOU TWO CUT THAT OUT ALREADY? !"

"Kyaa~! Luka-senpai's indignant face is sooo cute!" Snapshot. Snapshot. Snapshot.

The tealette and her green-haired companion continued howling with absolutely no apology, so it was pretty safe to say that was her answer. She grumbled darkly under her breath before facing her opponent, who was still flashing her that same awkward, sympathetic smile. Luka only sighed in reply, her expression asking God or whatever deity was responsible for this why she deserved not one but two all-star perverts. At least Gumi would devour the members of both tennis clubs equally (and she made the boys just as uncomfortable as the girls); the weight of Miku's stare just seemed to get heavier and heavier, much to her distress... And she knew that stupid girl was taking snapshots of her too, damn her godless soul. As her partner prepared to serve, Luka got into a ready position, which unfortunately required bending down a little bit... She turned redder at the intensifying gaze she felt aimed at her butt.

That stupid girl...

It must have been a miracle that her skirt hadn't erupted into flames by this point... The pinkette uncomfortably tugged the hem of her skirt as low as she could, but with those two, especially her, around, it neverfelt low enough...

And to think, it wasn't that long ago that she'd thought the skirt lengths were fine...


"C'mon," Miku wheedled under her breath, the image on her camera showing a tantalizing view of Luka's killer thighs and her white tennis skirt. The hem was just low enough to conceal her panties from view, much to Miku's dismay. She tried to lower herself enough to get a view; just a tiny sliver would be fine! "Dammit, just a little more!" she begged.

"If only their skirts were an inch shorter," Gumi lamented, though she still eyed all of them anyway.

"Yeah... But oh well, this is fine too, I guess. Ooh, Luka-senpai, your ass is so nice and round..." Miku's perverted leer intensified another few notches as she started to salivate. "If she bends down any further, I'm gonna have to get down there and spank her... Ehehe~"

Beside the two perverts, Rin sighed wearily. While it was nice to have company instead of waiting all alone in the stands, the blonde could not help but feel like she could have done with more normal company, rather than these two... Aiming a disapproving glare at them out of the corners of her eyes, she returned her attention again to the courts.

Out of the three, Rin had been coming to the tennis club practices the longest, ever since Len had joined the tennis club practically at the beginning of the year. It wasn't that the younger twin had a particular fondness for the sport; they just happened to be the first club in sight when he was making a desperate effort to join a club, hoping to avoid the rampaging horde known as the sewing club. From what Rin learned from her brother, they apparently thought he would be a perfect model for the frilly dresses they were planning on making and had been attempting to forcibly conscript him. And while she thought it was an amusing thought, Len had obviously not shared her sentiment. Nevertheless, as a good sister and as a student who was not a member of any clubs, Rin would attend the practices to act as a moral support for Len. After all, even if it was an older sibling's right and privilege to bully her younger sibling, she couldn't be evil all the time. She didn't like the idea of walking home alone either (she imagined she was spoiled because the Kagamine twins used to do everything together, and even to this day still tried to do as many things as they could together), so there wasn't much of a choice. Not that this was all bad: there were some cute guys on the boys' tennis club, and so she'd get her fill of eye candy too.

Look like a good older sibling and get eye candy? That was win-win in her books, and win-win just happened to be Rin's favorite outcome.

It stopped being lonely when Miku finally acted on her crush on Megurine-senpai. While it was nice to be in the company of her best friend, Miku was pretty scary when it came to the Ice Princess she loved so much. It rather mystified her, actually... Years ago, she'd had a crush on Len, but it had been a very tame crush. Perhaps it was just because she was older now? Rin wasn't sure. What she was absolutely sure about, however, was that somehow, these two were going to land themselves in jail. Well, Miku might not, since Luka had yet to do anything but sock her a good one every so often (actually, quite often); Gumi had no such limits. She eyed the two perverts, her blue eyes radiating disapproval.

"Y'know, normally, perverts prefer hidden cameras and at least some semblance of subtlety," she said reproachfully.

Gumi replied airily, "Now, now, Rin-chan. It's like a museum! I'm not touching anything; I am merely observing and appreciating that which is placed before me for my viewing pleasure! (What, was the only thing that went through Rin's head at this.) There's no harm in looking, is there? Although, you might be onto something with mentioning hidden cam- Whoa! String panties on that chick! Whoohoo! Flash those sexy undies, baby!" Gumi wolf-whistled very loudly to top it all off.

A sweatdrop ran down the side of Rin's head. Well, she supposed, what more did she expect from a girl who could watch a hentai in front of her friends as if she were watching a boring gum commercial on television? This wasn't to say she found Gumi detestable. She was friendly enough, and was a lot like Miku when she was actually being a bit more normal. Just... a tad disturbing... The interrogation at her house earlier in the week when she was trying to see if she secretly wanted to get into Len's pants or vice versa stood as a classic example.

Rather, Rin found Miku to be much more disconcerting. One of the things that she and Miku had in common was that they were both perverted. The older Kagamine, however, was more of a closet pervert, discreetly checking out guys that she thought were hot, and occasionally entertaining a fantasy or two. In secret, of course. Miku, however, was on Gumi's level, and was equally unrepentant. She glanced at her friend, who was eyeing the pink-haired princess as if she were a giant hunk of exquisitely cooked steak and Miku hadn't eaten in a month. She'd known Miku since they were in elementary school but... she'd never known her to be so... scary. Then again... she'd never seen Miku crush on anybody like this before. Miku's old crush on Len, which had been back in late elementary school now that she about it, hadn't been anywhere near this level.

She knew for a fact she didn't find it disturbing because Miku was crushing on a girl. Yes, it had been a bit of a head-scratcher at first, but she quickly grew used to and accepted it; it wasn't like it changed the fact that they were friends, practically sisters, really. It was just her behavior that was unnerving. Sometimes, Rin wondered just what exactly it was that her best friend wanted out of a relationship with Megurine Luka. Well, besides the obvious.

Rin followed the eyes of the teal-haired pervert to look at Megurine Luka-senpai, who was taking a breather before getting ready for her serve. They had a good side profile view of her, so Rin was able to rake her eyes over the Ice Princess. Yeah, she was definitely gorgeous; that couldn't be denied. Rin stared jealously at Luka's killer legs, her admittedly nice ass, her graceful curves, her silky pink hair... her jealously peaked as it fixated on her ample breasts. Now that was a category that Rin would never be able to match her in, she thought dismally. The Kagamine twins had apparently inherited a gene from their parents that prevented them from being anything but rail-thin. On one hand, this was a blessing. While other girls her age needed to count calories and worry about strictly adhering to some fad diet or another to lose weight, or even just to stay at their current weight levels, Rin could scarf down all the greasy junk food and soda that she wanted and not worry about gaining so much as a pound, an advantage also enjoyed by her twin.

On the other hand, this was a curse. No matter how much milk Rin chugged down, and no matter how many exercises or massages she did that were supposed to help her bust size graduate out of the same class as tabletops, she remained as soul-crushingly flat as ever. Likewise, no matter how much protein Len devoured and no matter how much iron he would (horribly and pathetically attempt but ultimately fail to) pump, his muscles never grew any bigger. It didn't help either that they remained short too. The two would often grumble darkly to each other that if they ever got significant others, they would end up getting them repeatedly arrested for crimes against a minor.

Rin thrust aside these dark thoughts for the moment (though she did steal a final jealous glare at Luka's chest...). Looking at her as objectively as she could, she couldn't see what was so great about her. Yes, she was beautiful. Yes, she was intelligent. Yes, she was athletic. And hell yes, she was sexy. But also, yes, she was incredibly cold and bitchy and violent. This wouldn't have bothered her so much if it weren't for the fact that it was Miku who was getting beat up on a regular basis. And no matter how often it happened, Miku never strayed, simply shaking off her injuries with a cheerful million-watt smile and a happy chirp in her voice. She wasn't willing to write off the possibility that there really was something her best friend saw in her that she couldn't see somehow. It was a very real possibility, since Miku was usually much better at reading people than she was.

Then again, it was equally possible that Miku was just bat-shit insane.

"Guess they're done with practice!" Miku chirped suddenly. Without any further warning, she hopped up from her seat and made her way down to the court. The two other girls stood up, Gumi grinning from ear to ear as she looked through the collection she had amassed for today with her camera, Rin eyeing the tealette's back with exasperation.

"I really don't know what she sees in her," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Luka-san isn't so bad, Rin-chan!" Gumi piped up, still flipping through her pictures as she picked up her book bag. "She's a good person when you get to know her; she just doesn't like having people under her guard, that's all. Mm-mm, this is one for the highlight reel!" Gumi leered at a particularly nice picture.

"I guess," Rin conceded with a reluctant sigh. "I just don't like seeing Miku-chan get beat up like that, that's all."

The green-haired girl laughed heartily. "Yeah, I'd rather she not get beat up so much too. But I guess whatever she's doing is working."

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

"Well," she began, turning off her camera with a smile of satisfaction and replacing it into her book bag. "I dunno Luka-san like how Gaku-nii-chan does, but we both can tell Miku-chan's making some progress. You can tell if you've been around her long enough. Who knows? Miku-chan might actually get what she wants. That'd definitely be something!"

"Is that so?" Rin murmured dubiously. She turned her gaze down toward her friend and the pink-haired object of her affections, noting the slight tint of color in Luka's face as she grumbled something she couldn't hear. Nevertheless, Miku was cheerfully dabbing her forehead with a towel, and Luka was definitely letting her.

"Huh, never really thought of it that way," Rin said.

"I don't blame ya. C'mon, let's get down there," Gumi said. The two girls made their way down the stands and headed onto the tennis court. Flashing the blonde a broad smile over her shoulder, Gumi added, "But y'know, I get a feeling things are gonna get really interesting around here!"

"What makes you say that?" Rin asked, tipping her head to the side.

"I dunno!" the green-haired girl chirped, her cheer hardly dampened by her response. "Call it a woman's intuition! But..." She flashed her a grin tinted with mischief. "I like the idea of it, that's for sure!"


Luka averted her eyes, arms folded over her chest as Miku continued dabbing away the sweat from her forehead, Luka's face tinted a light pink. She had no idea why she allowed this to go on... at all.

She mumbled, "You don't have to do this every time I practice, you know..."

Miku predictably replied with a million-watt smile. "I know," she chirped. "I don't do it cuz I have to; I do it cuz I like you, senpai!"

Luka shifted uncomfortably, feeling her heart pounding harder. This was getting much too frequent for her tastes. By now, she'd figured out that this had nothing to do with health complications or anything. As she had figured out over the course of the week, this was definitely only happening in the idiot's presence. Not that this little fact made it any easier to figure out what it was; she just knew that despite everything, it wasn't really a negative emotion (though she didn't like the idea of her face feeling so hot all the time... that felt more like a damn fever). And it definitely had intensified when Miku had told her that she liked her. It wasn't like it was an uncommon occurrence, seeing how the idiot felt the need to remind her all the time.

Stupid girl... she thought. Just because you forget all the time doesn't mean that I've forgotten you've told me that...

She blinked, feeling something on her skin that was not the fluffy white towel that Miku never seemed to forget on her tennis practice days. Luka looked over at Miku, freezing in place when she saw that the tealette had replaced the towel with her fingers.

"Wh-Wh-What are you doing!" Luka demanded, too frozen with shock to move.

Miku grinned. "Ah, sorry," she said, in a decidedly unapologetic tone. "I couldn't help it. Y'know, that little sweaty sheen on your skin makes you look really erotic, ehehe..."

Luka's face burst into flames. Shoving her, she snarled, "S-S-S-Stupid girl! God, you're such a pervert! Get lost already!" With that, she turned on her heel and began to stomp off toward the locker rooms, remembering to grab her racket on the way.

Behind her, Miku cocked her head to the side. How interesting. She'd been fully expecting to get punched or kicked or something... A smirk tugged on her lips. How nice that this was all going so much quicker than she'd thought...

Just a little more...

"Wow, I thought you were about to get socked for sure."

Miku turned to acknowledge the two walking up to her, smiling brightly at Rin and Gumi. "Yeah, I know. Senpai's usually so much more violent than that."

Gumi cupped her chin, her features composed into a thoughtful expression. "Hmm... This can only be a sign..." She flashed Miku two thumbs up signs along with a million-watt smile. "Good job!"

Rin shook her head wearily, but smiled nevertheless. She supposed it was only natural for a good friend to be supportive.

Miku returned Gumi's thumbs up gestures, flashing a million-watt smile of her own. "I wonder if it's a sign that next time she'll let me lick the sweat off of her! Ooh, that's kinda dirty, isn't it?"

A scream of "YOU GOD DAMN PERVERT!" was the only warning she had before a racket was hurled at high speed toward the back of her head. By some distortion of the laws of physics, the racket was able to ricochet off of Miku's head, slam into Gumi's, then into Rin's, and then continue repeatedly bouncing all over between the three victims in a fashion much akin to a pinball until it finally ran out of steam and dropped to the ground. Shortly after, the three girls followed suit, each of them sporting numerous head injuries and in a great deal of agony.

A fair distance away, a miffed Ice Princess flipped her pink hair over her shoulder with a dismissive "Hmph!" and continued on her way.

Miku groaned in pain. "I... totally deserved that..."

Gumi groaned in pain. "I... may have deserved that..."

Rin groaned in pain, anime river tears streaming comically down her face. "I... didn't deserve that..."


It had been years since Furukawa Miki had lived in this neighborhood. She'd moved away when she was seven years old, but it came as a relief to her that the neighborhood hadn't changed much. It was nice to be back in this neighborhood again. The town she'd moved from had been alright, but she had always liked this place better, though she wouldn't dismiss the possibility that was simply fond memories giving her a biased opinion. Well, if there was one thing she definitely liked better about this town, it was the uniforms! She eyed two girls walking the opposite direction from her, one with teal hair and the other with pink, and both wearing the navy blue and white sailor uniform of Yamaha High School (she briefly noted the pink-haired girl seemed displeased yet not about the teal-haired girl's company). Miki thought of her own uniform at home, newly arrived and ready for her to wear for school on Monday. Oh sure, the uniforms at her old school were cute too; she was rather fond of the blazer, skirt, and tie combo. But she felt that sailor uniforms were so much cuter!

It is worthy of some note to mention that Furukawa Miki's priorities when it came to her education were a bit off.

She stepped into the grocery store, a light skip in her step as she picked up a basket and began looking for things to buy for tonight's dinner. Her ahoge swayed lightly with every step she took, twitching a bit more excitedly as she hungrily eyed the cherries in the fresh produce aisle before she managed to get herself back on track.

"Yosh, I'll make chicken curry tonight!" she declared quietly to herself. Might as well stick to what she knew!

Filled with newfound determination, as if buying the ingredients for chicken curry were some sort of epic quest line in a video game, she turned the corner to go to where the chicken was. She'd been turning the corner so fast in her eagerness that she almost ran into someone.

"Ack!"

Luckily, the person she almost ran into reacted quickly and retreated a step just before they would have collided. Miki stepped back and bowed repeatedly, exclaiming, "I-I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going and-"

"Chill, nothing happened," came the casual reply. The person was a girl also in a Yamaha High school uniform. She grinned easily at her and proceeded on her way, saying, "Be careful, yeah?"

"Y-Yes!" Miki bowed one more time before she turned to face forward, inwardly berating herself for her clumsiness. But just as she was about to take a step forward, she paused. She turned around, seeing the girl walking on her way, waist-length blonde hair swaying from side to side with every step she took. She turned a corner, her silky flaxen locks following behind until they too were out of sight. Miki blinked, her questioning gaze fixed on where the girl had been and her ahoge hesitantly forming a question mark over her head.

"Onee... chan...?"


Lily opened the door to her apartment and stepped in, absently calling out, "I'm home." There was no answer, as usual. It was hard to get a response at all when there was no one else at home. She shut the door behind her and headed to the kitchen, where she set down her small bag of groceries. Said groceries pretty much amounted to a stockpile of instant yakisoba and ramen, and a (rather large) handful of snacks. It probably would have been more to her benefit to actually cook her own meals and at least attempt to eat healthier, but frankly speaking, she couldn't be bothered to do so. In fact, if Lily had to be honest, there were a lot of things that she couldn't be bothered to do. Like homework.

Presently, she stepped into the living room, pulling off her school uniform and shorts as she went until she was left in just her white bra and blue panties. Tossing her clothes onto the couch, she plopped herself onto a spot that was not occupied and sat down, arms stretched out on either side of her. Lily tilted her head back, taking a moment to just sit back and relax. The weekend was starting, and she didn't really have anything planned, which was generally how her weekends started anyway.

"What to do, what to do..." she sighed aloud.

Her pondering was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone's ring tone, a piece of a trance song she happened to really like. After listening to it for a bit, she reached into her skirt pocket, where the item in question had taken residence for now, and answered. She didn't even need to look at the caller ID to know who it was, since only one person ever called her at this hour.

"Heya, oyaji," she said in her usual laid-back tone.

She could easily picture the exasperated smile and head shaking from her father on the other end, which brought a grin to her mouth. "Hello, Lily. Are you doing alright?"

"Un," she replied. Her eyes were still closed as she remained in her relaxed position. "Got back from school not too long ago, so I'm just chilling right now."

"I see. Well, I'm glad to hear that. I just wanted to check on you. Are you doing well? Doesn't seem like you do much with the money I put in your account."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just try not to spend too much, that's all."

"You know money's not an issue, sweetheart."

"I know. But 'waste not, want not', yeah?"

Gentle laughter. "That's my girl. I've got to run now; I'll call you some other time, Lily. If you need anything, you let me know, okay?"

"Un, will do."

"I love you, Lily."

"Love you too, oyaji."

After she had disconnected, Lily set her phone down on the coffee table and went back to reclining. She sighed, disguising it as a longer than normal exhale even though no one was around; conversations with her father always made her feel the need to do that afterward. It wasn't that she disliked him or anything, certainly not. Though sometimes (well... maybe more than sometimes, she privately admitted to herself), she did wish he wasn't so busy with work and traveling overseas all the time. Certainly, it was nice having the apartment to herself all the time, but there were a lot of times when it just felt too lonely. She appreciated that her father would call to talk to her, but that was about all she ever got out of him. Granted, that was a hell of a lot more than her mother did. Her parents' divorce when she'd still been in junior high had actually gone quite quickly, though it probably helped that all her mother had really wanted was just money. Her father had been able to take custody of her without much of a hassle, since she definitely hadn't had any interest in taking her own daughter in.

Gee, thanks a lot, kaa-san.

A soft scoff escaped her. She would admit to still harboring some feelings of bitterness about it, but she was over it for the most part. Having good friends had helped immensely during that time. In a way, she had reflected, it had actually been kind of a good thing, because that was when she and Luka had become much closer as friends. Even if she loved pushing the pinkette's buttons and Luka in turn would visit painful retribution on her when pushed too far, she knew they mutually cared about each other, and if push came to shove, they each had the other's back.

An amused grin crossed her face as she shook her head. What the hell was she doing starting off her weekend with such sappy thoughts?

"I must be getting soft in my old age," she quipped to nobody in particular.

Lily stood up, stretching before looking around for some clothes to throw on instead of just lounging around in her underwear all day. And besides, now that she thought about it, she still had yet to type up her latest article on the school's beloved Ice Princess.

"Well, we can't have that," she snickered. She finished pulling on a pair of shorts and a tank top as she headed over to her computer. As she slid into her seat, she cracked her knuckles, already having a pretty good idea on what she wanted to write. Lily let out a low, dark chuckle as she wiggled her fingers over the keyboard.

"Let's get started then, shall we?"


Luka had just finished her history homework when she felt the chill run up her spine. She shivered, wondering what was with that sudden feeling of dread.

"You okay, senpai?"

Miku had been sitting on the floor near her as they did their homework, hoping to get it out of the way so that they could enjoy the rest of the weekend without needing to worry about finishing it. Her teal eyes fixed her now with a look of genuine concern that sent mild heat into Luka's cheeks. The pinkette looked away, muttering, "Er, yeah. I'm alright. Just um... it felt a little cold for a second, that's all..."

"Oh?" The way Miku perked up at this was definitely not a good sign... or the fact that her eyes were now practically sparkling. "Ah, it must be because you had tennis practice. After all, you haven't taken a shower just yet, and it's gotten kinda cold lately..." Her grin widened. "Maybe you should go ahead and take a shower, ne, senpai~~~?"

Luka facefaulted. For obvious reasons, Luka never took a shower as soon as she got home these days, instead waiting for Miku to leave for the day before she took one. It was hard to say what gave away Miku's evil intentions more: the sly gleam in her teal eyes, the trail of drool starting at the right corner of her mouth, or the toothy, wicked grin that positively screamed out her vile intentions. Scowling, the pinkette sniffed with icy disdain, "You must think I am incredibly stupid, Hatsune-san, if you think I'm going to fall for that."

"Ah, you saw right through me, ne?" Miku giggled, obviously unperturbed by the failure of her plans.

"I think even the dumbest person on the planet could have figured out what you were up to." If Luka's tone would not have frozen a raging tidal wave solid, her aura would have finished the job.

"I had to try, right?" The tealette grinned cheekily (and heartily ignoring Luka's hissed reply of "Actually, no, you didn't.")."But," she continued, her tone dimmed down into a more concerned tone, "It's still not good for you to be cold, senpai."

Luka blinked, taken aback by the genuine worry she heard in Miku's voice. Her cheeks warmed up a little as she admitted, "That's... That's true."

Miku's face instantly lit up into a million-watt smile. "Right! And so...!" To Luka's shock and horror, Miku had somehow teleported herself onto the older girl's lap so that she was draped over her legs, arms tightly wrapped around her neck. "I'll just have to warm you up then, senpai!" she declared happily.

Mute horror stopped Luka's mouth as the tealette snuggled up to her, wholeheartedly ignoring the stricken expression on Luka's face, or the crimson shade that decorated it. "There you go! You'll be warm in no time, Luka-senpai~! Kyaa~ I'm in such a romantic embrace with Luka-senpai!" Miku squealed excitedly. "How embarrassing~~~!"

Despite her words, Miku's voice held not even the slightest ounce of embarrassment. Luka's, however, did, as she finally found her voice and shrieked, "WH-WH-WH... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? ! YOU STUPID GIRL, GET OFF OF ME!"

"No way~!" Miku sang happily. She instead snuggled deeper into her senpai, her cheek pressed up against Luka's, much to the older girl's mortification. "Ehehe~ Your cheek is so soft, senpai~! Ne, ne! Is it bad that I like it when you call me a stupid girl? It's almost like a pet name... Kyaa~ My very own pet name from Luka-senpai~~~! It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside~"

"YES, IT IS BAD, YOU TWIT!" Luka shouted, desperately trying to push Miku's face away from her own. "DON'T TAKE PLEASURE IN BEING INSULTED, YOU MORON! IDIOT! DUMBASS! PERVERT! CRIMINAL! MOLESTER!"

"Ahhh, you're so cute when you're mad, senpai!" Miku cried, still trying to snuggle even more into Luka's body. The hands pushing away her face proved to do very little to dampen her cheer. "You're so cuuuute~! I wanna take you home~! Lemme take you home, senpai!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Luka screamed. "LIKE HELL I'M LETTING YOU TAKE ME HOME! GET OFF OF ME THIS INSTANT!"

"Uuu, just a little longer then! Your body is so soft~!" Miku squealed, as if she had not heard. "Yeah... Your body is so... soft... and warm... Ehehe..."

The younger girl's voice had steadily descended into increasingly perverted tones, and this was accompanied by her usual perverted grin, the usual perverted gleam in her eyes, and the usual perverted nosebleed, to Luka's utmost horror. Her eye twitched.

"D-D-DON'T BLEED ALL OVER ME, YOU RETARDED GIRL! THAT'S DISGUSTING! OH MY GOD, GROSS! YOU FREAK, YOU'LL COVER MY UNIFORM IN- KYAA!"

"Ack!"

During the struggle, Luka's attempts to get away from Miku had caused her to lean so far back that she ended up toppling over. She fell flat on her back, her head smacking against the thankfully carpeted floor of her living room. This cushioned the blow somewhat, but this only left her conscious enough to realize that Miku had toppled over as well, still on top of her and...

Luka's blue eyes stared in mute, wide-eyed shock at the equally shocked teal eyes above her. Their bodies were pressed together in a way that brought crimson flooding Luka's face even worse than before, but despite everything, she was frozen in place. Miku too seemed frozen. Neither could even seem to think of saying something, perhaps worsened by the fact that their faces were so close to each other. Their faces were so close to each other's that their lips were almost touching, but were close enough that their hot breaths were ghosting the other's lips. Miku was the first to recover, but she stared down at Luka, who remained frozen, her brain apparently unable to process the situation. The tealette could not help but continue staring at her. Luka's expression right now was just so... vulnerable... and cute...

Miku seemingly went into a trance, suddenly finding her urges incredibly difficult to contain. Her voice came out in a soft, breathy voice as she whispered, "Luka... senpai..."

Her face drew closer, and Luka found that her body was unable to move. She could only utter a soft whimper before Miku pressed their lips together in a rather chaste kiss.

Luka-senpai's lips... Miku thought, her hooded gaze mirrored by Luka's. They're... even softer than I thought they'd be...

She wanted to indulge in this feeling for as long as she could but knew that she should probably break it soon. After all, the older girl seemed to be in a state of shock, and this wasn't exactly very rewarding... And it definitely wasn't how she had hoped for their romantic first kiss to be like... Especially since the kiss tasted a little of her own blood, yuck... Well, she supposed she could make it up in future kisses! With this encouraging thought, she parted their lips, pulling back so that she could see Luka's face.

The older girl was flushed and apparently breathless. Had she... liked it? Miku blinked down at her as she wiped away the blood from her face (and had miraculously not gotten any on Luka's face). Maybe... Maybe this was a good sign! Perhaps? Perhaps not? It was really hard to tell from Luka's lack of reaction what exactly she was thinking. She rubbed the back of her head uncertainly.

"So um... Yeah. That was... unexpected..." Miku tittered awkwardly. "But that was pretty nice too, wouldn't you say?"

This seemed to wake Luka up, as she began to tremble, her eyes shutting into an expression that did not bode particularly well for Miku's physical condition in the immediate future. Softly at first, but then the quaking intensified with every passing moment…

Uh oh.

"N... N... N..." Luka's eyes snapped open, and Miku swore she had temporarily grown fangs as she glared at her, death burning in her eyes. "NICE, MY ASS! ! ! ! !"

What felt like the right hook from Hell slammed into Miku's jaw, and the hapless girl was knocked off of her rather enviable position on top of Luka to fall flat on her stomach. "Ow... Okay, I'll admit I deserved that, but- Gah!"

She was rudely interrupted by the feeling of Luka hopping onto her back, catching her in a strangling headlock. The enraged Ice Princess's voice thundered, "YOU IDIOT! DUMBASS! PERVERT! CRIMINAL! THIEF! MONSTER! DEMON! OGRE! PARAMECIUM! CATFISH! SEA SLUG! CENTIPEDE!"

The insults flew one after another, each of them making progressively less sense to the point that, if Miku were not being strangled, she would have suspected that Luka was simply screaming whatever came to mind (which actually was not that far from the truth). As it was, Miku simply found that all she was concentrating on was the fact that Luka was very, very, very angry, and that even in the midst of strangulation, she really liked the feeling of Luka's boobs pressed against the back of her head.

Ehehe~ It's like Heaven and Hell~! I like! Miku-Miku Stamp of Approval!

"Oh, senpai!" she managed to choke out. "You're so rough~! Please be gentle with me~ Kyaa~~~!"

"STILL TALKING, ARE YOU? ! I'LL SHUT YOU UP FOR GOOD, YOU BRAT! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


"And that's how my weekend started off," Miku finished with a gigantic grin plastered on her face.

The twins sweatdropped, and even Gumi was scratching her cheek awkwardly. "Uh huh... Well, it at least sounds like you had fun," the green-haired girl said.

"I guess you could call it that," the tealette giggled.

They were all seated in their classroom on an insultingly bright and cheerful Monday morning that had chosen to herald the new school week. Aside from the unfortunate incident that followed kissing Luka, the weekend had passed relatively normally, though she did give Luka a bit more space than she normally did. It seemed to be the smart move to make after that... which had really not been according to plan, but Miku supposed it was still a nice event nevertheless! It had definitely made her weekend, that was for sure! Luka still seemed awfully flustered around her though, which may or may not have been a bad sign...

She smirked darkly to herself. Maybe she'd given Luka-senpai that push already? Who knew...She'd just have to wait and see.

Your move, senpai~~~

Miku quickly hushed the schemes brewing in her mind as the teacher entered the classroom, in addition to a girl with bright red hair and a funny-looking lock of hair protruding from the top of her head. She blinked at it, fascinated by how it seemed to bounce as she walked. The girl paused at the front of the classroom, looking at everyone with a bright, innocent smile. The tealette barely paid attention to the droning words of their teacher (she apparently hadn't had her coffee today, given her frazzled appearance and sleepy demeanor), instead keeping her attention on the girl. Or rather, her ahoge.

After being prompted by the teacher, the girl bowed deeply to the class and said happily, "Pleased to meet you all! I'm Furukawa Miki! I hope we can be good friends!"

For some reason, a burst of applause followed this, causing Miki to look up in surprise, but she recovered quickly to smile brightly. She had a good feeling about this! She was directed to a seat next to a girl with teal twintails. As Miki walked over, she took a quick look at her immediate seat neighbors. Behind the tealette was a green-haired girl sporting red goggles on her head, who was staring at her the same way the tealette was, maybe with a bit more intensity. In front of the tealette was a blond boy, and beside him, directly in front of the empty seat she would be occupying was a blonde girl who looked much like him (Twins? It seemed the logical answer.), and sitting behind her was a blonde girl with a side ponytail who was apparently reading her textbook (she had been the only one to not look up at her introduction). Miki took her seat. She glanced over at the tealette, who was still staring at her, and offered a sunny smile.

Gotta make a good first impression! she told herself.

"Hi! I'm Furukawa Miki! I hope we can be-"

She was silenced as she felt something grabbing at her hair. More specifically, her ahoge. Miki blinked and shifted her eyes until she saw a green-haired girl, who had reached out and grabbed her ahoge, apparently in a trance. The tealette had looked over too, and so had everyone else, save for the blonde girl with the side ponytail.

Blinks.

"Gumi-chan..." the tealette said slowly. "What're you doing?"

Awakening from her trance, the green-haired girl blinked. She looked at where her hand was, and the confused, somewhat bewildered look in the redhead's eyes.

"Ah."

From her seat in front of Gumi, Rin sighed and extracted a paper fan from her book bag she kept for just such an occasion. Normally it was reserved for Miku but... She held it out to Neru's extended hand. Without even looking, Neru raised the paper fan and then hit her mark.

SMACK!

"Ow!" Gumi whined, rubbing her head.

"Thanks for the assist, Neru-chan," Rin said, beaming as she took her paper fan back.

"Don't mention it."


At their first passing period, Gumi took her opportunity to apologize.

"Ahaha! Oh man, I'm so sorry about that. I dunno what came over me!"

Miki giggled. "No worries! I get that a lot, to be honest! I used to know a girl when I was younger who used to do that to me a lot." She stuck her tongue out cutely as she scratched her cheek.

Rin smiled at her. "Did you move here recently, Furukawa-san?"

"Un! Well, I was here from last week, but my uniform hadn't come in yet, so I couldn't go to school. Oh, and please just call me Miki!"

"Okay!" Deciding she should introduce herself as well, she added, "I'm Kagamine Rin! Just call me Rin!"

Gumi decided she'd step in for introductions as well at this point. Leaping out of her seat, she exclaimed energetically, "I'm Kamui Gumi!" She also decided she'd do everyone else's introductions too, probably to make up for her previous blunder, as she went on, "This here is Hatsune Miku-chan. The girl with the cell phone over here-" She put a hand on Neru's head, drawing absolutely no reaction save for a grunt of what could possibly be interpreted as irritation. "-is Akita Neru-chan! And the boy in front of Miku-chan is Kagamine Len-chan!"

Len had been in the process of offering a friendly smile and a wave to Miki when he registered what had just been said. He sputtered before shooting a scandalized look up at Gumi and screeched, "L-L-LEN-CHAN? !"

"Len-chan?" Miki queried, tipping her head to the side in confusion as her ahoge formed a question mark.

Gumi nodded, offering him a million-watt smile. "Un! Len-chan! That's your new nickname, Len-chan! Cute, isn't it?" She flashed him a thumbs up sign.

The thumbs up sign was of absolutely no comfort for the blond boy. He exclaimed in outrage, "That's a horrible nickname! Please don't call me that, Gumi-san!"

Oblivious to his protests, Gumi turned to the class and cupped one hand around her mouth as she called, "Got it, everyone? Kagamine Len-kun's nickname is now Len-chan, 'kay?"

To Len's utmost horror, responses chorused from all corners of the classroom.

"Un!"

"Okay!"

"Yeah, sure."

"Understood!"

"Roger that!"

"MIKU!" Len wailed at the tealette who had responded last, and even gone so far as to salute. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!"

"But I think it's a cute name for you, Len-chan!" she chirped.

"See? It's already gained acceptance!" Gumi said triumphantly. "'Len-chan' it is!"

Len's pained gaze flashed between both girls, who beamed at him and then went back to talking to each other and Miki as if they had not just christened him with a nickname that pretty much turned in his Man Card for him. It was at times like this that Len wished he was a big, tough, delinquent type of guy. Or at least packed attitude like Honne Dell-senpai... Dell was a bit on the skinny side, but he at least had height and attitude... At least then, being called Len-chan wouldn't be so bad, since he'd just need to glare a certain way and that would dry up all ridicule... Unfortunately, like his twin sister, he too had been afflicted with the Kagamine curse of being thin as a rail...

In defeat, Len hung his head, his forehead resting on the back of his chair and his arms hiding his "woe is me" expression, and the anime river tears that streamed pathetically down his face.

"You okay, Len-Len?" Rin asked, petting her brother's hair comfortingly. Despite her sympathetic tone, he could hear the grin in her voice and that made him even sadder.

"Kill me," he whimpered.

"Later."


When lunchtime rolled around, much to everyone's surprise, Miku did not immediately dash off. Instead, she chose to walk with everyone for once, though it was probably because Miki was new to the group. As usual, Neru had declined the invitation to eat lunch with them and stalked off on her own, but Miki happily accepted the invitation. She was glad that she was making new friends already, since she'd been a little worried that she might have trouble fitting in seeing how she was transferring in during the school year. Len remained sullen and continued to sulk as he walked with the group, Rin grinning at his expense but still comforting him as best as she could given the circumstances.

"Are we headed to the roof?" she asked curiously as they began to ascend the staircase.

"Un!" Miku chirped. "The latest addition of the school newspaper came out today, and Lily-senpai's article came out. So we always eat lunch on the roof during those days! Luka-senpai doesn't really like being around other people, especially on days when the articles come out!"

Miki blinked, not fully understanding but accepting nevertheless. She also focused on the name "Lily". She'd heard that name before, when she was still young... At least she was sure she had, anyway... Nevertheless, she thrust the thoughts aside from her head for the moment as she walked with her new friends. They headed out onto the school's rooftop, already seeing a group of seven students eating together. The pink-haired girl radiated an icy aura as she ate her food in a miffed fashion, the blonde girl beside her laughing heartily, apparently at her expense. The others were watching them with varying degrees of amusement, from the blue-haired boy and the brunette beside him openly laughing along with her, to the sullen-looking boy with silver hair cracking a smirk of amusement. It was the brunette who took notice of them first.

"Well, well, there you are, Miku-chan!" she called. "Was surprised that I got here before you did!"

Miku giggled. "I thought I'd take it a little easier today, Meiko-senpai!"

"Ah, is that so? That's cool. I'm sure the other students appreciate it!" She chortled before noticing Miki. Meiko smiled in a friendly fashion. "Well now! Another newcomer?"

"Un! This is Furukawa Miki-chan! She just transferred into our class!"

Miki took the opportunity to bow politely, offering a cheerful smile.

"Always room for more here!" Kaito said. "Especially for someone as cute as Miki-chan!"

Meiko suddenly whirled a deadly look on him. "What was that?"

Attention shifted from Miki onto the suddenly furious look in Meiko's eyes. Kaito began to sweat profusely, realizing belatedly that it might help for him to think about what he was going to say before saying it. "Er... I-I didn't mean it like that, Mei-chan... honest...! Hehe... Y-You know I've only got eyes for you...!"

Meiko's anger evaporated instantly into a playful grin. "I know! I just like messing with you, that's all!"

Kaito sighed in relief, his thought of "Thank God, I'm saved..." plainly obvious on his face. The attention shifted back to Miki, who had watched the events in a bewildered fashion but was finally able to relax seeing how the two were just playing around.

Though if that's how she is when she's playing around... I'd hate to see her when she's angry... Miki thought with a sweatdrop.

The last of the introductions was handled by the blonde girl. "Guess I might as well wrap this up so... I'm Masuda Lily! And this here-" She indicated the pinkette with her hand. "-is Megurine Luka-hime!"

Miki blinked. "Hime?" she asked, her ahoge becoming a question mark again.

"Un!" Lily replied happily. "She's Yamaha High's very own Ice Princess, top student, top athlete, envy of many, the aspiration of all, breaker of hearts, and destroyer of romantic dreams!"

"What."

"Oh c'mon, hime-sama, you know that everything listed fits you!"

"Oh, shut up. And stop calling me that, I hate that nickname."

"It's perfect for you though, your highness!"

Luka sighed and shook her head, officially handing victory over to her friend. During the exchange, Miki had been eyeing Lily carefully, blinking occasionally. The tone of voice, the manner of speech, even just the way she moved... Yes... Her heart suddenly swelled with happiness, tears welling up in her eyes. There was no doubt anymore in her mind at all. That girl in the store... The girl before her... The girl from her past...

"Lily... nee... chan..." she choked out.

Lily looked at her, blinking. "Huh? What's up, Miki-chan?"

"Lily-nee-chan...!"

Before anyone could react, Miki had suddenly blown past everyone else with a speed previously only matched by Hurricane Miku as she tackled the alarmed blonde in a gigantic bear hug, crying happily, "It's been a long time, Lily-nee-chan!"

"ACK!"

The fall had ended up with Lily's head smacking a little too hard against the ground... Miki noticed and instantly began to panic.

"Oh no! Lily-nee-chan!"

"Lily! Are you okay?"

"Lily-senpai?"

"Uggghhhh..." was the most intelligent reply she could think to say.

In contrast to everyone else's panicked reactions, Luka merely continued eating her lunch, not even bothering to turn around. Frankly, she thought while sipping at her juice, this was richly deserved.


School was out for the day, but that didn't mean it was time to go home just yet. Masterfully weaving her way through the halls in a fashion that minimized human contact while she clicked away on her cell phone, Neru made her way toward the clubroom where the journalism club met up. She smirked with faint malice as she sent off a text imitating the infamous Nigerian Prince scam to twenty phones belonging to various staff and students of Yamaha High School.

It was of some note to mention that Akita Neru had somehow managed to acquire just about every cell phone number and email in the prefecture, through means that mystified all but the girl herself. Questions regarding how she obtained them were absolutely pointless, as it did not please Neru to be questioned about such things, nor did she ever divulge the information.

The journalism club's room was generally not very loud, especially when it was early, like how she and Lily always tended to arrive. Some of the members used that time to just sleep, having finished their articles at home or the like, but today, she could hear laughter coming from inside. She blinked. "Lily-senpai?" she asked. And if she wasn't mistaken, she could hear the voice of that new girl, Furukawa Miki. Curious, she peeked around the corner of the doorway into the room, one hand on the doorway.

The room seemed to be empty of everyone except for Lily and Miki. Lily was seated in a chair, her elbow leaning on the desk as she cupped her chin in her palm, looking up at Miki, who stood beside her. An amused (and dare she say warm?) smile was playing on the blonde's mouth as she looked up at the girl with a playfully skeptical expression. "So you wanna join the journalism club too, huh? Well, it's not like I mind; the more the merrier. But what makes you think you're gonna be good for the club?"

"Oh, I'll be perfect!" Miki chirped. There was something about the way she was smiling at Lily that Neru really, really, really did not like... The redhead pointed up at her ahoge, remarking happily, "This is my news sensor!" Sticking her tongue out cutely, she added, "Just kidding!"

Lily blinked.

Neru facefaulted. What the fuck...? What kind of lame ass joke was that? There was no way she could make even the most easily amused audience laugh at a retarded joke like that? Tch, and this is why kids are so-

...To her shock, Lily chose that exact moment to start laughing.

"Oh man, Miki-chii, you're just too much!" she laughed.

Neru's eye twitched. Miki... chii...?

Her eyes became bloodshot as she saw Lily reach up and start petting Miki, giving her one of her rare affectionate head rubs. For her part, Miki giggled cutely, her ahoge wagging with happiness. Neru quivered, every fiber of her body boiling with irrational anger that her mind was making absolutely no attempt to discover the source of. The nerve of that impudent girl! How dare she barge in here like she owned the damn place and talk to Lily-senpai like she owned her and make her laugh at her retarded jokes and... and... Her grip on the doorway was steadily starting to crumble the frame. She could take no more.

The sound of a throat clearing itself loudly brought a pause to the laughter between the two girls. Lily glanced over to see Neru striding in, as indifferently composed as ever. "Yo, Neru-chii!" she greeted. "Just the girl I needed to see! I've got my new article printed out; think you can have a look at it for me real quick?"

Neru nodded in reply and walked over to Lily. She served a very useful purpose to the club as the personal proofreader of Masuda Lily, which she was glad to do. She accepted the sheets of paper extended to her and took a seat near Lily.

"Ah, I better get going then! I don't wanna interrupt your club activities!" Miki said sheepishly. "Plus I told my dad I'd be home early tonight!"

"Ah, cool. He doing alright?" Lily asked with genuine curiosity. No one took notice of the twitch this drew from Neru's eyebrow.

"Un! He's fine! You should come over sometime, Lily-nee-chan!"

LILY-NEE-CHAN? ! Neru's mind demanded furiously. Oooh, that bitch! Why, she oughta stand up right now and fling her out the window, skinny frame and short height notwithstanding, this bitch was only an inch and a half taller than her, if even that! She entertained vicious fantasies of kicking Miki in the shins before hurling her out the window screaming, all the while managing to maintain a poker face and busying herself with the article.

"I might take you up on that offer sometime. Take it easy, Miki-chii!"

"Un! Bye-bye!"

Despite her calm demeanor, a miasma of violence radiated from every pore of Neru's being.

This... would NOT go unanswered...

Her eyes shifted to the portal Miki had just exited through.

This means war, Furukawa Miki... WAR...


End Chapter 7


*headscratch* Y'know, this chapter really was not meant to be this long... I think it was prolly when I started having too much fun with Miku and Gumi perving on Luka and the tennis club, along with the somewhat-but-not-entirely-successful kiss by Miku. XP I admit the ending segments don't flow particularly well, but that was about the best I could do. x_X;

Oh yeah, about Lily calling her dad "oyaji", in usage, it would be roughly equivalent to calling someone "Pops". It's usually a very informal, almost insulting term, IIRC, and I thought it fitting for Lily to call her dad that in a playful manner. I'm rather enjoying writing her, I must say. XP

A Few Review Responses:

Seishun Vibration: Thanks for reviewing, and I gotta admit, you're making me seriously consider a Lily x Luka fic now, along with a Miku x Gumi! XDDD Looking forward to your next updates! :D

Jak656: Glad you enjoyed the morning scene; that was prolly my favorite part to write in the entire chapter. XD Yup, it's only a matter of time! Miku just needs to play her cards right :D And as for the 'item', I plan to have it make its appearance for sure!

LukaFan: I laughed so hard reading the first line of your review. It just conjured up this absolutely idiotic image in my head of some guy screaming that while an ice mountain crumbled and melted in front of his eyes. XDDD And wow, I really didn't know a lotta those things about Luka, definitely keeping those in mind! I like to try to be as accurate as I can be, I guess I'm just lucky that none of them have like completely set in stone personalities... ^_^;;

meislovely: Ack! *calls an ambulance for Kuro* X_X And I'll admit, I think Neru x Haku is pretty cute too. XD

Thyrokio: XDDD I won't lie, I do that myself when I check for updates, and it costs me dearly sometimes T_T; Glad you enjoyed it though, and I hope you enjoy future updates! :D

Wingweaver: Sorry, I'm gonna need that church bell for a bit longer. XD

OtakuGirl347: Glad you're enjoying it, and I'm glad you liked that ending! I decided to poke a little fun at myself for using that church bell gag again, but I couldn't resist. XDDD

Baddamobs: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked that part, cuz I thought I should add a bit of a cute moment for those two; After all, Luka's supposed to be falling for Miku's... uh... I guess you can call it her charm... XP And don't worry, I don't plan to silence that church bell. XD

SinnersLikeUs: Thanks! And never fear, the Ice Princess can't hold out forever against our (really perverted) heroine. :D I hope you can update some of your fics in the future too, I really like reading your works!

UK-Underworld King: That'd be a great idea for the school to implement, seeing how many accidents the Miku Express causes at their school. XDDD Glad you're enjoying it, and I hope you'll enjoy future updates! ^_^

My apologies if I didn't get to your review, but as always, I appreciate all your reviews! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next time! ^_^v