Panicky? Of course I was panicky! I had kissed Miku - kissed her platonically, that is - on the forehead and she had stopped functioning! What was I supposed to do? I had lain her down on the bed whilst I tried to work out why she was comatose and what I could do to fix it.

Maybe there wasn't anything I could do. Maybe that was it, game over. Maybe she was dead.

I shook my head, dismissing the pessimistic thought on a whim. Miku couldn't be dead. She wasn't dead. It wasn't possible. Maybe… Maybe she was off.

Of course! It made perfect sense. I had turned her off. That's all I had done. "Surely if I can turn her off," I hissed to myself, pacing back and forth errantly. "I can turn her back on!"

The real question was 'how'. Exactly how had I turned her off in the first place? Surely the cue for her shutdown wasn't a kiss to the forehead. No, that would be completely illogical.

Now, what had happened when she had turned off, apart from me kissing her? Well, first of all, she had been crying. Maybe it had something to do with that?

"No, that too would be illogical." If crying made her shut down, then… I couldn't finish that train of thought for how irrational such a function was. I thought maybe it was to do with her position - all curled up like that - but that too was quite preposterous.

Despite the uncertainties, I did know one thing. When Miku had turned off, there had been a noticeable click, like a somebody snapping their fingers. Perhaps such a noise would turn her back on again? Although the idea of a noise such as this toggling her activation was still fairly absurd, it was much less so than the rest.

Hoping that it would work, I lifted my left hand and clicked my fingers.

Nothing. She didn't move, didn't reactivate, just remained motionless.

Okay, so her shutdown toggle wasn't to do with noise. "Perhaps it was the item that clicked that shut her off?" This was a little more reasonable. If I could just work out what had clicked…

Well, the first step to working out the offending item would be to think about what makes clicking noises. Pressure releases, tendons snapping over joints, switches…

Of course. A switch. I felt the horror manifest itself on my face as I realised that Miku had an off switch. A sentient being could be rendered unconscious with the literal flip of a switch.

Now I had to work out where the aforementioned switch was. It took me a moment to remember that I had my hand on the side of her head; the left side. Perhaps the switch was located there? I hurried over, brushing away Miku's hair. I couldn't see a switch.

I leaned in, taking a closer look. It had to be there. There was no way that it couldn't. It took a moment for me to locate the switch. It was the rather small, hidden behind her ear lobe. It was even labelled. Gently, I pushed it from 'off' to 'on'.

Miku sat up so fast that I had no time to react. Her forehead slammed into my face. It was like being headbutted by a train. I fell backwards, hands over my head.

"You turned me off!" Miku cried.

"Aeeeuuuuugh." I replied, rocking back and forth. The world was spinning way too fast.

I barely even felt Miku shake me, for it was lost in the dull throb. "You turned me off! What the hell?!"

"Your head..." I babbled drunkenly. "Is really hard... and my face hurts."

Miku shook me again, unaware of the vomit-inducing vertigo each movement gave me. "How the hell did you turn me off?!"

I looked up, wincing as my head throbbed. "I feel like we're -" I paused to stop myself from throwing up. "We're having two different conversations here." Trying my best to not fall over, I staggered to my feet, swaying unsteadily. "Now, if you could… avoid headbutting me… that would be great."

Miku gave me a strong push, sending me stumbling backwards. I collided with the wall, too dazed to feel pain. "HOW DID YOU TURN ME OFF?!" Miku screamed at the top of her voice, knocking the stupefaction out of me.

I looked at her. Well, she wanted to know. It wasn't my fault if she panicked. "You have an off switch under your left ear."

Miku's hand slowly rose to the area I'd pointed out. The dread on her face was palpable. With one finger, she gently touched the switch. "I have an off switch."

Something about the way that she said that was rather distressing. I nodded slowly. "That's what I said."

She cast me a dejected look. "I have an off switch." A crystal tear rolled down her cheek. "Why do I have an off switch?"

"You're a machine." I replied cautiously. I didn't want her to start crying again. "Machines have off switches."

The dejected stare grew only stronger. "I'm not just a machine. I'm more than a simple chunk of nuts and bolts…" Her voice was growing in power, turning from crestfallen to enraged. "I'm human! I'm human! I think, I feel, I learn!" The tears really were spilling down her face now. Miku's fists were clenched, shaking and shivering. She broke down into sobbing again, sitting on the bed. "I'm human, I'm human..." She repeated to herself over and over, slightly quieter each time, flitting between English and (presumably) Japanese seemingly at random.

I carefully shuffled over, reaching forward to put my hand on her shoulder. It kind of hurt to see her like this.

Miku slapped my hand away before I could touch her. How had she even known? Her eyes were practically shut. "Go away."

No. I was going to stand my ground. "No, Miku. I'm not going away. You need someone." Not necessarily me, but someone. She couldn't cry forever, she had to face the truth.

I stepped closer, and Miku snapped. She open-palm shoved me in the chest, sending me flying backwards. My back crunched into the wall, and I collapsed on the ground.

The pain flared through my spine. It didn't feel like I'd broken anything, but it still bloody hurt. I staggered up, leaning against the wall and breathing deeply.

Miku rushed over. "Oh, sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, I, I didn't mean to..." The rest of whatever her excuse was faded into a background throb of blood in my ears. The red-hot pain sparked and burned brighter, smouldering into anger. She had just shoved me into a wall when I had tried to help her. The pain was fading away into a deadly tingle. I felt my breathing become involuntarily sharp and raspy.

I slowly looked up at her, a glint of rage in my eyes. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Miku stepped back, hands over her mouth. It seemed as if she was so shocked that she had stopped crying. Miku stumbled backwards, her wide-eyed gaze unrelenting. For a moment, the sadness in her eyes was replaced by fear.

That was it. The last straw. I was done, I was going. If I had to take any more of this, I was going to seriously snap. I was going to hurt her, and I seriously didn't want to do that. I left immediately without looking back. I scooped up my jacket from the couch.

"Wh-where are you going?" I heard Miku ask in a quaky voice.

I ignored her, and left my apartment.

Despite the chill of the December wind, my core was molten with anger. The streets were bustling with late Christmas shoppers, but everybody seemed to move aside as I passed. Good. I didn't need anyone getting in my way.

I couldn't remember how long I had been walking. It didn't matter.

Why had Miku reacted so rashly? I knew I had flipped, but I was only reacting to how she'd hit me! I mean, how dare she react like that! Well, I suppose what she'd done was kind of justified.

What? No. It wasn't. In what universe was physical violence justified? No, wrong question. In what universe was shoving me into the wall at mach 3 appropriate? My back hurt, my rib was throbbing and my wall was dented. You couldn't justify that.

Miku was emotionally immature. I knew that. It wasn't an excuse. She could have killed me!

She didn't know how to properly react.

"Well, she bloody well needs to learn." I grunted under my breath. The hot air from my lungs spilled out as a white cloud.

I glanced up at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars, but I was met only with a grey blanket. It had been snowing earlier, but nothing was left except a film of dampness and the occasional puddle of slush.

I looked back down. The Christmas crowds were thinning like my father's hair.

I gulped, feeling the anger inside me smoulder into something less potent. I missed him, missed him dearly. Forcing down the tears, I kept walking.

Miku hadn't meant to hurt me. If she had, I would already be dead, right? Besides, she immediately apologised for her outburst. It didn't change the fact that my body was numb all over, but it was a little sentiment.

"Not enough sentiment." I added, watching my words mist in front of me. "Hm. I guess she'll try and apologize again when I get back." She'd better. What Miku had done was uncalled for.

I sighed, leaning against a lamp post. I was cold, I was wet, I was hungry. Oh, man, I was hungry. It was high time I headed back home. We needed to sort this out. I couldn't have her throwing me around like a ragdoll, I was no plaything.

Shuddering at the thought of being a female machine's plaything, I started on my way home. Much of the hustle and bustle had dissolved into dribs and drabs.

I caught a flash of teal in the corner of my vision, suddenly halting in my tracks. I took a step back, and looked to my left.

There was a poster on the wall. Normally, I wouldn't have paid attention to such advertisements, but something about this intrigued me. It was the background colour, the same shade as Miku's hair. I stepped closer, elbowing through the stream of people. Surely it was no coincidence that it was the same hue? The title on the poster was in pure white, proudly displaying "Vocal REvolution".

There were the silhouettes of six people on there, each with a distinctly different outline. Upon closer inspection, one of the silhouettes was identical to that of Miku. There was no doubt in my head any more, this was no mere coincidence. Something was up here.

The text on the poster was in both English and Japanese. I leaned closer, reading the small text. "Life-like 'Vocaloid' voice synthesis hardware. Coming next year." Weird. What was vocaloid? Obviously, it had the whole 'vocal' thing going for it, so it was obviously to do with voices, but how so?

Well, presumably because it had Miku's silhouette on it, it had something to do with her. Now, Miku was an android, an android who wanted nothing more than to sing…

I felt a chill run down my spine. Vocal. Android. It made perfect sense. Miku was one of these 'Vocaloids', and she wasn't the only one. There were five more.

I turned away, eager to inform Miku of this new revelation, but I stopped before I could start walking. Suspicious, I glared back at the text. "Voice synthesis hardware." My eyes widened with shock. This poster was referring to her as nothing more than a piece of hardware, a mere tool to be used.

No, no, it was like Miku said. She was more than a machine. She felt, she thought. Miku was practically human - She definitely had a sense of humanity.

Gulping, I hurried away. Something was deeply, horribly amiss here. I needed to tell her.