I want to get back into naming a song for each chapter, but no one's been happy enough to sing lately in this story. I have some songs saved to assist me in writing chapters I've already planned later on, but this is pretty much a "silent Vocaloid" period. If you think of a song that seems to fit this chapter, or any other song-less chapters, please let me know!
Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. I live to read your words. They encourage me to continue on. Thank you, a thousand times, thank you.
Chapter Seven: Our Only Hope
Life changes rapidly on people. One moment your house is standing tall, the next an earthquake has hit and it's flattened into irreversible damage the likes of which you'd never imagined, or fire has consumed with the passionate voracity of a scorned lover, a hurricane sought vengeance for joy you wouldn't share with nature. But sometimes life changes in the minutest ways, perhaps in the look of the eye of a person who thought that you'd betrayed them.
Megurine Luka felt that minute change almost as surely as if she could feel the earth rotating on its axis. This right here, this was a turning point, a moment of no return. She'd either become a better or a worse person for it. And she was entirely sure that her ex-boyfriend, Teruo Kurosawa, had become worse.
Clenching her fists slowly, flexing her fingers in surprise to feel a current of strong loathing pulsating through her senses, she resisted the urge to lash out physically, knowing she had to keep her cool if she were to talk her, or Miku's, way out of the situation. She had to play the pretty fool, or else Teruo would get suspicious. If Miku was right about all of this, and so far, judging by Teruo's behavior, it seemed that she was, Luka knew she was in danger, too, now that Kotaro was dead and could no longer protect her.
"You helped me find my patient," He'd said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I only came to visit her to get answers about the concert." Luka muttered quietly, avoiding eye contact with Teruo. Instead she watched the police officers bind Miku in handcuffs and help her into the back seat of a cop car. The teal-haired girl was pointedly ignoring her.
"I'm sure." Teruo uttered on tense lips, sounding like he didn't believe her. "And what did she tell you?"
Luka didn't hesitate. Hesitating would make her look guilty. "A bunch of bull crap, to be honest. She tried to say…" Here Luka acted like she was really confused, scrunching her nose up and narrowing her eyebrows, remembering it was a look Teruo used to find cute on her. "I don't even know. It was crazy though. The sound equipment clearly malfunctioned at the concert and the drunk fans got pissed off. That's all that happened."
Luka raised her soft blue eyes to meet Teruo's, relieved to find acceptance of her story in his hazel ones. He nodded, turning to look toward the cop cars that were starting to pull away, scratching his nose and sighing.
"You do have that effect on people."
Trying not to feel insulted at his word choice, Luka was even more relieved to see a crowd of people forming at both ends of the cordoned off areas of the street. She could always use a crowd to her advantage. And this was how she was going to stay out of Teruo's hospital, at least for a little while longer.
"I'm feeling better now." She lied cheerfully, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "I think it's time to do some damage control for my image."
She strolled forward and took a step off of the curb, but Teruo reached out sharply and grabbed hold of her arm. Luka felt the shawl begin to slip and quickly grabbed it, pulling it up over her shoulder again. If Teruo spotted that blood red '03', the game would be up.
"What?" She blinked ignorantly up at him.
Her heart speeding 90 miles a minute, she almost sighed in relief when she heard the crowd begin to mumble her name. They had recognized her. Teruo had to let her go now. While Miku had considered Luka's fame something to make her family a target, Luka realized her fame was now what would keep her safe. Teruo and his father couldn't come after her as long as she was still the world's number one pop princess. Slowly she pulled her arm out of his hand and gave him a gentle smile.
"I think they're taking pictures. Try not to touch me, or people will think we're back together. Okay?" She uttered firmly, 100% pop diva. Teruo's eyes flashed with annoyance but he did nothing, merely watched her turn on her heels and head straight for the crowd. Reporters had arrived by then, and cameras were rolling, flashes just starting to go off, people video-taping with their cell phones.
Luka reached the edge of the cordoned area and smiled sweetly at the crowd, snuggling tighter into her shawl. She didn't even have to say a word; the questions immediately began pouring forth from their eager mouths.
"Ms. Luka, can you tell us what went on this evening?"
"What about at the concert? Is it true what your agency's saying about the event?"
"Are you and Teruo Kurosawa getting back together?"
"Who was the girl with the pig-tails?"
Luka waited a good time to get a plethora of questions out. It was a technique taught to her by her manager, Todd Bulinsky, meant to give her control over which questions she answered and did not answer. If she chose one question out of five, no one would notice she hadn't answered the others. Calmly raising her hand, she quieted the crowd and carefully chose her answers, posing and smiling beautifully for the camera.
"The concert was an accident. We had a sound issue and some of the crowd members got angry." She calmly explained. She knew it wasn't the truth, and she still wanted to know the truth herself, but this answer is what Todd Bulinsky would have given were he awake and healthy right now, not bed-ridden in a coma. "You know how some people get at concerts." She laughed sweetly, rolling her eyes and shaking her shoulders.
The crowd laughed with her, eating her up. She was still their favorite, even with bad publicity.
"As to what happened this evening,-" Here she paused, not quite sure how to answer this question without causing further alarm. It was best to act cute and beg forgiveness. "Well, I scared Teruo, to be honest. I left the hospital to meet a friend. She's recently been released from the hospital herself, for unfortunate mental issues, and he doesn't trust her. He called in an entire black ops squad to a ramen shop just to make sure I was safe."
The crowd laughed much harder at this, believing it completely even though it was a lie. Luka imagined Teruo's eyes burning into the back of her skull. But when she turned to glance his direction, he wasn't even looking at her. He was speaking to the police officers, who were writing something down quickly. The fact that he hadn't left yet alarmed her. She hoped he wasn't waiting to insist that she go back to the hospital.
"So the girl he loaded away? Did she hurt you?"
"No! It's just Teruo being safe. Seriously, it's all good. She'll be released soon." Luka spoke louder, angling herself to make sure the words would float toward Teruo and he'd be able to hear them, clear as day. "I'll make certain of that."
"Are you and Teruo back together?" Interrupted a younger reporter.
The pop princess offered a soft, sad smile, and then slowly shook her head, making sure to keep an optimistic expression. "Unfortunately the passion between us has cooled. We both agree at this point it's better to be friends. But…I've been discharged from the hospital and I'm going back home this evening. It's all been worked out. I'm returning to work!"
At that moment Teruo approached, his hands in his suit jacket pockets. He watched Luka with an expression only she could see in his eyes, impressed annoyance.
"What are you telling them?" He asked softly, a glint in his eyes.
"Teruo, are you still in love with Megurine Luka?"
Luka wanted to curse the reporters for giving him a controlling option. She immediately cooled her expression and looked away, making it obvious to the world despite how Teruo felt, she wouldn't have any of it. Behind her, she heard Teruo's voice hitch as he took a slow breath in.
"It's unrequited, but always."
The rosy-haired girl was not prone to violence, but in that moment she wanted to punch him in the throat. Everything was tentative here, and she knew that he was lying. But a gorgeous, lovesick man brokenhearted by a harsh, cold-hearted pop diva was a sob story to the media. It was the one way to make her look bad. It was the one way for her to lose popularity so his father could rein her back in. Luka had to stop this, fast.
"He loves me, which is why he's setting me free." Luka gained a faraway look in her eye, and turned slowly toward her ex-boyfriend, raising her hand to gently brush across his cheek. "I wish I could have him, but I'd only end up ruining him in the end. I pass him on to any worthy lady who can cherish him more than me."
Teruo's eyes, cold, narrowed on her as he leaned in close, his lips brushing against the cusp of her ear.
"You know, don't you? About the Vocaloid project…?" He whispered, then took her hand in his and held it to his chest. The crowd was snapping pictures like wildfire. Luka's heart hammered, not out of spontaneous romance, but ridiculous fear.
"Fine. If you really must leave… we'll enjoy playing this game, you and I." He uttered dangerously, only so she could hear, then raised her hand and brushed his lips smooth against her knuckles, lowering her hand and backing completely away from her.
"Good night, all." He grinned his second sexiest grin at the reporters and turned on his heels to march away, stepping into a sleek black car waiting for him at the curb past the cordoned area. The moment the door slammed shut his driver took off, and just like that, Teruo Kurosawa was gone.
At least for the moment.
Luka breathed easily, not even minding having to be on "clean-up" duty with the media based on his stupid little kiss and hand-holding gestures. With her charm and beauty she'd managed to convince the crowd that nothing was going on between them, really, they'd just always been that close, and finally one of the police officers was offering her a ride.
Luka declined it, however, not trusting that the cop wasn't working with Teruo and attempting to get her back in his clutches. Instead, she waved goodbye to the reporters and made her way down the street until the crowd thinned, and hailed a taxi cab. Pulling her shawl tighter about her, she stepped inside and clacked the door shut behind her, allowing herself to shudder in the emotion she'd been holding back the entire time.
She had no idea what to do next.
-x-
The morning rose to songbirds and sunbeams. Kagamine Len did not get to enjoy them. He rose from his bed, unplugged his charging cables, and dressed himself in his uniform for the day, a pair of navy blue hospital scrubs, then headed to the main room of the underground facility he spent most of his time in. His low ponytail was messy and thrown up today, but somehow he managed to remain perfectly gorgeous. It was the perfect imperfections about him that allowed him to do so. He didn't even notice, nor did he care.
Sliding his key card into the purposed slot, the main doors of the underground facility opened and shut behind him as soon as he'd stepped through. He then had to access another door, and once through that one, take a special security elevator up to the ground floor of the facility. All of this required special clearance, and all of this he possessed. But Len was not allowed to go above to the ground floor without dressing like a nurse, because the facility above was a hospital.
The elevator doors slid open and Len stepped through, his face passive and emotionless, like always. Sunlight streamed through bright windows, nurses bustled to and fro, doctors hurried by with clipboards. The smell of coffee alerted Len's fabricated sensors and he sighed. Even though he did not need to drink coffee, it was one of the more peculiar sensations that Len actually enjoyed. He followed the smell of it down the hallway and to the cafeteria, briefly pondering what it would be like to be outside, on a cold day, and drink a sip of steaming hot coffee. He allowed himself to wildly imagine, for a moment, the burning sensation seeping down his throat and pooling in his belly. But Len didn't have a belly anymore. He had a sack that could be emptied if social occasion caused him to need to eat food so as not to offend.
"Morning, Len." A young nurse cooed to him as he passed by. She pinched his cheek and winked flirtatiously at him before skipping away, heading off to fulfill her duties.
Len rubbed uncomfortably at the spot that she'd pinched, wondering if someone did that enough if his fabricated skin would wrinkle. He knew better than that though. It was why girls like her thought they could treat him like a middle-schooler. He would forever look young, like some kind of vampire in a romance novel.
An image of Len poised over Rin's bed in the night, his arms around her, teeth heading for her throat, both of them dressed like some sort of gothic romance couple, flashed into his mind. His robotic sensors told his cheeks to blush, and they did, while Len began to torment himself in his mind for remembering that he'd basically done that to her in the night. He wasn't supposed to talk to her, it wasn't allowed. And then he'd tried and he'd ended up freaking her out.
"Lookin' good, Len." One of the janitors called to him as he walked by. He smiled half-heartedly and waved robotically, not even trying to look human as he hurried stiffly along. His mind was in many different places today.
Finally reaching the cafeteria, he bowed deeply to the cafeteria lady and requested in a gentle tone of voice where he could pick up "the day's rations". She smiled and pressed an extra sweet bun into his hand, then gestured to the cart waiting, pre-loaded, by the door.
"There you are, sweetheart. I made those buns fresh this morning. That one's for you and your hard work."
"Thank you." Len uttered politely, hurrying to the cart. He dropped the paper bag she'd given him on top and pushed the cart as fast as he could into the hallway. He was itching to get back to the silence of the underground lab, not enjoying all the attention today.
Managing to make it back to the elevator without more than two or three uncomfortable social encounters, Len swiped his key card and rode the elevator down with supreme patience. The cart was always hard to maneuver with the double doors. With some difficulty, pausing and swiping the card two or three times, he managed to squeeze the cart inside.
His internal clock told him the masters would be arriving in half an hour.
Every day it was Len's job to feed the patients. He'd roll the cart down the hallway and slide bagged meals under a tiny slat in the bottom of the iron door. But today he didn't have enough meals. He stared at the monitor screens after counting up the bags, realizing that he was two short.
On the monitor, two more cell blocks had appeared, with two more individuals inside. One he'd never seen before. She seemed to be a bit younger than him. She was smaller, and showed little fear, though she seemed exhausted. He wasn't surprised to see her hair was the color of summer lilacs, a beautiful lavender. All the Vocaloid project children had strange hair.
The second cell block caused Len to pause for a very long time. His mind emptied as he wondered how to comprehend this new information he'd gathered. His mind warred with him and told him to panic and freak out, while the logic of his computing systems told him to remain calm and inspect the situation. He recognized the girl in the second block. There was a small sticky note on the monitor that read simply in all caps: STARVE.
The cart rattled violently, one wheel squeaking in protest, as Len hustled down the hall to the end. Allowing the cart to slow to a roll on its own, it bounced off of the wall at the end as he threw himself down on the floor and peered under the meal flap into the room.
"Miku!" He hissed under his breath, waving a hand under the flap.
Hatsune Miku lay like a broken doll on her thin, prison-quality cot. One of her pigtails had fallen down like she'd been in a fight and someone had gone dirty and yanked on her hair. Blood stained her lip, and one of her eyes was swollen and bruised. Slowly, blinking as if she were a computer coming to life, she lifted her head, smiling a genuinely sweet smile to see the face she saw underneath the food flap. A second later she winced from smiling so wide, and lapped at the wound on her lip with her tongue, trying her best to sit up.
"Oh, I knew this would happen." Len breathed quietly, taking in the state she was in. "I told you not to leave."
"Did they ever find out you helped me?" Miku managed, sliding her feet slowly to the floor.
Len answered "yes" in his head. He told Miku, in his head, that they'd punished him for it by taking the only thing that meant anything to him away: Rin. But Len didn't have the heart to tell Miku that. So he didn't.
"No. They don't want me to give you any food, though. You're on STARVE watch."
That didn't seem to bother Miku. She limped slowly toward the door then lowered herself, taking ages to do so, to the concrete floor, grunting occasionally in pain. Laying her cheek on the cool ground, she reached out and grazed Len's fingers with her own.
"I found her."
Len smiled. Miku noted that Len's smiles never reached his eyes anymore.
"Is she beautiful?"
"I don't understand you." Miku grumbled, rolling quickly onto her back and grunting when a jolt of pain went through her spine. "How can you be charmed by her, too? You should be the least susceptible of all of us."
Len didn't answer. He wasn't thinking about that. If he thought too hard about the reason why he did things, then his brain would hurt. His headphones didn't connect to him the same way they did to the others, but they connected just the same. He remembered more about their previous lives than any of the others in the Vocaloid project, but some things were still off limits.
"I remember her being beautiful." Was all he said.
Miku felt guilty that Len now sounded sad, when he'd been so happy to see her. They'd formed a very specific friendship, she and he, since they'd been stuck in that facility together for nine years. Miku was the only one of the Vocaloid Project that managed to stay relatively sane after all the experiments they'd been put through. The masters couldn't do it to Len, either, because he was an android and his body didn't react the same way to being denied access to his "true self". Instead they'd put him to work and treated him like a slave. Neither was complaining, though, because it meant Len could be free to come talk to her if he wished.
Many times Miku had tried to convince Len to leave. But Len wouldn't leave Rin. What annoyed Miku about that was that Len couldn't even remember why he wanted to stay with Rin. But his loyalty was something that even the masters couldn't shut off inside of him, not that they'd want to. They used her to convince Len to do whatever they wanted.
"Regardless…" Miku huffed, laying an arm over her eyes to keep the blaring lights of the ceiling out of reach. "She has her headphones. I think she'll wear them now… If she isn't a traitor, maybe she can save us."
"Would she want to save you?" Len muttered cryptically.
Miku turned to gaze at him quizzically, her face hurting when she naturally tried to raise an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know what I mean." Len answered honestly.
Miku, feeling sorry for Len and not wanting it to show in her eyes, turned her gaze back to bury it beneath her arm once more.
"Did you find out where they are?" She asked breathlessly. It was always the same question, and Len never had to ask what she meant by "they". "They" were what all of them sought, even though they didn't know it. "They" were what would free them from their bondage. "They" were the key.
"I know where. But I'll need her help."
Miku cursed beneath her breath.
"Then it's true." She muttered hopelessly, one single tear escaping from the corner of her eye. "All of our hopes rest in her."
"I hope she will not betray you again." Len uttered, still cryptic.
Miku didn't even ask what he meant then. She knew it was an echo of a memory he once had, rolling around somewhere in that computer DNA of his. Once she had her headphones she would know all, and Len wouldn't seem so crazy anymore. Once she had her headphones, she'd be powerful enough to seek revenge and kill all those that had tormented her people for years. Hopefully Megurine Luka, spoiled pop princess, would do her part. Miku hoped and prayed she wouldn't turn out to be a disappointment as her instinctual fears wanted her to believe.
-x-
The house echoed back stiffly as Luka dropped her duffle bag on the wooden floor. Standing completely still, there was absolutely no other sound to listen to in the silence of Kotaro's house. It crept up on her, accusing her wordlessly. "Murderer", it seemed to whisper.
Luka rubbed a hand over her eyes, trying to control the tears falling on her face. Her shawl was abandoned on the floor like a surrendered flag in war, that blood red '03' displayed shamefully on her arm, her headphones in her left hand. Afraid to turn any of the lights on, but also afraid to turn them off, Luka stood stock still in the foyer only in her socks, remembering the ghostly echo of her sister picking apart hideous tunes on a guitar, the sound of the television and Kotaro's coarse cough. It occurred to her that she didn't have to take off her shoes anymore, since Kotaro wasn't around to complain that her American ways would drag dirt into the house. But still, out of respect, she'd removed them at the door.
Shuffling slowly forward, she slumped down in the living area against the table, seated on her knees. The remote controller lay in a pool of light from the moon on the table before her. She lifted it slowly in her hand and clicked it on, unable to bear the silence of the house and it's accusations that she was the reason it was so quiet.
The news report was like a blessing to Luka's ears. Curling her arms up and hiding her head in the nook they made, she listened to the various stories, relieved to hear the one she'd shared outside the ramen shop had delivered exactly as she'd wanted it to. The public knew Luka was planning on coming back to work. Now, if she mysteriously disappeared, the public would want to know. Teruo and his father couldn't get away with it.
Luka raised her head and peered through the blur of tears at the television screen. Searching the room next, her eyes landed on her sisters' guitar discarded carelessly in the corner of the room. A vase had been knocked off of the shelf there and lay in broken pieces on the floor. Her adopted father and sister had left urgently.
Kotaro had left quickly to hasten to his death.
"I'm sorry…" Luka breathed aloud, knowing she was speaking only to herself and a deaf house.
Hands trembling, her brain splitting in two from the pain, Luka slowly raised those headphones. They clicked into place behind her ears, and she closed her eyes, laying back on the floor to allow them to take her on whatever journey they would. With that notion alone, Luka accepted the fate of her new life. And as she faded into fitful sleep, the headphones synchronizing with her thoughts in her skull, she felt truly peaceful for the first time in a very, very, very long time.
