Woot! Ch 10 already? :D I'm surprising myself by working so fast.
"Tell them 'bye-bye' for me!" Miku called, opening the window, and jumped out with a gust of wind.
Chappie 10
It took Kaito quite a few moments to find his tongue from the shock he was still trying to register. And when he did, his legs still felt like lead, but he made them work as he bolted toward the window after her. Looking down, he realized it was a long drop, even if Miku's room was only on the second floor. She was still falling, her pigtails flying up. Kaito swallowed.
God bless me for the stupid thing I'm about to do now.
He leapt up onto the window ledge, hoping for the best, and squeezing his eyes shut. Then he took a deep breath, and plunged after her as the wind whistled all around him.
Spikes poked at Kaito all around. He winced, and shifted his body slightly, but a sharp thorn scratched at his cheek, effective in drawing blood. Kaito slowly stood up, taking care to pick out all of the thorns that stuck to him. After brushing himself off, he looked around, and realized that he was outside. Right outside of the Vocaloid mansion, as if he had just walked out of the door and stepped into the prickly bush.
There was a moan next to him, and Kaito turned around, just to face the tealnette who had jumped out of the window earlier. Her face had much more scratches on it, and some spikes had been tangled in her long hair.
"Miku…," Kaito said almost on instinct, just as Miku murmured, "Kaito…"
The two both stopped short and stared at each other. Kaito could see an iciness forming in Miku's eyes, and had to remind himself that Miku had just already declared herself detached from the rest of the Vocaloid family. He looked closely at Miku's face, and noticed that her lip was pierced and bleeding.
"Miku—" Kaito started again, and reached toward her lip.
Miku blocked his hand just in time and wiped her punctured lip quickly with her shirt sleeve. There was a blot of red where the cotton had touched the blood. "I don't need your help."
Kaito stepped back slightly, hurt. As he did, several thorns snagged on his shirt.
Giving Kaito a venomous glare, Miku climbed out of the bush. In the daylight, Kaito could see even more scratches on whatever bare, exposed skin she had, and her suitcase. But Miku did not seem to care about it, and only about the fact that Kaito was with her and still cared about her.
"You can go away," she said coldly.
"Miku, I didn't mean—"
Miku laughed raucously. "What didn't you mean?" she asked, putting stress on each syllable. "In fact, you mean nothing. And anyway, you don't care about me anymore, so I don't care."
"Miku," Kaito tried again, "I do care about you. It's just that that picture was—"
"See?" Miku put her hands on her hips triumphantly. "The picture was. It's about the picture. But in fact, I don't care, so leave me alone, okay?"
Kaito climbed slowly out of the bush too to face Miku straight on. "The picture—"
"Oh, whatever, rant your crap about the picture on some other gal. Not me." Miku quickly turned away and broke into a run.
"Wait!" Kaito called desperately, sprinting after her. Miku's years on the track team had paid off, and she ran faster than an antelope. Kaito tried to see where she was going, but it was hard because she seemed to just charge ahead. Biting his lip, he urged himself on to run faster.
Kaito's teeth suddenly clamped down on his lip, making him cry out in agony, but paying no attention to that. Miku had just swerved to the side and had jerked open a yellow car's door.
It's a taxi.
"Miku! Wait!" Kaito yelled again, but his cries were lost in the wind. The taxi started up with a roar and Kaito made a dead beeline for it.
He was too late. The yellow car had already sped down the driveway in full speed, and as it passed him by Kaito could see a triumphant face peering out the window. Stunned, he simply stood there, left in the dust.
Gakupo held a cup up to Kaito's lips. "Drink up."
The hot chocolate ran over Kaito's tongue, soothing it. His heart rate began slowing down. As he drank, a warm spark began to ignite in his stomach, and his words began to come out of his mouth yet again. He found himself pouring out the entire story to Luka and Gakupo.
~Flashback~
A passerby tapped Kaito on the shoulder. "Um, kid," he said quietly. "You should really get going."
Kaito blinked and turned toward the person, who turned out to be a brown-haired young man. "Excuse me?" he asked blankly. What had happened earlier was too much for him to digest yet. He just needed some space and time to himself.
"Look," the man faltered, "I know your girlfriend left you after riding in that old taxi and such—"
"You were looking?" Kaito asked, his own voice surprising himself. It had an aggressive edge to it. Quickly Kaito apologized.
The man smiled. "That's okay. I've been through it myself."
"You have?"
"Yep. Kiyoteru Hiyama. You?"
"I'm Kaito Shion."
"Shion," Kiyoteru mused. "That's a nice last name." When Kaito fell silent, he added, "I used to know someone by the surname of Shion. His name was…Taito? Nigaito? Oh yes, it was Akaito. He was in my class. Sassy one, he was."
Akaito…the name struck Kaito as familiar, but he couldn't put his finger to why.
"Anyway," said Kiyoteru, "I had better get going. See you, okay?"
It wasn't until Kiyoteru left was that Kaito felt it strange that he said 'See you later' instead of 'Goodbye' or 'It's nice meeting you, now I hope I'll meet you some other time in my life, thank you'.
~End Flashback~
"So, what you said," Luka asked, rubbing her temples, "is that there's this guy named Kiyoteru Hiyama who cares about you and this guy named Akaito that sounds familiar to you and then you met him and all that?"
"There aren't many Hiyamas in the world," Gakupo said supportively.
Kaito slumped in his seat. "Sorry. I got carried away."
"There aren't many Hiyamas in the world," Gakupo persisted.
Luka squinted at him. "I don't get your logic, but anyway, I got most of the details down. So Miku destroyed the Vocaloid family picture and jumped out of the window and went into a taxi and ran away?"
"We can call the police and state 'Hatsune Miku: Missing!'," Gakupo suggested.
"Sorry, Gakupo, but put the tape over your mouth for the next thirty minutes." Luka turned to Kaito. "Well, if she ran off like that, then were not responsible for anything of her anymore. And then—" Suddenly the thing about Sakura Graffiti struck her. "ALL THAT WORK WASTED FOR NOTHING!"
"It's not nothing," Kaito said in a small voice. "We can still go."
Luka sighed. "You don't get the point. I worked because I didn't want us to be in a big debt. But now, we don't even need to go to Santa Monica…"
Kaito was silent for another few minutes, rocking back and forth in his chair. He took sips of hot chocolate, and thought it over. "You know, we can go without Miku and still enjoy ourselves. I mean, we don't need to go, but we can." A smile flit across his face. "Ever thought of that before?"
"I'd like it when it's over."
"Well, you still have a bestselling song," Kaito reasoned.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but what if Miku still spends our money? She can probably do that because—" Luka's eyes widened when she realized what she was saying.
"That's why I told you to report to the police!" Gakupo blurted.
Luka gave him a glare and turned back to the subject at hand. "She still has her special Vocaloid credit cards," she said miserably. "And my effort really will be wasted, and also, I just saw the credit card bills yesterday…"
"Sorry," Kaito mumbled.
Luka shook her head vehemently. "I don't mean that. You didn't spend too much on ice cream. It's…it was a debt from Negi Bikini~…"
The three suddenly snapped awake, and looked at each other. For several long moments, no one spoke. Finally, Gakupo cleared his throat and said quietly, "Miku."
So, I'm done with Chapter 10. I'm surprised at the twist I added in my story. Oh well, expect this to be finished in the next 5 chapters. ^_^" I hope I can do that.
~Unyielding Wish