"Please Miku, I'm begging you." Gakupo pleaded.

Miku crossed my arms, turning her head away from him. "I can't believe you'd just do that without my permission." She yelled.

"I don't see the harm in it. This is a once in a lifetime chance. I wouldn't have set up the audition if I didn't think you had the talent." He assured. In a smaller tone he said, " Luka-san will kill me if I cancel now."

Miku sighed. It seemed Gakupo here had set her up with an audition for the Next Star Project without asking her first. Miku had heard of it of course. There wasn't person in Japan who hadn't. She knew a few of her classmates had signed up for it. Classmates such as Lily, IA, and Cul. Besides hoping they failed, Miku hadn't thought much of it.

"I haven't sung for other people before." She admitted.

He blinked. "But I've heard you sing plenty of times."

That's because it was you, you idiot, she thought. "Besides you. Anyway lets say somehow I'm chosen among the thousands of other applicants, it'd still do me no good. My father would never allow a Hatsune to go off into show business and spoil his good name."

Gakupo stared at her seriously. "You're father doesn't want you to follow your dreams?" He shook his head. "I'm sure if you just talk to him he'll━"

"You don't know my father like I do." She snapped. "He's not as understanding."

He frowned. "So you don't have a good relationship with your father."

A dark smile crossed her lips. "Let's just say I'm his guinea pig in the business world."

An uncomfortable silence came between them.

Miku bit her bottom lip. She had said too much. Sighing she said, "Fine, if it'll make you happy, I'll go to the stupid audition."

Gakupo smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you."

The old Miku would have blushed and called him an idiot, but that was before. Now she just calmly accepted the hug and even patted him on his back. "You're welcome, I guess, but I know you're only thanking me because I've somehow increased your chances of getting together with that woman."

Pulling away from the hug he sniffled, "That's not possible now. She has a boyfriend."

"Oh, I see." She started to walk away. Miku wasn't at all surprised by the news. That Luka woman did seem like the popular type.

"Is that all you have to say? You know usually in this situation you're supposed to comfort me."

She turned to him and gave him a sly smile. "If I did that then I'd be late for my audition."

Gakupo opened his mouth to say something but then groaned defeated. "Fine." He said shooing her away.


Miku took the train to Crypton Studious. She signed herself in at the front desk and was given a number pin (101). She was then sent to a waiting room where she was crammed in with over two thousand other applicants.

Miku sat in one of the few seats available, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She was nervous. Even though she promised Gakupo she'd audition, it still didn't change the fact that she hadn't sung in front of other people before. What if she forgot her lyrics? What if she stuttered? What if she couldn't sing at all?

Deciding to distract herself from her nerves, she looked over at the other applicants that were practicing among themselves. Miku was surprised by the different age groups that had come to audition. Auditioners had ranged from the youngest of girls to the oldest of men. There were even a few foreigners.

A particularly small pig-tailed girl had caught her attention. She had black hair and wore a cute little red dress. She looked no older than eight-years-old. Miku listened to her sing. Her voice was sweet yet intense, she liked it. Her eyes then wondered to a blond boy with a loose blue buttoned shirt. He held on to a red tulip as he sang. Miku wasn't sure why, but she like his voice nonetheless.

He noticed her staring and blew her a kiss. Miku quickly turned away pretending not to notice. She wished she hadn't because on the other side of the room she spotted three of her classmates IA, Lilly, and Cul.

Miku hid her face in her notebook. What were they doing here? Sure she knew they were going to audition, but she never knew they were going to audition on the same day she was. Argh, this was all Gakupo's fault. Miku would definitely get him back for this.

She flipped through the pages of her notebook, hoping they didn't notice her. It was bad enough she had to see them eight hours of the day, but to see them outside of school was too much.

Miku didn't know how, but Meiko had managed to stop most of the bullying directed at her. She was still called names such as snitch and closet skank (this originated from equipment room incident with Kaito), not that she cared, but she knew that if the bully trio saw her, they wouldn't hold back.

Miku felt someone tug her shirt. She looked away from her notebook to find the cute girl from before had come to approach her. "Um, do you know where the bathroom is?"

As cute as she was, Miku didn't want her talking to her right now.

"I━"

"Miku?"

She froze. Too late.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell you've come to audition?" said Lily.

"You have some nerve." yelled Cul. "Because of you, the school thinks we're the bad guys."

They were starting to gather attention. Miku could feel the stares bore into her. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Her hands shook with fear. She was scared. It was strange, usually she'd accept their harsh words with a calm face while bystanders pretended not to notice, but this time it was different. Everyone was looking at her. In their hearts they were all laughing at her!

"You really should've jumped off a bridge by now." muttered IA.

Her eyes widened in surprise. IA rarely spoke. This actually was the first time IA had talked to her. Hearing her words had reopened a long forgotten wound in her heart, and for the first time since the bullying had began, she wondered; what had she done to deserve such hate?

"Such harsh words from such lovely ladies." The blond boy said approaching them.

"Hah? Who are you?" snapped Cul.

He flipped his hair dramatically. "My name is Leon, and I couldn't help but notice you were being rude to the little lady over here."

"So what? It isn't any of your business." Lily said glaring at him.

He squinted his eyes, looking out into the distance. "Oh, is that a security guard? I'm sure he'd love to know about our situation here."

"Oh shit, let's go." Cul cursed, pushing her two friends along.

They were soon out of of sight.

Miku hung her head. "Thank you."

He smiled and returned to his original seating.

"Why were they being so mean to you?" asked the girl.

Because some people are naturally evil. "I'm not sure." She muttered. "Oh and if you're looking for the bathroom it's over there by the left."

"Thanks." She said sprinting off.

Miku turned back to her notebook. Inside the book, contained song lyrics of her own creation. They ranged from the happiest of tunes to the darkest of melodies. She had written each song based on her current mood. She wondered which type of song she should sing. If she was going to audition, she should at least do her best to impress the judges.

She flipped through the pages of her notebook looking for that perfect song. She wouldn't choose a song that was too sweet or too dark. She was in the middle of her selection when her phone buzzed. The sudden motion made her jump. She sighed when she realized it was just her phone. She still wasn't used to people contacting her.

She picked it up realizing she had a text from Kaito. It read:

I went by the girly samurai's dojo to see if you were there

but he said you were at that singing competition? Are you

okay? I know that goes against your father's wishes. I'll

cover for you any way I can. Anyway tell me how the

audition goes.

P.S I'd like to hear you sing to you know...

She smiled. That was her first text message in a long time. She was glad it was from Kaito. She replied back to the text then turned back to her notebook, now sure as to what she was going to sing. She read over her chosen song, feeling a bit embarrassed by the lyrics, but she decided she was going to sing it anyway.

"Calling out number 99." An announcer said through his megaphone.

Miku's heart clenched. There was only two people ahead of her. It wouldn't be long before her own number would be called.

She took a deep breath. Right now her father wasn't judging her from afar nor was he using her for his own pettiness. She had the support of Kaito and Gakupo. That was enough for her.


"You may leave now." Luka said.

As the boy left, one of the judges leaned towards her and whispered. "That Leon boy was pretty good don't you think?"

She nodded. His voice was pretty special. She figured his voice was on par with that child prodigy, Kaai Yuki.

"Eh, now who's next?" The other judge said looking at his clipboard. "Number one-o-one." He said to the announcer.

He nodded. He left the room calling out the number of the next auditioner. It was not long before a girl with long teal pigtails entered the room. Luka snapped to attention. It was the Hatsune Miku girl. She observed her closely. She was taken aback by the girls confident composure. From what she'd heard about her, she expected her to look more...broken.

"What you're name?" She asked.

"Hatsune Miku."

So this really was the girl she'd heard about. "And what will you be singing for us today?"

"It's something of my own creation."

She raised a brow at this. "Oh?" There had been many auditioners that had come to sing something of there own creation. Only a small percentage had manged to succeed with this. "What is it called?"

She smiled. "Sweet devil."

She nodded. Interesting title, she thought. "When you're ready."

Miku stood there for a long moment. She didn't sing nor did she dance. Luka wondered if she heard her. She opened her mouth to speak, but then had Miku begin to sing.

Make up and Dress up!
I become very lovely too!
Matsuge wa nagame de ne MASUKARA PURASU tsukematsuge
AIRAIN bacchiri ne kukkiri SHADOU HAIRAITO
RIPPU wa chotto oome ni in PINKU de KIRAKIRA na no

Huh? What was this?

Munamoto akesugi datte? Datte kouiu no suki jan
HIIRU wa san SENCHI up! Senobi shite choudo ii kurai ni
Tekubi ni BEBII DOORU amakute dokidoki shinai?
Akai MANIKYUA sugoi KYUUTO desho? Nee

Yume miteru no? Kimi dake ni suki nante iwanai yo
Kanchigai shinai de ne! I'm liar girl.

This competition was based on vocals and vocals alone, so why did she hear music as she sang?

I have something to say!
Can you hear my voice? you see?
Mou chotto gouin demo ii kimi no mune no naka going!
Kyuu ni hikiyoseraretari souiu koto dekinai no?
Shinchousa jissenchi iroiro shiyasui desho?

Yubi de kami wo suite yoshiyoshitte nadetari shichatte
Atashi dake mitetette! Shisen sorasanai de
SHINIKARU ni warau kurai ga choudo ii no desu!
Tsuyoki na no ga ii no hayaku dakishimete!

Wakannai? Migite ga aiteru no
Iwanakute mo wakatte yo!
want you to worry about me...
I'm saucy girl.

Goosebumps rippled through Luka's body. The girl was good. No she was better than good. She was amazing. It was right then and there had Luka decided that she had found her next star.

Ano ko bakkari minai de
Betsu ni yakimochi ja nai kedo...
I have only you. It's shameful. Don't say.
Dakara kiss shite
Do you love sweet devil?

Daisuki na no hontou wa ne
"Atashi dake" ja nakya iyada yo
I'm sorry not to become meekly
I love you baby!

Daisuki da yo, hontou na no
"Kimi dake" ja nakya iya deshou?
I have only you, it's really true!
Dakara kiss shite
Do you love sweet devil?

Yume miteru no? Kimi dake ni suki nante iwanai yo
Kanchigai shinai de ne! I'm liar girl.

Gomenne zenbu uso dakara
"Atashi dake" ja nakute dame na no...
Can you love me through life? Chikai wa
Kiss de ii yo ne
Do you love sweet devil?

Her song was soon finished. The judges were left stunned. None of them said anything for a long while, until Luka cleared her throat. "You may leave now."


Luka and Kiyoteru sat outside a coffee shop enjoying the warm weather as they drank their coffee. Luka was in a good mood. After years of hard work she felt it was finally starting to pay off, and of course she couldn't have done it without the help of Kiyoteru.

"Can you believe it Kiyo? I think I've finally found the one."

"Already? But it hasn't been that long."

"I know, but I feel like I can't let this one go. She's amazing, and you'll never guess who she is."

"Who?"

"Hatsune Miku."

He looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. Speaking of which, do you have her situation under control?"

"While Meiko seems to have taken care of the bullying situation, I need a few days for my plan to take action."

Luka took a sip of her coffee. "A few days is a long time for someone like her."

"I know, believe me I do, but I can not simply let the police handle her case. That girl is ruled by her father. He's the president of Hatsune Corporations. People like him-the higher ups- always get away with their wrong doings. I need to bring him down in the ranks before he is properly judged of his crimes."

"I see, and you know how to do that?"

"That's right."

There was a long silence, before Luka decided to change the subject. "I've noticed you don't say Meiko's name with such anger anymore."

His body stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

Luka gave him a look. Why was he acting so flustered? It was like this before on their dinner date. After she said Meiko's name Kiyoteru would become awkward. He'd try to cover it up with his politeness and become especially nice to her. That's why she felt something was off. It was because Kiyoteru wasn't being himself.

"Kiyoteru." She'd said his full name. She meant business. "Did something happen?"

"No!" He said a little to quickly.

"Kiyoteru! I'm not an idiot."

He sighed putting his hand over his eyes. He suddenly seemed very tired. " Okay. I have something to confess..."