The boat groaned and began to tilt.
I knocked the walkie-talkie out of Tei's hand and it slid across the deck. We made a beeline for it, and I grabbed it just as it was about to fall off of the boat and tumble into the black water.
"Guys! Is this really what you want? Please, knock some sense into each other and—!" Tei snatched the device out of my hand. "Don't listen to him! Sink it, now!" She ordered.
I heard silence on the other end. I hoped they were at least considering sparing the vocaloids.
After a few moments of silence, "Roger that." Teto's voice came through, and the ship tilted further.
I rushed to grab Piko's body. I knew he probably wouldn't get a proper funeral, along with the other vocaloids, but I had to at least try to get him home. I hoped with all of my heart one of the Vippaloids would stop this catastrophe so I didn't have to worry about funerals.
I heard faint screaming of familiar voices. Some of the vocaloids had woken up and were struggling to get out of their rooms. My heart ached and I began to cry, holding Piko's lifeless body close to me. "I'm sorry… I let all of you down…" I muttered.
Tei seemed to care not of my feelings. She grabbed me by my short pony tail and dragged me to the edge of the boat. "Ruko's here. She already has Miku and Rin." She assured.
Sure enough, I saw a small motorboat pulled up next to the sinking ship.
Ruko escorted us aboard. To my surprise, neither Tei nor Ruko seemed to mind having a dead person amongst them. Miku and Rin were gagged and their entire bodies were tied in rope. Miku grunted loudly and Rin screamed when she saw me and Piko, but I couldn't find the strength to look either of them in the eye. The guilt would kill me. Our boat began moving again.
We pulled up to the deck closest to the control room. Teto shimmied out of it and quickly hopped into the boat.
"Where's Ritsu?" Tei asked darkly.
"Ritsu? Ah, he's just finishing the job." Teto replied casually.
We waited for a few moments, but suddenly, our boat jerked away from the cruise ship. I saw Teto pull something from her pocket; a walkie-talkie. I realised they were trying to save the vocaloids.
"Pull it back u-!" Teto was cut off by two gunshots, then two screams. The screams belonged to Ruko and herself. Tei had shot both of them through the stomach, just as she had done to Piko. Miku and Rin thrashed in panic.
"Traitors! I thought you wanted to crush vo-!" Tei was interrupted by a loud groan. The boat was pulling back up! I silently thanked Ritsu, Ruko, and Teto, even if they had agreed to help Tei at first.
"You fools!" Tei screamed angrily. "Do you know what the vocaloids are going to do to us for this?!"
Teto coughed blood and spoke up. "I don't care what they do to us. Heck, we're already dead. But it can't be much worse than the pain of guilt I have right now."
"Yeah, I agree. I should have known better than to help a psychopath like you. I forgot all about the kindness that the vocaloids show us. I was blinded by my desire to be popular. You're our real enemy here." Ruko croaked and died, as did Teto.
Tei looked back at the ship, back at the two dead Vippaloids, back at me and Piko, and then began to weep.
"I'm sorry, Len… I got carried away… like Ruko said, I was blinded by my desire…" She sobbed. "I know you'll never forgive me, so…" She lifted her gun to her head, pulled the trigger, and died instantly. I was now surrounded by dead Vippaloids and two gagged, screaming girls. I was too shocked to react.
I looked down at Piko. He was still covered in his own blood, but the bleeding had stopped. I lifted his shirt slightly so I could see the wound.
There was lots of blood, but I saw no wound.
As I was beginning to wonder how this had happened, Piko groaned and closed his eyes, than opened them again. Rin and Miku screamed louder.
Happiness overwhelmed me and I began to cry tears of joy as I held him close. I felt his heartbeat as I did so. Miku and Rin made a sound like "Awwww."
"Len… what… happened…?" He mumbled.
I stopped squeezing him and he sat up on his own.
I wiped away my tears. "Well… you kind of died." I laughed dryly.
He blinked a few times. "Ohhh, I remember now…" He held his forehead and looked over at the cruise ship.
"How'd we get out here?" He asked, then looked at Tei, Ruko, and Teto's dead bodies, then at Miku and Rin and gasped. "And what happened to them?!"
I chortled. "It's a long story." I inched over to the controls of the boat and drove us back to the ship. We found Ritsu waiting for us.
"Hook these onto the sides of the boat!" He called as he threw down two ropes with latches at the end. We did as he instructed and he hulled us up slowly.
Piko and I tumbled onto the deck, as did Miku and Rin and the three dead girls. When Ritsu saw his dead companions, tears filled his eyes.
I patted his shoulder. "They'll come back; that's how Piko's still standing." I assured.
He looked at me sadly. "They're going to be okay? Promise?"
"I hope so. I think it should be the same with Vippaloids as it is with Vocaloids." I said.
He nodded and went to kneel beside the girls, waiting for them to wake up.
I untied Miku and Rin's bonds and both of them clung to me like leeches, yelling things I couldn't make out.
I looked back at Piko, who was standing beside me. The girls let go and looked hopefully at me and Piko.
"So… you'll still be my boyfriend, right…?" He asked hesitantly.
"Are you kidding? Yes!" I hugged him tightly, and he did the same to me.
"Finally!" Rin did a fist pump.
Apparently we stayed that way for a long time, because when we let go of each other, the Vippaloids, Miku and Rin were gone. I hoped they had come back to life; all of them, including Tei.
I yawned and suddenly realised how tired I was. I noticed Piko looked rather fatigued as well.
"I'm going to bed, how about you?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm pooped." He agreed and we both walked off to our rooms.
As we departed, I pecked his cheek. "I love you."
"I… I love you too." He replied with a warm smile as I closed myself in my room.
I flopped on my bed and fell asleep almost immediately.