A/N: Finally an update! I told you I haven't forgotten about this story! Honestly, I must confess, I had this chapter written down for a while. I just had trouble taking the time to type it out. The reason why this update is so late is because there has been a combination of me being busy and writer's block. I have the whole story outlined, I just sometimes don't know how to write something, you know? Sorry for the long wait...enjoy!

Chapter 14

Nerve-wracking

-:-

Piko stared longingly at the students leaving the classroom one by one, wishing he could join them. He wanted nothing more than to rush home and play the new game he had bought the other day. Though he figured his mother would stop him from a marathon and make him do some studying. But that was at least better than this.

"Utatane, can you clean the chalk board, please?" A classmate called from her sweeping.

Cleaning duty.

Piko let out a resigned sigh, "Yeah."

He put his broom to the side and walked towards the chalkboard. In a practiced motion, Piko took up the eraser and lifelessly swept his arm, wiping away the remaining scribbles on the blackboard. His eyes lit up when he thought of something.

"Hey, guys!" Piko turned his head around, "Did you know that chalk is just tiny, ground-up skeletons of dead, ancient animals?"

Several cries of disgust hollered throughout the room. After getting a brief scolding, Piko turned back to the chalk board. The teacher could have at least put him with students that had a sense of humor...

He finished wiping the chalkboard clean and then picked up a small rod before walking over to the window that was open. Piko began tapping the eraser with a rod, coughing a bit when the dust flew into the air. After clearing his throat, Piko sighed again when he saw students walking out past the front gate.

But just then, something caught his eye.

At first they appeared to be large black boxes that people were carrying, but upon looking closer, Piko soon realized that they were actually speakers. There was a whole slew of equipment that was streaming in front of him. And then he remembered—the Vocaloid Concert!

Immediately the thought brightened him, and a smile crossed his face as he tapped the eraser some more. A pang of longing followed, a desperate wish that he, too, could sing with them one day. That was the reason why Piko hadn't joined any clubs yet, after all. He would try and try again. But all he could do right now was be an enthusiastic fan—for now.

Piko thought of how Len was taking all this. Len was a rather timid and skittish individual. It was a wonder he could do any performing at all. It was easy to imagine Len with clattering teeth and buckling knees, shivering with both hands on either arm, huddled from an imaginary cold.

And at the moment, Piko was not far from the truth. That day, all the Vocaloids were gathered in the auditorium on the stage just as they'd been for the past few days. Each time someone came in with a piece of equipment, large, black and box-shaped, a flutter flew around in Len's stomach. His shoulders were stiff and each time someone passed by him, his eyes bore into their back. He barely noticed the other clubs in the gym watching the giant black boxes with wonder as they tossed around volleyballs or batons or whatever their activity was.

"Where are all these people coming from anyway?" Len muttered lowly.

"They're the tech crew for the Vocaloids," Rin answered, whether Lean meant to be rhetorical or not, "They help with things like sound, lighting, and equipment. Something like lackeys—you know, what you are to me."

"Hey!" One of the techies hollered as he passed by. Rin kept her eyes on Len, however.

Len narrowed his eyes at Rin, trying to look offended, but it had backfired on him when Rin burst out in giggles to his expression. To that, Len sighed and rubbed his hands briskly against his arms, feeling a sudden chill. He looked towards Meiko, who was motioning through the dance moves to one of her numbers. She moved her hips and arms to a beat on a smaller stereo system, an accompaniment track that was mixed from a recording of the rest of the band playing—no doubt done by one of the "lackeys" Rin mentioned. The CD was given to them earlier that week and they had been rehearsing with it ever since.

The equipment, rehearsing on stage, the CD—everything piled on top of each other to create a more and more vivid image of the concert that was to be that Saturday. Tomorrow, in other words.

At the thought of the next day, Len shook even more violently. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand that was not his own set itself on his shoulder. Whipping his head around, Len found himself face to face with Kaito. From his expression, Kaito probably knew what was on the blonde boy's mind.

"You're going to be fine!" He smiled.

"Okay, guys!" Miku clapped her hands together excitedly, "We're going to do a sound check and then a run-through. Get ready!"

Len wanted to hold hands with the person next to him and squeeze away. But he realized that would have been Rin and the last thing he needed was another awkward moment. The other choice was Kaito, who stood just behind him. That would have created a situation far more awkward coupled with feelings of great discomfort.

-:-

The day had been terribly long, Len thought, as he unlocked the door to his small apartment. Setting his school bag on the floor, he peeled off his shoes, freeing his aching and swollen feet. Even though club activities hadn't gone on much longer than usual, it felt as if he had crawled on for hours with the run through. Len had managed to make it through, to his surprise, but that did not stop him from wondering how tomorrow would go. A shiver shook Len's shoulders when he bent to pick up his bag.

Len stood up and glanced out the kitchen window to see the sky casting an orange light across the streets, the sun just barely hanging above the horizon. There was still some time left to study before he had to start making dinner, he thought.

Len had shoved the thought of the concert to the back of his mind as he went to the bathroom to pick out the contact lenses from his eyes. He tried to keep the music he had heard over and over muted while he changed out of his uniform and into his casual clothes—which were stylish of course. Pushing on his glasses and pinning back the fluffy, messy, blonde fringe of his head from his eyes, Len sat down at his desk. Mind clear, he pulled out his textbooks and notes and immediately started scribbling.

There was nothing else on his mind other than numbers for a while. Len wrote equation after equation at a steady pace for a good portion of time. Then suddenly, the concert forced itself to the forefront of his mind without warning. His pencils whent from writing to tapping rhythms. Then that horrible clenching in his gut that had been creeping on him all day came back. To this, Len dropped his pencil, propped his elbows on hid desk, and dug his fingers through his hair.

Honestly, how was he supposed to study for midterms when he couldn't concentrate?

Len couldn't quite describe how he felt about the forthcoming concert in simple words. His insides seemed to all be twisted in knots and he could not stop imagining tripping or hiccuping or something. However there was a part of him that felt... excited? During the rehearsal that day, Len could almost imagine the audience before him, and the thrill that would come from them. If only he could just regain his focus and get back to his books...

Len was tapping rhythms with his pencil again when he heard the front door in the kitchen open, then shut again. The slam of the door made Len jump, and the pencil he held clattered on the desk and then rolled onto the floor.

"Len! Why haven't you started dinner yet?"

Len snapped his head toward his bedroom window and saw that the sun was considerably lower than earlier. Rather than a deepening orange, the sky was now a darkening blue.

"Shoot," Len muttered, fumbling around until he slid back from his desk, "I'll start right now!"

Len quickly stepped out of his room and made his way to the kitchen at the front. As he passed through the living room, his mother brushed passed him.

Len had not seen her since the morning before, but he could tell that the reason was not that of a hardworking business woman. Despite the way she was dressed, being in a suit, Len could immediately detect the scent of musky alcohol on her—she had been wandering about again. Her eyes were dead, the lines underneath deepened the dark circles that were there. Wiry, pale hair drooped around her thin, hollowed cheekbones, her face not carrying even the slightest trace of a smile. As Len passed her, walking toward the kitchen, his mother didn't even spare him a glance, even though Len had sent her a courteous greeting.

Len stood in front of the stove for a few seconds, pulsing his fists for a bit and staring down to his feet. There was a rustle from the living room followed by muffled voices from the TV. A few more seconds passed and Len finally got moving, tying on an apron and reaching in some cabinets to pull some pans out.

The TV did not turn off for the rest of the night, not even when Len had finished dinner and brought it to the small wooden table in the living room. He simply sat across from his mother, who kept her eyes lingering toward the television, blaring some comedy show even though a smile never curved her lips. She nibbled on the dish Len had carefully crafted, which she had barely acknowledged him on.

Len, on the other hand, kept his eyes fixed on his mother. His mouth was in a straight line even though the sound from the television erupted with a crowd's hoops and hollers. He held a bowl of rice in one hand and chopsticks in the other, though it had been a while since he had taken a bite.

"What do you want?" Came the voice from his mother; cold, blunt, and finally breaking the silence.

Len jumped, the bowl shaking in his hand, "A-ah... I just..."

At that moment, his mother finally turned her eyes from the TV and shifted to Len—a hard stare falling onto him.

"I just wanted to let you know that my club has an activity tomorrow. I won't be back until late tomorrow night."

"Your club sure has a lot of outside school activities. It's not distracting you from studying for midterms, is it?" Her eyes were back on the TV.

"No, of course not... I am part of the Classic Literature Club after all..."

"Hmm... Well, I won't be home tomorrow night anyway."

After that, there were no more conversations between them until Len offered to clean his mother's dishes. He walked to the kitchen again as she sat watching the same comedy show with an unchanging, lifeless expression. Len took slow, deliberate breaths, biting his lower lip as he curled his fingers into fists again. He took one final breath and exhaled in a long sigh before he relaxed and got on with his chore.

After Len had finished washing the dishes, he passed through th eliving room once more and headed to his own room. The noise of the television faded as he went into the hallway, then was completely muffled when Len closed his bedroom door. Every now and then, he would just barely hear the boisterous laughter from the program. It was as if it was mocking him, Len thought.

When he sat down at his desk, Len perked up when he heard a cheery ring from his cell phone. It buzzed on or two times and then fell still with the screen on the front brightly lit. Len took his phone in hand and flipped it open to check the sender of his new message.

"Piko...?" He mumbled, clicking a button to view the message.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?! Are you nervous? I'll be there to cheer you on! (^o^)"

Len's mouth curved into a smile with a short grunt of amusement. He felt his mood lift a bit. Len could nearly imagine Piko's expressions if he were to speak those words in person. Lifting his other hand to the keypad, Len typed a reply.

"Yeah. Thanks. :)"

-:-

"It's a wonder that you're not dress-coded for that outfit!" Kaito snickered loudly as he slid the door to the music room open.

"It's a costume, not my school uniform!" Meiko snapped, walking through the door Kaito had opened for her.

"Ah, right on time," Luka nonchalantly remarked as she saw the duo approaching her.

Luka was sitting at the table, looking down at herself and brushing any lint pieces she saw off of her costume—a black blouse with a slitted skirt all hemmed with an autumn gold trim. Kaito and Meiko, still glaring daggers at each other, sat next to each other across from Luka.

The outfit in question, Meiko's outfit, was fiery red and exposed the midriff. Her top contoured her curves perfectly and the skirt she wore was halfway up her thigh. Kaito's costume was for more conservative with it being a white jacket trimmed with blue, complimenting a blue muffler wrapped around his neck. When their glaring contest ended with a stalemate—Meiko would have objected and said she had won—Kaito took in a breath and sighed deeply.

"Aw, is Kaito being picked on by his little sister?" Miku cooed, walking over and pinching Kaito's cheek.

"Hey! I'm the older one!" Meiko protested.

"You sure don't act like it," Kaito mumbled.

"What was that?" Meiko asked, even though by the tone of her voice, it was rather clear that she had actually heard Kaito.

"Now, now," Rin was next to them now, "At this point, we should just replace the concert with squabbles from Meiko and Kaito. The audience would still find it entertaining."

Before either of the twins could reply, Miku spoke up, "Oh, Rin. Where's your other half?"

"Please, we're not that close!" Rin coughed, turning a little pink, "And I don't know. I don't spend my free time in the boys' dressing room."

"He was still in there when I was finishing up," Kaito answered, "Seemed to be a ball of nervous wreck chanting things in front of the mirror. Want me to go get him?"

"Aw, geez—"

Miku didn't finish her comment, because right on cue, the door to the club room slid open again, albeit just ever so slightly. There was just enough space for Len's head to poke through, hiding the rest of his body behind the door. His mouth was pressed into a thin line and his eyebrows were arched upward. There was a moment of silence as all the Vocaloids in the room stared toward the timid boy behind the door. Len was about to close the door again to recollect himself, but his reflexes had other thoughts when Miku raised her voice.

"Len! Come in!"

Len's arm shot outward, snapping the door all the way open. He was fully dressed in the costume that was given to him the other day. The clothes made him look a little more boyish, but underneath his white shirt, there were definite traces of a slender figure.

"Ah, now we have a new Vocaloid!" Miku clapped her hands together.

"That costume suits you!" Kaito smiled.

"So does mine, but you won't admit it. So biased." Meiko mumbled while smirking, earning a sideways glance from Kaito.

Len laughed nervously, setting a hand on the back of his head, "T-Thanks."

His eyes glanced over the room. Len meant to observe all his surroundings, but his eyes immediately locked in on Rin. As she had said earlier that week, her costume was very similar to his. It had the same yellow trimmed, black seifuku collar on a white shirt, except it was sleeveless and it came just above the waistband of her shorts, the edges being hemmed with a yellow, scalloped lace. Len must have lost himself because when the door to the club room opened again, he jumped and squeaked. After shrinking into himself, Len heard a chuckle from behind him.

"This must be Len, the new member!"

Len whirled around to find a man dressed well in a black suit and tie. Glasses were perched on his nose pushing the brown hair on his forehead out of his eyes. Even though there were no prevalent age lines around his eyes, Len could tell that this man was far older than any student at the school. He presumed that this was a teacher.

"Hello, Hiyama-sensei!" The Vocaloids now behind Len recited as they bowed their heads.

Len scrambled for a bit and bowed his head as well when he recognized that this was the club adviser that Miku had mentioned to him a while ago. He never checked on them or attended meetings, which Len thought was peculiar. So this was was the first time he actually saw the teacher, since he taught the first years.

"Are you guys ready for the concert?"

"We'll knock 'em dead!" Meiko shouted, throwing a fist into the air.

"I have no doubt about that!" Hiyama-sensei laughed before turning to Len, "By the way, my name is Hiyama Kiyoteru. You must be Kagamine Len. Are you enjoying the club so far?"

"Y-Yeah, I am!"

"Good," Kiyoteru smiled before approaching Luka and bowing his head slightly, "As always, Megurine, please thank your father on my behalf for donating all the equipment."

"Not at all. I'll tell him," Luka responded.

"So that's where everything comes from," Len thought, not at all surprised.

"Well, I see everybody is ready here," Kiyoteru was speaking to everyone now, "Should we get going?"

The words struck Len like someone had thrown a lance at him and it had impaled him in the stomach. The feeling rolled in his body for a bit as the club members broke away from the table. Len could have sworn Kaito had said something about dress code and Meiko's outfit, and Hiyama-sensei saying something about it being "only a costume." Other than that, however, Len's comprehensive ability had taken a blow. What made him come to was the feeling of hands on his shoulders as he was being pushed out of the music room.

"Come on, Len!" Miku sung, giving him a little nudge, "Hey, Rin! I think your Len-Len needs a little pre-concert comforting!"

"Okay, first off, never word it like that again. And two, don't you need to give Kaito a little courage then?"

"Why are you guys talking about me?" Kaito called back.

"Because I'm just as excited for our duet as Rin is with her and Len's," Miku did inconspicuously winked towards Rin.

Kaito's tone carried a mild hint of annoyance, "That connection made no sense."

"Geez, just get going, Miku!" Rin shoved a giggling Miku out of the way, flushed and red-faced before taking her place next to Len.

Kaito had looked past Miku for a moment, before turning his attention towards the path they took down the corridors. The twin-tailed tealette happily took her place next to Kaito and started up a conversation.

The initial sting of nerves had left Len, leaving only a lingering, twisting sensation. He had gathered his senses again, and found that Rin walking next to him did provide a sort of comfort as they were drawing closer to the auditorium. Len wasn't sure why she had that affect on him; perhaps it was because they were dressed similarly, or maybe it was just simply because it was Rin. She was blunt, sarcastic, and maybe a tease to him. But it was a sort of comfort in a strange way.

The nerves picked up again when they got to the gym where the concert was to take place. And the concert felt more real as they ran one final sound check. Then the lights were adjusted and the club members were ushered just off stage with Kiyoteru. Len started shivering when he heard voices muttering excitedly as they entered the blackness just beyond the stage—the audience.

Collectively, Miku, Luka, Meiko, Kaito, and Rin smiled at the sound, and Len followed perhaps because the awkward bubbling feeling in his stomach wouldn't stop. The smiling didn't last long for Luka, however. Seemingly out of nowhere, in the darkness, came a lengthy, gangly boy swishing by with his lon, tied-back, purple hair trailing behind.

"LUKA! Oh, Luka..." He cheered, pushing his way through to the pinkette, "I just came by to wish you good luck! You're so talented and I'm sure you will—"

"Kamui, where did you come from? You know you're not supposed to be back here."

"—be amazing! You'll dazzle the stage and your fans will be roaring for you! Though no one's going to be cheering as loudly as me..."

The admirer had somewhere along the way sandwiched Luka's hands into his own. He was trailing off with sweet nothings, freezing Luka on the spot, leaving her sputtering for words as Kiyoteru kept trying to get the persistent boy's attention.

It didn't take Len long to figure out that this was the same lanky boy the day they left for their weekend practice.

Len leaned toward Miku, "Um... Miku, who is that?"

"Oh, that's just Gakupo. Luka's biggest fan, obviously. He always does this before concerts and has probably sent her more love letters than anyone else has gotten in the school combined. Anyway, she won't admit it, but she totally likes him."

"Kamui, get going!" Kiyoteru nudged the student away from a very red-faced Luka.

"Luka! I love you!" Gakupo cried as he seemingly danced away, about as gracefully as a string bean could.

Rin started snorting with her usual dark laughter, mustering the darkest glare from Luka. Very cold shivers were sent down Len's back as it seemed a biting winter breeze decided to grace the spring season. Luka boldly faced Rin straight on, non-chalontly took out a camera seemingly from nowhere and pointed at Len, lifting her eyebrows a bit.

Rin was a bit baffled, but Len knew exactly Luka's intention. At the sight of the camera, Len shook Rin, erasing her smile and turned several shades lighter. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he begged not to provoke Luka any further.

Kiyoteru was the savior of the awkward moment when he spoke, "All right, guys, I'll be watching from the audience. Good luck!"

And with that, Kiyoteru left along with any security Len may have felt with him there. As the teacher disappeared into the darkness, one of the students Len recognized as one of the club's techies came in, wearing a headset in his ear.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked in a low voice, but just loud enough so he could be heard over the excited bustle of the audience.

Len wanted to say "no" straight-up, but his lips were frozen. However, even if he did speak, he would not have been heard underneath Miku's cheerful, sing-song "Yes!"

"Okay, then Miku, you're on!" The techie gestured a brief thumbs up before moving to a corner and whispered something into the headset.

The moment Len could sense the lighting in the room change again, he instinctively reached out for the closest thing to hold. There wasn't much thought process behind his actions. Past the stiffness of his elbow, Len could feel his fingers fist around a hand, silky and soft to the touch. He didn't think much about it though. Len was too focused on Miku walking onto the now dark stage.

Rin jumped when she felt a firm, almost deathly grip on her hand. A prickle of pins and needles flew up her spine when her eyes traveled up from the hand that gripped her to Len's face. She was about to slap him away and scold him, but then she saw the wide-eyed far-off look in his eyes. In that moment, she pitied him. Rin was uncomfortable—very uncomfortable. Her mind was screaming for her to run away, but a part of her that went a little deeper decided to hold on. But just briefly, she felt something flutter in her stomach, and whatever happened made her gently pull her hand away.

"O-Oh... S-Sorry!" Len yelped when he felt Rin move away, finally realizing what he did.

"N-No, it's okay..." Rin mumbled.

Thank goodness it's dark, was the phrase that ran through their minds simultaneously. Both could feel the heat of their reddened faces blazing in the blackness. It would have been surely embarrassing if the lights were turned on in their illuminating glory. This way, their innocent gesture couldn't be seen by anyone—or so they thought. Only a single pair of deep blue eyes shifted away from Rin and Len as they broke contact; Kaito then pressed his lips in a thin line.

The thickness of the darkness seemed to lighten when Miku's voice bellowed throughout the gym over an amplified sound system. It echoed and bounced off the walls, smothering the chitter chatter from the audience in a moment.

"Hi! How is everyone?"

In response to Miku's chipper greeting, a roar from the crowd ensued. Then all at once, Miku's name had become a chant.

"I... didn't know Miku was so popular..." Len commented.

Well, she is the president of the Vocaloids," Meiko stated, folding her arms and titling her head towards Len with a smile.

The next moment, the stage lights flashed on—appearing as blinding orbs in the darkness. What was once clouded and veiled was now completely illuminated by fluorescent colors. Miku stood in the middle of the swirls of lights and color, a smile certainly radiant enough for the stage—it was a perfect fit. The audience screamed like static on a television. The sounds of the tapping of a cymbal from her audio track hinted a tempo for her, to which Miku's body immediately started to move to. The moment she opened her mouth to sing, the whoops and cheers from the crowd got even louder. As he listen, Len was certain that no one in the audience would have a voice by the end of the night.

The number one princess in the world,

Know how to treat me that way, okay?

The students in the audience all pumped their fists together, as if they also had rehearsed for the concert. It was one fluid motion, hands creating waves. Miku had certainly taken the stage.

Len leaned toward Rin, his heart pounding a little bit from all the excitement, "Miku couldn't hae chosen a better song for herself," he mused.

"Oh, she always starts out with this one. It's sort of like a tradition," Rin explained, moving her head away from Len slightly.

From backstage, Len watched Miku perform—flawlessly executing her movements. Even though everything she did was very Miku-like, it was almost as if it wasn't her, like a new side of her had emerged. It was far different from what he had seen in rehearsals. The girl that was there was Miku, yet not Miku. Was this what a true performance was like? And for a brief moment, Len put himself in Miku's current position. An eruption of twists in his stomach followed.

She was reaching the climax of her song now, body moving and beads of sweat glimmering on her temple. The entire auditorium was so absorbed in her song that the audience was singing along with the chorus and even some of the Vocaloids backstage were moving and mouthing along. It was an exciting unity between every person in the room.

Then suddenly, Miku belted her last note, letting it rip through the air, falling until it landed with a huge impact. The audience roared in the silence of the music before Miku transitioned into another song. The crowd once again drifted into a choreographed hand ocean.

I like singing;
isn't that how I came to being?
Saying that you like my voice,
you've really made me happy!

Rin made a sudden movement, which drew Len's immediate attention.

"Well, I'm up next," Rin stated, adjusting the headset mic.

Len mentally went over their rehearsed program in his head. If Rin was next... that could only mean that their duet followed, which was then supposed to have Len's solo after. That meant that Len would soon debut his very first performance.

If Len had eaten his fill of food before, then surely he would have had vomit creeping up his throat. Thankfully, his stomach was empty and instead he stumbled a bit. Meiko grabbed hold of him and steadied his shoulders.

Miku's song ended and Rin disappeared from beside him. The stage grew dark, the only light now coming from the colorful, dim glow sticks out in the audience.

"Where the heck did the glow sticks come from?" Len thought.

There was some shuffling on the stairs and footsteps clattering. A deep sigh and exhale from what Len perceived to be Miku. Then a quieting audience.

There was not much chance for the silence to settle itself, however, because the lights had turned on once more, prompting the static-like sound of yelling to raise in volume again. But instead of Miku, there was Rin standing at the center of the stage, her ivory skin glinting in the light. Len felt his heart jump.

Then her music started...

-:-

A/N: I hope that wasn't too boring after such a long wait... Here's to hoping that writer's block doesn't hit me too hard next time! For something to look forward to: there's probably going to be some revolving sushi shenanigans in the next chapter.

Some Questions to Consider:

1. What do you think of Len's home life?

2. Is Kaito starting to notice something?