Track 35:The Fox's Wedding

The club had emptied itself of all except the Vocaloids by the time they had returned to the main area. Whether at the request of management or just from the late hour, only their party was left as Calandra and the rest of the staff began to clean up.

The group which had been in the booth now sat at the bar. The bartender had set drinks in front of them without being prompted, and did not ask for any payment. Most of the surrounding tables were filled with Vocaloids, their sea of technicolor hair and clothing like a disordered rainbow.

Hideki was afraid to ask how late it was. The evening had been long, far longer than he could have ever anticipated. He had no idea what he was going to do the following morning. In theory he was supposed to have classes the following day, but he did not even think about going to him. The last few hours had been so surreal that there was no way he could return to his ordinary life. After what he had seen, after what he had experienced, he did not know if his he could ever return to normal.

Minoru sighed, shaking himself to stay awake. "Well, that very neatly answers all of our questions. Where Lola went, why she left, what's happening in this club. I'd say that wraps up our investigation."

Dr. Suzuhara sipped an extra-large cup of coffee. "The only question left is what do we do about this? We can't let this whole 'retirement' plan go through. Sooner or later they'll start shutting everyone off. Prima and Sonia, then who knows what next. Meiko? Gackupo? Gumi? One by one, they'll try to replace all of them."

"Nothing short of the CEO being fired or stepping down from his position will stop it," Lofiy replied. "He's absolutely convinced it's what's best for the company."

The doctor's muscles tensed as she gripped her cup in anger. "I'd like to take a swing at him myself. Like hell I'm going to let him switch off my daughter!" She glared into the coffee, as if it was the source of her problems. "I was a terrible mother to Misaki, never there when she needed me. It took years and an Angelic Layer tournament before I was even part of her life. I'm not making the same mistakes with you!" she turned to the Vocaloids seated at the tables of the cabaret. "Not with any of you!"

"We need to figure out what to do about this," Hideki agreed. "I can't just pass on what we've learned and walk away."

"Go to the police?" Chi suggested. "They're trying to make her go away forever. Isn't that like killing her?"

"We'll never convince the courts that it's attempted murder," Hideki replied. "many people don't even think Persocoms are sentient, let alone that they should have that sort of protection. They won't see it the way we do, they'll see it as turning off an old machine." He sighed, shaking his head. "We need to put it in terms they can understand, some way that it's still illegal or immoral, but that the law recognizes."

"Get him for causing a data leak," Miku suggested.

All of their attention immediately focused on her.

Hideki frowned. "What do you mean?"

Miku blushed and fidgeted under the sudden attention. "Hey, we're expensive!" she pointed out, "All that proprietary hardware and software takes a lot to develop. Causing one to run away and let her data be used in a new persocom...If you think about it, this is all kind of his fault."

Minoru stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You know, that might just work. We do have evidence that he was trying to shut her off, leading to her 'theft,' and he tried to cover up the leak by contacting us rather than the police."

Dr. Suzuhara thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, that isn't enough. Mr. Motosuwa and Mr. Kokubunji are under NDs for this investigation."

"I'm fairly confident nondisclosure agreements don't cover illegal activity," Minoru replied. "It's our civic duty to report this."

She shook her head again. "Whistleblowers always put themselves in extreme danger. Even if the courts see it our way, just being involved could ruin both your and Mr. Motosuwa's futures."

"What about asking Miku's fans to help?" Chi spoke up.

Minoru looked like he was about to say something, but then reconsidered. He tented his fingers and watched Chi expectantly.

"Go on," Hideki encouraged her. "What do you mean ask her fans?"

"Well, Lola's in trouble," she explained. "Yumi started getting really worried when Miku acted weird. If we tell them about her being shut off, I'm sure she'd want to help. And there are many other people I'm sure would also, here in Tokyo, and all over Japan and maybe the world."

It was Miku who replied. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but It's not a bad idea actually. Yanaha's a corporation, and the thing about corporations is that they're not just owned by one person. The CEO makes most of the big decisions, but he still has to answer to the shareholders and the board of directors. If the board of directors don't think he's doing a good job, then they can get rid of him." She laughed. "I've seen fan rage before, and it's not pretty. I could tell my fans that my big sister is going to be shut off and it's really worrying me. If I helped build it up, the directors would have to notice the new angry mob and the sudden change of public opinion."

"It would be risky," Hideki pointed out.

"I know," Miku replied, "But this is Lola we're talking about. Family. I'll do it."

Gumi called over to them. "Like hell you will!"

Miku rolled her eyes. "What are they going to do, fire me? Shut me down? They'd never recover from losing me!"

"No," Gumi replied, "what they'd do is they'd pull you into the lab and reprogram you." She rose from her seat and crossed over to the bar. "They'll just say you've been acting unstable lately, then wipe you and restore from a backup. That's not even mentioning what would happen to mom—we might not fall under human laws but she sure does. She could be fired or end up in legal trouble for tampering with us."

"What other choice do we have?" Miku pointed out. "Are you saying we should just let this go? Let them kill our big sister?"

"I said they could reprogram you pretty easily." Gumi grinned. "But they can't just reprogram all of us!"

"Yeah the can!" Miku retorted, "Whatever they could do to me, they could do to you, and to Kaito, and everyone else in this room." She glanced over to Hideki and his companions. "Well, humans excluded."

Gumi's grin did not shift a millimeter. "How long do you think that would take?"

Miku frowned, seemingly taken aback by Gumi's response. Her forehead creased in an imitation of a human in thought. Finally she shrugged. "I don't know."

Gumi continued. "If they have to 'fix' every Vocaloid here, that's weeks before they can have all of us working again. And that's just if mother's cooperating with them. That means weeks' worth of lost profits, all because of this one decision. It'd be almost the same as if we'd gotten a big outcry. For us, it's a win-win."

"A message from all of us then," Miku agreed, "begging everyone to do what they can and try to save Lola."

"There's just two problems," Yuzuki spoke up, "A collective broadcast from all of you would need a very large space, as large as this club or larger."

"The music video studios at Yanaha would be big enough," Miku offered. "They're also already set up with camera equipment and high-speed internet connections."

Yuzuki nodded. "That solves the first problem. But without a direct appearance from Lola, it would lose a great deal of its impact. We would need to somehow download Lofiy back into her original body and get all of you into the studio without alerting any of Yanaha's management to our plans."

"There would also be the problem of broadcasting the message," Kotoko added. "Most channels would not be willing to carry an unplanned broadcast, and those that were would likely take it off the air soon after finding out it wasn't being sanctioned by the corporation."

"We couldn't set one foot inside the doors without them knowing," Dr. Suzuhara replied. "Honestly, it's surprising that they haven't shown up already. All of you following me was really suspicious."

The memory of a jerky, poorly-functioning persocom suddenly surfaced, giving Hideki an idea. "Channel 23," he said. Seeing the others' confused looks, he elaborated. "Channel 23 does all sorts of news for custom persocoms and Utauloids, right? They're like an alternative news channel. I'm sure they'd love to get an exclusive story straight from behind Yanaha's back."

"That's perfect!" Minoru exclaimed. "No network for Yanaha to pressure to take it off the air, a wide group of people already watching it." He chuckled. "It'll probably break up their usual content for once."

For the first time since leaving the management's office, Lofiy spoke up. "This all assumes I'll cooperate with this."

"We're not letting you turn yourself in!" The doctor almost shouted her words. "I don't know where you got this idea that we were just going to hear what's happened to you and not want to do something about it, but we're in this too deep now to just walk away."

Lofiy glanced from Hideki to Dr. Suzuhara, to Miku and Gumi. She did not look happy, but did not look like she wanted to argue, at least. "So all of you are dead set on going through with this plan then?"

The bar fell silent as first each of the humans, then the Vocaloids and other persocoms present each nodded in turn. Chi nodded last of all.

Hideki would be lying if he said he did not have reservations. By becoming involved with this, he was risking legal trouble, his future career, and possibly even his enrollment at Tokyo University. But, like the doctor had said, he could not just walk away at this point. For the first time in his life, Hideki felt like he was doing something important, like this was what he was meant to do.

Lofiy sighed and straightened. "Then I think I know just the persocom that could help us get into Yanaha unnoticed. The problem would be finding her, and making contact quickly."

After Lofiy explained what she had in mind, Hideki agreed with her suggestion. It took another few minutes to convince the mob of Vocaloids to remain behind while they followed Lofiy back to Undertaker's place. They had all wanted to join the group, to help "Convince" Undertaker to help them, but traveling with so many Vocaloids at once would only make them more visible than they already were. In the end, they took as few people with them as possible. Hideki, Minoru, Yuzuki and Dr. Suzuhara accompanied Lofiy to the old funeral home.

Hideki was fighting exhaustion by the time they knocked on the ancient door. It opened a crack, then immediately slammed shut once more. Lofiy glanced to the others and shrugged.

"Undertaker?" She called out. "I've come back."

"We're here for your help," Hideki added, "It's about Lofiy."

"Go away!" he called through the door. "Give back my persocom and leave! You're not welcome here!"

Hideki glanced around at the others, wondering what to do next. They needed his help, and they did not have the time to argue. He just wanted this to be done with this entire business and fall into a relaxing sleep for the next week. The others had been awake as long as him, and the strain was beginning to show on all of their faces.

Surprisingly, it was Dr. Suzuhara that responded to Undertaker.

Her voice was so sharp and commanding that Hideki felt himself wanting to jump to obey her. "You'd better open this door or so help me I'll break it down and tear out your eyes!"

He had to admit, as friendly as the doctor usually was, she could be absolutely terrifying when she was angry.

"At least hear us out," Lofiy suggested. "You don't even know what we want."

The door was flung open, revealing the parts dealer. He scowled out at each of them in turn. "I know exactly what you're trying to do," he told them, "You're trying to take my persocom away from me."

The doctor was outraged. "Your persocom!"

Hideki was amazed at how calm Undertaker had remained. "That's right," the parts dealer replied. "I designed her body, I built her, I even managed to get her software to run on non-native hardware. Whoever or whatever she was before, she's mine now."

"She isn't anyone's anymore," Hideki declared. "Not since she ran away."

"Please stop arguing semantics," Yuzuki spoke up. "It's counter-productive, and we don't have much time."

Undertaker continued to scowl, but did not press the argument any futher. "Start talking then. If you make it worth my while, then I might consider helping."

"I'm going back to Yanaha," Lofiy told him

"You'll be shut off," he replied. "The world will lose you forever."

"Not if we can help it!" the doctor shouted.

"We don't have a lot of other choices," Minoru commented. "The corporation already knows something's happening, with all of the Vocaloids going to Club Mercer at the same time. We have a plan that might work, but we need your help."

"You know how to contact Neru," Lofiy told him. "She can get us into the building without security noticing."

"That damn persocom gives me nothing but problems," he grumbled. "Even after I cut off dealing with her, she's still making my life hell."

"We need her," Lofiy insisted. "I need her."

With a flourish almost too fast to see, Undertaker withdrew something shiny. The knife Hideki had seen once before was now in the parts dealer's hand.

It was clear that Minoru was trying to keep his voice calm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I could always kill all of you," Undertaker replied. "Then take my persocom and go into hiding."

"There are five of us and only one of you," Minoru pointed out.

"I'm much faster than you could ever be," the crazed parts dealer replied. "And I know plenty of hiding spots." his grin was suddenly as unpleasant as it had been the first time Hideki had seen it. "For living people and for bodies."

"You'd never get away with that," Lofiy told him. "There's already too many people that know we're here. Too many people are looking for us already." In a surprisingly tender gesture, she reached out and hugged him. "I've enjoyed my time here, really I have. You've given me a sort of afterlife, and a second chance to do what I was programmed for. But this is just too big now for me to run away again. The only way for this to end is with Neru's help."

When Undertaker spoke again, all of the menace had gone from his voice. He sounded defeated. "I've spent years chasing after the big one. A real chance to study a Vocaloid up close and personal. Not just blueprints, not just a poorly reverse-engineered copy, but a real one. You're the closest I'll ever get, and now you're leaving."

"You could always reprogram the body," Hideki suggested. "She's bound to still be a great singer, as popular as you could want."

"Wouldn't be the same, now would it?" Undertaker countered. "Even if she looks the same and acts the same, she isn't."

Hideki thought for a moment. Chi had been Elda once. A completely different person. That was what Ms. Hibiya had said. She had been afraid to treat Chi as a daughter because of that, afraid that her feelings for Elda would spill over in a way that was unfair to Chi. Data. Personality. Memories. They were what defined an individual. if they were gone, then so was that person.

"No," Hideki agreed, "It isn't the same. But you do the best you can."

Undertaker scowled at each of them once again, but it was a halfhearted gesture. Hideki could tell he had already given in. The parts dealer finally sighed. "Fine, I'll contact Neru, have her meet you at Club Mercer within a few hours."

Lofiy nodded. If persocoms were able to cry, Hideki had no doubt tears would be streaming down her face. "Thank you. I'll never forget our time together, what you did for me. Master."

He waved toward the door. "Just go. I don't want to ever see any of you again. Get out of here."