Sugar-Coated Accident
Chapter Thirty-Seven
"Just Like in the Movies"
"My lovely Meiko-chan, you smell like a brewery."
"M'not yerr fuck'n lovely anythinggg… Urgh…"
Earlier than evening, Meiko had been resplendent in her yutaka. Now, the lovely patterned material was loose, and had slipped down one side, exposing her shoulder and upper arm – perhaps a little too much shoulder and upper arm. Her hair, which had been styled, was now messy, as though she had been dragged through twelve hedges and a garbage can. Sideways. Over and over again. For a fortnight.
Oh God, and the smell.
The smell alone would take over twelve paragraphs to accurately describe, so I'll be brief.
Gakupo was right – Sakine Meiko smelt like a brewery.
A brewery that contained only the very cheapest alcoholic beverages.
The thoroughly dishevelled brunette was leaning over the toilet, in a very ungraceful manner. Gakupo was holding her hair back, as Meiko cursed him, the world, and everything under the stars.
Everything except her lovely alcohol.
Which was, of course, the culprit behind her sorry state.
It had destroyed her.
"I don't even understand how you got so drunk," said Gakupo. He sounded equal parts impressed and concerned. "And however did you manage to survive the train ride home? You never cease to amaze me, Meiko. You are a fabulous woman."
"Blrghhhh." Was Meiko's reply.
Which, in actuality, nicely summed up Meiko's appearance.
'Blrghhhh.'
"AhhHh found a bar in shum… shumplache, yanno? Like… mmnot a kid, you… whassyourname?" Meiko slurred.
"Kamui Gakupo. Handsome devil? Everybody's favourite- Oof!"
Meiko had turned and punched him in the stomach.
And then-
Precariously, Gakupo overbalanced- taking Meiko with him. The brunette crashed on top of Gakupo, her fingers splayed across his face. She was dangerously close to taking out one of Gakupo's eyes with her long, manicured nails.
"Ohmygawwhdddd-"
Meiko winced and clutched her stomach.
Gakupo's eyes widened in horror. He could see the storm coming. Pinned under Meiko, he tried to defend his most prized possession (his hair) with his one free arm.
But it was to no avail.
Meiko was copiously, disgustingly sick.
It was, without a doubt, the perfect end to the perfect evening.
"Just think about it," said Teto excitedly, flapping her hands. "It'll be the perfect end to the perfect evening!"
Teto, Miku, Neru, Rin, Len and Kaito were currently walking through the streets, which were fairly empty. It was dark, too; eerily so.
The Vocaloid family had arrived home from the festival some ten minutes ago.
Of course, the train journey had been a barrel of laughs. Between a very drunken Meiko trying to feel up Gakupo/throw up on him (sometimes she did one at once, others she tried to do both at the same time), a very jealous Luka glaring at the unfolding scene with murder in her eyes, a very sombre Haku staring out the window in a melancholy way (miraculously, she had not gotten drunk- on account of the fact she got completely lost during her pursuit to find a bar, and the other Vocaloids had to spend two hours trying to find her and drag her home), a very excited gaggle of girls (Miku, Rin and Teto) watching on as Neru uploaded her new video footage of Len and Kaito's 'encounter' to youtube, and a very tired Kaito using Len's shoulder as a pillow, there had not been a dull moment on that train.
The other passengers had probably been scarred for life.
Especially by Meiko, who was not the most responsible person at the best of times.
When the group finally arrived home (the other poor people unfortunate enough to share a compartment with the 'happy family' had tried to run as far away from the train as humanely possible soon as the doors opened – perhaps to find a psychiatrist), Meiko had gone straight home- with the ever gentlemanly Gakupo escorting her.
Luka, looking supremely pissed, had said, in high and mighty tones 'Oh, no. I couldn't possibly go with you, Gakupo. You seen so… hmn… Preoccupied-' she threw a pointed glare at Meiko '-I would only be a bother. I think I'll go back to my own house.'
(And Gakupo, being as perceptive as a cardbox box, had not noticed – or perhaps had tried to ignore – the look on Luka's face that screamed 'I'm going to kill you!')
Haku had gone, too. Presumably to get drunk. As her previous attempts had been so masterfully thwarted by her lack of direction.
And everybody else had, owing to the girls' ferocious demands (of course, Neru looked like she couldn't give a damn), gone on a walk through the city.
To go and find Master.
"Hn… I don't know…" Len looked rather dubious.
The blond felt his skin tingle at the thought of seeing their master again. Len had never felt comfortable around that man; there was something very cold about his personality.
Almost… inhuman.
Haha.
Now that was ironic.
A robot, commenting on the mechanical nature of a human.
But still, it was true. Len was sure he felt emotion ten times more acutely than Master, who only cared about money, and business.
But not feelings.
Heaven forbid.
Anyone who could so coldly murder Kaito was not human.
Emotion surged through Len's circuitry; anger. Fear. Mostly worry.
Worry for Kaito, who still looked so very, very tired.
"Don't be such a baby, LenLen!" Rin commanded, as though she had read Len's mind. Which, knowing the so-called 'connection' between the twin robots, she might well have done. Never mind telepathy, though; Rin was crazy-perceptive when she wanted to be. "It'll be okay. Everything will work out fine- just like in the movies!"
The blonde, beribboned Vocaloid threw her arm over Len's shoulder.
Teto was skipping, singing some inane tune under her breath; ('Like always I love you~ For you, take, kiss me!~')
Len could not believe how unconcerned everyone looked. How carefree.
Or maybe…
Maybe, deep down, they were scared too.
Rin gave Len a small smile, and slipped her hand into her brother's.
Rin on one side, Kaito on the other, the group walked, linked together hand-in-hand. Teto, Miku and Neru moved alongside them. Together, like a real family.
Len thought how crazy they must look to any passers by; a group of youngsters, the girls dressed in yutaka with their hair half-fallen out of their previous elaborate styles, holding hands. Len liked to think they looked purposeful; like characters from some battle manga.
In reality, they probably just looked a bit odd.
But no matter!
When they were all together, Master seemed about as scary as… well…
Maybe a bad toothache.
The inside of the Cypton building was every bit as white, cold, lifeless and foreboding as per usual; sparsely decorated, with no pictures on the walls and no potted plants in the corners. The foyer housed only a desk and a few chairs; nothing else. Not even a few beaten-up magazines for waiting visitors.
For every Vocaloid, the building surely invoked memories of fear; except, perhaps for Miku, who had always been popular. Every time she was summoned before Master, it was for words of congratulations and discussions of the next CD launch – not 'I'm very sorry Hatsune-san, but we're going to pull the plug.'
Even so, Miku shuddered.
Her skin prickled.
Teto and Neru had never been in the building before, either; they were not 'official Vocaloids', so they had no reason to.
Apparently, Teto's own Master at Vip2ch was friendly; the easy-to-talk-to type.
This sudden shift in atmosphere had everyone on their guard. Even Neru had ceased typing; her cell phone remained silent. Without the constant 'beep beep beep' it felt almost as if the real Neru had vanished; or, at least, this one was imposter.
Neru never stopped texting.
It was, like, some kind of 11th Commandment, or a fundamental rule of the universe.
Fright flitted across Kaito's face; his pale, ghostly face.
He no longer like Kaito – everyone's favourite big brother.
He looked like death.
Len squeezed his hand tightly, and prayed.
Len had never wanted anything so badly in his whole life; not fame, not fan girls, not love letters, not praise.
He only wanted Kaito to be alright.
He wanted everyone to be alright.
What if Master…?
But there was no time for 'What Ifs'.
The receptionist had noticed them.
The receptionist herself seemed quite out-of-place in the frosty environment of the Crypton HQ. She had long, pink hair that reached her lower back, several strands of which wound into two ohagi-shaped balls on either side of her head. She wore an outfit not dissimilar to Miku's; grey shirt, pink tie, black arm warmers- yet she was human, not a Vocaloid.
Her name was Tonarine Sai.
"Ahh, hello, Kagamine twins. And Kaito-san. Akita-san, is it? Akita Neru? And… Kasane-san, correct? I don't think I've ever met you two before."
"Yepyep!~" Teto nodded. "But you can call me Teto-chan!"
Sai smiled. "Ah, well… What brings you all here so late? With your, um…" She gestured to the assembled group of oddballs. "Outfits?"
"We went to a festival," Miku explained.
"Oh, shame," Sai sighed. She began pushing a hole puncher around her desk, for want of something better to do. "I wanted to go, too, but… um… I wasn't allowed. Your master – not Akita-san and Teto-chan's, um, obviously – said he was expecting to see you all tonight? Apparently, something important is going to happen."
"Important?" Len was confused.
"How could he know we were coming?" questioned Miku, more to herself than Sai, or anyone else.
It was just as well Miku was not addressing the pink-haired girl, because Sai was now playing around with the stapler. It was not as though she were being ignorant, though; she simply could not read the atmosphere. She did know that Len felt his innards had been ripped out. She could not tell.
The assembled Vocaloids glanced about each other with worried faces.
And then Rin snapped her fingers. Her face lit up with some new, unknown dread.
"Master's plan," she whispered, so as not to alert Sai. "He's going to shut Kaito off tonight. Maybe soon. And he's expecting all of us to come and see him, panicking – saying stuff like 'something's wrong with Kaito! He's seriously ill! Can you help him?' – because he doesn't know we all know, I guess. And then, when we talk to him…"
Len's eyes widened in horror.
"Y-you don't think he wants us all together to..." Len paused. The words tasted foul in his mouth. He could hardly bear to spit them out;
"To wipe our memories?"
"N-no," Miku said, shakily. "M-master might be a little 'unusual', but I'm sure he would never act cruelly… Not like that…"
"You don't know what he's really like, Miku," said Len. "You're his favourite. You've never had problems like the rest of us."
Miku lowered her head. It was obvious she felt guilty.
If Kaito had been like Kaito again, he would have laughed at Miku's worry, and ruffled her hair, and said 'it's not your fault you're amazing, Miku! Don't feel bad about being good at something! That neurotic-like behaviour's for losers like me, kay?"
But Kaito was not acting like Kaito, and there was nobody to reassure Miku. They were all too worried themselves.
"I think Master is planning to wipe our memories of Kaito-nii. That way, we can't complain about it… Just… Blindly accept it. And move on," said Len, bitterly.
Rin nodded. "I think that is exactly what he is planning, yes."
Miku squeaked in alarm.
"T-then we have to go! Right now!"
"Kaito-nii-chan can't die!" said Teto. "He can't! I won't let him!"
"Yeah. Not over my dead body," said Rin savagely.
"I would also…" Neru blinked at Kaito. Her eyes were looking suspiciously watery. "I would also not like you to, hn… well… leave us. Bakaito. So… don't go."
And, miraculously, through all that…
Sai remained oblivious.
Staplers really were the most ingenious contraption mankind had ever invented.
"Miss, are you okay?"
Yowane Haku was sat – no, slumped – over the counter of some dimly-lit bar. Her head felt woozy; her vision blurred; her hands shook; her head throbbed.
Not even sake could take the edge away.
Haku felt sick.
Her brain hurt.
Somewhere, deep within her, it felt as though something was slowly dying.
a.n: OHMYGODDD i updated XD
and actually, this chapter was sososoo much fun to write c: i had to go back through my old chapters (blergh) to see how described the crypton building and stuff so there aren't any inconsistencies in the story, but i don't think i described it very much, so… it shouldn't be too off XD
as i haven't updated in a while i thought i should at least proofread, and comb for errors. of course, there are prolly still a bunch in there :/
the next one should be done pretty quick
like in a few days
renahhchen xoxox