10:16. Tokyo, Japan.

Miku mumbled, turning over and waking from her peaceful sleep. She had slept to her satisfaction, and was now ready to get up. As she woke, she overheard her hotel door opening. Two staff members entered quickly, with room service breakfast. She glared their way, but said nothing to them as she climbed fully out of bed. As she went into the bathroom and changed into a sweater and jeans, the staff members served her food and left as quickly as they could enter. She sat at her bed, looking over the food. She reached over and grabbed her phone, and found that she had received a message from Hiru that read:

"Call me when you wake."

Miku scoffed at his message, sliding her thumb to the left and removing the message from her lock screen. She ate her food, and once she was finished, he opened up the message and called Hiru.

"Morning Miku." Hiru greeted upon entering. "Morning. Why did you tell me to call you?" Miku asked. "Just to let you know what your schedule is today. Sorry that it's coming in so late. Last minute delays caused a few quick changes." "Sure. What're the changes?" Miku asked bluntly. "The press interview has moved from 1 to 1:30 pm at the same place. Also, the production team has a new instrumental they want you to hear. Later this afternoon, I have something I'd like to discuss with you face to face." "Fine. Whatever." Miku sighed, noting everything mentally. "Right. Bye then." Hiru said, hanging up. Miku laid back on the bed, closing her eyes for a few brief moments.

Another hour and a half of relaxing passed before Miku went down to her limo and sat in the back, messaging friends. Before the limo drove off, another person got into the back of the limo: a journalist in his late 20's or early 30's. The limo pulled into the street after he got in. Miku looked up from her phone, looking him over. "Hello, Hatsune." He greeted with a polite smile. "Hello." Miku said with a nod, sipping from a bottle of water.

"Forgive me for being so sudden on entering. Your agent, Mr. Hiru, allowed me to ride along, so I could ask you a few questions." The journalist explained. "Go ahead." Miku said politely. He nodded, and raised his pen and notepad:

"Okay. To start, how have your fans been treating you?"

"I think my fans have been good to me for the most part." She said, then continued. "However, it has been brought to my attention that my latest releases have been, to quote, 'repetitive'. My fans are important to me, however, and I want to make them happy and for them to take a liking to my work as they've always had."

"I see. Bringing up the repetitive comment, that leads me to my next question. While your new music was fairly well received, critic reviews on average ranked it about half a point to a full to a full point lower than the rest of your work, on a score out of five. Critics showed that they liked the hits more or less, but stated them as being, as you said, 'repetitive' as well as 'stylistically mundane.' What do you have to say to those who think in harmony with those opinions?"

"I'm interested to understand why they think so." Miku said, trying to maintain her smile and hide her gritted teeth. "And as I've said before, I strive to make my fans happy. I'm taking these new critiques into mind as I create my upcoming releases, which will hopefully be more pleasing." She answered slowly and carefully.

The journalist nodded. "It's good to see that you really care about your fans and how they view your work. Your last tour was rated one of your most successful thus far. Would you say that it's because of your fans?"

This answer came much easier. "Of course. I'd say I owed all my success to my fans."

The journalist smiled and nodded. The limo parked outside of the skyscraper containing Miku's recording studio. "Thank you for your time, Miku." "No problem." Miku said with a smile. The two shook hands. "I'm Jackie, by the way." "Nice meeting you, Jackie." Miku said as he exited the limo. She exited out the other side of the limo, and was led by an escort into the building. She went up to the 15th floor, and to her studio: a large living space with two recording booths side by side, an open stage section, and a closed off section with all the sound engineering equipment.

As she entered the studio, Miku went through her phone once again, scrolling through the notifications on her phone. Another notification appeared at the top of that list: a notification from a local airline. "What is this?" She muttered aloud, reaching the studio. She stepped into the room with all the sound engineering equipment, looking around. A few audio engineers from her sound team were inside, speaking with Hiru. Hiru turned to her, breaking off his conversation with the engineers.

"Hello Miku. How was the ride and the interview?" He asked. "It was fine." Miku answered dismissively. "That's good. I was just speaking with your team here." Hiru explained. The head engineer, Na, spoke up. "We've been working on an instrumental that we'd like you to give a listen." Na explained, gesturing to the computer at the other end of the room, sitting on a small desk next to all the equipment. "Let's hear it." Miku said with a passive sigh, taking a seat in front of the computer.

Na plugged her headphones into the computer and prepared the track. He then stood straight, turned back to the others, and their conversation started up again. Miku silently listened to the bubbly electronic track, with a slight bob of her head. When she had finished, she unplugged her headphones and swiveled around in her chair to face them. "What did you think?" Na asked Miku. "It was good." She answered simply. They nodded, and she nodded as well.

She then turned to Hiru. "Um, Hiru? I got some notification from an airline company. Why is that?" Hiru merely nodded at her question. "Right. Come, we'll speak about it in my office." She stood and followed him into his office, and they sat. "What's this about?" She asked again. Hiru cleared his throat. "Ahem. Early this morning, I spoke with an old friend of mine over in America. She's an artist manager and representative, like I am for you. She sent me samples of an artist she represents, and I found myself quite impressed with what I heard. The notification you received was likely confirming the tickets I purchased; two plane tickets to fly to America, so we can meet them."

Miku frowned at this suddenness. Hiru sighed a bit. "You asked me to 'fix' the swaying opinion of your fans. I can't do that, but this meeting will be a step in the right direction." "And how are you so sure about this? Who is this person that I'm supposed to be meeting anyway?" She questioned, arms crossed and folded over her chest. "He's a handsome young man a little older than you. His name is Prince Alex." Hiru answered. "Prince Alex, huh?" Miku pondered this with a slight cringe. "Yes. He's a self made artist who became a real up and comer, but has hit a dry spell as of late." Hiru explained. "And we're supposed to help each other out in this, right?" "Yes." Hiru said.

"Fine then. I'll go to America." Miku decided. "Alright. The flight is to Colorado Springs in Colorado. It'll be hot over there." Hiru said. Miku rolled her eyes, finding Hiru's smothery warning to be unnecessary, and frankly, pretty lame. "Whatever. What day is the flight?" "Five days from now." "Alright. That's a little short notice, but oh well." Miku commented with a passive shrug. "I know. The opportunity came up and I had to take it. My apologies. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible, though, so you'd have time to pack." "Alright. Thanks for that, at least."

Hiru sucked in a breath and exhaled. "You're welcome." "Was that it?" Miku asked. "Yes. Your schedule's clear for the rest of the day." "Good. I expect not to be disrupted then unless absolutely necessary." "Of course." Hiru said understandingly with a nod. Miku nodded as well, getting up and leaving the room.

3:44 pm. Tokyo, Japan.

Miku was back at her hotel again, up on the roof, approaching the pool with her bag over her shoulder and a towel around her waist. She looked up and saw two of her best friends at the pool: two fellow Vocaloids by the name of Kagamine Rin, a girl with short blonde hair and blue eyes, and Gumi, a shorter girl with green hair and goggles on her forehead. They looked over and noticed her. "Hi Miku-san!" Gumi greeted.

Miku smiled a bit, setting her bag down in a nearby chair and approaching them. "Glad you could make it, Miku, but what took you so long?" Rin asked. "I was having an important discussion with Hiru." Miku answered. "About your music and stuff?" Rin inferred. Miku nodded. "When I told him that he needed to fix all this crap, he decided that having me work with someone else would be a good choice." "Well, that's not so bad, is it?" Gumi asked. She and Rin sat on opposite sides of Miku. "It wouldn't be, if I didn't have to go to America to work with him."

"America?!" They exclaimed simultaneously, their heads both perking. "That's so cool though, Miku! None of us have been to America before!" Gumi said, excited for Miku. "Whose this 'he' you're gonna be working with?" Rin asked excitedly. "I think his stage name is Prince Alex."

Gumi squealed excitedly. "I love Prince Alex's music!" She shouted. "You've heard of him before?" Miku asked her. "Of course!" Gumi answered with a giggle. "I think you two are gonna sound amazing together!" Gumi said confidently. Miku groaned at this. "That's what Hiru thinks too, but I don't want to go." "Then why don't you just tell him that?" Rin suggested. "Because he booked the flight before he told me, so I basically just don't have a choice." Rin shrugged. "Well, you could try to make the most of it? I mean, you're gonna be in America! That's gonna be some experience, and we expect pictures when you get back." Rin stated. "And get a picture of or with Prince Alex, please?" Gumi begged.

"I don't want to think of it now. I leave early next week, so can we please just drop the subject for now?" The girls nodded understandingly. "You know what'll cheer you up? A nice cool swim in the pool." Gumi suggested. "No thanks, Gumi. I don't feel like getting into the pool right now. I just wanna lay here and relax." "Aww come on, Miku. It'll be fun!" Rin exclamed.

And the struggle began, as the girls took Miku's hands and pulled her up. Rin quickly took Miku's headphones and phone from her and set them down. They proceeded to try to pull her into the water. "No!" Miku shouted with a giggle, trying to pull back. "I don't wanna!" "Yes you do, stop lying!" Gumi grinned mischeviously. They reached the edge and pushed her in. However, Miku spun around and grabbed them, pulling them in with her. They landed in the pool with a big splash, then resurfaced, wiping water from their eyes and hair plastered to their faces.

The three laughed and shared a hug. "I'm gonna miss you guys." Miku said to them.