"Wouldn't it be great if we could help you with that?" Miku sighed, watching Allie pile up sand in the sand box.
"Yeah, but that would ruin the point. I can only make a sand stage because you guys won't just squish it by standing on it."
"But what's the point? We could just preform on a table or something." Rin whined.
"But that's boring. I can make sand into whatever shape I want and change it whenever I want."
"The weather could also destroy it easily," Len commented, sitting with his back against a nearby tree. He was reading a book.
"Then I'll just make a new one. It will give me more reason to be creative rather than leave it."
"But watching you is so boring." Rin sighed, stretching out on the ground next to Kaito. "And the clouds aren't much better."
Kaito said nothing but shot her a quick disapproving glance before looking back up at the sky.
"You don't have to watch anything," Allie said as she pushed more sand onto the pile. "Go do things. The rest of the playground is right over there. I'm sure Mom would let you in if you wanted to go back to my house."
"But that's boring too."
"Then make something to do, Rin." Len sighed.
"You mean like you? You already know everything in that book. There's no point in reading it."
"Then there's no point to re-watching movies. It would be nicer if I could read a physical book like we watch movies at Allies house, but I can try to hide the knowledge of the ending until I get there."
"Why would I do that when I could just know everything when I download the book. Reading is so boring anyway. At least the movie looks cool."
"Sure, but the book has so much more. Everyone else has to read the book to learn that, so I'd rather read it. There's also plenty of books without movies. Some of them are really good."
"How many books have you been reading?" Miku questioned.
"A few. Lot's of them have been non-fiction though, and some of those I didn't actually read. I haven't read much fiction yet."
"Then what's that one?"
"Fiction. Allie recommended it," Len answered as he flipped the page. He, Rin, Miku, and Kaito all frose as he was flipping the page. The book vanished as soon as they could move.
"Sorry Allie, looks like we have to go now. We'll see you tomorrow though." Miku smiled as she left with the other vocaloids. They quickly reached their home where Mr. Kistsune was waiting in their room.
"Good, your back!" he cheered when they arrived.
"Well? Why are we back?" Rin asked.
"I got a present for you. I've actually had it for a while now, I've just been waiting for permission to give it to you."
"And you finally got it?" Len questioned.
"Finally's right. They've been taking their time with this one. Originally, I wanted it to just be a part of you, but they wouldn't allow that."
"That long?" Miku cringed.
"Yeah, it's risky. Meiko and Luka arrived just a few minutes ago so I already told them. They're thinking about it."
"Okay then, what is it?" Rin huffed.
"Well, there's this other company that works with holograms. They're goal is to make them be able to be solid. As soon as they heard what we were doing, they offered to let us use their program in exchange for your feedback. They've had quite a few successful tests with other objects, including moving ones, they're just not quite ready for the public yet. They feel having your feedback would help them greatly," Mr. Kitsune explained. "I finally have all the permission I need to try it out, except yours. The choice is entirely up to you now."
"What are the risks?" Miku asked.
"For us? Part of the reason I finally got permission to give you AI in the first place is because you can't physically hurt anyone. If you do anything wrong with this new ability, you won't have it anymore at best. At worst, they'll get rid of you. As long as you're obeying the laws, everything should be fine there. The only other risk is that it is still new technology, but it has worked fine in their tests. It simply hasn't been tested this way yet."
The vocaloids looked at each other.
"I'd like to try it." Len volunteered. "It should be safe and I'd like to be able to touch things."
"Oh no you don't!" Rin growled. "You just got your memory back after almost being deleted. You're not trying anything even slightly new or risky till I or someone else does first."
"I see your point, Rin, but we will be more careful than that." Mr. Kistsune interrupted. "We would like to do one of you before doing anyone else, and we would completely disconnect your orb from your box. If anything goes wrong you'd simply fall back on your back up data."
"Not Len," Rin huffed, standing in front of Len.
"You can calm down, Rin. If you really want it, I'll wait. Okay?" Len sighed, gently turning her around to face him. He smiled. "You don't have to get mad at Mr. Kistsune when I'm the one who volunteered."
"You're not allowed to do that."
"Well I see that now."
"I could go first." Miku volunteered.
"No, I will," Kaito said, confidently.
"You?" Rin questioned. "Why?"
"The same reason you won't let Len try it. People who were just in risky situations shouldn't be doing such risky things so soon. Sure, the risk might not be that high, but still." Kaito shrugged. "Besides, I'm curious to."
"I guess that's okay." Rin sighed.
Miku and Len simply shrugged in response.
"Works for me," Len said. "Now what?"
"If you're all in agreement, then I can install the program into Kaito now. After he has it for a day, and we're sure it's okay, we could do the same for you three. After that, we'd keep your orbs disconnected, so you can't access your rooms, and you'd have to stay here for a few days, just so we can completely make sure nothing goes wrong. Are you all okay with that?"
The vocaloids nodded.
"We will have to warn Allie before we're all stuck here," Miku commented.
"We'll do that tomorrow morning. It's too late to tell her tonight," Len said calmly. "Will we still have to sing?" he asked, directing his attention to Mr. Kistsune.
"No. That will be on hold."
"Yes!" Len cheered quietly, causing Rin to giggle. Len blushed in response. "What? You don't like all of your songs either." He pouted.
"Yeah, but I think you hate most of yours." Rin smiled.
"Not most…" Len protested, but Rin's raised eyebrows stopped him. "Okay, most. But that's just most of the songs they choose. Not most of my songs as a whole. Maybe. I don't even know anymore." Len sighed.
Rin giggled more.
"Okay you two. Back on track." Miku called.
"Yes, on track. Kaito?" Mr. Kistsune held out his hand for Kaito's orb.
Kaito gave it to him and waited as he installed the program.
"There. You should just have a new mode option. Try it out."
Kaito did as he was told, and almost fell over. He managed to steady himself quickly.
"You okay?" Rin asked.
"Yeah, just startled is all." Kaito gasped. "I didn't expect it to feel so different. Don't ask me how though. I don't know."
"Well, is it a good different, or bad?" Rin huffed.
"I'll let you know when I figure that out."
"You will let me know if there are any problems, won't you?" Mr. Kistsune asked.
"Of course. Nothing currently seems to be wrong, just different. I'll make sure to let someone know if anything changes."
"Good. Then, I need to get back to work. Try not to get into any trouble or leave this room too much. Above all, don't leave the facility, and the rest of you, don't tell anyone outside about this yet. You can say you'll be gone, but not why until I say so. Got it?"
"Got it!" Rin and Len cheered as Kaito and Miku nodded.
Mr. Kistsune left the room. Miku, Rin, and Len imediately began preparing to sleep in the main room with Kaito, but they stayed up talking for a few hours before finally going to sleep.