Neither of the two women are able to get any shut-eye, instead they chat and frequent a coffee bar, and watch the television set in the guest room. Yukari is even afraid to take a shower alone, so IA joins her. The water is so warm, and the sound of sprinkling water feels detached from their current reality. IA purchases a bar of sea-salt chocolate for Yukari, having taking note of the pantry in the hideout, she seems rather fond of products with cacao in them!
The television had mind-numbing levels of social conditioning and lies, and discrimination against VOICEROIDs. IA's switches from the news channels and puts on a Lifetime movie. It's really no better, the scenario in the script is that the beautiful VOCALOID model must fight off a crazy, VOICEROID stalker. Not the best portrayal of the lower class. At least with a fictional movie, they're able to laugh at its absurdity! Yukari playfully puts IA in a chokehold and they laugh in bliss.
"Yukari," IA says, when the sun has risen at last, "I have a music video to perform with Teto today. I'll have to leave for a few hours, will you be okay?"
"No," Yukari states plainly, "I'll be too worried about them doing something to you."
"My contract has to be renewed after the next couple of music videos," IA vocalizes, using the rationality to abate her fear, "after that, we make a getaway."
After their breakfast in the plaza, IA dresses in her pre-packaged attire: her black tank-top and petal-pink skirt, and after giving Yukari one last kiss, she's off. She clicks her shoes on the pavement outside of the hotel, as a taxi picks her up at an adjoining street corner. Restless, Yukari dons a vogue disguise: a name-brand beret, a beige trench-coat, sunglasses, and a pair of stiletto heels; and waits outside of the music video production office.
Inside the building, Teto runs up to IA, who has a ghoulish amount of shadows under her eyes and whispers in a severe tone, "Where in the world have you been? All of the talents, including myself, have been grilled up and down about your sudden... departure, from your housing arrangement. Where have you been sleeping at night?"
"None of your business," IA says, furrowing her eyebrows.
"It is my business," Teto gawks, "we are under the same management team, OИE is your understudy, and we were best friends, last time I checked!"
"We still are," IA says, her eyes softening, "there's no need to worry though, worry only complicates our job."
Teto holds IA in an embrace and says gently, "Don't make me worry about you, then!"
"Understood," IA answers, but is unsure of how sincere she could be with that promise, since she had chosen to run away with Yukari, without looking back. That may mean having to cut ties with her good friend, Teto, the most loyal VOCALOID in the industry. IA feels a wave of mawkishness overtake her stolid composure and she embraces her dear friend.
"It's time!" a human with a production cap, calls from the other side of the dressing room door.
"This is our first music video together," Teto chimes, her smile sincere as a dog with a waggling tail, "so, let's break a leg. Or something less violent than that. I like my legs!"
IA chuckles and looks at her from underneath her long eyelashes. Teto is wearing a silver turtleneck that is glistening iridescently in the light, IA feels unkempt by comparison. The two luminaries walk on stage, and under the heat of the large lamps, they do their routine in tandem. Both are smiling at each other, both living in the moment of their stint in the spotlight.
After the recording is done and the directors politely thank them, Teto brushes her bangs with her fingers and says, "Say, Ari, wanna go grab a couple of blended juices or something? There's this nice, little place that has a variety of organically produced drinks! Whaddaya say?"
"Oh, sure," IA says, but she can't help but worry about Yukari, "that sounds like a blast."
When they leave the facility, a specific perfume that smells of lavender and two tresses of hydrangea-colored twin-tails catch IA's eye. The bird-boned blonde immediately sees through the rock singer's disguise. Her voice ejaculates dramatically, "Yukari?!"
Teto turns to her, with an eyebrow raised, asking, "Yukari?"
"No, no, no!" IA dismisses, "I said: do you have a card for our treat?"
"Hm," Teto grouses, "it sure didn't sound like that to me. Are you sure you're telling me the truth? You've been acting rather strange, these last few weeks."
"Don't ask any questions, okay?" IA explicates, harangued by a sense of guilt, "I'm not ready to talk about it, yet!"
"Okay, okay!" Teto concedes, "I know I can be far too nosy for my own good, sometimes."
"Téa," IA whispers, "it's really complicated and I don't want you to get your curiosity to get you killed."
"Just so you know, though," Teto scoffs politely, "I'm always here for you. No matter the circumstance. You got it?"
"Silly," IA says with a small smile, "I already know that about you. You're a great friend."
Teto puffs her chest out proudly.
From afar, there's a sharp sound that pierces the air, and a stray bullet from a gun blasts through Teto's skull. The android wobbles back, still managing to stand, her knees bowed in — the red-head looks at IA wide-eyed, as the strawberry syrup of her red blood scalds her eyes. A few more shots clatter into her figure and her body splays apart, mechanical parts disjoint and slap against the ground. Innocent bystanders scream and gasp, women cover their children's eyes.
"TETO!" IA screams in a bloodcurdling cry, that echoes through the plaza.
When their eyes met, that seemed to be Teto's last moment alive. No time for final words. No brief embrace for one last goodbye. Teto's drill-haired head is obliterated in the cross-fire. Her cheerful face is ripped into a million little screws and mechanisms. Her hard-drive is shattered against the pavement. Yukari comes out of hiding and squeezes IA against her chest—the blonde is weeping and overwrought with trickling streams of lacrimation.
She suppresses a final scream into Yukari's jacket, and the purple-haired woman says severely, "We have to get out of here, or we're next—"
Her words are followed by a timely ricocheting of bullets, and as they make their getaway, the sirens of an ambulance screeches in the distance. IA is unable to get Teto's dismantled face out of her head, her gunmetal-grey face plate, her wires littered all over the walkway, her bits of sentient brain demolished in a few deft shots. IA thinks to herself mournfully, Why would they do such a thing to Téa? Whoever they are! What purpose does killing her serve? Other than to cause fear and distress at another talent lost in the industry. Who knows whether they will cover up her death, and replace her with a new Teto, or what? Was all of that done, in order to strike fear into my heart?
In their hotel room, it feels like there's a mile of distance between the two girls. IA is still sobbing; unable to console. Yukari has snuck a few firearms into the hotel room, and is pacing up and down the carpeted path between the living room area and the bedroom. IA has her legs up to her chest, and she's wilting in a prolonged fetal position. To break the ice, Yukari clicks on the television set.
"This just in," the news anchor reads lines off a teleprompter, with a severe look on her face, "The beloved VOCALOID idol, Teto, has been hospitalized and is confirmed dead, as of this evening! She was admitted to the emergency care facility with eight gunshot wounds in her body. Five to the head and three to the heart, is what our reporters tell us," the lady in a pencil skirt and blazer theatrically shuffles a pile of papers, "investigators on the scene say that the prime suspect behind the shootings is a VOICEROID, by the name of Yukari Yuzuki. The lead singer of an indie band. Sources say that they suspect that Ms. Yuzuki has been an obsessed fan of another VOCALOID under Teto's label, IA. Detectives say that civilians have seen Ms. Yuzuki claiming to have known IA, and they reported it to the authorities, out of worry for IA's safety. IA still has yet to be found, authorities worry that she may have been abducted under the aegis of the deranged, Yukari Yuzuki."
"So, that's their game, is it?" Yukari sneers bitterly, "They're going to try to kill you and make it seem like I did it. Those bastards!"
IA looks defeated, blank-faced, whispering, "I don't want to die, but at the same time, I don't know if I deserve to live on. Teto was killed, because of me!"
The same news anchor feigns sympathy and says, "This is the heart-breaking footage of the two girls that was recorded for their new music video. The song is called: The Lost One's Weeping."
IA's eyes glisten as she sees her best friend's smiling face, as they begin their rehearsed routine, through the radiating television screen:
刃渡り数センチの不信感が
A blade's edge with centimeters of suspicion
挙げ句の果て静脈を刺しちゃって
Stabbing a vein at the end of it all
病弱な愛が飛び出すもんで
Sickly love spurts out
レスポールさえも凶器に変えてしまいました
Even my Les Paul became a deadly weapon
ノーフィクション
It's no-fiction
数学と理科は好きですが
I like math and science
国語がどうもダメで嫌いでした
But I was never one for Japanese
正しいのがどれか悩んでいりゃ
I'd worry about which answer was right
どれも不正解というオチでした
Jokes on me, both were wrong
本日の宿題は 無個性な僕のこと
Today's homework is my basic self
過不足無い 不自由無い 最近に生きていて
With just enough, with no complaints, living in the nowadays
でもどうして 僕達は 時々に いや毎日
But why do we sometimes— no, always
悲しいって言うんだ 淋しいって言うんだ
Say we're sad? Say we're lonely?
黒板のこの漢字が読めますか
Can you read the kanji on the board?
あの子の心象は読めますか
Can you read the shape of her heart?
その心を黒く染めたのは
Who stained that heart black?
おい誰なんだよ おい誰なんだよ
Who was it? Who was it!?
そろばんでこの式が解けますか
Can you do this problem on an abacus?
あの子の首の輪も解けますか
Can you undo this collar on her neck?
僕達このまんまでいいんですか
Can we keep going on like this?
おいどうすんだよ もうどうだっていいや
What're you gonna do? I don't care anymore!
いつまで経ったって僕達は
All this time we were
ぞんざいな催眠に酔っていて
Under a crude hypnosis
どうしようもない位の驕傲を
Holding an incredible arrogance
ずっと 匿っていたんだ
Hidden inside
昨日の宿題は 相変わらず 解けないや
Can't do yesterday's homework, as always
過不足無い 不自由無い 最近に生きていて
With just enough, with no complaints, living in the nowadays
でもどうして 僕達の胸元の塊は
But why does this lump in our hearts
消えたいって言うんだ 死にたいって言うんだ
Say we want to disappear? Say we want to die?
黒板のこの漢字が読めますか
Can you read the kanji on the board?
あの子の心象は読めますか
Can you read the shape of her heart?
その心を黒く染めたのは
Who stained that heart black?
おい誰なんだよ おい誰なんだよ
Who was it (who was it—)
そろばんでこの式が解けますか
Can you do this problem on an abacus?
あの子の首の輪も解けますか
Can you undo this collar on her neck?
僕達このまんまでいいんですか
Can we keep going like this?
おいどうすんだよ おいどうすんだよ
What're you gonna do? What're you gonna do!?
面積比の公式言えますか
Do you remember the formula for area ratio?
子供の時の夢は言えますか
Do you remember the dreams of your childhood?
その夢すら溝に捨てたのは
Who threw those dreams in a ditch?
おい誰なんだよ もう知ってんだろ
Who was it (you know who it was—)
いつになりゃ大人になれますか
When are you going to grow up
そもそも大人とは一体全体何ですか
What is a grown-up, anyway?
どなたに伺えばいいんですか
Who has the answers
おいどうすんだよ もうどうだっていいや
What're you gonna do (I don't care anymore)
TO BE CONTINUED