"Mm, I'm sure Rin-san is fine," Luka whispered, going to pet Miku's head as if she were a fluffy kitten. She must have been doing it to soothe the exhausted girl, but the seemingly insignificant movement ended up doing the opposite. Abruptly, Miku sprung awake at the sudden, benevolent touch. It was the second time Luka had ever touched her... it felt so peaceful and loving, even the initial surprise melted away at the compassionate feeling of her hand. "Your back will hurt in the morning if you fall asleep on a couch, Miku-san," Luka giggled, admiring the adorable scene as she continued to stroke her.

Miku yawned, as she slowly raised her petite body and nodded. "You're right, a bed would be much better," she chuckled back. She longingly looked Luka in her gentle eyes, not wanting the affection to stop, but knowing it had to (at least, for now). Luka soon stood and started motioning for Miku to follow her, which she gladly obliged to. Suddenly, like the recording room was a mirage, they were in the hallway.

"Rin-chan~!" Miku called out, having absolutely no clue as to where her best friend was, but hoping she heard her anyway. As the woman and girl made it down the stairs, they heard a muffled voice resembling the blonde's high pitched tone.

"Chef-san! Next time put two pieces of that cake with orange icing on my plate, one isn't enough~!" she groaned, so in need of that sweet orange cake she could be heard behind a closed door.

"Rin-chan!" Miku yelled, excitingly busting through the door and giving Rin an impulsive bear hug. Rin choked on her bakery dish as she reluctantly put her arms around the tealette's small frame. She was happy to be getting a hug from her dear Miku, but... it felt bittersweet, knowing it was to make up for her rendezvous with Megurine Luka.

"Miku-chan... what took you both so long?" Rin tried to put on a carefree, even jolly face - but she would have been surprised if the others truly believed it.

She was jealous... she was the one who spent the most time with the tealette, and now she had to see Luka steal her best friend role after knowing Miku for one mere day? Luka didn't earn that title, it was going to be Rin's prize forever...

"Luka and I were singing our new du-" Luka stopped her, shaking her head discreetly since it was still supposed to be a secret except for a select group of people. "We were singing! Yeah! And we got a little ahead of ourselves..." Miku was a poor liar. Rin raised a brow, looking even more put off than she did previously.

Luka stepped in, changing the subject. She knew things would get messy if she allowed the conversation to keep going. "I'm sure you're tired, Rin-san. How about following Miku-san and I so you can pick out a room? I have plenty that will nicely accommodate you," Luka spoke softly, her action of intentionally interrupting the flow of the convo flying over Miku's head.

It wasn't like Rin had a choice in the matter, she wanted a place to sleep after all. The blonde glanced at the bags belonging to Miku and her; Luka's people had retrieved them long ago. She also wanted a place she knew their precious belongings would be safe. "Okay," Rin said stoically as she popped up from the table. She would have to finish the orange cake tomorrow.

Walking up a staircase that seemed never ending, they halted. The pinkette turned to them, revealing what seemed like hundreds of extravagant rooms lined up next to each other like a five star hotel. In reality, it probably wasn't close to hundreds, but it might as well have been to the normal gals. Miku was the first to speak up. "Luka-san, this is amazing~! I can't believe we get to stay in such nice rooms. I mean, I haven't seen them yet, but I know they're nice," Miku kept up the peppy tone, although she knew she was going to pass out as soon as she hit the pillow.

Luka beamed that same, cocky smirk of hers - only at Miku. "You can have any room you want, alright~? Have a goodnight~ You too, Rin," she added, directed at the girl halfway down the hallway.

"I guess she must be sleepy," Miku awkwardly giggled.

They knew that wasn't the reason.

Rin felt embarrassed for the way she was acting, but it hurt. It hurt to see them so close after knowing each other for such little time. Miku and Rin had known each other for years; not even they acted so flirty and dubious! Miku... Miku was important to her. More than a friend was, or should be.

She finally admitted it to herself the second the door shut behind her.

"Do you want me to walk you in your room?" Luka asked in an alluring, mysterious tone, completely dismissing Rin's odd behavior as if it was just a mere mood swing.

Miku nodded in pure happiness. Something about being spiritually tucked in by Luka made her heart pound. "I want... eenie meenie miney mo... that one!" she pointed to a random door with a gleeful, dorky smile.

Luka was happy to walk her. Miku blushed as she opened the door for her, as if she were royalty who never lifted a finger herself. "Do you need anything before you rest~?" she lovingly looked at Miku as the girl immediately flopped on the bed, enjoying the fuzzy, fancy bedding.

Miku jolted up. "U-Um, yes, there is..." she looked away, her eyes nervous. She leaned into Luka's ear, a faint whisper making itself audible. "Where's the bathroom?"

Luka giggled in reply. "Do not worry, I know you still have to brush your teeth and things similar," she paused, pointing a slim finger out. "Right down the hall, then take a left."

Miku bowed with as much energy as she could muster up. There was something about this bed that was making her so, so sleepy... "Thank you, Luka...-san..." she yawned, her eyes growing heavier and heavier by the second.

Luka smiled like she was looking at an adorable drowsy panda, and took the hint that it was time to let Miku rest. Every new day was going to be busy with Luka as her mentor, therefore she couldn't let the tealette become sleep deprived. "Goodnight, Miku-san," she warmly muttered, shutting the door softly behind her.

There was no reply from Miku. She had already fallen asleep, without her pajamas and over the covers like the charming young lady she was.

"M-Mm," Miku stretched, her back hurting slightly from the awkward position she ended up in. Her eyes were met with pure darkness as she finally popped them open; from the looks of it, it was still nighttime. Suddenly, she was reminded of why her body woke her up out of such a deep sleep. She had to use the restroom.

As she quietly tip-toed out of the room (careful not to wake anyone up), she recalled Luka's wise directions. Or, at least tried to. "Left down the hallway and take a right... was it?" she whispered to herself puzzled, her drowsy feet dragging across the floor as she wandered around like a zombie. She continued to aimlessly walk in circles, before resting her hands on a knob that was dubiously the bathroom. The worst it could have been was some kind of maintenance room, and she wouldn't know if it truly wasn't the right door until she opened it, right? It was worth a shot, in her mind.

She twisted the handle, another one of her many yawns escaping her lips as the contents of the room were close to revealing itself.

What came next, Miku couldn't believe. She had to be hallucinating, or delusional due to lack of sleep, there was no way this was real life...!

She abruptly met orbs with the pinkette's burning blue ones, locking in a stare. Innocently, Miku's eyes creeped down towards the rest of her curvy body. As soon as she Luka noticed, she instinctively grabbed her nightgown and laid it across her bare chest. Miku came to the realization the only article of clothing the older woman had on was her lacy panties, making the tealette shield her eyes to prevent herself from intruding on Luka's privacy and sacred places any further. She blushed redder than a bottle of ketchup, her heart pounding out of her chest in embarrassment and a new strange, unidentifiable feeling. "L-L-Luka-san! I'm so sorry!" she bashfully and apologetically yelled, sinking down to her knees and throwing her head on top of them.

Luka blinked upon hearing Miku's voice. "Oh, Miku-san, it's just you," she replied rather calmly, seeming relieved at the revelation as the room was quite dim. It was mildly hard to make out, but Luka was making her way to a lamp and clicking it on. Upon hearing the sudden noise, Miku reflexively looked up.

In that short interval of time, Luka had completely ditched her nightgown. She approached Miku, her hips swaying side to side, and her double D's jiggling slightly. "I... I!" Miku was at a loss for words as she locked eyes with the older woman in such an alluring position.

"You can look... if you would like~" the pinkette purred, her busty, toned body in perfect view as she stood proudly before Miku. Her voluptuous breasts were much bigger than Miku's, causing her to steal a glance in curiosity as to what a bigger chest looked like. Luka didn't seem to mind; in fact, her face appeared like she was taking pleasure in teasing the younger girl. It was a juxtaposition - Luka was confident in embracing her feminine qualities, and Miku was shaming herself since she seemingly lustfully gazed at her.

"Luka-san!" she yelped, her cheeks making her feel like she was outside jogging in the peak of summer. "I... I can't, it would be disrespectful of me to look!" she squeezed her eyes shut, bashfulness apparent on her face. "Wh-Where's the bathroom?"

Luka chuckled at Miku's cuteness - she couldn't help but find her flustered appearance absolutely adorable. "Right down the hall and take a left, sweetie," she smiled.

"O-Okay! Thank you!" was the last thing she said to the woman that night, before she hastily dashed out of the bedroom. There was no way she was going to get any sleep after that perplexing situation...

And Miku was right. After she cleaned up a concerning nose bleed (Miku wasn't prone to them in the slightest, until now, she guessed), she laid back in her bed, tossing and turning.

As the hours went by agonizingly slow, she realized the pesky, bright sun was rising.

After all the time she spent wondering what Luka meant by the preposterous act (and how the tealette herself felt about it), she was left with no answer and definitely no sleep. It was pointless to rest her eyes further, if it was almost time to get up for the day...

But the keyword was 'almost.' She had time for something that would ease her complex feelings, and that was talking to her best friend.

Kagamine Rin.

Of course, it wasn't like she could tell the blonde what happened. It was too embarrassing, and she feared it was invading Luka's privacy, since it was Miku's mistake. What Rin doesn't know can't hurt her, right?

Creeping out of her bed and slowly making her way down the hallway, she rested her hand on the door Rin was behind. This was her room, right...? She didn't want to wake her, but she knew her bestie was always going to be there for her. She was confident she wouldn't mind.

"Rin-chan...?" Miku softly spoke, meeting eyes with her best friend who was already awake, much to her surprise. The blonde sat on her bed with her knees to her chest, as her face revealed a short look of shock before going stagnant. "I'm surprised you're up, it's pretty early..."

"This place gives me the creeps," Rin bitterly spat out, not questioning why Miku waltzed in in the first place. She slightly turned her face away from the tealette as Miku began to sit next to her, uninvited.

"Eh? Why do you say that? It's much nicer than the motel we were originally going to stay at," she said, carelessly resting on the piece of furniture with an aloof expression.

She shook her head. "Maybe it's not the decor, but the people..." Rin mumbled, going to grab a pillow to squeeze. "One in particular..." she whispered, barely audible to the point she was confident her best friend didn't hear - or purposely omitted it.

"Rin-chan~! Don't worry, I know we've never been around famous people before, but it's nothing we can't get used to! Luka-san is really showing us the way around these kinda things. As long as we pay attention to her, we'll be fine!" Miku uttered, as upbeat and cheerful as ever. Her smile beamed, while Rin scoffed quietly.

"You're really dense, Miku-chan. You always have been," she stated, Rin becoming more depressed while Miku's confusion grew. Rin's moody orbs were shifty - they refused to make eye contact. Miku, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to stare deeply into the girl's soul and help her. She knew something was wrong, but couldn't place her finger on what... she also feared Rin wouldn't tell her. She had a tendency of hiding her true emotions.

The tealette cocked her head, bewildered. "Rin-chan, what's wrong?" She locked her eyes on the blonde's violet eye bags; she looked sick... Rin's tone of voice was also different from normal. It remained stagnant no matter what Miku said, like she was trying to conceal something. "Are you in pain?" Before Rin could feebly nod, Miku had another interpretation of her own words. "I can tell Luka-san, and she can call a doctor-"

"Enough, Miku," Rin firmly stated, a fiery expression painting itself on her usually cool features. It was the most emotion the blonde showed Miku today, she... she must have been serious. "I'm going to take a shower to clear my mind," she stood up. "Don't wait for me."

Miku watched as Rin abruptly moved towards the massive bedroom's bathroom door, hesitating slightly before jarringly swinging it open and slamming it.

Everything had happened so suddenly.

Miku was disoriented. So much to the point the tealette wanted to wait for her to finish, but... she knew she couldn't do that. Miku and Rin were best friends, it wasn't like they hadn't had a tense moment or two. Although, something was vastly different about this situation. She heard the water rapidly flowing out of the pipes as she remained puzzled.

She wanted to talk to Rin more. She knew she couldn't right now. She wanted to get to the bottom of their awkward, rigid moment. She knew she couldn't right now. She wanted to make her precious best friend feel better, and smile at whatever crazy antic they would put each other up to as a feel good operation. She knew she couldn't right now.

Miku longingly stared at the bathroom door, the knowledge that Rin was mere steps away from her driving her insane. Miku cared about Rin deeply.

She internally debated on whether or not she should push her doubts away and stay in the blonde's room regardless. It wouldn't be the first time they had gotten dressed together - Rin and Miku had gym class together in high school, it was mandatory, after all. It would have been the first time Rin was solely singled out, though. Even if they were at an overpriced clothing store in the mall to kill time on a Saturday, they both were changing...

Miku shook her head, engulfed in her thoughts. It would be weird if she waited for Rin, she impulsively came to the conclusion. The last thing she wanted was for Rin to be uncomfortable by her actions when she was already feeling down.

Not only that, but thinking about their old, careless, fun, laughing-until-their-sides-felt-like-they-had-broken-off adventures as best friends made her feel melancholy. She also didn't want to re-live the heart attack inducing event that happened with Luka not too long ago...

Luka... Miku wondered what the familiar pink haired Luka was doing.

Miku soon left the room with the thought in her head.

Rin on the other hand stared at the running water with a vacant gaze. She couldn't expect Miku to realize her burning feelings if she wasn't explicit about them, especially since she practically grew up with the tealette. She knew she wouldn't understand various things if she was not told.

It still hurt Rin. She wanted Miku to notice. She wanted Miku to feel the same. She had felt something best friends shouldn't have, ever since high school. She shouldn't - it would jeopardize the friendship that was so sacred and beautiful to them both. She always told herself that, ever since Rin realized her own heart beating for Miku in a more than friendly way.

She began to stare at the tile, making no effort to clean herself as the shower head mercilessly continued its job.

Rin wished Miku never knew of the idol Megurine Luka's existence.