Sorry for not updating + this is super short and uninteresting + get ready for a much longer and hopefully more interesting chapter in the next few days, narrated by Gumiya. Also Frozen is awesome. :D

It's a little over three o' clock in the afternoon.

Classes have just now ended; they say that on the first day coming back to school, classes end a few hours earlier that normal. If today were a normal day, the students would have been let out around four thirty.

I stand in front of my locker, packing everything into my backpack. The clothes I was wearing, the folders and notebooks the teachers have handed out, a letter for my parents - in this case, parent - and some sheet music Dr. Namine gave me.

It seems like it will be nice to play, once I get home.

I walk out to the school gates, lost in thought. Floating among clouds.

The students of Vocaloid Academy seem to be in no hurry to return home. They wander around the school grounds in twos and threes, in large bustling groups, energetic and alive and full of color. It's all rather dreamy, as if I'm someone from another world who just happens to be standing here by a stroke of luck.

I close my eyes for a precious second and lose myself in the warmth.

The world, I think, is so very beautiful.

Someone shouts. I instinctively stiffen as I look to see who it is.

It's Miku's group, yelling and laughing as Luka pinches her brother. From the expression on her face, it seems as though she's telling him off about something. Luki grins, running a hand through his hair, and runs off with Miku's brother. Mikuo? A tall boy with violet hair almost as long as Miku's twintails stands next to Luka - I briefly wonder who he is. Lily points at them and laughs until she's doubled over in pain. Gumi giggles, hand pressed to her mouth. Gumiya walks close, expression somewhat sulky.

They seem very happy.

I turn and walk out of the school gates. I wonder what mommy is doing. I remember the morning's episode - how mommy was determined to walk me to school no matter what, then glanced at her ringing phone and nearly dropped her coffee on me. She stumbled back into the television instead, knocking it over. Sprinting off toward the direction of her office, she'd told me to go, go, go.

And so I had.

Then the severity of the situation hits me and I freeze in my tracks. At the time I'd thought that it was a budget problem - mommy and I aren't really well-off. We have had a few episodes like that in the past, where mommy continues to forget and misplace things until something serious happens, like the electricity being cut off.

She's a little like that. But...

But what if this is the one time something goes wrong? Mommy promised to come get me when school was over, so why -

"Rinny - "

My head snaps up, blood rushing from my face - I can hear my heart beating wildly, erratically, like someone is defibrillating me over and over again.

It's only Miku.

"Going home?" she asks.

I nod.

"Come on!"

The teal-haired girl pulls me close and puts a slim arm around my shoulders, all the while chattering non-stop with almost everyone in the group. I smell her perfume, sweet and girly and somehow mouth-watering, oranges and something sugary, creamy. It's such a vivid contrast from the coffee and iodoform at home that I find myself breathing in the saccharine scent, wanting to get more of it.

"Did you see Miss. Mew and Mr. Tonio during lunch today?" Miku's face is shining with angelic glee. "They are just so cute! They need to get together already - "

Lily pokes her cheeks. "Miku, Miku. Always so romantic. But boys run away at the sight of you, don't they?"

"What?" Miku's cheeks flush. "Lily! It's not like - ugh - "

"That's her Achilles' heel," says Luka, which makes the tall boy next to her snort. "Miku's unshakeable unless you mention how single she is. Or insult her hair, I guess."

"Hair's a perfectly good thing to get upset over," the tall boy replies in a mild, civil voice. I notice his hair, long and brilliantly purple. "Don't you use three different shampoos, too?"

Luka smiles. "Only because you keep on giving them to me!" She rests her head on his shoulder, squeezing the tall boy's hand.

"You guys need to get - " Miku's eyes go wide and she perks up dramatically. "Oh!" She bounces over to the violet-haired boy and strikes a pose as though she is a magician showing off a previously-decapitated assistant who has just reappeared perfectly unharmed. "This is Gakupo! You haven't met him before. Gakupo, this is Rin."

Gakupo bows awkwardly, looking slightly embarrassed. He's tall, a head taller than both Luka and Lily. His lavender-colored hair hangs almost to his knees even when pulled into a ponytail at the top of his head - like Miku, although, I suppose, Miku is far shorter than Gakupo, so his knee-length hair would actually be longer than Miku's knee-length hair. I quickly push those thoughts away and bow back, realizing that I might have missed a beat in doing so.

"Nice to meet you, Rin," says Gakupo, maybe a little stiffly, although his voice is still quite mild. Maybe his clipped words. For some reason, I notice his tie; violet with an odd blob-shaped pattern. Vegetables?

"They're hair buddies," adds Lily, grabbing a handful of teal and violet hair in each hand respectively.

Miku squeaks and runs after Lily, trying in vain to get a handful of the other girl's blonde hair. "You stop there, Lily! You don't know the pain of getting the joy of your life tugged!"

Lily only laughs and hops out of reach.

I find myself watching, quite amused. I don't even notice that Miku and Lily running off has left me next to Gumiya, who seems perfectly aware of this. It's so natural I wouldn't have noticed unless I was so painfully sensitive, but Gumiya shrinks back bit by bit, seemingly enraptured with his phone.

Oh. Mummy told me that enemies were bad. As I bite my lip, wondering how he expects me to apologize to him when he keeps on isolating himself, a voice cuts into my thoughts, soft and clear - Gumi.

"So, Rin - " Gumi cocks her head prettily, green curls swishing around her face. "You've live abroad?"

I nod. Gumi seems nice enough, so very guileless, but it's that very innocence that keeps me on my guard.

"Is it sunny?"

I blink, and tilt my head, questioning. "Excuse me?"

The bouncy girl laughs. "Is there a lot of sunlight?"

I look up, squint at the blinding sun.

Gumi looks almost heartbroken. "No sun?"

I drop my gaze, not sure how to respond. I'm not sure whether Canada gets more sun that Japan, although I am reasonably sure it's colder. As for the sun? It's my first day in sunlight. I have no idea how one is supposed to judge whether a place is sunny or -

Then I freeze.

Meow?

I whirl around, my hair flipping into my eyes. If she's here, if the cat's here, then mummy and I are dead, dead, dead, cut open and bleeding out already -

"Ooh, kitty!" Gumi points at a cat

My muscle relax and I almost fall over. I lick my lips, dry and parched. "Why... Why is the cat...?"

Gumi eyes are so dejected, I think that she's going to cry for a moment. "They're abandoned. Stray cats. People have their pet kitties and don't take them with them when they move. I never do that!" She turns to Gumiya, eyes blazing. "Did you ever do that? Huh, Gumiya? You ever do that?"

I breathe out, long and steady. It's nothing, Rin. Everything will be fine. This is Japan, hours away from wherever we were before, and that's by airplane, too.

Then I hear the sirens. Loud, loud, sharp and jeering, echoing through my ears and I honestly can't hear anything over the sound of them coming to get me -

Boo.

I scream.

I see a hundred Gumis and Gumiyas, a million cats dancing around with cannons ready. The sirens are overpowering, shrieking, and I cover my ears, whisper you can't find me you're not here.

Someone stands over me - bright colors and shadow -

" - GET AWAY - "

I lash out with all my strength, and the figure's gone, I can feel the bright sunlight shining down on my again. They're standing around me - columns and shadow and long limbs. I back away, trying to find a way out. Crouch down, so they can't get me. I look around; everything swirls, but I see figures, great columns of smoke and then I spot a flash of red.

"Mommy - " I spring towards her but find myself blocked by one of the figures. It reaches out a hand and I can see its mouth, a grotesque hole squelching and screeching, its jaw drooping to the ground as its words echo dissonantly.

Don't run, lady. Brutum fulmen, remember?

I try to punch the figure, miscalculate but still sweep the figure off its feet. It disappears in a puff of fog and I run, run, run. I must tell Mommy that the cat girl is here, that we must get out before she finds us. The ground spins and I almost fall, but pull myself up - Mommy's only six feet away -

I feel my fingers brush the sleeves of Mommy's lab coat and she disappears, too, leaving me standing alone. "Mommy?"

My breath rushes out and I fall into nothingness.