Previously:

Dear Crypt Future Media,

I would like to contact you about this technology that I have created. It is a machine that is similar to a projector, but it compresses the molecules in the air such that the thing that is being projected can be felt and interacted with. I have used your programming and a model that I found to do a test run with this technology, and it worked.

However, while testing out my machine, the model glitched and disappeared, repeating an error message that it was to be sent back to the main facility. It is really a shame that my test run was cut short by this event.

I would like to request that your team send me the coding for the AI as soon as possible.

Regards,

Gumi Megpoid

She cracked her knuckles and smiled. Yes, that would suffice. Now, she just had to wait.

The next few days were horrifying. Kaito, that one person known for his bubbly, cheery, demeanour, had progressed into a gloomy, depressed state quickly after hearing Gumi's bad news about being unable to retrieve the AI program. Gumi had stormed into his house multiple times just in time to drag him away from that one pen knife he was itching to drag across his wrist, and had resorted to sleeping on the couch so as to keep watch on him.

Heck, even a large tub of vanilla ice cream hadn't managed to cheer him up. As far as Gumi was concerned, that trick always works. It had been sitting in the freezer ever since, not a single bite taken out of it.

Surprising, consider how Kaito tended to indulge in ice cream more than ever when under stressful conditions. Most people were envious of his high metabolism levels.

Sometimes, Gumi even had to force a small amount of rice down his throat when it came to meal times. It was like a routine now, with her shoving food down his gullet three times a day. Thankfully, the bluehead hadn't gone near the pen knife lately, although the greenette still snapped it and tossed it into the bins outside for good measure, making sure the garbage was taken away promptly.

And while Kaito locked himself in his room at night, with a severe case of insomnia, Gumi propped herself on the couch downstairs, trying to keep her eyes open while staring at the computer screen, refreshing the page over and over again to see if the AI program was uploaded again.

Kaito had become the self-neglected depressed friend, while Gumi had been the one to sacrifice her health for others. Pretty strange how normally, one would expect it to be the other way round.

Gumi was jolted awake by someone shaking her shoulders violently.

Damn it, I fell asleep on the job again, was her first thought as she yawned sleepily.

"-mi! Gumi!"

The greenette refocused on the bluehead in front of her and was startled by the sight. It was as if the entire malfunction thing never happened.

Kaito, back to normal, that same glint in his eyes that he had all the time. Gumi blinked. Well, wasn't Kaito one quick to recover.

Judging by how excited and energetic Kaito was, and by how the light in his eyes was back again (Gumi swore his eyes were dead when he got the bad news), something good had happened.

Something really, really good.

"What?" She was wide awake now. The bluenet could barely utter a single coherent word without getting interrupted by his excitement.

"What?" Gumi leaned closer. "I can't make out what you're saying! Calm down!"

Kaito took a deep breath. "TheAIprogramfortheprojectorisbackonlinenow!"

"What?!" The green headed female still couldn't make out what the excited ice-cream obsessed male was saying. Something about… AI?

She saw his excited glances towards the laptop and followed his gaze. At first glance, it appeared that Kaito had done some web surfing, but after Gumi's eyes fixed on the heading, she instantly knew the source of the bluenet's excitement.

The AI program for Len was back.

Much to Kaito's disappointment, Gumi said she needed time to go get the connection cable for the projector, download the software, and transfer the coding to the large piece of machinery. She would also need to add in some parts of the coding so as to make it compatible with the projector.

So the male decided to do something productive while waiting.

And by productive, he meant downing the entire tub of ice cream currently sitting in the freezer. When Gumi left his house to get the cable from her own and came back, she sweatdropped at sight of Kaito shoving the creamy goodness into his mouth endlessly.

And by the sound of the spoon scooping up the ice cream, Gumi knew that Kaito was close to finishing the entire tub. And while she, Luka and Aria take a long time to finish one tub, stopping occasionally because of brain freezes, Kaito would only require five minutes to down that whole thing by himself.

Another thing most people envy was his ability to never get the usual old brain freeze.

Gumi sighed as she plopped herself onto the couch beside the bluenet. He spared a glance at her, before resuming his… Was it even human enough to call eating?!

The USB end of the cable was plugged into the laptop, and the slighter one was inserted into the projector. A few moments of the clicking of the keyboard and spoon scraping against the now-empty tub of ice cream later, the greenette was finally done with all the coding and programming and whatnot.

"Hey, Kai! Guess what?"

His eyes bulged, the corners of his mouth almost rising to his ears. His eyes shone.

"Can I turn it on?"

Gumi felt like an adult. Funny to think of it, too, because Kaito was two years older. Even so, he bounced in his seat like a little kid.

Gumi put on her "professional smile".

"Sure you can."

Kaito tossed the empty ice cream container aside, sending Gumi flying across the room to catch it before it hit the ground. It was an instinct, because Kaito had practically licked all the remaining ice cream out, hence no possibility of spillage.

As Gumi raced the flying container across the room, the bluenet jumped off the couch, crossing the distance between him and the project in a single step. However, as he punched the power button, he sensed something wrong.

Something, very wrong.

The projector whirred to life and the male took a step back, afraid it was going to blow up or similar. Instead, a beam of light came from it and Len appeared, dressed in his usual attire. Kaito let out a breath. How stupid could he get? It was the same programming as before.

Nothing could go wrong… right?

"Len!" The ice-cream addict honestly looked as happy as if he had been gifted a hundred tubs of ice cream for Christmas. "I missed you!"

The older male tackled the younger one into a hug, albeit a gentle one, as if he was afraid he would break the blond, despite the fact that he was a hologram. A freaking hologram.

The younger male just stayed motionless, and when they parted, a single sentence escaped his lips.

"And who might you be?"

Kaito blinked, confused. Was the input coding a new one? Is that why Len doesn't remember him anymore? Oh well, it appears he would just have to start again.

It was like pressing the "Reset" button in a video game.

"Let me rephrase my sentence: What is your name?" Len asked.

Kaito glanced at the blond. That horrible gut feeling was still there, and he hated it. Len was being way too polite and neutral, compared to the usual Len he was used to.

"Shion Kaito."

"Welcome, Shion-sama. Kagamine Len, at your service."

Something was seriously wrong..

Kaito and Len stared at each other, the former searching the latter's eyes in an attempt to read his thoughts. However, all he found was blankness. Not a single trace of any emotions or thoughts, not even curiosity at the way Kaito was staring at him.

The shorty tilted his head. "Is something wrong, Shion-sama?"

The words sounded horribly forced, if not automatic. They were simple sounds uttered, without any meaning behind them. Even the motion of tilting his head slightly didn't express any form of curiosity or concern at all. For a moment, dread overcame the older male.

Those cold, unseeing eyes… It seemed that Len would appear more inviting without them.

Kaito broke out of his trance to face Gumi. "What is-" He stopped mid-question at the elated Gumi sitting on the couch. She had a crazy grin on her face, and Kaito knew better than to disturb her. He only knew that Gumi had somehow managed to lose herself in that world filled with technological shiz and stuff alike that he will never understand.

And dragging her out of that state was either impossible or is the equivalent of death. He learnt that the hard way.

The bluenet sighed and reluctantly ran his fingers over the power button, pressing it after a moment of tracing. As much as he didn't want to turn off the projector, he wasn't willing to find out how life with Len as a servant would be like.

Although… it would be nice for some other people. He shuddered at the thought of it. He honestly didn't see the point of coming into contact with a person if this person does not exhibit any form of humanity.

It was like talking to Siri.

The beam of light coming from the projector disappeared the moment the power button was pushed. Gumi's head snapped to look at him. Her eyebrows raised, she walked over. Well, that was a start, Kaito thought bitterly. Most of the time, she wouldn't even respond to me when I try to get her attention.

"What's bugging ya?"

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I… It's not the same. It's like… nevermind."

Gumi had this expression on that clearly said she did not believe him. Still, although being the persistent person she was, the greenette merely let out a sigh, knowing that the bluehead wouldn't answer any questions anyways. She turned back to her laptop. "Whatever you say."

There was a moment of silence, before Kaito decided to break it. "So," he began, knowing it was an awkward conversation starter. But anything to change the subject would do. "What were you so obsessed with just now?"

Gumi's eyes lit up. "Oh! You know how last week, Len's coding disappeared?" She realised it was better to quickly leave the subject alone when a grim expression replaced Kaito's features. "Anyways, I sent an email to Crypt Future Media, introducing the projector to them. And guess what, they didn't just reply, they even expressed interest and wanted to create special character sets for this sort of technology!"

Kaito barely had time to register what the greenette had said before she shook his shoulders roughly. "Kyaaa! Imagine if this thing makes the market! I've always wanted to be an inventor!"

"Wait, wait." Kaito could see the world spinning. "First off, what do you mean by 'special character sets'?"

A sheepish look dawned on Gumi.

"Oops, sorry! I forgot to explain. So Crypt Future Media said that the AIs and MMDs were only meant to serve as their purpose as servants to humankind."

Well, Kaito wasn't really surprised at that part anymore.

"But then," Gumi continued, "We're going to work on a collaboration project, where we improve on the AI and MMD to give them personalities and a wider variety of actions! Kyaaa! A collab! With a big-shot company!"

Kaito tried to stop her.

"Gumi, I don't think you under-"

"Of course I understand!" She began to rattle off about what a huge impact it would make, and started using big terms that went into one ear and out the other.

"Gumi. Gumi? Gumi!"

She stopped in her tracks, staring at him.

"You haven't been listening to me at all. It's just that he's… different, now. He doesn't recognize me, he just acts like a machine. I don't think that that's really what I want."

Gumi was still staring. She'd been doing that a lot, like she didn't understand although she said that she did.

She laced her fingers together and once again, put on her "proffesional face".

"So, what you're saying is you want him back, memories and all. I'm not sure about the memories part, but I can bring back his personality. Just give me a moment."

She strode to the projector, hooked it ip to her computer again, and started typing like mad. Her fingers were practically one large blurred mass to him.

Although Kaito facepalmed at Gumi's way overboard excitement, he couldn't help but feel that prickle of anticipation that appeared inside him.

Yes, I'm ending this here! No complaints, I hope. Also, 2108 words, peeps! Definitely an improvement!

So, for those wondering about the whole "Shion-sama" thing, it's because "Masutaa Shion" is a handful to say, and a handful to write as well. Come one, that's an extra three characters to type! But it doesn't matter either way; I trust you know the term "-sama" and its uses, right? (Lol I just don't want to explain.)

Anyways, Keito feels the new update schedule is ridiculous. But still, it motivates me, and we (she) have the general plot of the story planned out, although some details are still unclear. (P.S. Mr. Android and Sentimental Android motivated me as well.) So, I'll hand this over to Keito now!

Hey dudes. Kyasarin pissed me off cause I didn't get a single say in the plot (but you did say you didn't have to think about it)(I was being sarcastic, bonehead). Also, she took all the writing from me (it was you who had a problem with the update schedule. Don't write if you don't want to), saying that it was to "take the load off of my shoulders".

Didn't think I'd tell them, didja?

I want to write. I really do. Let's end this before it gets too long, kay?

Sure. I'll keep your comments in mind next time. But you can't blame me if you're not online at that time.

Kyasarin, out~

Bye, nerds.

~Keito