Same Boat

Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid.

Chapter 2: Mixed Lunch

The lunch bell rang, interrupting their sensei's lesson.

"Alright class, we will be having a test over chapters 1-5 so study hard and come prepared." Their math called out and exited the classroom, leaving the teenagers to enjoy their meal.

The class pushed their desks together, presenting what their parents or themselves had packed to eat. A couple trade offs and bargaining filled the air as plain rice was swapped for some squid shaped hot dogs and greens. Not a lot of people bothered to visit the vending machines due to their over crowded tendencies and money-stealing unreliability.

Luka, Kaito and Meiko had moved their desks to form a triangle, leaving a bit of space for one more person to scoot in. Speaking of that person…

"Kamui-san! Come over and sit with us!" Meiko hollered and waved her arms frantically while Kaito pointed to the unpopulated spot across from Luka.

The purple haired young man sighed before moving and placing his bento down. Meiko smiled warmly while Kaito munched on his ice cream. Luka hadn't opened her bento yet as it was sort of a game to reveal their food at the same time.

"Alright, 1…2…3!" Meiko, Luka and Gakupo opened their box lunches.

Luka's was neatly packed with baked tuna, fried rice and sashimi on the side. A few triangulated onigiri were resting in the corner, some filled sourly and others sweetly.

Gakupo's bento looked like an eggplant wonder land. Everything had some form of the vegetable in it from the rice balls to the eggplant beef stew in a small container. Eggplant shaped cookies with tiny bits of the skin sat in a small clear bag.

Meiko's was a mess. Everything was mixed together in a giant vat of sausage, sake, rice and some green fuzzy stuff suspected to be broccoli.

Luka raised a pink eyebrow at Gakupo's lunch. Obsession much? The boy was going to turn purple with that eggplant which would probably explain the color of his hair. Not wasting her breath commenting, she broke her chopsticks and announced aloud "Itadakimasu~" before starting with her baked tuna her favorite part of the meal.

The 4-man group ate quietly with each other and occasionally laughed at one of Meiko's jokes.

"Man, Mikatao-sensei is so bald, when the sun's rays shine on his head, he blinds God." The brunette voiced causing a string of laughter to follow suit.

Right when she was going for another gut puncher, a packet of melon bread was hurled at the back of Luka's head. Sitting across from her and seeing the object coming, Gakupo extended his arm out to the max, leaning forward to do so and caught the flying pastry centimeters in front Luka's head. Their faces were so close to each other. Aquamarine met sapphire for the first time and a light blush adorned the pink haired lass's face from their proximity. If you didn't know any better... you'd think they were kis-

"Luka! Your food!" Kaito called out, breaking from eating his wintry treat and pointed to his friend's now eggplant flavored bento.

She broke the odd trance and peered down to see various eggplant dishes ruining her tuna. Gakupo had knocked his lunch over when he stood up so quickly. Retracting from the awkward position, the purple haired student tried to remedy the situation.

"Wait, wait. I bet it's not as bad as it looks." He tried to reassure. The death glare he received was a good indicator he was not helping.

Gakupo rubbed the back of his head and handed her the melon bread which he had caught as a truce. Luka snatched it out of his palms, eating it annoyed. Feeling guilty and not wanting to waste food, the tall boy mixed the two lunches further and took a bite with his chopsticks. Hey… this is pretty good! He thought.

"Um… Lu- Megurine-san…" Gakupo asked sheepishly.

"What?" She asked coldly and nibbled on part of her pastry.

"It actually tastes great." He retorted and picked up a piece of the combined dish.

"If you think I am going to eat the purple, pink, and white concoction, you have another th-" Before she could finish her mini-tirade, Gakupo had shoved a morsel into her mouth.

Initially thinking of poison, Luka tried to spit it back up to no avail and swallowed the piece. It… wasn't bad at all. Taking her chopsticks, she ate more of the mixed dish, growing accustomed to its addictive and special taste. Gakupo let out a sigh of relief and dug into the meal as well. Kaito and Meiko looked at them like they were eating out of a dumpster and promptly made a few gagging noises. Taking a glance at Luka's desk, a question popped up in Gakupo's mind.

"Hey… Megurine-san… why do you have that writing?" He asked innocently as possible. Day 1 and he already feared her wrath.

Luka glanced over at what he was talking about. The words which some of her fellow classmates had tagged her desk with were still there. She needed to get some water and cleaner to rub it off… The pink haired young woman merely stood up and grabbed a few wet towels.

"Neh neh, Kamui-san, a lot of the class… doesn't favor Luka." Kaito tried to explain, finishing his ice cream and throwing away the cup.

"You can blame that on "Sweet" Amai Ann." Meiko added, spitting out the girl's name like it was poison.

"Who's Amai Ann?" Gakupo asked as Luka came back, wiping up and down her desk and removing the graffiti.

"Oh, just a cold-hearted witch with an attitude problem." Kaito and Meiko responded at the same time, earning a small smile from Luka which didn't go unnoticed.

Gakupo merely nodded his head and didn't ask any more questions as this girl seemed to be a touchy subject. Speaking of her, Ann had heard everything the group had voiced and wasn't too happy about it. Finishing her well done steak, the blond pink-highlighted young woman walked over to Gakupo, standing behind the boy.

"I wouldn't listen to them, Kamui-kun. You've already been pegged a freak and nerd. You don't want to add loser and social piranha to that repertoire now do you?" She asked sickly sweet.

Now he understood why they called her "Sweet" Ann. That sentence almost made him gag his lunch. Not wanting to cause a scene or send more projectiles that could hurt harder than bread, Gakupo shook his head like an idiot.

"It's social pariah." Luka mumbled.

"What did you say?" Sweet Ann questioned loudly, gaining the attention of everyone in class.

"Are they going at it?"

"Oh man Luka's gone and done it now."

"Cat fight! Cat fight!"

Many students began to crowd around the small group of desks uncomfortably, trying to get a piece of the action. Finished with the food, Luka got back up and lowered her eyes so no one could see her piercing aquamarines through a bright glare of light. She opened her mouth to speak but held her breathe for a moment to think.

"I was simply correcting you, Sweet Ann-san." Luka muttered unable to find her voice.

Gakupo raised an eyebrow. What happened to the girl who almost made me see the devil? He wondered and turned to Meiko and Kaito for an answer, but they were too focused on the matter at hand. Giving up, he himself went back to the confrontation that was soon escalating.

Raising her hand, Ann immediately back handed Luka in the face, causing her black glasses to spin on to the floor.

"Have you forgotten who you are and I am, Megurine? Remember who owns everything you hold dear. Remember who keeps you alive. Remember what you owe." Sweet Ann seethed out and pulled her hand back for another slap.

Meiko rushed over and grabbed her arm while Len and Rin who had been standing back, grabbed the other. Miku and Kaito knelt down Luka to help her up and checked the damage. Her porcelain skin wasn't bruised but tinged a harsh crimson. The pink haired girl merely stared up at Ann with unfaltering eyes. She was not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she had caused a tear to be shed. Gakupo stood up abruptly and began walking over to Ann with a deep frown on his face.

"How in the world could you hi-" He started to rant.

CRUNCH!

Gakupo looked down and paled slightly when he lifted his foot.

Black crushed glasses…

He gazed up to see a furious Luka break away from Kaito's and Miku's comforting arms. She stormed up and punched Gakupo in the mouth before racing out of the room with her hands covering her face. Everyone gazed at purple headed klutz whom had crashed into the desks behind him due to the magnitude of her fist. Little eggplants floated around his head with stars before he came to. Meiko was about yell up a storm at him when the boy dashed out of the room.

"Where the heck is he going?!" Meiko called out and grabbed Kaito's scarf, dragging him along to follow the oaf.

Sweet Ann flicked her hair back and called for her group to continue eating as the hype and atmosphere died down. The three sighed to themselves also wanting to go see if Luka was alright. Noticing the remnants of Luka's glasses, Ann kicked them into a corner and went back to her seat.

Sprinting through the hallways, Gakupo didn't care how badly his legs hurt. He had to find her and apologize. His face throbbed from her impressive punch but that didn't stop him. Looking around for a moment, he tried to get a barring on his surroundings. He was near the central stairs and had run around the last 2 floors. There was no way she left the school as the guards would have stopped her without a pass or escort. Where is she? He pondered when something caught his eyes on the stairwell leading to the roof. Hair pins? Luka was wearing these! Following the trail, he found himself coming face to face with the roof door. He looked through the small window, pressing against the glass, and searched for a sliver of pink hair.

He couldn't see anything.

Sighing in defeat, Gakupo was about to head back down when he heard something coming from outside… singing? Curious now, he opened the door and peered around the roof. The bright sun hung in the sky with blankets and puffs of clouds surrounding it. The music was becoming louder the farther out he went. Turning around, Gakupo moved to the back area of the roof, behind the small building which held the stairs inside and found a figure hunched over, hugging its knees to its chest. The lovely sound was coming from it.

What's important to her she can't communicate it…

That's her na-

"-me Toeto." Gakupo finished and stood in front of Luka spellbound.

She looked… so different. Her long pink tresses were free from her confining bun and framed her face nicely in slick shinning waves. Almost like a goddess… Heck she was as close to an angel a mere mortal could get. Lost for words, Gakupo hunched low to her level and tried putting a hand on her shoulder. Luka slapped it away angrily, not meeting his eyes.

"What do you want?! You've already caused enough trouble." She hissed out.

Gakupo flinched but didn't retract his hand and pulled her into a tight hug. Luka immediately tried to squirm out of it, but found she was pinned between the building wall and him. Damn this over-sized lug… She beat on his chest a bit to get him to let go but to no avail.

"Calm down… I'm sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to cause a scene or step on your glasses." Gakupo whispered to her ear in a relaxing deep honest voice.

Luka shivered. What happened to the girly man that found the floor more interesting than people's faces? Blushing heavily and not wanting to show her mug, she pushed him off and followed some ants on the ground with her bangs covering her eyes, avoiding his sapphire orbs. Frowning, Gakupo raised her chin to meet him. I really hate his eyes… Luka tried to look away, but his grip was too strong.

"Let me make it up to you. How about I take notes for you if you can't see the blackboard?" He offered.

"No."

"Walk you to class every morning?"

"No."

"Make mixed bentos?"

"No."

Sighing, Gakupo released her and ran a hand over his capped head. Luka sat up, dusted off her skirt and walked silently to the stairwell. She turned back to boy with one final statement.

"There's nothing you can do so stop it." She seethed in monotone and left Gakupo on the roof feeling like a guilty fool.

Before making it back to class, the young woman pinned her hair back up in the bathroom, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had seen her with it down.

"Luka!" Meiko called out to her friend as she saw her exit the building.

Luka turned around and gave the brunette a small smile, stopping for her to catch up.

"Um… so, are you going to be alright? I mean we've got to teach Ann a lesson she will never forget for this. She's pushed the situation too far." Meiko blared, shaking her fist slightly.

Luka patted Meiko's shoulder and softly shook her head. There was nothing anyone could now or ever. Knowing this, the brunette punched a wall, causing a massive dent… and barley missing Kaito who now had his soul briefly leave his body for a second.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Kaito. I didn't see you there." She apologized and removed her fist, letting wall chippings fall.

"No… problem. Luka, want to go get something to eat. I heard Youmai's has a new dish." Kaito offered and held a poster up. "Teriyaki-diced Tuna only 800 yen!"

Luka shook her head, making the pair gasp. She wasn't interested in tuna?! There was something seriously wrong with her…

"I'm going to head home then cram school. Sorry guys." She bowed and left them with their mouths hanging wide open.

"SWEET ANN!" Rin slammed the girl's locker shut and stuck a finger in her face.

"Yes, Rin?" She asked nonchalantly.

"What you did today was too much! I can't believe the teacher didn't write you up or something just cause you threatened to fire him! Your dad has power, not you." Rin shouted but was soon held back by her younger brother.

"Need I remind you who works under my father?" Ann retorted. She pulled out a condensed list of employees. "Ah… let's see.. Kaemai, Kagani, Kagemine… Hmm..? Aren't those your last names?" She asked innocently and threw the list in their faces.

Rin almost pounced on the girl when Miku grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into an embrace. Len patted her back, calming his older sister down while Ann simply walked off.

"This is so unfair. Can't we do anything?" She whined into Miku's blazer.

Len and Miku bit their lips. They all knew the answer to that and accepted it painfully.