Addon 1: Luka's Change and the Festival
The small apartment was very lively with all the vocaloids. Every morning, Miku and Rin fix up a quick meal. Len would organize and keep his computer working at him while Luka... Luka just sat on the couch like always. Rin started to clean the apartment. Miku went over some new lyrics her master left behind while at college and Luka... sat on the couch. Luka noticed Len on the computer and asked "Do you know where Alex goes to? I feel like seeing where he goes.". Len only said the name of the college and off she went. "Luka!" Miku called out for her but the door was closed.
Luka walked down the streets, passing all sorts of buildings and eventually ending up at the front gate. She walked up to the desk and asked for a look around. A badge was given to her to show she does not work or go here as she looked around. The main lobby had art pieces of many kinds from painting to Sculptures. All made by students. Luka was a bit curious now. She took a look in one of the computer labs, and they were making 3D models for movies. A few doors down were voice actors, art classes and one with composing music! She took a look through the window to see no one was in. A student of Alex's class caught sight of Luka's hair with ease, running up.
"If you are looking for Alex, he is in the lunch room. Classes were cut short for the upcoming Artist Festival. I hope to see you there." the student walked off before Luka could even make a sound. Luka took a look at the map above her and followed the directions to the lunch room.
The student's who she past already started to talk about her.
"It's Luka. What did Alex do this time?"
"My, she looks very hot."
"I want a vocaloid android like Luka now."
Mostly from the men but it was positive. She walked through the double doors and turned a corner to see Alex sitting with Max and two girls. In Alex lap was a crude guitar that the school had for anyone who wished to learn on the premises. She kept her distance from Alex, listening in by turning her headphones up.
"So it's not down here, but up here?" Alex moved his hand along the neck, figuring out what key he wanted to play. Max pointed out the notes and showed with his hands.
"You have to strum it not too rough, otherwise you will kill our ears again." the two girls nodded. They both looked exactly the same, except for the hairstyle. The one on the left had a left sided pigtail and the right had a right sided pigtail. The armbands they wore signaled that they were the head of the upcoming festival. Alex tried strumming once more, another horrible sound came from it. Luka cringed at the sound. To her, it was like grabbing a cat by the tail. Luka turned her headphones down and walked over, pulling the guitar away from Alex's hands.
"Give me that. You are harming the poor thing." Luka sounded agitated and protective over it as if the very instrument was alive. Alex nearly fell out of his chair "L-luka! What are you doing here!" shocked to see her out and about. The students were looking over at his table now, all surprised and possibly excited to see Luka. The twins got up at the same time, extending both their left hand out. The left one from their view introduced themselves.
"So you are Luka Megurine? Alex has told us about you and the other Vocaloid Androids. I am Milly and this is Kim to my right." Kim bowing and continuing the conversation, with the same exact voice.
"Alex was trying to learn how to play the guitar so he could compete in the musical event with you all. We are truly excited to see you and the rest play on stage to us." Luka was a bit freaked out at how identical they were. She shook their hands regardless.
"N-nice to meet you. But if you want to play with a guitar, treat it like a kitten. It has a feeling too." Max laughed at her comment, the only one to laugh.
"An instrument has feelings, that is a good one. So you are going to say you have to beat the drums like-" Luka silenced his dirty joke with one swift punch to his jaw, knocking him out.
"Anyways! Alex. Playing a guitar requires gentle care. Even the famous rockers treat their own axes with care and love like a cat. Like this." Luka began to play a small intro from 'Perfect Liar', another great Luka song. It was short but the cafeteria was already pumped for the rest. The twins clapped in unison, and bowing exactly the same time.
"We look forward to a full performance, Luka. And I hope you all have fun." they took their leave. Alex looked over at Luka, a bit stupid and asked "Teach me how to play the guitar. It's always something I want to do.". Luka shook her head.
"Alex, you only have to worry about making the lyrics and managing the systems on stage for a live performance. We can do the rest." Luka was a bit concerned over Alex.
Since Alex did not have any classes, he went straight home to tell the others...
"An Artist Festival?" Rin asked, a bit dull. Alex explained "The artist festival is where the students and classes show off what they have done and learned. I was able to get a small concert deal for us all on stage, and I wanted to show what songs you guys can sing. So, if it-" Miku tackled Alex in joy.
"Yay! A live performance! Thank you master!" she latched on him like a vice and holding tight. Alex broke free and dust himself off. He pulled up a few lyrics and song names with the vocaloid singing it besides it.
Encounter - Miku Hatsune
Gemini - Rin and Len Kagamine
Double Lariat – Luka Megurine
Luka questioned the lyrics of her song.
"Really? A song about spinning?" she looked very ticked at it. Alex sighed "Well anything you wish to add? I mean it's only three songs and they want us to sing a total of seven. The last one is suppose to be the closer." Luka shoved Alex off the computer and typed up names of songs they all know from the past.
Encounter - Miku Hatsune
Gemini - Rin and Len Kagamine
Double Lariat – Luka Megurine
I Don't Fly – Rin Kagamine
No Thank You – Miku Hatsune
Toeto – Luka Megurine
"And yes, I am willing to sing Toeto cause... well. You liked it and I bet the others would." Luka hid her face from Alex. But there were still only six songs. Miku was thinking very hard about one last song.
"Master. If it is alright, can you give me time to think of a seventh song?" Miku requested, Alex agreeing.
"It's fine, we got three weeks to practice and get our things straight." Miku already started on a song she thought would be perfect. Rin looked over the lyrics for Gemini with Len to understand the mood. Luka however took the chance and pulled Alex in his room. She wanted to say something.
"Luka! What was that for?" Alex felt annoyed from what Luka did. She handed him a small touch pad device. She could not face him, hiding her blushing cheeks.
"This is to help manage us on stage. From changing outfits, to adjusting the levels and just about anything else. We only need to set up speakers and nothing more. This device manages everything." Luka explained, as Alex turned on the pad. Blue and black lights with white bits of information filled the background. The menu showed the options 'Play songs, Outfits, Videos, and Status'. Alex clicked on outfits, noticing the names in order from top to bottom. "Miku, Rin, Len, Luka, Meiko, Kaito." he thought out loud and to himself. He clicked on the Luka option and grinned at her.
"This gives me an idea." his tone sounding very perverted. Luka looked frightened, regretting about giving him the device. Alex accepted one outfit, a long one piece white dress with a floral crown. Luka's headphones lit up and sent a small ring around her body from head to toe, forming the very outfit he accepted. Alex gave her a thumbs up, Luka showing her bashful side. Never the less, she wanted the device.
"Master! Give It back!" a whiny and angered tone emitted from her mouth. Miku was listening from the other door.
"No. You gave it to me, and it's mine. Now let's see...what other-" At that moment, Alex felt his jaw drop. He was going to enable a blue parasol dress with a small matching hat... but accepted a bathing suit. It was pink and white, very short skirt to cover the bottom portion while the top was one strap and featuring a light pink bow in the middle of her chest. He dared not turn around as he waited for the beatings.
"Please go lightly. Please be easy... It was an accident."
"Master?" Miku! The saving grace! She opened the door to poke her head in.
"Is everything al-" She noticed Luka's swimwear, smiling mischievously. A sound like "Nya~" escaping her lips while slowly closing his door and leaving the two alone.
"MIKU! You got it all wrong! It was an accident! I..." This was it. Alex was finished. Or so he thought.
The entire time he acted so afraid, Luka looked at herself.
"He is terrified of me? I know I tend to be protective of myself but... He is my master. He has done much for us." Luka's thoughts were processing. She did a system override from her current outfit and back to the white one piece. She sat next to Alex, looking over.
"Please get up. I can't really blame you." her voice changed to a lower tone, very soft and safe. Alex looked over to Luka, feeling ashamed. He looked at the pad and said "Sorry I went a bit overboard. I really did not mean to pull up that bathing suit outfit." Luka gently put her hand on his shoulder.
"I am sorry for my first impression of being something of a killer. Now then..." Luka took the pad away from Alex, going into Miku's outfits and scrolling down to a bathing suit for her. It was a two piece bikini. Blue with frills on the bottom portion of each with small white dots that sparkled. Her hair would be in one ponytail with a scrunchie of the same color and style. Her left arm having a small wristband on it that looked like a flower. Alex flipped his top.
"W-what?" the outfit seemed to peak his interest. Luka accepted it, and replying "Revenge for putting me in a bathing suit and letting Miku see." before she changed her outfit back to default. A roar that sounded like a creature from hell emanated from the other room.
"MASTER?" The door slammed opened, an enraged Miku with fire in her eyes set on Alex. Alex trembled with fear for Miku now. All that could be heard from the other side was Miku smashing Alex with her personal Leek. Rin and Len just sighed.
"Master gets too much attention from them." Rin explained to Len as if this sort of behavior between the two were normal. Len trying to understand nodded.
"Miku did look good for a second." And that would seal Len's fate with an orange to the back of his head.
There was one week left before the festival can begin. Miku was still working on the closing song, leaving Luka and Alex to help with the stage for the concert. Len and Rin helped with wiring and placement of the speakers. Luka started to check on the speakers and test her mic when Alex asked "Hey. What exactly is this?" he pointed to the pad, looking at the status screen, showing Miku, Rin, Len, and Luka as options. Luka tried her best while testing the mic.
"That displays our status. Like if we have something going on with one of our hardware or system errors. Usually a warning label is next to ours if such a thing is occurring." Alex heard Luka's explanations, pulling up her status that had that label. It showed an outline of her body, broken into various parts. The 'Speaker and Microphone' was her head. The chest was 'Hard Disc Drive and Motherboard'. The Lower section was called 'Cooling and other systems' without any true detail as to what is inside. The warning note started to highlight the problem of the area. The area where a Human heart would be.
"Hey Luka? Are there any problems with your motherboard? It says something is wrong with your heart?" Alex thought it could be a glitch. Luka sighed and took the pad, seeing the note and canceling it.
"It is probably dust in the system, I can do a self clean later." and back to work she went. What exactly is going on with her?
"Luka's Heart?" Rin was asked by Alex. She thought and remembered "There was one time our old master would punish Luka if she did not comply with him. One day, he actually punched her in the middle of her chest. It loosened something and since then, she either seems fine or odd." While helping Len with moving some boxes of wires. Alex had to go deeper. He asked Milly and Kim if he could go home to get something, both agreeing. He ran fast down the streets, nearly getting hit by two cards to ask Miku about Luka.
"Luka's Heart? Was the device saying it was wrong or something?" Miku seems to know too. Alex nodded and replied "I want to fix it. For some reason, I feel like she will become obsolete if it finally falls off." Miku shaking her head.
"It's best to not toy with one of us. Unlike Computers, our structure is very hi tech and super secret. Some of our own parts are also used in Military for another purpose. If anything, you need to call the company who made us. Crypton." she handed Alex the number, and an additional instruction to register the vocaloids under his name. A few dials and long wait times...
"Hello, Alex. How may I help you?" a man's voice came across the phone, very old but nice.
"Hi. I have four Vocaloid androids in my possession. One of them, Luka Megurine, has something loose in the middle of her chest. If you could come-" Alex was interrupted by the man.
"I am sorry. But we fixed it some time ago before they were sold again. However, I can register your name into our database to be the master of the vocaloids you currently own. Whatever is the problem with Luka could be a system problem. Have a nice day." the call ended, leaving Alex more troubled over Luka. Miku grabbed his arm.
"Luka is fine. I assure you." Just then, Luka entered through the door. She noticed Miku and Alex, asking "Anything interesting going on?"
Alex shook his head and grabbed her wrist.
"Come with me Luka. I need you to talk." he pulled Luka into his room once more, now trying to take action.
"Luka. What is going on with you? What is wrong with your heart?" Alex yelled, Luka clenching the center of her chest.
"Alex... Every time I am near you I feel different. It happened back when you chased after me. I have never been treated this nicely before." her face showing an unknown worry of herself. Alex sighed and sat down, Luka following and sitting next to him.
"Luka. We are all concerned about you. If your heart is telling you to do something or say something, just get it over with." the words hit Luka like a truck. She fiddled with her fingers and started to feel shy.
"Umm..." Luka looked in other directions, Alex figuring out what was wrong.
"Is it Toeto? Your shy side?" He tried to look into her eyes, Luka avoiding his glare. She only nodded.
"Well then. I guess I can't get a word out of you-" Luka nearly tackled Alex, burying her face in his chest as small hiccups came from her.
"A-are you crying? I-i'm sorry I tried to make you look like-" Luka shouted from his chest "No!". She lifted her head up, tears lightly flowing.
"I...Like you. But you seem to like Miku more. I kept some of that excess trash inside my system and now I just want to be treated Nicely." she gripped his shirt, quietly sobbing. Alex sighed while placing his arms around Luka, lightly.
"There there. Just let it out."
"Luka. Whatever your previous owner did to you is unforgivable. Even if you are not human, you deserve to be treated...Like one."
Alex realized why Luka said to treat the guitar like a cat. To them, Instruments are animals. They live on the sound of music as well as anything else they can process.
Miku peeked from the crack, smiling warmly and talking to herself as she walked away and over at the keyboard.
"Finally, Luka understands what master Is trying to do." she ran her finger down the keyboard, like some sort of fish. Even unplugged, she could listen to the sound it made.
"Alex has taken great care of you, huh? You sound nothing like the keyboard I had before. You are happy to make music with Master? You want master to bring more instruments? Well lucky for you, I want you to meet my Guitar. Say hello to 'Leekonion', my Electric Guitar." She materialized a V base guitar with the neck in the color and shape of a leek. The V portion was black with green stripes outlining the body. She rests it next to the keyboard, hearing both playing the same key.
"You two are going to be best friends!" she lightly petted the keys and strummed the guitar string as if she was playing with animals.
She knew Len had a fold-able Drum set, Luka had another electric guitar that doubled as a bass, and Rin had a violin. She still wished that Kaito and Meiko were here. Kaito had a wonderful the tiered Keyboard and Meiko had the perfect base. A tear lightly dripped from her eye. She rubbed it away, turned to the instruments and smiled bright.
"Do not worry. We will all be together. And soon, our sound will reach everyone no matter how far they are. Music is what we all enjoy. Music brings us together and Music is how we show our feelings. Right Leekonion?" she nodded off to her guitar, hearing it strum to her a light and happy tone for a yes.
It would take thirty minutes before Luka calmed down. By then, the others came back and wanted to show Alex something. He was escorted to the roof, seeing his keyboard in place with miku's guitar, an orange and yellow drumset, a Violin with a very Tangerine like color. Luka brought out her base guitar, pink and black to mimic Miku's. Alex asked "What is this?" Miku holding onto his arm and guiding him to the keyboard.
"Look master! Your Keyboard is happy!" she pointed to his keyboard, pushing him to play a key. The key that would not play, the center key, soon made a sound. The other keys seemed to of been tuned and better than before.
"You see master. Instruments have feelings too. Your keyboard was lonely but still wished to play music for you, even when it would break. Listen deeply to the notes. You will hear a change to them. The same key you hit may change lower or higher." Miku picked her guitar up, started to fine tune it. She gave Alex his instructions, to monitor the levels. Luka picked up her base, Len got on his drums and Rin used his keyboard.
"Alex. You are the conductor. You must help us play the instruments to the fullest. We want them to share their feelings with others." Alex nodded and opened the pad. The song on it was hard to read for now, but he yelled out.
"3! 2! 1!" and threw his hand down to being practice...
Instruments are needed to play music. Treated poorly and it will not play well. Even if they look like they have no actual emotion or soul, they do feel pain. They do feel lonely. And they can cry. Without Instruments, Music is null.
Vocaloids are the missing Instrument in music. The Vocal. The reason they were made was to finish the family of instruments, the center being vocals. Even with Human vocals, they barely understand what the instruments are saying. The vocaloids were made for that reason, to let the instruments be heard and bring new life to Music.
In order for the vocaloids to sing with the instruments, a master conductor is needed to guide them. The Conductor keeps the instruments on track and all working in harmony.
When all three conditions are met, the true power of Music will be heard throughout the world and more. That is what we all wanted to achieve when making Kaito and Meiko. Though they were prototypes, we treated them like Humans. They would develop emotions and even something of a soul. With this knowledge, we set forth to create Miku Hatsune. Vocaloid 01. However...
We made a mistake when making Miku. The sheer energy she required to sing the song "Codename: Ascension" knocked out power in a five mile radius for over three days. We feared she would use this song again, so we did all we could. We made the song backwards, we inverted the track and inverted the very sound it made. One day, she will be able to sing it... but let's hope she does it without the need for 5 miles worth of electric energy...
Rin and Len Kagamine, both Vocaloid 02 were a project to make a duet. They sounded near alike so we adjusted Len's voice. Regardless, the only flaw they have is they must be together. Otherwise the other fails to sing and could eventually shut off for good.
Luka Megurine, Vocaloid 03 was made to be a more mature version of Miku. Her programing was more advanced and we aimed to make her a very rock based voice. However, she could sing songs like a mother as well. 'Toeto' was sung after we asked her to make a song about how she felt about us. Her flaw? Her emotions can run wild and sometimes she will cry more than anything.
-Anonymous.
P.S: Whoever picks up our vocaloids... I hope you treat them with care. They need Love and happiness to keep singing and making Music...
Music is everything to them. Music keeps them going. Music is Life.