Author's Note: As promised, a faster update than before :D Thank you to everyone taking the time to read it :)
One by one, the days of spring passed by until it was already the middle of May. The clear, sunny weather of April felt like a fading memory, in comparison to the frequent rain showers and the gray clouds that never seemed to stray from the sky anymore. The dreary pitter-patter of the raindrops on the windows mingled with the school bell's echoes through the building, dismissing the students for the day.
"Aw great, it started up again just as we're about to go home," Luka complained with a disgruntled look on her face, partially directing the comment towards Miku as they were putting their belongings away. "I forgot my umbrella, too."
"Good thing I have to stay after school today," the tealette commented. "Gumi-sensei's finally called us together for a counselling meeting. You can borrow mine, by the way. I'll be going home with Rin-chan and Len-kun, one of them is bound to have an umbrella."
"Ahh, lucky you. My turn's only tomorrow. The music teachers must be planning something huge if it took them almost two months to get it ready," she reasoned. "It's kinda funny how I came here with the music scholarship and haven't actually spent much time with my assigned teacher yet. And it's okay, this much rain is no big deal."
"All right then. Well, at least we both have Gumi-sensei, even though it's Wednesdays for me and Thursdays for you. But I'll call you tonight and tell you all about this secret project, okay?" her friend suggested with a smile.
"Thanks, Miku-chan! The curiosity's killing me already..." the pinkette told her, adding a deep sigh to the end of her sentence. "I guess I'll get going before it gets any worse. Talk to you later!"
Luka strode towards the classroom's door, waving to the girl as she left. Miku returned the gesture and then continued her packing. She was in no rush to leave, since she had a good twenty minutes to spare before the meeting. More importantly, she had a reason to stall for a while: a person to avoid at all costs.
Two weeks had passed since the embarrassing incident with Shion Kaito, but Miku was still as distraught as ever about it. She would always be alert, constantly searching for the blue-haired boy with her eyes. When she did notice him, her gaze never wavered until he was no longer in sight and she kept herself at a good distance so as to avoid actual eye contact with him. And each time she saw him, the entire incident replayed itself in her mind.
Honestly, she would've preferred to completely erase it from her memory. But if she didn't make an effort to avoid him, she'd surely bump into him again, and that would be much more unpleasant than being incessantly reminded of it. There was no winning in her situation, she had to realize. And it's not like she was actually a tiny bit happy to see him, or anything.
"I'm so ridiculous," she muttered to herself, arranging the things in her bag for a second time around. She glanced up at the clock: no more than five minutes had passed since the chime. The classroom was almost empty, excluding a group of students conversing near the front. Oh, who cares, it's not like I can hide forever!
Guided by the sudden surge of determination, the tealette grabbed her bag and headed to the door. She came to an abrupt halt right before stepping out into the hallway. But better safe than sorry, she added. She poked her head out, diligently looking both ways in order to make sure that the coast was clear.
That wasn't entirely the case. Instead, a slightly surprising sight awaited her. In front of 1-B's classroom, she immediately spied the familiar shade of blue. His schoolbag casually slung over his shoulder, he was talking with someone. Miku grabbed onto the doorframe, for fear of losing her balance otherwise. That someone was Luka. Shortly afterwards, the two of them began to head down the hallway to the staircase, as if they were leaving school together.
Wait, what, huh? The thoughts became a jumbled mess in her head. Luka-chan knows Se Ta- I mean, Shion-kun? Then, it would've been fine for me to mention that he was with her brother during Golden Week? But maybe things aren't that simple... she began to theorize as she stepped out onto the hallway, Luka and Kaito now completely out of sight.
Oh gosh, I totally know what's going. This is an elaborately tangled love polygon of sorts. Shion-kun's going out with Luka's brother. And she's totally cool with it, because she's an easygoing older sister and figures that such a display of trust will aid in mending the damaged bond between the siblings. However, as he spends more and more time at their place, being a healthy teenage boy and all, he can't help but feel attracted to such a fine specimen of the female species as Luka. At first, she resists; she has Gakkun, after all. He continues his advances, considering it a personal challenge already. All it takes is one little fight over the phone for her to feel lonely and neglected by her boyfriend she rarely gets to see. Her defences crumbled to pieces, that's the moment he chooses to conquer her! It's the start of a forbidden relationship, both of them cheating on their loved ones because they simply cannot control their lusty desires.
As the tale came to an end in her mind, Miku had a spontaneous urge to bash her head against a wall. I scare myself sometimes, she concluded. They wouldn't be so careless as to meet up at school like that... I mean, no, Luka's not that kind of person! And, well, Shion-kun doesn't seem like the unfaithful type, either. His deep blue eyes are too kind to belong to a horrible person.
Lost in her musings, she hadn't even noticed that her legs had involuntarily taken her straight to the music room on the second floor of the high school section's club room building. All of a sudden, she felt two hands land on her shoulders, bringing the tealette out of her reverie.
"Miku-chan!" the unmistakeable voices of the Kagamine twins reached her ears from both sides.
"Oh, Rin-chan, Len-kun, hi," she greeted them, still a bit dazed.
"Didn't you hear us? We've been calling your name for ages and you just kept walking straight ahead like a zombie... Right, Len-nii?" the blonde asked her brother for confirmation, who complied with a nod.
"Oops, sorry, I was spacing out a bit," she apologised, her fisted hand lightly bonking her head.
"Oooohhh, is a certain someone on your mind?" Rin wondered in a teasing manner, a broad grin adorning her features.
"Pf, of course not," Miku scoffed in reply. "Anyways, let's head on inside."
Cutting the discussion short, the older girl opened the door to the music room and walked in, the twins following behind her.
Kaion Academy's music rooms were all very well equipped and properly maintained; at first glance, you wouldn't be able to tell which one you were in, exactly. The various cased instruments (like flutes, clarinets, violins, guitars and so on) were stored inside the closets spanning from wall to wall, while the bigger instruments (such as the drum set and the piano) were placed in the most acoustically suitable part of the room. On a raised podium, a few rows of chairs and sheet stands were set out for the students. There was also a wheeled blackboard among the equipment, and a computer on the teacher's desk. To lighten the mood, the walls were painted with colourful musical notes, differing in type and size.
When the trio entered, a couple of other students were already inside, chatting amongst themselves. Generally, an advising teacher was in charge of about a dozen groups; as such, they usually held counselling meetings for two or three groups at a time. They took their seats a short distance away from them, with Rin sitting between Miku and Len. A few minutes remained before the meeting was supposed to start.
"Pap-pa-para!" With a lively (yet curiously melodic) shout, Gumi burst through the door, her right hand raised high into the air while she held a large pile of papers with the other. She flashed a wide, friendly smile to her pupils as she scurried over to the teacher's desk to place down her load. "Yaahhoo, everyone! It's been a while, huh?"
Amid the Academy's staff, Gumi was perhaps the youngest teacher, being in her early twenties. Without a doubt, she was the bubbliest one, almost literally a condensed package of pure energy and cheerfulness. A pair of red, bug-eye goggles sat upon her head of short, spring green hair. Her vibrant, emerald eyes radiated with liveliness. The extensive variety of yellow and orange garments she usually wore made her look like she was walking sunshine. Despite her carefree demeanour, she was also quite reliable and hard-working, her students always being the top priority.
"I'm really, extremely sorry for delaying everything for so long!" she apologized to them, bowing her head. "But trust me; this wait was entirely worth it! Y'all gonna love what we came up with." She clapped her hands together in excitement, sitting down on the edge of the teacher's desk as she began to rummage through her papers.
"Without further ado," she started to say with a mock-elegant tone, "I present to thee, Kaion Academy's newest innovation for the music program...Oh wait, we need the drum roll," she bonked her forehead with the base of her palm as the realization hit her. Her antics earned a few chuckles from the children.
Gumi got up from the desk and hurried over to the drum set, pulling off the protective cover with a swift motion. She sat down on the stool, setting down the piece of paper in her lap and taking the drumsticks into her hands.
"Ahem, so, without further ado... I present to thee, Kaion Academy's newest innovation for the music program..." Back on track with the gigantic reveal, Gumi played the drum roll noise. Caught in the rhythm, she added an improvisational session to the end of it.
"Gumi-sensei! Concentrate!" the impatient students interrupted her performance with their unanimous shout.
"Yeah, yeah, moving on." She firmly put down the drumsticks and regained her focus, clearing her throat. "Behold, the birth of Kirakira Kaion!"
She took the paper into her hands, showing off the logo to them. As the name implied, sparkles of various size and color were drawn around the black characters. A weak applause and many confused expressions followed the announcement.
"Uhhhm, logo and name subject to change. Seriously. If anyone has a better idea, lemme hear it," Gumi commenced the explanation, standing up from the drum set and heading back to the teacher's desk.
"The basic idea is that we've put together a video sharing site for y'all. It could also be called a musical networking site? Basically, it's gonna be a database for all the songs y'all have made, are making, and will be making," she clarified on the matter. Grasping the situation, enthusiasm spread amongst the students.
"For that to work properly, everyone needs to register a pen name into the system, which is gonna be linked to your student IDs. The instructions for that are right here, along with your personal info that you need to check through," Gumi started on explaining the details, handing out the papers from her desk to them.
"Once the whole student body's registered, which should be by Monday morning at the latest, there's a bunch of stuff the accounts can be used for. You can upload lyrics, singing samples, instrumental tracks and the like," she continued with the specifics. "Then, you can submit it onto the Request Board for someone else to help you complete it and add an illustration or a video to it, even. The finished song's gonna be put up for public viewing, linked to all of the accounts that contributed to it. You can also message people directly to work together. It's also possible to make ties with others that show up on the profile, much like how y'all are in groups right now. The profile doubles as a small blog, where you can decide to update your progress on whatever you're working on at the moment. Oh, and no worries, all your previous songs will automatically be properly tagged, after registration."
"Basically, what we teachers helped y'all with until now, is all gonna get done through Kirakira Kaion. Of course, we'll still give tips and have meetings regularly to work on your actual skills, but the creation process is gonna be a whole lot easier with this," she finished the project's exposition. "So, whatcha think? Way awesome, right?"
"Who managed to convince Honne-sensei to set up something as huge as this? And, how?" Rin piped up, among the many praises coming from the students. Honne Dell was the administrator for the school's computer system, a pretty cranky one at that. He was always 'busy with a lot of work' as he liked to say (and there were many rumours about the nature of his 'work'), so getting him to voluntarily prepare a database of this calibre was nothing short of a miracle. Or, a sign for the apocalypse's arrival.
"That's a sec-ret~," she answered with a devious wink and a mischievous grin, putting her hands on her hips. A round of amused giggles echoed through the music room.
"And that's not the only important news for today," Gumi added. "True to the Academy's traditions, we'll be holding the Midsummer Music Festival about a month from now, on the 21st of June. Kirakira Kaion's gonna make that easier, too, 'cuz that's where you'll be able to sign up. Deadline's the end of May, for both solo and group performances."
"I think that's all the official stuff for today," she declared. "Now, lemme hear what my little birdies sound like, it's really been quite a while!"
"Urgh, who would've thought that coming up with a pen name is this hard?" Rin grumbled, biting on her bottom lip.
It was Sunday evening of the same week and the trio was in the girls' room, brainstorming ideas together. It was on their minds ever since the meeting, but the deadline was fast approaching and they didn't want to experience Honne-sensei's wrath by missing it. Miku lounged across her own bed, while the twins were sitting on Rin's, each of their laptops in front of them and the registration form opened in a browser window.
"Why not just use our real names, then?" Len suggested. His sister gasped in horror.
"Inconceivable! Preposterous! Blasphemy!" she yelled, waving her hands in the air.
"Do you even know what all those words mean?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course I do. I heard them here and there," she replied matter-of-factly, confidently crossing her arms and a smug smirk appearing on her lips.
Miku had a difficult time keeping her giggles to herself. Yeah, this is just like the good old days.
"Rin-chan, Len-kun, save your flirting for later," she interrupted them, the chance to tease them being just way too excellent to pass up on. The twins' complexion took up an identical shade of bright scarlet; neither dared to say a single word and they both looked in completely opposite directions.
This was much, much more than the tealette could handle. She exploded in laughter, her lungs hardly getting any air. She couldn't contain herself to the point that she began to roll around on her bed, clutching her stomach. Unfortunately for her, the bed had magically gotten smaller than she remembered it to be, and she landed on the floor with a loud thud.
"Hah! Serves you right!" Rin exclaimed mockingly, pointing a finger at the laughing girl on the ground.
"Miku-chan, you okay?" Len asked, with just the tiniest hint of worry in his tone. The tealette couldn't reply, still overwhelmed by her own laughter.
It took a good five minutes for her to finally calm down. It didn't help that the twins just stared blankly at her, which was like fire on the oil when her laughs were just about to die down.
"All right, I'm fine now," she finally declared, reclaiming her spot on her bed.
"Oh! I have an idea!" Rin announced. "Miku-chan, your pen name could be Miss Giggles."
She scrunched her eyes together, sending a scrutinizing look towards the girl. I'm not sure if that's a joke or a serious suggestion, she thought to herself.
"Helloooo, Earth to Miku-chan..." she tried getting her attention, slowly moving her outstretched palm from left to right.
"Rin, that name sucks," her brother bluntly stated. "Is what she'd like to say."
"Well, excuse me for thinking of something, Captain Smarty-pants," she retorted.
"C'mon, you can do better than an overused cliché. But feel free to admit my intellectual superiority anytime you want," he delivered the comeback with a haughty smirk.
The blonde had no immediate reply; instead, she sent him a glare sharper than a thousand daggers. He managed to withstand it for a while. In the end, he was no match for her, as he broke his eyes away from hers, accompanied by a light tinge of pink on his cheeks.
"Bwahahahah," she cackled, a menacing aura emanating from her. "Len-nii, you may always have the last word, but ultimately, I win."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," he consented to her declaration of victory. He patted his sister on the head, this time conjuring a blush onto her cheeks.
While the Kagamines were bickering ever so adorably, the tealette simply enjoyed the free amusement, keeping her giggles under control for the most part, so as to not interrupt the show. But there was no way she'd keep herself from adding a teasing comment at the end of it.
"Hey, where can I get the popcorn?" Miku inquired, cocking her head to the side. "Sweet movie, but it's giving me the munchies."
Rin stuck her tongue out at the girl in reply, her antics eliciting a chuckle from Len.
"Anyways, pen names," the tealette turned the conversation back to the original topic. "It has to be something clever, yet defines us perfectly."
"Not to mention short and easy to remember," Len pitched in. Getting tired of sitting, he lay down across Rin's bed. A moment later, she followed suit and used his stomach for a pillow.
It's like watching dominoes topple, the tealette noted mentally. Their synchronization never ceases to amaze me.
In the silence that followed, she let her gaze wander around the room, searching for a sign that would help them come up with names.
"Rin-chan, Len-kun, when you think of me, what's the first thing that comes to mind?" she posed the question that suddenly popped into her head.
"Spring onions," they responded simultaneously after a few seconds of thought, sending chills down her spine. Amaze and scare me, she promptly corrected her earlier statement.
"Calling myself Negi would be a bit short, though," she mused, staring up at the ceiling.
"Then, what do you say to Negihime, perhaps? You're more than qualified to call yourself a princess when it comes to the vegetable," Len developed her notion further.
"That's actually... not half-bad," she admitted. "What do you think, Rin-chan? It doesn't make me sound too conceited, does it?"
"I think it's fine. Better than nothing, at the very least," she contributed her opinion. "What about me?"
"Oranges and bunnies," her brother answered almost instantly.
"Yeah, those," Miku agreed shortly after. "Orange Usagi sounds pretty cute!"
"Mhm, I think it would work," Rin accepted the name with ease. "For Len-nii, it's definitely bananas. But Banana Boy doesn't really cut it. Sheesh, can't you obsess over a fruit with a normal name?"
"Got a problem with bananas?" he snapped back. "They're Nature's perfect creation, I'll have you know. The colour, the flavour, the shape, the size: not a single flaw in any of those areas!"
"Did that even sound right in your head? Len-nii, you pervert," she teased him. An incoherent string of mumbles was his reaction as he covered his face with his hands.
I missed this. I really missed this, Miku's emotions took shape in her mind. There's rarely a dull moment when I'm with Luka-chan, but being in Rin-chan's and Len-kun's company can't be compared to anything else. I wonder what she feels like when she's with Nekomura-chan and Piko? Does she miss us as much as we miss her? Even now, would she rather be with them?
A pillow whizzed by the tealette's head, missing it by quite a wide berth. However, the air current was enough to break her out of her thoughts. After a couple of blinks, she saw that the female Kagamine had sat up, her arm stretched out in the final movement of the throw.
"Rin, your aim really sucks," Len commented. "You're at almost point-blank distance and yet you still managed to miss the target."
"You don't say, Captain Obvious," she retorted, jabbing him in the stomach with her elbow. He curled into a ball, groaning. Like the caring friend she is, Miku chuckled upon witnessing his misery.
"Oh, I'm really feeling the love," he muttered, his voice dripping with thick sarcasm. "Why don't you just drop me in the ocean, if all I'm good for is domestic violence?"
"Aaaww, Nii-chan, don't say that," Rin attempted to comfort him. She draped herself over his curled figure, pressing her cheek against his. "Wouldn't you feel sorry for the next guy we'd use as our sandbag?"
"Miku-chan, help, Rin's bullying me," he pleaded, trying to sound like a pathetic and weak victim. "Well, so are you, sort of, but I'm willing to let it go."
"Oh, how kind and generous of you. And wow, took you long enough to notice, Captain Obvious," she remarked, without budging from her bed. "Besides, you brought it upon yourself."
"I came up with both your pen names and this is the gratitude I get?" he moped, letting out a deep sigh.
"For the record, I came up with Orange Usagi," Miku corrected him. "You just helped a little bit."
"Isn't a hug enough for gratitude?" Rin asked. From the corner of his eye, he could see her pouting; though he could already hear it in her tone. She began to release him, but he grabbed onto her arm.
"Geh, I give up. I stand no chance when you two join forces," he admitted his defeat. "So, good night!"
With that abrupt declaration, he closed his eyes and made loud, snoring noises on purpose.
"Woah, Len-nii, are you seriously going to sleep here? Like this?" his sister inquired, still on top of him. No reply whatsoever; however, his grip on her arm remained.
"Hey, you don't even have a pen name yet..." Miku tried to coax him into waking up. Still no reaction. Just more snoring noises. "Rin-chan, he hasn't possibly...?"
"Nah, he's faking it for sure," she reassured her. "But we both know he can be stubborn enough to actually fall asleep..."
"At this rate, we'll have to take matters into our own hands and choose a name for him ourselves," the tealette decided. He won't risk this, she added to herself. He knows we'll pick something super embarrassing, just because we can.
"All right, Pikapika Hikaru Kawaii Shota Nyanko-chan Len-Len-kyun it is," Rin stated. Against all odds, he remained motionless, though the snoring noises had decreased in volume. "Type it in, Miku-chan."
She shot a questioning look towards the blonde girl. Sure, they made an excellent hobby out of teasing the poor boy, but this was bordering on one step too far.
"Yeah," Rin replied determinedly. Contrary to her words, she winked at Miku and carefully mouthed a 'no'. She nodded in understanding, pairing it with a smile. When push comes to shove, she won't betray his trust.
She stood up from her bed and went to sit down on Rin's, acquiring Len's laptop. Typing in the joke name is out of the question; but what should it be instead? Miku began to ponder, tapping her fingers on the bed.
Minutes passed, but she couldn't think of anything. She was staring off into space when she suddenly felt Rin nudge her with her foot. She turned to her and saw that she managed to shift off of him slightly and was beckoning to her with her other, free arm. The tealette placed the laptop within her reach and waited for her to type in a name.
When Rin was done and she looked at the screen, it felt like her heart was about to melt. Yellow Knight. That's so sweet. And perfect. Miku nodded in approval, grinning at her friend.
After submitting his form, Miku also took care of Rin's registration and her own. She turned off the laptops and put them on the desks.
By then, Len had truly fallen asleep in his sister's embrace. His breathing slowed down and the snoring noises ceased. He was wearing a genuinely peaceful expression, clinging to her arm like it was a treasure of immeasurable value.
"Is it okay?" Rin asked, keeping her voice at a whisper. She seemed comfortable enough as well, snuggled up to her brother.
"Yeah, I don't mind," she replied, gently smiling. It was impossible to look at the twins and keep an emotionless face. Rin-chan, if only you knew how much he misses you!