"New… members?" Miku tilted her head in curiosity.
"Well, no, not exactly," A tall, blue-haired man said, "They're returning members you haven't met yet."
"VOCALOID is an international program," This time a woman in red attire spoke, "In order to graduate, it is required to study abroad in the main VOCALOID wing for at least a month with VOCALOIDs from various countries around the world. KAITO and I went with the bare minimum since we missed being back home, but it seemed those two wanted to stay a full year."
"Luka-nee also went for a full year, right?" Miku directed her question to the pink-haired lady next to her.
Megurine Luka nodded, "I plan to go another year, it was very enjoyable."
"You already met Luka before she went abroad," KAITO reminded, "But these two immediately went on the trip, saying they wanted the experience before going to the school."
MEIKO added, "We were informed of them by the director and met with them, but you and Luka still haven't."
"Excited?" KAITO grinned.
Two members of Crypton I haven't met yet, Miku thought to herself, Two more in the family. I wonder what kind of people they are like.
"So, what are they like?" Luka started to speak, as if reading Miku's thoughts, "Male or female? Young or old? And when are they coming?" Miku nodded her head, agreeing with Luka that those questions should be addressed.
"Well," MEIKO responded, taking a small pause before answering, "there is a male and a female. They look similar, so you'd say they're twins, but the director never confirmed it. As for age, by the looks of it, they seem close to Miku's. I'm not sure what they're like, since I only met with them briefly, but I'm sure they're great people." The two were quite hyper when she met them, but that may be because of the trip they were going to take. "They should be introduced to you two in a couple days. Just got back from the trip, you see."
Miku perked up at the mention of them being her age. MEIKO, KAITO, and Luka were all much older than she was, so often she felt her ideas were a bit childish for them. However, if the returning members really were her age, then she won't have to feel like the little sister of the group anymore! I must make quick friends with them! Miku decided, clenching her fists in determination.
"Alright, alright, that's enough chatting," KAITO clapped his hands to get their attention, "We should get back to what we were doing. Director-san will be disappointed if we spent all day doing nothing! We'll meet the two soon, so for now, let's just do what we always do!" He gave a little push on the back to Miku and Luka towards the recording stations.
Miku headed towards her station and entered the sound-proof room with a microphone stand. Before she could connect her headphones to record, however, there was a loud commotion even the walls could not muffle. She quickly took off her headphones, set them aside on a small, wooden table, and went back to the main room to see what was going on. I hope it isn't KAITO-nii and MEIKO-nee arguing again, Miku thought to herself, I thought we already settled the going out thing!
"KAITO-nii, MEIKO-nee, what's going on?" Miku turned around a corner, expecting to see blue versus red. Instead, she was met with a wash of yellow. Who…?
MEIKO, behind a gold-haired girl with a fluffy, white bow, spotted Miku, "Oh, now here comes Miku!"
The girl whipped around excitedly, "Miku-nee!" Miku now saw that she had bright, ocean-blue eyes.
Miku flushed pink out of shyness that a stranger had called out to her in such a friendly way, "Uhm, h-hello?" She hesitated, unsure whether she should introduce herself or not. MEIKO, as if sensing her uncertainty, does it instead.
"Miku, meet Kagamine Rin," MEIKO smiled, waving a hand to the eccentric stranger, who did a little bow, "She's one of the returning members we were just talking about." She switched hands and waved it at Miku, "Rin-chan, this is Hatsune Miku," Miku bowed slightly at the mention of her name, "As you could probably guess, she's another member of Crypton Future Media." MEIKO, feeling the introductions were done, changed gears, "Now then, Rin-chan, tell us, why are you two here earlier than expected?"
"Two?" Miku asked. Oh right, there were two of them…
"Yep!" Rin answered with a grin, "Len! Get over here!"
Miku directed her attention to where Rin was looking. Conversing with KAITO and Luka was the same golden yellow Rin had. When he turned around, Miku saw he also had the same ocean-blue eyes. Miku averted her eyes, somehow, his gaze made her feel self-concious and nervous. Even though Rin-chan's eyes look the same, Miku stared at a blank space behind Luka, eventually catching her eye, Even Luka-nee's eyes are a similar color… She then realized she had just called Rin "Rin-chan" and wondered if it would be ok. I have to make quick friends with her, remember?
Out of the corner of her eye, Kagamine Len's mouth opened, "Nice timing, we were just finished with the introductions and stuff." He headed over towards their direction along with KAITO and Luka.
Miku wasn't going to let MEIKO do the introductions again, "N-nice to meet you! I'm Hatsune Miku. Please take care of me." She bowed slightly, her twintails coming forward and brushing her shoes.
Before she came up, Len spoke, "I'm Kagamine Len. Uh, nice to meet you, too." I'm glad I'm not the only one awkward with introductions, Miku silently thought.
Then, Miku had a weird idea. Once again, the teenage girl inside her got the better of her. A new male member. Maybe it was fate. Maybe he would be my prince-sama. Maybe… Miku shook her head out of these silly thoughts, I don't even know what he's like. I don't want to force Len-kun into my weird fantasies. No, no, that's not good. She saw Rin looking at her and turned slightly pink, getting out of her daydream state and realizing what she had thought. I should probably just keep my ideas to Negi-senpai.
"So, we're completely done with introductions!" Rin flashed her bright smile, "Now onto what MEIKO-nee asked! Surprise, surprise, we're here early, aren't we?" She chuckled softly, "Well, that's because I wanted to meet Luka-nee and Miku-nee right away! I didn't want to have to see Director-san before them!" Rin rushed over to hug both Miku and Luka. Yellow, teal, pink, it was a very colorful trio.
"And I was dragged along," Len answered monotonely, "Like always."
KAITO said, "How old are you two? Shouldn't you be calling Miku 'Miku-chan'?"
"Miku-nee is Miku-nee!" Rin firmly decided, "Bakaito."
"Hey, hey, wait," KAITO responded, "Not only is that not a good reason, but did you just call me 'Bakaito'?"
"That's a good name for you," Luka uttered, "Bakaito." And so it was decided KAITO's nickname was "Bakaito".
As KAITO sulked about his newly given name, Len said, "We're fourteen. How old are you, Hatsune-san?"
Fourteen, Miku thought, That's two years younger than me. "Sixteen," Miku replied, "I guess it would be 'Miku-nee'. But you can call me anything you like!" She added a friendly smile.
"Miku-nee it is, then!" Rin announced, "Right, Len?"
"Yeah, sure," Len shrugged.
"I'll call you Rin-chan and Len-kun, ok?" Miku didn't forget about making friends quickly with them. Both of them. Len's a bit cold, but he's probably just a bit tsundere, Miku thought with a small giggle.
A ringing bell sounded, catching everyone off guard.
"Well, looks like we didn't do anything again today," KAITO said with a chuckle.
"The excitement of Rin and Len coming really makes time flow, doesn't it?" MEIKO headed over to her station to clean up what she left behind. Miku and Luka followed suit. Almost immediately, MEIKO turned a semi-circle around, "Oh, I almost forgot!" She dropped her headphones onto the table and directed the two golden-haired members to empty recording rooms that were recently cleaned, "These are yours! Choose one!"
"I'm Rin, so I get right! And Len for left!" In no time, Rin had already decided for the both of them, but Len was used to it, "After you guys are done, let's head back to the dorms together! I want to show you my room!" Rin glanced over to KAITO and Len, "Girls only."
"We know that!" Len exclaimed, "Actually, I'm quite surprised you were able to do something in your room. I had to quickly toss my stuff in there since you texted me, a second after entering my room, that you wanted to meet up with Crypton."
"It's messy, but I did unpack everything!" Rin put one hand on her hip and the other on her chest, "I guess I'm just more amazing than you are!"
"Yeah, yeah," Len dismissed her.
It seems everyone has made friends with them, Miku smiled, her VOCALOID group will be livelier than ever with two young VOCALOIDs. It was sudden, but they joined the family. When her eyes fell on Rin and Len, she thought of something else. She glanced over to the lonely microphone stand in the middle of her station.
I want to sing a song with them.
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Students take their majors after lunch, while the core subjects are taught in the morning. Because of the scheduling, lunchtime is the same for everyone. This caused crowding problems in the cafeteria at first, but after expanding and additional cafeterias were installed, the lunch schedule was easier to manage. Some students prefer to eat in their classroom, hallway, outside, or anywhere with space to sit. Others wait until the afternoon to eat with the members of their major.
WHERE'S MY LEN X MIKU?
Calm down, I know this chapter seems very anti-Len x Miku, but I'm taking things nice and slow.
There are always uncertainty when falling in love, it's not just a sudden "electrical spark".
In fact, Miku doesn't really understand love. She assumes it's like a rom-com, but the ideas she gets in her mind doesn't mean she's in love.
Not yet, at least.
If you spot any mistakes, feel free to tell me in any way, shape, or form. One eye isn't enough to catch them all!
[I would run Grammar Check but who knows how much I'll have to hit "Ignore" for all the names. OTL]
Glossary
-chan: honorific often used between friends, usually girls
-kun: honorific often used between friends, usually boys
-nee: honorific meaning "Older Sister", not always blood-related
-nii: honorific meaning "Older Brother", not always blood-related
-sama: honorific more respectful than "-san", often used for those higher in rank
-san: honorific used to give respect to the addressed person
-senpai: honorific used for upperclassmen
aureolin: a shade of yellow; "cobalt yellow"
Bakaito: "baka" (idiot) and "KAITO"
negi: welsh onion/leek, Miku's character item
neoteric: new, modern, recent
tsundere: cold and distant on the outside, warm and fluffy on the inside personality
twintail: two ponytails on either side of the head
