Neru slowly snuck her way into room 421, her head down. She was shaking again, and hated herself for it. This classroom did not have any desks; instead there were chairs and a miniature stage. Neru felt absolutely sick at the sight of it.

No one she knew was in the classroom- there was a beautiful girl with dark green hair, talking to a boy who looked about as young as the Kagamine twins. He had a slight accent and his eye was covered by bandages. Neru stared at him, wondering what could've caused such an injury

She was startled by the sound of someone running in heels. A girl who looked a couple years older than Neru made her way over to the boy and his friend, running her fingers through her short brown hair. "Did you hear, Oliver?" she said in a gentle but excited voice, "Yuki said yes!"

"She did?!" Oliver exclaimed; the three began to converse in whispers, and Neru turned away.

"Ack!" She stumbled backwards- someone had been standing right behind her. She blinked once and scowled.

Dell. Of course Dell was in her singing class. "What are you doing?" she snapped at him.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said coolly. He handed her a paper, which Neru took cautiously. "Miss Miriam told me to hand these out."

Neru noticed a young, blond teacher writing on a whiteboard on the stage. "Well next time don't be so weird about it," Neru muttered. Dell seemed like he was about to retort angrily but at that moment the teacher turned around. "Dell, are you done handing out those sheets?"

He snapped his mouth shut and turned away, heading towards the group Neru had been listening to before. She took the seat closest to the back, and a moment later the bell rang and the students chatting outside came in.

"Everybody take your seats," Miss Miriam instructed with total authority- the class stopped talking immediately. Neru had a feeling that, despite her young age, she had total and absolute respect from her students. "Make sure you get a sheet- it's got the song we're working on today."

Neru looked down at the paper. Meltdown, she read silently, scanning the lyrics, written by Rin Kagamine. Rin wrote songs? She had never thought the uppity little twin was so talented.

"We're going to practice it all together, same as yesterday. Can I have someone to volunteer as the leader?"

The girl with the short brown hair pulled up the hand of Oliver's green-haired friend. "Meiko-" she complained in a whisper, alarmed.

"Sonika? Is that a hand?"

"Um…" Meiko gave her a glare, and she sighed and got up. "Yes, Miss Miriam."

Neru watched nervously as Sonika got on the stage where Miss Miriam sat on the piano bench. The first few notes played, and then Sonika began to sing.

She had a voice as beautiful as her face, with deep tones and an unwavering pitch. Around Neru, the others began to sing too; she liked all their voices. The song itself though, Neru did not just like- she loved. She connected to it, listening to the tragic, beautiful lyrics rather than singing, entranced by the sound.

This was what she was meant to do- be enveloped in sound, in melody, in harmony. This was what she had to do, what she needed to do. She closed her eyes and hummed along, feeling the emotions of the girl in the song.

Then the first high-pitched note came, and some of the students who were altos, such as Meiko and Sonika, faltered. Two voices rose above the rest- Oliver and Dell, sopranos. And as Oliver's voice struggled with the language, Dell's voice rang out, strong, heartrending… beautiful.

Dell's voice stood out to Neru for the rest of the song as she hid in the chair in the back of the room. Just near the end, she saw his red eyes flicker to hers. She cringed, but he closed his eyes and finished the last verse.

"Alright." Miss Miriam stood up and smiled warmly at the class. "That was good, but we've got to work of those high notes. Let's try another song with a few more of those, see how well we can do."

The rest of the class passed by in a blur, and as soon as the bell rang, Neru practically ran out of the classroom.

She slowed down a hallway away, checking her schedule yet again.

"I saw you."

She dropped her schedule and cursed. Picking it up, she looked over her shoulder.

Dell was standing behind her with an irritated pout on his face. "Jeesh, do you have to scare me every time you see me?" she barked at him. He grinned.

"Am I so bad?"

"Oh trust me, I haven't forgotten lunch."

At this, Dell took a step forward, and Neru took a step back. "The point is," he said, his usual scowl returning, "I saw you in class."

"So?"

"You weren't singing," he answered, crossing his arms. Neru felt a chill- he had noticed she couldn't sing.

"I- I didn't feel like singing," she stammered, ready to freak out. Dell raised an eyebrow.

"Everybody's favorite class is singing lessons," he continued, his tone getting more accusing, "Because singing is everyone's favorite thing to do. But you chose to sit out."

"Yeah, I'm catching a cold," Neru said, thinking quickly, "Didn't want to hurt my throat."

"You sound pretty healthy to me," Dell pointed out. She faked a cough.

"See? Cold." She shifted the books in her hands and turned around. "You can go now."

"Neru…" Dell had suddenly gone quiet. "Listen… this is important…"

"Hey!"

They both turned to see Miku running towards them. "Leave her alone!" She pulled a welsh spring onion out of her lunchbox and, before he could duck, hit Dell over the head.

"Miku!" Slack-jawed, Neru watched as Miku kept smacking Dell with the onion.

"Alright, alright!" he rasped, pushing it from him and walking away. "Goddamn… bitches are crazy…"

"What'd you call me?" Miku snapped, but Neru grabbed her arm.

"It's okay, Miku," she laughed, "That was the best thing that's happened to me all day."

Miku gave her one of her award-winning smiles. "Glad I could help."

Neru was still thinking about the day at two in the morning, lying in bed in her dorm room, Miko snoring in the other bed. She stared up at the ceiling, listening to the crickets chirping outside.

She had tried falling asleep but she was still nervous about singing class. Her schedule rotated between e very other lesson, but singing seemed to have at least a period a day, if not two. Eventually she'd have to try singing… but she knew she couldn't.

A particularly loud snore jolted Neru out of her thoughts. She stared at the young she-wolf, wondering how someone so small could make such a loud noise.

Tap, tap.

Neru sat up and stared at the window. She watched as pebbles were thrown at the glass, making little sounds against the pane. Tap, tap, tap.

She went over and opened the window, looked down, and scowled.

"What are you doing here?" she grumbled as loudly as she dared.

Haku was standing below her window, and at Neru's voice she looked away and held her arm behind her back.

"I- Um-" She fidgeted, and Neru's annoyance deepened. "You've gotta come downstairs!" she exclaimed suddenly, then turned her head down again.

"Why?" Neru hissed as Miko snored again.

"Because Zie said so," Haku whimpered nervously, "And if you don't come down, she'll kill us both."

Neru let out an exasperated sigh. She was scared of Zie, but there was no way she'd let these Vipperloids know it. "Fine, I'll come," she barked quietly. She grabbed her bag and headed down the stairs.

She slowed down as Zie stepped in front of the stairwell. "Our little escapee." Her grin was wicked, but Neru didn't show it bothered her. "Why don't you come down here and have a little chat with us?"

"You don't scare me," Neru warned quickly as she reached the bottom. Zie stepped out of her way, revealing the Vipperloids to her. They were all lazing around the dormitory's lounge, but each had their eyes on her. Neru spotted Haku looking at the floor behind the others.

"Let me introduce my friends," Zie greeted with a sickening smile, "This is Rook."

A boy with black hair and a single red streak gave her the same smile, slightly more sadistic looking.

"Ritsu,"

A little girl wearing a rather obtrusive dress gave her a bored, disdainful look.

"Ruko,"

Another girl, this one with short black pigtails and mismatched red and blue eyes, looked at her with a little more kindness than the others.

"Tei,"

The girl who seemed to have a thing for Len gave her a look that made Neru shudder with the inappropriateness of it.

"Haku and Dell,"

Neither of them looked at her at all.

"And Ted."

Teto's brother also seemed to be kind, though he seemed like he was appraising her.

"And me!"

Neru whirled around. Miko was descending the staircase in her quick, lightfooted way, grinning in a way that made her look incredibly innocent compared to the vicious Vipperloids. Neru found herself gaping.

Zie blocked Miko's way. "What did I say, dog-breath?" she huffed, arms crossed, "You're not a Vipperloid anymore. Not after last week."

"Awwww, c'mon," Miko whined; Neru flinched at the high-pitched sound, and she wasn't the only one, "Miku's so nice, can't we just be friends?"

"No!" Zie shouted with so much force that Neru felt herself take a step back. Rook whispered something to Ruko that sounded something like, "Here we go again."

"Miku is an outrage! She doesn't understand the true purpose of music, unlike the rest of us!" Neru realized ZIe was getting ready for a rant. "She's clueless, ignorant, selfish-"

Ted crossed the room and put a hand on Zie's back. "Calm down, love," he murmured to her, causing a new kind of confusion to cross into Neru's mind, "We'll get back at her."

Zie gave him an angry look, but he had settled her enough. "Fine." She shot a glare at Miko, who was crouched, covering her wolf ears in fear. "Go sit with the others."

She jumped up, scurrying over beside Ruko. "Yay!"

Despite Miko's uppity attitude, Neru felt an air of sudden… badness. Like as if she was at a party where all the people invited were planning on breaking more than a few rules. Even sweet little Miko seemed at home.

"Alright, this meeting has been called to discuss the race of Akita Neru," Zie began with sudden authority, her eyes determined.

"I'm a Vocaloid," Neru lied instantly, but it was as if she hadn't spoken.

"We've gathered here because Neru is obviously hiding a very important fact," she continued, pacing back and forth. Neru would've found her act almost silly if the situation wasn't so sinister. "Dell?"

Looking over her shoulder, Dell stood up. Neru's blood ran cold. "It's true," he drawled, picking his way over to her. "Neru." he looked into her eyes, and his next words could have almost been mistaken as concerned. "You can't sing, can't you?"