That was actually faster than I expected. Yeah I know I didn't post my other story (Cactus and Mirage). I spent all my time watching an anime series for the first time. It was called Clannad I believe. I also watched Clannad After Story.
That stuff messed. me. up.
So deep. So sad. So emotional. Now I feel empty. It was a terrible ending. BUT I LOVED IT.
But anyway, enough unrelated stuff, here's the next chapter. I provided a little summary based on the diologue of the last chapter to jog your memory on what just happened (though the first quote is from chapter 14, and it has to do with this chapter).
Previously on Hatsune Miku: Rising to Fame-
"Aw look, she pretends she wants everyone's attention, but when she really sings in front of people, she gets embarrassed," Rin said.
"I'm not sure I want to do this," Miku said.
"You obviously hate me!" SeeU nearly shouted.
"I saw you! In Len's room! While Rin was gone!" Miku declared.
"Fine!" SeeU yelled. "We're done!"
"So what are people saying about...Len and SeeU?" Miku asked nervously.
"I'm sorry, SeeU, for saying something that was untrue about you during the breakup. I'm sorry, Len, for dragging you into something you really didn't need to be dragged into."
"So...what are we going to do about the rumors that were started?" Rin asked.
"Ignore them."
"They'll probably get bored of it after a while. I mean, think about it. If we don't really do anything that attracts attention, they won't have anything to do about the rumors," SeeU reassured Miku.
There was a week left until the concert when Miku got a knock at her door. She opened the door casually and was greeted by Meiko.
"Meiko! Why are you here? I didn't think you made personal visits too often," Miku said, and Meiko looked at her funny. "Oh, right, hi," Miku greeted, smiling childishly.
Meiko laughed. "I wanted to ask you if you'll do a speech about the concert. The others never really get much to do around here, and it would be a nice thing of you to do for them. It could encourage them, so be sure to stay positive."
Miku almost fell over. She held onto the door to keep herself steady. "A...speech?" Miku bit her lip, thinking. "What would I even talk about?" she asked.
"Well, you could talk about any number of things. How you got to where you are now, friends that helped you, teachers that helped you, challenges you faced, songs you liked, anything," Meiko explained.
"So..." Miku's voice trailed off before she even started her thought. "When would this be?" she asked weakly.
"Preferably in the next few days," Meiko answered shortly, and started to leave. Miku stopped her.
"Wait, are Rin and Len also giving speeches?" Miku asked. Meiko nodded. "Well, I guess I can't get them to write my speech now," Miku thought, disappointed.
Miku closed the door after Meiko left and turned to SeeU, who had been listening to the conversation. "SeeU!" she said warmly. "You look like the kind of person who would be great at writing speeches," Miku continued charismatically.
SeeU rolled her eyes, making Miku frown. "Please?" Miku asked sweetly.
"I'll help you, but I will not write it for you," she answered. Miku sighed.
"I guess I'll have to take what I can get," she said sadly.
"Hey, don't you want to give a speech?" SeeU asked, tilting her head. "I thought you liked attention."
"I...ah...I think I have stage fright," Miku said.
"You...what?" SeeU asked flatly. "Are you serious?" she looked at Miku in disbelief. "How is that possible? Is that even possible? What?" SeeU continued on, getting more incredulous with each question.
Miku brushed off the questions with a wave of her hand. "It's fine. I'll just...I don't know. I'll deal with it." She started out the door, and SeeU trotted after her.
"Where are you going?" SeeU asked as Miku walked ahead.
"To ask what Rin and Len are going to do a speech about," Miku answered. SeeU grabbed Miku's arm to stop her.
"Well first, you need to know what you're going to talk about," SeeU insisted.
"And what should that be?"
SeeU put her hands on her hips. "Meiko just told you that," she replied, rolling her eyes. "How about you tell a story? That seems like something you'd be good at. Don't give a biography of yourself; that's boring. Tell your story using little details that will make the audience feel like they know you," she instructed.
Miku pouted. "That sounds hard," she complained.
SeeU shook her head. "No, you're going to do this, even if we both go insane. I'm going to help you, so don't worry."
They continued their walk until they arrived at Rin and Len's room. Len answered the door, and his expression brightened when he saw the two girls.
"Len, did you already hear that we're supposed to give speeches?" Miku asked in an irritated voice.
"Yeah," he answered, "Rin's working on it already." Len indicated his roommate, who was sitting across the room.
"Miku's expression turned to one of skepticism as she eyed the girl seated in the road roller, madly scribbling in a notebook.
"...In the road roller?" Miku asked slowly.
"Um, I think it helps her concentrate or something," Len said, then shook his head slowly and mouthed "Weirdo..."
Miku and SeeU giggled as a pen hit Len in the back of the head.
"Ah! What was that for?" Len exclaimed, as he turned to Rin.
Rin was tapping at her mouth with yet another pen; apparently she had plenty of them. "I felt like it," was her answer, though the displeased look in her eyes was clear.
"OK, well, what is your speech going to be about?" Miku asked.
Rin shifted her gaze to Miku and smiled. "Our friends," she replied cheerfully. "What about you?"
"She's going to tell her unique story," SeeU interjected.
Rin raised her eyebrows for a moment before looking back down at her paper to write again. "Awesome," she said.
"So...we just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be giving the same speech as you guys...and we'll be leaving now," Miku said, starting to go out the door while motioning for SeeU to follow.
"OK, byebye!" Rin said, without looking up from her paper.
Miku and SeeU started to walk at a leisurely pace back to their rooms until they heard a door shut and the echo of running footsteps. They turned around as Len nearly crashed into them.
"Hey, Rin's not really letting me help," he started, "And maybe that's a good thing, since I don't have as many friends as her, but can I help you?" he asked.
Miku and SeeU both nodded enthusiastically. They continued walking, Len now alongside Miku, though he was careful to keep his distance in case someone happened to see them.
Upon entering her room, Miku found a turquoise notebook on her bed. She picked it up and turned to SeeU and Len. SeeU handed her a pen that had apparently been on SeeU's bed. Miku flipped open the notebook and started scribbling.
"Introduction..." she mumbled. Len snatched the notebook away from Miku and looked at what she had written.
"You're a terrible writer," he remarked. Miku glared at him.
"Fine, what would you say?" she asked coldly. Len grabbed the pen and started writing.
"I...have...issues..." he said as he wrote, imitating Miku's voice. Miku grabbed the notebook back, still glaring.
"I do not!" she shouted.
Len pretended to be interested in the corner of the ceiling.
"Gee, Len, you're a great help," SeeU said, laughing. "No wonder Rin wanted to write the speech herself."
"It's obvious I need a lot of help here," Miku said, having gotten over her outburst. "I feel like Haku and Yuki would be good at this stuff."
Len pretended to groan. "You think Yuki would be better than me?" he asked, crossing his arms. Miku and SeeU both nodded. Len narrowed his eyes. "Fine, we'll go get them, but most likely, we'll also get Kaito along with Haku, just saying."
The three walked to Haku's room, where Yuki was the only one present.
"Yuki, can you help Miku here right a speech?" SeeU asked, pointing to Miku.
Yuki smiled. "Of course. You were looking for Haku though, weren't you?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, but we wanted your help too," SeeU answered.
Yuki nodded quickly. "She's in Kaito and Gakupo's room."
Yuki led the way as Len, Miku, and SeeU followed. SeeU traded places with Miku to walk next to Len.
"Don't you think this is unfair to Rin?" she asked.
Len shook his head. "Don't worry about Rin. She has plenty to say," he said, and smiled. They walked on in silence until they reached the desired room.
Gakupo answered the door and stood aside so everyone could go inside.
"Haku, Kaito, we need your help," SeeU announced to the couple reading a book together. They looked up and Kaito raised his eyebrows at the rather large group.
"With what?" Haku asked.
"Writing a speech," Len answered. "Meiko wants Miku to write an inspirational speech to present to the rest of the Vocaloids and Utauloids, since she's the first Vocaloid to perform in a concert. Rin and I are doing one too, but I think Rin has a pretty good idea of what to write about."
"Sounds fun," Kaito said. "And you need this many people to do it?" he asked.
Miku shifted uneasily. "I can't write well and I can't speak in front of people," she said.
"Miku? With stage fright?" Kaito asked incredulously.
"That was my reaction too!" SeeU interrupted excitedly.
Haku looked thoughtful. "That does seem about right. Remember the Christmas karaoke? She couldn't sing unless there was someone with her. She nearly died laughing of embarrassment before I came and sang Kaito's song with her," Haku said, smiling.
"Oh, right," Kaito agreed. "I remember that," he said, and laughed.
"What in the world are you talking about?" SeeU asked. "Nevermind," she said quickly. "I'll just assume Miku did something embarrassing, like always," SeeU added playfully.
"Well, this time no one can say my speech with me, so I'm just going to have to do it myself. But I need some help on what to write here," Miku said bitterly.
"No worries! We will help you!" Yuki declared.
"I'll help too, if you want," Gakupo said. "I enjoy writing."
"OK," Miku agreed, "Everything helps."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Gakupo, who was still standing close to it, opened it, and Rin came bounding in.
"Finished!" she announced happily. Len's eyes widened.
"Are you serious?" he asked. "No way."
"Yes way," she retorted. "Now I can see Miku needs some help. I can-"
"No!" Len said. "You can't help. You wrote your own speech, and way too quickly, might I add. You'll probably just want to write it all for Miku, like you did to me."
Rin eyed the large group of people skeptically. "Are you sure everyone here is going to let Miku write her own speech?"
"Yes."
Rin sighed. "Fine, I'll just go back and edit my speech then." She left the room, and SeeU looked accusingly at Len.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" she asked him. Len shrugged.
"She'll get over it. But I know she would try to write the speech for Miku. She'd be trying to help, but Miku needs to write this herself," he answered. "You might have to give more speeches in the future," he added, nodding at Miku.
"So...should we start now?" Miku asked to everyone in the room. Everyone nodded around her.
"We should start off by getting Miku to list facts about herself!" SeeU said. "That could get her started, right?" Miku opened the notebook again and started writing nervously.
Four hours later, after determining what was good and what was bad out of a near constant stream of ideas from the group, Miku was done with the general outline of her speech.
"I have to finalize this all now..." Miku groaned. "So...much...work..."
SeeU shook her head. "I don't think you should. If you're just reciting the words off a page, it won't be natural and you'll freak out. You have to pretend you're just speaking to one of us," SeeU said.
"Let's be honest," Miku said, "I don't exactly sound intelligent when holding conversations."
SeeU shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You have to sound like you, otherwise the way you wrote your speech won't be effective."
"Do you think I should practice?" Miku asked nervously, gazing around at her friends.
"Nah, just wing it. I think you'll get too scared if you try to practice," Kaito said.
"That's reassuring." Miku looked skeptically at Kaito.
Kaito put on a fake grin and held both thumbs up. "You'll do great!" he said in an overly enthusiastic tone. Miku rolled her eyes.
"I'll go ask Meiko if you can do the speech tomorrow, since you and Rin are both done," Yuki offered. She went out the door and Len pouted.
"I guess I'm not part of this, then," he said sadly. "I wonder if Rin even included a part for me in the speech. I'm going to go check, so bye," he said before leaving.
"It's so strange that the concert is so soon," Miku said randomly. "It still feels so far away, but it's really not..."
Yuki burst into the room. "The speech will be tonight!" she announced.
Miku fainted.
I know it's short, very sorry, but I feel like it had everything it needed and to add more would be unnecessary, especially since it's basically just setting up the next chapter, which is the speech itself...we shall see how Miku handles this xD
Oh yeah, you know how I said I was losing viewers last chapter? Well on that chapter, in one day, I got 170 hits, when the most I've ever had before was 100. I was just like, 'what.' Not that I'm complaining...
Another thing: I'm thinking about writing a sequel to this, from a lesser known Vocaloid/Utauloid's point of view. It would be a continuation of the story, but with completely different characters and how their life is, being not-as-popular characters. I put a poll up on my profile, and I'd really appreciate if you could vote on whether I should or not. I won't waste time on it if people don't want it.