Starri: I'm writing this at 12:20 AM. Ugggh ... it's right after I left for St. Louis.

Marou:Is that even healthy?

Starri:*red eyes with bags* uhhm ... yes? *passes out*

Len: o.o Starri! Oh no!

Rin: Well, I guess that we'll just have to post this chappie.

Teto: *hands cookie to KeroNya* Thanks for being the first reviewer for the last chap!

Marou: Well, enjoy this one!

Meiko rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she stared at the note. "Hmmm ..."

Neru lounged lazily on the couch by the piano, texting away. "We still don't know what it means."

Meiko sat the note down on her desk and chewed on the tip of her pen. "Neither do I, though I have a niggling suspicion that it's right in front of us ..."

Marou sighed. "Well whatever it means, it can't be good." She read aloud from the paper. "Killing those who oppose us? Well, what a nice way to greet Vocaloid."

The bell rang suddenly and everyone jumped. Rin, Len, Miku, Marou, Luka and Kaito rushed out the door, having the same math class.

"Later!"

"Gotta go!"

"We'll try to find it out!"

"See ya, Meiko-san!"

They skidded into class and tumbled over one another, barely making it in time. Rin smiled weakly at the sensei.

"Here?"

Miho-sensei sighed and shook her head. "Check. Take your seats."

As the Vocaloids shakily took their seats, the teacher forced a smile on her face and announced, "Class, we have some new students!"

Marou suddenly got a bad feeling and looked over at Luka nervously. "I have a bad feeling about this ..." she whispered behing her hand.

Luka nodded worriedly. "So do I."

"Okay, the new students said their names are ..." Miho checked her list. "Ares ..."

A pale boy with bright red and blue eyes hair strode in.

"Tsunagi ..."

Next came a dark-skinned boy with a short haircut and dark red eyes.

"Oromu ..."

A boy with shoulder-length dark brown hair sulked in, green eyes shadowed.

"And ..." Miho glanced down at her list again.

Marou gritted her teeth. Please, please no, come on, God have mercy ...

"Aiko." And lo and behold, the latter sudenly appeared, smirking and leaning against the doorframe.

"'Sup."

Marou's head fell onto her desk. Dammit. The world hath no mercy these days.

This particular menace was suddenly there, smirking down at her. "Problem?"

She groaned. "Fuck off."

He pouted. "Aww, don't be so cold, Marou-chaaan~"

He smirked again and glared at the kid sitting behind her. "Move. Now."

The poor kid gulped and scrambled out of his seat, dissapearing to the back of the room.

Marou groaned again. "Wuss."

Aiko slid into the seat and clucked his tongue. "You just can't win, Marou-chu."

She felt a tap on her shoulder and Luka slid her a note.

Shadowloids. They must be spies for the Vocaloids.

Marou scribbled an answer and handed the piece of paper back to Luka.

Right, we have to tell Meiko about them. Let's just play dumb until then.

Luka nodded and shredded the piece of papaer to hide the evidence.

Miho-sensei tapped herpointer on the board. "Okawara and Megurine! Are you paying attention?"

Marou and Luka ignored the snickers from some of the class and looked up at Miho. "Yes, sensei."

Miho narrowed her eyes. "If you insist."

She turned back around and scribbled on the board.

Marou sighed and sank onto her desk. It was gonna be a looong day.

~::*::~::*::~

"SPIES?" Ted leaped up in anger. "They can't do that!"

Meiko struggled to control her temper. "Those ... those low-down ... rrrrgh!"

Teto munched on a French loaf while she read a book. "Actually, there's nothing that says that they can't do that ..."

Miku frowned and tapped the piano. "They might have been sent here to get into our ddefenses and find our weaknesses ..."

Teto finished the bread and looked up. "how about we send spies into their school then?"

Rin shrugged. "Sounds good to me. I wasn't even aware that they went to school."

Meiko sighed and shook her head. "No, we can't. We have to have all of our defenses here. If they try to attack, we'll crush them like roached under a shoe."

Ted flinched. "Ooh, Meiko is harsh."

Marou rolled her eyes. "And she should be. Shadowloid had no right to do that."

Len cleared his throat. "Erm, let's please move onto a brighter topic."

There was instant silence. Neru looked up from her phone, which she had managed to steal from her parents.

"Erm ... my brother is moving to town from my grandma's ..?"

More silence.

Marou cleared her throat. "Enough silence! Someone say something!"

Kaito grinned. "Someone got killed in a skydiving accident yesterday?"

Marou scowled. "Something POSITIVE!"

Gumi shrugged. "My mom spilled coffee on her christmas shirt?"

"How is that positive?"

"She didn't like the color. It was greenish-brown."

Marou shivered. "Eugh. Point made." She glanced over at Meiko, who was staring at the note again. "Any idea of what it means?"

Meiko sighed. "Not a clue." Mika walked over to her desk to review it. Suddenly her eyes popped open.

"Hey ... I know what this is!" The Vocaloids crowded around her eagerly.

"What?"

"What is it?"

Mika tapped the first letter of the first line. "My teacher taught me a form of poem called acrostic. You read the first letter of every line."

She glanced over at Gumi. "You're in my class. How come you didn't get that?"

Gumi rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Eh ... I never pay attention in language."

Mika tapped the paper again. "Anyways, if you read it from each first letter, it says ..."

The Vocaloids looked over the paper carefully.

"We strike?" Ted raised an eyebrow. "What could that mean?"

Miku bit a nail. "Hmm ... maybe one of the lines holds the key?"

Teto pointed to the last line. "How about this one?"

In the midst of the night.

"At midnight," the Vocaloids said in unison.

"But which midnight?" Len muttered.

Meiko looked down at the note grimly.

"I guess we'll have to find out."

Starri: So sorry for the short chapter! And the late update!

Len: There was a problem with her mom's phone ...

Starri: Anyways, please R&R so that I can get some well earned- *bang* zZzZzZzZz ...

Rin: Welp, out she goes.

Teto: R&R and you get a picture of me as a baby! :D