Due to a bit of friendly advice I've recieved from someone who already knows who they are, I'll be cutting the 'nee-chan' stuff. Honestly I was kind of dabbling in things I didn't really understand, so I hope that quality didn't suffer because of my ignorance.

Chapter 9

Gumi

"Whoa! This house is niiiiiiiice!" Yui exclaimed.

Masami smiled. "Yeah, it kind of is. This is the place Miku said that Gumi lives. I definitely would've sacrificed living far away from people to live someplace like this."

Gumi's residence was a three-story building, painted shining white. There were sunflowers that stood six feet tall on either side of the cobbled walkway leading to the door, and some of the windows were open, but rather than the regular way of sliding them up, they were pushed outwards and held open by polished metal supports. A girl with green hair and red-tinted sunglasses put up on her forehead was looking out one of the first floor windows, and waved at Yui and Masami. "Hello! You're two of the new Vocaloids, then? I suppose you're the 4's! Come on in, I've got some coffee ready."

Yui and Masami smiled at each other. "She seems really nice!" Yui giggled. They walked down the path, and opened the oak double doors that were engraved with an image of a pair of microphones, facing each other symmetrically. The girl opened the door once they got there.

"Hi! My name's Gumi!" Gumi held out a tray with two mugs of coffee. The mugs had a chibi of Gumi's head. Masami laughed.

"I got those after one of my concerts. Do you guys have any merchandise of yourselves yet?" Gumi asked, pulling them inside.

"No, and... Um, well... Thanks for the offer but... I... I don't drink coffee, usually." Yui stammered, gingerly placing her mug back on the tray.

Masami frowned. Wait... Yui doesn't drink coffee?

"How do you have so much energy all the time?" Masami blurted. "You always behave so outgoingly, you're hyper all day."

"I told you before, in life I was immobile. Fact is, I was still getting used to movement. In the first few days, did you notice me tripping a lot?" Yui said.

"Yeah, I just figured that was part of who you are." Masami felt a little bad. Had she hurt Yui's feelings by not understanding her better?

"I can see why you'd think that. I didn't tell anybody about my condition when I was alive until I told Otonashi, so you wouldn't have known." Yui clasped her hands together, putting them in between her legs and touching the tips of her feet together, slowly clicking her heels. "I was so unused to moving my feet and legs, I couldn't control myself for a bit. I didn't want people to suspect, so I kept up the outrageous act for the whole time. I must admit, it was fun to be crazy like that!" Yui laughed.

Gumi smiled, "Here, just in case something like this happened, I also brought soda."

"I love soda! Yes please, ma'am!" Yui shouted.

Masami laughed, "You're certain you were acting, Yui?"

Yui giggled, "You know, sometimes even I don't understand my own motivations. Don't even think about trying to figure me out, you'll hurt your head."

Masami smiled, "I'll keep that in mind, Yui."

"You better!"

Miku burst into the room just as Gumi came back with a can of soda. Masami jumped.

Miku panted, out of breath and trying to force words out of her mouth, unsuccessfully.

"Calm down, Miku. What is it?" Gumi handed Yui the soda and went over to Miku's side.

"V4's... Lots of them, just arrived..." Miku panted. "Wanted to... Let you guys know... Ran, all this way."

Gumi laughed. "Miku, you have too much energy for your own good. Let's go see these newcomers." Gumi turned to Masami and Yui. "C'mon, guys! Let's go see who these new people are!"

By a lot of V4's, Miku means A LOT. Just so you know, to give you a good idea of what all is happening in the world of Afterlife Academy. Yes, time inside the computer systems is going faster than it does in the real world and the Afterlife Academy. That's also why Masami got there only a few days before Yui, when Yui actually passed way later than Masami did in the series.