Tensions Mounting

Luka…Luka…Luka…

Luka twitched as she dreamed.

Luka. Luka. Luka!

"Leeme lone," Luka muttered.

You can't get rid of me that easily, the voice chuckled. If you want to find me, you'll have to go looking for me. I'll only appear to you when I'm ready. In the meantime, you won't be able to trust your own friends.

"Say that to my face," Luka growled.

"Luka! Luka Megurine!"

Luka blinked awake. "Huh?"

"You talk in your sleep." It was Neru. "I've been trying to wake you up for ages."

Luka yawned. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say that this toast business seems like a bunch of baloney." The feisty teenager scoffed, tossing her hair. "If you ask me, hanging out with all the other halfwits has got this into your head."

Luka sat up, offended. "Excuse me," she retorted hotly, "you're one to talk. I'm four years your elder, happen to actually have my license and a car, and have every right to defend myself. You don't even live here. You live next-door with all the other fan-made Vocaloids. What the heck are you doing here? Just coming to tell me that I'm nuts in the head?"

Neru actually looked guilty for a moment. "Um, Mikuo wanted to tell you that he's interested in the toast and wants to help you find it."

Luka, cranky at the rude awakening, smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Oh boy," she grumped. "Just what I need, a fan-made 16-year-old interested in me. Did Luki have any news?"

Neru shook her head. "He's away on a trip."

Luka sighed. "We could really use his intelligence right now." She disliked admitting it, but her brother had great deduction skills, having been a fan of Sherlock Holmes and such. "I hope he'll be home before the stalker toast reduces me to panicked mush."

Neru looked down at Luka. "I understand how you feel," she said, uncharacteristically kind. "And I made this for you." She held out a plate of tuna fish, sushi style. "I hope you like it."

Luka accepted the plate, eyes wide. "Thank you," she whispered. She inhaled deeply, her mouth watering. "Sushi, just the way I like it. I didn't know you could make sushi, Neru."

Neru shuffled her feet modestly. "Actually, Kaikko taught me how. She's a really good cook, you know."

Luka nodded, staring at her sushi. "Kaikko and her siblings come from a family of good cooks. I think I would like to see Kaito make his own ice cream one day."

Neru smiled. "Enjoy," she said. "I'm going to hang around a little bit before I leave. See you later."

"Bye."

As soon as Neru was gone, Luka picked up one of the sushi rolls, sniffed it all over, unrolled a piece and inspected it, then put it daintily in her mouth. The flavor exploded on her tongue. Delicious! Thanks, Neru!

—This—is—a—line—

"Len?"

Len froze. "Sorry, Rin. Neru's calling me."

Rin snorted. "Sure. We were recording, you know. I want this to be the best surprise ever for Luka. Did you see how stressed she is lately?"

"I know, but…."

"No buts," Rin interrupted. "I know that you guys look deep into each other's eyes every time you meet. It really is starting to tick me off! And now we're doing something so important, and you have to go talk to your girlfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Len snapped. "You talk to Oliver all the time, too!"

"He's a cool guy!" she protested.

"Neru's a cool girl!" Len countered.

The camera whirred suddenly and seemed to become inactive.

"What just happened?" Rin asked fearfully.

"I programmed it to pause recording if we weren't moving for more than five seconds," he said frankly. "And we're not moving if we're arguing."

"Leave me alone!" Rin shot at him. "I'm tired of your whining! You can talk to Neru for five hours if you want! Just leave me alone until you're ready to keep recording!" She stumbled down the hall, then turned back to look at him. "I'm your sister," she whispered huskily. "Do I matter?"

"You do matter," Len objected, but Rin was gone. "Darn!" he exclaimed, kicking at the floor. "Why is she always so moody?"

Gumi entered the room. "Len," she began, "what's wrong?"

Len scoffed and sank to the floor. "She's such a girl," he complained. "I just wanted to talk to Neru."

"You were in the middle of a dance," she pointed out, crouching beside him.

Len flinched. "I guess you're right. I'd better go apologize to her." He got up, but Gumi put her hand on his shoulder.

"Wait," she said. "I'm a girl, too, and I understand how she's feeling. You'd better wait a couple minutes, or she'll bite your head off before you even knock."

"Okay."

—This—is—a—line—

Rin flung herself onto her bed, sobbing. He's so mean, she thought bitterly. That was for Luka! And now it's ruined!

"Rin…."

Rin looked up from her pillow and brushed away her tears with the back of her hand. "Who's there?" she called, steadying her voice.

"It's me, Rin. You know who I am."

Two red eyes flashed in the shadow of her desk. A pitiful-looking piece of bread emerged, glancing around warily.

"Y-you're that toast!" she gasped, clumsily climbing higher on the bed without looking away from the newcomer. "What do you want with me?"

"Do I look like toast?" it whimpered. "I'm bread."

Rin studied the food item closely. Yes, this wasn't crinkly enough to be toast. "I guess you are bread," she conceded. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were upset," the bread noted. "What happened?"

"Len was being a jerk," she snapped, her eyes filling with tears. "I was trying to do something special for Luka—she's been so upset lately—a-and then Neru comes along and Len is like, 'Sorry, gotta go talk to my girlfriend.' I'm like, 'Hey, you can't go, we have to keep doing this!' And then he's like, 'Oh, the camera turned off because we were arguing. I'm thinking, it's your fault we're arguing! How is everything my fault?"

"I understand," the bread commented, hopping closer. "I was the youngest of all of my loaf. Everyone picked on me. My brother was known for spoiling the butter, and everyone blamed it on me. I don't know how to spoil butter! If Len was being a jerk, you should get back at him. I got back at my brother. I spoiled the butter, and everyone blamed him! Ha!" It opened its mouth to grin, exposing sharp teeth. "And I never was blamed for anything again!"

Rin tilted her head, thinking. Len had been such a misunderstanding person in the past. "He's been some brother." Actually, he had been more interested in girls as he matured, and was afraid to be mistaken for Rin's girlfriend. "He's avoided me and been rude to me and…lots of other stuff." She looked at the bread pleadingly. "How do I get Len to pay more attention to me?"

The bread's red eyes flashed evilly. "Listen closely."

Oh no! Can we trust Rin? The bread/toast is gaining power…. Please review! By the way, does anyone know what Neru's character item is?