Chapter 2: Dream Eater's Mark, The Silence of the Delayed

Lily and Rin stepped out of the room, only to go to the next one across the hall. Lily knocked on the door first, "Meiko…are the others in there?" "Yes. Come in…" The reply came.

Lily opened the door, and let Rin in first. The rest of the girls on this side of the estate sat in this room making jewelry. Meiko, the oldest of them all here, had short brown hair with matching brown-red eyes and wore a feminine red outfit. There was an android like girl making a bracelet. She had long light red with a strand sticking up and matching eyes. She wore a white dress with blue fluff. Beside her, was a slightly older girl with long, curly platinum blonde hair and amber eyes. She wore a mixture of yellows and browns. Then, there was another woman about Lily's age. She had green hair in a ponytail with green eyes and freckles. She wore a tank with combat pants. Lastly, a girl about Gumi's age was in between the freckled girl and android. She had darker skin with dark blue hair and bright blue eyes. She wore an outfit reminiscent to a butterfly and with short shorts. Rin marveled at how different they all were. I look so plain compared to them…How intimidating….
Rin herself-without her coat-had short blonde hair in barrettes and a bow and wore a typical school girl outfit with shorts instead of a skirt. So, her marveling was with good reason.

"You must be Rin!" The platinum blonde stood up and hugged her softly, "I'm SeeU! How was your first night?"

"G-good." Rin replied. The android ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm SF-A2 Miki! Just call me Miki, sis!" Miki smiled and let go, much to Rin's relief.

"I'm Sonika…and that's Merli." The green haired woman gestured to herself and the remaining girl.

"…Hey." Merli simply waved and continued with her necklace. Meiko sighed at her behavior. Merli wasn't a people-person on the surface, only at the heart.

"It's breakfast time…Let's hurry…" Meiko clapped her hands, getting all of their attention, "We don't want to be late." Everyone put what they were doing down and left the room, even Lily! Rin stood there in shock. Meiko noticed, and smiled, "Someone has to keep them in line."

They headed down to the dining room and sat at the table, only to be greeted with a breakfast buffet. Rin wanted to drool, but kept herself under control.
The girls were eating when the boys came down. The oldest (about Meiko's age) had blue hair with matching dark eyes, wearing a long coat and distinctive scarf. The next oldest (slightly older than Lily & Sonika) had dark pink hair under a black beanie with matching pink eyes. He wore a cool, collective outfit for any boy to wear. About the same age as him was a boy with brown hair and pieces sticking up with matching brown eyes. He wore a simple black outfit with an orange belt. Then, there was the boy who appeared to be the Diva's age and looked vaguely similar to her. The boy had short teal hair with matching eyes and with a similar outfit. Next to him there a boy Rin's age with white hair, a green eye & blue eye, and wore mostly white. He was very adorable, Rin had to admit. Lastly, there was a younger boy, younger than Rin, with light blonde hair, amber eyes (where one was covered by bandages for whatever reason) and wore a sailor boy outfit. However…where was Len?

"…where's Dream Eater, Mikuo?" Ring asked the Diva look-alike. Mikuo looked up from his waffles.

"…Dream Eater, P.B, & Delayed are in…" Mikuo leaned across the table and whispered in such a quiet soft voice, "…the voicebank room…" then sat back in his seat. Rin looked confused as she ate her bacon, but no one noticed.

"…How?" Gumi asked a bit loudly. Mikuo shushed her, making sure no one else heard her.

"Mayu." The sailor boy replied quietly, "Stole it from her."

"…They better be careful…" The pink haired man sipped his coffee, "…They could get in big trouble."

"…Are they not allowed in there?" Rin asked. The boys noticed her existence.

"…Yes." The Pink haired man took another sip.

"…Who's this?" The oldest man asked Meiko. He was pouring ice cream flavored coffee creamer into his coffee. Ring rolled her eyes and kept eating.

"Rin. She's new, Kaito." Meiko simply said, eating her eggs, "…Tokyo Teddy Bear..?"

"OHHH…Her." Kaito recognized the other name used. Rin didn't.

"…Tokyo Teddy Bear?" She repeated. Lily turned to her, remembering she was new.

"We have code names. Yours is Tokyo Teddy Bear." Lily explained briefly, "We'll tell you more later…"

Meanwhile, in the basement levels of the house, the three boys missing from the dining table were snooping down the stairs silently. Len reached the ground and approached a black door with a sign reading "ONLY ALLOWED PERSONNEL" and unlocked it with the key. He motioned Rinto and Lui over and they slipped into the room. Len stepped around the dead robotic parts to a filing cabinet, rummaging the drawer containing items with the names J-S.

"…Kagamine…Kagamine…Kagamine…Got it." Len plucked out a disc and put in a computer. Len sat at the chair and began to configure the voice.
Rinto and Lui watched as he quickly changed the pitch and gender ratios of the whole voice. It was magic to them. Then again…anyone could work with their own voice to make it something new. It took Len twenty minutes to complete. He put in another blank disc and copied the voice to it. He ejected it from the computer and handed it to Lui.

"…?" Lui looked at it, unsure of what to do. Rinto sighed and took it.
He pushed Len out of the chair, and made Lui sit in it. Len silently freaked as he had landed on the remains of some dead parts…and a body…Len scooted to the wall. Rinto removed Lui's shirt and pressed on a spot between his shoulder blades. A disk tray popped out from his spinal area and Rinto put the disc in. The tray retreated back inside the boy. Lui looked at Rinto, unsure of when to speak. He knew how, it was the matter of having the voice to do so.

"…Give it 5 minutes to process into the databank." Rinto told him, then noticed Len, "…what did I push you on?"

"On Neru you bastard!" Len quietly said, obviously pissed, and freaked out. Rinto sighed.

"Sorry." Rinto apologized, "Didn't see that…We're almost done here…"

"So, Len." Lui did sign language while the disc still processed, "You met the new girl?"

"Yeah." Len smiled, "She's a cutie, I do admit. Has a sharp tongue…" Lui smirked. Rinto didn't care and went through some of the stuff in the filing cabinet.

"So…She's cute huh?" Lui signed, "What kind of cute?" Len blushed lightly.

"…None of your business mute boy." Len muttered, "…Is it done yet?"

"No." Lui signed, then paused, "…two more minutes. Don't change the subject Len."

"He thinks all the girls are cute." Rinto didn't care as he spoke, shoving some discs into his pockets, "Remember when he flirted with Gumi? …Then Teto? Then Gumi kicked him in the-"Lui tapped the ground, interrupting Rinto so he could sign.

"This is different. I can tell." He signed. Len then realized Rinto hadn't seen Lui sign at all this whole time.

"…How do you know what he's saying?" Len asked. He really wanted to know, "And…what are you doing?"

"One, I'm looking out of the corner of my eye. Two, taking some stuff for later use." Rinto replied, continuing his looting.

"…what use does that have for us?" Len asked. Rinto shrugged and finished his looting.

"…" Lui tugged on Len's shirt. Len looked at him.

"…is it done?" Len asked him. Lui nodded. Len told him, "Then speak Lui! Speak for the world!" Rinto rolled his eyes at Len.

"…Hi?" Was all Lui could say. The voice had been tuned to sound slightly less masculine (despite Rinto's jokes how could it get girlier…) but soft and like a young teen boy. Len smiled, as did Rinto. Finally they're mute friend could speak!

"Matcha-chan! Please get specimen 009 from the basement!" The boys heard the voice of the home's lady. Their blood ran cold.

"Yes momma." The girl replied, and they heard the footsteps from the stairs. The boys ducked under the desk, crammed and squishing each other.
The young teen opened the door, not noticing it was already unlocked. She looked around the room, apparently knowing what to find of this specimen. The boys watched her feet move, silent and scared of being discovered.

"Found you." Matcha picked up something, "…irk…Dead things are heavy…" She sounded strained, "…Coming up Mama!" And left the room, the door closing behind her. The boys crawled out of under the desk, stretching.

"That was close…too close…" Lui shuddered. They didn't fear Matcha, for Matcha was nice. But, she was guilty of being forced to loyalty to her parents.

"Let's go…I'm hungry. Hopefully Yuma saved us food!" Rinto felt his stomach grumble as he spoke and they slipped out of the room.

"C'mon Rin!" Gumi tugged the blonde by her hand back to Rin's room. Rin had no way to say no, plus, she though Gumi was nice.

"…Let me check the closet…I want to see what's in there." Rin told her. Gumi sat on the floor, adjusting her shorts. Rin opened the doors, only to see a barrage of different outfits. She was shocked to see it full with clothing she would wear.

"...Hey…Gumi…" Rin sat beside her, wanting to know this answer, "…Why did Len warn me?"

"…Because…Len-kun didn't want you to end up like us Rin-chan." Gumi looked at the white carpet solemnly, "You don't understand…yet…"

"…I don't know what I'm supposed to understand…" Rin sighed, feeling hopeless. Gumi glanced at her, then returned her gaze to the carpet.

"…I reckon I can show you…Give me a moment." Gumi stood up and exited the room, "Dark Fairy…" Merli came to the call of this code name.

"…Yes?" Merli had finished her necklace for Rin. It was a blue crystal attached to a silver chain.

"…She wants to see." Gumi whispered quietly. Merli simply nodded and put the necklace around Rin.

"…thank-you." Rin loved the beautiful necklace. It was the most expensive thing she had probably ever owned. …Besides her voice…

"Alright. Let's be quick." Merli agreed, "…C'mon Rin." They quietly went down the stairs and into a hidden door by the middle staircase. It led to the basement.

"…This is the basement." Gumi whispered in a hushed tone. They filed down the stairs, and came to the crossroads of 3 doors, "The one on the left is the voicebank room…" Merli tried to open it. It was now locked.

"…Damn Len…" She muttered. Gumi ignored her comment.

"The middle is the room you'll see. And the right…is the storage room for food, and the cleaning stuff." Gumi explained. Rin had assumed the right was something horrible, not something so generic…

"…Are you trying to scare me?" Rin asked. She wondered if this was a joke. …This is probably something they do to all the newbies…I'm sure of it…Like Seniors to the Freshman…The Old kids to the New kids…The Werewolf to the Vampire…Ugh. That last comparison was in bad taste.

"No. You want to know the truth." Merli replied to her instead of Gumi and opened the middle door, "…Before you go in here…cover your mouth and nose." "Why?" "…You could pass out…from…the smell."

Rin pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth, not caring her yellow bra was showing. She was with girls after all. Gumi did the same as Rin, though only exposing her midriff. Merli grabbed a piece of cloth off the floor and wrapped it around her nose and mouth somewhat loosely.
The 3 walked into the room, leaving the door half closed. Rin could see a blue mist wafting around. She couldn't smell it. It must be why they're noses are covered, "…Where's the truth?" Her voice was muffled under her shirt.

"…Over here." Gumi motioned her to a window. Rin went over, although hesitantly. Merli refused to go near the window, looking a bit terrified.
Rin looked through the window, seeing nothing due to the heavy condensation. She rubbed it off with her detached sleeve, peering in closer, only to see the figures of two people talking.

"Did Matcha bring it up?" A man with a deep, powerful voice asked the other.

"Yes. She did. I'm working on her." A woman with a beautiful voice spoke back, "…So? Who's next? I want a son. Give me a son damn you."

"…Calm yourself Prima darling." The man calmed her down. They must be married Rin figured, "We have many options…There's the mute." "No. He can perish like that last girl…Yuzuki right? I don't pay attention to the unworthy." Rin felt chills down her spine. She heard Merli give a sigh of relief.

"…There's that one boy Mayu loves?" The man suggested. The woman snorted.

"No." She didn't like that either, "Someone less headstrong. He's a nuisance!"

"…Fine, Fine." The man was silent for a minute, "…How about…the other boy? The one that looks like that heartless bitch." "…Perfect! Oh, love!" Prima threw her arms around the man. Gumi gasped, horrified.

"Not Mikuo…" Gumi's voice faltered, her eyes tearing up. Rin was confused, though scared, and looked at Merli.

"I don't understand…What's going on!" Rin demanded answers. Was she here to succeed? Die? Be used for some illegal or legal reason?

"…We all lived less than desirable lives, and ran away from our owners, or were sold online. They bought us, and tutor, clean, and treat us well…until…" Merli's eyes watered, "…They see no need of you…Then…you either became their slave…child…or…" Merli blinked the tears away, "…Uninstalled. Permanently." Rin fell to the floor in shock.
I ran away from it all…friends…school…My Master…The Master's Master Mr. Cat…I wanted to belong…To be known…Like Miss Miku Hatsune…And I wind up here…in Hell….I'm gonna die…I'm gonna die…