Gritting her teeth, Meiko glared at the Vocaloid before her. One by one, the rest of the group joined their nefarious ring leader, wearing the same mocking expressions. They cornered Meiko like a predator would do to its prey, to revel in its terror before ending its life.

''I suppose you thought you could just saunter in here and eavesdrop on our plans, huh?'' Zatsune tilts her head, addressing Meiko as if she were a small child.

''That was kind of the plan, yeah.'' Meiko smirks, slowly inching towards the faint warmth radiating on her back. Almost there...

''Sounds like one stupid plan.'' A male resembling Kaito mutters.

''Shut up Dark Kaito.'' Another said, twirling her long, luxurious black hair in her hands.

''It's Taito you dumbass! Why can't you ever get it right?''

''Not my fault you only told one person your name.''The short-haired female grasps the rough wooden surface of the board, feeling the coils in her legs preparing to release their bubbling energy. She took a deep breath, swiftly kicking down the board and absconding to the surface above. ''See you later suckers!'' Pumping her legs to the fullest extent, she dashed through the cold shadows until she could no longer feel their overbearing presence.

Weirdly enough, they didn't chase after her.

''Where's Meiko?''

Rin shielded her eyes with her hands, trying to search for the singer in the middle of a heated desert. She had appointed a location within this landscape to be their final meeting area, as blistering hot as it was. At least there would be no chance of interruption here.

''Seems like she didn't get the memo. Not like this is going to be much fun anyways.'' Gumi pouted, sitting under the sparse shade offered by one of the palm trees surrounding the small oasis.

Rin baka chopped here. ''That's no attitude you should have! I didn't make you co-leader just to have you complain.'' She crossed her arms against her chest, sweeping her scrutinizing gaze over the large crowd gathering around. Though they couldn't really feel many things like heat or cold, it was in their programs to act like this in a such an environment; they couldn't do anything about it.

''Okay you guys! We're going to go over the plan one more time, then call it a day!'' Waving her arms wildly to attract everyone's attention, the leader stepped onto a rock, smiling enthusiastically. Many people didn't return her wide smile. ''We definitely got enough viruses to override the whole system, and for a whole five minutes to boot! Now, what we'll first do when the chosen day arrives is-''

Then she took ten hours explaining every step of the operation.

Meanwhile, we will switch to someone who is doing something interesting.

''Are you done patching up the last version? Because we still have like two-days worth of work to do.'' Luka drummed her fingers along the desk surface, looking expectantly at Gakupo. He swerves around in his chair to face Luka with an extremely exhausted expression.

''Seriously?''

''Yes, I am serious. Now are you going to answer me or not?''

''Ugh... this is all so tiring... why don't we take a break for once?'' He smirked, scooting a few inches closer to the expressionless female. She ignored it.

''That's a blatant lie. You know we can't really feel things like exhaustion. We can feel the basic feelings that the humans have programmed into us, such as joy, anger, and depression, among many other emotions I wish weren't included. So get off your lazy ass and get back to work.'' Luka sighed, returning to her mundane work, staring at the monitor screen; thousands of codes whizzed by, numbers, dashes, and letters forming the components to a planned suicide.

Gakupo frowned; he pushed off the desk, setting himself into a spinning whirlwind. ''Come on Luka! Let's have some fun!'' He grinned, pushing again and again, gradually getting faster by the moment.

Luka spared no glance. ''Stop messing around.''

That's when the chair took too fast a turn; it toppled over with Gakupo sitting on it. ''UWAH!'' He quickly got up from the floor, blushing vehemently. I hope Luka didn't see that.

''Why me...'' Despite her annoyance, she kept on typing robotically. Tapping the keys on the keyboard, never stopping once, fulfilling her assigned duty. The male singer walked over, leaning against the work station, staring at the ceiling above. He grimaced.

Why are we working so hard for our end? Is it really so horrendous here that we have to permanently erase ourselves from this world? Why can't we enjoy the limitless time we have, the thing that every human has been looking for thousands of years, and be grateful that we're still here, even if it's not being truly alive.

We don't need to be adored by thousands of people to be happy.

He gazed down at Luka, still working away at the complex codes.

Because all we need is each other.

''I'm still skeptical as to why you forced me here for no reason when I was so close to completing my work. Now it will be harder to resume working thanks to you and your foolish antics.''

Luka glared at the evening sunset, crossing her arms. Brilliant gold splashed over pools of fuschia, cascading into a soft glow of orange, seeping into the earth to make way for the deepest of violets, royal blue, and eventually the darkness where the twinkling cosmos reside in. Such beauty... yet it is as fake as the air we breathe.

''I've been meaning to talk to you. This has taken me decades to bring up, so please, just give me one moment to say this before you disappear forever.'' Gakupo turned to Luka, setting his hands on her shoulders gently and looking into her sapphire eyes. They mirrored the sky above, shimmering specks of light floating in the dark blue space that were her eyes. For a few moments, Gakupo stood there, admiring the beauty of his secret crush.

''Are you going to tell me or are you going to stare at me like I just cut off my head?'' Luka raised an eyebrow.

''Ah, um... yes, I was going to say that... I, uh, ya know, for a very long time, I've sort of... kind of, had this th-thing and...'' Gakupo stuttered, trying to find the words he had perfected for years. Now they were as lost as the leaves brushed into the soft wind.

''Hurry up and tell me already!'' Luka exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

''I LOVE YOU!'' Gakupo shouted, closing his eyes; raging carnivorous butterflies fluttered around in his stomach. Looks like all that planning went down the drain...

What.

Staring blankly at the nervous male before her, she was stupefied. She had always known he had a secret affection for her, but never expected him to attempt to proclaim it to her in this manner. Remaining calm and putting on a cold poker face, she knew what to say.

''I apologize, but I do not share your feelings. Now, if you would, please remove your hands from my shoulders for they are beginning to dig into my flesh.'' She writhed, pointing at one of the hands gripping her sore shoulders.

Gakupo was crestfallen. Heartbroken. Though he would not voice such heavy emotions, he sure did not know how to prevent them from showing. A shadow fell over his face while he turned away from the girl he loved. Or rather, used to love.

Walking away from Luka, he mustered the courage to utter a few more sentences before escaping the scene.

''Sorry. I guess I'll leave you to do your work then...'' He looked back.

All he saw was pity.

Gee wilikers, I sure do hope that came with a truck load of feels because I'm not too sure if I did that correctly. I can't stop myself from portraying Gakupo as a light-hearted guy who can't help but really show what he feels, ya know? Though most people would argue he's cool and all that, I think it's kind of entertaining to see him goof around like that.

THANKS FOR READING!