The Death of Miku Hatsune Chapter 2, a vocaloid fanfic

A/N: I'm really happy that this series is receiving a lot of attention! Seven reviews in one day?! Wow! I love you guys so much!

I'm glad quite a few people realised Miku wouldn't have been able to commit suicide, and I'm glad everyone's trying to come up with their own theories :3

A few characters that will be introduced won't be added to the suspects list, so you'll know those ones have no possibility of being the murderer. But anyone on the list may be the murderer - and as more chapters pass, I'll change the likiness of them being the murderer, until finally, I'll put someone with 'CERTAIN' next to their name. When you guess who the murderer is in a review, please guess only once when you have enough evidence and write "Final Guess: *person*". If you're an anonymous reviewer, write the pairing of the one-shot you'd like afterwards, in case you win.

First person to final guess correctly wins!

[...]

THE STORY SO FAR:

Miku Hatsune, a world-famous singer/actress of Japanese descent, has been murdered using a blunt instrument. I, Len Kagamine, a young journalist, have decided to investigate to try and write an article unlike any other in the newspaper I work for.

I received news of this at the same time as the rest of Japan did, via the news. I was watching the news with my very close friend, Luka Megurine, an opposing-looking girl who secretly has a love for all things otaku. Luka seemed upset by the news. Luka was noteably late for the dinner I prepared for her, despite usually being very punctual. She explained that Yuuma decided to take the scenic route, however, this has never happened in the past.

My investigation continues. If you have any helpful information or theories that could be of use to me, please send it to Shadowthorn2013 at , as she is my assistant with the investigations.

- Sincerely, Len Kagamine

[...]

Everywhere you looked, the news of Hatsune's death lurked. On every web page known to man, you'd find something posted about the pop star's demise. Twitter, tumblr and facebook went crazy with posts, NicoNico went crazy with dedication videos containing merged film clips of the pop star's and websites like pixiv were full of drawings and photos of the singer. Some people were pleased of her death - saying it was time for true talent to immerge. Others were devistated.

It was just like the death of any celebrity would be - some pleased, some not. Except the difference was with Hatsune, everyone had a say. Almost every TV channel was sticking their nose into the late pop sensation's business, interviewing family members, co-stars and, really, anyone that had ever shaken her hand.

It had been a week since the young journalist had seen the news report about the murder; his sleepy eyes were pinned to the laptop screen in front of him as his finger subconsciously pushed against the touch pad, scrolling down the page for the fifty-thousandth time that day. His vision was beginning to blur from fatique as his eyes strayed down towards the clock at the top of the screen.

"Three am already," He said, yawning half-way through his sentence. So far, what he'd gathered from blogs and videos was all common knowledge. Miku Hatsune, age twenty, had died due to a hit on the head from a blunt instrument, such as the hilt of an axe, a metal pipe, or a plank of club. Most people suspected she'd been hit by something like a guitar - which would make sense, as she was more famous for her music than her poor acting skills. But those were just rumours.

Interviews with Miku's parents and her twin brother Mikuo, that up until now, no-one paid any attention to, were all over NicoNico and youtube; but they weren't useful to Len in any way.

"How do you feel about the death of your daughter?"

"Devastated, of course! How else would you expect us to feel?! She was our pride and joy!"

Days seemed to pass by in a slow, dull blur for Len, due to the lack of sleep from staying up all night searching the internet for remotely helpful information. Sure, he'd learned a lot more about the diva's personal life - how she'd once dated her co-worker, Akaito Shion, but they'd fallen out of love; how she and her brother were closer than siamese twins before her life of fame - but it brought him no closer to finding out who had murderered her. He was a reporter, not a detective - it wasn't his job to find out who had murderered the teal-haired girl. But if he did, and he brought them to justice with the help of the police... He would almost certainly get a promotion.

Funny. How I can want to do something like this, that'll help so many people, for something so small and selfish as a promotion.

Len yawned, closing the laptop, rubbing his finger over one of the many childish Hello Kitty stickers he'd been given by his ex, before setting it aside on his bedside, pulling the sheets over his shoulders, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

[...]

MONDAY 11:30AM.

"Ack! Sorry! Coming through! S-sorry- Ah, I swear I'll help you clean it up afterwards! I'm very late for a job interview you see- S-sorry!"

Len looked up from his desk, where folders upon folders flooded out onto his keyboard, the old computer whirring away, to see what the commotion was. Usually the office of the top newspaper in Japan - Nihon Daily* - was peaceful and tranquil, without all the shouting and screams of terror that the new intruder of the day brought with him.

A young, small blonde boy was making his way through the crowded desks, dodging passing workers with hot coffee in their hands, yelling out apologies in his thickly accented voice. His hands shook nervously as he finally passed through the first few rows of desks, almost as if he'd just passed the level and was now working towards the boss battle. In his small, shaking hands was a yellowed folder, similar to the many ones flooding across Len's desk, with papers jarring out of the side.

Squinting, Len saw English text scrawled across the top of the page.

"M... Mi... Miku-?" Len stammered, cut off as a screaming, flailing foreigner crashed into his chair, knocking both of them onto the floor, Len's head hitting the floor with a thunk.

"OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!" The boy squealed, pushing himself off of Len, falling onto the floor by Len's desk chair as the said journalist rubbed his now sore head. Len's cerulean eyes fell onto the foreigner, inspecting him. He was obviously still just a teenager, with gangly limbs and messy blonde curls that fell around his face. His cheeks and nose were dotted with freckles a shade darker than his hair, a single gold eye blinking apologetically. His other eye was covered by what seemed to be a black patch straight out of a cosplay.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" The boy asked worriedly, fussing over Len, trying to help him stand up.

"I-I'm fine," Len said, his eyes straying back to the folder. Now he was closer, he could clearly read the English text. It was the romanized spelling of Miku Hatsune. This kid knows about Hatsune?

"I-I'm just really nervous, y-you know!" The boy said, shaking as he stood up, "I-I h-have a job i-i-interview and I'm s-s-scared I w-w-won't get in!"

"Understandable," Len offered a small smile, "Are you foreign?"

The boy nodded, "Y-yeah! I come from E-England."

"Ah, okay," Len smiled, "I hope you get the job, eh-?"

"Oliver." The boy smiled, pronouncing his name the English way, rather than the Japanese pronunciation of 'Oliba', "My name's Oliver."

"Good to meet you, Oliver-san," Len smiled, "My name's Len. Len Kagamine. I work as a writer and a photographer here."

"A-ah! Cool!" Oliver enthused excitedly, his eye sparkling, "I really like writing! I mean... I'm n-not very good at it but... I really like researching and interviewing people as well - everyone's usually really kind to me!"

Len could easily see why Oliver would succeed at interviews - he was cute, easy to like. You'd have to be heartless not to want to spill out all your secrets to the childish round face that belonged to Oliver.

"I hope we get to work together some time then," Len said, holding out his hand. The smaller boy shook it, the shakes of his hands easily felt by the older, before rushing off through the rest of the office, cries of distress following as the boy stopped paying attention to where he was going.

Len sighed, turning back to the computer, unable to stop thinking about what could've been in the folder marked Miku Hatsune.

[...]

MONDAY 6:45PM

"Len-san! Len-san, please wait up!"

It was evening, and the sky was beginning to dye itself an orange-pink tinge outside the large windows that took up almost the entire eastern wall of Nihon Daily, clouds floating in the sky about the busy skyscrapers like birds on the wind. Our blonde protagonist stood by his desk, trying to force a small envelope full of printed-off photos into the small, brown bag that was placed on the floor by his brown-shoed foot. He always kept the necessesities - a notepad, a pen and a camera - with him in that bag, trying to avoid taking lots of files or information home at once. When he knew he had lots to take home, he'd often borrow a paper bag that had been used to carry the cups used for the coffee machine to take the files home.

The office was almost empty, as everyone usually headed home at about five. Len, however, had stayed longer for a few reasons - mostly because he'd be paid more for just being at work longer, despite the fact he could actually do all this work at home, and partially because he wanted to see the small, blonde foreigner.

Who just so happened to be one calling him.

"What is it, Oliver-san?" Len asked, managing to get the plump envelope into his bag, pulling it over onto his shoulder, facing the slightly shorter blonde. Now that Len thought about it, Oliver was awfully tall for how young he looked. Sure, Len had always been shorter for his age, and genetically the British tended to be taller, but Oliver still seemed awfully tall. Perhaps that was just because he looked almost fourteen to Len, when he was, realistically, only slightly younger than Len.

The younger blonde leant the palm of his hand against Len's desk, trying to catch his breath, "I.. I was just wondering if you'd like... like to walk downstairs with me?"

Nihon Daily was a massive building; about sixteen floors in total. Most of the offices were printing rooms, others were like the one Len worked in, and were in charge of specific sections of the newspaper. Len's floor was in charge of typing up articles; so everyone was either a writer or a photographer. His colleague and close friend, Gumi, worked on the third floor, and was one of the many editors.

It was necessary to have so many articles on the go as Nihon Daily, as the name suggested, released a new newspaper everyday. As a result, it was one of the most read newspapers in Japan.

"Sure," Len smiled, wondering if he could try to bump into Gumi on the way down in hopes of asking if anyone had sent through an article about Hatsune yet, and if so, what it was about.

Quoting other journalists was always a good way to support your evidence.

The two blondes began their way down the stairs of the large building, as Oliver attempted to strike up casual conversation.

"Is your hair naturally blonde?" Oliver asked curiously, "I mean, I haven't seen many people around here with blonde hair that looks as natural as yours."

"It's natural," Len nodded, "My father was English."

"Ah, okay," Oliver smiled happily, as the two continued down the stairs.

"If you don't mind me asking, Oliver-san, why are you wearing an eye-patch?" Len asked, lifting up a few strands of the Brit's blonde hair.

"Oh. Uh, it's personal," Oliver said, "No offense, Len-san. Also, just call me Oliver. Honorifics are kind of difficult for me."

"Oh, okay. Call me Len then." Len said, as the two continued to walk. They continued down the stairs, Len's neat shoes clacking against the wooden stairs, Oliver's messily-tied sneakers squeaking, as the two finally reached the bottom of the stairs.

"It was nice talking to you, Len." Oliver said, bowing politely, before standing up and looking at Len sheepishly, "Also, uh, I heard from Sakine-san that you're researching about Hatsune-sama."

"Yeah," Len nodded, "I'm trying to find out more information about her. Y'know, so I don't just repeat all the things those posts on the internet have said - so I actually tell the public something more."

"Sounds great!" Oliver said, his face brightening, before he stammered, "C-can I maybe assist you sometime?"

"Sure," Len smiled and nodded, "I'd be glad to accept your help."

"Great! Can we meet again sometime tomorrow?"

"Sure."

[...]

Short chapter is short. Disappointed fans are you. I would've continued this on longer except I had to go to bed and I also wanted to upload something so. Yeah. End was a bit rushed OTL.

I included myself as Len's helper~! You heard him. Send me your theories! Help Len solve the mystery!

*Nihon Daily is entirely made up. I don't know if a newspaper exists in Japan with that name, and if it does, I'm positively psychic. I'm not too clear on how newspapers work, so I basically copied the few things I learnt from watching/reading Spiderman since the age of five. Go Peter Parker, woo!

SUSPECTS:

Ted Kasane - Miku's caring manager. He seems to like Miku. He didn't follow her outside, and was checking his emails and arranging concerts for Miku at the time. No further information was added in this chapter. HIGHLY UNLIKELY.

Luka Megurine - Was late arriving. May have made up excuse of talking to Yuuma; however, she has a deep love for Miku. No further information was revealed in this chapter. UNLIKELY.

Hatsune Miku (suicide) - Rushed off from the studio abruptly. Had just received a letter from her father, who she hasn't been in contact with for years. Seemed shocked at the letter, so it is likely the letter was bad news about her father. The instrument used to kill her was most likely also a musical instrument, according to many fans. It is unknown how this rumour started. It would've been impossible for her to have killed herself with a guitar, or any of the other weapons suspected. IMPOSSIBLE.

Len Kagamine - The location of Len during the time of the murder unknown. However, he doesn't seem to have any motive other than getting a story - he'd hardly murder someone for a story, as he'd get found out if any investigation was done. It is revealed that Len works from the morning to at least 5pm, and since Miku was murdered during the afternoon, it is impossible that Len could've commited the crime, assuming he went to work that day. HIGHLY UNLIKELY/ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE.

Yuuma - Nothing is known about Yuuma yet, except that he knows Luka. Also, he decided to take the 'scenic route'. He's Luka's alibi, and Luka is his. No further information was revealed in this chapter. UNKNOWN.

Akaito - Miku's co-star. Doesn't like to be called 'sempai' or 'Akai-chan'. He was picked up by his older brother, Taito, after shooting an episode with Miku. He doesn't seem to have any motive, but it's not impossible he killed her out of jealousy. He has been interviewed about her death, though his comments are unknown at this point. POSSIBLE.

Oliver - A young, British boy. It's unknown as to why he's in Japan, but he has suddenly turned up Nihon Daily for a job interview. He was carrying a folder labelled 'Miku Hatsune', and seems to have shown interest in Len and our protagonist's investigation. Not much is known about him as of yet, though he seems slightly suspicious. POSSIBLE.

Mikuo Hatsune - The late pop-star's twin brother. He was close to her before she discovered the lime light. He may have begrudged feelings towards her, although how he really feels is unknown as of the moment. POSSIBLE.

Gumi - One of Len's colleagues. She's an editor for Nihon Daily. Nothing else is known about her. UNKNOWN.

? - Unknown character. Yet to be introduced.

Do you know who murdered Miku Hatsune? Figure it out and I'll write you a one-shot of the pairing you want. You have one guess - so choose wisely! You don't have to guess yet - after all, not even all the suspects have been revealed yet!