Yay another update in just 3 days! I'm doing so much better than the last update… which was like 2 weeks… *cough cough*
Disclaimer – The name 'Vocaloid' belongs to the creator of the program Yamaha.
Some of the characters used in this story either belong to Crypton Future Media or any other respective owners of the fan-made Vocaloid characters.
Difference in Worlds
Chapter Seven – Preparations
Len POV
"How did this happen?" I let out an exasperated sigh.
It had only been 2 hours since we parted ways from Lily and we had returned to the dorms. However, it didn't return to the usual lazing around and watching TV. Rin was in the backyard with her sabre in hand and practicing with it. Gakupo and Teto were outside as well, swinging a wooden sword or a naginata.
"You should stop standing around and train as well!" I heard Rin yelp at me from outside.
Lily had promised to sign us up for the tournament as gratitude for solving her stalker problem, so Meiko had gone with her to sign us up. The only ones that weren't signing up for the tournament were Miku, Neru, Piko, and Kaito. Miku didn't have much fighting experience in the first place and usually played a passive role in our jobs. Neru was our strategist, so she never gets involved in a fight. Piko wasn't that great at fighting, so he'd always get a decoy role. Kaito, however, had lots of experience but he didn't sign up because it seems that the tournament date overlapped the day a new flavor of ice cream, which was being released in Tokyo.
"Tell me why I was signed up as well." I trudged my way to the glass backdoor.
"I can't have my rival slacking off!" Rin stops swinging her sabre to point it at me.
"Since when was I your rival?" I raised my eyebrow at her.
"Since always." Rin said bluntly and went back to training.
"How am I even supposed to train?" I took a glance around for anything to use.
"I'll let you borrow my dumbbells if you want." Gakupo offered.
"Nah, I don't want to touch something your sweaty hands got all over." I declined.
"W-what?! I keep my dumbbells as clean as possible!" he declared.
"You shouldn't lie." Piko commented while sitting on the patio. Piko was sitting on one of the chairs and gazing down at his portable game console in his hands.
"I'm n-" Gakupo exclaimed but was cut off.
"Stop slacking! I'm not going easy on you if we face off!" Teto smacked Gakupo with the wooden part of her naginata.
"Would you all like some tea?" Kaiko came out with a tray of cups and placed them down onto the patio table.
"Thanks, Kaiko." Rin lowered her sabre and thanked her.
"Are you going to train as well?" I asked Kaiko, who was also signed up for the tournament.
"I don't really know what to do since I'll be relying on Kyu." She looked down at Kyu who was on the tea tray doing shadow boxing.
"Don't worry Kaiko! I'll protect you!" Kyu declared while throwing punches.
"What are you guys going to do if you have to face each other in the first rounds?" I asked.
"What's there to do? I won't hold back." Rin stated sternly.
"I won't either!" Teto exclaimed and waved her naginata around.
"I'm not holding back just because you're girls!" Gakupo shouted.
"No manners." Rin says and sips her tea.
"Yup. No delicacy with girls." Miku says as she enters the patio with a teacup in hand.
"Such a brute." Neru adds in as she sits down on the other patio chair.
"Why is everything I say being turned against me?" Gakupo starts to sulk in a corner.
"Don't mind him." I chuckled and put a hand on Kaiko's shoulder, since she looked like she was worried.
"Oh, I was just concerned since the tea was going to get cold." Kaiko pointed at the remaining cup on the tray.
"Gak! Worrying about the tea more than me!" Gakupo sulks more.
"Leaving the baka aside. Where's Kaito and Meiko?" Neru looked around for the two. "Wait, no. I don't need to know where Kaito is." She corrected herself.
"Meiko went with Lily, didn't she?" Piko paused his game and said.
"Shouldn't she be back by now then?" Neru questioned.
"Maybe she's secretly training somewhere." I joked.
"Why am I still standing around?!" Rin quickly put her cup down and returned to her previous spot.
"I have to surpass Meiko!" Teto exclaimed and rushed back to her spot as well.
"Is Meiko-senpai really that strong?" Kaiko looked at the duo waving their weapons around.
"Well, she is the strongest person in our school. She's probably also the strongest person in Japan as well." Miku had a smile on her face as she talked about our childhood friend.
"Her Holder power is her enhanced body. She's strong, fast, and can heal rather quickly, so with that combination she can fight for as long as she wants." I explained.
"Kuh…" I heard Rin let out a noise. "I knew Meiko-senpai was strong, but now the wall known as Meiko has become much taller." She complained and began thrusting her sabre in the air more rapidly.
"I'm not falling behind!" Teto shouted and spun her naginata around.
"I wonder if they even stand a chance." I sighed as I watched them.
"Stop talking as if you're not part of this!" Rin yelled at me.
"I'm probably going to lose from the get go." I state and sit down on one of the remaining chairs.
"I won't let Len, my future husband, be hurt!" Neru proclaimed.
"I think you slipped something unnecessary in that." I fixed my gaze on the girl feigning ignorance.
"I don't know what you could be talking about." Neru says innocently. "But if you in any way decide to agree with whatever was said then I'd be delighted to comply." She gives me an innocent smile.
"Let's just be friends." I say nonchalantly.
"Chet" Neru lets out a disappointed sound.
Bzzt
I felt my phone vibrate.
"Who is it?" Neru asked as she noticed me take out my phone.
"Meiko." I read the name of the sender.
"What did she say?" Neru leans towards me and tried to peak at my phone.
"Nothing important. I'm going out for a bit." I called out so everyone could hear me.
"Where are you going?" Piko glanced up from his game.
"Meiko had another duel but she broke some stuff in the process." I briefed them.
"People got upset?" Miku had a worried expression on her face.
"Yup. I'll take care of it, so you guys just rest here." I gave them a wave as I went back into the dorm and to the front door.
…
"Len~" my vision went black.
"Meiko, I can't see." I complained. Meiko had jumped at me and had wrapped her arms around my head.
"Thanks for helping me out." Meiko patted my head.
"Those construction workers weren't happy about a man flying out of nowhere and crashing into one of the support pillars." I got Meiko off of me and glared at her. "You're lucky they were residents here and already know about you, so they let us off with a warning." I put my hand to my face and sighed as I recalled the scolding I received from them.
"Oh no~ Len is mad." Meiko said in a teasing tone.
"So? Why'd you call me here? You could have asked Gakupo to take the scolding in your stead." I ignored her teasing and asked.
"What's so wrong about me wanting to see you?" Meiko continued to tease me.
"No one is around so you can get to the point." I gestured at our empty surroundings. We had left the construction site and were now walking down the riverside path. It was almost evening since the scarlet sun was slowly starting to set behind the buildings.
"Hee~ you're no fun, Len." Meiko groaned unconvincingly . "I want you to do something for me." Meiko got straight to the point. "Well, not for me, but more for yourself." She corrected herself.
"What is it?" I gazed at her curiously.
"Can you tell everyone about you being a Holder?" she said something that I couldn't comprehend in the spur of the moment.
"Hah?" I had a dumb expression on my face.
"I think you should tell everyone about your powers." She repeated.
It took a moment for her request to sink in.
"You know I'm keeping it a secret for a reason, right?" I gazed at her firmly and asked.
"Yeah, you don't want people to treat you differently." She answered.
"Then you know why I won't." I declined. I knew she wasn't trying to tease me in any way but I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.
"Are you really afraid of what people would think? Do you really think we'll treat you any differently after these 5 years?" she looked at me sternly.
"N-no, of course not." I hesitated and shook my head. She was referring to our group of childhood friends.
"Even if people start to speak differently of you, you'll always have the Vocaloid to be by your side." Meiko assured me. "We'll probably kick their asses while we're at it." she added needlessly.
"I know that, but…" I couldn't understand why I was still reluctant. Why was I still trying to keep this a secret? Nothing will change. My friends would always be my friends. But why am I so hesitant? Am I worrying that they'll get mad at me for not telling them sooner? I doubt they'd be upset about that. Kaiko already knows about my powers so I shouldn't worry about her. Rin… I'm not sure how she would react, but with her personality I doubt she'd start hating me. Also people talking behind my back were never a problem for me. Ever since our class conflicted with class S, I already got use to scornful stares from class S. So does that mean I have nothing to lose?
"But?" Meiko spoke up to get my attention.
I returned to reality and let out a sigh.
"Haa… Fine." I gave in.
"That's a good boy!" Meiko latched her arm around my neck and started to pat my head affectionately.
"C-can you stop that?" I wasn't able to get out of her grasp this time.
"Nope~ Good boys need to be praised~" she cooed and continued patting me.
"I can never go against you, can I?" I murmured.
"Maybe when you get stronger." Meiko replied.
"You were planning this beforehand, weren't you? That's why you signed me up for the tournament as well." I realized that I assumably fell for her plan perfectly.
"Nope~ I only wanted for our bodies to clash in a burning passion during the tournament." Meiko replied suggestively.
"W-wha-?!" I felt the blood rush up to my face.
"Len is so cute." Meiko cooed again and rested her chin on my head, taking advantage of our height difference.
"I can never put my guard down around you." I groaned.
…
"I'm back." I announced nonchalantly and slipped into the living room.
"I'm here too!" Meiko announced her presence as well.
"Welcome back." Kaiko came to greet us.
"You sure took your time." Neru said and enters through the backdoor.
"I had to take a scolding in Meiko's place for almost half an hour." I explained to her and collapsed onto the empty couch.
"You seem tired." Kaiko gave me a concerned look.
"I get exhausted when I'm with Meiko." I talked into the couch cushion.
"Len gets so rough when we're alone." Meiko teased and pretended to get embarrassed.
"W-what?!" I heard the floorboard creak as Neru perked up and shouted.
"Meiko, please don't lie." I turned my face to the side to speak clearly.
"Hahaha. I'm joking." She laughed and patted Neru's back as she headed for the backdoor.
"Len where were you?!" Gakupo rushed through the backdoor to confront me.
"P-picking up Meiko?" I stuttered at his sudden approach.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he complained.
"I did?" I was curious on why he was so upset.
"Since you left I had no one to keep me company!" he sounded frustrated.
"What about Piko?" I looked towards the white hair boy, who was still outside on the patio.
"He's too immersed in his game and only gives me vague replies." He whined like a kid.
"Stop whining." Meiko shouted in an annoyed tone and kicked Gakupo in the back. "Now that the annoying one is out of the way. Len has something to say." Meiko gathered everyone's attention.
"Now?" I groaned and pushed myself off the couch.
Since Meiko usually played the leader role of our group, getting the attention of everyone was easy. Rin, Teto, and Piko came in with curious expressions wondering what was going on. Miku came in from the kitchen with a frying pan in hand.
Meiko made eye contact with me and urged me on.
"Okay then…" I inhaled deeply. "I have something important to tell you guys." I build up my resolve. "I'm a Holder." I felt my body tense up as I finally revealed the secret that I've kept hidden for 5 years.
.
.
.
"Oh." The silence was broken by a single word from Neru.
"I was wondering why he was so serious." Piko laughed.
"Wait, what?" this wasn't the reaction I was expecting.
"It's about time~" Teto said and stretches her arms to the air. "If that's it then I'm going back to training!" she informed us curtly and goes back outside.
"Hah?" the previous dumb expression returned to me.
"We sort of knew about that already." Miku explained.
"We've been together for all this time so we caught on." Neru told me as she sat on the couch.
"But you guys never said anything." I was confused by the situation.
"It's because we knew you wanted to keep it a secret so we feigned ignorance." Piko answered and returned back to his game.
"Other than Gakupo. Him not catching was authentic." Neru gestured her head towards the purple haired boy sprawled on the floor.
"Len was a Holder?!" said boy stood back up abruptly.
"See?" Neru proved her point.
"I told you, you had nothing to worry about." Meiko grinned at me.
"I guess so." I scratched my head feeling awkward. Now that I look back at it, I feel silly for trying to keep this a secret from my closest friends for such a long time.
"That explains what happened during our duel." Rin nodded as she appeared to have understood.
"So you guys aren't upset or anything?" I asked just to make sure.
"Nope." Neru shook her head.
"Nuh-uh." Piko mutters, keeping his head fixated on his game.
"I'm just glad that you finally decided to tell us." Miku said and returned back to the kitchen.
"I really did worry for nothing." I chuckled and plopped myself back down onto the couch. I felt every muscle in my body relax as the tension from earlier dissipated.
"Why are you sitting down?" Rin inquired in a sharp tone.
"Uhm… t-to relax?" I gazed at her nervously.
"Just because you're a Holder doesn't mean you can slack off." Rin stated strictly.
"Alright alright." I heaved a sigh and pushed myself off the couch again.
"Rin sure does care about you." Meiko mused in a teasing voice.
"Wha-?!" Rin was at lost for words as her face became a bright scarlet. Our eyes met for a moment and she quickly turned her head away from me. "Hmph. I don't care about what he does." She denied and went back to the backyard.
"Hmm~" Meiko hummed. "I'm glad I invited Rin to join us." she said amusingly and headed towards the kitchen.
"Does this mean I don't have to train now?" I looked around in confusion.
"So Len is a holder?" an even more confused Gakupo stood there clueless.
I let out another sigh and fell back onto the couch for the third time.
"I'll let you use my lap for a pillow." Neru offered nonchalantly while looking down at her phone.
"I'll pass." I laid my head on the arm rest.
"Guys?" Gakupo noticed no one was answering him.
"I'm glad you were able to tell everyone." Kaiko said and offered me some tea.
"Yeah, but now I feel mentally exhausted." I sat back up and took the cup.
"Guys?!"
"The tournament is on Wednesday, so we have 3 days left." I thought out loud.
"Was it a good idea for me to participate?" Kaiko asked uncertainly.
"Why are you asking?" I turned to meet her gaze, which she lowered to her hands.
"I don't know if I'll be able to fight Rin-senpai or anyone else here." She said anxiously.
"Haha." I chuckled and patted Kaiko's head. "You don't need to be reserved. Rin and the others are training for the tournament despite knowing that they'd possibly end up facing against each other, yet they're still training vigorously. If they see that you're holding back against them, then they'll think you're looking down on them." I told her reassuringly.
"I'll never do that!" Kaiko exclaimed.
"Then don't hold back." I grinned at her, which she returned with a nod.
"Oh no, Len is becoming a loli!" Neru spoke up in panic.
"What?! N-no I'm not." The hand that was resting on Kaiko's head snapped back to my side.
"Huh?" Kaiko didn't understand what was going on.
"I have to bring Len back… I should sneak into his room and seduce him with my body…" Neru muttered to herself but in an audible volume so we could still hear her.
"Please don't." I laughed uneasily. Tonight might be dangerous so I'll have to sleep in Kaito's room. I promised to not lock the door of my room, but I never mentioned someone else's.
"Oooi!~ Dinner is ready!" Meiko came into the room and announced.
"Food!" Teto must have smelled the food since she rushed past Meiko before she was done talking.
"I guess this is a good time to take a rest." Rin said as she came inside.
"We should eat as well." I suggested as I stood up.
"Okay." Neru answered and Kaiko nodded.
"Guys?! Why isn't anyone answering me?!"
The helpless cry of a purple haired boy echoed through Karant.
CHAPTER END
A/N Poor Gakupo~ And Len's secret was revealed!... sort of… everyone already knew about it though… so yeah. The tournament is approaching so I'm going to have to improve my action scenes more! I still need to think out a good setup for the rules so it might take a while. I know the way Len's secret was revealed was a bit disappointing, but it was mainly because of the fact that I forgot the plot idea of how I was going to actually reveal it. I needed Len to use his powers in the tournament, but the idea of how it became known to everyone was blank in my head... so sorry if I disappointed some of you guys ; The reason his childhood friends already knew about his powers was basically because he'd always avoid conversations revolving around them. Len claims to have not used his powers, but there are times where he'd subconsciously use them. So yeah... that's what I'ma go with. Hope you're please with thaaat~ 3
I wrote 1,000 words each day since I uploaded that previous chapter, so I'm a bit pleased with my work. I know it's nothing compared to how much I wrote before, but that was because I had everything thought out then. I'm taking some time now to think of a good way to get the story going. The next chapter might upload soon, since the tournament was something I was really trying to get to.
This chapter was rewritten once because I was getting all these past tense and present tense mixed up. It's probably because the story I'm helping my friend with is in present tense, but this story is in past tense. iConfused. aLot. Like I said in the previous chapter, I'm helping my friend with her story so that's going to delay my updating by quite a lot, so please bear with me!~ I'm thankful for your patience during these long and dark non-updating days.
Leave your reviews about your thoughts~ I'll be sure to read them over and get back to you on 'em!
Reviews
I3Len – I'm glad you're still reading my story c: I have no life so of course I shouldn't have friends!... lolno I'm joking :P
fenrir x2 – Alright, I'll be glad to have some help in character designing! :D Feel free to PM me your ideas~ And Kaito would go across the country for icecream!
DualStarduster – Thanks! Despite it being sort of a short filler chapter ;
Mitsu – Lily's personality is more of a spoiled girl from a type of noble family. Meh, she serves as a minor role right now, so I'm not sure how she's going to end up. I'm just glad that you're enjoying my story and leaving a review, that's all I could want~ :D
Sheshe-AnimeLuver – Yup, everyone found out. Before the tournament. HUGE PLOT TWIST… not really. ;