Miku: Argh, Elise-sensei! You left the last chapter on a cliffhanger!

EliseArainai: I know! Sorry, Miku-chan. But on the plus side, chapter 3 is up!

Miku: Yay! *jumps for joy*

Luka: Elise-sensei does not own Vocaloid, but she would appreciate if you would leave a review.

Rin and Len: Enjoy~!

I was at a complete loss for words. Standing right in front of me was the man of my dreams, Kaito Shion! And he was singing my song just a minute ago! Well, the words were different, but regardless!

Walking closer to me, Kaito began speaking again. "I was watching your audition. You have incredible talent, Hatsune-san. And sorry about using your song, but I wanted to get your attention somehow."

My voice finally came back to me. "U-Um, how did you know about that song, by the way?" I asked, my face heating up. "Only my friends know 'World Is Mine.'"

"You sang it for me before, remember?" Kaito replied with a light laugh, but he stopped when he saw the confused expression on my face. "Hm? You don't remember me?"

I shook my head. "No, this is the first time we met," I answered nervously.

Kaito thought for a few seconds before his eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right! Maybe these will help." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small case and pulled out a pair of glasses before slipping them onto his face. "Recognize me now?"

My eyes grew wide when I realized who he was. "You were onii-san?!" I cried, pointing right at him.

"Surprise!" Kaito said with a grin before removing the glasses. "Sorry I didn't tell you before, but I have to hide my identity when I go out in public or else I risk getting hounded by paparazzi. Gumi-chan thinks that I can pass off as a high school student despite my age, so that's the guise I use most often."

I was about to tell him that I couldn't believe that worked all the time, but then again it had fooled me, so who was I to talk? I just couldn't believe that I had held hands with the Kaito Shion. It seemed too good to be true!

"Miku-nee, everything okay?" Rin's voice asked, and I turned to see that my friends had caught up to me. The minute they saw Kaito, however, they skidded to a halt, just as stunned as I was.

Kaito smiled at them. "You must be Hatsune-san's friends. I'm Kaito Shion, it's nice to meet you," he said with a bow.

"N-Nice to meet you too, Kaito-sama!" Rin blurted out, hearts appearing in her eyes. Next to her, Len smacked his forehead, apparently embarrassed by his love-struck sister.

"Were you watching us too, K- er, Shion-san?" Luka asked, her face as red as a tomato as she stopped herself from saying "Kaito-sama". She couldn't even look Kaito in the eye.

The blue-haired man shook his head. "I'm afraid not, I'm sorry. But I'll be looking at the audition recordings, so I'll see your performances then."

"Cool," Len commented.

Kaito looked behind him before turning back to us. "I better go before Haku sends out a search party," he joked before smiling at us and bowing. "Good luck. I look forward to working with you in the future." And then he walked past us, looking back only to wave goodbye before heading to the studio.

All four of us were silent for a few minutes. Huh? Why did he say that? I thought. I don't get it… why is he so confident in me?

Finally, Len spoke up. "What do you suppose he meant by that? The 'good luck' part I understand, but it's almost as if he knows who's gonna pass."

"Who cares?! I got to meet Kaito-sama!" Rin squealed happily. "And Miku-nee, I think he really likes you!"

"Me?" I asked, pointing at myself.

"Well, he did give you his handkerchief, right?" Luka pointed out. "K.S… those are his initials."

"Ack! I forgot to give it back!" I exclaimed before running to catch up to Kaito. I saw him as he was about to go inside Crypton Records and called out to him. "Kai- I mean, Shion-san!" He stopped in front of the door and turned to face me as I stopped in front of him and pulled his handkerchief out of my pocket. "U-Um, I kinda forgot to… g-give this back to you," I said blushing.

The blue-haired man just patted my head. "It's fine, you can keep it," he said with a gentle smile. "And Hatsune-san?"

"Y-Yes?"

"You can just call me 'Kaito-san,'" he told me before heading inside.

When he was gone, I held the handkerchief to my chest and smiled to myself. Now I was really hoping that I would pass!

…

Glancing around the studio, I saw that everyone who had auditioned had gone home. I chuckled to myself as I thought of that energetic girl. Miku Hatsune… not only was she cute, but she had the most talent out of anyone I had seen in a long time. I had a strong feeling about her, but I would have to look at everyone else's auditions as well as hers.

Gumi was doing something funny with her computer as usual, and she looked up when she heard me come in. "Hey, Kaito! My, don't we look happy."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I answered innocently, winking at Gumi who just giggled. "Where are Meiko and Haku?"

"Yowase-san's getting the discs together, and I think Meiko's already gone home," Gumi answered. "She told me to tell you to bring the discs to her apartment so you guys could watch them."

"Hoo boy," I muttered, shaking my head. "Thanks," I told Gumi before heading to the MV room.

The second Haku saw me, she jerked her thumb to a stack of DVDs on a table. "We made it easy for you and narrowed it down to the top twenty," she said. "Also, that Hatsune girl you recommended sure is something else. Personally, I'm rooting for her."

"I thought judges were supposed to be impartial," I cracked as I picked up the DVDs and carefully placed them in a box.

"Har har. Have fun, Kaito-kun," Haku shot back. "If you need me, I'll be at the bar."

I just rolled my eyes. Haku really needed to cut down on the liquor, since there had been several occasions when she came to work hung-over. Well, I suppose it could be worse: she could show up drunk.

Lucky for me, Meiko's apartment, as well as mine, was just across from the studio. I headed over there and knocked on the door. "Meiko, it's me."

"Coming!" a feminine voice called from inside. The door opened, and Meiko was standing there in red satin pajamas. "Hey, Kaito," she said, winking at me as I came inside.

"In your pajamas already?" I asked, shaking my head again. "At least wear real clothes when people come over."

"Is that any way to treat someone who bought ice cream?" Meiko teased.

The instant I heard the words "ice cream," I quickly said, "On second thought, you look nice. Where is it?"

"Usual spot in the freezer." That was the last thing I heard before I zipped over to Meiko's freezer and pulled out a small tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Okay, so I have an ice cream obsession. It's not that unusual!

After grabbing a spoon, I settled down on the couch next to Meiko and we started watching the DVDs while I ate my ice cream. I had to admit, the performances done by Miku's friends were pretty darn good. Heck, they were better than a lot of the others. But my eyes lit up when I saw Miku singing and dancing again.

Meiko smiled as we watched. "Alright, I agree with you. She's really good… and so cute! People would love her," she said before glancing at the other three discs we had set aside. "So out of all of those, only four really caught our eye."

"Four, huh?" I mumbled. Setting the now-empty tub and spoon aside, I picked up the four discs that were left. Miku was among them, and the others were "Rin Kagamine," "Len Kagamine," and "Luka Megurine." Now the question was, which one should we choose?

…

When Monday came around, I was in such a good mood I was humming "Melt" as I was walking to my shoe locker. Kaito's beautiful smile hadn't left my mind once since that day, and I had left the handkerchief he gave me on my desk back home so I wouldn't lose it.

I opened my locker and was about to take the slippers out when someone slammed it shut again. I turned to see another girl with long blonde hair pulled into a side ponytail standing next to me. "Hey, Hatsune," she greeted with a smirk.

"Morning, Akita," I replied, reopening my locker. Neru Akita is in the same year as me, but she's not really the nicest girl I've ever met. I wasn't sure what she wanted with me this time. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, but you seem to be in a good mood," Neru pointed out.

I nodded. "Yep. I survived the audition on Friday!" I didn't care what Neru said to me today, nothing was gonna bring me down.

"Oh yeah, the Vocaloid audition," Neru said as she fiddled with a magazine in her hand. "I heard you had a run-in with Kaito-sama."

"Eh? Where did you-?" I started to ask before Neru interrupted me.

"Don't play dumb, or is that some other teal-haired girl?" she asked as she showed me the cover of her magazine, which had a picture of me and Kaito in front of Crypton Records! The headline read, "Kaito Sweet on Vocaloid Hopeful?", and showed him patting me on the head.

For a minute, I was struck dumb. How could the media have gotten it so wrong?! "Th-That's not true!" I blurted out. "I just ran into him!"

"Really?" Neru said as she opened the magazine to one particular page. "Then what's that in your hand?" She pointed to an enlarged portion of the photo, where it showed my hand holding the handkerchief. Before I could even come up with a response, the magazine was swiped from Neru's hand. "Hey!"

"Magazines with this sort of content are taboo on school grounds, Akita-san," Mikuo said as he confiscated the magazine and tucked it under his arm. "You can have it back when school is over."

I sighed with relief. Sometimes having the student council vice-president as a brother really came in handy. Neru pouted and stomped away, but not without shooting me a dirty look.

"Thanks, nii-chan," I said as I picked up my bag and walked alongside him.

"Don't pay any attention to what that girl says, Miku-chan," Mikuo told me. "Besides, half of what these magazines say isn't even true."

Laughing, I responded, "That's a good point. Kaito-san is nice to girls, but he's no playboy. I'm sure nobody took it seriously." I said that, and yet a few other girls we passed were giving me the evil eye.

Come to think of it, if I did become a Vocaloid, I would have to deal with the press much like Kaito and Meiko had to. Unfortunately I hadn't really given that aspect very much thought.

Mikuo patted my head. "It's gonna be okay. I'll bet it'll be cleared up by tomorrow."

"I hope so," I muttered. When we reached my classroom, Mikuo and I parted ways. "Have a good day, nii-chan!"

"Hang in there," he said before walking down the hall.

When lunch time came around, I headed for the chain-link fence, where my friends were all waiting for me. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Miku-nee," the twins greeted simultaneously.

"How are you holding up?" Luka asked with that concerned look on her face. I immediately guessed that she and the twins had also seen the photo.

"I'm okay," I answered as I opened up my bento lunch. "The only person who has really bugged me about it is Neru Akita."

"Ugh, she's such a snob!" Rin commented, sticking her tongue out. "Don't listen to her."

"Yeah, it's just a big misunderstanding," Len added, leaning against the fence. "Then again, doesn't she have a crush on Kaito, too?"

Rin responded by elbowing Len. "Len, we're trying to make her feel better!" she scolded while Len rubbed his side.

I couldn't help laughing. Those two could be such goofs! "Guys, I'm fine, really!"

"Well, let us know if something happens, okay?" Luka said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You can talk to us about anything."

Smiling, I hugged Luka tightly. "Thanks, Luka nee-chan!"

Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I quickly pulled away from the older girl so I could check it. "Miku-san, you're not supposed to have your cell phone on," Luka reminded.

"Sorry, just let me check this," I said as I opened up the phone to see that I had gotten an e-mail. "Huh, I don't recognize the number."

"Open it anyway, it might be someone from Crypton," Rin piped up.

Taking her advice, I opened the message, which read:

"Hey, this is Kaito. Gumi-chan gave me your number, in case you were wondering. I'm sure you've seen that photo that was taken of us the other day, but don't worry, I just told the person responsible that they had gotten their facts confused and he has apologized. Now that that's taken care of, I was hoping I could meet you and your friends again. Tomorrow after school, please meet me at the Hachiko statue in Shibuya. I'll be in disguise, but it won't be too hard for you to spot. See you then!"

"Holy cow, it's from Kaito-san!" I exclaimed excitedly, and the other three quickly moved behind me so they could see the message. "He wants us to meet him at the Hachiko statue after school tomorrow!"

"No way!" the twins blurted out.

"By disguise, he must mean what he was wearing when you first met," Rin figured.

"That's easy, a school uniform and glasses," I said instinctively, fondly remembering our first meeting.

Len snickered. "Isn't the guy like, 20 or something?"

Oh yeah, he missed that conversation, I thought. "Apparently Gumi-chan thinks that he looks young enough to pass as a high-school student. He certainly fooled me!"

"You're easily fooled, Miku-nee," Len commented, which made all of us laugh.

…

Before I knew it, it was already after school the next day. My friends and I managed to get on the train headed for Shibuya and when we arrived, we promptly headed for the Hachiko statue outside the station.

I grinned when I saw the bronze dog statue and immediately started looking around for Kaito. I could hear Len talking to Rin behind me. "Remember, nix on the '-sama,' it's 'Shion-san.'"

"I know! It was a slip of the tongue last time," Rin pouted. I giggled before checking the other side of the statue.

My heart started pounding when I saw Kaito, wearing his student disguise again. The minute he saw me, he smiled and shot me a salute. "Yo, Hatsune-san."

"H-Hi, Kaito-san," I replied, already feeling my cheeks turn red.

"It's good to see you again," Luka said as she and the twins walked over.

"You, too," Kaito said, bowing to the others. "I'm glad you came, I wanted to talk to all of you."

A blushing Rin spoke up. "Uh, what did you want to talk to us about, Shion-san?"

"Kaito-san is fine," Kaito said with a light laugh. "Meiko and I have watched your performances several times by now. Choosing just one Vocaloid has become difficult for us."

"Really?" I asked in amazement. He and Meiko liked our auditions that much?

"I just had a few questions for you," Kaito said, leaning against the statue. "I did a little research; the songs you all sang weren't by any artist I know of."

"Miku-nee writes our songs," Len explained, seemingly not as nervous as the rest of us. "And we compose the music in a recording studio at our house," he continued while gesturing to himself and his twin.

"Mm-hmm. And the dancing? Where did you learn that?" Kaito asked.

"U-Um, I taught them, Kaito-san," Luka answered quietly, glancing off to the side with flushed cheeks. "I-I took dancing lessons, and I helped the others learn."

Kaito tapped his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Very interesting," he said, folding his arms. "Each of you wants to become a Vocaloid, and yet you're helping each other? Why?"

I started to explain. "Well you see, we all have the same dream of becoming singers, and we grew up together, so we've always supported each other."

"We never really saw it as a competition," Luka added, shaking her head.

"We even made a promise before the audition," Rin said as she looked over at Len.

"If one of us passed, then the rest of us would support them no matter what," Len continued, smiling back at his sister.

"And even if one of us makes it, the rest of us won't give up on our dream!" I finished with a determined smile.

Kaito was silent, just looking at us with an unreadable expression. Finally, he grinned and said, "Did you get all that, Meiko?"

Suddenly, a lovely young woman with short brown hair wearing sunglasses walked up to us. Removing the sunglasses, she revealed herself to be Meiko Sakine herself! "Yep, I heard everything. You guys are really something else!" Beside her, Kaito had removed his glasses and was now wearing his trademark blue scarf.

"M-M-Meiko Sakine?!" I stammered, placing my hands over my mouth so I wouldn't be too loud.

"Oh please, just call me Meiko," she said with a wave of her hand. She was surprisingly casual. "And you, Miku Hatsune, are a very lucky girl. Wanna know why?"

I nodded eagerly. "Why, why?"

"Because you…" Pausing for dramatic effect, Meiko and Kaito then pointed directly at me. "… have been chosen as a new Vocaloid!"

I couldn't help it. I leapt high into the air, squealing with delight. "Yay! I'm a Vocaloid!" Several by-standers who heard the announcement applauded.

"Way to go, Miku-nee!" the twins cheered, hugging me from both sides.

"Congratulations, Miku-san," Luka said with a proud smile.

"One more thing," Kaito piped up, interrupting our celebration. "As I said, choosing just one new Vocaloid was difficult. We don't really have permission to do this yet, but…"

"How would the rest of you like to be Vocaloids along with Hatsune-san?" Meiko finished Kaito's sentence.

"Are you kidding?" Len exclaimed. "How could we say no?!"

"Omigosh, we're all Vocaloids!" Rin cried as she and her brother hugged each other.

Luka and I clasped each other's hands and jumped excitedly, tears brimming around the pink-haired girl's eyes. "This is too good to be true!"

Meiko and Kaito watched us as we celebrated. "Alright, alright!" Meiko said, getting our attention again. "Starting next week, you're gonna be very busy. Hope you're ready!"

"Thank you so much!" I said, bowing to the two original Vocaloids.

"Smile!" a voice called, and we all turned to see a man with a camera. The six of us quickly moved closer and, flashing "V" signs, smiled for the camera for the first time as Vocaloids!

Next time:

Meiko: You know, being a singer isn't all fun and games. It takes a lot of hard work and patience. I just hope they're ready for the world of showbiz.

Kaito: I have faith in them… especially her.

Next time: Track 4 – Blue Lotus

Fun fact: The statue featured in this chapter is an actual statue by the Shibuya train station. It was erected to honor Hachiko, a loyal dog who would wait at the station for his master every day, even years after the man had passed away.