Rin and Len: Alright! Chapter 5 is finally up!

Meiko: Thanks for being so patient! (and sorry Elise-sensei is so slow.)

EliseArainai: I heard that!

Miku: Elise-sensei does not own Vocaloid; she just writes stories about us. She also doesn't own DDR. Oh Luka nee-chan, it's your turn to narrate!

Luka: Oh, right. Please enjoy!

My eyes widened as I stepped into the small dance studio. Today, my friends and I were starting our dancing practice with Haku Yowase. Haku hadn't arrived yet, so I took the opportunity to stretch a little. Miku, Rin and Len were also there and followed my example.

Miku must've noticed my nervousness; she always did somehow. "Luka nee-chan, why so nervous? You've danced in front of Yowase-san before, this should be a piece of cake!"

"Easy for you to say," I replied. "Sorry Miku-san, but you know how much I look up to her. I'm just afraid I'll mess up."

"Think about it, Miku-nee," Len piped up. "Haku's taught several artists how to dance, including Kaito and Meiko, and I've heard she can be pretty harsh at times. So Luka-nee's got every right to be ner- Ow-ow-ow-ow!"

It was then that Rin reached over and pulled Len's ear. "Your bedside manner needs some serious work, Len," she grumbled.

I couldn't help but chuckle at those two. Usually it was Len who kept his energetic sister in line, but every once in a while the roles would reverse.

"No negative thoughts allowed!" Miku said with a smile. "That's what Kaito nii-chan says, anyway. You'll be fine!"

Rubbing his ear, Len cocked an eyebrow. "Since when do you call him 'Kaito nii-chan'?"

"Did something happen the other day?" Rin asked with a smug smile.

"Well…" Miku began with a flushed face. She didn't get any farther, however, before the door burst open, making all of us jump. We quickly stood up and straightened ourselves out.

"Good, you're all here," Haku said, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Okay, first things first: your dances at the auditions were pretty good. I could tell you at least had some training. Out of curiosity, who taught you?"

My heart started pounding. I wanted to say that I taught them, which technically I did, but then Haku's expectations would be even higher. I was under enough pressure trying to graduate high school!

What I didn't expect was for Rin and Len to point at me. "She did," they answered simultaneously.

"Is that so?" Haku asked, her gaze turning to me.

"Yeah, she's a really good teacher!" Miku piped up.

"Guys…" I muttered, my face turning red with embarrassment.

The silver-haired woman then strode right up to me. "Megurine-san, what kind of dance have you learned? What's your repertoire?"

"Um… mostly freestyle," I answered quietly, not looking her in the eye.

"Ooh, that's always fun," Haku said with a grin. "We'll work on that; that seems to work well for you guys. And Megurine-san… I expect big things from you, okay?"

Gulping, I just nodded in response.

"Alright then, let's get started!" Haku declared, and our first official dance lesson began.

…

An hour later, we had finished the grueling lesson and were drinking some cold water bottles. "Phew! Man, Yowase-san worked us hard!" Miku commented.

"In our case, it's a good thing," Len explained. "She's not only teaching us, but building our endurance so we'll last longer during performances. It's like what Luka-nee did before when she taught us, just a bit harder."

"'A bit' is putting it mildly," Rin agreed as she wiped some sweat from her brow. "But she's been at this long enough, I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Then she looked over at me. "Luka-nee, are you okay? You've been kinda quiet."

She was right, I hadn't really said anything since the lesson finished. I hadn't done nearly as well as I usually did. I even tripped up during one of the practice routines, twice! Surely Haku's expectations went downhill from that.

Looking at Rin, I shook my head. "I was so clumsy today… what will she think of me now?"

"Y-You just had an off day," Miku said in an attempt to cheer me up. "I'm sure you'll do better at the next lesson!" The twins nodded in agreement.

I just sighed and stood up. "I have to go study." And with that, I left Crypton Records and headed back to my own apartment. I didn't want to think about my embarrassment anymore.

After grabbing a quick shower and changing into some comfortable clothes, I got out my math textbook and started studying. Although my exams weren't for another couple months, I tried to get in as much studying as I could in-between my Vocaloid activities.

My cellphone buzzed an hour later and I checked it. It was a text message from Miku which read "Remember, no negative thoughts allowed!" Smiling, I sent her a thank you before putting the phone aside. Miku was right, I couldn't let one off day get me down.

…

The next day at school, I opened up my locker only for several letters to fall out. My single "Just Be Friends" had been released a few days ago, and since then I had received quite a few fan letters… at least at school.

"Need a hand?" a voice asked with a giggle, and I turned to see a lovely girl with long blonde hair and a sweet smile.

"Oh, good morning Lily-san," I said to my friend as I picked up the letters. "No thank you, I think I've got it."

"Boy, you were pretty popular already, but this is crazy!" Lily commented as she opened her locker. "I just checked online, 'Just Be Friends' is in the Top 5 New Singles list."

"Eh?! Are you serious?" I exclaimed, a little surprised that my single was already so popular. I don't go online a lot, so I didn't know. Then again, Lily's information has always been reliable. She was the one who had told me about Miku getting caught on camera with Kaito that one time.

"You really should go online more often! You can keep track of how well your songs are doing," Lily said, ruffling my hair as we started walking toward class.

"What about Miku-san and the twins?" I asked curiously, wondering how well their singles did in comparison.

"'World Is Mine' and 'Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder' are also in the Top 5," the blonde answered with a grin. "In fact, I think Miku-chan's single is number one right now! If you ask me, I bet you guys will become bigger hits than Meiko and Kaito."

Chuckling shyly, I placed a hand on the back of my head. "Oh, you're just saying that to flatter me… But I'm very happy for Miku-san."

"Speaking of which, how're the dance lessons going?" Lily asked. "You said yesterday that you were gonna learn from Haku Yowase, right?"

My smile quickly fell at the mention of Haku's name. "Um, I… well, I didn't exactly leave a good impression. I messed up too much."

Lily was silent for a minute, but then she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Look at it this way: you'll do a lot better next time! I've got a lot of faith in you, Luka-chan. You can do it!"

"Yeah, but the question is, does Yowase-san think I can do it?" I retorted, not looking my friend in the eye.

"I'm sure she does! Maybe she's not good at expressing herself or something," Lily said. I knew she was just trying to cheer me up, but it wasn't exactly helping. "I know just what you need: a confidence boost! We're going to the arcade after school!"

"Eh? But I have to study today…" I protested, even though technically I didn't have to work today.

"Study schmudy, you can do that later!" Lily insisted. "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer!"

What can I do? Once Lily-san's made up her mind, there's no stopping her, I thought with a sigh.

…

After school, Lily caught me before I could sneak out of class and dragged me out of the school. "C'mon, a little DDR will lift your spirits! According to Miku-chan, it always works."

"Were you talking to Miku-san?" I asked rhetorically.

Eventually, we reached the arcade and found the Dance Dance Revolution machine. Lily slipped some coins into the machine and hopped onto one of the dance mats. "Luka-chan, get on the other mat! Let's see if you can beat me."

Smiling at the blonde girl, I finally gave in and stepped onto the other mat. Lily selected a random song and set it to "Expert" mode. "Here goes!" she said as the music started.

As soon as the music started, I became lost in the game and my feet were moving to the arrows on the mat as fast as they were lighting up on the screen. Playing DDR was always a rush, and already I was feeling much better than I had earlier that day.

By the time the song finished, Lily was panting like crazy, but I felt like I could go another round. Our scores appeared, and I got a double-A while Lily got a B. "Wow… You beat me!" Lily panted, falling back against the metal rail behind her. "And got a double-A! I'm officially jealous. So… how do you feel?"

"I feel great!" I replied with a huge smile.

Suddenly, I heard clapping from behind us and I turned to see, of all people, Haku! "Nice score," she commented as she approached us.

"Y-Yowase-san?!" I exclaimed in surprise, that nervous feeling returning.

"No way…!" Lily breathed, her eyes wide.

"Excuse me, mind if I play the winner?" Haku asked Lily with a sweet smile.

"S-Sure, no problem!" the blonde stammered as she stepped off of the mat and allowed Haku to take her place.

Darn you, Lily… I thought as I glanced nervously at the silver-haired woman now standing next to me.

"Hmm… it's been a while since I played this," Haku muttered as she scrolled through the songs.

"Y-You play DDR?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! I used to play it all the time," she replied. "Oh what the hell, let's just pick a random one." Selecting the random song option, Haku set it to "Expert" mode again. "Megurine-san, don't fall behind."

Nodding, I positioned myself as the music began. I got lucky: this was one of my best songs, "One Sided Love." My feet practically flew as I kept up with the arrows on the screen, almost forgetting that Haku was my opponent. I was having so much fun!

Finally, the song ended and this time, I was the one panting like crazy. The scores appeared, and both Haku and I had gotten triple-A's! She had gotten a few more "Perfects" than I had, but the point was I was able to keep up with Haku Yowase! "Phew… I did it!"

Wiping some sweat from her brow, Haku held out a hand to me. "Nice match, Megurine-san. You were awesome!"

"Th-Thank you!" I said, shaking her hand. "I thought that your expectations had gone down after yesterday."

"Ah, gimme a break," she said, waving her free hand in dismissal. "Everyone has off days, right? Also, I know what it's like to be nervous and to want to match everyone's expectations. You've got a ton of potential, kid. Let's work hard at tomorrow's lesson, okay?"

Grinning, I nodded. "Okay!"

Afterwards, Haku treated Lily and me to a couple of water bottles. Lily left after a while, wishing me good luck. "Maybe sometime, I can treat you to a real drink, eh?" Haku suggested with a wink.

"No way, I'm underage," I said, shaking my head back and forth.

"Oh yeah…" the older woman muttered. "By the way, I heard about your single's popularity. Congrats!"

"Thanks," I said, my cheeks flushing. "Although I didn't do nearly as well as Miku-san..."

"Who cares? The point is the people love you guys!" Haku interrupted. "Hey, think you can show me your routine for 'Luka Luka Night Fever'? I'm real curious about it."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Haku wanted to see one of my routines?! "I'd love to!" I blurted out.

"Sweet! I can't wait to see it!" Haku said with a grin. "Oh, and you don't have to call me 'Yowase-san,' alright? From now on, call me 'Haku-sensei'!"

Chuckling, I nodded, "Okay, Haku-sensei! Whoa, it'll take a little getting used to…"

"Not a problem, kiddo," Haku said.

…

The next day after school, I met with Haku in Crypton's dance studio and we practiced the "Luka Luka Night Fever" routine together. I noticed Miku and the twins watching us, and Miku shot me a thumbs up. I smiled back at her before continuing dancing with the woman I looked up to.

Next time…

Len: Our singles did well, but now we need to record a full album.

Rin: Whoo! I'm so looking forward to this!

Miku: We're gonna give it all we've got!

Gumi: Just don't work yourselves too hard, alright?

Luka: Eh? Who is that mysterious purple-haired man?

Next time: Track 6 – Dancing Samurai