A/N Seriously sorry guys! I haven't been able to go on for a while now and probably won't update regularly again until late June/July because of exams. But don't worry! I am not dead! And neither is Tales of IA and IA's super kawaii-ness! (that just sounds weird... I'll shut up now ^^)

Six ~ Gumi

Another month had passed, filled with news that IA's promotions would start soon, getting to know other Vocaloids better, being forced to become an otaku (by three certain devils), working on the Kagerou Project, and then there came this. Apparently, the famous Vocaloid Gumi (who IA hadn't personally met but had heard of) had her birthday on the 26th of June, and it was the 25th. Wow, I can't believe the others didn't tell me sooner, IA had thought that morning when Miku and Rin came literally dragging her to Luka's room to make last-minute preparations. There were two unfamiliar faces in the room, one with blue hair, the other with brown. The rest were Vocaloids she knew: Luka, Rin, Len, Yukari, Miku, and her, of course; there were even some UTAUloids: Neru, Teto, and IA guessed that the tall, busty, white-haired one was Haku. Haku and the brown-haired lady seemed to be having a very, err, IA guessed the words they were suing should be described as mature, but, um – you get the picture! The blue-haired one was a man, who Miku ran straight towards excitedly after she and Rin had plopped IA on the floor. The rising star didn't feel too famous that day, she felt absolutely exasperated.

At least Yukari was there, so IA had someone sane to talk to. Well, that was her initial thought, until she realised that Luka had a games console in her room, currently occupied by four ferociously fighting gamers: two were obvious, one was Teto and the last was Yukari – who seemed to be winning, surprisingly (no offense) against the Kagamines. IA sweat-dropped before a certain suave Vocaloid came up to her.

"So, how's your life going, IA? It's been a while since we last met, ne?"

"Ah, Luka-senpai!" IA always felt like calling Luka 'senpai' since she was more experienced and much more polished, like she was meant for her job – the complete opposite of the likes of Miku, Rin and Len, it was hard to believe they were all CVs.

"Yes, it has been a while. So, who's the brunette and who's the guy Miku's fawning over?" The way Miku looked at that man was way more obvious than Rin and Len, it was almost sickening to see it.

Luka chuckled, "Well, the guy's Kaito – and he's an idiot, so he probably hasn't noticed a certain teal-haired girl, whilst the other is a very… shall I say confident woman who likes to hang out with Haku – you have met Haku, haven't you?"

"I hear she's a bit of a drunkard."

"Yeah, well, that's Meiko and Haku for you, they just click – kind of like you and Yukari, actually."

"What?! You think me and Yuka really suit each other that well?"

"Hm, well, at least your friendship isn't as intimate as the Kagamines," they both couldn't help but laugh at that, when suddenly the door burst open.

A redhead with an unrealistic curl in her hair shouted an enormous greeting, followed by the mumble of a boy behind her. IA thought she heard Len sarcastically mumble: "Well, we know the psycho's here," which left IA puzzled for what seemed the millionth time that year.

The boy that followed after the redhead had turquoise eyes and long white hair, which made IA doubt his gender for a moment, but after a while it did seem more like a boy – after all, Len was a boy, wasn't he? IA could almost hear the indignant wail of "I am NOT a shota!" that would've followed and almost giggled. A deep voice followed and IA recognised the weird style of Gakupo coming into the room – he was one of the few Vocaloids that IA remembered the name of without actually meeting them. He came in mumbling something about the girl being noisy, but IA was surprised to see Luka demonstrate some very skilful martial arts techniques when she landed a punch smack in the centre of his face. A loud cry broke from the man as he wailed "What the hell was that for?!"

"For coming here, baka! Didn't I tell you to stay away from my room?"

"I thought that was only temporary!"

"I meant forever," Luka had started growling ferociously, and for a second IA pictured them as two dogs fighting over a bone – wow, IA was officially a Vocaloid, wasn't she?

Rin and Len made catcalls to break the growling silence, "they liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike each other~!" The couple they were teasing suddenly blushed and snapped back, "YOU CAN TALK!" That left an awkward silence of two couples blushing. The only sound that could be heard was the furious tap-tap-tap of Neru glued to her phone.

The silence was broken by the redhead asking why they were all really quiet, which set everyone back on the path to Gumi's birthday preparations. Apparently the redhead was a girl named Miki, a Vocaloid made to be like a real robot, and the white-haired shy boy was called Piko – Miku had told IA that the two were practically inseparable, whether it was because Piko was too shy to do things on his own or whether it was an R&L thing. Eventually Yukari, Teto, Rin and Len stopped playing Mario Kart (yes, that was the game they were playing) and helped with the plans. Miku and Rin suggested they have a special event where they call Gumi to the stage to sing, that was when Luka had to sort people into groups, as everyone wanted to do everything at once. There were three groups: the ones who chose the decorations, those who chose what they'd wear, and finally those who organised the live part. IA was in the last group along with Miku, Rin, Len and Yukari; Luka was helping with the other two groups just to keep an eye on them, as she trusted Miku not to act like a fool on such an important occasion. IA felt for the first time just how much respect they all had for this Gumi lady. IA had listened to a few Gumi songs and suggested the first one that came to mind: Matryoshka. Len then suggested HAPPY SYNTHESIZER, followed by Miku suggesting Mozaik Role, and Rin finally suggesting 1, 2 Fanclub. IA thought any more than four songs would be too much, personally, the others agreeing. Soon the other groups were done with planning too, all that was left being a night's work of getting the stage, costumes and decorations ready.

By 11:00pm they were just about ready, having tried on their outfits, seen to the decorations, and practised parts of songs on the live stage. The Vocaloids got what little sleep they could, waking up at seven to decide who would get Gumi and find suitable hiding places. Naturally, they just had to pick IA. The white-haired singer was wearing a simple white dress which had a line of frills down the left side, a snazzy dark purple belt, her signature collar (she refused to take it off, she felt it was special to her somehow), long white boots with bright pink laces and white gloves with black zebra patterns on them. She followed the directions Miku had given her towards Gumi's room.
She arrived at a door similar to all the others, but with light green stripes on.

She knocked on the door, a realistic voice replying, "Who is it?"

Good, she doesn't remember it's her birthday, IA thought.

"I'm a new V3, IA, Miku asked me to bring you down for something," she tried to sound casual, and it seemed to be working as Gumi showed no signs of suspicion.

"Oh, you know Miku? So what's it about?"

"She says it's a secret, but I can take you there. Wanna come? She says this secret is amazing," IA saw a spark of interest in Gumi, as she told IA to wait there whilst she got her clothes on – she was currently wearing her pyjamas.

Gumi came out in her normal outfit, which was orange and yellow, and told IA to lead the way. IA tried to hide her grin as she walked along the corridors to the room where the surprise celebration was held. The white-haired singe opened the door, revealing a pitch black room. At first Gumi was confused, but as soon as she stepped in the lights flashed on and the people who'd helped get set up cheered, "Happy 4th Birthday, Gumi-chan!"

IA noticed a childishly painted sign saying those exact words hung up on the wall, too, and couldn't help but smile and join in with the cheering and merriment along with the rest. There was a buffet on the table, which had already been sabotaged by Kaito, Miku and Teto, whereas a few of the other girls were congratulating Gumi such as Rin and Neru – who had miraculously left her phone – but others seemed to be getting out shapes wrapped in colourful paper; that was when IA realised she hadn't actually gotten Gumi a present, as she'd only had a day's notice.

Miki and Piko were helping each other carry a large package over to the green-haired Vocaloid, Len was calling Rin over to get their presents as well, Luka seemed to be off somewhere else (probably checking the stage), Meiko and Haku were already drunk, and even Gakupo had gotten a present for Gumi.

If only someone like Luka were here! IA pleaded to no-one in particular, as her senpai (or rather, reliable senpai) would know what she should do. IA was so busy trying to figure out a solution, she didn't realise the birthday girl coming up to her from behind.

"Hi, it's IA, right?"

" Gah! Oh, um, Gumi? I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, I was just thinking about the fact that I…" She trailed off, Gumi nodding in understanding.

"It's fine, Neru told me you'd only had a day to prepare."

"Really? Wow, give Neru my thanks- Wait, NERU ACTUALLY PAYS ATTENTION?!"

…

An awkward silence filled the room, along with Neru's golden eyes glaring at IA's sky blue ones. The white-haired Vocaloid mouthed an apology, and Neru's sarcastic nodding of her head signalled the rest to go about their business again. Gumi laughed at the whole scene, IA staring at her, not seeing what was funny.

Gumi finally calmed down and started to explain, "Well, I had another birthday party like this a while back – it was my 2nd birthday, actually – and there was this moment where Gakupo said this comment that got Luka all riled up, and it took all of us together to break them up! Hey, that was around the time when they both became complete tsunderes towards each other,"

She giggled again, IA vividly imagining the unstoppable fury of Luka and Rin, Len, Kaito, Miku and Gumi struggling to break them apart, Miki laughing at the scene in the background, Piko hiding behind her, Neru idly tapping at her phone, maybe even taking a video, Teto cheering the others on and Meiko and Haku cheering Gakupo and Luka on instead.

Once everyone had given their presents to Gumi, the curtains behind them suddenly spread open, revealing a pink-haired lady in a white and light blue dress calling to the other Vocaloids with a microphone in her hands: Megurine Luka.

"Hai, hai, settle down! Now may I please have your attention? Good. To celebrate Gumi's 4th birthday, we had an idea to perform six songs with Gumi, three being sang with others, one a solo. So, first up is Matryoshka by Miku and Gumi!"

Miku dragged Gumi up to the stage, the latter still trying to make sense of Luka's words. As the two arrived on stage there was a flash of zeros and ones, then the two were suddenly in brightly coloured hoodies and had contacts that made their eyes look like they were filled with madness.

IA had never experienced a live performance before, be it performed by others or herself. She was in complete and total awe at how coordinated their moves were, and how the screen in the background changed with the theme of the music. Next, Rin was called to the stage as Miku walked off, Gumi and Rin switching into very authentic Chinese-style cloaks as the first gongs in the music to 1, 2 Fanclub sounded. The third song was a little different though, as Luka walked up to Gumi in different clothes. She had green fluffy headphones on with a white jacket, a pink shirt with white Polkka dot patterns, a black skirt and black boots. Gumi changed into a similar costume, and IA suddenly recognised that they were the outfits to HAPPY SYNTHESIZER by Gumi and Luka. The live performance ended with Gumi changing into casual clothes and singing Mozaik Role, one of IA's personal favourites, as it was definitely an amazing song with a killer beat and chorus.

The night was long, filled with celebrations, fun games, eating, opening gifts, more eating, little competitions, people bickering like old married couples (you know who IA was thinking of), oh, and did I mention eating? Yeah, it was a good thing they were androids or they'd all be the size of Totoro by the time the party finished.

Yeah. That was an amazing day.

A/N Okay, so if you don't get it 'senpai' is Japanese for upperclassman, but it's not rude, okay?! Like, even though in some anime the guys are like "there's this hot senpai blah, blah, blah…" but I'm not using it in that way! IA saying "Luka-senpai" only means that she respects her as an elder (well, not that Luka's ancient, but ya know!) Oh, and Totoro is a really cute (but huge) troll-thingie from a traditional Japanese tale, WATCH THE GHIBLI FILM. Oh, and the whole thing about Gakupo and Luka is based off this cute song called Go Google It, AKA ggrks