Chapter Twenty-Nine

-Miku-

"M-Me?" I stammer, "You want me to replace you?" I repeat dumbly, my hands finding their way to my twin tails.

"Please," Luka says weakly, her eyelids falling, "We really need this money."

"B-But… I've never modeled before!" I splutter, shaking my head, "I-I'm not even model quality!" I shout, my voice cracking.

"Hey, Miku, don't say that about yourself," Piko sighs, placing a hand supportively on my shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do just fine," he smiles. For the first time, I wriggle out from his touch.

"No! Piko! I'm serious! How do you even know that the judges will like me?" I wail, shaking my head frenziedly.

"It's not a competition," Luka cuts in, "The judges won't be judging you, they'll be judging the designers!"

"But… But still!" I spit, "There's… I… but…"

"Give me one good reason why you shouldn't do this. Come on, Miku, we're being serious right now. If you're not willing to do it for Luka, do it for yourself. You need this money just as badly," Piko sighs, his gaze resting on the ground below. Now he's turning me into a selfish egotistic? How could he?

"P-Piko, that's not what I meant! I would do it for Luka!" I falter.

"Then," Luka interrupts, "Why aren't you?" I take a moment to pause as everyone exchanges a long, lasting glance. "Come on, Miku, look at what's at stake here," she reminds me. That's right… the money… our return back home… but I don't want to go home… I want to stay right here with Piko… how can such perfect moments be ruined by problems like these?

"Fine," I sigh, "I'll do it. I'll be your replacement, okay? Just this once!" I surrender. But… Piko… I just want to be with him… "On one condition," I add, closing my eyes. I'm so going to regret this. "I'll only be your replacement if we can stay here in Paris," I huff with a cross of my arms. Only until I hear the words coming out of my mouth do I actually realize how irrational the deal is.

"Miku, that's crazy! Have you lost your mind?" Luka shouts, trying to get up. I almost reach out to stop her from hurting herself, but I can see by her evident grimaces that she doesn't care whether it hurts or not.

"Only for a couple more days!" I wail, trying to fix my senseless words. Again, I feel a hand on my shoulder, pulling me around. "What?" I sneer, only to soften upon meeting Piko's widening eyes.

"Miku… Please…" he starts, his gentle fingers caressing my shoulder. "I love you… so much…" he nearly whispers, "But Luka's right… that is a bit crazy. I mean, I know you want to stay. Really, I want you to stay too," he sighs, wrapping his other hand around my much smaller one and bringing it to his chest. I love when he does this… His thumb traces circles around my knuckles delicately.

"I don't wanna talk about this," I say, my shoulders giving in.

"Huh?" he asks quietly, his attention snapping up.

"I don't wanna talk about this," I repeat with more force, shoving his hand away and turning around sharply to face Luka. "Luka, look, you guys are right, I'm sorry, this… I-I was wrong. I was stupid. I was crazy. I was senseless," I go on, only for both pairs of eyes to widen.

"Miku, stop!" Luka cuts me off, shaking her head, "Please stop. You're not any of those things," she says, her eyes squinting as she shifts her weight off her right leg, altering her current standing position. Piko silently agrees. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit?" Luka asks.

"Not everybody was born perfect for this kind of thing like you were, Luka," I say, letting out a heavy breath that I wasn't aware I was holding.

"Nobody's perfect. Did you not just see me fall and black out?" Luka laughs. I can't help but join in as well. "And, not everybody can sing and play piano and drums and guitar and… well, everything else like you can!" she splutters, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, remember that time when Rin was dancing to my drumming and then she accidentally crashed into the set?" I giggle, the memory coming back to me. And then I went to see if she was okay and I tripped over Gumi's foot… Ah… Luka draws in a breath, and then lets it out, her eyelids squeezed shut as she collapses into laughter.

"Remember during our elementary school graduation party, Rin crashed into the punch table and spilled punch all over that one really quiet weird girl with the long red hair and that ahoge?" Luka snickers, "So much crashing!"

"You're talking about Miki, aren't you?" Piko interrupts quietly.

"Huh?" Luka asks, completely unfazed, her smile still lingering.

"Oh, right, Miki… she hated me," I giggle, eyes wide as I push down the comment with my hands.

"Yeah…" Luka laughs, "She really did. Oh, that's right," she says, her laughter dropping. Suddenly, her gaze flickers toward Piko as they both cringe.

"What?" I ask, tilting my head, a touch of laughter still protracted.

"Miki had a crush on me back in elementary school. You didn't know that?" Piko asks.

"Sh-She did?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"But, she knew you did too!" Luka sings with a giggle, her eyes soaring toward the sky as she sways her head from side to side playfully. "She really did not like you," she stretches out, bursting into another fit of laughter.

"I thought- I thought you were dating Miki not long ago! How was she here? Did she move or something?" I throw questions at Piko like daggers.

"Yeah, she moved to Paris after fifth grade, remember?" Luka retells, shaking her head.

"S-She did?" I ask. Piko moved in fourth grade… and Miki followed him in fifth… "Oh, that's right," I cry out, kicking my foot up as I smack my palm against my forehead. "Okay, okay, yeah. I remember that now," I grin. Piko just shakes his head and stifles a chuckle. "Hey, Piko…" I start, biting my lip hesitantly, "Will you tell me more about Miki?" I ask with a tilt of my head.

"Well… I mean… she was nice and all," Piko says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "But well… After a while… I just kind of… fell out of love… Like… she wasn't… right for me? I guess…" he shrugs.

"Aww… so you didn't like her?" Luka clarifies, nodding her head.

"I… That's a harsh way to put it," Piko grimaces. "I mean, literally everybody thought we were the cutest couple and everything. I even stopped trimming my ahoge because everybody said it was better when we were matching. And believe me, she clung to me for dear life… but… I just didn't feel the same," Piko explains, "And then… I-I started thinking… that there was someone else on my mind… But I couldn't really put a finger on whom. Then, my parents, when they left for their business trip, were packing and needed to find something in my closet… and well, they found this old self portrait from fourth grade. I guess I was about to throw it away, when I remembered you helping me out with it," Piko says, both his shoulders and eyebrows rising. "And then… I guess everything started coming back to me… and I remembered that you were the one unintentionally between me and Miki," he says.

"S-So… what you're saying is… I was the reason you broke up with her?" I ask, my voice intonating into a wail. "Piko!" I fling my hand into the air. "Have you even talked to her since you broke up with her?" I ask. He opens his mouth to say something, only for me to cut him off with a groan of disbelief. "Come on Piko, did you even think about her feelings once after you left her?" I ask, my bottom eyelids rising in abhorrence.

"No," Piko admits, "I guess… you're right."

"She could be like… emotionally scarred for all you know!" I cry, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"She's not. I was just talking to her the other day…" Luka trails off. Both Piko and I turn to look at her in confusion. "You know, she's a model too," she prompts us. "She seemed pretty happy, and told me a whole bunch of stuff about how she felt about both of you pretty openly," she adds.

"What'd she say about me?!" Piko and I both gasp at the same time.

"Piko, she pretty much just summarized what you told me. She seemed to miss you just a little bit, though. As for you, Miku, she told me she didn't like you because you were 'so perfect all the time', or something like that," Luka recalls, quoting Miku's words with her fingertips. I sheepishly grip on both my dangling twin tails.

"S-She said that… Are you sure she was talking about me?" I ask, slightly confused.

"Yeah, but then she added that it was a pretty stupid reason to hate someone," Luka shrugs, "And I agree with that."

"She misses me?" Piko asks, more to himself than to Luka. "I guess I kinda feel bad," he says, his hand finding its way to the back of his neck again.

"Wait," Luka says, raising her finger suspiciously, "Wouldn't she have gone to go talk to you a couple days ago? Wasn't she at your house? I swear, right after our conversation, she told me she was going to go talk to you and ran down your driveway!" Luka cries, her eyes widening.

"She said that?" Piko asks diffidently, "But… She wasn't ever at my house!"

"Are you sure?" Luka asks, "Maybe she was there when you weren't! Maybe… Maybe you just didn't hear her ring the doorbell!" she says, tossing theories out into the air. "Where were you then?" she asks. I watch in anticipation as Piko takes a moment to contemplate. Suddenly, his eyes widen as he smacks his forehead.

"Oh!" he says, "I was outside with Gumi!"

"Gumi?" I inhale, my eyebrows mounting. This was a couple of days ago… Right after Gumi told me how much she liked Piko… This couldn't have been good.

"Yeah, we were pretty far out in my backyard playing catch. I guess I probably didn't hear the doorbell," Piko shrugs.

"That explains it," Luka nods.

"But that still doesn't change the fact that you should probably call her," I interject, triggering Piko to let out a sigh.

"You're right. We should probably be heading back now. My phone's down there," he adds, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder. In silence, we all walk down carefully down the hill, Luka holding on to Piko's arm warily so that she doesn't fall again.

Was I really the one to break up Piko and Miki? The worst part is- I didn't even know. No wonder Miki hates me. She probably never even wants to hear my name again. But… "Being so perfect all the time"? That couldn't have been me, could it have? Just look at me… These stupid childish twin tails… this revolting teal seaweed color? Why can't I have beautiful pink hair like Luka? My voice isn't even enough to make me known for anything like being a model. What is it that Miki even sees in me?

What is it that Piko sees in me?

He probably doesn't even see anything at all… Maybe it's all just a lie so that he can break my heart on the day that I leave… But he wouldn't do that, would he? Maybe he's cheating on me with Gumi! Is he really that terrible? I glance over to Luka clutching onto Piko's arm as she places her footsteps cautiously. Could it be that Luka…? No. I'm just being paranoid. My eyes follow Piko's motions, his gaze returning to mine as his features relax. Again, I find my fingers entangled in my twin tails… My stupid, childish, revolting seaweed-colored twin tails… as my bottom lip begins to shake.

If Piko stopped loving Miki, am I next?

Oh, Miku-leek-u, I'm sorry, but you maybe just might be the next girl with a broken heart. Maybe. *giggles*

Well, someone *cough* gave me the idea for Piko to go and BETRAY Miku (I love that word), so I'm giving it some thought. With the current point I have reached with these characters, I can say that the decision is pretty obvious.

Eating: Chewing gum
Drinking: Nothing
Doing: Publishing, picking out a dress for this party I'm going to
Homework: *groans* Ten billion tests next week... arghghghh
Listening to: My stomach growling
Quote time: "Am I next?" - Miku

Yeah, yeah. I'm really tired... yawns make good harmonies to stomach growls...