Chapter 4: The Herald of Noise

Luka had her new "guest" spread out on his back along her spacious bed. She and Kaito had extended his wings across the mattress – though she hadn't experienced it in years, no Seruva that ever suffered a wing cramp in the morning forgot that unique discomfort. As she'd touched his soft feathers, melancholy stabbed at her heart. She thought she'd been able to finally let go of her past and accept the false earthbound life thrust upon her. But just the feeling of another Seruva's wings in her hand threatened to wrench the emotions back out of her heart that she'd learned to suppress.

Had she ever once considered her wings something she could lose, she might have thought to cherish the gift of roaming the skies.

Furthermore, had she ever thought she'd be having to tell Miku of all people about her past, she might have prepared her before the poor girl found herself centimeters from being impaled by a Noise-addled Seruva warrior.

The car ride back to the apartment had been a flurry of questions Luka was still trying to prepare her answers to. She'd not expected to run into Kaito when she was investigating the "4th District Shinigami." An oversight she should have anticipated – of course Gumi would have pumped him for information if she'd been sniffing around Miku. And of course he would have easily pieced together that the "Shinigami" was a Seruva in search of his whereabouts.

Fortunately, it wasn't difficult to redirect Kaito's concerns to the state of his friend. He'd hovered around this "Gakupo" person nearly constantly. In spite of the man's experience with being warped by Dark Notes, he appeared calm as he slumbered. She hoped that meant he had no remaining side effects. As for Miku… she simply appeared overwhelmed. Not that Luka could blame her – once Miku told her the truth about the last several days with Kaito, she found herself impressed by the girl's fortitude. Though Miku sustained injuries in the encounter, aside from her tousled hair and some scorch marks on her clothes, Kaito had performed a clean healing ballad on her and she showed no signs of further wounds.

Finally, Gakupo began to stir and Luka summoned up her patience and courage. The man could have any number of possible reactions to his location, to the sight of "humans" in front of him, to recalling his possession to…

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

… bolting up screaming and swinging his arms as if he was still wielding his sword, sending poor Miku diving to the floor behind the foot of the bed. Kaito and Luka jumped out of the way of his flapping wings. After his shouting, he remained still a moment, his arms still extended, the only motion in the room being the settling of some of his molted feathers.

Finally, Gakupo lowered his hands, as if just noticing his lack of weapon. He glanced around the room, his blue eyes stern as he appeared to note his surroundings. "A human dwelling…" he murmured, "I'm surrounded by humans and…"

His eyes settled on Kaito. "Kaito! You're safe!" Gakupo said, breaking into the first smile Luka had seen on his face. The joyful notes in his voice indicated sincerity – at least he may truly have been a friend.

Kaito appeared unphased by the odd scene that unfolded in front of him. Perhaps such outbursts were normal for this man. "Gakupo… I could say the same for you!" Kaito responded, smiling in turn, "I was worried about you!"

Gakupo let out a rich laugh. "Me?! What cause could you have for worrying about me!? You're the one that sent everyone in the Islands into a panic by vanishing!"

'What a strange man…' Luka thought to herself, 'He thinks all of this is funny?'

"So… you don't remember anything?" Luka asked aloud.

Gakupo looked at Luka as if properly seeing her for the first time. She wasn't surprised by the suspicious look he shot her way – he was looking at a woman with no wings, an obvious sign he wasn't among his own kind. He stretched his neck to get a better look at Miku, who'd nervously poked her head up over the foot of the bed. Clearly her first impression of Gakupo hadn't left her yet.

At last, Gakupo returned his gaze to Kaito, finally noticing what Kaito had in common with everyone else in the room. "Kaito… unless you're hiding your wings…"

Kaito winced upon the inevitable question, sadly shaking his head. Gakupo's expression fell, as if in that moment all the energy he'd been projecting dissipated. "I….I'm sorry…" he finally stammered.

"That's… it?" Kaito asked, nervously, as if expecting Gakupo to say something worse.

Luka had to admit her own surprise at Gakupo's rather muted reaction. The warrior caste was built upon strict adherence to tradition. Being in the presence of a Val'Sharess should be revolting. "To have the sky ripped from you…" he murmured, "I… I have truly failed in my duty to you."

Deep in his voice, Luka read so many complex melodies in response to such a massive discovery, but all of them depicted a man in deep sorrow for someone close to him.

"You don't hold me responsible?" Kaito's nervous melody betrayed a fear Luka knew all too well – rejection. And why shouldn't he fear it? Even if his wings were stolen instead of Severed like hers, in practice the Seruva saw them as equivalently guilty.

"The Spirit Caller himself would never be Severed without my knowledge," Gakupo reasoned, "I know you wouldn't Sever yourself. And I doubt these two human women would given that they've made no moves to perform the same maneuver on me after taking me to this…"

He seemed to be taking in Luka's extremely feminine bedroom. "…strange pink place."

"Gakupo, these women are Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka," Kaito explained, though he looked a little embarrassed when he noticed Miku was still crouched on the floor. "We both owe our lives to them."

"Humans risked their lives for us?!" Gakupo exclaimed, dumb-founded, "Whatever for?!"

"Gakupo…. Perhaps now you can tell us how you…" Luka tried to squeeze in the most obvious question but failed when she . "You… you're far too comfortable with all of this. You're… you're no more a human that Kaito and I, are you?"

"Sempai… now that Gakupo's awake…" Miku said, finally secure enough in Gakupo's presence to pull herself off the floor entirely into a standing position again, "You promised you'd tell us about… um… everything."

'This man is an expert in strategically changing the subject,' Luka thought to herself in mild annoyance. "There isn't much to tell," she said coolly, "I was Severed when I was thirteen years old for a crime I committed against the priest caste. I've been living as a human ever since."

"They Sever as young as that?! What crime could you have committed?!" Gakupo seemed to be having difficulty comprehending such an act.

For once, being erased from her tribe's history was useful. "Kidnapping," she said plainly, "I attempted to remove a certain person from the tribe to prevent him from being hurt by the Elders."

"…did you bring him here?" Kaito asked in astonishment.

Luka nodded in the affirmative. Kaito's eyes held nothing but sympathy for her, which only made Luka's emotions harder to keep in check. "What in the world could the Elders have done to him?" Kaito murmured, "I… they always have our welfare at heart but…"

Of course Kaito wouldn't accept this easily. His very status in the tribe required him to trust the Elders implicitly. She thought she saw Gakupo roll his eyes at Kaito's words, though he remained silent. "Sempai… what happened to your friend?" Miku asked.

She stared at Kaito for a few long moments. "We were separated after I brought him here. I never found out what happened to him."

Luka's eyes turned to Miku, who had tears in her own. "Miku... I apologize for keeping all of this from you for so long…"

"It's okay, sempai. It's not like you thought I'd believe you…"

Such an unusual turn of phrase. "Why would you have believed me?" Luka asked, "It's quite improbable for you to accept your sempai is a member of a race of bird people."

Miku's muscles tensed up, as if there was something more she wanted to say but was losing the courage to get out. Kaito watched her with a sad expression, but remained quiet. Luka felt sorry for her, being pulled into such a dangerous life and learning her sempai had lied to her…

"So either he's in hiding somewhere or he was Severed quietly," Gakupo said bluntly.

Yet again, Gakupo wrenched away control of the conversation. "Kaito… I'm afraid that I must ask that you elaborate on your whereabouts in the last month. I last saw you before your daily prayer vigil…"

Now it was Kaito's turn to feel uncomfortable. "Now I find victim to an unthinkable act," Gakupo finished, "Please… tell me who inflicted this atrocity upon you so I may visit it upon them a thousand fold."

The threatening tones in Gakupo's voice made Miku audibly gulp, but Luka found herself feeling a sense of sympathy for him as she detected another melody. A terribly familiar one. Guilt. 'If he's a true warrior, he must feel he's failed Kaito for not having been able to prevent this,' Luka thought to herself.

As Kaito grew tenser, Miku moved to explain. "I found Kaito in the park… after those awful people took his wings off… he almost died…"

Luka's stomach churned. 'So that explains the trip to the hospital…' she thought to herself. The wavering notes in Miku's voice only further indicated how much stress her dearest friend was under.

"They were humans, yes?" Gakupo asked.

Miku began to stammer. "I… I don't know what they were…" she confessed, "I thought they were human but… they were more like monsters! Singing while trying to kill Kaito… They almost got us back at the wharf…"

"Miku! You didn't say anything!" Luka said with alarm.

"… she was protecting me. At my request."

Kaito had turned a few shades whiter and his tone felt shaky. Luka's heart began to break for him. Had this poor man known nothing but misery and suffering? "Gakupo, we were separated because I was chasing a spirit… my memories are a little hazy because I was interrupted by something during the last vigil I participated in. I was in deep communion with a spirit… and I was wrenched out of my trance. "

As Kaito addressed him, Gakupo's harsh expression again softened as he no doubt heard the same tragic melody Luka heard within Kaito's voice. "During a vigil… as expected. The only time I'm prevented from being near you…"

Miku held up a hand in confusion. "Wait… Kaito, you were chasing a spirit?"

"Kaito is the last Spirit Caller in our tribe," Luka explained, "He has a very important job. He can hear the voices of the Seruva who've passed on and project his own beyond the veil of life and death if he must. Seruva society depends on Spirit Callers conducting regular vigils and rituals to pass on the ancestor's wisdom and guidance to our tribal Elders so we never lose our way."

"Spoken like a true priestess," Gakupo murmured.

Kaito smiled softly at Miku, though sadness remained behind his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Miku," he said, "I just… even if I can't be a Seruva anymore, I'd rather not tell their secrets."

Gakupo clicked his tongue. "Loyal to the last. So what happened to your spirit?"

The blue-haired man tightened his fists. "Right… I chased it far away, across the Islands, all the way to the edge of our territory. But… I didn't find the spirit. I found… humans."

Luka didn't realize how tightly she'd been gripping the arm of her chair until her knuckles grew numb. She'd never heard of humans crossing into the Islands before. Flight wasn't an obstacle, but who was advanced enough to break the magic barriers as well?

Kaito closed his eyes, and the frightened melody that followed the next part of his story revealed how difficult this was for him to say. "Whoever they were, they were easily able to counter my magic and I… I was taken prisoner… I was flown to the Earth in one of those 'airplanes' humans use… I'm certain I was brought somewhere near this city. Somewhere underground, where I couldn't see or hear the sky. And…"

Kaito was visibly shaking at this point. "They kept performing these horrible experiments and tests on me… and the worst of it was, I knew I wasn't the only Seruva they'd done this to!"

Imagining Kaito in so much pain brought Luka to tears. "But… I finally worked out a plan to escape… I used my concealment ballads to slip out, but… eventually I was caught as I began to fly away… and… they… they shot me down…"

Luka realized what he was about to say before he even said it from how tightly he was hugging his own arms. She recognized that wretched melody from her own Severing. "I was trying to perform the healing ballad to survive when those awful people found me and…"

Kaito looked like he was going to be sick. "That's more than enough, Kaito," Gakupo said tenderly, "I take it after those events, this brave young lady took you to safety."

He nodded. "Miku… Miku is the only reason I survived…"

By this point Gakupo appeared guilty. No doubt for having gotten Kaito to start reliving such traumatic events. But now that both Luka and Kaito had revealed their secrets… there was one left.

"Gakupo… you need to tell us. How did you come to be possessed by the Noise?"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Gakupo appeared genuinely confused.

"When Kaito and I found you, you were a tengu - a monster!" Miku explained, "You tried to kill me and Kaito on sight!"

Finally, a topic that shook up even Gakupo as he appeared entirely off guard. "I don't remember doing anything like that!" He finally looked to Kaito. "Is this true? Did I…?"

Kaito nodded again. "You swore I was an imposter that you had to kill…" he explained, "Does that mean anything?"

Gakupo stared at his hands in horror. "I… I don't recall… anything…" he said, "To be truthful… I'm beginning to realize I… I don't even remember leaving the Islands and coming here…"

"You don't even remember hanging around that Noise generator!?" Miku asked.

Another shake of the warrior's head. "To think, I was so easily twisted… my intentions to save you nearly turned to your death… and I with no remembrance of the cause!"

Kaito gently rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Gakupo… it's fine. You really weren't yourself, but… thanks to Luka, I was able to turn you back."

Gakupo bowed his head to her in gratitude. "Well then, you've already proven your loyalties, my lady, he said.

"Ummm… Gakupo? Sir?" Miku asked.

"Gakupo…" Luka asked calmly, "What are you going to do now?"

Gakupo put his curled fist under his chin. "A good question," he said, returning to his more assured personality, "Well I can't very well take Kaito back like this. But I can't just abandon him. Not when there's clearly people roaming this city with the intent to kill him or torture him."

Kaito got quiet again. "Gakupo… you don't have to stay here… if you went home and told them what happened to me… they probably won't even Sever you."

It broke her heart to see the look of shame and disgrace in Kaito's eyes. She knew it all too well. Even if he hadn't suffered the psychological torture she had from a true Severing ritual… even to be seen without wings by a loved one was horrifying.

Which made Gakupo's laughter all the more infuriating. "Why would I do something like that?!" he said, "I've yet to mete out vengeance upon the accursed villains who wounded my charge!"

"Ummm… how's that going to work, exactly?" Miku asked, "Gakupo… you're not going to cut your wings off and pass yourself off as a human too, are you?"

Another round of what was becoming truly obnoxious laughter. "Why would I do something like that?" he said to Miku, "Of course I'm a trained song mage! Watch!"

Luka heard his second voice chant a short melody and his wings began to vanish behind him. Miku looked on in awe, running over to Gakupo and putting her hands behind his back to try and see if he'd merely hidden them. "That's amazing!" she said as she waved her hands around, touching nothing as the spell was intended to do.

"Seruva would make lousy spies if we couldn't effectively conceal our most... obvious feature."

With another chant, his wings returned again. Clearly, the man liked the attention he was getting – it's not like Miku knew that a simple wing concealment spell was something her people taught to eight year olds. Now Miku had a hand on her chin. "Well, I mean it's fine if you stick around of course, but I don't know where I'd put you… Kaito's already got the couch…"

"I'll take care of him," Luka found herself saying.

"You'd be willing to do that for him, Luka?!" Kaito asked, a smile on his face.

Even if Gakupo was annoying… he was also being exceptionally kind. Luka had fully expected him to immediately abandon Kaito, but instead he showed him nothing but sympathy and loyalty. Having someone he knew and trusted supporting him as he transitioned into the false human life of a Val'Sharess would grant Kaito a peace Luka had been deprived of.

Besides, she reasoned, the aid of a trained warrior would come in handy so long as Kaito was going to be such a trouble magnet.

"Besides, it's not like Miku has a bed big enough for his wings anyway," Luka said cheerfully, trying to raise the mood.

At that suggestion, Gakupo balked. "Now see here, I appreciate your hospitality, but it's unbecoming of me to take my hostesses' bed from her!"

"You'll give yourself a wing cramp if you try to use my couch," she said in a mock scolding tone, "You won't do Kaito any good if you go dropping out of the sky when your right wing seizes up on you."

While Gakupo clearly seemed annoyed with the state of affairs, he offered no further disagreements. Miku stifled a yawn, clearly fighting to stay awake. "Miku… I imagine you and Kaito are already quite worn out from your 'adventure' tonight," she said, "Why don't we regroup in the morning? After I've gotten Gakupo settled?"

"Yea… I've had enough yokai and Shinigami and secrets for one night…" Miku replied, "I just hope this is the last of it!"

Kaito seemed loathe to part with Gakupo so quickly after meeting him again. "Gakupo… we've much to catch up on," Kaito said.

"Indeed… I'm quite curious to know how you've handled being 'human.'" Whenever Gakupo addressed Kaito, Luka always noticed his voice had a far more sincere tone.

Before Miku left the bedroom, she turned to Gakupo with a sly look in her eyes. "Hey… just one more thing… does he like to sing? Because we sure could use one more guy in Vocaloids…"

"So, let me get this straight!"

Len was looking at Miku and Kaito with a suspicious look and a disbelieving tone in his voice. "RIGHT after Kaito found Miku again, from Kyoto, when he needed a place to stay…"

He rolled his head to Luka and Gakupo. "One of his FRIENDS shows up and he just so happens to be staying with Luka!?"

'I knew we should have spent more time on this storyline…' Miku thought to herself.

Gakupo nodded his head with confidence, in spite of the obvious lack of confidence his cohorts felt. "There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" he said.

Luka had managed to take him shopping earlier in the morning, picking up a snappy black button down shirt and brown slacks. The more fashion conscious girl had naturally ensured her new "guest" would have some of her sense of style. She felt somewhat guilty for having given Kaito a long coat in the middle of summer, though he'd seemed rather attached to it now.

Len looked over at Miku. "You sure must be desperate to get more guys in the group…" he teased.

Rin seemed to be staring at the taller man with a mixture of awe and fear. She didn't seem to know what to make of the new guy. "Do you not believe me capable of song?" Gakupo asked.

'He's worse than Kaito…' Miku thought to herself as she heard his odd speech.

"I… I wouldn't mind… hearing him sing…" Rin stammered.

Sometimes she could be very shy around new people, but this was a bit much. Was it because he was so much taller than the petite teenager?

Gakupo took a few steps forward in the amphitheater, turning to face the group.

"I harbor a longing for the Sun, but even if I try spreading my wings in the empty skies...

Miku had to admit, he did have a pleasant voice. She glanced at Luka, who she noticed was starting to doodle in her notebook. 'Uh oh…' Miku thought, 'She's already inspired…'

"The remote paradise I can't reach is vanishing along with my dreams..."

He certainly had a more powerful voice than Len or Kaito. She guessed he was singing some Seruva ballad he knew well, much as Kaito had. Looking over to Rin, the girl seemed enamored of his voice enough that she wasn't completely frightened of him at least.

"The stir of the wind rising above all now is just in vain..."

Len was nodding his head – clearly he'd come to the conclusions Miku had. Adding Gakupo, plus Kaito, gave them a lot more variety in their male vocalists – let alone what they could pull off if they teamed up in a group. She doubted there would be any resistance from the twins about including him based on talent. Now… personality…

"Even if you cut off my wings, ah, some day, towards the skies..."

As Gakupo finished his audition, Rin suddenly noticed his eyes on her and squeaked. 'I guess we should be glad neither of them saw him as a "Shinigami"…' Miku thought to herself.

Rin grabbed her brother and the two began to speak in hushed tones. Finally they turned back to the others. "Obviously Miku and Luka already made their votes," Len said.

"And Kaito's still not passed his initiation yet!" Rin added, looking over to Kaito.

"So… it was up to us!" Len continued, "All right, Gakupo, you're in… AFTER you pass the initiation!"

Gakupo pounded one of his fists into his open palm. "A challenge!?" he shouted, "I'm always ready for a feat of strength!"

"Not like that, Gakupo…" Luka explained, waving her hand, "You and Kaito both need to give a reason why you want to be a Vocaloid."

Gakupo laughed. "What, that's it?" he said, "I'm doing this because Kaito is!"

Len wasn't having any of that. "That's not a reason! You gotta come up with one for YOURSELF!" he said.

"Yea…" Rin said, though she clammed up the second Gakupo looked in her direction.

"Look, you get till next weekend just like Kaito… okay?" Len finished.

As Gakupo took a seat, Miku's cheeks felt hot as Gakupo's proclamation stirred through her mind… though she couldn't quite explain why.

"Sunk into a sea of grief, it's a bother to even open my eyes, and thus I'll be, endlessly falling - but won't anyone find me?"

As Kaito quietly observed the others practicing, he tried to reflect on the whirlwind of the last twenty four hours. Just as his life seemed to be moving towards some kind of simple calm, the arrival of one of his own kind and the revelation of Luka's true past created quite the disruption.

He was grateful to have Gakupo back, and the two had barely separated on the way to practice as they conversed as if no time had passed. Just having Gakupo's energy and reassurances made the difficulties Kaito faced feel far more surmountable. Yet Kaito also detected in Gakupo's behavior that the Seruva warrior was still upset by something. 'No doubt he's concerned about the Dark Notes…' Kaito thought to himself.

"And again the light poured down, and dazzled, we met eyes, you who noticed and looked back toward me, and I, the liar..."

All Kaito really knew about the Noise was to be wary of the chaotic melody that clued him in to its corrupting power. It was a powerful remnant of the war that shattered his people, and an endless threat that all Seruva knew could wipe out all life in place where it spread. Surely Gakupo would have been aware of the stories as well – to think that such a power had twisted him so was no doubt frightening even to the seemingly unflappable warrior.

And to think that this legendary evil was in a human city, being created by human technology…

"Leave this sea, and now, fly away..."

As the practice session broke up with Miku's final song and that familiar chant, Kaito began to approach Miku and Gakupo when the familiar sound of Gumi's scooter revved through the park. Miku grabbed Kaito by the wrist and started dragging him away. "I am NOT getting cornered by that crazy woman again!" she shouted.

"HEY! YOU!"

"ACK! Kaito, just run!"

Kaito turned his head and saw Gumi had decided to corner… Gakupo. He wanted to do something to break them apart, but Miku was dragging him too fast. He could only watch as Gakupo stared at the far smaller woman in stunned surprise as she marched over to him, waving her fists.

"At last we meet, '4th District Shinigami'!"

"What?! Unhand my wrist!"

Once Miku and Kaito were clear of the park, he heard the girl let out a sigh. "I feel bad making poor Gakupo take that bullet for us…" she muttered.

Kaito tried not to worry, as Gakupo had always been a smoother talker than he. "I… I think he can handle Gumi…"

"Gakupo's kind of an oddball," Miku said, "But he's a pretty good guy. Nice voice too… I guess he couldn't have dropped in on us at a better time!"

Miku looked to Kaito. "Hey, you wanna go to the ice cream parlor again? There's nothing else to do today!"

Just hearing the words 'ice cream' lightened Kaito's spirit. "Of course!" he said, "And we should bring some back for Gakupo… he's going to be so surprised to try it!"

Miku giggled at Kaito's excitement – such an otherwise serious person having such a childish love for ice cream was kind of adorable. Miku thought about offering to text Luka and Gakupo, but she had to admit – she wanted to just spend some time with Kaito, one on one. The last several days of having someone like Kaito so close to her and sharing so many secrets had an excitement of its own.

Yet she conceded that it would be rude to split the two of them up given how close they were and how much trouble she and Kaito had gone through to rescue Gakupo. Finally she let out a breath and started texting Luka anyway as the two made their way to the bus station…

While the Kagamine twins seemed dumb-founded to see Gakupo so thoroughly cowed, Luka was trying to stop from laughing at seeing a "mighty Seruva warrior" being pinned by the might of Megpoid Gumi. Obviously he didn't intend to injure a teenage girl, which only gave Gumi a bigger advantage over him. "What manner of interrogation is this?!" he shouted in confusion.

Gumi shoved her smart phone in Gakupo's face. From his suddenly darker expression, Luka realized what pictures Gumi was showed him. Since Gakupo couldn't remember anything, he had no idea what he'd looked like in his other form.

"Come on, you were threatening to chop off the head of every drunk on the strip!" Gumi continued, "What are you, a hired assassin!? Who put you up to it!?"

Gakupo's words seemed to be failing him – how could he explain an event he couldn't recall? Luka was about to intervene on his behalf when Len and Rin grabbed Gumi's arms and yanked her away from him. "Hey, hey, HEY! How DARE you suppress the freedom of the press!?"

"You're the one interrupting one of our rehearsals!" Len yelled.

"Yea…yea! Gakupo's a Vocaloid, he's one of us!" Rin chimed in.

Gumi whirled around and took a good look at the twins. Luka suddenly felt a lot less humored when she caught a familiar glint in the green-haired girl's eye. For a moment, she was glad Gumi had no idea who Luka really was…

"Waiiiiit… you two! You're the Kagamines!" she said, "I see… so is this Mirror corporate propaganda?!"

She jammed her smart phone in Len's confused face, the record function active. "Give it up! This whole thing's a big conspiracy for the Hearts, isn't it!?"

"In a PUBLIC PARK!?" Len shouted.

"You know, there's been all kinds of crazy stuff going on in Tsubasa City the last few weeks!" Gumi continued, shifting her glare to Rin, "It's got the fingerprints of your folks all over it… and the people deserve to know the truth! Bodies in parks, the wharf gettin' worked over by 'Big Sweet', shinigamis… come on! You and your folks are in it neck deep!"

Rin looked ready to cry, which only further triggered Len's protectiveness. "We don't talk to our parents anymore!" Len shouted, "It's none of my business what they're up to!"

"That's quite enough…" Gakupo finally interjected.

Hearing his voice again pulled Gumi off of the twins. "So… ready to fess up, Shinigami!?" she said.

The purple haired man nodded, looking somewhat ashamed, but Luka had already caught the telltale deceptive notes in his voice. "In actuality… ah, I'm just a street performer. I was trying out a new act at the shrine and things got a little out of hand."

"WHAT?!" Gumi blurted, "You expect me to believe that?!"

This time she produced one of her flyers clearly depicting Gakupo. "Those… those are WINGS! And a freaking sword!"

"Ummm…. Gakupo doesn't have wings…" Rin interrupted.

Luka took the flyer from Gakupo and clicked her tongue. "Gakupo, those cardboard wings are about to fall off!"

Playing along with Gakupo's ruse was oddly fun for Luka. "I lost them last night, actually!" Gakupo groaned in mock annoyance, but she could hear the light notes of amusement in his melody, "Some idiot with a scarf knocked them off instead of tipping me!"

Luka checked her phone and saw a text pop up from Miku. "Gakupo, don't we have an appointment?" Luka said, "For goodness sake, the fabric for your new 'wings' will take forever!"

"Yea, Rin and I have to cram for finals!" Len said, clearly happy to get away from the nosy "citizen reporter."

"Remember Gakupo!" Rin shouted as she and Len started to run, "You have to have your reason by SATURDAY!"

"AAAARRRRGH!" Gumi shrieked to the sky, "Why are all my leads turning into GARBAAAAAGE?!"

As Kaito wandered up to the strip mall on the wharf with Miku, he kept a careful eye out in case of a return of Big Al and Sweet Ann. Not a soul seemed disturbed, however, and that pair could hardly blend in with a crowd. He grimaced as he and Miku passed by the area they'd fought, covered in construction tape.

Kaito's face turned to a broad smile as he spotted the familiar site of the ice cream parlor. He was already imagining the wonderful taste of frozen strawberries. "Hmmm… I should probably get the Loveliness Lichi…" Miku said to herself.

However, as Kaito and Miku moved along the sidewalk, Kaito began to notice an uneasy current in the melodies of the strangers around him. Whereas a few days earlier, they'd sounded happy and light… now they sounded angry and distressed.

"Oh god, you bought THAT skirt!? What's wrong with you!?" Two bickering teenage girls.

"How can I possibly run a household when you waste money like that?!" A husband and wife.

"How many secrets are you keeping from me!? How can I possibly trust you!?" A woman and her boyfriend.

He took a worried glance to Miku. She looked positively furious as she stared at her phone! "I don't see why it should take Luka so long to send a text!" she grumbled, "Gakupo's not THAT big of a distraction!"

Kaito closed his eyes and stopped walking, trying to filter out the human's voices and determine their melodies. That's when he recognized the uneven, pulsing discord weaving in and out of every melody around him. He knew this song.

"Kaito! Stop flying off into your own little world!" Miku shouted.

He opened his eyes and stared at Miku. The bubbly girl was positively livid. 'Is this what Noise can do to humans?'

"Miku…" Kaito said firmly, "Don't you hear it?"

"Hear what?!" she shouted in annoyance.

He felt his patience being tried, but took a deep breath to center himself. Once he'd warded off the Dark Notes trying to grasp his heart, he gripped Miku's hands tightly. "HEY! What gives?!" Miku prostested, but Kaito refused to let go as he sang the first few notes of the same song he'd wielded to save Gakupo. As he did so, he felt the retreat of the Noise from his mind.

Apparently it worked for Miku as well, because now she looked positively horrified at her behavior. "Kaito! Oh my god, I'm so sorry…"

Though Kaito no longer felt the Dark Notes trying to lure him, he could still feel the oppressive power of the Noise reverberating throughout the strip. "Miku… it's not your fault..." Kaito reassured her. "Listen closely, there's Dark Notes here."

Miku's eyes widened with recognition. "I heard this at the shrine!" she shouted, "But… but at the shrine it kept making me feel scared…"

"Maybe the effects aren't consistent…" Kaito said, "We have to find out where these Dark Notes are coming from! Maybe there's another device like the one that was controlling Gakupo!"

For a moment, the image of the cheerful, brave Gakupo consumed by the rage of the Noise flashed into Kaito's head. What if there was another Seruva trapped nearby!? "I'll tell Luka…" Miku said, her phone already out, "Hey, maybe if this Noise was here the other day… it would explain why our friends treated you so rough!"

"Possibly…" Kaito said, "AH! I remember very faintly hearing Dark Notes when we were on the patio. I just didn't recognize them at the time!"

Miku looked to the ice cream shop. "There's supply tunnels underneath the shops out here. Maybe it's in one of those!?"

The pair rushed through the sea of irritable people, Kaito allowing the discord to lead him to its source. He came to a stop in front of a store front, where the chaos seemed to practically beg him to enter. "That's a liquor importer..." Miku said, "It's in here?"

Kaito looked towards his feet. "Underneath," he said, "How do we get down?"

"We do that thing you do to hide us and go into the back!" Miku said.

Kaito and Miku made their way to a secluded area – not difficult given the discord as the effects of the Noise seemed to prevent others from noticing them. He began the ballad of concealment and bent the notes around himself and Miku. "Don't forget to stay close…" Kaito said quietly, "And don't make any noise to draw attention to yourself."

Miku nodded obediently, checking her phone. "Luka and Gakupo are coming…" she said.

"They can catch up to us…" Kaito replied.

He clutched Miku's hand tightly as they searched the store a way down. Finding an open door with a flight of stairs behind the cashier table, Miku and Kaito carefully slipped past as the clerk and the manager were embroiled in an argument over some no doubt minor issue.

As he and Miku made their way downstairs, he recognized the oppressive weight of the Dark Notes as he had the previous evening. The source had to be close by. He released his ballad. "Okay… Miku, what did that Noise generator look like?"

"It looks like a black box!" Miku said, "It didn't have any kind of switch so… I just kept smashing it until I got Gakupo to impale it."

Kaito saw walls upon walls of casks and crates of alcohol. He and Miku split up as they scanned the shelves and boxes for the tiny Noise generator hidden somewhere within. As he moved towards the back, he noticed a door that appeared to have been forced open recently by some great force. 'They were here…' he thought to himself with annoyance, 'Maybe they weren't looking for me at all then… they just stumbled onto me… would explain why they just left…'

He tried to push his memories of that awful moment out of his mind. He finally became aware of another person behind him as he heard the first notes of a Seruva battle chant. Kaito quickly erected a barrier around himself as he watched a bottle of fine sake smash against the sides.

"Kaito!? Are you okay?!" Miku cried out.

Kaito was face to face with a woman with long white hair and red eyes. Her knee-length tresses were tied into a ponytail with a black ribbon. Despite wearing modern human clothes of a revealing grey vest, purple tie, and black pants, her extended black wings gave away her true origins. Yet in spite of her uneasy swagger and apparently dizzy face, he could feel the power of Dark Notes radiating out of her.

"You… how dare you disturb… the sanctuary of the Herald of Noise!"

There was something uneven about her voice, as if she was having trouble focusing. Kaito hoped that meant he'd get a word in, but she seemed to grow more irritable. "I am Haku! This place is mine! And I will punish all trespassers!"

Miku wanted to rush over to Kaito as soon as she heard the first notes of the battle chant, but a sudden shockwave sent showers of glass and liquid across the room. She ducked down for safety, barely avoiding any cuts. "Kaito! Try that song, like on Gakupo!" she shouted.

Kaito attempted the melody, but Haku appeared unphased. "It's not working!" he shouted, "The Dark Notes are too powerful right now! We need to destroy the Noise generator!"

Miku tried to pull back her raging emotions – she reminded herself that the Dark Notes were affecting her. Right now… she had one thing she could do to protect Kaito. But that was easier said than done – the cellar was far smaller than the gardens of the shrine, and the battle was getting incredibly fierce as Kaito battled the self-proclaimed Herald of Noise all through the rows of booze.

Haku began singing an uneasy melody that Miku could just barely hear and suddenly black, oozing blobs began to rise from the puddles of alcohol. Miku's skin crawled as they gained glowing red eyes and started to squirm along the floor in her direction. "Hey… hey! Get back!" she shouted, trying to crawl away from them as she searched the basement for the Noise generator.

As Miku continued to run from the goo creatures, she finally noticed one of the large wine barrels looked off. Like someone had hastily jammed the lid back on. As she approached, she felt a familiar sensation, like her heart was about to be overwhelmed by a terrible emotion. She tried to pry the barrel lid open, but she had little success. "Kaito! I can't open it, but it's in here!"

As the battle between Kaito and Haku raged, he seemed to finally get enough of a gap to hurl a light arrow through the air and shatter the barrel entirely. From the debris, a small black box clunked to the ground.

Miku nearly fell over as she felt one of the goo creatures wrap around her ankles. "Back back back!" she shouted, trying to pull herself forward. She continued to yank herself forward and just barely wrapped her hands around the Noise generator. Just touching it filled her with indescribable anger… which at the moment, was exactly what she needed. She began smashing the box into the wall with all her might, hoping to turn the power of the Dark Notes against it. She finally saw sparks fly out of it and the melody wrenching itself around her heart finally ceased. She felt her ankles released as the goo creatures disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Haku's assault on Kaito ceased as she screamed. He felt the power of the Dark Notes weakening around him before vanishing within the air. "It's okay…" he said gently, "I'm going to help you…"

"You… you can't… save me…" Haku said, her voice slurring as she stumbled around weakly.

As he saw Haku prepare another ballad, he began his own, finishing the melody faster. He tried to focus just as he had when he purged the Noise from Gakupo. As Haku's wings began to turn from black to white, Kaito felt elated at first. He'd saved another soul! But then… as he felt the Noise begin to fade, a resigned peace came over Haku. Her body began to glow with a heavenly white light. Kaito stopped the ballad entirely as her body began to vanish before his eyes. "No!" he shouted, "Haku! What's happening?!"

"Seal of the Seruva… you free me… at the cost of quickening your own destruction…" she whispered.

In spite of Haku's cryptic words, for the first time she sounded sane. She provided no further answers as her body was consumed by the light. The last thing Kaito could see of her was a soft smile on her face.

He collapsed to the floor. What had he just done?

Miku approached Kaito. He looked broken – whatever had just happened to Haku, he felt responsible. As if he'd killed her. "Kaito… what happened to Haku?"

He shook his head softly. "I… I don't know…" he said, his voice wavering.

"Kaito! Miku! Where are you?!"

"Luka! We're over here!" Miku called out.

A few moments later she saw the familiar forms of Luka and Gakupo rushing down the basement. To Miku's shock, Gakupo even had his weapon on him and drawn, though the quiet in the basement after Haku's disappearance seemed to have assured him there was no need to use it.

'Where did he find space to shove that sword!?' Miku thought, wondering if it was another "magic trick."

As the warrior surveyed the shattered shelves and bottles, all dripping with spilled alcohol, he looked disappointed. "I'm sorry I missed a fine battle," he said, though as he caught sight of Kaito, his expression grew more serious. "Kaito! What happened?"

He rushed to the crestfallen man's side. "We fought another Seruva… like you…" Kaito whispered, "But… when I used the ballad… she… she vanished…"

"I'm sure it's not nearly as dire as you think…" the warrior assured him, "Perhaps she was just a lost spirit?"

Gakupo helped Kaito to his feet again. "We probably shouldn't dawdle here," he said, "I somehow doubt a human shopkeeper would be happy to find the lot of us down here with broken merchandise."

Luka nodded her assent. "We'll just sneak out the way we snuck in," she said.

Miku wanted to comfort Kaito somehow… he looked so sad. But she had no words. She knew so little about what had happened. How was it that all of a sudden she felt so helpless around him?

… and why did Gakupo being so close to him stir up such strong emotions in her heart?

A/N:

Well THAT escalated quickly!

Gakupo. I missed writing you so much. My core cast had this gaping hole in it and now you're back.

Ah, Kaito, even when you win you lose :( Why do I hurt you so?

Oh my god, have I wanted to make Gakupo and Gumi meet from the word "go." My last fic had this fantastic scene with a far more serious Gakupo playing off a much more prankster-like Gumi, and I loved it so much. Even though their roles and personalities are a bit different here, I still wanted that sense that Gumi can basically disarm Gakupo through her sheer… Guminess.

Song Credits: Gakupo sang "Uranus", a song he actually sings mostly in English! Pretty impressive given he has no English voice bank. The translation is courtesy of Gakupo superfan Narumo, aka luckycarrot on FFN. Miku was performing "Deep Sea Girl."