Chapter 8: Sky Flowers
"Len! Get your sister and run!" Miku shouted.
Len looked at Miku in surprise. Was she insane?! "What are you going to do!?" he said, "We need to call the cops or something! That woman's gotta be a terrorist or something!"
Miku looked at the crowd of collapsed people, writhing in pain. "Maybe she used a nerve gas or something dangerous like that-"
Another loud whistling filled the air. Miku held up her paper umbrella and grabbed Len close to her body. As he heard it explode and saw the shower of sparks, he expected it to burst into flames… but there wasn't even a hint of heat.
And he became aware of a bizarre melody zig-zagging through his head. "Len! Please!" Miku begged, "I don't want either of you to get hurt!"
"Miku… do you know what's going on!?"
"MIKU! LEN! Where are you?!"
Len heard Kaito's voice in the crowd. Miku began to run towards him. Len hoped the dangerous person wasn't about to attack a second time, but he didn't want to look back as he laid eyes on his frightened sister…
Gakupo's wings were out in seconds after the explosion slammed into the shield Luka had swiftly created over the pair of them. "To ruin such a wonderful place as this!" he cursed.
All around them, they were the only two people still conscious. "So the sparks from the fireworks are knocking them out… ha! A clever strategy!"
"We need to find the box!" Luka said, "If you think you can take her, I'll start looking around! Maybe it's under the stage?!"
As a wave of fireworks flew through the air, Luka gasped as she realized they were about to hit Miku and Len…
"Len, noooo!" Rin shouted as an explosion surrounded her brother.
But as the smoke cleared, she saw a glowing white shield of light surrounding Len and Miku. She could hear Kaito's singing voice in the air, but as she looked up to him, she saw he appeared motionless aside from his extended hand.
The shield vanished as Miku grabbed Len and ran over to Kaito. "Kaito-niisan… what did you just do?" Rin said, fear in her voice.
"No way, you've got to tell us what's going on! How did you just do that?!" Len protested.
Rin gasped as she saw a winged form zoom through the air. As it alighted upon the stage, drawing a katana, she recognized him as Gakupo… with a pair of beautiful white wings. She couldn't see his face, but she could hear his words.
"How dare you desecrate a festival of joy with despair!" he shouted, "I'll grant you the battle you so desperately seek!"
"Kaito-niisan! Why does Gakupo have wings!?" Rin asked as she watched her friend charge straight for Mizki.
"He didn't waste any time…" Miku grumbled.
Kaito looked to Rin with a deathly serious gaze. "You and your brother need to go hide. Stay away from the fireworks."
His face softened as he tried to give her confidence. "Your big brother will fix this."
Rin wanted to trust Kaito… "Fine, but you guys owe us… a LOT of explanations!" Len said.
As the twins departed the stage grounds, Miku began to loosen her sword from her umbrella handle. "How do they make this look so easy in movies?!" she grumbled before the weapon finally clattered to the ground.
She picked up the hilt with both hands. "Kaito…" Miku said, "I think that the sparks from the fireworks are what she used on all these people…"
He nodded his head. "Then we need to make sure they don't touch us."
Miku kept her umbrella close and try to calm her nerves. She had a weapon in her hand. She intended to use it to attack a living creature. She would not be useless.
Gakupo's first strike against Mizki was fast and furious. She had already revealed she favored attacks at range, like a proper Seruva mage. She would not easily handle him closing at melee.
Or so he thought – as he dove through the air, he saw her draw a rainbow-colored fan from her kimono and swipe it forward. He found himself buffeted by a massive gust of wind filled with flower petals. He stopped his charge and put up a purple shield, just in time to see a wave of sharp objects bounce off the edge of it. As he glanced at the ground where they collected near his feet, he saw they were hair pins.
'I guess it's safe to say they're getting stronger with every Herald…' he thought to himself.
He heard a whistling noise around him and realized Mizki had merely been distracting him until she had more ammunition. He adjusted his barrier to try and prevent from being captured in the explosion. He heard the loud explosions along his shield and fell back from the shockwaves, though he remained ultimately unhurt.
'This is no good…' he thought to himself as he tried to pick himself up quickly, 'I can't take her alone…'
And yet he had to admit the challenge of a real fight excited him...
As Miku rushed to the stage, watching the explosions surrounding Gakupo, she saw someone fall to the ground from the force. "Hiyama-sempai!"
Miku rushed to her fallen sempai's side. Fortunately, while his glasses had tumbled off, Kiyoteru seemed otherwise uninjured. Kaito bent over him with Miku, examining him with more care. "He'll be fine but… his heart is filled with Noise…"
"You can tell?" Miku asked, studying her dear idol carefully. While his eyes were closed, his face kept contorting in pain.
"…I'm getting better at hearing it…" Kaito said somberly.
"I… I can't…" Kiyoteru whispered, "I can't reach them..."
"Hiyama-sempai, snap out of it!" Miku shouted, hoping somehow her voice might be heard.
But he remained in his trance. "The children can't trust in me… nobody can… my voice is… worthless… I'm worthless…"
Hearing her dear sempai voicing so many fears without realizing he had an audience… Miku's eyes became moist. How close they were to hers…
Another series of explosions over her led Miku to pull her umbrella up, shielding the both of them. She clutched her sword. "It's okay, sempai… I'll save you…" Miku whispered, gently resting him on the ground.
Miku and Kaito quickly scaled the stage. Gakupo looked a little worse for wear – he'd taken more than a few hits, but he was still on his feet. "How dare you steal everyone's happiness!" Miku shouted, extending her sword.
The Herald turned her dreary gaze to Miku. "Your hands are trembling," she intoned gloomily.
A series of fireworks slammed into the stage, Kaito quickly covering Miku from the blasts. As the smoke cleared, Miku tried to close her distance with Mizki. A series of sharp hair pins flew in her direction and Miku did her best to try and quickly deflect every one of them from her blade. She felt a few get through and tear holes in her yukata.
"Why is a child playing with a sword?" Mizki asked.
"I… I made a promise!" Miku shouted, more to bolster herself than to answer the woeful Herald.
An arrow of white light zipped through the air as Miku heard Kaito's voice. Mizki moved to deflect it, only to be met by another frantic charge from Gakupo she could barely hold off. Clearly, while not one of the three could fight her alone, having all three of them might finally break her defenses…
Luka gasped as she heard a trembling above her. She'd begun to crawl under the stage, trying to zero in on the Noise generator's location. She could detect the morose melody around her, feeling it trying to weight feelings of sadness in her heart. She tried to grasp onto happy memories to keep her spirits up as the people above her fought to keep Mizki contained. Days spent singing with her Vocaloid friends, afternoons at the wharf, watching her favorite movie with Gakupo…
Her cheeks flushed, but fine, if he was going to even penetrate her happy memories, it wasn't so harmful to keep him close. Even if he hadn't answered her question, she started shielding her heart from despair by thinking of his delightful company… the joy of opening her heart to someone who understood her…
"Gakupo, on the left!" Miku shouted.
"Ha! An easy dodge!" he quipped.
She heard Kaito's voice ring out in song and another small explosion above.
"I can't believe Miku's really up there trying to fight…" Luka whispered, "And… succeeding…"
As she began to make her way under the stage, hoping the fight on top would not lead to her somehow being crushed underneath, she was able to make out the bottom of a vast pile of fireworks boxes towards the back of the stage area. "That must be what she's directing…" Luka said, "Maybe the generator's inside somewhere…"
Unfortunately, she couldn't get there from underneath the stage due to a metal fence – the melody had led her astray. She'd have to crawl out and try not to draw too much attention to herself. If the Herald was smart, she would try to protect the source of her power. But Luka had to take that chance. She could use her own magic to shield her from attacks if she had to and then simply smash the box.
She had to – her friends were counting on her.
As Len watched the chaos on the stage while hiding inside a prize booth next to the unconscious stall attendant, he still couldn't believe his eyes. He'd known Kaito and Gakupo were keeping secrets from him. But he'd never in his wildest dreams believed they were hiding something like this! He'd been particularly worried when he saw Miku take on the "Herald" with a katana – when could she have possibly learned to wield one!? But there she was, in the thick of it, swinging a sword around as if she had some idea of what she was doing.
"Is this what they were doing without us?" Rin asked, her voice quivering.
"Probably…" Len said, trying to sound authoritative as he was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that they'd just let a person into his band that could fly.
As another series of explosions rocked the area, Rin managed to say what Len was thinking himself as he observed all the unconscious people around him being swallowed by black auras.
"We have to help them."
The boy's eyes scrutinized the stage area. "Yea, I agree… so what can we do to help without weapons or… magic?"
Just saying the word "magic" felt bizarre… if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he'd have never imagined it. It was as if Kaito, Gakupo and Mizki were fighting with songs…
Rin snapped him out of his thoughts. "Len, what about those fireworks? They're coming from behind the stage!"
He observed another volley shooting into the sky. The stage wasn't far from the lake to the left… but he and his sister couldn't just dump them all into the water themselves. Still… maybe there was some kind of equipment they could make use of…
"Okay, Rin! We'll find some way to get them in the water. That'll really mess her up!"
As Gakupo threw up another shield to protect him from Mizki's latest volley, he found himself at an impasse. While he and his allies showed signs of straining from the furious combat, Mizki appeared barely winded. 'Perhaps the very Dark Notes she draws power from are sustaining her as well…'
In his head, he heard two dueling melodies again. Unlike the last time, he knew better than to reach for either. He couldn't risk losing his mind when the odds were already so perilous. But the intensity of the fight with Mizki prevented him from using his second voice to center himself as he had last time – he needed it for spells more.
Another wave of fireworks streaked towards him. Gakupo prepared his shield, wondering why Mizki would only target him… the first few slammed into his shield harmlessly, but several went whizzing past him. He watched their trajectory and saw them zooming towards…
Gakupo spread his wings and dove through the air to reach the target of Mizki's assault in time. He grabbed them and pulled him close to his body, trying to form a new shield of his own but realizing it would not form in time he used his wings to shield them completely from the blast…
"GAKUPO!"
Before his vision went dark, he felt something overtaking him in his mind. Two warring melodies, one of despair, and one of destruction, each attempting to claim dominance over the other.
The melody of destruction won, his mind flooding with only one command.
'Find Kaito. Kill all who interfere.'
As Gakupo's wings pulled back around her, he collapsed to the ground at Luka's feet. She cried out his name as he fell, covered in scorch marks. Her heart pounded – he couldn't be dead… Mizki couldn't be that strong… she chanted her healing ballad and watched his wounds close but the pain in his face revealed him trapped in a world of sorrow…
"Your warrior is fallen to despair…" Mizki said dispassionately, "I shall claim the rest of you with him."
'This is all my fault… I left myself exposed and he…'
Another series of projectiles twirled through the air – and suddenly Gakupo's blood red eyes sprang open. He bounded to his feet, spread his black wings and took flight, his sword arm whirling like a tornado as he carved up the fireworks in midair. Though each exploded around him, the payloads barely affected him.
For the first time during the fight, Mizki began to look frightened as the fully transformed Gakupo stood in front of her. She began to hurl the hairpins again, but Gakupo deflected each and every one.
"You shall fall to the Harbinger!" he bellowed, his voice booming with power.
'He has another melody in his heart…' Luka thought to herself, 'She can't overpower that, but… neither can Gakupo!'
In his mad frenzy, he seemed to care little about any potential collateral damage. Kaito constructed another shield to keep himself and Miku safe as projectiles nearly hit him. "Gakupo, snap out of it!" Miku shouted in vain.
Luka knew she needed to find the generator, but at the same time, she needed to protect her friends from… Gakupo. No, not Gakupo… whatever was animating him. She began to scale the stage, her heart overwhelmed with guilt. This was her fault. She'd been careless, she'd left herself exposed, and now he was losing the battle against whatever evil had possessed his heart.
She barely registered the sight of two people running behind her to get behind the stage.
"What did that mean lady do to Gakupo!?" Rin shouted.
"We can't worry about that now… look, there's a forklift back here!"
Len examined the tall machinery. He'd never even driven a real car, he was still two years away from getting his license. Now he and his sister were going to have to figure out how to drive a piece of construction equipment? Rin was already climbing inside without any concern for her own safety. Len swallowed and began to follow her. He could still hear the strange melody in his head, trying to drown him in his sorrows. His parent's callousness… his brother's death… Miku's rejection…
'Where is this even coming from?' he thought, 'I gotta save Miku!'
He hopped into the forklift with his sister and joined her in staring at the assortment of levers. "Okay, it looks like someone left the keys inside…" Rin said, turning the key.
The forklift roared to life as Len held on tightly. "Okay, if you think you can drive, I'll work the lift!" Len shouted over the rumbling engine.
Rin screamed as a series of fireworks went flying out of the pile. "What if she tries to hit us?!" she asked.
"Oh come on, you can't be getting scared NOW!" Len barked, "The lake's right there and Miku needs us!"
He changed his tone when he noticed the way Rin quivered in the driver's seat. "Don't worry, sis," Len said, "I'm right here. We'll do this together."
Her hands stopped shaking and Rin began to carefully try and direct the massive machine to the pile of fireworks. Len toyed with the levers, hoping he'd get them right when the margin for error was so small…
Kaito desperately tried to cast the ballad of purification, only to find the Dark Notes choking his melody before it moved far from his body. At least he knew their source must be extremely close. He cursed himself – he'd cast the spell twice on Gakupo, yet failed each time to truly set him free.
In spite of her intense fighting, Mizki's voice maintained a heavy, depressing tone. "So strange! Your heart beats with despair, yet you fight with a demon's rage…"
The intensity of the battle escalated as Mizki became completely consumed with fighting Gakupo, who was abandoning any pretense of fighting with his sword and swiped at her with his talon-like hands. The two began to take their fight to the air. "No!" Kaito shouted, "We can't let them get away!"
But he was forced to place another shield over himself and Miku as the hairpins came flying back down, impaling the stage where they fell. Mizki tried directing a full volley of explosives at her vicious opponent, but with his unnatural speed, she only succeeded in causing him to divert his flight path.
With one mighty blow, the berserk Seruva sent Mizki crashing to the ground. When she didn't immediately get up, Kaito began to fear the worst. Without any concern for himself, Kaito rushed in front of her as Gakupo flew close to kill her. He threw up a shield to try and break Gakupo's charge, hoping his presence behind it might hold him.
Gakupo slammed into it with such force Kaito felt the impact nearly shatter it entirely – if his shield had been even slightly weaker, the wild tengu would have carved him in half. "Gakupo, stop it!" Miku shouted.
To Kaito's surprise, Miku was standing next to him, wielding her katana. "This isn't you!" she shouted, "You're not a yokai! You're my sensei and you're a kind man!"
"I am the Harbinger and I shall kill all who interfere!"
The power in his voice felt as strong as any ballad, the notes exploding from his melody.
"Gakupo!" Kaito shouted, "We're supposed to be saving the Herald! Not killing her!"
But Kaito's words failed to quell his rage. Gakupo began to advance on his allies and suddenly Kaito's mind was thrown back to the night at the shrine...
"Gakupo! Tengu are not monsters… they're guardians! You have the power to save people!"
At Luka's words, he began to hesitate. Kaito looked behind him and saw Luka had a fierce look in her eyes. Gakupo suddenly began to clutch his head as if struggling with the forces inside him. Luka folded her hands, watching him with pity. "I believe in your strength…"
A whistling noise filled the air and Kaito realized too late he'd not ensured Mizki was completely out for the count. Kaito heard the familiar chant of a force bolt at his back. He turned to see Miku dive behind him, slicing through the shockwave and diverting the force. With so many vectors of attack, he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop Mizki's renewed rush of pins and direct the fireworks…
… until just above his head, they detonated without touching him.
Gakupo landed just in front of Kaito, having again taken another full blast of fireworks. Though he was covered with scorch marks, the pain didn't seem to impact him. His intense eyes stared down Mizki, as if daring her to attack again, but now he was in a defensive stance. "You… will not… touch them…" he growled.
At which point Kaito finally became aware of the roar of machinery. He looked behind Mizki as a large yellow machine came barreling out from behind the stage. "Is that… a forklift full of fireworks?" Miku asked.
"Oh my god, I can't reach the brakes!" "Then we'll just bail at the last second!"
"Rin, Len! What are you doing?!" Kaito shouted.
"Kaito-niisan! We're saving you!" she shouted back.
Mizki began to take to the air again, only to be blocked by Gakupo. "Kaito! The generator has got to be in that pile of fireworks!" Luka shouted.
Several of the fireworks rocketed through the air. Kaito aimed several arrows of light at them to detonate them early as Luka created a pink shield to cover the Kagamines from the dust. Meanwhile, Gakupo kept matching Mizki blow for blow, keeping her from reaching the forklift as it shot towards the water.
Before the forklift crashed into the lake, Kaito saw Rin and Len bail out the doors and roll through the grass. As the entire pile of explosives hit the water, he saw something begin to spark and sizzle along with them. Mizki let out a shriek. "Oh my god… they're not even waterproof!?" Miku shouted in exasperation.
Finally, he had his opportunity as Mizki fell. He concentrated deeply – he needed a ballad that could heal both Mizki and Gakupo, and this time stick. He summoned every bit of magic inside of him. 'Please, ancestors, if you can hear me… please lend me your strength…'
He had no idea if the ancestors were listening to his prayers, but as his strong voice filled the air, Mizki was caught in an aura of light. Gakupo collapsed to the ground with her as Kaito tried to keep directing the song in two places at once in spite of the strain he felt in his body as he did so.
As Mizki's wings began to turn white, Gakupo quickly lost his monstrous features as well, becoming a normal Seruva again. Before Mizki vanished, she smiled at Kaito as though a great burden had been lifted from her. "You're the Seal and you're hurting yourself to save us…" she said, "You're so kind… I'll try and save you, okay?"
Finally she vanished in a pillar of light. As she did so, Kaito suddenly felt a wave of nausea shoot through him and collapsed to the ground himself. "Kaito!" Miku cried out, rushing to his side.
"It's… it's okay Miku…" he said, trying to reassure her, "I just… over exerted myself…"
As Gakupo stood up, recognition of Kaito in his blue eyes, he felt glad. Once again, he'd been able to save his dearest friend.
"You guys owe us a HUUUUGE explanation!"
"Yea, when did you guys become superheroes?!"
"And since when can Gakupo fly and stuff?!"
"When did you learn to use a sword, Miku!?"
The Kagamines questions came so fast and furious that Miku found herself struggling to answer them. The group had gathered behind the stage to stay out of sight as the rest of the humans began to recover from Mizki's attack. Miku tried to gesture for them to keep their voices down. "Come on you guys…" Miku said, "We can't tell you all this in public, we have no idea who could hear us..."
She tried to take stock of her teammates. Kaito looked exhausted, but he was in better shape than when he'd collapsed earlier. Luka was just finishing healing Gakupo, who seemed reluctant to talk about what had happened to him at all.
"Look…" Miku said, "I know you guys have a lot of questions, but… can't this wait until later?!"
Len in particular appeared hurt. "Did you guys just not trust us?" he said.
Rin's huge eyes filled with tears. "You guys thought we were too weak and useless, didn't you?"
Miku shook her head quickly. "No! It's nothing like that!" she said, "I… I just…"
She looked to her battered allies that had directly encountered Mizki, then looked to Rin and Len. "…I didn't want you guys getting pulled into all this."
She sighed as she examined the holes in her lovely new yukata. "Ever since I met Kaito, it's been one scrape after another… there's so many evil people here trying to hurt him and everyone in Tsubasa City…"
She bowed her head. "I can't just walk away from all of this… I'm going to help Kaito no matter how hard it gets... but I never wanted my best friends to get hurt or killed trying to follow me."
The twins were silent for a few minutes before Len let out a loud overbearing sigh. "Typical Miku," he said, "Trying to take all the credit and glory."
Rin winked at her. "Or just trying to get out of practice!"
Miku jerked her head up. "H… hey!" she protested.
Len clicked his tongue. "Where would you be if we hadn't dumped all those fireworks into the lake anyway?" he said, shaking his head.
Rin gave a thumbs up. "We're ALL Vocaloids. We stick together, no matter what!"
Miku smiled. She couldn't turn back the clock and keep Rin and Len safe… but now she no longer needed to keep secrets from the people she loved. "Okay you guys…" she said, "You win. We won't keep you out of this anymore."
"All that said…" Luka interjected, "We really don't have time to talk about all of this now. I promise, both of you, we'll tell you everything tomorrow…"
Miku perked up when she saw a familiar face begin to walk back behind the stage. "Hiyama-sempai! You're safe!"
She began to run towards Kiyoteru, who looked rather confused. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" he asked, "There was just a pyrotechnics failure…"
Miku blinked. Did he really have no memory of what had happened to him? Was everyone affected by the fireworks like him? At least she knew they could assume nobody in the crowd had seen them…
Though Kiyoteru was wearing a smile, something about his manner seemed uneasy. Her mind drifted to his despairing ramblings while still under Mizki's trance. She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her friends. Releasing him, she made a grand gesture. "Sempai! These people are my friends… we're all members of Vocaloids!" she said.
"Oh! Miku, you're a performer too?" he said, sounding impressed.
Suddenly his eyes settled on Luka. "Wait… Luka-chan? Is that really you?!"
She put a hand to her cheeks and blushed. "It's been a long time, Teru," she said.
Miku balled her fists up with determination. "Sempai! I wanted you to know that… you totally inspired all of us to go for our dream!" she explained, "Ice Mountain inspired me to never give up on my goal of being a singer! And all of these people came together because of that!"
At those words, Kiyoteru looked a little embarrassed. "I inspired someone?"
He began to laugh. "Well, I never really knew if I'd accomplished anything," he said, "I'm glad someone was able do something important with their lives."
Miku smiled. "See, you don't have to give up on your dreams!"
At that, the older man looked perplexed. "I never gave up on my dream…"
"Huh?" Miku asked, "But you said you were teaching now…"
At that, Kiyoteru looked at Miku with an even prouder smile. "But that is my dream," he explained, "When I spent all that time alone in the institution, I used to think nobody would ever come for me. Until my father adopted me. He's a priest and he taught me the value of what a role model can do for others. Ever since then, I've wanted to become someone children can trust and be inspired to do great things."
"So noble!" Luka said with a laugh, "You haven't changed one bit!"
He looked up to the stage where he'd been giving a concert before the "pyrotechnic incident." "Tonight I decided I wanted to see if my old band mates were willing to try a little experiment," he continued, "I know I'm doing good work as a teacher, but I wanted to see if we could inspire people through song as well."
He looked Miku straight in the eye. "Thanks to you… I know I can."
"Oy! Teru, what are you doing back here!"
A man with short red hair, a black leather jacket and shirt and black pants ran around the stage. "Come on, they're about to get the show going again!"
He laid his eyes on Miku. "Ohhhh… I get it," he chuckled, "Teru, don't scare her boyfriend off again."
Miku turned bright red. Kiyoteru laughed. "Well, I hope you guys will be in the audience," he said.
He waved to Miku, and his entire manner seemed more positive. She felt a surge of happiness – whatever Mizki had tried to do to her hero, she'd managed to undo it. She pumped her fists in triumph. "Yea!"
Luka walked slowly home, Gakupo close by. After how hard the two had fought, they'd had to excuse themselves early from the show to deal with their exhaustion. That and neither one of them really had the mentality to sit and enjoy a show after their experience.
The pair were relatively silent – she suspected he would again clam up after his harrowing experience. She had to admit that she herself had been frightened. None of her priestess training had prepared her for what Gakupo was going through. She'd only heard legends of Seruva swallowed up by Noise, never to return. So far, that hadn't happened to Gakupo, but becoming a mindless monster hardly seemed a better alternative.
So lost in thought was she, she hadn't noticed Gakupo had stopped walking entirely until he called her name. She turned to face him and found him with a serious expression on his face, his eyes lowered. "What is it?" she asked, trying to sound far more peaceful than she felt.
When he raised his eyes to hers, it felt as though he were staring into her soul. "You asked me a question I wasn't able to answer earlier tonight."
His muscles appeared tense, his melody tight. Of course she remembered the question, but she wasn't planning on grilling him about it again…
"…the answer is… yes, I am in love with Kaito."
Her heart pounded weakly, but she tried to stay strong. At least he was being honest. Before she could say another word, he continued. "It never went any further than that. I didn't see the point in confessing my emotions to him when he would never be allowed to return them."
"I don't understand," Luka said, "That kind of relationship is acceptable amongst the Seruva unless our laws have drastically changed since I left…"
Gakupo shook his head. "It wasn't that," he said, "Kaito is the only living Spirit Caller. He has no freedom in the tribe, let alone the freedom to choose a partner that can't help him continue the bloodline."
So it was just as she'd suspected, all along. "I won't take away your chance to be happy, Gakupo," she said.
She began to turn her head so he wouldn't see her lose her composure. Maybe he just needed to confess it to someone else so he had the courage to speak to Kaito on his own…
"Hmph. That wouldn't make me happy at all, actually."
Luka turned to him in surprise. "You're… giving up on him? Why?"
"Because tonight… in the heat of battle… I realized there was one person I wanted to protect even more than Kaito."
Luka thought her heart was about to pound out of her chest.
"When the madness took me… there was only one voice that could reach me. One that I treasure more than any other voice I've heard."
Luka didn't know how to handle Gakupo being so sincere and forthcoming. But he wasn't putting up a front or keeping secrets. He was speaking directly from his heart, an intense melody that threatened to overwhelm everything around him. She needed an answer that matched the power of his feelings.
"Gakupo… you once made me a 'standing offer' to take me flying if I ever wanted to…"
He studied her carefully, raising one of his eye brows in curiosity.
"… I'd like to take you up on it."
Miku leaned against the railing over the lake, eagerly awaiting the burst of fireworks in the sky. Kaito was standing by her side. "I know this isn't going to be nearly as impressive after you almost got killed by fireworks," Miku said, "But… when you actually see them for real... they're something to behold."
She looked up to the blue-haired man, who wore a serious expression on his face. She hoped that didn't mean he was still thinking of what they'd just gone through…
"So many people are being hurt…" he said sadly, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do to help them."
He looked at his hands. "I've failed to save Gakupo twice now… I still don't know if it worked… and I don't even know what I'm doing to the Heralds…"
'This has got to go…' Miku thought to herself.
She leaned over to him. "But think of all the people we helped tonight…" she said, "We even saved Hiyama-sempai before he got sucked into the Noise!"
Kaito nodded his head slowly. "I feel terrible having dragged you into all this…" he apologized.
Miku again shook her head. "It's fine… I mean, I don't like being in danger, but… the Heralds would have attacked places like this whether I met you or not…"
She tried to give him a reassuring smile. "At least when I'm with you, I feel safe."
Suddenly Miku felt flushed. 'That was a LOT more than I meant to say!'
Kaito looked a little more relaxed and returned his eyes to the sky. "So do you feel better after saving your sempai?"
"Heck yea!" Miku said, getting excited, "I mean… for once I wasn't useless! I mean, I wasn't nearly as cool as you and Gakupo and Luka but… I was able to help you guys out! I felt like I was finally able to protect people!"
"You really do obsess over that, don't you?" Kaito said.
Miku nodded her head. "I don't like knowing that the people I love are in pain," she explained.
"When you first found me, you wanted to protect me because you thought I was the boy that saved you," Kaito continued, "So… why now?"
Miku rocked on her heels. She had a suspicion she knew the real reason why but… she wasn't sure she was ready to say that reason yet. Not until she had a better read on Kaito. "Because… you're an important person to me now…"
'I… I think I said too much again…'
Before Kaito could respond, a whistling noise filled the air. Kaito jumped – a reasonable reaction given what happened to him the last time he'd heard those sounds. But as the sky exploded in brilliant lights and shapes, his concern was replaced with pure joy. Miku watched the recognition spread across his face, his growing smile, his sparkling eyes… Kaito never had a muted reaction to anything.
"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"
Miku snuck a little closer to him, trying to feed off of his energy. "All of this… it isn't ruining things for you? At all?"
Kaito sounded concerned, though he hadn't taken his eyes off the fireworks. "Well… I've been thinking about what Hiyama-sempai said," Miku said, "He really has two dreams he's trying to make work. It's like how all of us Vocaloids have a 'reason' to be a Vocaloid along with trying to make it as a Vocaloid."
She nodded her head with confidence. "I'm… I'm going to help you, fight these Heralds, save everyone, no matter how long it takes! AND I'm going to be a Vocaloid! I'll just bust my butt!"
Kaito smiled, finally looking at Miku again. His eyes felt so warm. "Miku… you're the strongest person I've ever met…"
Their conversation dropped out as they both took in the show. Miku's heart pounded in her chest, a strange mixture of fear and joy. She tried to push the fears away and just live in the moment.
"You didn't tell Miku ANYTHING!?"
Rin stared at her brother in shock. Len put a hand to his head. "Look, things got a little distracting what with the crazy woman trying to kill us or steal our souls or whatever…"
Yet again, Len chickened out. "And after that awesome setup I gave you…" Rin said, shaking her fist.
The boy leaned against the tree trunk he was sitting against. "I'll get to it… eventually…" he said, though Rin could some doubt in his voice.
Of course neither twin was blind – they'd both seen Miku and Kaito sneak off together after the concert ended. Clearly, even if they weren't dating, they were a lot closer than they were willing to admit. Rin found herself torn – she wanted her dear Kaito-niisan to be happy, of course. But she also wanted her brother to be happy too. Len was always there for her when she needed him, and she knew how hard he'd fallen for Miku.
'And it would be the best romance too…' Rin thought, 'Two childhood friends, on the cusp of adulthood, confessing their love!'
"How are you holding up anyway?" Len asked.
Rin was broken from her romantic thoughts. "I'm doing fine…" she said, "I mean, that was kinda scary but… it was also kinda cool too…"
She laughed. "It's not like I ever thought I'd get to drive a forklift, let alone push it into the lake to save a concert full of people!"
She cradled her goldfish in its bag, which had managed to survive the encounter. "Don't worry Len… everything's going to be fine! I know it!"
She smiled at the fish. "Right, Oliver?!"
"We've got the data you wanted, Oliver."
The dim lights of the computer monitor illuminated the face of a small boy with blonde hair and a white cap. Bandages ran across his face, covering his left eye entirely. Though he appeared no older than 12, the manner in which he carried himself betrayed his true age. "I don't see why you wanted us to stand back though, Ollie… we could have easily captured that one."
Big Al and Sweet Ann approached and set a small SD card on Oliver's desk. He grabbed the card, but didn't look up from his work. "Because they were there."
"Oh right! Those people we don't touch!" Sweet Ann said, as if she'd momentarily forgotten.
Oliver slipped the card into his laptop and began to pull up a video file. "I still can't believe the higher ups wanted that generator in a public venue like that…" he muttered, "I know they want data on large groups of people… but an attack on a festival?"
He watched the footage of the Herald fighting a man with blue hair, another man with wings, a pigtailed girl, and a woman with pink gair. The blue-haired man he already suspected the identity of and seeing him wielding magic only confirmed it. He'd run extensive background checks on the girl years ago, but hadn't considered Hatsune Miku more than just a normal person until now. Megurine Luka? She had raised a few red flags given her lack of vital records predating her arrival at an institution in Nagoya, but she'd clearly kept a low profile as this was the first recorded incident he had of her being anything but human.
As for the obvious Seruva… the fact they knew so little about him raised more than a few red flags, especially when he changed forms. As far as Oliver knew, Seruva couldn't wield power like that… even Seruva bombarded for days with Dark Notes in testing never changed like he did…
"So, are we going to be in the briefing with them this time?" Big Al asked, "You know, when I think about it, I've never even seen their faces!"
"It's like they don't even have faces at all!" Sweet Ann laughed.
He watched the footage of the Kagamines driving a forklift and sighed. "No… it's better that I handle this. I'm… better at presenting data."
Finally, Oliver turned his gaze to his subordinates. "You two should get checked out by medical," he said, his expression softening, "They've been running you ragged. Ann, you're standing uneven again, I think your legs are out of alignment."
"Oh, little Ollie, always thinking of even the basest tools," Sweet Ann said with an eerie giggle.
Upon the duo's departure, Oliver's softer expression faded. He loaded a movie editor and began to systematically cut all footage depicting the Kagamines. "I know you two are going to get involved…" he whispered, "I can't protect you forever."
He sighed as he looked at their excited faces on the forklift. Living lives of such relative ease, believing they were just two normal children. "…but your brother will protect you as long as he can."
The observation deck at the Kotori Broadcast Tower had been closed for hours. But tonight… two people had no need for an elevator to reach the top.
As Gakupo alighted on the steel deck, Luka clutched tightly to his body, he released her with some reluctance. She stumbled for a moment, making a motion over her face. As she turned to his direction again… he saw the remnants of tears.
"Was it too much?" he asked, wondering if he'd unintentionally made her feel worse.
Luka wiped her face and inhaled quickly. "No… it was… wonderful… just… shocking. I never thought I could… again…"
As the sky bloomed with light and sound, she strolled to the railing and leaned upon it in silence. Her "date" followed her, embracing her gently from behind. She leaned into his arms, transfixed by the light show. "Sky flowers…" she breathed, her melody a delicate waltz of contentment.
Such a serious moment surely required some comment… but Gakupo found himself struck silent. He'd never faced so much difficulty speaking to another person as he had when he confessed to Luka, especially after what had happened. But now she was in his arms and at peace. He simply wished to see the fireworks as she did – filled with color and wonder.
Two broken souls, united by their common failure to protect one person and the scars they bore as a consequence.
"When are you going back?" she whispered, a few quivering notes betraying her fear.
"Why do you all keep assuming I'm going to leave?" Gakupo replied.
"Because you still have the means to."
She had no idea how little that meant. But in this moment, he refused to explain the truth to her. She had already accepted a man that could turn into a monster on her. He was not interested in pressing her tolerances further. "I don't have the will to."
Not a lie, but not the full truth either.
"There is something far more precious on this Earth than in the islands."
He took a chance and pulled Luka's face close to his. As they shared a deep, passionate kiss, he sensed the same desperate fears in her heart. She'd been cast down to Earth as "scrap." He'd lost his soul. Each clung to the other wishing never to be abandoned.
As the air crackled with the sparkling array of blossoming fireworks, Gakupo wished for only one thing. That these broken souls would never be torn asunder.
A/N:
Annnnnnd GakuLuka is first past the finishing line! Well, I'm sure nothing bad will happen to them from here on out. I'm sure that ominous character introduction will NEVER amount to anything.
Yes. I did it. I'd been trying to come up with some way for the twins to escalate their character arc in this fight despite being completely untrained and getting rid of the fireworks was obvious. Now, of course a road roller wouldn't get rid of fireworks, so I had to change up the equipment, but I did have that meme in mind when I put them in the seat of construction vehicles.
Mizki was an interesting opponent to put together. In addition to the explosives, her attacking with a rainbow colored fan and sharp hairpins are references to her V4 and V3 software packages, respectively, which depict a fan and a hairpin respectively instead of a character avatar.
I didn't just randomly shove Luka and Kiyoteru into an institution together. Kiyoteru's Ice Mountain novel mentions that he IS an orphan who was adopted by a priest, and apparently the reason he's broke all the time is because he gives all the money to the church he grew up in. I ended up just running with it since it seemed like a nice intersection with the backstories I gave to other characters.
"Kotori Broadcast Tower" is yet another bird name (crazy theme name city!) Kotori is a generic, cute term for a songbird.