Slice of Life
Chapter 4 – Matryoshka
Hello, hello! Thank you for taking the time to look at my story. I'm very grateful for your support and for all of the reviews!
Last chapter primarily focused on Lily and Luka's relationship with one another, so I figured I would reveal more of Gumi and Miku's personalities.
And here we go. Chapter four!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the vocaloids. Just the story. Really.
The following day had a surprisingly quiet start. Or maybe it was just because Gumi had woken up earlier than usual. A quick glance at the digital clock told her it was 7:15 AM. She was lying in bed, awake, at 7:15 AM. The longer her green eyes focused on those bright red numbers, the more frustrated she became. It took all of the energy that she had, which was close to none at this point, to look away from the cursed clock. Her green eyes focused on the deep green curtains that were drawn closed in front of her windows. "At least I don't have to see that stupid sun yet," She thought sourly. "And why the hell am I even up now?" It would be a different story if she had to go to the studio to record a new song. For recording days, she would wake up at 7 in order to make it to the studio by 9.
But she didn't need to go to the studio today. At least, she didn't think she had to be there.
So she should be asleep.
Gumi let out a frustrated sigh, and hastily snatched an object off from one of her pillows. Eyes filled with malice, she glared at the cell phone in her hand. This was the accursed item responsible for waking her from her dreams.
Okay, she knew it wasn't the phone's fault. Not entirely, anyway. The one at fault was the person who had sent her a text message at 4 AM.
"I just woke up from a dream I had! And it was great... Now I know every step to take to win her over. (^o^) -Miku"
It was a simple enough text. Most people would dismiss it with a passive text. But Gumi was not like most people. She tended to be manipulative when she wanted something done; a master of silky words and a quick thinker. She was a strategist, a mastermind, or even a manipulative bitch when the time called for it. Yet this text had kept her brain running from the moment she had finished reading it. The message had cleared the fog of drowsiness from Gumi's mind, and instantly made her alert. Even at 4 AM, she was able to collect her thoughts and think the past few days over. And after thinking for a good five minutes, she came to a conclusion.
How in the world could Hatsune Miku formulate a plan to win over Luka-nee without Gumi's help?
This single thought only provoked the green haired girl into staying awake as she struggled to reach a plausible answer. For hours, she had tossed and turned under her covers as her brain spat out random reasons for Miku's text.
"Maybe Miku-chan wasn't as dumb as she sometimes acted." Instantly dismissed. Gumi knew first hand just how intelligent Miku could be if she applied herself.
"Maybe Miku-chan had no idea what she was thinking, since she had sent the text so damn early in the morning." Possible. But Gumi didn't know why Miku would decide to send a text about Luka randomly. Based on past experiences, Miku's texts about Luka were either slightly perverse or begged the green haired girl to use her older cousin, Gakupo, to gather some info on the pinkette.
"Maybe Miku-chan had gone out drinking with Meiko-nee and Haku-nee. Therefore, she would have a ridiculous confidence booster and could temporarily believe that she could win Luka-nee over—…" No, that didn't seem possible. The text message was spelled out perfectly.
Reason after reason was quickly dismissed by Gumi's too logical brain… And had, unfortunately, kept her awake until now. Yet, she couldn't stop thinking about Miku's message. She supposed it was because Miku had coaxed her into promising to hooking up the tealette and the pinkette. And how could Gumi possibly fulfill that promise if the tealette was perfectly fine on her own? Just the thought of not knowing how Miku could succeed without her was driving her insane. Miku had always needed Gumi to at least give her a tip or two for classes when they had met in high school. And even when they had both become residents of the Vocaloid household, Miku still would ask Gumi for advice on what to wear for her music videos. So there was no way that Miku could figure things out by herself.
The green haired girl's train of thought came to a halt. Did she really think so lowly of her best friend?
"No," Gumi reasoned with herself, her brows creasing together. "I don't think she's helpless. I just want to make sure things go smoothly. Miku-chan won't think about what could happen to her… She's too focused on Luka-nee to notice that she could get hurt."
Yes, that was it. She didn't want to see her best friend get hurt. And maybe not knowing about Miku's plan bothered her a little bit. Just a little.
A reluctant glance at the clock told the troubled girl that it was now 7:30. "Maybe I should get out of bed and make breakfast for everyone," she mumbled to herself. There was a short pause before she snorted. Her? Make breakfast? Never.
Gumi shut her eyes and buried her face into a pillow. She needed sleep, and now seemed like a good a time as any to get back the sleep that she had lost from thinking.
Downstairs, the resident tealette stood in front of the smooth surfaced, stainless steel range. She sneezed, and rubbed her nose.
"Someone must be thinking poorly about you," mused a blue haired man.
"Ne, ne, Nii-san! I'm sure it's nothing major," the tealette replied, as she tied an apron on. On the countertop beside the range was an assortment of ingredients. Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, a few eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and an assortment of fruits.
Forget Taco Tuesday. Pancake Tuesday reigned supreme in this household.
Kaito smiled at his younger cousin. One arm was propped onto the dark gray granite countertop of the kitchen's island bar, and his slender face was cupped in his open palm. "You never know," he teased. "Luka-chan might be thinking about what an awful kid you are."
Laughing, Miku began to make the pancake batter. She was careful to make extra batter to set aside for when Meiko decided to wake up. "Nii-san, don't say that. If she thinks anyone is awful, it has to be you."
"Eh? Me?" Kaito asked, somewhat bewildered.
"Hai, you," Miku nodded, as she took out the pans and set them on the range. "Because you let Meiko-nee go crazy with alcohol."
Kaito chuckled, and shook his head.
"And because you and Meiko-nee aren't quiet."
The soft laughter stopped as Kaito's blue eyes went wide. "Wh-wha-?"
The tealette merrily scooped some of the batter onto a pan, an innocent smile painted on her face. "Luka-senpai and Lily-nee were talking about it the other day," she sang. "They were telling Gakupo-nii to tell you to try and keep it down at night so they could sleep. I think Lily-nee said that Meiko-nee was screaming at one point." She shrugged as she watched the pancake cook. "And I'm pretty sure that both nee-sans said they hoped you used a condom—"
SLAM.
Kaito had slammed his fist down on the granite countertop. He was leaning out of his seat, towards Miku, with an expression of mortification, embarrassment, and disbelief on his face. "Little girls shouldn't eavesdrop on her senpai's conversations!" He reprimanded her. "Especially when it comes to things like that!"
"Things like what, Nii-san?" The girl asked, continuing on with her innocent façade.
"Like sex—Er, no, bad things. Things that you shouldn't know about until after you're married," Kaito said, as sternly as he could. When he noticed just how wide his cousin's smile was, his expression faltered. It was hard enough for him to be serious with the younger Vocaloids. What Kaito even weaker was that angelic like smile of Miku's. And the tealette knew Kaito would let her get away with murder if she simply flashed him a smile. "Just…. Don't listen to what your senpais say when it comes to my relationship with Meiko-chan, okay?"
This earned a giggle from the tealette. "Oh, don't worry, Nii-san. I completely understand," she replied, as she continued to fill the kitchen with the aroma of fresh pancakes.
"Huh?"
"Meiko-nee is pretty! And she's really curvy, too," Miku continued. "I wonder if she's so great in bed that she makes you scream—"
"HOLD IT! STOP! TOMARE! NO! BAD!" Kaito shouted, arms flailing. He stretched across the counter, and gripped Miku by the shoulders. "No! Little girls should not—"
"I bet you buy her lingerie."
"I do, actually. White and red are my favorites on her—Wait!" The blue haired man covered his face with one hand and shook his head. "Why am I even telling you this?"
Another round of giggles was brought about from the tealette. "It's okay, Nii-san! I think red would be good for Meiko-nee. And for Luka-senpai, black would obviously be best."
Kaito, to his extreme horror, found himself imagining Luka in black lingerie. The more he thought, the more he became aware of a pulsing from his nose. "You're right— Wait, what did you just say?" He felt the tealette squirm away from his grip as she turned away from him.
Miku balanced two plates of pancakes in her hands and danced towards the dining room table. She set them down, and went back into the kitchen. Playfully, she stuck her tongue out at her dumbstruck older cousin. "Luka-senpai. In black. Lace. Lingerie," She enunciated slowly, making sure her point had gotten across. A satisfied smile appeared on her face when Kaito's cheeks flushed. She held out a paper towel to him. "Your nose is bleeding."
"Wha—OH SHIT!" He snatched the paper towel from the tealette's slender fingers, covered his nose, and nearly sprinted out of the kitchen in embarrassment.
Now alone, the tealette sat in the empty dining room by herself. She had finished cleaning the dishes and the kitchen, and naturally the next thing to do was to reward herself with a pancake or two. After all, she had just made breakfast for her house mates.
Her feet swung beneath her as she put a forkful of a fluffy pancake in her mouth. The fork remained in her mouth as she closed her hands and cupped her head in her hands. Those brilliant teal eyes closed as she lost herself in her thoughts. In retrospect, she shouldn't have sent that text message to Gumi. The tealette knew that a message like that would either be dismissed, or bother Gumi to the extreme. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile at the thought of Gumi restlessly spending the night trying to figure out what her text could mean, and why she had been left out of the plan.
Miku's thoughts shifted from Gumi being irritated to a day they had spent in the recording studio together. A day very dear to Miku..
It was about a year ago when the two stood in the recording booth. For the past few days, the duo had practiced in the studio for their new song, a duet. The tealette wasn't quiet keen on singing the duet with Gumi. Oh no, she had nothing against her friend. It was just that the song wasn't very… Her. The teal idol was known for pop songs such as "World is Mine" and "Melt." How could she be expected to please her fans with a song that sounded like the composer was tripping on acid when he wrote it? "Matryoshka"? What kind of insane title was that, anyway? A sidelong glance at her green haired friend told her that Gumi was quiet excited about the song.
"How can Gumi-chan be excited when just sings harmony for most of the song? She only has a few solo lines," Miku thought, a little exasperated with her friend. The green haired girl was listening to the music for the song, eyes shut tight, as she hummed her part. "I don't get it. I know if it were me, I'd hate to be stuck with the harmony part. At least when I sang duets with the others, we traded on and off for the lead part. But Gumi-chan…" A pause as she continued to study her friend. "She's basically my back-up. So why isn't she upset?"
As if she were blessed with the power of mind-reading, Gumi spoke up. "I'm just happy that we have a song together," she said, as she removed the giant studio headphones from her head. The headphones now rested against her neck as she turned her head to look at the now flabbergasted tealette. "We don't really get the chance to sing together. And even if I have to sing harmony for this song, I don't really give a shit."
Miku's brows rose, and she was clearly surprised by her friend's words. Gumi gave the tealette a grin, and nudged her in the side. "What? Shocked that I knew you were thinking about me or something?" she asked, as she stripped her head of her favorite orange goggles.
The tealette numbly nodded her head.
"The face you were making said it all, baka. I know you can be an open book sometimes, but geez. At least try and act like everything's cool." Gumi paused and raised her free hand up to Miku's face. She curled her middle finger in, and flicked the confused girl in the forehead.
An involuntary yelp escaped the tealette as she stepped back, her fingers gently rubbing the assaulted area.
Gumi's grin vanished and was replaced by an uncharacteristically serious expression. "Don't go around pitying me over something as stupid as who sings most of the song," she said, her tone voice of any sort of amusement. "I don't care who sings what. As a friend, I'll back you up, whether it's in a song or out in the real world. And I expect you, as my lieutenant, to do the same for me." The green haired girl closed the distance between her and Miku by taking a mere step forward.
Subconsciously, Miku leaned her upper half away, wanting to avoid another flick to the head.
At this, Gumi snorted. "Hold still, lietutenant," she ordered.
Miku obliged, and held still. She was told to stay still, but that didn't mean she couldn't close her eyes as she braced herself for another minute blow.
Instead, weight could be felt on top of her head. The tealette hesitated, and opened one eye, trying to catch a glimpse at what could have caused her head to feel heavier. Imagine her surprise when she saw that Gumi was up on the tips of her toes, adjusting the orange pair of goggles.
The very same pair of goggles that were normally on Gumi's head.
They were now on top of her head.
"There. Now you look like a real lieutenant," Gumi mused, as she stood flat on her feet. Arms folded across her chest, her deep green eyes looked Miku over. She nodded in approval.
Gingerly, Miku touched the goggles on her head, and gave her friend a confused look. "What…?" She could have sworn she saw faint pink dance upon Gumi's cheeks, something that she had never seen before.
Gumi quickly turned her head away from Miku, opting to stare at the wall of the recording booth. "They're my goggles, okay?" she snapped back, her voice lacking a little of its normal sarcastic drawl. "I figured… You know… It'd just make you realize that I'm cool with singing back-up. Plus, I wanted to see if you'd actually be able to pull off the goggle look…"
It was Miku's turn to look amused. "Ne, Gumi-chaaaan!" she sang, as she embraced the short haired girl in a hug. "I didn't know you could be so sweet!" Giggling, she rubbed her head against the other girls head.
In an instant, Gumi's face exploded into a deep crimson. "Wha—Get off!—S-shut up! I just wanted that stupid look to get of your face!" she protested, as she tried to push Miku off of her. "I wasn't trying to make you smile—I SAID GET OFF! YOU INSUBORDINATE IDIOT!"
The lieutenant clung to her captain, giggling at how embarrassed said captain was.
From the control booth, the producers looked at one another. They smiled, and shook their heads. Only Miku would be able to fluster the normally sarcastic Gumi.
Thump.
Teal eyes shot open as the tranquil silence of the dining room was shattered by the offending thump. They quickly scanned the room and halted once they found the source of the noise. Directly across from her was a head with a bed-ridden green mop of hair was pressed against the wooden table. "Eh? Gumi-chan? Why are you up so early?"
There was a stretch of silence as Miku waited for an answer.
"Gumi-chan?"
"A message I've thought too much about," Gumi sang softly, her head still on the table. Lyrics to a song. But that line just happened o be the perfect answer to the tealette's question.
Miku blinked, and smiled a little bit. "Oh, that's the song from that day…" she thought to herself.
"Maybe it'll reach somebody, who can say?" Miku sang back, unaware that Gumi had answered her question.
"Certainly, I've always been this way." Gumi sat up, and focused her green eyes on the teal ones on the other side of the table.
"A patched up, crazy matryoshka," the tealette continued to sing, happy that Gumi was singing the melody with her rather than harmony. She shut her eyes, the background music for the song playing through her mind. "A package sung by a headache…"
"Time may pass, but the hands are at 4," Gumi sang back, as she rose to her feet. The corners of her mouth were turned down, and one of her eyes twitched.
"Don't tell anyone; the world will turn upside down-!" Miku's beautiful melody was cut off by a pancake that had been thrown at her face.
Gumi glared at her. "Stupid! You woke me up at 4 AM! OVER A TEXT MESSAGE! NORMAL PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING AT 4 IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING!" She inhaled sharply, and sat back down in her seat, arms folded across her chest. "But thanks for breakfast."
The pancake fell off of Miku's face and onto her lap. Her teal eyes looked at the pancake, then at her best friend, then back at the pancake. A small smile was on her face, and it took all of her willpower to suppress a giggle.
They certainly were a pair of patched up, crazy matryoshkas.
Note: The end of chapter 4! I hope you managed to make it to the end of it without losing too many brain cells. :P
I decided that Kaito and Miku would be cousins, and Gumi and Gakupo would be cousins. Just because I can do that as an author.
And if you haven't heard "Matryoshka", I highly recommend it. It's definitely one of my favorite Vocaloid duets, if not my favorite. The way Miku and Gumi's voice blend together in this song is absolutely fantastic, in my opinion.
To the reviewers:
Lovecakes98: Actually, Toeto-Luka was somewhat the inspiration for Luka's personality for this fanfiction. At least, the extremely shy part of Luka. xD I love Katy Perry. o She's a great artist. But yes! I had to use the song with Lily. It only made sense. :P And yes, strawberry, because I was eating strawberry pocky when I wrote that part of the story.
Justa person: I'm glad you love how I portrayed the characters, ma'am, hehe. :P Miku's plan will slowly be revealed, all in due time.
Thyrokio: Luka, a pink kitty? The image is too moe for my brain to comprehend! (By the way, I love your icon. Yui = win)
PaperCutVictim: (^o^)b Glad I could make you laugh! I figured that someone had to get obscenely angry in this chapter, and Meiko just seemed like the right Vocaloid. Thanks!
Ocean Prince: Aaawww! I'm glad I could brighten your day up. I hope you're feeling better today! (:
Jak656: Luka? Like the kiss? Don't even mention that to Lily, or it'd bring about a whole new round of merciless teasing! Thank you for your support!
LukaFan: Thank you, thank you! Toeto Luka was my source of inspiration for creating Luka's incredibly shy and reserved side of her personality. (^o^) But I agree. Miku needs to learn how to share.
Meislovely: Arigatou gozaimasu! I'm glad that the two of you found this fanfic to be amusing. (^^)b
IdrewAcow: Don't worry, the dye will fade out of her hair… eventually. _ Eventually…
Major Mike Powell III: xD Why do I always smile at your reviews? Oh, because they're so funny! But thank you for your support!
: Ah! Pinoy ka? :D That's awesome. Hahaha. But thank you for the compliments.. They're making me blush! I'm happy to hear that you like my writing style. Thank you so much!
Namegoeshere: hahahaha! That would have been an interesting review to read, though! Thank you for your support. :D
And in conclusion… I'd really like to say "Thank you" once more. I know I've probably said it at least a hundred times by now, but I really mean it! I wasn't expecting to receive such nice reviews from everyone. It really made my week, knowing that my mindless writings have made some of you smile, or even laugh.
I'll be back soon with a new chapter. Until then, take care!