[CHAT SCENE] Operation: Closure for R&L ? ゚ルマ - Kaito POV

Operation: Closure for R&L ? ゚ルマ

Kaito: Guys, I have news!

Luka Megurine
What?

Gakupo Kamui
oh oh is this about the three ladies voting?

Kaito: Yes! They've spoken

Kaito: All of them said No to informing Rin beforehand on the plan

Miku Hatsune
FUCK YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS

[longest_yeah_boi_ ]

LUKA AND I ARE GENIUSES

Kaito: Come on I also voted too :/

Miku Hatsune
KAITO IS A GENIUS (for once)

Luka Megurine
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Gakupo Kamui
she did not just gag him ? ゚リᆳ?

Oliver Cody
LMAO

Kaito: Come on you are all so mean smh

Kaito: This is why we can't have nice things here

Len Kagamine

poor Kai

Kaito: LEN YOU NEED TO PROTECT MY HONOUR HERE THEY'RE KILLING IT

Len Kagamine
look mate, I can't really do anything when there's nothing to protect in the first place :(

Luka Megurine
ENDED HIM

[wendy_williams_passing_ ]

Miku Hatsune
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Luka Megurine
pls idk if it was Kai or me who was ended with how much I'm dying from that rn

Gakupo Kamui
it was the best decision to add Len here ? ゚リツ

i wish rin could see this!

Miku Hatsune
someone pls archive this chat

Oliver Cody
I'm on it
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[CHAT SCENE] Rin (sender) and Miku (receiver)

Rin Shimoda

Miku: Pst psst Riiiiinnnnyyyy

Miku: Do you wanna rehearse your song tomorrow?

Rin: It's our song Miks! You wrote half of it

Miku: not rlly, i was on melody and some of the lyrics. you did most of the lyrics and the instruments

Miku: chefs kiss on that too!

Rin: You praise me too much lol

Rin: But yes ofc we can do that! I mean, we will do it. It's the first thing we do according to the roster. You do realise we're scheduled for it tomorrow?

Miku: oh right oops lol must have forgot

Miku: thanks rinny bunny! ? ゚メロ
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Even if exams were finally finished and there was no more requirement for attendance, the twelfth grade students of CFH still rocked up on campus.

To the frustration of others, they were still required to wear their school uniforms, with the reason 'they were still in campus grounds'.

It was also confirmed there would be no rehearsals for graduation. The student council, together with representatives of parents and carers, voted for a dinner celebration instead.

Kaito and Rin rejoiced as they escaped another torturous rehearsal period.

But everyone needed to participate in this year's annual school festival. The CFH school festival was a celebration of the school's extensive history and legacy showcased by its students.

Cohorts in the high school department organised booths of various themes and purposes. From innovative food booths to entertaining leisure booths for both visitors of the local school community.

Their participation and work were part of their school assessments on certain classes, so every student must contribute for the sake of passing.

As final exams were conducted earlier than the festival, the senior students were usually exempted from the academic pressure of the event.

Though it was tradition that the oldest cohort organised the logistics and operations of the whole event, as they 'needed to set an example' to the following groups after them.

And there was a lot of work to do for the one day big-scale event.

The school administration played the bigger role as financiers more than organisers. This technically made the annual festival a product of the student body instead.

Previous senior cohorts did various things in different years. This time, Miku's cohort decided to hold a concert organised and performed by the local music talent available to them.

Besides performing songs or dance choreographies, others were part of the stage management behind the scenes. The rest were managers or consultants of the booths set up by the younger cohorts.

For those who were able to do shifts in between the three areas, they were encouraged to do so. It was for the benefit of each student able to receive a rest break and experience the whole festival.

A comprehensive roster was created for each student in their two week preparation week from today. This system continued into a new and official roster for the day of the festival itself.

And so Miku, Gakupo, Luka, Kaito, Oliver, and Rin had shifts in all three areas.

Currently, Oliver and Luka began the cooperation between their cohort and the booths of the younger cohorts for the first half of the day.

Gakupo and Kaito were part of the stage crew, their focus for today's rehearsals. It was that reason that they joined Rin, Miku, and the rotational band inside the music room for them to practise their one performance.

The people entered the music room and set base for the first half of the day.

The drum set was assembled together with the guitars, the speakers, and the sound system to be used in front of the stage.

While everyone else did their business, Kaito, Gakupo, and Miku went to each other's company.

"Test, test. One, two. One, two. Hello, hello. Good morning everyone!" One of the leading hands of the stage crew, Ars, activated the microphone and greeted everyone in the room with a formal, monotone voice.

The people returned him with their own greetings.

"Our shift here will begin in ten minutes. Please get in touch with anyone who hasn't come here yet to inform them, and prepare to be in your stations. We will do a single run of the song thirty minutes after we test out the equipment. Feel free to ask for help or any questions anytime throughout our shift. Thank you!"

Some of the stage crew helped out carry the equipment that consisted of the monitor mixer, equaliser, portable amplifiers, and other parts of the stage monitor system that could be utilised for the initial rehearsal.

Other stage crew, like Gakupo and Kaito, stayed back and helped the performers set up the microphones, speakers, and their own instruments.

"Have you guys seen Rin?" Gakupo asked while he helped Miku set up the bass guitar lent from the music room they would use for the event.

"She mentioned she's on her way twenty minutes ago in her last message." Miku casually answered and plugged the amplifier once Gakupo finished with the bass.

"Twenty minutes is too long for Rin. She might end up being late for this. Ars isn't really a cool dude when you don't follow the schedule." Kaito was worried as he set up Rin's microphone. She and Miku were both the main vocals.

"She could be almost here. If she were late, she would have mentioned it already. Right?" Gakupo tried to assure the two.

It was odd for Rin to be late. She was the punctual one out of their group besides Oliver.

A few seconds later, the door opened not by one of the stage crew but one of the performers.

Rin approached what she assumed to be the area for the performers as evident with the drum set, the extra guitar and the bass already set up together.

She had her usual get-up with the school uniform—no sight of the blazer and only in her white long-sleeve shirt tucked in the black plaid pattern skirt. She had knee length black socks to match the skirt and the enclosed, black, leather shoes.

Her right hand was inside her skirt pocket as Rin walked. In her left hand was a large transparent plastic cup of cold matcha Frappuccino that she drank with a straw and held from the lid.

The most interesting detail was the large case behind her back supported by a strap on her shoulder.

The silhouette was obvious enough for everyone to realise—

"You have your own electric guitar!?" Miku shockingly asked.

"... Yeah? I do." Rin replied, surprised by Miku's reaction. Had she forgotten to mention her main instrument was the electric? She was pretty sure she said it before.

"I didn't write the notes for this song with magic. I actually had to play it to know what I'm adding." She chuckled.

"Wow! You own your own electric guitar!" Miku was amazed, excited to see the guitar itself inside that bag.

Kaito smiled to Rin as he stood beside Gakupo. "Welcome back."

"... Sorry? But I've never left?" Rin was confused.

"Not you, to Black Star." Kaito regarded his friend. His head made a gesture to refer to the guitar on Rin's back.

"They've never seen the light of the day for all I could remember. I'm quite impressed with what you did today."

At that comment, Rin puffed her lips and rolled her eyes.

"You make me sound cruel. I've been using it since we were writing the song. And even earlier than that, I've been doing short sessions with it." She took a sip from her cup.

Miku knew Kaito meant something when he said that. She ought to dig into it later.

Rin asked Miku to hold her cup for her as she unstrapped the bag from her shoulder and set up the guitar.

She first brought out her own stand and unzipped the bag. Carefully she unleashed her mustard electric guitar with a black accent and a wood brown neck.

In record speed, the guitarist brought out wires and plugged into the amplifier. A few more set up of more machines took merely seconds.

And with a quick stramming, the instrument played for everyone to hear.

When she finished, Rin asked for her cup of matcha frappuccino again and sipped on it, now with the guitar strapped on her.

"Rin, you can't bring food and drinks here in the music room." Ars approached their group and had a deadpan expression on his face, unimpressed with his classmate.

"Sorry, Ars. I didn't realise. I'll finish this right now." Rin raised her cup to him with an apologetic smile.

"Just remember it next time. Also, we need your help with the DJ's job. We were told there was a part of your song that had to adjust the pitches on your mic." Ars informed the four of them since they were already near Rin.

"Sure, sure. Let me put down my guitar first." Rin took the last sip of her drink and asked Miku to hold it for her once again.

She quickly unstrapped her guitar and carefully placed it on the designated stand.

Rin grabbed the empty cup from Miku and followed Ars to the other side of the music room.

Dex, who would play the drums for this specific performance, began his warm up.

Another one of their classmates, Cul, began her own warm-up on the guitar to back-up Miku and Rin.

Miku gushed over her friend's guitar. She finally saw Rin's own guitar for the first time since they met last year!

Yet why did she not bring it earlier? And as far as Miku remembered every visit to Rin's house with Luka, there was no guitar in her bedroom.

Was it newly purchased? Yet the instrument had small details of wear and tear. A few faint scratches and small rough patches on some edges.

It was obviously well-taken care of and frequently used.

Miku sat with her feet on the floor, palms rested on her knees as she observed the body of the instrument.

There was a sticker on the bottom of the back. It seemed to be a logo where two textured capital B's were interlocked on top of a circle with words within the border.

Miku squinted her eyes to read the text, to no success. But it was her luck that she saw clear, capitalised, bold text that was slantly placed below the logo.

"Black Star and Blue Moon …" Miku read slowly. "Hey Kai, do you know what this means?"

Kaito stood a few metres behind Miku. He knew this question from her was to come soon.

He quickly double checked his surroundings—looked sideways within their area.

Rin was still on the other side of the room, preoccupied with Ars and the rest of his teammates at the stage crew busy at work.

"It was part of her 'rockstar alias' way back. It was her and Len's thing because they were both into rock music until they broke up."

At the mention of a certain Len Kagamine, Miku had that look of interest—with a figurative twinkle in her eyes, and turned her head to Kaito above her.

"You're telling me Rin doesn't like rock music anymore because Len broke up with her!?"

"No!" Kaito chuckled. "I meant with their Black Star and Blue Moon thing. Rin was Black Star, Len was Blue Moon."

"So they dropped that Blue Moon and Black Star thing when they broke up?"

"Yup."

"They were a different kind of extra to be thinking of a rock star alias."

"Says you, Ms Diva."

Miku could not think of a better response for that.

"Rin said she originally focused on the piano and drums. It was Len who encouraged her to focus on the electric. They often played together since they met, and it got more frequent when they dated. It got to a point everyone at our old school automatically associated the electric with her."

"I'm starting to be annoyed with Len here. How is he that talented and to know too much shit!? Does that man not know how to do anything!?" Miku sarcastically added.

"He doesn't know how to play the flute."

"Oh oh oh," Miku cackled menacingly. "Now that makes me feel better since I can blow on the flute properly."

Kaito stirred them back to the topic. "Rin's memories of the electric guitar were so associated with Len that she couldn't play it without thinking of him. She told me once whenever she saw that guitar in her room, she bursted out crying.

"Rin hid her guitar deep in her closet eventually, so that she wouldn't see it. She didn't have the heart to get rid of it mainly because of how expensive it was."

"For sure, buying an instrument is no joke. Especially a high quality electric like this one," Miku assured with a gesture to said guitar. "So what did you mean when you said the guitar 'didn't see the light of the day' to her?"

"I meant it when I said the guitar never saw the light of the day. Rin never played her electric from the day Len broke up with her. She never touched it for almost three years, if it were not for today.

"I never saw her nor heard from other people that she played the electric. She avoided the instrument like the plague. If we needed to play a song, she used any other instrument she could."

"So something must have motivated or forced her to use the electric now after avoiding its existence?" Miku speculated out loud.

"Didn't Rin mention she already sold her instruments to prepare for their move soon?" Gakupo suddenly brought it up after he remembered something Rin shared before. "Because she said she couldn't bring all of it. She said shipping it to their new home would be a nightmare. But now she still has her electric guitar."

He gestured at the guitar they all stood nearby. "You would think that this high calibre of her electric would sell big. But she still held on to it."

"You make so much sense, Gakt!" Miku acknowledged with a hit on the bottom of her clenched fist with her other palm.

"There should be a reason why Rin is holding on to this electric today, despite not using it everyday! I just know there is something to it!"

"Here we go again," Kaito sighed. "You can't possibly suggest it's related to Len again. She hasn't even mentioned him for years!"

"Oh if only this guitar of her's could talk, we would have known the secrets of the world." Miku sighed and ignored Kaito's comment as she caressed the neck of Rin's guitar.

The three of them still chatted amongst themselves when Ars grabbed a microphone and called for everyone's attention.

"Everyone, we will be beginning our first run of the song within five minutes. Crew, please be in your stations and finish setting up whatever the performers need. Performers, please finalise your tuning and warm-up as you will be given the signal by the crew very soon. I will come back to announce one minute before showtime."

"Alright, we'll leave you here Miks. Our job here is done." Kaito raised his palms levelled with his head. He joined Gakupo and left the performance zone. "Our conversation is done and no more follow-ups."

"Boo, no fair." Miku pouted but accepted defeat as the five minute preparation loomed. She strapped on the bass and began her warm-ups.

She had previous experience with the bass guitar from primary school but had not focused too much on it.

After her exams were finished, Miku went straight to familiarise herself with the bass after she and Rin agreed who played what instrument. It took a lot of extra effort for her liking, but Miku was proud of her progress.

"Sorry to tell you, but your bass sounds a bit off."

Miku had not expected Rin to suddenly show up beside her. She just stood and waited for her reply.

"Here, let me tune that for you."

"We only have five minutes left! Don't you need more time for it?" Miku asked worriedly. She internally scolded herself for being so caught up with Kaito and Gakupo and forgot to tune the bass.

"Nah, even a minute is enough. Basses are usually easier to tune than electrics or even the acoustic. We can make it until showtime." Rin offered her hand to Miku, who then unstrapped the bass and passed it.

Rin strapped the bass on her shoulder and moved a little far from the centre, where it was more quiet.

Like a natural, Rin began to pluck a string multiple times while she adjusted the corresponding tuning head. Some notes took longer than others (like the E note).

Yet true to her word, Rin took less than five minutes to tune the bass guitar for Miku.

She got it back just in time for the one minute call time.

"Goodness, you're a freaking legend Rin! How did you do that without a tuner!?" Miku was truly amazed she had the privilege to call this woman her friend.

"I had to tune bass guitars too frequently back in the day. Guess some old habits are hard to kill." Rin shrugged her shoulders with a relaxed smile.

Kaito's words from a while ago about Len being Rin's bassist once upon a time surfaced in her head.

Miku silently understood the underlying meaning of that reply. She held back her usual nudge for more details.

They did a final check on themselves and their instruments. Their own music sheets were displayed on a stand for them to read.

Rin and Miku checked in with their bandmates, Dex and Cul, before they began. Everyone was ready.

Ars led the sound system and was the one to give the go signal until the day of the festival.

"Dex, when my fingers count to zero, it's your cue."

When everything became motionless and silent in the music room, only Ars' fingers moved with the countdown from five, four, three, two, one, zero.

Dex hit the first three notes on his cymbal and Rin sang to begin the song.

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Their very first rehearsal, out of many in the following two weeks, was not as bad as they thought. There were a few issues during and after the song. So it was their priority to fix it on the next half of their rehearsal shift.

One more run of the song was all it took for them to finish their scheduled shift before everyone switched groups according to their rosters for today.

After another two hours of work in different departments, the seniors were given a break with the same recess and lunch periods as every other student. Similar to when they had classes early in the year.

Rin, Miku, Luka, Oliver, Gakupo, and Kaito sat together at a table in the open space and ate, while they talked about the festival. They discussed who they would invite as they were all eligible to bring in one visitor.

"I'm inviting my best friend, Gumi!" Rin beamed with a huge smile on her face. "She couldn't come last year, which was a bummer for me. But this year she said she'll make it and now I'm pretty excited!"

"That's awesome, Rin!" Luka mentioned. "We look forward to meeting her soon."

Luka had said that as if they had not entered Megumi's house, were recipients of her glares as sharp as daggers during that afternoon, and made one Miku Hatsune fall head over heels to her.

Of course, everyone else put up the facade, and pretended to not have met Megumi as they asked Rin more questions.

Gakupo and Oliver had not decided on who to give their visitor passes to. The latter may likely give it to his cousin.

Kaito mentioned in passing he invited Lily, one of his and Rin's mutual friends together with Gumi.

"Oh my god, Lily! I haven't gotten the chance to ask if she can tag along!" Rin smiled, excited that she and their friend group were going to be reunited very soon.

"Don't worry about it, because I've already done that for you. And she said yes!" Kaito assured her. "Also, Neru wants to tag along."

"Neru! I want to see her again! I haven't met with her since the middle of the year, and that was longer than when I caught up with Lily and Gumi!" Rin whined.

"But I only have one ticket. You're using yours for Gumi. I'm still finding a way on how we can get Neru in as a visitor." Kaito shared.

"Aww, bummer. I'll help you think of a way too." Rin replied, ideas already swirled in her mind.

"Don't bother, you two. You can use my visitor pass." Luka joined the conversation after she had a bite of her tuna sandwich.

"It would be a waste anyway if it collected dust. So this is the perfect opportunity. I don't have to stress about not using that ticket while you guys bring in your friend."

"Lu, you're a blessing!" Rin cried, her fingers formed the shape of a heart towards Luka.

Miku remained silent. They assumed she would not invite anyone since she had multiple performances scheduled, as the school's model darling diva, during the festival on top of her shifts.

That was why she was given more, yet shorter, breaks to her roster as a result. She would not be able to guide her visitor in the festival with the full-loaded schedule.

But Miku was silent because she had ideas in her head.

It was her final year at CFH. It would be cool to use her visitor pass for once.

Her brother would not be able to make it since he had his job as an apprentice. Her parents would be at work, and so her family would rely on footage of her performances.

Luka already gave her ticket to Neru that Miku was about to offer, before she was beaten to it. She did not know anyone outside their school to—

Yet she does know someone who would appreciate the offer.

She observed Rin reiterated a hilarious moment to Gakupo, who sat beside Miku on the other side of the table, in fits of laughter.

Miku felt more and more determined in her choice.

"No, seriously! I told him that he should keep safe that night because he was driving. And then he just looked at me like I slapped his mum! Like please, I was just being nice!" Rin held her laughter with a palm of her hand at the end of her sentence.

"Rin, mate, you were literally tone-deaf that night!" Gakupo laughed. "They were doing something illegal by being a two-load with a driver on his probationary licence. Of course your greeting came out ominous!"

"Oh well, they can screw themselves." Rin chuckled. "Not my licence, not my record!"

Oliver added. "I actually heard from Dex they were given a ticket. I'm not sure if that was on that specific day you're talking about though."

And everyone ruptured into roars of laughter.

Luka was stunned with a smile. "No fucking way!?"

While Miku joined along, she just decided she would do it!

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[CHAT SCENE] Len (sender) and Miku (receiver)

Len Kagamine

Miku: Hey gamer boy

Len: stop calling me that pls

Miku: No lol

Miku: I know this is completely random and wild to tell you

Miku: Idk if Kai told you about this but we're having our annual festival next week and we're all allowed to bring 1 visitor

Len: Yeah I heard you guys do that big festival every end of the year

Len: So what about it?

Miku: I don't want my invitation to be left unused so i'm giving it to you

Miku: c:

Len Kagamine is typing... Miku: You can't say no, rin's performing at the main stage with her original song hehehe

Miku: Technically, a duet with me but she wrote majority of it and I'm only secondary voice

Len: Are you actually seriously inviting me?

Len: me ?

Miku: Yeah duh?

Miku: I wouldn't be chatting with you like this as a prank. I'm not cruel lol

Len: No way really? ;m;

Len: But what if Rin sees me? I would love to see her but I don't think she would

Miku: Nah, me and Kai and our dudes will find a way

Miku: Just come

Miku: I'm sending you my pass later after school

Len: Thank you Miku!

Len: You don't know how much I feel so happy ;w; I'm gonna see Rin perform for the first time in four years!

Len: I'm so excited to see Rin :D
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The first week of rehearsals and preparations was considered a success.

And so everyone hoped the second and final week would be as smooth and organised, now that the issues from last week were addressed and resolved.

The excitement for the festival surged as a more profound emotion by the students. More and more aspects, such as the props and the running order of the program, were applied.

Rin, Miku, Luka, Gakupo, Oliver, and Kaito, as a coincidence, were rostered with a large group of seniors, together with a few juniors and younger kids, on errands. They worked on the decorations to be used around the whole school.

When Rin was called by the leader, Mew, to assist them, she left her friends and crossed to the other side of the large arts and crafts room.

The group was left by themselves with their own small sets of jobs to finish.

Miku's phone was on the centre and played music to occupy them with their work.

Her phone pinged for a second with a notification. Yet the owner was in the middle of tracing, cutting and pasting parts of cardboard for a sign. She was unable to tend to it.

"Lulu, can you check my phone for me? Thanks!" Miku spoke out. Her focus never left on her project.

The other girl merely cut out printed art from multiple stacks of coloured paper. So she easily paused it and grabbed Miku's phone.

It was a few metres away, so she had to reach for it with her arm extended to finally grab the device.

Luka quickly inputted the keycode on Miku's phone and dragged downwards for the notification bar.

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[CHAT SCENE] Len (sender) and Miku (receiver)

Len Kagamine

Len: Thank you for inviting me to the festival btw! I'm so excited to see Rin ;w; What day is it and what time does it run?
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Luka widened her eyes. She had to take a second, third, fourth read of the message. The only thing that was on her mind:

This was seriously not happening!

"WHAT THE FUCK MIKU!?" Luka could not help herself after it finally processed that indeed Miku just invited Len Kagamine to the festival to see Rin!

"Woah what was that for, Lu?" Miku whined after she raised her head from her work and faced her best friend.

"YOU INVITED HIM TO THE FESTIVAL!"

"Who's him?"

Luka quickly checked if Rin was still distant from them.

To her relief, Rin was still far away with Mew's group. She seemed to talk animatedly with all the hand gestures she did.

"You idiot, it's Len! Len Kagamine!"

"OH YEAH I DID!" Miku had the audacity to smile like a child proud of the mess she made.

"Wait WHAT!?" Both Gakupo and Kaito had responded just as Miku confirmed she indeed just invited Len Kagamine to the festival!

Oliver had his mouth agape when the situation finally sank into him. "Holy fuck…"

Kaito cried. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US FIRST?!" His voice unintentionally raised more than the normal range.

"Lower your voice, Kai! We might get their attention from the other side." Gakupo gently scolded his friend.

All of them turned their heads to the other side of the room and saw if they had indeed caught their attention.

Mew, her team, and Rin were still focused on their job that seemed to never end, with how she also did her rounds of hand gestures.

"Wait, I was going to! I just did it last night! I accidentally kept forgetting to mention it and if I did, Rin would be around!" Miku quickly explained with a lowered voice so the conversation stayed within their circle only.

"For fucks sake leek-mik, you could have dropped a message in the group chat instead!" Luka grumbled, grabbed her paper and scissors to start snipping.

Yet she dropped it, faced Miku, and further scolded her.

"Don't call me leek-mik!" Miku whined.

"Not after what you just did on making the dumbest decision of inviting Kagamine without telling us first!" Luka argued.

"I know, it's my fault!" Miku cried to salvage herself in the process. "I was trying to come up with a reason that wouldn't create this reaction from all of you!"

Gakupo awkwardly added. "Which you obviously failed…"

"Why did you invite him in the first place?" Luka, with all the ideas in her head, could not fathom why Miku made the rash decision to invite Len Kagamine.

Even when she knew Rin would be an active figure at the festival.

Luka was aware the two became friends after they coincidentally attended the same session at an open day in a potential university.

Then it escalated when they were to be in the same field of study at university, shared the same passion in music, and both had romantic interests with a certain pair of best friends.

But Luka was still confused, and it frustrated her.

"... Because I thought he would love to see Rin on stage and watch her perform…" Miku thought this was her redemption. So she made her best attempt on puppy-dog eyes and met both ends of her pointer fingers.

There was a five second silence.

"... You do know we could have sent him a video of it anyway." Luka had a deadpan expression on her face. "And you just increased the risk of our own plan if they end up meeting each other there."

"... I thought that was considerate of you Miku," Unexpectedly, Kaito turned the bleak and tense atmosphere into pleasant and comforting. "I've also wanted to invite Len. But with our plan in place, I decided it wasn't the best decision to do. Even if it disappointed me."

Miku had a hopeful smile. Trust in Kaito to save the situation!

Oliver dispersed the situation and changed all their attention to what was important. "Okay, let's stop being angry at what happened and accept it as it is. The best we have to do is to come up with a solution for this."

Luka commented. "You can't retract an invitation anymore. It would be too rude to him if Miku takes it back."

"She doesn't have to do that, Lu," Kaito politely interjected. "Like Oli said, we can think of a solution to this."

"How are we supposed to do that exactly though?" Gakupo worriedly expressed his scepticism. "If Rin ends up seeing Len, she'll get angry, connect the dots on how he got here, and our plan will perish!"

"We won't let that happen, Gakt." Oliver answered. "That's why we'll start planning for it. Aren't we, Miks?"

Miku was startled for suddenly being included in this conversation despite her role to cause it in the first place.

"Yes! Yes, of course! That was the intention from the start, for me to start planning and get you guys into the plan. I also warned him not to let himself be seen by Rin. So that's a start!" She exclaimed with a thumbs up to her friends.

"Technically you're lying because you didn't say that part to him. But I'll accept your effort in fixing this." Luka still had that 'I'm not impressed with what you're doing' expression on her face to Miku.

Kaito sighed. But he felt optimistic and excited. Len would be included soon.

"Do we all agree to sacrifice our break times to accompany Len? After we check if our breaks finish from one to another, we can basically just pass him to each one of us until the festival is over or if he decides to head back early."

"I hope he bolts out early—" Luka whispered, without a pause, under her breath.

It was this time she received the karate chop on her head by Miku beside her.

Oliver assured and hopped on to the developing plan. "That's a good idea. That way it makes sure he has a guide and we'd all be in communication on where Rin is."

Gakupo pointed out. "Don't forget though Oli, Kai and Rin's other friends will be there—Matsuda, Akita, and Nakajima."

Luka whined out of exasperation. "Holy fuck next week will be a stressful day."

Kaito suggested. "I would assume the three would be with me or Rin most of the time if it's not our shifts. I'll let you know if they roam amongst themselves." Then he continued.

"If anyone asks who Len is, tell them he's your friend from ICL. Or whatever, just be lowkey!" Kaito urgently added.

"God knows Rin is a huge gossip and might know everyone who came to the festival. No matter what, don't let Rin see you with Len! Even if she's within a ten metre radius, stay away! Same goes for Neru, Lily and Megumi!"

Everyone nodded seriously.

"We'll have to discuss connecting our rosters at the group chat later. First, we need to finish these before our shift ends." Kaito gestured to the mess of papers, scissors, glue, cardboard and other stationary materials they had to work on.

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[CHAT SCENE] Kaito (sender) and Len (receiver)

Kaito Fuuga

Kaito: Len, I have to tell you that you need to wear smth different on the festival

Len: uhh why?

Kaito: Rin will seriously recognise you with the hoodie and skinny jeans. You need to be under the radar from her and that means dressing different than what she would expect from you

Kaito: So that even if she did saw you, she wouldn't think twice it might be you bec she would end up thinking she saw the wrong person

Len: Come on hoodies and jeans is lowkey :/

Kaito: Not for you, mister

Kaito: If you're still stubborn I'll drag you to Miku

Len: No pls D:
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[CHAT SCENE] Miku (sender) and Len (receiver)

Miku Hatsune

Miku: LEN KAGAMINE YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO CHANGE THAT FASHION SENSE OF YOURS

Miku: IT'S AUTUMN SO YOU HAVE A LOT MORE OPTIONS IN STYLES THAT RIN WON'T RECOGNISE YOU IN

Miku: I WON'T GIVE YOU THE PASS IF YOU DON'T DO THIS

Len: D:

Len: Screw you, Hatsune ? You were the one to invite me and this is what you do now?

Miku: This is the price to pay to watch Rin before we start the plan ? Would you rather take the risk and she sees you?

Miku: You can thank me later ✨