Title : A Twisted Love Story
Rating : T (gore and violence in later chapters!)
EDIT: beta'd by the awesome Tsuki-Chama
now its nice and clean :3
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UPDATE 1.21.10 : thank you everyone for the 10,000+ views!! i love you all so much i'm going to fix some inconsistencies and put in some some extra scenes i've been meaning to add before, but i forgot derp
and MAYBE, an extra chapter ;3
"He's all yours. Your mother and I both hope you love it."
-Dad and Mom
And there you have it. My mom and dad were always overseas these days, thanks to their jobs. This is what they usually do to compensate their absence; send gifts. It's not enough though. In truth, the person who's always been there for me is my grandmother, my real "mother", my usual caretaker. But I tend not to dwell on it. It doesn't really matter these days…
I wordlessly placed the card down on the nearby coffee table softly, and my lips curled into a disappointed smile.
My grandmother pushed the life-size box in front of me on its side, straining herself. I smiled and thanked her, and she waved it off and collapsed in the chair nearest to her.
I looked to the box, wrapped neatly in a way that reminds me of Christmas. The wrapping was very decorated; a brilliant red with specks of big colorful dots covering it, and a great, tidy, silvery bow at the top.
It's just a birthday for crying out loud…
I sighed loudly, and my grandmother giggles, knowing exactly what I was thinking.
I started to rip off the wrappings like… well, a child on Christmas morning. Oh, I hope it's a miniature steamroller! I remember when my parents gave me one of those when I was younger, screaming "WRRRYY" while chasing my grandmother around the house.
Good times.
I ripped and ripped excitedly and it was revealing so much more. It was brown! Oh maybe it's a new table set this time, or maybe a desk? What else is brown? It was starting to reveal itself…
Oh, it's…!
…It was a plain, rust colored, cardboard box. Huh. This has never happened to me before. Shrugging, I leisurely opened the flaps and inside… it was a mirror covered with styrofoam.
…But wait, my eyes aren't closed (I touched my eyes just to make sure, and they weren't). I blinked and… it wasn't a mirror at all.
It was a boy.
I silently gawk at him, making no movements. Nothing comes across my mind except for one word.
"Uh."
Well, not really a word, but something nonetheless.
Grandmother looks towards my direction, "What did you get, honey?"
"Um…" What exactly did I get? A boy in a box? A dead boy in a box? When I asked myself this, I was going to give a slight yelp and scuttle away to my grandmother, but I noticed a folded piece of paper on the boy's chest. I quickly but smoothly take it, and unfolded the paper.
'Vocaloid', it read.
I blinked. Vocaloid?
Then it dawned on me. Vocaloid. The new robots I heard about on the news and at school. They were… singing robots or something. To be honest, I never really paid attention to the details, because I wasn't interested. I guess Mom and Dad thought this would be a good opportunity to get my singing career off the ground. How nice, if I wanted to actually start a singing career.
I looked to the robot boy again, this time at his features. It was amazing, he looked just like me. Exactly like me. Too much like me. It was so… lifelike. The atmosphere around me started to get eerie and I slightly freaked out.
"Honey?"
I glanced at Grandmother, suddenly remembering she was here. "Grandmother," but I said no more, because my voice came out as a squeak. I cleared my throat, "Ahem. Grandmother, they did it again."
She smiled warmly, "Another expensive gift, huh?"
"…You can say that."
She heaved herself from the chair and strolled over to me. I quickly closed the flaps of the box before she could see what's inside. She gave me a look. "Grandmother, I have to warn you, it'll freak you out." She still looked skeptical so I continued, "I'm serious. It'll freak you out."
"Oh child," she said and bent over to lift the flaps and—
"AH!" She shouted and held her hand to her chest.
"I told you," I said plainly, "It's a… Vocaloid I guess." I glanced over to the motionless robot boy in the box.
Grandmother collected herself, "Vocal… what?"
I bet she's thinking about 'us kids and our contraptions nowadays'. "It's a robot. A singing robot." Suddenly remembering about the paper I held, I glanced back to it and started reading out loud, "'Congratulations Rin Kagamine, for purchasing a Vocaloid, the singing robot!"
Wow, a custom made greeting.
"Our product was made in your mirror image from the photo(s) provided by your parents. The Vocaloid you received can do everything a normal person can do, and we gave him the knowledge of a normal person. And, due to our newly found science and technology, we were able to give the Vocaloid a special mechanism. A "heart", so our product can be just like a real human being! We hope you enjoy our product, and wish for you to fulfill your dreams to become a singer!" I shook my head and sighed. "To get started, please follow these instructions…"
I trailed off and gave my attention to the Vocaloid and back to the paper again. "Warning, once turned on, the Vocaloid cannot be turned off. If your Vocaloid malfunctions, please call this number…"
Malfunction? Ah, I guess it is still something that needs to be fixed once and a while. Will it need maintenance or something? Ah, but what kind of 'malfunctions' could there be…?
"Turn it on already!" Grandmother said impatiently. Obviously she was way more excited about this than I was.
I cleared my throat and started to read the instructions to myself. 'To turn on the Vocaloid, please say its name.' And in sloppy handwriting (which can be only be a scientist's handwriting) was the Vocaloid's name.
"Len… Kagamine?"
Suddenly Grandmother gave a loud yelp and I jumped, looking at her, who was looking at the Vocaloid in the box. I lowered my head to the box and I fell back onto my butt.
The Vocaloid's eyes were open. Like, freakishly open and they were blank and bright. But he wasn't staring at me, nor Grandmother. He was just, looking at our pearly ceiling. As I was about to utter a word out my mouth, the Vocaloid eyes flew to me and I let out a squeal. I stood up, ran to my grandmother and held onto her and her to me.
We were both freaking out!
The Vocaloid rose from the cardboard box like a vampire rising from its coffin. There he stood and slowly (eyes first) turning to us with the emptiest stare I've seen. We both held on to each other tighter making whimpering noises like sad puppies.
Then, he spoke robotically. "Kagamine Len has started. All functions normal. Booting saved memory." He closed his eyes. Grandmother and I looked at each other with curiosity and fear. When he spoke again, the two of us hurriedly turned our attention to the Vocaloid, "Booting successful."
"…O-Okay," I stuttered softly.
The Vocaloid looked at us with curiosity. "Um, I didn't… shock you did I?"
And my eyes widened as wide as they could. He sounded more… human than before. That robotic-like tone in his voice was gone, and he sounded like a normal boy. And not only that, he looked… well, inquisitive. It was… weird, but astounding nonetheless.
"Sorry, that's just my booting procedure," he grinned, "That's just something I'm programmed to do." He scratched his head (what's there to scratch?) and laughed bashfully.
This robotic boy was 'laughing bashfully'.
To be honest, he just looked so innocent I had to let my guard down. I hesitated at first, but I let go of Grandmother and stepped forward. "H-Hello."
"Hi."
Why is this so odd? Oh, right, because it's a robot. It's not like they taught me how to talk to robots in elementary school!
He continued, "Are you Rin?"
My heart leaped when he said my name. "Y-Yeah."
He nodded excitedly, "I'm Len, nice to meet you." He held out his hand for me to shake. I sauntered forward and gazed at his outreached hand. I then gave my attention to the Vocal—I mean, Len's face, and then back to the hand again.
I smiled and said, "Nice to meet you too."
At that very moment, he gave me the most peculiar look when I smiled, but I didn't give it any mind.