Epilogue

"Mikuuuu get uppppp. You're meeting Luka-nee today right? Wow, it's been like what? Almost three years? Shouldn't you be more excited?"

Miku groaned as the covers were brutally pulled off of her and the warm spring sunlight hit her sensitive eyes.

"Rin, stop that," she grumbled and swatted at the way-too-cheerful blonde who was currently bouncing up and down on her bed energetically, "I'm awake now."

"Good," Rin gave her a cheeky smile and agilely avoided Miku's slap, "I still can't believe you're ditching me soon though. Both you and Len ought to be ashamed. I guess good old friendship and familial love couldn't compare to le Romance after all."

The tealette rubbed her eyes groggily and yawned as she sat up. It took her a while to register what Rin was getting at.

"Oh right. Len wanted to move in with Oliver right?"

"Yeah, both of you suck." Rin rolled her eyes and went to grab her orange juice off the table, finally leaving Miku's bed alone (much to the tealette's relief).

"Did you find someone to room with yet?" Miku asked the blonde tentatively, feeling slightly apologetic.

It was through sheer luck alone that she and Rin had wound up at the same university but she had always expected the blonde to room with her twin. Both of them were surprised when Len had objected to the idea and even more astonished when the quiet boy admitted to being in a relationship with their former classmate. Naturally, that meant Miku and Rin would be roommates. But now that Luka was coming back, everything was going to change yet again. Miku felt guilty that Rin was the odd one out in this situation.

"Of course!" Rin stuck out her tongue teasingly to reassure her friend, "who wouldn't want to room with the Kagamine Rin?"

Miku tried to direct a stern glare at the lively girl but ended up letting out a chuckle at her antics.

"So who is it? Spill." Rin took another sip of her juice and grinned.

"Remember that girl Miki from highschool?"

"Yeah? The one who was super close with IA and uhh…Yu…Yuka…"

"Yukari."

"Right. That one. Wait, I remember now. Didn't you guys study together for finals last year? Since she's also doing Music?"

"Wow, I'm surprised you even remember. You were so antisocial back then, Miku." The tealette made a face at Rin's good-natured taunting.

"I wasn't that bad," she protested, "Besides. She was in our class. How could I forget?"

"You forgot Yukari." Rin pointed out.

"Shut up."

"Anyways," the blonde grinned at her pouting friend. Miku was really too easy to tease. "Turns out, IA and Yukari are dating now so Miki is like the only one who understands me right now. We third-wheels are going to unite next term so see you guys later."

"Huh. Well I'm glad it worked out. Yukari and IA though?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too but…come to think of it, they were in the same music school as me. Every recital we had, they'd do a duet together. No subtlety whatsoever."

Miku laughed at the disgusted expression Rin was making. The blonde was quite precious in her own way.

"But we're still going to hang out right?"

"Of course," Rin downed the last bits of her drink and grinned mischievously, "Wow Miku, I'd heard you were the jealous type. I thought that only applied to Luka-nee?"

Miku sighed and stretched.

"I was ready to have a friendship moment, you know? Thanks for ruining it."

"You're welcome. Now get dressed. Isn't nee-san bringing the car soon?"

"Soon? What time is it?"

"…Nine."

"Shit, Luka lands at ten…why did we talk for so long?!"

Muttering a string of curses, the tealette moved at inhuman speeds to throw on the clothing she had prepared the night before. Rin watched with great amusement as Miku made herself presentable in record time.

"Drive safely!" Rin called out as the tealette practically barrelled through the door, "And say hi to Luka-nee for me."

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Miku was forever grateful for the devil's luck she seemed to have as the congestion in front of her cleared rather quickly. Morning traffic was no joke. Of course, she was very fortunate to even have a car in the first place. She hadn't expected Lily to be so willing to lend her the vehicle.

'Just take it.' The blonde had waved it off like it was nothing. 'You've been waiting for this for so long. Even I, a completely unromantic person, think that your grand finale should be perfect.'

'But don't you want to come see her too?' Miku wanted to make sure, one last time.

'Of course I do. But I can wait.' Lily gave her a friendly pat on the head. 'I'll come visit you guys after you've settled in.'

Miku took a deep breath and refrained from smashing the car horn yet again. It was so hard to stay composed when her heart was hammering with excitement like this. In approximately fifteen minutes, she'd see Luka again.

Even though the pinkette had visited as much as she could in the past few years, they were always rushed trips and Miku could never get enough of her girlfriend before she had to leave again. The rest of it was a blur of cheesy texts and late-night video calls that lasted till morning. She wondered what feast she should prepare tonight in celebration of Luka's return.

Choosing a Culinary Arts degree had been quite a twist for both herself and her family but her parents were as supportive as ever. It had been somewhat of an accident when the tealette discovered that she really did enjoy cooking, after making a few dishes for Luka. Now that she had almost two years of schooling under her belt. Her skills had improved drastically since the fateful day when she made that basket of tuna sandwiches. Luka turned out to have a deeply closeted weakness for food. If nothing else, she'd keep the pinkette chained to her by the mouth. Miku smiled to herself at the thought.

Pulling into the first empty spot she saw in the parking lot, the tealette smoothed out her clothes and studied herself in the mirror. A familiar sort of anxiety rose up within her. Even after all this time, she still managed to be nervous at seeing Luka again. Embarrassing…but she didn't quite mind the feeling either. Miku sighed at the blush creeping onto her cheeks. She was an adult now, the tealette reminded herself, someone who had been in a relationship for three years. And yet Luka never failed to make her feel like that shy schoolgirl who yearned for love so timidly.

Deciding that nothing could be done about her blush or her slightly dishevelled hair, Miku walked quickly towards the arrivals section. Craning her head slightly to see above the crowd of people, the tealette easily spotted a familiar head of pink.

"Luka!"

Unable to contain her eagerness anymore, Miku ran as quickly as her legs could carry her and tackled her girlfriend in a hug. The pinkette, who had previously been looking at her phone while leaning against a pole, barely looked up before being knocked over by the sheer force of Miku's embrace.

"Dammit Miku, I know you're happy to see me but you don't have to knock me to the ground again."

Her words were disapproving but Luka's eyes were bright with joy.

"Again? When have I even done this?" Miku didn't seem to mind one bit that they were on the ground and clung tightly to the pinkette.

Passersby turned to look at the pair curiously. 'Young people these days.' They shook their heads and went back to minding their business.

"Remember when we first met?" Luka leaned forward to press a kiss to the tealette's forehead, "You seem to have a thing for knocking me over."

"O-oh…that," Miku pouted at the nostalgic memories, "That was so long ago huh…"

"Yeah, it really was," Luka cupped he tealette's cheeks and played with the hair that framed her lover's delicate features, "Are you ever going to let me up? We have to get there by three in the afternoon you know."

"Right. Let's go." Miku grinned and scrambled off the ground, offering a hand to the pinkette. Luka gladly took it and pulled the tealette into another hug before grabbing her luggage to leave.

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They didn't talk much in the car, mostly because Miku didn't trust herself to not get into an accident when she was so excited by the pinkette's presence. The jovial feeling floated around them nonetheless and the two couldn't stop smiling.

A few minutes before three, they arrived in front of a stylish and rather modern-looking apartment building. It was a miracle that they didn't get lost on the way. A grumpy man huffily handed them two sets of keys before stomping off. Miku mouthed an apology at his retreating back, the poor guy had probably been waiting for them for quite a while. She heard Luka giggle behind her before the pinkette pulled her by the hand towards the elevators.

Miku's mouth dropped when she opened the door. She hadn't expected it to be so big or so nice. The apartment was quite a snatch, considering that it sat conveniently between her University and her house. It would take no more than twenty minutes to get to either of the two and it was only ten minutes away from the much coveted downtown area.

"Wow." Miku couldn't find anything else more appropriate to say.

"I'm glad you like it." Luka chuckled and gave the tealette a little nudge to go inside.

"It's furnished too!" Miku practically chirped with delight, throwing off her shoes unceremoniously as she went straight for the huge white sofas by the window.

"For a price, yes," Bemused, Luka entered with a bit more elegance and joined her girlfriend on the couch.

"Must've been expensive…" Miku sighed in agreement, snuggling up to the pinkette with her head on the other's lap. "Still, you didn't have to put my name on the property."

"Don't worry about it, I wanted to. Makes things easier for when we…um…get married." Luka's voice grew quiet from embarrassment and she turned to look out the window to hide her blush. Miku simply made an incoherent sequence of noises and buried her burning face in the front of Luka's jacket.

"I-it's a little early to talk about that now isn't it?" Miku mumbled, "At least let me graduate first."

"But you want to, right?" Luka gave her girlfriend a knowing and triumphant look.

"H-how am I supposed to focus on my studies when you say things like that." The tealette pursed her lips in mock anger.

"Sorry, sorry. I do want my gourmet tuna chef in two years so I'll spare you."

"Hmph, that's more like it." A wry smile formed on Miku's lips, "I still can't believe you managed to sign with the Crypton label. But then again, I always knew you were talented enough."

"Honestly, I can't believe it either," Luka glowed at the tealette's casual compliment, "Who knew Brella would be so popular?"

"And I'm so glad it did. You get to write your songs and I luck out and get to live in this awesome apartment."

"Well, I wouldn't call it completely luck. You did sort of inspire that song."

"Huh?" Miku frowned despite her blush, "But the lyrics are so sad. What did I even do?"

"Nothing," Luka ruffled the teal bangs affectionately, "It just sort of happened when I started imagining the world without you."

"Oh. Good thing that's never going to happen."

"Yeah, I know," Luka flicked the tealette's forehead lightly at her cheeky grin, "Enough about me. Did anything new happen while I was gone?"

"Not really?" Miku dug through her memories. She, for one, was fine with continuing to talk about the pinkette, "Everything's been the same with the twins. Lily said she'd come to visit when we get all moved-in and stuff…Oh right. Mikuo's going out with Kaito now."

"What?"

"Yeah…me too…really…" Miku laughed a little at the pinkette's reaction. She still remembered her parents' disbelieving faces when it was revealed that both their children played for the other team. Of course, they had accepted Mikuo with open arms as they did their daughter but even Miku found it more than a little strange seeing her brother with another boy when she had believed him to be straight all this time. That being said, she was really in no position to judge.

"And Kaito was his…friend? I think I actually knew him from some clubs but…"

"Yeah," Not even Miku could have foreseen that it would be Kaito of all people that her brother fell for. The tealette's lips curved slightly as an entertaining thought came into her head, "Hey, maybe you broke him. He did have sort of a crush on you before, you know?"

"Yeah, I sort of guessed. But I couldn't help it. You were cuter," the pinkette poked Miku's cheek playfully as if to prove a point. The teal-haired girl puffed out her cheeks in defense.

"Is that what we're going with now? You turned my brother gay?"

"Wow when you say it like that, it makes me sound like some kind of a pervert," Luka laughed and Miku raised an eyebrow.

"Well? Aren't you one?"

"Whatever makes you say that now?"

"I mean. Going after some high school student is kind of…a predatory thing to do?"

"H-hey now…" Luka actually appeared flustered at the comment, making Miku grin even wider. If there was one thing she was really glad to have gotten better at over the years, it was teasing the pinkette. She was determined to get revenge for all those times she had been made red and speechless at Luka's words or actions. The pinkette grumbled and turned away, knowing fully well that Miku had the upper hand here. "If I remember correctly, you came to me."

"But you're the one who can't let go of me." Miku was relentless. In fact, she was pretty much gloating at this point, "I mean, look. You even wrote a song about me. I'm so flattered."

"This is…ugh…I can't deal with you anymore," Luka dislodged Miku from her lap and moved to start unpacking their bags, shaking her head in exasperation, although a small smile played at the corner of her lips, "You win. I'm a predator. What else?"

"Nothing else," Miku couldn't supress her mirth anymore and let out a fresh wave of laughter. "We're just going to be stuck with each other then, can't help it. You might be a predator, but you're the predator that I'm in love with." The tealette moved to wrap her arms around her girlfriend, feeling an unbelievable burst of joy as Luka instantly relaxed in her embrace. "And I'm never going to let you go."

"I'm starting to think you're the real predator here," Luka whispered, leaning into the tealette.

"Maybe."

Miku smiled and pressed up against her lover's back.

"Welcome home, Luka."

A/N:

The end after the end is here! Did I give you guys cavities from all that sweet fluff? Now wasn't that much better than the last chapter :3c

I hope you guys liked the new cover (idk if it's actually showing because ffn is weird but uhh, it's there). I honestly planned to draw a new cover for the longest time but procrastinated until now. The lines were even done...:'D

(I know it's strange to do update the art now when the fic finishes but hey, just think of it as a prettier thing to put in your collection? Full version at: acattumbles - Tumblr)

Now. Time for some last words for my frequent reviewers.

First is a special mention:

To themoron00: (lol ffn why did you think this was a url now I have to take all the dots out...)

I think you were literally one of my first readers/reviewers and I honestly can't believe you've stuck with me for the entirety of this fic. Through the slow updates and late updates and terrible plot twists...seriously, thank you. Kudos to you and lots of negitoros will be my gift.

On to the others (don't worry, you're all equally amazing):

To chi2lyn:

Your reviews were always fun to read and I hope you continue being such a rewarding reader for lazy writers like me.

To Azhenet:

Your words were really encouraging to me and it was really nice to feel like someone actually reads my stuff. Thank you for all the feedback and for being genuine motivation for me to finish this fic.

To Psykoakuma:

You kind of came in halfway in the writing of this story but wow. Those IA comments really caught my eye. Hopefully I'll have her appear more in my future works but no promises :P

That being said, I definitely enjoyed reading your comments and I hope you'll get all the IAs you want.

To everyone else I didn't mention:

I honestly wanted to just make a list and thank each and every one of you by name because your words did have an impact so, really. Thank you all.

Some of you are also writers I like/admire (you know who you are :3c) so I shall be playing the role of the reader until my next Negitoro fic.

And that's it folks. The end :D

There's not much to say except...may we meet again~

TL;DR: Thank you and goodbye.