Sakine Syndrome
Epilogue

'The End"

Sakine Meiko stood on the stage, a microphone in her hand and bright lights shining in her eyes like fireworks. She should have been afraid. After all, this was her debut, wasn't it? Teto had told her it was perfectly normal to feel afraid (although Teto looked as though she'd neverbeen afraid in her whole life before, giving her happy-go-lucky personality).

Singing in front of thousands of people was supposed to be terrifying, Vocaloid or not.

But Sakine Meiko felt no fear at all.

It was… fine.

And, after all, this wasn't really her first time on stage. Sasaki had told Sakine everything; about Meiko, the other Vocaloids and her first 'life' built in the body of her namesake. Sakine Meiko couldn't really remember everything, and it was probably best she couldn't, but she remembered how happy she had felt before as she stood on the stage and sang.

This was where she belonged.

Maybe, one day, she would meet her other family (Neru spoke a lot about them, and of her business ventures with Rin)- but for now, she had the UTAUloids, and she had her music, and she had her Master, and she had her own body.

She had her life.

She had her happiness.

And nothing else really mattered.

Sakine Meiko swayed slightly to the beat of her newest song, waiting for her cue to sing- though she felt so fear at the thought she would miss it. Missing it seemed almost impossible anyway- n-not that she was being arrogant…! She wasn't arrogant, really… She just felt at ease.

Composed.

It was a nice feeling; as though electricity was surging through her body (or maybe it was; Sakine didn't really know how she'd been build), cracking through her fingertips until they tingled against the cool microphone.

She had to sing for her fans- and also, for herself. It was what she'd been built to do.

She could hardly see her sea of fans owing to the bright lights that flickered across her vision, although she could hear them; a loud swell of cheering that dimmed the louder the music became, like the tide receding on a beach. Sakine could imagine them, though. She could see people behind the cheers; people with wide smiles as they waited for her to sing to them.

They were relying on her.

She had to do her best.

Meiko continued to sway, her skirts fluttering round her thighs in a haze of white and orange material, as she looked across the almost-invisible crowd obscured by fairies of white light.

However…

W-wait…

Her eyes caught on something.

Maybe it was an unimportant detail- a speck of color, like paint on an impressionist painting- but Meiko couldn't tear her gaze away from it.

It was a small haze of teal, splashed across the backdrop of the crowd.

Twin-tails.

T-that group of people in the audience looked kind of familiar...! Even from a distance, Sakine Meiko could tell. She would never be able to forget that girl; she was so famous! She was her older sister figure- her dream, her inspiration, her idol! Was that... Hatsune Miku?

What was Hatsune Miku doing watching her?

And… was Miku with Sasaki?

Meiko felt a little inadequate, stood on the stage whilst a great diva like Hatsune Miku was in the crowd. For the first time, a faint tremor of fear sparked through her body. W-was she really good enough? This was asking a little too much…!

But Miku wasn't alone.

One by one, as Meiko's gaze swept the small corner of the crowd, she placed more and more names to familiar faces.

Teto! Meiko could have told those red twin tails apart anyway- namely because they were almost impossible (although Teto had tried to style her hair like that, but it wasn't long enough. Teto had her own song about her hair, too, called 'Drill Paean'. Her hair was just that famous. Most idols could only dream of being as renowned as Teto's hair was).

It wasn't just Teto.

Ruko, Ritsu, Rook, Neru, Haku and Iku... Rin and Len... Meiko. And...

Sakine Meiko felt something in her heart constrict.

Blue hair. Blue eyes. A white coat.

Kaito.

It was Kaito.

And he was… smiling at her.

He'd never smiled at her like that before.

She had to do her best.

She felt a little nervous, given the people who were watching her… But maybe nerves were a good thing. She felt ill, hot and freezing at the same time as cool air tugged at her hair- but she wouldn't give up.

She couldn't.

Sakine Meiko opened her mouth and began to sing.

The End

a/n: And this is the official end of this story! I'll mark it was 'complete', but I might add a few omake chapters at the end just for fun extras :D
I've reached the end (finally!~) and… I don't really know what to say… XD I hope you like it, and I hope the end lives up to your expectations?

Thank you to everybody who read and reviewed this fic, and all the people who put it on favorites and alerts… And even just the people who liked it :3 I'm very flattered!~ I feel kind of self-conscious about my writing sometimes, but I'm glad people liked it ^_^ It encouraged me to keep going to the bitter end even though I wanted to give up sometimes, and I'm very grateful ^_^;;
Thank you so much!~~ *hearts*

So might be some fun bonus content to this 'complete' fic if you just wait a couple of days ^_^;

~renahhchen xoxoxo