Chapter 2

As Luka carried the girl all the way through the silent desolated streets, she noticed how unusually cold she was. Normally, she would feel at least feel a hint of body heat emanating from the girl but her arms and legs were just so freezing cold that Luka sometimes shivered as she carried her. But then again, the girl was soaking wet, as she just found her drifting in the ocean, so Luka supposed it was understandable.

After a few minutes of walking, she saw her house coming into view. The orange, morning sun outlined the shape of the building perfectly as it showed countless bottles of beer and other junk littering the lawn. Compared to the other houses that sat side-by-side with each other, the Megurine household was the crudest place out of all; even the image alone was enough to repel other neighbours coming near their space.

Though, the inside of the place was no different from the image outside. The only minor difference was the constant stench of alcohol and tobacco lingering in the air. If it weren't for her father's endless drinking habits and use of cigarettes the house wouldn't be as shabby as it is now. Luka just never bothered cleaning it all up because she knew it would be pointless if she did.

Once Luka swam through the sea of mess and got to her bedroom (which was actually much cleaner than the rest of the household), she placed the small body down on her feeble-looking bed. Even though the girl was soaking wet, Luka didn't bother taking off her clothes as she knew it would be embarrassing having to dress and undress a random stranger. If the girl somehow caught a cold, then it would be none of Luka's concern and anyhow it didn't look like it would lead into something life-threatening; she was content enough that she had at least taken her in.

She glanced over her clock and saw it was almost time for the stores and shops to open. Maybe once the girl wakes up, she could tell Luka her name. Right now she needed to do the grocery and hopefully this girl wouldn't wake up before she has done her errands. Otherwise, she wouldn't have anything to eat or she would wake up confused and wonder what she's doing in a stranger's house.

Luka brought the bedsheets over the girl as she stood up. She didn't look like she would wake up any time soon so after giving her one last careful look, she walked to the door and left.

-XxXxXxX-

The city Luka lived in was always developing significantly. Named after the industrious company, Crypton, it was the only place in the world that sold cars that could hover over the ground. And for the lack of usage of gas, pollution occurred less, and expensive androids referred to as Utaus would provide entertainment for people by singing or assisting anyone in need. Though, even as a city it still had its flawless.

Tourists and other outsiders would sometimes think that the company could change the world and the whole society for all of its fascinating inventions and success; Luka found it amusing every time she heard this subject appear on conversations and it reminded her of those Sci-Fi stories portrayed in books. Once Luka arrived to the grocery store and picked up all the necessary items she needed, she placed them on the counter.

"Hello, Teto."

"Good morning, master." The red-head monotonously greeted back as she punched the price on the register, her drill-like hair bouncing slightly while stiffly craning her body. Teto was an Utau, fulfilling the petty jobs that nobody wanted. Since Crypton was still in the process of updating and perfecting her model, she was bound to have flaws and make occasional mistakes so existing androids such as her wasn't exactly highly-advanced as books and movies portrayed them.

After paying the android cashier, Luka quickly grabbed her bags and left the store, hoping that the teal-haired girl hadn't woken up yet. Luka had lived in Crypton for all her whole life and so she had walked in these very streets so many times that the map of the city had been permanently stamped in the back of her head, assuring her that she would never get lost or end up in a dead-end alleyway where crimes were still present. With groceries firmly in hand, Luka took another turn and made her way through the winding streets until she caught a glimpse of someone familiar walking by.

"Oh, hey Luka-chan!"

Said girl's heart thumped wildly in her chest as she recognized the voice that she thought she would never hear again.

"Lily-sempai...?"

"How are you?" The tall-blonde approached her as Luka's palms began to get sweaty.

"Um..." Luka averted her gaze. It wasn't a crush, of course it wasn't a crush. As Luka likes to say it, this kind of responses she gets whenever she's near Lily was only a strong sense of admiration. "I-I'm doing great. Just doing the groceries. How about you, Sempai?" she managed to finish, voice slightly cracking.

Lily laughed. It always sounded like music to her ears.

"That's great! Mine's been busy with college and all," she yawned, stretching her body. "Moving out and having to deal with parents constantly bugging you is such a pain." She laughed and Luka laughed along with her too. The sound of her laugh always made Luka feel much more comfortable with her. Even though Lily was a few years older than her, she never hesitated in talking to her. They weren't exactly close friends but she had always helped Luka in school, especially with making friends.

"Well, I have to go. I'm in kinda of a rush." Lily said, earning a slight frown from Luka. The blonde smiled and ruffled Luka's hair, earning a blush from the younger girl. "I hope to see you again, Luka-chan. Hope you have a great summer!" The blonde waved as Luka watched her disappear into the streets. Luka touched her head where Lily had ruffled her hair. Lily had always been so friendly to her and that was what Luka liked most about her.

-XxXxXxX-

"Of course I already knew what happened last night! Everyone in the whole laboratory knew! Just fix this all up."

The yell echoed through the haphazard mess of the building before a few soft groans came from the other members of the lab. Ever since the event from last night, the main quarters of the research laboratory had almost burnt down. Electrical cords were ripped out of their machines, dangerous chemicals were spilled all over the place and even taking one step in the lab can put that said individual into a precarious situation.

"We will take care of CV01 later. In the meantime, please clean this mess as much as you can." Kiyoteru, the head scientist, instructed as he came in. "It would create a bigger problem if one of the straying electrical cords came in contact with each other. We're at least lucky that the damage hadn't affected the whole island. I will be talking to the boss about this."

"Yes, sir..."

He then walked off and headed for the main office that was only located upstairs.

"Director, may I come in?" Kiyoteru asked before a deep voice from the other side of the door confirmed his request. Kiyoteru walked in the slightly dark, vast room and closed the door behind him, seeing his boss contemplating deeply on the other side.

"About CV01..." Kiyoteru started.

"About that..." The man huffed and stood up. There were grievance in his voice, yet it remained calm. His boss was patient, understanding, and lenient and Kiyoteru was grateful for that. "I have no idea what exactly caused her to do those actions. A problem may have occurred in her programming last night just shortly after we had done our testings. Otherwise, we would have detected it right away and this whole mess wouldn't have occurred."

"Hmm... well..." Kiyoteru took out a folder in his hands and placed it in front of his boss to which he eyed curiously. "Based on our studies for the past months, we have been noticing she was having constant inner conflicts with herself of whether she is a human or not, so it may have been because of that. I just assumed at that time it was the patch we have installed in her. I never knew it would come to this."

"Yes, I suppose that's the only plausible explanation for it." The boss perused over the papers. "Our programming broke and eventually CV01 didn't know what to do but run away. There was a bug in its system." He sighed in frustration.

"But CV01 is not broken yet, isn't she?"

"She's still alive, Kiyoteru. She jumped off the cliff because she knew she could survive. If you remembered, her whole body is indestructible." Kiyoteru nodded. "She may bleed and feel pain, but that is only because we have programmed her to be that way."

"Ah... I see..."

"She may have been washed away in some island or some place. Either way, CV01's escape puts us and everyone in a risky situation, as we know Vocaloids can be quite dangerous. Please call the operatives in Crypton to search for her."

"Understood, Director." He bowed to his knees.

"And one more thing... because CV01 jumped off the cliff and possibly damaged her system, her memory and settings may have reset. That is not to say, however, that her system broke, it would eventually fix itself, but because her settings has been reset she is no longer the CV01 we usually programmed her as. In other words, her personality has changed."

Kiyoteru gaped at him, wide eyes and jaws slightly dropping. "I... never knew of this."

"This default settings was the settings she was supposed to have if we hadn't discovered that CV01 can do so much more than sing. The only reason why I had disabled and reprogrammed her original settings was for our research."

There were deep contemplation in Kiyoteru's eyes before he responded. "So how would her personality be like now? An android showing emotions is a complex subject to delve into, especially for a prototype such as CV01."

"That is correct, but vocal intonations and facial expressions are the only forms of emotional behaviour CV01 can show."

Frustration and deep pondering were deep inside Kiyoteru's eyes. It was too complex for him to comprehend and neither he or the rest of the research team ever studied the psychological functions of CV01; only the structure and her systems. "But... how...?"

"There's no psychological circuit within her so therefore she cannot be classified as a human. She's empty inside. Thus, she can only show her emotions externally. Her brain is artificial after all," he answered, enlightening Kiyoteru a bit.

He just stared at the floor, frustrated, and his boss continued to explain. "She's merely acting on the behaviors of a human. An imitation as some colleagues referred to her as when we were creating her four years ago. However, even as a prototype, her range of emotions is still flawed and incomplete," the boss finished.

Kiyoteru was still trapped in his own storm of puzzlement and confusion. How, in any way, can androids show emotions? It was illogical to say the least.

"If you're still confused, please read over this folder that the members and I have worked on after the Kaito-Meiko incident. It explains the structure and functions of CV01 in much greater details."

Still, Kiyoteru had to accept the fact that androids showing emotions were possible, regardless of whether it follows the rules of logic. His own beliefs shouldn't get in the way of his work, he reminded to himself. Perhaps after this whole incident is over, the director can allow him to research more on CV01's internal functions. His boss handed over the folder to Kiyoteru to which he quickly scanned over. "I will definitely look over this then..."

"I advise you to not lose that folder, Kiyoteru. There's only very few copies out there. You're the only person I trust amongst the research team." The man sat down and sighed. All of his years researching in this isolated lab, he wasn't surprised that this type of incident occurred. Vocaloids were extremely powerful creatures and this incident only served as a reminder that they should be careful next time.

"I expect you to tell this to the other members as well, as I do not want to repeat myself and this information can be very crucial in the near future. We don't want CV01 to turn out like Kaito and Meiko."

"Understood, Director," Kiyoteru obediently bowed. As a head scientist of the research facility, he was definitely determined to put everything back into its original places. Inadvertently, it was his own fault for letting CV01 get away.

"Good, you are now dismissed."

-XxXxXx-

"Memory reset complete. Now loading default settings."

She heard a soft voice ring through her head before she felt her own body and conscience come into her senses. She knew that voice was coming from her own self but she also knew that it wasn't her operating that voice either. And that caused her to slowly open her eyes and see a greyish blur filled with zeros and ones engulfing her vision until it gradually faded and revealed where she is now.

She tried to move her fingertips, and then her legs, and lastly her eyes where it wandered to the surroundings of the messy, otherwise dark room. Her head hurt, no rather her artificial brain hurt, for she instinctively knew that she wasn't a human either. Hatsune Miku―that was her name and CV01―her model name. An android she was... but instead of frowning about it she only smiled.

It was illogical for an android like her to possess humane feelings, so she can only sit there and hug her knees, with the realization of her own "happiness" that her master will arrive soon.

-XxXxXxX-

Once Luka returned back to her house, it was already at that time when everyone was waking up from their beds and preparing to do their morning errands. As the sun rose up from the horizon a few gray clouds veiled the slightly dark sky and she could see the fresh sun beams getting blocked by the clouds. But Luka ignored it because she knew the weather here was always sporadic.

After opening the door, she walked through the jumble of mess, set her groceries down on her table, and find out how the teal-haired girl was now doing. However, she was surprised when she saw that the girl that was sleeping so soundlessly had already woken up, staring curiously at her with teal-orbs that matched the colour of her hair.

"Ah... Y-you're awake," Luka stuttered as she walked into her bedroom. The girl looked so cute, with her big eyes and clear porcelain skin; she could have sworn there were a few light gashes scarring her face when she found her but there were nowhere to be seen as she observed her appearances further.

"Master...?" The girl whispered, her peach-lips tentatively moving to the sound of her voice. Luka was confused.

'Master?' What did she mean by that? But as Luka was about to shrug it off and introduce herself, the girl had already tackled her into a hug, and Luka immediately cringed at how awfully cold and soaking wet the girl was.

"Master! Master! Master!" The girl squealed, her high-pitched voice ringing through the small bedroom.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Luka tried to snake her way out of her grip, but the girl had her arms tightly wrapped around her.

"Master!"

"Stop calling me master!" Luka retorted. She was already beginning to regret of bringing her here. Even her whole outfit was weird―short sleeveless shirt, teal tie and other separate sleeves with weird buttons to match? And what was up with her weird tattoo? Luka didn't know where she came from but she highly doubted that it was a school uniform. Her outfit looked she was cosplaying a cartoon character or some sort.

"I think you hit your head or something. I'm Luka, not your master," she explained, hoping that the girl would at least process the information.

The girl's smile widened. "I'm Hatsune Miku. I'm happy to be of your use, master."

Luka's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance but she decided to ignore it, thinking that it was some kind of language barrier even though the girl didn't seem like she had an accent.

"Ummm... Miku, do you remember anything from last night? Any memories of what might have happened?" Luka tried to at least ask. Hopefully, she could stop calling her master with this question.

"Hm... What do you mean?" Her tone was so innocent that it somehow caused Luka to feel annoyed.

"I mean―I just found you drifting in the middle of the ocean!" Luka said, almost yelling from the stress. How dense could this girl be? For someone who has just woken up in a random stranger's house, this girl must take everything so lightly. "You're not even confused at all! Have you ever stopped and wondered what the hell you're exactly doing in a stranger's house? If you somehow got amnesia or any of that crap then you wouldn't even be calling me 'master'." Her voice was filled with venom.

The tinier girl frowned at the small outburst; her grip on Luka gradually weakened until she moved back on the bed. "D-did I make master mad?"

Luka groaned, confusion and frustration hitting her. Normally, she would at least have an amount of patient, but this―this was getting annoying. "Maybe... Maybe you just need to take a bath. Yeah, that's it. You'll catch a cold if you stay in those clothes."

Luka grabbed Miku's hand, dragged her into the bathroom, and shoved a a towel in her hands to which Miku just curiously eyed. "Just take a bath, okay. Maybe that will clear all your confusion and this 'master' you speak of. I think I have a few clothes that may fit you but just clean yourself up first." With a sigh, Luka left Miku in the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

This will be the last and only time she will ever take a random stranger into her house, Luka thought as she rubbed her forehead. Looking back at the previous events this morning, Luka didn't even know what exactly she was thinking that time.

"Stupid Luka..." she mumbled to herself while rummaging through her drawers for any clothes Miku could use. Her thoughts were soon interrupted when she heard a crashing sound followed by a high-pitched scream in the bathroom. "What the hell..." Luka ran quickly to the bathroom and saw that Miku (still fully-clothed much to Luka's relief) was on the floor, having apparently slipped.

"Miku... Are you okay?" She helped her get up while the teal-haired girl winced in pain.

"I don't know what to do, master..."

"What?" Another sigh from Luka. "Be careful in the bathroom. All you have to do is take a bath, simple as that!"

"But... that's... weird. Vocaloids don't take baths."

Luka was baffled and the only thing she can do is stare at her in disbelief. "Huh...?"

Vocaloids? She never heard of that word before. Perhaps it's what they call themselves from where Miku came from? The girl seemed foreign and weird, with referring to Luka as master. Or maybe she just misheard her previous statement, just like how she misheard her earlier.

Miku gave her a ginger look. "Master, I... I don't know what I'm suppose to do."

"Just take off your clothes," Luka answered slowly. She was starting to weird her out.

"I... I don't know how..." Miku stared down at the floor, embarrassment lighting in her reddened cheeks. "Will... you do it for me...?"

Suddenly, the temperature in the room rose. "Can't you do it by yourself?" Luka was blushing, but not because of the subject of taking off Miku's clothes, but because of how awkward Luka's suddenly feeling.

"But I don't know how... Master, will you take off my clothes for me?" Miku implored.

Luka could literally feel her cheeks going hot. This girl didn't seem like she could relent, and she may seem stupidly stubborn at times, so Luka finally gave in. She knew it would be futile to argue further with her. "Fine... just don't say it like that. It's weird..." They were both girls so there really was nothing to be so embarrassed about.

"I'm sorry I'm so useless, master." Miku whispered, dread hidden in her tone. "I'll try harder next time."

Luka moved her hands to Miku's tie and then proceeded to untie it. She could feel her hands shaking slightly and sweat rolling down her forehead, but she kept telling herself that there was nothing to feel so agitated about.

She then began to unbutton her shirt, her hands moving down her body until it revealed Miku's stomach and slight curves. Afterwards, Miku took off her shirt by herself and Luka accidentally caught a glance of Miku's small mounds of chest. The pink-haired girl flushed even harder. Why wasn't she at least wearing a bra? Even if her chest seemed so small, that still was no excuse of wearing a bra. Then again, she was thankful that she didn't have to remove that particular item by herself.

"Why is so master so red?" Miku asked, innocent curiosity in her tone, while fruitlessly covering up her breasts and slim figure with her hands. "I hope you're not angry with me."

"I'm not." Luka answered quietly as she rolled Miku's stockings down to her ankles. "It's just that... you should be doing this yourself, not me."

"I'm sorry. I said I'll try harder next time."

Miku's skin looked so smooth, Luka noticed. She almost felt jealous but reminded herself that she was content with her own figure. After taking off Miku's shoes, Luka then moved up to Miku's skirt, to which her cheeks flushed even more greatly. No, there should be no reason to be so embarrassed. It should be like changing an adolescent's diapers.

"This is the last piece of clothing..." Miku stated. Luka didn't know whether the tentativeness in her tone was due to her uselessness or the actual situation in front of her. "You'll help me take it off, right master?"

She guessed it was her uselessness, which is in of itself unusual. Did Miku feel at least awkward for having another person take off her clothes for her? Luka moved her hands to the top of the gray-teal skirt and slowly removed it, revealing striped blue panties. Luka's cheeks heated with more embarrassment. Though, they were both girls so if it were a boy taking off her clothes, of course Miku would feel embarrassed. Maybe it was Luka who was the weird one for blushing so furiously if it were the fact that they were both girls.

"Are you going to take off my panties too?" Miku interrupted Luka's train of thoughts. Her tone was docile and submissive. "Please take off my panties, master."

"Alright! Just stop talking." Luka said, flustered. She placed her hands on the side of Miku's hip and as she slid down her panties, Luka could just die from the sheer awkwardness of the current situation. After taking off her panties, Luka almost stumbled backwards at what she just saw. "W-what the hell! Y-y-you don't have a―"

"Master, are you alright? What's wrong?" Miku asked, worried.

"N-no! Stop..." Luka gasped, avoiding her eyes away from Miku as possible. Her whole body and cheeks were flaming and feeling so embarrassed caused her to feel angry. "W-w-what are you anyways! Why don't you have a... a―" She stopped, unable to finish her sentence.

"Huh...?" Miku looked down and realized what Luka was exactly referring to. She had known about this, how her vast knowledge told her about the human body and gender. "Didn't you know, master?" Miku giggled, tilting her head with innocence. Miku honestly thought that her master looked so cute. "I thought you already knew?"

"Know what? I don't even know who you are! I just met you! How could I possibly know what the hell you're exactly talking about?" Luka was exasperated.

Confusion was in Miku's eyes as well, but decided to comply to Luka's orders. "I am a Vocaloid," she answered, smiling. "I assumed you're my master. You'll take care of me, right?"

"No! I don't even know what the hell a Vocaloid is!" Luka breathed deeply, trying to calm down but only to feel her heart beat pound harder against her chest.

"Please don't get mad at me, master." Miku tried to smile, worried. "A Vocaloid is an android made to sing for humans... or at least that's what my brain is telling me. I thought you were my master, seeing as though you had taken me into your home."

'Vocaloid? What... the... hell?' Luka processed the information for a few moment before replying.

"So, you're like a robot? Like an Utau?"

"Yes."

"You're not human?"

"Yes."

Luka was still in deep confusion. What did Miku mean by that? This was all too much to comprehend and Luka can only stare at her, dumbfounded with her mouth agape; the frustration was building up inside her, slowly causing her anger to boil even more. Miku seemed so human-like, and it was indeed hard to believe that she's a robot. Utaus can barely function flexibly such as Miku. How could Miku possibly be a robot when Crypton hasn't even properly perfected Utaus yet? Unless―

"Wait a minute..." Luka abruptly interrupted. "Are you perhaps associated with Crypton?"

At the sound of the company name, Miku's teal eyes were quickly filled with dejection and fear. Her face face blanched a bit. "They did create me..." she answered slowly, voice cracking.

"You!" After realizing what this all meant, Luka pointed a finger filled with accusation at Miku. She wasn't dumb; she had read a few books and watched a few movies to figure out what these all meant in these kind of situations. "You escaped from their lab didn't you?" It was just hard to believe that it was happening to her.

Shock was evident in her eyes, and the sea of teal wavered about in the room violently, as if she were paranoid. Even so after Luka noticed these things, that still didn't stop her from balling her fists from the pressure that was building up inside her. "I don't really remember. I–" Before Miku could properly finish her response, Luka's temper had already reached its limit and had already kicked Miku out of the house, along with her clothes.

"Get out! I don't want to be involved with these stuff! I don't even believe half of the crap you just said, you freak!" The pink-haired girl yelled, shutting the door firmly, and leaving Miku outside.

"Master?"

Luka breathed deeply. There really was nothing to be worried if she just pushed that Miku out of her life. It shouldn't concern her anyways. Of course, she'll eventually forget about this incident. There really was no reason for her to get involved. For a seemingly high-advanced android like Miku or whatever she exactly is, she'll notice later what she'll do next and hopefully return back to wherever she came from. Luka took another deep breathe, forgetting all about these Vocaloids or androids.

She could hear Miku repeatedly calling 'master' outside the door but she ignored it as she fixed herself some breakfast. She hasn't eaten anything since last night since she usually skips breakfast whenever she goes down to the beach. After noticing how awfully dark the kitchen was, she opened the curtains of the window but only to find Miku's face planted against the glass pane.

"Master~!"

Luka jumped, staring at her in horror. "What the hell? Leave me alone!" This was all getting way too redundant.

"Master!" She started thumping the window. "Are you going to leave me, master?" At that question, her eyes flickered once again with fear.

Luka could feel her temper shortening again but decided to remain calm, repeatedly telling to herself that the event of which Miku eventually leaving her alone will come.

"Yes, now leave me alone! Go back to Crypton or whatever."

She closed the window curtains and turned on the kitchen lights instead. Today didn't have the brightest weather anyways.

"Master! Master! Master!" She could hear her wail from outside that was enough to attract attention from their neighbours. Luka just turned on the television and started eating. "Why are you leaving me, master?" This time Miku's voice softened, hint of sadness buried in her tone. "Did I do something wrong?"

Luka frowned in irritation as she flipped through the channels, wondering when Miku will leave her front lawn. She saw on the weather channel that it will rain very soon and in fact she could hear a few raindrops thumping down on her roof. Though, the sound of the rain didn't stop her from still hearing Miku calling out 'master' outside.

Out of curiosity's sake, Luka looked out the window but only to find the girl in question kneeling down on her lawn, bare-naked with a crestfallen expression plastered on her face. Luka almost choked on her food. She coughed. It completely slipped her mind that she had thrown Miku out without her clothes on.

She just hoped she hadn't attracted any attention. Hurriedly, she stepped out of the rain, covered Miku's body with a blanket that she had grabbed in her room, and pulled her inside, away from the coldness of the rain.

"Master…" Miku's teal eyes lit up with hope once she was inside and then a smile spread across her lips, showing enthusiasm. Luka looked away, uncomfortable at the thought that Miku was practically naked in front of her; although the blanket emphasized on her small curves, she thanked it nonetheless, as it was enough to wrap her body fully.

Miku broke the small silence by giggling. "Master, I thought you were going to abandon me!"

"You're hopeless," Luka simply responded, crossing her arms. "The only reason why I'd let you in was because you were naked." It would cause too much attention if one of Luka's neighbours ever saw a naked girl on their lawn. She was already attracting enough attention with their godawful house.

"But aren't you going to keep me?" Miku's smile faded slightly, detecting the subtle annoyance in Luka's voice. "You're my master… you're suppose to take care of me."

"I'm not your master," Luka corrected, frowning. "Just call me Luka if you want me to take care of you," she half-lied. A plan of what she'll do with this girl was already starting to form in Luka's head.

"But I have to call you master if you're going to take care of me!" She countered, cheeks bubbling and face growing closer to Luka's.

For a moment Luka almost found her face cute, how she pouted and how her big teal eyes faced hers stubbornly, it almost illustrated how a child would throw a tantrum. But with Miku it was much cuter and prettier, especially how her face was close to Luka's. She was like a porcelain doll. Luka was surprised how she didn't find her response annoying.

Her outstanding appearances truly convinced Luka that Miku was an indeed nothing but an artificial being, for she never saw someone as cute as her. And for a slight second, Luka jokingly thought that Miku was created for the purpose of fulfilling the perverted fantasies of mad scientist. But she shook the thought off, smiling dryly to herself because of her sick humour, while Miku still held her stare on her.

"Master!" Miku derailed Luka's train of thoughts.

"Alright, alright. Stop pouting. Just call me Luka."

"Master Luka!"

"No–Luka," she corrected once again. "Just call me Luka."

"But I can't help it." Miku countered. "I'm programmed to call you master, I know that. It keeps telling me to call you master."

Luka just gave up, deciding that it's futile to press further on the subject. "Listen, Miku… You can stay here if you want."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up again. "So you'll be taking care of me?"

"But I'll be taking you to Crypton later. So no," The pink-haired confirmed.

"Crypton?" Miku frowned and her whole features fell. The same expression that was filled with fear she had previously worn when Luka first mentioned that company name returned once again.

"Yeah, that's where they created you, right? Miku...?" Luka could see Miku's eyes widened. Her pupils were dilated and her whole face turned pale. The exchange of expression worried Luka. Tears were gleaming in her teal eyes until it rolled down her cheeks. "Miku, are you crying?"

"I don't want to go back there…" she whispered, desperation tugging in her voice. She fell down on the floor, landing on her knees, and she uselessly wiped away the onslaught of tears. "I don't want to go back there. I don't want to…"

Instead of responding, Luka could only stare at her in puzzlement. From the sadness and fear laced in her tone, she knew she was crying… but how was that even possible when she said she's nothing but an android?

"I don't know why… but I know they're bad people. I don't know why… Sometimes… I can remember… but I know that's impossible…" She whispered faintly. "…since I'm nothing but a creation. Please, Luka, I don't want to go back there." Miku tugged on the hem of her shirt and buried her face on her legs, finally addressing her properly. "I don't want to go back there. I'll do anything, Luka. I'll stop calling you master. I don't want to go back there, please. I don't want to…"

Seeing the girl plead so desperately, Luka couldn't help but feel a feeble hint of sympathy; it almost reminded her of her own younger self when she was constantly begging for something. The girl had implored so desperately to the point of it being classified as begging, and even though she knew she was naught but a robot, she knew only a non-human being with no heart could allow their self to refuse to her pleadings. Slowly, she rose her arm and patted the top of Miku's head.

The teal haired girl stopped crying and stared up at her, cheeks and eyes wet. Her eyes flickered with hope again, almost resembling to that of a desperate child. "Luka…"

"I already said you can stay here if you want." Luka managed to say, even though she knew she'll eventually regret it later. She didn't know what exactly she'll do with her, but she'll definitely keep her away from Crypton, or at least when she's still not ready.

Miku's expression softened. And then gradually, the same cheerful smile she had once worn when she first saw her returned back on her lips. "Luka!" She tackled her into a hug and then they both fell to the floor. Luka restrained herself from groaning in pain but she still couldn't help but feel the pain of landing on the hard floor seep in her elbows and limbs; she was lucky that Miku weighed very lightly. "Thank you!"

Luka looked away, uncomfortable at the intimate contact and as well as the position she currently was in. Her face was so close. "Yeah… whatever…"

"Please take good care of me..." Miku smiled widely as she hugged her again, feeling both of their warmth despite the fact that one of them was an android. "...and I'll
take good care if you too!"

Luka could only blush slightly, wondering if maybe she'll regret this decision later.