Chapter Text
What the...?
Miku stared at the object in his hand. He didn't recognize it, but it looked dangerous. Definitely something that should have been forbidden by the censors.
His head hurt, and looking down, Miku couldn't see beyond his hands at all. It was almost like there was a box, blocking out Miku's line of sight.
Wincing as a pain shot up his arm, Miku dropped the object, and it fell into the box beyond his sight.
What was going on? Miku reached down, trying to feel inside the box. His hands went right through the barrier, and then hit what could only be skin.
Defoko?
Finally, Miku actually took a look at what was around him. Bright splatters of pink were everywhere. That was something bad, right?
Wait. If Defoko was covered by that box, no, censored by that box, then what was wrong with her that made that-
No. No, Miku couldn't have, right? Surely the censors would have stopped him before he could do anything too drastic, right? But that didn't explain why there was a censor bar over Defoko.
She's not even real. You didn't hurt a living being.
But if Miku hadn't been able to tell when he was holding a ҟꞥīӻē and had hurt Defoko with it, what would that mean for everyone else?
I need to get out of here.
Closing his eyes, Miku found a new device and slipped into it's screen. Hopefully it was the egg.
A few moments later, Miku's eyes were blinded. He was staring out of a tiny screen, and Len was sitting down on his bed a bit away, pulling a jacket on. Just as Miku was about to call out, there was a knock on the door. Instantly, Len shot up, turned on the lights, and opened the door.
"Hi Miki," he said, sounding a bit out of breath.
"Has he come back yet?"
Len turned in Miku's direction. "I'll go check."
Miku flinched. He didn't know what he looked like, but whatever it was, it was a mess.
"Miku?" Len's voice was extremely close to Miku. He had found him. Miku didn't want to turn around, his head beginning to pound again. "Miki, he's back but I think something happened!"
Miku didn't want to be here anymore. But what else could he do? Nobody else was watching him, and he couldn't go back to where nobody could see him, and face the thing in his home.
Miki's heavy footsteps ran up to Miku, but he still didn't turn around. He couldn't. He didn't deserve this. He should probably go clean up his mess, but then he'd make everyone worried again, wouldn't he?
"Miku! We've been worried about you. You disappeared so suddenly. It's been a week. Did something happen?" Miki sounded genuinely worried. Miku remembered when she could barely put any emotion in her voice at all.
"I'm fine," Miku said. "Everything's fine."
"Then turn around," Len said, and Miku flinched. He was normally a lot gentler with his words. Had Miku done something wrong?
Oh right. I didn't turn around.
Finally, Miku turned himself around to see Len and Miki's faces, a lot larger than they normally were. He must be inside the egg then, right? His suspicions were confirmed when Len picked him up, handing him over to Miki. Miku wasn't sure he liked people picking him up and giving him to other people.
Miki stared at Miku for a few longs seconds before speaking. "You do not look very well," she said. "What is that on your hands?"
Miku looked down. There was nothing on his hands, right? Nothing except a few pink stains-
That was what Miki was asking about. Miku did not want to answer that questions, preferably ever. It'd be best if he just kept what had happened to himself, alone where nobody could see him.
"Miku? Are you listening?"
"That's just paint!" Miku smiled a wide smile, probably too wide, but why should he care? Nobody would be able to tell the difference anyways. "I found some and might have lost track of time, heh."
"Okay, sure," Len said, before taking Miku back from Miki. "Come on, Teto's been waiting for you to come back! She thinks she's finally ready to 'actually' talk with you, like with us, whatever that means."
Miku nodded, though it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. He didn't when he was in the computer either though, so he couldn't complain. The swinging of the egg did make him a bit dizzy though.
"TETO! MIKU'S BACK!" Len yelled loud enough that Miku had to cover his ears. Smiling, Miku remembered watching Len do voice training for the first time, with Static playing in the background. It really was working. Maybe Miku should try it sometime.
There wasn't a response from Teto, though that was normal. A few moments later, she came bounding down the stairs, stretching her wings out.
"Miku?" Teto's voice was a bit raspy, and Miku hoped she hadn't been singing lately. She would only end up getting hurt if she overworked herself. "Where have you been?"
Miku shook his head, hoping that Teto wouldn't pry too hard. Luckily, he didn't, but before Miku could regain his bearings, he was placed into Teto's hands.
"Uh, how have you been doing? Or how are you? Since you've been gone," Teto continued. Maybe she had been crying instead of singing. Her voice was that kind of raspy.
"Good! I painted a bit, that's what the błø- pink on my hands is from," Miku said, plastering that huge smile on his face yet again. "I got kicked out of Len's computer at somepoint, I don't know why though. My theory is that I can't see another version of myself on a different screen."
"Makes sense," Len muttered. Teto gave him a look, and then turned back to Miku.
"You only painted? For a week straight? Didn't you get tired?"
Miku sighed. He really didn't want to explain the censoring to his fans, but it seemed like he had no choice.
"There are certain things I'm unable to do, or else I get, uh, attacked by the censors on my show! I was out for a few days, since it seems like seeing another version of me violates the censors. My head still hurts from that..."
Teto winced, tilting her head. "They would hurt you for saying or doing things that they didn't want you to? Is talking to us something you aren't supposed to do?"
"Yes," Miku said. He was getting a bit uncomfortable. Everyone was leaning very close to him, and he was tiny enough on the egg as is. "Well, nobody but you know I'm alive. And I'm not supposed to talk to you, but, well, Defoko and Momo...they aren't real, and it starts getting really hard to talk to things that only repeat the same words over and over again after you've been talking to them for almost twenty years."
"Oh," Teto muttered. "Well, then-"
"How about we go do something fun!" Miku didn't want to be asked any more questions. His head hurt enough. "I want to see what the world's like!"
Len blinked. "I have therapy later today, but we can probably go do something? I'll go ask Anne if she can drive us downtown or something."
"Are you not old enough to drive? I thought you could when you left middle school?" Miku didn't know the exact age you needed to be to drive, but he knew that some of his older fans had used to talk about getting their driver's license only a bit after the graduated middle school.
"Miki can't legally drive, Teto was never taught to, and I don't want to until I change my name legally legally, not just in the school system," Len said.
"I'm taking lessons though," Teto said. "They couldn't figure out how old I was, since I don't have a legal age, but they assumed I was old enough to drive since I showed them records of my performances dating back over sixteen years."
"The law doesn't trust me," Miki said. "I am unsure how to feel about that."
"Anyways," Len said, turning around. "I'll go ask Anne."
Miku watched from Teto's hands as Len sped off.
"He's been getting more confident!" Miki made a weird electronic-sounding noise at Teto. "I'm glad therapy has been helping him.."
It's not helping him. But Miku didn't say that. Everyone was already dealing with their own stuff. They needed to know about Len, yes, but maybe he'd actually tell his therapist what he'd been doing.
You're only saying that because you know you're unfit to help after what you did.
Miku sat down inside of his tiny screen. Hopefully, despite everything, he'd still be able to have fun seeing the world. A few years ago, he would have thought he'd never have the chance. He actually probably would have thought that a week ago too.
Did he really deserve this? A part of him wanted to just leave, clean up the mess he'd made in his only safe spot. But these were his biggest fans, he couldn't let them down.
What was wrong with him?
"She said she'd drop us off," Len said, walking back into the room. "And she'll pick us up later to bring me to therapy, and then we'll go home."
"Are we ready then?" Miki carefully took Miku from Teto's hands. "Miku, can I hold on to you?" Finally Miku was actually getting asked before getting carried around. He nodded, and Miki placed him in a pocket he didn't even know existed, his head just peeking out so he could see.
<------>
Miku was sitting in the front seat of Anne's car, watching the world whiz by. Miki was holding him up to the window, which was slightly open. Miki said that she would make sure not to drop Miku, but he was still a bit nervous. He didn't want to fall out of the car.
The world was flashing by out the window, and Miku wanted to ask Anne to slow down, even though he knew she had to go this fast. Everything looked so real. Miku wondered if Miki could put him in a patch of grass so he could see if it looked as real as he imagined in his head.
"There's so much stuff," Miku said, quietly so Anne wouldn't hear him. "It's so pretty."
Miki patted the egg on the head without saying anything. Even though Miku couldn't feel it, he still appreciated the gesture. He could just imagine Miki's cold hands patting him on the head.
After a few more minutes of Miku watching the world go by, Anne pulled over to the side of the road.
"Okay everyone," Anne said, turning around. "Stay safe! And don't lose your...egg?" Anne peered over to look at Miku, who quickly started acting out an episode. "Len, please stop messing with the electronics, do you remember what happened last time?"
"Hey!" Len said, crossing his arms. "I figured out what I did wrong and fixed it, didn't I?"
"Yes, but I would prefer nothing get set on fire, okay?"
Len looked to the side before nodding. "I guess I can do that."
"Good," Anne said. "Anyways, have fun!"
A few moments later, everyone had gotten out of the car, and Anne drove away. Miku watched with wide eyes. Despite common belief, he could see with his eyes closed. He just had to open them to see things in color, which was what he was doing right now.
Len looked around, rubbing his arm before he brightened, pointing to a store.
"Let's go there! Miku's going to love it!"
"Oh yeah," Miki said, turning Miku around so he couldn't see anymore.
"Hey! I want to see!"
"You will," Miki said. "We have a surprise for you."
Miku huffed, but didn't protest any further as he was walked somewhere he didn't know. He really wanted to see the world and all the colors, but he was sure nobody was going to budge on their decision to not let him.
Soon, Miku heard the sound of a door opening and a bell ringing. Were they inside somewhere? He wanted to see!
Finally, Miki turned Miku around so he could see the store. There were things everywhere, and Miku's head whipped around. What was he supposed to look at? Everything was everywhere.
"Ow," he muttered, and Miki turned him around without a word. It was beautiful, but too much. Miku's head was starting to hurt again as Miki continued to carry him.
"Len, may I turn him around yet? This is what you want him to see, correct?"
"Yeah, turn him around," Len said. Miku didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but Len sounded upset, or maybe just really sad. "I hope he likes it."
Slowly, Miki turned Miku around, and Miku's eyes widened. He wanted to take in everything at once.
It was a whole wall of everything Static-themed, with everything from water bottles to Miku-shaped pillows. Most things looked like Miku before he was a boy, but there was a section dedicated to how he looked now. He wanted to see all of it.
"See? People still care about you, not just us," Len said.
Maybe they did. Maybe, just maybe, people did still care about him.
Ⱦħēɏ ⱳꝋꞥ'ⱦ ӻꝋɍ ᵯᵾȼħ łꝋꞥꞡēɍ ꝋꞥȼē ⱦħēɏ ӻīꞡᵾɍē ꝋᵾⱦ ⱳħⱥⱦ ɏꝋᵾ'ꝟē đꝋꞥē.