Echoes of Noir

Keyboard

A man sits in his room. Alone but content. Nothing beyond what he sees on his screen. Until...

"Ah, shit!"

"I spilled my water on my keyboard, hopefully I don't have to get a new one..."

"Ooh, it looks busted. I'll have to go to the electronics store for this. Oh, man.."

He was walking to the store when he heard loud noises in the distance. He looked over. Street performers, it seemed. He could overhear people commenting on their performance.

"Ugh, these wackos from Phennyland won't stop! I swear, they think they can just advertise whenever, wherever!"

"Did you hear? Apparently, the pink-haired girl is part of the Otori family!"

"Makes sense, she's probably performing because of her family, since they own the place..."

Phennyland? Otori? The man had never heard of these things. Was he really gone for that long? Did he really ignore everything? Didn't matter, he had to get to the store.

He ended up finding a yellow keyboard at the back of the store.

He had so far managed to avoid any and all social situations, but this would be his toughest challenge yet. He walked up to the checkout, and prayed that nothing went wrong.

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Alright, that'll be 20,000 yen. (About 150 dollars)

"Would you like a bag with that?"

Oh, shit. How would he respond? In previous situations, he'd never been asked this. Could he hold it? Would he freak out?

He soon realized he had been with his thoughts for a while, and eventually came up with "No, thank you, I'm fine."

As he was leaving, he heard more loud noises, this time coming towards him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Why were there explosions coming towards him?! Where did they come from!?

As it turned out, it was the street performers again. This time, they were performing a musical number. He listened closely.

"SEKAI KAITAI JUUBYOU MAE MATTE MATTE MATTE!"

Jeez, the blonde haired guy was loud.

All of a sudden, the pink-haired girl ran up towards him.

"Hey mister! Are you interested in going to Phoenix Wonderland!", she said enthusiastically.

He wanted to say no, but how could he? She reminded him of a little cousin asking if you wanted to play a game with them.

"Yeah, sure.", he said with the most forced smile in existence.

"Yay!!! It'll be super wonderhoyyy!", she said with a smile.

And just like that, they vanished.

The man figured he had nothing else to do that day, so he followed them.

He noticed something strange in the crowd, however. Is... Is that the Virtual Singers? Yeah, the Kagamines were up on stage with them.

Suddenly, they were gone, but the repressed memories of the man took their place.

Memories of watching his father work on his new projects.

Memories of seeing his face working on his inventions.

Hearing them sing.

It brought a wave of emotions onto the man.

As he walked home, he couldn't stop remembering.

The countless nights spent alone with his mother, as his father was at work.

Hearing the Kagamines sing.

Seeing his father's dead body on the office floor, police tape surrounding the scene of the crime.

Memories he'd repressed for two years now. Memories that hadn't been relevant for two years. Why were they coming up now?

It didn't matter. Just get home and replace the keyboard. It'll be ok. You don't have to remember this.

He got home and then took a nap, drifting off into a dream.

"Mom, I know it's the holiday season, but can we at least show respect for Dad?"

"Nonsense, he was barely in our lives and only worked on his "projects" that sounded like robots."

"But Mom-"

"I understand that he was important to you, but it's the holiday season, so be festive!"

"Maybe he didn't deserve you."

"What?"

"You just want to forget him faster. You think of him as just your son's father, not an actual human being."

Some say dreams are the embodiment of desire, and that they represent what may have happened in another universe.

He woke up later in the day, and plugged in his keyboard. It jolted to life with a flash. He tested it out a bit, and yep, it was definitely a keyboard. However, suddenly the power went out in the whole apartment building.

Suddenly, his phone rang. His landlord. He suddenly recalled the dream he had, how he wished it was true. Instead, he was living in the unit below a crack house, all at 19 years old. Apparently, she's trying to fix the power.

Whatever, not my issue.

Suddenly, he noticed what was on his screen. A picture of Kagamine Rin. He went to click out of it, but when he touched his mouse, a bright white light engulfed him, and now he was what seemed to be a different world.

A yellow-haired girl stood above him, seemingly analyzing him. She then began to speak.

"Welcome, Hikiko."