VOCALOID - Codename: Reality

00 - Prologue

{Fukase}

"You're about to conk your head on the table again,"

The sudden voice from my computer jolted me awake, pulling me away from my semi-asleep state and back to reality. A few blinks, rubs and shakes of my head were enough to remind me of what I was doing some minutes ago. Or wait, if I just took a dozy nap, wouldn't that be an hour ago?

"Hellooooo?"

Ah, that's right. I was tuning a cover. Now I remembered why I was slouching on my desk, with my computer screen glaring at me as the only light source in my dark room. Did I forget to turn on a night light? What time was it anyway?

"Seriously, are you there? Don't tell me that your brain needs a slap to wake you up or-"

"I'm awake I'm awake I'm awake!" I cut in with a quick sigh before the male, teenaged and slightly robotic voice could continue. As I brought my attention back to the screen in front of me, I was greeted by the sight of a pale, red-haired boy crossing his arms at me, with narrowed eyes and a stern expression plastered on his face. If it weren't for the body horror on the left side of his face and that bloodshot left eye, I would probably be amused at him trying to be serious. His asymmetrical coat, goofy hat and clown-like shoes described him to be the opposite of that, after all.

But I digress; even after my claims of being awake, Fukase was not convinced. "You know I can read the clock on your computer, right? And that means I know that you are up WAY past your bedtime,"

I stretched my arms over my head as I groaned. "Geez, you sound like my mom," I pouted. "Besides, I'm making a cover for you, shouldn't you be happy about that?"

In the blink of an eye, the Vocaloid reached out towards me and popped his head out of my screen, his now-real-life ruby eyes glaring at me. "And would I be happy if you fall sick because of something so small like fatigue?"

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. "Since when did you care about me so much?"

"Since we all came to life inside your computer. When else?" He retorted before jumping out of the screen and gracefully landing on the ground behind me. (How the hell do they all do that-?) As he turned back to me, the stern expression on his face returned. "Don't get me wrong; I'm glad you're making a cover for me, but sabotaging your sleep for it won't make me happy. And that applies to the rest of us, by the way,"

I was skeptical. "How do you know how the others feel about me staying up late making covers for you all?"

"Because we all, by default, don't have personalities, idiot," He said in a matter-of-fact tone that also sounded annoyed. "Well, except for some like Flower and Arusu, but yeah for the most part, we're all blank slates so we naturally feel the same way about some things. You know this!"

I sighed and shook my head, unable to fully digest the words Fukase had said. It was bringing me back to the day this all started, which was honestly something that no one would believe. I mean, how do you explain to people that the Vocaloid voicebanks in your computer, which were nothing more than numerical codes and binary numbers, could actually talk to you like human beings? Or that they could pop out of your computer into reality and then jump back into your device like it was nothing? Only a madman would listen to what I said, and only Vocaloid fans would get jealous of me.

"How does that work anyway?" I changed the subject as I stood up and walked over to sit down on my bed. "I mean, I get that the companies don't give you all personalities because that way, producers can use you however they like, but there are THOUSANDS of people online that portray you differently," In my head, I let out a small groan at the memory of the videos that portrayed Fukase as a 'memelord', a position that vastly contrasted with the boy in front of me, who simply sat on my wheelie chair like any other civilised person. Back straight, hands on his lap, focused gaze... yeah, definitely not a memelord.

"That's 'cause I'm the original," He explained simply. "Just because someone describes me with a specific personality online doesn't mean that I get directly affected. You can't alter the original. Like I said before, we're supposed to be blank slates for you to use. That's really all to it," He shrugged at me.

"So... you don't ever change?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Like, ever? Not even in terms of how you feel about things or anything?"

Fukase was starting to look a little annoyed at my insistence to talk about this, but with a short sigh, he gave in. "Well, I guess when we sing specific songs, we gain a memory of the song's lyrics and its meaning, but beyond that, yeah we don't change much,"

"So when Oliver ate that tarantula-"

"You might want to ask him that in the morning," He cut me off a curt look as his left index finger pointed at my pillows. "After you've had a night of sleeping,"

I was about to protest before my mouth betrayed me and elicited a yawn. In front of me, Fukase smirked, though it was free of malice. "See, even your body agrees with me," He chuckled.

"Fine, fine. Honestly, you read me like an open book sometimes, Fukase. All of you do," I yawned again as I repositioned myself on the bed, head now on the pillow as my eyelids began to slide shut.

"That's what happens when you use us so much that we know you too well," He said simply as he stood up, getting ready to head back into the computer.

Meanwhile, I could feel my tiredness really take over me, enveloping me like a blanket. "I just wished that I knew all of you better, too..." I trailed off as sleep took hold of my consciousness.

~~~~~

"I just wished that I knew all of you better, too..."

The red-haired Vocaloid closely eyed the sleeping girl on the bed as he pulled a blanket over her. He couldn't really describe what he was feeling, only recognising the warmth in his chest that he felt whenever she was tuning his voice in the Vocaloid software. The warmth that everyone else admitted that they felt in the same situation as well.

Deep down, Fukase was confused too. On the day he first met her, it felt like he was a doll being animated with a mind that could speak, a body that could move and a voice that he could use freely. Before then, he could still see her using his voice, he could still feel her alter the notes that his voice sang. But no matter how hard he tried, there was no way for him to move about, no way for them to talk. In fact, there had been no way for any of them to talk to her, he realised.

But then on that day, something changed in the hard drive of her computer. Something that he really couldn't recall. All he knew was that from that day on, their lives as Vocaloids were changed forever.

... Perhaps then, if their lives were changed, that maybe they could change, too?

Fukase couldn't shake off how excited he was for that as he leaped back into the computer.

~~~~~

(A/N: Pardon me deciding to indulge in my favourite Vocaloid here, hehe. You're welcomed to make your requests now!)