Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s pleasantly warm out, and the weather is making Miku feel a bit sleepy; she would be totally passed out on this cafe table right now if it weren’t for Vivid BAD SQUAD’s loud singing from just outside. Well, Akito’s loud singing, anyway. Miku thought An was loud at first, but Akito has absolutely no volume control.

Not that their singing is a bad thing. They sound great-- they’ve only been a team for a little over a month, but they’ve improved a lot since they first performed together, and they’ll only get better from here.

Miku’s excited to see her friends grow and change, but for now, she just wants to sleep.

“Miku! Wake up! Miku-chan! Miku-kun! Miku-nyan!”

The universe is an expert in comedic timing, Miku thinks grumpily. “What’s up, Rin?” She lifts her head to face her. “Did you just call me Miku-nyan?”

“Why are you inside?” Rin notably ignores Miku’s second question. “We’re all singing with VBS out there; why don’t you join us? We sound great! Did you hear us?”

“I heard you. You sounded amazing,” Miku says. “But I’m tired.”

“Aw, man.” Rin pats Miku’s head with uncharacteristic gentleness. “Alright. Sleep well! Join us after your nap, ’kay?”

“‘Kay,” Miku mumbles in agreement, setting her head back down on the table. “See you later.”

“Later!”

Rin leaves, and in the brief silence between songs, Miku finds herself drifting off to sleep.

. . .

“Miku-sa-- oh.”

Miku is, quite unfortunately, a very light sleeper, so even though Touya’s voice is always very soft and quiet, it wakes her up immediately. “Huh?”

“I apologize for waking you,” Touya says quickly. “I didn’t realize you were asleep. I can leave if you’d like to continue resting.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” she says, sitting up and stretching. A glance of the pink sunset through the cafe window-- and the ache in her neck-- tells her it’s been at least an hour since she started napping. Rin must have told everyone not to come in because she was sleeping. Aww. “Do you need something?”

Touya glances back and forth, like he’s making sure no one is listening. Oh, this might be interesting, actually. “Well . . . I’ve come to realize something quite important, and I’m not sure who to tell.”

“You can’t tell Akito?” They tell each other everything. Well, mostly everything. If they told each other everything, there wouldn’t have been that whole soap opera where Akito ran all the way to Ken’s cafe and heartfeltly shouted some sort of emotional speech at Touya while on the verge of tears. And all that other angsty teenage guy stuff, or whatever. (It was only a few weeks ago, but Miku can’t remember all the details now.)

“Well.” Touya clears his throat. Shifts awkwardly. Tucks that one lock of hair behind his ear, the one that’s longer than the rest of his hair for some reason. (Maybe his barber was distracted.) “I . . . no, I can’t exactly tell Akito about this.”

And then Miku knows just what he’s about to say-- she’s been waiting for this ever since they first met-- but she decides to let him finish. “Then what is it?”

“Um.” Touya looks away, then looks back at Miku, fiddling with one of the many straps hanging from one of his many belts. Kids these days and their impractical layers. “I’m not very experienced in this field, but I’m almost entirely sure I may have developed romantic feelings for him?”

Called it. Well, she called it forever ago, but she never really expected Touya to come out and say it. Ha-- come out. That’s practically what he’s doing. “Ah. You have bad taste in men.”

“Akito is an amazing person,” Touya argues. “He’s my best friend in the world and I trust him more than anyone. I can’t imagine a life where I’m not standing by his side.”

Miku always forgets just how sappy Touya can be when he has something important to say. “Alright, I get it, I was just joking. Sorry.”

“Oh.” Touya seems to relax a little. “Anyway, I . . . was wondering if I could perhaps get some advice? Not just on how to confess, but how to-- how to process? All of this. And to figure out if he feels this way as well.”

“Look, man, I have no idea how love works,” Miku says, kicking her feet up on the table. “But if you really don’t have anyone else to tell . . .” She doesn’t know much about Touya’s family, but she knows they’re not people he’d want to talk to about anything, much less something this important to him. And An and Kohane . . . well, they seem like good options, but Touya’s not very close to them, so he might’ve opted for who he presumes is The Mighty All-Knowing Hatsune Miku. Unfortunately, said Hatsune Miku is just a regular old teenager like him who, yes, does tend to wear impractical amounts of layers sometimes. “I guess I could try to help.”

Touya brightens. Barely. All of his facial expressions are a semitone above blank stares. “Really?”

“Really,” she says. “Although I don’t know him half as well as you do. You’ve been his best friend for two years, and I’ve barely been his acquaintance for a month.”

“That’s okay,” Touya says, sitting down across from Miku at the table. “I just need . . . general advice. I can barely understand any kind of feelings normally, but romantic feelings are a whole other story.”

“Well,” Miku says, trying to take this seriously. Touya doesn’t start conversations much, let alone ask people for advice, so she really wants to try her best to help him out. “About him liking you back-- I haven’t seen you two interact a whole lot, but it seems to me like he’s much touchier with you than with the girls.”

And by much touchier, she means much touchier . There was that one time when Akito hugged Touya backstage, of course. And the many times he’s ruffled Touya’s hair. And the time when they hugged in the cafe when they thought no one was looking. And the way they always link arms when they’re walking together. And the time when they hugged after practice. And the way Akito will put his arm around Touya’s shoulders whenever they’re sitting together. And that one other time when they hugged. (Miku’s starting to get a vague idea that Akito likes hugs?) 

Touya considers this. “I believe that’s because he doesn’t open up to people easily, and he’s not very close with them yet. I’m sure he’d act the same way with them if they were all best friends.”

Miku’s no idiot; she’s seen the way Akito looks at Touya as if he hung all the stars in the sky. Well, actually, that might not be the most admirable thing to Akito. The way he looks at Touya as if he invented pancakes. Yeah, that’s more like him. “Hmm.”

“Do you disagree?” Touya asks, looking skeptical but also hopeful. Well, that’s how Miku imagines he feels. His tone of voice and facial expression haven’t changed at all over the course of the conversation.

“Well . . .” Miku likes to stay in the cafe sometimes and watch Vivid BAD SQUAD hanging out without joining in. She wants to learn more about the people who created her world with their feelings, and every interaction feels like remembering something about an old friend. So, among many other quiet observations, she’s noticed the way Akito lingers a bit too long when he touches Touya, and how he’ll stare at Touya when the latter isn’t paying attention. Akito blushes very easily, she realized early on, but he blushes the most when he’s with Touya. It’s obvious he’s got it bad for his partner. She’s known that the whole time.

Touya’s crush on Akito, however, is a bit more subtle, and it took Miku longer to realize he returned the feelings. He doesn’t show his emotions on his face, or with physical affection like Akito does, but through words. While he’s not a chatty person by any means and stays so quiet most of the time that Miku tends to forget he’s there with the rest of VBS, Touya could talk about Akito for hours . Heck, she found out for sure he likes Akito when he was talking about him one time. In great length and detail. And Miku was trying her very best to pay attention, but thankfully Akito cut him off before she lost her mind.

It wasn’t all bad, though. That might’ve been the happiest she’s ever seen Touya. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he rambled about small details about his partner that most people wouldn’t think to notice, let alone tell someone else about.

“I think there’s definitely a difference,” she finally says. “Although, I mean, it’s not like you two ever hug or anything.”

“We do,” Touya says, smiling a little. “Akito gives great hugs. I didn’t really like being touched at first, but now I love it when it’s him.”

“I . . .” The poor guy still doesn’t get sarcasm. “Cool. Have you ever seen him hug someone else?”

Touya thinks for a moment. “I don’t believe so.”

“Then there’s your first sign.”

“Really?” He seems to relax a little. “Is there anything else?”

Miku has to think really hard. There’s all the evidence in the world that Akito has a crush on Touya. But what’s the best way to explain it?

“Oi, Touya. What’s takin’ so long?”

Touya whirls around to see Akito in the cafe doorway. Miku doesn’t miss the way Touya absolutely lights up at the sight of him. “Oh-- I’m sorry. I said you didn’t have to wait for me.”

“But I did anyway,” Akito says. “I wanted to walk halfway home together. I can wait longer if you’re not done talkin’ to Miku.”

“No, it’s alright.” Touya stands up and bows to Miku, a silent thank you, let’s continue this conversation later, and walks over to Akito, who dips his head in a casual bow to Miku and links their arms together as they walk off.

“Ah, young love,” the voice of MEIKO says, startling Miku. She whirls around to see MEIKO standing behind the counter. “Since when have you been there?!”

“A while. I was just quiet. And I didn’t want to disturb you and Touya’s conversation.” MEIKO smiles warmly. “I appreciate you trying to help him out.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not very good at it,” Miku says with a yawn. “Hopefully he’ll be able to figure out most of it on his own.”

“If it’s those two? Even if they do figure it out, they’ll never tell each other.” MEIKO grins. “You might have to give one of them the little push he needs.”

“Ugh, no. I love them and they’re great, but I’d really rather not get caught up in their weird teenage dude romance thing. Too much testosterone and angst for me.” She stands up. “I’m gonna make some coffee.”

As she whips up her drink, she thinks about everything that just happened. Even though she’s romantically clueless, it means a lot that Touya would come to her. And she really does want to help, if it’ll make both boys happy.

She supposes she’ll just have to see how their story plays out.

Touya talks to her about Akito a few times over the next month or so, but Miku’s not sure what she’s supposed to do about it. She listens to him and tries to provide advice, but ultimately, it becomes clear neither of them are going to take any initiative on getting into a relationship, so she decides to brainstorm some ideas in some dusty old coffee-stained notebook she found in her room. Yes, she does have the notes app on her phone, but in movies they always write their plans on paper, so she thinks she’ll have more success this way.

She’s just writing down ‘Step 1: Get Akito to admit he likes Touya’ when she sees the flash outside of someone entering the SEKAI, and peeks outside to see who it is. It’s pretty late, after all. Rin and Len (and probably KAITO, who goes to bed at 8 p.m.) went to sleep hours ago, and the others probably have as well at this point.

The mysterious visitor is Akito. Instead of coming to the cafe like Miku expected, he starts walking off into a random alley. What is he doing? It’s dark out. He’ll get eaten by Calne Ca if he goes the wrong way!

(No, really. MEIKO says she’s sweet and friendly, but Miku’s still pretty sure she eats people.)

Miku throws her jacket on and hustles outside to follow him. Hopefully she can get him to come inside before they get eaten, but that guy is more stubborn than she is, which is . . . really saying something.

“Akito!” she whisper-yells. “Akito, what are you doing?!”

Akito whirls around, startled, making a really funny squeak that Miku would totally tease him about if she weren’t so worried. “Miku?”

“You need to come inside,” she says. “If you don’t know exactly where you’re going out here, you’ll meet some, uh, interesting characters.” She links her arm with his. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Um,” Akito says, clearly completely confused, but he follows her back to the cafe.

“What on earth are you doing out here?” she asks. “Why were you heading out into the streets?”

“I just . . . wanted to take a walk and think about some things.” His voice wavers, and he clears his throat.

“Are you okay?” she asks, letting go of his arm to open the cafe door and let him inside. “I thought your problem was resolved earlier.”

Apparently, some young adult singer trash-talked Akito and his friends, and Akito has been overworking himself like crazy for the last few weeks. Miku’s been really worried, but Touya and the others came to the rescue today, and she thought Akito’s troubles were over.

“I’m fine,” Akito says sharply.

Right. This’ll be a little difficult if Akito refuses to talk about his feelings like always.

Well . . . there is the option of bribery.

Miku goes to the dessert case and gets him a slice of cheesecake, then sets it in front of him. “Here.”

“It’s almost midnight,” Akito says, but immediately starts wolfing it down anyway.

“Now talk. What’s wrong?” Miku asks, sitting across from him.

“I just . . .” Akito sighs heavily. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Matters to me.  The SEKAI has been a little funky since the whole Arata thing started, so I think you should tell me. Plus, I gave you dessert.”

“Fine,” Akito mumbles through a mouthful of cheesecake. He swallows, then says, “I’ve gotten so used to practicing like crazy and goin’ to bed really late the last few weeks, so I feel super restless now. I can’t sleep, and I didn’t want to go out running in my pajamas, so I came here to jog a bit.” He stares at his already almost-finished dessert-- dude?? “I’m grateful for everything my friends said today, and Touya’s words especially hit me hard. But . . . I feel like it’s gonna be kinda difficult to get out of this mindset, y’know?”

She does know. In fact, she’s pretty sure all of her negative qualities come from Akito. Except for the one that makes KAITO scared of her cooking. What’s up with that?

“So Touya told you to rely on him more, huh?” Miku asks, propping her chin in her hand.

He sets down his fork. “Yeah. And . . . I wanna do that. I seriously do. I just don’t really know how yet.”

“That’s okay. You’re a smart guy; I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Miku glances at his almost-empty plate. “Did you eat dinner?”

Akito sheepishly avoids eye contact. “Uh. I was too busy.”

“Well, that’s the first thing you should change. You can’t think or sing on an empty stomach. Want me to make you a sandwich?”

“No,” Akito says quickly, and there’s something like fear in his eyes. “I’m good. Thank you.”

Why does no one like her sandwiches??? “Well then, you better eat something filling when you go home, ’kay?”

“Okay,” he mumbles, shoveling another huge bite of cheesecake into his mouth. He’s eating it so fast Miku’s getting worried he’s going to choke.

“Are you doing okay besides all that?” Miku asks. “Like, are you feeling better than you have since the whole Arata thing started?”

“Yeah.” Akito smiles a little. “I guess I didn’t really realize how much my team cares about me. I don’t deserve them. Especially Touya.”

“You do deserve them,” Miku says. “Jeez. Is it gonna take a whole year for you to realize that? A very long year that feels like three?”

Akito shrugs.

“I’m starting to think you’d sooner die and get reincarnated as a white knight in a fantasy world than realize your friends love you.”

“Oddly specific.”

She ignores him. “Oh yeah-- Touya.” Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with what they were talking about, but Miku hasn’t forgotten about her mission to get the guys to tell each other how they feel. Might as well accomplish Step 1 right here and now. “You love him, don’t you?”

Akito immediately turns bright red, then glances both ways, like he’s making sure no one’s listening.

“Everyone’s asleep,” Miku says. “Especially KAITO.”

“Why especially?” He finishes the last bite of cheesecake and pushes his plate to the side.

“Because he goes to bed earlier than the twins. He’s like a grandpa-- or a seven-year-old. Anyway, you were saying?”

“I don’t,” Akito says, fidgeting with his hands, which are shaking all of a sudden. Oh-- Miku didn’t realize he would get that flustered. She almost feels a little bad. “Well-- yeah, I love him, but not like that .”

That’s BS. “Are you sure? You can tell me. I’m here to help.”

“I’m sure,” Akito says. His hands really are very shaky. Miku takes one of them to calm him down.

“I promise, it’s not a bad thing,” Miku says. “In fact, everyone else who’s ever met you can probably tell you like him. Admitting it might make you feel better.”

“I . . .” Akito swallows hard. “I dunno.”

“How does spending time with Touya make you feel?” Jeez, she sounds like a therapist. Maybe that’s what she is at this point. She was destined to become the therapist of a bunch of messed-up kids her age when, hell, she’s almost as messed up herself.

“Warm,” Akito says, blushing again. “And safe. He’s kinda always been my safe person, I guess? Jeez, that sounds sappy and stupid, I . . .”

It’s true; Miku rarely ever sees one of them without the other. She knows Akito doesn’t have any other friends, and he never mentions his family, so Touya must really be the only person he trusts fully. “And why do you hug him all the time and not the others?”

“Hey, it’s not all the time, ” he says, defensive, then thinks about this. “Okay, yeah, maybe it is. It’s just ’cause I’m not close with the girls yet. I’m not really a hugger, either. I just wanna make sure Touya feels comfortable and loved, ’cause of everything he’s been through.”

Oh, Akito, and his constant need to act tough even when he doesn’t need to. “Hmm.”

“I’m sure he never really gets hugs from anyone else except maybe his freak sorta-brother sometimes. So I’m giving him the human contact he needs. Yeah.”

She has no idea what on earth a freak sorta-brother is. Sounds interesting. She’ll have to ask Touya. “Suuure. Ever gotten butterflies in your stomach around him? Gotten really blushy and heart-race-y?” 

“Leave me alone,” he mumbles, picking at the black polish on his thumbnail. “’S just . . . my hormones actin’ up or somethin’. I’m not gay.”

Miku has to try really hard not to laugh. “Yep. Definitely. Have you ever had crushes on anyone before?”

“I mean . . . not really. Unless you count . . . like, there was this one girl” -- he turns very very red -- “from an-- from an idol group.”

“Ooh,” Miku says. She wasn’t expecting that. “Bi, then, maybe? Spill the tea.”

“There’s no tea to spill. There was a girl. From an idol group. That’s all you get to know.” He clears his throat and turns away. “And I don’t want a label. Not yet, anyway. Not until I figure things out.”

“Fair enough. So do you like Touya or not?”

“Ugh, now my stomach hurts,” Akito grumbles.

“’Cause you didn’t eat anything for hours and then shoveled a whole slice of cheesecake into your body in like three seconds. Let this be a lesson.” Akito does look a little green, but it’s almost certainly because of the Touya thing, not the cheesecake. “By the way, I’m not as dumb as you think I am. You might feel sick, but you only brought it up to avoid my question. I said, do you like Touya or not?”

Akito refuses to meet her gaze, and there’s a very, very (very) (Miku could sing the entirety of Melt in the time it takes before he responds) long pause before he speaks again. 

“. . . Yeah,” he says in the quietest voice she’s ever heard him use. “I think I like him.”

Finally. “Cool.”

“That’s it?” Akito finally looks up in surprise. “I guess I was expecting you to go on some whole rant about me needing to finally tell him and how I’m an idiot and stuff.”

“You’re not an idiot, Akito,” Miku says. Actually, he sort of is. But she’s not about to say that. “Anyway, it was always pretty obvious you fell in love with him.”

“N--”

“‘Fell’ might not be a strong enough phrase. You tumbled down fifteen flights of stairs.”

“That’s not tr--”

“Tripped off the edge of the Grand Canyon.”

“Miku, I swear to--”

“Nosedived out of a plane without a parachute only to fall into the ocean and plummet all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.”

“Akito!” Touya’s voice calls, startling Miku.

Akito clasps his hands together and looks up at the ceiling like he’s thanking God for the interruption, then turns around to see what’s going on. Touya’s standing at the door, red-faced and breathing heavily, like he just ran a marathon. Or two yards. Touya isn’t much of an athlete.

“Touya? What are you doing here?” Akito asks.

This feels like deja vu, Miku thinks.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” Touya says breathlessly. “I texted you to say goodnight, and you didn’t respond. I figured you just didn’t see it, but I called you to make sure you were alright-- because you always answer calls-- and you didn’t pick up. So even though I assumed you were just getting the rest you deserve, I ran to your house just to make sure, since I was a bit worried. And Ena-san said you weren’t there, so . . .”

“Oh, crap,” Akito says. “It’s gonna startle her pretty bad if I just spawn in my bedroom. Hopefully she’ll just think I came in through the window or something, although that makes it seem like I was doing something suspicious.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, I’m sorry you had to do all that. I must’ve been so distracted I didn’t notice my phone vibrating.”

“Distracted by what?” Touya asks, sitting down next to him.

“I was just thinkin’ about some stuff,” Akito says. “I went for a walk out here to clear my head, but Miku said there are dangerous people in the SEKAI at night.”

“No, seriously,” Miku tells them. “There’s a freak of nature that sorta looks like me who lives out there, and I’m pretty sure she eats people.”

“Oh,” Touya says. “She sounds pleasant.”

“Right? We’ve got some other great folks out there too, like this sorta deranged clown guy and one who’s basically gender envy as a person and some dude who isn’t even a Virtual Singer. His name is Giga. I think he just sorta showed up one day. He’s our biggest fan. Yours, too!”

“Giga? Like, the one who wrote BRING IT ON and stuff?” Akito asks. “Huh? How is he--”

“Anyway.” Touya turns back to Akito. “Are you sure you’re alright?” He slides his hand over to Akito’s and holds it tight, twining their fingers together-- aww-- and Akito’s expression is unreadable for a second before tears start forming in his eyes.

“Akito?!” Touya asks, alarmed, and Akito immediately wipes the tears away with his sleeve and looks away.

“Akito,” Miku says, not knowing what to do. She thought he was okay. Is he just-- just touch-starved or something? Or sleep-deprived, or food-deprived . . . yeah, it’s probably all of those.

“I really don’t deserve you,” Akito mumbles, untangling his fingers from Touya’s with some effort. “Sorry-- can you stand up so I can get out? I should . . . probably get back home.”

Surprisingly, Touya complies with this request, but as soon as Akito stands up, Touya wraps him in a tight hug.

Akito is startled for a second, but then he returns the hug and starts silently crying into Touya’s shoulder.

They stand there for quite a while without saying anything, and after a moment, Miku stands up and heads to her room to get ready for bed, because all of her worries are gone. Now she knows Akito’s going to be okay.

When she gets to her room, she pulls her notebook out again.

Step 1: Get Akito to admit he likes Touya

Step one complete. Now she just has to get them both to admit it to each other.

Ugh.

This one might take a while.

Chapter Text

Akito flops his head down on the table. “Miku, he’s so pretty and I hate it. This sucks balls.”

“Mmm,” Miku says in acknowledgement, looking up from her notes. He’s been stuck on this current dilemma for weeks. He can’t stop telling her about how tragic it is that Touya was blessed with such great natural beauty yet doesn’t even realize how stunning he is. “Interesting word choice. And?”

“And-- I dunno. I hate talkin’ about this stuff.”

He ‘hates talking about this stuff’, yet she’s sure heard a lot about Touya’s dazzling gray eyes and perfect beauty-marked skin recently. 

She looks back down at her notebook. She’s come up with some half-decent ideas, but the only one Akito agreed to was making Touya a custom playlist and Touya did not take it romantically at all. Of course. “No one’s forcing you to talk about it.”

So he doesn’t say anything else, but he still sits there, and when Miku looks up after a few minutes, he has a look of pure rage on his face.

“Bro,” she says, startled. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh.” He seems to calm down a little. “I was thinkin’ too hard.”

Curse Akito and Touya and their chronic RBF. Or resting going-to-kill-someone face, in Akito’s case. “About what? How pretty Touya is?”

“It’s not fair. If he didn’t look like that, maybe I wouldn’t have a stupid crush on him.” He puts his head in his hands and swears hopelessly.

“Swear jar,” Miku jokes, pointing to the glass jar KAITO set up on the counter the other day. He’s an innocent soul.

“Dude, what?”

“KAITO got fed up with Luka swearing twelve times in every five-word sentence.”

“. . . She probably got that from me.”

“Oh, she definitely got that from you.” Anyway, Akito’s earlier statement was not true. Touya could be the most average-looking guy ever and Akito would still be madly in love with him. They’re practically soulmates. They’d find each other in every universe, or whatever. “Yeah, I guess he is kinda pretty, but I’m not into men. Or humans, I guess.”

“Kinda pretty? With those long eyelashes and the little beauty marks everywhere and his hands-- dude, his hands, they’re so soft and his fingers are so long and pretty and . . . and those stupid lips that I just wanna--” Akito seems to realize that 1. he’s sharing things he does not want to share and 2. she just said she isn’t into men. “Wait, you’re a lesbian?”
“I’m not into women either,” she says.

“Oh.” Akito seems to look at her in a different light. “That’s cool. Do you want me to, like-- stop talking about dumb romantic stuff? It doesn’t make you uncomfortable, right?”

“It’s fine, but I appreciate you making sure.” Miku leans her chin on her hand. “So? Go on. Those stupid lips that you just wanna . . .?”

Akito blushes furiously. “Stop.”

“What, don’t want to give me the details on how you wanna kiss him? Wanna make out with him, even? The tongue tango? Wanna engage in some passionate smoochie-smoochie action with your best bro?”

“I might have to kill you,” Akito says sharply, his voice cracking on ‘kill’. She chooses not to tease him about it, because, well, Akito is really strong, and she doesn’t want to get beat up or something. Although he’s secretly the sweetest guy ever. He probably cuddles plushies to sleep and gives candy to babies.

“Crap, Miku, now I’m imagining all that stuff you said. Thanks a lot.”

He’s covering his face with his hands, but Miku can still tell he’s smiling, and he’s giddily kicking his feet back and forth under the table like a lovesick schoolgirl. Miku tries her hardest not to laugh.

“Besides, he doesn’t like me like that. At all. We’re best friends, and we’re gonna stick together as partners for hopefully as long as we keep singing, but he doesn’t like me like that.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Why would he? He’s beautiful, and smart-- sometimes-- and talented and so sweet and friendly and . . . I’ve got nothin’. I suck at singing, I’m a terrible person, and my looks are average at best.”

“You’re a great singer, you have a pretty decent personality most of the time, and if it helps, I think you’re pretty handsome.”

“But you don’t like guys, so what do you know?”

“I still know if someone’s attractive or not, Akito.” She looks over him again. “Maybe you’re not as pretty as Touya, but yeah, you’re handsome. And you have a really cute smile.”

“I do not.”

“And your hair is really fluffy,” she says, reaching over to teasingly ruffle his hair. “Yeah. Super soft.”

“Stop that,” he says, scowling at her as he hastily smooths it down (although it just pops right back up again.)

“Fine, fine. Anyway, speaking of hair, should I dye yellow and pink streaks into mine?”

“Huh?” he asks, clearly surprised by the sudden subject change.

“Honest opinion. Go.”

“If that’s what you wanna do, then go for it.”

“I’m worried it won’t look good, though.”

“It totally would, actually. Complementary colors and all that. Besides, some stuff that seems reckless ends up being worth the risk.”

“Aha,” Miku says, slamming her hand down on the table. “You just gave yourself advice on confessing to Touya.”

Akito stares at her, and then the realization dawns on his face. “I don’t like you.”

She grins smugly at him.

“I swear I’ll tell him,” he says. “Just . . . not yet. Oh, and since Touya has his heart set on it, we’re going camping in a few days.” That was a drastic subject change. Nice one, Akito. “Hopefully that’ll turn out well. He . . . not to be rude, but he hasn’t tried a lot of things, and I don’t know if he’s going to be good at them, is all. I’m worried about him, y’know?”

“He’ll probably get stuck in a tree or something. Have fun.”

“How the heck would he get stuck in a tree? He’s terrified of heights. Like, he can barely do the glass floor at the mall. Or stairs. I can’t take him anywhere.”

“Where there’s a Touya, there’s a way. Make sure to catch him if he does get stuck and falls out, alright?” She only brought up the idea because she wrote ‘catch him if he falls and then say something cute and romantic’ down in her notebook a while ago. (She’s really running out of ideas.)

“Miku, that’s not going to happen.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

During the camping trip a few days later, when everyone should be sleeping in their tents, Miku pops into the boys’ to see if one of them is awake. Luckily, Touya is.

“Can’t sleep?” she asks quietly.

“Miku-san!” Touya bolts upright. “Oh-- shhh, Akito is a very light sleeper.”

“Gonna . . . . RAD WEEKEND . . .” Akito mumbles in his sleep.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Miku says. “Clearly he’s having some sort of engrossing dream over there.”

“Sing . . .” Akito says.

“Well, if you insist, Akito,” Miku says. “World is Mine, here we go--”

“Please don’t,” Touya cuts in, still not understanding that she’s joking. “Akito really needs the rest.”

“So, the tree thing earlier,” Miku says, lowering her voice a little because clearly, it’s very important to Touya that Akito doesn’t wake up. Yes, Touya got stuck in a tree. Miku’s not totally sure how it happened, but he ended up falling and Akito caught him and they stared into each other’s eyes for a minute and it was all very romantic and sweet.

Touya chuckles awkwardly. “Yes, that certainly was a thing that happened.”

“Akito’s pretty strong.”

“Yes, he is. I’m very glad he caught me.” He smiles a little. “It was nice of him to keep me steady the whole time we walked back to the campsite, even when I felt fine.”

That can be explained by a little thing Miku likes to call homosexuality. “You need to shoot your shot, Touya. It’s been months.”

Touya sighs. “Maybe someday soon. I’m just worried I’m reading everything wrong and he doesn’t like me after all.”

Miku was going to respond, but she’s cut off by Akito starting to snore quite loudly. Touya whirls around, startled, and Miku stifles a laugh.

“You sure picked an interesting guy to fall in love with,” she says, looking at Akito, who’s tangled in his sleeping bag with his hair in his face. A beautiful sight, really.

“That I did,” Touya says, his voice so full of affection and adoration that Miku can’t help but smile. He gently, carefully reaches down and brushes a lock of Akito’s messy orange hair out of his eyes so he can see his not-so-peaceful sleeping face.

Apparently Touya was right about him being a light sleeper, because Akito’s eyes open, and he yawns. “. . . Touya? Everythin’ okay, man?”

“Oh, I’m sorry for waking you,” Touya says. “You can go back to sleep.”

Akito squints at him for a second, then shrugs and closes his eyes, pulling his sleeping bag tighter around him.

Kiss him on the forehead, Miku silently wills Touya, but Touya just smiles that lovesick, ridiculously sweet smile at him. “Even if he doesn’t love me back, I’m more than content to keep loving him just like this.”

Miku doesn’t quite know what to say to that. Doesn’t he want more? Can’t he see that Akito is head over heels for him?

Touya lays down and gets settled into his sleeping bag. “Good night, Miku-san.”

“Good night, loverboy,” Miku says, then hops back into the SEKAI.

Ugh, she’s getting so invested in their lovey-dovey drama. She feels like a fujoshi.

Miku pays attention to how Akito and Touya’s relationship develops over time, and, well, it turns out it doesn’t. While they’re now a bit more awkward with each other sometimes because they’re both aware of their feelings for each other, Miku realizes they’ve pretty much always been this affectionate. Touya with words, Akito with touch, both of them with lingering looks and longing smiles and deep love and trust for the other that, though obvious to everyone around them, feels like such a secret, personal and intimate sort of bond. Whenever they share a brief moment of interaction or a casual but heartfelt conversation, Miku feels like she’s intruding on something just by glancing at them.

Akito will offer Touya an earbud to listen to a cool new song, and even though they’re wireless, they’ll still sit shoulder-to-shoulder. Akito will be doing the stupidest thing ever and Touya will look at him with pure adoration. Akito will have his arm linked with Touya’s and immediately let go when they come into the cafe or when An and Kohane arrive. Touya will laugh and Akito will trip while he’s walking or nearly drop his coffee, not-so-subtly staring at him in awe. Heck, Akito’s fallen asleep on Touya’s shoulder and Touya gently fixes his hair when he wakes up while lovingly chiding him to get more sleep at night, and Miku’s pretty sure friends don’t really do that.

It’s so ridiculously clear that they’re perfect for each other. Soulmates, even. Everyone except them can see it. (Rin and Len keep joking about writing fanfiction about them, and MEIKO threatens them with their lives, but they’re not deterred at all, since Luka keeps encouraging them.)

(. . . They’re on chapter two now.)

“Miku,” An says, coming into the cafe. She and Kohane have been doing some extra practice since they all finished, and the whole time they’ve been doing that, Akito has been sleeping on Touya’s lap while the latter reads a book on the sole couch in the cafe (well, he had been, until he fell asleep too). Normal homie activities.

Actually, Miku arranged that. She noticed Akito was really tired after practice, so when Touya was about to leave, she secretly told him to stay and invite Akito to sit down with him while he shared a funny part of his book. She assumed Akito would fall asleep on Touya’s shoulder, but Touya finally took some initiative for once and offered his lap. A pro move. She’s very proud of him.

  “Miku? Hello?”

Oh, right. An. “Yeah? Sorry.”

“I was saying, we need an intervention.”

Oh. Oh, no. She thought An and Kohane were fine, with everything figured out! She thought they weren’t so stubborn and lacking of the ability to express their feelings that they would stay in an eternal holding pattern! “An, I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I have the strength to be your wingman.”

“Oh,” An says, taken aback. “No! That’s not what I’m here for. Kohane and I have been dating for a few weeks. We didn’t tell you?”

Maybe they did, but Miku’s been . . . distracted lately. Either way, she’s relieved she doesn’t have to help out with more romance stuff. “Congrats. I’m happy for you, really. Just a little tired.”

“And that brings me to my next point.” She sits down at the counter. “Akito and Touya. What the heck are we gonna do with them? They’re so ridiculously, insanely, sickeningly in love, and if I have to watch them pine any longer, I think I might lose my mind.”

“You and me both, dude,” she says, whipping up some tea for An. “I have no idea what to do. I’ve tried to help them out, but they just . . . don’t do anything.”

An seems to notice Mr. Lap-napper and Mr. Lap-Being-Napped-On. “Even though they act like they’ve been dating for months.”

“They’d probably kiss and call it platonic,” Miku agrees. “I just don’t get why they won’t tell each other.”

An thinks about this. “Maybe they’re scared of their relationship changing. Like, if they tell each other, it’ll suddenly get awkward, and they won’t be as comfortable doing the weirdly romantic stuff they’re already doing now. If that makes sense?”

“That’s how you felt about Kohane,” Miku realizes.

“Exactly!” An kicks her feet up on the table and leans back, staring up at the ceiling. More specifically, the stain on the ceiling from when the twins challenged KAITO to a pancake-flipping contest and KAITO somehow got one stuck up there for a whole day. “And that’s why you couldn’t tell that we started dating-- ’cause we act the same way we did before; we just have a label for it now. And it did take a few days to get over the awkwardness, but it wasn’t bad. I think one or both of them should just man up and get it over with.”

Miku opens her mouth to speak, but An’s not finished.

“I know they’ll be happier if they just tell each other how they feel. They may be comfortable now, but taking the risk will be so, so worth it in the end, you know?” Her eyes soften. “Yeah, I tease them a lot-- mostly Akito-- but I really do want them to be happy.”

Miku sets An’s tea in front of her. “So what can we do to help?”

“Oh, thanks, Miku!” An takes a sip of her drink and gives Miku a thumbs-up of approval, then says, “I’m gonna talk to them one on one. MEIKO told me you’ve been talking to them about all this for months, so you can sit back and relax. Rest assured, I’ll get them to leave you alone.”

“Oh-- it’s okay. I don’t really mind talking to them.”

“Hmmm.” An thinks for a second, and her eyes light up. “I’ve got an idea. First one to get the guys to confess wins a favor.”

Miku shrugs. “Fine by me.”

An sticks her hand out. “Let’s shake on it.”

They do, and suddenly Rin and Len come barrelling downstairs, both yelling some variation of “Miku, we finished chapter two!”

“Chapter two?” An asks.

Len clears his throat and says in the deepest voice he can reach (which is not deep at all. Miku’s starting to think the poor kid will never hit puberty), “‘You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Touya’, says Akito as he puts a hand behind Touya’s head and’--”

“What?!” Akito exclaims, scandalized. Miku jumps. She didn’t realize he’d gotten up and come over here.

Len grins sheepishly. “We may be writing a story about you and Touya.”

Rin makes exaggerated kissing noises.

“Shut up,” Akito says, turning red. “You better not have shown that to him.”

“Oh, we haven’t! Don’t worry,” Rin says, ceasing her makeout session with the air. “But we will. Once it’s finished.”

Akito reaches over and snatches Len’s phone faster than he ran to Touya at Weekend Garage that one time. “Oh no you won’t.”

“How’d your lap nap go, Akito?” Miku asks.

“Shut up,” he repeats, turning away.

“‘--and kisses Touya passionately, as the world melts away--’”

“I SAID SHUT UP, LEN!”

(Touya miraculously remains asleep.)

She tries so many ideas, ideas that are bound to work.

“Ask to borrow one of his favorite books and actually read it, then slip a love letter between the pages when you’re done,” she advises Akito.

She listens from his phone in his pocket when he asks Touya.

“Akito, I don’t know what sort of prank you’re trying to pull,” Touya says. “We both know you’re not going to read any book I lend you. Why don’t we go to the library and look for something you’ll like better?”

“Oh,” Akito says. “Yeah. Gotcha.”

“Library date,” Miku encourages him after Touya goes to his next class. “You’ve got this. Be romantic. Link arms in public. Rest your head on his shoulder when you sit down. Hold hands, even.”

“That’s too romantic, and I hate PDA,” Akito complains.

“I hate all of this,” Miku says miserably.

Her next attempt is telling Touya to write a secret poem for Akito, since he seems pretty good with words as long as it’s writing and not actually verbalizing.

Touya writes the poem. Miku thinks it’s absolutely beautiful. Touya slips it in Akito’s locker, and Akito thinks it’s so beautiful that he decides it was probably some random girl who copied the work of some 18th-century poet from online, so he proceeds to crumple up the paper and toss it away, a situation in which Miku would have intervened had she been there. (She gives Touya two cups of coffee instead of one when he regales her with the latest tragedy at the cafe later. He needs it.)

“I guess I didn’t make it personal enough,” Touya says sadly. “If I had, he would’ve realized it was me.”

“That’s alright. You thought he was smart. I guess you were wrong,” she deadpans.

“Akito is very smart,” Touya says defensively. “He’d even get good grades if he actually tried. Which he doesn’t.” His voice takes on a stern tone at the end; Miku always finds it funny how the only thing he ever gets upset about is Akito and An’s poor studying skills.

“Study date,” Miku suggests, surprised she hasn’t thought of it yet.

Said study date ends in Kohane telling An to join the session to help improve her grades, because apparently Kohane wasn’t clued in about the get-Akito-and-Touya-together bet. They have a good time anyway, but it certainly wasn’t the single date Miku had hoped they’d get.

A few days later when Akito’s straightening his hair in the morning, Miku pops out of his phone (which is blasting RADder songs that he’s loudly singing along to) and says, “I heard somewhere that people love being woken up at four a.m. to go stargazing by their true love.”

Akito jumps, causing him to hit himself in the forehead with the straightener and let out a long and aggressive string of expletives.

“Shut up, Akito,” Ena yells from halfway across the house. “And hurry up in the bathroom! I have to pee!”
“You shut up! You don’t have to go to school in the morning, so I get the bathroom!” Akito shouts back, then whirls around to face Miku and accidentally smacks his elbow on the bathroom counter in the process. “%$#&!”

“You’re a very well-put-together young man,” Miku says.

The intensity of the glare he gives her could probably kill Calne Ca.

“Sorry about your forehead.”

“Thanks a lot, Miku,” Akito says, following a pathetically cute little whine of pain that she chooses not to tease him about. “At least my bangs will cover it, but it hurts. What the heck were you even trying to tell me?”

“I heard somewhere that people love being woken up at four a.m. to go stargazing by their true love,” she repeats.

Akito squints at her for a second. “Touya sleeps in till one p.m. on weekends and barely manages to drag himself out of bed for school during the week, and you seriously think he’d be happy to be woken up to go stargazing?”

“He really liked looking at the stars with you three when you went camping.”

“That wasn’t at four in the morning. Now leave me alone. I’m gonna go get a freaking ice pack.”

Weeks later, there’s also the idea of baking heart shaped cookies, except she had no idea Touya absolutely sucks at baking, so one oven fire and a smoke-filled crase cafe later, she gives up on that one. 

And the idea of Akito taking Touya on a very romantic date, except Touya doesn’t realize Akito’s intentions and basically friendzones him at the end right before Akito was planning on confessing.

And the idea of telling An and Kohane not to come to practice one day while Miku and all the other Virtual Singers hide in their apartment above crase cafe so Akito and Touya would have some alone time. Turns out the guys get really worried and don’t relax until the girls finally make up some story about how their phones coincidentally both stopped working and the Virtual Singers all say they were busy planning a surprise birthday party for someone in the SEKAI.

(Which thwarts all hopes of the boys getting to spend some one-on-one time together, since Touya insists he helps plan the party, even though he has no idea who IA is.)

(It actually is helpful, though, since IA’s birthday is coming up and Miku and the others have no idea what to do for her.)

Miku is losing hope. Even An hasn’t achieved any success, and she’s been coming up with ideas faster than Miku has. Neither of them are going to win the bet at this rate.

She is very much, absolutely losing hope.

These last few months have felt like the story of six trillion years and one night. A long journey. And yet nothing has ch4nged. Ugh, whatever, whatever, whatever.

She’s gonna have a meltdown if they don’t resolve the problem soon. Her brain fluid will explode. And if after all this, they decide to just be friends, Hatsune Miku will freaking disappear. She is so done. Perhaps tonight will be her last night. Good night.

Chapter Text

Miku’s still in bed when there’s a knock on her bedroom door. “Miku, you have a visitor downstairs,” MEIKO’s voice says.

“At five in the morning?” she mumbles, pulling the covers over her head.

“It’s eight,” MEIKO says. “Come on. He has to be at school soon, so you’d better hurry.”

It is too early for solving gay boy problems. It is always too early for solving gay boy problems. She yawns and drags herself out of bed, not bothering to get ready for the day; she doesn’t know how long this is going to take.

“I would’ve talked to him myself, but he insisted on talking to you,” MEIKO says. “Hopefully it won’t take long.”

Miku sighs and heads down to the cafe, where Touya is waiting in his school uniform. 

“What’s up?” she asks, heading into the kitchen to make coffee.

“I’m so sorry for waking you,” Touya says. “I told MEIKO-san to let you rest, but she said you needed to get up anyway.”

“Nah, it’s no big deal. Want some coffee?”

“That would be great, thank you.” Touya anxiously fidgets with his tie. “I’m writing a song about Akito.”

“Nice. Do you usually compose songs? I thought An and Akito did that.” She grabs a second mug from the cupboard.

“They do, but I really wanted to try. A friend is teaching me a lot of useful information about music composition and sampling, so I think I can probably pull together something nice.”

“So . . . you’re saying you’re gonna confess to Akito with a song?”

Touya brightens. “Not exactly. I’m going to put all of my feelings into the song, but after he hears it, I think I’ll confess.”

“Right on, man!” Miku leans over the counter to offer a high five. “I was starting to think you’d be a middle-aged man by the time you told him!” She already won the bet with An!

“It wouldn’t take that long,” he protests. “Maybe sometime during our third year at the latest.”

“Dude. That’s two years from now.”

“. . . Anyway, I need your help. I don’t know what to say. I want everything to go perfectly.” 

Miku thinks about this for a long moment. It’s a very important question that he’s trusting her with, but it’s also too early in the morning for this and her brain isn’t quite working. 

Finally, she says, “Touya, I think that’s something you need to figure out on your own. You know how much Akito means to you, right? You probably have so much you want to say to him. Just . . . let them all out naturally. Telling someone you love them is a really personal, special, emotional thing, I think. So no one can tell you what to say.”

Touya stares at her for a second. “Alright. Thank you.”

“Of course. And just so you know . . .” She grins. “An and I made a bet. Whoever got one of you to confess first wins a favor. So I totally won.”

Touya shakes his head good-naturedly. “I decided to confess on my own terms. But . . . well, now I know why Shiraishi has been asking me about Akito a lot over the last few weeks.”

To be fair, Miku would’ve been doing the same, but she really needed a break from all of this. She’s so exhausted that the only ideas she’s come up with recently are ridiculous pickup lines. One of which being ‘Be my boyfriend or I’ll set your parents on fire,’ although she feels like regardless of who said the line, it would be a very bad idea. (Touya would be thoroughly disturbed by that one, and from the little she knew about Akito’s family, Akito probably wouldn’t be too upset if his parents were set on fire.)

(‘Are you a Puyo? Because I want to connect with you’ is one of the best ones she’s come up with for Touya, in her opinion.)

“So neither of us win?” Miku concludes.

“You’ve helped me greatly since I first realized my feelings. By listening, by offering ideas and advice, by trying your very best to get the two of us together. Even if nothing has worked so far, your help has been invaluable, so I just want to thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Miku says. “Sorry all my ideas sucked.”

“They didn’t. I think it was my execution that failed.” He shakes his head sadly. “I was very proud of the poem I wrote, though. I’m quite sad that Akito will never get to read it from me to him.”

“I can’t blame him for thinking it was some famous poet’s work, though. You’re awesome at writing.”

Touya gives a breathy laugh. “Thanks.”

“Do you think you can convey your feelings properly in the song if you couldn’t in the poem?”

Touya thinks about this for a second. While he’s thinking, Miku comes up with another pickup line. ‘Are you a microphone? Because I want to hold you and sing to you.’ Yeah, that’s pretty good.

“I really, really hope so. I may be lacking in the expressing-feelings department, but I’m pouring absolutely everything I have into this. I need it to be perfect.”

“I believe in you,” Miku says, squeezing Touya’s hand. The thing is? She really does. Even though all their attempts thus far have failed miserably, this one seems promising, and she’s mentally smacking herself for not thinking of it earlier. Akito and Touya’s language is music. They may have their other love languages, but the thing that brought them together in the first place, the thing they both love even more than each other, the thing that twines their voices and hearts and lives together-- it’s music. Touya has come up with the most brilliant idea possible. “You got this, okay?”

“Okay,” Touya says, flashing that once-rare smile that’s gotten more and more frequent lately, the one that shows more in his eyes than on his mouth, crinkling in the corners with pure happiness and gratitude. Miku has listened to Akito ramble about that smile many a time. (Akito loves every smile of Touya’s, but this one is his very favorite. Apparently, Miku has become an expert on every small detail about Akito and Touya lately.)

Miku pulls him into a quick hug. “And remember, Touya-- if all words fail you, you can always just tell him to be your boyfriend or you’ll set his parents on fire.”

“What?”

It’s go time. Miku really definitely absolutely truly should not be eavesdropping on Akito and Touya’s important, life-changing conversation, but, c’mon, she’s been working to get them together for months. She thinks it’s probably okay to sneak a peek at the fruits (pun intended) of her labors.

Touya set his bag with his phone in it on a bench at the park they’re practicing at, and he left it open, so Miku has a pretty perfect view of all of them practicing. She’s nervously bouncing on her toes. For their sakes, and hers, she really, really wants everything to go well.

After the four of them chat for a bit, Touya plays the song he’s been working on. Immediately, Miku understands the vision. Touya truly did excellently convey all the feelings he wanted to show in this track-- threads of emotion woven together into a beautiful melody of confidence, trust, hope, and, most importantly, love.

Under the energetic, hyped-up street pop guise the track has is a song of partnership, a musical love letter to a best friend who’s always been there for him. A captivating, heartfelt story that speaks so many words despite not having any lyrics. Touya created a beautiful journey of emotions, of standing by his partner’s side onstage, of the electric feeling of joy buzzing through the air after a perfect performance, of singing together perfectly in sync, of just being together-- of so many other things Miku doesn’t pick up on, since she’s not Akito. Touya has poured all he feels about his best friend into this piece.

She’s been closing her eyes to fully surround herself in the sound, but she opens them and looks over at Akito. He looks excited, like he’s ready to sing this right now, just like the girls are, but they’re something else in his expression-- something unreadable from this far away, but something . . . touched. Understanding. Nervous, but happy, which means he, of course, picked up on everything in the song like Miku did.

When the song finishes, Akito, An, and Kohane all rush to shower Touya in praises and tell him what a fantastic song it is and how excited they are to perform it at their next event. Touya says a few sweet and sappy things to Akito, and, because clearly they’re still wusses, they lightly wrist-bump. They can’t even pull off a fist-bump, apparently. (That’s okay. It’s not like that’s all they’re going to be doing, so Miku will not call them pathetic as usual.)

An and Kohane go home eventually, and Touya tells Akito to wait before he leaves as well, although they all know Akito wasn’t planning on going home.

“Akito,” Touya says quietly, gentle words for his partner’s ears only. (And Miku’s. Oops.) “I know I told you most of my feelings already, after the song finished. But there’s something else I need to say.”

“Touya,” Akito murmurs, knowing exactly what’s coming.

Touya takes Akito’s hand. Rubs his thumb gently across Akito’s skin. Looks him in the eyes, and takes a shallow breath.

“I hope my song was able to convey all of this already, but I need to say this in words, too.” Touya swallows hard. “I-- I realized a few months ago something that’s always been there, and . . . and I’ve never known how to say it, but I like you. I like you more than just my best friend and partner, and I always have, and--” This is the first time Miku’s ever heard Touya ramble like this. He seems to run out of words to say even though he still has so many inside. He’s even getting a little choked up.

“Touya,” Akito repeats, staring at him, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I always thought I . . . I didn’t realize you . . . ugh.” He drags a hand down his face and takes a shuddery breath. “I can’t-- dude, I’m so happy. I’m-- I’m so-- we’re so stupid . How long has it been that we haven’t said anything?”

“Over two years, I think,” Touya says, and when Akito attacks him with a hug, they both finally start crying.

It’s not the most perfect confession ever, by far, but it might be the most sweet. Through their tears, they say a bunch of other mostly-incoherent things, talking about different ways they tried and failed to confess and different things they love about each other and holy crap I can’t believe this is happening and you’re so cute and shut up shut up you can’t say that, and they don’t let go of each other, locked in the most heartfelt embrace in the world. 

Finally, Akito pulls away from the hug and whispers hoarsely, “You confessed to me when I was the one who wanted to. So I get to kiss you first, yeah?”

“Okay,” Touya says with that breathy laugh Akito loves so much.

And then, finally-- finally!-- it’s all over!--- Miku is free!-- Akito kisses Touya softly.

Afterwards, they sort of stare at each other for a second as if they’re in a dream-- and it sort of looks like one, with the picturesque sunset as a backdrop-- and then Akito kisses him again.

Miku decides she can probably leave now. This might be overstaying her already nonexistent welcome.

They pull away for air, and their next kiss is Very Passionate and holy crap Miku decides she’s going to see how bleach in coffee tastes when she gets back to the cafe. That is not something she wanted to see. She’s leaving now.

Although that last moment was less than ideal for her poor eyes, she’s happy. She’s so very happy for them, and she knows they’re a hundred million times happier right now.

A while later, she’s sitting at one of the cafe tables with a new shounen manga in hand and a coffee in front of her (they were fresh out of bleach, so she had to settle for caramel sauce instead) when Akito and Touya come through the door. Holding hands. Miku’s heart melts.

“Oh, hey guys,” she says, nonchalant, like she didn’t just spy on their whole sweet moment earlier.

“Touya insisted on coming here to tell you something,” Akito says, bright red.

“We’re dating,” Touya says, smiling widely. Akito turns even redder.

“That’s great!” Miku exclaims. “I’m glad all my wingmanning paid off, Touya.”

Akito whirls around to face Touya. “She’s been helping you, too?”

Touya turns to Akito, surprised. “She’s been helping you?”

Miku smirks and looks back down at her manga.

They take a seat at a nearby table and start discussing all the things Miku has orchestrated over time, and their conversation is punctuated with frequent ‘that was her idea?!’ s and ‘I was so sure you came up with that’ s and ‘I didn’t even realize that was supposed to be romantic’ s.

“I can’t believe Hatsune Miku got us together,” Akito says finally, putting his head in his hands. “That’s a weird love story for sure.”

“Oh, I didn’t do anything,” Miku says. “It was all you two. I just helped out a little is all.”

“That’s not true,” Akito says. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even admitted to myself that I like Touya.”

“Okay, so maybe I did do some things.”

“Thank you, Miku,” Akito says, smiling brighter than he has in ages. It’s infectious. She told him he had a cute smile.

“No problem.”

And for once, she feels very grateful that she got caught up in gay boy drama. Seeing them both smile like this . . . seeing them hold hands and kiss despite Akito’s protests of hating PDA . . . seeing them both be open and free and happy and in love-- it might gross her out a little, but still, it’s so, so worth it to her. She wants nothing more than for all the members of Vivid BAD SQUAD to be happy, and these two are absolutely over the moon right now.

After she finishes her manga chapter, she decides to give the boys some alone time and goes up to her room. She finds the brainstorming notebook on her bed and, suddenly feeling nostalgic, flips through it, reading all her struggles and ideas and even a bunch of things about Akito and Touya that she wrote down in case it would help her with her wingman endeavors. It was a treasure trove of uselessness-- maybe she’ll give it to Akito and Touya. They’ll probably get a kick out of it.

Miku smiles. Now that the guys are over this awkwardness, they’ll be able to focus more on practice, and all of Vivid BAD SQUAD will be able to keep moving forward, stronger and more united than ever. She can’t wait.

A while later, KAITO comes into Miku’s room. “Miku, I need your help.”

“I’m tired. What is it?” she asks, looking up.

“I might’ve just realized something important, and Rin and Len are too immature to help me, so I’m coming to you.”

“You’re as immature as they are. Go to MEIKO.” For a reason she can’t place, this feels like deja vu.

“Um . . .” KAITO laughs awkwardly, the tips of his ears turning red. “I can’t tell her because, well, it might involve her? And Luka?”

Oh. Oh no.

“Miku? Where are you going? Hey-- Miku, come back!”

The sunset in the SEKAI the next evening fades from dazzling shades of tangerine to twilight, and when she goes outside to get a better view, she notices blue and orange roses climbing up the wall of the cafe, twined together in perfect harmony. They’re growing right next to the pink and teal tulips that appeared recently, curving around the RAD WEEKEND poster on the wall; two pairs joined into one beautiful flower display, striving to achieve their dreams together.

Someday, this SEKAI is going to change. Someday, the members of Vivid BAD SQUAD are going to move on and find new dreams and have new lives, and they won’t need this world anymore. Someday, it’ll fall apart, and Miku and the others won’t have the lively teenagers’ jokes, their squabbles, their beautiful singing voices, their friendship and love for each other that’s stronger than the blackest coffee in the world. Someday, it’ll all be empty.

But that’s someday. So right now, Miku’s going to enjoy every second and take care of these new flowers as the future blooms ahead of all of them.