Incompitable

Chapter 11

I held onto Rin as I sat on the couch. I stared down at herintently; her face was completely closed off from the rest of the world. No matter what I did; poke her, talk to her, even wave oranges in her face, she wouldn't wake up. Her skin was cold and moist; it might have been from the pool water or cold sweat; I don't know. I couldn't do much, so I only held her in my arms.

Miku and Dell sat on my left, while Mikuo and Neru sat on my right. They were all silent, and we just sat there, quietly, not saying anything.

Rin…I always knew she was different, but why did this happen? Why did Luka-san do that to her? Rin didn't do anything wrong. And Luka-san said she was an ACT1 VOCALOID. So what? What's the difference? I clenched my fists and a pained expression spread across my face. She doesn't deserve this…this…crap.

"Rin…" I mumbled quietly, meaning for it to be only heard by me, but I felt a hand touch mine. I glanced to my left and saw Miku look at me with a caring yet pitying expression on. I smiled weakly at her, although the smile quickly faded. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but I couldn't help being upset.

"Sorry, I'm back." Luka's voice rose from the front of the room, and we all looked up at her as she walked over to us.

"I'm sorry about Rin-chan's condition, Len-kun." She apologized, but I only glared at her.

"What'd you do to her?" I yelled, trying to not move Rin around. Staring at her angrily didn't do much to change her face expression; it was unusually apathetic.

"Len-kun, listen to me for a moment." I continued to glare at her, and she sighed. "Please."

I looked away angrily, down at Rin. "Fine." I muttered, and Luka went on.

"Rin-chan is an ACT1 VOCALOID. The rest of us, we are ACT2 VOCALOIDs. As an ACT1, Rin-chan has less human-like characteristics than us ACT2." Luka paused, and I noticed how the entire room was deadly silent except for our focused breathing. I stared at Luka and she closed her eyes, slowly. "For instance, when Rin-chan was created, she was given a 14 year-old body. But as she lives on, she won't mature." Luka paused for another moment. "Unlike us. We grow older, as opposed to Rin-chan who doesn't." My eyes widened at this point, and she looked down at Rin. "If you recall, Rin-chan said she doesn't outgrow her own clothing."

That…that's right. She did say that.

"She also reacts to electric currents and fluids, like water."

Immediately, images of Rin falling out of her bed during that thunderstorm and her splashing in the pool frantically flashed through my mind.

"She can drink fluids and bathe in it, as long as it doesn't enter her port." Luka bent down and lifted Rin's head, making me flinch. She pushed aside her hair and showed me the back of her neck that had a small, strange circle thing that looked all mechanical and metallic on the inside.

"What's—?" I gasped, and Miku peered over my shoulder.

"Oh my god," she breathed, and Luka added:

"Yes, she got water in there, causing her to shortage out, which concluded and proved my theory correct. And by the way, we have them too, but kept closed unless we need them open."

I touched the back of my neck but felt nothing. I glanced at Luka, confused, and she shook her head. "We can't feel them, even if they are open." Thoughts of these "ports" flooded and swirled around in my head, but I pushed them away, shaking my head.

"Well, is there a way to fix her?" I asked Luka desperately, and still holding Rin's limp body in my arms. Neru and Mikuo mumbled 'yeah' while everyone else kept quiet. Luka stared at me, but then said,

"Actually…" she looked up thoughtfully, and hope rose inside of me. I focused on her intently, as she continued. "…I don't know how," My heart sank; I looked hopelessly at her.

"…But… I know someone who does…"

"What?" I exclaimed suddenly, "Who?"

"Yeah, who?" Miku and Neru chimed in. Dell said nothing, but Mikuo piped in.

"Y'know, Luka, no one appreciates your nerve-wracking pauses."

We all nodded in agreement, and Luka sighed.

"The person who knows is…" she began as my heart started to beat faster and my grip on Rin became tighter.

"…is Sonika."

Miku's POV

"Gather up, everyone!" I announced at dinnertime, on Sunday, when everyone was present and not somewhere else. Er, well, mostly everyone was here, except for Rin and Len, but whatever. Faces turned to look at me, and I grinned. "Alright, as you might or might not know…Rin-chan is having a very hard time right now."

"Wha—?" Several voices called out, but I waved my hand.

"No, no, let me speak first." I glanced around at everyone's face and nodded. "Well, we will be going to Tokyo tomorrow to do some business, but we're only taking a few people."

"Oh, oh, can I come?" Rui exclaimed, bouncing up and down next to Rei, and Gumi joined in.

"Awaah, Tokyo has AWESOME anime exhibits; I wanna' come!" she squealed, and then a wave of voices broke out. I sighed inwardly and shook my head. It's not easy being… fourth in command, you know. …And the first three are Luka, Len, and Akaito, by the way. But well, Luka let me in charge this time, and Len was with Rin in their room, and Akaito didn't wanna' do anything, so I took charge.

"Hold it, guys. I've already chosen who are coming because some of you have to stay here and man the house." Smiles dropped after I said that. So the only thing I could add was, "…And maybe I'll bring the ones who don't come—a souvenir, how 'bout that?" I winked, and all the sad faces disappeared. "Good…now…"

"Wait, so who is going?" Kaito asked, with a carton full of vanilla ice cream sitting in front of him. Akaito, next to him, nodded, and I smiled.

"Well, let's see…" I whipped out a small pocket notepad from my pocket and opened to one of the pages and looked at the list of names.

"Omigod, I wonder who's going!" Neru said aloud, and then Gakupo answered.

"Why, me of course! Who else would be just as perfect to go on a trip to Japan's most popular city?" He questioned openly, as self-centered as ever, and then Gumi hit his shoulder.

"Not you, for obvious reasons." She stuck her tongue out at him and Gakupo gasped.

"Oh, Gumi-chan! How rude of you! Where are your manners?"

"Okay, okay, guys." I interrupted, not wanting this conversation to get any where else. "The people who are coming are as follows: Me, Mikuo, Luka-chan, Len-kun, Rin-chan, aaaand Dell. Alright?" I confirmed; Dell and Luka nodded, while Mikuo whooped.

"Aww…" Rui pouted, and Rei patted her shoulder. Meiko grumbled to herself and drank some of her saké fast and messily.

"See? Neither one of us are going, Gakupo." Gumi told him, and he sighed. Akaito, Rinta, Teto, and Ted simply nodded, while Kaito only continued to eat his ice cream.

"Aww, dang." Neru snapped her fingers. "I wanted to come…"

"Now, don't worry, everyone, I have jobs for all of you, too." I said, and flipped to the next page in my notepad. "Okay, don't say anything until I give you all your orders, alright? Now…Kaito-nii. You will stay here and do the food shopping. Meiko-chan, you try to keep everyone under control which means to not drink saké every night." I heard her swear under her breath, but I ignored her and continued. "Akaito-nii, you can organize everyone's rooms, like making sure they're neat and tidy; Neru-chan, you can make sure everyone is safe and content; Gumi-chan, you supply the girls and guys with new outfits to wear; Rei-kun and Rui-chan, you two do the dishes and laundry; Rinta-kun, you can also keep everyone under control if Meiko-chan doesn't come through; Gakupo, you just be yourself and don't get into any trouble; and Teto-chan and Ted-kun, you two vacuum the house as best you can. Okay, everyone got it?" I took a deep breath and looked at all of them. They looked content, so I smiled to myself, proud of my hard work.

"Yup, got it." They answered in reply, and I grinned.

"Good, now, those who are going, make sure you pack your bags for at least a few days. We'll be in Tokyo for a while."