Chapter Text
The chime on the shop’s door jingles almost sheepishly as the door cracks open slightly, drawing attention from its owner. “Ah, Kaito!” Meiko looked up from the coffee machine she was working with to properly greet him, but to identify him she didn’t even need to glance — it’s only too obvious who would come at this hour of the night (that and both Miku and the Kagamines were off doing their own thing. Luka wasn’t too fond of coffee, and Meiko remembered her mentioning something about band practice, but she wasn’t too sure.) The man nodded in greeting, adjusting the blue muffler around his neck.
The barista couldn’t help as her eyes lingered, staring at the ocean in his eyes — it lacked the quiet passion that was usually there, Meiko noted, before scolding herself for being able to recognize that fact so quickly. His hair was messier than usual, as well, Meiko couldn’t help but notice — she always had the lingering desire to run a hand through his blue locks, but today it was a bit too intense for such wording. Still, like someone who’d had years of experience, Meiko pushed the feelings down. “No leather jacket today, huh? Did you come here to escape everyone else?” Meiko semi-teased, preparing the beans and sugar he always asked for.
“I can’t really deny that, huh…” Kaito pulls out one of the seats at the bar, taking off his jacket (and leaving his muffler intact, the realization of which made Meiko have to stifle her laugh) before ringing out his neck and letting out a deep, soul-crushing sigh that made even Meiko — deadpan master Meiko, sarcasm queen Meiko, absolute girlboss Meiko (according to An, at least; Meiko wasn't entirely sure what the term meant, but considering that she was both a girl and a boss, Meiko found the term quite fitting,) stop in her tracks. Kaito put out his hands in an attempt to stop whatever interrogation the woman in front of him was about to go on, opening his mouth to spit out an excuse but ultimately being beaten.
“Jeez, what a big sigh! Are you okay? What’s up? How are you doing?” Meiko asked, repeating the questions after a few seconds when Kaito showed no sign of responding. Both of them stayed quiet, pondering on various things and staring into each other’s eyes, before Meiko’s coffee-colored pair lit up in an epiphany. “Oh, that’s right! You’re not the best at vague questions.” She returns to the neglected coffee machine, finishing up Kaito’s order that he didn’t order before it got cold, speaking to the man in question all the while. “How’s your group doing and all? I know Miku gets a liiiiittle crazy in that world and all, and most of the time you’re the only one really taking care of all them. Plus, those kids…” Kaito let out a small laugh, the breathless type that never failed to take away Meiko’s breath as well.
“Yeah, they’re quite the hassle,” Kaito noted, voice still soft and breathy. “Tsukasa is, well, Tsukasa still, Emu’s close to giving me a headache — not that that’s bad, but you know — and Nene is nice as always, but there’s something wrong with Rui.” His light smile melted into a more focused expression, eyes tearing away from Meiko to stare at the table. “I...was wondering if you could help me through it. I’ve almost got it figured out — well, at least I think I do from what SEKAI’s telling me, but there’s something that’s bothering me about it.” His eyes refocused as a steaming hot cup of coffee slid in front of him, looking up to see Meiko and her piqued curiosity.
“Hm, really?” She had that look in her eyes, Kaito noticed, the one where her eyes widened but pupils dilated, and her eyebrows furrowed just slightly to emphasize on the message her cocky smirk sent out. The bluenette realized just how close Meiko was to him when she nodded, forcing out of him an involuntary breath. “You’ve got me interested.” Leaning back, the shop owner gestured for him to continue before walking back to the coffee machine, brewing another piping hot cup for herself (with much less sugar, of course.) Kaito leaned further from his chair onto the table, attempting to calm his abnormally fast heart. He couldn’t help but notice how the tips of Meiko’s ears turned the same red as her outfits.
“Well,” He started, somehow feeling more out of breath than he did when he finished running after stuffed animals all over the SEKAI, “Alright. Here’s what’s up.”
< … >
Kaito isn’t sure how it happened, but the conversation quickly deviates from his problem (not without Meiko offering solutions that changed his entire worldview, of course,) to many other things from life in general, to the other vocaloids, to even their speculations on the outside world. He memorized every single reaction she had to every single word he uttered, carving the images of her bright smile and the sounds of her melodious laugh into his brain with a jackknife. The moon poured in from the windows and bounced off of her pale skin in exactly the right places to make her seem ethereal, as if Meiko was a goddess sent down to help the poor peasant that was Kaito find his way through these worlds. (And, for some reason, Kaito doesn’t doubt it.)
“Say, Kaito,” Meiko starts, fidgeting with the sunglasses tucked into her shirt. “I’ve never seen you in the Empty SEKAI. I haven’t seen Len there, either, but it makes sense — he’s pretty immature, but you’re quite the opposite.” Meiko ignores how her heart does somersaults from the exhilaration of complementing Kaito. “I was just wondering, that’s all.” After all, Meiko's even seen him lingering around the Stage SEKAI watching their performances, but he always left before Meiko could drag him out and force him to dance with them. Kaito was a man very open to experiences — and yet, he seemed to avoid that empty white space with spikes protruding from the floor.
“Ah, I guess you haven’t…” Kaito said, as if he’d only just realized that he never stepped so much as a foot in that place. “It’s just unsettling, for me. I like more vibrant places, and there’s not really much to do there. Plus, the sort of mind someone needs to have to create such a thing in the first place…” Kaito didn’t need to finish his sentence. Meiko knew exactly what he meant, and couldn’t really fault him for thinking so. Len didn’t like the empty SEKAI because it was so dull — Kaito didn’t like it because he understood why.
“Huh. Well, I can’t say I don’t understand.” Meiko took a sip of her coffee, cold from neglect (but who could blame her? Kaito’s company was much more important than a quick hit of caffeine.) “Still, you get used to it with time. The kids there are pretty cool, too. A tad too knowledgeable for high-schoolers in my opinion. Pretty good people to talk with, though.” A ghost of a smile graced her face as Meiko thought of them, and Kaito considered getting rid of his pledge to never visit entirely simply to see that same smile again. Still, it wasn’t worth working for something that will never happen.
“It’s not like I’ll stay there long enough to get used to it!” Kaito insisted, crossing his arms and pouting, Meiko couldn't stop the chuckle from spilling out of her lips, a wistful smile accompanying it. He opened his eyes to say something more, before his eyes snagged on the clock — it’s face laughed at him, hands shoving the time in his hands before he could protest; 6:23 A.M, it cackled . “H-Huh?” Kaito knew that he walked in at eleven in the night...could time really pass so quickly? It felt as if he had barely spent ten minutes with the woman in front of him, yet Kaito’s mind knew that in reality it was much longer. Still, as desperately as he locked himself in the lab of his mind, preserving the memories as quickly as they came, Kaito longed for a way to keep this night at the forefront of his mind forever, a way for him to stay in this cafe, a way for him to sit in front of Meiko forever.
The sun was already rising, Kaito thought hastily, dreading the time when the moon would concede to the bright rays, the time where he’d have to return back to his duties with the memories of Meiko still fresh in his mind. Meiko seemed to notice it too, her eyebrows furrowed and eyes glancing up at the clock before staring straight at the ground. She glanced up at him, opening her mouth to share something — some final words of parting, a pearl of wisdom, a shocking revelation buried in her heart, anything.
The words she wanted so strongly to say never left her mouth.
“I should go,” Kaito rushes out, cringing at how the words blend together in his haste. “I have to prepare the shows, and whatnot. Not to mention that Miku’d be waiting there for me...haha…” Meiko nodded, forcing a smile of her own. He gets up from his chair, fully intending to rush out of the Street SEKAI and replay every second in his mind while sitting on a bench next to a rabbit plush.
Of course, the universe hates Kaito.
The barstool sticks it’s leg out extra far as vengeance for being left after so long, silently cackling as Kaito’s oblivious foot collides with it. The man flails his arms around helplessly in the foolish belief that one of the other furniture around Meiko’s cafe would take pity on him, a poor man foolishly pining after someone whose only role in his life is to laugh at him. Wordlessly siding with the first barstool, another clatters on the ground with a considerable loudness when Kaito accidentally pulls it down with the intent for it to pull him up, cursing him with all its might. The singer has accepted his fate, in this split-second moment, waiting for the comfort of hard wooden floors to forcefully collide with his face. In fact, he’s already counting down the milliseconds.
As with every human who has ever felt anything in their life, Kaito knows very well that hardwood floors do not feel like the warm embrace of a caring lover. Still, he’s astonished to see Meiko’s face when he forces his head to the sky and hesitantly opens his eyes, staring down at him with the very distinct mixture of faint amusement, concern and a secret ingredient that Kaito had yet to identify — a look he had the misfortune to see more than the average person. He opens his mouth to speak before his eyes widen instead at the realization that he could feel Meiko’s breath on him. His eyes wander to her lips, and though he isn’t able to see his face is most surely a tomato red once seeing that hers were mere inches from his own chapped, miserable pair.
Akito Shinonome is also miserable, not motivated enough to drag himself to school but too energized to return to the world of his dreams. Thus, the only other option is to immerse himself in the world of colorful graffiti, stop by Meiko’s shop for an energizer and argue with Len over various things that he didn’t truly believe in just for the sake of arguing. Still, once he plays ‘Untitled’ and enters the SEKAI, the distinct air of private moments washes over him like a wave. He stands there for a second or two, wondering if it truly was the best decision to enter the coffee shop — the sign was flipped to ‘open,’ but he had the nagging feeling that it wasn’t meant to be.
Still, Meiko wasn’t an idiot like him. The worst thing he could walk on was her sleeping or something, but then he’d just walk out (or awkwardly explain the situation, in the event that she wakes up. Did virtual singers even sleep, though?) So, Akito decides, with the confidence of a teenager about to make a bad decision, to storm into the coffee shop with no thoughts whatsoever as to the potential consequences.
He stares at Meiko, who’s deer-in-headlights expression is nothing close to the confident woman he knows.
He stares at the man in his arms, who very obviously wants nothing more than to disappear.
And he stares at the door, before rushing out of the cafe with the one thought of: ‘I’m so telling Toya about this.’