I hated the fact that I had fallen under Miku's trap to protect my friends' happiness, but there was nothing I could do about it. So I had stopped releasing songs for a while. Don't get me wrong, I was still writing songs and singing them privately, but I hadn't published anything since Song of the Eared Robot. I found that I was perfectly content living like this. I mean, all I had really wanted was to sing, not to be famous.
"Teto? Teto, are you listening to me? Kasane Teto!"
I blinked. I was sitting in the kitchen, and Momo was sitting next to me, snapping me out of my deep thought. "Sorry, what?"
"I said I've been thinking about covering this Miku song," she said, motioning to her computer. "Here, take a listen."
She started to play the song and I was sick of it after only 30 seconds, but I listened to the full thing.
"Wow," I said after it was over. "That was... something else."
Her face fell. "You don't like it, do you?"
"I never said that!" I stammered, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "I... i-it just... well..."
"No matter," Momo insisted, looking determined. "I was going to make mine sound different anyway. See, the words are obviously very easy, but I won't keep up changing the melody like she did."
"Honestly, by the end of the song I thought she could've passed for a trumpet." I commented.
She nodded. "Instead, I'll just make the instrumentals more fun. It's not really about the words, it's about the timing of when you say them."
"What's this song called, anyway?"
"Uh.... Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya? You've gotta admit, it's a pretty fitting name for the song."
I chuckled. "How original."
Momo looked over the computer and at her brother, who was preparing afternoon tea. "What do you think, Momotaro?"
He looked up from the stove. "Hm? Oh, your song. I think you should go for it if you want to."
Momo began to sing the song quietly, getting the timing of the "nya"s on point. "Hey, you're pretty good," I admitted.
"Oh, thanks!" she flushed.
Just then, Uta walked in. "Hey guys, whatcha doing?"
"Good afternoon, Utane-chan!" Momotaro waved from the stove.
She blushed but smiled at him as she walked over to us, resting her chin on Momo's head. "So, what are we working on?"
"A song cover," Momo replied, wiggling out of her grasp. "And don't do that. You're messing up my hat."
Uta leaned forward until her face was an inch from Momo's, grinning widely. "I'll do what I want, Pinku." Then she grabbed the sides of Momo's face and her head came off with a pop.
"Hey! Give me that! I need my head!" Momo's arms tried to reach for her head.
"No you don't! You're a robot!" Uta ran off with Momo's head shouting between her arms, the rest of her body chasing after her.
"Those girls," Momotaro chuckled from the stove. "They're best friends, you know."
"Sometimes Uta is kind of... mean," I responded, shutting Momo's laptop.
"That's just her way of showing Momo she likes her. Besides, I think it's pretty cute~"
"What did you just say?" A deep voice that sounded like Uta startled us both.
Momotaro must have thought Uta was teasing him, because he responded, "I said I think you're cute, Utane-chan~"
"That's Defosuke to you, creep." A young man stood in the doorway. He gave a striking resemblance to Uta.
"W-Who are you?!" cried Momotaro, clearly mortified.
"Defoko's brother," he said, stomping over to Momotaro and giving him a death glare. It seemed they had forgotten I was there. "What are your intentions with my little sister?"
Momotaro leaned back against the stove. "N-Nothing, I swear! I just- Ow!" He burned his hand on the stove, which I guess he forgot to turn off.
That was when Momo came back into the kitchen, screwing her head back on. "Oh, who is this?"
Momotaro looked at his sister with terror in his eyes. "Momo, where did Utane-chan go?"
"That's not her name!" Defosuke insisted.
"Right, right! Where is Uta? That's what I meant!"
Luckily, that was the moment she decided to enter the room. "What is going on?"
Defosuke turned around and hugged her. "Oh, Defoko! Has this sleazy creep been bothering you?"
"What? No! And don't call me Defoko!" She pulled away and then blushed. "Momotaro is my friend!"
"Oh." He pulled away and shot Momotaro a final look. "I'm watching you." Then he turned to me. "You, keep an eye on him for me."
I saluted him. "Aye, aye!"
After he left, Momo exclaimed, "Defoko, I didn't know you had a brother!"
She shrugged. "I guess I just never mentioned it. He's only been around for a little bit, the developers just made him. Also, don't call me Defoko."
"He scares me," said Momotaro, who was washing his burn with cold water.
Uta sighed. "He's so overprotective! If I do so much as look at someone, he threatens them!"
"He's only trying to keep you safe," said Momo the optimist.
"From what? My friends?"
"W-Well... no, that's not I what I meant-"
"Whatever. I better go find out who he's stalking now." Uta rolled her eyes as she left the room.
~Momo's POV~
500,000 views.
My cover had gotten 500K views in two weeks!
On top of being the most-viewed UTAU song, it was also the fastest cover to get so many views in Utau history, and it was getting more and more views each day. I had no idea that this could happen!
Things only got better when Charlotte called me into her office. "A company heard your cover," she told me with a big grin on her face. "They want to make it the theme song for their new character."
I gasped. "Oh, you mean it? I would love that! But... shouldn't they check with Miku first? I mean... it is her song, not mine."
Charlotte shrugged. "They like your cover better, I guess, and they want to use it. So, what do you think?"
"Yes! Yes, of course! Absolutely!"
After that, the song's popularity only increased. People loved Nyan Cat. I didn't really get much credit for the song in the official video, but I didn't care. I knew that it was my cover, and that was good enough for me.
A couple days later, I was setting tables for dinner when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," said Uta, who, in my opinion, was being very lazy and not helping.
When she opened the door, I heard a familiar voice say, "Is Teto home?" I peeked around the corner to see HATSUNE MIKU STANDING IN OUR DOORWAY!
Uta was obviously freaking out, and all she could do was point to Teto's room.
I ran over to get a better view of the real live Hatsune Miku, and she smiled at me. Really! I guess Uta had been too stunned to say anything before, but now she called, "Um, I love you!"
Aww. My best friend was so sweet. I hugged her. "I love you too, Defoko~"
"Not you!" She pushed me off. "I was talking about Miku!"
If Miku had heard that, she didn't show it. She kept on walking, not even glancing back at us.
~Miku's POV~
Teto, that little brat. I tell her to shut her stupid mouth, only for her to turn around and make her friend's cover of my song more popular than the original! Ugh!
That was enough. I wasn't gonna put up with her crap anymore. I decided to pay her a visit in her very own house.
I got to the door that the purple girl said lead to Teto's room, and before I even had a chance to knock, she opened it, so my fist accidentally hit her in the face.
"Ow!" She brought a hand up to her face, and then when she realized it was me, she said, "What do you want?"
I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the Utau's recording studio, as I remembered it was soundproof. Therefore, nobody could hear all the yelling I was about to do. "How dare you defy me!"
"I-I didn't!" She yelled back.
I was furious. "Yes, you did! I told you to stop singing, so you turn around and make your friend popular instead?"
"What? You think I did that??" Teto looked at me like I was crazy.
"Oh, don't play dumb with me! I know you did it on purpose!"
"No! I don't even know what you're-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence, because I pinned her to the wall. "If you ever, and I mean ever, do something like this again, I'll make sure you're dead before you can say Paradichlorobenzene!" What happened next was kind of in slow motion, yet it was really fast at the same time. I dropped Teto, then her head hit the wall, and she was knocked unconscious, just lying there on the floor.
I stared with horror at first, but then I simply shrugged. Not like I care what happens to her. I quickly slipped out of the business room to find those little fangirls. Maybe I could actually get away with this.
I mean, who would suspect me, a sweet, cute, perfect little Vocaloid?