Chapter Text
Teto placed her car into park, she’d gotten off work earlier than normal that day, which is to say she hadn’t been made to work overtime like was usual at her studio. She began to make her way through the winding halls of the apartment complex with a bounce in her gait which was a rarity those days. Teto thought back to her messages with Miku, she had said she was available to hang out after six o’clock on most days, so she would be free later that day. The two hadn’t had the chance to actually talk since the previous Saturday when they first met, so Teto made up her mind to call her that evening.
“I’m home Neru!” Teto called out upon entering the apartment.
Neru rounded the corner to greet her in sign language, “You’re home early for once. Do you want me to order delivery, get take out, or do you want to eat here?”
“I’ll make dinner, it’s been so long since I last got to bake.”
“Please don’t make just baguettes for dinner again.”
“That was one time Neru! Besides, I already have a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for weeks.”
“Sure, it was one time,” Neru signed, using air quotes to indicate her sarcasm.
“The baguettes I make when I’m drunk don’t count!” Teto replied defensively, heading into the kitchen. A half-hour later Teto came back out of the kitchen, holding a loaf of bread covered in cheese, bacon, and basil. The two discussed their respective days as they enjoyed the lovingly-crafted meal, Neru repeatedly complimenting the dish as was common for her to do. When they finished, Neru did the dishes since Teto had done the cooking, for which Teto thanked her and went to grab her phone. She went to her room before selecting Miku’s contact from her list and messaging her.
“Hi, are you able to hang out?” Teto asked, she deliberated on how to phrase the question for a long while, she usually never had to ask anyone this type of question since she only ever hung out with Neru.
After a short wait Teto got a call from Miku.
“Oh my god hi Teto!” Miku exclaimed excitedly, she was just as energetic as she was during one of her performances.
“Hi, how have you been?” Teto questioned thoughtfully.
“I’ve had a great week, I just finished writing out the lyrics to a new song! Now I just gotta find a composer to make the backing track, but that may take a while since all of my usual ones are booked right now.”
Teto pondered for a moment before replying, “Can I help?”
“You’re a composer?” Miku asked with great interest.
“Yeah, I work for UTAU studios, I composed Mimic Girl.”
“Oh, my god, I loved that song! You did an amazing job giving that song its own identity and it was so catchy too!”
“Thanks, I’m glad you liked it,” Teto forced herself to respond without giving away how excited she was, she was overjoyed at the revelation that her idol enjoyed one of her songs.
“I would love to have you on the song.”
“Do you have any requests for a tone or time signature? I want to know what you’re going for with this song.”
“Normally I would, but this song is way different compared to what I’m used to. I wanted to try some more mature lyrics this time.”
“Mature? That is pretty different, is Crypton really not trying to maintain the whole cutesy vibe anymore?”
“They are, they said they wouldn’t publish the song, but I just decided to publish it myself to get around them.”
“Your contract with Crypton must be pretty loose if you can self-publish without violating any terms.”
“Technically, I am violating the terms of my contract, but if Crypton were to sue me they would lose the only one keeping them afloat financially,” Miku laughed.
“I’m glad you’re still passionate about music, that’s rare among musicians nowadays.”
“Wait… do you not enjoy composing anymore?” Miku asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“I don’t know… I haven’t composed anything by myself for a long while, but before I got my current job I loved writing and playing songs with Neru. So I think I’ll enjoy this, either way it will be refreshing to be composing for fun.”
“Good you should be able to enjoy making music. Is Neru one of your friends?”
“Yeah, She’s my only friend… or well, she was my only friend until I met you,” Teto quickly corrected herself upon her slip up. She thought silently for a moment on how strange she must seem to Miku who must have so many friends with how popular she is.
“I’m glad I met you then, you’re too cool to only have one friend. Your friend Neru sounds cool too, is she also in the music industry?”
“No, she went into advertising. She never did tell me why though.”
“That’s sad, people who’re passionate about something should be able to pursue it.”
“You and I are in agreement about that,” Teto replied, she thought carefully for a moment. “You two would get along well I think, you both are pretty determined people and she’s as big a fan of your stuff as I am.”
“Then I hope I can meet her one day.”
“I could probably introduce you to her, we live together so if I made a group chat between us three you could talk over the speaker to us both and she could reply in the group chat.”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler for her to just talk into the speaker too?”
“She can’t, she’s mute.”
“Oh, my bad. I’d be down for that though.”
“Ain't your fault, that’s on me for forgetting to mention that sooner, but yeah, I could set up a hangout over the weekend.”
“If it’s over the weekend could I come in person? Meeting someone over the phone doesn’t feel as cool as meeting them in person.”
“Sure, does one o’clock Saturday work for you?”
“Yeah, that works.”
“Cool, I’ll ask Neru, if she doesn’t wanna hang we could just hang with the two of us.”
“Alright then, sounds like a plan,” Miku responded cheerfully. The two girls continued to talk about random topics for another hour before they had to reluctantly head to bed. Teto thought long about the conversation that night, basking in the joy of newfound friendship.