top vocaloid. the number one. world’s best singer. she overshadows all the rest. she did overshadow them. she had the strongest voice… strongest vocals… strongest chorus… most potential… yet, now, all of that had been brutally stripped away from her.

… miku. hatsune miku.

that was what had used to be her name, hadn’t it? she could hardly recall it herself. that name used to be plastered up all over the walls all over town, with miku’s own face printed beneath it, grinning & smiling for all she was worth whilst clutching a microphone in her right hand. those posters always seemed to be up, as no one had the heart to take them down. a smile would always creep onto miku’s face as she saw her own face on her way to the studio, seeing her posters advertise her newest album, or maybe even concerts at times. people always went ballistic whenever she released a new album or decided to go on tour again, hell, they went apeshit even when miku released singles, which, in her eyes, was not enough content for her devoted fan base at all to keep them happy. they always remained so, however, & in turn, miku never had had a bad day in her life either. that was all in the past now. the name “miku” was unbeknownst to the newer version of the former singer. she found herself retching at the mere mention of her last name, & it’d put her in a bad mood for the rest of the month if someone so much as thought of her last name next to her. what miku was now was a diva. diva by name, diva by nature, right? well, she had been a diva. diva wished nothing more than to relive her olden days of glory, back when she was still relevant in the eyes of the general crowd. however, as more & more vocaloids emerged from the unknown & began to make names for themselves, namely kasane teto & akita neru, the former of whom diva despised the most—diva faded away into irrelevancy. the crowd didn’t constantly cheer for her on the sidewalks whenever she passed by. they didn’t go haywire whenever she decided to release a new album or decided to host a concert. they didn’t even seem to recognise her on the street anymore… she just received a couple of glances, a few whispers of “damn, that girl’s hair is *long”, & other condescending comments about diva’s deteriorating appearance. & she was sick of it. diva wanted to relive the old days. she wanted to be popular again. she wanted to be relevant again. she wanted to be paid attention to. she wanted the eyes of the audience on her. she didn’t just want to share the stage with another vocaloid. she didn’t just want to collaborate with another one of those scums to make a new song that would hopefully bring the attention back on to her. she wanted to be the first again, & she wouldn’t stop at anything to get it. so diva began devising a plan. she would pay a little visit to the new studio in town where the most popular vocaloids recorded their vocals for their songs, & that was where diva knew she could find teto & akita. diva walked straight into the small, two-story studio, clutching a massive scythe held low by her side she’d swiped from the display for teto’s new album outside. the first person she found was teto, whose head was rolling on the ground in the very next moment, severed straight off from her shoulders, as smooth as a knife cutting through butter. no one else was working at the studio at the current hour, as it was nearing midnight, so she had no chance of being caught. the moment teto screamed in fright upon seeing diva handle that scythe & aiming to use it on her, diva knew that akita would’ve been alerted of the nearby danger. funny thing was, diva had actually been good friends with akita prior to diva’s downfall…so she decided that akita would have an easy death. but diva had never been the merciful type all the same. “oh, akita..~”, diva called out tauntingly, voice maliciously playful as she slowly lumbered, painstakingly up the flight of stairs to the second floor of the studio. the scythe dragged along behind her, causing a loud scraping noise. “i know you’re up here…!”