LoveLogic, a vocaloid fanfic

The Math and Science Center was dead that Friday afternoon in early October. Luka Megurine found that unsurprising, since students were gearing up for Homecoming Weekend. With the football game and the partying that went with it, studying would be the furthest thing from their minds.

Luka had started working at the Center in the fall of her junior year. In the beginning, it was just a job, but she soon found she liked helping others unravel the mysteries of mathematics. So unlike most tutors, she held onto the job into graduate school, even though her teaching assistantship covered nearly all of her costs already. Tutoring was fun and rewarding work, and even though it didn't pay much more than minimum wage, it kept her in soy lattes.

The lack of clients made the spacious open area of tables and workstations appear larger than it really was. Only four other tutors were on duty, all newly-hired undergraduates in other majors whom Luka didn't know well. Between the five of them, they hadn't seen more than a dozen students in the past two hours.

Not that Luka minded the inactivity. Sure, she'd prefer to be tutoring some desperate student on, say, the chain rule, but she got paid either way. When the next round of exams hit at the end of the month, the place would be jammed, so it would all even out in the end anyway. Besides, it wasn't as if she didn't have anything else to do whenever things got slow. This particular Friday, she'd been killing time by grinding through a difficult set of proofs assigned in her complex analysis class.

Finally, a flash of insight sparked in her brain, and she scribbled down the final steps of the last proof, then dropped her mechanical pencil onto the paper and leaned back, rubbing her temples. Her gaze drifted to the wall clock: 4:56 pm. In a little more than a half hour, she'd be free… Sort of.

The Rainbow Alliance was hosting a mixer that evening that her roommate and best friend Lily had been pushing her to attend. She wasn't exactly looking forward to going. If she'd had a date to bring along, it would be one thing, but for the past two years, she'd chosen her studies over relationships, so that wasn't an option. And she had no desire to play third wheel to Lily and her latest girlfriend, a bubble-headed sophomore exercise science major named Gumi, which was guaranteed to happen if she tagged along by herself. But Lily had been more persistent than usual this time, so Luka had finally agreed to go just to shut her up.

Honestly, she'd have much preferred following her usual nightly routine: a solitary meal at the dining hall, then back to her and Lily's on-campus apartment for several hours of studying, topped off by a much-needed session with her trusty Magic Wand before lights out.

In her mind, celibacy was the price she had to pay to earn that coveted doctorate in applied mathematics. Relationships meant major distractions. Distractions inhibited success. Success in her studies took priority.

At least that's what she'd originally convinced herself, but she hadn't reckoned on what a lonely existence it turned out to be. So lonely that despite her best intentions, she'd begun to get very, very restless.

Shaking her head to derail the depressing train of thought, Luka pulled her laptop from its nearby case. Her numerical analysis professor had given them a particularly complicated set of algorithms to implement and test that week, and now was as good a time as any to start writing the code. But before she had the chance to even open the lid, she heard the on-duty receptionist call her name.

"Luka, you have a walk-in."

She turned to look, then swallowed hard.

It was her.

The reason for all that inner turbulence.

Miku Hatsune was the total package. Tall, slender dancer's body that her usual hoodie-jeans combination couldn't hide. Long, shimmering hair in a rare, vibrant shade of teal, usually pulled back into twin ponytails that gave her a fresh, innocent look. Eyes, colored to match the hair, large and deep enough for Luka to drown in. Upbeat and carefree, with a smile warm enough to melt stone.

To say Luka was smitten would have been a gross understatement.

From what she could tell, Miku had only one obvious weakness: she was terrible at math. Oh, she understood the concepts well enough after Luka explained them slowly and carefully, but week after week she would be back, making it a point to seek Luka out. She always claimed to be completely lost. As far as Luka could tell, it had nothing to do with Miku's intelligence; she never would have gotten into their university if that had been an issue. It was more a case of lacking the confidence that she could handle the material.

Luka found it all very strange, considering how well-spoken and well-informed the younger girl otherwise appeared to be when they chatted about anything other than math. But at least she was teachable. Luka could live with that. Probably.

She'd never get the chance, though, because of the biggest dealbreaker of all: Miku was straight.

At least, that was the obvious conclusion in Luka's mind. Technically, the issue of Miku's orientation had never come up. But then, it didn't have to. In her experience, the women who attracted her the strongest were also the least gay, and Miku had never given off any signals that she was interested in women. Given these facts, Luka had no choice but to adopt the hypothesis of straightness and wait for a counterexample to disprove it. All very logical, in keeping with her mathematician's sensibilities.

Too bad there was nothing whatsoever logical about the feelings this girl stirred in her.

Their eyes met, and there it was: that sly, sexy little smirk that made Luka want to pounce like a tigress.

"Hello again, Miku," Luka said, plastering on the default customer-service smile she used with every student.

"Hiya, teach!" Miku flipped her a jaunty half-salute. "Glad I caught you before your shift ended. Happy Friday!"

"Same to you," Luka said, motioning to the chair on her right. "Have a seat. What have we got today?"

Miku slumped into the chair, her backpack hitting the floor with a thump.

"The Mean Value Theorem. I just don't get it."

"Exactly what about it don't you get?"

"Pretty much the whole thing," Miku said with a sheepish chuckle. "Especially how the secant thingumabob's related to the tangent whatchamacallit." She fished a spiral notebook out of her backpack, opened it, and placed it on the table in front of Luka. "Like this problem here." She leaned close, pointing to a jumble of letters and numbers and symbols. "I'm not even sure where to start."

"Well, then, let's see what you've got," Luka said, trying her best to ignore how wonderful Miku smelled, and how close those kissable lips were to her own.

Surprisingly, it only took about fifteen minutes—far less time than usual—before everything finally clicked in Miku's mind. When it did, her 1,000-watt smile sent a little tingle up Luka's spine.

They spent a few minutes engaging in small talk, mostly about the homecoming frenzy gripping the university. But all too soon, the younger girl began gathering her books, preparing to leave.

"Oh, teach, one more thing," she said. "I've got something to show you." She pulled a stack of papers from the back of her notebook and handed them to Luka.

Math 181 Common Exam 1, Version 12b, the title read. In the upper right corner was Miku's name in her distinctive, orderly handwriting. But it was the other handwritten notation at the top of the page, in bright red ink, that grabbed Luka's attention like a tractor beam: 50/50, 100%.

…the hell?

Astonished, she turned to look at Miku, who grinned back at her like a sexy, teal-haired version of the Cheshire Cat.

"Wow, Miku! This is awesome—congratulations!"

"It was all you, Luka. I couldn't have done it without your help. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough."

That was the first time she could remember Miku calling her by name. Up until now, it had always been "teach." Hearing her say it made Luka's heart flutter.

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to try, though." Seeing Luka's confusion, Miku went on, "To thank you, I mean. So I was thinking we could grab a bite, my treat. I've got plans for tonight, but maybe tomorrow or Sunday? We could do Faustino's if we can beat the homecoming crowd, or maybe that new vegetarian place over on Chancellor Street."

The offer took Luka completely by surprise. In her fantasies about Miku, she'd always been the one to take the initiative. She almost accepted out of reflex, but then her brain quickly caught up with her hormones, shutting down her reply. Miku asking her out was a friendly gesture born out of simple gratitude, that was all. To expect anything more than that was to set herself up for disappointment.

Meanwhile, Miku correctly interpreted Luka's hesitation as reluctance.

"Please, Luka, don't say no. I really want to do this. It doesn't have to be this weekend, even. Look, why don't we exchange cell numbers? You know, so we can set something up next week, or maybe the week after?"

Those huge, glistening, puppy-dog eyes looked so hopeful that Luka caved in. It was just lunch, she told herself. What was the harm in just one meal?

And what a smooth little minx, asking for her cell in such a way that she couldn't refuse. Oh, well. If things didn't pan out, she could always get a new number.

"Okay, I'm in. Call me tomorrow and we can talk details."

Miku's face lit up so brightly that Luka decided that just this once, she'd allow herself a tiny morsel of hope.

"I'd better bounce," Miku said once they'd exchanged numbers. She hoisted her bookbag onto her shoulder. "Thanks again for everything. I'll definitely be in touch."

God damn it! That smirk again.

With a flip of her twin ponytails, Miku turned to go. Was it Luka's imagination, or as the younger girl walked toward the door, did she swing her hips a little more obviously than usual? And that ass…

With those images of Miku burned into her mind, Luka was going to need Magic Wand therapy later, after all.

Once Luka had gotten some space from her encounter with Miku and the cloud of lust began to clear, she was left with a single uncomfortable question.

According to Math Department statistics, only 44 out of 1,802 students that semester scored above 90 percent on the first Math 181 exam. How had Miku, of all people, managed to not only wind up among the 44, but also to submit one of the very few perfect papers?

Luka could see only three possible answers. The first—that Miku had cheated—Luka refused to believe, at least initially. Based on their interactions, she didn't seem the type. And certainly, if she were inclined to cheat, she wouldn't have bothered spending all those hours with Luka trying to understand the material, would she?

The second possibility was that Miku's grader simply decided to be generous. That didn't make sense, either. The TAs for the calculus sections routinely swapped sets of exams to ensure the scores were as fair and objective as possible. Many made no secret of their high grading standards, and Luka was no exception. Further, once they'd finished with the exams, they swapped back to the original TA for quality review, so each paper would be seen by two sets of eyes. Under those circumstances, it seemed impossible that Miku had scored 100 percent by random chance.

This led to the third possibility: Miku knew far more than she was letting on. But that made the least sense of all. Why go to all that trouble if you already knew the material cold?

Luka made it to the dining hall, through the buffet line, and halfway into her vegetable shepherd's pie before reluctantly conceding that the first, worst possibility was the most likely.

That may have been the logical conclusion, but damn it! The idea of Miku having cheated just didn't feel right.

Luka tried to remember which TA led Miku's calculus recitation. The name had come up at some point, but her memory was hazy. She scrolled through her phone's contacts, hoping that would help her remember. Suddenly, a name jumped out at her: Kaito Shion. Luka remembered Miku saying something about him being her TA.

She only knew Kaito casually. He'd gotten his bachelors from a different university and was a year ahead of her, but they were in Numerical Analysis together that semester and had gotten along pretty well. She hadn't graded his Calc I section's exam papers, but she didn't think he'd mind answering a few questions about one of his students, as long as it didn't violate any privacy laws.

She called Kaito as soon as she left the dining hall. He had a reputation of being notoriously hard to reach, but to her surprise, he picked up on the second ring.

"Luka? Hello!" He sounded as jovial as ever. "How's it going?"

"Hey, Kaito. Got a minute?"

"For you? Sure," he said with a chuckle, "but if this is about that problem set for Numerical Analysis, it'll take less than that, because I haven't gotten to it yet."

"No, it's nothing like that. Does the name Miku Hatsune ring a bell?"

"Sure does! Miku's awesome. She's in one of my sections. How do you know her?"

"She's been coming to the Math and Science Center for weeks. I've spent a ton of time tutoring her."

There was a long pause on Kaito's end.

"Tutoring?" He sounded really confused. "That's kind of weird."

"She's really weak, which is why I'm calling."

"Okay, now you've lost me. Miku Hatsune? Weak? What are you even talking about?"

"I'm talking about the 100 she got on last week's Calc I exam," Luka said, warming to the topic. "It's completely out of character."

"Calc I exam? Um, Luka—"

"I mean, she's totally clueless until I walk her through every little nuance, step by step, sometimes three or four times."

"Luka, hang on a second—"

"It makes no sense, Kaito. This girl goes slack-jawed and glassy-eyed when she so much as glances at an equation. There's no way she would pop a 100 on that exam, so how—"

"Luka!"

The sheer volume of Kaito's voice put the brakes on Luka's runaway rambling.

"What?"

"Luka," he repeated, softer and less annoyed this time. "Slow down. What's this about Miku Hatsune getting a 100 on last week's Calc I exam?"

"She did. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Okay, I'm having a little trouble understanding how that's even possible, when she—wait, what version was the test?"

"12b."

Kaito let out a heavy sigh.

"I hate to tell you this, but 12b was the version we used last fall. You just finished grading sixty-some copies of the current test, version 13d. You should have known just by looking at the number that they were different."

"Wait, are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Miku isn't a Calc I student. She's in Dr. Kobayashi's Intro to Linear Algebra section, the one I'm grader for."

This news caught Luka so completely by surprise that she nearly dropped her phone.

"In fact, she's the star of the class," Kaito continued. "Helps the other students with the material, even leads a study group. Dr. Kobayashi tried to convince her to change her major to math—something about wanting to mentor Miku as a potential Ph.D. student—but she's already been accepted to that special accelerated B.S./M.S. data science program. And she's only a sophomore, can you believe it? That's how brilliant the girl is. Now, what's all this about tutoring and Calc I?"

Luka struggled for words as she tried to process what she'd just heard. Last year's test! How could she have missed that? Shit! Even more bewildering was the revelation that Miku had been coming to Luka for tutoring in a class she'd taken a year earlier.

None of this made any sense.

"You still there?" Kaito now sounded worried. "What's going on?"

"A huge misunderstanding, apparently," Luka finally said. "It's too complicated to explain right now. Maybe some other time, after I figure out what's what."

"Okay, if you say so."

"Sorry for bothering you. See you at the Monday TA meeting."

"Sure thing. Later."

In a daze, Luka shuffled to a nearby bench and sagged heavily down onto it. Oblivious to the curious stares of passersby, she struggled to get her mind around the fact that Miku had been pretending ignorance all this time.

Her first reaction was anger at being lied to, but that soon cooled as she began to think things through. Had Miku ever really lied about anything? True, she'd never identified herself as a sophomore, but then again, Luka couldn't remember Miku ever saying exactly which year she was in, or even that she was actually enrolled in Math 181. Since the younger girl had asked for help with calculus, Luka had just assumed she was a first-year student taking that course. If Miku was to blame for anything, it was for deliberately allowing Luka to run with her assumptions.

Then there was the matter of how believable Miku had been at playing dumb. The girl's performance had been so damned natural! Yet when Luka thought about it, she had to admit the notion wasn't as far-fetched as it seemed. She had often heard it said that one had to be an expert in a particular skill in order to fake being bad at it convincingly. She believed it; more than once, she'd been reduced to tears of laughter by some virtuoso musician masquerading as a no-talent hack.

Obviously, if Miku's performance was any indication, it was as true with math as it was with music. Based on what Kaito had said, and on the evidence of Miku's year-old calculus test, the girl was brilliant. One didn't get into the viciously competitive data science dual-degree program—as a sophomore, a full year earlier than most—nor did they have the influential and notoriously hard-to-please Dr. Kobayashi pursue them, simply by having above average grades.

Luka couldn't hold back a small smile. The fact that stupid-cute Miku had also turned out to be scary-smart was hot as hell. Girls like that made Luka's panties drop all the way to China.

Her smile quickly vanished, though, when Luka remembered she was no closer to answering the fundamental question: why?

There was only one way to find out. Luka pulled her phone from the rear pocket of her jeans. After a flurry of screen taps, she pressed "send." The text, she thought, was clear and to the point.

I just spoke to Kaito Shion. We need to talk.

The Rainbow Alliance had taken over one of the Student Center's large party rooms. At one end, they had set up a bar. At the other, a DJ was playing soft background music as she set up for the dancing that would come later. Here and there, members and their guests stood socializing in small groups.

In the past, Luka had considered this her haven—the perfect space for a geeky tomboy femme to relax and have a good time without worrying about getting hit on by some obnoxious fraternity brother—but now, she felt out of place. It had been so long since she had attended one of these that she barely knew anyone.

Oh, well, at least she had Lily to hang out with—that is, up until the dancing started. That would be her cue to dip out.

The two women hovered near the party room door, people-watching while they waited for Lily's girlfriend Gumi to make her grand entrance. As a regular, Lily had plenty of people come up to her to chat. Most ignored Luka, but that was fine by her. She'd taken advantage of the red wristband marking her as being of legal drinking age to score her second rum and coke of the night and was too busy making short work of it to feel left out.

Lily Masuda and Luka had first met during freshman orientation more than four years earlier. After a brief—and hilariously unsuccessful—attempt at a hook-up, they decided they were better off as best friends. Since the beginning of sophomore year, they'd also been roommates. Because of their long history together, Luka trusted Lily's judgment.

Except for when she didn't.

"Dude, you need to slow down," Lily said. "You're not going to get a reply by drinking yourself from hot bitch to hot mess."

"I don't understand it," Luka said, her voice a little soft around the edges from the rum. "She made it a point to get my number, and now she's ghosting me."

"I can't believe you're surprised." Lily shook her head. "'We need to talk.' Did you seriously text her that?"

"Um, yeah."

"You're either the dumbest genius I know or the smartest imbecile. Can't decide which."

"Hey, I was nicer in my next four texts," Luka said.

"I've got a news flash for you, Ms. Socially Awkward: five texts in less than two hours is just fucking gross. Way to make yourself look like a total creep."

"I'm not a creep. I'm just trying to get her to answer me."

"Not gonna happen if you keep text-bombing her," Lily said with a sour frown.

Luka scowled back at her.

"You're not helping, as usual."

"Whatever. So, let's say she finally does answer your pathetic cries for attention. What exactly do you want from her?"

"Answers."

The willowy blonde let out a dry chuckle.

"You sure that's all you want?"

Luka didn't respond, mainly because Lily already knew the answer. She didn't have the stomach for the teasing sure to follow. Fortunately, Lily didn't press the point.

"I don't get how you think this can all be straightened out through text, anyway," she continued. "You need to talk to her face to face. Why don't you just try again tomorrow? I mean, you said she wanted to get together, right?"

"I can't set anything up if she's in ghost mode, jerk. And it's not as if she's going to come waltzing through that door over there."

"Never say never."

Luka let out an impatient growl.

"Oh, be serious for once in your life, would you? She's straight, Lily. I've told you that more than once, but you keep blowing me off. Seriously, this is probably the last place on campus she'd want to be." Luka stared morosely down into her cup. "Doesn't matter, though. She could descend from the heavens with a harp and wings and I still wouldn't have a chance with her. I never did to begin with."

"God, you are such a drama queen," Lily said, eyeing her testily. "Did she actually come right out and tell you she's straight?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then you've got no right to assume. Who knows? She might be as queer as King Princess."

"Just let it go, already," Luka said, holding up a hand.

Suddenly, getting blind drunk for only the third time in her life seemed like an excellent idea. She chugged down the rest of her drink, then regarded the empty cup with approval.

"That was just what I needed," she said. "Nice and strong. Time for the next round." She turned toward the bar, but before she could take a step, Lily's hand closed around her upper arm with a grip of iron.

"Where do you think you're going, drunkie?" Lily's tone radiated motherly disapproval. With effort, she managed to work the plastic cup out of Luka's hand. "Two's your limit. I don't want to have to carry you home before Gumi even gets here. Only water for you from here on out."

"Aww, you're no fun," Luka said with a petulant curl of her lip. Lily just shook her head and smiled.

"Just promise me you'll stay standing long enough for Gumi to get here," she said. "I want to party with her without having to worry about you."

"Where the hell did she run off to, anyway?"

"For the fourth time—and yes, I'm counting—she went to meet up with her roommate," Lily said. "I just got a text from her. They'll be here any minute."

"'They'? Who's 'they'?"

"Um… hello? Gumi and her roommate? You really need to ditch the rum, Luka. It sodomizes your sense of reason."

"Huh," Luka said, making it a point to ignore Lily's insult. "Funny, I don't remember Gumi's roommate being family. In fact, I don't remember ever meeting them at all."

"Oh, you've met her, all right. More than once, in fact." Lily's enigmatic smile nearly turned Luka cold sober. She'd seen that smile a hundred times before, usually before she got sucked into crazy antics that she wound up regretting later.

"All right, you devious dyke, spill it. What're you up to now?"

"Oh, nothing," Lily said, her expression suggesting the exact opposite. "I just figured you could use someone to talk to while I party with my girl. Wouldn't want you to feel left out, am I right?"

Luka opened her mouth to deliver a crushing retort, but a squeal from the nearby doorway cut her off.

"Baby-girl!"

Gumi bounded up to them and threw herself on Lily with such enthusiasm one would think they hadn't seen each other in weeks. Luka found that vaguely annoying, considering that when she'd gotten back to the apartment after dinner a scant hour and a half earlier, they'd been busy screwing like a pair of jackrabbits on speed.

She barely had a chance to register the thought before Gumi detached herself from Lily and greeted her has hyper-enthusiastically as ever.

"Lulu-bear! Missed ya, babs!"

Before Luka could respond, Gumi pulled her into a full-body bear-hug.

"Ow! Cut it out! You're going to wrinkle my clothes," Luka said. After a bone-crushing few seconds, she managed to wriggle free and straighten her starched dress shirt. She surveyed the green-haired girl's sculpted, personal-trainer body, barely concealed in a skin-tight bandeau and too-short micro-mini. "Hello, yourself. That's a nice outfit you're almost wearing."

Gumi's emerald eyes gleamed merrily.

"You know the old saying: if you've got it, flaunt it." She struck a pose Luka could only describe as soft-core pornographic. "Well, I've not only got it, I'm slopping over with it."

"And everything she's got belongs to me," Lily said, wrapping a protective arm around Gumi's waist. "So quit eye-banging my girl and go find one for yourself, Pinkie."

Luka chuckled mirthlessly.

"I'm not on the market. You guys should know that by now."

Gumi and Lily exchanged knowing glances.

"Never say never," Lily repeated, her smile widening into a grin. "Hey, babe, introduce your roomie."

Luka stood staring at the duo uncertainly, not understanding what they were getting at.

Then Gumi called over her shoulder, "Yo, friend-girl! Drag your gold-star ass in here!"

A tall, slender figure materialized through the doorway. At the first sight of those silky teal twin-tails, Luka's jaw dropped.

"Miku? What are you doing here?"

"She's an Alliance member like Gumi and me, dipshit," Lily said, "which you'd know if you'd bothered to attend any of the meetings in, oh, the past year or so. And she also happens to be lesbian AF, which you wouldn't know because your gaydar is total shit. So why wouldn't she be here?"

Luka barely heard her. She was too busy goggling as Miku walked slowly toward her.

"Hi, Luka."

She looked even more gloriously beautiful than when Luka last saw her. Black jeans cut dangerously low, so tight that they looked as if they'd been air-sprayed on. A light gray A-shirt, cropped just high enough to show a yummy strip of bare skin above the waistband, and so form-fitting that Luka could clearly see she wasn't wearing a bra. Twin hair clips, heavily spangled, that reflected multi-colored light whenever Miku moved her head.

And then there were those exquisite eyes. They met her own without flinching, holding her hostage.

Suddenly, Lily's cryptic comments made sense. So did the smug expressions on her and Gumi's faces; clearly, they were in on the entire thing from the beginning. Luka glared at the two spectators, who only smiled more widely in response. They had some explaining to do, but she'd deal with them later. The girl standing in front of her was the single most important person in the room at that moment.

"Miku." The word slipped from her in a near-whisper, almost like a prayer. It was all she could get out, given the raging turmoil inside. She didn't know whether to scream or burst into tears or run away or sweep the girl into an endless embrace. It took a long, awkward moment before she rejected all four options and grabbed Miku by the hand.

"You. Me. Outside, now."

Luka led Miku through the exit into the unseasonably warm night air. The younger girl followed her silently, offering no resistance. Once they'd gotten someplace private, Luka finally let go and turned to face her.

"Why didn't you answer my texts?"

"I wanted to, really I did," Miku said, twiddling her fingers nervously. Unlike minutes earlier, she seemed unable to meet Luka's gaze. "But I figured since I knew I was going to see you tonight, I'd just wait."

Luka stared at her incredulously.

"You mean you planned to meet me here? How did you even know?"

"I didn't know until about an hour ago. Gumi didn't tell me you were even coming to the mixer until then. So I guess the word 'planned' is probably a stretch." Miku nibbled her lower lip. "Once I knew I'd see you, I didn't text back. I thought it'd be easier to talk to you in person. Now I'm having second thoughts about that."

"Don't. You were right—it's better to do this face to face."

Miku shifted uncomfortably, but didn't answer.

"So I talked to Kaito, like I said in my text," Luka went on. "And I have to know: why would you pretend to be something you aren't?"

"It's kind of complicated."

Luka folded her arms.

"Try me."

"It was the only way I could think of to get close to you," Miku said, cheeks flushing.

"I still don't get it." Luka's brow furrowed in confusion. "You could have just asked me out, you know."

"It wasn't that simple," Miku said, tossing her twin-tails impatiently. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

"Sure. It was early September. You came in for tutoring."

"Actually, it was the end of August, on the first day of classes. Gumi and I happened to run into you and Lily over by the microbiology building. You were nice to me then, but I don't think I really registered. You seemed miles away."

Luka racked her brain for anything that might match up with Miku's version of events, but came up empty.

"Sorry, I've got nothing," she said with a shrug.

"See? That's what I'm getting at. You barely knew I existed. But my God, did you make an impression on me. I knew right then I had to get to know you better. Never got the chance, though. You never came to any of the Alliance meetings, and the few times I dropped by your apartment with Gumi, you were always out somewhere. It was Lily who suggested I go in for tutoring."

"That sounds like another of her harebrained schemes," Luka said, rolling her eyes. "So this was all her idea?"

"Don't be too hard on her. I honestly think she meant it as a joke. She and Gumi were both shocked that I took it seriously, but I was desperate. So anyway, I had this grand plan all figured out. I'd pop in for a session, charm you into giving me your number, and that would be that." Miku smiled wistfully. "So… yeah. Didn't work. You didn't even remember who I was, let alone notice me."

Luka had been criticized in the past for being a little preoccupied—and with good reason, she had to admit—but to forget the first time she met Miku? Granted, she'd been trying to focus on her studies, but how could she have had her head so far up her ass? Unable to come up with a suitable reply, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"But why calculus? Kaito said you're taking Math 280."

"Calc I has, like, ten times the students Linear Algebra has. I figured it'd be easier to blend in. Plus, I knew the calc material cold. One of the girls in the STEM dorm gave me a copy of this semester's syllabus, and that was that."

"But why, Miku? Why fake it?"

"Because I needed a reason to keep coming back. It got harder and harder every time—I felt like such a fraud. But you were just so sweet and gentle and patient with me that, well, I kind of wanted more. Then it just sort of became this big, I don't know…"—Miku threw up her hands for emphasis—"…thing. I got in so deep that I couldn't stop. I meant to tell you when I took you to lunch—at least that's what I told myself—but you were one step ahead of me and you called Kaito and found out from him instead of me and now you've dragged me out here and…" Miku's shoulders slumped and her head hung. Her voice sank so low it was barely audible. "You hate me now, don't you?"

The desolation in the question pierced Luka's heart like a dagger.

"What? No!" The words came out with much greater force than she intended. To her horror, Miku flinched, and her lower lip began to quiver. "No," Luka repeated, softer and gentler this time. "Why would I hate you? Impossible."

"Oh, thank God! Because I like you, Luka. I mean really, really like you. If you told me you never wanted to see me again…"

A solitary tear ran down Miku's right cheek, followed almost immediately by another on the left. She spun around to face away from Luka, hands rubbing her eyes.

Luka froze, totally at a loss. She fancied herself as the rational, in-control type. Normally, when someone displayed this intensity of emotion, it put her off.

But this wasn't just "someone." It was Miku.

The sight of her cradling herself in her arms, trying to fight back tears, knocked Luka out of her stasis. She moved quickly behind Miku and pulled her close. The slender girl—so light in her arms, almost airy—leaned back into the embrace. Luka simply held her, content to revel in her warmth and savor her unique floral scent.

"I really, really like you, too." The intimate words slipped out effortlessly. Luka wasn't sure why. Had the booze and emotional atmosphere conspired to loosen her tongue? Or was this a spell Miku had cast over her?

She didn't have time to think it through, because with a gasp, Miku turned within the embrace to face her, damp face glowing with joyful surprise.

"Seriously?!"

The sight was too much. Luka had no hope of holding back anymore.

"Seriously."

Miku's hands, which had been clasped behind Luka's neck, moved back around to gently cradle her cheeks. Eyelids fluttering shut, Miku gently pressed her lips to Luka's.

The older girl froze, but only for a fraction of a second before quickly recovering and returning the kiss with purpose. And oh, god—it was like heaven. Miku's lips were every bit as soft as Luka had imagined. She didn't want to stop, couldn't bear to end it, followed it with another kiss, then yet another, and still another. When Miku finally pulled back to gaze at her again, Luka let out a tiny whimper of frustration.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," Miku's said, eyes now filled with smoldering desire, hands lightly caressing up and down Luka's back. "You don't know how hard it's been, sitting next to you all those times, wanting you to hold me and kiss me and touch me, thinking you were never going to take any of my hints."

Luka planted a light kiss on Miku's forehead.

"I wanted you, too," she said, somehow keeping her voice from cracking with need. "You have no idea. But there were reasons. For one thing—"

Miku silenced her by touching a finger to her lips.

"Doesn't matter anymore. The important thing is that I got what I wanted all along."

"What's that?"

"You."

If Luka had been told just a few hours earlier that Miku would be in her arms before the night was out, she'd have laughed it off. But this was no joke, nor was it a dream. Joy and desire, flowing together into a torrent, threatened to fill her to bursting. She tucked her fingers under Miku's chin and raised her head.

"We've both been so clueless," Luka said, gazing into those deep, dark eyes. "Wasted all those weeks."

"We're going to need to make up for it, then," Miku said, then fused her mouth to Luka's.

This latest kiss, open-mouthed and deep, was far more intense than the others, and the ones that followed only escalated from there. As their tongues danced the ancient dance, the fire in Luka's groin burned hotter and hotter. She could tell it was the same for Miku, who ground gently against her, lips and hands in constant motion. My God, the girl could kiss. This time, Luka was the one to break it off, afraid she might lose control completely.

They stood leaning against each other, panting, legs wobbly, for several seconds before Miku broke the silence.

"Luka?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't take it anymore," Miku said, her words coming in short bursts between gasps. "I need you to make love to me. I swear, I'm gonna die if you don't. So take me somewhere. Your room, my room, the restroom, the Student Center lobby, I don't care where. Just don't make me wait any longer."

If the cumulative effect of the kisses hadn't made Luka wet, she certainly was now. The voice of reason in her mind tried to tell her to slow down, but the flood of lust drowned it out.

"Don't worry, babe," she whispered into Miku's ear. "I've got this."

Miku pushed out of her arms, then took her hand. The trademark smirk returned; this time, it nearly pushed Luka over the edge to climax.

"Then let's quit wasting time, teach," Miku said, practically dragging Luka toward the building entrance.

When dawn broke the following morning, Luka awakened from some unremembered dream to the lingering smell of sex. Mouth dry and head mildly aching, she was unable to get back to sleep, so she lay staring at the ceiling of Miku's dorm room, trying to gather enough motivation to get up in search of water and ibuprofen. It was a doomed effort. Headache aside, she was quite comfortable right where she was, snug under the covers in the tiny, twin-sized bed, with warm, naked Miku molded against her side.

By all rights, she should still have been out cold after last night. The campus bus ride back to the STEM dorm had been one long exercise in frustration. She'd been hard pressed to keep things low-key, but it had been next to impossible. Every time the driver turned out the cabin lights between stops, Miku's hands started roving and her lips kept finding Luka's. By the time they got to the room, they were both so feverish with need that Luka took Miku right against the door. Judging from joyful noises Miku made, she hadn't minded in the least.

Besotted, the two quickly moved to the bed, where they made love for hours—sometimes soft and sweet, sometimes hard and fast. Unable to help herself, Luka made it her mission to taste every bit of Miku's exposed skin, to drive her higher and higher to pleasure. Each successive peak seemed only to feed Miku's desire for another. Her responsiveness—the way her hips moved, the way she clenched around Luka's fingers and drenched her tongue, her sexy moans, even the surprisingly filthy words she sometimes uttered—only made the fire in Luka burn hotter, made her want to give Miku that much more.

When it was Miku's turn to take the lead, she didn't disappoint. Clearly less experienced than Luka, she nonetheless made up for it with her eagerness. Luka's memories of that part of their night together were less clear. As the climaxes all began to run together, she'd clung to Miku, urging her not to stop, until they finally collapsed in an exhausted tangle of arms, legs and damp sheets.

It was the most amazing sex Luka could ever remember having.

Unfortunately, as her mind reached full clarity, her tendency to overanalyze began to intrude on the residual bliss.

What the hell was she even thinking? Sure, she'd been smitten with Miku for weeks, but to fall into bed like this… It had taken Luka's last lover a half-dozen dates over a period of weeks, along with a lot of seductive persuasion, to earn enough trust to get her on her back. The three others before that had spent similar effort. But her only history with Miku was a half-dozen "tutoring" appointments, a brief conversation that had revealed nothing other than that they were dripping for each other, and now this.

And then there was that matter of Miku pretending to need tutoring. She'd completely fooled Luka. Seriously, the girl missed her calling—she should be starring on stage or screen rather than studying data science.

And that was the main issue: she'd been acting. If she was capable of feigning ignorance that successfully, what else about her was fake? Would Luka ever be able to trust her completely? What if her only aim was, as Lily would so crassly put it, to fuck Luka's brains out?

Luka didn't think she could handle being used like that.

It was all moving so horribly fast. They barely knew each other, for crying out loud! Luka needed to get away, needed to process everything that had happened, before things got completely out of hand.

Moving slowly and carefully, she eased Miku's arm from around her waist and slid out of bed, shivering at the cool dorm room air on her naked skin. She retrieved her shirt and slacks from the floor, but locating her bra took some doing. She finally spotted it in the chaos that was Gumi's side of the room, draped over a stack of books on the desk. Unfortunately, she couldn't find her boyshorts, but oh, well. They likely weren't wearable, given how Miku had practically ripped them from her hips last night. She'd just have to go commando on the hundred-meter walk of shame to the grad student apartments.

Before Luka had a chance to put on her bra, Miku stirred slightly, catching her attention. The girl lay where Luka had left her, on her side with her head resting on a pillow of teal tresses, lovely face a picture of peaceful rest. The covers had slid down to her hips, exposing her upper body with its slim lines and small, firm breasts. Miku's lips had parted slightly, as if to invite yet another kiss.

She looked just like a sleeping angel.

In Luka's mind, reason battled intuition, with the former urging her to run and the latter demanding she stay. But as she stood transfixed, unable to tear her gaze away, intuition crushed reason with a single, powerful knockout blow: If she walked away, she'd never know what the two of them might have had together. Miku would forever be the one who got away, and Luka sensed she'd always regret that.

The clothes fell from her hands back onto the floor.

"Oh, Miku, what are you doing to me?" Luka asked, her voice a barely audible whisper, before slipping back under the covers.

The motion of the mattress was more than enough to disturb Miku's slumber. After a few moments she stirred, eyes fluttering open.

"Mngh."

In response, Luka gently kissed her forehead.

"Good morning to you, too."

Miku stared blankly for a second or two before her face lit up with a sleepy smile of recognition.

"Hey there, gorgeous," she said, running her fingers lightly over Luka's belly, then kissing her gently on the shoulder. "Oh, wow. I could totally wake up like this every day." She wrapped an arm around Luka's waist and snuggled closer. "Can we stay like this for a little while? Not quite awake yet."

"Of course. Only for a little bit, though. I still have to make a bathroom run."

"Mmhmm," came the answer from somewhere around Luka's collarbone.

As Luka lay close to Miku, gently caressing the younger girl's back, she should have been content. Yet one final question, possibly the most important one of all, persistently nagged at her. She didn't want to ruin the moment, but in the end, she couldn't resist asking.

"Miku?"

"Hmm?"

"So, um… this is going to sound weird…"

Miku pulled back to look up at her.

"Luka, what's wrong?"

The sudden apprehension that filled those beautiful eyes almost made Luka tell her to never mind, but she fought off the impulse.

"Well, uh… what I mean is, what happens now?"

"What do you mean, 'what happens now?'" Miku asked, now confused as well as alarmed.

This was not going the way Luka intended. Best to just come out with it.

"What are we? You and me, I mean. After I leave today, what next?"

Miku stared at her for a moment before the light of comprehension dawned.

"Oh, God, don't tell me you actually thought—"

"Because if last night was all you wanted, you need to tell me right now."

"Luka—"

"Don't get my hopes up, okay? Don't toy with me."

"Luka!"

"Let me down right here and now, because that'll be easier on both you and mmmpf!"

The unexpected kiss finally got Luka's attention.

"Shut up for a minute, would you?" Frowning, Miku rolled onto her side and propped her head up with her hand. "What part of 'I really, really like you' do you not understand?"

"Sorry," Luka said, shifting her focus to the wall over Miku's shoulder. She now regretted even bringing the subject up. "I was, uh, being a little insecure."

Miku pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her annoyed expression quickly giving way to warmth, she gently smoothed the hair from Luka's forehead.

"Well, don't be. I don't jump into bed with just any girl. I wouldn't have let last night happen if I didn't want us to be, you know, together. So don't worry, boo. Last night was only the beginning. 'Cause now—" she pressed an index finger first to her own lips, then to Luka's—"I belong to you."

I belong to you. The words resonated in Luka's mind like the soaring finale of a symphony. She gazed up at Miku, wanting to respond, but couldn't get the words I belong to you, too out. She needn't have worried, though; the adoration on Miku's face showed she knew what Luka was thinking.

After a long moment, Miku sealed the deal with a kiss—to Luka, their sweetest one yet—that blew away her remaining insecurities.

"I guess this means no more tutoring," she said, trying unsuccessfully to sound disappointed.

Miku's eyes twinkled.

"Not in math. I can think of a few other things you can teach me, though."

Luka raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?"

"Really. In fact, I'm pretty sure we could squeeze in a tutoring session right now and still make it to the dining hall in time for Saturday brunch."

Miku hit her with that smirk again, and for the first time in a long while, Luka allowed herself to react openly. She pulled Miku close, then rolled her over onto her back, giggling when Miku squealed at the sudden movement.

"Well, then, let's see what you've got," she said, smiling against Miku's questing lips.

A/N:

− As always, heartfelt thanks to Gray Voice for editing this story and for showing remarkable patience and encouragement as I struggled through writing it.

− I don't own the cover art. All rights to that belong to the artist, okingjo (pixiv [d0t] net / en / artworks / 46023863).

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Vocaloid characters appearing in this story. They're the intellectual property of the various software companies. This story constitutes "fair use" of these characters as provided for under applicable U.S. and international copyright laws.