Disclaimer : I'm Piko's fangirl! Love him to death. And, this is just a fanfic. It's not like I wish him to die or anything... This came to mind as I listen to his 'The disappearance of Hatsune Miku", which in my opinion is better than Utatane Piko's. Even if the high notes sounds weird. I think it's fitting.

In a hospital bed, an old man laid dying. He was kept alive with various machinery, and drugs with all kinds of effects entered his veins.

Anyone could see that he had little time left to live.

He paid the nurses and doctor who took care of him no mind, and chose to spent his last days in silent. His age and sickness had made even talking painful. Of course, if his family came to visit, he'd talk to them, but only if it's absolutely necessary.

One night, the old man realized that he only had few hours to live.

And so, he closed his eyes, and tried to remember everything he had done in life. Time had erased most of his memories from his mind, but his happiest memories never disappear, and they tortured him. In the darkness, no one noticed tears that had fallen from his sunken eyes.

He remembered... A time when he was the happiest...

Time when he was young, and beautiful...

When all he wished for was to sing.

It's not like he didn't want to sing anymore. He just couldn't. His body refused to let out beautiful sound like it used to, and when he opened his mouth what came out was always a groan of pain. It was painful remembering what he could do in the past, but when he remembered a certain boy's face, the pain subsided.

There was a boy... He was eternal, the man sure of it.

He believed it.

The boy lived in a perfect world, where he could sing anytime he wanted until the end of time. He had friends who were eternal like he was, and they too could sing forever. They lived happily, unchanging...

Unlike him, who was becoming closer to death. Unlike him, whose friends already left him to the other side of the world.

"... Piko."

He said the boy's name, and remembered that he was once called with that name too.

Piko... Utatane Piko...

His Vocaloid.

His voice.

He remembered the time in studio after recording, when someone he already forgotten asked him about the boy's name. He wondered if he already predicted that he would one day lose the ability to sing, and thus chose to give the boy his own name so he could sing in his stead. But, as he tried to remember harder, he could feel more and more of his memories disappearing.

"... Sing... want to sing..."

He said with his broken voice, particularly to nobody. Realizing that no one could hear him even if he screamed, the old man suddenly remembered his family.

His family had wished to keep him at home, but he insisted on staying in the hospital.

Why, he had asked himself million times. He loved his family, and if he could he'd like to spend his last days with them. Even though he knew that, he still chose to stay in hospital.

That night, he realized why.

Deep inside, he still wished for the miracle that would allow him to sing once more.

Just like the eternal boy...

Remembering the boy with his gentle smile made the man choked on his own tears, and when he realized it even breathing hurt his body.

He never wished for that kind of end.

That's why he chose to stay in the hospital. The bright future he wished for was not meant for him. As he grew older, he realized the impossibility of his dream. The light grew dimmer and dimmer, until finally it just became dark and painful to remember. Even so, he still wished for it, and he tried to protect the illusion of the bright future.

Just as he struggled to breath, he could feel his hand being held by someone. Surprised, he looked to his side, only to find the eternal boy he wished to be, smiling with trails of tears visible on his pale cheeks.

None of the doctors and nurses around, who were there to help him, realized the boy's presence. To them, the boy simply did not exist. The old man even saw one of the nurses walked through the boy's body, as if he was a ghost.

The boy opened his mouth, and said, "I'm... sorry."

He pulled gently, and suddenly, the pain was gone.

Breathing no longer hurt his lungs.

His body felt as light as feathers.

The coldness he was used to had been replaced with warmth, whether it was from the air or from the boy who's now hugging him, he did not know.

He gasped when he look at his reflection on the window, for he was young and beautiful again.

"... It can't be...," his hand instinctively moved to his neck, surprised when he could feel nothing even as he spoke.

The sounds from the machine changed, and that's when the man realized it.

The time had come. It's time for him to leave, and go to his friends and families that had gone before him. He looked back to the doctors and nurses, seeing them with their heads hung low as one of them announced the time, while another covered his face with the blanket.

The boy, glanced up, and nodded.

He let go of the man and took a step back.

"... Do you feel sad? Nothing about you will last... Everything will disappear... The future you wished for... It can't exist..."

At first, the man thought that he would cry, as the words that came out from his mouth were broken as if he was holding back his cry.

Surprisingly, the man didn't feel any of the sadness.

At first, he wondered as well.

But then, he realized that it's because he was sure that the place he's going to would be a paradise, where he could sing along his friends just like in the old times, forever more. He'd be just like the eternal boy...

And that's why he shook his head, and answered, "My voice won't ever disappear..."

The boy looked up, looking a bit confused as he wiped his mismatched eyes, before smiling gently, a smile the man loved very much. "That's right. I'll sing in your stead... Because I'm your voice."

"... thank you... ," the man said as he bowed, light starting to engulf his body, blinding the Vocaloid. The white haired boy laughed at the gesture, and bowed also.

"... thank you...," he said, copying his Provider. They raised their heads at the same time, and just as the man was about to disappear, they said their last words together...

"And, good bye, Piko."