Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BZZZZ. BZZZZ. BZZZZ. Teto’s alarm clock quickly jolted her out of bed. She should be used to the sound at that point, but the blaring ringing always ends up jolting her awake like it was the first time she heard it. She reached over to her nightstand to try to turn it off. After struggling for a few tries, she finally was able to turn it off. She sat up slowly, feeling the sun piercing through her. She forgot to shut the curtains last night.

She reached over to her bedside table again to grab her phone. She didn’t have many notifications as per usual. It was mostly just the basic news. She slowly crawled out of bed and made her way down the stairs and to the kitchen.

As Teto stepped into the kitchen, she looked over at the counter to find the cup of tea that she left from the night before. “Damn it, I forgot I made that,” She grumbled. She picked up the cup and dumped it down the sink. Watching the brown liquid pour down the drain, she set the cup in the sink. She then walked over to the cabinet to get a new mug and a coffee pod. She put the mug in the coffee maker along with the pod. She turned it on and went to get the bread from the bread box and butter from the fridge. She tossed the bread in the toaster and pushed the lever down. As she did this, she also grabbed a plate from the cabinet. Placing it down on the counter, she ran over to the coffee machine to grab her steamingly hot coffee. She then grabbed the toast and spread some butter on it. She then sat down at her kitchen table, ate the toast and drank the coffee. After finishing her breakfast, she set the mug and plate in the sink and went back upstairs to her room.

In her room, Teto sifted through her clothes to find something somewhat wearable to the studio. She had to record a new album and had no ideas. She had no creativity left from her last album. She just didn’t know what to do. She pulled out a comfortable hoodie, and some leggings and threw them on. She then picked up her phone to text Miku, one of her closest friends to ask her opinion on how she can work on her album. She ranted about how horrible the process was coming along, how deadlines were approaching, and how stressed she was about everything. Miku texted back about a friend, named Gumi who might be able to help. Teto thanked Miku for the advice, and headed off to the studio.

When Teto arrived at the studio, she sat down on the couch and talked to her producer about the opportunity to potentially work with Gumi on a track. Her producer looked at her and said, “I don’t think that that is a good idea.”

“But why not? It could help me so much!” Teto shot back.

“Because she just isn’t as popular. It won’t bring you traction,” Teto’s producer responded with, clearly getting annoyed with Teto trying so hard.

“Just because she isn’t as popular as some other people in the industry doesn’t mean that I can’t collaborate with her on a song!” Teto was getting annoyed at this point. She didn’t understand why her producer wouldn’t hear her out.

“I’m not letting you collaborate with Gumi, it’s not going to work out for you. I’m just not letting you. End of conversation.” Her producer genuinely sounded genuinely angry at that point, so Teto decided to back off.

Teto and her producer for the rest of the day tried to brainstorm ideas for what this next album could be about, along with some other ideas. They tried to come up with something more on the pop side, but that didn’t work very well. They also tried to maybe do something more acoustic and Teto still wasn’t satisfied with that. At that point, she wasn’t satisfied with anything they’d tried to come up with. One of their ideas was entirely way too close to the last album's concept. Another idea they didn’t have enough material to go off of. They just couldn’t come up with anything. Teto was tired of trying to figure out what to do for the new album, and decided to just go home and take a rest.

As Teto headed home, she continued to brainstorm ideas of what she could do for her next album. Looking around at the scenery around her, she still struggled to meet her producers demands. How was she going to come up with something and be able to make it good enough for her fans to enjoy?

Chapter Text

As the weeks went on, Teto still didn’t have any good ideas for the new album. Deadlines were still approaching, and it felt like the walls were closing in on her. She was starting to consider how tempting it would be to just quit music entirely, and just hide away for the rest of her life. “No, I can’t do that. I would let down all of my fans! I would have done all of this for nothing,” She interjected her own thoughts. Then, she remembered something exponential.

Teto raced to her laptop, opened it as quickly as possible, then opened the search bar. She then searched Gumi’s name in the search bar. Her website popped up, she clicked on it, and started searching the website like a rabid animal for a business email or some kind of contact information. Finally, her rampage ended. She had finally found what she was looking for, Gumi’s email address. “Finally, I found it!” she felt elated that she finally found it. She then went to her email and typed in Gumi’s contact. She hovered her hands over the keyboard for a few minutes before eventually deciding what to write.

“Dear Gumi, I hope this email finds you well! If you do not know who I am, my name is Kasane Teto. I have done works such as ‘FIRE!!!, ROT FOR CLOUT, and Honestly.’ I have been trying to work on my new album, but I’ve been having issues with it. There are too many roadblocks with it and I’m seriously struggling. I was recommended to you by Hatsune Miku and was told you might be open for a collaboration with me. If not, I understand, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. Thank you for taking the time to read this, Kasane Teto.”

“I hope to god this works. I really need this to work,” Teto wished. She would understand if Gumi didn’t understand, but she still wanted it to hopefully work out. This would be great for the album.

A few hours later, as Teto worked on a page of things that would possibly work for the album, she felt the urge to check her inbox. She opened her laptop and entered her username and password, allowing her into the device. She then clicked on her email tab and saw an email from Gumi. Teto was so delighted to see the email, but at the same time, a feeling of dread washed over her. “What if she says no and just thought she’d let me know? What if she doesn’t see how great this would be for the both of us?” Teto then realized that she was most likely overthinking it, and if Gumi said no, she would (probably) survive. Teto slowly hovered her finger over the touchpad of the keyboard and slowly hit it.

“Dear Teto, Hello! It is wonderful to hear that you would like to collaborate with me on a track! Miku was telling me about you a while ago and you seemed like quite the interesting person! So I am very delighted to hear from you! I would love to work with you on a track! Since we are in the same area, I’ll be at the Hope Cafe that just opened up in town on Friday. I hope to see you there and potentially get to start working on a song! Sincerely, Gumi.”

Teto couldn’t believe what she just read. Gumi would be willing to work on a track with her of all people? She felt ecstatic! She immediately clicked off the email and opened her calendar, making sure to clear her schedule for the big day. She was going to meet Gumi at that coffee shop, one way or another. She needed this, for her career.

Chapter Text

It was another boring day as usual. Another day in the studio finishing up an album. Gumi’s thoughts were filled with wanting to go home and eat something, most likely whatever leftovers there were from last night. Her thoughts were cut off abruptly by her producer.

“Is it possible to get a little more emotion on that line? It sounds like you’re really out of it. We need more emotion in this song, and you’re not bringing it!” His voice was sometimes Gumi’s worst enemy. He was right though. She really was out of it.

“Oh yeah, sorry, my bad! I must’ve zoned out!” At this point, Gumi was so embarrassed; this was the third time today that her producer told her to add something to the singing. In all reality though, she was just really tired. The only thing that kept her going was how close she was to finishing the album.

“Okay, one more take. Please don’t zone out this time.” Her producer’s voice sounded like a frightening mix of concern and sternness—the tone could deter anyone not familiar with him, but Gumi was far from the case.. He didn’t have much emotion in his voice besides feigned happiness and excitement at most points. When he did, though, you could tell.

The next take was nothing short of perfect. As Gumi sang, both her and her producer could feel the emotion in her singing. It was like all the emotion that Gumi had been holding in came out for this last take. The excitement in her producer’s voice showed it. “You are just so genuinely amazing at this! You have the emotion that everyone needs! You are the perfect artist to work with!” Gumi was exhilarated that a producer would like what she had done so much. Especially because she knew that if her producer was in love with it, then her fans would be too.

“Thank you so much,” Gumi said with a slight shyness to her voice, “I try my best.”

“Well your best is absolutely perfect! This is wonderful! The fans will love this!” Her producer was clearly loving working with her. She never thought that she would find a producer who loved working with her as much as he did. She finally felt appreciated.

“Okay, I think we can wrap it up for the day! I think we only have to come in tomorrow to finish some very light vocal things, then we’ll be done with the album!” Gumi’s producer stated.

“Awesome! Thank you so much for being so willing to work with me! I really appreciate all you do with what I am doing here!” Gumi always felt like she needed to thank everyone for what they helped her with; it just felt polite.

“Of course! I will see you tomorrow then, Goodbye!” Gumi’s producer shouted as Gumi was on her way out of the studio.

“Absolutely! Goodbye to you too!” Gumi shouted back. Closing the door to the studio behind her, she made her way to her car. She opened the door, got in, turned on the ignition, and then started on her way home.

When Gumi arrived home, she kicked her shoes off and went straight to her laptop. She knew she should’ve gone and made food, especially with how hungry she was, but she needed to check her email and see what was happening. She opened up the laptop, typed in the password, and immediately went to her email. As usual, it was flooded with random emails from fans thanking her for her music, some creepy people, and random small artists looking for unwanted collaborations. There was something different this time though. In the mix of it all was an email from Kasane Teto.

Gumi was taken aback, she had been keeping up with Teto’s works for a while now, often drawing inspiration from them. She could have expected to end up sending an email to her for a potential collaboration—but the other way around?. What could Teto want from her?

Gumi clicked on the email and read it. “She wants me on a track for her album? Me? ” She read it countless times over and over again to make sure that she wasn’t missing something, or that it wasn’t fake. She was in disbelief that someone as big as Kasane Teto would want to work with her on a track.

Gumi then quickly curated a response which seemed acceptable to then send off to Teto. She then reread the email over and over again to make sure it was just right. When everything was perfect with the email, she sent it off. She thought that collaborating with someone that big before was going to always be a dream, but it was finally happening!

Chapter Text

Suddenly, it was Friday. Teto sprang out of bed and immediately started getting ready. She started sifting through all of her clothes to find an outfit that was suitable for the coffee shop. After laying out a few outfits, she ended up throwing on a red knit sweater with a white collar shirt underneath it, along with a grey pleated skirt. She walked briskly to the bathroom, opening the drawer dedicated to all of her hair supplies. She took out everything she needed to do her oh-so-familiar drills. After doing the painstaking task of doing her hair; she put all of her hair supplies back into the drawer. She closed the drawer and opened up another drawer dedicated to her makeup. She took a few minutes to decide which products she wanted to use. Afterward, she laid out each product on her bathroom counter meticulously. She then started to apply it to her face.

After taking a comically long time trying to get her eyeliner to match, she finally was ready. Everything was perfect, her hair, her makeup, everything. She needed to make a good impression on Gumi. She needed Gumi to collaborate with her so badly.

As Teto stepped out of her abode and into the world, she felt the sun shine on her. The look of leaves that were falling down onto the sidewalk and grass; it was all so perfectly aesthetic. She walked down the walkway and to the sidewalk. She jumped in the car and set her GPS to the Hope Cafe. The place was relatively far; 25 minutes, to be exact. She decided that it was worth the drive though, especially if it meant that there was a possibility of helping her album come along.

Teto expected the parking to be absolutely atrocious as she drove up to the cafe. It always was with trendy cafes such as this one, but she was pleasantly surprised when there were plenty of parking spaces available.She parked, got out of the car, and then walked into the cafe.

As Teto entered the cafe, the smell of coffee beans and pastries enveloped her. She looked around, searching for Gumi’s signature green hair, but none of the customers had a similar appearance, so she walked over to a random table next to one of the walls and sat down.

She sat for a few minutes, rhythmically tapping her fingers on the table, and then the bell on the door rang out signaling that someone had arrived. Teto looked up from her notebook and looked the woman in the doorway up and down.She was wearing a pair of gray jeans and a greenish-blue sweater; normal woman attire, Teto commented to herself, but what stood out the most was her bright green hair Now, that was definitely Gumi.

Teto waved her over and she walked over and sat at the table at the chair opposite to Teto.

“Teto! I’m so-!” Gumi got cut off by Teto’s excited tone.

“Gumi! I’m glad I was able to make it today! I made sure that I would be able to make it today!” Teto was also overjoyed to see Gumi. She shot Gumi a grin before getting right to the point. “So, as mentioned in our correspondents, I really could use some help with my next album. It hasn’t been going well, and I truly believe that you would be able to help me,” Teto continued.

“I would absolutely want to partner with you on a song! Do you have any idea of what you want to do with it? If not, I brought a few ideas of my own that I thought I could potentially bring up.” Gumi smiled. She was already pulling out her notebook and pen, clearly showing enthusiasm.

Teto enjoyed this enthusiasm coming from Gumi. She’d never seen anyone take this much time to think about a project that she was working on. “Wow, I never knew you were so dedicated to this!” She was elated to see all that Gumi worked on for this. “So, what ideas do you have?” Teto questioned.

Gumi’s smile seemed to grow even larger as she turned her notebook to face Teto and slid it over to her.

Teto scanned over the page meticulously looking for anything that stood out to her. Some ideas, like something acoustic were already crossed off by her and her producer. There were some though that stood out, like something more indie, or alt rock. Suddenly, she heard Gumi speak, “There’s actually a back to that page if you don’t see anything that calls out to you!”

Teto turned the page around. Gumi was right: the back was filled to the brim with even more notes. Teto marveled at the idea of someone being able to come up with so many ideas before.

After looking around at the page for a few minutes, she picked out some of her favorite ideas on the page. The alternative rock really stood out to her, so did a more electronic dance beat kind of song. Both of them then discussed some of the things they might be able to do with the ideas that Teto really enjoyed. Towards the end of their meeting, Teto suggested an idea.

“Why don’t we exchange phone numbers?” she said. “We can talk about all these ideas more that way.”

The blank stare Gumi gave Teto after her suggestion made a chill go down her spine. Oh, she said something wrong, didn’t she? What if they’re too early in this process to exchange phone numbers?! She didn’t want to make Gumi uncomfortable!

Teto’s face sprouted a nervous smile as she tried to double back on her offer. “Of course, if you don’t want to, we can just keep emailing each other—”

“—No, no, we can exchange numbers!” Gumi waved her hand. “It’s just, I never thought I’d ever give my number to the Kasane Teto of all people, haha…”

So that was the issue. Teto wiped the sweat off her brow, relieved that she didn’t overstep any boundaries.

With the idea agreed on, the two pulled out their phones, typing each other’s intricate numbers in their digital phonebooks. The two parted ways soon after, with the backdrop of the setting sun wrapping its auburn rays around the Hope Cafe.