"Too late," Ash taunted Len, "she needs me, and for once, I'll cooperate with her...but you still have to do what I say," he added as an afterthought, his last words directed at Soryn.

Soryn didn't even bother to roll her eyes at her writing minion. "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

"Where's Len?" Ali asked confusedly, seeing as Soryn and Len were usually joined at the hip, or at least in the same room.

"Nee?" came a voice from behind where Soryn sat perched on her desk chair. "Right here. Gomen, it's a bit difficult for me to not blend in with the room when she's on my lap instead of the other way around."

"Yay, we're all here!" Ali said excitedly.

Rin spoke up, directing her turquoise eyes at the younger girl. "Ali, do your homework."

"I'll do it later. I'm too lazy - you know that."

"GO."

Surprisingly, Ali opened her textbook and began to prove triangles congruent.

"You should too, Soryn," Ash pointed out. "You know, while I'm still here, and alive. Len doesn't look...happy...with me at the moment..."

"Dammit, Ash let me eat," Soryn snapped. "I will when I'm done."

"I need food too," Len piped up.

Rin tossed an orange in their general direction. "Here."

"You wouldn't waste these on useless life forms like us, would you?"

Rin considered this. "If they piss me off, yes, but it's the only thing throwable with one hand available to me at the moment and even I don't like it when my little brother is starving."

"By they, do you mean the three of us?" Soryn gestured to herself and the two boys.

"Meh, I throw them at Ali too, but it doesn't do much good because she'd just eat them."

"Alrighty then," Len said, "and by the way, and am your TWIN, not your little brother."

Rin smirked. "I am five seconds older than you, thank you very much, and I intend to remind you as much as possible."

Ash looked up from Soryn's essay and sighed. "God, you two are more annoying than Len alone, or Len and Soryn making out in front of me...but wait, who are you exactly? I don't think anyone's introduced us." He glared pointedly at Soryn. "I mean, I know you're Len's twin, but that's it."

"I won't throw anything at you," said Rin, "mostly because I think we've cleaned the house of oranges, and because you come from some weird other world somewhere, so I wouldn't expect you to know about me...there really isn't much to know about me...here goes.

"I am a Vocaloid singer - you do know what Vocaloid is, right? - I'm also Len's twin sister, five seconds older, dominant, and two inches shorter than him, but that obviously doesn't matter in the least. That's really all you need to know."

"Aah..." Ash's magenta eyes were the size of saucers. "Um...I know about V-vocaloid..."

Rin, having found the orange she had thrown to Len earlier, retrieved it and whipped it at Ash's head. It bounced off his forehead and rolled underneath the dresser. "How do you not know about Vocaloid? YOU WERE BORN INSIDE SORYN'S HEAD, DAMMIT!"

Ash rubbed his face where the orange had hit him. "I do know about it...I was stuttering because...you're...c-cute..."

Rin, her aquamarine eyes also twice their size, stared at Ash, speechless.

Ash looked away. "Uh...I guess I should...introduce myself...I'm Ash Templeton, fourteen, Soryn's 'writing turd' - I help her write better, I guess - I have no siblings...and I'm single?" His awkward statement ended like a question, and the words hung in the air for a moment as Rin tried to think of something to say.

"This is very funny, Rinny, I've never seen you or heard you this awkward with a boy." Len snickered softly. "Do I sense a crush?"

Soryn half-smiled. "I know I do..."

Rin shot daggers at the two with her eyes. "Shut up or I kill you both."

"No, you won't, you're going to be a good girl and ask Ash out, or accept when he does," Len contradicted. "Though I don't think he will."

"I think Ali might have something about me," Ash said nervously.

Ali pulled up 'A Typical Day in the Life of Ash Templeton' and handed her computer to Rin.

The five teenagers sat in silence as Rin read the short story. At one point Rin laughed a little and looked up. "Are you really that bad of a cook?"

"Yes," said Ash sheepishly, "I am a sucky cook..." He blushed.

"And your real name is Ashara?"

"Y-yes...I know it sounds feminine...but my eyes go with my name...people say they're pretty girl eyes..."

"No one has girl eyes," Rin said, "except for shotas, of course...and a few exceptions..."

"Then...I'm an exception?"

Rin nodded. "I guess..."

"People mistake me for a girl as it is...my name, my eyes, sometimes my manner of speaking, even." Ash laughed softly, but without mirth. "The roses, too...the tattoos, I mean."

"True, but what girl would have pink eyes?" Rin frowned.

"What guy would have pink eyes?" Ash pointed out.

"Y-you?" Rin whispered.

"Yeah, but that's it..."

"So?"

Ash looked away. "I dunno...it's just...God, I knew I looked like a girl..."

"W-what? No, that's not it at all!" Rin rushed to explain. "You look...pretty, I guess, but not girl pretty...you know."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Ash shrugged nonchalantly. "Are my girl eyes okay, or are they not girl eyes to you?"

Rin shook her head. "No...not girl eyes...better."

Ash stepped closer to the Vocaloid. "Look closer. What do you see in them?"

Rin tried to make out something in his magenta orbs, but all she could see was her own reflection staring back at her. "M-me?"

"You're afraid..." Ash backed away, his eyes filling up with unshed tears. "I can read people's eyes better than I can read books. You've got more fear than I would've liked to see...you don't want a boy, because you're saving yourself for someone..." Here he paused to compose himself and release the small choked-up sound in the back of his throat. "...someone close, that's moved on..."

Rin's eyes grew wide, and she reached out futilely in Ash's direction, then let her hand drop back down to her side. "No, don't go...I-I don't know any more..." She buried her face in her hands, tears leaking through the cracks between her fingers. "I...can't..." A sob escaped her lips.

"It's Len, isn't it?" Ash asked gently. "I know. Just let go. It's hard, but it hurts worse to hold on. Take it from someone who's made the mistake before." He walked back to where Rin was curled up against the wall and tenderly pulled her hands away from her tear-streaked face.

Rin held onto his for dear life. "H-how?"

"Whenever I used to look into the mirror, I saw what's in your eyes now. You're hurting, holding onto him while watching him with another girl...it was the same with Kiseki and me. Our relationship got awkward, we broke up, and she moved on." Ash's eyes took on a faraway look. "I didn't. I should have, though - I have now, but I should've sooner."

Rin rested her forehead on their joined hands, and when she spoke, her words were muffled. "I just feel that if I move on...he'll come back, and I won't want him anymore...and he'll be gone forever."

"I have a feeling that won't be for a long time, if ever. You've seen them together, I'm sure. Actually...I think he wants to propose, despite their ages...either way, Len won't leave you. Kiseki is still my best friend and borderline sister. Don't worry, Rin. I'll beat the damn shota shitless if he hurts you."

Rin jerked away from him as if he'd electrocuted her. "No! Don't...don't kill him..."

"I couldn't kill, even if it would save my life. I've seen too many of Soryn's dreams and nightmares to ever take a life. It would kill me. I don't know if I could actually hurt him." Ash fell to his knees. "And you're still scared..." His voice broke, and he looked away.

"I'm sorry..." Rin crawled back towards him, but hesitantly. "That was the wrong thing to say..."

Ash looked into her eyes. "I say the wrong thing all the time. That's when Soryn gets a bad grade. It's fine. I'm not hurt. Just please, let him go, even if you don't...find someone else. Do it for me, so I don't have to suffer watching you suffer."

"O-okay...I will, but I think I - " Rin broke off abruptly, and a pink blush crept over her face.

Ash took her hands. "Your eyes are brighter. Thank you. For letting him go, I mean...because I think you were what stopped him from doing any more with Soryn. He didn't want to hurt you. But now...can he propose to her? It's a beautiful ring..."

Rin swallowed the last of her tears. "Yes, I guess. It's not really for me to decide..."

"It is. You're his last living relation. He wouldn't want to spite you with something that important...now, um..." Ash closed his eyes and blushed, then opened them again and gently kissed Rin's hands. "I know it's not the best time, but...will you...go out with me?"

Her eyes grew huge, and she stumbled over her words a bit before answering. "Ah...um...yes...I-I will..."

Ash released her hands and hugged her. "You're going to cry. I did. But I didn't have anyone to hold me. That's...me making a valiant and pathetic attempt to protect you."

"Thank you." Rin hugged him back and curled up on his lap.

Ash stroked her hair and whispered, "He still loves you, just not...like that. But I do. I can only hope I'm as good as he was."

"I...I love you...too," Rin whispered back.

Ash smiled softly and kissed the top of her head. "So...Len isn't...overprotective, is he?"

"Usually not..."

Len and Soryn reentered the room. "Remember when you said you would give your kisses to someone else?" Len asked his sister. "And I hated it? I don't really mind too much if it's him."

"Aah...at the time I was only joking, but if you really don't mind..." And with the tsundereness she was known for, Rin leaned up and kissed Ash on the lips. He didn't even blink and kissed her back gently.

"Well, I guess that counts as payback." Soryn chuckled.

"Yeah." Len got down on one knee, pulled out a small, velvet-covered box, and opened it. "But I've got something for you, too." He blushed a bit. "Will you marry me? When the time comes, of course, but..." His blush grew.

"Oh, God, Len...yes...YES!" Soryn practically shouted with joy, and kissed Len full on the mouth.

Ali, who at the moment decided to poke her head in, saw the two couples going at it and complained, "And who do I get to kiss in this insane make-out session?"

The other four teenagers pulled back and stared at her in shock. "WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!"

"It's my house," Ali pointed out.

Ash scowled at her. "The four of us were very pleasantly wrapped up in romances. Way to blow it up."

"I don't blow stuff up, you do," she argued. "And my question still hasn't been answered..."

"Yes, I blow stuff up, but Soryn blows stuff up, too," Ash retorted, making reference to when Soryn accidentally microwaved tinfoil.

"Noo~, I almost blew something up," Soryn contradicted.

"And almost killed me in the process," muttered Len.