Now, let me just clear one thing up: Yes, Rin is the older one.

I mean, we're twins, so we were born on the same day. She just so happened to come out one minute before me. It was a close call, but she beat me, and she's never let me hear the end of it since.

"Hey, little brother!" she'll say to me when she's in a troublemaking mood. "What's it feel like being so little?"

"We're the same height, Rin." I would always remind her. "And the same age."

"Yeah, except for the fact that I'm a whole sixty seconds older than you!" she would brag, snickering to herself. "Looks like I was more determined to be born than you were!"

I'd roll my eyes and dismiss her, and she would go off on her merry way, probably to go and pester somebody else.

Of course, she's just teasing. I stopped being bothered by it a long time ago. After all, it's just one measly minute. In the end, we were both born on December 27, so it doesn't really matter to me.

Sometimes, though, I feel like she takes her role of "big sister" way too seriously.

I had my fair share of bullies at school. Who doesn't, really? Even Rin, despite being the more extroverted of the two of us, wasn't exempt from harassment. However, while I preferred to just ignore the brattier kids, Rin took a more...extreme approach. ...Usually involving violence.

I won't deny that it worked. If anything, it worked better than my strategy. Rin became somewhat famous throughout the school for retaliating harshly whenever anybody tried to intimidate her or her friends. She got in trouble, obviously, but that didn't seem to bother her. In fact, as time went on, people learned not to mess with her.

The same couldn't be said for me, unfortunately.

"Are you really gonna let them pick on you like that?" she asked me one day, as I was picking up some of the books that had spilled from my backpack when somebody tripped me. "You've gotta stand up for yourself!"

"I'm fine, Rin, really." I said, putting the last of my books back inside. "We're all kids here. Some of us are just more immature than others. Eventually, they'll grow out of it."

"Maybe when they're thirty!" she snapped, handing me a pencil that I must not have noticed when I was picking up my stuff. "If you don't do something about this soon, it might continue until graduation!"

I considered her words. She may have had something there, but I didn't want to admit it. After all, I had a record to maintain. Something as simple as punching a bully could result in extreme consequences. Rin may not have cared about such a thing, but unlike her, I actually cared about my education. Besides, I wasn't the strongest physically, and I could be overpowered easily by any threatening students.

"Sorry, Rin." I said as I hurried to class. "I just don't want to take such a big risk."

She didn't say anything. She just watched me go.

The teasing went on.

I tried my hardest not to mind, but eventually it got harder to bear.

My reputation at the school wasn't the worst. Quite the opposite, actually. I was a star student. Teachers loved me. Other kids were always asking me for help with homework and studying. I figured that just a few nasty classmates weren't worth dealing with, what with just how well I was doing.

That all changed one fateful day.

I saw the boy with the red hair walk up to me as I was walking home from school one day and didn't think much of it.

"Can I help you?" I asked, somewhat bored. I was used to people approaching me after school to ask for help. It got kind of annoying sometimes.

"Yeah," he said slowly, an odd grin crossing his face. "Sure."

I raised an eyebrow at the boy. He looked to be about my age, but half of his face appeared to be badly burnt. I suddenly felt a surge of sympathy for him.

"Alright. What's your name?" I asked him casually, trying not to let the pity leak out in my voice. The boy smiled a bit more, though it still looked strangely crooked.

"Fukase." he said plainly. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Fukase." I said, surprised at his unexpected politeness. "My name is-"

"Len Kagamine. I know." he replied. His eyes seemed to glow as he said my name. I didn't recognize the glow as predatory then, but looking back, it most definitely was. He looked like he wanted to devour me.

I assumed that he had just heard of me due to my status as the "helpful nerdy kid." Nevertheless, as unnerving as him knowing my full name was, I agreed to help him.

"Well...do you want to go to your house or mine? I'll have to call Meiko and let her know either way. She's like my guardian." I explained. His gaze faltered ever so slightly when I mentioned that, but he shook his head and regained his composure.

"That's alright. My house is just down this way. We can go there." he said cheerfully. I nodded and walked with him for a good few minutes. I was just about to pull out my phone to call Meiko when he grabbed my arm.

"Wha- hey, what are you doing?" I inquired somewhat indignantly. He put a finger over his lips in a "shh" gesture before looking around.

"I have to call Meiko, you know." I stated, annoyed. "I have to let her know where I'm-" Before I could finish, he gave my arm a sharp tug and pulled me into a nearby alley. Pinning me to a wall, he wrapped a hand tightly around my neck, nearly choking me.

"Drop the phone." he whispered menacingly, though still wearing a sadistic grin. I did as he says, and I heard it fall with a dim thud on the ground. "Good." he growled.

I just barely managed to choke out, "Wh-what are you doing?", though my voice was strained due to the tight hold he had around my throat. My eyes widened in fear as he pulls out something shiny from his pocket. A knife. I thought in alarm.

"Don't move." he said in a low tone, inching the blade closer to my face. "This will only take a few seconds."

I closed my eyes as I saw the knife approach my left one. Tears began to leak out as I waited for the inevitable. But then…

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

I opened my eyes in surprise, and the weapon retracted slightly. There, standing at the foot of the alley, was my sister, Rin. I felt like jumping for joy, but my elation quickly turned to worry. Fukase looked shocked, but his usual smile returned and his eyes flashed in recognition.

"I'm settling a score." he replied, now pressing the blade to my cheek. "Now, be nice, and maybe I'll let your brother here keep his face."

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" she screamed, fuming with rage. Fukase smirked.

"When I'm done with him, I'll take you up on that."

That did it.

Instinctively, I bent my knee sharply and hit him as hard as I could in the stomach. His grip loosened with a sudden "oof!", and I made a break for it towards my sister.

"Get back here!" he roared. Rin stood her ground, ready to fight, but I pulled her along with me.

"Don't just stand there! You could get killed!" I shouted at her as she ran by my side.

"IT'S WORTH IT IF IT MEANS TEACHING THAT ASSHOLE A LESSON!" she screeched, whirling her head around and directing her face towards him. By now, people were starting to stare, apparently not seeing the knife in Fukase's hand as he chased us.

"Come on, I know a place where we can hide!" Rin whispered to me. I struggled to keep up with her as she made a sharp turn to the right. She was always the athletic one, not me.

Fukase didn't appear to be the most physically active either. He huffed as he ran behind us, homing in on me like a missile.

"GET BACK HERE!" he cried yet again, this time much louder. The fear that jolted through me was enough to propel me forward even faster.

I followed Rin around corners and through more alleyways, gasping and feeling like my throat was going to explode. I don't know how long we ran, but when Rin held out a hand to stop me, I nearly collapsed in exhaustion. We were at the ice cream shop close to our house, where Kaito always liked to go. We went inside and plopped down at a table.

"Okay, he's stopped following us." she said, somehow not even winded. "I think we're safe here. Let's wait for a while."

And so we did. When I caught my breath, I managed to whisper, "Th-thank you...for showing up...how did you know where I was?"

"I saw you going off with that Fukase kid." she replied sullenly. I looked at her quizzically.

"You know his name?"

"Had a couple classes with him. Real creepy guy. Tried harassing me. Didn't work out too well for him." She sighed loudly and rubbed her face with her hands. "I'm not the one you should be thanking, though. If I remember correctly, you were the one who kneed him in the gut."

I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my head. "I didn't really mean to. I was scared."

She scoffed. "What do you mean you didn't mean to? What were you gonna do, talk him out of it? When a guy is trying to fuck you up, you don't 'accidentally' kick the shit out of him. You do that shit because you wanna let them know that you're not gonna put up with them." She put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "To be honest, I'm proud of you, bro."

I found myself beaming. "Thanks."

Silence reigned over us for a while. We sat, waiting for any other sign of danger, but there was none. Finally, I spoke up. "So...we should probably call Meiko and tell her where we've been, huh?"

Rin blinked before her eyes widened. "Oh, yeah! She must be so worried about us!"

"We should also proooobably call the police, too. I mean, we were just attacked by a maniac with a knife. That sounds like an arrest-worthy offense to me." I chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head. I looked around, sudden paranoia clouding my thoughts as I remember that I dropped my phone back at the first alley.

"I'll do it." Rin offered, giving me yet another proud smile.

Nobody bullied me again after that.