"So what do you do for a living?" she was starting to get a little tired, honestly. This speed dating thing made no sense. She was supposed to sit here and talk to someone for five minutes and, within that time frame, decide whether she wanted to keep in contact or just forget about them?

This guy sitting in front of her was the tenth guy she had spoken to so far. The hour-long session was fast coming to an end, and she was secretly grateful for that. She should never have let Luka drag her to this stupid event. She could have been home watching the latest episode of her favourite television drama, but no, Luka was sick of her self-imposed 'Man Ban' and wanted her to get a boyfriend as soon as possible. Did Luka forget that every single relationship she ever had ended in disaster?

The last boyfriend she had fell through the flimsy floor of her balcony and sustained two broken ribs, a broken leg and a nasty concussion. He was in the hospital for weeks. The one before that ended up cheating on her with his cousin, which was a little weird. The one before that had only asked her out because he was a homeless bum who liked to seduce wealthier ladies in an attempt to get his next meal – he had promptly dumped her after realising that she wasn't particularly well-off, she just liked to dress up when she went out. And the one before that was secretly gay. The list went on.

"Me?" the man opposite her shrugged. She took a good, proper look at him and concluded that he was pretty good-looking, but she was starting to get jaded to physical appearance. After a long string of relationships which all ended in disasters, she had decided that the prettier the face, the uglier the heart. She believed that this guy wouldn't prove any different from what she had seen before. His blue eyes were gorgeous though. She had always been a sucker for blue eyes. And his hair! It was so golden, the sun itself seemed to shine from those luscious locks. He was so pretty that it almost hurt her. He was probably prettier than she was, and she was a girl. Life was never fair, was it? "I don't do much, really. I kill people for a living," he pressed his fingertips together and smiled.

She laughed, an automatic reaction when people were talking, until she realised what he had said – then she promptly shut her mouth. "You kill people for a living?" she all but yelled – she only kept her voice down because she didn't want the other tables looking over at her. The blond man tilted his head quizzically, as though surprised by her outburst. She gulped. "You're kidding, aren't you?" she managed to say, squinting suspiciously at him. No way, he had to be joking. This guy looked squeaky clean and completely innocent. Someone as pretty as him couldn't possibly kill anyone.

"Got you there, didn't I?" he laughed. She relaxed, glad that he hadn't been telling the truth. "It's really hard to get someone's attention nowadays, especially at these stupid speed dating events. Most girls give me one glance and write me off completely," he looked disappointed, his blue eyes meeting hers. She didn't believe that, honestly. There was no way any girl could look at this guy and not want to give him a chance. He had such a gorgeous face with amazing bone structure. "Anyway, I'm surprised you didn't ask me for my name before asking about my job. The name is Kagamine Len," he smiled at her. "What's yours?" she returned his smile, albeit nervously. This guy was hot

"Hatsune Miku," she answered. He cocked his head, as though thinking over her name. "What are you doing at a stupid event like this? I mean, someone like you…" she gestured awkwardly at him. "You could probably find a girlfriend without even trying. I'm only here myself because my friend forced me to come," she explained, her mind telling her to shut up even while she spoke. Why was she revealing so much about herself? He hadn't even asked her what she was doing here. She really had to start thinking things through before she opened her mouth and said something stupid.

Len snorted. "Well…in my line of work, it's not easy for me to take a day off and date someone, you know?" he fiddled around with the pen lying on their table. "I have a really weird job with super irregular hours, and most girls kind of don't like the fact that I'm uncontactable sometimes. It's my job, you know? I can't always keep my mobile on," he shrugged, twirling the pen between his long fingers. Miku frowned. Was he working as a paramedic or something? It did seem pretty strange.

"What is your line of work?" she asked, just to be sure. He glanced up at her, something unreadable in his blue eyes, before he shot her a mysterious grin and shrugged again, placing the pen on the table. He reached into his jacket and drew out a card, silently passing it to her. She took hold of it and read what was on the card – it had nothing but his name and a phone number. His number?

"I already told you, I kill people for a living," he winked. "Anyway, looks like my five minutes are up. Time for the guys to switch tables again. Give me a call, would you? I'd keep my phone on for you," he pushed away from the table and walked off, leaving her gaping after him. Was he being serious about his career or not? She couldn't tell. On one hand, he said it was a joke, but on the other hand he seemed perfectly serious. It had to be a joke, right? Maybe his idea of a prank or something. She stared down at the card and thought hard about whether or not she ought to give this guy a call.

Ah, heck it. What's the worst that could happen anyway? You never have any luck with guys. She made up her mind then and rang the bell on her side of the table just as the next guy slipped into his seat. "I think I've met someone," she announced when one of the facilitators came to her table, wanting to know what the issue was. The new guy seemed disappointed, but Miku didn't want to stay here for another ten more exhausting, pointless minutes. She signed the form the facilitator provided, collected her items and left the venue, a small, cosy little restaurant the dating company had booked for the night. She felt out of place here, anyway. Everyone here was dressed formally in black and white, while she had opted for a floral dress that clashed with what the other people were wearing. The only one who had not been in formalwear was…well, was Kagamine Len, that weirdo.

Luka had gone off after ensuring that Miku was stuck here. She had even asked the facilitators to inform her when Miku rang the bell to announce she found her match, so Miku had no doubt that Luka would be blowing up her phone soon with messages asking who the guy was and what he was like. But for the time being, she stared down at the card and let her fingers hover over her phone, wondering if she really ought to call him. When she left the table, he hadn't been in the restaurant either – he must have left right after he gave her his card. But she hadn't seen him leaving the place.

Decisively, she dialled the number and pressed her phone to her ear, her heart in her throat. There were a few rings and suddenly, she heard him pick up. His voice was jovial. "Hi, it's me. Miku, I mean," she paused. Len made a small sound of surprise. "When…when do you want to meet?" she asked, feeling a little awkward about asking him out. She was used to things being the other way round, but this guy was strange and unlike any other man she had ever dated. She was quite curious about him, really – and she wanted to know what his actual job was. She didn't fall for his idea of a good joke.

"Sure, sure! Whenever you want! I'm free tomorrow," he sounded a little breathless on the phone. They agreed to meet tomorrow for lunch at the same restaurant as just now. "Okay, I really have to go now. Sorry I can't talk for longer, but duty calls," he did sound apologetic. She said goodbye to him and he returned it quickly, hanging up right after that. The monotonous beeping of the cut call rang through her ears and she sighed, bringing her phone down to stare at the screen. Well, she had gotten a date for herself. She really didn't know how things would go now, but she hoped that her situation would improve. Given her luck though, she didn't think that this guy would be any better.


Kagamine Len was breathing heavily, his phone in one hand, a switchblade in the other. Some dark liquid was splattered over the walls of the alley, black streaks staining the dull red brick as the body slumped against the hard surface, marking a successful job tonight. He made a face at his blade, now smeared with the blood of his victim. "You'd think that after so much killing, you'd be used to seeing blood on your knife. But no, it's as gross as ever," he muttered to himself, wiping the blade clean on the dead man's shirt. "If I don't get paid for this," he continued, "so help me, I will hunt down that slimy little bastard and throttle him to death. What am I to him, free labour?" he grumbled.

It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have to track this guy down and then kill him in the quietest way possible. If he was able to use a gun and just blow his brains out…but no, in the city that was too noisy. So he had to use the good old-fashioned way. Blades were messy as hell, but they got the job done at least. Well, he had a day off tomorrow and he could spend it in whichever way he wanted to, so there was that. It was a nice consolation from his boss, though the man seemed adamant about not paying him for his efforts. It was starting to piss him off, really. And Len was usually very patient. If his boss didn't pay up soon, he was going to set Rin loose on him. Then he'd regret it.

Though actually he was somewhat grateful that his boss had sent him on this particular adventure. He had to create a whole series of fake identities just to sneak into that stupid restaurant and take part in that dumb speed dating thing. No one was ever interested in him anyway, and no woman could tolerate his irregular working hours and how he tended to disappear entirely for days on end. But this man had been there, and he had to tail the guy until they got to somewhere quiet and he could carry out the assassination. Len was an absolute master at not drawing attention to himself.

But this time, dating didn't seem as stupid as it usually was. When he got to Hatsune Miku's table he instantly knew that she was the one for him. He wasn't sure how he could tell – it was just the bright green eyes, the long gorgeous teal hair which fell in waves all around her face, her delicate pretty features with her pouty lips. She was a real looker, but she looked like she was terribly bored. He found himself wishing to entertain her so, without thinking twice about it, he slid into the seat opposite hers and talked to her. He didn't regret a single word of their conversation, and had even felt like telling her the truth about his job. But of course she didn't believe him, no one ever did.

His phone buzzed in his hand, and he peered at the screen to see who was calling him. It was his twin sister, the genius hacker who was the leader of all the hackers in their organisation. Everyone was terrified of Kagamine Rin, even him. "Len, you idiot!" she hissed into his ear the very moment he picked up his phone. "You gave some chick your business number? Do you seriously want Boss to be tapping into your every personal call? You should have given her your personal number! You idiot!"

"Hey, I barely use my personal mobile," he defended himself. "It's way easier for her to contact me through here. I'm sure you can do something about Boss and his eavesdropping ways. Come on, you're the tech whiz," he wheedled. "Help your little brother out!" he only ever played the younger brother card when he needed Rin's help. They were twins, but she was slightly older and she took great pride in being ten minutes older than him. Talking about how she was the older one often got her to agree to help him, and this time was no different. Rin let out an audible sigh, the line crackling as she exhaled. Len winced and held the phone away from his ear. Static had always annoyed him.

"Fine, I'll see what I can do," she said begrudgingly. Len smiled happily to himself. "Meanwhile, you'd best get yourself out of that alley. Boss wants to see you tonight, it's about your pay raise. I told him that if he doesn't pay you for your efforts tonight, I'll leak his amateurish sex tape to the entire organisation. Needless to say, he agreed," Rin sounded smug. Len just crowed in delight.

"You are the best, Rin. The absolute best!" he said fervently. His sister basked in the glow of his compliments. "I'll get myself over as soon as possible. And thanks for convincing him to let me have a day off tomorrow too – I can finally go on a date. Pretend to be someone normal, you know," he said earnestly. Rin sighed again at that, her jovial mood suddenly changing to something sombre.

"You know you can never be normal, right?" his twin sister asked. Len stayed silent at that question – he was aware of that, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. To be really honest, he was tired of being an assassin. It was dirty, tiring work and he didn't get paid enough to be doing all this. If he wanted to make real good money, he'd join the Secret Service or something, but he was wanted by most government organisations around the world and showing his face before them was akin to a death sentence. So he worked for his boss, who had far too many enemies to feel comfortable.

"I'm coming over now," was all he said before he hung up and slipped his blade back into his jacket. He was looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe she would be someone who accepted him for who he was, and wouldn't comment on how he was always absent or busy or…whatever excuse he could come up with to explain away his work. But he was never that lucky. The last girlfriend he had who accepted his weird hours was the daughter of his boss's rival or something, and she found her way into his list of targets. He couldn't just ignore her – it was either his life or hers. So he chose himself.

He had to shoot and bury the only girl who had ever really understood him, but back then he hadn't really minded. He didn't love her at all – he only loved the idea of someone tolerating his habits. But he was very intrigued by Hatsune Miku. He hoped that she could accept him. That would be perfect.


"Really? He's really that handsome?" Luka said in disbelief. Miku nodded, carefully applying mascara to her upper lashes. She blinked, watching how her long lashes curled upwards and emphasised the shocking green of her eyes. Her eyes were her secret weapon against men – she knew that she had beautiful eyes and this was one feature she always played up when she went on a first date.

"You should have seen him, Luka," Miku started applying the slightest bit of blush to her face. Not too much, just enough to make her skin less pale than it normally was. "I can't believe that someone like him is still single! Do you think that means…there's something wrong with him?" she stopped and squinted at herself in the mirror. A young woman stared back at her, green eyes wide and lips slightly parted. Her cheeks were slightly pink because of the blusher. "I mean, that would be just my luck, to meet someone so gorgeous and find out that he's like…I don't know, gay or something. It's happened before," she added pointedly when Luka opened her mouth to say something.

Her friend rolled her vivid blue eyes. Miku adored Luka's eyes – she really loved blue eyes, and she sometimes wished she too had blue eyes, but she had great fondness for her own green ones as well. "Your bad luck won't last forever. Come on, if I hadn't forced you to go to the speed dating event you wouldn't even have met your…your mysterious guy!" Luka pointed out, something like smugness in her voice. Miku nodded to acknowledge that and resumed patting blusher on her cheeks. "You should stop that, you're starting to look like a doll," Luka glanced towards the mirror and threw out some advice. "You should go on to your lips now. Or are you leaving them bare again?" Luka's eyes narrowed. Unlike Miku, Luka was a firm believer in the power of lipstick.

"Bare," Miku answered, blowing a kiss towards her mirror. Her lips were naturally pink anyway. She didn't see any need to mask their natural tone with other colours. A little bit of lip balm would do the trick. "Oh gosh, I'm so nervous," she suddenly whipped around and seized Luka's arm, her green eyes wild. "What if he stands me up? I'm not kidding when I say he's gorgeous, Luka. He might have changed his mind about dating me. I mean, I'm pretty average," she fretted. Luka just stared at Miku in disbelief – Miku was anything but average, and she normally was aware of that as well, but every time she met some new guy all her self-confidence seemed to disappear. It was very frustrating, but Luka was determined not to let her friend leave the house feeling anything but her very best.

"Look, it's not your fault all your previous boyfriends ditched you. It's their fault! They were all assholes!" Luka launched into a familiar tirade. It would calm Miku down somewhat, knowing that she wasn't to blame for all her unfortunate relationships. "You're a beautiful girl. Come on, you were crowned Prom Queen, don't tell me you forgot that!" though admittedly it was only because the girl everyone thought would be the Queen got into an accident the day before prom and couldn't go, much to her dismay. But hey, Miku being the second choice surely had to count for something.

Miku did seem to calm down somewhat. "Yeah, that's true. It's certainly not my fault, it was theirs. They didn't appreciate me enough," she sounded indignant now, much to Luka's relief. When she pulled the 'Prom Queen' thing, it could either result in Miku regaining her confidence or it could end up with her sobbing on the floor about how she was always the second choice and that no one would ever love her. Luka had almost been expecting the second, so she was glad it didn't turn out that way. It would have taken even longer to drag Miku up from the floor and make her presentable.

"Where are you meeting this guy?" she asked. Miku, who had been looking at herself in the mirror and preening while she spoke, turned at the question and gave her a nervous, fidgety kind of smile. Luka instantly felt a little suspicious. It had better not be at this mysterious guy's house or something. "Miku…" she started, about to warn her of the dangers of date rape, but Miku cut in.

"It's just at the restaurant where I went for the speed dating event last night, okay? Jesus Christ," Miku swore as she turned back to her dresser and accidentally knocked over a bottle of concealer. "Anyway," she hastily stood the bottle upright, checking to make sure it hadn't cracked or anything, "I only chose to go there because I know you have that membership card, Luka. So hand it over, I'm calling on the fact that you owe me for bailing you out of jail," Miku winked at her. Luka flushed.

"Look, it was an accident. I've said it a million times! And I wasn't even in jail for anything bad…not that bad, anyway," she defended herself. "So we were caught spray painting the walls of our college campus. So what? That bitch totally deserved it, talking trash about me as though I didn't know what she was saying behind my back!" Luka fumed. Miku just nodded at appropriate intervals, having heard all this before. Luka usually went into this tirade at least once a week, and had been doing so ever since she got caught and put in jail for a while – which made it…the past four months?

"Can I just have your card now?" Miku asked sweetly once Luka was done ranting, her chest heaving up and down in agitation. Luka shot her a cross look and went over to her bed, throwing things out from her purse until she finally found her card holder. Luka tossed the entire holder towards Miku and she caught it, rifling through the plastic sheets to find the membership card. "Thanks!" she chirped, giving the holder back to Luka. Luka kept it back inside her purse, dumping said purse on the floor and promptly collapsing on her bed. Luka's bed was the complete opposite of hers – Luka's bed was very tidy, whereas Miku's one had clothes strewn all over it. Her pillow was on the floor.

"Enjoy your date," Luka spoke up towards the ceiling. Miku just nodded in thanks and turned to leave the room, but before she could step outside and close the door, Luka said one more thing that made her pause. "You know, if he's too perfect to be real then he probably isn't real, so you really should just watch out for anything suspicious," her friend warned her. Miku knew there was truth to her words, so she thanked her friend and resolved to keep a careful eye on her mysterious date.


Len was pretty nervous. He was dressed up for once in a long sleeved collared top and black slacks. How long had it been since he last went on a proper date? A pretty damn long time, really. He almost couldn't remember what it was like to function in a normal society. He was always on the fringe, looking on but never participating – not until today. And it felt so weird to be here.

He couldn't help but feel like every single person who glanced at him, waiting alone at the table, was a government spy tracking his every move. There was a massive bounty on his head, so it wasn't just the government he had to watch out for as well. Len had no idea how much he was worth, but what he knew was that whoever brought him in, dead or alive, could live pretty comfortably for the rest of their life. The last he heard, the bounty was up to fifty million dollars. Man, he'd love that kind of cash too, but he wasn't about to turn himself in just for all that money. That would be plain stupid.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," a breathless voice sounded over his shoulder. He quelled the instinct to turn around and punch the person. Instead, he sat on his left hand – he was left-handed – and forced a smile on his face. It helped to calm him down somewhat. Miku slid into the chair opposite his, running a pale hand through her tumbling teal locks. Man, she had amazing hair. It made him want to run his fingers through it just to see what it would feel like. Plus teal was a nice change from all the red he was used to seeing. No wonder his sister approved of her…he squashed the thought. Thinking about this now would just put him in a foul mood.

"No worries, I've only been here for ten minutes," Len reassured his date. She smiled nervously at him and picked up the menu, looking through the food. Meanwhile, a waiter came over to her and asked her what she wanted to drink – she asked for a cup of coffee, no milk and no sugar. The waiter went off to give the order to the kitchen, and Len looked at her with surprise and newfound respect. "You take your coffee strong and black?" he asked. Miku looked up from the menu and shrugged, a small grin on her face. Len himself couldn't tolerate that kind of coffee. He was the kind who asked for as much sugar and cream in his coffee as humanly possible. Len practically lived off sugar highs.

"Yeah, it was something I got used to during my university days," she answered, flipping the page. "When I had like a million projects due in the same week and sleep became…not so necessary," her smiled turned wry. "Sad to say, because of that period coffee no longer gives me the same caffeine buzz as before. But I still like the taste of it," she put the menu down, letting him see what she was looking at. She was on the pasta page. "Say, have you eaten here before? Any recommendations?"

"No, I haven't," Len shook his head, staring at the pasta. He liked pasta, but not as much as he liked fish. Or bananas. The latter had to be his only weakness. "To be honest I haven't been here for long, I travel around a lot because of my work. I mean, I've been living here for the past few years, but I went all over the world for a while and I only just came back. I never even knew this place existed before last night!" he laughed. Miku looked up at him with curiosity on her face, her finger hovering over the colourful pictures in the menu as she tried to decide on what to have for lunch. Len wondered if he had said too much.

"Where have you been, so far?" she asked, apparently deciding on some squid ink pasta. That was a fascinating choice – he was becoming more and more interested in her by the minute. "I mean, I've never really been out of here before. I went once to Japan…and that's about it. For my graduation trip, you know. My roommate loves sashimi so we decided we absolutely had to go there. Japan is where sashimi comes from, right? It's a beautiful place though!" she laughed. Len just continued to stare at her. She was really pretty, and she was so carefree and easy-going…at least for the moment.

"Japan is a nice place, I agree with that," he nodded. "I've been there a few times. I've only been to Russia, China, France, Austria…well, you name it, I've probably been there. Or at least somewhere near there," he added. There were still a few places he hadn't been to, of course. No one ever sent him to nice, peaceful places like Singapore or something. It was always the places where violence was rife in the streets and street gangs held sway over the night. It was super awkward going to other countries though, since his looks didn't exactly fit in anywhere. Most people could tell he was a foreigner immediately, and he had to try very hard not to be noticed by anyone. It would be terrible if he was stopped and searched by police or something. Then he'd have to explain why he had a whole arsenal of weapons on his person, and that would raise a few eyebrows. He'd prefer to avoid that situation.

"Wow! And all because of your job?" Miku's eyes lit up with interest. "So what exactly do you work as? You were kidding last night, right? Don't think I'm that gullible," her voice lilted playfully. He gave her an awkward smile – he was telling the truth, but she didn't believe him. Well, that was nothing unexpected, really. "Are you part of Doctors without Borders or something?" she asked.

"Uh…not exactly. I do the opposite thing of doctors, you see," he didn't know how to explain his situation. The waiter came back then with Miku's coffee, and she thanked the man, who shot him a strange look before he left the table. "I guess you could call me like, um…a funeral director or something like that. I deal with dead bodies," he added. Miku nodded, seemingly impressed.

"Oh, so that's the joke! You kill people for a living," she laughed, sounding almost relieved. "God, for a while I thought you were being serious," she rolled her eyes, again in that same playful manner. He was enamoured of her already. "But why do you have to travel everywhere if you're just a funeral director?" she frowned, that thought coming to mind. He didn't know how to explain this one away.

The same waiter came back to their table then, passing him a single slip of paper. Len stared at the man in surprise – the waiter just bowed to him and left the table, this time looking almost scared. Len looked at the slip, ignoring Miku for the time being – she was obviously wondering about the paper, but she didn't try to look at what was written there – and when he saw the message intended for him, he sighed and rolled his eyes. Of all days…why did this have to be on his day off? He turned to his left and caught the eye of the pair seated three tables away. They were hulking, menacing men with tattoos and piercings, and their presence was clearly disturbing the neighbouring patrons of the restaurant. The poor people seated around them were practically trembling in their seats. One of the men smiled at him – his gold tooth gleamed, reflecting the lights of the restaurant.

"Sweetheart, I have to step outside for a bit. Don't follow me, just sit here and enjoy your meal, all right?" he looked up at Miku, who seemed surprised – either by how he addressed her or how abruptly he had to leave. "Don't worry! I'll be right back. Five minutes tops," he promised. She nodded uncertainly, and he rose from the table, setting off towards the exit. She noticed two other men – they had been making her feel a little uncomfortable since the very moment she came into the restaurant – stand and leave as well. She had a bad feeling about this. Was Len somehow connected to those menacing hulks? Or was this all just a strange coincidence? Len only left after he received that note from the waiter. What on earth was written on it? Unfortunately, she couldn't tell because when he left his chair, Len had taken the small folded piece of paper along with him.

Five minutes passed, then ten minutes, then fifteen. Soon, her order, which she had placed shortly after Len left, was already here and her mysterious date was still nowhere in sight. She frowned, staring at her steaming plate of pasta then at the empty seat opposite her. That was it, she was tired of being stood up on dates and she was going to find his sorry ass and make him regret ever playing her! She wasn't sure how she'd find him, but…but she would try. Leaving her pasta untouched, she took her wallet and phone with her and left her purse in the restaurant – her purse was cheap and there was nothing in it except for some makeup, so she didn't mind if it got stolen. Besides, if she took everything and left the restaurant just like that, she'd probably be stopped on her way out.

She explained to the waiter that she was going out to look for her date. The waiter seemed surprised at that – she didn't know why – and told her that Len, along with the two men, had turned into one of the alleyways nearby that led into a vacant, disused carpark. No one ever went there because it was condemned and the place was practically sealed off – even reckless youths didn't bother trying to sneak in to fool around because they had to get through barbed wire, security tape and a few CCTV cameras. It didn't make any sense to expend so much effort just to have a good time.

Miku was mildly confused when she heard all that. If that was the case, then why did Len go there? But she followed the waiter's instructions anyway and managed to find her way to the abandoned carpark. It really was abandoned, with shrubbery growing everywhere, the roof of the parking complex gaping out into the sky. It was a concrete structure with four floors, the top being the empty roof. She could see that half of the roof had fallen through already, and there was ivy growing up the sides of the complex, giving it a very haunted, abandoned kind of feel. She shivered.

Len was inside there somewhere with two huge, burly men. She suddenly stopped thinking that he had just abandoned her halfway through the date. Luka's reminder that perfection was impossible rang through her mind. God, what if Len was dealing with drugs or something equally illegal? But he looked so…so clean! He looked so innocent! She couldn't believe that. She had to see for herself what the hell was going on here. Of course, it didn't cross her mind that it was probably unsafe and that she should just call the police, because Miku had always been prone to doing reckless things.

She found a gap in the barbed wire fence surrounding the complex, hidden by a particularly lush patch of shrubbery. Thankful that she was so slim, she slipped easily through the jagged hole and headed towards the complex. Keeping in mind the waiter's warnings about cameras, she took her time to cross the first floor, ensuring that the camera wasn't looking at her before darting across the space. She had some practice with avoiding cameras, since she often snuck back into her school campus after hours to mess around with people's interesting projects – yeah, she was a nasty brat back then – and she had to avoid the cameras then too. Of course, she only picked on projects from people she hated, and even then she always did something easily remedied, like spilling their bowls of beads or something equally silly. They never managed to find out who the culprit was.

She heard a loud bang come from the second storey, and frightened she made her way up to the next floor, wondering what was going on. She half-expected to see Len dead or something – that had sounded suspiciously like a gun shot. She looked cautiously through the door that led into the next floor, her eyes adjusting to the dimness of the parking complex. The first thing she saw was a head of bright blond hair, and she instantly knew that it was Len. Then she saw what he was doing.

Len was tucking a small gun into his pocket – she had no idea what firearm it was, she had zero experience with guns – and, as she focused on him, she noticed that the two burly men who had followed him out of the restaurant were lying on the ground. They didn't seem to be moving. Len was standing over them, so slight compared to their thick, huge frames, and from what she could see of his back he seemed to be perfectly unharmed. "Well, that was a pain," she heard him say from here – the carpark amplified his voice, making it echo around her. "If you wanted to claim the bounty on my head you should have done it when I was busy, not on my off day. That really pissed me off, you know? Normally, I wouldn't kill you, but seriously? I was actually enjoying my date!"

"Oh my god," she whispered, abruptly realising what Len had just done. He had killed two men, and he didn't seem to be showing any remorse whatsoever. Len whipped around – she had no idea how he had heard her voice, but he did – and stared at her, something like shock in his bright blue eyes. She met his gaze, unable to say anything besides "Oh my god" over and over again. She was out with a psychopath. He was a complete psychopath. That was the only way she could explain this. He was probably wanted by the police or something. Was he going to kill her next? She bet he would!

Suddenly, he was right in front of her, his blue eyes earnest. When had he come over? She didn't even see him walking here! "Miku, I know this is really shocking, but I'm not gonna hurt you," he promised, raising his hands to show her that they were empty. She stared at him, then past him at the two bodies lying in pools of their own blood, then back at him again. Len followed her gaze. "Hmm. I would have preferred if you didn't see that," he shrugged, shifting so that he hid the two corpses from her line of sight, "but I guess that was an unfortunate accident. Told you not to follow me, you know," he shook his head. "I didn't want you to know this side of me so soon, really!"

"You're a murderer! Oh my god," Miku shook her head, feeling slightly dizzy. She stared accusingly at him. "Are you going to kill me next? Is this your definition of fun? Do you pick up girls at random dating events and murder them or something? I gotta call the police," she turned, prepared to run away from here – of course, it still hadn't struck her how dire her situation was, now that Len was right in front of her and no one besides the waiter knew where she was. At that moment, all she could think about was getting away from this crazed psycho, staying safe and crawling back to cry in Luka's arms. She was definitely going back to her 'Man Ban' if she managed to survive this episode.

A firm hand latched around her elbow, and she stopped, her heart racing in her chest. She looked back – Len was staring right at her, deadly seriousness in his eyes. It was completely different from the good humour she had spotted just a while ago. "I never lied to you, you know," he told her. "I said from the very start that I kill people for a living. You didn't believe me then. But now, you should," he glanced back, presumably at the dead men. Then he looked back at her. "I don't intend to hurt you," the seriousness faded and he was back to being earnest. "I like you! It's really weird, but when I saw you I thought…I thought that maybe I could stop running away from people and actually, well, settle down with someone. When I looked into your eyes I saw someone who was running away from something too. I thought we really had some connection. Don't you think so?"

She did think so, but he was a murderer! How was she supposed to settle down with someone who went around shooting other people? "So you kill people for a living?" she asked, her voice trembling. He nodded, letting go of her. She flinched back, trying to understand and absorb everything she was hearing. This was evidently not a dream. She pinched herself and winced – nope, it wasn't a dream.

"I'll tell you more about myself if you want. But you need to promise that you'll listen, you won't run away, and you won't call the police on me," he met her gaze gravely. She hesitated – if she said yes, then she would be doing something very stupid. Everyone would say she was stupid if she agreed to do all this. She would be helping a murderer! But Kagamine Len looked so…he still looked so nice and handsome and innocent. She couldn't help but want to know more, and besides…he didn't seem to want to hurt her, that was true. So finally, she nodded, and he smiled in relief. "Let's get out of here first. I'll tell you more on the way back to the restaurant," he promised. And so they left.