This is intended to be just a short little story, so don't expect an epic and deep plot line.
Len, Rin, and Miku were walking back from the supermarket. Len was stuck carrying the sake Haku had bought for them to take back to Meiko. If they were arrested for underage possession, Len was getting thrown under the bus. Speaking of buses, they had just reached the only street that had to be crossed in the trip. They were lucky enough for the walk light to flick on, and Rin jogged out ahead, eager to get back so she could put the bags down. Len and Miku began to follow, but instead everything seemed to slow down to a grinding halt. A car was speeding towards Rin, with no indication of slowing down. Rin didn't even have time to fully turn, she was hit and pushed under the car, getting dragged several feet to the centre of the road. Len could do nothing but stare in disbelief as the car sped off, to quickly to even think about reading the plate. Miku was slightly less shocked than Len, she was already calling for help. Within minutes an ambulance had arrived and Len continued to stand frozen. When his thoughts finally started to parse again, the only thing he could think was 'Why her? Why my twin sister of all people?'. After another minute of standing frozen, his thoughts snapped back, like a taunt string when one end is released. Len quickly began to run towards the hospital, it wasn't that far, even for one of his minimal athleticism.
When Len arrived he asked the about Rin, a nurse recognized the resemblance, and redirected him to a young doctor, who gave Len her thoughts, "She should live, we have her in a stable coma. However we have no idea of when she may wake up." when Len asked if he could see Rin, the doctor nodded, her pink hair bouncing. Len was led to a room by the doctor.
"Thank you Doctor", Len glanced at her name tag, "Kasane." Dr. Kasane nodded, and left the room. Len looked over to Rin, she didn't seem too bad, but only her face was exposed. Looking again, Len saw Miku walking towards him.
"Did they tell you about her condition?" she asked. Len nodded meekly, the situation was starting to dawn on him again, even if Rin wasn't likely to die, she may not wake up for a long time, if ever. "Her bottom four ribs were broken, it was an incredible stroke of luck they didn't pierce anything." Miku sighed and frowned deeply, noticing Len's lack of responsiveness, "I'm going to leave you here while I talk with the others." Miku added, walking towards the door. Len nodded even more shakily than the first time. Once Miku had left Len attempted to walk towards the bench style chairs, but his legs wouldn't work. He collapsed to the floor. If Rin was lucky just to be alive now, how did they know she wouldn't die. What were the chances of her ever waking up? As the consequences of this began to strike him like hammers, he sank further. He was now little more than half a sobbing wreck on the floor.
Neru watched as the members of their little group were unfailingly sent away from the medical room by a hysterical Len. She and Haku were the only ones who hadn't tried to speak with him yet. Neru wasn't much of a friend to Len, but that didn't mean she didn't care. Haku was a drunken crying heap already, and Meiko was quickly catching up. Kaito even drank some from what Meiko had brought. Normally this was a dangerous proposition, but under the circumstances, it hardly mattered. Miku was the last to attempt to comfort Len, she was shocked by how much he had degraded since she left. Neru got up and sighed. They obviously didn't have enough experience with Haku, she would often get worked up over her half-brother, who smoked himself to death two years ago.
"Good luck, Neru." Meiko said, not putting much stock in Neru.
Neru nodded somberly, and walked in. She was expecting punches, kicks, or perhaps a chair. Those were common things when Haku had a tantrum. She followed her established protocol here. She had already finished step one; avoid bodily harm to self, Len was just flailing around on the floor. Now she kicked him in the side, hard. This was step two. She was going to kick him until he was aware of who was kicking him, this would lead him to why, and away from the comatose Rin. It always worked on Haku. After six kicks Len cried out in pain, but wouldn't look up at her. This wasn't working. Neru decided to scrap the protocol for now, Len was different from Haku. Instead she lay down next to him and wondered about what to do. Len was weakly flailing, but not enough to do damage. Neru thought for a moment, she decided on what was usually the last step of her protocol. An always awkward friendly hug, usually resulting in her hugging Haku until one or both of them passed out. Len surprised her by responding, she had expected him to push her off. However he held her tightly to him, as though she was an anchor to prevent him from drifting off into the sea of his own tears. Her chest was already getting soaked from just half a minute of this. For all Neru knew this could last hours. Haku had once cried for so long, Neru got a salt burn on her shoulder. Neru closed her eyes and tried not to let the tears get to her. Unlike Len, Rin was a good friend of hers, and Neru was more than a little sad at her vegitivity. Soon both Len and Neru were gripping tightly on each other, crying their eyes out. Eventually both passed out on the floor. The others of the group left after they heard Neru break out into hysterics as Len had already.
Teto walked into Rin's room, she was going to check her vitals. Assuming Rin's vitals were relatively normal, she had almost no chance of dieing. Teto almost tripped over Len and Neru, still passed out. Teto frowned and picked them up with a grunt, moving them over to the spacious bench chairs by Rin.
Len woke up first. He was feeling better, but not by much. His side hurt, and when he saw Neru, he remembered why. Len frowned when he saw how red her face still was. His must have been much worse. Len's mind then circled back to why they had been crying, and his mood dampened again. He gently pushed Neru's ponytail back behind her and went about untangling himself. She wasn't gripping him very tightly anymore, so it wasn't too difficult. Len wondered at how they had ended up on the bench chairs. A Doctor or Nurse must have checked on Rin and put them there. That meant she was doing fine. After checking on Rin and pushing some stray hair from her face, he decided to go get a snack for himself and Neru from a vending machine. He still had a good deal of cash with him from the supermarket.
Neru groggily opened her eyes when she heard the door close. She wasn't all that sore, so they must have passed out in a remotely comfortable position. She stretched and noticed that she only had slight irritation on her chest. She was glad he was crying there and not her shoulder, as Haku always did. Her shoulder wasn't covered from the salt, so having her tie and shirt in the way minimized the irritation. After checking on Rin, she wondered where Len had gone. She shrugged to herself and lied down, looking up at the stark white ceiling. After some time Len came in with two bananas and two water bottles. He noticed her awake and said "Good morning, Neru." she muttered her own greeting and accepted the food and drink. They ate in silence, quickly drinking the water to replenish their spilt tears.
When they finished Neru glanced over to Len, asking "Think we should call back home or just walk back?"
"I say we just walk back." Len said, still quite somber.
Neru opened the door and walked into the main room of the home. The dining room and attached kitchen were on the left, and the living room was on the right. Every one's rooms were upstairs. The group, being themselves, of course did what Neru knew was the worst thing to do. They walked towards Len and began apologizing to him. It would just justify his grief and send him into another tear storm. She quickly dragged Len upstairs and muttered for the others to leave him be for awhile. Alas, it was too late, and Len had tears welling up. Neru dragged him into her room, and threw him on her bed. Next, she walked over to him and punched him in the shoulder, hard. Len yelped, and looked up to her with questioning eyes. "Suck it up." she said. It wasn't the nicest thing, but he needed this speech. "Your tears, my tears, they do nothing. If you want to speed this up, you need to just forget about it. Rin won't wake up because you cried her a river." Len looked crushed for a second, but regained some form of composure before he could burst into hysterics again. Neru sat down in her desk chair and a thought struck her: 'What would they do without Rin in concert?' Their group, Vocaloid, traveled around and did concerts. They were part of a large group called Crypton, which advertised and sponsored groups like theirs. The only other large group within Crypton was the Utauloids, however they were only part time singers. In fact, Doctor Kasane had been a prominent Utauloid, Neru had done a song with her and Miku once. Since Vocaloid was Cryton's largest group, they were in the greatest demand. One of the main reasons for their popularity was the Evil Series. It was a simply a collection of songs based on one story. Without Rin, the entire plot fell apart. Since they didn't know when Rin would awake, and the fans wouldn't appreciate Rin being replaced, they had a dilemma. Neru might have been able fill in Rin's spot, but Len sounded nothing like Neru. That was out then, normally Len would sing the last lines Rin's song; that would be impossible if Neru sang it. Besides, Len would likely have trouble singing a tragedy about himself and Rin, given the situation. Neru glanced back to Len, he seemed stable, but that could change. "Len."
"Hmm" Len looked up at Neru.
"How are we going to do the evil series without Rin?" she asked. Len didn't respond, instead, he teared up. Neru was hoping this wouldn't happen. Now Len may be hours before he calmed down again. Neru decided that now would be a good time to get some decent breakfast, it had been laying out when she and Len had come back.
As soon as Neru was spotted, Miku asked "How is he?"
Neru shook her head "Hysterics again." she said shortly.
"Ah. Are you hungry?" Miku asked, pointing to the kitchen. What Neru saw amazed her. Haku, Kaito, and Meiko were sitting by countless bottles, slurring out a mumbled song. While Meiko and Haku often had drunken duets, Kaito never drank, ever. Neru walked past them to pick up a plate that had already been served for her. Since she really didn't care to listen to the drunken slurs, and Miku had already left, Neru took her plate and Len's up to her room.
When Neru arrived Len had calmed down for the most part. She placed the plate next to him and frowned at hers. Normally Neru cooked, if only because Meiko was always drunk by dinner and nobody else had any luck. Miku had likely cooked this meal, as everything was on the 'Crisp' side. Also leeks littered the plate. Neru picked at her food and looked over to Len eating his. He was eating a sausage very slowly, and despite the somberness of his stance, she blushed. It wasn't her fault she had a nose bleed every time he and Kaito shared a banana split! It really wasn't. Neru finished her meal and looked over to Len, he was still slowly finishing his food. Neru sighed and looked to her desk. It was holding a small amount of paperwork, which she had put off for who knows how long. Having nothing better to do, she started on some of it. She was surprised to see a song she had never seen before on her schedule for the next concert. It looked like part of the evil series. Evidently Rin's daughter of evil would be cut from the next concert, Rin was to sing "Paper Plane" with Len. Neru frowned. The first time Neru heard them sing that, she had cried. But this would be fine. Neru wouldn't be singing any other songs besides this Evil one. They would just have to cancel "Paper Plane" and Rin's other songs. Neru looked over the lyrics of her Evil song. Evidently she was a... Chef? For Rin? Normally, her role in the evil series consisted of shedding fake tears with Rin when Len was killed. This song would include that, but it showed more of what Rin was thinking than anything else. "Hey Len." she said. Len looked up. "We're in luck, Rin wasn't going to sing "Daughter of Evil" this time. You sing first and I sing right after. I play a chef in Rin's service." Len looked relieved, but said nothing.
When Neru finished her paperwork, she took her plate and Len's down to the kitchen. Normally Rin washed the dishes, and everyone had just left their plates sitting on the table. Neru sighed, she didn't feel like doing the dishes. After fifteen minutes of dish washing, she returned to her room. Len was now lying on the side of the bed by the wall, remote in hand and watching TV. "You found the remote?" she asked, amazed. Len nodded.
"It was between the bed and the wall." he said simply. Neru could have found it, if she didn't always give up shortly after starting. Neru sighed again and lie down by Len. A simple comedy was on. Neru didn't feel much like watching it, so she instead flipped out her phone and began texting at the speed of light. When she glanced over at Len, he was staring wide-eyed. She gave him a look saying 'What?' and he asked "How do you have so many people to text?" Neru shrugged and sent off a few more messages. Len shook his head and returned to blankly staring at the TV. It was only three PM when Neru did indeed run out of people to text. She began to watch the TV with Len. Two hours of silence later, she left the room to go prepare dinner. She didn't know if anyone would eat any of it, but it still needed to be done. Once it was finished, she called out and the entire mostly drunk family stumbled down. Even Len ate some. After dinner she demanded that Miku do the dishes. The argument lasted a few minutes, and everyone had moved back to their rooms. Neru opened her door and was surprised to find Len on her bed, lying in the same spot as before dinner.
"Hey" she said. Len didn't respond. Instead he sank further into the wall, sobbing quietly. Neru sighed. She thought Len was done with this, but evidently not. She thought first to hit him. But decided against it. Instead flopping onto the bed and opening her phone. Normally she would do whatever for an hour and then sleep for sixteen hours. But she doubted her ability to sleep with a sobbing Len consuming half the bed. She sighed, closed her phone, and resigned to trying to silence him. After several minutes, Len turned, almost pushing her off the small single. The look in his eyes made her want to cry. He lightly hugged her and she hugged back. She was only slightly surprised when he fell asleep like that. She figured she wasn't going to get out of this now death-grip of a hug, and resigned herself to sleeping like this, again. She had to put her head on top of his, the pillows didn't provide space for both of them.
Neru awoke at something like six. She guessed by the dim window light. Len seemed to have rolled over and thrown them off the small bed. Len was still holding her too strongly for her to move, but it was too early for her anyway. She went back to sleep.
Len woke up about three hours later. Neru was laying mostly on him, she must have rolled them off the bed as they slept. "Neru." he whispered. He didn't want to incur her wrath if she was sleeping deeply. Sadly, she seemed to be. Len sighed and tried to think of a pain-free way to wake her up. She was like Rin: wake her up and you die. When Len was about to resign himself to untold hours of laying there, the door was flung open by a hungover Meiko. She looked around for Neru, but when she saw Len she raised an eyebrow.
"Having fun down there?" she asked. Len was about to say he was indeed not having fun when the situation dawned on him. He began blushing profusely. "Hah, Rin owes me money if she wakes up. She thought you'd top your first." Len's blush deepened. Rin had bet on something like that? Neru, of course, had to choose that moment to wake up.
She yawned largely and looked down at the blushing Len. She frowned "Having fun down there?" she asked condescendingly. Len's face went darker still, and he attempted a muttered explanation. Neru rolled off of him and said "Don't worry, you're fine. Just get out. We're wearing the same clothes from yesterday." Len quickly got up and exited the room. Once the door closed Neru went about with changing. She doubted her shirt would be usable again. It had a line where the salt from their tears accumulated over the last two days.
After changing, Neru walked down to the living room. She was faced with Kaito and Meiko already hitting the bottles. Miku was passed out on the couch with tear stains. The grief must have hit her and she broke down, much like Neru and Len the first day. The real shocker was that Haku wasn't drinking. She was as sober as she got. "Want to go somewhere?" Haku asked "It's getting to depressing in here." she added with a weak smile.
Neru nodded "Sure, but we had better take Len, or he'll just end up like Miku, again. Haku nodded her affirmation and Neru went up to get Len. Upon reaching Len's room, she found the door still closed. He couldn't take that long to change. Neru knocked, and heard Len grunt. She assumed that meant 'Come in.', and walked in. When she opened the door, Len was holding up one of Rin's ribbons. It was the one that was placed in the yellow wash. Needless to say the white ribbon turned out yellow. "The one was her favourite before it was dyed, right?" Neru asked. Len nodded. "She let me wear it once." Neru added
"Really?" Len asked. He thought for a second. "Do you want to wear it again?"
"Sure. But you have to put it on." Neru smiled. Len smiled as well, the first time since yesterday. He then proceeded to tie the bow in Neru's hair. After he finished Neru asked Len if he wished to go with herself and Haku. Len said he would, and they walked down to where Haku was waiting.
They all piled into Haku's broken down white car. The Vocaloids kept funds to themselves when it came to cars. Haku's little white car had nothing on Miku's sleek teal convertible. Even Neru's car was usually in better condition, but it was being worked on at the moment. After half a minute of trying to get the car to start they pulled out of the driveway and Haku asked where they should go. Neru was already asleep, and Len suggested they visit Rin. Haku began driving to the hospital. They really didn't need to drive, but Haku knew Neru wasn't one for walking. She would only walk when she absolutely needed to. Once they arrived Haku told Len to get out of the car. She then bopped Neru with a piece of PVC piping she kept, and ran from the car. Neru came stalking out looking for blood soon after, but softened when she saw where they were. The group walked over to Rin's room, where a nurse told them that Dr. Kasane would be checking up on her in a few minutes. It was Haku's first time seeing Rin, as nobody was stupid enough to intrude on a hysteric Len and Neru. She didn't seem to be that bad, but according to Miku, her ribs held the main injury. Teto walked in about a minute later, she was slightly surprised to see them. Teto greeted them and informed them she was just going to check up on Rin, then they could converse. Teto was finished in less than a minute and sat down to talk with them. Before she could begin, however, a beep came from the equipment by Rin's bed. Teto quickly looked up and, seeing the display called for a nurse. Two quickly came in as Teto ran to Rin. The second nurse ushered the group from the room, where they were led to another bench chair. Len broke down rather quickly after that. Haku wasn't really sure what to do at that point. Len had already grabbed Neru and pulled her to him. Haku would've done something about it, but Neru almost treated it as routine. Haku wondered when they had grown together. Just yesterday, they rarely acknowledged the other, now they were bawling in each other's arms. Haku, overcome by the fact that she once again had no idea what was going on, joined in on the hug. The bench could now be sufficiently labeled as an emo corner. Like a big hug, but more depressing and suicidal.
When Len awoke, he was a little scared. Neru's face almost rested upon his, but Haku was pushed in between them. Len was stuck. He had the bench and Haku on either side of him, and Neru was pinning him from above. Len didn't even try to get out, he just lay there and wait for them to get up. after all, they had just slept, they couldn't be out for that long. Len almost cried when he heard the door open and Miku gasp. he then heard Meiko's voice "I don't know if he's lucky or can't get a break. I mean, he can't even top Haku, he sides her." Meiko laughed and Len just knew Miku and Kaito would both be blushing at her openness.
"I am awake under here!" Len said, trying to move.
"Having fun down there?" Kaito asked.
"I'm going to be crushed!" Len whined.
"Oh, please Len, Neru only weighs 38 kilograms." Miku teased.
All of the commotion had woken Haku up, who half rolled off the bench. Her slipping from underneath Neru caused her to fall onto Len completely. Len freaked and managed to roll off the bench, Neru, still asleep, falling under him. "Len, save it for when she's awake." Meiko said. Len didn't have time to roll of Neru before the comment. Neru was only now starting to stir and Len rolled over before another awkward situation could happen.
Haku then decided to tell her yearly joke to the group. It wasn't really an annual thing, she just joked in front of them so rarely it was considered an annual event. Haku, just like the others, had been told about Meiko's joke yesterday. "Len, you finally top, and what do you do? You roll off." The others laughed. Len thought the joke would be dead by now, which for all rights and reasons it should be.
"Well, Rin owes me money now. I bet her Len would run away the first time he had a chance to be on top." Neru said. Len's blush deepened further and his eyes widened even more. Neru had heard the joke? Rin made made a bet like that with Neru? What was wrong with these people?
Teto was walking down to the waiting room. she needed to inform the Vocaloids of Rin's condition. When she opened the door she heard laughter, and Neru's line. Teto frowned, about two thing. First, they were all laughing so hard with Rin in such a condition. Second, she had been invited in on that bet, but declined.
Teto cleared her throat to signify her presence. She needed their attention, fast. Teto never was good at keeping laughter down, it was almost painful for her to stay serious during work hours.
Haku, Neru and Len looked up at Teto, they then remembered just why they had made that bench emo. "Rin's fine. The equipment was disrupted by a large spike of cellular activity." Teto said, noticing Neru look away. In fact, all the Vocaloids noticed Neru look away. Len gave her a pointed stare.
"Well, at least we got a good joke out of it...heh..." Neru mumbled. The Vocaloids, save Len and Neru, then got up and went to the next room. They knew Len was about to freak out.
"Neru. I had to endure being stuck under you and Haku, crying my eyes out again, fearing for my sister's life, and being the butt of yet another joke." Len said.
"Well it was better than losing your pants, right?" Neru asked, making an attempt to save her hide.
Len raised an eyebrow, Neru had supposedly been out running errands during that... 'Incident.'. Nobody was to say anything. Considering the threats he gave out, no one would have spoken. "How do you know about that?" Len asked
"W-well I certainly didn't take them." Neru said, answering way to fast, her face lighting red like a street light.
Len sighed. He just didn't have it in him to blow up at that moment. "Whatever." Len got up and went to the others, Neru followed.
When they arrived, the others looked like they were leaving. Kaito saw them and said "Hey, Len, Neru, we were going to go for ice cream, care to come?" Both nodded, the group, minus Meiko and Haku, who were probably going to the bar, hopped in Miku's convertible. Kaito grabbed the front passenger seat, the only seat safe from the wind. Neru and Len were stuck in the back.
The ice cream shop was one of the few places a considerable distance away. This fact made the upcoming ride scary, even more so for those in the back. Miku drove so fast, one wondered how she saw the signs and stayed 50km/h over the limit at all times. After a truly frightening experience neither Len nor Neru wished to recount, the group got out. Kaito looked like he just had a seizure, Len and Neru looked like they had been run over, and Miku just smiled. Upon entering the shop, they ordered their usual: a large banana split Kaito and Len would share, a strange concoction Miku ordered, and something small for Neru. Neru could never eat much during these trips fr reasons previously mentioned. They sat down at a small table, Neru picking the seat nearest the bathroom. Once Kaito and Len began eating, Neru watched intently. Len would fork a banana, and eat it slowly. Kaito would then slowly spoon ice cream into his own mouth. The sight was enough for Neru to need to excuse herself quickly, she needed to clean her nosebleed.
"Why does she always leave?" Len asked, noticing that Neru had gotten up and left, as happened every time. Once, when Meiko had come with them, he asked the same question and got a reply of. 'It's because of you and Bakaito with your stupid bananas.' Len wasn't sure what she meant. Kaito shrugged and Miku looked oblivious as she watched a large bubble form in her 'Ice cream'.
At this point, I recommend one of two things. Either click the 'Next' button, or that little drop-down, and pick chapter 2.