Rated M for a certain someone's mouth.

Smile With Me

"Rin-chan, we're friends, right?"

"Of course."

"I'm glad! You see...you're such a nice girl, and cute too. Who wouldn't want you as their friend?"

"Thank you."

"Is that how you became friends with Len-kun?"

"...Perhaps."

"Speaking about Len-kun, can you introduce him to me? Rin-chan's friends are my friends."

"Sure. He'll love to meet you."

"Thank you, thank you! You are a true friend!"

My pleasure.

Now, please, go away, and rot in your lies.

Cold, empty and exhausted.

That was what I felt when another girl left my side, and ran to Len Takahashi, an old friend of mine. He did not even look at me when I spoke to him previously, but I'm used to it. Being ignored. Even if it was by an 'old friend'.

I wasn't upset that the girl didn't even glance back at me, to say goodbye or whatever; this was pretty much like a routine now. I turned my heel, striding away from the disgusting scene where Len hugged giggling girls close to him and fist-bumped his 'homies'. If he did notice me, I'm sure I would've puked all over his new Nike runners.

I needed to get to class anyway.

The halls were crowded, suffocating. They always were.

I narrowly dodged everyone, making sure I touched no one. They'd notice and nag. It's annoying really. I made it to my classroom, slightly out of breath, and quite messy. It's not like I care, though. Neither did my fellow students. They continue socialising, gossiping, laughing. The loudness was irritating, but I didn't bother quieting them. Wasting effort wasn't a hobby of mine.

I took a seat at the very back, close to the window. The seat in front of me, and to my right were both empty. Hm, strange. Maybe some people came in later than me, which was very unusual. I always took my time trudging to class, but the halls were hotter than any other day, and I didn't want to seem like I ran eighty laps before starting second period.

The girls past the seat in front of me had begun to whisper, but they failed to do so, for I heard every word that they carefully spat out of their overly-glossed lips.

"Did you hear? Those twins that were originally supposed to come to school on June are coming back today!"

"A girl and a guy, right?"

"Yep! I hope the guy is hot, and the girl is pretty."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure!"

How immature. I scowled, hateful thoughts buzzing in my head.

Betting on some new students? That's plain stupid. And a reckless waste of a few yen. I massaged my temple in order to keep myself from lashing out. They were dumber than rats and dirtier than any dog poop on the sidewalks. In an over-exaggerated way—they were the cancer of the world.

I glanced outside the window, hoping to see a beautiful view, but found a calming and soothing sight instead. Not that it's bad...better, actually.

I saw the entire campus out the window; hazy and cloudless skies, soft greenery, blossoming plants, lively animals, friendly people, and colourful trees. Trees. They're beautiful. More than women, men, newborn babies—anything. Breathtaking too.

They're comforting, always there to listen, always there for you, unlike mankind. I'll tell you about my hatred, but that's for another time. When I don't feel like jumping out the window and climbing trees, or walking out of school and never having to see it again—Yeah, I'll tell you, someday.

"Miss Kagamine," the teacher snapped—when did he get here?—and coughed. "At least try and pretend to listen to our new students' introductions."

It was only until he mentioned it was when I finally noticed a stiff pair standing at the front of the room. The girl had her hair in twin-tails, and her eyes shone with a bright spark. The boy looked aloof, distracted and unfriendly. Both wore blue-ish green manes, tall and slender bodies, and were considered attractive in people's eyes.

Once I was singled out, the girl turned to stare at me, but not in a way other people do—the look wasn't fake. She seemed...amused; entertained. Amused at what, I'm not completely sure. She was in the middle of her introduction, and her mouth was hanging open.

The teacher sighed, exasperated, then went back to the new girl, a forced smile on his face. "If you don't mind, Miss Hatsune, please redo your introduction, this time Miss Kagamine will listen, right?" He threw a hard and judgemental glare at me, which I shrugged off.

I gritted my teeth. "I will."

The girl almost laughed out loud at my expression before breathing in, and beamed. "Hello, fellow classmates! It was a shame that we did not meet at the beginning of the year because of my family's vacation, and we were supposed to arrive later than expected, but here we are! Nice to meet you, I am Hatsune Miku, please take care of me!" Then all the boys literally fainted.

The teacher bit back a shout, and hurried the twin brother to spit out his introduction. The boy faked a cough then faced the entire class, his eyes lazy and his body leant back. "I'm Mikuo Hatsune, Miku's twin brother. Honestly, I wouldn't trust any of you to take care of me, so let's only speak when necessary." Hearing this, the girls squealed and gushed in their seats.

Teacher begun clapping, which made the rest of the class applaud too, then he pointed out their seats; beside and in front of me.

Miku immediately ran through the narrow aisle, claiming the seat in front of me with a sugary grin. "Nice to meet you!" she greeted quite loudly and when she finally sat down, I scoffed. Mary Sue much.

Mikuo, however, was slow in taking the seat to my right. Unlike Miku, he didn't greet me, but I didn't really care. Greetings were polite but not really necessary, so he brushed past me and minded his own business. I didn't watch him anymore—I don't ogle at random and hostile people—and looked back out the window, at the trees, to be more specific.

And the classroom faded away, disappearing like the sun before rainfall. I paid no attention to the lesson nor my surroundings and daydreamed about tennis and trees.

I didnt notice the constant stares from the new twins, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have cared...

But that was before we spoke to each other.

The bell rang, roaring and screaming into my ear, which hurt. I recovered quick enough to return to reality.

Since it was lunchtime, I reached into my yellow backpack, that was laid messily beside my desk, and fished out a cheap Tupperware. I begun to remove the lid when Miku swiveled around from her seat and smiled like a pretty puppy.

"Hi, Kagamine-chan!" she chirped, and I realised how high her voice was. It's really annoying.

I didn't answer, ignored her shocked expression, and kept my eyes on my lunch.

Suddenly, a masculine voice cut through our silence. It was Mikuo. "Miku, stop. Your act is so irritating that it makes me itchy."

I raised an eyebrow. What 'act' was he talking about?

Out of nowhere, Miku stood up and grabbed her brother's collar, pulled him close, and in a low tone she snarled, "Are you calling my act shitty? What about yours, Mr. Swag?" I felt a shiver dash down my spine. What happened to the smiley puppy a second ago?! "Wipe that impassive expression off your face before I do it myself—with my fist." Then she threw Mikuo back to his seat, and glanced back at me.

"So, Kagamine... You look surprised." Miku stated, sitting back down on her chair. She casually brought out a flask and begun to pour out some soup. "I wonder why..."

I snapped out of my trance, shaking my head. I glared at her, my mouth in a straight line. "Honestly, I'm not that surprised. Just bewildered, I guess. But I should've known...girls with overly bright smiles hold dark objectives." I paused. Miku didn't even flinch, just shrugged. "What about your brother? He isn't acting too...right?"

I faced Mikuo, whose eyebrows were furrowed, and he seemed as though he ate a lemon. Miku snorted, glaring at her twin. "Of course he's acting, Kagamine. Couldn't you see through his horrible mimicry? Could you not see, beyond that ridiculously blank expression, he wanted to crack a bad joke, a tedious pun and to show-off his cringeworthy pickup lines?"

I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping. Was that the real Mikuo?!

"Finally, Miku told someone," Mikuo breathed out in relief, then flashed a goofy and toothy grin. "Hey, Kagamine, we didn't catch your full name. Wanna hear mine, eh?" He bursted into a huge fit of laughter, even slapping his thigh as he choked on snorts.

"...what?" I spun to Miku, not understanding at all. The girl looked ready to kill.

"The last section of your name, '-mine', is spelt the same as mine—a pronoun—in English." she explained, gritting her teeth at the end. I understood, and facepalmed. No wonder Mikuo acts like a distant and cold pretty-boy—he would've been teased until he cries if anyone heard his puns.

"Anyway," I traced any sort of artificial emotion on Miku's face as I had begun to speak. "Why are you talking to me? We didn't start off well... I didn't even watch you walk through the door!"

Miku briefly glanced at her brother then smirked mischievously at me. "Because, Kagamine, from the beginning you were interesting. Different, in a way. Something about you dragged us in."

"We were dragged in by your hostile aura!" Mikuo nodded alongside his sister, and they moved their heads simultaneously. Mikuo laughed a little by his and Miku's mirrored performance, and I released a soft chuckle. Several minutes later, the warm atmosphere between us had shrunk, so we were left in a somewhat unbearable silence.

"It seems unbelievable, though..." I whispered out of the blue, causing Miku to raise her perfect and colourful eyebrows. "No one has approached me as directly as you guys... All had sinister objectives."

The twins exchanged different looks—Miku didn't seem surprised, just a little speechless, Mikuo was beyond shocked, puzzled even—and they both bit their lips. "Honestly," Miku started, her voice unusually tense, "We never knew you were so...valuable."

"We thought that you were just anti-social," Mikuo confessed, blurting out their inner thoughts. "We never knew there was a reason why you were so...empty-looking."

I grimaced. "Before, I had tons of friends...and I think you know what happened to them."

Miku giggled darkly. "Stupid...all of them," she mumbled cheerily, her fingers playing with her hair, as if she was as innocent as she looks. For a second I just sat there, dumbfounded. I scanned Mikuo's face, and he agreed with a vague nod.

I placed a hand on Miku's shoulder. This caused Miku to abruptly snap her head at me, but relaxed after seeing my reassuring expression. "Don't worry about it. I never thought of them as friends—not even once."

Mikuo fixed his hand on my head, and messed up my hair. He had an optimistic vibe around him and a shiny beam, which soothed Miku and I. "You don't need them, Kagamine. You have me!" Miku sent him a threatening glare. "And Miku, of course."

I smiled softly. Mikuo noticed and returned my smile, but with a brighter version. He took back his hand, and it took a lot of self-control to keep myself from grabbing it, pulling it back, and squeezing it. Something about him sparkled with a calming image. The feeling was strange...but nice.

Satisfied with her brother's comforting words, Miku twisted back to her desk, fumbled with her bag for a while, then shifted back to my direction, gripping a small and glittery lunchbox. Her brother did the same, although instead of a girly one he took out a plain and boring Tupperware—almost similar to mine.

Miku made sure we were prepared before yelling out, "Itadakimasu!"

I dug into my orange and supermarket-salad; Miku packed a greasy hamburger, coconut milk and spicy noodles whilst Mikuo devoured a pudding cup and a can of an energy drink. We ignored our surroundings the entire time, so I never realised how much attention we were hogging.

Afterwards we were separated, and I was stuffed into a classroom I shared with Len. We didn't exchange greetings, much less looks, but I could feel something off about him. He was grouchy throughout the lesson, and I hated the way my gaze drifted off towards his direction, sending me red-faced, annoyed and slightly out of breath.

At the end of the class, I ran towards the door and successfully left the room, being one of the first out. I found the Hatsune twins easily—their hair was smoothly spotted amongst the sea of students—and I sprinted towards the two, immediately greeting them both.

I felt a pair of eyes watch me—judging me—as I talked excitedly to Miku about after school. Mikuo cracked a joke, a terrible one that made me cringe from embarrassment, and he ruffled my hair when I prevented Miku from murdering her brother in the hallway.

"Shit—I'm going to a different class, again!" Miku shrieked, stomping her feet.

Mikuo only managed a weak chuckle. "Don't worry, sister, we'll meet up again."

Miku flinched from her brother's unusual kindness. I have to admit, Mikuo was acting weirdly. Did something happen in his second class?

"I have to go, until the next class-shifting, goodbye!" Miku skipped away, her back to us yet she still waved fervently. After she disappeared in the crowd, I looked sideways at Mikuo.

"We should go, " I suggested, glancing sideways to check him.

"Sure," Mikuo replied with a shaky smile.

I began walking towards my next class, one whom I surprisingly shared with Mikuo—speaking about him, on our way there, said boy trailed behind me, spacing in and out of reality—and we passed by Len and his group of my former 'friends' and 'suitors'. I paid no attention at them, but the girls swooned at Mikuo's 'silent charms'.

I kept my eyes away from them to keep me sane.

Just when we were escaping their line of vision, I cocked my head to the side, only slightly, and witnessed Len throwing dirty looks and wry smirks. I quickly turned back to Mikuo—whose mouth starting rambling about camels—and cursed.

This time, I'll show him... I will show Len Takahashi that I have true friends.

A few more periods later, school ended.

The last class I had was one I had shared with no Hatsune sibling, or Len. In that class I wasn't seated next to the window, so I felt as though I spent decades in that one room. After calling out my name several times, the teacher finally gave up on grabbing my attention.

Eventually, that class had ended, and I quickly gathered my few belongings and dashed out the school building.

Miku was already waiting for me by the gates, a handful of guys surrounding her.

"I was so happy about the pink dolphin a guy left in my locker!" She squealed, piercing my ear with it's volume. "I hope that guy would just come out and confess to me already. Gosh, I'm dying to meet him!"

I made my way towards her, cautiously avoiding the rabid fanboys' waving arms.

"Uh...Miku?" I called out from behind the wall of boys. The girl instantly spotted me and excused herself from the boys. Of course they weren't happy to see her go, and they shot non-effective daggers at me. I stuck up a finger, a nasty one, and watched their jaws drop.

"Nice one," Miku quietly complimented whilst dragging me out of the gates, where some students were being picked up by their parents.

I gave her a proud look. "Popular on your first day? Great work, Hatsune."

Miku rolled her eyes. "Please. I only pretend to be a big ditz so that all the girls hate me. Idiotic friends are not needed."

I chuckled. "Thank God you have me."

Miku chuckled along with me, and she told me about her apartment.

"I have an apartment, too," I said with a grin. "But my apartment is in one of those far-off neighbourhoods. The distance between our places are at least half an hour long."

Miku sighed, pulling her bangs out of her face. "What a pity."

Then we stood awkwardly by the wall, watching students leave one by one, waiting patiently for Mikuo.

I scratched my head five minutes into our silence. What was taking Mikuo so long?!

I was about to complain out loud when Len sauntered out of the school gates, two girls under each arm, about seven desperate guys trailing after him. I swallowed whatever words I was about to say.

Panicking, I decided to keep Miku's attention off Len. I feel like she wasn't one who would "fall in love at first sight" with Len, but just for safety measures. "Hey, Hatsune," I tugged at Miku's school sweater. This immediately caught her attention. "I think we should go to this cool café downtown. We'll wait for Mikuo there."

Miku raised her eyebrows, annoyed. She pulled her clothes out of my reach, narrowing her gaze on me. "What's up with you, Kagamine? You look like you've seen a fucking ghost, or some supernatural shit like that."

I gulped. Len was turning towards our direction! Luckily, one of his 'friends' caught his attention, and they're standing there, casually chatting. Geez, why won't Miku just go along with it?!

Miku continued with her speech of how she wasn't following any orders from whoever. "I'm not leaving my brother. That potato can't follow directions to save his life. He has no sense of coordination whatsoever."

I glanced at her pleadingly. "Fine. But can we change locations?"

Miku glared at me, weighing my words in her head. "I'm not doing anything unless you tell me what's wrong."

"Len Takahashi," I whispered through gritted teeth. That name... Ugh, it makes me want to hurl, or throw a car off a cliff.

Miku's face softened but not in a kind way. She's just less confused, which made her less angry. "Where is this different location?"

"Just there," I pointed at the brightly-lit convenience store directly in front of us, only a spacious and empty road keeping us away.

Miku nodded, then suddenly grabbed my hand and ran across the road without looking left nor right. I fought back a scream, and tried to match Miku's flawless speed.

Once we reached the other side Miku forced me to straighten my back, and almost immediately demanded answers. "Where is this Takahashi guy?"

The road wasn't that wide, but I wasn't known for my amazing stamina in my tennis club. I was out of breath when I answered her question. "There—" I showed her Len's familiar nest of blonde hair, surprisingly tall structure, and terribly charismatic presence amongst his crowd of worshippers.

Miku nodded, understandingly. "Originally, I thought this school wouldn't have a local jerk, but there he is in all his grimy glory."

I bit my lip. I hope he hadn't seen us running across the road like a bunch of crazy drunkards.

Miku fished out her phone from her skirt pocket, a frustrated frown on her face. "That stupid brother..."

I knew she was calling Mikuo, probably to yell at him, but that wasn't enough to assure me.

I was hoping Len's appearance wouldn't affect me this time...but to no avail.

Shudders ran down my spine, my face felt cold, and my heartbeat wouldn't slow down. Miku didn't notice me as she furiously fumbled with her phone. I kept trembling in my spot, my eyes watering speedily. Laughs forced their way out of my throat, and I kept laughing even though my mouth was dry.

Crap—I'm having a panic attack!

My laughter drew Miku's attention, and her eyes widened. In a hurry, she shut her phone and rushed to my side. Hurriedly, she took my bag off my shoulders and started throwing things out.

"You have to have pills somewhere—! C'mon, Rin! Surely this hasn't been your first time dealing with attacks..." Miku begged, her voice hoarse, rummaging through my stuff as I choked on my own breaths.

I watched her, helplessly. My lungs hurt, and my vision wasn't clear. My pills were in the third pouch, to the left! I screamed in my head. Miku couldn't hear me, of course, and the darkness was ready to consume me. More fears bubbled up.

What if Len took Miku away, right now? What if Len saw me during an attack, and mercilessly laughed? What if my parents came back to life and shunned me for having an attack in public? What if Mikuo was dying right now? What if Miku got shot at this exact moment? Then no one would save me!

I didn't see it very clearly, but someone pulled Miku up on her feet and handed her a packet of pills. I recognised the voice, but for some reason he sounded unusually calm and solemn.

Miku then grabbed my half-empty water bottle and helped me take a pill. Almost instantly, everything brightened. My breathing became steady, I wasn't cold, my eyesight was perfect, and everything was okay again.

When things started focusing, I spotted Miku gathering my things with a relieved expression. Holding my bag and standing by her side was Mikuo. He wasn't saying anything, and he looked rather unruffled.

The boy noticed me looking at him, and exhaled. "If you're wondering why I had pills for anxiety attacks..." He awkwardly shifted, but did not break our eye contact. "...is because I suffer from it."

Miku abruptly stood up, my things cradled in her arms. "Before," she corrected, sourly. "You used to suffer from it. These days you rarely get attacked," she swivelled to my direction. "But he keeps the pills, just in case."

I nodded. The information was still sinking in my head. Why would Mikuo be suffering from Anxiety Disorder? I didn't want to ask because they wouldn't want to answer such a private question, and I wouldn't have wanted to tell them why I was suffering from it, either.

I'll tell them. Not yet, but soon.

After dumping my things in my bag, Miku quickly herded us to the nearest train station. Along the way, Miku slapped her brother on his cheek. "Where were you?! If you had come sooner we wouldn't have had to stumble upon Takahashi!"

Mikuo wasn't affected by the slap, but his eyes twitched. "I was stopped by some girls on the way out... I would've pushed past them if I knew how urgent it was!"

Miku didn't seem to believe him, so she punched his shoulder. "You are an idiot! Girls, seriously?! You know I can't handle situations like those! Remember what happened when you got an attack while mom was shopping with a bunch of friends?"

Mikuo's face turned pale as he recalled the memory. "Yeah. You didn't know where my pills were, and all you could do was watch as I suffered."

My eyes had expanded when I heard this. Why were they so casual when it came to these kind of things?!

Miku shrugged it off with eight words. "It was traumatic for the both of us."

When we bought our tickets and stood on the platform, waiting for our train, I decided to tell them how I felt about the whole incident. I didn't turn my head to face them, out of the blue I just mumbled, "Thank you."

Miku was obviously very surprised; she nearly dropped her ticket onto the rails. Mikuo only smirked, satisfied.

The train finally arrived, but the rain had gotten here before it. We were drenched by the time the speeding vehicle approached our platform. For some reason there wasn't an overhead roof whatsoever.

As we entered the train, our feet made squelching noises underneath us, and when we managed to grab three seats, our butts made some rude sounds as we sat down on the plastic surfaces. Mikuo laughed loudly, and Miku paid no attention to the confused and disgusted stares we received.

The train ride was quick and uneventful.

The Hatsunes' stop was four stops away from mine, so before leaving, Miku hugged me swiftly, her breathing uncommonly uneven, then stomped out of the train without turning back. Mikuo ruffled my hair, despite how wet and sticky it was. He flashed an assuring grin, then followed his sister.

Mikuo made me feel so...weird, but not in a bad way, I guess...

The doors closed, and the outlines of their bodies vanished. I sighed, raking my soggy bangs from my face. Today was so...unusual, in a good way?

As the train began to move again, a person, out of the blue, took the seat next to me. His breathing was uneven, and he seemed to be chuckling.

I was afraid to face him. I didn't like looking at strangers straight in the eye.

"Ignoring me, Rinny?" he chortled, and from the corner of my eye I observed his action of wiping the rain from his forehead. "You're too naïve to be avoiding me when I'm a part of you."

I recognised the voice right away.

I felt the bile climbing my throat, rapidly. My breathing was quickening, and I was prepared to grab my calming pills. I knew taking more than one pill a day was bad— unhealthy, too—but I couldn't help it. It reassured me, holding the packet, I mean.

I refused to turn my head his direction, but when I didn't answer, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. First thing I saw was his haughty smirk, then his breathtaking eyes. Next was his entire presence.

I already knew who it was, right from when he sat next to me.

Being that close to him—our distance one inch away from our foreheads meeting—made me release anything I was holding back.

I screamed through cracked lips.

It was Takahashi Len.

09/02/14 - Hello~ I am sorry for ending it there - such a stupid cliffhanger, I know - but, honestly, I didn't know how to end it so...that's how this cliffhanger was born! I'd love to hear any feedback whatsoever! c: