Very few of the Vocaloids in the household stayed at home the following day. Meiko and Luka had gone off shopping, Gakupo was practicing kendo in the dojo and Gumi had somehow convinced Len to come with her to the mall. That meant only Kaito, Miku and Rin were left in the house, which would've been a spiffing opportunity for Miku to arrange something to make them reconcile… if it wasn't for one, tiny problem – she had no idea how to do it. Ever since Miku confronted her the day before, Rin had grown oddly silent and just sat by herself in the living room, still watching TV but with absence in her eyes and without as much as touching her snacks. Kaito had been restlessly meandering about the house the whole day, too intimidated to pass through the living room even though Miku was pretty certain there was nothing he rather wanted than to get ice cream from the kitchen. Miku herself was splayed out across the fluffy carpet on the floor in her room, the cogs in her head turning for a hundred miles an hour as she tossed around, desperate to figure out some kind of plan. Rin was unreasonable and Kaito was cowardly, which was a poor match when it came to solving conflicts. But there had to be some way to bring them back together, didn't it? An enervated groan seeped out between Miku's lips and she noticed that the possibility of conceding was luring in the corner of her mind.
"Miku-nee! Can you help me up the stairs? Are you up there, Miku-nee?" Rin called from the bottom of the staircase, her frail voice barely reaching all the way to Miku's room without getting lost in the empty space of the upstairs corridor. Miku rolled over from her stomach to her back and sat up with an exhausted puff. She heard Rin crying out once more, sounding rather urgent. Maybe she'd needed to use the bathroom, or was she just keen to avoid bumping into Kaito? The sooner was just as plausible as the latter, Miku decided, as she got onto her feet and wandered out in the corridor. She'd already spotted Rin when she was by the safety fence on the top floor. Up there she had a good view of the hallway and discovered from above that the petite blonde appeared had gotten tired of waiting for help. It seemed like she was currently attempting to use her crutches to limp up the stairs on her own. However, this didn't work out quite well, because one of the crutches slipped on the second step and caused her to topple forwards. Typically, she also ended up hitting her fractured foot against the staircase.
"Ouch!" she yelled loudly, twitching in pain as she doubled over. "Son of a—!"
Miku reminded herself to ask Meiko watch her language in Rin's presence.
Coiling up, Rin moaned haplessly and rubbed the sides for her plaster, still unaware that Miku was observing her. Miku felt a strong urge to charge for her rescue, but instead, she took cover behind a laundry basket which was conveniently located by the fence. An intriguing vagary had occurred to her. If she stayed hidden, and if Rin kept howling like she did at the moment, Kaito was bound to come around to check what was going on. Then the two of them would hopefully engage in some fashion of conversation. The potential in the scenario seemed promising so far. Rin was still shouting Miku's name, her voice beginning to quaver as though she was at the verge of crying. Miku soon realised it was surprisingly demanding for her to sit tight while her friend was in agony, so she started to search for signs to whether Kaito was coming around or not. Peeved and apprehensive, she wondered why on Earth he was taking so long. But just as she was about to abandon hope and put Rin out of her misery, she spied a stain of blue in the edge of her vision. Kaito emerged from the direction of the living room, tarrying a second by the threshold, before slowly and hesitantly approaching the stairs.
"Hey, Rin-chan, is everything alright? Are you hurt?" he wondered gently, his expression displaying a massive amount of anxiety as he extended his hand towards her. Rin glanced up at him, her trembling lips moving as she tried to speak, when she suddenly burst into tears. Panic struck Kaito like a punch in the face and he stumbled backwards so that he almost collided with the umbrella stand behind him.
"Okay, okay, I won't touch you! I won't try to help! I won't do anything! I'll go find Miku, alright?" he blurted out in a hurry, his hands quivering when he held them up in the air as some sort of defence mechanism. He spun around, his eyes flitting about the surroundings as he tried to work out what to do as fast as possible. Finally, he set his aim on the stairs, but he'd merely skipped up the first step when he was staunched in the middle of a leap. He was jerked back, and when he was made to step down again, Miku could see that Rin was grasping onto his lab coat with an adamant grip.
"I don't hate you, you know that right? I could never hate you, Kaito", she whimpered and stared vulnerably at him with glossy eyes, sniffling as more tears poured down her cheeks.
"O-of course!" Kaito stammered, clearly shocked. "I… I could never hate you either."
"Really?" Rin wondered, a glimmer of veneration appearing in her gaze as she tightened her clasp on his clothing. "Even though I yell at you and call you stupid all the time?"
A tender smile curved Kaito's lips as he settled down next to her, placed a large hand upon her head and ruffled around in her short locks of hair so that her white ribbon was set askew.
"Well, you're exactly the only one doing that so… I don't really mind", he murmured with a soft laugh. Rin laughed as well, but more out of sympathy than amusement.
"But you should mind, Bakaito. The fact that you don't is what makes you such a doofus."
She smiled compassionately at him, a genuine, warm-hearted smile, and wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand. Despite that she'd called him a doofus, Miku could tell that Rin's words weren't meant to be delivered as demeaning, but rather endearing. Kaito must've understood that too, because he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from her, and they were brimmed with that usual sense of secretive yearning. Rin's eyes soon encountered his, and her smile dropped, blood instantly rushing to her cheeks. As complete silence enveloped them, Miku thought for a brief moment that they were about to kiss, but they both turned their heads away a few seconds later.
"Um… w-would you like me to help you up the stairs?" Kaito asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I guess… that could be alright", Rin mumbled shyly and let her clutch on his coat slip. Kaito wet his lips with his tongue and glanced over at her, dithering for a while before he spoke up again.
"Is it okay if I carry you?" he wondered and cleared his throat, his face adopting one of the deepest shades of red Miku had ever seen in a blush before. "I think that would be the easiest way to do it."
The two of them were equally flushed at this point and seemed abnormally interested in everything around them that wasn't the face of the other. Kaito was wiping sweat off his palm on his pants, as Rin somehow managed to appear both appalled and tempted by his proposal while she did nothing but stare at her feet. The suspense was nerve-wracking. Even Miku felt her breath jam in her throat from where she huddled behind the laundry basket, her fingers crossed as she quietly cheered them on.
"If you promise you won't drop me or anything", Rin murmured at last, prompting herself to look Kaito in the eyes as she said it. Kaito uttered a sheepish chuckle and nodded at her, his face (if feasible) growing even redder as he adjusted himself into a position in which he could pick her up.
"I think I can handle it", he said to reassure her and started off by heedfully sliding one arm in under the folds of her knees. He proceeded with putting his other arm by the curve of her back and then came to an abrupt stagnation, chewing on his lower lip as he cast an uneasy glance over at Rin.
"Rin-chan… don't you think it would be safest if you… uh, wrapped your arms around my neck?" he suggested, squeezing his eyes shut as he awaited what was likely to be a merciless, harsh rejection. But to his and Miku's surprise, Rin promptly snaked her slender arms around his neck without a single word of protest, or any indications of reluctance. For a passing moment, Kaito's body froze into a stiff statue and he stood stunned, gasping for air in his delirious bewilderment as Rin nuzzled his shoulder.
"Move already, you idiot", came her muffled command, to which Kaito just seemed able to pull himself back together to implement. The tips of his ears were dyed crimson and clashed with the sapphire colour of his hair as he began to advance up the stairs. Miku crept around the corner of the laundry basket to make sure they didn't catch sight of her when they got the top. Kaito ascended the steps with an impressive wariness in his movements, and Rin seemed to cling onto him quite readily. Both of them were dead silent in the beginning, but once they'd made it about halfway up, Rin suddenly spoke.
"Say, Kaito…" she mumbled, daring for a mere second to steal a timid peek at his face. "Could you— I mean, um… would you like to… m-maybe… watch a movie with me or something?"
Yet again, Kaito was stalled on the spot and peered over at her with a curious expression.
"Right now?" he asked her, frowning in disbelief as she nodded. "You mean… downstairs?"
"No, a-actually I was thinking… we could watch it on the TV in your room", Rin replied, her eyes struggling to elude his own gaze as he stared at her with gaping mouth. It was believable that he'd perceived her request as a joke and was expecting to receive the punch line any second. But once he realised that so wasn't the case, he looked as if he was about to soar right up in the sky out of joy.
"I'd love to!" he chimed, shooting Rin a thrilled but skittish grin that caused her face to flare up even worse than before. She immediately snuggled into his shoulder again to hide it, and as Kaito resumed his climb up the staircase, Miku swore she could hear her mutter "Bakaito" once more. A wave of relief wallowed over her when they had travelled down the corridor without discovering her presence. But she was forced to linger in her hideout for a couple of minutes longer since Kaito unexpectedly came darting out of his room and scurried downstairs. He soon returned with a pint of vanilla ice cream tucked in under in arm and two silver spoon stuffed into his pocket, grinning like the idiot he was as grabbed Rin's crutches on the fly before leaping up the stairs. Miku shook her head and smiled faintly. "Those two really are head over heels for each other", she thought to herself.
Eggplants and tuna, ice cream and oranges, bananas and leeks…
As the clock snuck towards early afternoon, the previously absent Vocaloids were returning to their home one by one. Luka and Meiko came back from the supermarket and Luka rushed off to prepare for afternoon tea the instant she came through the door. Meiko, on the other hand, retrieved a cold can of beer from the fridge and slouched down on the couch. Gakupo arrived at the house just in time for tea and settled with Luka in the living room since Meiko had lumbered back into her own room to have a nap. They were decent enough to invite Miku to join them, but she politely declined and allowed them to chatter away by themselves while drinking green tea and eating red bean jelly. Miku was at loss of appetite. The approaching dusk was spreading its regular glumness in her room and her frazzled mind was entirely fixated on the fact that Len and Gumi were yet to come back. Perturbing images kept flashing before her eyes; the two of them hand in hand strolling through the mall, sharing a milkshake with two straws, joking, laughing and having the time of their life while she was lying there at home, all alone. The sole thought felt ridiculously unjust because of the tremendous humiliation it meant for her. Miku had loathed loneliness for as long as she could recall, and now that she'd poured her heart into reuniting Luka with Gakupo and Rin with Kaito, her chest was primed by an unsettling feeling of vanity.
But although her body was enfeebled by the heavy weight she bore upon her shoulders, she still managed to slither down to the kitchen to help Meiko cook dinner. She supposed that anything at all to occupy herself with at this moment of dire wistfulness was better than nothing. Chopping leeks was perhaps not the most exciting activity, but the sour scent of it did tickle her taste buds and reboot her sense of hunger. The idea of a lighter atmosphere at dinner gladdened her as well. After all, there would no longer be any disturbing frigidness between Gakupo and Luka, and Rin wouldn't act as ireful or inexorable towards Kaito. With other words, the only nuisance she was granted to experience was…
"We're home!" Gumi yelled from the hallway. Miku slammed the edge of the knife into the cutting board with brutal force, slashing through the leek right on the middle and carving a deep gash into the rigid plastic. The vilest breed of envy had nestled into her heart and she found that she could barely retain her composure anymore. She evacuated the kitchen at once, retreating to her room with the hope of collecting herself. Unluckily, her evasion was delayed as she almost crashed straight into Len when she marched through the living room. His hands shot out on reflex and grasped her by the arms to keep them from colliding. The plastic bag he'd held dropped to the floor and he gaped wide-eyed at her in astonishment, his breath emerging as rough gasp as he tried to get over the shock. For what seemed to be an everlasting moment, Miku lost herself in his sky-blue eyes and was entranced by the way his irises tremored from side to side. It might have been an illusion of her mind, but she'd always thought the colour of his eyes rarely seemed as sharp and bright as Rin's. They had a tinge of pleasant cloudiness to them, which appealed to her in a way that she couldn't bring herself to describe. When his gaze drifted over her like that, she couldn't help but to feel like she was… truly being cared for. It was a strange and intangible sensation, but that was simply the impression Len's eyes gave her.
"That was close", he breathed, still somewhat startled. "Are you okay?"
Miku nodded, a slight twinge nipping at her heart as he released her from his grip. This was the first time he'd touched her in days and the warmth of his small hands had taken her aback. Her heart was racing and she suspected that her cheeks were glowing, but Len didn't seem to take notice of this.
"Hey, have you seen Rin?" he asked as he bent down to pick up his bag. "I got her some orange flavoured mochi at the mall. I thought she'd be here in the living room."
"Oh, um… maybe she's up in her own room?" Miku pretended to speculate aloud, even though she knew very well that Rin wasn't in her room because she hadn't left Kaito's yet.
"Okay, thanks. I'll go see if she's there then", Len answered and headed for the stairs. Once he'd gotten to the second floor, Miku trotted up after him and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.
As expected of someone with such unguarded nature, Kaito had left his door a little ajar, and because of her shameless curiosity, Miku could help but to take a peep inside. At first, she couldn't focus her eyes on anything because the curtain had been pulled down over the window and major parts of the room were obscured by darkness. But the TV screen was then and then shedding its luminescence upon Kaito's bed, and once she could make out two breathing shapes in the uneven flicker, Miku's face was instinctively adorned by a smile. Curled up on the bed, Rin and Kaito sat slumped against each other, fast asleep. Various DVDs were scattered across the floor, implying that one movie might have turned into two or three. The ice cream carton stood emptied upon the bed table, both spoons used. One of Kaito's arms were draped over Rin's shoulders, keeping her close enough to have her head lean against his chest. They were even sharing a blanket which lied spread over their laps, the pillows behind them deliberately positioned to support their necks and their backs. Miku tiptoed across the floor, devoting all of her concentration to not step on anything of value as she closed up on the bed. It seemed like a great shame to interrupt Rin in Kaito such an adorable moment, but she reckoned Rin wouldn't want Len to find her in this kind of situation. Therefore, she extended her arm and gently shook Rin out of her slumber. She stirred apprehensively before her eyes fluttered open and she sat up straight. Her eyelids drooped out of sleepiness as she looked around her, appearing uncertain of her own whereabouts. Then, her gaze found Kaito's unconscious figure and she flinched in surprise. Despite the lack of light in the room, Miku could see the blonde's face set ablaze before she shrunk up on the edge of the bed.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone", Miku whispered in an attempt to subdue her embarrassment. "Len is looking for you and dinner's almost ready, so you should probably wake him up."
She nodded towards Kaito who continued to snore in the background, completely undisturbed. Rin shot an anxious peer over at him but didn't bring herself to argue with Miku and just pointed to the door as a hint for her to leave the room. Miku complied, and in face of the inviting opportunity to be a tease, she acknowledged that Rin's progress in her relationship with Kaito was a subject too sensitive to strain. The risk of a relapse was considerably high and it'd be foolish to gamble with it. Therefore, she refrained herself from getting on Rin's nerves and walked out of the room as she'd been ordered to.
But in the exact instant that she closed the door behind her, she spotted Len from afar as he exited Rin's room, and he spotted her as well. Miku stopped dead and prayed with all her might that he wouldn't head her way, but it was in vain. He came wandering towards her, thankfully at a rather unhurried pace, and Miku could do nothing but hope that Rin would be quick to waken Kaito so they weren't caught in an awkward situation. She braced herself as Len reduced the space between them at his own pace. She wasn't in much of a mood to converse with him since she still secretly held grudge, but she needed to inhibit him from suspecting that anything unusual was going on between Rin and Kaito. If Miku knew Rin, she imagined that one inappropriate comment from her twin would be sufficient to make the development between her and Kaito go to waste. She was thin-skinned like that.
"Well, she's not in her room anyway…" Len muttered half to himself, half to Miku as he walked up to her, thoughtfully scratching his scalp. "Where the heck could she be? It's not like she can go very far on her own with those crutches, can she? Maybe Kaito-nii knows where she's gone off to…"
He tried to walk past her towards Kaito's room, but Miku swiftly stepped into his path.
"I don't think you should bother him right now… he's, uh, cleaning his room", she said with the most convincing delivery she could manage (she was getting a hang of this lying thing). "I was just in there and it's a disastrous mess. You don't even want to see it, believe me."
Len furrowed his eyebrows with what she believed to be suspicion. But it wasn't long before he, just like Luka and Gakupo, accepted her mendacious statement with a shrug and went along with it.
"Alright, if you say so then I suppose it's pretty bad… I guess I'll go look for her downstairs again. Maybe she's out in the garden sulking under a tree or something. It wouldn't surprise me honestly."
With that, he spun around and disappeared downstairs, which was perfect timing since that was when the door to Kaito's room was swung open. Rin limped out first on her crutches and Kaito followed behind, yawning as he closed the door again. When the two of them laid their eyes on Miku, they stagnated simultaneously, growing coy and flustered as they stood there, casting insecure glances between her and each other. If Miku hadn't known better, she'd think that there had actually been some "action" between them that she wasn't aware of, but she highly doubted that the possibility of that was even worth considering. After all, Rin and Kaito were like open books, and they'd surely be more than a little bashful if they had crossed the boundary of friendship during the afternoon.
Somewhat hesitantly, they started to make their way towards the stairs, their gazes nailed on the floor to avoid eye-contact with Miku. Kaito glanced up just as he passed by and smiled nervously at her, but Rin was wearing an imminent scowl which she made no effort to restrain.
"What are you smiling at?" she muttered as fast as Kaito was out of hearing range.
"Nothing, I'm just glad you guys made up", Miku cooed, who hadn't realised she was smiling herself until Rin mentioned it. Rin pursed her lips with undeniable scepticism, yet she didn't seem as irritable as Miku had expected. She stood on the same spot and kept quiet for half a minute or so, swinging her plastered foot from and to as she leaned on her crutches, glowering at nothing in particular.
"Thanks", she said finally, looking up so she that she was facing Miku properly. "If it wasn't because of you, I think I'd still be mopping around for no good. You told me something I really needed to hear… even if I didn't really want to hear it. Kaito might be a total dummy, but his kindness makes up for it… most of the time, at least. Anyway, he's not the kind of person I'd want to hate me… ever."
"Well, I'm happy for you. I think it's a very good thing you finally realised that", Miku responded and nodded contentedly, feeling so appeased by having the upper hand in the conversation that she decided she just had to add: "But for the record, I don't think he ever could."
She ran off before Rin was given the chance to grasp the dissembled meaning of her words (ergo, the fact that she'd been spying on her and Kaito) and returned to the kitchen to continue her assistance. As usual, they all settled down for dinner once the food was finished, and just as Miku had predicted, the atmosphere was significantly more lightsome. Rin and Kaito were seated next to each other, quietly making small talk about the movies they'd been watching whenever they dared to presume that nobody paid close attention to them – which Miku obviously did. Once in a while she was alerted by a demure giggle from Rin and caught sight of the blissed-out smile Kaito gave in return every single time. Luka and Gakupo was also as doting as ever to each other and lovey-dovey to the point where Miku wondered several times why they didn't just get together already. Their conversation volume was about twice as loud as Rin's and Kaito's, so they clearly weren't ashamed to flaunt the flawless condition of their relationship. But Miku wasn't bothered by this in the least. She was however driven to the peak of her tolerance by Gumi's endless and far too amicable gabbling with Len. Moreover, she basically threw himself over him before they'd even cleared the dishes from the table, clinging to him and pleading him to play video games with her until he was compelled to yield. Miku glowered at them throughout the whole procedure, until Len's eyes met hers and caused her to look away.
She rushed to her room, slamming the door behind before she crawled onto her bed and coiled up in the corner. It was no good. Everyone's rediscovered happiness merely made her own misfortune seem excruciating in comparison. How ironic was it that she, the most famous Vocaloid in the entire world, felt so solitary, so abandoned, and so… utterly pathetic? Had she really believed that fixing other people's problems would make her forget about her own? That was just derisibly inert, wasn't it?
Groaning out load, Miku dove into her pillows and buried her face deep in them. Her heart, or at least what was left of it, ached in her chest. It was such a cliché, she thought, but aching appeared to be the only correct way to describe it, and there seemed to be no way to dampen it.
Her mind wandered back to the conversation she had with Rin before she made up with Kaito. Rin didn't call Kaito Kaito-nii anymore. The cause to why could've been trivial, if her feelings for him wasn't taken into account. The issue with sharing a dwelling with someone is that they become a plain fraction in your everyday life. In the Vocaloid's case, they had been jumbled into a very peculiar sort of family. Peculiar, yes, but a family even so. And just like in most families, they were all accustomed to the thought that the others would always live their lives alongside them, which was why the Vocaloids had somewhat turned into siblings in each other's eyes. Such a thought could've been enough to strangle any traces of romance, especially between the older and the younger. Yet, Rin seemed resolved to work against this order, clarifying that she wouldn't settle for a place as Kaito's "little sister" just by calling him nothing but his first name. The change was quite subtle since everyone in the house addressed each other by their first names anyway, but she'd erased the factor that made it appear like she regarded him as her brother. Maybe it was far-fetched, but it could also be genius.
Miku envied her. After all, she couldn't perform the same clever act since she didn't have the authority to do it. Len still called her Miku-nee, and even if it wasn't automatically granted that he considered her as a sister the same way he did with Rin, she could never tell for sure. That's what frustrated her most. Simply not to know was dreadful. Also, she absolutely despised that she felt like she had no ability to change his view of her whatsoever. True, there was a time when she'd looked upon Len and seen a cute, stubborn, rowdy little brother. But with the years he'd come to mature, and along with his transformation, Miku had gone through an unexpected change of heart. She couldn't remember exactly when, but one day the idea of seeing Len as her brother had repulsed her. Suddenly his laughter had sounded like the most wondrous melody in the world, and the sight of his smile had made her heart thunder like a bongo drum. She'd tried to figure out how to express her newfound affection, but her aimless cogitations always arrived at a loss of solution in the end. The existence of her bold and overly confident rival didn't really improve the situation either. Besides, it was also safe to declare that Len was almost as dense as Kaito at times. If she didn't say it right out, or convey her feelings to such a flamboyant degree as Gumi, Miku feared Len would never grasp the gist of what she actually thought of him. At this rate it was more likely that Rin and Kaito would find each other first.
Sighing deeply, Miku turned in her bed so that she was facing the sealing. One part of her wanted to cry, but the other part of her was too emotionally exhausted to let go of even a single tear. Then, a sudden knock on the door made her fly off the mattress. Although she didn't know why, her knees tremored as she approached the door. It could've been that the knock had caught her off guard, but she had a hunch that it was because of something else. When she turned down the door handle and opened, her qualms were verified in the skip of a heartbeat. Somehow she'd known that he'd be standing there, with his clear, blue eyes, wry smile and blonde, messy hair. He didn't say anything as he held out a plastic bag towards her, waiting until she held out her hands before he dumped it onto her open palms.
"I bought you this at the mall", he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I just stumbled upon them and figured they'd look good in your hair. They're not expensive or anything but… yeah."
Blinking vague confusion, Miku stared down at the neat, cream coloured little package in the bag. While she was in the process of releasing it from its cheap plastic container, Len strolled past her and plunged down upon her mattress. He bided in silence as she warily removed the top of the box and divulged the pair of top-knots within. The top-knots themselves were pitch black, shiny and beautiful by themselves, but they were also decorated by a couple of small ribbons, made out of silver and with an emerald coating. Miku's confounded gaze flicked from the gift to Len and he frowned at her.
"Don't you like them?" he wondered and cocked his head to the side, seemingly worried.
"No, it's not that I don't like them", Miku said, closing the box. "It's just… why did you buy them?"
"Like I said, I just saw them in a store and thought they'd fit you", Len answered, his eyes diverging from hers as he was driven into hesitation, fidgeting for a few seconds before he continued. "But also, it's a… redemption gift, kind of. I can't say I know why, but I've had this feeling you've been mad at me lately. At first I didn't mind so much because I thought it'd pass… but when it didn't, I realised that it bothered me more than I'd thought. I don't want to be on the wrong foot with you because I… treasure our friendship a lot, you know? Gosh… that sounded really cheesy, didn't it?"
His cheeks were tinged pink as he glanced over at her again and clawed restively at her bed sheets with his fingers. Miku thumbed at the box in her hands, delight and disappointment engaging in a furious battle within her. She wasn't sure whether to feel grateful or dismayed towards Len's choice of wording.
"Um… weren't you supposed to be playing video games with Gumi?" she asked, since nothing else to say had come to her mind. Len emitted a soft sigh, clasped his hands and shook his head at her.
"I turned her down", he replied, and a feeble smile suddenly flashed upon his lips. "You were right, by the way. I didn't like it when she dragged me around like that. I just didn't know how to say no. But I let it go on for far too long and enough is enough. I'm completely worn-out by it now. To be honest, I think I'd rather spend some time with someone who's a bit calmer and quieter – like you, for instance."
Miku's eyes widened, her face grew hotter and she gripped the box in her hands a little tighter.
"Do you really mean that? Do you really want to spend time with me?" she murmured, barely daring to get her hopes up even though her heart was fluttering like the wings of a frightened dove.
"Yep", Len replied straightaway, shooting a beaming, blinding grin at her that sped up her pulse even further. "We can just take a walk or something, or whatever you'd like to do."
"A walk sounds nice… really nice, actually."
"Cool, let's go then."
He stood up and stretched out his hand, offering another sunny smile that warmed her down to the core of her chest. Miku placed the gift aside on her desk and took his hand. His touch was almost per automatics gentle due to the softness of his hands, which hadn't developed as much yet compared to Kaito's and Gakupo's. It was an appeasing touch, a comforting touch, and a touch she most definitely would love to experience more often. Miku let her fingers intertwine with his as he led her out of the room. But just as she'd closed the door, a thought occurred to her and she halted, gesturing to Len to stay put as she slunk back into the room. Well inside, she postured herself in front of the mirror and pulled out the top-knots from her pigtails. Her long, teal hair billowed down her shoulders and she grasped her comb from the nightstand to unravel the tangles that had evolved during the day. She tied up her hair again in the same fashion, but with the top-knots Len had gifted her. When she reappeared in the doorway, he raised his eyebrows and grinned at her once more.
"See? I told you you'd look good with them!" he exclaimed with blithe (obviously causing her face to flush rose red yet again) and resumed the hold of her hand as they wandered down the corridor together. They saw Kaito and Rin further down the hall. The two of them appeared to be heading back to Kaito's room. Len didn't particularly seem to take heed of them, but Miku couldn't keep herself from pulling him to a stop so that she could eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Stop denying it, I know you wrote that!" Rin muttered, slowly hobbling forth on her crutches.
"But how can you know that it was me for sure?" Kaito wondered, desperately trying, but failing, to sound innocent as he was capable of as he ambled by the same tardy gait beside her.
"Because who else would write your name, dumbass?"
"Oh… that's a good point. But I couldn't help it! It looked like fun. I wanted to try it too."
"If you wanted to try it then you should've asked me first."
"Would you have said yes?"
"No, of course I wouldn't!"
"And that's why I didn't ask."
"I'm going to change it so it says Bakaito instead, you know."
"That's fine by me. You're still going to have my name on your foot until the plaster comes off."
They came to a pause in their progression in which Rin glared up at Kaito and he gave her a guiltless grin as response. This brought her to hang her head and emit a defeated groan.
"I've been outsmarted by a moron", she sighed dispiritedly, before she straightened and nodded towards the door to his room. "Let's just finish the movie already so I can forget about my shame."
"That's fine by me too!" Kaito crooned, looking pretty darn satisfied with himself as he opened the door for her. Once again he allowed Rin to limp through first before he followed her lead, shutting the door behind him. Len issued Miku an inquisitive expression, possibly seeking a clue about what he just witnessed, but she chose to just shrug in return before pulling him with her down the stairs.
As they made their way into the hallway, they spotted Gakupo and Luka in the living room as they were playfully "fighting" over the remote control. Gakupo had a great advantage since he was the tallest, but he still surrendered and handed the remote to Luka in exchange for a peck on the chin. Gumi observed the two of them from the armchair with dull eyes. Apparently, her burning urge to play video games had died away because of Len's rejection. Miku couldn't keep herself from rejoicing in her victory, although she knew it might be perceived as a little sinister. But, as she clutched onto Len's warm hand and let him escort her outside, she couldn't claim that she gave a single care about it. After focusing so much on the others' relationships over the week – studying and learning what the connection between a pair needed to strengthen and thrive – she'd come to realised that if she really desired to win Len's heart, she would have to work the hardest she could to achieve her goal. Love was a war, after all, and there was no way she was about to give up the battle for Kagamine Len without a fight.