Name: Len Kagamine
Age: 15 years old
Appearance: a pale, healthy teenager with light-blue eyes and long blonde hair.
Family: Rin Kagamine (sister), Mako Kagamine (mother), Mathis Kagamine (father)
Background: His parents divorced when he was only 10. He lived with his mother, forced away from his sister Rin with which he seems to have a strong bond. He recently moved to his father. He attended a public school of in the Higashinari Ward, Osaka. In that period of time he started to use various drugs and drink alcohol. He has been sent here by his father who believes that this addiction of his is unhealthy not only for him, but for his sister too.
Personality: Len is very closed in himself. He speaks a lot to the other patients and enjoys 'teasing' them. However he dislikes, if not hate, talking about himself in general. Furthermore any attempt of his sister talking about themselves seems to irritate him. He has however a soft spot for the latter and he is very caring towards her.
Special characteristics/skills: speaks three languages (Japanese, French, English)
Mental illness diagnosed: Unknown, but he seems to have witnessed a deep emotional trauma that could have tricked the usage of those substances. This is, however, merely an intuition, as little is known about the patient's background. He has for sure a dependence for opiates, which was probably used as a source to relieve the patient's stress or to alleviate the symptoms of an early depression - which is again only a deduction taken by his unnatural behaviour - which could have been caused by the trauma mentioned earlier.
Comments: His attitude is a major problem and I believe that he will obstruct his way to health.
Two nurses came to pick up the brunette girl from her room the evening after. In their candid, white uniforms they almost looked like angels, while Meiko, in her red clothes, was the devil. The nurses escorted her through the same corridor she had passed the morning before. They passed various rooms and patients. These last looked at her in silence, trying to figure out what her problem was and why was she here. After all, she looked extremely normal. But, strangely enough, everyone looked like her here. They were just all good at hiding themselves. However, true to her spirit, Meiko gave them a metal middle finger and walked on.
The room she was lead to was the one from the previous day. As she entered, she was blinded by the bright white of it. Why did they have to choose such an annoying colour? The room was already too bright, it surely didn't need it. Did they want everyone to become blind or what? She stepped inside, making a mental note to have a talk with the designer of the building. Her eyes focused on the empty chairs that had been left untouched from their previous meeting the day before, and widened as she realised that she was all by herself.
"The others will be joining you soon." said one of the nurses in what seemed to be an annoyed tone. "Wait here in the meantime."
Meiko sat on one of the chairs tapping her foot. At first it was softly, going along with the tick-tack of the room's clock. The tapping harshness increased as the time went by, making the closest chair shake each time. Meiko didn't perceive time well; a minute was worth 10 according to her clock. The brunette couldn't believe it. How dare they let her wait!? She felt herself getting angrier and angrier at those disrespectful people, her desire to make them regret what they did to her getting larger by the second. She had to wait while the others did not. Did they think that they were better than her? On what base? Her hand was now also tapping violently, leaving red signs on her pale skin, and her lips had become white because of the pressure that her teeth were putting on them. She would have made them learn their place.
A heel noise came from the outside. Lola barged in, followed by Gumi, Luka and Rin. The girls seemed troubled, maybe because she did not like the fact that she were wearing the previous day's clothes.
"Sorry we are late, but we had a little accident.." Lola excused herself with a bright smile.
It was then that Meiko noticed Gumi's dress. It was short, shorter than the skirt that she had worn the previous day, and pink, colour that Meiko hated with a passion. It left little to the imagination, as her décolleté was almost fully visible and it was so tight that the brunette could tell where her belly button was. She was also wearing a pair of black high heels, which matched perfectly with a small handbag that rested on her hip thanks to a thin chain. Her face was painted with an excessive quantity of foundation, which made her look like she was wearing a mask, and her hair looked wild and messy. Meiko laughed at the pathetic attempt to imitate her make-up's style, noticing the black mascara and the bright lipstick on the girl's lips. Unbelievable, really. Either people dislike your style or either they copy you. Gumi had the bad luck of falling into the second category, the one hated the most by the brunette. Unoriginal people were always the worst in her opinion, and she wanted the green-haired girl to know that.
"The hell are you wearing?" she watched as the other sat down on an opposite chair than hers.
Her lips opened slowly. "Excuse me?"
"Do I have to repeat myself? Were you not listening, little whore?"
Gumi's eyes widened, as well as everyone else's in the room.
Lola quickly entered the conversation, bringing everyone's attention on her. "Now, today is going to be really intense, so be ready to answer a lot of questions." she sat down on her spinning chair, looking at the annoyed faces of her patients. "Don't look at me like that, girls. It's going to be hard for me too, but we have to do it. I'll have to write down a lot of boring stuff in my..." she stopped. "...folders?"
The doctor wanted to scream at the realisation that she had forgotten all of her precious folders and that she had no idea of where she could have left them, but she didn't do anything. How in the world was she going to tell Meiko that she had to wait more for the session to start? She seemed already nervous, a possible delay could have caused a violent reaction that the doctor really didn't want to see. Also, the death glares that she and Gumi were throwing at each other did not indicate anything good. But she had to go and get them back, as they were necessary to start the session. She decided to make up an excuse to buy herself some time.
"Since we, punctual people, are already here, why don't we start with a small exercise?" the patients glared at her, a terribly bored and lazy expression dominating their faces. "It's called the game of silence."
"And what would that be useful for?" Luka laughed.
"Silence is an important part of our daily life, Luka." continued the black haired. "There are times in which staying silent is the best thing to do, and it's not as easy as it may sound. It allows us to reflect and see things more clearly."
The doctor was aware of the fact that the pink haired girl despised her with all of her heart, and knew that she was trying to provoke her to obtain a reaction. She had asked many times during their short walk to the therapy room about the utility of their sessions and had annoyed her with questions of which she would have never understood the answers. Lola had realized long ago that the girl probably wanted to make her feel incompetent and useless in a sad attempt to feel better. She inhaled silently. Once that you detect the problem, it becomes easier to solve it. She just had to find a nice way to transmit the message to the seventeen years old. She smiled, turning her head towards her.
She wanted to be rude.
"And it's also a good way to avoid conversations that you don't want to have."
She unfortunately didn't allow herself to see her reaction and hurried for the door. She opened it quickly. What she was about to do was crazy and irresponsible, but she really had no choice. Every doctor was busy at this hour, and with patients as difficult as those her folders were necessary. "I'll leave you for 5 minutes by yourselves. Let's see who wins this game, okay?"
She left the room before anyone could say a word.
Rin shivered. Lola had just left them alone. Sure, she had said that it was going to be only for 5 minutes, but Meiko and Gumi were unpredictable and that time was more than enough to unleash a tragedy. She just hoped that everyone would have followed what Lola had said and kept their mouth shut.
But, of course, Luka had to break that rule.
"So... When are the others gonna arrive?"
Rin gritted her teeth and looked away. She wanted an answer to that question too, but she couldn't say anything. And in any case, she really didn't know when her Len would have arrived; she just hoped that he wouldn't have been too late.
"They are late." Meiko started tapping her foot violently. Rin had seen that the day before, too, and knew that it meant that she was extremely nervous. "They are making us wait. Unbelievable."
The blonde swallowed loudly, whispering. "We are not supposed to talk, remember?"
"Rin, please." Luka said, exasperated. "Don't be annoying and break a rule once in a while."
The blue eyes of the smaller teen widened. That was rude and possibly annoying, but ignoring Luka's unkindness was the best thing to do. Rin didn't like trouble, and knew that starting a fight was not worth its consequences. "Fight rudeness with a smile" always said her grandma. And so she did.
"I'm just saying that we shouldn't do that, following what Lola has said is only up to you."
She heard the pink haired girl sigh at her politeness, while Gumi now decided to introduce a new topic.
"We can follow the rule after that I have an apology from.." she paused a second, as if she was trying to remember something. "Uh, Meiko."
Rin wasn't sure how, but her voice seemed different from the previous day. It was deeper, one of those voices that sound so smooth and natural that you want to hear more of them.
The now named young woman raised an eyebrow, her foot tapping even faster than before. "Excuse me?"
Gumi took a strand of her green hair, moving it between her thin fingers. "You were very rude. You owe me an apology."
This was bad.
"I was stating a fact. I don't need to apologise for that."
Really bad.
"Is that jealousy I hear?"
Oh God.
As Rin feared, Meiko exploded. Her cheeks became red like her dress and she stood up so suddenly that the chair on which she was previously seated on fell. The blonde teenager didn't have the time to react, as Meiko was already in front of Gumi and gesticulated angrily while shouting at her.
"Me?! Jealous of you?! Don't make me laugh!"
The green haired answered with a smirk. "Don't worry, you wouldn't be the first one. After all," she took her breasts into her hands. "I'm younger than you and these are the same size as yours. That must be hard to accept."
Rin ignored Luka's giggles and tried to stop the two girls. "You two, stop it!"
None of the two patients listened to her, and Meiko, who had apparently had enough of Gumi's behaviour, jumped on her. The girl screamed as she fell backwards, finding herself with the brunette on top of her and ready to strangle her.
"You bitch!" she spat before attempting a punch on the other's face. But Gumi's hands were free and she managed to pull Meiko's hair just in time to make her yelp and stop the punch.
Her hands now moved to the green strands, pulling them with inhuman strength.
Rin couldn't do anything but cover her mouth with her hand, completely shocked. She knew that this was going to happen, she just knew it! She did not know how to stop the two girls, as she surely wasn't strong enough to pull them apart. Luka was not helping at all; she just watched the scene with an amused look on her face. She hated that place, and seeing everyone fight just made her feel better for some reason. Maybe it was because she knew that it was Lola's fault, but she wasn't sure and she didn't care that much about it. She was not going to stop them, that was all that mattered now.
In that moment, the door opened, showing a sleepy-looking Kaito yawning and wearing the same clothes as the day before. He almost spit the apple juice that he was drinking at the sight of the two girls fighting on the ground.
"What the heck is happening here?!"
His eyes involuntarily stopped on Gumi's panties, now completely visible because of her position. He didn't even think that she could own something so provocative, let alone wear it.
He was brought back to reality by Rin's screams. "Kaito! Stop them!"
The blue haired teenager posed the tetra pak container on a chair and walked towards the girls. He then grabbed Meiko by the waist and tried to free the other girl from her deadly grasp, but the brunette did not seem to be willing to cooperate. He pulled harder. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but this was necessary.
"Don't get involved, blue boy!" the brunette shouted. "This is only between me and this bitch over here!"
The so called "bitch" just grunted in return, gritting her teeth and pulling the other's hair harder, while Rin rushed over Kaito's side to help him.
Everyone's attention was brought again to the door. Meiko and Gumi stopped fighting, while Kaito and Rin slowly backed away from the frightening figure that stood by the entrance.
Lola looked furious. Her black eyes were wild and her hands were grasping her precious folders in a nervous, unhealthy way.
"Four minutes." she said while biting her lip to the point of making it bleed. "It took you only four minutes."
The many people that were in the reception shushed as a loud noise, coming from somewhere in the facility, took them by surprise. Many eyes widened at the shouting, while others just half closed in confusion.
Len entered in the latter category, as his face expressed how annoyed he was. The gum that he had started chewing little ago had already lost its flavour, showing the poor quality of it. Len was surely not in the mood of hearing someone scream. The thought of where he was forced to go was enough to make his day turn rotten, and he didn't want anything else to make his head hurt more than it already did. He had spent the whole morning shouting. His father, as usual, had 'commented' on his habits. Len couldn't say that he didn't understand what the man felt: it mustn't have been nice to know that your son did what you told him for an entire life to not do. He, however, just needed him to understand that he didn't give a shit about what he thought and said.
The blonde teenager checked his jeans' pockets, searching for his phone in an act of boredom. He had been waiting for a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to him thanks to the dozens of bags that he was holding. Annoyingly enough, he had had to carry them around the city along with four suitcases, each one filled with his sister's clothes and everything that she could have ever needed. Rin was forced to live into the facility's dorms, and he didn't want her to miss anything. After all, he surely didn't want to hear anyone complaining about how badly he had prepared the suitcases.
He knew that someone should have come and guided him towards the session room, or that he should have asked the receptionist for information, but he was really too lazy to do so and was curious to see what kind of people came inside the facility. Unfortunately, his research turned out to be really boring, as everyone that entered the building seemed more or less normal. The woman behind the marble desk was adjusting her red hair with one hand while checking something on the big computer on her right, and was trying to grab at the same time the phone that was ringing with the free one. The people that were seated on the comfy-looking armchairs seemed relaxed and took their time to read the newspapers that were offered by the facility. There were not a lot of people around his age, everyone was mostly between their 30s and 50s. He laughed a little. They must all have had the half age crisis.
It was then that he noticed a familiar face in that crowd. A young, round face that was still new to him: Miku's. She was sitting with her legs tightly closed and her hands hidden in her oversized sweater. Her jeans were even longer than the ones that she had worn the day before, as the teenager could not see her feet. Len raised an eyebrow, disappointed. He could have given her some style lesson. The girl hadn't noticed him yet, and the fifteen years old decided to not reveal himself, as he had no intention of trying to be nice with her.
A sudden shiver ran down his spine.
Someone was watching him.
Len's blue orbs quickly searched around the room and found easily the source of his distress. A man around 30 years old was sitting on the opposite side of the room. It was easy to see him, as he was really tall and was wearing a yellow polo that caught the attention by itself. He had short, carefully brushed black hair and a long face, which gave him a strangely serious appearance. He had piercing, familiar blue eyes which were still intensely staring at him. They were not hostile, but they made Len uncomfortable at the point of wondering whether he had something on his light blue sweater or on his white t-shirt or not. It was only then that he realised what he was really interested in: his suitcases. He also had some with him and maybe a dozen less bags, but it was clear that he was there for his same reason. He resembled someone that he knew, Len knew it, but he couldn't figure out who. His light blue eyes watched him as he slowly got up and walked towards the blonde. Len sighed in protest. He really didn't want to talk.
A strong hand was now stretched out in front of him. "Hello, I'm Ken."
The teenager took some time to shake his hand, as he was preparing himself mentally for the conversation ahead. He didn't want to talk with this idiot, this Ken. He probably thought that they had something in common or at least something to talk about since they were in that place, waiting for the same person to do the same thing. But he was wrong. They didn't.
"Hello, my name's Len."
"It's nice to meet you, Len."
You have faked your entire life, Len. You can do it this time too.
"Same for me."
"Say, could you be here for my same reason?"
The teenager wanted to punch him hard in the face. He already knew the answer, why did he have to ask? "It depends. What is it?"
"Well," he sat for Len's joy next to him. "I'm here to give my brother Kaito what he needs. He'll be staying here for awhile."
The blonde boy moved forward a little to have a better look at the person he was talking to. "You're Kaito's brother?"
It was true, some of his features did remind him of Kaito, but the way that they presented themselves were completely different. He had never thought that someone so pompous and rigid could be related to someone as goofy and easygoing as Kaito.
"Yes. Do you know him?"
He nodded.
"Then you must be aware already of the terrible situation that he is in." his blue orbs turned dark. "We didn't want to arrive at this, really. I'm a catechist at many schools and I know that you never stop learning and that you can always teach something new, but Kaito... He's become something that he really is not." he paused and proceeded in a softer tone. "A pervert."
Len hid his disapproval. Kaito was nothing close to a pervert. He probably hadn't even touched a girl (or boy) in that way yet, you could say it by looking at him. He swallowed. He had always had a grudge against homophobic bastards. He had to change the subject before it became too personal.
"I'm here for my sister, Rin. And well, for myself, too."
Ken closed his eyes. "I see, so that's how you know Kaito." he then lowered again his tone, getting closer to Len's face. "This might be intrusive and impolite, but may I ask you why you are taking the sessions?"
Fucking asshole. This was intrusive and impolite, but maybe Len could have had some fun thanks to it. His faking abilities were never as good as his inventing ones, and he always found himself enjoying using the combination of the two. He directed his gaze to the floor, ready for his act.
"I don't... I don't want to talk about it."
He started pushing with his hands, which were resting on the armchair's arms, on the soft cloth with a great amount of strength that caused them to start to tremble. He then held his breath for a couple of seconds, releasing the oxygen only in short, shaky pants. It took all of his might to not laugh at the sensation of Ken's hand on his.
"I have... something that could help you." he started searching in one bag, and took out a beautiful edition of the Bible. "I don't know what happened to you, but... This might help. Sometimes giving all of our worries to someone who can understand us is the only thing that works." he grabbed Len's hands and gave him the holy book. "If you want, I could also arrange a meeting with the priest of my church. I'm sure that he could help you somehow."
Now, if he acted so compassionate he would have made the teenager almost feel bad for what he was about to say.
"I'm sorry," he pushed the book away. "but I already found someone who takes away all of my worries and solves all of my problems." he smiled as innocently as he could. "The great Satan does that in exchange for my body and soul."
He saw Ken's jaw drop open, his hand reaching for his Rosary necklace instinctively.
Yes.
Len suddenly stood up, taking all of his bags as well as the ones in Ken's grip with him. Len made sure to touch Ken's hands during the process.
"Miku!" he saw the tiny head of the girl turn towards him. "Let's go and find Lola, shall we?"
He quickly walked towards her, gently grabbing her hand, and rapidly asked directions to a nurse near her. Len turned around to look at Ken one last time. "Well, it was sure a pleasure to meet you. Let's do it again another time, okay?"
He sweetly smiled before walking away, leaving the dark haired shivering. Len lead Miku into the room where their session was being held. The latter was very puzzled about what had just happened, but was glad that Len had been there. She didn't want to ask someone for help. They would have treated her as a disabled. The two teenagers entered the room and got welcomed by shouts coming from Lola. Miku widened her eyes in surprise and hid behind her new protector, while Len kept his poker face, although he was also surprised that the doctor had already lost her patience.
Anyway, it wasn't like he cared.
Len entered room with Miku. He did not have the time to say a word, as a cheery Rin literally threw herself at him, smiling brightly while trapping him in a deadly hug and forcing him to let go of all of the bags that he was carrying.
"Len!" she squeaked. "I missed you so much!"
The boy didn't answer. He was too busy trying to not make his sister fall from his grasp. She was light, but he still couldn't say that it was easy to hold someone that acted like a Koala on an Eucalyptus tree. It was just after a couple of seconds of silence that he spoke, as he had understood that Rin would have not left him alone without him saying hi.
"Hi Rin. How are you doing?"
Miku left his side and went to sit next to Lola, while Len looked around searching for a certain blue haired boy. He tossed at Kaito his bags, and sat next to his sister. Kaito looked at Len, at the bag and then back at Len.
"Emh... what?" he finally said.
"Your clothes I guess. With the best greetings from your brother Ken." Len answered slightly smirking. Kaito's face paled. He didn't like that smirk at all. Apparently Rin didn't like it either, as she looked at him sternly.
"Len, what did you do?"
He looked at her innocently. "Me? Nothing. That's very unkind of you to suspect of me, dear sister." she looked at him again. "I had a polite and interesting conversation with him" he then added smiling brightly.
Kaito was quite sure that Len's idea of a 'polite and interesting' conversation was extremely different from an actual 'polite and interesting conversation'.
The younger teenager ignored his doubtful glare and moved on, obviously followed by his sister, and sat on the free chair next to who he believed to be Gumi. He didn't even have the time to find a comfortable position that a pair of green, seducing eyes fixed on him. The coloured lips of the teenage girl open slowly as she whispered seductively.
"Hi hottie."
Len's head turned around to meet her gaze. His eyes surely enjoyed what they were looking at: she had everything in the right sizes and in the right places. His sibling understood immediately his thoughts and reacted, pinching his arm in order to punish him. The blond haired sighed. He hated when his sister understood with scary precision what crossed his mind. In some cases her weird ability had revealed itself to be quite useful, but it was mostly a pain to Len and his poor arm. This time, however, he knew that her sister's jealousy was unnecessary, as he really was not in the mood for hooking up and he would have never flirted with anyone, boy or girl, with a multiple personality disorder. It was too complicated for his likes.
He just limited himself to answer with a dull "Hi."
The girl moved herself closer to the boy's face, examining every single inch of his skin. "You must be Len. I remember you from yesterday…"
Len blinked rapidly, confused. Was she that Rose or…?
"Not very talkative, are you?" she smiled brightly. "Then I'll talk for you. I'm Violet, nice to meet you." she then launched herself at him, maybe attempting a kiss, but Len dodged her sudden attack and ended up trapped in an awkward hug. He freed himself abruptly as soon as he could.
Her hand moved slowly towards his, caressing it alluringly. "I technically already know you thanks to Rose, you know?"
Len faked to understand and moved her hand away. He really didn't like that and he certainly wasn't in the mood for being harrassed by some weird psycho.
"I see…"
"You are the cutest here." she leant forward, giving him a good view of her cleavage, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I do." he lied. He would have done everything to get out of that situation, even by saying something as stupid as that. Rin would have probably interrogated him about it later on, but since she wasn't helping at all she just would have to accept his little lie.
"Oh, I see…" she seemed a bit deluded, fact that made the blue eyes of the teenager sparkle with excitement, but she quickly recovered her smiling expression. "Then, how about having some fun with me tonight?"
Len half-closed his eyes. Really?
"How about 'no'?"
"Come on, she won't know, I promise."
"I don't fucking care if she will know or not," he said while gritting his teeth, his volume high enough for the rest of the patients to hear him. "just let me be."
"You are a difficult one, uh?" she laughed, getting closer to his face one more time. "I like it. Makes everything more fun."
Len was about to punch her. He knew that everyone was watching them by now, but he didn't care.
"You stopped talking, why? You don't wanna talk to me anymore?"
One centimetre more and he would have sent her flying from her chair.
"Come on, hottie, say something. When are you coming to pick me up tonight?"
Only one fucking centimetre.
He had already raised his fist, but he got interrupted by Luka.
"Can you please stop?" she looked calm as usual, but her posture indicated that she was tensed. "Leave him alone already."
Violet raised an eyebrow and looked at the pink haired girl, moving away from Len. "What?"
It was then that Rin stood up. If gazes could kill, then Violet would have been already in the other world.
"Shut up." she said slowly. "Leave him alone, whore."
Violet was obviously about to answer back at the insult, but was stopped by a worried Lola. The doctor knew how much Len meant to the younger girl, and therefore did not want to try her and see what she could have done in order to protect him.
"Stop it. All of you."
The rant that was going to follow the interruption was delayed by the opening of the door. Gakupo had entered the room panting, a bag with various papers sticking out and falling to the ground. He caught his breath.
"Sorry I'm late, but they wouldn't end the teacher conference." he said between gasps. He then went to sit next to Luka. She squeezed his hand. Lola faked to not notice. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"Absolutely nothing" Lola said briskly. She then brushed away a lock of her hair from her face and smiled. "Now that everything that had to be settled is settled and that we are all here, how about we start the session? I want to know a little more about you and your fam-" Lola got interrupted by Meiko.
"I have a question! You said we could ask any questions we wanted!" Meiko said. Lola was a little annoyed.
"Okay Meiko, ask the question."
"It's for all of you." she looked intensely at them. "Why the hell do you all have extremely weird coloured hair?!"
Everyone stared at her. She stared back.
"What? Your hair are weird. I mean, which person has blue hair?!" she said pointing at Kaito.
He looked down and wondered why everyone seemed to be having problems with him today. Lola looked at Meiko. Sure, the doctor had also questioned why her patients had funny coloured hair, but she had never thought of finding out why. It was something that had always bothered her and yet she had never really considered it. However, now that she thought about it, maybe they were linked with their past or a specific choice in their life, a major change. Maybe this could help her figure out how to help them.
"Alright, well I think we should answer Meiko's question." No one in the room moved. Of course everyone had to be difficult. She cleared her throat. "Kaito!" the blue haired teen died a little inside. "Why don't you tell us why you dyed your hair blue?" she gave him a pleading look. He sighed.
"I liked the colour." he said. He then immediately reddened and looked down.
Len scoffed. "Yeah, right. You can see it from miles away that you're lying. I mean, if you have to lie, at least do it properly." he said, removing Violet's arm from his shoulder and receiving a soft purr in protest. That personality was really pissing him off.
"The kid is right." Meiko agreed. Len gave her a pissed off look for being addressed like that. "You gotta tell us the truth. I thought you were a good Christian." she added, completely ignoring Len.
"Maybe he has a good reason to lie..." added Rin. Kaito almost wanted to kiss her.
"Yeah but he shouldn't, should he Rin? I thought we had a no lie policy in this room" Len answered back at his sister. Although Lola detested that annoying brat attitude of his, she had to admit that he was right.
She smiled at Kaito. "Come on Kaito. No one is here to judge you."
He sighed again.
"At school I was never really the popular guy. To be honest I was the complete opposite of the cool, intelligent guy. So one day I decided to change. You know, tried to become a completely different person. And the first thing I did was change my appearance." he paused for a second and looked at Lola. He really didn't want to talk about this, he was sure that everyone had noticed that already. His legs were tapping at the speed of light on the floor, and he kept gulping down because of his inexplicable dry throat. She just gave him an encouraging look, smiling kindly. "So I went and dyed my hair blonde. This made things worse. People at school would tease me even more. So I went to a supermarket to buy black hair dye so I could dye my hair black again. Unfortunately it wasn't black hair dye in the packet, there had been a mistake. It was blue dye." he paused, directing his gaze towards the ground. He didn't want to look at the others, not after his speech. "And that's the story of how I've been for a good 10 days with blue hair."
Everyone was quiet, even Len. He didn't know the guy enough, but he seemed like the type that had always something to say for the sake of making someone feel embarrassed. He felt really stupid.
Lola gave him a kind look. It was obvious that she was trying her best to not make the blue haired teen uncomfortable, and Kaito really appreciated that, but there was no way that a smile could have washed away all the shame that he was feeling at that moment.
"Well thank you Kaito for sharing this story. Who's up next? Rin?"
She wanted to make Kaito feel unimportant and not in the centre of the spotlight that he was so much afraid of. It was better if someone else spoke for now, he was too nervous.
The blonde haired teen adjusted herself on her seat and smiled sweetly at Lola.
"Well mine and Len's mum is French. That is why we have blonde hair. Mum is very pretty. She also has our blue eyes and my petite physique," she said. "but she has always liked Len the best. That's why she asked for his custody. But I wasn't mad. If had been mum I would have also chosen Len over myself." she smiled at her brother. He didn't smile back. "but anyway, mum was the best when we lived together. She baked cookies and was sweet and she taught us and dad French, although he never got the pronunciation right. I sometimes miss mum."
"Where is she now?" Lola asked, interested.
Rin's usually cheery eyes suddenly widened. The girl turned towards her brother, who had now stopped trying to keep Violet away from him at a decent distance. He seemed to completely ignore her, his ice eyes focused on his precious sibling.
"Ne dis pas rien."
It was curious, really. Lola had always heard that French was a sweet, seducing language. She had never thought that its smooth syllables could turn into such threatening hisses.
Rin swallowed, closing her eyes. The doctor couldn't help but notice that she had become pale and that she had started to play with the edges of her dress. Why was she so nervous?
"Pardonnes-moi, Len, mais je dois."
Blue confronted black in what seemed to be an infinite amount of time. Rin's lips opened just enough to pronounce what she needed to say. She seemed so afraid. "Maman is at the hospital. She's in coma."
The dark haired doctor tighten the grasp on her pencil. She surprisingly found herself sincerely concerned about what had happened to the Kagamines, all the pain and the worry that they had had probably to go through.
"I'm sorry" she said.
These were things that never had a right time to happen; everyone, young or old, was equally unprepared to face such events.
Len looked at his sister angrily. "Why do you have to tell her everything? Just lie for once like blue boy attempted to!"
Lola didn't understand where all of this was coming from. As assholish Len had proven himself to be, he had always seemed very kind towards his sister. Lola deducted that it was something about their mother, something that he didn't want her to know about. She would have to investigate about her, but not know, now it was not the moment. Although she was more than sure that this matter was of dear importance to the twins, she thought that it was best if she could have had this conversation with only one Kagamine at the time. She knew that the siblings would have been too afraid to freely express themselves because of the presence of the other in other circumstances. In fact, she was quite surprised that Rin had gotten this far in a conversation that his brother clearly didn't want to have.
"But Len! The whole point of staying here is to say the truth! You said that yourself too!" Len ignored the fact that Rin was right. "Maybe if we say the truth we can get out of here faster! And also… I think..." she bit her lower lip. Her eyes were starting to water. She didn't like arguing with her brother, but she had wanted to talk about this with him for so much time and she could not allow herself to wait anymore. After all, the doctor had said that they were there to talk. "I think that you should talk about it. You… you need to get better."
So he didn't talk about it with anyone? Interesting. But what had exactly happened? Had their mother been involved in an accident? Was Len there? This would have, unfortunately, explained so much.
Len was about to reply, but Lola coughed violently. The doctor was intrigued by their talk, but she knew that it was better for the both of them to shut up and cool down for a while.
"You can continue your argument later. Now, who wants to go? How about you Violet?" she said to the green haired girl, ignoring the stressed teenagers.
Lola hoped that this new topic could have distracted a little the twins. Also, she was really curious to find out which one between Gumi's crazy personalities had made her change her hair green.
Violet twirled a string of her hair and gave Lola a little smile. "Well, Hurricane did this. She is a real beast. Me and the others don't like her and Gumi, they are too strong. If Gumi comes she will take control again, but just until Hurricane comes. Hurricane is the strongest and the worst. If Hurricane comes then she will not leave until she wants to. One time she stayed for over three months. We were completely destroyed, it was horrible. The relationships we had worked so hard were over in less than a week! Think of all the boyfriends she ruined! My popularity level! It was just awful! And she is also the reason why we have green hair. One day Hurricane popped up and decided that the hair colour didn't suit her, so she changed it to green. It is permanent." the smile from her face had gone away for a while, but she had regained it as easily. The change was so quick that no one had seemed to notice, no one except for two people. Lola had already noted down on her precious folder everything that the girl had said, analysing as fast as possible anything that could have helped her with her research. The blue orbs of the other person that had caught that small frown recognised it thanks to their own experience. Lying wasn't easy as it seemed.
'She is almost as fake as I am,' Len thought 'but she still needs practice.' If he were kind enough he would have helped her, but that was clearly not the case.
"But it's alright. I mean, this hairstyle and hair colour really suits me, don't you think Len-kun?" she said batting her eyelashes and using that sexy, tempting voice of hers.
"...Really does" he said. She wanted to play a game, didn't she? He liked to play games, so why not join in? Rin on his other side said nothing, but Len felt her piercing gaze. He turned around and sweetly smiled at her.
"Okay thank you for this story Violet. Next person?" She looked to Gakupo. His hairstyle and colour were probably the most peculiar.
He felt her watching and sighed.
"Luka wants to be an hairdresser. So she experimented on my hair her first hair dye. She made a mistake and here I am with purple hair. And my peculiar hair length is just something I've always worn. I like long hair."
Lola looked at the pink haired next to him. Her cheeks were extremely red, something that she had never expected the teenager to show so easily. Lola didn't know what she had lied about to Gakupo, but she assumed it was something regarding his hair colour.
"And I assume that you then tried hair dying your own hair Luka and failed?" Lola asked.
"No. Well, I thought I should have matched my hair colour with Gakupo's." she said smiling brightly at him. He smiled back. Lola had noticed how much they loved one another and she felt sad about them. True love was never easy.
"Well, thank you everyone for sharing these stories. I hope you are happy now Meiko? Now, shall we get on?"
"Hang on! Hang the fuck on! She didn't say why!" Meiko said pointing at Miku.
Lola sighed. "Meiko may I remind you that Miku is not talking?"
"What kind of fucking excuse is that? I want to know why she has fucking teal coloured hair! I mean, who the fuck chooses teal?"
As Meiko got angry about Miku's hair, the teal haired girl had detached a piece of paper from her notepad and she was scribbling on it. She then stood up and walked to Meiko. She bowed low and offered her the piece of paper. Everyone stared in silence. Some considered the girl crazy for confronting Meiko and waited for what she could have done, while others had already understood her intentions and admired her courage. The young therapist agreed, in fact, with the last group of people. She took off her glasses, putting them carefully on her folders. According to her file, Miku had never spoken to anyone and she had never tried to communicate in any way. And yet, there she was. Life was strange.
Startled but angry, Meiko took the piece of paper. She unfolded it, Miku in front of her.
'It is not my hair.'
Meiko read it a couple of times but said nothing. She then looked into Miku's eyes. The teal haired girl gave her a small smile and hurried back to her sit. Lola cleared her throat once again.
"Well, are you happy now Meiko?" Meiko didn't answer. The doctor decided to let go. "Can we continue with today's session?" she barely finished her phrase that Len stood up. "Where are you going?"
"Bathroom" he said.
"Just a second before you go" she said stopping him. He sighed. "I just wanted to talk to you about school inside the facility. This doesn't concern all of you but it is of major importance. The facility offers private group lessons to all of the patients who are still in school. The lessons are all taught by the same teacher but of course the level varies from age to age. This means that they will be starting on Tuesday" no one seemed too sad about it. Lola was surprised. She then turned to Meiko. "Meiko you will instead have a sport activity. Something to " she thought about what to say for a second "free yourself with" she concluded.
Meiko and Len snorted. What was that lady thinking?
"Alright. Can I go to the bathroom now?"
"Okay, second door to the left" she said as he left.
Len didn't allow himself to hear Meiko's complaints as he walked away from the room, the brunette's voice echoing through the whole corridor. When he had decided that he was far away enough, the boy decided to lean towards the white walls of the empty hallway, finding no comfort in their coldness.
He felt like he was burning alive.
Why did Rin have to talk about their mother? Hadn't he specifically asked her not to? He felt betrayed and hurt by his sister, thing that had left him startled for a while. It was the first time that he had felt something similar to anger towards his sibling and he hadn't been too sure of what was better to do. And so, stupidly enough, he had managed to get her mad at him. She hadn't even looked at him when he was leaving the damned session room.
She didn't deserve that. She didn't need to see him trying to flirt with that Violet, she didn't need to taste his poisonous smile.
He had fucked up. With Rin gone he was completely alone. No one was going to try to actually listen to what he had to say, no one was going to trust his word. If Rin didn't forgive him he would have been left by himself with the disappointed glares of his father and their unnerving arguments.
He had fucked up.
Len punched the wall, the pain travelling from his hand towards the entire length of his arm, just like a powerful vibration. He allowed himself to hiss as silently as possible as he sat on the ground, his back against the wall. It was then that he heard it again.
There was a voice that had accompanied him for the entire day. It was little at first, and he had ignored it even though it seemed desperate but convincing to him. After all, what it was offering was very appealing and it was hard to let the thought pass by, but Len had been distracted by many things and he had managed to put it aside. The thought, however, hadn't given up.
All day, at all times, it would remind him of how much he needed heroin.
"It's been too long," it said "you need to take some."
Too long... Yes, it had. His father hadn't left him alone for a minute and he hadn't been able to take the drug.
He could take some. He could just go to the damn bathroom and inject that shit into his veins right now and no one would have been able to stop him. No one was there to prevent him from doing what his entire body was craving for. No one had the right to do that.
"Just a little, you know? You don't need to get too high or anything, it's just to bring some sunshine in this shitty day."
It was true; his day had been awful and his body was shaking from some reason that he really couldn't figure out. This didn't bother him, as these weird events had lost their meaning long ago. It was always a bad day, it was always time to use the drug to cheer himself up and to ease the pain, in whatever form it presented itself.
He wasn't addicted to it, was he?
The thought had actually crossed his mind countless times, but the boy had never thought that heroin could actually become the threat that terrorised him as a child. After all, how could something that helped him so much be bad for him? He was aware of the fact that he was mainly using the drug as an useful shield for the moment, something that could have been used when reality wasn't really that great, but he also felt that he could get rid of it with ease. He just needed it for a while, just until things became a bit better. Things had to get better. He couldn't keep living like this.
"There is no time for those thoughts. Just inject some already. Hell if you need it."
He was sweating now. It wasn't cold, or warm, but there were salty drops dripping from his forehead. He couldn't do it there, someone could have seen him and he could get into trouble.
"Don't make me laugh. You enjoy trouble, don't you?"
Len stopped breathing. He enjoyed trouble. He loved it. The truth was that he had always preferred seeing others in that anxious situation. He had asked himself many times why he felt such the urge to see the others crying, screaming or barely standing on their feet, and he had found an incredibly simple answer to this dilemma. It was just like the domino game that he used to play with Rin all the time when they were kids.
They used to put the black dominoes vertically, one after another to create a spiral or a particular shape, waiting patiently for them to be all up to make them fall. Whenever the first piece didn't hit the others, the twins would be disappointed. What fun were some dominoes standing still? They didn't create any shape or made any noise, they had lost their purpose and had become useless. The only piece that had fallen remained alone and was laughed at, even hated by the twins. It had ruined their fun and had failed to accomplish what he was made for.
Len had begun to identify his desires with the ones of the lonely domino piece. He had fallen, while the others had stayed still.
He wanted to bring them down with him.
He wasn't strong enough to get get back on his two feet, but he had a burning desire inside him, something that allowed him to go on and show the others what the world really was. If everybody fell then he wouldn't be alone in this cruel world, would he?
He was just a sadist that hated his solitude.
Another drop of sweat touched the ground, producing what the blond found a graceful noise. Len still didn't want to believe that his definition described him entirely. There were so many more disgusting words that could have suited him better.
He held his head in his hands, shaking it violently as if he could have emptied his mind of those familiar thoughts.
"They'll go away if you take it. You'll feel good again, just like you used to feel before."
He had never thought that he could agree with something like that.
"No one would even notice."
Rin would, she would immediately notice his absence. Or better, she would have. She probably did not want to see him now that he had made her mad, she was not going to go search for him. He had made it. He had sunk so low that even his sister didn't give a shit about him. A distort smile appeared on his lips, the same lips that had been shut for almost an half of our to hide his pathetic shallow breaths.
Good job, Len.
Soft, slow steps brought forcibly the boy back to reality, his head turning violently towards their source. A woman dressed in black was at the end of the corridor, looking at him with her brown eyes. She moved her black, curly hair to the side while her big lips opened to ask him if he was okay. Len stayed silent at first, taking in as much air as his lungs allowed him to. It was time to put the mask back on. He stood up, his hands reaching for the wall so that it could support him.
"I'm just a little dizzy."
The lady came closer, confused by the boy's behaviour. She was sure that she had heard someone panting and had rushed to see who could have been in need for help, but she did not expect to find a smiling teenager instead of a crying child that could have produced, in her opinion, those short pants. She decided to pay it no mind.
"Would you like something to drink? I'm sure that you'll feel better after a glass of water."
The blonde simply nodded, assuming that she was an employee of the facility, and headed towards the lady, following her to what seemed to be the cafeteria. She gently asked him to wait for her while she searched for what he needed, and the boy sat alone in the white room for a couple of minutes. His glance moved from table to table, his tormented mind wondering what to do. The kind lady arrived too soon for him to find a solution and offered him a glass of water and lemon. His eyes widened at the sight of the acid fruit, allowing the lady to assist to the first sign of real happiness that he had had in a couple of days.
Lemon. He could use that.
Happy that the employee was not trying to start a conversation with him, he gulped down half of the water in the plastic glass. He guessed that she was probably used to see people in this state due to the place she worked in, and that she had also learned that sometimes it was best to not ask any questions. It was only when he stood up that she expressed her worry.
"Where are you going?"
He didn't really want to deal with her, it was better to get rid of her and find the goddamn bathroom. The teenager smiled as innocently as usual, his eyes softening in a grateful expression. "To the bathroom for a second, and then back to the session room." he grabbed the glass. "I'm feeling better now, thank you for your help."
Len assumed that he had been convincing enough, as the girl simply shrugged and wished him a nice day, going back to her work. He started to head towards the bathroom, his pace getting faster and faster as he got closer to his destination. He had almost made it, if things went as planned then he would have felt good again. The teenager put his hand in his sweater's pocket, reaching for the small, magical stone that would have saved his day. He couldn't wait to feel at peace again, floating in the air and free from the problems that haunted him. He had had enough things to deal with for the day, his mind was at a breaking point.
He rushed in the small room, shutting the door behind him and locking it. He emptied his pockets, grabbing carefully a small lighter, a metal spoon, an elastic and the white, almost transparent rock that was so dear to him. He put them aside on the ground, next to the glass of water, and sat down not too far away from the objects. He smiled as he pulled up his sleeve, revealing a plastic tube that contained inside an unused syringe. That had been a 'gift' from his dealer, who had wanted to help him hide the syringes, the biggest object necessary for the injections. That son of a bitch had probably feared to lose a dear client, Len knew that he was not the type that gave presents to his customers. In any case, it had been a more than welcomed gift, as he had no idea how to hide the syringes in a way that wouldn't get him hurt, and he was just glad that this little trick kept fooling his father. The man did not, in fact, check the sleeves of his son, as he thought that it was impossible for him to hide something in there. He also didn't check the boy's shoes and - thankfully - his underwear, and the teenager had soon learnt to use those two places to bring what he needed outside, where he then moved everything in his pockets for his own comfort.
The blonde swallowed, his throat dry even though he had drank not too long ago, and started preparing what was necessary for the injection. He opened the plastic tube with religious attention, afraid that an unlucky oversight could have ruined everything. He took the syringe, admiring the shiny surface of its needle, and the glass, while getting closer to the small sink that faced the toilet bowl. He emptied the glass, putting aside the lemon that was previously into it, and filled it again with fresh water; that liquid was going to go into his veins, he knew that he had to be careful. He watched silently as the syringe was filled with the usual amount of water, biting his lower lip to force himself to be precise on the process. He wanted it too badly, the boy knew that he could have gone crazy if he didn't take the drug as soon as possible. He therefore grabbed the metal spoon, emptying the syringe in it and putting the small stone in it as well.
The warmth that his opened lighter was producing made his hand sweat a bit, and he feared that he could have dropped the metallic object and its filling, but the liquid reached the right temperature soon enough to avoid this catastrophe. The boy took once again the syringe, filling it now with the cloudy mixture. He grabbed the lemon, squeezing some of its juice on his wrist; he didn't have a proper peroxide and he had had to improvise a bit on this part, and the teen hoped that the lemon would have been enough to disinfect his wrist area.
He moved his blond strands away from his face, looking at the thin syringe between his shaky grasp. He could feel the needle's tip pushing against his wrist's skin, willing to penetrate his flesh, and found himself enjoying the torture of the wait.
It was wrong, so very wrong. He grinned.
What a bad boy he was.
Heya peeps!
First of all, sorry from the bottom of our hearts for the extremely long and slow update! We had a few troubles with juggling writing and school work! Now we are officially on holidays and we might speed up our updates (note: might). Anyway, how are you all doing? Can you feel the angst yet? We absolutely love making our babies suffer! (no we don't but it comes natural woo)
Question for you: would you guys prefer MUCH shorter chapters but hopefully more frequent updates or longer chapters but, well you know our writing pace (aka hella slow updates)…?
Mucho love xxx
team procrastination :)