Chapter 4

Rin yelps in surprise at the sudden entrance of Luka, and she moves back, accidentally bumping in Len's legs. At the touch, she jerks her body away from him, shooting him another disgusted look. Too tired to shoot Rin back a cold look, he instead ignores her, and looks up at Luka, greeting weakly, "Hello, Luka nee…"

Luka says nothing as she shuts the door, locking it behind her, "Safety first." She says in a sing song voice, patting the door. Her pink hair all messy from a day of hard work, she runs her fingers through it hastily and begins to unwrap her scarf from her neck.

"Hello, kiddos," Luka finally greets them, placing her scarf onto her shoulder, "I can hear you two screaming at each other from fifty feet away from the house," instead of taking her coat off, she leans on one hip, crosses her arms, and says in an accusing voice, "And oh dear, do I know the reason for it."

Rin and Len simply look down at the floor, both feeling embarrassed and pathetic, acting like little kids… Screaming, fighting, shrieking insults at each other. The two, as if on cue, start to turn red at the same time from embarrassment. They don't even question Luka about how she knows the cause of this quarreling. Everyone knows Luka is the wisest and most intelligent of the Crypton Vocaloids, and perhaps maybe even out of all of the Vocaloids created so far. And no matter what, she always seems to find out a reason and cause to everything, usually offering astute and sensible advice or bluntly stating her honest, intellectual opinion.

Noticing their flushed faces, Luka allows a small, amused smile. And with a light toss of her hair, she grabs their arms, pulls them up, and forces the two to stand.

"Come." She says, pulling on their arms to the living room. She lets them go in front of a couch, and she nods at them to sit. As they do so, the two shuffle away from each other, childishly, and sit on opposite ends of the couch. Rin, propping her elbow onto the armrest and resting her cheek into her palm, and Len with a hard look on his chiseled face, toying with his earphones.

Shaking her head a bit, Luka takes a seat on the other couch, crossing her legs in a ladylike manner, tugging her gloves off, waiting for either of them to say something. When they don't, she exhales lightly but sharply, and says in her usual, calm voice, "You both like Miku, hm?"

"Not like," Rin quickly corrects, looking down at her feet, "I love Miku."

"As do I." Len says steadily, tugging on a piece of his blonde hair.

"I see…" Luka says, looking at the twins carefully, studying their actions. She then leans forward in her seat, some of her straight hair falling over her shoulder, and she says firmly, "Do you two know what love even is?"

Rin and Len both look up, startled at such a ridiculous question asked by Luka.

"Of course I do, Luka nee," Len answers, giving her a quizzical look, "I've known ever since Miku."

"Me too," Rin says, casting a sharp glance towards Len, "The feelings I currently have for Miku, I have never had towards anyone else before. Not even the previous, little crushes I've had… I've never felt the way I feel for Miku towards them."

"Listen, you two," Luka says, folding her hands together, "I believe you two. Really and truly, I do. However, in my eyes, from the actions you two have shown me in these past days, I believe you two are confusing love with lust, a bit."

"In a sense, think about it. You two are hormonal teenagers," Luka continues, smirking lightly at her comment, "And teenagers are thirsty little creatures…"

She leans even more forward in her seat, making both Rin and Len lean a bit backward, intimidated a bit.

"Allow me to define love in my view," Luka says, closing her magenta eyes, "Love involves feelings. Romanticized by each and every one of a living being's mind. We all yearn to recreate that intimacy based on what seems so ideal. Our deepest longings shape what defines love. Happiness, sadness, anger, sex," She opens an eye at that word, noticing the twins blushing, "Those are what happens when you're in love."

She shifts her position and takes a pen from the coffee table and slides a random piece of paper towards her, and begins to draw a Venn diagram, sketching two neat circles intersecting each other.

"Come, look here," She says, lifting her hand and waving the twins to come near. When they settle next to hear, each on both sides of her, she begins to write names in each circle.

"Here on the left, is Len," She explains, writing his name neatly, "Naturally. And on the right, we have Rin."

After she writes Rin's name in the right circle, she continues, "And here we have Miku, stuck in the middle." and with a flourish, she scrawls Miku's name, and she places the black pen down.

"You see, you two, instead of thinking about only yourselves, think about the person who is causing this conflict. The person between you two," Luka says softly, tapping the intersection where Miku's name is written, "I saw Miku coming out of the house, and do you know how she looked?" She doesn't wait for them to answer, "She looked terrible. Tired, sad. And when Miku is sad, I get a little worried, you know?"

"Miku is not the type of person to get sad or angry at things so easily. If you know her so well as to love her as you two claim," She gives them both sharp glares at them, "Then you two will shape up, and not let this rivalry form an intense hatred."

Luka picks up the pen and twirls it around, "I ask you to stop this nonsense, alright? It's becoming ridiculous. And when I stopped Miku to ask where she was going, she told me directly that she was going to visit Dell kun to smoke cigarettes. Ha. The first thing that came to my mind was you two." She laughs without genuine humor, leaning back in her chair.

As the twins shift uncomfortably on the floor, Luka eyes them warily and says, "You needn't worry about her. She's too smart to truly smoke cigarettes. As for you two, I'm not going to force you two to get along, but I am expecting you two think maturely, for once, and at least not scream at each other and hurt Miku, understand?"

Rin and Len nod slowly, feeling guilty and humiliated. They catch each other's blue eyes, and then awkwardly look away from the other, Rin drawing circles into the carpet, Len inspecting his yellow painted fingernails.

"Also," Luka says, picking up her gloves, "Think about why you want Miku. Why is it that you supposedly love her? Is it only because of her body? Her face? A need for pleasurable desires? What could it possibly be? The reasons matter. Because if the only reasons you two come up with is for sex, then I promise, I promise you two that I, Megurine Luka, will do something about this. It will be neither enjoyable nor pleasant. Believe me."

And at the tone of Luka's cold voice, they did. They believed her fully, suddenly a bit scared at her calm threat.

"I know you two are aware of my ability to figure something out quite quickly. So you two had better trust my skill will be put to full use as of now."

With that being said, Luka stands up, a bit of her hair swishing, and begins to exit the living room. But before she walks up the stairs, she says, "Ah, I almost forgot. You two should really stop tugging at little Miku's arms, you know? She happens to have bruises on both of them, as Meiko, Kaito, and I have noticed." She taps the edge of a stair with her foot, "She's an innocent girl. Don't taint her yet, hm?"

And with that, Luka walks gracefully up the stairs, and shuts her room door, satisfied with her little talk she had given them. She drums her fingers against her door, and then gently tosses her coat and scarf onto her bed, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.

She dial's a number, and presses it against her ear, listening to the droning sound of the ringing, and finally, a deep, husky voice picks up, "Hello?"

"Good evening, Dell kun," Luka says pleasantly, sitting on her bed, "I'm wondering if Miku arrived at your house safely. She did go, yes?"

"Luka? Ah, yeah. She's here. Quite a wreck, looks like it. What happened?"

"I'm not too sure myself," Luka lies swiftly, looking out her window at the softly falling snow, "But I ask you to take good care of her and to give her reasonable, appropriate advice while she's visiting, alright?" Luka says firmly, emphasizing the "appropriate'.

"Ha!" Dell smirks in the phone, "You have my word. I'll make sure to give her," Dell snorts in the phone, "Appropriate advice. Hey, a small kiss on the cheek counts as appropriate, right?"

"Dell kun." Luka says dangerously, gripping her phone tightly.

"Alright, alright! I'm just kidding. No need to worry. Man, you sure can sound pretty damn scary over the phone, you know that?"

Luka rolls her magenta eyes, "Also, I have one more thing to ask."

"Spit it out, then."

"Make sure Miku doesn't smoke any of your cigarettes. And don't let her, if she gets a bit curious."

With a small laugh, Dell answers, "You think I'd let anyone touch my beauties?"

"Oh yes, and one more thing," Luka pauses, then says, "Don't tell Miku."

"What?"

But Luka had already hung up, leaving a very confused Dell to ponder over what's to come next.


Dell kun's house was comfortable, yet wasn't particularly to Miku's taste. Only because of the strong, smoke smell that always lingered around. But having visited multiple times to visit Haku and the smoker, Miku only needs a few seconds to adjust.

"So why'd you come over? You need a distraction or something?" Dell winks, running a hand through his silver hair.

Tilting her head at his wink, she asks openly, "Distraction?"

Dell pauses a moment, then thinks about the conversation he had with Luka. So instead, he shakes his head and places soda in front of her, "Uh I mean, you know, a break."

Miku pulls her lips into a small frown, and taps the top of her soda. Dell cracks open his beer loudly, raising an eyebrow at her expression.

"Uhm… I suppose you could say that." She finally answers, spinning her soda around.

"Hey," He says, taking her soda away from her and opening it for her. He pushes it toward her across the wooden table, and takes a drink of his beer, "Tell me what's wrong."

He places his feet onto the table, still looking at Miku. He notices her face contorting into a rather hurt look, and he says softly, "Miku."

"Len kun and Rin chan tugged at my arms." She blurts out, rubbing her sleeve covered arms, blushing a bit.

Not understanding, he stops drinking, and clears his throat, "Uh, what?"

Miku leans forward in her chair, picks up her drink, and takes a long sip. She takes the can away from her lips and says, "Len kun and Rin chan have been fighting really viciously for a bit, and I tried to put a stop to it, to let them get along again."

"But they both ended up fighting right in front of me again, screaming insults and such harsh words at each other, pulling at my arms and body and…" Miku looks down, her teal hair falling over her shoulder a little, "I didn't want to hear them fight anymore, so uhm… I said if they continued I would come here and smoke."

Dell bursts out laughing; throwing his now empty beer can across the room, the can landing next to the fridge with a loud noise.

"Aw, it almost made it into the trash can," He pouts, crossing his lean arms. He then takes his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and taps it, nodding at Miku, "Well, would you like one?"

"U-uhm…" Miku bites her lower lip.

Dell chuckles, pulling a single one out and closing the pack, "I'm kidding. I wouldn't let you smoke one anyway. Bad for your health."

Before Miku can question his hypocrisy, he lights it expertly, places it into his mouth, and throws the lighter down onto the table, saying from the corner of his mouth, "Basically what you're telling me is… You came here because of some stupid threat you made to the little brats?"

"They are not brats," Miku protests, causing Dell to wave a hand at that, "And yes. I did come here because of that, and because I've known you for quite some time, Dell kun, and I came for some advice."

At this, Dell lets out a puff of smoke from his mouth, and he says huskily, "To me? Why not Luka?"

"I would have asked, but I wanted to stay away from the house for a bit." Miku answers, making a little face at his smoke.

"Hm." Dell says, placing his cigarette back into his mouth again. He thinks or awhile, watching from the corner of his eye, Miku leaning her elbow on the table, placing her cheek into her hand, seemingly sleepy.

Ah.

Finally, he figures it out. Finally, he knows what's going on. He now knows what Luka had meant when she said to not tell Miku. He allows a smile to form onto his lips, quietly congratulating himself of his quick, smart thinking. He turns to Miku, drumming his fingers on the table top, and finds her dozing off.

"Hey!" He snaps his fingers, causing her to flash her teal eyes open and jump up, "I've got a solution to your problem!"

Miku yawns sleepily, rubbing her eyes without knowing how adorable she looks. Dell looks away, rolling his eyes and letting out another puff of smoke to hide his tiny blush.

"Hm…" he begins, tugging at his silver ponytail, "Let me ask one thing, before I tell you my advice."

Miku sighs and draws little spirals on the tabletop with her teal painted fingertip, "And that is?"

Dell puts out his cigarette and places it down, taking his feet off the table as well. He stretches, yawning himself, and walks towards Miku.

Then he stops in front of Miku, glancing down at her wondering face, full of purity and innocent beauty, and he honestly wonders whether he should tell her or not… But then decides not to due to Luka's deathly tone. He shivers internally, wanting to forget the icy voice.

Only, Miku's eyes seem to lure him in, and all of a sudden, he forgets Luka's scariness.

Clearing his throat, he reaches out and takes Miku's white, creamy cheek into his right hand, and then he leans forward and kisses Miku on the lips, right there with his smoke filled breath and rough hand on her face.

He hears her small gasp of surprise, so he leans back out, and as if it's not a big deal, he crosses his arms, "Did Len do that to you?"

Miku scratches her cheek, looking up at Dell, "He did! Wow, how did you know, Dell kun?"

He simply shrugs, flopping down into his chair again and banging his feet onto the table, "Just a guess. You kind of look like you've been kissed by a Kagamine brat anyway."

"Uhm..?"

"Nothing," Dell answers, stealing her unfinished soda and taking a sip, "Just that the Len brat looks like playboy to me."

"Dell kun," Miku says gently, "Len kun isn't a playboy, he's very decent with girls, in fact."

Dell smirks at this, and counters, "Yeah? Well, how many girls has he kissed over the past years?"

Miku looks down and thinks, noticeably counting on her opens fingers. Dell can't help but chuckle a bit.

"Exactly 13 girls." Miku answers, looking back up at him.

Dell smirks, "And that's exactly my point."

Dell continues speaking, running his hand through his hair again, "I know that Len brat. I'm a damn derivative of him, even," he scoffs, leaning back against his chair, "I've seen him mess around with girls. Hell, he's even fooled around with my sister a little in my own fucking house." Dell sneers, stabbing his dead cigarette with his strong finger, causing Miku to flinch back a bit.

"Perhaps you're feeling like you are a bit is because you feel a bit uncomfortable around that Len brat," Dell says, leaning his head back and eyeing Miku again, "And my advice to you about that loser is you stay away from him."

Miku looks uncomfortable, braiding a piece of her long hair and asking quietly, "But why, Dell kun? Don't boys normally do that? I thought boys naturally tried those kiss things to girls because they're simply curious."

"Oh God," Dell laughs again, slapping his knee with one hand, "Where the hell did you get that idea?"

Miku glances up at the ceiling, and then back down at his face, "Myself."

"Well, your thinking and guess is completely wrong, Miku," he snorts, shaking his head, "Pretty way off."

A little irritated, Miku asks, "Then what does that kiss thing mean?"

Dell sighs, closing his grey eyes, "What a kiss means Miku, can mean two things."

"One," Dell says, "A kiss is an expression of love. Someone who expresses feelings of pure admiration, trust, adoration, you get the point. Those kind of kisses by that kind of person is a good kiss. Someone who doesn't have a hungry look in his eye."

"The second kind of kiss, is the kind Len Kagamine likes to give," Dell jeers, picking up his dead cigarette and inspecting it in an almost hateful way, "Only for the sex. Lustful. Only wanting to find a pretty face in front of him. A nice, fine body. And just to fool around. That kind of person, is a disgrace. A disgusting, perverted idiot who thinks about no one but his own fucking self."

Dell nearly spits the last part out, a loathing look in his eyes, and he crushes the cigarette between his fingers, allowing the little bits to crumble to the table. Miku says nothing, but simply watches the remains fall lightly to the surface, like the snow falling gently outside.

"And with that being said, Miku, I want you to stay away from that Len brat. He'll do you no good. Well," He sneers, "He'll do you good, that's for sure. But not in the way you think."

Dell smirks at the confused look at Miku's face, and mentally pats himself on the back for his snide remark. But he knows that he's right. He knows how much Haku had mooned over Len last year, only resulting in her crying to Dell, crumbled to pieces after Len had moved on to some other girl to screw. And that was when his hatred of the brat had started. And as he looks at Miku, not listening to her little cute rant about him and his smoking while she cleans his cigarette remains, he knows that Len is hiding his sick little pervert side from her, wanting to show her his good side.

If it's even good at all.

"Dell kun, are you listening?" Miku's voice breaks through his deep thoughts, and he looks up without moving his head.

"What?"

Miku sighs, dumping the cigarette remains into his trash, "Dell kun, it's still very hard for me to believe that about Len kun. I just… What you say about him… It doesn't seem like Len kun."

"Well, that's exactly another one of my points." He sighs, shaking his head.

"Then, what about Rin chan?" Miku asks, sitting herself on the tabletop.

"What about her?" He asks.

"If you have such mean things to say about Len kun, then you probably have such things to say about Rin chan, right?"

"Oh… Right. The other Kagamine brat," He says, not really knowing what to tell her. He doesn't really mind the Len brat's sister, since she's usually as quiet, introverted one. They would occasionally say hi to each other, but that was about it. But all he knows is that one visit to his house with Miku, and all of his oranges are gone, which pisses him off.

"She… Has a weird orange obsession." Is all he says, shrugging his broad shoulders.

Miku laughs, her teal eyes twinkling with some amusement, causing Dell to smile the slightest bit, glad to know she's still able to laugh after her hurt over the Kagamine brat's fight over her.

She soon quiets down, and stares out the window, inspecting the falling snow, dropping gently and soundlessly onto the ground. He looks out the window with her, not saying anything.

"However," Miku breaks the silence, "I still refuse to believe your opinion on Len kun."

"It's not an opinion, it's a fact." he retorts.

Miku turns away from the window and says, "Maybe for you, Dell kun, but not to me, okay?"

Knowing that she won't change her mind, he sighs, "Alright, alright. Whatever."

They stay silent for a bit more, and then Dell says, "Hey, you know that Rin brat?"

"Hm?" Miku tilts her head, raising her eyebrows.

He walks to his fridge, takes out a bag of oranges, and hands them to Miku, "Give these to her. I'm not really an orange fan anyway."

"Ah, thank you! Rin chan will love these," Miku smiles, hugging the bag to her chest, "Dell kun can be so thoughtful sometimes."

"Hmph," He says, sticking his lower lip out, "I'm always thoughtful."

Miku giggles again, and with another small smile, Dell says, "She's a good kid, that Rin brat."

"Well… Then why do you call her 'Rin brat'?" Miku asks, nudging his arm playfully.

Nudging her gently back, he merely says, "Habit."

"Do you want to sleep over tonight? I don't think Haku's going to come back until next week though…" Dell says, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"If you'll let me, I will. It's been long, hasn't it?" Miku says cheerfully, smiling.

Dell just shrugs his shoulders and turns toward the fridge, "Alright then, go ahead and do your thing in the guest room. I'll make whatever I feel like and you better eat it no matter how shitty it tastes."

"Your cooking is always yummy, Dell kun!" Miku calls from the guest room, before closing the door.

After hearing the loud shut of the door, he starts taking various ingredients out of different cabinets, and mutters, "I didn't let Miku know too much, but hopefully Luka doesn't think the opposite."

He places a pan onto the stove and continues, "Hopefully, Miku will learn soon."

He heats up the stove and sighs, "Hopefully Miku won't have any eyes for that Len brat at all."


Rin stays in her room the whole day after Luka's talk, not having any energy to silently insult or curse Len. Instead, she spends the rest of her day making Miku and herself matching rings, thinking about how tough it must be for Miku to have to watch two of her closest friends shout and hate on each other violently.

She sighs, her blue eyes a bit dull. Her white bow wilts a bit as she places the two finished rings onto her nightstand, one teal colored, and the other orange colored. She smiles, satisfied with her make up gift for Miku, and she flops onto her bed, closing her eyes.

She knows she's sharp and quiet, but really, she wants to show Miku her affection. She doesn't want Miku to think she's a possessive, lesbian freak... Just for now, she wants Miku to see Rin as a caring, loving person, always open to Miku. Just as she truly is.

Rin sniffs. She turns over and messes with her alarm clock. But hopefully, just hopefully, she wants to show Miku what she truly feels for her, to show Miku how she does truly love her. To stroke Miku's long, teal hair even just once, and to give even the smallest and quickest of kisses onto those full, pink lips. Rin sighs, and taps the teal colored ring on her nightstand.

She turns back over and comes in face contact with an orange plushie Miku had given to Rin a year ago for her birthday, one of the many gifts she had given Rin. Rin chuckles at the memory, remembering how many gifts had overflown from Miku's closet when she had brought the two twins into her room to show them their gifts she had bought them.

"And they're all just for you!" Miku had said happily, pushing all the gifts out.

"All…" Len began.

"For us…? Rin finished, mimicking her brother's astonished look.

"Of course, did you two think I would buy you only a single present? Ten is not even enough!" Miku had said, pressing gifts into their chests and pulling them both into a hug, laughing.

Rin had loved all the gifts Miku had bought them, but her favorite one was and still is the orange plushie. Miku and Len had come over to her room that night, to play games just to pass time. Miku had instantly pushed the orange plushie into Rin's arms, surprising Rin a bit.

"What's this?" Rin had asked, "I thought you already gave me all my gifts! But now you give me more?" Rin laughed.

"Well…" Miku said, rocking back and forth on her feet, "This was meant to be with the other gifts, like Len kun's banana plushie, but…"

Miku gently turned around the orange plushie, just to reveal a stain on it.

"I was drinking juice and I spilled some onto it by accident," Miku had said, laughing a little, "And I wanted to explain what it was to you before you thought I was too messy…"

Rin had blinked a few times, and then burst out laughing. She hugged the orange plushie tightly, and then pulled Miku into a tight hug.

"Miku nee!" She said, giggling, "You would think something like a tiny juice stain would make me think that about you?"

Before Miku could say anything, Rin had pinched Miku's cheek gently, "Silly Miku nee.."

Rin laughs and squeezes the orange plushie, turning it over to see that the stain is still there. She laughs again when she sees it, and hugs it close to her chest. She begins to put her ring onto her finger, but then stops. She slips it off, places it back onto her nightstand, and decides against it.

Instead, she turns over, still hugging the plushie, and falls soundly asleep.


Len paces his room, worrying about Miku at Dell's house.

What if Dell had told Miku about his reputation?

What if Miku believes Dell?

After all… His reputation was in fact, painfully true…

He groans and sits himself on the edge of his bed, burying his face into his hands. He stays like that for moment, then looks over at his cell phone, sitting silently on his pillow.

What if…

No. No, he can't. He won't do it. No matter how bad is reputation is, no matter how sex deprived he is, he can't do it. Not after Miku. No. No. No.

But…

He looks over at his phone again, wondering…

He decides to distract himself by jamming his earphones into his ears and drowning himself in music, hopefully forcing him to fall asleep. He leans back against his bed sheets, and closes his eyes.

After about five minutes, he realizes it's not working, so he shuts of his music player and yanks his ear phones off, throwing both items across the room, frustrated.

He glances at this phone again…

No.

Len runs a hand through his blonde hair, and exhales, irritated. When did he ever feel so… Disgusting? He had never felt the need for sex this badly…

He decides to simply turn off his light and go to bed, thinking about nothing else better to do.

But instead, he automatically reaches for his phone, and dials a number.

When his call is answered, a female voice answers, "Len?"

"Hey there," He says quietly, yet seductively, "How about that date I promised you?"