Author's Note: Sorry I haven't been updating for a while… I was…well, I thought I'd abandon this fic for good, but then… I read it again from the very first chapter and realized that I had to finish this. I've got the whole plot set out and planned neatly, so I'll finish this :) Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid.
/EDIT/: I've edited this fic! This chapter has a lot of differences, but other than that, the editing won't have much effect on the story plot. Enjoy!
Chapter 7: The Letter
"Come on," Len said as he helped Rin get on her feet, "we've got to find Mikuo."
Rin stood up and dusted her skirt. "Yeah, we've got to finish th—"
Suddenly, Rin felt a stabbing pain in her heart. She clutched her chest tightly for dear life. It was as if a knife stabbed her in the heart and squeezed the air out of her lungs. No, no, no, no Rin thought. Not now…The blond felt her knees weaken and fell onto the ground, wheezing.
"Rin!" Len clutched both of Rin's shoulders and shook her gently. "Rin, what's wrong?"
Rin looked up to see Len's blue eyes tinted with worry.
It was the adrenaline. She couldn't be too excited, or too tired. If she got too tired or excited, her heart will be pumping way too fast. This is not good for a person with a heart cancer.
"Rin!"
Rin opened her mouth to say 'I'm okay' but nothing came out. She could only mouth those words.
Len shook his head. "What do you mean you're okay? You certainly don't look like it." To prove his point, Rin coughed out blood. This is it. Len has to do something, and fast; before she choked on her own blood.
The world started spinning under Rin's feet and she swayed to and fro gently, before she finally passed out in Len's arms.
"No, no, no…" Len started to lose his composure. He didn't have his first-aid kit, and the stuff he needed to take care of Rin.
He stood up, Rin in arms, and started to walk aimlessly, trying to find a clinic. When he found none, panic swelled up inside him. "Help! Somebody, help!" Len said loudly.
No one answered his pleas.
Don't get me wrong; there were a few people there. But, they just stared at Len and Rin and then walked away, pretending to have never heard Len's pleas.
Len winced a bit. His right ankle was sprained and his left knee was bruised badly. He can't keep this up. "Help us, please!"
"What's wrong?"
Len turned around quickly, putting some pressure on his right ankle. He grimaced in pain, but quickly shoved that feeling away. There was a more important matter in his hands. No pun intended.
The source of the voice was a handsome boy, as tall as Len. He had black hair and blue eyes. Wait, was it purple? No, now it's light purple. Well, whatever. He can't decide. It was as if the color keeps changing a bit, although it doesn't change as much and the change was barely noticeable. You'll see the color of those eyes swirl and change like a gem. It was hypnotic.
"Is your friend okay?" The boy pointed at Rin.
Len suddenly flashed with anger. "What? You didn't hear me calling for help? Does she look okay to you?"
The boy chuckled lightly, somehow finding this a bit funny.
"Len, there you are! I went to the spot where you were last time, but I couldn't find you," Mikuo said as he approached Len's side. He took notice of Rin in Len's arms. "What happened to Rin? Is she okay?"
Len groaned loudly. "Look. She won't be okay if we don't give her medical treatment."
"Well, the clinic is just about a 30 minute walk from here," the boy said.
"There won't be 30 minutes for her. We have to treat her right now," Len said sternly, holding back the pain in both of his legs.
"Then, come with me. My house is just right around the corner," the boy said with a smile.
"Where should we put her?" Mikuo asked the boy.
The black-haired boy pointed to the guest room. "Over there."
"Thanks," Len thanked. He opened the door and laid Rin onto the bed. Len made sure if Rin was breathing or not and found out that Rin was breathing. Barely.
As Len treated Rin, Mikuo tried to make a conversation with their savior.
"Thank you, for saving us," Mikuo said with a smile.
"No problem. Although, your friend there," he pointed to Len, "isn't such a nice person under pressure."
"So I've heard," Mikuo noted. "Ah! I haven't properly introduced myself." Mikuo extended out a hand. "My name is Mikuo. Hatsune Mikuo."
The boy shook Mikuo's extended hand. "Kei. Nishimura Kei."
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Kei."
"The pleasure's all mine." Kei looked at Rin through the door Len left open. "Believe me."
Mikuo thought that this scene was a bit…peculiar.
"Are you new in town?" Kei asked, meeting Mikuo's eyes.
"Oh, no, we're just trying to find a missing person."
"Really?" Kei asked, intrigued. "Who?"
"Mrs. Kagamine Natsumi." Apparently, Mikuo didn't keep his mouth shut. Didn't he know that this was classified information? Classified as in, you can't tell anyone?
"Was she kidnapped? Or did she just run away by herself?" Mikuo asked as he went into the kitchen.
"Kidnapped." Mikuo followed Kei into the kitchen. "Have you seen her?"
Kei waved a cup in front of Mikuo. "Tea?"
Mikuo was a bit startled by the fact that Kei just ignored his question. But, he answered Kei's question anyway. "Sure, thanks."
Kei turned his back to Mikuo. "No."
Mikuo raised his eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
The black-haired boy chuckled softly. "What I meant to say was, no, I haven't seen Mrs. Kagamine around."
"Ah," Mikuo said, nodding. Kei's way of answering questions is a bit weird.
Then, Len's voice came from the kitchen door. "Excuse me; do you have any bandages I could use?"
Kei turned to look at Len. "Ah, the grumpy one. The bandages are in the cupboard inside the guest room."
Len shot Kei a look. "Thanks," he said, and went away.
I woke up, dazed and confused. I tried to sit up, but a hand touched my shoulder and pushed me back down.
"Don't sit up yet, Rin," Len said.
I touched my forehead with my palm. "Where am I, Len?"
"You're in Kei's house. You passed out and he was kind enough to take us to his home," Len said with a smile.
Rin suddenly panicked. "What time is it? How long was I out?"
"Relax, Rin," Len said, grabbing a cup of water. "Here, drink this."
Rin took the glass and sipped a bit.
"You were out for about 2 hours," Len said. "And it's about 2:30 now."
Rin nodded. She flinched, as if suddenly remembering something, and reached into her pocket. "I found something at the abandoned house." The blond pulled out a worn out paper.
"Ah!" Len reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper. "So did I."
"Let's open it." They both opened their papers and after a few moments, they both said, "What?" in perfect unison.
"Len, it's a letter," Rin said, her blue eyes filled with excitement. "And it's addressed to me."
"A letter?" I said, sitting on the bed and peering over Rin's shoulder. "What does it say?"
Rin opened her mouth.
"Dear Rin,
I'm glad you've come this far. Really, I am. I havePrayEd forThis day. This is whERe we'll witness it together. We'll finally receive justice.
Judgment. Justice. Light."
"Why are those letters in bold?" I asked while pointing to one of the bold letters.
"You're right. P, E, T, E, R. Peter. What does that mean?" Rin asked to mostly herself.
I showed the piece of paper I got to Rin. "At least it makes more sense than this."
Rin looked at the piece of paper and saw the drawing of an angel. "An angel…"
"An angel and Peter. We've—"
The door opened and Kei and Mikuo came in.
"How are you feeling, Rin?" Mikuo asked as he walked to the edge of the bed.
"Fine, thank you." Rin smiled. She turned her gaze to the black-haired boy next to Mikuo. "You must be Kei."
"Nishimura Kei. And you must be Rin," Kei said as he extended a hand.
Rin happily shook it. "It's nice to—"
Rin suddenly stopped talking. She looked deep into Kei's eyes and I thought she was hypnotized by it for a second there. "You… Where have I heard about those eyes before?"
Kei looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Your eyes… They remind me of something someone told me," Rin said. The blond was deep in thought for a moment, until she buried those thoughts deep in her mind and put on her usual smiling face. "Never mind that. Anyway, thank you for saving us."
"My pleasure." Kei smiled. "I heard that all of you are searching for Mrs. Kagamine Natsumi. I'd be happy to help."
"You would?" Rin asked.
I could read Rin's expression well. I'm guessing that she was thinking something like,
Wasn't the disappearance of my former mom supposed to be classified information? Well, maybe he knew from either Len or Mikuo. I'm guessing Mikuo, since Len knows when he's supposed to shut up, Rin thought.
"Sure, of course," Kei said.
"Well, okay. Here," Rin said, as she extended her hand, holding the 2 pieces of paper. "We found these and we think it's a clue to where Mrs. Kagamine might be."
The tall, black-haired boy read the letter thoroughly and glanced at the drawing of an angel. "The kidnapper-slash-murderer knows you, Rin?"
"I think so," Rin answered, although she was quite sure of the answer herself.
"I don't understand what this means," Kei said honestly.
"Let me have a look at it for a moment," I said. Kei gave me the two pieces of paper and I analyzed it.
In Rin's paper, the clue was 'Peter'. But, I have a suspicion that 'Peter' wasn't the only clue. I searched the paper, until my eyes locked on the 3 words at the bottom of the paper. Judgment, Justice, Light. What does that mean? I scanned the paper once more and my gaze fell onto one specific sentence. 'We'll finally receive justice'. Receive justice? Does that mean, like a court or some kind?
But then, I thought about the third word at the bottom of the paper. Light. Light can mean two things here: either kindness and forgiveness, or just regular light. Which one is the right one?
"Len?" Rin said worriedly. "What's wrong?" I didn't notice that I was deep in thought until now.
"Nothing's wrong, Rin. I was just thinking," I said.
"I'd like to see please," Mikuo said. He walked to me, but he accidentally kicked my sprained ankle. I yelped in pain. "Sorry! I didn't mean to kick your sprained ankle, Len!"
"Len, you sprained your ankle?" Rin said. My pants covered the bandage around my knee and ankle, so Rin hadn't seen my injuries. "It's because of me, isn't it? You sprained your ankle when you saved me from the explosion. Am I right?"
"So you're telling me that you were in that exploding house? I'm surprised no officer is there to check it out yet," Kei said, interrupting Rin.
Rin ignored Kei's comment.
I didn't want Rin to blame herself for my injuries, but I couldn't lie to her either. So, all I did was look away.
"I thought so," Rin said. "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble, Len."
I smiled and looked up to meet Rin's blue eyes. "It's okay."
"I'll repay you back," Rin said, smiling her usual heartwarming smile. "And thank you."
"My, you're such a sweet and kind little angel, aren't you?" Kei said, with no trace of sarcasm in his voice.
Rin blushed from embarrassment.
Angel. Angel, that's it! Angels are sweet and kind. Since my piece of paper showed a drawing of an angel, this must mean the 'Light' from the letter means kindness.
So, kindness, justice, judgment, and Peter.
A place where 'We'll finally receive justice'.
A place where there is judgment, justice, and kindness.
According to the angel, I know where the place is. And I voiced my thoughts out.
"I know where the place is," I announced loudly.
"Tell me," Mikuo said. "With those conditions, both of you won't be able to find Mrs. Kagamine. Let me and Kei do it."
I thought I saw a smirk on Kei's face; a flicker of a grin. But, I must be hallucinating, since Kei smiled his big smile.
"Yeah, let us do it," Kei said.
"But, I…I have to go with you," Rin stammered.
"And so do I," I said.
Mikuo sighed. He checked the clock in the guest room. "Alright. It's 2:57. If we're not back by 4, you can come and look for us. How about it?"
"I'm completely fine with it," Kei said.
"Fine with me," I said.
"Oh, alright," Rin said, finally giving up.
"Mind telling us where the place is, Len?" Mikuo asked.
"Well, in the letter, there were bold letters that read 'Peter'. There were also 3 other words: Judgment, Justice, and Light. My piece of paper showed a drawing of an angel. Where do you think you'll receive light, judgment, and justice?"
"Church," Rin whispered, barely audible. But I heard it anyway.
"That's right, Rin. The church," I said proudly.
"There are a lot of churches here in Birmingham. Mind telling us which?" Kei asked.
"St. Peter's Church. Do you know where it is?" I asked Kei.
Kei smiled broadly. "Of course I do. I'll draw a map for you, so that if you do search for us, you'll know where the church is."
While Kei drew a map, Rin nudged my arm and said, "Great logic there, detective."
"This is the place, Kei?" Mikuo asked. The church they were facing was old and ruined. Looks abandoned, too.
"Yeah, Len did say St. Peter's, right? I used to come and play here when I was little. I know this place like the back of my hand." Kei went into the church, the door creaking loudly behind him. St. Peter's is right at the end of this road, just like the abandoned house.
Mikuo came in into the church doubtfully. "You sure the floor's safe? It creaks every time I—"
"Yeah, it's fine," Kei said, before stopping abruptly.
"Kei? Are you okay?" Mikuo walked closer to Kei and placed his hand on Kei's shoulder. "Is something wr—"
The last thing Mikuo saw was a sinister smile, before a knife pierced through his heart.
I checked the clock. 4:15. I looked at Len worriedly. He knew why I was so worried, and he knew what we must do. I sat up carefully, steadily and slowly placed both of my legs to the floor. As soon as I stood up, I lost my balance for a moment, and then Len held my left arm.
"Thanks," I said. "You've got the map, right?"
"You sure this is the place, Len?" I asked. The church was old, and it looked very vulnerable to strong winds.
"Positive," Len said as he shoved the map into his pocket. He extended his right hand. "Let's go."
I grabbed hold of his hand and went into the church. It creaks every time my foot stepped onto the old wooden floor.
"It's…dark in here," I said, stating the obvious.
"What do you expect from an abandoned church anyway, Rin?" Len said.
"I was thi—"
Then, I saw a dark figure right behind Len, holding some kind of huge rock. It held the rock up high, and charged directly for Len at full speed. "Len, watch out!" I shouted and jumped into Len's arms, making us crash onto the old chairs. Because of its old age, the chair broke when the pressure of me and Len together hit it.
Splinters scraped my cheeks and Len's, but we hardly felt a thing.
All of a sudden, Len's eyes widened as if he saw something. He grabbed me tightly and jumped to the right, avoiding the flying rock that was hurtling towards us. The blond boy shoved me to the left and punched the figure hard in the face. The figure swayed, lost its balance and fell down. Len jumped on top of the figure and held his fist up high.
"Len, it's me!" the figure shouted just before Len could throw another punch at him. "Kei."
"Kei," Len said, still on top of him. "Why did you attack us?"
"I couldn't see a thing in this place; I thought you were the kidnapper, and I thought Rin was a girl you kidnapped. It's quite hard to see in the dark."
"You mean the kidnapper isn't here?" Rin said from behind Len. She was dusting off her skirt and arms from splinters.
"No, and I can't find Mrs. Kagamine," Kei said. Len got off of Kei and then helped him up. "Thanks, Len."
"Yeah. Where's Mikuo?"
Kei didn't say anything.
Instead, he stabbed Len in the stomach.
Len gasped, clutched his stomach and fell down.
"Len!" I shouted. I wanted to run to Len's side, but Kei was faster and he pinned me down. "Let me go, Kei!"
"Don't think so." Kei locked both of my arms on the top of my head and tied it with a rope he has on his belt. I didn't notice that before.
He stood up, and I did too. My hands were tied together, though. Kei went to Len and pulled him up by his ponytail. Len winced in pain from both his hair and his stomach.
The black-haired boy took the knife out of Len's stomach and put it in his pocket. Wiping his bloody hands on his pants, he then guided both me and Len forward, and then shoved both of us onto the floor.
"So, you're the culprit," I said ruefully.
Kei gave me a simple head nod and kneeled in front of me, his face inches away from mine. "Don't you recognize me? I know you've never seen me before, but at least you should have some sisterly instinct to know who I am."
"Sisterly instinct?" I said. Sisterly instinct… No, don't tell me…
I looked into those eyes and fell deep. It was as if I was being sucked into them. That's why they were so familiar. My dad—I mean, Mr. Kagamine told me that my brother's eyes were just like these… Kei… Kei is my…
"Little brother?" I said aloud.
Kei clapped his hands together. "Finally! I was wondering when you'll notice."
"But your family name…"
"Isn't Nishimura," Kei interrupted. "I lied. It's actually Kagamine. Well, it was Kagamine."
"But I thought you were…"
"Dead? No, sister dear. I escaped. Killed those people who took me, too. So, no one is coming after me," Kei finished smugly.
"Why are you trying to kill me?" I asked. I was thankful that the fear I felt didn't show in my voice.
Kei laughed. It reminded me of Dad's laugh whenever he was stressed. "Kill you? No, Rin. I'm going to showyou something."
Kei turned his back to us and went to the chair in the corner of the room. I used this opportunity to scoot closer to Len, who was trying to stop his stomach from bleeding.
"Len," I whispered.
Len turned his face towards me. "We need to get out of here, R-Rin. Have you seen Mikuo?" he stammered in a low voice.
I shook my head.
Len grimaced. "I've g-got to stop the bleeding."
He took off his shirt and I can see the wound in his stomach. "From the amount of the blood, I think the wound isn't too deep." The bare-chested blond ripped his long sleeves off.
Len wrapped the sleeves around his stomach. When he was done bandaging it, the blood had lessened a bit. While Len was wearing the shirt, I tried to wiggle my hands a bit.
"Let me help you," Len whispered. It was stupid of Kei to not tie Len up.
"Later," I whispered. "Kei is…" I looked at Kei. Some of the chairs at the back hid Kei's lower body. "…strutting his way here." Well, Kei was strutting with both of his hands at his side.
"The pocket knife," Len whispered. He reached into his pocket and his fingers touched cold metal. "Do you still have it?"
I nodded. This will be essential for later.
Len nodded and looked around. Then, something caught his attention. He nudged my arm and pointed to a chair at his right. "It's…"
My gaze followed Len's finger and I saw a boy with his hands intertwined over his stomach. The teal hair looked familiar. "…Mikuo."
Len crawled his way carefully to Mikuo. He checked his breathing, and I saw Len clutch Mikuo's hands. I looked to find Kei. He was almost here. "Len," I whispered urgently. "Kei's coming."
The boy crawled back to my side. "Gone."
"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mikuo," Len looked at me with regret and sadness in his eyes."He's dead."
My eyes widened, startled. "He's…dead?"
Len nodded reluctantly.
"Well," Kei said aloud, "I see that our little blond friend over there had treated his wound."
Len and I both looked up, to see Kei pulling a woman behind him by her long, curly blond hair. I know that hair and figure anywhere.
Kei laid the blond woman onto the floor behind us. He adjusted the woman's position so that she looked just like the position Mikuo was in.
"Mom…" I whispered.
Kei smiled and Len looked as angry as I felt. "Correct," Kei said.
"Why would you do this?" Len's eyes were filled with fury, although from his hands that were forming into fists, I know he's trying to suppress that emotion.
"Why? Didn't I say 'We'll finally receive justice'in the letter?" Kei asked as he clutched his knife.
I looked at him ruefully and that gave away my answer.
"I grew up with stories about how my parents disowned and threw my big sister, Rin, onto the streets. I hated my parents.
They were greedy, cunning and they were driven mad by the amount of money they had. To prove how greedy and mad they are, they gambled me for a few thousand pounds. All I had to thank them for was the martial arts lessons they had paid to give me. I guess they needed a strong son to, oh I don't know…defend them from the people they feared."
While Kei's back faced us, I nudged Len gently, hoping he'll get the message. He did, and he gave me his pocket knife. I slipped the knife into the space between my wrists and turned the pocket knife around so that the blade was in contact with the rope. Slipping my wrists between my thighs, I locked my thighs together so that my skirt and legs will hide my wrists. I pressed the blade to the rope, hard, and began moving the handle of the knife up and down without any noise.
"Brother and sister," Kei continued, "both in pain; both homeless. They need to pay for the crimes they had done, sister dear. It is time where we'll finally receive justice. This is where we'll witness it together." He looked at me and Len with a grin. "In a church, to top it all off. Fitting."
"I know they were ruthless to us, Kei," I said sincerely, "and I will never forgive Mom and Dad because they gambled you and disowned me."
Kei smiled at this.
"But we've just got to move on. Forget about this. If you don't want to forgive them, fine with me, because I'll never forgive them too," I said with the most serious face I could muster in all this pain.
The black-haired boy faltered for a little until he composed himself, and was back to the revenge-seeking boy I saw earlier. "They don't care for us, Rin. They treated us ruthlessly, they deserved this."
I suddenly remember how Dad looked like. Shattered and regretful. "You don't know what you're saying, Kei. Before all of this, I went to saw Dad to talk about the disappearance of Mom." I could feel the rope loosen from my wrists. "He really regretted this, Kei. When you were gone, they got fired because there were just so many bad stories about them. They got broke. They lived in regret. And…"
Kei faltered and I smiled. "…He said he wanted me back," I finished.
"Yes, but if you look at the facts, Mom and Dad realized this a bit too late. They regretted their mistakes when they had no money left," Kei said with cold eyes.
I mustered my best sincere smile. "Give them a second chance. Both you and I were given a second chance to live. I lived my second life happily, and you have to, too."
Kei kept a straight face, although he couldn't hide the sadness in his eyes from me. He also seemed like he was deep in thought. I continued my little speech.
"Don't live your second life in vengeance and sorrow. Please, I beg you as a sister, Kei," I said. The rope was off of my wrists now.
My little brother smiled.
He's giving into it. He's going to say yes and…
"No."
He lunged towards me. I was supposed to fight or jump out of the way, but he caught me off guard and I did not see that coming.
Len jumped and fell on top of Kei. Kei stabbed Len in the shoulder and Len winced in pain. The tall, black-haired boy pushed Len out of the way, took the knife out of the Len's shoulder, and dusted his clothes.
I stayed where I was, my now free wrists—that was holding a pocket knife—still hidden in my thighs and skirt. I didn't need to move. I know what I'm going to do.
Kei kneeled in front of me and pushed the knife's blade hard against my neck. "Fine. If you don't want revenge, I'll do it for you. But… Now that you and Len know who the culprit is, I'll have to kill you both. Starting with you."
I put on my best I'm-going-to-die-but-I'm-not-scared face. "Fine. But, can I ask something first? Count it as a…last request."
"Sure," Kei said.
"Are you really going to kill Mom, Dad, me and Len?"
Kei nodded. It was all the answer I needed.
"Then… I'm sorry." I quickly stabbed Kei in the stomach, pulled out, and pushed him backwards, the friction causing Kei's blade to graze my neck. I pinned Kei down, although Kei was stronger than me and he started wriggling his body. Len stood up and freed Mrs. Kagamine and took the rope from her feet.
"Let me," Len said as he lifted me off of Kei and pulled him into a sitting position. Once seated, Len pushed Kei's feet upwards so that his knee was touching his chest. Then, Len tied Kei's wrists and feet together tightly.
We turned Kei in. Fortunately, there were lots of police officers around the place now, out to check the abandoned house that exploded. Len and I turned Mikuo in too, so that he'd have his own proper burial. All's that left is taking the unconscious Mrs. Kagamine Natsumi back to Mr. Kagamine. Len carried her on his back.
"Len," I said, voice hoarse, "how's your wound?"
Len smiled. "Still hurts."
I looked at him, eyes filled joy mixed with concern. "Thank you, for coming with me. And I'm sorry…If you hadn't come with me…you wouldn't get hurt so badly."
It was true. Len got a sprained ankle, a badly bruised knee, scratched cheeks, a wound on the shoulder, and a stomach wound. All I got was a cut on my neck, bruised ankle, scratched cheeks, and a bloody knee. His injuries were far more dangerous than mine.
"Nonsense," Len said. "I wanted to go with you, so it's not entirely your fault. And stop saying sorry."
I gave him an enthusiastic nod. I remembered something and my expression changes. "How do we explain all of our injuries to your mom and dad?"
Len's grin faded into a frown.
Author's Note: That's all for now :)