Woah, that was so fast. I literally typed this all in about four hours total. I really wanted it to be up on Miku's birthday xD Happy Birthday Miku, may you ever live happily with Len in this story's universe :) Enjoy the next chapter!


Part 2, Scene 3

~The Day We Could Never Forget~

I was beginning to be concerned about Miku. She had been sick lately, and she wasn't as energetic as I was used to seeing her.

Of course she waved it off on most days when I expressed that concern, but today during breakfast, she addressed me with a look of determination in her eyes. Before I could ask why she looked so serious, she told me.

"Len, I'm pregnant."

I almost choked on the milk that I had been drinking. So, she was...we were...going to have a son or daughter?

"Ah..." was all I could say.

It was then that I realized how much she had been holding back in order to look calm. Her resolution broke down and I could see dozens of emotions in her face before she spoke again.

"Are you okay with that?" she almost cried.

My eyes widened. "Of course!" I said, reaching across the table to touch Miku's arm in reassurance. "It's what you wanted very much, isn't it?" I asked, trying to keep my own composure for Miku's sake.

Miku seemed to calm down slightly at that. "Yes, but...how did you know? I never even said it."

I smiled to comfort Miku further. "The way I've seen you look at the moms when they come to pick up the kindergarteners is so full of desire, I'm not sure anyone could miss it."

It was true. Since we only had one car at the moment, I dropped Miku off and picked her up from her job. I had seen her multiple times, watching the kindergarteners run to their mothers, since music was the last class. She would be standing in the doorway, smiling as they ran past, and when they were gone, her eyes would reflect some of the sadness she felt, but it would be gone by the time she turned to me.

Miku smiled, but tears came to her eyes. I was puzzled, and my smile faded. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She let out a shaky laugh. "Nothing, I'm just really happy," she said, before breaking down completely and beginning to sob into her hands.

Unsure of what to say, I rose from my seat and went over to wrap my arms around Miku, deciding I could wait to speak until she decided to say something else.

Ten minutes later, when she had calmed down again, she looked over at me with her tearstained face and smiled weakly. "I don't know if I can do this," she said.

"I'm sure you can. You're one of the strongest people I know," I said, meaning every word. "But...do you still want to go to work today?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm not incapable, so I should go to work for as long as it's safe for me. I won't skip to be lazy," she said, sniffing.

So the morning went on as normal, and I drove Miku to work, returning back to the house by myself.

We had been living in Miku's house, due to the fact that it was closer to the school than mine was. It turns out she was only living about an hour away from me the whole time we were apart. We still hadn't decided where we would live permanently, so Rin was regularly checking up on my house, since she was closer than we were. With Miku being pregnant, though, I wondered if she would quit her job, and I wondered if I to get a job quickly.

I had been looking for one, since I knew I couldn't be jobless forever, but nothing really appealed to me. I knew I didn't necessarily need to love my job, but part of me had decided that if Miku had found a job that she loved, I could too. Yet, now that Miku was going to have a baby, she would need time off her job, but we would still need money. I wouldn't be able to afford being jobless and depending on Miku to provide for us.

Not knowing where else to turn, I called Rin.

"Helloooo?"

The sound of her voice alone made me smile. So childish.

"Hey, Rin, do you have a few minutes to talk?"

"Of course," she replied, her curiosity obvious in those two words alone. She knew very well that I wasn't usually the one to initiate a conversation.

I didn't say anything for a moment, trying to figure out how to arrange my thoughts. I decided to start at the same place Miku had.

"Well, see, Miku is pregnant."

There was silence on the other end, and I wondered if I sounded insensitive or something.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

I had to hold the phone away from my ear; Rin exclaimed the words so loudly. Yet I wasn't thrown off guard by her enthusiasm, so I continued my thought.

"I'm not sure what I should do," I said. "Do you think she should quit her job? Should I get a job?"

"First of all, I have no clue why you're asking me. But second of all, I have an answer of course."

I rolled my eyes. I was asking her for that very reason. No matter how much knowledge she had on the matter, she would always come up with some sort of answer, so as never to be outdone.

"Here's what you guys should do. Let Miku keep her job, whatever that is. I bet I know her almost or maybe just as well as you do, and I know that she's very stubborn, in a good way. She's not going to let you make her quit her job if even she's only capable of so much as just talking. As for you, find a job. Maybe just a part-time job, but find one. When Miku becomes more high maintenance, I'll be around to help you, you know?"

"You'd do that?" I asked, not expecting such a huge favor from Rin.

"My only condition is that you follow my advice."

"So then, I guess, since you're a girl, could you also please enlighten me on how to avoid getting on Miku's bad side while she's kind of...ah...having mood swings?"

"You can't."

Geez, that's optimistic.

"Trust me, if Miku is going to be in a bad mood, she's going to be in a bad mood. And there's nothing you can do about it. Though I've never actually seen Miku mad...anyways, if that occasion arrives, let her rant or whatever Mikus do when they're mad, and then she might cry, so let her do that too, and then she'll be fine again, and that's your window to say whatever you want to say."

"I didn't see you cry that often, but I know for sure you had mad outbursts all the time," I said, frowning.

"Eh, it changes from girl to girl. But Miku seems more delicate now, hm? She doesn't seem like she gets mad, but I suppose while she feels emotional she's more prone to sadness."

"Yeah..." I said, recalling this morning's events. "Well, thank you for preparing me for the inevitable, I guess."

"You should be really thankful I'm not pregnant. I'd probably be a lot worse than Miku, just saying."

I could honestly say that the thought of Rin being pregnant had never crossed my mind, and I really hoped it never would again. I don't think she could be trusted with kids.

"Thanks for the encouragement..." I said sarcastically. "I'm just going to hang up now."

"Ooh, it was such a short talk." I could almost hear Rin pouting. "But fine. Byebye, I will be waiting for updates~!" She sang the last few words cheerfully, though I wondered if by 'waiting' she really meant 'pestering you constantly.'

"Bye," I replied, and hung up. I knew I should be following Rin's advice, and thinking about and searching for a job, but right now, all I wanted to do was sleep. I knew that if I could clear my mind, it would be much easier to make decisions.

Pushing the guilt of being lazy aside, I set my alarm so I wouldn't neglect Miku, and I slept.

I woke up feeling very refreshed, and I was actually surprised I had slept all the way up to my alarm. I guess my body was more tired than I had thought, but nonetheless I got in the car and drove to the little school to pick up Miku.

She greeted me with a grin when I approached the doorway, but I was early as usual, so she continued to teach her eager students for the last few minutse.

When the class ended and everyone had cleared out, Miku walked to me and held my hand as we walked out of the building. Apparently the kids had put her in a good mood, but I was still wary of Rin's words.

"How do you feel?" I asked, as I had gotten into the habit of doing since her sickness started.

"I'm fine," she replied nonchalantly, but I caught a weird edge to her voice.

"Are you sure?" I asked, feeling uneasy.

"Yes!" she said sharply, and I took that as my cue to back off.

"Any ideas about dinner?" I asked, even though there was still quite a bit of time until we normally ate. I didn't want there to be a silence, but I had to change the topic to something neutral.

Miku sighed. "Not really. I just feel sick to my stomach all the time."

I tried to stay calm, but hadn't I just asked her how she felt? A part of me got annoyed, but I pushed it away best I could, knowing now was not the time to start an argument.

"Okay, well don't feel like you need to cook tonight, or any night that you don't feel like it while you're pregnant. I'll cook enough for two tonight, but if you don't want any that's fine," I said, hoping that settled any problems Miku might not be telling me.

Miku didn't respond, lapsing into the same silence I was trying to avoid. Part of me felt like maybe she wanted to talk about the baby, but the other part of me argued that she might not want to make a big deal out of it right now. So, against better judgment, I brought it up.

"Hey, Miku, how important is having the baby to you?"

Miku instantly gave me a dangerous look. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Oops. That question didn't sound right. I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to figure out how much I should care based on how much she cared.

"I mean, are you worried about it? Are you excited? Is it stressful? Do you think about it a lot, or does it just sit at the back of your mind?" I decided that asking smaller questions would probably be safer.

Miku sighed again, maybe in relief; I'm not sure.

"I guess I'm just really nervous. Nearly everything I see reminds me of it. Kids, couples, toys, even the back seats in cars. I'm really really happy to know I'll be a mother, but I don't know if I'll do everything right. I don't know whether I want to talk about it or not; what if talking about it just raises another worry? I try to push it to the back of my mind so I can focus, but I feel guilty, as if I'm neglecting my child already."

I nodded, understanding how Miku must feel, being the one who was actually carrying the child. She probably felt as protective as the child as I felt protective of her.

"But I think..." she continued. "Even if...it didn't...work out..." her words sounded hurt, and I hoped she wasn't about to make herself cry. "I think I could get over it. I think we could get over it," she corrected herself, looking at me.

We had arrived at home, and we walked in together in silence. If this was how the next nine months was going to feel, I was tired already.

Miku lay down on the couch, probably just realizing how tired she was, and proceeded to fall asleep almost immediately. I watched her for a little bit, to make sure she was okay, and then got on my laptop to resume the ongoing search I had been doing for jobs, as well as searching for a little bit of information on pregnancies. I knew I wouldn't be able to go on without knowing some facts to reassure myself and be prepared.

An hour or so later, I began to make dinner, and busied myself in the kitchen as much as I could to occupy my thoughts.

Miku began to stir, but I didn't say anything to her, as I had learned to let her speak first after she just woke up. She didn't say anything though, and I realized when I glanced at her that she was texting, probably her own way of taking her mind off things.

My thoughts drifted off to wondering if she was worried about her figure. I didn't think that Miku being pregnant could ever affect how beautiful she was, but how she saw herself, I really didn't know.

My thoughts went back and forth like that, trying to put myself in Miku's shoes, but having no idea what she was really feeling, or if I was the only one worked up about all this. For all I knew, we were both hiding how much we were really thinking about it.

I comforted myself with a thought that perhaps the stress would go away after we had gotten used to the idea, but I knew deep down that it would only get more complicated after we had to start planning a future and making arrangements.

"Len. Your food is burning."

I heard Miku's voice and realized that it was in fact burning, and Miku was looking up from her phone with an amused smile on her face.

"I-I'm sorry...you're hungry, now that I burned it, aren't you?" I mentally scolded myself for messing up.

Miku laughed lightly. "No, I'll be fine. But Len, I was thinking..."

I gave Miku all my attention, forgetting about the food. When Miku thought about something, she usually wanted a good response.

"Do you still love me?"

"Of course," I said. Nothing that changed in our future could change how I viewed Miku.

Whether it's the past, present, or future...

That's the way it always is.


There you have it! The end of Part 2.

Up next (don't expect such a fast update next time)~ :

The Day She First Saw Us