Hey guys, I'm actually back with another chapter! (What a miracle.) See I basically rewrote this chapter over and over because I knew where I wanted to go with it, it just never turned out right. But now I'm pretty happy with the result, so I hope you enjoy it!
Part 3, Scene 2
~The Day She Was Taken From Us~
"Hey, Miku, have you seen my hair-tie?" I asked my wife, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I glanced over to her just as she stopped brushing her hair to look around on the bathroom counter for a moment.
"Mm...no, don't you have more than one?"
I frowned in disgust. "It's not like I break them all the time like some people," I said, looking into the mirror and giving Miku's reflection a pointed look. After she gave a sheepish smile I looked back at my own reflection and sighed. "Can you just give me one of yours, then?"
Miku put down her hairbrush while nodding, and looked into a drawer for a moment before selecting a brown hair-tie. I reluctantly put my hair up just as I had done nearly every day of my life. I'm not the type to lose such items that I use everyday, so it irked me that I could manage to misplace a hair-tie.
I stood still for a moment, absentmindedly watching Miku start to put on touches of makeup. "Do you think Hana is up yet?" I finally asked her.
"Perhaps, but if she isn't, you wouldn't want to wake her. Let the child sleep in on her birthday," she replied.
"Do you remember being six? I couldn't ever sleep past seven in the morning," I said, turning to Miku.
"Well, you were lucky then, because I've been craving sleep since I was born," she said, emphasizing the tired edge to her voice.
"I guess Hana's taken after you then," I said, and left the room to check if she was indeed still sleeping.
I wandered down towards her room, only to see the door still shut and darkness still spilling from under the door.
I headed back to the master bedroom and pulled on a shirt before sitting down at my laptop. This was a fairly normal day, though it was my daughter's sixth birthday, which made me feel horribly old. Much to my annoyance, Miku still looked young, though I can't say that's the worst problem I can think of.
"She wanted to go to the park today, right?" Miku asked, and I felt her hand touch my shoulder. I looked up at her.
"Yeah, and since it's eight 'o clock and she still isn't awake, it'll probably be best to make it a picnic.
Miku's face lit up and she clapped her hands. "Ah, this is one of the tiny reasons I love being a parent. I never had time to go on picnics when I was young."
I gave her a skeptical look. "That's because you didn't go easy enough on yourself. If you had made time, you could have gone. The only reason you have time now is because you make time, because it's for your daughter. I think you care more about Hana than you do about yourself."
"Well of course I do!" Miku insisted, her face darkening into a childish frown of indignance. "You should too."
"Care about her more than you or myself?" I asked, smiling in spite of myself.
"Eh? Well of course you should care about your wife a lot, but I don't mind if you care about Hana more..." Miku said, looking down.
I shook my head and stood, pulling Miku into a quick hug. "The type of love I have for both of you is different, but I still care about you both very much."
I knew Miku was probably smiling as she returned the hug; after all, I didn't tend to say things like that very often, but today I was in an especially good mood.
After another hour and still no signs of Hana, Miku began to look anxious, and I couldn't say I blamed her. The last time Hana slept in this late, she was extremely sick.
"Should I go wake her and see if she's okay?" Miku asked me worriedly.
I inwardly cringed. I really hated to wake my daughter, especially on her birthday, but I knew that if she was sick, she would need to be attended to. "I guess so."
I sighed as Miku left. Not even thirty seconds later, Miku ran back to me, looking very distressed.
"Is she sick?" I asked, feeling bad already.
Speechless, Miku just shook her head. "She's...gone..." She said blankly, as if she was trying to figure out if she was dreaming.
"Gone?" I asked skeptically. I wasn't sure what Miku meant by this, so I walked down to the room myself.
She meant gone.
"Who could have taken Hana without us noticing?" I asked as I came out of the room. The reality of the situation wasn't registering with me quite yet, but I could see that wasn't a problem with Miku, who had sunk to the ground and begun to sob.
As much as my brain kept trying to assume the worst, I knew I had to think logically, and the best way to hinder that is to get emotional, so I had to stay calm.
"Okay, Miku, I know you feel scared, but you have to help me think. Did you hear anything last night?" Miku looked at me and weakly shook her head.
"Is there any visible damage done around the house?"
Miku looked around, and I as well. From where we were, we could see the front entry way, and there didn't seem to be amiss. I walked over to the front door and tried to turn the knob. It was still locked.
"Okay," I said, turning back to Miku. "If they didn't break in..." I trailed off, realizing something. I shook my head and walked back past Miku, and went straight to Hana's room.
Of course. In our panic, we had only noticed that Hana was gone. The bed was straightened, and nothing was out of place. Obviously she hadn't been forcefully taken. I stared harder at the bed, and finally noticed a little slip of paper resting on the sheets.
"What is it?" Miku asked quietly, and I turned to see her behind me.
I held up the paper, annoyed. "Let's read and find out, shall we?"
With Miku next to me, I read the message fairly quickly. It wasn't very complicated.
I'm taking Hana. We're gonna go shopping :D So don't call the cops or anything, kay? -The Great Rin Kagamine
"I really should call the cops," I mumbled. Miku looked up at me in horror.
"Don't do that! She's your sister. But maybe you should revoke her key to our house..." Miku said.
"Well, we can do that after we find her. She no doubt took Hana to the mall. I'm just wondering how early she came here in order to take Hana without us noticing," I said.
Technically, the mall was about halfway between our house and Rin's, so it was an easier drive than if Rin had taken Hana to her house, so I was a bit glad for that. Still, Rin had no right to take Hana with no warning like that.
"Should we go now, then?" Miku asked. "If there's one thing we both know about Hana, it's that she wouldn't choose to go shopping on her birthday."
It was true. Whether it was because of my influence or because she was similar to me, Hana had aquired a certain trait of not desiring many things, which was nice in one respect: we could be sure she would make responsible decision with her money in the future. On the other hand, though, she almost never asked for anything, which made it hard to buy presents. Rin interpreted this as me being 'too strict,' which is probably why she felt like she had to steal Hana to take her shopping.
After Miku fixed up her makeup, we were on our way, and my annoyance gradually subsided over the drive, which was probably a good thing for Rin.
Eventually reaching the mall, I figured it was safe to call Rin to ask her where she was. Since we were already in the mall, she would probably give up instead of trying to run away to her house or something. After calling her three times, she finally picked up.
"Hello?" came her voice, and I could almost picture her sheepish smile in being found out.
"Where are you, Rin?" I asked, trying to convey how serious I was. "Miku and I already in the mall, by the entrance, so don't try to make any escape dashes or something silly."
"Hmph, you're no fun. Well, fine, I'm in the video game store, and you'll be happy to know I found something that Hana finally likes. She takes after me in her passion for video games," Rin said proudly.
"I don't think it's possible for her to 'take after you,'" I said, already walking quickly towards the store Rin had mentioned. "If anything, she's just 'interested in video games.' It doesn't have anything to do with you," I said, not willing to believe my daughter could be anything like Rin. Besides, she was the spitting image of...
I hung up the call. Rin stood before me at the entrance of the store, hands on hips. She stuck out her tongue at me as a little girl with teal hair put up in odango buns walked out from behind her. The girl stared up at me with blue eyes, recognition dawning on her face. She grinned as she ran foward to hug me and then Miku.
"Mama! Are we still gonna go to the park?" Hana asked Miku eagerly. Miku bent down to look Hana in the eyes.
"Of course, and we were thinking about making it a picnic, too."
Hana's smile grew even bigger, which made me smile in spite of what I wanted to say to Rin. Rin looked from Hana to me, and, feeling her stare, I looked over at her, and our eyes met for a moment.
"Can I come too?" Rin asked, smiling innocently. I stared hard at her, really wanting to say no, but knowing Miku and Hana would probably be fine with it. I sighed.
"Fine," I said. "But only if you explain yourself."
Rin giggled. "I wanted to get Hana a gift, but I figured since you wouldn't tell me what she wanted, I'd have to get her to tell me myself." Rin frowned for a moment. "Of course, I had assumed you were just being no fun, but I guess she really doesn't want anything. But no worries, I will introduce her to the world of video games and show her that there is so much more beyond the pretty pictures!" she said, holding up a game that she had no doubt just purchased. "But I suppose you must have a present for her," she added, squinting at me suspiciously.
"Yes, but that's only one thing, and it's special," Miku spoke up, inadvertently brushing her hand near her neck.
"Well, since I'm done here, and Hana has no interest in shopping for fun, I guess trying to spoil her will be no fun. It's already 10:30, so I suppose if you wanted to take a picnic trip, we ought to be going then?" Rin suggested. I sighed at how bossy she was being, but I knew she was right.
"I guess so, but I have one more question," I said, looking at Rin. "How did you even get her to come with you?"
Rin smiled mischievously before ruffling her bangs and putting her hair up in a hair-tie that was around her wrist. My hair-tie.
"It's not that hard," she said, mimicking my voice. "Especially if it's dark and you're whispering," she added, lowering her voice to a whisper that I had to admit, did sound like me. I crossed my arms and looked down.
My gaze drifted to Hana as she pulled lightly on the edge of my shirt. She cupped her hands around her mouth, so I bent down and she began to whisper in my ear.
"I knew it was Aunt Rin, Daddy, but Mama always told me to be as nice as possible to her because you're not nice to her."
"I'm not nice to her?" I said aloud, straightening up and looking in disbelief at Miku, who pretended to be interested in something in the opposite direction. Rin looked briefly confused before shrugging.
After another moment's pause, I sighed and initiated the walk back out of the mall. By 11:00, we had arrived at home, packed lunches, and, with Rin, departed for the neighborhood's park, which was a lovely place at this time of year.
We spread out a blanket down on the grass near a creek and put down the lunches for later. There was a little area with picnic benches for such an occasion, but Hana always liked to sit next to the creek instead. After setting up, Rin and I sat back to watch Miku and Hana try to catch little moths that fluttered about the small expanse of grass before us.
"So she's six now, huh?" Rin asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, she's going to be starting elementary school this fall...and I'm afraid she's going to grow up way too fast after that," I said quietly.
"Oh, don't be such a downer," Rin said, leaning over to push my shoulder lightly. "At least you've got a family..." she said, glancing out at Hana and Miku playing. "I'm just kind of wasting my life right now."
"Ah, now you're being the downer," I joked, though my heart did sink at Rin's words. I knew exactly how she felt; it was how I felt before I met Miku again. I wondered if she had felt that way all this time...and just didn't show it. Rin seemed to be saddened by her own words too, because when I looked at her, her face displayed that clearly.
"Hey, listen," I said, sitting up to look over at Rin clearly, who returned the gaze. "You're not incapable of love; I know that much. Weren't you even dating that one guy for a while when we were younger?" Rin's cheeks showed a faint blush for a moment, but it disappeared. "If you want to stop wasting your life, figure out what makes you happy," I continued. "If you can't find what makes you happy, I promise Miku and I will always consider you a best friend. You can always count on us to be there for you no matter what, okay?"
Tears welled up in Rin's eyes before she pulled me into an abrupt hug. I felt her body tremble and tears drip onto my shoulder. She squeezed me tighter and I returned the hug gently.
After a couple of moments, Rin pulled away slowly and wiped away her tears. "Eh, you're...way too nice...sometimes," Rin said, continuing to wipe at her eyes.
"It's just that...I quit my job. And now I don't have a steady source of income. But I really didn't like my job," Rin said, looking at me.
Rin had a job at a convenience store for a long time, which, to me, didn't seem that bad. But I guess to Rin, it just wasn't what she enjoyed.
"Well, did you say you were quitting? Or did you tell them something ambiguous and just don't plan to show up again?" I asked.
"I told my boss that I wanted to take a break to figure out some things in my life...but yeah, I didn't really plan on going back permanently..."
"Hey Rin, have you ever thought about being a teacher?"
"Hm? Not really...do you think that would be a good job for me?" Rin asked curiously. "I didn't really like school," she said distastefully.
"Well," I said, thinking, "From what Miku's told me, the more you can think like a kid, the more fun it is. And besides, I think being strict towards kids might make you a little bit more mature, which could be a good thing," I said, laughing.
Rin giggled and looked at me for a moment. "I'll think about it," she said, tilting her head a bit. I looked back at the field just in time to see Hana running back towards me with Miku walking not far behind.
Hana sat down quickly next to me and eyed the food we had brought. "Hungry?" I asked, and she nodded forcefully.
After we had distributed and eaten the packed lunches, Miku handed each of us a cupcake, which she had baked the day before in honor of Hana's birthday.
I found myself smiling, rather than eating my cupcake, at the sight of Hana's delight. She didn't often get something like cake, so it was a welcome surprise to her. Eventually I just gave mine to Rin, who, despite eating way too much in my opinion, never could seem to put on any weight.
"Do you want your gift from us now?" Miku asked Hana, after we were all finished. I could sense the nervous excitement in Miku's voice; I knew how much the gift meant to Miku, and how much she hoped it would mean to Hana.
Hana nodded innocently, and Miku handed her a small box, wrapped simply, and tied off with a little teal string.
Curiously, Hana pulled the string off and unwrapped the gift. When she opened the box and peeked inside, a small smile grew on her face. She glanced up at Miku, and then down at the gift.
"It's Mama's necklace," she said softly. Miku nodded, smiling.
"It's very special," Miku said. "Your daddy gave it to me when we were younger. And now I want you to keep it, and wear it whenever you want to feel special. And then, if you have a daughter one day, you can give it to her, mm?"
Hana nodded obediently, and Rin clapped her hands happily. "How cute," she said, to no one in particular. "It almost makes me want a daughter of my own."
I looked at Rin with a playful smirk.
"Eh, what?" she asked, glancing away. "It's not like I'm gonna actually get married and have a family."
"Whatever makes you happy, remember?" I said. I turned back to Miku just as she hugged my arm and leaned her cheek on my shoulder.
"Yes, that's good advice," she said softly.
One more chapter remains...I'm kind of sad. Rin got some extra time in this. I think she deserved it. I was actually thinking about continuing this from Rin's point of view, but unfortunately I'm in way over my head with unfinished stories. Maybe one day in the distant future I'll do it... But I've enjoyed this story, and I hope you have too. I'll try to get the final chapter up as soon as I can~
P.S. Synchronicity 3 came out today omgomgomg
