A/N: I'm back with another chapter! I apologize if the wait was a little longer than desired. But I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter 10

Hidden Feelings

-:-

"Oh, ouch! Hey Kaito, it looks like Len took a tumble!" Meiko pointed while glancing over to her brother.

Kaito and Meiko stood with the rest of the third years a good little ways away from the second years. At the moment, they were spectators of the second years' three-legged race. Kaito saw Len's fumble the moment it happened and flinched along with Meiko.

"It sort of reminds me how he and I first met!" Kaito laughed.

"He's clumsier than you are," Meiko chuckled, elbowing Kaito.

Kaito smiled back before turning his eyes to the track again. His countenance faltered, however, when he saw Len stumble forward and stop, glancing down at his leg along with the silver-haired kid next to him.

"Wait, is Len okay?" Kaito inquired.

"I don't know, the P. E. teacher is going to them now."

"Yeah, it must be serious, they're getting off the track now."

"Well, it can't be that serious. I mean, Len's not screaming or anything. That means nothing's broken," Meiko shrugged her shoulders.

"Too bad. I don't think he'll be able to finish the race..." Kaito's voice trailed off as he saw Rin trot up to Len.

Her expression evidently held great concern, but that was not what caught Kaito's attention. It was the fact that she was displaying so much emotion than her usual self normally would—and to Len, no less. He watched as everyone around Len dispersed except for Rin, who stayed by his side. She said something to Len before walking off with Len following close behind her—or at least trying to. Kaito watched as Rin stood in front of Len for a moment before suddenly moving next to him and took his arm. She had placed his arm around her neck before wrapping her other arm around his waist. They began walking again, this time together.

From that distance, Kaito couldn't fully read Len's expression, but he could tell that the younger boy grew tense—perhaps nervous—at Rin's touch. The moment Kaito realized that, he could feel something turn in his stomach. A feeling he recognized to be worry grew within him, and it was most certainly not because he could see Len limping. In fact, Len's leg was the least of his concerns at the moment.

Meiko glanced over at Kaito when she noticed he had gone into silence. When she saw him staring intently off into the distance, she followed his gaze and realized what he was staring at. A sigh passed her lips.

"Oh, my gosh, someone collapsed over here!" A frantic voice called from behind them.

"Get the teacher!"

Only then was Kaito drawn away from his world.

-:-

"Len, what did you put down on your form?" Piko eagerly asked, leaning towards Len.

Len stared at the blank print-out in front of him. He had been holding his pencil over the piece of paper for a while now, but he honestly could not bring himself to write anything. His eyes glanced over the top of the paper once more. "Future career choices," it said.

"Huh... I think someone like you would have put something down already."

"Someone like me...?"

"Well, Yamaha Academy is a pretty prestigious school. Most students who come here have a definite goal for a prominent career in mind," Piko fiddled with his pencil, "You came here with a scholarship, right? Surely you must have something in mind."

Len looked back at the form and scanned it yet again. Yes, he was obsessed with studying and achieving the highest scores. Yes, he came to Yamaha Academy thinking he would get the best opportunities. But honestly, he had never given much thought as to what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. When given the option to come here, he only did it because his teachers encouraged him and to please them...

"Hello?" Piko shook him from his thoughts, "Anybody there?"

"Oh! Yeah. Um... I just can't think of anything."

"Well, you better hurry and choose because the class rep is coming around to collect papers now."

"A-Ah... um..."

"What do you like to do?"

"Play music...?" Len blurted out.

"Then put down that you want to be a musician!" Piko was jabbing his finger on Len's paper now.

"But—"

"You're part of the Vocaloids, it would make sense!"

Len wondered what his teachers would think. What his parents would think. Wouldn't an honors student like him put down being a doctor? Or maybe a lawyer? He was going to think more about it until he saw the class representative coming closer to him. His hand seemingly moving on its own, Len wrote down, "band musician" onto the blank space. Len could hear Piko chuckle next to him as he filled out the rest of his paper. When the class representative came by to collect his paper, he had just finished writing.

As the class rep passed by him to collect the next paper, Len found himself glancing over at Rin, who had her chin set on her palm with her elbow propped on the desk as she looked out the window. He wondered for a moment what she had decided to write down on her form. The thought would occasionally come back to him throughout the day whenever he glanced in her direction, as she ate lunch with him, and as she answered questions in class. When the time came for club activities, Len finally decided to ask her about it while they were rehearsing their duet together. Only to quell his seeming insatiable curiosity, of course.

"Ah! I think I figured out what we can do for the bridge," Rin suddenly cried, then a bit of playing around with vocals and guitar work she asked, "What do you think?"

"I think your vocals added a nice touch. Maybe closer to the end of the bridge, I could come in and transition into the next verse before the chorus? And then maybe there can be a 'Bah! Bah! Bah!' descending chromatically right at the end of it!" As Len spoke, he played out his thoughts on the guitar.

"Hmm... okay," Rin began scribbling on some staff paper in thought.

Len noticed that Rin was always much more animated when she talked about music—just as she was now. Len watched her write in silence for a little longer before opening his mouth to speak.

"Say, Rin?"

"Hmm?"

"What did you put down on that 'future career choices' form?"

"What's with that suddenly?" Rin snapped.

"N-Nothing, I'm just... curious."

Rin sighed, relaxing her shoulders a bit before the blush that she had on her face already grew a little redder. She felt sweat starting to bead all over her head when she became hot with embarrassment. She glanced to the side before looking forward again, but then seemingly finding something extremely interesting on the table they sat at.

"Okay... Don't laugh, but I put... 'band musician' as my career choice."

Len couldn't help but smile.

"I told you not to laugh!" Rin threw the pencil she was holding at him.

"Ah!" Len barely lifted his hand in time to prevent the pencil from poking him in the face, "S-Sorry! I wasn't laughing at you! I just thought..."

"Thought what?" Rin was acting even more defensive, raising the barrier around herself.

"...Thought that it was a good dream for you... It suits you," Len could not find the words in him to tell her that he had, in fact, put the same thing down.

"Oh, well... Thanks, I guess."

Rin debated whether or not she should keep talking and divulge her silly dream with a guy. Everyone else in the club knew and were even a part of it. But some of Rin did not want to release that information to Len yet. She felt more embarrassed than distrusting—almost as if she didn't want his perception of her to change for the worse for believing in something so childish. He was a fellow club member, though, so she had to tell him something with the way he was still staring at her seemingly waiting.

"It's just... a dream that Miku and I have..." Rin nervously chuckled before changing the subject away from herself, "What did you put down?"

"A-Ah, er... uh..." Len definitely did not want to answer her question properly. Especially since he wasn't even sure about what he had written down.

He gulped before quickly formulating a counter in his mind.

"Nothing interesting really," He quickly continued before Rin could reply, "So do you think we should try playing the bridge together? Just to see how it sounds?"

"Ohh, I bet it's something super nerdy isn't it? Maybe like the head scientist of something. Or maybe it's something embarrassing like a mangaka—"

"Rin!" Len held out his hand to stop her, "Let's just rehearse, okay?"

"Fine, fine," Rin huffed.

Len reached behind him to pick up the fallen pencil that Rin threw at him as he composed himself and shook away the jitters of embarrassment. His mouth in a straight line, he rolled the pencil over to Rin before gripping his guitar properly.

They glanced at each other for a moment before they simultaneously began to lightly bounce to the silent beat in the room. When their tempos were one, Len motioned for them to start playing and then all at once music filled the silence of the room. The lyrics they worked on together mixed beautifully in a mixture of harmony. Len could feel his voice resonating throughout his entire body, driving forward with power. And Although Rin sung the backup vocals, the ascension in her voice gave more impact to the music that they were making together. Len glanced away from his fingers and looked toward Rin for a moment. He didn't know why, but with the way that their voices mixed together and watching her sing along with him made her look dazzling.

Len's face immediately flushed when that thought crossed his mind and immediately reprimanded himself for thinking such things. Feeling a little peculiar with light headedness, Len's palms grew sweaty and his fingers became unusually slippery. This all happened at the exact moment where they reached the end of the bridge. So instead of having a series of nice chords descending chromatically, it became a jumbled mess. The moment it was over, Rin looked sharply at Len, who pretended he was sneezing.

"Couldn't expect it to get it right the first time," Len chuckled nervously, "Right?"

Rin rubbed a palm on her cheek and sighed, "You're hopeless. But you know... I think our voices... blend really well together..."

Her voice got smaller and smaller as she trailed on, so Len had to lean towards her a bit to catch what she said. When he had registered Rin's words, that same peculiar feeling from before rushed through him again. Len chuckled again as he rubbed the back of his head.

Rin mentally slapped herself for bringing on such an awkward mood. And she resolved that she had to do something about it.

"But that doesn't change the fact that that last run-through was a failure."

Len suddenly froze before sinking his head. That killed the atmosphere. Mission accomplished. And to Rin's delight, Miku slid through the door to the room they were in at that moment, thus killing the mood even more.

"Hey, guys!" Miku chirped, sauntering in gracefully, "How's the duet coming?"

"We're almost done, actually. How are you and Kaito doing?" Rin smirked.

"We're done writing. Ha!" Miku retorted, pointing a finger at Rin.

"Hey, what's this abou—"

"Anyway," Miku cut Len off without missing a beat and put her hands on her hips, "You two need to come back to the club room. We all need to talk about something before we all go home."

Rin looked at the clock hanging on the wall next to them, "Heh, I didn't realize it was this late."

"Time flies when you're having fun!" Miku sang, winking and leaning toward Rin.

Miku promptly received a glare.

"Uh—" Len murmured.

"Okay!" Miku turned on her heel, "Shall we go, then?"

"Why am I being ignored?" Len mumbled more to himself than anyone else.

Shortly thereafter, everyone found themselves in the music room. As Miku, Rin and Len entered the room, Luka and Meiko glanced over to them while Kaito's gaze lingered a little longer. Everyone was seated at the table where Miku sat herself next to Kaito and Rin and Len across from each other.

"So?" Luka leaned back in her chair and smirked a bit, "Is this what I think this is about?"

"Is it that time of year?" Meiko smiled.

"Well, considering that it's almost time, yeah." Kaito responded.

"Uh... do you mind filling me in?" Len tentatively raised his hand.

At that moment, Miku grinned and stood up at her seat. She launched into full club president/diva mode as she seemed to strike some sort of pose—at least that's how Len saw it—and took a breath to speak.

"As you all know, our first concert of the year is fast approaching! We're heading quickly to the end of spring! So what we need as the Vocaloids is one big cram session to get recordings and dances out of the way along with polishing our songs," Miku paused to take another breath, "So as the president, I propose our next club activity! 'The Vocaloid Getaway Weekend'!"

Len had a mountain of questions in his mind, but he felt a little intimidated with everyone else seeming to know what was going on. When Miku finished speaking, everyone appeared excited. Kaito clapped his hands together while Meiko did a fist pump as Luka crossed her arms and nodded in approval. Even Rin's smile was a little wider than usual.

"Luka, your resort is available this weekend, right?"

"Yes, along with all the other equipment."

"Wait, resort?" Len gawked, looking at Luka with wide eyes.

"What kind of getaway would it be without a resort?" Kaito shrugged, smiling.

Meiko leaned over to her brother and pointed a thumb at him, "Last year he got nothing done! He played the whole time!"

"Hey! I did not!"

"Just... how rich is Luka's family?" Len thought curiously.

"Kaito worked hard like the rest of us!" Miku piped in before turning toward the blue-haired third year, "Right, Kaito?"

Just before Kaito could reply, Rin mumbled just loud enough so everyone could hear at the table, "You weren't any better, Miku."

After a few chortles over Rin's comment and some blushes from Miku, the club president cleared her throat to compose herself. When her fellow club members' giggles dies down, Miku spoke up once more.

"Well, if there are no objections, then let's count on our two night and two day Vocaloid Getaway Weekend!"

-:-

"Are you ready?" Kaito asked Meiko as she took her walking shoes out of her locker.

Meiko slipped out of her slippers and put on her normal shoes. She tapped her toes as she placed her slippers in her locker and turned to smile at Kaito. After exchanging a look, merely speaking to each other with their eyes, Kaito and Meiko both adjusted their shoulder bags and walked towards the front of the school. When they were abou tto step outside, both of them immediately noted the difference in weather than from earlier that morning.

"Ah, it's raining now. Did you bring your umbrella, Meiko?" Kaito asked, fishing his umbrella out of his bag smiling with jest, "Want to share mine?"

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face!" Meiko brought out her own, but not before punching his arm, "I was with you when they announced the weather report this morning! Besides, you definitely not should share your umbrella with me.*"

"Aww, but baby sister—"

"Don't 'baby sister' me, we both know that I'm the older twin!" Even with Meiko's heavy chastizing, a grin was evidently on her face.

Smirking at Kaito, Meiko snapped open her umbrella and swung it overhead with Kaito following suit. The two then stepped out on the concrete outside with the rain pelting down around them. They walked in silence for a short while until Kaito had started a casual conversation once they passed through the school gates.

"So are you looking forward to this weekend?"

"Of course I am," Meiko replied, "We'll finally really get going for the year. And it should be a little more interesting with Len around. You know what they say, 'the more the merrier'!"

"I know, I won't be by my lonesome being the only boy anymore."

They had reached a crossroad and stood at the end of the sidewalk, rain gently thumping on the umbrellas they held over their heads. While they waited, Meiko moved a little and glanced to the side toward her brother. Kaito stood with a pleasant look on his face, showing evidence that his day had passed without incident and that he was in a good mood.

"Speaking of Len," Meiko started, "Are you going to do anything this weekend?"

The slight smile on Kaito's face immediately vanished. Even though Meiko spoke vaguely, he knew exactly what she was referring to. He did not want to answer her question, but Kaito knew he couldn't slip away by simply playing dumb. Meiko could read him better than anyone else. So Kaito sufficed with giving a very simple answer.

"I don't know."

Meiko pursed her lips and smiled a bit awkwardly, "Her and Len seem to be getting closer and closer, you know. Despite her circumstances."

Kaito sighed at Meiko's mention of "her." The corner of his mouth tilted upwards while his eyebrows arched nervously. As they still waited to make their way through the crosswalk, Kaito shuffled his feet and shifted his shoulders.

"Yeah... I know."

"And you don't mind?" Meiko inquired, eyes still fixed on her twin.

Kaito paused for a moment to think, "Well, it's not like she's looking to be in a relationship anyway. So I'll just keep to myself."

As Kaito finished speaking, the light had turned green for them, and he had begun to walk forward. Meiko lingered behind for but a moment and then sighed with a sympathetic smile before following.

"Okay," she murmured as she felt the raindrops from the street bounce onto her ankles.

*Sharing an umbrella can be seen as a romantic gesture in Japan. That's why Meiko is very adamant about not sharing an umbrella.

Questions to reflect!

1. Why do you think Len doesn't know what he wants to pursue when he grows up?

2. Do you know who Kaito likes? ;D What do you think will happen because of this?

A/N: I'm sooo excited for the next chapter! There's going to be some major happenings going down next time... and I sincerely hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am! Thank you for those who have continued to support me in writing this. Please leave a review with some of your thoughtful feedback. :)