Shrimpy: shocking chapter, no? I mean, I was surprised, too. I didn't think I'd go with it, but now that I did it just makes for a good new chapter. "Wow, Onii-chan!" Barely served a purpose in the story. The raccoon ate a diaper, so we won't be seeing him for a little while. And again, if you can I totally encourage writing what you think is happening. It's good to think while you read.
Oh. Here goes...a lot!
Len's POV
There was a rumor. It spread quickly across the school, and it got crazy. After all the things that happened a few days ago...all of which I know I could have done differently...I lost a kind of control I could have kept.
The rumor was I was planted in the school. I never wad a student. Some people actually began giving things I could be an alibi. A nark who went rogue seemed to be a pretty popular one, which irritated the crap out of me. That, of course, wasn't true, but people liked the story and Rin wouldn't let me hear the end of it.
"You're famous school-wide now. Everyone is going crazy. Now tell me why you would punch a freaking jock in the face, in front of everyone?" She pressed, her brow knit together. "I got angry, okay? Plus, you know, you hate him too." "Yeah. I heard you delivered one punch in my name," she said proudly, smiling. She straightened a bit. "I guess it seems sweet, but everyone thinks you're a badass now." "Anything but. I haven't spoken to Gakupo in days and I really need to apologize," I sighed. "Well, I don't know where he is. In fact, we haven't really seen a jock so much as go around Hatsune-san. You must have hit so hard that Bruno's scared," she said in a sing-song voice.
"Rin-chan! Rin-chan!" A voice called. We turned. It was a girl with long blond hair in a lopsided ponytail. She was waving her phone in the air, crying out at the top of her voice. "Neru-chan? Weren't you sick?" Rin asked, confused right along side me. We stared as Neru swerved around a crowd. "I was, but you-" a golf cart whizzed right in front of her and crashed into the wall. Rin gasped, and we hurried over to the cart. Smoke billowed from the front, and Rion stepped out, coughing loudly.
"Neru-chan!" Rin cried. "I...I didn't see anyone there," Rion hacked, leaning against the wall. "That's because she wasn't," I sighed. And right on que, Rin's phone rang loudly with her favorite ringtone, "meltdown" muffled by her pocket. She pulled it out and examined a text message. I, being a brother, looked over her shoulder and saw the message:
Rin-chan come see me after school near the football field. There is a pic to die for on my phone 8-O ttyl
"I'm sorry, but how could a picture on a phone be 'to die for'?" I stepped back and she punched in her reply:
i'll b there, what's the deal?
Then she shoved it into her pocket, shrugging. "Now that we know she's okay, we should take Tone-san to the nurse," I suggested. "Everything's peachy," Rion said with a nervous smile. "Speaking of peaches, I think Momo-chan it's acting pretty strange, too. My cheerleader senses are tingling," Rin said.
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Rin's POV
First it was Momo-chan. Then Neru-chan. Then Rion, the girl who sorta shared a name with me. It effected all of the cheerleaders, and as it turns out there was a reason no one told me yet. Luka-chan scolded them for their secrecy, but cheerleaders can sometimes behave like a cult. Fine with me as long as we didn't do something triple C: Crazy, Creepy and/or Cryptic.
By the time I got there I couldn't believe the looks on their faces. There were some blushing, some of them were screaming with delight. Some were just totally shocked. And they were all staring at Neru-chan's phone. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked, carrying a duffel bag close to my chest. "Rin-chan, your brother...kyaaa!" Neru took her phone back for a second to type something in furiously. My phone jingled with "meltdown" and I reached into my pocket. Digging around, I finally got a full grip and slipped it out.
KYAAAAAAAx3 Rin-chan this is soooooo cute!
Beneath that was a picture of Miku and my brother...cuddling?! It was totally adorable! I couldn't believe it! I felt my face redden. "W...wa...oh, Neru-chan, how did you get this?" "I was in the nurse's office yesterday, with a fever, and I was going to find the nurse, and I walked in on this. Len must reeeeeeeeeally like her, no?" There was an actual smile on her face. "Ah, the rumors could be true, then!" They all grinned.
So I took an opportunity. "No!" I snatched Neru-chan's phone away. "If you guys tell anyone about this, the photo well be deleted. I need you to help me eradicate the rumors, because they aren't true. And, they get this guy pretty pissed." I grinned and shook the phone, holding it up so they could know I wasn't bluffing.
"Okay, Rin-chan! Don't destroy the photo, it's really cute!" Rion pouted. "Gladly. Remember, though, for the good of the photo we get rid of the rumors."
You owe me big-time, Onii-chan!
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Miku's POV
Could Haku watch me from heaven? Would she even bother? She was too busy being happy. I couldn't really mind.
But I had always protected her when she was getting hurt. Why didn't she do the same?
I can sit here forever and tell you things that don't matter. I'm doing it right now. I look back and wonder, "was it worth it?" I could tell you yes, but I would be lying. Lying to you and to myself, forever. Got eternity, doesn't matter.
I was sitting. Alone. In the piano room. Our precious piano, my sister's piano. And my sister's song. The ones she wrote, the one she played for me. What was the name? She didn't. She didn't name it anything...
But the sounds are fast. I can remain on the piano in my dreams, those that are hollow and grey. I can be stuck. I am stuck. I was stuck.
Is there a cure for insanity? No. Insanity isn't real. It's what happens when we don't...can't afford a clean vision of the corporeal beings we know.
The White Coat. n. The vicious thing that stole a being. The definition I played over and over again in my head. it was only meant to be a joke, but it stood for something cruel I could not let go of.
I wonder why I was given the painful gift of thinking. It hurts so much. It hurt to remember, it burned to remember that I could still feel the ghosts of pain left behind.
But there was a smile. Someone who smiled at the wreck that they saw, not afraid of it.
Len...what he did was so stupid. But it was kind, too. What was wrong with him? I had no room to say that. My title as "the schizophrenic" didn't leave enough room on a line of words. He claimed he wanted to make me smile. He couldn't. He never made me smile...did he?
I had...have no right to think that, though. I'm weak. I've always been weak. So...worthless...
Len doesn't think that. He looks at you and he sees a fighter. Don't you know that? But I always saw that. I've always been here for you, Miku-chan. I love you.
The voice took my breath away. "Ha...Haku..." I looked up. What was that white flash I saw in the corner of my eye?
Come with me, Miku-chan! It's so boring going unnoticed! You, me, Vino and Nurse-chan, we'll all go together!
That group...I remember, I remember that! Vino, our polar bear friend. Nurse-chan, the lady who played with us. Haku, my ever beloved sister. And me.
"Haku...I can't go with you."
Wha...why would you say that? Vino and I, we're waiting for you. Nurse-chan is still making pie to take with us, but oh, she'll come! We can all go together to the garden and have picnics all day long. Don't you want that?
"Oh, Haku, my sweet, sweet sister...you're dead. The White Coat killed you a long time ago. And Nurse-chan died. She went another place, and she can't wait for us."
NOOOOO! YOU'RE MY...MY MIKU-CHAN! Y-YOU CAN'T STAY HERE, YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME! You have to come...w-with me...
"You know I can't." I laughed. Always immature. That was Haku.
It's because of Len, isn't it?!
"Haku...what?" Another dry laugh.
You love him, so you want to stay here! And I have to wait even longer. I hate him, Miku-chan. He stole you from me. Vino went away a long time ago, and you want me left all alone!
Was there something I could say? Was there something I should fix? I don't understand, where did Vino go? Why was he gone?
"Vino...is gone?"
He's been gone for a long time. Remember?
"No...I don't remember." I'm so tired. I'm so...dead inside, I can't breath without thinking...
It could have been you. But I didn't want out to be you, only to realize you wouldn't be grateful.
"I'm sick of living!" I cried, starting up at the ceilings. "So, stop pestering me! You're ruining my life! Go away!"
"So~ Rin-chan, how do you think your first kiss should have gone?" A familiar cheery lilt floats through the room. "My first kiss? Hmm...maybe it would have been better with another person." I scramble off the floor. The ringing in my ears seems to echo away. I was alone.
Hiding behind the piano was very simple. No one could find me. If they did, the piano would be taken away from me. And I couldn't allow that! No one could take it away!
From the door, just ajar, I could see that Rin girl, walking with Megurine and Neru. Her nose crinkled in distaste. "The boy I kissed is someone who could have been better. I'm glad I moved, he's a real jerk now." They giggled. Teenage girls are so strange. "My first kiss was with Rei Kagene," Neru sighed. "No way! The funny guy?" Rin jumped up and down a couple of times. The creaking reached my ears and got louder towards me. Please don't notice the shifting, dear God.
"Yeah, but it was when he wasn't a DOUCHE. Now he's some kind of playboy. You know he's been with two-thirds of the cheerleading squad?" "Including the cheer captain," Luka cut in. "Don't fall victim Rin, he can be quite a charmer when he wants to." More giggles. They stopped in front of the door. "Go away," I prayed under my breath. "It's okay. There's a boy I've sort of had my eye on this whole time," Rin replied. "Ooh~ it's Kaito, right?" "Actually, y-" my foot moves, but too fast.
The piano bench loudly skids across the wooden floor.
Ah, shit!
They all turned their heads to me. I slowly rose from behind the piano. "I...dropped my contact on the floor." Quickly I snatched under the piano then clenched my fist. "Megurine, Akita. Kagamine." I acknowledged the trio with a nod, then strode over to the door on the other wall. It felt foreign to me, really. I turn the knob of the art storage door and slip inside.
"Len-kun may like her, but she's still weird. In a way I feel bad, but it's her fault too." Megurine and her voice annoy me. I clenched my fists.
"...Let's ask her to talk with us." There was a unison of gasps. "If she's that bad with people, maybe she could use the practice." "If she agrees, there's no guarantee we can play nice," Megurine sighed. Rin cheered softly and I could hear her feet lightly tap the boards of the floor as she headed to the door. She swings it out of the way and startles me.
"Hatsune-san~ want to have a chat?" She asked, a bright grin on her face. Reluctantly Akita and Megurine nodded to me. "It's fine. I'm leaving." "What a coincidence!" "We were just getting my bag and then we were heading for Rin's house," Luka explained.
What do I do? No one ever asks me for this. And I don't need any charity. I'm not-
Yes you are. The thought cuts in quickly. "A chat. Just some talking," I agree hesitantly. "Yay! This way, Hatsune-san!" She gestures to the hall out the other door and I follow.
We fall into step next to each other. It's now a small group. "We were talking about first kisses," Rin needlessly volunteers. "Mind telling us who yours was, Hatsune-san?" "First...kiss? That's ridiculous. No one would-" "Len-kun probably would," Neru says while humming. "I barely know him myself. Please don't make assumptions like that." "Hey, let's drop that topic. Miku - do you mind if I call you Miku?" Rin offered up a nervous smile. "No." "Well, do you have any hobbies?"
(Shrimpy: Again, I feel like this is here to spite me.)
"I actually enjoy repairing broken instruments," I responded carefully. Yes, since I could fix and tune the casket of a piano that I played, it was quite easy for me to tune a guitar and fix a broken string. Though it is an exaggeration to say I enjoyed it.
"Anything else?" "I...I used to love cooking. But not anymore." "Ah. Well, how about we talk about..." she looked around, her brow furrowed.
She brightened. "Beauty tips! There's one to try on really long hair, and your hair fits that description. If you curl the ends, I think it would sort of have a magical affect." Neru brightened. "Picture this: BLUE. HIGHLIGHTS." She squared her fingers to make that ridiculous picture gesturing. Luka's eyes widened. "With enough conditioner, we can make her hair nice and shiny!"
They all grinned at each other and I gulped. "Kyaa! Makeover!"