A/N: So, guys... um, well, how do I put this...? After weeks of fighting my computer now officially passed away. I'm a bit too dumb to get my stuff from there and dad is busy, so I will rewrite everything, even if it takes forever and I said I wasn't going to do that.
I just wanted to post this thing before I flee- I mean... go to France on a class trip next week and I'm glad I finished this in time. Tomorrow, I've got a Maths-test and maybe I'll get one chapter done this weekend, even though I will be busy until about eight or nine o'clock in the evenings.
Still, I'll do my best, guys! Promise! ... I hope.
Oh yeah, stuff about the chapter: back to Len and I'll stick to him, Rin's no more fun to write. I like writing Len a lot better, now. I gave him a little snarkier personality from the beginning, and now my writing has changed and I like writing him like this even more. Also, nothing really happens in this chapter. Aside from Miku. And pigeons. Well, no.
Also, you can still ask stuff until Monday! Just review on the previous 'chapter'!
Disclaimer: Don't own Vocaloid, don't say I did.
As of now, I was pretty sure Rin had issues. No, acutally I thought she had them before. At first acting all distanced and then hogging my attention until my head hurt. Well, but now she even had a proper reason to call me, not only to tell me that Gumi had shown her how to put a chopstick into her hair, even though it was short. Yeah, she really cared about the most important things in the universe.
I'm wondering if I should stop answering the phone. First that call from Haku, now Rin telling me that she thought that the albino was dead too... dear lord.
But what did she mean when she asked if I was hearing or seeing weird things aside from my dear sister? Sounds like a sci-fi movie or something, where people develop a sixth sense. Oh, and don't forget the good and evil magicians –slash- religious extremists! ... Now what does that remind me of...?
No, when I think about it now... didn't Rin yell at me for things I didn't say...? Wait...
Oh god.
OH GOD.
Just guessing here, but it sounds pretty much like 'I can read your mind, dude'... oh please, please, don't let that be true... that would be the definition of 'embarrassing'. No, go ahead and look it up in your dictionary. 'Mind reading twin-sister' could be one of the describtions for that word.
Anyways, where was I? Ah, yeah, seeing and hearing odd things. Well, not really. Every single person around me seemed to notice stuff I didn't, but aside from having Rin attached to me nothing is different from before. Not at all.
I mean, I've heard about stuff like twin-telepathy already, but I never thought that would be true. Actually I didn't even have proof that Rin could read my mind. It was just a wild guess. I'm thinking too much about that. That's all. ... But testing it couldn't hurt, could it? After all, we would meet up tomorrow after school anyway. And we'll see each other on the way to school. Enough time to try it out.
And so I did.
Rin and I sat down next to each other on the subway like always. She gave me one of her cutest smiles and then fiddeled with her iPod, turning it off to talk to me. Well, at least she wanted to have a conversation with me, it seemed.
"So..." she began, a grin evident in her voice "we're still meeting up after school?"
I sighed. Really, why did she need to affirm that again? I told her yesterday on the phone already and it's not like I wouldn't send her a message if I couldn't make it in time... really, now. But this was a pretty good moment to try it...
I won't forget, jeez.
And she looked at me. For a few seconds, there was silence, even though the people on the subway were pretty noisy. More like a metaphor. "Did you just..." she began but never finished her sentence.
I guess I did.
"Heh, so how did you figure out?" she chuckled, not sounding as surprised anymore. No, actually her face lit up a bit. It was... cute.
"Well, just went with things that made sense. You're not all that hard to read, actually. And even I can connect the dots..." I mumbled the last part. I don't know why, but Rin seemed to think I was too dumb to breathe. I wasn't. Not at all.
Okay, maybe a bit. But I still think that's only about me being a guy whose puberty gets the best of him. Well, sometimes.
"Seriously though: don't you get weird feelings or something, too?" Rin asked, looking surprisingly disappointed, her gaze wandering off to somewhere at the other end of the train.
"Sorry, I don't hear those voices whispering to you" I found myself saying before I could think about it. Rin flinched at little at the kind-of-insult but didn't look away, as if she knew that I didn't really want to say that. Oh, wait. She did know. "But, Rin, let's be honest. If it hadn't started with the mirror thing I wouldn't even believe this kind of-"
And then it hit me like a brick wall. Just how I ignored that one factor that had been there before everything else... and here I said I wasn't dumb. For once my sister didn't seem to catch on and I felt her eyes burn holes into me.
"Maybe it's just this thing after all..." I mumbled and turned in my seat to face her. "If you happen to meet Piko somewhere, go ask him if he knows some sort of connection between that."
"Hey, you even refused to tell me who Haku was! But now that she is... well... not here, at least... Did you ever look for her?" Rin asked, blinking. Sometimes she was quicker than me with that stuff, though she probably was more fit for the role of the ditz...
"She said in her last call that it was her last message to me and there was in impact before the line went dead, so I guess she at least wasn't able to hold the phone anymore..." I thought aloud.
"But it isn't impossible for her to be still alive, right?" she asked again, sighed and rested her head on her palm.
Well, maybe she wasn't. Who knows who... or what Haku was, anyways? Perhaps Meiko did know something. Or Piko did. They were in the same position, after all. "You go ask Piko, I go ask Meiko. I know I shouldn't have been jumping to conclusions, but we might go ahead and ask first. But anyways, how's it going with everyone?" I asked, being the good brother I was.
Rin stuck her tongue out at me but answered anyways. "Well, you know how I'm pretty close with Gumi already, but... well, she's been pretty weird yesterday..."
"Gumi is always weird, so don't worry about her too much..." I mumbled and looked away from the daggers being glared at me.
"No, I don't mean the somewhat charming kind of weird but the kind of weird that makes you uncomfortable. When I called her and told her about how much fun it was hanging out with Piko she got angry at me and told me how I wasn't supposed to even talk to that kind of a person. Then we went on like usual, but still... well, maybe she knows him and doesn't like him?" she asked and bit her lip, den shook her head with a sour expression. "No, no! They can't have gone out with each other!"
"I never saw Gumi hang out with any guys aside from her brothers and, sometimes, me, so don't you worry. Also, we're in middle school. Such stuff would spread at the speed of light. Maybe she's just jealous of him..." I mumbled the last part and tried to hide the smirk on my face when Rin looked at me with the kind of expression that showed how she didn't know what I was talking about but inside she wasn't sure if she even wanted to hear it.
I waved my hand in front of her as if to dismiss the issue but she kept looking at me, now a sour pout on her face. Well, Rin, it's not all that easy to get into my head, after all. This thought, however, earned me a shove and I gave in. "I told you about that crossdressing-thing, right? See, he happens to have more male admirers than Gumi does which about sums it up..."
When I turned to look at Rin she sat in her seat, trying not to laugh and failing miserably. Maybe she thought I was just joking or maybe the truth just seemed to be too much for her to handle. Or both. Yeah, probably.
Damn, she was cute sometimes.
I always wondered where Rin spent her time during lunch break. Not that I couldn't live with not knowing, but she always was gone as soon as the bell rung. Well, maybe she had found herself a boyfriend and didn't want to tell me. On the other hand... nah.
Usually I spent my breaks where I used to spend them before Rin came to town, sometimes eating in the cafeteria, sometimes just sitting around somewhere outside, watching all kinds of students run around, talk and do whatever they were doing.
Today, I decided, it would be nice to enjoy the sunny weather as long as it lasted. Summer had almost faded away completely by now, usually just making place for ugly grey clouds and rain. So the few last days the sun was shining should be enjoyed!
Flopping down on a small stone wall I noticed that some students and even teachers had thought spending the last few sunny days outside would be good. Thus, the entire place was crowded. Very much so. I tried to ignore the noise all those people made by digging into my lunch as if I would starve if I didn't. However, after a short flash of blue somewhere in the corner of my eye I sighed, closed my lunchbox and turned my head to the girl next to me.
"Hey Len" came a short greeting before she was busily slurping noodles from a bowl of instant ramen. Her bangs were almost hanging into the soup but I guess she couldn't care less, stuffing her face like her life depended on it. After a while, though, not even bothering to look at me for staring at her, she squeaked a bit under her breath and stopped eating, looking at her finger. "Ow... dumb cheap chopsticks. I guess they were a bit scratchy after all..." she mumbled before looking at me. "You didn't want any, did you?"
"I... guess not. Your parents again? You usually don't eat like that, Miku" I found myself saying, even though I knew Miku was touchy on the subject. You see... her parents wanted her to be an idol ever since. Thus she was forced to learn how to sing and dance since she was little. In the end it resulted in her grades being somewhere below acceptable, resulting in her being stuck in middle school for another year. Sometimes, she was forced to eat nothing for a few days and this usually led to... well, the situation I had to witness yet again just now.
Still, she gave me a smile and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, the moisture around her lips leaving a wet trail on the fabric. "Yeah, but you know how they are..." she shrugged. "Also, Luka... I mean Megurine-sensei got me those noodles. She's the best, you know?" A wide grin was dacing on her lips. "But that aside, I haven't seen you around as much. You avoiding me, Len-kun~?"
Even though her voice held a mocking tone that made me want to poke her I just shrugged it off with a brief smirk. "Well, I dunno, maybe I was~? What would Hatsune-nee-chan do if I really was avoiding her~?" I said with my lips pursed a bit and I could see Miku holding back a giggle.
"Then I'd have to p-u-n-i-s-h you~" she said while wagging her finger at every letter she spelled out and winked. That's an idol for you. Now she just had to be discovered. "Seriously though, Len. I know you good enough to know that something's on your mind when you don't look for me during the breaks and aren't even online that much."
"Well, everything's been going up and down and I have to take care of about all of Rin's issues here, as well as of my own. Which aren't that few either..." I found myself replying rather vaguely. I sighed but then understood something. "You've talked to Rin already, right?"
Miku shrugged. "Yeah, I wasn't all that sure if you just liked running around in girl's clothing or if that was someone else at first, but I was all 'nah, Len ain't the type for that'. Also, an introduction in front of the whole class isn't THAT easy to miss. I talked to her, then. I bet you would've introduced me to her anyways, right? Miku-nee-chan is someone everyone should know, right? I'm gonna be an idol soon, anyways, so..." she said and her gaze drifted off to somewhere else. Miku would love to be an idol or at least she had said so a while ago. She just didn't like being forced into a role, even if she wanted something really badly. But then again you always hear about the life of an idol being stressy...
"Pff, you'll still be Miku, right? It's better knowing Miku-nee-chan than Hatsune Miku anyways" I said in an odd matter-of-fact-ly manner.
Now it was Miku's turn to snort in amusement. "You bet! In person, I'm the best!" she smirked but that smirk turned into a broad grin which turned into a fit of laughter. I couldn't really help it but I started laughing along.
"We should really hang out more often. Before I know it you're gone, either way" I said, having calmed down a bit.
"Now we're talking, Len! You free this afternoon?" she asked. I could only shake my head, having made plans with Rin already. "Too bad. Well, maybe tomorrow. Or! I'll just call you in the evening!" Miku laughed in self-satisfaction and clapped her hands.
I got up from my place on the wall. "Well, talk to you then, okay? I gotta go somewhere before the break is over!" I said and gave her a wave. She smiled at me.
Those times when Miku was suffering under her parents' behaviour made her concious of her situation. It was weird. But at the same time it was a good feeling, knowing that you can lend her an open ear. Thinking about that stuff, I almost didn't notice I had walked to the main entrance. However, I also noticed something else.
Oh please let it be a dead pigeon or something...
PIGEONS.
