"Beautiful," Nero's declaration was the only thing that could be heard when Len ended the last note, his fingers hovering delicately over the ivory keys. Miku was staring, stunned by the haunting melody the blond boy just played. There was something about the peaceful melody which made one ache.
"Thank you," Len inclined his head, placing his hands together on his lap. Nero nodded and gave him a small smile, backing away from the piano as Len rose from the chair, closing the lid once more. Miku had never heard that piece being played before and deduced it was one of Len's compositions. It was such a lovely piece…it reminded her of birdsong, but at the same time the sad music called out to something within her – for a memory, for forgiveness, for something to make it happy again.
Did the music reflect the emotions of its player? She glanced at Len, who was now talking with Nero – she wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but Nero was frowning now, making small gestures with his hands as he spoke. Len was patiently listening, but he looked around every so often at the rest of the café's patrons – it wouldn't be long before people started to approach him, Miku thought. No one had clapped at the end, but everyone seemed too stunned by Len's music anyway.
It would be nice to hear Len playing just for her. She blushed a little at the thought, but it stuck in her head and she couldn't get rid of it – the idea of having him playing a piece composed just for her…she sighed, shaking her head sharply. It would be asking for too much of him, he already had enough on his plate trying to figure out his past and recalling that melody they both knew. She took a sip from the green tea Len ordered for her, watching Nero and Len still discussing…something.
"You know Kagamine Len?" someone slid into the seat beside hers. Miku jumped, surprised by the sudden voice, and turned to see a girl staring at her curiously, tilting her head as she held on to a steaming cup of coffee. She definitely hadn't been sitting here just now. Miku slowly nodded, wondering what the girl wanted from her. She was quite sure that the girl was interested in Len – after all, she did ask about him, and it wasn't surprising since everyone seemed to want him. The girl smiled. "Great! I've been trying to get his number for ages, but every time I see him it's like I can't approach him. My insides turn into jelly," she giggled. Her gaze rested coolly on her. "You two aren't together or anything, right?" she added. "He's never attached, but just to be absolutely certain…"
"We're just friends," Miku said quickly, "we have no relationship other than that. I'm not interested in him that way," she clarified. She definitely didn't want anyone to think she and Len were…well, more than friends. The girl gave her a careful look, setting her cup of coffee down on the table, and glanced across the room at Len. Len was laughing now at something Nero must have said, and Miku had to admit that he was beautiful. Every bit as beautiful as the heart wrenching song he just played.
"Just friends, huh?" the girl seemed to think about this. "I don't know; I find that hard to believe. I mean, you're all dressed up," she continued before Miku could interrupt and explain that she had just gone to see a play. "But whatever. As long as you're not his girlfriend and he's still single and having fun, I don't care," she giggled again. "The really attractive thing about Len is that he's all no strings attached. As long as you don't bother him and try to cling on to him, he promises you a really fun time – at least, according to my friend. I wouldn't know. I've never really run into him before, he's always busy with other women whenever I catch him at parties or whatever," the girl shrugged.
Her chest felt heavy. Miku wasn't quite sure why. The girl spoke so casually of Len's exploits, as if she didn't mind at all the way he was hurting so many people – she always thought that it was a one-sided problem, that Len was the one who never cared about the other person, but judging from this girl's blasé manner, she now wondered if maybe it was mutual. "Aren't you worried about getting your heart broken?" she asked, unable to help herself. The girl gave her a sharp look, frowning.
"That's only a concern if you're in love with him," she pointed out. "I'm not. I only live here because I'm an international student – after I complete my university education I'm flying back home. A long-distance relationship definitely isn't on the cards," she laughed to herself, a tinkling sound. "I just want a good time with someone I know won't mind when I up and go. He's perfect for it, isn't he?" they both watched Len, Miku with trepidation, the unknown girl with a lustful look in her eyes. "So if you have his number, just let me know and I'll ring him up once he's bored with his other girls," she winked jauntily at Miku. Miku swallowed. She didn't want to just go around divulging Len's number.
"You should ask him for it yourself," she pointed out, with an uncharacteristic hardness in her tone. The girl blinked, evidently picking up on Miku's harshness, and she hesitated, attempting to come up with some excuse. "I mean, if you're interested in him you should tell him personally! He's going to come back anyway and since we're not at a party or something now, he won't be busy. You can just ask him later and not worry that he's…distracted with someone else, or whatever," she said hastily.
The girl pondered over her words. "True. Since you said you two aren't a thing," the girl shrugged her delicate shoulders, "then I guess he won't mind me chatting him up. God, I'm nervous though," she took a sip of coffee. "First time I'm approaching a guy and not the other way round. And he's actually a total stud, not one of those complete losers who always ask me out. What a first!" she shook her head, laughing to herself. "Well, thanks for your advice. You'll see me again later," she winked at Miku again before rising from the chair and heading off, back towards her own table.
Miku wanted to slap herself. Why did she just encourage that girl to approach Len? Len was not supposed to be toying around with any girls at the moment! But the girl was tall, blonde and shapely, with stunning blue eyes and fair porcelain skin. She was self-assured and obviously had no qualms about talking to new people – in fact, Miku found it surprising that she was even nervous about chatting Len up. When the girl spoke to her about wanting to talk – and obviously more – with Len, Miku's thoughts went completely blank and she just blurted out whatever came to mind.
At that very moment, Len returned to the table, turning to wave at Nero as the other blond boy returned to his bandmates. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Len pulled out his chair and sat back down, picking up his iced latte. There was a small smile on his face. "I didn't mean to leave you alone for so long. But what did you think of my playing?" he asked, suddenly looking worried – which was really silly, there was no need for Len to be concerned about his performance. He was such a good pianist.
"Fantastic as always," she assured him, and he relaxed a little, those blue eyes meeting hers. "What were you and Nero talking about?" she asked, curious. Len raised an eyebrow, drinking half of his latte in one go before putting the drink back on the table. He turned his head a little, glancing at where Nero was seated.
"Nothing much," he answered vaguely. "He just asked whether I'd be interested in doing some backup for his next album. I told him I'd consider," he looked back at her. "How about you? I saw you talking to some girl just now. You looked a little upset. Did she say something to offend you?" he asked, sounding concerned. Miku blinked. She hadn't realised that Len was actually paying any attention to her.
"Oh, no. She didn't say anything to offend me," she raised her hands, shaking her head. "Well…she might come and talk to you later, that's all," she admitted. Len made a face, reaching out for a paper napkin and dabbing his mouth. Miku picked up her fork and dug listlessly into her cake, still thinking about that strange girl and what she wanted from her. Her chest was still feeling heavy, like there was some kind of oppressive weight on her shoulders. She couldn't explain why she felt this way.
"Talk to me, huh?" Len muttered. "I can guess what she wants to talk about. I think I've seen her around before. She's one of the hard-core partygoers around here, pops up at everything I go to," he stole some of her cake, but Miku didn't complain. "Too bad that I'm committed to not sleeping around, huh?" he added, giving her a strange look. She couldn't quite place the expression on his face, but she just shrugged in response – what did he expect her to say? Len sighed. "I hope you are aware of how much I'm sacrificing just to maintain this friendship with you," he muttered.
"No one said you had to sacrifice anything. We could simply not be friends," she retorted sharply. A look of shock crossed his face and she swallowed – she hadn't meant to say something so harsh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that," she backpedalled. "I'm just…I'm just really tired because of how much time we spent outside today," she shook her head. "I'm glad we're friends!" she forced a smile onto her face, though smiling was the very last thing she wanted to do right now. Len was looking quizzically at her.
"You don't seem very well, Miku," he finally spoke, peering closely at her. He reached out a hand and pressed his fingers against her forehead, checking for a fever – she ducked her head at the brief contact, and the spot where his fingers brushed her skin seemed to burn. She wanted to protest and say that she was perfectly fine, but she found his fingers suddenly tilting her chin up so that he could stare into her eyes. "I don't think you should go for the party tonight. Just head home and rest," he sounded worried now. "Your forehead feels a little warm. And these dark circles…"
Now he was just pointing out her flaws. She jerked her chin away from his grip. "I'm fine," she insisted. "We're already here, we've stayed around for so long – I might as well just go to MinkPink too. Not like my parents are going to be home now even if I returned at this time, either," she knew she sounded defensive and tried very hard to calm herself down. But why was she behaving this way in the first place? Was it just because of that girl? She was the kind of girl who made Miku feel very insecure about herself, that was true…but surely she couldn't be jealous of that girl now, could she?
She was no more than a passing stranger in her life, after all. "No, I know you're not interested in the party and forcing yourself to stay will just tire you out. Trust me on this," there was an emptiness in Len's gaze that made it seem like he was speaking from personal experience. "There's nothing worse than participating in something when you don't even want to be there. Come on, let's go back. I'll drive you home and explain to the others why you couldn't make it. Gives me an excuse not to attend as well," he flashed her a crooked grin. Miku stared at him. Didn't he actually want to go to MinkPink?
"But you…" she didn't know how to say it. Len finished off the rest of his latte and most of her cake while she struggled to put her thoughts into words, despite him saying that he wasn't really hungry yet. He could eat an awful lot for someone who was supposedly still full from lunch. Len gave her a charming smile and watched her while she sipped at her green tea, her fingers trembling slightly.
"Come on, let's go," he rose from his chair once she was done with her drink, looking out of the café. She frowned, about to protest against leaving – though she really did want to skip the party if she could – but just then her phone buzzed and she looked down, wondering who had messaged her. It was from her mother. She read the text, which told her that their transit plane was delayed and they were now expected to arrive home early tomorrow morning instead of tonight. Her mother also told her not to stay out too late partying. Of course, the text just made her even more reluctant to go to MinkPink. "What was that?" Len asked, noticing the way her face fell. She put her phone away.
"Nothing. My parents got their flight delayed, that's all," she shrugged. "Happens a lot, I guess. But now I don't know what I want to do – either I hang around for the party or I go back to an empty house. Both options don't seem too appealing," she admitted. The blond boy looked thoughtful.
"You can come hang out at my place if you want. I don't mind keeping you company," he shrugged. "But I'll have to rush out my homework because I was procrastinating all week, so I hope that you won't mind me being rather quiet for the first hour or so," he added. Miku briefly considered this option and decided that it was the best out of the three choices she had, so in the end she agreed. Len smiled. "Let's get going then. You don't have to worry about Rin or Rei, I'll let them know."
She decided to stop pretending that she wanted to hang around too. "Thanks, Len," she whispered, feeling almost guilty about ditching the others – but it really wasn't as though she had wanted to go in the first place anyway. Len nodded at her, holding out a hand to help her up from her seat. After a moment's hesitation, she took hold of his hand – his grip was firm and steady. She caught the other girls in the café giving her surreptitious looks, including the one who came to speak to her just now.
Suddenly, she got really annoyed. Why did people keep breathing down her neck whenever she was with Len? Why did they have to attract so much attention wherever they went? She just wanted a normal friendship with the guy. She didn't want people to keep telling her she couldn't do this, or she couldn't do that, or have to keep a constant watch for Len's potential stalkers. She didn't mind being friends with him really, despite what she blurted out just now – but it could be such a pain!
She grabbed his elbow tightly, her fingers digging into his skin. Len glanced curiously at her but didn't say anything, leading her outside. The international student did not come over to speak to him as they left.
"She's a little upset that you ditched them without warning, but she understands that you weren't that keen on going in the first place," Len put his phone down, adjusting his glasses. Miku wondered whether he actually needed them or not since he didn't seem to wear them most of the time.
"Well, I didn't intend to leave until just now either," she sighed, lacing her fingers together on her lap. Len was sitting on an armchair and she was on the long couch, now dressed in a simple white blouse and a pair of shorts. Before she went to Len's place she dropped by her own house first to get some work of her own as well as to put on more comfortable clothes. Len had quickly changed out of his clothes as well, and was now wearing a faded old shirt and a pair of fitted trousers. He had taken his hair out of his ponytail, so now the blond locks hung loosely around his face, slightly dishevelled.
His hair was really longer than Rin's. She idly wondered why he kept it at such a length – she never found out why when they were younger, and now she still didn't know. But Len looked so focused on his work that it didn't seem like a good time to ask. "Don't worry about Rin, she's surprisingly easy-going about being dumped at the last moment," he answered distractedly. "We've both had experience with that since our mother tends to be very fickle minded about her plans. I'd be more concerned about Mizki if I were you," his fingers flew over his keyboard, like how they did over piano keys.
Miku glanced up from her own notes. She was still trying to study for the quiz tomorrow. She really wanted to ace it, every quiz counted towards her grade after all. She wasn't naturally super smart or anything, so she had to make up for it with diligence and hard work. "Mizki…yeah, I know," she sighed. She wasn't looking forward to Mizki's reaction when she found out that Miku wasn't going to MinkPink after all. And Rei as well – she was sure that he would be disappointed about her backing out. But spending time with Len in a quiet house seemed much more appealing than going to a rowdy nightclub.
Len didn't answer that, instead pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and turning towards some of his reference books. It was a class she didn't take, so she wasn't interested in whatever he was researching, but the red spectacles reminded her of the only other time she ever saw him wearing them – when they were in the library, talking about his secret song. He had been reading his diary then – had he finally managed to decipher his own handwriting yet? She would ask him about that later, when he was done with his work. Ducking her head, she focused on her notes, memorising all the important facts she would have to know for the quiz. She really hated studying, but she had to…
She wanted to succeed in life, get good grades, find a great job and put all her past rebelliousness behind her. There was nothing she could gain out of going down that path once more. She had taken enough risks in her youth, and as a result she just wanted a stable life now. Sometimes she almost envied Len. The grades she had to work hard for came so easily to him. He had always been smart – she was aware of that, even in the past he never seemed to spend time studying but he got an A for practically every subject he took. But back then this hadn't been a cause for envy. Now things were different.
"Do you actually need your spectacles?" she asked after some time had passed and she was tired of rereading her notes. Len glanced up at that question, his fingers pausing for a moment, before his lips tilted upwards and he nodded, gaze going back to his laptop screen. She frowned. "I don't see you wearing them though?" she asked, curling up in her seat. Len looked up again, this time putting his laptop on the coffee table – she felt a little bad for distracting him from his work, but at the same time she was glad to be able to chat for a while. Miku was not a very focused person.
"My degree isn't terribly high," Len answered, leaning forward to pick up his glass of water. He took a sip as he spoke. The ice in the glass had already melted. "I don't need glasses during my day-to-day life, and actually I can do work even without them, but I'd rather have them on," he shrugged. "So that I won't have to struggle to read small text. I don't think spectacles suit me, actually," his lips curved upwards again, "but my degree isn't so high that I'd go and invest in contacts. So I just put them on when I'm doing work, that's all. Is that surprising? You seem shocked," he observed.
Miku blinked, shaking her head sharply. "No, it's not," she fidgeted, scratching the back of her neck. "I was just wondering since I don't see you wearing them most of the time. I think they look nice on you though," she said truthfully. Contrary to what he said, the red framed glasses stood out against his pale skin and his sharp blue eyes, creating a very striking image. Len laughed and leant back in the armchair, still holding on to his glass of water. She felt really comfortable – for some reason it just seemed much more natural to be here, talking to Len, than to be part of a large group of people all waiting to attend a party she didn't really want to go to. "What are you working on?"
Len looked at his laptop, something almost like distaste flitting across his face. "Nothing much, just a report for one of my other classes. It's pretty stupid actually, I don't think this paper deserves thirty percent of my overall grade, but oh well," he shrugged. "It's easier to get it over and done with, it's due on Tuesday anyway and I'm going to be finished with it soon. Are you bored?" he asked, tilting his head. Although she was bored, and terribly so at that, she said no. It wouldn't be nice to bother him any further since he did warn her earlier that he had to complete his work. Len smiled and went back to his laptop, and she looked listlessly through her notes, glancing at the clock once every few minutes.
Perhaps he could sense her restlessness because after a while, Len looked up at her again, catching her attention. "Do you want to play the piano?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She was in the middle of turning a page and she looked up at the sound of his voice, her hand stilling. "You seem like you need a break, and I know it's really boring to just sit around and watch me finish my research report. I'll be done real soon, but if you want you can go up and play. Just remember to close the lid when you're done," he added absentmindedly, his gaze drifting back to his books. Miku jumped up at the opportunity, setting her papers aside – anything was better than rereading her notes for the fourth time.
She climbed up the stairs to where the piano room was, opening and closing the door as gently as she could. For some reason it seemed almost sacrilegious to make too much noise here – any sound that was not produced by the grand piano itself. She felt along the wall, flipping the switch, and bright light suddenly flooded the room, illuminating the beautiful piano. It gleamed beneath the lights, beckoning to her. She approached it, her gaze dipping over every curve and smooth line, her heart in her throat. She was reminded of Len – his playing, his focus, how his fingers could produce something so lovely that it seemed like a sin to interrupt him halfway. Would she ever reach that level?
Shaking herself out of her trance, she crossed over to his cabinet full of scores, randomly choosing one of the music books. She realised that she had chosen a volume full of modern music, mostly inspired by the sounds of nature. It seemed an interesting choice, the pieces all created by a famous Japanese composer. She knew some of these songs and could recognise their influence on Len's work. But she wasn't in the mood to play this…she put the book back, letting her fingers run across the many files and books placed neatly in the cabinet. Then her fingers found the edge of a thin folder, bright red in colour, and she pulled it out, curious about what was inside. It appeared to be some of Len's compositions.
The pages were slightly yellowed, so she supposed the works here were all rather old. Her gaze went over the different songs – there were only four songs here, all of them relatively short, only two or three pages each. She looked at the title of the first one – First Snow, the title read, and the opening of the piece did remind her of falling snowflakes. Each chord was carefully chosen, and even when the bar contained only a single note, it was clearly meant to do more than just fill in the silence – Len had directions for even his staccato notes, commanding the player to somehow join all the notes together into one smooth slur. She wondered when he had composed this – it seemed to be a little different from his current work, with less of the refined elegance his pieces now possessed, but there was still a certain rawness to the music, a sign of deep passion and hours of composing, and playing, and thinking, and reworking, over and over again to create this final, finished product.
Maybe she would give First Snow a try. It didn't look too difficult. Going to the piano, she raised the heavy lid as gently as she could and pulled away the red velvet cloth which covered the ivory keys, tucking her chair in and checking her posture before she placed her hands over the piano. The score rested on the stand before her, calling out to her. She took in a deep breath and, checking through the notes one more time, she slowly began to play. It was nerve-wracking to be playing one of Len's compositions at first, she was so scared that she would mar the piece somehow, but the more she played the more she realised how…simple it was. Len had not created the melody with the intention of confusing the player. He didn't set out to make it difficult. No, the notes flowed naturally, as though every single mark on the score was meant to be there, like it was simply the order of things.
For once, she made no mistake. The notes were easy to follow, the directions simple and clear. She dared to speed up a little, going closer to the specified tempo, and found herself enjoying the piece, the quick notes like fresh snow and children's laughter. A smile spread over her face – the song was the whiteness of snow on a crisp winter's day, before it was dirtied by footsteps and cleared away by shovels. It was fresh, pure virgin snow – it was the joy of a child and the gentle beauty of a snowflake. There were some notes that seemed to clash oddly with the rest of the piece at times, but it wasn't so bad that it distracted from the overall melody. In fact, the jarring notes gave the piece its own quaint charm.
"Miku?" she heard Len's voice, and abruptly she stopped playing, whipping around to face the door. Len stood there, no longer wearing his spectacles, a faint look of surprise on his face. "Is that one of my songs?" when she nodded sheepishly, he entered the room, looking at the score she had placed on the piano stand. "First Snow…oh, I remember this one. I composed this around four years ago, if I remember correctly," he laughed. "It took a long time before I came up with anything I deemed satisfactory. Of course now, I can do better, but this was the first piece I actually liked," he picked it up fondly, looking through the pages. Miku watched him as he read through the sheets of music.
He looked most genuine when he had music. It made her feel almost wistful – there was a time in the past where she could have seen that boyish smile whenever she wanted, but it was hard to see him smiling the same way nowadays. "It's really good, especially if you composed it when you were only fourteen," she offered. "I don't think I would have the patience to come up with something so lovely at that age…" no, most certainly not. Miku had been anything but patient when she was fourteen. In fact, at that point she couldn't really remember what she was doing, but it definitely wasn't music. Her interest in singing and the piano usually waxed and waned with the years.
"Anyone could do this as long as they're patient enough," Len laughed again, shaking his head and putting the score back on the stand. "I don't think composition is really all about talent. Of course that's very important, but all the genius in the world won't matter if you don't have any motivation, don't you think? If I didn't have the motivation to write everything down on paper and continuously refine it until I got something I wanted, you wouldn't be seeing that music sheet now," he pointed out. He perched on the edge of the piano seat as he spoke, and she shifted aside to make space for him.
Suddenly, the room felt extremely small. The piano room definitely wasn't a small room, but with Len sitting so close to her, she felt like she couldn't breathe, like the four walls were trying to suffocate her. Her chest felt tight. Probably with nerves – she knew she was good, but some part of her couldn't stop comparing herself to Len. Then again, how could she expect to be as good as him? He had put in far more hours into practicing than she did. The most she could do now was just to try and catch up with him. "We can try a duet," Len suggested. "I'm done with my report, so we can play together if you want. I have a book full of duets I'd like to play, but I never managed to find a suitable partner."
"I'm not that good at duets," she admitted. She never really practiced them, since she was always on the move and didn't form any true or lasting friendships with anyone. Besides, it was hard to play with another person when she only had a keyboard. Len just grinned and got up, heading over to the cabinet – he retrieved another book and returned to the seat, flipping the pages and pushing his folder aside. She glanced at the song and blinked in surprise – it was a simple, two-player arrangement of "Tale as Old as Time", the Disney song. "You actually have a book full of Disney songs?" she asked, incredulous.
"Why not? Are you judging me now?" Len retorted, eyes gleaming with good humour. She didn't know what to say – it just seemed so unlike him. He let her look through the piece. "Now, the hard thing about duets isn't the playing," Len cautioned. "Usually that's pretty easy. What's hard is matching the tempo of the other person. Neither one of us can ever lose the tempo otherwise the entire melody gets torn apart. We can start slow though, so that you'll get used to my playing. It'll be good practice," he added when she gave him a nervous look. "In case you forgot, we have to submit a duet for the Music Festival and if we win, we'd have to play it. So we should start practicing now."
"Using Disney songs?" she muttered, flipping the page. The song had a total of three pages, and every bar looked so easy that probably even a child could play it. If Len didn't look so serious about this matter, she would have felt rather insulted. "Well…if you say so," she shrugged, lifting her hands and resting them against the piano keys. Len nodded and did the same – he was taking the higher treble, while she took the bass. So he started, and Mku watched carefully, waiting for her time to begin.
Sight-reading was easy, but Miku quickly realised that what Len said was terribly true – that the hardest part was not playing her part by itself, but instead matching her tempo to his. The first few bars she played a beat faster, and it took a bit of struggling before she could slow down enough to match him, and the song actually started to sound like it was supposed to. Len didn't break his concentration at all, not even for a single moment – she could practically feel him thinking beside her, and all of a sudden she felt extremely aware of their close proximity to each other. During a particularly long pause for her part, she snuck a glance at him and saw him watching the music score so intently that she wouldn't be surprised if he burnt a hole through the paper. Noticing that he was nearing the end of his part, she reached out to help him flip the page just as he raised his hand to do the same thing.
Their hands brushed, and abruptly Len's other hand stopped, the sudden silence in the room almost deafening after all the music she had just heard here. She snatched her hand away, as though she had been burnt, and Len slowly placed his hands back on his lap as well. Neither one of them said anything to each other for a while, though her heart was thudding in her chest. The atmosphere was suddenly extremely awkward. She hated this feeling – maybe she should have gone to the party, after all. At least there would be other people then. Just being alone with Len was, well…weird.
"You didn't look really happy after that girl left our table at the café, this afternoon," Len spoke first, his voice very soft. She could feel him staring at her. "Is there a reason why? Did she say something to you? I know you said that she didn't, but…well, you should have seen the look on your face back then," he sounded almost guilty, like he was admitting to doing something he shouldn't have done.
"She didn't," Miku stubbornly insisted. It was true that she didn't say anything out of the ordinary. She hadn't insulted her or talked down to her or anything. In fact, if Miku had to be truthful, the girl seemed very friendly. She reminded her of Mizki or Rin, one of those popular girls everyone liked. She was everything that Miku knew she wasn't. Though in the past she could pretend to be popular, and there was a point in her life where she had more friends than she could keep up with, it wasn't something that came to her naturally. None of it was genuine. Miku was not really as friendly as she pretended to be. She hated keeping up appearances – she wasn't naturally amiable, and she was aware of that.
"Honestly?" Len's blue eyes were intense. He was too close to her, way too close – her mind blanked out and for a moment she couldn't think. Their faces were so close that if he leant in even just a tiny bit…her face warmed and she ducked her head so that Len wouldn't see her blush. The last thing she wanted was to be attracted to him! "Miku, I know you're not telling me the whole truth. You're a pretty bad liar," he sounded amused now – she could hear the playfulness in his words, but there was still that subtle undercurrent of curiosity. He was probing, waiting for her to admit something. But she wouldn't.
"Nothing, it's nothing!" she blurted out, rising from the chair. Len stared up at her in surprise as she backed away from him, trying to recover some semblance of dignity. If she stayed here any longer it would just prove how flustered she was – despite not having any clear reason to be flustered. "I ought to go back now, you probably still have work to do and I don't want to disturb you," she babbled. "And I still have stuff that I need to do at home! Yeah! Um, thanks for keeping me company, Len," she waved a little and turned, thankful to get away from here before she did something embarrassing.
But she felt a hand catch her arm and pull her back, turning her around. Len was watching her now, his eyes narrowed. She gulped. His blue eyes were so clear, so penetrating. "You weren't disturbing me," he frowned. "If you're sick, you really need to get yourself checked. Now isn't a good time to become ill," he cautioned. She nodded, sure that her face was flushed – she didn't think he would assume she was sick if it wasn't. "Good night then, I'll see you around in school tomorrow," he murmured, his hand tightening a little around her arm before he suddenly let go. She said good night as well, hoping that there wouldn't be any more interruptions as she tried to get back to her house.
Dashing out of the room, she raced down the stairs and packed her things as quickly as she could, leaving through the front door the very moment she collected everything she brought over. She practically ran all the way back to her empty, silent house, her heart racing from the exertion. She didn't want to be attracted to him – she swore she wouldn't have anything to do with him, not after finding out what he was like now. But if he really changed his ways for her…would she change her mind?