Not too much to say before this chapter, so I will say this to you, dear loyal readers. Please enjoy, as always.
Thanks To Reviewers:
`FairySnoop: I normally don't address reviewers directly in the chapter, but I think you deserve it for one of the best reviews I've gotten. So I personally, in front of the people skimming this author's note, thank you.
`Lolly1o1
`zhane17
`awesome dt
And yes, I promise in next chapter I will write more on "I killed daddy" from chapter 18! So no worries, I will soon answer all your questions!
~Tiruneko ;3
X~21~X
"Len there is no way in hell I'm ever wearing that." Rin groans as her twin teases her with a hot pink dress covered in silver sequins and white ruffles. She makes a disgusted face, and pushes the dress away. The department store is nearly empty, just a handful of middle aged women and their children, too preoccupied with their busy lives to notice the four strange red eyed kids sorting through the clothes.
IA comes bounding out of the dressing room, nearly crashing into Len. Her eyes glow and shimmer with excitement. She is wearing a black T-shirt with white stripes and a light pink pleated skirt. She has knee tall white socks with two matching pink stripes over the top. She has red sneakers lastly, with the laces sloppily tied.
"That's the one?" Len asks, putting a hand on her head. She nods so fast she nearly makes herself dizzy.
Miku comes walking out of the dressing room, blushing. Her eyes stare at the floor, her mouth covered by a black scarf. She is wearing a grey tank top, not the type with the spaghetti straps, just a basic tank top. She has a black mini skirt with teal stripes at the bottom and black flats for shoes with tall basic white socks. The scarf she is wearing is wrapped around her neck, covering her mouth entirely. The tails of the scarf are nearly as long as her hair with tassels at the ends.
Len sighs, still sifting through the rack of male's apparel, looking for the right thing. He hears Rin utter a small cheer, and hears her footsteps fade as she runs into the changing rooms to try on what she found.
IA holds out a white button down T-shirt with a small collar. The fabric is thin, and it is basically Len's size.
"Hey thanks." He says rubbing the top of her head.
"No, no, stop it!" She whines, swatting his hand away laughing.
Miku stands behind them, with a sly smile. She is holding out black cargo shorts that go to knee length, and a black and orange stripped hoodie. Len extends a hand, grabbing the hangers of clothes from the two. He has come to realize Miku doesn't like talking much. It seems to make her uncomfortable and quite nervous, probably due to lack of social contact. Len nods to her as he walks away, flashing a smile at her. Miku blushes and smiles back, the action barely visible due to her enormous scarf.
While the two twins change IA rushes forward, grabbing Miku by the hands and nearly shouting in her face. "I love this!" She cries, throwing her arms up in the air, and spinning until she falls down. Miku laughs.
The curtain to the changing room slides open, and Rin comes out, adjusting the zipper on her jacket. She is wearing a white shirt with a V-neck with three buttons at the top. The sleeves stop at her elbow. She has on a pair of black shorts. Her feet slip into black sneakers. The jacket she wears is a brown windbreaker, almost identical to Len's except for the fact that the inside of it is stripped maroon and black and also is made out of a slightly different material, and the outside of his is orange and black striped. Her hair is pinned back with four white clips, and a white bow is on her head.
She feels the girls' eyes on her, and she blushes, turning away with a detestable expression.
"I-I like it." Miku says, smiling at Rin.
Len comes out next. He is wearing the crisp button down white T-shirt IA grabbed, and the shorts and jacket Miku picked out. His hair is pulled into the usual short but high pony tail.
"Well if you're going to look like that I'll pick something else." He murmurs under his breath, digging in his old pockets for the old wallet and for what's left inside. He motions Rin over with a bizarre expression on his face, whispering to her. "We don't have enough."
"Just leave what we have on the bench in the changing room and let's bail." Rin uses her newly-purchased pocket knife to saw the tags off everyone's outfits, and once the cashier has walked in the back to help a customer, they all rush out the doors, smiling at the setting sun and the crisp smelling air. "Oh yeah, this is spring at its finest!" Rin cries, clasping her hands behind her head and looking up at the sky.
"Let's get the bikes off of the car!" Len suggests, running out to the parking lot.
"There's only two." Miku points out. "A-and I've never rode one before…" She adds, trailing off at the end.
"Ride on Len's handle bars, I'll take IA in the basket on the back of mine." Rin says, pulling one of the black bikes with a basket down from the rack on top of the car. She lifts IA from under her arms and places her in the basket.
Miku nervously sits on top of Len's handlebars, gripping them tightly as he tears out of the parking lot and onto the busy streets filled with people. Miku stretches out her arms, unfurling them like wings, and begins to laugh suddenly. Just a happy, truly happy laugh, with the widest smile on her face you would ever see in your life. The group rides off down the busy streets, making a game out of weaving through the crowds as fast as they can.
They rode off into the sunset, Miku's teal hair and black scarf whipping around in the evening air as she laughs and smiles like never before.
These days, are happier.
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
Rin walks over to Len, placing a hand on his shoulder as he stares out of the hotel window. Miku and IA are both in the bathroom, gawking at their newly clothed reflections in the mirror.
"I hate this." Len mutters.
"I know, I do too, but sometimes we have to steal. You know that Len." Rin says, sitting beside him and putting a hand on his back.
"It's not that…" Rin glares at him, and he corrects himself. "Well yea it is that but it's also everything else." He pauses for a long time and before he speaks again Rin already has opened a orange flavored soda and is sipping it gingerly beside him. "I want to just find somewhere, some big city somewhere to just… settle down in for a while. If I keep doing this I feel like I'm going to drive myself insane, and those expressions on their faces… Miku and IA, I just think that they deserve this break the most. They need this Rin and so do we."
"Len we can't just entirely forget about running, you and I both know staying in once place for a long time causes a lot of problems that were nearly impossible to fix. You and I both grow attachments to people, that's natural, and we both grow to accustomed to staying in one place. We can still enjoy ourselves while we are still on the move."
"But where are we even going to go? What's your master plan Rin? Keep running until we fall of the face of the Earth?" He snaps, standing and glaring down, fuming at his sister who stares at him like he's an idiot.
"What do you mean what's the plan? Isn't the plan what it's always been, you moron?" She groans. "The plan is to find out why we're like this in the first place. The plan is to extract information from the corporations when we can, and from other sources."
"What other sources? And I'm pretty sure the last time we ran into the corporation they killed us numerous times, what do you suggest Rin? That in the middle of that chaos we play 'prime time investigation show' and sit them down for a nice cup of coffee and go, 'oh by the way, why the hell have you been tormenting us our entire lives?' Cause I'm sure that will work out just fine."
She lands a hard slap right across Len's face, stunning him momentarily. Len hits back after a stunned moment. Rin lashes out, grabbing Len by the hair and pushing him, face first into the carpet, rolling him and spitting right in his eyes. Len pushes her hard, and now with him on top, he punches her in the chin. His sister immediately throws her head into his, landing a fierce head butt that sends a loud ringing shooting through his ears. Rin forms a fake gun with her fingers, presses it into Len's forehead.
"Bam. Dead." She says simply with no emotion.
Len starts to laugh, and it slowly gathers energy, developing into a fully fledged laughter. Rin laughs back, until they're both almost hysterical on the floor. Miku watches with a bizarre, nearly horrified expression, borderline panic. IA simply claps her hands together, uttering her milky high pitched giggle.
Oh yes, Rin knew just how to subdue her hot headed brother. It had never been hard to figure him out, he was, after all, always by her side. Eventually Miku begins to laugh quietly, until the whole group is involved in a large circle of bizarre, therapeutic laughter.
Anyone looking in, even a stranger from the side of the road would think to themselves for a moment, and find it quite hard to resist laughing themselves. This was the funniest thing to the group, who kept laughing, even after the joke had worn off.
And standing here, Miku thinks to herself one simple thought that had never crossed her mind before.
This, this is enough for me.
Author Question: What do you think of the character's outfits? I re read and re read those descriptions over and over, especially Rin's. I wanted to make their outfits reflect their personalities as accurately as possible through their clothes, and give each one of them a unique style. Like at first I had Rin wearing maroon tights and a hoodie instead of a wind breaker, but I soon changed that. I also had Len wearing a solid color jacket, but thought he deserved something a little... cheerier? I'd love to hear some comments and feed back with this!
Thanks
~Tiruneko ;3