Sugar-Coated Accident
Chapter Twenty-Five
"The Kingdom of Yellow"
The weeks seemed to pass by quickly after Len and Haku's first date; perhaps a little too quickly, to coin a cliché phrase. However, the point still stood. Time was simply flying by, in a manner that made Len blink and do a double, triple, quadruple take.
Had it really been twenty-four days since he and Haku went to the park?
And, more importantly, a point Len had noted far more than the time he spent with the silver-haired Vocaloid…
Had it really been twenty-four days since he had seen Kaito happy?
That's not to say the blue-haired Vocaloid did not smile at all, though. On the surface, he still remained his bright, cheery, sort-of stupid self. He would crack terrible jokes with Miku (she was the only Vocaloid polite enough to laugh), discuss anime with Teto (they were both of the opinion that K-On! was 'adowable') and unwittingly incur the Wrath of Meiko by making thoughtless, yet one-hundred-percent innocent, comments.
The Vocaloid family, in general, appeared pretty normal.
Well, as normal as an oddball group of singing/dancing robots could be.
Miku would cook leek pancakes, Teto would sing along to K-On!, Rin would plot and scheme in her bedroom, Meiko would get drunk and Kaito would laugh.
But he never laughed with Len anymore.
He didn't even look at him.
Now, Len wasn't stupid. In actuality, his IQ wa higher than his cute, shota-esque features would suggest. He was always the 'responsible' twin – the one who watched over his impulsive sister to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
Moreover, Kaito wasn't one to hide his emotions particularly well. It was almost impossible not to notice how his face fell whenever he saw Haku, or how he would instinctively leave the room if Haku and Len entered.
He was, if Len was very much mistaken, jealous.
Len knew this should have been a good sign. If Kaito was jealous, surely that meant he wished he was the one with Len instead; the one talking to him; the one making him laugh?
The one Len loved.
Rin seemed very pleased with the way events were unfolding. She, too, had above average intelligence, although she used her brains to invade countries and force Len into stupid dresses and matching high heels. And Len really, really hated high heels. They made it harder to run away when she came at him with a curling iron.
Basically, Rin was evil. As in, the devil's right-hand-girl. Satan incarnate.
But she was also smart.
Smart enough to realise Kaito was jealous, at any rate, which was the exact same conclusion her much-adored brother had also come up with.
Nobody else seemed to have noticed the tension that shrouded Kaito and Len, so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Either they had more important things to worry about (nothing, not even nuclear warfare, could tear Teto away from Sailor Moon) or they were dense (-cough-Miku-cough- She was nice, yeah, but certainly no genius), or they plain didn't care (definitely Meiko. If it wasn't alcoholic, she wouldn't show any interest).
Len preferred it that way. If the Teto had even an inkling of his feelings for Kaito, she'd be broadcasting across the whole house and half of Japan.
It was much easier that only he and Rin knew.
However, Rin's feelings on the subject of Kaito and his suspected jealousy/depression were vastly different to her twin's.
Len soon learnt this on the twenty-fourth evening since dating Haku and Kaito smiled (in shorthand that would be 25 DH+KS). He had just returned home from a date with Haku and (clumsily) ran straight into Kaito on his way upstairs. The results had been rather awkward. Len, ever the gentleman, had apologised to the other multiple times, bowing his head. Kaito, on the other hand, had forgone common courtesy. Instead, he made a weird 'kyah!' noise and ran away – most likely in the freezer-wards direction.
After this encounter, Len felt pretty damn terrible. Maybe he'd become scarier than Akita Neru – perish the thought! Her glowering face was enough to scare even the bravest of men. The tsundere was definitely not somebody to cross on a bad day – much like Meiko and Luka and Rin and- dear God, there were an awful lot of scary girls in the Vocaloid family.
More than Len had ever realised.
Anyway.
Len ran into Kaito the moment he came home (after being with Haku for several hours) and, subsequently, almost gave the older boy a heart attack. Feeling like a scary, Akita Neru-ish monster, Len decided to seek comfort from his twin sister.
Looking back on it, seeking comfort from Rin had not been the smartest plan in the whole wide world.
Now why the hell did he do that?
Rin was about as comforting as a crocodile in the bath tub.
"I don't get why you're feeling bad," the blonde Vocaloid had said, shrugging. "You worry too much about people's feelings, Len-kun!"
"Yeah, because I don't want Kaito to get hurt! I'm not a sadist like you," Len replied sarcastically, observing his sister with mild interest.
The blonde was spread out across her yellow bed, sandwiched between Miku's green one and the bedroom wall. Her head was propped up with one hand, an orange felt-tip clasped in the other, and she appeared to be writing on a piece of lined paper. Upon closer inspection, Len realised it was some sort of battle plan – something ominous like 'storm pathetic country & become Queen. Take no hostages. Make Len faithful servant, buy him a cute maid outfit. Charge high taxes!!! Also, behead Gakupo.'
My God.
She really is trying to create her own kingdom.
Len shuddered at the idea; Kagamine Rin's very own Kingdom of Yellow, but real, and even worse than the song which inspired it. Rin would make an excellent tyrannical princess, cheerily squeezing money, happiness and the will to live from her subjects whilst she lived in a fairytale palace.
And she'd go fall in love with Kaito and make Len murder Miku.
Because Rin was just that careless.
"Love is war, Len-kun," said Rin flippantly, setting her felt-tip down. It was a good thing, too. Len didn't know if he'd really be willing to play the Servant of Evil. He'd much rather leave Rin to the mercy of the mob and their shiny guillotine. "Just think! It's a good thing Kaito feels so crappy!"
"It's a good thing that, every time he sees me, he goes all pale and shivery and looks like someone's pulling his fingernails out?!" asked Len incredulously, raising one eyebrow. "He treats me like I'm some insane serial killer hand fetishist, Rin!"
"I don't see any problem with that."
"Of course you wouldn't!" cried Len, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You like singing songs about insane serial killer hand fetishists! You're probably one yourself!" And then, under his breath, he added, "You really are a sadist…"
"Ehh. I'm no more an insane serial killer hand fetishist than Len-kun is a suave playboy rapist. And if my memory serves me correctly, you like singing songs about those."
"That's totally different!"
"Hardly," said Rin, sticking out her tongue. "Ahhh, how I love my delightful suave playboy rapist twin~"
"How I dislike my uncute, insane killer hand fetishist sister."
"And of course, there's also Len-kun's dim-witted, ice-cream loving soon-to-be boyfriend. Who knows?" Rin giggled mischievously. "Next time you feel all lonely you can go maul him instead of me~ But oh! Our poor twincesty fanbase… How disappointed they'll all be." Rin sniffed theatrically. "Why don't we all share, then?! You can have Kaito… And I can have you! Simple!"
Len's felt his cheeks heat up slightly at Rin's blunt, matter-of-fact suggestion. At least she was joking.
At least, Len thought she was joking.
"Okay. Please, please, please don't let that be your secret fantasy," said Len dryly, glad to note the blush had dissipated. "And I'm not going to maul Kaito anyway."
"Hmn. Shame."
"I mean, even if I wanted to I couldn't," continued Len. "He's pretty much avoiding me at the moment, in case you didn't notice."
"Of course I noticed. He wasn't exactly subtle about it. May as well yelled 'I don't wanna be your friend anymore!' in front of the whole family, plus Leon and Lola and Prima and Sweet Ann and the others."
"Oh yeah…" said Len pensively, now lost in thought. Leon, Lola, etc, were really, really distant members of the Vocaloid family – like, so distant they lived in Europe. Or maybe they'd moved to America...? Len didn't know.
The blond felt a minor stab of guilt for forgetting his cousins even existed.
"Well, at any rate," said Len, "I don't think everything's going to be all love and joy between me and Kaito now. I mean, I feel horrible for messing with his feelings, so imagine what he's going through! I should just break up with Haku-"
Rin glared at Len sharply, her green eyes seeming intense, smouldering like coals.
"You can't."
"But why not?" asked Len, holding his ground. He'd seen the 'I Am Soooo Pissed Off Right Now' look countless times before, it didn't phase him. "I mean, if Kaito's jealous then he must like me."
"You can't just assume these things, Len-kun!" exclaimed Rin. "I mean, so what if Kaito likes you? It's not going to mean anything unless he tells you himself!"
"But-"
"He's probably all confused and depressed and in denial about everything. If you say 'yeah, okay, let's hang out again!' he'll never realise just how much he likes you and you'll go back to being friends! At square one! And that'd be, like, such a waste of time."
Len frowned, inwardly digesting this information.
"Makes sense, huh?" said Rin, looking back down at her rough draft for world domination. "When I plan stuff out I plan it out perfectly, okay? I don't want you messing it all up. It's for the sake of your happy ending!"
The blond sighed, arms folded, face a careful mask of apathy.
"Tch. Fine."
"You better listen to me, Len-kun! I'm the one who spent an age researching all this romance stuff, remember? All those dating sims~ Countless hours I'll never get back~"
"I thought you liked dating sims."
Rin grinned sheepishly. "Yea. I guess. And do you know what?"
"What?"
There a small pause. Len tapped his fingers against his arm, waiting.
Rin drew a deep breath, drawing out the silence further, before; "A load of the sappy romantic confessions are triggered by going to a festival!!!" She sounded so bouncy and excited, punching the air with her fist to illustrate the point.
Len's face remained blank, stoic, frozen.
"…Festivals?"
Rin groaned, heaving herself into a sitting position. "Do I really have to spell it out for you? It's nearly July 15th!"
"The 15th…?"
"You know!" prompted Rin, gesticulating wildly. "A carnival, watermelon, fireworks, yutaka – everything that makes Japanese festivals cool and interesting!"
"You mean…" Len frowned. Realisation had dawned at last. How could he have forgotten?
"Exactly! It's nearly time for the Obon Festival! And festivals are real popular places for people to realise their true love~~"
a.n: yay a festival xD now i know this story has definitely nearly finished, because the festival is the last arc~ la, la~ i have been attempting to write in a more succinct manner xD do you think it worked? do you, do you? i hope the story is easier to follow now xD
yayy. i love all my reviewers =D you guys are so epic! and the pplz who fave my stuff & put it on story alert~ it always makes me smile ^^