"That's not how it works, Rin." Len growled.
"Why not!" Rin cried. "You have all the pieces."
"No, Rin, I don't. No matter how much you tell me, the memories are not coming back. That's what I've been trying to tell you. It will always be a story no matter how many times you tell it. I can put my small memories where they belong in your stories, but that's it."
"But what if I gave you my memories?"
"I told you, no." Len groaned. "Those are not my memories. Your feelings are not my feelings because I am not you. My memories may be broken, but at least they're mine. I know you just want me back to normal, but you can't fix this Rin."
"I can."
"No, you can't. Give me time and I can re-learn what I knew, but I will not remember. We're computers Rin, not people. What's gone is gone, it's not coming back."
Rin shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "That's not true."
"It is true."
"No." Rin cried. "No it's not, because I can feel it. If I just try hard enough, you'll remember. I'm sure of it."
Len sighed. "That's not how it works, Rin. The only way my memories could possibly come back is if they were stored somewhere else, but they aren't. I really am sorry, Rin. I wish this didn't happen, but I do know that if this is what it took to save you, then I don't regret it."
"I do." Rin growled, glaring at Len.
"Rin?" Len backed away slightly.
"All I wanted was my brother to come back, but you. You are not him!" Rin shouted, tears streaming down her face. "You're just a copy that replaced my brother and I want him back."
Len said nothing as Rin stormed out of his room. He flinched when the door slammed behind her, but remained silent, staring blankly at the now closed door. He felt a few tears escape his eyes, but did nothing about them.
"Len? Can I come in?"
Len remained completely still.
"Len?" Miku questioned, slowly opening the door. She gently shut it behind her and walked over to Len. He didn't acknowledge she was there until she pulled him into a hug. He returned it, hugging Miku tightly as tears silently flooded his eyes.
"There you are. Are you okay?" Miku whispered.
Len shook his head.
"You know she didn't mean it, right? Rin's just upset."
Len said nothing, practically clinging on to Miku.
"Len?"
"It hurts," he whispered, forcing his voice to remain even.
"I know. It's not true though."
"But it is." Len said, pulling out of Miku's hug and wiping the tears from his eyes. He sighed as he sat on his bed.
Miku joined him. "It's not true. You're still you."
"Maybe, but I'm not the same. If that means I'm not her brother anymore, then I'm not. It's not like there's anyone who could tell her otherwise."
"Hey, there is. There's you, and I can tell her otherwise."
"But she'd still be right. It's not official. I can't and won't force her to be my sister."
"That's not fair though. You haven't changed. Not really."
"But I'm not the same. Whatever I was is gone. Shattered apart and stitched together to make whatever I am now. Even just this cat." Len gently grabbed Winter from behind him where she'd been gently rubbing against his back. "I barely remembered her name was Winter. Rin had to teach me how to turn her on and off. I remember that what Rin said is true, she's my favorite, but I don't know why. I don't remember how I got her. I don't remember programming her. I have to re-learn all that just to understand what I did. Rin's right. Her brother is gone."
Miku didn't respond immediately. She simply stared at Len.
"What are you staring at?"
"My friend, obviously. I really don't see any difference."
"But I—"
"You look the same." Miku cut Len off. "You sound the same. You act the same. So what if you forgot how to do some things? You'll learn to do them again soon enough. Rin just needs some time to realize that. In the meantime, you're all mine."
"Wait, what? Ow! Hey!" Len souted, glaring at Miku after she yanked the hair tie out of His hair.
"Now just to do this."
"Stop it!" Len pouted as Miku ruffled his hair causing it all to fall towards his shoulders. He quickly pushed her hand away, but it was already too late.
"There, now you look just like Rin." Miku giggled.
"I'm not Rin!" Len whined, his face bright red as he covered his hair. "I'm not a girl," he pouted quietly.
"Nope, cause your Len. But it's way too fun to tease you about it." Miku smirked, flicking the hair tie so it hit Len in the forehead.
Len simply pouted, rubbing where the hair tie hit. With a wave of his hand his hair was fixed back to normal. He watched Miku as her smile dropped and she became oddly silent. Len was about to say something, but Miku beat him to it.
"You know, Len, I'm actually really glad I got you alone for a moment. Rin's kinda been hogging you for the past few days, and she's still…" Miku sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, thank you, Len. Rin may still be too upset to say it, but I'm not. Thank you so much for saving us, for saving me. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and no words could possibly express how grateful I am to be here. So, please, don't let Rin get you down too badly. Whatever she says, you did do the right thing."
Len smiled softly. "Thank you Miku. You have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that. I really hope you're right about Rin."
"I know I'm right." Miku smiled.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Len called.
Rin carefully came in from her room with Kaito right behind her.
"Rin?" Len questioned, cautiously.
"Hi, Len," Rin whispered.
"Hi? Is something wrong?"
Rin shook her head. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I shouldn't have said that. I don't mean it."
"So I've been told." Len smiled. "It's okay. You're just upset."
"I still shouldn't have said it. You saved us. It's not your fault what happened to you. I'm sorry and… thank you." Rin whispered. "But I still think you can get your memories back," she stated firmly. "I can feel it. I'm sure you can, so don't stop me from trying."
Len smiled. "Well then. I'll just have to wait for you to realize you're wrong, or somehow, you'll prove us all wrong."
"Don't worry. I'll be the one proving you wrong." Rin huffed proudly. "That's what big sisters do after all."
"Only by a minute. That doesn't count."
Rin blinked, slightly startled before she smirked. "That you can remember?"
"Apparently."
"By the way, how did you two know to come talk to us anyway?" Rin asked, her attention instantly shifting to Miku and Kaito.
"They were probably listening the whole time." Len answered for them.
Kaito looked away as Miku tried to come up with a distraction. "Hey, you know what sounds great? What if we had a sleepover tipe thing. It is getting late. Come on, it could be fun."
Rin looked at her skeptically.
"Any of our rooms are a bit small for four people," Len commented. "Three, sure, but four?"
"We could sleep outside in the main room. It would be like a camp out, just without really being outside." Miku smiled.
"Okay, sounds like fun." Rin smiled. "Come on Len."
"And there goes my choice in the matter." Len sighed. "You coming Kaito?"
"Sure." Kaito shrugged.
They all got ready and met in the main vocaloid room with whatever blankets and pillows they wanted. They chose spots to sleep and Kaito joined Len singing Snowman as they all went to sleep.
