The only news getting reported on every channel is the virus. Nothing else. Screw the country's impeachment of their current prime minister, and forget the ice caps melting at rapid speeds at the antarctic, because the entire world is put on hold to highlight the spread of a mediocre disease.
She suspects mediaplay has something to do with this. The elections are coming up soon, the ruling party is definitely trying to distract the opposition from the problems at hand.
Suddenly the television blares loudly, much stronger than the volume she'd set it to.
Rin panics, reaching for the remoteー WARNING, WARNING, DO NOT STEP OUTSIDE YOUR HOMES. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOMES!
Fucking remote! She fumbles between the couch cushions, searching for the device, and smashes a thumb against the mute button. Never in her entire life has she ever heard a news reporter sounding so haywire.
Almost as if there's something out there they genuinely have to fear.
Her eyes go back to the television and the red captions on screen under a data report of the rate of infection. High.
Virus... scientists have discovered... is not airborne... however, do not open your windows under any circumstances.
Curiosity getting the best of her, the young lady heads to the side of the apartment anyway, by the window, and pushes the glass open to take a look down.
Only to meet chaos beneath her.
Smoke on the ground. Covered in ashes, people moving through the streets with what appears to be froth at their mouth and blood in their hands as they crawl through flames. A car is set on fire, and somewhere further down their floor of the building, she thinks she hears a child crying.
Rin clasps a hand over her own mouth, drags the windows shut, and closes the blinds with it as she sinks down the wall.
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Before the lockdown, 8th January, 2014.
She can find peace during evenings in the girl's bathroom, the only place where, ironically, a bunch of them can't fit together in big groups.
(Well. She also couldn't breathe very well in crowds, so there's that.)
Rin girl dried her hands off with a paper towel, squinting ー just slightly, as it ran over the pale, camellia-shaped cloud of her tender skin. Her soulmate mark; a stain she'd rather push off as fable instead of regarding it with any significance.
A sudden sob breaks her train of thought. She can see the shoes of the provider through the reflection of the wide mirror. Her conscience gets the better of her, despite an overwhelming, tempting reminder of self-interest, yelling at her to flee. But she doesn't. Instead, she checks to make sure there isn't anyone else in the room, excluding, of course, herself and the teenage girl sobbing in a stall for all of ten minutes in the loo, before advancing with careful steps forwards.
Rin took deep breath in preparation, eventually rapping the surface, questioning the person behind the door whether they were doing alright.
Only a stifled groan is given in response.
"Erm, if it's a sanitary pad you need... I've got a spare with me." The incorrigible noise stifles almost instantly at the offer. Rin takes that as cue to kneel on the floor, dig through her schoolbag for the necessity in question, then slide the pale-pink wrapper beneath the gap of the stall. The pressure slides away from her palms as a garbled thank you fills her ears, and relief floods her chest at knowing she'd at least done one thing right for the day.
Rin hurriedly rinsed her hands a second time before anything else can hold her back. But soon enough the girl in the toilet stall emerges to join her, throwing the door open in a show of unwarranted confidence. Whoevers eyes' she thought she'd meet, it wasn't who she'd expected.
Maybe black-braces Momo in the year beneath her, or bespectacled Gumiー who happened to be one of her good friends, so she meant no offense in any way... but anyone, anyone, except for gorgeous, perfect, Hatsune Miku, attractive to anyone with common sense, and has a million people running to lick her toes if she so much as said they were beginning to hurt.
Rin would be attracted, too, had this girl not ruined an important part of her life when they were in middle school.
And by that, she doesn't mean that time Miku got full marks instead of her during that one ballet performance.
In her opinion, Miku was all sharp tongues, large breasts, and no brains. She's the most insensitive person you could ever come across on this earth, and there's no need to dicuss anything with a being who can't even comprehend the basic understanding of human empathy.
"Oh, gods, don't tell anybody about this, how humiliating," She gushed out, brilliantly green eyes only slightly sullied by the red strain caused by her sobs, and she spaces her words in the same rapid-fire fashion. "Komachi, right? I'll pay you back." Because heaven forsake not being indebted to someone who helped you when you were in need.
Note to self: Hatsune Miku would not be the person to give you a pad even if you were in desperate need of one. Ever.
As always, avoid at all costs.
"Why I'd tell anyone about your menstrual pains is beyond me," Rin's fingers twitch around the sling of her bag. She gives off an ingenuine smile, just to seem polite. "But I'll take you up for it."
The last part had been added in as a bit of a joke, but Miku didn't seem to notice. Not that she found it amusing, but because she truly didn't care for whatever Rin had to say. "It's not that," She choked out, somehow managing to look like an angel through smeared lipstick and mascara over her face. "I was about to take a pregnancy test."
Alright.
Siren alarms began blaring inside Rin's head, red lights spinning in circles.
Oh gods, oh, hell, she really shouldn't be in this situation right now.
Deep down she realises, with a nod to reality, that if Rin was Miku's shoes, she'd be looking like the troll from the first film of Harry Potter instead of a pretty girl appearing only moderately distressed.
Jealousy struggles not to take over, and when she looks into the mirror, she sees an ogre staring back. Her petite body is suddenly short and tacky beside the older girl's own slender form. Think of the better side of things, she urges herself. At least she's low-maintenance. And at least she doesn't have to beg somebody younger than her not to expose that she was found crying in the bathroom.
"I don't have a use for it anymore. I nicked one. From the clinic." What the hell. Rin felt nauseated. "Then I started bleeding. Would you want it? I can give it to you if you need it."
"... No." And she never will.
Their eyes meet in the reflection of the mirror.
Rin allowed the heels of her Mary Janes' to tap against the tile of the bathroom impatiently, trying to consider the kindest way to excuse herself from the presence of a senior. Would it be rude to simply storm out? It's not like she hasn't done her part in humanitarian efforts today.
Deciding to give it a shot, she waves a hand as a show of farewell, turning towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, I've really got things to do..."
"Are you going to Shion's party on Friday?" But the older girl carries on, turning a deaf ear to the blonde's attempts to sneak away. "My boyfriend wants to go. I think it's a horrible time to go out, but if I don't, he's going to give me hell over it.. then he'll expect me to go to his house afterwards. Then when I tell him I can't, he'll say I'm making up excuses, as he always does. Everything has to go his way."
Right. The atmosphere is getting more and more uncomfortable by the second.
Miku releases another devastated sigh, as if she's the one stuck in the loo listening to a complaints of a girl she couldn't care less about, whining and moaning for what's beginning to feel like hours about having a horrible boyfriend as if it's the biggest tragedy in the whole wide world.
"If only boys didn't have their brains in their dicks." To be fair, anyone who would date an attractive girl, namely this one, for anything other than sex, has only two reasons: they're either a liar or don't have a brain at all. "Has he always acted this way?"
"What?" Rin hissed. Fine.
Now she knows where this is going.
She should've guessed it before.
A fake, thoughtful pause. "Len. You were friends, right?"
Nevermind that she hasn't had a single pleasant conversation with Kagamine Len for years, nevermind that Miku plays a part in the big reason why. But the only thing she can focus on is how Miku knows exactly the reason their situation isn't the best, even where her sore spots lay, and in glee, hits at it without reason.
Scowling nastily at the older girl, she notices Miku has mastered the art of a sickeningly sweet smile. It displays all the false innocence in the universe, and Rin storms off into the corridor, refusing to turn back.
She bumps into a hundred people on her way out, and she couldn't be the least bit damned to apologise
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: 🎇 :
Current day.
January 11th, 2014.
Their sleeping arrangements for the entire two-week span has been decided. Her place is on the couch, as expected, because Kagamine Len is not gentlemanly, even if he's everything else. She knows that if she rang his mother to file a complaint, there's a very good chance the woman would simply offer she have his room, and leave her son to sleep in the living area.
But, no. No thanks.
As if she would sleep in his bed again. Feelings of herself as an intruder aside, she doesn't know what he's done under those sheets, she's so disgusted she doesn't realise she has her foot in his lap.
"You should be fine."
"What?" Rin jumps. She tries to slide her leg away, but he holds it in place. The bandage is finally back in it's rightful position.
The flat is so dark. The only source of light is from the outside, now covered in layers of blinds and curtains that she'd pulled into place. For once, her usually-inconsiderate new roommate doesn't think anything of it. He didn't think to question her behaviour, or laugh in her face about being a coward. Instead he woke up that morning, crawled out of his bedroom, and acted like living in a home this dark was simply daily routine.
She muffles the ache by biting the inside of her cheek. The painkillers are beginning to wear off.
"Your ankle should be fine." Len repeats. Oherwise ivory skin, she noted, had now turnt a sickly pale violet, and it hurt to watch. "Be grateful that prick didn't manage to dig his nails deep enough inside you to draw blood."
"Why would he do that?"
"Oh, hell," He hissed. "To think they called you bright. Why not take a guess."
"You don't have to be an arse whenever somebody asks you a question, Kagamine. Why so bitter? Sucked a bad dick last night?"
"Don't be naive. Think on it for a while, sweetheart, and let me know what you make of an answer."
"Yes, you did suck a bad dick last night. Thanks for the response."
Banter regardless, she can't stop thinking about what's waiting on the ground. Len doesn't let her turn on the television to find out, mumbling some nonsense under his breath about how they have to keep themselves quiet and limit all noise as much as possible, and here he stands, expecting her to listen to him without explaining the reason why.
Though she doesn't dig.
She's not stupid enough to realise he's the last person who would ever give her an answer. He's always found joy in keeping her in the dark.
Rin thinks she must have hallucinated what she saw this morning. Definitely. She's spent too much time watching thriller films, because she sees Len go to the window and look down, hardly blink an eye, then return to his bowl of milk and cereal, definitely not panicking the way she did.
Her family has always said she harboured a vivid imagination.
Even so, she doesn't dare give the window a second glance, clinging to the hope that what she'd seen wasn't reality.
Then again, Len doesn't move to open the windows. Why is that. She knows Lenー or the old him, anyway, and he would never leave a window closed. Something to do with her breathing.
"Can I use your phone? I want to call my Mum."
"Something probably happened, they had to cut down the lines. I've been trying to call my own parents for hours. There's no Internet, either."
"The TV ー"
"I told you, no noise." He lowered his own voice, as if to remind himself of his own mistake. He whispers next, "Either way, I doubt the telly's going to work if my phone doesn't."
She kicks a leg against the couch to display her dissatisfaction towards the situation, only to regret it once she's forced to deal with the aftermath that she'd reacted with her bad foot. Len stares at these turn of events warily.
Collapsing against the cushions, the young lady coiled her body into herself, glaring towards him with a wrinkled nose as the hours on the clock tick pass.
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It's dark. They'd bid each other a stiff goodnight and went to sleep hours ago. But in the middle of the night, she hears a stiff rocking against the door of the apartment, like knuckles against the wood. She blinks her eyes open.
On the other side of the flat, instead of his own bedroom, Kagamine Len is on his knees installing new bolts on the front door, working in the dark. There are already five other locks in place, and she already knows he refuses to use a drill due to his newfound behaviour against making any sound.
She crawls off the couch, dragging her blanket behind her to tap on his shoulder. He jolts.
Something smells like it's burning.
She's about to ask him what it is when he holds a finger up to his lips, eyes wide, shushing her.
Outside, he mouths, and she sinks to the floor.
Len gently sets down his screwdriver, lifts her by the elbow, and they move to his bedroom on tiptoes. Once they're in, he closes the door behind them as softly as possible. She notices there are already five different locks on his door, and then he turns them all, too.
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"Sleep in my room tonight." He keeps his voice low. "Alright? Trust me."
"You have to tell me what's going on." She bursts the instant they sit on his bed, and he stops holding his breath. "Come on, Kagamine, I'm scared."
Rin doesn't even have the energy to oppose. His sheets are cold, his blankets aren't lived-in, but she grasps onto them as if they're the only thing there is to keep her grounded.
"I looked out the window this morning." Len looks away.
"You did." It's a statement, not a question. As if he'd already known that was something she would do.
"I think ー I think I saw something... take a bite out of someone." He nods his head, urging her to go on, and she grasps his wrist. It nearly lands on his camellia, and he jumps an inch apart from her, trying to keep their skin from touching. Her eyes sting, and she doesn't know if it's the rejection, or if it's because her thoughts are so clouded with nothing except fear that she can't think to do anything else but cry. "I don't think it was human."
"No."
"Tell me. Please." She presses her palms together, bowing her head to beg him. She needs to know it wasn't real. She needs to know what she'd seen was a hoax, a prank, October come early.
But his tone is solemn.
"It's a monster."
hi! hi! hope everything's going okay for everyone. little update, since tabitas is nearly completed, there's no reason to stick around on ffnet anymore since i'm not a very big fan of the interface.
so i'll be moving (honey breadcrumbs) to ao3, and focud on posting new chapters there. hope that's okay :)