The current class was chill and less strict than others. One proof of it was the lack of seating arrangement. Everyone sat anywhere to their heart's desire. Naturally, people gravitated towards their close friends. It was also the case with Kaito and his gang.
It was beneficial for them today, besides the occasional boredom killer and the emergency cheating tactics when the teacher gave them an unfairly difficult activity.
They were all in deep-shit trouble once Rin opened that notebook anytime soon, especially Miku. She owned the notebook and the mastermind of their plan.
Luka, Kaito, Oliver, and Gakupo could only make quick eye contact with each other. They had no choice, rather than to catch the attention of the teacher; or worse—the intuition of Rin.
With the class now on session, they were not able to congregate anymore unlike lunch time. It was not until Oliver, at the farther right on their row, wrote on a random piece of paper, folded it, and passed it to Gakupo. After he was finished, the paper was passed to Kaito and reached last to Luka.
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Hey! I think we should do paper chats but FAST. We won't be noticed from here at the back anyway. If you're Gakupo, pass this to Kaito. If you're Kaito , pass this to Luka. If you're Luka, destroy this please.
- Oli
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Gakupo started a new conversation with a bigger paper than Oliver's.
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What are we gonna do!? Miku can't get the book back from Rin without being sus!
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Once again, the paper was passed to one other. From Gakupo to Oliver, then back to Gakupo so it could travel to Kaito and Luka.
It was Kaito next who began another paper chat.
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I'm thinking of a plan right now. I'll sneak in to get the notebook from Rin's bag. I'm still thinking of the specifics ATM.
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When the letter circulated between Gakupo and Oliver, it finally went to Luka. But instead of destroying it, as the last person to read the message, she wrote on it and passed it to Kaito.
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Idiot, how do you expect to do that? Rin barely leaves her seat. If she stands up, she's always doing something with her bag.
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Kaito held back a groan after he realised his plan was not foolproof at all. Gakupo took a look beside him and gestured for the paper to read the update. When he finally read Luka's new reply, he passed it to Oliver.
A few rounds of paper messages were traded amongst the four friends.
Meanwhile, Miku internally panicked at her seat; having realised her grave mistake when it was too late.
As it was class time, she could not approach her friends and ask for forgiveness on her forgetful, stupid brain. But with a few quick glances behind her, Miku noticed her friends rapidly traded paper chats to each other.
She knew not to disturb them, even if she wanted to. If she participated to exchange notes with them, it would have caught the teacher's attention.
Luka was fed-up at that point. She blocked herself from receiving any of her friends' messages. She wrote far longer than the short and concise messages they did.
When she finished, she ripped a whole leaf from her notebook, folded it to be smaller, and passed it to Gakupo who sat beside her.
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Listen up, idiots. This is the plan. Happens right after dismissal.
Oliver, you join Miku and I standing by in case the plan falls apart or one of us is in a pinch and needs help. Kaito, you distract Rin by borrowing her phone or do whatever you could think of that would just make her look away from her bag and be far from it. Gakupo, you take the notebook from Rin's bag. Tear off all the pages with the plan and then return the notebook as it was before you took it.
P.S. Pass this to Miku. She needs to know this. Miku girlie, destroy this paper after reading it, especially when you're sitting nearby Rin.
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The note ended up with Kaito, who sat right behind Miku's seat. He made sure the teacher did not face the class and Rin was busy writing. Then he tapped Miku's shoulder.
When she turned her back at him, Kaito put his pointer finger in front of his lips and held the folded paper to her. Miku quickly took it and went back to sit properly.
She read the paper under her table. When she finished, Kaito noticed subtle movement from Miku's arms as she slowly ripped the paper into pieces.
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The bell finally rang for the last time and concluded another day of school. Several of the seniors enthusiastically left the classroom and parted ways to begin the journey home. Others stayed behind as they packed their bags, their friends waited for them, and those with cleaning duties after school. For today, it involved three other seniors including Rin and Miku.
Rin was in the process of packing her bag when Kaito approached her.
Initiated Step 1: Distraction.
"Hey Rin, can I borrow your phone?" Kaito tried his best. Rin was very protective of her phone. He thought she should not be, since he already saw the obscene amount of tabs of fanfiction on her browser.
"Why, Kai?" Rin, with a raised eyebrow, was naturally suspicious of Kaito's weird request.
"I badly need to charge my phone. I forgot my power bank, and I know your phone does that cool power-sharing thing that my phone is compatible to receive from your's?" Kaito honestly prayed to every deity above that Rin would just say yes and not ask anything else loudly nor on her mind.
But because Rin has a soft spot for her friends, she shrugged off any doubt.
"Sure." She casually brought out her phone and gave it to him.
"Thank you, thank you Rin!" Kaito spoke quickly. "But ah— if I'm gonna be honest with you can you–"
Kaito was cut off when one of their classmates, who stood at the doorway, shouted for a name he had not expected.
"Rin! Some kid from the other class needs you!"
Rin flinched out of surprise. She never expected to meet someone at dismissal, moreso someone from a different class. She was barely sociable at best (despite what Miku and her friends said).
"Sorry, Kai. I'll get back to you later." Rin turned her head behind to Kaito within a few steps as she approached the doorway to greet the person who needed her.
"I'm not a kid, Dex! And don't call me that, I have a name and it's Mayu!" The girl grumbled at the boy who leaned against the doorway's frame. She had ash blonde hair with rainbow gradients at the end of her strands. Her locks were curled until her waist. Dark golden eyes glared at Dex, who had a teasing smile.
Rin was thankful she could skip the awkwardness of needing to ask the girl's name, apparently who was part of her cohort.
"Hey Mayu! Sorry you had to deal with Dex the first thing when you came here."
She waved her hand as her awkward attempt to sympathise with the girl. Dex whined in the background.
"How can I help you? Dex said you needed me?" Rin asked politely.
"Oh, hi Rin! I've heard good things about you. If I were to be honest, I feel intimidated right now." Mayu chuckled as she clutched a textbook to her chest.
"Don't be! I swear I won't bite." Rin chuckled to hopefully lighten the mood between her and Mayu.
"I'm sure you won't. That's why I'm here. I'm asking for your help with this class we share the same teacher with." Mayu showed the front cover of the textbook she hugged to Rin.
"I heard from my classmates, and sometimes the teacher dropped hints, that you were the best in his class. I think you know the assessment we're doing with reporting a topic in front of the class? I'm badly struggling with the content of my topic. I already suck at this class and I might be one step closer to failing it!"
Mayu's cry was desperate. "If you can spare a few minutes to explain some stuff to me, I'd very much appreciate it!"
"Sure, Mayu! Come here inside and we'll take a seat." Rin took a step back and gestured her hand towards the room to welcome Mayu. "You tell me where we should start so I can help you fill in those gaps."
"Thank you Rin!" Mayu enthusiastically entered the classroom that was now half-occupied with only a few students that lingered for various reasons, including Kaito and his group.
While Rin just figured out what Mayu wanted from her in the doorway, Kaito was dumbfounded. He stood still, phone remained in both of his hands.
But he needed to take advantage of this new and unplanned opportunity.
Kaito unlocked Rin's phone (password was 1227, her birthday). Like the snoopy friend he was, he went straight to her messages.
He honestly had no idea what to do. But perhaps if he discovered something interesting by the time Rin finished early with Mayu and caught him, that would get her distracted enough.
In her list of inboxes, the top banner was their friend group chat. Right below was her private messages with Miku, followed by Luka's, next was Oliver's (the last message was by Rin with the title of a novel).
Kaito's own inbox was next, the last message was by him as he remembered he sent it last night when they had a quick chat about homework.
Followed by was an unread message from Gumi— one of Kaito's former classmates back at the previous school, and Rin's best friend.
Before he and Len entered the picture, Rin already had Gumi and Lily ever since her first day in seventh grade. The three of them were together even when tenth grade finished. Based on Rin's stories, they still went out together on their free days.
Particularly, Gumi was Rin's closest friend out of everyone in their other friend group. It was not a surprise that the two still talked to this day.
But it was not the name Kaito scavenged in Rin's inboxes. After a few swipes below, he decided to press the search bar and typed the name. A few seconds of a circular bar spinning disappeared. The exact name Kaito looked for finally appeared.
He quickly pressed the inbox with Len. But something strange happened. A prompt popped out of the screen that was rare in the usual workings of this phone app.
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You hid this user from seeing their activity. You opted not to receive nor send messages to them. But they are still able to send you messages.
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Kaito's eyes glazed below the statement with three buttons to choose from:
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'UNHIDE'
'BLOCK'
'SOMETHING'S WRONG'
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So Rin hasn't changed this setting? Kaito asked himself.
He knew Rin was the sentimental type and wanted to keep records for the sake of remembrance. But Rin was also the kind of person who let go and threw away everything if it meant a new start.
Only the profile picture of Len, his name handle and the option to 'View Profile' was on the empty space. What were supposedly years worth of records of their messages were gone.
No single trace was left, as if they never talked in four years of being classmates.
Kaito pressed the 'View Profile' button below Len's name handle. He was instantly brought to the preface of Len's profile. The blue button had a tick. Rin had not removed Len as her friend on this social media platform.
After he pressed the back button, he returned to the 'blocked' chat inbox. In an impulsive move, Kaito decided to press 'Unhide' and see if there were any changes.
His hunches were correct: There were changes.
A lot.
Kaito saw tons of messages sent by Len with different time stamps. He began to read the influx of buried messages, from the most recent at the very bottom sent from a month ago.
Kaito's thumb slowly glided on the screen. He read more and more messages sent by Len with varied intervals. There were some messages sent in between a few hours, and some were more than three months after the last message.
The messages asked for small favours, or shared a simple meme or funny post. Len also sent greetings on specific holidays. Christmas, New Year's Eve and even during Rin's birthday.
All of them went unnoticed together with what seemed to be dozens of messages. Some of them went as early as the summer before tenth grade?
Now that was a weird detail for Kaito. He scrunched his eyebrows in contemplation.
Len said he only started developing his feelings for Rin around the end of tenth grade, and that he never had the heart to send her messages besides the impulsive move to call her home landline.
But the timestamps of dozens of messages, especially the ones dated far earlier than rehearsals for graduation…
All of it did not make sense with Kaito's recall of Len's story.
It was either Len lied to Kaito all these years, or the timestamps got messed up due to the long-term enabled block Rin did to the chat box.
While Kaito dealt with the dilemma within Len's one-sided chat with Rin, Gakupo's part of the plan was in execution.
Step 2: Infiltration.
He made sure Rin was occupied. There were no signs of stopping for Rin who continued talking while she pointed a finger on the opened textbook besides a listening Mayu.
Gakupo casually went to her original seat. Another quick glance to Rin's direction, just to make sure all was clear. Then he opened the backpack on her chair.
As expected, Rin's bag was organised from the outside to the inside. Her pencil case was on the side. Her books were neatly placed together. Thick and tall books were behind while the smaller and thinner books were on the front. This made Gakupo's job ten times easier to locate his target: Miku's notebook.
Since it was an A5 sized notebook, it was the smallest out of the current collection of textbooks, notebooks and even a novel inside Rin's bag.
Gakupo took a quick glance once again to check on Rin (thankfully, she was really invested with Mayu). He discreetly hid the notebook and approached Luka's desk as naturally as possible.
He could not afford to get caught by some of their classmates and call out his suspicious behaviour.
Step 3: Extraction.
Luka nodded when Gakupo approached the front of her desk. His back faced Rin's direction. He then quickly flicked the leaves of the notebook to find the pages where their elaborate plan was written.
Gakupo quietly tore off all those pages silently. He removed the remaining paper from the inner spine that obviously came out after being ripped. After he placed the ripped pages on Luka's desk, Gakupo flicked the notebook for the final time to check if he missed anything that should be removed.
He gave the notebook to Luka who also did her own flicking for the final stage of quality control. She decided to take a gamble and peek at Rin from behind Gakupo's figure.
She let out a soft sigh of relief and then nodded at Gakupo. She gave the green light for him to return the notebook.
Step 4: Retreat.
Just like how he went to Rin's bag last time, Gakupo came back and placed back the notebook. To make sure Rin would not suspect anything, he also remembered the state of the bag before he opened it.
So he pulled the zipper and closed the bag for good, as if it remained untouched all this time.
Gakupo turned his head back to Miku and Oliver in different corners of the room and gave them a thumbs-up.
The mission was a success.
Gakupo was supposed to get back with Luka. But he saw Kaito still motionless and immersed with Rin's phone, which was not part of the plan. He decided to satisfy his curiosity and approached his friend.
Kaito scrolled through Rin's gallery, evident with the thumbnail of albums displayed. Both he and Gakupo saw an interesting album from the bottom.
The thumbnail seemed to be a zoomed-in image of a screenshot from a chat message with a grey bubble and a black-font text inside.
It was not until Kaito glanced at the album's name right below the thumbnail that gave him the answer:
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[To Delete Later] Kagamine collection
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Kagamine. It was Len's last name.
For Kaito, it made sense what this album seemed to be about.
He felt Gakupo's presence behind him which he took into consideration while he navigated through the album.
There were images with a quote in a typewriter-like font and put on a white background. They carried similar messages of heartbreak, melancholy, and the inability to let go of something that once made up a large portion of one's life. Kaito felt it was a little too sad for the likes of Rin who stored these on her phone.
He continued to skim through the images, and the following more images were also quotes that related to being depressed over heartbreak, or curse an ex-lover for comedic spite.
Gakupo was keen as a bee as he watched Kaito's navigation on the album. In the mix of quotes and seemingly photographs with depressing tones, there were the screenshots similar to the thumbnail of the album.
Upon closer look with a tap, Kaito and Gakupo saw it was snippets of messages.
Kaito instantly recognised the icon on the left side even before he saw the name on top of the chat bubble. It was Len's messages that were (cheesy to them) romantic for Rin at the time.
There were some screenshots that even included Rin's replies and others seem to be part of a thread that showed Rin and Len's once romantic chats to each other.
Further scrolling brought Kaito and Gakupo to see photos of Rin and Len together. In a few photos, they wore their YMH school uniform together, or they wore casual clothes and in different places. More likely during their past dates.
Some series of photos had them sit across from each other at a dining table. Kaito recognised the table and the colour of the wall on the photos Len was focused on. It was the dining room in Rin's home. It was a similar case with photos taken at Len's home either with Rin or Len, or both of them together.
Kaito suddenly realised there was an order with the photos.
The bottom ones were most likely taken or saved during the duration of them dating. The ones at the top, what Kaito and Gakupo first saw when they opened the album, was after the break-up.
Kaito checked out the details of the very latest image in the album—it was from three years ago. He checked the second to the last photo and it was saved around six months before the latest photo.
Kaito hop-skipped-jumped between photos. Another discovery was the consistency of the older photos being saved until they reached the year Rin and Len broke up.
"Holy crap…" Gakupo whispered what seemed to be the first time since he joined in the snooping with Kaito.
"I know," Kaito whispered in return. "This changes everything with our plan."
"Look at the name of the album. She plans to delete it soon, but she still hasn't. It's either she's still holding on to it or just forgot it, which is plausible with the dozens of other albums she has here." Kaito mentioned while he browsed the same album, now with more focus and attention than his earlier skimming.
Mayu closed her textbook and stood up from her seat. She hugged her book on her chest and smiled at Rin. "You're literally saving me right now, Rin. Thank you so much for all the help!"
"My pleasure, Mayu! You can send me a message anytime if you need more help. I'll try my best to get back to you." Rin also stood up from her seat and brought Mayu to the doorway.
After both ladies exchanged pleasantries and well wishes for their afternoon, Mayu left. Rin did not close the door, as it was dismissal time and doors must be open at that point.
She heaved a sigh and turned back to where Kaito was with her phone.
"Shit, she's coming!" Gakupo tapped his shoulder and mumbled in hurry.
While Kaito was distracted with Rin's phone, Gakupo took glances at Rin and check if she was finished with Mayu.
As Rin approached them, Kaito scrambled to exit from the gallery app and removed all the active apps as a last attempt to leave no trace behind.
He immediately grabbed his phone from his trouser pocket. The battery was already at a higher percentage.
Kaito successfully paired it with her phone when he slammed the back of the two devices together to initiate the said share-battery function.
In Rin's direction, Gakupo's back was in front of her so his fumbling to put up the cover was concealed.
"Kai, is your phone booted up now?" Rin was now closer in between Gakupo and Kaito, and looked at the two phones the latter held.
"Oh, yes! This was plenty enough for me to last on the way home" Kaito removed the two phones from each other and showed Rin his more than enough battery percentage. "Thank you again, Rin!"
"No problem. What were you gonna say to me before Mayu arrived?" Rin received her phone back after Kaito gave it back.
"Oh, that's nothing now! I was gonna ask for help with the power sharing. But I figured it out along the way with Gakt." Kaito patted Gakupo's shoulder. Their friend smiled to get along with the excuse.
She took a glance at her phone afterwards. Nothing changed with the body and the contents of the device.
Though she slightly scrunched her eyebrows upon closer look at the battery percentage.
There was little drainage on her own battery after all that power share function. But she saw his phone was indeed charged.
Oh well, Rin thought. At the least it can last even after I get home.
The group of friends gathered together. Kaito, Gakupo, Luka and Oliver were all settled with their bags. Miku and Rin had their bags on their chairs as they still had to stay behind for after school cleaning duty.
"You guys can head home now. We don't want you all staying back for too long especially when there's nothing for you guys to do while waiting. Rin and I can manage by ourselves. Right, Rin?" Miku glanced towards her friend, who nodded in agreement.
After a mutual agreement, the rest of them exchanged goodbyes and headed out of the classroom. They went on their way towards the gates to get home.
Rin, Miku and their fellow classmates got in serious business with the cleaning.
The floor needed to be swept and mopped. The rubbish bin had to be emptied. Locker doors, tables and chairs, and windows should be wiped and disinfected. The board would be rubbed off of any writings. Erasers and dusters must be puffed out or cleaned by replacing them (if they are too deteriorated to be used).
It was a culture established in their school for every class to assign groups and clean the classroom after a school day.
Students who had not contributed to the cleaning or had not properly performed the cleaning duty received minor sanctions. Homeroom teachers were required to inspect classrooms every morning before the day started and submitted short reports to the school administrators.
If there were no reports submitted by a teacher, there were repercussions. If a teacher was proven to falsify the report, there were heavier sanctions.
The school wanted to instil values to students on proper handling of school property and attitudes that would be handful after school, such as teamwork and cooperation amongst different sets of people. That was among the reasons also to why each group was shuffled and became different on a weekly basis.
While everyone assigned themselves to a task, they went on to begin the work. Miku decided to bring out her phone, put on her music player and started a song on her speaker. She and her group continued with their cleaning duties.
The gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar resonated throughout the room. A soft female voice joined with the harmony of the guitar, sang lyrics about the joy of falling in love and pining to their love interest. The chorus bolted out the singer's strong vocals; the sensual notes brought out the raw emotion of passion.
"I love this song. It helps with my inspiration as a composer and appeals to me as a listener." Miku began to share her thoughts.
"Pay attention to the lyrics, that hits exactly right home if you've ever been in love. But just the emotions in the notes, and the harmony between the instruments is powerful enough to make it relatable. That's why this song is such a masterpiece for me." Miku commented as she clapped the erasers outside the room through the opened windows.
"I also love this song." Rin agreed while she wiped the tables.
"When that song was just released, I adored it so much. It was in my head for so long it became one of those songs I'd listen to everyday." She emphasised the last word, which made her chuckle.
"Now really? I'm surprised you got into it. I'm aware you have your own taste, Rinny." Miku smirked at Rin's direction.
"You say that as if I'm living under a rock, Mimi. The song is honestly good. The lyrics really resonated with me so I got into it." Rin replied and moved on to the next table to wipe.
Miku had to restrain herself from excitement with what Rin said.
She was not sure if Rin was comfortable to talk about Len. But Miku was aware she had permission to ask Kaito about it, technically.
But she decided not to comment on it and segwayed the topic. "For sure, the lyrics are one of the best things in this song. It's a love song and a power ballad; two things that make it one of the cheesiest and generic songs that could ever exist. But it stood out from the rest, I reckon. It made you think every single love story, no matter how cliche, was unique from one another."
Rin simply hummed in agreement. "It encouraged us to make the best out of the experience and cherish it while it lasts."
"That sounded like it came from a personal place in the heart? A dollar for your thoughts?"
"You're supposed to say 'penny', Miku." Rin chuckled with a fond smile.
"Nope, me giving a penny for you to share something this intriguing is underpaying!"
"Haven't you approached Kaito about what I told you last time?" Rin had to pause her task on the table and looked at Miku's direction.
"Ah, I haven't gotten the chance to approach Kai yet." Miku scratched her neck and smiled in apology. Hopefully the white lie benefitted her.
Rin simply smiled. "That's okay. Well, I do admit I fell in love once upon a time. It's why the song really hit home to me at the time."
Miku and Rin talked about the same song despite the phone play a completely different song at that moment.
"Did you enjoy that time?" Miku simply asked. It was the safest approach she could do.
"Looking back now, yeah I did. It was a tough time. But like I said, the experience of being in love should be cherished while it lasted. Because I don't think I did it for myself. Well, it's all in the past now."
"So what happened after?" Miku felt stupid to ask that question right after she finished. She internally scolded herself.
"It didn't work out. But it's okay now. I've moved on." Rin sighed.
"I'm here in the present after I have to leave it all behind. It's like having a painful wound and then it left a scar that doesn't hurt anymore. Sometimes I'm so busy here in the present I forgot that even happened, until I was reminded of it." Rin smiled.
Miku noticed that Rin never mentioned how it did not work out. No 'rejected confession' nor 'break-up'.
She could only take note of this detail in her mind.
"Well, that's good to know you've moved on. It must be difficult. But you managed to recover and here you are, happy with all of us. I'm proud of you, Rin." Miku smiled.
"Do you ever feel you want to go back and change things, or relive through the moment one more time?"
"Now that you asked it, maybe a mix of both? I don't want to put myself back in those bad times though."
Miku could only express her agreement silently. After Kaito's story, she was aware how badly the break-up impacted Rin. Even Miku herself would never want to go back to that if she was in her friend's shoes.
"I'd change a few things here and there. Like moments of impulsiveness that I was completely caught off-guard. Because I went along with it. I only realised it years later after the fact." Rin stared at empty space in her contemplation.
"But when I had feelings for that person? No, I wouldn't change it. I've accepted that happened and it's part of me now, even when we don't talk anymore. If I were to be given a chance, I'd want to talk to them again and fix what I left behind with them."
Miku's ears would have visibly twitched, if it was physiologically possible, after she heard Rin's last few words.
Wait 'til Luka and everyone would hear this! Miku thought in excitement.
"I don't know if that chance will arrive though. To be honest with you, Miku, I'm a big coward and can't gather the courage to approach them." Rin looked down as she finished the last table.
Oh Rin, we're making that chance happen for you.
"I'm sure that opportunity will arrive soon, Rin. If it's meant to happen, it will happen, right?" Miku smiled.
Her job on the front of the room was finished. So she approached Rin on the other end.
Rin appreciated Miku's assurance and empathy after she opened up. She could only say these things to Kaito, Lily, Gumi and Neru through the occasional catching up.
She never had the guts to confide it to Luka, Gakupo, and Oliver. Not because she did not trust them. In fact, she trusted these people with all her heart.
It was the fact she feared of their impression: that she was immature to hold on to something that happened such a long time ago.
But after Miku's response today, Rin thought that she started something. Bit by bit, she made progress.
Shortly after Rin and Miku finished their conversation, their other group mates also declared there was no task left to do.
They checked each other's works, did some minor fixes, and put away the cleaning equipment on the cupboard in the corner of the room.
Everyone wrapped up the cleaning and left their classroom. Some students in nearby classrooms were still in the process of cleaning. The hallways had a little bit more of life by the time they left.
They all went separate ways after their classmates passed through the school gates.
Miku and Rin walked together and had small talk about homework and assessments, and what happened in their classes and in their cohort in general. Until they had to part ways to get to their own homes.
Rin waved at Miku before she walked straight to an intersection to her home. Only once she looked back to take a glimpse at her friend behind.
Miku stood for a few moments as she watched Rin's moving figure slowly diminish through the horizon of the road.
She walked on the other way to her own home as she contemplated.
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To this day, Rin still wanted closure from Len.