We spent the rest of the afternoon in the rec room, where the other Vocaloids, Utauloids, and I chatted, played card games, had an epic "Just Dance" battle, watched Food Network, and, at one point, played a giant game of keep away with Tako Luka (She often stood in for a ball in many activities, due to her size, shape, and the general hilarity generated by chucking a squid-luka head all over a room. Ted and Kaito had even tried to play pool table pingpong with her, but had stopped after getting inked in the face a few too many times) Needless to say, real Luka was not pleased.
"So!" Miku said cheefully "Who's up for dinner?"
A chorus of voices raised happily in agreement.
"Any suggestions?"
The voices got louder, each singer calling out their favorite. I stayed quiet as per usual, it was sort of a habit when it came to this daily routine. I was pretty chill when it came to food, as long as they had bread.
"How about you Suki?" Miku said, pointing a turquoise nail-polished finger as me and smiling.
A quirked my head like a confused puppy, completely unsure how to react.
"Umm..." I said dumbly, before recovering "Why don't you recommend one? I don't really know my way around"
"Yes!" Miku said, fist pumping "My turn to pick...again!"
Several people groaned, but most looked satisfied, Miku had pretty good taste in food.
Neru and Rin trotted up to me, and I stiffened. They had been my friends for a while when I was Teto. It was nice for a time, but slowly the friendship had soured into shared disdain of me. I remembered vividly how Neru would roll her eyes every time I spoke, and how Rin would constantly try to one-up everything I said, always stressing how much better she was than me. How I would try to talk only to be met by a sarcastic "oh yeah, we care so much"
I just swallowed it. The times I had tried to ask about it I was just told to stop pining for attention, so what else could I do?
It didn't matter anyways. Whatever I did, it was never good enough for them.
"Hey Suki" Neru said "Nice dance moves"
She was referring jokingly to my abject failure at the dance game. I forced a laugh "You too"
As we made our way to dinner and the conversation continued, I couldn't help but feel a twisting sensation in my chest. It was like our friendship had been, before her and Rin decided I wasn't good enough for them. I missed it. I missed my friends actually giving a crap about what I had to say, I missed my friends being friends.
A hand tapped me on the shoulder and Gumi slipped up "Wanna be friends?" She said.
I grinned, it was typical Gumi. She was friends with everyone, always smiling.
"Sure" I said.
The rest of the walk I spend deep in conversation with the two, and I barely registered as we arrived until we were already pushing tables together to make one large enough to fit the group.
I ended up sitting next to Len and Miku, across from Rin, Gumi, and Neru.
Even before we had all placed out orders, Rin was already pestering Len mercilessly, like always. Rin reveled in teasing Len, endlessly poking fun at his girly looks and more timed nature, which was a stark contrast to her usual tomboyish-ness and stubborn personality. As for Len, he put up with it valiantly Whenever he tried to tease back, he was quickly overpowered, so he just opted to stay quiet even though it upset him.
I had tried to tell Rin to lay off before, but since when did she listen to me? Thus, the taunting continued just as it had since I could remember.
As Rin cut me off mid sentence in a conversation with him to throw in a jab, I couldn't help but think, here we go again
"Having fun with your new girlfriend Len-kun?" She said. It was pretty low, even for her. Len had never really enjoyed hanging out with most of the male vocaloids (with Kaito among them,I couldn't blame the poor guy) and Rin badgered him about it constantly. She knew her brother was easily embarrassed, and she knew exactly what buttons to push.
Len gave an annoyed huff, but made no response. Unfortunately, Rin was just getting started
"Ooohhhh! Little Len has a crush" She cooed.
"I'm taller than you, Sister" Len said tiredly
"Girlier than me too, sure you're not my sister?"
Len gave a long-suffering sigh, and I found myself involuntarily clenching my drink cup tighter in my hand. Why did she always have to be such a jerk to him?
"We might as well be identical twins" Rin said "Nobody would be able to tell the difference"
Len didn't reply.
"Actually, no, I didn't mean that. They would be able to tell the difference...You'd be the prissier one"
My fist clenched tighter around the glass as the torture continued, what did she gain from being this way? Even though Miku was the face of the vocaloids, Rin was the one who truly ran the little kingdom. What more did she want?
Rin had begun to pout, patting Len on the head as if he were a child "It's okay, Len-Kun. We still love you"
"Even if you're a sissy" Neru jumped in
"Or uptight"
"Or a bore"
"Or an egghead"
"Oh! Ooh! Don't forget playboy!" Rin mocked.
Now that was low. She had crossed a line I had never seen her cross before. It was a well known fact that Len was utterly mortified at having been made to sing Spice. As a Vocaloid, you couldn't exactly get out of singing songs, no matter how much you hated them. I remembered that day in the studio when he had first received the music, he had been the angriest I had ever seen him before, or since, and the fact that the video had been so popular only made things worse. There was an unspoken rule not to talk about it, because...it was Len. Kind to everyone, Len. Modest to a fault, Len. Every new Vocaloid's first friend. Nobody wanted to bring up something that ashamed him so much...except for Rin.
I saw Len's expression twist painfully.
"Shut. Up." The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was speaking them. That didn't happen often. I usually had words I wanted to say that I had to force out, after thinking them time and time again "Just, shut up! What makes you think that you have the right to be such an arrogant, pretentious, dirt-bag to your own brother? Are you really so self-centered to demean your own sibling, who obviously cares about you very much, just to boost your own ego? I mean, I get it, siblings fight and tease each other but I haven't heard Len say a single unkind word to you and yet you are completely awful to him. Does it make you happy to be such a jerk? What the hell is wrong with you?"
A felt the splash of a drink being thrown all over me, and saw Rin storm off, knocking her chair over in the process.
Beside me Len was saying "I am so sorry" as he rushed off to go after her. A few seconds later, from a little ways off, I heard a slightly muffled exclamation
"Rin, what the heck do you think you're doing? That was completely inappropriate"
and in return
"That little brat! I can't believe she would say that to me!"
I just wiped my face off with a napkin and calmly began wiping off the table, I heard Akaito give a low wistle
"Dang. Aren't you something else"
That surprised me, before I realized he might have a point. I'd never seen anyone tell off Rin before. Ever.
The rest of the table gradually drifted back into conversation, and, with the exception of Neru shooting be dirty glares, nobody seemed particularly bothered by the altercation.
Eventually Len came back, looking exasperated.
"I am so sorry, Suki" he said once more "Rin can get a little...out of control sometimes."
"It's fine" I said calmly. I was actually feeling pretty good. Despite the stickiness of all over me, I felt strangely lucid, like a weight had been taken off me.
The rest of the night was spent in loud conversation, Miku and Len shared some of their most memorable stories from the Vocaloid house (a lot of which, I was touched to say, included me), Ted and Kaito played drinking games, and, much to my chagrin, Ted and Akaito even acted out my supposed "Fight scene" with Rin to Luka, who had come late to dinner and missed it.
"It's too bad Teto missed this" Miku laughed, as Ted clutched his face after Akaito mimed throwing his drink a little too vigorously and the empty glass he was using flew into his friend's nose "I think she would like you"
Len nodded "Though, if you really want to make a good impression, it wouldn't hurt to bring some bread. I'll have to go see her tomorrow. After not seeing her all day, I missed her"
I smiled, trying to avoid tearing up. I wished I could tell them that Teto missed them too.