"... Pft. As if that would have worked..." Neru's strained voice just barely poured out from behind me. I turned around and looked at her, the unresponsive phone still in my hand. Her eyes were dim and only slightly open, tilting her head in the direction away from me as if to deliberately avoid eye contact.

"... What's that supposed to mean?" I sat in front of her again and put the phone down, hiding my relief that I wouldn't have to wait three more hours for her to start talking again. I don't think I've ever been more frustrated with a person in my life, not even Rin.

She didn't say anything back. I waited.

"... You know, I've spent most of my time since they were taken waiting for you to wake up. The least you could do is talk, because I'm completely in the dark and I have no idea what the hell is going on."

She shifted around under the blanket and muttered, "... Sorry, I guess."

That had taken me aback a little. I don't know what I had expected her to say, but it definitely wasn't an apology. I sighed. "Look, it's fine," though it really wasn't. "But can you please just tell me everything? Why did that girl take my sister? Where are they now? What is she going to do with her?" There were a million questions that I wanted to ask her, but I decided to take it slow since it was clear that she wasn't really in the right mind.

"... I don't know why Miku bothered taking her when she already had Haku. She's never gone this far before..." She trailed off and left the sentence hanging. "She's probably taking them to her house... waiting for me to give her what she wants."

"Which is...?" I leaned in.

"..." She turned on her side so that her back faced me.

"Akita, please. I need to know everything." I urged her, hoping that this wasn't about drugs or money and my sister and I hadn't gotten caught up in some gang war.

Seconds that felt like days passed before she answered. Her voice was unnaturally soft and quiet. "... My mom. She wants my mom."

Then it was my turn to be silent. Was mom some sort of code or acronym? She couldn't have possibly meant "mom" as in "mother," that didn't make any sense. "She wants... your mom." I repeated slowly and carefully, like the word was a bomb trigger. "As in... a mom."

"Yes, yes, that's what I said! Do your ears even work?" She snapped. I assumed that she didn't like talking about it.

"So what you're telling me is..." I propped my elbows on my lap and held my chin with my fingers like a fascinated professor. "That girl kidnapped two people... because she wants your mom."

"Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot! I know what I said!" Neru threw the blanket on the floor and stared at me with annoyance. "What, you think I'm lying?"

"Well... I definitely don't think that you're telling me the truth, so." I shrugged.

Her face grew red. "Why the hell would I lie about something like this? I'm not laughing!"

"Okay, okay, relax, but... you don't just 'give' someone your mom. You probably misheard her or something."

"Just shut up! I know exactly what she said, she's been pestering me about it forever!"

"What would she even want with your mom?"

"To hell if I know! I don't know how that freak thinks." She folded her arms stubbornly and looked away from me.

"Alright, I'll try to believe you, it's just..." I pinched the bridge of my nose and held my head down. "So in order to get Rin and your friend back, we have to... give her your mom. Is that all?"

"There is no way I'm letting my mom anywhere near that psycho. Never." Neru had spoken lowly in contrast to the angry and excessively loud way she had been before. She was serious.

I held my face in my hands hopelessly. This conversation was pointless and unprogressive. "Okay, so you won't give her your mom. How else are we supposed to get my sister back?"

"Easy. I'll march right up to her door and beat her up until she gives them back." Her tone was confident and carefree, like she had no doubts whatsoever.

I lifted my face from my hands very, very, slowly and gave her an utterly dumbfounded look. "That's your plan? Really? You're sick. She has who knows how many bodyguards that could knock you out even if you weren't sick. You couldn't walk ten feet without passing out. Who do you think would win?"

"I'll figure it out as I go!"

"I don't think you realize that this is my sister in danger here!" All of my leftover patience flew out the window. I balled up my fists and stood over her. "Are you even taking this seriously?! Rin was kidnapped because you selfishly forced me to come with you to get your phone!"

"I said I'll bring her back!" She argued.

"And you want me to just—you want me to just take your word for it? Seriously? I don't know anymore about you than your name! Do you expect me to let you handle this and entrust the safe return of my sister to you when your plan is as unreliable as 'I'll figure it out?'"

"Do you have any other choice?" Neru shot up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, glowering at me with vexation. "Huh? I'm not the one you should be telling off, Kagamine! What are you gonna get out of yelling at me and doubting me when I'm the only one who can do this?"

... I didn't really know what to say to that. She was right that I shouldn't have directed my anger towards her when she was, more or less, on my side. If I wanted to see Rin again anytime soon, I had to cooperate with her and figure this out, even if working with her was hard and she was out of her mind.

Silence settled in the room for a minute as both of us calmed ourselves. She sat down and rested her chin in her palm, her eyes purposefully away from mine like before. "I know that this is kind of my fault for getting your sister kidnapped by Miku, and I'll get her back."

I just shook my head. "No, you can't. You can tell me not to doubt you, but you will definitely not win against her or her guards in a fight while you're sick like this. You need a better plan than that."

She blew hair out of her face. "... Fine. But that leaves me out of ideas. What do you have, Mr. Strategist?"

I sat and began to think. "I'm wondering... if all that girl wants is your mom, then, no offense, why didn't she just take her directly instead of holding hostages?"

"I dunno." She said absentmindedly, holding her chin up in her palm. "Maybe she doesn't like my house."

"... Or, maybe she can't go to your house. Has she ever been there before?"

"Yeah, but that was over four years ago. She hates me now and hasn't gone there since." She glanced at me and narrowed her eyes. "... Why, what're you thinking?"

"I'm not sure... but I think this is important. It would've saved her a lot of trouble to have just taken your mom forcibly, so there should be a definite reason why she didn't." I felt like I was really on to something, but I couldn't quite grasp an answer.

Neru thought otherwise. "Is this really as important as you make it out to be?" She combed through her wet hair. "She's no genius, she could've just not thought of it. Miku hates my guts, I bet that freak wanted to kidnap Haku to torture me more."

"I don't think so..." I waved it off. "Nevermind. So my sister and your friend are at that girl's house right now, plus it seems like the police won't be able to help us for some reason."

"Pft. Of course they wouldn't." She said nonchalantly, puffing out air from her cheeks.

"You said that before already. Are you implying there's a reason why?"

"Obviously! It's Miku we're dealing with. As in Hatsune Miku." She enunciated "Hatsune" loudly and clearly like it was supposed to make me understand better. It didn't.

The lack of understanding on my face must have been evident, because Neru stared at me in disbelief. "Have you seriously never heard of Yamaha Corporations?"

"Of course I have, it's probably one of the biggest music conglomerates in the world. My dad works for one of their subdivisions up in Negibatake. I just don't get what that has to do with anything."

"Miku's dad owns the damn thing! God, you're dense." She rolled her eyes and sank into the couch. "She's practically a princess. She's loaded and powerful and an evil spoiled brat. I'm not surprised at all that she bribed the police to do what she wants. People'll do anything for money."

I didn't really believe her at first, because like a lot of things going on, it didn't make sense. I'd never heard anything shady about Yamaha before. It's a generous company that's always on the news about how they donate tons of yen to charities all over the world, my dad had even told me that they treat their employees really well. How could a girl that kidnapped two people and held them hostage be related to a company like that?

"If that's true, then… they can't be in any serious danger, right?" I announced hopefully, straightening out my slouch. "I mean, this is Yamaha. If they did anything terrible, it'd be everywhere."

"And I thought I was simple-minded. This isn't Yamaha's doing, it's Miku's. I've met Miku's dad, he's not totally deranged like she is. I bet the guy doesn't even know anything about what she's done." She stopped speaking for a while, a blank expression on her face. "And even if they were behind this, they could just throw a few yen in anyone's face and cover it up easily. Miku already did that with the police. God, you're innocent. You don't know anything about the real world, do you?"

'Better to lack street smarts than common sense,' I thought, but chose not to say. We were finally being serious and I didn't want us to derail with another pointless argument. "Okay, so they're in danger either way. You know more about Hatsune than I do. Just who is she exactly? Why does she hate you so much? Just tell me everything, I might be able to figure something out by knowing the whole story."

Neru frowned, as unresponsive as she had been when she was unconscious. She stared at her hands, which changed to fists, which sprawled openly again, focusing on the cuts with morbid curiosity. Her eyelids were half-closed and her eyebrows low in a stern, serious, contemplating expression.

"Miku and I were close friends a few years back, even before I met Haku. She never acted as psychotic as she does now back then. I thought of her like the sister I never had. Then one day, I invited her over to my house for the first time and, I don't know, she had a mental breakdown or something. She's been harassing me in and out of school ever since and I still don't know why, it doesn't make sense.

"For the past few months, she's been asking me about my mom, trying to invite us over for dinner or whatever. I always said no, obviously, because it's weird as hell for her to just start being nice out of nowhere. But Miku only started getting violent today, like in school earlier. How was I supposed to know that she would kidnap Haku and your sister just for this? I didn't think she was serious about it! And now that I know she is, I don't have a clue why. I mean, they've never seen each other before, not even once! I don't get why she's doing this to me when I've never done anything wrong to her!" Her tone changed from stony and solemn to outraged and confused, her features contorting in a weird way as if trying to convey a sort of "Can you believe that? It's ridiculous!" feeling.

That wasn't the explanation I had been preparing myself for. Compared to the wild things I'd been imagining, like a business war or a government-stock-market-economy-secret-code kind of thing, this was… tame. Just a dispute between childhood friends that had seriously gotten out of hand, in a nutshell. I would've felt relieved if I hadn't remembered that we still hadn't figured out a way to get Rin and Neru's friend back.

"So if that's the case," I began. "Then is it really… really such a terrible thing to just do what she wants?"

"You mean you actually want me to give her my mom?!" She slammed her fist on the armrest. "Just whose side are you on, Kagamine?"

"Hey, relax! I'm just saying. It's not like Hatsune is asking you to literally give her your mom. What's she gonna do, keep her? Maybe she just wants to talk or something."

"Yeah, right, because abducting other people is a normal thing to do when you just wanna talk." Neru rolled her eyes. "Are you some kind of idiot? I already said Miku and my mom have never met before. What's there for them to talk about? Huh? Plus, Miku knows my house number. If she wanted to, she could've just called and spoken to her a long time ago."

"Okay, okay, I'll admit that there may be a bigger reason than that. But if you're really not gonna do what she says, then what're we going to do? Break into her house and take them back by force? We may as well just—"

"That's it!" She shouted in that unreasonably loud voice of hers. There was a glimmer in her hazel-yellowish eyes as they darted towards me excitedly, her grin thoughtful and mischievous with her finger pointed in my direction. "That's exactly what we have to do!"

"What?" I blinked. "What, you have an idea? A practical, rational, doable idea that'll undoubtedly work?"

"You just said it!" Neru exclaimed hurriedly. "You just said it! We're gonna sneak into that psycho's house and bring Haku and your sister back!"

If I was smiling or cheerful before, it faltered. I don't know why I'd gotten my hopes up. "Please tell me you're not serious, Akita. Now isn't the time to be joking around."

"I'm not joking! Didn't you say that barging in wouldn't work?"

"And breaking into her house is better?"

"Just listen to me for a second! God." Her voice sounded more impatient than angry or annoyed, so I shut up. She spoke quickly. "Getting in'll be easy. When we were kids, Miku and I weren't allowed to have sleepovers, so we figured out a way for me to get into her room at night and sneak out in the morning. There's a blindspot between the security cameras with—"

"Security cameras?"

"Be quiet!" She snapped. "I'm not finished. So here's this blindspot between the security cameras that doesn't have any guards near it. In that space there's a bunch of bricks stacked above each other to cover up a vent Miku unscrewed for me. Using that, we'll get in—"

"I'm gonna cut you off again, because there's no point in letting you fully explain something that I'm not going to do." I crossed my arms and leaned back into my chair. "Don't you know that breaking and entering is illegal? As in we'll get arrested and sent to jail. We'll have that stuck on our permanent records for the rest of our lives."

"Don't you know that breaking and entering is illegal? We'll get arrested and sent to jail." She mimicked me in a nasally high-pitched voice with her tongue sticking out. "Blah, blah, blah. All I heard is 'I'm Kagamine Len and I'm a goody two-shoes coward baby.' Get over it! You say it like we're gonna die or something. If you're too worried for your precious permanent record, then I'll do it myself."

I dug deep, deep inside of my patience reserves and salvaged what was left of it. "But you literally and physically can't do that because you're not well enough to go anywhere. And even if you were, there's no guarantee that that vent you were talking about will still be there. Hasn't it been years since you last used it?"

"It's got to be there. Miku's probably forgotten all about it. And what do you even mean, 'I'm not well enough?' I'm as fine as I'll ever be. I'll go and get those two back on my own feet right now!"

"Really," I said doubtfully. "Then try walking to the door right now. If you can do that, we'll go through with your plan. "

"Fine! Just watch me." Neru flipped her hair (that was still wet and splattered water all over me) and stood up. I watched her start off walking pretty well, until after she tripped over something non-existent and fell on her face. I was about to help her up, but she managed to do it on her own after half a minute of whispery swears. She sluggishly proceeded towards the door once again, her features very visibly strained and exhaustion from less than two minutes of movement.

"...Akita, you know that I wasn't really serious. There's no need for you do to that."

"H… ha!" She snorted. "So now that I'm... s-so close to proving you... wrong... you're going back on your word, is that it?"

"I didn't make you a promise or anything, it was a joke. Whether you actually get there or not, I'm not breaking into someone's house. It's illegal."

"So is… fucking… kidnapping people!" Neru's limbs trembled as her shaky hands wrapped around the doorknob. "I don't see any other way out of this... than to take them back by force! Unless you have any other bright... ideas... then my way... is the only way... Kagamine..." Her speech slurred from fatigue, the intervals in which she paused to catch her breath increasing in length and frequency.

I'd never seen a person with a fever look as bad as she did before, but didn't show any common symptoms like coughing or the chills. As far as I could tell, all that was wrong with her was the severe exhaustion that came after moving too much. Then I thought... what if it's something else? Something worse? Something connected this? I had some indefinable feeling, more than just intuition, that it might just be of some value to think about, just like when I brought up the thing about Hatsune purposefully not going to Neru's house.

I thought back to the time I last saw Neru look okay. That was during school, when I walked in on hers and Hatsune's argument. She didn't seem sick at all and she was able to keep up with Hatsune pretty well, even if marginally outmatched. The next time I saw her, Neru had blatantly performed worse than before. I didn't know exactly how quickly since I'd been distracted in my own fight at the time, but it didn't look like Hatsune had had any difficulty taking Neru down without any interference from her guards. That could only mean... something had happened to her in the time from her first fight with Hatsune to the second. I rewinded the entire scene in my head, thinking as hard as I possibly could, picking out every detail in my memory, nearing an answer...

"That's it!"

A/N: Uhh so! This wasn't really a difficult chapter to write haha. I guess I'd say my favorite emotion to write Len in is frustration, and there's going to be plenty more of that as the story progresses. Speaking of Len, you might be wondering why he's so good at figuring this stuff out when he was described in CH1 as average and not all that smart. That was mostly Len just putting himself down, and he's actually a pretty shrewd and mature kid for his age. As for the answer to the reason why Neru suddenly got so sick... you should be able to figure it out by rereading CH1 and CH2! Thanks for supporting me and reading this far!