I decided to write this up before I have to do my literal pile of homework. Enjoy.

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?"

Gumi frowned at hearing her name. She thought she was the only soul alive in the hallways at this hour (Lily never specified how early Gumi needed to arrive to school, much to her chagrin). She turned on her toes to face the bland-faced girl. Gumi ruffled her hair and tightened her lips, shrugging.

"Do you have morning lab, too?" Yukari asked with genuine surprise.

"No," Gumi said defeatedly. She leaned back on the heels of her feet. "I'm just here to see someone."

"Who?" Yukari tugged her ponytail free and began to retie it.

Gumi hesitated for only half a second. "A teacher. I want to show Sakine-sensei if I did the English homework correctly. What are you up to?"

"Taking a break. Chem is such a drag." Yukari sighed with a yawn, letting her ponytail swing slightly towards her left. "But I need to this class. It'll look good on applications for high school, y'know?"

"Right." Gumi couldn't even focus her homework; High school wasn't a thought in her mind. Gumi licked her lips as she stood next to the water fountain, watching Yukari take a sip from the nozzle. "I saw a kid get beat up the other day."

"Really, who?" Yukari whipped her head around at Gumi with wide eyes. "Who fought?"

"Uh...so the guy I met yesterday- G-Gakupo. Yeah, I almost forgot his name, jeez, my bad. It was him and some other guys..."

Gumi saw Yukari's face sullen and her eyes glaze over with boredom. "Oh?"

"Y-yeah." Gumi wiped the sweat off of her hands, feeling guilty for lying in the first place to get a second opinion, then feeling like a colossal nuisance for causing Yukari to become so disinterested. "I'm boring you."

"Nah, go on, I just know who you're talking about."

Gumi tensed. "About that boy who was beaten up?"

"Yeah. Don't bother tattling on Gakupo and the others, unless you want everyone to hate you."

"I wouldn't try. Why, though?" Gumi stared into Yukari's eyes anxiously. "Gakupo was seriously hurting that kid."

"No one likes Len. He brings in onto himself for being a creep. Also, to be blunt, Gakupo has a lot of influence in this school. Even Miku knows that, even if she thinks he's the biggest dick on Earth."

"He's that popular? Really?"

"His parents donate a shit ton of money to this school every year. A lot, from what I've heard. Ranges from six million to seven million yen a year, that's what I hear."

"Then I really shouldn't be surprised." Gumi let out an astonished mutter. "Damn, that's a lot of money."

"And Dell's dad is the police chief of this town."

"Who's Dell?"

"Silver-haired guy. You'll see him beating up Len, too." Yukari yawned nonchalantly.

Gumi sucked in her cheeks with uncertainty. "Why do they have a vendetta against Len?"

"I think you mean this: Why does everyone think he needs to rot in hell?" Yukari snorted. "It's a long stor-"

"Yukari, Kiyoteru-sensei is going to mark you down if you're not back to class in thirty seconds!" A voice shrieked from down the hallway.

Yukari sighed and twisted her head around. "I'm coming, Mayu! Fuck, she just doesn't want to do the lab assignment on her own. Ugh, lazy girl..."

Gumi began to step away from Yukari. "I'll get going then. I'll ask Lily."

"Nah, I have time."

"No, I don't want to give you a bad grade," Gumi said urgently. "I'll see you later."

"But, it's fine-!"

"Bye!"

Gumi scurried behind the corner before Yukari could call her back. Yukari frowned and began to retie the strings of her lab apron, muttering under her breath. "She's a wreck..." Yukari cringed when she heard her voice being screeched down the hallway again.

"Damnit, I'm coming, Mayu!"

"Meet me on the blacktop," The message said.

"Oi, now you tell me." Gumi grumbled to her phone. She peered out of the window one last time, gazing at the blacktop as she etched a few students trickle in through the entrance. Gumi hurried down to the first floor again, her heart fluttering around her chest, anxious as to what the story Lily wanted to tell her entailed.

'Maybe it's just a joke? Not everyone can hate one student. Everyone had friends back in Okinawa..." Gumi fastened her sweater around her before she walked out into the chill of the fall weather. Gumi dug her hands into the sleeves of her sweater and shivered slightly, walking around in search of Lily.

"Over here."

Gumi saw Lily wave her hands while she leaned back against the wall some feet away. Gumi ran over.

"You haven't been waiting too long, I hope?" Lily asked.

"I had to see a teacher anyway about homework." Gumi shrugged, the green strands of her hair rubbing against her shoulders, making sure to keep up with her little white lie.

"Ah, okay." Lily took out her cellphone and began to text. Gumi leaned against the wall, waiting for Lily to talk to her.

"Just give me a minute. Question, though: your brother is Piko, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Gumi forced her chapped lips to smile. She rubbed her cold cheeks to heat them with her palms. "If he's ever too obnoxious, let me know."

Lily chuckled. "Nah, he's a cool dude."

Gumi sputtered. "You think so?"

"Yeah! He's pretty funny. Ahaha, sibling rivalry. Do you think he's a dork just because you're the older sibling?"

"No, he's just 'mischievous', and I'm using that world loosely."

"Ah, I'm sure he's a good kid. Cut him some slack, Gum." Lily grinned and elbowed Gumi. "Can I call you that?"

"N-no."

Lily frowned at Gumi's harsh, yet unsteady, answer. "Sorry."

"Nah, I just hate nicknames. I shouldn't have snapped at you anyway." Gumi groaned at her minor social error and covered her mouth with her fingers loosely. "I don't know when to keep my big mouth shut."

"You have a big mouth?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

"It's troublesome."

"Doubtful. Miku has the biggest mouth, but don't tell anyone I said that." Lily giggled and tapped her index finger secretively against her pale lips. "Okay, I think we stalled long enough." She dropped her phone into her schoolbag and turned to look at Gumi straight in the eyes. "Let me tell you some rules, though: First, you don't talk to people about this because this 'event'-I guess I call it that, is sort of taboo to talk about. This still upsets people, especially Miku. It even upsets Gakupo, the guy who didn't cry at all when we had to watch Grave of the Fireflies during history class. Okay, anyway, just don't repeat this story unless you're asked, or else you'll depress and anger everyone."

Gumi directed her eyes to her left, watching a few students stroll in through the gate, averting her tired pupils from Lily's vibrant eyes. "O-okay."

"Two, don't talk to Len. Ever. He's a psychopath. Huge nutcase. He didn't get put into a ward because even the people there didn't want him. Let me cut to the third part, though: You have to show up to Rin's memorial service every year, or else everyone will think you're a heartless prick."

"Who's Rin?"

"What? Seriously? Not even Miku told you about Rin?" Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised. Rin was Len's twin sister."

"How did she die?"

"No, just let me tell you the background and everything first. Sorry, I'm just figuring out how to condense this." Lily rubbed her lips together, concentrating on the ground while she thought for a minute before she began speaking quietly. "So, there was Miku and me. We didn't meet Yukari until the beginning of junior high. Anyway, around our first few years of primary school, we became really good friends with Rin. She was the nicest, just...really nice, she didn't gossip of anything. She just went with the flow of everything. She was smart and won probably every single science fair ever, but she didn't put people down for being not as smart as her, unlike other people here. She liked everyone, and even if someone didn't like her -and I'm pretty sure that only person was Len- they knew that she wouldn't push them away, and that she'd never judge them. And Rin didn't have an easy life: she lived in an orphanage until she was like, six or seven, and she always felt pressured to be perfect, y'know? But Miku, she and I were best friends, and we were always there for her.

"And you would think her brother would support her, too, but he was just a jealous cunt."

Gumi raised her eyebrows at Lily's unrestricted coarse language.

"He's a heinous bastard, and I'll never forgive him for what he did to Rin." Lily gritted her teeth. "He expected the same treatment Rin received, even though he was a strange and just off-putting kit. He was constantly following around to her, glued to her like a tick on a puppy. Rin tried to defend him, saying that he didn't like to be left alone, but she eventually got tired of it, and we couldn't blame her; Rin had to enjoy life on her terms, and Len was just being a nuisance. I can't understand why Rin was so good to him. Because of the fact that Rin was a sweetheart, Len took advantage of her. I remember on her birthday-"

"Wouldn't it be Len's birthday, too?" Gumi interjected.

"It was her birthday party. Just for her. Miku and I threw a surprise party for her...at least, it was supposed to be. Miku opened her damn mouth to Rin about the party a week beforehand. I wanted to strangle her! Anyway, we didn't anticipate Rin to bring that maggot, but she did, because she was too good for her own good. Sometime later, she was outside in the backyard, crying. It was winter, and all this poor girl had on her was a sweater. Miku and I came outside to console her. We got Rin to talk, and she basically said how Len was being mean to her. He said a lot of cruel shit to her. That ungrateful prick made her so upset, and we never saw Rin so upset before, y'know?"

Lily folded her hands into her sweater, gazing at Gumi grimly. "I went after Len the next day at school and told him to knock the shit off. I got the others to go after him, too, for Rin's sake. He didn't listen, and Rin only let him fly around her like a wasp. So then, a few months later..."

Lily shuddered, gazing up at the sky, the whites of her eyes beginning to glisten. "There was a camping trip. For students, y'know? An end-of-the-year school thing. We were...nine. Ten. Something like that. I shared a room with Miku, Lily, and a few other girls. We all went out for s'mores because why not, right? We were camping. No one had to fear anything, because we were young and we didn't think that we had to worry about stuff like that." Lily trembled. "But Rin wasn't feeling good. She went to bed early. Miku and I begged her to come and hang out, but she wasn't feeling it. When we said goodbye to Rin before leaving the cabin, that was the last time we saw her alive." Lily gulped hesitantly.

"It was late and everyone was eating s'mores. Suddenly a bunch of kids come down the hill, shrieking. Literally just shrieking, as if they'd seen a ghost. No one knew what they were screaming about until people stared to smell smoke. Within minutes, firefighters appeared and police cars had begun to swarm around the campsite. I didn't know what was happened when all of us were dragged into the dining area. Soon enough, I found out that the cabin had caught on fire."

Gumi sucked in a breath, her eyes steady on the ground. She forced her eyes to meet Lily's, freezing when she saw the tall, confident girl turn into a sudden shell of herself, hunched over with glassy eyes.

"I just...started screaming about Rin. Miku ran to the cabin when I told her. I ran after her because I wanted her to stay in the cabin. I was afraid she would try to save Rin from the fire, and I didn't want to lose Miku. By the time I caught up, Miku was just standing there, not even making a sound. I started to shake her, screaming at her for being so stupid, but she wasn't even fazed by my voice. She just kept staring at the white body bag lying a few feet a-away."

"Hey, is everything ok? Hey?"

Gumi's shoulders hitched at the new voice. She turned to face a taller boy, his face filled with concern for Lily. Lily wiped her eyes, with remnants of her mascara smearing around her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I look like a damn raccoon right now." Lily muttered.

"Hey, it's okay. Are you alright?" The boy asked.

"Shit, yeah, I'm fine. Look, I just need a few minutes to myself. I was telling Gumi-," Lily looked at Gumi for a brief moment, "about Rin."

Yohio swallowed, his Adam's apple quivering slightly. He began to pat Lily's shoulder. "It's okay. Go get some water."

"Yeah. Look, Gumi, I'm sorry. I couldn't burden Miku to tell the story. She...she saw Rin's burnt corpse and everything. Miku wasn't even fazed that she lost a stuffed animal, which her grandmother gave her before she died, in the fire. It's hard for her to come to terms with it today. I guess the same goes for me, too. Len fucked up our lives, that fucking son of a-" Lily's voice began to rise.

"Lily, c'mon, get a drink." Yohio urged.

Lily nodded and closed her eyes, biting her lip in attempt to keep the tears from falling. "Alright."

Gumi rubbed the back of her head nervously while Lily rushed away, her shoulders slouched and her confident strut now reduced to a slow walk. Gumi glanced at Yohio guiltily. "I'm really sorry. I didn't have any idea that this would upset her so much."

"What? Hey, that's not your fault." Yohio shook his head. "You're that new girl, right?"

"Y-yeah. Nakajima Gumi."

"Yohio." He leaned back against the wall with Gumi. "Someone had to tell you the story. I'm surprised Lily told you. She tried not to let it bother her, but...she was really disturbed after Rin's death. Her and Miku were just shells of themselves for a while."

"That really sucks. I mean, shit, I'm probably sounding really insensitive right now, but that really sucks." Gumi tugged at the ends of the sleeves of her sweater, attempting to envelope her fingers into the sleeves.

"It does. It wasn't fair that Rin had to get her life stolen by that goddamn freak, either."

"Who did set the cabin on fire?" Gumi's eyes went blank, and then she buried her face into her hands. "I sounded like an idiot; it was Len, yeah?"

"Spot on." Yohio gazed at the blacktop grimly. "They found matches in the little fuck's pocket. He just lit it up and scrambled away from the fire. Little coward tried to escape until he was confronted by the police, after Gakupo- do you know him yet?"

"Yes, I met him."

"Gakupo told the police that he saw Len staring at the window before running off. He stole the matches from Dell...Dell, you've seen him yet?"

"I've heard of him."

"So, as it goes, that spiteful little bitch burned his own sister to the ground, along with Lily, Miku and a lot of other girl's stuff. Needless to say, this caused a lot of chaos in Kahiru for a while. Everyone wanted that freak's blood on their hands. When he was found not guilty, it was almost unbelievable. I still can't fucking believe it."

"He was actually found not guilty?" Gumi gaped.

"He wouldn't be in school if the judge said otherwise. I'm convinced that he's the reincarnation of the devil. He's just a little bitch, and nothing more than that. He doesn't even deserve a name. Last time I checked, monsters didn't have names." Yohio breathed out through his nose harshly and dug his hands into his pockets. "Just stay away from him. It's good that you know to keep away from him now so that he doesn't try to take advantage of you. If he tries to, though, let me know, and I'll take care of it."

Gumi's eyes dilated. She saw his thick dark blonde hairs sway back and forth as he took the time punting Len's gut alongside with Gakupo, circled around Len viciously, like vultures waiting for their prey to keel over.

"O-okay." Gumi replied shakily, her mind still reeling over the torment she saw Yohio committing against the spited boy.

Yohio took notice of Gumi's paled face. "Did the story finally get to you?"

Gumi nodded tensely. "Should we check on Lily?"

"Here she comes now." Yohio lifted his head to save over to Lily. "Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah." Lily, with her eyes now clear and her makeup restored, nodded. "Thanks."

"I explained everything to her. Just take it easy, 'k?"

"I will." Yohio squeezed Lily's elbow comfortingly, and she smiled.

"I'll catch you later too, yeah?" Yohio leaned over to take Gumi's elbow. She allowed him, yet tensed up when he squeezed. He didn't take notice, and walked off after saying his farewells.

"Ah, shit, class is going to start in a few." Lily sighed as she glanced at the time on her cellphone. "Wanna head up?"

"Sure." Gumi nodded passively. She began to walk up the stairs with Lily. She clutched the straps of her backpack nervously.

"I won't press you anymore about Rin, but...why wasn't Len found guilty? If they had evidence-"

"He's the devil." Lily replied hoarsely. "He's Lucifer's child. He'll receive his punishment one day, and, in case Hell doesn't really exist, then I'll make sure that he gets what he deserves." Lily stared ahead of her, her eyes unmoving, colder than Gumi's frigid fingers. Her feet clapped heavily against the floor.

Gumi nodded. "I don't blame you," Gumi said.

Although, she still had trouble believing what she had heard. Gumi sighed as she walked into her classroom, her mind juggling over the matter, even after her lessons had begun. Gumi stared out the window, contemplating her decisions.

'He'd have to be in jail if they found the evidence right in his pocket. Maybe he had a good lawyer? Maybe he had rich parents? No, Lily said Rin lived in an orphanage, so it's safe to assume that Len did so, too, since their twins and all, but Lily said Rin was adopted, so the same with Len. Maybe he did have rich 'adopted' parents that tried to cover up Rin's death? But if he has rich parents, why wouldn't he just move away from Kahiru, away from his bullies? This is too complicated for my brain.' Gumi rubbed her temples. 'I'll just try to find newspaper articles online, hopefully it'll be a bit less unbiased.' Gumi cringed when she recalled Len's empty eyes and blood-streaked face.

'There's something that isn't right about this, but I can't betray Lily and Miku by trying to prove Len is 'not guilty', and that sounds impossible itself. I'd only cause problems anyway. You're not a detective, Gumi, just stop, you'll make everything worse. If he is a psychopathic killer, though,' Gumi frowned grimly, 'I really should stay away if I don't want my throat slit open. God, me and my stupid ideas. I really am too naive. For a suppose murderer, though, he's done a good job not killing Gakupo and Yohio yet.'

"And that's all there is to it!"

Gumi let out a relieved sigh when she saw her student's eyes light up, as if he had finally grasped the probability problem that she had just spent ten minutes teaching him. Suddenly, the lights in his eyes dimmed.

"I still don't get it."

Gumi almost lost her patience until Gacha began to sputter.

"I-I just don't understand why you would get one-twelfth. Seriously, it's driving me nuts."

"All you have to do is subtract this number from that number." Gumi circled the two numbers neatly. Gacha nodded.

"O-okay, I guess. How do I know when to subtract them, though?"

'But I just explained it.' Gumi sobbed mentally. A light sound rang around the two students. Gumi glanced at her watched and nearly cheered.

"It's six!"

"That's the answer?"

"N-no." Gumi nearly smacked herself over the boy's limited intelligence (okay, she admitted, she felt guilty for thinking that. The kid was nice, after all.) "It's six o'clock, meaning that the session is technically over."

"C-can you at least explain when you need to subtract the numbers?" Gacha begged.

Gumi sighed to herself, yet quickly grasped the pencil from behind her ear and began to scramble the sharp lead on the paper. "You subtract when both fractions have the same denominator. That's how you get one-twelfth. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah! Okay, I think so."

"Make sure you finish that sheet for next week. Yukari claims that you have a track record of not doing your assignments, hmm?"

"That's not my fault; I have other stuff to do."

"Well, you won't get into that prestigious university in Tokyo if you don't start working on it."

The kid grunted unhappily and began to shove his book and papers into his backpack. Gumi frowned at the crinkled papers jutting out from his backpack. "There's a thing called 'folders', Gacha, they're very useful." She almost applauded herself for the comment until she felt bad. "Er, sorry, you just need to be a bit more organized. Ha, now I probably offended you..." Gumi trailed off nervously. Yukari would be pissed if she lost another student because of her mouth.

"Nah, I really need to get this stuff together." The boy sighed. "Haha, you seriously reminded me of Piko for a second. You're pretty funny yourself."

"Oh, that's right, you're in the same grade as him." Gumi permitted an annoyed sweat-drop to appear on her forehead.

"Yeah, he's pretty chill."

"He hasn't done anything bad yet?" Gumi raised an eyebrow, asking her question aloud.

"No. Why, was he a bad kid at your old school?"

"No. Just, y'know, at home we have our normal sibling quarrels at home."

"I wish I had a younger brother," Gacha remarked dreamily. "I'd teach him everything I know."

"Haha, trust me, you don't, because you'd get tired of his bullshit very quickly." Gumi patted the naïve boy's head with a smile. "I'll see you next week."

"Bye, Gumi!"

Gumi smiled, and giggled under her breath as Gacha scampered off. She picked up the leftover papers on the desk and began to stack them together. "Such a dolt." Gumi then smacked herself for the comment.

'You're such a bitch.' Gumi closed her eyes briefly, and then finished filing the papers. 'You don't know when to shut your mouth. It's the reason why your family is broken up and ripped to shreds. Keep your opinions to yourself, because no one cares anyway.' Gumi's tired eyes fluttered to the scissors left on the folder.

'You stupid fool, are you going to do that again?'

Gumi hastily shoved the scissors into her pencil case and threw the small bag into her backpack. She shoved her folder into her backpack and began to wrap herself in her jacket to prepare herself against the rough winds. She whistled dully, grasping the straps of her backpack tightly once she finished buttoning her coat. She turned to the doorway, only to be confronted several feet away with the boy with the once bloody face and jarring black eyes.

Gumi gasped to herself and stared at the boy blankly, a million thoughts racing through her mind, unsure of whether to speak or shriek; stay put or stay away; to continue staring at him blankly or to blind herself with the sun's rays emerging from the window next to her, to pretend that she never saw him. However, she only found herself, within the twenty seconds of being confronted with him, staring at the new and old scars on his face; observing black marks that seemed permanently stained around his eyes; studying his uneven hair, choppier than the waves of the ocean during a chaotic storm. The only thing that hadn't changed about him were his eyes that screamed for release.

Gumi knew she couldn't do anything about that. She turned away and walked through the exit that opened into the hallways, and then she ran, just in case the things she heard about him were true, yet it seemed that she had already believed them.

"Another fifty percent! Good for you, Gaijin!"

He winced at the snarky remark made earlier to him when the class received their recent tests, as the students gloated over him. If only he could escape from them, a feat that was clinging on the possibility of him having high enough grades to graduate. He was clinging on in his other subjects, but he was sure that his teacher was purposely making math, his worse subject, difficult for him. After all, why would the school want their scapegoat to graduate? They needed someone to take their stress out on.

"It's a shame that he doesn't have the brains his sister has."

"He doesn't seem to have much potential."

"What a disappointment."

"A waste of space."

He grimaced. Even when he was young boy, the same remarks were repeated over and over behind his back and in front of his face by unsympathetic adults, the same ones who only saved the cherishing for his twin sister. He clenched the handle to the door of the library, his broken fingernails tapping against the metal, attempting to come up with any thought is encouragement.

"Such a fucking idiot. You shouldn't have never been born. If it wasn't for you, Rin would be alive. Your parents would be alive too if it wasn't for you, you selfish brat, you ungrateful fucking piece of-"

He had none. But, no, he wasn't a fucking idiot; there was some encouragement in that thought. He couldn't afford to be an idiot at this moment, anyway. It was hopeless, though, even if he didn't want to believe it. The only person who could have helped him darted away from him as soon as possible.

"Is Gumi teaching Gacha in the library at four?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm glad Gumi took her place, she's amazing at math!"

"Ugh, shush for a second. He's here."

Within moments, Yukari and Miku were staring at him with astonishing incrimination.

"Shoo, Gaijin." Miku hissed. "Nobody wants you here, psycho."

He ran off to return to his class, and despite his sudden absence, Miku continued loudly proclaiming her disgust for him.

"Fucking maggot."

Despite the verbal abuse, he had some hope that maybe he could receive some help for once. He shouldn't have been surprised that rumors about him had already filled this new girl's head. He wasn't surprised, honestly. He'd just have to find time to teach himself, if he could even manage to do that. He was fucked.

Len let go of the handle and walked away, his back hunched. He was surprised that he felt something different than the usual exhaustion that was always implanted in him: fear had spread into his mind and had slid down his throat. The dread leaked into his stomach, churning over the unpleasant possibility of being stuck in Kahiru for the rest of his life.

She ran all the way home, running all the way into her room (after reassuring herself multiple times that she had locked the front door.) She panted heavily, her red cheeks begging for oxygen. Her trembling fingers grabbed her laptop from her desk and flipped the cover open, her orange nail polish asking who that boy was and what he actually did to deserve such acute judgment. She only found the same thing that confirmed the rumors: That the authorities found him red-handed; that he was found not guilty, after two long years of trials and interrogations; that the girl that everyone loved was truly dead, with everyone agreeing that her flame was blown out too soon (How ironic.); and the anger of the twin boy's freedom which was still contained within the citizens today. It read exactly as it was told.

Gumi rubbed her eyes wearily. The only helpful information was what she found from an article detailing the twins' lives, where she had discovered that both twins grew up in an adoption agency, with Rin being the only twin adopted. The consensus of Len being jealous of Rin was deemed a worthy excuse to the citizens as to why Len killed the one who shared his own flesh and blood. It only discouraged Gumi that interviews with students claimed that Len was antisocial, brooding, and quiet, too quiet. One interview was actually with Miku. She caught a few lines that surprised her:

Q: Could you ever forgive Len for the crime he committed against your best friend?
Miku: [Frowns tersely, yet nods] Yes. I think that once he spends time thinking over what he did, he'll feel guilty.

Q: If Len was found not guilty, would you be fine with seeing him again in school?
Miku: [Shames her head] No, I couldn't. Even if he does feel guilty for what he did, I wouldn't want to be in the same room with him. He scares me.

Gumi shivered. The interview was performed right before Len's ruling, taking place when Miku had to be around eleven years old. She could no longer blame Miku for being somewhat neurotic. Gumi rubbed her hands together before she began to type again, but blinked and stared at the bright screen. What else could she ask? Everything was deemed true. No one had been lying to her at all.

'And you thought you could prove that Len was innocent? You're a dumbass, Gumi.'

Gumi clenched her hands and jumped with shock when she realized she had been investigating this issue for too long, upon realizing that it was ten at night. She hadn't even touched her backpack, not even when she came barreling into her house from school. Gumi lifted her bag up and attempted to start her homework, yet her eyes grew heavy against her will. Ten mathematics problems later, and her pencil was hanging lethargically between her fingers as Gumi rested her head against her desk, her eyes closed unwittingly.

'Gum, Gum, Gum?'

Gumi spun around a few times, looking for her father, unable to see him. "Dad? I can't see you."

"Whoops, I'm sorry."

Gumi noticed the black loud speakers come into view as the speakers seeped through the white wall, becoming ingrained into the surface.

"I'm in my office, dear. Come and see me, please."

Gumi looked at the white walls with surprise. "Y-yeah, sure, dad. I thought you were dead, though?" Gumi asked quizzically. She saw the door in front of her and she walked to it without hesitation, yet the door seemed to far from her reach.

"My soul is still existent, Gumi, even if souls seem illogical. If it wasn't for my soul, I wouldn't be here."

"Dad, dad, can you stop the door from moving? I can't reach it." Gumi huffed as the door stayed in place while Gumi ran as fast as she can, her legs beginning to throb due to her exertion the day before.

"Gumi, it'll take a while before you can reach me again."

"Why?" Gumi halted quickly, gasping hopelessly at the door. "Dad? Is this my punishment? I'm sorry." Gumi began to cry without warning. "God, what's wrong with me? I'm being too blunt or too emotional. Why am I acting like this This is a dream, isn't it?"

"It's okay, Gumi, this isn't your fault. You just need to do me a favor, if you want to free yourself from this dream." The loud speakers began to melt into the wall and the door disappeared.

Gumi hiccuped. "What is it?"

"Turn around."

Gumi heard the voice behind her. Now in control of her actions, Gumi excitedly suddenly spun around, eager to see her father's tired, wrinkled eyes and warm smile again. Instead, she was introduced to irises filled with sapphire and skin paler than a pearl, with blonde hair unsuccessfully trying to touch er bare shoulders, the strands of gold just within reach of the smooth, silky skin, with her bleach white dress hovering inches above the floor. Gumi, completely entranced by the young girl's beauty, realized that the girl had to be around her age, as she stood eye to eye with her. Gumi stared into the girl's irises, still in her stupor, until the girl opened her mouth with a small grin.

"If you want to see him again, you'll have to listen to me."

Gumi shivered at the girl's velvet-smooth voice. "S-sure."

"You must salvage my brother from experiencing a life worse than the souls of those that roam for eternity in the deepest pits of hell."

Gumi faint scent of vanilla wafted collected in Gumi's nostrils. "And who's he?"

The girl smiled, almost amused by the green haired girl's oblivion. "Kagamine Len."

Gumi's beautiful haze was cut short, snapped in half like a twig. Now in complete control over her mind and no longer under the influence of the accursed vanilla scent, she offered the dead girl a disturbed expression, wishing that she hadn't let herself fall into this trap.

Rin could only giggle at Gumi's gaping mouth. "What? You didn't see the similarity?"

WHO NEEDS SLEEP WHEN YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT ANGSTY TEENAGERS, RIGHT!? /SOBS IT'S TWO IN THE MORNING IN SPAIN, PEOPLE, I'VE LOST CONTROL OF MY LIFE.

Len's life is literally a big smack in the face. That's a good way to put it, right? And it's only going to get shittier for him /Is mean-spirited

So, for reference:

1) Five million yen is…a lot in American dollars. $50,000, I think it was? I couldn't find info on Japanese parents donating shit tons of money to their kid's school. Idk how that works. Also:

2) There are two types of 'high schools' in Japan: a 'lower' and an 'upper' high school. I explained it back in chapter one. Apparently you can sort of call it middle school? But it's better to call it junior high, I believe. God I'm so tired I tried….but you have to apply to upper high schools and get accepted. In my school, some students took early-morning labs before school started at 8:15. I don't know if this exists in Japan, either? I would think so, though? Sorry Japan But yeah, if you don't get into upper high school in Japan, you're fucked. A good comparison is if you don't graduate high school in the U.S., you're fucked with having any kind of job prospects. Hence why Len is knee-deep in shit: he doesn't have the grades to get into any upper high schools near him.

3) Orphanages in Japan are not very good. I'll leave it at that. And, also, some of you may be wondering what Gaijin means. Feel free to look it up. If you're still confused as to why students call him Gaijin, I'll eventually explain it.

Thank you for reading. Please, leave reviews! I'd like to hear people's opinions! C: (I know some of you are lurking, I can feel it) See you soon~! /.3./