Hey guys, I realize I haven't uploaded in forever. My life distracted me, but I'm back for the summer and hopefully that'll be long enough to get this story DONE.

Enjoy~

"Which number track is it?"

I took the mp3 from Rin and scrolled through the listed songs, searching for the instrumental versions of the new songs we'd accepted. The lyrics were supposed to be delivered to our apartment later that day.

Speaking of, Kaito, Meiko, Rin, and I were lounging in our apartment. Miku had agreed to drop by as soon as she made a quick visit at the hospital. While my sister and I song-searched, Meiko and Kaito were in another of their famous arguments.

"Oh my god, you're so full of s-"

"Sake?" Kaito finished for her. "No, that would be you. That's always you."

As if to prove his point, Meiko took a long swig from her bottle and then leaped forward, pointing at Kaito and altogether invading his personal space. "That may be the case, Prince of Blue, but you have to admit that the Daughter of Vengeance is way more tragic of a character!"

"I was raised to tell the truth." Kaito pushed away Meiko's invasive finger. "And the truth is that the Prince of Blue had a sadder backstory!"

"My character grew up a peasant, had all her stuff extorted by the evil queen-"

"Princess," Rin corrected absentmindedly, eyes still on the little screen positioned in between us.

Meiko didn't spare her a glance, but acknowledged the correction. "Right, right, princess, whatever. All her stuff was taken by the princess including her lover!"

"Well the Prince of Blue had his lover killed too! He was so grief-stricken he had to start a war over her!"

"At least he had means to get revenge! My character had to put her life at risk to get revenge!"

"The evil queen gave your character a purpose for living. She took my character's away!"

Meiko looked insulted. "What kind of a crap argument is that?"

I finally found the right soundtrack and pressed play. It was Rin's sequel to Daughter of Evil. Camille had told us that it would be titled "Message of Regret". The song began with the sound of waves lapping against the beach which would have been soothing if it weren't for-

"The Daughter of Vengeance eventually got her revenge! I think your story ended happily in comparison to mine!" Kaito shouted.

"But that's what you don't understand!" Meiko replied, also shouting. "The Daughter of Vengeance gave everything to the queen. First she gave all her material possessions, then her lover, and in the end she lost herself. The minute the princess, well, the servant, died, the Daughter of Vengeance ceased being herself. She was nothing at the end of the story."

Meiko's words hung in the air a moment. Kaito was silent. He had nothing to combat that.

Rin and I burst into laughter, ruining the smooth cadence of the song that was playing through our shared earphones.

"I don't know Kaito, I think Meiko's got you beat," Rin said. "But to tell you the truth, I think I beat both of you out." She threw me a smug smile that I returned. She was stirring the pot.

Meiko and Kaito fought to get their arguments heard.

"How could you-"

"There's no way-"

"You can't possibly believe that-"

"How could you even think-"

Finally both of them turned to me. "Len!"

I stared at the three of them, Meiko and Kaito leaning towards me earnestly, Rin lounging beside me, humor in her eyes. "Um… yes?"

"Whose backstory is worse?" Kaito and Meiko asked, comical desperation in their voices.

"Um…"

At that opportune moment, the doorbell rang. I launched myself off the couch.

It was Miku. She had a binder under her arm and a coffee cup in her hand. "Hey Len, how's it-"

"MIKU!"

I was promptly shoved backwards as Meiko and Kaito rushed to have their opinions heard first.

Rin steadied me before I hit a table or a chair or some other piece of furniture with corners. "Look what you've done," I said, shaking my head.

Rin shrugged. "You disapprove?"

I glanced at the red and blue pair, gesticulating wildly at Miku's stunned expression. I smiled. "You do good work."

Rin nodded, satisfied, but then sighed. "It's not like I wasn't telling the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"My character's story is the saddest. At the end anyway."

"Oh yeah? How do you figure?"

Rin opened her mouth to answer, but Miku pushed her way through Kaito and Meiko's human wall and, in a voice that was made for a stage, said, "Okay, after reviewing the evidence, I have come to a conclusion."

Kaito and Meiko seemed about ready to tackle her for the answer.

"I've decided," she said, drawing out the moment, "that both of your characters got out of this conflict relatively easy."

"What?!"

"Well yeah. Look at my character. She was raised, knowing that every moment of her life was going to lead to her death. She knew that her life and death would lead to war. She knew that everything she did otherwise wouldn't matter because in the end, she wouldn't get to live her own life. Even when she fell in love, she couldn't follow her heart. She had to pretend to love the Prince of Blue so that the plan that had been in place since before she was born would succeed. She even had to watch the agony on the servant's face as he killed her. How anyone could do that is beyond me."

Miku had made a solid argument. Meiko and Kaito were stumped. Finally, Rin said, "So you vote for yourself too?"

Miku looked at her. "I didn't say that. The Daughter of Green's story is sad, true, but not the worst. I pick the Daughter of Evil."

"What? Why?" Kaito demanded.

Miku didn't glance away from Rin. "If you grew up with someone that close to you and then ended up losing him… I can't imagine what that would feel like." In that moment, I felt like the eye contact between Miku and my sister was more than just seeing. They were communicating something deeper than simple acknowledgment.

The connection lasted a couple seconds before Rin turned away, smiling. Miku mirrored the smile and turned to Kaito. "Besides, she was also the reason for her servant's death. Who would be able to live with that? Especially after losing the one she loved romantically too."

Meiko frowned. "Okay, Popstar. You win." Her eyes lit with sudden realization. "But what about me and Kaito? Which of ours is worse?"

"It's definitely mine," Kaito said.

"It's definitely no-"

Miku cut Meiko off. "While nothing would please me more than to settle your little disputes, I'm here on a business mission." She turned to me and held the binder out. "I ran into Camille on my way out of the studio. She told me to pass this to you if I got the chance."

I took the binder and flipped it open. There were some of the edited photos from the photo shoot a couple days ago, an updated copy of the ratings from our first songs, a couple newspaper clippings about our debut, and finally…

"Message of Regret," Rin murmured.

I disconnected the earphones so everyone could hear and restarted the instrumental track. The song was about the Daughter of Evil after her servant's death. She basically ends up making a wish that, when she was reborn, she'd be reborn with the servant again. I liked it. It mirrored how Rin and I felt about each other perfectly. Forever and always.

My second song, Re_Birthday, was the perfect conclusion to the saga. It was a recounting of how my character was released from the sins of his life and how he finally was reborn alongside everyone again, but this time under happy circumstances rather than warfare and deadly love triangles.

When the final note of my song played, I glanced up to see tears streaming down everyone's faces. I was mildly surprised to find that I was crying too.

I looked back down at the lyrics in front of me and realized what we were all listening to.

Somewhere along the line, we had become a family. Miku, Kaito, Meiko, Rin, and me. We were a family now, and when our deaths finally forced us apart, we all hoped to one day find each other again. This connection – this bond… it couldn't just end. Even after death, we'd find a way back to each other.

We had to.

We're in the final stretch, guys! There's four more chapters (well, three more chapters and an epilogue)!

I hope you enjoyed it!

Out of curiosity, what did you guys think of Rin's and Miku's glance-versation?