After Len's departure, Miku and Luka started packing away the various cosmetics scattered on the bathroom counter. One by one, the contrasting colors disappeared off the greyish-white surface and into a black accessory bag. It sort of feels like we're resealing Pandora's Box, or something, the tealette noted to herself.
"Really, thanks for helping us out," she conveyed her appreciation. "I don't even know how to apply half these make-up things; much less make it actually look nice in the end..."
"I can't just observe from the sidelines when a maiden's first love is at stake!" her friend declared, curling her long, elegant fingers and raising her fist into the air in a dramatic pose. "And, well, you do need to practice to get the hang of it. The first couple of times I tried applying some, I looked like something out of a horror movie." Their light-hearted chuckles mingled together and melted into the walls.
"Anyways, I'll leave some remover tonic and cotton pads here for Rin-chan to use," the pinkette offered, putting the items on the wooden shelf above the washing machine. As she did so, something beside the appliance caught her attention, evoking a surprised 'oh' from her.
"The Kagamines are twins, right? A boy and a girl," she stated casually, turning around to look at Miku. She received a decisive nod as a reply.
"Len-kun's the boy and Rin-chan's the girl," Luka continued, her gaze shifting from faint uncertainty. Another nod of agreement was her answer.
"Then, what are his clothes doing in here?" she wondered in an innocent tone, pointing at the garments in question.
"Uhhh, it's a long story..." the tealette murmured, looking down at her toes. Damn, this is so not good. I don't think it's possible to justify having a boy's clothes in a girl's bathroom without it turning into an awkward tale.
"Oh, I've got time," she replied, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows quizzically.
"But I don't," she attempted shaking her off the topic, trying to look remorseful about it at the same time. "Sorry Luka-chan, I'll explain it to you on another occasion." Tension gathered in the air between them in the minute until she spoke.
"Alright... Don't think I'm letting you off easy though, because I will ask again. It's too intriguing for me to not know the reason behind it," the pinkette stated with a playful wink. She zipped up the bag, having placed the last remaining eyeliner into it. "I guess I'll see you later then. Oh, call me when Rin-chan gets back. I wanna hear all about the date, too!"
Not wishing to impose any further, Luka left the room on her own. Miku let out her breath, which she wasn't even aware of having held in until that moment. That was a close call, she commented to herself. It'd be disastrous for Len-kun if he were to be found out, by anyone. I'd imagine it to break him permanently. I could probably trust Luka-chan to keep it a secret, but it's not something for me to decide...
She straightened up the rest of the bathroom, even picking up his clothes and folding them atop the washing machine. When she went back into the main room, Rin was still deep in slumber and looking considerably healthier already. To pass the time, she sat down at her desk and worked on polishing her song.
"H-hey... Don't cry. It's just a movie."
"Bu-but it's so saaaad! The caring servant di-died and the evil princess gets to live."
"Well, he deserved it? He killed the other princess, even though he liked her. The servant was evil, too."
"Nuh-uh! He just had to do what she said. And it was his idea to trade places. Because he was so nice and loved her."
"That was stupid. He should've saved them both. He's a bad brother for abandoning his sister. Now she'll be unhappy for the rest of her life without him. I would never ever do something like that!"
"Really? You promise?"
"Yeah, I promise. I'll always be here to protect you."
Rin's eyes popped open all of a sudden, a shiver coursing through her body. She blinked rapidly a couple of times in order to clear away the sleepiness. "Ah, it was that dream..." she whispered softly.
"Feeling better?" Miku immediately posed the crucial question upon hearing her voice. She walked over and took a seat on the edge of the girl's bed.
"Yeah," she replied with a weak smile as she sat up. "My head still feels kind of woozy and fuzzy, but I'm okay."
"That's great to hear. I was getting a bit worried. You slept through the whole morning... And half the afternoon," the tealette revealed. The red digits of the alarm clock showed the time to be 3:09 p.m.
"Crap, what about my date?" she screeched, gripping her blanket as she started to freak out. "And where's Len-nii?"
"Yeeaaaah, about that..." Miku fell silent for a moment, scratching her cheek with a finger, unsure regarding how she should continue. I just have to say it as it is, loud and clear. "I helped Len-kun cross-dress and sent him on the date in your place."
"YOU WHAAAAAATTT?" she shrieked, lunging forward and digging her nails into Miku's shoulders. The female Kagamine was livid with fury burning in her eyes, nostrils flaring.
"Rin-chan, that hurts," she whimpered. "Like I said, Len-kun's on your date, masquerading as you."
"There's no way he agreed to that," she added sceptically, still glowering. Her grip gradually loosened on her friend, though. "Not in a million years. I'm sure of that."
"Well, it wasn't easy to convince him, that's for sure. I had to tell him over and over again that it's for your sake," the tealette elaborated on the morning's events. "Do you think anything else would've been able to tear him away from your side while you're sick? So don't be mad at him, because it was all my idea." She raised her hands in front of herself, palms facing towards Rin.
"Oh shit, this can't be happening. This is awful. The worst scenario possible. I can't believe he..." she broke off mid-sentence, clamping her palm onto her mouth in distress.
Rin-chan cursed twice within the minute... Oh, she's upset alright, Miku concluded. In case I couldn't tell from the vice grip she had me in earlier.
The blonde snatched her cell phone from the bedside table with a swift movement. Her eyes widened in alarm as she looked at its screen. Remaining silent, she concentrated on pressing the buttons. A troubled sigh left her lips once she was finished and put it back in its place. Her cheeks were slightly flushed; perhaps from a returning fever, perhaps from her irritated state.
"Miku-chan, you really shouldn't have. I told you before, Len-nii's fragile..." she scolded her roommate with a stern expression. She mounted up a couple of pillows and relaxed onto them.
"I know that. But he didn't excessively freak out over it. See? This is how much he cares about you. Or would you have preferred cancelling the date and completely missing your chance with Piko?" the tealette inquired. I have to calm her down before Len-kun gets back. I told him everything would be fine... I mustn't let him down.
"No, it's not that simple. Far from it. Damn, it's all so messed up now..." Rin grumbled, shaking her head in a displeased manner.
"Don't worry, Piko won't notice the difference. Luka-chan came over to do his, I mean your, make-up and she didn't suspect a thing. Have faith in your brother; he can definitely pull off being you," the tealette attempted to reassure the girl, placing a hand on hers.
"But it's pointless if I'm not the one on the date! It was supposed to help me decide... And now, all it accomplished was getting him involved. I'm making him suffer, in the most dreadful way that exists," she complained, the pain and frustration seeping through her voice. "Like the princess and the servant."
"Princess? Servant? Rin-chan, what are you talking about?" Miku asked, the puzzlement visible on her expression.
"Do you remember The Evillious Chronicles? That television series with all those stories connected into one huge, twisty storyline? I think Len-nii and I were like, four or five years old when it began airing," she pieced the memories together little by little.
"Yeah, it seems familiar. Wasn't it originally on really late at night?" she tried recalling it. And definitely not intended for little children...
"Yup, it was. But we snuck out of bed to watch it anyways because the commercial made it appear so awesome. And it had twins! Of course we had to take a look if it was about twins, like us," she clarified. "The whole story wasn't about them, but the parts I'm talking about were called Daughter of Evil and Servant of Evil. Did you see those?"
"Mhmh, the rerun of them a few years later. I don't remember too much of it anymore, but gosh, I was bawling my eyes out at the end of the second part," the tealette recounted her experience.
"So did I. Naturally, Len-nii wanted to console me... He was mad at the servant for abandoning his sister by dying in her stead. That's when he promised to always be here and protect me. The definition of his promise extended to not hurting me, either; but that's another story. He... well, he became my knight from that moment on. Literally, I mean. The next day, he made a tin foil helmet and used that cardboard cylinder thing as a sword," she finished the reminiscing, a tinge of softness in her eyes.
"Aaaawww, that's so sweet~" the older girl gushed, cradling her cheeks while she tried imagining the scene. If they're incredibly cute together now, they must've been doubly so when they were younger! And that also explains how Rin-chan thought of his pen name. After so many years, he's still faithfully her knight...
"I know, I know. No doubt about it, he's the best brother in the world," Rin said, her voice brimming with warmth and gentleness, until she switched topics. "But you endangered his promise, Miku-chan. It's exactly what happened in the movie. The angry villagers came to capture them... The servant pretended to be the princess, giving her a chance to escape, and he was executed for her crimes. The difference is that there are no deaths involved this time. Only in the social sense, maybe, if anyone ever finds out."
"I... I had no idea. I'm so sorry, Rin-chan... If I knew, I'd have thought of something else," she apologized, biting on her lower lip. So far, the plan appears to be having the opposite effect than I intended. However, this is my chance. I can give her a little insight on how much Len-kun misses her, she reflected on her current circumstances. "It's just that, lately, things have changed between you two. I wanted to close the rift... I thought it'd help, if you'd get his approval of Piko and this seemed like the perfect way to achieve that."
"Geez, you and your crazy ideas... Props for convincing him to go along with it, though. I don't think he would've agreed if anyone else presented such a plan to him," the blonde remarked, the last sentence carrying vague traces of hostility.
"Maybe. But the fact is, he's doing it for you," Miku stressed her point. "That's what matters the most." She received a nod in reply from her.
I don't think she entirely gets it yet. I have to nudge her into the right direction, somehow, she pondered. Perhaps I ought to try a different approach.
"I haven't really had a chance to ask you before, but how much do you like Piko? Why, even?" Miku voiced her thoughts.
"Ugh, I don't know," the blonde groaned, clutching her hair in frustration. "It's way, way complicated."
"How so?" she pressed on, crawling up on the bed to sit right next to her. "Talk to me, Rin-chan. We used to be such close friends; now I barely know what's been going on with you since the school year started."
"I know, sorry about that. Everything... became so... different all of a sudden. It's all because of the class placements," she began to shed light on the matter. "All my life, I was with Len-nii. We were always 'Kagamine Rin and Len', not 'Kagamine Rin' and 'Kagamine Len'. And it was completely natural... We didn't need to have friends, because we had each other. Always..."
A melancholic air began to form around the blonde as her hidden thoughts surfaced. It's my first time hearing something so personal about their life from before, even though we've known each other for a while now, the tealette noticed. Were we never as close as I thought?
"After a while, though, our parents got a little worried. They had us come here as an attempt to make us open up to others a bit. It sort of worked, because you became our friend. But we were still 'Kagamine Rin and Len' for the most part," she continued, not lingering on any details for long.
I might not even be here, listening to her, if the dormitory room assignments were different... Our friendship is based on a mere coincidence, the realization echoed in her mind. Or was it the hands of Fate itself? But, cheesiness aside, it was a very lucky something or other.
"Until this new class placement ruined it. At first, I was convinced that our bond was strong enough to overcome it. Then, I stepped into my own classroom... And all of a sudden, I was 'Kagamine Rin'! I realized I had my own identity. In a weird sort of way, I felt liberated; like a weight had been taken off of me," she said in a tone woven with happiness as she recalled her emotions from that time. "With all those new students and the novelty of high school, everyone was in search of friends and I had no reason to shyly close myself off from them."
An image of Rin's cheerful expression while she talked about her classmates on the first day popped into Miku's mind. Yeah, she definitely seemed overjoyed about her new sense of self. Like a butterfly breaking out of her cocoon.
"Although as the days passed, that liberated feeling turned into something else. I felt too light; empty, even. Being just 'Kagamine Rin' didn't seem so great anymore. I was desperately missing an important component, which I knew I had to replace... I had to fill myself up again, but I didn't know how," she stated, sounding melancholic once again.
"Aaaawww, Rin-chan..." the tealette cooed, pulling her friend into a hug. She nestled herself into a comfortable position before continuing.
"So I figured that just making friends with everyone in my new class would be a good way to give myself weight once more, for starters. And this is where Piko comes in... It was basically the first time a boy took genuine interest in me. Well, he was taking a genuine interest in every girl in our class on that first day, but yeah, you get the point. It inevitably made me feel a little special, paired with the sensation of discovering myself to be 'Kagamine Rin'... As that initial excitement over the situation calmed down, he was still trying to befriend me. Every other girl, too, but okay." There was no aggression in her tone as she spoke about the potential rivals for Piko's attention, only acceptance of that certainty.
Well, I guess it's good that she's not getting carried away... Personally, I'm starting to have doubts whether this Piko guy would be good for Rin-chan or not, intuition cautioned her.
"And that's where it got complicated. One morning, I was sleepier than usual as I entered the classroom. For a moment, I mistook Piko for Len-nii; not entirely sure how I managed that, but I did." A few nervous chuckles interrupted her monologue. "Thinking back on it a bit later in the day, when I was more in control of my mental capacities, the solution occurred to me. The emptiness I felt was due to not being 'Kagamine Rin and Len' anymore. My identity was intertwined with his from the very start. Indeed, I was liberated; but in the sense that someone had cut us in half and I was missing crucial limbs and organs now. I needed artificial body parts. Since Piko bears such a likeness to my brother, a little bit personality-wise as well, I thought that he could make me whole again..."
If Len-kun were to hear this comparison, I'm sure he'd go batcrap crazy, she amused herself with that mental image for a moment.
"It seemed like a good theory. At the same time, I had to notice that the other girls, my new friends, were also fond of him. They called it 'love', but I couldn't consider it as such; it just didn't feel right... Mainly because they were exaggeratedly fawning over him, like demented chimpanzees. Nevertheless, it made me wonder what they based that assumption on... Perhaps it wasn't as intense as 'love', but 'romantic feelings' on the verge of blooming into something more."
I'm totally getting déjà vu here... I was counselling the other Kagamine on the same topic this morning, Miku instantly made the connection. I swear, their twin synchronization shall never cease to frighten me.
"I tried getting closer to Piko, but I began to think that he wouldn't be enough to replace what I had lost... That's why I wanted to go on this date. To ascertain my own emotions, if there was even a possibility that he'd be capable of it one day," she uttered the words with a slight desperation to them.
"And this morning, I just wanted Len-nii to be here. The date and Piko completely slipped my mind. I was so caught up in finding a replacement that I didn't even consider it an option to just regain the original... I ended up drifting away from him. Even though nothing was supposed to change between us. But that time he fell asleep on my bed and held onto my arm, I was my entire self again, easy as that." A content sigh left her lips.
Well, that goes for the both of them, the tealette thought while wrapping her arms more tightly around her friend.
"So, I don't know what to do anymore. One day, I'll inevitably have to separate from my brother, right? I might as well get used to it sooner rather than later. It's for the best, even though it's the most difficult thing I'll ever have to do. I can't have him all to myself... We each have our own lives to live. But there has to be another person in this gigantic universe who completes me as much as he does... right?" her tone wavered with uncertainty as she voiced the questions plaguing her mind.
It sounds a lot like... Rin loves Len in that not exactly sibling way, too. I would've never figured it out on my own, though; it doesn't reflect in her actions at all. Quite the opposite, really. Not to mention, I just heard Len-kun's half this morning, so that definitely makes it easier for me to notice the link now. And honestly, I can't see them with anyone else but each other. They're like the wings of a butterfly: one can't survive without the other. The rough outlines of a cliché plan unexpectedly appeared in Miku's thoughts. Maybe I should lock them in the janitor's closet - with a box of Pocky - until they figure it out already.
"Wow, it really isn't as simple as it appears to be from the outside," the tealette gave her feedback. "And from what you said, I can tell that you've been thinking about it a lot. So you're on the right track, at least. But that itself might be the problem. You're thinking too much when you should be listening to your heart a little... It might be a good idea to follow your instincts a bit."
I can't actually meddle too much into their affair. I'll just have approach their thinking to one another's, she strategized with caution. Giving them similar advice should do the trick, no?
"My instincts, huh..." Rin repeated the notion to affirm it for herself.
"Also, there's no rush. Your high school life has just begun! There's still so much time for you to figure out who you need in your life and to what extent. Just have fun, and the answers will come to you on their own," Miku shared her philosophy.
"Yeah, I guess I'll do that," the blonde agreed to the idea, her lips spreading into a merry smile. "Thanks for listening to my rambling, Miku-chan. I'm a bit more at ease now."
"Before that, do keep in mind that this is all coming from someone with no experience in this area." None that I'm free to share with you, anyways. And even that was pretty minimal. "It's like a toddler who can't even write, trying to compose sheet music. Who's also tone-deaf and had only seen instruments in a picture book before. Just warning you."
Ooops, I think I forgot to give the same warning to Len-kun, she made a quick side-note to herself. But he's probably learned by now to only listen to me at his own discretion.
"But, I'm glad you confided in me. Don't ever forget that I'm always here to listen to you," she concluded. This is what true friendship is about: being there for each other in times of need, the epiphany flashed into her mind. Even though we drifted apart, that doesn't mean our friendship disappeared. I'll perform my song; I want to convey the emotions I filled it with. Not just to Rin-chan; everyone else, too. I want everyone to remember that bonds need to be treasured, before it's too late to repair them.
"Tadaima..." Len announced in a worn-out voice as he stepped through door.
"Okaeri!" the girls automatically greeted him from Rin's bed. They were playing cards and munching on sandwiches that Miku had prepared for them as a light snack. It was around half past 5 p.m., the afternoon sun's rays bathing the room in a soft orange light.
"Oh my gosh, I've been cloned," Rin declared in awe upon setting eyes on her brother's entire figure, her half-eaten sandwich dropping onto the bed alongside her jaw. "Dare I say, you're even cuter than me!"
The boy was in the middle of pulling one of the swivel chairs next to the bed and almost sitting down on it, but the unanticipated compliment caused him to plop down onto the empty air beside the seat instead. A scarlet blush exploded onto his cheeks as he scrambled onto it to take his seat for real this time. It didn't help that both girls broke out in jolly giggles from the comical act.
"Yeah, yeah, feel free to ridicule the poor victim as usual," he commented glumly, crossing his arms atop the backrest.
"Just tell us about the date already, Len-nii," his sister ushered him on with a hint of impatience.
"Wait, Luka-chan wants to hear about it, too," Miku abruptly interjected. "But she doesn't know about the whole cross-dressing deal, so..."
"Well, I, uhhh, don't really mind telling her..." Len admitted warily. "She gives off a pretty trustworthy vibe."
Woah, that's totally unexpected from him... the tealette remarked. I guess it was a good idea to start integrating her into our trio, if even he's accepting of her.
"And I think I need her help to get all of this disgusting gunk off my face anyways," he added as an afterthought, eliciting a couple of chuckles from the girls.
"Okay, I'll invite her over," she declared happily.
"Ojamashimasu~" Luka said, stepping inside the room and slipping out of her shoes.
"Irasshai," the trio welcomed her. Rin was still lying in her bed, while Miku had moved to her own. Len had changed back into his own clothes and removed the hair accessories by then, sitting back on the chair.
"Uhhh, what's going on?" she asked in pure confusion, her gaze rapidly flitting from Len to Rin.
"It's time I explained it to you," Miku told her, beckoning for her friend to join her on her bed. "As long as you promise to keep what you hear a secret."
"Yeah, sure," the pinkette complied, taking her designated seat. She was already deep in thought, telltale creases appearing on her forehead, as she tried to construct a plausible theory from the few facts she had.
"So, the truth is that Len-kun's over here, and Rin-chan is over there," she gestured to them with her outstretched hand. Rin waved back with a smile, whereas Len gave a quick nod of his head. "And he's the one who needs your help in washing off the make-up you applied this morning."
"I... see..." Luka affirmed, deadpanning. "Why, exactly?"
"Well, Rin-chan had a fever in the morning and it would've been nearly impossible for her to go on the date. So I had the sudden idea of sending Len-kun in her place. As you can see, he was the perfect imitation of his sister," Miku exposed the situation. "That's why you saw his clothes in the bathroom."
Strange how easily it can be put into words, while there are several complications behind the scenes... she mused to herself.
"Ahh, that's it?" the pinkette wondered with an amicable laugh. "It's a surprisingly tame story. But I can understand why you wouldn't want too many people finding out about it."
"With that cleared up, can we move on to the crucial part? Like, freeing my face from this horrid mask?" Len interjected irately. He took the remover tonic and cotton pads from the desk that he had brought out from the bathroom earlier and handed them to the pinkette.
"All right, all right~ Never fear, your friendly neighbourhood Luka-chan is here!" she announced, promptly getting to work. In a matter of minutes, the male Kagamine fully returned to his former self; on the exterior, at least. Beneath the surface, his pride was sure to have suffered a few scratches.
"Aaahhh, much better. Thanks, Luka-senpai. So, the date. It was all the classic things you see in movies and series," he started retelling the day's events. All the girls had him under their engrossed gaze, their attention tinting his cheeks pink. "First off, he took me to see a movie."
"Wait, what did he wear?" Rin interrupted him.
"What does it matter?" he asked back.
"Because I need to know every detail for when the girls ask on Monday!" she retorted, raising her voice. "It's one thing that you had to pretend to be me, but I'm going to have to pretend to have experienced it..."
"Ugh, okay. Jeans and a shirt," he finally answered. "As I was saying, we wa-"
"Hey, don't skip ahead! I need to know everything," she interfered once again. "From the very first second to the very last. Everything."
"Sheesh, fine. When we met up outside the dormitory, he called m-, you cute and then we walked to the movie theatre..."
As per his sister's orders, he continued to retell the date's proceedings as closely as he could: the movie ("It was epic and we have to go see it together."), the lunch at Clover Club ("That was hilarious. He basically turned into a fire-breathing dragon because the chili sauce and ketchup got mixed up."), the visit to the arcade ("You can be proud, Rin, I totally whipped his ass at that zombie game we always play."), the walk in the park ("I don't understand why girls' shoes aren't comfortable when you're supposed to walk around in them.") and finally, the ride on the Ferris wheel.
"A-and then, he... uhm, leaned in real close and..." he squeezed his eyes shut as he reached the highlight of the date, his voice lowering after each word until it was almost a whisper. "He kissed me on the... cheek."
"On the cheek where?" Rin piped up right away. "Show me!"
"Erm, right here," he demonstrated, poking the spot with his finger; on his own face, of course.
"No, I meant show show me. Like, a... replay... of it," she clarified, her face heating up in the slightest.
"Nuh-uh," he rejected the idea immediately. "I can't."
"Oh, yes, you sure as hell can! It was supposed to be my kiss in the first place..." she retorted, pouting for added effect.
"She's got a point," Luka sided with the blonde. "A cheek kiss is no big deal. See?"
To demonstrate her statement, she leaned over and brushed her lips against Miku's cheek for just a second. The tealette blinked in confusion as her brain processed what had just happened.
"Yeah! No big deal," she agreed quickly, putting on a laid-back smile. I'll never get used to Luka-chan's pace, she added to herself. That aside, didn't he kiss her forehead this morning? Why the sudden reluctance, then?
The twins just stared at the pinkette, wearing identically shocked expressions. However, Rin got over it faster.
"Just do it, Len-nii," she coerced him sweetly, batting her eyelashes. "Pleeeeaaaaaase?" It was a matter of mere moments before his defences crumbled to microscopic dust molecules.
"Argh, whatever. It's not like today could get any worse," he finally subjected himself to her demand.
"Hey, why the complaining? It's not every day that you get to kiss a girl as cute as yours truly, even if it's just on the cheek," Rin teased him. "Besides, just think of yourself as the messenger bird or something. Like you're delivering it to the rightful recipient."
"If you put it that way, I guess I didn't have a choice from the beginning..." he agreed dejectedly. "Come closer and shut your eyes."
She did as she was told, scooting to the edge of the bed. Len stood up from the chair and sat down beside her. Reluctantly, he placed his hand on her shoulder. Millimetre by millimetre, he leaned in closer towards her face. Naturally, Miku and Luka had their full attention fixated on them, involuntarily inclining forward from their seat. He paused right before touching her already rosy skin, as he was about to close his eyes and diminish the remaining distance between them.
"I see shoujo sparkles..." Luka observed in a creepy whisper tone. At that second, his cheeks were set ablaze and he sprung backward. Rin's eyes popped open, looking frightened while being frozen in place. And now you don't, the tealette thought in regret, letting out a deep sigh.
"I can't do it after all!" he shouted, splaying out on the bed. "Too much of an audience!"
"If you want some privacy, lock yourselves in the bathroom," Miku abruptly suggested, her idea from earlier resurfacing in her mind. It's a shame we don't have any Pocky at the moment. Well, there's always a next time for that.
"N-n-n-no way," Len stammered, bolting upright. "I'll try again."
Before he could change his mind, without allowing anyone to interrupt this time, he pressed his lips onto her cheek, and then pulled back. If either Luka or Miku had blinked, they'd have missed it.
"You couldn't have been more unromantic than that..." his sister remarked, though the blush appearing on her face seemed to prove otherwise. She touched the spot on her cheek, the illusion of a timid, yet content, smile crossing her lips for a second. Both of them looked in opposite directions, the awkwardness forming a thin wall between them as they sat side by side.
"Then I suppose you'll just have to go on another date to get a proper one," he recommended with a harsh edge to his voice. "End of story, by the way. He escorted me back here, but I was too grossed out to say anything. Luckily, he thought it was plain embarrassment and let me be. I did thank him for the 'great' time I had today before we parted. The end."
"So, am I going steady with him now or what?" Rin asked the first question that crossed her mind.
"Nah, not yet," Luka replied matter-of-factly. "He has to properly ask you out for that. This was more of a test run, a chance to get to know each other better."
"Ooohh, I see," she replied, sounding relieved. "What's your impression of him, Len-nii? You saw for yourself now that's he just a regular nice guy."
"Yeah, I'm fine with you hanging out with him," her brother grudgingly admitted. The dark aura around him implied the complete opposite. "He's a decent person."
Even though it's what I wanted, Miku thought to herself, somehow, this feels so disappointing... Is it just going to split them further apart?
Disclaimer: The Evillious Chronicles, including Daughter/Servant of Evil, belongs to mothy (AkunoP).
Author's Note: Happy Belated New Year~ Yeah, it's been a while since the last chapter, but I hope the wait was worth it ^^ Random trivia: I've had the base idea for the plot for over a year now... And there's still a long way to go before that scene xD
Thank you to everyone still following the story :3 I'd appreciate hearing your opinions on how you're liking it so far :)