The Hardships of Friendship (A2)

Note: This story is a continuation of The Joys of the Theater.
Also, I put a little explanation in the first chapter as to why the A2 is in the chapter title.

Genre: Romance, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort

Characters: Rei Kagene, Rin Kagamine, Rui Kagene (minor character), Len Kagamine (minor character)

Pairings: RinxRei

Rating: K+

Rei Point of View

It was finally time. Saturday arrived quickly. I nervously looked over myself in the bathroom mirror once more: My hair was neatly combed, my button-up shirt was free of wrinkles, and a shaky smile was on my face. It looked fake, but I wanted to practice smiling, considering I wasn't the best at it. Besides... I wanted to show Rin how happy I was, as sappy as that sounded.

After a few more seconds of looking myself over, I found my appearance was satisfactory. I left the bathroom and walked over to the door. Before I left, I yelled, "Len, I'm leaving now. Try not to do anything stupid."

He popped his head out of the doorway from his room. His glasses were falling off, but he didn't seem to care. "Where ya goin'?" he curiously asked. "Got a hot date or something?"

I frowned at how quickly he was able to guess, even though he was joking. "None of your business. I'm going to Leon's. Need to be there by seven."

"Leon's? Hey, I'm going there, too," he enthusiastically said. I frowned even more at that. The last thing I needed was for him to be there during my date with Rin.

He continued, "I'll go with ya." Lemme put on some pants." He disappeared into his room for a few seconds and walked out while pulling up a pair of white shorts. "Alright! Ready to go."

I sighed. I wasn't going to stop him from coming along. All I could do was hope he didn't do anything to mess things up. "Let's go," I curtly said.

"Why ya leaving so early anyway?" he asked as we left. "It's 6:30. Still a while until 7."

"Never hurts to be early."

Len chattered on and on during our walk to Leon's. I mostly listened, only responding to him when he asked a question or got too annoying. I wore an irritated expression during the entire walk, but I actually enjoyed his talking; it helped me take my mind off the upcoming date, calming me down a bit. I was still really nervous, though.

When we entered Leon's, Len was talking about how he could probably beat Piko in an arm wrestling match. I was actually curious whether he'd win or not but said nothing.

"Rei, Len," Leon greeted from behind the cash register.

I nodded at him in greeting while Len said a warm "hello!". As usual, the scent of pizza wafted throughout the room, and the atmosphere was lively with talking and clattering from the kitchen. Leon's was always a nice place to relax.

"Both of your usual spots are open," Leon said with a nod towards the window.

"Thanks," I said. I walked over to the table next to the window and sat down. It wouldn't feel right without Rui and Len, but today was a special occasion.

Len sat down in the seat across from me rather than going to somewhere else. Why wasn't he leaving? And that spot was for Rin, not him.

"Why're you sitting there"? I asked with a frown. Even though today was supposed to be a good day, I was frowning a lot more than usual.

He looked at me as if I was crazy. "This is our usual spot."

"No, I mean-"

"Len, Rei!"

Both of us looked towards the entrance and saw Rin and Rui there. Rui had a small smile on her face, and Rin was beaming at us. Oh. Oh great. This wasn't a date.

Rui sat next to me, and Rin sat next to Len. "Ya guys are early," Rin said.

"Yeah, Rei wanted to leave early for some reason," Len said. "Earlier than he usually does. Like, early early."

Rin looked at me curiously. "Why'd ya leave so early?"

I mumbled, "Oh, y'know. Never hurts to be early." The same thing I told Len earlier.

"Rei... are you okay? You seem sorta weird today," she said, a concerned expression on her face.

I moved my gaze to the window. Her concern was the last thing I wanted right now. "I'm fine. It's just that I'm worried about my English test," I said without looking at her.

I forced myself to look at her disbelieving expression and smiled. It looked like that smiling practice did end up helping. "Really, I'm fine."

She didn't believe me, but she said, "Alright." She turned to Len and began talking to him about their calculus class. Rui looked at me worriedly; she looked like she wanted to say something. I tried to smile her in an attempt to reassure her. I knew it couldn't fool her, though.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. I didn't say much. All I did was nibble on my pizza and smile. I was miserable.

After paying, we left Leon's. However, when we reached school, only Rui went to the girls' dormitories. Rin stayed with Len and me. She said that she had to get a book from Len.

When we got to Len and my room, Len went inside to get the book. I was about to go in, but Rin said, "Hey, Rei, wait."

I stopped walking and turned around to face her. I probably should've gone inside. "What is it?" I said as casually as possible.

She looked at me disapprovingly. "You know what. You've been acting weird today."

"I told you. Big test."

"Cut the crap. You suck at lying."

I shrugged. "I know. Don't worry about it. It's nothing." I turned around and opened the door to enter. Just as I was about to go in, Rin's hand clamped onto my shoulder, preventing me from moving. I wanted to shrug her off, but I didn't. I wouldn't ever do that to her. Instead, I turned around and faced her.

"Rei, come on. You're acting really weird," she desperately said.

I didn't say anything. Maybe I should just tell her the truth. It probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't want her to continue worrying. I said, "I thought it would just be us. Not Rui and Len."

It took her a few seconds to understand what I actually meant by that. She lifted her hand from my shoulder and let it drop to her side. "Oh."

I let out an impatient sigh. "Can I go now?"

Without waiting for her response, I went inside and stormed past Len. He just left the bedroom, holding a notebook. He said something. I ignored it.

I went inside the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me. Rin and Len were talking outside, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

I collapsed onto the bed. I knew that leaving Rin like that was a horrible idea - except I didn't care right now. The only thing on my mind was anger. Not anger at Rin, but anger at everything else. Anger at the misunderstanding, the rehearsal, school, anything and everything.

Eventually, the fiery, blinding rage cooled into a dull sadness. Of course she wasn't interested in me. We were just friends.

There was a quiet knock at the bedroom door I didn't say anything. Nothing happened. Then the door slowly opened. "Rei, you fine?"

"Yeah." It was Len, not Rin. I was relieved and disappointed it wasn't her. I wasn't sure what to feel.

I heard him quietly enter the room and go to his bed. It creaked as he lay down on it. "You should wash up. It's late," he quietly said.

"I will. Later."

"...Alright. I'm gona sleep. Good night."

"Night."

There was some more creaking as he moved around on the bed. It eventually stopped and was replaced by his steady breathing as he slept.

I was about to get up and brush my teeth, but a wave of tiredness hit me. Skipping a night of brushing my teeth would be fine. And my clothes were comfortable enough.

As I drifted off to sleep, a thought occurred to me. Tomorrow, I would have to talk to Rin. I had to make things better between us.

I slowly opened my eyes. The sunlight was coming in through the window, brightly illuminating the room. Len was gone. Wait a minute... I slept through my alarm.

I grabbed my phone on the end table next to me and checked the time. 11:04 A.M. Four hours and four minutes later than my usual wake-up time. I overslept way too much.

As I was about to put my phone down, I realized there was a notification. One missed call from Rin Kagamine. Suddenly, all I could hear was the loud pounding of my heartbeat. Damn. I missed a call. I quickly opened up my contacts and went over to my favorite contacts and found her name.

I was about to call, but I hesitated. What if she was angry at me? Or worse, what if she was sad? What if she thought I ignored her call? I didn't want to hear her crying over the phone; that would've been the worst possible outcome. Forcing myself to stop thinking, I jammed the call button. Beeeep...Beeeep...

"Hey, Rei," Rin greeted. She sounded tired. 'Because of you!' a quiet, hateful voice mentally said. I ignored it.

"Rin... hi," I softly said.

"... Rei, can we meet up for lunch? We need to talk about yesterday." She was straight-to-the-point as usual.

"Yeah, we do," I said.

"Let's meet at Leon's at 12."

"Sure."

"Okay. See ya then." She hung up.

I put my phone back on the end table and got up. There wasn't that much time until noon. I had to get ready quickly.

Leon's was quiet. There were only a few people there. They were probably sleeping in or doing whatever they do on Sundays.

I sat down at the usual spot with a glass of orange juice. It was for Rin, not for me. Hopefully, she'd accept it as a peace offering.

"Looks like we had the same idea." Rin sat down in the seat across from me, a glass of lemonade in her hand. We exchanged drinks. I took a sip and looked at her.

She was wearing light brown shorts and a plain white t-shirt. Completely normal, but it didn't matter; she still looked beautiful.

"Rei, how do you feel about me?" she asked after some silence.

I took my time drinking my lemonade. How did I feel? It was easy enough to answer, but words couldn't convey my feelings. There was no way for her to really know.

"I'm helplessly in love with you."

She looked away from me and stared down at her drink. It was still almost full. There was some quiet chatter from the other tables. The room was warm and toasty, making me feel a little sleepy. Everything was too peaceful for the tense mood between Rin and me.

"Rei," she said," I'm sorry." I was prepared for rejection, but I didn't expect the hot tears in my eyes. I looked away and quickly blinked to get rid of them.

"Please, don't cry," she softly said, sounding a little choked up.

I brushed away my tears and mumbled, "I won't. Don't worry."

Now both of us were sad. Not how I wanted this lunch to go. I looked at her and smiled. "Don't worry. I knew this would happen," I said.

That wasn't exactly a lie; I knew that rejection was a possibility from the very start. But I also had some hope she liked me back.

There was a heavy silence between us. Rin was drinking her orange juice, but she didn't drink it with her usual enthusiasm. I didn't even touch my drink, having lost my appetite a while ago.

Finally, Rin said, "We're still friends, right?"

"Of course," I said.

"Good."

After a few seconds of thinking for the right words, I said, "Rin, let's just move on."

She smiled. A sad smile. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. But we both need to accept this and move on."

"Yeah." She stood up. "I'm gonna go now. Make sure you get back soon, 'kay?"

I nodded. "Don't worry." And then she left.

I sat there for a while. I wasn't sure how long. When I left, I aimlessly wandered. I didn't care about getting lost or homework or anything. All I wanted to do was clear my mind of everything, to register what happened today.

Except it wasn't that easy. I wanted to move on, but I couldn't. It felt like I had no control of my thoughts. I was falling.

I was at Full Moon Lake. It was dark. I didn't realize it got so late. I didn't even realize I came to Full Moon Lake. Pulling out my phone, I saw that it was 8:14. Shit. The school gates closed at 9. I put away my phone and ran to school.

When I got back, the gates were still open. I slipped inside and quietly went into my room; I wasn't quiet enough.

"Rei!" Len was sitting on the couch with a book in his hands. "Where were you?" he asked, a worried expression on his face. "I was just about to call you."

"Out for a walk," I curtly said. I went past him and went into the bedroom. All I wanted to do was sleep.

I heard Len get up, but he didn't follow me. Good. He knew I didn't want to talk.

I collapsed onto the bed and let sleep overcome me.

The next few weeks were awkward. Rin and I barely talked to each other, besides the forced greetings and farewells. Rui and Len noticed our lack of friendliness, but they didn't say much about it.

Rui tried talking to me about it once, and I almost told her. I changed my mind at the last second, though. I didn't want her to know.

Luckily, things got better between us within a few months. The awkwardness disappeared, and our friendship returned.

We eventually finished high school and went onto college. All of us went to a different college; it was a difficult choice for all of us to split up, but one college couldn't satisfy all of us.

I met new people and tried to move on; however, even after everything, I couldn't move on. I was still falling.

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