Chapter Twenty-Four

The next morning, I wake up surprisingly early, considering I had not gotten too much sleep the night before. The alarm reads 5:48. I blink, rub my eyes, stretch and begin to sit up. As soon as I am alert and focused, I stand up from my soft, warm bed and shift over to the window. As I look outside, the night sky is still splashed with stars, but the faint light from faraway buildings is still visible to the eye. I breathe out a yawn. Upon looking down afterwards, I find a small handwritten note on my windowsill.

Madoka,

Take care of your little sister today. I won't be home for a while for the next week, so your help will be appreciated. See you on Friday.

Mom

I furrow my eyebrows in response, and let out a small sigh. My little sister, Mei, has recently got over a cold, but some of the remnants still last on her. Now, the responsibility has been placed on me to take care of her… not that I mind. Maybe I could get Len to help! No, he is just getting over an injury now. Teto could help me with this, although something about her communicates to me that she isn't very good with children. A grin forms on my face as I realize the perfect person! Miku! Why hadn't I thought of her first?

After getting dressed into my school uniform, the house is still abnormally dark and quiet. "Mom?" I call out. Only my echo answers me. That's right, she's probably left already. "Mei?" I call out. Down the stairs comes my younger sister. She is twelve years old with long brown hair in two thick, silky braids. She wears a green bow on her head that differs from Rin's in shape and color.

"Good morning, Madoka," she says quietly, holding her heavy school bag.

"Hey, Mei-Mei," I say with a cheerful edge, "How ya feeling?"

"Better, but where is mama-sama?" she asks. Mama-sama was the nickname that we gave to our mother as young children. We both still use it, regardless of our age.

"She uh, she's at work," I sigh, turning the waffle maker on. I open the cupboard, looking for the flour and measuring cups. I start making us both breakfast. Mei shifts over to the kitchen table, opening up her science textbook. She doesn't go to the same school as me, due to the lack of musical ability. Instead, she's a math genius, but when it comes to science, she totally flops.

"Madoka-san, I don't understand this," she says.

"How is it that you're in a college-level math class, but you can't even tell the difference between potential and kinetic energy?" I snap. She sighs, looking down at her textbook. I instantly wince. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just a little stressed since Mom left," I breathe.

"I just… don't get all this science stuff," she says. I find this interesting, since science and math are two pretty similar subjects.

"Here, let's do these formulas first. I'm sure you'll understand those, they're all numbers and variables anyway," I suggest. She brightens up a little bit.

I watch patiently as she reads the page in her textbook that explains how to do the formulas. Then, she shifts her eyes to her notebook, grabs a pencil, and whizzes through the formulas at spectacular speed.

"That's one thing I don't get about you," I sigh in awe.

"I still don't understand how you can play all those instruments," she says.

"Hmm, then I guess we're even," I say, shrugging. Before Mei could count to ten, the waffle maker let out a ding as I stood up to get them out before anything could burn.

"Will you put cinnamon on mine, like mama-sama does?" Mei asks. I reach back into the spice cupboard for the cinnamon. I lightly sprinkle the mouthwatering spice on her waffle. Upon doing this, I my memory shifts back to when Gumi was humming the tune to a song called Spice, and Len was yelling at her to never sing it again… What was that song about that got Len so outraged? I decide that I'm going to ask him the next I see him at school.

"Thanks, Madoka-san," says Mei, as soon as she is done eating the waffle I made her. My eyes widen in disbelief at how quickly she had finished her breakfast. She stands up from the table and hugs me softly. I depart from her, after roughly three seconds.

"Alright, I think it's time for you to get to school," I tell her. She breaks away, her soft olive eyes closing shut.

"Alright. Have fun, Madoka," she says.

"You too, Mei-Mei," I tell her, with a light pat on her soft hair. She grabs her lilac purple book bag, swings it across her back, and heads out the back door into the garage to grab her bike. I sigh once it closes behind her. I had no idea that being responsible for my little sister could be so hard.

The moment I arrive at school, I go to find Len. I'm about ten minutes early, so I should have enough time to ask him about the song. "Len!" I call. Instead of Len, Miku turns around in response.

"Oh, Madoka! You're here! I've got outfits all picked out for when we sing… What's our song called?" she asks.

"Miku, there's no time for that right now!" I half-yell. "Where's Len?" I ask.

"Jeez, Madokie, no need to get all impatient on me!" she breathes.

"Sorry, I just need to find Len!" I tell her. Miku shrugs.

"Haven't seen him, but he might be-"

Suddenly, Len rushes up behind me and hugs me. I smile at the silly, warmth of seeing Len again. "Len, don't scare me like that again," I laugh, "I almost thought you were-"

"Dead? Buried alive? Stranded in the wilderness… with Rin?" he suggests. I shake my head and laugh. Miku does the same, walking away from us. I feel the tiniest bit guilty from her feeling driven away from us.

"Someone's in a good mood today," I say after Miku is gone. Len chuckles. "Hey, uh, Len, can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Uh, sure. Anything," he offers me openly.

"Len, you know that one song, um…" I mumble. Suddenly, I don't want to ask him anymore, but I continue on anyway. "Spice," I add. At the mention of the word, I watch as his cheeks turn a bright shade of red. His hand goes directly to the back of his neck as his sea-green eyes awkwardly shift downwards. "What is that about?" I ask timidly. Len sighs.

"Uh, I'd rather not talk about it," Len drones.

"Len, why not?" I ask, "I thought you could trust me with anything." There's an uncomfortable pause as he lets this sink in. I can tell his heartbeat is quickening at an alarming rate. "Len…" I start. He blinks and whistles the tune to Melt. "Len, you're a really bad staller," I joke. He, for once, doesn't laugh at my joke.

"Len, are you okay?" I ask softly. "You know, if you don't wanna tell me, I could always just-"

"No, I-I'll tell you," he stutters. "It was about me and Luka… you know…" he whispers into my ear. I cringe at the thought.

"I think I've heard enough," I say, wincing. We both look away.

"Yeah, I think I've said enough," Len chuckles nervously. I join in.

"So, um, what drove you to um, write that song?" I ask.

"Usually I just tell people that it was a really dark period in my life, but really, Kaito and I made a bet," Len says, his blush deepening.

"Who knows about this?" I ask.

"Just Luka, Kaito, Gakupo, and I. And, I guess you too now," he sighs.

"Oh, sorry. And why Luka?" I ask curiously.

"Uh, part of the bet," he tells me. I want to ask what the bet was about, but I feel like that would sound a little too pushy. Instead, an ominous silence hovers over our heads, daring one of us to break it. I think it has to be me.

"Well, um, I should probably go find Miku before the bell rings," I say.

"Yeah, me too. I-I mean… I should go find um, Piko, I guess," he says, his already deep blush reddening further. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. I blush as well at how cute he looks doing that. Suddenly, the bell rings. I curse in my head.

I sigh helplessly. It's time for us to go to Songwriting. As we walk together, I realize how Len's mood dropped almost instantly. It was totally stupid of me to ask about something like that- something that I knew he was already uncomfortable talking about. When he swings the door open to hold it for me, I walk in. I glance at Neru, Miku, Teto, and… Rin's not here! I'm somewhere between relieved and confused.

"Len, where's Rin?" I ask as we sit down.

"Oh, she got suspended," he mumbles, sitting down beside me so that I can be next to Miku.

"Really? Uh, sorry," I apologize.

"Look, Madoka. You shouldn't have to apologize for things that aren't your fault," Len says, eyeing me bleakly.

"You're… right," I sigh. Another silence follows as Mrs. Tokara walks into the room. However, there are so many things I wish I could ask him right now. Instead, Miku turns to me.

"Friday!" she sings. "Do you think we're ready?" she asks cheerfully. Her bright mood already warms me up and I let out a weak smile.

"Yeah!" I say. Her turquoise eyes light up with excitement.

"But wait," she pauses, "I asked you this morning, but then Len jumped on you… What is our song called?" she asks. I take a moment to think. The Power of Your Voice, I think. No, too… cliché. Believe in me? No, that's only in one chorus. Odds and Ends, I realize, is the perfect title. It showed up in every chorus, and was original and gave an alternative spin to the song.

"Odds and Ends," I reply softly. Miku takes a second to think about the idea, and then raises her eyebrows.

"Madoka-sama, you are a genius!" she half-yells excitedly.

"Madoka? Miku? Were you even listening?" asks Mrs. Tokara's voice. We both direct our heads to the front of the room, neither of us even noticing she was talking.

"Sorry, I um, we were talking about our song," I admit.

"Miku, can you summarize what I just said?" Mrs. Tokara asks firmly. I silently thank God for not picking on me.

"Uh, something about our projects?" I ask.

"No, actually the opposite. Maybe if you were listening, you would have been able to answer that," Mrs. Tokara said.

"Moushiwake arimasen, Tokara-sama," says Miku. I nod in agreement. Neru glares at her threateningly, and then her face breaks out into a told-you-so smirk. Miku slouches down in her chain in defeat. I sigh. Neru goes back to her Blackberry.

"Today, we're taking a break from our song projects," Mrs. Tokara explains again. Miku and I glance at each other. I want to ask why, but I stop myself just in time. Instead, Mrs. Tokara continues, "Instead, we'll be working on something else that connects into the writing project that you're doing for your English class," she says. "This project also connects to Acting, where you will create the musical, Vocal Strengthening, where you practice your songs, Conversion Art, where you will create your characters, and Dance, where you will practice choreography," she explains. Great, another cross-class project.

I raise my hand. Mrs. Tokara looks at me impatiently. "Um, won't this be taking valuable time from our Songwriting project?" I ask. Mrs. Tokara sighs.

"Does your group still need time? Because I'm pretty sure you should have had everything done by now," Mrs. Tokara says.

"Oh, no, we're totally fine," Miku cuts in, saving me just in time. I nod reassuringly.

"Good, because you only have two more days including today to finish," she warns. I cringe at the thought. At least Miku has our outfits picked out. However, I'm kind of expecting her to make us wear big, teal, flashy, sparkly diva outfits like she usually does on the weekends. I bite my lip.

"Alright. So, here are your partners. Miku, Madoka, if you two need more information, I'll be sure to give you good partners who were listening," she says. Miku and I exchange a glance with an apologetic shrug. "Alright, we've got Len and Rin, Miku and Teto, and that leaves…" she lingers. My eyes widen and I shrink in my seat almost instantly. "Madoka and Neru," she finishes. I swear she did that on purpose.

"Um, excuse me?" as Neru, with a fake smile plastered on her plastic face. Mrs. Tokara looks at her to continue. "Can I please be with someone else? Preferably Len?" she asks.

"No, Neru, that's disrespectful to ask to change your partner," Mrs. Tokara says.

"But, can I at least-"

"No!" The entire room turns around to stare at Neru's shocked, fuming face.

"Fine," she grumbles, crossing her arms.