Chapter Seven
Clutching the broken silver chain and pendant close to his chest in a balled-up fist, Piko weaved his way through the trees with the grace of an expert. He jumped over fallen trunks, ducked under gnarled branches, and dodged the large black trunks that loomed out of the pale purple, murky gray fog. Though his face was set into a blank stare, there were tear tracks down this cheeks and he was constantly sniffing and rubbing his nose.
He could sense it, coming nearer to him as he ran, the slight pull in his chest from his brother being near. After seeing Miku die he had run off, then when he'd stopped for breath he had started crying and fallen asleep, cold and huddled. The next morning - this morning - Piko had felt the tugging feeling of his brother and was following it.
The trees began to thin and the mist left, both from the sun's heat and the lack of trees to curl around. The looming shapes of houses appeared in front of the silver-headed boy, and he jogged past the backs of each one until he found the one he felt the tug from - a large, black-roofed, gray-bricked house with a large backyard to match the dwelling. If Piko looked through the windows, he could see the silhouette of a black-haired boy through the top right one. He picked some rocks up off the floor and threw them at said window, even though the distance was crazy far. All four made it to the glass and made sharp tapping sounds. The boy in the window looked up and saw Piko waving with one hand from the backyard.
Utatane Nexore jumped out of his desk chair and ran down two stories of stairs, getting to the back door just as his brother reached it. Once the screen door was slid open and shut he said, "Gosh, Piko, what happened? Something with Dr. Hatsune?"
Piko nodded, but Nexore noticed the quivering of his lip as he said Miku's title. "Hey, what's up? You're wet, freezing cold, red-eyed, sleepy, non talkative, and you look like you could really use some love. Come on."
Piko let the raven-haired boy put his hands on his shoulders and wheel him upstairs. As they went up the stairs, Nexore yelled to his father in the next room, "DAD! Piko's here. I'm taking him upstairs for a bit, don't bother us!"
The figure in front of the TV in the next room grunted in consent, and then they continued upstairs.
Nexore and Piko called themselves twins, but they looked totally different. Piko had silver hair with a part that stuck up at the top like a P, a cowlick he hated. His eyes were heterochromatic, green and blue, and currently full of sadness. He looked like a four or fifteen-year-old. Nexore, in contrast, had black hair with wild bangs that were much longer than Piko's, and his eyes were both the same orange-yellow color. He looked like he was seventeen, borderline eighteen.
Twins, indeed.
Nexore took Piko to his bedroom and sat him down onto the floor, where the younger-looking boy sat cross-legged without resistance. He was focused on a spot on the black and purple walls behind his brother, and the look on his face suggested he was thinking, of what Nexore couldn't say.
"Piko..." Nexore waved his hand in front of his face as he sat on the edge of his bed. "Piko." The boy turned his gaze sharply to the other. "What happened? It had to do with Dr. Hatsune, right? Your Mom?"
Piko's eyes gained about three more spots of light, and he was biting his lip as he nodded. Only now did Nexore notice that his left shoulder was bandaged in white bandages. He could see a teal-colored marking every couple inches along the whiteness, the seal of Hatsune Miku. Something must have happened.
Nexore knew that though Piko acted tough, he was actually very sensitive. He'd better prod carefully. "So... Who did that to you? Your shoulder, I mean-"
Piko hung his head. Nexore wondered what that meant, but then his shoulders began shaking and the carpet in front of him got darker in little splotches. Nexore jumped off the bed and put an arm around his brother, but that was all the comfort he could offer.
After a couple minutes, Piko looked up, dried his eyes on his arm, and smiled weakly. "S-Sorry... I don't want to talk about it just yet."
Nexore nodded. "Now. You're staying for the night, and don't object. You go take a bath or something while I get out the cot - and I'm sleeping on it, not you. You need some family love right now. You know you do. I'm guessing something bad happened, so I won't press, but ... tell me when you feel ready, 'kay?" Piko nodded. "Good. Now go! Bath time!"
Piko trudged off to the bathroom, and Nexore sighed and rolled his eyes before turning to find the fold-up cot.
"Nexore..."
He turned around. Piko was leaning out the bathroom doorway, holding up a charm on a silver chain. It was a triangular, flat piece of electric-blue metal, streaked with teal, and a silvery gem sat in the center. The chain was broken. "Can you fix this real fast? I can't let go of it, but I kind of need to wear it..."
Nexore laughed. "Sure."
One batch of tools and careful bracelet and chain bending later, Piko was able to slip it onto his ankle. Upon Nexore's questioning gaze, he replied, "It bothers me to have stuff on my wrists. Thus, ankle bracelet."
"Okay then. I'm getting the extra bedding out. See you in a few."
"Yeah. And Nexore?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"Yup."
-;-;-;-
Len felt like he was getting through school good. He had all his A-day and three of four B-day classes with Rin, so she was there to help. Being in a room with so many people was a little uncomfortable at first, but he would get used to it eventually. Right now though... Weird.
Rin dragged him out of Art Foundations so fast he didn't know if it was his sister or a tornado. She took him to the open cafeteria in the middle south side of the school and dropped their stuff collectively onto two small, round tables big enough to sit four comfortably and six if you tried. Then she sped off to the pizza line. Len followed like a lost puppy.
A minute later the twins returned to the table to find two more binders there, that had the exact same color scheme of pale purple, gold and very dark gray. Much like those two, Rin's and Len's were only or mostly the colors gold, black, white and a little dark purple.
Len raised an eyebrow as he sat down, moving his binder to the floor. Rin replied, "That's Megs and Mega," before stuffing her face with pepperoni, cheese and tomato sauce. Len shrugged and dug into his single slice of pizza as well.
A moment later a pair came to sit at the table too. One was a girl, with dark brown hair dyed pink at the ends as well as highlights. Her outfit was made up of a dark grey tank top over a dark yellow tee, dark grey jeans and a necklace with a plain, pale purple teardrop-shaped gem on it.
The boy looked like he could be her sister, but it was only because their eyes were the same shade of green, a vibrant but dark color. His hair was a much lighter shade of brown, almost honey-colored, but he did have highlights in dark purple. they streaked his hair so much it looked like it was part of his natural hair color, and it made nice contrast to his normal brown color. His shirt was a t-shirt colored light gray, with English lettering on it in black. He wore knee-length denim shorts and purple sneakers.
"Hi Rinnie!" The girl exclaimed. She turned to Len. "Oh, this is Len! He's adorable! Hi! I'm Megurine Luka. Call me Lu or Megs. This is-"
"I can introduce myself, thank you Luka," the boy sighed, cutting her off. "Hey Len. I'm Megurine Luki. We're siblings but two years apart. She's going to high school next year. You can call me Mega like Rin does or just Luki."
Luka was already into some deep conversation about the hottest and latest gossip going around - ew, girl stuff - with Rin, so Len ate lunch in silence, still feeling very claustrophobic even with only this many people within such close proximity to him.
"You ever talk?" Luki asked, as he sat on the small stone riser-bench separating their level of floor from the next.
"Yeah..." Len replied, throwing his empty pizza tray into the trash can a couple paces away.
"School getting to you?" The taller boy continued, resting his elbows on his knees while grabbing Luka's binder. "It got to me when I first got here in elementary a while ago."
"This is my first ever day at a real school building," Len confessed. "I've been homeschooled my whole life." He muttered the next part. "That's what I was told anyways... I don't really remember."
"Ah, homeschooling," Luki reminisced, looking up out the window in mock flashback. "Homework could be turned in anytime... You weren't in school for seven hours... Sleeping in..."
"Don't remind me," Len groaned. "I woke up five minutes late and then almost fell back asleep. Can't school be at like five in the afternoon?"
"I wish," Luka quipped, as the girls entered the conversation. "But then we'd be there until midnight."
"So? I could sleep it off until like one," Len argued.
The four continued talking about whatever came to mind until the bell rang for the next class, and Len walked away with two new friends. Yeah, he was going to be great at school.
Until Math, that is.
Dear Math, screw you. Love, Len.
Behold, the beauty of Original Characters. I actually created Nexore for another story I never published, but I decided to use him here instead. He's a cool kid. Just imagine Piko with orange eyes, black hair and no cowlick, taller, and eighteen. Bam, that's Nexore. Which, for the record, is said nex-or-ay. Not the Japanese way of saying it.
Tell me what you think! And tell me that math sucks! 'Cause it totally does! See ya later!
FUN FACT: In the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, In an episode in the 2011 anime, it says that the hotel room they're staying at is 503 which is also a jeans company, also known as EDWIN. It sorta foreshadows the Ed & Winry thing.