A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry this chapter is a little late, but nevertheless, it's here. The first part is kinda... lame hahaha

Chapter Seventeen

Hibiki watched Kagamine-chan who'd sat down on the bench but hadn't begun changing like the rest of them. He'd wondered why Kagamine-chan was so cautious about his body considering how close they'd gotten. Instead, he seemed almost embarrassed to look at them who were stripping off their clothes and flaunting their stuff. Katsurou looked at him and grumbled "why are you so big!" much to Hibiki's surprise.

"Katsu!" Hibiki whacked him as he noticed Kagamine-chan blushed more. "Stop saying that."

"You're huge!"

"It's a penis!" Ryunnosuke grumbled. "Get over it."

"Hibiki's penis is huge!"

There were chuckles from the row behind them, with Hibiki ignored. "It's normal sized!" Hibiki snapped back. "Can we stop this, it's embarrassing me!" and Kagamine-chan. Definitely Kagamine-chan.

"I bet if Aiko said that, you'd be cheering." Katsurou grumbled.

"Aiko hasn't seen it!"

"What, you haven't-"

"LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Hibiki cried.

"Katsurou, shut it," Kaito chuckled as he pulled on his bathes. "You're penis is just as fabulous."

"Why thank you," Katsurou laughed.

They were completely covered now, and Hibiki turned to Kagamine-chan. "We'll meet you outside, right?"

Kagamine-chan nodded. "Yes, I'll be out in a minute."

Ten minutes had passed… Kagamine-chan hadn't come out the change rooms. Hibiki watched the tension in Ryunnosuke's shoulders grow, stiffening with every passing minute. Kaito had begun to pace, and Katsurou hadn't stopped watching the door.

But Kagamine-chan didn't come out.

"Ten minutes," Katsurou said. "It doesn't take someone ten minutes to change. Something is wrong."

Hibiki nodded then looked at them. "I'm going to check up on him. If the teacher asks, I'm…"

Ryunnosuke just nodded, not needing Hibiki to make up an explanation for them. After Hibiki got agreement from everyone, he rushed off back to the change rooms. The last time they'd gotten involved in something, Kagamine-chan had had a huge panic attack and fainted. It had been a very scary situation for all of them, especially for Kaito who'd managed to grab him as he fainted.

Some part of him wondered whether he should go get Aiko. She's gotten very close to Kagamine-chan over the past few months, and couldn't help but feel Kagamine-chan somehow trusted Aiko. It was like Kagamine-chan was hiding a huge secret that Aiko somehow knew. It made him sad that neither of them trusted him enough to talk about it. To talk about it with any of them. However, Hibiki wouldn't pry. It wasn't his place, wasn't any of their business. If Kagamine-chan wanted to talk about it, he would. Hibiki knew he would.

Hibiki pushed open the door to the change room only to be greeted by a wave of steam. It was incredibly hard to see, but Hibiki couldn't think why the room was like this. It only got like this when they all showered at the same…

His ears caught the sound before the thought finished. Gushing water filled the room with a thunderous sound, which answered his question. Every shower in the change rooms was on. That was the only explanation he had for this. Shutting the door behind him, he walked through the change room, searching down each locker lane for Kagamine-chan. They'd always gone to the far end of the change rooms, since it was where Kagamine-chan had chosen on the first day.

Hibiki found no one near the lockers. Kagamine-chan's bag was still on the bench, but a whole bunch of things had been spilt from the bag. Clothes lying on the damp floor, a towel still hung over the bench. Instead of prying, he followed it down to the lanes showers. Sure enough, every shower was on. Hibiki reached into the first shower. The minute his hands touched the water, he yelped and pulled it out. The water was boiling hot. Leaving it alone, he followed the way down to the far end; with each step he took, the more he could hear sobbing from under the sound of the showers.

When he reached the far end, he found Kagamine-chan curled up under the shower, his face hidden in his knees. He was completely naked, and red raw. The shower was way too hot, so Hibiki reached in and gently turned the cold on. As he did, he saw Kagamine-chan flinch, but he didn't look up to see who was intruding. Once satisfied with the temperature, Hibiki knelt down in front of him, gently reaching out. "Kagamine-chan?"

Kagamine-chan flinched again, and began to sob harder. "Hi-Hibiki-san."

"Yeah, it's me," Hibiki said softly. "Kagamine-chan, what's wrong? What happened?"

There was a whole lot of sniffling, but no talking. So Hibiki waited for Kagamine-chan to say something, anything that could help him sort this out. He didn't want to make judgements, didn't want to force Kagamine-chan to talk if the boy didn't want to speak. While knowing what happened would make things easier, he knew Kagamine-chan was sensitive; therefore, he wouldn't force it out of him.

It felt like an eternity before Kagamine-chan shifted. The movement wasn't huge, but it was enough to catch a glimpse of something he'd never noticed before. Hibiki felt stunned for a moment, not sure on what he'd just seen. Before he had a chance to ask, Kagamine-chan sprang at him, wrapping his arm around Hibiki and began to sob harder.

Stiffly, Hibiki ran a hand through his hair, trying to work it out yet give Kagamine-chan the comfort he needed. Was this what Aiko was hiding from them all? All this time Kagamine-chan was…

A sudden wave of anger flooded him. He slowly pulled Kagamine-chan back, looking him in the eye. "What happened, Len?" he asked, trying to be calm.

Kagamine-chan sniffled, slowly calming down. "My…my bathes…someone replaced them with…"

Kagamine-chan didn't need to finish. He could guess what he was going to say.

"Ai…Aiko-san brought them…brought them for me."

Another reason it had upset him. They had some importance to Kagamine-chan. It had been the first time he'd been able to open up about this; they were important. "Len, bathes can be replaced," Hibiki replied. "What can't be replaced is you. Don't give the guys who did this the pleasure of seeing you like this. Let's get you dressed and out of here. I'll tell the teacher you were sick, they'll understand."

"But…"

"Len, listen to me. Aiko, Kaito, Ryu and everyone will get stressed out if they see you like this; and not only that, but the guys who did this will see what it did to you."

"I…don't know who did this."

"Oh, I can guess who it was," Hibiki replied with distaste. It smelt like them. Three guys from last year had come to their high school. They had been known troublemakers, always upsetting people, pulling awful prank like this. It smelt like them for sure. "Come on, I'll work things out. Aiko and I will look for your bathes later, but you need to get home and sort yourself out."

"O…ok…"

They worked quietly. Kagamine-chan's clothes were a little damp from being discarded on the floor, but he didn't complain about it. Hibiki placed the bathes that had been swapped with Kagamine-chan's beside his bag, so Kagamine-chan didn't need to look at them again. Once dressed, Hibiki led him to the door that would let him leave without anyone notice.

"Hi..Hibiki-san?"

"Yeah?"

"…Don't tell anyone…about…"

Hibiki nodded. "I won't… but I think you owe it to the others to explain this. If not now, sometime soon. Don't let them find out how I did, be the one to tell them the truth."

"…I'm scared to…talk about it…"

"I know," Hibiki smiled sadly. "But they want to help you. They can't if they don't understand the situation. You don't have to tell the world, but I think your friends deserve to know."

Kagamine-chan thought about it for a moment, nodded then left, leaving Hibiki alone. He walked back to the bathes, picked them up and slowly approached the door. With every step he took, he saw red.

A/N: Hibiki now knows D: What's gonna happen? I guess you'll have to wait for that since I'm going on a brief Hiatus in order to catch up on chapters and other things going on in my life :D Also, the first and last time you see Hibiki's surname: Kobayashi which means Small Forest :D