Well, this is the last chapter... But I will have a bonus one uploaded, which is basically a little question and answer between Len and the others.

I hope this chapter is okay and... well, the ending is a bit awkwardly written. I had imagined it to be a lot better... Ah well.

And have a very Merry Christmas everyone! And thank you again for sticking with me all this time! I really appreciate it!

Vocaloid (c) Yamaha, but I want Len. I want him for Christmas. I want him now...

The Schoolgirl and the New Beginning

Days turned into weeks and the rumours which went round school claimed that the boy Len would be staying after all. Why? Nobody knew.

Len himself was finally able to lead a half-normal life as a schoolboy and a caring big brother for his naïve little sister. He still worked as a waiter at the local café after school, but Master Kaito Shion, head of the organisation, had deigned to give him much less assignments… and a new house.

Rather, the new house came from Len's pestering style of persuasion, with no ice cream this time. It was a three-storey, three-bedroom house, which he shared with Rin and, because Rin had wanted to, with Miku. Still, he had kept his massive mansion, as he quite liked the old thing.

After some time had gone by and Len had cleared up his backlog of assignments, he finally returned to school. Funnily enough, nobody had seemed to notice that he had been off for so long. Nothing had changed. People milled about gossiping and working and going about their own business like a miniature town.

Len had stayed in the school band and he participated in various sports events, winning them all, never coming second or less. He had learnt many new things both from Rin and Miss Luka… including how to flirt. Apparently, that had to be learnt, said Miss Luka. Well, Len had no other choice – was he about to get the proud him fired just because he wouldn't learn something? No. That would doom him to a fate of ice cream, and he shivered at the cold thought of that.

One morning at the start of the new term, Len was walking to school with Rin under the warmth of the sun. Her skirt was dangerously short as always, and his uniform was scruffy and messy as always, though he argued that he was trying his best to be tidy. And it was on this particular morning that the new beginning came about.

"Hey, Len."

"Hmmm?"

"Don't you hate being left-handed? I mean, don't you end up smudging ink when you write?"

The boy contemplated that for a few moments and shrugged. He couldn't care less. So long as he could do stuff with his hands, it was fine by him. Besides, that was why he didn't tend to write in ink.

Arf!

Suddenly, the two were confronted by a pack of barking stray dogs in the middle of the street. Rin immediately ran to hide behind Len, blue eyes wide with fear and her shaking hands clutching his. She could feel her brother trembling ever so slightly, although whether it was out of fear, hate or anger, she couldn't tell. Either way, she was terrified. She remembered the time as a young child when she was chased by a dog and was nearly bitten. That was not a good memory.

The dogs advanced, growling, baring their sharp fangs. Rin whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, burying her head in Len's back, tightening her grip on his hand. Len squeezed his hand back comfortingly.

"It… It'll be okay… D-don't worry."

To be perfectly honest, Len had not had to face things like this before, especially in this situation. Meaning, he thought, I have something to protect. And he had decided that he would protect her – she, who was dear to him – regardless of the situation or danger. Sighing unsteadily, Len made a growling sound in the back of his throat, imitating those ugly dogs, but in a more intimidating fashion. His growl grew in volume, until those mutts had stopped their growling.

Not quite sure what he was doing, the boy took a sharp step forwards and glared at the dogs… though surely, eye contact was a bad idea. He growled again. And the dogs began to back away, quite unsure of what this strange human was doing. They looked into this bizarre person's cold, blue eyes and saw nothing but a wintry, hateful glare. Without a second thought, the pack of dogs ran away from those invisible icy daggers, terrified, with their tails between their legs.

For a moment, the boy and the girl stood there, holding each other. And the sky was blue and the sun was shining and everything seemed normal and perfect.

"Len…"

"Hm?"

"Wh-what you did just then… that was so not normal."

Len reddened slightly and turned away. He started walking again, dragging Rin by the hand. Rin giggled to herself. Eventually, the siblings arrived at school and entered the classroom, where Miku was waiting with an expectant expression. She didn't tend to walk with the other two, though they shared the same house – she didn't want to
intrude upon their sibling relationship. Of course, the other reason was that she still didn't like Len very much.

Rin sat down next to Miku and the two girls started talking as if it were to be their last day together. Honestly, girls talk so much, frowned Len. They talked non-stop in school and at home and at the café… everywhere. Surely they didn't need to talk so much. Besides, what was there even to talk about? He sighed.

Sitting down in his own place, Len got out his first lesson books. He had left his glasses act now, and whenever somebody asked, he would say that he had contacts. Luckily, nobody really paid attention, nor did they care very much. He plugged in his earphones and, bored, started listening to his music in attempt to drown out the noise from the busy outside world. He laid his head on his desk and groaned. Life was so boring when it was ordinary. School was so boring. Such a waste of time.

It took longer than usual for the teacher to come in. It was a new teacher and she was late. Not only that but… she didn't seem to be abiding with the dress code either. Her tight red jacket contrasted greatly against her tight black skirt, which was definitely much shorter than regulation-allowed. It was, perhaps, even shorter than Rin's. Even her brown hair was short.

This appearance caused a ripple of whispers to spread through the classroom. Who was this teacher?

Len looked up from his morning nap on his desk and pulled out one earphone. He blinked sleepily and saw the figure of a familiar lady standing at the front. Her brown-red eyes were warm, but Len knew not to trust such a thing. He sat up and smirked. Combing a hand through his messy blond hair mass, he stood up, and the rest of the class half-consciously followed his lead.

Like sheep, thought Len with a grin.

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning…" the class's voice faded away as they had no idea how to address their teacher. Len groaned in his mind as he played along. He felt the teacher's eyes settle on him and he took out his other earphone, with a mockingly guilty expression. He sighed again. Master Shion must have sent her to watch over him.

I can take care of myself, he thought, and made a mental note to tell that to both the teacher and Master Shion later on. The teacher wrote her name on the board.

"But you can call me Meiko," she winked and sat on the teacher's desk, swinging her legs like a little girl. Confused and bewildered, the class sat down, unsure of what to expect from now on. It was going to be a bumpy ride.

Miss Meiko was onto registration now. Len had always found it awkward as his name used to be the only one without a surname. And it was all the more awkward when the old-fashioned male teachers called them by their surnames… because he didn't have one.

The new teacher chewed on the top of her pen as she read out the names on the register one by one. She was expecting a name at the very end with no surname. But when she had got to the bottom, she smiled and laughed quietly to herself. He sure knew how to take care of himself, that boy.

She stared at the smudged blue ink at the end of the register and looked up to see that boy who had his head proudly propped up on his left hand, which was streaked with blue. He grinned cheekily at her. Well, off to finish registration.

"Kagamine?" she said.

Len waved playfully. "Here."