Dreams

"Len Kagamine, just what were you saying?" He stared at his own reflection on the mirror with a frown and then shook his head with a sigh. "No... she has to leave."

Chapter 21: Separated

"Where are you going, Dear? Are you moving back home?"

"Nope. I'm going to stay at my friend's house."

"Your friend?"

"Yeah, she's Meiko Sakine."

"Ah! Len's friend! Wait... but why all of a sudden...?"

"She knows about my situation so she decides to take me in. I'm sorry for all the troubles I have caused but I would like to say thank you very much for allowing me to stay here."

"Eh? It's...It's okay! I don't feel troubled at all! Ah! Since you're leaving, have this. It's orange pudding. Len said that you like it."

"He did? Strange... I thought he wouldn't remember his promise."

"He may be stupid and stubborn but he won't forget the important things about the people he cares a lot."

"Eh?"

"Rin! Wake up!"

Rin's eyes flew open after she felt something heavy fell on top of her body.

"Wakey, wakey! We'll be late for school if you continue to sleep," Meiko said in a playful manner as she got up from Rin's body. "I didn't know that you're a heavy sleeper, Rin. You need a body slam before you can wake up."

Rin rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly while saying, "I was tired..."

Upon seeing Rin slowly closed her eyes, Meiko pulled her upper body up and shrieked, "No sleeping back, dude! Professor Hiyama will scold me if I'm late for my consultation! Hey!"

"I know!" Rin shouted and snorted loudly. "I'll get up myself."

"You better!" Meiko let go of her and headed towards the door. "I will prepare some breakfast first."

After the door was slammed close, Rin slowly crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash herself up. She had spent her first night in Meiko's residence and it was quite okay for her, except that she had to sleep on the floor next to Meiko. Of course, on a mattress provided by Meiko. Furthermore, she did not know that Meiko always slept on the floor. Rin did ask her why and she had replied that she preferred sleeping on the floor because it was cooling. Strangely, Meiko's parents were not at home and according to her, they were on a business trip and might not return until a month later. Anyway, she believed that Meiko had already told them about her temporary stay.

Rin put on a normal pair of dark blue jeans and a black shirt, and then walked to the kitchen to help Meiko out. She saw Meiko pouring hot water into two cups and a faint smell of milk slowly filled the air in the kitchen.

"Milk?"

"Yes, we'll drink milk as for today." Meiko smiled and stirred the white fluid. "It's nutritious and very easy to make. Just add powder and hot water, then there, done!"

"Not sake in the morning?" Rin joked and helped Meiko to carry the cups of milk to the coffee table.

"I hope to have the privilege to drink sake every morning... but there's no way that my parents would allow me." Meiko just laughed and placed two plates of four black rectangular things which smelt terribly like charcoal, which caused Rin to frown at the sight of them.

"What are these?"

"Toasted bread."

"Toasted... bread?" Rin pointed at the black things and gaped. "You call these toasted bread? They smell like charcoal!"

"Argh! It's Meiko's special toasts!" Meiko retorted as she picked up the bread and gave it a light squeeze. "Wow... it's hard."

"They've obviously turned into charcoals!" Rin picked up the plates of 'charcoals' and brought them to the basin. "We can't eat these, Meiko. What else do you have in your kitchen?"

Meiko looked around the kitchen and shrugged. "Eh... nothing else."

Rin sighed. So, that meant they could only drink plain milk. Well, at least better than nothing. After Rin threw the 'charcoals' away, the two girls settled down and drank the milk. The milk tasted sweet for some reason and Rin was not going to ask the obvious. How could someone put sugar into milk? It tasted weird!

"Rin, I have something quite important to tell you," Meiko spoke and smacked her lips which was slightly stained by the white milk. "It's about my parents."

Rin casually nodded. "Go on."

"I haven't told them about your stay yet but they'll be back about a month later. So, I'll explain to them when they're back. Is it fine with you?"

Rin nodded again with a smile and answered, "It's fine with me, but if you don't tell them earlier, they might be angry."

"Nah! They won't!" Meiko waved her hand and laughed. "They will surely understand and moreover, you're my friend. So, it's okay."

Rin smiled as she took another sip of the warm sweetened milk. The taste of the milk reminded her of Len for no reason. It was only a night and she was already missing him. Probably his voice as well. Worst of all, she had a feeling that she would not be meeting him again. It was a stupid and bitter feeling but she had to bear with it. After all, she was the one who had troubled him and it was normal for him to dislike her, though she wished it was the opposite.

"Meiko, thanks for taking me in," Rin said. "Without you, I think I would have to return home."

"It's okay. Kaito was the one who told me to take you in because you were staying at Len's residence and he kept... insisting... yeah, insisting that it was unsafe for a girl to stay with a guy."

"Shion did?"

"Yes, he did. If only he could worry about me just like he was for you." Meiko put on a painful smile before she started chuckling to herself. "But that man... he'll never notice me. Sometimes, I do wonder why I am in love with a dense man. I should have fallen for Len instead. He's cuter and more mature than Kaito."

Rin nearly wanted to spurt the milk out of her mouth upon hearing that. Len was not cute and mature in any way!

"Say, you said that there was nothing going on between you and Len but this... hmm?" Meiko wriggled her eyebrows teasingly as she leaned closer. "You still owe me an explanation."

"Wh... what?" Rin looked away with a light blush and pouted. "There's nothing to explain."

"Really? You stayed with him for at least three weeks and there must be a reason why you agreed to do so." Meiko lowered her voice as she wriggled her eyebrows again. "I'm sure that something great happened too. For a cute guy like Len, who wouldn't run wild? Even guys will be attracted to the likes of him."

"I don't think so..."

"Then, do you care to explain why you're blushing?"

"I'm not!"

Meiko suddenly gasped and said, "Don't tell me... the reason why you look like that is because... you and Len have done 'C'!"

"Huh?"

"You know, when a guy and a girl... on the bed..."

"Shut up! There's no way we could have done that! Don't be ridiculous!" Rin snapped and hid her flustered face behind her palms. "He... He saw me in my garments before but not that... we'll never do that..."

The two of them remained in absolute silence as Rin was trying to cool her burning head down while Meiko was undoubtedly shocked and speechless. After a minute or two, Rin realised how quiet her friend was so she peeped at her through the tiny gap in between her fingers only to find her gaping.

"Oh my gosh, Rin," Meiko muttered softly to herself while shaking her head in a slow motion. "Did you just say that Len, our dear Len Kagamine, has seen you in your garments?"

Oops...

-:-:-:-

"Tokyo University," said a dark green haired woman after she had stepped into his cab.

Len nodded and started the journey. He felt unusually worn out early in the morning as he did not have enough sleep the night before. Although he had gotten his bedroom back, he still could not sleep well. Throughout the night, he was tossing around in bed, wondering if he had already gotten used to sleeping on the couch instead of his own bed, and lastly, thinking of that annoying blonde girl who had left his residence without any opposition. Not that he wished she would oppose the words he had said, but he felt that she should have questioned about Kaito's request. Any normal person would have asked 'why did Kaito reject the idea of me staying with you?' or 'is there anything wrong with it?'

Maybe it was just him who wanted her to respond in this way.

"Tsk!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned to look at the passenger who had just clicked her tongue and was sitting next to him. She seemed to be focusing on the rough sketches in her sketchbook. It was a picture of a faceless girl in a plain sleeveless dress.

"Should I add a ribbon on the head?" she murmured to herself. "Perhaps a straw hat would look nicer on her."

Len smiled and shifted his gaze back to the road. This woman reminded him of himself when he was younger. Fashion designing was not easy because the designer had to consider lots of aspects of the person who would be wearing it. As for Len, he would spent a few days on designing a piece of pretty dress even though he had no one to model for him.

"Should I make her dress puffy? Or should I not?" the woman continued to talk to herself. "Will a polka dot dress look good on her?"

The woman started humming as she began to draw on the sketchbook. Suddenly, she stopped humming and tapped the tip of her pencil lead on the book.

"Excuse me, Sir. May I ask you a question?"

Len looked at her, then back to the road, and replied softly, "Yes?"

The young woman giggled and asked, "Does a girl in tight bunny suit interest you? Like... attract you in some sort of way?"

"Wha... what?" Len blushed as he was trying to keep focus on the road rather than an awful image of a girl in bunny suit which instantly flashed in his mind. "No. Why are you asking me this question?"

"What about girls who show off their cleavages and thighs?"

"Definitely not," Len replied with a frown. "Do I look like a pervert?"

The woman giggled again. "I thought all men love to see girls in revealing clothes."

Len nearly wanted to smash his face right against the stirring wheel, but he managed to correct her misconception calmly, "Not all of them."

"Do you think this girl should wear something revealing to attract guys?" she continued to question him, ignoring the words he had just said.

"What's this for?"

"For a product design. My group members are working on this imaginary facial product called Sensuous. We need to come out with a design and a poster to advertise this product to attract both men and women. Knowing men, they won't be attracted to facial products. So, having a sexy girl as part of our design might attract them."

"Having a girl in revealing clothes might scare your consumers away," Len stated. "A decent wear is more attractive than a scanty one."

The woman looked confused and looked at her design again. Then, she looked up and sighed.

"So, what should I draw? Decent yet powerful."

"Does your model look somewhat like this girl in your sketchbook?"

She nodded. "Uh... yup. She's short and skinny. Oh! She has long hair as well!"

She went on and on describing her friend's features until Len interrupted her, "In my opinion, this girl can wear something slightly light and puffy, not emphasising her skinniness. Adding stripes vertically on the dress will make her look even skinnier so the stripes should be be horizontal. Since you're promoting a facial product, her face should be emphasised by combing her fringe backwards and letting her hair puffed up by themselves. Adding a red flower at the side of her head will make her appear attractive to the viewers. Furthermore, it will enhance the pureness and whiteness of her skin."

The woman looked impressed by Len's careful speculations on the design. She started sketching out what he had described earlier and true enough, the design looked pretty on paper.

"What about the colour of the dress?"

"Black," he replied. "You'll need a contrasting colour to emphasise on her skin."

"Thanks!" The woman smiled and continued to work on the design. "You're pretty knowledgeable in designing dresses for girls. Do you take fashion design during your school days?"

That was an awkward question to Len. It made him look like a girlie person who liked to draw ladies' dresses. Moreover, he considered himself a amateur as he did not learn the true art of fashion designing but he studied and observed the designs all by himself.

"Ah... nope. It's just... I heard about it so... I know a little about fashion designing." He chuckled weakly in the hope that the woman would buy this stupid answer of his.

Luckily, she did. She nodded and quietly sketched the dress. There was silence throughout the journey until they had arrived at the main gates of Tokyo University. The woman paid the travel fee and also thanked him profusely for his advice. After that, she alighted the cab and went into the campus.

Just when he was about to drive off, he noticed a familiar blonde and a brunette walking towards the school gates from afar. They were giggling and clinging on each other like everything was perfectly fine for them.

Yeah, perfectly fine. As he tightened his grip on the stirring wheel, he stepped on the accelerator and drove off.

What an awkward moment for Len! Haha!

I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 20. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D

Here are the reviewers:

- B.L
- YellowFluffiesForever22
- MizuneMinamiki
- 0RinKagamine0
- justanothernaah
- seraphim.159
- Gruesome Deaths
- SHUTUPANDDON'TCALLMESHORT
- StarishShadow

Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.

Preview of the next chapter:

Chapter 22: When She Realised it

Meiko gulped down the sake and slammed the bottle on the table. Her eyes loomed around the bar and she suddenly let out a scream.

"That idiotic professor! What species of the same kind? What attitude? Calling me to give my studies up? No way in hell I would do that!"

"Meiko, chill!" Rin patted her friend's back comfortingly.

Meiko covered her ears and groaned, "I can't chill when his words are still ringing in my ears!"

"He just don't understand you, Meiko. Ignore him!" Miku tried to comfort her as well.

Laying her head on the table, Meiko groaned again and sighed. "No one will ever understand why I came here in the first place. No one..."

She accidentally looked at Kaito, who was staring back at her with a worried look, and immediately moved her eyes away.

"I'm so messed up," she muttered under her breath and slowly closed her eyes, unknowingly drifting into a sleep.

Before you leave this page, don't forget to leave a review! Thank you! ;)