Dreams
Chapter 32: How to Start a Fire
"Len, I don't know what happened to you last time but now, you're just running away. You're a coward who is so afraid of getting hurt. That's why you... you can never succeed!"
"I hate people who always lie!"
After closing the door, Len leaned against the door and looked at his mother who was still looking through the mountain of books.
"Yeah, I'm afraid... I'm afraid of others getting hurt because of me," he muttered softly to himself. "Liar? Yes, I am. I'm a self-centred liar."
Len walked into his room and picked up the small cardboard box which contained a few notebooks, old fashion magazines, small pieces of pink cloths and a sewing kit. The ones Rin had seen during her first stay. He opened it and took out a measuring tape which he had bought using his pocket money during his middle school days. Then, he headed back to the living room and walked over to his mother.
"Please stop your work and help me with something, Mum," Len said and placed the tape on the book she was reading.
"I won't!" she snapped and then pushed the tape away. "Let me concentrate."
Len pushed the tape back to her view and prompted with a smirk, "Mum, I might know something about... an outfit fit for Miss Kagamine.
His mother finally looked at him and gave him a questionable look.
"What is it you need my help with?"
"Measure from my shoulder to the back of my waist. I need the estimated value of the length." Len pointed at his left shoulder and slowly travelled his finger down diagonally to his waist. "And show me that sleeveless purple dress."
Still clueless about his intention, his mother furrowed her eyebrows and replied hesitantly, "Su... Sure... but... why do you need... to measure your body?"
"Why? Isn't that obvious?" Len said and smiled cheekily. "I want to make something decent so that she won't complain about appearing sleeveless on TV."
-:-:-:-
Meiko kicked open the door and groaned, "Geez! I wish Rin is here with us!"
She entered the twin room and put her luggage on one of the beds. Miku entered the bedroom as well and threw her camping bag on the wooden tiled floor.
"I'm sure that she's having fun posing in front of the camera now," Miku wondered aloud as she started unpacking her cumbersome bag. "This is a model's life."
Meiko shrugged and lay on the bed in silence. This was her first retreat in Jeju island with her clique. Initially, it was Miku's idea to organise a group retreat during the holidays but had no idea where to go. Just when Meiko was about to reject Miku's wonderful idea of a friendship-bonding retreat, five tickets to Jeju island, Korea appeared magically in Gakupo's hands. Well, not really magically but luckily, Gakupo had won them in a lucky draw contest and saved Miku's idea.
It was their first time in the resort of Jeju island. The resort basically had everything that one wished to enjoy and relax during school breaks- clear blue ocean and white fine sand, luxurious green forest, and many other cool facilities within the resort like spa and barbecue pits. Kaito was the only one who got so excited about this retreat that he brought all his swimming equipments including his snorkle, his beloved bicycle, lots of food, and an extra empty backpack to put his souvenirs inside. Well, he was not that extremely enthusiastic after knowing that Rin was too busy to join them. Since she was unable the come with them, Gakupo gave the last ticket to a classmate of his, sadly.
"According to Gakupo's plan, we're heading straight to the barbecue pit... for dinner, I guess," Meiko said.
Miku gaped. "So early? It's only four o'clock!"
"But by the time we've started the fire, we can only eat the food around five o'clock. Or probably six if we can't start the fire fast."
"It's still early!" Miku protested and crossed her arms stubbornly. "I heard there's a gaming lounge room here. I want to go there first!"
Meiko rubbed her temples and spoke in a low voice, "My dear friend, I hope you don't mind helping out with the barbecue..."
"But I can't start the fire!" Miku retorted.
"So are the rest of us!"
Meanwhile, Kaito and Gakupo were already heading to the barbecue pit after putting their luggage down in their room. After settling at a pit, Kaito laid out the frozen food from the ice box while Gakupo laid the charcoals on the pit. As soon as he arranged those black things on the pit, he tried to start a fire by grazing two sticks together.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Kaito asked in bewilderment as he stared at his friend who was trying hard to start a fire.
"Isn't it obvious? I've seen boy scouts doing this before," Gakupo replied with a grin. "Would you like to help me?"
"You mean rubbing these two sticks together? No way!" Kaito took out a small colourful box from his mini backpack and waved it in front of Gakupo. "I'm going to do it the conventional way."
"Wait... Is that..." Gakupo snatched the box and took a closer look at it with wide eyes. "You... Why didn't you tell me earlier that you've fire starters?"
"You didn't ask."
"How would I know?" Gakupo grunted and opened the box.
However, even with the fire starters, his attempts to start a fire failed many times. Either the fire died before he put the starter among the charcoals or he fanned so hard that the fire was blown off. Kaito who was already done with the frozen foodstuffs decided to take the challenge as well. He picked up a few leaves from the ground and put them on the pit, thus receiving an awkward stare from Gakupo. He then put the lighted fire starter on the leaves and watched the leaves burned with a smug.
"I've seen my classmates doing this before when we ran out of charcoals," Kaito announced proudly. "It actually works. Trust me, dude!"
"It does work..." Gakupo pointed at the diminishing fire. "But only for ten seconds."
"At least it's better than what you'd done just now!"
"No, it's the same. No difference."
"Quit talking and attend to the fire instead!"
Gakupo stuck out his tongue and said in a joking manner, "Stop bossing me around, Lieutenant Shion!"
"What lieutenant?!"
-:-:-:-
"Rin, I've a piece of good news in regards to the cheerleader outfit."
Rin removed her eyes from the script and looked at Haku. Haku rushed to her side and showed her a letter sent by the organisers of the comedy variety show. It was a long letter but upon seeing the bolded heading, Rin gasped in surprised and started cheering loudly.
"Isn't that great, Rin? I told them our problem and they decided to change your role to a ditsy student. So, you can wear your high school uniform without the school badge on," Haku explained. "Thank goodness! We don't have to hunt for fashion designers anymore."
Rin shouted with joy and waved her arms wildly in the air as the worries and anger she had earlier was being lifted up. The lucky thing was that she still kept her high school uniform for memories sake but the unlucky thing was...
Rin froze and stared at Haku with knitted eyebrows.
"Miss Yowane, I've bad news instead."
"What is it?"
"My uniform..." Rin grimaced as she closed her eyes tight. "It's at my parents' home."
Haku raised one eyebrow and stated, "So? Go home and get it."
"I can't... after all I'd said." Rin hung her head low and sighed. "Maybe I shall ask Meiko if she still has hers instead."
"Please do."
After Haku dismissed herself from Rin's room, Rin quickly opened up her contact list and dialed for Meiko. Almost instantly, her friend picked up the call and all she heard was some random girl squealing in the background.
Though she was feeling scared that she had probably dialed the wrong number, Rin spoke cautiously, "Hello? Is this Meiko?"
"Yes. And you are?" Meiko replied immediately and the random girl's squealing stopped.
"Meiko, this is Rin. I've something to ask you."
"Ri.. Rin? Oh my gosh! It's you, Rin!"
Rin grinned sheepishly upon hearing Meiko's excitement and the random girl in the background at Meiko's side suddenly squealed again.
"Are you sure it's Rin? Hey! Pass your phone to me! Rin, it's me!"
"Stop it, Miku!"
"Let me greet her!"
Rin laughed and greeted back, "Hi sweeties! How's your first day in Jeju island?"
"Meiko and I are currently watching Luka's performance on TV while unpacking our backpacks!"
"Though we're supposed to help out with the barbecue preparation."
"But the boys are probably probably preparing themselves now!"
Rin laughed again.
"So, what do you want to ask me?"
"Ah! Do you still have your high school uniform?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I burrow it for this Saturday?"
"Sure. Your first debut is on that day... wait... Why do you need it?"
"Just watch the show and you'll know, Meiko."
"Alright, alright... I'll lend you after we're back from our trip."
"Thanks and have fun! Good..."
"Hold on!"
Curious, Rin pressed the handphone closer to her ear and waited as what Meiko had told her to. She heard the whispering of voices which was obviously from the two girls on the other line and finally, everything quietened down.
"Rin, I'm back."
She heard Meiko's voice.
"I've a hard time contacting you these days especially when you moved out."
"I'm sorry."
"This contact number... Whose is it?"
"You mean the one I'm using now to call you?"
"Yeah, obviously."
"It's mine. I've just gotten a new handphone from Len Kagamine..."
"Le... Len?"
"... as a gift for passing the audition."
There was silence between them for a moment.
"Meiko?"
"I... I'm sorry... I'm just surprised that Len... you know, he's a little stingy when comes to money... It's nothing though, Rin. Maybe he has changed. Ahaha! How romantic of him!"
"Argh! It's not like that!" Rin's face reddened and she puffed up her cheeks sulkingly. "He's a selfish idiot! An idiot, idiot, idiot! He always makes me angry!"
"Now, now..."
"Talk to you later, Meiko! Ms Yowane is calling for me! Goodbye!"
-:-:-:-
"Bye," Meiko muttered softly and kept her handphone in her pocket.
For some unknown reason, she felt tired all of a sudden. She headed back into the twin room and sat on her bed whilst Miku's eyes followed her with an obvious question mark written on her forehead. Miku deliberately switched off the television and went to her friend's side quietly.
"What's wrong? Did something happen to Rin?" Miku asked worriedly.
"No... It's nothing. I'm just feeling a little tired," Meiko replied with a soft voice as she rubbed her tummy. "I'm hungry. Let's help the boys out."
"Ehhh!"
Grabbing Miku along with her, Meiko left the bedroom and headed straight to the barbecue pit. When they reached there, the boys were still trying to start the fire. Meiko turned to Miku and gave her an 'I-told-you' look.
"It took the both of you million years to come down," Kaito said sullenly and shoved two sticks to Meiko. "Help us out or else we will have nothing to eat tonight."
Meiko looked at the sticks in astonishment and laughed sarcastically. "Are you calling me to rub these two things together? Do I look like a caveman to you?"
"What else can we do now? We've already tried every method!" Kaito protested. "You can't call engineers to start a fire, can you?"
"Well, they're pretty good with combustion from what I've heard."
Gakupo stopped fanning the charcoals and commented, "That's chemistry."
"And physics," Meiko interjected and threw the two sticks on the ground. "I'm going to a nearby convenience store now. You guys wait here."
"What for?" Kaito queried.
Chuckling, Meiko's eyes twinkled mischievously and then she answered, "I'm going to buy kerosene. This will be pretty good to start a fire within seconds, won't it?"
"Don't do it..."
"You'll kill all of us."
"Wait, people!" Gakupo silenced everyone and stood next to Meiko. "I think it's a great idea. Let's go and buy a bottle of it!"
"You'll be charged of murder if we die!" Miku cried.
"We won't! I'm going to buy it now," Meiko insisted and walked away.
Gakupo put down the paper plate which was used to fan the charcoals and followed behind her, leaving Miku and Kaito no choice but to wait for their return.
-:-:-:-
"Thank you and have a nice day!"
Meiko returned a smile to the pretty Korean cashier and took the plastic bag which contained a big bottle of kerosene and a few snacks. Gakupo stretched out his hand and offered to carry it instead but was rejected. He was initially afraid of her behaviour when she replied him because during their long flight, she was chattering excitedly with Miku like an excited child going on a field trip. But after she came out of her room, she looked moody. Her mood wouldn't change drastically, would it?
"Rin called," Meiko spoke suddenly, causing Gakupo to flinch a little in surprise. "What a pity that she doesn't get to enjoy this trip with us."
He nodded silently. Her voice really did sound weary, unlike her usual temperament.
"Kaito must be disappointed..." she muttered under her breath and sighed.
Though Gakupo could only hear the first word which was 'Kaito', he could more or less know what she was muttering to herself. Just then, a question struck him as he recalled what Meiko had said a few weeks ago when she was drunk in the bar. He swallowed hard and tapped her from behind. Almost immediately, Meiko turned to look at him.
"Yes?"
"Is it true that Kaito likes Kagamine?"
Meiko stared at him looking dumbfounded. She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure that Gakupo was really the one asking that 'forbidden' question before she pretended to laugh heartily.
"What a joke! Where did you hear it from?"
"Hmm..." He bit her lips and gave her a look of uncertainty as to whether to tell her that the joke, or so she had called it, was spoken by her, but she continued to prompt him impatiently with a light nudge. "Well... you were the one who told me... when you were drunk."
Upon hearing that, her face paled and her jaw dropped.
Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 32.
Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 31. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- Lizway
- mirrors02
- Ama Zon
- xxPockyStraw21xx
- YuiHeartsOreos
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.
Preview of the next chapter:
Chapter 33: Sewing Machine
Len let go of his mother and said, "I bought a sewing machine."
"I know, I saw."
"Can you promise me one thing?"
"What?"
"Don't tell Miss Kagamine about this." Len gave his puzzled mother an innocent yet slightly mischievous look and he whispered into her ear, "I want to surprise her on Friday night."
"Wha... huh?"
Grinning like a little boy, he picked up his mug again, stole two muffins from the plate and hurriedly walked back into his room.
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