Chapter 12: Dream Eater's Resolve, Does Murder Provoke People?

"MEIKO!" Luka pushed open the door, holding Rin's petite body in her arms. Meiko and Lily were the only two in Meiko's room, since Haiyi had been brought to Kaito's earlier in the day. They immediately say Rin, and the words of Mayu rang in their minds, "It's an emergency!" The door closed behind Luka.

"On the bed, now." Meiko got to her feet. Luka rested Rin onto the bed gently.

"She's conscious, but not responding?" Lily guessed by how Rin looked. Luka nodded, "She looks like she OD'd. How far in had she been brainwashed, Luka?"

"When I glanced at the machine, 75% or so." Luka worriedly replied, "There could be permanent damage, but I can't say how much. Thank god for the emergency stop button."

"We'll have to wait it out," Meiko bitterly said, sadly looking at Rin, "I'll watch over her for now."

"In the meanwhile, I will tell Soprano and Frankenstein that she passed away from the shock," Luka told the two, "Do not let Nemu into your room at all costs. Hold meetings in your room, Lily."

"I will." Lily agreed, "If to protect Rin, I'll do anything."

"I'll come by later, alright?" Luka stepped out of the room carefully and made her way to deliver the news. As she walked by, she noticed Nemu walking up to her new room in the girls' hallway.

'Sora, miageta yoru! Nagereru Kumo! te wo kobashi te, hoshi wo nazoru! Todaka nakute, miokuru kedo! Hoshi wa mawa~tte ku!'

Knock Knock!

Len stopped singing, and mildly choked on his own saliva at the noise. Len took off his headphones and quickly went to the door.

"What is it?" Len opened up the door, seeing both Fukase and Lui, "Oh, uh, come in…?" The two stepped in, Lui closing th door behind him.

"Kaito wanted us to tell you something important," Fukase hesitantly said, "You should probably sit, okay?" Fukase being this serious was rare. Len had a bad feeling, and sat down on his bed.

"What's the message?" Len asked. Despite the bad feeling, he wanted to know.

"They tried to brainwash another one of us," Lui said first, seeming rather upset and dodgy about the subject, "Luka was able to stop it, from what Kaito said." Len looked up in shock.

"Who was it?" Len asked. Fukase and Lui worriedly glanced at each other. Len raised an eyebrow, "Who was it, tell me."

"It was Rin," Lui mumbled out. Len felt his heart sink.

"Like Lui said, Luka got her off the machine before it took over," Fukase said after a moment of silence, "Rin's conscious, but she's not responding at all. We don't know how long she'll be like that either."

"A-also, about Nemu," Lui quietly added, "She was brainwashed beyond help…And, she's a mole."

"The hell are you on about?" Len sternly hissed. He was in denial, as anyone could guess. Len couldn't just believe Nemu would be brainwashed, or back for real for that matter, "Why are you bringing up Nemu at a time like this?"

"It's true. Mayu overheard it." Fukase bluntly said, being more straightforward than Lui could be, "I could show you if you still don't believe us. I'm sure you want to see Rin after all, but don't mention it. The word is that she's 'dead' as a cover." Len sighed.

"Fine. Show me." Len agreed.

With Luka's permission, the three boy sneaked over to the girls' side. They first went up to Rin's room, and Lui knocked on the door.

"Nemu, are you in there?" Lui asked from the other side. Len rolled his eyes.

"Sure!" There was a reply. Len was stunned, but decided that it could be a joke.

But it wasn't. Nemu did exit the room, and she was smiling at all three. Len's eyes widened in shock and horror. They were actually right. The Nemu before him was alive, but different. He could see it in her eyes: dead and cold. She was gone.

"It's so good to see you all again!" Nemu greeted them, smiling right at Len.

"Y-yeah," Fukase nodded, "We just wanted to drop by, and say hello. We'll be going now,"

"We can talk later, bye!" Nemu closed the door with one last smile directed at Len. Lui and Fukase glanced at Len, then took him to Meiko's room.

Rin was lying in the bed, much as she had when first laid onto the room. Lily was overlooking her at the moment, as a schedule had been setup between all girls minus Nemu of course. Len quickly stumbled over to the bed and held her hand, almost immediately. Her hand was still warm, so she had to be okay. Len knew he wanted to remain next to her until she woke up, but that was a risk if Nemu being a mole was real. At the very least, he could at least sneak in once a day… That was all he could do for her at this moment.

A week passed on, but Rin didn't improve at all in her condition. But, she also didn't get worse for all that it was worth. Ruby compared her situation to a phone that couldn't use its call functions, but still could tell the time. Gumi said it was a bad comparison and the others had agreed. Len kept his promise to visit Rin every day for an hour, sitting alone with her and humming a song to her. Sometimes he would tell her something hilarious that would happen, holding her hand no matter what. He told her stories about how Lui had embarrassed Merli in front of the girls, or Kyo and Arsloid's ventures at a board game.

In the same week, Len had also been unable to decline the request to spend half an hour with Nemu every day. She mostly did the talking, letting Len get little word in. He didn't mind this though; She wasn't the Nemu he knew, and he despised this new Nemu. If anything, his hatred for Soprano and Frankenstein had grown brighter thanks to this. It was as if they played a sick joke on him. Still, he had to play dumb and not let her catch on.

On the 10th day of her near brainwashing incident, Len was quietly listening to a song while sitting beside Rin. He didn't have headphones in, but the music was rather quiet.

"Hey Rin, want to hear this song?" Len asked. He remembered that she couldn't speak and felt dumb for asking. The others were at the pool, even Nemu, so he had the chance to sneak in a guitar, "Eh, well, I can sing this Miku song anyways for you? I practiced playing it on the guitar last night," Rin breathed. That's all she ever did recently. Len smiled a bit.

"Ko wo egaita, manazahi no sono oku ni! Sekai kumo wo oto nosete! Megurushi wo kaozeru, ryuusei wo miokutte! Koko ni aru imi wo shitta StargazeR…!" Len began the guitar solo, full focus on getting gthe chords back. He was so focused, he didn't notice life coming back to Rin's eyes, "Kasumu, hikari, tsumuida oto! Ano hi kaekta, kotoba no imi… Sunagu uta wa sora ni tokete! Koe ga todaku toki wo matsu…" Len took a breath, "Da-"

"Dakishimteru, sono omoi hanasazu ni…Kotoba kuukan ni hibike meguru hiwo omotte…."

Len glanced down at Rin in shock, and saw her smiling a little, though obviously still pale.

"Rin! You're okay!" Len hugged Rin tightly, and he could feel her fingers dig into his back, "You're awake!"

"Len, what happened…?" Rin asked him, her voice sounding tired. She had no memory of what had happened between blacking out and now, "All I remember is everyone's voices…I remember your voice, and Meiko's, Luka's, and Lily's…And that weird comment Ruby made."

"That doesn't matter," Len backed away, smiling at her, "You're awake, and that's all that matters to me!" Len sighed in relief, "That's all that-"

"Isn't she supposed to be dead?" Len's blood ran cold. Don't tell me. Oh shit.

Len's head shakily turned to see who was behind him: Nemu. There was a strange, cold look in her eyes. Nemu walked into the room, closing and locking the door behind her. Nemu grabbed Len by the shoulder roughly and threw him to the ground. She then locked eyes with Rin.

"Rin, right? Len is mine," Nemu smiled at the girl, cold and calculated. Rin's eyes widened in fear. Nemu pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her sweater and handcuffed Len's hand to the dresser.

"Nemu! What the hell are you doing?" Len tugged at the handcuffs, but all it did was make the dresser topple onto his arm, "…Thank god I'm made of metal."

"Now for you," Nemu crawled onto the bed, and was able to take advantage of Rin's weakened state. She grabbed the girls' wrists and tied them to the headboard with a pillowcase, "There!" Rin weakly struggled.

"You're that weird girl…" Rin vaguely recalled her, "What do you want…?"

"Len, why didn't you tell me about her last week?" Nemu pushed the dresser back up against the wall, sitting in Len's lap. Len leaned away as much as he could to avoid being close to her. Nemu pouted, but smiled when she saw Rin's glare, "That's rude you know…" She grabbed a pocket knife from her pocket and stabbed Len right above his hip.

"GAH! What is wrong with you!?" Len screamed out. He had felt a strange twinge of pleasure right before the pain kicked in, "Did you memorize my weak points?"

"Don't hurt him!" Rin screamed. She wanted to fight this girl, but she knew she'd lose.

"Why…?" Nemu's head turned to face Rin's face much like a doll, "Would you rather me do this?" Nemu pinned Len to the ground, her face inches away from his now, "C'mon Len, we've done this before…"

"Not with you brainwashed!" Len retorted with a glare.

"He's not your boyfriend!" Rin yelled, tugging on her restraints desperately. Rin knew even with her weak strength, that she could eventually break free if she tugged enough, "Get off of him!"

"Really, is that your excuse?" Nemu giggled and focused her gaze now at Len's pants.

"Hey…Nemu," Len calmly said. She looked up at him, "DON'T!" He rammed his head against her's, knocking her away from him, "Trying to give me a blowjob…" Len rolled his eyes.

"AHHHH!" Nemu screamed as she held her head, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!"

"Why would I? Why would I?!" Len repeated, flabbergasted by the question despite the circumstances, "BECAUSE NO MEANS NO."

"I'll show you…!" Nemu jumped onto the bed, pulling out another pocket knife from her pocket, "I'LL TAKE HER OUT!" Nemu screamed as she tried to stab Rin.

"NO!" Rin tugged hard enough to free herself, and rolled off the bed in the process. Nemu stabbed a pillow instead, "Len, are you-?"

"Rin, less talk, more run!" Len shouted at her. Rin saw what he meant as Nemu was jumping at her.

Nemu leapt onto Rin like a hungry hyena wanting blood. The two punched each other, rolling around on the floor. Rin had difficulty with avoiding being stabbed, but she could barely feel it with the adrenaline flowing through her, or whatever the placebo effect of it was. As the two girls fought, Len used this as a distraction to break free. He broke his wrist to slip out of the cuff, and rather quickly twisted it back into place, albeit crudely. Len then decided to arm himself, since Rin was in trouble. He knew Meiko had to have hidden a weapon around here, and began to rummage through her dresser: and there it was.

"TAKE THIS!" Nemu slammed Rin's head against a wall, leaving the girl dazed. She rose the pocket knife above her head, ready to stab the girl.

"Put it down!" Nemu turned to look behind her shoulder. Len had a gun, aimed at her. He trembled before her, glaring her down, "I will shoot you down if you DARE touch Rin… You aren't Nemu! You aren't Nemu at all! So get the hell away from Rin!"

I changed the end part A LOT. I like this version better, for more than one reason . – Kingdom Mitsumi