"Say, if you two hadn't found me, what would you do?" Len asked, struggling with a sleepy Rin.
Miku shrugged. "Go home and seek consultation from head maid Teto. Cry a bit, maybe. Vent out my anger. Read more romance novels. Avoid parents." Then she shrugged again. "Something like that."
Gakupo wrinkled his nose. "We would be in big trouble, actually," he said. "Once your royal parents His Majesty and Her Highness know where we've been and what we've been doing."
"True," agreed Miku.
"So are you going to convince your parents that you love Len instead of your fiancé?" Lily asked sulkily from her chair. She was still miffed and frustrated from the fact that Miku did not like Len and was actually using him for her plans.
"Probably," said Miku. "If they believe it, then I will continue. If they do not, then there is nothing I can do except accepting my fate and marrying the prince." Here she shrugged her third shrug with a forlorn expression.
"Then I must pretend wholeheartedly that I am completely infatuated with you," said Len helpfully, finally coaxing Rin to settle down beside Lily with an orange.
"Thank you, Chief Kagamine, I am immensely grateful for all your help." And she bowed, along with Gakupo. Len had on a very Gakupo-like look on his face as he stiffly watched them bow.
"Um. Er." He scratched his head and accepted a piece of orange from his sister. "You're ... welcome?"
"Never mind that," said Lily whilst sitting up in her chair abruptly, her eyes lined with worry. "Are you going back to the castle or are you going to stay outside here?"
"Good question," said Gakupo. Everyone jumped in surprise. "I suppose we have to stay in a hotel for the night, princess."
"True," said Miku again.
"Noooo," protested Rin beside Lily, chewing on her orange sleepily. "Rin want purple man. Rin want! Purple! PURPLE RIN!" She screamed. Everyone covered their ears.
"Or," piped up Len timidly, "you can stay in my house? I need to introduce you to my parents, too, if I have a ... well, girlfriend ..." His voice became softer and softer until it trailed to a stop at the end of his sentence. He looked genuinely scared and Miku quite pitied him.
"Purple man!" Rin yelled while pointing at Gakupo. "Eat orange! Rin's orange! Orange nice! Purple orange!" She offered her chewed orange to him before dropping into a stupor again. Gakupo looked troubled and leant forward to take it but was stopped by Lily.
"Sorry," said Lily apologetically, throwing Rin's orange into the dustbin and wiping her hands. "She's always like this when she's sleepy. She acts like she's drunk and stuff, I know."
"Well," said Miku after some time. "I guess we will have to accept your nice invitation to live in your home. Is that okay, Gakupo?"
Gakupo nodded stiffly. "I think Teto will understand why we didn't come home. Besides, it's a bit too late to go back now."
Miku turned to Len with a smile. "Okay Chief Kagamine, we'll stay in your house for the night."
He smiled stiffly. "Let's go, then."
x
The journey to Len's home was not quiet. In fact, it was very noisy, for every single person in the car kept doing annoying things, like Rin screaming in her sleep, Gakupo trying to make her settle down and yelling when he failed, and Miku constantly patting the car seats and saying things like "So this is a car" and "I've never been in one before, wow". Then Len would have to yell at all of them to shut up. They would, and after around ten seconds they would be noisy again.
"We're here," sighed the poor man quietly. The princess beside him is ogling at his house.
"It looks like a haunted house," said Miku bluntly. Len felt mildly offended.
"Why?" He asked whilst switching off the engine.
"It's all dark and stuff," she explained, twirling her hands around. "And ... well, it's dark. Also there's a white thing hanging on the door."
"That's a towel," said Len. "We hung it up to dry."
"Oh," said Miku. "Well, that explains it."
How does my house look like a haunted house in the first place, anyway? Thought Len.
"Wait, Chief Kagamine, if everyone in the house is asleep, then how are we supposed to introduce Miku?" Gakupo asked from the backseat.
"They went out," said Len. "I thought that they'd be back once I came home, but I guess not." He shrugged, and exited the car. Miku hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and ran out after him. Gakupo had more trouble, because he had to take care of Rin.
"Princess— I mean, Miku, you can sleep in the guest room, the one next to my room, and ... err, Mister Butler ..."
"Gakupo," offered Miku kindly.
"Gakupo," said Len gratefully. "you can sleep in the other guest room. I'd let you sleep with Rin but ... well, she's a girl and you're a ... man ..."
"I understand," said Gakupo graciously. "And I thank you for your hospitality." He bowed. Len shifted a little bit.
"But I thanked him already!" Miku complained. "Now you make me seem rude!"
"It's fine," said Len with a smile. "It's just one night, anyway. Or are you planning to stay longer?"
"Just one night," Miku confirmed in a sing-song tone. Behind her, Gakupo fiddled with his shirt. "Thank you."
Len nodded, and opened the door for them. Miku more or less threw off her heels, happy to part with them, while Gakupo politely took of his and arranged both his and Miku's shoes neatly in a corner. Len marvelled at his tidiness and efficiency, but then again Gakupo was a butler. He was trained to do this. Len wondered if Gakupo could cook as well.
"I can cook if you're too tired, Chief," Gakupo offered, as if reading Len's mind. Miku turned to look at them, eyes gleaming.
"We get food? Wow, this is amazing! I never expected that I would get food at this time! Amazing! Is this what they call supper, Gakupo?" She chirped, fluttering around the two men like a bird. Rin squeaked a bit in her sleep.
"I believe it is, princess," said Gakupo. "Except it isn't really late. It's just nine, princess."
"I usually sleep at ten," Miku told Len. "Bit stupid, really, because I'm eighteen and I still have a curfew. For no particular reason. I don't follow it, anyway."
"It's for your health, princess," said Gakupo. "Wait, you don't follow it?"
"Now I feel bad," Len spoke up. "I usually sleep at twelve in the morning."
"That's two hours later than me," said Miku in awe. "Can I sleep at twelve, too?"
"No one's going to stop you," said Len with a grin. It was unnerving. Miku had never seen him grin before. "Rin sleeps at nine, usually, so you can accompany her or something, if you want."
"No," said Miku obstinately. "If I can sleep at twelve, then I'm going to sleep at twelve."
"You sound like a child, princess, stop it," said Gakupo sternly.
"No," said Miku again. But she did waver a bit. Then she hopped into the house and nearly crashed into a wall.
"Careful, it's dark—" Len warned, but before he could finish, she crashed into the umbrella stand, and afterwards, into the wall. Then Miku lay down on the floor in a curled-up ball of embarrassment and pain. "... in here ... Well."
"I told you, princess," said Gakupo from the back.
"You told me nothing!" Miku complained.
"I told you, continuously, for nearly your whole existence and at least thrice every morning, that you should look in front of you while you walk and be careful. This is why you need a curfew. Because you might fall." Gakupo said with a disapproving sniff. He reminded Len of a mother hen.
"You could just, like, turn on the lights!" She yelled, holding her toe now. "It's all your fault that you turn off the castle lights! At ten! It's idiotic!"
"Your royal parents the king and queen want to save power," said Gakupo.
"Well, I don't care about their power carp!"
"Crap," corrected Gakupo.
Len turned on the lights at that point, and squatted beside the princess with a hand outstretched. "It's okay now, princess, come on."
Miku stared at him beneath her bangs. Her stare turned into a scornful glare at his words. Len retracted his hand quietly. "Eurgh, don't say that, you sound like a copy from the romance novels. It's disgusting. Ninety-percent of the male protagonists say that. It's disgusting."
"Okay," said Len.
Miku helped herself up and examined his house with her legs crossed. It was neat and the walls were made out of brown wood. There was an umbrella stand, the one she crashed into, and several umbrellas were on the floor. They were all plain, except for a white one with bright fruits printed all over it, which she guessed was Rin's. Beside the umbrella stand was a shoe rack, again with boring plain sandals, to shiny leather shoes that probably belonged to Len, and bright Mary-Janes of every colour possible. There was also a coat rack. Miku wondered if there was any princess coats on it. After that, there was a long, stretching hall, and beyond that, she could see a bit of a red couch.
"Come on, let's go," said Len again, and with Rin nestled snugly in his arms, he walked into the hall. Miku and Gakupo watched him, and when he turned around to look at them questioningly, they followed. It was as neat as Miku expected. There was a red couch, and two black sofas, which were arranged in front of a television that sat on a chest of white drawers. There was a door labelled as 'kitchen' in tidy fonts, and beside the kitchen were stairs. They could see the outline of Len and his sleeping sister, climbing upwards.
"Up here," he called, and Gakupo followed him while Miku stayed doubtfully behind. She didn't want to fall down.
"I think I'm staying down here," she said. "I ... want to explore."
"You're not going to fall down, you know, it's safe," said Len. Miku tried to pretend that she wasn't worried about that and ignored him. Instead, she opened the door to the kitchen. It made her wonder if everyone in Len's house was this neat. Even though it wasn't big, it looked comfortable and spacious. There was a sink, a refrigerator (she was tempted to open it and scourge it for food but it occurred to her that it might be rude to do so), several spatulas and pans hanging from hooks, and a lot of cabinets. In the middle of the kitchen there was a sturdy wooden table. She pulled out a chair and settled down there, relieving her sore feet of their pain.
Len and Gakupo came down eventually, and Miku was surprised to see that Rin was dancing around their feet energetically, like she wasn't asleep seconds ago. Len noticed, and smiled apologetically. He seemed to do that a lot. "Sorry, when we were tucking her in she suddenly woke up and insisted that we make her soup. She likes soup a lot."
As if on cue, Rin raised her hands and screamed "Soup!" multiple times. Then she smashed her head onto Gakupo's leg. Miku was worried about Rin when she did that.
"I'm going to make soup," said Len, tying an apron around his body. Miku thought that aprons were meant for girls, but she didn't say anything about that. "You can explore if you want."
"Oh." Miku said numbly. "I already explored, but."
Gakupo began dragging her out of the kitchen to let Len make his soup in peace. When Rin started trailing behind them joyfully, Len called out, "Sorry, Gakupo, can you stay in the kitchen? I don't want Rin to run around the house before she drinks soup."
"Why not?" Miku asked. Len and Rin had weird habits.
"It'll make her too tired to drink soup," Len explained. Like Rin isn't excited at the moment.
"I'll be going in, then, princess," said Gakupo while gesturing towards the kitchen. She nodded, and sure enough, Rin began following Gakupo closely back into the kitchen.
Miku stared up at the stairs doubtfully, unwilling to fall from the stairs and embarrass herself more, so she decided to sit down on the couch and wait for Len to finish cooking soup. She could smell it already, and it smelt nice. She realised that Len was more girly than her, with all the cooking and babysitting, and it made her feel bad again. But, she defended, there's nothing you could do about it, is there, when you're a princess? No, there isn't. Then she felt better.
Suddenly the front door opened, and after quite a lot of noise and yells of "I'm home!", a man and a woman who can only be Len's parents unless they were his other boyfriend and girlfriend which wasn't possible came in. They stared at Miku in surprise. She stared back.
"Why, hello," said Len's mother breathlessly. Len's father just stared.
"Um. Er. Hello. Carp. Crap. Um. Uh." Miku shifted around and eventually stood up. She didn't know what to do, so she bowed instead. "Hello, Len's mother and Len's father, I am Miku, and I have just recruited him as my boyfriend. I mean. Pretend you didn't hear that. Just pretend that you know my name is Miku and nothing else."
This seemed to snap the two of them out of their trance. "Okay," said Len's mother.
"Len has a girlfriend?" His father asked incredulously. Rin ran out from the kitchen with a small mug of hot soup in her hands and pointed gleefully at Miku.
"Look, mummy, daddy, Len has a girly!" She yelled. Miku smiled at her.
"I think you mean girlfriend, sweetheart," said her father. "And yes, that appears to be the case."
"Hello," said Miku again.
They looked at her as if she was an angel or something as surreal. Then Len's mother took her hand with surprising strength and began to drag her upstairs. Len decided to appear at that moment and Miku thought that it was fair for him to look very scared.
"Mum! Mum! Stop! Stop pulling her! That's — well — Miku!" He yelled unnecessarily.
"Of course it is!" Miku yelled back, and clamped her mouth shut. Eventually she started thinking of a game plan, because surely Len's mother would interrogate her, and if she couldn't come up with a good enough answer, she might be banned to date Len. And then ... she would need to marry Prince Rei! Miku's resolve hardened. It's fine, Miku, you can think up of something. Okay. The story will be that I fell for him ... somewhere. And then somehow I managed to tell him my feelings. That's perfect! She sighed. It's not.
"Come on in, honey," said Len's mother, with a kind smile. Miku rubbed her arms and backed away a little bit. She didn't trust that smile at all. But she entered the room after Len's mother anyway into his parent's room. There was nothing much to be seen except for a bed big enough for two people, a closet, a neat table, and a shelf containing several pictures. It was a clean, neat, and classic room. Miku thought about her messy room with books piled everywhere possible, and she wondered how many times a person could feel bad.
They both sat down on the bed, and Len's mother spoke up first since Miku was obviously unwilling to. "So. You are dating my son. Unfortunately he does not have many girlfriends and I find that very sad. So obviously I am very happy that he has a girlfriend. Even though he is, like, well. Really old." She coughed. "Anyway. I know this is very rude but if I ask Len he's going to give me crap like 'I guess I liked her and it was mutual and then we started dating' like the last time he had a girlfriend, so I am going to ask you. Please don't mind me asking you."
I do, very much, is what Miku doesn't say. Instead she carries out her game plan. "Ah. That is simple." She didn't even know if this is going to work. "I, ah, saw him, in, like, a restaurant! And then I liked him! And then one day I told him! And then we started dating!" And immediately Miku regretted it. Her plan was so fishy. She just hoped that Len's mother was a nice human who never doubted anything.
Len's mother looked, unfortunately, very doubtful. "That's strange ... I don't think Len will date anyone unless he knows them quite well ... well, guess I was wrong."
"Um, Rin persuaded him to?" Miku offered hopefully. Len's mother visibly relaxed, and so did she.
"Ah. That makes sense. He's a sucker for his sister, it's stupid. One time Rin ran into his room at four in the morning and yelled at him to make soup for her, and guess what? He did. What a silly man. He didn't even realise that she was sleepwalking." Len's mother sighed fondly. Miku felt more worried. How could someone sleepwalk and ask for soup?
Len's mother smiled. "I hope he takes care of you, you seem like a nice lady. What did you say your name was, again? Miku ... right?" Miku nodded. "That reminds me of someone ... but ... mm ... I can't seem to think who!"
"Probably reminds you of me," said Miku hurriedly. "I think there's only one Miku in this country, never fear."
Len's mother smiled a bit. "Okay, then."
"Wait a second, Len's mother, can I ask you something?" Miku said suddenly. Len's mother nodded. "Are you going to bash my head out for dating your son? I read in books that parents do that to their daughter's boyfriends— wait, Len's a boy ... man ... Are you?"
Len's mother laughed. "No, I'm not, if that's what you're afraid of." Miku let out a sigh of relief. "The one who's going to bash your head out is probably Rin," she continued, and Miku stiffened up again. "But since Rin rather likes you, I suppose no one's going to bash your head out." Len's mother concluded.
"Oh," said Miku mildly. "That's nice."
"It ... is, I guess?"
x
"Now, Len," said Miku, "we're going to thank the stars and the wind and the earth and the universe for not dying and winning your parents's approval." She clasped her hands together and bowed to the window. Len looked confused, but he followed her and bowed as well. The clock on the wall said that it was ten o'clock.
After Miku and Len's mother had their talk, Len's father had stonily looked at her and said, gruffly: "I guess she's okay." And then they had soup (a lot of it), and Gakupo was to sleep in the guest room while Miku slept with Rin. Apparently, the young child liked Miku as much as she liked Gakupo. Len's father liked Gakupo more than he liked Miku, something that she found very dismaying and scary. But Gakupo was someone who made people like Len's parents like him, anyway, with his manners and his neatness.
"I'm going to work a bit, now," said Len after some time, straightening up. Miku had to look up at him, since he was tall. But not as tall as Gakupo, thought Miku proudly. Sadly, Miku was shorter than the both of them. She cursed herself for getting her mother's short genes. "You can go to sleep first," Len said with a smile, and he made to go upstairs when Miku gripped his arm tightly and glared at him. He inched away a little.
"I'm coming with you," she said threateningly. "Please please please. I wouldn't annoy you. I'm just going to stare at you a bit. Then I will go to sleep."
"That doesn't sound very settling," said Len uneasily.
"It sounded better in my head," Miku assured him. "Come on. We have to act close anyway, right? I read in books that couples have pet names for each other, whatever that is. I can come up with you now, while you work."
"But how am I going to concentrate ...?"
"You can come up with one for me, too, see, it's like team work—"
"Min," said Len immediately. "Min. That's the best I could come up with. It's cute, too."
"Oh," said Miku.
"Yeah," said Len.
"Well, then I'll call you ... Len ... Len ... Lamp ... Lampy."
"What?"
"Lampy. My little lamp-light. Oh-my-goodness-is-this-stupid." She took a deep breath and composed herself. "You're my lampy-lighty. I don't know. You light my future like a lamp. You're the lamp to my light. Or I can call you Llama. Or Lamby. Pick one."
"They're all—"
"How about Lenny-poo-poo?"
"No!" He yelled. "That sounds like ... you're calling me poop."
"Lenny-feces?" Miku suggested.
"This is getting worse and worse," sighed Len.
"There's nothing I can do. Your name is short. There's only one syllable and three letters! I have to make use of what I can!" Miku said defensively.
Len just rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"Lampy, then," said Miku finally. "You're going to cope with it. You're lampy and I'm ... Min. See?"
Len stared at her, and to her surprise, he burst out laughing. "You're funny, you know," he wheezed while trying to calm down.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She asked.
"Probably a good thing," he said, smiling.
That night, with Rin tossing around and occasionally giving Miku a slap in the face, Miku thinks of Len and his smiles, and she decides that: He's not so bad after all.
x
"Len. Len. Lampy. Llama. Lamby. Lamp-light." Miku said as she shook the sleeping figure on the bed.
It grunted and turned away from her. She let out a growl of frustration.
"Wake up, you little carp, I mean crap!" She yelled, shaking the man.
Eventually he woke up, and when he did, he rubbed his eyes sleepily and blinked slowly at Miku. "What is it? Its—" Len glanced at the clock beside his bed, "—six in the morning. It's way too early to wake up."
"It isn't," said Miku irritably. "Come on, get up, get up—"
"What? Why? What's going on?" Len asked, now sounding very worried.
"Get yourself up, we're going to the castle, Len!" She said, managing to drag him out from the bed. She tried to ignore the fact that he was shirtless, but unfortunately it was very hard.
"What?" He said incredulously.
"We're going to meet my parents, Len!"
And it was only normal that she had to clamp her hand over his mouth to stop him from yelling out loud in surprise and waking his whole family as a result.