If the page looks long, it's because I used a different writing style... So just saying, it's not long.
On the more positive side, thank you for the reviews! I'm sorry I took down the old chapter two but I found a plot bunny :D and it told me to write a background story for Neru, so I did :D.
If you don't like Neru, you can skip this chapter. But I did include plot-important stuff in here!
I don't own Vocaloid... blah blah blah *this and that, this and that, this and that, this and that, this and that, this and that*
Neru: Get on with it!
"Who would have thought that Rin would forget Len…?" I whispered to myself as I turned off my phone.
This will provide for a nice turn of events.
"Ah. The old days when we were all together." I smiled to myself, sitting down on my bed.
The old days that were lies.
"If I remember correctly, Len was born on a warm winter day…"
What about Rin?
"Ah, Rin. She's no-one special."
Not anymore.
"Yes. Not anymore."
"Neru-chan. I have something to tell you." My mother said with a smile on her face.
I ran over from the swings where I had been waiting for my turn.
"What is it?" I said in excitement. Usually when mother speaks like that, I would get a piece of candy.
"Do you remember Auntie Lily?" She asked me.
It was a warm winter afternoon.
It was the same day Len was born.
"I remember!" I said to my mother.
Still, I was a bit miffed since she didn't give me any sweets.
"Auntie Lily is now married to Leon! He's going to be your uncle!" My mother said.
"Yay!"
Little did I know what that meant.
"They're coming over visit us this evening!" My mother continued, fixing my hair. "So let's go and get ready!"
Len was exactly two years old at the time.
He looked just like any other toddler.
One could easily mistake him for a girl.
So my mother fixed him up in a cute little dress.
The name 'shotacon' was stuck on him ever since.
I was clothed in another dress my mother had prepared for the occasion.
It matched Len's- except with black instead of white.
Then came the knock on the door.
"Come in~"
"Please excuse us."
I was walking down the stairs with Len tripping behind.
We were nearly at the bottom when he slipped.
Thankfully, I caught him.
But no sooner did I realise that I was already rolling down the stairs.
With Len in my arms.
It was like a nightmare.
I once dreamt that the world was tumbling before me.
Blood oozing out of my throat.
It was happening then. All because of my stupid brother.
I was placed in a hospital for several weeks. No-one came to visit me for a month. They said I was in a coma. But I knew very well that I was alive. I was listening to them- every single word they said. And I found out that I had damaged a specific part of my brain. And… A…
All because of the staircase.
All because of Len.
"Ah. Neru! You're finally awake!" A few strangers greeted me when I finally opened my eyes.
I opened my mouth.
I breathed out.
That was when I realised that I no longer had the ability to speak.
No sound had come out…
My world was eternally silent.
What good are your ears when all you hear are other voices? What good is a mouth when it can't speak? What good is a person when it cannot pronounce its own opinion?
No good.
That was the answer.
I was no longer myself. I had tried to scream but no more than a hoarse whisper come out. Followed by an unbearable pain.
Tears were filling my eyes. Why couldn't I speak?
"Are you okay, Neru-chan?" A voice asked.
I looked to the woman with a concerned expression on her face. She looked somewhat familiar…
"ArE yOu oKay, Neru-nEe-chAn?" A voice said to me in broken Japanese.
It sounded small and cute.
Sort of like Len, but an octave or so higher.
After that short meeting, I was left with a few bunches of flowers.
Then I heard a conversation.
"Seems like she's lost her memory."
A pause.
"Now would be the perfect time."
I stopped listening after that because of the sudden drowsiness that had taken over me.
The steady beeping of a heart monitor.
That was the only sound I could hear after that.
"Neru-chan, I'm your mother." A woman who came to visit me one day said.
My mother…
She then gestured to a small girl (?)
"This is Len, your brother."
Ah. It was a boy.
"This is Rin, your sister."
She seemed more boyish than Len.
But something was wrong…
"This is your dad!"
The woman gestured to a man in a business suit.
It only took that to reintroduce me to my family.
No… One of them… I don't… remember…
…
…
…
That girl called Rin.
In the end, it turned out that I had severely injured my vocal chords. I was offered some treatment overseas but my mother turned them down. My father told them that I was going to be perfectly fine in his hands.
And so I began several years of speech practice with a personal doctor called Lola.
"Now repeat after me: a, i, u, e, o." She began her lesson.
"…"
A year had passed yet I could not produce any sound.
That was when my mother grew impatient and gave me a phone.
They're such wonderful pieces of technology, giving me the ability to speak again.
So I became attached to them.
I spent most of my time texting my mother and my father.
My younger siblings would be yelling at me to get off the phone from time to time.
It was a wonderful family again, I no longer had to stay by myself in the hospital.
A few years later, Lola said that she had to leave.
That was the first time I had cried in years.
So she left.
Without so much of a farewell at all.
I couldn't speak again. I just couldn't. I relied my phone to communicate. I relied solely on technology.
Then it came.
'Vocaloid', they called it.
It was a nightmare.
More than a nightmare.
"This isn't going to hurt a bit."
Vocaloid. A new alternative for those who have speech impediments. Scientifically proven to produce accurate human voices and sounds, Vocaloids are speech libraries in which we take voices of volunteers and combine them to create a unique sound for yourself.
And so the nightmare begins…
My voice came from my sister and brother… And a girl my age called 'Miku'.
I hate Miku.
I've always hated the sight of her…
She stole Rin's first crush.
If I remember correctly, it was a blue-haired senpai of hers who had a reputation for being obsessed with ice-cream.
It was a stupid person.
But Miku was even worse.
She had told everyone at school about my speech impediment.
She even told everyone that she was now my voice.
My Vocaloid.
I hated my voice.
It comes from a device now.
It's also my phone.
I can no longer speak on my own…
When I was seven, I took an IQ test.
"Your child's intelligence is incredibly high!"
So?
I couldn't speak. I rely on a piece of metal.
Who gives a d mn about my IQ?
"She even has eidetic memory."
"Ah. But she has experienced amnesia before, why is that?"
"Memory loss is no different for her. Although she has a very strong memory, she can also lose them like any normal person."
"Good."
Good?
My mother took me back home.
…
I had little idea of what may happen.
"Len's leaving for England, Neru-chan." My father told me solemnly, carrying a crying Len in his arms.
"Good… Bye…"
It took me both mental and physical effort to say that word.
I turned around.
And I saw Rin, her teddy bear in her arms.
I knew how much the twins valued each other. Len even called Rin 'oujo-sama'. They were like an inseparable pair.
I couldn't stand the amount of tears Rin cried that day.
She cried herself to sleep that night, asking mother where Len was.
"He said as long as I have this, he'll always come back." Rin held out a piece of silky white fabric.
My mother fixed it on her head and told her: "Then always put it on your head."
Eventually, we stopped mentioning Len to Rin.
So that where we are now.
Rin and Len are coming back together at last.
Hmm…
To: Rin
From: Neru
(no topic)
How very interesting.
...
...
...
From: Rin
To: Neru
RE: no topic
?
Thank you for spending your time reading this chapter!
Next chapter might come out a bit later than a week since I have a lot of assignments.
:) If you want to persuade me to write it quicker, write in the box below... and click 'review! :D