Chapter Text
Overthinking is something every young writer does. Hell, not only writers. Everyone overthinks from time to time. A young, aspiring lyricist, Leni Kennedy, is repeating this to herself. Nighttime has fallen quite a long time ago in the unnamed island near Japan, but Leni seems to still be awake, writing in her notebook like her life depends on it. Little does she know, her phone is blowing up with messages, but her parents take it away from her every night. What could possibly be keeping Leni awake past her curfew? She's usually really obedient...
"No, no, this is all wrong... Maybe I should start it over? I don't know what to focus on first..."
Her thoughts are spiralling like crazy tonight. As of last night, she has decided to finally pursue her life-long dream. To become a musician. Specifically, a singer. You see, when she was younger, her dad was a popular singer, and Leni would often want to sing with him. She even wrote her own songs for him to sing. She really enjoyed singing, until an intense, seemingly one-sided rivalry would emerge. Heather Harper. That name is enough for Leni to want to give up on everything and disappear. As her own flesh and blood, her first cousin, had somehow managed to become a worldwide sensation after moving to Tokyo. It was a huge change, as the law, culture and daily life were all really different from the smaller island, yet Heather somehow managed it all.
Leni constantly feels like a shadow, a forgotten relic of the past, a childhood toy that has been abandoned. It goes even deeper than that. Leni and Heather were always really close, always together, especially in elementary school. Though, neither of them were exactly popular in their school. In fact, Heather got bullied a lot. But Leni was always more than willing to stand up for her, to remind Heather she's always there for her. Heather's popularity would build up as time went on, while Leni was pretty shy. She didn't really have any friends, so she always stuck by Heather's side, or she would be with her brother, Milo, outside of school.
Last night, Leni had decided to debut her first song, a song about her true feelings, a song meant to impress Heather, since she was coming home from Tokyo for the Easter holidays. Maybe they could even start a band together, maybe Leni could finally fulfill her dreams, no matter how selfish she would feel after "using" Heather like that.
"Damn... I'm disgusting, am I not? Do I even deserve this selfishness? What if Heather brings back a boyfriend or something...? I mean, she is really pretty... Unlike me... Wait, I need to focus! At least there's no school tomorrow..."
Both the girls were experiencing their last year of their respective schools, as a new music school was opening in the island, directed and taught by the world's most famous and talented musicians. It seemed like a weird fever dream at first, why would something like that happen to an unknown island? Would that be a plot hole, or a story for another time? But it was indeed real. Leni and Heather both signed up, happy to be reunited at school again, for longer than just the holidays.
Eventually, after what seemed to be a long time, Leni passed out in her bed for the night. However, she's awoken quite early, with her parents being the bearers of what seems to be good news. The family has planned a trip to Tokyo! Heather couldn't come back for the holidays, due to still being really busy, so everyone decided to visit her. Leni feels a sudden pang of jealousy while hearing the news. But she'd never, ever admit that. After all, she wanted to please her parents, to be the perfect, role model student and daughter. Of course, it never even occurred to her that she should strive to be perfect for herself, most of all, but that is also a story for later.
The trip goes by quickly, and quite normally. Nothing really surprised Leni so far. Her cousin seemed to be quite the same, yet her ego has been inflated just a tad bit. However, the seemingly mundane trip's atmosphere would immediately change when Heather introduces Leni to some of her new friends. Why does Leni feel so hurt? She expected Heather to have lots of friends, she's really popular now for damn sake! But Leni felt... Lonely.
"Isn't it crazy? They're going to the same school as us next year! We should all become best friends!" Heather exclaimed, seeming as friendly as she had always been.
The friends in question were two twin siblings, around the same age as our protagonist.
"Ahah, me being friends with a boy?" Leni teases.
"Oh, c'mon! He's really nice!" Heather playfully fights back.
"I don't wanna steal him from you, though! You deserve a nice boy!" Leni teases again, this time, a hint of sourness in her voice.
"What? No, he's just..."
"...I'm right here, guys. Hello?" The blond boy suddenly speaks. The girls look at him quickly, expecting him not too look too amused, but he seems to be trying his best not to crack a smile.
Leni giggles a bit, but then panicks. She realized she didn't check her phone that morning. She would never want to leave her best friend hanging! However, opening the conversation makes Leni's heart drop. It was a long paragraph. And even more short messages. And then the last message was what twisted the knife Leni felt in her stomach.
"I never want to talk to you again."
Leni feels like crying, but she doesn't want to seem vulnerable, especially not in front of Heather, a stranger, and a boy. Her best friend just left like that. After everything they've been through together.
Heather and the twins seem quite concerned. Leni is in her own world right now, memories of her closest ever friendship flashing before her eyes.
"Leni...?"
"Oh! Um, sorry, just a small misunderstanding!" Leni brushes it off.
"Are you sure? She's been calling your name for a while now, you know" the blond girl says, pouting a bit.
"Yeah! Don't worry!"
"Oh, uh, by the way, I never mentioned my name, did I? I'm Len!" The blond boy smiles, awkwardly trying to lighten up the mood.
"Oh! And I'm Rin! And I assume you go by Leni? Since that's what Heather has been yelling for a while now..." The blond girl teases.
"Y- yeah..."
After some conversation, mostly lead by Heather, Leni befriended the twins as well. However, something about Len feels... Off. She feels so uncomfortable around him. Why is that? Is he hiding something? The day ended on a good note, Leni drifting to sleep, trying to put her finger on her weird thoughts about Len. The next days followed with some sight seeing in Tokyo, and then the flight back home. Little did they all know, that this was just the start of a huge adventure. At least, to Leni it would be.