Chapter Text
Its the afternoon now. Usually, practice is over at that time and everyone goes to rest in their dressing rooms turned bedrooms, or hang out and eat something.
Not Len though.
Len has decided to stay in his shared dressing room, waiting patiently for Rin. The room is as big as the average dressing room, but it has double the mirrors, and double the mess. It gets a bit cramped in there at times, but they manage. As they always do.
He'd usually be with her at this time, actually. Eating dinner or just generally hanging out and talking.
But this time, he said he had "business to attend to", despite the fact that any businesses that need to be attended to usually includes Rin too, but that's besides the point. Rin didn't really think about it that much.
In actuality, Len just wanted some alone time to rehearse his pre-made dialogue and emotionally prepare himself. He had nothing else to give other than his naked, beating heart.
And then the young, beautiful blond made her entrance.
"Im back!"
"Heyo" Len gave his usual greeting with a smile and a wave.
"Man, today was so exhausting!" She took out her headphones and shoes. Its kind of harrowing to see Rin without her characteristic bow. She wears it no matter the circumstance. Then again, she always takes it out at the end of the day.
Len wonders for a bit if he's the only person here who's seen her without the bow.
"Yea" he gave a simple answer. He had other things in his mind, like how Rin seems to have put on a new eyeliner today. Or how she didnt spray her perfume twice like how she usually does. Or how she took her bow out first, and then her shoes. It's usually the opposite.
"And to think that we've months of this ahead of us yet! I dont know if i can take this any longer..."
"We've... Been doing this for a while. We'll be alright"
"You're right. But still! Meiko just won't let us catch a break!"
"50 sets of pushups and jumping jacks?! My hands and legs feel sooo sore..."
"But you know what? It's all worth it if the crowd is cheering for us, right Len?" She was sitting in front of the mirror taking out her copious amount of makeup. Every female idol has that much makeup on them probably.
Male idols wear makeup too, but not to the extent of women. It's also a more masculine form of makeup.
But makeup is makeup. Its still a girly thing to do. Len would be lying if he said he doesn't like putting it on, though.
In any case, Len is snapped out of his dissociation. He was staring at Rin.
"H-huh? Oh, uh. Yea"
"... Is something wrong, Len?"
"W-what?! No! Of course not! Why would you ask that?"
"Well, its just that ive noticed you've been acting pretty strange these past few weeks, and was getting kinda concerned..."
Classic Rin. Always being able to tell when something is up with her twin. Nothing can get past her when it comes to Len. In truth, Len can tell when something is up with Rin too.
They were made for eachother like that.
"No, no. Its just that..."
"Ive been getting pretty tired too, you know?"
"Ohh. Yea, yea"
"Makes sense, honestly"
"We might as well never gain any weight with the amount of jumping and dancing we are doing, right?" She gives a soft giggle. She always took great care of her diet and health.
And Len is absolutely staggered by her laugh.
"Y-yea! Haha" he gives an awkward laugh back.
He just can't get over how perfect she is compared to him. Her lustrous, short blond hair, her soft hands, that orange smelling perfume that always makes an emblematic entrance any times she's near, her big, beautiful light blue eyes, that petite stature of hers and her soft laugh... The way he could always depend on her, the way she would tease him, the way they've cried the same tears and laughed at the same jokes.
The way that even if the universe wanted to split them apart, they'd always find their way back into eachother's embrace.
Len was almost ready to walk out. Despite her short stature, she was very menacing for him emotionally right now.
But he didn't. He steeled himself. He had the courage to look at her now.
A comfortable silence filled the room. For the first time in a while, he didn't feel awkward around her.
And he started talking
"Hey... Rin?"
"Yes?" The girl was tidying herself up. She obviously doesn't expect him to ask anything serious.
"Uh..."
This was it. He was gonna tell her now!
"I-I...!"
"...?"
The girl was waiting for him to finish his sentence. Her attention now fully onto him. It made things worse and...
"...!"
He forgot the whole dialogue he made.
All this time wasted practicing for nothing!
He had to make something on the spot immediately. He wont let his chance go.
He wont be able to gather up courage again after this.
"... So."
"..."
"What... Are we?" Len finally got it out of his mouth. It was stuck on his throat all these days like a cough.
"... What?"
"What do you consider us to be?" He continued. Under normal circumstances, he would stop at the "what", but he had an unwavering confidence now and a resolve that could take down an army.
He would confess his feelings to her today. He wasn't afraid anymore.
"..." Her expression rapidly changed. Her eyes were more open before. More lively. They stare blankly at him now.
"Well, Len."
"Im guessing you mean what i imagine our relationship to be?"
"... Yes."
Rin sighed. Len couldn't really read what type of sigh that could be.
Of relief perhaps?
"..." She turns to the mirror, as if reassuring herself to herself, and turns to look at the boy again.
"Does it really matter?"
Rin gave him a wide smile. The type he's never seen pulled on him. It doesn't quite reach her ears, and the blue in her eyes seem to have become duller saying that.
"... It really doesn't matter what i consider you. Does it?"
The most surprising thing here is she didn't question, nor ridicule Len's question.
Did she expect it would be asked at some point?
"What i think about you..."
"Has never mattered from the beginning"
"After practically being forced to be with you, i didn't really bother forming an opinion on you"
It was obvious she tried to be strong, but isn't used to being vulnerable either. Truth is, she's forced to be a positive idol like Hatsune Miku is. So maybe she's having a hard time processing negative feelings too.
"I thought it would get in the way of working with you"
"Yet despite that... I-I..."
"I still... Couldn't be happier working with you, Len"
"I am very happy whenever i work with you."
Her smile had a tinge of sadness. The tears welling up behind her beautiful blue eyes combined with the soft light emanating from the mirror gave a natural glimmer that tragically made her even more majestic to look at.
"I... Didn't know you felt that way, Rin"
"Truth is... Youre really nice to work with too." He gave her a reassuring smile while holding back tears, too.
"S-sorry for putting this all on you now, i just..."
"No its completely fine, Rin"
"I understand where youre coming from."
Silence fell for a bit before Len talked again
"I think... At first, i didn't want to work with you"
"Not for any other reason other than the fact i wanted to work alone."
"But now?"
"You've become... The only person i want to work with"
"The only person who..." Len gives himself a second to create the phrase in his head
"Who likes me to the extent that you do, Rin"
Rin seems to sympathise with those words. The look on her face looks serene. Like that of a saint. Even while crying, she's remains very elegant.
"And you're the only person who can handle being with me" said Rin
They both laugh. A genuine laugh. They sound almost the same, save for the pitch in their voices.
"I cannot imagine a world without you, Len."
"Its become difficult to even remember what i was doing before meeting you" Rin continues her confession.
"We've been through so much together now that i think about it." The nostalgia is overwhelming her now.
"Daughter and Servant of evil..."
"Paper plane and Prisoner..." Len continues
"Feathers of seasons..." Rin finishes
"I'd be lying if i said i don't see myself in Allen" Len was getting nostalgic too now. He could speak to her about his role for ages, but now's not the time, he thinks.
"In the sense that I'd..."
"Wait in the afterlife to see you again, too"
"And I'd wait all my life for your response."
They both looked at eachother. Both seemed surprised that the other remembered their role perfectly.
And they laughed. So many years have passed since they did that. How do they even remember?
After they both calmed down, Rin looked at Len earnestly.
"... You know Len,"
"If... Reincarnation exists..." She wipes away tears mixed with happiness and sadness.
"Id love to be twins with you in the next one, too" her tears start running again.
"And the one after that" Len responds back, almost like a mirror.
"And..." Rin now softly giggles. She was about to say the same thing again, but changed it last second.
"... I consider you my other half, Len"
"The one i didn't have before"
"... Maybe that's why i felt so empty before meeting you."
Len is looking at her. Admiring her. Like a statue. Or a painting. The Rin of Thrace.
"I..."
"I think so too, Rin"
Rin opens her mouth again
"Len, i..."
But before Rin could finish her sentence, Len embraces her.
And she embraces back just as quickly
And now they've melted into eachother's embrace.
Holding onto eachother like a lifeline.
It feels like if they stopped hugging, the world would stop spinning.
Because truth is, they are the sun and the moon
The sky and the ocean.
The butterfly and the flower.
Time and space.
Start and end.
Right and left.
Two opposites, yet all the same at once.
A soul split in two, yet again reunited.
"... I love you"
Len whispered into her shoulder what seemed so difficult to even formulate as a thought in his head a couple of hours ago. Her perfume penetrating his nostrils. That intense but sweet and citrusy smell... Its all he can smell right now.
Its all he wants to smell.
The tears didnt matter. Their hearts were now beating as one, a big symphony in ode to love.
"... I love you too"
And for a moment the world fell at peace.
For a moment, they weren't in the dressing room
For a moment, all the pain and suffering in the world didn't matter.
For a moment, there was no one else but them.
For a moment, time stopped.
Their shared warmth was all that existed now.
And they stayed in that state for what seemed like an eternity. Right where they wanted to be left.
In a universe
In a galaxy
In a planet
In a continent
In a country
In a city
In a neighborhood
In a block
In a building
In a room
There were two sleeping lovers, in a neverending embrace. Where nothing else but their continued presence mattered.
Love is not a thing you can feel, or touch, or see, or taste for that matter.
Its a smell.
And love smells like oranges.