Chapter Text
“When I was young, I admired… That invincible red-caped man.”
Chapter 1
The first time you saw him was the day you stepped foot in his house. Mama wanted you to give your new neighbours some baked cookies and wouldn’t let you watch your favourite cartoons until then. You sighed, tugging on your mud-splattered overalls before knocking on the painted doors.
“Coming!” You hear franting thuds against the door and feel the urge to run back to your home. Mama didn’t say that you had to see the neighbours, right?
“Oi!! Hello?” a chubby hand waves in front of your face, “Mama! There’s a weird girl here!”
You look up. His eyes meet yours: a deep blue with dappled white flecks. He was a head shorter than you and a plastic stool falls over pathetically.
“I’m not a weird girl! You’re the weird one! Are you a boy or girl? Idiot!” You stick out your tongue and grip the tupperware with shaky hands. The first thing you said to him.
Of course, in defense, it was hard to distinguish his gender; golden locks framed his delicate - rather feminine - features and a red frumpy bath towel hid his clothes.
“I’m a boy! You’re the stupid one!” He scowls fiercely and would have slammed the door if his mother didn’t interrupt.
“Aw! Look, it's our new friend! Let’s give greetings everyone!” A kind hand takes the container and leads you through the threshold.
“Um…” you trail off, fidgeting, “My mama said that I need to come home and I-”
The pretty lady laughs, “It’s alright! I’ll tell Mama-san that I’m keeping you for a few more minutes. Moving from Tokyo is always tiring, even for adults. What’s your name?”
Sweating, you bow and introduce yourself like you practiced at home. The lady bows back and pulls out the child from before.
“This here,” She smiles, gripping the struggling boy, “is Kagamine Len. He is around the same year as you, so I hope you get along.”
“Hey! I’m five!” A smack to the head silences him.
“I’m… Len,” He sulks out, “Nice to meet you.”
The first conversation was held in his mom’s kitchen over banana cookies and a glass of soy milk. Len was in the Giraffe class with Inose-sensei. He was lactose intolerant. And he hated you. But it was fine; you hated him too.
“Mama! She kicked me from under the table!”
“But, how could I?” You grin, “Len’s too short for me to even reach with my big toe!”
“Hah? I’m not short, you gorilla foot!”
“If I’m a gorilla then that means you’re a squirrel, you midget stupid!”
“Ugly gorilla!”
“Mama!” / “Aunty!”
A quiet voice comes down from the stairs, “Mama?”
“Oh, Rin! Did you wake up? How about you go back to bed?”
You look up from Len’s ruddy face and hold a quiet gasp. A cherubic girl pads her way down the steps, rubbing her teary eyes. She glances down and sees you, eyes like pretty jewels. You look away.
“Mama, who is that girl?” The angel points towards you and blood rushes to your cheeks. Her head tilts.
“She’s my friend, that’s who!” Len bristles out, grabbing your hand, forcing you from your seat.
“And we’re gonna go play outside! Right now!”
“W-Wait a second!” You panic, but he starts to run, jerking your arm.
Rin looks at the retreating pair in a daze, before looking back to her mom.
“Oh, that’s just our new neighbor. Remember how Tanaka-oji decided to move to the Motosu district? Well, a new family moved to that house all the way from Tokyo. Isn’t that exciting?”
Rin nods her head, mussing up her hair, “Is she Len’s friend?”
Her mother laughs and pulls the trembling girl closer, “I’m sure Len’s just happy to have a kid his age move to the neighborhood. If you ask him nicely, I’m sure he’ll let you join in. Do you want to play right now? I’m pretty sure they went to the playground so Mama can get your-”
“Mhn, it’s okay,” Rin grimaces, “I don’t want to take special candy and go outside. I’ll go back to sleep.”
“Alright, go back to bed, Mama will wake you up when you need to take special candy, okay?”
“Okay, when you bring the candy, can I have cookies too?” Rin yawns, climbing up the stairs.
“I really,” she mumbles sleepily, “want to eat them too.”
Meanwhile, Len lets go of your arm when an elephant slide comes into view, leaving you wheezing.
“Wa-Wait a second!” You grab his stupid towel cape to hold him in place as you catch your breath, “Don’t just grab me outside! I don’t know the way home!”
Len stopped and stared at the streetlights, shaky breaths and trembling fingers. You look up at him when there is no response.
“Hey, uh, Len?” You walk over to him. His eyes are wide and unfocused, dark as lavender flowers. A glassy sheen and you realized:
“Are you crying?”
Len stiffens and hastily looks downwards again, hiding his face with the bathrobe around him.
“N-No I’m not! Shut up!”
While it feels nice to see him be quiet for once, your heart pangs uncomfortably at his tears. You sigh, gripping the edges of your overalls. Breathing once, twice.
“My mama did this once,” you start, raising your arms out, “she said that this helps when your heart hurts.”
You feel Len flinch before melting under your hug, shuddering with each exhale. His hair tickles your flushed cheeks and you pat his back in awkward circles. When mama hugged you, she would sing funny songs until you calmed down.
“Snow is falling quickly, hail is falling quickly
Faster and faster, they all pile together”
You start singing the first song that came to your head, hoping that it would calm him down.
“Mountains and the flower fields are wearing fluffy cotton hats
Blooming in white flowers are the older spindly trees”
Your voice echoed through the empty playground, but you noticed that he stopped hiccuping, his hands no longer clasped around his face.
“Snow is falling quickly, hail is falling quickly
Faster and faster, they all pile together”
There’s a thudding heartbeat against your chest, but you can’t tell if it was yours or his. Taking a deep breath you finish the song to your friend.
“ The dog is running happily around the snowing yard
The cat is underneath the kotatsu dreaming.”
There is silence after the final note of the song, but there is no response from the boy. You slowly unravel yourself and step further from Len, shoulders aching from hugging for so long. His bathrobe still covered his face and you started to fidget with your overalls. Was it too weird? It felt like so much has happened: waking up in the moving van, seeing all these buildings, and singing to a boy your age a lullaby that you heard a long time ago.
“Are… you okay-”
“Pfftahaha, what was that?” Len laughed uncontrollably, “Why were you singing a winter song now? It’s not even winter! Stupid, hahaha!”
You stared at him, he looked really pretty when he laughed. His eyes crinkled like the periwinkle weeds and the cicadas quieted to listen.
“The lyrics are all messed up too! Even I know that song!” Len points at you, his other hand clutching his stomach.
“Ah, that felt really good. Thanks, gorilla, your stupid singing really sucks- hey, wait! Are you gonna cry?”
Dumbfounded, you touched your eyes, catching tears. Quickly, you wipe your face to hide them.
“Wha- Hey! St-Stop crying! Wait-” You punched his face as hard as you could. He hits the rubber mulch with a thud.
“Ah- Ouch! That hurt you stup-!”
“Stupid this, stupid that! Is that the only word you know?” You scream out, crying harder now, “You were the one who dragged me here! You started crying first! Stupid! Crybaby! Shorty!”
You two scuffle some more. He pulls your hair, but you rip the stupid bathrobe off him.
“Stupid, stupid! Why are you wearing this towel anyways? You’re not even wearing it right, dummy!”
“Hey- that’s mine! And that’s my superhero cape, you stupid! You don’t even know what it is so you’re stupider!”
“Well, you’re the stupidest!”
“I know you are, but what am I?”
“No you are!”
“Hah?!”
The fight goes on and on, until you both are too tired to continue. Collapsed on the ground, side by side, you feel like your hair is gonna fall off your head. Sweat sticks to your forehead and you glance over to your left, seeing Len’s face before grinning. Even if you looked bad, he looked equally weathered.
You don’t remember how you got home that day; the memories blur together like humid streetlights. But you remember the quiet conversation spoken between quiet panting.
“I’m sorry,” Len says, kicking a crumpled soda can harshly avoiding your confused gaze, “Mama told me to be nice to girls.”
“It’s okay,” You sigh, trodding along the cracked cement.
Silence for a moment. The cicadas begin their opera, drowning out your thoughts.
“About that girl…” You slowly begin, slowing your pace to a leisurely walk.
“Who?”
“Your sister, right? The one at your house.”
“Yeah, why?” He scowls, hands clutching his hero cape.
“Are you the same age?”
“Duh, we’re twins.”
“Really?! Like real life twins?! Can you read each other’s minds? Which one is the evil one? Wait, wait, so what happens if-”
He whips back to glare at you, “Shut up! Stop asking stupid questions!”
“But- But, you have a twin! That’s so cool! I want a twin! I’m so jealous!”
“It’s not.” He spits out, “I hate it. She’s annoying.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t like playing fun games; she always just stays at home! She’s no fun.” He mutters the last part, looking at the ground for another item to kick.
“She has a lot of toys, but never shares them. We share a room, but I’m the only one who has to clean it. She always leaves her clothes out, but Mama never scolds Rin. It’s always me. She’s dumb. Whenever I have lessons, she gets to sit and watch tv. It’s not fair.”
“That’s why,” He speaks up again, pointing at you, “You can’t be her friend. You can only be mine.”
“Hah? But what if I want to be Rin’s friend too?”
“If you’re my friend then you have to hate Rin.”
“That’s stupid! You can’t tell me who to hate!”
“I can if you’re my friend!”
“Then I don’t want to be your friend!” You cross your arms.
“What? No way! That’s not fair!”
“Then let me do what I want! You can’t boss your friend!”
Len stomped his feet, biting his finger like he was holding back tears. The walk home continues silently, both of you too angry to continue.
Finally, when the entrance of your houses are in view he speaks up.
“You can be my friend even if you don’t hate Rin.”
He blushes at your stunned expression before continuing, “But that means you have to play with me anytime I want to! Even more than Rin!”
Len holds out his pinky expectantly, “You have to promise!”
You smile and cross pinkies.
“I promise. But don’t cry when I beat you again.”
“Wha- I- I wasn’t crying! You’re the cry-baby! Stupid gorilla!” He runs past you, rushing into his front door and slamming the door.
You open the gate to your new house, pushing the iron bars.
“O-Oi! Wait a second!” The neighbouring door slams open and you see Len’s head peeking from the side.
“You’re gonna play with me again right?! Let’s play tomorrow morning!”
“Okay!” you grin, waving back at him, “See you tomorrow!”
“Seeya!” And with that, he slams the door again.
Papa wasn’t home when you came home, taking off your shoes. The smell of curry wafts through the house and you bounce over to Mama.
She laughs when you hug her and scolds your dirty clothes, “Did you have a fun time next door? Were they nice to you?”
“It was fun. There’s a boy and a girl my age, Mama. They’re twins! The girl is really pretty, but quiet and the boy is stupid and loud! But they look just like each other! I thought the boy was a girl at first! Are we eating curry today? I don’t want carrots! Or spicy! Can I also have cookies? When is Papa coming? I want to tell Papa too!”
Mama smiles before glancing at the clock, “Papa is coming home late so we can eat first. How about you put your clothes in the washroom and take a bath first. Mama already started the bath, do you want me to help?”
You shake your head, “I can do it myself!”
“Are you sure? The towels are up on the-”
“Mhm! I’m not a baby anymore!” And with that, you raced to the bathroom.
The evening ended peacefully; the moving company unpacked everything from the white couch to your plush dolly. Even after resolving yourself to stay up until Papa returned, the scent of your blankets and the events of today lulled you into a dreamless sleep.