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Chapter Text

Hika walked out of her fifth period class dully and out to the lunch area with the bento she had prepared the night before.  She sat down at an empty outdoor table, as she always did.  It was usually the same table that was left empty.  The table she sat at was in the far corner, away from anything exciting, just how she liked it.  Hika could understand why it might be unappealing to most students, they all wanted to spend their lunch break socializing.  Not Hika, though.  Hika didn’t really care for that kind of stuff.  Not that she opposed the thought of having friends, she just didn’t care to pursue it.  She’d much rather read books for the entirety of lunch break than risk humiliating herself in front of a bunch of strangers.  Hika sighed contentedly, today was just as normal as any other day, or so she thought.  Hika opened her bento.  Three onigiri she made herself and some mixed vegetables on the side.  It wasn’t very extravagant, but it was delicious.  She finished up her food quickly and was about to get up and leave when she noticed two girls walking over to her table.  Hika observed them passively.  One of the girls had short, yellow blonde hair and electric blue eyes.  The second girl, who was significantly taller than her blonde friend, had impossibly long teal pigtails and bright teal eyes to match.  Hika sighed to herself as she watched the girls weave their way through clamoring students with their eyes focused on her.  What did they want?  Nobody ever talked to Hika.  She had always figured nobody had ever really noticed her, which she did appreciate.  The girls walked up to her and looked right at her.

“Hey,”  The one with short, yellow-blonde hair said.  “We noticed you always eat alone at lunch time.”

The tall girl with the pigtails spoke up, “We were worried you didn’t have any friends...”

They both looked at each other and then back at Hika, “Do you want to hang out with us?”  They both said, a little out of sync.

Hika was surprised that anyone had even noticed her at all let alone in a positive light.  There was an awkward pause.  And then she realised the girls were waiting for an answer from her and asked, “Where do you normally sit?”  Her voice sounded like that wh expected of personified wind..

“Just right over there.”  The tall girl said, pointing over the crowded tables to the opposite corner of the eating area.

Hika pondered for a few seconds, “sure.”

And with that the three girls weaved their way through the crowded tables to a slightly less crowded table in the corner.  The two girls sat down and the teal-haired one motioned Hika to come over with a welcoming smile.  Hika shuffled over to the table awkwardly.  The girl with teal pigtails smiled warmly at her,  “Come on over, you can sit...”  The girl looked around the table and then frowned disappointedly when she couldn’t find an open seat for Hika.  “Oh, dear…”  She looked around the table once more, then turned to Hika with an apologetic expression on her face when her search turned up unsuccessful.

Hika smiled at the girl in hopes of reassuring her, but the smile came off as more sad and awkward than reassuring, “It’s fine.  I’ll just go back-”

She was cut off by a shout from the blonde girl, “Hey, Len!  Scoot your skinny butt over some to make room for the new girl!”  she barked across the table.

Hika followed the blonde girl’s line of sight to the other side of the table where she caught sight of who “Len” might be.  A boy with scruffy hair in a yellow-blonde color virtually identical to the blonde girl’s, which he had tied up into a tiny ponytail, begrudgingly scooted over a little bit (shooting a glare at the other blonde) to make room for someone to squeeze in between him and the guy sitting next to him.  Hika slid into the spot with about three inches between her and the two people beside her.  The boy Hika presumed to be Len glanced at her for a split second before squirming uncomfortably in his seat and turning his gaze to his opposite side coyly.

“Is this too close for you?  I’ll try to scoot over some.”  Hika spoke just loud enough for Len to hear her.  His eyes widened at the sound of her voice.  It was different from what he was expecting, though he couldn’t explain how.  The word beautiful came to mind.  Hika did her best to put a little more space between herself and Len but she bumped the person to her right.  “Oh.  Sorry.”  Hika said, not looking at the person she bumped.

“Oh!  It’s alright.”  The voice of a young man spoke above her.  Hika looked up at the source of the sound and found the face of a handsome young man with hair as blue as his azure eyes.  Hika immediately recognized him as Kaito Shion.  Hika only knew Kaito because he was all girls would talk about while they were supposed to be working on the group project she had been unfortunately assigned to with them, leaving her to do all the work.  Hika had grown to dislike Kaito solely for the effect he had on the girls she was forced to work with.  But now, seeing his kind smile and understanding eyes, she started losing most of the negative feelings she had previously developed for him.

“Hey, newbie, we never got your name.”  The blonde girl cut in giving Hika a bit of a start.  She turned her attention across the table.

Hika looked at the girl, “Hoseki…”  The blonde girl stared at her, as though she was waiting for Hika to finish.  “Hika.”  Hika added, “And you?”

“Kagamine.  Rin Kagamine.”  Rin said.

There was a moment of silence.  And then the girl with the teal pigtails spoke up, “I’m Miku Hatsune.”

Hika recognised the name.  Miku was a very popular sophomore, Hika had heard her name around school a few times.  She was known for being really nice.  Hika always wondered if Miku was actually nice or if it was all superficial.  So far it seemed real.

A few others at the table noticed the conversation and started chiming in, eventually everyone followed.  A tall brunette sitting to the right of Kaito introduced herself as Meiko (Hika had heard a few rumors of her being Kaito’s girlfriend).  A girl with fluffy long blonde hair sitting next to Len introduced herself as SeeU.  There were a couple of kids sitting on the other side of SeeU but they didn’t join the conversation.  Across the table a guy with really long purple hair introduced himself as Gakupo.  Next to Gakupo sat a girl with a long silver ponytail who introduced herself as Haku.  Between Haku and Rin, a girl with shoulder-length, green hair introduced herself (very quickly) as Gumi.  There was a girl sitting next to Miku who had one long blonde side pony, she just said “Neru” without looking up from her phone.  Hika assumed Neru was the blonde girl’s name.  Next to presumably-Neru sat a girl with red drills [pin curled pigtails] who introduced herself as Teto.  Next to Teto two girls with long blonde hair were chatting.  Teto tapped the girl closest to herself on the shoulder.  The girl turned and introduced herself as Lily and her friend as IA, they then went back to talking.

Hika heard Kaito mention something about someone named Sonika having some kind of club meeting.  To which Miku responded that someone named Luka was absent today, and then saying something about someone named Gumi having been MIA for almost a week.  Hika deduced that she had just joined a very large group of friends, not all of whom were currently present.  Understanding this only made Hika more socially anxious.

The boy sitting next to Hika somehow managed to calm her nerves when he very quietly muttered, “My name is Len Kagamine, Rin is my twin sister.”  It was loud enough for Hika to hear but only barely.

So those two are siblings…  That explains a lot.  Hika thought.

Hika didn’t say anything in response to the situation, after a little while of sitting in silence, she reached for her bag to get a book.

“So, Hika,”  Rin started.  Hika sighed and put her bag down.  She looked at Rin impatiently.  “What do you usually do at lunch time?  You finished eating really fast, were you planning on doing something after?”

Hika sighed, “I was going to go to the library.”

Rin leaned closer, “So you like to read?”

“Yeah.”  Hika said.

Now it was Len’s turn to talk, “What kind of stuff do you like to read?”  He asked softly.

“Fiction.”  Hika said.

Len struggled to converse with Hika.  “Wh…  What kind of fiction?”

“Graphic novels…  Fantasy…  Slice of life…  Romance…  Sci-Fi...  Really anything I can get my hands on…”  Hika said, finally starting to get engaged in the conversation, This boy seems to get it .  Hika had finally found someone she could open up to a little more.

“Are you reading anything right now?”  Len asked.

“Yeah…”  Hika said.

“What are you reading?”  Len pushed.

Hika looked away bashfully, “The…  Zelda manga…”

Len’s face lit up with excitement, “No way!  I’ve read some of those!  Which one are you reading?”

Hika looked at Len, her stoic expression almost lost in her surprise.  “Twilight Princess.”

“Oh, I haven’t read that one…  I love the game, though!”

“It’s pretty good.  I’ll lend it to you sometime.”  Hika cracked a small, yet genuine smile.  Then she corrected herself, “After I’m done with it of course.”

Her smile is really cute.  The thought slipped into Len’s mind, catching him off guard.  “That would be great.”  He forced himself to continue the conversation normally but couldn’t help the soft blush from tinting his cheeks.  I’m sure that was nothing, think about something else.   He quickly thought of a question to distract himself from his thoughts, “Is-  What volumes do you have?”

“All eight.”  Hika said with a proud smile.

__________

Meanwhile, Rin and Miku were watching this whole interaction.  Rin had an almost smug looking grin pasted on her face.

Miku leaned closer to her and whispered, “Who would have thought..?”

Rin didn’t move, her grin never faltered, “Mm?”

“That the quietest one in the group would have been the one to get her to talk.”

Rin turned to Miku, her eyebrows furrowed, “Me.  I did.”  Then she kind of shrugged, “Well when she wasn’t talking to me I figured…”  She frowned, “Actually I had no clue.  I didn’t know she was as much of a geek as Len.  Or as distant...”  She turned back to watch their interaction, they both laughed.  “I’m glad Len finally found someone he can talk to, though.”

The school bell rang signalling the end of lunch.  Hika picked up her heavy bag with a small grunt of effort and slung it over her shoulders.  “It was nice meeting you all today.”  Hika said softly with a little smile, Len had really helped her loosen up.  She turned to the previously mentioned blonde, “Especially you, Len.”

A soft pink dusted Len’s cheeks, “Uh, yeah,”  God I sound like an idiot, get it together, Len.  “It was nice.  Uh…  See you tomorrow?”  He held out one hand to emphasize his question whilst putting the other to his nape awkwardly.

Hika looked at the hand confusedly before grasping it firmly, “Definitely.”  And with that Hika turned and walked off in the direction of her next class.

Len stood for a moment, processing the interaction he had just been a part of.

Rin walked up to him,

“What was that ?”  She sniggered.

“I don’t know…”  Len said, slightly embarrassed.

Rin shook her head, smiling and then punched Len’s arm lightly.  “You’re so weird.”

Chapter Text

Rin and Len walked to their sixth period class.

Rin kindled conversation with her shorter yet older twin brother, “So, Len, what do you think of Hika?”

As soon as the thought of Hika crossed his mind, Len felt a fluttery feeling in his stomach that made him uncomfortable.  What is wrong with me?   He thought.  “I think I’m sick…”

Rin’s brows furrowed, “That’s not good.  Why do you think that?”

Len shook his head mildly, “I feel feverish, and my stomach feels…”  He gestured to the mentioned area, “... weird .”

Rin suppressed a giggle, “Uh oh!” she shouted, “I think I know what you have.”

Len looked at her with a panicked expression, “What?!”

“Adolescence.”  Rin giggled.

Len squinted at her confusedly, “What?”

Rin smiled at him and sang, “Somebody’s got a crush~!”

Len’s understanding of what Rin was saying hit him like a brick to the face.  His cheeks flushed.  He was not enjoying how embarrassed and uncomfortable Rin’s suggestions made him feel.  He tried to convince himself he had nothing to be embarrassed about.  Crushes are a very normal thing, lots of highschoolers have crushes.  This is just a normal teenager thing that I have to deal with because I’m a teenager…   Len began to recede into his mind, thinking deeply on what this would mean.  Maybe this isn’t a crush.  I’ve had crushes before and they didn’t make me feel like this.   Len stared into space, Maybe this time I’m in love…  Len pushed these thoughts away as quickly as he could.  No way!  He shook his head,  I’m not in love with this girl.  I just met her!  I just think she’s cute.   Len was surprised by his thoughts and tried to reason them.  That doesn’t mean anything.  Just because I think she’s cute doesn’t mean I’m attracted to her…  Right?  He let out a frustrated sigh before once again attempting to think through his feelings with logic.

“Len?”  A voice said.   “Leeen.”  The voice sang.  “ Len! ”  Rin shouted.

Len jumped, “Agh, what?!”

“I don’t know, you weren’t saying anything.  But you were shaking your head ‘n’ stuff so I started to worry.  Where did you go?”  Rin asked, putting her hand on his arm.

Len shrugged her hand away, “Nowhere.”  He whined.  Len figured it would be best if he just ignored these feelings for the time being.  Well, more pushed them away than ignored.  He told himself that they didn’t mean anything.  I’m just happy to finally have someone who’s easy to talk to.   He resolved.  He was wrong but that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

Chapter Text

The next day was Friday.  Hika was eagerly anticipating the day ahead of her.  For the first time in a while, she wasn’t going to eat alone at lunch.  She had friends.  Hika stepped onto campus forty-five minutes early, as usual, planning to spend those early minutes reading.  But her usual routine had begun to completely unravel since the events of yesterday’s lunch.  She was making her usual walk to the school library, having done it so many times she allowed her feet to take her there while her mind wandered.  And then it hit her.

No, really.  Hika walked right into something that had been unusually obscuring her path.  She teetered backward, the weight of her backpack pulling her towards the ground.  Shortly after unsuccessfully attempting to regain her balance, Hika fell to the ground, landing squarely on her hindquarters.  The obstacle began apologising profusely, what?  Hika stood up, rubbing what she knew was going to be a pretty bad bruise.

“I’m so sorry!  I-  Wait, Hika?”  Where had Hika heard that voice before?  Her eyes staggered up to the source of the sound, it was the boy from yesterday.

Hika thought for a moment, squinting at him, “Len..?”  She wasn’t sure if that was a statement or a question.  She was still in pain.  “What are you doing here?”

“I was uh…”  Len tried to think of an excuse for his being there.  He wouldn’t even admit to himself that he was looking for Hika.  He thought he had seen her at the library early before school a couple times when returning books he had checked out and wondered if he’d find her there again today.  “I was going to…  Look for a book..?”

Hika squinted at him, “Are you asking me or telling me?”

Len stuck with this excuse, “Telling.”  He answered hastily.  “I just finished a series and I need something new to read.  So I was going to… browse.”

“I brought the first volume of Twilight Princess.”  Hika said immediately after Len finished.  She looked off to the side, almost looking shy.  “I was gonna give it to you at lunch but uh… you’re here now.”  Hika flipped her backpack to her front and began digging through it.  Inside her bag there were three novel-sized books, two three-ring binders, a textbook, and four notebooks, along with many random papers littered throughout.  Len stared in awe, wondering how she fit it all in her bag.  Hika pulled out a book and held it out to Len.  “Here.”

Len held the book and looked at it in a way Hika found almost cute.  She shook these thoughts away as quickly as they came to her.  Len smiled and looked up at Hika, “This looks so cool!  Thanks, Hika!”
Hika felt a little self-conscious from the attention Len was giving her, she shifted her weight from one side to the other uncomfortably and then looked at her feet, “No prob.”  She said, her voice had every ounce of coolness as it usually did, but she feared her face would betray her by changing color.  Surprisingly Len didn’t notice.  He at least didn’t say anything to give Hika the idea that he had noticed.  Hika sighed and shook her head mildly as she looked up.  “Do you want to hang out before school starts?”  Her lips started moving before she could think and it took her by surprise.  Her eyes showed this.

Len felt his heart flutter in his chest, at first he was concerned this had to do with something about liking her and being alone with her—well, kind of alone, libraries are quiet—but quickly shook it off as a normal excitement one gets when hanging out with a new friend.  “Of course!”  Len said.

Hika and Len sat across from each other at a library table.  Hika was glad that they were in the library, she was comfortable here.  Everything about the library made her feel calm: the smell of paper and dust, the near complete silence, walls lined with books made the room aesthetically pleasing to her.  Hika sighed and smiled.  She leaned forward a little and whispered to Len, “You wanna read?”

Len had never heard anything more beautiful in his life, “Yes.”  He sighed out with a relieved smile.  He cracked open the book Hika had lent to him.  Hika pulled a thick book with an ornate cover out of her bag and cracked it open at her bookmarked page.  She smiled and began reading.

After about thirty minutes, Hika looked over at Len’s progress on the book, a drawing of Link covered one of the pages.  “Y’know…”  She started, Len looked up.  “You look kind of like Link, now that I’m seeing you side-by-side.”

Len chuckled awkwardly, “Whaaat?  No I don’t!”

Hika huffed a short laugh, “Sure you do!  Blue eyes, blonde hair, handsome, ponytail.”  She made several small hand gestures to the similarities mentioned as she listed them off.

Handsome?   Len thought.  Did she just call me handsome?  Hika called me handsome?  She thinks I’m handsome?   He stared unfocused at the table, brows furrowed, a warm blush spreading on his cheeks.

“...Len?  Len…?  Len?”  Hika waved her hand in front of Len’s face.  “He-hello?”

Len looked up, red-faced, “What?”

“Are you okay?”  Hika asked, “You’re really red…”

Len avoided her gaze, “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”  Hika leaned closer and looked at him tenderly, “Did I say something to embarrass you?  I’m sorry.”

“No it’s fine I’m just…”  Len looked up at her, his head still angled slightly downward. “Do you really think I’m..?”

Hika laughed mildly, “Is that what this is about?”

And then the bell rang.

Len bolted up from his seat and rushed off to his first class, internally screaming.  Hika calmly put her book in her backpack and made her way to her class as well.

Chapter Text

Hika was practically shaking with anticipation as she waited for the lunch bell to ring.  She antsily watched the second hand tick by while her teacher rambled off on a tangent about some thing.  After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, the clock struck 11:55 and the bell rang.  Hika had never found such an annoying sound so beautiful.  She smiled the Hika version of a grin and practically pranced out the classroom door.  She immediately scurried over to the table she had sat at with her new friends the day before.  She didn’t sit though, for fear she might end up taking someone else’s spot unintentionally.  Instead, Hika pulled a book out of her backpack and read it standing while she waited for her friends to arrive.  Eventually, one of the people from yesterday showed up.  It was Kaito.

“Hey!”  The tall bluenette said, waving.  Hika looked up expressionlessly from her book.  Kaito smiled at her pleasantly.  Hika tried to smile back, wanting to be polite, but it came out as more of a grimace.  “Hoseki, right?”

Hika nodded, “That’s me.”

Kaito sat down in the same spot he sat yesterday.  Hika glanced at him now and then, wondering what he did while he waited for his friends.  He kept looking around, like he was waiting for someone in particular.

“You waiting for someone special?”  Hika asked.

Kaito nodded, “Yeah.”   He looked around again, scanning the crowd of clamoring students.

“Who?”  Hika looked down at him nonchalantly.

“My girlfriend, Meiko.”  He said softly.

Hika wasn’t really surprised, “Ah.  Figured you two were a thing.”

Kaito smiled, “Yeah, she’s the best but…”  He craned his neck to look over the crowd, “I don’t see her anywhere.”

Hika shrugged, “I’m sure she’ll pop up soon.”

Kaito nodded and then looked over at Hika, “Why don’t you sit down?”

Hika met his eyes, “I don’t want to take someone else’s spot.”

“Why don’t you sit where you sat yesterday, between me and Len?”  Kaito patted the bench with his left hand.

Hika hesitantly sat down next to him, putting her book in her backpack. “But Len and I were so cramped yesterday…”  She pulled out her bento and put it on the table.

“There was more space at the end of the bench. Rin just wanted you to feel welcome.  SeeU and her friends will probably scoot to the end a little more today for you two.”  Kaito reassured.  Hika smiled at him.

“That would be nice.”  She said, taking a bite of her food.

Kaito nodded pleasantly, “Most everyone in this group is pretty nice once you get to know them.”  This made Hika feel a little better about being in such a large group.  Kaito looked over at her, “You and Len seem close.”

Hika coughed as a grain of half-swallowed rice tickled her throat, “Yeah.”  She choked out horsley.  She coughed a couple more times before adding a soft, “He’s nice.” and turning back to her food.  Her cheeks were noticeably pink.

Kaito chuckled, “He’s not that friendly with everyone.”

Hika’s eyes widened slightly, “Really?  He seemed really open to me.  A little awkward, sure, but still really nice.”

Kaito laughed, “I think he likes you.”

Hika rolled her eyes at the statement, but blushed at the thought of a cute boy like Len having feelings for her.  “Whatever.”  She said coolly.

A few more kids came and sat down, but Hika didn’t really know any of them.  Instead of finishing her lunch in her usual expedient fashion, she people watched.  She watched as the clamoring students made their way to their respective spots at their respective tables.  She was one of them now, a part of a crowd.  Something she hadn’t been since she was little.

“Hey, Hika.”  Miku’s voice broke Hika’s train of thought.

Hika looked up at her, “Hey.”

Miku looked at her questioningly, “Did you already finish your lunch?”

Hika looked down at her food dramatically, “Not yet.”  Her tone of voice was more lively when she joked, though still far from a normal person’s lively tone.

Miku smiled and leaned forward, looking at Hika’s lunch, “What did you get?”

“I brought a lunch from home.”

Miku smiled, “Oh, what did you bring?”

“Just some simple curry and rice…”

“Ooh!  Did your mom make that for you?”  Miku said, “My mom makes me bentos sometimes.”  She sighed wistfully at the thought of her mother’s cooking.

Hika felt a weight in her chest at the thought of her mother.  She frowned, “I made it.”  Her voice sounded sad.

“Oh wow!  It’s really cool that you know how to cook!”  Miku’s praise worked as the perfect distraction from Hika’s depressing thoughts.

“Thank you.”  Hika tried to muster a grin, it didn’t work but Miku got the idea of what she was going for.  “I cook a lot so I get plenty of practice.”

The Kagamine twins walked up to the table.

“Are you giving the newbie a hard time, Meeks?”  Rin teased as she sat down.

“Of course not!”  Miku said, lightly shoving Rin.  “We were just talking about what we were having for lunch.”

“Oh?”  Rin perked up at the mention of food.  “Did either of you mention having enough for two?”

Miku shook her head, “Sorry, Rin.  I’m not going to share today.”

“Aww!  Why not?”  Rin whined.

“I’m really hungry, Rin.”  Miku made a sad face that caused Rin to begrudgingly capitulate and give up on begging.

Rin sighed, “Will you at least tell me what you got today?”

Miku nodded, “I was just getting to that in my conversation with Hika.”  She turned to the mentioned lavendrette, “I got a burrito.”

Hika smiled at the anticlimax of that statement.

Rin whined pathetically, “A burrito ?”

Hika looked up at Rin, “What did you get?”

Rin sighed, “A salad.”

Hika furrowed her eyebrows, “I didn’t expect you to be a salad person.”

Rin crossed her arms, “I’m not.”  She huffed.  “Everything else was taken by the time we got to the lunch line because Len takes for- ever to get his slow butt anywhere.”

“Sensei held us in class after the bell!”  The mentioned blonde roared defensively.

Hika cut in, “If it’s that much of a problem, I’m happy to share my curry with you, Rin.”

Rin beamed, “O-M-G, really?!”

Hika noodded, “Yeah, it’s not a problem.  I can just make more when I get home.”  She handed Rin the bento box.

Rin took a bite of the curry and rice and let out a delighted humm, she swallowed and smiled at Hika, “You made this?”

“Why do you guys keep asking that?”  Hika huffed, smiling.

“Because it’s so good!”  Rin exclaimed, “Miku you’ve got to try this!”  Rin held the spoon out to Miku.  Miku sighed and opened her mouth.  Rin pushed the spoon in her mouth and Miku tasted the food.

“Mm!”  Miku hummed, and then swallowed, “Rin’s right, this is really good!”

Hika smiled the warmest smile any of them had yet to see from her.

Len watched this ordeal, feeling a little jealous of Miku and Rin.  I want a taste.   He thought.  He sighed with discontent and rested his cheek in his hand.  Rin noticed Len’s grumpy attitude and turned her attention to him, “Did you want a bite, Len?”

Len looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows, “ Pfft , no!  Why would I care?  It’s just curry.”  He huffed, feigning disinterest, but the soft blush tinting his cheeks gave him away.

Rin decided not to tease him on the matter, for now .  “Whatever, your loss.”  She shrugged and went back to eating, making a pleased face with every bite.

Hika quietly reached into her bag and pulled out the book she had been reading at the library this morning when she was with Len.

Len had been waiting to hang out with Hika since they ran into each other at the library earlier.  He tried not to think about the conversation they had had there this morning.  Len really wanted to talk to her but he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just stared at her.  Hika looked up from her book and glanced at Len, not expecting to find a pair of electric blue eyes staring back at her.  The two nerds stayed like that locked in eye contact for what felt like five minutes.

Rin and Miku watched in confusion.  Rin leaned over to Miku and whispered behind her hand, “What are they doing?”

Miku looked at them, puzzled, “I don’t know.”

Then Rin decided to cut into their moment, “Is this how wallflowers make out or something?”

Len and Hika looked at her in surprise and blushed.  Hika was too shocked to speak.  She didn’t have to, Len did it for her.  Well, kind of.

“ Rin!! ”  He shouted.

Rin shrugged, “What?  It’s just a question.”

Len folded his arms over his chest and slumped down in his chair, “You’re so annoying.”

Rin only laughed as she turned her focus to Hika, “Hey, so…  The weekend is coming up and we won’t get to see you for two whole days .”  Rin pulled out her phone, “Could I get your number?”

Hika nodded and reached into her bag.  She pulled her cell phone out, fiddled with it for a few seconds, and then handed it to Rin, “Just put your contact info in there.”  Rin put her contact information along with Miku’s into the phone and handed it back to Hika.  Hika looked at the new contacts and made a weird face.

“What does that face mean?”  Rin almost laughed.

Hika shook her head, “I just figured you’d put Len’s info in here as well…  Since he’s your brother.”  Hika tapped the screen a couple more times and put her phone down in front of Len, “I guess he can just do it himself.”

Len realised he was now part of the interaction and looked around.  Hika wondered what he had been thinking about.  He noticed the cell phone sitting in front of him but looked confused.  “What’s this for?”  He looked at the three girls, two of which were watching him amusedly.

Hika laughed, “Len, can you put your number in my phone, please?”  Len nodded and awkwardly fumbled with the phone as he attempted to put his contact information in her phone.  Oh my gosh I’m giving a cute girl my phone number!  Len thought, Wait, isn’t that supposed to go the other way around?   He handed Hika’s phone back to her.  Hika looked at the contact and snorted, “Who is Ken Jafsmubw?”

Len looked at the phone and blushed, “Uh…  Can I fix that?”  He asked.  Hika nodded and handed him back the phone, she was still grinning like she was trying not to laugh.  Len fixed the name of the contact and went to hand the phone back to Hika.

“Make sure the phone number’s right.”  She said.  Len did as she said.  The phone number was also fat fingered.  He fixed it and then handed the phone to Hika.  Hika stifled a giggle and Len huffed, crossing his arms again.  “I’m sorry Len, I don’t know why ‘Ken Jafsmubw’ is so funny to me.”  

Len was embarrassed and frustrated but that didn’t stop a little smile from making its way onto his face, “I guess it is kind of funny…”

“Here,”  Hika said, tapping her phone screen.  She turned it so Len could see what she had done.  She had fat fingered her own name on purpose.  Huja Jpsrko.  Len cackled.  Hika chuckled softly.  

“What’s so funny?”  Rin asked.

Len blurted, “Hooja Jipserko!”  He laughed.

“I don’t get it.”  said Rin.

“Me neither.”  said Miku.

The girls shook their heads and decided to leave Hika and Len to their own cackling business and start their own conversation.

“I was thinking about going out this weekend,”  Rin said, “Do you want to come with?”

“Where were you thinking?”  Miku asked.

Rin furrowed her browes a little, “I dunno, the mall?”

Miku shook her head, “I’m out of spending money.”

Rin threw her arms up, “Well, I’m not gonna go by myself!”

“Why don’t you take Len?  Or maybe invite Hika?”

Len hates the mall and I bet Hika does too.”  Rin folded her arms and pouted.

It was almost like a light bulb went on in Miku’s head, “Why don’t I come over to your place tomorrow and we figure it out from there?  That way you’ll be able to sleep on it and then come up with an answer.”

Hika turned to Len, enjoying his smile. “Hey, Len.”

Len stopped hysterically laughing and turned to her, “Yeah?”

“Hand me your phone.”  Len handed her his phone.  It was locked.  “Can you unlock it?  I want to do something.”  Len hesitantly did as she asked.  Hika opened the contacts and put her phone number in and named the contact Huja Jpsrko.  She then closed the contacts app and handed Len his phone.

“What did you do?”  Len asked after not finding any evidence she did anything on his phone.

“Nothing, I just wanted to see your wallpaper.”  Hika lied.

“That was way too much tapping to just be looking at a wallpaper.”

“I was trying to find Kaito’s contact so I wouldn’t have to ask him.”  Another lie.

Kaito turned to her, “I heard my name.”

Hika’s eyes widened slightly, she looked at Len and then at Kaito and repeated this multiple times before giving up.

“You’ll find out later!”  She said quite a bit louder than anyone thought her capable.  Hika’s eyes widened and she clasped her hands over her mouth.  She looked down at her feet and didn’t say anything more.

Len and Kaito looked at each other.  Kaito had been making a lot of observations about Len’s behavior with the newest member of the group.  He talked more, smiled more.  Kaito raised an eyebrow and smirked, pointing at Hika with his eyes and then looking back at Len.

Len followed his gaze and then looked back at him confused, “What?”

Kaito turned to face forward once again, “I’ll tell you later.”

Hika focused on her book.  Having finished the Twilight Princess manga series yesterday after school, she had now started on yet another graphic novel, the Invention of Hugo Cabret.  She quite enjoyed the mental break the pictures gave her before going on to read the next chunk of text.  Hika was at her most calm when she was reading a book, she could tune out everything and escape into another world.  She did feel a bit rude reading instead of socialising, but she hadn’t heard any complaints yet so she continued.  A stray lock of hair fell in front of her eyes and before she could fix it herself she felt a gentle hand move her hair behind her right ear.  She looked up to see who it was.  Obviously it was Len, he was the only person sitting to her right.  They locked eyes for a moment.  And then Len realised what he did and looked away from her, blushing.  Hika smiled bashfully and went back to her book.

Rin watched from across the table, “D’aww that was so cute!”  She said.  Hika was too enveloped in her book to notice that Rin was talking to her.  Len heard Rin and glared at her.  Rin was not intimidated, instead she put her hand on Miku’s shoulder and shook her excitedly, “Look, Miku!  Len’s blushing!”  She shouted, pointing dramatically.  Several people looked over at the exclamation.  Hika did not move but lifted her eyes from the book to see what was happening.

Len squirmed uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with anyone.  “Shut up, no I’m not.”  He said weakly.

Miku giggled sweetly, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.  You and Hika are cute together.”

Hika was very surprised.  Her cool front dropped.  She lifted her open book to her face in an attempt to hide the embarrassment which was pigmenting her face.

Len bolted out of his seat and grabbed his bag.

“Where are you going?”  Rin asked, her tone almost accusing.

“Away from here!”  Len yelled at her.  He stormed off, grumbling to himself.

Hika slumped in her seat, hoping she was as invisible as she had ever been.  She could feel people looking at her.  She pulled her book down just a little and peered over the top to find two sets of sympathetic blue eyes looking back at her.  She didn’t like this.  She felt so vulnerable, like anyone could hurt her with the slightest tap.  Thoughts of girls teasing her, pointing and laughing filled her head.  She clapped her book shut, and stood up, trying to seem like her normal cool self.  “I have to go.”  She tried to say coolly, but it came out more as a panicked squeak.  She winced at her pathetic tone of voice and skittered away clutching her book desperately.  She wasn’t going anywhere specific, she just wanted to go.  She walked swift like the wind.  She turned back to look at the table and saw Rin looking at her from over Miku’s shoulder.  This was a mistake.  Not because it made her feel bad or anything, she was too far away to really see Rin’s expression.  No, it was a mistake because while she was looking in the opposite direction of where her feet were taking her, she bumped into someone.

Chapter Text

The student exclaimed and turned around quickly.  Hika rubbed her shoulder where it had impacted with the other student’s backpack.  “Sorry…”  She sighed, looking at the ground.

“It’s okay.”  a boyish voice said.  Hika looked up at the source of the sound, surprised.  She was even more surprised when she found a girlish face to be the source of the boyish voice.  “You look like you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, I’ll let you be on your way.”  The girl moved to the side and gestured with her arms for Hika to pass.

This tomboyish girl felt somehow familiar to Hika but she couldn’t quite figure out why.  She looked around at the girl’s friends.  They didn’t look intimidating or troublesome.  Hika looked at the ground and kind of smiled, “I wasn’t going anywhere special…  Just going.”

The girl shrugged, “I get that.  You wanna hang out with us for a minute?”

Hika nodded, “Sure.”

The girl gave a quick introduction, “My name is Alex.  Emo boy over there is Piko,” she pointed to a boy with bob-cut, straight white hair, brooding on the bench near them.

“Hey, Peek.”  Hika said.

“Hey, Heek.”  Piko said, but didn’t look up.

Flower looked at them, “You two know each other?”

“Cousins.”  Hika and Piko said in unison.

“Ah.”  Said Alex.  “Anyway, the creep with the red hair is Fukase.”  She pointed to a boy with curly, firetruck-red hair.  After a little bit of squinting, Hika saw a little black flag with a white x on it poking out of his hair.  This puzzled her but she didn’t say anything on the matter.  “Those two lovebirds over there are Dex and Daina.”  As if rehearsed everyone in the group made kissy noises and Alex and Fukase fluttered their eyelashes mockingly.  “They’re probably gonna get married as soon as they turn eighteen.”

Fukase cut in, “Hey, your name’s not Alex.”

The girl looked at him wide-eyed, she smiled tensely.  “What do you mean, Fukase?  My name is definitely Alex .”

Fukase laughed, “No it’s not it’s-”

“ Alex .”  The girl insisted.  Hika was no longer convinced her name was Alex.

“Don’t interrupt me, Flower .  It’s rude.”  Fukase said, looking at his nails like an uninterested rich lady.

Flower facepalmed.

Hika smiled, “What a pretty name.  I like it.”

Flower looked away and rubbed her arm bashfully.  “Thanks.”

“I’m Hika.”

“Cool name.”  Fukase said.

“Thanks.”

Flower sat down next to Piko and patted the spot next to her.  Hika sat down.

“So, what were you power-walking away from?”  the tomboy asked.

Hika looked down at her own knees.  “I was just embarrassed in front of all of my new friends.”  She sighed.

Flower looked at her inquiringly, “New friends?”

Hika nodded, “Yesterday some girls offered for me to hang out with them.”

Flower expressed her shock jolt, “Wow!  You just met them yesterday and they already embarrassed you?!”

Hika waved her hands defensively, “They didn’t mean to!  When I came to hang out with them I met this boy.”

Flower frowned, “Uh oh.”

“It’s nothing like that, he’s a brother to one of the girls.”

“Oh!”

Hika looked down at the ground in front of her, “He was so nice.  I really liked talking to him…”  Flower nodded to show she was still listening.  “But then today…”  She cut herself off, “Everything was going great but then his sister started teasing him about something.  And then Miku said we were cute together.”

Wait, Miku?!   Flower almost blurted out her thoughts, but held back.  She could tell Hika wasn’t finished.  “And then what happened?”

“Well then he yelled at his sister and ran off.”

Flower waited for a second, not wanting to interrupt, and then spoke. “Wait.  So, you like this boy right?”

“Yeah?”  Hika looked at Flower with a confused face.

“You like like him?”

Hika looked up at Flower, wide-eyed, “What?  Nuh-  no!  I-  What-  That-  That’s preposterous!”  She stumbled over her words.

Flower smirked at her.

Hika looked down at her lap again, blushing.  “No.”

“Is that the honest answer?”  Flower pushed.

Hika didn’t look up.  “I’m lucky enough to have him as a friend.  I don’t want to push it.”

Flower understood, “Okay.”  And she dropped that subject.  “I have another question.”

Hika sighed, “What?”

Flower looked over at Hika, “You’re friends with Miku?”

Hika looked at her, “Yeah, why?”

“She’s one of the most popular girls in school.  Not to say she’s mean .  From what I know she’s really nice.  It just seems like one heck of a jump from what I understand as having no friends to being friends with quite possibly the most popular girl in school.”

“It has been an experience.”  Hika sighed, pursing her lips.  She looked down at her wristwatch, “The bell’s about to ring.”

Flower looked at the watch.  “Oh, wow, it is!”  She looked up at Hika’s face, “Can I get your phone number before we part ways?”

“Sure.”  Hika pulled out a yellow sticky note from her bag and wrote her ten-digit phone number on it.  She handed the note to Flower.  “Where’s your next class?”

“Aaall the way over there.”  Flower said pointing in the opposite direction to where Hika’s class was.

“Aww.  My class is this way.”  Hika pointed in the other direction.

“That’s okay.  We can text later.”  Flower held up the sticky note, smiling.

“Don’t lose it.”  Hika teased.

The bell rang, and Flower immediately started rushing to her class, “I won’t!”  She called.  Hika smiled and walked to her class.

Chapter Text

Hika staggered out of her last class of the day ready for a nap.  This day had been quite the ordeal.  The incident at lunch drained most of her social energy, the rest of which was then sucked dry in the last few classes of her school day.  She meandered out of her classroom and went to the bike locks.  She numbly walked over to her bike and unlocked it.  She put the lock in her bag and pushed her bike out of the bike lock area.  When she was a fair distance from the bike locks, she swung her leg over the back of her bike and got ready to ride home.  She caught a glimpse of yellow and perked up immediately.  It was Len and Rin getting into a car.  Rin hopped into the front seat while Len grouchily opened the back door and slid in.  He must have had a day as well.  Hika watched the car drive out of sight and then she turned and headed in the other direction, towards her and her father’s apartment.

When she got home, she put her bike on the balcony and locked it to the iron railing.  She went to her room and got on her laptop.  After finishing her homework for the day, Hika opened up Socialoid (a popular social media site) and browsed through writing prompts and must-read book lists.  Her phone buzzed on her desk.  She picked it up and looked at the notification.

(932)394-485

Yo, it’s Flower.

Hey, Flower. :)

Hika saved the contact.  Then she remembered that Rin had given her their phone numbers so she texted them all a standard, “Hey, it’s Hika.”

Hika remembered what she had done to Len’s phone and smiled.  She texted him and waited.

Len was eating a banana with a glass of milk when his phone buzzed.  He picked it up and looked at the notification.  It was a text from .“Huja Jpsrko.”  Len spewed milk out of his nose, making a huge mess on the counter he had been sitting at.  “Oww...”  He moaned, holding his nose.  He went and got a paper towel to wipe up the milk.  He took a picture of the mess and sent it to Hika.

Huja Jpsrko
Hey.

Len Kagamine

[sent a photo]

All this came out of my nose

thanks to you.

Hika’s phone buzzed again.  She read the message from Len.  She laughed out loud and typed her response.

Sorry. LOL

It hurts!

Ahhh it burns!

I hate you so much right now!

You know you love me.

Len read the text and his heart began to race.  Oh no.  What did they tell her after I left?  He typed frantically.

Who told you that?

Hika furrowed her brows at the text, What is he talking about?   She reread the conversation but couldn’t figure out what he was referring to.

What are you talking about?

Nobody told me anything.

What did Rin and Miku talk to you about after I left?

Nothing, I left right after you did.

I couldn’t just sit there while  everyone watched me.

Len let out a sigh of relief.  Good, Rin didn’t tell her about my crush on her.  Len felt his nerves kick in at just the thought.  How embarrassing would that be?  You’ve known a girl for two days and suddenly everyone’s saying you two are a couple.  Then, the realization hit Len.  Hika was there too.

Hey, about what Miku said earlier...

What?

About the whole... You and me being
cute together...

I’d rather not talk about that if you don’t mind...

Oh

Yeah, okay.

I didn’t want to talk about it either.

Hika went back to scrolling through Socialoid.  Then a thought popped into her head.

Hey, do you have Socailoid?

Yeah, why?

Can I have your username?

Sure.  @yellow_banana

Hika typed his username into the search bar and found his profile.  She requested to follow him and proceeded to wait..

Len’s phone pinged and he opened the Socialoid app.  There was a follow request from @CrystalTheory.

I have a request from @CrystalTheory

is that you?

That’s me. :)

Len accepted the follow request.  He then went to Hika’s profile.  He followed her back and then scrolled through her posts.  It was mostly responses to writing prompts.  He read through a few of them.

You’re a really good writer.

Upon reading Len’s text Hika became very flustered.

Ah! You’re reading my posts?!

Yeah, that’s kind of what you do when you follow someone.

I wasn’t expecting anyone I know to read those!

I’m sorry..?

No it’s fine.  You did nothing wrong.  I was just surprised [and a little 

flustered] at the idea of one of my friends reading my work.

The original text Hika had typed said “a cute guy” rather than “one of my friends” but she very quickly deleted that.  Never in a million years will I ever admit to that.  Hika told herself.  I just made this friend.  And, from the way he reacted to Miku’s comment earlier, I doubt telling him I have feelings for him will make him want to stay my friend.  She looked at her phone screen, Len had sent another text in the middle of her internal monologue.

Oh

Well I think your writing is really cool :)

Aaaa I’m blushing! Thank you!

Hika buried her face in her hands and let out a quiet squeal.  She turned to her laptop and returned her focus to Len’s posts.  He mostly posted random pictures with funny captions, one example being a picture of a banana peel on the floor next to a pair of feet with the caption

I slipped.  Rin’s just standing there laughing her butt off.  I need help, I can’t get up.  Rin stop laughing and help me!!

Hika laughed and liked the post.  Her phone buzzed on the desk next to the laptop and she picked it up.  It was a text from Rin.

Rin Kagamine

hey girl whats up?

sorry for the late reply i was in the shower.

Nothing much, just scrolling through Socialoid.

OMG i need ur user!

@CrystalTheory

A few seconds later Hika got a notification on Socialoid saying @orange_Rinny02 had followed her.  Her phone buzzed after a couple minutes and Hika read the new texts from Rin.

OMG ur such a good writer!

Len said the same thing, haha.

Thanks.

no prob

A few minutes went by before Rin texted Hika again.

hey...

about earlier, Miku’s really sorry for embarrassing you and Len

she didn’t mean to embarrass you she was just trying to get Len to stop being so butthurt about it

about what?

me and Len tease each other all the time

he usually just throws one right back at me but this time he got all huffy puffy

is everything still okay between u 2?

everything’s fine.

I just hope we never have to go through that again.

r u still gonna sit with us on monday?

Of course!  And I’ll bring extra lunch to share with you as well. ;)

OMG YAASSS!!

Hika continued scrolling through Len’s page.  His posts were pretty entertaining.  The comments on his posts were almost as entertaining as the posts themselves.

@get2thePoint Hey Len remember that one time you chugged a bottle of hot sauce for 20 bucks?

@yellow_banana I regretted that decision for 4 days…

@get2thePoint Why?

@yellow_banana Let’s just say the bathroom was my new home for those 4 days.

@get2thePoint ouch

Hika shook her head.  She continued to scroll, liking several posts along the way.  She commented on one of Len’s selfies.

@CrystalTheory you’re very photogenic, Len. :)

Not even thirty seconds later Len replied to her comment.

@yellow_banana ahh thank you!

Hika left Len’s profile and browsed writing prompts, she needed something to do.  She turned on some of her favorite music and picked a prompt.  She ended up writing a short love story between two characters that resembled herself and Len quite a bit.  She posted the story and got up.  Hika checked the time on her wristwatch, 6:02.  Dad said he was going to be at work late tonight…  My guess is he’s going to be home at around 8:30…   She went to the kitchen and heated up some leftovers from last night’s dinner.  After finishing her dinner, Hika washed the dishes and went back to her room.  She plopped down in her chair, officially bored.  Hika looked at her phone.  She picked it up and texted Len.

I’m sick of looking at a screen, can I call you?

Sure just a sec.

K I’m ready.

Hika listened to the ring tone purr in her ear.  The phone clicked and Len answered, “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I’m just bored.”

Lan chuckled awkwardly, “That’s a mood.”

“So what are you doing?”  Hika asked boredly.

“Sitting on my bed and staring at the wall.  You?”

“Sitting in my swivel chair staring at the ceiling.”

They both let out a tired laugh.

Len spoke up, “How was your day.  Y’know aside from…”

Hika cut him off, “It was…  a day…”  She sighed.

“Same.”

There was a moment of silence between them.  A muffled yell could be heard coming from Len’s end, it sounded like Rin.  “Len what did you do with my charger?  I know you had it last!”

Len covered the receiver and yelled back, “I put it on your dresser thing!  It’s right in front of the mirror.”

“I looked there!”

“Maybe if you cleaned your room for once in your life you’d be able to find your stuff!”

There was a loud exasperated “Arrgh!” followed by a crash.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back.”  Len said.

“Okay.” Said Hika.  She put her phone down on her desk and stared up at the ceiling.  

Len set his phone down on his bed and ran to Rin’s room.

“Is everything okay?”  Rin glared at him, clearly upset.

“No, everything is not okay!  My phone died while I was talking to Miku.  I can’t find my charger.  And I just dropped a binder on my foot!”  Rin shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.

Len put his arm around his sister, “Hey, it’s okay we’ll find your charger.”

Rin sobbed into her hands, “Miku still feels really bad for embarrassing you and Hika at lunch today.  She’s Kinda mad at me for teasing you about it.  I was trying to sort it out with her but then my phone died and I...”  She let out a shaky sigh.

“Hey,” he said comfortingly, “It’s oh-kay.”  He assured her, “I’m sure Miku knows you wouldn’t just stop talking to her out of nowhere.”  Len thought of a solution.  “You can borrow my charger if you want.”

Rin wiped her eyes, “Thanks.”  She said weakly.

Len got up and got his charger from his room.  He leaned over his phone, “Sorry I have to take care of something.”

Hika jumped at the sudden break in the silence, “It’s okay, take your time.  I’m just chillin’.”

Len walked back to Rin’s room and handed her the charger.  “I’ll help you clean up tomorrow if you want.”

Rin looked up at him surprised, “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Len chuckled softly and elbowed her lightly in the side, “ Hey, I’m not doing this because I love you or anything, I’m doing it because it’s a health hazard.”

Rin pushed him lightly, “You’re so dumb.”

“You’re dumber.”  Len smirked.

Rin hugged him, “You’re the dumbest.”

“Yeah.”  He said, hugging her back.  They both pulled away at the same time.  “Okay I have a phone call to get back to and you have a friend waiting for your text.”

Rin threw a nearby wadded-up shirt at him, “Get outta my room!”  She said with a smile.

Len put his hands in the air in mock-protest, “Alright, I’m going!”

Len went back to his room and picked his phone back up, “Sorry, Rin’s having a rough day.”

“Oh no, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine now.”

“Oh, good.”

Meanwhile in Rin’s room...

Meeks

hey sorry Miku my phone died

It’s okay Rin. I’m feeling a little better.

Hika said everythings fine and from what she said to me
i think her and Len are still talking just fine

oh great! I’m glad to hear that it all worked out.

what’s Len doing?

hes on the phone.

With who?

i dunno...

Rin yelled from her room, “Hey, Len, who ya talkin’ to?!”

Len nearly dropped his phone.  He could hear Hika’s cute laugh from the phone as he held it away and covered the receiver.  He hesitated, feeling a little flustered about yelling his crush female friend’s name.  It started as a whisper but he managed to get a yell out, “H…  Hika!”  He yelled.

Len put the phone to his ear, “Sorry about that…  Rin wanted to know who I was talking to…”

Hika gave a soft giggle, “I heard.”

Rin went back to texting.

hes talking to his girlfriend

Len has a girlfriend?!

Hika

Come on Rin.  This is getting ridiculous.

what do you mean? its only fair that i tease Len about his crush its what we do

Why are you so insistent on teasing him about this?

because!

Okay.

Miku dropped the subject.  It wasn’t worth arguing over.

they obviously like each other so why not play with it a bit?

I don’t think that’s a nice way to play...

okay fine! i won’t tease them

...as much

Rin... 

come on hes my brother i have to tease him a little bit

Do what you will, but I’m not going to join you.

i dont expect you to

i just think its funny when he gets
all flustered around her

i bet Hika thinks its cute anyway

You can’t speak for her, Rin.

okay then ill ask her

Rin backed out of the conversation with Miku and opened the conversation with Hika.

Rin Kagamine

hey Hika

“Hang on, someone’s texting me.”  Hika said, tapping her phone screen.

“Alright.”

“It’s Rin.”

“Oh, no.  What’d she say?”

“She just said, ‘hey Hika’.”

“She’s about to ask you a question.”

“Cool.”  Hika said, “I let you know what she says.”

What’s up?

i need you to settle an argument for me

Ask away.

do you think its cute when Len gets flustered?

A noticeable shade of pink spread across Hika’s cheeks like jelly on toast.  “What?!”  She unintentionally said out loud.  She clamped her mouth shut and began typing furiously.

“What did she say?”  Len asked.

“Nothing.”  Hika said too quickly to be even a little bit convincing.

What the hell, Rin?!

Are you trying to get ME flustered while I’m on the phone with Len?!

its just a question

Hika growled at the phone.

“What’s she saying to you?  Why are you mad?”  Len asked.

Hika sighed, “I’m not mad.  She just surprised me.”

You won’t tell ANYONE my answer, right?

only the person im arguing with

And who would that be?

Miku who else?

Fine. But you had better not tell anyone else, got it?

deal

Yes, it’s kind of cute.

HA I KNEW IT!

Rin sent a screenshot of the conversation to Miku.

Rinny

[sent a photo]
I win.

Hika rolled her eyes, “Okay, I’m back.”

“What did she ask you?”  Len asked.

“You don’t wanna know.”

Hika and Len chatted on the phone for a while, laughing and telling stories of their classes.  Hika told Len about the posts and comments she read on his Socialoid page and Len laughed horsley.

“Do you still regret it?”  Hika asked.

“Nah that twenty bucks was worth it, I bought a great game with that money.”

They both laughed.  Hika looked at her wristwatch, “It’s getting kinda late I think I should go…”  She said.

“Aww whaaat?”  Len whined, “I was having so much fun talking to you, though!”

“Len, it’s eight o’clock!”  Hika protested.

“I don’t care!  My bedtime isn’t for at least two more hours!”  He whined.

“I have to take a shower!”  Hika exclaimed.  “My dad’s gonna get home soon and I want to be able to welcome him home as soon as he walks through the door.”

“Ughh…  Fine! ”  Len begrudgingly capitulated, “I’ll let you go.”  He huffed, though it was amicable in tone.

“Thank you, Len.”  Hika said.  “Good night.”

“Good night.”  the addressed blonde returned.

Hika hung up.  She then texted him one last thing.

Whoever wakes up first tomorrow gets to send a goodmorning text.

!!!

:D

Hika put her phone down on her nightstand and began her nighttime routine.

Chapter Text

“Here comes the human computer.” One girl sniggered as Hika stepped into the classroom.

“I wonder if her mouth doubles as a printer.”  another girl joked.

“I bet that’s how she aces all the tests, she just barfs up the answers!”  The whole group snickered cruelly.

Hika hung her backpack on the back of her chair and sat down.  One of the girls walked over to her desk and leaned against it.  “Hey, Iron Midget.  How was the charging station last night?”

Hika did not respond to the girl, she just sighed and got out the supplies she would need for class.

The girl slammed her hand on Hika’s desk, making her flinch, “Hey Robot-Girl I’m talking to you!”

Hika continued to ignore her, biding her time until the teacher came back and the girls would have to leave her alone for a little while.  She continued her preparations for class.

“Answer me you little b##ch!”  The girl thrust her index finger at Hika’s forehead.

Hika winced, and tears threatened to pool in her eyes, she choked them down.

“I didn’t know robots could cry!”  The girl prodded, continuing to poke Hika.

Hika reached up and grabbed the girl’s wrist firmly.  A look of surprise flashed over the girl’s face briefly before it twisted into a smirk.  “What are you gonna do?”

Hika looked the girl dead in the eyes, “Leave me alone.” She spoke firmly.

“Or what?”  The girl scoffed.

“Or I’ll…  I’ll…”

“I’ll-  I’ll-  I’ll-”  The girl mocked.  She reached over and grabbed Hika by her braid and pulled her so their faces were only inches apart.  “You’ll what?”

Panic was evident on Hika’s face, a trait she has since lost.  She tried to speak but no noise came out, Where is sensei?   Hika glanced at the door.

“Aww!  Are you hoping daddy will come in and save you?”

Hika looked at the girl, “ Daddy? ” she asked.

“Oh, cut the act, everyone knows.”  The girl gestured around the room.

“Knows what?”  Hika looked at the girl with an obviously confused expression.

The girl sat on Hika’s desk, “Please, honey.  The only way you could possibly get such perfect grades is if you were doing Sensei…  How should I say it…”  The girl put a finger to her chin in mock-thought, “ favors. ”  She moved her finger to point at Hika.  Hika followed the girl’s finger as she pointed to her body.  Hika was appalled at what the girl was implying.

“How-”  She looked up at the girl, her mouth agape with utter shock.

The girls sniggered at her expression and began mocking her.

One of the girls from the group moaned, “Oh, Sensei be gentle!”

Another moaned, “Oh yhess!”

One of them fake-cried, “Please, don’t tell my mommy!”

The first girl turned to her, “You idiot, she doesn’t have a mom!”  The other girl flinched, about to apologise when another girl in the group spoke up.

“Oh right.  I bet she left because her husband was a loser just like her daughter!”  They all laughed that iconic evil snicker all school mean-girls seem to have.  Hika stared at them in horror.

“I bet her mom was a wh#re just like she is.”  One of the girls said.

Hika was filled with rage, how dare they speak of her dead mother that way?!  She stood up from her seat, ready to take them all on.

Just then the classroom door opened and they all looked up, Hika felt relief rush over her expecting Sensei to walk in and put an end to her torment.  But that is not what came through that door.  Hika’s eyes widened with horror as an evil grin spread across the main girl’s face.

“Please, no.”  Hika spoke, breathlessly.  She was too afraid to cry, too afraid to move.

“No!”  Hika gasped, bolting into an upright sitting position.  She clenched her shirt at her chest, her heart was racing.  Hika took several deep breaths, each one slower than the last.  A few tears managed to slip down her cheeks, Hika wiped them away.  Hika sighed, “It was just a dream.”  She whispered to herself.  She looked at the clock, 5:12.  She sighed and flopped backwards onto her pillow.  Today is going to be a long day…  Hika grabbed her phone and looked at it, letting the blue light seep into her brain.  There’s no way I’m going back to sleep after that.  She was surprised to find several text notifications.  She opened the message app.

Rin Kagamine   6 messages

Len kagamine  1 message

(932)573-4511  2 messages

Hika opened the messages starting with the mysterious number.

(932)573-4511

12:31 a.m.

Hey, it’s Neru.

Do you like memes?

5:16 a.m.

Are you the girl with the ponytail?

Also yes, I can appreciate a tasteful meme.

Hika saved Neru's contact and then opened the message from Len.

Len Kagamine

2:43 a.m.

I love you

Hika stared at the text, very surprised.  She was not enjoying the warm feeling that was creeping up her cheeks.  She looked at the time stamp, What was he doing up at almost three in the morning?  Maybe he wasn’t…  Clear-minded.

5:20 a.m.

Good morning to you too...

Hika decided to leave it at that and check out what was going on with Rin.  She backed out of the conversation with Len and opened up Rin’s messages.

Rin Kagamine

2:20

hey Hika

Len is suuuper in love with u

hey you should come over tomorrow

Len jus ttold me he doesnt love u

and taht he hats me

hes a liar

What the heck happened last night?  Hika closed the messaging app and opened her music player app as she proceeded to put earbuds in her ears.  She tapped shuffle on her upbeat playlist, the song “39 music” came on and she allowed the good vibes to flood her brain.  She got dressed in some comfortable casual clothes and then went to the bathroom to do her facial routine, do her best to tame her wild bedhead, and brush her teeth.  After finishing her morning routine, Hika went to the kitchen to make breakfast.  She fried three eggs and melted some cheese over some slices of ham.  She then put them between toasted, buttered plain bagels, plated them, and set them on the small dining table by the window.  Hika didn’t want to eat without her dad so she left the breakfast sandwiches at the table and went back to her room.

She opened the messaging app back up and texted Rin.

5:49

Hey, is that offer to come over still up?

If so, what time?

I’ll have to ask my dad.

Hika sat down in her swivel chair, set her phone down on her desk, and opened her laptop.  She went on Socialoid and saw thirty-seven new notifications pending.  She opened the notifications bar and read.

@orange_Rinny02 commented on your post:  “why do these characters feel so fa...”

@orange_Rinny02 liked your post

@Mikusleeks liked your post

@Mikusleeks liked your post

@Mikusleeks liked your post

@Mikusleeks followed you

@orange_Rinny02 commented on your post:  “the love interest in this one is kinda…”

@orange_Rinny02 liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

@yellow_banana liked your post

This went on twenty two more times.  Hika’s heart fluttered in her chest at all the attention she was getting from Len.  She scrolled through the notifications to see if there was anything different lower in the notifications bar, sure enough, one notification (kind of) broke the pattern.  

@yellow_banana mentioned you in a post

She clicked on the notification and it led her to a new post on Len’s page.  It was the picture of splattered milk he had sent her yesterday.  Hika read the caption:

My friend, @CrystalTheory made me spew milk out of my nose yesterday. It hurt so bad but the joke was really funny so I guess it was kind of worth it. She seemed to find the milk thing amusing.

Hika smiled and typed a comment,

@CrystalTheory I did find the milk thing a bit amusing

Hika gave a small, proud smile and went back to her home feed.  

Just then, Hika’s phone buzzed on her desk.  She picked it up and looked at the notification.  It was a text message from Len.

Len Kagamine

6:30

Tjat was Rin!

I didn’t sent that!

Hika smiled and huffed a laugh through her nose.  Then she looked at the time stamp, Jeez, 6:30…  Time flies!

I thought those messages smelled a little fishy.

Yeah sorry about that...

Rin and I stayed up wayyy too late last night.

I can tell, 2:40 in the morning?

We were playing video games for most of it.

Ahh.

Now you’re talking sense

Haha!

Wait what are you doing up at 6:30 right now, Mr. 2:43 in the morning?

I wanted to get up early to be the one who got to send the good morning text...

But I see you beat me to it Miss 5:20 in the morning.

Aren’t you tired?

Yes, very.

lol go back to bed!

I will, thank you.

Sweet dreams :)

Hika smiled and put her phone down, only for it to buzz as soon as it made contact with her desk, she picked it up and looked at it, very confused.

Neru

6:53

yes I’m the girl with the ponytail

[sent a photo]

Hika looked at the photo, it was a meme.  She read it and laughed, it was a joke about one of her favorite books.  She tapped the phone number and saved it as a contact.  Hika went back to texting Neru.

That’s really funny!

Where do you get your memes?

That’s my secret. ;)

Ah, I see.

What are you doing up?

I could ask you the same.

Nightmare woke me up at 5

Your turn.

Teto decided to call me at 6:36 after an all nighter.

Not happy to be awake, but happy to talk to Teto so...

Haha I get that

So...

wyd?

I was about to get back to browsing Socialoid when you texted me.

Ooo what’s your user?

*sigh* @CrystalTheory

You don’t post many pictures...

Correction.  You don’t post ANY pictures.

Why should I? My page is a page on literature.

Don’t you have a personal account?

Why would I?

Why wouldn’t you?

Up until Thursday I didn’t have any friends to share my personal life

with and I don’t need to share it with strangers on the internet.

Fair enough.

A couple minutes went by before Hika’s phone buzzed again.

How did you get Len to talk to you?

What?

He never really talks to anyone.
Normally, all he does is read. But
he talks to you.

Haha the way you describe him sounds like me

Maybe that’s it.

From what I understand you don’t talk much yourself.

I just don’t have anything to say.

Ah. I get like that sometimes.

So how has your first year of high school been?

It was okay last year, it was quiet enough for me to get into my studies.

Wait last year?

I’m a sophomore...

Wait how old are you?

15... why?

I guess everyone thought you were a freshie like Len and Rin.

And that you were the same age as them.

I can see why they might think that, I’m a bit short.

I respect a person who can admit that.

Oh I think my dad’s getting up.

Gtg.

You got it.

It was nice talking to you.

You too.

Hika put her phone down and went to the kitchen/dining room.  “Good morning, dad.”

Mr. Hoseki turned around and smiled tiredly, “Hey, sweetie.”  He walked up and hugged her.  “I see you made breakfast.  It smells good.”

“Thanks, I wanted to eat with you this morning so I held off on eating it ‘till you woke up.”  Hika smiled up at her father.

“Thanks, dear.”  He sat down at the table, “But what were you doing up so early?”

Hika smiled, “I was just awake.”

Hika had never told her father she was being bullied when she was in middle school.  She always felt that things that happened at school were her problem.  Her father needn’t worry about such things.  Especially not after her mother’s long-standing illness and inevitable, yet sudden death took such a toll on their family.

Hika sat at the table across from her dad and they gave thanks for the food.

Mr. Hoseki took a bite of the breakfast sandwich his daughter had made and hummed pleasantly.  He swallowed and said, “Wow, this is really great.”

“As per usual?”  Hika asked jokingly.

“Yeah.”  He chuckled.

After a little while of eating in a comfortable silence, Hika’s phone buzzed in her pocket.  She hated ruining the moment but knew it could very well be a text from Rin.  Sure enough it was.

Rin Kagamine

yeah sure if ur dad says its ok

Okay I’ll go ahead and ask him.

Hika looked up from her phone and looked at her father, “Hey, dad?”

Mr. Hoseki looked up from his sandwich, “Yeah, sweetie?”

“One of my friends invited me over to her house.”  She looked off to the side, “I was wondering if…”

Mr. Hoseki was surprised to say the least.  He hadn’t heard anything about friends from Hika since they moved in with his sister in third grade.

“You made a friend?”  He tried not to sound surprised.

“Well yeah, kind of?”  Hika shrugged, “It’s more like a friend made me…”  She looked at her sandwich, “I didn’t really do the friend-making…”

Mr. Hoseki nodded, “What’s this friend’s name?”

“Rin.”  She paused, “Rin Kagamine.”

Mr. Hoseki smiled, “That’s great, honeybee.”  Hika smiled at the nickname.  She had earned the nickname honeybee when she was little because she used to absolutely love honey.  “Do you need a ride to your friend’s house?”

Hika shook her head mildly, “I don’t think so…  I think her and Miku might want to come pick me up.”

“That’s fine, but how long are you going to be there?” he inquired.

“I don’t know.”  Hika pulled out her phone, “I guess I could ask…”  She texted Rin.

How long are you planning to have me over?

i didnt really have a plan

i thought wed figure that out when u got here

well I need to know what to be ready for

i guess be ready to stay until like...

i dunno... late?

How’s 10?

Sure.

“She said to be ready to stay until ten.”

“Okay, that’s fine, you can go to your friend’s house.”

“Yes!”  Hika fist-pumped the air.

“But I need to meet them and I need their parent’s phone numbers.”

Hika dropped a little bit, “Of course, I’m sure Rin would be happy to give us that information.”

Hika smiled the brightest smile her father had seen from her in a while, “Thanks, dad!”  She got up and hugged him.  He smiled as well and hugged her back.

“I’ll let Rin know I can come.”  Hika got out her phone and texted Rin,

My dad says it’s fine.

Cool

me and Miku can come pick you up at 11 ish does that sound good?

She looked up from her phone at her father, “Rin says they can come pick me up at ‘eleven-ish,’ does that sound good?”

“Sounds good to me.”  He said.

Sounds great, see you then :)

Hika put her phone in her pocket and started walking to her room, “I’m gonna get ready to go, unless you wanted to talk with me about anything?”

Mr. Hoseki shook his head, “No, I’m all good.  Go ahead, sweetie.”  Hika nodded and practically skipped off to her room and got ready.  She opened her closet to pick something out to wear, since she figured, comfy home clothes weren’t suited for visiting a friend.  Then a thought struck her,  Len’s gonna be there…   The thought loomed in her head like it was a prophecy of the end of the world.  She considered her options carefully and ended up picking out her favorite outfit:  a cream colored, loose turtle-neck sweater; a maroon, knee-length pleated-skirt; a pair of stockings; and a comfy pair of short, fluffy boots.  She didn’t even bother trying to tame her hair.  That was not a beast to be reckoned with.  She put on a moderate amount of makeup, just something simple.  She then packed her cross-body bag with the essentials for leaving the house and nothing more.  Among these essentials was a light book, just in case.  Hika always brought a book with her when she left the house. It wasn’t very likely she’d get the chance to actually read the book, it just made her feel more confident and prepared.  She checked the time, 7:45.  She sighed, Eleven-ish is so far away.

She plopped down in her swivel chair and thought through the options of what she could do to pass the time until then.  There wasn’t any homework for the weekend, surprisingly.  I guess the stars have just aligned for me this week.   She shrugged and smiled.

Chapter Text

Hika read a book for about half an hour before she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Yeah?”  Hika called up from her book.

“It’s me.”  Her father’s voice called through the door.

“Come in.”  Hika said, putting her book down on her desk.  Her father opened the door and she looked at him inquiringly.

“Just coming to check on you.”  He said.

Hika smiled, “I’m okay.”

Mr. Hoseki looked at his daughter and smiled, “Let me know when you leave.”

“I will.”

Mr. Hoseki left and shut the door behind him.  Hika picked up her phone and texted Len.

Len Kagamine

Hey, are you awake yet?

Yeah

What’s up?

Nothing, just bored.

mood

wyd?

Waiting...

for what?

Rin said she and Miku were gonna come pick me up at 11 ish

Pick you up?

Rin invited me over

I have nothing better to do today

you’re coming over to our place?

yeah

cool

Len sat on his bed and stared at the wall, thinking about what he had just read.  Hika is coming to my house?   He looked down at his clothes.  I look like shit.   He got up and walked over to his closet.  Crap, what do I wear?   He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter…”  Yes it does.

“What doesn’t matter?”  Rin’s voice spoke from the doorway.

Len jumped at the sudden, unexpected sound of his sister's voice, “Nothing!”

Rin smirked, “That’s really convincing, Len.”

Len blushed mildly and avoided her eyes, “Whatever.”

Rin leaned on the doorframe and spoke, “You just found out Hika’s coming over and you’re panicking because you think you look like shit.”

Len rolled his eyes and looked at her displeasedly, “I hate you.”

“You love me.”  Rin sang.  “Also you’re right, you look like crap.”

Len looked at her with a panicked expression, “I do?!”

“I mean, you don’t look that bad.  But you might wanna clean up a little bit…”  She looked over at him.  “I’m sure Hika will be excited to see you.”

Len looked away and smiled, blushing.

Rin shifted her weight off the doorframe, “Well, I’ll leave you to get ready to see your g-  er…  Best friend.”

Len scowled, “Get outta my room.”  He growled.

“I’m already gone!”  She called from the hall.

Len scowled into his closet, blushing furiously.  He grumbled to himself as he picked out an outfit that was better than what he currently had on.  He then went to the bathroom and attempted to tame his messy bedhead.

Rin once again leaned in the doorway, “That was fast.” she said.

Len flinched once again, earning a snicker from Rin.  He turned to her, “Would you stop doing that?!”

“Nah, your reactions are funny.”

Len groaned and walked out of the bathroom.  He sat on his bed and played video games on the TV mounted to the wall across the room from the head of his bed.

Chapter Text

Hika’s phone buzzed on her desk, she picked it up and looked at it.  It was a text.

Rin Kagamine

yo wuts ur address?

me and Miku are ready to pick you up.

Hika sent Rin her address.

cool thanks

what’s the plan for lunch?

should I eat before you pick me up?

you could...

or you could bring a bento with you ;)

Hika rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

Fine.

What do you want me to bring?

i dunno something with rice?

well, due to the short notice I don’t have time to cook rice

lucky for you I have some leftover veggie onigiri in the fridge

OMG YAAASSSS

Hika walked over to her fridge and counted the onigiri she had left.  She pulled the onigiri out of the fridge and packed it in her lunchbox.  She then walked over to the sitting area where her father was sitting on the couch.  Hika leaned over the back of the couch, “Rin and Miku are gonna be here soon.”

Mr. Hoseki looked up at her and smiled, “Alright, sweetie.”

Hika smiled as well.  Just then her phone buzzed in her pocket.

We’re here

There was a beep beep of a car horn out in front of their apartment complex.  Hika looked at the door and then looked at her father, “I bet that’s them.”

Mr. Hoseki stood up, “I’ll walk you out.”

I’m coming!

Hika walked around the corner of her apartment complex building, entering Rin and Miku’s line of sight.  Rin gasped and shook Miku’s arm, “O-M-G, Miku, she looks so cute!”

Miku giggled at Rin’s behavior and looked over at Hika while her car sat idly in the apartment complex parking lot.  “Her fashion sense suits her.”  She smiled sof

Hika and her father walked up to the car.  Mr. Hoseki bent down a little bit at the front passenger window to be at eye level with the two girls in the front seats.  “I’m Hika’s father.”  He said.

“It’s nice to meet you Mister Hoseki,”  Miku said.  “I’m Miku, and this is Rin.”  Rin smiled awkwardly, yet still politely.

“It’s nice to meet you two as well.”  He smiled at them politely.  “So what are you girls planning to do today?”

Rin looked at her feet, a little too embarrassed to admit she didn’t have any plans.

Miku spoke up from the driver’s seat, “We’re just gonna hang out.”

Mr. Hoseki chuckled, “Well have fun.”  He said, turning to Hika.

Hika opened the back passenger door and put her bag and lunch box on the seat.  She turned and waved goodbye to her father before sliding into the car, “Bye, dad.”

“Bye, sweetie.”  Mr. Hoseki waved and then turned and walked back to their apartment.

Hika shut the car door and turned to Miku and Rin, “Hi.”  She said softly, smiling.

Rin turned around in the front seat to face Hika and rested her chin on the shoulder of the backrest, “Hey!”  she sang.

Hika let out a soft giggle.  “Where are we headed, your house?”  She asked.

“Uh, yeah .”  Rin said.

“What are we gonna do when we get there?”

“I dunno yet,”  Rin shrugged, “I just wanted to have friends over this weekend.”

Hika looked at Miku, “Does this happen a lot?”

Miku giggled, “You get used to it.”

Rin turned back around in her seat and Miku started drifting to the Kagamines’ house.

After about a minute Rin spoke up, “I didn't expect you to dress so cute.”

“ Rin! ”  Miku exclaimed.

“ What ?”  Rin looked at her, confused.

“That’s a bit rude, don’t you think?”  Miku said, almost sounding offended for Hika.

“I didn’t mean it to be.”  Rin said, furrowing her brows, “I meant it in a nice way!”

“ I know that, but Hika might not.”  Miku said, “She just met you a couple days ago, she doesn’t really know your…  Rinnyness…  yet.”

Hika spoke up from the back seat, “It’s okay, Miku, I know Rin didn’t mean to offend.”

Rin extended her arms roughly, “ See?   She gets it.”

Hika smiled and looked out the window, it occurred to her that they were driving through a really nice neighborhood.  She admired the pretty houses as they passed until they suddenly pulled into the driveway of one of the nice houses.  Hika looked up at Miku and Rin, “What’s going on, where are we?”

Rin turned around in her seat again, “We’re at my house.”  She said, looking at Hika with a funny look on her face.  “Why do you look so surprised?”

Hika looked down at her hands which were twiddling in her lap, “I figured we were just passing through.”

Rin giggled at her statement, “Of course not!”  She said playfully and got out of the car.  Miku took the key out of the ignition and got out as well.  Though still in disbelief of the situation, Hika followed the girls’ examples and got out of the car.  She shut the car door behind herself and followed the two girls to the front door.  Rin pulled a key ring out of her bag and fumbled with it for a few seconds—making a gently jingling noise Hika rather enjoyed—before unlocking the door and letting them in.  “Len we’re back!”  She called out into the seemingly empty house as they walked in, “We brought Hika!”  Hika laughed to herself at the way Rin was speaking.  It read as comical objectification in her mind, as though Rin was comparing her to groceries or something of the like.

There was a distant crashing noise like a munch of hangers fell in a closet (exactly like), followed by a muffled, “I’m coming!” accompanied by clumsy footsteps.  The footsteps got louder and soon Len popped out from around a corner, wearing an outfit that Hika rather liked.  He looked good in it—though Hika figured he’d look good in anything—and it looked comfy, perhaps even cozy.

Hika smiled, “Hey, Len.  Long time no see.”  She said sarcastically in her familiar, gentle voice.  Len had almost forgotten how much better her voice sounded in person than on the phone, despite having just seen her the day before.

“Hey, Hika.”  Len said, smiling his familiar dorky smile which Hika found a little cute.

Miku and Rin just watched in silent curiosity, like they were watching two wild animals interact and wished not to disturb said interaction.

Hika broke the interaction sooner than Miku or Rin expected.  She held up a lunch box, “Per your request, I brought a few onigiri-” she turned to Len, “Or as some might call them, ‘jelly filled donuts!’”  She said in a voice Rin thought sounded like a weird announcer.  Len cackled loudly and Hika smiled.  She turned back to Rin, “There’s enough for all of us.”

Rin’s eyes sparkled like diamonds as she opened the lunch box as though it was filled with all the greatest treasures of the world.  She pranced over to the table, box in hand.  Everyone followed her to the table.  Hika and Len joined up and sat down next to each other at the table.  Rin looked at Len, he rolled his eyes and stood up, Hika followed him to the kitchen where he grabbed plates and sets of chopsticks.  Even though onigiri is a finger food, it was still nice to have utensils just in case.  They set the plates and chopsticks down on the table and sat down at their chosen spots.  Rin snatched an onigiri from the box and stuffed it in her face eagerly.

“Omygosh these tast sho good!”  Rin said through a mouthful of rice.

Hika giggled, “Thanks, Rin.”  She took a bite of her onigiri like a normal human.

Len stared at the onigiri in his hand for a good thirty seconds, kind of freaking out at the idea of eating food Hika made with her own two hands.  He took a bite and his eyes widened.  Wow this is really good!   He looked at Hika, sparkly eyed.

Hika giggled, “What does that face mean?”

“This is really good!”  He exclaimed.

Hika looked away, smiling bashfully and twiddled with her hair, “Thank you.”

After swallowing a huge mouthful of rice, Rin cut in, “So, Hika, your outfit’s nice.”

Hika smiled at Rin pleasantly, “Thanks, it’s my favorite outfit.”  she tugged gently at the hem of her sweater, “It’s so comfy.”

“You look cute in it.”  Len blurted out before he could even process thinking it.

All three girls looked at him, each with different expressions on their face.  Hika was wide-eyed and blushing.  Miku was just surprised Len would say anything so forward.  Rin’s face was halfway between a smirk and a teasing grin.

It took Len a long moment to realise what had just happened.  The girls could almost hear his brain making fax machine noises.  Then it hit him like a baseball to the face.  He slapped a hand over his mouth as a bright pink blush began to spread on his cheeks.  He stared at Hika, just as wide-eyed as she was.  Everyone just stared at Len.

Rin opened her mouth to begin a tease.  But Miku put her hand up as if to say, “Hold on.”

Hika turned away, but not in a quick or sudden manner as one might expect from a girl so flustered.  She stared at the table, still a little frazzled.  “Thanks, Len.”  She tried to speak in her usual calm and collected tone but it came out as a weak, squeaky whisper.

Len swiftly turned his attention to his own lap, “No problem.”  He squeaked out.  He could feel the heat burning his face.  Why did I say that OUT LOUD!?   He glanced up at Hika, who happened to glance over at him at the same time.  They locked eyes for a second before looking away again.  Len folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them in an attempt to conceal his red face.

“You, too.”  Hika choked out before taking a bite of her onigiri.

Len lifted his head ever so slightly to look at Hika, she was blushing, but the rest of her expression read as calm.  “What?”  He said horsley.

Hika turned her head to face him but avoided his eyes, “You-  Your outfit…”  It started strong but ended in a whisper.  She looked down at the rice ball in her hand, “I like it…”

Oh god, she’s so cute!  Len’s heart pounded in his chest.  He did not like it.

Rin broke the awkward silence with an awkward statement, “So…”  She started, then looked at Miku, “Do you wanna go to my room?”

Miku looked at Hika and Len.  Big mistake.  They were both staring at her, begging her not to leave with the pathetic look in their eyes.

Don’t leave us alone right now!  It’ll be awkward!

Miku grimaced, she turned to Rin.  “That sounds like fun.”  She looked at Hika with an apologetic expression, “I’m sure the awkwardness between these two will clear up a bit easier without us here.”  She raised her voice slightly as she said this.  Hika frowned but accepted Miku’s decision.

The two girls walked down the hall, leaving Hika and Len by themselves.

Neither of them looked at each other, nor did they say anything for at least a minute.  Eventually, Hika was fed up with sitting helplessly in silence while the awkward tension between them grew stronger with every passing second.  She turned to Len, “Hey.”  Her voice was strong, but also gentle.

Len looked up at her, “Yeah?”

“I don’t think either of us have anything to be embarrassed about.”  Hika resolved.

“But-”

“But nothing.”  Hika interrupted, “It was a simple complement.”

“But I-”

Hika sighed loudly, cutting him off again, “Fine, what?”

“I didn’t mean to say it…”  He said.

“Are you saying you didn’t mean it?  Why would that be embarrassing?”

“Well, no I meant it.  I just didn’t mean to say it.”  Len emphasised his statements with some hand motions.

Hika stared at him, still surprised at what Len was saying.

Len looked at her and furrowed his brows, “I thought you said it wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about!”

“It isn’t!”  Hika exclaimed.

“Then why are you blushing?”

Hika looked away, “I…”  She trailed, “I’m not embarrassed.  I’m flattered.”  She said resolutely.  “It’s nice to receive a compliment from you.”  Hika wanted desperately to change the subject.  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”  She sighed.

“What else can we talk about?”  Len asked, shifting his weight in the chair.

Hika shifted her weight from side to side, trying to get comfortable but failing, “Well these chairs are kinda stiff for one, can we sit on a couch or something?  Even the floor would be better than this...”

Len laughed and stood up, “Sure, living room’s this way.”  Hika stood up and followed him.  Len led Hika to a comfy looking living room and gestured to the sofa.  Hika sat down and smiled.

“I love your couch!”  Hika remarked.  “It’s soft but it’s not too soft…  It’s perfect.”  She sighed, sinking into the comfy seat.

Len smiled, “Yeah it’s pretty nice.”  He said, sitting down.  He pushed a button on the armrest and his section of the sofa began to recline.

Hika’s eyes widened, “Wh-”  She stared as the backrest slowly leaned back.  She looked at her own armrest, it had buttons on it.  She tapped one and heard a short electric whirring noise which stopped as soon as she let go of the button.  She pushed it down again and held it down, the headrest of her section of the sofa began to push forward.  She stopped pushing that button and pushed another, this one made the headrest fall back.

Len chuckled, “You act like you’ve never seen an electric recliner before.”

Hika did not look up from the buttons, “I haven’t.” she pressed another button and the backrest started reclining.  She let go of it.  “That’s so cool!”  She pushed another button so the seat was in a normal upright position.  Hika looked over at Len and smiled challengingly.  “So what do you people do for fun around here?”

Len grinned in mock mischief, “That depends on what you consider fun.”

Hika giggled, Len laughed.

“Video games will suffice.”  She smiled at Len in such genuineness that she looked stunningly beautiful.

Len blushed and smiled coyly.  She’s so pretty.  He thought.  This thought didn’t really bother him the way similar thoughts had in the days before.  It was just an observation.  It doesn’t mean I like her.  He told himself.  He’s wrong but I commend his effort.  “I think we might have some of those.”  He said nonchalantly, walking over to the TV stand.  He opened one of the doors to reveal a lot of video games lined up and stacked in the small cabinet.

Hika’s eyes widened, the only video games she had ever really got to play were what she could download on her laptop, which wasn’t a very broad variety.  All she could do was stare with her mouth hanging open like a carp.

“What kind of games do you like?”  Len asked, his face still in the cupboard.  “We’ve got games for the Switch, Wii, Wii U , Xbox, playstations two, three, and four…”  He pulled a box out and squinted at it like he was trying to read it.  “What console do you play on?”  He asked before squinting harder at the box.

“PC…”  Hika managed to say, though it was in a hush.

Len looked up from the box in his hand, “You okay?”

Hika shook her head, “I’ve never seen so many video games…”  Slowly she managed to process what Len had said, “You mean to tell me you have all those consoles?”

Len looked over at the open compartment just below the spot where the TV was sitting, “Well not all of them…  The Wii U is backwards compatible and so is the PS three, I think…  Not to say we don’t also have a PS two.”  Hika just continued to stare with the previously mentioned carp-like expression.  Len looked over at her, “Have you never seen technology before?”

“Not this much.”  Hika said, finally snapping out of her confused trance.  “We have an old Wii at home that was given to us by my aunt and uncle as a gift.  That and my laptop are really the only things I can play games on.”

“Well I’m about to introduce you to a whole new world of fun.”  He said, pulling out Mario Kart and pushing the power button on the WiiU.  Hika watched in anticipation as the WiiU booted up.  Len put the disc in the game hole, grabbed two controllers, and plopped down next to Hika.  He handed her a controller and Hika took it.  “Are you a steering wheel or nunchucks kind of girl?”

Hika smiled softly, “If you have nunchucks I’d prefer that.”

Len got up, “Of course we have nunchucks!”  He got a nunchuck out of the controller cabinet and handed it to Hika.  Hika plugged it into her Wii remote and looked back up at Len.  Len smirked, “Mario Kart Wii is my favorite game in the whole series.”

“Ah, a man of culture, I see.”  Hika said, turning to the TV.

Len started the game up and got it all set up for multiplayer.  “Which cup do you want to play?”  He asked, turning to look at her.

“Flower.”  She responded.

“Good choice.”  Len said, selecting the flower cup and bringing them to the character selection page.  He picked his main and waited for Hika.  She picked Rosalina and it went to the vehicle selection page.  Len picked a regular go-to and watched as Hika made her selection.  The mentioned lavendrette picked a motorcycle.  Len was a little surprised with her choices, and the speed at which she made them, considering just a few minutes ago she was gawking at the concept of an electric recliner.

The race countdown began and Hika pushed the gas shortly after the two sounded off.  She started the race off with a small boost and quickly weaved her way to second place, right behind Len.  Hika hit his kart with a green shell and quickly surpassed him.  Len was surprised to say the least.  He looked over at her.  Hika’s eyes were fixed on the screen.  Len looked at the screen, then back at her.

After several moments of watching Len drive into walls Hika pushed pause, “I expected you to drive better than this…”  She said, turning to look at the aforementioned blonde.  She was met with an electric blue gaze.

“I wasn’t expecting you to play so good.”  Len said.

Hika laughed, “I told you I have a Wii at home!”  She said.

Len squirmed, “Well, yeah, but I didn’t know you played Mario Kart so well.”

Hika put her controller down, and stifled her giggles.  “Were you expecting me to lose?”

Len broke eye contact, “Well-”

Hika shook her head, smiling, “We can start over if you’d like.”  Hika said.  “I suppose I should have given you fair warning by saying I’d kick your butt.”  That sentence felt unfitting to be said in her voice.  “I just figured it went without saying.”  She teased.

Len smirked at her, “Well now that I know how good you are, I’m not gonna hold back.”

Hika smirked back, “I can think of nothing better.”  She said.

Chapter Text

Rin and Miku walked out of Rin’s room, carrying on with their conversation.  They walked down the hallway to the living room, chatting and giggling.

Rin went unnoticed as she made her way behind Hika and Len.  “So what did you two do while we were gone?  Anything interesting?”

Len flinched, he hadn’t heard her come in.  He tried to think of an answer, he knew exactly what Rin was asking.  She had been expecting them to do something romantic in her absence, something Len didn’t think he would ever do with Hika.  Not that he didn’t want to do romantic things with Hika, deep down he really liked her and hoped one day they might be more than just friends.  But he wouldn’t even admit that to himself, let alone anyone else.

Hika was not surprised at the sound of Rin’s voice, she had heard them chatting and giggling all the way down the hall.

“We played Mario Kart…”  Hika said, turning to face Rin a little more.  “Is that interesting?”

“No.”  Rin frowned.  She shifted her gaze between Len and Hika a couple times, “Seriously, nothing happened between you two that whole time?”

Hika looked up at Rin with a look in her eyes Rin didn’t expect to see from her, “What are you asking?”

Rin shrugged, “You guys didn’t…  y’know…”

Hika understood what Rin was suggesting now.  She shook her head calmly, “No.  We did nothing…”  She practically choked on the word, “Romantic.”

Rin shrugged, “Whatever.”  She sat down on a beanbag and Miku sat on the floor, cross-legged next to her.  Rin looked over at Hika and Len, “So who’s winning.”

“Hika…”  Len groaned.  Even though he was losing, he couldn’t deny that Hika’s self-pleased little smile was kind of adorable.

Hika leaned over to him a little, “It’s okay, you’ll win the next one.”  She tried to reassure him.

“I doubt that.”  Len said, rolling his eyes and mildly pouting.

That pout of his is a little cute .  Hika huffed out a soft giggle at her thoughts.

Len looked at her with an expression filled with an array of emotion, the most notable of which being surprise.  “What are you laughing about?”

Hika couldn’t hide the mild panic and surprise that overtook her expression, “Huh?”  She shook her head and the expression disappeared, “Oh, nothing.”  She smiled that coy little smile that Len had grown to know a little too well for his liking.

Rin cut in, “Now I’m curious.  What were you chuckling about?”

“It’s silly.”  Hika attempted to dismiss.

“I live for silly, what is it?”  Rin pushed.

Hika turned her head away from everyone as she felt her face grow warm.  She choked on and stumbled over every word as she spoke, “Len’s pout is kind of cute.”  She managed to squeeze out through her lips.  Everyone was silent, except for Rin who was stifling a giggle.  Hika turned her body violently to face them, her cheeks were red.  “So what?!  I’m allowed to think that things are cute aren't…”  her voice softened at the sight of Len who was blushing just about as hard as she was if not moreso, “…I?”  Hika quickly regained her composure and went to comfort Len, “Oh dear, this is what I was afraid would happen.  I’m sorry, Len, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”  She leaned closer to him, whilst attempting to maintain enough distance between them to prevent from further flustering him.  “I take it back, just please don’t be upset.”  She pleaded.

Len sighed.  He did not look at her, “I…”  He attempted.  “I’m…”  He started again, “…not upset…”  He said.

Hika sighed out of relief, “Oh good.”  After what happened at lunch yesterday, that’s the last thing I want.

Len got up quietly, “I’ll be back…  You girls go ahead and hang out.”  He did not look at anyone as he walked out of the living room.

Hika sighed, I guess it was inevitable…

Rin turned to Hika, “Do you like Len?”

Hika shook her head in exasperation, “Rin, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine…”  Rin sighed.

There was a moment of excruciating silence between them.

Miku spoke up, “Hey, Hika,” she started.  Hika looked over at her tiredly, her eyes saying enough for it to be unnecessary for her to answer verbally.  “What would you like to do?”  Hika’s expression changed to a questioning one.  “Rin and I always do what we want to do, but it’s your first time hanging out with us outside of school so you should get to pick what we do.”

Hika looked to the side thoughtfully before answering in a deadpan tone, “I just want to relax and not be at the center of this group’s romantic drama.”

Rin giggled, “You’re not.”

Hika made eye contact with her, “Then why is that all you talk about when Len and I are together?”

“I like to tease my brother.”  Rin answered, “His reactions are funny.”

“He doesn’t like it.”  Hika argued.

“He doesn’t hate it.”  Rin responded.

“I’m pretty sure he does.”  Hika shot back.

“Why are you arguing with me?  You think it’s cute when he gets flustered, you said so yourself.”

Hika reeled back in surprise, “You said you wouldn’t bring that up!”

“I said I’d keep it between us.”  Rin waved her finger in a circle, gesturing to Hika, Miku, and Herself.

Hika sighed and shook her head mildly, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”  She said, waving her hands dismissively, “I told you I didn’t like the reaction he had at lunch yesterday.  Today was no different.”

Rin shrugged, “It’s not my fault he’s so butthurt about it.”

“What about me?”  Hika said.

“What about you?”

“Does it matter that I don’t enjoy it?”

Rin furrowed her brows at Hika, “You don’t?”

“Why would I enjoy being embarrassed in front of my friends?”

Rin looked down thoughtfully, “Well when you put it that way…”  She looked back up at Hika, “I guess I could let up on the teasing a little bit.”

Hika sighed, “Good, because every moment we see each other is just too much.”

Rin looked over to the hallway, “You should go check on him.”

Hika looked at her surprised, “Why me?”

“Well I can’t go in there, not after I ticked him off.  I could send Miku in but he’s most comfortable with you.”

Hika let out something between an exasperated groan and a sigh as she stood up.  “Which room?”  She asked frustratedly.

“Last door on the left.”

Hika nodded and began walking.  She walked down the hall until she reached the end, she turned to the door to her left and knocked on it gently.

Len heard a knock on his door, it confused him.  Rin never knocked and his parents weren’t home.  Still, he figured Hika and Miku had no reason to come to his room and assumed it was just Rin messing with him.  “Whaddaya want?”  He slurred impatiently through the door.

“Just coming to check on you.”  Hika’s voice spoke softly from the other side of the door.

Len got up and stumbled clumsily to the door.  He opened it and began fumbling over assorted apologies centered around the subject of “I thought you were Rin.”

Hika shook her head gently and held her hand up signalling Len to stop, “It’s fine, I understand.”  She said in the most Hika tone ever.

Len let out a sigh of relief, “Sorry…”  He said absent-mindedly, “Do you want to come in?”  He didn’t even realize what he had just said until Hika was several paces into his room.  He stared at her for a minute, confused at what had just happened.

Hika looked around Len’s room, and Len realised he had invited her there.  He felt a mild rush of adrenaline at the thought of a girl other than Rin being in his room.  Hika turned to him with her familiar soft smile, “Your room is very…  You.”  The lavendrette said, making Len’s heartbeat quicken.

“Is that bad?”  The aforementioned blonde stammered.

“Well I like you so I don’t think so.”  Hika said.

Len panicked a little at her phrasing.  He was having a hard time formulating his scattered thoughts into any form of verbal communication.  He managed a nod as he stared at her with his panic written all over his face.

Hika recognised his discomfort and attempted to ease his nerves by sitting down and breaking eye contact with him.  After several mildly uncomfortable moments of silence, Hika looked up at Len who looked as though his brain was making fax machine noises.  Maybe I ought to leave him alone…   Hika thought.  She stood up, “Well I’m going to go back to the living room,”   She said walking to the door, “feel free to come back out with us when you’re ready.”  Hika finished from the doorway.

“Okay.”  Len said empty-voiced.

Once Hika was gone, Len’s brain kicked back into function, “God, I’m such an idiot.”  He whispered to himself, facepalming gently, Why am I so stupid around her?!   He thought, frustrated with himself.  Len pulled himself together and opened his door.  Whatever, I’m sure my thoughts will be clearer with her out of my room.  He stepped out of his room and made his way back out to the living room.  “Hey.”  He said, standing in the empty door frame that stood as the entrance to the living room.  His tone of voice and stance were both uncharacteristically cool for him.  He looked at the girls who seemed to have been sitting in silence before his arrival and grew a little uncomfortable under their gaze.  He made eye contact with Hika accidentally before quickly breaking it in a very Len-like manner.  Hika smiled at his behavior.

“Welcome back.”  Hika said in her familiar soft tone.

Len let out a hum of acknowledgement before sliding into the spot on the couch he had been sitting in before he had left the room several moments before.

“We were just talking about you.”  Rin said.  This was a blatant lie.  They had, in fact, not been talking at all prior to Len’s arrival.  Miku was still on her phone, her thumb every so often doing the little tap tap swipe motion one does when liking a post on Socialoid and then moving on to read or watch the next.  Hika’s book was laying open in her lap, her fingers gently gracing the pages with their touch as she turned her eyes’ attention from the ink on them.  Hika looked over at Rin, completely expressionless.  Hika’s lack of countenance did not in any way hinder her thoughts from radiating off of her like a space-heater.

Hika didn’t even have to say anything, but she did anyway, “Really, Rin?”

Len stifled a laugh.

Miku let out a quiet, sing-songy “Uh oh.”

Rin shuddered at Hika’s tone.  How could one tone of speech be so versatile?  One moment Hika sounded cordial and inviting, and then the next it was cold and intimidating.  It was practically the same tone: same volume, same speed, same pitch, same everything.

Hika turned to Len, “Don’t worry, Len, we weren’t talking about you.  In fact, before you arrived we were all enjoying some social down time.”

“I can’t say I was enjoying sitting in silence for fifteen minutes with you two.”  Rin whined, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You could have gotten something out to do like me and Hika.”  Miku said, lifting her head from her phone to look at Rin.

“I’m not like you two.  Just sitting in a room with someone isn’t enough for me!”  Rin exclaimed.

Miku’s shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh, “Well we can’t go out because neither of us has spare money right now.  What were you expecting to do?”

“How should I know?!”  Rin’s shoulders rose in her frustration as she gestured vehemently at Miku, “You’re always the one who plans these things!”

An idea for something they could do together struck Hika.  She wanted to speak up but didn’t want to get caught up in the building tension between the two bickering girls.  Hika looked to Len in search of some kind of assistance.  He was on his phone.  Hika got her phone out and texted him.

Hika Hoseki

I have an idea of something we could do.

Upon reading Hika’s text Len looked up at the aforementioned lavendrette.  His thoughts betrayed him, leading him to wonder what she could mean.  He obsessed over every word in her text, scrutinizing every possible meaning.  He shook his head, No, you idiot, think of the context!  Miku and Rin are arguing over activities.  That’s what she means.   “What would that be?”  He asked and immediately felt proud of how calm his tone was.

“Do you guys have any movies?”  Hika asked.  She and Len were speaking at a volume that kept this conversation between the two of them.

Len nodded, “Yeah.  Is that what you want to do?”

“I’ll do anything to get them to stop arguing.”  Hika sighed.

Len laughed, “Yeah, they do that a lot.  You get used to it.”

This confused Hika, “Aren’t they best friends?”

Len nodded fervently, “Yeah, yeah, of course.  They always make up pretty much right after their arguments.”

Hika had never really had an argument with a friend before, especially not the way Miku and Rin were arguing right now.  Their altercation was getting a bit heated, Hika could hardly hear herself think over their bickering.

Len leaned over to Miku and Rin casually, “Hey.”

The girls stopped arguing and turned their heads to face Len, their blatant rage still written in bold on their faces.

“What?”  Rin’s voice forced as though she was biting back flames.

Len’s nonchalant attitude never faltered, “Hika wants to watch a movie.”  He pointed to Hika lazily.

“A…  A movie?”  Rin’s expression softened and she looked at Miku.  Miku looked back at her.

“Sure.”  They both said in unison with the same bewildered tone.

Len turned to Hika, “What movie do you want to watch?”

Hika turned to him, “What do you have?”  She asked hesitantly, bracing herself for a similar experience to the one she had had about thirty minutes ago when she asked to play video games.

Len gave a little half smile, expecting a similar reaction to the one Hika had had when he showed her the options they had for video games.  “Well, to say it simply, I highly doubt you could ask for a movie we don’t have.”

Hika sighed and shook her head mildly, letting out a soft teh of a chuckle.  “Of course…”  Hika looked up at Len.  Then, turning to Rin and Miku, she said, “Well, in that case, what kinds of movies do you guys like?”

Miku was the first to answer, and she did so with a gentle smile similar to Hika’s, “I like romantic comedies and fantasy movies!”

Hika nodded and smirked, “Ah, a woman of culture.”

Rin and Len both took longer to come up with an answer.  The next person to answer was Rin, as Len looked like he was in very deep contemplation.  Hika found his initial response to her question humorous, in an adorable sort of way.

“I don’t really watch movies…  Sometimes I watch horror movies with my dad,” she shrugged, “But I doubt you guys want to watch that...  Whatever you guys want to watch is fine by me.”  She turned to Miku and gave a playful smirk, “So long as I get to sit next to you, Meek.”

Hika let out a dry laugh and turned to Len.  He was still deep in thought.  Hika waved her hand in front of his face, “Len,”  She spoke.  Len looked up at her, one could see in his expression, the exact moment when his train of thought broke.  “What kind of movies do you like?”

“Horror.”  He said horsley, as every minute he had just spent thinking dissipated into pointlessness.  It had crossed his mind briefly that saying he liked horror would make him sound cooler than he acted around her, but he had never actually seen a horror movie.  He had always been too scared and worried he might get nightmares or something.  He saw a scary video on YouTube once and lost a whole night of sleep over it.

Hika was surprised, so much so that it showed in her countenance.

Rin laughed, “ What?! ”  She exploded with various assortments of cackles and giggles.  Len and Hika both turned to look at her.  “Every time me and dad watch horror movies you always run off to your room!”  She gestured to the hallway, “And that one time you came to my room, practically in tears, because you saw a scary video whilst falling down the YouTube autoplay rabbit hole.”

Len glared at her, while Hika’s expression held a lot of curiosity.  Rin noticed and smirked, “Looks like Hika wants to hear the whole story, do you want to tell her or should I?”

“What’s there to tell?”  Len grumbled with his arms folded over his chest.  “You already shared every embarrassing detail.”

Hika decided to cut this argument short, she didn’t like where it was going.  “Why don’t we pick something else then?  I’m not really in the mood for a horror movie right now, anyway.”

Miku raised her hand up, “I second that motion.”

Hika turned to Len, “What kind of movie do you want to watch?”  She asked as though he hadn’t already given her an answer.

“Whatever you want to watch is fine, I guess.”

Hika turned to Miku, “I guess it’s up to us then…”

Chapter Text

They ended up watching a PG-rated adventure movie which one might mistakenly say was for children.  All four of them ended up sitting on the three person couch.  Rin and Miku were cuddled up really close on the right side of the sofa and Hika thought she heard one of them sniffle a little sob out when it got to a really emotional part.  She assumed it was Rin.  Hika sat in the middle of the couch, looking a little stiff, but she seemed to be enjoying herself.  Len sat on the far left, the most reaction that came out of him was when there was an act of betrayal between a couple of the characters and he shouted, “Oh, come on !  Really?!”  Hika giggled a little bit in that moment.  As the movie dragged on, Hika found herself leaning in Len’s direction.  He didn’t seem to notice so she took a well-calculated risk and scooted a little closer to him.  He did notice this, but didn’t say anything.  He managed to keep his mouth from embarrassing him but couldn’t stop the faint blush tinting his cheeks.  Hika didn’t notice, she was too enveloped in the action scene currently dancing on the screen.

Miku saw motion in her peripheral vision and looked over to see what Hika was doing.  She was expecting to see Hika getting up to get refreshments, but what she really saw [Hika scooting just a little bit closer to Len] made an instinctual “Aww!” burst from her lips, causing a very sudden and startling break in the verbal silence.  Everyone looked at her in surprise.  Rin followed Miku’s line of sight to see what she was “aww”-ing at.  Hika and Len both leaned away from each other, Len looking at the point where the wall met the ceiling, Hika directing her gaze to the floor.  Miku covered her mouth, feeling a little bad that she had broken up this cute interaction.  She let out a hushed, “Sorry.” and turned back to the TV.  Hika and Len “subtly” glanced at each other, just so happening to meet eyes.

Hika sighed and whispered so only Len could hear her, “I’m sorry…”

Len made a leap of faith and trusted his words not to fail him this time, “It’s okay…  You can…”  He stopped talking, he already knew his voice sounded flustered.  Instead he pulled out his phone and texted Hika,

Len Kagamine

You can scoot closer if you want.

I don’t mind.

After reading this text, Hika looked over at Len, admittedly a little surprised.  He had watched her read the text he had sent her but quickly looked away as soon as she moved her head.  He really hoped he wasn’t blushing, his prayers were not answered.  Hika thought about his offer for a moment and took it.  She scooted closer to him so that they were both sitting on the same couch cushion.  Miku and Rin were very subtly watching this interaction.  It was objectively adorable, watching both of these socially inept nerds do what Rin could only describe as “cautious flirting.”  Like if they saw any kind of danger they would jump away like scared deer.  Hika’s countenance showed no reaction to the close proximity with Len, but her body language was stiff and unsure.  Len was very bad at hiding his true feelings.  While he attempted to maintain a cool, unphased expression himself, he really couldn’t pull it off.  His lips were pursed in an attempt to stifle the grin that was tugging at them.  Also, despite his desperate pleas to God for the blood vessels in his face to not betray him, his cheeks were tinted a shade of pink that was evident even in the dim lighting of the television.

Gradually, Hika and Len relaxed and enjoyed the movie together.  Len attempted to drape his arm across Hika’s shoulders to further push the closeness but halfway through the motion Hika shifted a little bit in her seat, causing Len to stop dead in his tracks. His arm hovered in that spot for a while until he got tired of holding it there, accepted his defeat, and settled for resting it on the back of the couch.  He turned his head away from Hika, hoping she wouldn’t notice that he was definitely blushing.

The movie was drawing close to the end and by this point everyone was deeply invested in it.  Len felt Hika’s figure tremble next to him.  He pulled his eyes away from the screen and focused them on the girl next to her.  He saw a single tear fall from her eye and roll down her cheek sparkling like a falling star in the glow resonating off the television screen.  Len was a little bit surprised to see this kind of reaction from her.  I didn’t expect her to be a cryer...   He looked back at the screen, the heroine’s mother had just died and the girl was now crying by her mother’s death bed.  Hika slowly raised her hand to her face and wiped the tear with her sleeve.  Hika returned to the stiff posture she had only barely managed to relax from maybe ten minutes ago.  Len didn’t say anything of this until after the movie was over, and Hika didn’t relax from her stiff posture either.

The movie ended and the credits rolled.  Everyone looked away from the screen and at each other.  It was hard to tell that Hika had been crying, if Len hadn’t seen it happening earlier, he would have absolutely no idea she had cried at all.  Rin looked over at Hika and Len and couldn’t help but smirk.  “Look at you two!  You’re so cute!”

“Rin, stop!”  Len shouted breathily.  Hika looked down sheepishly at her hands which were in her lap.

Rin shrugged, “Whatever.”  She sang before walking out of the room and joining Miku in the dining room/kitchen area.

Hika and Len felt a little embarrassed about how close they were, but it was such a comfortable, warm closeness that neither of them wanted to move.  Both of them wanted to talk but they were both too embarrassed to say much.  They both looked over at each other at the same time, making eye contact.  It was uncomfortable and Hika looked away first, then Len followed.  Len thought of asking her about the crying thing but felt now was too awkward a moment for that.  He looked at her, she was examining her fingernails with seemingly great interest.  She smiled softly and spoke, “I need to repaint my nails…”  Len chuckled in his head.  She was right, the nail polish was pretty chipped.

Len smiled and decided to carry on with this subject, “Rin has some nail polish if you want to do that now.”  He offered.

Hika excitedly turned to face Len, “Is that okay with her?  Does she have nude?”

Len looked at her confusedly, “Nude?”

“It’s like,” Hika looked off to the side in thought, “shades of beige or brown?”

Len laughed, “Of course not!”  He shook his head, “Have you seen Rin?  She doesn’t wear anything short of neon!”  Hika giggled because it was true.

Hika shook her head mildly, “It’s okay, I have my own nail polish at home, I can wait.”

“Did I hear someone say nail polish ?”  Rin’s voice resounded from the doorway.  Hika and Len simultaneously lifted their heads to look at her.

“Yeah,” Hika said, “We were just chatting about how I need to repaint my nails.”

Rin’s face burst into a grin, “We could all paint our nails!”  She turned to the kitchen where Miku was minding her own business.  “Hey Meeks!”  There was a small klunk sound like something had been dropped on the floor.  “Do you want to paint your nails with us?”

“Who’s us?”  Miku’s voice grunted from the kitchen.

“Hika, Len and me.”  Rin said.

Len drew back a little bit in surprise, “Wait since when was I a part of this?”  Rin ignored him.  Hika huffed out a small chuckle.  Len turned to her dramatically, “What’re you laughing about?”

Hika’s voice was low and soft, Len was probably the only one who heard her speak the words, “I’m going to paint your nails hot pink” with an annoying little smirk.

Len frowned at her.  “I’m going to paint yours chartreuse!”  He said a little too loud for both of their liking.

Hika scrunched her nose in disgust, “Chartreuse?!”  Even her exclamations were soft, “Chartreuse would never go with my wardrobe!”

“Oh and you think hot pink would go with mine ?”  Len retorted.

“Sure, if you borrowed some clothes from your equal-sized sister.”  Hika smirked up at him.

Len glared at her for a second before crossing his arms and turning from her with a huff.

Once again, Hika spoke in such a low, soft tone that only Len heard her, “If what the others say is true, you won’t be able to stay mad at me for very long.”  Len refrained from turning to her in surprise.  What was that supposed to mean?  He thought, Is she talking about-  He shook his head as a soft blush rose to his cheeks, No, no, no, of course not!  Those rumors make her uncomfortable, too.  He moved only his eyes to look at her.  She was looking straight at him and smirking.  He looked away.

Hika had to admit to herself that watching Len squirm like this was a little amusing.  However she refused to admit to herself that she also found it adorable and figuratively shook those thoughts away as soon as they entered her brain.

Chapter Text

They all clamored in Rin’s room.  Len ended up joining them because “It was better than hanging out by myself.”  But insisted he had no interest in painting his nails.  All three of the girls wanted to sway him for their own different motivations: Rin wanting to play with him, Miku finding enjoyment in giving literally any manicure, and Hika (not admittedly) thinking it might suit him nicely.

Rin pulled out a bright yellow and pink box with a clasp on the front and a white handle on top, Hika eyed the box curiously.  Rin opened the box, revealing a plethora of colored nail polish, surprisingly including a few shades of grey, black, and beige.  Rin immediately pulled out her favorite pink nail polish.  Miku picked out a shade of teal that matched her hair.  Hika grabbed two polishes, the black and a sparkly charcoal color.  Rin and Miku started painting their nails and hika grabbed the nail polish remover to get rid of the chipped polish that was already on them.  Rin decided to start some “casual” conversation typically carried in the manicure ritual.

"So, Miku, what did you think of the movie?"  Rin asked, not looking up from her nails.

Miku smiled, also not looking up from her nails, "I loved it!  It was so cute…  the part where the mom died was sad, but Clarice dealt with it well.”

Hika shuddered at the thought of that part.  Len noticed and decided now was a good time to bring up the crying incident.  They were a good few feet away from Miku and Rin and there was music playing so if they whispered, they could keep the conversation private.

“Hey, Hika?”  Len whispered.

Hika turned her attention from the girls’ chatter and looked at Len.  “Yes, Len?”

Len squirmed a little bit, “I…  I noticed you were crying earlier a- and…”  Len was too busy looking at the floor to notice Hika’s eyes widen significantly as her face paled.  “I just wanted to ask if you were okay…”

“I’m fine.”  Hika said, feeling short of breath.  She tried to retain her composure, “The movie was just a little sad.  It’s nothing.”  She said in an empty tone of voice.

“Alright…”  Len said, “Just know that it’s okay to talk to me if you need to talk.”  Len didn’t know why he was saying this.  The movie was a little sad.  And Hika said she was fine.  So why did he have this feeling that something was wrong?

“There’s no need for that.”  Hika said, then she shifted her attitude to that which required a smile.  “Give me your hand, Len.”  She said.

Len looked up at her, that light pink blush once again tinting his cheeks.  “Huh?”

Hika held up a bottle of hot pink nail polish and shot a light smirk at him.

Len laughed, “You weren’t serious about that were you?”

Hika looked at him, “If you let me paint them this color I’ll let you paint mine, too.  Then we can be twinsies.”  She said softly.  The irony of someone with Hika’s personality saying “twinsies” made Len involuntarily grin.

“Fine, but only if I get to pick the color for yours.”  Len held out his hand to her, rolling his eyes.  Hika reached out and gently grabbed his hand with her fingertips, pulling it closer so she could see what she was doing.  This unexpected touch caught Len way off guard.  His cheeks flushed red.  Hika glanced up at him, as she heard him sputter out a few strange noises.  She let out a soft laugh at the sight of the pigment on his cheeks.  Hika painted the pink nail polish onto Len’s index finger.  He could tell she was enjoying herself because her smile no longer looked sad.  Len watched her paint his fingernails, smiling as he enjoyed how peaceful and happy she looked.  He actually kind of liked the pink color now that he was seeing it against his skin tone.  Holding Len’s hand like this, it felt nice.  And Hika almost– almost –exclaimed as the thought of kissing the top of his hand crossed her mind.  Instead of exclaiming however, she gently let go of Len’s hand– much to Len’s dismay –and screwed the lid back onto the bottle of nail polish.  “All done.”  She said in a soft, cheerie tone.  “Make sure you don’t bump them too much, they need to dry.”

Len scoffed at how much Hika appeared to be enjoying herself.  “Okay now, time for the chartreuse!”  Len exclaimed evilly as he pulled out a muddy green colored bottle.  “Hand over the hands!”  He roared in a humorous tone.

Hika looked at the bottle between her friend’s fingertips.  “Uhh…  Len?  That’s not chartreuse.”  Len looked down at the bottle with a soft hm.  “It’s more of a moss green.  It’s actually a really nice color.”  Hika gave a soft smile at the niceness of the color.  Len couldn’t help but think how pretty she was when she smiled.  His cheeks went pink.  Hika gracefully offered him her hand.  It was so light and gentle against Len’s fingertips as he took it.  He painted her nails with the green color.  It was such a quiet moment, Len was too focused on how delicate Hika’s hands were that he completely blocked out Miku and Rin’s loud conversation in the same room.  Hika didn’t dare interrupt his focus either, partly because of how handsome he looked when he concentrated and partly because she knew she’d make him flinch and ruin the perfect manicure he had going so far.  They just sat there.  Silent together.

Chapter Text

Hey readers.  I know you're few and far between but I'd like to let you know that I think I'm going to ditch this fic.  I started it when I was 15 and as an adult now I think I should try starting something new.  This old fic was starting to get really hard to add new chapters to and overall it just...  It isn't worth it for me anymore.  BUT!  I'll probably start a new little romance fluff thing eventually- so...  keep your eyes open for that?  Terribly sorry to disappoint.