Archive of Our Own ^omega

Sakura Latte is a coffee-shop right around the corner with a dingy, slightly cramped interior and dim lighting. Despite its rather dull appearance, the café is often frequented by many, from the regulars to those just looking for a place to relax and chit-chat.

The reason behind it, however, is still a mystery—I mean, the name is already a head-scratcher. The café isn’t floral pink or decorated with sakura flowers; heck, they don’t even serve lattes. Seriously, what the hell.

Anyway, it is in this very same oddly-named café that our tale unfolds... OW!

“Hey, what gives?” Len grumbles, rubbing at a sore spot on his forehead.

Miku retracts her index finger with a disapproving look. “You were staring at me with your mouth slightly ajar, Len.” She busies herself with mixing leek into her porridge evenly as she continues, “I know I’m pretty, but if a fly enters your mouth and you choke to death, don’t blame me.”

“Besides...” Her eyes narrow. “...you weren’t listening at all to what I was saying, were you?”

“Sure I was,” Len protests, nearly knocking over his banana smoothie in his scramble to appease her. “You were saying that you, uh—” His eyes dart around and land on the first thing he sees. “—got a new shirt! That shade of teal looks really good on you.” He nods with conviction.

His girlfriend doesn’t look quite as convinced.

“You weren’t listening,” she deadpans.

He hangs his head. “No.”

She sighs knowingly, heavily. “I was talking about your job, Len!” The boy’s features darken, but she presses on regardless. “I know you want to carry on your family business for your dad’s sake, but think about us! Think about our future,” she pleads. “You can’t keep on working as a fortune teller for the rest of your life!”

Here, Miku reaches over—careful to avoid the haphazardly set food and beverages on the table—and clasps his hands in hers. “Can you please quit your job for a more stable, normal line of work?” When his expression doesn’t change, she implores, “Please?”

They’ve talked about this matter several times already, but Len is as stubborn as a mule once his mind is set, and nothing short of a natural disaster can ever make him waver. (Even then his decision may not change.)

See, Len here is a psychic—he reads palms, shuffles tarot cards, predicts your future, the works. His recently-retired father had been the one to show him the ropes ever since he was a little kid; the older male was overjoyed to know that the boy had taken a shine to fortune-telling.

Unfortunately, his current—and first—girlfriend, Hatsune Miku, is deathly afraid of the supernatural, and as interested as he is, he’s quite reluctant to be the one to screw up in this relationship.

And so, Len relents—just a little bit. “...one last day,” he says. “Today’s the last day before I quit the job, alright?”

The teal-haired girl’s eyes glitter. “You really mean that?” When he nods, she squeals and squeezes the living daylights out of his hands. “Thank you thank you thank you!” She gushes. “You’re the best, Len!”

“I do try,” he laughs awkwardly, trying to ignore the lack of oxygen supply to his fingers.

As Miku happily resumes the inhalation of her leek porridge, Len catches a faint whiff of tuna wafting through the air just as a shadowy figure appears by the café doorframe.

The first thing he notices is that the girl is drenched from head to toe—which is awfully strange, considering how he’s perspiring horribly from the blistering heat outside, even though the air-condition is at full-blast.

The next thing he notices is her state of dress—her once-white dress is torn and muddy and her long, salmon-pink hair is tousled and dirt-ridden; this observation is quickly followed by the look in her eyes.

It is positively murderous.

Her gaze falls upon a couple sitting at the table just behind Miku; they’re bantering playfully over an ice-cream sundae, the woman being careful not to move too much to disturb her baby-to-come.

Wet footprints trail behind the girl as she trudges forward to sit herself next to the pregnant lady, back facing Miku, with her calm movements belying the intense expression her features hold.

No one else seems to realize she’s there—not even the expectant woman and her companion.

Len stiffens when she turns her head slowly, slowly, slowly—

“...Miku,” he whispers, the harshness of his tone causing her to pause.

“...what is it?” She asks, lowering her voice to match his.

“I want you to stay calm and listen to me, okay?” She nods slowly. “Okay, so—whatever you do, don’t. Turn. Around.”

Miku freezes. “Is it...?”

He cringes—not just in reply to his girlfriend, but also because by this point, the pale-haired girl is boring holes through his skull with eyes that look ready to kill a man or two.

For a moment, everything is silent, but the atmosphere is so charged Len swears he can almost feel the air around him crackle like thunder and lightning.

And then—

“Hello!”

“EEK!” With a shrill shriek of terror, Miku darts out of her seat and makes a mad dash for the exit, twin pigtails flapping behind her.

A girl with a pure white bow in her hair is left blinking wildly in her wake.

“Jeez, what’s gotten into her?” She asks, plopping down into the chair previously occupied by the teal-haired girl. “She didn’t even finish her favourite vegetable juice!”

Len groans, burying his face into his arms as he leans over the table.

“Why, hello to you too, Lennykins,” she greets wryly, absently waving a waiter over to give her a menu.

“Sorry, Rin,” the blond mumbles, ruffling his already messy hair, “there was a, uh—ahem incident just now, which sort of freaked Miku out.”

Instantly, Rin brightens. “Ooh, really? Is it still here? Where is it?” She glances around the café suspiciously, before leaning in and asking in low tones, “Is it behind me?”

“No—well, it was just now, at least,” he amends, biting into his peanut butter and banana toast with his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Curiously enough, the weird tuna-smelling girl had disappeared in the midst of the chaos Miku created, along with the happy couple she was sitting with.

“Damn, I missed it,” she sighs, looking disappointed. “I even went out to buy these cool glasses, see?” She whips out a pair of orange-rimmed spectacles from out of seemingly nowhere, and puts them on. “The dude selling them said they can help me see ghosts!”

Rin grins.

Len stares.

He quickly realizes that she’s being serious when her expression doesn’t waver even after a heartbeat of silence. “Oh. Well. That’s nice, Rin.” He smiles indulgently, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

The girl, after all, has been his best friend for as long as he can remember—while his parents run a fortune telling business, her parents own an outlet selling items for luck and protection just two shops down.

Coincidentally, Rin happens to be highly enthusiastic about taking over the store herself one day, so it isn’t uncommon to see the pair spending time together, be it for their ‘business’ or just to chat. He has never minded her presence—in fact, he quite enjoys her company once he gets over her endless chatter.

“I know, right? Hehe, I’m sure these specs will come in handy one day!” Without missing a beat, she turns around to holler, “I’d like a serving of pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream on top! Oh, and an orange juice, too!”

He can’t help but chuckle quietly at that.

“—so today’s really your last day?” Rin asks, bouncing along beside her companion as they make their way back to their respective shops after breakfast. The question’s not accusatory or angry; simply curious.

Len sighs, having a faint idea where this conversation is headed. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Huh, that sucks...” She pouts, before fumbling a little. “I mean, it’s not like Miku doesn’t mean well—she really does, though she’s a real screamer when it comes down to the spooky stuff—but it’s such a waste of good talent!”

“I wouldn’t really call it a ‘talent’, Rin—”

The girl stops walking and stares at Len incredulously. “You see ghosts, Leonardo. You call that not a talent?”

He eyes her warily, knowing full well that Shimoda Rin has no qualms about creating a scene, even if they’re standing right in the middle of a sidewalk with tons of people milling around. “Well, if anything, it’s more of an extra inconvenience.”

“But it’s so cool!” She exclaims, throwing her arms up to emphasize her point. “I wish I could see one!”

The blond is saved from having to reply when he sees a familiar shop sign coming to view. “Ah, we’re here.”

“That was fast,” Rin says, wrinkling her nose. She enters the store, but not without a quick smile and wave over her shoulder. “See you around, Lennyboo!”

‘Honestly, where does she come up with all those strange nicknames?’ He wonders bemusedly, shoving a hand down his jeans pocket to fish for the keys.

Quietly humming a tune, Len busies himself with cleaning and setting up the shop to get ready for customers. Business is a little slow in the afternoon, so he pulls out his laptop and headphones to mix some music.

That’s right—Kagamine Len doesn’t just listen to music, but mixes music too. It’s a hobby he enjoys whenever he’s bored or has nothing to do; he even burns his music into CDs to sell to his customers to earn some extra cash.

He nods his head to the beat of one of his latest tracks, absently deciding that he’ll keep this one for himself. He ejects the CD from his laptop and marks an orange star at the corner of the disk, placing it into a clear case.

A sudden shift in the air alerts him of someone entering the store, so he whirls around on his swivel chair in one smooth motion, pulling down his bulky headphones to rest around his neck.

“Welcome to Kagamine Fortunes!” Len says with practiced ease, gesturing for his customers to sit down as he leaves his marked CD on top of a pile of other CDs. It’s a couple, he notes, as the man pulls out the chair for the expectant woman before settling down himself. “What can I do for you two today, mister and miss...?”

“I’m Shion Kaito,” the blue-haired man introduces, placing a gentle hand on the lady’s shoulder. “And this is my wife, Meiko.”

Here, they pause and exchange glances, prompting a raised eyebrow from Len. “Actually... it’s just—I think I’m being haunted,” Meiko finally says, albeit hesitantly.

The blond nods calmly, appearing unfazed. “Yes, well, it’s actually quite common for gravid women to feel this way—most of the time it’s not a haunting, merely a feeling of paranoia,” he explains.

“It’s—it’s not that simple...” The brown-haired lady shakes her head, looking antsier. “Objects fall when I walk under buildings, things move around the house when nobody’s touched them, and—and I always get the strangest feeling that I’m being followed around everywhere... Like—like this morning!” She raises her voice here, startling both males a bit.

“We were at the coffee-shop nearby and it felt as if someone was sitting next to me, even though it was clear no one was there. I also keep smelling tuna around me all the time, oddly enough...” Meiko wrinkles her nose.

Len sits a little straighter as he processes all of that information quickly. ‘It certainly sounds more like a real haunting than just paranoia,' he thinks, ‘not to mention with a café incident and a tuna scent—wait a second...’

“Hold on, did you say you were at a coffee-shop?” He asks, and the woman nods. “What’s its name?”

“Its name?” She repeats, looking a little bewildered. She falls silent in thought for a moment before turning to the person beside her. “Kai...?”

The blue-haired man holds a hand up, making a face. “...wait for it...”

All of them stay quiet for a heartbeat or two, before—

“SAKURA LATTE! That’s it, that’s the name,” Kaito nods, looking very satisfied with himself.

Len fights down the urge to snort and focuses on the task at hand. This pretty much confirms that these two are indeed involved in a haunting, with a batshit cray tuna girl to top it off, too.

He can solve this case for them—heck, he wants to, even he has to admit that it looks interesting—if he had a few more days.

It’s just a real pity that today’s his last day on the job, so that marks the end of this session.

With that, Len smiles his best customer-service smile, and says, “I would love to help you two, but today’s actually the last day this shop is open for services, so I really can’t... I really am sorry,” he adds, instantly feeling bad upon seeing their crestfallen expressions. “Here, take this CD. I mix my own music to sell, but you can have this for free.”

“The least I can do is to refer you to someone else I know who can help. She’s a close friend of mine and well-versed in the supernatural, so you should have no problems concerning this matter,” he finishes, before getting to his feet. “Lemme just head on over to tell her about this first, please wait here.”

As Len leaves the couple alone in his shop, Kaito sighs heavily and leans back into the chair. “Told you this guy ain’t trustable.”

His wife nudges him warningly. “Don’t be like that—maybe he really is busy? I mean, he even gave us a CD for free as a compensation of sorts.”

“Because that solves all of our problems, huh?” The blue-haired man drawls. He eyes the pile of disks on the table for a moment, before swiping a few more CDs into his bag.

Meiko raises a hand to stop him. “Kaito—”

“Relax, he won’t even be able to tell the difference,” he reassures her with a mischievous wink, zipping up the bag securely just as Len walks back in.

“Alright, Rin says you two can wait in her shop while she sets up, so please follow me,” Len says, holding the door open for the couple and feeling very much like a bellboy-in-training rather than a psychic at the moment.

After making sure that Rin wasn’t going to overwhelm Kaito and Meiko with her overzealous ways, the blond trudges back to his shop with an empty feeling in his heart.

“Well, at least that’s over and done with...” He sighs, dusting off his hands on his jeans before twisting the doorknob.

Len quickly decides that he must have spoken too soon—his shop is not as empty as he’d expected should things really be done, if the salmon-pink haired girl sitting idly in his swivel chair is any indication. She’s no longer clad in a white dress, but in a sailor school uniform instead.

He gathers his bearings after a moment, before venturing carefully, “...may I help you, miss?”

She glances up. “Oh, hey,” she greets, springing to her feet with a sheepish grin. “Didn’t hear you come in!”

“Yeah, well, that’s alright,” Len says, motioning for the girl to take a seat elsewhere as he reclaims his chair. It feels slightly damp, he observes. “May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, miss?”

“Uwah, how formal!” She giggles, swinging her feet back and forth merrily. “The name’s Luka. Nice to meet you, Kagamine Len!”

The blond chooses to gloss over the eerie fact that she already knew his full name in favour of moving things along. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Luka,” he says kindly, folding his hands together and setting them on the desk. “Now, is there anything I can do for you?”

“Hm...” Luka taps her chin as she mulls it over. Len notices the way she rests her left hand on the table, clenched into a taut, trembling fist. After a moment, she snaps her fingers. “Ah! I want you to tell me my fortune!”

“Sure thing,” he agrees readily. “Now, please let me see your left hand.”

An uneasy expression crosses over the younger girl’s face. “L-left? Why not just look at my right hand?”

He pretends to look confused. “Well, the left hand tells me your fate, while the right one tells me about your relationships... Is there a problem?”

Luka appears torn for a moment, her right hand tightening and loosening its hold over a blue keychain dangling on her schoolbag, before huffing, “Bleh! I don’t want you to read my fortune anymore! It’s too much of a hassle!”

“Okay then,” the blond shrugs. “How about I tell you about your love life?”

At that, she perks up again. “My... love life? You can do that sort of thing?” She looks very intrigued, leaning forward in anticipation.

He graces the girl with an enigmatic smile. “Right now, I’m sensing that you were involved with someone.” He allows a dramatic pause before: “Someone who most likely fancied the colour blue.”

Luka tenses, her white-knuckled grip on her bag’s little trinket refusing to let up.

“Perhaps... someone quite a bit older than you,” the male continues, eyeing for her reaction carefully. “Or maybe someone who already has his special pers—”

“Enough,” she hisses, the blue in her eyes dark and simmering as she slams her left fist against the desk.

Len’s heart skips a beat at her outburst. Has he gone too far?

As if catching herself, the salmon-haired girl regains composure almost immediately, reverting back to her original persona like nothing has happened. “You-you’re asking too much!” She exclaims, pouting. “I don’t wanna do this anymore—I’m leaving!”

And with that, Luka storms off in a dramatic flurry of movements.

Len blinks slowly, before rising to his feet and peering over his desk.

There is a sopping wet trail of shoeprints and a muddied seat left in her wake.

“I’ll be sure to contact you again, so be rest assured!” Rin chirps, her grin wide and optimistic as her session with the Shions come to a close for the day.

Time for a well-deserved break for fresh air, she decides with a firm nod, heading outside to wait for the couple to pack up their things. She clasps her hands together and stretches them out above her as far as she can until a satisfying crack is heard from her back.

“Ah~ that felt good~” The blonde hums, pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose before realizing that there’s a figure leaning against the glass of her shop.

“Eh, are you waiting for someone?” Rin asks, startling the person. It’s a pretty girl, with long hair and big blue eyes, but her expression looks as if she’s just been caught stealing cookies from a cookie jar.

The mystery girl’s lips part to speak—

“For the last time, Kaito,” A womanly sigh, “we are not going to buy home ice-cream for dinner!”

“But—your cravings!” A low cry of protest, “don’t you have cravings for ice-cream—”

Rin can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of their argument as they pass her by.

‘Hehe, how cute~’ She smiles, before turning back to the strange girl—

—only to discover she’s nowhere to be found.

“E-EH?” Rin yelps, eyes widening to the size of saucers. “Where did—how did—”

Her peripheral vision picks up on a swish of pink, so she glances over.

Kaito and Meiko are still chatting as they walk away, having eyes for no one but each other—to the point where they don’t even notice the girl tailing them just a few steps behind.

“What the—” Rin blinks rapidly, rubs her eyes, and takes off her spectacles.

The mystery girl isn’t there.

“...” Rin puts her glasses back on.

She’s there again.

At this point, there can only be one reaction from the blonde.

“EHHHHHHH—!”

“—WHERE CAN IT BE?”

On most days, Kagamine Len is a calm, collected individual with fantastic control over his emotions and facial muscles.

With his hair mussed and papers strewn all over the place, it appears that today is not one of those days, sad as that is to say.

The blond fumbles through his pile of disks for what seems to be the hundredth time, but it’s still futile—he just can’t find his marked CD.

“Alright, Kagamine, deep breaths...” Len inhales shakily through his nose and runs a hand through his hair in an attempt to keep his cool. “Deep breaths.”

“You probably didn’t leave it there, even though it should because you specifically remember marking it with an orange star and placing it on top of that pile,” he reasons aloud, “so just try to search elsewhere! Yeah, that’s it. It’s not the end of the world.”

Keeping that in mind, he prepares himself for another more thorough search—

BAM!

A blur of yellow throws itself against Len, the impact causing him to fall backwards and land flat on his ass.

“OH MY GOD LEN-LEN YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS BUT THEY ACTUALLY WORK AND I JUST OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD—”

When he finally catches his breath, he finds himself weighed down by a blabbering Rin, her short shorts providing no buffering whatsoever as her silken thighs straddle his hips.

Len immediately does what any other teenage boy would do in his situation.

“DANGNABBIT WOMAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!”

He yells right back at her with the same intensity and volume, of course.

Apparently that’s the right thing to do, because Rin snaps her jaw shut looking as if she had just been slapped.

“Did you just call me ‘woman’ like a misogynistic dickhead, you uncultured swine?” She growls, baring her teeth dangerously.

Knowing that he’s going to be in some pretty deep shit if he tries to fight back with her on this one, Len quickly backpedals. “Yes, but I’m in the wrong because woman should be treated with respect just like any other man out there in this world,” he squeaks, holding his hands up in surrender.

“That’s right,” she nods, satisfied with his response. “Anyway, while that was important, it wasn’t the main reason why I came here,” the girl continues as she slides off of her friend, unaware of his internal sigh of relief.

“The thing is—” Rin whips off her glasses with a proud flourish. “—these babies actually work!”

“... What.”

“No, really, they do,” she insists, swatting at Len’s incredulous expression. “I saw a ghost girl just now—one with cotton-candy hair and oceanic eyes.”

He rolls his eyes. “Sure you did—” A pause. “Wait, pink hair and blue eyes?”

“Cotton-candy hair and oceanic eyes,” Rin corrects.

“That’s Luka,” the male continues, smoothly ignoring her previous statement. “She came into the shop just now—I think she’s the spirit haunting the Shions.”

“Luka,” she repeats, letting the name roll off her tongue experimentally. “Luka. Huh. I wonder who she was before she died.”

Len rubs his temples; he already knows where this is headed for. “Rin—”

“It’s research time!” The girl cheers, throwing her arms up and around her poor friend to prevent his escape. “And Lenora-bora here will help me with that, yeah?”

“No.”

“But Leeeennn—”

He levels her a look. “Miku will bust my chops and kick my ass all the way till next year. No.”

Rin breaks out into a sad little moue, but he is a manly man and he’s stronger than this and he definitely won’t give in to the likes of this sneaky girl—

The blonde’s lower lip trembles, her eyes holding the faintest edges of wetness.

—oh, hell.

“Luka’s a high school student. She leaves a wet trail everywhere she goes, so she probably died in or near a large body of water. Bonus: she was probably involved with someone romantically. Boom. Happy now?”

A particularly loud blast of ‘you’re the best, Lennobot!’ into his poor eardrums is her reply before she skips out the door with a playful giggle.

Ring. Ring. Ri—

“Yes, hello, Kagamine Fortunes; this is Kagamine Len speaking,” the male greets, tucking the phone in the crook between his neck and his shoulder as he resumes his search for the missing CD.

“Oh. Um. It’s Miku here.”

“Miku?” Len nearly drops the handset. “—woahhhh shit. That was close. Uh. Hi?”

“Hey. Look, Len...” A sigh. He can almost picture the tealette pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she organizes her thoughts into coherent sentences. “I’m sorry I hightailed it out of there so quickly this morning—you know how I get around creepy-crawlies and things like that.”

He wisely refrains from protesting that spirits are hardly anywhere close to the classification of ‘creepy-crawlies’; instead, he replies, “It’s okay—I get it, really.”

“So... I was thinking we should go out for dinner tonight. You know, at that swanky restaurant that just opened a few blocks over from Sakura Latte?”

Len straightens up at that, unable to help the grin spreading across his lips slowly but surely. When Miku offers a dinner date, she’s basically telling him things are cool now. “Sure, sure! I’ll meet you there at—” A swift glance at the clock. “—seven?”

“Don’t be late—”

“—it’s a date!”

He hangs the call with his girlfriend’s sweet, clear laughter ringing in his ears.

“YEAH!” Len fist-pumps the air in triumph, jumping up for good measure. “I’m going on a date,” he sings, hopping from one foot to the other in a strange sort of happy dance. “I’m going on a date, I’m going on a—”

“Wow.”

The blond stiffens and pivots on his heel of his foot.

“Is this what you’re up to when you’re alone?” Rin snickers, one hand on her hip and the other leaning against the doorframe. “Because I’d love to join your cute little celebratory parties sometime.”

He coughs a bit to hide his reddening cheeks. “What do you want?”

She smiles and whips out her laptop. How she ever managed to hide it behind her tiny back, Len will never really know.

“The mystery girl is no longer quite as mysterious anymore to us—her name is Megurine Luka, and she was a student at Crypton Future Media School of Talents. Cause of death: committed suicide by drowning at that one really-lamely-named beach with that one really famous shaved ice drink.”

“...you mean Dear Beach, and Super Ultra Great Delicious Iced Cocoa Shake?”

“I don’t know how you remembered that whole mouthful and I don’t wanna know, but yeah!”

“And get this...” Rin leans forward, clicking on an article to blow it up for the male to see. “...rumour has it that she was actually three months pregnant when her body was discovered.”

There is a long pause as Len mulls over this new piece of information.

“Oh. What a bastard.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she growls. “Anyway, I was thinking—”

“No.”

“But you didn’t even let me finish my sentence!”

An eye-roll. “Rin, we’ve gone over this, like, an hour ago; two hours tops. Plus, I’ve known you long enough to figure out that much, at least. And my answer is still no.”

“Ehh—”

“Don’t you ‘ehh’ me,” Len says, waggling his finger at her disapprovingly. “I’ve already helped you with the research—so you go and do the rest on your own. Don’t drag me into this, or I’ll never hear the end of it from Miku.”

Rin pouts. “Fine! Be a wimp for the rest of your life, then! Nyeh!” She sticks her tongue out. “Who needs you, anyway?”

Without waiting to hear a response, she stalks out of the shop, one hand already brandishing a blue name-card with a vengeance.

Crypton Future Media School of Talents is a specialized facility that offers a wide range of courses for the most elite of students. Be it sports, arts, or academics, Crypton strives to provide the most suitable environment and teachers to truly bring out the best in them.

...or that’s what the school likes to believe, anyway.

“Keep it up, Miss Alice!” Kaito calls, raising a thumbs-up at a girl swimming her tenth lap of breastroke. “You’re doing really well! Take it easy, okay—oh?”

The blue-haired man pulls his vibrating phone out of his sports jersey with a bit of squirming. “Hello?”

“Mister Shion! It’s me, Rin—you know, the one trying to solve your, uh, situation.”

“Yeah, I remember you,” he nods to himself, eyebrow furrowing a little, “but can’t this conversation wait till later? I’m coaching at swimming practice now.”

“I’m really sorry, but I’ll try to make this quick,” Rin says. Faintly, he can hear a shuffling of papers and clicking in the background. “See, I just saw this on your name-card—you’re a teacher at Crypton Future Media, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Why do you—”

“I also found out that this spirit haunting your wife was actually a student at your school once,” she cuts in quickly, “So is it possible that you might’ve known her before she passed away? Her name’s Megurine Luka.”

There is a strange, heavy pause.

“...no, I’ve never heard of her,” Kaito says stiffly. “Is that all, Miss Shimoda?”

“Um, pretty much, I guess—no, wait! Is it okay if I meet the two of you outside your house at say... five? I’d like to try and communicate with Luka.”

“Sure, that sounds alright,” the blunet agrees, the wary edges of his voice quiet but audible. “I penned our address on the flipside of the card.”

“Great! I’ll see you there, then!”

Kaito holds onto the line long after Rin has ended the call, eyes unfocused as he stares off into the distance, reminiscing.

“Kai-sensei—!”

“Kai-niichan!”

He turned around just as a pale-haired girl barrelled through the door of the old clubhouse and skidded to a halt before him, gasping for breath.

“At least you managed to stop before crashing into my paperwork this time,” the teacher noted wryly. “And what did I say about calling me by that nickname when I’m at work?”

“Psshhaw!” Luka rolled her eyes. “How is that any way to greet your favourite neighbour?”

A sigh. “You’re not even supposed to be here in the first place—”

“Aha! That’s where you’re wrong,” she said with a smirk, whipping out a piece of paper and waving it just below his nose. “Crypton accepted my application.”

Kaito’s jaw dropped. He snatched the form and scanned through it briefly. “...no way.”

“You better believe it,” she gloated, giving him two good-natured slaps on the back. “I’ll be seeing you for the next three years, so tough luck for you, dear neighbour—e-eh?” She winced momentarily when Kaito’s warm, larger hand rested atop the crown of her head, before blinking up at him.

“You did well,” he said, his eyes as rich and warm as his chuckles.

Luka found that she couldn’t quite supress the flush that rose to her cheeks. “I-idiot!” She squeaked, smacking his hand away and leaving the older male rather confused.

“Of course I did well! Did you expect any less from me? J-jeez...”

Kaito wondered if he needed to get his ears checked when she said it the first time.

“C-could you repeat that?”

“I said,” the girl looked decidedly annoyed here, “that I’m going to join the swimming club.”

He spluttered. “Y-you want to—this is—how—but... why?” Before she could reply, the teacher continued, “You can’t even swim!”

Her glowing eyes of doom almost made him want to take back his words, but it was true—Megurine Luka sunk like a rock in any body of water. It was practically a fact of life at this point, really.

“So what?” Luka said, folding her arms and jutting her chin out stubbornly. “I mean, I can be the manager or something, right?”

“Uh, yes, but—”

“Well, that’s settled then!” She clapped her hands once, looking rather pleased with herself. “I’m the new manager of the swim team!”

The male garbled a noise from the back of his throat—of despair or joy, Luka wasn’t too sure; but hey, she got to be with him a little more each day, so that counted for something, right?

Club activities were wrapped up for the day; Kaito was locking up the clubhouse and more than ready to head home after a long, tiring day.

“Good work, today,” a voice said suddenly, almost startling the teacher into dropping a heavyweight lock onto his feet.

“Ffff—dang it, Luka,” he hissed, quickly bending down to retrieve his fallen item. “How is it that every time you’re around, a mini-tragedy falls upon me?”

The girl shifted out from the shadows, jutting her chin up with a sniff. “Aren’t you exaggerating quite a bit, Kai-sensei?”

Kaito rolled his eyes and resumed his task of securing the door shut, trying to hide the all-knowing smile that’s curling at his lips. “What do you want from me this time? It’s getting late, you know.”

“What do I want...?” Luka faltered slightly. Did he forget? “Y-you should know very well what I want!” She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

He turned to look at her, his expression leaving an unspoken question hanging in the air.

She deflated, arms swinging back to rest at her sides. “...it’s nothing,” she muttered, eyes downcast as the faint sting of tears bubbled to the surface—

—until something small and blue was dangled just a few inches from her face.

“Did you really think I’d forget?” Kaito laughed; it was a bright, keen sound. “Happy birthday, Luka,” he said, reaching over to clasp her hands in his.

Luka squeaked when he dropped it into her cupped fingers—it was a little owl plushie in the loveliest shade of blue. “I... I—” The blush on her face was spreading to her ears and her neck and everywhere else—that was how warm she felt right then. “T-thank you...”

Carefully, he opened up one of her furled hands and traced an unmistakable shape on her palm. “You’re always welcome, Luka,” he chuckled.

The sheer sparkle in the smile she gave him in return spoke for itself.

Klink!

“...ah.”

Meiko carefully places the grocery bags on the dining table before bending over, one hand resting on her belly and the other straining to retrieve her fallen house keys.

As she straightens up, she hears a faint sound coming from one of the bedrooms.

“Kai?” The woman calls, placing the keys on the table and peering over in the direction of the noise. “Is that you?”

Seconds stretch into minutes as Meiko stills, all of her senses on high alert despite the seemingly quiet surroundings.

Then, she hears it.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...”

With as little noise possible, the brunette inches out a pepper spray from her handbag, uncapping it and moving steadily towards her target—it seems to be coming from the room she and Kaito had decorated in preparation for their child to come.

“...you make me happy when skies are grey...”

She edges around the corner, fingers gripping at the small can and holding her breath.

A girl with salmon-pink hair stands in the middle of the baby room, her white dress fitting in very well with the pastel-coloured toys scattered everywhere. Her arms are holding something to her chest.

“...you’ll never know, dear, how much I love you...”

As if sensing Meiko’s presence, she turns, hands clutching at the small ice-cream cone plushie like a lifeline.

“...please don’t take...”

Her eyes are bruised with dark circles and her lips are chapped, but most of all—

“...my sunshine...”

Her smile is feral.

“...away.”

A scream of pure unadulterated terror pierces the air.

Kagamine Len has never been one to apologize.

While he has been on receiving end of apologies after facing rude clients and unreasonable demands from various sources, one can count on one hand just how many times he has admitted that he is at fault.

Part of the reason for this is that he seldom is in the wrong, bearing good intentions and nothing malicious in the first place, but the other part can be summed up with just one word: pride.

The combination of being firmly grounded in his beliefs and just purely and utterly male has shaped Len to be one very, very stubborn boy.

So when Rin receives a call from a certain blond and is met with terse silence on the other end, she smiles knowingly—and simply waits.

Finally, it comes: “...I’m sorry, okay?”

He says it with an extreme lack of grace and a whole lot of reluctance on his part, but it’s an apology nevertheless.

She can’t help the giggle that escapes her as she puts the phone on speaker and resumes organizing her supplies, picking out the ones she needs for the Shions. “What’s up, Lensie-boy?”

“I’m looking for a CD in a clear case with an orange star labelled it—have you seen it? Specifically with Shion.”

Trust Len to cut straight to the chase without preamble. “Whoa, whoa, slow down there—did you say Shion? As in, Mister Shion? The I’m-a-married-man-but-can-still-rock-the-blue-hair Mister Shion?”

“Yeah, him—I have a feeling he took it.”

“Mm...” Rin strokes her chin thoughtfully as she thinks back to their meeting. “Actually... no, I didn’t. But I could call him to ask, if you want.”

“That would be fantastic, thanks,” he groans, and she can almost see him hunched over his desk with his eyebrows all furrowed. “I’ve been looking for it for almost the whole day already.”

“Alrighty, then—give me ten minutes and I’ll call you back, yeah?”

The girl cuts off the call without waiting for a reply and immediately dials another number.

It rings two times before someone picks up. “Hello—”

“Yes, hello Mister Shion, so sorry to bother you again,” Rin begins breezily, “but have you seen Len’s CD? He’s missing one of them that apparently has a label on it and he’s getting a bit antsy.”

“Oh. Um—well. No, I haven’t. Nope. Not at all—”

Her eyebrow kicks up at the male’s disjointed sentences, but she decides he must be rather thrown by her brisk walk through this conversation. “Okay then—once again, sorry to disturb you—”

“W-wait!”

A pause. “Is something wrong, Mister Kaito?”

“Meiko hasn’t returned my calls,” Kaito says, his voice lowering in concern. “Her phone is always switched on and by her side, but now her line tells me the service is unavailable.”

Rin understands the cause for his worry instantly. “Stay calm, Mister Shion—it’s almost time, anyway, so I’ll head on over to your house and meet you there, okay?”

With a few quick clicks, Rin ends the conversation and switches back to her friend, updating him on the situation.

“I’ll go with you.”

Silence.

“I mean, I want my disk back,” Len adds on rather lamely. “I just know Shion has it.”

“Right, and I’m a world-famous voice-synthesizer,” she quips, amused. “I’ll message you the address—let’s get moving!”

As she finally puts a stop to the string of never-ending phone calls, Rin leans back in her chair and breathes out a sigh.

Forget selling protection charms—she’ll make a damn good secretary if anyone needs one.

Rin does a double-take when she spots a familiar head of blue hair pacing up and down the front lawn of his own house.

“Mister Shion, it was hardly necessary of you to wait out here for us.”

“I wasn’t,” Kaito says honestly, looking equal parts helpless and amused. “But the front door refuses to open even though I’ve got the keys, and I haven’t the faintest idea why.”

“That may be Luka’s doing,” another voice pipes up from behind them.

“About time, Kagabutt,” the blonde greets without missing a beat, turning around to offer her friend a cheeky grin—

Only to have her eyebrows disappear into her hairline.

“Hot date tonight?” Rin asks, eyeing the clean-pressed suit Len is currently dressed in.

Ignoring her jibe and fixing his tie in one smooth motion, he directs his attention to Kaito. “Mister Shion, what relationship stood between you and Luka before she passed on?”

The blunet appears thrown by the sudden question for a moment. “She was my neighbour,” he says, a tightness in his tone and a stiffness in his posture.

But Len is not done with his questions just yet. “Then did you write anything on her palm?”

“On her... palm?” Kaito blinks slowly, deep in thought. “Not that I know of...”

Len narrows his eyes, looking more ready to fire another round of personal enquires—until Rin places a well-aimed jab at his side with her elbow.

“We can’t enter the house because Mister Shion got locked out—should we try and talk to Luka through the door?”

The boy scowls, his hip smarting a little—her elbows are sharp, dammit—but lifts one shoulder up and down in a shrug.

Rin smiles and begins nudging him towards the door. When she casts a quick side-glance at Kaito, the older male deems it his cue to follow after them.

“What are you—”

“You’ve talked to her before, right? So yeah.”

With one final shove, Len loses his footing and stumbles into the door face-first.

“Ow!”

There is a moment of silence as he nurses his bruised features, before: “Who is it?”

All three of them freeze.

That voice is most certainly not the womanly drawl of Meiko’s—but definitely holds the girlish softness of Luka’s.

Len is the first to recover. “It’s me—Len. The cool guy from Kagamine Fortunes, do you remember?” He hears a muffled snort from his side and swats at Rin.

“Ooh, of course I remember you!” A giggle. “Did you need something?”

“Actually, yeah—does Shion have a disk marked with an orange star in his house?”

There is a sound of rummaging and soft humming before the reply comes. “Yes, along with a whole stack of CDs in similar clear cases. Are they yours?”

Without turning his head, Len forms a fist with his right hand and shakes it in the general direction of Kaito in a ‘damn you, Shion, damn you’ gesture.

“Indeed, they are,” he replies wryly. “Is it alright if I come in to get them back?”

“Sure thing! But only you alone, though—don’t bring anyone else in.”

A triumphant gleam enters the blond’s eyes as he turns to Rin, whisper-demanding, “Give me your supplies, I’m going in—”

“No.”

He gapes at her in disbelief.

“I’m coming in with you,” the girl says, tilting her chin and squaring her shoulders in defiance, “or else you go in by yourself—without any ghost-cleansing items.”

She holds her gaze firm with Len for one second, two, three—

“...Luka, is it alright if I bring a friend-who-is-a-girl along? She’s got a bone to pick with Shion, too.”

“But did you see that? The front door actually creaked open by itself—”

“Seriously, Rin? Shut up,” Len hisses, casting his glance around the Shion residence cautiously. It’s quite a lovely home, really, with its simple yet elegant interior design and walls painted in shades of red and blue—but he could sense the gloom hanging in the air, heavy and stifling.

Judging from the way Rin has squared her shoulders and inched a little closer to him, the blond supposes she can feel it, too; without a second thought, he takes her hand and gives it a light, reassuring squeeze.

Together, they round the corner of the long hallway and brace themselves.

In the living room, Luka is sitting in front of a drawer with a vanity mirror, one leg crossed over the other casually. She is wearing a red dress that’s a little too big and a matching pair of high-heels that are a little too tight, and her hair is pinned up in a pretty chignon.

She pauses in the middle of applying lipstick when she senses their approach, turning around to face them in one smooth motion.

“Your disks are over there, Kagamine Len,” Luka says, a wide smile on her red-painted lips as she gestures towards the small stack of CDs on the coffee table—

Oh, is the single thought that runs through the two friends’ heads as they spot Meiko herself seated cross-legged beside it, a protective hand resting over her belly. She’s quivering, but otherwise appearing quite unharmed.

“Thank you,” Len sighs, relief washing over him in waves when he notices the orange star labelled on the disk at the very top of the pile. At Rin’s rather pointed look, he makes a step towards the dresser. “You look quite fetching, Luka—what’s the occasion?”

Luka beams up at him. “You like it? I got it from one of the closets just now, and I just had to try it on! And besides,” she continues, giving him a rather impressed onceover, “you clean up pretty well yourself.”

So it’s probably one of Meiko’s dresses, Len notes, nodding absently at the salmon-haired girl as he watches Rin inch towards the woman-in-question from the corner of his eye. “Pfft, thanks. Are you meeting someone later?”

Her smile grows a little wider, a little madder. “Maybe,” Luka allows, smoothing down her dress. “He likes this kind of woman, after all.”

The blond tenses; this can get ugly real fast if he doesn’t play his cards right. “Well, uh—with looks like those? Luka, dear, he’ll be a fool not to fall for you. In fact...” He smiles charmingly. “Why not come with me, instead? I mean, we do match, don’t you think?”

Luka’s expression shifts to one of shy delight. “R-really?”

“Really,” Len repeats firmly. At this point, Rin has already given him a solemn nod, signalling to him that she’s ready to leave with Meiko. “I’ll take you to this restaurant I know—it’s just a stone throw’s away and has pretty awesome food to boot! How about it?”

For a moment, the girl considers his suggestion seriously, before a smile takes over and her lips part to speak—

Thud.

She snaps her head at the sound, long hair flying around her wildly.

Her eyes narrow in on the sparkling crystal that has rolled to a stop a short distance from Rin’s open bag, a cringe visible on the blonde-in-question’s face.

It doesn’t take long for Luka to put two and two together; it takes even less for the realization and outrage to sink in.

“You little sneaks!” The pale-haired girl snarls, her aura growing darker and heavier with the sheer magnitude of her wrath. “Trying to drive me out of this house, aren’t you? Sorry to disappoint, my friends—you can’t make me leave!”

A cruel sneer twists her normally-pretty features as she gets up from her place at the dresser and locks in on her targets near the coffee table. “And I will make sure none of you will ever leave, either!” Luka continues, her shriek near deafening in the chaos.

Len lets loose a string of very colourful words under his breath and rushes to restrain the rampaging girl, both arms locked around her armpits securely.

“LET ME GO!” Luka screeches, attempting to claw at the male but to no avail. “LET ME GO, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

“Rin,” Len calls loudly over her cries, grunting with the effort of holding the spirit back, “Rin, the cleansing crystal—now!”

Rin flails about uselessly for a moment in blind terror before scrambling to comply. “Here!” She shouts, waving it above her head before tossing it in his direction. “Catch!”

The crystal sails through the air in one smooth, magnificent arc—

“Why didn’t you catch it?!”

“Excuse me?!” Len yelps, alternating between glaring at his friend and looking incredulously at the crystal that flew directly overhead and landed somewhere in the trashcan. “I’m trying to save lives here, not watch you do a perfect three-pointer where I couldn’t jump for it!”

Rin splutters indignantly, ignoring the way Luka is still screaming and clawing at the air in the blond’s arms. “Well, I’m not tossing another crystal—I only have one more left, and those things are hella expensive, okay!”

“Oh, for the love of...” He groans, just as Luka breaks free of his hold. “Ah, damn—!”

Completely out of options, Len grabs a hold of the girl’s left hand in a last-ditch attempt to subdue her. Wildly, he pries at her fingers, struggling to open them up to reveal her palm.

“No,” Luka cries in horror, yanking at her hand, “no, no, no—”

In her haste to pull free from his grip, Luka’s fingers loosen and spread out wide, revealing exactly what she’s been trying to hide since she’s met Len.

Right in the middle of her left palm is a crudely drawn heart—but it’s faded and dark like a scar, and the outline of the heart appears to be decomposing.

For a heartbeat or two, no one dares to breathe; the three of them stare at the unmistakable shape—at its deformity.

“B-but... why?” Luka murmurs, confusion pooling in her blue eyes as she traces her right index finger over it. “It—it wasn’t like this before...”

“That’s because it wasn’t sincere,” Len says gently, hoping to soften the blow his words will serve. “Don’t you see, Luka? Holding onto this kind of love will do nothing but hurt you.” He lifts her hand palm-side up, gesturing towards it. “Now that you’ve let go, it’s already disappearing as we speak.”

True to his words, the scarred outlines of the heart are slowly fading away, leaving her skin pale and smooth once more.

Solemnly, Len continues, “Shion doesn’t even remember that he drew that on your palm.”

“N-no...” Luka murmurs, retracting her hand and hugging her trembling frame, curling into herself. “That’s... not... true...”

The blond opens his mouth to reply, but is stopped by a small hand on his shoulder and a determined expression. Let me handle this, Rin seems to say, let me handle her.

“You know, Luka, I’ve had my fair share of boyfriends before,” Rin begins, carefully inching closer to the younger girl, “so I’ve—I’ve been there. I know how you feel.” She looks down. “Mikuo was fussy and thought of no one but himself, Rinto was kind but flirted with anything that looked good in a skirt, and don’t even get me started on Rei—but Luka, the thing is...”

She breathes, spreading her arms out wide and simply smiles; it’s not bittersweet or self-deprecating, but warm and full of forgiveness.

“As a dearly-loved friend of mine once said, ‘You’re always going to deserve better, Rin. You’re always going to be too good for anyone who wants you.’”

Two pairs of eyes widen in unison.

“So, Luka...” Rin wraps her arms around Luka in an embrace. “Everything will be alright.”

The blonde closes her eyes when her hug is returned, hearing a choked sob right at her ear.

“Luka, I’m getting married.”

With those four words, her whole world stopped and came slamming to a halt.

It took almost everything in her to not break down in front of him; instead, she summoned a watery smile and uttered one thing in return.

“Congratulations.”

She could’ve lashed out. She could’ve thrown a full-blown tantrum. She could’ve taken him by the scruff of his collar and demand for him not to get married, to look at her, look at the girl who’d been right by his side all along and knew everything about him and loved him so, so much that it ached—

But what difference would it have made?

The one he looked at with that soft expression of his would always, always be Meiko.

Never the childish, bratty little girl he’d known for ages. Never her.

Luka had cried over him so many times—why doesn’t he like me what do I have to do to make you look at me and smile like you do with her why can’t you love me like I love you—and this was just the final straw.

She’d had enough.

The ocean beckoned to her as she stood there, back facing the sunset with water lapping at her ankles, smiling with all the bitterness of the world.

I love you.

She fell—

And then the girl was no more.

When Len first meets Luka at the cafe, he thinks she’s rather terrifying and out for blood.

Looking at her now, though, with her eyes a bright shade of blue and her smile radiant like the sun, Len believes he has never seen a more beautiful person at peace.

There is a light glowing before her—it’s time for her to go.

Before she steps through, though, she half-turns, long pale hair spilling over her shoulder.

“Thank you,” Luka whispers. “Thank you both.”

Seeing their answer in the form of kind, encouraging smiles, she laughs—

And then the girl disappears into the light.

Kaito heaves a sigh of relief as he waves goodbye to the two friends and enters his own house at long last.

“Thank god that’s finally over...”

He feels someone tap on his shoulder, tensing up at the feeling of impending doom directly behind him.

With a growing sense of dread, the man turns.

Meiko is standing there with her hands akimbo, a hell-bound aura waiting to be unleashed.

“I heard that Luka was pregnant,” she growls, lifting her hands to her face and cracking her knuckles, “is that true, Bakaito?”

Kaito gulps and holds his own hands up in surrender. “H-hold on, Mei-chan... I-I can explain—”

A strong hand reaches out and grabs him by the shirt.

His loud—but manly—screams reverberate throughout the vicinity of their neighbourhood.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit—” Len chants, giving his watch a quick glance as he races for the restaurant on foot. “Miku’s gonna skin me alive at this rate...”

He bursts through the restaurant doors, scans his surroundings and immediately spots the teal-haired girl sitting alone in the corner with a very displeased expression on her face.

Uh oh.

Without further delay, Len heads towards her table, plopping into his seat across her with his tie askew and hair looking like a bird-nest from the wind.

“Hey, Miku,” he says, breathless.

His girlfriend looks like she just ate something extremely sour. “You’re more than an hour late, Len.”

“Yeah, about that...” The blond runs a hand through his hair in an attempt to make it look neater, but only manages to make it worse. “I’m really, really sorry, I was held up at the Shions’ place to help them get rid of a spirit girl—”

“Help them get rid of a spirit girl?” Miku repeats, incredulous. “I thought you promised me you’ll stop those ghostly dealings of yours already?”

“Uh.” Len blinks slowly. “I promised you that today’s my last day.”

An eye-roll. “It means the same thing, Len!”

“No, it doesn’t—it means I’ll stop after today!”

“That’s not—ugh!” Miku throws her hands up, exasperated. “You know what? I’m done.” She makes to stand up, brushing her skirt free of wrinkles. “I am not going to stay here and argue with you about this, Len, because you. Never. Learn!”

Panicking, Len jumps to his feet and attempts to coax her into calming down. “C-come on, Miku—we can sit down and talk this over—” He stumbles after her as she storms her way to the exit. “You can’t just walk away, Miku—please don’t leave—”

“We are through, Kagamine,” the tealette calls over her shoulder angrily, her high heels clicking harshly against the concrete, “completely and utterly through!”

Len stops tailing her at the restaurant doors; in a fit of anger, he yells back, “Yeah, well—who cares? I didn’t need someone like you bossing me around, anyway!”

He watches as her figure disappears into the distance before sighing heavily and trudging back to his seat.

As his upper body sprawls across the table in a rather sad, undignified manner, the blond feels gentle, familiar hands rake through his messy hair quietly.

“Please tell me you didn’t see that,” Len says, his voice muffled by the arm covering his face.

“I’m sorry,” is Rin’s sympathetic reply as he groans into his shirt sleeve. “Rough night, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” the male grumbles, lifting his heavy head up to look at her—

And he stares.

“What,” Rin says, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. “Do I look weird?”

“N-no,” Len manages, blinking rapidly as he assesses the sunny, form-fitting dress with a skirt that flutters teasingly at her knees. “You look—” His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “You look really nice.”

Rin laughs albeit nervously, obviously not used to dressing up quite so nicely. “Cat got your tongue?” She teases, gingerly taking the other seat.

That snaps him right back to normal as he straightens. “No way,” he says, before passing her a menu. “Since you’re here, you might as well accompany this lonely, freshly dumped soul for the night, don’t you think?”

She snorts, but accepts the menu anyway. “Sure, if that’s what makes you feel better about yourself.”

“Oh, believe me—it does.” Then, with a predatory smirk, he leans forward. “So, I’m a dearly-loved friend of yours, eh?”

The blonde stiffens as colour spills over her cheeks. “U-um,” she says intelligently, slowly sliding the menu up to cover her face.

Len tugs the menu back down, leaving Rin with no means to hide.

His gaze locks onto hers.

She can almost hear her heart pounding in her ears as the distance between their faces shrinks; Len moves closer, making her screw her eyes shut instinctively.

There’s a distinctively soft brush against her forehead, before she feels him pull back with a playful chuckle. “Man, you should see the look on your face right now.”

Rin flushes and glares at him with as much anger she can muster. “You—!” She stops when she notices the faint tinges of red around Len’s ears.

A smile flits over her lips, before:

“You’re definitely paying for everything.”

He laughs.

“Deal.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you didn’t get Luka pregnant?” Meiko asks, looking understandably confused as she rubs her husband’s back with cooling medicine. “But I thought—what—”

“Not so hard,” Kaito moans, lying sprawled over the couch as he holds an ice-pack to his bruised face. “God, Mei-chan, do you have any idea how mean a punch you can throw when you’re mad?”

“I said I was sorry!” She protests, patting his hair apologetically. “Anyway, explain yourself. Now.”

“Well...”

“Someone spray-painted the door to Shion’s office at Crypton? Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Rin affirms, clicking to expand the small stub of an article she’s recently stumbled upon. “See, apparently a student who came to school very, very early claimed to have seen a can of spray-paint floating by itself and writing the words ‘Megurine Luka is pregnant with Shion-sensei’s child!’ in block letters.”

“Then... why didn’t this make it to the official newspaper article you found back then?”

She shrugs. “I’m guessing that Mister Shion erased everything before school officially started, so no one else but that kid saw it—”

“And then he went around trying to convince everyone, but the more the rumour spreads the worse it gets—the final word is that Shion got Luka pregnant.” Len nods to himself, wisely stroking his chin as if he has a very long beard. “Actually, yeah, I can see that happening.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then:

“Luka wrote that herself, didn’t she.”

“I’m not surprised if she did—she does have quite the mischievous streak.”

“Why doesn’t anyone believe me...?!” Gakupo wails.