The Guy Next Door

Chapter 16
Yume Kokorone and Uta Kisekine

Rin's POV

I fell asleep as soon as I got home. I really did not want to talk to a fuming Neru and I don't think Len was in the mood to talk either. In fact, he told me that he wanted to have some time to think for a bit. Today, I decided to visit Rei and ask him to accompany me to Miki's house. I would have asked her so many questions, but I just couldn't get them out of my mouth. Before I left, Maou asked to talk to me in private. Before you ask, Maou isn't a guy who forces people. He seems like it, but most of all he does is faux.

"Since when did Len become your boyfriend?" Maou asked. "You can't possibly know that much about him, do you?"

"I know enough to say I love him," I snapped. "Don't tell me you're jealous, Maou."

"I'm not jealous, I'm worried and a bit angry," he said. I looked at him in surprise and uncrossed my arms. "I can't believe you already forgot and you said you were my best friend." Forgotten what? I'm pretty sure I hadn't forgotten anything. He sighed. "You promised you'd think about being my girlfriend over the summer."

"What?" I asked. "When have I ever said that?" Maou sighed and shook his head.

"Never mind," he said. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go visit a friend that lives down the street," I said, grabbing my cell phone. "If anyone asks, I'm with Rei." Maou gave me a weird look. "Yes, Rei's a guy, Maou, and before you say anything, he already has a girlfriend." I walked out the door and down the driveway before I heard Maou run after me. "Fine, you can come." We made our way to Rei's villa and Rui answered the door.

"Rin!" she said, surprised. "I didn't know you were visiting today. Do you need to talk to Rei?" I nodded and we went into the living room where Rei was playing another video game. "Rei, Rin and some guy came to visit you." Rei paused the game and turned around with a smile.

"Hey Rin, what's up?" Rei asked.

"I have more questions to ask about Miki," I said. "Last night, she 'got bored' of Len and 'gave' him to me to 'pay' me back for 'entertaining' him." I added air quotes to the parts I quoted from Miki herself. "She also gave up on Mikuo too. Rei, did you lie to us?" His face turned to one of a betrayed person's and he shook his head.

"I wasn't lying, that was my own expierence with her," he admitted. "I guess you're much luckier than I was back then. Did she say who she was with now?"

"She's probably still with Jun," I told him.

"Huh," he murmured. "Hey, redhead, who are you." Maou pointed to himself and Rei nodded.

"I'm Maou," he said. "Bunny's best friend."

"Bunny?" Rui asked. I pointed to myself and her mouth formed a small 'O.' "Well, it does fit; you do look like a rabbit with that ribbon on your head."

"And you look like a lamb," I said, pointing to her ribbon. "The ribbon halves go down on both sides of your head." She blushed and Rei chuckled followed by an 'I told you so.' "Anyway, Rei, can you come with me to Miki's house? I have some things that need to be answered and I'm kinda scared to go there with just Maou. Luka's not home either and that Teto girl seems way too innocent to help in anything."

"Well, Teto is an open book," Rei said. "And you're right about her personality. Fine, I'll go, but I can't get near Miki or she'll be breaking the law. Rui, you're staying here and don't open the door for anyone except us." Rui nodded and we walked out the door. "So you're Rin's best friend?"

"Yeah, I'm from Sapphiro," Maou said. "I just arrived a few days ago. How did you meet Bunny?"

"Gumi told Mikuo to introduce us," Rei explained. "Ren, my older cousin, is actually in jail right now, but Rin's met him too." Maou's head tilted to the side questioningly. "He tried to rape Rin."

"What?" Maou asked, stopping. We stopped walking to turn around to him. "Rin Akita, what happened when I wasn't here?"

"Uh, you don't wanna know," I said. Maou glared at me and crossed his arms.

"I say we go ahead and leave him here," Rei whispered in my ear. "How fast can you run?"

"Fast, but Maou's on the track team," I whispered back.

"You make a run for it, I'll hold him back."

"I can hear you two, you know?" Maou asked, a bit pissed. "Just tell me what happened."

"I won a singing contest," I said. Maou's eyes narrowed at me and I slowly started backing up. "And uh...I almost got raped? Twice?"

"What?" Maou snapped. "Okay, wait. You said almost. Who saved you?"

"The first time, it was Len and Tamako," I said.

"Tamako?"

"Step-sister," Rei explained. "You probably haven't met her yet."

"And the second time, it was just Len who helped me," I said.

"So that's how you're dating him..." Maou murmured. "You think that dating him will repay him for dating your life." I glared at him.

"I do not!" I snapped. "I'm dating him because I love him! Maou, you know me better than that! I can't believe you'd think I'd repay people like that!" Maou made a sort of face I couldn't describe and shrugged.

"Then I hope you know what you're doing, Bunny," he said. "Because I have a feeling Len won't like it if you're just repaying him."

"I told you-"

"I think we should get moving to Miki's house, huh?" Rei asked, interupting our dispute. "Didn't you have questions to ask Miki, Rin?" I nodded and we kept walking in silence. I wasn't dating him because I wanted to repay him! Right?... Yes, it's because I do love him. I won't let this be like some crappy anime where the girl doesn't really like the guy. No. I remembered the feeling I had when I found out that Len had a girlfriend. I remember shoving the feeling away, but I didn't know how to describe it then. Now I do. It was jealousy.

"Well, we're here," I said, stepping next to the main entrance to the Megurine house. I rang the doorbell and Teto opened the door again. "Hey Teto, is Miki home?"

"Yeah, she's up in her room," Teto said. "I'll take you there." She let us in and lead us up the stairs and to a room with Miki's name on it. Teto knocked on the door and looked in. "Hey sis, Rin, Rei, and some guy came to visit you!"

"Let Rin and the other guy in," Miki called back. "I'm not allowed to go near Rei." Maou and I walked in and I gasped at her room. Almost everything was cherry shaped or related to a cherry.

"I'm guessing you like cherries?" I asked, uncertain.

"Actually, I love cherries," she gushed.

"Kinky," Maou whispered in my ear. I elbowed his ribs. "Ow!"

"So, what cha doing here, Rin?" Miki asked. "No, wait. You have questions for my attitude last night, right?" I nodded. "Well, there's no much to explain, really. I do get bored of guys easily, but if I like them enough, I wanna make them my friends."

"But, then why did Rei have to get a restraining order?" I asked.

"I used to go over board when I was younger," she said with a shrug. I narrowed my eyes at Rei. "I dated him when I was in my 'obsession age' with was when I was thirteen." I gave Rei a full out glare. "Wait, did I give you a bad image of myself?" I sighed and shook my head.

"I think there are really imaginative people I stay with," I said, looking at Rei. "Sorry, about this, Miki." She laughed and gave me a hug.

"Now will you come with me to see the waterfall?" she asked. I nodded and we went out to her backyard. The water fall was only ten feet high and emptied out into a beautiful, clear lake. "See? I love diving off this thing." I glared at Rei again and he looked a bit embarrassed. Good.

"It's really beautiful," I said. She observed me for a bit.

"You probably heard I almost pushed Rui off this waterfall, huh?" she asked. I nodded and she made a disapproving sound. "Rui's such a baby. She didn't want to dive at all. It's only ten feet, little crybaby." I giggled a bit and watched the water rush down. "Do you see the river over there?" Miki pointed to the river the made the waterfall. "It leads to another lake that leads to the ocean. It's really pretty there."

"That's awesome!" I said, smiling.

"We should really go swimming next time," Miki said. "Oh and by the way, I need to talk to you in private." I nodded and we went to the upper part of the river without Maou or Rei. "Remember when I told you that you'd get bored of Len?"

"Um...yeah."

"I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but you'll soon find it kind of...difficult," she said. I looked at her with a questioning look. "What I mean is, I can see the way both of those guys are looking at you. One that you've been with for a very long time and the other who you met about a week ago. I know that you're dating Len now, but can't you see how the two of them look so familiar to each other?" She looked at me and waited for a response.

"Well, no I haven't actually seen much of a resemblence," I told her. Miki sighed and lightly flicked my forehead.

"Rinny, Len and Maou could probably be twins if Maou had blonde hair," she said.

"What?"

"It's just a question, but did you like Maou before you came here?" Miki asked. "Because if you did and he rejected you..." She began to draw somthing in the air with her finger. "You might be dating Len because they look so similiar."

"No, I've never had a crush on Maou," I told her. "Maou always had a crush on me, but I kept telling him it was as if I was dating my own brother."

"Wouldn't dating Len be the same?" Miki asked.

"Of course not!" I told her. "They're two completely different people!"

"Then tell me what makes them different," Miki said.

"Maou's nice and he-"

"Len's nice too, didn't he save you?" she countered. "Try again."

"Maou's supportive and-"

"Don't think I wasn't at the singing contest with my older brother, Akaito," Miki responded. "I watched Len help you towards the stage."

"Maou's never forceful on someone and people think he has a dark aura," I said.

"Len doesn't force either," Miki said. "He asks then waits for eternity if he has to. Len's dark aura...you couldn't feel it through his shine? The only reason Len's so flamboyant is to hide the hate he has for his brother Dell." She pointed to her eyes. "That aura goes through the roof when his eyes look as if they turned a dead red color."

"Maou's..." Miki stood up in a defensive pose with her arms crossed. She wasn't going to let me out of this, was she? I heard Miki sigh and drop her arms.

"Rinny, I'm just trying to help you think," Miki said. "The only penalty here is you lying to yourself. Len and Maou would probably kill themselves to be with you, so don't you dare start thinking someone else will steal them. I just want you to make sure you know what you're doing and if you're following the right path." She started walking back to Maou and Rei. "Because I no longer want to see another trio die." I watched as she entered back into the villa and I just stared after her.

"Another trio, die?" I asked myself. My mind flashed back to the day when Rui told me one of Miki's exs died. Was that what she was talking about. "Miki!" I ran after her quickly and found her on the floor of the living room, looking at a pink flower print album. "Miki, what did you mean by-" She held up a picture before me and I saw four people in the picture.

"I'm in that picture. The far left," she told me. "The girl with the lavender hair is Yume Kokorone and the guy with the lanvender hair is Uta Kisekine." There was one more person in that picture. Another guy. "That guy at the end with the blonde hair is Rinta. Those were my four best friends, except for Rinta. He was my boyfriend." I looked at her and she bit her lip to hold back tears.

"...what...what happened?" I asked.

"The same happened with you," she responded. "Rinta and I broke up because I knew he loved Yume, but...Uta liked Yume too. Yume really couldn't decide so she went to me. I didn't know what to tell her then, I really didn't. I just told her to try and follow her heart." Miki paused for a bit. "Yume...we never knew she was so delicate." A tear slid down her face. "When we found out...it was too late. Yume died from suicide. She couldn't take it and took her own life." Miki gripped the edge of the album as more tears covered her face. "Rinta...he died the next month when he ran in front of a car. He was instantly hospitalized and died the next day."

"W-what about Uta?" I asked. She placed the album away with the picture and beckoned me to follow her upstairs. I did and we went up two flights of stairs before arriving to the only room on the third floor. She knocked on the door gently and we went in. There he was, staring out the window blankly. He looked paler than he was in the picture, but other than that he was completely healthy physically.

"Uta," Miki called. The boy turned to look at us and we approached him. "This is Rin. The girl I told you about. The one that looks like..." Uta reached out his hand to me and I took it. He smiled and Miki gasped. "That's the first he's smiled in years..." Uta gently pulled me into a hug and I was surprised.

"I'm sorry Yume," he said. He let me step back and his gaze shifted back to the window again.

"You...got him to speak again," Miki said. "Rin, thank you." We quietly exited the room and walked back downstairs to see Rei and Maou talking while watching TV.

"Miki, thanks you, for helping me think," I told her. I gave her a hug. "And I promise you I'll be strong." Rei, Maou, and I went through the door and I barely caught Miki's last sentence to me.

"I trust you."