Needless to say, Mikuo had never woken up in a hospital before. He had, of course, been to one. When Kaiko's illness had gotten worse, he'd visit her in her hospital room. And there was some distant relative whom he had been forced to visit. They had ended up dying, too. He wasn't exactly fond of hospitals.

And then he broke his arm a few years ago. After that, there were the stitches when he fell down the stairs and busted his head open on the railing. Only four stitches in the end, but he had at least been conscious for those times. There was something altogether unnerving about waking up in a bed that smelled far too clean. It wasn't entirely uncomfortable, but he didn't tend to sleep on his back. The blanket was too much. And, hey, was that a needle in his arm?

He blinked in the light and was surprised at how dim it seemed. Hospital shows really didn't do the real thing justice.

Before he could even think of anything to say, there was his mom, hand on his and voice warbling with worry like a mid morning songbird.

"Hey, Mikuo. Honey," she said gently. "It's alright. Do you know where you are?"

He lifted his head a bit, shaggy hair falling in front of his eyes. "Um, the circus?" he asked weakly. His mom doesn't laugh and Mikuo really couldn't blame her.

"Mikuo, do you remember what happened?"

It took him a moment of silence to focus. There was Mayu. There were pancakes. He ate a pancake.

His mouth was starting to feel dry.

"Can I have some water?" he asked.

"I'll ask the doctor," she replied. And she was gone. The lack of company, of human presence in that room, did nothing to calm Mikuo's nerves.

Shit. Did Mayu seriously do something? She had been getting more and more unstable recently.

His head was pounding, and this was when he remembered hitting his head. That's probably why he ended up in the hospital. Whatever Mayu gave him wouldn't have lasted too long, but a concussion? Probably more damaging than anything she intended. Then again, who knew at this point?

Mikuo lifted a steady hand to his eyes, rubbing them until spots of light and shadow dance in his vision, painful fairies that blink in and out of existence. Everything hurt, so what does one more little pain matter?

When his mom came back, it was alone. Mikuo figured it wouldn't be too long before his doctor or a nurse or whoever showed up. And it was easy to finally make that decision, the one that may very well get him killed. Hell, he was in the hospital. It couldn't get much worse.

"Mom?" he began. "I have something to tell you."

/

Mikuo was pleasantly surprised (if not a bit worried) when Len showed up the next day. The medical staff still had no idea what was in his system, so "better safe than sorry," as Miku had put it. Mikuo thought she was entirely too cheerful about her baby brother being put in the hospital by his psychotic girlfriend, but it was almost calming to have her around.

Mikuo half expected Len to punch his nose through the back of his skull when the blond boy entered the room. Instead, he tossed his DS onto Mikuo's ribcage and promised not to punch him until he's out of the hospital. Who needed enemies with friends like this?

"But if you kill any of my children, I might have to take that back," Len told him as Miku picked up the DS.

"They are Pokemon, you weirdo."

"Give me my DS back."

It was Rin's visit later that really bothered him. It was short, which was part of the problem. The other part of the problem was the constant buzzing of her phone, presumably texts from Rei. Were he and Mayu as annoying as this?

He really didn't have a right to say that. Rin didn't even pick of her cellphone once. At least one Kagamine didn't seem to hate him entirely.

It was a disappointment that the day ended and SeeU never showed up. It was downright terrifying when shouting in the hallway started. He swore he heard his mom's voice at one point, and something about a lawyer? He didn't know, he was stuck in a hospital bed. He could easily figure out who was yelling, though. And for once, he was glad that his mom had her protective streak.

The next day, the doctors decide he can go home. Apparently the thing that Mayu had slipped him was a weird mix of prescription drugs and cough syrup. He didn't entirely understand how he wasn't dead, but it was what it was. Not like he was complaining.

Still. He wondered what Mayu's plan had been. Was she going to drag him to her house and lock him up in her closet? Was she going to kill him, right there and then? Who knew. Mikuo was just surprised the police weren't swarming his house. Whatever his mother had gotten from his revelation about Mayu, she certainly wasn't planning on letting her anywhere near her son.

Back at school, Mikuo was greeted by Kaito, who pulls him into the biggest goddamn hug ever. He swore even Piko got a sentimental look on his face as he said, "Stop trying to get yourself killed. Miku's been worried." He can't help but feel a warmth of affection for the jerk. What in the world is wrong with him?

He hadn't seen or heard from Mayu since the incident. Actually, Mikuo didn't entirely know what was going on with that. Even SeeU had made a point of sending him a "get well soon" text and a pink teddy bear via Rin. Mayu? Not a word. Not a single hair on her head was seen. Mikuo couldn't say he was anxious to see her again, but he figured something was going to happen. This limbo was not doing him any good.

A few days later, when the news that Mayu had been found in a hotel in some tiny town a few miles away, Mikuo figured the whole thing out. Tei, feeling she owed the older boy something after this huge mess, came by his house, school uniform ironed neatly and bag full. Her expression was as unreadable as Piko's as she paces his front hall, words stumbling over one another until she finally organized things.

"Mayu had some sort of breakdown. Apparently, she doesn't remember much," Tei said before he can kick her out of his house. "She's been sent to a facility where she might be able to get some help. She isn't even in this town anymore."

There was a note of something special in her voice when she said that last sentence; like it's a reassurance that matters. Like Mikuo wasn't completely terrified of the Yoshida household. Nevertheless, he couldn't blame Tei, no matter how much he wanted to. She was fourteen. She was not the almost-adult he and Mayu were. And because of that, Mikuo tried not to consider it a miracle that she left without a single sour word from him.

What kind of person had he become?

/

"Wow. You are terrible at this game."

Mikuo looked up to the redhead across from him. She had adorable green braces and delicate hands, something that had constantly been reminding him of dancing since her arrival in town.

Gumi grinned back at him, shrugging because the redhead is right; the Game of Life has never been Mikuo's best.

"Your girlfriend is mean," he complained. Gumi tossed one of the free playing pieces at him at that, but otherwise ignored his comment.

"Miki is an angel," Piko commented from the kitchen, where he was leaning next to Miku, who sat on the counter. If their parents had been home, no amount of lecturing could have removed her from there.

"Miki is the devil," SeeU replied, winking at the girl in question. "I love it."

A giggle from Miki confirmed what they all thought; she had something of a crush on the blonde Kagamine girl. Gumi didn't seem to mind, but no one could miss her flirting. Actually, Mikuo wouldn't be surprised if Gumi invited SeeU for a threesome sometime.

Wow, okay. He really didn't need to think about that.

From the laptop on the coffee table, Zunko's voice exploded through crackly speakers. "Okay! I got seven."

"And you have another kid," Gumi told the girl. "A girl."

Zunko sighed. "Of course I did." On screen, she rolled her eyes dramatically, but it's obvious she didn't mind. She was, after all, winning. Despite not being in the same country, the Korean beauty was somehow kicking all of their asses.

Mikuo really couldn't miss Zunko's subtle flirting either. Today has just been National Flirtation Day, he decided, what with Miki and SeeU and him and Zunko and goddamn Yuuma and Kaito. They may have broken up at the beginning of summer, but that didn't stop Yuuma from being insufferable and Kaito from blushing like a soon-to-be bride. At least it gave him and Len something to laugh at.

It was as Gumi spun for her turn that his cell rings. Like the polite young adult he was, Mikuo excused himself from the shenanigans of the get-together, hoping the laughter wouldn't interrupt his call from another goddamn floor.

He closed the door to his room and pressed the answer button. A moment of static shuffles on the line made him wonder who in the world it is before she finally starts talking.

"Hi, Mikuo," Mayu said.

He credited himself with the steadiness of his breathing and the calm quality of his voice as he replied, "Hello, Mayu."

"I'm sorry to bother you, but it's part of my therapy to make amends. Kind of like Alcoholics Anonymous," she told him. "If you don't feel comfortable with contacting me, I completely understand. My therapist says to respect that. I won't call again if you don't want me to."

He stayed silent. Thinking was all he could seem to do at that moment, stretching time out into a fabric meant to cover a whale instead of a mouse. The time was mostly empty. Maybe the fabric was all one dull color. Maybe a slate grey. Maybe.

"Thank you for your consideration. I appreciate it," he said. "I, um. I'm busy at the moment. But I think we… We might be able to work something out. I'd like-" I'd like you to get better.

He could just imagine the way she smiled at that. All teeth and smooth lips and sparkling eyes. And all in that moment, he was falling again.

Luckily, it was over as soon as she spoke again. "Thank you, Mikuo. I'll call you later. Thank you. Goodbye."

It felt like such a finalized word that Mikuo hesitated before saying it himself. The line went dead a second later, leaving him hanging in static space.

It was a comfort to return to the living room, where Yuuma was throwing grapes at Rui and Kaito and Rei played with Rin's hair gently and Gumi and Miki curl up next to each other on the couch and Miku sat on the counter while her cookies bake and Piko subtly relaxed his hand on top of hers and Zunko and SeeU laughed at an inside joke he wouldn't ever bother asking about.

And Mikuo sat on the couch, once more absorbed into the reality of these weirdoes. And maybe, in that moment, he missed a few people. But he wasn't going to admit it.