"Because I'm a kid", right?

it takes only a moment for the android to catch the whimsical comment, spoken by her master in the shelter of his home. briar rose had informed him of her desire to leave in search of… a gift. of course, her true intentions remained drowned, in hopes of keeping it a surprise. alas, she had not found the true gift she wanted, and had to obtain another gift in order to not return empty-handed.

in any case though, master len was deserving of any gift she could hope to give. ❛ master len ?? i am sorry you had to miss me… ❜ she didn’t quite understand it; missing someone meant one felt sorrow of their departure, correct ?? she did not like it when those she cared about was sad. ❛ but i… i am home. ❜ could she call this place her home… ?? she wanted to think so. ❛ i brought a gift. if my absence has inconvenienced you, i apologize. ❜ she bowed her head slightly but offered out the gift she brought: a potted succulent.

“Eh-?! Oh, um--!”

Ahh, that’s embarrassing, he hadn’t meant for the android themself to hear that... Or anyone to hear it really...

“You did?”

He looks at the tiny plant curiously, soon furrowing his brow in confusion.

“What is... that?”

    She crossed her arms with a huff. Sure, Miku wasn’t the most unique name in the world, but the way he said it made it sound really significant. Besides, she wasn’t exactly fond of being compared to strangers.

    She was about to make another snappy remark when he ‘patted’ her head. Her mouth shut with a snap and her eyes glazed over slightly. It felt nice, as embarrassing as that was to admit. It was also a weird shift from being called a virus to being treated so affectionately.

    “…” She sighed softly and glanced away, “Sure, you can call me anything you want, really. I’m programmed to accept any nickname you give me.” Which wasn’t something she really liked, but she couldn’t change it either. “Why Cin, though?”

  “Miku Shennare... She’s... a particular girl, one I know quite a bit about... She looks quite a bit like you. Almost identical, really.”

  He glances away, waves information passing through his head. Important and trivial, personal and public. Images of cold nights listening through the walls and keeping an eye on the skies...

  “An enemy and I both call her Cinderella, for some... interesting circumstances...”

    She darted out from under his finger and rubbed at her nose with a huff. She’d been confused with a virus before and it never failed to grind her gears. She was an advanced piece of technology, dang it! And she had feelings - which he was just stomping on all of them.

    “I’m not Malware!” She planted her hands on her hips and glowered at him, “I’m Hatsune Miku - your virtual AI assistant, Master! Please be more polite!”

  “Miku... So you have the same name as her, too..”

  Interesting. Wonder who made this thing? 

  “...Um... Can I call you ‘Cin’?”

  “So, it’s really true…” Her voice trails off into a whisper. She looks back at Miku–absurdly punished for a mild crime. Then, what would happen to Mayu?

  “I don’t think he’s working with her. He did warn me… But I don’t know.” She couldn’t think of anything useful to say.

  “Yeah, he tried to warn me too, but think about it.”

  “How did he know about your crime in the first place? I’d never been caught before, and all of a sudden he appears, knowing so much about what I’ve stolen... Him and that witch, they’re the only two people who know.”

  She tries her best not to sound like some sort of conspiracy-theory obsessed lunatic. It made sense in her head, from having nothing else to think about, but translating it to someone else was difficult.

         “Yes, and the vague remembering goes for me as well. It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it? Seasons changed and such. How are you?”

  “Indeed... I’m good as ever, I guess!”

  “How about you?”

She reached for her arm to pinch herself quickly, flinching at the pain and thinking back to last time they met. Did she remember that clearly? No, she didn’t remember that at all, just the tops of the trees passing by and branches cracking. The past was irrelevant, this now was the future and she was being rude.

         “It’s been a while, Eningar, correct? Do you remember me?”

    Well, at least he knows that he actually did meet her now. Somewhere with trees, maybe? It was hard to remember, he must have been having one of ‘those’ moments.

  “I’m sorry, I was sort of out of it when we last met... So only vaguely...”

  “Yes, Eningar... And you are...”

  He pauses, trying to remember. Meg... Megri... Hm... he’d just use Rapunzel’s real name, that should theoretically be her name, right?

  “Taking me to your house wouldn’t do anything… How would I know if—…” He pauses as his last sentence reiterates within his mind.

  “Honestly now! Do–do you not have ice magic? And that gear-eye. You’re crueler than I thought! You’re the one who cursed me–!” With exasperation, the boy rushes and frantically attempts to expose what lies underneath the bandages.   … Only when he does, his face is quick to pale. “… There’s no way…” He whispers under his breath.

  “Curse-?! I would never! I could never!” 

  “My magic doesn’t work with curses! Never has and never will!”

  This went from prove-he’s-not-the-same-Len to prove-his-innocence real fast.

  “And even if I could, I’d never curse someone! I’m not Rin!”

  He takes a couple of deep breaths to calm down, watching Oliver’s new actions. He’s not sure what to think just yet.

  Mayu’s slight discomfort becomes apparent, and she gulps. Not making eye-contact with the girl, she’s silent for a bit before responding.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to know.” She tells her with a slight nod. Was her state really the cause of some magician who punishes those she deems ‘evil’?

  “My real name is Miku Shennare. My stepmother hates me, so I guess that made me ‘Cinderella’-like from the start.”

  She pauses, trying to figure out what information was important and what wasn’t. For the sake of this explanation, anyway.

  “I never told him about that. There's no way he could have known, but when he approached me for the first time, he called me Cinderella... Thing is, he’s not the only one that called me that.”

  “Cause you know what that magician did when she appeared, just a few days later? She made me put on a glass slipper.”

  Those last two words were probably the most hateful any human could possibly make any word. Glass slipper... She laughs at this point. Just laughs. The story was just way too absurd...

  His reaction seemed so genuine. But there’s no way…

  “I’m sorry, but you’ve got to be pulling my leg…” His eye were still glued to the floor, as he spoke words he began to have doubts of.

   “There’s no way. Are you not Len Eningar? You look exactly like him.” His eye darts up at Len. “There can’t be another guy exactly like you…”

  “No, I am Len Eningar... This is so strange...”

  “How do I convince you I’m not the one you know? I could... take you to my house?”

  His brows furrow as he thinks. How similar are him and this other Len? They even both know an Oliver Atterson...

  “Like from the fairytale?” She whispers, stuck in a trance for only a passing moment that leaves her almost as quickly as it entered.

   She clears her throat. “Right? About what?” She asks, speaking up this time, moving behind Len, so that once he gave her room she would be in immediate view.

  “About getting punished? By some magic witch of sorts?” His description of Rin was hazy in her mind.

  Len sets the flowers on an end table. giving Mayu clear view of ‘Cinderella’. The girl watches her visitors with a suspicious expression, not really moving very much. She looks pale and is hooked up to several IVs, the lump she’s creating under her hospital blanket being strangely short.

  “That if I didn’t stop shoplifting, ‘The Magician’ would get me. I called him crazy. Now I’m a double amputee.”

  Her voice is coated with bitterness, and Len shuffles out of the room. 

  “And why are you calling me ‘wolf’, anyways? Is Atterson’s nickname? The one who lives with you in the library? Either way…” He lets out a long sigh. “This isn’t… it’s not a very funny prank.”

  “Are you... Not Atterson?”

  “I... Don’t live in a library, and furthermore, I live alone... I’m sorry, Atterson is the only Oliver I know.”

  His brow furrows in concern, it seems like they were both confusing each other... And it seems like the other him wasn’t the nicest person.

“That’s… that’s not a funny joke,” he huffed. Just what was he trying to pull here?

  His eyes focus on his own damaged hand, and slowly, his body tilted, he raises it, and gives it a slight wave.

“You know what it’s like…”

  “Joke? I’m not joking! Why would I joke about something like this?”

  He looks extremely distraught, why would Oliver think he was kidding? Something like that was so mean! He’d never!

  “Joking about your hand getting hurt is just too cruel, Wolf...”

  “Are you seriously worried about that?” She gently clicks her tongue, and shakes her head.

                                 “It doesn’t matter. She’ll have to suck it up then.” She crosses her arms.

  “Ah... All right...”

  The boy slowly opens the door, gently calling out ‘Cinderella?’ as he poked his head inside.

  “Oh... It’s you. Here to rub it in my face that you were right?”