Chapter Text
Rui had noticed that Tsukasa was acting odd. It started that morning, when Rui bumped into Tsukasa in the hallway. There was something off about his expression, Rui thought perhaps he woke up on the wrong side of bed? Tsukasa apologised profusely and then left immediately before Rui could even get a word in. It was odd.
They passed by eachother in the hallways again, and Tsukasa was acting odd. He wasn’t shouting or making any noise, and he still had that weird expression. Maybe he was feeling ill?
Finally, at lunch, he saw Tsukasa again on the rooftop and decided to speak with him. He pestered his dear friend to swap lunches, and Tsukasa ended up giving him the whole thing. Something about “not being hungry”, but it was seriously putting Rui off. He acted as if it was nothing though, and ate his (Tsukasa’s) food.
The rest of lunch passed by, uneventful. Rui ranted on and on about a project he was working on, stuffing his face as he spoke. Tsukasa would comment on things, scold him for talking with his mouth full, but he was noticably quieter than usual. Rui was worried.
After lunch, the day dragged on boringly. It was hard to focus during the rest of class, his mind on Tsukasa’s odd behaviour. It was so odd.
Eventually, the school day was finally over and Nene and Tsukasa were waiting for him at the gate. Neither of them were even attempting to converse, he supposed Nene noticed his odd mood. He waved to them, and they made their way to PXL, while he went on about his project again.
At some point, Tsukasa was walking further down the path, and Nene pulled on Rui’s sleeve.
“This is really fucking weird.”
“Wow, so straight to the point, Nene! But yes, I agree. This is very weird. He’s been like this all day.” Rui knew exactly what she meant. She and Rui both noticed how odd Tsukasa was acting.
“Seriously, who shat in his breakfast? This is really creepy.”
Tsukasa turned back, noticing he couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore.
“What are you guys talking about without me?” Tsukasa stopped walking completely.
Nene bumped into him.
“Ow!! Don’t just stop walking out of nowhere!!” She shoved him lightly.
“We were just discussing ways to shoot you into the air, of course!” Rui plastered on his usual cat-like grin as they continued walking to the park.
“That’s horrible!! Don’t do that!!” Tsukasa exclaimed in shock, still not quite at his regular volume. Rui just chuckled.
The trio reached the Wonderstage, and Tsukasa was immediately tackled by Emu.
“Owowow, Emu..!!” Tsukasa laid on the ground with an almost vibrating in excitement Emu on top of him.
“Tsukasa-kun!!! I missed you all!!” She got up and helped Tsukasa up, who was rubbing the back of his head.
“Haha, we last saw you yesterday, Emu..” Nene giggled at Tsukasa in a daze.
“Weh? Did Tsukasa-kun hit his head when we fell?? His sparkly-boom-WAHHH is all moopy.”
“My what? Is moopy even a word? Wait, it was your fault we fell in the first place, Emu!!” Tsukasa shook his fist, falling out of his trance-like state.
“Hehe, well. It seems we’re all very excited, so we best get ready for practice, no?” Seeing Tsukasa acting like usual made Rui snap out of his thoughts.
“Define excited?” They all ignored Nene’s comment, and left to get ready for practice.
As they were practicing for the last time before the actual show, Rui noticed a change in Tsukasa’s behaviour. The odd feeling from earlier seemed to have paused, and Tsukasa seemed his normal self again. He was loud, his voice could probably be heard from the other side of the park, like how he normally is. It was all so… odd.
He watched as Tsukasa pranced around the stage, speaking his lines full of emotion. He waited for his turn to speak, it felt like a normal practice. Rui decided that for now, he will stop obsessing over this situation.
The show was over. It was a beautiful sight. Many people Rui was familiar with were there. And they were smiling. Everyone was smiling. He was smiling. He looked over to Tsukasa, who was saying his goodbyes. The sunset hit his face perfectly, Rui thought. It outlined his features well. He listened in to what he was saying, looking back out to the crowd
“—Thank you for showing us your smiles!! Goodbye, everyone!!”
..?
Goodbye?
It was usually “good night” .
A pit formed in his stomach.
The curtains fell, and it felt like Rui’s heart fell with them. He smiles regardless, it was a brilliant show, after all.
“Amazing work everyone! Everyone’s smiles were so dazzling!!” Emu was jumping up and down. It was rather eye catching, watching all those colours moving up and down.
“I agree. This must be our best show yet, everyone looked so happy.” Rui was still genuinely impressed. They all did such a good job.
“Wh- Tsukasa-kun?!” She paused, taking in Tsukasa’s tearful expression. “What’s wrong?! Are you not happy?!”
“Emu.. I’m more than happy..!! Everyone smiled so brightly all thanks to us! I’m so proud of you all, you all have grown so much!! He clung onto Emu, and she squeezed him back.
“Hehe, you’re forgetting yourself, Tsukasa-kun. You, our wonderful leader and dear friend, shine brighter than ever before. We’re so proud of you, too.” He brought Nene and himself into the hug, holding them tight.
“Yeah.. what he said.. Rui, you’re crushing me-” Nene wheezed out, and Rui loosened his grip.
Rui’s breath hitched as he heard a small whisper from Tsukasa;
“I’m going to miss this.”
“What was that, Tsukasa-kun?” Had Emu heard it too?
“Hm? I didn’t say anything.”
“Okay then!” He supposed not.
Tsukasa left to speak with Saki, and Rui motioned the girls towards him.
“You guys noticed Tsukasa-kun’s odd behaviour too, right?”
“God. Yes. He was acting so gloomy and it was so creepy.” Nene shuddered. “And now it’s like nothing happened at all!”
“Oh no, Tsukasa-kun is feeling gloomy?!?! We have to cheer him up!! Tomorrow is a weekend, if we’re all free, we should visit him!!” Emu hopped from one foot to the other, pleased with her idea.
“Well, I’m free tomorrow.” Nene fidgeted.
“So am I.”
“Well then it’s sorted!! Operation: make Tsukasa-kun feel better starts from tomorrow!!” Emu fist pumped the air and Rui cheered.
“Farewell, everyone!!” Tsukasa called as they separated. Rui waved goodbye, and he and Nene started walking back home.
After a few minutes, Nene spoke up.
“I’m worried too.”
“Ah? Seeing right through me, are we?” Rui chuckled.
“No, it’s just the only thing for you to be thinking about this hard.” Rui chuckled again.
“You are correct.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll all be okay by tomorrow.”
“I sure hope so.”
As he sat at his desk, he found he was more focused on Tsukasa than the project he talked so happily about to him. He laughed at that.
It was the next day, the weather was lovely. Rui and Nene were walking to where Emu said they should meet. It was a small park next to Tsukasa’s place. Rui felt uneasy.
Emu met them there, and now they were walking to Tsukasa’s place. The uneasy feeling grew.
“I can’t wait to see him!! I even asked my chef to bake special cookies!!” Emu presented a paper bag.
“Ah.. here we are.” Rui knocked on the door and…
It opened.
“Huh..”
They walked inside and were greeted by a dark house. Were all the curtains shut? The uneasy feeling was making Rui slightly lightheaded. Nene inched closer to him.
“It’s so quiet… I’m not liking this.”
“Well, it won’t be for long, let’s go!!” Emu ventured upstairs, and the two followed.
She knocked on the door.. no response.
She opened it and….
Nene screamed.
Rui fell backwards, and gagged.
Emu just.. stood there.
What the fuck is this?
Rui stared
at the lifeless body in front of them.
He couldn’t listen as
Emu
called Saki, her voice shaking.
He couldn’t move as he heard
Emu’s
footsteps, shortly followed by
Nene’s.
This cannot be real. There’s no way. That can’t be him. What kind of nightmare is this? Was he trapped in an awful dream?
His eyes landed on a journal, open to what he assumed was the last entry.
He could just about make out shakily written letters that spelled out
“My room is too empty, maybe I should hang something up?”
He shot up, his feet leading him out the front door, where Emu and Nene were standing.
He pinched himself, and cursed to himself as he felt the pain.
He tuned out Emu’s wailing and Nene’s hyperventilating, and prayed to himself that this wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
Then a meteor fell on top of the world and they all died the end