Chapter Text
The forms had come in.
“Dear parents,” it read, “Please sign this form to confirm that your child is allowed to go to the resort trip organized by the Kamiyama High School Board of Administrators. The funds will be covered by the school. The students will travel by bus to Hoshizora Hotel. Food for the trip to and from the resort will not be provided; please ensure that students have a packed lunch and something to drink.” There was also a flyer stapled to the back of the forms, advertising all the events and activities that were set to take place during their week at the resort, as well as a map of the resort and the surrounding town.
“The bonfire seems nice,” Nene said, perched onto one of the benches in front of the Wonder Stage. They’d all just finished rehearsing a show, intending to do the most they could before Tsukasa, Nene, and Rui left for a week. Now the sun was setting, bathing their Wonder Stage in warm, orange light. Phoenix Wonderland still had a while to go before it closed for the night, so children’s gleeful screams could be heard all over, but otherwise, the scene felt peaceful.
The events were a surprise to all of them, as they’d promised they’d look at the list and plan their days together. Now they all sat together, huddled as close as possible and looking over the event list. Even Emu leaned in from her seat next to Nene, looking at the flyer with stars in her eyes, as if she was going on the trip with them. She squealed every time she saw something mildly interesting.
“Zip-lining! Rock climbing!” she yelled in delight, “Water skiing! AN ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BUFFET???”
Rui was sitting on the ground next to Emu, knees to his chest, and resting his head on her lap. He felt her chest fill and empty as she breathed. If he looked up, he could see Nene’s cute scrunched-up face poring over the event list, deep in thought. He could also probably see Tsukasa, bent over the two girls, holding himself up by putting one hand on Nene’s shoulder, also reading the list carefully. Rui felt close to his friends, close to the people he loved, and his heart filled with joy. He knew he was supposed to keep his relationship with the girls secret until they found a way to properly introduce the concept to Tsukasa, but he was tempted to get up and kiss his girlfriends, and Tsukasa-kun too, while he was at it, but refrained in fear of freaking him out.
“It’s a normal buffet, Emu-kun,” Rui replied, slightly amused by her enthusiasm, “It’s part of the resort we’re off to.”
“Well, it can be all you can eat,” Emu said, looking down at him with a large grin. “You just have to eat all the things!” Tsukasa scoffed from where he bent over behind the two girls, trying to hide his laughter, while Nene and Rui both giggled. Ah, how Rui loved them…
“Anyway, what should we do first?” Tsukasa said, trying to steer the conversation back on course. “The bonfire is scheduled for the sixth day, and I refuse to go to the beach every single day.”
“What, scared your soft, beautiful, flawless skin will dry up?” Nene teased, punching him lightly in the side as Tsukasa’s face grew red from the compliments. “Just use sunscreen.”
“That’s not how that works,” Tsukasa huffed indignantly, “And that’s not what I’m worried about. We have so much more to do than ‘go to the beach’; just look at that list!”
“There’s a mall near the resort. It’s over here, on the map,” Rui mused, tapping lightly where the map read ‘Crocus Shopping Center’ in a bolded, eyecatching font. “Maybe we can go there for a day? It looks like there’s a lot of interesting stores.” Nene eyed him.
“How is that better than going to the beach? If I wanted to–”
“Oh, wow~ Look, Nene. There’s an arcade! An arcade in the mall!”
“Yeah, sure, the mall seems fun.”
“Ooo! You need to get me tons of stuff! Please, please, pleaseeeeeeee,” Emu begged. Rui smiled at her in agreement while Tsukasa gallantly proclaimed he would buy her the entire mall if he could.
“Whatever, Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor,” Nene rolled her eyes. Tsukasa sighed.
“No one ever gets me…”
“Oh!” Emu gasped, bringing the flyer closer by pulling on Nene’s arms, “Will you go to the fair? That looks soooo fun!”
“I don’t know…” Rui said slyly, “Nene once threw up because I spun her too fast on a merry-go-round. She might not be able to survive the ferris wheel, let alone a roller coaster.” Nene gasped, offended. She reached over and whacked Rui repeatedly with the flyer in her hands.
“That was so long ago!” She said, still swinging her makeshift weapon, smiling the entire time. “Traitor! You can’t say things like that!” Rui brought his hands to his face to protect himself, giggling, while Emu screamed delightedly at the sight before her (“fight, fight, fight!” she said, as Nene hit Rui faster and harder.)
Tsukasa scoffed once again, clearly amused by his troupe’s antics. “You’re all so unserious…” he said to himself.
“Of course~” Rui said, “But that’s why you love us.”
A beat passed between them. An awkward, emotionally charged beat. Nene stopped swinging and stared at Tsukasa. Emu ceased her chanting as well. Tsukasa’s face turned red, and he had his mouth slightly open in shock. He tried his best to quickly recover.
“Haha, of course! You’re my dear friends!” he said, voice cracking slightly (Friendzoned, Rui thought to himself, I can’t believe it…). Tsukasa turned his back to them and cleared his throat. “Well, I need to get home now, I need to make my clothes and change dinner- I MEAN change my clothes and make dinner.” He rushed to get his bag and ran to the gates of the Wonder Stage.
“L-later!”
Emu, Nene, and Rui listened in silence as Tsukasa’s hurried footsteps got farther and farther away. When they couldn’t hear him anymore, they all deflated.
“Dammit!” Nene ripped the map in her hands in frustration, starling her partners next to her. “We were so obvious! Don’t you think we were so obvious?”
“Well, we are talking about Tsukasa-kun here…” Emu mused, hugging her knees. “Maybe we could’ve been the teeniest-tiniest bit more obvious.” She hid her face in her knees and sighed.
“Don’t worry, Emu-kun,” Rui said, standing up and dusting off the back of his pants. “Maybe we’ll get him on the trip.”
“He’s right,” Nene said, kissing Emu on the head and getting up to stretch. “We can’t lose hope just yet, I suppose. Although, I refuse to flirt with him where everyone can see me.”
“Of course,” Rui chuckled. “Well, we should start packing. Someone always leaves their packing to the last minute~” He leaned in Nene’s direction with a smug smile on his face. Immediately, a foot came to meet his ribs.
“That someone is YOU!” Nene said indignantly. Emu wore a fond smile.
Getting up and kissing them both on the lips, she said, “You all have to call me. Everyday. Okay? Including Tsukasa. I’ll miss you too much if you don’t.”
Nene and Rui agreed readily, and they bid farewell to Emu, excited to start packing for their week-long trip, as well as formulating a plan to woo Tsukasa.
Mizuki waited for the cool feeling of getting transported to SEKAI. The first time they experienced it, it was genuinely unpleasant. It felt like they were forced through a tube that was half their size. And there was this strange coldness that accompanied it, as well as an emptiness that threatened to swallow them whole. As she got used to it, however, they grew to view the tightness as a comforting embrace, let’s say, and the cool emptiness to be a pleasant change from the tumultuous feelings of everyday life. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to sink into it, and by the time she opened them, she stood alone in endless nothingness.
Well, not nothingness, they supposed. There were things here. Sure it all looked practically the same, but there were some differences in the landscape. Like this pillar that was at a different angle than the rest, and that pyramid that was quite a bit stubbier than those surrounding it.
And this pyramid that was producing scratching sounds.
Mizuki knew what those sounds were, of course. They often searched for them, for the person causing them, even if they passed their meetings off as chance.
Quickly, with their bare feet padding silently on the cool smooth surface of SEKAI, they rounded the corner and pounced onto a flustered Ena.
“Mizuki!” Ena said, quickly closing her sketchbook and setting it aside, along with the pencil in her hand. She turned and hugged Mizuki back. “You scared me, you goof.”
“Hehe, just as I planned,” they sat with their back flush with the pyramid behind them and their side pressed to Ena’s. “Are you going on the beach trip?”
“Huh? Oh, no, I can’t,” Ena said. She gazed out into the emptiness.
“What? Why not?” Mizuki tried her best to hide her shock. They really were banking on Ena coming along on the trip. Being around her generally made them feel better.
“It’s not for the night students,” she responded with a sigh. “It sucks, I could’ve gotten some really nice pictures there.”
If this were any other time, Mizuki would’ve laughed, or maybe teased Ena on her hunger for aesthetic pictures. Instead, Mizuki felt her heart sinking thinking of what it would be like on the trip. All those stares from the boys in her cabin, like she was an alien. Or a freak. They’d probably have to follow one of her friends around like a lost puppy, because surely they had better people to hang around with. She can’t say those visions were the most appealing. She almost got a little nauseous thinking about it.
Maybe she was silent for too long, or maybe Ena could read her mind, smell her fear, because she suddenly whipped around to look at Mizuki.
“Mizuki,” she said, with a curious authority, “You can rely on me, and the others. If you need– or, I mean– If you want to, you can reach out…” she held up her phone and shook it a little, “You know… keep in touch. Text, or call, whatever you need. I’ll try my best.”
“Okay,” Mizuki breathed. For some reason, the thought of sharing her concerns with anyone made the nausea increase tenfold. They needed to leave. They huffed and stood up quickly.
“Ah, well, I should leave,” they said, stretching, “Gotta pack, and all that good stuff…” They knew they were most likely gonna leave packing ‘til the last second, but they thought it was a good enough excuse.
Well, they thought that until they saw Ena deflate a little. Oof…
“Of course,” Ena said, “Yeah, you do that. Have fun.”
“Thanks, Ena,” Mizuki said, pulling out their phone. “I mean it…”
They saw Ena smile at them sadly, and then they were standing in their room again. Barefoot. A little cold. And all alone.