Chapter Text
Ena sat on a bench at a secluded place while staring blankly at the sky. It was such a bright sky, different from her feeling right now.
Feeling so frustrated and down, Ena could only contemplate. Phoenix Wonderland was holding an art exhibition in the near future, as they're commemorating their anniversary. As they opened up submissions for the exhibition, Ena was thrilled and submitted her work only to get dispirited again.
"Well, I can see that this has a good catch and meaning, but I need something more artistic, more interesting than this."
"If you could make a better work than this, maybe we could consider picking your work."
Ever since her quarrel with her father, Ena couldn't bring herself to talk to him again. However, Akito asked her to talk to him again to cease the misunderstanding, so she tried to invite him when being called into an evaluation.
"Ena doesn't have that kind of talent, so she might take her time on making one. Please do understand."
She was wrong to invite him.
Though she was given another chance to submit, she already felt demotivated. One part of herself didn't want to continue this. It hurt her heart so much.
"Excuse me, are you okay?"
A light and cheerful, yet worried voice called out to her. Ena turned her head to find a yellow-haired man looking at her.
"Ah," Ena unconsciously said, as she tidied herself and sat straight. "Sorry to bother you, I'm fine."
The boy sat beside her, still looking worried at her. "I'm Tsukasa. Sorry for calling out so suddenly but I just couldn't bear to ignore a sad person."
"Ah…" Ena somehow felt shy at his remark. "Ena…" she softly called her name, introducing herself.
"If it's not a hassle for you, maybe you can share your burden with me? I might not be able to give you good advices but I'll try my best to comfort you." He softly said as he didn't look away from Ena.
Ena was silent for a moment, considering, but since there's nothing to lose, she took out her sketch and started to tell him. "You see, Phoenix Wonderland was having an exhibition for their anniversary and I thought I should submit my work too. Well, it turns out… it wasn't as good as I thought…"
"I'm sorry to ask you but, did you fail or something?"
"They told me that they'll give me another chance since I have the potential… but my father…" Ena sighed. "He said I didn't have the talent to draw so it's obvious that mine won't win." Ena's fingers findled the sketch on her grip.
She was really proud of her work this time, yet it was crushed within minutes.
"Uhm, is the paper you're holding…?"
"Yes, it's the sketch of it, do you want to see it?"
Tsukasa nodded.
As he looked at the sketch that Ena gave, he started to grit his teeth. It happened for a while, worrying Ena on what happened to him.
"Tsukasa-san?"
Tsukasa suddenly stood up. "What are they thinking?!?!?" Tsukasa shouted with a loud voice, surprising Ena. "This sketch is already a good one!!! How dare they decide that you don't have any talent!!!" Tsukasa sounded as if he's the one who's frustrated.
Clearly, Tsukasa's action made Ena confused. She never encountered such a person, who felt frustrated on her behalf.
"This is actually really good work!! Tenma Tsukasa approves this!!" Tsukasa passionately said. "Ah." As if realization hit, he stopped and sat nicely like before. "Sorry, I wasn't supposed to shout like that to strangers. I was scolded a lot for being so noisy and bothering other people."
Looking at Tsukasa, Ena broke into a laugh.
"It's noisy, alright." Even though she sounds like she's complaining, she was laughing so brightly. Her expression was way different from the sad Ena from before. "Thank you for complimenting my work. I really appreciate it…"
"No worries!!! I was only telling what I'm thinking," Tsukasa said.
Ena smiled as if her negative feelings had subdued. It was such a miracle how it was gone so fast.
"By the way, Tsukasa-san, I'm really sorry for stopping your tracks, you must've had something else going on."
"Aahh! No worries about that," Tsukasa looked at the time on his phone. "I actually arrived earlier than planned so I was loitering around."
"Planned?" Ena looked at him curiously. "Ah!! Do you have a date or something?! I'm sorry to bother you-"
"Eehh?!" Tsukasa felt really flustered. "No- no, it's only practice for the upcoming show!"
"Show?"
"Yes! I'm actually a member of Wonderlands x Showtime!! If you're interested, you can come and watch us practice!" Tsukasa said while pointing to the sign that shows Wonder Stage .
Ena looked at the time on her phone, trying to consider her schedule.
It's not like I have anything better to do…
She turned towards Tsukasa and said "If it's not a bother…" accepting his offer.
"Well then!! Let's go then!" Tsukasa took her wrist and pulled her softly to show the way.
It was kind of weird, but somehow Ena felt that this random encounter might grow into something that she might not expect.
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