Chapter Text
✰✰✰
Tsukasa considers himself to be more of a benevolent yokai. He loves the joy of making people smile, and just observing humans. His last venture was a decade long period of being a sort-of older brother to this lonely girl in a hospital. Now that she’s recovered and rekindled old friendships, he’s bid farewell and promised to visit her sometime.
Which leaves him with his current dilemma: he has absolutely nothing to do. That he finds interesting, at least.
Most days are spent lazing about his shrine, not that anything happens. It’s long since been abandoned, with only him catering to it. It used to be near the outskirts of a village, but with the modern age approaching it shifted to just a little secret in an amusement park if you follow the right hidden pathways. If it wasn’t for that kind old man, Tsukasa’s shrine would have long since been demolished. How is Rakunosuke’s family doing, anyways?
He considers taking a human appearance and just wandering around central Tokyo, but the idea just seems unappealing as of right now.
Tsukasa sighs, moving to sit on the roof of his shrine. Waving away a butterfly before it gets too close, not because he’s scared, he just doesn’t want to crush it by mistake. What to do, what to do?
He could go to the amusement park. It’s less than a 10 minute walk, even having to navigate the dense foliage.
Why not, he decides, leaping off and strolling through the small clearing. If he’s correct the pathway should be…
“Aha!” he cheers, first attempt too! He pushes a stray branch away and carefully walks down the path, avoiding all the bugs on the floor. Purely for their own safety, of course, a strong spirit such as himself can’t be corralled by insects.
He spots the end not 10 minutes later, just as he suspects. Making sure to be invisible to the human eye, Tsukasa casually walks to the new area.
Curiously enough, there are no grand attractions immediately in front of him. Instead, he sees a simple stage with even simpler benches.
Ah, the Wonder Stage. Tsukasa is pleasantly surprised that Rakunosuke's favorite stage is still standing after all this time. Surely Kounosuke would have wanted to take it down by now, especially considering he’s the current owner.
Tsukasa sees a small girl practicing on the stage. Most likely in high school, a first-year perhaps? She swings a prop sword at air, probably acting out a scene. Tsukasa sits on one of the benches to watch her. The new perspective also lets him see a park mascot standing nearby. Probably to supervise the girl since—Tsukasa glances around, and yes—no one else is here.
“And like that, I have defeated you, mighty villain!” the girl swings her sword, raising it to the sky triumphantly. After posing for a few seconds, she excitedly turns to face the mascot.
“How was that?” Her eyes have near sparkles in them, as she faces the mascot with a bright grin. Tsukasa finds himself smiling at her enthusiasm, despite the lack of an audience.
“It was wonderful, Otori-san. You are truly getting better.” they diligently respond. Oh? Otori? She must be a daughter of the owners then.
Otori makes a fist bump to herself and quickly drops the sword on the stage. She rushes to the mascot, probably to go home if practice is over. But Tsukasa notices the sword clang against the ground, the blade disconnecting from the hilt.
“This show will be so great, I just know it! It’ll be super sparkle-sparkle and wonderhoy and it’ll save the Wonder Stage!” Wonderhoy? Tsukasa considers himself good enough at human slang, but he can’t decipher that. The mascot nods in understanding, a one-up on Tsukasa, before they must have noticed the broken sword.
“Otori-san, it seems you accidentally broke the prop.” Otori snaps back to the stage, giving a distressed cry at the broken sword.
“Oh no, oh no! Can’t you fix it, Mr. Mascot?” Otori asks, pleading. Tsukasa frowns and worries too, Otori seems incredibly proud of this performance she wants to do, and now what’s probably an important piece of it is broken.
“I could fix it, but it would take time, Otori-san. Not to mention your brothers want you to return by sunset.” Otori frowns, disappointed but understanding, and goes to grab her bag from a nearby bench. Tsukasa looks up at the sky, and there’s still an hour under sundown, but it seems Otori and the mascot are leaving now. They probably don’t see any point in staying if there’s nothing they could do.
Tsukasa watches them leave to the main park and finds himself crouching down by the broken sword. He wants to help, but…
Actually, he might have an idea.
✰✰✰
“Wah?” Otori shouts as she rushes onstage. She picks up the newly fixed sword in fascination. Tsukasa idly sits in the same spot as yesterday, smiling.
It wasn’t hard to fix. Tsukasa ruffled about backstage after they left, and found a convenient roll of duct tape in a prop box. Otori and the mascot must have forgotten about it at some point.
“Look, Mr. Mascot, it’s good as new!” Otori cheers, showing it to the same mascot that was with her yesterday. Tsukasa can’t see the expression he has, but he hopes it’s one of surprise.
“Amazing, Otori-san. The spirits must like you.” Oh, they don’t know how true that is. Otori looks around the area, probably searching for said spirits. Or in this case, Tsukasa. The mascot clearly meant it as a phrase though, not seriously. Most likely in his head, he assumed some janitor or storage handler saw the prop and fixed it. Otori though…
Upon finding nothing, she cups her hands around her mouth, shouting “Thank you spirits for fixing the sword!” before smiling happily and rushing to prepare for the rehearsal.
When she’s finished the prep, Otori gleefully goes to center stage and faces the empty seats.
“This rehearsal is dedicated to the helpful spirit that fixed my sword!” She announces, before diverting straight into the scene. Tsukasa is oddly touched, Otori can be quite adorable like that.
✰✰✰
Otori got some new performers with her today, Tsukasa notes.
Recently, he’s been spending days watching Otori perform, practicing and practicing. It’s enjoyable, and her enthusiasm for theater is infectious. It’s also a learning experience, Tsukasa has learned a lot about theater just from listening.
Like how stage left is technically the audience’s right? He never would have known that beforehand. It’s sparked a new interest in him, and Tsukasa can see why theater is so enjoyable.
He’s downloaded and watched a few plays and musicals on his computer, and it is encapsulating to see. And yes, he owns a computer. He owns a few devices because Saki found it preposterous he didn’t before meeting her. He has to borrow the amusement park’s cell service for it though, and gaining money for the ability to use said service can be difficult, so Tsukasa rarely used it beforehand.
Regardless, theater performances are a rabbit hole Tsukasa enjoys researching. It is easy to see how devoted Otori is to it, and he can tell why she enjoys it so much.
He’s been spending his time while she’s performing eagerly following the story she’s created and clapping whenever the scene finishes and she bows. She may not be able to hear it, but Tsukasa has a feeling Otori can sense his presence regardless. She opens every rehearsal saying it’s dedicated to him, and that makes Tsukasa ridiculously happy.
In return, he fixes props, cleans the stage (Apparently no actual park service workers come here, which is surely some form of neglect? Maybe that’s why Mr. Mascot said spirits were the cause originally?), and sometimes will edit the scripts, fixing spelling mistakes and plot holes with a marker if Otori forgets the script at the stage. He loves seeing her so happy when she gets to the stage every day, at least.
She’s definitely figured out he is here by now, at any point.
Her two new companions are a surprise though. Tsukasa was sure she was planning on performing on her own, but maybe that was a matter of circumstances rather than choice.
The boy is taller than Tsukasa, which does not make him upset at all, and he’s with a robot. The boy, Rui, has been recruited by Otori after she’s seen his miniature illegal performance in the main park. He brought the robot with him upon hearing they needed more than two people. Tsukasa has been following the conversation partly, and it’s remote control? Where is the pilot then? Tsukasa then notes a small noise coming from backstage.
Deciding to investigate the noise, Tsukasa walks backstage to spot a girl sitting in one of the corners. She’s the exact replica of the robot, so Tsukasa confidently labels her as the pilot. But if she’s here, why does she need the robot? She must be shy then. Tsukasa leaves her be and goes back to where Rui and Otori are talking, robot included.
Otori’s first name is Emu, it seems, and the robot is Nenerobo, which probably means the shy girl is either Nene, or has it in her name.
“Oh yeah!” Emu seems to be reminded of something. She’s been explaining the basics of what she’s trying to do with the Wonder Stage, trying to get it popular enough it won’t be taken down, to the two new performers. “I forgot about the spirit!”
“Spirit?” the robot questions, the voice coming out as distorted and robotic. Rui seems to echo her thoughts.
“Yes!” Emu says, ”Ever since a few weeks ago there’s been a very helpful spirit helping me when I leave! They’ve been doing a lot for me!” Rui tilts his head inquisitively, thoughtful.
“Are you sure it’s just not the evening workers, Emu-kun?”
She shakes her head, adamant. “No employees come by here after I leave! Plus they’ve been sharing all sorts of stuff on my scripts when I forget them and a stranger wouldn’t do that!”
The robot sputters, trying to form a retort, but Rui nods his head, agreeing with her. He pats the robot’s head and Nenerobo stops.
“Perhaps we should say this troupe has 4 members then!” Rui says gleefully. “What do you think, Emu-kun?”
“That sounds ridiculous, why can’t you two–” whatever Nenerobo was about to say is interrupted by Emu, who nods her head.
“Spirit-san! Do you want to join our super-duper cool new troupe?” Emu asks the air around her, excited.
Well, Tsukasa would hate to disappoint her. He waves his hand lightly, letting magic cause a small breeze to ruffle through Emu and Rui’s hair.
Emu gasps, before literally jumping for joy. “Did you feel that, Rui-kun?! The spirit said yes to joining! Wonderhoy, new troupe member!” She even does a pose with an arm-waving motion as she says it. Tsukasa still doesn’t know what wonderhoy means, but he’s getting the hang of it.
“Wonderhoy, Emu!” Tsukasa says as he copies the pose, even if nobody can see or hear him.
“Oh please, surely it was just a coincidence a breeze came through at the perfect time,” Nenerobo comments. She’s completely ignored by the other two.
Rui watches Emu with a curious gaze, before laughing. Copying Emu as well, “Wonderhoy to our new friend. Come on, Nenerobo, wonderhoy!”
“No.” is the curt response.
“Please, Nenerobo-chan, wonderhoy!” Emu does the pose again. Tsukasa laughs again too, because he can nearly feel the ire in the robot’s unchanging gaze.
“No.”
Together this time, both Rui and Emu give the robot pleading looks. “Please, Nenerobo-chan! Wonderhoy!” “Mhm, mhm, say wonderhoy, Nenerobo!”
Tsukasa can tell Nene is at her breaking point, further emphasized by her finally saying, “Fine, fine! Wonderhoy, wonderhoy!” The robot can’t make the motion, but it seems to sate the two, as they give on their wonderhoy assault.
Tsukasa allows himself to lean back and smile. He’s gotten enraptured with this ragtag troupe and he cannot find it in himself to care. He has gotten lucky with them so it seems.
✰✰✰
“Do you think we should perhaps give Spirit-kun an offering?” Rui asks one day after practice. Tsukasa looks up from his position sitting next to Nene, gently guiding her hand to mistakes in the script she’s reviewing.
Nene rolls her eyes, but Emu looks excited at the prospect. “Ooh, we should! Spirit-kun helps us a bunch every day so we should do something for him!”
Tsukasa isn’t ashamed to admit he’s gotten much closer to the three over the past few months. They’ve dubbed him Spirit-kun, with his permission, seeing as he has not exactly appeared to them yet. Not even Nene can deny his existence though. Tsukasa has gotten a lot more bold with his assistance over time.
Handing Rui tools when he’s working on a project, leaving snacks in a place easy to see when they take breaks, Nenerobo is charged without fail, editing scripts, hell he’s left his own scripts for them to consider. He’s especially proud of those, even if Tsukasa doesn’t have that much experience writing them. The troupe, having been dubbed Wonderlands x Showtime after their first show, even performs a few of them.
Tsukasa is most fond of Pegasus Odyssey, in honor of the girl he treats as a little sister.
“We could,” Nene sighs, “but would he even accept an offering? Don’t spirits or yokai have shrines or something that people give offerings to?”
Emu hums, shifting in her position cross-legged on the floor. She frowns and Tsukasa wishes she would smile again. “But Spirit-kun’s been with us nearly everyday, I feel like we need to do something to show how much we appreciate him! Even if we don’t know if he has a shrine somewhere…”
“Actually,” Rui cuts in, “I may have an idea.”
Emu and Nene turn to look at him, Emu in excitement and Nene in suspicion. “Rui, this is an amusement park, I doubt there are any shrines around here. Maybe we could go to the main one?”
“But then the other kind spirits might think it’s for them, not that we shouldn’t give them things, but it’ll mean Spirit-kun doesn’t get any!” Emu pouts at Nene, and she turns away embarrassed, even if she made a completely valid point.
“If I may,” Rui starts again, “Once when I was traversing through the forest area here to get to Phoenix Wonderland, I accidentally went down a different route than I should have. Instead of turning back, I kept moving, and I ended up in a small clearing with a well-maintained shrine in it.” Really? Tsukasa doesn’t ever remember someone visiting, although it was probably when Tsukasa himself wasn’t present.
Emu looks surprised at this. “There’s a shrine here? What if it’s Spirit-kun’s shrine?!”
Nene places the script on her lap and brings her phone out. “Wait, give me a second.” Emu and Rui pause and look at Nene patiently. Tsukasa shamelessly watches her google something, before she shows it to the other two.
“So I went and searched up the park map, and it mostly shows attractions and shops and such. But I ended up going into a different mode that basically acts as an interactive map, and,” Nene zooms in on the forest area with her fingers, and then drags the camera around to search through the whole area. Eventually, they spot an icon and Nene taps on it.
“Well? I can’t read it from this far,” Emu whines. Rui observes quietly as Nene turns the phone around to get a better look herself. Tsukasa reads over the description, “It says ‘An old shrine dedicated to a good-natured yokai that’s been protected since the park’s construction.’ Is that it? I think that’s it.” Nene says.
She tacks on, “It’s only a few minutes away from here.”
“Really?” Rui asks, “Well it didn’t seem that way when I went, although the most likely cause is I just got lost… Perhaps we should go today?”
Nene nods, pocketing her phone again. “Maybe we should figure out how to get there today, then give him an offering tomorrow?”
“Wait,” Emu interrupts, “How do we know if it’s really Spirit-kun’s shrine? Wait if we end up disturbing someone else instead?!”
Rui puts a hand on his chin, thinking. “If it’s some other yokai, I’m sure they’d appreciate an offering regardless. But maybe, oh, I have an idea!” Rui raises both of his hands and Tsukasa looks at him confused.
“Give me a sign on this hand,” Rui waves his right hand, “If it’s your shrine, or the other,” he waves his left hand, “if it’s not!”
“Do you really think that will work?” Nene deadpans. Tsukasa gets up to his knees and shuffles closer to Rui.
Snickering, Tsukasa pokes the middle of Rui’s right palm hard, delighting in the surprised squeak and jump he gets. Rui whines as he holds his “wounded” right hand, shaking it out.
“That’s his right hand! It’s Spirit-kun’s shrine then!” Emu says. Rui makes more whiny noises, and Nene reaches over to poke his leg.
“How cruel! I’m being attacked by both my best friend and an unknown spirit! Oh, woe is me, surely you two have better things to do than to cause my unjust suffering!” Tsukasa laughs at his eccentrism as Nene pokes him harder. Emu seems to enjoy it too, giggling behind a hand covering her mouth.
Rui dramatically falls onto his back and Tsukasa moves to his side to just barely brush his hand along Rui’s ribs. The poor boy jerks up as if Nene splashed cold water on him, near shrieking in surprise.
Nene cracks, laughing too, as Emu stops trying to hide her laughter. Rui scrambles up and backs away a few paces from them all, “You vile—vile villains! Getting joy out of nothing but the pure torture of helpless civilians!”
It’s getting hard to breathe now, Tsukasa’s laughing so hard. There are tears in Nene’s eyes and she hastily wipes them, Emu downright cackling at Rui’s expense.
They all calm down and Rui grumbles as he returns to his previous spot, Tsukasa going back to be by Nene. The conversation about going to the shrine picks up and Tsukasa finds it fading into the background as he just thinks.
These past few months have been some of the best Tsukasa’s ever experienced. He’s incredibly lucky to have found these three even if it’s just a coincidence. Perhaps all the good he’s done has manifested into him meeting them, some form of good karma.
Tsukasa wouldn’t trade them for the world. That… scares him, humans are inherently not immortal, not satisfied by doing the same thing over and over again. One day, Emu and Rui and Nene will grow beyond the Wonder Stage, chasing their dreams, and what will be of himself? They’ve unknowingly stolen a piece of him and Tsukasa doesn’t want it back.
Oh no. Oh no, oh no oh no. Is this what they call love? Tsukasa looks up from the ground, the three have moved to pack some stuff in preparation, and Tsukasa’s eyes linger on them all a bit too long before he looks at something else. Yes, this is love. Tsukasa loves watching Rui build his inventions, he loves listening to Nene sing, he loves deciphering Emu’s endless onomatopoeia into a language uniquely hers, he loves watching them perform and bring stories to life.
Tsukasa loves them. And he knows it’ll never work out. He’s not enough for any of them. He’s just… Tsukasa. Tsukasa the yokai that just wants to make people smile. They deserve so much better than an inadequate spirit, he’s not even human , he couldn’t imagine them liking him.
There must be something wrong with him. Some ancient disease that’s now resurfacing? The only thing that comes to mind is hanahaki but the disease only exists in myths now. Tsukasa doesn’t, can’t, deal with the consequences of being in love. He is just making excuses in his head for why when they leave the Wonder Stage, it is inevitable after all, he can follow.
Tsukasa can’t love them. He’s fine with being their assistant, maybe even their friend someday.
Watching them chatter and go offstage towards his shrine, Tsukasa doesn’t want to admit he knows he’s lying to himself.
✰✰✰
Tsukasa doesn’t attend Wonderlands x Showtime’s practice the next day. If those three are planning to visit, Tsukasa should be a good host for them. At the very least he thinks it is the right thing to do.
He spends the day sweeping the floor of the shrine and dusting, he knows Nene has allergies so he’s trying to be considerate. He nearly screams when he discovers a spiderweb, spiders included, in a small corner he rarely checks. He ends up carefully using a lighter and just watches the wretched thing burn. The corner has a scorch mark on it from when Tsukasa is a bit too late in putting it out, but everything is still intact so he considers it a win.
He does not appreciate turning around and spotting another spider crawling on the floor. Shrieking and nearly smashing the floor with a broom, the shrine is miraculously spider-free, and he can continue cleaning.
Shrine finished and his dignity half-intact, Tsukasa goes to make the path more accessible. Just hacking away low-hanging branches, and a few high-hanging ones that he normally can just duck under but Rui wouldn’t be so lucky. Thankfully there are no more terrifying spiders, although Tsukasa does get spooked by a passing dragonfly. How embarrassing.
He rests on the small steps leading up to the shrine’s main entrance when he’s done, relaxing after his efforts. Considering today is a weekend, practice starts about an hour before midday. Most likely they’ll meet up at the Wonder Stage before heading here, so Tsukasa estimates they’ll be here a bit before noon.
Tsukasa sighs, maybe it was a bad move to clean the place up. It looks like he’s trying to impress them—which is actually correct, he definitely doesn’t want to disappoint—but maybe he took it a bit far.
He remembers when Saki cleaned her entire first floor in a frenzy, watching from the empty loft, because her girlfriends were coming over that day. Tsukasa does not like that he can make that connection to himself.
Tsukasa groans, “Why does this have to happen to me?” The shrine does not answer. “Why me, out of all people? First there’s spiders, and now I have a horrific ailment, practically incurable!” Rui’s dramatics are rubbing off on him.
Leaning back just enough to be able to see the amusement park over the treeline, Tsukasa lets himself get distracted by the lights and speeding roller coasters. Only a few hours to go.
✰✰✰
“Are we sure we’re going the right way?” Nene asks. They’ve been walking for what feels like hours, although it’s probably been less than 20 minutes. They went out of range of cell service 12 minutes ago and everything has been downhill since.
“We found it just fine yesterday, didn’t we? Or at least you said you found it, Rui.” Nene grumbles. Yesterday Nene and Emu got separated from Rui because the other girl got distracted seeing a butterfly, and when they reunited Rui claimed to have found the shrine. Exhausted and mentally drained, Nene accepted it and let Rui lead them back.
Rui looks at the path they’re following, watching it cut through the forest. “Well yes, I think we’re on the right path. Maybe we just got a bit lost before, but I’m certain this is the right way.”
Nene massages her temples. Rui’s been leading the way, even if it looks like he’s second-guessing every turn they take. Emu happily walks next to Nene, holding a box of cookies she presumably prepared the night before.
Suddenly Emu brightens up, darting past Rui and turning left. “Ooh, Rui-kun, over here seems a lot cleaner than before!”
“Cleaner?” Nene repeats, how can any area of a forest look clean? Rui looks past Emu, not that it is hard for him, a grin coming on his face.
“Nice catch, Emu-kun, I think we just found our way.” Nene catches up to the two and gives a glance at the path. Sure enough, it looks more well maintained than the one they were just on.
Rui’s been pushing past most branches at a height threatening to smack him in the face, but this path is completely clear of any. There’s even a stone trail compared to the previous dirt one.
“Yay! Let’s go then!” Emu skips through the new path, Rui easily catching up, leaving Nene in the dust.
“Hey, hey! At least wait for me!” Nene follows them briskly, Emu having slowed to a leisurely stroll and Rui going an amazing 10 steps a minute.
“Woah, doesn’t this place look amazing?” Emu asks, bending down to look at a flower growing by the path. She plucks it up and before Nene can scold her, Emu presents it to the girl proudly. “It matches your hair, Nene!”
“Fufu, it sure does,” Rui adds, getting the flower from Emu with little resistance and tucking it behind one of her ears. Nene flushes in embarrassment and gently touches the flower.
“I didn’t even get to properly see it.” It is meant to come off as sharp but Nene’s shock tames it down to just an observation. The petals are soft in her hand, and it’s rather small.
“It’s just a wildflower, I can’t pinpoint a specific type which is surprising, but it is a darker shade of green that compliments your hair quite nicely, Nene,” Rui says happily. He walks a few paces down the path and gets his own flower, a nice red one he hands to Emu with a flourish. “For you, this humble alchemist gifts to you,” he says with a cheeky smile. Nene simultaneously wants to roll her eyes and give a flower to Rui himself.
Emu surprises him with a hug, taking the flower and cooing over its bright coloration. “Can you put it in my hair too, Rui-kun?” Rui chuckles softly and does what he’s asked, gently manipulating the stem so he can tie it into her hair without using her ear as a base to hold it.
Nene raises an eyebrow at him, to which Rui waves his hand nonchalantly with a “You learn a few things gardening, I suppose!” Emu taps on the flower with sparkles in her eyes, fascinated.
Nene looks at the clusters of flowers and spots what is probably a violet, just looking at its coloration, picking it up. She practically tosses it at Rui, who is lucky to catch it without it being crushed. He investigates it in his hand and Nene wonders if she’s made some sort of flower language mistake, like the thing meaning “I wish you were dead or something.” Actually, those are for spider lilies, if she remembers correctly.
Rui breaks out into what Nene calls his “mad scientist smile”, looking over at the flower still. “A common blue violet, how unique!”
“Is that a bad thing?” Nene asks cautiously, because Rui knows she wouldn’t legitimately threaten him but this is Rui she’s talking about, his mind works like an enigma. Nene is pretty sure that word is on her vocabulary homework.
Also, he called it unique despite literally just saying the word common in its name. That rings a few alarm bells in Nene’s head. Maybe it’s just weird it was growing outdoors? Nene knows a lot of flowers need special conditions to grow properly.
“No, no, it’s just unique!” Rui reassures her. “Common blue violets, or viola sororia, are native to North America, which makes it strange how it arrived as a wildflower here! It must have been imported here and a few seeds somehow got to this forest! It’s just remarkable, is all.”
Oh. Nene relaxes at this, it is just a weird flower to find in the middle of Tokyo, that’s all.
“Rui-kun you know a lot! Wait, hold on,” Emu jumps in, seemingly thinking about something. “Don’t flowers come with super fuwa-fuwa pretty meanings too? What’s this one?” she asks. Oh, there is the dreaded question. What if it is not native to Japan and means something terrible, like death, or sadness, or condolences, she could go on.
Nene carefully observes Rui’s answer. Not because she’s scared he will hate her, just to make sure he doesn’t seem upset over it. Then Nene can brush it off as she did not know what it meant (true), and that it is just the first purple flower she spotted (not true, she saw others but this one fit Rui’s hair the best).
Rui looks almost shy answering it. It’s so weird and unexpected it catches her by surprise. Nene does not think she has ever seen that exact expression on her childhood friend’s face. It’s so out of place it makes Nene feel weird and out of place. Not to mention how paranoid she was not a second ago.
“It typically refers to modesty, which is quite fitting considering Nene picked it, yes?” Rui answers at last. Emu looks at Nene like she’s some sort of flower genius. Considering she was getting into an internal debate with herself over whether she, for lack of better terms, messed up or not, it’s a startling change of pace.
“Y-yeah, definitely… fitting for me,” she mumbles out, feeling shy and the dreaded embarrassment makes a return as well.
Rui takes one last appreciative look at the violet, tucking it in his breast pocket as opposed to putting it in his hair like the girls. Emu and he look at the flowers lining the path together, coming to a silent agreement and picking off the prettiest ones.
Nene is lost. “Um, what are you doing?” Emu is crouching down, staring intensely at an orange one before deciding to take it. Rui is much the same on the opposite side of the path, getting a yellow flower from below some fallen leaves.
“Getting flowers for Spirit-kun! We can give him a pretty bouquet along with the cookies,” Emu says confidently, getting another orange wildflower to add to her offerings.
“Will he take a bunch of wildflowers as an offering?” Nene asks in disbelief.
Rui stands up straight, or as straight as his posture lets him, with a quite large handful of yellow flowers. Where did he get so many? Nene turned away for what must have been 10 seconds.
“It’s the thought that counts, Nene!” Rui retorts, scanning the area for more yellow flowers. She looks back at Emu, who shows off her handful of orange flowers proudly. The yellows and oranges look quite good together, which is a feat considering how the two did not even discuss their plans. Did they have a telepathic link or something? Considering how they act as if they have the collective intelligence of a child sometimes, maybe they do.
Rui’s so weird psychic powers wouldn’t be out of place and Emu is… Emu. The two are absolutely otherworldly, which is kind of ironic to say if they’re collecting flowers to give to a yokai.
Nene is getting so off topic.
“Yeah, Nene-chan, so you should help too!” Emu says, bringing Nene to the present. She quickly finds another orange flower to add to her collection. Wait no, that is a vine with orange leaves, is that even normal?
And she should stop questioning things.
She huffs fondly, “This feels like the first day I met you again,” but she goes and picks a nice red flower that matches Emu’s anyways.
Emu graces her with a delighted little laugh that gives Nene a smile too. Rui assists her in picking out nice reds without mangling the stems, and eventually the three of them manage to put together a nice sunrise-colored collection (Emu refused that a greeting gift should be called sunset colors, so sunrise it is), held together by the vine. Rui even managed to form the thing into a bow. How? Nene has zero idea.
They finally walk further through the path, Emu getting the cookies out of her bag and Rui trying to balance not tripping on anything while perfecting the flower arrangement. Nene occupies her time counting the birds as she listens to Emu ramble about everything they’re seeing.
Less than a few minutes later the forest clears up into a small clearing, and sure enough there’s a shrine. It looks freshly cleaned and Nene wonders if Spirit went out of his way to make it look nice for them.
“We made it! Let’s go to the front, come on, come on!” Emu shouts, tugging along Nene and Rui. Rui stumbles and nearly drops the bouquet while Nene is close to tripping from Emu’s speed.
“S-slow down, Emu! It’s not going anywhere!” Nene manages to get out, and suddenly Emu stops, causing Nene and Rui to crash into her. The other girl doesn’t even budge but Nene stumbles back, nearly falling. Rui in contrast almost falls forward and face-plants.
Getting herself together, she manages to properly look at the shrine. It is certainly a lot smaller than the one her family goes for New Year’s, but still well decorated. Talismans and lanterns sway on the walls, and it is large enough to classify as a small building, probably.
The three find themselves on the front steps of the shrine. They meet eyes with each other awkwardly as they stare in silence.
“So.” Nene tries, “How do we do this?” Rui looks off to the side and Emu gives Nene an equally confused look.
“Hmm…” Emu thinks aloud, “What if we just said like, ‘We come bearing gifts!’ or something like that?”
“That could work,” Rui replies, looking over the small open area between the stairs and the building itself. Turning around, Rui walks down and approaches a small table. “Maybe this could work? Considering there’s nowhere to place offerings?”
Nene follows him down, “But wouldn’t we just… leave it by the entrance to the building then?”
Rui gives her an unimpressive shrug. “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”
Emu pops up next to them and places the cookies on the table. With a small gesture by her, Rui places the flowers next to it.
The three stand there in silence.
“Are we supposed to do anything else?” Rui asks, mostly to himself. He has his signature thinking expression on, resting his head on one of his hands.
“Maybe we need to get Spirit-kun’s attention?” Emu suggests. “Um… Oh, Spirit-kun! Me and Nene-chan and Rui-kun are here with offerings for you! We wanted to thank you for all your help and-”
Before Emu could continue, a sharp gust of wind hits the three of them and they all instinctively cover their eyes with their hands. As soon as it stops, Nene carefully opens her eyes and works on combing out her hair. Surprisingly she finds it barely tangled, with the flower still left on her ear. Turning around shows Emu and Rui in a similar state, although Nene can’t help but crack at how Rui’s hair is a fluffy mess.
Nene looks down at the table right as Emu shouts, “It’s gone! The offerings are gone!”
Rui brushes his hair out of his face, staring at the table as well. “Well it seems Spirit-kun does appreciate our stuff!” Rui laughs lightly, and Nene knows she and Emu have matching smiles.
“And to think, no one ever visits here?” Nene looks around as she says this because the area truly seems like a great place to relax from the energy of the main park. Nene would adore having a quiet place like this in a bustling area such as Phoenix Wonderland.
“People don’t exactly come to amusement parks to relax, Nene,” Rui answers. “Most people that come here are extroverts and tired parents.” Emu giggles at that, and Nene sadly has to agree. Dumb extroverts and their obsession with being outside and chatting with people.
“I think the only reason the shrine is here is cause ojichan wanted to keep it, along with the Wonder Stage. But since the Wonder Stage is part of the park…” Emu trails off, but Nene gets the point. The Wonder Stage has to be beneficial to be kept in the park, but this area is not meant to be part of the amusement park, it is here only because it was here before the park itself.
“What a shame,” Rui sighs, “I’m sure this could have easily turned into a nice eating space, and it would teach kids traditions and how to remain respectful.” Nene absentmindedly nods in agreement.
“Hey guys?”
“I think I’d rather not have kids everywhere though,” Nene adds on. “They might make Spirit upset. By like, running around and messing up the shrine, you know?”
Rui hums in consideration. “That’s a good point, maybe an age restriction then? Although some kids or parents might disregard it entirely…”
“Exactly. And it’s not like this is an actual part of the park or anything, so it’d be better to just let him chill here like he always does, probably, when he’s not stalking us.”
“Stalking is a bit much, wouldn’t you say, Nene? But you do indeed make a fair point; no reason to consider this an… attraction. Just saying that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
“You two?”
“Plus like, the only way you’d learn of here is if you got really lost in the interactive map, or decided going through the woods is a good idea.”
“But then why add the shrine to the map anyways? There’s hardly any service here, so if you arrived here you would not even be able to check it in the first place…”
“Nene-chan! Rui-kun!” Emu whines. They both snap away from the conversation and look at Emu, who’s holding onto a paper.
“Oh my, my deepest apologies Emu-kun. We didn’t mean to ignore you,” Rui apologetically says. Nene gives her a similar sentiment, but Emu waves them both off. She holds the paper up at them, the writing on it is in a clear but elegant font.
“Where’d you get that?” Nene asks. Emu purses her lips, eyes darting to the table.
“It just showed up as you two were talking. But I can’t understand the font…” she pouts, handing the paper to Rui. He takes it without complaint and holds it up so he can read.
“Ah, it reads: ‘Those cookies were very good, thank you Emu! And the flowers were a nice touch, they’re from around here, aren’t they? You definitely don’t know, but they match my hair quite well.
Also, please don’t turn this place into a theme park attraction. I’m much too devoted to helping you three to have time for anything else.
Let fate guide you to greatness,
Tsukasa’ “
Rui blinks at the letter. Nene stares at the paper in Rui’s hands, mouth slightly agape. Emu seems to be in a similar state.
Emu breaks out of it first. “We got the right flower colors! Now we all have pretty flowers matching our hair! And Tsukasa-kun likes our cookies!”
Nene gives her a shocked look. “Are you not like, completely taken aback by this letter?! We just go dumped with a bunch of information out of nowhere! ‘I’m too devoted to helping you three,’ does that mean he’s stalking us? And how do we know if his name really is Tsukasa, and he’s secretly malevolent and manipulating us, and the speed he wrote that? And—and–”
“Nene, Nene, calm down and breathe for a second,” Rui orders. Nene lets herself calm down, narrowing her eyes at the letter in suspicion. “While I do agree it seems a bit much, I doubt Spi– Tsukasa-kun would want to trick us like this. Let’s think about it rationally.”
Nene huffs, but she knows Rui’s right. She’s just concerned, that’s all. Maybe she overreacted a bit.
“You’re right, sorry for blowing up on you. And… You too, Tsukasa, I suppose. It was frankly uncalled for and I know you better than to think you’re secretly plotting to murder us or something.” Rui smiles gratefully at her apology and Emu is quick to follow it up.
“Yeah! You mean a lot to us, Tsukasa-kun, and we all like you a lot! Nene-chan was just surprised, that’s all!” Emu yells towards the shrine, unconcerned for Nene’s ears.
Emu pumps her fist in the air, turning towards Nene, “Now Nene-chan apologized and we know Tsukasa-kun’s name now!” Rui smirks and the heavy atmosphere disappears. Nene gives a sigh of relief and glances at the shrine again.
For a second, she swears she saw someone laying on the steps eating cookies, but when she double takes nothing is there. Perhaps all this spiritual nonsense is making her hallucinate. Or…
It doesn’t matter.
Tsukasa will show himself if he ever wants to. Nene casually follows Rui and Emu back to the Wonder Stage, listening to them eagerly go over the new information about their friend.
Is Tsukasa their friend? Somehow Nene thinks that seems wrong, but not in a bad way. She’ll figure it out later.
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