Chapter Text
Emu and Tsukasa had been with each other all day, just hanging out. It was really more akin to that of a date with what they were doing really. They went to Phoenix Wonderland and rode rides, Tsukasa somehow managed to win Emu a plushie from one of the stalls. They then went and got lunch at the café Saki worked at. They spoke about things like their shows and their future together.
Toward the end of the day, they went to a hill and cloud gazed for a few hours. Tsukasa and Emu cuddled up to each other as they looked at all the clouds in the sky. They were comfortable, they were content. Emu pointed out a few clouds to Tsukasa as well. But at some point, the boy sat up, still somewhat holding onto the girl.
“Alright, Emu. It’s getting kinda late, we should both probably head back home.” Tsukasa said, Ruffling Emu’s hair.
“What?!” Emu looked up at him with a look that said she didn’t want him to go. Like she really didn’t want him to go. “No! We can’t go home yet!” She exclaimed, clinging to him.
Tsukasa looked at her with confusion. “Why not, Ems? We’ll be able to see each other tomorrow, you know..” Tsukasa chuckled, but Emu looked at him pleadingly.
“Tsukasa-Kun, pleaseeee, I don’t wanna go back home yet!” The girl pleaded. Tsukasa sighed before standing up and pulling her up with him.
“How about this? I can walk you home, yeah? But I do have to go home, Emu. My parents and Saki will worry about me if I don’t.” He gave her a small smile, which was returned with a frown and a worried look. He figured she truly didn’t want this day to end. “Emu, it’s okay.. Look, you still have the plushie I got you, right? You can cuddle up to it after I leave, yeah? Does that sound okay?” He asked sweetly, pulling the plushie out and handing it to her. Emu sighed and grabbed the plushie, holding it close to herself and latching onto Tsukasa’s arm.
“Okay.. but promise to text me when you get home?” She asked, looking at him with a hopeful look. He smiled again.
“Of course I will! Now let’s go before it gets dark.”
With that, the two left for Emu’s house. Her footsteps became slower the closer they got to her house. Tsukasa figured she just wanted to spend more time with him.
When they eventually got to Emu’s house, she turned around and hugged Tsukasa tightly, obviously not wanting to let him go. Tsukasa chuckled and placed a small kiss on Emu’s head and hugged her back.
“I’ll miss you…” Emu muttered, hugging a bit tighter.
“I’ll miss you too, Emu. Now I have to go okay? I promise to message you when I get home.” He said, smiling softly at her before breaking the hug and giving her a soft peck on her lips.
After another moment or two, Tsukasa left. Emu watched him walk out of sight before finally going inside, clutching the plushie he won for her and holding it against her chest.
“I’m home…” Emu announced as she walked in. She missed Tsukasa already..
“Ah, Emu! Welcome back!” Her sister, Hinata, exclaimed. “How was your date with Tsukasa? Did you have a good time?” She asked.
“Mhm! He got me this plushie!” She held the plushie out toward her sister, showing it off. “I named it Kasa!” She said, actually smiling a bit.
“That was sweet of him! What else did you guys do?”
Emu then started rambling to her sister about what she and Tsukasa did all day, before she went and did her own thing, carrying the plushie around with her. A few hours later, her brothers came home.
“We’re home.” Keisuke announced.
“Ah, welcome back you two! How was your day?” Hinata once again asked.
“Well, we struck a deal with another company and we’re removing a few rides soon, so there’s that… and then we’re also considering changing Phenny design wise.” Shousuke muttered, Emu’s head immediately whipped around.
“W-what?! No! You can’t!” She instantly regretted opening her mouth once she did. Shousuke looked pissed.
“Not this again Emu! We have to change the park for the sake of its popularity and income! You can not continue living in your little fantasy world! We just had this conversation last night!” Shousuke yelled.
“Now now, Shousuke, Emu’s just worried about grandpa’s dream. You can't fault her for that. You know how passionate she is about this. Please don’t yell at her again.” Keisuke said. Trying to de-escalate the situation.
“Keisuke, I understand that, but Emu can’t keep living in her stupid little dream world! She has to grow up! The park can’t succeed the way it is now!”
“Yes it can!” Emu shouted. “The park can succeed just fine the way it is now! Changing it will stop any… Any nostalgia! If it changes too much then people will stop coming! If we just… did more and maybe just build a few new rides and attractions instead of replacing the ones we had! And we can’t change Phenny! He’s our mascot! He’s so popular and recognizable, you just can’t!” She holds her plushie out to him. “He’s a big part of the park! You can’t just remake him because you think it might draw in more people!” She argued.
Shousuke ripped the plushie right out of Emu’s hands. “Phenny is old! Phenny has been a baby since the start and he doesn’t even look like a Phoenix! He looks like a stupid little penguin!” He said, throwing the plushie on the ground and stomping on it a few times, tearing it.
“Shousuke! Why would you do that?!” Hinata yelled as Emu started tearing up.
“W… why would you do that?! Tsukasa-kun got that plushie for me! Why do you always have to be so mean?!” Emu yelled, starting to cry.
“God, it’s just a plushie! You have plenty of them in your room! Get over it! It’s probably gonna be changed anyway!” He yelled.
“No!” Emu almost screamed. “Grandpa wouldn’t want Phenny to change! Grandpa wouldn’t want all of our rides and attractions to be replaced! Grandpa wouldn’t want this! Grandpa wanted—” Emu got cut off by her brother punching her, knocking her to the ground. She placed a hand where he punched her and stared wide eyed at the floor.
“Shousuke!” Both Hinata and Keisuke shouted. Emu just sat there.
“Get over it Emu! Grandpa is dead! He isn’t coming back! His so-called ‘legacy’ that you don’t shut up about is going to die and it’s going to die now! Shut up and stop trying to involve yourself in affairs that you don’t understand! I don’t care that you’re one of our ambassadors! I don’t care that your stupid little group came up with the night shows! I don’t care about your stupid little delusions! Grow up and face the truth! You’re being absolutely pathetic! ” He screamed.
Emu sat on the floor as tears started to flow down her face. “N… no… the… the park… it can… it can survive… Grandpa's legacy… it can’t… it can’t die…” she started saying through her cries. She reaches for the plushie under his foot before he lifts his foot up and kicks it to her, intentionally making it hit her in the face, along with his foot, making her cry harder and cover her face.
“Oh my god— here you go again! Crying like a child! You’re in high school Emu, get over it! You aren’t four anymore! Stop crying, it's pathetic!” He yelled.
“Shousuke that’s enough!” Keisuke yelled and started scolding him for yelling at and hurting Emu like this as Hinata bent down to her level to check her.
“Emu, Emu are you okay? Here, let me see, move your hand for me— oh gosh you’re bleeding! Let me see!” Hinata pleaded, but Emu just grabbed hold of the plushie and ran upstairs to her room. “Emu!” Hinata called worriedly, before turning around to join Keisuke in yelling at Shousuke, but Emu couldn’t hear any of it.
Her ears were ringing, sounds were muffled, she could barely see from her tears, her face hurt, everything hurt. She couldn’t understand why Shousuke would do this, why he would hurt her. He’s never done that before. What did she do wrong? Emu just cried on her bed. She’s scared. Would he do this again? Is it because she was being too pushy? Why did this happen?
After a while, she heard a knock at her door and a voice that sounded like Hinata, but she couldn’t hear anything. Everything was muffled still. She held the now ruined plushie that Tsukasa got for her close to her body. At some point she felt a hand on her back and she jumped, sitting up and scooting away.
“Hey, hold on, it’s okay, it’s just me…” it was Hinata. She had a plate of food with her. “I brought you dinner since I figured you wouldn’t want to come down… let me see your face, okay?” She requested, reaching and cupping her cheek. She sighed.
Emu sat still for the most part, she was still crying. She flinched and hissed when Hinata glided a finger over her cheek.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you more…” her face looked more worried after a moment before she spoke up. “At least your nose is okay, but he bruised your cheek pretty bad, that’s for sure… I’m sorry Emu… I had no idea he would ever do something like this, especially to any of us…” Hinata said, wiping Emu’s face with a tissue. Emu stayed quiet, the only sounds from her being her cries. Emu could hear her brothers arguing still, but her ears were ringing. Hinata sighed before sitting the plate down and moving to leave. “Please eat. You have to.” she said, before closing the door.
Emu just laid back down and continued crying. She didn’t know what to do…
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It was late, and she was still crying. She’s scared. She didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t understand why Shousuke would punch her like that. She didn’t wanna stay here. She hadn’t even changed into pajamas yet.
She had already eaten the plate of food, well she ate some of it, but she just kept crying. She hated it. She wanted to leave, but who could she go to?
“Maybe Nene-Chan would let me go to her place…? No, she’s asleep by now… Oh! Rui-Kun never sleeps at night! I could totally ask him! Oh, no, he has something important in the morning, so he actually slept tonight… maybe…” she laid there for a minute before picking up her phone and texting Tsukasa.
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♡☆Tsukasa-Kun!!☆♡
Emu: Tsukasa-Kun, are you awake?
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She sighed. No way that Tsukasa was awake, he had the best sleep schedule out of anyone in their group! She would just have to…
Suddenly, her phone rang. She was surprised to see who the caller was and immediately picked up the phone.
“Emu, why are you awake? Why did you text and ask me if I was awake?” Tsukasa said softly and kinda sleepily. Emu let out a slight sob, making Tsukasa freeze. “Ems…? Is everything okay…?” he asked, sounding more awake now.
“Ts… Tsukasa-Kun…” she stuttered out, before starting to cry and kind of sob again.
“Woah, woah, woah, hey, hey Emu, Emu what happened? Why are you crying?” Tsukasa said, panicked.
“I… I don’t.. I don’t wanna stay here! I-I’m scared! I-I’m scared T-Tsukasa! He… he…” she couldn’t get the right words out. “I… I-I’m sorry— I-I shouldn’t have m-messaged!” She apologized, sobbing a bit more, sounding more panicked.
“Hey, hold on a second, it’s okay— there’s no need to apologize! Do you want me to come get you?” He asked, sounding sincere.
“Y-yes, please…! I-I’m scared!” she sobbed. She genuinely sounded scared.
“Shh, hey, it’s okay, I’m going to come get you. It’s gonna be alright, I’m going to come pick you up okay? So, please, don’t be scared, alright? Just… it’s going to be okay, I’m on my way.” It sounded like he was getting up and going somewhere as he was speaking to her. His tone was stern, but concerned. “Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?” He asked.
“P… please…” she begged, getting up and packing a few things for herself. Mostly just the essentials.
Tsukasa stayed on the phone with Emu the entire time he was on his way and only hung up once he got to her house. Emu immediately made her way downstairs and outside, almost sprinting into Tsukasa’s arms.
“T-Tsukasa-kun…!” she sobbed as Tsukasa hugged her back.
“Hey, it’s okay… I’m here… come on, let’s go, you can tell me what happened once we get to my place, okay?” He said, starting to guide her to his car so they could get out of there. She was shaking badly and she obviously couldn’t see very well because of the tears clouding her vision, so Tsukasa did his best to try to talk her down a bit as he brought her to his car.
He let her let everything out as he drove, but it was painful to see and hear her so scared and upset, even if she was trying to hold herself down a bit and he didn’t understand why. He wanted to know what happened, what was making her cry this bad? But those questions could wait for now. Currently, he had to get her to his house and calm her down.
When they got to his house, she was still shaking a little. Seeing this, he took the extra few minutes to grab her things for her and pick her up to take her inside.
“I… I’m sorry…!” Emu cried. Tsukasa sighed and scratched her head as he picked her up. He held her as if she was a toddler.
“It’s okay, please don’t apologize, okay? It’s alright, I'm here now…” he said as he closed the car door and locked it, starting his way into his house, whispering sweet words to Emu, trying to reassure her it was okay and there was nothing to be afraid of.
Once he sat her down on his bed, he just held her and let her cry it out. It was a wonder how she still had so many tears and how she could cry this long, but to Tsukasa’s knowledge, she had only been crying for a little while. He moved to wipe her tears and noticed the bruise on her face and the small bit of blood on her shirt. He noticed it before but thought it may have been something else. He didn’t want to think she was hurt.
“Emu… What happened…?” He finally asked, sitting up and cupping her cheeks in his hands. He knew it was important that she calm all the way down first, but he had to ask.
“He… he…” Emu tried to tell him what happened, but she was still crying. Tsukasa’s expression softened and he started to softly wipe her tears again.
“Hey… it’s alright, I’m right here… you’re safe with me, okay? It’s going to be okay…” he said, trying to reassure her.
Emu took a shaky breath before trying to speak. “I… I was just.. trying to convince him not to… n-not to change the park t-too much… but… but he… S-Shousuke got mad and… and he…” she ended up cutting herself off from her cries. Tsukasa was horrified.
“Emu… did… did your brother… Did he hurt you?!” He said, sounding and looking absolutely horrified. What kind of brother would do that to his own sister?! And all because she didn’t want the park to change?!
Emu nodded and shakily pointed to her bag. “He.. he tore Phenny…” she hiccuped, trying to wipe her face. Tsukasa looked toward her bag and slowly moved toward it before picking it up. Upon moving her clothes out of the way, he could see the plushie he got for her was torn and had stuffing falling out. He was worried, horrified, and furious all at the same time. But despite that, he moved toward Emu and pushed some hair behind her ear, lifting her chin a little.
“Hey, look at me, it’s okay… I can fix Phenny for you, alright? You’re gonna be okay, I'm here now.. he can’t hurt you here…” he muttered, trying to get her to smile by giving her one of his own. She didn’t return his smile, and just stared at him, her tears falling.
“He.. he said things…” she cried. Tsukasa sighed and looked at her worriedly before pulling her into a hug, placing a lingering kiss on her head and brushing his fingers through her hair.
“You don’t need to say anymore right now. It’s okay. How about I fix Phenny for you while you change, and then I can hold you and we can just talk about nothing until you’re calmed down and maybe fall asleep, hm? Is that something you’re okay with?” He offered, giving her another smile. He really wanted to know what he had said to her, but he also didn’t want to force her to do that if she didn’t want to, he knew she couldn’t continue like this. He was relieved when she nodded.
“Okay… that’s fine…” she hiccuped.
“Good… we can talk about it more once you’ve calmed down and gotten some sleep, okay my Phoenix? I’ll be right in here if you need me.”
She looked at him before nodding silently and standing up shakily to go do what she had to do. Tsukasa stood up and gave her a small kiss before he sent her off. This was worrying. It was terrifying, but also infuriating. How could Shousuke even do something this horrible?! Is he insane?! Gosh, Tsukasa just wanted to punch him into next week.
The boy sighed before picking up the plushie he had gotten his girlfriend and inspecting it. It was still in decent condition, and the rips were mostly on the seams, so at least there was that. After inspecting the damage, Tsukasa stood and went to go and get some sewing supplies and stuffing for the poor plushie.
By the time Emu came back, the plushie was fixed, good as new apart from it being dirty, but she grabbed it and held it close to her as soon as he held it out to her regardless, not even letting him speak. He looked at her a moment before pulling her close and in for a hug, just wanting to hold her.
Luckily for both of them, Emu had managed to stop crying now that she was with Tsukasa. She latched onto him almost instantly, making sure not to let him go. He only breathed as he held her close, as he held her protectively. He didn’t want her to be scared. He placed a kiss on her temple and then rested his chin on her head, rubbing her back.
“It’s gonna be okay… he won’t hurt you again…” Tsukasa said, making sure to speak softly.
Emu was absolutely exhausted, so she fell asleep quickly. Tsukasa on the other hand, just sat there for a while, watching her sleep. He listened to her soft breathing as he watched her, making sure she was sleeping soundly. At some point, he held her close and covered them both with a blanket, closing his eyes.
“I love you, my precious Phoenix… I promise you’re safe with me… I love you so much…”
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