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“I look horrible in this costume..” Nene tugged on the fabric of her clothing since it was too tight around her waist. Her legs were exposed to the air and was littered with small scales as if to mimic a mermaid.
Afterwards, she fixed the beads in her hair so it wouldn’t fall off.
Rui watched her desperately try to fix herself, “have more confidence in yourself Nene, you look beautiful.”
“I feel like you’re only saying that just to make me feel better,” she scoffed in the nicest way possible while giving him a blank stare.
After the beads were in the right place, she gazed upwards to look at him.
“You really think I would lie about your beauty?” His hands played with the front strands of her hair gently, making Nene blush in the process and freeze suddenly.
“Yeah,” she paused, “you would do that.”
Rui pretended to be wounded from her words, “even after all this time you still don’t know me that well.”
“I’d say I do know you pretty well Rui,” the tension in the air was thickening and he cupped Nene’s cheek in his hand.
Before the two even realized it, they both began to inch their faces together until their lips collided. They kissed passionately after what seemed like years of being together.
Nene felt his arms wrap around her hips pulling her closer to him. Unconsciously, she began to do the same action herself, but instead she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Everything around them felt like it disappeared, the only thing they could feel was each other’s presence and warmth.
“AHHHHH!!!!”
Immediately, Nene and Rui pulled away from each other seeming frightened from the scream.
When they turn their heads they see Emu frozen. Whether it was in fear or just pure shock was unbeknownst to them.
Seashells and seaweeds made from cardboard were scattered everywhere backstage. And it most likely came from the box Emu had just dropped.
The stunned girl stayed still from where she stood, “W-WERE YOU TWO JUST-“
Nene immediately interrupted her friend, flustered, “what are you talking about?” She tried to hide the nervous tone in her voice not wanting to be caught.
Her gaze went to Rui who was as clueless as her. After all, what would they do in this situation where they were caught making out before their show?
“You two were just-!” Emu pinched both of her hands and made it kiss. She began to do this action repeatedly till Nene and Rui got the hint of what she was implying.
“We didn‘t!” She blushed furiously but was then pointed out at her and Rui’s position.
And you could tell from even afar that they had been intimate.
Rui finally stepped in confidently, “we just added a new scene for the play!” He tried to distract the overly hyper girl.
“Really?!” The plan was successful when Emu got distracted. “What is it?!!”
He slightly gave Nene a nudge for help, “we added a scene where the little mermaid and the prince kiss!”
Emu tilted her head to the side confused, “I thought there was no prince!”
“We’re doing improvisation! Rui is the new prince!” She pointed at the bewildered man next to her.
A moment of silence passed and Nene could feel herself begin to get anxious at Emu’s reaction.
“WOAH!! THAT’S A GREAT IDEA!!” She bursted out all excited, “I’M GOING TO GO TELL TSUKASA-KUN!” Emu immediately ran away as if on a quest, she didn’t question them any further.
Once she was gone, Nene turned to Rui with a frightened face.
“Oh god, what are we going to do?”
“The showing of the Little Mermaid will now start.” An announcer said and went backstage. A few moments passed by and the curtains opened and revealed Nene sitting alone on a huge rock.
In the background was seaweeds and the ocean covered in corals. A calming soundtrack played and that was Nene’s cue for her to start singing.
The show continued on and the audience was captivated by the hard work put into this play.
But, things were going to be slightly different than their usual shows.
Rui, who was backstage with Tsukasa and Emu began to slightly panic. He adjusted his costume that was a prince from above the water.
He was well versed in playing multiple roles, from a soft guy to a villain, it wasn’t that hard to fit into the role.
But, to play as someone in love? It shouldn’t be that hard, after all, he was already in love with Nene.
“You got this Rui-kun!” Emu cheered him on as well as Tsukasa.
He went to the stage, took a deep breath, and began to reenact the scene he and Nene would go through.
Before the show had started, they quickly thought of what to do and it was simple, Nene would meet the prince in a different way than the original.
She would meet him as she gazed at the sunset near the shore and the prince would find her. From then on they would interact and kiss to end it off.
Pretty easy. Problem was, Rui was always this close to stuttering in nervousness. He didn’t know what possessed him to even kiss Nene in the first place, though he wasn’t regretting it one single bit.
He was brought back into reality when he heard her speak.
“A prince?” The mermaid muttered as she sat on the floor of the stage and pretended to reach out to Rui.
That was his cue.
“Yes, I am your dear prince mermaid.”
Shoot, that was the wrong line. Did he really just say that? Oh god he was about to die from embarrassment right now. He just called her mermaid when he was supposed to be surprised upon meeting her.
Rui mentally cursed to himself. Why was he freaking out so much right now?
He watched Nene look like she was trying her hardest to hold in her laugh.
After a few more words were exchanged between them, the parting of the prince and the mermaid was about to happen.
“Seeing this sunset with you, I wish for it to happen again,” the mermaid said her next line and then vanished when a ‘wave’ (made of cardboard) washed over her.
The next thing the prince did was stare where the mermaid last was. “I wish for it to happen as well.”
The curtains fell and Rui immediately went backstage to get ready again for the next scene, his heart was beating so much against his chest.
“THAT WAS GREAT GUYS!!” Emu ran up to Nene and Rui and cheered them on. After more props were on standby, Emu looked at them again. “Ready!?”
She pulled the curtains and there the stage awaited them.
With a deep breath and a nod to the other, the mermaid and the prince took their positions again.
After the little mistake he did on his lines, Rui could feel himself slowly get more confident.
It was quite the experience. Though, he was grateful for the crowd not laughing for the amount of times he kept stuttering. Truth be told, it was really unprofessional of him.
But overall, it was nice seeing Nene comfortable on stage.
“I wish to be with you forever!” The mermaid laced her hand with his.
Now it was time for the ending scene.
Rui gulped nervously and softly caressed Nene’s cheek. The crowd ooh’d upon seeing the interaction.
“I wish for it too,” then he gently kissed Nene’s warm lips for the second time.
His cheeks were flushed and so were hers. They both closed their eyes relishing in each other’s touch.
The audience began to cheer upon the sight and Rui swore he heard some familiar voices in the crowd.
The prince and the mermaid stayed like that for a while just savouring the moment. After they pulled away, they were both brought back to reality from the loud whistles and claps.
The curtains fell and it signified the end of the show.
“AMAZING YOU TWO!!” Tsukasa practically yelled when Rui and Nene came back.
Their faces were both a blushing mess, “we need to hurry, we still need to do the credits,” Nene muttered looking everywhere else but him.
After gathering everyone, they all took the stage once again and bowed to the audience.
Adrenaline was still coursing through her veins even after performing. Her gaze scanned the crowd until she widened her eyes upon seeing who was in the audience.
In the corner whom she recognized, was Toya, Akito, An, and someone from Emu’s school who she know is Kohane. Her eyes drift a little more to the right and more people that came from Miyamasuzaka and Kamiyama were in the crowd. One of them was Tsukasa’s sister and Ichika. A little more to the right was Mizuki and Akito’s sister.
Oh shoot, they all saw her and Rui kiss didn’t they?
She nudged her shoulder at the man next to her gaining his attention. Once she felt his yellow eyes on her she slightly pointed her finger to the corner.
Rui, confused, looked at where Nene was pointing. The moment he turned his body and recognized the people in the crowd, everyone began to scream.
“YAHOOO RUI!! FINALLY GETTING WITH NENE I SEE?” Mizuki yelled teasingly, her voice overpowering everyone else’s and managed to reach the ears of Rui and Nene.
He blushed upon hearing Mizuki’s words. In an attempt to hide himself, he tilted his body to the front so he wouldn’t be facing the corner.
The audience began to scream even louder, the poor little kids sitting at the front began to yell as well confused.
“Wow the crowd here seems more excited this time!!” Emu giggled. “Good thing I invited everyone to our show!!”
“You invited everyone?” Nene mumbled puzzled and a bit frightened.
“Yeah!! I already invited all of them yesterday but you and Rui decided to change the show a bit, I hope they didn’t mind!” Emu began to wave at people from her class, a huge smile on her face.
So that explains the larger crowd.
Oh how much Nene wanted to die of how embarrassed she was right now, the students was surely going to know about her and Rui.
But right now, she didn’t really worry much about that.
“You okay?” He lowered his gaze to her.
“Yeah..”
Her heart raced in her chest, the whole entire time her mind was occupied to her childhood friend and not the show.
How could she stay normal after Rui had just kissed her twice.
Did that mean he liked her? He kissed her after all and initiated it first, surely it must’ve meant something right?
“Thanks for coming to our show! See you in our next one!!” Tsukasa bid farewell to the crowd and everyone slowly began to leave satisfied.
When there was no one left sitting, Rui and Nene went backstage to change into their regular clothing.
“That was fun wasn’t it?” He said with a happy tone but was ignored.
After being replied with silence he grabbed Nene’s hand gently. “Why are you ignoring me?”
She shook her head sheepishly, “I’m not ignoring you, I’m just fixing my hair..”
Rui watched as she pretended to remove the beads in her hair but had trouble doing so.
“Here, I’ll do it,” her green strands wrapped his fingers delicately while he removed the ornaments in her hair.
Rui focused keenly on his objective, trying his best not to pull or harm her hair in any way.
Nene blushed when she saw his face lean into hers more unintentionally. He probably had trouble seeing in the dimly lit backstage.
She felt his breath tickle her skin. And it was driving her crazy.
With enough confidence, she pressed her lips against his.
He stared at Nene wide-eyed, slightly startled from her action. In a matter of seconds he felt himself relax and close his eyes. They stay like that for a moment once again forgetting everything around them.
“TSUKASA-KUN!!!!!!” Emu shrieked upon interrupting Rui and Nene for the second time.
They immediately back away from each other, their lips a bit swollen and their cheeks flushed.
“EMU WHAT IS IT?” Tsukasa rushed to where the scream came from and saw two of his friends red and the other looked like she’d seen a ghost in a good way.
“Oh,” Tsukasa said.
“They’re doing it again aren’t they?”