Chapter Text
Tsukasa had paced around the living room for about 10 or so minutes, calming himself down, before he realized the actual impact of what on earth he had done.
“… oh no…” he muttered.
His face formed a panicked expression, his hands went to his hair as he stared at the floor. He sent his girlfriend back to a dangerous environment. What was he thinking?! Who knows what could happen?! What if Shousuke hits her again? What if he starts doing it regularly?! What if…
Tsukasa quickly picked up his phone and called her, but she ignored his call. He texted her, but she left him on delivered. He’s panicking now. What’s going to happen to her? Is she going to be okay? He had half a mind to run to her house and take her back, but he was sure she wouldn’t want to see him. He walked backward with his hands in his hair, cursing himself for his mistake. He fell backward onto the couch, trying to think of what to do. Then, the front door opened.
“I’m home!” Saki announced, walking in the doorway. Her face looked a bit puzzled when she saw Tsukasa without Emu, as they were almost inseparable at that point. “Hey, Tsukasa. Where’s Emu? Did she go to the bathroom?” Saki asked, it was a sure possibility. But Tsukasa panicked.
“Uh- no. She went to um… stay at Rui’s house for a bit!” He claimed. For someone who’s supposed to be a good actor, he’s really fucking terrible at acting like everything’s ok. But what else could he do? He was panicking.
“Why?” Saki questioned.
“She um… wanted to help with some of Rui’s robotics stuff, and it will take days, so she just decided to stay over there.” He lied once more.
Lucky for him, Saki bought it. She was a bit concerned, but after some more lying on Tsukasa’s part, she ended up falling for it. After all, he’s her big brother! He wouldn’t lie to her, now would he? After some more conversation, Saki ended up going to her room. After she was gone, he put his head in his hands once more.
“What am I gonna do now…?”
.
.
.
.
The next day, Tsukasa went to Rui’s house to talk to both him and Nene. If he was gonna involve them in his lie, they should at least know why, right?
He started from the beginning of when this went down to his knowledge. He spoke fast and with urgency, obviously distressed and not thinking super clearly.
“And— and then we had an argument and I ended up telling her not to come crying back when she gets hurt again and then I—”
“Stop.” Rui cut Tsukasa off, putting his hand up. “You said what? ” He questioned. His tone was much more serious than Tsukasa had heard in the past, he had a face that said ‘You better have meant something else.’ His eyes narrowed as he glared at the blond boy.
Tsukasa stared back, he looked even more panicked now. “I… I well… uh…” he stuttered, before Rui spoke again.
“Did you just say you told her not to come crying back when she gets hurt? ” Rui said, his tone sounding more angry. He was still somewhat calm, but his voice started to rise a bit at the end. He took a step closer as he waited for Tsukasa’s answer.
“Uh… well… I mean, yes, but—”
“Are you out of your mind ?! ” Rui cut Tsukasa off once more, his voice now louder. He took a few more steps forward and grabbed Tsukasa by his shirt collar, lifting him up a little. “You mean to tell me, that instead of trying to persuade her to stay, you let her go and told her to not come crying back to you if she gets hurt again ?! ” Rui was now shouting directly at Tsukasa.
“I did try to persuade her!”
“But then, you tell her not to come crying back?! What happens if she’s hurt again, Tsukasa?! Emu isn’t just going to waltz back on over asking to stay with you after this, are you absolutely mental?! You sent her back home— a place you know is potentially dangerous-- and tell her not to come crying back when she’s hurt?! Are you joking?! What if the abuse becomes normal, huh?! What then?! You’d just let Emu believe she’s the reason this happened? She would’ve been hesitant to tell us already, but since you decided to be an absolute moron and tell her to not come back, she’ll never willingly tell any of us!” Rui’s face was so close to Tsukasa’s that he was practically spitting on him, but Rui didn’t care, he was livid. It’s infuriating to him that Tsukasa could do something this stupid.
Rui was already somewhat disliking Tsukasa because of a grudge from what happened in their very first show as a troupe, but this…
“Rui…” Nene got his attention by putting a hand on his shoulder. “Please, stop this, now isn’t the time…” Nene said. Sure, she was also angry at Tsukasa for being so… idiotic, but this was about Emu.
When Nene looked back up at Tsukasa, he was crying. Actually crying. He had his hands on Rui’s in an attempt to get them off, yes, but.. his form was trembling as tears streamed down his face. Rui found it pathetic.
Seeing him crying, Rui released him. Tsukasa leaned on the wall and put his face in his hands.
“I know…” he started, his voice shaky. “I-I know I screwed up… I should’ve never done that to her..!” Tsukasa just cries as the guilt catches up to him. He’s gonna be the reason she’s hurt. He’s gonna be the reason she can’t talk to them. He slides down the wall and onto the floor, head in his hands. “I’m an awful boyfriend…” he mutters, causing Rui to scoff.
“Yeah, you are. Honestly, how dumb can you be?” He said, still livid. He’s glaring daggers at Tsukasa’s trembling form, his arms crossed.
“Rui, not now.” Nene ordered sternly, not wanting to have a conflict. Rui just scoffed and rolled his eyes before looking at Nene. Before he said anything, he saw her stern expression. He just mumbled something ineligible, looking back at the pathetic boy in front of him.
The two just watched Tsukasa cry for a while. Rui wanted nothing more than to yell at him to stop crying, that he had absolutely no right to cry right now. After all, why should he get to cry when he isn’t the one in danger? Why should he get to cry when Emu could be getting hurt as they speak? The only thing stopping him right then and there was Nene.
Yes, Nene was also angry, extremely angry in fact, but she figured that if she didn’t step in and stop Rui, then he might be beating Tsukasa’s ass by now, and she knew that this wasn’t the time for the two idiots to be fighting. They had to think about Emu.
“You said that you told Saki that Emu is staying with Rui, right Tsukasa?” Nene asked after Tsukasa stopped crying. Tsukasa only nodded.
“I panicked… and I said Rui’s house for whatever reason…” Tsukasa muttered, wiping his face a bit.
“Right…” Nene looked at Rui. “Well, with that in mind, that actually may be a good idea in terms of where she could stay if we can get her out of the house again?” Nene offered. Rui scoffed.
“Yeah, especially since someone just had to tell her not to come crying back to him if she gets hurt again.” Rui shot Tsukasa a glare and a spiteful smirk. Tsukasa shakily stood up.
“You…” Tsukasa then attempted to lunge at Rui, intending to try to punch him or something. Rui started walking forward as well, being more than happy to fight him, before Nene stepped in between them.
“Enough!” She shouted, pushing them both away from each other. “Both of you! We can’t spend our time just fighting with each other!” Nene stared at them with an angry expression. “You two can duke it out later, but now we need to think about Emu!”
The boys both took a step backward and muttered an apology, still glaring at each other.
“I do think that Emu-Kun should stay with me though. Who knows if she’ll be willing to even show a sign of sadness around you.” He said, staring directly at Tsukasa with his arms crossed. Nene just groaned.
Tsukasa let out a small ‘tch’ and faced the ground. He knew Rui was right, but his words still made him want to just knock him out.
“Fine…” Tsukasa said, still looking toward the ground.
“Great! Now that that’s settled, let’s come up with some sort of plan…” Nene said. She just hoped they wouldn’t argue about how to help her.
.
.
.
.
A few days after he told the others what was going on, Tsukasa and the others decided it would be a good idea to start working on their show again. Tsukasa, Nene, and Rui all figured it would be a way for Emu to get out, and they knew for a fact that she wouldn’t want to disappoint anyone and would show up regardless of how she felt. She once came to rehearsal sick and they all had to argue with her to go home, she only listened because she got dizzy and collapsed while working on props, resulting in Tsukasa not taking no for an answer and practically dragging her home.
They felt bad for using that part of her to get her out, but it was their only hope.
For the first little while, they worked on a few things in preparation for the next show. Props, costumes, and Rui’s robots, but Emu just seemed so zoned out, so tired, like she wasn’t even mentally checked in. It only got worse over time. It was kinda scary watching their once happy cheerful friend, the light of their troupe, become so tired and zoned out like this. Of course, everyone has their bad days and she’s acted like this a few times in the past, but this has been for long periods of time. Even her voice was starting to sound more and more exhausted.
After a few days, they started to move away from props and go into rehearsals. Their show this time was a bit risky in terms of making sure not to scare Emu. Obviously, there was yelling, but she was used to that and they managed their voices, but there were a few fighting scenes, and there were also a few big speeches that Tsukasa had to give while in character, and he had to be extra animated for it.
Emu seemed to do alright for the most part but still seemed checked out. They always tried to ask her if she was okay, but as always, she would brush it off. Eventually, they started to notice that she was limping some and tripping a lot more than normal, but she still brushed off their concerns and claimed she was fine.
A few times, she would lift her arms up for poses and such, and the sleeves of her hoodie would fall. They revealed bruises on her arms, she covered them as fast as she could, but everyone noticed. She claimed that she had forgotten to clean off her arm after practicing her skills with special effects makeup, saying that any time some sort of bruise was visible on her body. The limping, zoning out, tripping, and bruising only got more and more concerning as time went on.
Today though, it was particularly bad. Emu was extremely zoned out and looked like she was gonna fall over. As she stood near Tsukasa for a scene, she was visibly zoned out. Tsukasa, being too in character to notice her being that zoned out, swiftly put his hand out in a way he was supposed to, in a way that looked as if he was going to grab or hit Emu.
Suddenly, it was as if Emu was back in her house, in front of Shousuke. His hand was coming straight for her face. It was just like last night when he got angry at her for ‘talking back’ when all she did was correct him on something about the park, not even arguing about the park at all. Her eyes widen and her mind goes blank for a moment before immediately going into fight or flight mode. Everything slowed down. Her heart began to race. It was as if she was running a mile. She felt her body tremble and shake. Her foot instinctually took a step back, her arms going in front of her face.
“NO!!”
The others watched in shock and horror as they watched the terrified girl fall backward onto her butt and scoot away from Tsukasa, her eyes filling with tears. She’s trembling terribly and her arms are up as if to shield herself from harm.
“P-please! No! Don’t h-hurt me!” Her voice was trembling and she was sobbing.
“Emu…” Tsukasa muttered, starting to slowly walk toward the girl. “E-Emu, I’m.. I’m sorry, I—” Tsukasa suddenly got tugged backward by Rui, who was shaking his head as if to say he shouldn’t go near her.
Nene took the initiative to slowly walk toward her, kneeling down to her level so as to not scare her. The poor girl looked absolutely terrified, her eyes were flooded with tears and her hands were in her hair.
“Hey, Emu…” she stops moving when she sees Emu shuffling away. Nene’s face completely contorts into an expression that’s mixed with worry and fear. She knew what this meant.
“Please… please don’t come closer…” Emu pleaded, as if she thought Nene would hurt her. She was terrified. Nene decided to just sit down on the floor, sitting where Emu told her to stop.
“I won’t…” Nene promised. “We can just sit here, like this. I won’t come any closer, I’m not… I’m not gonna hurt you.” Nene assured her and smiled, trying to show she was genuine. “If you want, we can sit here in silence until you feel okay enough to talk.”
Emu slowly put her hands down. She rested them on her knees, which were hugged close to her chest. She just kept trembling and crying as she sat in front of Nene.
Tsukasa was still being held onto by Rui, who didn’t want him to get too close to Emu. Tsukasa could only stand there and watch with concern. He tries to walk toward her, but Rui just pulls him back. Rui also looked on with a worried expression, but was semi-focused on keeping Tsukasa away from Emu.
Emu looked over at Tsukasa, admittedly, she didn’t see him being held back by Rui. She wanted Tsukasa to comfort her, to tell her it was okay. But… in her eyes… he seemed so hesitant to move. She saw how he tried to move closer, but didn’t see that Rui was the one that held him back. It hurt her a lot. She felt like he didn’t love her enough to comfort her anymore. She closed her eyes and put her face in her knees. She just cried for a short while before just sitting there, her arms wrapped around her legs and her face in her knees.
“Are you okay to talk to us now?” Nene asks. Emu nods slightly. She glances at Tsukasa once more, before looking down at the ground.
“My… my brother..” Emu’s voice is trembling. The boys come closer, stopping where Nene is sitting, and sit down as well, intending to listen.
“Your brother?” Nene asks, purely out of courtesy.
“Shousuke… he hurt me…” she wipes a few tears off her face. “I… I stayed with Tsukasa-Kun when he did it for the first time… he messaged me and apologized, and I went back home…” She left the argument out of her statement, which surprised Tsukasa a bit.
“What happened after you came home?” Nene asked gently, letting her take her time.
“Nothing, at first… but he started hurting and yelling at me after Hinata and Keisuke left to do something…” she started crying again. “He only does it when nobody’s around… he’s even chased me through the house and made me fall down the stairs…” she says, hiding her face in her legs. “I got… really zoned out while rehearsing… when Tsukasa-Kun’s hand went so fast, I got scared... I only thought of Shousuke…” she admitted.
“Why haven’t you told anyone?” Rui asked.
“There was nowhere for me to go…” Emu’s voice was muffled in her legs. Rui shot Tsukasa a glare.
“Well, you have to tell someone, Emu! This is serious!” Nene exclaimed Emu’s head shot up.
“No! I can’t! It might just get worse!” Emu shouted, she was starting to panic again.
“But it might get worse either way!” Nene argued.
“I-I… I…” Emu didn’t know what to say. “I don’t think I wanna talk about this anymore…” Emu muttered. Nene sighed.
“No, Emu you have to talk about this, you can’t just let it—”
“NO!” Emu screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. “I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE! STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME! I DON'T WANNA!” She was about to start sobbing again. She covered her hands with her ears.
Rui was the one who took the initiative this time, moving forward slightly and gently moving her hands down so she could hear him.
“That’s alright, Emu-Kun.” He said, a concerned expression on his face. He didn’t want her to start sobbing again. “We don’t have to talk about this anymore if you don’t want to. We can just… work on props again, okay? I know we still have some more things to do with those. How does that sound?” Rui offered. When Emu nodded, he gently took her hand in his and stood up with her. The poor girl was trembling and shaking.
The group went off and started working on props again. Emu stayed by Rui for the time being, partly because she was interested in Rui’s machine things, so she decided to help him out with that. It gave Rui an idea.
“Hey, Emu-Kun.” Rui scooted away from the prop to look at Emu clearly. “Since it’s almost time to go and there’s still so much more to do, why not come over and help me after practice?” Rui offered.
“Sure! That would be nice!” Emu said, smiling a little. It was a tired smile and her voice sounded tired, but he didn’t blame her, especially considering what just happened. In truth, Emu found it as a way to stay away from being at home, so she jumped at the opportunity.
“Wonderful! We can take as long as we need to!” Rui and Emu soon went back to work after the interaction, but Rui had a plan. Rui knew Emu was the type to lose track of time, so she was bound to stay past sundown. It sounds creepy if someone were to hear the idea out of context, but the intent is pure.
.
.
.
Just as Rui had predicted, Emu had accidentally stayed longer than she meant to.