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Tsukasa noticed that something was wrong with Rui.
Lately, it seemed that Wonderlands x Showtime’s director was distancing himself away from Tsukasa, Nene, and Emu. Whenever one of them tried to strike a conversation with him, he would end the conversation quicker than usual. He also seemed to be avoiding any physical contact. For instance, whenever Emu tries to hug him, he’d sidestep her, laughing it off and saying that he thinks that he’d caught something contagious and that he didn’t want to spread it to her. There was also the worrying fact that he seemed like he was faking a smile more often. Tsukasa could tell. He himself had been faking a smile a lot in middle school, when Saki was in hospital. Thus, he was practically a master at telling if someone’s smile was genuine. And Rui’s wasn’t, most of the time.
Tsukasa was baffled. Why was Rui suddenly acting so weird and different around them? His closest friends! Did he suddenly realise that he didn’t take a liking to them that much? No, that couldn’t be. Tsukasa knew his best friend. Rui indeed cared for them a lot, even though it wasn’t obvious.
So, what was causing him to act like this? And, why now?
Tsukasa breached the subject with Nene and Emu one day, at Phoenix Wonderland. Rui wasn’t there yet, having told Tsukasa that he didn’t take note of the time, and that he was going to be late. This, of course, made Tsukasa concerned. Rui was never late for any of their practices. He was again distancing himself from them on purpose.
“Hey, Nene? Emu?” Tsukasa called out, grabbing the attention of Nene and Emu, who had been deep in conversation.
“Hmm? Tsukasa-kun? What is it?” Emu asked, curiosity gleaming in her cute, wide eyes. Nene crossed her arms, waiting for an answer from the future star.
Tsukasa cleared his throat. “Have you guys noticed that Rui seems to be…distancing himself from the rest of us?” he started. Maybe it really was his imagination. He needed to hear Emu’s and Nene’s replies to be sure.
Sure enough, Nene nodded. “Yes, I have,” she responded. “He’s been avoiding talking to me often these days. And, whenever I ask him if he wants to walk home with me after school, he’d decline and say that he has some urgent business to tend to. He’s never busy after school, so why now?”
Tsukasa agreed with Nene’s words. In fact, Rui had said the exact same thing when Tsukasa had asked if he wanted to walk home with him just two days ago.
Emu enthusiastically nodded. “Mhm!! He’s been avoiding my hugs a lot now!! At first, he told me it was because he had a cold, but it’s been two weeks! He wouldn’t have a cold for two weeks now!” She pouted. “It’s been so long since I’ve hugged him…Does he hate us now or something?”
Nene shook her head, dismissing that idea. “I’ve known Rui for a while now,” she said, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face. “If he did hate us, he wouldn’t even bother turning up to our practices, or talk to us at all. He doesn’t despise us. It’s something else.”
Tsukasa frowned. “Maybe there’s some family issue at his home?” he suggested. “Maybe financial problems? Or perhaps his parents have been arguing a lot lately?”
Nene shook her head at that, too. “No, not likely. Yesterday, I saw his parents arriving home together. They were holding hands and all. They couldn’t have been fighting judging by their expressions. Also, his family is quite rich. I doubt they’re having financial issues.”
“Huh?? Then, what could it be?” Emu asked, puffing her cheeks as she thought hard.
“There’s something Rui’s not telling us,” Tsukasa muttered. “What could it be-”
“Fufu~ Hello, Tsukasa-kun~ I heard my name~”
Tsukasa jumped at the sound of Rui’s voice behind him. He whirled around to face Rui, noticing how the taller boy seemed tenser than usual. He chose not to point this out and said, “Rui! Don’t sneak up behind me like that!” he chided. “You could give this future star a heart attack! How would he be able to perform if he has a heart attack?!”
Rui giggled, though something sounded off about it. Again, Tsukasa didn’t comment. “Ah, my apologies, Tsukasa-kun. I didn’t mean to startle you~ What were you three conversing about?”
Tsukasa said, “Your latest invention for our next show!”
Nene said, “The reasons as to why you hate vegetables.”
Emu said, “How you’re such a Wonderhoy friend!”
Nene glared at Tsukasa as Emu laughed nervously, saying, “Wahahaha, we meant, what you could invent for our next Wonderhoy performance, and that if you ate some veggies, it might make you work twice as efficiently!!”
Thankfully, Rui ignored their obvious slip-up. He grimaced slightly at the words ‘veggies’. “Ah, no thank you, Emu-kun. I would sleep the big sleep if I ate vegetables, however.”
Emu’s eyes went wide. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!” she shrieked.
Nene shook her head, disappointment clear in her face.
Tsukasa sighed, placing his hands on his hips. “You really do hate your vegetables…”
For the rest of practice, Rui’s odd behaviour completely slipped Tsukasa’s mind.
-
This has been going on for too long.
Tsukasa frowned as he watched Rui dodge yet another one of Emu’s hugs, much to the disappointment of the pink-haired girl. Earlier in school, he’d spotted Nene asking Rui if they could walk home together, to which Rui had responded with the exact same excuse. Something just wasn’t right. Tsukasa planned on finding out just what was going on with Rui.
The minute practice ended and they all changed out of their outfits and into their casual wear, Tsukasa approached Rui, who was packing up his scripts and machines. He tapped the taller boy on the shoulder once, causing him to flinch.
“Rui! Can this future star stay over at your house today?” Tsukasa asked, grinning hopefully.
Tsukasa didn’t miss the way that Rui’s shoulders tensed. “Ah, Tsukasa-kun,” he began, as if searching for another excuse. “I…I’m terribly busy with some assignments from school. I’m afraid I don’t have the time…”
“Then, we can work on our homework together! I haven’t started on mine, too!” Tsukasa suggested. He will not let Rui get his way this time.
Rui averted his eyes. “Tsukasa-kun…maybe not today…”
Tsukasa clasped his hands together, giving him a kicked puppy look. “Rui, please??” he begged.
Rui hesitated for what seemed like forever. Just as Tsukasa was convinced that Rui would still decline and walk off, Rui sighed, “Okay, Tsukasa-kun. Anything for my Future Star.”
Tsukasa ignored the way his face went hot at the words ‘my future star’ as he grinned brightly. “Thank you, my Director!!” he exclaimed happily. “Let’s go now!” He grabbed his friend’s hand and tugged him along in the direction of the exit for Phoenix Wonderland. He certainly noticed how Rui pulled his hand back, but didn’t say anything.
They made a brief stop at Tsukasa’s house so that Tsukasa could inform his sister that he would be staying over at Rui’s place and for him to pack some stuff into his bag. He was afraid that Rui would have secretly ran off while he was outside Tsukasa’s house, but luckily he was still there when Tsukasa waved goodbye to Saki and closed the door behind him.
“Well then, let’s go!” Tsukasa declared loudly. “This future star has certainly wasted enough time, and we need to work on our pending assignments together, don’t we?”
Rui cracked a smile, though it didn’t seem all that real. “Yes, of course, fufu~” he giggled, or, well, pretended to. Again, Tsukasa didn’t comment on it. He simply smiled back as they continued on their way.
They didn’t speak much as they walked over to Rui’s house. Even when Tsukasa tried to strike up conversations, Rui would end them as soon as possible. The Rui a month ago would never do this. No, he’d carry the conversation on, and soon enough they’d be laughing over something one of them had said. Now, none of them laughed. The silence was deafening.
Tsukasa was partially glad when they arrived outside Rui’s house. The silence really was going to kill him if it went on for another minute.
“We’re finally here!” Tsukasa exclaimed, whirling around to smile at Rui. Rui gave a small smile in return before dropping it and brushing past Tsukasa to unlock the door.
“Fufu, after you, Tsukasa-kun~” Rui fake-giggled.
Tsukasa grinned. “This future star thanks you so!” He walked into Rui’s house and into his room, with Rui close behind. He dropped his backpack onto Rui’s sofa and beamed at the taller boy. “Right! Do you want to work on our homework first, or watch a movie? Maybe work on writing the script for our next show?”
“Anything is fine with me, Kasa~” Rui answered casually, dropping his bag on the sofa as well.
“Hmm…” Tsukasa crossed his arms, thinking. He wasn’t really in the mood to do homework yet, and they had time before they had to start writing the script for their next show, since they still had yet to perform the show they were currently practicing for. So… “Let’s watch a movie!” he suggested, looking up.
Rui nodded. “All right, Tsukasa-kun.” He opened up his bag and grabbed his laptop, sitting down next to Tsukasa on an empty spot on the couch. At least there wasn’t anything unusual with this. He turned to look at a spot past Tsukasa’s face. “What do you want to watch, Tsukasa-kun?”
“You can choose, Rui!” Tsukasa replied, smiling.
Rui pondered on it for a while before saying with an actual genuine smile, “A romantic comedy, then.”
Tsukasa groaned. “Again?!” He sighed. “Rui, I really don’t understand your obsession with those types of movies, but sure…”
At his words, Rui’s smile faded away. Tsukasa mentally kicked himself for saying that. He didn’t mean to offend Rui in any way. He was just saying that to try to lighten the mood a bit. Clearly Rui had taken it the wrong way. And, now his actual smile was gone. His real smile was really pretty, if Tsukasa was being honest.
Maybe it was about time to confront Rui on the whole situation.
Tsukasa cleared his throat. “Rui?” he prompted, grabbing the said boy’s attention.
Rui cocked his head. “Hmm? Is something the matter, Kasa?” he asked.
Tsukasa looked Rui dead in the eye, noticing that Rui had squirmed slightly. It wasn’t very visible, but Tsukasa caught it. “...Is something wrong?” he began slowly, afraid that he’d cause Rui to start lying through his teeth again. “These past few days…you’ve been acting really strange. Nene and Emu have noticed it as well.”
Thank the Lord that Rui didn’t run off or something. Instead, he swallowed and put on another one of those fake smiles. “Oh? I have? How…How so?” he questioned.
Really? So, he was gonna pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary, huh? Well, Tsukasa could play along too. “Yeah…lately, you’ve been avoiding Emu’s hugs, saying that you’ve caught a cold. It’s been a long time, Rui. You can’t be having a cold to this day.” He paused for a second to let Rui digest this information. “There’s also the fact that you’ve been refusing to walk home with me and Nene, saying that you have some ‘urgent business to tend to’. Rui, just what kind of ‘urgent business’ do you have to ‘tend to’ everyday? And, why now?” He took a deep breath. “Just…admit it to me, Rui. You’ve been distancing yourself from us. You’ve been avoiding us.” His expression softened slightly. “Mind telling me what’s wrong? I swear on my life I won’t judge you,” he added gently.
Rui stared at Tsukasa wide-eyed. Then, he started to laugh quietly. “Ah, I see you’ve caught me, Tsukasa-kun,” he said. To Tsukasa’s horror, tears started to gather in Rui’s eyes. “I suppose my act wasn’t convincing enough.” He rubbed at his eyes.
Tsukasa was starting to panic. Sure, he’s dealt with Saki crying before, when she was upset over having to be in the hospital, away from her friends. He’d comforted her every single time she did. But, it was different with Rui. He’d never seen him cry before! What was he supposed to do in this situation?! He froze, not knowing how to handle all this.
“...I was thinking that you all hate me,” Rui continued quietly, looking at his lap. “I was always known as a ‘weirdo’ and an ‘outcast’ when I was younger…I was guessing that you three started to see me as one as well…so I started to separate myself from you all…and it was difficult for me to enjoy myself with you three since it was quite clear that you despised me and thought I was weird, so I started to pretend to smile around you…” He trailed off. “You…don’t have to pretend to enjoy my company anymore, Tsukasa-kun…it’s all right. You can…leave.” He was trembling as he said this, and it took Tsukasa a moment to realise that Rui was actually, genuinely crying now.
“Hey, hey, hey! Rui, don’t cry!” Tsukasa exclaimed, panic clear in his tone. He tugged at his hair, not knowing what to do with his hands. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He shouldn’t be panicking at a time like this. He had to comfort his friend…somehow. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Rui, pulling him into a hug.
Rui made a sound of confusion. “Tsukasa-kun?” he muttered. “What are you-”
“Rui, this future star absolutely does NOT hate you!!” Tsukasa announched loudly. “If I did hate you, I wouldn’t ask you if I could come over to your place! None of us hate you, okay?! D-Don’t think like that! We won’t abandon you! We never will! We won’t think that you’re weird or anything of the sort! Nene, Emu, and I- we all care about you, okay?! Just, just don’t bottle up your emotions like this anymore, okay?! Tell us if something’s wrong! We’re all friends for a reason!” He paused before he continued, “So, let me ask you this: are you okay, Rui?”
Rui seemed to be stunned by his words. Then, quietly, he murmured, “No, Tsukasa-kun…I’m not okay.”
Tsukasa nodded. “I thought so.” He bit on his lip. “Please…don’t isolate yourself from us ever again, Rui…I- we were so worried.” He blinked back tears as he said this. Great, now why was he crying? He huffed out a dry and soundless laugh. He cleared his throat. “If you want…you could…you know…” It was extremely awkward for him to say it, but he knew that Rui would get the message.
Rui paused for a moment of two. Then, he buried his face in Tsukasa’s shoulder and silently started to sob. Tsukasa hugged him closer, like how he had done whenever Saki was crying. He softly whispered, “It’s okay, Rui.” over and over as he gently pat his friend on the back. Hesitantly, he kissed the top of Rui’s head. When Rui made no motion which indicated that he was uncomfortable with it (kind of the opposite; he seemed to enjoy it), Tsukasa continued. Gradually, Rui’s sobs subsided and he was only occasionally sniffling after a while.
After a moment, Rui finally stopped crying. By then, Tsukasa’s vest was damp with tears. Not that he minded at all.
“My apologies for dumping all of this on you, Tsukasa-kun,” Rui muttered, pulling away slightly. “I also apologise for worrying you and Nene and Emu-kun.”
Tsukasa smiled reassuringly at him. “No, it’s okay, Rui! I’m happy to listen to you whenever you’re upset! Also, please don’t worry us again.”
Rui nodded, giving him a small smile. “Likewise, if my Future Star is upset, he can come to me to talk about it, fufu~” he giggled as he kissed Tsukasa’s forehead.
Tsukasa grinned, cheeks flushing. “Thanks, my Director!” He gestured to Rui’s laptop, which was placed next to Rui, long forgotten. “Let’s get back to the movie, eh?”
Rui hummed. “I would like that.” He picked the laptop up and set it on his lap. Tsukasa leaned in closer as Rui started the movie.
Tsukasa was only half paying attention to the movie. He was mostly looking at Rui, who had on a faint smile as he watched the movie play out. He was so beautiful and handsome and everything in between those two words.
The star of Wonderlands x Showtime smiled before giving his fullest attention to the romantic comedy.
(What he did not know was that, when he wasn’t looking, Rui was giving him fond looks as well.)