Chapter Text
“Hey. Just so you know, I wanted nothing to do with this, so don’t get any ideas.”
Prince Kasa folded his arms, leaning down to meet Princess Emue’s eye level. Wow, he was tall. Princess Emu stared into his eyes, not really listening. His eyes faded from a tangerine orange to a lemony yellow. Fitting, considering how sour he was to her all the time! Rude!
“Just because it’s an arranged marriage and all doesn’t mean that we’re going to be together.” He flipped his ponytail over his shoulder. “I’m retiring to my quarters. Try your best not to bother me.” He huffed, turning away and walking down the halls.
Princess Emue watched him with fascination. His boots made a wonderful click with each step he took. “Kasaaaaa!” She yelled after him. Her voice echoed down the hall. Prince Kasa looked back. Gosh, his hair was so pretty. How did he do that? It was blonde, then orange, then blonde again. Amazing! Princess Emue thought he was the greatest thing since sliced red bean cakes.
“That’s Prince Kasa!” He shouted back, cupping his hands for maximum loudness.
“Prince Kasa, have a wonderhoy niiiiight!” Princess Emue jumped and waved at him. He turned away without another word, his fists clenched at his side.
“Whatever! Goodnight, Princess!” He scoffed.
He quietly shut the door behind him. Slamming the door would draw attention. Despite how much he loved being the star of the kingdom, attention was the last thing he wanted right now. He pulled out his hair ribbon and threw it angrily across his quarters. An arranged marriage? Were Mother and Father joking ?
Granted, the Otori kingdom was notoriously rich.
However, their youngest daughter was a pain in the neck to be around as much as she was cute and hyper. If only she could sit still and learn some refinement! Prince Kasa inspected himself in the mirror, combing his hair with his fingers.
If the Princess were to be more refined, she would have a long way to go to catch up with the world’s most handsome Prince, Prince Kasa thought to himself, dusting off his perfect clothes.
Prince Kasa noticed something in his reflection. Behind him on his nightstand, a small, misshapen, yellowish-orange folded envelope that wasn’t there before. He tilted his head, poking it with curiosity. It was shaped funny. He crouched down, unfolding it slowly.
He unfolded it.
And unfolded it some more.
And unfolded it again.
There didn’t seem to be a letter inside. He crushed it with his fist in frustration. No doubt another one of the princess’s insipid little pranks, sneaking into his room and leaving scraps of paper with no meaning. He should’ve known, he had been getting random papers appearing at every corner ever since they got engaged,
Prince Kasa flung open his door to confront her.
There was no need. A blob of pink stood in his lower peripheral vision.
The princess was already there.
“K-Kasa!” She jumped, with a nervous smile on her face.
“ Prince. Kasa.” He responded coldly. “I’d like it if you treated me with the same respect my family is forced to treat you, Princess Emue.” He wasn’t really as mad as he sounded, but he played strictly to see if he could knock some sense into her.
Prince Kasa felt a little guilty. She looked so innocent and cute.
N-no, no, no! This girl is a nuisance!
Princess Emu looked at her feet, averting her gaze. She covered her blushing face with her bubblegum pigtails. It took a while for her to get her words out.
“D-did…” she took a deep breath, flapping her hands as she spoke. “Did you get my letter? W-well, all of them! You know, since I’ve been leaving a lot. I really liked that one because it looked like your hair. I’ve left them for y-” she rambled quickly, Prince Kasa leaned down and put a finger to her lips.
“Yes, I’ve been finding them hidden in some really annoying spots.” He said through gritted teeth. “I’d appreciate it if you stopped leaving me colored paper, your sorry excuse for a letter has no words on it.”
Princess Emue’s face lost its smile.
“T-they’re…” she looked down again. It was remarkably out of character for her to be so quiet, not meeting his eyes.
“…they’re flowers. The letters a-are… they’re the flower’s meanings. I-i orig…oragim ..origami’d them.” She tapped the crumpled paper in Prince Kasa’s hand with her fingertip.
“Clovenslip Toadflax.”
Prince Kasa looked down at his hands. It was a delicate paper, with a soft buttery color and leafy bronze imprints. The creases were symmetrical and smooth, but there were multiple creases that overlapped. Princess Emue had clearly spent a long time trying to fix her mistakes and make sure it looked perfect.
“Here. I took out the papers you threw away from the trash. I redid them and wrote the meanings, if you wanna take a look. Here, I’ll do the Toadflax too.” Her face was not bubbly and sweet anymore, but rather somber.
She brought out her quill and wrote some words down on the paper, and pressed it back into his hands along with a handful of other paper flowers.
They all were crumpled. Prince Kasa felt a searing pang of guilt. His words caught in his throat.
“E-emue…I-I didn-”
“ Princess Emue. Goodnight, Prince Kasa. I’ll see you tomorrow for our arranged wedding.” She turned and walked down the hall. Her shoes made no noise.
Prince Kasa stood at his doorway, holding the paper flowers. He gently opened them to look at the writing.
Purple Hydrangea. A desire to understand and know someone.
Yellow Spider Lily. Everlasting friendship and happiness.
Zinnia. Thinking of you.
Snowdrop. Hope.
Arbutus. You are the only one I love.
Astragalus. Your presence softens my pain.
Prince Kasa flipped over the light orange flower he found minutes ago.
Clovenslip Toadflax. Please notice my love for you.
He stared at the words. Her handwriting was loopy and gentle, yet her words were brimming with optimism. Please notice my love for you.
Prince Kasa felt crushed.
No, not crushed.
Empty.
“Oh, Lady Emue, you’re gorgeous! You’re a lucky girl, the Tenma boy is one of the best looking in the land.” The wedding helper squealed, decorating Princess Emue’s hair with silk and flowers.
Princess Emue sat unmoving. “If only his heart could match the beauty he was gifted with that was skin-deep. If you could remove the flowers, I would like to go to my wedding with as few of those as possible.” She smiled wearily.
“Are you sure, milady? It matches your beautiful pink hair so well. As you wish, Princess.” The servant pulled the flowers out of Princess Emue’s pigtails.
When the girl was gone, Princess Emue sat staring at her reflection. She looked like a bride.
Princess Emue was mad at herself. She truly did love the prince.
Why did he hate her so? Did she not do everything she could?
She forced a smile.
No matter! Princess Emue was sure he’d come around. Nobody could resist the power of a good Wonderhoy!
Her smile dropped. She practiced smiling in the mirror. “Wonderhoy~!” She whispered to herself.
Clatter.
Princess Emue whipped around.
“Hello? Who’s there?” A shadowy figure slipped out of her room, carrying Princess Emue’s stack of origami papers and flowers in their hands as they ran out.
Princess Emue stayed seated, watching them make away with her paper. She didn’t like origami and flowers much anymore. Then she noticed her wedding ring, sitting on the same table, went missing. Her father was going to kill her if she lost the ring under her watch.
She leapt up after her intruder.
“Hey- stop!” She shouted, trying to catch up. The thief ran into the gardens. She chased them deeper and deeper, the rose bushes seemed to tower over her head. Her wedding dress was riddled with small holes and scrapes. She couldn’t even keep her dress in good condition. She felt so useless. A tear spilled out of her eye. And then another. She pressed her fists against her eyes to keep herself from sobbing.
“H-hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, d-don’t cry!” The thief leapt out of the bushes.
“Look, it’s just me, see?” Prince Kasa managed a weak smile. “Uh, tada!” His wedding suit was scratched up a bit as well.
Princess Emue saw him and cried harder.
“Wh- uh, Princess? Wait, I…” Prince Kasa panicked a bit. He never had to deal with someone crying. He usually just sent a servant to fix it. He gently took hold of her wrists and moved them away from her face. “Look, I…” he trailed off.
“Um. I said a lot of awful things- I-I- just didn’t really understand what you were doing for me. I liked it, I promise. H-here, take this.” Prince Kasa placed an origami flower in her hands. Princess Emue wiped her tears and took the flower, tears still silently pouring out of her eyes. She looked at it, this wasn’t one of the ones she made.
The shape was rougher and asymmetrical. “I, uh, couldn’t get the shape right. So I wrote inside because you can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be.” She unwrapped it.
Rainflower. I atone for my faults. I’ll never forget you. I love you back.
Princess Emue stared at the paper resting in her palms. “Is this really what it means? I feel like you just made that up.” She whispered.
Prince Kasa’s face tinged with pink. He didn’t really know the first thing about botany. He just flipped through a book about flowers and how to make funny sculptures with paper.
“It does. I mean, I think it does. But even if it doesn’t, that’s what I really feel.”
Princess Emue looked up at his face. Her face was blank, but she was suppressing a smile.
“Feel what? How do you feel?”
Prince Kasa’s face heated up a little again.
“I… I think I like you? I mean, not even with the whole arranged marriage thing, I guess you kind of, like-”
Princess Emue cupped his face with her hands.
“Say it in one word. Starts with a W and ends with a hoy.”
Prince Kasa pressed his hands on top of hers. Her hands felt so nice.
“Uhh…”
“Say ‘I feel Wonderhoy.’” She put his forehead on his. “Say it.” She pouted.
“U-um. I feel… w-w…” Prince Kasa’s eyes drifted to the side. She was too cute to look at directly.
“W-wonder…hoy…” he buried his face into his hands. What a stupid, childish, embarrassing word. It was stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Prince Kasa’s face was practically searing from how red he was.
“Princess Emue…?” He whispered, his face in his tucked knees.
“I’m sorry for taking your things just now. I took them hoping you would follow me.”
Princess Emue beamed. “It's not a problem! I thought it was real cool that you snuck in. Like a ninja!”
“I, uh, also took something else. I was hoping for our whole relationship to, you know, be…” he pulled a tiny box out of his pocket. “On our own terms, not our parents’.”
He awkwardly got on one knee, opening the box. “Even though we’re already technically engaged, w-will you…marry me?”
Princess Emue's jaw dropped dramatically.
“For real? No cap? On god?”
“Uh, I’m not sure what that means, but if you’re wondering if I jest, I’m not. I love you, Pr- I mean… Emue.”
Princess Emue tackled him, pinning him to the ground. They were covered with dirt.
“You’re the worst! Saying all those things to me! You really switched up, Kasa! Meanie!” She glowed with joy. She patted his face and chest, not really sure where to put her excess energy.
The prince blinked. “Is…that a yes?”
She flung her arms around him.
“Of course! Yesyesyesyes!! Kasaaaaa! I love you!”
“I- can’t- breathe- you’re- choking- me-”
King and Queen Tenma gasped, offended. The Otori family only sighed with disappointment, as if they were already used to their daughter’s shenanigans. Lady Saki clapped politely.
Princess Emue ran out onto the church hall, her clothes tattered and stained with dirt.
Prince Kasa stood at the altar, beaming at her arrival. His suit was as grimy as hers.
She ran up to h
“Tsukasa. Are all your play scripts going to follow this trope?” Rui pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Hey, hey. Keep reading. You’re missing the part where they get married.”
“They are very clearly you and Emu.”
“So?”
Emu strained to look over Rui’s shoulder.
“This part’s a banger! Rui, we kiss at the end, don’t we?”
“…I’m moving onto your next piece.”