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It's another one of those not out-of-the-ordinary days in Kamiyama highschool. Like usual, Rui ate his lunch with Tsukasa especially because he always accepted to take out the vegetables that Rui wasn't a big fan of. They attended their classes as usual too, Rui always liked to think about his new show ideas and discuss them with his troupe. As much as he was a brilliant student, His troupe was always his top priority.
When he heard the bell of the break before last class, he slowly stood up from his desk and made his way out of the class. As he was walking in the hallway he heard whispers coming from some students that were standing right infront of his locker which he was about to approach. He didn't quite understand what the whispers were about, as the only thing he really wanted in that moment was to use his locker and then walk straight back to his class. He stopped right infront of the group of students and observed them. Two girls and three boys. One of the girls was whispering to another boy in the group, giggling non-stop. The other two boys were being noisy as ever, the boy was showing the other one some crumpled up papers and making weird faces to make the other one laugh. Rui immediately recognized the papers as the boy waved his hands in the air and making the papers sway in the air. To Rui's surprise, the other girl was kind of hesitant. She didn't really want to participate her friends and mess with Rui's stuff. She stood a bit far away from them and kept playing with her dark curls while looking kind of nervous.
For a brief moment, Rui didn't know what to do. Normally he wouldn't mind them if it weren't for them to crumple his papers that showed the new features of the robots he was planning to make. This made him sigh uncomfortably, as he just stood right infront of them and directly looked at the crumpled up papers on the ground.
"Excuse me."
The girl with the other boy jumped and immediately turned at him, like a deer caught in headlights. The two noisy boys stopped with their thing and faced Rui, they weren't really the type to worry about being caught.
The part that Rui was mostly irritated about was that let alone being friends with them, he didn't know any of them.
If he knew something, it's that this wasn't going to be a nice conversation.
The blonde hair with a green fancy hat spoke.
"Oh, look who it is..."
Then one of the noisy boys bursts into laughter
"Man... Kamishiro. What on the earth are these papers? You don't actually plan to build these do ya?"
Rui blinks.
"Uh, i pretty much do. Is something bothering you about them so much that you couldn't help but crumple some?" He points at the crumpled sheets on the ground.
"Ah" the boy chuckles.
"These? Boy, that was sudden..."
The brown haired slim girl dives into the 'conversation' out of nowhere and steps closer to Rui.
"Kamishiro! Sorry for our little investigation but we couldn't help but wonder... Do you really have the friends who would be willingly go through your... Projects? Hm?"
The boy who is standing behind the girl nods like he agrees.
Rui dodges the question real quick, something that he wouldn't normally do. But at the moment, he is undeniably nervous and doesn't want to somehow make things worse.
"Well, i-"
"Listen, Kamishiro. As polite as we can be, you simply are not capable of thinking like a normal person would.
If i need to elaborate... You aren't a bad person but your ideas..."
The boy desperately tries to hold back his laugh while saying all of this.
The other boy who was crumbling up is sheets completes.
"You're outta your mind."
The whole group, excluding the girl who was standing a bit far from the others, start laughing loud enough for that floor they are on to hear.
Rui was about to stood his ground against them when suddenly the bell rang again.
The others quickly throw the rest of the papers on the ground and make their way into their class while still laughing.
He still stands there, unsure of what to do with the situation.
Then his eyes suddenly focuses on the girl that was with the group but didn't really joined them with their thing they called 'fun'
The girl gives him a quick glance that almost feels like she's saying "I'm sorry" then she quickly runs away.
And Rui is all alone again.
Not really.
His mind can't think of anything straight at that moment. It's like his entire body stopped functioning. He starts questioning himself if he should have really responded the way he did. His mind is racing with thoughts. So. Many. Thoughts.
"Shouldn't be worrying about a bunch of... people."
He reminds himself as he kneels down to gather his now ruined sheets of paper. After that, he makes his way to his classroom for the last hour. He sits down and buries his head into his desk, not wanting to think about what just happened at the hallway.
"Uhm... Kamishiro?"
One of his classmates asks shyly.
He lifts his head up and faces the girl like he was fine, but both knew he wasn't.
"Are you okay?.. you seem down.."
Rui just wants to deny that he feels overwhelmed and just wants to relax, so he does as he thinks and affirms he is fine.
The last class is History, but Rui has absolutely no intentions of listening to it. All he can ever think about is how he used to be severely bullied at middle school for the exact same reason why this group of people decided to mess with him today. People never approved his ideas and dreams. It seemed absolutely insane and dangerous to them which is sometimes... Was in fact dangerous.
But Rui never ever intended to hurt his friends. Regardless of what they thought about him. He always made sure his projects were safe to use.
If he could, he'd do anything for his friends and would love to achieve new things with them. But people were just too afraid to even talk to him. It wasn't his fault. Or was it?...
Rui's train if thoughts came to an end when the bell rang. He was now free to go home but he didn't feel like it. He was exhausted but somehow just didn't want to go home and face his problems so fast. He just wanted to clear his head a bit before that. He decided to take his sweet time before going home, it's not like anyone would worry about him since they didn't have show practice today.
He made his way to his favorite place, the rooftop. He always came here when things got a bit complicated. But ever since he was in Kamiyama, things never went this far with other people until today.
He took a deep breath and glanced at the sky. It was a pretty shade of orange as the sun was setting.
It was glorious.
Rui wanted to see more of it.
He stepped on the bench, and then
Held the railing tightly. He looked at the stars that were slowly starting to appear, admiring each of them even though they were just dots from down here.
He observed. He felt some things he couldn't really explain at that moment. The feeling of always looking for the place that you feel comfortable in. But never quite finding it. He wished he could just live in his fantasy world. Oh the things he would do for it.
"Ruuii! Where are you? We were supposed to walk home together!"
Tsukasa ranted to himself as he stopped in the middle of a hallway and leaned against the wall. Suddenly an idea popped up in his head about where he could be.
He paced fastly towards the rooftop and opened it's doors. They made a loud creaking noise as he did so.
The noise was enough for rui to snap out of his thoughts once again when he suddenly lost his balance.
Before he understood what had happened, he found himself on the floor, being held by his dear friend Tsukasa. Apparently he managed to catch his arm just in time and pulled him off the railing. He had this panicked look on his face as he tried to regain his composure and steady his breath.
As Rui was about to say something, Tsukasa bursted into tears and hugged him.
"What...-"
"WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING RUI?!"
Rui is now completely at a loss of words. But this time, instead of trying to explain, he just starts crying too.
"..."
The only thing that is audible at the moment is the noises of the swaying leaves in the chilly wind and the sobs of the two boys, holding onto eachother. They're in such a bad condition that they lower to the ground and just... Fall onto their knees. Neither of them thought how things could get a frightening turn such as this.
Tsukasa kept hugging him tightly, like if he hadn't, he would've slipped away under his arms.
Rui was already feeling down because of what happened today. And now that he was being hugged so tightly by Tsukasa, he cries even more and relieves all the stress that had been taking over his body.
After a while, when they finally calm down, Tsukasa clears his throat and begins to look away awkardly.
"I... Never knew you had thoughts like that."
This took Rui by surprise.
"I... Don't."
Tsukasa sniffles and raises his voice in a worried way.
"Then why?! Why were you like that? And why are you crying?!"
He says as he tries so hard not to completely break down.
"Well, i used to think about it."
Rui says as he looks away.
Tsukasa looks at him
"What?.."
"What happened today... It reminded me of middle school. I... I never wanted to remember those days. But... But i did."
Rui tries to gather himself.
"But, it's all in the past now, Tsukasa. It doesn't really affect me anymore. So... Don't worry about me. What happened just now, was an accident."
"No... No! You still carry those scars, don't you? I can see it! You can't... You can't just deny that!"
"I don't...!"
"I JUST DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER!" Rui lashes out on Tsukasa.
"Hey..! Hey! Look at me."
Tsukasa holds his wrists.
"It's okay. You're okay..."
He takes a deep breath and adds
"Listen, you don't have to tell me what happened when you were in middle school. But if you do want to tell me, I'm here."
Those words were enough to make Rui cry for a second time in a row now. He is certainly not the type to cry this much, but today's events sure left it's effects on him.
Tsukasa just looks at him, before pulling him into another hug, this time more softly.
"..."
"...Hey."
"Now that the school is over, let's go and get you some Soda candy. Then how about sitting near the wonder stage and just, relax for a while?"
Rui is now completely exhausted.
"...Okay. Thank you."
After walking for some time, they finally arrive at the Wonder stage. It sure looks different when you visit it while the sun is setting.
They sit down near the stage and start to eat their Soda candies and watch the beautiful sky slowly darkening.
Out of the blue, Rui starts to mumble
"Y'know, ever since I met you, I noticed I've been smiling more often than i ever had. You just have the charm that somewhat makes people feel safe and at ease. Thank you, my star."
Tsukasa blushes at the sudden confession, it affects him deeply. At that moment he realizes how much Rui himself and his words mean to him.
Tsukasa smiles in a sad, but also a sweet way.
"No... No. If it weren't for you, i wouldn't be in my current path if becoming a star. You're really important to each of us, Rui. I admire you, and I admire your ideas, and just please.. Don't ever feel like you're worthless. If I'm the star, It's all thanks to you, My director."
Rui stops and thinks to himself.
(Oh... I... I think I managed something. I've become an actual director, but most importantly someone dear to him.)
"Rui."
"Hm?"
Tsukasa grabs his hands and looks him in the eye.
"Promise me something. No matter what we have going on on our lives, we'll never give up and keep going... No matter what happens, we'll walk this path together."
Rui's lips curl into a gentle smile, then they slowly stand up and stretch.
"With the things we want to protect with our lives, which is the bond we have."
Tsukasa looks at Rui in shock, then just smiles. The two boys lock their eyes after. It's like they're drowning in each other's burning gaze.
Rui reaches out for Tsukasa's hand and holds it close.
"This... Just feels right."
The two slowly lean into eachother, and it happens.
It's a soft, gentle kiss that is shared by two people that have complicated feelings. The funny part is, Tsukasa feels the taste of Soda candy on Rui's lips.
After the kiss, they once again get lost in the eyes of eachother.
"This... Was an awkward day."
Tsukasa chuckles, just as awkward as the day.
Rui chuckles along with him
"What a day, indeed."
"It's getting late. Shall we go?"
Rui awaits for Tsukasa's response.
"..."
Rui looks at Tsukasa, wondering why he doesn't reply.
"I..."
"I FORGOT TO TELL SAKI THAT WE WERE GOING TO SIT AT THE WONDER STAGGEE!"
He quickly grabs his phone and calls his sister.
"SAAKIIII, I'M SORRY I DIDN'T TELL YOU, WE'RE COMING HOME RIGHT AWAY!!"
As this happens, Rui just stands there and admires what a big brother Tsukasa really is.
As the call ends, Tsukasa thinks of holding Rui's hand but it feels right not the right moment to do so.
Rui notices his will and holds his hand immediately. Smiling at him.
They give each other one more gentle glance, then start walking towards home. The sun has completely disappeared now.