Chapter Text
Rui Kamishiro just couldn't ever find himself not thinking about Tsukasa Tenma. From early mornings to late nights, his thoughts about the enthusiastic chairman of the troupe would never get out of his head—no matter how hard he tried to—to the point where he would just stare off into space while in the middle of working on his projects, something that had never happened to him before as he'd usually zone out during other, (usually) less interesting tasks or conversations to think about whatever creation of his he had on his mind, not the other way around.
But that's besides the point. Why Tsukasa? Why did his confident and bold self make Rui feel a certain fluttering inside his chest? Was it the fact that he was the first to ever approach him outright despite the outrageous amount of rumors about the eccentric transfer student? Was it the way that he always kept his promise to follow through with Rui's stage directions and other ideas regardless of the risk? Or was it the way that the World Future Star talked about his own dream so passionately?
For once in his life, Rui had no answer to such a question.
He didn't even know what he was feeling for him.
He never had someone fog up his mind so intensely, especially with it being someone he had only met almost a year ago. In fact, whatever strong feelings he felt towards others in the past couldn't ever come just as close to this feeling either.
So just why couldn't he stop thinking about what his knotted up feelings and praises for Tsukasa were even instead of the stage even as the man himself practiced his solo for the special show tomorrow night? Really, a director who couldn't even remember to concentrate on the actor he was supposed to help nurture even as he was thinking about them must've been the most otherworldly concept to have ever existed.
But even as Rui began to take watching his actor’s performance seriously, he couldn't help but simply be mesmerized by the star's performance. Feeling as if he were just another common audience member at one of their shows. The director's job along with the rest of the troupe's at that moment was to watch and give comments on the performance. With critiques being one of the most important types of comments and yet; he couldn't exactly find any of them. To be fair, music wasn't exactly his forte anyway, even with the couple of praises here and there that he's received on his voice. But he usually could at least pinpoint a few small things about Tsukasa that he found he could work on, whether it be controlling his breathing more or about his movements not being very in character or any other small nitpick Rui may have had at the moment.
But this newfound perfection was all too different from Tsukasa simply having improved his singing overnight. Rui was the one not paying much attention to anything other than the pure star power that Tsukasa enveloped himself and the broken down Wonder Stage with as he performed.
And yet, as he looked around at Emu and Nene for a few moments, he immediately noticed that he was the only one feeling anything different about Tsukasa's performance. Emu was as cheerful and supportive as ever and Nene was—as always when it came to specifically Tsukasa's singing—contorting her face slightly whenever she heard him land a note that was even the slightest bit too sharp or flat. Whether it started as a small inside joke to herself or if it was just a natural reaction to Tsukasa, he didn't know. What Rui did know however, was that something was most definitely wrong with himself.
The way that he just couldn't take his eyes off of Tsukasa even as the final rehearsal came to a close made him even more self conscious.
And it happened to be something that the star definitely took notice of as when Rui sat on a bench backstage after practice, he could immediately hear Tsukasa's quick, over-the-top footsteps approach him and without any words having been said, placed a hand on the other's forehead.
"Tsukasa-kun...?" Rui started as he looked up at the star confusedly, feeling his heartbeat quicken. An anxious feeling was starting to bubble up from underneath it.
"I was just wondering about something since you seemed a bit off today, even more than usual... Turns out you're not sick, thank goodness." Tsukasa noted as he took his hand off of Rui's forehead, causing his friend’s uneven purple bangs to fall back into place.
"I already know about how much you worry about Saki's health I would've told you if I were feeling sick so that-"
"No, it's not about Saki. I just found it strange how you’ve been staring off into space throughout practice a lot lately. It's my responsibility as chairman to make sure that everyone's okay and if something's going on that's affecting yourself or the troupe, you should tell me." Tsukasa interrupted, his tone of voice being more mature than usual as he spoke.
"Oh, it's really nothing. I just haven't been sleeping all that well-" Rui replied with a small, slightly guilty smile before getting interrupted, he wasn't ever really good at lying... And it wasn't that the expression he wore was always a dead giveaway, but...
"YOU NEVER SLEEP WELL!!" Tsukasa immediately shouted, his booming voice loud enough to have been heard from the changing rooms all the way across the backstage area. “I of all people should know that!!!”
"Well, I didn't sleep too well compared to usual... I was up tinkering with the robots and everything for the show since it was so close and there was too much to check to leave for just the day before and..." He responded as he ran a hand through his messy strands of hair, his smile was becoming even more telling than it already was. Although, he wasn't really lying as much as he was simply leaving everything that didn't have to do with the show the next day out.
And of course, Tsukasa just couldn't help but let out a sigh as he realized that going back and forth with Rui about his strange behavior would accomplish nothing in the end. "Fine then. Just try to be mindful about your jumbled up sleep schedule later tonight so that we're well prepared for the show here tomorrow." He replied in defeat as he started to go over to the changing rooms.
Rui simply stayed in place, brushing down his bangs into place as Tsukasa walked away. Staring at him until he was out of sight while he thought about it all.
Upon Rui changing into his casual clothes and Tsukasa leaving Phoenix Wonderland for the day without many words having been exchanged between the two since discussing Rui’s disorganized sleep schedule, Rui's childhood best friend herself caught him during a train of Tsukasa-related thoughts while sitting on the edge of the old stage. His legs dangling only about three feet away from the heavily cracked pavement.
"Something on your mind?" Nene asked as she stared up at the director, really, a question like that couldn't be classified as anything other than rhetorical.
"Yeah." Rui replied simply, only then landing feet first onto the hard ground, yet with his mind still floating in mid air.
"It's about Tsukasa, isn't it?" Nene said with a small sigh before speaking after a seemingly long pause between them, basically seeing right through him with her simple response.
"H-how'd you know?" Rui asked, almost snapping out of his frozen state as he stared at his childhood friend with his usually calm, yellow eyes in a now completely open state.
"You two weren't particularly quiet back there, plus, now that I think about it, you have been acting a bit weird and staring at Tsukasa a lot more lately..." She replied, thinking about Rui's somewhat unusual but mostly unnotable behavior over the past few days.
"Was I really that obvious?" Rui asked, his heart racing as he hoped to God that no one hated him for it.
"Not really, it took me until your conversation with Tsukasa for me to realize that it wasn't just me seeing things, so I doubt that Emu would've-"
And as if on cue, the pink bringer of smiles that is Emu Otori appeared, though rather unconventionally.
"WONDERHOY!!!" Emu hollered as she did her signature pose after front flipping out of a very lonely (and misplaced) bush until landing on her feet rather impressively. Emu seemed to have a talent for… being talented in rather strange things. And for as to how Rui and Nene didn't notice the rather small, conveniently placed bush while they chatted right next to the stage, no one knew.
"Emu?!" Nene exclaimed as she looked upon her troupe member in pure shock. "What were you doing there!?" She continued as Rui just stared at Emu in pure amazement. Not that he'd even dare to actually carry out any idea that popped into his mind at the time with anyone other than Mr. Perform-anything-with-12,000%-of-my-effort, even with Emu's insane flexibility and athleticism sparking the very thing.
"Well, it wasn't really hard to get in in the first place. I just received some help from Kigurumi-san over there~" Emu replied as she pointed over towards a not very well-hidden mascot costume of one of the park's characters, as he now disappeared back into the bushes. The large painted-on eyes of the costume's mask stared at the cast members as he did so.
"Doesn't really seem like Emu-kun's bodyguards are all that good at hiding..." Rui mumbled to himself before turning his attention back over to the troupe's most energetic and positive cast member.
"Anyways, I was only there because you two normally hang out here to talk about stuff between just you two and I didn't want to be left out of it this time. Especially with Rui-kun acting all wishy-washy lately!" She continued, placing her hands on her hips as she stared up at the two childhood friends.
"So it was obvious..." Rui said as he stared down at the ground in slight embarrassment.
"Well yeah, it must have been if everyone here caught on." Nene replied with a small sigh as she placed a hand behind her neck to scratch it.
"Mhm, Rui-kun usually smiles a lot and does a lot of other weird things when he's hiding something. It wasn't hard to tell." Emu grinned as she stared at him.
"But I wasn't really trying to hide anything from anyone, just Tsukasa-kun..." Rui explained as he ruffled his hair.
"But aren't you always around Tsukasa...?" Nene shot back with a raised brow.
"Not all the time, it's just that he needs help with writing scripts and analyzing characters for his roles sometimes and we also eat lunch together on the school rooftop every day and..." Rui said as he started to feel his face flush slightly as it donned on him. They were in the same class, troupe, and what most would've considered to be best friends for the past year. Nene wasn't wrong about the two of them at all.
"Sounds like Rui-kun really likes spending time with Tsukasa-kun..." Emu murmured inaudibly as she stared at the ground for a few seconds with visible wheels turning in her mind before gasping and looking over at Nene with her eyes widened.
"Emu-kun...?" Rui asked as with a concerned face, stared at the pink haired girl.
She immediately broke out of her daze before laughing suspiciously and staring back up at the director. "It's nothing. Can I just ask you something, Rui-kun?" Emu asked, a small idea starting to form in her mind.
"Sure..?" He asked, wondering about what she's up to as Nene also begins to stare at her awkwardly.
"You said that you were thinking about Tsukasa-kun when I was overhearing your conversation with Nene-chan earlier. What about him were you even actually thinking about?" Emu inquired, looking to see if her fuzzy idea of what Rui was feeling was right.
"Um... All of it???" Rui answered confusedly without much thinking. He couldn't exactly pinpoint one thing he'd focus on when thinking about Tsukasa.
"Really?" Nene asked with a sort of surprised expression. "You must've been thinking about something like his acting or launching him into space or whatever you like doing with him if you were just staring off into space while thinking about the guy."
"Well, I was just thinking about him, not about anything specific. I've actually been doing that a lot lately... It's actually become quite the problem, I haven't really been able to focus on working on robots and everything else at night without having Tsukasa-kun pop up in my mind in the middle of nowhere..." Rui said, becoming more embarrassed by the second as he kept on talking about it, his hand going around to scratch at the nape of his neck. It felt like Tsukasa was becoming like another one of his obsessions...
Nene couldn't help but sigh as she stared at her childhood friend. He was what most would've considered a genius and yet, when it came to his own emotions, he was a complete and utter idiot. "I really think that you should look back and realize what you just said. There's no way you're this dumb, Rui."
"Yeah. I know what I'm thinking is weird, Nene, but I want actual advice." Rui replied as his tone became slightly more serious as he spoke.
"Have you ever thought of the fact that what's happening is that you might feel something for Tsukasa?" Nene suggested, her eyes staring up at her friend.
"W-what...?"
"I mean, do you think that you like him? And Romantically, to be more specific." Nene asked as she looked back at Emu. The befuddled look on the shorter girl’s face was almost adorable as she stared up at Rui, watching Nene being so bold with her wording and suggestion of there being some one sided feelings between the director and future star was something straight out of a Shojo manga.
Rui paused for a few moments before immediately responding to her question with a telling smile. "Do you really think I'd feel that way towards a friend? I really don't-"
"You really should get better at lying, Rui. You'll never convince anyone by acting like that." Nene sighed.
"Like how?" Rui asks in the exact same tone.
"Rui-!"
"Nene! We should help Rui with what he's feeling instead of just arguing!" Emu interrupted as she tugged on the taller girl's arm.
"It's fine Emu-kun, we should probably focus on the show tomorrow instead of about whatever's coming over me. Especially with us performing on the Wonder Stage again for a couple of shows after quite a while. It's more important than whatever thoughts I may be having about Tsukasa-kun." Rui said, shaking his head slightly as he rejected the idea of admitting anything right then and there, especially since he himself didn't know whether he was feeling something for the star or if it was just a strong sense of friendship.
"But..." Emu continued before being stopped.
"Don't worry, I can take care of whatever I'm thinking of by myself. Thank you for trying to help." Rui said with a soft smile, trying to make her forget about it.
But she just couldn't, really.
Ever since Saki let her borrow one of the romance manga she had lying around her bedroom, she couldn't quite get the topic of love out of the back of her mind. And knowing that a best friend of hers was in such distress over his feelings that he was seemingly just starting to uncover about one of his best friends, she just couldn't let them stay dormant!
So when the next day finally arrived, Emu immediately barged into classroom 2-B and once spotting the more than familiar blonde-haired girl finishing up her homework at her desk, she threw her arms around her from behind.
"Good morning!!!"
If there was anyone else who she could've entrusted with the task of getting the two together, the more closed off one of the two's sister, an expert on romance manga, couldn't have been any better of a choice.
"'Morning, Emu!" Saki says with a small laugh after shaking off her first few moments of the initial shock and surprise from the small tackle.
Emu smiles for a few moments before staring down at her friend's math homework for a few seconds, noticing that she was stuck on a question. "Oh, the answer on that one is C. The fact that it's the only fraction there makes you mistrust it... How sneaky!" She teases as she points to it.
Saki laughs for a few moments as she neatly circles the answer. "So that was right... I asked Onii-chan about it yesterday and he kept on telling me that it was that one because it stood out the most. That normally doesn't work though so I didn't know whether or not to trust him that time." She recounts with a slightly awkward smile as she thinks about her admittedly sort of pathetic brother.
"That does sound a lot like Tsukasa-kun..." Emu murmured as she stared off into space, her eyes landing on the twin tailed girl's now complete homework.
"So is there something on your mind? You usually don't daydream in the middle of nowhere like that, or at least, I haven't seen you do that before." Saki noted, putting her homework back into her organized bookbag.
With a small nervous laugh, Emu swallowed down her anxiety before looking straight at her classmate. "So yesterday, Rui-kun sort of admitted that he had a crush on Tsukasa-kun in a way..." She nervously smiled as she ran her fingers through the border of her pink jacket.
Saki seemingly froze in place for a few seconds with her bag on her lap, hand still in the process of putting away the worksheet before finally speaking. "Rui-san... likes Onii-chan...?" She asked, almost in a state of disbelief as she recounts the times she's seen the director with her older brother, trying to see their relationship in a different sort of lense than usual.
"Mhm..." Emu quietly hummed in response as she let the twin-tailed girl think for a bit.
"Huh, I never knew that Rui-san was the type to be into men. Guess it makes sense though, thinking back..." Saki accidentally said aloud, but didn't even try to take back in the slightest.
Emu let out a sound that could only have been described as a sort of squeak upon hearing her bubbly classmate's unusually blunt words. The more anticipated outcome was that the girl would've been dumbfounded and possibly angry or disappointed upon learning about her brother being the focus of Rui's tangled up feelings. "So, what do you think of it?" Emu asked rather awkwardly as she stared at her classmate.
"Well, first things first," Saki started, standing up from her seat and slamming her palms on the glossy wooden desk, the pink ends of her pigtails flying with the momentum of her actions.
"We need to know about how he feels about Rui-san!"