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“Nene-chan, Rui-kun!” Emu yelled out to the green and purple-haired duo as they appeared in SEKAI.
“Hello, Emu-kun,” Rui nodded towards Emu, “Where is Tsukasa-kun?”
“Eh?” Emu spun her whole body around, trying to catch sight of the loud blond, “I saw him earlier!”
“Well, that means we just have to find him then!” Rui chuckled, “We can start off…Over there.” Rui pointed in a random direction.
“Operation Find-Tsukasa-kun-In-SEKAI starts!”
Minutes go by, and the trio has not found their troupe leader anywhere. They have come across some virtual singers, but none of them have seen Tsukasa either. They all progressively get more concerned as time passes. The Wonderland SEKAI is a pretty big place, and Rui knows from experience it is easy to get lost in. It would be safe to assume Tsukasa would’ve texted them complaining he was lost by now if he was lost.
The three eccentric troupe members eventually make their way back to a nearby tent. But, Emu spots something strange.
“Ehh? Guys!” Emu turned around, “Do you see this weird door over there?” She pointed at the strange door.
“Oh? Now that you mention it…”
“Maybe Tsukasa-kun went through the door!” Emu gasped at the possibility.
“Probably. Only an idiot like him would go through a door—” Nene started,
“—Let’s go through the door too!” Before Emu interrupted her.
“No.”
“Aww…Come on, Nene. Tsukasa-kun could be right inside that door and we wouldn’t know if we didn’t go inside!” Rui said with his usual theatrics.
“Seriously, you too?” Nene groaned, “Nevermind. I should be expecting that.”
“I see no harm in going through the door.” Rui decided.
“Yay~! Let’s go in!” Emu went up to the door and opened it.
“Emu wait–!” Before Nene could finish, Emu had already gone inside the door and vanished before their eyes.
“Oh my. Quite an interesting phenomenon. Let’s head in, Nene.” Rui smiled towards his childhood friend and made his way to the door.
“I have an incredibly bad feeling about this…”
—
“Umph!”
Nene found herself in the strangest place she’s ever been. And that’s saying something, considering how Rui’s garage looks. The place had a purple and blue tint to it, pillars decorating the walls. Nene found that below her was a giant book, opened to a random page. She couldn’t really see the words on the page from her position, however it strangely reminded her of a play they had performed a while ago. She tried to read the words on the page, and landed on a familiar name: Torpe. They had performed a show about Torpe the Pianist! She found comfort in the fact that there was something in this room she knew about.
She glanced around and saw bits of furniture scattered about. In the center, she saw a decently sized piano, and was that Tsukasa sitting on the bench? It didn’t look exactly like Tsukasa, though. He wore a cap and Nene could see a coat on his shoulders as a cape. Outlines of stars were floating from the pages into the air. Nene quietly walked up to Tsukasa, and he caught attention of her.
“Hello there.” Tsukasa(?) spoke in a soft voice. Completely unlike the Tsukasa she knew.
“Uhm... Hi.” Nene stammered, “Do you know where we are?”
“You must have gone through a strange door to reach me, correct? This is a place of memories. I’m a figment of the Tsukasa you know.” The Tsukasa softly chuckled, turning his attention to the piano. Nene liked this guy a whole lot better than the normal Tsukasa.
“Yeah… Do you know where my friends are?”
“They must be in different rooms. Assuming you all went through the door at different times.”
“I see. Do you know where I could find them?”
“You will have to all go through different doors until you find each other once again. But, I don’t know how long that would take..” The Tsukasa mumbled at the end.
“Do you know where the door for this room is?”
“I do.” He mumbled again.
“Could you show me where it is?”
“In a little bit. Would you like to hear me play in the meantime?” He turned around and softly smiled at Nene.
“S...Sure.”
The blond started playing the piano after her confirmation. It was a beautiful tune, played in a way that matched the energy of this place. It almost sounded like a lullaby, and Nene could imagine herself falling asleep to a song like this. Maybe she could convince Tsukasa to play for them during a sleepover someday.
“It may not be my best position to say, but Tsukasa really cherishes you all.” The male began, continuing to play as he spoke, “He doesn’t know where he would be without you all.”
Nene felt herself blush. Tsukasa has always thanked them for spending time with him, with his usual high energy, but to hear it gently feels different, in a pleasant way. The Tsukasa continued to play with a soft smile. Nene saw a soft glow out of the corner of her eye, and a door appeared.
“There’s the door,” The blond smiled, “I don’t know what or who else you will encounter, so I wish you luck on your future endeavors.” He proceeded to keep playing the piano.
Nene turned to the door and opened it. Right before she went in, she saw what seemed to be a palace hallway before her vision fading to white.
—
Emu found herself not where she expected herself to be. It seemed to be a ballroom of sorts, colorful balloons floating around and white lilies decorated the pillars surrounding the room. There were many sections with different treasures on display in glass cases, and when Emu looked up towards the ceiling she saw many balconies with large windows. She then saw a yellow ribbon dancing across with elegance, and then…
“TSUKASA-KUN!” Emu yelled out, running towards the blond. As she ran closer, however, the blond wasn’t the regular Tsukasa she knew. For one, he was wearing a tuxedo adorned with white lilies, and his hair was longer, and was tied with a white bow. Emu stopped herself before she ran into the Tsukasa doppelgänger. She saw him startled before calming down to greet her.
“Hello! I don’t seem to recognize you!” The doppelgänger said cheerfully, taking her hands into his own, “You seem like a nice young lady though!”
Emu’s face flushed red, “Thankyousoverymuchyouareverykindandhandsome!” Emu sputtered, the Tsukasa smiled, albeit very confused, “Do you know where I am? Have you seen any of my friends?”
“Considering I haven’t seen you before, you are definitely not from here. This is known as a memory room, created from the original Tsukasa’s memories. As for your friends, I haven’t seen anyone other than you, apologies.” The Tsukasa sadly smiled.
“That’s okay!” Emu gave him a big smile, “Do you know how to get out of this room? I went through a door to get in, but I don’t see it anywhere!”
“You’ll see it eventually, don’t worry. Though I don’t think you’ll go back to where you came from.. But, I don’t know where you will go..” The male bowed in front of Emu apologetically, “Would you like to dance with me?”
“I don’t really know what we would be dancing…” Emu sulked.
“Don’t worry!” He chuckled, “Just let your spirit guide you! I’ll take the lead!” He took his hands in Emu’s and started to twirl her around, Emu giggling in return.
The pair started to glide across the ballroom floor. Tsukasa, as promised, took the lead and Emu felt herself relaxing as she knew what to do. The yellow ribbon twirled around, following the two as they danced. Emu had no idea where it came from, considering Tsukasa wasn’t holding it in his hands.
“Soooo! What do you do around here?” Emu asked, curious.
“I’m a prince for the palace you’re in. I’m known as the White Lily Prince.” He closed his eyes, smiling.
“Whoaa! That’s so cool!” Emu’s eyes lit up with stars, “Hehe~ You must be a dependable prince!”
“Ah.” The prince got sheepish, “The people say I am.”
“You must be! You must be the most wonderhoy prince!”
“Won….Wonderhoy..?” The prince questioned.
“Wonderhoy!” The prince blinked, and sighed in resignation. He wouldn’t try to understand what that meant.
They continued to dance in a comfortable silence. Tsukasa twirled Emu around him, and then bowed when the dance ended. Emu noticed a door appear out of the corner of her eye.
“There’s your door,” The Tsukasa smiled, “Good luck on your future encounters, and good luck finding your friends, and your Tsukasa of course!” The Tsukasa turned around and then continued to dance.
Emu ran towards the door, and right as she opened it, she saw an entirely different scene. It seemed to be a city at night, covered in LEDs. She went through the door after she turned around and smiled at the White Lily Prince for a final time.
—
“Oof.” Rui found himself on the ground in something reminiscent of a backstage. He’s going to have such horrid back problems tomorrow. What a pity.
He stood up, and dusted off his clothes. Glancing around, this was quite a strange place. It didn’t seem to be the backstage of the regular show tent they use when practicing in SEKAI. Rather, hourglasses were decorated along the walls, each on their own separate timers. He saw a large set of stairs leading into a source of light; something he will investigate later. Looking closer at the walls, he saw lines of curtains decorated with stars and moons. He smiled at the details, this seems like a place Tsukasa would like.
He turned around and saw a giant fabric on the ground that reminded him of Tsukasa’s favorite flag, named Flaggy (Rui will never understand why Tsukasa named that flag of his, but he digresses). Rui went over to it and ran his hands on the fabric. It certainly matched the texture of Tsukasa’s flag.
“Another human?!” A voice yelled out. Rui couldn’t process who he thought it was until said voice came barreling into him. The voice wrapped his arms around Rui in a death hug, similar to an Emu hug. Rui could see the person possibly wearing a tuxedo, with black gloves on his hands. Rui turned his head the best he could to look at the person, and could only see a head of blond, looking and styled similarly to Tsukasa’s hair.
“Tsukasa-kun..?” The boy didn’t respond, continuing to hug him like if he let go Rui would vanish right in front of him. Rui tried to pat the boy’s arms, so that he could breathe better.
“You’re warm.” The boy mumbled into Rui’s back. He stopped hugging Rui as tightly as he was. Rui turned around to face the boy, and saw he wasn’t quite like the Tsukasa Rui knew. The Tuxedo he wore was decorated with flowers as a brooch, and the smile he wore was full of sadness. The boy went back to hugging Rui, and he buried his face into Rui’s chest. Rui’s face flushed red and he started to card his hands through the blond’s silky hair.
“I don’t want to be cold again…” Rui heard the Tsukasa mumble quietly. Rui continued to card through the Tsukasa’s hair for a few silent moments.
“Sorry to ruin the moment, but do you know where we are?” Rui questioned.
“Oh…You’re not from here.” The male mumbled, “This is a memory room. Based on the memories and the sides of the Tsukasa you know.”
“Interesting. Do you know how to get out of here?” Rui gave a cat-like smile.
“You want to leave?” The boy asked in an almost childlike voice. Rui couldn’t believe that this was a ‘side’ of Tsukasa, “I guess I can understand that. You went through a door to get in, didn’t you?”
“I have, yes.” Rui raised an eyebrow.
“You’ll have to find the door to leave. I think it's up there.” The boy pointed up the stairs, “Though this won’t be the only room you’ll experience. I cannot speak on the number of rooms you’ll go through, however.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“Of course. Thank you for coming by. It gets lonely here…” The boy trailed off, staring at one of the hourglasses on the wall. Rui frowned. The blond reminded him of himself during middle school.
But, Rui knows he shouldn’t stay here for long. He can think more about this later. He begins to walk up the stairs, but takes a glance back and sees the blond fixing some of the hourglasses with a frown on his face. Rui sighs and continues on his way. The door he finds is already open and he could see a colorful palace with plenty of different flowers. He walked inside without looking back.
“It seems like I’ll be lonely again…”
—
Emu found herself in a bustling city. Flashy lights decorated the buildings, and lit up the whole city. She looked up towards the sky, and saw it was nighttime. With the lights that brightened up everything, she couldn’t even notice it was nighttime. It felt rather eerie. The city did seem similar to Shibuya, so Emu found her way quite easily.
She finally took a glance at the people around her, and saw instead of regular heads, the heads were cameras or televisions. All the people were constantly looking at their phones as they walked around, constantly bumping into one another without a care. Even the kids had cameras or televisions on their heads, which made Emu sad. She recalled that the previous Tsukasa said these places were “memory rooms”, yet this place felt like a new world.
Well, she had to find Tsukasa! With newfound motivation, she began her search. Hopefully the Tsukasa didn’t match the rest of the people here.
She walked around for several minutes with no hope. This strangely reminded her of the troupe’s search before they went through the first door. Well, hopefully she’ll find the Tsukasa before going through another door! The previous Tsukasa was so very nice!
“Watch out!” A voice yelled out. Emu turned around and saw nothing. Until, she felt a giant wind bust blow past her. She turned back around and saw another Tsukasa!
“You almost got hit by me.” The Tsukasa huffed.
“Sorry, sir!” Emu bowed, “I didn’t realize I was in your way!” The boy’s eyes narrowed onto her, before shaking his head.
“You’re not from here. Your clothes are unfamiliar.”
“Nope~ I’m from an entirely different world! This should be a memory room, correct?”
“Sure.” The Tsukasa responded blankly.
“Soo. Whatcha doing?” The Tsukasa began to walk away, Emu following behind.
“I’m getting rid of mindless media.”
“Cool! Can I help?”
“No.” The boy’s bluntness reminded her of Nene, which was kind of cute.
“Please~” Emu gave him big puppy eyes.
“No. I work alone.”
“Okay Mister Independent Tsukasa-kun!”
“Don’t call me that.” The boy huffed again, and continued walking towards the center of the city at a faster pace. Emu trailing behind excitedly.
Emu wasn’t quite sure of the requirements to find the doors, but it must have something to do with interacting with the Tsukasas! She continued to follow him around. Maybe he will lead her to a door! Approaching the center of the city, she saw Tsukasa pull up the cloth mask and start to run up to a robot. She watched Tsukasa kick down the robot, and twist its head off.
“Content farmers..” The Tsukasa mumbled, walking back towards Emu. He blankly stared at her for several moments. He suddenly turned around again and kicked a robot. Emu cheered excitedly as the Tsukasa twisted off the robot’s head.
“Must you cheer for me?”
“Of course~! You’re super strong!”
“T..Thank you.” The Tsukasa stammered, embarrassed.
The duo (if you could even call it that. The blond was too stubborn to let Emu help him) continued their ways, the blond occasionally destroying robots, or “content farms” as he calls them.
“Why won’t you let me help you?” Emu questioned. He obviously was capable enough to do it alone, but help never hurts!
“I’m used to working alone.” The Tsuaksa curtly replied. They both started walking slower until the boy stopped, “There’s your door.”
“Thank you!” The Tsukasa didn’t respond, and simply started to walk away, “You’re very good at what you do!” That caused the boy to stop, and turned around. Emu could see his face flushing red as he processed her words. He quickly turned around and waved her off before running away.
Emu giggled and turned towards the door. Opening it, she once again saw an entirely different scenery to the one she was in currently. She saw what seemed to be a temple decorated with decorations for new years. She happily stepped in.
—
Rui blinked at the change of lighting. The previous room he was in had an entire different color scheme to the room he is in now. Lots of blues and pinks decorated the walls. And Rui noticed that card symbols added patterns onto the dull colors. He saw beautiful flowers in orange, white, and blues. Rui gently touched the flowers; they were in perfect condition. Continuing to walk, Rui found another Tsukasa on a throne, glancing at the cards in his hands.
He avoided talking to the Tsukasa, rather he continued looking around. The closer he got to the Tsukasa, the more cards he saw on the ground. Strangely enough, all the cards were spades. Finally turning to the Tsukasa, he found that the blond was directly staring at him.
“Uhm..Hello?”
“...” The blond continued staring at him, narrowing his eyes slightly. Rui just blinked at him in confusion, “You destroyed my flowers.”
“Huh?” Rui wasn’t expecting that. He turned to the flowers that he was touching earlier, and saw no difference.
“They were in such a perfect position! You moved them all, and now they’re ruined!” The blond continued his ramble, growing more and more pissed as he did.
Rui was getting slightly annoyed too, “You can fix them.”
“Excuse me?” The blond stood right in front of Rui, “Say that again.”
“I said, you could fix them yourself.”
Tsukasa scowled. He pushed past Rui and went to the flowers on display. He “moved” them back into the proper position, huffing while doing so. Walking towards the throne, also shaped like a spade, Rui noted, he sat down and sent glares at Rui.
“Do you have a problem?”
“Yes, I do.” Very blunt.
“Well, what is it?”
“You’re disrespectful to the King!” The Tsukasa pointed a finger at Rui, and Rui felt himself getting more annoyed. This Tsukasa reminded him of Tsukasa when Wonderlands x Showtime first formed: pointing fingers and blaming others.
Rui took some deep breaths. He assumed if he lashed out in retaliation, it wouldn’t end well, again.
“Well, I would like to leave as soon as possible, so if you could make this magical door appear, I’ll be out of your hair.”
The blond contemplated this proposal. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to deal with the annoying boy in front of him, coming out of the blue and disrespecting him! On the other hand…
“Clean for me.”
“..What.” Rui deadpanned. There was absolutely no way he was doing that.
“Clean this mess of cards and I’ll let you leave. Simple as that. We both get what we want.” Rui’s eye twitched. He would’ve rather fought with the boy instead of cleaning a mess the same boy probably made!
“No.”
“Mhm…–What?” The blond seemed pretty smug until he realized what Rui’s response was.
“I’m not cleaning the mess you probably made.” The blond glared at Rui yet again. The boy huffed and stood up from his throne.
“Clean it, or I am not letting you move on.”
Rui stood still. He began to think of a way he could leave without cleaning. He knew he was being quite stubborn, but he was not cleaning up any messes today. Not after having to clean up an explosion he may have or may not have made during the school day that Tsukasa caught him doing. He wanted to chuckle at the memory of Tsukasa scolding him for his “bad behaviors” afterwards. Wait… That’s it!
“You know, making a mess and being so demanding of others to clean it up for you is very rude. People may think you are pretentious. People don’t want a king that’s so rude, you know~.”
“Ghh!” That seemed to strike the boy right where Rui needed it to, “You’re…right I suppose.” The boy grumbled, “Fine, fine! I will clean up the mess I made. You can be on your way already!” The Tsukasa snapped his fingers and a door appeared.
Rui smirked at his own accomplishment, and walked towards the door, not even looking back at the king cleaning up the mess with a pout on his face. Opening the door, he saw a theater stage. Maybe he’s done with the rooms. He hopes he is.
—
The empty hallway Nene found herself in was strangely eerie. The only lighting in the hallway was natural light from the large windows. There was a giant red carpet decorated with gold designs, and she saw lots of pillars going down the hall. She could not see an end to the hallway.
Turning around, Nene glanced at the details in the windows. It was designed with a triumphant victory scene: a familiar blond holding up a sword with a proud smile on his face. Another design featured two other knights, who also looked slightly familiar, but she couldn’t tell who they were.
“Ma’am?” A voice rang out. Nene turned around to see the blond in knight’s clothing, a sword sheathed beside his waist. The blond politely smiled.
“Ah, sorry…”
“No worries! I was just hoping you were alright! I don’t really see people around here frequently!” The blond grinned, wildly gesturing to the room they were in.
“..You’re a knight?”
“Not only a knight, but the top knight for the Light Kingdom!” The knight boasted, putting a hand to his chest, “I’ve fought many wars, winning every single one! I’d do anything to protect this kingdom from evil.”
Nene glanced back at the stained glass window, seeing the blond’s triumphant victory scene again. The Tsukasa seemed to take note of her glancing back, and put a smug smile on his face.
“That’s one of my most popular victories. When our kingdom was in its first major war against the dark kingdom. I managed to turn around the war and we won!”
“Wow…” Nene was astonished. This boy, a version of Tsukasa, was able to fight and win wars? Tenma Tsukasa? That idiot? Though she still saw it a little. Tsukasa has stood up for Nene in the past several times.
“You’re very passionate.” Nene noted.
“Hahaha! Thank you, miss!” This boy was the closest thing to the original Tsukasa that you could get. Nene softly smiled at this thought. As much as she complained about Tsukasa, he still had admirable traits that Nene loved about him.
“So..Why does nobody go around here frequently? I’m assuming this is a public space since you haven’t kicked me out yet…”
“Oh. You don’t know?” The blond mumbled.
“I’m not from here..”
“Oh,” The blond blinked at Nene, “Right. We’re currently in a war against the previously mentioned dark kingdom again. They destroyed much of our kingdom,” The blond sighed, looking down the hallway, “The people are scared and many of them have run away. I can see why.”
Nene frowned. The Tsukasa sulked a little longer but then put a determined smile on his face. “We will win, however! This is just a minor setback…Well, quite a major setback that we’ll have to worry about later…But! I have hope we can win this war! Just like last time!” He boasted cheerfully, back with passion.
“I wish you the best of luck.” Nene smiled, noticing a door appear out of the corner of her eye.
“Thank you!” The boy laughed, “I’ll have to be on my way now, goodbye!” He began to walk away as Nene walked to the door.
“Very loud…” Nene mumbled as she went through the door, seeing a pathway with lots of leaves falling down.
—
That previous room wasn’t in fact the last room, Rui realized as he found himself yet again in an unknown place. At least he was in a more familiar setting; that being a theater. The curtain was closed, but the lights were dim. The show must be about to begin, Rui deduced. He took a seat in the front row, noticing that nobody else was in the audience.
As soon as he sat down, the curtain opened, and the lights shone onto the stage. Rui could hear loads of clapping, unknown where it came from. A fictitious audience, perhaps? These rooms must be able to create such imaginary things, like SEKAI. Rui heard the patter of footsteps on the stage, and saw the familiar blond. The lights shined onto the blond, and Rui noticed that he looked quite different.
The first note was that his eyes seemed different. There was more of a red hue to them, rather than the usual sunset orange (Rui will not admit he had stared into Tsukasa eyes on multiple occasions, so this information was easy to notice for him). The outfit he wore was quite strange, as well. He wore another suit, mostly blue, and a small blue cape was behind him. He saw he was only wearing one black glove on his left hand. And lastly, a long earring was on his right ear.
Rui finally saw some audience members, they all seemed to be cardboard cutouts. The Tsukasa danced around the stage, as Rui watched intently. At the end of his routine, he threw his arms out as a final move, pieces of black fabric spewing out around him as every single cardboard cutout fell down. He adorned a smirk on his face. He laughed, then bowed and walked away, the curtain drawing.
Rui stood up and ran backstage, tripping over some fallen cardboard cutouts along the way.
“Hey–!” Rui yelled out upon finding the blond tidying his clothes up.
“Oh? Is there a fan wanting to see me?” Rui could hear the smugness in his voice, “I’m sorry, but I usually don’t take visitors.” The blond turned around, tilting to the side and smiling at Rui, “You aren’t a usual visitor, though.”
Rui narrowed his eyes, “Look, I'm sure you know how I’m here, and why I’m here. I would just like to leave.”
“Awww…We just started talking though!” The boy pouted, “Come on…Talk with me a little. You seem like you know your ways around a theater.”
“I do, yes.” Rui kept his answer short. He just wanted to leave. Dealing with all these Tsukasas has become quite a headache. Along with his future back pain, now a headache too! Next, he’s going to have leg pain or something..!
“Oooh!” The blond’s eyes sparkled, “Are you an actor? Do you write your own scripts? Are you famous? Ooh, wait… Do you work with other people, or are you alone?” He began asking questions upon questions.
“I’m a director for a troupe.”
“Wow~!” The blond seemed very enthusiastic at this point, “That’s amazing! Who do you direct? Just your troupe?”
“Just my troupe, usually. My friends, including the original version of you.”
“I am the original version of me.” The boy tilted his head, curious.
“Besides the point. I’m not from here, and I would like to go back. Show me the way.”
“Damn…Straight to the point type aren’t ya?” The Tsukasa teased, patting Rui’s shoulder, “Loosen up a little…You’ll get wrinkles if you stay so strict~.” He poked Rui’s cheek with a cheeky grin.
Rui stayed silent, narrowing his eyes on the Tsukasa. The Tsukasa stared back for a few moments, then sighed.
“Fine…I’ll show you the exit. I was hoping I could have someone to talk to about theater, for once.” The boy complained loudly, walking away to the door. Rui followed close behind, still not saying anything, “There you go. There’s your precious door. Now shoo, I have another show soon.”
Rui nodded and went through the door, silently begging that this was the last room for sure. He saw another theater stage, decked in a blue color scheme. Maybe, just maybe, he’s done now.
—
It was another entirely different scenario for Nene. She seemed to be outdoors this time, obvious by the rocky pathway and the leaves falling around her. Looking ahead, she saw a japanese-style temple, one for worshiping yōkai. She hummed, this was quite a serene place. The sun was just starting to set, painting the area in an orange hue.
Strolling closer to the temple, Nene found two small animals at the base of it: a fox and a tanuki. The two animals noticed Nene and ran towards her. The tanuki pawed at her feet as the fox sniffed around her. Nene picked up the fox and looked at it closely. Its colors resembled Tsukasa’s hair, and the eyes looked quite similar as well. Is Tsukasa a fox in this room? How would she leave then? She looked at the tanuki, who also had the same eye color. Are there Tsukasa clones here?
“Pspspspsps.” Nene heard a voice call to the animals around her. She looked around, but saw no host to the voice. The animals caught note of the voice and scurried to a nearby tree.
POOF!
“Hello.” The voice finally showed itself. Nene jumped at the scare, panting slightly, “Did I scare you?”
“Yes…Yes you did.”
“Sorry, I guess.” The boy looked to the side, holding an umbrella over his head.
“Uhm…” Nene stood awkwardly, “Do you know where the door to leave is?”
“Over there.” He pointed to a random area, and Nene did see a door. Nene raised an eyebrow at the ease it was to leave, and walked towards the door, the Tsukasa following behind.
Nene tried to open the door, but her hand just fazed through the door instead. She blinked and tried again to no avail.
“You said the door. Not the door that works.” The door disappeared and the boy appeared in front of Nene. Nene narrowed her eyes and backed up a bit.
“Alright…Do you know where the door that actually works I can use to leave this place is?”
“I do.”
“Where is it, then?”
“I’m not telling you.” The boy grinned, then vanished and reappeared on top of the temple. The fox and tanuki came back and tried to climb on top of the temple
“What are you, exactly?” Nene questioned, walking back to the temple.
“Hmmm…” The boy played stupid, tilting his head curiously, “You tell me!”
“I’m assuming you are a yōkai of sorts…”
“Correct. You’re smart!” He jumped down from the temple, taking Nene’s hands into his own, “I’m a kasa-obake. You know what that is, right?”
Nene thought for a moment, recalling her memory of yōkai, “Yes I do. Those animals…Are they shapeshifted clones of you?”
“Wow! Super smart!” The boy clapped his own hands after letting go of Nene’s.
The fox clone jumped into Nene’s arms and gave a look of pleading. She smiled and started petting the fox. The boy tilted his head, watching Nene pet the fox. Nene glanced at the boy in front of her, who was also giving a face of pleading. Nene chuckled, setting down the fox and moving closer to the boy. She began to pet his head too. The Tsukasa closed his eyes and if Nene listened closely, she could hear purring-like sounds.
“You’re like a cat.” Nene murmured.
“No, I’m not.” The Tsukasa mumbled back, face flushing with embarrassment.
Nene continued to pet the boy, a soft smile on her face. The boy continued to make soft-purring sounds with each stroke of Nene’s hand against his head. Nene noticed out of the corner of her eye the door to leave. She slowly retracted her hand and vaguely gestured to the door.
“There’s your door.” The Tsukasa mumbled, before suddenly vanishing and reappearing in front of the door. Nene cautiously walked over to the door, unsure of whether the door was another one of the strange boy’s tricks. The boy, seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a torn umbrella and held it above his head.
Nene opened the door, and saw a blue scenery. She cautiously stepped in.
—
The temple Emu found herself in was very beautiful. The temple was mostly red and yellow, similar to Tsukasa’s hair gradient. Some new year pine decorations were in the corners of the temple, and lots of colorful flowers surrounded the temple. Emu saw a little table near the middle of the temple that had an empty cup for tea and a plate of dango. She also saw a bunch of sticks, that presumably had dango on them, all over the floor of the temple. Whoever was being worshiped here must really enjoy dango.
“Eeeh? I haven’t seen anyone here for a long time…” The voice of a Tsukasa spoke out, Emu turned around to see the Tsukasa and was surprised. The blond was dressed up in more traditional clothes than Emu has ever seen him in. Horns adorned his head, and he had long, silky smooth hair.
“Uwaaah…Tsukasa-kun looks so wonderhoy here!”
“Won…Wonderhoy?” The boy tilted his head at the strange word, “Uh…Nevermind.” He walked past Emu and picked up a stick of dango, “Do you want any? I have plenty.” He smiled, holding out a stick of dango towards Emu.
“Sure!” Emu grabbed the dango and quickly ate it. The blond also quickly ate his dango and threw the stick off wherever. He walked up towards Emu, and tilted his head curiously. Emu looked back at him with great interest. But then…
“Oof!”
The boy pounced onto Emu. Emu fell backwards, but at least fell onto something soft. Emu blinked and saw the boy on top of her, a lizard-like tail behind him wagging back and forth excitedly. Emu giggled and held the boy on top of her in a hug. The boy excitedly hugged back even tighter, almost making Emu lose her ability to breathe.
“Whoa, whoa!” Emu giggled, “I’m going to lose all my oxygen!”
The blond quickly retracted his hug in a panic, “I’m sorry..! I get a little carried away sometimes…” The lizard-like tail swayed from side to side, much slower than it previously did.
“It’s okay! Don’t be sad…Aha! Silly face!” Emu put a silly expression on her face, “Spicy face!”
“Hehehe!” The blond’s tail started wagging again excitedly, and hugged her again, less tightly than before. Emu reached up and started brushing her hands through the blond’s hair, finding that his hair was as silky and smooth as it looked. If Emu listened carefully, she could hear the quiet sound of purring coming from the blond.
“What are you exactly?” Emu questioned, filled with curiosity.
The blond quickly sat up, striking a pose, “I’m glad you asked! I’m the magnificent dragon god, Tenma Tsukasa! Tsukasa means ruler, so this is quite a fitting name for me if I say so myself!” The blond struck another energetic pose (This Tsukasa was the closest she’s seen to the original Tsukasa!)
“A dragon god…” Emu’s eyes shined with excitement, “That’s so wonderhoy!”
“Wonderhoy…!” The blond said back, confused but happily.
Emu noticed out of the corner of her eye the door appearing at the entrance to the temple.
It seemed like the blond noticed as well, “Ah. I guess it’s your time to go. Well, consider yourself blessed by the almighty dragon god!”
“Thank you, Tsukasa-kun~! Goodbye!” Emu waved as she opened the door, seeing a stage, maybe she was finally done!
—
“Umph.”
Rui found himself face flat on the ground, what a pleasant position to find yourself in.
“Waaaaaaaa~!”
“Oof!”
And suddenly Rui got crushed by Emu. Wait…
“E…Emu-kun?” Rui croaked out, clearly in pain from the crushing experience.
“Rui-kun! It’s great to see you!” Emu smiled, removing herself off of Rui’s back.
“It’s..nice to see you too, Emu-kun.” Rui rubbed his back, clearly SEKAI had something against him today…So much back pain he’ll have to deal with later.
“It seems you two are finally here.” Nene spoke out, walking out towards the duo.
“Nene-chan!” Emu ran up to Nene and hugged her tightly.
“H-Hi Emu… You don’t need to hug me that tightly…–”
“I saw such cool things! I was in a super duper fancy palace, and then I was in a busy bustling city…Oh! I also was in a temple! And guess what! Different versions of Tsukasa-kun were there! I saw a princely Tsukasa-kun, a super serious Tsukasa-kun, and a dragon god version of Tsukasa-kun!”
“Multiple versions of Tsukasa? You saw them too?” Nene questioned.
“You saw versions of him? Tell me, tell me what versions!”
“Uhm…I saw a version of him from a show we did, Torpe, I saw a knight version of him, and I saw a…Strange yōkai version of him.” Nene recalled her memory of the Tsukasas she saw.
“My, my. Very interesting. So we all saw different versions of Tsukasa-kun…SEKAI has so many wonders doesn’t it?” Rui chuckled, putting his hand to his chin in his signature thinking pose.
“Rui-kun saw them too! What did you see, Rui-kun?”
“Fufu…I saw quite a boring mix. I saw a Tsukasa dressed in fancy clothes, in what seemed to be the backstage of a theater, I saw a kingly Tsukasa, and I saw a famous actor version of Tsukasa. Boring in comparison to you all.”
“Yeah, yeah. I think I had enough Tsukasa for the day, or the week…” Nene groaned, half serious.
“Hehehe~”
“Rui, was that you giggling?” Nene deadpanned at Rui.
“No? I didn’t giggle at all.” Rui narrowed his eyes, trying to get a good look at the situation they were all in.
Taking in the scenery, Rui noticed this wasn’t the original SEKAI whatsoever. They were in some sort of tent, but the atmosphere was dark. The entire place had a blue and black color to it, with some hints of other dark colors. There were a bunch of mirrors and doors all over the walls, and a bunch of sewn plushies all over the ground. There were white strings laying all over the place, making the tent look like a huge mess.
“Well guys, I don’t think we’re done with these rooms yet.” Rui claimed, vaguely gesturing to the entire room they were in.
“Why don’t we try going through the doors?” Emu suggested.
“I don’t think that’ll work, Emu…”
“It’s worth a shot!” Emu said, running over to a door, and opening it. She tried to step through, but instead she hit a wall. “Oof!”
“E-Emu!”
Whilst Nene was (attempting at) running after Emu, Rui took the time to investigate the new room more closely. He went closer to the sewn plushies, noticing some in a pile. He picked up some plushies in the pile, investigating them. They seem sewn well, and just seem to be a darker version of the plushies in the original SEKAI. Maybe he could dissect these ones…
“UWAH!” Emu yelled out, startled.
Rui turned around and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Tsukasa-kun?”
“Hehehe~” The same giggling was heard again, except this time, they could see the owner.
This Tsukasa, was dressed in a jester outfit, the colors the same as the room they were in. If not for his blond hair, he would completely blend in. The Tsukasa was upside down, hanging from the ceiling on a trapeze like an acrobatic, swinging back and forth.
“You guys finally realized I was here!” The Tsukasa swung down, landing on the ground with the slightest stumble. He waltzed over to Emu and Nene, tilting his head curiously.
“Hmm…You guys remind me of something…” The Tsukasa put on a thinking pose, before jumping in realization. He somehow summoned strings and pulled over a box.
Digging through the box, his eyes sparkled when he found what he was looking for. Pulling out four small plushies. Nene looked at the plushies with widened eyes…They’re…
“Plushies? Of us?” Nene spoke out, weary.
“Great observation!” Tsukasa tilted his head, speaking with a slight mock in his voice, “Catch!” Tsukasa threw them, each plushie being thrown at their corresponding person.
Rui walked over to the rest of them, catching the plushie form of him in the process. He looked closer at the plushie form of himself. It looked perfectly made, no flaws in sight. It was also very cute, Rui would admit. It seemed that way for the plushies of Emu and Nene as well. However, when he looked down, he saw the plushie of Tsukasa on the ground.
It was dirty, it had fluff sticking out, and it was poorly sewn in general. It had so many flaws compared to the rest of the plushies.
“Don’t look at that thing. It’s gross.” The Tsukasa kicked the plushie away, out of sight, out of mind, right?
Rui looked at the other two, they seemed more interested in their plushie forms rather than the torn-up Tsukasa plush that was on the ground.
“Rui, is it?”
“How do you know my name?” Rui narrowed his eyes.
“Lucky guess, I suppose~!” The Tsukasa giggled, getting in Rui’s personal space, “I think Rui-kun is so perfect! He should stay with me forever!” The Tsukasa had a terrifying smile on his face.
“I’m sorry,” Rui awkwardly stepped back, “But I do have to get home, soon. I have some homework yet to finish…” Rui trailed off.
The Tsukasa frowned, “Well that’s a shame.” He walked away, “A shame you can’t leave, isn’t it?” He turned his head, giving that same terrifying expression to Rui. It caught the attention of Emu and Nene.
“Can’t leave..? What do you mean?” Nene asked, moving to stand behind Rui.
“Well, you need my permission in order to leave, obviously!” Tsukasa chuckled, “Without my permission, you can’t ever leave!”
The trio’s eyes widened. Can’t leave..? Wouldn’t that affect the real world? What about the original Tsukasa?
“Chillax…I can tell you all are worrywarts. It’s not so bad here! We got plushies, plushies, …lots of plushies…Uhm.” The Tsukasa stared at a large pile of plushies.
While he was distracted, the trio tried coming up with a plan to leave.
“We went through doors, didn’t we? One of these doors must have an exit then, too!” Emu yelled-whispered, pointing around at all the doors.
“I agree. Some of these doors seem more blocked off than the others, that could mean one of them is the actual exit.” Rui agreed, pointing at doors blocked off with an assortment of set decor and plushies.
“So we just try doors out and try and avoid Tsukasa?” Nene glanced at the Tsukasa, who was still distracted, luckily.
“Yep.” Rui nodded, “We just need to keep him distracted…”
“Keep who distracted? Whatcha guys planning?” They lifted their heads to see the Tsukasa’s upside down head looking at them, with a grin.
“Nothing, nothing!” Emu nervously giggled, “Why don’t we play a game, creepy-weepy Tsukasa-kun?”
“A game? Oooh! Sounds fun!” The jester excitedly jumps down onto the ground.
Emu successfully keeps the jester distracted while Rui and Nene start checking doors.
Door one. Nothing.
Door two. Nothing.
Door three. Nothing.
Door four. Nothing.
Door five. Noth–
“Wait,” Rui whispered, “I think this door might be it.” The inside looked like the original SEKAI theater.
“How do we get Emu over here without alerting Tsukasa?” Nene whispered back, looking back at Emu and Tsukasa, who were playing…dolls? With the plushie forms of them?
“We run.” Rui shrugged, it was their best bet.
Nene grumbled, “You owe me after this.” And Rui just chuckled.
Both Rui and Nene go over to Emu.
“Yayy! Did you guys decide to join us too? We’re doing a show in plush form!” The Tsukasa held out the plush form of him in their faces, giggling. He then started recreating their show that they were currently planning on, everyone was perfect, except for the Tsukasa, who kept messing up.
“Wahh! Everyone hates you! You don’t deserve to be an actor!” The jester made the Emu plush yell to the Tsukasa plush, The jester then makes the Nene plush angrily yell to the Tsukasa plush, “All you do is make mistakes, I don’t know why you continue with that dream of yours!” The jester frowns, then right before the jester can make the Rui plush speak, Rui grabs Emu and they make a run for the door.
“Hey–! Get back here! I wasn’t done playing!” The jester stomps, upset, trying to run after the three.
However, he trips and falls, failing at getting to the three right as they go through the door.
—
“I think that was successfully the worst experience of my life.” Nene breathes out, laying on the ground of the original SEKAI.
“I’m so glad we’re back~” Emu sighs happily.
“Do you guys think there was a deeper meaning to this?” Rui was pacing around.
“Hm? What do you mean, Rui-kun?”
“I don’t know if it was the same for you guys, but the first three Tsukasa-kun’s I saw, I felt they all represented a part of Tsukasa-kun. And the jester…”
“The way the jester spoke when he was recreating one of our practices, I felt like that could’ve been an example of how Tsukasa-kun actually feels during practices.” Rui said, frowning.
“It was strange that the jester kept tripping, and that plushie’s condition was really odd.” Nene says, nodding at Rui’s point.
“I think all these Tsukasa-kun’s represent different parts of Tsukasa-kun.”
“Oh! I see what you mean now! The Tsukasa-kun’s I saw really reminded me of how he is! Like one reminded me of how he is when he’s with Saki-chan, another one reminded me of how independ be is, and the other one reminded me how much he loved attention!” Emu’s eyes sparkle at the memories.
“Guys, I know we’re thinking about this whole weird situation and all, but…We still haven’t found Tsukasa.” Nene pointed out.
“Uwah! You’re right, Nene-chan! Maybe we should try the tent now!”
“Fufu…Let’s check the tent.”
The three walked over to the tent, and lo and behold, Tsukasa was sitting on the stage, talking with Miku and KAITO.
“And then I checked–”
“TSUKASA-KUNNN!!” Emu yelled out, running up to Tsukasa and tackling him.
“Emu! There you are! And the rest of you! Where were you guys? I’ve checked all over and you were nowhere to be found!” Tsukasa huffed.
“We tried to find you but you were nowhere to be found, idiot!” Nene said, completely glossing over the whole alternate universe experience, that can be explained another time.
“Oh? I was in here for a while, talking about our show plans with Miku and KAITO.”
The three facepalmed. Of course. The one place they didn’t decide to check.