Chapter Text
Emu kicked open the door to the meeting room of the new ship in Wonderland SEKAI, carrying a stack of papers in her arms. The rest of Wonderlands × Showtime was already gathered, sitting in their respective swivel chairs around a table with a jigsaw puzzle pattern. “Sorry I'm late!” the pink-haired girl panted, her face flush in exhaustion.
“It's fine, but watch your modesty, Emu-chan!” Nene said, blushing a bit as she capped a green highlighter.
“Also, did you really have to steal my thunder like that?” Tsukasa exaggeratedly moped. “Geez…” He leaned back in his chair and twirled an orange colored pencil between his fingers.
“Sorry, but anyway!” Emu pulled out the last remaining chair and sat down, beginning to spin around. “I’ve got an idea for our next Wonder Stage show!” She stuck out her foot to skid to a stop, then scooted into the table. She grasped a set of papers by the corner and handed it to Nene. Upon closer inspection, Nene could see it was stapled together (with pink staples, because of course Emu would use pink staples) and had a logo and writing credits on the first page. A script, and a rather thick one too. Emu proceeded to hand another script to Rui and slide Tsukasa’s across the table to him, keeping one for herself.
“Scripts?” Rui questioned.
“Mhm! I wanna do a rendition of this play, Bad End Night!” Emu explained. “I really like the unique multiple-endings aspect! I think it could be a nice change of pace for us!” She was bouncing with excitement, so hard it threatened to send her toppling from her seat.
“That is interesting…” Nene conceded. She looked up and made eye contact with Rui, who nodded
Tsukasa’s eyes were wide and practically sparkling as he skimmed through the papers. “Yes… yes!” He giggled as he placed down his script. He took a breath in and allowed a pause for dramatic effect. Then, he stood up and slammed his palm down on top of the stack of paper. “I declare this idea to be absolute perfection!” he exclaimed, as loud and booming as his lungs would allow. Emu cheered, and Nene had to plug her ears but still smiled and laughed.
“Just one problem,” Rui interjected. “We’re short on actors.” The room came to a hush. Everyone turned to look at the purple-haired boy, and he checked to be sure they were paying attention before continuing. “This play requires eight actors, and there’s only four of us,” he said. “In SEKAI, the Virtual Singers or the plushies could cover the difference, but on Wonder Stage…” He exhaled, shaking his head.
“Crap. You’re right…” Tsukasa mumbled. He settled back down into his seat and closed his eyes. His features scrunched in thought. “Who should the other half of the actors be? It can't be anyone from the other troupes in Phoenix Wonderland. I take pride in our shows being uniquely us, and that would ruin it.”
Nene rolled her eyes playfully. Everyone in the room knew that Tsukasa was prideful about nearly everything Wonderlands × Showtime did. She didn't press him, though.
“Mizuki might be interested,” Rui suggested. “For the costumes if nothing else.”
“Hmm…” Emu curled into her chair and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe I could try n’ get Asahina-senpai to come? She seems like the type to like a scary play like this…”
Tsukasa looked uncomfortable for a few seconds. “I could talk to Akito, but…” He shook his head. “What do you think, Nene?”
Nene's face seemed to implode on itself. “Erghh…” she growled. “I envy your social connections. Anyway, just try talking to them and see how it goes…?”
A feeling of understanding came upon the group. Then, Tsukasa whipped out his phone, and his eyes widened. “Oh jeez! It's almost dinnertime!” he exclaimed. “I'd better get home- see ya tomorrow! And good luck recruiting actors!”
He paused Untitled, and in a brilliant flash of light and rainbow shards, he was gone. One by one, the others followed suit. Emu, the last one to leave, wondered if anyone was passing by the meeting room. If there was, she felt sorry for them as they'd probably get flashbanged. That was her last thought before she was swept back to the real world.
Unbeknownst to her, someone was actually passing by. That someone was Kaito. As the blinding light cleared from the room, he looked around to see if he had to clean up any. He frowned as he noticed the door had been halfway knocked off its hinges. Which of them…?
He grasped the door to get a closer look. He knew that Nene would certainly never do anything like this. And there was no evidence of an explosion, which ruled out Rui. There was a dent in the middle of the door that indicated a good amount of force used. The shape of a foot was imprinted in it. And given the size, that foot could have only been Emu’s.
Kaito let out a robotic sigh. Luckily, this wasn’t hard to fix here. A bit of fumbling and some SEKAI magic, and the door was good as new. He would have to talk to Emu about this when she came to SEKAI next. He wouldn’t keep her too long, but she still had to understand that maybe it was best not to kick doors off their hinges. Jeez, he prayed for her if she ever tried that in the real world. With a shake of his head, he walked away.