Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

During practice, W×S was brainstorming ideas for their next show- the one they did just before was a huge success, as the many other times prior.

"Hmm... what about Romeo and Juliet?"

As that sentence floated in the air, everyone but Tsukasa took a moment and just stared at him... except for Emu as well, of course.

"That would be so much fun!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

Nene had the opposite reaction to the suggestion. The culture festival that was held at Kamiyama High, however many months, weeks, or days before, left a bad taste on her tongue- Tsukasa's storytelling had improved a lot since, but Nene couldn't help but wince at the thought further.

Rui didn't mind at all.

"That makes for another suggestion," Rui said, turning his head to smirk at Nene whilst she glared at him with a force that could battle the sun.

Tsukasa sighed, his tone dripping with no-malice disappointment as he spoke.

"At least you two agree with me..."

Calling Nene out, Emu looked at her pointedly and asked in an accusing manner, "Nene! Why don't you like it???"

"Uh- eh, well," Nene slowly began, "Tsukasa did a show last year, and let's just say that the entire script was, questionable."

"Questionable how?"

"Somehow, he'd turned Romeo and Juliet, the same story he mentioned, into this... "blasphemous cacophony"-"

Nene took a pause to catch her thoughts, making sure she knew exactly what she was talking about.

"A Romeo battle royale consisting of 9 different Romeos well, fighting to the death, but in a manner that turned the story(somehow) from tragic to comedic... I'm not sure how he supposed that people were going to feel moved at all..."

As Nene spoke, Emu's eyes glittered with boundless enthusiasm, her expression saying without words how ready she was to profess how good of an idea she thought the battle royale portion was.

On the other hand, Tsukasa's face lit up with a sort of embarrassment from the memory, doing his best to piece together a rebuttal.

"Err... It was intended to feel tragic, how did you (um...) infer it as some sort of comedy skit?!"

Rui proceeded to chuckle, then remarked, "At least she admitted that you have improved," a pause, 

"Future star."

That alone hit harder than it should have, but Tsukasa wouldn't admit it- not yet, at least.

It took him a long while to realize that he harbored any sort of romantic attraction for anyone, and then some more to realize just who he was indirectly pining for.

"Hm? Tsukasa, you seem to have spaced out."

"...Hm."

Oh dear.

The spacing out part was undeniable- but now impossible to oppose.

Even so, the thought of performing a show that's even one step closer to an actual confession seems much more romantic than just saying it outright.

It's all about the 'Rehearse, Rinse, and Repeat' portion of practice that will really push him further, though.

Emu still seemed unsure, so she asked further with a frown, "So, does that mean Romeo and Juliet is off the table?"

Tsukasa's shoulders dropped slightly, somewhat ashamed to deliver the "I'm afraid so; I don't think Nene will agree to the idea anytime soon..."

"I never said I wasn't okay with doing it, I just don"t agree-"

"It should be fine though! There's a bunch of other romantic texts and whatnot out there."

"*Sigh*, how does information even make it to his head...?"

While what Tsukasa said regarding other stories was true, he hoped he'd be able to do Romeo and Juliet... but surely only to bring justice to the name!

Meanwhile, Rui held his chin with his hand, clearly deep in thought. When he finally came to one of many apparent other ideas swimming in his head, he clasped his hands together and spoke.

"Then why not Snow White? I bet we could do even better than the live-action movie adaptation that Riley Entertainment recently released."

(As in, the movie was... interesting- 'terrible' would be an understatement...)

"There's also the Sleeping Beauty. It's in a similar direction as the more popularized version of The Little Mermaid, so it'll be easier... But that's not what you want, is it?"

The truth is that Tsukasa didn't really care as long as the show's genre was romance, and if he'd be able to say a few of those corny lines himself(though he'd also prefer that Rui played the character that received those said lines).

"Well... whichever one works best?"

Wow. You really are out of pocket.

"If you're letting me decide, then I say we try Sleeping Beauty... the story could be considered similar to Romeo and Juliet as well, so it's closer to what you originally wanted."

Emu squealed joyfully, remarking "Rui, you're so kind and considerate☆"

'You definitely know, but thanks anyway...' Tsukasa thought in relief that Emu was supporting Rui with his intention of reviving Tsukasa's interest.

"But of course- he is our troupe leader, after all."

Tsukasa, in an attempt to mask his own blush, swapped his expression with pride, announcing, "As expected of our director; Let's give it our all! Emu, if you would,"

"Yeppers! Ready everyone?" Emu understood the assignment from the very beginning. "Wan, wan... wonderhoy!!"

Tsukasa must've been high on expectations if he thought Rui's ears seemed a little rosy... though it could also be a result of Emu's compliance. Nene was staring at him also, so something must've been up, one way or another.

From that point, up until it was time to part ways at the end of practice, they discussed possible gimmicks, what props would be needed, and costume designs- the usual.

"See you tomorrow!!" Emu shouted, before walking with Nene, hand in hand, to the main gate of the theme park.

Rui decided to stay behind, mainly so then he could run an inspection check on the props that were left in the storage closet behind the stage- muffled whirring could be heard if you focused. Tsukasa didn't necessarily have much reason to stay himself, but no one really seemed to mind at all, so. Plus, Emu and Nene were already far gone by that point, and he's still there.

Finally, Tsukasa walked closer to the sound of machinery and peeked through the wooden doorway; the door it holds had a sign hung on it, with a lazily written scribble that barely read 'Storage Closet.'

Tsukasa made himself known, saying, "Knock-knock."

Rui was hunched on the ground, his back being lit peach by the sunset in the distance.

"Who's there?"

"Really?"

"Hmm, so you stayed after all."

"What, does my presence bother you?"

"No, not at all; If anything, it makes the air feel more charged."

"H-... HUH?!"

"Hehe, I'll be done shortly, and then we can go."

'Don't you "hehe" me!!!!!'

...And yet Tsukasa waited. Rui did eventually finish, and they again parted ways, but with each step away from the station Tsukasa took, he increasingly felt more and more unsure- in the sense that he felt more sure that he'd just about plotted his own demise...

Did Rui see through his intentions? It's ambiguous whether or not he did- Rui's already a natural at portraying emotions whether or not he's really feeling it, but as he should be. Was he masking how he felt, or not? Maybe Tsukasa should ask Emu...

He quickly searched his pocket and pulled out his phone. His finger hovered over Emu's contact, also unsure. Eventually, he mentally forfeited the idea, calling it rather cowardly, and continued on his way home. When he finally entered the 'confines' of his room after dinner, Tsukasa immediately collapsed atop his bed, doing himself a little prayer.

Just give me a month.

Surely, or not...

Soon after, the awaited sleep spell was cast.

Chapter Text

The day prior:

”So, let’s pick roles☆”

Emu’s arms flailed about energetically, the small squeals she let escape evidence of how much restraint it took not to yell out her signature catchphrase.

Rui just had to cut in, though for a short minute: “Apologies Emu, but we have yet to review the story.”

”Mmmmm... We’re doing Sleeping Beauty, right?”

Rui turned his head at her and nodded, a smile playing on his lips.

“Then, we’d better remember to make the fight all SWISH SWOOSH BANG!!!”

”Hehe, but of course.”

The enthusiasm ended up being awfully contagious, Nene and Tsukasa finding their own faces playing the same melody, even if all four held their expressions differently- identical feelings came through.

”Nene, would you care to elaborate the plot this time through?”

She nodded, having already collected her thoughts.

“The plot revolves around our princess, Aurora, who on her 16th birthday is persuaded to prick her finger on the spinning needle by Maleficent, our witch, so she’d die before sunset- luckily, a good fairy was there and changed the curse to instead be for her to sleep for 100 years instead of dying.”

Nene silently patted herself on the back, being able to at least remember enough from a book of fairytales she read when she was younger. Rui finally signed for her to continue after a moment.

“After 100 years, prince Phillip slashes through thorns to get through to the castle, being that over that time, thorns grew around to well, protect the castle. After he succeeds with that first trial, he re-awakens Aurora with a kiss, and not too long after, the two live happily ever after.”

“...That’s just so...... wonderhoy!!!!!!!” Emu burst out, her arms swinging about with boundless energy once more. Chuckling to himself, Tsukasa thought, ‘Wow, she really was reaching her limit.’

Emu then with the rest of WxS(except Nene), began a round of applause for Nene’s “ABSOLUTELY POSITUVELY WONDERHOY” summary. A light rose dusted said girl’s cheeks, clearly embarrassed from the “audaciously” positive feedback.

“I wish you’d summarize things for us more often!!”

“I-it’s really not... Ugh...”

“*GASP* Nene, are you okay??”

“...Mm-hmm.”

Nene looked away, face even more flushed, as Emu looked at her with concerned, gleaming eyes, her two hands squeezing Nene’s left.

Rui couldn’t help but look fondly at the couple.

“Cute, aren’t they?”

It took Tsukasa a minute before realizing that Rui had walked over to his right, but then again that also meant that the question was for him. (...And him only?)

Tsukasa’s eyes, too, softened upon seeing just how sweet the girls’ relationship was.

“Tell me, do you think that it’d be possible for me or you to reach something of that sort?”

“I don’t see why not...”

“Hehe, that’s good,”

Tsukasa didn’t understand why Rui chuckled... 

“Are you two done ~romancing~ yet?”

But in one way, his cheeks felt warm.

It felt nice standing right there, by his side-

“W-What?!”

“Hmm? Did you forget that we are here also?”

Should’ve been no figure that Rui would take the opportunity to tease, as he always does.

“O-Of course n-n-not!”

“Aww, Nene, you’re so cute!!”

Emu hugged Nene tight like a glove.

Yeah, there was no getting out of this one. 

Tsukasa mentally facepalmed, seeing how their practice time was slipping away. Thankfully, Rui quickly redirected the girls’ attention, clapping his hands twice and finally listing possible roles. There weren’t many background roles this time through, so the load on everybody was lesser than a couple other shows the troupe did, considering that they all occasionally took, some of those occasions for only a few of them, multiple roles in order to complete stories the way that they intended them to be, had or if they decided to twist the plots.

“In terms of major characters, we of course have: Princess Aurora, Maleficent the Evil Witch, and Prince Phillip. Minor characters include the queens, few kings, and the three good fairies who watch over Princess Aurora-for that, we’ll cut it down to two and see to settle the dialogue between you both,” Rui said in a finalizing tone, his last line clearly being directed towards Emu and Nene, most notably by his gaze.

Nene had something to say before Rui continued further: “But are we going to change the story at all?”

She brought up a good point; things like this was essentially the troupe’s trademark, in one way or another.

...But either way, they were sort of forced to, considering they didn’t have enough members to play all three of the good fairies: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather(as mentioned previously).

“Then we’d better decide sooner than later- why not tomorrow after school?”

To end practice there seemed like a good idea as the park lights were already on, the sun’s rays fading out of view... At least the costume plans were mainly modified versions of preexisting costumes, so they had more time to prepare.

*Noting that they did discuss the usage of props, who knows whether or not they’ll use the chain and swords once mentioned by Emu, though bought under the silly alchemist’s direction.*

——

Tsukasa woke up in a daze, but on time as always- a star must always be on point, after all! Light peered in through the spacious window on the rightmost end of his room(if you can call it one) from the door, though curtains blocked much of it to the point that you could only really see one singular beam actually casting itself on the floor, the “room” separated into two halves.

With haste, Tsukasa got dressed and headed downstairs to prepare his lunch. He put his phone on the kitchen counter, notifications already beginning to flood the device’s screen-of course Emu would be awake already, but Nene somehow didn’t seem very happy about the almost-spamming of messages that early in the morning... Typically, he’d respond to Nene’s messages of annoyance by chastising her on her terrible sleep schedule (though not just her), or how she should be awake already anyway, but he didn’t feel like it this time... Uncharacteristic as that may be, his mind was stuck on something else completely...

A heavy sigh escaping his lips, he tied the cloth around his bento with kind precision and tightened the bow. Saki could be seen walking downstairs, yawning, and overall just stumbling over herself, no initiative evident in her step- is she seriously in her pajamas?

Tsukasa thought for a brief second, then decided to tease: “Saki, don’t you realize that it’s almost 7:30?”

“Wait, REALLY?!”

Only then realizing the dire situation she was in, Saki retraced her steps back up to her room, clearly scrambling to get changed.

“Hmm, you never change, do you?”

Nonetheless, the day started out strong, Tsukasa’s morale increasing by the second.

More creaking could be heard coming down the stairs, but a pair of steps. Deciding not to mind the people who crept nearby, he adjusted his bag’s strap, slipped on his loafers, and headed out the door, finally yelling,

“FAREWELL, I SHALL RETURN- HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!”

A faint shout could be heard in return, one that reflected an incredible amount of cheerfulness, and that too made his heart swell.

*Ping, ping!* beeped his cellphone, though it by then had been doing that for quite a while. He decided to scroll to the top of today’s starting conversation, wondering if it was worth reading.

~~~

You, Emu Otori, Nene Kusanagi, Rui Kamishiro

—

Emu 7:00am

good morning everyone!!!

<WONDERHOY.png>

Rui 7:01am

 Up bright and early, are we?

Nene 7:01am

 you tell me if thats a good thing

Emu 7:02am

 oh are you grumpy again????

 </3

Rui 7:02am

 Do tell, did you stay up playing games again?

If so, you should probably go to bed earlier.

Nene 7:03am

 Look who’s talking.

Rui 7:03am

 How you continue to wound me...

<sadhampter.gif>

Emu 7:04am

 NENE!!!! HOW COULD YOU

 HURT RUI LIKE THAT!!!!

Nene 7:04am

 Sigh...

Rui 7:05am

 Emu, how you're ever so kind!

<yippeecat.gif>

—

Typical behavior, nothing suspiciously devious, just how he liked it- even better that the minor conflict didn’t involve him at all-

*Ping!*

[TSUKASA I SEE YOU]

...Nevermind.

— time skip

<Lunch>

<Rooftop>

“Hmm… Emu, you really shouldn't just, you know, INVADE A SCHOOL YOU DON'T ATTEND?”

Tsukasa sighed, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly disappointed.

Emu shrugged it off, much to Tsukasa's dismay.

“We could just start our discussion early and continue later,” Rui said, also shrugging, “It'll help as a pastime and that also means we'll have more time to practice.”

Tsukasa shifted his glare to Rui in response, but then sighed, saying “...Fine.”

Of course he was still pouting.

“*chuckle* Good b-”

“Hey.”

Rui rolled his eyes and then smiled innocently, as if he wasn't about to say something that'd change the entire atmosphere.

“*ahem* First things first…”

“That would be breaking down the plot.”

Rui still smiled, though it sort-of began morphing into a smirk.

“...Alright then, what've you got?”

“You didn't work on your own?”

“Meh. Too tired.”

“Fair enough, I suppose.”

“Unlike you, I don't sleep like a log.”

“That's your issue to resolve~”

“CAN YOU JUST GET ON WITH IT ALREADY?!”

“Hehe. Then, I'll start.”

Rui cleared his throat as he pulled out a copy of the script from behind his back- but where did it really come from?

“So, the only major change I'd say would be… changing the protagonist Aurora, into a man.”

Nene squeaked in surprise, but Emu held her own mouth in complete anticipation.

Tsukasa, on the other hand, completely blanked out. A single sentence made every thought that was simmering in his head flee with utter fear.

“Hmm? Everyone, what's the matter?” Rui said, his Cheshire smile as evident as ever.

“I think you know the answer to that…” Nene answered, facepalming.

“But can you really blame me?”

Nene paused for a moment before speaking.

“*sigh,* I guess I really can't…”

“Good! I know Emu's not going to object, but what about you, Tsukasa?”

“I- …it's alright. We just have to work with what we've got, right?” Tsukasa was slightly surprised at how he managed to speak out his opinion, conscious about the fact that his brain was practically fried from the preceding comment.

“Okay, to be positive that we're all in agreement, everyone, say ‘Aye!’”

“AYE☆”

“Aye.”

“...Aye.”

“Just wonderful,” Rui purred in contentment, “Now that the smallest of my- our worries is taken care of, I'll pass around roles along with scripts!”

Emu, as always, was beaming in anticipation, but this time, almost as if she knew exactly what was going to happen…

Rui passed around the scripts, all with their receiver's name and role written on each construction paper shell.

The moment Tsukasa'd been waiting for.

??????

The one time he'd actually wish to be the male lead, he was actually going to be…

“WHAAAAAAAAAT?!”

Rui chuckled, clearly having expected him to exclaim as such.

“I had Emu help me pick roles this time around, and I mentioned my particular interest in being a lead for a romance-genre show, so here we are~”

“Hnng…!”

Emu also spoke her point, chirping “Tsukasa, don't worry! You'll make for a handsome and charming princess, I'm sure!”

Emu set me up, didn't she…

“...Did you have any ulterior motives?” Tsukasa asked bluntly, eyeing the pink haired girl down.

“If she did have ulterior motives like you suspect she does, do you really think she'd just tell you?” Nene stated, following it through with a long sigh.

“Alright…”

After Tsukasa visibly forfeited along with the wording of his speech, Nene seemed to whisper something to Emu, but even though he noticed, he couldn't exactly make any of it out.

“Then, this should just about prepare us for our next rehearsal; motivation's been keeping me awake for perhaps, a little too long.” Rui announced, tilting his head tiredly.

Nene facepalmed, saying underneath her breath “For the second time today, I can*not* believe that you, of all people, scolded me for staying up late considering you sleep less hours than I do…”

“*sigh,* Use the time we have left to sleep, you could probably just eat later…” Tsukasa mumbled, fighting the urge to facepalm also.

“Then, if you wouldn't mind…” Rui muttered, voice almost a whisper, and laid down, resting his head on Tsukasa's lap.

Considering the number of times they'd done this, Tsukasa no longer finds the exchange odd, but onlookers certainly do- cue Emu and Nene's smug looks.

You'd wish. Tsukasa mouthed dramatically, an annoyed look carved on his face.

To that, the two just smiled, and Tsukasa rolled his eyes.

“We've just got about 10 minutes… Emu, how long will it take you to get to Miya from here?” Nene asked, now facing Emu.

“About 7-8 minutes, my legs can handle the distance, just you watch!” Emu proclaimed proudly before dashing off.

“And there she goes…”

Nene took one final glance at Tsukasa, then proceeded to stand up and dust off her skirt.

“I'll leave you to it.” she spoke, before turning on her heel and walking to the doors of the rooftop.

As the doors snapped shut, Tsukasa clicked his tongue, now more conscious about the head resting on his thighs.

Guess I'll occupy myself with… this. Tsukasa thought, picking up his copy of the script.

Not long after he'd skimmed through it though, the end-of-lunch bell rang, and Rui sat up, the noise having woken him up.

Rui blinked repeatedly, having slept like a log(once more), and queried on Emu and Nene's whereabouts.

“Where'd Emu and Nene go?”

“Emu left early, as did Nene shortly after.” Tsukasa answered, looking at the floor.

Rui, seeing the pinkish-red color of the outer layer of Tsukasa's script, he asked, a little surprised, “Is that the copy of the script I gave you?”

“Oh,” Tsukasa blurted, his voice nearly faltering, “It is- why?”

“*chuckle* I thought you weren't that pleased with your role.”

“Well, I ought to do my best, no matter if I wanted it or not, remember?”

“Hmm, remind me?”

“You're playing with me, aren't you.”

“Whatever could you mean?”

"Gh- I'm not doing this…”

With that, Tsukasa stood up and started walking away.

“No, Tsukasa, wait…” Rui whined, reaching out dramatically.

“It shouldn't take you that long to catch up, you and your spider-like legs…” Tsukasa brushed off, his head still facing forward.