Archive of Our Own ^beta

5 days remaining.

Tsukasa-kun really loves a bit of stunt in his shows!

It was another average school day for the newly assigned Disciplinary Committee member. Tsukasa made it to the school gates at 7AM - on time as ever! He quickly rummaged through his backpack to take out a notebook as well as a pen before carefully rearranging everything inside it back into their neat original state. The notebook was used to write down any deviant names daring to defy the school’s conducts, either by not having their uniforms or turning in late. They wouldn’t get away even if they came by late for just 0.000000000001 second!! He flipped the notebook to a fresh new page, straightened his back and pulled the hem of his shirt in its right place.

This year, he would make up for all the bad records on his name last year! He would be an exemplary senior, an honorary student, and a strict as well as fair rule enforcer! That was just the least that the world's future star, the Pegasus that soared across the heavens, the bestest older brother of lovely Tenma Saki as well as bestest son of Tenma household (as if they had another son), could do! This would be the best school year ever!

Time went by, and quickly it was about the time to head back to class. He had gotten a fair amount of names in his notebook, and his duty as a Disciplinary Committee member was supposed to end here. However, something now troubled the world’s future star. One could tell by the way his brow slightly furrowed, his mouth thoughtlessly nibbling onto a finger, and his gaze switching between the huge clock above the school building’s main entrance and outside the gate every 5 seconds. 

“Agh! Where the heck is he?? Don’t force me to do this!!” 

The minute hand of the clock was just millimeters away from 8:30AM. He could see the school’s guard hand just barely above the button as he was about to ring the school bell. He let out a dejected sigh. Wiping away the (imaginary) tear on his eyes, his heart ached with guilt, but he had to do this! Just because he was his friend didn’t mean Tsukasa could let him off! He must be fair!

Just when his pen was around to touch the paper’s surface, a weight suddenly fell on his shoulders. He felt his head bumping against something sturdy but warm.

“Tsukasa-kun!” He could hear the laughter in this person’s voice. The bell rang. 

“Rui!! Don’t scare me like that!!” He yelped, yanking himself from the other boy’s grab. Said boy, who was about half a head taller than him, looked down at him and giggled. 

“Sorry, I just can’t help it! Tsukasa-kun looked so worried there. Did you feel guilty about having to write my name down?” Rui’s eyes thinned as the edges of his lips rose into a cat-like smug. He held a hand to his mouth to muffle the chuckle that escaped it, making the uneven strand of hair that framed the right side of his face stuck to his cheek. 

“Obviously not!” Tsukasa pulled himself further from the grip of air, his face flustered bright red like a tomato. Rui didn’t like tomatoes very much, but this one was cute. 

“What’s with that shirt?!” He pointed his pen towards the hem of the taller boy’s shirt, clearly sticking out and draping over the belt of his pants.

“And that tie!” He moved the pen to point towards Rui’s barely knotted tie on his neck in a swift motion, almost making a “swip” noise in the air.

“And your shoelaces- dude, you haven’t even tied them! How did you not trip while running here?!”

“And those eyebags! When did you even sleep last night, or did you even sleep at all?! I already told you to quit that!!”

“And why did you only arrive now?! It’s so late that there’s literally no one left here!” He switched the pen’s aim from Rui to the school gate, which was now quiet and empty of people. 

The purple-haired boy, however, looked as if all the words entered one of his ears and escaped through the other (if they even entered in the first place). With the smug still embedded on his face, he shrugged.

“But I didn’t violate the rules, right? I still wore my uniform, and I came before the bell rang. How could you be so harsh to me, Tsukasa-kun?” The smug face was replaced by a sad pout, and his golden pupils now turned weirdly glittery for some reasons? What the hell, an actual tear came out! When did this guy learn to do actual crocodile tears?! And he was hiding his face in that palm like a damsel in distress, but surely there must be a insane smirk under it!!

Nevertheless, Tsukasa found himself at a loss for words. Rui wasn’t wrong. The school didn’t care however its students wanted to wear their uniform, only whether they wore their uniform or not. They also didn’t bat an eye as long as students came in before the bell rang, even if they were early by only 0.000000000001 second. So as much as Tsukasa wanted to continue ranting about this shameless troublemaker in front of him, he couldn’t. He let out an annoyed huff as he closed his notebook and sandwiched it between the cross of his arms. 

“Ugh, you’re lucky! Now go to class or you'll be late, I’ll follow after!” 

He could hear Rui’s footsteps moving further away from him, still idle as ever. But after a while, it suddenly stopped. Before he could look up and see what made the other boy stop in his tracks, he already met eyes with two enlarged golden pupils carrying a borderline manic look staring into his soul. 

“AGH- Rui!! Not again!!” He yelled, barely keeping his feet on the ground.

“Oops, my bad~! I forgot to ask, there’s something important I need your help with after school.”

“What is it?” He pouted, turning his head to avoid getting the chills. 

“A new experiment!” Oh dear, that sounded a little too enthusiastic.

“...with what?” The blonde gulped.

“My newest rocket!”

“YOUR WHAT????!!!!!!!”

The noise broke through sound barriers, causing the ground to shake, birds frantically flying away, glass shattering and aliens about to visit Earth awkwardly changing their course. On a higher floor in the school’s main building, a green-haired girl let out an annoyed grunt.

“Shut the windows please, Aoyagi.” Nene dropped her head over the chair’s back, a frown visible on her usually expressionless face. 

“Why don’t they replace the school’s bell with this guy’s volume? I’m sure no one would be able to ignore that.” A displeased ginger added on. 

“Guys, did you hear that?? I think the noise caused an earthquake!” A black haired girl with blue gradient at its tip hurriedly sprinted to the classroom, her words barely audible through her panting. 

“But isn’t it great? Tsukasa-senpai seems a lot more lively these days with Kamishiro-senpai around.” Toya spoke with a smile as pure as an angel’s.

“Sure is, if he doesn’t blow up our eardrums in the process.” Akito gruntled. 

“Thanks to this idiot I just missed my combo on The Intense Voice Of Hatsune Miku. He better find a way to pay it back.” Nene grabbed her phone from the floor - hopefully not because she threw it. 

On the other side of the hallway, the echo of the voice from a familiar pink-haired could be heard. 

“Woa, these glass pieces almost look star-shaped! I could definitely decorate something with that!”

“Uh, guys?” An was left stunted. No one answered her unfortunately. 

…

“Okay Tsukasa-kun, are you comfortable?” Rui asked through the walkie talkie. He was supposedly at the landing spot while Tsukasa was on the school’s rooftop. 

“Would be if not for the fact that I’m tied to a rocket!!” 

Tsukasa’s arms were stuck to his sides while his legs stuck together. There were a few rounds of rope as well as three protective straps on top of him, hopefully capable of keeping him from falling off mid-air. The rocket was a little wider and taller than him. It had red paint on its tip as well as its bottom, alongside golden stars scattering across its surface. Some of the stars had smiley faces as well. It would look cute, it really would, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was about to launch him to god-knows-where. 

“3…2…1…are you ready Tsukasa-kun?” 

“Stop that and just launch me already!!” The blonde bit his bottom lips, trying to stop a yell from escaping.

“Fufu, eager as ever ~”

Rui’s giggle was the last thing Tsukasa heard before he could see stars. No, literally. It seemed like biting his lips was futile, because he screamed as soon as he went up into the air. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASFSLKJLKFLKSJLJDFS!@@)(*_)*(*$(*@(#*@...”

The rocket flew across the afternoon sky like a shooting star, leaving a faint white line on the pinkish orange canvas behind it. It raced through the scarlet clouds, travelling over a dozen roofs, looking almost as if it could crash into the sun. The flag of Wonderlands x Showtime was released amidst the flight. It extended as it was embraced by the wind. 

“Mom, it’s a shooting star!”

“We’d better make a wish!”

“I want to fly like that too!”

Oh, how the unfortunate Tsukasa wished he could have such a spectacular view as those children. But all he saw was a blur of meshing colors as the rocket continued racing at top speed.

“Tsukasa-kun, you’ll be landing soon.”

“Landing??” Panic started to kick back in again as he hastily tried to locate a safe landing spot on the ground. It was all roofs.

“Where am I supposed to land??”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be safe.”

“You always say tha- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The rocket was heading towards the ground, towards what seems like a very uncomfortable bush…!

FWOOF!

The blonde boy faceplanted into something soft. It took him a while to convince himself that he was not dead and hadn’t broken any bones in his body after a few rounds of wiggling. Slowly, he dug his nails into the soft matter underneath him. It was fluffy and bouncy. Probably a mattress. 

“See, I told you it’s safe.” The voice came from behind him. 

He could hear knots being untied before the weight of the rocket was lifted off him and his limbs were free. The other boy took him by the shoulders to flip him back. He lied stomach up, body flopping against the mattress like a fish. 

“How was it, Tsukasa-kun? Were you scared?” Rui’s voice was gentle. Tsukasa would’ve doubted his memory that this was the same guy who planned this crazy experience in the first place if he didn’t know the purple-haired better. 

“Not at all!” He immediately sat up, swiftly wiping away any remaining drops of sweat on his forehead.

“I had a few doubts at first, but nothing a future world star cannot handle! Also, thanks for considering my safety, Rui!” He boasted, puffing his chest. 

“Fufu, the probability of this rocket landing at this exact spot is 99,99%, so you don’t have to worry.”

“YOU MEAN THERE’S 0,01% I COULD FACEPLANT INTO CONCRETE JUST NOW??”

4 days remaining. 

Tsukasa-kun always strives to overcome his fears! 

School had ended, and the members of Wonderlands x Showtime agreed to meet up at the Wonder Stage in order to rehearse for their next show. This time, Tsukasa in the role of the main character - a seasoned samurai named Yoshi, would be fighting a four-handed devil on stage. The fighting section was one of the key sections of the show, aiming to showcase both the character’s technique as well as his bravery to overcome his greatest fears. As a result, not only did he need to show complete mastery in swordfighting but also understood the character’s feeling as he faced what unnerved him the most. 

“Rui! Did you bring that training robot I asked you to?” Tsukasa asked as he waved to Rui, who had just arrived.

“Of course. I’ve designed it to be a custom fit for Tsukasa-kun.” 

He was dragging a cart behind him, with a large object covered by a red piece of cloth. This would be the robot Tsukasa had requested. 

“Custom design for Tsukasa-kun?” Emu peeked her head out from behind the curtains, her brows raised from intriguedness.

“Yes. By that I mean this robot can not only provide sparring, but it can also help him get into the character’s mentality in that scene.” Rui explained. 

“Woa, that sounds so interesting! I can’t wait to see it!” Emu cheered. Nene on the other hand didn’t look very excited. She facepalmed.

“You sure this won’t make him chicken run for his life instead?” She questioned him. The boy answered with a totally innocent smile. Poor Tsukasa didn’t think as far as Nene, though.

“That’s amazing, Rui! I will be using this invention to the best of its ability then! Bring it on!” He spoke proudly, already raising his arm holding a wooden sword forward. Rui had brought the robot to where it needed to be. 

“Oh boy…” Nene sighed. 

The cloth was removed, revealing something that was…unexpec-

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Tsukasa shrieked as his feet immediately left the ground. 

“Maybe we should call an ambulance for safety measures…” Nene murmured as she searched for her phone. 

“W-W-W-W-WHAT IS THAT????” The screaming continued. 

“The purpose of this scene is to showcase the main character’s determination to overcome his biggest enemy. Tsukasa-kun, you have to understand his feelings in order to nail the role.” Rui instructed, patting the robot on its back with a completely unfazed expression. 

“Y-y-y-yes, but…why does it have to be a bug?!” 

The robot placed in the center of the stage took the appearance of a large cockroach. It looked eerily realistic, down to the brown color of its wings, the thin antennas on its head, the lines on its stomach. Four out of eight of its scrawny legs were holding wooden swords. Under the stage lights, the shine on its smooth head sparked a wave of anxiety in Tsukasa’s body. He gulped. 

“Tsukasa-kun is scared of bugs, right? Wouldn’t this be the perfect training robot then?” The culprit’s smile was uncannily goodwill. Even when sweat continued to trickle down his forehead, the trembling blonde couldn’t deny the director’s claim.

That was right! An obstacle as trivial as a bug robot should not shake the world's future star! Tsukasa would defeat this monster and come out brilliantly triumphant as that brave hero he would be!

With another gulp, he moved his limbs into position again, gripping the hilt of his wooden sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white. 

“Right! B-bring it on, I’m ready!” He shouted. 

“Fufu, as you wish ~”

With a small “click” sound, the robot’s dark eyes suddenly glowed bright red. Its still limbs slowly started moving in a way that dangerously resembled that of a real roach’s movement. The antennas on its head wigged as if provoking, as deep grunts escaped from its mouth.

“Wow, it looks so cool!” Emu jumped excitedly.

“Is there even anything uncool to you?!” Tsukasa squeaked, too high-pitched for his liking. His legs were slowly melting into puddles again. 

Before he had the chance to panic further, the roachbot had begun charging towards him. 

“AGH! HERE I COME!!” 

With a diabolical yell, Tsukasa also ran at the roachbot with all his might. The two started crossing swords immediately. It was hard fighting with four different arms, but Tsukasa’s extensive training beforehand had made it manageable. He just needed to stay calm and be mindful of any movements coming towards him, blocking and dodging when needed and attacking when there was an opening. Four-handed creatures may overpower him in number and strength, but he still had speed and stealth. With the right plan, we would be able to confuse this creature with its own movement and trick it into giving him an opening.

The problem, however, was that…

“Tsukasa-kun, you can’t land a hit if you stare at the floor. It can hit you from above at any moment! The script required you to land at least 5 hits to defeat the monster.” Rui prompted. 

“I-I know! But this thing’s face is so freaking- Arghh!!” He barely managed to dodge a hit to his stomach. Unlike his shaky limbs, the roachbot’s legs were moving as swiftly and powerfully as ever. 

“Yoshi experienced a lot of fear when he started fighting monsters too. At the beginning, he can’t even look at them without feeling nauseous. But thinking about all the innocent smiles lost to them, he couldn’t stand by and watch. He must face his fears in order to become the strong soldier he wanted to be.” The purple-haired reminded him. 

“Tsukasa-kun, you can do it! You are a million times stronger than that cockroach!” Emu cheered him on. Nene next to her didn’t say anything, but she was quietly clapping for him as well. He shifted his vision to the other side of the stage. It was barely a split second, but he could capture Rui’s expression at the corner of his eyes. He looked serious, but there wasn’t a single trace of concern in his expression. He only focused on Tsukasa with eyes that seemed to convey his utmost trust in his abilities. The gaze that had carried the world's future star through countless hardships. 

Tsukasa took in a deep breath, before suddenly raising his arms and looking straight into the roachbot’s red eyes.

“HAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!”

…

“In the end, I only managed to land three hits…” Tsukasa sighed as he caught his breath. Rui sat beside him, lightly rubbing his sweaty palms with cloth. 

“You were amazing Tsukasa-kun! You went “Hah!” then chop chop, swoosh swoosh, clink clink, then boom! A hit!” Emu emoted with both her hands and her legs. 

“‘Least you didn’t pass out. If someone made me fight my biggest fear like that, I’d be gone in seconds.” Nene joked, but her tone felt sincere with care. 

Rui, who stayed silent up until now, suddenly looked up. The two boys’ eyes met while their faces were just centimeters away from each other. Tsukasa’s breath almost hitched. 

“How do you feel about the robot now?” Rui asked. 

Tsukasa looked down, then towards the robot again. Its form still sent a shudder to his body, but at least…

“I think I can look at it in the face. Not too long, though.”

His hand felt warmer. He looked down to see Rui’s larger hand tightening around his. 

“That’s already a big win. You managed to overcome a fear that you’ve had for so long, didn’t you?” The boy smiled warmly, his eyes curving into crescents. Tsukasa felt hot in his cheeks. 

“Tsukasa-kun is truly growing stronger.”

3 days remaining. 

Tsukasa-kun is really loyal to his words!

“Tenma, Kamishiro!” The two oddballs were suddenly stopped in their tracks by a teacher as they were about to go back home. 

“You two are heading to my office!” 

“Hm? I don’t remember us breaking any rules today, teacher. Are you sure you’re getting the right people?” Rui asked, his voice as calm as ever, his eyes looking straight at the teacher as if he had nothing to hide. Tsukasa, on the other hand, was shaking in his boots. Literally. Rui secretly poked him behind his back to remind him of his posture. 

“There was a loud noise two days ago that managed to shatter even some of our windows! You two must be involved in it!”

“I believe that’s caused by Tsukasa-kun’s formidable voice, Sir. Besides, don’t you think it’s a bit biased to accuse us like that?” Rui remained unchallenged. 

“Not that one! The explosive noise during the afternoon!” 

Before Rui had the chance to mutter another excuse, the teacher suddenly shifted his focus to Tsukasa. 

“Tenma! What’s with that face?!” 

Upon hearing his name, the shorter one of the two instantly jerked. His cheeks were bright red and wet with sweat. He couldn’t manage to keep his pupils in place. The world’s future star was, unfortunately, not the best liar. 

“That’s enough! Office, you both!”

Welp, there goes Tsukasa’s exemplary student status. 

…

“Wow, that teacher is strict…” Tsukasa grumbled as they finally got released. 

“Maybe we should reconsider these experiments, Rui…” 

“That’s right, we can’t damage Tsukasa-kun’s reputation to the teachers.” The taller boy nodded. Tsukasa’s eyes widened at how quickly Rui agreed, as well as how considerate he was towards Tsukasa’s student life. It almost made him feel guilty for scolding him the other day.

“Why just me though? What about you-”

“I have to find a way to make explosions unhearable.”

“How the heck does that even work?!” Nevermind, forget what he just thought. 

They went on an idle walk until they reached a crossroad. Tsukasa took out his phone, about to do something with it. He didn’t forget to wave Rui goodbye before that.

“I’m heading home. See you soon, Rui.” 

“See you as well, Tsukasa-”

“AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The sudden scream staggered even the mild-mannered Rui. 

“...?” 

“CRAP, HOW COULD I FORGET???!!!”

“Tsukasa…kun?”

Tsukasa was now frantically jumping up and down. When he finally stopped, he started running around in endless circles. He didn’t even mind the many pairs of eyes watching him. 

“Saki is going out with her friend today! I promised to buy her a new outfit as well as a gift for her friends and several types of snacks before that, but I forgot!!” He yelled. 

“Can’t you go now? We’re right in front of the mall.” Rui asked, looking confused. 

“She’s leaving in 15 minutes! There are so many stalls I need to go to, not to mention getting back home as well! I’m never going to make it!”

The blonde pulled his hair as he continued jumping in place. 

“Ah, what to do, what to do…!”

As if realizing something, his eyes suddenly shot up to the taller boy.

‘Rui, do you have any inventions for situations like this? Anything would do!” 

Rui’s eyes widened with shock at his friend’s odd suggestion. Realizing Tsukasa was serious, he got to digging through his backpack. After a short while, he took out a pair of seemingly normal shoes…except for the fact that there seemed to be something similar to mini engines attached to the heel part. 

“This is my invention: High Speed Running Shoes! After activating the button, your speed will be boosted by five times your normal amount. With this, you’ll get everything you need in no time.” Rui introduced with a proud smile. 

“What are the safety guidelines?” Tsukasa stared at the ominous pair of shoes. 

“As long as you don’t bump into someone. They have a sensory detector, so they won’t move if you don’t.” The taller boy reassured him. Tsukasa hadn’t gotten rid of all his concerns, but time was running out. He had 14 minutes left. With a grunt and a couple seconds of reluctance, he put on the pair of shoes. 

“Meet me here after you’re done, Tsukasa-kun!” 

And with that, Tsukasa was sent on a wild race. 

A single step took him a couple long strides away from where he was originally standing, meaning he basically turned into Sonic if he ran. People started turning their heads as they saw a fleck of yellow flashed through their eyes then disappeared before they could blink. Tsukasa’s palms grew sweaty from trying to avoid the people ahead of him.

“I’m sorry everyone!! Please let me through!!” 

He raced on the stairs that lead upwards, then rushed into the nearest clothing shop he could find. Thin cloth flew in his direction as he passed through. 

“Waiter, how much is this??” The waiter jolted in shock as a flash of yellow appeared in front of her eyes before it quickly formed into the form of a high school boy. A pink sweater with a white skirt and stockings were placed on her table. 

“U-um, the total is 8500 yen sir-”

A stack of money immediately appeared on her desk. The boy in front of her looked as if he wanted to punch holes through her head with his eyes. She nervously counted the money.

“I-it’s enough-”

“Thank you very much!”

She could barely register his words before he completely disappeared from her sight. 

The trip to the other two stores went the same way. The gift store’s staff looked at his dissipating form with bewildered eyes as he snatched away the gifts after paying, came back instantly when he remembered that he hadn’t asked her to wrap them, then exited the same way again. At the snack store, he moved around like a ping-pong ball in professionals’ hands as he ran through the many different rows filled with a dozen types of snack, determined to find even the most niche kind that her sister mentioned her friends who was a picky eater loved. The store clerk, once again, did not even have the time to finish his standard “Thank you for shopping” before the blonde vanished without a trace. It took about four minutes before he reunited with Rui at the spot where they promised to meet. 

“Take off your shoes now Tsukasa-kun. It’ll be dangerous to cross roads with them.” Rui spoke. They would have to make it back to Tsukasa’s home in around ten minutes, preferably less, in order to give Saki the time to change into her new clothes. In an ideal situation that would be tough, but still possible if they sprinted at full speed. However, Tsukasa was panting as he took off his shoes. It seemed like the previous nonstop running had worn him out quite a bit, which would be a hassle. Rui carefully considered their options. 

“Huff, we must go now- Rui?”

He had come up with a plan. 

“Rui???” 

Tsukasa suddenly felt his feet losing sensation of the ground. Not because of pain or numbness, but because he was no longer standing on it. Instead, he felt himself being grabbed by his waist, lifted in one quick swoop then neatly placed onto something sturdy. He laid potato-sack style on the other boy’s shoulder, his legs held steadily in Rui’s arms. 

“Wrap your arms around me if you feel unsteadied.”

That was the last thing he heard before the scenery in front of his eyes was dragged into long lines, almost similar when he was sprinting Sonic-style.

“RUI???????!!!!!!!!!!!!”

On the opposite street, the dollop of purple and blonde did not go unnoticed by two familiar people.

“Oh, it’s Tsukasa-kun and Rui-kun! They’re sprinting so fast like fwooshhhh!” Emu pointed.

“Hold on, I don’t think they’re both running.” Nene, who was standing beside her, squinted. Emu also squinted harder. 

“Nene-chan, I think they are…”

The corners of Emu’s lips slowly turned upwards into a sly smirk.

“Hehe, Tsukasa-kun and Rui-kun are being lovey-dovey!” The pink-haired girl giggled as she shook her companion’s shoulders.

“Well, that’s better than their hopeless pining at least. I’m sick of those two idiots looking at each other with that gaze that screams “If I could make out with you I would”. Urgh.” The green-haired girl shuddered. 

“Hey, Nene-chan.”

“Yes, Emu?”

“You want me to carry you like that?”

“Emu??”

“Yeah, that one isn’t wonderhoi. Nene-chan looks like a princess, so she should be carried like one!”

“????”

…

Tsukasa was wheezing and sticky with sweat all over his body when the two of them finally arrived at his house, despite not moving a limb during the entire run. That was because Rui was so damn fast for no reason! Well, that was a good thing, because they did actually manage to make it with a few minutes to spare, but to be carried like a potato sack by Sonic reincarnate wasn’t your average experience! They were just at this one street then suddenly they were at the other one. The scenery shifted rapidly as if they were traveling in some video game stimulation that Nene usually played. Somehow, and thank god they didn’t crash into anything during the run, because he could have sworn he had seen them almost crashing into a crowd, a tree or a lamppost at least ten times. And somehow Mr. Fiber Nemesis right here looked completely unscathed and refreshed even after running a few blocks, as well as with an extra weight on his shoulder! How was that even fair?! Did his body magically provide fiber for him or something??

There was something else. He could, unintentionally, recall a few moments during that run way too vividly. Like him caving in and wrapping his arms around Rui’s neck when he thought they were running straight into a tree. Strands of purple hair tickling his stomach when his shirt went slightly loose from the wind. His ticklish nature had made him almost jolt and fall off if not for Rui pulling him down and keeping him in place again. One of the other boy’s hand may have gone dangerously close to his b-

Enough of that!! Wait, what was he even doing?! Saki!!

He rushed towards the door as soon as his feet touched the ground, frantically twisting the lock with his key. The door opened to the sight of Saki sitting on the living room’s couch.

“Brother, you’re back. And that’s…Kamishiro-san, good afternoon!” Saki smiled as she waved to the two boys. Her expression changed as she went closer to the door and had a good look at them both.

“Um…brother, did you and Kamishiro-san have birds nesting in your hair or something?”

Sure enough, the wind and dust had done an amazing job at blowing their bangs away and turned their hair into a mess. Tsukasa had a dozen strands sticking out from his head like a hedgehog, while Rui’s cyan streaks were nowhere to be found. Thankfully, they only got hidden in the clump of his purple hair and not blown away. But Tsukasa couldn’t care less about that at the moment.

“Saki, your…stuff…” He handed her a small white bag containing her clothes, a huge one filled with many types of snacks, and two gift boxes - one with pink wrapping and the other with purple. Surprisingly, neither boxes’ wrappings appeared damaged. It seemed like he had tried his best to hold them properly even during their wild travels.

“Wow, brother, it’s exactly what I needed! Thank you very much!” Saki cheered, extending her arm to hug her brother. But the moment her hand reached him, it was immediately pulled back.

“Ah, you’re covered in sweat!” She squeaked.

“And…out of breath. Wait, have you two been in a rush?”

“Tsukasa-kun had some late business with the teacher today, so he got out later. Therefore, we had to hurry a bit.” Rui answered for a still panting Tsukasa. 

“Actually, I…almost forgot about it. I’m so sorry, Saki!” Tsukasa bowed apologetically. 

Saki looked dumbfounded.

“Wait a second. Brother, you’ve been rushing to get me these things??” Her eyebrow twitched in confusion. 

“Of course I have to get what my dear sister asked me to! And wait, shouldn’t you be heading out soon? You better be quick, don’t let your friends wait!” Tsukasa urged. 

The look on Saki’s face didn’t change. After a few seconds, she suddenly clasped one hand over her mouth while the other was placed on her stomach. A few seconds later, she couldn’t hold it anymore and started cackling. It was now Tsukasa’s turn to look confused. 

“Saki? What’s so funny?” He asked. 

“Brother, you- pfft!”

The girl launched herself at her brother for a tight hug, forgetting even about the damp sweat that coated his skin. The action earned her a yelp. 

“That’s supposed to be for Valentine's day! Do you think I would ask you to get so many things for me with such a tight deadline?”

“Valentine? Wait, today-”

He whipped out his phone to see the date. The date was February 11. Tsukasa’s mouth turned into an almost perfect “O”. 

Another laugh could be heard nearby, sounding lower and quieter than Saki’s. Tsukasa turned his head. Great, now the entire Wonderlands x Showtime would know about it, and there was a green-haired girl who he knew for sure would definitely not let it go. There was also a high chance that another pink-haired underclassman would hear about it, and then she would tell a grumpy ginger, a polite split-colored-haired boy and a black-haired with blue gradient girl about it too. Wow, Tsukasa knew he wasn’t the brightest, but he didn’t know he could be this stupid. He immediately hid his flustered face in his hands, hiding them from his cackling sister. For a split second, the purple-haired boy’s cheeks looked as if they flushed a shade of pink and he extended his fingers from the hand covering his mouth to do the same thing, but he quickly lowered them again. 

…

“Ugh, sorry for making you go through all that, Rui. I can’t believe I could make a mistake like that…” Tsukasa rambled. He was sitting with half his face buried in his knees. One could see just a fleck of red peek out from the tiny part of his cheek still visible.

“Fufu, don’t worry about it, it was a great exercise for me as well.” Rui chuckled, patting his sullen friend on his back. 

“Also, with this out of the way now, you don’t have to worry about not getting your sister’s things in time later right? It’s not completely useless.”

“I guess you’re right. Thanks, Rui.” The dejected blond finally lifted his head just a little from his knees, a small smile forming on his face. Rui may be hard to deal with sometimes, but he was no less considerate.

For a moment, the two only sat in silence, enjoying the beautiful sunset alongside each other. Rui was supposed to come home earlier, but Tsukasa had asked him to stay a little longer and he agreed. There was no particular reason for the stay. Rui refused any snacks and they barely spoke to each other, yet the atmosphere felt comfortable still. Being with Rui always felt that way. Tsukasa used to wonder if it was just because high school made it more difficult for friends to share private times, but Rui always felt different from the others. Tsukasa knew the weight of silence since he was a child, and so he naturally took up the role to fill up the white noise as he grew up. No matter who, where or when, he felt the need to initiate some sort of noise. However, with Rui, silence wasn’t that big of a deal. Other than the times the other boy made him bust his lungs screaming from all the out-of-the-world experiments he came up with, they actually never said much to each other. Not because he had nothing to say, but because he always felt like the other could understand what he wanted to say even without a single word uttered. Just like now, for example. He offered no reason to keep him, yet Rui stayed anyway. 

“Tsukasa-kun is a really responsible older brother. I’m sure Saki must feel lucky to have you.” Rui suddenly broke the silence. Tsukasa’s head perked up, a hint of curiosity flashed in his amber eyes. 

“What makes you say that?” 

“You cared so much about getting things for your sister that you offered to try out my inventions. One you never heard about before as well. Normally I could never get you to try out my things if it’s not for shows…” Rui made a fake pout, and Tsukasa playfully stuck his tongue out in response. 

“That’s because I already promised her. No one, and especially the world's future stars, don’t break promises!” 

“Well, this isn’t the first time you went an extra length for others though, is it?’ 

Tsukasa couldn’t tell if it was the warm-colored sunset that draped over everything under it with a cozy feel, or if Rui’s gaze really softened. If one could exchange hugs through the look of their eyes, then he was sure Rui would be embracing him right now. 

“When Emu-kun or Nene-kun struggled with anything related to shows, you would always try your best to give them adequate feedback. There was even one time where you replayed their duet part all night just to suggest the best solutions, remember? Aoyagi-kun also has a lot of good words to say about you. He told me once that you’ve inspired him to find out what he truly wants to do and do it, and that is how he met Shinonome-kun and his group later on. And you’ve helped me a lot as well. Whether it’s about shows or about me personally, you’ve offered me a lot of chances to better myself. I don’t think I would’ve found out what I truly wanted either if it’s not for you reaching out to me and forming Wonderlands x Showtime with my presence in consideration, Tsukasa-kun, so thank you very much.”

Tsukasa’s mouth fell agape, yet no words came out. He almost never found himself at a loss for words. 

“Ah, what am I doing, rambling on like that. Sorry for making you listen to me, Tsukasa-kun.” Rui turned his head away from Tsukasa, but he couldn’t hide the blatant bright red blooming on his ears. His hands ransacked around their shared space, fumbling as he looked for his bag. Tsukasa had never seen Rui acting this way before. 

He still didn’t know what to say to the other boy, and yet his body urged him to do something. Every single part of his body was tingling, as if they were all prompting him to move. Act. Do something. Anything. 

“I should be heading back home now. Have a good evening, Tsukasa-kun.” 

As he watched Rui’s back trailing further and further away from him, the tingle in his hand grew more intense. Before he could make sense of it, his body already leapt up. 

“Wait!” 

The purple-haired boy turned back to another hand holding him by the wrist. The blonde looked just as shocked as he was. 

“I- uh…”

Tsukasa stooped his head low. The hand holding Rui’s wrist was trembling, but he didn’t let go. 

“That’s just what friends are supposed to do. And I’m Touya’s senior, so it’s natural I must help him too.”

They stood in silence once more. Tsukasa closely watched Rui’s expression, which still looked as taken aback as it was when he suddenly held him back. Just when Tsukasa was about to release his hold and crawl back to his house in shame, he heard a response. 

“Then you are a good friend.”

Tsukasa turned back. He was met with Rui’s gentle smile. He felt as if he was melting into the warmth of the afternoon sun.

“Good brother, and good senior too. Let’s just say good person for short, shall we?”

2 days remaining. 

Tsukasa-kun is willing to do a lot for his dreams!

Wonderlands x Showtime met at Rui’s house in order to discuss a plan, but it seemed like something else had taken the entire focus. 

“Wow, Tsukasa. I knew you weren’t the best listener of your own advice but this is even worse than I thought. Honestly, you two can have matching eyebags now, and only you two because no one else can reach this level.” Nene pointed to Rui who made a totally-not-guilty expression.

“Tsukasa-kun! Did you stay up again? If this keeps up, I will have Miku, KAITO and the others keep tabs on you!” Emu whined. 

“Guys, I told you it’s nothing serious-”

“Miku-chan, Tsukasa-kun’s being a night owl again! Can you shut down all his devices at-”

“Argh, okay, I’ll tell the truth!” Tsukasa exclaimed. Emu put down her phone, but the suspicious look in the three pairs of eyes surrounding him didn’t disappear. 

“Okay, the thing is that I may or may not have gotten too used to sleeping late…”

“We all know which one it is.” Nene sighed, the frown not leaving her face. 

“...which messed with my usual sleep schedule, so now I can’t fall asleep at night.”

“Yeah, that’s tough. You’re gonna have to rewrite your entire sleeping pattern.” Nene contemplated with a hand on her chin. 

“I’ve tried many methods I saw online, but nothing works so far. I don’t want to use sleeping pills yet because that may have side effects.” Tsukasa explained, earning himself a nod from his group mates. 

“I have something that might help.” 

Three people perked their heads up and looked towards the owner of the voice - Rui. Flecks of cyan shone in his irises. It seemed to be a trademark whenever he came up with an idea. 

He rose on his feet and walked to a corner of his room - the corner filled with boxes containing undone robots and lanky scraps of all kinds of materials. A few rounds of nonstop clang noises from things being thrown onto the ground went by and Rui came up with a device. It was shaped like a headband but coated with white plastic. From the look of it, the material was light. The inner side of the so-called headband had some kind of spongy material attached to it. 

“This is my instant sleep device. All you need to do is turn this on by the button in the back and it will release a kind of soundwave that biologically wires the brain to relax and so fall asleep. I called it a soundwave, but there will be no noises except for maybe some buzz because the device is connected to your brain. The waves are totally harmless, and you can wake up whenever you want just like when you fall asleep naturally.”

The three nodded, looking intrigued. 

“Do you want to try it on, Tsukasa-kun?”

“Eh, now? But shouldn’t we be planning?” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Nene poked his unconsciously raised arm.

“We’ll be going through my and Rui's parts now, so it’ll be a while until it gets to your turn. We’ll wake you up then.”

The blonde put out his arm, but his expression still looked visibly hesitant. 

“Is that okay? You sure you won’t need feedback and stuff? And what if I snore or something?”

“Fufu, as considerate as ever Tsukasa-kun.” Rui let out a soft chuckle. 

“But we’ll be alright, you’ve given us a lot of feedback already. Not to mention, Emu-kun is here.”

“That’s right! Don’t worry about your snore Tsukasa-kun, Rui-kun likes-”

Tsukasa’s attention was split between Rui appearing blatantly shocked and Nene quickly clasping her hand to Emu’s mouth. He didn’t know which one was more surprising. 

“Anyway!” Nene coughed. 

“Just go to sleep, you workaholic. If you snore I’ll kick you in the bum, deal?” 

Tsukasa’s mouth hung agape to the many questions going through his head, but Nene was looking at him like an angry mother, Emu’s mouth was still covered and Rui was…hiding his face under his hair now as well as being dead silent, so he reluctantly agreed. 

“Deal…”

The device worked as instructed. As soon as Tsukasa pressed the button, it felt like all thoughts gradually vanished from his mind, leaving only a strangely comforting sensation. His head felt like a pure white slate, completely tranquil. Slowly, even the muscles on his face started to relax. And in a couple of minutes, the blonde had drifted into a deep sleep. 

…

When Tsukasa woke up, he felt weird. Not because of his head hurting or his muscles numb or his back aching from sleeping at a weird angle, but because he felt…good. It was like his body had been refreshed. It had been quite a while since he woke up and did not feel like something had been gnawing on him while he slept.

He opened his eyes to the ceiling. Strange, when did his ceiling become so colorful? Despite being an extravagant person, Tsukasa never had the habit of decorating his room, and so there was barely anything worth looking at in it other than the stacks of stuffed toys he kept for Touya. Saki always said his room looked like that of a grandpa’s as she pointed at the four blank white walls and the ceiling above. This ceiling, however, was covered with childlike decorations. A dozen colorful balloons, an UFO model made of foam, a bird-shaped lamp, a cute flowery lamp with a yellow bulb in the center, and some colorful flags as well. At a closer look, this ceiling also seemed to be made of corrugated iron, judging from the folded pattern of it. That was strange also, because he was sure his room’s ceiling was just an average cement surface painted white. Where could this possibly be? Hm…

Wait a second, wasn’t this Rui’s room?? What was he doing here?!

Tsukasa sat upwards instantly as if he was an inflating bobo doll, sending the blanket flying with his leg. Rui, who was sitting at the desk nearby, turned his head as he heard the noise. 

“Ah, you’ve woken up. How are you feeling, Tsukasa-kun?”

Tsukasa’s memories slowly came back. Right, he was here with Wonderlands x Showtime for show planning but asked to take a nap by his friends. They told him they’d wake him up when it was time to fix his part, but he had taken a few headturns and Emu and Nene were nowhere to be found. 

“I’m feeling well, but where’s Emu and Nene?”

Only now did he notice the window. It looked suspiciously dark outside. 

“Wait…what time is it? How long have I been sleeping?”

“Ah, about that…” Rui smiled sheepishly.

“We did wake you up when it was your turn, but you were sleeping so soundly that even Emu-kun’s tickle attack did nothing. So, we just ended up letting you rest instead.”

“HAHHHH????” The blonde’s growl caused the other boy to jostle like a shocked cat. 

“So I’ve been sleeping this whole time and missed out on practice??”

“Yeah, it’s 6PM now.”

“Wait, my family must be worried!!” Tsukasa’s mind rushed him to run to his phone. His feet stumbled on one of Rui’s many scattered belongings on the floor, making him almost trip, but the other boy had caught him in time. 

“Don’t worry, your sister called earlier and I’ve told her you’re having some extra work and will come back later. I’ve told her to have dinner before you as well.”

Tsukasa sighed in relief. He didn’t want to worry his family, especially his sister since she had her health to worry about as well. But he was then immediately reminded of the fact that he had skipped a whole day of practice. There wasn’t much time left, and not to mention his troupe mates probably had to deal with some extra work because of him. The thought filled him with guilt as he plopped himself on the floor. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to take more work next time.” His voice was low and barely audible. Rui crouched down beside him.

“Don’t worry about that. We’re all happy as long as you’re well-rested.” He smiled. It was a smile from genuine goodwill, Tsukasa could tell that. His troupe mates probably felt the same way, and yet he couldn’t shake off the guilt. As a self-proclaimed world’s future star, he felt he should do better. He should not have made his troupe mates carry his load. Or, more accurately, they shouldn’t be worried about him in the first place. His face twitched as a twang of pain arose in his heart. 

“Don’t feel bad, Tsukasa-kun. It’s my fault.” The voice took him back amidst his spiral. He turned to face the boy next to him.

“It’s actually my suggestion to allow you to sleep. I hadn’t thought about whether you’d wanted it or not. I’m sorry.” The purple-haired had an apologetic expression on his shadow-coated face. It made Tsukasa’s thoughts go another way. 

“Why did you do that?” Tsukasa uttered. 

“I just wanted you to rest.” Rui scratched the back of his head.

“I…I’ve been worried about you overworking yourself actually, but I never got the chance to get you some rest. So I just went with it this time, but I didn’t think it through carefully. Sorry, there’s no excuse really, so um…sorry.”

Rui lowered his head, revealing only the top of his head for the other boy to see. Tsukasa was left stunted. 

Rui wanted him to rest? Someone wanted that?

A strange sensation started flowing through his body. It initially sparked in his chest, then filled every other part of his body. It felt like something was overflowing, but not overwhelming. It felt fuzzy…more cozy, actually. He could hear his heart beating fast in the quiet space, but he wasn’t tense. 

Something started to shift in his vision as well. The surroundings were the exact same as before, but oddly sparkly for a reason? Like the walls had been drowned with glitter, the light brighter, and there were a bunch of stars flying around. What a funny feeling. He recalled feeling this way too when he stood on stage after a show ended and he could witness the sea of smiles in the audience seats, but he’d always thought that was because he was moving closer to his dream. There were no audience here, and no one was smiling, and yet why did he feel this way?

He could still see the top of Rui’s head. His hair was of a beautiful shade of purple astrantia, and it somehow always looked fluffy despite being messy. Tsukasa wanted to touch it. The way Rui was lowering his head made him look like a sad puppy. He was so cute. Tsukasa wanted to pat him. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he did it anyway. 

The taller boy raised his head in startle as he felt a hand ruffling his hair. He only grew more stunted when he realized that hand belonged to a certain blonde, but Tsukasa didn’t stop. He kept on stroking Rui’s head, smiling tenderly as he did so, his amber pupils flickered with innocent delight. He looked as if he was tending to a small- well, not very small, but still a puppy. 182cm puppy. As for how that works, please ask Tenma Tsukasa, author is too single. 

“Rui has always done the best for me. I’m glad.” The tone that came out of Tsukasa’s mouth was like honey to the ear. He spoke quietly, so quiet that one wouldn’t be able to hear it if one was anywhere else in the room. The words, in a way, were said only for Rui to hear. 

Yes, it was right, Rui always had his back. Sometimes his intentions were ambiguous or even straight up diabolical, but he’d gone with them anyway because he knew Rui would never put him in harm’s way. If there was something he couldn’t figure out on his own, Rui would always somehow come out with another invention of his, as if he was the Doraemon of the 21st century. If he doubted himself, looking into those golden irises flecked with cyan would remind him of the utmost trust someone else had in him, and he knew how much of a genius Rui was so he couldn’t be wrong. And if the world became too quiet all of a sudden? Well, no one could break him out of it, but he would see a flash of purple at the corner of his eyes. That let him know that someone would be by his side, silent or not, joyful or low. 

“You were just doing what’s best for me, so don’t be sorry, okay? I’ll take care of myself better from now on too.”

Tsukasa’s hand stopped patting Rui’s head to trail down his face. He sandwiched the streak of cyan in the other boy’s hair between his two fingers, then gently tugged it behind his ear. The unexpected heat on the boy’s skin surprised him, and so he rubbed his ear with his fingers again. Rui’s ear was bright red. Not only his ear, but his entire face was red. His pupils were shaky, positioned away from Tsukasa’s gaze. He had a hand over his mouth, but Tsukasa could see over the gaps between his fingers that he was biting his lower lip. 

“Rui?”

Rui didn’t answer. Tsukasa nudged himself downwards, trying to get his face to the same height as Rui’s. He was about to take his hand off the other’s face as well, but just when his palm parted from the taller boy’s cheeks, another hand held it in place. 

Now, it was Tsukasa’s turn to become a heating ball.

Rui didn’t bring his hand closer, but instead brought his face closer to Tsukasa’s hand until his cheek was completely buried in his palm. He pressed on it as if nuzzling, making his cheek squished up. Every word Tsukasa could possibly say about this situation became stuck in his throat. He felt hot, so hot, as if the blood inside his head was boiling and rapidly rising in temperature, but he didn’t want to let go. For some reason, he just didn’t. He sat frozen in place, totally bewildered. 

“If Tsukasa-kun doesn’t want me to say sorry, then you shouldn’t either.” 

Tsukasa was too lost to respond. Rui still hadn’t looked at him, but he continued nuzzling against the other’s palm. 

“You’ve said sorry, and I’ve said sorry, so we’re even yes? Let’s not feel sorry anymore.”

It took the blonde an extra minute to register the situation.

“Ah, uh- right! Let’s not say sorry anymore! Sorry for worrying you earlier.” It seemed like his mind had registered words but his mouth didn’t. 

“You don’t have to say sorry!” Rui grumbled. Then, realizing he had come off more annoyed than usual, he frantically waved his hands.

“Uh, no, I mean- sorry-” 

“Hah, you said it too!” Tsukasa pouted. 

The two locked eyes, sharing childish sulkiness. Then, they both bursted into laughter. 

“Haha, aren’t we really similar, Tsukasa-kun?” Rui asked through his high-pitched giggle. 

“Well, that just means we both have to commit to this then!” Tsukasa declared. 

“From today on, we’ll keep tabs on each other! If you apologize to me unnecessarily, you will get a 1 week explosive ban!”

“And if you apologize then you will agree to every experiment I suggest for a week, am I right?” Rui smirked. 

“Argh, you…! Ugh, whatever, watch me beat you to it so much that you owe me a lifetime of explosive ban!” Tsukasa frowned. 

The pair fell into a cackle fest again after their short banter. Soon, it was late, and Tsukasa bid Rui goodbye. Rui handed him the sleep device, adjusting the wave intensity beforehand in order to not pull Tsukasa in a too deep sleep, and reminded him to sleep early that night as well. All ended well. Rui believed he could never seriously fight with Tsukasa even if he wanted to (he didn’t).

He went back to his desk to see a phone notification. 

Nene: your future boyfriend snores loudly as hell

Nene: get a room with just the two of you next time if you enjoy hearing it that much

Rui: you sure that isn’t just an excuse to be alone with Emu-kun?

Nene: i’m blocking you

Rui: :3

1 day remaining

Tsukasa-kun really wants to make people smile!

Tsukasa went to the school’s rooftop during lunch break to meet a familiar face, who could be no one else but his beloved classmate. The boy had a smug look on his face and blue flecks visible in his eyes, showing that he had come up with something that may or may not be sinister. 

“What is it this time?” Tsukasa sighed, already accepting his fate. 

“I have a really special experiment this time, Tsukasa-kun. It’s not dangerous at all, don’t worry ~”

“Somehow, you saying that makes me feel more concerned for my life.”

“Aw, don’t you trust me Tsukasa-kun?” Rui made a fake pout and twirled the long strand in his hair with his finger. Tsukasa kept his deadpan expression.

“I’m being for real. There’s no explosives, no bugs, no flying, no fire, no water, no sprinting, no falling asleep, no-”

“Okay, I get it. So can you tell me what it is now?” Tsukasa cut in amidst Rui’s ramble. 

“Fufu, it’s a secret, but I’m sure you’ll like it. I have a request to make, though.”

“...what is it?” Tsukasa asked, trying to push away the intensifying thought that Rui may try to summon something. He hadn’t mentioned that in his ramble, right?

“We can only do this at night, and I have to borrow your house for it.”

“What?!”

The reasonable response would be concerned about his house’s safety, and yet Tsukasa’s face was burning. His hands fumbled yet managed to cover nothing. Rui had been to his house before, why was the thought of this so embarrassing??

“If not, then we can break into school- “

“Okay, my house it is!” 

Rui gave him a (hopefully) innocent reassuring smile. Well, what was the worst that could happen? Not like his house was going anywhere, right?

…

It was around 8PM when Tsukasa and Rui gathered at the Tenma home’s rooftop. Rui had explained that this experiment could only work at a high place, and so only Tsukasa’s house or the school was viable since his house didn’t have that many floors. Tsukasa had suggested the Ootori residence, but Rui seemed strangely quiet about it, so he didn’t mention it again. Up until now, Rui hadn’t mentioned a thing about the experiment, which made this moment just as worrying as it was exciting to Tsukasa. He fiddled with his other hand behind his back as Rui unpacked. 

He looked up to the sky as he waited. It was dark - well, of course since it was 8PM, but today’s sky had been the darkest in this entire month. The whole sky was pitch black with not a single trace or stars or cloud. Not even the ubiquitous lights of Tokyo could brighten it. It felt like the entire world had been engulfed by a sea of black ink. It made the situation at hand felt even scarier, and Tsukasa gulped. 

Before he realized, the purple-haired boy had laid something on the floor. It looked like a projector that wasn’t attached to anything on the ceiling. Instead, the part where it was supposed to be attached held the lens used to project images and videos. He took out his laptop and turned it on, revealing a dark screen with a bright red dot in the center. The dot was surrounded by yellow lines, some straight and some curved, some crisscrossing each other. When he connected the projector-like device to his laptop, the red dot suddenly started slowly flickering, its red light glowing for a moment then fading away. 

“Fufu, don’t worry Tsukasa-kun. I made this in quite a hurry so the graphics look a bit rough, but it still works as well as usual. Come here, I’ll show you how it works.” Rui gestured a tense-faced Tsukasa towards him. Other than the fact that that red light looked a little too ominous for his liking, it seemed safe enough. 

“This red dot right here,” Rui pointed towards the center of the laptop screen. “represents our current location. These lines are a rough sketch I made for the streets around us. And this thing which looks like a projector is, you can guess, supposed to project something. But we won’t be just projecting images or videos from it. We’ll project illusions.”

“You don’t mean ghosts or something, right…?” Tsukasa asked. 

“Aw, Tsukasa-kun doubts me again. How woeful am I…” Rui faked a sob. 

“But yeah, that’s not what I intended at least for now. Tsukasa, it’s a really gloomy day today isn’t it?”

The blonde was surprised about his friend sharing the same thought he had. 

“Yes, what about it?”

“Let’s light it up a bit, shall we?” Rui’s tone sounded like an invitation. 

Tsukasa looked at the dark sky, then down towards his neighbourhood. As expected, there were no children playing on the streets. The kids in the nearby homes tended to go out to play at this hour when there were stars and a bright moon. Their laugh would break through the silence of the night as they ran and saw the moon and the stars following them. It was a sight Tsukasa always loved to see. Even if the noise could be a bit much sometimes, he always preferred that they stayed. Seeing others happy made him happy too, and seeing children enjoying their carefree childhood made him feel like a child again as well. 

“How are we supposed to do that?” 

“Get closer, I’ll show you.” Rui spoke, and Tsukasa did just that. The taller boy pointed at the red dot on the screen again. 

“First, let’s adjust the scope of the illusion. Let’s keep it within your neighbourhood for now so that weather forecasters don’t get the wrong idea. For this, just drag the mouse and make a circle around the area where you want the illusion to reach.”

As soon as Tsukasa released the mouse, a thin red barrier suddenly appeared then quickly dissipated. He shuddered.

“Hey, you sure no one saw that?!” He scowled, but was only met with a carefree smile from the other. That was a sign that he had no way to reason with this guy. 

“Okay, what kind of sky does Tsukasa-kun want to see right now?” Rui asked. Tsukasa started thinking as he captured the jet-black sky in his amber pupils.

What kind of sky made people smile most?

“Maybe a starry sky with a bright moon?”

“Got it.”

Rui clicked opened a menu to reveal multiple types of night sky scenery before dragging one into the area that Tsukasa had previously marked. 

“My device isn’t at its best stage right now, but I hope you enjoy it.”

The screen loaded for a few seconds. What happened afterwards was something that Tsukasa thought could only exist in the wildest fantasies he had as a child. 

The sky in the marked area had shifted into a shade of sapphire blue, a few spots lit with azure and indigo. Millions of dazzling stars scattered across it. It looked just like the night sky canvas splattered with white paint as a final touch that he’d seen in art museums before. The stars gathered around a source of luminescence - round and glowing with warm white light - the moon herself. Tsukasa had always thought the gentle gleam of the moon always made her look as if she was smiling and - wait, she was!! It was just a few faint grey marks, more likely the moon’s surface than anything, but he could swear she was smiling!

“Ah, would you take a look at this?”

His focus was pulled back to Rui, who was now peeking his head out of the rooftop’s railing. Tsukasa did the same thing. He could tell why Rui looked amused at the sight. The windows of houses had glimmered yellow again, and behind them, there were young faces pressing onto the glass. Some of the kids had run down to the street. They jumped up and down excitedly as they pointed at the sky, calling out to their parents.

“Mom, the moon is so bright today!”

“The stars had come to see us today! I knew they would!”

“Why did they come so late today?”

“Dunno, maybe they overslept!”

Tsukasa couldn’t tell, but he was smiling. In fact, he could barely control the corners of his mouth from trembling from the overwhelming joy he felt. His eyes were lit - again, obviously because there was light, but there was something else within them too. I don’t know about you, but Kamishiro Rui thought it looked like there was an entire galaxy inside those amber irises of the boy beside him. A galaxy that he would gladly be sucked into. 

“Tsukasa-kun.” Rui finally tapped on his friend’s shoulder after admiring- he meant letting Tsukasa enjoy his time for a while. 

“Can we change into any other scenery?!” The blonde was brimming with fascination, the huge grin on his face making his cheeks lift and his eyes almost curving into crescent. Rui was taken aback from having his question asked for him, but he regained his composure. 

“Of course. You just need to pick another image in this menu and drag it into the marked area. I haven’t installed that many yet, but feel free to pick whatever you’d like to.”

Tsukasa looked at the settings in the menu like a child discovering where their parents hid candy. It seemed like he quickly found one that he liked, judging from the way his pupils widened and his grin growing just a tad bit wider. He dragged something with the mouse. 

In a blink of an eye, the sight changed again. This time, there were no longer stars or the moon, but the sky was set ablaze with curves of light that stretched to the horizon (of Tsukasa’s neighbourhood). The light curves looked as if they were gorgeous sheets of transparent fabric hung from the sky, fading into light pink then vivid green at the end. The new light dyed the world in such scintillating colors. Even the road coated in a single color of gray cement now glowed with that alluring emerald green. 

“What is that? I’ve never seen it before!”

“It’s so beautiful!”

“I know! The teacher calls that…Nothern lights! Yes!” 

“No way, doesn’t that appear very rarely! I can’t believe we actually get to see it!” 

Tsukasa was laughing now. It wasn’t his usual laugh, where he puffed his chest and laughed grandly like a hero in a play, but he felt delight from the truest part of himself. The laugh was high-pitched and nowhere as loud as usual, but the expression of his face conveyed a happiness that could never be imitated. 

“Do you wanna see a trick?” Rui leaned closer to his friend. 

“Yes! Show me!” The blonde cheered. Rui almost felt his heart skipping a beat. 

He placed a hand on the keyboard of his laptop and opened another menu. There was only a single option in this one, named like those default computer files. It was uncharacteristic of Rui to not name his files properly, but he already clicked on it before Tsukasa could ask. 

“Look up and enjoy the show, okay?”

Tsukasa did as told. Very willingly. 

Something dashed across the sky. It was quick, and he would certainly have missed it even if he just blinked at an unfortunate time, but it was a flash of light. As it flew by, a trace of something glittery was left behind. Before he could inspect, another one went by. Then another. And yet another. Before he realized, the sky had turned into a sea of shooting stars. 

“It’s a shooting star! Quick, wish!”

“There are so many of them! Does that mean I can wish for 100 things?”

“I wish I could have fried chicken-”

“You’re supposed to keep the wish to yourself, silly!”

Tsukasa didn’t wish. The stars looked as if they were dancing in his eyes. He was utterly awestruck, mesmerized by the fairytale-like scenery, the sight his childhood self would dream of seeing. 

It felt like his wish had already come true. 

He did not realize how in that moment, someone had considered him more beautiful than any stars in the universe. Someone had embraced his figure in such a tenderly loving gaze.

…

“Wow, that was fun! Hopefully the parents didn’t mind us luring their children out so late.” Tsukasa exhaled.

“Fufu, I’m glad Tsukasa-kun likes it.”

“Of course I do! That’s an amazing invention Rui! Imagine the kinds of shows we could create with it!” Tsukasa’s voice was full of enthusiasm as he grabbed Rui’s shoulders. 

Rui didn’t answer, only smiled. It was slightly windy at night. The light breeze ruffled the boys’ hair, tangling a few strands. Tsukasa’s bangs were off-centered from his face, which made Rui let out a quiet chuckle. 

Slowly, he leaned towards the blonde, closing the already narrow gap between them. Tsukasa felt hot again. He couldn’t tell if it was from the heat radiating from Rui’s body which was barely away from pressing onto his, or if he was boiling from the inside again. Tsukasa could feel everything way too intensely - the grab of Rui’s large hand on his shoulder, the faint smell of detergent from his clothes, the light brush of their knees against each other, the warmth of his breath. He didn’t know what to expect. 

Their faces were really close to each other now. Tsukasa could tell even in the dark because he could hear the other’s slowly breathing by his ears. 

“Tsukasa-kun.” Rui muttered. 

“Yes?” His voice came out barely more audible than a huff. 

“Will you let me?” 

Tsukasa felt his friend’s breath hitch. A part of him was lost about the situation, but another knew exactly what Rui was talking about. He didn’t know what should be more trustable. His limbs were frozen, and his mind was blank. The city had fallen asleep with the kids finally tucked in bed and the adults doing so soon after, leaving no noises left to fill the space. All he knew now was that the dark figure belonging to his friend was standing in front of him, his outlight vaguely traced by some remaining street light. He wanted to lean into it. 

“Yes.”

He shut his eyes, allowing whatever meant to happen to come. 

A couple of seconds passed by, and another. He felt something brushing against his forehead, lingering there for a moment as if hesitating; then swiped his bangs to its place. He could feel his hair positioned at the usual place on his forehead again. 

Tsukasa didn’t know what he was expecting, but definitely not that. He didn’t know what to feel about it. 

“Can I ask you another thing?” 

“You mean another experiment?” Tsukasa didn’t know why he said that.

“Ah, no, nothing like that. This time, it’s…”

Rui went silent, as if hesitating. 

“I just want to spend a day with you tomorrow. No experiments, promise.”

The grip on Tsukasa’s shoulder tightened.

“It’ll be just me and nothing else. Is that…okay?”

“Just you?”

“Yes. Not even Emu and Nene. Basically a date.” 

Tsukasa couldn’t see Rui’s face clearly in the dark, but he knew he was turning away. 

A date with Rui, huh?

Speaking of that, they had spent a lot of time together these past few days. There were a few times spent alone as well, and yet, something felt distinct about such times being formally given a name. Tsukasa had always thought of them as just normal time between friends. Even this so-called date that Rui mentioned probably said nothing about their relationship further than good friends, but his senses still tingled thinking about it. A date…something formal. And…with Rui.

“I’d love to.”

Tsukasa almost thought he had heard a sniffle when the purple-haired boy replied.

“Thank you very much.”

Tsukasa-kun is really, really dear to me. I want to make you him the happiest person in the entire world. 

Rui fiddled with the slip of paper in his hand as he replayed the words written on it repeatedly in his head.

Step 1: Look good and compliment his looks. 

“Brother, Kamishiro-san is here!” Saki called from the door. He quickly stuffed the paper in his pocket when he spotted Tsukasa approaching. 

“Woa! You look great with your hair tied up! Your new earring as well!” Tsukasa showed him a thumbs-up. 

“Ah, this?” Rui lightly flickered the golden star-shaped earring on his right ear.

“Mizuki got it for me just recently.” Intentionally to be exact but Kamishiro Rui didn’t say that.

Rui also took a good look at Tsukasa. The boy had a change of hairstyle as well - his usual straightened hair was curled into waves, which made him resemble a poodle. A pair of round glasses frames made his already round face seem even squishier. Rui struggled to keep his hand from squishing his friend’s face like Play-Doh. 

“You look adorable, Tsukasa-kun.” Rui complimented with a soft smile. Flecks of pink instantly bloomed on Tsukasa’s cheek, forcing him to turn away. Yeah, Rui definitely had to ask for a squeeze later. 

Well, that was a piece of cake for a step. He could move forward to step 2 now.

“Anyways, where would you like to go?” Rui asked. He had prepared himself to be at wherever - theme park, aquarium, cafe or any other popular Valentine’s day attraction. He was so serious about this whole thing that he had prepared for everything a month ahead, going through every dating advice website he could possibly find on the Internet. He even asked for advice from his friends (and got laughed at by a lot few of them for his cluelessness regarding everything) in order to ensure a smooth experience. Wherever Tsukasa liked to go, he would accept it with a big smile on his face. Even if Tsukasa wanted to go to a vegetable fair (hopefully not), he would take that too!

What the purple-haired didn’t expect though, was that the blonde was just as clueless as he was about this whole ordeal. 

“Uh…I’m not too sure. Where do you want to go, Rui?”

“Huh? Do you not want to go anywhere at all?” Rui’s eyebrow twitched slightly. 

“No, not really. I never hang out much, so…”

Ah, right. Tsukasa was one of the most ambitious people he had ever met. This guy was not only fanatically committed to his dream of becoming a world-future star, but he was also juggling with school duties, family duties as well as junior duties. Of course he didn’t have the time to laze around. 

Well, there goes step 2 out of the window. Rui couldn’t believe how quickly he messed up. 

Tsukasa, probably noticed the gloom that was spread wider and wider on his friend’s face; hesitantly spoke up. 

“I heard there’s a theme park nearby. I’ve never properly hung out at one so…I’d like to try that!” 

Rui was far too familiar with Tsukasa, for better or for worse, to tell that idea was made up on the spot. Nevertheless, he felt relieved for his friend’s perceptiveness. He wouldn’t know what to do had Tsukasa kept on staring at him in awkward silence. And, there surely would be something fun to do at the theme park. As an inventor, he had grown used to mistakes, and understood that one small mistake wouldn’t ruin the entire product as long as one had the correct improvisation. This date could be saved…right?

“Okay, let’s go then.” 

Just as the two started moving towards the main road, Rui felt something brushing against his legs. He looked down to see something bumpy poking out from inside the pocket of his cloak. He opened to check, and…

Great, another screw up. What a genius, Kamishiro Rui. 

Taking a deep breath to not freak out, he called out. 

“Tsukasa-kun, there’s actually something I wanted to give you first.”

The shorter boy stopped walking and turned back, looking intrigued. Okay, he seems interested, that’s good. 

Rui dug out the bumpy thing from his pocket. It was a teddy bear, about half the height of an arm. It was royal blue - Rui deduced that was Tsukasa’s favorite color given how many pieces of blue clothing the boy wore; and holding a sunflower in its hand. Sunflower was the type of flower Rui saw in Tsukasa - bright, notable, and always facing the sun, just like how Tsukasa remained determined to reach his goal at all times. 

Step 2 (True): Impress him with the thoughtful choice of gift. 

“Do you…like it?” Rui asked, trying to swallow down the tremble in his voice. He stole a glance at Tsukasa who was currently scanning the teddy bear as if inspecting for an explosive in it, then quickly stared at the ground again. For once, he had no idea what Tsukasa was thinking. What great timing. 

“I got it since you have a lot of plushies in your room, but they look old, so I thought you might want a new one…”

The boy was still quiet, poking his finger at the teddy bear’s nose and rubbing the flower’s petals. Rui’s anxiety continued to rise with each passing second.

“If you don’t like it, I can keep it-”

“Of course I do!” The teddy bear was suddenly snatched from his grab. Tsukasa cradled the creature in his arms, his fingers lacing through the soft fur of its surface. There was a tender smile on his face as he looked at the gift. 

“Thank you. I really like it.” He gave the bear a tighter hug. Rui sighed in relief. He didn’t know what caused such an uncanny silence in Tsukasa earlier, but it seemed like he did enjoy the present in the end. 

Just then, Rui felt another solid object in his pocket.

“Ah- wait! There’s another one!” He hastily dug through his pocket. The object taken out was a tiny glass bottle, smaller than the size of his palm. Its button was replaced by a red and white checkerboard paper, tied to the bottle with a rubber band. There were five paper stars of different colors in it. 

“It looks a bit rough but…please take this too.” Rui’s eyelashes fluttered shyly. He looked even more reticent now than when he handed Tsukasa the teddy bear. The blonde looked at the bottle curiously.

“Wow, did you fold all these yourself? They look really well-done!” He awed as he held the bottle in his hands.

“Um, when you come home, please…” 

Rui’s voice was incredibly quiet, like he was speaking in falsetto. 

“What did you say?” Tsukasa asked, leaning closer to his friend. The taller boy had to try his hardest to not squirm.

“...unwrap all of these stars.” Rui felt as if his throat was going to snap.

“Huh, really? But you probably spent so much time on these.” Tsukasa looked a little regretful. 

“It’s okay. It’s not that much time.” He only learned how to fold paper stars 5 days ago.

“There’s just…something I want you to see. But it’s your choice to accept it or not.” 

“What do you mean by that?” Tsukasa’s brows furrowed in confusion. Rui was on the verge of faceplanting into the ground. Did he really have to reveal his intentions, now?

Fortunately for him, the shorter boy ended up putting the bottle along with the bear in his backpack.

“I’ll keep it in mind and find out later then! Let’s go!”

Rui could finally feel air in his lungs again. Though now that he thought about it, shouldn’t the gifts wait until the end of the date? It was always like that with all other special occasions, like one’s birthday or Christmas. Was he remembering the order right? Nevermind, there were more important things than that.

Step 2 (True)(Hopefully) completed. Step 2 3 on the way.

They finally arrived at their destination after about 15 minutes. As expected of Valentine’s day, the park was cramped with people, mostly couples. 

“Woa, it’s so lively here!” Tsukasa cheered. 

“Shall we explore a bit?” Rui suggested, in which Tsukasa replied with an energetic nod.

The park also attempted to create a Valentine’s day theme to fit the atmosphere. Heart-shaped decorations were present on every nook and cranny of the area. There were vendors selling heart balloons, shops with heart-shaped sweets, the light on the ferris wheel also making a heart, and a strange tent with an opening in the shape of a huge heart. With a better squint, Rui could actually see that it was a fortune reading place, marketed towards couples and people hopelessly pinning on their crushes. Rui could definitely use a bit of that if it wasn’t for the well-known blatant hoax coming out of the reader’s mouth. Maybe he should invent something for that.

“I want to try that!” 

Rui awoke from his thoughts to see Tsukasa pointing at a spinning cup ride. A corner of his mouth lifted upwards in a totally not sinister way.

“Fufu, let’s play with that one then.”

The two got together on one of the cups. It was only a coincidence, but Rui loved the way it looked. It was a purple cup decorated with cute yellow details, just like how his life became merrier with Tsukasa in it- anyway, it looked beautiful. He took a seat opposite Tsukasa. 

“I haven’t played this before, so can you take the lead?” The blonde asked, and Rui had to restrict a blatant proud smirk from emerging on his face. His chance to sweep Tsukasa off his feet had finally come. He could finally unleash the excessive amount of Internet knowledge he had consumed the past month about theme park rides. His mind drifted to all kinds of romantic scenarios: Tsukasa feeling nervous when the speed picked up, and slowly moved closer to him until they were side by side. Tsukasa clinging onto him when the speed was at maximum. He would hold Tsukasa closer by his waist, pat his trembling shoulders and sweetly whisper “It’s going to be okay” in his ear. Of course, he wouldn’t go ham with the speed though, because the world’s future star couldn’t be completely freaked out. He would only push it just a little bit, enough so that the star felt the need to depend on him-

“Haha, do not feel unnerved! I, the world-future star, Tenma Tsukasa will protect you!”

Rui’s fantasies came to a halt when he saw two random children climbing onto their cup, taking a seat on each side beside Tsukasa. He almost let out an audible gasp. 

He quickly looked around. All other cups had 4 people in it. 

Rui wished he could facepalm right now. 

Should’ve sat next to him when you had the chance, huh?

Nevertheless, he couldn’t make a sour face right now. One, they were children, and he wasn’t gonna unload his sulkiness on some kids just because he failed to impress his crush. Two, Tsukasa was definitely gonna notice it if he acted upset now, and the joyous atmosphere of their date would be ruined. 

With that in mind, he regained his composure and cast a warm smile towards the children. 

“You can hold onto me too if you feel nervous.” 

The children stared without moving an inch. Wow, that was embarrassing. Was his off-stage persona that uncool?

One of the children spoke up.

“Big brothers here had never gone on a spinning cup ride, had you?”

Rui’s eyes widened with shock. How did he get busted that quickly? Well, did experiencing it through the Internet count?

The other child started boasting with a huge smirk on his face. 

“Hmph! I, the master of spinning cup rides, will show you the true spirit of this game! Step aside, big bros!”

Rui couldn’t say anything before the two children placed their hands on the wheel in the center, bracing themselves before the ride started. There goes his chance to impress Tsukasa with his mastery. Mega fail indeed. 

After a few safety instructions, the ride finally started. The cups started spinning slowly. The kids, standing on the opposite sides of each other, began to move their hands.

“Don’t cry, big bros!” The boastful kid reminded them both. Tsukasa smirked, crossed his arms and placed one leg on the other.

“World future stars never cry!” He declared. 

The words seemed to have triggered the young boy’s competitive spirit further, because he started spinning the wheel as if it was some sort of beyblade. Soon enough, the surrounding scenery turned into a flurry of mashed streaks of colors. The wind started gushing into Rui’s face, and he had to hold his bangs down in order to not have them completely ruined this early into the date. It was so shaky inside the cup that he had to hold onto its rim in order to not fall on his butt to the ground. 

“Hah! You scared already?” The bumptious boy looked at Rui, but Tsukasa answered anyway.

“O-of course not! I am perfectly fine, mind you!” He proclaimed loudly. He, in fact, did not look perfectly fine. His hands were shaking as he held onto the seat’s edges so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and his face looked 5 shades paler. It was unbelievable how he could keep up the tough act despite probably having his heart jump out a few times already. Rui couldn’t help but chuckle. Classic Tsukasa. 

Just then, the other child - a young girl who looked almost identical to the boy, spoke up after having stayed quiet for the entire ride. 

“Brother, I want it to spin this way!” The girl shouted, spinning the wheel in the opposite direction her brother was spinning. 

“We’ve gone that way already! Let me spin left!” The boy refuted.

“No, right!”

“Left!”

“Right!”

“Left!”

Now the children were fighting for control of the wheel. One second they were rotating in this direction, the other they had been pushed towards the other. Rui felt as if he was stuck in a mixing bowl of the most indecisive baker in the world. His head started to feel dizzy even when he had quite a good sense of balance. Tsukasa didn’t look much better. He was basically flopping around like a dying fish. 

At some point, the wheel was no longer moving because both kids were holding onto it with all their might.

“What are you doing? Let go!” 

“No, you let go or I’ll tell mom later!” 

“Why you…!”

The cup was still spinning like crazy, but none of the children seemed to care. They were too caught up on their battle. 

“Hey, cut that out, you two.” Tsukasa, who seemed to have had enough, finally intervened. 

But just then, a piercing scream was heard nearby.

“What are you guys doing?! Move out!”

The four of them gasped at the same time. Their cup hadn’t been moving for a while now, and they were basically standing still in a sea of moving cups! 

“Argh! We’re gonna crash!” 

The other cup that was charging straight at them. Rui took advantage of the children standing frozen, and put his hands on the wheel. With one swift spin, they fortunately avoided the other cup just when they were inches away from crashing.

“Good job, Rui!” 

Rui didn’t have time to let the butterflies get the better of him from Tsukasa’s compliment, because now they had to avoid the other ocean of cups moving around to avoid another incoming crash. But now, the children were back to arguing again.

“I told you to give me the wheel!”

“No, stay away, I can spin it on my own!” 

“You two, stop this or I’ll inform the security staff!” Tsukasa scowled, about to hold onto the boy out of the two’s arms. However, as soon as the boy lost his grab on the wheel, the girl’s hand slipped. All the force she had placed on it released, making the wheel go into haywire. 

Rui luckily sat down before the cup went out of control. However, the 3 remaining people on the ride were on the verge of faceplanting onto the floor. The girl’s hands were in the air, and her feet were on the edge of the seat. The boy, who looked like he could puke at any moment, was luckily held back by Tsukasa. But the blonde was standing up with his hands placed into nowhere. Worse, he was standing right in front of the cup’s opening. Rui might risk lunging his crush out of the cup if he tried to stop it from moving all of a sudden, but at this rate they were seconds away from crashing if they didn’t stop. Good news was that there was no one in their way, so no unrelated people would be hurt from the crash, but bad news was that everyone here would fall. The girl was standing next to Rui, so he could easily grab her, but Tsukasa and the boy were on the opposite side. Knowing Tsukasa, he would definitely let himself get hurt in place of a child. Rui couldn’t let that happen! 

With just a couple seconds away from banging into the ride’s railing, Rui quickly took hold of the girl’s collar and tucked her into the seat, keeping her in place with one of his hands to avoid her falling off of it. Then, he crouched on the floor. 

“Tsukasa-kun, hold him tight!” 

Tsukasa listened and held the boy tighter in his arms.

BANG!

The cup finally crashed. The ride came to a halt as several security staff flocked in. They brought the children out first. Both kids had been kept unscathed thanks to Rui and Tsukasa’s effort. 

But what about the Weirdo Wombo Combo?

The staffs’ faces flustered at the rather inappropriate sight inside the purple and yellow cup. 

Tsukasa was sitting on top of Rui, whereas the other was on the ground. Rui was barely sitting up as his back leaned against the seat, his head thrown back over it. And the worst thing about this situation was that…

“Rui, are you okay??” Tsukasa clasped his hands on his friend’s face worrily. 

“Tsukasa-kun…” A strained voice escaped Rui’s throat. He could barely open his eyes due to the pain.

“Could you please move your…knee…?” He was smiling, but his brows were technically exchanging a French kiss. The red on his face was so intense that it looked like his veins were about to pop.

Tsukasa finally looked down to see the unholy position his knee was placed on. Not to mention, he was putting a whole damn lot of pressure on it.

“AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! I’M SO SORRY!!!!!!!!” Locals could swear they had seen a blonde leapt a few feet up the air on that Valentine’s day. 

Well, ignoring the excruciating pain Rui was feeling in his back and his- yeah let’s not; at least he managed to look a little heroic. That was a win, right?

After hearing a whole speech of apologies from the children’s family and refusing their compensation for the nth time, the two could finally continue with their date. 

“Tsukasa-kun, do you want a drink?” Rui suggested. 

“A drink? Yeah, sure! I’m a little thirsty.” Tsukasa nodded, and the purple-haired mentally praised himself for his perceptiveness. 

The two stopped in front of a store selling fruit juice. Just when Tsukasa was about to pull out his wallet, Rui placed a hand on his hands.

“It’s my treat today.”

With a little bit of fight from Tsukasa, Rui finally managed to buy drinks for the two of them (by promising the blonde he would let him buy him a meal at a later day, which he hoped Tsukasa would forget about). The pair walked to a nearby tree fairly empty of people to take a seat. Finally, some peace and quiet. They sipped on their drinks as they cherished the lively setting. People running, laughing and playing around. One guy over there seemed to be trying to hit on a girl. The cool breeze blew by, causing the lush green foliage to waver. Through the gaps on the leaves, one could see the spotless blue sky. It was a beautiful day.

Suddenly, Rui felt something touching his hand. It was Tsukasa. Their fingertips were touching each other. The blonde faced away, not letting the other boy catch his expression. 

Rui took a deep breath and took a risk. He slowly nudged his hand a little closer.

It seemed like the blonde responded to his wish. Tsukasa moved his hand closer as well. Now, their fingers were intertwined at nail length. 

Rui took another move and continued. This time, he narrowed a greater distance. His fingertips now reached the other boy’s metacarpal. Tsukasa did the same thing. 

The taller boy was ready to risk it all now. He placed his fingers on Tsukasa’s knuckles, feeling his skin with his fingers. Tsukasa’s skin was incredibly soft. That was a result of consistent hand care. 

Soon, he felt that same smooth sensation on his own hand as well. Tsukasa’s long, delicate fingers were intertwined with his rougher ones; the blonde’s fingertips drawing circles on the back of his palm. He took that as a sign to reciprocate the gesture. Letting the other’s palm touch his own, he tightened the grab of his fingers. The shorter boy was slightly shaken by the act, but he didn’t refuse. Rui let out a satisfied smile. How cute. 

But surely something had cursed him today, because they couldn’t stay that way for long before loud sobbing noises distracted Tsukasa from the moment. 

“Where does that come from?!” Tsukasa instantly rose on his feet.

The two traced the source of the noise until they arrived at the back of a tent, where a girl was seen crying. 

“Sorry to bother you, but what’s the matter, Miss? Can we help you in any way?” Rui asked. The girl didn’t answer. She continued burying her face in her hands and sobbing her heart out.

“Miss, please tell us anything you’re struggling with. We’ll be here to listen.” Tsukasa gave her a reassuring look. 

The girl finally looked up. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying. Stains of makeup trailed along her face. 

“My crush…I was gonna confess to him when he suddenly ran off!! I’ve ransacked this whole park, even called him and texted him, but he wouldn’t pick up! He didn’t even give me an answer! Did I really just get dumped like that??” The girl’s eyes looked glassy with tears. 

“Miss, please don’t fret.” Tsukasa’s voice was grounding. 

“We’ll help you find him, and you two can talk this whole thing out, okay?”

“But I’ve searched the park before and still couldn’t find him!” The girl cried. 

“H-had he already gone home…?” 

“It’s just my guess, but I don’t think he wanted to refuse you.” Rui chimed in. 

“He sounded overwhelmed, some people just did that when they’re stressed. He’s probably still here, just hasn’t figured out what to do.”

“He’s right!” Tsukasa tacked on. 

“3 pairs of eyes are better than 1! We’ll surely find him, right, Rui?”

Rui nodded in an extremely enthusiastic way. 

“Right…”

And so, the two joined the mysterious girl to search for a tall, black-haired, black-eyed man in a green suit. The girl mentioned that she had rummaged through the park 3 times previously, and Rui couldn't help but admire her determination. 10 minutes in and he already felt incredibly lost. Not only was the park cramped with people, it was also ungodly large. He was sure he could fit one of the Ootori’s residences in this place, which spoke for its size, because have you seen Emu’s house? The place was also full of rides, stores and several other attractions, along with trees and flower fields. Who knew where this guy could be hiding? Even with 3 pairs of eyes, they couldn’t dig up the ground in case the guy was hiding under the flower bed or something, right? Not to mention, it would be fairly easy to spot Tsukasa’s vivid blonde amidst the crowd, but most Japanese citizens had black hair. How were they supposed to discern who this girl’s crush was?

Nevertheless, Tsukasa looked as determined as ever. His legs were getting wobbly, his hair messy, and sweat were trickling down his temples; but he kept his eyes forward. Determination burned in his amber-colored irises. Rui found similarities between him and the girl. He was sure if Tsukasa was in the girl’s position, he would do the same thing as her. He couldn’t help but feel moved by their grit. 

When the sky gradually shifted orange, they finally found the man in question, cornered by the trio when he was hiding behind the merry-go-round. The girl instantly sprinted towards him. Rui and Tsukasa let them be. 

The talk, unfortunately, didn’t seem to go well. They were standing too far away to hear what exactly those two were talking about, but they heard screaming. The girl was standing on tiptoe as she tried to reach the man’s face, while the man turned away. After a while, she stormed off. Her sniffles got louder and louder as she approached the two of them. 

“Tsukasa-kun, you stay here with her. I’ll try to talk to the guy.” Rui instructed, and Tsukasa obliged. He walked to the man, who stood in an obsequious posture. The man avoided his gaze as he moved closer to him. 

“May I hear about what went on there?” Rui tried to force his voice to sound as neutral as possible, despite feeling somewhat pissed for the girl’s sake. 

The man opened his mouth just slightly, but sealed them shut immediately. He lowered his head to face the ground, and held one of his arms closer to himself with the other. Somehow, the sight felt strangely familiar. Rui took a couple of steps away. 

“I know people who run away in overwhelming situations.” His mind flashed to the silhouette of a certain pink-haired girl he met in middle school. 

“I know how hard it feels, so I won’t judge you. Can you please just let me know what happened?”

The man looked hesitant, but finally opened his mouth. 

“...I want to accept her proposal.”

Rui could tell, but he didn’t say anything. He only responded with a “Hm.”

“But I don’t think I’m good enough for her.”

“What makes you think so?” Rui asked in a quiet voice.

“I mean…look at me. I can’t even react to this situation like the adult I am. I think she deserves someone better, I just want the best for her, but…I ended up hurting her. I made her cry. How can I call myself deserving of her love?”

Rui could see past his downturned head the quiver of his lashes. He dug his nails further into his sleeve. The man seemed to be on the verge of sobbing.

The purple-haired thought about the whole situation. What a bizarre pairing they had. A strong-headed, emotional girl and an insecure, reserved man. On a surface level, they had nothing in common. People with too many differences were for sure going to clash during their time together. Some clashes, unfortunately, lead to cracks that could never be mended. Rui was sure if it was his younger self standing here, he would have advised the man to give up on her. 

However, he’d learnt how even the people who lived in such different worlds could become so important to one another. 

“It’s true that you both are very different.” He spoke. The man’s shoulders shook, but he kept quiet. 

“However, you were still brought together by mutual love, and I think that says something.”

The man raised his head slightly. Rui could see the wrinkles on his forehead now. 

“Why do you love her, I wonder?” He asked, his voice soft and grounding.

“She…has this kind of bright energy that I’ve never seen in anybody. I don’t like to let people get close to me, but she bursted through the door I’ve shut for so long with her shoes still on. I can never run away from her, and that’s scary, but for some reasons…I like it too. It’s like she offers me a place to belong. I don’t feel lonely anymore when I’m with her.”

“Then why don’t you let her know your true feelings about her?”

“But…!” The man was finally facing him now. The corner of his eyes, where some water lingered, sparkled under the sunset. 

“How could I do that? I can’t offer anything to her! Instead, I’ve only hurt her! She would only be held back by me!” 

Ah, no wonder why this felt familiar. He knew someone who had these exact thoughts, and knew him very well. 

“Sir, I don’t know if you already know or not, but Miss over there had the same concerns towards you as well.”

“What do you mean?” The man almost staggered from shock.

“While we were looking for you, she kept wondering if she was good for you. How she might be too overbearing, not accepting towards you enough, or if she might be pushing you away. She wondered if you could be happy with her.”

“That’s…impossible…”

“I think you’re more similar to her than you thought.”

Rui looked down. His fluttering lashes hid a contemplative gaze. 

“When we live in fear, we are prone to making assumptions about each other. This person hates me, this person would be better without me, this person doesn’t need me, all of those sorts. But we didn’t realize how fear obscures the truth.”

He paused for a moment, before continuing. 

“It’s such a shame how that fear makes us run away before we can find out the truth. We’re so afraid of looking into uncomfortable truths, that we neglect even the positive ones as well, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any of them in the world. You just have to…stay and find out.”

The man muttered something under his breath.

“What if it’s another uncomfortable one?” 

“Then that’s a shame, indeed.” Rui nodded. 

“But there’s a great person that has taught me that even just one simple joy in life could lead us through so many hardships. He has taught me too, that loving feels so rewarding even if there’s inevitable pain.”

The man’s lips trembled. His voice was barely louder than a whisper. 

“What if…the pain is so huge that it’s unbearable?”

The corner of Rui’s lips curved into a soft smile. 

“You only feel pain if you care about something, so it shows you still care. And as long as you care, I’m sure someone will seek you out. Miss over there wouldn’t approach you if she thinks you’re totally incapable of caring, would she?”

The man was quiet. Only the sound of rustling leaves filled the silence between them before he finally uttered. 

“Thank you.”

He smiled tenderly, a drop of tear trailing from his left eyes. 

The man regained his composure, then slowly walked away. Rui followed after him. From the other side, Tsukasa seemed to have calmed the girl down as well. The two stopped to give the couple space, and quietly made their way to each other. 

Rui took one final look back before the couple went out of his sight. The man returned his look. He gave him a bright smile. 

On a certain day, in a certain theme park bathed in a warm-colored sunset, he had argued with someone as well. At that time, he had thought his dream of finding a place where he belonged was over. No one could understand him, and so he should keep his door shut and live within himself. 

The memory of that day still haunted him with guilt. He knew how much he had hurt that person with his words. Though he still believed that was necessary, he wished he had been more understanding. More considerate of others feelings, instead of just letting his anger do the talking for him. He wished he could stop hurting everyone he came close to, so when the evidence of the pain he could cause came up again, his instinct urged him to run. But he was fortunate, because that person didn’t let him. Instead, he barged through his door still with shoes on, and grabbed him by the wrist before he could escape through another million doors he had built for himself. He couldn’t feel more grateful. 

“Rui, what’s the problem? You look lost.” Tsukasa asked, carefully scrutinizing Rui’s face. 

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Rui answered.

“Just…remembering something, that’s all.”

The blonde gave him an understanding smile and turned away, not prying any further. He wondered if they were thinking about the same thing. 

Now that they finally had some alone time, he could finally continue to plan for this date. 

“What do you want to do now, Tsukasa-kun?” He queried.

“Ah! Uh…” Tsukasa mumbled, his eyes widened. Rui could tell he hadn’t been thinking about that. Fair, given all the things they had been put through today.

He started looking around in search of something interesting. His eyes landed on the ferris wheel lit with lights in the shape of a heart. 

“Tsukasa-kun, let’s go the-”

“Brother!” 

Rui wished a thunder would hit him right now. 

Saki and her group were standing in the crowd, waving to them. He remembered she mentioned going out with her friends for Valentine’s day. Wow, who could guess they could be at the exact same place on the exact same date? Funny, right? Laugh please, for the sake of Kamishiro Rui because he definitely couldn’t.

“Oh, Saki! Didn’t know you were here as well!” Tsukasa called out to his sister.

“What are you two doing?” A girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail on one side of her head asked. 

“We actually don’t know yet, haha.” He regretted not dragging Tsukasa along anywhere as soon as they finished with the free counselling session.

“Would you like to join us then? We’re planning to go to the ferris wheel!” Saki offered. Oh god please no.

“We’d love to! But don’t you four want to have some group time?” Yes that’s right Tsukasa-kun they definitely do.

“Not at all! We don’t mind some extra company!” Oh…

“Then let’s get going, Rui!” 

What a way to have his idea snatched away. Good job, Rui. 

The ride was fun, if we ignore the fact that he wanted to sit next to Tsukasa so badly but couldn’t because he had to let the girls get into the cabin first and the blonde just had to take the final spot on one of the seats. They chatted about many things, and there was a lot of laughter, which was good if we forgot about the fact that Rui barely knew any of these girls besides Saki and he was awkward as hell around people he didn’t know well. He could tell Tsukasa and Saki were making an effort to invite him into the conversation because he just had to be the only person here who was unfamiliar with the girls since Tsukasa had taken care of Saki’s friend group ever since they were kids, but that didn’t do much. He managed to strike some friendly conversations about music, but that was it because Wonderlands x Showtime and Leo/Need’s music were very different. Otherwise there was only small talk to make, and Rui hated those just after vegetables. 

When the unnecessarily long ride finally ended, Saki invited them both to get dinner with her group, and how could Rui have the heart to refuse his future sister-in-law- okay that was too far; his best friend’s sister? So, of course, they went to a restaurant together. This time, though, Rui had the chance to secure a seat next to his beloved blonde. Okay, maybe he could still save this. Stay positive, Kamishiro Rui. 

“What would you like to order?” The waiter asked Tsukasa. 

“One Omurice please!” He pointed to the image of the dish. 

“And you?” The waiter turned towards Rui. 

“I’ll get the same one as him.” Rui smiled, wrapping an arm around Tsukasa’s shoulder. His smile became wider when he saw the red in the other boy’s ears.

“Shouldn’t you look at the menu first?” Tsukasa held the menu closer to his face. 

“No need, I trust Tsukasa-kun’s taste.” He brought the shorter boy closer to him. He could sense a few pairs of eyes on them, but he was too cheekish to care.

Shortly after, all their meals were served. Rui scooped a spoonful of his dish as soon as it was placed in front of him - a long day had left him starving. But he staggered backwards in horror as he saw something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

Tsukasa beside him didn’t seem to have a better time.

“Argh, I didn’t notice the green peppers in the ingredient list…” He groaned, grimacing. 

“Brother, you told me to not waste food remember? Don’t throw it away!” Saki reprimanded him as if she was the older one. 

The black-haired girl out of the 4 - Rui just learnt that her name was Ichika, poked Tsukasa’s back.

“Tsukasa-san, you can give me the peppers if you don’t-”

“No, I’ll eat those.”

Everyone turned their heads towards Rui simultaneously. Tsukasa in particular looked as if he’d just seen an alien. 

“Uh…don’t you hate vegetables or something?” He raised a brow. 

“Um…I’ve just found out recently that I like peppers really much, haha!” Rui let out the most awkward laugh ever known to mankind. He was screaming at his brow to not twitch. 

“You sure? You don’t have to force yourself to eat it if you don’t like it.” The blonde still looked suspicious. 

“What makes you think so? Look at this.”

Rui shoved a spoonful of the dish in his mouth and started chewing. Tsukasa stared in absolute disbelief. 

Of course, the first thing he chewed on had to be nothing but his favorite green pepper.

“Are you…okay, Kamishiro-san?” The gray-haired girl named Shiho looked concerned. 

“I-I’m fine, what are you talking about? This is…so…delicious.”

“Rui, you look like you’re about to cry…”

“Mmph…no I’m not…the taste is incredibly unique…” Why does pepper have to have the texture of cucumber??

“Hey, doesn’t that guy’s face over there look a lot like those baby eating lemon videos?” A whisper came nearby.

Rui’s suffering thankfully ended with that single spoon, with Honami and Ichika agreeing to swap dishes with them. Even though he barely knew them, Rui was deeply grateful for their good will. He was sure the restaurant would witness a crime scene had he finished his plate, and that was not mentioning Tsukasa’s portion which was one size larger than his.

But now that all of that was done, he had to put an end to all this. He couldn’t bear being dragged around any longer. Therefore, when Tsukasa was about to follow the girls out of the restaurant, he grabbed him by his wrist. 

“Tsukasa-kun, please go with me somewhere.”

The shorter boy turned his head in surprise.

“Ah, sure, let me call Saki-”

“No, just the two of us.”

Thankfully, Saki and her group were understanding enough. They parted from the four of them at the restaurant’s door.

Maybe Rui should have made a plan before that though, because now that they were alone, he didn’t know what to do. They wandered aimlessly in the dark, clueless of even what to say to each other. 

Rui spotted a cinema nearby, with a huge poster of something that seemed like a trending romance movie on it. He wasn’t too interested in movies at the moment, but Tsukasa seemed to like movies. Therefore, he suggested.

“Tsukasa-kun, do you want to watch a movie?”

“Ah, um…not really.” Tsukasa had never looked so awkward. Welp, how does it feel to be wrong for once, genius?

Rui kept his mouth shut, and they walked in unpleasant silence again. Now that the park had closed, they had nothing else to do but went back home. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. Rui had planned for the date to be joyous even to the final seconds. How had everything come to this?

“I’m sorry, Tsukasa-kun.”

He stopped walking, standing still under a street lamp.

“I ruined everything. I was supposed to make you happy today and…it just turned to this. I should’ve done better.”

He felt the other boy’s eyes on him, but he didn’t have the guts to look up. 

“No, it should be me who’s sorry.”

Now that he raised his head, the shorter boy was looking down. His shoulders were slumped.

“It’s my fault. You were upset, right? I understand.”

Rui’s lips parted, wanting to refuse the claim. Making Tsukasa worried was the last thing he wanted today, and yet, he couldn’t utter a sound. 

“I kept dragging you to places you didn’t want to go. Thank you for putting up with me, but you don’t have to fake it anymore. You can be mad, I deserve that.”

The purple-haired raised his hand, but left it hanging in the air. He didn’t even know where he wanted to place it. 

“I just…wanted to make things better. I didn’t want you to plan this whole thing alone, and so I wanted to participate too, to show that I’m just as excited about this as you are! But yeah, I really messed up didn’t I?”

Tsukasa’s voice dropped lower, almost swayed away by the sound of faraway traffic.

“I just don’t know anything about these things at all. About dates and…hanging out and…theme parks. I’m very sorry.”

Rui opened his mouth again, but his mind was still lost. He ended up blurting out the first thing that popped out in his mind.

“1 week of agreement to my experiments.”

“Hey, you did that first! And why is that the first thing you thought about?!” Tsukasa’s entire body jerked. They were finally looking at each other, amber meeting gold flecked with cyan. For unknown how long, they only stared at each other. There were things both wanted to say, but neither of them knew how to say it.

So they chuckled. 

“Hey, why are you laughing?” Tsukasa muttered through his soft giggle. 

“Unfair, Tsukasa-kun! You’re laughing as well!” Rui refuted.

“No I’m not!” 

“You are! You are smiling right now!”

“You speak for yourself!” 

The night’s silence was dissipated by two peculiar boys’ blithe laughter. When the laughter finally died down, they had partly regained their spirit. Rui took the first word. 

“I’m clueless as well, Tsukasa-kun. I’ve never done this with anyone before.”

“Really?” Tsukasa’s eyes widened with shock. 

“I thought you had to hang out alone with, uh, Nene or something!”

Well, it was true that he and Nene had hung out with just the two of them before. However, both of them would gag instantly if someone ever compared that to whatever he had with Tsukasa today. 

“That’s not what I meant, you know? You are different.”

“Oh…” Tsukasa shifted his gaze. 

“But yeah, that’s why I was nervous. I had thought about everything so much, like what we should do or how I should act just to ensure everything didn’t go South. It seemed like I failed though, haha.” Rui smiled sheepishly.

“I appreciate it, but you don’t have to do that next time. I like you just the way you are, Rui.” Tsukasa’s voice was full of sincerity. Rui felt his face turn into a hot mess again.

“Well, now that all of those are done, let bygones be bygones!” Tsukasa declared enthusiastically.

“We still have the whole night left, so I’m yours for the rest of the day! No one else this time, I swear by it! I’ll do whatever you want to do!” Tsukasa gave Rui a reassuring grin. 

Right, there was one thing left that Rui wanted to do. The whole date was built up for this moment only. Originally, Rui had wanted to do it later, but there was no use forcing anything now. His plan had been ruined since the start, so no point following that any further.

He must present himself in front of Tsukasa as the true him. No inventions, no scripts, no guidelines. 

“Tsukasa-kun, there’s something really important I want to tell you.”

Tsukasa seemed to have noticed the way the purple-haired boy’s hand fiddled with each other nervously. He puffed his chest and struck a cool pose. 

“Whatever my most trusted director wants, I will perform it to the 12.000% of my abilities!” 

Rui laughed at the gesture, but his heart was still racing with anxiety. His lips kept on parting then shutting, and he could barely keep his eyes in the same place. His index finger unconsciously found themself at the long strand of hair, twirling it around aimlessly. 

Tsukasa tugged him by his sleeve. He almost staggered, but the blonde held him steadily. 

“Whatever it is that you want to say, you’ll always be my dearest friend, Rui. That will never change.”

Something set off in the taller boy’s chest, like a firework bursting in the sky. He found himself speaking before he could think any further.

“But I want us to be even more than dearest friends!”

He was way louder than he wanted to be, but now that the first words had escaped his chest, the remaining started pouring out uncontrollably.

“Tsukasa-kun, I’ve felt this way for a really long time. I don’t know when, but I know that the feelings I have for you are very, very special. I want to make you happy, I want to be by your side when you’re lonely, I want to make the world around you more beautiful. I want to experience all the joys and the sorrows with you by my side. I wish we can do all the things that even friends can’t do. Like…hugging you, holding your hand, calling you by names only the two of us can use, sharing memories with only you in it. And…I’m not sure if you know this but, you are extremely important- no, I mean you are extremely…precious to me! I feel like myself with you. I feel free, happy, loved, and…all of that! I want to be the person to bring such feelings to you as well.”

The messy bangs obscured his vision, making him unable to see Tsukasa’s expression, but he could tell that the other boy was standing as still as a rock.

“I’ve been rambling right? Haha, I didn’t mean to. Anyway, that’s…all I guess. I think there’s a lot I want to say, but I can’t think. It’s strange, isn’t it? I just find my mind so fuzzy around you. I hope you do, but you don’t have to accept my feelings if you don’t feel the same way. We can go back to how we were if you want. I just want to tell you how I feel.”

He gulped, breathing raggedly. He let the final drops of that intense stream pour out. 

“You are truly the brightest star in my world, Tsukasa-kun.”

Rui brought his head down. He could see Tsukasa’s feet through his bangs. Just the same as previous: still as a rock. He couldn’t hear a single sound but his own heart. It was as if the other boy had mentally shut down.

Just when he was about to close his eyes and prepare for the worst, those feet started to move forward. The next second, he felt another body launching at him, arms wrapped firmly around his lanky frame. 

A warm sensation soaked through his shirt, feeling damp on his skin.

“Tsukasa-kun, are you crying?!” 

The blonde didn’t answer. His sniffles only became more audible with every passing second.

“I’m so sorry, that must’ve been shocking right? Here, let me-”

“You idiot.”

Tsukasa muttered, pressing their bodies closer together. His fingers grasped Rui’s shirt with even greater force.

“I thought I was the only one having such feelings this entire time, you know?”

It took Rui a few minutes to comprehend what he just heard. When he finally realized, it felt like his body had melted into a puddle. He returned the embrace, patting Tsukasa’s back with one hand and holding the back of his head with the other. His face moved closer to the other boy’s head, planting a gentle kiss on top of his head. Now he felt stingy at the eyes and nose as well. He didn’t know how much more he could hold back.

“I’m so glad, Tsukasa-kun.”

Neither of them remembered how long they had stayed that way, but they wished they could do so forever. Tsukasa let himself drown in Rui’s fast yet comforting heartbeat, and Rui enjoyed all the warmth of the (his) world’s (brightest) future star in his arms. There was a lingering regretfulness when they finally parted. 

“So…are we dating now?” Rui asked shyly.

“Uh…well, yes! So does that mean you’re my…”

“Boyfriend…lover, or partner. I’m fine with whatever.”

They in fact, did not look fine. Even just the sound made them both turn into a blushing mess, and they had to stop looking at each other as if they would explode if they didn’t.

“In order to grow used to this new title, I suggest we do something!” Tsukasa announced.

“W-What is it?” 

“A kiss, of course!”

“A-a kiss…?” Rui’s words came out no better than a drunk man’s ramble. He pointed towards himself in disbelief as if there was anyone else in that damn street.

“W-well, now that we are dating, we can do that, right?” Someone please save Tsukasa, he’s about to pass out.

“Ah, of course yes. I-I’d like to do it too.” Save Rui too please. 

“Let me take the lead this time. Uh…ah, bring your face downwards a little!”

Rui followed like a nice obedient boy, letting Tsukasa sandwich his face between his two hands. The blonde squished his face so hard that his cheeks were completely disfigured. It probably hurt damn much but Kamishiro Rui liked it. His sideburns caught between his lover’s fingers poked out in two different directions. Probably looked goofy as hell but Tenma Tsukasa liked it. 

“You ready?!”

“Esh, Suasa-un.” (Yes, Tsukasa-kun. Forgive him, he’s trying his best.)

Tsukasa slowly brought his own face closer to the purple-haired boy’s, as careful as if he was afraid to set off an explosion. When the tips of their noses brushed against each other, the blonde closed his eyes. Rui did the same. 

Rui felt something warm and soft on his lips. It felt nervous, judging from the trembling. But Rui loved it very much.

He slid both of his hands behind Tsukasa, and brought his head closer to deepen the kiss. It felt so unbearingly warm. Rui felt like every single part of his body was burning, but he was ready to be engulfed by that heat. Tsukasa’s hand on his face felt warm too. Tsukasa was feeling the same as him. It made him so immensely happy. 

The parting felt sudden, way too soon, but both of them looked at each other with a mutual joy. The kiss wasn’t perfect, nor was the confession, or the date, or everything about their relationship leading to this moment. They weren’t perfect people. But they loved each other dearly, and that was enough. With the other by their side, they were sure they could figure out everything, no matter how difficult. They certainly would.

…

In a tiny glass bottle, there are 5 nicely folded stars. Sadly, you have to unfold them now. 

When you take off the rubber band, you are able to take off the paper covering it. It looks a little crumpled now, but when you flip it over, the words on the white side are still clear. They read: “Tsukasa-kun is really, really dear to me. I want to make you him the happiest person in the entire world.”

Now, it’s time to open the stars. You take the edge of each paper, carefully unfolding them until they turn into slips. The stars are wrapped really tightly, a bit tough to open. Seems like whoever made this put a lot of thoughts into it.

Now that all 5 stars are unfolded, you can read the content on each of them.

“Tsukasa-kun really loves a bit of stunt in his shows!”

“Tsukasa-kun always strives to overcome his fears!” 

“Tsukasa-kun is really loyal to his words!”

“Tsukasa-kun is willing to do a lot for his dreams!”

“Tsukasa-kun really wants to make people smile!”

Beside you, the blue teddy bear holding a sunflower smiles warmly.

Rui came to school searching for a familiar shade of blonde. To his surprise, the person he was looking for was nowhere to be found. It was strange, because Tsukasa didn’t sound like the type to skip on his Disciplinary Committee duties. 

He made his way through the gate while holding his phone, about to dial his lover’s number. But all of a sudden, a weight launched at him.

“Rui!!”

Ah, that sunflower yellow he always loved was here. He wrapped his hands around the boy’s back.

“Fufu, you surprised me, Tsukasa-kun.”

The blonde raised his head, his amber pupils glistening with something that seemed like eagerness.

“That’s not all! I have something else!”

He brought his hands that were previously hiding behind his back forward, revealing a box wrapped in purple wrappings, tied with a pretty yellow ribbon.

“This is for you!” 

Something clicked in Rui’s head.

“Wait, isn’t this one of the gift boxes you got for Saki-kun the other day?”

“Nope! It’s for you! Hehe, did I surprise you?” Tsukasa’s mouth curved into a cheekish grin. He was so cute that Rui couldn’t help but pat his head.

“Thank you, I cherish this a lot. I’ll open it when I get home.”

“I had it with me yesterday actually, I was planning to give it to you at the end of the day, but then all of that happened and…I forgot! I was thinking of giving it to you then telling you my feelings, but you stole my moment!” He pouted.

“Tsukasa-kun, look over there.” Rui suddenly pointed somewhere. Tsukasa turned his head to that direction, but just when he became distracted, Rui leaned closer to his face and gave him a peck on his cheek.

“WAHHHH?????!!!!!” Tsukasa’s face bloomed bright red.

“That’s compensation for taking your moment. Anyways, I’ll be going now. Have a good day, darlin’!” Rui gave him a wink as he ran towards the school building. 

“Wait, wha- Hey! Don’t think I’m gonna let you show up to class with that messy tie just because we’re dating now! Come back!” Tsukasa ran after the shameless rulebreaker. 

On a higher floor of the school building, four people were peeking their heads out of the window. Touya watched the two as he smiled softly.

“Woa, so they’re a thing now huh?” Mizuki cheered excitedly.

“Yeah, good for them. Hopefully they can stick together and leave me alone now.” Akito gruntled.

“Wait, why do none of you look shocked at all??” An looked confused.

“It’s because we have eyes, Shiraishi.” The ginger answered nonchalantly.

Nene walked into class and set down her belongings.

“Shut the windows please, Aoyagi.”

But this time, she wasn’t frowning. There was a look of proudness in her eyes, and the corners of her mouth was curved upwards - barely, but it was a smile indeed.

“They’ll have a lot to talk about.”