Chapter Text
Tsukasa Tenma liked Nene Kusanagi.
This was an undeniable fact no one could deny, not one bit!
Well, as of now, no one but him knew this. He'd done a surprisingly well job of not being too obvious about his crush... probably. No one had asked him, so that was good enough evidence.
"Tsukasa-kun?"
The star was pulled from his thoughts and he looked up at Rui who sat beside him. "Huh?"
"What are your thoughts?" the inventor asked.
"Oh!" quickly, Tsukasa cleared his throat. "I think it's a good concept, but maybe we could alter it a little to make the show more---"
"Ah, no," Nene interrupted. "He meant about his rocket launcher. He wants you to test it."
"Ahhh, of course! I'd be de--- A rocket-what-now?"
Rui chuckled and moved on. "Never mind that for now. What were you saying about the show?"
Tsukasa shook himself out of it. "Right, I thought we could put some more focus on the knight. That way, the prince can form a friendship with him! It could help progress the story."
"Wonderful idea!" Rui exclaimed. "Write it down in the notebook, won't you?"
Tsukasa smiled proudly and picked up the notebook they used for their shows. He began writing down what he had just voiced.
"KOOONICHI-WANDAHOIIII!!" a voice boomed as the doors to the roof burst open.
The suddenness startled Tsukasa and he jerked. "E-EMU?!"
"TSUKASA-KUUNNN!!" the girl rushed over and tackled him, which inevitably made them both knock into Rui as well. The three of them had become a human pile on the floor.
"Emu!" Nene scolded. "What are you doing?!"
"I came to see you guys!!" Emu exclaimed as she released the two boys underneath her.
"You're supposed to be at your school for lunch, though!" Tsukasa whisper-shouted. He was worried that if they were too loud, Emu would get found out.
Emu just giggled mischievously. Rolling his eyes, Tsukasa picked the notebook back up.
"Oh, crud!"
"Hm? What is it, Tsukasa-kun?" Rui inquired.
"There are scribbles all over the page now," he answered. "And my pencil doesn't have an eraser..."
"Here," Nene spoke up. "Use mine."
Tsukasa's face lit up. Of course his charming Nene would let him borrow her eraser! He took it from her and began erasing all of the lines Emu's attack has caused while the other three conversed.
Once he finished erasing and writing, the bell rung for the end of lunch. The group packed up and said their goodbyes, making their separate ways.
When Tsukasa sat down at his seat as the teacher started class, he arranged his things on his desk to be neat. Notebook, pencil, eraser---
Hold on a minute. This wasn't his eraser... It was Nene's!
Tsukasa ran a hand down his face. How could he have forgotten to give it back?! He'd have to find her after school. But now that he had it, might as well use it, right?
Class begun and papers were passed out. Just as expected, that eraser came in handy. As he picked it up and used it, he noticed that the underside had a strange texture.
He flipped it around, finding, "A.S. ♡" etched into it.
"..."
What?
"...HAAAAHHHHH?!"
~ ♪ ~
Tsukasa couldn't believe it. He never really assumed that Nene liked him back, but he also never really assumed that she didn't! He was just kind of... lost in the sauce, per se. This had really caught him off guard.
So off guard, in fact, that he couldn't snap his gaze away from the eraser. Even when he was told off for blurting during class, or after the bell rang, or as he walked down the hallway.
Who could "A.S." even be?! Who had won ovef the beautiful diva Nene Kusanagi's heart---
BONK!!!
Tsukasa felt himself walk into something and immediately fell backwards. Whatever he'd knocked into also fell over and groaned, "Ouch, dude..."
Slowly, Tsukasa came to. He saw that the "thing" he had walked into was a person, a person that he knew!
"Akito!" he exclaimed. "My sincerest apologies!! I wasn't at all looking where I was going!"
"Clearly..." Akito mumbled under his breath. Tsukasa pretended not to hear.
The star got up on his feet and gave the ginger a hand, too.
"Oh, hey," Akito crouched down. "You dropped this."
He gave Tsukasa back the eraser, turned around, and waved goodbye. The star just stared down at the eraser in his palm.
"A.S..." he muttered to himself. "Akito... Shinonome..!"
Nene had a crush on Akito Shinonome?!
"...Hey wait," Tsukasa heard Akito stop and turn back around. "Aren't those my initials?"
BELIEVE ME, WE BOTH JUST CAME TO THAT REALIZATION!!
Tsukasa nodded hesitantly. "This isn't my eraser, though!! I borrowed it and forgot to give it back!"
"Oh," Akito said. "Whose is it?"
Uh oh.
Tsukasa could just tell Akito that it was Nene's eraser. That was straight up tattling on her! And oh, would she be upset...
"...Mine," Tsukasa blurted. "It's mine."
Wow, great going, Tsukasa. Instead of just telling the truth that you can't tell, just throw yourself under the bus!
"What? Yours?" Akito questioned. "But you just---"
"I lied!" the star doubled down. "I was embarrassed, I'm sorry."
"..."
"..."
Cruuuuuuuuuuuddddd...
Akito cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right... okay... then, I'll uh... see you?"
Tsukasa nodded a little too immediately. "Yeah! Bye! See you! AHEMMM..."
"...Yeaaaaah."
And with that, the ginger was gone.
...I have dug myself a disastrously large hole in a matter of seconds.
~ ♪ ~
Any doubts Tsukasa had about Akito being Nene's crush were gone just a few days later.
"NENE-CHAN WAS WHAAAT?!" Emu's eyes were bright with excitement.
"I... got an invitation to go to my crush's gig with Vivid Bad Squad tomorrow," Nene repeated herself, face bright red.
"That's great!" Rui exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
Whatever sentences were said next were tuned out by Tsukasa. He was still in utter disbelief. That Nene had a crush, and that said crush now had the idea that Tsukasa was the one crushing on him!
Now that his suspicions were confirmed... he had to fix this mess and become the greatest wingman Nene ever saw!!!
"Why don't we all go to the gig together?" he suggested out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Nene looked at him, confused.
"Well, uh... I mean, only if you want us to," Tsukasa clarified. "I thought you might be a little nervous."
In truth, Tsukasa just needed an excuse to understand why Nene would like Akito. That way, he could become the perfect wingman!
Nene thought about it for a moment. "You know what, sure. You guys can keep me from chickening out."
"YAY, YAY!!!" Emu cheered. "This is all so, so, so, so WONDERHOOYYY!!"
The pink girl threw herself at Nene, making the diva laugh shyly.
"This is quite exciting, isn't it, Tsukasa-kun?" Rui chuckled. "I never thought our diva might actually fall in love!"
"I know..."
He was already regretting all his choices.
But! Here they were, at Vivid Bad Squad's latest gig the next day. And Tsukasa WAS going to help Nene score a hot date!! Making his crush the happiest she can be was way more important than dealing with this utter heartbreak, clearly.
Nene refused to be front and center like the others suggested. So, Wonderland's x Showtime sat at a table against the wall, not too close to the stage.
They idly watched the group that was performing before VBS as they chatted about their last rehearsal, sipping on their drinks.
"...And then, I can start blueprinting what we need robotic wise," Rui said, looking happy just thinking about his beloved inventions.
"Oh, oh!!" Emu jumped in. "Can you make a mini boom-bwaahhh that shoots shimmery sparklies?!"
The Emunese speaker's eyebrows raised at the suggestion. "One that you can blast at Tsukasa during your fight scene? Now, that's a good idea..."
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!!" Tsukasa blurted, waving his hands frantically. "What's this about booms and blasts shooting sparkle-things at me?!"
Emu grinned and Rui chuckled intimidatingly.
"It's okay, Tsukasa-kun!!" the pink girl assured. "Rui-kun won't make it too dangerous!"
"Pf- I know that..." the star scoffed.
"Then I have our star's utter trust and permission to point a firearm at him?" Rui asked in a genuine tone.
"Well, of co-- A WHAT?"
"That is a good enough 'yes' for me!" Rui looked too proud of himself.
"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!! I DIDN'T ACTUALLY---"
Tsukasa was cut off from talking when he suddenly felt his chest go extremely wet. When he looked down, his drink had spilt all over his shirt. He must of accidentally wobbled the table too much in his exasperated state that it'd fallen over!
"Oh, crud..." he muttered. This wasn't good. No one liked a wet shirt.
"Uhg, you moron," he suddenly heard from beside him.
Nene grabbed some napkins and began patting Tsukasa's wet shirt with them.
As she continued trying her best to dry him
off, Nene lectured him. "This is why you need to be more careful. I get that you get super passionate sometimes, but that isn't an excuse!"
"Uh... I um... y-yes, ma'am!!" he replied.
But she kept on telling him off anyways. WXS had learned that this was her way of showing she cared. It made Tsukasa's face go even warmer.
Like this, it kind of felt like Nene was scolding her husband for doing something stupid, but still taking care of him nonetheless.
...THAT'S SO AWFUL, I MUSN'T THINK LIKE THAT!! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE WINGMAN-ER!!
Tsukasa kept his eyes tightly shut, barely listening to a word Nene was telling him now. But then suddenly, the music died down and people cheered. The group drew their attention back to the stage quickly a man came up on stage.
"Can we get another a round of applause?!" the man hyped up the last group and the crowd cheered. "Alright!! Now I welcome to the stage... VIVID BAD SQUAAAAD!!!"
"Ah, that's them!" Nene exclaimed, quickly discarding the napkins in her hands and forgetting about the wet shirt. Tsukasa did too, watching the four members hop up on stage.
Immediately, they started their first song. No one could deny that they were really cool looking up there.
Tsukasa glanced to his side at Nene. She looked mesmerized, an almost-smile perched on her lips. It warmed Tsukasa's heart.
He quickly shook off the warm feeling, though, and tried to focus on Akito. He needed to figure out what about him made her make such an expression!
Well, first off, Akito had an amazing stage presence. He was very charming and efficient at getting the crowd excited. Not too sore on the eyes, either. Tsukasa didn't completely understand it, but he wasn't even into guys anyway, that was to be expected!
He then was assaulted by the upsetting reminder that he'd pinned Nene's crushing onto himself and he felt himself cringe. He really needed to figure out how to swiftly get Akito to forget so he could play cupid instead.
Once the gig ended, Tsukasa thought he had a good list wracked up of Akito's traits. Nene made the group leave immediately with her, not wanting to face the ginger afterwards.
"Awww, but Nene-chan!!" Emu whined. "You should go!! We won't even come with!"
"Hell no!" Nene insisted, cheeks flushed. "No way, no how. And, even if I did go, you'd all just follow me!!"
Rui chuckled. "Fufufu... what makes you say that?"
Nene glared at him, only making him laugh more.
"How'd you get invited, by the way?" Tsukasa suddenly asked.
Nene perked up. "Oh... uh, Shinonome-san came up to me yesterday and asked me to come."
He'd accidentally blocked out the rest Nene's story with his own thoughts of jealousy, embarrassment, and regret. When he tuned back in, she was even more red faced with an out-of-character smile on her face. It made Tsukasa's heart skip a beat. She just... looked so happy!!!! If he could see this every day, being her partner or not, he was sure he'd be content.
"Well," Tsuaksa huffed contently.
The rest of the group looked over at him.
"I think you need to go back in there, and ask him out on a date!" he announced.
"...I need to WHAAAATT?!"