Chapter Text
“Ugh, did we have to get up so early for this?” Nene groaned, lagging behind Rui and Tsukasa as the three approached Phoenix Wonderland. They had been called in early for a meeting at 6 o’clock in the morning, about two hours before the park was due to open for the day. To be fair, Emu had just told them that they needed to come this early without giving any context. However, given the time, it was safe to assume that they were being called into a meeting, likely with Emu’s brothers and possibly her father present.
The trio entered the park via the staff entrance, making their way to the staff headquarters. It was eerie walking through the park while it was empty, but this feeling was relieved when they entered the staff headquarters, where some of the other workers were preparing for their day of work. Within this building was a meeting room with a long, corporate-style table. Emu and both of her older brothers were already sitting at the table, discussing something before going quiet as soon as the rest of Wonderlands X Showtime walked into the room.
“Good morning, everyone,” Keisuke was the first to speak once everyone had taken their seats. “I hope it wasn’t too much of a hassle getting here so early. However, there is something urgent we all need to discuss.”
“Oooo! OOO! Can I tell them? Please?” Emu almost jumped onto the table. She was bursting with energy, even this early in the morning.
“Go ahead, Emu.” Keisuke sighed, obviously tired despite his previous professional energy.
“Ahem,” Emu cleared her throat as if she was about to speak in a more professional tone, “We first want to talk about your official Phoenix Wonderland summer jobs for this year. All of us will be getting a super-duper wonderhoy job to do for the next six weeks.”
“Oh? Is that why we’ve been called in this early?” Nene questioned, surprised by this sudden change of plans. Wonderlands X Showtime had already finished their run as ambassadors of the park, so this turn of events was quite exciting.
“Yep! So, Nene-chan, you know how your class made those scrumptious-looking cotton candy animals for your school fair?”
“Huh? Y-yeah.”
“Well, we have a cotton candy stall that needs your help.”
“O-okay…” Nene wasn’t too sure about running a cotton candy stall, even if she might just be helping other employees. However, she didn’t feel as though she had much of a choice in the matter, so she agreed, taking her contract from Shousuke.
“Next up, Rui-kun! Our rides need lots and lots of maintenance, and you’re going to be helping them feel better when they get sick!”
“Heh, I look forward to seeing the inner workings of some of Phoenix Wonderland’s greatest rides.” Rui grinned, taking his contract.
“And finally, Tsukasa-kun, you have the most brilliant, most fantastic, most important role in the entire park!”
“Oh? A role fit for a star such as myself?” Tsukasa smirked, excited to hear what Emu had to say about his role.
“Yep! You’re going to be our super-duper Phoenix Wonderland lead mascot – Phenny!”
“HAHA, a suitable role as the star of Phoenix Wonderland. I will make sure the entire park knows of my presence.”
“Maybe just stick to being Phenny instead…” Shousuke commented, handing the last contract over to Tsukasa.
“Now that that’s out of the way, would you like to make the other announcement we need to give them?” Keisuke asked Emu, whose eyes lit up at the mention of their other announcement.
“Yeah!” Emu started ruffling through her bag before pulling out a handmade poster, “WE’RE GOING TO BE HOSTING A PHOENIX WONDERLAND SUMMER CAMP AT THE WONDER STAGE!”
“A…A SUMMER CAMP?!” Tsukasa yelled in disbelief, making Nene’s headache from waking up early worse.
“Yessir!”
“This summer camp is targeted at elementary school children, so you’ll be working with ages 6 to 12,” Shousuke explained, “It’ll last for three weeks, and you’ll be in charge of deciding activities as well as taking care of the children. We are hoping it will leave a positive impact on those who attend.”
“Yeah! We’re gonna make them all smile super-duper big!”
“That’s all for this meeting, unless you have any questions,” Keisuke stood up from his chair. “We’d advise meeting at the Wonder Stage to discuss your plans for this project. Remember: It begins next week.”
Earlier mention of the time constraints might’ve helped a little bit…
“So, what are we thinking for the themes of this summer camp?” Nene asked, sitting on the edge of the Wonder Stage, contract in hand. She was still looking over hers, but also wanted to participate in the discussions of the summer camp.
“I think we should go with a theatre theme,” Rui thought, looking at the stage from a distance, “We were all inspired to pursue theatre during our own elementary school days, weren’t we? It’ll be like passing our knowledge and inspiration onto the next generation. Besides, it fits with the fact that we’re holding all the activities here at the Wonder Stage.”
“Yeah! That’d be cool! We can make the stage all sparkly while the kids perform a play or something,” Emu spoke up energetically, “Ooo! Since we have so much time with them, why don’t we add some other summer camp activities? Like making friendship bracelets? Or even a scavenger hunt?”
“Fantastic idea, Emu-kun. We could even incorporate the theatre theme into those activities, such as having the children wear their friendship bracelets while performing or having them search for stage equipment for the scavenger hunt.”
“We could even make the scavenger hunt even more exciting by saying that an evil villain stole our equipment. We could even put Tsukasa-kun in his Phenny costume and make the story involve him!”
“Why do I have to play the part of the villain in all this?” Tsukasa interrupted the brainstorming session, “Doesn’t Rui usually play the villains in our plays?”
“Fufu, I thought our star would be up for any role, even that of a villain.” Rui teased, trying to get Tsukasa to agree to the role. It worked, as the blonde sighed in defeat and agreed to take on the role of some evil Phenny figure.
“So, since we’re going with the theatre theme,” Nene stood up off the stage with a grunt, “Maybe we could have the kids put on a play on the Wonder Stage at the end of the three weeks?”
“I was thinking the same thing, Nene. I think it would be a grand finale to three weeks of hard work and play.”
“We should probably go for something simple, so none of the kids get hurt or tire themselves out. That means nothing extravagant, RUI!”
“I understand, and don’t worry, I was thinking we should base our play on a fairytale. Better yet, why don’t we pick a couple of options, then let the children pick?”
“Sounds like another fantastic idea from our director,” Tsukasa gave Rui a firm pat on the back. “How about we all pick a fairytale to turn into a play? We’ll post our ideas in our group chat later tonight and then make our own scripts. If anyone has the same idea as another person, we could collaborate.”
“Excellent expansion onto my original idea, Tsukasa-kun. Very well, it’s settled. We will each research a fairytale we wish to turn into a play for the children, then turn our ideas into a script. Everyone, make sure you have your idea ready by seven o’clock tonight, that way we have a rough idea of what everyone is doing. For now, let’s work on a list of ideas so we can make a rough schedule.”
Nene sighed as she picked up her phone and opened her messages app. She had spent plenty of time trying to figure out what play she wanted to do, and one stuck out to her like a sore thumb – The Little Mermaid. It was the play that had inspired her to become an actress all those years ago, and now she was hoping it would inspire others as well.
She put her idea in the Wonderlands X Showtime group chat and waited for a response. Rui was the first to see her message and almost instantly began writing his own message.
“I was thinking the same thing, Nene. I suppose we’ll be working together then?” He wrote.
“Sure.” She texted back, short, blunt, and to the point, just like her personality.
“I WANNA DO LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD! ONE OF THE CLASSES AT MY SCHOOL LAST YEAR DID A SUPER AWESOME HAUNTED HOUSE BASED OFF IT AND I WANNA DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TOO!!!” Emu messaged, using all caps as always.
“And I shall work on a script for Cinderella,” Tsukasa added.
Nene sighed. She was concerned the kids wouldn’t have much choice if they all accidentally chose the same fairytale, but she was glad there were at least three options. She was about to turn off her phone when she received a private message from Rui. It was a link to a document titled “Little Mermaid Script” with edit permissions. However, she was exhausted from all the planning at this stage and told Rui that she would begin working on it the next day. At this point, she just wanted to play some video games and then go to sleep.
“Very well, sleep tight. I may even come to your house tomorrow to work on this with you.” Rui texted her back, complete with a smiling emoji at the end of his message. Ominous, but Nene was used to it at this point.
Nene woke up to an all too familiar sound – her bedroom window being opened and someone climbing in through it. That someone was obviously Rui, especially since he did say he was going to come over to work with her. The light that came in when her curtains were open let her know that it was morning, basically confirming her suspicions that it was Rui coming in.
“Good morning, Nene! Are you ready to work on our script?” Rui asked, climbing over her gaming set-up and other items as he approached her.
“Does it look like I’m ready?” She grumbled in response. After all, she was still in bed, cuddled up in her pyjamas, and her window wasn’t even open before he did that himself.
“Not necessarily, but that can be changed.” Rui took a seat on the beanbag chair and pulled out his laptop, ready to work whenever she was.
Nene sighed and got up out of her bed, leaving her room to get some breakfast, planning on bringing it back to the room so she could eat while they worked. She didn’t care about the fact that she was still in her pyjamas – it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go until later that day.
…This was going to be a long summer vacation, wasn’t it?