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Ever since ‘The Smiling Sorcerer’ had been an amazing success, Wonderlands x Showtime had known a rise in popularity. That rise was ever amplified with their ambassador shows. Of course, such a recognition brought its fair share of advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages? They spoke for themselves. Their popularity allowed them to become the ambassadors of the theme park and learn more along the way. They were recognized for their works, and it felt like their dreams were getting closer.
That, and the few classmates who were present at their show gained a newfound respect for each of the crew. While it didn’t mean they suddenly become the most popular teens at school, it still meant that people knew they were more than just loud, odd, reserved or cheerful. They were talented people, every one of them.
Tsukasa, being the lead actor, became a face people knew at school.
The only thing stopping others from approaching him with questions was his reputation as part of the infamous combo.
Nevertheless, that popularity still attracted some flies.
Rui wasn’t fond of that.
Rui was sitting at his seat, smiling. His classmates were staring in concern, but he didn’t care.
Afterall, today was sure to be a good day.
Rui was excited. Tsukasa would be coming to his house after school. Officially, it was to tutor him in English. The future star had been adamant to learn the language ever since their trip in the United States.
But to Rui, it was also a way to hang out with the blonde. Tsukasa had grown on him since they first met, to the point where Rui felt his heart race whenever the star was nearby.
His determination was admirable. He wasn’t able to perform many types of roles, but the ones Tsukasa did, he acted them with brio. He was charismatic, shining like a precious stone still unpolished. He was simply beautiful.
... and so, so reactive to everything. His reactions were often hilarious and adorable at the same time. So much that Rui created pranks after pranks without even realising it.
BUT! Tonight, he’ll behave. He didn’t want to scare him away-
Rui paused.
No. Tsukasa wouldn’t be offput so easily, but still. He would behave for the sake of spending a peaceful time with his star.
(Hopefully Tsukasa would want to repeat the experience.)
Rui ate his lunch on the rooftop as usual, pensively thinking about their after-school plans.
His daydreams were disrupted by the notification sounds of his phone. He picked it up, and saw Tsukasa and Nene do the same.
Emu: Hi!!!
My classmate super duper loved our shows! She said she saw our show at grandpa’s grandpa’s house and a few of the ones in Phennyland! She’d like to meet us, are you all busy after school?
Nene: If everyone wants to, I don’t mind...
Tsukasa: Sure! It’d be fun to meet a fan, right Rui?
Rui’s face fell. He spoke up.
“Weren’t we supposed to study tonight Tsukasa-kun?”
Tsukasa looked a bit surprised, as if he forgot, then a bit guilty.
“Sorry! I thought we could just postpone it! It’s not every day we meet our fans, b-but, I can tell Emu that we can’t in the end if you prefer.”
Rui hesitated. “No, it’s fine. You’re right. It could be informative to speak to someone who watched our shows.”
He ended up texting a confirmation and finished his meal with a light conversation with his friends.
And when Rui sat back at his desk, he found that the time passed much slower than the first half of the day.
Tsukasa, Nene and Rui met with Emu at the crossroads between their respective schools. The peppy girl was accompanied by a sweet-looking girl about her age.
“Hey!! Everyone!” Emu waved at them as soon as she saw her crew members. “Meet Aiya!”
Aiya approached them with sparkling eyes.
“Woaaah! So you all are Wonderlands x Showtime? You guys are amazing!”
Nene smiled bashfully while Tsukasa basked in the praise.
“Hahaha! Thank you! I hope our shows brought smiles to your lips.”
Tsukasa said proudly. Rui knew that this was their troupe’s motto, but it sounded wayyy too much like a pickup line. The girl was even blushing and giggling.
“You- You’re Miles! You were so dazzling as you made the train rails lit up in the night with a spell. You looked like a prince!”
Nene cringed. Emu smiled obliviously. Rui watched the scene with an odd pain in his heart. Tsukasa... seemed touched yet confused.
“Thank... you? I was playing a sorcerer though.”
The girl giggled happily. “Yeah, I know. I meant that you looked amazing in your role, Miles.”
“Ah! Thank you. Call me Tenma Tsukasa! Remember it for it’s the name of the world’s future star!”
She ‘oooohed’, full of admiration.
Rui felt that it was going to be a long day.
They ended up going to a cafe to continue the discussion. The girl was all praises and giggles, but her attention always ended redirected towards Tsukasa.
“That story about the town and forest dwellers was so inspiring! It was so touching to see the two communities coming together.”
However, maybe she wasn’t so bad. Rui smiled.
“I’m glad you liked it, it’s a story that is very dear to me, and I’m happy to have such capable crewmembers who were able to bring it to life so perfectly.”
Aiya nodded pensively.
“I see what you mean. Tsukasa-kun was brilliant in his officer’s role. Truly, Tsukasa-kun can do any role!”
Rui sighed. She was clearly not their fan, but Tsukasa’s fan. At least she was respectful... but he couldn’t help but feel a bit down. He could’ve been spending time with Tsukasa right now, instead of listening to someone else gushing about him...
Nene, his ever-faithful friend, seemed to notice his mood.
“Hey guys, I think Rui and I are going to go home. It was fun, but he said he’d help me with a math homework.”
Tsukasa looked at them a bit weirdly but let it go. Emu seemed a bit sad.
“You’re leaving already Nene-chan, Rui-kun? ... alright. See you later at practice! I think I’m going to go too.”
They bid their farewell, paid, and left the cafe.
“Are you okay Rui?” Nene asked.
“Yeah, it’s just... well, I felt we were a bit unwanted, no?” Rui spoke, a bit dejected.
Nene hummed. “Don’t worry. You’ll have a fan one day too.”
Rui sighed. “It’s not that, just...”
He thought of how... interested the girl seemed, and of how Tsukasa seemed to welcome the attention. Somehow, it felt like-
His heart ached.
“It’s just what?” Nene encouragingly asked.
“... I don’t know.”
It was half a lie, really. Rui knew that he felt... fondly towards Tsukasa. But this feeling wasn’t mere jealousy, no, it reminded him of his time in middle school.
Perhaps he felt a bit lonely.
Perhaps he feared being left out.
Rui rummaged through his school bag. His face whitened.
“I... forgot my phone. I- I'll go grab it.”
Rui dashed towards the cafe, not letting Nene even respond. He could hear her call from a distance, yet he didn’t stop.
He had a bad feeling about this. His stomach churned.
He reached the cafe’s door and saw Aiya blushing. His ears heard his star speak something.
It took a time for his brain to process.
“You... love me?”
She replied immediately:
“Yes! I’m in love with you Tsukasa-kun!”
Rui closed the door silently. He felt like puking.
He took the time to breathe in and out slowly as he felt invasive thoughts crawling in the back of his mind.
Oh no.
He had thought that he had gotten rid of them.
Footsteps, no, the sound of someone weakly running came to his ears. A labored breath.
Nene.
“Rui, what were you-”
Nene started, in a mix of annoyance and exhaustion, but her words faded as Rui turned his head.
“thinking...”
Rui was making an awfully familiar face. A face she hadn’t seen since the everyone convinced him to stay in Wonderlands x Showtime.
She softened.
“Rui... what happened?”
Tsukasa woke up naturally, as usual, around 7h30.
The sun greeted his face. He smiled.
Today was sure to be a good day.
Or, at the very least, a better day than yesterday. Not that yesterday was bad per say... it was a fun kind of unusual.
But today he had practice, and those days were far more interesting.
He stretched and opened his phone, hoping to see a notification.
Tsukasa: Since we have practice tomorrow, let’s do our study session the day after?
He frowned. He had sent this yesterday before sleeping, but Rui still hadn’t responded to his message.
Odd.
Maybe he went to sleep early for once?
No matter, surely Rui will reply to him before class.
Tsukasa stared blankly at his phone. It was odd. Second period passed and no answer from Rui. He had written a few... more messages to try to check on him. No answer.
Well, he should see him at lunch, right?
Except, he didn’t.
“Nene! Where’s Rui?” Tsukasa frowned.
Nene seemed slightly surprised and sighed.
“He... insisted to stay at his seat to work on a robot. He said he... didn’t want to be disrupted.”
“Oh.” Tsukasa said, a bit offput. “I suppose that if he’s been working on it since yesterday, it would explain why he doesn’t text me back.”
Nene frowned slightly.
“No, he erm... forgot his phone at the cafe. Don't worry, Emu picked it up.”
And gave it to her through SEKAI since she was Rui’s neighbour, but Nene wasn’t the one to dig her friend’s grave.
“Did... something happen yesterday? After we left?”
Tsukasa frowned and pensively raised his fist under his nose.
“Not really. It seemed that Aiya had some sort of celebrity crush on me and tried to confess.”
Nene almost choked, but Tsukasa was quick to reassure her.
“Oh, I didn’t accept! I respectfully rejected her, don’t worry. She’s still our fan.” Tsukasa replied loudly. He seemed a bit embarrassed.
From this conversation, Nene started to understand Rui’s behavior.
“So Rui is in his class? I had something to ask him, so I’ll go there quickly.”
“Ah! Tsukasa wait!”
Tsukasa stopped in his steps.
“What is it?”
“If... Rui acts weird, try to be patient and talk to him about what happened yesterday?”
Tsukasa frowned.
“Okay?”
Rui always acted weird, Nene knew that. So Tsukasa didn’t understand the warning.
As for what happened yesterday...
Somehow, Tsukasa didn’t want Rui to know some girl asked him out.
It felt... wrong.
Tsukasa gleefully entered Rui’s classroom.
“RUIIIIIII!”
The students who decided to eat there recoiled and looked at the door while Rui didn’t even deign to turn his head.
Tsukasa approached his seat.
“Rui! I have a question to ask you!”
“Not now, I’m busy.”
The voice was cold, which made Tsukasa recoil a little.
“Rui?”
He hadn’t heard that voice, well, since he had done a terrible mistake after their first performance.
Rui ignored him.
“... Rui, have I done something wrong?” His voice cracked a bit.
He truly didn’t understand what was going on. It felt silly, but...
“Is it because I reported our study session without thinking?”
The students started to feel a bit uncomfortable at the ongoing drama.
Rui sighed.
“Of course not. I just need to focus.” His voice was softer, yet still distant.
“I won’t take much of your time.”
Rui reluctantly turned to meet his eyes.
“What is it?”
Rui’s gaze was full of pressure. Tsukasa felt like he was at an audition.
But thankfully, he had quite the experience with those. Tsukasa spoke full of confidence.
“I wanted if you wanted to do our study session tomorrow since we don’t have practice.”
“I’m busy tomorrow.”
“Okay... then what about next tuesday?”
“I’m busy then too.”
“Then in a week...?”
“I just can’t make the time.”
Tsukasa frowned. Something was wrong.
“You’re trying to avoiding me.”
“I’m not.”
“Are too!”
“I’m not, or else I wouldn’t be entertaining you right now”
“...”
Tsukasa looked at Rui with determination and Rui held his gaze.
“Can I go back to work?”
“No. Please... talk to me.”
Tsukasa spoke in an uncharacteristically soft tone.
Rui couldn’t help but soften as well, if ever slightly.
“Tsukasa-kun, I-”
However, his words struggled to leave his mouth.
“Rui... can we talk? In private.”
After a bit of hesitation, Rui put away his robot and nodded.
Tsukasa led them to an abandoned classroom, the one they often ended up doing mischief in. As soon as the door closed, Tsukasa spoke.
“What’s wrong Rui?”
Rui froze. Anxiety filled him.
He had no right being jealous. Tsukasa wasn’t his. He had never been his.
He didn’t even know if Tsukasa liked men!
And even if he did, it didn’t mean he’d like him.
“I... it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. You’re visibly upset.”
Rui looked away and spoke dismissively.
“I’ll deal with it, you don’t have to worry about it.”
However, Tsukasa wasn’t having it.
“Of course, I worry about it. You’re my friend. No. You’re probably the person I care about most after my family (which includes Toya).”
Rui was startled, then his cheeks turned a slight pink color.
Tsukasa felt himself blush at the view as well.
Rui’s lips trembled.
“B-But, what about...?”
“About?”
“... your girlfriend.”
The star blinked.
“I’m gay?”
“... Huh?”
“Rui... did you... somehow know that Aiya confessed to me yesterday?”
Rui looked away, feeling guilty.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“Then, you also heard me reject her right?”
Rui flinched.
“No. I... ran away as soon as I heard her confess.” Saying such a thing would be like admitting his feelings. He settled for more... subtle sentence.
“I turned away. I didn’t want tot interrupt the moment.”
“Well, there was no moment to interrupt.” Tsukasa replied. “So you don’t have to be so grumpy. I’m not dating... yet.”
“Right. Yet.” Rui muttered unhappily, which caused Tsukasa to laugh.
“Aren't you going to change that?”
Rui blushed softly.
“C-Change what?”
“My relationship status.”
Tsukasa said smoothly, as if he was some charismatic prince who-
“Wait a minute. You’re acting!” Rui exclaimed, surprised. Tsukasa’s ears reddened at that.
“Yes- No... I mean. I may be trying to hide my nervousness a bit.”
“You’re nervous?” Rui asked, baffled.
“Of course! Even a Star gets nervous when asking out a crush...” Tsukasa admitted shyly.
Rui let out his signature chuckle. He used all of his courage for this next sentence.
“I- I like you. Will you be my binary star?”
Tsukasa snorted. He didn’t know what the exact scientific definition of that was, but he understood the message.
“Yes. I’ll be your boyfriend Rui.”
They leaned forward... their breath mingled. And, awkwardly, hesitantly...
Their noses bumped, causing both of them to laugh.
They tried again and the awkward moment was soon forgotten as their lips touched.
This was, undeniably, not a good day.
This was one of the best days of their lives.