Wonderlands X Summer Camp!

by Turtle_The_Bean

Summary:

Despite no longer being ambassadors for Phoenix Wonderland, Wonderlands X Showtime have been given the task of running a three-week-long summer camp for elementary school children at the Wonder Stage. Excitement and hijinks ensue, but some may hit closer to home than they may expect.

Notes:

Finally starting my WXS summer camp fic. If you know me from Discord, you know I've been planning this one for about a month now. Either way, I'm glad I'm finally able to share this idea with ya'll. I'm hoping to get this done by the end of the summer, but who knows with me? (Besides, Irish colleges don't start until like mid-late September, so :P)

Chapter 1: Prologue

“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?

Chapter 2: Hello There

Notes:

Hi, sorry for the delay, my grandpa died, and I got ghosted by a job interviewer during an interview. Normal AO3 author things.
This chapter and the next are Nene-centric, but don't worry, everyone will get their time to shine.

Nene did not realise how early she would have to wake up from now on. She and the rest of the group had to get up early for work, both for the summer camp and their other jobs at Phoenix Wonderland. She wasn’t too pleased with the early starts, but at least she was waking up at eight o’clock in the morning instead of six.

However, today was the exception. It was the first day of the summer camp, and everyone needed to arrive early for final checks with Emu’s brothers as well as any last-minute finishing touches in terms of setup. Thankfully, Nene only had to bring one thing – the script she and Rui had worked on together. She had to admit it was fun to work on the script with him, even if half the time she was just preventing him from using some of his outrageous ideas for fear of hurting any children.

“Ah, good morning, Nene!” Rui greeted her as he noticed her walking out of her front door. He was way too energetic for this time in the morning.

“Morning…do you have what you need for today?” Nene approached him regardless. She needed to make sure he was behaving himself, mostly because nobody else was around to do so.

“Indeed. Shall we walk to the station together?”

“I don’t really want to, but I’m guessing I have no choice given that there’s pretty much only the one way to get to PXL.”

---

When Nene (and Rui) arrived at Phoenix Wonderland, Tsukasa and Emu were already at the Wonder Stage. Nene was surprised to see Tsukasa there so early, Emu not so much since her family owned the park. Plus, she basically lived there half the time. Still, it was so early, yet those two seemed to have all the energy in the world. Sure, that wasn’t abnormal for them, but it was still a bit too much.

“Good morning, comrades!” Tsukasa announced loudly, making Nene want to cover her ears, “Is your script ready?”

“Of course, my star. Did you really expect your beloved director to come empty-handed?” Rui teased, presenting the script to the rest of the group.

“Haha! Of course not. I was simply making sure everything is in order for our first day as summer camp leaders. Nene, did you bring your supplies?”

“Yeah, here.” Nene reached into her bag and pulled out a roll of labels and a marker. She placed them on the stage, right next to the sheet with the names of all the kids who had been signed up for the camp by their parents.

“Perfect, let’s write our names on these so the kids know who’s who.” Tsukasa immediately started scribbling his name on one of the labels before sticking it proudly to his chest, like a little kid who had just received a sticker for good performance. The rest of the troupe followed suit, getting their names ready for the children to arrive.

Just as Nene had gotten her label on, she heard the hustle and bustle of the park. It was opening time, which meant they didn’t have much longer before the kids started arriving. She organised the bits and pieces that were on the stage, putting them into groups based on when they would be needed, and then resumed her position with the rest of the troupe.

It didn’t take long for the kids to start pouring in – some with parents or older siblings, while some entered alone, presumably while the rest of their family enjoyed the discounted admission awarded to those who chose one specific package for the summer camp. She couldn’t quite remember the details, but it was a pretty good deal. The kids gathered around the stage, more specifically Tsukasa and Emu, who had put themselves in charge of taking attendance and handing out labels. Meanwhile, Nene and Rui were in charge of watching the kids as they sat down on the benches, awaiting further instructions.

Nine o’clock rolled around fast, and soon it was time for them to begin.

“Good morning!” Tsukasa roared in greeting, “We are Wonderlands x Showtime, the troupe that performs here on the Wonder Stage at Phoenix Wonderland, and your summer camp leaders for the next few weeks.”

It was obvious to the rest of his troupe that he had been practising that announcement since they got the job, but the kids seemed to love it.

“Haha! Such wonderful enthusiasm! Now, let’s begin by introducing ourselves. Everyone say your name and a few facts about yourself. I’m Tsukasa Tenma, the leader of this troupe and a world future star! I suppose that’s two facts about me already, so I shall tell you that I also play the piano. Now, I’ll pass the honour onto the next member of our troupe!”

“Hello! I’m Emu Ootori!” Emu introduced herself with as much energy as ever, “My family own Phoenix Wonderland, and putting together Wonderlands x Showtime was an idea I came up with, along with Tsukasa-kun! Hmm…what else do I say? Oh! My favourite food is taiyaki! Now, onto Nene-chan!”

“Oh, uhm, my name is Nene Kusanagi…” Nene began nervously, counting her facts on her fingers, “I usually do most of the singing for Wonderlands x Showtime, I used to perform with a robot Rui made, and um, I like playing video games in my free time. Rui…your turn.”

“Thank you, Nene. I’m Rui Kamishiro, director of Wonderlands x Showtime. I also make all our props, including the robots. However, I am also an expert in balloon art.” Rui introduced himself with a confidence Nene was always somewhat jealous of, but she supposed that it came from his wacky personality.

Given that all the troupe members had been introduced, Rui was tasked with choosing which child would get the honour of introducing themselves after him. Of course, he had to pick a child who happened to look incredibly shy, but seeing the kid stand up to introduce herself made Nene smile.

“Um, my name is…Yasuko Fujita…I’m seven years old…I have a big sister…and I like to swim…”

Yasuko Fujita…Nene took a mental note of that name, feeling as though she would need it later.

---

Once all the children had introduced themselves, it was time for the main event of the day to begin – letting the children choose which play they wanted to do for the end of the camp. Rui stepped forward to make the announcement.

“Now that we’ve all gotten to know each other, we’re going to do something a little bit more fun,” He grinned at the children. “We made three scripts, each one based on a fairy tale. All you have to do is pick which one you’d like to perform for the finale of our summer camp and approach the corresponding person.”

Nene awkwardly walked around him as he made his announcement, handing out the two items necessary for this activity. Each person got the script they created as well as a small piece of paper for keeping a tally of how many kids picked their play.

“If you would like to perform Little Red Riding Hood, please approach Emu-kun. If you would like to perform Cinderella, please approach Tsukasa-kun. Finally, if you’d like to perform The Little Mermaid, please approach myself and Nene. You have ten minutes to make your decision.”

Soon enough, the children were chattering and clamouring around each troupe member as they selected which troupe member’s script they wanted to act out. Rui and Nene had agreed beforehand that she would be the one keeping the tally, which proved to be a bit more difficult than she expected. It seemed plenty of children wanted to perform their play, but she couldn’t help but wonder if the particular troupe members holding the scripts had any effect on their decisions.

Once the ten minutes were up, as indicated by Rui’s phone, the troupe members gathered around to take the tally, minus Rui, who decided to stay behind to keep an eye on the children.

Much to her surprise, Nene realised that her and Rui’s play had gotten the most attention, with a resulting tally of fifteen. Emu was in second place with a result of six, but Tsukasa was close enough to her with his final result of five.

With the results in mind, Emu messaged one of her older brothers to let them know which script to print out the copies for the children to read. She would then leave her troupe to collect them while Nene and Tsukasa announced the results.

“We return with fantastic news!” Tsukasa announced, hiding his disappointment about coming in last place, “You have spoken, and we have listened. The play we will work towards for the end of our summer camp will be…The Little Mermaid!”

A roar of cheers interrupted from the child, along with plenty of chatter about which roles each one was going to go for. They certainly seemed excited, which made Nene blush a little. She had no clue that something she was working on, something that brought her so much joy as a child, was so popular amongst the children she was trying to pass her love of theatre onto.

---

Once Emu had returned with the scripts, the troupe watched as the children gathered into groups and began acting out the parts they were planning on auditioning for. The troupe members were tasked with walking around, asking the children who they wanted to audition for, and making notes of who they said. Nene had already asked a couple of children, but it was obvious that she was lagging a bit behind the others.

To be honest, something was bothering her. No matter how many groups she scanned her eyes over, she still couldn’t find that shy little girl Rui had called out to earlier. She was curious as to what role she wanted to audition for, but she seemed to be nowhere to be found.

Just as she was about to get concerned about the kid getting lost, she caught her eye on the bright red hair she had seen earlier. She cautiously approached the girl, trying her best not to frighten her.

“Hey there…” Nene read the tag on the girl’s chest, trying to remember her name, “Yasuko, wasn’t it?”

“Hm? Oh…uhm…yes…” The girl hid her sky-blue eyes behind the script.

“Have you decided which role you want to audition for?” Nene sat herself across from the girl.

“…No…” There was a hint of hesitation in her voice, as if she knew what she wanted but didn’t want to say it.

“Well, do you have any ideas of what you want to do?”

The girl stayed quiet, but Nene waited patiently for an answer. She had a feeling of what she was going to say, but she wanted her to say it first.

“…I want to be the little mermaid…But I don’t think I can…” Yasuko muttered, eyes tearing up.

“You…don’t think you can?” Nene questioned. This somehow felt familiar to her.

“My mom wanted me to go to this camp because I was acting in my school play this year and…and…and when it came to my part, I got scared and forgot my line. W-when that happened…I ran off the stage. Mommy said this would…would help me with that…but I don’t knoooow!” As soon as she finished that sentence, Yasuko burst into tears, which she had been holding back the entire time.

Nene was caught off guard by the girl’s confession, but she knew what it was like. She had been that girl, the girl who forgot her lines on stage and ended up with bad stage fright. The girl who was so ashamed of that moment that she refused to step on stage afterwards.

But things had changed. She had started going on stage again. She started singing again. She didn’t need a robot to perform for her anymore. She was now the songstress of Wonderlands X Showtime, and it was all thanks to the support of those around her.

“I know how you feel,” Nene said calmly, putting a hand on Yasuko’s knee.

“…you…you do?” Yasuko sniffled, trying to wipe away her tears with her arm.

“Yes, when I was in middle school, I joined a theatre club. However, on the day of the play, I got stage fright and forgot my lines. I didn’t want to even step foot on a stage after because I was so scared it would happen again.”

“…What happened then? You’re an actress now, right?”

“W-well, I wouldn’t say I’m a full-fledged actress yet, but yes, I am an actress, and it was all because I had people who believed in me. Remember when I said I used to have a robot that I performed with? Well, that was how I used to be on stage. Eventually, though, with the help of the rest of my troupe, I managed to gain the confidence I needed to get back up there…all because they believed in me.”

“…Wow…” Yasuko had stopped crying, seemingly enamoured with Nene’s story.

“Yasuko, you’re here because your mom obviously believes in you. I believe in you, too. So, how about you at least give auditioning for the lead role a try? Even if it doesn’t work out, everyone is going to be getting a role, right?”

Nene watched Yasuko consider it for a few minutes, mostly in the form of balling her hands up into fists while glancing between Nene and the script. She was quiet for the most part, only letting out a little “hmm” every now and then.

“Okay, I’ll do it!” Yasuko unexpectedly jumped forward to hug Nene, “Thank you, Nene-san!”

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome. I’ll put your name down for the lead role then.” Nene stammered, trying to write while her arms were being squeezed by the child.

Chapter 3: Audition Day

Notes:

Hi, yeah, I'm still alive, just incredibly jet lagged, but I wanted to get this done because I have many things this week.

Nene felt as though she was slowly getting used to the early mornings now. Granted, she also felt as though she had more energy because of what today’s plans were. She didn’t have to do too much today, since most of the day was going to be taken up by auditions for their play. The kids would be going up on stage, acting out their chosen lines for their chosen roles, and then doing some arts and crafts. Emu’s brothers would be helping out with the auditions so that they could have two people – Rui and Emu, being those people – keeping an eye on the kids doing the arts and crafts.

Plus, she was going to see Yasuko auditioning for the lead role.

She knew how she would probably be feeling at that moment – anxiously waiting for your turn, afraid of messing up again, probably having at least one panic attack either backstage or even just before the summer camp even started for the day. She was that girl once, and she would hope this experience would help Yasuko move on like she did. She hoped this would show her that there were people who would support her acting journey, no matter what.

Nene was sitting at a table they had set up in front of the Wonder Stage. She had been supplied with a glass of water, a pen, and a piece of paper with each child’s name and role for taking notes on the auditions and how they went. She was sitting on the end, right next to Tsukasa, who was already excited to see the kids performing for their auditions. She had no doubts he would be loudly commenting on each child’s performance as they went through the list, but she would try to make sure it didn’t annoy her too much.

“Alright, let’s begin with Chie Asano, auditioning for the role of The Little Mermaid.” One of the Ootori brothers began, presumably Keisuke, based on what Nene could hear of his voice.

Right, so they were going in alphabetical order of surname. Nene took a mental note of this. Since Yasuko’s surname was Fujita, chances were that she was going to be in the first half of the auditions. She worried about what this would mean for the young girl, but pushed those thoughts to the side for the sake of the auditions that were currently ongoing.

Chie stepped on stage, and Nene immediately took note of the fact that she was probably one of the youngest participants they had, seeming to be around six years old. This gave her a little bit of hope that they were actually going by age instead of surname, but that would still mean that Yasuko would be an earlier audition.

Chie’s audition was good for someone who probably hadn’t done one before. If Nene was being honest, she had seen much better performances, even by elementary schoolers, in her life, but it was still decent considering her age.

“Next up, Tatsuo Amano for the role of the prince,” Keisuke announced.

When an eleven-year-old boy stepped up on stage, it was confirmed to Nene that they were, in fact, going by surname instead of age. At least it meant she wouldn’t have to search through all the names to find a certain child, since they were already listed in alphabetical order by surname. She quickly scanned the names, searching for Yasuko’s name. She eventually found it and counted how many children there were before her.

Yasuko was up in about three auditions.

Granted, she still had quite a bit of time, but Nene still worried about her. She knew she had to have faith, but she also knew how absolutely terrifying it was to be one of the first people up on stage, especially with the lack of preparation time she would get.

Nene attempted to still her thoughts with a sip of water, returning to the task at hand, judging who would be the best fit for the characters based on the auditions.

---

“Next up, Yasuko Fujita!” Keisuke called out.

The time had finally come, Nene was going to see Yasuko performing on stage. She anxiously kept her eye on the curtain, waiting for the young girl to step on stage. She saw Yasuko’s head peeping around the curtain, as if waiting for more permission to get onto the stage. Nene gave her a thumbs-up of encouragement, which she took as a signal to get up there.

While Yasuko performed for her audition, Nene couldn’t help but glance down the table at the other members of the board. She saw them taking notes, especially both of Emu’s brothers. She could only hope that would be a good sign, especially because she was actually enjoying Yasuko’s acting.

It reminded her of that first time she saw The Little Mermaid with Rui, so much so that she had to check to see if the director was watching or even just listening to what was happening. Of course, it was always difficult to tell with Rui, but she could hope. It was what made the two of them choose theatre, after all, even if they were the only two who could recognise each other’s dreams.

Yasuko finished her audition, standing there awkwardly, awaiting further instruction from the board. Emu’s brothers continued to take some final notes on her performance while Tsukasa and her applauded her. It was like this for every performance they watched, but Nene felt as though she truly meant it this time, even giving Yasuko a subtle sign of approval in the form of a big smile.

“Thank you, Miss Fujita.” Keisuke waved Yasuko off the stage. “Can we please have Taichi Kawasaki next on stage?”

His attitude at the end there made Nene concerned about how Yasuko did in his eyes, but she brushed it off as just his typical uptight personality and continued taking notes on the auditions.

---

It was now the end of the day. All the children had gone home for the night, and the troupe members, as well as Emu’s brothers, were sitting around a table to discuss the assignment of roles for their play.

There were quite a few talented children who had auditioned that day, but Nene still couldn’t get Yasuko out of her mind. She was determined not to let her relatability bias get the better of her, as she took a sip of her water while scanning her notes from the auditions earlier that day.

“Most of the girls seemed to audition for the role of the little mermaid,” Tsukasa pointed out, “Though I suppose that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. She is the main character after all.”

“Indeed, I’m surprised even some of the boys chose the role for their auditions. It’s fun to see how some traditions in theatre still persist to this day.” Rui chuckled, taking a sip of his water.

“Yeah, it is, but let’s focus on choosing who will be our little mermaid. There was one particular girl who stood out to me during her audition. In fact, she kind of reminded me of Nene.”

Nene’s ears perked up when she heard Tsukasa’s comment. A young girl who had reminded him of her. Could it be…?

“Was it near the beginning of the auditions?” Rui questioned.

“Yes, it was. I believe her name was…Yasuko Fujita. Ah! Yes, I found my notes on her.” Tsukasa scanned the list of names as he spoke.

“I believe I overheard her performance. After all, Emu-kun and I only had a few children at the arts and crafts table. She was quite impressive for her age.”

“I have to agree with that statement,” Keisuke chimed in, “I believe she’s even better than some of the people who audition for roles here at Phoenix Wonderland, and they’re typically more than double her age.”

“We shouldn’t disregard the other children so quickly, though.” Shousuke butted in, trying to keep the conversation unbiased.

“Of course, let’s go over the rest of the children who auditioned for the role before we make any decisions.”

“Ugh, but that’s going to take forever!” Emu complained, puffing up one of her cheeks in frustration, “We all agree Yasuko did a good job in her audition, so why don’t we just pick her?”

Emu did have a point, as almost all the girls at the summer camp had chosen to audition for the role of the little mermaid. Still, Nene didn’t wish to say anything for fear of her bias towards Yasuko interfering with her decision-making.

“Not everyone has agreed, Emu,” Keisuke pointed out before turning his attention to Nene, “Miss Kusanagi, you haven’t made your opinion of Yasuko Fujita’s acting known as of yet. Would you like to enlighten us?”

“Oh, uhm,” Nene stammered, “I…I did really like Yasuko’s performance, but I still think we should consider other options first.”

“Alright, let’s take a quick vote. Those in favour of reviewing the other candidates before making a decision, please raise your hand.”

Though she wanted to see Yasuko get the role, she knew it wasn’t fair to the other children. Therefore, she raised her hand shyly, along with Shousuke. Keisuke had already made his role as the mediator obvious, so it was currently a three-to-two defeat.

“Alright, since the majority agree to choose Yasuko as our little mermaid right off the bat, we will go with that decision. Now, let’s move on to the evil sea witch…” Keisuke announced before returning to the task at hand.

Yasuko was going to get the lead role, and Nene couldn’t be prouder of her.

---

When Nene came in the next morning, some of the children were already signed in for the day, waiting anxiously for their roles to be announced. The group had already agreed to announce the roles once the day had officially started at nine o’clock, but that still didn’t stop any of the children from running up to the troupe members to ask what role they got, resulting in them repeatedly telling the kids that they would have to wait until everyone else got there.

As soon as Nene saw Yasuko entering the Wonder Stage area, she felt a buzz of excitement rush through her. She couldn’t wait to see her reaction when she got the news about their decision. She wanted to see that smile more than anything right now.

So, when nine o’clock finally rolled around, Nene took her place on stage between Emu and Rui, the latter of whom was tasked with announcing the roles. However, Tsukasa would be the one to introduce the topic, since he was the one who seemingly knew how to get the kids fired up the easiest.

“GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!” Tsukasa yelled loud enough to be heard from the other side of the park, “As you all know, we spent hours upon hours last night contemplating who would be best suited to each role for our performance of The Little Mermaid. I am pleased to announce that we have our decisions, which shall be presented by our very own director, Rui Kamishiro.”

The children cheered and clapped after Tsukasa was finished, allowing Rui a bit of time to step forward.

“Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Tsukasa-kun. It seems the children are just as excited as we are. Now, I shall start with the lead role of the play, the little mermaid herself. For this role, we have chosen Yasuko Fujita. Congratulations, Yasuko, we were all very impressed by your performance.”

The other children clapped and cheered for Yasuko, flustering the young girl as she didn’t quite know how to respond to this. She just buried her head in her shirt and muttered a quiet “thank you”. Nene couldn’t blame her; she would’ve reacted the exact same way.

Still, she was glad to see that little girl so happy. After all, she had found the confidence Nene wished she had back then.

Notes:

Well, that's Nene's part done! Guess who's gonna be next. :) (seriously, I wanna see who gets it right)

Chapter 4: Bracelets

Notes:

Aaand we're onto the Tsukasa chapters!
Please note that this chapter does have some discussions of childhood illness and hospitalisation. Viewer discretion is advised.

The end of the first week meant one thing for Tsukasa – making sure the kids went home with as many memories of the week as possible. Sure, they would be returning the next week for more fun, but he wanted to make sure every week was special.

…Especially because it was possible some children wouldn’t be able to return for the next week.

That’s why this week they were making friendship bracelets. There were four tables, each troupe member being assigned to a particular table, to help each child start their friendship bracelets. They were allowed to make as many bracelets as they wanted and give them to however many friends they had. They were even allowed to make bracelets for people who weren’t attending the summer camp, such as parents or older siblings. Hell, Tsukasa’s arms were currently decorated with the many, many friendship bracelets the children had made and given to him. He was even in the process of making friendship bracelets for each child sitting at his table.

However, there was one child who kept catching his eye throughout this activity. An older blonde child, whom Tsukasa had come to know as Akihito Minami, kept walking up to him, asking him to help start a friendship bracelet for him. Sure, he was fine with kids coming up to him once or twice or even three times for help starting a friendship bracelet, but Akihito had come up to him five times at this point. Tsukasa was wondering if he was having trouble with his bracelets, such as them falling apart while he was building them up, but none of the other, younger children had any problems with their bracelets.

So, after the sixth time, Akihito approached him for help starting a bracelet, Tsukasa finally said something.

“Y’know, I could always teach you how to start these by yourself.” He said with a smile, trying to hide his discomfort.

“Oh, uh, actually, that would be nice…” Akihito took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m sorry for bothering you so much with this.”

“No, no, nonsense, you aren’t bothering me at all. I am curious, though; have you made this many friends in your first week?” It was unusual, especially since Akihito was eleven years old and one of the oldest children there. However, seeing the older kids getting along with the younger ones was nice.

“No, I haven’t. These are actually for…a surprise I’m planning for this weekend.”

Tsukasa perked up at the sound of a surprise. He loved surprising people – surprising Saki with gifts when she was in hospital, surprising his parents with freshly home-cooked meals when they came home late from work, even surprising his troupe mates with drinks during practice to keep them hydrated. So, now that he knew Akihito was planning a surprise, he couldn’t help but want to get in on it.

“A surprise, eh?” Tsukasa smirked, “May I inquire about the details of this surprise you’re planning?”

“Well…” Akihito averted his eyes downwards, “My little brother, Takahiro, has been sick a lot since he was born. We were actually supposed to go to this summer camp together since we both love PXL, but he fell sick last week. Our mom and dad are bringing him here this weekend, though, since he’s strong enough to leave the hospital for a bit. That’s why I’m planning this surprise. I want to make matching friendship bracelets for me, Takahiro, and Phenny, so that Takahiro won’t feel so alone when he sees Phenny is his friend.”

Tsukasa’s heart sank at Takahiro’s story. He had been in the exact same position with Saki. He remembered the times they were both so excited for trips or celebrations, only for Saki to be hospitalised a few days or sometimes even just hours before the event. They both missed out on so much because of her illness, which is why he tried to make the most out of those times – having sleepovers when he was allowed, bringing her gifts to keep her entertained while he was away, even just sitting beside her when she didn’t have the strength to do anything but sleep.

He was that older brother, and now he was faced with a child just like him.

“I know how you feel, Akihito.” He put a hand on Akihito’s shoulder. “How old is Takahiro?”

“He’s seven,” Akihito’s voice cracked as he spoke, “We didn’t even get to celebrate his seventh birthday with him because he was sick…”

“I know how that is…tell you what though, how about I help you out with these bracelets? We’ll be done a lot faster if we work together.”

“Really?” The tween’s eyes suddenly lit up with hope.

“Of course! Two big brothers working together is better than one doing everything on his own.”

“Okay, thank you, Tsukasa-san!”

“No problem. Now, I know Phenny’s exact wing size so that we can make one that’s a perfect fit.” Tsukasa moved his chair next to Akihito so that the two could converse more easily.

---

Tsukasa’s hands were aching from the number of friendship bracelets he had made at this point. Not only had he helped Akihito and all the other kids at his table, but he even finished all the friendship bracelets he made for them and his troupe mates. He even took the extra time and resources to make one for Saki, especially since Akihito’s story with Takahiro made him think of her. Still, it was now the end of the day, and some of the kids’ caregivers were coming to pick them up. They had all survived another day at the summer camp, and the first week was done.

However, Tsukasa wasn’t quite done yet. He had one more thing he wanted to do before he was sent home for the day.

“Akihito,” He called out, ensuring the boy was still in the vicinity.

“Tsukasa-san?” The tween answered nervously.

“What day are you planning on coming to the park with Takahiro?”

“I think my parents said we’re coming on Sunday. I’ll have to double-check with them…”

“Well, I’ll tell Phenny to meet you and Takahiro over by the Ferris wheel in the afternoon so that you can show off the matching bracelets. I’ll make sure Phenny has received the bracelet beforehand. Is that a good place?”

“Yeah. Thank you for doing this…oh! Here!” Akihito pulled out two bracelets from his bag, “I made one for you and one for your younger brother or sister. I hope the colours are okay…”

Tsukasa took the bracelets from Akihito and admired them for a minute. They were made with three different colours – baby blue, navy blue, and gold. They were both made almost identically, complete with a messy beginning where Akihito had obviously tried to do it himself without asking for help. He was proud of Akihito, and he couldn’t wait to add this to the collection decorating his arms.

“Thank you, Akihito,” He smiled softly, “My dear younger sister will love this bracelet.”

Akihito gave Tsukasa a shy nod before heading over to his parents, who were calling out for him. Tsukasa stood up to his full height, brushing himself off and stretching his limbs out, including his sore hands. So, that was the end of the first week, and Tsukasa was proud of himself and his fellow troupe members for getting through a third of the summer camp.

“Tsukasa.” Nene spawning behind him almost made Tsukasa jump out of his skin.

“Ah! Yes, Nene?” He asked, acting as though her sudden presence didn’t almost make him crap his pants a few seconds ago.

“Does that kid know you’re going to be playing Phenny?”

“Haha! Of course not. You see, my dear songstress, I’ve been perfecting my Phenny voice for the past two weeks in order to become the star of PXL himself. Soon, I shall be indistinguishable from the phoenix, and I will BE Phenny!”

“…Okay…” Nene rubbed her temples. The weird enthusiasm in his voice gave her a headache just from listening to it.

“Hmm, I almost forgot we had more work to do over the weekend,” Rui gave his teammates his usual Cheshire grin. “You certainly seem enthusiastic about your role, Tsukasa-kun. I mean, your willingness to perform at your best despite wearing a heavy mascot costume in…thirty-two-degree weather with eighty per cent humidity is quite admirable.”

Tsukasa froze when he heard what Rui had said. He hadn’t considered how the weather conditions would affect his work, especially since he was going to be in that mascot costume almost all day. He didn’t really want to think about how absolutely sweaty he was going to be in there, not to mention that he wasn’t usually the most tolerant of heat.

He supposed it was all in a day’s work to make everyone visiting Phoenix Wonderland smile. After all, that was his goal as a star.

“Ooo! I should bring Rui-kun to talk with the costume designers about putting fans in the mascot costumes!” Emu interrupted, “That way, everyone who wears them will be cooler in the summer!”

“Not a bad idea, Emu-kun. May I also suggest the addition of heating pads for the winter months?” Rui responded, going along with this idea that, at least to Tsukasa and Nene, seemed absolutely crazy.

“That’d be awesome!”

“No, no, it would not be awesome!” Tsukasa had to get his input in, especially as someone who would be wearing the damn thing, “It’ll only make the costume bulkier and harder to move in. Besides, how are you gonna put a temperature control system in there? Is the costume just supposed to magically know when it’s hot or cold?”

“We could add an automatic temperature gauge, but I suppose you do also have a point about the suit being bulky and harder to move around in. Dancing is an essential part of being a mascot here. Do you have any proposals as to how to make the suits more comfortable, Tsukasa-kun?” Rui spoke in a somewhat teasing manner.

“I have a neck fan I’ll use for the weekend. Maybe PXL should invest in something like that for their employees.” The last sentence was meant to be a snarky remark, but Tsukasa could see how Emu’s eyes sparkled at the idea.

“Okay! I’ll bring it up at the next meeting! Oh! That sounded super managery of me!” Emu said.

“Not sure if ‘managery’ is an actual word, but I guess it’s nice to know you’re taking your employees into consideration.” Nene smiled, ruffling Emu’s hair.

“Well, it is now! Anyway, how about we go get some parfaits to finish off the week!”

“Maybe we should have dinner before the parfaits…But I think it sounds good.”

“Haha! A dinner and dessert fit for a star!” Tsukasa laughed as the group exited the park together, excited for what was to come in the near future.

---

Despite how late it was when he arrived home, Tsukasa found himself in an empty home. His parents were probably either having a date night or working late, and Saki was most likely either practising with her band or having a date night with them. Still, he did find a bit of peace in the fact that he was alone. He could have the television all to himself to watch whatever he wanted, including having whatever snacks he wanted to go with his movie or show.

However, he was also exhausted from the week he had; his hands were still sore from making all those friendship bracelets. Regardless, he had at least one thing to do before he could do anything else.

He opened the door to Saki's room, confirming that the younger teen wasn't home at that time. He made his way over to her bed and placed the friendship bracelet onto her pillow. He put on his matching one, hoping that if he fell asleep on the couch or anything, she would at least see it when she got home. 

With that mission completed, Tsukasa walked into the living room, sat on the couch, and started flicking through streaming services to see what he wanted to watch. 

Notes:

I didn't cry writing this chapter, you cried.

Chapter 5: Siblings

Summary:

Note: This chapter contains mentions of the following:
- Illness
- Hospitalisation
- Ableism
Viewer discretion is advised!

Notes:

I actually finished this last night, but I was too tired to edit and upload...then today we realised the fridge is broken and I forgot. Anyway, here's Tsukasa crying for the millionth time because Sega, Colopal, and I all love torturing him. :)

“Are you sure you’re not too hot in that, Tsukasa-kun~?” Rui teased his troupe mate as he worked on fixing one of the rides that had broken down. He didn’t at all envy Tsukasa’s role, especially in this blistering summer heat. It was hard enough to wear the long-sleeved mechanic uniform he had been supplied with, but Tsukasa’s mascot suit must’ve been like an oven.

“I am quite sure, Rui,” Tsukasa smirked at him from inside the suit. “For you see, I have equipped myself with a neck fan to keep myself cool all day…or at least until it runs out of battery. Still, I should have enough power to meet Akihito and Takahiro today.”

“Fufu, well, that’s good to hear, at least. Your time to shine is soon, no?”

“Yes, which is precisely why I am within walking distance from the Ferris wheel. I was on my way over there until a certain someone decided to stop me.”

“Well, then I’d suggest you get back to it. It is almost time, after all.”

“I will, and I’m sure you’ll be watching.” Tsukasa gave Rui a wink, forgetting it wasn’t visible through the large mascot head.

“As always, my star.”

With that conversation over, Tsukasa waddled over to the Ferris wheel area to continue his duties – greeting guests, taking photos, providing directions to the occasional lost guest. It was truly an experience he enjoyed. Not only was it a bit of work experience for his resumé, but he also got to do the thing he loved most, making people smile. He was glad he could help so many people make memories like what he had with Saki and their friends, but there was one particular memory he was looking forward to starring in today. Until then, he would be just another Phenny in the park.

“Look! It’s Phenny!” Tsukasa heard the familiar voice of a young boy and knew it was his time to shine. He turned himself towards the source of the noise to see Akihito pushing a younger boy, most likely Takahiro, in a wheelchair. The younger boy had roughly the same appearance as his older brother, but with the addition of pale, bumpy patches all over his skin. Tsukasa could see parents dragging their children away from him, but as the older brother of a chronically ill sibling, he knew better to assume that those patches were contagious. He knew that, as long as those bumps weren’t leaking pus, it should be safe to be around Takahiro.

“Ah! Hello, Akihito! Hello, Takahiro!” He greeted, confidently playing the role he had been playing all day.

“You know my name?” Takahiro asked with a tilt of his head.

“Of course, I overheard Akihito talking about you every single day at the summer camp. So, when Tsukasa-san told me you’d be coming to the park today, I knew I had to say hello.” Tsukasa danced around as he spoke, trying to draw their attention to the friendship bracelet he wore on Phenny’s wing. The colours made it blend in a bit, but the beads would occasionally catch a bit of sunlight.

“Your bracelet!” Takahiro pointed to the bracelet with a huge smile, “It’s the same as mine!” The boy needed to stop for a few seconds to catch his breath, coughing dryly as he clutched his chest. Akihito took a moment to comfort his brother before looking back at Tsukasa, giving him the cue to continue. The excitement must’ve taken a toll on his lungs.

“Yes, indeed it is. I received it as a present from Akihito, and I now wear it to show how much I love all my friends.”

“Friends?”

“Of course, this is a friendship bracelet, after all. So, remember Takahiro, and you too, Akihito, if you ever feel alone, remember that I, Phenny, am your friend. No matter what, and no matter where, we will be forever connected through these friendship bracelets, all three of us!”

“Hehehe, thank you so much, Phenny! Can we take a picture with you? Please?”

“Of course, anything for my friends!” Tsukasa lowered himself a bit to be able to fit in the frame as Takahiro and Akihito stood on either side of him. He wrapped his “wings” around them as he watched a woman, most likely the boys’ mother, took a photo of the trio.

The wing hug was standard procedure for Phenny photos, but Tsukasa felt it was especially important in this circumstance. He had seen kids ostracise Saki because of her frequent visits to the hospital, even if her illness was less visible than Takahiro’s. It broke his heart to see the same thing happening, so the hug was to signal to the others around him that Takahiro wasn’t infectious, just a kid who deserved as much love as they did. He even heard whispers from some kids standing up to their ableist parents, telling them they should be able to play with someone like Takahiro if Phenny was willing to do so. Tsukasa couldn’t be prouder of both himself and those kids.

“Thank you for everything, Phenny.” Akihito smiled and bowed as his mother called the two brothers over so they could get lunch. “Please, extend my thanks to Tsukasa-san as well.”

“Haha, I’m sure he knows just how thankful you are, but I’ll still pass it along.” Tsukasa patted Akihito on the shoulder before sending the boy on his way.

As soon as both boys were out of view, Tsukasa slumped his shoulders, feeling a wave of depression wash over him. He could feel the tears stinging at his eyes. No, he couldn’t cry right now. He was Phenny, the joyful phoenix mascot of Phoenix Wonderland. Phenny doesn’t cry; he helps people who are crying to feel better. He sighed quietly to himself, waddling his way back over to Rui, who was just finishing up on the broken ride he had been repairing.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the backstage area…” He muttered to the director, voice cracking as he did so.

“Of course, Tsukasa-kun. Please, take care of yourself.” Rui responded, placing his hand on “Phenny’s” shoulder. He always had a weird innate sense of how Tsukasa was feeling in moments like these.

Tsukasa nodded and made his way over to the employee area. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from where he was standing, but it still felt like a journey to get there. As soon as he got into the locker room, he removed his mascot head, letting the tears flow like a river as he did so. He didn’t want water damage on the suit, so he did his best to remove it.

As he removed one arm from the suit, he stopped to look at the friendship bracelet Akihito had made him, the one Saki had a matching one of. In that moment, he couldn’t have felt closer to all of them – Saki, Akihito, even Takahiro. Yet, he still felt a distance he was desperate to close.

So, to fill the void, he scooped his phone out of his pocket and dialled Saki’s number. It rang a few times, probably Saki either not hearing it due to practising her music or rushing across the room to pick it up. Regardless, he eventually heard the click of an answer, and Saki’s voice came through.

“Onii-chan! What’s up?” She asked, voice cheerful as ever. Just hearing her voice made the dam in Tsukasa’s eyes burst as tears flowed even more freely. He must’ve let out a sob because next thing he heard was Saki asking what was wrong with concern in her voice.

“Nothing…” Tsukasa sniffled, trying to regain his composure. “Nothing’s wrong, Saki. I just…I felt like I needed to hear your voice right now.”

“Oh…did something happen at work?”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing major. I just met a kid who reminded me of you.”

“Aw, Onii-chan. Oh, hold on.”

Tsukasa could hear Saki discussing something with her bandmates, but he was not really able to differentiate the voices since they were so far away and Saki was probably covering the microphone. At that moment, the warmth of closeness filled him again, like a gentle hand wiping away his tears.

“Onii-chan!” Saki’s voice eventually returned, “Can I ask you for a favour?”

“Of course, anything for my dear younger sister,” Tsukasa replied, resuming his usual brash façade.

“Shiho just told me the summer Phenny plushies went on sale today. Could you get her one? Pretty please?”

“Haha, of course I can! In fact, I’ll do you one better; I’ll buy one in each of the four colours, one for each of you girls.”

“Really? Thank you, Onii-chan! You’re the best big brother ever!”

“No problem, Saki. I’ll pick them up on my way out of the park. Besides, it’ll be cheaper for me to get them because of my exclusive employee discount. Speaking of which, I’ll be leaving work once I get those plushies. Mom and dad won’t be home until later tonight, so I’ll cook dinner tonight. Is there anything in particular you’d like for dinner?”

“Ooo! How about you make that curry you made when Toya came over for white day? You’ll have the time, and I was thinking of bringing the girls over for dinner and a sleepover tonight.”

“Got it! One extra large pot of curry, coming right up. Just make sure you girls make room for me at that sleepover later, okay?”

“Of course I will, Onii-chan! Anyway, I gotta get back to practice. I’ll see you at home later.”

“See you later, Saki.” Tsukasa nodded before he heard the click of Saki hanging up on the other side. He used his phone to briefly message the groupchat, telling his troupe mates that he’d be going home a bit early and that he’d be in either the locker room or the gift shop if they needed him for any last-minute bits and pieces.

The second week of the summer camp was due to commence the next day, and Tsukasa was now more determined than ever to give it his all. It was all thanks to them – Akihito, Saki, and Takahiro. He was going to create good memories for those children, ones they could cherish forever.

But before he could make any more memories with anyone, he needed to get out of this sweaty, bulky mascot suit.

Notes:

I love the Tenma siblings. (Including Toya) (He says as if he doesn't have an entire series dedicated to them)

Chapter 6: Too Dangerous

Notes:

Two chapters in one week? You're not dreaming; I just haven't had much else to do, and this was a pretty short chapter.

The Wonder Stage area reeked of fresh paint. Rui wasn’t surprised most people were avoiding it because of the smell, but he didn’t mind it too much. After all, he enjoyed using paint to give his machines and/or props a more friendly and sometimes more realistic appearance. He was just glad they were in an open area instead of his garage. Surely, the fumes from the amount of paint being used would cause some problems, especially for the children. He was probably going to have some health problems in the future from how much paint he uses, but that was a problem for future Rui.

Present Rui had more pressing matters to attend to. Today was prop day. In other words, the kids were making their own props for their show. Most of it was colouring in cardboard cutouts of coral or fish. The youngest children had been given free rein over a cardboard castle to paint as they saw fit. It was messy, but at least they were all having fun. The older children, on the other hand, were able to make their own cardboard cutouts and other items to give them more creative freedom. It was mainly so they wouldn’t get bored with just painting, but also because the troupe all felt the older kids could be trusted with things like scissors.

However, it was one of those older children who was currently causing Rui some concern. Masahiko Ogawa, who Rui had noted was the same child who was due to play the prince in The Little Mermaid, was currently staring at the pieces he had gathered to make his prop, unmoving. Rui would’ve thought the tween would’ve at least started on painting the cardboard pieces he had grabbed, but everything seemed to be untouched, laid out on the table like display pieces, like they were supposed to be looked at and not touched.

“Masahiko,” Rui approached the boy, crouching down beside him and resting his forearms and head on the table, “Are you struggling with visualising your prop?”

That seemed to be the most common problem – children not having a good idea of what they wanted their prop to look like. It was easy to fix, just showing them a couple of pictures for inspiration usually did the trick. However, this felt different for some reason.

“No, I know what I want my prop to look like.” Masahiko sighed, looking bored out of his mind.

“Oh, then did you not get all the supplies you need for your idea?” Rui asked, trying to get to the bottom of this problem. It was part of his job to supply all the necessary equipment for each prop.

“No, I have all of them just…ugh, my idea…it’s too dangerous.”

Rui froze up at those words. He had heard them so often that he would consider himself well-acquainted with them. He had heard them from his parents, his classmates, his troupe mates, and even he had said them at some points. And the way Masahiko had said them…he heard himself more than anyone else in that dejected tone. A version of himself that had yet to find people who would accept his ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.

“Too dangerous? How so?” Rui moved themself from crouching on the ground to sitting opposite the boy. It was more comfortable, and he felt like this kind of position would be more helpful in this situation.

“I’m just…it’s going to fall apart on someone and hurt them; I just know it. Everything I make turns out like that. It’s like I’m cursed or something.” Masahiko complained, folding his arms against his chest.

“Well, how about you tell me about your idea and then we can go from there?”

“No…it’s stupid…”

“Come on now, as an inventor, there’s no such thing as a stupid idea.”

“Inventor?”

“Have you ever seen the mechanical props we use for our plays here at the Wonder Stage? The cannons or the robots? I made those for our plays.”

“Wait, really? Okay…maybe you can help me with my idea.”

“Fufu, I’m all ears.”

Rui listened intently as Masahiko explained his idea to him. He wanted to make a clam, which the director had already gathered from the clam-shaped cardboard cutouts, but he wanted to make it more animated. He was thinking of having it open with a pearl on the inside, or even having someone inside of it blowing bubbles out of it. However, Masahiko brought up his issues with both of these ideas – namely, the open clam dropping on someone’s foot or someone getting trapped inside the clam. Rui listened to these concerns, already drawing up some ideas in his head on how to counteract them.

“That’s certainly a fascinating idea, Masahiko. I’m quite impressed with your creativity.” The inventor complimented, surprised by the intelligence this child seemed to possess at his age. He almost reminded him of his younger self.

“You think so?” Masahiko asked.

“As a director and inventor, I do have an eye for talent, especially ones like your own. Now, about your concerns, I have an idea that could make both your ideas work in a way.”

“You do?”

“Yes, what do you think of this? We make the clam slightly ajar with a bubble maker inside. We can paint the bubble maker white to have it resemble a pearl so that the audience can’t tell what it is. We could even use it during the grand finale as a sort of confetti.”

“You think we can do that? Where are we gonna get the bubble maker though?”

“Don’t worry about that. The gift shop has a Phenny-themed bubble maker available for the summer. I’ll head over there to get one while you begin working on painting the clam.”

Masahiko nodded and picked up the paintbrush as Rui stood up from his seat. Sitting in the child-sized seat made his hips and knees hurt, especially when he got up, so he was thankful he needed to go for a bit of a walk.

He was happy to have provided a solution for Masahiko’s problem. It was something he wished someone had done for him back then. He would’ve preferred that over ostracising him, but he can’t change the past. He can, however, change this child's future in the same situation as he was in. He was a firm believer that children needed to have their creativity nourished without any barriers or limits. After all, that was his inspiration for taking on this project.

---

“Rui, what have you done?” Nene asked, staring at the contraption the director had built with Masahiko.

“Now, now, Nene, I only helped Masahiko make his prop for our show.” Rui chuckled, showing off the creation in question. From a distance, it looked like another clam prop, but you could see there was something inside once you looked closer. However, if you didn’t know Rui had helped build it, you would probably just assume it was a ball or something that had been painted to look like a pearl.

“You better not have altered it to make it spit fire or something.” Nene gave Rui a suspicious look, slightly disheartening the director.

“Don’t worry, Nene, this creation is completely safe.”

“Oh yeah? Just like the machines you use to LAUNCH ME INTO THE AIR?!” Tsukasa chimed in, just as untrusting of Rui as Nene was in this instance.

“Aw, that hurts even more coming from you, Tsukasa-kun. Would you like me to demonstrate the usage of this prop to prove to you that it’s safe and child-friendly?” Rui wasn’t going to hide the fact that he wanted to test the new prop out anyway.

“YEAH! Please show us the machine, Rui-kun, PLEASE!” Emu begged, excited to see what Rui’s invention was capable of.

“Fine, let’s see it,” Nene grumbled in agreement.

Rui chuckled as he saw Nene and Tsukasa give in to Emu’s demand for him to test the clam. He crouched down to feel the bubble maker inside the clam, making sure there was sufficient bubble mixture for a demonstration. Satisfied with the level of mixture, he reached for the button to turn it on. The machine inside whirred to life as the inventor stood back and soon enough, bubbles began to fly out of the clam. Masahiko seemed ecstatic when he saw his idea come to life, and soon other children were gathered around the clam, trying to catch the bubbles that came out.

“Fufu,” Rui giggled, turning to his troupe mates, “Well, it seems as though not only is this creation perfectly safe, but it’s beloved by our little actors.”

“Whoa! Rui, this is super-duper cool!” Emu’s eyes sparkled as she watched the bubbles float around her.

“Yeah, and much more tame compared to your usual inventions,” Tsukasa nodded in slight defeat. “So, what inspired this change of heart?”

“It wasn’t my idea, dear Tsukasa-kun,” Rui smiled and looked over at Masahiko, “Masahiko over there actually originally thought this up. I just assisted him in making it a reality while also keeping it safe and easy to make.”

“Hmm, using your abilities for good instead of evil, I’m proud of you, Rui!” Tsukasa gave the inventor a pat on the back.

“What I’m hearing is that Tsukasa-kun wants to be launched out of a canon for our next show.”

“Aaand, he’s back.” Nene chuckled smugly at Rui’s “threat”.

“Hehe, well, I’m glad our Rui-kun is still here!” Emu giggled along with her troupe mates.

Notes:

Can you tell I enjoy writing Rui and Tsukasa's dialogue?

Chapter 7: Tetanus

Notes:

Warning: This chapter includes intrusive thoughts involving injury to children. Viewer discretion is advised.

“Bye, Amano!” Tsukasa waved the last child of the day away as the young boy approached his mother. It was finally the end of another day, and the troupe had special plans for that Friday day…ones that involved using the props the children had made that day for an extra-special end of the week event.

“Yippee! Now that all the kids have gone home,” Emu cheered once Amano was out of earshot (or at least they hoped), “Operation: Scavenger Hunt can begin!”

“Right, so the plan is that we’re going to build some excitement for this idea by having some of the props go missing tomorrow, right?” Nene asked, trying to recall the plan in her head.

“Yep!”

“We should start by moving about half the props. Perhaps smaller ones would be best to hide for now? We can save larger ones like the ones made by the older and younger children for tomorrow.” Rui suggested, trying to calculate the best way to go about doing this.

“Right, and we’re going to be splitting into groups, right?” Nene questioned.

“Correct! You do remember which team you’re leading, yes?”

“Yeah, I’m on the coral team, right?”

“Correct again. Anyway, let’s get moving some of these props.”

Rui made his way onto the stage, followed by the rest of the troupe. They had stored the props on stage temporarily so that they would have more room for other activities after making the props. He had purposefully hidden Masahiko’s prop away from the rest, trying to send a certain message to his troupe mates. However, it seemed as though Emu wasn’t quite getting what he was trying to tell her.

“Emu-kun,” They called out to her to warn her, “Please don’t move that clam over there. It’s very delicate due to the way it was made.”

“Don’t worry, Rui-kun, I’ll be super-duper careful!” She cheerfully replied, despite Rui’s warning.

“No, Emu-kun, what I’m saying is-“ Before Rui could finish their sentence, Emu had picked up the clam, causing it to fall apart on the floor.

“Oh! Rui-kun, I’m so sorry! I didn’t realise it would fall apart like that!” Emu apologised profusely while trying to gather up the pieces of the clam that had fallen onto the floor in a panic.

“It’s fine,” Rui said, all while hiding his anger behind a friendly smile, “I’ll fix it. Just please don’t try to move it again.”

“Aye-aye, captain! I’ll move the other props now.”

Rui gave out an angry sigh once Emu was out of earshot. He had tried to warn her, but she just didn’t listen. Sure, it was in Emu’s personality, but she still should’ve listened to his direction. He was the director of the troupe after all. He hated being this angry, though, and he just wanted these feelings to disappear.

He gathered up all the pieces and tucked himself away in the corner of the stage, where there were no props, so nobody should be coming near him while he worked. It was a simple fix; just the screws that Rui had purposefully left a little loose had fallen out, and the bubble wand of the bubble maker had popped out. He started by reassembling the bubble maker since he wouldn’t be able to get it in once the screws were put in.

Come to think of it, was having the screws that loose really a good idea?

Yes, it did make it easier for the clam to be left slightly ajar, which was the design idea, but didn’t it also pose a health hazard? One simple hit, and the screws could fall out, as seen with Emu.

Rui’s thoughts kept spiralling from there. A child would step on the screw while performing, creating a wound that would need to be treated immediately. He wasn’t sure of the vaccination status of any of the children, but he had to assume the worst, that none of them had been vaccinated against tetanus. So, the child who stood on the screw would contract the disease, possibly dying from it. Then Phoenix Wonderland and possibly Wonderlands X Showtime would be sued, possibly resulting in huge financial loss, which would mean they would have to disband.

Rui almost physically slapped himself. That was the worst-case scenario, and not to mention, probably highly unlikely. It wasn’t like they lived in the 1800s, where a simple cut could be a death sentence. They had modern medicines. Rui had to look up the mortality rate of tetanus, just to make sure, and was relieved to find out it was relatively low.

Still, the thoughts persisted as he moved into the screws.

He started falling further and further down the rabbit hole of what could go wrong during the show. His mind was mapping out every single possible injury that could occur on the stage and the possible consequences for each one. He started scanning the stage, searching for more and more repairs he might have to do in order to keep everyone safe. He was the director. He was an engineer. It was his job to keep everyone safe.

As Rui slipped further into his thoughts, the screwdriver in his hand slipped out of its place, stabbing him in the hand. Rui stopped what he was doing to bite back a swear. Thankfully, the screwdriver didn’t go too far into his hand, and he was able to remove it without worrying about causing further harm. He temporarily shoved a napkin into his hand and clenched it to prevent blood from getting on the stage as he made his way to the first aid kit behind the stage.

How could he let it get this bad? How could he let these intrusive thoughts distract him from his work so much that he made such a mistake? How could he let this happen?

Those kinds of thoughts rushed through Rui’s head as he opened the first aid kit and began properly bandaging his hand. Once the bandage was properly in place, he disposed of his now blood-soaked napkin and began to head back to the stage when he was suddenly stopped by someone standing in his way.

“Rui, are you alright?” Tsukasa asked, a concerned look on his face, “I went to pick up another prop and you were gone.”

“Ah, there’s no need to worry about me, Tsukasa-kun. My hand just slipped, and I ended up with a small cut on my hand.” Rui explained, slightly pushing his way past Tsukasa to return to his work.

“You do have your tetanus shots, right, Rui?”

“Of course. My parents made sure I at least kept up with those in case something like this were to happen.”

“Right…but are you really okay?”

“What do you mean by that, Tsukasa-kun? I told you, it was just a small cut. Nothing to worry about.”

“I know, but it’s not like you to make a mistake like that unless there was something else going on.”

Rui’s grip on the screwdriver tightened when Tsukasa said that. There was really no hiding these kinds of things from him, was there? Or maybe Rui’s mental state was really just that obvious to him. That didn’t matter now, though; what mattered was that Tsukasa was worried about him.

“Rui,” Tsukasa crouched beside the director, “You know you can tell me if something’s bothering you, right?”

“I know, Tsukasa-kun. It’s just…” Rui paused as he tried to find the right words, “You know how I spiral sometimes, thinking about injuries that could happen during shows.”

“I know, I’ve been the centre of those thoughts before,” Tsukasa chuckled, remembering Rui’s concern over their first show on the Wonder Stage, the very stage the two were crouched on right now. “What did it start off with? Usually, eliminating that part helps you at least a little bit.”

“It’s these screws here. I left them slightly loose so that the clam can remain ajar, also because there’s no way to fully tighten them like that. However, I started thinking about what would happen if the screws fell out during the show and someone stepped on one.”

“Hmm, that does seem like a valid concern. But I have an idea. Just give me a moment to get the supplies I need. I should be right back, so don’t do anything more to that clam yet.” With that, Tsukasa ran off to grab what he needed.

Rui sat beside the clam, not quite sure what Tsukasa’s plan was. Despite his disappointment in himself, he was glad to be surrounded by such caring friends. Friends who would go the distance to make sure his ideas would work out, no matter how dangerous or crazy they would seem to others. Being around them always made him so happy, and, despite knowing they would probably have to depart eventually, he hoped he would stay together.

“I’m back!” Tsukasa called, sitting next to Rui, “I was thinking about putting a bit of superglue around the screws so they won’t fall out. What do you think?”

After a moment of consideration, Rui nodded in agreement. So, he started screwing the screws back into their place, all while Tsukaa applied a bit of superglue to where the head met the shank of the screw, as well as a little bit on the other side, where the screw poked out of the hole. They repeated this process until each of the screws were in place. Both actors took a moment to get rid of their respective tools while letting the glue dry.

Rui had to admit that the clam was now remarkably more stable compared to before they added the superglue. It gave him hope that there would be a lower chance of any injuries on stage now.

“Rui-kun, Tsukasa-kun!” Emu cheerfully called out to the duo as she and Nene approached the Wonder Stage, “Nene-chan and I just finished hiding the last of the props for today.”

“Ah, perfect,” Rui smiled, feeling a little bit of resentment towards Emu, but not as much as before, “Shall we go have dinner then?”

“Yep! As long as you and Tsukasa-kun got that prop sorted.”

“We did! It’s as good as new.”

“Rui,” Emu’s voice suddenly turned a bit more sombre, “I’m really, really sorry about not listening to you earlier. I didn’t mean to destroy your prop like that.”

“It’s alright, Emu-kun. I completely understand that you were just trying to help.” Rui felt whatever remaining anger he had towards her melt away. Guess he couldn’t stay mad at her for long.

“Come on! I’ll pay for dinner tonight as punishment for what I did!”

“Not sure if that’s much of a punishment given how much richer you are compared to the rest of us.” Nene chuckled as the group started heading out of the park for a well-deserved meal and rest.

Notes:

I'm tired today. Go my Rui harm OCD headcanon.

Chapter 8: Arcane Arcade

Notes:

Warning: This chapter contains implied/referenced child abuse/neglect. Viewer discretion is advised.

“Alright, let’s go over the plan one more time before any of the kids start coming,” Rui instructed, “Remember, Tsukasa-kun is currently sick, so the kids won’t know he’s in the Phenny suit-“

“And after you tell them that, I come in and announce that I, Evil Phenny, have stolen their precious props and they have to complete my scavenger hunt in order to get them back, haha!” Tsukasa interrupted. Somehow, the eyebrows and fiery eyes Emu had added to his suit made him look more ridiculous than angry, at least in Rui and Nene’s eyes.

“Fufu, mayhaps I should get the children some prop weapons to attack you with before they go on their scavenger hunt.”

“HEY!”

“Or maybe after the scavenger hunt. You don’t want them to get too tired before the actual hunt begins.” Nene added.

“DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM!”

Emu couldn’t help but laugh at her troupe mates. She always loved it when they were able to have fun together like this, and it was a relaxing atmosphere since none of the children had arrived yet, allowing them all to let their guards down without having to act like adults. Though Emu didn’t mind her temporary role as assistant manager for the summer, and she couldn’t wait for the day that role was to become permanent, before she would eventually be promoted to manager. However, for now, she was content with her current position, especially since it meant she could hang out with her friends more often.

“Does everyone else remember what team they’re leading for the scavenger hunt?” Rui turned to Emu and Nene, purposefully ignoring Tsukasa’s anger towards him at this point. He loved riling the star up like that before completely ignoring his existence.

“Yep! I’m on the seaweed team, and Nene-chan is on the coral team!” Emu smiled brightly. Rui asking that question could only mean one thing to her; it was almost showtime.

“Good, good, and I’ll be leading the clam team. Now, Tsukasa-kun~ dearest, could you please go to the employee breakroom while we let the children into the park?”

“Grr, fine, but don’t think you’re getting away with that threat you made earlier!” Tsukasa grumbled, exiting the Wonder Stage area.

“Threat? You think I would threaten my dear star like that? Oh, Tsukasa-kun, I’m so hurt.”

“You’re lucky this suit doesn’t have fingers.”

“I could always give him the finger if you want me to.” Nene peeked her head over the script she had been reading.

“Please do, Nene.”

Just as Tsukasa left, and before any children could come in, Nene swiftly turned around and flipped off Rui, causing Emu to start giggling.

“Nene-chan, you’re so mean.” She laughed, nudging the green-haired girl playfully.

“Well, he deserves it sometimes.” Nene retaliated, nudging Emu back.

“Fufu, I suppose Nene’s right in that regard. Now, how about we get this show started?” Rui grabbed the clipboard with all the children’s names on it and began taking attendance as the children poured in.

Emu’s only job for now was to give Tsukasa the signal for when to come back to the Wonder Stage, which wasn’t going to be until Rui finished taking attendance and started his announcement that Tsukasa was “sick” that day. That itself wasn’t probably going to happen for another fifteen to twenty minutes, so Emu was left sitting on the stage, kicking her legs as she let her mind wander for a bit. Surely, Rui's talking would snap her back into reality once the time came.

“Now, then,” The time seemed to come quicker than Emu anticipated, as she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Rui talking, “We have unfortunate news this morning. Poor Tsukasa-kun is sick, so he won’t be joining us today.”

Emu watched as her message to Tsukasa went through, preparing for the next part of their plan.

“Despite this setback, however, we’re planning on doing a rehearsal with all the props today, so how about we…oh?” Rui had climbed up onto the stage to “retrieve the props” and then froze, indicating that the props weren’t there anymore. Emu was called up on stage to “verify what Rui was seeing”, along with Nene, as the children began to chatter, wondering what was going on that made the troupe stop all of a sudden.

“Oh dear,” Rui eventually spoke, “It appears as though the props we created have gone missing.”

A roar of gasps erupted from the children as they began to speculate as to what had happened.

“Who could’ve done this?!” Emu added, appearing as shocked as possible. Then, as if on cue, Tsukasa burst through the gate in his Phenny costume.

“IT WAS I, EVIL PHENNY!” He announced, “I have hidden your precious props around the park, and in order to get them back, you must follow my hints and clues. I won’t go easy on you, though! Mwahaha!”

Emu could almost laugh at how comically villainous Tsukasa was acting, but she had to keep up the act for the children.

“Alright then, Evil Phenny, we accept your mission,” Emu announced before turning to the children, “We’ll split up into three teams, each looking for a different kind of prop you put together. Everyone who painted a seaweed, come over to me.”

“Everyone who made a clam, please come over to me.”

“A-and everyone who painted some coral, please come over to me.”

Soon enough, the children were all in their respective groups, awaiting further instruction with determination in their eyes. They were going to get those props back, even if it meant fighting Phenny in the process.

“Alright, since you have accepted my mission, I shall each give you your hint.” Tsukasa chuckled before approaching each team individually for their first hints.

---

“Emu-san! Emu-san! Over here!” One of the children, Aina Itou, called out as the rest of the group approached. They had officially found their third piece of seaweed, meaning that they were already well on their way to gathering all of their props. However, Emu could only hope the other groups were making the same amount of progress.

“Well done, Anina! Let’s read the next clue Phenny left for us!” Emu took the note containing the next clue and opened it, “Ahem, ‘Three already, what a surprise. Your fourth piece shall be your biggest prize.' Where do we think that could be?”

“Ooo, it could be at the arcade!” One of the other children called out, followed by a bunch of other children agreeing.

“Alrighty, let’s go go go to the arcade to get our next piece!”

The children all scurried towards the arcade upon Emu’s instruction…all children but one. Emu looked down to see Ayame Itou, the younger sister of the previously mentioned Aina Itou, holding onto her jacket, as if afraid to go to the arcade. Concerned and confused, Emu leaned down to ask Ayame what was wrong.

“I don’t like arcades!” the seven-year-old huffed, folding her arms angrily, “Aina always wins most of the games and takes all my tickets to buy the prizes for herself.”

“Oh no,” Emu was genuinely upset at this behaviour, “Have you told your parents about this?”

“Yeah…but they always tell me she deserves them more than me because she’s older and she was looking after me while we were in there. She’s always doing better than me anyway. She always gets better scores on tests, she always gets more compliments from our parents, and she even gets better presents on her birthday and at Christmas!”

Emu’s heart broke at the realisation that Ayame’s parents weren’t doing anything, showing blatant favouritism towards their older daughter. Sure, her parents always had a bit of favouritism towards her older brothers, but they never used that as an excuse for any type of bullying they might’ve done towards her.

“Well,” Emu thought of a way she could remedy this situation, even if temporarily, “We can make a day trip to the arcade next week. Everyone will have their own tickets to spend on whatever they want at the prize counter. We won’t let your sister take your tickets.”

“Really?” Ayame’s eyes lit up at the proposition.

“Yes! I’ll even pinkie-promise you!” Emu stuck out her pinkie finger, which Ayame eventually hooked her own onto. From there, Emu took Ayame’s hand and walked her to the arcade, where the other children would surely be waiting for them.

“Emu-san! Where were you?” Aina greeted Emu as she walked into the arcade with Ayame. Emu could feel the younger girl’s hand squeezing hers tighter.

“Don’t worry about me. Ayame just needed to talk to me about something in private before we continue our scavenger hunt.” Emu reassured the eleven-year-old, reaching for the next clue that was stuck on the wall.

“Really? What did you talk to Emu-san about, Ayame? You know you can talk to me if you need anything.”

In the corner of her eye, Emu could see Ayame tense up. Being the “adult” in this situation, she knew she had to step in somehow, but she wasn’t too sure how. She wasn’t trained for this. She wasn’t told what to do in this sort of situation. So, she broke up the conversation the only way she knew how to, changing the topic entirely by reading the next clue for the scavenger hunt out loud.

“If you want to look for your next novelty, look for the place where others are found,” Emu announced, making sure she was louder than anything Ayame or Aina might’ve been thinking.

“That sounds like the gift shop!” A child called out.

“It sure does. Let’s go over there right away!”

While the rest of the children ran towards the gift shop, Emu took one last glance at Ayame and Aina. She may have only postponed their conversation for now, but hopefully that meant they could have it in a more private place, away from the other children. She really didn’t want to deal with any drama between the children during their last week, especially since they already had so much to prepare for the play.

---

“Ah, Emu-kun, you’re finally back,” Rui greeted Emu as she walked into the Wonder Stage Area with her group, wagon full of cardboard seaweed in tow, “Nene and I were just discussing how our dear friends could use these weapons to defeat Evil Phenny once and for all.”

“That’s great, Rui-kun,” Emu smiled at him before her face turned more sombre, “But first, I need to talk to everyone about something after everyone goes home.”

“Really? What’s wrong?” Rui lowered his voice to a whisper.

“One of the kids told me that she doesn’t like going to the arcade because her sister takes all the tickets from her, so I was wondering if we could take a trip to the arcade next week. That way, everyone will have more fun things to take home.” Emu had really tried to match Rui’s volume, but everyone in the troupe knew she had no indoor voice, let alone a whisper voice.

“I see, well, we can certainly-“

“THAT’S WHAT YOU TOLD HER ABOUT?!” Aina’s voice resonated throughout the area as she screamed at Ayame, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“Yeah, well…I…you…it’s true, right?” Ayame stammered, trying not to cry.

“IT’S NOTHING THAT YOU NEED TO TELL A STRANGER ABOUT!”

“But…Emu-san isn’t a stranger. She’s are friend, aren’t you, Emu-san?”

“MOM AND DAD ARE RIGHT ABOUT YOU! YOU’RE UNGRATEFUL AND THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAD YOU!”

“ENOUGH!” Rui shouted, breaking up the fight, “I don’t like having to raise my voice like this, but if you two keep acting like this, I’ll have to call your parents.”

Emu could tell he was serious, especially since he had changed the way he was referring to himself as “ore” instead of “boku”. It was the exact same way he spoke to her brothers when confronting them about her ideas that one time, and it was honestly a little scary to see him like this.

“Ugh, FINE, CALL OUR PARENTS! They’ll take my side anyway!” Aina almost seemed like she was bragging about that last point as Ayame made herself smaller in response.

“Nene,” Rui sighed as he turned to the green-haired teen, “Can you please take these two girls outside? I’ll ask Keisuke to call their parents.”

“No problem.” Nene nodded, giving Emu a concerned look as she escorted the sisters outside of the Wonder Stage area.

Emu couldn’t have felt more shame in that moment. It felt like all eyes were on her and not in a good way. Sure, Rui was messaging Keisuke on his phone, but she could tell that he was judging her deep down. Same with Nene and the rest of the children. It was her fault the sisters had gotten into an argument, and now they risked possibly getting excluded from the summer camp, not to mention the drama this would cause for the final week.

“Alright, I’m so sorry about that.” Rui had returned to their usual happy-go-lucky showman persona in an instant. “However, it’s now time for us to defeat Evil Phenny once and for all! Everyone, please grab a weapon and get ready to attack.”

Emu watched, almost numb, as the children scrambled to grab the foam swords they had been supplied with, then watched as they launched an all-out attack on Tsukasa, who was still in that costume from earlier. They really started going ham on Tsukasa, releasing any pent-up anger and frustrations they had onto the suit, even managing to make him topple over.

Still, it hurt her to see anyone else getting hurt right now.

“Rui-kun,” Emu muttered, tugging on the director’s coat.

“Hm?” Rui responded, a hint of concern in his singular hum.

“I…I think I need to go home.”

“I understand. Don’t worry, Tsukasa-kun and I will handle the pick-up, along with Nene if she returns in time.”

“Right…see you on Monday…” Emu turned and started walking out of the Wonder Stage area. None of the kids would notice her disappearance; they were all too busy beating up Tsukasa. She passed by Nene with the Itou sisters on her way out, mouthing her apologies as she did so.

It was her fault that things turned out this way.

Notes:

I am making very good use of Tsukasa in a Phenny costume (and so is Rui).

Chapter 9: Guilty

Notes:

Warning: I gave Emu depression in this chapter. There is also a mention of implied child abuse in this chapter. Viewer discretion is advised.

To be honest, Emu was thankful for the weekend. Instead of letting down the children by being absent from the summer camp, she was only letting down her brothers by being absent from her managerial duties. They said that they understood, but she still felt guilty for letting them down. Despite the guilt, Emu couldn’t stop herself from rotting in bed, almost feeling as though the guilt itself was weighing her down. She only felt as though she was able to get up when it came to other people encouraging her to meet her basic needs. She got up to eat and get water whenever she felt thirsty, but otherwise she holed herself up in her room. She hadn’t even checked her phone because of how much guilt would wash over her whenever she even thought about the summer camp.

She wished she could turn back time. She wished she had never looked into what Ayame had told her about Aina. She wished she had never promised to take the children to the arcade to cheer her up. She wished she had never asked Rui about the possibility of going to the arcade. Now she had probably ruined any chance the sisters had of making up

“Emu?” Emu’s ears perked up a bit when she heard her sister’s voice from her doorway. She rolled over onto her stomach to look at Hinata properly.

“Onee-chan!” Emu gave her sister a smile, “What’s up? Do you wanna go shopping or something?”

“Haha, no, it’s too late for us to go shopping right now. Maybe we’ll go next week after you finish up with the summer camp. Speaking of which, how’s that going?”

“Oh, uhm, it’s going good.” Emu felt her stomach knotting as she lied through her teeth. No, it was not going good. She had royally messed things up, especially between two sisters who were attending the summer camp, and now there was probably going to be drama during their final week.

“Are you sure? You’ve barely come out of your room this weekend. Keisuke-onii-chan and Shosuke-onii-chan told me you haven’t attended your manager duties at all. You were so excited to start that job…”

“I was but…I messed it up. I made Ayame-chan cry.” Emu held her pillow to her sick stomach. There really was no hiding her emotions from her big sister for Emu. She could already feel the tears prickling at her eyes.

“Ayame-chan? Is that one of the kids who was at the summer camp?”

“Uh-huh…she told me that her parents are mean to her and nice to her sister. I told her I would make her feel better by taking her and the other kids to the arcade next week, but I spoke too loudly about it with Rui-kun, and they got into a fight. Rui-kun even yelled at them and told Nene-chan to call their parents. It’s all my fault, and now everyone’s gonna be mad at me.”

“Oh, Emu, it’s not your fault…” Hinata wrapped her arms around her crying younger sister, “You didn’t mean to make them fight. You just wanted to help them. I’m sure everyone will understand, especially your troupe mates.”

Emu simply sobbed into Hinata’s white cardigan in response.

“Oh, I almost forgot why I came in here in the first place. There’s someone here to see you.”

Emu felt cold as Hinata moved away from her. Still, she was curious as to who could want to see her this late on a Sunday evening, especially after what she did. Her older sister walked back over to the door and opened it up to reveal who was on the other side.

It was Nene, still in her work uniform, probably having just gotten off her shift.

“Nene-chan,” Emu wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked up at the songstress, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been worrying about you since Friday,” Nene confessed, stepping into Emu’s brightly coloured room. “It only got worse when you never came to check in on me during my shifts at the cotton candy stall. So, I decided to come check in on you, especially with how you looked going home on Friday and you not answering our messages in the group chat.”

“Oh…sorry for making you worry…”

“No, no, it’s okay. I just wanted to check in on you and ask if you’re coming tomorrow. Rui says we’re going to the arcade like you asked…I know you haven’t been checking the group chat.”

“…yeah, I…I couldn’t think about the summer camp without feeling sad, so I didn’t see any of your texts…I’m sorry.”

“A-again, it’s fine. Uhm…but I’m sure there’s someone who really wants to see you there tomorrow.”

Emu knew exactly who Nene was referring to, and while she still felt guilty for letting Ayame down like that, she felt like she should show up for the day she had promised. So, she gave Nene a nod, signalling for her to leave so that she could prepare for the next day. She didn’t know what else to do with herself, but she felt like she owed Ayame this much. She pulled out her phone from her hoodie pocket and began scrolling through the texts that had been sent in the group chat over the weekend, mostly so she could catch up on the plans for that week.

“Thank you for visiting, Nene-chan,” Emu overheard Hinata talking to Nene before Nene’s footsteps began to grow more distant, “Emu?”

“Yeah?” She answered, looking up from her phone. Emu didn’t realise how blurry her vision had gotten from all the tears building up until she went to look at her older sister. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeve and put her phone back in her pocket.

“I’m going to take a bath. Would you like to have one after me?”

“Yeah…I’m probably all stinky from sitting around all weekend.”

“Hmm…In that case, I’ll have to tell them to make sure your bath has extra bubbles and a bath bomb.”

“Can you make sure it’s the one that makes the bath look all sparkly and shiny?” Emu’s eyes sparkled as she gasped at the proposition.

“Heheh, I’ll see, but remember dad’s bath was delayed the last time because of how hard it was to clean up afterwards. Though he won’t be home until later tonight, so I suppose we’ll have time to clean up before he comes home.”

“Yay! You’re the best, sis!”

---

Despite her initial worries, Emu would say their day at the arcade was going smoothly. Sure, she had noticed a couple of angry glares from Aine, but she tried not to let it bother her much, especially when Ayame gave her such bright smiles whenever the two made eye contact. Something told her things were better now, but she didn’t quite have time to ask about that right now. For now, she had to monitor the kids while they ran around the arcade, making sure nobody got hurt or cheated on any games.

“Emu-san! Emu-san!” Emu almost jumped out of her chair when she suddenly heard Ayame approaching her cheerfully.

“Ayame-chan!” Emu smiled back at the young girl, “How are you doing?”

“I had a great weekend! A really nice lady came to our house, and we drew pictures with her. She even asked me about my problems with Ayame and told me that she’ll make sure my parents take better care of me.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Emu smiled, trying to conceal the fact that she knew that ‘nice lady’ was probably a worker for the child protective services. It was probably best not to tell her that. Either way, she was glad Ayame was getting the help she needed for her situation at home.

“But I didn’t come over here to tell you that. I came over to give you this!” Ayame pulled an arcade-exclusive Phenny plushie out of her bag of prizes, “I wanted to say thank you for helping me with Aina. So, I got you this plushie, AND LOOK! I got one too!”

Emu took the plushie from Ayame around the same time the young girl took out her own. At that moment, all the guilt Emu had felt before dissipated. Despite the fact that her family owned the park, meaning that she could have all the Phenny merchandise she could ever want, this was special. It was a gift from a child who turned to her for help, and she had successfully helped. It was a token of appreciation and a symbol of the guilt she was beginning to overcome thanks to that smile.

“Hehe, thank you, Ayame-chan!” Emu smiled, “I promise to take extra good care of him!”

“Pinkie promise?” Ayame held out her pinkie for Emu to hook onto.

“Pinkie promise!” Emu hooked her pinkie finger onto Ayame’s, signifying their permanent thanks to one another.

Emu had always taken her grandfather’s wish to have the park be somewhere where everyone smiles, and she was thankful Ayame would be one of the people Emu helped to carry out that wish.

Notes:

Second last chapter! Yippee! Unfortunately, the final chapter may take a while to come out because I have a job now. I am literally writing this the evening before I start, so please wish me luck.
Also, before anyone asks, Emu did get her sparkly bath bomb in the end. :) She deserves it after I put her through the angst.

Chapter 10: The Grand Finale

Notes:

Yes, I know it's September. However, I'm not back to college for another week, so it's still summer vacation for me.

“…And that’s pretty much everything that’s happened so far.” Nene sighed, finishing her recounting of everything that had happened at the summer camp so far to the virtual singers of the Wonderland Sekai. It was the final day of the summer camp, the next day, and with how curious everyone in the Sekai was about what the summer camp was like, the troupe had decided to come and tell the story so far before the big finale.

“Tomorrow we’ll be having our final dress rehearsal and then in the evening, we’ll be finally hosting the show,” Rui explained, sitting on top of one of the benches. He was tired from all the preparations they had been doing for the big show, but apparently not tired enough to sit normally on the bench.

“That sounds so fun! Can we join, Rui-kun?” Miku asked, giving the director puppy eyes.

“Hmm, I suppose you could join us; however, that would be up to our beloved troupe leader~.”

“Haha, of course you can join us!” Tsukasa grinned back at the director before turning to Miku, “You’ll have to hide backstage so nobody sees you, but other than that, it should be no problem.”

“Yippee!” Miku cheered, throwing her hands in the air, almost hitting KAITO in the process.

“Aw, look at that, Tsukasa-kun~. Already making people smile so brightly despite not working at the moment.” Rui chuckled, wrapping one of his arms around the troupe leader.

“Of course, I- AAAH! RUI! RUI!! THERE’S A HUGE CATERPILLAR ON YOUR JACKET!!!” Tsukasa screeched, trying to pull away from Rui’s hug.

“Oh, is there?” Rui asked, acting oblivious as though he didn’t know it was there the entire time.

“Anyway!” Nene interrupted, flicking the caterpillar off Rui’s jacket and onto one of the singing flowers, causing Tsukasa to jump out of the way in the process, “We’d better get going. We got a big day tomorrow, and honestly, I think Emu had the right idea going to bed early tonight.”

“Oh, is that where Emu-chan is?” KAITO asked.

“Yeah, she’s still recovering a bit from something that happened earlier this week, but she’s already doing a lot better.”

“I see, well, I hope she’ll be doing even better tomorrow!”

“I hope so, too.”

---

Tsukasa peeked around the stage curtain, watching as the Wonder Stage area filled up with parents and siblings, waiting to see the children perform their rendition of The Little Mermaid. He saw Takahiro sitting with his and Akihito’s parents amongst the crowd. He wanted to give the young boy a wave, but decided against it, seeing as he was in the Phenny costume when the two had met. Besides, he noticed that Saki and the rest of her band had also made it out to see their show. He ended up giving her a wave instead, to which she enthusiastically waved back.

Retreating back behind the curtains, Tsukasa took his phone out of his pocket, allowing Miku and KAITO to freely exit his phone.

“Oh, is it only you two joining us tonight?” The teen whispered, trying not to be heard by anyone else. Granted, Tsukasa didn’t have much of a whisper voice, but most of the others backstage were busy with their own preparations.

“Well, ever since you told us all about the summer camp, everyone wanted to do some of the activities you described to us. That’s what most of them are doing right now.” KAITO explained.

“Yeah! They told us to keep you guys super busy while they plan a top-secret play to put on when you guys finish!” Miku added, with a huge smile on her face.

“Ah, Miku, you weren’t supposed to tell Tsukasa-kun that part…”

“Oh, was I not?”

“Haha, I’ll just forget you said anything,” Tsukasa nervously chuckled before putting his phone behind one of the spotlights, facing the stage while also staying hidden from the audience, “There. Now you’ll be able to watch our masterpiece without being seen by anyone. I’ll come pick you up once we finish.”

“Okay! We’ll be right here!” Miku cheered as she waved the blonde off.

With that, Tsukasa disappeared backstage, immediately being greeted by Nene, who was helping Yasuko fix her costume for her big role.

“How’s our little mermaid doing?” Tsukasa grinned at the young girl. He recalled how Nene had described Yasuko’s stage fright and how it had reminded her of her own struggles and decided to give her a bit of reassurance before the big show.

“I…I’m doing good, Tsukasa-san!” Yasuko took a deep breath as she was talking, clearly a bit nervous despite the reassurance.

“I’m sure you’ll do great tonight.” He gave her a thumbs-up before walking away.

“T-thank you…”

“Yasuko,” Nene spoke up, once again recognising the young girl’s anxiety.

“Hm?”

“How about we go over some of your lines quickly before you head out on stage?”

“Oh…okay!”

Nene pulled out her copy of the script, allowing a bit of time for Yasuko to retrieve her own before choosing a random scene to recall the lines for. They did this a couple of times before they heard Emu and Rui asking everyone to gather around before the show began. Nene got up out of her seat, but not before she felt a small hand tugging at her clothes.

“Um…Nene-san?” Yasuko spoke in her quiet voice.

“Yes, Yasuko?” The green-haired girl tilted her head curiously.

“T-thank you…for helping me get over my stage fright.”

“Oh! It’s no problem, really. Now, go out there and do your best, okay?”

“I will!” Yasuko said with the confidence Nene could be proud of. That girl was going to do great tonight; she just knew it.

“Alrighty, everyone!” Emu announced, hands on her hips, “This is gonna be just like the dress rehearsal we had earlier. So, just have fun and remember to give the audience a wonderhoy time tonight! Ready? WONDERHOY!”

“WONDERHOY!” Many of the children parroted right back to her before excitedly clamouring to take their positions either on the stage or ready to go on stage once they were given their cue.

“Uhm, Emu-san?” Emu turned around and was shocked to see Aina standing right next to her, looking up at her.

“Huh? Aina-chan? Is something wrong?” Emu asked, getting down to her level.

“I…I just wanted to say I’m sorry for being mad that Ayame talked to you. I know now that I haven’t been a very good big sister, and I’m going to try to do better with Ayame in the future.”

Emu’s eyes widened at the surprising yet welcome apology and promise from Aina. Her shock melted into a smile as she told Aina her apology was accepted, letting her go to her position on stage. To her, it was the perfect resolution to the sisters’ story, and she could only wish the best for them going forward.

---

Rui watched with his usual Cheshire cat grin as the children performed on stage. It was almost time for the climax, and after that would be the grand finale. As a theatre technical expert, the finale was going to be his time to shine and, more importantly, time to put Masahiko’s invention to good use. He approached the clam, doing some final checks before it was to be put to use, when all of a sudden, Masahiko appeared beside him, almost out of nowhere. Sure, he wasn’t currently supposed to be on stage, but his appearance still gave Rui a bit of a shock.

“Rui-san! Can I be the one to let off the bubble maker? Please?” Masahiko asked, bouncing around the director in excitement.

“Well, your performance thus far has been spectacular…” Rui pretended to think about it when in reality, he had already made his decision, “I suppose I could let you activate it from the stage. Here! This is the remote you’ll need in order to release the bubbles. I’ll give you the signal once it’s time.”

The young boy took the remote, giving Rui a large grin before returning to his place to get ready for the finale. Rui watched carefully as the boy slipped the remote into his pocket, waiting for the right time to give the signal. Sure, it meant Masahiko would be a bit distracted as he kept glancing at Rui to see if he was giving the signal, but it wasn’t disrupting his acting too much.

After one particular line from Yasuko, Rui gave the signal, and the stage suddenly erupted in a flurry of bubbles, some even floating over to the audience, who gazed at them in amazement. Rui even caught his eye on Miku trying to catch some of the bubbles from where she was on Tsukasa’s phone.

Once the final lines were said, the children all gathered at the front of the stage, the troupe of teenagers behind them, and everyone bowed as the audience erupted into applause and cheering.

It was a perfect finale for the summer camp.

Notes:

In the wise words of Hatsune Miku, YIPPEE!
For those wondering what I'm planning next, I'm sure those who were upset by the lack of overt Ruikasa in this fic will be happy to know that I'm planning a whole Ruikasa-centric AU. Which AU? Well, that will be revealed soon. For now, I hope you all enjoyed this fic, and I hope to have more content for you all soon.