Chapter Text
Rui was walking alongside the rest of the Wonderlands x Showtime members, listening to them chat about how wonderful the performance had gone. They were all still filled with excitement from the big show, from the audience’s applause and from all the dancing they’d been doing while up on stage..though they were all still exhausted.
“That went wonderful!” Emu exclaimed, clapping her hands as they walked down the stage’s large steps, making their way backstage one by one.
“I agree, everything went a lot better than I’d thought, considering there were a few flaws in the mechanisms I made that I didn’t have the time to fix fully.” Rui stated calmly, he hadn’t been too worried about the robots failing since most of the attention was directed on Tsukasa, but it still would’ve taken away from the performance in his eyes if they hadn’t worked properly.
“Of course it went great! We’ve been practicing for weeks.” Tsukasa said confidently, standing tall with a look of pride, per usual.
“And we couldn’t have done it without you, Rui!” Emu pitched in again, giving Rui an appreciative smile.
Nene nodded with a slight smile plastered on her face, “She’s right, without you directing I don’t think Tsukasa would know what to do..and if he did, he surely wouldn’t remember by the time we were on stage.” she added, her calm smile growing into a slight grin.
“Hey!” Tsukasa huffed in irritation, clearly offended by the remark. “I would too!” he paused, Rui waited for them to finish before he said anything else. Tsukasa spent a couple more seconds trying to argue his point before turning to face Rui, “But the show still wouldn’t be the same without you, I suppose.” He put a hand on Rui’s shoulder.
Rui hummed, smiling again, “It’s nice to know that I’m still needed, even with you being such a great leader yourself.” he said playfully, he was aware Tsukasa didn’t have the best memory when it came to preparing for shows, but reminding them all how the act would go was what Rui was there for..after all.
“Of course you are, don’t be ridiculous.” Tsukasa sighed softly, shaking his head. He didn’t seem to catch onto the fact that Rui had been teasing, but Rui didn’t mind. Tsukasa might’ve been a little dense sometimes, but it was just another reason why Rui took such a liking to him. Then again..almost everything about him was appealing to Rui. His confident attitude, his honey colored eyes, the genuine way he smiled whenever they’d had a successful performance..Rui found himself spacing out slightly, but he was quickly brought back to reality when Emu began speaking.
“Come on guys, I don’t know about you, but after that performance, I’m starving! We should go grab something to eat!” She proposed, to which Nene and Rui both nodded.
“I agree, I’m getting pretty hungry as well” Tsukasa agreed with a smile, though still feeling slightly confused as to why Rui had been staring at him.
And with that, they walked towards the back exit. There were still a few fans hanging around, asking the cast for autographs, but none of them minded. It was only when there were people following them that things got inconvenient..but that’d only happened once. Their audience had certainly grown largely since the first time they’d performed, but all of them rather enjoyed the applause..especially Tsukasa, who appeared to be thriving.
Rui walked next to Tsukasa, taking a glance at him every so often as they walked to the nearest restaurant, which was only a few turns down the road, in the dark. He’d come to the conclusion that he had caught feelings for Tsukasa, however he wasn’t quite ready to confess yet, and was waiting to see if Tsukasa showed any signs of liking him back, or maybe he was waiting to see if his feelings grew stronger before taking any steps towards making things official.
As they walked, there was one thing all of them were certain of.
And that was that nobody had been expecting what had come next.
One second, they were all chatting, joking, and discussing plans for their next performance.
And then, before anyone had the chance to react properly, the sharp sound of a gunshot rang out.
At first, all Rui felt was confusion, shock..then, then he felt a blinding pain. He winced harshly, drawing in sharp breaths. He’d been fine one moment, and the next he felt an unbearable pain in his abdomen. His smile faltered as he stood there, but his expression appeared frozen. He didn’t move, unable to process what was going on for a good few seconds. His eyes were wide with shock, and when he came to his senses, he instinctively pulled a hand up to try and tell what the source of the immense pain he felt was. He clenched his jaw, mostly in fear, when he felt a familiar substance flooding onto his hand. He looked down, his whole body beginning to shake. There was blood. A lot of blood. His hand was covered in it, and the deep red stain on his outfit was growing so fast he couldn’t pinpoint the source.
Then, all at once he felt a huge wave of fatigue hit him, and he fell to his knees, the impact snapping him out of whatever trance he’d been in. Rui quickly put his other hand in front of him out of reflex, just barely stopping himself from collapsing completely.
“What was that?!” Emu asked fearfully when the sound rang out, looking around.
“It sounded like..a gunshot.” Nene said.
“I-it could’ve been a firework, though, right?” Emu asked, trying to lighten the subject..before they had noticed Rui, who had doubled over in pain, nearly collapsing next to Tsukasa.
“I…I don’t think that was a firework.” Nene said in a quiet tone, her eyes wide, it was unusual to see her looking so..shocked, but Emu understood when she turned to see what Nene was staring at, or rather, who.
“R-Rui?” Tsukasa asked, unable to process what exactly was happening until he’d already witnessed Rui doubling over, falling onto his knees on the pavement. He hadn’t fully understood the reasoning for it though, until he was able to see a dark red liquid slowly pooling under his friend, who was now shaking uncontrollably. His eyes widened, and Nene quickly pulled out her phone, “Tsukasa, help him up! We have to get him to a hospital!” She hissed.
In any other situation, Tsukasa would’ve argued back due to her usual snappy tone, but he understood that what she was demanding was important. The situation was dire, and there was no time for arguing.
Rui felt his eyes blur with tears, though he couldn’t tell whether they were from the pain of having a bullet pierce through him, or the fear that came with it. He could hear his friends' frantic voices, but wasn’t able to fully process what they were saying, or whether or not it was directed at him. And even if he could, he was unable to answer. His jaw felt locked and he felt frozen in place.
Meanwhile, Tsukasa hurried to help his friend, kneeling down and putting an arm around his waist, taking care to avoid touching where he’d been wounded. The feeling of Rui’s blood covering his hand nearly made Tsukasa sick to his stomach, a wave of nausea rushing over him, but he knew didn’t have time for feeling sick. Not now.
“Rui! Rui, can you hear me?” Tsukasa called to Rui, who seemed unresponsive, he waited not a second to continue upon being met with silence, “Please, put an arm around my shoulder, you have to get up!” he urged, and it took Rui a moment to process what was being said to him, his thoughts were getting increasingly fuzzy. He had flinched when he felt an arm wrap around him, but obliged to Tsukasa’s request nonetheless, putting an arm around his friend’s..crush’s? Shoulder. Rui felt Tsukasa pull him up, and tried his best to stand himself, though he felt as though his legs would give out completely any second now. He winced harshly upon standing, the pain he was in increasing significantly when he moved.
Tsukasa nearly stumbled himself when most of Rui's weight was put onto him. Surely, he was able to handle it, but he hadn’t been expecting Rui to practically fall on him so suddenly. Rui’s breathing was growing heavier, and his continuous shivering had only worsened. His vision was beginning to blur in and out, but regardless, he tried his best to stay conscious. He was unable to process any of the hundreds of thoughts that were running through his head, and just let them slip from his mind as soon as they’d come, instead focusing on the task of keeping himself awake.
“I called Rui’s mom, she’s coming as fast as she can, she’s going to take Rui to the nearest hospital.” Nene stated quickly, “Come on, hurry, we have to get to that parking lot, it’s the nearest place he can stop at.” she added, pointing to a gas station that was just down the street.
Emu nodded, staying quiet even though she appeared as though she was about to start crying.
“Everything’s going to be ok, Ru, please hang on.” Tsukasa mumbled, originally directed towards his half-conscious friend, though it seemed that he was reassuring himself of that more than Rui.
Nene took Emu’s hand, seemingly to comfort her, giving her a reassuring look before she looked behind her to Tsukasa.
“Come on, we have to hurry–otherwise he’ll-he won’t-...” Nene didn’t continue, she didn’t want to think of that outcome. Tsukasa didn’t need the full sentence to know what she’d meant. He gave her a nod and grasped Rui’s hand, the one that was around his shoulder, pulling it close to his chest.
“Come on, Rui, we have to go.” he said, Rui didn’t give a response, but Tsukasa could see through the strands of light purple and blue hair that had fallen over his eyes that Rui was looking at him.
Tsukasa took a step forward, and Rui followed suit, though he made a pained expression upon doing so. Tsukasa gave him a look of sympathy, unable to imagine the pain he must be in, but nonetheless he continued taking steps forward, trying to hurry. After they’d only made it a few steps though, Rui’s legs gave out as he felt another wave of weakness fall over him, harsher this time, and he fell onto Tsukasa.
Tsukasa bent over slightly to catch him, his expression displaying immense concern. Rui didn’t think he’d be able to keep himself conscious much longer.
Nene came to a halt when she heard the footsteps behind her stop, she and Emu were already a good distance ahead of the two. She stared with alarm before looking at Tsukasa, seeming upset..though not completely directed at him. Emu sniffled, it seemed uncharacteristic of her to be so quiet, but none of them were acting exactly like themselves now. This situation was putting intense pressure on all of them, and it took everything for Tsukasa to not break down himself. Even if he never said it, Rui meant a lot to him.
“Can’t you carry him?!” Nene asked frantically,and if Tsukasa didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn he saw her tearing up.
“I-I can…try, yes, yeah, I should be able to.” He nodded firmly, taking a moment to secure both arms around Rui before lifting him up, holding him bridal-style. He’d decided it’d be the most efficient option if he didn’t want to cause him any more pain, though Rui let out a sob nonetheless when he was moved. He had both arms wrapped tightly around himself, though he could not think enough to tell if it would help at all or not, his thoughts were fuzzy and he could feel himself starting to slip into unconsciousness.
Rui was a lot lighter than Tsukasa had expected, but honestly, Tsukasa didn’t think it was a good sign at all. Even if it made things easier.
Tsukasa felt himself start to tear up, but blinked the feeling away. He hated to see Rui in so much pain, and it was scary– terrifying, really. Rui was always so calm and collected, even despite his constantly playful tone..and this situation, it just seemed so…wrong. But Tsukasa didn’t have the time to think about how scary the situation was, because if they didn’t hurry, they might as well already count Rui as dead.
Tsukasa walked as fast as he could, not quite ready to risk running and tripping. They only needed to go a little further.
“Hang on, please..” Tsukasa whispered, though he knew Rui couldn’t have been conscious at this point.
Soon enough, they were at the gas station’s parking lot, and Rui’s mother had pulled up not even a few seconds later.
They all got into the car quickly, Emu sat in the passenger seat, unable to bear seeing her friend in such a state, meanwhile Nene and Tsukasa sat in the back, carefully laying Rui’s unconscious body down across the seats. Tsukasa held Rui carefully, one hand around his chest and the other gently holding his head up. Due to his height, his legs still needed to be held by Nene, to assure that he wouldn’t fall and get hurt more in case of a sharp turn or abrupt stop.
After Nene had explained what happened, the ride was completely silent, aside from the occasional sniffle from Emu.
It was only then that it dawned on Tsukasa just how urgent this situation was. Rui was bleeding out, he would die if they didn’t arrive soon enough. And not only that, but it could’ve been any of them..what if the same person was still waiting for a chance to strike again? Was the bullet meant to hit Rui, or was it meant to hit him?
Tsukasa shuddered, unable to stop tears from filling his eyes now. He couldn’t bear the thought that Rui may not survive this. In some attempt for comfort, he felt for a heartbeat, though it didn’t help. It was so faint that Tsukasa could barely feel it, he knew Rui wouldn’t have much time left without immediate medical attention, but he tried to calm himself.
It’s alright, we’ll be there soon.
He tried to reassure himself.
He’s going to be ok.
But Tsukasa wasn’t so sure he believed those words.
They were just a desperate attempt to convince himself everything was okay.
This wasn’t okay.
—-
Soon enough they had made it to the hospital, and they had rushed Rui inside, his breathing was growing more faint with every passing minute, and they all knew that he’d be gone if they didn’t hurry.
But they did, they did hurry.
And Rui was still alive.
As Rui’s mom drove them all back, hundreds of thoughts were going through Tsukasa’s mind.
What if he wouldn’t survive?
What if he never woke up?
What if..what if he wasn’t the same when he did wake up?
No, no..Rui was still alive, he would be fine.
For now. Tsukasa drew in a shaky breath,
he shook his head as if the thought would leave his mind.
Rui was in good hands now, Tsukasa thought, he’ll be okay.
But that didn’t make his worries go away.
He knew they wouldn’t until he saw Rui alive and well again.
Deep down, though, he knew that wouldn’t be for a long time.
And he knew Rui might never be the same.
That experience can be traumatizing.
Tsukasa hoped deeply, though, that he wouldn’t be too different.
He hoped the Rui who awoke in the hospital would still be the same as the one he knew before
He hoped that he would still be his Rui.
Tsukasa knew that his fears were irrational, that Rui would probably still have the exact same personality he’d had before, but even so, Tsukasa couldn’t help but feel scared.
———
He lay awake in bed that night, unable to stop his racing mind.
He wasn’t able to explain to Saki what had happened when she’d asked,
He wasn’t able to explain why there were tears running down his face.
She had left him alone after awhile, understanding he didn’t want to talk about it.
His parents had already been asleep, thankfully.
He knew if they were awake, they wouldn’t have left him alone about what’d happened.
Tsukasa wished he could sleep.
He wished he could shake the thoughts he was having.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t.
So he just lay there until the sun rose once more.
It didn’t seem as bright today.