Ruikasa: The Official Soundtrack

[3] Poems in the Fog [3]

SONG: Poems in the Fog - OMORI
OR: "Hey Tsukasa, let's play 20 questions!"
"Okay!! What's your favourite colour?"
"Triangle DO YOU LIKE MEN."
"😨"
FEAT: The Washroom™️
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Step. Step. Step.

The chirping of birds. Rustling of leaves. Thumping of shoes on the sidewalk.

Tsukasa's humming as he swung his (and Rui's) hands back and forth, back and forth with a prideful bounce in his steps.

Rui's own awkward tapping against his pants, trying to find what he needed to begin a conversation.

...A conversation starter.

Literally anything that he could do to slowly move the topic to.. romance. Somehow.

'Wanna play 20 questions?' Was the first thing that popped into his head, but he's known Tsukasa for over a year! That wouldn't work at all.

"You seem more quiet today, Rui!"

Rui blinked, shooting his head up and looking at Tsukasa. "Ah, pardon..?"

Tsukasa nudged the directors shoulder, a gentle smile on his face. "Is this about what happened earlier?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

The director paused for a moment, thinking to himself before replying. "..Yes, I suppose so.."

He wasn't really lying- among the multiple thoughts that were on his mind, one of them was indeed about the first years he had encountered earlier.

To be fair, there really was no motive behind it. They just wanted to get a reaction out of him- they expected a reaction. But Rui had learned to focus and calm down- and just.. not care. Because no matter what people thought of him, he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't change their way of thinking, he couldn't change what they thought about him. If people disliked Rui, sure, that made him a bit hurt.. but.. okay? And even if they went even further and started to bully him then they were just stupid for that. Then they were just desperate to seem like they were better, like they were stronger and smarter than him. But that just made them look even more stupid.

So no matter what they called Rui, no matter what words they threw at him, as long as Rui knew he was better than that... it wouldn't affect him.

That was how it worked, right?

..Right?

He just had to stay strong, and remember that those words weren't true.

(Deep down, Rui knew it wasn't like that at all. It was easier said than done.

No matter what, he would always remember those words. And even if he thought he wasn't affected by them, he knew he was.

He just refused to admit it. He just wanted to convince himself that things were better now.)

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Tsukasa asked, looking at Rui worriedly. "I'm here for you, remember?"

Rui smiled. "I know, I know.. I'm just.. not really sure what to think of it myself."

There was an awkward minute of silence.

"Even though we're freelancing now, I still can't help but think that when we go to PxL, we're just gonna practice as usual, prepare for our next show.." Tsukasa muttered absentmindedly. "But it's just to meet up and discuss things, yeah?"

"Yup." Rui nodded. "It'll take some time to get used to things, won't it?"

"Mhmm! But of course, this star must be able to adapt to anything, whether it's a role, a change, or. Anything!" Tsukasa exclaimed, nudging Rui with a wide grin.