POVs:- Tsukasa,- Rui.
Tsukasa's POV
A final bow. I grab hold of Nene and Rui's hands as we approach the front of the stage being greeted by a mass round followed by cheers of the children standing at the front of the audience. I love applauses! It tells us that we have succeeded in our one most important goal: making others smile!
We soon exit the stage and I go to my changing room to get out of this prince costume, getting back into my hoodie and joggers. That's my usual after-show outfit.
Someone knocks on the door.
"Come in!" I call, zipping my hoodie up.
Rui enters my room, a wide smile on their face, "What are you running off for? You haven't even congratulated us yet!"
"Sorry, I just needed to get that costume off," I groan, brushing my hair out of my face.
"That's not like you!" they chuckle. But then they clearly notice how hot and bothered I'm getting as their smile drops, "You don't look good, Tsu. Is everything alright?"
"Fine!" I huff, trying to slow my heart which felt like it would explode out of my chest, "Let's go find the others."
I walk in our rehearsal room where the rest of the troupe is. Instantly, I can feel myself getting tackled as someone squealed my name in my ear. Surprisingly, the panic instantly leaves my body.
"H-Hey Emu!" I beam, hugging her back.
"Why did you disappear?" Emu asks.
"I wanted to get changed. Anyways, congratulations everyone for the performance tonight!" I announce.
"I feel like this was our best show yet!" Emu says excitedly.
"You say that every show," Nene comments.
"And every show I mean it!" she smiles.
"Well I'm sure Tsukasa has analysed many corrections for us all!" Rui beams while holding their notebook.
Crap! Every performance I evaluate Rui, Emu and Nene's performance skills - you know, like what they did well but also what could use some work. And in return, Rui evaluates my skills. But tonight, I must have been too distracted as I completely forgot. Instead of watching the three perform, my eyes stayed focused on those two empty seats I made sure to save at the front of the audience. One for my father. The other for my mother. I was just silently hoping that they'd show up in the middle of the show and watch the rest and at the end apologise to me for being late. I wouldn't care if they were late! I'd just be happy they came for once.
I've been performing at Phoenix Wonderland for almost a year now. And they've seen a high total of zero of my shows.
I just know the others will be disappointed in me as I always say how all world future stars must strive for improvement if they want to be a continuous success! And now I let them all down.
"I didn't write any. I'm sorry."
And the response I got is unexpected! Everyone bursts into cheers. Nene's going on about how for once they can actually be happy with their performance. Emu keeps excitedly planning how we can spend this extra time together.
I never knew how much they hated my notes. I always thought they appreciated knowing how to improve our following performances. Why did they not just tell me?
"I guess it all worked out then," I give a small smile, ignoring that familiar feeling in my chest rising once again.
"It did!" Emu said excitedly, "We never hang out after shows. Why don't we do something tonight?"
"Like what?" Nene asks, clearly intrigued.
"I've always wanted to go out for a cast dinner!" Emu suggests, beaming widely.
"Great idea!" Rui exclaims, "Why don't we go to the mall and see what they have there?"
I nod and quickly help Nene finish packing her props away before following Rui and Emu who have already hurried off. I keep a hand on my chest. Hopefully tonight will turn out better than I thought.
Rui's POV
I can't remember the last time the four of us have hung out outside our work but truthfully, I'm quite excited. As Emu doesn't go to Kamiyama High School like the rest of us, I feel like we don't meet up as much as I would like! Emu clearly feels the same way - she's practically bouncing with joy as we walk down the street. And poor Tsukasa gets the blast of it as Emu tugs on his arm and quickly drags him down the street while yelling in his ear.
"Careful, Emu! I can't have you damaging my test subject before our next rehearsal!" I smirk, trying to get a reaction out of Tsu. We have a running joke together over the fact I constantly put his life at risk due to the stunts in our performances.
Usually, Tsukasa would act over-the-top offended at my jokes but at this one he didn't seem to react. I assume that Emu's yelling and pulling is possibly making him feel overwhelmed so I try to gently tell her to stop.
We reach the mall and take a look at the different restaurants. The majority of us wanted to go to the popular diner; I have been here a few times before with my mum (she loves to make a big fuss over any of my achievements) and I've never had a bad experience here!
We all get seated in the booths and I make sure to sit next to Tsu - I can't help but feel a little concerned for him as he hasn't exactly been himself today. He's been getting distracted more easily, not wanting to be around the props and costumes for our show and even didn't write us notes which was all very out of character for him.
"Hello, welcome to the diner! Are you celebrating tonight?"
"Not tonight!" Tsukasa quickly says to the waitress before going onto his phone.
Emu gives a disappointed look before speaking up, "We're celebrating doing a show together!"
The waitress congratulates us and starts to take our orders. Halfway through the process, Tsukasa becomes a little pale and tries to get past me.
"Woah, you okay?" I quickly ask.
"Yes, yes! I just need to go to the bathroom!" he says as he pushes past me and runs away.
I stare over at Emu, Nene and the waitress, my concern obvious on my face. Emu looks worried too but Nene just looks frustrated and quietly apologises to the waitress for Tsukasa's behaviour and asks for us to have a minute before ordering.
"I'll be right back. I'll go check on him," I get up and make my way to the men's toilets. I take a deep breath before opening the door, silently praying he's okay.