✦ 𝙀𝙢𝙪𝙆𝙖𝙨𝙖 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨 (𝙫𝙤𝙡. 1) ✦

✎ ✦ 𝟏𝟓 . ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ "𝐑𝐮𝐢-𝐤𝐮𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞!" ✦

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✎ Emu was strolling through her familiar wonderland itself, Phoenix Wonderland. today, however, her mind was not focused on the beauty of the amusement park like it usually was. instead, her thoughts drifted to Tsukasa, the boy she had been crushing on for months now. yeah, she does this just as often as you think.

lately, people have been talking about how those two troupe members were as thick as thieves, and, oh my! they really weren't joking!

"I know Valentine's Day is in a few months, but there has to be no such thing as giving a Valentine's Day gift too early!" Emu mumbled under her breath, unable to stop himself from giggling to herself.

suddenly, she heard a voice coming out from behind her. "oh! hello there, Emu," the voice greeted, sounding recognizable. Emu could recognize this voice from a mile away, making her whip around to face the source of the voice.... it was Rui Kamishiro!

Rui had a massive smirk on his face, as if he could read the pink-haired girl's mind, or maybe, he just heard what she said, which was more likely than being able to read her mind, but you never know.... it's Rui Kamishiro after all!

"oh!" Emu gasped. "Wonderhoy, Rui-kun!" she returned the greeting, though her cheeks were still very much red from her thoughts about her crush a few minutes before, which Rui, of course, noticed.

"what was that about a Valentine's Day gift?" Rui teased, bringing his hand up to his chin in interest. that question tickled her brain, but also gave her an idea. she approached Rui, pleading, "Rui-kun, you have to help me!"

Rui just chuckled in response, but then he actually replied with words, "oh, of course. what seems to be the prob-?" though he was quickly interrupted by a whining Emu... "I want to get Tsukasa something but I'm not sure what to get him!" Emu continued to ramble on for a while, but eventually a quite unfazed Rui got a chance to reply.

"really, huh? I was waiting for you to ask me something like this," Rui giggled before giving his long awaited advice. "I'm sure he'll like it if you get him a bouquet of flowers!" Rui suggests, his hand on his hip. he was really prepared for her to ask that question, I guess.

"yes, yes! I'll make sure to leave him a cute note too!" she jumped up and down with a random burst of energy before sprinting off in a hurry, yet, of course, she remembered to thank her genius friend on her way out.

Emu zoomed all the way across town like she was competing in a track race, obviously catching the eyes of passersby on the way, but why would she care? she's Emu Otori, and she's way too focused on getting that gift for her crush!

finally arriving at the shopping mall, she searched around for a shop that sold flowers, specifically roses. ultimately, one caught her eye. in front of the shop stood many adorable decorations, like ones you would see set up in a garden, and of course, lots of flowers!

"what a coincidence!" Emu yelled out with glee. inside the shop, she skipped past a shopkeeper, who couldn't help but glance at the extremely energetic female who just burst into his shop, but he wasn't bothered by someone so damn early in the morning, he actually rather liked when he customers came this early.

Emu's squeals rang throughout the shop as she grabbed the closest, yet most colorful bouquet she could see from where she was standing and bolted right towards the counter to wait in line with her soon-to-be-purchased bouquet.

waiting in line gave her time to notice the wonderful smell of the flowers in her hands, and the fact that the sunlight was just lighting up the whole shop through only the front doors.

after her purchase, the cashier called out to her, "come again!" as any shopkeeper would, right before she ran back out of the shop. there, she happened to bump into a familiar figure. it was Tsukasa Tenma himself! "oh, Emu! I would've never expected to see you here this early in the morning! hahaha!" Tsukasa laughed confidently

Emu gasped loudly, quickly hiding the flowers behind her back. "ah! Tsukasa-kun! how lucky am I to see you here!" she stammered as she was trying to seem secretive and mysterious, but that completely failed because Tsukasa totally noticed how suspicious she was acting. not to mention, she sounded like a total idiot.

Tsukasa's smile faltered, turning into a confused expression. raising his eyebrow, he commented, "why're you acting so weird? what are you hiding behind your back?" Tsukasa tried to peek behind Emu to see what she was being so secretive about, but she didn't let him, it was supposed to be a secret after all!

Emu was slowly losing the fight against just pulling out the flowers and giving them to Tsukasa by the second. that Emu, she just had to be stubborn.

...Emu gave up. gripping onto the bouquet, she swiftly pulled it out from behind her back and held it in front of Tsukasa, a few loose petals raining over him as he gawked at the girl. her face was extremely red, like she just wanted him to snatch the gift out of her hands without questions, but it's too bad he had a whole pile of questions he wanted to be answered.

"h-huh!?" he turned red along with her, but he managed to clasp his hands over hers passionately as she continued to hold out the wonderfully scented gift with those cute, little hands of hers, before taking the gift.

"this is so embarrassing.... but how could I not accept such an amazing gift from the most adorable girl I know!?" that thought of his echoed throughout Tsukasa's brain.

he sighed to himself. "g-god... Emu...." he paused, the red flush was not planning to leave his face anytime soon... and neither was Emu's.

"...always making my heart... ugh..." Tsukasa grumbled under his breath, his heart starting to beat faster and faster as he gripped onto the special bouquet.

after what felt like an hour of silence, the two of them started walking beside each other, very unsure of what they should say, or how to proceed... and no, Emu was definitely not going to let Tsukasa get any kind of hint as to why she gave him that gift, not like it wasn't already pretty obvious.

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✦ - 09/30/2023