The ImagiNation, Project Sekai || HOPE FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

CHAPTER 12 - Don't Break My Brain, I Just Got It Fixed

"You love me!" I squealed in joyful surprise. Then from being happy, the intrusive thoughts came to rain on my sunny day. "Why? Why do you love me? That's a waste of time." I hung my head, beggining to let the doubt inside take me over. 

Rui gently patted me on the head. "Shh, that's not true Setsuko. You aren't a waste of time, think of one reason why you're a waste of time." 

I thought hard and long, the only things I could think of were things I knew weren't true that I believed. "I can't..." 

Rui picked my head up, and booped my nose. He did that way too often. "You can't! See?"

I smiled up at him, it was almost like I forgot about how we got sent to another world, witnessed some horribly violent things, and nearly died. 

Nene and Honoka looked frazzled, and Tsukasa was busy staring off into space like he saw a ghost. Obviously they remembered what had just taken place. Emu was jumping for joy, she was incredibly happy for Rui and I.

"This is so wonderhoy! Now you can get married, have five kids, a big house, and a kitty named Bernie!!" She cheerfully screeched. 

Nene was breathing hard. "Are we going to ignore the fact we could have died?!" 

I was too happy to remember the terror and fear I had just felt. "We can get married in an hour!! Suddenly we'll have a lovely house, then five children will appear as if by magic, and a cat will come out of Rui's coat. We shall name it Bernie, even if it's a girl." I joked, it was like I hadn't even heard what Nene said. 

Rui laughed. "Oh, what wonderful ideas! Sounds like a plan to me." His smile was wider than usual, and I could see the happiness in his eyes. 

I felt so much better, the tense I felt in my body for so long seemed to disappear. Sounds corny and stupid, but I don't like keeping secrets. It feels wrong, probably because everything was usually out in the open in my family. Although, I hadn't been telling my parents some things. Like, perhaps the self hatred that continues to grow each day. I always want to run and hide, from everything... but right then there was so much excitement inside of me that I ran around in circles all around the stage. 

Emu joined me in my idiotic behavior. "WONDERHOY!" She cried. 

I laughed my head off, bouncing up and down now. "Wonderhoy indeed! EVERYTHING IS WONDERHOY!!" I loudly cheered. 

We all stopped thinking about how we were going to put on a show and needed to practice. Well, all but Honoka and Nene.

"Wanna go shopping at the mall?! Wouldn't that be wonderhoy?" Emu proposed. 

I hadn't been to the mall here yet. The memories of me at the mall with my family when I was little suddenly filled my head. I remembered how Honoka and I would always nag them to take us to the toy section. I wish I was little like that again. "Yeah! I've never been to the mall here." 

Emu tugged on the collar of Tsukasa's shirt. "Pleeeeeaaaaaseee! Please take us to the mall, Tsukasa! お願いします！！" She shook him back and forth. 

"ああ！はい、はい、ショッピングモールに連れて行きます！行かせて！" Tsukasa wailed. He wasn't very happy about being strangled by Emu. 

Emu hugged Tsukasa tight when he said he'd drive us to the mall, he looked extremely uncomfortable. "つかさ！ありがとう！" She screamed gleefully. 

"呼吸ができない！行かせて！" Tsukasa yelled, trying as hard as he could to pry her off of himself. 

"おお！ごめん..." Emu let out a nervous laugh and let go of him. 

To me, it seemed like both Emu and Honoka were mesmerized by Tsukasa's very existence. I didn't understand how they could like that silly guy, he just yells in your ears. He didn't really look that nice either, but those were just my opinions. After thinking about this long and hard as we walked to Tsukasa's car, I came to the conclusion that perhaps it was the ridiculous amount of confidence he had. But Honoka was self-assured too... you'd think it would be me that was drawn to those who had buckets of confidence, while I had none. It was painfully obvious my sister liked this fool, she was always talking about how amazing he was.

The sound of Honoka arguing with Emu broke my little trance. "I want to sit in the front with Tsukasa!" Honoka whined.

"Please let me sit with him! You sat with him last time we rode in his car..." Emu whimpered, tears in her eyes. 

I found myself being hugged by Rui while I sat on his lap. How did that happen?! "When did I get in the car?" I mumbled to myself in confusion. 

Rui giggled and hugged me so tight that it was almost uncomfortable. "You were daydreaming while we were walking, and so we sat you down in the car ourselves." He informed. 

"Did I really zone out that bad?!" I questioned in shock. I had almost zero memory of walking to Tsukasa's car and getting in. 

"Mhmm..." Rui quit hugging me, and instead he played with my hair. It was almost like he didn't even know Honoka and Emu were squabbling over who got to sit with Tsukasa.

Honoka looked furious. "I want to sit with Tsukasa! Let me sit with him, Emu!!" My sister yelled, it wasn't very often she raised her voice. 

Emu started crying. "Pleeeaaaseee..." She begged. It was almost heartbreaking to see her sad like that. 

Tsukasa began to panic. "Uhh... Emu! You can sit in the front! Don't cry." He told her as he forced a reassuring smile.

Emu immediately cheered up and plopped herself down in the passenger's seat. 

Honoka sat next to Nene, she wasn't very happy about sitting in the back. 

Meanwhile, Rui was simply being Rui. He kissed me all over my face and neck, doing his creepy little laugh the whole time. "私はあなたがとても大好きです..." He said quietly. 

Nene looked disgusted. "You two are gross." she muttered to herself. 

I'm sure you know this very well by now, but I don't know Japanese. "Huh? What'd you say? What's that mean?" I asked him like an idiot. 

"愛してます。I love you..." Rui said. He tilted his head and stared deep into my heart with those pretty honey colored eyes of his. He knew I loved him too, he was just waiting for me to say it. 

I felt like I stopped breathing. Actually, I did stop breathing. "Oh..." My whole face turned pink, and my mind went blank. "I love you too." I replied before hiding my face with my hands. 

The whole rest of the ride, Rui and I sat in silence while I rested my head on his chest. Nene kept looking down at her feet and giving us weird looks. Honoka stared out of the window, watching all of the interesting buildings and signs pass by. And Emu just wouldn't quit asking if we were there yet! It wasn't even a long drive. 

"Are we there yet?" Emu asked Tsukasa for about the thousandth time. 

Tsukasa sighed. "NO!!-- Wait... yes!" He exclaimed. 

Finally, we were there. All of us got out of the car and happily skipped inside of the large mall.