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

CHAPTER 16 - Wake Me When the Storm Is Over

I was happy with myself because I finally put effort into my schoolwork, now I was really deserving of having a good time! I always thought I didn't really deserve to have the fun times I did whenever I would always put the smallest amount of effort into my work. Yet I would proceed to mess around, even though I felt guilty about it. 

"Follow me, I want to show you something." Rui said to me while we were leaving the classroom for one of our breaks. 

I did so, a smile on my face. Simply being around him made me feel this unexplainable joy inside. I didn't even bother to ask where he was taking me, maybe I trusted him a little too much...

Rui ended up leading me onto the rooftop. "Here we are, isn't the view nice?" He pulled me closer next to him. 

The big blue sky looked so happy, and I was happy too. "It is." I said as we sat down on the fake grass. At that moment, everything felt like a good dream I didn't want to wake up from. I wanted to stay right there on the roof in Rui's warm embrace forever. 

We spent our whole break sitting on the rooftop together in silence, but it was over sooner than I would have hoped. When we got back to class, Emu would not stop texting me about how she had an amazing idea. 

"Hello." School was finally over, and I decided to just call Emu instead of text her. 

Rui and I were at the flowers outside of the school, and he was talking to them sweetly. I watched him while I chatted with Emu. 

Emu was basically screaming at me over the phone. "I HAVE AN IDEA!!! Setsuko, you should go on a date with Rui and wear that super pretty white dress you bought! He'll be so shocked when he sees you!" 

I almost laughed at the things she was saying. "Emu, he's already seen me in that dress, he won't be shocked." I reminded her. 

"Oh... right." Emu sounded extremely disappointed. "You could buy another dress! Then he'll be shocked!" 

I sighed, she would not stop. "I don't have the money for that! Couldn't I just ask that Mizuki girl to make me a dress for free? She wanted me to be her human mannequin anyways..." 

"Oooh, even better! Go ask her right now!! This is going to be so WONDERH--" Emu had accidentally hung up on me, that's how excited she was. 

I left Rui to talk to the flowers at the front of the school, and went on the search for one Mizuki Akiyama. But she found me before I found her. 

"Setsuko!" Mizuki called with that weird smirk she always did. 

I gasped, I wasn't expecting her to be right behind me. "Oh! I had actually been looking for you. I was wondering if you could make me a dress for... for--" I was thinking about how weird it would be if out of nowhere I just said I was planning to go on a date with Rui, since I had been pretending I wasn't in love with him around her. 

"For what? Spit it out already!" Mizuki asked impatiently. 

I could feel my whole face turn pink. "To go on a date with Rui... it was Emu's idea! I'm doing this against my will!!" I blurted out. 

Mizuki's smirk intensified. "Ohhh, I see. So you do love him? I'll make you a dress, but first you need to tell me about the first time you kissed him. Every little detail." She snickered, an evil shine in her pretty light pink eyes.  

"What do you mean, 'the first time we kissed'? You don't even know if that happened at all... I don't have to tell you anything." I crossed my arms, refusing to give her any information. 

Out of nowhere, I could hear Rui from afar. "Ah, Setsuko! There you are..." He said as he quickly walked over to me, and casually kissed me right in front of Mizuki. "Oh, hello Mizuki." He greeted her after kissing me. 

"Well, well, well, obviously this isn't the first time that's happened. If you won't tell me, then I'll have Rui tell me." Mizuki looked to Rui. "Tell me about the first time you kissed Setsuko, every single itsy-bitsy detail." She could barely hold back her laughter. 

Unfotunately for me, Rui told her the whole crazy story. When he finished Mizuki promised she would make me a dress, and thanked Rui for his wonderful storytelling. 

-

Later at Phoenix Wonderland, we were all rehearsing for our show. Rui had the most wonderfully dangerous idea to dangle me from a rope tied to the ceiling of the Wonderstage.

Rui had his crazy directing face on. "Try holding that pose... Just like that, perfect!" 

"I'm scared. Rui, what if I fall?! I'm pretty high up--" I expressed my worry to him as I struggled to keep a pose in mid-air. 

Rui smiled at me encouragingly. "You won't fall, don't worry." He said softly.

Nene looked a little concerned. "Are you going to dangle me from the ceiling too?" She questioned, a slightly exasperated tone in her voice.

"Of course! You're a fairy as well." Rui replied. 

After we were done practicing, we all decided to just chill. I hadn't really talked with Honoka that day, she had been doing God knows what on all of her breaks. 

"Noka, where were you all day?" I asked my sister who was sitting on the stage with Tsukasa curiously.

Honoka looked up at me, her facial expression was happier than usual. "I've been with Tsukasa. He was going to show me his poses right now." She informed me, there was a ridiculous smile on her face I'd never seen before. 

Tsukasa hopped up and did one of his poses. "Setsuko, you should stay and watch me! You will not regret it!" He exclaimed, switching his pose. 

"Oh my God... your poses are amazing!!! I'll show you one of mine so you can make it just as spectacular!" My sister quickly got up and posed for Tsukasa. 

The future star was stunned, he was shocked at Honoka's wonderful pose. I on the other hand, was shocked that Honoka had poses at all. 

"WHAT?!! How did you think of such a pose?!" The amount of shock on Tsukasa's face looked stupid at that point. 

Eventually, I just left them to do whatever the heck they were doing and go back to spending time with Rui. 

"Would you like to come to my house to see all of my robots?" Rui suggested whilst we peacefully walked around Phoenix Wonderland. 

I let out a gasp, I never would have known he had more robots! "You have more robots?! Did you make them? I want to see them!" I squealed gleefully, jumping up and down almost like I was Emu. 

Rui took me to his house. His room was the garage, it was a mess! Robot parts everywhere, drawings taped on the walls, there was a huge bookshelf and random balloons scattered all over the place. Despite it being so dirty, it seemed like a nice place to hang out. 

Rui shoved all of the random robot parts under his desk. "Sorry my room is such a mess, I don't like cleaning all that much." He took his shoes and coat off, throwing them to the side. 

"It's okay, I don't really like cleaning either." I said to him as I flopped myself down on his couch. "Do you sleep here on the couch?" I asked him and got under the blanket he had there. 

"Yes?" He sounded a little confused as to why I would ask that question. 

I looked at him like he was an insane man who needed to go to a mental hospital. "Is your back okay?!" I shrieked. 

Rui burst into laughter, he thought my facial expression was funny. "My back is just fine, Setsuko. The faces you make are so cute..." 

"Oh... I didn't know I was cute." His comment threw me off guard. 

Rui showed me his robots, they were all so cool! It was amazing that he made all of them, he was so smart and talented. I ended up falling asleep at his place, I had completely forgotten about my parents fighting. There was finally peace in my soul. 

"ああ、なんて素敵な寝顔なんだろう。彼女が良い夢を見られることを願っています。" Rui said as he put the blanket over us and went to sleep.