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

Chapter 28 - Who I Really Am Inside

Emu was jumping up and down. "Tsukasa! Honoka has something very important to tell you!!" She exclaimed. 

Honoka turned into Bob the Tomato, her pretty face was red as can be. "I-I-I--" She froze up, unable to speak.

Tsukasa stood there very confused. "What?" 

Emu finished the sentence for my sister. "Honoka loves you very much! She wants to be your girlfriend and become a star with you!!" She grinned, tears in her pink eyes. Emu had been in love with Tsukasa, but she let Honoka have him instead. 

Nene was a bit shocked that Emu was the one to finish Honoka's confession. She had known about Emu's love for Tsukasa without her even telling her. 

Tsukasa's brain seemed to be broken. "You... you love me too?" 

Honoka smiled at him. "Yes... I love you with all of my heart!! To the moon and ten thousand times back!!!" She yelled in Tsukasa's face lovingly. Tears streamed down her cheeks. 

"I love you, more than the number of stars I see in the sky every night." Tsukasa hugged Honoka as tight as he could and smiled to himself. 

Emu and Nene slipped away to leave those two alone. 

Honoka was silent. "Tsukasa, I don't think you really know who I am." She told him, sorrow in her hazel eyes. 

"You don't show anybody who you really are... Honoka. I-- I know that. I see you, though. You're one of the brightest stars I've ever seen. Almost blinding..." Tsukasa said to Honoka, still crying. "You should know that you're very talented!! You sparkle even more than I do! All I do... all I do is ruin everybody's smile." He began to sob, remembering every moment in his entire life where he upset somebody. 

Honoka watched him cry for a moment. It broke her heart. "NO!! You've made countless people smile! You... you made me smile. You saved me, Tsukasa." Honoka smiled weakly at Tsukasa while she cried with him. 

"No matter how hard I try, it always feels like I'm never good enough. I can never be perfect..." He sniffled. The light that once filled his brown eyes was gone. 

Honoka wiped the tears from her eyes and then his, she put her hands on his shoulders. "Tsukasa, nobody is perfect. I know you want to be, and I do too. I know it hurts... but sometimes you need to accept yourself the way you are. I'm not perfect, you aren't perfect, and nor is the random guy that lives down the street." 

"But if we try to do better than we did the day before, we will surely achieve stardom." Tsukasa and Honoka said at the same time. 

"I love you." Honoka told Tsukasa again. 

"I love you too. I'll always be trying to make you smile, any way I can. Always... because you are my heart and I must return the favor." He had this weird smile on his face. It probably looked strange because he was still crying. 

Honoka burst into loud sobs. She had always wanted to help someone, and she finally did it. 

She kissed Tsukasa hesitantly, and afterwards they ran in different directions screaming. 

"女の子にキスしたよ！ ！" Tsukasa screeched at the top of his lungs. Everybody in Phoenix Wonderland heard him, I'm sure of it. 

Honoka was hyperventilating on the ground. "YES, YOU DID!! IT WAS ME!!!" 

Nene and Emu heard them screaming from afar and laughed together. 

"Well, seems like everything worked out just fine." Nene said to Emu. 

Emu tilted her head and thought for a second. "Wait, why are we speaking English? Japanese is our first language." 

"そうそう。それは少し奇妙です。" Nene replied, now speaking Japanese. 

Honoka was chasing Tsukasa around, trying to catch him. "Pretty boy, no!! Please come back!" She begged him. 

Tsukasa stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Sorry, I got a little carried away there. And yes, I am very pretty!" 

"That's right, you are the most handsome of them all!! We should go visit Setsuko!" Honoka said happily and skipped away to the hospital with Tsukasa. 

When they walked in, Tsukasa went silent. "This kind of reminds me of when Saki was too weak to go to school." 

"Oh... if you don't want to be here you can leave." Honoka said to Tsukasa gently. 

"No, no, no! Setsuko needs two future stars to come see her!!" He said loudly. 

They came to my room. I had noticed Honoka was acting different, she was acting like herself and it made me smile. 

Rui smirked at Tsukasa. "Ah, are you here to test out my new invention? I'm sorry, but I don't have it with me at the moment." 

Tsukasa had an exasperated look of concern on his face. "No, I'm not here to get blown into smithereens!!" He shouted. 

Rui giggled and then went back to playing with my hair peacefully. 

"Setsuko, how are you feeling?" Honoka questioned.

"I feel great besides the fact my legs are broken!" I chuckled to myself. "I'm very happy to have a sister like you, Honoka. I love you." I smiled at her. 

Honoka returned my happy face. "I love you too." 

Tsukasa was grinning very big. "Everybody!! Honoka is my girlfriend now!" He blurted out. 

My sister starting blushing and covered her face. 

Rui laughed at the way Tsukasa was so proud. "Ah, well I'm very happy for you both." 

I was greatly shocked at this new information. "WHAT?! I didn't think I was actually right about you liking him! Woah... I'm powerful!" I stared off into space and started thinking up a silly scenario where I could read everybody's mind. 

Eventually Emu and Nene came, and everybody laughed and had a fun time. It was great!! Despite the fact I was in the hospital and unable to move, that was one of the most enjoyable days of my life. I was so grateful for everybody I had... as Emu says, everything was so wonderhoy! 

"Bye-bye! We'll come visit you again soon, Setsuko!" Everybody except Rui said whenever night came. Instead of leaving, he stayed right there with me all though the night and barely got a wink of sleep.