"Saki, are you sure you should have another one? You don't want to lose your beautiful physique, do you?" Ms. Tenma smiled at Saki, who had gotten up for seconds. Percy didn't understand what the big deal was. He'd always been allowed to eat as much as he wanted, and it wasn't like one cinnamon roll was going to make Saki gain a bunch of weight. Even if it did, what was the problem with that?
Saki came back with two more cinnamon rolls on her plate, piled high with frosting. Percy smiled. It wasn't a big thing, but it made him happy that Saki was standing up for herself like that.
"Do you want seconds?" Ms. Tenma gestured to his plate, which had been empty for a while now.
"Oh, no thank you. I'm all good." He waited for Annabeth to exclaim something like Oh! So you're healthy now? But she didn't. He looked over at her. Her eyes were glazed over and she seemed lost in thought. He wondered what could be on her mind.
After everyone had finished eating, they went upstairs to get dressed. Tsukasa let them borrow some of his clothes.
Annabeth came out wearing a grey shirt and jeans. She looked very casual, a look that fit her well. She looked so carefree and happy without any scorch marks or blood on her clothes.
He leaned down and kissed her.
"What was that for?"
"You look so happy."
Annabeth smiled.
"No making out in my house! Strict rule!" Tsukasa stood between them and shoved his hands out on either side of him, pushing them even farther away from each other.
Annabeth grinned. "Would you make out with your crush?"
Tsukasa's face turned a lovely shade of pink. "Maybe." He frowned. "But not in my house. As I said, strict no making out policies."
Percy looked over Tsukasa at Annabeth. "Annabeth, you're starting to sound like an Aphrodite kid."
"I know, I know. I've just never had someone to torture for having a crush before."
"What about Apollo?"
"He's different. He's a god and only visits sometimes. Plus, the person he had a crush on was, um, dead. With Tsukasa, I want to know who it is!"
Saki wrapped her arms around Tsukasa. "Too bad cause I've already figured out who it is."
Tsukasa's face reddened more. "You did?!"
"Yup! It's Nene!" Tsukasa looked relieved. His face turned back to normal color.
"I really thought you had gotten it. It's not Nene. You better keep searching!" He grinned, clearly proud that she couldn't figure it out.
"Hah! Just narrowing it down. Now it's only fifty-fifty. Rui or Emu."
Tsukasa stared at her has she walked away.
"Didn't go as you planned?" Percy asked, smiling a bit.
Tsukasa just walked down the steps. "Bye, Mom! I'll be home at 17:00!"
"Alright! Remember to come home at exactly 17:00, then! We can't have a repeat of last night!"
"Alright, mother! Love you, bye!"
Saki screamed from the top of the stairs, "LOVE YOU BYE!!"
Tsukasa closed the door and they began their trek towards the WonderStage.
When they got there, Rui was there to greet them. "Tsukasa~" he smiled. (:3) "I have a new stunt worked out for you! You know that part in our new show where you ascend to heaven?"
"Yeah?" Tsukasa's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you figured out a way to actually make me float."
"I did~!"
"Ugh, okay. I'll try it out."
Rui grabbed Tsukasa's hands in his. "You'd really do that? For me?"
Tsukasa frowned. "Mhm."
"Oh wow, Tsukasa! You really are the bestest friend a guy could have!" He grinned and pulled Tsukasa along, running toward the stage.
Emu and Nene were sitting on the edge, talking. Emu was swinging her legs, slamming into the stage with her feet, but it didn't seem to faze her.
Annabeth and Percy followed, having to run at a surprisingly quick pace to keep up.
"HI GUYS!!" Emu screamed, jumping off the stage and running up to them. They began to talk, Nene joining the conversation once she had finished walking up to them.
Tsukasa stood on the stage, staring at Rui skeptically as he tied some suspiciously simple knots on the side of the stage.
"Okay, Tsukasa, lift your arms."
"Wha- why?"
"Oh it's just this thing you have to put on for it to work." He held up what looked to Tsukasa to be one of those chest pieces you put on when playing laser tag.
"Okay." Tsukasa put his arms out and Rui fastened the metal plate to his chest.
"And these bracelets." Rui handed over two metal circles. "And these anklets." More metal circles. Tsukasa put them on.
Rui stood back to admire his work. "Okay. So theoretically this should work."
"THEORETICALLY!?!?"
"Yup. Now hold my hand in case it's so strong that you go through the ceiling."
"What did I agree to?!"
"I don't know. Let's find out!" Rui slapped a button on Tsukasa's chest, and all the pieces began to whir.
"Rui...." Tsukasa looked at him in utter fear. Rui just smiled back.
Tsukasa's feet started to lift off the stage. He squeezed Rui's hand as hard as he could. "RUI! PLEASE TELL ME I CAN GET DOWN SAFELY!!"
"You can get down safely.... Theoretically."
"WOAH!! Tsukasa, you're flying!!" Emu ran up to the stage and began jumping up and down.
Rui frowned. "You don't have to hold my hand so hard. 99.9% of the time, my theories are correct."
"THATS STILL NOT 100%!!!"
Tsukasa was now practically upside down, holding on to Rui's hand for dear life. "GET ME DOWN!!"
"Okay, fine." Rui reached up and pushed a different button on Tsukasa's chest, and he was slowly lowered to the ground as the pieces stopped whirring.
"That was horrible!"
"Should we put it in the show?"
"No, of course not!"
Emu jumped onto the stage. "YES WE SHOULD PUT IT IN THE SHOW!!"
"I agree." Said Nene.
Percy smiled brightly. "Of course it should be in the show! That was so cool!"
Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand. "I second that." She sang.
Tsukasa glared at them in betrayal.
"Guess it's in the show then." Rui smiled and ripped Tsukasa's hand off his, which Tsukasa hadn't even noticed was still glued to Rui's hand.
"Dammit." muttered Tsukasa.
Rui gasped. "Did you just say a bad word?"
"No? Gah! Stop it, Rui! Just because I don't like cussing don't mean I won't do it every once in a while!"
"Okay! Calm down."
Tsukasa ripped off the bracelets and anklets, and tried to rip off the chest piece, but failed.
"Do you want me to get that for you?"
Tsukasa sighed. "Yes."
Rui helped Tsukasa out of the chest piece, giggling the whole time.
"Okay, seriously. What's so funny?"
"Your face! You were so scared! And now you have to do it for a show! Hah! That's what you get for agreeing to something when you don't know what it is."
"But I can trust you."
Rui just started laughing and walked backstage to grab something.
"He's so weird."