Chapter Text
The Wonder Stage smelled of new paint and possibilities. Trinkets backstage and NeneRobo oiled and charged.
Wonderland x Showtime were on the Wonder Stage after a while, even after they had said their goodbyes and all cried together — The Wonder Stage was set to be a surviving attraction at Phoenix Wonderland, and it would hold even smaller troupes than theirs, so it could keep the magic of the stage alive. Although they weren’t technically working at Phoenix Wonderland anymore, they still had permission to use the Wonder Stage as they pleased.
Rui had decided they were putting on The Little Prince, for the kids— which, Tsukasa would be playing the title character.
Tsukasa had read through the script, hoping to find something that related him and the Prince — but he found himself having too much in common with the Prince.
The Little Prince had left his planet, his home — due to the loneliness and unhappiness it brought him , because of the rose —
A serious blonde boy, asking a pilot to draw him a sheep.
A serious blonde boy, creating a SEKAI filled with nothing but his childhood.
Tsukasa sits down on a bench. He can’t think. His head is spinning.
The planet — is no doubt his SEKAI.
Thinking of all the times he ran away from Miku—how the SEKAI was his feelings, but it scared him. To be open— vulnerable like that, he was supposed to be reliable, not the one needing to rely on something—!
He feels guilty.
The rose was no doubt — his true feelings.
His true feelings — that he felt was a lie, that he forgot— so he ran away—
He wants to cry.
He felt his heart aching at the thought, as if a thousand knives were piercing through it. His mind was running wild, and he felt himself sweating and shaking. His thoughts were all jumbled up and he couldn't think clearly, as if everything was collapsing around him. He was terrified, but at the same time he was also determined to continue onwards, to do what was right, even if it was scary.
And then It struck him.
Was he truly ready.. to be so open and vulnerable on stage like that? When he couldn’t even be vulnerable with himself without pushing it away?
Ever since he was a child..
If they truly saw the Tsukasa Tenma.. whose light sometimes dimmed — Tsukasa Tenma, who was lonely and was driven to overthinking if he could make anyone smile—
He doesn’t want to make anyone worry!
He shivers. Don’t think about it, don’t think about it. His heart ached— he feels too much, he wants to block his feelings out. But he knew one thing absolutely certain,
He was not ready to be The Little Prince — a character he found himself already being.