Chapter Text
“im sorry for being alive.” said a purple haired boy named Rui.
The boy was an outcast. People despised and laughed at him, in his eyes. His own existence was meaningless. Everyone in his village had unique and special skills, meanwhile Rui was only skillful in machinery. Which nobody liked, since it was considered inferior. Not to mention his weird hair color. The villagers would taunt him for his weirdness.
Deep in a forest near the village stood an old tree. Rui would come down to the tree alone every week, and pray to god.
One day, he made a certain wish.
“it's lonely in the village. I want someone, just anyone, to be my friend.”
…
The outcast met a boy right near the old tree. It began when Rui saved the boy, unconscious, laying on the ground. Rui sat down and held the boy in his arms.
The boy had blond hair with peach ends. It seems like his hair is a bit long, since his hair is put in a short ponytail, with the ponytail laying on the boy’s shoulder. His clothes were neat, the boy definitely took care of himself very well. Alongside that, the blond's skin was also very nice.
Though, Rui’s observation was cut off due to the blond waking up.
“eh?… oh, hello!..” The boy paused a bit before asking a question. “do you perhaps know how i ended up here?”
Rui got a bit startled, but he answered anyway.
“I'm sorry, i just recently arrived here.” Rui responded as the boy sat up. “that’s fine! We haven’t introduced ourselves have we? My name is Tenma Tsukasa!” The blond boy said.
‘what a pretty name.’ Rui thought.
“Kamishiro Rui…”
“I'm glad to be able to meet you Kamishiro!” Tsukasa stood up, reaching his hand out for Rui to take.
Rui was shaking, he hesitated to take Tsukasa’s hand. But he took it anyway. Rui felt weird, he looked at Tsukasa’s bright smile and frowned. “why are you still here? Don’t you prefer leaving, instead of staying here with me?”
“why should i leave? You seem like a nice person!”
Rui started to smile at the thought that he might get an actual friend, but quickly frowned right after. What if Tsukasa was joking about being his friend? What if he was just playing a sick prank against him? Theres no reason for Tsukasa to be so kind towards him.
Tsukasa analysed Rui’s face. “you look sad. Is something wrong?”
“ah…i apologise…” Rui said while shaking. Tsukasa was shocked about Rui’s statement.
“there's nothing to be sorry about. You haven’t done a single wrong thing!”
Rui wanted to protest against those words. “i was born. That's enough reasons for me to be sorry.” Even though that was enough reasons, there are still more: Everyone in the village avoided him. He couldn’t even buy himself any food without trouble, his parents left him when he was little, and lastly…. he didn’t have any special skills.
Tsukasa thought otherwise.
“hey! that isn’t true at all!! What's wrong with you? there isn’t a single reason for you to be ashamed of yourself!!!”
Rui wanted to protest even more, but before he could say anything. He was cut off.
“actually…. i would like to be your friend Kamishiro!!”
“oh..you do?”
“of course i do! A star like me wouldn’t let anyone think so negatively about themselves, and i’d like to make friends with everyone!!!”
Rui felt himself forming a smile. He didn’t have a single care in the world at that moment, he doesn’t mind if this was fake. As long as he had a friend by his side, he was happy.
“i’d love to be your friend.”
…
Before long, the two boys got close. Rui offered Tsukasa to live with him, so that they can spend more time together
Though, they were very different.
Tsukasa was a loud and outgoing person. He was well liked by the village. He was also indeed, the prettiest person there. His hair shunned brightly under the sun, his smile brought even more smiles to the villagers. Sometimes, Rui would find Tsukasa performing on the streets. The children loved seeing his performances, meanwhile the adults loved how helpful he was. The only problem was that nobody knew where he was from, yet they still loved him, he was like a gift to the village. Slowly, he made everyone’s lives better. Especially Rui’s life.
Ever Since Rui let Tsukasa live in his house, they lived in harmony. Rui taught Tsukasa how to cook, wash clothes, take care of plants and many other household tasks. Meanwhile, Tsukasa taught Rui what warmth and happiness was. Rui enjoyed living with Tsukasa’s company, even though he knew that he doesn’t deserve a friend like him.
Alongside that, a few weeks after Tsukasa started living in the village. Kids would come up to him and ask many questions. Some of them were really interesting
Once, a child even asked if they were dating, or perhaps they asked if Tsukasa loved Rui and wanted to marry him. But since Tsukasa didn’t understand what the children meant, he would shrug it off. Maybe he’ll bring it up with Rui later on.
By the time Tsukasa arrived home, Rui had already made dinner.
“good evening!!!” Tsukasa pulled out a chair quickly sat down. “as a world future star, i’ll gladly eat this fine dish and praise you for cooking this masterpiece!!!!!”
“fufu, Tsukasa-kun is so loud.” Rui sighed, before blushing at Tsukasa right after. “i find your personality charming.”
Rui joined him for dinner, they both ate in comfortable silence. But then, Tsukasa remembered something.
After that, Tsukasa finally asked.
“Do you perhaps know what love and marriage is?”
Rui jumped in surprise over Tsukasa’s question. “eh? have you fallen for someone already?”
“huh? of course i haven’t! i just remembered one of the kids asking me if i ‘loved’ or wanted to ‘marry’ you.”
Rui noticed that Tsukasa doesn’t know about this kind of topic. Rui paused for a second before giving Tsukasa an answer. Well, he wasn’t really sure himself what it was, but he heard about it from his parents once.
“uhm.. well ‘love’ is something that people feel towards another person, usually it forms when you feel comfortable and happy with someone. If someone is in love, they usually end up showing affection towards the person they love.”
Rui sighed before explaining the next thing.
“and marriage is like…a promise of some sort? it happens when you form a close enough bond with a loved one, to the point where you’d like to live your entire life by their side. It happens if two people really love each other.”
“o-oh, so that’s what it is!” Tsukasa exclaimed. “does that mean we’re married? well, we do love each other a lot.”
Rui turned red really quickly. He almost choked on his own food!
“e-eh?.. no we’re just friends!” Rui protested. “friends!… just friends?..”
“but Rui! how could i not love you?” Tsukasa seemed to not understand Rui very well. “even if we aren’t married, i don’t mind marrying you!”
Rui (somehow) blushed even more. Though, his smile quickly turned into a small frown. His expression quickly turned Tsukasa worried. After noticing Tsukasa’s reaction, Rui quickly reassured him.
“im fine Tsukasa-kun. i just thought of something.”
Rui was happy that he knew Tsukasa loved him, Rui also loved Tsukasa back. Though, he was afraid that this was all fake. He couldn’t bear losing an amazing friend like Tsukasa. Nobody was ever this kind towards Rui. So, Rui was sure that Tsukasa wouldn’t feel ashamed if Rui perhaps revealed his feelings.
No matter how many people laughed, mocked, and ridiculed Rui. He had Tsukasa by his side. As long as Tsukasa was with him, he would be fine. Rui admits that he’s definitely greedy for wanting Tsukasa to stay with him all the time, and own all his love. But who was he to blame? He knows that everyone would blame him everytime something bad happens to him. But, he’s with Tsukasa now…. Everything is gonna be okay.
…
“this is all your fault!”
“he must be a monster casted from the darkness.”
“you must have cursed that poor boy!..”
“we must hunt down that monster! behead him!”
“get your dark magic away from this village!”
Rui tried to get all the insults away from his mind as he stood still, in the middle of a crowd. People we’re calling him many, many, things. He was blamed by the village for the death of a villagers family. Was it his fault though? No, it was never his fault.
Someone tried throwing rocks at Rui. He flinched, but seconds after he immediately felt someone hugging him from behind. Alongside that, he could hear many villagers gasp.
Tsukasa was hugging him. He noticed that he was bleeding from the rock that was thrown. Before he could comment, Tsukasa cut him off.
“i’ll be fine. Theres nothing a star like i, can’t resist!” he exclaimed. Blood was dripping down from the injury, down to his chin. Tsukasa sighed— his expression quickly turned into a frown. “what did he ever do to all of you!?”
All the villagers tried to protest.
“that man is truly evil! he cursed my entire family! they’re all dead and its his fault!
“yeah! he’s a monster!”
“he’s a freak!”
“we must quickly behead him before he murders everyone else in this village!!”
Rui was shivering in fear over the thought of getting a public execution. If he had to go through this often, no wonder why he ended up being so lonely. Tsukasa felt really bad for Rui at this moment.
“Rui hasn’t done anything to all of you! Please believe me when i say that he’s a kind soul. He cares about others!” Not long after, whispers could be heard from the villagers.
“he’s truly evil…. he must’ve cursed him!”
“well, he’s a monster after all.”
“Tenma-san must’ve been brain-washed by that sick sorcerer!”
Tsukasa was tired of all the villagers insulting Rui. He held Rui’s hand tightly. There was no way to get out of this problem…. unless.
“i’ve heard enough. Im leaving this place.” Tsukasa declared. “If you don’t want Rui here so badly, i’ll be taking him with me.”
The crowd sighed in disbelief. Both the children and adults were begging Tsukasa to stay with them, all of them staring at Rui in fury. But since Tsukasa said it, they let him pack their things and allowed Tsukasa to leave the village with Rui.
“We’ll be taking our leave soon.”
Children began to cry out yelling “no” over and over again. Adults still begging Tsukasa to stay. But, nobody there were actually saints. No need to bother with those hypocrites.
“ah…Tsukasa-kun. I apologise for the inconvenience.”
“It’s perfectly fine Rui! A star will always defend their loved ones!” Tsukasa said. “As long as we’re together, everything is going to be okay. Right, Rui?”
“fufu.. yes, right.” Rui giggled.