#he gives me the healer tommyinnit vibes

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Suddenly Magical Boys?! - Ruikasa Week 2024

Day 3: First Meeting

(ft. Colofes magical girl au & mentioned of April Fools 2024)

Magic was something Tsukasa never really considered in life.

It wasn't that he disliked fantasy. No, complete the opposite. He loves fantasy. His favorite plays and stories are fantasy. But he has his limit. He's not a child anymore. He's 17! The perfect adolescent age! He's too old to wish upon a star! He has things to do! Places to be! The cafe to run! Auditions to go!

...

He has an audition to go!

"TOUYA! MINORI! I'm going now!" Tsukasa tossed his apron, accidentally hitting Touya in the face as he reached for his jacket. "There's the pecan pie in the oven!"

"Good luck, Tsukasa-senpai." Touya waved his hand, not even bothering to remove the apron from his face.

"You can do it, Tsukasa!" Minori cheered as she rolled past him on her rollerskate to carry a pudding order.

Tsukasa flashed them a smile as he ran out of the Booo! Cafe. His mind has only one target. There was no time to take in the view of the town Tsukasa had come to be acquainted with in just a few months. This town known as Kazamatsuri is a town at the foot of a mountain. While it is different than his modern hometown of Tokyo City, it doesn't lose its charm for its very environmentally conscious inhabitants. It is as if you're living in a forest; greenery in every corner as the gardening committee takes their positions very seriously. Thus, the air in Kazamatsuri, despite being more advanced in technology, is still as fresh as when you live in the countryside, making it a perfect town for his sister, Saki. It was also a coincidence that their other siblings, Touya and Kanade, also live there.

So now all of them live under one roof and Tsukasa, of course, being the responsible older sibling, took it upon himself to take care of them. Booo! Cafe, where he works together with Minori and Touya, is his source of income as Saki and Kanade help in their own way; Saki with her alien investigation team and Kanade with her band.

But when the local theater, the Devil's Manner, decided to do an open audition for their new production, Tsukasa knew he couldn't miss it.

And thus how he finally arrived at the venue, nearly out of breath. Darn, his legend almost ended before it could begin.

"Alright!" Someone clapped their hand, gaining everyone's attention. A blue-haired man stood in front of the auditionees along with a purple-haired teen who Tsukasa was sure is a the same age as him. "Welcome, everyone. I'm Shion Kaito, the head of Devils' Manner Theater. And this is Kamishiro Rui, our director." 

Already a director at that young age?! Ugh! It was like a stab in the heart for Tsukasa. He needs to do better! He hadn't accomplished great anything yet!

"We'll start with introducing youself." Kamishiro clicked his pen. Oh, wow. His voice is kinda nice- what the heck, Tsukasa?! Get over yourself! "Starting from the right, okay?"

Tsukasa nodded to himself. Alright. First impressions are important. He has to go big.

"Alright." Kamishiro pointed at him. "Your turn."

Tsukasa cleared his throat and stepped forward with a hand on his chest. "My first name is written with the character for ruling, and second with the character for pegasus." He spun around. "I am Tsukasa Tenma, the soaring pegasus born to rule the showbiz world!" And stretched out his hand toward Kamishiro. "Allow me to take my first steps to stardom on one of your stages, and I shall repay you with a plethora of incredible shows the crowds will fall in love with!"

Kamishiro's eyes widened ever so slightly. Good. He made him speechless. "Incredible shows, you say?"

Tsukasa nodded. "I am not merely a star, I am a supernova! I am the miracle-bringer! And now, I am at your service! Give me any role, and I will perform it to 12,000% satisfaction!"

Kamishiro giggled. "We'll see about that, Tenma-kun."

*****

Hours went by and Tsukasa could finally breath. The sun has started to set as he stepped out of the theater. It went better than he expected. Stardom here we come!

'Hey owari wo koete zutto paatii wo Hey mawaritsuzukeru meriigooraundo'

Oh, that was his phone. He picked it up. "Hello."

"Onii-chan!" It was Saki! "How was the audition?"

"It went great!" Tsukasa cheered as he started to walk away. "We'll just hope for the best for now."

"I knew you could do it! We should celebrate! Pizza and movies?"

Tsukasa nodded. "Pizza and movies, as tradition. I'll grab the drinks. Any request?"

He could hear Saki's shout followed by some mumblings from presumably Touya and Kanade. "Milk tea for me and Kanade and Touya wanted iced coffee as usual."

"Alright them, I'll see you later."

"See you!" Tsukasa smiled at his phone screen. He might be the oldest sibling, but that doesn't mean the little ones won't help him back. They only have each other in this town. Tsukasa would do anything to protect them.

To protect. To keep their smile.

He has to...

It's all he can do...

And then, the world shifted. 

Dong... Dong...

"Eh?" Where did that bell come from?

The wind picked up. A cherry blossom petal hit his face.

And then, it happened.

Runes of white light hit the street. 

A kid carrying a soda can tripped on top of it, but before his mother or Tsukasa could help him, time stopped.

Everything froze in a red hue like the sky. An old lady walking a street. Teens roughhousing playfully. A vendor selling takoyaki to a little girl. Nothing moved.

Except for Tsukasa.

"What the..." He looked around, dashing to find anyone who wasn't frozen. "What's going on?!"

The earth cracked and when Tsukasa turned around.

A giant baby with sharp teeth. "OkAy, pRePaRaTiOnS CoMpLeTe!"

A floating ball with millions of heads stood. "ThErE ArEn'T MaNy pEoPlE BuT It'S EnOuGh. LeTs hAvE ThEm."

"ChOw tImE! ChOw tImE!" The baby opened its mouth and people started to glow, covering them with white flame. The flame got sucked into its mouth.

"ItS So dElIcIoUs, sO DeLiCiOuS!" the baby cheered.

"DoNt tAlK WiTh yOuR MoUtH FuLl." the faces scolded it. "ShAmE On yOu."

"OkAy..."

The heads also opened their millions of mouths and sucked more flame from the people.

And Tsukasa just froze there. He couldn't move. Too much in shock.

This must be a dream. A nightmare. A hallucination from the build-up of nervousness of the audition.

There was no way this was real.

"There's no way..."

One of the many faces on the ball finally noticed him. "WhAt iS ThIs? A HuMaN StIlL RoAmInG ArOuNd tHe rEd nIgHt?"

The baby stopped its feast to turn to Tsukasa. "Is iT A MaGiCaL GiRl?"

"CoUlD Be. AnD A StUpId oNe tHaT Is."

The baby giggled and loomed over Tsukasa. "NoT GoInG To tRaNsFoRm?"

And he couldn't do anything as its hand wrapped around him. "CaUgHt yOu! NeVeR HaD A MaGiCaL GiRl bEfOrE. ChOw tImE!"

It opened its mouth and Tsukasa could feel himself getting sleepy. Flames came out from him and flowed into the baby's mouth. 

Oh. 

This is just a dream, isn't it?

A nightmare.

He'll wake up, right?

Someone... Saki... Touya... Kanade...

Wake him up, please.

A twinkle appeared in the distance.

And a shooting star hit the baby in the face.

It screamed, releasing Tsukasa from its garps.

Someone caught him before he could hit the ground. 

In his dazed state, he could see his savior; purple hair with two cyan stripes. A marking of a crescent moon over his right eye. A suit that reminded him of space.

"What are you thinking?!" His savior scolded him. "Why are you doing just standing there?!"

"Huh...?"

"Did you forget to transform? What kind of Magical Boy are you?!"

Magical... "Magic doesn't exist..."

"Then explain all of this."

"A nightmare?"

"A MaGiCaL GiRl..." The ball of a million heads. "A ReAl oNe tHiS OnE."

Tsukasa could feel his savior clutching him tighter.  "Time to go."

"Wha-"

The baby raised its hand about to hit Tsukasa and his savior, but they jumped out of the way. Well, it was more like his savior jumped while carrying Tsukasa's bridal style. That certainly woke Tsukasa up.

"Wait!" He put his arms around his savior's neck, securing himself from falling. "What's going on?"

"Are you new to this job?" his savior asked. "Does no one ever taught you about this stuff?"

"I didn't even know magic even existed!" Tsukasa shouted. "There's no such thing as Magical Girls!"

"You're being saved by one." 

"There's no way!" 

"Look, whether you want to believe or not, this is real." His savior looked down at him and Tsukasa could see constellations in his golden eyes. "Magic is real. Us Magical Boys and Girls are real. And those creatures, the Eaters, are real. They brought upon the Red Night where time stop so they could feast upon humans' soul like your. When a human lost their soul, they will disappear from existence and no one will remember them. Humans aren't supposed to be able to walk around the Red Night, so either you're also a Magical Boy or you have something with magical power to make you move around here." 

"But... I don't..." 

"I know now you aren't one."

They landed on the roof of a building and his savior put him down. "When the Red Night ends, you'll be transported back to your original spot when it was activated. So, stay here." 

Just as he was about to leave, Tsukasa caught his hand. "Wait! What about you?" 

His savior looked ahead toward their previous enemies. "I need to make sure they don't reach you and stop this Red Night early." 

"Why?" 

He chuckled. "I've taken an interest in you. Even if we won't meet again in this condition." 

Right. Tsukasa wasn't supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to get involved in this mess. "Can I at least know your name?" 

His savior shook his head. "If we meet again in this Red Night. I'll tell you my name. But I'll be sure to look after you in one way or another." 

With that, his savior jumped into battle. With the spectacles that was the shooting stars when Tsukasa gasp- 

And then, the world shifted. 

Dong... Dong...

Everything returned to normal. 

Everything started to move again. 

But he knew some things were missing. 

There was a single teen missing from the roughhousing group. The vendor never sold anything. And the mother whose child previously fallen down just walked passed him. 

They were gone. 

Those who were eaten by those monsters, the Eaters, were gone. As if they never existed in the first place. 

And Magical Boys and Girls, like his savior, were fighting against them. 

Magic... Exists... 

"Tsukasa-senpai!" 

Someone caught him before he could fall down, clutching him for their dear life. "Tou...Ya...?" Wasn't Touya supposed to be back home? 

"You're alright." Touya hugged him tight and close. "You're alright..." 

"How did you get here?" 

"I ran." That's strange. Touya was never one good with physical activity. "You haven't home for a while so I thought-" 

"But time stopped." 

Touya let out a gasp and pulled out from the hug. "How did you-" 

"Are you...magic too?" 

Touya started at him with shock and Tsukasa begged that Touya would laugh or be confused, because this is just too ridiculous to be real.

Magic doesn't exist and everything he saw of Red Night and Eaters and his Magical Boy savior are just a hallucination. 

And yet, Touya reached for Tsukasa's jacket pocket. Touya and Tsukasa's jacket are identical, thus they would often got mixed. It wouldn't be surprise that in earlier rush, Tsukasa took Touya's jacket instead of his own. But it was still a surprise when Touya pulled back his hand while holding something. 

A hairpin. A simple hairpin with two small black orb.  

A hairpin that Touya would wear often. 

"Humans aren't supposed to be able to walk around the Red Night, so either you're also a Magical Boy or you have something with magical power to make you move around here." 

That was what the Magical Boy said. 

Is that Touya's magical item? So Touya is really is a... 

"I promise I will explain everything." Touya said as he pulled Tsukasa into another hug. "I'm glad you're safe..." 

Magic was something Tsukasa never really considered in life. 

But after taking a glimpse of it and knowing how dangerous it is, of how his own siblings in involved, Tsukasa knows there no way he could stay ignorant. 

Perhaps one day, once he learns more about this magical conundrum, he could meet with his savior again.