Chapter 8,5
Nene needed a place to distract her mind from everything and everyone.
Even though an arcade or her room would've been a better option, she found herself going straight to the Wonder Stage.
Now, after everything that had happened, Nene swore to only go there with Emu by her side, the show must go on, as he used to say.
But there she was, standing right beside the stage that still smelled faintly of dried blood.
If it weren't for Emu's love for shows, she would've never showed up near PxL again.
But no matter how many friends she had lost, Emu needed her support more than ever.
She had watched as Rui left them behind to go back to where Nene was currently standing to aid Tsukasa's murder.
And in that moment, she had pulled away from Emu herself.
"Stay here, Emu… please."
She looked back at her before running after her childhood friend.
But she was all too late, divided by a cliff she never even knew was there, Rui was already at the scene.
Her eyes widened as Rui grabbed a knife.
Nene couldn't muster up anything.
She stopped that train of thought when she heard Robo-Nene's sounds backstage.
She slowly ran in, and Robo-Nene was covered in dust already.
"H-hey… It's been a while, hasn't it…?"
Nene was talking to a robot of herself, wow.
But either way, she continued.
"Uhm.. Mind if I… Stay here for a bit? Sorry we haven't taken you out of here in so long…"
She took out her phone, Robo-Nene moving a metal hand to pat Nene's head.
"It's just that… I really miss them… You know?"
Robo-Nene kept patting her head as she scrolled through pictures and recordings of their shows, reminiscing about the fond memories she had with the troupe.
"It's okay to miss, Nene."
Robo-Nene said, making Nene look up at her.
"They- They're murderers… But…"
Her eyes started to burn as she clung onto Robo-Nene.
Tears ran through her face.
Backstage was mostly empty of Rui's stuff, the only thing left behind was a sketchbook he always carried around to make new stuff.
The same for Tsukasa, who had only left his last stage costume, the one he was using that day.
Nene got up, walking to where the two were.
She grabbed the book, she remembered how Emu had given it to him when his other one had no more blank pages.
In the first page of it, was upgrades to Robo-Nene's software.
A couple pages after, a little drawing the four of them in a little corner, Nene guessed Emu had made that one.
There were a lot of unintelligible notes in Rui's nonsensical handwriting.
His handwriting had always been like that.
She glanced over at Tsukasa's bloodied costume, it didn't even look like something he'd wear unless it was a zombie themed play.
"That reminds me…"
She leaned over and noticed a little trapdoor, sealed shut on the floor.
Nene chuckled at the memory of Tsukasa trying to climb up the stairs with zombies pulling him down.
Robo-Nene suddenly spoke.
"PLAYING OTORI EMU'S RECORDED MESSAGE"
"What..?"
Emu's voice went out of Robo-Nene's speakers.
"What do I do, Robo-Nene? I really want to see Nene happy again but she wouldn't let me help!"
Nene dropped Rui's sketchbook.
"Emu…"
"I don't know what she saw when she ran after Rui… But I want to help her smile again!! So could you please, please, please help me, Robo-Nene?"
Nene's steps were loud and clear because of the wooden floor below her as she walked towards Robo-Nene.
"RECORDED MESSAGE ENDED."
She grabbed her phone from the ground and put it in her pocket.
"Robo-Nene, record a new message for Tenma Saki."