Doki Doki Movie Club! - A SM AU Fanfiction!

32: Festival Preparations!

"Alright, you three!"

Ethan began in his usual proud yet calm manner, turning to me and the others with a smile. Kevin and Rick stood near eachother with slightly puzzled expressions, while I only stood in a nearby area from them.

Ethan said, "Since we're done sharing scripts, I figured it's time we—"

"..huh.. that's weird." Kevin mumbled aloud to himself, his brow arched.

"..what do you mean?" Ethan inquired, arching a brow now too in slight curiosity of what Kevin could have meant.

"Nothing, it's just.. it feels like you said something weird." Kevin replied, waving his hands.

"..I feel that way too." Rick blankly added. After a few moments, his eyes mildly widened in realization, and he said, "..you didn't say what you usually do when talking to us."

"..o—oh." Ethan looked off to the ground with a bead of sweat forming on the side of his face, a nervous smile upon his lips. Realizing he must have meant that he didn't address the three people in the room with 'Alright, everyone!' as he usually did, he started to seem unsure of how to respond.

After a few seconds of silence, Kevin let out a long sigh. "Geez.. why does everything feel kinda weird today?"

"..mm. Usually when things feel weird, it means something bad is gonna happen.." Rick added, staring at the ground with a tinge of anxiety behind his monotone voice.

"Ugh.." I clasp my hand over my forehead—starting to feel a little effected by the mood too. "I'm.. I think it might be because Radford isn't here.. right? He's usually always here and everything, so.."

Rick glances around the room upon me saying that, and seems to finally notice Radfords absence. "..oh."

"Yeah.. I think you might be right." Ethan says to me whilst letting a sigh escape from his mouth. "Radford always kinda helps things feel more exciting than they usually are. It's like everyone suddenly doesn't know what to do whenever he's gone.."

"Ugh.. well, where did he go? Why didn't he tell us he was leaving?" Kevin asked—now seemingly a little frustrated. Though it was hard to tell if it was because of the mood, or if it was because Radford hadn't bothered to tell him that he was going to leave. "I just thought he might have gone to the bathroom or something.."

"Ah—he.. he just wasn't feeling well." I immediately speak up, my tone softening at the memory of his strange behavior. "So he had someone pick him up a little bit early."

"..oh. Well.. I hope he's okay." Rick utters—now seemingly a little worried now that I had said what was wrong.

"Wow.. I thought you always drove him places. Why'd he have someone else pick him up?" Kevin inquired curiously.

"I—well.. he just.. he seemed like he kinda wanted to be left alone. Or.. like he was avoiding me or something. I didn't wanna force anything on him, so I just kinda left him alone.." I sheepishly replied, scratching the side of my head with a wobbly frown on my lips.

"..mm?" Rick hummed in curiosity.

"Let's just.. try to calm down. I talked to him earlier before he left, so I'm pretty sure he's alright." Ethan quickly said, intervening with a nervous smile.

I stared, still having a single question on my mind. "..yeah, but.. did he say anythi—"

"..anyway, why don't we try preparing for what we're gonna be doing over the weekend for the festival? After all, it'd be kinda irresponsible if we all just sat in our homes doing nothing." Chuckled Ethan.