"I heard from Kotori-san. So, you knew Touma?"
Those were the words Nii-san told me while he was driving me to the studio. He quickly picked me up at the agency after dropping Miki there. Though it's only for a short while, I was able to be alone with Nii-san, which made me very happy…
"Yeah… I met him a few months after you left me and Mom."
"I see… So, how was he during that time?"
"Well… It's a long story…"
Flashback
"I-It's time to go home, Yuuki…"
"Ah, Kuromi. Okay then!"
School ended and it was time for me and Kuromi to walk back home. Before we left the school gates though, we saw two boys having a dance battle at the fountain. One of them was, as you guessed it, Onigashima Ransetsu or better known as Amagase Touma, while the other one was one of my classmates, who was a pretty good dancer. A radio was set up between them and a huge crowd was gathering around them. I thought that it would be interesting to look at so I walked closer and looked at their competition, with Kuromi walking behind me. Upon looking at the dance battle however, it was clear that the Oni would win as his moves were intense and full of feeling, with no mistakes made whatsoever. On top of that, his smile was so radiant that the girls were practically cheering for him. After the song ended, he stood there with a proud smile on his face.
"Hah, it looks like I won."
"Damn it…"
My classmate knelt down, exhausted after such an intense battle. He breathed heavily and his face showed discontent, as he lost to some stranger from another school. Wanting to help him, I rushed to his side and pulled him back up.
"You okay?"
"Ah, Yuuki. Just in time. Help me teach this guy a lesson…"
"Me?"
"Yeah. You're the only one that beat me other than him. I know you can do it!"
"Huh, so you're telling a girl to have a dance battle with me? Do you have any pride at all?"
The Oni who was watching frowned and continued to humiliate him. Not wanting my classmate get humiliated any further, I turned my attention towards him and said,
"If my classmate says so, let's have a dance battle, then."
"Oh? And you think you can beat me? How about a bet then, to liven things up?"
"Sure. If I win, you will have to apologize to my classmate. Plus, you're treating me to ice-cream."
"Then if you lose, you have to buy me cream soda, plus your name for now on will be 'Loser'."
"Then I'll call you… Onigashima Ransetsu!"
"What kind of stupid name is that!? Fine then, you'll lose anyway."
"Let us see first."
As the both of us prepare to battle, Kuromi gently tapped my shoulder and whispered,
"Yuuki, I-I don't think we should do this…"
"Don't worry, Kuromi. I'll win this, easy peasy!"
"Yeah, Masaki-san. Yuuki can't possibly lose. He isn't called the diva of our school for nothing!"
As the music played, both of us started our performance. My opponent's movements were still very fluid and intense. It looked like he wasn't even tired from that last battle. However…
"I'm not going to lose either!"
I got serious as soon as I saw him dance. I couldn't pull any light punches, as doing that will end up being my downfall. As expected, I could also hear the crowd around us cheering louder as we danced…
"Wow, both of them are pretty good, especially Yuuki. He can match up to that guy's movements…"
"Un, I think so too. I've never seen Yuuki so serious before…"
After a while, the song was slowly reaching its climax. My opponent was a very good dancer. However, there can be only one winner…
"How about we add a challenge? Whoever performs a back flip wins the dance-off!"
"Are you crazy!? You're wearing a dress!"
His face went red after hearing that, seeing as no girl would be so crazy as to do a back flip while wearing a dress…
"Don't tell me you're scared to do a back flip?"
"Grr… Alright, if that's what you want, so be it!"
Alright, I convinced him to do a high level move… However, he was right about me being crazy… Oh well, I'll get ice-cream if I win so…
Finally, the song had reached its climax, and the both of us did a back flip, as the challenge stated. However, because I wore a dress while dressing, my underwear was exposed during the back flip.
And everyone saw that scene, including the Oni, whose face went red after seeing that. His mind was so occupied that he actually fell down during the back flip. I completed mine, so that means…
"I won the bet! You're treating me to ice-cream!"
"Ugh… that was a dirty trick…"
The oni moaned as he swept the dust off his shoulders. His face was very angry, due to him losing the bet.
"I may have lost. But we're not finished yet. That battle just now was a fluke. I may have lost the bet, but I'll win the next time!"
"Sure, let's battle again. And I'll wear pants next time."
The battle concluded with me winning against the oni, and as a result I got treated to a double-scooped ice-cream with vanilla and chocolate flavors, plus the rights to call him Onigashima Ransetsu. Though I got to eat ice-cream for free, the news about battle between me and the oni spread like wildfire the next day, plus the news that my underwear was exposed…
Though the battle ended just like that, we would still compete against each other, with the loser having to treat the winner to either cream soda for Touma or ice-cream for me. The results were pretty balanced, with me winning 25 matches and Touma winning 25 too. Though we were rivals, I considered him as one of my closest friends.
We were supposed to have our final battle one day. However, in the end, he didn't show up, which left our battle unfinished. I never saw him again after that…
"So, he was your closest friend?"
"Besides Kuromi, yeah. It would be nice to see him once again, though…"
"Don't worry; you'll see him again someday."
Hearing Nii-san's encouraging words, I looked outside the window at the bright, blue sky and smiled.
"I hope so…"
After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the dance studio. We had to climb a few flights of stairs before opening the steel door. As we entered the studio, we could see that the trio of Yukiho, Makoto and Hibiki that I met at the concert were busy practicing. The song that they performed at the concert was playing too. Even though they were just practicing, I could tell they were fully concentrated on their performance.
Raise me higher and higher, to the center of my being.
Use that technique only you know to melt me completely.
I'll collapse into whirling instincts, my heart throbbing.
A dream just for tonight, let's dance fiercely!
To my desire's content!
Burn up fiercely!
"Nice work, you three."
Nii-san walked towards them and passed them three bottles of water, which they happily accepted.
"Thanks, Producer, and good afternoon, Yuuki."
Makoto drank the water and greeted me with a smile on her face, which would instantly let a lot of fangirls scream girlishly at that scene.
"Good afternoon, Makoto, Yukiho, Hibiki."
Yukiho had a nervous look on her face as she held her bottle. Seeing as she was scared of men, it was no surprise that she would be like that. On the other hand, Hibiki also happily greeted me with a big smile on her face.
"Good day, Yuuki! Say, what brings you here?"
"Actually, Yuuki-kun was supposed to come here and have his dance practice. But, seeing as he doesn't have a debut song yet, I wanted to let him practice with you three to let him relearn his dancing skills."
"We would love to. Right, Makoto?"
"Yeah! Yukiho, you don't mind if he trains with us?"
"I-It's alright."
"Alright then, let's begin the training!"
Afterwards, Nii-san left the four of us in the studio and went back to the agency to resume working. Seeing as I didn't bring anything to wear for the dance practice, I just wore the clothing that I came in. Makoto and Hibiki then started the lesson.
"Okay, let's start our lesson! First things first, Yuuki, have you danced before?"
"Yeah, I did a lot of dancing while I was a kid. I also participated in some battles and competitions back then."
"Wow, that's great! Then you'll have no problem practicing the choreography of our song, right?"
Wow, I haven't danced in such a long time that I don't even know to dance anymore. I wonder if I could perform it, a song with such a high difficulty…
"I-I'll take that as a challenge."
"That's the spirit! Alright, let me teach you from the beginning."
I can't believe I said that… It feels as though I'm digging my own grave…
Makoto then faced towards the mirror and took a deep breath before performing the dance moves from the beginning for me to watch and copy.
"First off, turn your head towards the left before the music starts. After that, turn it back when you hear the sound of the door opening. Then put both of your arms down before extending your right arm towards the left. Next…"
She told me what to do while dancing slowly and clearly for me to remember. As expected from one of the best dancers during the stage, those difficult moves that were hard to master were a piece of cake for her. After I knew what to do for the few seconds of the song, Makoto stopped her dancing and said,
"Now, let me see how you perform."
"O-Okay…"
I was nervous as I looked at the reflection of myself in the mirror. Could I do all of this in one try? Actually, it was nearly impossible to copy all of her moves in a single try. However, I hurriedly calmed myself down and reminisced about the days when I used to dance. In order to dance like the idols on television, I practiced dancing day and night, without caring about anything else. All of that paid off during the dance battles between me and Touma, as we would always perform different moves each time. Because of that, my body could easily perform a lot of difficult moves and I would be able to dance to a newly released song when I saw the choreography once or twice. But that was back then; I don't know if I have what it takes to dance like I used to again…
"Don't worry, Yuuki! Just do your best!"
Hibiki tries to cheer me up, and it kind of worked, a little bit though…
Alright Yuuki, just remember what you learnt back then… It's going to be alright…
As the music played, I closed my eyes and tried to remember what Makoto did just now. However, it was just 5 seconds into the song and I already forgot what the next moves were...
Oh no… What should I do now!?"
Time seemed to stop at that exact same moment. Everyone was just there, not doing anything at all. Everything was in black and white. I couldn't hear anything. My mind was blank. Panic enveloped my body, making me feel as if everything halted.
It's impossible. I can't do it… I really can't do it…
Just as I was supposed to give up, my surroundings suddenly became brighter. When I closed my eyes and opened them again, I found myself in a white room. There was nothing around me as far as the eye can see…
However, a little girl was standing there, right in front of me. She had white, long hair and an adorable face which would make her loved by everyone. She was also wearing a simple white dress with white flip-flops. This girl was very familiar as I knew who she was at the start…
"You're… me…"
It was me in my childhood days. The one that I discarded long ago in order to hide the shame I experienced that day. The younger me then smiled and said,
"Come on, you can do it."
"It's impossible. I can't-"
"You're wrong!"
I was surprised by what my younger self had said. He then proceeded to dance right before my eyes. What she was dancing, was the dance moves that Makoto taught me. He did exactly what I saw from Makoto just a while ago. I saw it just once and he already knows the choreography. It was flawless. The younger me could even match up to Makoto. After he finished dancing, he turned towards me and said,
"There's no such thing as you can't do it. It's important that you try. By the way, what happened to the bigger me? There's no way that he would lose to someone in a dance battle, right?"
Listening to his words of encouragement, I slapped myself lightly in the face and cheered myself up.
"Alright, it's not like I'm going to lose…!"
I suddenly found myself back in the studio. Everything was back to the way it was, and I could hear the beginning of the song. Hearing this, I took a deep breath and pulled my thoughts together.
You can do it… There's no way I'm going to lose to anyone… Not at the start!
My mind was clear as I suddenly knew all the moves. Looking at my younger self dancing must have jogged my memory. Not only that, he also regained my confidence to dance and taught me not to give up easily…
After the song ended, I could see that the trio's jaws slightly dropped. They were very surprised that someone who just learned their dance could nearly perfect it.
Makoto was the one to break the silence as she clapped her hands and praised me.
"Wow! That was awesome, Yuuki!"
"Yeah! You're a fast learner! Didn't you say that you haven't danced for a long time?"
"I don't know… It just happened, I guess?"
Hibiki was deep at thought after I said that. Makoto then walked over to the radio and said,
"Oh well, let's practice again, okay?"
"Okay!"
The whole evening then ended with the four of us practicing at the studio. Though the lesson was short, due to the three of them having busy schedules, but I'm sort of grateful to them for helping me to regain my passion for dancing.
After I said goodbye to the people at the agency, I boarded the train home. While on the train, I finally remembered something…
"Oh no, I need to find a way to spend a day with Kuromi and not get interfered by Ta-kun…!"
Having just remembered about it, I was deep in thought for the rest of the journey home, trying to find a way…
Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long, again. It was the same old excuse, no time, pre-university life and of course, writer's block. If you read this chapter, many of you readers would notice that in this chapter I put Yukiho in it but she was like a dummy for the rest of the chapter… I could imagine Yukiho fans chasing me… Anyways, the next chapter will see Yuuki handle a day with Kuromi (or maybe a date?) while getting away from Takumi. Look forward to it!
