Howard's injury did not take long to recover. After two days he could walk without sticks, but he did not mention the invitation to his house. He probably forgot his promise.
Class went on and it was late May, and final exam was not far away. While teachers were finishing course material the DDR scene seemed to be quieted down.
One afternoon I and Howard are having physics class and the teacher was talking about wave vibration on a string. He showed us a string with both ends fixed on a wooden base.
"This string resembles the strings on a guitar. When I press on the string, the distance which the string can vibrate shortens and the pitch is higher. Well, I used to play guitar a lot, this reminds me about my old days…" the teacher said.
"He is talking about the time he was young. He really should know how old he is." I whispered to Howard, who is sitting beside me.
"Sure, he is a freak." Howard said quietly.
"A freak. Guitar Freak." I said.
I had a feeling that everyone in my class is looking at us. But no one knows what we are talking about.
"Nothing…." I said.
"This name sounds familiar." Howard said.
"Bemani…"
"I never think of linking Bemani with physics class. Oh yeah, coming to my house to DDR? Go call Rage and Emi." Howard interrupted.
"You finally remember our deal."
"Of course I remember, and let's hope I won't actually get hurt by playing DDR. One more thing: don't let others know."
"Why?" I asked.
"'Cause I don't want everyone rushing to my house."
"Well, DDR is not that popular here, yet."
"Anyway, go call Emi." Howard said.

"Is Emi here?" I said when I tried to find Emi.
"Oh, she is not here. May I ask who you are?" A voice which I am not familiar with answered.
"Her friends."
"DDR friends?"
"How do you know?"
"He, he. Because I know her well, I'm her sister, Amy, who works in Japan, and I'm also a DDRer." The voice said. "I'm spending a two-week vacation here. Sadly, I can't practice my DDR skill because the only DDR in this city is a 1.5 Mix, while I'm playing 3rd Mix Plus in Japan."
"So you play a lot of Bemani there?"
"Yup. DDR, DrumMania, Guitar Freak, Dance Mania X, blah, blah, blah. But I like DDR best."
"A lot of people prefer DDR in the whole Bemani series."
"Surely. Oh, Emi is back, I am handing the phone to her, hang on." Amy said.
"Hey Emi, it is Kenny."
"Hey, Kenny. What's up?"
"Howard is inviting you and Rage to his house next Friday. I'm going too." I said. "How about your sister?"
"Amy? Unfortunately she can't come because she is going back to Japan next Wednesday." Emi said.
"That's too bad."
"At least she can practice 3rd Mix Plus in Japan. We can only hop on the 1.5 in Playdium."
"Did she tell you about Bemani news in Japan?"

"A little bit. Konami is developing a dance game similar to Dance Mania X, which uses infra-red sensors to detect movement. The game is called something like ParaParaParadise." Emi said.
"What is that?"
"Amy said it is based on a dance style popular in Japan called ParaPara. But I have no clue of what that is."
"Hum… We will eventually know." I said.
"We will eventually know what it is. Anyway, I will make a call to Rage. Thanks for inviting me. See you next Friday." Emi said.

Mission objective 1 complete. Next thing to do is practice for next Friday.