(Not so much in this chapter, but in some of these, I'm forgetting a lot of punctuation rules. Blah. xP)

You and Rage left the group early that night so you would both be ready for a long Thursday of work. To your knowledge, Zero rested at Yuni's until Devil Zukin was able to walk him home.

Yuni seemed to be doing well; the healing spell that Zero was able to cast was enough to restore her to a normal state; you hoped she would take it easy for a while, at least before playing DDR again on Friday.

You noticed that Zero hadn't shown up at the hospital on Thursday. He was likely still getting rest; at least you could vaguely explain his absence if anyone asked. However, Alice didn't show up this time; you were still filled with questions as to why she needed or didn't need to come to the hospital. Would she ever tell you what was going on?

When you thought about it, you didn't mean to be nosy; you just really wanted to know her more.

You washed the large windows and noticed that it was raining heavily outside. Though the rain usually meant trouble, you knew there was nothing to worry about when Zero was free; instead of causing stress, staring at the free-falling droplets allowed you to relax a bit.

-.

On Friday, you wondered who you would see at the arcade. Was Zero well enough to attend? You also wondered if Robert would consider coming back to the arcade.

"No, thanks."

Apparently not.

"I mean, it's nice of you to invite me back, but I have stuff to do. Besides, I... just don't like playing DDR."

What? But he was so good at it! You had to ask why he didn't play more often.

"I play every now and then. But I don't like playing in a huge group. Go ahead without me."

Oh well. You knew you would probably meet Steve at the arcade; his friends at a video game party would all stop there. Aaron was... actually not at a party. Rather, he was catching up on the homework he had been neglecting for most of the semester.

"Rob! Help!"

Apparently, Robert really was a good tutor. You left the two boys alone to do homework, and you went to slack off at the arcade.

-.

You realized you hadn't practiced at all during the week; you were disappointed in yourself for not having any new DDR skills to show your friends.

But you were glad to see Zero there. You wanted to ask how he was, but you didn't want to leak any information about his trip behind the television. Surely, someone explained it to him after you and Rage left, so you assumed he would keep the secret without asking you questions.

"There was nothing."

Devil Zukin had crept right up to your ear. You jumped and she backed away afterward.

"Last night... there was static."

Nothing on the Midnight Channel? That was good; you thought, though, that if you had been a day late, it might've been too late for Zero. You were relieved that the three days you took was enough time to rescue him. You nodded, confirming you understood what she was talking about.

"For now, let's enjoy ourselves."

You thought she almost cracked a smile. Where was that coming from? It wasn't like before when she viewed the Midnight Channel as a harsh ransom note; she was looking more at the bright side. You were happy for her.

There were a few strangers on the DDR X machine. You and Zukin passed them and walked to your group of friends – Zero, Emi, Rage, Yuni, Akira, Alice, and Gus had all shown up, and they were all together at a table.

"Hey, Souji!" Emi said. "It's good to see you again, how are you?"

You said you were doing all right; you had to confess that working left you tired. You wouldn't play a lot of DDR that day.

"That's okay. You can keep Zero company; he says he's been sick."

He must not have recovered entirely; you pretended not to know anything about it.

"Yes," Zukin said with a small grin, "I had to... convince his boss to let him have a few days off."

"Convince" sounded a bit like "threaten" the way she said it.

"Just don't go getting the guy fired," Rage warned jokingly.

You continued to talk with the others. Rage spoke of his business. Yuni rambled about disliking school. Gus talked about a party he was at last Saturday. Emi happily shared the brief story of how you had lunch with her.

Your group saw that the DDR machine was left alone for a moment.

"Okay," Rage declared, "who wants to go up with me?"

"I'll go," Gus said, "we haven't gone against each other in a while. Angelic Mix rematch?"

"You're on!" Rage answered. He and Gus raced to the machine like young boys and started a round.

To get the full DDR experience, you wanted to ask someone else to DDR with you. Who hadn't you gone with, you asked yourself. Emi, Zero, Rage, Gus, Zukin... you had played side by side with all of them.

Of the three remaining people, you wanted to ask Alice the most. You didn't want to split Yuni and Akira; it was like asking a girl out in front of her protective father. Truthfully you'd rather dance with a girl than a boy, let alone an intimidating bodyguard. That said, you gathered your Courage and asked Alice to a round of DDR.

"Me? Sure, if you want," she answered. You had been afraid she would accept just to be nice, but you felt that she was genuinely happy you asked her.

You sat next to Alice and watched the DDR machine from afar, knowing that Rage and Gus still had most of the round remaining.

You couldn't explain the feeling, but you could tell that someone was staring at you. You looked behind you; while most of the others were talking and watching the guys at the machine, you barely saw Devil Zukin's eyes avert away from you. Had she been glaring at you...?

Rage and Gus challenged each others stamina to their limits. They began with what you assumed was that "Angelic Mix" song. There were several fast steps and barely any breaks in between. After the last heartbeat sound in the song, you were surprised by how they weren't tired yet. You saw Gus raise a prideful fist while Rage yelled in despair; you thought you heard Rage grumble "damn your 10 Perfects" over the noise.

The second round was some song you didn't recognize. It seemed easier than the first song, but you knew you wouldn't be able to pass it yourself. You saw Rage shake his head after the second song while Gus was ecstatic again; the latter had quite a good sense of rhythm, while Rage made carelessly timed movements, even if he was better than you.

Rage chose the last song; upon hearing the preview, you saw Gus groan over it. You thought you'd heard it before. After thinking for a while, you remembered it... Rage seriously picked Max 300? You thought he could barely pass that song!

The two men had taken off their jackets before playing the song and threw them on the floor. They played a section of the song while swinging their arms to aid the movement of their bodies, but it seemed too hard for them to play without the extra support of the bar; Gus gave into the support first, while Rage took an extra two measures of the song on foot alone before he reached for the bar behind him. All you could hear was the constant sound of feet slamming; you were too focused on which man would give out first to even hear the song blaring from the speakers. Inside, you rooted for Rage (being your closer friend who had yet to win a match against Gus) and it was perhaps the longest one and a half minutes you'd ever felt.

When the song ended, they both collapsed on the bar, as Rage did the last time he attempted the song. You knew neither of them would even focus on Perfects; they were more concerned for survival. Was that why Rage chose a hard song that he could win with stamina over an easy song that Gus would win with rhythm?

Wow... this game was making more and more sense to you.

"YES!"

Rage was still having a hard time breathing, but he punched the air while the screen showed him his final score, and he had received a letter grade of a C. Gus had a C as well, but you assumed his score was lower. Knowing their round was over, you motioned to Alice to follow you to the machine.

"Congrats," Gus told him. "I can't out-dance you after all."

"Great game," Rage told him. "All right, let's give Souji and Alice a turn."

After that performance, you were sure you were going to disappoint people. You jokingly said this to Alice.

"I don't think so," she told you. "It's nice to see people improve. Good luck."

You wished her good luck in return. You were on the left and she was on the right. You both swiped your game cards, chose the correct mode, and rested on the bar at precisely the same time. After you each set your difficulties (Basic and Expert), you looked at each other; apparently, you were both passive in song selection. You both laughed; you told Alice that you weren't familiar enough with the music to have any favorite songs yet. You asked her to pick what she wanted.

"Okay," she replied. She set her right hand on the side of the screen to lean against it and gingerly tapped the buttons and indecisively scrolled through the songs. She highlighted a song titled Trust.

"Is this okay?" she asked.

You nodded. The BPM sounded good at the time; not too fast, but a little challenging. You tapped the bar with your index finger to the beat of the song as the preview played.

It was a sweet song; something about love, probably having to do with the anime that was playing in the background. You were determined to keep up with your arrows, and while you missed a few arrows here and there, your rhythm had earned you a high B. Alice had a shiny A.

"Good job," she said. "You can pick now."

You wanted to give your song choice some thought; you asked if she could choose one more and you would pick the last one. She agreed to it and found Waiting 4 U. She had gone down to Difficult for it; you wondered if a level 6 song was too hard for you. You decided to challenge yourself and play on Basic anyway.

The speed was about the same as Trust, but there were more arrows to hit. You struggled to keep up with the song, but you managed to keep from failing. After the last step, you gulped; you shamefully received a C while Alice got another A. She could probably see your disappointment.

"It's a fast song," she consoled. "And plus, you play around level 5 anyway, don't you? You did well. Um... did you want to pick the last song, then?"

With your limited knowledge of the list, you wanted to find something you were good at to redeem yourself. You remembered playing the song will with Zero; it was only a level four and it was an enjoyable song, so you looked Alice's way after highlighting it. She smiled and nodded in approval before she went back to Expert.

After selection, you waited for the song to start. It was a very safe song for you, and you almost found yourself bored for the first few seconds. You began to swing your arms around your body a little, and you took extra steps in the middle so that you didn't lose your rhythm. You smiled to yourself upon seeing so many Perfects instead of the usual Greats.

Both of you were rewarded with the same shining A after the song ended. You looked at Alice, who was quite happy for you.

"Good job," she told you. "You seemed like you were having fun, and you got a good grade."

You complimented her straight A's. She just smiled shyly and muttered a small "thanks."

You briefly stood there and watched her jump off her side of the machine before you got off. You were motivated to get better at the game until you could play what she and everyone else played. You weren't sure where you would go with DDR, but you were more inspired to improve.

(More pointless fun to come until 'ze criminal strikes again.)