Chapter 62- Learning About the Dance- Arisa

I walked up onto the upper level of the training arena, to find Kanda meditating. My heartbeat quickened as I saw him. I walked over to him, and sat down.

"What do you want, Freak?" He asked, not opening his eyes.

"I just wanted to get away from everyone for a while," I confessed. "Cross and Allen are driving me insane with their fights."

"You'll learn to ignore it," Kanda said. "So why did you come up here?"

"I like places that not many people think about," I said. "I guess you're the same when it comes to that. Do you always meditate here?"

"No," He said. "I came up here to get away from Alma. He's my friend, but he's driving me insane. I can barely get a minute away from him."

"He's comfortable around you," I said. "You remember how Lenalee was with me when we were younger. She hardly ever left me alone."

Kanda sighed. "You're not going to shut up, are you?"

"Nope," I said, smiling. He sighed again, and opened his eyes. He looked at me.

"Alma seems to be comfortable around you," He said.

I shrugged. "I think that's because we're in General Mana's team. We've spent a lot of time together."

"He gets annoying, doesn't he?" Kanda asked.

"He reminds me of Daisya," I said with a laugh.

"You, Alma, and Lenalee all remind me of Daisya," He mumbled. "Did she tell you that Daisya proposed to her?"

"What?" I asked. "Daisya proposed to Lenalee? When?"

"About a year ago," He explained. "It was the last day that they saw each other. Neither of them noticed me, but I was there for the entire conversation."

"Let me guess," I muttered. "You almost beat Daisya to a pulp after that." The slight smile on his face told e his answer. "You're a horrible person!" I exclaimed.

I heard two people laughing, and I stopped talking. Kanda and I looked over the edge of our little platform just as Miranda and Marie entered. They were talking and laughing. I truthfully didn't pay attention to that. My eyes were glued to the fact that they were holding hands.

I smiled, and looked at Kanda. He simply rolled his eyes, and put a finger to his lips. We both knew that that wouldn't help, because of Marie's super hearing. Still, we stayed quiet. I saw Allen, Lenalee, Alma, Johnny, and Timothy peek in from a doorway. Lenalee's eyes opened wide. Suddenly, her gaze left Marie and Miranda, and traveled up to Kanda and me, I put a finger to my mouth, and slightly shook my head. I started to sign to her.

"Stay quiet! We don't want them to know we're up here!" I signed.

Allen and Johnny's mouths opened in surprise, and Alma's face went into a confused look. Timothy looked disgusted. I looked down, to see that Marie and Miranda were kissing.

Someone started to clap, and the two of them broke apart, blushing wildly. All of the generals and Link came out from behind pillars and doorways. Klaud was laughing. She wrapped her arm around Miranda's shoulders and said, "How long has this been going on?"

Lenalee ran up to them, and hugged them both. "Finally! Now I don't need to bug you about your bad self- confidence, Marie!"

"Lenalee, be quiet," Marie said.

"You're one to talk!" Kanda called down. Everyone looked up, startled. "You're always bugging me about my self- esteem!"

"Why are you two up there alone?" Allen asked.

"We were talking," I said. Allen started to glare at Kanda. "Don't start getting over-protected, Allen! We hate each other! We were only talking because we both wanted time away from others, but we both went to the same spot."

Allen mumbled something incoherent, and Lenalee whacked him on the head, and started to scold him.

I chuckled, and jumped down. Alma caught me in princess style. He then dropped me, and I fell onto the ground.

"That was rude," Mana said.

Alma shrugged. "I'm in a rude mood today."

"Mana, we're doomed if we have to go on a mission with him," I said.

The general sighed, and pulled me to my feet. I jumped back with a yelp as Kanda landed next to me. I lost my balance, and fell to the ground again. Everyone started to laugh.

"Do you need help up?" Lenalee asked.

I shook my head. "I'm going to stay down here. I think I'm safer down here."

"You're going to get trampled," Allen said.

"Hopefully, I won't," I said.

"What's going on in here?" I heard Komui ask.

I leaned backwards, and fell onto my back. Everyone chuckled. Komui and Rever looked at me with cocked heads.

"Hi," I said.

"Are you pretending to be Daisya?" Rever asked. "Because if you are, you're not doing it well. Daisya's a lot more crazy."
"I'm not trying to be him," I said. "I'm just in a goofy mood."

Rever nodded slowly, eyeing me with a confused look. "You're worrying me."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you're acting strange," He said. "You normally don't act like this."

"We can worry about her acting strange later," Komui said. "We have more important matters to discuss."

"Oh, so me acting weird is not important?" I asked. "Gee, thanks, Komui! I don't feel loved anymore!"
"Arisa, shut up," Kanda said.

"I pointed to him. "You used my real name! You're acting different too! There must have been something strange in the air up there. Nobody breathe!" I covered my mouth and nose with my hands, and held my breath.

"Maybe she'll pass out this way," Alma said. "At least she'll be quiet."

I glared at him. "You're mean!"

"Will you all just be quiet for five minutes?" Komui asked. "This won't take long!"

We all went silent, and stared at Komui. He sighed, and looked at his notebook. "In three weeks from today, we will be hosting a dance."

There was a collective groan from a lot of us. Allen, Alma, Timothy, Miranda, and Mana all looked around, obviously confused.

"All of you exorcists must attend," Komui said. Another groan. "There will be a meet-and-greet, and then all of you will stand on a stage, and you will be introduced as the people who are fighting for the world. We will sort out the order of appearances later. Are there any questions?"

"Why do we have to go?" Kanda asked.

"Because the people want to know who is fighting for them," Komui said. "Are there any other questions?"

"Why was everyone groaning?" Allen asked.

"Because dances are annoying!" I exclaimed. "The one night we get off every three years, we're stuck at a dance."

"You love to dance!" Rever exclaimed. "Why are you not excited for this?"
"Because it's 'improper' to dance the way I do," I said, using my fingers as quotation marks at the word "improper". "I can only waltz or ballroom dance at those events, and that isn't as fun as just dancing for the sake of dancing."

"Well, too bad," Komui. "It's only a few hours, then you'll have the rest of the day to do whatever it is you exorcists do." He walked out of the room, and Rever followed him.

"I don't get a hug?" Lenalee asked.

"Komui, get back here!" I yelled after the supervisor. He didn't hear me.

Johnny sighed. "I guess I'll go design the outfits for the dance." He trudged out of the room.

"Poor Johnny," I said. "I hope he won't get lonely."

"Johnny likes to work alone," Lenalee said. "When he's designing, he can't think if there's others around him. He may come out to ask some questions about colors and what not, but he won't come out any other time."

She walked over to me, and held out a hand to help me up. I shook my head. "The floor's comfy."

A bunch of our golems beeped. "Will Arisa Lane, Yuu Kanda, Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee, and General Socalo please come to Supervisor Komui's office for your mission."

I groaned. "I don't wanna get up! That involves moving!"

Kanda and Allen hulled me to my feet. I intentionally fell into Allen. "My legs aren't working."

"I'll beat you all if you don't get a move on," General Socalo grumbled.

I poked Allen in the arm. "Tag, you're it." I ran off.

Allen didn't chase me. Instead, he just looked at me like I was crazy- which I was. After a minute, he started to walk after me. Lenalee and Kanda followed him, talking, and General Socalo followed them.

I wasn't thrilled about going on a mission with the scary general, but I knew that it was going to happen someday. It may as well happen now.

Lenalee and Kanda passed me, and I heard Lenalee say, 'I miss Daisya."

I felt all of my energy leave my body, and my heart sank. It was Daisya's birthday, wasn't it? The thought of my friend being dead made me sad. I held back tears.

"Are you all right?" Allen asked.

I nodded. "I'm just thinking about Daisya."

"What was he like in your point of view?" Allen asked.

I chuckle. "He was a really interesting guy." I started telling my little brother about Daisya.