day 20 - dancing

When they arrived, the party was already loud and crowded. They didn't know anyone there, though they kept thinking they saw familiar faces, of actresses or singers or people from advertisements. It was getting dark, however, and it was difficult to tell.

Kano vanished almost as soon as they entered, and when Kido noticed, her eyes went dark. "He's causing trouble."

They didn't have to ask how she knew.

Seto and Mary watched her disappear into the crowd, on the lookout for the smaller boy, and wondered if they should help look too. But, well, Mary was never as good at seeing through Kano's ability as the other two were, and it just didn't seem worth it.

Besides, whatever Kano did, they'd probably hear about it later.

"Ah, you probably want to find Momo, right?" Seto asked, rocking up on his toes to see over the crowd. He knew how close the two girls were, and he knew it would make Momo's day to see that they'd come.

Mary nodded, but try as Seto might he couldn't see her orange curls in the crowd of people. He rocked back down, shaking his head. "I can't find her," he said, "but maybe she'll find us?"

It seemed likely enough. In the meantime there was someone approaching them, a teenage girl with warm brown eyes. Her dress was a pale pink color, and a similar color brightened her cheeks as she asked, "you look familiar… have I seen you in something?"

Seto looked at Mary in confusion. She rarely even ventured out into public, let alone getting caught on camera. She made a face, and he realized with a shock that the girl was talking to him. "A-ah! No, you've got it wrong, we're just friends of Kisaragi's."

A dimple appeared in one cheek, and he wondered if she'd known all along they didn't belong here. An anxious feeling was growing in his stomach, one he remembered from being young. Was she making fun of them? But he stomped it down. He wouldn't let any sort of anxiety get in the way of meeting new people and making friends.

"Ah, my mistake," she said, laughing lightly, but she didn't seem to be looking down on them. Instead, she held out her hand. "In that case, should I show you around? I've been looking for someone to dance with just now."

Seto felt Mary's hand on the edge of his sleeve, but he didn't need it to know he shouldn't leave her behind in a strange place. "Maybe another time," he replied with an apologetic smile, "I actually think we were gonna go dance probably? Right?" He didn't actually wait for Mary to answer as he took her hand and wove his way through the other partygoers.

When they stopped, he felt a bit silly for getting out of there so fast. "Sorry," he said, "I don't know what it was about her…"

But Mary was peering up at him, a tiny frown on her face. "Did you make it up? Or are we going to dance?"

He flushed, realizing suddenly that he didn't know how to dance. Most likely, Mary didn't know either, growing up where she had. He guessed the two of them were pretty uncultured.

"I don't know any steps," he confessed to her. Her face fell, and she looked down at the ground. The sight was a little strange; her childish face as she pouted and didn't meet his eyes, matched with the too-mature dress and hairstyle that someone else had come up with her. He couldn't let her down. "We'll make it up as we go along," he said, taking her hand again.

Beaming, she followed him out to where everyone else was dancing. It took them a second to figure out where hands went— hers on his shoulder felt wrong, with his height, but they managed. And that was fine, for awhile. But then they figured out twirling.

Seto was fairly sure no normal dance contained this much twirling, but it was fun, and when he spun her around she laughed and her hair fanned through the air around her. People were probably staring, but neither of them could bring themselves to care.