I stared at the moon above, watching the clouds moving hazily through the light.

They could have just talked to me, I thought miserably, a sob breaking out my chest. I hugged Jii tighter.

No competition was worth this. I'd have given them the money. I'd have forfeited. They could have just talked to me.

"—Z!"

"Z?"

It was the twins.

I got my voice working. "...help," I called. "HELP!"

"AYAE?"

I called and kept calling. "Here! Here!"

I could hear the twin's footsteps coming toward me from opposite directions. They turned into the alleyway I was in.

I was on my back, Jii in my arms. And below both of us, a pile of crushed and leaking garbage. I had never been more thankful the Fire Capital was such a smelly place.

"Are you okay?!" Emu and En demanded, scrambling over.

"No," I sobbed miserably in teriyaki.

.

In the hotel bathroom, the twins cleaned me up. They rinsed me down with soap and water. Their first aid kit was not enough, so they had the hotel send up a bigger one.

Having taken the brunt of the fall, I had many cuts and bruises. The worst were on my back, where I had broken through a beer bottle. Emu and En had to pick the glass shards out.

"What happened?" I heard Jii groan from the bedroom.

"Bruh, you got kidnapped," Jei said.

"Again?"

"What do you mean, again?" I screeched from the bathroom. He was too not-a-ninja to be this calm!

Jii blinked slowly.

Turns out, kidnapping is just something you get used to as a kid celebrity. Rivals. Stalkers. Haters. Although back when he was a star, he had a security team to handle it. And after his fall from grace, he hadn't been worth anything for people to bother.

Jii saw me through the open bathroom door. "Are you—!" He was midway off the bed.

"I'll be okay," I said fast, not wanting him to panic. The blood made it look worse than it actually was.

"How—?"

"You got thrown off a roof," Emu explained.

"You'd be dead if your girl hadn't caught you," En said, dabbing my wound.

I whined at the pain.

"Miracle she's not dead," Jei said dryly.

"Not a miracle," the twins said.

They were right on that. One benefit to years of survival training was, well, survival.

Unless we're talking about a hundred meters off a cliff, it'd take some insane freak accident for a fall to kill me.

It wasn't me I was worried about.

Jii saw my eyes well up.

"Ayae?" he whispered.

"We could have lost you," I croaked.

The room went silent. No more needed to be said, all our feelings obvious. The twins continued bandaging my wounds. Jei patched Jii up.

After the clean up, we gathered back in the bedroom to discuss what to do.

My friends were surprised to hear that the 4th instructor could do genjutsu. Or that I knew Team 4 had been cheating with it.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jei demanded.

My shoulders lowered.

"I… didn't think it was hurting anyone," I mumbled.

It made the dance better, no different than how light or music made a dance better. The audience was enjoying it. Dori wouldn't have to get disqualified or embarrassed. And genjutsu or no genjutsu, it wasn't like the outcome of the competition would change.

And maybe Team 4 realized that too, which was why they did what they did.

I made a mistake.

Team 4 hadn't thought to talk to me, but I hadn't thought to talk to them either. Instead, I pretended everything would work out fine.

That had not been right of me. I learned that now.

It was decided. Tomorrow morning, I'd talk to them.

But tonight…

"Can I stay with you?" I asked Jii.

Jii softened. He nodded.

Emu and En were moving in with the boys too. With the finale tomorrow, we weren't taking any more risks. Jei pushed a chair against the door. I checked the windows to make sure they bolted. We called as many of their teammates as we could reach, warning them to stay inside and be careful.

Jii and I huddled close in bed. I kept Shiro's knife under my pillow.

We all agreed it was better this way, in case Team 4 attacked again.

In truth, we also just wanted a sleepover. The incident had reminded us just how little time we had, time that none of us could take for granted. And we didn't want to lose a second of it apart.

.

The next morning came.

Dori was missing.

Not only that, Team 4 forfeited.

Which meant that the final three teams would be 1, 7, and 10. Order would be decided by rock, paper, scissors.

I won. The host cheerfully announced Team 10 would go first.

"Good luck everyone! We start at noon!"

Arashi grabbed my arm and pulled me to the rest of our team.

"Ayae, we have a problem," he whispered. He noticed the bandages. "Wait, what happened to your face?"

I waved it off. "What is it?"

"Team 1," the 9th leader told me, "was very inspired by your actions yesterday."

Late last night, the 1st leader had approached Teams 3, 4, and 5 and made an alliance.

The 1st leader said it was clear the final showdown would be between Team 7 and 10. The rest of them didn't stand a chance. But if they joined forces, they could form something even better than either 7 or 10.

The 1st leader was very charismatic. She was an excellent negotiator too. It wasn't long before everyone rallied behind her. Team 4 forfeiting their spot was prearranged. 3 or 5 would have forfeited too, had they made it to the final round instead.

The 1-3-4-5 alliance spent all night in the Expo building working together to create a new dance. And from the little that my team's spies had seen, it was good.

"I'm going to be honest," Arashi said. "I don't think what we came up with will beat it."

The whole team was looking at me, helpless and hopeful.

I was their leader. Not only that, I was a protege of Ekkusu.

They all eagerly followed me on the faith that, as Ekkusu's protege, I would not lose. That I'd save them all.

No pressure!

The 1st leader was already waiting for me when I went up to her. Behind her was her alliance of dancers. Shiro was there too, avoiding my gaze.

"Come to trade times?" the 1st leader said, grinning. She saw my face and frowned. "What happen—"

I waved it off. "The prize money. Do I still get half?" I asked.

Her grin returned. "Of course. A deal is a deal." She nodded at the people behind her. "We've agreed to split the other half."

"We have more teams," I said.

"And we have more people," she countered.

Everyone looked at us, confused.

I studied her hard.

The longer I did, the more I realized just how much I had underestimated this person.

"You never had a sick team member, did you?" I asked.

When she sent her teammate over to talk to us, it had been to find out, between Arashi and myself, who was Ekkusu's protege. The person everyone expected to win. And then seal them in a deal so good that, by the last round, they'd deliver Team 1 to victory themselves.

After all, a Team 1 victory is my victory.

The 1st leader didn't hide her smugness.

"It's a pretty nice loophole in the rules, isn't it?"

I had to admit it was. I could hardly blame Team 1 for making an alliance, when they were the ones who inspired my alliance, by showing it was possible to begin with. They deserved credit for my success in the past two rounds.

"So what do you say, Ayae. Dance for us one last time? You can't get better than half."

I pouted. "Money isn't everything, you know."

When I went back to my team, everyone was holding their breaths.

I only said, "I'm going to Team 7," and beckoned them to follow me.

Jii beamed seeing me approach.

"Do you need a time trade?"

"Intel has it that Team 1 is about to kick our ass," I said.

Jii didn't miss a beat. "You want to borrow any of us?" He pocketed his hands and smiled. "I'm yours for free."

I thought about his offer.

Teacher Wai might have been right to refuse putting Jii and I on the same team.

We are too OP. After seeing all the performances, I could safely conclude… Jii and I alone could have swept this competition, and we could have done it without half a thought.

"You know nothing would make me happier than to dance on stage with you, Jii," I said, pouting. "But what happened to give the other teams a chance?"

He looked at the crowd behind me, before coyly looking back at me.

"Who says we can't have both?"

Ah. There it was. The reason I go melty for this boy.

That just left one final thing.

I found Dori.

I found her on the dome of the building, overlooking the city.

"I'm sorry," she said, without turning around. "Our instructor is not really our instructor."

He was just some vagrant Shiro found hiding on their property. He knew how to use genjutsu. He used it to lure people away while he pickpocketed or stole a few bowls of rice to survive.

He was the son of one of the madams on the property, but she didn't know he was there. Boys were not allowed in the house, so when he was a baby, she had put him in a basket with her bracelet and a letter and a lot of oranges, and threw the basket into a moving merchant carriage, hoping it would take him far, far away.

Finding him, Shiro had a plan. She fed him and cleaned him up and had the whole house convinced he was a wealthy gentleman. With his genjutsu, the house never once doubted he was wealthy, and showered him with food and hospitality. They did not object to him taking Shiro and Dori out of the house for a week.

It was assumed that by the end of the week, this wealthy gentleman would not only return with enough money to pay back the house, but enough money to take the sisters out of the house forever. Not just them, but as many of their friends as possible too.

None of them had experience with the outside world. They only performed inside shoji walls. They had no idea how vast and free a dance could actually be.

Dori turned to me, lips wobbly.

"I tried to stop her, but she never listens to me."

"It's okay," I said.

"She's not a bad person."

"I never thought she was."

Dori stared at me.

I lowered my shoulders.

"My family doesn't listen much to me either."

We hugged it out.

"Do you want to eat?"

"I'm starving," Dori cried.

.

"And for the moment you all have been waiting for," the host said to the audience. "May we present to you, TEAM 10!"

The lights shut off.

The lights went back on.

The stage was empty.

The audience stared at the empty stage for about two minutes, before the murmurs began. Thinking it was some Team 7 trick, they looked up at the scaffolding, but no dancers jumped down. There were no dancers hidden in the audience either.

"... is this abstract?"

The host sweated.

After five minutes, she stepped back up on stage.

"T-thank you, Team 10?"

There was an uncertain applause.

"Let's move on to Team 7!" the host said.

Backstage, Jii and I bumped heads. Laughing, we beckoned for the other to go first. I did, taking a sip. Jii took the straw next and also took a sip.

"Well?" asked Hashiddo, anticipating our thoughts.

"I've gotta vote on spice," Jii said.

Team 2 cheered. Team 6 made faces.

"What, no way, I think milk is better," I said.

Team 2 booed. Team 6 looked smug, some giving me a thumbs up.

"What are you doing?"

We all looked up. It was the host, red-faced and frantic.

"Comparing teas," I answered, blinking innocently. I showed her the row of cups on the floor. "Do you want to try? We're tied between spice tea or milk tea."

The host looked like her brain broke.

"You're supposed to be on stage," she told Jii. "Why aren't you performing?!"

It was Jii's turn to blink innocently. "We are."

"There's no one there."

"Exactly," Emu said.

"You like?" En said.

"It's called… futurism."

They made a rainbow with their arms.

Jei and the rest of Team 7 snickered.

The host pointed at me accusingly. "Team 10 pulled the same stunt."

Jii feigned surprise. He turned to me. "You copied us?"

I gasped dramatically. "How dare you!"

"Have you guys lost it?! Do you care about your reputation anymore? You think you'll be invited back into the community after this? The Expo. After all we've done to build up the Expo, do you know what you've done, the guests are pissed, our integrity is ruined, oh my god, my job, am I going to have a job—"

The host was hyperventilating.

The 1st leader saw the commotion on our side of the backstage and walked over. She swung an arm around the host and steadily escorted her away. "Come on, it's alright… breathe… there you go…"

"I— I—"

"Shh," the 1st leader said. "It'll be alright. Don't worry, we've got you…"

They walked off.

The rest of Team 1 accompanied them, as did 3, 4, and 5.

To the host's relief, at least one of the teams didn't go mad.

When Team 1 was up, the 1st leader walked on stage, accompanied by their alliance.

I fully supported her win.

Last night, she had done what I should have been doing all along. She had gathered the remaining teams. She had talked to Team 4. She had given them hope, after I had taken it away.

We were all friends. It was the 1st leader who had said these words. She was the one who had called the dance off. She was the one who had invited everyone to food and karaoke.

It was her planting those initial seeds that made all our collaboration possible.

And for that, she had my respect.

Seeing dancers on stage again, the audience uneasily went back into their seats. The judges begrudgingly picked up their clipboards. They jolted, one of them dropping theirs.

A sword had shot down midstage.

I stood tiptoe on the sword hilt, peering down at the 1st leader, pointing my other sword at her.

The back curtain fell.

It revealed Jii, tossing up and down his cans of spray paint. Dancers were gathering behind him, just as dancers were gathering behind me.

Very soon, we had three separate crowds.

The 1st leader, Jii, and I exchanged looks with one another.

Off stage, we were all friends. But on stage…

On stage

We'd give them exactly what they wanted to see.

I leaped, taking my other sword with me. Flipping both, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "CHALLENGE!"

And the lights went sharp, the music on.

The thing about a dance off, I learned, is that it's more than a fun game.

It was more than a dare.

It was a summoning.

No one in the audience had ever seen anything like this before. No script, no choreography, just pure madness. The madness that was sixty dancers pitted against each other, all with no choice but to raise their arms and dance.

But wasn't that what they wanted?

To see us pitted against each other?

When they invited twelve teams but accepted only one winner?

The clash of the best and brightest around the world, to show off which country was superior, which country ruled the rest.

But things had changed since the day Jii and I first faced off. We were no longer strangers but friends, who had danced together a thousand times, who recognized each other's beats as well as our own. Our styles already blended, as we crossed, and he snatched one of my swords, and I snatched one of his paint cans.

And metal was clanking, and red was dripping off our bodies, and at some point, we went from dancing at each other to dancing with each other, and by all of heaven, it was one of the best dances I'd ever had in my life, because it was not a dance for the audience but a dance for us.

And I was laughing, but also crying, because the song was reaching its end. We were reaching our end.

And when the last beat dropped, so did all our bodies.

.

Teacher Ekkusu received many compliments over his latest protege.

The girl who set the world on fire.

The girl who resurrected the dead.

The girl who declared war.

Mr. Toru from the restaurant was right. It ended up a trilogy after all. But lying at the center of arena, staring at the domed ceiling, I had to say... it felt less like an apocalypse and more like a revelation.