Team 1 won.
Or better said, we won.
We gave the world the best dance we had, and everyone got a piece of the prize money, even the tech and cleaning crew. And it was a victory not decided by the judges, not by the audience, but by us.
At the end of the competition was an afterparty. It was both a celebration and a chance to greet the patrons.
For the occasion, I was given a special kimono to wear. In awe, I eagerly spread my arms and let the costume people put in on me. Then a hairdresser helped style my hair, making sure to add plenty to pretty clips.
When they were done, I held my breath.
I…
I…
"Damn it!" I cried.
The costume people jumped. "What's wrong, what's wrong?"
I turned to them with puppy eyes. "My daddy isn't here to see this."
They collapsed.
One of the costumers assured me that I'd have many more performances ahead of me, and this wouldn't be my first time in such a kimono. I relaxed a bit hearing this.
"Is she ready?"
Waiting outside the dressing room was Teacher Ekkusu. He was in a fancy kimono like mine.
Seeing him, the costume people blushed. They nodded frantically, pushing me toward him.
Pleased, Teacher Ekkusu led me to the afterparty.
The afterparty was in a very fancy building. Each of the teams and their instructors were let inside. As we entered, they announced our names. The people inside clapped.
My eyes widened at all the fancy-looking people and fancy-looking food. I ooh'ed and ahh'ed seeing all the trays of colorful food being carried.
I heard Teacher Wai's name getting called. Turning around, I saw Team 7 enter.
They were also dressed beautifully, but their kimono looked different. While ours were folded over across the chest, theirs were not. And while our sleeves were very billowy and loose, their sleeves were tight-fitting.
All of the teams wore a different style.
Team 1 wore high collared suits fixed together by rope buttons. Their silk was embroidered, as bold and patterned as their tattoos.
Team 9 also went with suits, but had high boots and colorful sashes fastened around their waists.
Team 4 had wrap-around skirts that swept the floor and long translucent silk hanging from their arms, drifting behind them like ribbons.
Arashi had a majestic shawl over his robes and a decorative headwrap.
Teacher Ekkusu noticed my awe.
He gave me a light pat on the back. I had his encouragement to wander off.
Beaming, I did.
I circled around the tables and waiters, sniffing around and snatching whatever looked like a good snack.
My Kurohyou friends saw me. The twins ran up, cheery.
"Ayae, have you tried this yet?" they asked.
"Very good."
"So good."
I saw the plate the twins were holding. I paled.
"U-um, that's takoyaki."
"Yeah?" Emu said, popping another ball into her mouth.
"So good," En repeated, mesmerized.
"Takoyaki is… o-octopus," I stammered.
They spat.
The twins looked at the plate, then each other. Horrified, they ran to the bathrooms.
The boys arrived shortly after, both very handsome.
"Where did M and N go?" Jei asked.
"Bathroom. Don't eat the round things," I warned.
I caught Jii looking at me.
Warm and fuzzy, I went into poses, giving my outfit a little spin. "Well? Well? What do you think?"
"I thought I was on compliments time-out," Jii said.
"Today's an exception!"
He wasted no time. "You're wonderful. You're spectacular. You're proof I'm not still locked up, inside some drug-induced dream, because you go beyond anything I can make up."
My blush reached my neck.
Ah.
I was expecting him to say "cute hair clips" or something.
Jii smiled warmly. "I feel like the luckiest guy, that I can say things that make you blush."
"Okay, back in time-out," Jei and I said, dizzy.
That smile was too powerful.
I was excited to explore the place with my friends, thinking we'd have a fun adventure snatching lots of yummy food along the way. This was, afterall, supposed to be our celebration.
But immediately, we were stopped by a patron. She had seen Jii and was fascinated by him. One patron quickly turned into a dozen. Soon there was not a single patron who wasn't vying for his attention.
I was popular too. As soon as people recognized me, the crowd around me grew and grew.
I thought I would love the attention. I loved to brag about myself. But I realized it felt different when strangers bragged about me, especially when they were bragging about all the wrong things.
Then came the barrage of fancy talk and big words. By the time they started asking me about "futurism" and "symbolic representation", I was sweating rivers.
"Oh, 10th leader."
I turned around. It was the 9th leader.
He smiled mildly, his arms folded behind his back. "This old man can do with some outside air. Do you mind…"
"Ah!"
I went to escort the 9th leader, leaving behind the disappointed crowd.
"Thank you," I cried in relief.
"The least I could do," he said pleasantly.
We went to the balconies. I walked him to one of the benches.
We sat down. It was late enough into the evening that the sun was setting but early enough that it was still warm.
"There's a confession I have to make," the 9th leader said.
"Hm? What is it?"
"I may not have been entirely true in my story to you. Don't be alarmed, most of it is. But regarding the money…"
I swung my feet. "Let me guess, you're not using the money to pay off some nice, reasonable businessmen?"
"You knew?"
"I've been taught how to tell when someone is lying," I said.
"You've been taught very well."
"I grew up around professionals."
The 9th leader found me amusing.
"I was much more naive at your age," he said. "It took me much longer to pick out the liars."
"Like those businessmen?"
"Like those businessmen," he agreed.
Those businessmen had known about the pollution. They'd happily take money from the villagers, but it wasn't going to make them stop what they were doing. It would have to be up to the villagers to make them stop.
Or rather, hire someone to make them stop.
And there was only one type of "professional" who came with that high of a price tag.
I was quiet.
"Do you want to hear a professional opinion… from not-a-professional?" I asked.
"I am all ears."
"Stay away from ninjas."
The 9th leader waited.
"They obey the highest bidder. Yes, they might take the job. But if there is someone who offers to pay more, they're also not above…"
I couldn't finish.
All I could see were burned fields and flooded streets, people huddled together as they watched the shadow of a child walk past by, blood dripping off his katana.
"Removing an inconvenient village?" the 9th leader finished for me.
I nodded.
He thought over my words.
"Then dear 10th, what would you propose?"
From my Kurohyou friends, I knew living in Konoha had messed me up… quite a lot. But at the same time…
It was through living in Konoha that I was able to catch Jii in time.
It was through living in Konoha that when the 9th leader asked me that, I wasn't staring at him like a helpless child.
Years upon years of military strategies came back to me, my hand twitching for a pencil. The 9th leader had asked me nothing more than a homework question.
"Explosive powder," I answered. I turned to him. "Sorry, black powder. It's the stuff in fireworks. Don't blow up the factory directly. That'll be too suspicious. Go upstream. Way more upstream."
He realized what I was saying.
"Divert the stream."
I nodded.
"Split the stream in two. Direct the contaminated one to a dead end. Direct the clean one to the villages. Then slowly restrict the flow going towards the factory. Do it right before each dry season. If they're not too smart, they'll think it's natural."
I paused.
"If you ask very nicely, I'm sure there are thieves who'd be happy to rob the businessmen too. I've always been told bandits are bad, but my world went topsy-turvy last month, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were the heroes all along. Just make sure they steal very thoroughly, so the businessmen don't have power left to retaliate."
The 9th leader laughed.
"And here I thought 8th was the vicious one."
"Arashi? He cooks and sews and babysits for his four siblings. He's a kitty."
I sensed someone coming to the door. I looked up.
It was the 1st leader.
"I can come back at a later time," the 1st leader said, seeing I had company.
The 9th leader stood up. "No need. The 10th has been more than generous in entertaining this old man." He smiled at me, eyes twinkling. "May your kindness return upon you tenfold."
The 1st rubbed her neck.
After the 9th left, the 1st approached me.
"I've done as you asked and gave your portion of the prize to Team 4."
I glanced at the doorway, where Shiro thought she was hidden away from me.
"Do you mind giving them something else?" I asked.
The 1st raised an eyebrow when I showed her the fruit knife.
"I, um, borrowed it for an apple."
"You're a terrible liar."
I pouted. "I'm not trying."
It wasn't like everyone hadn't already pieced it together, when Jii and I both showed up in the morning covered in bandages. And Team 4 hadn't been exactly the best at not acting totally suspicious.
The 1st leader took the knife. She looked at me curiously.
"Usually I never ask this question, but… what would you have done with the prize money?"
I didn't hesitate. "Tarps."
"What."
I explained the stupid laws of the Fire Capital. The 1st leader listened, getting just as worked up as I was.
"What. Your country is like that?" she demanded.
"Not all of it, but apparently this place, yes!"
"The government not only not give people homes, they don't let other people give people homes?!"
"IT'S SO STUPID!"
"And I thought the Earth Capital had problems. Wow." The 1st leader paused. "Wait, is that why there's also garbage just out on the streets?"
"I think that's something else," I said miserably.
The 1st leader was reeling.
"Well, I guess this barely hurts now," she said. From her inner coat pocket, she pulled out a stack of money.
My eyes widened.
It was her own portion of the prize. She was sharing half of it with me.
"Take it before I change my mind. I'm notoriously stingy."
I still hesitated. "What were you…?"
"Don't worry, I don't have a sob story like the rest of you. My girlfriend's just going to kick me out if I come back without money. Again." She dropped the money on my lap. "Get your foster family some stupid tarps."
Grinning, she turned and peaced out.
I watched her go, my shoulders lowering.
The 1st leader really was kind.
.
When I went back indoors, I ducked behind tables to avoid catching the attention of the patrons again. Good thing I was small.
As I made my way around, I noticed Arashi chatting with Jei at one of the tables.
"... where you're wrong," Arashi said. "Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't."
"Well it's not going to be me," Jei grumbled, picking at his plate.
Arashi raised an eyebrow. "And who's at fault for that?"
"Hi!"
Jei jumped.
Arashi nearly spilled his drink.
"Damn, why you sneaking like that!" Jei demanded.
"They keep asking me about the future-whatawhat," I whined, squeezing myself into their conversation. "Please hide me."
"Tired of the fame already, I see," Arashi said.
Both Arashi and Jei shifted so they shielded me from any outside gazes.
Seeing the food on their plates, I realized I hadn't had a chance to eat. I eyed my friends pleadingly.
Jei was done anyway. He slid his leftovers to me. I cheered.
"So what are you guys talking about?" I asked, munching happily.
"Your boyfriend," Arashi said. He ignored the noise Jei made. "Entertain me, Ayae. How long have you two been dating?"
"Jii?" I beamed. "About a month!"
I paused.
Wait.
"Exactly a month!" I said, getting giddy. "It's our anniversary! Our month…iversary!"
"And how long have you known him?"
"A month and seven days!"
Arashi closed his mouth. He mumbled something under his breath.
"Huh?" I leaned in closer.
He waved me off. "Nothing. Thank you. I'm asking because our friend here needs dating advice, and I figure we might as well listen to the one person at this table with, you know, the actual boyfriend."
I turned to Jei. "You like someone?"
Jei had a hand over his face. "I hate you," he told Arashi.
"Get in line," Arashi said, unfazed.
"Who! Who!" I asked, excited. It felt like ages since I had gossipy talk with my friends back home. I didn't realize how much I missed it.
"Isn't it obvious?" Jei hissed, still hiding his face.
"I know them?" I blinked. I realized. "Are they a dancer? Are they here?"
Jei refused to say anything, only made a noise and looked away even harder. It was his answer of yes, now stop being so loud. I lowered my voice.
"Do I get a hint," I whispered seriously.
"No," Arashi said, just to be mean.
I pouted.
I looked around the room and decided to go with the process of elimination. It wasn't Arashi. Not Team 9… not Team 12…
I counted back and forth on my fingers, getting stumped, and then tried counting again.
Finally, I sat upright.
"I got it!"
Arashi and Jei held their breaths.
"It's Teacher Wai!"
They collapsed.
I shrunk. "No?"
"How on earth did you get to that?" Jei was too baffled to avoid me anymore.
"Well, she's pretty, and you speak about her nicely, and you smoothed things out with her when Jii was in a coma, and I know Jii has a crush on Teacher Ekkusu, so I thought it'd be cute if you have a crush on Teacher Wai, to, you know, balance it out. Oh! And she's too old for you, so that's the reason you're mopey."
I really thought I had nailed it.
"Z has a crush on X?" Jei demanded.
Arashi rolled his eyes. "Everyone has a crush on Ekks."
"Jei," I said, staring at him like he was dumb. "Teacher Ekkusu is Jii's biggest idol. You know that."
"But not idol as id—!"
Jei looked like he had a moment of dawning realization.
"It's called selective obliviousness," Arashi said, pretending to file his nails. "Happens to the best of us."
Jei gave in.
"It's Z, Ayae. I like Z. I've always… sort of… liked… him." He winced.
I stopped mid-bite.
Jei couldn't face me, staring intensely at a corner of the room.
"As our friend, you deserve to know," he mumbled. "But it's no big deal, alright? Z doesn't like me like that—"
"Not true."
"—so don't freak..." Jei had turned around to meet my gaze. "... out."
He stared at me.
"What'd you say?"
I lowered my chopsticks.
"That's not true," I repeated. I smiled warmly. "He likes you, Jei. A lot, a lot. He lets you take care of him. And support him. And even dress him. He keeps saying how you're a good person, how you saved his life, how grateful he is to have you—"
"As a friend," Jei said, exasperated, untensing.
"Only because you don't let him be anything different."
Jei saw I wasn't confused.
He tensed back up again.
"What? No. No. Z isn't an idiot. He can't not know about my feelings. If he returned them, he'd have asked me out."
I raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to go out with him?"
It was a yes or no question. But Jei couldn't answer it. His words weren't words. He looked like he wanted to jump out of this conversation, taking his chair with him.
"You're with him," he said lamely.
"So?"
I grinned maliciously.
And that was when Jei realized I was his worst nightmare.
"I don't own him, silly." I giggled. "Dating me doesn't stop him from dating you. No more than befriending you has stopped him from befriending me. Come on, let's go ask him out right now. Even if we're wrong, I can't imagine he'll take it badly."
This was Jii we were talking about. That boy had asked out dozens of people. He had been asked out by dozens more. If there was anyone we trusted to react very sensibly to a date request, it was him.
I knew I had called out on Jei's bluff.
When it was clear he would rather melt into his chair than approach Jii, I looked smugly at Arashi.
"Jei doesn't need dating advice, Arashi. He likes Jii, but he doesn't want to date him. Not yet, anyway."
Done, I went back to my plate.
Arashi raised an eyebrow, looking impressed.
"Well then. That's one way to settle things." Arashi picked back up his glass.
We waited for Jei to come around. He needed time, overwhelmed by everything he had just heard. Finally he groaned, burying himself in his arms.
"There's something wrong with me."
"There's nothing wrong with not wanting to date your best friend," Arashi scolded.
Jei clutched his head. "I'm a coward."
"You're twelve," Arashi deadpanned.
Jei jerked a thumb in my direction. "She's twelve."
"She's a complete weirdo."
If my mouth weren't too full of tuna, I'd protest that.
"I've never seen anyone just hopscotch through life the way she does," Arashi said dryly.
"Z doesn't have this problem either. He's had girls since we were, like, seven."
"Takes a weirdo to date a weirdo." Arashi didn't let Jei interrupt. "I hate to break this to you, but your friends are emotional prodigies. Regular people don't just throw their hearts out in the open like a handball. No, they sit with their feelings, and stew, and overthink, and angst, and write bad poetry, and do everything to get in our own way. Because most people. Aren't ready. To date. At twelve. Most people aren't ready at twenty. Some won't be ready at two hundred. And that's okay. You're scared? News flash, the world is terrifying. You're confused? Well, no one's explained anything to us. You're fine. Sit down."
I sweated. Arashi looked like he had dealt with a lot of people like Jei before. His advice wasn't bad.
"Do you date, Arashi?" I asked.
Arashi made a face. "That's disgusting. Sorry, but I've blueprinted out my future, and my mansion is only sufficiently spaced for me, my summer scarf collection, and three parakeets."
"So like a spinster!"
"Excuse you, spinster uncle. I'm not that antisocial."
Arashi and I chatted more. At some point, we moved on to fashion, and Jei bounced back a bit.
Arashi had a lot of respect for Jei's designs. Jei was pleasantly surprised that someone appreciated his work, and even noticed all the details he put into it. They talked a lot about colors, and fabric, and took turns insulting the "amateurs".
In the end, they exchanged contact information. Arashi said that after he built his school, they would need outfits. No way were they going to be démodé.
After Arashi left, Jei looked back at me, half glum, half hopeful.
"So Z… actually likes me? You know that for sure?"
I opened my mouth.
Then I closed it.
I twiddled my thumbs.
"So, I don't know about Kurohyou, but where I'm from, if someone happens to know you like them… and they still let you look out for them when they're in danger… and let you take care of them when they're injured… and let you gift them fancy homemade jewelry that they then wear every day… and aren't exactly uncomfortable by all your favors… or in any real rush to pay you back for your favors… it means, yes, they like you, and are probably not going to say no if you ask them out on a mochi date…"
Jei relaxed, looking warm and glowy.
"... on the condition that you let them do things for you too."
He furrowed his brows. "What?"
I looked up.
"Well I noticed you are always there to help Jii, but you don't ever ask for anything back. You wall off and try to figure out everything by yourself. Jii cares about equality more than anything. I can't see him being okay with just receiving and never giving. I can't see him ever agreeing to one-sided love."
I shrugged. "That's what I think, anyway. But I'll bet a lifetime of laundry I'm not wrong."
Jii was a very open person. Just ask, and he'd show his scars and bare his wrists. I'd have to really not be paying attention, if after a whole month with this boy, I still didn't know his person or his heart.
.
