“…I want the tuna.”
“Right! Can you do it, then? Dance! Dance for the sake of tuna!”
“…Maybe…if it’s with Erio and the others…I could…try.”
After a long silence, Shiika finally nodded.
And so we decided to produce a dance video for the final exam. But to be honest, I couldn’t even say we were at the starting line. There were too many obstacles we still had to overcome. How could uncoordinated Shiika, and Shibuya and Komae, whose disciplines weren’t in dance at all, compete against Ryan Sengoku and company, who specialized in dance?
In this kind of situation, we couldn’t rely on Shiika’s inherent talents, and it seemed to me like my work as a manager was about to get a heck of a lot more difficult. The thought plunged me into despair. This is a story in which Shiika is the main character, after all, so we don’t want side characters like myself dominating the scene too much, now, do we?
But still, this was for the sake of my dear little sister. So I was just going to have to do my best.
Even after eating lunch, we still had time until our afternoon classes. We separated, some of us going to the bathroom or the library or wherever. Shiika and I wandered around the school with nowhere to go, until we finally decided to go out into the courtyard.
Gone are the days when we shut-in vampires were weak to direct sunlight. Shiika and I had regained some of our social skills enough to be able to enjoy a little sun-basking on days when the weather was pleasant.
Shiika sat on a bench looking like a soft plush toy, and I kept one eye on her as I gazed at the sky, wondering what, indeed, we were going to do.
Dance. That was the crux of the issue here.
How could uncoordinated, unfit Shiika compete against individuals who were great at dancing?
Shiika was sunbathing, and judging by her relaxed expression, it didn’t seem like she was thinking about anything. Maybe because she trusted me and just left everything to me. But because of that, she lacked a sense of danger, even when it directly involved her. She was as nonchalant as ever, in fact.
Ah, this was an insurmountable hurdle. I just wanted to go home and sleep.
“Hmm?”
Gazing into the distance, hoping for some sweet escapism, I noticed a group of students in one corner of the courtyard who seemed oddly excited about something.
What’s going on over there? I wondered, approaching the crowd.
The audience was gazing at a scene that would look highly abnormal in a regular school, but here at Ryouran High, it was par for the course.
Female students having a dance-off.
Two female students danced to the lively tempo music as if they were surfing a wave of sound and were enjoying the heck out of it.
The loud music flowed from a phone and a pair of speakers placed on the grass.
The students clustered around the dancers also seemed to be moving to the rhythm.
I recognized one face: Tatsuki Ootsuka.
The star student among the first-years in the Dance Department. She takes the same hip-hop music class as me and Shiika.
She had uploaded a dance performance to the song we had posted to Impachi Live—the one Komae had provided—and that had really given us a boost.
I’d seen Tatsuki Ootsuka’s dancing a few times on videos and streams. Being an amateur myself, I couldn’t speak to her technique, but her movements had a polished crispness to them.
But this was the first time I’d seen her seriously dancing in person.
There was so much to her dancing that couldn’t be conveyed via visual media, and I was captivated.
She had…a kind of heat.
A heat that could compete even with the sultry heat of summer. Like a sun, radiating passion around her.
And dynamism.
Sweat glistened on her skin. Her body twisted fluidly this way and that. The ground was like a trampoline beneath her feet. She was like an alien who lived on a planet with a gravity totally unlike our own.
Ootsuka in the flesh was a hundred times more dazzling than she was on video.
Both girls were dancing to the same track, but the audience seemed to understand how superior Ootsuka’s performance was to that of her opponent… And Ootsuka herself seemed to be enjoying the battle. She wore a wide grin of pure joy.
Then she sprang into a headstand, her body floating in the air, supporting her weight with only her hands and neck against the ground. She paused for a moment, then jumped up with momentum and did a backflip. Unable to keep up with Ootsuka’s acrobatic moves, the student she was battling against lost her balance and fell to the ground.
“Yeek!”
“…”
For a moment, Ootsuka turned her attention to her fallen opponent. But she quickly returned to her own performance without losing focus.
As the song began to reach its climax, the audience’s enthusiasm surged.
And a grand finale.
Ootsuka struck a flashy pose, landing on her feet with style, just when the music ended.
“““…”””
“““…YEAAAHHH!!!”””
A moment of silence always precedes thunderous applause. It rang out across the courtyard.
“Hee-hee! Thanks, everyone! Yay!”
Where did she find the energy, after that kind of vigorous dancing? Ootsuka, dripping with sweat, waved to the crowd and swung her arms, her movements an explosion of pure joy.
Then she trotted over to her opponent, who’d eaten dirt in the middle of their bout, and offered her a hand with zero hesitation.
“I guess I won this time! But let’s have a battle again soon, okay?”
“S-sure… You really are amazing, Ootsuka…”
“I am, aren’t I? My dancing is just next-level, isn’t it?”
“Eh-heh-heh… If it was anyone else, that would sound arrogant, but you, Ootsuka… You’re just speaking facts.”
“Yes, you know it!”
Ootsuka laughed, throwing a devil’s horns sign.
Her self-confidence was stunning. She had the ability to back it up, too, and a bright personality without any dark traits. She seemed so well-balanced. But like I said, this was just my amateur assessment.
“Dancing…”
“Ack! Shiika?! When did you sneak up behind me?”
“I was drawn by a beautiful sound…”
Shiika, who’d been baking in the sun on the bench just a little while before, was now in front of me, nestled against my chest.
“Oh! Hey, it’s Shi!”
“Gah. She’s seen us.”
Seeing us hiding in the crowd, Ootsuka yelled and pointed right at us. Of course, the other students all turned to look at us. In the spotlight all of a sudden, Shiika trembled.
“Ah, uh… Um… Gak… Human shield, human shield.”
“Huh?! What are you hiding for?”
Ootsuka came barreling over and seemed taken aback to see Shiika hiding behind me.
I sighed heavily.
“My sister’s really shy. Unlike you.”
“What? But Shi and I are friends!”
“Shiika only opens her heart behind closed doors…”
“Oh! I didn’t realize there were those sorts of restrictions. Seriously?!”
Ootsuka slapped her thighs, as if to say that thought never occurred to her.
Party people just can’t understand the temperament of a withdrawn shut-in.
“…”
But Shiika poked her head out from behind me and looked at Ootsuka.
Ootsuka, noticing this, smiled back and gave Shiika a peace sign.