Akiba continued: “That’s like if I wanted to learn the basics of writing a novel and the teacher said the most important step is to understand Japanese!”
“Don’t be so naive!”
“Huh?!”
Ootsuka smacked Akiba on the back, and she leaped into the air in surprise.
People in Japan complain about corporal punishment, so you no longer see this kind of thing in education, but it wasn’t some greasy middle-aged teacher doing the drill-sergeant bit. It was a petite, slim girl who radiated an aura of extreme cheerfulness. So the sight of it wasn’t so galling. Hmm, optics really influence our impressions of things, don’t they?
“What I’m saying is that these are dance hacks! If you can move your body freely, dancing itself will be a breeze!”
“I see. Then perhaps muscle training is another one of the basics?” I suggested as the idea suddenly came to me.
Ootsuka turned to me with eyes like a purring kitten…
“Oh, correct! Good job, Gakkun!”
“Hee-hee, maybe I’m a genius.”
“Genius! Genius!”
“Hee-hee-hee. I see, I see. Yeah, being praised like this isn’t half-bad… Hee-hee-hee.”
“Wipe that disgusting smirk off your face. If stretching is one of the basics, it’s obvious muscle training is, too.”
“Shibuya, don’t eviscerate me…”
I’m aware I’m no genius, but I’d like to get some credit every now and then when I actually manage to say something smart. The leader of the Shibuya Gang is way too strict, not just on herself, but on the other members, too.
“Rhythm, stretching, muscle training… The perfect lineup of basics needed to master dancing.”
Komae counted on his fingers, summarizing the answers given so far.
Then he furrowed his brow and tilted his head quizzically.
“But I can’t think of another one… Um, perhaps memorizing choreography? Like, the steps.”
“Wrong! It’s important, sure, but steps are a step that comes later.”
Steps are a step? All this dance terminology was scrambling my brain.
Still, I kinda understood what Ootsuka was saying.
“I think it’s probably unfamiliar to everyone in the Music Department, so I’ll give you the answer. The answer is…isolation!”
“Ice…lotion?”
“Ah-ha-ha! That sounds so cold and slimy!”
Clearly, Shiika wasn’t familiar with the word.
Ootsuka had broken into an impromptu dance, like something you’d find in an opening of an anime, her movements clearly meant to personify something cold and slimy.
“Isolation means moving each part of your body independently. I’m going to show you what I mean, so watch closely!”
And Ootsuka stopped doing her slimy dance.
Then she began moving only her head and neck.
“Huh?!”
“One, two, one, two, hup, hup, hoo!”
Her shoulders, torso, and lower body didn’t move even one millimeter.
Like a bobblehead, she moved her head and neck freely from left to right and up and down.
“Now, just the shoulders. Hup, hup, hup.”
“Gross! What’s wrong with your body?!”
“Ah-ha-ha! You’re so mean, ManaMana! But everyone in the Dance Department can do this!”
As she spoke, Ootsuka demonstrated the movements with different parts of her body.
Starting from the neck, shoulders, chest, waist…then to both legs and hands.
Seeing her move only certain parts of her body, I began to suspect that Ootsuka was some sort of elaborate ball-jointed doll only made to resemble an actual human being.
Her performance was amazing, like a first-class pantomime.
“I’ve seen videos of dancers, and you certainly see that kind of movement a lot.” Shibuya nodded as she spoke.
Komae also bobbed his head.
“It seems there are people who make a living with just that trick, so I thought it was a special skill. I had no idea it was one of the fundamentals of dance…” Komae said.
“We know a lot about music, but we don’t know much about dancing.”
“I’m not sure you know that much about music at all, Akiba.”
“Grrr, put a sock in it, Gakuto!”
“If you have any complaints, why don’t you try completing a song first? Huh?”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear that from a lazy NEET who attends school without ever actually doing anything!”
“Come on—don’t quarrel during my demonstration, guys!”
Seeing Akiba and me squabble, Ootsuka intervened, her look of patience beginning to fade.
Hey, maybe we can cut the dance teacher a break, just this one time.
With that thought in mind, I straightened, and looking to one side, I saw that Shiika was squirming around.
“Ngh… Guh…”
“…What are you doing?”
“Ice…lotion…”
“It’s isolation.”
“What do you think, Gak? Am I doing it?”
“Sorry. You look like you’re doing an impression of kelp undulating on the ocean floor.”
“…Oh, nuts.”
Oh, nuts? Shiika’s reactions were so last decade.
I’m a devout follower of the sister-worshipping religion, and I’m reasonably good at telling lies, but I just couldn’t give Shiika my stamp of approval for her current effort.
When she moved her neck, her shoulders moved; when she moved her shoulders, her chest moved; and when she moved her chest, her hips moved… Unlike Ootsuka’s demonstration of isolated movement, where all the parts seemed to be independent, Shiika’s efforts were far too clumsy.
“Ah-ha-ha! It’s cool, it’s cool! Everyone’s like that at first!” Ootsuka shouted.
“…Really?”
“Yeah, of course. There, there!”
“…Hee-hee.”
Ootsuka stroked Shiika’s head.
Shiika loves having her hair stroked. She seemed to have really warmed up to Ootsuka.
“Anyway!” Ootsuka exclaimed, pointing a finger at us all.
“Stretching, isolation, rhythm, muscle training! Master these four basics, and you’ll be able to freely control your own body! That’s the most important thing! Okay?!”
““ “““Okay.”””” ”
“All right, nice response there!”
The members of the Shibuya Gang all saluted but at staggered intervals.
“You guys are musicians, so you should have no problem with rhythm. I think we should focus on the other parts, how’s that?”
“No objection here!”
“I object!”
“Yeah, no objection.”
“I object, too!”
Opinions were split between Shibuya, Akiba, Komae, and Shiika.
Ignoring that, Ootsuka continued…
“First, you should know your own body! So I’m going to check the characteristics of each of your bodies right now!”
Her eyes were sparkling like a mischievous child, and her fingers were wriggling alarmingly.
“Hmm… Ha… It tickles…”
“Shi, don’t move, okay?”
There was a strange atmosphere in the lesson studio.
Ootsuka’s and Shiika’s bodies were entwined. Ootsuka had herself draped over Shiika’s back and was stimulating her body parts with a practiced hand.
“But…you’re touching…my personal spots…”
“Don’t you usually touch them yourself? You have to massage your body, you know, to stay supple!”
“I can’t do it myself…”
“Then have Gakkun do it.”
“Have Gak do it?”
“Yeah. You need to really dig the fingers in here and squeeze…”