Chapter 10: Practice Makes Perfect
While she may have promised to teach them to dance, he still had his obligations to her. Tending to the flowers, he looked over at the two chatting up a storm. They seemed to be getting along. In the shade, no less. It was still May, so the hottest days were still ahead them. Something that he was not looking forward to in the slightest.
"All right you two, I'm done now." He brought back his dirty tools to them. Using the hose to clean them off, he asked what they were talking about.
"Oh not much. Erina was just telling about this boy named Yogi."
"Of course she was." It was like she was a music player stuck on repeat. "Did you talk about the dance?"
"Nope, we were waiting for you to finish first." Erina answered.
"You know, it would've been done sooner if you helped."
"Not my job." She replied in her singsong voice. She always did it to mock him. Hine looked over their bickering, smiling all the way.
"Let's get started, shall we?" She grabbed their attention with a simple statement. She knew that they were driven to their goal.
The first thing she had to do was explain to them how this dance went. In this dance, the students were going to begin with partners of their choosing, assuming they had a choice. However, once they started, one would change dance partners by transferring between pairs.
The skill needed to do that perfectly was beyond what normal humans could do, especially with complete strangers. So she told them that mistakes were bound to happen, and not to worry to much about them.
All this would be happening under the eyes of the school's first years, primarily. Of course other students were encouraged to enjoy the show, but in the end, it was going to be voted on by the first years.
"Sounds like this is going to be harder than I thought." He said. "Also with people where most, if not all, have no experience dancing. Being able to get them to vote for Erina and Yogi is going to be downright impossible."
"True, but I think that those students aren't voting for dancing skills anyway."
"What do you mean?" Asked Erina.
"I mean that there's a lot to dancing that the two of you clearly don't know about." She explained. "While solo skills can be impressive. Something like dancing in pairs, there's more than just knowing the right moves. You have to understand your partner, or else it'll all just be a mess."
"I imagine that even if you got the two best dancers, if they weren't in sync, it would look pretty bad." He commented. Knowing this, only filled him with more doubt on them being successful in their training.
"We only have a few days until the dance. Do you really think we can do it?" Erina asked.
"Oh I'm sure you two will be fine. After all, you'll have more time than I did when I was preparing for it myself." He thought that this confidence was misplaced, but he was still going to try his best. He was certain that Erina felt the same way. "Alright you two. Get together and start dancing."
"Huh? Is that really the way to learn how to dance. Just do it without any preparation?"
"Well actually, it's not like I've ever taught dance. So I don't know." She laughed, maybe this was a mistake to ask her. "Go ahead, don't be shy now."
Easy for her to say. She wasn't going to dance with some girl that she disliked. Erina was equally as nervous. They grasped each others hands, looking her in the eye was almost too much for him.
He tried to steady his breathing, a futile attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart. The sweat drops beading down her face, she was terrible at hiding her anxious self.
"Okay you two, start." She told them to begin. They started, and stopped as suddenly as they began. Both taking a step forward, they ended up headbutting each other. Knocking themselves on their backs.
"Ouch." She yelped in pain. "What was that you idiot?"
"What about you? Why'd you take a step forward?"
"I don't know what we're supposed to do."
"Well I'm the boy here. So I should be leading."
"Please, as if someone like you could lead."
"Okay you two. Stop bickering." Hine intervened. They quickly did as she said. Getting up and bowing to apologize. "It's one thing to not be in sync, but you might as well be polar opposites." She was starting to see that this wasn't going to be easy. She told them to do it again, and the two got back into position.
"All right, we're following my lead. Okay?"
"Sure, whatever works." Any nervous feelings they had before was now replaced with anger at the other. Starting again, they took their first step. Already better than the previous attempt, but it was shorted lived.
"Ow. You just stepped on my foot." She yelled at him.
"Sorry, I just thought you were going to go further."
"Let's just take this from the top again." Hine was doing about as well as someone that's never taught dance could do for them. For a pair like this, no less.
For what felt like forever, they kept trying. Again and again, each time failing with trips, stepping on toes, or running into each other. This was an embarrassment to dancing everywhere.
Not only was it a rather painful experience. It was also an exhausting one. Arata felt like his feet were about to fall off when they finally finished.
"This. Is. Getting nowhere." Erina said, plopping herself on the ground from exhaustion.
"Yeah… She's right." He said, trying to speak through his heavy breathing. "I don't know if this is going to work." This was hopeless, the pair just seemed to be born with four left feet.
"I think this is still a little early to be giving up, don't you think?"
"Yeah, we can't give up now." Erina gathered her remaining strength, that fire she had sparked before dying once more. "But, maybe we should call it a day."
"I can agree to that." He slowly picked himself up. A little less winded now.
"Okay you two can run along now. Oh, but before I forget." Hine reached into her pocket, handing Arata's payment to him.
"Thanks… Hm? Hey I think this is a lot more than you usually give me." He noticed that he received 2000 yen on top of the usual 500.
"The two of you worked hard, so I think that I'll reward you with dinner?" She answered. He knew she was up to something, but it was hard to reject a free meal. "I only have one condition." Of course there would be a catch, he thought. "That the two of you spend it together."
"Together?" They replied in unison.
"Oh, but I can't. What would poor Yogi say if I had dinner with another man?" She acted dramatically. Well maybe not acting per say, but if someone didn't know better. They'd think she was feigning shock.
"Yeah, Hine you already know the truth about this relationship. Why would I ever want to have dinner with the person that's blackmailing me?" He couldn't believe this is what she wanted. He didn't know what she was up to, but whatever it was. He was fine with giving her money back.
"Of course I do." She replied in her usual calm nature. "But what makes you think that it always has to be like that?"
"I don't understand." Erina looked at her, dumbfounded.
"For you young lady, for starters, that boy is not your boyfriend. At least not yet, but even if he were. There's nothing wrong with sharing food with a friend." Arata knew for certain that Yogi wouldn't get mad at her, like she believed. This girl was just trying to be loyal when she didn't need to be.
"Okay..." Erina nodded quietly.
"And as for you young man." Hine turned her attention to Arata now. "You act like you can't possible get along with someone blackmailing you." He figured that would be common sense, why be close to someone threatening you? "Yet you don't even bother to try to understand why someone would do something like that."
"Okay..." He copied Erina, but he still didn't understand what she meant by that. Would the intent really matter all that much? "Erina, if you don't mind. I guess we should just do what she says."
"Of course you should." Hine laughed. "Otherwise, the two of you will make a mockery of the whole dance." He sighed, resigning his fate yet again. Stuck with a girl whom he hated with every fiber in his body.
After they bid farewell to Hine, the pair left to their next destination. One that Arata had no idea where that exactly was.
"Well we should find somewhere to eat. Any ideas?" he asked her. A fire lit in her eyes. Seems like she already had a place in mind.
"I know! There's an amazing noodle shop around here. We got to go there." She grabbed his arm, and despite his objections, pulled him right to where it was. Once they were there, she didn't even wait for him before barging into the restaurant, announcing her arrival. "Hello!" She shouted. Thankfully for his dignity, the place was empty, bar the owner of the place.
"Ah hello. If it isn't Erina, my best customer." He greeted her. "I see you've brought a date too." He laughed, yelling back at the kitchen to prepare for a couple of orders.
"Haha, you already know my heart is set on someone else." She took his teasing well. At this point, he was getting a little used to being considered in a relationship.
A dinner date between friends? acquaintances? Blackmailer and blackmailee? What exactly was that old lady's plan here? With everything else going on at this time, this seemed unnecessary. Or was this exactly what they needed?
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