Arisa's Fake Romance

Chapter 17

The floor rumbles, slightly getting stronger. Machine whooshy noises ring through the room.

Kasumi panics yelling, "Earthquake!"

I link arms with her walking to the stage and peel back the curtain. "It's just the runway retracting under the stage."

Me and many of the other band girls stayed home and parapara for a long time but now I'm ready to dance. After staying home and parapara then lessons from Ran and Daiki I'm ready.

Loud banging noises come from the dressing room and it's Miyu banging her Bloch pointe shoes, carves the soles then cuts across them, and coats the shoes in rosin. Robots wear white Swan Lake tutus while Miyu wears a black tutu. The chemical hairspray smell from her doing her ballet hair bun is way too strong. I wear my mask to filter out as much hairspray as I can.

I look over to Kasumi. "I'm going to miss Daiki. But as a fake romance and friend."

Kasumi takes a step closer to me looking into my eyes. "You never give up Arisa-chan. Whenever we play the audience loves us."

Kasumi has a serious look on her face and whispers, "Arisa?"

"Yes Kasumi?"

"I know you play with us because you want to have fun, and see fans having fun."

Her mouth slowly forms into a playful smile. Kasumi can never keep a serious face for too long. "O ho ho ho ho ho ho, you're right Kasumi. This is about our audience." 

Kasumi's eyes widen and sparkle and has a big cheerful open mouth smile. "I know! You know how Daiki gets people dance along with him? Why not do that?"

I tell her, "Hmm, I can try."

Miyu is lunging forward with one bent leg forward and left leg back and grabs her left foot with her right hand. Her back elegantly curves while her lats and shoulders stretch and is focused and determined. I copy her then repeat on the other side. I'll need every advantage I can.

Kasumi leans over me. "Arisa is it fun? What if you get stuck?"

I tell her, "I'll be okay. Do you have our dance mix?"

Kasumi blinks like she's confused.

I yell, "You don't have the playlist?"

Kasumi giggles, "He he he he he...Yes I do."

I do front splits and look away when Miyu starts turning her head. I do four minutes on each leg. Stretching this long feels like meditating. Then a minute with front hip flexor stretches and frog's pose. Then I squat down with my toes pointing away to the side and I bend forward touching my ankles and get back up. My walk feels much springier yet a little unbalanced for a few seconds. Her collarbone reflects the dressing room's white light.

Miyu looks into my eyes evilly smirking. "Not bad Arisa, but my dance starts soon. Daiki will mine!"

I'm afraid she might actually win this one. "Y-you don't know that, baka."

She looks into my eyes calming her voice, "You sound afraid. Everyone praises my ballet and a couple of robots from dad's company are joining me. Don't they look so graceful and elegant?"

Their faces change colors and expressions then back to the electric blue smile. One of the robots puts a tiara on Miyu's head. Miyu leads them to the front stage where me and Kasumi watch from the back. The light seems fuzzy and cloudy and everything has a blue tint except for what's in the light.

Swan Lake starts playing and Miyu gets into fourth position and squats down then repeats raising her leg. She then pirouettes then split leaps really far and high.

The audience is quiet and phones flash. She does a grand jete and quietly lands. Then she pirouettes nine times, each time extending her leg back then putting her foot to her knee. On the ninth she spins even more raising her leg finishing into an arabesque.

O-Tae tells me, "She is quite good."

I look back and she does chaine turns across the stage. She goes into fourth looking down then her robots join her. She leads them and they copy her perfectly.

I smirk at her friends. "Her dad's robots are dancing with her and not you guys."

One of them tells me, "The robots are to show how good they are."

"But I thought you guys were friends. Doesn't she believe in you enough to dance with her?"

She backs away. "We're friends. I'm sure she has a good reason, he he."

I look back and the two robots put Miyu down as she bows. She's in silhouette with lots of soft white light around her. My mouth dries and heart races as I'm almost up. I run back to the dressing room for water then back.

Saaya opens our dance playlist and will play it when I'm ready.

Miyu's friend walks up to her and asks, "Miyu, why didn't you ask us to dance with you? Aren't we good?"

She looks around rubbing the back of her neck. "Of course you're good. But this is a contest so I needed to do my best. You understand right?"

"But Miyu..."

Miyu warmly tells her, "I can personally teach you at our ballet studio. You are good but in a lower grade than me. Daiki is almost my boyfriend and need all the advantages."