Shall We Dance?

It was only a short while after the raid on Kanou's lab that Amon and Akira found themselves in Marude's office again.

This time, it was for an undercover mission set to take place in two weeks. A rash of cases had popped up with women found dead in alleys, clearly attacked by a ghoul. All of the victims had gone to a certain dance hall the day of their death, so their killer was thought to be one of the men there. But except for that and a possible pattern regarding the choices of the ghoul and its feeding time, there was no other information to track down the ghoul.

"The two of you will go there and observe. Carry handguns or small quinques with you; anything bigger will be too conspicuous. Follow anybody suspicious, but don't engage unless a life is at risk." Marude looked up from the case file he was holding. "Any questions?"

"Must we be a part of the event?" Akira asked.

"Yes. It'll make you blend better than just loitering around. There's not much to it; just go dressed up and do a few dances."

Amon stiffened at that. "Dance?"

"One of those waltzes," Marude said casually.

"Aren't there other investigators available, sir? We're on the Rabbit case—"

"This will only be for an evening. Are you really going to find some breakthrough on Rabbit in that time?"

"But..."

"Is there a problem, Amon?" Marude asked, clearly not pleased.

Amon swallowed, then admitted in a low voice, "Sir... I don't know how to dance."

There was an awkward silence. He held back the urge to fidget.

"I will teach First Class Amon to waltz," Akira quickly spoke before Marude could. Both the men turned to her, one in satisfaction and the other in surprise.

"Good," Marude said, at the same time Amon sputtered, "A-Akira?"

"We cannot allow this mission to be compromised because of something like this. Surely you understand. Two weeks should be enough to rectify this."

She was right but... No, there were no 'but's. They were doing this to stop a dangerous ghoul and protect people; Amon knew his embarrassment shouldn't factor at all into it.

"Now that you have it settled... you're dismissed." Marude waved them off. They didn't hesitate to leave.

While they were walking back to their office, Akira spoke to Amon.

"It really is a shame you don't know how to dance. Haven't you ever tried it?"

"Why would I?" he asked. He had never been one for recreational activities, even in school, and nothing had changed as an adult.

"It's fun, for one," she said as if it should be obvious. "But also, many types of dances require flexibility, poise and good balance. All things as important in battle as they are in dance." She gave him a brief glance before saying, "Push-ups aren't the only way of training, Amon."

Amon opened his mouth to retort, found himself lacking in words, and ended up muttering, "I do weight-lifting too..."

He tried to ignore his partner's smothered laugh.

They had decided to meet up in the evening, an hour after work, to start their first 'class'. Amon had only been to his subordinate's home once before, when she was drunk. He hesitated in front of the door for a while, but finally mustered the courage to ring the bell.

A minute later, the door was opened. Akira was standing there, wearing casual clothes—something which he'd never seen her in before. He suddenly felt overdressed in his suit.