A Mark That Lasts Forever

Insecurity | 不安 section 5

I have a dinner shift on Saturday, so Koki and I agree to meet up at the rental studio before noon. After about three hours, we finally manage to finish our choreography. We practice the entire dance a couple of times before deciding which parts need adjustments.

Koki lets out an exhausted sigh and flops down onto the floor.

"We finally did it!" he exclaims.

"We're almost there!" I add excitedly, sprawling out next to him.

While we're catching our breath, I stare up at the bright, almost blinding studio lights and imagine what the ones on stage at Tokyo Dome City Hall will look like.

"Man, I'm so glad I ran into you on orientation day," Koki says, catching me off guard. "If I hadn't, none of this would have ever happened."

"You think so?" I smile. "Maybe we would've met at the competition."

"Maybe. But then we would've been rivals instead."

"That's true," I chuckle.

"I think we were meant to run into each other." Koki says. "We came from two different places but share all the same interests. It sounds crazy, but I can't help thinking maybe we were meant to meet up in Tokyo and do something like this."

"You think so?" I turn my head to look at him.

"Yeah." He keeps his gaze upward. "I have a really good feeling about this competition."

"I do, too."

"I bet this is the chance I've been waiting for." His eyes twinkle under the ceiling lights. "A chance to get big in Tokyo."

I don't believe in destiny or meant-to-bes, but I have the sense that maybe he's not wrong about there being something that brought us together. I feel it, too.

"Now that you put it that way," I say. "I think you might be right."

"Right?" he grins excitedly, turning his head toward me.

"And that means losing isn't an option for us," I add playfully.

"Yep," he agrees without hesitation. "We need to at least make the top three."

I smirk. "No. Grand prize."

He chuckles and holds his fist out to me.

"Deal. No going back on your word."

I bump my knuckles against his.

"You know I won't."

My sore muscles on Sunday morning are no joke. I have to crawl out of bed and can barely lift my legs into a pair of sweatpants. Regardless, I'm still brimming with motivation on my way to the studio. Now that we've mostly perfected our choreography, we just need to turn it into muscle memory.

Once I get my body moving again, the pain goes away. Before I know it, we've been practicing for three hours and only have thirty minutes left before our time is up.

"We should start filming," I suggest, fetching my phone off a stool.

"We didn't change anything today, did we?" Koki asks.

"No, but it's still good to film every day so we can tell where we need improvement."

He grins. "As expected of Mr. Diligent."

"You want to win this thing, right?" I snicker.

Since there isn't anywhere in the room where we can place our phones to get a good camera angle, we've gotten used to taking turns filming each other.