The Dance for the Dead

Chapter 3: Mystery Solved

"Another mysterious death in Yoshida Industries." Father read the newspaper at the breakfast table the next morning.

I fixed my medium length brown hair in the hallway mirror eavesdropping on my parents' conversation. My dark pink eyes sparkled back at me through the glass.

"They sure are having a lot of those recently." Mother added.

"I gotta go, bye" I said leaving for school.

"Another day at Kaiyako High. I hope I don't embarrass myself again" I told Akane when I got to school.

"I doubt it Yuki, you know you could be worse."

"How could I possibly be any worse than I already am?" I teased

"You could get stabbed in the stomach, but that's not even the worst part, but when they drag the knife around inside you to where your guts just spill out on the sidewalk in front of you." She said with a gleeful smile. "You know, it could be considered artwork, so I guess that's not the worse thing that could happen to you..." She said looking to the sky thinking up a more horrific death for me.

"Uhh...." I said taking two steps back.

"I'm just joking!" She said pulling me along with her. "I learned some new moves last night."

"Okay." I said following her to the gym "They better not be killing techniques." I said half joking.

"HHAHAHHAHAA" She laughed way too hard. "Thats funny, but I'm talking about dance moves."

When we arrived at the gym she completed a series of back flips, front flips, and back walkovers without even taking a break or losing balance. Somehow she managed to look ten times more graceful as she did this then she did since yesterday's practice. And when she walked over to me, I noticed she didn't even begin to sweat.

"WOW" was all I could say.

"I know!!!!" Akane said gleefully showing off a fabulous attempt at belly dancing "I never knew the wonders of grace training. I could dance all day" She said with a pirouette.

On the walk to class she couldn't stop doing her front-flips. I didn't know how in the crowded halls she managed not to hit anyone, nor how she thought it was okay for me to be carry her bags.

"So how was your sister yesterday?" I asked so she would stop attracting so much attention.

"What? Oh she's as normal as she has always been." She said commencing her flips.

We got to class and I let her have her bags. I couldn't believe how strange Akane had been acting. She doesn't like people looking at her unless she is on stage so why would she go and attract the attention of everyone in the hallway? And why had she gained so much skill over me in just one night? If Akane could make so much progress, so could I, all I needed was a little more practice.  I practiced in the gym at lunch. Then when I went to class, I asked the teacher for a pass to the nurse and went to the gym again.

The lights were off this time and without there being any windows in the gym it was pitch black. Good. If I left the door cracked open there would be enough light for me to see without anyone looking in on me. So I practiced my flips. I fell every time. I practiced my flow. I failed every time. I was getting frustrated so I decided it was time for a break so I sat on the bottom bleacher. I had been sitting in the darkness for ten seconds before someone closed the door.

At first I thought someone had shut the door and kept on walking down the hall but that was before their flashlight came on. The light wasn't pointed at their face so I couldn't see who it was, but whoever it was walked straight towards the coach's office. I sat as still as possible and didn't make a sound. Luckily, they didn't point their flashlight at the bleachers or I would have been caught not being in the nurse's office! The dark figure walked to the door and I heard the keys jingling as the door opened.

"It's just coach" I barely whispered to myself.

I walked as silently as a cat, up to the door to see what Coach Haruna was doing in here walking around in the dark. The room had a little window that could let the coach or teacher watch the students. Usually they shut the curtain when it was not in use. I walked up to the room silently and pressed my body on the wall just to the left of the door. I didn't dare look inside for a few seconds. Out of nowhere a lemony smell floated through the air. I peeked in to see that the dark figure had their back turned towards the door. Their flashlight was angled so that the person could see their work. I looked passed the figure to see that someone was pouring a white bottle of an unknown chemical into the orange water-cooler.

A lemon smell only lasted a few seconds and the mystery person screwed the top back on the bottle. It would only be a matter of time before they would be leaving so I walked silently but quickly back to the gym door. I hoped they hadn't seen me and at the last second I threw open the door and ran back to class. If anyone would have tried to stop me from running in the halls I would have run right passed them.

"You're back Yuki." The teacher said. "Are you sure you're feeling better?"

I was never sick in the first place but now I looked horribly pale, and sweaty from my run. I sat back in my seat. No wonders all the dancers can do super-human moves, and AKANE she could never do so much dancing before, especially without breaking a sweat. I recalled back to the sip of water she took yesterday at the beginning of practice. OH NO COACH IS POISONING THE DANCE TEAM.