Silver Rose

Chapter XVIII - Childhood Sweet

The first hour of the night came and went and none of Lilly's group had permanently paired off with anyone. Leon had since gone off to partner up with other girls, including his own sister, but not once had he built up the courage to ask the one girl he truly wanted to dance with. She was in the middle of the crowd, somehow having managed to convince that fourth-year student, Mizuki, to join her on the dance floor, even if only once. He smiled to himself. Lilly would be the one break the ice with such a gloomy girl like Mizuki.

"Why don't you just ask her, you idiot?" Athena yelled right into his ear.

"Don't be a jerk!" he yelled back.

"Don't be a bitch!"

"What she said," Echo said.

"Who asked you?" Leon yelled at her as well.

"I don't get it. Why are you so nervous about asking Ingrid and Lilly to dance with you?"

"Yeah," Athena said. "You don't have trouble flirting with anyone. Hell, it's only recently that you started getting nervous about Ingrid. The hell's gotten into you?"

"Would you two just get off my case?" he yelled at them both.

Athena and Echo sighed heavily.

"C'mon, Echo," Athena said. "My brother's a lost cause."

"I agree with you," Echo said, following Athena off the dance floor to get some water.

Leon threw his head back as he slammed his palm onto his forehead. Meanwhile, Yuan had spent all night away from his group, mingling with some third-year students instead, particularly Team SQRL, currently the best third-year team at Beacon. They were expected to have a slot at the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament and Yuan was curious as to their team's tactics and abilities.

"Mostly it's that we're a strong team," said Samantha, the team's leader. "Quentin and I work perfectly together while Rhonda and Llewellyn are the other perfect duo. It's easy to run formations and stuff when we know our teammates inside and out. It's also easy for us to pair up with anyone on our team. That's how tightly knit we are."

"You guys don't seem that bad yourselves," Quentin said. "We all heard about what you guys went through in Forever Fall. We've seen some of your training sessions with Penny, too."

"We still don't have that fluidity that you four have, though," Yuan said.

Rhonda looked over at Yuan's other teammates. "I think I know the problem."

"What's that?" Quentin asked.

"Oh, yeah," Samantha said. "I know what you're talking about."

"It's pretty obvious," Llewellyn said.

"What's obvious?" Quentin said. "Yuan, do you get it?"

He shrugged.

"See? Even the guy you're trying to coach doesn't get it. What's the problem?"

"It's something you guys have to figure out yourselves," Samantha said. "It's not something we can just point out to you. Actually, it'll probably make things worse to point it out."

"Well, I think we've spent enough time on our asses," Llewellyn said. "Should we get back to the dance floor?"

"Sure," Rhonda said, joining him.

"Wait, I still don't get it!" Quentin said. "Sam, what's with their team? Did we have that problem, too?"

She shook her head before taking him by the hand and leading him to the crowd.