Waltz of Truth | Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso ;; Watari Ryota |

Chapter Sixteen

Maika

"I never thought that I would be back in a studio so soon," Sera comments when the seven of us exit the bus. "Not that I'm complaining! I'm just sayin'," She quickly adds.

"Honestly, I didn't think so either when I got back here," I reply.

"Are we almost to her house?" Eric asks. Since all of them besides Zeno didn't bring their dance equipment, I let the girls borrow some of my leotards, tights, and shorts while the boys wear regular athletic clothes.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," We turn the corner and Ayako's gate stands before us. I press the intercom button and speak into the mic. "Hi, it's Maika. I'm here to teach the dance lessons and I brought other people to help, Ayako already approved of them.

The gate buzzes and opens, revealing the grand mansion behind the gates and all of their jaws drop. "What the hell... You didn't tell us she was a millionaire!!" Lucca freaks out and throwing his hands up in distress.

"W-we're under dressed! We don't even look the part, she'll think we're-" Sera starts to go on but I interrupt her.

"Guys, don't freak out. Even though she's rich, Ayako is one of the nicest and genuine people I've met. She doesn't try to introduce her wealth to everyone to get friends so that's why I didn't necessarily tell you," I explain.

Mariella trembles a bit while sticking near Jade. "We'll look like slackers in here..." She whispers.

Jade turns to console her and says, "As long as we act the part, how we look won't matter, that goes for all of us," She directs her attention to everyone.

"Besides, this is Maika's disciple and friend, I'm sure she won't kick us out," Zeno speaks up.

"See? That's what I'm saying so loosen up. Now, come on before they close the gate on us," I motion for them to follow me and the gate shuts behind us as we enter.

I make my way to the studio and open the door to the room. Ayako glances over at us and instantly gleams with glee at the sight of us. She skips over to us but then catches herself and puts on her "business face".

"Hello, everyone, welcome to my home. I'm honored to have you guys here to help," Ayako greets while masking her excitement but her sparkling eyes fail to hide her feelings. "My name is Suzuki Ayako,"

I approach Ayako and whisper, "You can loosen up a little, ya know, they won't judge you,"

She looks at me with puppy dog eyes. "Are you sure?" She asks for reassurance. I nod and she smiles brightly once she looks back at all of them. "I really am excited to have you here today, Maika has told the students about you guys and they'll love seeing you!"

"Well we can't disappoint them, now can we? I'm Sera," Sera introduces herself.

"My name is Jade, thank you for inviting us," Jade says while bowing.

"I-I'm Mariella," Mariella stutters with her words.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Eric," He shakes Ayako's hand which she accepts.

"The name's Lucca, can't wait to work with you!" Ayako giggles at all of them before Zeno takes a step closer.

"Thank you for having us, I'm Zeno Jilani," Zeno introduces before bowing to her.

"Ah, so you're Zeno! No wonder you look familiar. I've seen your pas de deux with Maika, you're incredible!" Ayako praises.

Zeno's face becomes flushed and he's taken aback. "Y-you showed her our videos?" He asks me.

I chuckle at his reaction for a second. "I mean yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"There's no need to be embarrassed, all of you guys are great. Well, why don't you come inside instead of just standing there!" She walks further into the studio and we all follow her.

The six of them gape in awe at their surroundings, gasping and pointing to everything. "Not quite like my home studio, right, Lucca?" I joke.

"This place is on a different level... What the heck,"

"This studio is really yours?" Zeno asks Ayako.

"Yeah... I never had a strong passion for anything so once my parents found out I liked dancing, they went all out. I was a kid at the time so I never knew what to do with all this room but now I've found a use for it that I can share with everyone!" Ayako answers Zeno's question.

"T-that's amazing," Zeno's eyes shine in awe as he observes everything in sight and I lightly chuckle at his smile. When I first met him, it was quite difficult to get him to open up and be expressive but he's changed since that time now that I'm seeing him like this in front of Ayako, a total stranger to him. 

• • • 

Class begins thirty minutes after we arrive and we all warmed up before the students came. During the sessions, the students squealed with excitement at the announcement that my friends visited but Ayako was quick to get them in order. A lot of the younger boy dancers become shocked when they see Lucca, Eric, and Zeno as male ballerinas and I can see their eyes being cleared from the disinterest of dancing and filled with wonder when they see what they could become capable of. 

The girls in the advanced classes bombard us with questions about school and performing as they did when they first met me and we have to answer them quickly in order for there to still be time for practicing. At the end, Jade, Lucca, Eric, and Mariella perform small snippets from their final exam piece in their respective pairs. We all give a round of applause at the end of their performance and the students leave soon after. 

While we pack up, Ayako approaches us and hands us bottles of Pocari Sweat. "I wanna thank you guys again for taking time out of your vacation and coming to showcase to the students, it means a lot to me!" She bows after we take the drinks. 

"Don't worry about it, girl! We're happy to come!" Sera says enthusiastically. 

"It was fun anyways, we should be thanking you for having us," Eric adds.

After we finish and chat a little but more, we say goodbye and leave Ayako's house. They make their way to their hotel and I head back home. While unlocking my door, a notification suddenly rings and I reach into my pocket to see the message. 

Kioshi

Hey, can we meet tomorrow?
Sent - 7:23 p.m.

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I just finished the first book to my summer reading homework about Norse mythology which was good and started the second one but I don't like the second one as much so now I'm writing lol