Exiled (AmBw)

Chapter 38

 Layla Pov

Compared to yesterday's fiasco of waking up next to Naoto, finding my twin sister with Takanori, and getting roped into a dance competition, today was rather bland. I woke up to an unusually quiet house. Although for argument's sake, the house wasn't usually lively, something felt awfully airy. On the counter were a few things, keys, gate and door codes, Naoto's laptop, money, takeout menus, and a note.

Here are the keys and codes for everything. Feel free to use my laptop and the dance studio to practice for qualifiers. The money and menus are there in case you want to eat in.

Naoto.

The note was short and straight to the point. It told me everything, except what I wanted to know. Where was Naoto? I could've assumed he had already left for work, but I distinctly recalled hearing his shower running when I woke up twenty minutes ago, but I never heard his door open. Naoto wasn't a particularly talkative person, but this level of silence worried me. 'Did I do or say something to upset him?' I thought, bothered.

Not letting my worry cloud my mind, I focused my energy on my work. I had a stacked schedule today. I had an interview and a 'meet and greet' with the crew that Sato entered into the competition. Seeing as I had a full plate, I grabbed Naoto's laptop and headed into the bedroom to get myself ready.

Clearing through my work inbox, I replied to what felt like a hundred emails, when I came across a peculiar email from my interview. It was a rescheduling email, thanking me for delaying the interview date until a week from now and that Chris would be her interviewer since I was under the weather. "Chris, you got some nerve," I said, recognizing my scheming manager's handy work. He had pulled this stunt last fall on a writer who was on his hit list, and two weeks later, that guy was 'canned.' If that man wants to get rid of me, he has to try harder. I thought of emailing my interview back. Quickly corresponding back and forth with her, we rescheduled to two days from today over Skype. Closing the laptop, I changed my clothes and got ready to go to EXPG.

Before leaving, I kissed Mochi then decide to check to see if Naoto had left his room while I was working. Usually, Naoto kept his door and curtains open when he wasn't in his bedroom. This time, the door was locked, and there was no light coming from under the door. I knocked, but there was no answer. I tried again, this time calling his name, but no one answered. Even though I got no response, I couldn't help but feel he was in there. Before I could drown in worry, Sato texted me, letting me know he was outside. Pushing the horrible feeling that I did something wrong away, I grabbed my things and left.

By the time Sato and I reached EXPG, the rest of his dancers were in the studio stretching. I walked in like it was my first day of school, nervous but excited, and just like the first day, I got mixed reactions from 'the class.' A few gave me comforting smiles, while the others either glared or didn't acknowledge my existence. After Nana rounded them together, one by one, Sato introduced them as they danced. Nothing but pure talent and training paraded in front of me. Each dancer showed off their favoured dance style, and all I could do is stare, feeling small in comparison.

Nana: "So, are you just going to watch, or are you going to show them what you got?" She asked.

I smiled. Before I could say anything, Sato intervened.

Sato: "Oh no, she's going to show them and more." He said, taking my hand and walking me on to the floor. "Guys, this is Layla Kato. She will be your representative at qualifiers." He said, leaving me to dance. "Layla, why don't you properly introduce yourself." He said, winking at me. Understanding what he meant by 'introduce yourself,' I took his cue and began to dance. "I know you all are confused as to why I choose Layla. As you can tell, she's a great dancer, but I'm sure you will all say we are all great dancers, and you're right." He yelled over the music as I danced. "But all of you are set in your ways and aren't adaptable or creative enough to make it through qualifiers. Layla is our ace this year; no one in the dance circuit knows her. So they can't size her up, and on top of that, they will most likely underestimate her, like you all are right now." He paused, looking at his dancers for a while. "It seems like we have some non-believers in the crowd." He said dramatically. "Layla, how about we take them to church?" He said, looking for another song. "Layla, when I call one of my dancers names, show me their style of dance and at least two moves they used to introduce themselves." He said, putting another song on.

I looked at Sato, shocked. I could've never imagined he realized that I was memorizing his dancers' moves as he was introducing them. I guess this is what Nana and Naoto meant by he had an eye for dancers.

When I was young, seeing as I was an only child, I had a lot of free time. One way I entertained myself was watching dances and seeing if I could do them from memory. Over time it went from having to see them 30 times to seeing them once and mimicking it. It became a weird party trick that my parents loved showing off when we were at parties, but it was pretty useless in everyday scenarios. In this case, I'm glad I hadn't stopped, even though I hadn't really been dancing for a while.

Sato: "Akiko." Sato said, giving me my first task.

The studios resident pop locker looked me up and down as I mimicked her moves, mixing them with mine. She was one of the non-believers, so I made sure my isolations were clean. I had a point to prove. Sato believed in me. So I couldn't let him down.

Sato: "Continue in this order, Layla. Haru, Budz, Lemon, Kino and Juno." He said, giving me a list of dancers to copy.

Bulldozing through the whacker, b-girl, krumper, and the two modern/contemporary twins, I finished my set. Holding over, catching my breath, I scanned the crew to see if any of them converted over to the faith. From the round of applause from Sato, Nana, and the dancers, I thought I might have worked a miracle.

Nana: "I know it's strange having a newcomer chosen to go to the qualifiers, but she is our best hope. Her ability to recall and mimic dancers is a plus combine with how she seamlessly transitions through dance styles. On top of that, has Sato ever led you wrong before?

From the looks on the crew's face, Nana's words rang true. Won over by Nana's speech and Sato's good reputation, everyone was on board. Trying to cram the essence of all the dancers' styles with what little time we had, I spent the next seven hours dancing under heavy criticism. For anyone else, the amount of criticism I received would have been overwhelming, but this was a cakewalk compared to working under Chris. Instead of punking out, I hunkered down and focused. I wanted to give myself the best chance to secure a spot for this crew.