Chapter 127 - The Dancers

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Dear Readers. Sup?

I'm still feeling off today. I'm still having fever and it took at toll on my focus. Still. I did my best. I hope y'all still enjoy it. 

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"Alright. Everyone ready?" Akane asks the kids who are already in formation.

"YES!" The kids are excited as they hear the music started by Red.

"Here we go. One! Two! One, two, three, four! AND… One!..." With Akane's count, she leads Yori and the children to start dancing.

For the past hour, the children have been practicing the choreography that Yori came up with in the fly. The process has been a bit tedious for the children, but they enjoyed it, happy at gradually building up the steps, moving in unison with each other.

Even though the children are dancing messily and without much skill, Akane and Yori are surprised that the children all have sense of beat and rhythm, knowing how to synchronize their movements to the beat.

The couple is also impressed that despite the children dancing for the first time in their lives, at least in a structured way, they have memorized the steps without difficulty and even caught the subtle details in those steps and movements.

"It seems that Ran, Chihiro, and Osamu have head start." Red remarks.

"Uhn." Yoshiko nods. "I didn't expect that they're more than just interested in watching it."

"Oh my~ Taishiro and Kanon~." Kotone meanwhile suppresses a giggle.

She cannot help but notice the difference in Taishiro and Kanon's movements compared to the other three children. It is as if they have made the dance into a kata.

"That's actually very clever of them." Red chuckles.

A few minutes later, the adults and the kids are all convened at one corner of the training yard, watching the video of the kids dancing taped by one of the demon servants. 

"Oh! We look bad…" Ran pouts.

"Eughhh… This is embarrassing." Chihiro comments too.

"C-can we do it over again?" Osamu asks.

"Are we that bad?" Taishiro is confused at the three's reactions.

"It was fun though." Kanon shrugs, not really caring.

"I was going to upload it to YouTube for millions of people to see." Red comments.

"Don't!" A protest immediately occurs with Ran, Chihiro, and Osamu being the loudest voices.

"Okay, okay." Red pacifies them.

"Well, it's good enough for first time to me. But for now, why don't you all go have a snack? Ichiki-san prepared cake!" He then orders them, to which the children excitedly follow due to the word cake.

"You four." He then addresses Kotone, Yoshiko, and the dancer couple.

"Let's have cake and tea too." He leads them to Gin's house where no one has been living in since Gin left for his vague mission to find wood chips and demon prisons.

Kotone and Yoshiko exchange glances, knowing that sharing a table with Red is rare.

Akane and Yori meanwhile, while they are excited to finally step in one of the beautiful houses, feel burdened and out of place.

There are also a few small things that intimidate them, making them feel like they are intruding.

They realized that even though they are wearing brand clothes, the quality of the clothes everyone is wearing in the hill is much higher than theirs, even the servants. Everything also looks immaculately clean. The grass is lush and excessively green. The training yard and the patios of the houses are dustless. The wood floors of the verandas are shiny. These things make them feel that their presence in the place will dirty it.

Soon, the group of five are inside Gin's living room where five cups of warm tea is already prepared for the group.

"Relax you two." Red tells the couple, noticing that they are looking around and are too careful in each move they do.

"Y-yes." Akane nods.

Suddenly, *blimp* Yori's phones rings out unusually loud, receiving a notification and *blimp* a text message. Yori's face twitches at the timing.

"Sorry, sorry." He hurriedly turns his phone silent.

Akane, who gave Yori a glare, also feels embarrassed the next moment as *beep* her phone too receives a notification and then *beep* a text.

"No need to feel sorry. I am to be blamed for your phones beeping." Red tells them.

"…" his words confuse the couple.

"Check them before we talk." Red orders the two.

As soon as the couple check their notifications and text messages, their eyes widen.

"T-this…" The two are stunned seeing that there was an online transfer of one million yen each to their bank accounts.

They have no idea how Red got their bank information, or how he transferred money to them when they did not see him touch an electronic device of any sort since they met, so the they are very confused, and very suspicious at why they are both receiving something that can save them year and a half's worth's rent.

"You've driven what? A hundred kilometers? I can't send you two back emptyhanded now, can I?" Red says before picking up his cup and taking a sip from it.

With Red already drinking tea, Yoshiko and Kotone also pick up theirs.

"Y-you're very generous." Yori says.

"But there has to be a catch." He expresses his suspicion.

"…" Akane cringes at his husband's question, but she shares the same feeling.

"We are non-superioris, sir. This never really happens." She adds.

"Kids..." Red shakes his head.

"It's just two million yen. Ask me those questions when I'm giving tens of millions of yen." He chuckles.

Despite his light tone, the couple misinterpret his words as expressing offense.

"I'm sorry, sir. It might not be a lot of money to you, but it is for us." Yori tries his best to avoid misunderstanding.

"W-we'll gladly accept." Akane adds.

Yoshiko and Kotone, watching this, cannot help but be reminded how good it has gotten for them, and they suppress their hearts from being moved by the scene.

"Anyways… I've seen you two last year in some dance battle event in Shibuya Station. You must be the best dancers in there that night. No. You two must be the best freestyle dancers I've seen in Japan yet." Red tells them.

"Ah…" The couple are enlightened. .

"Thank you, sir."

"That means a lot."

Akane and Yori are moved by Red's assessment.

Soon however, the bitterness of that night and nights like that one, replay in their hearts.

"With your skills, you must have won some prizes and fame here and there. Why does it look like you two are having a hard time?" Red asks.

He already knows the situation of the two, but he wants them to express it to him.

"Not everyone has your eyes for skills, sir." Yori starts.

"We might be two of the best in technical skills, but we can never be as flashy as ones with powers. That makes people overlook us." He sighs.

"We're also not as strong. We can't compete with superiori dancers who can practice and perform non-stop, so we can't even book jobs as back-up dancers." Akane sighs.

"Ah… That makes sense." Red nods.

"Still. It's hard to believe that two of you are non-superiori with your skills." He sighs.

"Well, you two must still be earning from your skills teaching, no?" He asks them.

"*sigh*" The couple sigh in unison.

"We don't." Akane shakes her head.

"We can't find people who want lessons from us. So... we thought we can make people find us instead. We've saved up for years to open our own dance studio, but…" She cannot even finish her sentence, starting to feel emotional about the matter.

"It went bust. We don't have many awards or fame to establish our prestige. We were hoping that our dancing skills were enough, but... I guess it wasn't enough." Yori holds her wife's hand under the table, which is trembling.

"You two seem to be living worried about how to afford the next meal or the next rent yet … it's obvious that you two still dance. You haven't become rusty since the last time I saw you two. So, may I know why you're still dancing? Why are you still sacrificing time, and sleep for it?" Red asks.

"What can I say? It's the only thing I've known, and I'm good at. Without dancing, I…" Akane cannot express what she feels with words alone.

"It's life for me. I feel alive when I dance. I can't imagine living without feeling the control of my body, and to express what I feel with it." Yori expresses his sentiment.

"Would you two still dance even without someone watching?" Red asks.

"Yes." The couple immediately answers in unison and at the same level of conviction.

"Hm… what's the point of that?" Kotone is confused at why the two are sacrificing their bodies for something that is impractical.

"You wouldn't understand." Red and Yori tell her at the same time.

"…" Kotone not only is taken aback by the two's reaction, her confusion also furthers.

"Well, help me understand." She cannot help but utter.

"When you find something that will give more meaning to your life more than just your brother, or your dreams, you will understand." Red tells her.

"…" While she is still confused, Kotone drops the matter for now, taking Red's words to heart.

"Passion." Yoshiko meanwhile, cannot help but utter in a whisper.. She has found a parallel between the two dancer's passion for dancing with her passion to help non-superiori children like her.