Chapter 128 - 128

"Anyways. I didn't call you two here just to perform for my children." Red switches the subject, taking everyone's interest.

"I want to offer you two, jobs."

"Jobs…" The couple perk up.

"Yes. As dance teachers for my kids." Red confirms what the two have already figured out.

"But why us?" Akane cannot help but ask.

She and Yori suspect that the hill is some sort of a clan compound, and they feel underqualified teaching at such a place.

"Like your husband said, when it comes to technical dancing skills among freestyle dancers, you two are two of the best. Your skills are what I need for my kids. I have no need for flashiness." Red explains.

"Then we are confident, sir." Akane accepts the explanation.

"May we know how much our pay would be?" She asks.

"500,000 yen a month for each of you. The average monthly salary for high school teachers your age." Red offers.

"…" The couple feel that the salary is very generous especially for non-superiori like them.

"What are the conditions?" Yori finds the offer too good to be true. 

"First. You two have to live here on the hill, in this house, rent free. Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner too every day of the week." Red presents.

"T-that's… a condition?" The couple is shocked.

"As a compensation for you being away from the city, from your friends, from your families." Red shrugs.

"W-we…" Akane and Yori exchange glances.

"W-we have no problem with that." Akane can barely suppress her excitement.

"We do not exactly have close family. As for friends, we haven't made many." Yori says.

"That's even better." Red nods.

"Because the second condition is that you have to keep it secret from your friends and family that you two are working and living here." He adds to the list.

"That's not a problem for us." Yori accepts immediately.

"B-but what are we going to say to them? You know, in case they ask?" Akane feels that the condition is very easy to break by accident.

"We'll be honest?" Yori shrugs.

"Just tell them that we're working as dance teachers and trainers. As for our new address, we won't be telling them. It's not like any of your family, or mine, has come to visit since our wedding. Why are they going to visit us now?"

"That's true." Akane is assured.

"Do you two use social media?" Red asks.

"We don't anymore." Akane immediately figures that it has something to do with the privacy of the place, so she decides to stop using social media on the spot.

"In case we need to post something, we will go to the city to post something." She assures Red.

"Very good." Red nods.

"…" Kotone and Yoshiko meanwhile, exchange looks before look at Red weirdly, finding the scene familiar.

Red simply ignores them as the next condition for the couple will answer Kotone and Yoshiko's suspicions.

"The third condition. You two will have to engage in flexibility training. You will learn from these two." Red points the couple to his disciples.

"Flexibility training?" The couple frown at the odd condition.

"I'm flexible enough, sir." Akane swears.

"I'm a decent break dancer. Flexibility comes with the territory, sir." Yori too.

"I know..." Red waves their words off.

"But are you two yoga level flexible?" He asks them.

"…" This stumps the two.

"It's a weird condition, isn't it?" Red smirks.

"But if that's the deal breaker to you two, then I can only find someone else." He shrugs.

"That's no problem to us, sir. It was just weird, that's all." Yori evades the misunderstanding as he squeezes Akane's hand.

"We'll do it, sir." Akane says, swallowing her opinion about the activity which she finds a waste of time.

"Good. And, if you just happen to be good at it, then hey, it's all just a chore, and won't be difficult." Red shrugs.

Yori looks away from Red, his thought on the flexibility training seen through.

"W-when do we start, sir?" He asks to dodge the embarrassment.

"As soon as you're done moving here." Red says.

"W-we'll pack up as soon as we arrive back home, sir." Akane cannot wait to start her meter on the job.

Yoshiko and Kotone meanwhile, give the couple welcoming smiles, which weirds out the couple.

"Let's work well together in the future." Yoshiko welcomes them, getting on Red's act.

"Let's." The couple return a bow, feeling somehow moved by the gesture.

"Good." Red nods and turns to his students.

"And you two… Are going to train dancing." He orders.

"…" The group is surprised by this.

"What for?" Kotone subconsciously protests.

"I'm sorry… I'm just surprised." She immediately corrects her tone, getting a look from Red.

"I'm actually interested, sensei…  But this will remove some of my focus off the children's school lessons." Yoshiko is hesitant too.

"Then reduce the children's school time." Red tells Yoshiko in dismissal.

"Wha-…" Yoshiko is stunned.

"Tell me, once they… move up their training like you have, would they really need to spend so much time learning mundane things like that?" Red asks.

"No." Yoshiko is defeated by the logic. She herself knows how smart she has gotten since she unlocked her Inner World.

"Anyways. Kotone, do you know why you can hardly match up to Fumio even if he handicaps himself to your level?" Red asks.

"…No…" Kotone looks away in embarrassment.

"One factor is your lack of body awareness. Awareness to your body parts and their dimensions." Red reveals.

"I don't get it." Kotone is confused and so is Yoshiko.

"Akane-san, Yori-san. Don't you feel that sometimes you have eyes on your limbs? On every part of your body? Especially when you're dancing?" Red asks the couple.

"That's… actually an apt way to put it." Akane knows what Red is talking about.

"Sometimes, we don't even need mirrors to practice." Yori adds.

"I think I kind of get it." Yoshiko cuts in.

"So, Fumio has incredible body awareness?" She asks Red, her sparring with Fumio and how badly she lost is still fresh in her mind.

"Fumio has been a swordsman, a martial artist since he was a kid. Even before he met me… If he suppresses his abilities to a non-superiori's, he can stand his ground against trained F-Class and E-Class superiori." Red starts.

This surprises Kotone and Yoshiko.

"So, yes. Yoshiko. Fumio has great body awareness. With great body awareness, he can dodge some hits without even looking because he knows how his body is positioned and where it is located in space, instinctively." Red concludes.

"And dancing can help us have that quickly." Kotone now accepts.

"Yes. And not only body awareness. Dancing can also help you train your muscle memory. Someday when I'm in the mood to teach you some martial techniques, it will be easier for you to learn it." Red adds.

"Well, then. Count me in." Kotone cannot wait to start dancing.

"Please take care of me in the future." She also addresses the dancer couple.

"Yes." Akane replies, distracted. She and her husband has been listening and they both realize something.

"Sir… We're really going to teach dancing, are we?" She asks Red.

"Having eyes on our bodies… That's what you want for the kids, sir?" Yori asks too.

"…" Red's smirk is enough an answer to them.

The couple do not know why, but teaching dancing this way disappoints them deeply.

"You two, relax. You can still teach them whatever you want. Who knows? IF they want to be professionals and IF they become famous, they can then credit you two as their dance teachers. Wouldn't that be something?" Red smirks at the two.

"…" Kotone and Yoshiko both shake their heads, thinking the same thing.

'That won't matter soon enough.'

<>

Evening soon arrives and everyone has had their dinner.

"So, dancing huh?" Fumio drops by Gin's former house, or more specifically, Akane and Yori's house now, for a visit, and finds his fellow disciples and the new inhabitants chatting.

"Yeah." His fellow disciples nod in acknowledgement at his arrival.

"Oh. Sorry. What was I thinking not introducing myself first? Hello Akane-san, Yori-san.  I'm Fumio. We'll see more of each other in the future." Fumio introduces himself to the couple.

"H-hello." "Please take care of us." The couple greet Fumio awkwardly.

"I've heard from the others of your addition to the place. It's great to see new faces." Fumio wants to make a good impression on his future junior disciples. 

"Thank you." The couple are processing the disconnect between the Fumio in front of them and their image of him in their mind before.

From the way Red, Kotone and Yoshiko were talking about Fumio earlier, they thought that Fumio would look like a samurai. But not only does he look like some sort of the office worker type with his stature and the way he carries himself, he is also younger than them.

"When I'm free, may I learn some break dancing moves from you, Yori-san?" Fumio asks.

"Of course. It'd be a pleasure." Yori nods.

"Hey, just focus on your own thing... This is our thing." Kotone protests at Fumio with a glare.

"The hell?" Fumio is taken aback by the reaction.

"I have the right to fit in!" He can only jokingly protest back.

"…puhup." Kotone is immediately disarmed.

"I won't get to have time anyways." Fumio shakes his head.

"Are you staying the night?" He then asks the couple.

"Yes, Fumio-san." The couple confirm.

They are now much more comfortable in the hill compare to earlier as they have received nothing but welcoming smile and remarks.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" Yoshiko asks, after not seeing Fumio since one of the demon servants' death.

"Well, I received a text from Riz-san that we have two new additions here. I just had to see what's up." Fumio shrugs.

"Anyways. Let me go report to boss first." He then excuses himself, leaving the group stunned at his sudden departure after just a minute of talking to them.

A few minutes later, Red and Fumio are now climbing a neighboring mountain as if taking a stroll.

"Well. Good job." Red nods in approval. 

Fumio just confessed everything that happened during his lunch date with Sayuri.

"Considering how surprised you must have been, you came up with quite the solid fake story." He smirks at Fumio.

"I'm sorry. I should have kept it a secret longer." Fumio apologizes again.

"Well, what can we do? You had no choice. You had someone to protect, and the situation arose due to Tezguniuth's oversight. I also can't punish him for not killing someone he fought alongside with during the great war. This all happened out of circumstance." Red shrugs.

"…I-I see…" Fumio almost chokes up in relief.

He thought he would get punished heavily by Red, even get kicked out for having his secret exposed. The bullying he did to Yoshiko a few days earlier also added to his difficulty in confessing to Red. But to receive understanding and forgiveness from Red, he almost feels that a miracle just happened to him.

"But this shows that no matter how careful we are, one simple thing has the potential to tear away our veil from the world." He is pulled out from his daze by Red's words.

"Indeed." Fumio agrees.

The two become silent after that as they stare at the starry sky. 

"You must have realized that I've kept on underselling your potential and your strength, no?" Red suddenly breaks the silence with a question.