Chapter 373 - The Dancer (1)

Of course, I never had access to those identification tags once I entered the mansion. It didn't matter to me anyways since I had to escape the infirmary first to go anywhere. I closed my eyes, only blinking to find myself in a practice room with mirrors acting as walls. Tall wooden bars were attached to the mirrors while dancing flats and heels were scattered onto the light brown floors.

The other girl, who claimed to be a fan of that girl, attentively listened to the music, stepping and switching movements while counting the beat. Late in the night, she was the only one using the room. Her feet bruised from her intensive pressure from dancing on her toes, tipping her leg in the air, trying to get that perfect position. My eyes welled with tears as it was similar to me when I was forced to learn ballet by the school.

My toes and muscles would ache, unable to endure the strict teachers that spotted every mistake. Countless hours of practicing after classes ended while Luke made me repeat the same movements over and over again until I perfected them. Eventually these movements became ingrained into my body, unconsciously using them even when the classes ended once I graduated elementary school.

But that didn't mean I wasn't free from dance classes. Ballet was the foundation for other dances I had to learn where the Roselia family tutors would be more merciless than the teachers at school. I didn't like the performing arts, always tortured by them. However, the girl practicing in front of me, was smiling like she was having fun while practicing. My respect for her increased as she didn't let her sore muscles give her the excuse to leave the practice room.

Like the girl who played the violin, she brought a small stereo with her in a crowded area. Once she turned the music on, the girl started to dance in front of a crowd who never turned to take a glance at her. She was invisible to them, the people who began to report her to the security owned by the Locast family. This was why she walked up to the girl who played the violin. She knew how hopeless one could feel when nobody was looking at them.

"Your dancing is so pretty," the girl with the violin clapped for her.

"Thank you," she wiped some tears welling in her eyes.

"I don't ever miss a day of practice," her heart warmed from the first person who acknowledged her efforts.

I clapped for the both of them, making one more person recognize their hard efforts. Even though they wouldn't be able to hear me, I hope they would be able to stand in front of an audience that would appreciate them someday. It would be too sad if no one accepted them.

"Her fever is getting worse," Luke tried to shake me awake.

"I'm up," I opened my eyes to see myself in the infirmary again.

"What's wrong?" I wondered why Luke was clenching his fists.

"We have taken the maximum number of days we could take a leave," Luke explained.

My jaw almost dropped since I didn't want to return to the school yet. Why would I want to leave a safe haven for a dangerous place where a monster resided? It was also clear the teachers didn't finish their investigation yet, leading to a high possibility the same things would repeat once we entered the school campus.

"I don't want to leave," I tugged his sleeve.

"I already packed our stuff," he frowned.

"The teachers sent us a message they have increased the security," Luke didn't believe them.

"We can ask other families to pull their donations out," Alex suggested.

All of us entered one hover car, choosing to stay together. Miliana silently trembled with anger when she heard from Charles that the teachers were still figuring out the issue. Meanwhile, Luke was busy organizing more medicine inside his inventory, taking a huge supply from his mansion. When Alex noticed Luke taking most of the bottles out in the infirmary, he stopped by his own mansion to do the same.

"Are you ok Rika?" Shelly noticed how my body was burning hot from the side effects.

"I am," I leaned against Luke.

I closed my eyes, hoping to get more sleep while I could. Only opening my eyes when the hover car drifted into the courtyard in the middle school section. I sighed as I walked out the car, wondering if we couldn't take more days of leave. Since the sky was dreamy violet, the edge of the daytime, most of the classes should have already ended. It was better to directly go to the high school section where we could sleep in the tents.

As soon as the violets transitioned into the dark navy shade of the night, I flinched as the poking resumed. I groaned as this was not the best time when I had just recently recovered from my fever from chugging all the medicine Luke passed to me. When I turned to my classmates, they just looked thankful that the music wasn't loudly playing as before.

"We hope to start the performance together," two shadows suddenly appeared in front of us.

"Without the music?" I hoped that horrible song wouldn't play again.

"I can't dance without the music," she waved her hand to teleport us somewhere.