9 I Don't Dance

"I can't believe this is happening to me." Arata lamented the fact that he was going to be one of the dancers at the ball.

"I really thought you were going to be a little more happier about this." Yogi said, saddened by the lack of enthusiasm.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be sound ungrateful for what you did. Really I'm happy that you care about me, but I'm just not a dancer." He told him. He personally never danced once in his life, and he doubted that any idol anime he's watched would fill that gap in practice.

"That's fine, I don't really know how to dance either. So at least we're in the same boat here." That fact didn't really make him feel better. Nor did the jealous looks he'd gotten from their classmates help either. All he every asked for, was to be left alone. Was that too much to ask?

"Hello there, Aono." A girl's voice got him out of his inner thoughts. Turning his head over to Yogi, there was a girl, wearing her hair in a bun. A pencil sitting in it, appearing to hold it together. She had a small notepad with her for some reason.

"Ah, good morning Kurosawa." He greeted her back. From the way he acted, it seemed like he was familiar with her. Arata was lost on this one. Who was she?

"Yes, well let's get to the point here." She said. "Can I ask you some questions about the upcoming dance?"

"Of course, I'd love to answer some questions." Ever so friendly, he thought.

"Great, well maybe it should be a bit of an obvious one, but do you think you can win the whole thing?"

"Personally, I doubt it. I'm not much of a dancer, to be honest."

"Oh so modest." She wrote down something on her notepad. Was she one of the school's reporters? Who even were they, he wondered. "Okay, well let's say you win. I bet there's a nice girl you probably want to win with, right?" She giggled at him, almost like this question was a bit of a tease.

"I don't have anyone in mind..." He replied. The tone in his voice giving away his feelings on the matter.

"Really?" Arata jumped into the conversation. "Even with the legend where the two winners will be destined in love?" He laughed, the look on Yogi's facing cracking him up. For some reason, it was fun to tease him. The way he tried to deny his feelings.

"Then what about you, Kashimura?" The girl turned her attention to him.

"Huh?"

"Well aren't you also participating in the dance?"

"R-right. It was such a surprise that I kind of can't believe it." It might've been fun to tease Yogi's embarrassment, but feeling the attention on him made him feel the same way.

"I know, a lot of students were surprised that you of all people got in. In fact, some students have mentioned on several occasions that they didn't even believe you existed in the first place." While she may not have needed to put it that way. He couldn't deny that his strategy of being invisible was working for the most part. "Anyway, do you think that you have any shot of winning the dance?"

"I'll just answer the same way as Yogi, I've never been much for dancing." Not only did he not believe he could possibly win, but he didn't even want to in the first place. "By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't believe you've introduced yourself to me. Who are you?"

"Me? Oh right." She put her hand behind her head. "I'm Yurime Kurosawa." He grabbed and shook his hand without permission. "I'm this school's best reporter. I always get the scoop." He was speechless. Not only was she really confident, but also had no regard for personal space either.

"Right..." He slowly pulled his hand from her, a bit jarred. "Well for a formal introduction, I'm Arata Kashimura. But I guess you already knew that."

"All right, with that out of the way. I bet you have some girls..."

"No, I don't have any girls in mind." He told her. Expecting this was going to be her other question.

"Really? Not even Misao Shitara?"

"Eh?" He looked away from the two. "I don't know what you mean?"

"I'm sure you know what I mean." She acted like she knew something she wasn't supposed to know. "Seems like the two of you got pretty close when you were collecting votes. Plus I'm sure getting someone like her would be pretty nice."

"I didn't realize how close you two were." Yogi teased, turning the tables on him.

"N-no, we're just friends." Even that wasn't technically true, at least from her perspective. The bell rung, saving him from this line of questioning. He laid his head on his desk in relief, for once happy that class was starting.

Of course, even with that pesky reporter hurting his day. It was going to be far from over, now he had to plan with Erina how they were going to succeed with, well anything about the upcoming ball.

They got luck with being in there in the first place. He knew for a fact, that the others were going in with their own strategies to help their girl. What was he even going to do though?

"There you are." He spoke, leaning on the wall after waiting for longer than he was expecting. "what took so long?"

"Sorry, I just ran into Yogi, guess I lost track of time." She laughed it off nonchalantly. "So what did you need? I thought this was one of those days you said you had things to do."

"Well we're going to be late at this rate." He checked the time on his phone. If they left at this moment, they'd be fine. "Come on, just follow me. I'll explain on the way." He led them from the school ground, heading to the one place he could think of.

"What's this all about?"

"I'm taking a wild guess here, but you've never danced before, right?"

"So what if I haven't. How good could a bunch of random high schoolers really be? As long as I get to dance with Yogi, that's all that matters to me."

"Well you never know. Besides, I would've thought that maybe you might want to win the whole thing." She couldn't deny that would be nice prospect. Especially if a certain boy was also the winner along side her.

"That does sound nice, but what exactly are you planning?" They reached his house. Expecting to go in, she was surprised when he stopped her.

"Hang on, we're not staying here long. I just need to grab a few things." He told her, quickly disappearing in his house. When he returned, he was holding, gardening tools?

"What are those for?" She thought if he was going to get anything. They'd at least seem dancing related.

"Relax, I need these for where we're going." He realized that he never elaborated what promises he had to keep on these days. "Right, I guess I never told you."

"Told me what?"

"Look, to make some money on the side. I promised an old lady I'd help tend her garden. So I'm going there now."

"Look, if this is some ploy to get me to do your dirty work, I'm not falling for it."

"That's rich coming from you!" He yelled back at her. "Also that's not why I'm bring you. The two of us clearly are going to need help."

"And what, you think this old ladies going to help us."

"Well I don't know if she knows anything about dancing, but she's the only option I've got." Once they reached their destination, Hine was waiting as she always did.

"Good afternoon, Arata. I see you brought company this time." She was happy to see more visitors to her home.

"Good afternoon to you too." He greeted her back. "This is Erina, you know, the girl I've told you about."

"Ah yes I've heard about you. I'm Hine Nanri." She introduced herself properly to the girl. "I should also add that Arata's already told me what you're doing to him. So I don't think she need to pretend about anything."

"Really?" Erina gave a disapproving look at him.

"Hey, this was before I accept your offer. Besides, you should be thanking her. She's the one that told me that I should do it."

"He's not lying young lady." She gave them a shining smile, showing Erina that she had no disdain for her actions. "I assume that you're here to ask about the May Dance, correct?"

"Huh? How'd you know?" He asked, there were many things he learned about her over his time gardening. Psychic wasn't one of those things.

"I've lived here a very long time. More importantly, I was actually one of the first to take part in the first ever dance."

"Wow, I didn't realize it was around for so long." Erina spoke, awestruck.

"Ah yes, it really does bring me back. In fact, you're looking at the first girl to win it too."

"What? That's amazing. I never knew you were so good at dancing." Now it was Arata's turn to be impressed.

"I know we've talked on many occasions, but there are many things you still don't know about me." She chuckled. "Like my husband, I didn't get the chance to say it the last time we spoke seriously. He was the boy that won alongside me."

"That must be why that legend exists." He figured.

"Oh that's so romantic. Now I just have to win this thing. So I can do that with Yogi!" A fire of passion lit in her eyes. While he might've been disinterested, it seemed like Hine was enjoying it herself.

"Right, well it's no good if you can't dance. Miss Nanri, if you were able to win. Then maybe you could help us then?"

"Oh so formal as always. You know the two of you can just call me Hine."

"Oh thank you, Hine." Erina accepted it without a second thought.

"What? But you've only just met! Never mind that, that didn't answer my question either."

"Arata, I thought it'd be obvious, but I guess teenage boys haven't changed since I was young. Of course I'll help teach you." Erina cheered in excitement. Arata was also pretty happy himself. Yet he also felt anxious about this arrangement. Without any experience, he had no idea of what to expect from their new teacher.