The Last Dance

Ranko sighed, tuning out the sounds of nearly three thousand people just above her head as she walked alone in the dark under the aluminum bleachers of the Yusue High rugby field. So much has happened here, she thought. So much of my life changed here.

She glanced out at a dirt patch near the twenty-meter line on the field, remembering working with Kumiko on her dance moves in time with Dream-Colored Chaser on that very spot. Looking down at her feet, behind the home bleachers, she chuckled with a shake of her head. I wonder how many times I landed on my face, right here, when I was trying to land the quad that first year.

Ignoring the slight soreness in her left knee after a full rugby game's worth of performances alongside her squadmates, she kicked her silver cheerleading sneakers through the grass wistfully. It all ends tonight. On to bigger things - maybe better things - but… different things.

I learned how to be a teammate here.

I learned how to be a leader here.

I learned how to be a friend here.

I'm not ready for it to end.

She was pulled out of her nostalgia by a shrill whistle as a scrum on the rugby field ended, eliciting a loud cheer from the bleachers directly over her head. The Yusue rugby team, in their red shirts and silver pants, had spent the evening absolutely dismantling their opponents in powder-blue pants and white jerseys, and the whistle had indicated the end of the match.

"Hey, Ran-chan? It's time."

The redhead whirled quickly in her red cheer shell, emblazoned with a pouncing lion, and her red-and-silver pleated skirt. She blushed slightly; it always gave her just a little bit of a shiver down her spine when her twin pigtails tickled her bare shoulders under the power of the Full Body Cat's Tongue. The sensation served as a physical reminder to her on days where she'd explicitly set out to be extra cute.

She'd downgraded to a black nylon knee brace without metal supports, which gave her much more freedom of movement. It was also less than half the weight of the immobilizer, which was a welcome relief. The scans she'd had the Monday before had confirmed that the ligaments in her knee were fully healed, so the brace was entirely precautionary, a measure of extra support until the strength - and her confidence - in her left knee returned. Some minor residual soreness remained in a leg that had not been meaningfully exercised in months. But, so long as she kept the major gymnastic stunts to a minimum, an agreement had been reached in consultation both with the orthopedic specialist Ranko saw every two weeks in Shibuya, and the budding young chiropractor she saw every night in her bedroom.

She would get to have her last dance with her squadmates.

"I'm coming, Rin," she answered with a soft smile.

The redhead took one last, long look around. I hope this place remembers me as much as I'll remember it.

"And there you have it, Lions fans!" The public address announcer's feminine voice boomed through a slight crackle in the speakers mounted on each side of the scoreboards.

When I'm a gazillionaire, I gotta donate some better sound gear to this place, Ranko thought with a smile as she strode back to join her squadmates on the field for the final time. She glanced up at the scoreboard, chuckling to herself with a little blush at the match results flashing on the aging outdoor video board.

How fitting that it should end like this.

"In the final match of the season, your Yusue HIgh Fightin' Lions have defeated the Furinkan High Dolphins by a final score of 49 to 16! Don't forget, stick around for a very special performance by the Yusue Lions cheerleaders, and musical guests, Ranko and the Dapper Dragons!"

"You okay?"

Ranko felt a hand on her bare shoulder, looking up and smiling into Emi Kimoto's eyes. "Yeah. Just… lotta memories here, is all."

Emi gave an understanding nod. "It's always hard moving on. But, try to worry about tomorrow tomorrow, and enjoy tonight tonight."

The redhead nodded, blushing a little as she took in Emi's attire. "I knew I shouldn't have let Izzi talk me into those outfits for you two. It's weirding me out even more than I thought it would."

Emi gazed down at the black cheerleader-style crop top she wore, with silver glitter piping running down the sleeves and sides. At the center of her chest, where a team logo would normally appear, Ranko's pink signature sparkled in fuschia glitter across her chest. A matching bright pink pleated skirt completed the outfit, with several centimeters of bare skin separating the two articles of clothing around her midriff. She'd completed the look with a pair of hot pink bows adorning the loose twin pigtails sprouting from the sides of her scalp just above her ears.

"Yeah, well, it's cute, so deal with it," Emi said, giggling. "I like it."

Ranko blushed, giggling brightly. "If you dig it that much, I bet Izzi could make you one with Hitomi's name plastered across your tits, if you really wanted."

The blonde smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. "And who's to say I wouldn't put her in one that says Emi instead?"

The songstress and cheerleader shrugged, blushing. "Whatever floats your boats, I guess." I mean, I certainly prefer being Akane's cheerleader, so, I get it…

Emi giggled, squeezing the shorter girl around the shoulders. "Your sister's already working on both of them."

Ranko let her flushing face fall into her hands with a chuckle. "Of fucking course she is." The fact that the girls viewed the outfits… that way… made seeing her own name on them even more awkward for Ranko, but she tried to put it out of her mind. "We should go help get the stage set up."

The blonde shook her head disapprovingly. "First off, you're the star. You're not supposed to be doing that kinda stuff. Second, you still gotta take it a little easy on your knee. And third…" Emi shot her a little wink. "Sometimes, it's fun to just sit around in a short skirt and watch the boys work up a sweat."

"Emi!" Ranko's face glowed brighter than the floodlights illuminating the grassy pitch behind them.

"I swear, girl…" Emi giggled brightly. "If it kills me, I'm gonna get a little diva attitude in you yet."

Ranko shook her head, crinkling her nose cutely. "There's enough diva in you for the both of us, Ems. Go on, go make Shinji squirm. I gotta go talk with my squad."

Emi waved her off. "Don't you worry about tormenting poor Shin. 'Tomi's already on the case." She sneered devilishly. "But maybe she could use a hand. See you up there!" She flitted off, leaving Ranko to jog over to the other thirteen Yusue High cheerleaders, who were still mingling with the victorious rugby players. As she walked, Ranko scanned the faces of the defeated Furinkan players to see if she recognized anyone, but after several years away from her former school, she did not.

And it ain't exactly likely anyone would recognize me, considering, she thought with a grin. Hell, I barely do, some days.

"Are you girls ready," Ranko asked, even though she knew they were. She smiled warmly at her squadmates and friends. I'm so proud of you all.

Kumiko gave her friend a soft nod. "You bet, Ran-chan. I'm so stoked we get to do a brand-new song with you!"

The pop star grinned. "Yeah, I've been saving this one, hoping I could do it with you all. And whenever the label gets around to having me film the music video, I want all of you girls in it with me, got it? It'll be awesome!"

An excited whoop rose amongst the girls, and several of them took their turns to rush up and squeeze Ranko around the shoulders.

"Let's go, Shin! Plug the speakers in!"

A few meters in front of the stage, Hitomi and Emi each waved a pair of shiny red-and-silver pom-poms they'd borrowed from the cheerleaders, Hitomi kicking her leg high in the air with a giggle as they chanted. A loud thwang rose from the temporary stage under construction at midfield, and Ranko whirled to find Shinji in a heap in the grass just off the left side of the stage, a microphone stand and his bass guitar heaped haphazardly atop him. Guess the girls were even more distracting than they thought, Ranko mused with a giggle. Don't kill the poor bastard! I need a bassist on tour!

"So, I guess this is it, huh?" Ranko sighed. "Fuck, I'm gonna miss doing this with you girls." She could only imagine Mizuki, Aoi, Etsuko and Kumi - her fellow seniors - all felt the same. "We're never gonna forget each other. Never." She turned her eyes up to the packed bleachers, buzzing with anticipation.

"Let's go make sure they never forget us, either." Ranko grinned up at the green-haired junior to her left. "Ready to lead us out there, cap?"

Rin Matsubara blushed, shaking her head. "Nuh-uh. Not tonight. No chance. We're behind you, Ranko." A cheer of assent rose from her squadmates.

Ranko nodded, beaming and reaching out her hand, her palm extended downward. "Alright then. One more time."

The other girls huddled around close, stacking their hands atop Ranko's. As all thirteen girls crammed in close enough to get their hands in the pile, Ranko took a final, slow glance around her, making eye contact with each. Her gaze lingered for a moment on each of the girls in turn, as if trying to memorize their faces. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and releasing it slowly.

"Mess with the cat…"

Where one voice had begun the cheerleading squad's new rallying cry, fourteen finished it.

"YOU GET THE CLAWS!"

The redhead began jogging toward the stage, her friends following her. She longed to join them in the cartwheels they performed as they made their way to their starting places, but she'd promised Akane she would avoid major jumps. Nine more days. Once I'm on that stage on the Budokan, I'm giving it everything I've got, ready or not. She walked between the six large black placards that lay face-down, evenly spaced in a line some ten meters in front of the stage parallel with its front edge.

The crowd seemed far louder than it should have been for its size. Ranko blushed, realizing that unless she squeezed in a set at the Phoenix in the next week, she honestly didn't know when she'd next perform before a crowd that small. She slowly made her way up the stairs to the platform Crash and Jake had erected, waving to the audience along the home bleachers. Her face brightened as her eyes fell on the third row on the left, and she hung her left fist limply in front of her as she rubbed the back of it with her right hand, smiling up at Akane, Izumi and Hana sitting together. Akane and Izzi stood and whooped loudly, and Hana frantically tried to finish chewing the last bite of whatever she'd gotten from the concession stand so she could join her daughters.

"You sure you're ready for this?" The voice came from just over Ranko's left shoulder as she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her from the side. "Your leg doing okay?"

Ranko smiled, leaning into Crash's chest with a happy sigh. His hugs feel so good. "Gods, yes. And even if I wasn't, I'm doing it anyway!"

He shook his head with an amused smirk and an inaudible scoff. "Of fucking course you are."

As Crash released her, Ken strode up behind the redhead in a black tee shirt and matching skinny jeans, holding out her rhinestone-bedazzled black leather jacket. "Good to have you back, Ran-chan."

She beamed brightly, pulling the jacket inscribed with her name on over her cheerleading uniform and leaving it hanging open in front. "Good to be back." She offered Shinji and Jake high-fives, giving a sharp nod of acknowledgement to Hitomi as she waited next to Emi in their matching mock cheerleading uniforms.

Rin flashed Ranko a thumbs-up from the grass below, taking her position at the right rear edge of a spread of thirteen cheerleaders. Receiving one in reply, she turned her eyes up to the glass audio booth atop the bleachers, throwing a thumbs-up to Suzume and Ariel.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Suzume excitedly called into her public-address microphone. "Please welcome, for the last time, your 1992 All-Tokyo Cheerleading Invitational champion Yusue Fighting Lions Cheerleaders, and special guests, Ranko and the Dapper Dragons!"

Ranko waved enthusiastically to the crowd with both hands, hopping slightly a few times to loosen her knee back up.

"What's up, Yusue? Are you ready to bounce?!" Ranko giggled into her headset microphone, surveying the crowd as she planted her feet, her legs spread apart as she hung her arms rigidly at her sides, her hands in fists. A staccato electronic dance rhythm began pouring out of Jacob's synthesizer keyboard, supported by Ken's drums. Shinji leaned forward into the microphone mounted to the stand in front of his position at the right side of the stage, beatboxing a low thwom sound into it to further support the thumping rhythm of Ranko's new dance track.

Here we go, Ranko. We're back, baby.

"Nine o'clock on Friday, and they're playin' my song. I'm so ready; I've been waiting for this all! Week! Long!"

More like all year, she thought as she whipped her head to the side, her pigtails flying over her shoulders as she bent her knees, lowering herself slightly as she rocked her backside with each of the last three staccato words of the first line. Fuck, it feels good to dance again!

"There's no time for talking, or sittin' round gawkin'! Don't wanna stop to eat. The only thing I need tonight's a rhythm and a beat!"

As she strode closer to Crash, thirteen synchronized single twists were launched from the grass in front of the stage, each girl with her shiny foil red-and-silver pom-poms refracting the stadium lighting in her hands as she twirled in the air. As soon as their feet hit the ground, the sparkly puffs were thrown to the grass.

"You know what I came out to do." Ranko stood directly in front of Crash, shaking her backside only the width of his guitar from him as her hand reached up over her shoulder, cupping his cheek.

She whipped her body around, dragging her finger in a zigzag pattern down the front of Crash's white tee shirt as she wiggled her butt in the direction of the crowd.

"You gotta shake it with me before I'll shout for you!"

Ranko returned to center stage, flanked two meters apart by Hitomi on her left and Emi on her right. She grinned up at the steps leading up to the stage, as Rin climbed up to the stage on Emi's side, and Kumiko on Hitomi's. The five girls formed a line across the front of the stage.

"I guess you're gonna make me spell the whole thing out for you…"

The other eleven cheerleaders formed a line as well, on the grass of the rugby pitch. Etsuko, Momoe, Aoi, Shika, Ayame and Kayo each stood behind one of the black signs in the grass, with Tanda, Tamiko, Yori, Mizuki and Moriko standing rigidly in the gaps between them, arms at their sides.

"I gotta BE the one that's rockin' out the hardest in the club!"

As Ranko shouted more than sang the word be, she was joined by all thirteen of her fellow cheerleaders as well as Hitomi and Emi. She gestured to herself with both of her thumbs at the level of her breasts, slowly rotating to face right and pumping her hands back and forth with the beat as she finished the line. All four other girls on stage, and the five cheerleaders still on the grass that were not assigned a sign, did the same as Etsuko lifted up the placard in front of her. The front of it was painted the same bright fuschia as was used in Ranko's signature in the band logo, featuring a large letter B painted in thick black lines in the same font.

"OH! I'm gonna go until the sun! Comes! Up!"

As with be, the word oh was shouted by all of the cheerleaders as if it were any other chant they might have performed at a sporting event. Momoe lifted the sign in front of her, featuring a large letter O in the same style. Etsie spun in place with her sign held high above her head. Ranko, like all of her other dancers, held her hands up at shoulder height, fingers spread in the gesture that ended the Minato University cheerleaders' pixie dust gesture. The music cut out entirely as she sang the words sun comes up staccato, and with each of the three words, she led her dancers in raising her hands a little further skyward.

"YOU know what I wanna do, and who I wanna do it with!"

The word you was shouted by all fifteen women in the performance. Ranko led the dancers in pointing out to the crowd with two fingers on each hand, having turned back to face forward. Her hands stayed still, but her hips wiggled left and right with every beat as Momoe and Etsuko spun in place and Aoi lifted a placard featuring a black letter U.

"ANyone can do it, if you're not afraid to wiggle it!"

Shika's N sign rocketed above her head as the girls all shouted the first syllable of the word anyone. Starting at her right, Ranko (and her other dancers) panned her pointing gesture across the front of the stage, thrusting her hands backward and forward four times until she had reached her left side and indicated the entire crowd. This was completed by the end of the word afraid, and then she again swayed her backside, just once, left and then right in a pronounced wiggle not unlike the clanging of a bell.

"You SEE me on the floor givin' it all that I got…"

Ayame threw a placard painted with the letter C up above her head as the dancers all cheered the word and lowered their left arms, holding their right hands flat above the level of their eyes and bopping left to right as if scanning the crowd for someone and shielding their eyes from the sun.

"So, EEE-ven if you're tired, pound your drink and take your shot!"

Kayo raised the final sign, displaying the letter E. The dancers all yelled the final letter. They rotated the wrists of the hands that shielded their eyes, resting the backs of their hands against their foreheads and slumping slightly as if they were suddenly exhausted. At the words pound your drink, all ten dancers cocked their left hands up to their mouths as if drinking an invisible shot of whiskey before punching forward into the air with the same hand with the words take your shot.

All six cheerleaders holding the signs lowered them below their waists, facing them toward their bodies, but did not drop them.

"I feel the thump of the bass, and I'll be up in your face…"

Ranko thrust both of her fists forward, keeping her elbows bent, at the word thump. As she sang the words up in your face, she turned ninety degrees to face right, leaning back slightly and reaching her arm over her head as if she were trying to hug the neck of a taller person standing behind her. Her dancers all did the same. Each of the six cheerleaders still holding the signs rocked their hips once to the left at the word bass and back to the right at face.

"Ya gotta shake it with me right where it counts, counts, counts!"

Kumiko raised both her arms over her head, crossing her wrists and wiggling her butt. Each time Ranko uttered the word counts, she and her fellow dancers bent their knees a bit more, until their short cheerleading skirts nearly touched the ground.

The girls holding the signs held them out to their left at the first counts, then straight above their head at the second, and out to the right at the third, without turning them back to face the audience.

"So, if ya wanna be with me, B-O-U-N-C-E!"

Ranko led a rapid-fire abbreviated version of the dance as she spelled out the word. She gestured to her chest with her thumbs, then flared her hands upward without moving her elbows. Her open palms quickly transitioned into the forward point, which was then panned across the audience. She swooped her right hand back from the leftmost point to shield her eyes, and then rotated her wrist to lay the backs of her fingers against her forehead.

Her eleven fellow dancers all joined her in the dance she had choreographed for the song's chorus, and each of the six cheerleaders holding the signs spun them back around to face the crowd as their letter was called.

"Yeah! You need a little bit of bounce!"

All sixteen girls jumped into the air in unison, kicking their heels back until they almost kicked themselves in the backsides. Ranko giggled a bit into her microphone as the hem of her skirt tickled her ankles.

When the cheerleaders holding the signs landed, their placards were tossed face-down to the grass.

"Standing in the corner, and I'm hanging on your elbow. You're thinkin' that we're gonna skip another one, but hell, no!" Ranko shook her head, smirking to the crowd. At her sides, Hitomi, Kumiko, Rin and Emi all wagged their fingers, snaking the whole of their bodies left and right behind them, as did all eleven cheerleaders still down in the grass.

Maybe I shouldn't have used that word. I'm at school after all. Ranko thought, before smirking to herself. You know what? Naaah. As the great Shiori Nagata once said, 'I'm graduating in a week; what are they gonna do, kick me off the squad?' Fuck it. It's my party, and I'll cuss if I want to.

"You're gasping for air, but I just let down my hair," she sang, shaking her head and letting her loose, red-and-silver-beribboned pigtails dance on the shoulders of her leather jacket. "The night is just beginning! My dress is soaked with so much sweat…" She pinched at the red-and-silver cheerleading shell top under her jacket with her left hand, pulling it away from her skin a few times and fanning her face with her right hand as if she were overheated. "... it looks like I went swimming!"

"DJ, DJ, DJ, come on, spin up a song! Get me back out on the dance floor where you know I belong!"

She smirked back at Crash, who took his hands off of his cherry-red guitar and made a show of mopping his brow with his hand.

"My date's worn out, but I'm still good to shake it all night long!"

Up in the bleachers, Akane shook her head, dropping her face into her palm with an only half-amused laugh. Ranko, baby, you do know, you could occasionally pick one of the other boys to be your designated stage boyfriend, right?

As she sang, Kumiko and Rin jogged back down the steps to the grass. Etsie, Aoi, Momoe, Ayame, and Kayo picked their signs back up, but Kumi took Shika's place in front of the N sign and scooped it from the grass. Shika jogged to the back of the formation, joining Rin and Mitzuki. Tamiko and Yori stood next to each other halfway between Shika's group and the front line, and Tanda took her position between Kumiko and Aoi on the front line.

"I've gotta BE the one that's rockin' out the hardest in the club!"

Again, Ranko, Hitomi, Emi, and every cheerleader not holding a placard gestured to themselves with both thumbs, rocking their hands as if they were holding invisible maracas as they used four steps to swivel ninety degrees to their right. Etsuko held up the B sign, and all the other sign-holders waved their placards over their heads in wide arcs, facing away from the crowd with their plain black backs showing. All sixteen girls yelled "BE!" as one, spelling out the word less in a singing voice, and more in a chant, as the cheerleaders they were.

"OH! I'm gonna go until the SUN! COMES! UP!"

In one voice, all sixteen girls yelled "OH!" as Momoe turned her letter sign forward and raised it over her head. Ranko, Hitomi, Emi and Tanda flared their hands out as they did in the previous chorus, but Tamiko stepped into Yori's laced-together fingers. Shika, meanwhile, stepped between Rin and Mitzuki, placing one of her hands on each of the girls' interior shoulders. Rin and Mitzuki formed a cradle with their enjoined fingers, and Shika stepped into it with her right foot.

At the word sun, Tanda jumped upward, spinning in a single twist and landing on her feet in the grass.

In time with the word comes, Yori launched her girlfriend skyward directly behind Tanda, watching her execute a double twist in the air and come down into her arms.

As the word up was roared out of Ranko's lips, Rin and Mitzuki together propelled Shika, the squad's top gymnast after Ranko, even higher into the air than Tamiko had flown. Shika executed three twists, flying backward as she did. Her flight arc carried her high enough to clear the two-meter high stage platform, where Hitomi and Emi executed a clean basket catch of the silver-haired cheerleader on the stage. They lowered her to the stage floor, where she joined Ranko just in time to point forward in the next step of the dance Ranko had choreographed - the first she'd ever designed specifically with the intent of creating a fad dance for her fans to learn.

"YOU know what you gotta do, and who you gotta do it with! AN-yone can do it, if you're not afraid to wiggle it!"

The redheaded songstress spared the briefest of moments to steal a proud smile at her two permanent backup dancers. Ranko had needed to give Hitomi and Emi a crash course in the art of the basket catch just the evening before. They had performed it flawlessly, and Ranko breathed a sigh of relief. She may have neglected to mention to Shika that the girls responsible for catching her an instant before she slammed head-first into the stage like a lawn dart had never actually done the maneuver before.

Ranko's hands panned the crowd alongside Shika's, Hitomi's and Emi's as the six signless cheerleaders still at ground level did the same, and Aoi and then Kumiko turned their signs forward to reveal their letters.

All sixteen women rocked their hips side to side in perfect unison, swishing their pleated skirts left and right with pronounced, deliberate motions as the words wiggle it sprung forward from Ranko's microphone and through the rugby field's aging sound system, supported by the large speakers Shinji and Ariel had mounted to each side of the stage itself.

"You SEE me on the floor givin' it all that I got, so EEE-ven if you're tired, pound your drink and take your shot!"

Ranko's wrist rotated, resting her hand across her eyebrows as she transitioned from the shade your eyes and search the crowd gesture associated with see to the exhausted, pathetic faint move at the long E sound in the word even. As throughout the chorus, all sixteen girls shouted out the letter sounds spelling out the word bounce as Shinji's bass beatboxing in his microphone laid down the beat alongside Ken's drums. Ayame and then Kayo turned the C and E signs, respectively, forward, waving them overhead when it was their turn.

Ranko jogged over to her guitarist, smirking playfully at the nervous expression in his eyes. Oh, relax. Just be a good boy, play along, and for the gods' sake, don't poke me with nothin' that belongs to Ukyo.

"I feel the thump of the bass…" Ranko thrust her fists forward, opening her hands at the last possible instant and grabbing Crash's jacket.

"And I'll be up in your face…" She pulled herself closer, turning her back to Crash. She reached back as per the moves of her dance, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck as her backside swayed close enough to him that she could feel the strings of his guitar against her butt through her pleated cheerleading skirt.

"You gotta shake it with me, right where it counts, counts, COUNTS!" All of the girls lowered themselves on their knees, swaying their asses as their arms tensed parallel to the ground, their hands in fists as they dropped their backsides nearly all the way to the ground. Crash, meanwhile, hoped it wasn't too terribly obvious to the crowd how much he was blushing as his best friend did so not ten centimeters in front of him.

"If you wanna be with me," Ranko sang as she popped back to a standing position, ignoring the slight twinge of pain in her knee as she pushed up from the squatting position.

"B-O-U-N-C-E," she continued, again rapidly moving through the gestures associated with each of the six letters in the song behind the hedge of pink-and-black signs spelling the word out a meter high in the hands of six of her Yusue High cheerleading squadmates.

"You need a little bit of BOUNCE!"

Ranko fell silent, as did the instruments in Crash, Shinji and Jake's hands. Ranko took a few steps to the right, joining Shika on the right side of the stage parallel with where Hitomi and Emi were stationed on the left. All four girls performed a freestyle little dance as Ken hammered on the snare and the cymbals in front of him, kicking at the pedal of his bass drum with a gleeful grin on his face.

There you go, buddy, Ranko thought, beaming back at her ecstatic percussionist friend as she wiggled her hips with the rolling thunder coming from Ken's drumsticks. I'm so sorry it took twenty-six songs, Ken, but you finally got your fucking drum solo.

Ranko ran over to Ken, leaning her butt on the edge of the giant bass drum bearing her signature from the right hand side, careful to stay clear of the still-vibrating cymbals. She bobbed her head with each loud thump from the drum, which was bolstered by Shinji beatboxing in his low bass voice in his microphone. As Crash, Shinji and Jacob resumed playing their instruments, Ranko reached down, giving Ken a little congratulatory squeeze around his shoulders before popping back up to her feet and acknowledging his work.

"The bass is thumpin', place is jumpin', no time for a slow one! The song comes on, and babe, I'm gone…"

The redhead waved cutely to Ken as she stopped leaning on his drum and strode back to center stage.

"... and I'm stopping for no one!"

She lowered her head, gripping her pigtails at their bases in her hands and swaying her head in mock dismay.

"Seven days' worth of pain all built up in my brain; it's time it gets released…"

She released her hair, and all sixteen girls raised their arms above their heads, crossing their arms at the wrists. In synchronization, they bobbed their heads vertically up and down between their forearms.

"So, my head starts movin' north and south…"

While still nodding their heads with the beat, the girls all jumped up and turned their backs to the crowd in mid-air, rocking their backsides forcefully side to side as they landed.

"... and my ass goes west and east!"

As she was already facing him, Ranko closed the distance to Crash again, shaking her head in mock disappointment.

Oh, hell, the guitarist thought. Why you always gotta pick on me?

"I've given you plenty of leeway." Ranko cocked her head, waving Crash off with the back of her head before running three steps to her left, turning and hopping up onto a fuzzy gray box housing an amplifier.

Thank you, gods, Crash thought, releasing the breath he was holding.

Ranko leaned over from her seat, crossing her ankles as she ran the backs of her fingers down Jacob's cheek, looking him over with an expression that made Akane blush from her seat in the bleachers.

"If this keeps up," Ranko sang with a sultry purr in her voice, "I'm gonna go home with the DJ!"

Apparently, I just need to learn to play an instrument, Akane mused, her face still aglow. I think I can still play that plastic recorder I got in fifth grade…

Ranko snapped her fingers on both hands, expanding her fingers outward in the pixie dust gesture of her collegiate cheerleading squad. All of the other dancers, both on the stage and in the grass, turned and cupped their hands over their cheeks, dropping their jaws in an exaggerated mime of shock.

"And it'll happen so damn rapidly that you'll need instant replay!"

As she sang, the six cheerleaders bearing the letter placards fanned out at intervals along the long bank of bleachers, and all six waved toward themselves, cupping their hands to their ears in encouragement to the crowd to make themselves heard.

"I've gotta BE the one that's rockin' out the hardest in the club!"

At the sound of the letter, the entire section seated in front of Etsuko shouted the letter as well. Several Yusue High fans were standing at their seats, beginning to fumble their way through the dance steps as they pointed to their chests with their thumbs.

Not perfect, but they're working on it, Ranko thought with a grin as she launched into the second line of the chorus.

"OH! We're gonna go until the SUN! COMES! UP!"

The staccato words were again sung over no musical accompaniment as Momoe's sign energized the second section of the bleachers from Ranko's right, and Ranko, Hitomi, Emi, and the other cheerleaders pumped their open palms toward the sky.

"YOU know what'cha gotta do, and who you gotta do it with! AN-yone can do it if you're not afraid to wiggle it!"

Aoi's and then Kumiko's sections stood up and roared their assigned letters when they were prompted to do so by the cheerleaders standing in the grass in front of them. As the words wiggle it slithered from her wife's lips, Akane faced Izumi, and the two of them bent their knees, shaking their backsides as the lyrics commanded. Hana, watching from just behind Izumi on her right in a pair of blue jeans and her black leather second skin over a black Jim Beam tee shirt, could only cackle as she watched three of her six daughters enjoying themselves.

"Ya SEE me on the floor givin' it all that I got, so EEE-ven if you're tired, pound your drink and take your shot!" The dancers cocked their left arms upward, throwing back their invisible shots of liquor before rocketing their fists forward and swaying their butts playfully in their pleated skirts.

"I feel the thump of the bass…" Ranko reached out, punching at the air with both of her hands less than a meter from Shin as he made a loud thump sound with his mouth into the microphone on the stand in front of him.

"... and I'll be up in your face…"

Akane giggled loudly, stepping close and swaying close enough to Ranko's elder sister for their skirts to swish into each other.

"Ya gotta shake it with me, right where it counts, counts, counts!"

Ranko's left knee popped in her black nylon brace as she straightened after lowering her backside almost to the stage floor in the third repetition of the dance. Her eyes widened, and she took a half a beat to gasp in concern. Shit, fuck, okay. Breathe, Ranko. Don't panic. The doc said it might do that when I dance for a bit, and as long as it doesn't hurt, it's okay. We're fine. We're good. False alarm.

"So, if you wanna be with me, B-O-U-N-C-E!" Ranko was a half-beat slow getting into the B pose, but she caught up with her fellow dancers by the time she was expected to flare her palms outward for the O. The six cheerleaders hoisting the signs raised them high in front of their sections of the crowd, and enough rose to their feet as their section was called upon to create a wave of humanity crashing from the right side of the bleachers to the left.

"You need a little bit of bounce!"

The aluminum bleachers shook under the pressure of a few hundred people all making tiny little hops at their seats.

Alright, Ranko. Breathe. Settle. Everything's fine. Got our little scare out of the way, and I'm still going. Gotta finish the song strong, and then I get a little bit of a break. And speaking of…

She spun hard and fast on her right heel, letting her pleated skirt flare upward around her hips. "So, if you think I'm slowing down, you're probably dreaming; they're gonna have to drag me off this dance floor kicking and screaming!"

Emi grabbed Ranko from behind, lifting her up, and Ranko flailed at the air with her arms and feet as she was carried several steps.

"No time for restin' our feet, 'cause they're still pumpin' the beat, and I love how it feels!"

Ranko giggled into her headset microphone as she ran back over to Crash, smirking and poking him in the nose over his guitar. She stepped up on her tiptoes, still several centimeters shorter than him, but holding herself in that position with the back halves of her feet raised off of the stage platform.

"I've partied twice as hard as you tonight, and I did it in heels!"

She lowered her heels back to the floor, thrashing the whole of her body as quickly as she could manage, even as she planted her left leg rather than apply any further torque to it. It's fine. Just gotta build my confidence back up. Gotta learn to trust it again.

"Tonight, I'm shakin' off my sorrows, so even if I'm broke and have to beg and borrow…"

She made a gesture of counting out invisible money in her hands as Shika jogged down the steps to rejoin her fellow cheerleaders, and all of the girls not holding signs launched into synchronized back handsprings.

"I'll be ploppin' down the cover; do it all again tomorrow! Yeah, I'm gonna BE the girl that's rockin' out the hardest in the club!"

Ranko pointed to her chest with her thumbs, rocking to the side. Let's finish strong.

"OH! I'm gonna go until the SUN! COMES! UP!"

The second section of the bleachers roared to life as Momoe waved her sign at them, but a smattering of fans from across the entire side of the stadium joined in, singing the words sun comes up in three progressively higher notes. More of them attempted the dance than had in the previous repetition of the chorus.

"YOU know what you gotta do, and who ya gotta do it with! AN-yone can do it, if you're not afraid to wiggle it!"

And I can't be afraid to wiggle it either, Ranko thought, throwing herself into her choreography and rocking her hips as forcefully as she had before. See? All good.

"Ya SEE me on the floor givin' it all that I got, so EEE-ven if you're tired, pound your drink and take your shot!"

Ranko wiped her lips with the right sleeve of her jacket rather than punching forward at the take your shot line, as if cleaning her mouth after taking a drink.

"I feel the thump of the bass, and I'll be up in your face; ya gotta shake it with me right where it counts, counts, COUNTS!"

She rocketed back up to a standing position after the deep knee bend, beaming in excitement and relief. No pop. No pain. We're back, baby!

"So, if you wanna be with me…"

The six girls holding the signs raised them in rapid succession as Hitomi, Ranko and Emi performed the six gestures, but made no sound. They did not need to; the crowd did it for them.

"B! O! U! N! C! E!"

"That's right! You need a little bit of bounce!"

Ranko giggled, smiling breathlessly out at the crowd. Whew. I gotta work back up to this. I'm actually a little winded.

Fortunately, the audience had plenty of air left in them.

"RAN-KO! RAN-KO! RAN-KO!"

"I know," she said into her microphone, clasping her hands over her heart. "I'm gonna miss you guys, too."

As she spoke, the other baker's dozen cheerleaders put their placards down, scooping their pom-poms back up from the grass and reforming into two rows of seven and six girls. Ranko walked across the stage, taking high steps to test her knee.

"Shit, did she hurt herself?!" Akane propelled herself off of the aluminum bench where she sat, but Hana rested a hand on her shoulder gently.

"She knows she needs to stop if she has an issue. Trust her, Aka…"

Hana's voice was cut off by a loud, high-pitched voice flooding the outdoor stadium from the speakers as the cheerleaders began to sway like hula dancers.

"Whee-dee-dee-dee, de-dee, dee-dee-dee, oh-wee-bom-bom-bo-way… Whee-dee-dee-dee, de-dee, dee-dee-dee, oh-wee-bom-bom-bo-way… In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion slzzzzzzzzzt!"