Preshow ✧ 5

I suppose I am taking on the narrative, as Rai got completely locked in watching the various performances. Don't get bored with my subpar storytelling and leave just yet.

… or do, as you have your own will, Reader.

Where were we? Right, the shortstack woman had announced the beginning of the show with her heavy accent. I had to wonder how many people actually got what she was saying (I sure didn't).

The first show was of the dancing variety, and people of all sorts of body types were moving to a piece of music that I could only describe as strange. The composition sounded a bit disorganized, though Rai seemed to enjoy it just fine. Add another one to my many questions of the evening: who was the composer. I would not judge too much only if they were an Aberrant.

Actually, that would make perfect sense, the title of the show and all. Thinking to that point, I actually started to groove a bit, because differences were awesome and I could always get behind a creative thinker.

The costumes were colorful and possibly a bit too over the place, but once again I tried to put my judgemental thoughts away. Maybe it was challenging to design outfits for a group of Aberrants, with some of them possessing unique anatomical structures. I smirked slightly. I would love to dress up a performance troupe one day, if I could. Rai mentioned that I was a bit of a fashionista before, right?

Once the first performance was over, I lazily clapped. The dancing wasn’t the most professional, but it was possible that these people were mere volunteers, rather than trained performers. I took a glance at the orange buddy next to me, and she was the exact opposite of me in terms of eagerness level. She clapped loudly with a shimmer in her ocean tinted eyes.

“Do you think she is into the music? Dance? Or she got fond of the clothes? Ah, shh shh! The next performance is beginning!”

“I didn't even say anything, Rai.”

“Shhhh!!!”

With a sigh, I faced forward again. The shortstack woman announced that next up we would have a ‘very special performance’ coming up. I didn't buy it, who would show their best as a second performance.

Anyhow, this time a tall, middle aged man walked to the center of the performance… area? Ring? I don't really know my circus terms. Apologies. This man was wearing an elegant black coat, creating a long, rectangular silhouette. He did a polite bow as he held one corner of the coat and suddenly, all lights went out. Before one could even think ‘what the hell is going on right now', the lights were back on. The elegant gentleman pulled his coat harshly, revealing his body behind it.

I supposed the lights out thingy was for drama enhancement purposes, and it seemed to work, as the entire audience loudly gasped (Nilsu making a sound that was akin to a bubble bursting didn't escape my ears). But then, all the surprise could also be because the man’s body was full of holes.

A true Aberrant. A proud one at that.

Not bad. I didn't hate it.

I had to note that his outfit underneath the initial charisma of the coat was rather silly, and definitely unfitting for someone of his age group, but I understood that they were going for a look that aimed to show off as much of his body as possible. He had some sort of weird, fluffy accessory around his neck, and he was shirtless. His yellow, neon shorts were… Um, I don't have words for that. Skip. Lastly, he had black slip ons as choice of shoes.

Before I could ask Rai what she thought, I was rendered speechless by his next course of actions. It seemed he wasn't out of tricks just yet: his left arm had started to expand like spaghetti. It got longer, and longer, and longer. Perhaps toothpaste would have been a better analogy. Or the sort of creams you see squeezed on top of muffins. It just kept on going.

Alright, this man was a true Aberrant. Two kinds of Divergence in one body… He put our two souls in one body shtick to shame.

The audience with their widened eyes followed his every move. I wanted to laugh at them but, honestly, I probably looked the same.

This man rolled his arm, and started to squeeze it into one of the holes in his chest area. The spaghetti arm kept on growing longer, as it poked out of that hole, and made a curve to get into another hole–this time the placement being in his abdomen. It looked both creepy and fascinating.

For the following fifteen minutes or so, we witnessed his entire body stretch and twist into the various gaps on his body.

“Those really are holes all over his body, you can see through them… I wonder, how do his internal organs look? Do they stretch along? Are they full of holes too? How would that work, though…”

Rai muttered as she watched the fascinating spectacle taking place in front of us.

“His doctor visits must have been even more colorful than ours, Rai. Imagine that.”

“Right, and I heard people of Anatomical Divergency need frequent medical checkups and are required to submit the reports to various government databases… Sounds stressful.”

After the gentleman's show was over, people sincerely applauded him. Perhaps they felt that the money they spent was truly worth it, as where else would you get to see such a person. Stretchy. Holey. Like a combination of string cheese and the ones with holes all over them.

Cheeseman. I didn't know his name, but that was his title now.

The strange music changed tone, and our next duo took the stage, one of them being the shortstack from earlier.

“Can't you call her something else… do you like it when people call us beanpole?”

“I never minded those comments, and you know that too. Clothes look good on us. Plus… she is short.”

“Mimi.”

“Fine.”

…one of them being the small blonde woman of earlier. This time, she was accompanied by a person with shoulder length black hair. While one couldn't tell what the woman’s Aberrance was just by her appearance, the other person’s was as obvious as day: they had eyes all over their body.

Most of those eyes seemed to be shut, which made sense for various reasons. For one, imagine soaking up all the light sources surrounding the stage. That must be difficult to deal with. Second, imagine accidentally falling down or hitting something. It hurt as it is with normal skin covering one’s body, I didn't want to picture how the pain would be amplified with the sensitivity of eyes.

…how did they even sit down.

Putting my burning questions aside, I focused on the show. With the woman holding many knives, and the black haired person being positioned in front of a table full of items, one could guess it'd be a classic knife throwing show, however it was anything but that.

The other person was not standing in place. Or even standing at all. As the woman aimed to hit various items behind them, this person was moving at the speed of light, avoiding the knives.

“Hey now, the synchronization… both of them need to have peak concentration to not mess up… this is so stressful to watch…!”

I was one of a calm demeanor but even I found myself agreeing with Rai and holding my breath. They did not stop even for a moment, and knowing that one slight mess up from either side would cause a great accident made everything feel way more distressing.

The music had gotten even more erratic too, this was a truly difficult watch.

I glanced at the orange buddy next to me, as she struck me to be the more emotional sort. Her widened eyes and hands tightly shut in little balls of stress gave me the entertainment I was looking for.

When I retrieved my gaze to watch the show, it had taken on a brand new level. Now, the dark haired person was spinning, catching the knives up in the air and aiming at the various assembled items on the table behind them.

I really had no idea how much my lacking narration would give them justice, they were simply incredible.

For the last three knives, the small woman threw them with a somersault and her partner caught them mid air in an equal manner of movement, and once the last knife hit the last object—a small red ball—both of them stood in place and did a curtsy bow.

The audience roared with applause and praise, and I let out a sigh. I was glad that was over, as I was not exactly in the mood to witness the extreme version of ‘something got in my eye'.

I glanced at Nilsu again. She was clapping enthusiastically as did everyone else. When I saw everyone's radiant energy, I couldn't help myself from clapping a few times more unlike my usual demeanor.

“That was so intense… how did they even practice this?”

“I have no idea… I mean, just having extra eyes doesn't really mean anything in terms of agility. They must have trained a lot. It made me want to go and do some somersaults while throwing stuff myself.”

“Please leave it until tomorrow, I feel so drained just watching that…”

The small woman took the microphone nearby and spoke without even catching her breath. It didn't even sound like she had to do that in the first place, she spoke as naturally as if she wasn't doing all that just a moment ago… as if she were some sort of infinite energy Aberrant…

“How was it? Did y'all enjoy it~?”

The audience roared again. I didn't particularly react, I had already paid them my respects with the extra claps.

“Heh, thank you everyone. Now, sadly it's time for our last performance of the evening, but fret not, as it's a real special one!”

Another ‘special’, huh. This time I was more inclined to believe it, though.

She and her performance duo slowly stepped away, after quickly clearing their equipment away from the center. The music faded away, and a small boy of around 12 years of age entered the stage. The woman kept on talking.

“Meet Adal, our very special musician.”

The elegant boy did a polite bow, and that's when I realized he had three left arms. Some dancers of the first performance brought various musical instruments to surround this young man.

“Can he play all of those? Even playing one is so difficult…”

Reminiscing back on her failed attempts at learning the violin at a young age, Rai gasped.

“Let me guess. He's gonna play all those at the same time? But it's not like he has seven extra arms.”

He had a keyboard, a small drum set, a bell, and a trumpet. When a dancer brought out the final performance item, which was a portable spinning chair, the small boy took the microphone in one of his many left arms.

“Good evening, everyone.”

Oh, he was from this country. A perfect Tamamiran pronunciation.

“I'm Adal, and it's my honor to finally be able to play in my hometown once again. I greet you all.”

Random wave of applause. He hadn't even begun yet, what was the excitement about.

“The hometown mention?”

Ah, right. That tended to fire people up.

“For this performance, I have a request from the audience. I see that a lot of young Aberrant friends came to watch us. I thank you, and ask: if you'd like to dance to my music?”

Murmur and hesitant eyes looking around. I don't think that me and the orange buddy were considered young anymore, so we didn't have to think much. However, the families who came to watch were deciding if they should let their kids go down to the stage or not.

As it always went, once a kid went down to the stage (a very excited one, might I add) suddenly all of the Aberrant kids in the audience jumped down from their bright colored seats.

Adal smiled softly. “Thank you, everyone. My friends, I dedicate this performance to all of you. We are all beautiful with our differences, and we carry the key to a bright future. Forget all your worries for tonight, and listen to my song, and dance your heart away!”