Dance Dance Revolutionary

This was it. The day of Yuuji’s ridiculous contest.

And the claps when he finished his set were deafening.

Yuuji stood center stage.

His chest heaved. Perfectly in time with his breathing.

He held his final pose—one arm reached out to the audience, head bowed—for exactly three seconds… before breaking into his goofy smile. A characteristic gap moe for an otherwise untouchable celebrity.

He was met with a standing ovation. So how on Earth was Riku going to follow that up?

The premise of this "event" was laughable. The principal had branded it an "Interactive Workshop on Modern Performance Arts."

The real battle was happening on stream, where subscribers or no can place one vote after the event to see who won. Yes—this event, to almost no one’s surprise, was being broadcast. To be fair, ad revenue to the tune of a million viewers makes the case for it pretty compelling.

Yuuji continued to wave with grace before walking off stage.

Soon, he passed Riku in the wings. Didn’t even offer a word of solace or empathy. He just patted Riku on the shoulder and winked.

Kagayaki, sat right in front of the stage with a spotlight shining on her judge’s table, cringed.

Riku was about to walk out on stage and flail around like a fish. Then, the entire school was going to laugh, and she would have to sit there knowing she was the one responsible. It was exactly what her mother had envisioned.

“I will make 'Riku's ruined reputation' the only thing he is known for” may as well have been a promise fulfilled now.

But that would be crying over spilt milk.

The Principal’s voice boomed over the PA system, cutting through the lingering cheers for Yuuji. “And now, for the second half of our... educational demonstration... please welcome: Riku!”

The stage lights hummed to life. The crowd murmured, wondering how the hell Riku was going to beat Yuuji’s onslaught.

“Booooo!!! You’re just a talentless hack!” one over-eager student screamed.

Luckily, Riku had his fair share of fans. “Team Yuuji are such assholes, don’t listen to them! Go Riku go! Go Riku go!”

The sentiment, while appreciated, was unnecessary.

Soon enough, Riku moved out the wings. Slowly, quietly at first—like a kitten moving towards its milk. Eventually, he grew more and more confident.

He made his way, step by step, when suddenly—

Slip!

Clatter!

…

He had tripped over a microphone cable, of all things.

Soon, he got up.

“O-Oops! Well, that just happened. Hehe. G-Growing pains, y’know?”

Kagayaki facepalmed in horror. “No… Riku… no…”

The whole assembly seemed to agree with Kagayaki’s sentiments, judging by their hisses and groans. Riku was done for.

Worse still, he didn’t have the attire to match Yuuji’s at all. It looked like he was wearing two pieces of clothing, stacked on top of each other. And don’t get her started with those hack jobs of overapplied eyeliners.

He recovered, and let out one big sigh before picking up the mic he dropped onto the floor.

“Ugh, I really did it this time, haven’t I?” Riku remarked.

Suddenly, the house lights cut to black. A distorted, demonic voice blasted through the PA system.

“YOU… UTTER IMBECILE!”

Riku whipped his head around. Kagayaki did too. It was not a voice she recognized. “HUH?!”

“YOU MAKE FOR A PATHETIC HOST. AND NOW I HAVE TO TAKE OVER! YOU ARE EMBARRASSING US BOTH!”

“What?!” Riku screamed. “Wait, I can do it again! Give me one more cha—”

SNAP.

A hidden winch whirred in the darkness. Riku was suddenly yanked upward, levitating five feet off the ground, his body going limp like a marionette with its strings cut.

His eyes were rolled back.

Red floodlights blasted the stage.

In the VIP box, the Student Council President adjusted her glasses. “He just broke about twenty hundred school violations…” Hana murmured.

Then the backing track dropped.

Darkness. Everyone murmured, trying to see what was going on, but not for long. Lo! 

Riku returned in glorious fashion, lights raining down on an outfit modified yet improved significantly from his original form. 

He stood in pose, no longer possessing the mic. He wore a headset mic now.

“Fiiiinally… My true form…” The way he said that was positively scintillating. However, he was not done. “But first…”

He reached for the lapels of his school blazer.

“I need to get rid of my chains.”

RIP!!!

With a violent tear, the safety pins holding the modified uniform together gave way.

Blazer, off. Tossed aside as if it were trash into the students sitting at the front row.

Underneath, Riku’s white shirt was unbuttoned halfway, and underneath that, a black mesh undershirt that strained at his chest.

Nearly the entire school-aged population, in one collective gasp of air, screamed their lungs out. “GAHHHH~!!!”

Kagayaki didn’t say anything at first. At first, she squinted. Then when she rubbed her eyes not believing what she was seeing, she squinted again.

That’s when he decided to move and—

Chest Pop!

Kagayaki’s jaw went slack. No… no way.

She’d seen Yuuji do it in the practice room a thousand times.

Then, Riku froze. A sloppily executed Dime Stop!

And of course, what good was a K-pop track without vocals? The song blasting from the speakers rose to a fever pitch.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fakest of them all? Cut the strings, watch me fall, I’m the monster at your ball!”

He spun around, locking eyes with Yuuji sitting in the front row.

The Prince sat there with glazed eyes, his mouth curved into a smile.

Riku smirked, grabbing his own hip and thrusting it out with exaggerated swagger. “You thought about it, didn’t you? That I’d come unprepared! Well, I have one thing to say to that!”

Whack.

Riku smacked himself on the ass, hard, right on the beat of the snare drum. “Kiss it!”

Then, a hiss—from above! The sprinklers overhead burst to life. Water rained down on the stage, but that didn’t dissuade this boy… this creature.

He tipped his head back, letting the water wash the eyeliner down his cheeks in black tears.

He slid across the wet stage on his knees, stopping right in front of the judges' table where Kagayaki was sitting.

Riku pushed his wet hair back, gasping for breath.

Then snapped. 

Shoulder roll! Head tilt! 

Lock. Pop. 

Fluid wave. 

Riku went on and on and on, not stopping his intensity for a moment, and every movement progressively getting more experimental and outlandish. 

And finally, to round off the set, a sharp exhale. 

None of those moves very technical, yet all of them done with heart and soul.

But it was when he looked back toward the roaring crowd, basking in it all, and then turned his gaze solely on Kagayaki, that his final blow landed.

“You like me now?”

He winked, bringing his thumb and finger together. He threw her a perfect, sparkling Heart Finger.

Kagayaki’s brain short-circuited.

A stream of bright red blood shot out of her nose. Her eyes rolled back.

Nobody expected this day to end with Kagayaki passed out on the floor.