Dancin' in the Moonlight

“Alright, which of you two want to dance with me?” Lillianna asked.

Haruki was stunned by the question. Never in a million years did he think they might be dancing out there on the dance floor.

No way, not me! That’s too embarrassing!

Rudolph nudged Haruki with his elbow, and Haruki turned to look at him. Rudolph gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

At that moment, Haruki’s entire opinion of the big guy flipped on its head. Rudolph’s no longer some giga-chad who’s come to make things awkward and steal the girl. I mean, he’s still a chad, but he understands me! He’s my ally, he’s a fellow bro!

Lillianna grabbed his hand. Even with the calluses on her hand, it was so soft. Haruki didn’t even think to resist her as she pulled him out of the crowd.

“Come on, Haruki,” she said, leading him onto the dance floor.

Can I really do this? What if I screw up and make a fool of myself? I don’t even have the first clue what to do! His mind was a swirling chaos of simultaneous thoughts.

“Here, stand beside me,” she said. All the other couples were lining up in a concentric circle formation, with the women on the outside holding the hands of the men on the inside.

“But I don’t know how to dance.”

“Neither do I. Just have fun, and don’t think about it too much,” she cheerfully replied.

He gulped. I guess I’m really doing this, aren’t I?

The music began, and the dancers began walking forward in a circle. He resolved that his best shot to avoid messing up would be to follow what the others around him are doing.

As the music picked up its pace, the movement of the circle sped up until it was almost a jog. They began hopping and kicking their legs out to the front and to the sides, performing a sort of skipping motion as they ran in circles.

Haruki worried he may run out of breath before the song is able to finish.

He tried his best to match the timing of the kicks with the people in front of him, but as he looked around he noticed the other dancers also weren’t exactly matching each other.

They probably don’t know what they’re doing either. They’re only trying to match the flow, just like me.

With this thought, Haruki’s mind calmed down a bit. He began to focus less on what others were doing and more on his own movements.

The dancers suddenly began spinning each other around by the hand, with the men taking the women’s place in the outer circle.

As he spun around, he beheld the look of joy on Lillianna’s face. Seeing her rosy cheeks and broad smile as she had such fun made his heart flutter.

Haruki was no longer breathing heavily as he danced around. It’s like the dancing had all the sudden become effortless, his feet floating on air.

He glanced out and saw Rudolph’s broad shoulders poking up above the crowd. He was clapping with the force of 10 men as he watched them dance together.

They continued to dance vigorously for a while longer, kicking their legs and spinning around each other, with the dancers even reversing the direction the circle was moving in a couple times.

Eventually, the music began to die down again and the dancers gradually came to a stop.

“You didn’t do half-bad, I think,” Lillianna said.

“You were right, I just had to stop overthinking things.”

After the song had finished, the two of them returned back to the crowd around the dancers.

“Where’s Rudolph? I don’t see him,” asked Lillianna.

They glanced around and saw that Rudolph had already made his way out onto the dance floor with another woman Haruki hadn’t seen before.

The woman looked to be a bit older, as well as a bit on the larger side.

I guess everyone has their type, Haruki thought to himself.

From the crowd they watched Rudolph and his partner dance for another song, clapping along to the music and laughing at the big oaf’s amusing efforts at dancing.

Afterwards, Rudolph and the woman exchanged goodbyes, and Rudolph once again joined the two of them.

“Good job out there, big guy,” Haruki congratulated him.

“Aw’ shucks, I hope my dancing wasn’t too bad.”

“Your dancing was very charming,” Lillianna added.

Having had their fun dancing, the three of them headed back outside.

“Hey guys! S’good to see ya’!” They spotted Johannes emerge from the crowd, his arms wrapped around two older women, all of them holding mugs of beer. “I see you’re with Rudolph t’night.”

“It’s nice to see you, sir,” Rudolph responded.

“Listen, I’ll need you two to make sure my lil’ Lily gets back home safe after this. I think I’ll be—hiccup—out of commission for the night.”

“Of course, you can count on us!” Haruki said.

“Oh, and the beer here’s good, but I’d ’specially recommend the cider. Just don’t have too much, ya’ hear?” he slurred.

“We won’t have too much, uncle,” Lillianna assured him.

Johannes and the two women left them, Johannes laughing loudly as they walked away.

The trio headed to one of the drink stalls, ordering some beers to start them off.

Haruki had never been much of a drinker in his past life, not for any real good reason, but because he usually couldn’t afford it. He’d also been completely dry ever since arriving in this world.

They sat together and chatted for a while, sipping on their beers.

“And then the guy said to me: ‘Sorry lad, my farm’s already got enough animals, we aren’t lookin’ for a gorilla’,” Rudolph joked.

Haruki and Lillianna broke out into a laugh. It was a corny joke, but combined with the alcohol and friendly atmosphere it became hilarious to them.

“You’re too funny, Rudolph,” Lillianna chuckled.

After the beer, they each ordered a cup of the cider.

It was very tasty, although almost too strong for Haruki. He could tell that it was affecting the other two a bit as well.

Lillianna’s cheeks are flushed, and Rudolph’s nose is as red as the reindeer.

Rudolph leaned over and whispered something to Haruki: “Ever since I started workin’ with you two, I noticed you can’t help but occasionally steal glances at her. You’ve taken a likin’ to her, haven’t ya’?”

Haruki was taken off guard by the sudden and direct question, hesitating to answer for a moment.

At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of her, he thought to himself. She was always nice to me and kind of cute… looking back on it, I guess it’s true. I’ve slowly fallen in love with her.

“Y-yeah, but don’t tell her please,” Haruki finally whispered to him, cupping his hand so that she couldn’t overhead him.

“Don’t worry buddy, I’ve got your back,” he whispered back.

“Hey, what’re you two whisperin’ about over there?” Lillianna asked, pointing at the two of them.

“Oh, nothing. We were just giggling about how red your cheeks have gotten,” Haruki teased.

“I-I have not! Yo-you two’re just as red as me!” she slurred back.

All three of them laughed.

After finishing their drinks, it was already close to midnight. The trio finally left the festival and walked back to their neighboring village, which wasn’t too far.

Lillianna had gotten a bit tipsy on the way back, so she had to lean on Haruki for support.

Haruki was very flustered. He tried his best not to stare at her, but her soft hair rubbed against his cheek the whole way back.

Rudolph split from the two once they reached Johannes’ home, and Haruki helped Lillianna into her room upstairs.

Once she hit her bed she was out like a baby. Haruki thought her little snores were adorable, but he was too embarrassed to stick around any longer than necessary.

He headed back to the extra room he had been staying in and plopped down in bed.

As he lay there drifting off to sleep, he thought of their dance together earlier that night and blushed.

I really do like her, but now that the celebrations are over I’ll have to go any day now. Even if I had the courage to tell her how I feel, it’d be better to keep it to myself for these last few days.

There’d be no point in stirring up drama now, or worse getting my heart broken right before I leave. I just have to ignore these feelings a little longer, just ignore it…