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26/10/16: Daytime / Shujin Academy
Though Sumire was a bit intimidated by the fact that her first real job as one of the Phantom Thieves would now be under the conditions of Akechi’s ultimatum, she still wanted to be able to enjoy this festival for all it was worth. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea after they’d all split off - she’d spotted some of the team members hanging around the stalls, trying as hard as they could to look like they were enjoying themselves. In her case though, there was one event she particularly wanted to attend...
“The post-festival party is about to begin…”
She doesn’t need to hear the rest of the announcement. This is what she’d been waiting for! As much as she wasn’t the most social person, a party was still pretty fun to attend and just… absorb the atmosphere.
Right before she was about to turn around to head for the gym, she hears a more familiar voice.
“...Eh, nobody invited you to it, so let’s just go home.”
That was Morgana! And where you found talking cats…
“Ren-senpai?”
Sumire didn’t even realise when she’d approached the duo, but now that she had, she might as well make herself known, right?
“Hm? Hey, what’s up, Sumire?” The boy looks up from his phone.
“Um… I overheard you two talking about the after-party. You don’t have anyone to go with?”
“Yep. Neither of us are particularly interested in going by ourselves, so…” He shows Sumire his phone, the site displaying train timetables a familiar sight to anyone living in the city.
“Um, well… I wanted to attend myself, so… Do you want to come with me, Senpai?”
“Ooh! Hear that, Ren?” Morgana seems very enthusiastic now. “Getting invited out by a girl like- Gyah!” Ren flicks the cat’s face before he finishes his sentence.
“Course I heard her. You need to learn what a filter is.” He grumbles. But he turns back to Sumire with a more polite look. “Yeah, I can go with you. I guess I should try and experience everything Shujin has to offer before I’m sent home again.”
“Okay! Shall we go, then?” Sumire grabs his hand and starts dragging him towards the gym.
“Wow, this feels pretty familiar too, huh?” Morgana comments, though Sumire’s not quite sure what he means.
When the trio arrives, a student is in the middle of announcing what’s going to happen - whatever a “student sharing special” is, specifically. Considering their group consists of two transfers and an amnesiac cat, they can only guess what that actually entails. More exciting is when they announce that they’re “shaking things up” with a dance party! Which in itself raises some questions if this isn’t the norm…
The music starts, and the collection of students begins moving in sync with the beat. Even Ren, who’s normally so stoic, is bobbing his head and tapping a foot in time with the music. Then again… He was a dancer at one point, so perhaps it’s just that passion bleeding back through.
He notices Sumire’s own lack of movement though. “You not joining in?”
“Ah- it’s just… a little embarrassing…”
In the half-light it’s a little tricky to see, but she can still sense the raised eyebrow. “I thought your sport was all about giving the best performance possible?”
“T-that’s different, I have time to prepare for that, and-”
“Tell you what, you get yourself moving, and I’ll raid the memory banks for the most elaborate moves I think I can do on the spot. You’ll be practically invisible! Besides, these activities probably have a common ancestor, so you’ll do fine!”
“I… Okay!” As Ren starts thinking for a moment, all her worries seem to start melting away - his encouragement piercing straight through her own self consciousness.
Ren nods to himself after a bit. “Alright. I’ve got it. It’s showtime, Sumire!”
“Nononono! Ren! Wait!” Comes the voice of a panicked Morgana, who’s still in the bag attached to his shoulder… for about a second, before he’s unceremoniously dropped onto the floor and the boy starts dancing in earnest.
It’s pretty unrefined, as expected of someone that out of practice, but the passion in the moves is undeniable. Sumire even finds herself getting into it as well.
"There you go!" Ren finds the time to keep paying attention to her, even as he goes through his own, more elaborate steps… "It's fun once you really get going, right?" She can't really deny that, especially when her best friend is showing unprecedented levels of enthusiasm.
...Something about that thought feels... wrong, somehow. Though whatever the issue actually was wasn’t quite registering.
A dance club member approaches the two of them before Sumire really has a chance to think about the issue. “Hey! You’re Yoshizawa-san, right? The First Year?”
“Um, y-yes. That’s me…” Is her nervous reply. Had she done something wrong? Was she about to get kicked out or-
“Great! See, I’ve got a bit of a request on behalf of the dance club!”
“Huh?” Okay, maybe it wasn’t all bad, but she still wasn’t sure she liked where this was going…
“Now, I know what you do isn’t quite the same as us, but we want to have someone not in our uniform give a solo performance - get the rest of the students even more into things by showing ‘em you don’t need to be part of the dance club to really get moving!”
“Oh… Um, maybe you should ask-” She goes to point out Ren, who’s both far more confident and the one who’s better at actual dance between the two of them, but he cuts her off first.
“Nah, you’ve got this, Sumire. You’re the one in practice, and I doubt anyone wants to see me up on stage.” ...That was true, wasn’t it? The rumours had died down a fair bit since Spring, but Ren still had a bad reputation around school… Still, how was she supposed to just go up and perform with no preparation?
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Ren continues. “But I personally think everyone who doesn’t get to see your skills will be missing out.”
That sudden praise really seems to help. Sumire’s still not a hundred percent confident, but if Ren-senpai has that much faith in her, then she has to try, right?
“Okay. I’ll do it.” She tells the club member, who instantly looks grateful.
“That’s great! Follow me and I’ll tell you how this is all going to work. Need to prepare at all before we go?”
“There is one small thing…” She realises, before searching through her bag a little, trying to find a certain object. She pulls it out, then hands her bag off to Ren, along with her glasses. “Can you hold this until I get back?” She gets a nod of confirmation and an encouraging smile, then she starts to follow the club member through the crowd.
There’s not really much of a plan - when the next song starts, the club members would part the crowd to leave a part of the floor empty - and that would be her stage. Her steps didn’t matter a whole lot, as long as it looked like she was having fun, apparently, so she figured that she’d just try and string together some moves from her routines and see where things went from there.
The final part of her preparation was the object she’d fished out of her bag: a ribbon, for her hair. It wasn’t about trying to pretend to be more like Kasumi or anything - the laws of physics just wouldn’t be kind to her if she started spinning around and stuff with it all loose. And besides, if she was trying to emulate anyone… Well, Kasumi didn’t wear a black ribbon, but Violet did. And that was still her, so… Perhaps it would help her tap into the part of her that could spend an afternoon stabbing monsters.
“ Good luck mon amour! Just relax. ” Something about Cendrillon’s encouragement was incredibly soothing and Sumire’s forced smile became genuine.
“ Just like in Mementos, right? Don’t think. Just do what comes naturally. ” Sumire thought.
“ Exactly, mon fleur! This is your moment, enjoy it! ”
Positioned behind most of the dance club members, Sumire hears the current song begin to wind down. It wouldn’t be long before they’d all manoeuvre to give her free reign of the floor… Instead of thinking about that, she decided to make sure she’d prepared properly - performing a couple of experimental spins to make sure the ponytail she’d set up wouldn’t unravel or come back around to hit her in the face.
Then, the dance club makes their move - they pretty effortlessly clear a decent space for her, given that they’re effectively the highest authority in this situation, and as the next song starts…
Now or never, right? People are counting on her.
Sumire walks into the middle of the makeshift stage, as confidently as she can manage, trying to ignore the other random students that are already staring… She’s lucky that she’s heard this song before, so that she can figure out a good moment to start. A good moment is coming up soon, so she strikes a simple pose a couple of seconds before it arrives, then allows instinct to take over.
Surprisingly, that instinct isn’t to run away and hide - she recognises the steps she’s taking. Not too complex, since she’s just in regular uniform, has no apparatus and hasn’t been preparing to do this at all, but technical enough that an onlooker would know there has to be skill involved, though as she keeps going, she starts to care less and less about what any others might think. In fact she might as well be alone at the mo-
“ There. ”
“ Not now Cendrillon! I’m trying to concentrate! ”
“ What happened to instinct, mon trésor? ” Why must Cendrillon’s laugh sound so pretty, even when it's directed at her?! “ Just look! You will thank me later! Le Mat is watching! ”
Sumire was still trying to remember which French nickname applied to each of the thieves, but for some reason, that one had been easy to remember. At the edge of the crowd, Ren-senpai and Morgana are cheering her on, in their own subdued way. The rest of the student body might as well not exist besides as the boundaries for Sumire’s stage by this point, but with each passing glance of him, as a given step directs her line of sight in that direction, she can still make out every detail…
And what was that odd feeling in her chest, the one that gave rise to so many contradictory ideas?
“He’s watching me… It’s so embarrassing…”
“I just want to be by his side…”
“Don’t stop now! The song’s not over, and I can’t let him down!
Somewhere further in the back of her mind, she heard Cendrillon laugh again, but she had decided to listen to that third idea, and put the rest of them aside for later.
With the song winding down, it was about time for one last big move. This whole thing was to get everyone else more into the event, right? Then perhaps…
Exiting out of a pirouette, Sumire extends her arm out towards the student body in time with the last big note - an invitation of sorts to join her. That should satisfy the club, right?
She realises too late that by chance, she’s stopped at the perfect angle to reach out to Ren-senpai…
“But was it really chance?”
“ Yes. Cendrillon. It was. ”
“ Princess. Don't lie to yourself. We both know it wasn’t chance. ”
Ren steps forward along with the rest of the student body as the next song starts, having been freed from the fence of club members, and takes her outstretched hand, a Joker-like grin plastered to his face.
“Oh no.” Sumire thinks, as her own face does its best to camouflage itself against her hair. “This might be bad.”
“ Mon cher, please breathe. Passing out now would be such a shame! ”
“ Cendrillon! What do I do!? I-I cant dance with him! ”
“ Why can't you? Because you’re not used to dancing with someone by your side? You don't need to learn a brand new style for a successful duet. ”
“ That’s not it and you know it! ”
“ Again, relax ma moitié. Instinct. Also remember to breathe- ”
“Sumire?” While Sumire was having her crisis, Ren had slipped off his glasses and placed them in his pocket. “Are you alright?”
“Just nervous!”
“After that performance? If you say so” he squeezed her hand reassuringly and Sumire, despite how many times Cendrillon reminded her, almost forgot to breathe “Don’t worry, I’ll lead. Just relax and follow me.”
“ Mon corbeau truly is a master thief; he even stole my advice! Maybe you’ll finally listen, Étincelle… ”
So she did listen.
Ren’s style complimented hers beautifully and the two glided across the dance floor. It wasn’t long before Sumire lost herself in the dance, weaving and leaping beside Ren. Despite her nervousness being caused by the close proximity, being near him now just released the tension in her body that had been building from the moment they entered the hall. Her moves became smoother and more graceful. She didn’t bother to monitor her breathing to make sure she didn’t tire herself out like she usually did. For the first time in a long time, she stopped thinking. Thinking about what she was doing. Thinking about the people judging her. Thinking about skill and scores; socially or on the gym floor. All of that stopped and she just felt free as she just had fun doing something she loved with someone she loved.
Loved…
Loved?!
“ Yes, mon cher. Loved. ”
Before the thought could overwhelm her, a familiar hand slid into her own. “Ready for the finale?” Ren emphasised it with a wink. A wink ! How she didn’t combust on the spot right there is still a mystery! Sumire didn’t trust her voice and nodded, following his lead.
“ Midnight approaches princess! The ball is about to come to an end! The time is now! ”
In sync, the two leapt across the floor, Sumire sinking into a small roll and being guided back to her feet by Ren’s outstretched hand. As Sumire performed a final pirouette, Ren pulled her to his chest and into a slight bend, just enough to put all of Sumire’s weight onto the arm he caught her with. Nose-to-nose and arms extended in a truly dramatic (to some, even romantic) pose. The song ended and the two stayed in that pose as people clapped and cheered, Sumire swore she even heard someone whistle.
With the revelation still fresh on her mind and from knowing herself quite well, Sumire was sure she looked like a tomato right now. But no matter how frazzled her mind was, she couldn’t miss the blatant blush across her partner’s face, for once not shielded by his glasses, right in front of her.
Slowly Ren helped her steady on her feet before letting go and immediately fishing for his glasses. “S-sorry, that was a bit too much. Got carried away-” Sumire cut him off by grabbing his hand and leading him into the crowds to find Morgana and their bags. In record time, the two made it into the abandoned hallways, where Sumire finally burst.
“That was so much fun!”