tal music is a rather special genre of music.
Compared to lody, it focuses more on rhythm and sound; compared to expression, it is more like venting and rebellion.
Noisy, powerful, and hysterical.
Mutsumi didn't know exactly when she started liking tal music. She only rembered that when she first heard that distorted, loud "noise" that made people dizzy, her first reaction wasn't to turn down the volu. Instead, she turned it up directly to a level sufficient to drown out all the voices in her heart along with it, as if doing so could temporarily isolate her from reality.
This was both an escape and a resonance.
Actually, in the very beginning, Mutsumi was just like Sakiko, having many thoughts she wanted to proactively express and many things she wanted to do, but ultimately, they were all dispelled by the cowardice in her heart and the coexisting internal and external pressures. Especially after experiencing the disbandnt of [CRYCHIC], she further believed that she might be destined to be unable to accomplish anything and unable to make any correct choices.
It was fine to just continue maintaining her silence like this, it was fine to just continue waiting for the domination of her mother or others like this...
Until a certain soone personally told her that even making the wrong choice was far better than the silence that brought everything to a standstill.
Just like his own life up until now.
"...This is surprisingly fun once you get used to it."
Under Mutsumi's guidance, Tetsuya finally gradually grasped the knack of the dance steps. Based on the patterns he had summarized himself, he began to step to the dance according to his own train of thought. At the sa ti, his expression transitioned from his initial embarrassnt and nervousness to becoming increasingly at ease, and he even started to look sowhat happy.
This person was always like this. Whether facing unfamiliar things he had never encountered before, or challenging an unfamiliar field he was completely unaccustod to like now, he would never give up easily. Instead, he would proactively step into it and bring out an incomprehensible proactiveness to try hard. Rather than saying he wasn't afraid of failure, it was more accurate to say that even if this person truly faced failure directly, he would only continue to think about how to pick himself back up after failing, rather than continuing to look forward and backward, be overly cautious, and stand still like she did.
His experiences of struggling to survive made him view giving up and death as the sa concept. This was the origin of his personality, and at the sa ti, it was his way of survival.
Thinking about it this way, perhaps this person was far more suited to tal music than she was.
"However, it is precisely because you are this kind of person that you attract so many problem children..."
As Mutsumi spoke, she suddenly leaned her body backward, and her hands also exerted a slight bit of force along with it—
"Uwa!?"
The sudden movent made Tetsuya involuntarily wrap his arms around Mutsumi's slender waist once again. At the sa ti, under her guidance, Tetsuya's dance steps also consequently beca more aggressive and bold.
"Since you have already familiarized yourself with the most basic dance steps, next we can challenge the next stage of movents."
As Mutsumi spoke, she led Tetsuya to begin slowly spinning in place:
"Just like before, you only need to continue leaving everything to , Chihaya-san. I will let you gradually adapt to it."
"O-Oh..."
Just like that, Tetsuya, who thought this lesson had successfully concluded, was once again led by the nose and entered Mutsumi's rhythm...
...
"Eh... to think there are even movents like this..."
Soyo, who didn't understand much about ballroom dancing, let out a sowhat surprised sound.
"But I've indeed seen this on TV before. Heh... so this is how it's danced."
anwhile, unlike Soyo who was watching with great relish, Sakiko's expression had unknowingly beco incredibly conflicted:
"Mutsumi..."
At this point, no matter how dense Sakiko was, she could still perceive a hint of the truth from her childhood friend's almost abnormal behavior.
After all, what Mutsumi was teaching Tetsuya right now wasn't so basic dance step that must be mastered, but the much more intimate waltz, which only dance partners with a close relationship would choose.
It was probably Minami-san who forced her to learn it... in order to leave a good impression on other guests, or potential future marriage prospects, at future family banquets.
But no matter what, since Mutsumi proactively brought Tetsuya into a two-person waltz, that also ant... she wasn't satisfied with just staying at a "basic dance step" relationship with Tetsuya.
When did it start? Did she unknowingly fall for him during their day-and-night interactions over the past few months? Or did she already have this kind of thought even before that?
Sakiko had no way of knowing this. Her current mood and thoughts had already tangled themselves into a ss.
Standing from the position of a girlfriend, no matter what, she shouldn't let Tetsuya continue to be naively brought into Mutsumi's "pursuit" like this at this ti. But if she looked at it from the perspective of Mutsumi's childhood friend and close confidante, she also knew very well just how hard-won this proactiveness Mutsumi was displaying right now was, and exactly how rare it was for her to develop such clear feelings for soone of the opposite sex.
If she really stepped forward to stop the two of them and stated the truth, then Tetsuya, out of respect for her and his sense of responsibility, would definitely keep his distance from Mutsumi from then on, never giving her even the slightest chance to get close to him again. And Mutsumi would probably give up on these feelings right then and there, and then obediently return to her previous state. It's just... if things really turned out like this, then this courage Mutsumi had finally mustered up would likely vanish into thin air as well, and the impact brought by the end of a first love was not sothing she, who had never experienced a broken heart, could imagine.
What should she do next...
Sakiko fell into a dilemma.
However, just as Sakiko sank into deep thought, the two people in front of her had stopped their steps at so unknown ti. Then, after Mutsumi softly said a few words, Tetsuya suddenly nodded and let go of Mutsumi's hand. Imdiately after, under Sakiko's sowhat stunned gaze, Tetsuya slowly walked towards her:
"Sakiko, Wakaba-san said she's slightly tired, so she's leaving the rest of the teaching to you..."
Tetsuya truthfully relayed the words Mutsumi had just instructed him to say, and following the posture he had learned earlier, he extended his right hand towards Sakiko:
"I rember it should be done like this... Ahem, lovely Miss Sakiko, may I have this dance?"
"Huh..."
Hearing this, Sakiko first subconsciously raised her head to look in Mutsumi's direction. However, what responded to her was just the usual, flat gaze that made it completely impossible for anyone to read her joy, sorrow, or thoughts—
"Soyo, you also need to learn together with Chihaya-san later."
Before Sakiko could speak, Mutsumi spoke to Soyo as such:
"If you can dance together with Chihaya-san for your mother to see in the future... she will definitely be very happy too."
"Mhm, I understand."
Soyo, who was completely unaware of the truth behind the scenes, agreed very naturally. And after explaining these things, Mutsumi directly rolled down her folded sleeves and walked straight away from there...
(This child... just what is she thinking? Could all of that just now have been my own illusion? She doesn't have that kind of thought towards Tetsuya-kun at all? But if that's the case, why did she teach this dance?)
Carrying a heart full of confusion, Sakiko placed her hand in Tetsuya's palm...
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