Kanae snorted. ‘Guess she’s not your type.’
‘What type is she?’
‘A perfect lady. You like the ones with imperfections, the bad girls. Like me.’
‘I like a well-bred lady as much as the next man. Anyway, what makes you so sure she’s a “lady”?’
‘You should’ve seen Nagayama. He was practically beside himself, saying she was definitely a virgin.’ Kanae chuckled.
‘That proves nothing except that he’s an idiot.’
Kazunari took a bite of the sandwich he’d ordered from room service and thought back on the students who came to observe the club that day.
It was true that he didn’t really remember Yukiho Karasawa that well. They’d only exchanged a couple of words and he hadn’t spent much time watching her move, so he’d never picked up on this ‘perfect lady’ thing Kanae was going on about. He did remember Nagayama being excited, but hadn’t known why at the time.
The girl he remembered was Eriko. She was the kind of girl who didn’t put on any make-up, wore practical clothes, spoke plainly… and was still beautiful for it.
He’d seen her waiting for a friend – that was Yukiho, now that he thought of it – to finish writing her name on the sign-up sheet. She didn’t seem to notice the other people walking by her or shouts from the other tables. It was almost as if she enjoyed the act of waiting. She made him think of a weed that had suddenly bloomed and now stood swaying in the breeze by the roadside, a tiny flower without a proper name – at least none anyone knew.
And he had reached out to pick that flower. Being the head of the dance club, he wasn’t responsible for recruiting. But Eriko was unique. Her reactions to the things he said were completely unexpected, each one. He found the way she talked and the way she looked entirely fresh.
He’d thought about her all during the class audit that day, though he couldn’t explain why. His eyes kept being drawn to her.
Maybe it was because she looked the most serious of all the potential recruits that day. While others had sat in the folding chairs they’d put out, she stood until the very end. Kazunari had walked up to her once the session was over to see what she thought.
‘It was incredible,’ Eriko said, clasping her hands together. ‘I used to think ballroom dancing was old-fashioned, but watching them move – it was like they were born to dance.’
‘No one’s born to dance,’ said Kazunari.
‘They could have fooled me.’
Kazunari shook his head. ‘None of us could dance when we started, and most of us won’t go on to be dancers.’
‘Then why do it at all?’
He smiled. ‘You’d be surprised how many opportunities come up to dance. But even if you only got one, wouldn’t you want to be ready for it? Know how to dance, and you’ll dance through life.’
‘I like that,’ Eriko smiled.
‘It’s just something cheesy the old dance coach used to say.’
‘It’s not cheesy.’ Eriko shook her head. ‘It’s excellent encouragement, and I won’t forget it.’
‘You mean you’ll join the club?’
‘I will. We decided to join together.’ She looked over at her friend Yukiho.
‘Great. Then we look forward to having you.’ Kazunari looked towards the other girl.
‘Thank you.’ Yukiho bowed curtly before meeting his eyes.
It was the first time he’d seen Yukiho Karasawa straight on. She was pretty, he had to admit, with very delicate features. But there was something else, too. There are thorns in her eyes – that was the only way he could express it. For a moment, he thought she might have felt left out because he spoke to her friend first and not to her, but as she smiled, he realised the thorns were always there.
A true lady would never have eyes like that.
Two weeks had passed since the opening ceremony. It was Friday afternoon and Eriko and Yukiho were on the train to Eimei University for their fourth dance club practice since school began.
‘Please let me dance well today,’ said Eriko, hands pressed together before her in mock prayer.
‘You are dancing well,’ Yukiho said.
‘Hardly. My feet won’t go the way I tell them to. I keep feeling like I’m going to trip over myself.’
‘Don’t let Kazunari hear you saying that. You’re his beacon of hope, you know.’
‘Thanks. That just makes it worse.’
‘They say you’re the only one he’s ever personally recruited. You have a reputation to live up to,’ Yukiho said, giving her a teasing look.
‘Stop it, Yuki, I’m really bad under pressure. That, and I have no idea why he picked me in the first place.’
‘Because he likes you, silly.’
‘Erm, no, sorry. That sort of thing might happen in your world, but not in mine. And isn’t he dating Kanae?’
‘Ah yes, the lovely Miss Kurahashi.’ Yukiho nodded. ‘They’ve been a thing for quite some time, apparently.’
‘Nagayama says they’ve been dating since they were freshmen.’
‘I guess he moves quick when he sees something he likes.’
‘Actually,’ Eriko said, ‘I heard Kanae made the moves first.’
Yukiho shrugged to indicate she couldn’t care less. ‘She sure hasn’t gone out of her way to hide the fact that Kazunari’s her property.’
Kazunari and Kanae’s relationship was public knowledge. If the new recruits hadn’t known it going in to the first day of dance club practice, they knew it soon after by the way the two talked to each other and the way they danced close, hands on hips, faces practically touching.
If it had been an intentional display on Kanae’s part, she’d certainly made her point. Eriko barely knew Kazunari and even she felt a little jealous when she saw them together. Not that she had a chance in the first place. Kazunari was the eldest son of the senior managing director of Shinozuka Pharmaceuticals, one of the top pharmaceutical companies in Japan, and the current CEO was his uncle – which made him nobility as far as she was concerned.
They got off the train. Outside the station, a warm breeze brushed her cheeks.
‘I’m probably going to have to leave before the end of class today,’ said Yukiho. ‘Sorry in advance.’
‘Going on a date?’
‘I wish. Just an errand.’
Eriko shrugged. Yukiho had started doing these errands a while ago, leaving Eriko to fend for herself. Eriko had asked her once where she went, and Yukiho had refused to speak to her for nearly a week. It was, to date, the only time their friendship ever soured. She hadn’t asked again.
Kazunari had been too lost in thought to notice the tiny droplets gathering on the windscreen. Just when he realised it was raining, it started coming down harder, obscuring his view of the road. He reached to the left side of the steering wheel for the wiper lever, then, realising his error, shifted his grip and went for the right side. Even imported cars that managed to put the steering wheel on the right still had their levers reversed. His month-old Volkswagen Golf was no exception.
Outside the school gate he saw students running for the station, paper bags and satchels held over their heads in lieu of umbrellas.
Then he saw Eriko. She was walking at her usual pace, seeming not to care that her white jacket was getting wet. Her constant companion, Yukiho Karasawa, was conspicuously absent.
Kazunari pulled over towards the kerb, slowing until he matched Eriko’s speed. She didn’t seem to notice. She just kept the same pace, a mysterious smile on her lips. Kazunari gave two taps of his horn and she looked up. He lowered the left-hand passenger window.
‘Hey! Need a lift? You look like a drowned rat!’
Eriko didn’t seem to appreciate the joke. Her expression hardened, and she started walking faster. Kazunari gave it a little more gas to keep pace.