Mrs. Hamasaki was looking very pleased as she watered the plants. Takiyo came out of the house and asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing." Mrs. Hamasaki said cheerily.

"I think you're over-watering the plants." Takiyo remarked.

"Really?" Mrs. Hamasaki looked carefully at the plants. Then she shrugged and said, "A little more would be fine."

"You just want to meet Muranaka, don't you?" Takiyo asked.

"Maybe." Mrs. Hamasaki giggled. "What can I say? My only son finally has some friends. And he's going out somewhere with them."

"Yeah, yeah." Takiyo said, but on the inside he was actually quite anxious. Today was the day of Yuko's show. Ren said that he would come pick him and Arisu up. His brother would drive them.

"Muranaka isn't here?" Takiyo looked over the gate, then shrugged and said, "I'll go wait inside."

"Sure, sweetie." Mrs. Hamasaki said, humming.

Some time later, somebody knocked on his front door, and then opened it.

"Sorry for the intrusion." Ren said, grinning.

"Oh, you're here." Takiyo said.

"Your mom let me in." Ren said. Takiyo could see her smiling in the background. "Well, let's go then. Your mom looks very pleased." he added.

"Yeah..." Takiyo said, throwing a look at his mother, and then he saw a very tall guy standing, leaning against a car, going through his phone. He had orange hair just like Ren. Actually, he looked cooler than Ren. But the only thing that caught Takiyo's attention was his height.

Ren laughed seeing the look on Takiyo's face. "This is my brother, Taiga." Ren introduced him.

"Oh, hi." Taiga smiled at Takiyo and shook his hand. Takiyo looked shook. Seeing the look on his face, Taiga asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Takiyo replied. "It's nice to meet you." He turned and whispered to Ren, "How tall is he?"

"Hm... 189 cm, I think." Ren replied.

"Okay..." Takiyo silently took himself and sat in the car, trying to ignore the immense feeling of smallness he was facing. Ren stifled his laugh and got in.

"Nice meeting you, Riko-san." Ren said, poking his head out of the window.

"Come by again some time, Ren-kun." Mrs. Hamasaki said pleasantly. "Have fun."

They drove away. The didn't go very far, because approximately seven houses away, they stopped again.

"So Kaneshiro lives here..." Takiyo said, looking up at the house.

"Let's go and get her." Ren said, getting out again. Not wanting to be sitting in the car, Takiyo got out too, and so did Taiga, although he stayed next to his car.

Ren rang the doorbell, and Arisu opened the door almost immediately.

"But Arisu, Shinobu was going to come over!" Someone was yelling.

Arisu was adjusting her scarf and calling over her shoulder. "Don't worry. Shinobu-kun will come by again."

"But still! Don't you think he'll be disappointed?" Now they identified the voice to be Arisu's mother.

"I can go to his house sometime." Arisu yelled back. She completely forgot to acknowledge Ren and Takiyo, who were just watching.

"Quit your yapping!" Shiko appeared in the doorway. "I'll just tell him his sister preferred her friends over him."

"You don't need to put it in such a harsh way." Arisu told her.

"Just go already." Shiko leaned against the doorway and eyed Ren and Takiyo, who avoided eye-contact. Shiko was definitely the kind of person you wouldn't want to mess with.

"I'll be going then!" Arisu said, stepping out.

"Adiós." Shiko said in a deadpan voice. She looked past Ren and Takiyo to Taiga, who was smiling up at them. She grinned with her tongue between her teeth. Arisu saw the look on Shiko's face and looked petrified.

"Let's go." She grabbed Ren and Takiyo, and dragged them over to the car.

"Rekkun, how old is your brother?" Arisu asked in a low voice.

"Um, 19." Ren replied, confused.

Arisu sighed. "Protect him. You saw the look on Shiko-chan's face. She's already had six boyfriends. And I think your brother is next."

"Um...okay." Ren looked confused, but nodded.

"Hi, Arisu-chan." Taiga said.

Arisu greeted him and gave him a look of pity. Taiga looked confused after seeing that, but disregarded it. They all sat back down in the car, and Takiyo asked, "Who's Shinobu?"

"My older brother." Arisu explained. "He's married, and lives with his wife. He was supposed to come over today, but I'm going with you guys."

"I see." Takiyo looked unsure, but Arisu reassured him by saying, "I can visit him any old time. He doesn't live far. Right now, this is more important."

"Arisu's right." Ren agreed. Takiyo could sense the unease from all of them. He couldn't help but feel a little uninformed.

***

"Tell Yuko good luck from me." Taiga said to the three of them, poking his head out of the window. "Sorry, I can't come along."

"It's okay, we'll tell her. Thanks for the ride." Ren said, and Takiyo and Arisu bowed.

Taiga and Ren exchanged a few looks, having a silent conversation. Neither Takiyo nor Arisu could decipher their looks, but finally Taiga patted Ren and said, "Later," and drove away.

"Come on!" Ren said, leading them inside. "My mom runs this place. I'm allowed anywhere."

They had arrived a little ahead of showtime. Ren lead them to the green rooms. He knocked on the door, and a voice replied, "Come in."

Ren opened the door and the moment he did, a girl who looked about twelve come rocketing in their direction and yelled, "Attack!" She then proceeded with glomping Ren.

The girl who hugged Ren pulled her face back and looked up at him. She had short, spiky, dark red hair, and the bangs were tied up with a rubber band. She pouted and said, "Ren grew taller, didn't he?"

"Hello, Miyabi." Ren said, patting her hand. "You're as small as ever."

"I told you to call me Mii! And I'm still growing!" the girl insisted. Then she looked over to Takiyo and Arisu. Her arms were still around Ren, but she smiled at them widely. "Hi! I'm Naitou Miyabi, but you can call me Mii!"

"She's a childhood friend." Ren said. "Despite her looks, she's fifteen years old."

"Oh," Takiyo could tell from Arisu's face that she thought Miyabi was around twelve too. Miyabi had already deduced that they thought she was younger than she actually was.

"143 cm doesn't mean I'm small!" Miyabi yelled.

"It's okay, Takin is small too." Arisu said airily, and Takiyo shot her the stink eye. "Anyway, I'm Kaneshiro Arisu, and this is Hamasaki Takin."

"Takiyo." Takiyo corrected her.

"Takin." Arisu repeated as though she hadn't heard him. "I'll call you Mimi, okay?" she asked eagerly.

"Are you not satisfied until you play around with someone's name?" Takiyo asked, annoyed.

"Mimi? That sounds cute!" Miyabi exclaimed. "Then, I'll call you Risa!"

"OMG, yes!" Arisu exclaimed, and they held hands.

Oh no. Two Kaneshiros. Takiyo thought.

"Where's Yuko?" Ren asked, patting Miyabi's head again.

"Yuko-chi's over there!" Miyabi said, pointing in the direction of some dressing tables. "Muranaka-sensei was doing her hair."

She lead them over to where Yuko was, and she was sitting with a jersey on, while Muranaka-sensei was setting her hair.

"Hello!" Yuko said cheerfully, spotting them in the mirror.

"How are you doing?" Ren asked.

"Amazingly!" Yuko said, looking at her reflection. She wasn't looking at them, but this went unnoticed.

"Yuko's practiced really hard." Muranaka-sensei said, clipping Yuko's bangs to the side. "She's gotten much better."

They noticed Muranaka-sensei's ands were shaking slightly, as she stepped back to admire her work. She smiled a slightly lopsided smile, and gave Yuko the thumbs-up. "Good to go!"

Yuko turned in her seat. "How do I look?"

"Yuko-chi, the jersey." Miyabi said.

"Oh, yeah." Yuko pulled off the jersey, and spread her arms out to reveal a beautiful blue and white costume with a short skirt and long sleeves, and embroidery and sequins. Her bangs were brushed to the left and held with a tasseled pin. "Now how do I look?"

"Beautiful!" Arisu exclaimed.

"Perfecto." Ren said, smiling.

"Fine." Takiyo shrugged.

"Like a true acro-dancer!" Miyabi sqeauled.

"Acro-dancing?" Takiyo was confused.

"Dancing with gymnastics, aka acrobatics, therefore acro-dancing." Miyabi exclaimed.

"Gymnastics and acrobatics are the same?" Arisu asked.

"Bleh, who knows." Miyabi shrugged. "Let's just call it whatever."

"Oh! Taiga-kun said good luck!" Arisu said, remembering. "That's from us, too."

Yuko smiled. "Thank you." Her smile looked oddly as if she was constipated.

"Are you sure you're good?" Takiyo asked, noticing this.

"S-sure!" Yuko insisted. "I've trained hard for this! I did it successfully in front of everyone in my group! Also, I told you to have faith in me."

"Yeah," Takiyo replied, but he noticed she was avoiding eye-contact with them, too. Yuko didn't normally do that. Takiyo glanced at Ren, who was looking at her uneasily. Takiyo directed his attention back at Yuko and asked, "Did you invite Anzai-senpai?"

"I did!" Yuko said proudly. "He said he'd come! I had his number from the time he agreed to be my friend. He gave it to me then."

A black-haired boy with a half-ponytail came over. He was wearing a headset and holding a clipboard. "You guys better get to the audience seats." he said. "We're starting soon." he added to Muranaka-sensei.

"Thank you, Shun." Muranaka-sensei said. Then she shepherded Ren, Takiyo and Arisu outside. "You kids better go and get some good seats."

"Good luck everyone!" Ren called. He patted Miyabi's head one last time, and gave her a look. Miyabi replied with another look, and there went Ren with his silent conversation again. Takiyo and Arisu exchanged looks of their own.

"Good luck guys! And remember, have fun!" Arisu yelled, and she winked at Yuko in particular. Yuko smiled at them and waved. She was aware that they were observing her carefully, and tried her best to put on a strong face.

"All good?" Shun asked her.

"Yup!" Yuko replied. Miyabi came up to her with her hands in the pockets of her jersey. Although Yuko had managed to somewhat warm up to everyone in her gymnastics class, Miyabi was one in particular. She was another one who clicked.

"Are you sure you're okay, Yuko-chi?" Miyabi asked seriously. "Whenever you're very nervous, you even avoid eye-contact with your friends."

"I'm not!" Yuko said, and turned back to her mirror. Shun and Miyabi exchanged looks behind her.

Meanwhile, Yuko's heart was pounding. Her palms were sweaty. Her breathing was irregular. This was the moment she had prepared herself for. She asked everyone to have faith in her. She clenched her fist. This unease couldn't act up now. She couldn't back down now. She had to do her best.

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it, she repeated over and over in her head. She looked up to her reflection and said firmly, "I can do it!"

But one look at her reflection - one look at her panicked eyes - told her everything.

I can't do it.