Ready to Lose

Last night, Eika could barely sleep. She snuggled up all night on her blankets and cried herself out. She patted her eyes and sighed to herself. Hopefully, no one would notice her swollen eyes. She changed into gym clothes since it's dance class for today.

She tied her hair up in a ponytail and powdered her face. She looked over to her roommate's bedside and, it was left untouched. She wondered where the girl had been all night. She left the dorm anyways and headed toward the dance studio.

"Alright! Alright! Sit down!" Their dance instructor, Miss Iori clapped her hands to get all of their attention. Their classmates hurried to their respective seats. Eika walked inside and, she saw Hikaru sitting alone in the corner of the room.

Hikaru saw Eika and waved to her for her to come over. "Jane Eika!" He called. Eika smiled brightly, so maybe befriending him wasn't a dream.

As she sat down beside him, A girl moved in front of Eika and accidentally stepped on her feet. She groaned and, looked up to find the fierce girl she met on the plane from before. Mei Qian is here!?

When she saw Eika, she sneered at her but then she smiled viciously like sending her a message of 'you better watch yourself.' She passed by Eika followed by her two other friends.

Eika embraced her stomach she could feel it wanting to churn. It didn't help that she has dance class with Mei Qian. Out of every skill she has to offer, dancing was the worst.

"Now everybody is complete I would be introducing a dance routine that's pretty easy to follow. I know it's just the second day but, this routine is essential in getting merits for the ranking." Miss Iori smiled, and Eika leaned her back against the mirror. Ranking? What ranking? Did she miss something?

Miss Iori pressed something on her phone that brought out speakers out of nowhere from the floor somehow everyone's phones buzzed and, Eika took out her phone to find a score sheet with her name on it. Her current rank was 0.

"Darn, they weren't kidding when they said our grades are based off rankings," Hikaru cocked his head to the side. He's rank 0 as well which is a relief. It means they haven't started grading them yet.

Eika scrolled down the page and pressed 'See Ranking List.' She saw everyone's rank on the chart was 0 but, on the 2nd year and 3rd year page, it told a different story. The rank titles keep switching by the minute. It was crazy!

Eika scrolled down further to see a red mark on some of her senior's ranking. 'To be eliminated.'

She dropped her phone from shock. Hikaru saw what she was freaked out about and, he was sweating bullets. Anyone lower than 650 is out.

EIka looked up from her phone to find that Mei Qian was looking at her. She smirked at her before she looked away to listen to Iori speak.

"The dance routine video is downloaded automatically on your phones. You would have to memorize it in three days. For now, all of you will follow along so I can see your abilities," Iori pressed on her phone again and, a white screen slides down from above to show a video of a person dancing the choreography that she made.

The music blasted in their ears. It pumped them up to dance, and the suspected dance machines in the room refrained from having to embarrass themselves.

Iori called upon two students to the dance mat that glowed with different colors in each step. A scoreboard appeared by the mirrors.

"Start!" Iori waved her hand, and the two students began to follow the choreography on the screen. Eika couldn't believe this is happening in front of her. It's too surreal.

Each wave and turn has a specific score that added by numbers in the scoreboard. No one was talking in the room. They were all focused on the scoreboard that gets higher and higher by the minute.

It didn't take long before the lights inside the dance studio turned on again. Iori asked them to sit down and, she took out her phone.

"These two students are currently 1 and 2 in the ranking!" She announced and, everyone clapped inside the room. Eika watched her classmates head back to their respective spots. Her heart thumped inside her and, it hurts.

"Sato and Noriko? Step to the mat," Iori called, and Hikaru gulped down to himself. Eika turned to him and, she closed her fist.

"Good luck!" She cheered to him and for the first time. Hikaru gave her an unsure smile and, he stepped up to the dance floor. The loud music began to play again and when the first beat dropped. There's a huge difference in the dance steps.

The girl named Noriko was a beast. She exaggerated her movements in each step. She moved her body to the rhythm and raised her hands high up in the air to add expression to the dance. It's like Noriko owned the song.

Meanwhile, Hikaru was moving to the beat stiffly, each step of his feet could be dangerous. He started to dance offbeat and, he couldn't follow along to Noriko's speed and movement. The scoreboard for Noriko was huge and, she beat the first two students before.

The song ended and, Noriko didn't even break a sweat while Hikaru tried to catch his breath and he supported himself by leaning on the railings. Eika hugged her knees tighter. This wasn't an easy competition.

"Noriko is now ranked 1!" Iori said happily. She applauded Noriko and Hikaru and, the room boomed in applause and the boys who were silent before stood up and, started to introduce themselves to Noriko but, the girl ignored them and she moved back to her place.

Hikaru quickly went beside Eika and sat down. He didn't say anything but, his face says it all. He wasn't in the mood. He lowered his head down. Eika wanted to cheer him up but before she could do so...

"Next is... Qian and Miyamoto!" Iori called out and, Eika's spine tingled. She saw Mei Qian stood up brimming with confidence. She didn't hesitate to step up to the platform.

Eika braced for herself. She rubbed her arms and headed toward the dance floor. Both of the girls turned to face each other. Eika didn't smile or nod and, Mei Qian's eyes flared with determination.

"Ready to lose?" Mei Qian sneered. She shifted her body to the white screen and, Eika did the same with hesitation.

But something burned inside her heart.

"I don't plan to," Eika said to herself.