Asteria Dance Club (2)

"Huh?"

Annaleigh hadn't thought she would be able to meet their standard so she was glad to be proven wrong, but the response made her confused. Heina noticed this confusion so she kindly explained for the other members who were sending her warm gazes.

"While your performance lacked refinement, we were able to sense how desperate you were and that strong feeling won us over. I imagine there shouldn't be a problem with welcoming you to the club, right Liella?"

As the spotlight shifted to Liella, Annaleigh waited with bated breath for her reply. Since the other members had agreed to have her join, Liella's opinion was inconsequential, but Annaleigh's objective for joining the club was to get closer to Liella, so if she didn't agree there would be no point to this. The other members silently pressured her with their gazes, but Liellla wasn't the type to be swayed by that so whatever she said would be her true feelings.

"I, I have no objection."

"Yay!" Annaleigh exclaimed.

She blushed in embarrassment immediately afterwards, but there was little time for her to stay in that state as her new clubmates began to crowd around her.

"Oh she's so precious!"

While they weren't rough with her, it was hard for her to move since they were eager to poke her cheeks and seal her in their embrace. Even the younger ones treated her like a little sister, but it didn't feel bad so she didn't try hard to stop them. Even so, she felt grateful to Heina for freeing her.

"Okay girls, I know you're eager to welcome our new member, but that can wait until practice is over."

Despite their desire to stick to her longer, the members of the club were obedient to the president who replaced them, stood next to Annaleigh and called a lone member.

"Liella, can I leave it to you to teach her the basics. I know you don't like having a mentee, but this should be a good experience if you want to succeed me."

Annaleigh thought that it would be hard to convince Liella to take on this duty, but surprisingly she accepted the task quickly.

"Understood, I'll do my best."

After winking at Annaleigh, Heina left the two of them alone. Once they saw her off, the two girls faced each other. Annaleigh wondered how she should greet Liella, but for the first time, Liella initiated the conversation.

"The moves you used, where did you learn them?"

"Ah, well I just copied what I've seen before like what you and the other members used and performances I've been to."

"What sort of performances?"

"Idol concerts, I mean..."

At first Annaleigh hadn't thought there was anything wrong with her answer, but then she remembered that some traditional dance enthusiasts scorned the performances of idols and labelled them as fake and uninspired. If it was anyone else then she wouldn't be worried about what they thought about idols, but she didn't want to say anything that might make Liella dislike her even more.

Annaleigh waited for a response, but whether luckily or unluckily, Liella changed the topic.

"Let's start with stretches. First is..."

Annaleigh was nervous initially, but when it came to instructing her, Liella was both attentive and understanding so she made for a very good teacher. Even though she didn't show her much in terms of dance moves, Annaleigh felt like she had learnt a lot by the end of their session. She wanted to continue to get closer to her, but when the day's club session was over and her welcome party was going to begin, Liella announced that she would be staying behind. Heina tried to persuade her to join them, but there was an important upcoming event that Liella would take a central position for so Heina couldn't push too strongly.

Annaleigh once again had to accept Heina's aid in changing her attire with this time being especially uncomfortable since the other members began making a schedule for who would get to change her, but that was a memory she chose to purge as quickly as she could.

The welcome party was held on the grounds of Star Stream Academy since it was too complicated to get permission to leave, but there wasn't a lack of facilities to choose from. This also made it harder for them to select a venue, but Heina let them decide through drawing lots and they ended up at a restaurant that focused on home-cooking and had private rooms.

After entering their room, which had one long table and chairs around it, the welcome party started off with a few words from Heina, followed by Annaleigh thanking them for coming. Annaleigh thought that the party would mostly involve eating their orders and talking, and while she wasn't wrong, her expectations didn't match reality.

Once she took her seat, the other members tried to sit as close as possible to her and began feeding her their recommendations. They didn't force her to take more than a few bites of each, but even though she was starting to feel full in the second half, she could only smile and accept the spoonfuls flown to her mouth. Furthermore, when she finally gained the courage to ask why they were doing this, the response that one of the older members gave was that it was a ritual as well as an initiation of sorts. As even Liella had gone through this experience, Annaleigh felt obligated to do the same.

By the time they were done feeding her, Annaleigh had to use most of her concentration to hold back any unladylike behavior such as burping. As she wondered if this was her true test, her clubmates barraged her with questions and facts. The questions were mainly about her personality and motivation for joining the club while the facts involved details about the club and its members, both past and present. During this discussion, the members touched on the fact that there had been others who joined because of Liella, so Annaleigh asked for the rest of the story that she didn't hear from Heina.

They hesitated before responding, but after a bit of deliberation one of them began.

"They were mostly good girls but they all had the same flaw."

"That's right. As they were from elite families they had no trouble dancing, but it was obvious that there was no emotion in their moves. Usually that wouldn't be a problem but..."

"Liella couldn't forgive them."

"Why?" Annaleigh asked, "Did they bother her or the club?"

"No, there was no issue with their behavior and they didn't cause any incidents, but Liella didn't want them to stay so she was extra harsh on them. They tried to meet her standards, but eventually they all gave up."

After the last person finished telling the story, there was an awkward silence, but once one of the senior members noticed that Annaleigh was also feeling the awkwardness, they hurriedly comforted her.

"Oh but don't worry, none of those girls were as serious as you are so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Yeah definitely."

Annaleigh couldn't say she was very relieved even after the other members tried comforting her, but she didn't want to waste their efforts so she put on a smile.