Secrets Of Spring | Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso ;; Watari Ryota |

Chapter Six

Maika
Monday

After the bell rings, I head straight for the dance studio without talking to anyone. I barely slept last night because I was practicing my new routine. I only slept for two hours and I almost dozed off in class --I've never done that before, that's something Watari would do for sure though. In the locker room, I change into a black leotard and black dance shorts. I run into the dance studio and hook up my phone to the speaker and play the song. The dance that I choreographed runs through my head as I put on my pointe shoes and stretch.

I go to the bar and warm up, doing barre combinations to get going. After, I mark through my dance and practice the ending. I always mess up the pirouettes so I practice them until I can do ten consecutive turns. I dance the ending to the music and repeat it until I can do the turns. After a couple of minutes, I finally get my pirouette turns perfectly.

"Yes! Finally," I cheer even though my energy is running out.

I take a water break and head over to my bag, my feet dragging behind me. Before I reach my water bottle, I collapse to the ground and fall fast asleep, I deserve it.

Watari

As I walk out of the music preparation room after talking with Kousei, I pass the dance studio, and a bunch of my teammates crowd around the door.

"Is she sleeping?"

I shove them out of the way to see what they're looking at. Maika lies on the ground in a deep sleep on her side in the middle of the room. "Alright, the show's over! Go to practice!!" I say.

"Aw come on Watari! Just a couple more minutes!" One of them complains.

"You gotta come to practice too!"

"I'm ditching today, just tell coach I didn't feel well so I went home," I explain.

"You can't do that!" Another person shouts.

"Be quiet or you'll wake her up. Now go to practice," I demand and they start to walk away. It looks like a dark cloud hangs over their heads as they do. Before I close the door, I hear loud footsteps coming closer and crying.

"Watari!!" The voice cries. I look out of the room and see Keiko standing in front of me.

"Hey, Keiko," I mumble.

"How come you haven't answered any of my texts?!" She yells and brushes her bangs out of her eyes. "Come on, you're walking me home!" She orders and takes my arm, but I brush it away.

"No, I'm staying here," I respond. Has she always been this clingy? Yeesh, how did I never notice it? She looks back at me furiously. Once she spots Maika behind me, her eyes widen and tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Are you seeing her?!" She questions.

"No! We're just friends!" I panic.

"Y-y-you're lying! You are seeing her!!" She sobs and runs down the hallway.

I look at her and then back at Maika who's still sleeping. I sigh and close the doors so that no one sees. I carry Maika to the wall with the windows and use my lap as a pillow for her. "This is what you get for staying up late last night practicing," I comment and close my eyes as I drift to sleep.

• • •

Hours pass and I open my eyes once I begin to stir awake. Once I fully wake up, I'm met with my reflection in the mirror ahead of me. Beside me, Maika leans against the window's ledge with her back facing the mirror. I stand up, accidentally startling her.

"Oh, Watari, you're awake. How was your sleep?"

"Good," I reply. She smiles and looks out the window again.

"Were you really tired? How did we both fall asleep in here with all of the teams practicing?"

My mind recalls the late hours of the night before, the culprit for my sleepiness. Around 3 A.M., I woke up to the sound of Kaori's violin--at first, I thought I was dreaming, but when I opened my curtains, Maika was there, frantically dancing and trying to choreograph in her tiny room. In her black sweatpants and a black t-shirt with her hair tied into a messy bun, she spun around, doing leaps like I've never seen before. How can she memorize all of that? It always amazes me--she amazes me. Despite it being a school night and despite my fatigue, I couldn't look away. In the darkness of the night, she shone so brightly like she was on the stage with a spotlight already on her. Until the morning sun rose, Maika danced and I watched--even if I wanted to look away, I couldn't.

"I guess I stayed up late to study," I yawn and she scoffs. Can she see through me?

"You studying late? That's not the Watari I know. Knowing you, you probably played video games,"

I sigh inside. "You know me so well,"

She laughs and then directs her focus back to the scenery outside. "The sunset is so beautiful. I wish we could stay here and just look at it..." She sighs as the petals soar with the wind and intertwine in her chestnut hair. Watching her stare into the sky with the crimson sunlight illuminating her face, I can't help but stare. Has she always been this beautiful? Or have I been too blind to notice? "We should go now," Maika says interrupting my thoughts.

"Y-yeah, right.." I blush and quickly turn around to hide my face and start walking. "The hell? Was I just blushing? No way, she's my best friend... Right?"

♪ ♪ ♪

Watari's an idiot