CH 295

Sidestory: Mia’s Ballroom Dance Club (Part 2)

Now, going back a bit to the day before…

“This place sure is quiet, isn’t it?”

Keithwood thought to himself as he wandered aimlessly through the school’s halls and corridors. He wasn’t wasting time; he was on patrol. As Sion’s servant/bodyguard, he looked out for any signs of trouble.

“It’s not too surprising, given how safe Saint-Noel is. I mean, I probably don’t even need to do this. Never see anything strange, no matter what.”

He kept walking around, and each autumn breeze made him feel more relaxed. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

One of his eyes started to move. He tried to smile, but it was hard.

“Okay, I talked too soon…”

Mia came into view at the end of the hallway. She was acting in a way that is the textbook definition of suspicious. She stuck her head out from behind a pillar, which was a bad place to hide, and looked around nervously, like a small rodent.

Keithwood didn’t catch her eye, so she ran off to the special-purpose classrooms.

“What in the name of the sun is she doing now?” he muttered as he started to follow her.

Keithwood was, in general, a perfect gentleman. He acted with all the grace and decorum that a servant of the Crown Prince of Sunkland should. He also liked Mia. She was a good person for Sion to keep in touch with, and Keithwood liked being around her as well. If he hadn’t already promised Sion his loyalty, he might have bowed down to her by now.

So, under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be caught dead doing something as rude as following a woman, let alone a princess he admired. But he did follow her because he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he would regret it if he didn’t.

Something stirred in the deepest part of his stomach. A gut feeling, maybe, that she was about to make a royal mess of things… edible things…

“How can someone with as much talent as she has fail so badly at basic cooking? I guess this is just another of life’s many mysteries…”

Finding some strange comfort in the presence of his old friends, the tired sigh and the exasperated grumble, he ducked into the shadows and crept between them, pausing when his target entered one of the classrooms.

“Huh, a classroom. I think that’s a good thing. At least it isn’t the lunchroom. Worst of all, the kitchen… Still, I’d better keep my guard up. I’m going up against the Great Wisdom of the Empire.”

Since she likes to think outside the box, this could still be an attempt to cook, but he didn’t have the creative skills to see how. Just as he was getting ready to go down that mental hole, he stopped himself.

“Okay, no. Man, get a grip on yourself. This is Princess Mia. She might make some bad decisions sometimes, but she won’t cook in a classroom. I’m just paranoid. Nothing is wrong. I won’t wake up tomorrow to find half the school burned down…”

He took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment to think. Then he gave himself a nod.

“Okay. Everything is fine, and I’m just worried,” he said as he hunkered down.

“But there’s nothing wrong with being scared, right? I’ll just stay here and see what happens. Just in case.”

He still went down the rabbit hole.

—

The next day, things went downhill quickly.

“No, that can’t be… Is that Princess Rania?”

When he looked out from where he was hiding and saw the person walking with the person he was watching, a chill went down his spine.

As Rania Tafrif Perujin, Princess of Perujin Agricultural Country, and Mia went into the classroom, they smiled at each other with excitement. Rania, the princess of Perujin Agricultural Country, which is known for its many crops, was working on a secret project with Mia.

Keithwood shook when he thought about it.

He mumbled, “What could Princess Mia and Princess Rania be doing together?”

After all, he could just walk away and act like nothing had happened if he didn’t know.

He failed. With saying the question out loud, the answer became even more clear.

“What else?! Something to do with cooking, of course!”

He scolded himself for being weak and looked around the classroom. Only one thing could be going on in there.

If this were a regular tea party, they wouldn’t need to keep it secret. All that sneaking around made me think something was going on.

He could smell it in the air, and it smelled like Mia’s usual mix of harmless but damaging tricks.

“…At worst, she will ruin a lot of good Perujin crops with her cooking.”

He clenched his teeth as images of terrible things went through his mind. Fresh vegetables lay in sloppy pieces, their tasty futures cruelly taken away. Mountains of fruit floated like bloated bodies in the stew. Two soft slices of bread struggled to hold a whole apple while their life and identity as a sandwich drained away.

As his terrifying visions reached their worst point, his master was forced to eat these disgusting foods. Then, still hungry, they turned their sights on Keithwood himself…

“Gah! Suns that burn, I need to do something about this…”

Keithwood was a good cook, but even he didn’t know everything about Perujin food and couldn’t be expected to make dishes out of their more unusual foods. So, what about the Great Wisdom?

“Princess Mia is an intelligent person. There’s no reason she couldn’t know something unusual about cooking.”

If she could cook like she said she could, everything would be fine. The problem was that it was very likely that she didn’t.

“I can almost hear her talking about how she’s going to make a fancy dish with mushrooms… That would be a terrible nightmare for everyone.”

He gulped and then put his hand on his stomach, which was starting to hurt from waiting.

“I should probably do something about this before it’s too late…”

He made a face.

“Ugh, I swore I’d never go through something like that again, but…”

He got up and let out a sigh.

“Oh well, I guess I have no choice.”

He walked slowly toward the classroom, not wanting to go there at all.

—

Rania did her ritual dance for the first time in front of Mia and Bel. She danced with a castanet in each hand while wearing baggy pants and a top with short sleeves.

Clack! Click and click!

The instruments made a steady beat, and Rania danced to it by moving in time the rhythm of the percussion. Well, kind of, if you have a very broad idea of what “in time” means.

Mia thought, “It doesn’t really make sense,” as she watched Rania perform.

I think that those instruments are making her feel strange. She seems to be paying so much attention to them that her dancing is getting sloppy. Also, she doesn’t stop when she should, so her movements don’t have any punch. She probably can’t hold a pose well because she’s always thinking about her next move…

Mia kept looking thoughtful even after the dance was over because she was still thinking about it.

“Well, I guess that’s it. Um, what do you think?” asked Rania, who was feeling nervous.

“Hm…”

She crossed her arms and, like a contest judge, said, “You were pretty much wrong the whole time.” It was a brutally honest comment.

“You started off well, but your clacking and dancing got out of sync over time. It could be from being tired, but…”

It feels more like nerves to me.

Since her sister wasn’t there, the pressure of having to do everything by herself must have been getting to her. It would explain why she had trouble keeping time and moved quickly, since people tend to move quickly when they are nervous. It’s hard because she has to keep her own beat.

This problem would be a lot easier to deal with if there were instruments to play along with the song, but Rania didn’t have that option. So, her pace kept getting faster and faster until her body could no longer keep up.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I think I’ll have to ask you to practise your basics with Bel.”

Even without the mental pressure, her technique wasn’t anything special. Mia decided that the best way to get ahead quickly was to start by getting good at the basics. With good technique came confidence, which was important for making more progress.

Which really was true! In a rare turn of events and against all odds, Mia the Great Educator made a decision that was incredibly and undeniably right.

So it was with Mia, who always took dance and mushrooms very seriously.

“All right, let’s start—Oh?”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Huh, I don’t know who that is.”

As Anne opened the door, Mia looked over her shoulder. The familiar sight of Sion’s servant stood in the hall.

“Hm, Keithwood? Why is he here?”

He looked a little pale, which made her wonder even more.

“I’m sorry to barge in, Princess Mia,” Keithwood said as he walked in. “I’ve heard that you’ve been doing something with a lot of enthusiasm lately, and I was wondering if there was anything I could help you with—Hm?”

He took a moment to look around the room. He turned to Bel and Rania with a confused look on his face and asked, “Uh… What’s going on here?”

“Well, Keithwood, I didn’t expect you to show up. We tried to keep this a secret, but that’s no longer possible.”

Mia gave a big sigh and shook her head.

“If you have to know, I’m teaching Bel and Rania how to dance.”

“…Dancing lessons?”

“Yes. Bel, especially. She really needs them, and I didn’t want people to find out before she was ready…”

She took a quick look at Bel, who, bless her heart, was looking at the ground and blushing. Mia thought that if she couldn’t dance well, it must be embarrassing for her.

Bel hopped over to Mia and whispered, “G-grandmother Mia, look! I-the It’s loyal servant of the Libra King! Keithwood, the brilliant and steady swordsman!”

Even though she stuttered, her voice showed that she was amazed.

“Wow…! Wow! I’ve never been this close to him before. Right there is where he is. I could reach out and touch him!”

She swung her arms around in excitement, and the redness in her cheeks looked less like embarrassment about her bad dancing and more like the flush of a fangirl who had just met her idol.

Maniabel was now the name of Miabel!

“Ah, I see,” said Mia. “Well, that’s all.”

Keithwood, on the other hand, didn’t know this. He looked at Bel and moved around in an awkward way.

“I apologise. I shouldn’t have just walked in. Please don’t care that I’m here. I’m just the lowly servant of milord. If it makes you feel better, think of yourself as having been looked at by a dog,” he said in a serious voice.

“Hmm…”

Mia thought about him with her lips pursed.

I thought it would be easiest to also teach Rania the Dance of Moonlight, but then Bel wouldn’t have anything to do. Bel’s ultimate goal is to become a good ballroom dancer, and she’ll need a partner sooner or later to get there. This could turn out to be a good chance. If she is paired up with Keithwood, she might be a little more eager to learn. After all, she seems to like him quite a bit…

She looked at him.

“Keithwood, do you happen to know how to dance well?”

“Huh? Well, I guess I know a few things,” he said with a shrug.

A few things, huh… From what I’ve seen, his “one or two things” are usually more like ten or twenty. He looks like the kind of guy who would make girls fall in love with him everywhere on the dance floor.

The thought was strangely annoying, so she gave him a scowl before going on.

“If that’s the case, as punishment for your nosiness, I need your help with this. You made a young girl feel bad when you found out she couldn’t dance. Help me teach her—the that’s least you can do to make up for it.”

Mia stopped when her grandmotherly instincts told her to be careful.

Wait a minute… This could be a dangerous plan. What if Bel gets a lot of attention and all the boys want to be with her?

It didn’t sound like a good idea to take private dance lessons from Keithwood, who had a long history of killing women. He would be really bad for her. She was about to take back her request when Bel spoke up, pulling the words out of her mouth and putting an official stamp on them.

“R-Really? Miss Mia, are you for real? I’ll be dancing with Keithwood? Omigosh! Wow! That’s…”

The young girl threw her hands in the air and her face got even redder. Mia shook her head like a parent who didn’t like something.

She turned to Keithwood and said, “I swear, there are days when I’m not sure if we’re really related.”

“All right, there you go. If it’s not too much to ask, I’d like you to dance with Bel and help her work on her moves. Six days from now, she has a dance test, and I want her to do well.

“I see. If that’s the case,” he said with a soft smile, “then you can count yourself in, young lady. I’ll do everything I can to help you get better.”

“Thank-you! I’ll also do my best!”

Bel said this with a bow.

—

Ah, it’s so much fun to learn to dance with Grandmother Mia.

Bel lay in the softness of her bed, unable to keep her eyes open as the last hours of the day passed. Her favourite time of day was the time between yesterday and tomorrow, when she could feel the gentle caress of sleep but hadn’t yet fallen asleep.

She fell asleep with her face on her pillow and let the memories of the day fill her mind. She went through them one by one, as if to reassure herself that yes, today had also been full of happiness.

I never thought I’d get to dance with Keithwood, ha ha. That Keithwood! He was known for always being loyal. It’s exactly like a dream.

Keithwood seemed like a character from a fairy tale to Bel, and dancing with him made her feel like a fairy tale character herself. She had a light feeling in her body, like she was about to float away. She tried to stay still, but her whole body wanted to move, spin, and dance. All in all, the whole thing had been a real treat. She breathed out a happy sigh.

“What a happy life this is…”

She was serious. There was no question in her mind that she was happy every day. Saint-Noel felt like a magical wonderland that had come straight out of her dreams. There was tasty food everywhere, and she could eat as much as she wanted, including sweets. Even though homework was sometimes hard, school could be a lot of fun.

She had even met someone. It was just like a dream. Even though she didn’t know when this dream would end, she was happy as could be while it was still going on.

But there’s a catch.

She had never been sad. No matter what, she had never been less than she was, because her life was a gift that had a price. So many people had given up a lot in order to give it to her. So, that life had to be good. There was nothing else that would do.

She would not and could not let her smile fade because of all the people who had loved her and put their lives at risk for her. She smiled even more. She was happy because of it. Always cheerful.

“I should be really happy right now, but…”

It’s true. Definitely. But she couldn’t tell anyone, which made her feel a little bit alone. She wanted to tell her dear Mother Elise about all the great things that had happened to her today.

She could picture the look of happiness on Mother Elise’s face as she told about meeting her grandmother in person.

But it didn’t matter because the people who were important to Bel were no longer here. The person she most wanted to tell couldn’t hear her anymore.

“Oh, how about a letter?”

Bel had a sudden thought. She was still connected to Mother Elise in some way. Or rather, someone: Elise, who was still young. It wasn’t as strong as the memories they had shared in the past, but…

“Yes, I should write a letter… to Mother, no, to Elise,” she said.

She put her hopes on that thin thread that connected the present to the past. She thought that as long as it held, her words would reach the source of that tender warmth from the past.

A letter then. She would write about how beautiful her grandmother was today. That wouldn’t be enough, though. She would continue to write. So many good things had happened today, and she would list them all one by one. That’s what she would say.

“Right now, Mother Elise, I’m happy.”

She didn’t know when this dream would end, but she was happy every second of it, including right now.

“Oh, I get it. Since I’m already writing a letter, I might as well…”

—

After 10 days, Mia was shaking as she held a piece of paper in one hand.

The result of Bel’s dance test was written on it.

“…This has to be wrong. I taught her for a long time. Keithwood even came to help. So why does she have a C?”

To give you some idea, a C was just good enough to pass. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a failure either.

“This isn’t okay with me!” she said.

After complaining out loud and for a long time about how useless her efforts were, Mia looked at Bel, who didn’t look the least bit upset. When she saw her granddaughter’s happy smile, she felt down, and she let out a sigh.

“Well, at least it doesn’t seem like you’re getting bullied for being bad at dancing. In that case, I guess it’s okay even if your grades aren’t that good…”

Just when Mia was figuring out how to be a patient parent, Bel asked Miss Mia, “By the way, when does the glowing start?”

“Hm? What?!”

“The glowing? When will my body start to shine?”

“…Huh?”

Mia stared at the girl with wide eyes because her question was so strange.

“Mother Elise told me that you really shone when you danced. That’s why I thought if I learned how to dance, I’d start glowing too,” Bel said, emphasising her point with an enthusiastic but still clumsy twirl. Mia’s head began to hurt right away.

“Elise…” she asked, “What in the moons were you saying to this girl?”

Still, she didn’t think there was any reason to tell Bel the sad truth and crush her hopes. She quickly thought about it, then hit her palm with her fist as a sign of sudden insight.

“Well, that’s that… Do you remember what I taught you to dance?”

“Huh? Um, yes. It’s called the Moonli Dance—Oh!”

“You’re right. Do you get it now?” Mia asked, nodding slowly and with the air of someone telling a secret.

“So basically, once I can do the Dance of Moonlight perfectly, it’ll happen to me too…”

Bel gave a hopeful smile. Mia also smiled, but her smile wasn’t as sweet.

Ohoho! That should make her want to improve her dancing even more.

She thought to herself, “This is a great idea, even if I do say so myself.”

—

After a few days…

“What the moons is this?!”

Mia found the following passage while reading The Chronicles:

Princess Mia was the best dancer in the world. She was an expert in all kinds of dance, and some say she even mastered a legendary dance that was only taught to people with imperial blood. When this dance was done well, the dancer would give off a glow like the moon.

But this story is over, so you’ll have to make up your own story about what happened after she passed out and what happened next.