Through The Looking Glass
Dance lessons

“CUT!” Director Akira yowled at the top of his lungs. There was a soft applauding from the crew and cast not on the film, signaling the scene had been filmed to the director’s liking. I shook myself slightly, spotting Shou standing frozen in the crowd of people. He flinched as our eyes met and swiftly turned away, vanishing out the doors in the back.
“That was well done, Miss Mogami!” Yashiro cheered as Ren and he wandered up to me, dodging past admiring fans within the crew and cast.
“The dance lesson will be held after this in about an hour. How about we go off and grab something to eat while they set up for it?” Ren suggested with mild cheer, although his eyes darted to the doors Shou had just left through. Although I would never admit it, I was glad to see the dislike Ren had for that bastard. Just thinking about it, I could feel little dark shadows swirling around me excitedly.
“Oooh, doesn’t that look nice?”
“A fight! A fight! We should set up a fight!”
“Oh ho ho ho! What an idea! A fight between Ren and-“
“Kyoko?”
I flinched at Ren’s voice and gave a shaking smile.
“Ah, sure… lunch would be great!” I sputter out, and Ren nods to Yashiro who chuckles merrily to himself and heads out ahead of us.
“Shall we go, then?”
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Yashiro had nabbed one of the conference rooms, and by the time we had reached it, he had pushed most of the chairs against the wall. Two bentos sat on one of the fold up tables that took up most of the room, and I glanced around in confusion.
“Well, it’s not much, but we don’t have much time.” Ren stated with a shrug, picking up one of the bentos and handing it to me.
“What’s going on?” I questioned, glancing at the overly cheerful Yashiro, but he yielded no hints.
“Do you have any ballroom dancing experience at all?” Ren questioned, opening the box that held his food and grabbing one of the pairs of chop sticks left on the table.
“Well…” I muttered hesitantly as he leaned against the nearest table and nibbled on some of the food.
“I thought so. Hurry and eat, I’ll show you the basics.” He chuckled and went back to his nibbling.


It was not long before I found myself being forced into Ren’s embrace. My entire body was trembling from being so near.
“Look up at me, Kyoko. In the dance scene, you must look at your partner. Alright, Yashiro, start the music!” Ren called. Yashiro tapped at Ren’s phone and I was blown away by the sound of beautiful classical music.
“We’ll take this slow. Place your arm here. Good, now take my hand. Ready?” Ren instructed. Clenching my teeth, I took his hand, my other hand wrapping tightly around his shoulders. I nearly had to stand on my tip toes to be able to reach. This was the first time I really realized how tall he is.
“Now step forward, like this. Simply follow my lead.” Ren grinned at me, forcing me to take a step back as he stepped forward. He threw several more instructions to me as we moved almost gracefully across the carpeted floor. As soon as I had gotten the general idea of how it worked, he began to count, giving a beat to follow, based off of the music as well as our movements. It wasn’t long until I was lost in a land of fairies, Ren transforming into my beloved Corn, his wings full and beautiful, fairies of all colors darting around, whispering and laughing, dancing with us, a unicorn in place of Yashiro. I could feel a grin of joy spreading across my face…
…Only to be ruined as the demon king burst through the fairy castle doors.
Shou yanked me backward, out of Ren’s grip, who had been too startled to react for a moment.
“Taking advantage, huh? Is this how you play the few women I don’t steal from you?” Shou sneered at Ren above my sputtering cry of shock. Ren’s face darkened, his eyes falling to Shou’s hand, where he was gripping my wrist hard enough to bruise.
“Let her go.”
“Ha! Or what?”
For a moment, Ren did not reply, but when he lifted his eyes, I cowered away from him, desperately trying to yank free of Shou simply to get away from the darkness surrounding Ren.
“Do you really want to find out?”