Social Dance Club Bonus Chapter

Preparation Step

"We don't accept amateurs here. It's a club rule, you see..."

It was a certain day in March, just before the entrance ceremony.

Tamami, having decided that she would "absolutely do ballroom dance once she entered Tama High," went to observe the Competitive Dance Club. What greeted her, however, was that single, sorrowful rejection. Against the backdrop of club members practicing on the floor, the beautiful female president looked truly apologetic as she said, "Sorry about that."

"No, um, it's fine, I'm sorry," Tamami apologized, despite having done nothing wrong, and left the Competitive Dance Club room. The back of her nose stung, and tears threatened to spill over—and then they did.

"Ugh, this was a miscalculation... I didn't know only experienced people could join."

Tamami was a complete beginner to ballroom dance. She had only become interested after going to watch a match—a competition—just a month ago, and she hadn't danced a single step in her life.

"If I have to stop being a beginner first... no, at that rate, who knows when I'd ever be able to join..."

Wiping her tears, Tamami walked despondently toward the school gate, her shoulders slumped.

It happened just as she reached the plaza in front of the school building.

A flash of golden light seemed to catch in the right corner of her vision.

"...? What?"

Tamami turned her head to the right.

There was a tall girl in the plaza. The source of the golden light was her hair, reflecting the sun with every movement.

She looked as if she were dancing—no, she was dancing. Turns, jumps... Tamami didn't know what to call those complex movements.

But she knew what they were. That step was—

"Ballroom  dance...!"

She felt her body temperature rise three degrees in an instant. Without thinking, she rushed over to call out.

"Umm—"

There, Tamami froze.

The blonde girl who turned around was a foreigner with blue eyes and striking features.

(Wh-wh-wh-what do I do, I can't speak English...!?)

Tamami's heat drained away in a flash.

"E-Etto, he-Hello? I... I can't speak English, but, I, I—I want to dance!"

The blonde girl looked blank for a moment—but perhaps Tamami's words had gotten through, for her face broke into a smile as she answered.

"OK! Ah... Shall we dance?"

It was fluent English, but Tamami knew the phrase from a movie.

Shall we dance—it meant, "Let's dance." Tamami felt a surge of joy, and she nodded her flushed red face vigorously.

"Y-Yes, definitely! Ah, no... Yes! Yes!"

"Ah, it is okay. I understand Japanese."

The blonde girl laughed. Tamami's face turned red for an entirely different reason.

"Heh, so they refused to let you join."

At a hamburger shop in front of the station, Tamami was telling the blonde girl—Fiona—about what had happened earlier.

"Yes... Are you not joining either, Fiona-chan? You're so good at dancing."

"Actually, I went to observe earlier too, but the rules and whatnot didn't fit my complexion... hmm? My texture?"

"Maybe your nature?" Tamami suggested.

"That is it!" Fiona snapped her fingers. "I wish there was a club where I could dance more freely..."

Watching Fiona sigh, a thought suddenly struck Tamami.

It might be impossible alone, but if there were two of them—

"Umm, if you'd like... would you create a club with me? A dance... a ballroom dance club where we can dance freely."

At Tamami's proposal, Fiona clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh!"

"YES! Not Competitive Dance... Ballroom... no, in this case, Social Dance is better."

"Soshiaru dansu?"

"It means Social Dance. But the nuance of 'socializing' is stronger... How about 'Social Dance Club'?"

"I—I think that's good!"

Tamami grasped Fiona's outstretched hand.

This was the catalyst for the founding of the Tama High Social Dance Club.

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