Dancing has always been a constant part of Kyomoto Taiga's life. He was never one for sports that involved balls and equipment but no one can ever really escape school festivals. So he turned to dancing. As long as he danced, he had an excuse not to participate in other sports activities. Taiga had no complaints, he actually liked dancing to the point that he became the president of the grade school dance club before he had to leave the Kansai region and move to Tokyo.
But Taiga did not stop dancing. Even now that he worked in the IT industry, he was still involved in a dance workshop. It was a way for him to release his frustrations and relieve some stress.
"Taiga," Toma, the head trainer in the workshop, called him after the session for advanced learners finished. "What do you think about a buddy system for newly enrolled trainees? Instead of assessing them as a group, a trainee in the advanced session will be paired with them to assess what level they should be put into."
"Hm, not everyone does start on the same level and some new trainees get intimidated when they are mixed in with those who are more skillful than them." Taiga said. He looked around the room, most of the advanced trainees were still in the room and the number might be enough as they don't really get much addition to the roster of trainees. "If I say yes, will you start paying me a higher salary for shadowing you for the kids' classes?"
Toma laughed. "No. But I will trial the buddy system using you. Your face brings luck to my business."
Taiga clicked his tongue. "I should be getting paid given how much you exploit my face."
"Be here early on Friday to meet your buddy," Toma did not even bother to face Taiga anymore and started cleaning up the dance room.
"Easy for you to say. You don't have a full-time corporate job."
The click clackings of mouse and keyboards do not even bother Taiga anymore. He had gotten so used to it that he could even already tell the mood of a person depending on the sound his keyboard was making. There was a bit of an adjustment for everyone who shared the room when mechanical keyboards became a trend but it was a colorful addition to their department and a conversation starter from time to time.
Taiga's section had just finished a project which made them relatively more free than the other teams. Taiga was just leisurely scrolling through the mock website of their next project, the deadline was not anytime soon but he wanted to get to know the company better.
Taiga's mind was actually thinking more about the buddy system that Toma wanted to trial today. Toma gave him more details during dinner last night, how the buddy system will last for two months until the new trainee gets sorted to which session he should belong and get used to the workshop's culture. Since there was only one new trainee for this month, the pilot trial will be between him and Taiga.
Taiga reaches for his pendant. He has not really danced in a duo since he left for Tokyo. He does not even remember the name of the boy he used to dance with, all he knows was that they had fun together. He remembers him being a few years younger than him but that was as far as his memory goes. He also does not remember where he got his pendant from but it has always been with him since he moved to Tokyo, he found it in one of his moving boxes inside an envelope with his name on it.
- - -
"See! You did come on time!" Toma put his arm over Taiga's shoulder and dragged him to the corner where a guy was seated. "Meet Nagase Ren, you're new buddy. Nagase-san, this is Kyomoto Taiga, he will be your dance buddy until your performance evaluation."
Ren looked up and immediately smiled at Taiga like he had just seen an old friend. "Hello, Kyomoto-senpai."
"Senpai?" For a moment, Taiga wondered why he felt a sense of familiarity at how Ren said the word. "Sorry, my mind's still processing all this." He said. "It's nice to meet you, Nagase-san."
Taiga gave Ren a quick tour of the dance studio. Ren obediently followed him around the whole floor. Toma’s dance studio had grown so much from when Taiga first started going there to kill time and get some much-needed exercise. There only used to be two rooms - one shared by all the kids and another shared by teens to the adult trainees. Now, Toma was renting six out of the twelve rooms that the commercial building had to offer.
“So, there’s that,” Taiga said as they got back to the kid’s training room. “The kids usually end earlier than the other classes so Toma said we can use this room for now. The buddy system is fairly new. I’m so sorry this will be a first for this buddy program, so we’ll have to be a trial subject.”
“I don’t mind,” Ren smiled at him. “I’ll be your dance buddy again then.”
Taiga got distracted by Ren’s smile that he did not quite catch what the younger one said. “I’m sorry? I spaced out for a bit. What was that?”
Ren chuckled and shook his head. “I said I’d be your dance buddy.”
Taiga nodded his head in response but he could have sworn Ren said something more earlier. “Uhm, have patience with me, okay? I could be a little strict when it comes to dance training.”
“Of course you are,” Ren said as though it was a fact he had already known. “I’ll be in your care, Kyomoto-senpai.”
There were very few people that Taiga found charming.
Nagase Ren might be one of them.
Taiga cleared his throat to ground himself to reality. “For today, I’ll teach you the usual stretching exercise we do when in groups."
Taiga had never felt self conscious when leading the stretching exercises but right now, with Ren watching him closely, Taiga hoped he wouldn't mess anything up.
Taiga let Ren watch him do the stretching exercise first before the two of them did it together. After a few trials, Taiga let Ren do it on his own. Granted that Ren was a little slower than the usual pace the stretching exercises were done but at least he was able to remember the order fast.
"Hey hey hey!" Toma entered the practice room. "Let's go grab dinner together! But not the usual welcome party we have for new trainees since Ren is just one. We'll do it when we get more new trainees. So, what do you guys say?"
"I'll go if you go," Ren said with a hopeful smile while looking at Taiga.
"Dinner's on you," Taiga pointed at Toma. "For making us lab rats."
Although Toma said this was not the official welcome dinner yet, he still booked a private room for the dinner between the three of them. Taiga successfully coerced him to pledge to pay for everything after threatening not to show up in the studio in the coming weeks. Ren was just happily laughing at the interaction between the two.
Once the food was served, Ren moved the cherry tomatoes from his plate to a smaller plate and pushed it over to Taiga’s side of the table. Taiga looked over at Ren who simply responded with a tilt of the head as if he was silently asking ‘why?’
Dinner went by pretty smoothly. Toma has always had his way of making someone welcome in conversations and Taiga had already spent the afternoon with Ren so it was fairly easy for the three of them to converse comfortably.
“Kyomoto-senpai, let me walk you home.” Ren offered once they were out of the establishment.
“Sorry, my place is out of the way from Taiga so I can’t take you guys,” Toma said and tapped their shoulders. “Be careful going home, alright?”
“Nagase-san, shouldn’t it be the other way around? I should be taking you home since I’m older.”
Ren shrugged his shoulders. “I offered first so, let’s go?”
The walk home was silent but it was a comfortable silence. Ren made sure that he walked on the side of the sidewalk closer to the road and stopped whenever something caught Taiga’s eyes.
“Here we are,” Taiga said once they were in front of his building. “Do you live far from here?”
“Senpai, do you really not remember me?”
“What do you mean?”
Ren pulled out his necklace from underneath his sweater. “Does this look familiar?” The pendant was the same as the one Taiga had.
Suddenly, things made sense.