Chapter 6
HAMA House - Practice Room
And a turn here!
Got it!
(Oh boy.)
‘Kay, Munecchi, show us the full routine next~
Understood.
……
Do a backstep…… Then take 3 steps up.
……
And then move into an attitude-like position…..
……Hmm~ Your flow is perfect, and you’re hitting the right rhythm, but your movements still seem a bit stiff.
How about…… That’s right! Maybe you should try moving like a cat? Be all graceful and smooth!
Hm, understood. I’ll try that.
Alright, Tounya, you’re up next~!
Here goes….
Into position…… and strike a cat pose…..!
Yass, that was sooo cute, you’re killin’ it ♪
Your endurance’s definitely improved too. But Chii can feel that you’re still trying to be like me.
That’s right….! I had Chihiro-kun’s dances burned into the back of my eyelids….!
Much thankies ♪ But honestly, I wanna see more of your own unique style, Tounya!
Your cat pose is, like, super adorbs, so how ‘bout throwin’ in some more cat-like moves that you can come up with, even during a dance routine?
G-Got it! I’ll give that a try ….!
And lastly, Kirokkuma~!
Y-Yes.
……
Kick, turn….. Move into…..Charleston.
Kirokkuma, your moves are straight up vibes!
You totally nailed the sharpness and the style ♪
But you still have the habit of hunching over, so try dancing with your chest out more!
Y-Yes…. sir.
Mmkay everyone, let’s go through with it one more time~.
… …
Munecchi, you gotta be a cat! Be-a-cat!
Let’s get you loosen up with 100 hula hoop spins.
Huff, huff…. This strain in my waist is very intense….!
But I can feel myself getting more flexible.
Tounya, focus on yourself in the mirror!
Let yourself become one with your movements and just be your true self ♪
O-Okay….!
Kirokkuma, this is for you ♪ It’s the Posture Purrfecter1….. aka a stick for your back!
Now strap it to your back like this!
My spine…. is being…. rearran….ged.
(Wooow. This is turning out like some old sports anime training arc. Oh well, guess I'll just go with the flow…..)
(Hmm…. They’re getting better overall, but something still feels off and I can’t put my finger on it.)
(It’s hard to explain…. It's like my gut feeling. Maybe if I take a step back and look at things more objectively, I might be able to figure out what’s wrong…..)
…..I wish we had some sort of footage of our dancing for times like this.
We had everything recorded for Ev3ns, but I totally forgor this time…..
Ah…. Well, in that…. case…. here…
Hm? This is…?
Now that you mentioned it, Kinugawa have been recording our routines up until now, just in case they might be of use.
I…. borrowed the tripod… from Isotake….
Forreal!? Thanks a bunch, Kirokkuma ♪ Let’s watch it together right now.
……
……
(……Interesting. Each one of them dance with a different style, but they’re pretty solid on their own. Not exactly skilled by any means, but they have a certain rough charm to them ….)
…..Maybe that weird feeling Chii had earlier was because of this.
Weird feeling?
Yeah. Since we decided to all wear masks, Chii thought it’d be best if we made our dance more in sync…… but guess that was a flop idea from the beginning.
Making it all uniformed just doesn’t seem right anymore.
....Then why not just do the tournament as is?
Huh?
I mean, there's only a week left till the real deal, right? Why stress trying to get it perfect when we can just—
Ten-cham….. That’s a genius idea!!
……Oho?
Our team is still fresh, so of course we can’t really beat the pros out there. But our individualities are absolutely unmatched.
So, instead of aiming for “Coordinated group dancing is beautiful and awesome”, wouldn’t it be better to put the spotlight onto our individual styles!?
.........
I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I’m following…..
Huh….. R-Right…. now….?
No worries, we’ll only make changes that stay within our limits.
So everyone, eyes on the whiteboard.
Our new theme… will be this!
“Any-and-all formulas ditched”?
“Individuality embraced, carefree and easygoing…”?
“Cat….. Dance”…..?
…….So, what’d you think, meow?
We love it!
Ten-cham, what ‘bout you!?
Oh yeah, that's totally fine with me~
Cats are the kind of critters that like to do whatever they want, after all.
You don’t sound too hyped but okie dokes, that's good enough ♪
Mmkay, let’s rework our structure and get right to practicing!
Yessir!
(……I’m sure our performance will be amazing. And each member’s unique personality and charm will be able to shine beautifully on stage.)
(I’m sure of it….!)
猫背矯正ギブス when translated literally would be “Cat Posture Correction Cast”. So to make it cat-themed, I decided to translate it as “Posture Purrfecter”
Chihiro started adding “nya” to the end of this sentence and the “what’d you think” sentence so, again, to make this flow in english, I just incorporated cat puns into this sentence. In case you’re wondering what the sentence is without the puns, it’s “how ‘bout we catapult our theme into something new?”