#tl;dr: the titular dance battle was absolutely pointless lmaooooo

[deus-ex-mona]

DANCE BATTLE!!: Epilogue

get his kneecaps, meggle

previous part (chapter 7)

A few days after the dance battle—

MEGU: Hey, so, all that talk about looking over their designs went poof, right?

DAI: Yeah. IV put a stop to it after hearing what happened.

IV: Regarding this incident… It was my fault for not having a good grasp of the situation before asking you to hear Aizo out.

IV: DAI, there’s no need for you to look over LIPxLIP’s costume designs.

IV: It’d be more meaningful if the two of them came up with their designs by themselves through trial and error, right?

IV: We shouldn’t interfere with that.

IV: We know our SICKS well, but—

IV: We don’t understand a single thing about LIPxLIP’s fans, after all.

DAI: Well, I get where IV’s coming from, though.

MEGU: But it’s still kind of a letdown, riiight?

MEGU: Oh well, it’s not like we have a choice! We’ll just do what we can! Let’s dance with all we’ve got!

As DAI made an attempt at dancing the choreography that he had been unable to get the hang of on a previous occasion, MEGU, who was watching him dance, let out a shout.

MEGU: DAI, your dancing has suddenly gotten better!

DAI: Eh… for real?

MEGU: Yup! It was already good before, but somehow…

MEGU: It’s gotten even better!

DAI: (All he’s telling me is that it’s good, though.)

With a wry smile stretched across his lips, DAI found himself recalling the day of the dance battle.

DAI: (If something has changed, it’s probably due to—)

Aizo: DAI!

DAI: Aizo… What’s up? Weren’t you on your way out?

Aizo: Yeah, but I realised that I’d forgotten to thank you for today.

Aizo: Um… I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. But…

Aizo: I’m really glad to have had the chance to watch you dance up close today!

Aizo: I know that LIPxLIP and FT4 dance with different styles, but I especially love those performances of yours, wherein you use your entire body as you move.

Aizo: The way the intensity of your movements changed when you occasionally relaxed your body was super cool!

Aizo: Yujiro and I were talking about it earlier.

Aizo: We were only able to learn from you guys for a short time, but…

Aizo: FT4 really is amazing.

Aizo: That’s why we feel that we need to work even harder too.

DAI: (It sure has been a long time since… the last time someone had expressed their thoughts to me with such excitement.)

DAI: (Well, I think that it’s just a given that our performances are amazing, though…)

DAI: That dance battle sure made for a great breather, no?

DAI: Things like that are a necessity every once in a while, yeah?

DAI: It’s just as MEGU said… The intensity of my movements are really important too.

MEGU: Eh? What was that? Did you just praise me?

DAI: I wasn’t praising you. Just hurry up and change, so that you can get to practising already!

MEGU: Ehh! How come?! I’m the kind of guy who experiences growth upon being praised, y’know? Do you get me, DAI?

DAI: When you say “experience growth”, are you talking in terms of height? I think it’s already too late for you, though?

MEGU: Ah! Did you seriously just make fun of me?! That’s absolutely unforgivable!

DAI: Hey… You idiot! Stop your leg right there!

DAI: Don’t kick me! Oi!