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She’s been sitting at the bottom of the stage for a few minutes, watching the scene unfold in front of her, as if she were just an audience member.
“Are you ready, Elizabeth?” the choreographer shouted and peered at her.
She nods and steps up to the stage, taking her place just off-center.
The music starts and Elizabeth start dancing. The rhythm of the movements and choreography perfectly in sync.
“Assikawa? What the hell? You’re supposed to be at the court in-”
Without missing a beat, Oikawa Tooru pulls his friend down to sit next to him, “Shh! Watch this-”
And, for a few moments, Iwaizumi does. He can see a group dance, obviously well-trained and seemed to be dancing in perfect synchronicity.
“What?”
“Her.”
“Her what?”
He points out to the girl, her.
By now, Elizabeth has shifted from her spot to the front of the group. Each move dynamic and powerful as the music plays.
“I want that one.” Oikawa says and points to her with a grin, “She’s going to be our ace.”
“Elizabeth Carter?“ Iwaizumi says with exasperation, “… She realize that she’s a girl, right?”
“As if that matters!” Oikawa counters and pouts a bit, “And how do you know her? Are you dating her or something?”
“No. She’s in my class. So, what’s so special about her that we’re missing the warm-up meet?”
“I’ve been watching her for the past half an hour. She has a kinesthetic eidetic memory…” Oikawa says and starts to chuckle, “It’s absolutely amazing.”
“Kinesthetic memory?” his friend repeats, “So what? Everyone in sports has that. It’s muscle memory, She can’t exactly -”
“Not like this. She watched this dance just twice and then she joined them. She has every hand, every leg, every jump perfectly memorized just from that…” Oikawa clarifies and laughs outright this time.
“Shut up back there!!” the choreographer yells, shooting a look over his shoulder as he stops the music.
When the pair of boys look up, the entire dance group was glaring at them.
“Let’s go,” Iwaizumi says and stands up straight, quickly offering a bow as an apology to the group, “Move your ass, we’re already late.”
“Just give me a minute…” Oikawa says and takes off towards the stage.
His little outburst has caused a delay in their rehearsal and now, they were all taking a break.
Elizabeth took the break as an opportunity to go back to reading.
“Hey,” he greets cheerily and waves as he approaches her.
She looks up and instantly frowns, “What.”
A momentary falter of his confident grin is all that showed before he perked up again, “You’re an amazing dancer.”
“Not really,” She says with a dismissive shrug. She always felt she could improve more, so being ‘amazing’… She didn’t really count herself on that level yet.
He grins at her admission, making a mental note of it for future use. It was obvious she actually believed this and her statement wasn’t one of false humility. And, that makes her just perfect for the plan. “That’s not true!” he gushes and kneels in front of She, “You were absolutely amazing up there!”
“If that’s all?” She says and focus on her book again, “Thanks for the compliment, but I’m busy, Oikawa-san.”
“The new girl knows me? I’m flattered!”
“I’ve been here four years… and It’s hard not to notice when a group of fangirls attach themselves to you every day,” She says and shakes her head. “Even harder when you’re on the news almost every week.”
“Oh?” he says and smiles with self-assurance.
“Yes, it makes it hard to keep down my breakfast,” She snaps and glares at him. Of course she had a crush on him, but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that. “Why do you have to be such a flirt anyway?”
“Ah! Thank you!” he says happily and leans in a bit, trying to play ignorant as he mutters, “So, while I’m here, could I have your number?”
“No. And shouldn’t you ask for my name first?”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that big of a school. Of course I know your name,” he says and sends her a knowing look, “You don’t really think I came all the way over here just to compliment your dancing alone, do you?”
She snaps her book shut and glares at him, “Then what?”
“You have an eidetic memory for physical movements,” he says and knows by her reaction that she’s aware of this herself, “And that’s an extremely useful talent.”
“What the hell does that have to do with you?” She snaps and suddenly frown at the realization, “What’s the deal? You’re on the volleyball team, right? Do you want me to do something for your team? Like what? Toss balls or catch or something? I’m not exactly -”
“That would be a waste of your magnificent talent,” Oikawa says and stands up. His height by far trumps hers and she’s left feeling slightly intimidated by that single gesture, “If you want to know… drop by the gym after you finish your practice today”.
“It’s called a rehearsal.”
“My apologies,” he says and takes her hand in his. He kisses her wrist and grins, “After m’lady finishes her Rehearsal…”