The swiftness of flashing arrows on the screen were only matched by Maki's feet as she danced along, one, two, one, two to the beat. Her soles slammed onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine's matching panels, each step trained and resolute, precise and strong. She'd played this song time and time again. Practice made perfect, after all. Maki was determined to be perfect this once.
Her score reflected a different story.
Maki knotted her brows. Great. Just great. As in, she'd scored two entire "Greats" in the song, ruining her stream of "Perfects" and messing up her score. The high-score tables scrolled by as they always did, inviting her to type in her name to catalogue her supposed achievement, and she gritted her teeth. This wasn't an achievement. It wouldn't be one until she could be number one and there was no being number one until she mastered Love Shine on Expert. Whoever "R I N" was, she was going to crush them some day. She sighed, signing her name off as "M M M". There was no point attaching her signature to something she wasn't really all that proud of, anyway.
"Are you okay, nya?"
A teasing, high-pitched lilt resonated from behind her and Maki turned around to face a girl. She was pretty, with ginger hair in a bob cut, and a cheeky grin like that of a cat who had caught a canary. The precise kind of person who Maki preferred to avoid if at all possible-- she already had Honoka in her life, and the other girl had practically barrelled into her existence and refused to leave. Maki frowned.
"What's it to you?" She was most certainly not okay and anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that. Maki had been at this for the entire afternoon, dancing and dancing and trying to break past the iron wall of second place. The other girl's face fell slightly and Maki felt a twinge of guilt. Okay, there had been no reason to be rude or to take her frustration out on someone else. She stepped off the machine.
"You can play now. I'm done."
The girl's face lit up and she practically bounded onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine, popping her 100-yen coins in and pumping a fist in the air.
"You're really good, by the way!" she exclaimed, proceeding to select the exact same song Maki did and setting her dance into motion. "That was my favorite song, too. We should play against each other when you're rested up, I haven't had a good challenge in a while!"
FILL: TEAM KOUSAKA HONOKA/MINAMI KOTORI, G
The swiftness of flashing arrows on the screen were only matched by Maki's feet as she danced along, one, two, one, two to the beat. Her soles slammed onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine's matching panels, each step trained and resolute, precise and strong. She'd played this song time and time again. Practice made perfect, after all. Maki was determined to be perfect this once.
Her score reflected a different story.
Maki knotted her brows. Great. Just great. As in, she'd scored two entire "Greats" in the song, ruining her stream of "Perfects" and messing up her score. The high-score tables scrolled by as they always did, inviting her to type in her name to catalogue her supposed achievement, and she gritted her teeth. This wasn't an achievement. It wouldn't be one until she could be number one and there was no being number one until she mastered Love Shine on Expert. Whoever "R I N" was, she was going to crush them some day. She sighed, signing her name off as "M M M". There was no point attaching her signature to something she wasn't really all that proud of, anyway.
"Are you okay, nya?"
A teasing, high-pitched lilt resonated from behind her and Maki turned around to face a girl. She was pretty, with ginger hair in a bob cut, and a cheeky grin like that of a cat who had caught a canary. The precise kind of person who Maki preferred to avoid if at all possible-- she already had Honoka in her life, and the other girl had practically barrelled into her existence and refused to leave. Maki frowned.
"What's it to you?" She was most certainly not okay and anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that. Maki had been at this for the entire afternoon, dancing and dancing and trying to break past the iron wall of second place. The other girl's face fell slightly and Maki felt a twinge of guilt. Okay, there had been no reason to be rude or to take her frustration out on someone else. She stepped off the machine.
"You can play now. I'm done."
The girl's face lit up and she practically bounded onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine, popping her 100-yen coins in and pumping a fist in the air.
"You're really good, by the way!" she exclaimed, proceeding to select the exact same song Maki did and setting her dance into motion. "That was my favorite song, too. We should play against each other when you're rested up, I haven't had a good challenge in a while!"
Maki decided to stay against her better judgment.