𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗡'𝗦 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬! ━━━━ mao isara (on hold)

52. practice (nagimao)

ᡣ𐭩 . anime episode alternative | angst

He wanted me to practice. To dance in front of him to show my abilities off, but what's the point? He wasn't watching me at all, just staring at that rock in his hold. What's so magnificent about it that he can't be bothered to watch me?

I must have said those thoughts out loud because of the look he gave me... it was full of wonder, but something dark resided in the mix of it. Whatever that dark glow was, it caused a shiver of fear down my spine.

I looked around to see if Anzu was still with me, but I couldn't see her anywhere. Where did she go? Was she needed by the others? Then, while turning back around to meet Nagisa, he wears the smirk of the devil on his face. He places the rock he held for the past half an hour in his hold onto the table and stands from the sofa, walking slowly towards me with large steps.

Instinctively, I moved backwards twice as many steps as he took forward.

The aura that wisps around his tall stature was one like a prince. One that feels as though I should bow down for, but I don't. I'm not here to give the King's son some baker's sweets, I'm here to prepare for a battle against him, with the rest of Trickstar as my comrades and music as my sword.

"It seems as though your female friend has abandoned you." His fire-licked eyes flickered from the door on the other side of the room and then down towards me. "I wonder why that is? I guess it doesn't matter now." Nagisa stopped walking suddenly, I knew why. It's because he's cornered me against one of the furthest walls besides the door. Nagisa's tall figure leans over me, casting his eyesight over every fibre of my being. The flames of his attention striked me like an archer's arrow.

He wasn't a prince at all. He was more like the spawn of a devil, ready to strike his pitchfork into my own figure for the fun of it.

He then steps away from me and instead more so closer to the aforementioned door.

Before I realise what he is doing, he shuts the door and turns back to me. His smirk was darker than the mind of a demon.

Nagisa Ran is the set of stormy clouds that the moon fears.

Fear crept itself into my mind as he came closer to me again. "You may not think so, but I did indeed see your practice minutes ago. You're decent for someone so forgettable. Someone so... mouldable."

A painful crack wedges its way through into my heart by his words into that line of fear. The crack was large enough to be mistaken for a gaping hole.

"What do you mean?"

Nagisa leans down and whispers in my ear...

...

More training - that's what he wanted after talking to me. l was exhausted to the bone. Sweat drenched my clothes, causing them to stick to my skin like paper and glue.

I fell to my knees after some extra hours.

"What are you doing on the floor? Stand up, Isara."

I couldn't even lift my head to glare at him. Since focusing his attention back onto me - since what he whispered to me... - he's been more bossy than anyone could ever get.

I want out. I want to leave this practice room and head back to Trickstar! I miss their warmth. Their glow brought me comfort. I miss mucking about with Subaru. Helping Hokuto with some things that he struggles with as being our unit leader. I miss the back-and-forth of encouragement I'd hear from Makoto as we balance each other out between our moves! Just let me out... that's all I plead for.

Please.

But... every time I stop to take a break - every time I think Nagisa is distracted by something and try to make a run for it - he tells me off. Tell me words that I admittedly tell myself every single day and night... his words shouldn't affect me, but they do. It's not because of the words he says, but of the way he does say them. I'm a fly trapped in a spider's web. There was nowhere for me to go.

"If you want to catch up to your friends, you best stand up and keep going."

He has got to be joking, right? There's no way I can... I'm too tired. Hell, I don't practice this hard when I'm with my friends. At least with them, I can catch a break. Have a sip of water or let the aches and shakes calm for a few minutes. He's killing me.

That's what it is.

He's trying to kill me, I swear.

"You can't be a true star if you keep it up like this." He tells me, reminding me so often throughout the large amount of minutes that I've been stuck in this room with him.

I attempt to look up at Nagisa, only to flinch back when realising that he has kneeled down close to my height sitting on the floor.

A hiss of pain then escapes me, his tight hold gripped against my chin as he leaned ever so closer than before. The further he sinks into my personal bubble, the more apparent that the wish to evaporate becomes.

His face was so close, his cold breaths cascading over my skin, causing me to shiver. His eyes - the flames ignited stronger than before, ready with a battle against an army of over ten thousand soldiers.

"With the rate you are at, I wouldn't be surprised if your friends wanted to replace you when seeing you lack in the choreography department like this." Nagisa Ran was sending mixed messages. His words full of venom, spitting poison into my mind whilst his actions showed something entirely else that I wasn't quite sure of.

His hand that once gripped onto me, now curled into a ball, his pointer finger curled in a lonesome hook. I couldn't help but flinch again as he moved his hands past my cheeks, slow and cold. He then uncurled his thumb, the slightly rough padding smoothing under my right eye.

I try to back away, but he stills me from doing so. His whole figure took over my view, I couldn't see anything but him.

One of his hands then cascaded themselves down to my chest. With a slight push, he was able to lean me against the wooden flooring of the practice room. His whole figure leaned over me like a lion climbing over a zebra ready to feast upon for the next season to come.

"Look at you," he smirked down at me once more, his words trailed to a stop halfway through. His focus burned against my skin. I didn't want his attention anymore, please - just let me go...!

"You know, Isara," his voice changes in tone, "us here at Shuetsu Academy could help you find your potential that you've been dreaming of. That school you belong to isn't doing as you wish them to achieve that they are. You can climb to the top and become the shining star just like your friends. Possibly more than them here at Shuetsu Academy." He rants on.

"What's the price?" I don't want to leave Yumenosaki, but I was curious. There was always a price to pay for every situation like this. Nothing ever comes free. That's not how the real world works.

"There's only a few simple steps to it..." His touch trailed to one corner of my mouth. The touch burned but still felt cold at the same time.

"Quit being a Yumenosaki student and instead enrol to this school, I can help you find the classes you truly wish to fit in. After that..." He breathed out, his attention flickered from my eyes and trailed down to the rest of my face.

"...Disband from Trickstar. If you want to become a shining star, you must leave them three boys behind in your life. The further you stay with them, the further you drown in the darkness that you'll never see the outside of ever again..." Once again, his face leans closer to me this time. I couldn't push him away. I was trapped beneath his hold.

"I'll let you join Eden - join Adam with no bad consequences~..."

My body suddenly goes still from the amount of shock due to the action that was caused next.

Nagisa Ran was kissing me...

...It lasts for only a few seconds, though.

"...Join me, and everything you wish for will come true."