My phone lit up again and vibrated. I picked it up, and tapped up the text. It was Keitaro again, telling me about good news.

We just got our promo pictures in for the tour. The visuals team did a good job. They'll go live in a few hours on our website. Everyone is going to be so excited. Here, look. What do you think?

The files were still loading, and I waited eagerly for them to pop up. I didn't want to respond until I saw them. Next to me, Sana was staring at my phone, too. He'd been following my chat with Keitaro, because I'd told him we were practicing finally. Keitaro was excited about that fact, and I'd sent him a video of Lyra doing a warm up. He'd responded enthusiastically.

It had been a successful day so far. Sawai-san was here with us, being our number one fan. Cheering us on, giving us a taste of what it could be like. She was mostly excited due to Sana singing. We were in our tatami room, and everyone had brought their instruments over on the train. Getting Yami's drum kit here was a struggle, but he and Sawai-san had loaded it into a very patient Uber and made it. It had taken a while to set up, but when they had...

The pictures popped up one by one. I let out adoring noises each time, getting to a fever pitch. Sana started doing a little dance next to me, making me laugh. Before my eyes, each member of Yellow Lizard had a promo picture of their own, and there was also one with all of them. Keitaro's was first, and he was in his straight jacket outfit with gauze around his eyes, blood staining where his eyes would be and blood trailing down his cheeks. So violent, but it was expected of them. I had to admire the artistry of what the makeup artist had done. His hair also looked particularly wild, but carefully placed. Everyone else's pictures were similarly gory and bloody. I recognized Keitaro's hair from this. He must have been shooting this the day we had the meeting where Nobu punched Yami.

I lifted my phone up in the air. "Yellow Lizard just got their promo pictures in for the America tour. Anyone want to see?" I asked.

Everyone put down their instruments and stopped chatting. They came over and gathered around. Nobu took my phone and the others peered over his shoulder and all around him.

We were taking a short break, and after that I'd be dancing again. It felt so good to stretch my legs after so long. It was obvious that I was out of shape, though. I wasn't too surprised, but it worried me. I'd have to do more. It'd been almost a year since I'd danced in any way professionally, but I found I wasn't rusty. My muscle memory was still there. However, the muscles themselves needed some work. How much could I do in roughly two weeks in order to get back into form? I only saw one solution: work as much as possible. Don't stop moving. Wear a kimono all the time, move the material, and dance, dance, dance. The very idea of it made my heart fly away with joy.

"I like Fumi's the best," Shizue declared. "It's inspired. I think Fumi is my new rival. What do you think?"

"You blow him out of the water already. It isn't a worthy contest," Yami said, surprising me. It looked like he surprised all of them.

"What?! That's strangely nice of you." Shizue rubbed him on the top of the head with her hand vigorously and Yami wiggled away like a wild animal.

"Don't mention it." Yami had never stopped staring at the pictures on my phone. "Just, from what I saw from you today, I'm impressed. You've improved. It's a lot more polished than it used to be. I like the idea of dueling guitars for us. You play well with Nobu."

Nobu interrupted them. "I'm sure we can come up with something together. It would add more depth in our songs. Give the fans more to listen to." He put his hand on Shizue's shoulder, and she smiled.

It was true. Earlier, they'd been warming up and played a little Malice Mizer. The way Nobu and Shizue wound their sound together was like they were meant to play together. It was hard to believe they hadn't before in any real way.

Next to me, Sana was nodding, obviously listening to this conversation. What kinds of wheels were turning in his head? That sneaky smile was back.

Nobu handed my phone back, and I quickly typed an answer to Keitaro, saying that I loved his picture the best, and I'd shown them to Lyra. I told him about Shizue liking Fumi's the most, and how she considered him to be a rival to best. Upon sending it, I tucked my phone into my obi, feeling the threads of the orange obi-age that I love. It really brought out the yellow obi I was wearing today. I got up, and stretched out my shoulders. Quickly, I spied Sana behind one of them. He was eagerly watching me from his wheelchair, his eyes going up and down me, drinking me in. It felt so good to have his attention like this, while dressed like this. It made me stretch again.

Remembering his kisses from this morning. He couldn't keep his hands off me. Even twisting his fingers into my hair...

I cleared my throat quietly, smiling a little to myself, my eyes drifting to the ceiling as I tried to regain composure. Sawai-san saw me get up, and calmly fiddled around with the stereo that we'd brought over. It was my sisters', and thank goodness it was so portable. I knew what she was doing. In preparation, I took a fan out of my obi, and turned around to everyone. They were gathering around Sana, sitting all around him. Anticipating. I got into a beginning stance, my fan closed and away from my body in an extreme way. They were in for it now.

I was ready.

The loud play button sounded, and the first few notes of the song "Kirigirisu" in instrumental form floated towards me. My fan popped open dramatically, and I was off in my mind, this beautiful world of dance and singing, flowing down my limbs, feeling the wind of my movements.

Around dinner time, it was obvious that Sana was getting tired. He'd done a great job, and had sung for hours. It had to be tiring. It surprised me that he was able to do it for so long. We'd had a lot of breaks, and me dancing by myself for about an hour had given him even more of a break. He was trying so hard.

His eyes were half lidded now as we ate dinner together. Takeout containers were spread around us, and we were enjoying it on our new plates that Sawai-san had unpacked from our marriage gifts in the attic. She'd discovered them earlier in the summer when she'd gone up there to find a water pitcher. Now we were getting to use them, and something in me was so warm and comfortable. These were our plates. We were going to use them for years to come. Our plates...

I brought some more vegetables onto Sana's plate. He was sitting next to me on a cushion on the floor, his back to the wall. We really needed furniture. It made me think about his apartment. There was all that furniture there was familiar to him. We hadn't been there in months, and he'd expressed to me tearfully that he hadn't wanted to be there one of the last times we'd gone. What were those feelings? Did he still feel that way? Would he want to keep his furniture?

I wanted to ask him these things, but it wasn't appropriate right now. I'd ask later, when we were back at my parents' home. Hmm. It still felt weird to separate the two, our home and my parents' home. My parents' home wasn't really my home anymore, because we were married now and had our own home...

As I thought about this, chopsticks poked my mouth. My eyes opened fully in shock. Waiting there were some delicious onions and peppers in a savory sauce. My mouth opened and welcomed it in, and I saw Sana smiling to me, holding the chopsticks. It was lovely and peppery. I realized I hadn't eaten a bite yet, too in my own thoughts. He was trying to get me to eat, taking care of me as much as I was taking care of him. It warmed my heart.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, as I chewed.

"Hmm." I swallowed. "Our home life."

"Ohh?" So cute. Another chopsticks' worth of vegetables came at my mouth. "Tell me about it after we eat. I want you to eat first."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I was chewing again, loving this brown sauce that the vegetables were covered in. It was a Chinese dish that I didn't know the name of. I took some mushrooms and a piece of chicken up into my own chopsticks and turned to him. His eyes opened wide in love. My chopsticks poked his mouth and he let them inside, a smile interfering. He smiled as he chewed. My finger found his cheek and pressed, and he let out the tiniest of giggles. With him dressed like that, in those adorable overalls, I could lose it in how cute he is. But, I kept composed. If I started laughing, I wouldn't be able to feed him. I wanted to.

He went to bring up some more vegetables for me, but I was too fast for him. More chicken went into his mouth. With how much he loved chicken, I was sure he was enjoying this. His eyes took on a dreamy quality as he chewed again. I grinned at him, and went back to get some more. He looked like he was in paradise.

At the end of the day, we bid everyone good-bye. They were going off to their hotels, and would be back tomorrow. We'd have another full day, and we were ready for it. We'd practiced for a few hours more, and it was getting on into late night. Sana was tired, but his mind was still going. However, his body needed rest. Even if we needed to practice and rehearse like this, I was still keeping aware of him. There was only so much he could handle. I wouldn't lose sight of that.

"Wah, your dancing is so beautiful in person," Shizue was saying to me in the doorway as she held my hands. "I've seen videos of course, but it's a whole different experience in person. I can tell how skilled you are. I'm jealous. I wish I could dance like that."

I squeezed her fingers. "I'll teach you sometime. The basics aren't too hard. If you want to dance, I'll teach you. I'd love to."

"Really?" She gasped, her face lighting up. It made me grin so much, her being excited about dance. "Oh, I would love that. Let's set a time. I'm serious, I want to learn. I'm enchanted by it."

"Absolutely. Let's set a time. I'm sure on tour there's got to be some downtime, too. We'll figure it out."

"Yay," she was grinning with me. Hikaru pulled her arm and gave me a look. It made me laugh.

"Come on, Shizue," he laughed with me. "If I don't pull you away now, I know you'll want to talk to him about it all night. We have to go to bed."

"You're right, you're right," Shizue giggled with us.

They waved good-bye. The others said their good-byes and got their various taxis and Ubers. Soon, it was just Sana and I, Sawai-san, and Yami. Yami looked longingly at his drum kit beyond the large open doorway of the tatami room and closed the front door. He locked it and tossed me the keys. I caught them and tucked them into my obi next to my cellphone. Our Uber was waiting to take us back to my parents' house, and then Yami and Sawai-san would be taking it to their hotel.

As we walked toward it, Yami made a curious and pleased noise next to me. I looked up and he was smiling a little. "It was good today, wasn't it?" He asked simply, nothing else.

"Yes, it really was."

He made that pleased noise again, and I could tell he was trying not to smile even more. Keeping himself composed. But, I understood the feeling. This contentedness inside. Everyone had done so well today, and it really made me think that with a bit of polish, we could be ready. We were more ready than anyone could have thought.

As we approached the van, my cellphone rumbled against my body. Quicker than lightning, my hand dug inside my obi and brought it out automatically, pausing to do this. I tapped it a few times, and there before me was another text from Keitaro. What it said made that smile inside shine way too bright, losing myself.

You're all doing so well. Keep trying hard. We're rooting for you. We all believe in you, and you're going to do better than you can imagine. Keep going, fight. We're so proud of you all.

He was so right. I'd prove it, too.

I leaned over, my phone going in front of Sana, lighting up the night. "Look, Sana. Look what Keitaro just said. Isn't it wonderful?" I came up next to him to see his face. As he saw the message, the brightness on his face, that smile, was all I needed. Even more so than Keitaro's message, it made me want to keep going. To try my best.

I knew I'd do my best, and keep trying harder. As Sana held my phone, I pushed him forward towards the van, loving him. Filled with this overwhelming feeling of pride.