When they met Shizune for supper, she asked politely as she buttered the grilled vegetables that filled half of her plate, "Are you coming to the dance with us Konami-san?"
Sora finished setting his plate and drink down, and then looked at her blankly, while Mizuki gasped and admitted, "I forgot to ask!"
Shizune asked, "What were you doing?" She watched Mizuki blush, quickly held up her hands in surrender, and told her, "I withdraw the question, I don't want to know!"
"Okay," Mizuki agreed with relief, as she sat and began separating her piece of grilled fish into strips.
Sora laughed, but then asked curiously, "What dance?"
Mizuki quickly explained about how they had met Hattori Shinichi in the grocery store. "He suggested we attend the dance in the town square. It sounds kind of casual and fun," she added, with a look toward her sister, who shrugged. "Will you come?" she asked Sora hopefully.
Sora considered her face for a long moment, but then he raised a hand to cover his eyes, and replied apologetically, "I'm sorry Mizuki, I don't want to go dance with you."
"Okay," she replied easily. When she saw him drop his hand with a surprised expression, she explained, "I'm not going to try to force you to do everything with me Sora."
Shizune watched them with interest, but Mizuki didn't notice, because Sora's expression lightened again and he caressed her cheek. He bent to kiss her suddenly, and then asked softly, "Come sleep with me when you get back?"
Mizuki nodded, and promised, "I will."
--
After supper Shizune and Mizuki dressed up, and Shizune warned Mizuki, "The bus only runs once every two hours after six, so make sure you have everything."
Mizuki rolled her eyes at her sister and replied, "You too."
They dashed out to meet the bus, which arrived right on time. Mizuki couldn't decide if she was impressed by this display of punctuality or not, since there was very little traffic on the island. She and Shizune watched the sunset from the bus as it carried them back into the little island town, a broad sweeping display of light that shifted colors across the darkening sky.
Shizune commented suddenly, "It's so amazingly beautiful here. I'm so glad we came. I'm going to remember it forever."
Mizuki grinned at her sister and assured her, "Me too!"
The information Hattori Shinichi had given them was accurate, and the town bus station was close to the town square. When they arrived at the dance Mizuki watched men start flocking to her sister and felt envious. Both of her sisters were taller than she and her mother were, so even though they shared the same curves, they always looked curvaceous instead of plump.
--
They had been dancing for awhile, and were a little separated in the crowd, when a man threw his arms around Mizuki from behind.
He triumphantly exclaimed, "Found you!" Mizuki gasped and picked up her foot to stomp down on his, but stopped when he pressed his face into her hair and murmured against her ear, "So now you owe me a dance before you help me find your sister."
"Hattori-san?" she asked with surprise.
"Who did you think?" he asked, letting go of her enough that she could turn around within the circle of his arms.
"I don't know, but you scared me," she informed him a little tartly.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized as he pulled her up against him and swayed in time to the music.
It felt strange to feel his body rubbing against hers and Mizuki asked uncomfortably, "Do we have to dance so closely?"
Shinichi hugged her tighter against himself, and informed her with amusement, "Yes." But a moment later he examined her face and asked suddenly, "How old are you?"
"Seventeen?" she replied questioningly.
He bounced away from her and held her at arms-length. She stared as he blushed and told her apologetically, "Sorry Mizuki-chan, I thought since the two of you were here without your parents…" He stopped and asked, "Are you here without your parents?"
Mizuki laughed as she assured him cheerfully, "Yes, it's just the two of us."
"Your sister is at least eighteen then?" he asked worriedly.
"Shuzu-nee-chan just turned twenty-one," Mizuki informed him with a grin. She glanced at his arm length and added more teasingly, "We don't have to keep this much distance, we were just a little too close before."
He relaxed his arms and they danced in a more normal spacing for the rest of the song.
Before they looked for her sister, Mizuki told him firmly, "Just because Shizu-nee-chan is older, doesn't mean you should get too aggressive with her."
Shinichi apologized guiltily, "I'm sorry I scared you."
"It's okay," she replied, then spotted Shizune through the crowd and pulled him after her.
Shizune greeted her with relief, and whispered, "Don't dance with that guy in the green stripes Mizuki, he kept groping me." Then she spotted Shinichi and blushed.
"Found you," he said over Mizuki's shoulder.
"I thought you were leaving it to chance?" Shizune replied archly.
He looked around them and then asked, "You don't think finding you in this crush took luck? There are at least three times as many people here as usual."
Shizune tucked back a strand of her hair and told him a little shyly, "Well, the band is pretty good? And several people have asked me if I came here to see them."
Shinichi grinned at her as he asked, "Dance with me?"
Shizune protested, "Only if you dance with Mizuki some too."
Mizuki rolled her eyes and informed her sister, "We already danced. Go!"
Shizune couldn't help laughing as Shinichi waved the clasped hand that Mizuki had led him to her sister with, released it dramatically, and reached for her. Mizuki watched with approval as he coaxed her sister into the dance instead of starting out with the full body contact he'd used when he'd found her.
She couldn't help rolling her eyes when Shizune moved closer experimentally as the music changed, and Shinichi grinned and moved up against her.
--
When the next bus would have been available, Mizuki was ready to go back and sleep with Sora, but Shizune was still dancing happily. She and Shinichi seemed to be taking turns dancing together and dancing with others in some kind of coordinated opposition. Mizuki thought she looked happier than she had all week, so she just found a place to buy a bottle of water and waited.
Shizune found her tucked up against a tree half asleep a while later and scolded, "Mizuki! You should have told me that you were ready to go before you got this tired!"
Mizuki shook herself awake, and pointed out as though she'd only recently sat down, "We'd have had to wait for the bus anyway."
When they finally got back to their lodgings, at about three in the morning, Mizuki went straight to Sora's room. She climbed into his bed after a quick shower, but he didn't really wake up, he just wrapped around her and murmured, "Mizuki."
"When I go home, I'm going to miss you like crazy," Mizuki told him in a barely audible whisper, and then promptly fell asleep.