Welcome to the Ballroom (ボールルームへようこそ)

You had to make me remember something unnecessary...

Your face pisses me off.

You don't even know how easily you'll fall in the future.

You're excellent, Masami!

It's only been a year too.

I'm so proud of you!

Fujita-kun.

I feel like I see my old self in you,

and it makes me wanna slap your face.

HEAT 22- "LEADER-PARTNER"

Kugimiya-kun!

Kugimiya-kun, are you listening?

When someone's talking to you, let's look at their eyes.

'Kay...

Kugimiya-kun seems very absentminded for being a fifth grader already...

His two older brothers are superior students,

so maybe his parents don't pay enough attention to him?

A crooked tail!

Meoooow!

Did you lead him here?

Hello.

My name is Tadashi Kunieda.

They call me Edachu-san.

Do you have an interest in dance?

DANCE SCHOOL KUNIEDA

1ST YEAR

We will now begin the Pre-Junior Standard, 1st Qualifying Round.

Masami-kun! Make sure to escort her well!

There's so many people watching...

I feel sick...

Masami!

All that's scary...

I'll just make it all go away!

That's amazing, Masami-kun!

It's only your first year dancing and you're already a certified athlete!

Masami.

Coach Edachu.

Masami, your dance has beauty.

All the dancers I liked had that.

It's a beauty sculpted by history.

I'm sure you'll become a real dancer.

Dance?

Nonsense.

If that takes up his time, it'll affect his studying.

But Masami seems to enjoy it...

Enough!

Anyway, how were Naoki and Kazuki's nationwide practice exams?

3RD YEAR

I'm Chono from Dance Focus!

I came for the junior athlete article!

Wait, huh?

How come Kugimiya-kun's teaching the kids lesson?

Well, he's better at teaching than us.

Kugimiya-kun learns so fast

that we don't know what to teach him anymore...

That's our new upcoming star!

I can't wait for your next match!

Thank you!

4TH YEAR

Who's that huge blondie? Is he a foreigner?

His partner's Chizuru-chan!

Kaname Sengoku? He's 16?!

Someone amazing's popped up...

Kugimiya's been a bit boring lately.

I thought he was an amazing dancer when he first came out.

His dance style's too old.

Who's their coach again?

I think... Coach Kuni-something?

He seems like the type to force his dancing onto his students.

Don't make up stuff, you petty brains.

...you'll become a real dancer.

7TH YEAR

Hey, look.

Those are Hyodo Social Dance Academy's prized students.

I heard the leader's Marisa Hyodo's son.

Yeah, yeah, Kiyoharu Hyodo. The cultivated purebred.

He was certified among the Junior athletes too.

10TH YEAR

Masami.

Here, she's your new partner candidate I told you about.

Tamie Idogawa.

PRINCE MIKASA CUP STANDARD

Why?

Why?

Why am I...

in a place like this?

In second place is Yoshinori Iwakuma & Rei Mino.

The grand winners are Kaname Sengoku & Chizuru Hongo.

I won't get any better continuing this, so why am I hanging on to it?

Will someone just kill me?

I don't have the courage for suicide, so I wait for someone to kill me.

How sad is that?

If I quit dancing, those guys around me are probably gonna all laugh at me.

No, I can't.

What would I say to Edachu-san?

So...

there is a god.

Are you awake?

You were very lucky.

If you work on therapy, you'll be able to dance again too.

You devil!

It... looks like I'm finished.

It seems more serious than I'd thought.

It's too bad, but I won't be able to...

Once your injuries have healed, change studios with Idogawa-san.

What?

Masami...

I know you trusted and followed me...

but I was never real.

I'm just an ordinary Japanese man who admired the west.

I've continued dance until now because I liked it,

but my dancing seems to be too old now...

Masami...

I can't...

make you into a real dancer.

No...

No, don't...

Edachu-san...

please don't say that.

Kunieda-san was here?

Then you must've heard.

What now?

I wonder if the dance Kunieda-san and me were clinging onto...

was dead from the beginning.

Oh, what an unusual visitor.

Is your therapy going well?

Masami Kugimiya?

We're not a hospital...

but what do you need?

Coach Marisa...

what do you think a real dancer is?

This is out of the blue.

What do you think?

I can't tell what's real and what's not.

I just want to polish how I've been dancing all along

and prove that it's beautiful.

Why do you want to prove that your dancing is beautiful?

Because this is hell if I stay like this.

Because you can't win?

No...

I feel sick being watched by people.

My, you aren't the type to dance.

I know that myself.

And the truth is?

This cut-throat world is too cruel.

When I thought about how much longer this would continue, I lost all hope.

My, you sound as if you're a victim.

Coach, you wouldn't understand.

Kiyoharu-kun has talent.

You're the one that doesn't understand.

You say a cut-throat world,