The days passed by in the blink of an eye. Time seemed to fly whenever she was with Mina, and it started to feel like all the time she spent with her wasn't enough.

At the academy, they had already started to practice '24 Hours', and it was sure hard to focus when she had Mina dancing to it next to her - with her. Momo had to make an extra effort to look at only herself in the mirror, because if her eyes found the red haired girl, the surest thing to happen was her losing track of the song. Because everything about her dancing was... distracting, to say the least.

Project class was even worse. First, the choreo Mina had created included ballet movements Momo struggled to execute. Mina did everything in her power so Momo could feel more comfortable with it, even altering parts of the dance to fit her ballet level. That, however, didn't solve the biggest problem for Momo - the initial sequence. They start with their backs facing each other. Then Momo, who played the 'abusive' role, grabs Mina's hand as she turns... and hugs her from behind. As if that wasn't enough, then Mina tries to escape from Momo's grip, and the blonde has to pull her again and cup her face with her hands, looking straight into her eyes. This was... too much for her to handle. Way too much.

But why even? Momo tried to understand, to think about all the possible reasons, no matter how stupid they might seem, to no avail. It was just a choreography. It was just dancing, which she had always loved to do. Dancing with Mina felt dramatically different from the many people she had danced with. The way they moved together didn't even closely resemble any other choreography or style she had attempted with previous partners. She couldn't say she didn't like it. She loved sharing her sacred dance practice hours with Mina. But something about it left her... uneasy, nervous, anxious. Whenever she was close, when she looked at her right in the eyes, when she laughed. It was somewhat similar to what she had felt about her when they first met, but now, in a weirder way... a better way. Like her heart rate increasing, her cheeks flushing, her words stumbling.

For the lack of a better conclusion, Momo convinced herself she was just intimidated by Mina's majestic, overwhelming presence. She couldn't possibly be growing a girl crush on her. She had a boyfriend, for god's sake. What a dumb thing to think. She was just pretty and talented, and that made her have a stronger presence overall.

---

It was already Wednesday and lunch break was close to ending. After eating lunch, Momo told Mina to go on to the practice room without her, since she had to head to the toilet. Of course she forgot how big of a line to the bathroom there is during lunch break. Great, now she was going to be late and leave Mina waiting. And she still had to go change. Awesome.

There was no way she could have known what she would see right after opening the door to the girls' locker room, panting and sweaty from her run.

A certain someone, also changing, clueless about Momo's presence. She knew how invasive and creepy it was to stare at her, but Momo couldn't help it. Her red hair was so long and shiny, falling down to her back as she pulled her t-shirt over her head. Then, she unclasped her bra, throwing it to the bench next to her along with her shirt. Momo found herself gulping and the room was so silent that it got Mina's attention. She turned to find Momo staring at her with her lips apart. She gasped, instantly reaching for the T-shirt on the bench and covering her upper body with it.

"W-what are you doing?!" She said, her voice tense and shaky, while she turned her back to Momo. The blonde could tell how frightened she was, even though she could no longer see her face.

"I-I-I'm going to change too!"

"Get out!"

"But I need to chang-"

"GET OUT!" Mina shrieked, looking at the blonde over her shoulder.

Momo had never seen Mina act in any way close to that. Without saying another word, Momo left, heading to the practice room.

Long minutes passed and Momo was still dumbfounded. She knew staring at her had been wrong, and she was well aware she could make her uncomfortable. But again, they're both girls, so what was the matter? Momo always changed in front of other girls in locker rooms. But now that she thought about it, Mina never changed in front of anybody. Why? Was she ashamed of her body? Why would she? From what Momo saw, Mina's body was... gorg—enviable. Yes. Even though Momo was pretty confident about her looks, especially her abs, but hers...? How was that even possible? She had to ask her for diet and workout advice someday. How could someone be unconfident when they looked so perfect......ly toned.

Mina's looks aside, she saw no reason for Mina to yell at her like that. She had done nothing but stare. Maybe Momo was so quiet she startled her and she reacted that way out of panic. She should definitely apologize to her.

Momo felt her gut twist tighter and tighter as the pointers on the clock moved, still no sign of Mina. Should Momo come back to check on her? What if Mina yelled at her again? She didn't want to see the terror on Mina's face again. But what if something happened? Momo couldn't shake off her worries. When she finally decided to go check on the red haired girl, the latter entered the room.

"I was starting to get worried, why did you take so long?"

"Toilet."

Momo was taken aback with Mina's short, blunt answer, her lips barely moving to speak. Please, not that expression again...

Mina plugged her phone to the sound system and put herself in the first formation of the routine.

"Aren't you going to stretch?" Momo asked, leaning forward to reach for her own foot.

"I've done it already."

Why was she throwing those sorts of answers at her?! Momo could tell she was upset with her, but not knowing the reason was driving her insane. Despite that, she needed to have a professional mindset and keep in mind they had work to do. She shrugged and joined Mina in the starting position.

---

"You're not doing it right." Mina said, stopping in the middle of the song, crossing her arms in front of her body.

It was the third time Mina stopped mid-routine to point out a flaw in Momo's dancing. First, it was her expression that wasn't good. Then, Mina didn't understand why Momo seemed awkward doing the beginning part when they already did it a thousand times. 

"What now?" Momo sighed.

"You're landing your jump awkwardly. It's killing the flow of the sequence."

Oh right, it was that one step Momo had trouble doing. But she had practiced so hard and she was so sure she was nailing it!

"Do it again."

The blonde sighed and repeated it.

"You're landing too quickly because you're not jumping high enough. Your left leg needs to reach much higher. Let's do it from the beginning."

Momo rolled her eyes and went to put the song from the start. She didn't understand what she was doing wrong, because she was dancing exactly the same as the last practice, maybe even better, and Mina never pointed out these things.

"Still not right." Mina interrupted once more.

Momo had to look away to hide her extremely annoyed expression. To her own standards, she had been way more tolerant than normal when it came to receiving criticism on her dancing, but Mina was starting to really push her limits.

"Like I said already, you need to jump higher. For that, you need to bend your left leg backwards so it reaches higher and you have to fully bend your right leg upwards. The way you're doing it right now it barely even looks like you're jumping. It's sloppy." Mina was also showing signs of impatience in her voice.

Did she think Momo wasn't trying hard enough? If she wasn't doing it exactly like Mina wanted, maybe it was because she couldn't. She wasn't as good as her at ballet, and she thought Mina was also aware of that and understood her abilities. And what exactly did she mean with sloppy? Was she implying Momo's dancing was... sloppy? As if.

Momo did it one more time. Her right ankle burned with the pain from taking on the repeated impact of her jumps, and still, Mina wasn't satisfied.

"Look, I can't do it better than this! What do you want me to do?!" Momo exploded.

"Yes you can! You did it last practice!"

"No, I didn't! I'm doing the exact same thing, and now you decided that it looks bad. What am I doing now that I wasn't doing last practice?!"

"How come you still don't know what you're doing wrong when I had to point it out a thousand times already?"

"But I'm doing exactly what you say! And you know I'm not as good as you in this, you trained ballet for I don't even know how many years, but I didn't!"

"Eleven years, and that's why I know you're not doing it right and I'm trying to help you!"

"No, you're bickering with one small detail and you're not actually helping me with it!"

"What else am I supposed to do to help you then?"

"I want you to stop pointing out insignificant things. It's pissing me off. We're not going to make any progress with the rest of the choreography if we keep wasting our time with one step that YOU created and that YOU could actually change, just like you have changed many steps I couldn't do already. I don't know why this one is so important."

Mina's eyes widened.

"Insignificant things?" She scoffed. "Do you think I'm just saying this to annoy you? I'm worried about our choreography and I'm doing what I can for it to be perfect! This step is essential and it can't be changed."

"I care about this too, and that's why I'm saying we should move on to other sequences. If this is sooooo important that it can't be changed and I can't do it, then sorry to disappoint you. Since you can do it so well and know the exact milimetric coordinates you need to bend and raise your legs in, why don't YOU do it instead?" Momo crossed her arms.

"Why don't I do it?! Are you serious? Is that the best you've got when you don't want to make an effort to do it right?" Mina might have thought this was encouraging, but clearly it didn't come across.

"Even more of an effort?! My ankle is killing me, my soles are killing me, my knees are killing me. I'm doing the best I can even though I'm in pain and I might get injured from this." Momo's voice raised.

"If you say you've done so much already, then why can't I see any improvements? You keep doing it wrong over and over again."

"FOR 'S SAKE, I JUST CAN'T DO IT AND I WILL. NOT. DO IT." Momo shouted, taking an abrupt step forward in Mina's direction. That made Mina recoil and look at her from head to toe, as if surveying her for signs of danger. She was afraid.

Momo regretted the way she shouted and cursed at Mina less than a second after she did it. She had promised her sister she would learn to manage her anger but that situation spun out of the realm of her rationality before she could notice it. Mina didn't move another muscle in her face.

Momo couldn't be there anymore. She couldn't bear with what she just did and with Mina's eyes, looking at her as if she was some kind of monster. So, Momo grabbed her things and left without any word said.

---

A/N: well, you know me, drama has to happen right...*runs*
expect more drama (not quite drama but... you'll see c:) and fluff on the next chapter kekeke