Watching Momo dance is one of Mina’s favorite things in the world- maybe in the whole universe even.

Mina does her best not to stare or not to get caught staring. She learns to sneak quick glances during lessons, watching out of the corner of her eye during breaks as Momo jokes around with the other students with a sense of ease that Mina envies. It’s not that they don’t know each other but they’ve been on a strict hello and good-bye basis for the last three years and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. It doesn’t stop Mina from being consumed with thoughts of her, wishing things were different but not having the slightest bit of courage to take that step.

It doesn't take long for her to realize the only time she could openly watch and appreciate her dancing was when the studio would film routines choreographed by their instructors for their Youtube channel. It was all too easy to blend into the crowd behind the groups performing and no one could say anything because it just looked like she was watching the whole group and didn’t have her gaze zeroed in on a particular someone.

Mina makes it a point to attend as many of these workshops as she can, not only for Momo, but in the hopes that she can hone her skills well enough to maybe dance with Momo one day. Everyone had a chance to get up in front of the camera but no one knew whose dance would make it into the video which made for a good incentive to work even harder.

Along with the ability to learn choreography at lightning speed, Momo exudes an easy kind of gracefulness paired with sharp precision. It was clearly a natural sort of talent but that didn’t stop Momo from spending countless late nights in the studio, going over and over the routines until it was like her body knew nothing else. So it only made sense that whatever group she was in would typically make the cut and be featured in the video. Her confidence shines through and her usually playfulness is elevated even further. Mina’s about ninety percent sure it’s her imagination but every once in while, she swears she catches Momo’s eyes in the mirror and sees her smile get just a little bigger.

This is what Mina thinks about, staring at her reflection in the mirror, her ragged breathing the only sound resonating through the practice room. It's been at least four hours since she's been here but she's so close to finally moving up a level which increases her chances of being able to dance with Momo. She knows this kind of thinking isn't healthy, working yourself to the bone for someone who doesn't register your existence most of the time.

She read something once about how failure is basically inevitable if your reason for wanting to improve is because of another person.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe she’s destined to fail because all she sees is Momo.

But she's not going to give up without a fight.