2025-07-02: Turning Out For Tutoring
- Log: Turning Out For Tutoring
- Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Goro Akechi
- Where: Seven Sisters High School, Aoba - Dance Studio
- OOC Date: 2025-07-02
- IC Date: Saturday, June 02/Sunday, June 03 2012
- Summary: Yua Ooshiro chases up one of the students who's been ditching PE class... unfortunately, that's Goro Akechi. Even when he threatens her, though, she's too stubborn to let him disengage from his education -- so he eventually agrees to private tutoring. How could Yua know that he's keeping an eye on her, as surely as she's keeping an eye on him?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
The Seven Sisters recently gained a new Dance Instructor, providing classes one day a week, targeting students who have disengaged from physical education. Some people disengage because they don't like exercise. Others...
An actual, swear-to-God ballerina pads up behind dear, sweet Goro during that awful part of Saturday devoted to classes, though she isn't sneaking up on him, Heaven forbid. No: as if on the stage herself, she flourishes a wrist, and declares, "Akechi-kun! You were on my list, and yet my halls are barren of your shadow! So I have come, on this, a day I oughtn't be working at all, in order to obtain you and those like you!"
She holds up a list, pointing to Akechi's name, one of several circled. The disengaged students are struggling to engage and she is following them up.
With her right eye alone she looks to him, intently; her beauty is marred by an eyepatch slung across her face, so it's as scrutinising as she can get.
"Report! Why have you failed to?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Meet Goro Akechi. Known affectionately as Akechi-kun to his fans.
With hair both silky yet messy, a faux affable smile, and a reddish-brown eyes that have just the right amount of makeup to hide how sleep deprived and overcaffeinated he truly is.
As proof of that, take right now, where Yua catches him with a canned coffee up to his lips as he stands in the hallway.
His eyes glance sidelong at her. Then he lowers the now empty can, showing off that smile to the ridiculous sight of an honest to god ballerina accosting him. "Ooshiro-sensei isn't it? My, that's very dedicated of you." He says, as she holds up the list and he inspects it.
"With that kind of hard work you put into tracking me down... one might wonder if you wouldn't actually be one of my fans."
A beat.
"Just a joke... the truth is that I've been quite busy with my current case load. It seems we live in an age where a Detective's work is never quite done."
He turns to face her, tie jauntily loosened as if he'd already been involved in case work today.
"I do apologize, but given my current deal with Seven Sisters' administration - I've had to avail myself of certain privileges they've allowed me in order to continue my consulting work with Special Investigations in Tokyo. Your class is is quite... how shall I put this: 'extracurricular'."
He's still smiling, smiling that endearing, faux affable smile, "Surely you too can understand making allowances for the public good?"
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"You are fifth on my list," Yua points out, pointing to the other names circled there, when Akechi wonders if she's a fan. Her finger is darker than his; the nail is painted a lovely orchid shade. "They have given me their excuses already! Now the season turns to thee, as leaves grow reddened and dry!"
And now: Akechi's excuse.
Akechi's excuse.
Yua straightens up -- though she's still far shorter than him, ten whole inches shorter, she still manages to present a remarkably upright figure. "It sounds like you're working hard," she says, more sympathetic. "But I'm sorry, young man, it is illegal to work a child so hard that he must neglect his studies. And you!" She throws her arms up into fourth position as her feet turn out and cross each other, one hand curving up as the other lashes out to the side; her paper flutters up, into the air. "You, sir, have missed every instance of physical education offered last month!"
As that paper flutters down, her arms sway down, too, and she grasps it effortlessly between her fingers as she crosses her arms in front of her. Her wrists angle up, her palms flat, miming her negation. "For this reason, I cannot allow you to continue this farce," she insists, quite stern. "I was tasked with a duty to rescue the youth falling through the cracks of our education system, and I've no intent on leaving you untouched simply due to your fame!"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
An eye twitches subtly at Yua pointing out deadpan that he's fifth on her list, "I can see that. It was just a joke." He says, as if restraining himself from taking offense to her making him fifth on the list.
The diminutive ballerina does straighten up and notes he's been working hard, "Yes, that's right-" 'But I'm sorry, young man, it is illegal to work a child so hard that he must neglect his studies.'
A single eyebrow raises, as she decides to go the route of legality, still smiling, but patiently allowing her to continue.
His eyes follow the paper as it flutters up... then back down. He did not interrupt her, he's been nothing but polite.
"Technically you are correct. However, a special exception was made by the Ministry of Justice, as authorized by the director of the Special Investigations Unit himself. All of the proper paperwork was filed with the School Administration, I assure you."
He smiles her way, "And the results, rather speak for themselves. I remain at the top of my class among the third years at Seven Sisters. With thirteen cases closed last month alone... four of them high profile enough to make the news."
Switching the can to the same hand as his brief case, he puts his now free fingertips up to his chin, "I admit, if I were truly neglecting my physical education, it would be some cause for concern... you're correct, but I am not. I am perfectly fit from time set aside in the late evenings for rigorous fitness training. It is a necessity in my field of work."
His hand remains rested upon his chin, as he looks upon Yua Ooshiro as one might a ridiculous child throwing a tantrum over something incredibly petty, given her diminutive height.
"In summation: Your class is quite irrelevant to both my education, or my well-being. I see no reason why I should turn down requests for my services in order to validate your misguided belief that I am a victim of systemic neglect in need of rescue."
He drops the hand, and smiles at her, "Perhaps your time would better served moving on to someone else on your list who does actually fit that criteria."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
The way this boy is talking...
Yua frowns, where Akechi smiles.
It rhymes. It shouldn't. But then, should it surprise her? They are everywhere. In government, in law. The Powers that Be lie unsleeping in all layers of their flesh.
By her estimates: it is all too likely he's encountered one. Listened to him. Heard the way he speaks. O, unwitting child! How can he know the danger he's in?!
(Of course Akechi wouldn't be involved, though; he's still so young. Too young for their purposes. But vulnerable? Yes, vulnerable --)
"I reject it, Akechi-kun," she says, quite simply. "I am sure your talents are groundbreaking, but you must attend to the trappings of youth. Surely your exemption dictates you must keep up. I am now your teacher, and I see that you have not kept step with your classes!"
She sighs, her arm sweeping out to point to the floor, indicating here in her mimicry. "But it is clear you will not attend class as you ought," she says, clearly disappointed, "and I've four more students to find ere the day is out. There is only one solution before me," she says, as her hands arch up, into elegant, curved fifth position above her head...
... only for them to come down, as her hand grasps something tucked away in her hair bun. It's... a business card. "You will report to my studio for tutoring," she dictates, "at a time which better suits you. But be warned, young man: should no time suit you, I shall find you again, and you will face detention, no matter your reputation."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
She rejects it?
His smile slowly fades, and as she continues speaking in disappointment, she brings out a business card.
It isn't the proper way to offer one, after all. In that he sees an adult looking down upon a child.
Indeed, that's all he sees, as she threatens detention should he not attend for private tutoring. "You reject it. I see. And what if I were to suggest you yourself might have an ulterior motive?"
With an almost theatrical gesture, he slides a notebook out of his breast pocket, with the same logo as on the metallic briefcase he carries.
"Yua Ooshiro... once thought to be a rising star in the dance world throughout high school. However, her poor grades excluded her from a top performing arts university, despite her noted skills."
He continues to read onwards, as if she were a suspect he himself was interrogating, "So instead, she signed on to the JSDF... falling out of the public eye from February of 2008 until... several months ago, when she opened a new dance studio - which caters to several high profile high schools in the greater Tokyo Metropolitan area, and beyond."
Akechi closes the notebook between his two hands, and puts it away. "It is clear that you yourself believe that I am being taken advantage of by certain adults who find my talents useful. Why then, should I not believe the same of you?"
That accusation has weight to it, like a detective on a program offering a most plausible explanation, expertly deduced.
"After all, it would be quite useful to someone hoping to reestablish themselves after failing to do so before... to profit off of my celebrity credentials to the benefit of their latest venture."
Now he's smiling again, even looking quite smug.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
He has a notebook.
He has notes on her.
"Shut up!" Anger -- real anger -- flashes over Yua's eyes, as he launches into his impromptu interrogation. Her gaze darts this way and that, in the hall, clearly anxious that other students will draw close enough to hear him.
She looks vaguely ill, when she returns her half-gaze to Akechi, taking a deep breath to centre herself again.
"Don't -- pry into the affairs of your teachers that way," she says, her voice taut. "It's -- it's inappropriate. Young man, if I wanted to exploit your status, why would I not insist you attend class? If thus were my motive, your draw amongst the student body would legitimise the venture at once! But I have not done this, have I? I only insist you attend to your learning, even must it be private."
Her right hand curls to a fist, stretching the fabric of the decoration slung across the back of her hand. Her list crumples, between her fingers. "Believe me, Akechi-kun," she says, still quite agitated, quite put on the spot, "I have no desire at all to take advantage of you students."
And this, at least, is true.
She doesn't want to do it.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
As he draws blood, eliciting real anger he doesn't flinch - looking every bit the steely eyed detective who just cracked the case. There are adults whose anger might cow him or take him aback... but not her, not yet.
"My... that's quite the temper you have there." He murmurs softly, as if he were merely contemplating that fact, quite unkindly. At her logic, he smiles, and he allows a rich chuckle to escape, "That does have a kernel of logic to it, but... it is how things start. After all... you are offering private tutoring sessions. There are many who might see that itself as an inappropriate crossing of boundaries between a teacher and their student."
If he looks something like a shark there, for a time, well... perhaps it's how it feels to be on the receiving end of his investigations. However, there is a long-suffering sigh at her persistence.
"It is not my intention to be 'inappropriate'... I do not investigate my teachers to gain some sort of advantage. Our former principal... before he was murdered, retained the services of my office to run a more extensive background check on all of Seven Sisters' faculty." He explains, "He felt that more standard checks were inadequate for educators, given the level of trust offered to them in shaping future generations."
Principal Hannya certainly was that kind of person, to have a child investigate his own teachers to satisfy his ego. Of course, being dead - there is no one who can confirm this arrangement save for the person in front of her.
Placing his hand again on his chin, he ruminates aloud, "But with all that in mind, you still persist in demanding my presence..." He seems to lose his train of thought for an extended period of time, "... why does it concern you this much, whether I attend a 'dance' class, if not to use me?"
Or perhaps more relevant to Yua... why does it matter so much to Goro Akechi, celebrity detective, that he avoid this outcome and going this far to avoid it.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"My studio has all the required safety clearances and checks," Yua insists, her paper crumpling a little more in her hand, "as too do I. Have you spent so much time at detective work that you now cannot trust the guardrails adults have placed for you? I am meeting you where you are, because you are dangerously close to school refusal."
School refusal is an epidemic in Japanese schools; disengagement is a problem any institution struggles with, particularly with the problems of bullying and academic pressure. It's no wonder a program to reconnect students with learning would gain traction -- and just as little wonder such a thing would be regulated to a part-timer, so that the normal apparatus of the institution can continue as it always has.
Of course, all of Yua's clearances and checks... were expedited by the Powers that Be, too.
Put simply: her documents are fake. And if he's scrutinising all the staff, he might even know that.
If Akechi really has talent as a detective, she's in a dangerous position. It would be easier for her to let Akechi win, abandon him, walk away. If she cared to check with her boss, he'd likely tell her that was the best option with this student, anyway.
But, she's...
"Worried about you," Yua completes her thought out loud, before she even thinks about it, when Akechi asks her why. "I mean -- I am worried about you," because finishing her thought out loud isn't terribly grammatically correct. "You are being employed far too close to adult terms, though you are still only in your third year. You state that you are self-sufficient, but the purpose of education is not only to meet an end. It is -- part of your social development, it is..."
She trails off, a hand lifting, fingers curling as she hides her lips. "It is too easy for those with peerless talent to miss the trappings of childhood entirely," she says, and if she's thinking of a certain Olympian as she says it, she certainly isn't volunteering that information. "And I am concerned your isolation is marked and severe. A thing missed by those around you who see only your glory... surely this means you are in need of more intervention, not less."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
His tone becomes explanatory, in that smug manner as if to undermine her point that indeed, he has no cause to trust adults much less institutions.
"You make it sound like paranoia... I would call it healthy skepticism. My first case was bringing a corrupt police officer to justice... for which, police officers all over the country still give me dirty looks for tarnishing their reputation, even as they continue to consult me. I know full well how often these so-called guardrails within fail, when our institutions are subverted by selfish actors."
He repeats the word for School Refusal as he mutters it quietly, "Futoko... how absurd an accusation... I am not some depressed student who's suffering from our country's bullying epidemic... my college applications are quite ready for submission."
He does, indeed know that - but he would pretend he could not see they are fake, unless it were so obvious that one could not fail to. It is the tightrope he walks every day.
And he definitely understands that her position is far more dangerous than she knows. Even the accusation of impropriety could ruin her for good, much less one made with his connections.
But that makes her response...
"Hmm..."
... interesting, in a way. It's absurd, for anyone to be worried about him, she does not even understand what she should be worried about. She does not even see the real him and what his issues actually even are.
... and yet...
"... I see." There's a moment, like he actually seems a little embarrassed, "Perhaps I misjudged your intentions." And yet, he doesn't actually apologize now does he? "... I still believe you are seeing problems that don't exist but I am willing to accept your offer for sessions at your studio on two conditions."
He stares at her, suddenly deadly serious, "That they remain absolutely private. No recordings, no observers. No feedback given to anyone but myself... of course, you'll submit the necessary paperwork to the school, but only the required minimum."
"... And from time to time, I will have to miss a session. You can't question that. My promise to you will be that I will always reschedule in short order."
It's absurd in a way, a student trying to dictate terms to a teacher, and yet - he's at least trying to meet her halfway, isn't he?
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
Yua sighs, when Akechi points out that it isn't really paranoia.
"No... you're right," she admits, feet turning out and arms curving as she adopts the first position. "The systems do fail. I am sure that you are all the more sensitive to this... and I have only just begun my program." She isn't supposed to admit it's suspicious, but what is she do to? Lie to this young man, make him more vulnerable to the Powers that Be? She can only try to navigate through the edges. "It isn't so irrational to be suspicious... but I wished to create this program to help students."
And this much, too, is true. She wanted to help.
They just...
They gave her conditions.
There's always a catch.
Impropiety isn't only an accusation, when she was sent here to keep an eye on them.
She watches him, sadly, as he mutters. Something about how absurd it is, how he isn't suffering. Well, it's true he's not a shut-in who hasn't left his room for months, but...
Isn't it easier to overlook people who are successful?
She doesn't challenge him on those thoughts, though. She at least understands that what someone mutters to themself, the words hard to discern, is not typically meant to be shared with the other party. Someone might have had to explain that to her, at one point, but it's fine.
But Akechi seems to understand something, when she responds to his actual question, and she smiles with unguarded relief. "Of course," she says, immediately. "I'll arrange for your privacy. I truly have no wish to cause you stress through unintended publicity. Well, I may need to provide some feedback to my employers -- it's oversight for your safety," she adds, which is at least partially true, at least with regards to her employers at Sevens. "But I will speak only with the authorised parties, I assure you. And you are protected by all the privacy laws accorded to the student body -- you know them, yes? I'll not lecture you on things you likely know as well as I, if you do." It's something of a concession to his status as a little adult, though that same status concerns her so deeply. It's reasonable he'd have pride about it, wouldn't he?
"And it's fine to miss a session, now and then," she confirms, though this she does a shade more reluctantly. (Discipline! Structure! Responsibility! Are these things not crucial to development?! ... yes, but she's trying to meet him where he's at.) "So long as you're sure to re-schedule. I ask you: when can you attend to your learning?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"That is... at least, an honest response." He says, as if to give her credit for the statement, "I suppose your goal must be to preserve some modicum of innocence in children. But even if you could, society is not kind to children who remain so unto adulthood."
Akechi has seen case after case of women who were protected from the realities of the existence of being a woman... exploited, and destroyed by it.
Yua in a sense might be one of those people. He can respect the goal, but he understands what the outcome will be.
It won't be any different for anyone she tries to help.
Yua does however agree to his terms, and her sudden enthusiasm to meet them actually does take him aback. She thought she might refuse outright, not meet the 'child' halfway given her behavior.
Then he could politely refuse this... a word for it, that he agrees with, 'Farce' just with a difference of opinion from which direction.
"... I do understand." He finally agrees, on the privacy laws, and he in turn decides not to lecture her on how thin a shield privacy laws might be in the world they live in.
Privacy laws... what a joke. There's a reason he had such extreme measures taken for his Foster Care records.
"I can offer you my word that I will. It may at times be an extreme inconvenience..."
He grouses because he truly does have little enough free time as is. "... but I will find a way to set aside time, so long as you continue to meet my conditions."
Taking out his phone, he considers his schedule... and his 'extracurricular schedule, as he goes through several calendar menus of coded annotations, and eventually after some consideration.
"Tomorrow at 6 AM would be best."
SIX AM ON A SUNDAY? BEST FOR WHO? He's asking quite a lot of a teacher...
... but perhaps this too, is a test.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"That's true," Yua says, sadly. (Four years ago, she thought she could make a responsible choice, and...) "But neither is life kind to children made adults too soon."
Maybe she really can't help anyone, with her hands stained like this. Maybe it's futile; maybe she should have told them she didn't agree to their terms to begin with. But... can't she try? Can't she at least try to teach them to fly, from where she's perched in her golden cage?
Maybe there really are 'those children' at these schools... and maybe she can equip them to thwart the Powers that Be. They're not watching her closely enough to tell, are they?
There's no way the Powers that Be would already know... everything about her wishes.
It's not like they're standing right here, listening to every word she employs to try and reach this poor boy.
"I am glad you see the value in it," Yua smiles, though Akechi grouses about the inconvenience. Perhaps he meant to challenge her with inconvenience, with his proposed date, but she just claps her hands together.
"Ah, that will give me plenty of time to prepare breakfast and exercise before the day starts! Yes, six will do just fine!"
W--wait, when does SHE wake up?
And lo --
The next day -- Sunday, the sacred day of sleeping in --
-- Yua's studio is faithfully open, there, at six in the morning. The door is open, though no patrons have come; the opening hours on the door are listed for the afternoon, so it's no wonder.
Inside, on wooden floors which are surprisingly springy, a ballerina in black dances alone. Arabesque her body stretches out, balanced on a single toe, one leg and one arm stretched out behind her as the other reaches forward.
And slowly, she comes back around, straightening as her leg rises to her knee and guides her body around and around in the classical pirouette. Her leg kicks out, as she spins, around and around...
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"... Adults are only interested in using the young, while they simply do as adults say."
Akechi rejoins, it is preaching to the choir, but he is that sort of person. He said that once to someone interesting.
"Even children who remain children still suffer at their hands, ignorance is ever a poor aegis against the world. It simply means one day, it all catches up to them."
He's quite cynical for everyone's shining boy detective, the media darling who nevertheless meets the media. A creature of contradictions, perhaps.
He didn't see value in it, though perhaps he's beginning to... if he takes to the lessons then perhaps...
... well, one thing at a time, first that has to happen.
"Ah." He says with a patronizing smile, "Another morning person, it seems, I should have expected that, as an ex-dancer." Akechi is not a morning person though because he enjoys getting up that early.
Akechi is a morning person because he has no choice.
-=-=-
Akechi's already been up for hours by the time he arrives, he has certainly warmed up this morning. Absolutely it must have been a morning jog.
That's the only plausible explanation.
His briefcase is locked tighter than usual, among other countermeasures, and he takes the time to change into...
... into...
... the Seven Sisters Tracksuit. It's black, with white striped accents on the side of the jacket and the pants. It is the most conservative choice he can make that would not be embarrassing to get wrong.
He's already on his third black tea this morning, before arriving of course.
"As per the terms of our deal, I'm here for our session."
Pointedly, he's here at 5:45 AM, because that too is part of his image... punctuality to his commitments.
"Quite a graceful warmup. I suppose that too is to be expected of an ex-dancer." He says with a smile, "You must have kept it up while working for the defense force. It is said that a dancer who doesn't practice... loses weeks of progress at a time."
He places a hand upon his chin, "Unless, perhaps you bounced back that quickly. That would be most extraordinary..."
LOVELY MORNING TO YOU TOO AKECHI-KUN!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"It seems you haven't had very good experiences with adults," Yua recognises, sympathetically. That would explain why Goro is NEITHER DEAR NOR SWEET, ACTUALLY. "I can only hope to disrupt the trend, Akechi-kun."
Honestly, Yua doesn't know all that much about being an adult. It's not that she wants to keep thinking of herself as a child, though -- she's just really playing catch-up.
After all, for her entire adult life, she was busy with...
... don't look at that.
Still... an 'ex-dancer'...
"I'll see you tomorrow," Yua smiles, and pretends that doesn't hurt.
...---...
Again, again, again! It is this whirlwind of passion and anger which meets Akechi, though she didn't expect to see him in this early. But she hears him, through the blood rushing through her ears, and so she gracefully comes to a stop. Her other toe meets the ground, and then her heels do, as she relaxes out of pointe.
"There's no need to speculate about that," she insists, quietly. "I'd rather not speak on... the military," an incorrect assumption, but better than him realising it's incorrect and digging deeper. "But I assure you, I'm quite skilled."
She smiles. "Really, I'm more of a dancer than anything..."
Yua steps forward, her hands circling above her head -- the language for 'dance' -- before she reaches towards Akechi. "I teach many styles in my classes," she says, "depending on the interests of those involved. But for you, I think, the discipline of ballet would suit you best -- at least to begin."
She gestures, outwards. "Once you've mastered the fundamental rules, I feel you'd benefit from learning how to break them. This is a thing we call contemporary ballet, and it is an exceptional form."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I have perfect pleasant interactions with several of my co-workers." Akechi clarifies to her...
... well, 'a' co-worker. Sae can sometimes be plesant, but that doesn't exclude her from the list. After all, she uses him, just like he uses her.
If Akechi understands ex-dancer hurts, he doesn't let it show. But he absolutely does understand this fact.
-=-=-
"Understandable, given what I've heard of the hardships of the military life." He does smile, like he's trying to be gracious! Magnanimous even! "Very well, I won't bring it up again if it isn't relevant to the topic at hand."
He does hear her clarify that she's a dancer again, and he smiles, "I can see that. Your technique is marvelous." He does have eyes after all.
But he does not stare at her in any way that Yua might be used to men - boys staring at her. It is calm, analytical. It is like he is trying to learn her movements without any actual instruction.
He certainly understands it is more complex than that, but he is in fact - actually here to learn.
When she suggests ballet though, he does stand up straighter. "... What a thing to suggest." He says, though hardly seems scandalized, more cautious, "That is quite the controversial lesson plan you've decided upon... ballet, despite it's grand traditions of danseurs and ballerinos throughout history, is hardly considered the most 'masculine' activity by most men throughout Japan."
He does smile at her, somewhat strained by this, "Let's say I didn't object... you'd do well to remember that my privacy in this regard remains paramount."
If Shido finds out, then he will be sure to kill her first, before him.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
The hardships of... military life.
Yua's left hand crosses over, to grasp her right, still obscured by that strange fabric decoration stretching from ring to bracelet.
"Good," she agrees.
She smiles again, though, when Akechi compliments her technique. "What you saw was a sequence of fouette turns," she explains, kindly. "A turn like that requires mastery and control, particularly when it is sustained. I didn't start doing something like that, of course -- neither in general, nor today in specific! But warming up to a complex movement like that is meditative, for me... and an excellent vehicle for expressing my feelings."
What feelings does she have, exactly, which would be communicated by such furious movements?
Maybe she didn't realise just how honest she was being -- or just when Akechi walked in.
Akechi did walk in, though, and Yua all but floats across the dancefloor as she moves past him, to the entrance, locking the door and ensuring the blinds are closed, in a silent assurance of his privacy. Is she locked in here with him, or is he locked in here with her? "I understand it's a strange suggestion," she says, moving back to the barre. "Indeed, those concerns are a large part of why I'm unable to impart much ballet in my general classes. The art is seen as effeminate, is it not?"
Yua draws her hands down her face, in mimicry of tears. "I weep to hear it, for ballet is one of the most physically demanding artforms in dance. Balance, control, flexibility, speed, precision, strength of core and legs -- and arms, for you danseurs -- all of these are demanded. Foundations in ballet allow you to approach so many styles... as I have!"
She places a hand on the barre, and gestures to him, with the other. "We will begin with stretching exercises," she says, "because our first task is engaging your hips and your legs in the core element of ballet -- the 'turn out'. This," Yua demonstrates, as she moves into first position, her toes pointing in opposite directions as her hips and knees rotate, "is a one-eighty degree outwards rotation of the legs, and it is from this the movements of ballet are formed. The majority of the rotation must come from the hips," and here, Yua transgresses an accepted ballet fact, acknowledging that not all of the rotation can possibly come from the hips, "and it is vital that the exercise not hurt."
They're really beginning from level 0...
... but at least no one can see in here. They wouldn't even know to lurk around, when this place isn't supposed to be open right now.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Akechi perhaps did watch certain videos on dance, but he could hardly say he picked up enough to understand anything other than a certain energy from her dance.
Which, one could perhaps understand even if they knew nothing. Still, he didn't want to seem like he was utterly ignorant of the matter.
She responds to his words, and for the time he does not interrupt her... until she is finished.
"I did not say I considered it effeminate, mind you." Akechi finally replies, "Or - that even if I did, that I would object to attempting to learn it. Only that it is the popular opinion."
What a ridiculous person, this Goro Akechi is. He could have said that from the start. Then again, he still hasn't actually said anything, has he? He's been non-committal to what his opinion actually is...
... merely implying it. Thus, he could plausibly deny it, should the need become present to do so.
"I do consider myself more informed than the average individual, even in an artform I'm not... personally practiced in."
He does step forward, and...
"... So simple. I suppose these are what they call 'the fundamentals'?"
He has a smile on his face like 'Do you really think I can't manage this much?'... such is the price, of being someone who only relied upon themselves for instruction for so long, that they're resistant to it from someone else.
And yet, he does in fact, not take it lightly when he does it... his hands gently encircle, as he allows his hips and feet to rotate out.
He is perhaps much more flexible than Yua might expect, though his feet do not become quite the flat line of a perfect, one hundred and eighty degree rotation. It is more perhaps the 'V'.
"Hmph." He does try to push, a touch further, and Yua might notice the subtle wince as he tries to go further than that.
He can't manage, but he is perhaps too stubborn to admit that outright... after all, when challenged... he is someone who tries to rise to meet it.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
"Oh? I'm glad you don't think that way," Yua flows with Akechi's evasiveness, smiling. (It isn't manipulation. Rather, she didn't quite catch that he was avoiding giving his own opinion. Surely she was at fault for assuming.)
They are, indeed, the fundamentals. And Yua allows Akechi to try -- until...
"Ah-ah-ah," she waves a hand, interrupting him. "That's too much, too much! Even if you can't feel the pain, I can see it in your body. Your ligaments are screaming! If you push yourself to the point of pain, you can injure yourself very badly. Let's just come to this position," she places her feet in a 'V', as he did before he kept pushing. "Is this much comfortable? So, we're going to work on rotating the hips into this position..."
The fundamentals are sure to drive Akechi mental, because Yua keeps insisting on being concerned about his health, stopping him and trouble-shooting ways he can try his flexibility in a way which suits his own body.
It's surprisingly hard work.
... but Yua is pleased with his progress, by the end of it.