"Natsu-san and Lucy-san, what are they dancing?" Yukino looked up at Raizel and asked curiously.
Raizel patted Yukino's little head and replied, "This is social dancing."
"What is social dance?" Yukino asked, tilting her head.
"Social dance, also known as ballroom dance, is a very popular partner dance among the nobility on the Ishgar continent. There are simple and easy-to-learn casual ballroom dances, as well as standardized competitive ballroom dances with unified competition standards."
This trivia couldn't stump him.
Although Raizel had never formally learned dancing, that didn't stop him from knowing the history about it. B
ecause Raizel had Archive Magic to copy the textbook answers directly from the library into his head.
"Ouch!"
While Raizel was explaining Lucy's footwork to Wendy, Natsu stepped directly on Lucy's toes.
"Ah... Sorry, sorry..." Natsu apologized with an awkward wince.
"So it's a foot-stomping game! Manly!" Elfman cheered, raising his arm high.
"So you didn't listen to a single word Raizel just said about grace, huh..." Gray covered his eyes with his palm, speechless at the giant.
"Juvia wants to play the foot-stomping game with Gray-sama too!" Juvia swooned, clinging to Gray's arm.
"Then leave it to me. I was once known as the Dance Devil." Erza appeared from the crowd as if she just happened to be passing by, speaking with a proud expression.
Lucy and Natsu both looked at Erza in sheer terror as she approached.
"Erza dancing... Well, it's not me anyway. Whoever wants to deal with it can," Raizel raised an eyebrow at Erza's intense aura.
'May the boundless blessings of the god be upon you. Amen,' Raizel silently prayed for Natsu's survival.
"Requip!"
With a flash of golden light, Erza instantly changed from her armor into a stunning, flowing blue evening gown.
"Alright, Natsu, let's go!" Erza declared.
"No need... I'll pass..." Natsu waved his hands frantically, trying to escape.
"Enough nonsense! Dance is all about spirit!" Erza suddenly opened her eyes, radiating immense, terrifying confidence.
What followed... was Natsu being danced by Erza in a brutally one-sided manner.
Erza grabbed Natsu by the collar with one hand and spun him forcefully, leaving Natsu spinning on one foot continuously.
Meanwhile, Erza darted and weaved around him with military precision, making Natsu look like her helpless toy.
She constantly forced him into various exaggerated, so-called "dance poses."
"This is awful..." Lucy muttered.
"Does anyone else feel... like she's spinning a top?" Ultear's mouth corner twitched.
"As long as the spirit is strong, that's enough," Kagura nodded firmly, but her slightly trembling hand gripping her sword sheath betrayed her fear.
"Regardless of anything else... the spirit is certainly strong enough," Mira simply watched the spectacle with amusement, wiping a glass.
Happy raised a paw to explain the lore to the new members.
"Aye! Anyone who dances with Erza is bound to suffer! That's exactly why Erza is called the Dance Devil!"
"You stole my narrator line, Happy," Raizel remarked from the side.
Erza's brutal dance lesson finally ended, and Natsu, finally getting a chance to catch his breath, collapsed on the ground, dizzy and panting heavily.
"Well then, I'll teach Natsu!" Another white-haired girl with a hidden dark side made her entrance, as Lisanna revealed her harmless-looking smile.
"No, let me rest first..."
Before Natsu could finish, Lisanna grabbed his hands and started spinning him like a top too.
"Eek!!! This is so uncomfortable!" Natsu yelled, a blur of motion.
"Natsu, relax your shoulders! That's the feeling, it feels great!" Lisanna laughed.
"I've reached my limit!!!" Natsu groaned.
"What a useless man! Can this even be called a manly man?! Natsu!" Elfman stood by with an expression of frustrated disappointment at Natsu's lack of stamina.
"Excellent! Elfman, you're next!" Erza had been waiting for this exact moment—she hadn't finished dancing yet when Natsu was taken away by Lisanna.
Erza grabbed Elfman's shirt.
The moment he was caught, cold sweat broke out on Elfman's forehead, and his entire massive body stiffened.
In that brief second, Elfman had already planned where he wanted to be buried.
'Behind the Kardia Cathedral would be good, so everyone could visit me easily...'
And then... another screaming spinning top joined the open-air café.
"M-manly man... s-so uncomfortable!" Elfman groaned.
"Shall we dance?" Ultear extended her right hand toward Raizel, smiling playfully.
"Me? I don't know how to dance," Raizel pointed at himself and frowned.
"You don't need to know how. Just follow my lead," Ultear insisted.
"Leave the dancing to me!" Bisca interrupted, running over and dancing to a completely different, upbeat rhythm.
"Bisca, this is different from your country dance style," Lisanna pointed out.
"Exactly. To put it plainly, you're kind of in the way," Erza said, making it clear she was interrupting their formal fun.
With the music setting the mood and the chaotic atmosphere just right, soon all the members found their respective dance partners in the courtyard.
Juvia got her wish and dragged Gray onto the floor.
Erza partnered with Kagura, since Elfman had been claimed and rescued by Evergreen.
"I survived..." The rescued Elfman wiped his sweat with the back of his hand and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"I saved you, you should thank me," Evergreen huffed over her fan.
"Of course! That's manly!"
"Somehow, before I knew it, things got so lively... Wait, am I the only one left without a dance partner?"
Only then did Lucy realize she was the only one sitting idle in the plaza, grabbing her blonde hair in regret.
"Were you summoning me, Lucy-sama?" Capricorn, dressed in a sharp tuxedo, appeared in a puff of smoke upon hearing the commotion.
"I wasn't..." Lucy replied with a helpless expression.
Her Celestial Spirits often appeared without being actively summoned using their keys, which was frustrating and drained her magic, but she was almost used to it by now.
Habit becomes second nature.
Even so, Lucy still smiled and danced with Capricorn.
Ever since obtaining the Capricorn key, her ballroom dancing form had been heavily critiqued and taught by the goat spirit.
Most of Lucy's current dance skills were refined by Capricorn.
Capricorn's life motto was: "Training Miss Lucy into a proper, elegant lady of the Heartfilia family is my duty, and the pursuit of my lifetime."
Lucy and Capricorn were by far the most synchronized and elegant dance partners on the floor, while Bisca and Alzack danced quite well too.
As for the others who partnered up on the spot, there were more or less some hilarious mistakes.
As for Raizel... Raizel really shouldn't have laughed at Natsu earlier... because he wasn't doing much better himself!
Not to mention he kept stepping on Ultear's toes from time to time.
"I'm supposed to spin, Raizel, not you..." Ultear looked helplessly at Raizel as he raised his hand and awkwardly spun himself around.
"Were you planning to turn around, switch positions, and dramatically fall into my arms next?!" Ultear rolled her eyes at Raizel and said irritably.
"Hahaha! I don't know why I spin either..." Raizel laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
Raizel decided to change the subject to hide his embarrassment.
"How do you know how to do this so well? I've never seen you formally learn it."
In Raizel's memory, he had never seen Ultear take a dance class.
"We learned it together in the girls' dormitory at Fairy Hills, just for fun," Ultear explained, stepping back into rhythm. Raizel nodded in understanding.
"No wonder... Then how did Erza end up learning it like that...?"
Ultear raised an eyebrow and asked in return.
"Hasn't she always been like this?"
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