Mai uses her plié to come into relevé, her toes in grande pointe. She feels the sheen of sweat on her neck, even as she holds it high, trying to embody the grace of a swan.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOT6AQvnh5
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ824dUPeTV
Her execution is perfect, her expression is perfect. She shows no outward signs of her toes screaming in pain, even as she feels the telltale wet warmth in her shoes.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfdaRVIFk6
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg85auSb7p1
Her face remains serene.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3Da2O0Mp1
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBUsGfT3nq
A memory comes to her mind—Megumi-chan as a baby curled in Dad’s arms. She was born too early. She was sick. Her heart wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t expected to live past a couple of years, even with all the 23rd century medical technology.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4O2TveiyWK
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxv1TsVrMw
Mai feels her expression falter and quickly snaps it back into place, coming into the present and leaving behind a past she can’t change. When she dances, she has utter control over every part of her body. It’s the only time her life feels like it’s truly her own.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdJiorHRQJ
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFSsguA7My
The audience is packed. Flashes burst from the auditorium before her life dramatically dying stars. Fourteen years and five auditions. All the sacrifices she’s made, and all the hours she’s put in. Mai didn’t go to prom or Homecoming or any other normal high school event. And it was all in preparation for today.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWPyyucOxB
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1SPD9NW9C
This should have been her beginning.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeLINPyclW
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOpJ2xgwtP
*/*/*857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRoDEU1jry
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTU5ZN4xHXS
Megumi realizes she’s wrinkling the program between her fingers and quickly tries to smooth it out, running her finger along Mai’s name.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCAORMrMXC
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOv2Z8I2PK
She tries not to fidget, even though her mind wandered off at least an hour ago. She’s in Hawaii, hiking up the side of a volcano, the blackened lava rocks warm beneath her sneakers. The air is choked with steam and the odor of sulfur.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60menvbLR3
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvy9YMlz2gj
From there, she makes her way down a white beach sand. The soft, wed sand sinks under her feet. Warm and gentle waves lap across her skin, leaving behind patterns of salt and sand. She can feel the warmth of the sea breeze that makes the palm trees dance, and she can taste the tang of the air.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMNlAhmuqB
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKHXI5NOys
Her guidebooks are at home, filled with annotations of everything she can’t leave Hawaii without seeing. Megumi wishes she brought one of them along, but immediately feels guilty. She should be watching Mai right now. Mai’s dream is ending because of Megumi.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwvL9vmQWJ
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06OVbzNZ6v
A sharp ache in her chest makes her flinch. She rubs at it surreptitiously at her chest. When she’s certain her parents are focused completely on Mai, she pulls a pill out of her pocket—hiding it in her palm—and slides it into her mouth.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9dD37zZGp
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BGkT5Msf3
Mom’s gaze snaps to her immediately. She starts leaning in toward Megumi.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAmF7WVEIE
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzVhvH6CaL
“I’m fine,” Megumi says, a little too sharply. She softens her voice. “Let’s just watch Mai, okay?”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNBYRi42YD
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sf7OkPcYY
Her mom takes her hand but turns forward to watch the performance again.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwi3imbeVjM
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4O9Mfo15f
Megumi watches too, keeping her eyes on her sister rather than on the other dancers. Although Megumi can’t even do the same hike twice, Mai is the type who can do the same step one thousand times over until she knows it perfectly, even if that means breaking her toes in the process.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GcYz4Vngw
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSTPlKYX33
Megumi knows the heart is just an organ, and she knows living heart donations are common in this century, but Megumi can’t help but wonder. She wonders if the piece of heart she’s being gifted will change her in any way or if she’ll still be one hundred percent Megumi.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrToWY6snng
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoznQqWRji6
*/*/*857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hqKGDdPmE
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXBySrxuVk
After the performance, Mai sits on a bench in the dressing room, staring at the ballet slippers encasing her feet. She can’t bring herself to take them off just yet. She wants to wait at least until the other dancers are gone.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwkZmpcDve
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVk6Ivn6jRZ
Once the last of the voices fades away, she begins to unlace her slippers slowly and ceremoniously, letting them fall off her feet—her feet that are so calloused and bruised and broken that it’s a wonder they’re each still in one piece. She cleans the blood off carefully, loving her mangled feet for persevering through the torture she’s subjected them to. They are her pride and her prize, proof of the work she’s done.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePmpVLRQNG
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOn5M3AS0C6
Her heart aches, the pain so real she wonders for a second if something might be wrong with her heart too. But, no. Her heart just knows it’s about to be broken—split in half and taken from her.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMQb22rqlF
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQJhAVuXSG
Mai isn’t upset about that. How can she be? Megumi-chan’s life is far more important than anything else.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsruUKu2RG
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIJ4RvrqjY
Still, she selfishly wishes a miracle would happen—Megumi-chan’s heart would magically heal or an even better donor match would drop out of the sky. But Mai knows she’s the best option. Their parents are too old. It can only be a sibling, and Mai and Megumi-chan match almost perfectly.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFxjBaGdst
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01Wpw6zupG
She wonders what it might have been like to live in a time when living heart donations weren’t possible.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYaBtlsfJD
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyQgvT95dn
“There you are,” Laurel says, sitting on the bench beside her. “That was fantastic, Mai. I could really only see room for improvement in a couple of places.”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1H7qk4fgX
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i0p05AYJS
Laurel goes on, and Mai lets her, barely hearing her words. Mai wants to say something about Laurel being the best dance coach ever, but thinks Laurel would find it weirdly sentimental. Mai hasn’t told anyone she won’t be able to dance anymore because she can’t let go of the selfish hope that something will save her and release her from this obligation.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRGVLKCFsu
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNX8mJJaar0
And then she feels guilty for thinking of Megumi-chan as an obligation.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOx2GysTZkI
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWRD2KX5Au
When Laurel leaves, Mai pulls her knees to her chest until she feels turned inside out.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡME5uNYRfW0
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcytSorFRwH
Her life until now has been a dream, and she’s being woken up.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpFxGTMHyE
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqh1qpFVR0
*/*/*857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfEwcQsC1N
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHoVmuxPOR
“Are you scared?” Megumi asks Mai.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHk435mfSqx
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3TO579wQz
“No,” Mai says from the other bed. “Are you?”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdi5gBgdLi
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9vUrlNEDV
“Of course not,” Megumi lies.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3DDIKRWy4
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZTMl1ik3z
She hears the steady beat of Mai’s heart monitor. Megumi’s own monitor beeps a little erratically as her weak heat tries to find a steady rhythm. She wonders what Mai is thinking right now—what she must be feeling.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjnlxv19Tx
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R81ust2bo
“Half a heart isn’t enough to support an athletic lifestyle,” Dr. Aguerra said seriously when he proposed the surgery to the family. “Mai, no one can coerce or pressure you into making this decision. If you agree to do it, you’ll undergo a psych evaluation to make sure this is your choice and your choice alone.”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AOxOrez22
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5DQbQCU6J
Megumi was so tired at the time she could barely keep her eyes open. She let them fall shut because she didn’t want to see Mai’s expression as Mai said yes.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdltng2JFbP
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WbUk70qb6
“I’ll do it,” Mai said. “I don’t need to think about it.”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxy24xqPLw8
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kQtCgmf0U
When they were kids, the two of them would go on adventures. It’s something Mai outgrew quickly, but Megumi still hasn’t. They found a treehouse in the woods behind their house once. Seeing it was abandoned, they decided it was theirs. Megumi would go there and wait for Mai to come home from dance practice.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c2X5cVn7M
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxzw9gt5Mz
She was there one day, waiting for Mai, when the rotting wood collapsed beneath her, pitching her out of the treehouse. Mai arrived just in time to catch Megumi, breaking her arm in the process. She didn’t complain about it once, even when it meant she couldn’t dance for three weeks.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqX2wlYPxIX
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfK9KZk9JCO
Megumi swallows the guilt and the fear that she’s being selfish.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYBriz5zlI
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6V3NA2qyP
Her weak heart manages to catch up to Mai’s heart—the one they’ll soon be sharing.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfY88ZNVTK
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78vMc8Rr5P
*/*/*857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZMdBg0wBW
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPg02pbhtM
Mai has a moment of panic before the anesthesia is administered. She doesn’t think she can’t do this. It’s a nightmare, spilling into her lungs and suffocating her. She can’t stop dancing. She doesn’t know how to be a full person if she isn’t a dancer.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPd9j4Nbuz
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOM1wc6e0hX
But then she looks at the black hair spilling over the side of the bed beside her. Megumi-chan is already under, maybe dream of everything she’ll do when she wakes up with a new heart. After all, half a functioning heart is better than a full non-functioning heart.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBY01WC95V
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdjfZpbOyw
Mai tries to take her sister’s hand, but she can’t reach it.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQNVEkL41X
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXKAxq3fMK
She closes her eyes and opens them a moment later. At least it feels like a moment later. The soreness in her chest says otherwise. She feels in pieces. Her mind is still foggy from the anesthesia but the mental capacity that is still working tries to make sense of the changes she has to make to her life now.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwfIszd4OX
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFt88KY3pNA
Mai feels incomplete already, like she needs to undergo some sort of mental rehab to teach her to be a normal person without being a dancer. She is empty and devoid of purpose, wondering how people adapt to situations that turn their lives around completely.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfQrRqztoa
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxROOUHoUdj
She supposes they do it out of necessity. Mai has made this choice, and although she doesn’t doubt it’s the right one, she has no idea how to come to terms with it.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi6g2Ezfed
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cXGAKBMuO
*/*/*857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCWs5w8PlE
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGysT1d3vs
The light is too bright when Megumi wakes up. Her eyes mist over, and she has to blink out the tears and let them adjust before taking stock of her surroundings. Oxygen is being fed to her through a mask. Needles thread her arms so she can barely move without tugging at one or another. She lifts her hand to her chest, feeling the uneven skin under her hospital gown. She hears the beep of a heart rate monitor—but just one.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUMPE8riPT
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGofM0NRkfI
Turning her head as much as she can, Megumi sees Mom right outside the open door. Mom’s face is buried in her hands, shoulders shaking.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20tirj2VeO
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UEwMI9zva
Megumi is a bit more alert, her blood going cold. Did something go wrong with Mai?857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqs3sTEGJeB
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuce1DjETD
But she turns her head to the other side, and her sister is on her bed—at Megumi’s side as always. Mai is flipping through magazine sand eating chocolate pudding, but she exclaims when she sees Megumi awake.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyDj1ffk3C
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7bPE12P0y
“Are you okay? How do you feel?”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dSqBCPqED
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2GnaaiTyH
Megumi motions tiredly to the oxygen mask on her face. She feels lightheaded and tired, but her new heart feels strong. Even having just half of it feels so much better than her old heart.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFgJh89jUo
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhkw6NnWOk
That’s when she realizes there are two heart monitors after all. It’s just that both of them are beeping perfectly in sync.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDd4rlhPKa
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqd2XBnoShq
Dr. Aguerra comes in and checks on Megumi, finally taking off the oxygen mask.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlQPYhAOJk
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5l0uJtUkJc
“We just need to run a few tests,” he says. “We’ll take Mai out first. You just wait here and relax until we come and get you.”857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gTMMEltHC
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5xZ2ypSP2
He turns on the TV and hands her the remote after helping her sit up. Megumi thought she just wanted to sleep, but once she’s seated, she feels more awake.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5KpVAiRy7
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ghXZTf4wd
As they wheel Mai out, Megumi catches sight of her backpack on a chair in the corner of the room. The lace from Mai’s favorite ballet shoes hangs outside the zipper. Swallowing the ache, Megumi turns her gaze back to the TV. She isn’t really paying attention, though. She’s enjoying the feel of her new heart and thinking about everything she loves…and admittedly everything she hates too. To her relief, her new heart responds as it should. She’d still the same person.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXD4Iple5W
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZAtzzgqvw
But then she stops on a channel showing a dance competition. Megumi, who couldn’t even watch her sister’s biggest performance without fidgeting, finds herself riveted by the strangers dancing onscreen. Her pulse quickens, and she lets the remote rest on her lap.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvIoG9prqI
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pMKI66Nvm
For some reason she doesn’t quite understand, a tear squeezes out of her eye.8964 copyright protection853ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuBq9R9yb2 維尼

172.69.59.71