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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA5cJIZtCWvj
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA8pgHGLztre
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJI9c32J2tv
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAAByPgkBHP6
Her face remains serene.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA7tdfHw2kFS
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA5WVdbjouaG
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAqZLhcrdRro
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA0qABVRFYyq
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAiaOcsxMgMW
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA0BPdesTn8P
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJk2rLxodlH
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAib3RTFmD3Q
This should have been her beginning.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAVLiGuG1Mu3
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAYFL21CIFVH
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1007Please respect copyright.PENANA93zBZQgJn6
Megumi realizes she’s wrinkling the program between her fingers and quickly tries to smooth it out, running her finger along Mai’s name.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAtcGEW53Sg2
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAerTTVz59Jn
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAoQLSVG8i2P
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAXuvNO1VVfn
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAQcUmNjFnuf
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAOe7aYTxPHj
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANALeIs890U3J
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAiUrhLJGVGa
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAywldXlP6pt
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAaHdB2zu8Ch
Mom’s gaze snaps to her immediately. She starts leaning in toward Megumi.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAkKlVIW1y2M
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAWJhUtPZKqd
“I’m fine,” Megumi says, a little too sharply. She softens her voice. “Let’s just watch Mai, okay?”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAmMl8A11sJE
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAUoX8Jt14PI
Her mom takes her hand but turns forward to watch the performance again.1007Please respect copyright.PENANApSMagUnTNO
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAuGp1uPeEBY
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA3TqX6fmRqm
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA9Iv4iwq7vE
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAb0U4vXWgJU
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAejtys3SNcE
*/*/*1007Please respect copyright.PENANAgTJTMfeNHq
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAEgG2cl4JVi
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAcoi9drYeyI
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA4BXBVdOgO1
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA08C3yawj5R
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAa442fTsko2
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA56Q8laYCRe
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJE4QKR1aOB
Mai isn’t upset about that. How can she be? Megumi-chan’s life is far more important than anything else.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAiBAHxgfDtN
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAO8kiUOlFpj
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAxLE1E1r4xR
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJZjKnS2E78
She wonders what it might have been like to live in a time when living heart donations weren’t possible.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAvaFjt3gR0j
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAP4hByKXPl9
“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.”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAdoVCnMQoYL
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAaLQ9CmTCPa
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAH1jUoC9KVt
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAA3V8IUxixG
And then she feels guilty for thinking of Megumi-chan as an obligation.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAjWCyICKts9
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA6vDQgUCjOu
When Laurel leaves, Mai pulls her knees to her chest until she feels turned inside out.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA9MbzCP9fc7
1007Please respect copyright.PENANATOoxwc4CnX
Her life until now has been a dream, and she’s being woken up.1007Please respect copyright.PENANALWWAWgD5Ff
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAOP3XTMeBVK
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1007Please respect copyright.PENANAmTsjzlqIBa
“Are you scared?” Megumi asks Mai.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAyS2tbM5G17
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA56q6q2ecQ2
“No,” Mai says from the other bed. “Are you?”1007Please respect copyright.PENANApDS6a1aUuF
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAhD2E0JHgXd
“Of course not,” Megumi lies.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAlZXKbPihYp
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAig9a4EaOa1
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAMxkSDJcBRI
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAoUeDkpBlWa
“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.”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAACgNqrhgu2
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAEt7qp1MfsP
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANACMCEJN5lbG
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAjkMPNrB2Ow
“I’ll do it,” Mai said. “I don’t need to think about it.”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAkvuWn3WU30
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAYnuYvHQZZq
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAlgFM9TIlap
1007Please respect copyright.PENANARDhHIyNMJl
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA1KQSXqImXV
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAcSccYFowYU
Megumi swallows the guilt and the fear that she’s being selfish.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAzudhzY5gDJ
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAB4nbs2Bn3m
Her weak heart manages to catch up to Mai’s heart—the one they’ll soon be sharing.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAv48V0zaKLm
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAUhWy2LaBcC
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1007Please respect copyright.PENANA4MfYuiHYNx
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANA8n8xwOH4Me
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAqwqdD6UFpn
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAdTQV018cMO
1007Please respect copyright.PENANADxQUzE7kYN
Mai tries to take her sister’s hand, but she can’t reach it.1007Please respect copyright.PENANApaWT320WnG
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAeNetREemSE
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAZTZS1INUc4
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAc67LOETYOG
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAuTN8TfFZ57
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAAeXqsdh9zS
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANADOlzPZnXgC
1007Please respect copyright.PENANADVTdOxTQHs
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1007Please respect copyright.PENANAu1oKlNahr2
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANASjvwBvcQg8
1007Please respect copyright.PENANA4XNuWWFK76
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAqrYRbAcQhW
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAUN7ws0zpTg
Megumi is a bit more alert, her blood going cold. Did something go wrong with Mai?1007Please respect copyright.PENANAYBM2dUv0dw
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAf1te6OZPln
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANArGvl4aNDWK
1007Please respect copyright.PENANADQ7jrGlxZP
“Are you okay? How do you feel?”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAk1MumgIT2K
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAr4wBAuU95X
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAvOfTLJzLlG
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAerbcM8k2b7
That’s when she realizes there are two heart monitors after all. It’s just that both of them are beeping perfectly in sync.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAkpgD61nX5L
1007Please respect copyright.PENANATfpZ6PQDsD
Dr. Aguerra comes in and checks on Megumi, finally taking off the oxygen mask.1007Please respect copyright.PENANADQZeGYJXWC
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAjGZrUCRTIa
“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.”1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJD189qvCrE
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAV7E8DjPniC
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAlKyWjGsj2K
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAocZoMLAGW8
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAe8JRxwqsHy
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAxGx0sNrrbz
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.1007Please respect copyright.PENANAw2dDl7jDVL
1007Please respect copyright.PENANAJqXlJ9bo8K
For some reason she doesn’t quite understand, a tear squeezes out of her eye.
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TejiReve

篇 #8
Half-Hearted
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