Though hidden away, Why won't this feeling go away?
When Felix first learned that there was a dancer hiding her identity, he became interested. Wait, change the word “interested” to “curious.”
Felix was curious. Why had she chosen to hide her face as though she would die if her identity were exposed? Weren't facial expressions an essential tool for a dancer to convey the meaning behind every movement?
The more he thought about it, the more it gave him a headache. Felix decided to step away from the classroom for a while. Today, he was the only one supervising class X IPA 2. Since he couldn't liven up the classroom, the young man finally decided it would be better to give them some free time.
“Felix!”
Wulan came running from the end of the hallway. Felix stopped and waited until she reached him.
“There’s a freestyle dance fest at the city museum square today. Let’s go!” the girl said enthusiastically.
“Since when do you invite me anywhere?” Felix asked, reflexively raising one eyebrow.
The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. “I know you’re totally into The Bland Mask, so you must want to see her one more time.”
The young man said nothing, his eyes fixed on the girl. The blank expression on his face made Wulan fidget awkwardly.
In reality, his stare only showed how curious he was about how Wulan had managed to piece all of this together.
“Fine, I’ll go,” the young man finally said. “But don’t forget to take a picture of your Physics homework answers for me tonight, okay?”
Wulan pouted in annoyance. No matter what, Felix was still Felix.
The atmosphere at the city museum square was unbelievably crowded, far beyond their expectations. Luckily, Felix and Wulan had arrived early, so they managed to get a spot right at the front of the sudden crowd.
“Lan.”
Wulan lifted her head from her phone and looked at Felix, who was blinking in confusion. “What?”
“How long have you known about this Blender?” the young man asked bluntly.
The word blender made Wulan look at Felix with exasperation. “Ugh, whatever. Call her whatever you want!”
She turned off her phone and held it in her hand. Then, focusing on the question, she answered, “I found out about her around a year ago. You could say I followed her before she went viral.”
Felix nodded, looking as though he understood, though something was still bothering him.
“Then how did you know she’d be invited to events like this? I mean, if she wanted to participate in an event like this, wouldn’t there be an announcement on Blender’s social media?”
“Exactly!” Wulan snapped her fingers excitedly. “That’s what makes her unique, Lix. The Bland Mask doesn’t have any social media! No YouTube channel, Instagram, Twitter, or anything else. But people can still guess that she’ll be at events like this. She just shows up out of nowhere.”
Felix merely nodded. He concluded that The Bland Mask was an extremely private person who didn’t want to mix the exposure she had gained with her real life.
Not long afterward, the freestyle dance fest began. The participants performed one by one without any preparation. Songs were played at random, and all they had to do was dance to the rhythm.
At last, the person everyone had been waiting for appeared. The audience’s cheers and applause grew even louder, making the girl pull her baseball cap down farther.
The masked girl wasn’t wearing the same sports outfit as yesterday. Her clothes looked more casual this time: jeans and an oversized short-sleeved navy T-shirt. Her hat and mask, however, were still black.
“And here she is—The Bland Mask has entered the arena!” the host announced. He shook hands with The Bland Mask before finally stepping away from the makeshift stage.
“Are you ready?” the host asked once more.
The Bland Mask nodded firmly, once again hiding her eyes beneath the brim of her hat.
“Okay, then, LET’S PLAY THE MUSIC!”
The cheers and applause rang out again. Every second seemed to drag on forever. But moments later, a song began with the ballad-like opening of a famous musical film. “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman.
The masked girl didn’t immediately move with the rhythm as she usually did. She deliberately stood still, searching for the perfect timing to begin her routine. As the song’s dynamics built, she began to move—and she was astonishing.
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out I am brave, I am bruised I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
At first glance, people might have thought the moves were easy to perform. In reality, they were the most difficult kind, especially when it came to controlling the timing, beat, and power she put into each movement so that her dance matched the articulation of the song itself.
Not a single audience member blinked. They were spellbound by the meaning woven into every movement.
When the song reached the chorus, everyone was startled by a few slightly acrobatic moves. Several times, the girl combined one or two beats of the music into movements that looked like slow motion. The pattern was simple, but it wouldn’t be easy to imitate.
The song began to reach its end, and the girl finished her performance beautifully. Thunderous applause rose for her once again. The Bland Mask tightened her hat, bowed, then ran off and disappeared from the arena.
“That was absolutely spectacular!” the excited MC shouted. “What a shame that The Bland Mask withdrew from us right away. She’s truly a mysterious figure.”
The young man sat with his chin propped on his hand. That performance had only made him even more curious.
Without realizing it, The Bland Mask had once again opened something that had long been buried inside the young man.
To be continued