It's the semifinals of the freestyle competition today, and the theme is "candy".

There are four people left in the competition, including us. This morning, we went for the same schedule, waking up and practicing hours before breakfast and the competition.

We got to perform first today. With our vibrant sweets-themed costumes, we went out there and crushed it all. I was surprised at how well we performed, with everyone doing their part without one mistake. Everyone was in the zone.

Having set the bar so high for the first performance, we got the best of the audience's applause.

We were ecstatic to find that, after the rest of the day's competitions and demonstrations, that we had achieved the highest score for the day. We were going to the finals with the highest total score so far. Even if we got a lower score in tomorrow's performance, there was a good chance we would still win in the points category. Things looked good.

The themes were then announced. We were to perform two routines tomorrow for the finals, and the audience would vote on the winner. The themes were the seasons, and our choice.

There was more time to rehearse today, as there were much less performances. We used every minute we could to choreograph everything for both routines.

We all worked tirelessly into the night, then ate a big dinner and retired to bed. I got a good conversation in with Yui first. 

She is very nervous about tomorrow's performance, and tired from the arduous practice. She's not accustomed to the rigorous schedule that Milly has prescribed to. She's as confident as I am in our chances tomorrow, but she thinks we have done a good job so far. In fact, she's shocked we've made it to the freestyle finals. Milly's work ethic and standard for excellence has paid off already, even if we hadn't won yet.

So to the freestyle finals tomorrow, and the first half of the competition will be complete.

Let's do this.

-Takao