[A/N] Ngl, I'm not particularly proud of this one, but I felt the need to write a oneshot with a few members of Class 81. More will be coming. And possibly a Killing Game fic if I can come up with good enough ideas.

Being an acrobat required a good many skills, both in the physical and mental realm. Strength; flexibility; resilience; and, the one Azumi Hirabayashi believed in above all else, balance. It occurred to her quite often that this was very likely the reason she and Tozen clicked the way they did. He was on the same journey with her; he had a yearning to attain and help others attain balance. Nutrition was expressly about balance, anyway— not just balance of the food groups, but balance of purpose and individual circumstance, like Tozen taught her. Knowing how to not neglect certain areas of your life.

He was one of the first people to express a desire to meditate with her. Haruto also tried, but the poor boy was too antsy to sit still for too long. Even so, both boys were close to Azumi's heart. So in order to do something kind for one, she enlisted the help of the other.

"Aww, that's a great idea! Please let me help! Please, please, pleeeease!" Haruto begged, standing on his tip-toes and wobbling a bit.

"Of course! That's why I told you! Would you make the plates, Bisque? Once I'm done using them in the routine, I'd like to give them to him. I'll pay you of course. And get a small cake for you."

"You can count on me! I'll make them perfect! You'll look at them and go, 'Wow! Bisque, you hit it out of the park with this one! You hit it so hard it's gonna sail all the way to the beach! I sure hope it doesn't hit some poor passerby in the noggin. That would be a shame...'" He paused for a moment, trying to get back on track. "But anyway! I'll make them as high-quality as I can," he giggled happily. She patted him on the head. Feeling encouraged, he dashed out to get to his pottery wheel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are in even higher spirits than normal, aren't you? What is the cause of it?" Sayuri asked as the boy molded the clay seamlessly.

"Zu gave me a task! With a lot of creative freedom and the promise of cake!" he explained, smiling softly.

"What is the task?"

"Make two plates for one of her routines!"

"Could she not simply have used her own plates? Or ones from the dining hall? Why does she specifically want plates that you make?"

"Between you and me... she's dedicating the routine to Tozen! She wants to give him the plates once she's done with them, so they need to be extra special."

"Ah, I see! What are you considering in the design stage?"

"Well, I don't want them to be identical, necessarily. I figured they can have the same pattern, but one of them will be painted with Azumi's costume's color scheme and the other'll have the color scheme of Tozen's favorite outfit. Structurally, they need to be able to spin, so I need this little rim at the bottom. I'm making them out of China, because they need to be durable but they shouldn't look cheap. Y'know?"

"All of this thought goes into your process? Incredible. How is it that you look so different when you're discussing pottery?"

"I look different?" he asked, quirking up an eyebrow. In actuality, he'd been told this before, but her chatter was perhaps even helping him focus more.

"Hmm... what is it? What makes the difference? The clarity in your eyes? The subtler smile? Regardless, what got you interested in pottery?"

"Just the fact that it's something I can give my undivided attention to."

"May I watch you? Inspiration is everywhere. You would know that as a fellow artist, correct? Hmm... which aspects of the plates and the show will impact my next few poems? Time will tell, won't it?"

"Yep. I don't mind a pair of eyes and ears watching me work! Have at it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two were watching her practice. She was still at the stage where she failed a lot; even for an Ultimate, succeeding without any effort was unlikely. And with a routine as tricky as she was attempting, there was a lot of failure. Thank God for mats. Otherwise, she'd have long since busted her ankles. But she'd been improving over the past two weeks. Sayuri was blown away at the progress, and was already soaking up inspiration without even seeing it the way it was intended to look. Haruto's heart was warm, because he noticed that Azumi always protected the plates. Each time she tumbled, she didn't brace herself; she caught the plates and held them to her chest instead. Then she would take deep breaths to compose herself, and spring into action once more. It was a complicated series of flowing movements between three circus balls whilst spinning plates on her palms. The transitions were always what messed her up. She couldn't quite keep the plates spinning and on-balance there without toppling over. But it would be okay. With motivation, success was just as inevitable as failure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was only the second person in the room— the other being Azumi herself. Tozen had missed her lately; he understood and supported that she needed solitude when practicing for her show, but he had to admit he was a little bad with loneliness, and she WAS his closest friend at school. So he was gung-ho and ready to support her with all of his energy. If she started to worry about the crowd, lights, or music, all she would have to do is look at him for reassurance.

Azumi herself was practically more nervous just at his presence. This was FOR him! She didn't want to mess it up! It didn't matter that she hadn't fucked it up once for the past four days. All it took was one misstep to end her streak at a pivotal moment. She could feel her heart start to pound, and she took a swig of water to make sure her vision wouldn't blur. But she could feel him come up behind her, and she held herself back from squealing in fright. "Azumi! I got you a yogurt parfait. Figured it'd be a good snack."

"Th-Thanks, Tozen!" She took it appreciatively, trying to shake off the numbness in her toes.

"Hey, hey. Are you alright?" She nodded unconvincingly. "You're about to faint, huh?"

"Help," she confirmed. He ushered her to the floor and she went through the motions that would help get blood flowing to her brain. This had happened more often than she'd like to admit. At this point, Sayuri and Haruto came in to help her out before the show started.

"What's going—?" Before Sayuri could spiral into a torrent of questions, Haruto covered her mouth and sat her down, shushing her sharply. Fortunately, the two of them didn't notice. Once Tozen had her physical symptoms under control and goaded her into eating the parfait, she was considerably calmed down. She wouldn't fuck up. And even if she did, he would still be proud of her. Her show started in... ten minutes.

Sayuri's brain was already going a million miles a minute, and at this point, Haruto's would be, too, if he wasn't concerned at the wild, unrestrained look in her eyes. Everyone else who was interested, including Ren, filtered in over time. He sat down next to Haruto, gave him an affectionate rub on the head, and, following the boy's gaze, discovered Sayuri frantically scribbling in a journal. "Sweet outfit! You look beautiful as always. But honestly, you look like you're in Dreamland. Whatcha thinking about? Give me the inside scoop on those boundless thoughts of yours!"

His words finally snapped her out of her trance. She gave him a mischievous smirk. "Are you ready to have new lyrics for a song, Ren?"

Before he could express his interest, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight beamed down on Azumi. Her face was briefly serious and determined before it lit up with a radiant smile as she began the performance. "This is inspired by and dedicated to one of my favorite people, Tozen Chiba!" He was taken aback as everyone briefly whipped around to face him. He beamed up at her, trying not to cry from how touched he was. Fortunately for him, everyone quickly looked back up at Azumi when the chipper lofi beat began to ring out. She started off juggling the two plates, and then, during a particularly high toss, she mounted the first balance ball. She caught the plates, only briefly breaking the confident image she established to focus. She glided about on the ball whilst still juggling, and then reached for the next with a split. Contorting her body, she bent her way firmly onto the second ball as the plates were high in the air. After rising to her feet and a small while of juggling, she tossed the plates high for a third time and took the two sticks out of her hairdo. From here, she transitioned from juggling the plates to spinning them on the rods. She weaved between the two balls in an intricate dance. And then, masking her grimace with a smile, she began to backflip. It seemed as though time seemed to slow. She was parallel with the plates, which almost seemed to levitate in midair and follow the arc of her back as though through magic. She could feel the throbbing in her heart, the sweat at the back of her neck, every physical sensation.

Sayuri's brain was exploding with possibility. Haruto was full of awe and giddiness; no matter how many times he watched Azumi perform, it was just as jaw-dropping. And the fact that he contributed only further riled him up. Ren was the only one even remotely calm in this situation, more intrigued than anything. And Tozen? Tozen was trying to watch through tears. And was grateful as hell that nobody was looking at him.

With a breath, she could suddenly feel her feet on the last ball, and she sprung into action to catch and continue twirling the plates. Once she was sure of herself, she inched into the position she used while meditating, still twirling the plates. The music ended, she jumped off the ball, caught the plates, and bowed, panting but smiling harder than she had in a while.

The crowd cheered. Azumi walked with her graceful gait over to Tozen to present him with the plates, and Haruto rushed over as well. Sayuri, in the meantime, was done with the brainstorming phase of her poem. She dashed off to be alone and pen the first draft.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ren had everyone gathered around a campfire. Sayuri was thrilled to bits, understanding what was going on. Haruto was covered in marshmallow fluff because he kept forgetting to wipe off his hands before touching his face. Azumi was trying and failing to keep him clean, and Tozen was eating one of the fish that everyone had grilled.

The guitarist spoke up. "Apologies for my less-than-stellar voice, all you lovely ladies and gents, but I've got a new song. The lyrics are an adaptation of Sayuri's latest— unreleased, might I add— poem. I hope you enjoy!"

A struggle to fight a force of the universe.
A dare to dream of release
For the sake of you, dear one
Because your influence won't cease.

A struggle to fight a force of the universe
The courage to be ripped apart
For the sake of my true friend
Who came in, touched my silent heart.

I'll win against gravity
If just for a moment
A breath
A beat
Of frozen time.
Defying reality
Over and over
I'll do it again on a dime.

A struggle to fight a force of the universe
With help from all who love me
I'm lifted to the sky, confidante
So would you please watch? Would you see?

It's messy.
It's painful.
I fail time to time
But I just
Keep fighting
For this.
For you.
I just
Keep molding
And planning
For you.
It's raw
Understood
And that's all that matters to me.
Can't you see?

I'll win against gravity
If just for a moment
A breath
A beat
Of frozen time.
Defying reality
Over and over
I'll do it again on a dime.

The elaborate guitar playing as the backdrop to Sayuri's words flooded her with joy. He had done better even than she'd expected, and it made her heart feel a warm fuzziness. Though not everyone made the connection between Azumi's show and Sayuri and Ren's song, she was astounded by the chain of inspiration. Tozen's friendship inspired Azumi. Azumi's request inspired Haruto. Both of them inspired Sayuri, and Sayuri inspired Ren.

When will a new chain of inspiration start up? Can I even wait that long?

Little did she know that the current chain hadn't ended. For Kana and Monterio were already desiring to choreograph the song.