Theme Song (Three-in-One VIP Release)

There was no mirrored wall in the large classroom, and he, in his infinite wisdom, had planted himself in the front row. His only option was to sneak a look in plain sight.

But something even more disastrous happened.

Lai Yudong turned his head and discovered in despair that everyone was dancing to their own tune. Almost no two people were doing the same moves, and their footsteps sounded like a jumble of separate musical parts that never came together. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was the freestyle segment.

Lai Yudong: "..."

No wonder he couldn't tell who had the right answer.

Just as Lai Yudong was about to grit his teeth and flail through the dance, heaven left him a way out. The music he had filtered out as background noise suddenly pushed aside the chaotic beats and rang out with perfect clarity in his ears.

"...To the stars. To the stars."

Lai Yudong's eyes lit up.

It was the chorus!

He remembered the moves that went with these lines!

"Never back down, charge toward the peak with all your might."

The scenes of his repeated practice surfaced in his mind. Lai Yudong tentatively performed the corresponding moves, and the way they fit felt like finding the right puzzle piece. At last, his bewildered limbs had somewhere to go.

"To the stars. To the stars."

"Never give up, dreams shine like stars."

The first two sections were somewhat alike.

He repeated the moves for the English line, then changed them for the Chinese line.

In a daze, Lai Yudong felt as though he wasn't dancing but being led along by the music. Memories wound around his joints like fine threads, controlling his puppet-stiff body.

Perhaps he looked ridiculous to an outsider, but he couldn't suppress his delight at finding the rhythm again.

The next section had new moves.

"To the stars. To the stars."

Clench his fists and extend his hands, cross them to the left, then spread his fingers.

Clench his fists, change direction, then cross and spread them again.

That was it!

The result matched his memory perfectly, and a delighted smile spread across Lai Yudong's face. The lyrics he knew by heart scrolled through his mind like subtitles, and when the last line of this section came around, he instinctively mouthed along to the music.

This time, he wasn't reciting empty beats, but singing a complete line of lyrics—

"I'm your only star."

Chapter 20: Theme Song (Three-in-One VIP Release)

[His accuracy goes up as soon as he reaches the chorus hhhh]

[Hardly anyone looks good doing it, they look like they're firing dynamic light waves]

[You Shu did those moves pretty well]

[He looks best when he's not moving]

[The cool guy's standing too far to the side, I can't see him clearly]

At the very edge of the frame, the handsome, delicate-featured young man with hair the color of a creamy golden pearl danced stiffly to the music. Eyes were drawn to him without thinking, yet it was hard to decide whether to look above or below his neck. His outstanding looks and rigid posture proved the saying true—heaven was fair.

Then his lips curved into a smile, like snow melting in the warmth of spring and sparkling with dazzling, enchanting light beneath the sun.

In an instant, those wavering gazes were snatched away and fixed on that exquisite face.

The pale-blond young man crossed his hands, revealing his sharply defined wrists, then elegantly unfurled his clenched fingers. The hand movements symbolizing sparkling starlight matched both the theme song's lyrics and his own dazzling state.

—"I'm your only star."

One simple smile perfectly illustrated what it meant to be edged in diamonds.

[Did nobody notice You Shu's expression?? Holy shit! I'm falling straight into the fandom!!!]

[Oh my god, You Shu's smile is so beautiful]

[What, what? What did I miss?]

[So cute, my baby, really, really good... TT]

[Please, everyone, vote for Miura Yuki. I'll seriously fall apart if a handsome guy like him gets eliminated in the first round]

Lai Yudong hadn't expected an unintentional expression to send the bullet comments into such a frenzy. Half understanding, he wondered if this was the legendary expression management.

It seemed he hadn't guessed wrong. Mastering the details of one's expressions really was important.

But the problem at hand wasn't the details. He hadn't mastered the song as a whole.

After finding the rhythm again, Lai Yudong stopped fixating on the countless beats. The lyric he'd matched by chance had given him a new direction. Since he didn't have the first clue about beats, he might as well try following the music directly.

He had already memorized all the lyrics and the melody before class. That had to be easier than following that tangled mess of beats.

It was a good idea, and it worked pretty well in practice.

His timing wasn't very precise. It was like a Taiko no Tatsujin beginner choosing a high-difficulty song: most of his results were bads and goods, with an occasional miss, and he had to be lucky to get a perfect. But scoring points at all was good enough. At least he hadn't gotten so many misses that the game ended early.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last.

Lai Yudong wasn't familiar enough with the theme song. No matter how strong his memory was, he couldn't memorize a four-minute dance in such a short time. The further he got, the more he struggled, and he only barely finished the entire dance by relying on hazy memories and some improvisation.

His accuracy was probably only sixty or seventy percent.

Even so, he was one of the few in Class F who managed to dance all the way through without stopping. Many people hadn't learned the moves or had blanked and forgotten them, so they simply froze in place as if being made to stand as punishment.

If it had been convenient to speak, he would have wanted to urge them to move. Any random swaying would have done.

Not having learned the moves and having a bad attitude were two different things.

Both would earn them a scolding, but the latter would definitely get them a much worse one.

The music ended, and the classroom fell deathly silent.

"You..." The dance teacher, Cao Yan, rubbed his temples. The sight of that wild dance of demons had made him so angry that he was momentarily at a loss for words. "I don't know how to judge this attitude of yours."

[Girls, I'm out. I'll come back when the scolding's over]

[I can't protect you, good luck]

[My fave can fly bravely onward; if anything happens, he can handle it himself]

[You're all so heartless hahaha]

The relaxed atmosphere in the livestream only made Lai Yudong more nervous. He swallowed uneasily and braced himself for the dance teacher's sharp criticism.

"I knew your Class F had poor fundamentals, so I'd already lowered my expectations for you, but you were even worse than I expected." Cao Yan paused, then unleashed a stern tirade. "You can't even find two people doing the same moves, and so many of you were standing still. What, are you here to practice standing at attention? If you forget the moves onstage someday, are you going to stand there like idiots too? Not even willing to move an inch?"