Chapter 5

The class bell rang. Mrs. Foster walked into the practice room, took attendance, then had everyone go to the barre for warm-ups.

Sophie changed into those old dance shoes and stood in her position.

That metallic voice rang out accordingly.

"Congratulations, Host. Borrowing successful. This system has begun executing the fate transfer program. The target subject's advantages will gradually transfer to the Host, while the target subject will gradually have their luck drained until they become worthless."

Sophie lowered her head, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

She thought she was about to possess my life.

In my past life, after she borrowed my things, I started feeling unwell that same day and got the simplest questions wrong in class.

Today I paid special attention to my body. Leg stretches, leg lifts, floor work. I carefully felt each movement.

No discomfort at all.

On the contrary, during PE class when Sophie was running, her foot suddenly went soft and her knee hit the track. When the PE teacher helped her up, her right leg visibly trembled.

After returning from the nurse's office, Sophie sat at her seat, stealing glances at me.

"Emma, do you feel unwell today?"

This was a test.

I yawned and slumped on my desk, pretending to lack energy.

"You noticed. I don't know what's wrong today. My body feels especially stiff. This morning when I was stretching, it felt like my bones were about to break."

A hint of smugness crept into the corners of her mouth as she made a show of consoling me.

"You must be exhausted from rehearsing so much lately. You'll feel better if you sleep early tonight."

I hummed in agreement and continued slumping.

During afternoon fundamentals class, I deliberately messed up a simple turn and was corrected on the spot by Mrs. Foster. She frowned and tapped the barre.

"Emma, you've been in terrible form lately. You can't even stabilize a second position turn. How are you going to participate in next month's assessment?"

I kept my head down and said nothing. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sophie's shoulders relax as she picked at her nail polish, unable to hide her smile.

She thought everything was going according to plan.

After school that evening, Sophie stopped me again.

"Emma, my resistance band is worn out. It almost snapped during practice. Could you lend me one?"

"Sure."

I pulled out Rachel's old resistance band from my backpack and handed it over.

"Here. You don't need to return it."

I grabbed my backpack and walked out.

Just as I left the practice room door, I heard something heavy hit the floor behind me.

I turned around.

Sophie had fallen flat on the floor, her right leg curled up, her face pressed against the ground. She'd fallen as if her knee had suddenly lost all strength.

Two nearby students rushed to help her up.

Sophie's face was deathly pale, her right hand clutching the resistance band she'd just received.

"I'm fine. Just missed a step." She stood up forcefully, waving and smiling.

But I saw that when she stood up, her right leg shook three times before stabilizing.

She didn't know whose fate she'd borrowed.

She thought she was stealing my talent.

In reality, she was stealing Rachel's fate. The fate of a girl who would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

Sophie's leg was getting worse.

The next day during fundamentals class, Mrs. Foster had each group come up one by one to do center practice combinations. Small jumps, medium jumps, grand jumps in sequence.

Sophie was in the second group. The first four eight-counts went fine, but when she got to the grand jump, her right foot pushed off and her body flew into the air. The instant she landed, her landing leg suddenly buckled. She barely kept from falling, but the whole movement was crooked like someone had shoved her from the side.

Mrs. Foster frowned and tapped the floor with her teaching stick.

"Sophie, your grand jump landing was unstable. What's been going on with you lately? Last week in the second group, your landings were the cleanest."

Sophie stood there as her right leg involuntarily trembled. She had to press her heel hard into the floor to stop it.

"Mrs. Foster, I think it's because I bumped my knee yesterday and it hasn't fully recovered yet."

Mrs. Foster nodded without pressing further and turned her gaze to me.

"Emma, your turn."