Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

Author:Emi Yagi [Yagi, Emi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

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But what a workout. There was no way anyone, let alone a pregnant woman, could keep this up.

The warm-up stretches were fine. We started out nice and gentle, with people making occasional comments about how it felt so good, or maybe hurt just a little. Hey, I can definitely handle this, I thought. Then the stretches ended and the instructor told us to take a water break. From then on, people became less talkative. Next came step practice, with everybody moving while the instructor clapped her hands, and I could feel something changing in the room, like all the air was getting sucked out. Then, when the music was suddenly cranked up, I finally understood. The beat controls everything here. When the overhead lights were dimmed and the mirror ball started to twirl, the studio revealed its true nature and became a nightclub.

The bass took over, making the whole studio vibrate and my belly shake. We started with light steps, but as the music surged and everyone started clapping, we moved on to doing squats, which we followed up with even more intense stepping, then ultimately broke into some truly hard-core dance moves. Nobody was talking now. And how could we? All we could do was keep moving our legs, arms, and heads. Nice and high! Reach for the ceiling, ladies! Up, up, up! The instructor, who had started out in a T-shirt and leggings, was now practically naked. “If it’s even a little too much, go ahead and take a break,” she yelled, but every time someone started to slow down, she’d walk over, put her hand on their shoulder, and ask with a big smile, “You doing okay?” Her thin arms had the thickest veins I’d ever seen.

In the mirrors that covered the studio from floor to ceiling, big-bellied women kept dancing with dead-serious looks on their faces. As the steps grew more and more intense, the floor started to shake. Of course it did. There were actually twice as many people in the room as you could see. In the light coming off the mirror ball, the beads of sweat on our faces shone like diamonds. Halfway through class, my knees started to give, but in this studio, stopping was never an option—not while the beat was going. The instructor’s voice rang out: “Let’s go, ladies! One! Two! Three! One! More! Time!”

Utterly dominated by the thudding music, everybody was dancing madly, but the one who was dancing the maddest was the woman in the neon-blue shirt. While everybody else looked sapped, barely managing to keep up with the instructor, she let out a roar like an animal, her breasts shaking like a pair of fruits as she sensually thrust out her belly over and over. It was like she was dancing at some harvest festival. The more she moved, the faster the beat seemed to get.

The heat of the room entered my lungs, and just when I thought my arms and legs

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