Chapter 96

is the ninety-sixth chapter of the SPY x FAMILY manga, written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. It was released on March 18, 2024.
== Summary ==
Ewen and Emile, the members of the newly founded "Damian Dance-Partner Selection Committee," tell the many girls vying to be the young Desmond's dance partner that they must compete against each other in a series of challenges until the last one is standing. The girls think that this will be a fierce battle with their feminine pride at stake, and their thoughts overwhelm Anya and make her dizzy, but she is motivated by Becky to keep going.
The first challenge of the competition, in which the boys intend to remove the weakest challengers, is a "Clapping Scarecrow Endurance Battle." The boys explain that they must see a sufficient level of balance and rhythm. As such, the girls must stand on one foot and clap along the rhythm, and they will fail if they cannot do so. Before the challenge starts, the disguised Loid approaches Anya to "remove lint" from her dress, after which Anya notices a wire attached to her wrist. The challenge begins, and Henry watches the children with Thomas Austin and remarks that while he is clueless about the situation, he finds the children's actions elegant.
As more girls drop out of the challenge, Anya stands out as the only one standing completely still. Anya, who has thin wires attached to her legs, back, and wrists, is held up by Loid, who is controlling the wires like a puppeteer, through rings on his left hand and supported by his arm. As Anya gets praised for this, she shows off and begins moving around, leaning forward and back while clapping to the rhythm, garnering more praise. On the other hand, her movement puts immense strain on Loid's hand, much to his dismay. With ten contestants remaining, the challenge ends, and Anya rushes over to Becky while breaking off the wires from her. Meanwhile, Loid has lost all function in his left hand but sees it as a small price to pay for world peace.
Ewen and Emile are worried about Anya's success and discuss it with Damian, who says the competition will be fair and square. His shocked friends ask if Damian actually wants to dance with her, which he denies in embarrassment. Ewen and Emile begin the second challenge and quickly come up with an obstacle course, reasoning that it is to test the girls' agility and flexibility, and the five fastest finishers will advance to the next round. As wires will not work in this challenge, Loid worries that he may have to sabotage the other girls. However, as the challenge begins, to everyone's surprise, Anya removes her dress shoes and begins sprinting. Despite stumbling over a hurdle and tearing off the tippets of her dress in a trap zone, Anya charges forward. In the final phase of the obstacle course, an inchworm crawl in which the girls must get in a sleeping bag and crawl to the goal, Anya unexpectedly crawls with great speed and finishes in third place. Anya's lack of grace in the challenge is contested, but Becky states that Anya earned her victory. Afterward, Anya gets her dress mended by Ms. Muchberry.
For the third and final challenge, Ewen and Emile hold a quiz about Damian, and the first girl to correctly answer five questions about Damian will become the ultimate winner. Loid believes this will be an easy task but is quickly distressed when Ewen asks for what Damian reached for first at today's breakfast. As other girls make wrong guesses, Anya tries to read Damian's mind, but even he does not know the answer. Ewen and Emile's thoughts reveal that the answer is milk, which Anya uses to win a point. Another question asks what made Damian scared of dying when he was four. Reading the boys' minds, Anya learns that it was when Damian's dog suddenly jumped on him and knocked him into the pond in his yard. Anya uses this to win a point, which she claims was a lucky guess.
To hide her mind-reading, Anya intentionally misses some questions to make the match seem closer, and she is one point away from victory. Ewen asks who Damian loves best. Other girls answer with themselves or other girls, but Anya answers that Damian loves his father. With that, Ewen and Emile begrudgingly announce Anya as the winner to be Damian's dance partner. Damian accepts the terms and agrees to dance with Anya. Watching the children's reactions, Loid apologizes to Damian in his thoughts, as the match was not fair, but urges him to get closer to Anya.
The dance finally begins, and Henry and Martha watch the students dancing together. Martha says this brings back memories, prompting Henry to invite her to dance with him "for old time's sake." Meanwhile, Damian and Anya struggle to dance together hand-in-hand, with a blushing and sweating Damian holding only one of her fingers while Anya goes pale as she shivers at his thoughts. After Anya accidentally steps on Damian's foot, they begin to argue and cause a scene, worrying Loid as he watches them and wonders what to do. Henry reminds the two that the dance floor is a place for elegance and comments that their paths to Imperial Scholars seem to be long ones. Damian reminds himself to pull himself together and not to be bothered by holding hands with Anya, and the two begin dancing properly, though still awkward. Seeing this, Loid quietly walks away to leave the two alone.
Damian comments on Anya's dancing, which she says Loid made her practice a lot. Damian talks about meeting Loid before, and they both say he is a passionate person. Damian tells Anya that he was taught to dance by an instructor hired by his family and, with a soft smile, says her family sounds nice. Damian quickly goes back to insulting Anya's commoner status, then questions how she knew about his dog and pond, asking if she could read his mind. At that moment, Anya whispers to Damian that she can read minds. Damian does not believe her and calls her a dummy, and the two begin to fight. Becky is confused, as they appeared to be fine earlier, but she sees that there is still some progress. Becky, Emile, Ewen, and Henry watch Anya and Damian bicker, and their friendship has increased by 100 points.
== Characters ==
== Trivia ==
* Becky calls a female professor "Mrs. Pinns" in the English version of this chapter, although she is introduced as "Ms. Muchberry" in her first appearance.
* In the English version of this chapter, when Henry reminds Damian and Anya to act elegantly on the dance floor, Martha says, "Huh?". In the Japanese version, Martha says .
* This is the first time Anya confesses her telepathic abilities to someone, although Damian does not believe in them.
== References ==
== Navigation ==
Category:Chapters
Category:Term Finals Arc