Oh. Okay. Well. He wasn't quite expecting that. The attack was sudden, but Tanaka brought the dodge into part of his routine, a lean backwards with his arms held wide. It was a near miss, but a miss regardless.

He flashed a quick glare at Sephiroth in the instant it took him to understand. So the man's motivation was to determine his worth? Fine, then. Improvisation was key to any proper cheer. "Hyaa!" he bellowed, before continuing on, keeping his attention for another attack. He'd need to make up for the instant he'd fallen off-beat; it was only a moment's distraction, but that was all was needed for him to lose ground and his flame to flicker. If the attack had hit, the effect would be... he would not think of that.