✔️ Body and Mind

GP

As soon as Anya landed, she texted Yuzuru that she is alright and went to the hotel.
She closed the door and sat on the bed, looking around, thinking that this is going to be her little sanctuary for upcoming days, and then got up again.
She took the hotel chair and put it against the door handle. On one hand, feeling stupid for being so paranoid, but on the other feeling a bit safer.
Anya then took a quick shower and went to bed, missing Yuzuru's warm body next to her.

Once she woke up, she went for an early breakfast, consisting mostly of coffee, and then to a store to buy her own jar of instant coffee that she could make in her room from the hotel kettle, limiting her need to leave the place.

____________

Anya sat on the bed again, prepared her traveling chess set in front of her, and took out the printouts of all the recent games of all of her opponents. She put the pile aside and kept only the one she will face first, spreading the pages on the bed sheets and started to analyze them.
A moment later her phone buzzed and she growled, irritated.
It was another call from some tabloid. She quickly answered, told them she doesn't know any 'dude' with such a 'weird' name, and turned off her phone completely.
Anya then closed her eyes, straightened her back, and tried to get into the zone one more time, the printouts starting to create patterns in her mind.

____________

After a long shower, she was happy with her first day. She got through the first three opponents, confident they won't be an issue for her. But she also knew that most of the next ones will take her one day per player and wanted to get a good sleep.
Anya crawled under the duvet, absolutely exhausted, and turned on her phone. Two missed calls, probably again from the tabloids and one text from Yuzuru.

Yuzuru
18:08
-Should be midnight now for you, so good night ♥

Anya looked at the clock, seeing it's already 1 am, making a mental note to go to bed earlier tomorrow. She was glad that Yuzuru was not trying to distract her but also knew how hard it must have been for him. Especially since she caught herself thinking of him during the day way more than she could effort.
She was thinking about what could she send him to make her message slightly longer but didn't come up with anything. The whole day she was just crouching over the books and printouts, making short breaks to eat, absolutely nothing interesting to text about.

Anya
01:12
-Thank you for giving me space to concentrate, I really appreciate it.
-Sweet dreams
-.....pumpkin ♥
- 😈

Yuzuru
19:13
-Please!! Don't!!
-And go to bed!!

She chuckled, put her phone on silent, and finally went to sleep.

____________________

Yuzuru was not liking the radio silence of the past days at all, but at least even though she sometimes forgot either a morning or a good night text, she did message him at least one of those.
He didn't send her any riddles anymore so she can focus only on her preparations.
But now finally he would be able to see her again, the first day of the tournament.
Yuzuru agreed with Brian that he will do only off-ice training that day from home and connected his laptop to the TV in the living room, happy he found a Japanese stream. Once the popcorn was ready, he called at his mum and they sat down together on the sofa.

The games have already started at that point and the camera was switching from one board to another, commentators giving a short introduction of each of the players.
After ten minutes, they finally got to Anya, Yuzuru turning up the volume poking into his mum to pay attention.

"And now we are getting to one of the most interesting players of this year's Grand Prix series. Very young Anya Fraser, also dubbed as The Girl with the Braid, is known to always braid her hair when she gets into the end-game. Still unknown if she really does it to concentrate or just to intimidate her opponents. Currently, she is one of the most-watched players as her ranking is absolutely skyrocketing, and if all goes well for her, we would not be surprised if she would give the top contenders a run for their money."

-Didn't you say she said she won't win?

-That's what she told me!!

-But they are saying something else...

-I know!!!!

Yuzuru's chest was inflating with pride as if they would be talking about him. But once they switched again to the other players and started to follow their moves, the boredom was settling in the room.

-Yuzu, I am really sorry, but I don't think I can take it anymore....I don't understand a single thing they are saying even when it's in Japanese....

Yuzuru checked his watch, seeing that she lasted exactly twenty minutes as Anya predicted.
He let his mum go, promising he will keep her updated on how Anya did in her game. He then pushed his treadmill towards the TV, making sure he powers through the whole event no matter what.

After two hours, he was wondering if it's possible to fall asleep while running.

Suddenly they zoomed in on Anya again, playing against another guy than before.

"As expected, Ms. Fraser defeated her previous opponent and we assume this second game won't take much longer either."

As soon as the commentator said that, Anya's opponent stood up and extended his hand for a handshake. She accepted it, got up, grabbed her bag from one of the tables where all players kept their things and left the room. Camera zooming in on her expressionless face, Yuzuru not knowing what's going on.

"And that's it then for today for The Girl with the Braid."

Yuzuru
10:14
-I don't get it! Did you win or not?!

Anya
16:22
-Of course, I did.
-I won't play today anymore, you can turn off the stream. ;)

"Thank God." Yuzuru thought and sighed with relief.

Yuzuru
10:23
-It was fun!

Anya
16:33
-Of course, Pinocchio.

Yuzuru
10:33
-They said some interesting things about you....

Anya
16:33
-Don't!!
-I don't want to know!
-It's enough that I am trying to ignore all the cameras recording me.
-I don't want to know or hear anything they would be saying about me!

Yuzuru
10:34
-Sorry. :/

Anya
16:35
-No, I am sorry, I just want to stay focused....
-You can tell me about it when I am back ;)

Yuzuru
10:35
- ♥

Anya
16:36
-♥