Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

9.

The rest of the training session passed by fast, Javier had clearly been teasing Yuzuru during most of the session after seeing the interaction of the Japanese with the young girl. The Spaniard was very interested in his sudden interest in girls, or girl, in this case.

Joan watched the whole thing, reminiscing on her old practice days and smiling through the boys' shenanigans.

Soon enough they were finishing and her favorite Japanese boy was heading in her direction with Javi right by his side.

"Hey chica, I don't recommend hugs from your boyfriend right now, he's really sweaty" Javier said and ran away to the locker room immediately.

The snarky comment brought red to both the youngsters' faces.

"Stop Jabi" Yuzu reacted quickly with a pat on the head of his senior as he was running away. "Ignore him. Well...ah... I just need to shower and we can go, is that okay?" the awkwardness was there, none of them had denied the relationship comment, and neither said anything about it either.

"Of course Zuzu, I told you to take your time. Ah... your jacket..." Joan started removing it when Yuzuru's hand stopped her.

"Keep it, looks good on you"

"But... You will need it"

"We have a new one every year, silly. Keep it."

"Ah, fine" Joan quickly pecked Yuzu's cheek and gave him a pat on the back. "Go shower".

Forgetting where they were, the boy grabbed her arm and brought her close to his body, bringing his lips to her forehead. "You're a tease"

"As if you're different... Go"

🪶

Soon enough they were leaving the TCC side by side.

"So, where should we go? What do you want to eat?" Yuzuru asked her.

"I'm good with anything really"

"Japanese?" He asked with relief.

"Do you eat anything else?" Joan laughed at Yuzu and his antics

"I'm a picky eater... Don't judge"

"Japanese it is then, I'm guessing you know the good places"

"Not really. Believe it or not, I don't go out much. Besides, my mom usually cooks for me and it's better"

Joan started laughing at the boy.

"You're hopeless! Come on, I know just the place!"

Joan started rushing through the street, hunger starting to creep in.

"Slow down, we have time" he said, rushing to follow her fast pace and laughing uncontrollably.

"I'm hungry"

"I was the one who just got out of practice"

"I got tired just from watching you"

"Who would've guessed you were a competitive athlete 2 years ago"

"Shut up"

Soon enough they arrived at Joan's favorite Japanese restaurant which was fairly empty at lunchtime and they were immediately greeted by an employee. They were told to choose a table and given the menus.

"Can I order for both of us? Is there anything you don't like?" Yuzuru asked Joan.

"Go ahead, I'm not a picky eater" she told him with a teasing look, making him laugh.

Yuzu ordered everything in Japanese, of course, Joan not understanding much. She had been trying to learn a little bit of the language but everything was very hard for her.

When their food arrived Joan was mesmerized, the Japanese boy had seemingly managed to order her favorite dishes without a care in the world.

"This okay?" He asked her.

"Yes, more than okay. Maybe a bit too much food though"

"You did say you were hungry"

They laughed while eating, catching up on Yuzu's time in Japan and Joan's holidays at home.

"Don't you miss it? Being home?" He asked the girl.

"Honestly, not really. I'm not that close to my parents. I moved to Toronto quite early. In the beginning, my parents would alternate between who stayed here with me, but with their jobs and all, it got a bit hard. At some point, I already did everything, cooking, laundry, cleaning... My mom started coming only once every two weeks and eventually once a month. These days I only see them when I go to the States, which is fine, but I miss having a family sometimes. That's what cricket was to me, a family"

Yuzuru nodded in understanding, a bit sad that she is often all alone.

"But now..."

"I'm mostly alone, I still talk with a few people from Cricket, and you.
I do have friends, but I don't find myself wanting to be with a lot of people. And you know, parties are not really my thing, everyone at Uni seems to love them"

"I know, right? It's the same at Waseda. Are you liking the classes though?"

"Yeah, I think medicine is the right choice for me. I don't know which specialty I want yet, but you know... Seems right"

"Haven't you thought about it at all? The specialty?"

"It's hard, I really like surgery. But at the same time I would love to do something related to sports, try to keep the connection to skating"

"Can't you do both?"

"Hahaha, I guess I could... Always the overachiever"

"Either way, I know you're gonna be amazing"

"Thanks, Zuzu" she said, looking fondly at the boy in front of her.

They finished their meals and decided to go on a walk, finding themselves seated on a bench in the closest park since Yuzuru was still tired from his training.

"I have something for you" Yuzuru told the girl.

"For me? What is it?"

"My mom made it, you may find it silly, but I really do think these give me good luck" He said, reaching for his pocket and taking the pink wrap with his gift.

Joan slowly unraped the delicate packaging to find a beautiful bracelet made of colored stones.

"Yuzu, I love it. Thank you so much" she thanked him, reaching for a hug that the Japanese gladly accepted.

"You're welcome. I hope it helps to remind you you're not alone, even if I'm somewhere else, I'm here for you"

The girl hugged Yuzuru tighter, this boy really is unheard of. They eventually let go of each other to stay in a comfortable silence, watching people go by. Yuzuru had his arm over her shoulder so he would not break all contact just yet.

A phone ringing brought the silence to an end. Yuzuru recognized the ringtone and took the call immediately, keeping their close proximity.

Joan only listened to the rapid Japanese conversation and looked into the boy currently looking at his watch, she then recognized her name in the middle of the conversation but couldn't understand a thing. It was in fact already quite late, dinner time for most people. Maybe she had gotten the boy in trouble for being out late.

When Yuzu turned his phone off, he looked into her once again, and with a fond expression he asked: "Do you want to meet my mom?"