Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

17.

Joan spent a whole week in the hospital before being discharged, with the promise she wouldn't put her body through strenuous activities.

The first time she videocalled Yuzuru, they were both very nervous, it was almost as if they were meeting for the first time. But soon enough they got the hang of it. They would often spend hours speaking with each other about the most random things. She could tell Yuzuru was having a hard time finding stuff to do besides gaming and studying for college, and she didn't mind entertaining him for the time he wanted.

Joan herself found this time refreshing, making sure she would catch up on the University subjects, sometimes even on call with Yuzu. They would study together and enjoy the company often in silence.

She loved to observe him while he was concentrating, Yuzuru just looked like he was on his own planet with his glasses on that made him look nerdy. Sometimes he would look up to her and they would just smile at the camera without a word.

One thing she started working on during this time was her promise. The program she had been working on had Japanese music, an old movie soundtrack they once watched back in Toronto. The beat would make it perfect for well-thought-out steps she knew he would be able to perform perfectly. Joan felt like this would be a good fit, she just needed to make sure it was perfect before showing him.

Not being able to skate wasn't helping her mission at all, but she visualized it all in her head as best as she could.

6 weeks after the surgery, Yuzuru was back on the ice in Sendai without a coach. Being eager to start, the young athlete managed to injure his ankle and back in a short period of time, getting a decent scolding from the aspiring doctor. Thanks to the injuries, they knew now for sure that the Japanese wouldn't go to Toronto before the World championships, delaying their reunion a bit more.

Yuzuru was frustrated about the delay, he wanted to see Joan, and hold her again close to him. But that seemed to only be possible in almost half a year. The thought pained him deeply. 

What he didn't know was that Jo had everything planned to attend the World Team Trophy in April. As with every Yuzuru competition in Japan, the tickets had been sold out for a very long time but being an ex-skater, a few lucky contacts assured her a backstage pass. When Joan called Yumi and told her about the plan to visit Japan, Yuzuru's mom was more than enthusiastic, offering her house for her to stay in immediately. The girl didn't want to intrude, but her plans to stay a little beyond the WTT and maybe attend one or two days of the ice shows made it hard to find a place to stay without going way beyond her budget.

🪶

The world championships weren't amazing for Yuzuru, but he managed a silver medal despite the surgery, injuries, and training situation, surprising everyone once again.

He obviously wasn't happy with the result but knew that his body had limitations and he did his very best.

🪶

Entering the TCC for the first time in 2 years, a private session booked at night, just like she used to, Joan put her skates on and admired the ice in front of her. There was a chance this would go very badly. Unlike a lot of things, skating was definitely not like riding a bike, she knew it would take a bit of getting used to before doing anything. There was also the issue of still being in recovery, no matter how good she felt on the ice, the doctors had forbidden any jumps for at least a couple of weeks.

Unlike what she thought, when her feet stepped on the ice, everything came quite naturally. She did stumble on her toepicks sometimes, but it felt way better than expected. The glide came naturally, and soon enough, an intricate step sequence was flowing out of her without much effort. Joan had missed this.

Taking her phone and camera from the side of the rink, she mounted the camera in a way she could catch most of the ice and pressed record. Connecting her phone to the sound system, the Japanese song she had been working on started playing.

On the center of the rink, assuming a pose inspired by the movie, Joan started skating to the program on her head, stopping once in a while to check her notes and watch the footage on the camera, taking mental notes on what she wanted to change.

For weeks, Joan went to the rink and skated to that piece of music, trying to capture the essence of it as best as she could and making sure jumps could be incorporated. Once in a while, she squeezed in a double jump or when feeling bold a triple, just for good measure.

She knew how hard this program was, something in her wanted to make sure he would be the only one to be able to skate to it properly, but she also had to be wary of his asthma and endurance abilities.

April came and before seeing Yuzuru again, Joan wanted to finish her mission. She recorded one final version of the body of work that had been occupying her time. This would have to be a free program, so she added double jumps on the places she figured fit the best according to all the rules in place.

After being satisfied, she smiled while rewatching the program on the camera screen through a different light.

Taking her stuff, she could feel tiredness overcome her body, it was time to go home. She had a flight to catch the next day.

Arriving home, there was still one more thing to do before getting some rest. Turning her computer on, she quickly exported the videos recorded the same day and cut the part she wanted.

When finalized, she loaded the edited version on her drive and opened her email, sending the video to Yuzuru. The subject of that email only said "Promise kept" and she didn't write anything else.

After finally hitting the send button, relief overcame her. Joan thought about her upcoming trip and how excited she was to finally see the man who occupied all her thoughts for the past months, the only distraction to everything that happened the past year.

And she couldn't wait to arrive.