Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

35.

Joan arrived home from her shift too hyped to care about her tiredness. For the first time in years, she was actually excited for the next step of her career.

Even if she was moving to a completely different country with a distinct culture, she had felt more at home in Japan than she ever did in the UK.

Looking at the time, she noticed it was still way too early in Japan to try and talk with Yuzuru.
She ended up searching for a place to stay online. The girl quickly figured that Tohoku was divided into 3 major campus, but the one where she would have classes was located right in the middle of Sendai. It was crazy that she managed to get an offer on Yuzuru's hometown without even trying, but she wasn't going to complain.

Finding the perfect apartment is tricky anywhere, even when you have money to spend. It turned out it wasn't easy at all to find something in the Japanese town, making her give up on that for now. She could always stay in a hotel for a while until she found something good enough.

Looking at the time once again, Joan was too excited to hold back and wanted to tell someone. There was a possibility of Yuzuru already being awake but she decided to try and tell her mother first.

The older woman answered almost right away. Joan explained everything in great detail to her mother, not really allowing the woman a reaction until she was finished.

"The one thing I don't understand is why Japan? I figured you were still avoiding you know who" was all her mother answered, Joan really needed to update her mom a bit.

They spent about half an hour on the phone, the young girl explaining everything that had happened and how their relationship had been evolving and growing again. Her mother was clearly a bit reticent with the whole situation, reminding her about the past, but after Joan explained her reasoning, her mom concluded the talk with 'as long as you're happy'.

Settling on her bed, the most common place for her conversations with Yuzu, she texted the Japanese with a simple.

'We need to talk, call me when you're awake'

Yuzuru, on the other side of the world, had just gotten out of the shower when he saw the light of his phone appear with a notification and frowned immediately at the contents. What now? Was all he thought.

He quickly videocalled Joan to figure it out. She didn't look very distressed, which calmed him, but he was still very curious to know what they needed to talk about. Upon questioning the topic Joan replied with a simple:

"I'm not going to be working at the hospital anymore"

Yuzuru immediately assumed the worst.

"What? What happened? Why would they, when you're one of the best?"

"Did you just assume I was fired?"

"Why would you leave otherwise?"

"I quit actually"

Yuzuru looked at the screen with a silly still expression, not understanding anything of what the girl was telling him.

"Why? You love your job"

"I do" was all she replied, she was enjoying playing with him for a bit.

"Jo, what is going on?" He asked, almost in panic.

"I'm leaving London"

"You are? To where? The States? Toronto?"

"None of those"

"Huh?" Joan erupted into a laugh, she couldn't handle his expressions anymore. "Are you messing with me right now?" was all he asked.

"No, I really did quit. I got a PhD offer."