AXIS | Yuzuru Hanyu

11.

Yuzuru gave her a small tour of the house while they waited for Ghislain. It was quite spacious for a Japanese house, but the decoration was minimalist, a mix of Japanese and Western culture, influenced by his time in Canada.

Ghislain arrived armed with 1 bottle of sake and some fuzzy drinks.
"Brought the drinks!" he said entering the room.

"Sake?" Yuzuru asked.

" We both know you drink occasionally, even if you deny it. Just admit you're a lightweight" Ghislain answered making them all laugh.

"I guess a cup or two won't do any harm..."

After a long discussion on what they should order, they decided on sushi. Apparently, Yuzuru was very peculiar about food and didn't like to eat out often.
They settled in the living room while waiting for the food. Ghislain immediately took the TV remote, asking Brianna what was her favorite Yuzuru program while the skater went to retrieve some glasses.

"huh... I haven't seen them all, Yuzu has been showing me one or two a week. But so far, I like Chopin's Ballade a lot."

"That's a great one. I still remember the Olympics, this one shocked everyone"
He said to a confused Brianna. "Let's watch it!"

He typed 'Yuzuru Hanyu Chopin Olympics' and clicked the first video that showed up. Brianna went numb when she noticed the number of views but decided against commenting on it. If she was surprised, nothing prepared her to see "2014 Olympic gold medalist" on the screen. She was utterly stunned when Yuzuru got back in the room. Ghislain, oblivious to it all, was happily focused on the screen.

"What are we watching....oh..."

"Brianna said it was your favorite program, figured we could watch it while we wait"

Yuzuru stared at Brianna's immobile figure and knew right away what was going on.

"Ghislain, can you give me and Brianna a moment please?"

She didn't even react to that, completely out of it.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just..."

"Okay okay, I will be in the kitchen."

"Thank you"

Yuzuru kneeled by her side and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to bring her back to reality.

"Bri... Talk to me"

"You're an Olympic champion..."

"yes." he said softly.

"you said you had a few medals... I never thought"

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't tell you... "

"Why?"

"Honestly? Because it was so easy. People always look at me like I'm not human. You were never like that. It was simple. And you even hated me the first time... Just refreshing"

"So, you're kinda famous?"

"Yeah..."

"Just because of an Olympic Medal?" Yuzuru laughed, he was the first Japanese man to win in figure skating, but that was for another day.

"2... And the world championships, a few other big competitions"

"wow"

"you're mad, aren't you?

"I'm not mad." she started " But I'm hurt that you didn't want me to know"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

"I understand, I really do. It's just a lot to process... You said 2, when did you win the second?"

Yuzuru pointed at the screen "Pyeongchang 2018. Chopin was the short, Seimei the free"

" Can we see it? I know you said no videos, but I've seen them in real life already"

"We can watch whatever you want. Can I call Ghislain back?"

" Yeah, of course. Sorry I overreacted"

"Shh... None of that" a hand caressed her cheek "You sure you're okay?"

When Ghislain got back to the room he looked worried. "Is everything okay? I did something, didn't I?"

"I'm alright now. Don't worry Ghislain..." she reassured him. "Should we watch this then?"

"I have an idea!" Yuzuru said, "How about we watch the whole final group?"

"Are you trying to show Brianna how good you really are?"

"No, but she can see different types of skating this way..."

"I like it... I never really watched anyone else besides Yuzu and the kids. Should be interesting"

They watched the performances by order, starting with Yuzuru. She loved every second of the video, the way every step hit a note, it was still one of her favorites. The girl saw the amount of pooh bears being thrown on the ice and made a mental note to ask him about it later.

When it came to the time to watch the next skater, Nathan Chen, the first thing she noticed when he entered the ice was the costume.

"What the fuck is he wearing?" making the two men laugh.

They made a small break in the middle to get food but kept watching as they ate.

Brianna watched all the performances, making some comments and hissing every time she saw someone fall.

When it came to the end, she found two eyes watching her intently.

"So, what do you think?" Ghislain asked expectantly.

"Yuzu is clearly the best, I'm not even talking about the jumps, that's the boring part. Even the guys that landed them all didn't have the same flow. And the costumes... They need to work on their fashion sense"

"Thank you for calling my work boring." said Ghislain jokingly.

"They are boring when they are not part of the choreo. Yuzu's jumps just blend easily so it's more interesting and captivating. But I'm not the best person to judge"

Ghislain then kept telling stories of Yuzu's competitive times, and the whole drama of his injury in Pyeonchang. It made her even more impressed at his feats.

Almost right after they finished eating, Ghislain had to go, since he was coaching in Tokyo the next day. They said their goodbyes and he made her promise to do a replay of the night another time.

Yuzuru left her alone for a bit to escort Ghislain to his car.

As soon as they were out of the door, the older coach asked the younger what happened to Brianna earlier in the evening. Yuzuru carefully explained everything as quickly as he could.

"you are an idiot, my friend. She would have to find out eventually"

"I know... At least that is out of the way. I just hope this doesn't change anything."

"No rush, just go with the flow and everything will be fine. If you need anything, you have my number."

They hugged goodbye and Yuzuru watched the car drive away.