Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

16.

Sophia tuned her violin with the watchful gaze of the pianist.

"We are not talking about it?"

"No"

"We could"

"Still no, Shinya"

"I just didn't expect you to steal Yuzuru's heart that easily. There are a lot of women that would love to be in your place."

"It's not like that with us. And that's exactly why I don't want to talk about it "

"What do you even mean by that?"

Their conversation was cut short by Yuzuru showing up. The skater smiled at the musicians, gaze a bit more focused on her, and went on the ice.

"Give me a few minutes to get used to the ice"

"Take your time" Shinya answered, "we can go back to our conversation, right Sophia?"

She looked at him, mouth slightly open in astonishment. "Absolutely not"

The pianist laughed but didn't dare to say anything else. He could see it was a sensitive topic that the girl didn't want to speak about.

Sophia could see Yuzuru's eyes on her, curious about the conversation.

Still, they moved on, and soon enough, the melody of Haru yo koi started playing. It was magnificent, the way he moved his body to the sound of the music, making it seem so effortless. Every note had a small detail, and every accent was better than the previous one.

It was amazing how surprised she could be after two weeks of watching him skate.  He truly brought the song to life, she knew she would be proud to be a part of this performance. One for the books for sure.

For the three next weeks, she performed the song with him, and the public loved every single one of them. On the nights they would do the same as the week in Kanazawa.

They simply wouldn't go beyond cuddling, but at the same time were now used to sleeping at each other's side. Even during the long Shinkansen travels, Yuzuru would always sit by her side. It was so obvious that a lot of skaters made jokes about how those two seemed to be glued by the hip.

In the last ever show of that year, she was feeling sad. The cast was almost like a family now. Sophia felt the same sadness as when she left for Japan, leaving her almost roommates for a whole month.

The difference now was that she suspected that it would be the last time she saw most of these people. The last time she saw Yuzu.

The girl could barely face him that morning, getting up as soon as she woke up and hiding in the shower for a while. Yuzuru wordlessly accepted her mood, he was also a bit sad and reluctant to accept that she would be gone the next day.

During the show, tears flowed through her eyes as her fingers brought the song to life, his song, his program. It was almost ironic that their whole agreement ended in zero sex and the end finished with frustration and sadness, not even sexy memories to say goodbye to.

Everyone around them was seemingly unaware of the emotional charge between them, but they did notice how the two avoided each other's presence when they could.

Shinya noticed both their moods and couldn't help but pull her aside after their performance with Yuzuru.

"What's going on with both of you?"

"Nothing"

"Don't you dare, Sophia. Even a few of the band members noticed the tension. It would be hard to tell if you two hadn't been so close before."

"I'm leaving tomorrow"

"Okay, So?"

"So?? Seriously Shinya?"

"You two know there are phones, you can still talk, it's not the end of the world. Long distance relationships aren't easy, but it's certainly better than whatever you have been doing today"

"We are not in a relationship!"

"You two are obvious, every single member of the cast noticed your exchanges and stares, Sophia"

"I'm not saying they aren't there. But we are not in a relationship."

"Then what is it?"

"Casual fun"

Shinya couldn't avoid the giggle that left him. "Casual? You can't look at each other in the eye because you can't bare to be leaving and call it casual?"

"Please, I don't want to talk about it"

"You don't have to do it with me, but you should talk with him"

Before she could answer, they were interrupted by one of the staff members, calling them to the stage for the finale.

Shinya's words were in her brain, she knew he was right. Yuzuru and her had a long talk ahead of them, maybe a sleepless night along the way, both too focused on the problem ahead of them.

Sophia knew what she wanted, him in her bed every night, not for sex, but like they had done up until now. But it was impossible, they both had their careers and their goals. Maybe it was better not to talk about it, it was certainly safer.

During the finale, Sophia still had her eyes watery. The man her gaze kept following also had his eyes bright, shining in the lights. She was sure it wasn't because of her, but due to the goodbye of the show for this year, the comeback to the competitive career that brought both joy and frustration. The comeback to Toronto and the long hours of flights to competitions.

As usual, the skater ended the show by thanking each skater and musician one by one. She was the last, like always.

Sophia couldn't help but notice how his hug seemed tighter. The emotion of it was all too much for her, tears freely falling now.

"Don't cry, I will cry too" he whispered.

"A bit too late for that" she answered, giggling a bit and enjoying what could be the last minutes in his embrace.

"We will talk tonight"

The determination on his face confused her, she had no idea what was going on in his head and part of her wasn't sure she wanted to know.

It was time for the goodbye.