Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

49.

Getting back to Toronto wasn't easy for Sophia.

She never expected it, but the girl eventually grew fond of the oriental country she spent the last couple of months in.

Not only that, the violinist was already used to Yuzuru's family, and it was a shame they had to leave.

But this wasn't just about her, and Yuzu had to go back to training at the Cricket Club.

Getting back to Toronto meant that Sophia needed to finally find a job or at least something to do more permanent than the occasional music lessons she was giving. She wasn't expecting the offer that greeted her by email, but something told her that Yuzuru had something to do with it.

An Invitation from the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra to solo for them didn't just show up out of nowhere, even for a recognized musician like her. Her sudden leave from the London Orchestra had already reached the ears of a few symphonies and she had a few invitations to answer in her email. The thing about all of those invitations was that they were all in Europe or the United States.

Of course, she could have tried to get a place in the Toronto Orchestra where she had been playing just a few months back on the tour before her life did a whole 360, but it simply wasn't in her heart to do so.

Teaching had been nice, but it was hard to have something stable when she wanted to be with Yuzuru as much as possible and go to his competitions.

The skater himself had been talking about a possible retirement and move to Japan when he noticed how much she loved his home country.

It was something she had to consider, her future with him. Because Sophia wasn't worried about her career. She had enough money to go by a few years without even caring about work, it wasn't her goal, because Soph hated not having anything to do.

When she showed the invitation to Yuzuru after he got out of practice that day, it didn't even surprise her that he seemed to be expecting the email.

"You had something to do with this." she stated, not even bothering to ask for confirmation.

"I just might have stated that you weren't doing anything at the moment... I don't have as much power as you think I do."

"If that was enough for an invitation..."

"Of course it was... Do you even check your email? Every Orchestra would love to have you playing with them."

"I don't know, Yuzu. I honestly don't want to go away from you, even if it's temporary."

"Give them a call... See what they expect of you. You can always start next year."

"What difference would it make?"

"I want to move back to Japan."

Sophia was surprised. They talked about this previously but she always expected this decision to come in a few years, not months.

"That soon? You always said after you retired... I thought you were focused on the Quad Axel now."

"I am... but I think I can manage to train alone or just through video calls with my coaches... I do it in the off-season all the time"

"Yuzu..."

"I know, I know. But I miss Japan, my family... The only reason why I'm still competing is for that Axel. It's my only motivation."

"Is this because of your injuries?"

"Not really... I feel like the scoring is changing and so is the sport. They are encouraging more Quads and the artistry is getting lost. Don't get me wrong, I think jumps are important, but so is everything else."

"You can just say you think they aren't scoring you right... Josh used to say that all the time."

"I..."

"You're Japanese, and your honor is more valuable than that. I know."

"Give them the call... see the conditions and we can work from there, ok?"

Sophia merely kissed him in answer. The possibility of moving to Japan so early wasn't one she considered, but nonetheless, if he was sure that he wanted to do that, Soph had nothing tying her to Toronto.

She called the number on the email and found that the offer was very flexible. They seemed to be honored that she even considered them as an option. They wanted her to do a similar role to the one she had in London, mainly as a 1st violin with a solo or two per show depending on the pieces played. The conductor was nice enough to give her his phone number and email, assuring her that she had all the time she needed to make a decision, even if it took a few months.

They continued their lives as normal, Yuzuru practicing for his upcoming competitions and Sophia giving occasional violin lessons to kids to avoid getting bored.

The 2019 season was a true mess, it started out great with Yuzuru's victory in the Autumn Classic and Skate Canada. It was the first time he had ever won that competition and he did it with the same programs of the previous year and under his girlfriend's careful watch.

After that event, and given that his next one was the NHK trophy, they made their unofficial move to Japan in the next weeks. Sophia ended up taking the offer of the Tokyo Orchestra because of Yuzuru's encouragement and will to go back to his home country.

The media wouldn't know it just yet, the skater did his best to keep the move under wraps with only a few close people aware. Brian and Tracy were obviously sad to see him depart, but made sure to tell him that he was always welcome back if he ever felt the need to do so. Meanwhile, Ghislain didn't seem to mind that very much, after all, he was spending a big amount of time teaching in Tokyo and could see his old student without many problems and help him through his Axel journey.

It was time for their new beginning, and none of them could wait to see what it would bring.