Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

51.

Yuzuru calmed down with Ghislain's arrival and did the practice for the Free program a bit more calmly.

Sophia's relief about this turned out to be short-lived. That GP final would end up being one of Yuzu's last straws of his competitive career.

The scoring of the free was frankly unbelievable. Even with Yuzu's mistake on what was supposed to be a 3A-3A combo, he skated incredibly. What was possibly one of his best performances up to date in a free program was ridiculously underscored by the judges, taking him any chance of getting that gold medal despite landing both a 4Lutz and Loop in the same program for the first time.

She saw right through his forced smiles and expressions. A little bit of his will to keep skating died that day, feeling as if there was nothing he could do to improve his scores. Not with a 5 quad program, not while reducing his steps' complexity to focus on the jumps... Nothing seemed to work. The decision of retirement had already been on his head, but after that day, it was more than settled.

The only thing that stopped him from turning pro on that very same day was his will to land the Quad Axel.

Even with the disappointment that was the whole competition, Yuzuru was gracious and received his medal applauding his competitors and always with a smile. The crowd cheered for him as they always did and his gala was beautiful. A rendition of Notte Stellata that could only make Sophia smile as he skated with all his heart. Their connection with this was almost as intense as it was with Haru yo koi.

He still left the competition hopeless and extremely tired. She begged him to forget going to the Nationals given his physical condition at the time but to no avail. Yuzuru was very stubborn and once he put his head onto something, he wouldn't give up until it was happening.

Not only that, he admitted that he needed to be there if he wanted to attend the 4CC the Next year. It was the one competition he never won and the one he would need for the Super Slam, an achievement no other man had.

Going back home to Sendai after the GP final had its challenges. For a few days, Yuzuru looked almost like a Zombie, only coming out of his spell to go to the rink and train. 

It was easy to tell that he was in a self-depreciating move that wasn't helping him one bit. The skater barely spoke to her at all and even went as far as sleeping in the guest room and barely eating.

It hurt Sophia that he seemed to think that distance from her was his best option. She wanted to be there for him, whether it was to be happy or to have him cry on her shoulder.

For a few days, she seriously considered that this had the potential to wreck their relationship. It was daunting how changed he was in those days and truth be told, Soph had no idea what to do.

The one thing the woman knew was that she wasn't just going to give up on them that easily. If Yuzu wasn't going to wake up and realize that losing a competition couldn't affect his life outside of skating, then she would make sure to bring him to reason.

Still, it took some time to gather the courage... 

Sophia only took the plunge a few days before the nationals,  after 2 weeks of his mood being consistently down. She was desperate and it showed in her actions.

He spent most of his time in the guest room, locked, and it was exactly where he was when she lost her patience.

Sophia didn't even knock on the door. She was pissed...

Barging into the room, she locked her eyes into his confused ones and cut his next words with her own.

"You shut up and you listen to me!"

"But..."

"Shut up, Yuzu!"

Noticing her mood, the skater didn't even try to say anything else, just allowing her to speak. It shocked him, this sudden explosion of hers, but he knew he had to listen to whatever she was about to say.

"I'm sick of your self-pity party! We get it, you lost... It fucking happens. Doesn't mean you're any less of an incredible skater."

"Soph..."

"Let me speak!" she almost screamed in rage. "I'm tired of you locking yourself up. You don't let me touch you, you don't touch me...I feel this relationship crumbling by the second."

Those words seemed to wake up something in him. Yuzuru didn't consider the effect his mood was having on their connection but as soon as she uttered those words, he was scared shitless that she was here to end everything.

"Baby...Please don't break up with me" were his words right after hers. His scared face showed exactly what he was thinking at that moment.

"What?" she reacted quickly, noticing what was on his head. "No, no...I don't want to. But you're making it harder and harder to put up with you every day. Not only that, you have to go to Nationals in a few days and I don't see you anywhere near ready. Not physically, but mentally." she added, knowing very well he would use the argument that he had been training.

As if by magic, Yuzuru was pretty much out of his trance, getting up from the bed he was lying on and closing the distance between them, hugging her as tightly as he could.

"I'm so sorry" he said in her ear and she couldn't be mad at him, not at her incredible and sweet boyfriend. Yuzuru had his up and downs, but in the end, he was the best man that she ever had.

"It's okay, as long as you're fully back to me."

"Yes." he assured faster than expected.

"And you will be sleeping on our bed! It's ridiculous that you're out here."

"oh? You missed me in bed?"

The change that his mood went through in the space of minutes was almost hilarious if not so serious.

"It's been two weeks, Yuzu... What do you think?"

"Allow me to fix that"