Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

55.

In his dreams, Yuzuru would go to Beijing, skate perfectly to his Short, maybe somehow get the quad axel and leave with a Silver or Bronze medal.

Nothing could have prepared him for the unlucky strike of events that hit him during that competition.

He went into the short program as confident as ever. After a short call with Sophia, he was glowing and ready to shine.

Staring directly at the judges, he started his god-level program without a flinch.

Launching himself in the air for his Salchow, Yuzuru's blad caught up on something on the ice, making it impossible for him to get enough height to jump the four rotations planned.

A single Salchow happened instead of the quad. In figure skating, scoring-wise, a single jump is far worse than a fall.

Despite his otherwise flawless program, the first jump was very costly.

By the end of the program, Yuzuru finished with his head raised as he always did. His pride was there no matter what.

Doing a quick lap around the ice, it didn't take much effort to see what cost him that first jump. A hole that fit at least three fingers graced the slippery surface. Yuzuru touched it with a serious face. Being unlucky enough to jump precisely at that location was something only he could pull.

His blade marks were still visible on the ice and was easy to see that the hole was responsible for his downfall.

Leaving the ice, Yuzuru kept his tears for the private moments he would have. Now he was certain that he needed the Quad Axel to even have a chance of a medal.

He knew very well that people would call him crazy if he uttered that out loud, they would say that a clean program was more than enough to redeem himself, but Yuzu knew better.

He had been studying the judges' patterns for a while now. Yuzuru was keenly aware of the power they held in their hands.

For someone who wasn't even interested in going to these games, a medal wasn't even supposed to happen so risking it all, despite being selfish, was all that was on his mind.

That night, on a videocall with Sophia, she saw him cry and utter every single thing he wouldn't tell to anyone else. All the things he was scared of and all of his insecurities.

With all the strength she could muster, Sophia reassured him of how much he was loved, not just by her and his family, but by every single one of his fans. They kept the call turned on for hours until Yuzu could finally fall asleep and Soph could only smile once his face turned into a more peaceful state.

🎻

The next tragedy happened at practice for the Free.
Yuzuru was obviously doing drills of the Quad Axel when a nasty fall happened. He had enough of those to know that his ankle was once again reinjured.

Maybe it was fate telling him to stop with it all, but he wouldn't listen, not now.

Tightening his boot, Yuzu got back to practice without a word, no one would know about the injury until he was done.

The pain made it so that he had to reach for a doctor eventually after the practice. When they told him to withdraw, he didn't take it and asked what would be needed to skate the next day.

That night, the pain was dulled by the painkillers they ended up giving him. It was still quite present, but enough to allow him to rest.

Yuzuru didn't tell Sophia. Knowing his girlfriend, the girl would probably take a flight there and physically stop him from stepping on the ice.
The truth was that Yuzuru wasn't ready for the final skate of his competitive life to be that Short Program.

🎻

On the day of the Free, the pain was in a state that he could barely walk. The painkillers not doing much to make it any better.

Being checked by the doctors again, Yuzuru was offered an injection to skate, but as soon as they told him he wouldn't feel his ankle at all, the option was out of the question. It would be impossible for him to skate without any feeling and as a result, he went into that Free Skate without any pain medication.

If landing a Quad Axel was hard on a somewhat healthy ankle, landing it now with the pain he had was almost straight-up impossible.

Not that it stopped him from trying.

Yuzuru fell, of course, but his attempt was his best one to date, at least the one closest to rotation. He stood with all the strength of a warrior, continuing his program without a flinch.

At that moment in time, all sorts of thoughts passed through his head, even as he fell once again on the Salchow. The pain was ever so present but he continued and completed the rest of the program flawlessly.

As he raised his arms into the final pose, Yuzuru's eyes threatened no tear up with the mix of emotions that filled his heart at that moment.

Mustering all the strength he could, Yuzu said his last goodbyes to competitive ice. This was it, the last Free Program he would do as an amateur skater, the last competitive program of his life.

The pain was far gone from his brain as mechanical motions took over his body, going through the kiss and cry, disappointed with the results that were shown, but never losing his sense of self-pride and respect for others in the process.

One thought didn't seem to vanish.

Was it all in vain?