Finding Juliet [VERY slow updates]

Act IV

"What is this? Kenae, you've showed off again didn't you?"

A familiar voice echoed through the rink and everyone went back to their practices hurriedly, except the two of us. And Ke..nai? Eh?

Ken stepped backwards at the sight of coach Syoichiro. Coach grabbed him by the head and ruffled his hair.

"Yuzuru, did this girl cause too much trouble?" Coach grinned sheepishly. And girl?

"Girl? Ken is a girl?" My eyes widened.

A girl. He—I mean, she is a girl. A girl just did a perfect quadruple salchow. The last female who landed a clean quadruple salchow was Miki Ando, and it was back in 2002, in her Junior GPF. Is this kid for real?

But I'm glad that Ken's a girl. If she wasn't, the strange feeling I felt earlier..

"Don't call me Kenae in front of other people, coach. Ken is fine." Ken grunted, slapping coach Syoichiro's hand away from her head.

"Oh, I thought I was allowed to call you Kenae wherever and whenever I want, my dear Kenae." Coach said, which made Ken roll her eyes.

"Anyway!" Coach snapped me off my thoughts, "This is Ken. Well, you probably know that already since she caused a fuss earlier."

"I did not! I was just practicing my quad." Ken folded her arms and looked away. She then sneezed and covered her face with her mask once again.

"Practicing, whatever… didn't I tell you to just focus on your other jumps? Cause no matter how much you perfect your quads, I won't let you do it in a competition."

After that, Ken was quiet. She did a really great job earlier, why wont coach let her?

To break the awkward silence, I cleared my throat and offered a hand. "I know you already know me but I want a formal introduction so! I'm Yuzuru Hanyu!"

Ken, however, merely stared at my hand. Once she looked at me in the eye, she turned around and skated away, leaving coach and I alone. Also, she left my hand hanging. Okay.

"That kid.." Coach muttered, looking at Ken.

"Uhh.." I whispered, getting coach's attention, "How old is she?" I asked, putting my oh-so-poor hand down.

"Hm?" Coach raised his brow, "She's 16, the same as you. You both just entered the Senior level."

I gulped. "16!? I thought she was like.. 12." I embarrassingly rubbed the nape of my neck. No wonder why she's good. But I wonder why I never see her in competitions..

Coach Syoichiro laughed. "Yeah, most of the newbies here think she's someone younger but. She's my best student around, you see."

I knew it. What a shame, we won't get to compete against each other since she's in the Ladies Singles. But we'll definitely compete here in this rink. As practice mates, at least. It'll be fun.

"You know, she's good and all but.. what's with her attitude?" I couldn't help but ask. The way she talked to me earlier.. If I wasn't a bit more patient, and if she was a guy, I would actually hold her by her collar or something. And the way she just didn't accept a simple handshake? Really?

"Oh, don't mind her. She's so anti-social when it comes to the newbies. Her friends right now.. They were one of the few people who skated with her since the very beginning." Coach explained.

I gazed at Ken from afar. She's with like.. 3 friends at the moment. I wonder if they're her only friends? After all these informations, I still find her mysterious.

"I.. wanna befriend her somehow." I whispered to coach, still eyeing the gal. She looked at me and frowned before talking to her friends again.

Coach gave me a laugh. "Are you sure about that? You may be a Japanese rising star but Ken's a 'lil bit hard to handle when it comes to friendship things! You're no exception!"

I returned a chuckle, saying "I'm Yuzuru Hanyu, the 2010 Junior World Champion, the future Olympic Champion. Nothing's impossible!"

Both of us laughed again.

But really though… am I able to do it?

Later on, coach Syoichiro left me on the ice to do some paperworks of his. Eventually, the skaters became lesser, until like 5 of us are left.

I kept on trying some jumps, and I've landed 3… out of 7.

"Ugh," I groaned, rubbing both my legs. I guess my muscles had weakened because I've been off ice for so long. But maybe after a few stretchings or such, the old Yuzuru will come back.

I inhaled and exhaled, putting my hands on my waist. I skated around to rest, panting. My stamina was also affected, huh.

I side-eyed the rink side and found Ken sitting on the bench with a friend. I turned right and went to her. Time to test my friendship skills.

By the time I got to her, her friend left. I saw her grin at the unknown skater. It's the first time I've seen her grin. But then, it faded when she saw me.

"Hey, hi."

"Go away, kid." Ken quickly retorted, and I laughed. Calling me kid when we're the same age. This is gonna be harder than a quadruple axel.

I sat beside her, leaving a very very large space between us. "C'mon, I'm tired, I wanna rest for a bit."

"There's like, 5 other benches around." She answered, taking her phone out.

"Oh, don't you feel special? Among 6 benches I chose to sit here." I showed a small beam, and she looked at me. Glared at me, rather.

She turned her eyes back to the phone afterwards. "I don't."

"Ugh, come on, Ken-chan—"

Ken poked the center of my nose, holding it upwards. "Don't even add that honorific! We're not close."

When she released me, I frowned, rubbing my nose. Why did she even?

"That's the reason why I wanna be friends!" I exclaimed, still rubbing my nose. "It's not bad to befriend someone like you, right?"

"Would you please stop bothering me?" Ken furrowed her brows, packing up her things. She stood up and spoke, "Go and practice your jumps again or something. That is more important. You couldn't even land that simple quad toe loop. Considering you're a male that actually has quads in his programs."

I agaped. Ken's words shot through me, and it made me furious. I clenched my fists.

"Do you know why I didn't land that simple quad toe loop? I made a mistake. I closed my eyes. If you're wondering how was that a mistake, I'll explain it to you, missy. I came from Sendai. I was a victim of the magnitude 9 earthquake. My home was destroyed—my rink was destroyed. Everytime I close my eyes, I could see everything like it was a film being played in my mind. And guess what was my other mistake for today?"

I stared at Ken. She didn't flinch, but I could feel that she was shocked.

I continued. "It was trying to befriend a person with such attitude like you. What a waste of time. You're right, I should probably just practice my jumps."

Standing up, I sent her a glare before heading back to the ice.

"When you're like that, we'll never get along. And that's fine with me. I just wanted a friend in this new rink." I said without turning back.

"This is why you don't have friends."

∽☆∽

Ooooo it's only chapter 4 and a fight occured. I'm so great. Anywaysss! Hello. And yes, Ken is a girl, everyone. (*´ω｀*) Oh, I was supposed to update earlier but I was camping with my batchmates!! I really feel bad when I write Ken's dialogue…… idk. Haha :(