Safe Haven | Yuzuru Hanyu

53.

T

he first news that Yuzu had arrived safely in Beijing came from the media instead of the man himself, but that didn't surprise her in the least.

From the moment he arrived, surrounded by people in hazmat suits, the cameras had been following his every step.

The star had arrived and the show was just beginning.

He texted Emma only a few hours later, telling her that they had arrived at the hotel and were finally settling in.

Covid measures looked fine and Yuzuru was feeling ready. As ready as one could expect.

The girl managed to call him on that night but he was obviously tired. Yuzuru fell asleep while their call was still connected, Emma whispering soft and reassuring words that everything would be ok. She was more than satisfied when he finally got his deserved rest.

Emma didn't want to be the annoying girlfriend who kept calling or texting him. Instead, she just allowed the skater to do things at his pace, watching what she could on the TV and keeping up with social media.

One thing she had to admit, Twitter was often a bigger source of information than anything else and she knew where to look.

It took just a few minutes for practice clips to show up in her timeline.

And of course, the madman was already jumping axels as if they were breakfast.

Worries stepped aside, she watched every video with a smile on her face, just happy to have some kind of crumbs of the man that drove her crazy every second of the day.

Later on, when they spoke again, he apologized profusely for being so out of it, as if Emma wasn't expecting it all together.

She knew better than anyone else that when he entered the competition mood, there was nothing a no one that could take him out of it. His priority was the Olympics, not her.

The worst was that she didn't even mind it. Why?

Because she knew that when it was all over, he would be hers once again. It was just a small sacrifice that she made for a whole life with him.

And even when the short program came and she watched every single second of his face on the screen, she had to remember that.

Emma was very wary of every single interaction around him. Yuzuru wasn't one to risk his health by ignoring safety measures from the pandemic, so when she saw a lady approach him, lowering her mask and saying something that got a small frown on his face, she was instantly pissed. Her warnings to him hadn't been in vain, she had long planned that if anything seemed wrong, Emma would be the first to catch a plane.

It wasn't even that hard to find. Yuzuru might have ANA, but Emma had the army, air force, and maybe even a few members of the navy right on her speed dial. One call and she could get there very soon.

Still, this was only just a short program and there was no reason to panic over something so easily.

Then Yuzuru entered the rink, a confident gaze in his eyes as he did his quick preparations to start his program. The stern face he carried was just another proof of how stressed he was and even if he started out beautifully, the damn Salchow ended up being his damnation.

A hole, she had later figured out, a huge hole.

Had this been anyone else, the skate would be interrupted and a repetition issued. Yuzu, however, didn't even try to appeal.

He finished the remaining program easily and effortlessly, never once doubting his ability to keep going. Only in the end did he go there to check the ice.

Emma understood why too. They wanted to ruin him and an appeal might have gotten him in a worse position than now.

Even as she saw the score of the short program, the girl wasn't happy at all.

They were playing a dangerous game, but right now, her job was to hear him out and see what he needed from her, whether that was comforting words or encouragement to focus on his goals.

After the score on the short was less than ideal, she expected him to do as usual and enter his classic self-depreciative cycle.

Strangely enough, he looked as if everything was fine.

Whether it was a good act that she couldn't figure out from the distance or already expecting something like this to happen, the Japanese looked calm and collected, ready to take on the next challenge.

The thing about Yuzu was that he enjoyed turning the result, and hopefully, that was his plan at that moment. His score made it almost impossible for a gold medal to be within reach if Nathan was clean in the free, but maybe since he never expected to win there, things were different in his brain.

No matter how well she knew him, there were still some details that she missed every once in a while.

And then he went to the practice for the free, looking all cool and casual about the whole thing. It kinda bothered her to see him so calm.

It would all end very quickly though...

Emma was watching the practice on TV and some things instantly jumped out.

Yuzuru looked ready, maybe more than she remembered, but a single fall would be the begging of the end.

And the only confirmation she needed was him tightening those skates as much as humanly possible and hoping that the pain would go away.

He was screwed.