Beyond the Sound | Yuzuru Hanyu

66.

5 years later

Maya stared at the little skater on the ice having the time of her life.

It was inevitable that her daughter would end up falling in love with the sport after spending almost every second of her childhood in those halls.

When Tracy offered to coach Kaiya, Maya had no idea what to answer. With a few of her freelancer works and the work at the TCC, she had been able to have enough savings to afford the sport, but she was still a bit reluctant.

The little girl, however, had been ecstatic at that prospect.

Kaiya had started about a year before and all Tracy could say was how she was such a natural on the ice.

More often than not, all Maya wanted to utter was that it was in her genes, but she knew how much that statement could make everyone look at her questioningly.

The investigation reached a complete stale a few years prior and Maya was sure that by now, the man that she had once believed to be her future, had probably found someone else to be happy with.

She had accepted it a long time ago.

All that Maya could do was raise her daughter to be an incredible woman and hope that maybe one day, she would meet her father in happy circumstances.

Obviously, she still checked on that man almost monthly to see what he was up to.

Yuzuru's success was undeniable. His professional career had grown so much that he was doing tours all over Asia, filling huge arenas every single time.

All she ever wished for him was happening so Maya could only be happy that he was safe and well.

By now, Maya had accepted that her little one would be a skater in the next years and just hoped it brought her as much joy as it did to her father.

"You seem to be reminiscing" Tracy said as she watched Maya's reactions to her daughter on the ice.

"The last years just went by so fast..."

"Have you considered that maybe those people have completely forgotten about you and that it might be safe to go back?"

"How could I even be sure of that?"

"It's been what? 6 years since you left?"

"Yeah... and I'm sure he already found someone else. Even if I could go back... I don't want to ruin his life now."

"Kaiya is still his daughter."

Maya knew just how right Tracy was but telling Yuzuru he had a daughter now was a recipe for disaster.

What she could've never predicted was that the skater would end up figuring it out in a very different way.

🎚️

It was just a random day at Cricket.

Maya was about to start her shift and Kaiya had her ice session in a few minutes as well.

It wasn't hard to notice the commotion around, but Maya had been working there long enough to know that it sometimes happened when one of the elite athletes showed up a bit earlier or something.

Yet, on that day, everyone seemed a bit more excited than usual.

She thought nothing of it and resumed her work as usual, heading straight to the front desk and ignoring whatever everyone seemed to be excited about.

Kaiya just went on the ice as usual.

The afternoon was very chill since not a lot of people had been going in and out of the building.

The whole routine was so familiar that Maya just got into her robot mode as she did her usual tasks. The rink was peaceful enough for her to enjoy the job, even after so long doing the same thing.

Her peace, however, didn't last long.

"Mom! Mom!" hearing her daughter call for her was so usual that Maya didn't even look at her girl before indulging her.

"What is it, honey?"

"We need your help."

At the sound of the pronoun "We", Maya turned to understand what daughter meant, only to stare directly into the face of the man that occupied her every thought for 6 long years.

"Maya?!"

He seemed even more shocked than she was, trying to connect the pieces and figure out her presence in Toronto, in his old skating rink.

"Mommy, you know Yuzuru?"

They were both staring at each other for what looked like a lifetime as the little girl tried to get her mother's attention.

He looked incredulous as if her presence didn't make any sense in his head.

And obviously, the presence of the little girl was something that was also on his brain.

"I do, yes. It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has."

Seeing him speak English stunned her slightly since it felt so foreign in his lips.

She half expected him to start screaming at her for being in front of him but Yuzuru looked oddly calm.

"You look well." she muttered.

"Yeah."

His eyes were still so focused on her that the little girl was staring at him with a weird expression.

"Yuzuru, you needed the marker." Kaiya reminded the skater of what he had come to get in the first place.

That seemed to take him out of his reverie.

"Yeah, I need a permanent marker."

Maya fumbled with the drawers and found what she was looking for in a few seconds.

The small touch of their hands and she handed him the small object brought electricity to her whole body. It was just like before for her, but then again, she didn't spend all of those years hating on the skater. Maya could guess Yuzu didn't feel anything like that.

"There you go." she said eventually, ignoring her daughter's look.

"Thank you... huh..."

"They are probably waiting for you."

Yuzuru was reluctant, everything on his face seemed like a huge question mark to answer but he had his responsibilities before any of that.

Still, Maya knew that she couldn't hide any longer.