Deep Edges | Yuzuru Hanyu

51.

The time for Izumi to skate came soon enough. 

Just before she got on the ice, Yuzu gave her encouraging words, massaged her shoulders, and acted more like a coach than Nanami did. The woman just looked as if she was babysitting Akito, who kept trying to approach Izumi.

When she did step on the ice, her eyes were completely focused on Yuzu. Not on the judges, not on her coach, and definitely not on her fiance. They were focused on this other man, one that she knew to be one of the most precious people in her life, despite rarely seeing him.

She skated with a lightness that was rarely felt, maybe it was the fact that he had gotten her so relaxed had made things easier than what she was used to.

Even her jumps seemed easier. Izumi was still far from jumping quads. It just seemed impossible after fixing her technique again, but her trusty triple axel was working like wonders, and she would prove it as soon as it was time to present it in her program.

Clean jumps aside, the biggest difference in her skating was the time she now spent training her edges with her steps and turns sharper than ever before. Tsuzuki-sensei had trained her well but Izumi also took pride in showing this new side of her, one that was very inspired by a certain double Olympic champion.

Yes, because Yuzu had changed a lot of things in her life, but something that she hadn't anticipated was that he inspired her to always aspire to be better, no matter how good you already were, there were things to improve every single time.

It was with this in her mind and the utter will to have a good performance that she finished her program successfully.

If you were to ask her if she had any idea of her current placement before the scores were out, Izumi didn't know.

For one of the first times in her career, she didn't skate while calculating every point in her brain, she just skated as best as she could. The end result wasn't just dependent on her and Izumi had realized that worrying about it only made matters worse.

Maybe the change was also a part of growing up, not only as an athlete but also as a person. Things couldn't always be just about the finishing line.

Even so, that didn't mean that her placement in the competition was bad.

When the scores eventually came, Izumi took some time to realize that the score on the screen assured her the first place. When she did, the reaction wasn't effusive, she just smiled and looked at him. 

It was a matter of being proud of her performance. That was the only thing that mattered then.

Well, that and what Yuzuru thought of it.

Unlike what would probably be expected of her as an engaged woman, Izumi's first priority when she left the Kiss and Cry wasn't to run to her fiance. She ran to Yuzu, hugging him close as if her life depended on it, not giving a single shit about those around watching.

"You did so good." he whispered in her ear with a smile. "I'm very proud of you."

"You liked it?"

"Of course I did! You've improved like crazy."

"Thank you."

"And you looked beautiful on that ice."

A blush reached her cheeks with his compliment and in the end, it took Nanami fake coughing by their side to break them apart.

"Not that I want to say this, but you should probably go to your fiance." the coach muttered almost silently with an unconvinced expression.

Izumi was starting to think that she wasn't a big fan of Akito either.

She went to her fiance and it wasn't hard to note that he didn't seem very happy.

"Hey." she half-smiled.

"Hi."

They didn't hug, they didn't kiss. The whole thing was so awkward that you could cut the tension with a knife. He didn't even congratulate her good score but then again, it was becoming clear that he couldn't care less.

"You liked it?" she asked with uncertainty.

"You know I don't understand figure skating. I wouldn't be able to tell if you were good or not."

"Yeah, sure."

"You're all done here, right?"

"For today, yes."

"Great. Let's go."

He grabbed her arm and started dragging her body with his, only to stop when she used all of her core strength to make it impossible for him to drag her.

"I... I need to say goodbye to Nanami and Yuzuru."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

Akito was used to having Izumi stand up for herself but the chances for that to even be necessary were rare. It was only now, as he started showing his true colors, that she felt the need to establish what she wanted in a firmer stance.

"Izumi, I don't want to make a scene."

"Then don't. It's quick, I will just say goodbye and we can go."

"It better be quick, and I'm going as well."

Ignoring all of the red flags he was emitting, Izumi did exactly what she planned. One hug to Nanami, whispering thanks in her ear, another, more lingering hug to Yuzuru.

It was still shocking to her how amazing it felt to embrace him but that was something she needed to stop thinking about when her fiance was staring them down.

"Izumi, can we go now?" Akito quickly complained.

She felt Yuzuru's almost invisible reaction. His hold on her waist got tighter as if he didn't want to let her go.

Izumi, however, knew that she had to.

"I will see you tomorrow." she whispered to the man hugging her.

"If you need anything, you know where my room is."

It was with a nod that she parted ways with the other skater, smiling purely because of the joy he brought her.

That joy just didn't last that long, because just a few seconds later, Akito was dragging her to their room once again.