Unforgettable | Yuzuru Hanyu

14. Interest

Kana couldn't at all understand what was going on with her body when he spoke to her.

If anything, his odd and relaxed stance made it even weirder to her.

Gone was his aggressive and disturbing look that was thrown in her direction on that first day. Now she was meeting in his sweet gaze and kind words.

"Hanyu-san... I didn't expect you to remember me."

It was true, after all. Why would he even remember such a faint acquaintance when he was surrounded by other people who had been in the club for years?

"I'm getting older but my memory isn't that bad." Yuzuru couldn't even realize how out of place the joke was until it was leaving his mouth. He did understand the stupidity of it once he said it but it was already too late. "I'm... I'm so sorry..."

Kana surprised him with the most beautiful of giggles he had ever heard.

"It was a good one given my history, I'll have to admit it."

"I hadn't even realized until..."

He seemed so concerned about what he just said that she almost wanted to hug him. Well, it wasn't that hard to wish that when he looked like he did, but even still...

"It's alright, don't worry too much about it."

After just a few seconds, it was easy to tell that they both wanted the conversation to shift and he did it very swiftly.

"How has your training been?"

Those words were all it took for her to get excited again. If anything, her progress was something that she loved to talk about with people, especially those who actually knew what it was like.

"I've been doing doubles for a few weeks now and all my spins seem to be getting enough rotations! I know it seems like a small victory but..."

"It's not a small victory... I would say it's impressive given that it hasn't even been 2 months since you first started skating again."

The way he quickly corrected her seemed to bring a strange sensation to her stomach, some fluttering that was weirdly impossible to explain.

Yuzuru actually told her that it was impressive.

For someone who had once considered herself so independent, it seemed very stupid to be so happy with such small words but it seemed impossible to control how happy those words made her.

"You really think so?"

"Are you joking? I know your physical memory seems to be intact but even so, you're pretty much re-learning everything! I can assure you that any beginner would be ecstatic if they could jump doubles consistently after just a few weeks on the ice. It's not that easy for most!"

"Skating does feel very natural to me."

"It looks natural as well. I would even risk to say that you almost look as if you were born for it."

She blushed again at his words. Yuzuru wasn't saying anything out of the ordinary as he tried to encourage her but every single praise seemed to hit her core like nothing before. The effect this man had on her was still as crazy as the very first day she saw him.

One look around her and Kana could tell that nothing of this situation was usual.

She could guess that all of those little exchanged comments and gossip were about them both. Everything Yuzuru was doing seemed unconventional if she thought of everything that had been told to her in the past. He wouldn't approach other athletes as he did with her and the way he so excitedly called her name from the moment he approached put everyone on high alert.

They all wanted to know what was going on and why he was acting that way.

Frankly, so did she.

The thing with Yuzu, however, was that he did whatever the hell he felt like and he knew that he didn't owe a single bit of an excuse to anyone surrounding them. Whatever happened was purely his business and Kana's, no one else's.

So even if everyone seemed to be wondering about his sudden change of attitude, the truth was that it didn't exactly come with answers.

"Well, Hanyu-san, I'm sure you have more things to do than just compliment my average skating. I appreciate that you took the time to check on me. It does mean a lot."

There was no way he didn't understand that all of it was an attempt to dismiss the conversation. Still, Yuzuru didn't allow her to do that so easily.

"I'm not busy... it's still the off-season, I don't even have programs to train yet."

You could bet that the biggest question on her mind was why he was even in Canada. Wasn't this man supposed to be delaying his return to the North American country instead of being there so soon?

As weird as it all was, Kana already had more than enough on her mind to even think about worrying about yet another thing. All she wanted was to enjoy skating without having to think too much about what every small thing in his mysterious actions meant.

Given how he seemed to take some kind of interest in her, it was hard to know what to expect in their every exchange.

Kana barely knew this man but it was now painfully clear that he was completely unpredictable.

And the truth was that she couldn't really tell if she liked it or not.