Dangerous Lines | Yuzuru Hanyu

10. Skating

For all that it's worth, Yaeko did recover somewhat of her wits before Miko was done and came to her.

"Ah, I see you found Hanyu-san." The other girl joked right away.

"It's kind of scary"

Yae didn't mean to admit it too openly, but the other girl just took it as a joke.

"Prepare yourself, this city is surrounded by his face."

"Is it?"

"I guess it's what happens when you're somewhat of a local hero."

At that point in time, even if her feet gently walked behind Miko, the woman was completely lost in her own thoughts.

Local hero?

What were the odds of her ending up in his hometown? What were the chances of her finding herself closer to a man she should be avoiding in the first place?

Had her research been done properly, as it should have been, Yaeko would've known this by now and would actively avoid any places where he could potentially show up.

Right then, however? She was defenseless.

"Does he show up around?" Yae found herself questioning and forgetting how obvious she could sound.

The immediate reaction was laughter.

"In the middle of the day? Highly unlikely. As far as everyone's aware, he still trains here but after closing hours."

That tiny bit of information was incredibly relevant for her, not necessarily out of interest but because it assured her that there weren't a lot of chances that they would run into one another.

Not that it mattered much.

All of these fears of seeing him in person were purely in her head. The chances of Hanyu even remembering her were completely nonexistent.

As much as she tried to focus then, the whole place was filled with little bits of him. Posters, pictures, autographs... Miko wasn't joking when she mentioned he was somewhat of a local hero.

Then again, what did she expect when accepting the suggestion to go skating, out of all things?

Still, her focus could soon shift once it was time to actually try out the whole thing. Miko helped her place the skates on her feet and before she knew it, the scary ice surface was in front of her eyes.
That first moment before you try and enter the ice is always frightening, especially when you have never tried it before. But even so, she was a member of the Yakuza after all, how bad could it be?

Well, as it turns out, skating isn't as easy as it seems at first and she would learn it the hard way.
The truth is that Yaeko ended up falling before she could even attempt a step and if it wasn't for the obvious fact that she was in a very public location, she would have probably given up at the first chance.

Now being the clear source of amusement to Miko, who seemed to be having a blast to see her laying on the ice, Yae still laughed at herself in the end. One can never hope to be amazing at everything on the very first try...

In a way, the whole experience was refreshing. Once you're used to having everything done for you and didn't get to experience new things often, something about these kinds of things made her feel alive, especially once she was able to do a few dozens of meters on the ice without falling on her butt.

If anything, she didn't regret it a single bit. The decision to actually try it was one of the best things she ever did for herself and the experience would forever be engraved in her mind, no matter how it ended up.

As she skated around the rink, or at least attempted to complete a lap, Yae looked at her surroundings. She had expected more people to be there, especially given that Hanyu skated there as well and the popularity of the rink must have been high but even so, on that particular day, Yaeko could count with her fingers the amount of people present.

Besides her and Miko, only about 6 other people were skating.

A little kid who was probably no older than 5 years old went past her at a high speed. He was so good that it baffled her how someone so small could already be so good at the sport.

He definitely had training, but even so...

One thing was certain, that small boy was having the time of his life on the ice and it made her smile. It was no secret that she had never wanted children with her husband but on certain occasions, like this one, Yae found herself wondering once again how it could have been. If her husband was someone different, someone she loved and cared about, maybe she could have had a beautiful child like that boy.

Watching him, it didn't take too long until noticing that he wasn't alone.

Observing his every small movement was a man, weirdly dressed in oversized clothing and wearing a mask. It covered so much of his features that it seemed impossible to see his face.

For some kind of reason, this man grabbed her attention in a similar way to what she had felt before. The way he was dressed seemed almost strategic, it was as if he was trying to lay low. Yaeko understood that purely from her experience with the Yakuza.

Even if he clearly succeeded for most of those around them, she saw right through it.

And the truth was that even if she had realized it and was curious about the circumstances, Yaeko would never do anything to ruin it, especially when she didn't know the circumstances.

Until she heard his voice.

"Kaito, be careful with the other people."

Because she would recognize it anywhere, it was impossible not to when this man had been on her mind for so long.