courage dear heart | Yuki Ishikawa

06

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" I entered and closed the door behind me.

In front of me was a table where our manager, Takeuchi, and a woman I didn't recognize were seated. On the other side of the table was a chair.

"Please, Na-bi, have a seat." I sat down, bowing my head slightly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Aiko Nakamura, the coordinator of this project. These are the documents with all the details the coaches mentioned earlier. Take your time, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask."

"Thank you." I read through the documents, which listed everything the coaches had already told us.

"I have a few conditions before I sign."

Nakamura picked up a pen, ready to take notes. "Go ahead."

"I'm not sure if they've already told you about my background," I began.

She nodded, so I continued, "I would like to use only my nickname, and not my full name, both in competitions and for any recordings—actually , if possible, I'd like to avoid being recorded at all."

She nodded as she wrote.

"I'd also appreciate it if this could be communicated to everyone, as I don't think I could tell everyone myself without forgetting someone."

"I'll inform the coaches to relay this to their teams. As for the sponsors, are you okay with being filmed only during snowboarding and not in the gym or at the dorm?"

That seems like a fair compromise, after all, the sponsors are paying me.

"Yes, that's fine," I replied. She wrote that down as well.

"Okay... anything else?"

"That's all, thank you." She had me sign the documents and then let me go.

I went to the next room, where the trainer, Takumi Sato, explained the gym program I would be following. The nutritionist, Kaito Matsumoto, took all the measurements he needed to adjust my diet plan, and had me fill out a form about my food preferences and any allergies.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll send you both schedules, and the kitchen staff will be informed so they can be ready right away. I'll be available every morning for a couple of hours in case you have any issues or want to make changes," Matsumoto said.

"As for the gym sessions, I'll be there to help you all," Sato added with a smile.

I thanked them both and headed to the next room.

Well, that step was quick.

I walked into a smaller room compared to the others. It had two sofas facing each other with a small table in between, on which there were pitchers of water and some glasses.

"There you are, Na-bi! It's a pleasure to meet you." Coaches Takahashi and Manabe shook my hand firmly, and I smiled back. "The pleasure is mine."

"So, tell us, what do you think about it?" they asked.

I sat on the sofa opposite them. "I think it's a great opportunity, especially for a rookie like me who still has a lot to improve on. I'm really excited to start. The only conditions I had to include in the agreement were to use only my nickname, Chō, and not to be filmed outside of snowboarding sessions. Other than that, I had no issues."

Coach Sato, who was leaning against the armrest of the sofa, nodded. "We'll make sure all the teams are aware of your decision. We're confident that this program will be a great help, especially for the upcoming Olympics next year."