Dangerous Lines | Yuzuru Hanyu

41. Relocation

Their goodbyes weren't that long either.

Just as fast as they had reunited, Yaeko was being dragged away to what would soon be a changed life.

It was all a mystery, how she would be able to endure those months that followed but one thing was certain, her motivation was certainly high.

The one perk about Yuzuru being somewhat of a superstar was that she would have the chance to keep up with whatever he was doing, whether through social media or the news.

This was a man that lived very much privately but seeing him was already enough. Yaeko would take any little sneak peek that was possible.
Once she left him and that safe house, the relocation was almost immediate.

She only ever got to know where she was headed once they were already close.
Finding herself on the remote island of Kyushu was something she couldn't have expected.

One could think that such a small place would instantly know a stranger but right at the same time, the peace it brought was unmatched.

In the end, the city was bigger than she had thought it to be, filled with people who also didn't know one another and making it the perfect place for her to live unnoticed.

The PSIA provided her with a new identity, which came with a home, a job and enough funds to go around without much trouble.

It was a good life but that didn't mean she was happy. After all, that life had very little meaning.

Her job was as a cashier in a small instrument shop. Yaeko struggled in the first weeks to learn everything that there was to know between specs of different instruments and what most people would require upon the visit.

It wasn't hard to imagine that most of the people who chose to work at such a place would be musicians but for her, it was perfect given how peaceful the whole thing could be. Only a select number of clients every day and an easy-to-follow routine.

Throughout the whole thing, Yae kept in touch with agent Miura, who kept her mostly informed about everything that was going on with the case.

Truth be told, her testimony alone would be crucial for everything. All of the things that she witnessed through the years would certainly be important when the time came.
Still, the proof she had gathered went far beyond that.

Yaeko wasn't one to judge too fast or even think of people in a bad way but her husband deserved everything that was going on. For one, he had been so convinced that she was an obedient wife that he had several papers lying around in their shared bedroom, very important ones, for that matter. It was so casual that she had considered that he was onto her.

Proof of illegal business deals and money laundering wasn't even hard to find in the vicinity of her surroundings.

Once again, as she remembered the whole thing, Yaeko could only think of all the times when those idiots of bodyguards and her husband had allowed her to be around and free in their bedroom without a single concern.

Did her husband really take her for a fool?

Yaeko spent those last months in Tokyo photographing and scanning documents at any given opportunity and that was the solid proof that they needed for the case, combined with her own testimony.

All she needed to know now were the grounds of accusation and what storytime she would need to choose because there was certainly a big array of them.

Waiting was the hardest part. Going to Saga, Yaeko knew well that she would have to keep a low profile and engage in as little social contact as possible.

Maybe it felt like a prison but it wasn't so different from the life she was leading before.

The one key difference and one she had quickly understood to be impactful was that she couldn't contact a certain figure skater.

There was no denying that she was following his every step closely, seeing what he had been so busy preparing while they spoke.

Yaeko was very curious to know how this next show would be and most importantly, where he was planning to go.

Because you could be certain that if he was anywhere near her, she wouldn't be able to resist a chance of trying for tickets.

As wrong as it was, the lingering feeling of missing that man was stronger than anything. Yaeko would willingly go for that chance and have the possibility of seeing him in person again, even from afar.

Life on the island was boring at times with no one to talk to. Most of her interactions were still with the agents or lawyers who came to her every week to discuss details of what was going on.

The PSIA had arrested the whole Yamaguchi-gumi in the span of just a few weeks. It was the biggest-scale operation against the Yakuza ever recorded and everyone seemed to know about it.

Truth be told, Yaeko hadn't really considered the impact of the whole thing and just imagining that trial now was terrifying.

Everyone would know her face, everyone would be watching as she brought her husband's organization to the ground.

Stupidly enough, Yaeko had a feeling that for a lot of Japanese people, what she was doing could be considered shameful. Betraying the family was something genuinely looked down upon, even if that said family was the Yakuza.

Thinking carefully, she couldn't care less.
It was now her chance to bring them down and she would do it without a single bit of shame.

It was time for them to pay for the atrocities committed.