This is the story of Ayame, a young artistic gymnast who, due to a stroke of fate, can no longer practise her sport. In search of a new purpose in life, she comes to Sendai from her home town of Sapporo by chance to work in the house of a famous fig...
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The gliding. The cold, which briefly took his breath away. Then the feeling that somehow he suddenly no longer felt any weight. Everything felt so light, without effort.
Yuzuru glided slowly across the ice. He joined the five remaining skaters, who nodded to him here and there in a friendly and relaxed manner. He returned their greeting. They knew who he was, of course. But they left him alone.
He did the first lap. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurumi join Ayame and wave to him sheepishly. He raised his hand slightly, waved a little, and then continued his glide.
He did nothing exciting, slowly getting used to the ice again, just the basics, skating one step at a time. And suddenly he felt the joy of being on the ice again, he suddenly felt at home... How had he managed without the ice for so long?
Thoughts lost their meaning, the world around him blurred and he became one with the icy surface. He closed his eyes briefly, only to open them again and suddenly change direction and skate backwards. He accelerated.
The other guests on the ice rink were noticeably watching him. Somehow they all suspected that he hadn't been on the ice for a long time. After all, the news of canceled performances had been announced everywhere without giving exact reasons. And so they made sure that he was able to skate in peace despite their presence.
Yuzuru felt that he could trust his body again. Everything felt good, exactly like at his off ice warm-up... no stinging, no pain, no weakness.
He began with a sequence of steps, executed across the entire ice surface, which was so typical for him. Precise, fast, elegant and expressive. He closed his eyes whenever he could. Good... go on!
A combination of spins, the speed was nice, the spin excellent.... very good! Next... a choreo sequence, the arms were stable, the back flexible. It felt great. Now a few individual jumps to see if the body still knew what it had to do... Yes, everything was fine.
He came back to the boards for a moment, took off his training jacket, placed it next to Pooh-san and took a sip from his water bottle. He remained absolutely focused, not letting anything distract him.
On he went. A few more laps. Then the first multiple jump. He opted for the salchow, double to start with... Well executed, he had no problems with it. So he did it again. Picking up the pace again... triple Salchow. And perfect again.
In the meantime, all the other skaters had left the ice and were watching from the boards. Yuzuru hadn't even noticed, he was so lost in his world again...
A quadruple jump now? Why not? He was more than ready to give his body this task again. He now drew the combination in the air with his hands, showing himself the way.
Then cross steps and pick up speed. The quadruple toeloop, an Euler, and a triple toeloop with raised arms. Yes!! His body had accepted the decision to perform the complex jump combination.
The guests on the sidelines suddenly applauded and Yuzuru felt the desire to show what he was able to do. He picked up the pace again and went for the triple Axel, his favorite jump, but also his biggest enemy when he wanted to perform it as quad. Triple now!
Perfect landing, transitioning straight into the spread eagle, a short step sequence and the hydroblade - great! But don't get too cocky now!
Another enthusiastic cheer and Yuzuru glided to the center of the ice and bowed to his small, exclusive audience.
Toshiro-sensei would reprimand me if he had seen that... he thought to himself and smiled. His breathing was labored, but everything was fine and under control.
Yuzuru skated to the boards in steady steps. He saw Ayame sitting calmly in her seat. He couldn't tell how she was feeling. He felt great himself and now he wanted to share this feeling with her.
The other guests bowed politely in his direction, which he returned with a nod, and then left. They obviously didn't want to disturb him and their ice time was over anyway.
Kurumi was no longer there either; she had taken the empty cup with her. Her duty in the cafeteria had probably come to an end by now.
Yuzuru only now realized how late it had become. He hadn't noticed, the time had just flown by.
"I was on the ice for an hour?" he asked Ayame in astonishment as he stopped by her on the boards, a handkerchief from Pooh-san in one hand and his water bottle in the other.
"Yes, it was actually a little more than an hour," Ayame confirmed to him with a smile. "Oh! It didn't feel that long..."
"So, how do you feel?" Ayame wanted to know eagerly. She had watched quietly the whole time as Yuzuru slowly but surely got more and more into his stride and in the end had performed his jumps without the slightest uncertainty. It had been great to watch him!
"I feel great! It's as if I've never been off the ice. Everything is there, the timing, the speed, the confidence in my body.... Ayame, I'm so happy that nothing has been lost!!" He beamed, and she beamed back.
"I'm also very happy that it went so well for you. Congratulations on your comeback on the ice!" and she applauded silently.
Yuzuru had refreshed himself a little and Ayame sensed that he wasn't done for the day. He stood there, thought for a moment, looked at her for a long time and closed his eyes briefly.
"I'm still running one of my old programs. It's more than ten years old... but I think it's a good fit for today!"
And with that, he slid back to the shelf, threw the handkerchief into the small bin bag he had attached to it, put down his water bottle and searched on his cell phone - which he had previously connected to the ice rink's sound system - for the song he wanted to run to. Then he closed his eyes again and just stood there for a while.
Ayame watched him. She noticed the small movements he made in silence and thought that he was perhaps visualizing what he was about to do on the ice...
Then the first notes of a song that Ayame immediately recognized rang out over the rinks speakers. It was a song by Che'Nelle, "Believe"...
Yuzuru immediately joined in and began the choreography.
