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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They had slept very long and very deeply, quietly and without interruption, almost 10 hours. The excitement of the previous day had taken its toll.
When Yuzuru woke up, he saw her immediately. Ayame was lying close to him, but he couldn't see her face because she was curled up at his side like a sleeping cat. She was really here, he wasn't dreaming.
He felt her warmth, heard her breathing calmly. He looked at her tenderly, felt a great longing for her... it seemed an eternity since they had made love. So much had happened in the meantime... Yuzuru sighed softly.
He certainly didn't want to wake Ayame. But, bathroom was calling him. So he got up very carefully, went into the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind him.
Ayame woke up as soon as he was gone. She stretched a little and realized at that moment that she was alone. A shock ran through her! Where was he, where was Yuzuru?
She touched his side of the bed. It was still quite warm, so he couldn't have been gone for long. At that moment, he came back from the bathroom.
"Good morning, Aya!" he smiled lovingly at her.
"Yuzu, go... good morning my heart!" Ayame blinked at Yuzuru in his shorts. He looked stunning, with his tangled hair, and was just very, very sexy as he slowly approached her now... she gulped.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at her tenderly. She slid over to him, put her head on his lap and looked at him. He stroked her hair, leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. She sighed comfortingly, still a little sleepy.
"I long for you very, very much, my flower!" he began, "I would just love to celebrate our great love with you right now..."
Aya looked up at him with wide eyes, but said nothing. She saw the desire in his dark gaze. But he did nothing to match that look!
Yuzuru closed his eyes briefly, took a few deep breaths and finally looked at her again. His gaze had changed.
"We have to sort things out with Yumi! Only then will I be free again and able to give you all my love." He bowed his head a little. It was visibly difficult for him to resist the attraction Ayame had for him.
"I miss you too... so much!" she said. She was also finding it anything but easy not to give in to her longing for him. "But you're absolutely right... we have to solve this first..." she continued.
Yuzuru just nodded.
Ayame sat up and looked at him tenderly. "Let's wait for each other a little longer. We can do this, even if it's terribly difficult for us!"
Yuzuru looked at her with a look that was so full of love that it almost hurt. He took her gently in his arms.
"Soon, Aya... soon!" he whispered to her.
***
Ayame looked at Yuzuru thoughtfully over breakfast. He was a mystery to her!
"What is it?" of course he noticed that she was in thought.
"Hm, I don't know, but... where do you get all this strength from? And this iron will! Yesterday... you were... at the end. And today? Look at you, you seem as if nothing has happened!" she asked him, frowning.
"Mhm... I don't really know myself. I'm just like this, I've always been like this, apart from the current crisis I've slipped into..." He thought for a moment.
"I'm sure I owe a lot to Toshiro's ice therapy today! It does something... almost magical. I have this strong connection to the ice, as you know by now. But the therapy releases something extra that I don't quite understand myself. I always used to feel incredibly invigorated when it was over, even though the initial situation was always difficult." Yuzuru tried to explain how he felt and what was going on with him.
Ayame just nodded, still pensive. She would probably never fully understand how he functioned and what drove him or held him back.
"So you're ready to talk to Yumi then?" she finally asked him.
"Hm, yes... definitely! We need to sort this out. And you're still here too... that's the big difference to before, when I often had to deal with everything on my own..." he smiled, took her hand and kissed each of her fingers individually.
***
After breakfast, Yuzuru called Toshiro-sensei again and told him that he felt well and that the night had been good and restful.
"No noticeable after-effects?" the doctor asked.
"I certainly don't notice anything. Maybe something will come later... But everything feels fine at the moment."
"Very good, Yuzuru! Pay attention to the signals your body and mind are giving you! And please think again about meeting with Kobayashi-san, the psychotherapist. I could imagine that she could help you right now. I'll be happy to send you her contact," the doctor suggested.
"Mhm, yes, that's right, thanks, I hadn't thought of that! I'll definitely will contact her soon."
"She really is an expert in her field and, like me, specializes in athletes. You don't need to explain the basics to her! Oh yes, and wait to watch the video from yesterday, will you? It's best to discuss it with Kobayashi-san too."
"Yeah... I don't feel the need to watch it anyway... There's only one thing left for me to do now... Yumi! I'll call her right away."
"Excellent! Very well, I don't want to slow you down, everything has been said already. Do what you have to do now. And feel free to contact me at any time, yes?"
"Yes, I'll do that. Thank you for your support!"
"Of course..."
***
After the phone call with Toshiro, Yuzuru didn't want to waste any more time. He asked Ayame if she was ready to see Yumi.
"Yes... I am!" Ayame nodded firmly.
"Good!" Yuzuru pressed Yumi's speed dial. A ring and she picked up.
"My son..."
"Good morning, Okāsan!"
"Go... good morning, is it a good morning?"
"Well, yes, I think so. I'm fine, and so is Ayame, so..."
"Please, Yuzu! May I join you? We... we need to talk!" Yumi blurted out. You could tell she had just been waiting for her son to get in touch.
"Yes... Okāsan, that's why I'm calling you. Please come over as soon as you can!"
"Thanks Yuzu, I'm practically on my way!"
"Good... I'll see you in a bit then!"
Yuzuru had hung up and was now looking at Ayame, visibly nervous and sighing loudly, she nodded reassuringly at him. It wouldn't be long now before they would try to settle their argument...
