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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Fortunately, Yuzuru had reached Keiji straight away, albeit while he was working as a figure skating coach at the Hyogo Nishinomiya Ice Arena in Ōsaka. Nevertheless, Keiji found a few minutes to talk to his long-time friend.
"Yuzu! Finally... it's so good to hear you!" said Keiji, sounding extremely pleased. He hadn't been able to find out anything about Yuzuru for a long time. When he had heard that his friend had canceled all his appearances and that they wouldn't be meeting at „Fantasy On Ice", he had been very worried.
He had tried to contact Yuzuru, but he had gone completely offline, not answering any phone calls during the worst of his crisis. Not even from friends.
"Yeah, it's good to hear you again too, Kei! I'm... I'm sorry I've been in hiding... but... I've been really, really bad!" Yuzuru began.
"Oh no... I knew it! It's not like you to just cancel all your appointments and not let anyone hear from you at all. So it must have been serious. There wasn't much to find out from the serious media. And I couldn't reach you personally."
"The media didn't know what was really going on... well, I'm better now! But, Kei, you're working, and I don't want to disturb you!" hesitated Yuzuru.
"Yeah... that's right, my student is still warming up... but I'll have to take care of him in a minute!" he laughed. "For now, I'm just glad that you can... well, talk to me! We'll discuss everything else and the details another time, ok? I want to know everything, of course, provided you want to tell me!" Keiji said sympathetically.
"Absolutely! I'll tell you everything... I'll definitely get in touch about it, maybe we can meet online and at least see each other somehow there..."
"Good idea! Because I'm not coming to Sendai soon... But, why are you calling now, do you need anything?"
"Yes... hm... I have a very specific question... do you still have your grandparents' hidden cottage? At Lake Tazawa?"
"Of course! You don't give something like that up. It's wonderful there, you know how it is... We now even have a caretaker who keeps an eye on everything when no one from the family can be there for longer. Like right now! I have to work and my parents are out of town. So it's not used at the moment," Keiji reported.
"Oh, that sounds perfect! Because... I wanted to ask you... if I could spend a few days there?" Yuzuru spoke up.
"Yuzu, that's a very good idea! No one will bother you there, the internet connection is a disaster, so you'll have peace and quiet!" he laughed. "I can tell the caretaker to look after you a bit, if that's what you want. Bring food and stuff... And don't worry about your privacy, Honda-san is really very discreet and a figure skating fan! He knows you, of course, and will understand that you need peace and quiet," Keiji suggested immediately.
"Kei, that... that would be great, perfect! It's just...," Yuzuru fumbled a little.
"There's something else?" Keiji knew his friend.
"I'd like to bring someone else, if I may..." he finally managed to get out.
"Ha, a woman?" Keiji got straight to the point. "You old philanderer, I knew it!"
"No, Kei, not what you're thinking again!" protested Yuzuru. "It's... it's... something very serious... between Ayame and me!"
"Ayame, then? Listen, Yuzu: I'm very happy for you, honestly! It's about time you could finally put all the bad things that happened to you behind you. It seems there's someone there now, and her name is Ayame... Of course you're bringing her with you! Enjoy your time at the lake!"
Keiji was happy about this news, he had often worried about Yuzuru's relationships, especially after the divorce, it had gotten worse and worse. Now there seemed to be a turnaround, and he was honestly happy about it.
"Look, I'll let the caretaker know after practice today. Tell him to prepare everything for you, stock up on food etc. I'll send you his number and you can discuss the details with him directly, when you want to arrive and so on. What do you say?" Keiji went straight into the planning.
Yuzuru swallowed on the other end of the line and didn't say anything at first...
"Yuzu? Are you still there?"
"Yeah... yeah... I'm just overwhelmed by your friendship! Even though you haven't heard from me in months, you're now helping me so generously and without asking much. I... thank you so much, Kei! From the bottom of my heart!" Yuzuru was very touched.
"But Yuzu..." Keiji said, "you would do exactly the same thing! After all, that's what friends are for, right?"
"Yes, you're right, Kei! Thank you anyway..."
***
When Yuzuru saw Ayame and his mother sitting at the table, extremely familiar and engrossed in conversation, he didn't just think about how happy he was and that he wanted to give Ayame all his love.
He also thought about how she had taken away his loneliness. Just a few months ago, the prospect of a few nice days together with a woman he loved so much would have seemed completely unattainable. But, there she was now...
It seemed like an eternity, but it had only been seven days since she had given herself to him. He felt all those feelings rushing through his body again, he hadn't been able to hold her in his arms like this for far too long, definitely far too long!
And now he was allowed to tell her that they could actually go to a wonderful, secluded house by the lake together...!
He entered the living room and the two women looked over at him.
"Good news! Aya, we can use the Tanakas' house, we could leave practically immediately if we wanted to..."
Yumi was the first to realize what that meant. "But then you'll have to prepare a bit more and, above all, pack. I'll take care of the house and the fridge here. Ayame-san, you don't have to worry about that!"
"Yumi-san, thank you very much! That was just a thought of mine too..." Ayame was delighted with the offer.
"Hopefully not the first thought..." Yumi winked at her. She managed to make Ayame blush again.
Yuzuru was almost a little jealous of the good connection the two women had with each other.
"Good, good... Aya, I think we can pack in peace. I'll tell you what you should take with you. If we need anything else, we'll buy it at a konbini on the way," he explained eagerly.
Ayame nodded in confirmation and was very pleased with Yuzuru's visible enthusiasm and exuberant energy.
"Good, then I'll leave you now," Yumi said. "Yuzu, I have the key to the house and I'll just take care of everything here while you're gone. When do you want to leave?"
"Thank you so much, Okāsan! Hm, I think tomorrow morning would be good. Then we'll be there in the early afternoon and can enjoy the day there. What do you think, Aya?"
"Sounds perfect. Everything is fine here in the house so far, I'll do a few little things, but then I'll be ready to go!"
"Great, then everything's sorted and we're off tomorrow! I'm so looking forward to it!" said Yuzuru with shining eyes.
Ayame felt great anticipation welling up inside her. A few days alone with Yuzuru in a cottage by the lake, it just sounded too perfect to be true!
