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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Ayame and Yuzuru visited his parents after the team meeting. Yumi really wanted to be brought up to date, and Hidetoshi didn't even know Ayame personally yet. It was time to finally catch up! And he liked her from the very first moment.
Ayame also got on immediately with the calm, thoughtful-looking man, in whom she recognized some of Yuzuru's character traits.
They had a delicious lunch in the best of moods and now had a nice, relaxed afternoon together. Yuzuru told his parents everything, about the concept of the new show, the team meeting and that everything was now on track.
He also mentioned that he had introduced Ayame to the team's inner circle as his girlfriend and woman at his side, then putting his arm around her and leaning against her tenderly.
Yumi gave them both a knowing look, took Hidetoshi's hand and squeezed it. She could see how much Yuzuru loved Ayame and how good the time at the lake house had done them after all the difficult moments they had had before. She didn't need to know the details...
"How lovely, you two! I can see you're happy and the days together in the solitude of the lake have given you everything you needed..." she said smiling.
"The most important thing is that you're back on track, Yuzu," Hidetoshi added. "It wasn't easy for your mother and me to see you suffer like that..."
"I know, Otōsan! I'm sorry for causing you so much worry. But, I also have Ayame by my side now, who will help make sure nothing like this happens to me again!"
He pulled Ayame, who was sitting next to him on the couch, a little closer and kissed her. He didn't care if his parents were there. He wanted them to see how serious this was for him.
Tears of joy welled up in Yumi and Hidetoshi's eyes. They hadn't seen Yuzuru this happy for far too long!
Nevertheless, Yumi still had something on her mind.
"How will you handle the public? I mean, how will you behave outside?" she wanted to know.
"We've thought about that, of course," Yuzuru reassured his mother.
"The days in the house have also given us the opportunity to think it all through. Apart from the members of the team's inner circle, who we've all met today, no one will find out anything. At least not yet," Yuzuru explained to his parents.
"Ayame is being introduced everywhere else as my new personal assistant. At the moment, she's officially my housekeeper too... but we'll change that soon! I don't want her to continue working for me in this position. Working as my assistant should be her main task, and that's what I'll pay her for."
Yumi raised her eyebrows.
"Yumi-san, don't worry, I'll continue to take care of everything, just like before. But... it's my home now too... and I would do that anyway!" Ayame added. "Yuzuru wants me to earn my own money, but no longer in the shared household, but actually as his assistant."
Yumi nodded. The worry that Yuzuru's household might sink back into chaos was gone.
"Mhm... That all sounds well thought out and proves to me that you are very serious about each other and want to be careful. That's very good, because we don't want to go back to..." Hidetoshi hesitated.
"I know, Otōsan, we don't want to repeat the drama!", Yuzuru said.
"Very good, dear ones! I'm very pleased with how everything is turning out right now."
You could see the joy on Yumi's face. "Let's have a nice cup of tea together now!"
***
In the evening, Yuzuru worked on the song list and the production schedule. He wanted to present both to the team the next day. He was concerned with costume rehearsals, recordings for the videos, editing times for the songs and which songs should be played live.
But the most important thing was the date! The premiere was to take place on his birthday again. But there was a problem: it was a Monday, and Yuzuru knew that this was not a good day for an event!
"I don't know..." he mused, sitting on the couch with his laptop on his knees as he often did. "Who would go to an ice show on a Monday? People would have to take time off... a Monday is really not a good day for a premiere... but, it's very special this time. It's like a rebirth after my crisis! That's why I really want to go through with it! Even though everyone will tell me not to... what do you think, my flower?"
Ayame was sitting at the other end of the couch, holding Pooh-san in her arms. She had stretched her legs up to Yuzuru and was now playing around with her toes on his thigh.
"Hey, that tickles!" he squeaked. "And Pooh helps too when you torture me!" he shouted indignantly and laughed at the same time.
Ayame just laughed and looked Pooh in the eye. "Winnie, shall we tell him?" she asked the yellow bear. He seemed to agree.
"Yuzu..." said Ayame, "you know that the Fanyus take time off to see you anyway! If they know long enough, they'll do it on a Monday. And, who knows, it might even be an advantage. Then they can go to the Grand Prix Finals in Tokyo at the weekend and then see you in Saitama on Monday as the icing on the cake."
"Ha, like anything interesting is going to happen at the Grand Prix Finals!!! Oops, did I just say that?" Yuzuru grinned and slapped his hand over his mouth in mock indignation. He still couldn't help but let out his old anger at the ISU every now and then.
"So much the better!", Ayame teased. "Then everyone will just come to see you!"
Yuzuru grinned. He had had to celebrate his birthday so many times at this competition, and he had not always been judged fairly by the ISU jurys at the end of his competition career. This encouraged him all the more to choose this date. It somehow seemed fair to him!
"Then it's fixed! The premiere will take place on Monday, December 7, 2026, at 3:20 p.m., paraphrased 32 - ha! No matter how unusual that may seem: that's how we do it!"
