Of Angels and Phantoms

Chapter 36- Birthday wish

Hello! 

First of all, I want to apologise for the 3-month hiatus :( I've been the busiest I've ever been this year, and work just piles up every week...plus it's competition season for me now, so I'll still be busy with training and duties etc >_< I really wanted to finish this story by this year, but it's not gonna happen anymore...but I'll still do my best to complete this story! Thanks for sticking around all this time, and also, greetings to my new readers! Hope you guys are enjoying this ^^

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I arrived at Sendai one week before Yuzuru's celebratory ice show in his hometown, two days before Javi as he decided to return to Madrid to spend some time with his family first. Yuzuru's mother invited me to stay over. While I felt bad for imposing, money was an issue. Well, whatever. It's better than making him spend another few thousand dollars from the budget for my lodging.

"Have you learnt the dance sequence yet?"

"Eh...not really. I saw it once, but I haven't tried it out." I scratched my head, shaking my head. "Sorry."

Yuzuru laughed reassuringly and helped me with my luggage as we slipped out of the airport as quietly as possible, watching out for mega flash cameras. Luckily, the media had not been tipped off about Yuzuru's appearance at the airport and we escaped safely with just a couple of onlookers and fans passing by.

"You must be a hometown hero, eh?"

"So are you."

"Nah. They still prefer Tess and Scott. And Chiddy..." I replied, following him to the carpark. "I'm still in the red for skipping Olympics."

"Eh, the Fed's still onto you for that? You already got the medal from Worlds...and it's not like you skipped without an excuse."

"Well, the Fed is still the Fed, right?" I shrugged and laughed it off. "Anyway, thanks for picking me up. I could have made my way to your house by myself, though...it's not like I haven't been there before."

"Actually, we moved to another place...it's still in the city, but yeah."

"Eh? You moved?"

Yuzuru nodded, making a slightly anguished face. "The media found us, and it was getting too hectic..."

"Ah...I guess it's tough for you too."

We made our way to the carpark where his parents waited for us in the car. Yuzuru's mum stepped out of the car and ran over to us excitedly, helping me with my baggages.

"June-chan, welcome back! It must've been a tiring flight, right?"

"I'm used to the travelling already, don't worry about me!" I bowed politely and put my luggage in the boot. "Thanks for letting me stay over!"

"Anytime, dear! You did Yuzu a huge favour, joining his show for free too."

Yuzuru and I sat at the back, leaving my skates in between the two of us.

"Nice to see you again, Mr Hanyu!"

"Just call me Uncle, June. It's great to see you skating again!" He laughed and drove on, making our way back to their place. I gazed out of the window and noticed how much the city had changed. There's been a lot of repairing going on over the last couple of years, huh...the buildings had been rebuilt and many more houses and apartments had popped up. The car drove into an apartment building and Yuzuru's father parked in one of the lots, switching the engine off.

"Our house's smaller than before, so we don't have a guest room anymore...sorry about that, June."

"No, it's fine! I can sleep anywhere, honestly."