Yuri!!! On Ice Oneshots

No Place Like Home Part 2: Brainless and Heartless Cowards

Yuuri and Makkachin continued to skate down the white ice road, as Yuuri hummed his free skate song to pass the time. The two were having fun going quickly down the road of pure ice, with Makka leading as Yuuri stayed a little behind to practice some jumps (even in another world, Yuuri practices his jumps).

Then, they stopped when the road splinted off into 4 different directions. The only thing to separate the different, winding paths were the extremely bountiful corn stalks, blocked only by rotting red fences. In the very front portion of one of the splitters stood a tall, tan scarecrow with black dyed straw poking out of his head and pushed back at the top while the sides seemed shaved down, and with deep blue eyes painted on his face. His clothes were tattered but seemingly new enough to give the impression that this scarecrow may be royal-looking. The arms were tied to the crossed pole up its back, giving the looking of a human waving away crows.

Yuuri didn't pay attention to the scarecrow much and stood in the middle of the diverging paths, trying to see where they led. Unfortunately, the paths seemed to only wind on endlessly. He sighed and looked at Makkachin.

"... Do you know where to go?" He asked shakily. She whined and ducked her head down under her paws, as if embarrassed. He sighed and patted her gently, then mumbled to himself, "Which way should we go?"

"Some people go that way," a new, male voice responded. Yuuri looked around, trying to find the source. The only thing he could see was the scarecrow pointing to the path on Yuuri's right.

"... Who said that?" 

"Of course, some people also go that way," the voice said again. Yuuri looked again, as the new voice sounded close, but the only thing was the scarecrow pointing to the path on Yuuri's left si- Wait, did that change?

Yuuri tilted his head, then looked at Makkachin. "I don't think anyone is here. Just a scarecrow."

But, when Yuuri looked up once more, the scarecrow moved and spoke, pointing both ways with the opposite hands. "But some people go both ways!"

Yuuri paused, then got a little closer to the scarecrow. "... Did you say something?"

The scarecrow shook his head, then stopped and shook his head, smiling.

"You did say something! You're alive!" Yuuri smiled.

"Yep! I think, at least. Well, I can't really think..."

"... It must be awfully tiring to stand up there all day."

"It is. Even more so if you can't do your job right."

"Can I help you down?" Yuuri got closer.

"Oh, sure! There's a  nail at my back that I can't quite reach. Maybe if you just bend it, I can just... Slip off or-" Yuuri had already gone and found the nail, bent it, and soon the scarecrow tumbled down to the grassy floor and past the fence, onto the ice. Yuuri yelped in surprise and rushed over, helping the scarecrow. Only, the scarecrow seemed happy and excited, looking to Yuuri with a smile. "Did I scare you?"

"No, of course not, but are you hurt?" He shook a bit, mumbling apologizes.

The scarecrow sighed and frowned. "No, just sad. This is what I mean when I say I can't do my job right."

"... What do you mean?"

"I can't even scare a crow!" At that moment, a crow sat on the scarecrow's shoulder. He tried to shoo it away, but it calmly just took a piece of straw and flew away. He looked at Yuuri sadly. "See?"

"Well, maybe you can try something else. How about you think about other jobs you can do?"

"I can't think."