Starless Boys ☆ Yuri On Ice

The man we all should be: Victor Nikiforov

'I worked too hard. I studied. I looked at what didn't work, why it didn't work, and I fixed it.'

Most men like him are straight forward. They're swimming in money,  arrogant, capitalist and absorbed in numbers, women and million dollar thrills.
  He's not straight forward. There is no vertical way of looking at the illusive CEO of Yutopia. Even seeing into his eyes is a maze.
  He exists. He's not a ghost or a shadow. The world knows he started in St Petersburg, Russia. The world knows he used to be a figure skater in his teenage years. The world knows his late father was a champion ice dancer.
  The world doesn't know him. Victor Nikiforov.
Never has he sat an interview for a public domain. Journalists like me have tried and tried and his line has been silent.
  So naturally, when he agreed and invited me to his home for an interview my world changed. I had my boss breathing down my neck, my colleagues, the world and most of all myself.

  When I arrived at his home in St Petersburg, sweating in my finest suit,  I was greeted by Mila Babicheva, his Personal assistant. She had a powerful, happy personality, telling me about the art on the walls as we walked through the beautiful house and it's modern decor. It looked un lived in.
She takes me to a small room with two tall backed black sofa chairs and a small white table with two hot coffees on it. There's a huge rectangle window too, a beautiful view of St Petersburgs beach.
'Mr Nikiforov is on his way' she tells me.
  I ask her if he had work. She told me he always has work.
As we waited for the man I asked her to tell me about him.
  'He looks scary. He really isn't though. He's very respectful and patient he just doesn't smile much. Or laugh with people he's not close with'

  Soon enough the door opens and he walks in. It's so very different to see the industry giant in person. He's tall. But he imposes so highly he feels taller. Mila was right in saying he looks scary.
  The black coat he's seen wearing in every candid hangs from the shoulders of his sharp light gray suit. From it emerges his hand.
  'Mr Morooka how was your flight?' He asks with a naturally commanding voice. I shake his hand, tell him Japan is a lot warmer than Russia. He agrees.
   Nikiforov sat in the chair infront of the window like it was his throne. How else would a man sit if the world is his throne? 
  After him, I sat too, and looked at my questions. There were so many, from gossip worthy to serious. I wondered how many times he'd say no comment. Probably many.

I tell him I'll start with questions the general public has about him.
  'The general public? They pay attention to me?' He looks genuinely intreagued. I laugh. He may not be a ghost, or a shadow, but he lives in a different world.
  The question I ask first is one even I want to know the answer to. I ask him  why he's always seen wearing the same black coat.
He frowns, asks me if that's a problem. I don't know what to tell him other than what I've seen online.
  'People say you look like you're going to a funeral every day' I tell him. He nods thoughtfully. What he says next really explodes my view on the man.
  'Every day is a funeral Morooka'
Even know, as I write this article, I'm unsure of what exactly that meant.
  When he said that though, I came up with an unscripted question I should have thought twice about asking;
  'Your father died very recently. News came out that you weren't at his funeral is that true?' I bit my tongue after I asked him that. However he didn't change a shade.
  'I had a charity event in Hasetsu I couldn't make it'
  We sit in silence for a moment as I wait for me to tell me that was a joke. He only blinks and waits for my next question. He becomes more of an enigma. 
  His father was loved by the masses, the charming smile and amazing ability of Artur Sokolov took the nation. There have always been claims of him being cruel, nothing but an impression manager on stage but back stage, a monster. Champion figure skater Yuri Plisetsky has consistently been very open in shooting down the man's image as fake, a cover for 'pure heartlessness and evil'.