Unspoken Definites

05 Defeated

YUZURU fell in love with skating that day. His doctor told them that it would be a good form of exercise for him so in that summer, he was enrolled in skating classes.

Apparently, there had been a local ice rink in Sendai they did not know about until his interest about skating surfaced.

On the first day of his class, his mother, together with Saya (his sister) and Yuna, joined him. When they realised that the ride to the rink is just one stop of the subway from theirs, Saya and Yuna kept his company in the following days.

Every weekend, Yuna accompanies Yuzuru with his classes. Kyoko had left for Okinawa leaving her with no choice but to stick with Yuzuru. She saw how vastly he had improved in skating like it was something he had inside him all along and just waited to pop at the right time. One of the coaches in the rink told them that compared to other skaters, he started late yet he had flexibility and he listened well to his coaches which made him catch up that fast to the senior skater.

Yuna spending her weekdays at the rink didn't bother her parents at all. They saw it as a way to make it up to her for not keeping their promise of visiting Korea that summer. They offered Yuna to take the same lessons but she deemed that skating was not for her.

The classes would usually go for about an hour and a half. However, Coach Nanami would often teach Yuzuru an extra half hour every day to keep up with the others. She was pretty much convinced that Yuzuru had potential.

Elder sister Saya would go out when Yuzuru stepped on the ice, since the rink was near the commercial area of Sendai City. She was meeting her friends.

Yuna on the other hand patiently waited by the rink side as Yuzuru finished his training sessions. She would be back just in time for them to come home. While Yuzu skated, she would read her books. But she would sneak from her reading to marvel at Yuzuru. It had been her bad habit to stare at him just like Kyoko had claimed. She had made sure not to get caught though.

One afternoon, after his training session, "You haven't finished that book yet?"

"Huh?"

"You've been reading that for quite some time now."

She didn't know Yuzuru had been paying attention to her as he did his skates. Yuna flustered at the thought. The next day, she brought a different book.

---

The classes had ended after a month. Two weeks were left until the school resumed. It was Tuesday and Yuzuru promised her that they would buy some school stuff together.

Yuna was ecstatic. They agreed to meet at the creek. The book store was a bus ride away from Sendai's residential area. So Yuna, in her pink shoes and yellow dress waited under the Sakura tree by their meeting place.

She waited, just like how she patiently did it in the days that passed. She did it for several minutes that turned into an hour. Yuzuru was never late in his training classes. How could he be late today?

"Yuna?" She heard Kyoko's voice called from behind.

"Oi Kyoko!" She waved with a big smile.

"What are you doing here?" asked the newly arrived Kyoko. "Awww. My friend looks pretty."

Yuna laughed. "I'm waiting for Yuzuru."

Kyoko looked at her skeptically. "Zuzu?"

She nodded.

"I think I saw him earlier this morning."

"Huh?"

"He was wearing his training clothes and his skating shoes in his hand." Kyoko's words echoed in her ears.