Chapter 12 It's All Her Stupid Brother's Fault

Even though she had scolded her brother, Saaya was still angry when she came out of Hanyu Yuzuru's room. She was genuinely feeling sorry for Suginohara Raku.

The Suginohara family lived not far from home, with only the elderly couple living on the other side of the long, upward slope. When Yuzuru Hanyu and his mother were away, Hanyu Saaya often followed his mother's instructions and went with her father to visit the Suginoharas, asking if they could help. The simple, Japanese-style house was always clean and tidy, imbued with a typically restrained and cool atmosphere. Only a row of photo frames on the living room's wooden cabinet spoke of the elderly couple's longing for their beloved daughter and granddaughter, adding a touch of humanity to the room.

The photos changed frequently, and Saaya was like a bystander, witnessing Suginohara Raku's growth and changes through the frames. But the first time I saw her was on the first day of 2016.

On New Year's Day in January 2016, Yuzuru Hanyu's spirits were inescapable. Despite arriving back in Sendai from Tokyo in the middle of the night and having slept only a few hours, Hanyu Saya dragged her to the shrine for the New Year's visit. Saya disliked such crowded activities, but her brother Yuzuru Hanyu's pitiful gaze was irresistible. By the time she finally remembered to complain, she was already mingling with the crowds on the approach to the shrine.

After finally squeezing through the crowds to reach the front of the shrine and completing her prayers, Yuzuru stubbornly insisted on drawing a fortune stick. Before she could catch up, her brother had already disappeared into the crowd. When Saaya finally found the spot to draw the fortune sticks, she spotted a figure in a dark blue plain sportswear down jacket, next to a warmly dressed girl.

From behind, the girl's outfit was different from most Japanese girls'. She wore a bright red parka, an off-white wool hat, and a large, fluffy off-white scarf. How should I put it? It had nothing to do with fashion. It was so plain that Saaya was certain she was her brother's friend. Even their style was the same... practical...

Sha Ling didn't want to join the queue for the draw, so she stayed away from the other two.

When it was their turn to draw lots, Yuzuru took a stick holder and handed it to the girl next to him. After they exchanged a few words, Yuzuru bowed his head and began to shake the sticks reverently. The girl next to him observed for a moment, as if to see how he was shaking them, and then began to imitate him and shook the stick holder in her hand.

After a while, a wooden stick fell out of Yuzuru's holder, bounced on the table, and landed at the feet of the girl next to him. The girl squatted down to pick it up and handed it to the shrine maiden in the window, along with the stick she had shaken out. Two fortune sticks were handed out from the window. The girl quickly opened them and took a look, then handed one to Yuzuru next to her.

The two men then turned and walked towards Sha Ling. Only when they approached did they hear their conversation.

"Are you sure this is mine?" Yuzuru asked the girl next to him.

"Well, I remember the numbers. Yours is 23 and mine is 59."

Yuzuru, with a look of wonder on his face, unfolded the fortune slip in his hand. It read "Great Luck." His eyes lit up, and a smile spread across his face. He carefully read the slip twice, clasping his hands together before mumbling a thank you. Finally, he held up the slip to show Saaya, "Sister! Look! I drew Great Luck!"

"That's great~" Saaya glanced at her, then looked up at the girl beside Yuzuru. Only then did she get a good look at the girl's face. Her small face, visible between the furry hat and scarf, and her eyebrows and eyes, without heavy makeup but not at all dull, looked even more beautiful than in the photo. It must be said that such a stylish face would look good no matter how simple the clothes were.

Seeing the look Sha Ling was giving her, the girl smiled politely, "Hello, Sha Ling, I'm Suginohara Raku."

"Ah~ You are Xiaole. Mom and Yuzuru have been taken care of by you all this time."

“No, no.”

"What did Xiaole draw?" Yuzuru quickly interrupted the two people's polite greetings, otherwise Le would slip away again.

"It's [Suekichi]." Le smiled regretfully.

"Hahaha, I won! Yeah!" Yuzuru raised his fists as if he had won a prize, turned around and led the way forward.

Sha Ling and Le followed behind, "Xiao Le, did you really remember the number you signed? Are you that amazing?"

Le put his index finger to his lips, silencing himself. "I'm not that powerful, but Yuzuru probably wants Daikichi more than I do. I don't really believe in this."

It must be said that just this small thing instantly raised Hanyu Saaya's favorability towards this girl above the passing line. However, after all, she was a person who had not lived in Sendai for many years, and Saaya had never thought that she would see her again in the future, and the number of times they met was quite frequent.

In November 2017, Yuzuru was recuperating in Tokyo due to a foot injury. Unfortunately, his grandmother also fell ill and needed his mother's care. After some discussion, Yuzuru said he could take care of himself, and with Grandpa Kikuchi by his side, it shouldn't be a problem. However, his mother seemed worried and asked Saaya to promise to drive to Tokyo to take care of her brother on weekends.

That day, Hanyu Saaya drove to the hospital, but the ward was empty. After asking the nurse, she learned that Yuzuru had gone to the rehabilitation training room. She then headed towards the rehabilitation training room, but before she even entered, she heard an argument inside.

"So, it's impossible to exert force in this position!" There was a sound of someone slapping the ground.

"That's right, that's what it says in the book! Look!" The sound of turning pages.

"That's not what the book says! You're obviously making it up! Look, the muscles here don't feel tightened at all!"

The door opened with a whoosh, and Sha Ling was a little surprised by the scene in front of her.

Raku, sweating in his workout clothes, sat cross-legged on a yoga mat, while Yuzuru, cradling a book and resting his injured leg on a nearby stool, would have mistaken Yuzuru for guiding Raku through his rehabilitation. The two men argued furiously, their faces reddening as they paid no attention to Saaya, who had entered.

"Grandpa Kikuchi, what's going on?" I had no choice but to ask Grandpa Kikuchi who was watching the show with a smile on his face.

"Hahaha, Yuzuru wants to research some new training methods, but his feet are inconvenient, so he asked Le to do the experiment for him."

"Shouldn't Xiaole be in Finland?"

"Ah, Sa-ling, you may not know this yet. Xiaole is now a choreographer for the Tokyo Ballet Company and is working in Tokyo."

After a few exchanges with Grandpa Kikuchi, the two bickering men finally realized Hanyu Saaya's presence. Yuzuru scratched his head a bit embarrassed, blaming his sister for not telling him about his presence.

"I've been here for a long time, and you're still so rude even though you asked Xiaole for help." Sa Ling put her hands on her hips and acted like an older sister, scolding Yuzuru.

"I'm not that mean at all." Yuzuru said aggrievedly.

"Hmph, I'm not being mean, I'm being abusive! With someone like you, when you retire and become a coach, no kid will be able to stand you." Le, sitting on her yoga mat, was also furious. She was very confident in her physical fitness and conditioning, but these past few days, Yuzuru Hanyu had been abusing her so much that her back and waist ached daily. If she hadn't been in perfect condition during choreography practice, she would have wondered if she'd regressed to a certain point in her life.

"I couldn't even get you to do a triple A. I think I really don't have the talent to be a coach." Yuzuru pouted, paused for two seconds, and looked Le up and down. "Or maybe you really don't have any talent for figure skating."

"??? Hanyu Yuzuru, who do you think I am?"

"??? Hanyu Yuzuru, are you going to curse again?"

This statement offended two women present: Hanyu Saaya, who had been figure skating since childhood and had never landed a triple A, and a ballet choreographer who had volunteered to help. Together, they made the Olympic champion feel the fear of suffocation.

For the next few months, Saaya would run into Raku almost every week during her visit to the hospital. Arguments like that one were common, but there were also touching moments where they'd high-five and burst into laughter over a brilliant solution. Initially, Raku was just a test subject, being manipulated. As Yuzuru's injury improved, it gradually became Raku and Grandpa Kikuchi's role in Yuzuru's rehabilitation.

Later one evening, Saaya walked Le to the nearby station as usual. After they left the hospital room, Le stretched his neck and shoulders. It was clear that training with Yuzuru hadn't been easy. Saaya suddenly felt a little apologetic. She had practiced figure skating herself and had taken a couple of months of ballet as a child. The two sports were similar yet very different. Yuzuru's demands must have been quite difficult for Le.

"Thank you for your hard work, Xiaole. Yuzuru is so willful to make such an unreasonable request."

"It's okay. I'm a choreographer now, and I often study different dance styles for inspiration. Figure skating is also an art form. And I feel like I've been getting better lately. That means the training method Yuzuru developed is indeed useful."

"You two have such a good relationship~" Saaya smiled ambiguously, but Le didn't seem to care too much, which made Saaya feel as if her vision was not broad enough. "Anyway, thank you for always being with Yuzuru."

Saaya's words weren't a formal thank you; they were just a form of Japanese politeness. She expected a polite "No, no," or something like that. But Le was stunned. She looked at Saaya, as if unsure how to respond to such a thank you. Her expression shifted slightly, and she paused, looking down at her toes. After a long pause, she finally spoke.

"I hope he will never give up his talent for any reason."

The sunset that day was beautiful, shining through the hospital windows into the corridor, casting a gentle light on Le's face. She smiled faintly, responding earnestly to Sha Ling's polite words. Sha Ling has never forgotten that earnest, slightly bitter smile. This girl, only three years her junior, seemed to be burdened with some unspoken grievance and helplessness.

More than a year later, when she heard Yuzuru talking about his argument with Le, the scene in the hospital corridor that day came to her mind again, which was heartbreaking.

So no matter what, it must be her stupid brother's fault!

It was another New Year's day for visiting the shrine, and Hanyu Saya got up early as usual and went to the shrine with her family.

Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it's just that New Year's shrines in Sendai are prone to running into familiar faces. This time, the Hanyu family encountered Suginohara Kaede and her husband, Marrku-san, on the approach to the shrine. Hanyu Yumi and Suginohara hadn't seen each other in a while, and they had much to talk about. They chatted all the way to the center of the shrine, while the husbands followed politely and quietly. The only children present were Yuzuru Hanyu and Saya Hanyu, and Raku's absence was noticeable.

After the worship, it is customary to draw fortune and write ema.

While writing the ema, Saaya suddenly remembered the visit to the shrine in 2016. After thinking about it, she started speaking.

"Who would remember the number they signed, Yuzuru, right?"

Yuzuru Hanyu looked up at his sister with some confusion. After some thoughts turned in his mind, he suddenly understood what his sister meant.

"Well, yeah, I know."

He didn't even look up, writing earnestly on his ema. After hanging up his own ema, he went to talk to Marrku-san.

Sa Ling was a little surprised. She walked over and took a look at the ema hung by her brother.

【I hope everything goes well, Le! 】