Chapter 14 Lost Contact

Toronto

"Yuzuru! Please contact Xiaole!"

The door was flung open by his mother, startling Yuzuru Hanyu, who was diligently repairing a button with glue. The tweezers in his hand slipped, and the broken piece flew far to the ground.

"Mom! Why didn't you knock on the door?" He was a little annoyed as he crawled on the ground to retrieve the broken buckle and blew on it. "Why did you suddenly want to contact Le?"

The sound of the TV in the living room came in through the open door. It seemed to be news, but I couldn't hear it clearly.

"Hurry up and contact her, I can't reach her. She's still in China, right?"

"It should be in China. What's going on?" He sat back at the table and lowered his head to try to align the cracks again.

"Oh! I saw the news, something happened over there, please contact her quickly, I can't reach her. I haven't read the news."

Something happened?! His mother rarely panicked like this. Yuzuru Hanyu finally realized that something was wrong. He jumped off the chair and ran to the living room without even putting on his slippers.

The news was still on, but the images were nothing like the disaster scenes he'd imagined. The streets were deserted, the silence as if paused, a uniquely depressing feeling. He didn't recognize the words in the headlines, and while his mind was still processing them, his mother slapped him on the back.

"Hurry up, call Le!"

"I... I don't have her phone number in China..." Yuzuru Hanyu pulled out his phone and sifted through his address book. Because LINE was so convenient and video calls were universal, he hadn't kept Le's phone number in China.

I sent several LINE messages, but didn't see any read notifications. I also made video calls but no one answered.

What on earth had happened? He was still a little confused. He started searching the Internet for news and found out that a new virus had appeared in W City, China, and it had been banned.

This sense of large-scale doomsday also shocked Yuzuru Hanyu's three views. He thought this kind of scene could only be seen in movies.

"Le seems to be in City B..." He muttered, scrolling up and down the news page, confirming again and again that he did not see the words "City B" appear, and felt a little relieved.

But W City...this name sounds so familiar, as if I've heard Le mention it before.

[It's okay, I just twisted my ankle. My roommate wasn't mean to me. She's from W City, so her words just sounded mean.]

My roommate is so nice. She even invited me to visit W City for Chinese New Year. She said W has more delicious food than B City.

!!! ...

She won’t go to W City with her roommate, right?

Yuzuru Hanyu was panicked, he was really panicked.

He frantically played music videos on LINE while checking the relevant news on his iPad. The news was horrifying: the city lockdown, the medical system collapse, the shortage of supplies, the death toll... every single one of them frightened Yuzuru Hanyu.

"Mom, ask Aunt Feng, she should have Le's phone number!"

"Yes, yes! I'll go look for it."

However, due to the time difference, Hanyu and his mother did not get Le's number until the early morning.

Suginohara Kaede was also frightened by Yumi Hanyu's news. She hadn't paid much attention to it at first, thinking her daughter was probably in City B and nothing was wrong. But after hearing what Yumi said, she became nervous and rushed to contact her daughter.

"Beep...beep..." Every sound on the phone tightly tugged at Yuzuru Hanyu's heartbeat. Hurry up and answer the phone, hurry up and answer it!

"Sorry, the suscriber you dialed cannot be reached, please redial later."

I logged out and looked at the Beijing time. It was 12 noon.

Why didn't she answer the phone at this hour? Yuzuru Hanyu felt like his sanity was about to fail, his body shaking uncontrollably. He wanted to redial the number, but was afraid to hear that robotic female voice again.

The phone screen suddenly lit up, and the LINE video invitation icon popped up with Le's avatar in the background.

Answer immediately.

"Sugihara Raku!! I'm frightened to death!!!"

Le was a bit bewildered. She'd been in the kitchen making lunch when she got a call from her mother via WeChat, only to find out that Yuzuru Hanyu and Aunt Yumi were looking for her. She hadn't hung up on a LINE call in ages. Since Yuzuru Hanyu was the only one who insisted on contacting her via LINE, it didn't matter.

I went back to the kitchen to fix the nearly burnt pot. When I came out, I saw a missed call. The number must be from Canada. Then I realized Hanyu must be really worried, so I quickly hung up. My phone was bogged down by a flood of text messages and missed video calls.

Watching the video of Yuzuru Hanyu excitedly shouting "I'm scared to death!", I actually found it a little funny for a moment.

"You're still laughing!"

"Ah...I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Just admit your mistake first.

"Don't be so fierce!" Yuzuru Hanyu was patted on the head, and then the screen flipped, revealing Aunt Yumi's face. "Xiao Le, I saw the news. Such a big thing happened. Are you safe over there? Can you go back to Finland? Or to Japan? Or Canada is also fine."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Yumi, I made you worry." Le said a little apologetically. "Is the news scary? I'm in Beijing and everything is fine. I'm on vacation recently, so I don't go out much. You don't have to worry too much."

"Okay, that's good. I'm relieved then. Okay, you two can chat. I'm going to sleep now."

Le glanced at the time. It was already midnight in Canada, and he felt even more sorry. He had to open the phone more often from now on. It was truly a sin.

The scene returned to Yuzuru Hanyu's face. Both of them didn't know what to say and were a little embarrassed for a moment.

"Um..." Just as I was about to say that it was getting late over there and you should go to sleep, I was interrupted by Yuzuru Hanyu.

"I want to speak first this time."

"Okay." Le calmed down, sat on the carpet by the edge of the sofa, and rested his arm holding the phone on his knees.

Yuzuru Hanyu in the video looks pretty much the same as he did in the interview we saw a while ago, with not much change, except for the fact that he didn't use hairspray, so his hair is smooth. Perhaps he scratched his head in a hurry, so there are a few unruly strands tangled and sticking up stubbornly.

He lowered his head slightly, as if organizing his thoughts.

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Have you seen my games this season?"

Le was clearly stumped by his question. Honestly, he hadn't watched any of the matches, not a single one. But he knew the results of every single one, even the most representative scores, because Guan Yue kept mentioning them.

Does it count if you’ve seen the animated picture?

Seeing the girl's embarrassed expression in the video, Hanyu Yuzuru knew she probably didn't watch it. He smiled bitterly and said, "It's better not to watch it. I haven't been skating very well recently, so it's not worth watching."

"It's not bad. I saw the 3A with full GOE."

The person in the video's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Um."

"Great, great." He repeated "great" several times in a low voice, then looked down at his fingers, organizing his thoughts. "Anyway... Anyway, I'm not planning to retire yet. I hope Le can support me in this decision."

Le sighed, "I didn't actually want you to retire at that time, I don't know why... Actually, I wanted to... I just..." She hesitated for a long time but couldn't figure out how to explain her thoughts at that time.

She didn't want to see his disappointed expression. But after all, all her worries were just speculations, and it was indeed presumptuous to try to stop him at that time.

Before she could even think of how to say it, the person in the video laughed first, a very relaxed laugh. "It's okay, you don't have to say it. I know Le is just worried about me, and that's enough."

He narrowed his eyes and laughed foolishly.

"Oh, I have one more thing to say. I'm going to change the program for this Four Continents Games."

"Change now?"

"Well, let's switch to Xuyi and Seimei."

The girl in the video fell silent, her brows slightly furrowed. Hanyu suddenly felt grateful for the invention of video calls. Such a close-up camera allowed him to capture even the smallest expressions on the other person's face, leaving no reason to ignore them.

"Is Le worried about me?"

"Now let's change these two programs..."

"Don't worry, I have my reasons for doing this. It doesn't matter what others say."

Le lowered his eyes and thought for a few seconds, then looked up at the calm Yuzuru Hanyu in the video, "Well, thank you for your hard work in the new land."

This time it was his turn to be stunned. His clever brain worked for a while and he burst into laughter. "Hahahahahahahaha, that's right, it's worthy of being called Le! Yeah! Land reclamation is so hard~"

Okay, everything has gone smoothly so far. Yuzuru Hanyu was silently thinking in his mind, there is one last thing.

"One more thing. I'm sorry..." He looked at the video screen nervously, but the girl in it smiled and shook her head.

"There's nothing to apologize for. I think you're right, Yuzuru. I was considering the pros and cons. I've thought about it carefully, and I think it's good to be a realistic person. You don't need to apologize."

Looking at the video, Yuzuru Hanyu sighed, watching the same distant smile he'd seen during the strange interview. It wasn't going to be that easy. It looked like forgiveness was going to take time. He took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"Anyway, you must watch the Four Continents Games."

"good."

"Watch the live broadcast!"

"good."

After hanging up the phone, Yuzuru Hanyu felt mixed emotions...

Now...are we reconciled?

He stared at the LINE chat box. Le's previous words, "There's nothing important in my bag, do with it as you please," were finally erased by the missed call notifications he frantically displayed. The last message was the call log from just now, 27 minutes in.

I breathed a sigh of relief silently.

Ding——Another message came on the phone.

Saya: Did you buy games on Amazon?

It was a message from Sister Sha Ling, and two pictures were attached. One was an Amazon package, and the Animal Crossing revealed after unboxing.

"Ah! Animal Crossing! Hehehe~" Yuzuru Hanyu rolled on the bed holding his phone and fell to the ground with a thud.