Chapter 35: Restraint
The joy of victory carried over from the rink to the locker room. While everyone was still immersed in reminiscing about their heroic performance, Niko showered first, changed into his gym clothes, said hello to his teammates, and headed out with his bag. He walked through the long hallway of the stadium, glancing out past the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, it was already dark, and the winter snow glowed orange under the streetlights, making the people under them easily noticeable.
Niko quickened his pace and pushed open the heavy back door.
"How long do we have to wait?" Yuzuru Hanyu complained as he squatted in the snow at the back door, rubbing a small pile of snow. "You, the friend who helped me get the autograph, are so slow..."
"What's wrong? You're a big star who's always being waited on by the media and fans. Can't you wait for others?" Le scooped up a handful of snow and threw it over. "We've only been out for five minutes."
"You dare to provoke me!" He shook off the snow that had fallen all over his head, held up his hat that was almost thrown off with one hand, and with the other hand, he made a ball from the snow pile on the side and threw it towards Le. The force was not strong, and the snowball drew a short parabola in the air, but was easily avoided by Le, and fell to the ground with a bang.
The two of them started playing around in the snow, throwing snowballs between them. Most of them missed, though a few left marks on their dark down jackets before being quickly shaken off. So engrossed were they in the fun that they didn't notice Niko, who was watching them from the back door.
"Hahaha~ You can't hit me~" Le Zheng was feeling proud when a snowball hit her head accurately. The scattered snowflakes seeped into her neck through the gaps in her thick scarf. She couldn't stop laughing in time and her laughter instantly rose several degrees.
The warm-looking furry scarf, the thick coat, the awkward posture of leaning slightly forward to maintain balance in the snow, were exactly the same as when she first saw them at the age of 15. Niko couldn't help but sigh in her heart, except that it was at the outdoor ice rink by the lake at night.
"Raku!"
Niko's shout and the slam of the thick iron door closing rang out simultaneously. Le, who was about to fight back with a snowball in hand, glanced back. Le's forward movement had momentarily thrown her off balance, and she was about to fall. Niko hurried down the stairs in two steps and reached out to grab her, but an arm firmly held her waist.
"Be careful." Yuzuru Hanyu bent his fingers and tapped Le's forehead with his knuckles, but his kindness was not rewarded. Le crushed the snowball in his hand and stuffed a small piece into his empty collar.
Seeing him screaming, Le laughed so hard that he squatted on the ground.
"Ahem, did I bother you guys?"
"No, no." Le wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up. "Congratulations, we won the game~"
"Well, thank you, but I don't have many opportunities to play." Niko scratched the back of his head.
"That's already impressive! I heard from Markku that you guys are on a roll this year, maybe even winning the championship! That would be the first Olympic gold medal for Finnish men's ice hockey."
Recovering from the sudden onslaught of icy snow, Yuzuru Hanyu watched as Le smoothed his hair over his shoulders, his index fingers hooked before him, looking perfectly obedient. The tall, blond, blue-eyed ice hockey player across from him gave him a polite smile and a nod, but their conversation, aside from the familiar words "thank you" and "congratulations," consisted entirely of Finnish, which he couldn't understand but sounded remarkably like Japanese. Jealousy welled up in his gut.
"The badge I promised you." Niko pulled out a lanyard from his bag, onto which hung a string of Bing Dwen Dwen badges. He handed it to Le and then lowered his head to pull out a shopping bag from the Olympic souvenir shop. "And this one. I saw it by chance when I went to the store yesterday."
Le opened the bag and found a black and white hat with ears inside, which was obviously a Bing Dwen Dwen peripheral.
Her delighted expression made the jealousy that Yuzuru Hanyu was grumbling about inside burst out completely, but it subsided in an instant. Because Le put the hat on his head, and the top of the peaked cap was covered with a Bing Dwen Dwen, which looked a bit funny.
"This is my boyfriend, he's Japanese." Le tugged at the balls on the sides of his hat to make it more secure, then turned and introduced him to Niko. He spoke in English, so Hanyu Yuzuru could understand.
"Hello." Niko greeted Hanyu Yuzuru in his Japanese with a strange Nordic accent, but it was obvious that his vocabulary was running low. He switched to English, "Be good to her. Raku deserves the best."
"Of course." Yuzuru Hanyu took Le's hand, intertwining their fingers. Le turned to look at him. He wore two hats and spoke like a declaration. The determination in his eyes surprisingly didn't seem out of place with the two ears on his head.
------
The shuttle bus from the Capital Stadium to the Closed-Circuit Hotel slowly pulled out of the parking lot on schedule. Most reporters had opted to stay on-site to watch the evening's pairs skating competition, so the bus was sparsely populated. I finally got the single window seat I'd hoped for, put on my headphones, and watched the scenery recede outside.
The winter in City B is different from that in Finland. The afternoons are also very bright. When the weather is good, the orange sunlight will shine on the snow in the afternoon, making it particularly warm, which complements the gentle female voice in the headphones.
The journey wasn't long, and the off-peak traffic was pleasant. We turned a corner and the hotel entrance came into view. A small shed stood at the entrance. A man sitting behind a long table watched a few people playing shuttlecock in an open space nearby. Besides the man, there was also Yuzuru Hanyu, wearing a white Japanese team sports jacket and black sweatpants.
With docile hair and a mask covering most of his face, only his curious eyes were revealed. He stood in a place not to disturb others, quietly observing this new entertainment activity.
After getting off the car and reaching the door, Le stood behind Hanyu Yuzuru, waiting with interest for him to notice him. Unfortunately, Hanyu Yuzuru was so focused on the shuttlecock that he didn't notice anything else. Instead, Aunt Yumi next to him noticed Le first, and the two nodded slightly in greeting.
"Sister, do you want to come in with us?" A little girl waved at Le.
Only then did Yuzuru Hanyu realize that Le had been standing not far behind him for a while.
I thought I was invited to join, so I secretly pouted under the mask.
The girl who invited Le was pushed by her friend next to her. She hesitated for a moment before speaking in English, "Hanyu-kun, do you want to come play with us?"
The curious baby's eyes lit up, but when his mother reminded him of his foot injury, he shook his head and declined the kindness. He watched helplessly as Le proudly joined the game, embracing the joy that he could not experience. However, his envy was quickly wiped out by Le's poor skills.
“Hahahahahahahahahaha——”
When the shuttlecock hit Le's forehead for the third time, Yuzuru Hanyu let out a wild laugh, but before he could finish, his mother dragged him into the hotel, leaving Le staring at the shuttlecock in her hand with resentment. This was her first time playing shuttlecock, and she had no idea that no matter how high her kicks were or how flexible she was, she couldn't prevent the shuttlecock from hitting her head.
"He just laughed, and he laughed so happily! That's great!"
"Yes, yes, it's great to see him smiling so happily!" said the volunteer lady who had just extended the invitation to Le and Hanyu happily. "I've been so worried every day these past few days."
"I feel like he's been in much better shape recently. Today, I heard from my friends at the secondary rink that he skated nine pieces in one go! Oh, why wasn't I assigned to the secondary rink?"
After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu's popularity has skyrocketed. Le has been hearing discussions about him more and more frequently lately. Whether at rehearsals, during lunch breaks, or in the rest area of a convenience store, you can hear people talking about him. Previously, only Guan Yue would relay the latest news about Hanyu to her, but now it seems like countless Guan Yues, in different languages, are providing updates on Hanyu's progress.
But those few words didn't pique Guo Le's curiosity for the full interview. She preferred to believe what she saw of Hanyu Yuzuru rather than what he actually said.
The shuttlecock continued to jump between the people in a circle. Le Changchang, who didn't know how to do it, was the first to lose and gradually became a bystander of the game.
-----
In the room, Yuzuru Hanyu was leaning comfortably on the sofa, browsing Twitter on his iPad and humming a little tune.
He was in a very good mood today. The past few days of public training had gone smoothly. After reviewing his programs one by one, he found that many parts that he had found difficult to complete during the competition were now easy to complete, and the quality was even better.
Click——
The door was pushed open and I looked up at the door.
"You're back. Thank you for your hard work, player Suginohara, who played terribly." He mercilessly laughed at the person who came in, moved his seat a little, and motioned for her to sit next to him.
Le pouted, but she was really bad at it, so there was no point in refutation. "It's my first time playing shuttlecock."
"Is it called shuttlecock? It's quite interesting. If I were to do it, I would definitely be better than you. I can kick at least three!"
I glanced at him sideways and was too lazy to continue the meaningless argument with him. I was thinking about buying a shuttlecock and trying it out when his ankle healed to see how useful it was.
The iPad screen was still on, and the photo on it caught Le's attention.
"Did you let contestant Liu Xinyu carry you like a princess again today?"
"Oh, yes." He suddenly remembered this and stood up to take out the Bing Dwen Dwen he had received today. "Look! I finally have a Bing Dwen Dwen~"
He spoke softly, tilting his face slightly upwards and smiling with narrowed eyes, like a child asking for candy. That expression choked back the words she'd originally wanted to say about his shy photos. Le took a deep, unnoticeable breath and said, "That's great! But I forgot to give you a Bing Dwen Dwen. Your fans asked me to give it to you." She stood up and went to look for it, pulling out a wrapped plastic bag from the corner under the desk.
She squatted there, slowly opening the bag containing the Bing Dwen Dwen that Yi Yi had given her, layer by layer. The room was silent for a moment, with only the hissing sound of the plastic bag unfolding, until Yuzuru Hanyu's voice sounded from behind.
"I've decided on the repertoire for my performance skating," he said calmly.
"Well, what is it?"
"Haru yo, come." The sound of the plastic bag being opened paused for a second before resounding again. He leaned over the armrest of the sofa and continued to speak to Le, "Director Suginohara, please rest assured. I will do my best to complete the most perfect performance. So, I'll leave the stage to you!"
He finished, clapping his hands together. The crisp clapping of palms echoed through the room, and Yuzuru Hanyu, with his sharp ears, heard a sniffle. He walked over to Le and squatted down, flexing his knuckles to wipe away the tears that had fallen from her eyes, then ruffled her hair.
A warm hand caressed Le's hair at the back of her head, easing the pent-up anger within her. She looked up and met Hanyu's eyes, filled with tenderness and apology. Before he could speak, Le stood up. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, deliberately putting on airs.
"Then you have to perform well, otherwise I won't cooperate with you in the future."
"Okay~" He also stood up and ruffled her bangs, then held her face with both hands and gently rubbed the corners of her eyes with his thumbs, and said softly and gently: "Thank you for helping me cry, but I have already cried a lot, so Le, please don't cry anymore. Okay?"
"There must be many people crying for you, not just me."
"Yeah." He hugged Le in his arms, "That's why I said that I feel very happy now."
"When did you say that?"
"That's what the interview said. You didn't watch my interview, did you?" The person in his arms remained silent. Yuzuru Hanyu sighed, "I really don't know what this weird habit of yours is."
"You're the weird one. You can be so talkative in front of the camera. It's obviously you who's weirder." Le's voice was muffled.
"Okay, okay, I'm weird. I'm the weirdest, okay?"
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