Chapter 42: Obsession with Number One
"Don't jump backwards at this point. Don't feel like you're bouncing up and down. Keep your right leg extended and don't let it drop. It's like there's an invisible string pulling your right toe, allowing you to move horizontally backwards."
"And the front half of your hand, wasn't it fixed a few days ago? Why is it poking again? You should use the back of your hand to push it away. If you poke it, it will look like the Whomping Willow."
Le's voice emanated from the iPad mounted in the middle of the classroom. Yiyi scratched her head sheepishly, restarted the music, trotted over to the camera, and began to follow the music's intro. Following Le's instructions, she began her own variation from the beginning, completing the first half smoothly. Entering the second half, where she had been stopped, she lifted her right leg high and back, catching the beat in a standard high arabesque position, beginning to enter the key position she had been instructed to perform.
"Stop! You're out of rhythm, Yiyi." Le's voice wasn't loud, even softer than her professional teacher's, but the harsh and oppressive feeling was even stronger.
Yiyi relaxed her tense muscles, holding her thighs and breathing heavily.
To achieve the traction Le had just mentioned, she couldn't stand too high in her half-pointe position. The slight heel lift off the ground put more pressure on her calf muscles. Her calves were already very sore.
"Chai Shuang's rhythm is very important. If you miss one point, you won't be able to catch up no matter what you do later. Be sure to listen to the music carefully when you get home. I'll record a video for you later, so you can watch it when you get home. That's all for today."
Yiyi sat in front of the camera, pinching her calf and nodding, saying goodbye to Le before closing the video. She'd requested private lessons from Teacher Lele for a recent school competition, but unexpectedly, Teacher Lele had returned to Japan. While Teacher Lele had kindly agreed to provide online instruction, Chai Shuang's variations weren't something she could master with just a few online sessions.
If I had known, I wouldn't have chosen such a difficult variation.
Yiyi lay on the dance studio floor, head tilted back, slouching. She lifted her phone to watch a short video to relax, then flipped over and sat up. She gently stroked the screen with her fingers. The wallpaper showed Yuzuru Hanyu, a white crane with outstretched wings, gliding gently across the ice.
"I have to stand up! How can I be a fan of the Cow if I'm so afraid of difficulties!" She jumped up to cheer herself up. She returned to the beginning of the variation and continued practicing, counting the beats silently to herself.
Hiding behind the camera, Yuzuru Hanyu had no idea he could remotely inspire Raku's students. To avoid being constantly directed by Raku to move around, he found the perfect spot: directly behind the tripod. As long as he held onto the camera, he wouldn't be photographed. Of course, taking photos of the mirror wouldn't count.
Le was teaching an online class to Chinese students, speaking in Chinese he couldn't understand. He watched her lean over to the stand and poke at the iPad screen, while he sat obediently behind it, still clutching his game console. Le's bangs were damp with sweat and a bit messy, and he wanted to reach out and fix them for her, but he didn't know if the class was over yet.
"Yuzuru, please record a video for me." She switched back to Japanese, her voice returning to the slow, measured tone she usually used when speaking to him. Over the past few days, Hanyu Yuzuru had sat in on several of Le's online classes, gaining a profound understanding of gentle sternness. It reminded him of his own mentor, and even his cross-legged gaming posture had straightened up considerably.
But she called his name, which meant the get out of class was over.
"Okay!" Yuzuru Hanyu put down the game console in his hand, got up from the ground swiftly, and followed Le's instructions to help her record the video.
The setting sun shone through the large windows of the classroom onto Dijiao Hele. The gauze skirt she wore danced in the sunset as she spun and jumped, making her look particularly beautiful.
Yuzuru Hanyu loves watching music dance.
She always manages to integrate her dance into both music and storytelling. Every beat she taps is a note, every untapped beat a story. Imagination stretches through her toes and fingertips, creating a truly soothing experience. Tchaikovsky's music is always vibrant, as light, agile, and expansive as the colors dancing around the notes.
She finished the rotation cleanly and stood firm as the last note fell. Yuzuru Hanyu hurriedly pressed the stop recording button and put his iPad under his arm to applaud her.
His enthusiastic support made Le feel a little embarrassed no matter how many times he did it.
She took a deep breath, raised her hand to touch her bangs a little awkwardly, and quickly walked in front of Yuzuru Hanyu, snatched the iPad from him, and lowered her head to check the results of the recording.
"Hey, it's not the first time I'm applauding you, are you still shy?" Yuzuru Hanyu reached out to straighten Le's bangs, which were already messy and had been made even messier by her. She lowered her head, her cheeks slightly flushed, perhaps from just dancing, but the beads of sweat on her neck also showed a hint of pink, clearly still a little embarrassed.
Seeing her like this, one can't help but want to pinch her face, Yuzuru Hanyu thought so, and just as he reached out his hand, he was interrupted by Le's cell phone ringing.
FaceTime notifications rang simultaneously on her phone and iPad. Before Hanyu could even see where the call invitation was coming from, Le had already closed the iPad's lid. She went to the corner of the classroom, retrieved her discarded phone, fished her headphones from her bag, put them on, and leaned against the window railing before holding up her phone and answering the video call.
"Mom, um, I was just taking an online class at the dance studio..."
It sounded like they were video chatting with Suginohara Kaede. Yuzuru Hanyu shuffled over naturally, but just as he was about to reach the phone, Le shoved him on the forehead, pushing him out of the camera's range. Rubbing his forehead, he looked at Le in surprise, but she simply turned the phone away and made a silencing gesture towards him.
Aunt Feng is obviously someone he knows, so why can't he say hello?
Hanyu Yuzuru was puzzled, but seeing that Le looked serious, maybe there was another reason.
"Okay, I'll take some time to clean it up soon, so don't worry."
Le hung up the phone and took off her headphones. The entire dance studio was silent, save for the faint sound of the video game console, which had been clearly turned down. The game's volume quietly grew louder. There were no sounds of characters attacking, only the repetitive background music, clearly someone was just enjoying the scenery. But the person playing the game didn't even look up, as if they hadn't noticed her video call was over.
Are you angry?
Le quickly slipped off her pointe shoes and walked barefoot behind Hanyu. Her walk was always light and silent, and her bare feet and careful breath-holding made it even harder to detect. But when she deliberately lowered herself onto Hanyu's back, he wasn't affected at all by her pressure, as if he'd already prepared his support, waiting for her to pounce.
"Are we going back?"
Not getting a response, she leaned on Hanyu Yuzuru's shoulder and gently nudged him with her head.
Still no response, he put down the game console, raised his hand to pull her arm free from around his neck, and began to pick up the scattered stands and electronic products he had brought. One by one, he put the headphones, iPad, and game console into the protective bag and zipped it up. In the middle, he looked up at Le who was squatting beside him to help him pack.
She was concentrating on helping him organize the data cables. Feeling his gaze, she looked at him with an innocent and questioning look.
"What's wrong?"
Hanyu opened his mouth, then finally said, "Nothing." Le shrugged, his head unconcerned, and continued to sort out the tangled cables. Hanyu frowned, grabbed the backpack next to him, zipped it open, and dumped the electronics packed on the floor into it one by one.
The items that were treated roughly weren't just the electronic gadgets they brought, but also the car doors and the front door of Hanyu's house...
"Hanyu, if you want to tear down the house, don't have dinner." Yumi's mother spoke in time before the dining chair at home was about to be destroyed, avoiding a noise accident.
Pursing his lips and swallowing his saliva, Yuzuru Hanyu lifted the chair slightly with a little force, pulled it out from under the dining table silently, and sat down.
The atmosphere at dinner today was a bit quiet, because Yuzuru Hanyu, who was usually responsible for talking, was just busy poking at the rice grains in the bowl and had no intention of speaking.
Yumi Hanyu had long noticed the strange atmosphere between the two. While Le appeared to be acting normal, her son's eyes were fixed on Le almost every moment, a look that read, "Talk to me now!" Even when Le spoke to her alone, Yuzuru would stare intently, as if he suspected they were plotting something. But when Le spoke to him, he always had a cold expression, looking like he was asking for a beating.
Yumi-san thought that Le was just in a good mood.
"Xiao Le, you just told me about going to Tokyo to clean up the house. When are you planning to go? It might be too hard for you to go alone. Let me go with you and help you." Yumi Hanyu broke the silence at the dinner table.
"Yes, if necessary, uncle can also drive you there." Hanyu Hidetoshi, who was sitting next to him, also spoke.
Their words succeeded in getting Yuzuru Hanyu to look up from where he had been counting rice grains. He glanced at his parents, then at Le beside him, looking as if he couldn't follow the conversation.
"What do you mean by cleaning the house?"
"It's the house where Xiaole and Feng used to live in Tokyo. Marrku-san often had to come back to handle official business in Tokyo, so they kept the house. Marrku-san is retiring this year, and Feng plans to sell the house in Tokyo. When she returns to Japan in the future, she can just come back to Sendai." Hanyu Yumi explained, but Hanyu Yuzuru seemed a little dissatisfied with her for explaining it first.
"Yes, that's it. Thank you Aunt Yumi and Uncle Hideki for your kindness. There aren't many things in that house, so I can go back and clean them up myself." Le smiled and rejected the Hanyu couple's kindness. He exchanged a glance with Yumi-san again, "But if it's possible, you can let Yuzuru go with me."
"Of course, no problem, but he's clumsy, so I hope he doesn't break anything for you."
"I'm not going." Yumi was interrupted by Yuzuru Hanyu's cold words before she could finish her words. The atmosphere that had just been heated up suddenly became cold.
After a brief moment of silence, Le turned his head to look at Yuzuru Hanyu who was still looking at his fans with a stern face, and smiled.
"It's okay, I'll go by myself."
She put down her chopsticks, gathered her dishes, and carried them back to the kitchen. She politely said goodbye to Hanyu Yumi and Hanyu Hidetoshi before leaving. She ignored Hanyu Yuzuru, who was sitting there fuming, and went straight to the entrance to change her shoes and leave.
"You kid!"
As soon as the door clicked shut, the usually gentle father Hideki slammed the chopsticks in his hand on the table and got angry at Yuzuru Hanyu.
"What about your responsibility as a man? With you being like this, no wonder Feng said he doesn't want Xinle to be with you."
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