Chapter 48: Skating Training
It was a little after eleven o'clock in the evening, in the management office of the Sendai Ice Rink, Mr. Kimura was sitting by the radiator, watching a manzai show on his phone. The show wasn't as interesting as he'd imagined, and he yawned loudly. He glanced at the time. It was still a while before Hanyu's practice was over, so he decided to take a nap.
He kicked off his shoes and put them on the table. He put down his phone, shook out the blanket on the armrest and covered himself with it, then leaned back in the chair comfortably and closed his eyes.
Perhaps it was the silence of midnight, the absence of the TV program, that made the sound of skates sliding across the ice particularly clear, even from the management office. The rustling sound of the blades was like the perfect soporific white noise, making Mr. Kimura's fatigue come even faster.
He was dozing off when a sudden thud interrupted his sleep. Thinking he might have fallen, he emerged from the management office and peered toward the ice rink.
Hanyu was perfectly positioned on the ice; it wasn't him who fell, but the girl not far from him. She sat on the ice, and Kimura watched for a while, but she didn't get up.
It seemed that he was in a bad mood, Kimura smiled and shook his head.
He still remembers his surprise when he first saw Hanyu arrive with his girlfriend. He felt the young man had grown up, and he decided to keep this secret for him. After all, this was the first time in so many years. However, Hanyu's approach to love was a little different, and he was very strict with his girlfriend during her training on the ice.
"See, I told you your center of gravity was off, and you fell." Yuzuru Hanyu slid over to Le, hands on his hips. "And I told you before that if you lose your balance, you should fall sideways. If you sit down like that, you could easily get hurt."
He reached out his hand to Le and tried to pull her up, but she just sat there and didn't move.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He squatted down and asked. Le didn't answer, but just looked up at him. His eyes were completely impatient and full of anger.
Hurt? Of course she did.
It wasn't just the pain from the fall; every muscle in her body was sore.
Ever since Yuzuru Hanyu had tricked her into taking her to Mr. Yoshida's shop to choose a pair of skates, he had begun his skating training. That week, in addition to her regular ballet practice and choreography schedule, she had to come to the rink every evening for extra training. Although the training sessions were short, occurring between his own practice sessions, the sheer volume of exercise was still a bit overwhelming.
"I don't want to practice anymore." Le said, standing up on his knees and sliding towards the exit.
"Eh? Why?" Hanyu Yuzuru followed her and grabbed her arm. "Haven't you made tremendous progress this week? It's because you keep lowering your center of gravity and get panicky when asked to adjust. That's why you keep falling. It must be because the person who taught you was an ice hockey player..."
“That’s enough!”
Yuzuru Hanyu's mumbling was interrupted by Le Paishou. She turned around and looked at him with a frown and displeasure.
"Xiao Jie said you've always wanted to teach your girlfriend how to skate. Fine, I'll satisfy you. But how long do you care? Yes, Niko taught me how to skate, and he taught me how to skate. So what?" She was already feeling aggrieved, and her voice became increasingly agitated. "That's just how I am. I have many exes, and they all taught me a lot. You already knew all this, so why are you making things difficult for me now?"
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"Anyway, I don't want to practice anymore. I'm very tired." Le said, kicking his feet and sliding towards the exit.
Yuzuru Hanyu stood there, not knowing how to explain to Le.
He did have selfish motives in wanting to drag Le over to go ice skating, but it wasn't entirely out of jealousy.
She hadn't even noticed that the way she pushed off the ice just now was becoming more and more like him. She was learning so quickly, so quickly that Yuzuru Hanyu couldn't help but think that perhaps one day they could dance together on the ice. Even without complicated steps or difficult jumps, they could still enjoy and perform music together on the ice.
But he seemed to be too excited and forgot that she never slacked off in her ballet practice, and that arranging her to ice skating every day was indeed a bit too much.
He quickly organized his thoughts and strolled in the direction of Le.
"actually……"
As he spoke, he suddenly felt a wave of shaking and a brief dizziness. He immediately stopped and looked around, feeling that something was wrong.
"Le! It seems like an earthquake!"
When Le heard his warning, he was leaning against the rink's fence, changing his blades. One foot was still on the ice, and before he could react, the ground suddenly shook violently. An empty metal rack used for storing debris beside the rink creaked and swayed a few times before collapsing with a loud crash. Amidst the roar, Yuzuru Hanyu heard a subtle sound that made his heart sink.
It was a clearly raised-pitched cry of pain, and he immediately ran towards the sound as fast as he could. However, the ice rink was completely dark due to the power outage, so he could only rely on his familiar sense to move forward.
The shaking of the ice surface was magnified by his senses in the darkness, and he tried hard to control his dizziness and move towards Le.
"Happy? Happy!"
"I'm here." Her voice rang out in the darkness, and almost at the same time, Yuzuru Hanyu's hand touched her.
The shaking stopped briefly, and Hanyu knelt on the ice, groping in the darkness and pressing Le's head to his chest. His heart was beating fast, and he held her tightly.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Le said, placing his right hand on his back in a gentle comforting motion.
A beam of light came over, and it was Mr. Kimura who came over with an emergency light.
"Hanyu, are you all right?"
"It's okay." Yuzuru Hanyu released Le and looked up to answer. Under Mr. Kimura's emergency light, he noticed that Le's left hand was hanging at her side, and her open palm was covered in blood.
Bent in the light, he carefully lifted her hand. A thin, long wound sliced through her palm, splitting it open. He gently moved her fingers, and she gasped. She immediately hesitated, afraid to apply more force, fearing the wound would open further. The sharp wound, though seemingly insignificant, continued to ooze blood.
"Hanyu, let's go outside first. There will be aftershocks and there are too many loose items here."
Mr. Kimura's reminder made him react immediately. He carefully avoided Le's injured hand and helped her up.
The ground began to shake again. Le had just stood up and was a little unstable again. Before she could react, Yuzuru Hanyu held her arm firmly and pressed the back of her head with his other hand, protecting her under his body.
"It's not safe here, let's go out first."
The lights hanging in the rink creaked as they swayed, and the sound of the object falling to the ground was particularly terrifying in the darkness. Yuzuru Hanyu's steady voice and his warm chest became his only reliable support. Le followed him, crouching down, and left the rink under his protection.
The streets were blacked out, lit only by tiny slivers of starlight. The area around the ice rink, mostly a shopping mall and sports field, was usually deserted at midnight, and it was even quieter now. Not far away, Ichinazaka Elementary School had a few lights on.
The elementary school auditorium had been opened as a designated evacuation center, and a number of makeshift tents were neatly arranged inside. The area was relatively sparsely populated, which helped keep the simple elementary school auditorium from being overly crowded. Morimoto Kosuke was setting up his own tent, choosing a good corner and struggling with the tent's support.
After finally packing up the tent, he checked his phone's battery level, feeling a bit regretful for his reckless use of it that night. It's all Yuzuru Hanyu's fault! Morimoto Kosuke tutted and tossed his phone aside.
Ever since Yuzuru Hanyu returned to ice skating, Xiaojie has been diligently working the night shift. The sleepy nights are hard to pass, and only mobile games can keep him awake. Now, it's even more boring...
"Mom! Dad and Yuzuru are here!" a childish voice called out, and Xiaojie quickly looked over. The child pointed to where Yuzuru Hanyu was, holding Le's hand, entering the shelter with a middle-aged man he didn't recognize. The sound didn't draw anyone out to poke their heads in; instead, Le instinctively pulled his hand away from Hanyu's.
"Shh! It's so late, don't disturb everyone's rest." The child's mother gently covered her child, turned her head in the direction of Yuzuru Hanyu and nodded apologetically.
Yuzuru Hanyu had just nodded politely in response when Xiaosuke stuffed him into the tent he had just set up.
"Mr. Hanyu, I'm sorry that our daughter was so loud just now. I'll go over there now. Please be careful." Mr. Kimura poked his head into the tent and said a few words, then turned around and went to his wife and children.
Hanyu Yuzuru, who had practically fallen into the tent, said goodbye to Mr. Kimura and sat up. He reached out and pulled Le, who was still standing outside the tent.
"Have you got any signal on your cell phone?" Le asked with a frown as soon as he entered the tent.
"Not yet, don't worry. Our family has agreed long ago that in case of an earthquake, we should all take shelter nearby and reunite when things are safer. Don't worry about Grandpa Sosuke and the others, my parents must have taken them with them." Yuzuru Hanyu naturally took her hand, seemingly unconcerned about her pulling it away when she entered the room. "But you, how did the ice skates cut your hand like that?"
His tone was full of heartache. He lowered his head and carefully examined her injured hand in the dim light that came into the tent from the auditorium.
"Are you two done?" Xiaojie opened the tent and entered with the medical supplies he had just found in the supply area. He tossed his phone to Yuzuru Hanyu and asked him to turn on the flashlight. He reached out and took Le's hand, examining her wound. His movements were swift, even pulling at the freshly solidified blood scab, causing Le to hiss in pain.
"Hey, be gentle!" Yuzuru Hanyu immediately blamed Xiaojie, but received only a roll of the eyes.
"Hold the flashlight well." Xiaojie said with a straight face, then turned to Le and said politely, "It will be a little painful, Le-chan, please bear with it."
"Um."
The wound on Le's hand was clearly caused by something like a blade. The cut was sharp, and it was hard to tell how deep it was. Xiaojie carefully cleaned the blood around the wound with alcohol, then dipped a medical cotton swab in iodine and carefully applied it to the wound. As soon as the solution touched her wound, her hand trembled noticeably.
"Be gentle!" He anxiously accused Xiaojie, adjusting his position and sitting behind her. With one hand, he helped hold the flashlight, and with the other hand, he gently leaned her head against his chest, covering her eyes with his slender fingers.
"Then you do it." Xiaojie glared at Yuzuru Hanyu, "It must be painful to clean the wound, and it's on the palm of her hand, otherwise why would I tell her to bear it." Although he was harsh in his words, he was still more careful with his hands.
Even seeing Xiaojie being more cautious than ever, Hanyu Yuzuru couldn't help but keep nagging him to be gentler. Every time the cotton swab touched her wound, her moist eyelashes would flicker against his palm and tremble. But she remained silent, only letting out a soft gasp from time to time.
The shelter was completely silent at midnight, with only the three of them in the tent. The silence made Hanyu feel as if the debridement process took a century. As he watched the gauze slowly wrap around his wound, his heart relaxed a little.
"Okay, this is all we can do for now. I don't think the cut is deep, but we should go to the hospital for a tetanus shot when the sun comes up." Xiaojie was packing up the remaining gauze and medicine when he looked up and saw that Yuzuru Hanyu hadn't even heard him. He was carefully examining the gauze on the musician's hand, repeatedly asking if it still hurt.
Xiaojie rolled his eyes and was about to complain when cell phones suddenly rang out in the auditorium.
"There's a signal! There's a signal!" Le quickly found his cell phone in his bag.
I called my grandparents via video, but still no one answered. Instead, Yuzuru Hanyu's video call went through first.
"Yuzuru, are you and Le together? Grandpa and grandma Suginohara are with us, so tell Le not to worry." The voice in the video finally put Le's heart at ease. After hanging up the video, the stiff smile on her face disappeared with a deep breath.
After calming down, she suddenly realized that the wound on the palm of her hand was burning with pain.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in the quiet tent. It was Yuzuru Hanyu, hunched over, preparing to leave. As he took a step, his clothes were grabbed.
Le Zheng looked at him nervously, and the uneasiness in his eyes made his heart tighten.
"I'm going out to make a phone call. You rest in the tent first, okay?" He squatted down and patted Le's head. His tone like coaxing a child attracted Xiao Jie's disgusted eyes. He glared at Xiao Jie and said, "Stay with her for a while. I'll be back soon."
Yuzuru Hanyu suddenly left, leaving only Le and Xiaojie in the tent, and things suddenly became awkward. Xiaojie had naturally seen Le's behavior just now.
"Do you rarely encounter earthquakes?"
"Hmm..." She had not spent most of her time in Japan, and had experienced several minor earthquakes as a child. She almost forgot what it felt like.
"We're all experienced, so don't be nervous. It's you who'll be the ones getting nervous. Look at your hands," Xiaojie said, his words running out. After much thought, he could only offer instructions on how to protect the wound, which seemed particularly long-winded. Fortunately, Yuzuru Hanyu returned a short while later, and he made room as if he had been granted amnesty.
"What are you guys talking about?" Yuzuru Hanyu said as he sat down and naturally took Le's hand.
"Nothing. Xiaojie was telling me what to pay attention to. What were you doing just now?"
"Call the team and have them tell the media I'm safe. To prevent anyone from looking for me," he said nonchalantly, lowering his head and cupping her injured hand in his. The thick bandage made it impossible to make a fist. Her hand, normally cold to the touch, was now ice-cold beneath the bandage.
Too corny...
Morimoto Kosuke couldn't stand it any longer. He pulled back the curtain and walked outside, taking a look around. The small auditorium barely had enough room for him. Resigned to his fate, he returned to the tent, pulled out his already low-battery phone, and stubbornly opened a game.
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