Chapter 60: It is impossible to surrender
The Kanagawa Arts Theater hadn't opened to the public yet, and the lobby was completely quiet, save for a few staff members finalizing the promotional booths for the performance. The backstage area was equally deserted, though the stage itself was bustling with activity. The lights in the hall were bright, and a few people sat in the center of the auditorium. Looking down at the stage from their position, the scene was somewhat strange.
The medieval set was a bustling scene. Everyone was dressed in a mix of ornate stage costumes and colorful training gear. Actors were scattered across the stage in various positions, some chatting and stretching, others practicing on their own. Among them was Tohara Kazuki, quietly stretching in a corner of the stage, unengaged in the conversation.
"Senior Kazujiu, I'll leave today's performance to you~" The person who came over to talk was Hyuga Rio, who was playing Midora today. She was Xiao Lingna who had recently been promoted to the solo dance position.
"Okay~ No problem~" He Jiu answered with a smile on his face. Seeing Li Xu nodded with satisfaction, he turned the camera away and returned to his previous expressionless face.
He had no problem with Hinata Rio. Not only was she diligent in her work, but she was also a cheerful and sharing personality, and a somewhat well-known vlogger on the side. She was the inspiration for the group's push for everyone to vlog, and she was always willing to share her experience, so colleagues who weren't good at editing often sought her out for help, including Kazuki. Of course, thanks to his recommendation, Le was now one of Rio's "clients."
"Senior Hejiu, did you not get enough rest yesterday? You look so bad." Lio squatted next to Hejiu and stretched out the picture she had just taken in front of him.
Didn't sleep well? He slept very well.
Last night, after returning home from Suginohara Raku's apartment, He Jiu opened a bottle of wine and drank two glasses in a row. It was already nine o'clock in the morning when he opened his eyes. He slept very well.
"It's okay, it won't affect your first time playing Midora." He curled his lips and changed the subject.
"Of course I trust you, Senior!" She said, sitting cross-legged next to Kazuki without moving, and began to check the footage she had just shot. "Well, it's basically all there. I'll shoot Director Suginohara later, and then my pre-show script materials will be complete~"
"She might not come today..." When mentioning Le, one can't help but think of the last phone call last night. The uncomfortable clipped voice declared sovereignty with sarcastic words, making He Jiu's face even uglier.
"Eh? Why?"
"Sorry, I'm late~"
Le's voice interrupted Lixu's question. She smiled and tilted her head, as if to say to Hejiu, "Your information is very exaggerated." Without waiting for Hejiu to speak, she ran towards Le with her camera.
He Jiu sat there motionless, her gaze unconcealed as she looked towards Le. Her expression remained normal, even more enthusiastic than usual when greeting other actors. She also brought a large bag of things to distribute to everyone.
"Here, this is yours~" Le handed a nicely wrapped plaster to He Jiu.
"Plaster? Why give me this?"
"Who doesn't need this when dancing? This is homemade by a friend, and it works great, certified by athletes." Le patted his shoulder and stood up. "Oh, by the way, thank you for yesterday, even though it was a mistake." She suddenly remembered and leaned over to whisper in his ear. The necklace hanging around her neck fell from her collar as she moved, and the golden feathers became particularly unsightly.
He Jiu watched her smile gratefully at him, turned around, stretched out his hand on the high stage, jumped down, and ran to the center of the audience in a few steps. He took the microphone handed to him by his colleague and began to rehearse the positioning before today's performance.
The plaster in his hand seemed to have been infused with some special medicinal ingredients. It was hot and had a nasty smell. He muttered "damn it" to himself, then handed the plaster to Li Xu and returned to his work for the day.
"A-choo——" Yuzuru Hanyu sneezed violently.
"Mr. Hanyu, do you have a cold?" Mr. Ohkawa from the real estate agency politely handed a tissue to Yuzuru Hanyu who was sitting opposite him.
"Ah, thanks. I might have caught a cold." He lifted his mask and briefly wiped his nose, then fished out a new one from his bag and put it on. Turning back to pick up his pen, he was thankful he'd been wearing a mask and hadn't smudged the contract. After all, getting to this point in the paperwork had taken quite a while.
I must solve the accommodation problem in Yokohama today.
This idea had already taken shape last night when he looked at the person who was already sleeping in his arms. After Le rushed to work at noon, he carefully observed her small one-bedroom apartment and became more determined about this decision.
The apartment was tiny, as he'd noticed the last time he'd brought her here. She'd been living there alone for a month, keeping it simple and tidy, but... too simple, wasn't it? It was practically the same as when he'd last been. Aside from the most basic necessities, the Moomin doll he'd given her ten years ago sat on the bed, the only decoration in the house. Even the kitchen had only the simplest dishes and plates, barely enough for one person.
Since she is so busy, why not make this place a transit station before she turns it into her real home?
With his mind racing, Yuzuru Hanyu immediately opened his phone's address book, ready to contact the real estate agent to inquire about the status of the paperwork for the house he'd chosen. His call log was flooded with calls from Kosuke last night. He scrolled through the list, searching for Mr. Ohga's number, but his attention was drawn to a missed call.
【Missed Call-Le-2022-4.29.11:30】
He thought for a moment, then realized that this was exactly the time he'd been waiting for Le in the park the previous night. On the deserted midnight street, she'd hurried her pace in panic as she called him. Sure, he had the phone in his pocket, but it wasn't like he hadn't felt the vibration. So, there was only one reason she hadn't answered the call: she'd already decided to hang up before the call was actually connected.
The scene from last night reappeared before his eyes.
"Why didn't you call me? If you were scared, why didn't you call me first?" He asked the person under him again and again last night in a fit of anger. But she bit her lip and refused to answer the question directly.
She didn't answer because she called but chose to hang up...
Thinking of this, Yuzuru Hanyu felt a pang of pain in his heart. He clenched the pen in his hand and carefully signed his name stroke by stroke.
The apartment they chose is in a great location, not far from the theater and music studio, and convenient for the ice rink. Standing on the balcony, Yuzuru Hanyu turned around to take one last look at the house, clapped his hands in satisfaction, and began planning the interior layout. Thanks to the comprehensive online presence of furniture stores, almost everything he needed could be ordered online.
After finally choosing the coffee machine, Hanyu stretched. His phone rang at the perfect time.
【Raku: Are you coming? I'll be waiting for you at Exit D behind the theater. 】
He replied with a smile that he would be there soon, put his phone in his bag, put on his hat and mask, and went out.
Le had been waiting at Exit D, the back entrance of the theater, for a long time. The performance was about to begin, and although she, as the choreographer, didn't need to be on stage, she couldn't miss every scene from the moment the curtain rose; that was all she needed to review. She checked the time on her phone for the umpteenth time when a tightly wrapped figure came running around the corner.
"I'm coming..." Before he could finish the word, a ticket was stuffed into Yuzuru Hanyu's hand.
"I have to go in. You wait about 5 minutes after the show starts. Put on your mask and hat..." She said as she carefully checked him, "Why are you wearing bracelets? Are you afraid that your features are not obvious enough?" She frowned and took off the two bracelets on his wrists and put them on her own hands.
Looking at his bare wrists, Yuzuru Hanyu was about to say something when Le turned and went backstage, leaving him alone at the empty back door, recalling the instructions he had just received.
As the ballet began, the entire auditorium was illuminated solely by the stage. Yuzuru Hanyu strained his eyes in the darkness, relying on his memorized seat number to decipher the numbers on the staircase. Unfamiliar with the theater's seat numbers, he was searching blindly when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist and yanked him down, startling him.
But the familiar bracelet on the hand that held him quickly made him feel at ease. He followed her pull and sat down next to her.
"If you don't understand, you can ask me." She leaned over and whispered in his ear.
"Okay," he replied earnestly. But throughout the performance, he didn't exercise this right. It wasn't that he was familiar with the ballet; he couldn't even identify the characters on stage. But every time he turned his head, bewildered, to look for Le Cope, her focused gaze, scrutinizing the entire performance, made him reluctant to interrupt.
She is working, and I have to come to see her. I am already being willful enough, and I should not let her be distracted any further.
Thinking of this, he reached out and held her fingers together, looking at the stage as seriously as she did, trying hard to understand the ballet and the relationships between the characters.
The story continued unsettling, but the sudden appearance of a familiar melody made Yuzuru Hanyu sit up straight in his chair. Always sensitive to music, he quickly remembered that he had seen this dance sequence while browsing music videos.
The Pirates' Pas de Deux is a dance routine Le performed at the age of 17, when he participated in several professional ballet competitions as a member of a troupe. The dancer Le danced with in the video wasn't He Jiu, and Hanyu Yuzuru didn't recognize her. But he was certain the dancer in the video wasn't as good as He Jiu on stage. Whether in terms of physical condition, technical stability, or the intensity of the dance, they were inferior in every way.
[Is Raku regressing? Or is he nervous? Or has he gained weight? The male actor's lifts are wobbly!]
Yuzuru Hanyu still remembers the comments under the video of that match. Now it seems that it's clearly not for the sake of joy! Look at the actress on the stage now; she's still clearly a little nervous, but every lift and support from He Jiu clearly gives her a sense of stability.
He couldn't help but turn his head to look at the person next to him. She was still watching the performance seriously, sometimes lowering her head to type a few words on her phone.
If it was He Jiu who went to the competition with her at that time, maybe it would have been better...
When this thought suddenly appeared in his mind, Yuzuru Hanyu himself was shocked, and he looked at the stage again with a scrutinizing gaze.
He Jiu was dancing the male variation on the stage. He followed the rhythm of the music, doing a series of double spins followed by another, and then kneeling down to strike a dance pose. The audience erupted in thunderous applause, and even Le next to him was shouting "bravo."
"What's so great about that?" He muttered softly, drowned out by the cheers, and no one heard him.
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