Chapter 78: On the verge of breaking out
When a figure skater announces they will no longer compete, it's generally referred to as retirement. Most people imagine retirement as a leisurely and relaxing life, and even Toshio Hasegawa once considered it that way. However, his new boss, Yuzuru Hanyu, seems to dislike the term "retirement." Not only has he repeatedly emphasized in interviews that he will remain a professional athlete, but his schedule seems to have nothing to do with the seemingly relaxed term "retirement."
Being busy is almost the main theme.
Yuzuru Hanyu still insists on daily training, so the increased workload after his job change has squeezed out other time, such as rest time. This kind of movement has become Yuzuru Hanyu's best opportunity to catch up on sleep.
"Hanyu-san, we're here." Hasegawa parked the car and turned to see Yuzuru Hanyu, who was catching up on his sleep, leaning back in his chair. His slightly exhausted face was unbearable to watch. His resentment for working overtime suddenly seemed to fade away. After all, he could still get a good night's sleep.
Yuzuru Hanyu opened his eyes at Hasegawa's prompting. He glanced down at his phone. The message he'd sent to Le before falling asleep hadn't been replied to yet. The message he'd sent, "I'm leaving," hung alone in the chat box.
His schedule has been busy lately, and Le hasn't been relaxed either. Her own dance project is progressing at full speed, interspersed with rehearsals for the troupe's charity performances. So, since the day they changed jobs, they've both been busy in their own time zones, their double bed often half empty, their LINE chat box their only connection.
Fortunately, after finalizing the partnership today, the travel arrangements for collaborations can come to a halt for now. I can now prepare for the upcoming video shoots and livestreams in Sendai. Furthermore, Le has already arrived in Sendai with the troupe's performance team to prepare for the Tanabata Festival's reopening benefit performance. We'll be able to meet up tonight.
Thinking of this, Yuzuru Hanyu's face relaxed a lot. He adjusted his sitting posture in the conference room, and his tiredness disappeared. He was waiting for the last business negotiation in the near future in the best condition.
After the long negotiations, Hasegawa took advantage of the time when Yuzuru Hanyu was chatting and visiting with the organizers to get a few minutes of free time and went to the smoking area to relax his tense nerves.
"Hasegawa, long time no see!" Inoue greeted Hasegawa, who was also taking a break in the smoking area. "How are you? How's your new job?"
"Long time no see. My new job is very fulfilling." He chuckled and lowered his head to crush the cigarette butt on the edge of the trash can.
"Hanyu, oh no, now I have to call you Hanyu-san," Inoue corrected himself, taking a puff of his cigarette before continuing slowly. "Hanyu-san is truly a workaholic. I received an email from him this morning, and it was 3 a.m., doesn't he ever rest?"
"The boss works so hard, why do you need to ask me about my work intensity?" Hasegawa answered the question irrelevantly.
"However, when I first met Hanyu-san, I didn't expect him to be so professional in business negotiations. I thought he was young and would be easy to talk to, but I really overestimated that."
As Inoue sighed, the cigarette he had inhaled escaped from his opening and closing mouth, creating a cloud of smoke. Hasegawa's attention followed the drifting smoke.
Yuzuru Hanyu's calmness during negotiations is indeed surprising. Hasegawa has seen this many times recently and is no longer surprised.
But today, something seems a little abnormal.
During today's negotiations, the iWatch on Yuzuru Hanyu's wrist lit up twice. He glanced down without meaning to, but a frown immediately appeared on his face, a fleeting expression that seemed out of place in the negotiation. He quickly regained his polite and professional demeanor. However, the pace of the negotiations had unnaturally quickened, and he wasn't sure if it was just an illusion.
Before Hasegawa could think clearly, his cell phone started vibrating in his pocket.
"Hiroshige-san, let's get going. I'll meet you in the parking lot." Hanyu Yuzuru said a few words before hanging up, leaving him no chance to delay. It seemed something urgent was going on. Hasegawa hung up, hurriedly said hello to his old friend Inoue, and headed for the parking lot.
He found his boss at the parking lot entrance. Yuzuru Hanyu was leaning against the door, scrolling through his phone, his brow furrowed in a serious expression, his whole person giving off an air of keeping strangers away. Hasegawa paused for a moment before quickening his pace towards him.
"Hanyu-san, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
"It's okay, let's go." He spoke briefly, turned off the screen of his mobile phone and walked ahead.
Hasegawa couldn't help but get nervous watching his hurried figure. He trotted to catch up with his boss, opening the car door two steps ahead of him. He quickly got into the driver's seat, fastened his seatbelt, and started the car before remembering he hadn't figured out where he was going.
"Um...Hanyu-san, are we...going back to Sendai?" he turned around and asked.
"Um."
Hasegawa didn't get any look from Yuzuru Hanyu in the rearview mirror. He could only see him looking down at his phone again.
What happened? In the month I've been working with Yuzuru Hanyu, I've never seen him look this worried. This must be something serious!
After quickly coming to a conclusion in his heart, Hasegawa stepped on the accelerator and drove out of the parking lot, heading towards the national highway back to Sendai.
Hasegawa's guess was not wrong. Yuzuru Hanyu had indeed discovered something serious.
【Morimoto Kosuke: Go check out Le-chan's SNS! 】
Morimoto Kosuke: There are so many people in the comments section! Did something happen to Le-chan?
Today, during a meeting, Xiaojie sent two messages that immediately made Yuzuru Hanyu nervous. As soon as the meeting ended, he quickly checked and saw, as Xiaojie had said, a lot of people were there.
The comments were almost entirely unrelated to her latest vlog or post; they were all expressions of concern, support, and even sympathy. While all of them were positive, they made Yuzuru Hanyu feel uneasy. This was all too abnormal.
"It's nothing, don't worry. It's just that the reporter from the past suddenly had some problems in the United States. Anyway, it's all sorts of things, it's not important. Anyway, the group's public relations department helped to sort it out. They are very professional, so you can see that the comments section is pretty good. I guess I'm lucky~"
When he called to ask, the brisk voice on the phone was not convincing at all, and he had no words to refute. He could only sit in the car and try to climb up the comments section, hoping to find some clues.
However, the journey back to Sendai was already halfway over, and aside from some news items, he still hadn't found anything useful on social media. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his sore eyes. Looking out the window at the scenery receding, his uneasiness felt at odds with the tranquil summer scenery.
Perhaps his anxiety moved some god, and the answer suddenly came to him.
Ghislain Briand (Coach White Bear): Yuzuru, you have a very brave girl.
The sudden message from Coach Shirokuma was incoherent, but he had a hunch it was connected to the comment section. Hanyu made a quick decision, deciding not to let himself be confused any longer and called to get to the bottom of it.
The car cruised smoothly along the highway, the only sound from inside being Yuzuru Hanyu's phone call. He spoke in English, and Hasegawa, concentrating on driving, couldn't really listen to what they were saying. But then he seemed to catch the name of his boss's girlfriend. Human gossip spurred him to press harder on the accelerator, eager to reach his destination sooner.
It was bustling at the destination.
Morimoto Kosuke was enthusiastically introducing the rehabilitation therapy method he designed to Hinata Rio. Tohara Kazuki was too lazy to participate. He sat on the sofa in the rest area with his legs crossed, absent-mindedly flipping through the magazines on the newspaper rack.
Because of the communication relationship between Morimoto Kosuke and the troupe's physical therapist, this time Kikuchi-sensei's chiropractic clinic became the troupe's cooperative physical therapy point for the charity performance at the Sendai Tanabata Festival.
After finishing rehearsal, Lixu complained of joint discomfort, so the three of them prepared to come together. However, just as they were about to leave, Le received a call from the PR department. He Jiu couldn't hear what was said on the phone, but her obvious nervousness gave him a rough idea of what was going on.
"Lio, why don't you go first..." He Jiu was interrupted before he could finish his words.
"No need. Li Xu doesn't know the place either. You go with her. I'll come over after I finish the phone interview." Le said as he pushed the two of them into the car.
All the way here, Kazuki was annoyed at himself for not insisting a little longer. But he'd never been able to get over Le, ever since they were little. His impatience reached its peak when he opened the door and saw Morimoto Kosuke's surprised look.
[Tohara Kazuki: When are you coming? I'm so embarrassed! I can't handle these two people's pink bubbles anymore!]
There was no response to the message he sent, which made him even more annoyed. He Jiu rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue.
The ding-dong sound of the door opening was like salvation for Tohara and Jiu. He threw down the magazine in his hand, stood up and walked towards the door: "You are too slow!..."
He stopped talking before he could finish his words. When he saw who was at the door, he immediately put away the lively expression on his face and returned to sit on the sofa with a stern face.
Yuzuru Hanyu stood at the door, raising an eyebrow in surprise. He looked around but didn't see the person he was looking for.
He and Le had made an appointment to meet at Xiaojie's place, and he had expected to see He Jiu, after all, he was the male lead in the charity performance. But what did that expression of his just now mean?
"Where's the music?"
"Shouldn't you know better than me?" He Jiu leaned back on the sofa, sizing up Yuzuru Hanyu. He was wearing a well-tailored suit and trousers. Although his tie had been removed and his collar buttons were still unbuttoned, it immediately reminded people of his appearance on the day he announced his job change. Thinking of this, He Jiu's displeasure became even more pronounced.
"...Can you please speak nicely?" Yuzuru Hanyu was obviously trying to suppress his temper. It would be hard for anyone to be in a good mood after seeing such a sour face as soon as he entered the door, not to mention that he already had something urgent that he needed to confirm with Le.
"Am I not speaking nicely enough? She's your girlfriend, not mine. Can't you find anyone to ask me?"
Yuzuru Hanyu pursed his lips, took a deep breath to suppress his temper, and slowed down his tone: "Forget it, I have something else to do." After saying that, he was about to move away from this obviously unfriendly person. The moment he turned around, he heard a contemptuous snort, and the movement of holding the door handle paused for half a second.
"Big stars are big stars, they're busy. If they're so busy that they can't even take care of their girlfriends, why bother dragging them down?"
The sarcastic words are really unbearable.
"Tell me clearly, who have I dragged down?" Yuzuru Hanyu turned his head and glared at him.
"You know it in your heart." He Jiu stood up and looked at him directly.
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