Chapter 8 The Cold War
On the eve of the Canada Fall Classic, Yuzuru Hanyu was packing his suitcase in his room. In the corner of the open closet was a small bag.
The bag has a missing piece on the buckle. It was dropped here earlier. Yuzuru Hanyu got angry that day and threw it into the closet and slammed the door a little harder than usual, breaking it.
He rummaged through the closet, took out the things he needed, and threw them into the suitcase. He glanced at the bag in the corner and slammed the closet door shut.
"Yuzuru, I've told you so many times, can't you be quiet?" Yumi Hanyu came in with the packed costumes, looked at the towels and training clothes stacked in the unfastened suitcase, and glared at Yuzuru Hanyu.
This glance was very effective. Hanyu squatted down and started to organize the box, even though he was really just going to close it roughly at first.
Watching him pack his luggage, Yumi Hanyu recalled the conversation she had with Coach Shirokuma a few days ago.
"Mrs. Hanyu, how is Yuzu doing at home lately?"
When I went to deliver Yuzuru's lunch box that day, Coach Shirokuma suddenly asked this question, which made Hanyu Yumi a little nervous. "Why do you ask that? Is there something wrong with his practice?"
"No, he's been practicing pretty well, but lately I've felt like he's been obsessed with breaking through in his jumps. He's really into finding new jump combinations or ways to approach jumps. That's a good thing, but I'm worried that he's been dwelling on his previous GOE not meeting expectations, and that's affecting his mentality. So I wanted to ask you if he's doing well at home."
"I don't see any problems at the moment." Except that I slam cabinet doors a little too often at home.
"That's good, but Yuzu has a strong desire to win, so we still need him to stay calm. I'll have to ask Madam Madam to pay more attention to this aspect."
"I will, thanks for the reminder."
Since that day, Yumi Hanyu has been paying close attention to her son's condition at home, but she hasn't seen anything unusual.
If there was anything different from usual, it was that he spent less time with his phone and went back to using his iPod for music. Although he usually uses his phone less frequently during his preparations, this time it seemed like he was deliberately avoiding it.
For example, now, he picked up his cell phone again, but put it down before turning it on.
"Yuzuru, have you not reconciled with Xiaole yet?"
The hand that was holding the phone shook a little, and the phone fell onto the table prematurely with a dull thud.
"Mom won't ask you why you quarreled, but if you want to talk, Mom will still listen carefully."
"Le said he wanted me to retire."
Hanyu Yumi had suspected the reason for the fight, but she hadn't expected it to be this. Asking Yuzuru to retire didn't sound like something Le would say. "Did she really say that?"
"She asked me if I'd ever thought about retiring. Wasn't she just trying to persuade me to? I've been thinking about it carefully. My GOE last season wasn't ideal. Le must have noticed and felt my form was declining, so she told me to retire and admit that my time was over. But I just haven't figured out how GOE points are calculated yet. Once I'm sure, I can still do well."
"But that day, Xiaole told me that she thought you were in very good shape, and as long as you didn't get injured, you should be able to maintain this condition for a long time," Yumi Hanyu recalled.
"No matter what, as long as I prove myself well, no one will ask me that question again, not Le or anyone else." Le had said that day that she hadn't felt his form had declined, and he believed her truth. Even so, the fact that a mere new rule could cause her worry showed that he wasn't strong enough.
Something felt off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Looking at her son's determined eyes, Yumi Hanyu didn't know how to continue the conversation. The competition was tomorrow, so it might not be a bad idea to just let him keep fighting.
---
He suddenly opened his eyes in the middle of the night, and after a brief moment of adjusting to the darkness, he confirmed that he was lying in bed. Suginohara Raku finally breathed a sigh of relief. He fished out his phone from his pillow. The screen suddenly lit up a corner of the room, making it uncomfortable for his eyes. He squinted to check the time: 3:16.
Since returning from Toronto, Le has not been sleeping well and often has nightmares. I don’t know how many times this has happened in the past two months.
It was the same dream. In the long, narrow, dimly lit backstage corridor, groups of people stood on either side, whispering to each other. They occasionally glanced at her, as if they were planning how to attack her monster. At the far end of the corridor were figures whose faces were indistinct. As they approached, a blinding display of flashing lights filled the air...
I forced myself to close my eyes and fall asleep again. Luckily, I didn't fall into this nightmare again this time. I overslept and couldn't make it to the early morning class I wanted to skip.
Never mind, I finally got a good night's sleep, so it's not a loss at all. Le thought so as he sat in the cafeteria with his roommates to eat breakfast.
"Wow, this is awesome!" Guan Yue, who was sitting across from Le, was browsing Weibo. "Under the new rules, 3A with full GOE, that's awesome."
As she spoke, she clicked on a GIF on Weibo and thrust it in front of Le, who was sipping tofu pudding. The person in the picture took a step forward after the jump, then landed a graceful triple Axel, landing on one foot before spinning with a smooth, effortless movement. It was indeed beautiful and impressive, but right now, she didn't want to see him at all. Le pushed the phone away impatiently.
"You're really weird. I used to watch his matches live, and I thought you were a huge fan. But you ended up leading me into a trap and then you jumped into it and ran away."
"I'm not a fan of his."
"Yes, yes, you're not, but I am. Our Haniu is so cool~ He even did 4T1Eu3F in the free skate this time! A world first~ His balance is amazing!"
Oh, yes, your kid is so awesome that he almost fell into the lake while riding a teenager’s bicycle.
Guan Yue was still browsing Weibo when she came across the interview. Without headphones, she played it straight out loud. Hanyu's voice reached Le's ears, and she couldn't avoid it.
I know I need to be mentally prepared for the challenges of continuing my competitive life. In fact, I've given up a lot to continue competing. Because of that, I don't want to do anything halfway after giving up all that. So now, at the end of this Canada event, the style I want to skate, my ideal skate goals, my high-difficulty jumps, my dream quads and quads, and so on, are finally starting to equalize. So, I want to give a high-quality performance that encompasses all of that.
I'd heard from Guan Yue a month ago that Yuzuru Hanyu had publicly declared he wouldn't retire. This interview felt like a supplement, and I had no idea when it happened. Le listened silently, poking at his tofu pudding.
After returning to Toronto, they hadn't been in touch since then. All the news about Hanyu came from Guan Yue.
It seems like his recent performance in competitions has been pretty good. He seems to have won both the Autumn Classic and the Canadian leg, which is pretty good.
"Beauty, can you turn off the speaker? I'm broadcasting live." A girl sitting behind Guan Yue with headphones on turned around and patted her shoulder.
"Oh, sorry." He peeked at the girl's phone screen, turned off the video, put the phone aside, chewed his bun and spoke incoherently, "This Douyin live broadcast is really popular recently, should I open one too?"
Suddenly, a good idea struck him, and he washed down the bun with a sip of soy milk. "Why don't you open one? A lot of people would love to see a foreigner's daily life in China."
"don't want."
"Tsk~ I knew it. You said you looked like a caveman. Not only do we not have Weibo or Tik Tok in China, we don't even have Twitter or anything like that. We don't even have a Moments."
"It's all junk information. What's so interesting about it? I might as well use this time to write a few more assignments." Le put down his spoon and continued without much appetite. "I'm going to the practice room."
Seeing her stand up with the plate, Guan Yue shrugged, "Take it easy!"
---
Long-distance flights are always a bit tough for Hanyu, who isn't known for his sleep. Even though everything around him was quiet, he still couldn't fall asleep. He pulled out his phone, connected to the plane's Wi-Fi, and habitually opened LINE. He scrolled through the chat box, saw no new messages, and with a soft sigh, he logged out. He then opened Twitter and browsed the forum to relieve his boredom.
Amidst the flurry of praise for his performance at the Grand Prix, many fans were discussing his interview that aired today. One tweet caught his attention.
This interview should be read in conjunction with the interview at the Autumn Classic. To put it together: 1. I'm not retiring, so don't even think about it. 2. Not only am I not retiring, I'm also going to do the quadruple Axel, just wait and see. 3. I'm working hard to fulfill my dreams, and conforming to new rules is completely irrelevant to me. What a statement from a king! I love it!
This interpretation is quite wild, and he kind of likes it.
He took a screenshot, jumped to LINE, and clicked on Le's avatar. The whole process was smooth and flowing, but his fingers paused when he saw the last message in the dialog box.
[Raku: There's nothing important in there, so feel free to do with it.] 2019-08-11
For over two months, he had thrown himself completely into training and competition. Le's words that day had reminded him that if even Le doubted his ability to achieve absolute victory, then there were certainly many who thought the same.
He must become strong, strong enough to convince everyone.
After the last two games, he received a lot of praise, but the news he wanted to see did not come.
Looking at the frozen message in the dialog box, he thought of the quarrel that day and sighed.
They'd both been a bit rambling during that argument, but it was just a fight, wasn't it? Could words from a quarrel be taken seriously? He wasn't angry anymore, was Le still angry?
Then, starting with the NHK Trophy, he had three consecutive tournaments within five weeks. The dense schedule left him no time to ponder why Le hadn't contacted him in the past few months.
As long as we win, that's enough. If we win, no one will mention retirement anymore, and then we can just apologize to Hele.
The most important thing now is victory.
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