Chapter 120 Happiness Energy Storing
In a Tokyo apartment, a group of young people sat in the living room lively.
Rio, Kazuki, and Yuzuru Hanyu sat scattered across the sofa and carpet, each holding half a Joy-Con controller, staring intently at the TV screen and shaking it vigorously. The four balloons on the screen grew larger and larger, and their movements in real life became more intense, their arms flaring up and down, as if anyone who was even a second late would be deemed a failure by the system.
"Oh, Hejiu, hurry up!" Guan Yue stomped her feet anxiously.
"Yueyue, he can't understand you speaking Chinese." Le laughed so hard that tears were about to come out.
"Damn it! If my Fang Li hadn't come, who would want to team up with him?" Guan Yue glared angrily at the "LOSE" icon on the screen, indicating that her team of little dinosaurs had fallen to last place. Unconvinced, she forked a piece of fruit and shoved it into her mouth, as if using vitamin C to dispel the bitter taste of failure.
"Yeah! I win again!" Yuzuru Hanyu raised the Joy-Con high in the air and handed it to Le with a smug look on his face. "Come on, Le, shake it. Shake it and get a 5! Then we can get that big gold coin!"
Le took the controller and gently pressed the button under his expectant gaze. The dice on the TV screen rolled happily, finally landing firmly on "4"—just one space short.
"Eh - just a little bit!" Yuzuru Hanyu pounded his chest and stamped his feet, his expression as if he had lost the gold medal in a competition.
"It's our turn." Li Xu stood up and flexed her wrists, as if she could go to the battlefield in the next second. "Xiao Jie, watch me."
"Great, our Rio is the best!" Xiaojie cheered and waved flags on the side, as if joining in the live broadcast to sell goods.
As expected, the little princess triumphed immediately, pocketing the large gold coin. The two began to flatter each other, and the situation quickly degenerated into a childish quarrel.
"See, I've always said that Rio's point sensing is incredibly accurate—"
"That's because you two formed a love cheat team, okay?"
As they were talking back and forth, He Jiu finally stood up with a headache, grabbed the lighter and cigarettes on the coffee table, and walked silently to the balcony.
The original three-team Mario Duel was missing a team. After Hanyu and Rio had enough fun, they realized the formation was incomplete and quickly reached a consensus: "Change the game! Keep fighting!"
The balcony was still slightly cool, and the wind blew through the cracks between the high-rise buildings, bringing with it the usual dryness of late spring nights and a hint of restless warmth. He Jiu leaned against the railing and lit a cigarette. The spark was a slight pulse against the night sky. He didn't rush to smoke, but first looked up at the night sky—in Tokyo at night, the lights always looked like stars, but the stars were always farther away than the lights.
The balcony door behind him was opened with a "crash". He turned his head and his eyes fell on the slender figure at the door.
"Put on a coat before you come out." He turned his head and exhaled the smoke that he had just inhaled into his lungs as he spoke, and the smoke dissipated in the night.
"It's okay, I'm not cold." Le shrugged, his tone straightforward, without any pretentious refusal. He had just had a few drinks, and the heat was still lingering. The breeze outside seemed like a sobering courtesy.
She took a few steps closer, leaned on the railing on the other side, and looked at him sideways: "Are you feeling a little bored? You're so bad at playing games, you can't blame anyone else."
He Jiu rolled his eyes and said nothing.
"Your party is so boring," he slowly exhaled his second puff of cigarette, "If I had known it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have come."
"You took the ticket." Le smiled innocently, "You have to come and repay the favor, right?"
He Jiu snorted but didn't say anything back.
They were both silent for a moment, their voices echoing only from the living room. Occasionally, a car would glide across the street below, its motion as clean and swift as a drop of water gliding past the glass.
"Have a good rest." Le rolled his shoulders and looked at the night in the distance. "We'll start rehearsals non-stop tomorrow."
"Non-stop?" He turned to look at her, questioningly in his tone, "Why are you working so closely together?"
"I plan to wait a few more days and then find time to go to Sendai."
He Jiu paused imperceptibly, the cigarette nearly burning his knuckles. He frowned and spoke in a low voice, "Are you planning to follow his Bing Yan full-time?"
"No," Le held out his hand in surrender. "I know what you're going to say. It's not about participating in Notte. I haven't even joined the team for this project, you know."
She said it lightly, but both of them knew the details behind it.
From the moment Notte Stellata was launched, she felt as if fate had deliberately avoided her, and she always inexplicably missed various opportunities to participate—either because they happened to run into rehearsals or because she had other work arrangements. It was only later that she realized that these "just happened" might not really be coincidences.
She remembered it clearly. She arrived at Gift's creative rehearsal meeting half an hour early that day. In the conference room, Mikiko was presenting a project plan, a projected image flickering on the white wall. As she reached the door, Yuzuru Hanyu stood up calmly, interrupting the conversation. In a rare display of demeanor amidst serious work, he declared himself exhausted and in need of a break.
But she recognized what was on the projection—it wasn't Gift, it was Notte.
Later, during a break in a meeting, Teacher Mikiko looked at her and seemed to be hesitant to speak, as if she wanted to explain something to someone.
"Le-chan, actually..."
"It's okay." She interrupted with a smile, her tone as light as if she was talking about a trivial matter. "My brain hasn't been working well lately, so I told him not to tell me too many details. I said it myself."
She covered it up with laughter and jokes, but a thin layer of uneasiness grew in her heart.
He Jiu stood by and pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, and the fire went out.
"So you still want to go." He said, his tone without emotion.
Le didn't answer immediately, his eyes passed him and fell on the distant skyline.
After a moment, she suddenly laughed, her voice soft but with her usual sober teasing tone:
"Well, let's go and see what he'll do if I don't participate too much in the mixed ice show."
She paused, then added, seemingly unintentionally interrupting, but also as if to find an excuse: "I'm actually co-starring with a gymnastics champion this time. I'm also... quite curious."
"Really? I don't understand how gymnastics should perform. Ballet is more suitable." He Jiu snorted contemptuously, and Le caught his flaw.
"That's right, why not look for you?"
He Jiu glanced at her without saying anything. He just lowered his head to knock off the cigarette ash from between his fingers and smiled calmly.
The Tokyo wind blew around the balcony, making the laughter and noise coming from the house a little softer.
"Is it really worth all the trouble?" This is what Hejiu wanted to say that night but didn't say it out loud.
But at that time, they hadn't imagined what kind of experience a performance at such a special venue and time would have on everyone. As for Le, the decision to go to Sendai to accompany him was a wise one, in retrospect.
In the days that followed, they were both busy. Busy was understandable, but so busy that they barely even had the chance to talk, even Hanyu felt a little aggrieved. Every day when he left for practice at the rink, she hadn't returned yet. By the time he returned home, shivering, she was already fast asleep, hugging her pillow. Sometimes, with luck, they'd even bump into each other at the door.
Originally, he hadn't planned to have her participate in the Notte Stellata ice show. From the planning stage, he had clearly stated that the project would return to its original purpose, with him personally in charge. Moreover, on March 11th, a moment of profound significance to him, there were stories he wanted to tell himself. He had also repeatedly thought: This heavy emotional burden shouldn't be placed on her.
So on the morning of his departure, he kissed Le who was still sleeping, carefully wrote a message at the entrance, and quietly returned to Sendai with his luggage.
But she still came.
Yuzuru Hanyu was pleasantly surprised to see her quietly hiding on the ice. While chatting with teacher David, he watched from the corner of his eye as she sidled up to him, attempting a sneak attack. Then, he grabbed her hand. The moment their fingertips touched, he suddenly decided to let go of the uneasiness and anxiety he had been feeling for the past few days, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
The rehearsal went much more smoothly with Le's presence, and Hanyu Yuzuru couldn't help but start to feel that it was a mistake for him to not let her join in the first place.
Especially when she found out that he couldn't take care of himself, his angry look made Yuzuru Hanyu really regret hiding it from her and trying to face everything alone.
Looking at Le who was holding him down and applying lipstick fiercely, Yuzuru Hanyu gradually felt guilty. He didn't care about the sticky touch that he hated, and put his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"Don't come near me, your lips are covered in sticky lipstick!" Le pushed him away.
Yuzuru Hanyu naturally refused and just hugged her and acted like a spoiled child.
"Actually, I'm really happy you came."
"Who was it that refused to tell me before? They only left a note before they left."
Yuzuru Hanyu felt guilty, pouting and looking up at Le innocently. The wound on his lip had opened again, bleeding, making him look particularly pitiful.
"It's because you're so busy. I see you're working too hard and I don't want to disturb your rest..." He felt aggrieved.
Seeing him like this, Le felt soft-hearted and bent down to kiss his pouting lips. The smell of blood spread.
"Okay, you're considerate. I'll give you a reward." After she finished speaking, she was about to stand up, but he grabbed her waist and blocked her way.
"Can I have more?" He blinked cunningly, with a little blood still on the corner of his lips, but his eyes were shining, as if he was waiting for her response seriously.
"Are you a vampire? You still want to keep kissing me even though my skin is broken." Le sighed and reached out to get a tissue, but he took advantage of the situation and fell into her arms, lying on her legs and refusing to get up.
"I'm just... having a performance soon, so I need to save some energy." He said softly, his tone a mixture of coquettishness and a hint of thoughtfulness, "Otherwise, how will I have the energy to dance for everyone?"
Le glared at him, but still gently wiped the corners of his mouth with her hand, and applied some ointment on him, sighing and muttering: "You are the only one who can give reasons, do you store energy by kissing?"
"Of course." He looked up at her, as serious as a child undergoing psychological training. "My most important source of motivation is you."
"...Really." She coughed lightly and looked away embarrassedly.
Yuzuru Hanyu, however, pushed her arm further and leaned in closer. "Have you tried Taiyaki? I can't eat it yet, but I want to try it. Do you have any left?"
Le didn't say anything, but just slowly stroked the pajamas fabric on his shoulders with his fingers, as if to suppress the fatigue that had accumulated for a long time.
The lights flickered outside the window, but the room was dark. Only the moonlight and the shadows of the distant orange streetlights revealed the two figures quietly leaning against each other. There were no heated words, no sentimental promises, but their words were more gentle and resolute than any other.
The energy of happiness has indeed been stored.
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