Chapter Text
"In today's sports reporting," said the news anchor, "the XXth All-Japan Junior Figure Skating Championships wrapped up with a series of expected results and one stunning upset in the Women's Singles division."
Camera change: the podium finishers standing, standing together, holding up their medals and the certificates from the Japan Skating Federation.
"The final results at the end of Free Skating were Iruka Okazaki in First Place, Hikaru Kago in Second Place, and Azusa Okuno in Third Place. Widely considered the best novice skater in Japan, favorite Inori Yuitsuka was relegated to fifth place after Suzu Kamoto from Hiroshima after multiple edge errors and an under-rotated double axel during the free skate. Here is what she had to say after the meet."
Camera change: Inori Yuitsuka, leaning in to listen to the reporter that was holding a microphone up to her.
"It's a tough time for a lot of skaters, so I'm not too upset," said Inori, shouting a little to be heard over the music being played over the closing ceremony. "I've been working hard to improve aspects of my skating that I haven't focused on in the past. You're always going to get worse before you get better, and I think that showed up in my skating today."
Camera change: Coach Sonidori in the hallways backstage of the rink.
"We knew that to make sure Inori was able to fight for first, she would need to overcome Okazaki-san's excellent on-ice expression," said Shinichiro Sonidori. "I'm very proud of all the progress she made in the short time from Novice Nationals to today, and I think she will have an excellent foundation for the Junior selection events next year."
Camera change: the news anchor.
"We go now to our figure skating commentator, Yukito Asakawa. Asakawa-san, what thoughts do you have after seeing Yuitsuka-san's performance at Juniors?"
"Thanks Tanida-san. I agree fully with Sonidori-san's comments about Yuitsuka-san. When we look at her performance today, we truly see a much stronger focus on an emotional performance. For our viewers who may not be familiar, Yuitsuka-san's free skate this year is an extension of her Novice program and is a Swan Lake Medley. A very common music choice with many great skaters over the years who have interpreted it, and I think while this isn't quite ready to be called a great free skate, Yuitsuka-san is showing great, great potential to be one of the greats in the history of figure skating."
"So we can see here, in the lead up to that under-rotated double Axel you mentioned, Tanida-san, and you can see how her expression is so, tragically sad, with her arms stretched out truly like a swan in lament. Yes this doesn't have all the elegance and expression of a more mature skater, or indeed a more mature dancer, but she has clearly got a strong, strong start."
"And Asakawa-san, this happens all over Yuitsuka-san's performance, is that correct?"
"Exactly, we can see it at the start, we see it in the end, we really see it when she is conducting her choreographic sequence, which is right before her spin sequence and has the music building for the finale where Siegfried and Odette — well, I won't spoil the ending of Swan Lake to anyone who hasn't seen it — and go see it , the Tokyo Ballet and National Ballet of Japan both have fantastic productions — but you can see how Yuitsuka-san has truly internalized this part of her music and is just fully immersed in the story she is trying to tell. I'm so, so happy for her that she's very aware of how many struggles skaters her age go through and how much she and her coaches are looking to improve everywhere they can. That kind of awareness leads to great mental strength which can only help her in the future of her skating career, and indeed the entire rest of her life."
"Very insightful Asakawa-san, thank you very much. Turning now to the Mens' Singles Division…"
Inori Yuitsuka — All Washed Up???, www.fsjapan.blog.jp/home
The End of an Era, www.japantimes.jp/sports/figureskating/novicea
The Novice Queen Dethroned, www.goldenskate.com/forum/threads/all-japan-juniors
New Talents Discussion - Hikaru Kago, www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/14j2omv/new_talents_discussion_hikaru_kago
Like Sister, Like Sister , figureskaterunchan.livedoor.jp/skating-news/likesisterlikesister-yuitsukas-overrated
Suzu sat down heavily on the train and dropped her face into her hands.
"What's wrong, Suzu?"
Suzu looked up from her hands. "Hey Jacky. Nothing's wrong, really."
"That doesn't sound right," said Yudai Jakuzure, sitting down next to her on the train. "You just took a top-five slot at Junior Nationals."
Suzu shrugged. "I'm glad, but I still got fourth. Hikaru Kago took second. And Inori took fifth ."
Jackie looked down at Suzu silently for a moment. "...Are you sad for Inori, Suzu?"
Suzu made a face. "Me and Inori are rivals, Jacky. It's not like that."
"Why are you sad then?"
Suzu sighed. "I dunno. I guess I just feel unsatisfied."
"Hm?"
"Like, both of us weren't very cute today, you know?" said Suzu. She laid her head down on her arms and turned to look at Jackie. "Maybe Suzu was a little closer to being the middle idol on stage, but when you're both so far away then isn't taking things too seriously the same as two cats fighting over scraps?"
"I think it's dogs in the idiom," said Jacky.
"Whatever. I just… it didn't feel like a cute girls battle this time."
"Hmm. Well, that's too bad, but I guess there's next year, right?"
"I guess," said Suzu.
The train thudded as it began to pull away from the station. Suzu turned away to the window and sighed. "I want to fight her again."
Inori lay back in the bath of her family's home and stared up at the ceiling. The bath had been drawn special just for her. Her mom had bought her a really great bath bomb that smelled minty and citrusy and stained the water a dark, earthy green. It was after dinner, and she had to go to school tomorrow.
The lights had been turned down in the bathroom, so that only the one lamp right over the top of the bathtub was on. Inori held her hands out above here and looked at them. The murky water dripped down Inori's arm, and as she turned her arm around, the glitter from the bath bomb made her skin sparkle prettily, except for lines where the water had run down in long lines that had washed the glitter away. She took a long breath in through her nose, letting the scent of mint and citrus fill her head, then breathed out.
She hadn't cried the evening after the free skate had ended. She hadn't cried on the way home this morning. She had seen a lot of the headlines on the internet when she had opened her phone while lying around on the couch before dinner, and had braced herself to burst into tears, but then it hadn't happened. She had expected to cry one way or another, but somehow she felt like she had already cried herself out.
"End of an era", huh. It probably did count as one. She really had been dethroned. Hikaru had said she was going to drag Inori down, and it felt like Hikaru had succeeded. The world now existed in the time Before Losing and the time After Losing for Inori.
Inori closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose again. The scent of mint almost tingled in her nose. Her skin tingled all over from the peppermint oil, made the hot water feel even hotter than it actually was, but then when she lifted her arms out even the slightest breath of air made goosebumps rise all over.
She thought about the fight she'd had with Yuna a few weeks ago. She'd called herself a loser, and Yuna had gotten so upset. Did Yuna come home after taking second, or third, or fourth, or fifth, and have feelings like this while taking her bath before going to bed?
She lifted a scoop of water up over her head and poured it onto her face. It rippled over her eyes and went up her nose a little and tingled and burned in a good way across the sensitive skin of those parts of her face. She took a deep breath and the chill of the air made her nose cold like she had eaten one of the really strong mints her sister liked because she was a crazy person.
Thinking about it, it must be different for Yuna. Inori may have taken fifth at Junior Nationals but she had taken first last year and next year she would be actually a Junior skater who she believed really could take first again. She hadn't been lying on TV: whenever you tried something new you always got worse before you got better.
Inori took a breath in, held it, and slid herself fully under water. The mint and citrus oils in the bath bomb burned on her eyelids and went up her nose and made her want to sneeze, but she kept herself under, eyes squeezed tightly shut, until she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.
Inori sat up out of the water with a gasp, her hair all over her face, water dripping out of her nose and her ears. She took a breath, sucked water into her lungs, and coughed loudly, the bath bomb making her throat and chest feel like they were burning while they froze. Inori took deep breaths, leaning against her knees, until her lungs stopped heaving. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Inori got out of the bath.
It was very late. Hikaru had school tomorrow, but she couldn't sleep. She sat up in the dark, staring at the circle of silver hanging across from her bed on the wall, where the light from the moon came through her blinds and gleamed off the front. Just below it was her certificate of winning second place, already in a frame that her father had rushed off to buy as soon as they got back to protect it until they could get a nicer one from the stationary store. Both stood to the side, and a little below, her Novice A first place certificate and gold medal.
"Second place at Junior Nationals…"
Hikaru looked up at the ceiling and thought about her mother. Could she see how far Hikaru had come in so little time? She almost didn't believe it herself. Was something this crazy really possible? Hikaru looked back to the two medals, won so close to each other, and wrapped her arms around her knees. What a crazy year it had already been.
Outside, the cold November wind blew, kicking up a swirl of leaves off the ground.
Soon it would be December, and then it would be a new year, and everything would change. Inori was a year ahead of Hikaru and was going to start her first year as a Junior skater. Hikaru would be in her second year in Novice A, with Suzu and Mai'n. They'd have a lot of fun together, but it wouldn't be the same without Inori.
Hikaru sighed. Inori was further away again. Hikaru was still going to be chasing her, up until they both were in the Senior division. Couldn't the world hurry up and let them get there already? That feeling of chasing after Inori, when she was just a little up ahead, just around the next corner, and then Hikaru could reach out and grab her…
Hikaru sighed again and laid down, pulling the covers up to her chin. She had school tomorrow.