Chapter Text
"It's Mika Yuitsuka who we've all been talking about and it's Mika Yuitsuka who has taken Gold, with a 154.22 in the Free Skate, bringing her total score here in the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships to 228.83! Edging out teammate Riina Kojoh by just over one point, and securing her berth on Team Japan for the World Championships and the Winter Olympics, congratulations to Mika Yuitsuka!"
Inori screamed and clapped her hands to her mouth, bursting into tears. She leaped out of her seat rinkside. She was crushed between her parents as they seized each other and all jumped up and down in celebration. They turned to look down at where Mika was getting up from the Kiss and Cry with Coach Sonidori and waved at her, shouting her name, and Mika waved back, crying.
"First in the short program and now first again in the free skate with a commanding performance, Mika Yuitsuka has really brought the heat in this year's national competition, a particularly momentous one for her as it is an Olympic year. The last time she had this opportunity she had to sit it out due to injuries, she talked in her pre-event interviews about wanting to seize this second opportunity for herself, and indeed she has taken the first step to make that happen. Really, really happy for her, congratulations again, Mika Yuitsuka."
Hikaru, Yoh, Tsukasa, and Koichi clapped from under the awning they had erected over Meiko's grave and cheered quietly as the camera showed a slow motion shot of Mika's triple Axel and the live stream cut to commercial break. The family had camped out at the graveyard with a surprisingly beefy camp stove keeping a big pot of oden hot while the awning blocked the wind and helped hold in the heat from the camp stove.
"That's the Women's Singles competition over then," said Koichi. He stepped out of the awning to stretch. There wasn't very much wind, to be completely honest, but it was still getting cold just because of how late it was in the day. "Girls, do you want more oden before we pack up?"
"Yes please!" said Hikaru. She poured herself a cup of broth and took a deep sniff. Tasty. "Man, what a crazy competition. I knew Mika would be great but what a crazy skate. That choreo sequence was really something."
"That last combo, the triple double double, I didn't know you could even do that ," Yoh said. She held her hands out in front of her and tilted her head. "Is it like— you have to have so much momentum in the triple—"
"I wonder if Coach Kanamori was helping her," said Hikaru. "It sounds super hard to do."
They chattered for a little longer, Tsukasa chiming in and Koichi asking the occasional question, but eventually they were full of oden and getting cold and there was no more to really talk about for Nationals anyway. Koichi and Tsukasa packed away the awning while Hikaru poured the leftovers into the big thermos they had brought the oden in and Yoh packed up the camp stove. Hikaru made sure to pour a little bit of oden into a paper cup and put a toothpick in through the pieces of fish cake before setting it in front of her mother's grave. The family lined up in front of Meiko and bowed once. Then they went home.
"That was crazy!" texted Shizuka Asano. "Mika is so crazy!"
Yuna smiled to herself and texted back. "I'm really happy for her."
"Me too!" Shizuka texted. "Oh my god, it's so crazy. It's insane. It's almost scary!"
Yuna smiled and teased: "What's scary is your lack of vocabulary, hahaha"
"(ू˃̣̣̣̣̣̣︿˂̣̣̣̣̣̣ ू)"
"Anyway, watching Mika made me think of what Hikaru told me at Junior Nationals," said Shizuka.
"What'd she say?" asked Yuna.
"She said that adults assume they know what we want, but really we have to tell them clearly," said Shizuka. "I want to be like Mika Yuitsuka. I'm going to tell my dad I want to switch clubs to somewhere that's more serious about competition."
"Go for it!" said Yuna. She sent a flurry of encouraging emoji.
"Thanks!!!!!" Shizuka texted back. "I'll let you know how it goes!"
Yuna smiled and looked back up from where she sat rinkside. The audience was finally thinning out. She got up with the rest of the Meikoh squad and checked for her personal belongings, then followed them out. Everybody was chattering about how Meikoh Wind would have two skaters on Team Japan, wasn't that just completely crazy? And already they were speculating: who would go next year?
Yuna felt someone bump into her and turned. Rioh nodded his chin at her in greeting.
"It was a pretty great competition, huh?" he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah," said Yuna. "Mika and Riina both skated really well."
"Pretty crazy to have two team members going to Team Japan," said Rioh. "Dad's going to be pretty busy for the spring."
Yuna felt a funny feeling in her gut. "Oh, that's true."
"You want me to ask Dad and Coach Akeuraji if you can skate with Lux Higashiyama for a bit?" Rioh asked. "I was going to ask for me, and I figured…"
Yuna blinked at him and felt a little bit emotional. "Ah. I… I'm not sure. We don't really know each other at all…"
"It'll be fine, I think," said Rioh with a shrug. "Coach Akeuraji's pretty whatever. He's so positive it's a little unnatural. If you wanted, I don't think it'd be weird."
"...I guess it wouldn't hurt," said Yuna. She smiled at him. "Thanks, Rioh-kun."
Rioh shrugged again, trying to play it cool, but she saw him flush very lightly. "Yeah, it's no big deal. Just you know, we gotta keep moving forward, right?"
Yuna nodded. "Right."