Chapter Text
Her arms sway hypnotically, weightlessly flying on the ice. The blades at the bottom of her figure skates chip the ice, crunching against the dry surface as she leans back into a cantilever.
Her moves emanate effortlessness, as she transitions into a spin. The toepick scratches into the ice with a quiet “scritch!” She halts, lifting a leg into the air gracefully and leaning down to her stabilizing leg. Turn by turn, she switches between her leg and torso nearing the ice in the form of an illusion spin.
An illusion quite captivating by the audience.
The cold radiating from the ice doesn’t pierce past the stiff boot nor thick tights, as she transitions out of the spin into simple sways, another spin. She tilts her torso back, reaching into the air to perform another spin, one leg stabilizing her body while the other is hoisted into the air, held by her other hand just slightly below her hair.
It was left loose, a barely noticeable dark green. Usually hair is kept into intricate updos, like slicked buns. However, to truly express the messy emotions with her program, she decided to leave her hair down.
Notes of classical music shift dramatically, tones of soft, alluring music into shifts of drama, usually where spins or jumps were performed.
Finally the performance comes to an end with the squeak of the ice, the performer doing one more twirl before returning to position, one arm behind her back while the other reaches into the air. It stays for a bit, slowly extending her arm to the judges to signify she was done.
The judges exchange glances, a few writing down a few things and murmuring amongst each other. The coach had their head cradle atop the back of their hand, their eyes fixated on the performer. Thinking.
The beads on the dress glimmer under the lights, the figure skater dressed in black with bits of white feathers to add reference to the famous performance: Swan Lake. Her eyes remained fixed on the judges, adorned with white eyeshadow with her eyes lined in black eyeliner around the waterline. Her lips carefully, specifically in a bee stung pout in a desaturated burgundy.
She was eventually told to get off the ice and sit with her coach and the judges continued evaluating. The two didn’t exchange words, the coach continued to eye the ice, staring off into space thinking about the score while Rin was quite occupied with the same thing.
The murmurs from the judges now pause, as they set aside their notes and wait for the next performer.
She comes neatly primed, a white dress, shining brightly with beads and a few black accents along the sides of the dress. Rin and this other figure skater are supposed to mirror each other’s outfits as they have a shared theme in their program, but this performer seems to have a shine in their eyes, yet a slight agitation. After spectating Rin’s performance, who wouldn’t feel a little crushed already?
The figure skater waits, her hair a dark blue and kept in a looser ponytail. But under the light, there were a few pins in her hair keeping her hair from completely coming loose.
Her hands are kept on either side of her skirt, her legs in an “L” as her starting position. The judges give the sign of approval and the music starts.
It starts with a low violin, and the figure skater starts off with a step sequence. One leg digs into the ice while one is slightly above the ice. She turns her torso bit by bit, following it with a spin. Then a lutz. The music picks up intensity and this figure skater now begins a triple lutz. Her toe pick digs into the ice with a quiet and crisp “scritch!” She takes off into the air, rotating thrice before landing cleanly onto the ice.
Another “spiral” in the music, she picks up another spin, followed by a triple axel. Her skating is a little rougher, but certainly captures quite a bit of emotion.
Eventually the music slows, and the figure skater does one last spin before returning back to starting position, stopping with her legs in an “L” and her arms on either side of her skirt, like a curtsey.
The judges nod, briefly exchanging glances and murmuring while taking notes. The figure skater gets dismissed and she unites with her coach. Who also happens to be Rin’s coach.
“Great work Isagi.”
“Thanks.”
Coach hands Isagi her water and guards. Rin stares at Isagi. The favoritism is unbearably obvious, and Rin clutches onto her bag a little tighter at the sight. Isagi had such emotion in hers, and with the amount of ultra c elements she did plus artistry that matched well with the skating style, Rin may lose. For once in her life. But her skating was a little clunky, while RIN, despite less ultra c elements in her program, did them well and weaved them with artistry.
Suddenly a voice rings through the arena, the announcer.
“... for 2nd: Isagi Yoichi”
She nods, looking at the score displayed. Rin holds her gaze straight to the score, as she already knew what it would display.
“For 1st: Itoshi Rin.”
Rin looks to the side, watching her coach's reaction. Yet she noticed Isagi actually smiling, even though she lost to her. Rin raised a brow, catching herself once against and schooling it back into a neutral face. Not even her coach shared a bit of genuine pride, yet the teammate she won against did.
How strange.
“Congrats Rin! I was watching you on the ice before it was my turn. Your skating is so hypnotising to watch, I couldn’t even try to delay jumps and still make it look good even if I tried.”
“Thanks… I suppose yours was alright. A little rough though.”
Her eyes widen and her cheeks slightly flush with embarrassment. She averts her gaze to the side, tucking a loose hair behind her ear.
“O-oh yeah… I guess I prioritized technical elements more.”
“Technical elements are no good without artistry. Choppy skating only looks good to untrained eyes.”
“Hey!”
“I’m not saying it’s “choppy” in a beginner’s sense, but it is a clunky look for experienced skaters like you and I.”
Isagi pouts briefly, before Rin lets out a sigh and the two are dismissed for podium photos.
The two arrive at their podium, Isagi walking up and receiving a flag while Rin stands without one. She does however receive her trophy first before the others and the judges still don’t bat an eye at Rin missing a flag.
“Hey! I think we’re missing another flag for Japan!”
“Nope, you two are sharing a flag since we’re running low on fabric.”
Rin averts her gaze to the ice, slightly annoyed but leans down to share the flag and fake a smile for photos. The lights flash several times, murmuring buzzing among the reporters as eventually the figure skates are allowed to leave.
“Rin, Isagi, let’s head out.”
The two pick up speed, with Isagi a bit more energetic with her walk back to their coach.
“We’ll be heading back to the hotel, since our flight leaves at 11:48pm.”
“Yes Coach Ego.”
Their skates both share a deep thud as they hit the floor, their shoes replacing the restrictive skates. They all prepare to head up, picking their bags off the floor as their items lightly jingle inside.
“So Rin, what’s your routine?”
“...”
“Like your routine to such smooth skating?”
“...”
“???”
“...”
“I’m not going to get anything out of you am I?”
“............”
“... alright fair enough.”
Coach opens their doors and tosses their bags into the back, preparing to take them to their hotel. The engines roar back into power, finding a bit of struggle for the snow. Luckily the flight wouldn’t be long as Shanghai wasn’t far from Tokyo.
Yet not even 5 minutes into the drive, Isagi fell asleep. Rin got on her phone, posting photos to social media until she feels something heavy on her shoulder.
It’s Isagi, isn’t it?
Her hair brushes softly against Isagi’s skin, her gaze falling onto the sleepy girl. Yet she doesn’t make an effort to move away or readjust.
I’ll admit, I like her expressive skating. Mine’s getting lukewarm, all the same skating for the same high scores. I want to feel something again for this fucking sport.
The car hums as it travels along the road, and Rin finds herself getting quite tired. She’s not the type to try to rest though, and there’s already a sleeping Isagi on her shoulder. So she relieves it with a sigh and reaches for a sugary snack to keep her up.
But her eyes begin to dry and her lids begin to feel heavy. Suddenly she feels more comfortable in the cold leather car seats with blankets barely softening the cushion. And suddenly the weight isn’t such a burden on her shoulders.
She lets out another yawn, setting down her phone to an unfinished reddit story, staring at the ceiling as sleep begins to consume her.
All fades to black, though an oddly comforting feeling it is to finally let down her guard.
[TIME SKIP]
“Up from your nap you two. We’ll eat first and discuss plans for tomorrow.”
Isagi groans while she forces herself up. Rin briefly rubs her eyes before getting up and grabbing her bag. Reluctantly, after looking back and seeing Isagi struggle to get up, she rolls her eyes before grabbing Isagi’s bag.
“Come on Isagi, we need to eat.”
She feels oddly hot to the touch though, and a little too tired to not get up by this point.
“She’s sick isn’t she? I knew this cold would get her to catch a cold. I told her to keep that coat on.”
“It’s fine I’ll pick her up.”
It’s quite out of Rin’s character to do that for another person, but Ego would much rather get out of the cold than drag Isagi in the snow and worsen her condition. Rin prepares to pick up Isagi, tossing her over her shoulder while Ego takes the bags from Rin. The two walk into their hotel, checking back in with the front desk before they head up via the elevator.
“Rin, make sure you keep the heaters on. We’ll also have some soup to keep warm. Stack the blankets, keep them by the windows and doors.”
“Yes Coach.”
The elevator chimes as they reach their floor, and the two step out while Coach fishes for their room card. Luckily no one’s on the floor to fawn over them and delay their time to warm up. Coach grabs the card and presses it against the card reader, the two rushing to get inside.
Rin dumps Isagi on the bed and dumps a few blankets on her while Ego quickly gets to work putting the blankets by the windows and doors except for the hotel door for room service.
“Get your things packed. Just shove Isagi’s in her suitcase, she can figure it out later.”
Rin digs around piles of clothes for her suitcase, lazily folding them to fit into the bag while Coach orders them their soups. Once sorting through the clothing items, she leaves Isagi’s unfolded in her bags.
While off into space while folding clothes, Coach interrupts the silence accompanied with the sound of the heater buzzing.
“Rin, we’ll need you to be Isagi’s pair partner for training tomorrow. We’ve got more competitions coming up. Though the ISU doesn’t allow same sex partners for a program, you two have pairs coming up and with special permission, you two are allowed to perform together. Find time to practice so your styles don’t clash.”
“Yes Coach.”
“Well done at your performance. Keep your performance up.”
“Yes Coach.”
“Good–”
Their conversation is interrupted with a loud knock on the door, with a cart of food left in front of the door.
“There it is. Finish folding, I’ll need to bring these to the table.”
Rin reaches for the last item, stuffing it into Isagi’s suitcase before walking up to the table, grabbing a spoon and starting to eat. She’s used to eating pretty quick since competitions were kept quite tightly together. And training time was of the essence, even missing a warmup would slim your chances of doing well on the ice. And the sport isn’t exactly very forgiving either.
“Finish eating, get ready for bed and wake up Isagi before you get ready.”
She nods, setting her spoon aside as she finishes. Surprisingly, she doesn’t need to wake up Isagi as Isagi already made her way over. Coach’s tone even lightens seeing Isagi awake. Rin finds a scowl to grace her face before she tightens it back into a neutral stare. She brushes her teeth in the freezing water, She spit out the toothpaste, brushing again before flossing very specifically. Followed by mouthwash, and aggressively waterboarding her face into water while washing her face.
She does the basics: toner, essence, moisturizer, topical ointments and a lip mask and eyelash serum before heading out in loose sweat pants and a sweater.
“Ah, Rin you’re back!”
Isagi cracks a smile, finishing up her folded clothes while Coach brings the cart outside.
Rin shifts her eyes down, before heading to her bed. She grabs her phone and continues checking social media. Isagi hurries into her bathroom, briefly brushing her teeth, not even trying to use mouthwash before going straight into washing her face and using just moisturizer. Not only that, Isagi borrows Rin’s lip mask and uses it before heading out the bathroom.
“Grab our stuff and put it in the cosmetics bag. Then toss it in my bag.”
“You got it!”
Isagi gathers the things and quickly tosses them inside, running over to Rin’s bag and stuffing it into the front pocket before also heading into her bed.
“Don’t do anything stupid while I’m asleep.” Coach yells from their bed before going straight to planning once again.
“Isagi. Listen to me, Coach said we’ll have to practice skating together as we’re pair partners. Yes I know the ISU has the rule against same sex pairs but we have exceptions due to our status.”
“Oh! Got it. I’m surprised.”
“Don’t be.”
“Okay… if that’s what you say.”
She smiles at Rin again, giving that stupid little grin before closing her eyes and passing out again. Rin sighs, laying onto the pillows and staring at the ceiling in thought.
So we’re actually skating together. That’s sort of strange, how the ISU was fine granting us that exception. But if it wins us another medal. We’re both girls anyway.