nevertheless || yuzuru hanyu

thirty-seven - the people we admire

Generally, it was all going so well until her knee started hurting again. It's been happening a lot quite recently. Especially during her training week, it had been hurting worse the more it happens.

This one was just as bad. If not for the fact that she was alone on the bus, people would have been staring at her for the way she reacted. Even the driver kept giving her concerned glances, but she just smiled through the pain.

She closed her eyes, waiting for it to pass just like all the others did, but this one took a while. It did stop sometime soon, but it was obvious that the more she was keeping this at bay, the more it was getting worse.

As the pain gradually stopped, she was catching her breath and sweating hard.

It was faint, but she could hear the sound of something that admittedly bothered her. She was almost at the end of her playing years.

Ironically, on the day she saw her young self, discovering badminton, she also saw a glimpse of how she was to let it go.

A few more minutes passed by and soon enough, she was at the arena. Just as the day before, she lined up to get in.

There were so many people. Most of them were Yuzuru's fans. Though there were people who came there for other skaters, there were more who came for Yuzuru as told by their banners and headwear.

He had an arena full of fans. If anything it was like an ocean of people.

Gabriella was filled in thought for a moment. How lucky she must have been to have known Yuzuru personally? It could have been anyone else. Perhaps someone better, more confident, wiser. She thought that there were a plethora of people who deserved the chance of meeting him, but he met her instead.

The way the world works could be interesting at times.

As the competition commenced for the second day, Gabriella, with a head full of loss and expectations, waited until she could see Yuzuru again.

There were a lot of things to look forward to.

It took a while, but eventually, she got there.

There were a lot of good skaters, but in this type of competition, only one can truly rise above the others.

As Yuzuru came on the ice, the crowd was in chorus. Gabriella has heard this for the second time now, but it's still something that amazes her.

She couldn't help but smile at the warmth that people provided him. She was happy that he was getting the support that he deserved to have.

Today, he was performing a program called Seimei. When she saw him today, she immediately thought that she liked this program costume more than Chopin. He gave off princely vibes. He genuinely looked like warrior who's was also part of royalty.

Just as he did during the day before, he skated around as his music was getting prepared. By the time he got to the middle of the rink, he stood still in his opening position, waiting for the music to kick in.

As the first beat entered, he was already in the motion of his program. He raised his arm at the beat of the sound and proceeded to venture the ice he skated on. As he skated, he embodied the soul of a warrior.