nevertheless || yuzuru hanyu

forty - here for you

Fuck.

Gabriella's inner thoughts were in shambles. She felt seen and as her match progressed, she was losing her focus.

She began just as she did with the first matches. She allocated the first part of the first set to determine the pattern of her opponent, however, this opponent of hers from Team China seemed to have no specific pattern. It was difficult to read into what she was trying to do.

With that situation, Gabriella panicked upon the realization and was behind in scores. There was a fifteen-point gap between her and her opponent. That fact alone was depleting her thinking and determination. It was also making her think about the pain in her leg even more.

She was internally cursing with every point that she loses. She knows that she can do better but she doesn't know how she would do better. She had a plan, but she couldn't apply the plan. For the entire first set, nothing was going her way, which led to her losing twenty-one to six. It was her worst record yet, and as a player, she felt that her pride and confidence were stepped on.

It made her upset. Remarkably upset.

So much so that something else within her started kicking in. She was crazy, but more so when she loses.

Upon winning, Zhang, Gabriella's opponent was with a confident smile on her face. It was glaring with boastfulness as she was the first one who defeated Gabriella Kim for the day. There must have been some comfort and bragging right that had come with beating the reigning champion, and if so, that could be seen plastered on her face. Her eyes were threatening, especially as they kept meeting Gabriella's.

Though they were apart, there was a silent battle that rang out between the two. Their eyes said everything. While the world was rather silent in Gabriella's mind, she could feel the sharp gaze of her opponent. She felt the discomfort that Zhang's wide gleam was sending her.

That smile...

It didn't last any longer.

Gabriella would not allow it to last any longer.

But before that, she needed to calm herself. Just take a breath.

Coach Browne then approached her with the same thought.

"Gabriella. You've gone a long way, just breathe and go back to the basics. You can do it." He told Gabriella. It was encouraging, but it wasn't enough.

"Here." He then gave her a bottle of water.

"Someone told me to give this to you. He said that after you win, he wanted to take you out for a walk and listen to music with you." He explained. Gabriella's eyes then widened in confusion.

Could it be?

She looked around trying to find him. She has now successfully associated him with music and water bottles, and like a crazy person, she wanted to see him.

"Who—" Gabriella was going to ask.

"I don't know. Why don't you win and find out?" Coach Browne said as he left the water bottle with Gabriella and walked away.

She stared at that bottle for a while. A song was calmly playing in her head. She opened the bottle and took a sip from it. For that whole match, she was finally able to breathe deeply. Her mind was like a cassette tape full of memories. She could almost see Yuzuru as if he was beside her. She felt his support. She felt his presence and it was enough to give her hope.