Moment of Truth

Chapter 21: Music

I'd do anything to help Yuzuru. I want him to go out there and go his best no matter what. I may just be his translator/mini-manager, but I know we are friends too. I'm at his practices so much that I've picked up on his little tendencies. Like when he's irritated about not landing a jump or when he feels silly about falling over randomly in practice. I'm always ready to be his moral support when he needs it. And sometimes he really needs it. Especially since I can speak his native tongue. I know how much he appreciates that.

"I'm so excited!" I exclaim as I walk along Yuzuru's side in the airport. We're on our way to the NHK Trophy. "I've always wanted to go to Japan."

"Well here is your chance to," Coach Brian says smiling at my excited expression.

"You're going to like it very much," Yuzuru tells me, giving me one of his smiles where he loses his eyes. Those are his best smiles.

"Thanks for letting me experience this with you," I say to Yuzuru with gratitude. "Though I'm not really needed since we are going to your homeland."

"I couldn't just let you stay here. You're very important to the team. And you're like a good luck charm for me. You have to come with."

A blush spreads across my cheeks but it's hard to see as my skin isn't fair enough to see the change in color. I can feel it though. What a thing for Yuzuru to say. I look away from Yuzuru and keep walking. We've already gotten our luggage checked in and have gone past security. We're just walking to our gate. We still have two hours before we take off. We claim some chairs by the gate and sit down. I pull out my iPod and listen to some music. I leave one ear phone out in case anyone wants to talk to me. I don't want to appear unapproachable.

"What are you listening to?" Yuzuru ask me as he also has earphones out to listen to music.

"It's this song that's very popular in the Philippines right now," I reply. I offer him my extra earphone. "Would you like to listen to it?"

Yuzuru nods his head as he takes the earphone and puts it in his own ear. Surprise comes over Yuzuru's face. "It's in English," he says in a confused tone.

"Yes, the song is from America. I listen to a lot more English music than Filipino music. In the Philippines, everyone loves American culture. They love their music, their food, their style. There is a lot of love for America in my homeland. I almost moved there, you know?"

"Why did you move here then?"

"My siblings and I wanted to move here coincidentally. We had the choice of either countries but we all chose Canada. As much as it would have been fun in America, I'm glad we moved here to Canada. Especially Toronto."

"I'm glad you moved here too..."

I smile at Yuzuru and he smiles back at me. Suddenly I hear a loud click. I look over to Coach Brian to see him with his phone out pointing in our direction smiling sheepishly at us. He's sitting right across from us.

"Did you take a picture of us?" I ask rhetorically. Of course he did, with the way his phone was out and the sound, it had to be him.

"Sorry, it just looked like a really sweet moment," Coach Brian apologizes. He hands his phone over to me. "Just look at that picture."

I take his phone and look at the picture. I can feel the heat rising to my face. I show it to Yuzuru and he has the same reaction. The picture makes us look like a couple having a loving moment. We're smiling and looking into each other's eyes. I hate to say it, but it's a great picture of us.

"I'll send it to you both," Coach Brian states after getting back his phone.

Yuzuru and I just nod to ourselves as we turn back to our music. We listen to our own music separately. We have conversations here and there and we'll show each other what we're listening to as we wait for our flight to be called. It's nice to be early for our flight, but it can be a bit boring waiting around for it to arrive. But once we get on the plane, we'll be off to Japan and I couldn't be more excited.