Ice Queen

Chapter 9 - Reminders

It's only been a day since Bachira has left for Blue Lock and yet, at least to Tsubaki, it feels like he's been gone for much longer.

Classes went by as usual except when Tsubaki sat down in art class she expected Bachira to sit right next to her while talking passionately about Ranold, Messi, Zico, and other football stars, but when she turned to look at Bachira's usual seat, he was nowhere to be found.

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The days were getting cooler as autumn was just beginning, but that didn't stop the sun from being unnecessarily bright that day. That definitely didn't help Tsubaki's mood.

When she went to the Ice rink as usual, she did her regular off-the-ice stretches and warm-ups before putting on her skates and hopping onto the ice. Sectionals were approaching fast, and Ine and Coach Haruki already made the necessary changes to Tsubaki's short program, and now, all she had to do now was train.

This was definitely easier said than done.

Because of Tsubaki's naturally tall and slender figure, it's much easier for her to do spins, however, she struggles with doing complicated jumps. The smaller you are, the more aerodynamic you are, which therefore makes it easier to jump, which is why most elite female figure skaters tend to be quite short, however, there are also a lot of tall elite female figure skaters as well.

Tsubaki used to be very insecure about her height; often being made fun of by her old coach's students relentlessly for it. She often thought that her height might hold her back from becoming one of the best, but now she knows that this isn't true and that training and discipline are what make someone a great figure skater.

Tsubaki noticed that she wasn't the only one on the ice, and as she peered through the glass clear panes she saw Shiratori and Kaneko. It's not that it was unusual to see them around the facility, it's just that usually when Tsubaki was doing off-the-ice training they were on the ice and vice versa.

"What are you guys doing here?" Tsubaki asked as she skated towards them.

Shiratori turned around, and her raven-colored braid followed, "Oh! Yukiharu, it's nice to see you. Coach Haruki said that we were going to do a joint practice today."

"Yup, look," Kaneko said as he showed Tsubaki Coach Haruki's text messages.

"Okay then, but where is she?"

When Tsubaki asked, Haruki was right behind them, skating her way to her students.

"Late as always," Shiratori said teasingly.

"Yes yes, but this time I have a good reason! Your costume designer - er what's her name again?"

"Hamasaki," Kaneko responded as he absentmindedly stared at the tall ceiling.

"Right!" Haruki said as she was still trying to catch her breath. "She finished making the final adjustments on your costumes from regionals."

"Really! Are we going to visit her now?" Shiratori said excitedly.

"But we just got on the ice..." Tsubaki said disappointedly.

"Yes, but come on Yukiharu! We get to see our competition costumes right now!" Shiratori said as she shook Tsubaki's shoulder.

"We already saw them anyways during regionals," Tsubaki tried to say as she was shaken violently.

Honestly, it seemed like Shiratori liked the costumes more than she actually liked to figure skate.

Reluctantly, Tsubaki left the ice with Shiratori, Kaneko, and Coach Haruki to head to Hayami Coture (based on Yumi Coture). The three of them were squished into the back seat of Haruki's car, with Shiratori in the middle, Kaneko to the right, and Tsubaki to the left. The drive was relatively short, and for the majority of it, Shiratori was fighting with Haruki about her song choices.

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When they finally arrived at Hayami Coture in the heart of downtown where the shop displayed mannequins doing a variety of figure skating poses wearing Hayami's design. She comes from a long line of Kimono dress-makers which has influenced her designs.

"I thought Hayami would be in her main shop in Kyoto for a few more weeks," Kaneko said as he opened the door to the shop, causing the bell on the door frame to make a whimsical dinging noise.

"Same here, but she finished the alterations earlier than I expected." Coach Haruki said as she walked into the elegant-looking shop.

"Chiye!!! It's sooo good to see you!" Hayami excitedly shouted as she ran up to Haruki and gave her a hug.

Tsubaki's only met her one other time, so she bowed out of respect, but the older red cat-eyed glasses, bob cut satin flamboyant red robe-wearing woman insisted that she didn't have to.

"Your costumes are here in the back. How about you try them on!" Hayami said as she clapped her hands enthusiastically.

Tsubaki took her costume to one of the many changing rooms lined up in the back of the store. In the changing room next to her, she could hear Shiratori struggling to put her costume on.

"Er - Yukiharu, could you help me!" Shiratori said.

To Tsubaki, it sounded like she was suffocating, so she quickly exited the small changing room and went to the one to her left to help her friend. Shiratori's white rhinestone-covered dress was only halfway down her body, with the part of the dress that was supposed to go on her chest on her head, while the sleeves dangled in the air helplessly.

"Ok, just stay still I got this," Tsubaki said.

"Everything okay in there?" Kaneko asked a few changing rooms down.

"E-everything is fine!" Shiratori responded frantically as her head was finally free thanks to Tsubkai's help.

"Thanks for the help, but you should change into your costume," Shiratori said gratefully.

"Your right, and please, try not to suffocate while I'm away," Tsubaki responded as she closed the door to Shiratori's changing room, giving her no time to respond.

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It wasn't long until Tsubaki changed into her icy blue turtleneck dress with white rine stones that lined her collarbones down to her waist with mesh sleeves, and once she finished, she exited the changing room to meet with the others.

"Finally, you're done changing," Haruki said.

"Sorry, I just had to save a certain someone" Tsubaki looked directly at Shiratori, "from suffocating."

"Hey! It's not my fault that these costumes are sometimes hard to put on" Shiratori said as she crossed her arms.

"Anywayyyys, how about you guys try seeing how comfortable they are!" Hayami said.

Kaneko and Shiratori both stood up from the red velvet couch outside the changing rooms so they could see how comfortable their costumes feel. Tsubaki took a look at their costumes and not much has changed except there happened to be more gold-colored rine stones on their matching white feathered costumes. Apparently, Shiratori felt like there wasn't enough "bling" when she looked back at their footage from regionals.

For Tsubaki, the only alterations that she requested were some changes to the sleeves since they felt a little bit too loose for her.

"This feels comfortable," Kaneko said.

"Yup! I already feel like we might win nationals!" Shiratori said as she bounced in place.

Tsubaki couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. Somehow what Shiratori said reminded her of Bachira.

"Yeah, we are going to win"

I wonder when I'll be able to see him again, Tsubaki thought as she looked out of the window, only to see the sun setting.

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Hello readers!

Sorry I couldn't post last week, I was feeling sick and I won't be posting next week because of exams, but don't worry I'll stay consistent when summer starts!

Also, don't forget to check out my Isagi x oc fanfic called Genius!