Worlds 2018

Chapter 4: Coaching from a pro

25 th of March, 2018 

Shoma had decided to get some extra practise done before he was supposed to get ready for gala practice. Therefore he had gotten up earlier than he normally would in order to go to another smaller rink, in hope of there not being too many people noticing him. He felt a need to practice since he had done such a bad skate the other day. He paid a man sitting in the skatingrinks clubroom for his access to the ice. The rink was rather deserted, and only one other person was on the ice. He sat down on a bench, taking his skates out of the suitcase. He noticed a black bag laying on the bench a little further down, next to it was a red winter jacket. He scooted over to the bag, only one skate on his foot. It couldn't be. He refused to believe that destiny had brought him to the girl from yesterday. It was the first time that he actually took a look at the skater on the ice. Smiling he looked at the girl with the brown ponytail.

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She tightened her ponytail, frustrated over the fact that she couldn't do the toeloop properly. She could do one and a half rotation at this point, but lose her balance right after she land it. She had already fallen a couple of times practicing this jump. 

She started skating forward, crossover, crossover, three turn, left leg slightly raised behind, jump. She japped the toepick into the ice, and propelled herself into the air, rotating the one and a half rotation before landing on her right leg. Oh god no. She felt her right foot slip and she fell to the ground, landing on her stomach and sliding backwards over the ice. Her arms were sprawled out in front of her body, as she laid on the side.

While she lay on the ice, contemplating if she should just be laying like this for a while, she heard the loud noise of a pair of skates approaching, the loud sound of the blades getting pushed into the ice. The skater stopped skillfully in front of her face. 

"I'm fine" She mumbled, lifting her face enough so she was able the see the black skates in front of her. "

"Didn't think I'd get to see you again". She placed her hands over her eyes recognizing the voice, suddenly feeling extremely flustered. 

He must have seen her poor attempt at the jump. 

"Just let me die, I have no will to live anymore" She said into her hands. 

"Nah I think that it would be a pity to lose such a good skater" His high pitched laugh reached her ears, and she looked up at him. 

How can he sound so stupid yet look so good, she automatically started smiling, as she looked up at him. He was wearing his striped long sleeved navy blue vinceró shirt,  and some slightly loose black training pants. 

"Don't make fun of me" He stopped laughing and crouched down in front of her, leaning his arms on his knees. 

"Sorry, but you are being kind of adorable right now" He said brushing some ice off her left shoulder. 

She knew that her blush most likely was very noticeable right now. Since when did he become this uh flirty? He had been shy and quiet the day before. Maybe he had just been tired after the skate. He stood up reaching for her hand, to help her up. 

"Don't call me that" she said and took his hand. 

"Can i call you Yumi instead then? Your name is hard to say" She brushed off the rest of the ice from her stomach and legs. She wondered if he in reality had forgot her name and didn't want to ask for it again, or if he just coulden pronounce it properly. 

"As long as it doesn't mean a negative thing, then sure, call me whatever you want" They looked at each other for a couple of seconds before she decided to break the ice. 

"So um, what are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be in the gala show?" 

"That's first later" he said shrugging his shoulders. 

"And I just need to get away a little" He continued, smiling slightly. 

She understood what he meant by that, when ever he stepped out of the hotel paparazzis and fans would be following him around, also he had never seemed to be the type of person who liked the attention he received from the media. It must be nice for him, to get away a little once in a while. 

"But i gotta get back to practice, so please stop disturbing me too much" she said starting to skate away from him. 

"Good tip from a pro, try to bend more in your knee when you land, it will be easier for you to keep your balance" He chuckled at the shy girl. 

She didn't respond to his comment, but she knew that he was right. Her coach had pointed it out to her several times before, yet she always seemed to forget it when she had to do it. She tried the jump once again, this time she didn't fall but she still stepped out of it, when she lost her balance. 

Shoma had skated over to the rink side, where he stood and observed her. She would be lying, if she said it didn't make her nervous that he was standing there. She felt embarrassed over the fact that she wasn't even able to land a single jump properly, when he easily could land his quads. After a couple of jumps she got frustrante again. Falling on her butt when she overrated the jump. Again she slides over the ice, stopping not long from where Shoma was standing. 

"Well, your knee bend is getting better, but i think most of the problem is in there" She sat and looked up at him, breathing through her mouth, trying to catch her breath, already tired. Shoma poked her in her forehead with a finger. 

"You have to feel the jump, and not over think it. Make it as natural as if you'd be jumping on the ground". He looked at her with kind eyes, some of his hair covering his left eye. 

"Let me show you". He took a lap around the rink before going into the jump, he landed the quad tooloop, perfectly. She could feel herself losing focus, as her eyes slipped up to look at the fluffy dark brown hair. 

"Your concentration is starting to go other places, am I right?" He stood in front of her again. 

"Wanna take a small break?" She shook her head, standing up again. 

"No thanks, and stop showing off!" She said as she skated away from him again with a playful pout on her lips, determined to make her jump, look at least as close as possible to his, in therm of his beautiful execution.