POETRY ON ICE (A Yuzuru Hanyu Fanfiction)

An Angel Across The Ice

Finally the day has arrived. The start of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Men's Figure Skating event.

"Hoo!" Yuzuru blew the air out of his lungs heavily- a not so successful attempt to calm his nerves as he stands on the side of the rink.

The ice is set and he bets, everybody could hardly wait for his name to be called now. The last group's performances are about to start and he ended up being the first skater to showcase his short program.

"Hoo!" He gushed yet another one. This time, shaking both of his wrists more vigorously than normal.

Truthfully, despite the immense support and encouragement that he received this past few weeks from his friends and family not to mention from all his fans around the globe as well, somehow he still can't help but feel doubtful of himself. Especially now that he's actually in this very exact moment.

Will he be able to deliver a clean performance despite the fact that he just recently recovered from a very bad ankle injury and only started practicing his arsenal of quads two weeks prior to the competition?

All of a sudden he shivered and he was pretty sure that it wasn't because of the arena's temperature.

He is scared. He admits.

With that realization he released another forceful exhalation in a row then mustered to enter the rink, even though his name hasn't been called out yet. Any moment now the announcer will do it anyway he thought. It's better to be early than risk a point deduction, just like what happened in his previous competition. He certainly can't afford it at this point either.

As soon as his foot landed on the the ice though, cold sensation immediately seeped through his whole body even though technically, the Olympic ice rink is basically heated.

Momentarily he shivered again. But was it because of the cold this time around? He still couldn't quite figure enough.

From the opposite side of the rink his coach Brian Orser beckoned him to come forth. He skated towards him then to receive their routinary motivational 'before performance' speech. However on that instance, he just can't seemingly hear, let alone process, anything at all. Not even a single word.

And then all of a sudden..........

"FROM JAPAN, YUZURU HANYU!" The announcer finally called on the microphone.

Loud cheers and applause instantly thundered inside the stadium as expected. He was the reigning Olympic and World Champion after all.

But unfortunately, the hype only adds up to Yuzuru's current dillemma.

With a muted sigh and partially in the zone state of mind, he went to circle around the ice for the next couple of seconds while still desperately trying to relax himself. Based on experience, he's completely aware that a rattled mind will only result to a chaotic performance afterwards. And he can't mess this up. He just definitely can't. Because he knew very well what goes with his blades, what they are carrying within their edges right now- the hope and pride of his whole country, Japan.

So of course, he doesn't want to come out as a disappointment out of that.

When he started his professional career, the word 'disappointment' has always been attached to him. Nobody expects the young and lanky boy to do great during every competition at all. But thankfully, as a mere child, it didn't bother him the least before. For him being able to do what he loves is more than enough. He was just happy skating, as simple as that.

But as time passes and as his ingenius talent, along with his professional career flourished, the burden slowly heavied until he realized that he can barely keep up with all of it anymore. Not that he abhor it though. On the contrary, he has always been proud in representing and bringing honor to his country whenever there's a chance to do so. It's just that somehow, he felt alone and so afraid today. Nobody has ever really felt what he had gone through after his ankle injury and right now, he feels like he was low-key being pressured to produce some good results. It's definitely a hard course.

Yuzuru put a halt on his blade in the middle of the rink. He sighed and lifted his head from the ice to make his starting pose and that's when he saw her.

She is holding a huge banner that has a humongous 'Go Hanzu!' written on it and a cute chibi drawing of him on the same costume that he is wearing today. An excited expression is evident all over her lovely face.

He smiled. Tala Salonga is still ethereally beautiful even when screaming her lungs out from the bleachers as she cheers for him.

He didn't quite understand what just happened but with that, just like pure magic, all his worries suddenly evaporated out of thin air.

This girl is really an angel. He thought while shaking his head subtly, still with that lingering smile.

My own personal angel.

And somehow because of that, he suddenly felt that he would deliver a perfect performance and win over the short program.