Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of any of the characters mentioned in this story.
Chapter 1
It was a chilly early December afternoon at Kansai University. Most classes had ended for the day, so many of the students were headed home. Daisuke Takahashi, however, was not done work for the day just yet. . .he strided briskly toward the ice rink where his coach Utako Nagamitsu was surely waiting for him. His mind was overflowing with thoughts about his new short program and his hopes for the next competitive figure skating season as he stepped through the doors of the university's skating club.
"Daisuke-kun! Good to see you. You're right on time. Let's get started, shall we?"
Instinctively, Daisuke laced up his skates and stepped onto ice. The music started and he began to perform his routine as usual. Only, something seemed off that day. He skidded slightly after landing his first (and easiest) jump of the program. Daisuke quickly steadied himself, half-hoping that Utako wouldn't notice, but at the same time knowing full well that it would probably have been impossible for her to not notice something like that. Naturally, he continued on as if it was meant to happen and later on in the routine, managed to cleanly perform his quad toe loop followed by a triple axel. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after landing that one. . .after all, he had fallen a few times when performing it the previous day. When he completed the first run-through of his short program, Utako then proceeded to drill him through some of the more difficult step sequences before doing a second run-through. They then went over some of the nuances of Daisuke's new long program before ending the training session for the day.
"Good job today, Daisuke-kun, but I notice that some parts of your short program seem uneasy. . .has there been something wrong?"
"No, I've been fine, Utako-san," Daisuke replied with a smile. "But thank you for worrying about me."
Utako gave Daisuke a doubtful look, then suggested he take a rest over the weekend.
"Say, Sendai is having their Pageant of Starlight this month," Utako continued. "Maybe you should go see it if you're not busy."
"Sendai? That's a very long bus ride away."
"It is, but I get the feeling that there will be something to be gained for you there if you go to see it. Anyways, I leave it up to you. See you next week, Daisuke-kun."
Daisuke went home that night considering Utako's suggestion. Indeed, at least one of his coach's hunches had been correct. . .Daisuke had been feeling a bit down lately. Although he did not have the pressure of exams like some of the other students had at this time of year, he had been thinking a lot about the progress of his skating career. It had a lot of ups and downs, from winning gold medals to recovering from injuries. Daisuke smiled as he recalled several moments from his skating career. He thought of the many countries he had visited, the many people he had the opportunity to meet. It had truly been an honor, to be able to represent his country so many times as a figure skater.
Daisuke's mind wandered to the last Japan Figure Skating Championships. He had won the bronze medal from that event, with Takahiko Kozuka and Nobunari Oda placing just ahead him. He had felt proud of his performance, and honored that he was able to compete amongst such skillful rivals. However, he was also reminded that he was one of the older skaters at the event, and that in a few years time, he would have to retire. The thought was a bit saddening. Skating had been such a big part of his life for so many years, so to think that it would all have to end seemed a lot like putting an end to a climactic chapter of a book.
Although his inevitable retirement did often linger at the back of his mind, what bothered Daisuke the most was that after so many weeks of practicing his programs, he still felt like something was missing. Somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to perform them confidently lately, and with the next national championship coming up, he needed to get things together as soon as possible. Daisuke sighed and lay back on his sofa for a moment before going to his room to gather some schoolbooks and his skates. He then proceeded to check the bus schedule to see when the next bus for Sendai would leave.