This is an AU of Ginban Kaleidoscope, which is a series I have mentioned in chapter 3, "Magie". It is amazing and I love it so much. I feel that Tazusa is literally Takane and this series just fits so well. If you're interested, you can give it a go:)
"Today, we are broadcasting to you live from the woman's figure skating Olympic series second stage, taking place in Montreal, Canada!" Takane tried to ignore what the broadcaster was saying. She had a good program, anyways. She'd be able to beat those girls who had already performed.
"Listen, you've just got to stay calm." Takane's coach told her. Takane rolled her eyes despite the nervous she felt. Calm down, Takane, she told herself. You're a figure skater representing your country. You're used to this.
"You don't have to tell me that." she said. "I'm going." Without another word to her coach, she skated out onto the ice. The audience immediately stopped their talking as all eyes gathered onto her. Takane smiled smugly yet confidently. Now, watch me, she thought. The Lightning Dancer Ene... Enomoto Takane-sama! My legend starts here. Soon I'll make my first step into the Olympics!
The music started, and Takane started skating. Everything was going to be perfect. She was going to ace this! She did a perfect spin, and landed flawlessly.
I made it! She thought to herself, incredibly proud of herself. I can do this... The highest perfect Triple Lutz ever made!... Now! She jumped, she spun in mid-air, and she waited for her perfect land...
Little did she know that while she was taking her first step into the Olympics, a certain pilot's plane went out of control and started plummeting down.
The moment her back hit the ice, the airplane crashed and blew up.
That was how a certain stunt pilot Haruka Kokonose came to inhabit a certain figure skater Takane Enomoto's body for 100 days.
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During the longest and most boring assembly ever, Takane heard another voice calling her name. Not to mention that this voice belonged to a boy. And her school, was an all-girls school. Was she hallucinating? She tried to ignore the voice, but it kept calling her name.
"Who the fuck are you?!" she yelled, causing the whole school to stare at her. She realized her mistake and quickly covered her mouth.
"What happened?" whispered Ayano Tateyama, Takane's best friend, from beside her. Takane shook her head.
"No, I think I was hallucinating a little..." she responded.
"I'm not a hallucination!" said the voice. Takane jumped.
"See? You hear that?" she asked Ayano. Her friend only looked confused.
"I didn't hear anything..." she said. She looked concerned. "Are you alright, Takane? Did the competition give you too much stress?" Takane shook her head.
"No... I'll be right back." she said. She quickly slipped out of the auditorium and leaded towards the bathroom. She checked to make sure nobody was in any of the stalls, then locked herself in one.
"So we're finally alone!" said the voice cheerfully.
"What are you talking about? Who are you? What are you?" asked Takane. She felt like an idiot, talking to herself in the bathroom. "Why can I hear a voice from inside my head?"
"W-Well, I can't answer all of that at once, Takane..." said the voice.
"Well, then, try! If you still want your life!" Takane threatened, hoping the voice would tell her quickly. To her surprise, the voice laughed.
"Life, huh?" he said. "Well, then, alright! My name is Haruka Kokonose, and I'm a 16-year-old stunt pilot! I don't like thinking about it, but it appears that I've died five days ago, haha..."
"Wait, you died? Are you saying you're a-"
"That's right, I'm a ghost!" The voice of Haruka Kokonose cut her off. There was no remorse in his voice. Takane wondered how a person (well, ghost) can stay this calm.
"And I'll be possessing your body for, let's see, about 100 days! Let's get along, Takane!" said Haruka.
"Yeah, yeah, that's great and all. Now get the fuck out!" Takane yelled, kicking at the trash can in fury. "Who told you that you could possess me! You're annoying! You're an idiot! Get the fuck out of my body!"
"W-Well, I don't have a choice, Takane! Ah, stop kicking the trash can! It has feelings too!" he said.
"That's great!" Takane yelled, kicking the trash can once again.
Although things started out rough, Takane had no choice but to accept the fact that there was a dead guy named Haruka Kokonose possessing her body.
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"We're in trouble." Takane declared. She had just found out that her rival in skating, Marry Kozakura was using the same song that she was using for her short program.
"What are you going to do, Takane?" asked Haruka. Takane sighed.
"I don't know... What am I going to do?" she shouted. "Think of something, Haruka!" She was panicking. There were only a month left until she had to get on the rink to race. Then, out of nowhere, Haruka started to hum a rhythm that was vaguely familiar.
"Do you know this piece?" asked Haruka. "It's a really old jazz song." He kept humming the song, until he stopped abruptly.
"Haruka?" asked Takane.
"That's it!" Haruka exclaimed. "That's it, Takane!"
"What is?" she asked.
"Didn't you tell me to think of something?" he asked. Haruka described to Takane what he had in mind for her new short program.
"That's impossible! How can I change my short program when I've got a month left?!" Takane shouted.
"But Takane, you can't go out there performing the same short program as Marry, can you?" asked Haruka. Takane sighed. He was right. She couldn't. The media would never let it go.
"Listen, Takane. You don't want to give up. You don't want to give the media something to write about. You don't want to loose to Marry, or Kido. Your pride that's higher than Mount Everest wouldn't allow it, would it? Then, you only have the choice of changing your program. Right?" Haruka reasoned. Takane sighed.
"Your idiocy is the one that's higher than Mount Everest." she said. She flipped the paper she had been drawing her plan out on to the one underneath it, revealing her costume plan. Staring at the pink, filly maid outfit on the paper in front of her, she sighed.
"Even if I change it, this alone is enough to be a good joke..." said Takane. Haruka laughed.
"I'm sure nobody will laugh at you! Takane wearing this outfit will definitely be cuter than anyone else in the world!" Takane's cheeks immediately turned into the color of the tomatoes Haruka hated so much. W-Why am I blushing simply because of his words? Idiot idiot idiot! She slapped her own cheek, and Haruka, sharing her senses, cried out in pain.
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"Takane, hurry up! I want to see Takane in those clothes sooner!" said Haruka impatiently.
"Be quiet! Do you know how hard it is to change with your eyes blindfolded? You should try, then you'll know!" said Takane. She was changing into her skating outfit. The maid uniform. She sighed as she finished tying the last bow at the back of her dress and untied her blindfold. Her eyes widened at her own reflection.
"See, I told you! You'll be cuter than anyone else in the world!" said Haruka excitedly. Takane's face turned red and she quickly slapped her hands onto her cheeks in an attempt to cool them down. She heard Haruka wince in pain, so she quickly stopped.
After a long car ride, they arrived at the rink. Takane was ready. She stepped onto the ice and skated to the middle. She heard many gasps of surprise in the audience and she smiled. It's showtime.
The catchy, jazz music started and Takane skated across the ice. Her right hand was raised as if she was holding a tray.
"Okay, Takane, it's time to open up your café!" said Haruka. "Of course, you were late to work!"
"Then, let's get this started!" Takane said. She skated around with both hands up, holding invisible trays up in the air. Takane could see her customers in front of her, as if she really was in her own café and she had many tables to serve. She was quick across the ice, and she would have dropped a few glasses.
"Takane, you should be nicer to your customers!" said Haruka. Takane laughed.
"I know, you don't need to tell me!" she said. For the first time in her life, she was having fun while skating at a race. She flew across the ice. Ah, such a busy workday!
She did a quick jump that sent the audience into cheers. She skated pass a bunch of photographers who took a bunch of quick photos as she skated past.
"You're doing great, Takane!" Haruka cheered. Takane smiled.
"Of course!" she said. She jumped once again, and everyone cheered at the combination of a Triple Lutz and a Double Loop. As she skated past the judge that always annoyed her, she stuck her tongue out at her. She saw the judge's eyes widen before she turned around and skated away.
"Hey, Takane! What was that!" said Haruka, laughing. Takane also laughed.
"She's always been so annoying!" said Takane. She did a Double Axel, the highest she had ever jumped in her whole life. As she crowd cheered for her, Takane smiled. It's weird how she never realized that letting her emotions out when she was skating was so easy.
She skated pass the judges and as she skated by, she placed imaginary plates of food in front of them. The judges looked surprised, then laughed. Takane realized she was smiling the whole time. And it was all thanks to Haruka.
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The Olympics had ended, and even with Takane's skating, she did not win. She placed fourth place, behind the the third place Momo Kisaragi, the second place Hiyori Asahina, and the first place Marry Kozakura. But none of that mattered anymore. In her last performance, she was soaring in the sky alongside Haruka. She was truly happy. That was all that mattered.
She put on her skates and stepped onto the frozen pond. She wanted to have some time to skate where there wouldn't be anyone else, which was why she chose the pond instead of the rink. And this pond was perfect; many trees surrounded the pond, making it seem just like a beautiful stage.
"Takane, you were amazing! I think you should have won!" said Haruka. "There was a lot of booing after the scores came out! I'm sure the audience thought so as well!" Takane smiled.
"I don't care about that anymore." she said calmly. She suddenly stopped skating and glanced up at the night sky. She didn't say a word, and neither did Haruka. They stood back to back, knowing that the 100 days they had together were almost up. There's no time left, Takane thought. I haven't told him anything yet...
"Hey, Takane..." Haruka was the first to break the silence. "We really flew into the sky, above the clouds, during today's free program, didn't we?" Takane nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, we did." she said.
"We made the best performance we ever could." he said. "I don't think I'll ever be able to feel that way again. Now I don't have anything to regret. Thank you, Takane." Takane's eyes widened and she turned around to face him.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice trembling. Haruka gave her a sad smile.
"We both know that I don't have much time left." he said. Takane was at a loss of words. The 100 days flew past so quickly. She had wanted to get rid of Haruka so badly in the beginning, but she got used to his company, so used to it that she couldn't imagine life without him.
"Ah, it's snowing!" said Haruka excitedly. Takane looked up at the sky and realized it was. Beautiful, pure white snow was falling down from the sky.
"The gods do have great timing, letting snow fall during a goodbye scene." said Haruka, laughing. Takane's eyes widened and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.
"Hey, Takane," said Haruka.
"What?" she answered. A bell chimed in the distance.
"It seems like... It's time." He gave her a smile. Light gathered around him, and Haruka started to rise up.
"W-Wait! I still have-" I still have, something to tell you!
"A lot has happened during these 100 days! I thought it'd be a long time, but it was fast, wasn't it?" said Haruka. "Even though I've eaten the most tomatoes I had ever in my entire life in these three months, even so, I had lots of fun!"
"Don't go!" Takane yelled. "You can possess my body as long as you want! Even though there are many things I have to bear with, but I'll bear with as many of those things as I need to let you stay! So...!" Tears spilled down her cheeks and Takane didn't even bother wiping them away.
"Hearing those words from Takane, I'm really happy! But... It's been decided already." said Haruka. "You've said you hated crying, Takane. A crying face doesn't suit you, Takane."
"Haruka, I-"
"I want you to stay smiling, even at the very end." said Haruka. Takane took her fingers and forced her mouth into a smile. Haruka smiled back.
"Takane... Goodbye."
