Olympian
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Sosuke,
I know you are enjoying Peru but that reporter friend of yours, Yamazaki Teppei, approached me with a juicy offer. He wants you to write a few articles for the website of one of the magazines he works for. It doesn't have to be long. In fact they prefer it to be kept at about 1000 words, no longer than 1500 words. Two articles can be about your training, diet and future plans. Those they are okay with getting delivery in the next three months. But they want the first article within the week. Before the closing ceremony preferably but certainly they want it out while the iron is hot so to speak.
See they want the first article to be about your feelings about winning gold and also they would love for you to cover what happened with Matsuoka Rin during that interview. Obviously they think the public's interest in this topic isn't going to last much after the Olympics. But they think it'll get them a lot of hits if they publish the article now.
I know you are trekking the Andes and I told Yamazaki T and the magazine editors that. They are understanding and offered two contracts. First contract is for three articles, first article written ASAP and they will pay you 30,000 Yen for the first article and then 20,000 yen each for the remaining two articles. If you can't do it, they are happy to accept three articles at a later date but they will pay you 20,000 yen for the first article and 15,000 yen for each of the remaining article. Basically, they are banking on you generating massive interests from the first article and that carrying over to the remaining two articles. But if the first article is not published now, they think it might be harder to drum-up support later.
The rates are good and most importantly, they will pay you in advance for all articles as soon as you say yes. I know you aren't exactly flush enough with cash to easily turn these down. I mean, the bonus from the Olympic committee will take a few months to sort out and I don't have to remind you that most of your current contracts have made their final payments. So think about it.
-Honda
Dear Sosuke-san,
I am sure you heard from your Manager-san already about the writing gig. I think you should do it. I'll be your editor for the first article if you decided to do it immediately. So if you agree to do the first article now, just send me article when done. I know this is really rushed given the closing ceremony is just 48 hours away and you are supposed to be enjoying a holiday in Peru. I don't know how long it'll take you to do 1000 to 1500 words but if you can manage it, it would be great.
Regards,
Yamazaki Teppei
Sosuke closed his email down and flopped back on his bed. He was in his hotel in Cusco. He had finished his 4-day Inca trail trek yesterday and today he was just planning on relaxing a bit before going on a guided walking tour of Cusco. Since it was going to be a slow day, he had opened his laptop to do some light web browsing and had checked his email just to see if his parents had sent him anything. Instead he saw two emails marked urgent and sent this morning.
The articles were a big ask. He was no writer, but he felt he could put something together about nutrition and exercise given enough time. But write a deeply personal piece about his feelings about winning gold, including Rin and the interview in 48 hours? That was too much! He couldn't do it! Maybe he could talk about his feelings about winning gold, sanitized for public consumption in a couple of weeks. But in such short notice he'll probably make an ass of himself.
However there was the matter of the money. He could do with the money. When he returned from Peru, he would have exactly enough money for one month of rent, food and bills. Actually just paying for the Narita express to get home might disrupt his carefully planned savings and lead to him switching to ramen for at least one meal a day until he was rostered for classes and started getting a paycheck again.
This was his current problem. All his contracts, including the ones with his sponsors and the sports ministry had made their final payment about two months before Olympics started. This meant that Sosuke had a cash cushion that he used to pay his rent and bills in advance in anticipation of leaving the country for about two months. That time including the time he spent acclimatizing and training ahead of the Olympics, as well the Olympics themselves. It also meant Sosuke had cash during his stay in Brazil. What paltry savings he had, he had spent on this trip to Peru. He didn't regret it but Sosuke knew he was walking into tough times in terms of cash as soon as he landed in Japan.
At least this time Sosuke knew it would be temporary because he should soon get the approximately three million yen for winning gold from the Japan Olympic committee. But that would be a one time payment that Sosuke would have to nurse carefully until he worked out new contracts with his sponsors and regained a stable cash flow. Plus he did want to give most of the cash prize to his parents and this time he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He wanted his parents to be debt free going forward.
So the 70,000 yen, to be paid immediately into his account, meant a lot to him. But could he do this? Could he write 1000 word article about his feelings? Truth be told he didn't really care about such an article being read by strangers. Why would he care what some random person he never met thinks about him, his life and the choices he made. He didn't care. What he did care about was what people he knew would think of such an article. His parents, Kisumi, Rin… Rin, Rin, Rin, "Don't crush your own potential before you even try," that's what Rin would say. Sosuke sighed, sat back up, opened up his word processor and tried.
Rin: Hey Haru. Are you pumped for the closing ceremony tonight? Whatever you do, don't drop the flag!
Haru: The flag is safe with me. BTW you should really read this article: Link
Rin: Huh? What's it about.
Haru: Just read it.
Kisumi: Rin, have you read this yet? Link.
Rin: The hell… Haru just sent me that link. What is it?
Kisumi: Something that's totally safe to click! ^.^
Rin: -.-
Gou: Onii-chan, please read this! Link
Makoto: Rin, you need to read this. Link
Nagisa: Rin-chan! Please read! This is so sad! Link.
Rei: Rin-san, this is very beautiful and moving. Please read. Link.
Rin: Fine, fine, fine! I'll read this super important article that you all keep linking me to!
Olympian By Yamazaki Sosuke
Strange as it may sound, I vividly remember the exact moment I decided to be an Olympian. I remember how my muscles ached from trying the butterfly stroke for the first time. I remember the smell of chlorine that had not yet become associated with home, but mostly I remember my bestfriend's eyes as they sparkled with his dream. "I am going to go to the Olympics!" he said to me full of confidence, "I am going to swim every stroke and win all the medals!"
My friend spoke with such utter conviction that I believed him. I believed he would be an Olympian and suddenly I was filled with a desire to be one too. To stand beside him on the Olympic stage. Compete against him, with him and be forever connected by the Olympic rings. That friend was Matsuoka Rin and my dream for the longest time had been to swim beside him in the Olympics. Swim with him and make him eat my wake because ours was a friendship rooted in rivalry. There were very few things we didn't compete over.
Alas life never goes according to plan or at least, my life has never gone according to my plans. In my single minded pursuit of my Olympic dream, I wrecked my body. In high school, in my freshmen year, I was at my peak as a swimmer. In my second year the momentum carried me for a bit but then it all came crashing down. I had become a nationally ranked swimmer. In the top ten in the country, but in the process I had wrecked my body. Specifically my shoulder. I felt my Olympic dream was over and I was ready to just give-up. But before I did, I wanted to spend one last year swimming with Rin. This time, just as his friend.
That's what I did. I transferred to the same school as Rin and swam the relay with him. Just the relay, where we could only be friends because that's all we could be going forward. I had peaked in high school and it was going to be all downhill from here. But Rin wouldn't let me give-up. He asked me to not kill my potential before I even tried and for him, I tried.
I got the best medical care I could afford, that my parents could afford but it was not enough. No matter how hard I tried. I was not able to return to the path to the Olympic Aquatic centre. But it was during my rehab that I had a fateful encounter. I met another Yamazaki, Yamazaki Teppei who was also a patient at my physiotherapist. But while I was at the physio for swimming related issues, he was there for triathlon related injuries. It was he who invited me to my first triathlon clinic and he's also editing this article. My first ever article. Yamazaki Teppei-kun is always dangling new experiences in front of me and so far, I have always grabbed them. This time, I grabbed the opportunity to write an article. Back then I grabbed the opportunity to try triathlon.
Triathlon saved me. I am not particularly smart, or particular artistic and while I am told I am not unpleasant to look at, I doubt anyone would pay me for my looks. All I have is my athleticism. Without it, I am just a stoic, woefully average human who is not worth anyones time. When the god of swimming abandoned me in High School, I became an empty shell of a human being. I filled my carapace with the much more modest dream of swimming one last time with my bestfriend before saying goodbye to him and swimming. But Rin encouraged me to try and win back the god's favour. This filled me with vigor and perhaps more hope that I should have allowed into my heart. When it became clear that the god of swimming would never again turn to me, I felt as if my heart was filled with the darkness of despair but in the darkness, triathlon became a small beacon of light.
I followed this beacon, at first with reckless abandonment for I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I ran and ran and ran until I came into the centre of the circle of light. This is where I faltered. Because I suddenly had a lot to lose. I became so afraid of wrecking my body again that I hamstringed myself. I was always in the top ten, mostly in the top five but I could never win or even place. I was my worst enemy and it was in this state I came to the Olympic.
Even now I am not sure what happened or rather what changed within me. Perhaps it was simply the realisation that I had become an Olympian. It didn't matter whether I won or lost. I was now and will forever be, an Olympian. Having come to that realisation, I decided to just let go and give it my all. So I swam with the memories of my halcyone childhood with Rin. I was not at the Olympic pool and he was not beside me. But the strokes I swam I had mastered while I was with him back when we were in Sano Swimming Club. We may no longer be even friends but he was with me and that propelled me.
During cycling I remembered my father, who had taught me to ride a bike and who had supported me all my life. I flashed back to all the rides I had taken with my mother during sunny summer days back when I was little. I also recalled all the tips my manager Yamamoto Honda had given me about the cycling leg of triathlon. I even remembered this one time Rin and I had taught his little sister Gou to ride. Truth be told Rin had been such a good teacher that I ended-up learning a lot too.
The two transitions were filled mostly with memories of my senpai, kouhai and of course Yamazaki Teppei-kun. Especially, Teppei-kun who had been the first to explain the rules of the transition phase to me. My senpais had always provided me with gentle guidance on this phase that is unique to triathlon. I in turn, did my best to relay the same guidance to my kouhai and also to learn from them as well.
Finally it was time for the running leg and for most of it, my mind was filled with my two childhood friends. Matsuoka Rin, who I have already mentioned and Shogino Kisumi, who is part of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee. Kisumi was a basketballer and as kids the three of us would run together a lot. In my final year of high school, I would jog almost everyday with Rin. These days, when we can manage it, Kisumi and I run together on the weekend. Out there on the roads of Rio, I really felt my two childhood friends were with me and that we were back in Sano.
At last I came to the final stretch. I was in sixth place and I knew to win, I had to sprint. Could I do it? Would my endurance last? I didn't know for I had to push myself past my previous limits but I was an Olympian and a sorry Olympian I would be if I didn't try. "Don't crush your own potential before you even try," those were Rin's exact words to me when he encouraged me to stick with swimming. It hadn't worked but his words never left me. His words came back to me that day and spurred me to not crush my potential. I pushed past what I thought was my limits and gave it my all. It nearly wasn't enough.
There came a moment, when I nearly settled for Bronze. Because I was afraid that if I pushed for gold, I would crash and burn hard, losing everything. But then I heard Rin's voice again. "Come on Sosuke! You can do it!" I heard my once bestfriend say. No doubt it was my imagination but it did the trick. I decided crashing and burning to get gold was better than settling for bronze. I must have done enough because the god of Triathlon smiled on me and I didn't collapse until I had crossed the finish line. So now I am an Olympian and a gold medalist. I couldn't Fly but I did swim, cycle and run. This is the top and it can only go downhill from here but that's okay. I do not mind peaking as an Olympian.
Rin dropped his phone, covered his face. His mind was a mess and the tears wouldn't stop coming. "Fuck you Sosuke," he swore into the still air of his hotel room, "Stop making me cry you bastard! Just stop…" and then he cried some more.