Katsuki Tumbles to Last Place
Japanese ladies' figure skater Yuri Katsuki is the two-time Four Continents champion who also had the most momentum going into the World Championships in her home country. She had not put a foot wrong at previous competitions during the season. But a disastrous short program at the World Championships left the former Japanese medal hopeful hanging for her life in twenty-fourth place.
Katsuki, a twenty-three year old figure skater from Hasetsu, Kyushu, made her senior debut at 18 but took a two-year break before…(Click to read the full article)
{Katsuki? More like Kat-sucky!}
{She should retire}
{She should have retired years ago!}
{Leave her alone! She just had a bad day!}
Usually during a car ride, Yūri would stare out the window and look at the scenery they passed. Unlike Phichit, who could always be found on social media during a road trip, Yūri avoided using her phone. Trying to read in a moving vehicle made her sleepy or groggy. But today Yūri browsed through the numerous articles written about the World Championships, unable to quell her apprehensive curiosity.
"Put that away," Celestino advised. "Looking at the news won't do you any good."
"'Katsuki Tumbles to Last Place'," Yūri read quietly. "'Will this season be her last one?' …Probably," she added to herself.
"Yūri." Celestino was never harsh, but his voice was stern enough that Yūri finally looked away from her phone. Come to think of it, this was the first time she had looked at him since she received her short program score. After that, it seemed like Celestino was in a hurry to get her out of the stadium.
He was probably embarrassed because of her. Why wouldn't he be? That was the worst score she ever had this season, almost as bad as the score she had received when she made her senior debut.
When the taxi stopped at their hotel, Yūri got out first. She was just as embarrassed as Celestino to even look at him, much less be around him. The lobby was even worse. There weren't many people milling around, but it felt like everyone was looking at her. Yūri pressed the elevator button repeatedly as if that would get the doors to open faster. Once she was safe inside, the elevator began to ascend at the same time her phone rang.
Without even one glance at the caller ID, Yūri held her phone up to her ear. "Hello?"
"I saw your short program. Yūri, are you all right?" Yūri should have known Venus would be awake right now. Even if she had refused to go to Worlds, she would still be watching the competition.
"I'm fine. I'm just tired."
"Yūri, we both know you're not tired. How are you really?"
"Venus, please…just leave me alone."
"Yūri—" Without warning, Yūri hung up on Venus at the same time the elevator doors opened on her floor. She dragged her feet to her room, slowly unlocking the door only to slam it shut once she was inside.
Her phone rang once again. Yūri considered rejecting the call, only to see that her mother was calling her. "Hello, mom?"
"Yūri!" It was comforting to hear her mother's voice, even if she wasn't physically with her at the moment. "Yūri, are you all right?"
"Mom, I'm fine."
"We were all so worried about you after your program. Your father, Mari, Vicchan—Minako and the guests can't get any sleep."
"The guests? Did you have a viewing party?" Yūri asked. Great, now everyone at home knew how badly she had failed. "You gotta be kidding, Mom! I'm gonna die!"
Knowing that her family had seen her botched short program, Yūri knew that she couldn't put on an indifferent front an longer. "Mom, I'm sorry. I lied. I messed up." Before her mother could reply, Yūri lowered her phone and ended the call.
Her eyes started to sting. Today was supposed to be her big day. Today was supposed to be her day to show Japan—the world, even—that she hadn't taken two years away from the ice for nothing. Everything should have gone perfectly.
But before the start of her short program, someone had shouted, "Yūri, I love you!" The entire stadium had burst into laughter then. Whether it was because they found the idea of anyone liking her hilarious or if they were laughing at her, Yūri had no idea. Her face had flushed in anger and embarrassment then and all she could think during her short program, the audience's laughter ringing in her ears even after it had died out, was, "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
With every stumble and fall, it felt like the laughter was getting louder. By the time she finished, Yūri swore that among the applause, there was laughter as well. She had refused to look at anyone the whole time in the kiss and cry, trying to drown out everything she heard. To top it all off, she was in twenty-fourth at the end of the day. There was no way she could get back from this.
Tears spilled over as she slid down to the floor, the hard surface of the door offering her the only support it could. The sobs she had held back at the stadium escaped at last, and Yūri curled in on herself as she cried alone in her room.
She really was pathetic, wasn't she?
By the time Yūri woke up, it was already noon. The men's free skate would start in a little less than seven hours.
She didn't want to get up. That meant she would have to leave the safety of her room and eventually be cornered by the press, who would ask invading questions about her last place finish in the short program. As it was, Yūri was in no mood to talk to anyone.
Her phone went off, prompting her to check the notification. Actually, she had several.
Phichit: Don't give up, Yuri!
Nishigori Yuko: You can still do it, Yuri!
Yūri smiled at the photo attached to Yuko's message, one that included her triplets. Each of the girls held a fan to spell out the message "Be strong, Yuri!"
Yūri would be lying if she said she wasn't disturbed by the lack of response from Venus. The Japanese skater thought that Venus had listened to Yūri's request, but found it unlikely. The biracial skater wasn't one to let things die so easily.
Now that Yūri thought about it, Venus would probably get her out of bed by saying, "Rome didn't conquer the world by sitting on its ass all day!" The fact that she knew her friend so well made Yūri let out a small laugh. That small thought was enough to get Yūri to pull herself into the shower, having never washed away yesterday's sweat and tears.
But what could she do? She already knew she wanted to watch the men's free skate, but that wasn't until another couple hours. Yūri could practice on the ice until then, but that meant being bombarded by the press the second she stepped off. There was no way to avoid them.
In the end, Yūri headed over to the arena to practice. If she was going to redeem herself, then she had to face the music eventually. Yūri started by skating figures. Even if it had long since been removed as a requirement in figure skating, it helped.
Once she was done warming up, Yūri decided to try her jumps, starting with the triple flip. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to hold the edge and flubbed her landing. Gritting her teeth, Yūri pulled herself up and tried again.
Was she or was she not the same girl who under-rotated the first quad flip in women's figure skating? If she could do that in competition at the Four Continents, shouldn't she be able to land a triple flip in practice now?
When Yūri fell on her triple flip again, she didn't even try to pull herself up. What was the point? She already knew she was going to end up last by the end of this. She might as well prepare for the inevitable heartbreak when He Long breaks up with her.
Remembering the Chinese short track speed skater made Yūri return to her feet. Now she was being silly. He Long cared about her enough that Yūri knew he wouldn't end their relationship because of this loss. But as it was, what right did she have to keep a world champion by her side if she herself could never be one?
What right did Yūri have to deserve to be called his empress?
Yūri skated towards the center of the ice. Even if there was no music, she could still practice her free skate. It was better this way. After all, He Long was the one who chose the music for her.
It wasn't that she hated the song. No, she loved it, but how He Long managed to get Celestino to let her skate to this, she had no idea. Celestino was under no obligation to listen to a speed skater over his own students.
Yūri hummed the song to keep herself in the rhythm of the program.
"How does this version make you feel?" He Long tapped on his phone to start the music.
Yūri tilted her head in consideration as she listened to the song. "The melody sounds dramatic for a sad song. It's like letting the whole world know about your sorrows."
"It's supposed to be a song about someone who doesn't know that what they're feeling is love. This version sounds more like someone who recognizes that they are," He Long explained, scrolling up before tapping on a different video. "And this?"
The music that played sounded like the same song, but a more gentle version. It felt like a lullaby, only without the sleep-inducing effect. "I like this one," she admitted. "But…what do the lyrics mean?"
Of course he had explained the lyrics to her. He had also made her watch the Korean drama that the song was used for to help her get a feel for the character she needed to portray. And Phichit, a gigantic sucker for Korean dramas, had watched with them.
"It's time to start the next practice," the announcer called. Yūri snapped out of her reverie to see the other skaters leaving the ice, prompting her to do the same.
Yūri slipped her blade guards on and sat down on a bench to unlace her skates. She stopped when a pair of sneakers stopped in front of her. Inside, she prayed that it wasn't a reporter. There was no way a reporter would wear sneakers, right?
She looked up tentatively, relaxing when she found the Swiss skater standing before her. "Hi, Chris."
"Bonjour, Yūri~" Chris sat down next to her to lace his own skates. After watching the men's short program, Yūri knew that the Swiss was in sixth place. She also knew that no matter how he placed in the short program at any competition, he was always on the podium by the end of the free skate.
How did he manage to do that?
"You're in a very interesting place right now, Yūri," Chris said, moving onto his right skate once he was done with his left.
She blinked. "Sorry?"
Chris looked up. "Right now, you're in twenty-fourth place."
Yūri groaned and hid her face in her hands. "Please don't remind me, Chris." She did not want to think about her own placement for the time being.
"But it's interesting, Yūri! The free skate is unpredictable! You might be able to come back and win the whole thing!"
Yūri pulled her hands away to look at the Swiss. "Chris, I know you're trying to make me feel better, but you've never been dead last out of twenty-four skaters, have you?"
"Mon Dieu!" Chris clutched his chest and put a hand to his forehead in a show of agony. "The tiny lady has wounded me! Medic!" Yūri turned away in an attempt to hide the small sputter that escaped from Chris' dramatic display.
"But really, Yūri, I've seen your free skate scores for this season," Chris said, recomposing himself. "You'll be able to finish in the top ten by tomorrow."
"I think the top ten is a little too much to hope for, Chris."
"It is not," he insisted. "You'll be skating first tomorrow, yes?" When Yūri nodded, Chris continued, "Everyone knows that the first one to skate sets the standard for the rest to beat. Make it so that they can't. You already have a triple Axel. But if you land an under-rotated quad like you did at the Four Continents, you'll scare enough of them that you'll finish higher than expected."
Yūri nodded slowly in consideration. It made sense, but could she manage an actual quad? She could get all the rotations for a triple, but she couldn't control her own speed to land without earning an over-rotation. Could she do it this time? "Thank you, Chris."
"You're welcome, Yūri." Chris stood up and took off his skate guards, placing them on the bench. "Now, wish me luck as I try to get silver."
"Why would you aim for silver?" Yūri asked.
"Because I can't get gold as long as Viktor is around," Chris replied before stepping out onto the ice.
Yūri felt sad for Chris. Even though he was skilled enough to match Viktor's skating skills, the Swiss had resigned himself to silver. The Russian legend earned gold after gold, making him impossible to reach. She wondered if Chris ever resented Viktor for that.
Speaking of Viktor... "Chris!" Yūri got off the bench and ran to the rink boards. "Can I ask you something?"
"Oui?"
Yūri felt silly for even thinking of the question, but she was curious as well. Chris was close enough to Viktor that he probably knew everything. "Do you know why Viktor skated to Hellfire?" she blurted out.
Chris stared at her and Yūri began to worry that he thought she was crazy for asking in the first place. A grin slowly formed on the Swiss skater's face before Chris—who towered over her at six feet—fell to his knees and laughed hysterically, holding onto the rink boards for support.
"…was I not supposed to ask?" Yūri asked, wondering if Chris could hear her over his own laughter.
Eventually his laughter began to die out and Chris looked up at her. "Un jour," he gasped, still shaking in laughter. "Je te dirai sans rire un jour."
While Yūri didn't speak French, she recognized a few basic words to know that Chris said something about without laughing someday. "Did he do it because he's in love with somebody?" Chris only nodded, pressing his lips firmly into a line in an attempt to compose himself.
Yūri wondered who could have made a world champion like Viktor Nikiforov so lovesick that he skated Hellfire because of them. It wasn't a romantic love song. It was a song of obsession. "He must like them that badly to skate to Hellfire."
"Yes," Chris finally said, an odd smile on his face like he was trying not to laugh again. "Yes, he does."
The men's free skates seemed to pass in a blur. At least, that was how it felt to Yūri. She didn't pay attention to many of the skates except whenever a Japanese skater was called up.
Chris was fantastic. Not one mistake was made, putting him in first place. Jean-Jacques Leroy—the Canadian who placed second in the short program—flubbed the landing on one of his jumps, putting him in third place.
"Our last skater, representing Russia: Viktor Nikiforov!" Yūri clapped with the audience as the living legend skated out, basking in the crowd's excitement. Having placed first in the short program out of all the skaters, he was the clear favorite to win. The audience knew to expect him triumphant afterwards and they would be surprised all the same. Viktor lived for surprising everyone.
[Viktor Nikiforov Worlds FS]
{Winner of five consecutive world championships, is this man even human?}
{Nope, he's a god}
{I was really hoping for Chris to get the gold this year!}
{If Victor is anywhere on a roster, the other skaters just fight for silver and bronze}
{Congratulations on your fifth world title, Viktor!}
The next day, Yūri woke up to numerous messages wishing her good luck. Celestino was already waiting for her in the lobby to head to the rink. "I know how hard you've been on yourself since the short program," he said as they walked together towards the taxi. "I want you to know that no matter how you place today, I'll still be proud of you, Yūri."
Having gone a day without speaking to her coach, Yūri thought he would have been too ashamed to even speak to her. Hearing him say that he still had faith in her reassured her. "Thank you."
Yūri swore that time was messing with her today. Yesterday had gone by so slowly as if it were mocking her. Now it was too fast, practice passing by so quickly that before she knew it, the pair skating competition was already over and it was time to start the ladies' free skate.
And Yūri would be the one to start it all.
She was in twenty-fourth place, hardly anything special. With her ranked so low, Japan would look to Mao Asada and the other Japanese woman who had managed to qualify to restore the country's honor. No one would pay attention to her. Not when they had already given up on her.
Somehow, it felt nice to be free of everyone's expectations.
So she told herself, but when it was time for Group 1 to warm up, Yūri had to skate figures to calm herself down. She could practically hear everyone wondering why she hadn't retired by now.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other skaters in her group leave the ice. Finding that Celestino was waving her over, Yūri skated towards him. This was the last bit of reassurance she would ever get before she was called up.
"Deep breaths," Celestino said and Yūri closed her eyes as she breathed in slowly. "I know how much you enjoy this song. Just focus on the music and nothing else."
"It's time to start the free program for ladies' figure skating," the announcer called, prompting Yūri to open her eyes.
Celestino patted her shoulder. "Good luck, Yūri."
Yūri nodded and turned around, skating towards the center of the ice. "Our first skater, representing Japan: Yūri Katsuki!"
Yūri skated one lap around the center, breathing in and out. She was nervous, but now wasn't the time for that. She needed to do her free skate.
Yūri stopped in the center of the ice, getting into position. As she waited, a soft hush made itself known and the audience, thinking that somebody among themselves started it, echoed the sound. But the initial sound wasn't from them. That was how her program started: with the soft hush of rain.
Yūri began to skate when her actual music began. Right now was no time for her to be scared. She was supposed to be Miho, the nine-tailed fox who charmed men without even knowing it. Yūri had almost laughed at the start of the season because He Long had described Miho as an air-headed femme fatale.
Instead of the triple Salchow that was originally planned, she went for a triple loop. As foolish as that was for Yūri, knowing that Celestino would be on her for that change once this was over, she wanted to redeem herself after her short program.
Yūri rose out of her spin. The heart had no choice but to follow love, unaware of the heartbreak that would come about from a hopeless love. It must have hurt so much for the character Miho to be stood up on her wedding day.
After her first jump combo, Yūri began her step sequence. Now that she thought about it, hadn't she fallen in love with He Long the same way? Her stupid heart pounding like crazy that like an idiot, she didn't know what to do with herself?
Actually, she remembered it had been a little different as she went straight into a triple Axel when she reached the second half of the program. She hadn't fallen for him instantly and neither had he. In fact, they never would have interacted if it hadn't been for Phichit.
Yūri prepared herself for her final jump combo: triple Axel, single loop, triple loop. She could hear the crowd cheering when she landed them all without a hitch. Her final jumps would be after the choreographic sequence.
She rose from her combination spin and proceeded to start her choreographic sequence. Yūri almost felt like Miho, who had explored her new surroundings with excitement after being trapped for centuries. Realizing that she was a little ahead of the music, Yūri picked up speed and glided across the ice in an arabesque spiral, changing the edge before lowering her free leg and swiveling around for her final toe loop. Once she landed, Yūri spun across the ice in a twizzle before she reached for her right leg and held it up in a Y-spiral, letting go to kick off for a triple flip.
The last of her jumps completed, Yūri entered her final combination spin. But when she came to a stop, the music fading as the audience cheered loudly, her vision was filled with black spots and her head ached.
Yūri knew without a doubt that she had spun too fast. Celestino had warned her about this when she had brought her newfound speed with her from her brief stint in speed skating. Yūri bowed, wondering how ridiculous it looked to not know where she was bowing. Slowly, as her vision returned to her, she skated away from the center, ready to receive her scores.
Except Yūri skated the wrong way and by the time she realized where she was going, she was skating towards a fan who was holding something out to her. Yūri reached out for the present, skating away once she had it in her hands and examined the gift inside the cellophane wrap. It looked like a white and black poodle plush with some blue in its fur. Come to think of it, wasn't there a Pokémon just like this?
When she realized what it was, Yūri let out a small delighted laugh. Someone had given her a Trimmien!
Celestino greeted her with a hug. "That was the best you've skated it all season," he said as she put her skate guards back on. "But don't think that the quad toe distracted me from the triple loop earlier."
Yūri hummed in response as she put her team jacket on. It was only when they were seated at the kiss and cry that Yūri fully took in his words and turned to Celestino. "A quad toe loop?"
"Right after that impromptu spiral, you completed four rotations," Celestino explained, furrowing his brows. "Didn't you count?"
Yūri shook her head. "No." By now, Yūri was convinced she had spun too fast and given herself an internal concussion. Celestino wasn't telling her she had landed a quad, was he?
"The free program score for Yūri Katsuki." Yūri slowly turned to look at the small monitor in front of them. As her score appeared, Yūri blinked in disbelief and leaned closer to make sure she wasn't imagining the WR next to her score. "Is that mine?" she asked Celestino as her score was announced. The Italian man had a wide grin on his face as he rejoiced with the crowd.
"Is that mine?" she asked again. There was no way that astronomical score—which was beyond the record held by Kim Yuna—next to her name belonged to her.
"Yes, that's yours!" Celestino confirmed, hugging her tightly.
"She is currently in first place!"
[Yuri Katsuki Worlds FS WR!]
{YES! My baby landed a quad toe AND set a world record!}
{Her reaction to her score is so adorable! The way she says "Is that mine?" like she can't believe what she did}
{5:00 SOMEONE GAVE HER A FURFROU WITH THE QUEEN CUT!}
{Isn't that Yuzu?}
{5:02 You can just barely see Yuzuru jumping up and down after Yuri accepts his gift and his rinkmate teasing him}
{Congratulations Miss Yuri!}
Yūri's phone blew up with congratulations from her friends and family. She had gotten several colorful texts from Phichit, ranging from shocked to crying before finally congratulating her on her new world record and quad toe loop.
Yūri looked around at the other two skaters in the room with her. She hated the cruel waiting game the officials set up. The current leaders of the free skate waited in a separate room, leaving one by one when the skater who just finished their routine placed high enough to displace the skater who formerly held third place.
And Yūri had been here the longest, her Trimmien plush her constant companion through it all. She lost track of how many skaters there were that still had to skate, not when everyone who skated after her left the room as quickly as they had come.
It was so boring in here, too...
"Yūri?"
Yūri opened her eyes to see Sara kneeling in front of the couch, eye level with her. The Japanese skater hurriedly sat up, realizing that she must have dozed off without knowing it. "I'm so sorry, Sara! I didn't mean to fall asleep during your program—!"
Sara hushed her as she patted her shoulders. "It's all right. You've been here the longest. No wonder you got tired."
"Is it Mila's turn yet?" Yūri asked, looking at the TV.
"Mila just finished," Sara said. True to her word, Mila was waiting in the kiss and cry with Yakov. "Oh!" she exclaimed, surprised by the number one next to Mila's score. "She's in first place now," Sara explained with a guilty look towards Yūri.
Why was Sara guilty? It wasn't her fault she and Mila had placed higher than her in the short program. Even with a lower free skate score, they would've been able to score above her. Still, Yūri couldn't help the small twinge of disappointment. "What are the rankings now?"
"I'm third, you're second," Sara said as the former third place skater left the room, "and Mila—"
"Yūri!" Yūri turned around in time to be greeted by Mila tackling her on the couch. "I'm so happy to see you here!"
"Mila!" Yūri pushed herself up as Mila got off of her and examined her plush Pokémon.
"That's an interesting poodle," she noted, playing with the toy's ears. "I don't think Viktor's ever gotten anything like this and he loves poodles."
"Really?"
Mila nodded while on TV, the last group started their warm up. "Does it have a name?" she asked.
"It's a Pokémon called Trimmien," Yūri explained as Mila handed the toy back to her.
"Oh..." Mila nodded in understanding. "So that's why. They probably think Viktor is too old to be interested in Pokémon."
"Our next skater," the announcer on TV said, serving as the cue for the skaters currently in the lead to settle down and watch.
"Was that a flutz or a lip?" Sara asked during the program, referring to two common technical flaws when a skater tried to execute the Lutz and the flip.
"Hard to tell," Mila confessed. "It looked like a flat edge takeoff. She'll get docked harshly on her GOE for that."
When the current skater finished, the scores showed that she placed fourth. "Break time," Mila said, getting her phone out and extending her arm away from herself. "Smile! Hashtag reunion!"
Yūri should have suspected from that point that Mila had jinxed them all. But it felt nice to be back with her fellow Grand Prix Final medalists that Yūri let herself get comfortable.
And then the second-to-last skater placed first.
Faces fell as they took in the number one next to the skater's score, which knocked Mila and Yūri one spot down the podium and kicked Sara off of it. The two hugged the Italian skater before waving her goodbye.
"Last up is Pogorilaya," Mila murmured to Yūri as the current first place finisher entered the room. "And everyone knows she can't stick her landings even if the rink was filled with glue."
"Aren't you a little mean to her?" Yūri asked. Unfortunately, it was true. Yūri had seen Pogorilaya's outrageous falls. As Johnny Weir once put it, it looked like no one had ever taught her to fall properly.
Mila shook her head slowly, never taking her eyes off the TV. "Just watch. One fall and she falls apart."
Except she never fell. She had some landings where she had to fight to keep the edge but she never flubbed her jumps completely. And by the end of it, she had scored enough to put her in third place. Which kept Mila in second—
—and knocked Yūri right off the podium.
Yūri looked down at her Trimmien plush and sighed sadly. Next to her, Mila hugged her before whispering, "Sorry."
"Congratulations," Yūri said to her, returning the hug as much as she could before she got up to leave.
World Figure Skating Championships
Ladies' Final Results
1 XXXX XXXX
2 Mila Babicheva RUS
3 XXXX Pogorilaya RUS
4 Yuri Katsuki JPN
5 Sara Crispino ITA
...
Yūri had almost forgotten about the small medal ceremony, where they gave out medals to the top three scores in both the short program and the free skate. Even though she had bombed the short program, she was the winner of the free skate. And no one seemed to blink at the fact that she hadn't placed on the podium overall. Not even when she had a tiny gold medal the size of a 500 yen coin hung around her neck.
"It's not a total loss," Celestino said as they walked away together from the small medal press conference. "It's your first year at Worlds, fourth place isn't bad!"
"…but that's just it, isn't it?"
Celestino stopped to look at her. "Yūri?"
"I'm sorry, Celestino. I know I should be happy. I landed a quad…I set a world record and I came all the way back from the bottom but…" Her vision turned watery and Yūri found herself blinking to try and keep the tears back. "A quad toe…a world record…I did all that…and I couldn't even make the podium."
"Don't do this to yourself, Yūri." But Yūri kept her mouth shut, unable to hold her tears back as they overflowed and fell to the ground.
Yūri had wanted to get on the podium so badly. That was why it hurt so badly to get her scores the other day and see herself dead last. And then just like an idiot, she had let herself dream too high after her free skate.
A triple Axel, a quad toe, a world record…she had done all that and all she had to show for it was a puny medal the size of a coin worth less than a spot on the podium?
She was pathetic.
Je te dirai sans rire un jour: Chris told Yūri that he would tell her without laughing someday.
Yūri's music for her free skate is the acoustic version of Fox Rain by Lee Sun Hee. Fox Rain is the ending theme for the episodes of the Korean drama My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox.
Also, the reason Yūri calls Furfrou Trimmien is because Trimmien is the Japanese name for that Pokémon.