Chapter Eight - First Day of Competition
"Ok men, listen closely! That's mean's you too Giichi! I don't care if you don't compete we need you ready in case someone is injured!' The main coach yelled at the four skaters currently sitting in front of him. Yuna, two other coaches, and three other officials were in the room, the competition was in two hours, but everyone in the room was feeling their hearts beat faster in anticipation.
'The committee has stated that this years the Men's Singles short program will be first, followed by the free skate and then the men's team event. On the 22 we will have the gala and the figure skating competitions will be officially over, got it?"
Everyone just mumbled in agreement, no one cared about what went first, they just wanted to practice before the competition.
"Can we practice now?" Hiroshi mumbled. The coach just glared him.
"Watch your mouth! You may be veteran, but we expect you to be an example for your teammates and Japan!" Hiroshi just rolled his eyes pretending to agree with the head coach.
A clap was heard through out the room and everyone turned to see it was Yuna, with a big smile on her face, "Ok everyone let's go!'
All four of the skaters began to leave the room until Misaki felt the head coach grip his shoulder stopping him in his tracks, "Except you, Takahashi-San."
Miskai turned around to face him looking slightly shocked, "I need to look at your foot."
"Eh?"
"B-but I had it looked at before I left ..." Misaki stuttered. He was met by the understanding look on his coach's face.
"Misaki ... the real reason we aren't letting you practice with the others is because in group one ... Kim Sungsu is out there ... so you will be in group two instead."
Misaki couldn't believe his ears, "But I don't hate him! It's not like we will collide into each other again-"
"Misaki that isn't why,' his coach interrupted him, gripping his shoulders, 'It will look very bad if the Skating Federation puts two skaters who injured each other in the same practice area ... you'll still get practice time, but we don't want the Olympics to be overshadowed by controversy, you understand?"
Misaki looked down, not really liking the real reason for not practicing with his teammates, but he knew his coach had his best interest in mind, "I see ... ok ... I understand."
Yuna signed in relief, before turning to an official, "Please look at his foot and knee, he just fitted some new skates a month ago, if he has blisters put new skin on them."
"Yes Sakamoto-San,' The office bowed before pointing to a breach for Misaki to sit on, the boy took off his shoes, slightly cringing at his own feet. they were heavily scared from hours of practice, new skates, past treatments and so on.
'My skating is beautiful, but my feet are not ..."
The official looked at the ankle carefully, doing some tests on his achilles and stretching the foot around to test for reflex that would confirm pain. Several minutes went by until his coach approached shim, "Misaki, it's Usami-San on the phone."
Misaki could feel his face become bright red, none of the Japanese athletes were allowed to have phones while competing because the coach's wanted the skaters to focus on their routines, nothing else, "Uh ... oh I see, thank you ...'
He put the phone to his ear, 'Hello?"
"Misaki, you aren't out here, why?" The author asked. Misaki could hear juns music playing in the background, followed by some gasps, usually means that someone fell while practicing.
"I was moved to group two, I'll be out in an hour."
"Eh, I don't know how that other skater your teammates with, Jun, made it to all these competitions, he hasn't landed any of his jumps, even Hiroshi missed two triple jumps," Usagi breathed out, not sounding impressed with team Japan at all.
"Don't be rude! I'll be out in an hour like I said! Was Sungsu out there?" Misaki asked, sounding kinda nervous.
"Miskai, it better if you don't know,' Usagi tried to reason with the boy.
"So that's a yes ..."
'Stay focused on you, your one of the first to go today." Misaki couldn't help but grin at the news.
"People always call me the best, but why does it me happy when Usagi-San tells me the same thing. millions tell me all the time?" Misaki thought silently to himself.
"Yes! That means I'll have practice and my performance neck and neck! I'll have a huge advantage over the other guys! Haha!" Misaki cheered on, he could hear his brother and Usagi laugh at his childish excitement in the background.
"Haha, just do your best,' Misaki could hear Usagi whisper, 'I can't wait to see how well your costume fits."
Misaki felt his face go bright red, until he felt the phone being yanked out of hand.
"Ok Usami-Sensei, that enough for now, bye,' Yuna hung up the phone without letting the man have a chance to answer back.
"Misaki, you know I banned phones during competitions for a reason, I only made an exception because it's the Olympics, but this will be the last call till after the free skate is over later this week. I need you to focus, understand?"
Misaki nodded his head vigorously, he got off the bench to warm up his body for the hour ahead. Without waiting he went into the split easily, but the pain in his feet and knee were getting to him, Yuna came behind him very gently stretching his arms and bending his back backwards to stretch him more. Misaki just closed his eyes trying to relax as he felt his limbs being stretched.
'Is it your knee, foot or both? Tell me now Misaki," the woman gently demanded from her skater. Misaki only breathed out deeply, before looking at her unside down.
"It's both," he admitted. Yuna nodded, she went to her bag, taking out a syringe, and a small bottle of cortisone. She tilted the bottle upside down, before sticking the thin needle in the vile. Once she got the desired dose out, she flicked at it a few times to get any air bubbles out, before returning to Misaki.
"Ok, come here,' Misaki got up going to the bench where his coach was, slide his pants leg up and taking any other foot wear off. Yuna took out a alcohol swap, shipping the area clean, before gently put it in her skaters foot and knee all, the hiss that came firm Misaki didn't go unnoticed by her.
"You know ... you don't have to compete in the men's team final, Giichi can take your place and then just skate the gala if you feel up to it," Yuna reasoned with him, Misaki looked down, clearly feeling ashamed of himself.
"But Japan might win this year-"
"Misaki, injuring yourself permanently is not worth competing for a team metal, if you won't set boundaries, I will," Yuna firmly stated.
After a few moments of silence Misaki finally spoke, "Ok, tell the committee I will not compete in the men's team event final and that I'm sorry."
Yuna put her hands on his shoulders, "Misaki, it's fine. Jun can do triples, Hiroshi is a veteran and Giichi was third place for two years at the Pan Asian Games before you started your division," Misaki just nodded his head agreeing with his coach. Quickly the boy put his costume back together and started to put his boots on, along with make up sponges to make the boot fit better around his ankles.
"Session two, please come out to the ice, session two come out to the ice," the announcer stated in English first, followed by French and Russian. Misaki made sure all his hair clips were secure and put on his team japan hoodie before putting his skate guards on and rushing out of the locker room.
Misaki could quickly see how many people were in the arena, it was nice as many as the World Championships crowd, it excited him more than made him nervous.
"I've practiced for years ... I can do this! Mother and father in heaven, please watch over me," Misaki thought silently to himself as he saw the first group skaters leaving and the second session skaters making their way onto the ice. He saw familiar faces, some looked like veterans, some never competed like him and others represented countries that never medaled at all.
He could hear loud cheering as he approached the ice, taking of his guards, handing them over to his coach before skating into the ice.
-In The Stands -
"Hey, Misaki is out now!" Takahiro yelled, pointing at the skater with team Japan jacket gliding around the ice. Usagi looked in his direction, noticing how confident Misaki looked out there.
Takahiro took out his phone loading the real time sport station for Team Japan.
"Hello, this the Official Winter Olympics coverage and skater Takahashi Misaki is getting plenty of cheers from fans as he joins the ice for practice before the start of the short program, the tiny five foot something skater is the star of games, even though the short program has not officially started," the commentator laughed.
Misaki was going into an opening jump, "This will be his quad axel combination followed by quad toe loop."
Misaki jumped downing them perfectly, earning cheers for his fans, "Amazing! If there is anyone that can win gold at these games it's this boy right here, just turned nineteen years old, he missed out on the last Olympic Games due to an age restriction, but that doesn't seem to be a problem at all."
"Wait last Olympics? Miskai could of gone to the last games if it weren't for his age?! What else do I not know about this boy?!" Usagi thought angrily to himself. It frustrated him that he still didn't know a lot about Misaki ...
"Now, one weakness Takahashi has had is landing these combos in competition, at every World Championship he's been in, as well every other international competition, is either falls or other technical deductions that land him in second or third place despite him having the highest difficulty, it's all about execution and how quickly these combos are accompanied," the female competitor explained. Misaki was gliding around the ice before going into a sit spin.
Misaki felt himself get lost in his skating not focusing on anything else in the arena. Before he knew it his time was up.
"All skaters please leave the ice, we will be starting our short program competition soon, once again all skaters please leave the ice," the announcer stated. Misaki signed in relief as he exited the ice, only to see Sunsu standing next to his coach. He could quickly hear that they were speaking in Korean, but he was nervous at what they were saying.
"Eh ... am I interrupting something?" Misaki asked his coach. Sungsu looked confused at his Japanese competitor, until Yuna motioned for Misaki to approach them.
"Misaki, Sungsu has something he would like to say to you," she motioned for the Korean skater to start talking. The tall Korean man went in front of Misaki hesitantly, which confused and startled Misaki at the same time.
"Takahashi ... I ... I ... IM SO SORRY!" He yelled out in Korean, both startling and weirding out Misaki at the same time. Before he could blink Sungsu was on the ground bowing with his knees on the ground and his face only inches away from the floor.
'I NEVER APLOGIZED! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I SHOULD OF NEVER WON!" The Korean man wailed on the floor. Both Yuna and Misaki looked at each other with sweat drips, not knowing how to react.
"Eh ..' Yuna looked to worried out to almost finish her sentence, 'He said he is sorry and should never have won .."
Misaki got to the floor, meeting his rivals level, not noticing the photographers and other press members were taking photos," Eh ... its ok. It's not your fault! Please get up ... please!"
Misaki only could look at his former rival with slight embarrassment, "I don't remember him being this overly dramatic ..."
- Back in the Stands -
"What is he doing?" Takahiro asked noticing his brothers rival bowing at his feet and his brother trying to encourage him to get up.
Usagi raised his eyebrow at the commotion, "Maybe he is apologizing, why else would he be on the ground in not of millions of people?"
"Unless it s damage control ..." Usagi thought silently, people did stuff like this all the time in publishing, it was annoying to care about your public image all the time, especially in Japan ...
Usagi saw Sungsu get up with the help of Misaki, more people were taking photos as the Korean skater got up and the height difference became obvious since Sunsgu stood at 5'8 while Misaki looked tiny compared to him.
"Wow! it looks like Takahashi and Kim have finally mended any bad blood between them!' a male announcer stated laughing at the two skaters interacting. Usagi watched as Sungsu offered his team South Korean jacket to Misaki, Misaki looked hesitant to grab his jacket before finally taking it after being nudged by his coach Yuna. In return Misaki gave his Team Japan jacket Sungsu who accepted it, both were laughing as they tried it on, thankfully both some how fitted them and this only attracted more press.
'Haha! talk about having sportsmanship at the start of the game! Isn't that rehearsing!" the announcers both seemed to be over the moon, but Usagi felt insanely jealous as he watched them interact, the man felt his eye brow twitch before shaking off his feelings of envy.
"No don't do anything stupid! Wait for Misaki to do his program then punish him later," Usagi smirked to himself as Misaki and Sungsu separated away from each other. Yuna was patting Misaki on the back as the overhead announcers began to speak.
"Up first on the ice is Aaron bassaet from Canada,' The audience clapped as a tall man with dark brown hair and brown eyes made his way onto the ice.
- Yuna and Misaki-
Yuna was massaging Misaki's calves as Misaki was zipping up the last bit of his costume. He was wearing a new one, it was black pants, along with and green designs that had see through appliqués and some bits of flowing fabric that was skin tight, yet flexible on the boys body. Misaki had already tied his hair into its usual small ponytail and and black bobby pins he was known for. Yuna finished lacing Misaki's boots, while also putting a few more make up sponges in his boot's so it was more comfortable while performed.
"Ok Misaki, remember just liked we trained! You got this remember the medal I gave you!" Miskai just nodded at his coach, before he could drink water, Yuna shoved a protein bar in his face along with a bottle of water. Misaki looked scared to grab it.
'Come on, just one bit so you don't faint, remember?" Miskai smiled slightly nodding as he accepted the small snack and water. He ate two bits and drank water slowly, while also plugging his ears with foam ear plugs.
Yuna always told him to plug his ears, it wasn't enough for him to not hear his music, but it muffled the audience noise and cheers, which helped feel like he was just skating at home. In no time Misaki knew it was his turn when he heard the announcer talk again.
"Up next is Takahashi Misaki from Japan!" The audience screamed in excitement, though Misaki couldn't hear them. Yuna hugged Misaki taking Misaki's jacket and guards as he made his way onto the ice. Misaki popped his shoulders and and fingers while gliding around the ice. He skated into the middle of the rink getting into position as he waited for the music begin and the audience quieted down.
Misaki began to glide around the ice going int a spread eagel tranforming it into a a split glide until he stopped abrutly to match his music, pausing dramtically while going into a spin combo that include a , before rasing himself back and starting a step sequence as he picked up speed.
"Here it the first combo!" Misaki launched himself into a quad axel followed by a quad lutz, earning screams and cheers from the crowd.
"Huge!' the announcer yelled clearly excited by the action, 'This little domino can land any massive jump!"
Usagi couldn't help but hold his breath every time Misaki made a movement. The boy made it look so easy, but what Usagi knew that the audience didn't know was that Misaki had issues with his foot, his knee, not to mention an 'eating issue' among other things ... yet he was still about to do that.
Misaki launched himself into an another combo this time a triple salchow followed by quad lutz, the crowd was going wild, even fans that were not form Japan were screaming for the boy.
As the music was ending Misaki closed eyes preparing to do the last combo, "Ok, ladies and gentleman! Here is a a test of endurance and quad quad combo followed a spin combo at the every end!"
Misaki landed a quad toe loop followed by a quad axel, both landed with textbook execution, before launching into a spin combo as the music was close to finishing.
"Incredible! Give that boy the medal now! haha!" The male commentator was laughing along side the female commentator. Right before the music ended misaki did a perfect standing split spin that made the female skaters look weak in comparison.
Usagi especialy paid attenion to his splits.
"Hmm, maybe this will be useful later on in the bedroom," The man thought to himself, he would of had an erection the spot if he wasn't surrounded by screaming people and Misaki's older brother.
The music stopped as Misaki did his finally pose, the boy was breathing rapidly, clearly tired from his routine. Misaki smiled bowing to different angles of the audience. People threw flowers and other gifts onto the ice as the sweeper skaters all wearing red skater dresses, made their way onto the ice. Two little girls went up to Misaki handing him a bouquet of flowers and Sochi mascot stuffed bear. Misaki nodded his head thanking them the best he could in Russian, the two girls looked star stricken before going back to the ice.
"Haha looks like even children love Misaki!" Takahiro laughed taking Usagi out his thoughts.
Usagi only nodded as misaki made his way to the scoring section with yuna, he wearing his south Korean jacket and was drinking vitamin water as he was waiting for his scores. Yuna was rubbing his shoulders and patting his leg as she gripped his hand tightly waiting for the scores.
"Ok and the scores are coming out now .." The whole stadium went quiet, no one spoke as they waited for the judges to speak.
The score's finally tallied up leading to-
"115.89?!" both Misaki and Yuna screamed in complete surprise at the scores, Misaki hide his face as he was starting to cry on the spot from the scores, 'Misaki Takahashi has just broken a world record at these games! Unbelievable!"
Takahiro and Usagi both cheered at the scores, neither believing that Misaki not only had the highest score, but he made history!
"That's my brother!" Takahiro yelled among the screaming crowd.
Misaki was still crying feeling very emotional from the news, as he went back to the where the other skaters were, many of them started congratulating him, hugging him and high-fiving him. Without warning he was joined by his teammates as they started shouting.
"Nihon! Nihon! Nihon!" Miskai laughed as they continued to cheer and yell, not evening listen to the announcer who stated ...
"Up next on the ice, Kim Sungsu from South Korea!" A mixture of cheers came from the crowd as officials tried to calm the crowd from the historical moment to get back to the competition.
Misaki relaxed long enough to enjoy his new found friends performance on the ice. As Sungsu began to skate around the ice Misaki watched as he launched into the air to do his triple and triple axel combo only to fall the second jump.
"Oh my God, Kim is down, what a disastrous start to a short program!"
Miskai glared as approached the side of the rink, "Come on Sungsu get up, you have a minute left to prove yourself! Don't be an idiot!"
Despite not knowing what Misaki was saying, Sungsu looked at the boy before nodding as he got up and glided around the ice, to do another triple and triple combo with two Lutz's, both landed perfectly.
"He redid his combo! Amazing! It looks like Takahashi is yelling for Sungsu to continue his program, this looks like the start of beautiful new friendship! What a sight!" Usagi watched as Misaki continued to yell for Sunsgu to continue his program. The man couldn't help but smile.
"The boy just made history, yet he is more concerned about other people than himself, Misaki ... " Usagi took out his phone, getting up to leave. Only to feel someone tug his sleeve.
"Where are you going?" Takahiro asked looking confused at his friend.
"I have to call someone," Usagi stated. Takahiro just waved at to go, choosing to remain in his seat to watch the other skaters.
- Outside the Arena -
"Huh ... who is calling?" A sleepy woman responded. Usagi knew about the time difference, but he also knew his editor didn't have a normal sleeping schedule either.
"This is usami, did you see the resutls from the short program?" Without waiting for a response usagi heard his edior type furiously, probbaly looking for th elive tv broadcaitng on youtube to see the resutls so far.
"KYA! Misaki is in first now and has the highest short program artistic scores, technical scores and total score in Olympic history! Oh my god!" Akikawa was probably on cloud nine as she watched the video of Misaki over and over again. Ever since she learned about Misaki and the new projects, she was more into the books then Usagi was.
"Yes, he just made history, apparently even if he falls over and over again in the the long program, he will still win first place, then again the skaters aren't much competition here, the guys before and after Misaki already fell and lost points-"
"Don't jinx Misaki! He could still lose you know! Speaking of losing the rest of team Japan is doing awful! That other skater Shoji Jun? He already feel twice! I will scream if he qualifies for finals!"
Usagi just laughed as his editor continued to rant. On the outside of the arena he saw footage of Jun falling multiple times, before showing his scores ... he wasn't going the finals and the boy looked heartbroken.
- At the Arena -
"It looks like unfortunately Jun Shoiji will not be in the finals for the free skate, what a tragedy" Jun only walked away form the scoring area going to his teammates. Giichi, Hiroshi and Misaki all gathered around him hugging him tightly as he cried out.
"I've been skating since i was six! Six! And i still failed!" He cried out, Hiroshi hugged him, while reminding him about his past Olympics.
"Come on, you can still get a metal on the team event ... if twenty eight year old me can be here, you can do it again, everything will be ok, alright?" Jun just shook his head at his teammate. Hiroshi decided not to lecture his teammate, he understood the heartbreak of losing your chances in a split second and knew that crying it out was needed to move on.
Misaki tried to hold back tears as his teammate cried his eyes out, but Yuna simply motioned for him to go to the back with her. Yuna knew Misaki would get emotional at seeing his teammate like that and only wanted her skater to focus on himself. Though Jun's cries and wails of defeat were still heard as they walked away.
I might fix this chapter later, but being a junior computer science major means no free time T_T
Hope you enjoyed my horrible writing! Please review! It means a lot!