CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED SIXTY
Athletes returned from the arena at just around the time Viktor had expected them to. The trickle of skaters disembarking was tedious though. Given the cyclical nature of the rides, departing and arriving on a schedule rather than when the seats were all occupied, meant that even if a 12-person-capacity van pulled up, it didn't mean 12 people would be getting out. It took an extra 30 minutes, making it nearly 1pm, before a larger chunk of the Men's group really started arriving.
Viktor checked his phone every few seconds for the time, getting impatient. Between clicks, he'd occasionally check back on the text messages he'd gotten in lieu of a phone call.
[Sorry we missed your call, Mr. Nikiforov. What did Asahi do?]
[It's a matter I'd rather discuss in person.]
[I withdrew Yuri from morning practice so there would no risk of further interaction between the two of them. He's already been made rather upset by this whole thing, so the sooner we can come to some resolution, the better.]
[We understand. We will return promptly.]
[Thank you.]
The Russian grumbled a bit as 1:05pm rolled by, Promptly...what a joke.
"Oh, there they are." Minako suddenly said, pointing to one of the shuttles that had just pulled up, "You ready for this?"
"Born ready." He answered, rising up from where he'd been sitting in one of the hotel lobby's many cushy chairs.
"Okay. I'll go get him." She nodded, and started stepping off from the nervous but antsy Russian. She passed by a few other skaters and their own coaches as they all started filtering into the building, and Viktor watched closely from his vantage, looking for any reaction.
Viktor couldn't hear what the ballerina said by that point, as she'd made it all the way outside, but the way Asahi stopped walking forward, even while Webber and Nagisa continued, it was telling enough. He watched as Minako continued her approach, her body-language open and friendly enough, but his eyes then wandered back to the one person whose attention he actually cared about to that point. For the occasion, Viktor had fully reverted back to Coach-mode, donning one of his semi-famed 3-piece suits, a long, dark Kashmir scarf hanging from his shoulders, and a dark grey long-coat over one arm as he carried it. Coach Nagisa spotted him easily enough and started making her way closer, with the team choreographer following close at her heels. She nervously extended a hand when they were within arm's reach.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. There were a number of fans wanting Asahi-san's attention at the arena when we were trying to leave." She tried to explain.
Viktor shook her hand once, his expression unchanging, then did the same with Webber, "This shouldn't take long. Please, come this way." He took a step back and gestured to the other side of the lobby, turning on a heel to start walking. He lifted his eyes briefly to catch a glimpse of Minako and Asahi still outside, He hasn't tried to run...maybe she was right.
[So you remember me then?] She asked, still trying to keep a friendly smile on, [It's been ages since I last saw you. You've gotten taller.]
[...You used to be at events with someone...] Asahi answered, giving a skeptical look, only to suddenly realize, and his eyes opened slightly wider, [You were Yuri's fan.]
[Well...I was a little more than that, but...yes... I was part of the Yuri Katsuki Cheering Section.] Minako affirmed, and taking a step closer as she pinched her coat closed just under her chin, [Let's at least go inside.]
[What's going on?] He asked, getting a bit nervous, [You used to actually be around Yuri all the time...if he's not with you now, then-]
[We really should step inside, Asahi.]
The winter chill suddenly felt a lot colder.
A few minutes passed in anxious silence before Minako felt the buzz in her pocket and checked her phone, seeing the message that it was time to bring the skater in. She set a hand on his shoulder and nudged her head aside, signaling for him to follow, and he did, though reluctantly. Asahi's skin was clammy by then, pale and a bit shiny from the nervous sweat that had begun. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was going on. By the time Minako had lead him into a small meeting room, he could feel his heart in his throat, and every bit of clothing that touched his body was partly stuck to it.
They rounded a corner to go through a door, and into a room with a few tables lined up in several rows. Halogen lights shone down from above, making the area seem abnormally bright. Asahi caught sight of his team within; they were standing near a table with a few documents spread out across the surface. Minako gestured her hand for him to step closer, and offered to take his gear-bag and set it aside. In his anxiety, Asahi kept it, and stepped by the woman to approach those two more familiar faces. They each looked a bit dour, but neither said anything yet, simply patting a shoulder before retaking the seats they'd been in earlier. They left one between them empty for Asahi to take himself.
Minako stuck her head out the door and glanced down the hall, waving at someone Asahi hadn't seen when they came through. It only took seconds for his worst fears to be realized though, and Viktor Nikiforov entered the small conference room, looking irritated despite his otherwise sharp appearance. Minako followed close behind him, and the duo took seats opposite the three.
There were a few seconds of tense silence between them before Viktor said a single word.
"I'm sure at this point, you know why you're here." The Russian started, staring at the skater in front of him, "But I'd like to give you the opportunity to explain your thoughts on this yourself, before we begin."
Asahi's brow crinkled, but he kept his eyes forward, "This is about yesterday."
Viktor waited in that moment for a few seconds before turning his eyes down to a manila folder, and withdrew a few papers with the JSF logo at the top, "This is a formal complaint that I've filed against you, Asahi Saito." He explained simply, "It documents the time, date, location, and actions committed by both you and Yuri Nikiforov. In no uncertain terms, these papers chronicle an act of sexual assault perpetrated on my athlete."
The skater's eyes twitched, and his heart skipped a beat, but he shook his head, "That's not what happened."
"Did you force yourself onto Yuri, without his prior knowledge, or consent, and act on him in a manner characterized by any form of sexual conduct?" Viktor asked plainly, eyes firm.
"...I kissed him. I didn't attack him."
Coach and choreographer both seemed to give a quiet sigh of disappointment and worry when they heard the words.
"Did he know you were going to do it?" Viktor went on.
"...No..."
"Without that knowledge, he could not give you informed consent. You then came into physical contact with his person. That's the assault." The Russian said, trying to keep a cool head, "The kiss is what makes this a sexual act. So...sexual assault."
"You make it sound a hundred times worse than it actually is." Asahi insisted, "I didn't hurt him. I never would."
Viktor held there for a moment, drawing a stiff breath, but then grabbed his phone from the inside breast-pocket of his blazer. A few clicks later, and he turned the phone around, showing off a picture of Yuri's left arm, "These marks are from where you grabbed him. They're the same on both sides. You held him hard enough that he couldn't resist and in the end, these bruises are evidence of a crime. I could have called police on you over this."
The skater's eyes narrowed, a drop of nervous sweat rolling down the back of his neck and into his Team Japan jacket, "Then why haven't you?"
"Because Yuri, in all his forgiving and merciful nature, doesn't think you deserve it." Viktor answered, putting his phone back, then lacing his fingers together just in front of his chin, "And I, as his coach and confidant, take his opinion seriously. I won't act in a way that he doesn't consent to."
The words stung, but Asahi wouldn't let himself react. Every fiber of muscle in his arms wanted to reach across the table and smack the silver hair off Viktor's head, but he clenched them down and refused to let them move. He grit his teeth for a moment before speaking again, "Why don't you say what you really mean. This isn't about you and him as coach and student."
Viktor stared, but then closed his eyes briefly as he lowered his gaze, "There are two very distinct possible ways that we can deal with this, Saito. One is the official way, where I, as Yuri's coach, choreographer, and mentor, give an official report to the JSF higher-ups about the crime you committed against my athlete. You can try to explain to them why you think what you did was of little consequence, despite the fact that you left marks on his arms, and have terrorized him so thoroughly that he had a panic attack and passed out while sitting in the audience, watching the rest of the Short Program. He hasn't slept, he's barely eaten, he's inflicted injury onto himself, and quite frankly, he may bomb the Free Program later tonight. I will submit all of these documents, and my photos, and the JSF leadership can decide whether they want you to be able to stay in the competition, or they'll suspend you pending further review."
"And the other?" Asahi asked bitterly.
"You get to deal with me as Yuri's husband, and these papers may not get submitted."
"Well then it's obv-"
"You need to think very carefully about how you want to proceed with this, Saito." Viktor said, his voice raised but not yelling, a finger pointed straight at the skater's face, "Because if you decide to deal with me as a spouse rather than a coach, your official team won't be a part of this."
Coach Nagisa leaned close to whisper into Asahi's ear, [If he submits those papers, the JSF will pull you from the rest of the event, and there's no way you'll make the Olympic team. It'll probably be much worse to deal with Viktor as Yuri's partner though...but you stand a chance of this not becoming an official problem.]
[So you're saying I should take him on a personal level?]
[What you did was terrible. I don't know what you were thinking. But this is the closest thing to mercy that Viktor's going to offer you. If you really want to keep skating, this is your best chance.]
Asahi grumbled under his breath, lowering his head as he brought his arms up to cross on the edge of the table. After a moment of thought, he nodded to himself, "See you guys later, then."
Nagisa and Webber both stood up then and took their leave, and Minako followed them to the door, making sure it shut behind them. She went back to retake her seat at Viktor's side, and broke the ice of the new conversation.
"You've known Yuri for many years." She started, "Almost half of his life. But whether or not you have, or had, feelings for him...doesn't matter anymore, because Yuri is married now. Whether it's to Viktor, or to anyone else...your opinion of that union doesn't make it any less valid. Kissing Yuri yesterday made him feel like he violated the vows he took to keep fidelity and to honor his spouse. It put him into a lot of turmoil and anguish. I would think that, even as just a friend, you wouldn't knowingly want to make him feel that way."
"...Of course not." Asahi answered quietly, keeping his face down, "He said he was strong now. I thought he could handle it."
"It wasn't your place to make him handle anything." Minako explained, "Even if this didn't bother him at all though...Yuri isn't the only person who's been impacted by this. Viktor spent nearly a year trying to capture Yuri's heart. He was the first and only person Yuri ever kissed...that was incredibly important to the both of them...but now, and for the rest of both of their lives, there's going to be the knowledge at the back of both of their minds that Yuri was kissed by someone else."
Viktor chimed in after her, "The way Yuri explained things to me...it didn't seem like you took the idea of our marriage all that seriously." He said, "You scoffed at him for calling me his husband, and ridiculed the very premise that I cared about him in any way whatsoever. I don't know where you get the idea that you can tell Yuri who I am and what I think when you and I have never exchanged words before this weekend."
Nervous to the point of feeling his hands starting to tremble, Asahi pulled his arms off the table and clasped his fingers tightly over his lap. Still, he couldn't help but feel that this would be his only chance to speak his mind, "I have a hard time believing that someone like you would just show up out of absolutely nowhere and agree to be the coach to someone who even I knew had never spoken a word to you in his entire life." He finally said, pausing a moment to see if either of the two would answer, though they seemed to want to let him say the rest and didn't open their mouths. Asahi lifted his head a little, eyes staring at the JSF papers on the tabletop between them, "Why? Why would you do something like that? You accuse me of overstepping because I don't know the first thing about you...well you didn't know the first thing about him, and yet you practically moved into his house without his consent."
Viktor glanced aside to Minako, but he felt it would be better to let her explain it, and gestured a hand forward for her to do so.
"Yuri's family runs a hot-springs resort." She started, "You've known that since forever ago."
"So?"
"People can stay there without giving advanced notice. That's the nature of the business. Viktor could've been there just for the hot-spring." She went on, lacing her fingers together on top of the table, "We learned way later that Yuri did actually invite him there, too. Viktor showed up exactly when he was supposed to, and did exactly what Yuri asked him to do."
Asahi finally lifted his head entirely, and stared at the Russian, "Why would you even give the time of day to someone like Yuri, let alone give up an entire season of your own career to suddenly be his coach?"
"Wouldn't you?" Viktor answered simply.
Asahi blinked in confusion, taken aback by the question, but grit his teeth, "I held back in Juniors for an extra two years for him. I busted my ass to get him a spot in the Tokyo Skate Club with me. Then he left without saying a word to me."
"Maybe he said a lot more than you think, and you just weren't listening." Viktor shrugged, "Not that I have any reason to teach you how to listen to my husband, but he says a lot even when he isn't speaking a single word." He waited a moment to let that statement sink in, seeing that the younger man didn't know how to answer to it anyway.
"If there was ever anything Yuri could tell me about you, Asahi," Minako added, "It's that he never really knew anything about you. He told me he found you strange, because you never talked about anything other than what he already knew about. He left Juniors not even knowing what your favorite color was, and you never asked him about anything that personal either. Do you think you could tell us anything about Yuri that we wouldn't know just from having been around him ourselves?"
"It's not anyone's place to dig into others' lives." He answered grimly, "If someone doesn't volunteer the information, you have no right to ask it."
The ballerina huffed half a laugh and shook her head, nudging the Russian's shoulder with her own, "He's the complete opposite of you. You wanted to know absolutely everything about Yuri. Right from day one."
"That's an assault in itself." Asahi leered, "You have no right."
"Yeah, because asking what kind of rink he skates at and what he likes about the city he lives in is an assault." Viktor shot back, "You really are terribly superficial. It's no wonder Yuri never said a single word about you the entire time I knew him. There's really not that much to say, is there?"
"Having respect for someone's privacy isn't a flaw."
"Showing so little interest in a person's life that they can't even tell if you give a damn is a flaw. You call yourself a friend, and he thinks...or at least thought you were...do you even know what his favorite food is?" The silver coach wondered idly, watching for a moment but seeing the cogs turning without an answer, "Oh come on...his family named the dish after him."
Minako set her hand over the Russian's tense forearm, "In Asahi's defense, Yuri never invited him back to Hasetsu. I don't think he's ever seen Yu-Topia Katsuki. He'd have no reason to know they named anything after him."
"Still. Yuri goes nuts over that dish." Viktor replied, turning his face to look at her, "The entire 6 months he practiced Eros before Regionals, he was thinking about that thing." He turned his eyes back to Asahi, "Anything? Any idea at all?"
The skater just grimaced.
"It was the thing he rewarded himself with if he won a competition!"
"I don't see why you're making a big deal out of this."
"How can you say you were ever in love with him if you don't even know how much he loves katsudon!?" Viktor was incensed in his disbelief, "If there was ever a check-list on 'things Yuri likes,' katsudon comes even before skating!"
"How should I know that? The only thing he ever talked about other than Yuko was YOU." Asahi pointed across the table, "How much he wanted to skate like you, skate in the same place as you, practice the same programs as you, he even got a dog like yours, and named it after you. Everything with Yuri was VIKTOR VIKTOR VIKTOR." He rose up from his spot, hands on the table even as he loomed overhead.
"Sit. Down." Viktor told him flatly, not moving an inch to 'meet' him at that level.
Asahi growled and sat, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.
"You really resent him for how much he talked about me." The Russian went on, "It must really get under your skin to know that he's married to me now, too."
"Only as far as it worries me." The skater answered curtly, "If he told you even half of what happened yesterday, he must have told you what I really thought about your so-called relationship."
Viktor leered at that, "Oh, you mean about how you demeaned Yuri for being incapable of making good decisions for himself when it came to me because you thought he was too much of a fanboy? Yeah, he told me about that, too."
Asahi rolled his eyes, "Of course you'd repeat it back that way."
"You have a really backwards way of thinking about things." Viktor grumbled, "You consider it a good thing to never ask someone questions outside the scope of things they've brought up themselves. You consider it a violation of privacy. Yuri described you as being super Japanese before, and I get that Japanese people take issue with feeling like they're butting into other peoples' lives...but you take it to such an extreme that it's a wonder you even remember peoples' names."
"You're oversimplifying me."
"You're oversimplifying Yuri." Viktor defended, "You don't like being put into a box of pre-defined characteristics? Maybe you should stop doing it to him first. I don't care what you think of me...but you spent half of your conversation with him yesterday telling him how he should be, as though who he is didn't matter or could be ignored. That's not how the world works. You don't get to define others. It broke my heart when he told me how he explained that you would've kept him in a cage if you'd ever gone out."
Asahi grit his teeth again, looking away bitterly. The echo of Yuri yelling that very thing at him bounced around inside his head.
"You think I changed him so much." Viktor went on, his voice a little calmer then, "All I ever did was believe in him. I helped bring out what was already there inside him, the parts he was too nervous or scared to see himself. That's the difference between you and I...you would've made him stay the way he was...but I set him free."
"You just turned him into a little version of yourself." The younger skater growled, the frustration and anger starting to spill over into sorrow. He kept his head down, bangs covering his eyes, "You didn't just marry him and make him a Nikiforov like you...you killed Yuri Katsuki in the process."
Even Minako raised an eyebrow at that, "The Yuri you knew from Juniors isn't dead. He's grown into a bigger person. The things you knew him for back then...being shy, modest, insecure...those things are still a part of him, but they don't define him anymore. Why you would want him to stay that way doesn't make any sense to me."
"It doesn't matter why." Viktor said, mostly to himself, but turning his eyes towards the trembling figure across the table, "Yuri told you himself what he thought was really going on. You're stuck in the past. You're clinging to an idea that's comfortable because facing the present, facing the truth, is too hard for you." He paused a moment, but then leaned down slightly to see the man's face a little better, "He also told you the best piece of advice that anyone could probable offer you in this situation you find yourself in. You need to face your demons and move on with your life. Avoiding it won't make it go away...and trying to make Yuri feel your same pain won't make yours any easier to bear."
"I never meant to hurt him..." Asahi said, his voice barely above a whisper, his eyes stinging, "...After everything else...I knew I had to let him go... I just wanted to feel like I had some kind of control over that farewell, because I had none over any of the others."
"...Yuri told us what you said about Riku." Minako said quietly, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"Don't patronize me with your false empathy...!" He barked, crossing his arms in front of his head, "None of you gives a damn about me! No one ever has!"
"Yuri still cares enough about you that he's still trying to protect you, even now." Viktor said sharply, "But you're drawing conclusions about unrelated events. Nothing about what happened to Riku gives you any right or justification for what you did to my husband last night. You took that kiss from him without asking first because you knew he would say no. You set aside his feelings in favor of your own selfish need for closure. You didn't just kiss him goodbye," He criticized, "You robbed him of his freedom to choose how to interact with you, and left him in an emotional ruin, as though saying that if you can't be happy, then no one can."
"That's not-"
"But it is." Viktor interrupted, "Look, I get that you've been traumatized by what happened. I empathize with that concept way more than you give me credit for, and while I don't feel like I need to explain myself to you, I know Yuri gave you a few examples of the close-calls we've had in the last year. So before you try and tell me that I don't know how it feels to lose someone I love, I can assure you that I don't need to go that far to know how much it hurts. I've been on that edge. If Yuri died today, I would be dead tomorrow...and that's why what you did pisses me off so much. His despair is my despair. You don't have to acknowledge or deal with the devastation you've caused. But that's not how this is going to end. I'm not just going to let you get in the middle of my marriage and cause this much pain to my soul-mate without consequences. Yuri is my family...do you understand that?"
"THEN JUST DO IT ALREADY." Asahi yelled, pushing up to stand, "I've already lost everything else...what's figure skating, too!?"
Minako leaned back in surprise at the outburst, but she saw Viktor holding his ground, not giving an inch.
The Russian watched for a moment, steely blue eyes carefully looking as tears splashed down on the varnished table-top. He saw how Asahi nearly tripped over himself as he backed out of the chair he'd risen from, and how the man trembled where he now stood, trying to regain his balance. He drew in a controlled breath, and let it out slowly, then reached forward to gather up all the paperwork he'd spread out earlier. He stacked them all together and tapped the edges on the table to line them up, putting them back into the manila folder they'd originally come from, "This isn't something you get to decide. What happens next isn't up to you." He explained, rising up from his own place, putting the folder under an arm as he folded his long-coat over that elbow, "And it's not up to me, either."
"...What are you saying...?"
Minako stood up as well, following after Viktor as he started making his way around the long table and over towards the door. She paused with a hand on the doorknob, looking back when the man paused in his footsteps.
Viktor glanced back one more time, "You took control from Yuri when you forced yourself onto him. I'm giving him control back. He's the one who's going to decide what happens to these papers."
"...So then this whole interaction was for nothing. All this back-and-forth between us, and it's not even you who's going to make that final call. What was it all for, then?"
"To make you understand why it's Yuri's choice." The Russian answered simply, "And to educate you on the fact that his problems are my problems. You already have enough troubles to work through...so you're not going to be my problem again, are you." He said firmly, more as a statement of fact than an open-ended question.
Asahi hesitated, lifting his eyes for a moment to look the silver legend over, but then shook his head. He then saw the shadows of the duo starting to move out of the corner of his eyes again, "...When will I know?"
Viktor paused in the doorway, holding the panel open for just a few seconds longer, and glanced back over a shoulder, "When the JSF leadership calls you. Or they don't."
Cool brown eyes, reddened by the stress of the meeting, darkened by worry, watched as Viktor and Minako took their leave. The door clicked as it shut again, and Asahi was left in an uncomfortable silence. The heart-pounding anxiety of not-knowing what would happen was starting to sink in.
Six hours to the Free Program...