Disclaimer: I do not own YOI. Just this fanfic.
First of all, thank you to those of you who reviewed in the last chapter. I got one review that made me question if it's difficult to tell the differences in the timeline of the story. So from now, for the parts of the stories that's taking place in the past, (after chapter 8 when Victor begins telling Yuri about Olivia), I'll be labeling those chapters with "Before YOI" (Before events of Yuri! On Ice). Is that helpful, sort of?
Anyways, I'm starting to introduce anime and video games from real life into this fanfic, because I'm assuming the YOI universe to be set in our reality. By the way, all of these things about anime and video games that I'm writing about in this fanfic, are based on my personal opinion of it. So please don't criticize if you think some things are wrong or you just don't agree with them. But I'm open to constructive criticism.
Again, please REVIEW if you want more and if you want to ask anything. (PMing me is also an option). FAVOURITE and FOLLOW!
Please, enjoy.
Ch. 11: Exploring Interests (Before YOI)
Thursday. May. 30, 2013. Indoor ice rink.
Victor pulled back from the embrace but kept his hands on Liv's shoulders. He was still ecstatic about her understanding his inner feelings and couldn't stop smiling. But he had to get back on track.
"You like anime and video game osts?" He repeated.
"Yeah. I'm a bit of a...how would you describe it? Computer nerd…?" Liv shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know! That's the only way I can describe it in a language you can understand!"
Victor laughed. "Just say what you mean to say. Explain it to me."
Liv cleared her throat. A serious aura emerged from her as she puts on a professional face. She draws an imaginary diagram in the air with her fingers.
"Ahem. People who enjoy spending their free time indoors watching nothing but videos on their computers are said to be 'computer nerds,' but that term basically labels them all as geniuses, which is not true.
"The actual name is 'otaku.' And I, myself, am one. Now, anime is—"
"—Japanese style tv show and books where characters do these things that are completely irrational and insane and just plain unrealistic. Right?"
A swift blow across the chest caused Victor to stumble back on the ice and fall onto his rear end. Liv skates up to her fallen coach and stops before him. A nervous smile form on her face and her hands trembled as she stared down at Victor.
"Anime is what you watch. Manga is what you read. Got that? Now I don't want to hear that same mistake being repeated again the future understood?" She asked.
Victor nodded his head greatly. "Y—yes. Of course."
"Good." Liv extends her hand to help him back up to his feet. But then suddenly began squeezing it to the brink of cutting off his circulation.
Victor cringed from her grip. "Aaahh...what did I do wrong now?"
"Anime does display unrealistic events, but what kind of tv show doesn't? And I'm telling you right now, I wouldn't be defending this so hard if it isn't good." Liv's grip on his hand tightened further.
"Aaahhh! Alright, alright! I'm sorry! Please...I'm sorry, I was too hasty in my judgment."
Victor felt the vice-like grip on his hand slightly loosen. Liv wasn't finished talking, though.
"Since I'm going to choose an ost from an anime, I recommend you start watching some too. Otherwise, you'll have no idea what I'm representing or the story behind it. Which is kind of necessary for a coach to know."
"Right...ok, so where do I start?" Victor asked confusingly.
"I'll text you a list later. For now, I kind want to get back to practice." Liv admitted.
Victor sighed in relief as he felt Liv's hand finally let go, he wiggles his fingers around, feeling for anything abnormal. But other than his warm blood rushing back into his palm, and the stiffness, he was ok.
"Ok. We got until around 5. Let's work on spins and field moves today. I think jumps can take a break."
"I'm down for that."
Victor stood at a good distance as Liv went into a simple flying camel. He is always impressed by her spins, she had good speed and centering, and best of all, good positions.
That was one of Liv's strengths, spins, though her field moves are also very well done, from spirals to Ina Bauers and spread eagles. She had strong basic skating skills, unlike some of his rinkmates, who focuses all their energy into jumps, which are what's skating is all about currently.
Jumps were worth the most out of all the moves in competitive figure skating. As a reigning champion, Victor knew that the only reason he's given such high scores were because of his godly jumping abilities. His program components only boosted him a little further up the scale.
He was not oblivious, she was not oblivious. Skating is all about the jumps now. That gave an edge to younger and newer skaters, such as Yuri Plisetsky, who had both the body and tutelage for jumping. For skaters who were in the game for a longer time, they had to adjust what they're used to performing in order to keep up with the new shift.
Such lack of artistry in skating has been complained about by many spectators and fans, not just Victor himself. And that's why he works hard on his programs, to surprise his audience, to make things interesting, and to give some hope to the artists out there. Figure skating is not going down the path of corruption.
At least Victor hoped it won't be.
But now...it seems that it kind of is. Unfair judging, race and nationality differences, biased opinions, what's going to be next? Politics? Oh wait, never mind, at nearly every single competition Victor's been to, there's always at least one American lady on the podium.
What is going on in skating now?
"Victor! Do you want me to do it again?"
He snaps out of his thoughts. "Uh? No! That's alright! Your flying camel is good. I need to see your flying sit, though. Can you perform it from the series of three turns?"
"Death drop?" Liv confirmed. Victor nodded.
Liv scanned the ice for any clean patches to spin on. She sets on an unused portion of the rink and builds up speed for the entrance of the spin. Pushing off of her right toepick, she completes a series of three turns before going onto the last outside edge and bringing her free leg around as she leaps into the air.
Her body opens up nearly parallel to the surface of the ice before quickly twisting into the back sitspin position as the toepick of her right skate touches the ice. The rest of her body follows through and she adjusts her weight to be directly on the rocker of her skate.
Victor skated a little closer to get a better look in Liv's position and centering. It was difficult centering a flying sitspin, many skaters tend to travel a bit from their landing area before regaining balance and then finally centering.
"Keep your free leg straighter!" He yelled. "Don't hunch that back!"
Liv straightened her free leg and sat up a little more than she's used to. After completing about ten rotations in total, she stood back up and exits the spin. Victor skates towards the area where she spun upon, examining the circular marks made by Liv's blade on the ice.
A few of them were tiny loops trailing away from the point where she landed from the jump entrance, but the majority were tightly packed together. Victor faced Liv again. "Let's see it one more time. Try and see if you can find your center as soon as you land. Predict it."
Nodding, Liv skates away, preparing to perform the flying sit once again. Victor kept a careful eye on both the clock and her movements, the last thing he wants is for Liv to rush home again. The end of May is the time of the year for final exams, and Liv had a few more to write before her summer break officially begins.
And then they could finally start making their programs for the 2014 season. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Liv performing different spin combinations and sequences of spirals. Although Victor hated it when Yakov pushed him hard at his practices, he couldn't help but push Liv hard at this practice.
Actually, he pushed her at every single practice they've scheduled since they began meeting regularly. Liv does a few backward crossovers into a Y-spiral before letting go of her foot, turning it into a fan spiral.
"Cross-hand bielmann into arabesque spiral! Oh, and change of edge too!" Victor cried.
Liv skates forward crossovers before grabbing her left blade with her right hand and hoisting it over her head, keeping her right inside edge deep and controlled. Her face was flushed from all this movement, her teeth clenching as she lets go of her blade and brings her body lower, raising her free leg high behind her, at the same time, changing to a right outside edge.
Victor looked closely at her face. "Smile! You have to smile!"
Liv finishes her spiral sequence and gawks at him in disbelief. "You think I can manage a smile right now!?"
"Alright, fine. But in competitions, you're going to have to smile. We're about done anyways. Perform one last combination spin." Victor commands.
Liv groaned. "I don't believe that coach Yakov is this hard with you." She mutters as she skates away.
"Keep saying that and I'll make you do laps around the ice!" Victor cringed. "Damnit! Now I really sound like Yakov…"
Liv does a right inside three-turn to enter her combination spin, starting with the basic camel spin. After about three rotations, she goes down into a broken-leg sitspin and then a catch-foot layback spin. Letting go of her right blade, she puts it down firmly on the ice to enter a new spin, on her opposite foot, spinning in the clockwise direction.
Once again, she starts off with the camel spin and holds it for about three rotations. Victor could see that this spin is slower than her first camel spin, proof that she is indeed, tired. Liv goes into a cannonball sitspin from the camel spin but couldn't hold the position and fell back onto the heel of her blade.
Her rear end hits the surface of the ice, followed her legs, her back, and finally her arms and hand. Liv gives up any effort to get back to her feet and just lies there, facing the bright white lights on the ceiling above the rink.
Victor barely managed to hold in his laughter. "Li—Liv! Get back up! Come on! I promise you can go home after this!"
Liv groans incoherently, "I'm dead. You killed me. You and your high expectations and rigorous methods."
"Get back up before I go over and drag you to your feet!"
"Drag me home!"
Several minutes later.
Liv finishes her combination spin with an upright I-spin. Victor skates over to pat her on the back.
"See? Wasn't so bad. Alright, now we can leave." He checks the time. 4:57, good.
Liv hurriedly skates off the ice, followed by Victor. They untied their boots and put them back in their specific bags. Victor searches his outer bag pocket for his phone before leaving the rink.
The two of them walked down the path that leads to the parking lot. It was a warm day, with a slight breeze in the air. Giving a fragment of what summer would be like soon.
Liv breathed in the fresh air. "You know, for the first time. I'm looking forward to summer break. I actually got something to do and work towards."
"Don't you do off-season regiments every summer, though?" Victor asked.
"Yeah, but. This is different. I feel much more comfortable now, psychologically, relaxed. But of course, every muscle in my legs are screaming in pain!"
Victor laughed and mentally smiled. Liv felt more comfortable with him here. He did it. She feels more integrated with this country, well, -ish. At least she's not feeling as homesick and outcasted as she was before.
They bid each other farewell at the parking lot and went down their individual ways home. Victor too felt slightly more relaxed during the practice sessions with Liv. He managed to get through to her interests today, and she managed to get through to his as well.
Anime and video game osts...he would've never been able to guess in a million years that those were things that interested Liv.
But he can't make her change her interests so he would have to get to know them too if he wants to be a proper coach. Each skater has a different taste in style and different backstories, it's hard to know what they're thinking of deep inside.
Is this what Yakov has to go through for every one of his students? Victor suddenly felt a deeper respect towards his coach, for being able to support and enhance the angles of each of his skaters, even if he has no idea what they want to express when performing.
Victor finally reaches the parking lot of his building and adjusts his car in his area of the lot. He then enters the front door and goes up to his apartment complex. Turning on the lights inside, Victor was immediately greeted by an energetic Makkachin.
They interact for a few seconds before Makkachin runs back to the living and Victor closes the door, leaning against its hard exterior, sliding down against it in fatigue. He, too, was tired from the work that would be lying ahead of him as soon as summer begins.
Off-season training is equivalent to boot-camp in hell. Early morning distance runs...interval training...plyometrics...and worst of all: high-intensity weight training. The last thing Victor wanted to do was fifty bar pull-ups. Memories of that experience from last year resurfaced.
With Yakov's military sergeant voice ringing in the background, shouting, "thirty-three! Thirty-four! Pick up the pace! Stop cheating! Make sure your chin is ABOVE the bar! Victor, repeat from thirty! Thirty! Thirty-one…"
Victor's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone's ringtone, alerting him with a new text message. He immediately takes it out from his pocket and sees the message preview from Liv across his lock screen, saying: list of recommended anime.
Sliding across the screen, Victor sees the entirety of the text messaged list. His eyes landed on the first item: 1. Angel Beats…
Monday. June. 3, 2013. St. Petersburg Ice Rink.
Victor stopped to catch his breath as he put a hand on the metal bars at the top of the viewing area of this ice rink. Running long-distance laps is not his thing. And that's already very obvious to him, but it doesn't change the fact that Yakov makes every single one of his skaters work on their stamina.
It was five in the morning and the quiet ice rink was already partially filled with skaters running laps around the top of the viewing area. A total of thirty laps was needed in order to finish. Victor groaned as he felt his insides cramping and aching for him to stop.
Yakov blew his whistle at him.
"Victor! Stop wasting time and start running! You'll only extend this pain for yourself!"
Victor whined as he gradually began to build up his speed again. "Easy for you to say! You're the one with the coffee!"
By his twenty-fifth lap, Victor felt himself dry heaving and burning up. He is not excited to see how he looks in the mirror after this is all done and over with. Suddenly, another person appears next to him.
It was Yuri. P.
The younger skater's face was also flushed bright red and had parts of his hair stick to his forehead due to the buildup of sweat. Victor felt a wave of energy pass through his systems, the last thing Yuri. P needs was a bad example of a role model.
Gathering up his remaining pride, Victor speeds ahead and concentrates hard, easily running past every single one of the skaters ahead of him. Even Yakov, watching from the sidelines, seemed to be amused.
Victor completes the thirtieth lap and slumps down upon the cold concrete floor. He crawls towards Yakov, tugging his coach's pant legs.
"Water...water…" Victor mumbled incoherently.
Yakov pulls his foot back from Victor's hand and kicks him off to the side.
Later that afternoon.
All the skaters were on the ice, working on their individual skills and programs. Victor was on his song choice number 20, which was Love's Sorrow. A sweet but painful song that touched Victor where he is most sensitive.
Halfway through his program, Victor prepares to enter his triple axel. Yakov suddenly enters from the double doors, shouting for all of their attention at the top of his lungs. Victor pops his jump and lands on two feet, the rest of the skaters also stop what they were doing.
Yakov calls for all them to come over to the boards. "Alright, the ISU released the assignments for skaters going to the 2013-14 Grand Prix Series."
A sea of murmurs and mumbles started amongst the skaters, who are feeling either too nervous or too excited. Yakov continued speaking.
"I've emailed the list to you all right now. No need to go online and check, just go on your phones."
Immediately, most of the skaters left the ice and went to the change rooms, where their phones were all located. Victor unlocked his locker after about four tries and dug his phone out of the bottom of his bag.
Going into his mail app, he opens the pdf file attached to the email he received from Yakov. He scans down the list towards the "N" section due to his last name beginning with "N." There he is! Victor Nikiforov, assigned to the Skate Canada and Rostelecom Cup events.
Sighing in relief, Victor puts his phone back into his bag and jumps up in joy. Not because he was given assignments to the Grand Prix Series, honestly, he wasn't too surprised to see that. But because he gets to perform another new program for international audiences again.
At the North Bay University Hospital.
Victor had decided to see Liv at her college after skating practice, only to find that she was planning on visiting Angela at the hospital again. So being the supportive friend he thinks he is, he accompanies her to the North Bay University Hospital.
Once they got there, Liv finds Angela in the surgical wing area of the hospital. After consulting a few nurses in the area, they find out that Angela just recently underwent another surgery in an attempt to control the tumor. She was currently unable to have any visitors.
Discouraged, Liv decided to go back outside. Victor suggested sitting in one of the benches out in the back of the hospital where a large grassy field was located for patients to enjoy the outdoors.
They sat in silence for awhile before Liv started the conversation.
"It must be nice. Being able to go to the Grand Prix again."
"Did you check the list?" Victor asked. "I didn't exactly look for your name in there, but maybe there's a slight chance—"
"Nope. I'm not in there. And there's no way I'd be in there. I missed the 2013 Worlds, duh." Liv answered.
Victor thought of another solution. "Well, some host countries invite skaters to their events. Maybe you'll be invited to Skate America."
Liv burst out laughing. Victor looked at her weirdly until she explained herself. "Skate America? Hmph. Fat chance. America hates me."
Victor felt his jaw drop down the ground. "Hates you? Why? Isn't your home country the US?"
"Well, that's what I assume based on my actions and my past international competition experiences. I switched the country I was originally representing and they probably felt that I had betrayed them. So every American judge at events I've been to scores me harder than they do to other skaters. At least that's what Angela thinks too."
Victor turns away from Liv awkwardly. It was very clear he shouldn't have even suggested the idea of being invited to an event. "Oookkkk...let's talk about your programs for the 2014 Nationals instead! Have you finally selected a song?"
"Yes, I have. For the short program at least. I have yet to find something for the free skate." Liv replied excitedly.
"Great! What is it?" Victor asked, equally excited.
"Can't tell you until you've watched the anime the song is from. Otherwise, you won't feel the emotions I want you to feel."
"Alright...which one is it? You texted me a whole list. Where am I supposed to start?"
Liv looked at him as if the answer couldn't be any more obvious. "From number 1. Angel Beats."
Throughout the rest of the week, Victor worked hard during his off-ice workouts and on-ice practices. In between all of his rough training, he tries to get started on exploring Liv's interests, but the same thing always happens.
He'd come back home all tired and worn out from training and falls asleep with his clothes on and eats dinner at around eight in the night. And then he washes up and sleeps properly in his bed and begins again all over the next morning.
During his practices with Liv, he sees that she is finally starting to work on the layout of her short program, but he still has no idea what song she has selected to skate to. And that made it hard for him to envision her entire performance.
But of course, whenever he asked for her song, she'd always reply with, "have you started watching anything from the list yet?"
And whenever he's reminding himself to not forget to do exactly that, Yakov has him work double the effort during practice.
Commands such as, "higher, Victor! Faster, Victor! Get back to your feet, Victor!" And "stop fooling around, Victor!" Began to engrave themselves into the side of Victor's brain.
He could never catch a real break during these times. Victor's literally been jumping back and forth between his two lives. From focusing on his own training to helping Liv with hers. Every day when he went on the distance run, when he did leg presses, when he jumped rope, when he was on the ice working on every single element necessary to work on, he had to really work.
Otherwise his skills won't be improving, and eventually, it'll be noticeable. Unfortunately for Victor, Yakov's already beginning to notice.
Victor's constant distracted expression whenever he's training, his excuses for leaving practice early every now and then, his lack of improvement and refinement on his jumps. Yakov was beginning to grow suspicious. But luckily, he had enough trust in Victor to not investigate further.
As for Victor, he gradually begins to try harder to dig into Liv's interests. From googling popular and well-known RPG games—since those were the ones Liv enjoys, and of course, looking deeper into the world of anime.
The thing is with Victor, is that it takes some time before he thinks it's worth to begin watching something new. And right now, he's just not there yet with anime. At least with video games, he has some background knowledge on that world.
Victor also began visiting several stores he knows that sells all kinds of RPGs. He scans down aisles, looking at several different covers and reading the synopsis of the game's storyline on the back. A few of them he had already played before or watched other people play before, and a few new ones he's never seen before managed to get his attention.
And once, he bumped into Liv at one of the stores he was going through one weekend afternoon.
"Liv!" Victor called out, grabbing her attention.
She looked up from the game disc cover she was holding in his direction. "Hey! Fancy meeting you here! Are you finally trying to find more about me?"
"I've been trying to find what's so special behind these video games that's attracting you so much to them." Victor gestured to the one he's holding in his hand. "I mean like this one: Minecraft. What the hell is this?"
Liv shook her head. "That's because you're looking the wrong section. I'm not into the video game's actual gameplay to be completely honest. It's the storyline I'm into. Video game stories are almost as intriguing as anime stories. And some of its osts inside, paint a beautiful representation of what's going on in the story of the game."
Victor rolled his hands around. "For example…?"
Liv turned around, her eyes looking up and down the shelves for something to use. Finally, she settles on a disc cover on the upper left portion of the pile.
"Like this: Heavy Rain."
And it was after that meeting, Victor began understanding Liv's interests better. She likes creativity and beauty, no matter the format. And that's why she enjoys songs from anime and video games because she likes their stories and because of that, she'll be able to express herself when performing on ice.
It was really that simple. Now, Victor just has to start actually watching the things she likes and not just look over them. This time, for real.
He keeps on running it over in his head: "got to start watching, got to start watching, got to start watching...ugh!" Victor pops another triple axel and this time, he falls upon landing back down on two feet.
Yakov sighs in dejection. Today's practice is not going anywhere. It's quite obvious that Victor is just not feeling 'it' right now. More practice would only equal to more stress at this rate.
"Victor, why don't you take the rest of the day off? It's been really difficult getting you to move out of square one lately."
Victor rubbed his aching tailbone. "I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all."
Yakov disagreed. "And that's due to you not being able to focus. You're probably doing something in your personal life that's hindering you right now. So, I'm only suggesting this to you once. Go home and rest up. Come back tomorrow with a better attitude."
The argument ended right there. Victor was not given a chance to complain because Yakov left to go work with Constantine right after. Taking a few minutes to pack up his items and walk out of the arena, Victor felt a mix of satisfaction and disappointment.
He got to leave early and relax, but it also meant that Yakov clearly didn't want him around the rink right now. Which meant that he was probably skating really badly...and that didn't go too well with his pride.
Entering his apartment, Victor saw that Makkachin was asleep on his couch, making the whole complex seem empty for some reason. He's never been back from a skating practice this early in the day. His home seemed so...quiet.
For the first time, Victor felt lonely. There wasn't anything else for him to do right now. Except for maybe talking to Liv. Immediately, Victor went to his bedroom and took out his phone, clicking on Liv's name from his contacts list.
As soon as he did, he sees the list of recommended anime that he has yet to start. Wait a minute...he doesn't have anything else to do, so did that mean he could finally start watching number one on the list?
Yes! It seems so! If he tried to text or call Liv right now, she'd probably ask him if he's started watching anything on her list yet. Well, he's about to. Pulling out his laptop from his desk, Victor unplugs it from the charger and sits on his bed.
"Let's see...number one on the list was...Angel Beats…" Victor typed it into the search bar of his browser and clicked on 'episode 1 online subbed.'
He has no idea what kind of website allowed for full episodes of these shows, so he basically clicked on the very first link that showed up in the results. It directed him to a large black webpage with several links and a large video player in the middle of it. There were plenty of ads all around the web page, featuring images that Victor did not need to see.
A short summary displayed right above the video player.
"Otonashi awakens only to learn he is dead. A rifle-toting girl named Yuri explains that they are in the afterlife, and Otonashi realizes the only thing he can remember about himself is his name. Yuri tells him that she leads the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and wages war against a girl named Tenshi. Unable to believe Yuri's claims that Tenshi is evil, Otonashi attempts to speak with her, but the encounter doesn't go as he intended.
Otonashi decides to join the SSS and battle Tenshi, but he finds himself oddly drawn to her. While trying to regain his memories and understand Tenshi, he gradually unravels the mysteries of the afterlife."
Question marks popped above Victor's head. "How the hell am I supposed to pronounce these names? And what kind of summary is this? Oh well, it's pretty interesting I guess."
Victor clicked on the play button in the middle of the video player, luckily, no pop-up ads appeared after. Only the small swirling circle of buffering appeared. It took a few seconds before the video began playing.
The first few notes of the piano opening to the theme song played by the mysterious white-haired girl did something unbelievable to Victor's mind.
It opened it. And immediately, he was able to take in the rest of what he's about to see.
The wide eyes of an orange-haired boy opened as the camera zooms out to show the expression of pure shock on his face. The subtitles, "Where...am I?", displays along the bottom of the full-screen video player.
Yay! Victor's down the path of finding out that he is in fact, an anime character too! (Jk...he'll never know the truth). This chapter brought back memories of the first time when I first started anime. I was never really into that kind of stuff before, I guess I just let the stereotypes carry me away, but honestly after I got into it...there's no way I can get out of it...
And eventually, I watched Yuri! On Ice. At first, I didn't want to watch it due to my own personal experiences with figure skating, but I mustered up enough courage to watch it. And I did not regret it...well sort of...
But hey, then I wouldn't be here, writing fanfiction for people to read. Anime can really influence your life. RPGs too, I'm a real sucker for video games with amazingly emotional storylines.
I'm probably ranting on for too long, right...? Sorry.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please REVIEW, FOLLOW, and FAVOURITE. I mean FAVOURITE and FOLLOW! (Ahh...whatever...)