Disclaimer: I do not own YOI, just this fanfic.
Fridays are the days when I work on this fanfic, but they're also days when I get a lot of homework too...but it's worth it! I'd much rather sacrifice my Fridays than the rest of the weekdays so I won't fall behind in schoolwork. The last chapter was a bit rushed, so sorry if it wasn't as good as the previous chapters (in my opinion). I hope this chapter is better or at least a good chapter for you readers.
Lately, I've realized that there isn't much of a Yuri! On Ice community for . There should be one, there's just so much fanfic out there on this website! How could there not be one? To authors out there, please start a community or at least make an existing one grow bigger. It'd be nice to have the large stash of fanfics organized.
Again, chapters labeled with (Before YOI) means (Before events of Yuri! On Ice). This means that the events of this chapter took place before the anime series actually began, but of course, if you noticed, the dates also tells you that this is taking place in the past, in the year 2013.
Eventually, I'll get the point where Victor ends his story about Olivia to Yuri, and this fanfic will revert back to the timeline where I left off at, and continue from there. But for now, this is Victor's story from the past.
Please FAVOURITE, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you enjoyed!
Ch. 12: On the Way to Success (Before YOI)
Sunday. June. 9, 2013. Victor's apartment.
Victor lay on his pillow with his comforter covering his head as he looked at his phone screen, its brightness down to its lowest and earbuds connected to its audio plugin. It was 4 in the morning and he is currently on episode 12 of Angel Beats! And so far, he has been absolutely amazed at how a story of a bunch of teenagers in the afterlife moved him.
At first, Victor was confused as to what exactly was going on in this show, due to the many different events occurring and the lack of explanation to how the world in this anime works. But now, he is engaged. It's as if he just can't stop pushing the next button to watch the next episode.
Goddamn it, Liv! What have you done to me?
But he wasn't ungrateful for what she did. Now, he has a new interest, and he understands something he never knew much about before. Angel Beats showed him enough that he's beginning to think the storylines of anime is better than what he's ever watched before.
It's entertaining, despite being unrealistic at times. But that's what makes it more engaging. The characters are well developed and the humor is well-timed. Victor especially liked the development of the girl, Kanade, over the entire series. He also enjoyed learning the backstories of each of the main cast and what they desired before death.
And right now, he is in the middle of the part where the girl, Yurippe, finally found all of the stolen computers playing the Angel Player software in the hidden room. After conversing with a mysterious boy about the aspects of the afterlife, Yurippe decides to end things by destroying all of the computers with her guns.
Victor felt goosebumps on his arm as the Theme of SSS played in the background. Then the images of Yurippe's siblings appeared, telling her to stop fighting and rest. Yurippe begins to cry as the ending theme, Brave Song began to play.
And that was the end of episode 12. Victor exited full screen to click on the next button that'll lead to the very last episode.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
His digital alarm clock went off as soon as the time turned to 5:00. Victor groaned as he put his phone to its charger and then hopping over to the nightstand to turn off the clock. He went to get changed into his warm-up outfit and grabbed his skating bag out of his closet.
"Come on! I was about to get onto the last episode! I knew I should've woke up earlier!" He quietly mumbled as he left his bedroom, making sure to not wake up Makkachin sleeping on the basket of cushions.
Making himself as quick microwavable breakfast, Victor heads out the door, preparing his mind for the intense morning routine that's about to fall upon him.
St. Petersburg Ice Rink.
The morning distance run was grueling as always. Followed by a short break where all the skaters get to properly socialize, rehydrate and refuel. Right after that, they split up into different locations to work on either plyometrics, flexibility, or worst of all: strength.
Lucky for Victor, he got to work on plyometrics. It wasn't too bad jumping up and down boxes of different sizes and at different intervals. Jumping always felt natural to him. He loved the feeling when his feet and body leaves the ground. It was the closest thing to flying.
When box jumping was over, he cooled down with some jump roping. And then, it was finally time for on ice practice. Of course, they got another break in between, since they're going to be on the ice for much longer than they have been off ice ever since they got here.
Putting on his ice skates, Victor catches sight of Max coming towards him. Max leaned against the side of the wall, facing Victor.
"So, have you finally managed to burst Yakov's limit?" He asked.
Victor focused on tying his skates. "What do you mean?"
"He sent you home early from practice last week Monday, right? I just assumed that he couldn't handle your horrible jumps anymore." Max smirked.
Victor pointed one of his skate guards at Max. "Still better jumps than yours," he shot right back.
The entire change room began to fill up with "Ohhh's" and "Oooohhh, right back at you's!" However, Max was completely unfazed by all of this. Instead, he grabbed the arm of Yuri. P, who was just walking by to leave the room. The young boy was already done tying on his skates and was about to get out until Max suddenly reached out for him.
"Hey kid," Max quickly said. "Wouldn't you say that Mr. Nikiforov's being a little arrogant here?"
Victor burst out laughing as he finished tying up his skates. "'Mr. Nikiforov?!' Haha! Makes me sound like a married man!"
"Like hell, you would ever get married," Georgi mumbled as he leaves the room.
Max put his hands up. "Ok, alright. Whatever. Look, the point is, do you think he is or is he not?" He repeated his question to Yuri. P.
Yuri. P looked blank. He wasn't used to being in something like this. "Don't you think that we should head out to practice too?" He asked.
Max felt his face go red. "Uhh...yeah, but. Just play along alright? Answer the question, ok?"
"Listen, Yuri. It's ok to be a little arrogant. Skaters need that, otherwise, you'll never win." Victor explained.
"Shut up, Victor. You have no say in this. Just because you're setting a streak of your wins doesn't mean that you're all perfect." Max countered. "Hey, Yuri. See that? That was arrogance! Clean cut and freshly served by our apparent superstar."
"Says the one who was thrusting his gold medal into everyone's faces after last year's Cup of China!"
Constantine had heard enough. "Alright, you guys! Look, you're scaring the poor kid!" He immediately comes over to lead Yuri. P away from the two bickering skaters and towards the exit of the change room.
"Come on, Yuri. Let's leave the children to fool around in here." He closed the door behind him.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING CHILDREN?"
Later on the ice.
"Much better today, Victor." Yakov nodded as Victor lands another consecutive triple axel and skates over to hear the praise. "Looks like you're getting your head back on track."
Victor stretched his arms up. "Yep. And that's because I actually prepared another rough program based on this song from a film. Ever heard of Pan's Labyrinth?"
Yakov shook his head. "Not really. Is it foreign?"
"It's Spanish, but it's good. This lullaby is a real masterpiece. Here, I'll show it to you as soon as Mila's done her program."
They wait as Mila's music, a jumpy tango song, gradually plays until the end. The teenage red-head performs her last jump, the triple toe successfully and goes into a short choreographic sequence before entering the final combination spin.
She lets go of her skate from her catch-foot back camel and ends her program. Some spectating coaches and skaters clap while others carried on with what they were working on. Victor skates over to the audio booth just as Mila removes her phone from the music player, allowing Victor to put in his.
Yakov skates over as Victor skates to his starting point on the ice. Yakov prepares to click on the play button as soon as Victor was ready to go. In the middle of the ice, Victor stood in a neutral position with a curious expression on his face.
The play button was pressed on his phone and the lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth was heard loud and clear over the entire rink. Victor carefully stepped out of his spot as if he was exploring an entirely new area he's never been to before. He smoothly transitions into his first jump, the triple axel. High and clean.
Coming out of his landing, he goes into an intricate and irregular footwork pattern. It went well with the melancholy music, full of mysteriousness and distance. It was a long footwork sequence, Victor made sure that this program's focus was on the story, and not technical elements only.
Finishing his sequence with a slow pivot, Victor takes a moment to reach out to an imaginary audience and then builds up speed again to enter his first flying sit spin. He changes edge into a forward inside edge and adds a twist variation before exiting into his second spin, the back camel with a change of foot into the front camel.
The music was in its second half as Victor performs his combination jump, quadruple lutz/triple toe. The lutz wasn't as high as he wanted, but he made up for it with the triple toe loop. The final jump was planned to be on the other end of the rink. Victor powered across the ice towards his desired area and did a quick three turn, bending deeply to generate force for his last jump, his signature quadruple flip.
And it was cleaner than he thought it would be! Even Yakov applauded a little when Victor landed his last jump. The music reaches its climax as Victor performs a short choreographic sequence that leads into his final combination spin. He ends it all with his knees on the ice his head partly buried in his hands.
Immediately, Victor gets back on his feet and skates over to Yakov, who was mildly smiling.
"You know what, Victor? I think we should use this for your 2014 short program."
Victor beamed. "You really think so?"
"I know I don't usually approve of things that 'out there,' but I really liked it. You seem to tackle this theme really strong, and that's not something I see often from you. So yeah, keep this. We'll refine it over the rest of the summer."
"Great! I was kind of hoping we'd go with this one, I really liked it too. I'm glad you think I tackle this theme really strong. So you could see the story behind it?" Victor asked.
"Sort of, but I'm going to need to watch the whole movie to gain a full understanding. What's it called again?"
"Pan's Labyrinth." Victor reminded.
Yakov stuffed his hands into his jacket's pockets as he skated away to his next student. "Got it."
Victor smiled to himself. "Yakov can still see the art behind the jumps, then maybe if he sees Liv...nah, never mind."
After practice in the evening.
Today was a successful practice in Victor's opinion, the best one he had yet in the entirety of the month of June. Well...it's still a bit too early to decide on that. Victor literally dropped all of his belongings in his foyer and greeted Makkachin upon arrival home.
He quickly makes a simple dinner for himself and for Makkachin within half and hour for one reason. And that was to finish the last episode of Angel Beats! After gobbling down his meal, Victor does a quick wash and scrub of the dishes and pots before putting them in the racks without drying them. He was too impatient.
Rushing to his bedroom, he changes into warm fluffy home clothes with Makkachin trailing behind him before resting on his bed. Victor grabs his laptop and clicked on the bookmark he's saved to the website that he's using to watch the anime on.
Scrolling down the list of episodes, he stops at episode 13. "That's it. The very last episode of the first anime I've ever watched."
He felt butterflies in his stomach and excitement build up within him as he clicked on the final episode of Angel Beats! The buffering circle seemed to take an eternity before finally loading and the full-screen video of the opening theme song began.
21 minutes later…
Victor hugged his pillow as he listened to what Kanade's one regret was, and that was to never be able to say "thank you" to the person who gave her more time to live. And that person was Otonashi, who donated his heart to her unknowingly before his death.
As Kanade asked Otonashi to say his feelings for her one more time, Victor squeezed his pillow even harder. With each "I love you" from Otonashi, Victor's grip on his pillow tightened to the point where the pillow was about to burst.
And then finally, the moment happened.
Kanade thanks Otonashi for giving her life, and disappears. Leaving Otonashi crying and yelling out to her. The final scene shows the tiny spark gently floating up away into the sky, symbolizing Kanade's soul finally being able to move on.
Victor's breathing was ragged. He blinked several times to clear his eyes so he could see the epilogue of the episode. Two young people in the real world, who resembles Otonashi and Kanade come across one another, and 'Otonashi' overhears 'Kanade' humming Iwasawa's My Song. He turns around to reach out to her just as she begins walking away…
And then the The End came up on screen. Episode is done.
Victor just stared at the paused video player for a few seconds before exiting full screen and turning off his laptop. He put his rumpled pillow back down on the bed before slumping down on his stomach.
That's it. He has finished the first anime he's ever watched, recommended by Liv. But why did he feel such emptiness inside? It was as if he wanted more...he wanted a happier ending. Not that this ending was bad or anything, but it was just so...he couldn't describe it.
Tears filled up in his eyes and leaked down until it touched his comforter where he was resting his head upon. Done. Over. That's it.
Victor had never cried over a tv show, movie, or any sort of story before. Why was he crying now?
"Aw man, Liv! How am I supposed to go on!?"
Thursday. June. 13, 2013. Indoor ice rink.
Victor entered the arena with a down expression on his face as he carried his skating bag over to the area where Liv was sitting on the benches, waiting for him.
"Hey, you're here. Whoa, looks like a rain cloud superglued itself to your head." Liv remarked.
Victor barely nodded as he let out a tiny squeak from his throat. He gently sets his skating bag down on the bench, not saying a single word. Liv already knows what happened. She couldn't help but feel some joy from introducing something to Victor that would affect him this much.
"You saw the ending of Angel Beats! right?" She confirmed.
When Victor put his head down, Liv opened her arms up to offer him a hug, which he immediately accepts. She patted him on the back in a motherly-fashion. He buried his head in her shoulder.
"I know. I felt this way the first time I watched it too. I went back to America for Christmas break and my old friend, Holly? Well, she's my best friend and we're both kind of anime-freaks. So, Holly was the one who showed me Angel Beats! and boy, did I cry like a baby after I finished it with her. Anyways, that's my personal experience with this anime, but what about you, Victor? Have I got you into this whole new world?" Liv asked.
Victor mumbled like a little kid, "Tell this 'Holly,' that if I can't function normally anymore, it's all her fault."
Liv laughed.
Several minutes later on the ice…
Liv finishes her stroking routine and Victor had somewhat recovered from being emotionally-unstable. Seeing Liv's skating again brought him back to reality. Liv's skating! That's right! He has finally watched the first anime on her list of anime! Now, she has got to show him her 2014 short program!
As Liv skates over to Victor, he immediately bombards her with this demand.
"Show me your short program! Now!"
It nearly knocked her onto the ice. But Liv regained her composure and decided to play along just a bit. "Are you sure? You're still a bit...vulnerable from the ending. My program's song comes directly from Angel Beats! That's part of the reason why I put it as number one on the entire list."
Victor was about to tell her to just show him her entire program when he suddenly decides to rethink his decision in his mind. It has been five days since he watched the ending of the anime, and he still hasn't exactly gotten over it yet. From what he had googled, it takes about a week or more to finally get over the ending of Angel Beats!
So...maybe it's best to not see her entire program.
"Actually...on second thought, just show me a preview of the beginning. Yeah, you're right, I won't be able to emotionally handle whatever you're going to performing. So, yeah, go ahead and show me the beginning parts." Victor turned around to skate away.
Liv shook her head as she went over to the music booth and connected her phone to the audio system and adjusted the sound accordingly, not wanting a repeat of what happened the first time Victor tried to play a song on it. She pinpointed her song and called Victor over.
"By the way, I cut and pasted these osts together into a single song. So, it's not exactly a single song from the anime, but about three. Here, I named it 'Theme of Angel Beats.'" She pointed at the song on her screen to Victor.
He nodded at her to skate to her starting point on the ice as he placed a finger above the play button on her phone. Liv stops a little off center of the rink, and gently placed her arms and legs in her desired position. A few seconds later, Victor pressed the play button.
The piano introduction to My Most Precious Treasure began to play. Liv gracefully took a few steps out of her start position and began a few simple turns and edges into backward crossovers. As she sped across the ice lightly yet powerfully, the music cuts into the climax of Unjust Life.
Liv goes onto her left back outside edge for her first jump. A combination of the triple lutz/double toe/double loop with the arms above the head variation. It was fast and nicely landed. Victor could see the tiniest smile on her face as she transitions to the opposite end of the rink for her next jump, the triple flip. Again, it was landed.
All of her strokes were smooth, even her jumps were transitions instead of individual elements. She was quiet, almost silent as she skated. The only sound being when she takes off and lands a jump. Victor kept his eyes attentive to every detail of her movement. Liv performs a few more crossovers and turns before suddenly stopping and signaling for Victor to stop the music as well.
He paused the song and unplugged the phone from the booth, skating over to Liv.
"So, that's basically the beginning part of my short program," Liv explained.
"It's very well-made. Compared to your past programs I've seen. You connect much more to this theme and concept. I like it. But it's just so...gentle!" Victor struggled to explain his thoughts. "You know what I mean? Maybe a little more 'attack' would be a nice addition, no?"
Liv shrugged. "Well, it's a work in progress. But other than that, I'm pretty much finished with my short program, just have to find something for my free skate. What about you, Victor?"
"Oh, I've already planned my short program a few days ago. And I'm sort of thinking of something for my free skate. But I'm not too sure." He confessed.
"Tell me about it. I'm pretty ok with music, maybe I can help?"
Victor waved his hand at her. "It's alright, I'll figure it out. Anyways, how about we work on triple/triple combinations today? Got to get back to the jumps!"
Liv groaned. "Great. I'm ready to die again, coach."
Friday. June. 14, 2013.
Ok, so today is obviously a 'pop the balloon' day for Victor. After a nearly successful week of practice, Friday decides to ruin it for him. It all started when he overslept and didn't have a proper breakfast, causing him to nearly hurl during the morning distance run.
And then after that, Yakov decided to put him in the weight room before on ice practice, exactly what Victor didn't want. But it only got worse from there. In the weight room, while working on pulling weights, Victor failed to adjust the number of weights properly and used more than he needed to for the workout.
So on the last set of his repetitions, he was tired and aching but decided to give it his all to finish it. But his all led to his doom. Just as pulled down the bar that was attached to the weights behind him, he felt a pain suddenly shoot through his shoulder.
His scream echoed throughout the building as did the sound of the weights dropping back down against the rest of the weights. Victor was immediately taken in for first aid treatment on a pulled muscle and sent home early. Yakov shook his head in disappointment.
Now it was the afternoon, and Victor never felt more bored on a Friday afternoon than he did since he began living on his own. Then it came to him, that day when Yakov sent him early from practice, he spent the time watching the first anime on Liv's list. Now, he can probably watch another one!
Going through his phone with his good arm, Victor looks at the entire list again. There were a few brackets next to some titles that Liv had noted on. A star was put next to number 11. HunterXHunter. *11. HunterXHunter (This is a REALLY long series, but it's GOOD. Watch it when you have the time for it, otherwise it'll be really hard to finish…)
3. Attack on Titan (This just came out this year, it's plot, animation, music are epic!)
15. Fairy Tail (Again, another long series, and it's still continuing, but its pretty interesting…)
And so on, so forth.
Eventually, Victor selected 4. Spirited Away, a Japanese film instead of a tv show. He was in the middle of the part where Chihiro was being snuck around the bathhouse to meet the witch in charge of it, hoping to get hired. And then the doorbell rang.
Ding Dong!
Victor paused the film and put his laptop to sleep as Makkachin barked to get his attention from the living room. Victor ran to the foyer and peeked through the peephole in his door to see who it was.
Yakov stood outside with a neutral expression on his face. Victor quickly opened the door for him.
"Yakov! What a surprise! I thought you were staying at the rink until 6!" Victor exclaimed.
Yakov changed his shoes into the footwear Victor brought out of the closet for him. "Thank you. Anyways, practice ended early today due to some problems with one of the arenas. People came over to fix it, so we all left." He explained.
"Yeah, well, that doesn't exactly explain why you're visiting me for."
"You got hurt this morning, I need to make sure you're not doing anything stupid at home to worsen your minor injury," Yakov simply said.
Victor pouted. "Thanks for your trust in me." He stated sarcastically. "Oh, Yakov. Want anything to eat?"
Yakov nodded. "Sure." He sat down at the table in the living room as Makkachin came over and greeted him. Yakov gently patted him on the head.
Victor dug threw the fridge in search of something to quickly heat up. "Oh, this looks good."
He takes out some chicken nuggets from a bowl wrapped in plastic and put them in the microwave after removing the plastic wrap. Minutes later, Victor came out of the kitchen with a steaming bowl of chicken nuggets and a platter of ketchup to go with it.
Yakov began taking a few as he talked to Victor. "Listen, Victor. I've been thinking about it for awhile, but I don't know if I should pursue this."
Victor was confused. "What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?"
"Not exactly. But I've been wondering. What have you been doing lately? Last week, you seemed so distracted all the time, you couldn't land almost any of your jumps! You really scared me, Vitya! But this week...well you picked yourself up. But I don't want a repeat of what happened last time...ugh…" Yakov groaned.
Victor did his best to hide his nervousness and keep a calm, cool and collected face. "It's nothing Yakov, really. That just wasn't my best week. I'm sorry, maybe it's because of the fact that 2014 is the year of the Sochi Olympics, and this Nationals is really important."
Yakov nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right...ugh...oooh…"
Victor looked concerned. "Are you alright?"
Yakov meekly nodded. "Yeah...I'm going to need your washroom, though...where…?"
Victor pointed towards the area down the hall from the living room. Yakov sped over immediately, closing the door behind him. Victor checked the bowl of chicken nuggets again, sudden realization washed over him.
He knocked on the washroom door. Yakov answered. "What?"
"Uh...Yakov? Sorry to say this but...those chicken nuggets I heated…? They're kind of...over a week old…" Victor admitted.
"WHAT!?" Yakov boomed. "Do you have any idea how much pain my intestines are in right now? Victor? Do you!?"
Victor sighed in defeat. "Yeah, yeah! I'm so sorry, Yakov! Really, truly! Just...spend all the time you need to in the washroom, alright?"
"Get out of here!" Yakov's voice vibrated against the wooden door.
Several minutes later…
Victor sat on his couch, reading magazines with Makkachin snuggled at his feet. When of course, Yakov called for him, again.
"VICTOR!"
Victor went running towards the washroom door again. "I'm here."
"There's no more toilet paper," Yakov answered.
A moment of silence dropped in. Victor tried his best not to laugh at the situation his coach is currently in as he thought hard as to where exactly he keeps extra toilet paper in the apartment. "Uh, ok! Hold on, Yakov! I got this! J—just hang on!"
Victor searched cabinets, closets, drawers, and in his personal washroom too for more toilet paper. But they were nowhere to be found. Finally, it came back to him. Extra toilet paper should be in the washroom Yakov is in! In the cabinet beneath the sink!
"Hey, Yakov! Can you reach the cabinet next to you? There might be more toilet paper in there!" Victor suggested.
"There is no way I can reach it from my position, Victor!"
"Ok...uh...well then, can I come in?" Victor asked without thinking.
"NO!" Yakov bellowed.
It was enough to blow Victor—and the whole apartment down with him. Victor stood there, frozen for a few moments, before finally being able to move again. "Alright then, is it ok if Makkachin goes in to look for you?" He asked.
Yakov quietly answered. "Fine."
Victor let Makkachin into the washroom and gave him specific commands to open the cabinet beneath the sink next to the toilet where Yakov was sitting on. But even after when Makkachin opened the cabinet, there was no sign of any toilet paper inside.
"Victor! There is no toilet paper! Find it!" Yakov demanded.
"Are you sure? Look around, Makka—"
"I'm telling you right now, this is a waste of time!" Yakov shouted.
Victor called Makkachin back out and gave him a couple of magazines and newspapers to bring back inside of Yakov. Makkachin dropped them on the sink counter next to Yakov before leaving the washroom.
Victor grabbed his wallet, jacket, and began putting on his shoes. "Yakov! My only solution is to go out and buy a new pack of toilet paper! Those newspapers and magazines should suffice in the meantime! I'll be back in 30 minutes, promise!"
With that, Victor went out the front door before he could even hear Yakov's complaint.
Yakov sighed in the washroom. "How did I get myself into this mess?"
I'm going to leave this chapter off at here, I'll continue on the adventure of Victor's search for toilet paper in the beginning of the next chapter. I really hope you guys are enjoying this story. If not then...it's ok, go read what you like. But if you do like this story, then I'd really appreciate it if you'd REVIEW! And FAVOURITE and FOLLOW!
Thanks! And see you all next week!