Disclaimer: I don't own Yuri On Ice, and have no rights whatsoever on the story and its characters.
Episode Two, Part One : Two Yuras ?! Drama at Yu-topia !
Miko ran all the way from his ballet studio as soon as he heard the rumor. He barges in and calls for me.
"Yuura! Why aren't you answering your phone?" He wipes the snow from his hair, exhaling.
"What's wrong?" asks Mom, welcoming him at the door.
"Everything's wrong!" answers Miko. "There's a rumor that Viktoria is going to be Yuura's coach!"
"Well I guess that explains what she's doing here, then."
I hear the faintest "What", followed by quick footsteps just before I see my ballet master enter. His mouth falls agape when he sees Viktoria sleeping on the inn's floor, her dog Makkachin's muzzle resting on her stomach.
Let's pause. I'm Yuura Katsuki, remember? I'm in a bit of a slump right now, but I'm a top dancer recognized internationally! Back home for the first time in five years, I was thinking of ways to keep my career going, when my idol Viktoria suddenly appeared to me out of nowhere! I still can't believe she's really here! By the way, Viktoria Nikiforov is a living legend in classical dance. I never dreamed she'd be interested in me, but she came to the inn and claimed she would be my coach to help me win the Grand Prix next season. Oh, and did I mention she was stark naked when she did so? Because she was.
"Yuura!" yelps Miko. "Why is Viktoria sleeping in one of the inn's robes?!"
"She soaked in the hot spring for a while, and had dinner, then fell asleep..." I explain matter-of-factly.
"It's big news in Russia," says the dancer. "She's taking next season off and is considering her next move. Rumor has it that when she saw the video of you dancing her routine, she was struck with inspiration, and that's when she dropped everything and decided to be your coach."
My eyes widen with shock. What?! In what parallel dimension have I fallen for this to be happening?
"Viktoria came here because she chose you, Yuura. You brought her here! Isn't it incredible?" Incredible indeed. How could she drop everything for me? I clutch my chest, dumbfounded. It really doesn't seem real.
Meanwhile, in Russia.
Yura Plisetsky grips her phone tightly in rising anger. "Viktoria went to Japan to become Yuura Katsuki's coach? The fat pig? Did she forget the promise she made to me?" She drops her stuff, now boiling with anger. "Yakira! Where are you?! Explain this to me, dammit!"
The journalists were interviewing the bitter coach on the steps of the Yoganova Academy of Ballet of Saint-Petersburg. "Viktoria wants to take time off until she finds her motivation again. I can't blame her and I accept her decision, but I doubt she'll be able to return if she takes a break now."
"Is it true that she's left to coach Yuura Katsuki in Japan?" foolishly asks a journalist.
Yakira angrily snatches the mike from the journalist's hands, and yells for everyone to hear. "That woman only ever thinks of herself! She could never be anyone's coach!"
Viktoria sneezes herself awake, and Miko and I jump in surprise. "She's awake," I whisper out of pure awe. She sits back facing us, and turns to me. "I'm starving," she declares, her beautiful accent rolling the "r"'s in her sentence. Her robes slump from her shoulder, revealing her pearl-white bare skin.
"What do you want to eat? There's plenty of food!" I gesticulate nervously, trying to make her feel welcomed.
She thinks for a moment. "What's your favorite food, Yuura? As your coach, I think it's important for me to know."
I sprint to the living room to ask mom to cook something. Soon enough, she's done preparing my favorite dish, which was named the inn's specialty because of my love for it. For the record, there's even a plastic version of it in the hall, right where the guests have to leave their shoes. Viktoria opens wide eyes as Mom lays the bowl in front of her. "Our specialty, the pork cutlet bowl. Extra large!"
"Wow! Amazing!" She grabs the chopsticks and takes a bite. Immediately, her expression changes radically, and she lets out a cry of pure satisfaction in Russian. I'll have to search what Vkusno means, but I'm pretty sure it's something in the line of "delicious".
"This is too good for words! Is this what God eats?!" She downs her bowl in a record amount of time, wiping the corners of her mouth with delight.
"I'm glad you like it," I mumble, fumbling with my hands and smiling like an idiot.
"Yuura gains weight easily, so she was only allowed to eat it when she won a competition. Isn't it right Yuura?" chimes Miko in.
"Is that so? So have you eaten this pork cutlet bowl recently?" asks Viktoria.
"Sure, they're my favorite!" I answer, not catching on with the sarcasm. "I eat them all the time!"
"Why? You haven't won anything lately," remarks the Russian dancer. "With that pig's body of yours, a lesson would be meaningless." Embarrassed, I try to pull down my shirt, but it's as if my clothes were three sizes too small and they simply won't cover any roll. "You need to get back to your weight from last year's Grand Prix final, at the least… or I can't coach you. Until then, why don't you lay off the pork cutlet bowls? Okay, little piggy?"
"Huh? I feel like I should be insulted, but..."
Miro shows up in the living room, frowning like his usual self. "Hey Yuura, what's up with all these boxes?" he says, pointing at the room full of brown moving Fed-Ex boxes.
"You think you can take them to the room where I'll be staying?" asks Viktoria, grinning widely.
Both Miko and I repeat her last word, dumbfounded. I figured she would have to stay in Japan, but that close to me? At all times? I help Miro move all of Viktoria's stuff, both amazed and annoyed at the amount of stuff she has actually taken with her.
"What an incredibly adorable little room!" she remarks, looking at each corner. "Is there a sofa?"
Little? It's one of our banquet rooms! "No, sorry. I know it's kinda small, but it's the only room we had available!" I pant a bit from the exercise of the box-moving.
"I'll make it work, don't you worry." she winks. "Oh, and we can defer my coaching fees for now. I'll bill you once you've won something."
"Okay… thank you?"
She smiles, then gets down on one knee to be closer to me. "Now then. I want to know everything about you, Yuura." Her voice is very different from how it was seconds earlier, it's much more suave. She takes my chin by the tip of her slender fingers, and inclines my face so I look straight into her icy blue eyes. "Like what kind of studio you dance at, and what hobbies you have, and if there's a guy you like." My stomach forms a knot at this point, and my heart skips a beat when she slides her other hand along my sleeve to reach and grab my hand. "Let's get to know each other." At this point, she leans closer to me. "A relationship like this should be built on trust, don't you think?" What is she doing?! She's so close to my face now, she could kiss me and- I turn beet-red and get away as quickly as I can, backing in the corridor.
Viktoria stands there, stunned: "What's wrong? Why'd you run away?"
"Uh- I had, uh… a leg cramp!" I lie, embarrassed by my own emotions. I still can't handle being close to her! She's been a distant, almost surreal entity for so long, and now she comes into my life and wants to know me and touch me?
Later that night, as I barricade myself in my room, she comes knocking at my door. "Yuura! Let's have a slumber party! Come on, open up, it's a perfect way for us to learn more about each other!" I can imagine her perfectly, with her duvet and pillow, and Makkachin trotting in circles around her.
I stand guard to block the door and protest loudly against that idea. "Yuura..." she pleads from outside. I gasp as I notice my abnormally large collection of posters which decorates each wall of the room with Viktoria's face. Should she enter, she'd be mortified! While she keeps on moaning at the door for me to open, I take them all down at lightning speed. Sitting on my bed, I look at the very familiar face on one of them.
We've barely ever spoken, she seemed like a glittering Goddess beyond my reach, and now she's right here. As I try to fall asleep that night, I realize the reason my heart's pounding: I'm happy!
The next morning, Viktoria takes me for a run around Hasetsu. As she rides a bike and cheerfully salutes every person we meet, I cough my lungs out trying to keep up. When we finally reach Castle Show Center, she makes a grand entry like her usual self, presenting herself as my new coach from now on to the Nishigoris. Since the place is empty like always, Yuno allows Viktoria to use the main stage for a bit of practice. Should the place have been filled to the brim, he wouldn't have had the heart to refuse seeing his idol live, anyway. We all watch seated a bit further down as she does figure upon figure for our mesmerized eyes to see. Yuno is in complete awe, but the triplets are all geared up to publish everything on social medias.
"Can we upload them this time?" asks one of them to me.
"This isn't for the public, fanboys!" I reproach.
"So this is for real?" says Takeeshi, more to herself than to me. I nod anyway.
"She said she'd like to use this as our primary training stage for now, it that OK?"
Takeeshi slaps me on the back, once again with incomparable force. "I'll talk to the boss, but I'm sure that won't be a problem! Viktoria teaching you herself must be a dream come true, uh?"
I wouldn't have said better myself. When I was twelve, Viktoria was sixteen and already a top worldwide ballerina. I've imitated her for years, trying to equal her genius, and now I find out that watching a video of me somehow inspired her? That doesn't even seem possible! What was it? What did she see in me?
"Remember you're not setting foot on this stage until you drop some weight little piggy!" she taunts me, breaking the spell. Not exactly awesome in the pep talk department, though, is she?
Later that day, as I join Miko at his ballet school for some training and barre, we discuss the Viktoria case.
"Maybe she was just looking for an excuse to take a break." he says, kinda dropping a bomb here.
"Come on, don't say that." I plead, clutching my chest in pain. "It's what I think too, but I don't like hearing it!"
"Listen. You wanna keep dancing, don't you? Then you need all the help you can get! Now let's trim some fat, shall we?" He's back at it again with his fabulousness, as he talks while doing a pirouette and ending with an arabesque. I meekly agree, knowing that I'm in to suffer.
These days, Miko was a ballet instructor, but when he was younger he used to travel all over the world as a dancer. He won so many prizes, even a Benois de la Danse! When I was younger, my parents signed me up for classes with him, and I would spent more time in ballet class than home. He's the one who pushed me to continue, and helped me reach my current level. He's always been really supportive, but he does like to meddle…