Tokyo (1)
"So does that mean we can forget every single thing the teacher just said?"
""Yes!""
Every kid in the classroom was already fidgeting, ready to bolt the second the bell rang.
"All right then—see you all in a month!"
""Goodbye!""
That was right. Today was the first day of summer vacation.
For the next month, I was invincible.
First, rework the step sequence to Level 4 to match the harder choreography…
Show up at the empty rink first thing in the morning and have the whole ice to myself for more than six hours straight.
Just imagining it made me feel good.
This was the life.
I started wondering what techniques I should drill over the next month, where I should put every spare minute. That happy little dilemma followed me all the way to the rink.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
Jin Sehee, who had clearly noticed the look on my face, asked as she dropped down beside me.
I paused with my skate laces halfway tied.
"Hmm? Just… wondering what to do over the break."
"So that's why you looked so serious?"
Sehee flashed her usual bright, lively smile and plopped onto the bench next to me. She started changing into her own skates the same way I was.
"You're not going anywhere? No trip?"
"Trip?"
"A lot of people go on family vacations during the break, you know. I'm going."
Is that so?
My parents' schedules never lined up, so even in this body I had no memories of family trips. Dad was the busy one, sure, but that was only natural for a company president. I had never really minded.
"Yeah. We're heading to the beach for a few days. I even bought two swimsuits."
A family trip I had never gotten in my previous life either—so yeah, a little envy crept in.
"I don't think I can go."
"Why not? Family trips are fun."
"My house is busy, and there's something more important."
"More important?"
"I have to practice."
At the word "practice," Sehee looked at me like she was completely fed up.
"Don't you ever get sick of it?"
"Of figure skating?"
"Yeah."
"I don't. You don't either."
"Okay, fair."
She answered like that and stepped onto the ice, gliding a full lap. Her skating was cleaner than when we first met—clear proof of how hard the girl who used to only jump had been working.
"So what are you going to practice now?"
I took a lap myself, thinking it over carefully.
What did I need to work on at this stage?
I can land every triple except the axel pretty much already.
The flip still gave me trouble, but I felt like I could master it soon enough. Which meant the real choice was finally here.
Triple axel… or quads?
Whichever I picked, it would take at least two years of work before I could put it into a program at a usable level. From here on, knowing the theory wasn't enough. You had to slowly build the body and carve the sensation into every nerve ending before you could throw a triple axel or a quad whenever you wanted.
Which one's better…
Some people might wonder: since an axel needs half a rotation more than other jumps, wouldn't learning the triple axel make quads come naturally?
Half right, half wrong.
A triple axel is basically a four-revolution jump.
Because air time increases with every extra rotation, from the triple axel onward it was more accurate to think of it as four turns rather than three-and-a-half. And most skaters had far more mileage on the fundamental toe-loop or salchow than on the axel. That was why you saw plenty of athletes who couldn't land a triple axel but could throw a quad toe or salchow.
The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt.
"I want to land a quad salchow before the junior selection trials," Sehee said, still moving her feet.
Given how consistent her salchow already was, a quadruple salchow might honestly be easier for her than chasing the triple axel.
But.
"I'm going to focus on the axel."
"For real!?"
She stopped dead and stared at me, blank-faced. I gave her an equally incredulous look and skated back toward her.
"Is it that weird?"
"No, just… people who call themselves geniuses really do think differently."
"About what?"
"You know Ayano Miu, right?"
"Who doesn't?"
Ayano Miu—Japanese skater who had been active a few years earlier by current standards. Junior World champion, then almost nothing on the senior circuit. Her nickname:
"The Curse of the Triple Axel."
She had drawn attention from novice days by throwing triple axels, but at some point even that success rate crashed. She had focused so hard on the axel through novice and junior that she never landed a single quadruple toe-loop on the senior stage and retired as a cautionary tale.
"You're good enough that it probably doesn't matter, but wouldn't it be smarter to just drill toe-loops or salchows?"
"What about the axel, then?"
"A quad toe or salchow scores higher than a triple axel anyway, and unless you're planning to throw a quad axel…"
"I'm doing it."
"Doing what… huh?"
"I'm starting with the triple axel."
If I abandon the axel and only polish the toe and salchow…
My ultimate goal—surpassing the 220 points I had reached in my previous life. Physical limits might make it impossible, but I had no intention of changing the target. To get there I would eventually need a quad axel, and that meant the triple axel was non-negotiable.
"…"
The second I woke up I knew something was wrong.
My bed was a fancy pink princess canopy. It had no business rattling like this.
I sat up and looked around. Instantly everything made sense.
"…What is this?"
"Oh my, you're finally awake? Our little princess could get kidnapped in her sleep and never notice."
My parents had loaded me into the car while I was still dead to the world and were driving somewhere.
"If you're still tired you can sleep more."
"I'm not sleepy."
Once I was fully awake, sleep was gone. More than that, I wanted an explanation, and the look I shot them said so clearly.
"We've never taken a family trip since Seolhwa was born, right? So we thought we'd try once."
"Where are we going?"
"Where do you think? We're heading to the airport, so take a guess."
They had gotten me a passport a few days before vacation started. At the time I assumed it was for training camps or future international competitions at Yerim's request. Turns out there had been another reason all along.
Judging by Mom's face, she was hoping I would be over the moon about going overseas. Hard to get excited, though—this wasn't my first time, and I had already traveled abroad so often that the novelty was long gone. In my previous life I used to pray international competitions would be held somewhere nearby, that said it all.
"It's Japan. Tokyo."
"Tokyo?"
Mom glanced sideways at Dad in the driver's seat.
"I didn't expect that reaction… I was sure you'd be thrilled."
Should I have been?
Grand Prix Final maybe? All I remember is the rink and the hotel—never did any sightseeing.
I had been there before. But this time it was supposed to be a family trip, not a training camp, so maybe it would feel different.
…
"We're here in Tokyo~!"
Mom's cheerful voice snapped me awake. Outside the window the plane's wheels were already kissing the runway. The cloudy haze from earlier had cleared; bright sunlight was pouring in.
After we landed, cleared immigration, and headed straight for the hotel, Mom said,
"Today it's just the two of us. Dad won't be with us."
"Where's Dad?"
"He has meetings. Sorry, honey, but think of it as a business trip that happens to include a family vacation."
In the taxi into the city she kept talking in an excited rush.
"Seolhwa, the shopping streets are right nearby, and there's a famous parfait place in front of the hotel! We have to do a food tour for at least one day!"
I answered quietly.
Not long after we reached the hotel, Dad started packing his things in a hurry.
"Seolhwa, Dad's heading out first for the meetings. Have something delicious for lunch with Mom."
"Okay."
He ruffled my hair with a bright smile, smoothed his collar with the same practiced ease as always, and disappeared into the lobby.
Mom and I unpacked, then changed into lighter clothes.
"Seolhwa."
"Yes?"
"There's a figure-skating rink nearby. Want to check it out if we have time?"
"Right now?"
"Yeah! We were going to walk around today anyway. We can look at a Japanese rink, and even a short skate would be good for you, right?"
Nod, nod.
I hid my mouth and shook my head.
"I want to go."
"Aigoo, look at that smile the second I mention a rink. If our princess is this easy to read, some bad boy is going to snatch you up later."
Mom ruffled my hair like she couldn't handle how cute I was.
"But Mom, I don't have my skates…"
Rental skates at most rinks were skating-only models that didn't account for jumping. In other words, no toe picks on the front of the blades, so you couldn't dig in and take off.
"Mom already thought of that~"
She pulled my skates—wrapped carefully in a plastic bag—from a corner of the big suitcase and grinned.
"How's Mom?"
"Great."
"That's it?"
"I love you, Mom."
And so we arrived at the rink near the hotel.
…What is this?
I found myself staring at a sight I had never expected to see.