First Rebellion

Ugh, I’m so nervous. Hey, are you sure this disguise is gonna hide my noble aura…?!

I think you’re good…! Plus, we’re standing as far away as we can to listen in.

(We all knew that Yuki-nii was gonna talk to his dad today, but I didn’t expect Renga-kun to invite me to spy on them… He must really want to cheer Yuki-nii on. That makes me happy!)

Ah… There they are. That guy’s Yukikaze’s father, right? I always saw him at the kiss and cry in the recordings I watched…

Yeah, that’s Uncle Sadayuki. He’s pretty strict, so I’m worried he might not hear Yuki-nii out…

Dad, I want to talk about something before we start.

What is it? We don’t have a lot of time today, so keep it short.

…It’s about my practice regimen. I want to take some time to work on expressiveness and techniques outside of my jumps.

That’s unnecessary. What you need to focus on is your quads.

…I don’t agree with that.

What’s this all of a sudden? You’ve been doing well under my instruction. If you keep at it, you’ll be able to get gold…

…It’s not “all of a sudden,” Dad. I’ve had these thoughts for a while now.

…? What was that? I couldn’t hear you…

You want me to land quads and bring home gold medals because it was your dream when you were still competing, but I don’t think I want to live like that.

…?!

W-What are you…?!

How my life ends up doesn’t reflect on your own.

…I’ve been wanting to tell you that for ages.

Wh⁠— What do you mean by that…?!

I’m not a kid anymore. I want to decide the way I skate. And…I also want to take my mayoral work seriously.

I’ll still listen to you when I can, but I’ll have the final say on my practice regimen.

And I’ll take the lead in the work I do as mayor. I’ll come up with the tour plan on my own.

…That’s nonsense! If you do that, you’ll start doing worse in your competitions, and⁠—

You don’t know that. There’s a chance I might do better than I have before. So I want you to listen to me.

Gh…

I just don’t understand where this came from out of nowhere…

I told you, it’s not from out of nowhere. This has been on my mind for a long time.

…I can understand your views on your skating. You’re at that age where skaters start wanting more freedom in what they do.

You just can’t be sure that it’ll work out…

It’s worked out for countless others before me, right?

……

Th-Then are you sure that you can handle your mayoral work? I’ve been taking care of all of it up until now.

…Try these.

…What are these? Are those snowflakes?

Here, chopsticks.

…Fine, but just one.

……

…! It’s so good…

I’m glad you think so.

I made them while I was thinking about what I could do for our ward. I wanted to give them to guests who come to visit our ice rink…

I didn’t know you could do this…

…Dad, I’m not sure if you knew, but I’m good at cooking.

…Huh?

Do you remember how nobody was around the house unless it had to do with skating? I’d just get an allowance so I could buy my own meals. But…I used that money to buy ingredients to cook with instead.

……

My cousins would come over all the time to help me…so that’s how I learned to cook. You didn’t know any of that, did you?

…When I was free, I’d go and watch plays or ballet performances, and that made me start thinking about my own expressiveness. I knew that you didn’t see that as an important skill, so I never told you about it…

But I’m tired of keeping it a secret. I don’t want to hide the way I want to skate anymore. Of course, I’ll still work on my quads and work towards winning medals.

I don’t want to do everything your way anymore. I⁠—

That’s enough.

……

This is giving me a headache. If that’s how you feel…then do what you want.

*sigh…*

H-Hey, his father’s leaving. Did everything…turn out alright?

Hmm… I’m not sure…

(Ah, Yuki-nii’s looking over here.)

……

He’s giving us a thumbs up… Is that a good thing? Wait, does that mean he knows we’re here?!

Dammit, he could sense my celebrity aura…

Thanks for the support, you two. You really helped me get through it.

Sorry for spying on you.

It’s fine, it was encouraging.

…Um, will Uncle Sadayuki be okay?

He must be shocked that I rebelled against him. But he’s a mature adult. He’ll understand eventually.

Oh, okay… B-But I guess that everything’s settled! That’s good!

Ah, I forgot. Do you want any of the shumai? Chief helped me make them yesterday; I’m really proud of them.

Seriously?! I’ll take one…!

Have as many as you want.

(I don’t think that everything’s settled, but…Yuki-nii looks really happy, so that means we made progress.)

(I know Uncle Sadayuki will understand him someday…!)