“Central Television, Central Television, this is the 2015 Figure Skating World Championships in Magic City. Right now, we are witnessing the final group of the pairs short program competition. We can see that China’s Huang Ying and Guan Lin are in excellent form.”

Many ice skating fans who had followed this pair throughout the first half of the season were excited.

To put it without exaggeration, this year, not only did Zhang Jue shine at the Grand Prix Final, earning legendary status with one skate, but the Huang-Guan pair was just as impressive, especially with their music choice this year. Their selection was even more daring than Zhang Jue, who is known for “never picking the wrong music.”

They chose Justin Bieber’s Boyfriend for their short program.

In short, despite Huang Ying’s frequent slip-ups in shipping couples, other people were also shipping their pair with enthusiasm. The youthful duo, dressed in stylish, trendy costumes, standing on the ice, told a story full of sweet romance.

As Zhang Jue put it: “Your short program this year? Even dogs would drool over it.”

Shipping couples is common in figure skating. Back in the day, the Olympic two-time gold medalists, the GG pair from Russia, had a huge fanbase of shippers, and the Huang-Guan duo was currently one of the top ‘shipping’ pairs in China’s skating community.

Coach Ma watched them with a pleased smile. “Huang Ying was so nervous backstage, but she still performed so well once she got on the ice.”

Zhang Junbao: “Is this what they call being clutch under pressure?”

In the past, Chinese skaters’ music selections generally fell into two categories: either paying homage to predecessors or choosing Eastern-themed pieces like Madame Butterfly or Turandot that Western audiences could relate to.

But in recent years, the music choices have become more diverse. Some younger athletes directly picked movie soundtracks they liked, as they found it easier to connect with the emotions. Others even brought their favorite anime soundtracks onto the ice.

It was only natural that popular love songs became part of the figure skating world.

Though Zhang Jue was known for his bold innovations, in this season of vocal tracks, he was one of the few top athletes who didn’t pick a song with vocals.

He rested his chin on his hand and murmured: “This looks pretty good. Should I try a song with vocals next season?”

Maybe I should ask the Suzaku or Earth Dragon band to write an English song for me.

Music started playing nearby, and Zhang Jue turned his head to see Hayato Teraoka and Keiko playing a game on their phones.

He walked over and asked: “The background music in this game sounds familiar, Hayato, is this your competition music?”

Hayato raised his hand: “Yes, my music this year is from this game. This part is from the peaceful everyday background music, so I play the game to get in the mood before competing.”

Since Hayato liked skating to traditional Japanese music, game music with a classical Japanese style became his first choice for his programs.

Zhang Jue turned to ask Keiko: “Do you play this game too?”

Keiko waved her hands: “I don’t have time for games! Hayato is a game addict. I just help him draw cards when I get lucky.”

Hayato put on a sad face: “All the five-star swords in my game account were drawn by her.”

Keiko added: “Because someone caught me drawing cards, people thought I was a fan of the game. Now, the game company even approached me to be a spokesperson for the anime they’re making, so I guess it’s a good thing.”

Thanks to her striking appearance and solid performances, Keiko had made it onto this year’s list of Japan’s most popular female stars, ranking fourth. It showed how high her popularity was.

Hearing this, Hayato had a strange expression. “But they want you to wear a shrine maiden costume and sing a cute song in front of a bunch of otaku.”

Keiko gave a thumbs-up. “No problem! I’ve already started learning vocal techniques! Whenever I have free time, I go to karaoke to practice!”

Hayato raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think it’s silly when those otaku cheer for you?”

Keiko glanced at him: “What are you talking about? Cheering is their way of having fun, and cosplaying cute characters is how I make money. I’m broke! Getting paid is a good thing!”

Even though she wasn’t really poor, Keiko felt responsible for her family’s well-being and believed she had to support them. So, whether it was being polite to unreasonable skating officials or navigating the sponsor circle, selling cuteness to otaku was no big deal to her.

It was all for survival.

Her practicality resonated with Zhang Jue. “Exactly, living is what matters.”

Hayato: “…You two are currently top-level male and female skaters, but you both act like regular office workers. I can understand Keiko, but isn’t Tama-chan the apple of your country’s skating federation’s eye?”

Zhang Jue sighed: “Even as the favorite, I still have to pay off my mortgage.”

He had been traumatized by poverty in his past life.

Unfortunately, he could never play any gacha games because, ever since his rebirth, he felt like his luck was abnormally bad—even Qin Xuejun couldn’t compare to him in that regard. Otherwise, Zhang Jue would have asked if this sword game needed another handsome cosplayer.

He’d love to cosplay, and if his favorite game came out on time three years later, Zhang Jue would definitely ask Bai Xiaozhen to see if they needed an ambassador.

While they were chatting, the pairs short program finished, and Huang Ying and Guan Lin took first place.

After competitions, athletes received score sheets that detailed their scores. Zhang Jue took a peek and found that their 4-point lead was mainly due to their strong GOE scores.

Huang Ying waved her score sheet. “Our lifts are the best in the world, and Lin’s arm strength is huge. Our throw jump was also the highest and longest.”

Guan Lin patted her head. “Actually, the axis on the throw 3F was a bit off, but you saved it during the landing. You really are the best partner in the world.”

Huang Ying proudly lifted her head, placing her hands on her hips.

Zhang Jue tugged on a small curl of his hair and sighed: “Fair scoring is so nice.”

“Exactly.”

His teammates all nodded in agreement. Strong skaters love fair scoring, and luckily, the Chinese national team was full of strong skaters.

When the men’s singles competition started, many fans took down the chibi banners of Guan Lin and Huang Ying and replaced them with Zhang Jue’s banners.

Chen Sijia and her classmates worked together to stretch out a banner, only to realize that it featured a beautifully hand-drawn image of Zhang Jue in his Moulin Rouge costume, with five big words next to it: “Zhang Jue, the Great Beauty.”

Beside them, another girl held up a banner showing a cartoon crocodile in a Tree of Life costume, with four big words next to it: “Handsome and Slick.”

Chen Sijia asked her classmate in confusion: “Did you all plan this together?”

Her classmate shook her head in confusion: “No, I’ve been lurking in the group, and I haven’t told anyone what my banner looks like.”

Then they saw Zhang Jue pulling back the curtain and stepping out of the skaters’ entrance. He wore a red and white sports jacket with a red flag on his chest, one hand in his pocket, and the other holding a banana. Some sharp-eyed fans even noticed a ring of red on the banana after he took a bite.

Her classmate sighed: “Oh no, his lipstick is smudging.”

Zhang Jue’s coach pointed this out, and Zhang Jue, confused, quickly ate the rest of the banana in one bite and wiped his mouth with a tissue, removing the remaining red. A girl in the audience then leaned over the railing and shouted, throwing him a lip tint.

“Use my lip tint, Tama-chan! It’s the same color and gloss as yours, and it doesn’t smudge!”

Zhang Jue waved in thanks: “Arigato, Makeup-chan.”

Coach Lu’s cane doubled as a folding stool, and he opened it for Zhang Jue to sit while the coach carefully reapplied his lip color.

Shen Liu warned him: “No more eating until after the competition. Focus now.”

Zhang Jue: “Okay.”

After the second-to-last group finished, France’s number one, Alex, was in the lead. During his performance, he completed a 4T and 4Lz, though he fell on the 4Lz. Despite the fall, he still scored 8.6 points after the deductions because he fully rotated the jump.

Before going on, Zhang Jue held out his hand: “Your new jump was amazing.”

Alex high-fived him: “I just don’t want to lose to you.”

The order for the final group in the men’s singles was: Zhang Jue (China), Rojas (Spain), David (Belgium), Ilya (Russia), Carson (Canada), and Hayato Teraoka (Japan).

Rojas was seventh in the Grand Prix standings, missing the Final by just 2 points. He was also the top skater from the host city, Barcelona, so he was invited to perform in the exhibition.

He was a 19-year-old young man and was said to be a new playboy in the figure skating world, with a passion for flirting with girls that rivaled Maquen’s. However, his performance and appearance weren’t as outstanding as Maquen’s, and he didn’t have the same charm or gentlemanly demeanor, so his popularity wasn’t as high.

Chen Sijia’s classmate gossiped with her, saying: “I heard he’s bisexual, and during the banquet at the Grand Prix final, he even flirted with our Crocodile God. But Crocodile God was busy being pestered by a fashion brand’s young lady at the time, so he didn’t pay him any attention. Later, it was Katerina who came to rescue him.”

Chen Sijia suddenly realized: “So that’s why that fashion brand’s young lady publicly mocked Katerina’s costume on Twitter for being tacky?”

The classmate nodded sadly: “Yes, that’s what Selena’s alternate account said. Our Crocodile God really is a troublemaker, huh?”

Chen Sijia covered her mouth and smiled. She thought to herself: “That kid isn’t a troublemaker at all. Maybe it’s because Zhang Jue was so cute during his middle school years that, in her heart, he would always be the adorable little crocodile.”

The final group of male skaters removed their skate guards and began to take the ice. The announcer’s voice called out their names and countries one by one, and each name brought cheers from many fans.

When Zhang Jue came out, Chen Sijia couldn’t help but stand up, jumping with her classmates as they waved their banner excitedly.

Zhang Jue noticed them, then smiled and waved back.

 

 

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