His home

When they finally arrived in Sendai, Mia started getting worried about meeting Yuzuru's father.

Even if her concerns about his mom ended up being unjustified, it didn't mean that she was any less nervous about meeting the other parent.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to do that today since he was apparently away that weekend.

They dropped Yumi off at home and headed to Yuzuru's house which was quite close.

As the driver went around the city, Mia heard Alex gasp when they passed a building.

"That's the ice rink!"

"Yes" Yuzuru confirmed with a smile. "I will make sure to take you there one of these days."

"I can't wait! It will be so much fun!"

"Maybe you can skate too" Yuzuru told Mia and her eyes widened right away.

"Absolutely not. I would die the moment I put on those boots."

He chuckled and gestured no with his head. 

"I think you would be good at it."

"You do?"

"Yes, but we will never know, will we?"

Mia knew Yuzuru well enough by now to see what he was trying to do. The man knew that she wasn't one to back away from a challenge and was giving one to see if it would motivate her to prove him wrong.

She wouldn't allow him to win with these tactics

"I know what you're doing and it won't work."

He just shrugged and smiled, not even bothering to look guilty.

They arrived soon after and Mia's first impression was of how beautiful it looked from the outside. Her experience with Japanese lodging was pretty much the western style hotel where they had stayed in Makuhari so she didn't know what to expect in a Japanese house.

Eventually, they did manage to get in, Yuzuru's driver being kind enough to help with the bags while the skater opened the door.

He showed her around the beautiful wooden floors and halls that had beautiful lighting due to the huge windows that showed the beautiful nature that surrounded the house. It surprised Mia that it wasn't that different from a traditional Western house beside a few small details.

It was still without a doubt an Asian house and somehow, it only made her love the place even further. The small details of plants and Japanese ornamentation only made the house look more beautiful and welcoming.

"I prepared both rooms for you since I know Alex usually sleeps alone at home."

"We shared for a week, it would have been fine."

"Maybe, but I have the free rooms, so why would I do that?" he told her with a smile. "You both get your space."

Yuzuru showed them the rooms that were as beautiful as the rest of the house and helped them put their bags there as well before doing the rest of the tour.

"And what's that room there?" she joked at the closed door that he opened with a smile.

"My bedroom."

"Hum. Ok"

Mia was driving him crazy in the way she asked it while biting her lower lip softly but Yuzuru knew she would never forgive him if he showed just how crazy in front of Alex.

"I don't have that much food here so we will probably have to order something today and go shopping for groceries tomorrow."

"We have a store nearby?"

"Just down the road, but it's probably closed by now."

"Well, we have survived eating out for a week, one more day won't hurt."

Alex didn't have any trouble finding the TV before getting scolded by Mia.

"You have the exercises your teacher sent you to do, young man."

"But..."

"No games before it's done."

"But it's Maths!"

As those words left his mouth, Yuzuru started laughing right away.

"I'm sure you'll survive a bit of maths..."

The boy, of course, reluctantly obeyed his mother and took the book from his backpack to get the exercises done while Mia and Yuzuru rested on the couch.

"You could have allowed him to do them tomorrow." Yuzu said, taking pity on Alex.

"I could, but that just makes him get used to leaving things behind to play games. I don't mind him having fun before doing his work, but I don't want him glued to those screens for so many hours."

"I can understand that. My mom allowed me to be a bit more spoiled with the games, but only after I did my homework too."

"Were you insufferable like him too?"

"Not with Maths, I loved Maths and Sciences. I always struggled with languages. Don't even get me started on English."

Mia chuckled at that.

"It doesn't seem that bad to me now."

"It's better now, but when I moved to Canada it was a nightmare. Still is when I have to write in English. I sometimes forget the right grammar and things just sound weird."

"But you work through it."

"I don't turn down challenges," he said with a smile that she reciprocated. "But I hate to speak it in front of the cameras. It's almost as if I forget everything."

"Being nervous probably doesn't help."

"No, it doesn't."

"Alex is just lazy when it comes to school and I always try to change that without much success. He is a great student, but I'm afraid that the scores start dropping when he grows up and things get harder."

"Because of skating?"

"I guess. He spends so much time on that ice... I know it's what he wants to do, but Skating isn't that popular in Canada, he won't be able to do shows like you do here."

"I don't want to be too biased on this, because skating is my life, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. I was just like him and I still did my degree. Maybe I will never use it, but I finished my studies and could in theory follow another career path."

"You have a degree?" she asked in awe. Just when she thinks she gets to know him, another surprising detail drops.

"Yes, I finished it three years ago. Took me a while longer than a few of my colleagues, but I was doing competitions and being a full-time athlete while doing E-learning, so it wasn't that bad."

"What did you study?"

"Human informatics and Cognitive Sciences."

"Oh... fancy." she joked making him chuckle.

"I just chose it because it was sciences, to be honest. My goal was always skating."

"To be fair, you were already a superstar at a young age."

"That's what I mean. with the right guidance, and I'm sure you can do that with Alex, he can understand that having a backup plan is important and studying can never hurt, even if he does have other plans in life."

"Very wise, Mr. Hanyu."

"Always a pleasure."