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kinghoranshit · 3 years

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Tell Me a Lie (NH) Ch 3

Word Count: 2,065

Warnings: Swearing

I snapped a pretzel in half and munched on it. I dipped the other half into the small jar of peanut butter and popped it into my mouth before I flipped the piece of paper to the other side. I was deep in editing mode for Stone Cold.

I had talked to my manager about the upcoming events since there were red carpet dates already locked down for later that year, and she approved them, along with congratulations on the romance. But I was not able to get any definitive days off to truly work on Stone Cold, so I was still back to my weird schedule to get it finished on time.

Out of bad habit, I clicked my power button on my phone and looked at the screen for anything to distract me for a short second. There was a message from Niall.

N: Yoo, it’s go time .

L: Really? What about publicity photos?

N: This is gonna work better . I’m gonna use one of our old selfies .

L: Haha You mean from backstage in Chicago? That was like 6 months ago...

N: It’s the only recent once we’ve got , Kelly .

It’ll work

L: I guess you’re right.

N: I am (:

Be ready for it .

Now, an Instagram notification came up and I already knew who it was from. I pulled down my notifications bar to see it and tapped it. I swear my heart stopped at the caption.

@NiallOfficial: You know I don’t like lying to you all, but I’ve kept this a secret . For the sake of wanting our first few months to be only us . Well , those few months turned into a full year . I couldn’t be happier with this woman ! She makes me feel like I’m on cloud 9 . She even makes the golf losses better haha

He’d also tagged me. It was another requirement for social media; all posts had to be tagged. I was suddenly super nervous. This was actually it. There were so many new follows, likes, and comments on my account, and people were commenting congrats underneath Niall’s; though it wasn’t hard to miss a few of the mean wishes.

K: So…. this is really it?

N: Yup . You got this , Kelly !

K: There weren’t that many restrictions to the socials, surprisingly…

Do I have to follow people back?

N: Haha no ! Follow who ya want

K: Cool

A Twitter notification popped up on my top bar. I pulled it down to see Niall had tagged me in a photo there as well, and it was similarly worded to Instagram. At least it wasn’t a total copy and paste, that wasn’t necessarily Niall’s style. The Twitter notifications also started to flow in and I knew there had to be some way to filter them or this was going to be overwhelming.

K: Please tell me there’s a way to filter the notifications

N: Absolutely , under your settings there should be a way to just get ones of people you follow

If you get verified , I’ll help you with those

K: Who said anything about me getting verified?

N: Kelly , don’t act so cavalier love . It’ll happen eventually .

I’ll walk you through it , I had Modest to help me and you’ve got me to help you

K: Duh duh DUHHHH

N: Okay , if you don’t want it I won ‘t give it to ya

K: You know you will anyway

You loooove me

N: Augh

You’re right

***

I finally gathered the courage to thoroughly go through my Twitter notifications. I figured that the most recent ones may not be necessarily nice since I had been MIA for a few days after Niall’s initial post. But could they really blame me? I didn’t think so.

My Twitter followers went from literally 450 to 38K. Just cause I was Niall’s “girlfriend”? That’s just… I couldn’t lie, I never followed the boys’ girlfriends or PR girlfriends, whatever they were to them. I didn’t have much to say to this.

I decided to make a tweet first before doing anything else.

@kellygarden: Sorry I’ve been MIA y’all. About to get interactive though! How about a Q&A? Hashtag #AskKelly :)

I used the time of people asking questions to go through some of those following me and follow a few. And when I say a few, I mean a few. I might do a follow spree at some point and do a hundred or a couple hundred people.

I about shit my pants seeing some of those who were following me that I was already following. Like Tom Holland, all the 5SOS boys, the other lads from One Direction, and Selena Gomez. Holy shit. What? Why? I was having a hard time believing this, but I couldn’t stop a smile from crossing my lips. So unreal.

I searched my hashtag now and looked at some of the questions, replying to some.

@Fuckmeniall: @KellyGarden Was it love at first sight? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Fuckmeniall First off, love your @ . It was more like love at first coffee - we met at a cafe in London :)

@DamagedQueen: @KellyGarden Hw old r u? Wt do u do? #AskKely PS luv ur layout<3

@KellyGarden: Aww thanks so much! I’m 24 and a novel editor for a publishing house in London.

@Jocylnbitch: @KellyGarden I don’t really like you, but I have a question about Niall. What’s he like in bed? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Jocylnbitch: Glad to hear your opinion about me. And I don’t think that’s any of your business.

@Rylanroll: @KellyGarden R u a virgin? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Rylanroll Are you old enough to be asking this question? But no, I’m not.

@Hannable: @KellyGarden If you could clone yourself, would you? Why? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Hannable I would. As selfish as this is, I’d have my clone to do my work so I could go see the world and be with Nialler.

@Uplousass: @KellyGarden Have you met the other boys yet? Freddie? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Uplousass Props for the @, I’m dying! *laugh crying face emoji* I haven’t... and I’m not going to force any of them to meet me if they choose not to.

@NiallOfficial: @KellyGarden How far are you up my ass? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @NiallOfficial I would be Hella far up if you weren’t so far up mine already :P

@Michael5SOS: @KellyGarden CAN I MEET YOU?! ASDLFKAS #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Michael5SOS DLKASLGA YEAH IF YA WANT

@lukecummings: @KellyGarden Have you ever written fanfiction? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @lukecummings I have, but they’re cringy af. I’m not kidding on that. They will never resurface the web.

@Astheticnolan: @KellyGarden What are you favorite smells on earth? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Astheticnolan COFFEE, books, rain, You&I perfume, flowers, Niall’s cologne

@Haywire: @KellyGarden What’s your music taste? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Haywire My music library is on crack. I could be listening to 1D, then it could go to Skillet, Ed, Counting Crows, M83, etc. It’s a wide range, except no Country.

@Luke5SOS: @KellyGarden Is that lame band 5SOS not in your music library? :(

@KellyGarden: @Luke5SOS Pft yes, yes they are in my music library. It’s full of lame bands lmfao

@Daylight5SOS: @KellyGarden Have you talked with the other boys? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Daylight5SOS Yeah, Louis.

@Louis_Tomlinson: @KellyGarden Do look forward to officially meeting you. Freddie son says hi.

@KellyGarden: @Louis_Tomlinson I look forward to it as well. Stay safe you two x.

@Penofhope: @KellyGarden Favorite genre to write? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Penofhope Fiction. YA. Mainly Fantasy and Sci-fi.

@Clotheswhore: @KellyGarden What's your aesthetic? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Clotheswhore By your @ I’m going to assume you mean my clothes aesthetic? I’d say it’s a little bit of everything - I can’t stick to one thing lol

@Niallsride: @KellyGarden Do you drive? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Niallsride I do. Both car and motorcycle/bikes.

@Monaymaker: @KellyGarden Do you drink? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Monaymaker I do socially.

@Harry_Styles: @KellyGarden I look forward to meeting you. Niall is a lucky guy. All the love. H. #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Harry_Styles Thank you so much, H! Soon I hope x.

@Horanyass: @KellyGarden How many kids do you want? Gender ? Would you like to have them with Niall? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Horanyass 2 or 3, any gender, and if I happen to have my kids with Niall then I’d be happy about it :)

@Styleskid: @Kellyiebabes Fave bromances of 1D and 5SOS? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Styleskid All the ones with Luke and Niall, Cashton, and Lilo.

@5Saucelove: @KellyGarden Pancakes or waffles? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @5Saucelove Waffles all the way! X.

@Horanhasmyheart: @KellyGarden Have you heard any songs off Niall’s upcoming album? #AskKelly

@KellyGarden: @Horanhasmyheart Nope, he’s super secretive about it. I’m gonna be just as shook as all of you! Looking forward to it!

I looked at all the ones I answered, smiling a bit at a few of them. I didn’t realize how many I answered or how much time had passed. I had to be on a work call soon, which could go until midnight because of the time difference.

@KellyGarden: Gotta get back to work. Thank you all for the questions! I’ll be doing another one of these soon, yeah?

I didn’t wait for any of the replies before I locked my phone and set my laptop up for Zoom.

***

I huffed, observing the cherry patterned and floral dresses in my hands, and the pile of other choices I thought about taking to LA. I was so indecisive right now. How many outfits did I really need? Five days worth, but on top of some clothes for clubbing possibly, and pjs. But if I packed something I didn’t want to wear, I didn’t really want to wear the same thing. Why was I like this?

I huffed once again and flopped down onto the mass. I leave tomorrow and need to get this sorted out. After another half hour of stalling, I willed myself to get back up and actually pack. I decided on six solid outfits, on top of one clubbing fit and pjs. It seemed like the safest route.

N: Get in loser , we’re going to see Paps

K: Hah hah like oh my god they don’t even go here

I finally just packed. How’s LA?

N: Kelly, you’re such a procrastinator

LA is ready for you

K: But I don’t know if I’m ready for LA

N: Ooo so cliche , you’re both ready.

See you tomorrow x

K: See you tomorrow xo

***

As much as I’d love to say I could handle getting myself to my flight on my own, I couldn’t. I hadn’t flown in a few years and that had been with a group of others. I was flying by myself now, and I have to do all the checking in and such as well.

I took a deep breath as I approached the security check line. I set my purse and backpack in one bin and my duffel in another before setting them on the metal rods that would take it through a detecting machine. I waited for the woman to wave me through the detecting machine, and I went through fine. I mean, I didn’t have anything that would set it off.

Once my stuff came through the other end of the metal rods line, I grabbed it and put the bins in the pile that was started. When I started walking away to find my gate, I realized I was stupid to be so nervous about going through the line.

Finding my gate wasn’t hard. It helped that the Cedar Rapids Airport was small. There’s like eight gates. I settled myself in a seat to wait until boarding was called. I took my phone out and busied myself with Instagram and Tumblr; I just scrolled through my feed, liking and reblogging stuff.

“Gate B is now boarding. If you are first class, you have a separate line. If you are G1 for the coach cabin, you can now board.”

That was me.

I took another deep breath, grabbing my three bags, and I walked over to the woman. She took my ticket, ripping off the part she needed, and then handed it back to me. “Enjoy your flight.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

I walked through the terminal and onto the fairly small plane. It was more of a jet. I found my seat and settled everything. I followed the directions given by the fly attendant as I waited for the plane to actually take off, and finally, we moved to be on the runway and ascended into the air.

Next: Ch 4

[Masterlist]

#Niall Horan #NH #Niall Horan fic #Niall Horan fanfiction #NH fic #NH fanfiction #fic #fanfiction #comedy #romance #drama #Tell Me a Lie

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ryqoshay · 5 years

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How to Handle a Nico: Of Fruits and Photoshoots

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Words: ~1.8k Rating: G Time Frame: Later in Maki’s 1st and Nico’s 3rd year of high school Story Arc: Stand Alone

Authors Note: Thank you to those who offered ideas for possible locations for the background scenery of the second NicoMaki UR pair in SIF.

I will post the pic at the end for those who need a refresher on its appearance, and because I adore it and look forward to their release to WW.

“How about these?” Nico help up a handful of rhinestones. “Maybe make a hair clip out of them or something?”

“The rubies certainly match your eyes.” Eli approved as she continued to work on another accessory. “And pearls would stand out well in your hair.”

“I meant for her.” The raven-haired girl clarified.

“Then the pearls are definitely a decent choice for accents.” The blonde nodded. “Otherwise, on their own, the rubies might get lost in her hair.”

“Yeah, that too. And I was also thinking about using these for me.” Nico indicated a pair of red ribbons with thin white stripes.

“Ah, I see.” Eli nodded. “A good match.”

“Think she’ll notice?”

“Do you want her to?”

“And so what if I do?” Nico scrunched her nose at the unexpected return question. “Anyway, red and white works for her strawberry theme.” She began attaching the faux gems to a clip. “And my watermelon theme as well.”

“Shouldn’t it be red and green for you? Or red and black if you went with the seeds?”

“The rind is white.”

“I suppose.”

“Though I was kinda hoping I could find some diamonds…” Nico admitted before thinking better of it.

“Didn’t we just have a birthstone set?”

“Yeah, but… oh, never mind.”

Eli rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the accessory in her hand.

Nico knew Eli saw straight through her, but she wasn’t going to admit it out loud. So what if she wanted to have a few accessories match with Maki? It wasn’t the first time they had similar things on their outfits and probably wouldn’t be the last… hopefully. Besides, it wasn’t like the younger girl would notice anyway, so what harm would it do? It was just a little something that made Nico happy, and that alone was worth it. And if Maki did happen to notice, then all the better.

“So, what do you think?” Eli spoke up after a moment.

Nico blinked back to reality to inspect the item in the blonde’s hand.

“Nozomi will love it.”

“It’s not for…”

“I know.” Nico interrupted. “But red is a good color for you, especially in your hair. And Nozomi will love it. And will undoubtedly comment on it.” She smirked. “Probably lewdly.”

“Nico…”

“Turnabout is fair play.” The raven-haired girl stuck out her tongue.

The blonde pouted, earning a laugh from the other girl. But after a moment of getting past her embarrassment, she joined in with a chuckle of her own.

Under different circumstances, Nico might have used an overdramatic display of disgust when it came to the topic of her fellow third-years and their public flirtations. It was an act the three of them knew she used to deal with her jealousy over what Eli and Nozomi had together; what Nico wished she had with the girl she liked.

But today she was in higher spirits. Today, she and Eli were preparing accessories for an upcoming photoshoot that included a set for which Nico had been matched with Maki as the focus pair. It wasn’t summer yet, but the set’s theme was something about vacations, swimsuits and fruit. Each girl had chosen or been assigned a fruit and would wear two outfits designed with it in mind.

Maki ended up with a strawberry theme. Granted, the redhead often found herself in hues reminiscent of her hair, but she always looked good in them, which probably lent to the repetition. And Nico was excited to see the results, as well as show off her own.

“That should be long enough for it to set.” Nico thought out loud about the adhesive she had applied to hold the gems to the clip. “Who’s next?”

“Ma~ki-cha~n!”

The redhead turned toward the voice calling her from behind. “Nico-chan.” She greeted with a nod.

The raven-haired girl running up to her was dressed in a watermelon themed outfit with green overall shorts covering a white shirt with green stripes. It wasn’t the overly stylized version for this part of the photoshoot, but the pastel shades offered an adorable softness that was well suited to the image Nico always tried to portray. And of course, no outfit the girl wore was complete without pink, so ruffles on the sleeve and collar of the shirt filled that role. Maki allowed herself a moment to take in the view as Nico closed the distance between them.

Even if Maki had wanted to, she would have been hard pressed in denying that Nico looked incredibly cute right now. Not that she wanted to deny it anyway. Probably. But it did bother her how cute Nico could be at times. Like now. Maybe.

“There’s one more thing before we begin!” The third-year held out something that glittered in the stray light from the nearby set.

“Hair clips?” The first year inquired on recognition.

“Yup!” Nico chirped before reaching up. “Hold still a sec.”

“Did you just find these or…?”

“Nope. Nico made these just for Maki-chan.”

“Then why not hand them out with all of the rest?”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Nico furrowed her eyebrows. “Nico made these just for Maki-chan. So she wanted to give them to Maki-chan personally. Got a problem with that?”

“N-no… uhm… Th-thank you?”

“And there we go.” Nico grinned as she stepped back to admire her handiwork. After a moment, she turned to the photographer’s assistant. “You guys have a mirror?”

“Oh, yes.” The young man replied before moving to a nearby counter to retrieve the requested item. “Here.”

“Take a look, Maki-chan.” Nico held the mirror up.

“They are quite pretty.” Maki reached up to touch the clips in her hair.

Was it her imagination, or did the clips kind of match the striped bows in Nico’s hair? Maybe? Even if not, Maki decided she preferred to consider it a match because it made her feel good, for some reason.

“I know, right?” The older girl interrupted her thoughts. “Nico knows her accessories.”

“Thank you, Nico-chan.” The younger girl’s thanks was more sincere than the one she had given prior.

“You two ready?” The photographer suddenly asked.

“Yeah, sorry.” Nico replied. “Be right there.”

The two girls made their way onto the set. In front of the greenscreen they found a couple classic poolside style chaise lounge chairs and a few small side tables. Off to the side, on a counter, was a decent selection of props from which they could choose.

“This set is nice.” Maki commented, touching a tray on which sat a glass tea set filled with a red liquid.

“Of course Maki-chan goes for the red things.”

“Well, my fruit is a strawberry…”

“True, but you often choose red things.”

“I like red…”

“So you like your cheeks then.”

Maki pouted, earning a laugh from the other girl.

“And I suppose it’s a good thing Nico’s eyes are red!”

It took a moment for the implication to click in Maki’s mind, but once it did, she balked. “Buweehh?” She turned to find an amused glimmer in said eyes accompanied by a toothy grin, the combination of which made it difficult to get upset.

“Anyway, Nico is going to use this.”

The twin-tailed girl grabbed a plate of what looked like cake with decorative icing and two scoops of sherbet.

“Alright.” The photographer spoke again. “If you could each choose a seat, we can get started.” She motioned to the chairs.

Maki did as instructed and leaned back onto the plastic slats. “You know… kyaa!” She cried in surprise as her ankles were suddenly grabbed. “Nico-chan?”

“I think this will work better for the shot.” The older girl replied, moving Maki’s legs off the side. “How is this?” She asked the photographer as she knelt where the younger girl’s feet had been a moment ago.

“That will work just fine.” The woman responded, giving an affirmative gesture.

“So you’re not going to need this?” The assistant asked, moving to the empty chair.

“Nah, I’d rather be here, closer to Maki-chan.” Nico replied, grinning at the blushing redhead and scooting in a few centimeters more.

The young man nodded and removed the unneeded prop.

“So, you were saying?” The raven-haired girl prompted, lifting the fork in her hand as though to take a bite of the fake cake.

“Oh, right, uhm…” Maki scrambled to recover her derailed train of thought. “I was going to say that the décor reminds me of the place in Demark.”

“Copenhagen, yes, I can see that.” The photographer stated. “The background we are using could be seen as reminiscent of the buildings around the canals of Nyhavn. But I don’t believe there are palm trees in Denmark.”

“Not along the canals, no.” Maki agreed. “But I do remember seeing some last time we were there… maybe in the botanical gardens?”

“Maybe.”

“Then is the background of the painted ladies in San Francisco? They have palm trees there.”

“I’d have to double check the file, but I thought it said it was shot in the Canary Islands? I could be wrong.”

“Maybe Northern Ireland? Spain?”

“Whitehead and Vilajoyosa? I don’t think either was it.” The photographer shook her head. “I can check for sure while you two change for the next part of the set.”

“Alright.” Maki agreed before shifting her gaze to find Nico staring at her. “What…?”

“Does Maki-chan have a vacation house in all of those places.”

“No, but I’ve visited most of them.”

“Hrmph…” Nico huffed. “Must be nice; traveling the world all the time.”

“Not always.” Maki admitted. “A lot of it was for business, so my parents would be busy the whole day. And since I was too young to go anywhere on my own, I would just spend the day reading at the hotel.”

“And the place in Denmark?”

Maki realized she could detect a bit of jealousy in the older girl’s voice. “It’s not ours.” She clarified, shaking her head. “One of our old doctors moved to Europe after he retired. He lets us use that place when we want.”

“Must be nice.” Nico repeated.

The jealousy wasn’t going away. What to say? Uhm… “It is a lovely city.” No, that didn’t seem like something that would diffuse the situation.

“Then if Nico becomes a famous idol,” Nico suddenly preened “she’s going to have to get her own place in Copenhagen. And the Canary Islands. And San Francisco. And maybe a few other places Maki-chan hasn’t even been yet.”

“You mean when you become a famous idol.”

“Right, that’s what I said.”

“I’d like to see it.”

“Hrm?”

“Your place.” Maki found herself getting a little excited. Not only had Nico’s mood improved somewhat, but the idea of taking a trip with her was surprisingly appealing. “Or places, any of them, really, when you get them.”

“Of course!” Nico raised an eyebrow. “Someone like Maki-chan would be welcome anytime. Nico thought that much would be obvious.”

“I’ll hold you to it then.” Maki lifted her cup as though to propose a toast, despite the other girl lacking a beverage of her own, fake or otherwise.

“And I think that’s the shot right there.” The photographer spoke up again. “But let’s take a few more to be sure.”

The two girls gave their affirmation and the photoshoot continued.

UR Pair Referenced:

Author’s Note Continued in Followup Post

#NicoMaki #Nishkino Maki #Yazawa Nico #How to Handle a Nico #Love Live #fanfic

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iguana012 · 7 years

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Japanese Nats: The Aftermath

This recap is almost 3 weeks late but fwiw I judged the event on The Judges’ Table. If you’re interested in my (serious) opinions about the competition, you can read them there. If you’re interested in my less censored opinions, I will include as much as I can in this post.

So what happened is that Japan crowned their tiniest champions ever, Satoko Miyahara (her 3rd title) and Shoma Uno (his 1st title). But some people were less interested in that and more interested in receiving updates on Yuzuru Hanyu’s recovery after he decided to withdraw from the competition in order to prioritize his health, thus generating earthquakes among his sensitive fans. Other people (those who attended the competition) went just to see Mao Asada but they were polite enough not to get up and empty the arena while Mao wasn’t skating unlike what happened at the Sochi Olympics when Evgeni Plushenko withdrew from the men’s event.

Now I’m not pretending to be some advocate of justice and I’m not intending to preach. But I believe this is a good opportunity to highlight frequent problems in the skating fandom so you won’t be tempted to fall into their traps.

DISCLAIMER: I do realize I’m already in a very high risk of getting attacked by some Yuzu fans via anon asks or salty replies/reblogs but I’m gonna say this again: it’s okay if you’re not into my kind of “”””humor”””. You can ignore me and I promise I won’t get a boo-boo. GETTING TO THE SUBJECT NOW!

THE LADIES EVENT aka Game Of Thrones

Satoko Miyahara waltzed into this event giving negative fucks and the results showed: when she gives negative fucks, that 3Lz-3T combo in the second half of her SP is miraculously rotated. As a consequence she got 76 for her program and further established her new position as one of the most overscored skaters currently competing (don’t believe me? Ask the Russian ubers and Mao ubers). I also thought “damn, this empty program actually looks nice when neither she nor I have to worry about rotations”. But the key here is to make the program look like that when you give a lot of fucks as opposed to negative fucks, and Mie Hamada knew that. So the next day before Satoko skated her FS, Hamada annoyed the crap out of her and pressured her as a strategy to make her get used to skating clean when she gives a lot of fucks, such as when she’s thinking she’s gotta get a medal in a relevant event, including the Olympics. For now, Satoko is still failing that test because she had a step-out on the 3Lz-3T combo and a couple of carrots.

Wakaba Higuchi finally - I repeat - FINALLY skated a clean short program and it was so adorable to see her get all excited and happy about it. Except it wasn’t a squeaky-clean program because she got a wrong edge call on her flip. What can ya do, if ya got a good lutz ya gotta lip and when ya got a good flip ya gotta flutz. She’s gonna have to follow Satoko’s example and replace that lip with a loop and be done with it. Other than that, damn this girl got huge jumps. Everyone loves some huge jumps. However, the disadvantage of huge jumps is that you gotta have very good control of the landing and you have to know how to manage your speed, when to speed up, when to slow down, otherwise you’re doomed to pull a Midori Ito and land your jumps over the cameraman outside the boards. (Have you imagined Evgenia Medvedeva landing one of her 3-3-3 combos on Tarasova’s table cause I did and I cracked myself up really).

Another skater who is fast as crap and has great technique on top of that is Mai Mihara who won the bronze medal and got herself a ticket to Worlds. Just a year ago around this time she was watching Nationals on TV from a hospital bed having been diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Doesn’t that make a great Cinderella story? She is, actually, skating to Cinderella but her style is still stuck somewhere on the road between junior and senior (she was pretty good as a junior but I didn’t like her skating then and I’m not necessarily warming up now) but she seems like a very sweet girl and if there’s anyone who deserved going to Worlds aside from Satoko and Wakaba, it’s this young lady.

Marin Honda is another skater who finally - I repeat - FINALLY skated a clean short program after burying herself in competitions right from the start. The poor girl has been under so much constant pressure this season I feel like she’s always on the verge of having an emotional breakdown. It’s not only the fact that she’s cried a number of times after her performances, but this season she always looked like she was terrified of her results no matter how she skated. I��m not a fan of either of her programs this season (SP is similar to last season’s and the FS is a hot mess combo of Yuzuru’s Romeo & Juliet 1 and 2) but she has excellent skating skills, musicality, expression, projection to the audience for her age. She doesn’t have the best jump technique but she is one of the few lucky ones with a clean lutz AND flip. After a smooth short program, a popped jump in the free prevented her from stepping onto the podium but that’s how it is in competition; it’s not about what you’re able to do, it’s about what you end up doing when it counts.

Rika Hongo has been in serious trouble ever since the beginning of this season - or maybe as far as the previous Nationals - and the worst case scenario happened. She finished 5th and now the juniors ahead of her are old enough to go to Worlds in her place. While she was 2nd in the SP with the best performance of the season, she went down to 6th in the FS and finished 5th overall despite bringing back Riverdance, a program that worked for her last year. Unfortunately the spark, the freedom and the joy that was present last season was absent in this competition as she was very nervous even before she took the ice.

Yuna Shiraiwa on the other hand... I’m only going to say this. Clean 3Lz-3T and (second half) 3F-3T combos in the FS. No UR calls. Highest TES (71.74) of the evening. She’s the real MVP in Hamada’s team.

THE OLD(ER) GENERATION

This was Mao Asada’s worst result at Nationals but instead of having retirement thoughts (like she had last season at Nationals even though she skated better), she’s still determined to come back stronger next season. An old knee injury prevented her from landing the 3A and rotating a lot of her jumps but at this point she’s obviously not skating for the medals as much as she’s skating for herself. No skater wants to leave the competitive world with regrets so who are we to judge Mao’s decision to continue in spite of physical difficulties? With Yuzuru absent due to influenza, most fans attended the competition to see Mao and it was obvious just counting the number of flowers that were thrown on the ice for her compared to the other skaters.

Redemption from Kanako Murakami, who is also nearing the end of her career but managed to deliver the first clean FS she’s skated in ages. That’s all she wanted from this competition, she got it, and she awarded the audience with her signature Kanako Smile.

Painful competition for Haruka Imai, former Japanese Jr National Champion and 4th at the 2014 4CC. No GP assignments this season, she was plagued by inflammation of her hips and knees but she fought to land the 3Lz and 3F. This was also the first time we got to see one of her new programs (the FS, which is Primavera by Einaudi) and she’s still beautiful to watch.

SHOMA UNO & CO.

It was kind of depressing to watch the men’s event this year because only a couple of years ago it was the fiercest event at Nationals. Keiji Tanaka seized his chance to grab onto the silver medal while Takahito Mura’s bronze was (once again) useless - as harsh as it sounds. Shoma wasn’t at his best here but he showed that he learned a new lesson (tag a 3T to a different jump if you screw up one of your planned combos!!) and he came out of this alive and well. The added pressure of having to “live up to expectations” in the absence of Olympic King Zuzu was another thing he suddenly had to put up with (good job Fuji). But there’s an old saying; “better here than at Worlds”.

CONTROVERSIES

While Satoko and Shoma are the tiniest champions Japan has ever had, they’re also the most criticized. They both have to skate under the shadows of two skating giants, Mao and Yuzuru, who have hoards of fans. Among those hoards of fans there are ubers, people who have made a habit out of bashing their favorite skaters’ successors. In Japan there already are Mao ubers whose jobs are to tear Satoko apart and the disease has long spread worldwide. You can see it on forums, you can see it on comment sections of YouTube videos, you can even hear it on television (looking at you Simon Reed). People who write passive-aggressive, sarcastic remarks, calling Satoko names and whatnot. Shoma gets similar (though mellower) treatment from overseas fans, but not from Japanese fans, possibly due to the fact that he’s a Daisuke Takahashi fan so most of Dai’s fans are now supporting him.

These two young skaters (and not only) deserve all the support in the world. It’s not easy to become Japan’s supporting pillar and leading lady after the great Mao Asada, but Satoko is doing an incredible job. Appreciate more, bash less. Don’t let the judges cloud your judgement. There’s also a massive amount of PR in figure skating; Mao has so many sponsors you can see her in commercials, you can see fluff videos about her because that’s what the general audience wants. She’s been advertised as a child prodigy (which she was) and people consider her part of their family. Satoko doesn’t benefit from that kind of treatment so people tend to be cold and judgmental towards her because she’s nothing compared to Mao-chan (oh dear those jumps, oh dear the way she bends her knee, oh dear her face).

Recently Marin Honda has been getting the “heir of Mao” treatment, getting sponsorship from JAL, shooting CMs for Ghana and stuff. I feel like I have to point out the fact that all of her siblings, including herself, are managed by a hugely influential management company. If you’re into Japanese entertainment, you might have heard of it. It’s called Oscar Promotion and it’s a talent agency whose famous names include actresses Emi Takei, Aya Ueto and Ayame Gouriki. She’s been promoted and modeled by a talent agency since she was a young child so she’s an expert at working with the camera, the audience and the reporters. As a result she’s also been gathering - well, pretty scary fans who are downright infatuated with her and will start arguments if you dare criticize her. Similar to idol group fans, I’d say.

But this is figure skating and crack commentaries aside we’re talking about real, young people with feelings who are training every day from dawn till dusk, who get injured, who sacrifice their childhood and adolescence. We’re also talking about real fans behind the computer screen who like who they like and no one person is entitled to criticize or ridicule the things that make them happy. At the same time, no one is entitled to attack fans who criticize your favorite skater(s) as long as they bring valid arguments and they’re polite about it. And no one is entitled to attack another fan whose way of seeing or perceiving things is either more or less intense than yours. Be nice to each other. #PEACE

#Yuzuru Hanyu #Mao Asada #Satoko Miyahara #Shoma Uno #figure skating

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