Chapter 137 - The Sanctuary of Snow

​The silence enveloping the massive concrete structures of the Capital Indoor Stadium during the opening bars of Aibek's free program was not the ordinary void of an expectant crowd, but a heavy, contained, and collective force. The thousands of Chinese spectators—accustomed by tradition to the milimetric precision, disciplined looseness, and almost military rigidity of the Tokyo delegation—suddenly found themselves beholding a narrative on the ice that escaped any established technical manual. Upon the vastness of the frozen rink, the brunette was not competing in the strict sense of the word; he was floating in a purely individual dimension, a limbo of emotional disconnection and deep depression where his body moved out of inertia and muscle memory. He was completely oblivious to the scrutinizing gazes of the judges, to the evident remorse Venka carried at the coaches' barrier, or to Jake's violet, hurtful actions, who watched him from afar with his heart in his hand.