The Canadian delegation's night flight landed at Haneda International Airport under an overcast sky that threatened to shower Tokyo in sleet. For Jake Jayden Brown, the twelve-hour trek across the Pacific had been a torture of silent inertia—an inner monologue of remorse that hadn't dissipated for a single second. Crossing the jet bridge in his official crimson jacket, the chestnut-haired skater paid no attention to the flurry of local photographers or the murmur of ISU officials waiting to coordinate technical transfers. His violet gaze was locked on a single target: the federation clinic in Shibuya.
He carried Aibek's letter folded inside his left breast pocket, directly over his heart, feeling the brush of the crumpled paper as a constant reminder of his own immaturity in Beijing. Noticing that the Quebec delegation's head coach had stopped to coordinate luggage with the assistants, Jake quickened his pace, bypassing the Canadian security cordons entirely.
