Evening settled over the Shibuya district, weaving a blanket of purplish shadows that reflected in the sleet puddles along the asphalt. Following the conclusion of the official run-throughs with music, the Capital Indoor Arena began to empty of delegations and technical staff, sinking into that floating gloom that precedes major athletic battles. For Aibek, the end of practice had brought no return to calm, but rather the return of that extreme, depressed shyness that forced him to withdraw into himself the moment the lights over the frozen oval dimmed.
