She was always there. Whether it was in the front during his performances, the line outside the rink, during press conferences, she was there. Sure, there were other reporters, but she always stood out.

Whenever he saw her, her eyes were watery. Every single time.

He wanted to know why.

Sometimes he reasoned that she teared up at the sight of talent, the performance of perfection. Or that watching the performances created nostalgia. Or maybe she was having a bad day.

But every time? That didn’t make sense.

He tried to find the place and time to ask, but his ice skating duties always called him far away. He was always moving on to the next thing on the schedule.

Finally, at Soshi, he had no obligations. It was the Ladies' Free Skate. He saw her in the front, dabbing at her eyes with a sleeve.

“I'll be right back,” he said to Jason Brown, before leaving his seat and walking down. “Excuse me?”

She turned. He offered the tissue in his hand. “Your eyes.”

She laughed. “Thank you.” She took the tissue and wiped them.

“I'm sorry if it's too rude to ask, but why are you always crying?”

She gave a startled look, then laughed. “Hah! Sorry honey, it's because of my eye drops. I always forget to take my allergy medicine on ice skating competition days, I get too excited.”

He felt foolish. All this time, he thought those tears had been due to some emotion-but nope, it was something a trivial, a physical reflex. 

“Say, aren’t you Yuzuru Hanyu?” Her smile grew wider. “Congratulations on your gold medal! I always love your performances, it reminds me of the other great giants we had in skating. Your expressions always make me smile and distract me if I’m having a bad day.”

Or maybe he wasn’t that wrong after all.