I've got to land this.
I've got to land this!
I refuse to accept that I just can't do it!
I won't give up. I'm going to land this!
LAKE SUWA
Feeling good? No aches or pains?
No, I'm perfect.
Then shall we go?
Yes!
- Ouch. - Coach...
I'm okay.
It's not my injury.
It's just because it's a bit cramped in the car.
I guess that's because your legs are about five meters long, right?
Do you think I'm some kind of monster?
Wow.
The morning sunshine is so sparkly.
We made our leap to Niigata Prefecture!
We made it!
HOT PASSION
ICE ARENA
One of the letters has fallen off.
You don't see many ice skating rinks that feel this old, huh?
Maybe it was some kind of old facility, and then they added an ice skating rink.
Good morning.
Coach Uobuchi!
Thank you for saying you'd help us today!
Thank you for making the trip from so far away.
I'm going to reel you in today!
He gives off such reassuring vibes.
We should be thanking him for coming all this way from another world.
A private booking? All for me?
Yes. It's way cheaper than in Nagoya, so...
Wow!
It's the first time I've ever had the whole rink to myself!
Are you ready?
All right then, turn around.
Yes. Thanks.
Inori?
You came with Tsukasa by car today, right? Was it a lot of fun?
Yes, it was so fun!
I see. And did you get enough sleep?
Yes! You can put the back seats down completely, so it was like a bed.
But Coach is kind of big, so I think he was a bit uncomfortable.
Instead of getting her to jump straightaway,
Coach Uobuchi's chatting with her to help her relax.
Having a harness on kinda feels like wearing a seat belt.
First, let's start with your best one, the Salchow.
Whenever you're ready. I'm watching you.
Yes!
Salchows are my specialty. My favorite jump.
Breathe out and stay calm.
I only meant a single Salchow.
Oh, really?
I want to show off how amazing she is
- in a great kid competition! - Great!
Okay, next we need to work on your problem jump, the Lutz.
Okay!
The Lutz...
We came all the way to Niigata
just so she could land a triple on this jump again.
Yep, Coach Tsukasa. Your turn.
What?
When I watched the video you sent me, I could see the problem.
But if you want her to be ready for the championship,
using the harness consistently is a must.
I'll teach you how to use the harness while I coach Inori,
so it's your turn to reel her in, please.
Got it.
I'll go and get ready.
Coach.
Coach Uobuchi,
Coach Tsukasa cracked a bone from using the harness.
It might still be hurting.
I know.
But there's no formal training for using the harness.
You just have to take the risk and get used to it by trial and error.
It's unfortunate he had an accident, but cracking a rib happens quite often.
Quite often...
Even if it hurts, we really need him to give it a go.
Besides, even if I hadn't asked him,
I'm pretty sure he'd want to try again anyway.
Thanks for waiting.
Let's go, Miss Inori!
Coach Tsukasa understands the risks. He can handle it.
Okay.
Jumps that cover a lot of distance are difficult with the harness,
since the horizontal force makes it difficult
to form your axis.
Accidents happen when you try to control it with too much force.
On the other hand,
high jumps that launch straight upward make it easier to form an axis
and produce stable rotation.
Coach Tsukasa, whenever you feel a pull,
you need to adjust to the skater's movements straight away.
Inori, aim to make your jumps as high as possible.
- Miss Inori. - Yes?
You might not trust me,
but lifting people up is my specialty because I used to do ice dance.
So when you jump, I want you to go for it without hesitation.
Okay!
If I fall again now, it'll startle her.
There's no way I'm gonna fall now. Absolutely no way!
I can't let Coach Tsukasa fall down!
I'll jump high, jump perfectly, jump high. Up and up.
- Coach, I'm going! - Go for it!
Your double Lutz was amazing.
The two of you are perfectly in sync.
Now that I'm watching again,
it looks like the reason you can't land the triple Lutz
is because you stop tightening your body.
Tightening my body?
The important things for performing jumps are...
keeping your body tight when you push off for a jump.
And then opening your body to stop the rotation so you can land.
Tightening your body helps establish a rotational axis in midair,
but you seem to be loosening up right before you take off.
This causes the jump to veer off course and prevents proper rotation.
I wonder if you're holding back because you're afraid of hurting yourself.
I'll help her jump one more time, so watch closely, please.
Okay.
Whenever you're ready.
Okay, I'm going for it!
A triple Lutz!
I had to lift you a lot just then.
It will probably take some time to nail the triple without a harness.
Try to remember the position that I guided you into with the harness.
By aiming for that spot, you should naturally be able
to feel whether you're tightening your body too early or late.
I want to give you some lifting tips as well.
When you get back to Nagoya,
I want you to keep using the harness to practice jumps with the correct form.
Okay.
Whatever caused you to stop being able to jump,
what's important now is technique.
The way to correct a bad habit is through repetition.
Coach Tsukasa, if you use the harness correctly,
and Inori, if you keep being mindful of the issue,
you should be able to fix this properly.
Let's get it ready in time for All-Japans.
Thank you!
Brilliant.
I was only aiming to fix her double Lutz,
but landing the triple would be a big scoring advantage,
additional points included.
I'm so glad we came all this way.
Coach, can I suggest a slightly different approach to jumping?
A different approach? I suppose it's no problem.
Thank you.
Inori, will you copy me?
Oh, okay.
Just before you jump, you bring your arm up like this, right?
Yes.
I'm going to adjust the position of this arm slightly.
Instead of here, bring it higher, up here.
If I do that, won't I swing about too much?
This is the type of jump that benefits from a lot of swinging.
Let's try the Salchow, since that's your area of expertise.
That's different to the way I taught her to jump.
I'm curious how it will turn out.
When you swing your arm up, make sure your body doesn't lean forward.
- Okay! - Okay, go for it.
Okay!
A big swing with my arm,
and jump straight up!
I'm going so fast I can't see anything!
I have no idea which way I'm launching myself!
This is terrifying.
Look. This is how you do a quadruple jump.
A quadruple jump?
I've been curious about this.
The Lutz is tricky.
Even if you don't fall,
judges often deduct points depending on how you use your blades.
So why try to earn points with a Lutz?
It seems more logical to go for one extra rotation on the Salchow instead.
A quadruple jump.
I hadn't even considered it as an option.
Inori already has the precision in her step
and the rotational speed needed for a quad.
That's probably thanks to Coach Tsukasa's ice dance-based training.
You can choose.
There's one hour left for me to teach you something.
We can focus on landing the triple Lutz or aim for learning the quadruple Salchow.
Which jump would you like to do?
- A quadruple... - A quadruple...
A quadruple Salchow would score 9.7 points.
It's more than Kamisaki's triple Axel, which scores eight points.
Combined with other additional points,
even a double Lutz could close the 20-point gap.
But...
With so little time left,
and no guarantee I can use it in the championship,
is it really a good idea to attempt such a jump now?
At least I've landed the triple Lutz before.
Surely the first priority should be trying to land that jump...
But...
Miss Inori...
This is a decision I need to make on my own, isn't it?
That's what you told me before.
Yes.
Could you explain what would happen depending on which one I choose?
Like you did for the Meikoh Cup.
That's right.
Miss Inori is a skater competing at All-Japans.
She's a skater who will be going up against Hikaru Kamisaki.
Okay.
Is Coach Uobuchi still in a lesson?
That's Tsukasa.
Good morning.
I haven't seen him before.
Is that someone you know?
Yeah, someone I know very well.
This is important,
so don't hesitate to ask as many times as you need if something isn't clear.
Okay.
Whichever option you choose, my goal is to help you win.
Yep.
Coach Uobuchi, Coach Tsukasa,
please help me learn the quadruple Salchow.
I'll go over the key points,
and we'll take turns to lift her with the harness.
Got it.
As I said before, for a quadruple,
the focus should be on jumping straight up and spinning faster.
The key to this is the timing of the two actions:
tightening your body and then opening it.
Timing.
Yes. Let's start with when to tighten your body.
Essentially, tightening is about gathering up the power within your body.
Your approach gives you momentum,
and the way you twist your upper body creates a rotational axis.
When these two forces peak, you tighten your body
and focus the energy into your axis to complete the quadruple jump.
It only takes an instant,
but if you don't tighten at the correct moment,
you can't reach the rotational speed required.
I understand.
Channel the energy from my approach and twist...
Miss Inori.
You tightened your body at the right moment,
but you released it too early.
You have to maintain your rotational posture
right to the last moment, or you won't complete the spin.
I'm sure I knew that,
so why can't I control my body?
It seems that when people fall from high up,
their instinct is to open up their bodies.
And when the landing gets near,
your body instinctively moves into the landing position.
That said, if you land on the ice while staying in the jumping posture,
it increases the risk of injury.
You need the focus to tighten at the perfect moment
and the courage to open your body just before landing.
Without both of those things, you won't land a quadruple jump.
Both...
You need some markers.
Coach Uobuchi and I will make sure you don't get hurt.
So do it again and again until we run out of time.
Through your successes and failures,
you can find the markers that tell you the correct timing for the jump.
Okay!
It's all moving too quickly to grasp anything.
I can't pick out any markers.
There are only 15 minutes left.
What was I thinking trying to do a quadruple?
I gotta jump!
Don't go treating this challenge like it's something special!
I gotta jump! I gotta jump! I gotta jump! I gotta jump!
If not now, then never!
I refuse to accept that I just can't do it!
I won't give up. I've got to land this. I've got to land this!
I refuse to accept that I just can't do it!
I've just got to land it! Please, please, let me land it.
I won't give up. I'm going to land this!
Please. Please!
Somehow...
Why...
Miss Inori...
...if you want it too much, it won't work.
Coach.
This isn't a magic jump you can master by wishing for it enough.
Throwing yourself at it isn't what you need right now.
But...
What was going through your mind just then?
I just kept thinking, "I've got to land this."
So now, can you try thinking,
"I'm going to show you what a quadruple jump looks like"?
Like which muscles engage when you push off into the jump,
and how fast the light whizzes by.
How fast the light whizzes...
When you turn, when you land,
what kind of wind brushes against your cheeks.
Don't jump for success, jump to discover as much as possible.
The key to control is how keenly you sense all the little details
of the world around you.
Focus.
This rink is slightly colder than the one in Osu,
and the ice is harder.
Check the speed,
the pitch of the sound you make on the ice,
the rhythm of your heartbeat.
Your grip, the tension in your body, the way you bend your thumb.
The weight of the wind that falls on your cheek,
the speed of the light that flashes by.
Focus and use the tiny details you sense on your skin as your reference.
Find the perfect instant when everything aligns.
Aim...
for the light.
Aim...
Hang in there! Hang in there! Hang in there!
Open!
That was your first successful landing. Well done.
A quadruple jump.
Yes. A quadruple Salchow. You did it.
Miss Inori...
- Wow! - Wow!
- That was amazing! - Do it again!
- Wow! - You shouldn't be in here!
They're in the middle of a lesson!
What?
Hey.
Kohei...
ALL-JAPANS FIGURE
Translated by Daisy Savage