[Wei Yong] Looking for Lilia

All right.Yuuri thought.Despite trying to tell myself to take a deep breath, I still felt short of breath.

He walked in the direction where the other candidates were gathered, and felt the eccentric young man's eager gaze on his back, which made him shiver.

When he was less than ten meters away from the end of the corridor, he stopped. The boy closest to him had a shawl of white hair.He's leaning against the wall two or three meters to Yuuri's left, looking terribly bored—he takes a look at Yuuri when Yuuri stops and decides to pretend to be a piece of wood right here.

It wasn't just him—Yuuri noticed that when he stopped, almost everyone cast an inquiring gaze, more than 30 pairs of curious eyes scanned him deeply and shallowly, and everyone seemed to be hesitating for something.Everyone was waiting for the others to speak, and while they were watching Yuuri, Yuuri was watching them too - he was surprised to find that he was far from the oldest of them, several of them looked at least 35 years old up.

"Hey," the white-haired boy said, he raised his chin in a way popular among teenagers nowadays, "what's your name?"

"Yuuri. Katsuki Yuuri," Yuuri said, and the boy's tone of voice was contemptuous, and he wasn't sure if he should be offended by it—he didn't like the boy a little, that's for sure, and he couldn't say why, "What about you? "

As if waiting for him to ask, the boy puffed out his chest proudly, "My name is Victor." He said triumphantly, "Cool, isn't it? You can call me Vic."

"..." Yuuri didn't know how to answer him, let alone "Vic", "That name...is pretty good," he could only say.

"I know," the boy said, "I made it myself, from, you know." He shrugged in a gesture that reminded Yuuri for a moment of how people mentioned Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies .He couldn't help but bewildered.

"Who?"

The boy — Yuuri mentally decides to call him Tom, because he has a broad nose, which makes him look like a "Tom" — looks surprised, so surprised that he doesn't even Forgot his slow way of speaking. "Friend," he said, "are you a millennial? Or," he looked Yuuri over, "are you too young? Never heard of Viktor Nikiforov?"

"Ah, he," Yuuri said, a little bit of a laugh at that moment, he suddenly understood why he had an unconscious dislike for "Tom", he looked like he was deliberately imitating Victor - the original Victor himself, He also has long hair and a simple turtleneck, but he doesn't look like Victor at all, his hair is too gray and dull, his shoulders are too narrow, and when he talks, he sounds very Gentle, but there is no kindness in his eyes. "I've heard of it," he said solemnly.

"Tom" was disappointed by his reaction. "Freak." He mumbled, turned and walked away, ignoring him.Just when Yuuri wanted to be quiet for a while, another boy walked up and touched Yuuri's arm.

"Hey honey," he says, he's tall and slender, and when he talks, he has a signal light in his eye that reminds Yuuri of a chattering cheerleader, and sure enough, he can't wait He said, "The person who came with you—the tall one, who is he?"

"Which one is tall?" Yuuri played dumb, "You mean Chris? We don't know each other well."

The boy let out a sharp smirk, "You're funny!" he said, patting Yuuri's arm, making Yuuri's skin crawl, "Not Giacometti, who doesn't know Giacometti Huh? I mean, the one that looks cool, the one in the casual jacket…" He reaches out affectionately, trying to wrap his arm around Yuuri's, and Yuuri takes a quick step to the right—he's not used to being with him. close contact with people.

"He's so handsome! Do you know him?" As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if by magic, the hallway fell silent, everyone pricked up their ears, and Yuuri noticed their expressions in surprise, "He is you Boyfriend?"

"Absolutely not!" Yuuri says, "He...he's Chris's friend, and I don't know him." He lied.

"Well—" the tall boy said, "Yeah, that makes a lot more sense—not personally, dear." He added right away, smoothing Yuuri's hair affectionately, "Then you know…" He lowered his voice, and the corridor became quieter, "Is he 'that person'?"

"Who?" Yuuri asked, but he already had the answer in his mind, and before he was called "freak" for the second time, he pretended to be enlightened and said, "Oh! You said Viktor Nikiforov— Probably not, I heard Chris call him 'Ivan'."

"Ho," said the boy, looking disappointed, but he tried to hide it, and so were the people behind him, "Yeah, yeah, how could 'that gentleman' come to such a small place—as if Every Russian you know is named Ivan, isn't it?" He pulls himself together and cracks a joke, but it's clear Yuuri isn't interested anymore - which Yuuri finds very interesting.

"Do you know anyone else named Ivan?" he asked, and the boy waved his hand distractedly.

"Get on Twitter, honey, get on Twitter!" he yelled impatiently, "they say the murderer no one can catch is called Ivan, a pregnant woman who overheard him on the phone said— Of course, she didn't know he was a notorious murderer at the time, so she didn't look closely at his face, she was lucky, wasn't she?"

Yuuri suddenly regretted teasing him a little bit - hearing the news of this murderer again made him feel a little irritable.The boy walks away, and he walks back to his friends, who can't wait to talk about Viktor - who he is, what he does, how charming he is when he smiles - and no one bothers Yuuri and his cleanliness anymore .

So the dull heartbeat came back, like his heart was covered with a thick layer of butter, he was not nervous enough because he hadn't reacted yet, but his body was the first to realize what happened : Eight years, eight years since the last time he called himself a dancer, and Yuuri Katsuki is standing here, about to audition for a nationally renowned dance troupe—this morning, it all sounds like It's something out of the Arabian Nights, but it's happening now.

What if he just walked away and went to the coffee shop and called Victor to leave now?Victor and Yang seemed to be on good terms, and didn't seem to need Yong to use such clumsy methods to get close to her, and Leroy - who seemed like a very active, very outdoorsy guy, a bit domineering - — Yuuri felt that even if he somehow chose, it would be difficult for him to make this kind of person like him.

But he just didn't put his thoughts into action for a long time. Instead, he just stood there, watching one candidate after another being called into the rehearsal room and leaving—some stayed longer, but more just Within 5 minutes of entering, he was pushed out by Yang's bright red nail polish hand. Yuuri felt that he must be one of these people, and couldn't help feeling even more frustrated and nervous, but he still didn't leave.

It is shameful to be a deserter.He said to himself that knowing that he likes to retreat is why he always pushes himself to face situations outside his "comfort zone", but all this - this is too far outside his "comfort zone" , he had 1 reasons to run away without being condemned by his pride, but he still stood there, waiting for the shout of "Number 49".

Here's the thing: he can't lie to himself anymore and say he's "let it go," he hasn't, not even a day, because the day before the accident, he was training for the show, his first and only The first time he played a starring role—it was like, he was still practicing hard the day before, and when he returned home, his feet hurt like he didn’t own them. , all of this was judged to be a complete past, he had to say goodbye to what he loved, and he couldn't even mourn for it, because if his grief was too obvious, those who cared about him, those who were willing to pay for him Everything, but people who can't do anything at this time, his parents, teachers, sisters, friends, and... Victor, what will happen to them?For them, he also wanted to bury this grief, and only silently mourned for it in the dead of night.He's been doing this for so long, he's managed to convince everyone, even himself, even Victor, that they've all—maybe Victor hasn't quite—convinced that he doesn't care anymore, but inside of him Deep down, he knew he always wanted a formal and grand farewell.

His dreams, his past, the fragile and sacred connection between him and Victor, everything he has entrusted and believed in.

He wanted a "termination," and he needed a "termination."

So he didn't leave.The number of people in the corridor gradually decreased, and soon there were only a dozen boys waiting with Yuuri, and after a while, like in the blink of an eye, Yuuri was the only one left in the corridor.

"Number 49," Yang said as the door opened, and her eyes fell on Yuuri. "Come with me."

This is the last chance—if you escape.

Yuuri straightened his back and walked towards her.

His palms were sweating.He felt like a fountain was sweating all over his body.

He stood in the center of the spacious rehearsal room, the lights above his head were bright, except for one side of the window where the curtains were drawn tightly, the other three walls were covered with mirrors, making the rehearsal room look like the sun standing at noon It's as bright as the bottom.There was a row of tables in the rehearsal room, and Yang, Chris, and a man he didn't know were sitting there, and Yuuri immediately recognized him as the Jean Leroy.He looked even more difficult than on the poster, with his strong arms folded tightly across his chest and his eyebrows raised high.Over their heads, Yuuri can see himself in the mirror—his face looks silly.

God, god, god.His stomach twisted into a ball.Chris smiled at him, and he forced the corners of his mouth back into a smile that looked like he was crying.

Yang apparently noticed too. "Don't be nervous," she said. "It's just the three of us here—you know Chris. This is Jean. My name is Elizabeth. How about you?"

She sounded nice, but because of her looks, Yuuri felt like the kind of fool who purposely went to American Idol to sing off key to show off, and he got even more nervous.

"My, uh...my name is Yuuri," he says, starting to wonder what he's doing here, why he's not spending June in the dorm bragging with his friends and eating discounted ice cream from Phichit instead Stand here and make a fool of yourself. "I... I'm not here for an interview."

Hearing this, the three judges reacted in varying degrees of surprise: Chris' pen fell under the table, Yang opened his mouth, and Leroy raised his eyebrows.

"Then what are you here for, to participate?" he asked, sounding unhappy.

"I..." Yuuri swallowed, "I want to ask you about someone, I don't know if you'd be willing to tell me..."

Chris laughed, and Yuuri's face burned like fire.Yang also hugged his arms.

"Who?" she asked, not sounding offended.

"Lilia," Yuuri said, "Lilia Baranovskaya."

Leroy let out a mocking snort, but Yang ignored him.

"What do you want her for?" she asked.Yuuri opened his mouth, not knowing where to start - in the first place, the reason he was on this journey was because Victor asked for his help, but somehow, gradually, he forgot about "helping Victor" , finding Lilia became something he wanted to do from the bottom of his heart, and what he experienced on the trip made this trip extra precious and special-he was very sure that he would never do it again. With such an opportunity, working hard for the same thing with Victor, there will be no more, perhaps it is for this reason that he wants to draw it to a successful conclusion.

"She—she's a legend," Yuuri said, "I want to see her with my own eyes." It's such a flimsy reason, and if everyone came to the door with that reason, Lillia's house would be like Disneyland It was just as lively, and sure enough, Leroy sneered.

Yang looked surprised, "She is a legend in your heart? How old are you?"

Yuuri couldn't figure out what it really mattered how old he was. "I'm 23," he replied, and Yang looked even more surprised.

"23, you're only 23...you sound like a 40-year-old..." She muttered, and asked another question, "What's your relationship with Victor?"

Yuuri looks at her, feeling even more overwhelmed—Yang looks interested, and he has a gut feeling that the question can't be fooled, but it seems perfectly understandable: how can anyone wonder why someone like Victor would look like him? The relationship is good, even he himself wonders.

"He...he's my school teacher." Yuuri said, choosing the safest answer, and now Chris couldn't sit still, he snapped his ballpoint pen, attracting the attention of the other two.

"Is the pen broken, Chris?" Yang said, "If it's broken, go ask Xiao Nan to get you a new one—if he hasn't eaten yet, what am I talking about?" She suddenly thought of something, glanced at Yuuri glanced, "He must not have left, he might be lying on the crack of the door." There was a loud noise outside the door, as if someone fell down.Leroy laughed out loud, and when he smiled, the ferocity on his face was diluted, and he looked very cheerful, and when he found Yuuri looking at him, he immediately put on a straight face.

Yang Qing cleared his throat. "Except for the teacher?" she asked. "I've known Victor for a long time, and he's not the type to go on private trips with students."

Yuuri's throat tightens, as if Yang is trying to force him to admit that he and Viktor are very close, and he doesn't want to sound like the kind of person who clings to a bank just to get a role, "It's gone," he says , and prayed that Victor hadn't told Chris in detail about their relationship.

"Hey." Yang said, touching the earring thoughtfully, "Okay," she accepted the answer noncommittally, "then..." At this moment, Chris leaned into her ear and said something, Yuuri was so nervous that his heart felt like it was going to jump out, could he be piercing himself? "You—" Yang said in surprise, "You are that boy on Youtube who dances when he drinks too much?"

Thanks, Chris.Yuuri glanced at Chris full of resentment, and the latter waved his hand, "You don't need to be too grateful!"

"I am," Yuuri said, his face burning, "but I...I don't remember most of them, and I didn't make those videos myself. I drank too much."

"Obviously." Yang said, staring at the phone, the sound of tap dancing came from the speaker, the music was a bit familiar, in addition to the cheers, there seemed to be Chris shouting excitedly in the background, and Yuuri's own voice: "Give me some Music!" "If you took this yourself...then you're the worst person in the world to find an angle."

Yuuri blushed up to his neck.Yang and Chris put their heads together and watched the video with relish.Leroy looked eager to join them, or fidgeted about the scene where his ex-girlfriend and another man put their heads together and made out, and he and Yuuri looked at each other awkwardly, and after a while, he said nothing : "Do you like rock and roll?"

"Uh, of course?" Yuuri said, Leroy's eyes lit up, and just as he was about to start asking Yuuri what bands he likes, Young sat up straight.

"Your videos are quite famous on Youtube." Yang said, "I have a question, you dance so well, why don't you become a professional dancer?"

I didn't seem to say that I'm not a professional... Yuuri thought vaguely, and then it occurred to him that it wasn't a secret that Viktor gave up his career to teach.

"I was in a car accident when I was a kid," Yuuri said. "I hurt my leg."

Yang let out an "ah", showing regret, and Leroy shook his body from side to side, as if he was a little uncomfortable.

"Are you recovered now?" she asked.

"I can walk and run and jump normally," Yuuri replied, "but I'm in ballet—it's hard to do big jumps and lifts, so…"

Yang let out another "ah".

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's a good thing the character doesn't have that much—so here it goes, okay? I'll play a piece of music, and you can dance to whatever you want, just like in the video."

"Would you like a drink?" Chris asked.Yuuri shook his head, suddenly there was no blood on his face.

He's going to dance—for the first time in eight years, in his sober state, can he do it?