Apparently the trains to Hasetsu aren't running until the day after tomorrow because of the snowstorm that had just passed. There's no signal, either, so no means of contacting Katsudon's place or back home, too, until then.

And just like that, Yuri is now stranded in some rural Japanese area that wasn't Hasetsu.

For now, he's staying at a run-down shrine managed by the lone priest. His silent granddaugter, the resident miko, had just finished performing a traditional purification dance when he'd arrived. They briefly make eye contact as she gathers up the fan and bells she'd used during the ceremony. She quickly averts her eyes and gives a low bow before retreating into the shrine interior.

Over dinner, the old man tells him stories of native myths and local folklore, slipping back into Japanese more often as the hours passed. The young skater is reminded of his own dedushka when he's had a bit too much to drink.

That night, Yuri wakes up to a certain familiar piano melody being played from the far end of the courtyard. He goes out to check, and is surprised to find the reserved miko leaping and twirling to Allegro Appassionato in B Minor playing from a small speaker on the ledge.

Yuri Plisetsky was not expecting a shrine maiden, of all people, to be dancing to his free skate music.

A little rough around the edges, he notes, and none of the refined finesse she had while doing the shrine dance. More impulsive than graceful, but that can be fixed. Lilia's assessments must be starting to rub off on him somehow.

As soon as she sees him, however, she hastily pulls at the little device, effectively cutting off the music mid-crescendo. Awkward silence ensues as the thing unceremoniously crashes onto the stone pavement. Yuri could only stare as she collects the broken gadget, her lower lip quivering in half guilt and half fear.

"I actually want to study ballet," she says haltingly in English after a long while. "Please... don't tell my grandfather."