Ilya Malinin

A sharp blow against the ice - Bean even seemed to hear the cracking of his bones, hoping that it was just a sound.

It all started with a routine practice. Petya, sleep-deprived and reluctant to leave his room, nevertheless fastened his dark laces and stepped onto the ice. He didn't care about anyone else except the fair-haired Ilya Malinin: he radiated confidence, jumped boldly and made almost no mistakes. Even after his Olympic failure, where anxiety had forced him to finish only eighth, Ilya now looked as polished as a robot. Petya watched and fumed.

Ilya attempted his first quadruple axel during practice: a clean entry, a push, and a smooth landing. This infuriated Petya—he had accelerated for his own quadruple flip, but too quickly. A twist, a push, a loss of balance, and a terrifying impact with the hard ice. For a moment, Petya seemed to lose consciousness: his head was empty, his ears were ringing.

Ilya, stretching his neck after the jump, heard a crack and immediately went to the fallen man. He dropped to his knees, shook Petr's shoulder, and asked in a slightly accented voice, "Hey? Are you okay? Open your eyes." The other skaters were calling for their coaches, and the neutral skater, blinking, slowly looked at Malinin, hardly realizing who stood before him.