Medalist (2025) s01e12 Episode Script

1
In the entire world,
I only hate two things
and those are cockroaches and Jun Yodaka.
If I had to choose
between a roach smoothie
or going to buy cigarettes for Jun Yodaka,
I'd take the smoothie every time.
Jun would probably run his own
errands if he saw Rioh like this.
Well, I think I see the issue.
You're angry that he made it look so easy.
I think you resent him so much
because you admire him so strongly.
Admire him?
I…
-Um, hey. Wait, what are…
-Now, you just hold on tight!
Coach Hitomi!
Hey, look who's back.
Heya.
Can we play his song?
Do we still have time?
What is going on here?
Yeah, sure thing. We skipped his turn,
so he can go twice.
Well, good.
Because before he goes,
I would like to skate it once.
SHIRONE'S LESSON
Hold up. What's going on?
Um, Coach Tsukasa's skating?
But, like, I didn't hear why.
I guess it's like a lesson for Rioh.
Lucky duck.
Watch and learn. That's my Tsukasa.
For real, what the hell is going on here?
Does he even know my choreo?
Most likely, yeah.
He usually only needs to see
a dance once to have it memorized.
Here we go.
His crossover is quick!
He reaches top speed crazy fast.
- Wow.
- Whoa.
Aw, I can't skate like that anymore.
Am I hallucinating,
or is he, like, super hot right now?
I had no idea he was this good.
He is good.
He's much better than I expected,
but that's not the shocking part.
Aside from the absence of any jumps,
his skating is exactly like Jun Yodaka's!
Look at that spin.
How is he speeding up?
Smooth, quick, detail-oriented…
His blades lean so far
they catch the lights.
His long limbs cut through the air
so gracefully.
It's beautiful. Magical…
Breathtaking. I love my coach.
Even his fingertips are expressive.
He's so relaxed
but his rhythm is energizing.
He's accelerating
inside the step sequence?
I didn't know you could do that.
Every step and turn
is so deliberate. It's beautiful.
When it comes to pure skating,
he may be better than Jun Yodaka.
Right here is where Rioh
went for the triple Salchow.
And this choreography was probably
meant for jumping, so…
Do or die.
Whoa!
He fell there,
so I'm not positive what comes next.
But Coach Sonidori would probably
follow that jump with a set of turns…
A flying camel spin!
But that's where I fell.
How does he know my choreography?
That takes me back.
Tsukasa has such long legs,
we always added a camel spin
in our routines to really highlight them.
He's good, right? Right? Isn't he good?
I…
Ice dancing can be an awful lot
like running a three-legged race on ice.
You have to be perfectly in sync
or you'll fall.
And if there's a difference
in skill level,
you can't even perform
basic steps together.
Coach Tsukasa may have started late,
but he never gave up on bettering
his skills and expanding his talents.
He would sooner die
than let an opportunity pass him by.
He wanted to find his place on the ice,
and take it.
And he succeeded. That tenacity
is what got him to the All-Japans.
He had a thirst for the rink
like no one else.
He accomplished something really amazing
in ice dance.
Wow!
We're out of time.
We have to resurface the ice!
Sorry, everyone.
- Let's get to work, okay?
- What?
Come get a bucket!
Scoops are first come, first served.
- Okay.
- Um, right…
Good work! You all got enough ice?
Double-check where you made
all your good jumps today.
The resurfacer won't get
those deep toe pick scars!
Coach Tsukasa is pretty awesome?
Yeah, I wanna see it again.
Hey, you guys still got ice?
What do you think?
Isn't Coach Tsukasa an amazing dancer?
Well, I only think people who can jump
are amazing, so, whatever.
Really?
Rioh, you thought he was good, didn't you?
You looked totally spellbound by him.
DETERMINED TO MAKE HIM SAY SO
Why are you so loud?
Heya, Coach,
do you mind if I take this bucket away?
No, go on ahead.
Hey, gang!
They're coming in with the machine!
Time to get off the ice!
- Okay!
- Thank you!
Better go.
Bath time? What do you think?
TRAINING CAMP GOALS
NAME: RIOH SONIDORI
Good morning.
Thanks for opening up for us.
Bright and early today as usual.
Yeah, sorry. Never enough hours
in the day, you know.
Good morning, Coach.
Hey there, Rioh.
Um, you won't be able to get on the ice
for, like, another hour at least.
I know.
But I was hoping to catch you before camp.
Figured you'd get here before anyone else.
Here's this.
Hey, hold your head up.
Wait, actually, never mind.
Will you put it back down?
Whoa! Come on, Coach.
You gotta keep professional.
You know that.
But I can't! It's so hard when
I got such a great student right here!
MAIN GOAL
SUCCEED TRIPLE-DOUBLE COMBO
Well done. Thank you, Rioh.
Either way, I'm looking forward to
the rest of camp with you.
Thank you for all your help.
Did his tire blow out?
Hey, are you all right?
Yep! All good over here.
Don't worry, this isn't even my car!
How does that make it okay?
-Hey!
-Hey!
Dude, thank you so much for being here.
Are you kidding? Anything for you.
This place
is way the heck out here though.
Sorry, but you need to leave.
Whoa! Hold on, now. No, he doesn't.
We don't need some drifter hanging around.
What a read.
What? I'm right.
No way. I invited him.
He's a special guest coach
who's here to lead our class today.
This guy's a coach?
Name's Kohaku Shirone!
But feel free to just call me Shiro!
Coach!
Good morning, Coach Tsukasa!
Whoa, who's the greasy-looking punk?
Morning, you two!
Let part two of our training intensive…
…begin!
Mittens, are you done?
Okay, on three. One, two, three!
My gosh, we look so cute!
Ballet has long been a secret weapon
for skating.
It can help you build
a super solid foundation.
And so today, we have a guest ballet coach
visiting from Nagoya.
I'm Shirone! Glad to meet you.
Coach Shirone is a really seasoned dancer
who's won a bunch of different
championships all across the country.
Really? I thought he was, like, a punk
from the back streets.
What are the back streets?
Coach Tsukasa!
Thanks a lot, buddy.
How'd it go out there?
Well, could have been easier.
He was super pissed.
He couldn't believe you'd been driving it
on the highway in the first place.
Seriously?
That's hilarious!
But aren't you the one who drove it here?
Yeah. But Tsukasa took the fall for me,
so what do I care?
All right! Now who's ready
to get warmed up?
First off, we'll roll our wrists
and ankles, and bend forwards.
Whoa, he's bent so crazy!
I mean, a lot of people can do that.
Wait. Does that mean
you've done ballet before?
A ballet teacher comes out to our club
once a week,
but every other day for me and Hikaru.
Mittens, have you?
I started 'cause they said
it would be good for skating.
But it was frickin' boring, so I quit.
O-
Now let's get you en bas!
You'll hold your arms down like this.
Imagine a fist under your armpits,
and keep those ballet fingers
nice and elongated!
Stretch 'em out all the way to the nails!
What, like this?
Next is en avant!
Imagine you're holding
a ball in front of you.
Palms in towards your tummy!-…
À la seconde.
En haut.
Tendu.
Retiré!
All righty! Now let's
put it all together with music.
Put it to music?
I can't remember all of that.
I'm already lost.
He's moving too fast.
How can they all just do it?
What's her deal?
Why is she staring at me?
What's wrong?
It's totally fine if you got lost.
Okay!
Take a five-minute break, and then
we'll gather back up for a center lesson!
Inori.
Who cares if you can't do it?
You can already do
a triple jump just fine.
-You don't need ballet at all.
-I don't?
You're that uninterested?
Do you even know
why we do this in the first place?
I don't care why.
Ballet sucks!
Like, what's even the point of flapping
our arms and legs around like this?
It's stupid.
You know he can hear you, Mittens.
Okay, stop pulling.
Did something happen?
I don't know what I'm doing, Coach.
These kids are eating me alive!
Yeah?
But you're so chipper.
Maybe we just switch to
a "ballet is fun" type of thing?
Nah, it's okay. Stick to the plan.
I can, but look at them.
I don't know what to teach these goobers!
It's the stances.
They need to understand
the importance of posture.
Posture!
Okay! I gotcha!
All right, eyes on me.
Three twists? On the floor?
Wow! That was amazing.
Check out these skills!
You see? When I landed, I still had
these fist-sized spaces under my armpits.
Yeah.
Here's the deal.
When you do ballet,
your awareness of your body changes,
and it'll become easier
to control your posture in any situation!
Like during a jump.
Ballet lessons will check
and re-check your stances every day.
Eventually, hitting all those
clean, super-precise angles
will be second nature.
And once all that stuff sinks into
your muscle memory,
your heart can run free!
Then even when you dance expressively,
your posture will stay pretty,
and you're less likely to fall.
What do you think? Cool?
Barre lessons may not be flashy,
but they're crucial for figure skaters.
What did Coach Tsukasa tell him?
Whatever it was, was good.
I didn't choose ballet back then,
and now I'm four years
behind the kids who did.
It makes me feel
like I'm so far behind now.
This is good.
One more thing to start working on.
Hey, Coach? Is it possible
to practice at home?
I wanna do ballet every day!
Now, that's the right attitude.
When a skater first lands a new jump,
that doesn't automatically mean
it's ready to go in their program.
That takes fine-tuning. You need
to be deliberate about when and where
you include the jump in your choreography.
Can you shorten your steps
a little? Try that!
And put your arms out in front of you!
Okay!
My posture starts to crumble
because all I think about is landing.
I need to be more aware of my form,
and get those ballet fingers up!
Well done! That was great!
Super clean landing on that double, Inori!
Now we have everything we need
to ace that level six Badge Test!
We got this!
That ballet lesson really helped?
Maybe I shouldn't have
quit ballet the first time I tried,
but I can't go back in time
and change it now. So why worry?
I just gotta win
with what I know. That'll show 'em!
That will prove I made the right choice!
She just did a triple Salchow!
That's my girl!
I gotta watch the timing
of my pull-in after liftoff.
And remember what
Coach Akeuraji said to me.
Don't think too hard about it.
It's okay to mess up.
Keep trying. No one's gonna stop you.
A triple-double toe loop combo!
That was amazing!
Yeah! He did it!
I can do it too.
See, that wasn't hard! Easy-peasy!
That's right.
- Once you can land a triple, the momentum…
- Whoa.
…actually makes a triple-double combo
pretty simple to pull off.
Coach Tsukasa!
Can I go practice a combo too?
- What?
- I'm gonna do it!
U-…
Well, she didn't nail it
right off the bat…
…but who's keeping score?
Okay! Ten more seconds!
She stuck with
all the mundane strength training…
…and she kept practicing hard.
Hey, I did it!
And she succeeded before camp was over!
Congratulations on making it
to the end of training camp!
And thank your parents
for putting together this barbecue.
Wait! Do you do your hair like that
because you like cats too?
It's more than that.
It's like my whole identity.
That's inspired!
Like, my god! It's art!
You think it's art?
Well, I landed a three-two first.
Which means
my Coach Akeuraji is incredible.
I… You… What are you…
Why is Coach Tsukasa
yours all of a sudden?
That's not fair! He's my coach!
I know, but I landed the combo before you.
That doesn't matter! I had him first!
You don't get to hog him, Rioh!
Hey, kids.
Who wants to light some sparklers?
Whoa, really?
You're such a child,
getting excited over sparklers.
Hey, Rioh, come on!
Let's go light sparklers together!
Yeah, okay! Be right there!
Well, who's the child now, Rioh?
Shut up! It's different.
Throw 'em in this bucket
when they burn out, okay?
Okay!
Coach Tsukasa?
Yeah? Hey, Inori.
Can we light sparklers together?
-Is that okay?
-Of course.
When camp is over, it'll be time
for the level six Badge Test.
In a little bit,
you won't be "behind" anymore.
Once you hit level six,
you'll be a real athlete.
Right up there with the girls
who started when they were five.
It makes me a little sad.
How come?
I started skating so much later
than everyone else.
I hated who I was before I met you.
All I could feel was,
"I don't want to stay like this forever."
And I think that feeling is
why I worked so hard.
But once I'm level six, I won't need
to feel that way at all anymore.
Like, I can finally tell
the old me I hated so much,
goodbye, and thank you.
I see.
Wait, is that weird?
That doesn't make sense?
Sorry, I don't really know
how to put it into words.
It's fine! You're not weird at all.
I completely understand.
I was thinking something similar today.
All the stuff I went through,
the things I hated about myself,
it's all working in my favor now.
Maybe I should tell myself thank you too.
You too?
But, hey, I don't think
you were bad at all before.
You were a hard worker when I met you,
and you're a hard worker now.
That hasn't changed, and you're only
gonna get more amazing from here.
I really am having
so much fun all the time.
I used to get so sad
about all the stuff I couldn't do.
But now I get to do everything,
and it's exciting to get better!
I really enjoy it.
I trust myself now.
I can get up when I fall.
I'm finally chasing my dreams.
And I love it. Every minute.