Yuuri never goes to Detroit. He gets an offer to train with Yakov Feltsman in St. Petersburg and takes that, instead. He's about to enter the Senior division and his idol, Victor Nikiforov, is in his prime, at the apex of his spectacular winning streak.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime. More good fortune than Yuuri thinks he deserves... until he actually arrives in Russia. He's cold and lonely, fighting for scraps of attention from his coach, and he felt closer to Victor when they were continents apart.