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The skatepark was lonelier these days, seemingly empty but still made up of collages of memories and echoes of laughter. Miya dropped off the halfpipe, the sound of his board overly loud in the humid night air. He had known that things were going to change for a long time, especially after the race with Adam three years ago. It didn’t make it any easier that Reki and Langa were busy with their university classes and Cherry and Joe were pushing up on thirty; they didn’t want to be hanging out with a sixteen year old, no matter how frequently they told him to come by the restaurant for “some real food” as Joe would call it, puffing his chest out and grinning stupidly.
He pushed forward, weaving effortlessly around the structures in the park. He remembered the time when he would skate here with Reki and Langa until they were all three dead on their feet. They would always skate with him back home and wave as he climbed in his window before disappearing off down the street together. Even back then it had made him feel a little lonely, but he was happy to have spent the time with them he did before they went off and sucked each other’s faces off.
Now it was just him, alone. It blew.
Miya kicked his board up and caught it, fingers drumming against the design before he fished around in his pocket with his free hand, pulling out his phone.
This was dumb. He was being dramatic, it wasn’t as if Reki and Langa had died . They didn’t even leave Naha– they just had to actually study now instead of blowing off their homework for late night skate sessions. They still made it to S, but S was special. He sent a picture of the empty park to their group chat and was instantly granted a reply from Reki, a picture taken across the table from Langa who was slumped face down onto his books and even in the live photo, appeared unmoving.
[ from reki ] man i wish we were there. this engineering stuff is fucking hard
[ from miya ] you chose that major.
[ from miya ] langa looks dead.
[ from reki ] he is
[ from miya ] RIP
[ from miya ] has he picked a major yet
[ from langa ] No….
[ from miya ] he lives
[ from langa ] not on the inside.
[ from reki ] langa noooo!
[ from miya ] you two are dweebs. go back to studying i’m going to skate my ass off.
They never failed to make him feel included, but as the light from his phone dimmed and he was left standing in silence again, Miya huffed. He was just about to head home, maybe get in some studying of his own when another figure sailed through the gates of the park. At first glance, Miya thought that it was Reki, but that was impossible.
As the newcomer passed under a light, Miya took note that the hair was a little less vibrant than Reki’s, more auburn than bright red. And the new figure was a girl. She wore a pink crop top with a strawberry in the middle and high waisted red shorts, apparently very committed to the “red” look all the way down to her red converse and pink knee-high socks. She was doing okay on the board, the wobbles on her turns alerting him to the fact that she might be a beginner.
“Hey!” Miya found himself shouting, “spread your feet apart a little mor–”
The girl yelped, tumbling off her board as his voice caught her by surprise. A soft curse floated across the space between them as she slowly sat up and poked at her knee. Well shit, that wasn’t good. With his stomach twisted with a guilt he wouldn’t have felt three years ago, Miya hurried over and scratched the back of his neck; a habit he’d picked up from Reki somewhere along the way.
“You scared the hell out of me.” She looked up, cheeks puffed out in a frown that was more endearing than scary. She patted at her hair, making sure that her space buns were still intact as she stood up gingerly and pursed her lips, hands on her hips. “I think you owe me a drink after that.”
“What!?” Miya prickled, voice cracking in a way that it hadn’t seen he went through puberty.
“I’d like–”
“Let me guess,” Miya said dryly, “something strawberry flavored?”
The girl huffed and crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes in a way that was eerily familiar, despite Miya never having met her before. “Maybe.”
“Fine.” He threw down his board and hopped on, effortlessly skating over to the vending machine. He mumbled to himself as he stuck the correct amount of yen in the slot and pushed the button with a bit too much force. Dumb girl, making him buy her a drink because he nearly killed her– okay, yeah. Maybe this was actually fair. He was lucky she didn’t get mad for real, he’d never had to deal with an angry girl before. He heard her come up behind him and he turned, holding out the drink, waving it around as she squinted at him. “Are you gonna take it?”
“You look familiar.” She stated, taking the drink and popping the cap off. Her tongue swiped over her lower lip before she thanked him.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Okay, Prince Charming.” She cooed and Miya resisted the urge to hiss. “I’m Koyomi.”
“Miya.”
An awkward pause before Koyomi held out her hand and they tapped their knuckles together in a tentative dab. “Do you always skate out here alone in the middle of the night?”
“Why? You gonna murder me?”
“Statistically, you’re more likely to murder me.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Whatever. I’m too cute to be a murderer.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.” Miya found himself grinning, the skatepark seeming a little less lonely (even if she was a potential killer). Koyomi hopped up on the nearest bench, digging around in her backpack and pulling out a bandaid and sticking it over the fresh cut on her knee.
“Can you teach me how to get better on the turns? Without yelling at me this time.”
“What, Princess can’t handle being yelled at?” Miya teased, then instantly felt his face flush and he was thankful it was dark out.
“Not when it scares the bejeesus out of me and shreds my knee!” She held up her leg and frowned.
“Cuts and scrapes are a right of passage for skaters.”
“You sound just like my brother.”
“He’s right.” Miya shrugged, gesturing for her to stand. She complied, stepping onto the board and looking at him expectantly, her features again so familiar that Miya was almost certain he had met her before. “Okay, put your feet here and here. Bend your knees a little. You want to make sure that you’re able to stay balanced and you’re not just throwing your weight around, that’s how you fly off on the corners.”
Koyomi proved to be a good student, she was receptive to his advice and asked all the right questions. She didn’t quit when she tumbled to the ground or lost the board out from under her. Despite being a little brat about Miya scaring her off the board in the first place, she was resilient and didn’t complain about any other wipeouts. Though she did tease Miya several times about yelling across the skatepark at a strange girl, which caused him to flush up to his ears.
The ringing of Koyomi’s phone had Miya nearly jumping out of his skin, they’d created a bubble in the park of just the two of them, focused on skating and laughing together. Miya’s chest hurt from how full his heart felt. Sort of pathetic, if he thought too hard about it, that one evening with a girl had butterflies fluttering in his belly.
“Ah, yeah. I’ll be home.” She was saying into the phone tongue between her teeth as the person on the other end apparently continued talking. Finally she hung up and looked at Miya, a bit forlorn. “You’ll be here tomorrow too?”
He hadn’t been planning on it but– “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”
Miya found himself looking forward to the evening through all his classes, he wasn’t sure if the skatepark was going to be empty when he arrived but the possibility that someone would be there waiting for him had him excited to get there in a way he hadn’t been for quite some time.
True to her word, Koyomi was waiting when Miya arrived at the skatepark the next night. She hopped up from the bench and smiled brightly at him, making his stomach feel weird. “I thought you were ditching.”
“I’m insulted you’d even think that.”
“Well,” She shrugged, freckled shoulders visible under the thin straps of her tank top, “you were late.”
“We never set a time!” Miya shot back, earning a bright laugh from her as she got on her board and instructed him to teach her something cool.
So he did, night after night they’d meet up and skate together, trading stories of friends or (in Koyomi’s case) annoying siblings. It was nice having someone to talk to and hangout with, even though Reki and Langa were still within reach when texting, Shadow had a new girlfriend (finally) and Miya did frequent Sia la Luce often enough that he wasn’t missing Joe and Cherry– even so, his meetings with his friends were always short lived. And it made sense, they were in different stages of their life… but it didn’t mean that it didn’t suck and that he wasn’t lonely.
But Koyomi wasn’t, once high school was over she was torn between going to uni like her brother or going to a trade school to learning how to be a pastry chef.
“I know a chef,” Miya mentioned offhandedly as he easily landed a kickflip, “maybe he could tell you a little about it.”
“Pastry chefs and like… regular food chefs are different. But, it wouldn’t hurt to know someone in the industry I guess.” She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger as she watched Miya perform simple tricks, her eyes on him making him feel like he had to be cooler . “I still have a little time to decide. I don’t wanna think about it too much.”
“Same.”
Her phone went off and she groaned, pocketing it and standing up to brush off her shorts. “Same time tomorrow night?”
“Ye–” Miya paused, tomorrow was an S night and he had plans to drive over with Shadow and meet up with the others. “Actually, no. I have something tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Her face fell before she schooled it into something familiar, Miya again unable to place where he’d seen the expression before. “That’s cool–”
He’d been skating with her for a while, maybe he could just– “Wanna go somewhere cool?”
Koyomi beamed. “Hell yeah!”
With instructions for her to meet him at the flower shop the following night, they parted ways and Miya pulled up the group chat reserved for S emergencies or big announcements. The last text was one from Langa begging Joe for food.
[ from miya ] i’m bringing someone to S tomorrow
[ from miya ] she’s gonna come with me and the old man
[ from miya ] can you guys all just be cool about it and not be fucking weird
Cherry was the first to reply, his response quickly sent through Carla. As impersonal and succinct as ever.
[ from cherry ] Ok.
[ from reki ] oooooooOOOOOooOOO are u bringing a girl????
[ from reki ] our son, he’s all grown up
[ from langa ] I’m so proud
[ from joe ] I hope you’re being safe, Kiddo.
[ from joe ] Do we need to have The Talk?
That garnered a reaction from Miya, his shoulders coming up to his ears as he flushed crimson and nearly skated into a pole, typing so furiously that he had to stop skating because multitasking was out of the question.
[ from miya ] she’s just a friend! geez. if you guys don’t stop i’m going to uninvite her.
[ from cherry ] Kojiro was “just a friend” when I was 16 too.
[ from langa ] reki was also “just a friend”
[ from miya ] well I’M SORRY that YOU GUYS don’t know how to have normal friendships.
[ from shadow ] I have work in the morning.
Miya muted the chat as his house came into view– his parents had long since stopped caring about him being home by curfew, considering he had never abided by it in the first place and got on just fine. He kicked off his shoes and left his board by the front door and flopped onto his bed, trying to muster up the energy to take a bath.
He found himself wanting to text Koyomi, and was initially startled to find that he didn’t have her number before realizing that when they were skating together, they rarely had their phones out so they hadn’t exchanged contact information. He’d have to get it tomorrow before they arrived at S, in case she got lost in the crowd.
Hopefully he wouldn’t ask in front of Shadow, that would be humiliating.
Miya fell asleep before he could bathe and as a result he woke up in his clothes and with his bangs plastered to his forehead. He had rushed through half of his morning routine before realizing that it was Saturday and he could have slept in.
He spent the day with anxious excitement in his belly, wondering if it was how Reki had felt before he brought Langa into S for the first time. He skated over to Dope Sketch to pester Manager Oka for a sticker, a tiny detail he’d forgotten about when he invited Koyomi to the super secret illegal skating ring he frequented.
And well fuck, maybe he didn’t think this through. She was cool but was she that cool? Too late now, as she would be meeting him at the flower shop at pickup time.
“You need a sticker?” Oka seemed surprised and Miya would be insulted if the situation wasn’t so urgent.
“Yes! Do you have one or not? Or where can I get one?”
Miya had never needed a sticker, given a pin directly from Adam himself. Oh fuck, what if Adam was there? He’d gotten better since he and Tadashi were now… whatever they were… but he was still a fucking weirdo. How could he explain a tap dancing matador to a newbie?
“Yeah, yeah. Simmer down.” Oka crouched to rifle around behind the counter and his little fox, mellowed in the past few years, hopped from his shoulder to the counter and chirped for scritches. Oka was mumbling to himself, dumping out the contents of several drawers. A couple of Reki’s drawings fell out. “I think I have one buried around here somewhere… the one Langa used the first night before Reki got him a pin. Ah, here it is.”
With the sticker procured Miya found himself skating around aimlessly with anxious energy until it was time to meet at Shadow’s car. When he skated up, there was no one on the sidewalk and his stomach sank only for panic to spike in his chest seconds when he realized that Koyomi was inside the shop talking to Shadow.
Didn’t anyone ever teach that girl not to talk to strangers?
The bell above the door rang as Miya entered the shop and before he could speak Shadow jerked a finger at Koyomi. “She’s much better company than you.”
“Fuck off, Old Man.” Miya stalked in and plopped in a stool, smirking as Koyomi stifled a gasp and giggle behind her hand.
“Why she wants to hangout with you is beyond me.” Shadow continued on, a mischievous grin on his features that Miya did not like one bit. “But at least we’re guaranteed an interesting night tonight.”
“Who’s racing?”
“Snow and Cherry.”
Miya’s brows furrowed, Shadow never called Langa by his S name but maybe he was trying to play up the mystery of the night.
“Hm, maybe I will too. You wanna beef?”
“I’m still out of commission with a bum ankle. I rolled it last week and the doctor’s said no skateboarding until the sprain is healed.” He added the last part as an explanation to Koyomi. He scribbled something down on a notepad next to the register, locked the back door and hit the lights. “Let’s go.”
Miya and Koyomi climbed into the car together, both in the backseat as there was a giant pink bouquet buckled into the passenger seat.
“Let’s exchange numbers in case you get lost in the crowd.” Miya shoved his phone at her while Shadow locked the front door. “And you’ll need this to get in.”
“I’ve seen this design before!” Koyomi held the sticker up, face bright, “my brother–”
“Alright, buckle up and no shenanigans in the backseat.” Shadow grumbled as he got in the driver’s seat, turning on the car.
Both teens sputtered, faces red as he pulled onto the road. The drive was relatively quiet, apart from Miya and Shadow snarking at each other and answering all of Koyomi’s questions with a slightly ominous, “You’ll see.”
“Oh wow!”
“Welcome to Crazy Rock.”
They reached the gates and Shadow drove next to a throng of skaters, all hollering and cheering as they reached the red cap checkpoint. Shadow pulled off to the side and parked, telling them to go on their way and Miya took great pride in leading Koyomi through the gates, her smaller hand clasped firmly in his only to prevent her from getting whisked away in the crowd. “This place is insane!”
“This isn’t even the best part.” Miya wove through the crowd expertly before they reached a place where they could throw their boards down. It was harder to hold onto her hand here, so he made sure to skate right next to her, skating defensively when anyone tried to come up between them. A few people called out to him and Koyomi cocked her head curiously, but didn’t fire off any more questions– most likely hoping that wherever he was leading her would answer any of them.
He saw Joe first as he was still the tallest, despite Langa hitting one more growth spurt, and by far the broadest. Cherry was next to him, leaning against a rock and tinkering with something on Carla.
“Hey,” Miya greeted and Koyomi’s jaw dropped slightly before she also offered a greeting.
“Hey, Miya.” Joe reached out and ruffled his hair and Miya swatted like a cat. “Who’s this?”
“I’m Koyomi!” She bowed slightly, looking starry-eyed in a way that had Miya seething. He wasn’t sure why he was so mad about it, it wasn’t like Joe was going to steal his friend. He had to calm down, he was being totally irrational.
“Koyomi?” Cherry looked up and tugged his mask down, a wry smile on his lips. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“This place is so cool!”
“Y’know, me and Pinky here helped found it.”
“It’s Cherry not Pinky, you oversized–”
“No way!”
Shadow rode up not long after and after Koyomi squeaked in surprise at his makeup, Miya glanced around. “Are the two idiots coming?”
“They said they’d be here.” Cherry straightened and gently placed Carla down. “Besides I’m racing La– oh. There they are.”
Miya turned to see Reki and Langa skating up, only for them to stop dead in their tracks. Both of their eyes went wide, Reki’s face as white as a sheet.
“Are those your other frie– Reki?!” Koyomi shrieked, clutching onto Miya’s arm with a vice-like grip. He winced, but didn’t pry her off. He felt satisfied that she clung to him and not Joe, despite the fact that it was a competition that Joe wasn’t even aware of.
“Koyomi! What are you– this is… Oh my fucking….! Miya!” Reki turned to him, panicked. “Why is my sister here?”
Shadow started to laugh, the tension of the situation disappearing slightly as he howled, slapping Joe on the back. “She told me her brother’s name in the shop earlier.”
Cherry shot Shadow a look as if he were annoyed with the loud laughter, which he probably was, but it wasn’t like S was a place you went to if you wanted quiet. It was clear he wasn’t surprised by the revelation. “You’re acting insane.”
“It is pretty funny, Kaoru.”
“Don’t use that name!” Cherry hissed before he was lost to an argument with Joe.
Meanwhile, Koyomi was standing in front of Reki, arms crossed. “This place is so cool and you never took me even though I always covered for you sneaking out.”
“You were too young…”
“Miya was here!”
“That’s different!”
“How?”
Reki clearly blanched and his gaze flicked to Langa. Langa, as oblivious as he was, always picked up on all things Reki. “I gotta get ready for my race. Come warm up with me.”
“Okay, yeah. Yeah. Cool, cool, cool.” Reki ran a hand through his hair before pointing at Koyomi. “No skating down the mountain and I mean it.”
“I wasn’t going to anyway!” She stomped her foot (adorably) and grabbed Miya by the hand before stalking off. He allowed himself to be dragged away from his friends, probably for the best while everyone cooled down.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any family problems.”
“Nah, it’s okay. He’s probably just worried some sleazebag here will try to take advantage of me.” Koyomi sat on a patch of grass and Miya sat down next to her, watching as she twirled a blade of grass between her fingers. “But I’m not stupid. Besides, I’m not interested in any of them .”
Something flared in Miya and he suddenly realized the strange feelings he’d been harboring for the past week. He had a crush . Fuck, on Reki’s sister. Fitting, that out of all people in the world he’d get a proper crush on the younger sibling of his first-ever baby crush.
“Who are you interested in?” The words tumbled out before he could stop them, Koyomi’s fingers pausing and the blade of grass between them going still. She sighed, flicking it away and dropping her chin in her hand.
“Really! Have I not been obvious?”
Suddenly she was closer and she was so cute, freckles dotting the bridge of her nose and the apples of her cheeks, amber eyes bright and red hair a bit wild from skating around Crazy Rock. Miya surged forward, their foreheads bumping together softly, Koyomi allowing him to cup her cheeks with a soft giggle before their lips brushed tentatively. Her mouth was soft, lips warm and flavored like strawberry chapstick.
“That was my first kiss.” She admitted when they pulled back. Her cheeks were bright red when she laced their fingers together and Miya gave a soft squeeze.
“Mine too.”
“We should do it again.” Koyomi scooted closer, their hips bumping, and leaned in–
“Koyomi! Miya!” Reki was standing several feet away, looking distraught.
In a flash Koyomi was on her feet, laughing as she ran away and pulled Miya along; and he was all too happy to go with her.