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“God, just look at them.”
“They’re so dope!”
“If only they weren’t so…”
“EXPENSIIIIVE!!!”
Reki threw himself over the countertop, kicking his feet and fake-sobbing. Langa sighed and put his chin on his hand, gazing longingly at the laptop screen.
“Hey hey, what’s all the fuss about? You’d better not be scaring away my customers.” Joe walked out of the kitchen, chef’s apron still on and towel in hand. He shot the dramatic teenager lying on his bar counter an quizzical look.
“Joe!” Reki snapped up, tumbling to the floor. “You’re an adult! You have money!”
“Yesss…?” Joe peered over the counter where Reki landed. “Are you okay?”
“Please!” Reki stumbled to his feet and slapped his hands together pleadingly in a deep bow. “We want one so bad!”
“Please buy it for us.” Langa flipped the computer toward Joe. The green-haired man leaned over to investigate the object of their pining.
“A GoPro?”
“A GoPro Hero10!” Reki ran up behind them, leaning his entire upper body over Langa’s shoulder to point at the screen. “It can take 4k HD, 120 frames per second videos! And you can put it right on your skateboard!”
“Huh. Yeah, I’ve seen those,” Joe said as he stood up and threw his hand towel across his shoulder. “You two wanna shoot some skating videos?”
“Dude! With Langa’s crazy air time, think of how cool it’d look!” Langa nodded matter-of-factly.
Joe chuckled. “Alright, you have a point there, but aren’t these things, like… for real professionals? I mean how much are they?”
“Ehehe…” Reki stammered, tapping the tips of his fingers together. “It’s not thaaat much, just a couple-”
“It’s 100,000 yen.”
“Langa! You weren’t supposed to say it yet!”
“Oh. Oops.”
Joe laughed for a suspiciously long time. “Heheh, yeahhh… no.”
Reki wailed and sunk to his knees. Langa reached over to pat his fluffy red head solemnly. “Why not?!”
He put his hands up in casual surrender. “Sorry but I’m not making the kind of bank to drop a hundred thousand yen on a camera.”
The boys sighed in unison and the restaurant fell into an unnecessarily somber silence. Joe’s face slowly contorted into a grimace like he was eating a sour lemon.
“…Look, don’t give me the silent treatment, alright?! If you want a cheaper one, I don’t mind.”
Reki stuck his tongue out and made a ‘bleeeegh’ noise. “Thanks but no thanks. If it’s not the Hero10 then what’s the point?” Langa nodded again.
Joe sighed. “Suit yourselves. Why don’t you ask the four-eyed rich boy? That’s probably pocket change to him.”
There was a beat of moronic silence. Reki and Langa gasped in unison, bolting to their feet and sprinting out the door with nothing more than a “Bye Joe! Thank you!”
Joe blinked in surprise as the door closed with a little jingle.
“Jesus. All this over some fancy camera?”
Roughly 10 minutes and some questionable traffic violations later, Reki and Langa screeched to a halt and toppled through the front door of Sakurayashiki Calligraphy.
“CHERRY!” Reki’s deafening shout echoed through the peaceful, traditional-style shop. Both the boys winced and shared a sheepish glance before tiptoeing into the waiting room.
“Mr. Cherry sir? Are you here?” Langa poked his head into the room that looked to be his office. At least, that was the room Cherry had come out of when Langa had been applying for a job a few months ago.
Right in front of him, looming in the dark with twitching eyelids and furrowed brow, was Cherry. Langa yelped and fell backwards, directly into Reki, making both of them crash to the floor.
“H-Hi! Cherry!”
Cherry’s arms were crossed and his voice was low and audibly irritated. “Can I help you? And would you kindly get off of my floor, please?”
Reki and Langa stood up quickly. “We- um-”
“There’s… something that we-”
“Oh sit down, both of you. I’ll put on some tea. Unless you’re in a rush?” He glanced over his shoulder.
“Nope!” Reki squeaked, looking a bit pale. “All good here!”
Cherry huffed but seemed to accept the shakily-delivered answer, and he stalked off to another room.
“Of all days! We just had to catch him in a bad mood!”
Langa sat in front of the chabudai table with his hands clasped on his lap. “It’ll be fine. He’ll probably say yes,” he said to Reki as the other boy followed his lead.
“Yeah…” Reki muttered. “But how do we convince him?”
“Hmm. I wonder if there’s anything we can do for him in return.”
“Yes! Maybe we can clean for him or something!”
Reki and Langa looked around simultaneously. The waiting room was spotless, all of the deep mahogany wood polished meticulously and not a speck of dust was out of place. Langa frowned. “Doesn’t look like he needs any help with that.”
“Argh! What kind of favor can you even do for a rich guy with a robot servant?” Reki’s head dropped in defeat and he blew a sad raspberry. “At this rate, we’re never gonna convince him.”
“Convince me of what?”
“Eek!”
Cherry crossed the room, tray of tea in hand, and sat on the other side of the table. Reki was sweating bullets and Langa was fidgeting with his hands.
“There’s something-”
“We were-”
“Oh.”
“You go first-”
“Langa!” Cherry snapped both teens to attention. “Spit it out. Reki, let him talk.”
Langa huffed out his nerves and sat up straight. “There’s this really nice camera we want but we can’t afford it. It’s for skating.”
Cherry sipped his tea. “You want a GoPro?”
“A GoPro Hero10,” Reki piped up, shriveling up again when Cherry glared at him. “Sorry.”
“And… you want me to buy it for you?” The boys nodded. “Don’t you two have jobs? Why can’t you afford it?”
Langa’s eyes shifted to Reki, who just shrugged, and back to Cherry again. The silence was oppressive. “Uhh…”
“Carla, how expensive is a GoPro Hero10?”
A purple ring of light on the table lit up and the robotic female voice replied. “On the official GoPro website, the price is currently listed at 100,000 yen.”
Cherry’s face darkened. “You did not just walk into my store and ask me for 100,000 yen.”
Reki’s head dropped, mostly to avoid Cherry’s damning gaze but also somewhat out of shame. Langa held up one of his hands as if he were in class. “Joe told us to.”
Cherry groaned and began massaging his face in his hands. “Of course he did. I should have known.” He looked back at Reki and Langa again, looking considerably less irritable with them. “What in god’s name did he do that for? I didn’t think that brainless gorilla even knew how to operate a camera.”
“Oh, well,” Reki chimed in again, looking much less frightened. “We were the ones that wanted it, but when we asked Joe he said he didn’t wanna spend that much on a camera.”
“We were gonna share it with him if he bought it,” Langa noted.
“Mm. I see.” Cherry pursed his lips.
“So he said to come ask you since you have more money than him. We thought you would appreciate the better quality more anyways.” For a moment Langa was caught off guard by Reki’s impressive flattery skills. Cherry actually smiled briefly.
“Here’s the thing, you two,” he sighed. “My Carla is equipped with a 5.3k video camera.”
Reki’s jaw dropped.
“Do you see what I’m getting at?”
Langa blinked slowly. “I… think so?”
Cherry took the last sip of his tea and popped his lips. “From what I can tell, I gain nothing from purchasing this camera for you. So, why do you think I would do it?”
“…Out of the goodness of your heart?” Reki said with a hopeful smile.
“Charity is a virtue,” Langa added.
Cherry laughed drily. “Well, when next you’re starving and desolate, I’ll be sure to shell out for the best camera possible.” He stood up and headed for the front door. “Until then, I suggest you find another way to obtain your precious GoPro.”
Reki and Langa slumped over and pouted like a pair of wilted plants. A few moments of silence passed over the store.
Cherry swung the door open. “That was your cue to leave, boys. I have customers coming in 15 minutes. Out, shoo, both of you!” He hurried them out the door, tossing their skateboards after them.
When the door finally shut Cherry heaved a long sigh. “I swear, 100,000 yen…” He turned to walk back to his office and stopped short of the table. Two of the three cups of tea were still full, and now lukewarm.
“God… damn it.”
Reki sighed and swished the metal straw through his soda, watching the ice clink around. The sun was setting a brilliant orange color through the window he was leaning against. It had been a few hours since their tragic rejection, and he and Langa had spent the whole time brainstorming how to get a lot of money very quickly, preferably without a lot of hard work. It wasn’t going very well.
Langa returned, sitting in the opposite side of the booth. “Hey Reki.”
“Yo,” he mumbled. Langa frowned.
“It’s okay. We’ll think of something! Maybe we can ask Manager Oka for a raise.” Reki shot him the mother of all cynical looks. “Or something.”
Somebody stopping in front of their table made both the boys look up.
“Sup, noobs?”
“Miya!”
The middle schooler sat down next to Langa, bouncing on the booth seat for a sec. “What’s got you two all down in the dumps? Get rejected by a girl?”
“As if!” Reki scowled. “It’s cuz we’re broke.”
“Hah! Rip.”
Reki plucked an ice cube out of his coke and tossed it at Miya, who shrieked indignantly.
“We want to get a GoPro, to shoot skating videos with,” Langa explained. “But the one that we want is pretty expensive. Joe and Cherry already said no.”
“Ohhh. Sucks, I guess,” Miya said, propping his chin up with his hand.
“It does suck! How are we supposed to-”
“Excuse me?” All three boys looked over at the voice. A waitress, the same one that had taken their order earlier, was carrying a big tray of food. Reki and Langa’s eyes lit up, woes momentarily forgotten.
“Pepperoni pizza and a bowl of breadsticks. Here you go,” she said as she set their food down.
“Thanks so much!” Reki and Langa were about to dig in before Miya cleared his throat, gesturing to the side. The waitress was still there, her face a deep shape of pink.
She placed the last plate of food that the boys hadn’t even noticed in front of Langa, who blinked in surprise. It was a piping hot chocolate lava cake, dusted with powdered sugar, and it looked like it came straight from heaven.
“Um. I’m sorry, we didn’t order this,” he stuttered.
“I-it’s on the house. For you,” she managed to say through stifled giggling.
“Oh… Thank you?” She nodded, hardly waiting for him to finish before dashing back to the front counter and burying her bright red face in her hands while two other waitresses laughed at her.
Reki gaped at her, and then at the lava cake. “That did not just happen.”
Miya cracked up and grabbed a slice of pizza. “Langa’s got that godlike rizz.”
“That’s not rizz! He didn’t even talk to her, I’m the one who ordered!”
“What, like she was gonna give it to you?” Miya snorted and narrowly dodged another ice cube attack. “You see slimeboy, we call that ‘unspoken rizz’. You’ll learn about it someday when you’re older.”
“What… was that about?” Langa murmured, still staring at the untouched lava cake as he grabbed a slice of pizza.
Miya flopped back dramatically and rolled his eyes. “God, you’re both clueless. She gave you free food!” Langa stared at him dumbly. “Because she likes you? Duh?”
Langa mouthed a little ‘Oh.’ and continued eating his pizza. Reki reached across the table and grabbed the fork off of Langa’s plate, digging a sizable bite out of the warm chocolate cake.
“I paid for the pizza, I get to have cake,” he said before promptly stuffing it into his mouth. All three boys sat in silence for a while, enjoying their treats.
Suddenly Miya jumped in his seat and swallowed his pizza hastily, scaring Langa. “I got it! I know how you two dumbasses can get your camera!”
“Huh? How’s that?”
“You see what happened just now?” The younger teen gestured to the spot the waitress had been standing. “Hot people get free stuff all the time! One of you just needs to put the moves on some rich simp and convince them to buy it for you!”
Reki blinked a few times and looked back at Langa. “Hold on… He’s kinda right, though?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I’m right-”
“But where are we gonna find other teenagers with that kind of money to spend on dates?” The redhead wondered out loud, stealing another bite of Langa’s lava cake.
“Good point.”
“Gee, if only we knew a super rich guy who’s whipped for Langa and doesn’t care about his age,” Miya drawled.
Langa’s eyes lit up and he beamed. “Adam!”
Reki made a face like he opened a weeks-old jug of milk. “… Adam…”
“Reki.” Langa clasped his hand down over Reki’s, staring him down with fierce intensity. “We need that camera.”
“I knowww,” Reki whined, leaning his head back without moving his hand. “But I still hate that guy.”
Miya grabbed another slice of pizza nonchalantly. “So what? You wouldn’t even have to talk to him, it’d be Langa doing all the gold digging.”
“I don’t want him talking to Langa either! And don’t call it that!”
“Reki, it’s okay.” Langa smiled at Reki with that classic Langa smile that could make people say yes to literally anything. “I can take one for the team. I’ll talk to him and get that camera, and then we can record super rad videos together!”
Reki pressed his lips together and looked away defiantly but he was powerless to Langa’s puppy eyes. “Aaagh, alright. I guess it’s our only option…”
Langa cheered and Reki reluctantly returned a high five, coyly fighting a smile. Miya crossed his arms triumphantly.
“You’re very welcome for my genius idea. And you’d better let me borrow it once you’ve got it!”
“Hah, sure,” Reki smiled as he gathered up all the empty dishes on the table. “Hey Langa, you better eat some of your cake or that girl’s gonna be sad.” Langa did not have to be told twice.
Miya snatched up his board and the last slice of pizza. “Welp, later slimes. See you at S.”
Just as the youngest boy was walking out, Langa made a puzzled face. “Wait, Miya,” he spoke with a mouth full of cake. “I thought you didn’t eat fast food?”
Miya’s face turned a shade of pink. “Uhhh- shut up!” He dashed through the door still munching on pizza. Reki cackled.
“So,” the redhead shot Langa an easy smile. “You ready?”
Langa nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s go!”
It took Reki and Langa about 40 minutes, sky turned a warm shade of purple, before they were speeding past the gates of S. They no longer needed to flash their badges at the capmen; honestly, being a semi-celebrity kind of made Reki’s chest swell even if he knew it wasn’t because of his talent.
“Langa!” The red-haired boy swerved passed a group of slower skaters, pulling in close next to his friend. “We should talk!”
“About what?” Langa shouted over the wind.
“About the Adam thing, what do you think?! We need to make a plan!”
Langa dropped his back foot to the pavement, slowing to a modest speed, and Reki followed suit. “A plan?”
Reki nodded. “We don’t know when the next time he’ll show up will be. If we don’t make a plan things might go totally wrong, like they did in Cherry’s place.”
“Huh. Okay. So what did you have in mind?”
He bit his bottom lip. “Well… do we have any special way to convince him?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well we can't just walk up and say ‘hey, gimme money.’”
Langa looked down at his board in thought. “I don’t know. I guess I was just gonna ask with a cute face?”
Reki deadpanned. “A cute face? Seriously? Show me.”
Langa closed his eyes and took a long deep breath. When he reopened them, Reki’s breath was stolen away.
“Um, Adam?” The boy tucked a lock of ice blue hair behind his ear and looked at Reki through his lashes with sparkling eyes. “There’s like, this thing I really want, and I was wondering if-”
“Yeah, nope, okay! You got it!” Reki half-shouted, putting two thumbs up awkwardly. “No need to- yeah. Where did you learn to do that?”
Langa shrugged. “Friend in middle school used to get free food that way. She called it puppy eyes.”
Reki snorted. “Seriously? And that worked?” Langa nodded with a smile. “Fair enough. I guess that means the easy part is done.”
Langa pulled in close to Reki to let other skaters pass him. “So what else is in the plan?”
“Joe wouldn’t buy the GoPro for us because it was too expensive, but Adam has helicopters and shit so we don’t need to worry about that. Cherry wouldn’t buy it for us because we didn’t have anything to give him in return…”
“What if Adam wants something,” Langa finished.
“Exactly. It's not that big of a deal if he just wants a beef, but knowing him, he might ask for… something else.” Langa hummed in acknowledgement, though the look of unperturbed curiosity on his face made the other boy feel a little concerned.
“And you gotta make sure you tell him this is a one time thing only. I don’t want him thinking he’s your sugar daddy now or something,” Reki said with a shudder.
Langa blinked and tilted his head to the side. “...What’s a sugar daddy?”
Reki’s mouth fell open and he stared at Langa like he just said he was from the moon. “You- You don’t- How do you not know?!”
“Should I look it up?”
“NOOO,” Reki hollered, startling people around them. “It’s- I’ll tell you later, hey look over there!” He hastily pointed in front of them where a big flock of people was gathered.
Reki and Langa skidded to a stop and pushed their way to the center of the crowd. There were murmurs of excitement all around them, things along the lines of “Do you think he’ll really show?!” and “Oh my god, Snow’s here too! Tonight’s gonna be so cool!”
“What’s going on?” Reki said, pulling his phone out of his pocket with a frown. “I haven’t checked the S news today since we were so busy…”
“Don’t bother.” Langa looked back the way they came and Reki followed his eyes. Rocketing down the hill at breakneck speed, two blurs of color, red and black, reached the flat stretch before the starting line in mere moments.
“Oh, you have got to be joking.”
It was Adam, the Matador of Love himself in all of his flamboyant glory, with Snake close behind and dressed in a subtler, black version of his partner’s attire. Adam whipped his board sideways and ground to a halt, cheers erupting from the crowd as he posed triumphantly.
“Good evening darlings!” Adam blew a kiss. A chorus of fawning squeals flared up all around them. Funnily enough, the king of S had actually become much more popular after being humbled for the first time. Probably because he stopped being so much of an asshole.
Tadashi approached Adam and nudged him gently, whispering something in his ear. Adam gasped and looked their way, scanning the crowd. Reki snatched Langa by the arm and tried to pull him behind some strangers, but it was too late. Adam and Langa locked eyes.
The man grinned and turned his attention back to the crowd. “Now I’m flattered you all waited, but I must insist...” He stepped to the side and threw his arm out dramatically toward the starting line. “I want to see your best skating tonight! No holding back!”
People cheered and began racing for the hill, causing a sea of commotion all around them. “Shit! He saw us!” Reki groaned, still holding onto Langa’s arm.
“Huh? What’s wrong with that? We need to talk to him.”
“Not yet! We’re not ready!”
The wall of bodies dispersed in no time, leaving the boys in plain sight of Adam and Snake. They were still in the same place, just talking. Adam’s gaze flickered over and Reki gulped. The pair began to approach and Langa did the same, Reki following along by his hold on Langa’s arm that he still hadn’t let go of.
“Snow! I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” Adam purred with half-lidded eyes. “And Little Red, what a surprise.”
Langa greeted him cheerfully. “Adam! We were looking for you.”
Adam raised an eyebrow, kicking up one end of his board and leaning on it coquettishly. “Oh? What can I do for you?”
Reki dropped Langa’s arm. “I’m, uhhh- I’m gonna go. Bye Langa,” he stuttered and sped away. Adam paid him no attention, though Snake seemed to follow the boy with his eyes.
“Oh. Um.” Langa looked over Adam’s shoulder as Reki left, starting to understand what his friend meant by ‘not ready yet’.
“Snake?” Without taking his eyes off Langa, Adam waved his hand dismissively. “Go on ahead without me, I’ll catch up in a minute.” Tadashi nodded and did as told, throwing his board in front of him and darting off.
“There we go darling, a little bit of privacy.” Adam straightened and stepped a bit closer, making Langa look up to meet his stark red eyes. He spoke lower, the husky quality of his voice just audible over the ambience of the night. “Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?”
Langa blinked, a little more flustered than he thought he’d be. “I wanted to ask you for something, actually.”
“Go on.”
“There’s, err… Reki and I wanted to record skating videos, so we were looking into cameras, and we found one we liked, but it’s kind of…” Langa trailed off, eyes shifting to the side. “We can’t afford it.”
Adam tilted his head to the side. “You want money?”
“Yeah, pretty much…”
Adam was silent for a moment, before raising his hand to his mouth, stifling a chuckle. Langa just stared at him in confusion as Adam broke out into proper laughter.
“All these nerves over a little cash, snowbunny?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet as he spoke. “You could have just texted, I would’ve gladly sent you some.”
With a dramatic flick of the wrist, Adam held out a shining platinum card between two fingers. “Though I am delighted you came to see me,” he purred.
Langa gaped, tentatively taking the card in both hands and turning the flashy surface in the street lights. “How much is on this?”
“Hm? Oh, platinum cards don’t have limits. Just try to keep it under 3 million for me, I don’t feel like going to the bank this week,” Adam said flippantly, turning away with his board.
“Three… million? Wow. Thank you,” Langa mumbled, still in awe as he pocketed the card. “So wait, you don’t want anything in return?”
Adam halted. If there was a background track, it would’ve gone silent. Slowly he turned back around, licking his lips desirously. “Oh? Is that an offer?”
For some reason, when their eyes met, Langa could hear Reki in the back of his mind yelling at him for this.
“Well, it is a lot of money. I thought I’d ask…” Langa said, shuffling on his feet and looking up at Adam through his eyelashes.
Adam grinned and stepped back towards him. “Naww, Langa-kun, my sweet little snowball,” he said in that honeyed voice he always used when he was pleased. Adam leaned down and brought his face just inches from Langa’s, making the boy’s breath hitch. “I think I would like something in return, now that you mention it~”
Langa’s voice failed him and he blinked in reply, wide blue eyes locked on red ones. Adam brought his hand up, knuckles ghosting over Langa’s jaw, but he didn’t move forward. The coy smile curved on the older man’s lips and the seductive smolder in his eyes sealed Langa’s fate.
Langa’s eyes dropped to Adam’s lips, lingering for a moment before fluttering shut, and he closed the gap. A chaste kiss, bold but unsure; one that had been long overdue. Langa panicked for a moment when he realized Adam hadn’t returned the gesture yet, but a deep resounding chuckle ran through him and that was it. They were kissing. He was actually kissing Adam.
A strong arm wrapped around the small of his waist for the second time since they’d met, and Langa let out a small squeak as he was pulled flush against the taller man. Instinctively he brought a hand to the plume of dark blue hair and took a handful of it, delighted by the soft light texture. A gloved hand mirrored his motions, cradling the back of his head as Adam deepened the kiss.
It only took a few moments before any illusion of chasteness was gone. Adam nipped at Langa’s lower lip and their tongues met, making the less experienced man tremble. His head felt warm and fuzzy as Adam’s mouth danced with his, catching every little moan and whimper.
After what felt like a lifetime, Adam released the back of Langa’s head and gently pushed at his chest, forcing them apart. Langa whined and clutched at his collar, chasing his lips heedlessly.
“Enough,” Adam growled. “If we don’t stop now, I might not be able to, and I’m sure you’d rather we not do this in public.” The thought of that was enough to bring the boy back to reality.
Langa panted and stumbled back, just barely steadied by the hand on his back before it slipped away. Both of them stood there speechless for a minute while they recovered. Adam had to take a deep breath before he could speak.
“Well… Thank you for indulging me, snowbunny. That was… quite the experience,” he praised, his voice a touch lower than its usual song-like pitch.
“… Ah.” That was the best Langa could manage.
Adam giggled at his state of near-deliriousness and opened his mouth to speak again, when the two of them finally noticed the sound of footsteps approaching.
Walking up on them from the raceway were, curiously enough, Reki and Snake. Adam and Langa both stepped back like they hadn’t just been practically on top of each other.
Reki looked like a wreck, his clothes and hair disheveled and lips slightly swollen. His face was a deep shade of pink and his eyes flickered from place to place. Tadashi wasn’t much better, still fixing his tie and running a hand through his hair briskly.
Langa glanced over at Adam, whose eyes raked over the other two with great amusement. His hair was mussed up and his collar had wrinkles from where Langa had grasped it. Subconsciously the boy began to fix his own hair, realizing with a blush how he must’ve looked.
Nobody spoke for a long moment while everyone put two and two together.
“Oh my.”
Tadashi pursed his lips, fighting a smile. “Apologies for the wait, Master.”
“Not at all,” Adam said, laughing through his words. “Well, I’m glad we could all have some fun here tonight!”
Langa and Reki just stared at the two men dumbly.
Adam grabbed his board again, leaving Langa’s side to wrap an arm around Tadashi’s torso. “Fun as this has been, I think it’s high time my lover boy and I got to skating,” Adam purred, brushing against the other man affectionately. Tadashi practically shone with pride.
“You boys feel free to ask for money again sometime~!” Adam laughed as the two of them turned, throwing down their boards and speeding off down the track. Reki and Langa were left alone and somewhat stunned.
They turned to each other. The tension could’ve been cut with a chainsaw.
“… So I take it he said yes?”
“Uh-huh. What about you?”
Reki shook his head and pulled a face that was half smile, half grimace. “Shut up, man…”
Langa began to laugh and Reki couldn’t help but join. They stood there for a minute with their faces in their hands, just laughing at themselves.
“Tell you what: let’s agree to never talk about this again.”
“Sounds good,” Langa smiled.
Reki gasped and snapped, white hot excitement returning to his eyes. “The camera! He said yes! Do we have the money?!”
Langa remembered with a start and reached into his back pocket, pulling out the card. “Yeah, it’s here. He said… um…”
Reki’s jaw hit the floor at the glimmering platinum card Langa held out for him to see.
“He said no more than 3 million yen.”
“3 MILLION YEN???”
Wind raced past his ears. Langa’s brow furrowed in concentration, and with a shift his wheels soared off the ramp of the half-pipe. He turned in the air, rotating the board one, two, three times before he came down, landing with a satisfying shunk. A loud whistle stole his attention.
“Damn kid! Nice air!”
Joe, dressed in his skating attire, shot him a thumbs up and a wide grin. Cherry stood next to him, smiling with pride.
“Langa!” Reki ran up to his friend. Langa brought the board to a halt, picking it up and handing it off to the beaming redhead. Reki ripped the tape off of the end of Langa’s board and carried their precious GoPro Hero 10 back to his laptop at one end of the half-pipe, Langa following close behind.
“Guys! Come check this out!”
Joe and Cherry came over, hovering over the boys’ shoulders. Miya hopped up off the half-pipe and landed gracefully on level ground, running over to view the spectacle.
“Is this it? The video?”
“You know it!” Reki grinned, dragging the file onto his desktop and opening it without delay.
It took a second to load, and then they were met with the view from just a few inches above the ground, zipping around at dizzying speeds.
“Yooo! Here it comes!”
Langa sped up, and then the camera’s sight went launching into the air. The five friends gasped and woahed as the camera spun around, the brief glimpses of the ground below looking so far away.
“It worked!” Langa cheered and high-fived Reki.
“Well goddamn,” Joe chuckled, “that kinda view is almost worth the money.”
“Impressive. Nothing my Carla can’t do, of course, but very impressive.”
“Not bad, slimes!”
The group watched happily for a moment before the video restarted.
“Hey,” Joe said with an eyebrow raised. “How did you guys ever pay for this thing, anyways?”
Reki and Langa blanched. “Uhh- um-”
Miya cackled impishly. “Oh they didn’t tell you?”
“Don’t you dare Miya!”
Joe and Cherry looked between Reki and Miya with confusion.
“It was totally my idea, see first they-”
“SHUT UP!”