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It was one of these rare summer nights where the air had the perfect balance between humidity and warmth, and the sky had cleared from the last clouds that had lingered within it a few hours prior.
It was also one of these rare summer nights where S did not take place. This time, it was caused by the factory ruins being closed due to construction and maintenance work.
Now, what does one skater do when not being able to participate in or watch underground (and possibly illegal) skating races? Easy, they just skate somewhere else because you can skate almost everywhere. Skating is truly an infinite experience!
Reki, a young, brightly redheaded boy, was one of the said skaters. He snuck out again and was now skating in the local skate park at 1 AM. The park was always open and nicely lit by the surrounding streetlights, so it was perfectly easy to skate there at any given time, and Reki had been suffering from insomnia for two years now anyways. S or working on new decks usually kept him busy and awake enough to pass out from bitter exhaustion at sunrise afterward, but since neither was available tonight, he had decided to practice a trick he had recently seen in one of the many skating videos. Besides, it was a Friday night, so he had no school the following day. A little bit of practicing before bed couldn't be that bad, right?
He only paused his routine of trying the new trick, losing his balance, and getting up from the ground to try it again when he noticed a presence on the other side of the park.
The presence took the form of a rather tall, blue-haired boy who was sitting on a bench, his eyes firmly observing the horizon that was faintly illuminated by the streetlights and the moon. It was a quite peculiar sight for the red-haired boy, who was mostly accustomed to skating alone. Seeing another teenager his age in the park definitely wasn’t something he expected, especially not at this late hour.
You know, a common reaction would be to stay away from weird, lonely, strangers that hang around empty spaces in the middle of the night. However, Reki's common sense wasn’t functioning properly, because once the nameless boy had caught his attention, he already held his skateboard in his hands and was slowly approaching him. Whether to blame the lack of sleep or a little too hard hit on the head after another failed attempt to do a trick was still rather uncertain, but the minute he started walking towards the lone stranger there was simply no looking back anyway, especially when he stood right across the bench and was greeted by a pair of two very startled eyes.
The lessons about stranger danger were long forgotten the moment he looked into the other’s eyes and the world stopped spinning for Reki. Not a single sound of his surroundings was being registered by the redhead, as his amber crashed into the stranger's bright blue.
To say Reki was mesmerized by the stranger would be an understatement, he had never seen someone who looked so…angelic. It took a couple of seconds before Reki collected himself. It wouldn't be surprising if the stranger would run away now, he thought, with all the staring he'd been doing.
“…uh hey.”
He broke the silence with an awkward smile and wave, “Didn’t mean to scare ya,” Reki giggled, “Don’t worry, I’m not a serial killer or anything.”
He watched as the blue-haired stranger contemplated his next move before a sudden chuckle left his mouth at that statement, his previously concerned expression softened as he promptly made room on the bench, “That's exactly what a serial killer would say, but okay.”
Well, did Reki expect the stranger to not immediately run away from him? Not really, but he sure didn't mind sitting down, and it was quite comforting knowing he wasn't the only one with a lack of common survival instincts. He smiled as he planted himself next to him while carefully leaning his skateboard on the bench.
They sat in silence once again before Reki decided to continue the conversation. Curiosity had taken over him the moment he laid eyes on the lonely and surprisingly handsome boy, so he had to investigate his case further.
“Sorry for frightening you by the way,” the redhead smiled, “What are you doing here anyways, it’s like 2 AM dude.”
“I could ask you the same question,” the taller replied.
Reki just laughed and rolled his eyes at the answer or rather at the lack of one, “True, true…but I haven’t seen you around before, like ever! And I skate here every day!”
The blue-haired boy shrugged and his gaze swung away from Reki back to the horizon, a little hesitation in his breath before he spoke, “...well, I am here because of jet lag. My mother and I just arrived here in Okinawa a couple of hours ago and since I don’t feel an ounce of tiredness I decided to explore the area a little. What’s your excuse?”
Reki sat and listened with great wonder, the stranger was indeed new to this place, his mind wasn't deceiving him after all. He could also hear a faint foreign accent while the other spoke which made Reki even more curious, many questions bubbling up in his head; Where was the stranger from? Why did they come to Okinawa out of all places? Was he perhaps interested in skating?
Before he allowed himself to completely sink into his thoughts again, Reki answered the stranger’s question instead.
“Ah, I just couldn’t sleep…and sneaking out to skate is kinda my thing…” he chuckled while scratching the back of his head, “Jet lag you say? Where did you come from, that your jet lag is so severe?”
The other boy continued to look at the horizon, “Canada,” he answered bluntly.
“Whoa!!” Reki exclaimed, his eyes widening at the answer, “That’s like super far away dude!!”
The stranger just shrugged again while slowly turning back to the redhead, “I guess…hey by the way, what’s your name?”
“Oh yeah! I totally forgot to introduce myself here, how rude of me. My name is Kyan Reki! What's yours?”
“Nice to meet you, Reki. My name is Hasegawa Langa.”
The redhead hummed in response, even more inquisitiveness filling his head. The name was very foreign to Reki. It wasn't a Japanese name for sure and it didn't sound very English either, at least he never heard it in the movies and videos he watched.
“Langa,” he repeated, “You have a nice name, what does it mean?”
“I have no idea,” a faint smile formed on the other's face, “but thank you.”
“Langa” Reki continued, savoring the syllables on his tongue, “Lan-ga…yeah it has a nice ring to it either way. Your parents sure are creative!” he giggled.
The bench they were sitting on was located under a tall streetlight that cast a dim light on them, and now that Reki was sitting right next to the other boy, he could take another good look at him. Langa was truly one of the most handsome people Reki had ever seen! His blue hair was chin-long and framed his sharp face. His lips were on the thinner side but they had a soft pink hue that contrasted nicely with the boy’s fair skin. What struck Reki the most though, were definitely his eyes.
Even with the rather weak light of the streetlight, they shimmered turquoise.
As he looked into them, Reki felt as if a chilly breeze suddenly swept over him, despite it being the middle of July, as if the sea’s surface was suddenly glazed with a thin layer of ice, as if snowflakes began to fall, right here in Okinawa.
It was strange; Reki typically hated the cold! He came to that conclusion during a family trip to Tokyo during winter break. Yet, for some reason Reki was completely mesmerized by the coolness that Langa’s eyes radiated and he couldn't help but get further swallowed by the depths of the icy blue, chasing whatever it was that made him feel like that.
Only when the other boy spoke did Reki realize what he had been doing, a bright red flush spreading across his face.
“Is staring another ‘thing’ of yours besides sneaking out?” Langa asked, a big smile meeting the now extremely flustered redhead.
Poor Reki was completely taken off guard by the previously unknown boy, but could you blame him? It’s not like you meet a boy with prince-like looks in a skate park in the middle of the night!
“You have quite some sass there Mr. America, maybe I should take my statement back and murder you with my skateboard!” Reki rebutted as the heat in his cheeks crept up his ears.
“Canada” Langa corrected, completely ignoring the other statement.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, where’s the difference anyways?”
“Oh, there are plenty of differences!”
The silence of the night was now filled with laughter and bickering coming from under the streetlight as the conversation continued. Although they had only known each other for a few hours, both boys seemed to instantly form a connection with one another. It felt like they were just old friends meeting again after a long time.
Apart from arguing about the differences between the US and Canada, they talked about their lives. Langa shared some information about his old high school in his old hometown and what his plans for his new life were, and Reki talked about skating and what fun spots to visit in the town.
He almost made a backflip when they found out that Langa would attend the same school as him.
Time passed quickly as their conversation went on, the once so-black sky was slowly lighting up into an arrangement of light blues and yellows. The first sounds of birds chirping in the distance began, and after a couple of minutes, the sun was gradually showing itself at the end of the horizon.
“Whoa look, dude!” Reki exclaimed, “The sun is rising!” His eyes shot down to his wristwatch, “Oh shoot, it’s almost 6:30 AM!! I gotta go before my Family notices that I’m gone, god my mom would kill me if she knew that I’m sneaking out!”
“Yeah, same.” Langa laughed before slowly getting up from the bench, which Reki promptly imitated.
“Oh, before you leave! I know we’ll see each other in school on monday, but would you mind exchanging phone numbers? It was nice talking to you.” The redhead asked.
“I don't mind,” the taller male replied as he took his phone out of his pocket, handing it to the redhead, which he gladly accepted.
He hummed and typed his phone number into the contact list, then gave it back to Langa who was patiently observing him.
“There you go, now let’s head home before we actually get murdered,” Reki giggled while positioning his skateboard on the ground, “It was nice meeting you, Langa. See you on Monday!!”
With that, the shorter male put his foot on his skateboard and rushed home, leaving the blue-haired boy behind.
Langa was still standing at the bench, a chuckle leaving his smiling lips as he read the name of his newest contact; it spelled Reki with a skateboard and a lighting bolt emoji after it. He looked at it for another second before heading home himself.
It was a truly peculiar night for both of them, but little did they know that it was also the night that would change their lives forever.