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It was finally time for the sun to shine again.
After a complete day of almost non-stop rain yesterday, the gloomy clouds dispersed and out came the glistening blue sky, accompanied by a transparent rainbow soaring high over the fluffy clouds.
Reki was certain today would be the day he was fighting for.
He already made the plan with Langa, who instantly agreed with joining him, like it was any possibility that Langa would deny it, anyways. Miya tagged along again, as well.
Reki grinned to himself in his room, tying his shoes and humming happily.
"Barf, you're overly excited for your date,"
Reki jumped, whirling around to see his little sister, Koyomi, stood at the entrance of his room, popsicle in hand.
"What?" Reki shot up instantly. "What the heck do you mean date?!"
Koyomi shifted, the popsicle flinging toward her brother. She grinned mischievously, the same look she had on her face yesterday when she and Miya decided Reki and Langa's punishment for losing their game of Karuta. "I finally can have my little skater date with Langa!" Koyomi said through a whiny and dramatic attempt at Reki's voice. "How I wish for us to skate infinitely-"
"Knock that off!" Reki yelled, his voice going up a couple of octaves. He tried hard to ignore the growing blush on his face. "It's not just with Langa, alright?" he huffed, crossing his arms. "Miya's coming along too. So there, it's not a date!" he shot back, sticking his tongue out at her, thinking he won their little battle.
Koyomi shook her head. Her brothers obvious crush on his best friend was impossible to avoid. Reki took this quick silence as an invitation to grab his board and try to squeeze past Koyomi to leave his room. "Hey, wait!"
Reki halted. "Uh, what?"
Koyomi pouted, leaning towards Reki with her hands on her hips, the popsicle still flailing around. "You're always taking off without sparing me a second glance."
Reki looked at her, silent and puzzled. Why would he have to tell Koyomi where he was going, now?
"I skateboard now too, you know." Koyomi said. "I think it's fair you take me with this time!"
"Huh?!" Reki blinked, eyes widening. "You want to come with?!"
"Duh, that's what I said, dummy." Koyomi flicked his bangs with a finger. Reki grumbled, swishing her hand away. "I can't get good just skating in the backyard. I need some real challenges!" Koyomi sparkled with the same determination Reki had when he was starting out on the board.
Reki wasn't fond of dragging along his younger sister to his hang outs with his friends, but the fact she was determined about skating made him weigh in on accepting her plea to come along. "Alright, fine," Reki sighed out. "Go get your board."
Koyomi lit up instantly. "Yes!" she pumped a fist, practically pushing Reki out of the way to rush to her room. Reki glared for a brief second before shuffling his way toward the front door. "Don't take too long or I'm taking off without you!" he called out, swinging the door open and trekking down to the side walk.
Koyomi came out not long after, yelling out goodbye to their mother and rushing out of the door, board tucked under her arms like it was a special gift. "Ready!" she announced proudly, stopping at Reki's side.
"About time," Reki joked. Koyomi stuck her tongue out this time. Reki just grinned. "Alright, let's go," he urged, taking the lead down the sidewalk. Koyomi happily skipped behind him, beaming like the sun that shined on the siblings.
They made it to the half-way point, the usual spot Reki and Langa met everyday. Miya must be waiting at the skatepark already, as it was only Langa stood there, gazing up at the sky, probably admiring the leftover drizzle from yesterday's rain. Reki picked up pace instantly. Koyomi rolled her eyes behind him.
"Hey, man!" Reki swiftly got to Langa's side, who turned at him with a small smile. "Hey," he said back. The two did their usual greeting, the high-five that descended into a fist bump and the infinity symbol. Koyomi stopped behind Reki, holding her board under one arm. "I'm here too, ya know."
"Oh, Koyomi?" Langa peered over Reki's shoulder. "You're joining us?" he calmly asked.
Reki turned around and huffed at Koyomi's proud face. "Yeah, she practically begged me to take her with."
"I didn't beg!" Koyomi urgently corrected. "I have to get to your guys' level somehow," Koyomi grinned, a proud expression painting her face.
"Sounds good." Langa smiled toward Reki, who blinked and then returned it with a wide grin of his own.
"You ready?" Langa asked.
"Obviously! Let's get moving!" Reki responded eagerly. He and Langa put their boards down at the same time, hopping on with ease. Koyomi got on hers carefully, bending her knees and focusing on the road ahead of her.
With that, the three of them kicked off. Koyomi wobbled for a few moments, but she caught herself, determination burning in her eyes. Reki slowed down to ride beside her, making sure she wasn’t struggling too much.
“Try shifting your weight more,” he advised.
Koyomi frowned but followed his instruction, and soon, she was gliding a little smoother.
Meanwhile, Langa skated just ahead of them, effortlessly weaving side to side. Reki and Koyomi looked up at him ahead. Reki grinned, admiring his best friends skills, like he always did, proud and in love. Koyomi would usually giggle and tease her brother, but she had to admit, Langa did look pretty cool.
Langa turned his head to look back at the siblings, the same cool and unreadable expression on his face as always. "You two okay?" he asked. Reki would usually be right behind him.
Reki gave him a thumbs up. "Just making sure miss newb here doesn't fall off her board," Reki teased her. Koyomi scoffed, wobbling for a moment on the board but quickly regaining her composure. "I'm not that bad, you know!"
Langa smiled at their banter. "Not at all," he responded to Koyomi's defense. "I think you do pretty well, Koyomi."
Koyomi's eyes sparkled. "You really think so?!"
Reki pouted, glaring at the view to the right of him. "Don't let it go to your head. Langa says a lot of things." he said in a mostly teasing manner. Langa, in fact, did not say a whole lot of things. But when he did, it was normally embarrassing truths that flustered you easy. Okay, maybe that was just Reki.
Koyomi wasn't doing bad in the slightest, either. But Reki had to keep up his big brother front with her. Tough love is the best way to go!
Soon enough, they arrived at the skatepark that flooded a downpour of rain just the other day. Miya was sitting on a bench, board at his feet, waiting eagerly to be pushed. He leaned over, focused intently on some kind of video game. He paused the screen, looking up at hearing the sound of incoming wheels.
Miya stood up from the seat, turning his direction toward the incoming group. "Took you long enough, slow pokes." he said.
"Sorry," Reki came to a stop, jumping off his board and holding it by the top with one hand. "I had to bring extra cargo this time." he pointed behind him at Koyomi, who came to a slow but eager stop.
Miya blinked, eyes lighting up at the tag along.
Koyomi stood off the skateboard, picking it up into her arms. "Hey again, Miya!" she grinned.
"Hi, Koyomi." Miya responded, a bit too soft for someone of his usual attitude.
Reki looked between the two of them, an overprotective glare in his eyes. "Okay, enough," Reki stated after too long of a silence. "Let's get going already! I've been pent up all weekend!" he grinned over at Langa, who nodded in agreement. They dropped onto their boards, taking off with ease.
Koyomi watched with excited eyes, looking at Reki and Langa roll up to the half-pipe. Langa gained a ton of air, doing a spin and landing back down like it was the easiest thing in the world to him. Koyomi couldn't help but admire his skills.
"Yeah, he's impressive." Miya suddenly chimed in. Koyomi jumped. She thought Miya would have taken off with them by now.
"It looks so fun." Koyomi said. Miya hummed, looking over at her eager eyes that reminded him of her older and annoying brother's familiar determination. "Being able to be so high in the air must be freeing as heck!"
Miya let a smile fall to his lips. "Sure it is." he agreed. "But there's other exciting parts to skating too, you know."
Koyomi glanced over at Miya. She smiled curiously. "You're a professional," she noted. She kicked up her board into her hand and turned to Miya. "Why don't you show me some awesome tricks of your own?!"
"Huh?" Miya felt his mouth dry up at Koyomi's admiration for his skills, wanting to see what tricks he could do with his board. Usually, he'd be proud to do so. Showing off in front of the slime had been a favorite pass time of his. But looking at Koyomi's face, Miya couldn't process a response.
Her brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight with an excitable grin, waiting for Miya to show off for her.
Miya finally looked away, a blush forming on his cheeks that he desperately tried to hide. "Sure, I guess I can humor you with my skills." he said, trying to sound like his usual snarky self. It came out a tad softer than he would've liked. He grumbled internally, hopping onto his board and pushing toward the ramps. Miya swore in his head, telling himself to get it together.
Koyomi giggled, leaning against a railing with eager eyes. She kept a close watch on Miya, her brother and Langa in the background seemed distant, her focus was glued to the champion about to showcase his skills at her request.
Miya kicked off, picking up speed as he rolled toward the ramps. He launched himself up with practiced ease, spinning his board under his feet before landing flawlessly. Koyomi gasped, eyes wide in amazement.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed, gripping the railing as she leaned forward. "That was awesome!"
Miya smirked, regaining a bit of his usual cocky edge. "Of course it was," he said, pushing himself toward another ramp. He executed a perfect kickflip, then smoothly transitioned into a manual, balancing effortlessly as he rolled past Koyomi. "Try not to blink, newbie. You might miss my best moves."
Koyomi rolled her eyes but grinned. "Like I'd ever look away!"
Miya faltered for a brief moment in the middle of swiveling his board side to side. He caught himself before his board could slip out from underneath him. He quickly regained his footing and came to a stop in front of Koyomi, casually acting like nothing happened. He flicked his bangs out of his face and crossed his arms. "Well? Impressed?"
Koyomi beamed. "Duh! You made it look easy! I wanna do that, too!"
Miya raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Try riding in a straight line, first." he teased, but some kind of soft merit rose in his voice.
Koyomi huffed, placing a determined hand on her hip. "Oh, please. If I can put up with my brother, I can totally handle this."
"Big talk for someone who almost fell just skating here," Miya taunted, but his smirk softened at the edges.
"Then teach me," Koyomi challenged, holding her board tight. "C'mon, oh great and mighty pro skater, show me how it's done!"
Miya felt the words get caught in his throat. He blinked, surprised at her request. He glanced behind him at Reki and Langa, who were still caught up in their own world, laughing and chatting as they skated together. He then looked back at Koyomi, whose brown eyes shimmered with excitement.
A strange feeling twisted in his chest—something unfamiliar, something annoying. Miya scoffed and looked away, pretending to inspect his board. "Tch. Fine. But don’t come crying to me if you fall."
"Yes!" Koyomi celebrated with a fist pump to the air.
"First things first," Miya dropped his board to the ground. "Get on without wobbling." he hopped on his skateboard like it was second nature to him, as if he floated onto it.
"Pft, easy." Koyomi grinned, jumping onto her board without a slip. "I'm no complete noob, alright?"
Miya tilted his head, and smirked. "Alright then," he turned his board around so quickly Koyomi didn't even register for a second that his back now faced her. "Follow me," he waved a hand to get her to follow, kicking off into an intermediate speed. Koyomi swiftly sped up, not even focusing on the fact that she finally got up to such a speed without her knees feeling wobbly. Miya was just up ahead, and she was determined to follow his lead.
Miya looked behind him, a bit caught off guard at how close she followed so soon. He blinked, and then smirked. "Not bad. But you're gonna have to do more than that to impress me," he teased, picking up his pace and jumping up, the board twirling beneath his feet as he landed on it with perfect balance.
Koyomi puffed her cheeks out, watching him land like the pro he was. Show off, she thought, giggling as she admired his impressive style of skating. "Okay, here goes!" she exclaimed, picking up her own speed with the determination to land her first ollie. Miya swiftly turned around, watching her with focused and puzzled eyes.
Koyomi's grin grew wide, and she shifted her back foot to the edge of her board, bending her knees to jump in the air.
Koyomi felt a high rush through her, until it came crashing down, quite literally. Just barely making it up, Koyomi started to swivel uncontrollably.
Miya, still skating backwards, blinked, his brain not processing that Koyomi was falling towards him. He tensed up, yelping in surprise and grabbing onto Koyomi as she whacked into his chest. Miya came to a hard stop on his board with Koyomi face planting into him. Miya felt himself flush intensely, his hands still gripping onto Koyomi's arms.
"Ugh, I was so close, too!" Koyomi frowned. She'd been practicing skating for probably a month now, she was ready to finally do some tricks, even if it wasn't that likely for someone of her skill level. Koyomi looked down at her hands, noticing they were held in a firm but comforting grip of Miya, who seemed rather still at the moment, his skateboard not moving an inch below his feet.
Koyomi looked up, and Miya quickly turned his head the other way, a flush of red covering his flustered scowl.
Koyomi took a moment to process the situation. She'd crashed head first right into Miya, and he instantly grabbed hold of her, preventing her from crashing onto the ground, which was a bit funny, since Reki was always pestering her about how "falling was a part of skating", and what not.
Koyomi blinked, looking at Miya's flustered face, and then back at their intertwined hands. They were pressed very closely to one and other, with Miya just a tad higher than Koyomi, since he was stood on his skateboard still. "Um," Koyomi didn't process how her heart skipped a beat for a moment, focusing in on Miya's growing blush.
"HEY MAN!"
Miya and Koyomi jumped simultaneously. Miya let go of his grip on Koyomi's wrists, and she took a couple steps back, trying to process that she wasn't moving on a board anymore, since it flew out from beneath her feet. Miya crossed his arms, stepping off his board, glaring at Reki running toward them with an overly protective look on his face.
"What the heck are you guys doing?!" Reki yelled out, skittering to a stop. Langa rolled up behind him, hopping off his skateboard and holding Reki's in his hands.
"Calm down," Koyomi pouted. "You're being dramatic, as always," she said, dragging out the word dramatic. "Miya was helping me skate."
"That was helping you?" Reki exclaimed. He turned over to Miya, who was weirdly quiet. "Hey! Don't get any funny ideas, dude! I know you're the same age, but that doesn't mean you can go around flirting with my sister!"
"I wasn't flirting!" Miya's voice cracked. He flipped toward Reki in an instant, his face completely red.
"Are you alright, Koyomi?" Langa asked. "I saw you fall."
"Huh? Me? Please, I'm fine!" Koyomi crossed her arms confidently, like she was proud that she failed her attempt at an ollie.
"Look, falling is all a part of the sport," Reki started to go on like he usually did. "And I mean falling off your board, not falling for my sister!"
"Would you shut up, slime?!" Miya croaked, being put on the spot once again. "It was just an instinct, alright?" he muttered, tussling his bangs in a nervous habit. "She came crashing towards me, would you rather me move out of the way so she'd fall face-first into the concrete?" Miya pouted with a glare on his flushed face.
Reki crossed his arms and glanced toward Langa, who was un-expressively calm about the situation as always. "You never try to catch any of us when we fall." Reki muttered.
"You guys never fall." Miya informed him. "Also, you're all twice my size!"
"He is right, Reki." Langa said. Reki huffed even louder. "Stop making this worse, Langa!"
Koyomi watched the trio with an amused glint in her eyes. She smiled before breaking into a fit of laughter. "Geez, you guys are so immature!"
"What?! I'm not immature!" Reki whirled around to Koyomi again, voice raising in offense.
"I fell, and Miya caught me. Is that sooo bad?" Koyomi leaned in toward Reki, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "Maybe you really did want me to fall on my face!"
"That's not true!"
"I get it, you're jealous Langa doesn't catch you when you fall."
"I am NOT!"
Langa blinked, tilting his head at Reki like a confused puppy. "I have caught you before." Langa unhelpfully added on to the conversation. "At the hot spring, remember?"
"Oooh, so you have!" Koyomi cackled behind her hand.
"Y-You're talking way too much today, Langa!" Reki started shouting toward his best friend instead. Miya sighed, his own blush starting to fade away. He took this opportunity to try and slip away unnoticed. He made his way toward the bench where he left his things. He picked up his bottle and started taking a few sips.
"Hey!" Koyomi's voice quickly came back to Miya's ears. She skipped toward the bench, usual grin on her face. "Are you trying to escape me now?" she teased.
Miya frowned, twisting the cap back on his drink and setting it down onto the bench. "Reki would like that," he joked. Koyomi giggled in response. "He's just dramatic,"
Miya nodded in agreement. He knew Reki long enough by now to understand that, at least. "Are you alright, by the way?" Miya suddenly asked, his voice changing from the usual high air of confidence to something low and soft.
"Hm?" Koyomi blinked.
"I noticed you tried to do an ollie," Miya noted, thinking back to the view of Koyomi he had of her trying to jump with her board. "You were close, but there's still a few things you could learn before you master it."
Koyomi processed his words, and then smiled. "Well, I'd like to hear it!" she said, sitting herself down on the bench. "Come on, come on," Koyomi urged Miya, patting down the empty spot next to her. Miya rolled his eyes in amusement, plopping down on the empty side of the bench.
"Well, firstly,"
Miya started to go off, and Koyomi listened intently. She smiled, watching Miya's expression light up. It was similar to Reki when he talked about his passion of skateboarding, along with what Koyomi noticed about Langa now, too. Even if it wasn't very expressive, even Langa had a change in expression when the mention of skateboarding was brought into the air.
Koyomi's gaze softened, listening to Miya go on about posture and when to flick the board upward.
Everyone seemed so passionate about skateboarding.
It just urged her even further to want to learn alongside them.
She and Miya sat on that bench for a good rest of their time at the park, laughing and chatting about tricks and skill levels, making snarky remarks toward Reki when ever he came into view. Reki was growing exhausted by their dual attacks, but of course, Langa was there to balance it out.
Koyomi skated back home with Reki, already improving since a couple hours earlier of skating to the park.
"So," their pace slowed down as they approached their familiar road to the house. "How'd you like your first skate park?" Reki asked.
"It was awesome, duh!" Koyomi laughed, stopping her board with barely less of a struggle. "I can't wait to go again. You're bringing me along from now on, got that?"
Reki huffed, scooping his skateboard under one arm. "No way. You need to learn to practice on your own!" Reki teased her, pushing through the front door into their home.
"Fine. I'll just ask Miya to take me."
Reki whipped around fast as lightning. "Oh no you're not!"
Koyomi busted into a fit of laughter. She may have just found a new passion, and someone to share it with closely, too.