A/n: This took a while to post, but here it is! Sorry it took so long. But to make it up to y'all, I made this chapter longer, maybe even longer than the other chapters I posted in the past. I don't remember. But anyway, enjoy! I hope you like it! Also, Happy Halloween!!!

3rd POV

A few hours passed throughout the day and (Y/n) was back at Langa's house. Langa himself was out at that hour as it was already night. Langa's mom was working late so it was just (Y/n) in the house. It doesn't bother her though given that she's spent many days just by herself in the past.

The girl was currently lying on the couch in the living room with her legs dangling on the armrest and her back against the cushions. In her hand was a familiar box that (Y/n) knew so well and had taken out from her backpack. She didn't do much with it. She was just looking at it.

In her head, many things were going all over the place. This box was the only thing that the child was able to obtain that belonged to her mother. She didn't know what was inside and didn't bother to open it and see since she promised she wouldn't open it considering that it wasn't hers.

(Y/n) lets out a sigh as she places the small wooden box on her chest and closes her eyes. The only thing she kept seeing with her eyes closed was an image of her mother. It was almost as if she didn't want to forget what she looked like.

She snaps out of her own when the sound of the front door to the apartment opens, which causes her to open her eyes and look to the side. The door opens and closes as soon as a familiar teen with sky-blue hair enters."Hey, (Y/n)," the voice of Langa speaks as he looks at the said girl with a smile.

(Y/n) greets her friend with a small wave as she speaks."Hey, Langa. How'd it go?" she then questions as she looks up at the ceiling with her head resting on the armrest of the couch.

"It was okay. Sorry, I took so long to get back. I was over at Reki's house to see if he could fix my skateboard," Langa explains how his day was, even bringing up that he was at his redhead friend's place. (Y/n) wasn't that bothered by that fact and shrugged it off as her mind wandered off into the abyss of her own head.

"Oh, yeah. That old thing." Upon giving Langa a quick glance, she noticed that he didn't have his skateboard with him, which made her assume that it still needed a few more tweaks and repairs."Do you think it'll be fixed by the time you'd have to skate in the tournament again?"

"I hope so. I also hope Reki figures out what he's doing."

Hearing that sort of response confuses the nine-year-old girl a bit as she raises an eyebrow."What do you mean by that?"

It took Langa a few seconds to realize that he may have left some important information that he forgot to tell (Y/n) yesterday. His eyes brighten up a bit as he sits down on the seat by the table."That's right. I never told you what happened to Shadow, huh?"

It may have been new information for Langa to explain, but not to (Y/n). She thought back to when Miya spoke-- well, more like translated-- with her what had happened with the clown skater/flower boy."I may have found out earlier today about him supposedly supposed to be the one skating since I took myself off of the tournament and that he got hurt. What does that have to do with Reki?"

Langa was in a way surprised to hear that sort of response, but brushed it off as he began to explain to the girl the important part of what happened that day."Well, Snake came over to the skate shop and told Reki that Adam was making him the replacement for Shadow's spot in the race. So, that means he'll be skating against Adam tonight."

It took a few seconds for (Y/n) to process everything the snowboarder just said. Snake... Adam... Reki... skating? There was no way she misheard any of that because Langa was speaking in English after all. She quickly sat up and looked at Langa with a shocked and alarmed look on her face while she kept her hand on the wooden box that was close to her chest so that it wouldn't fall.

"No way. The last time he had a beef with Adam, he ended up hurting his arm badly. What makes him think that racing him tonight will be any different than the first time?" (Y/n) asks as her voice slightly changes to a calmer tone as soon as she asks him the question. Langa does nothing more but shift a bit in his seat before speaking with a shrug.

"I'm not sure, but I do see how much more confident he is about skating now than he was before. He might actually win if he tries hard enough." The way Langa responded made it sound like he had faith in Reki, which made (Y/n) wonder if she should express the same faith he has toward the redhead. She tried not to think that much of the reckless boy, but some part of her was still a little worried about him.

"Well, lucky him, I guess," the child says as she lies back down on the couch with her head resting on the armrest. She still kept the small box held close to her chest as she closed her eyes once again.

As the girl reacted, it seemed like she was lost in deep thought and the snowboarder picked up on it. He looked down and wondered what could be occupying her mind. Though he didn't want to assume, he decided to ask her a question.

"Hey, (Y/n), can I ask you something?" he said, catching the girl's attention. She opened her eyes and looked over at her friend, waiting for him to continue. "If you had the opportunity to race against someone as talented as Adam, would you take that chance?"

(Y/n) stayed quiet for a few seconds as she processed everything that Langa said. Something deep down inside her was telling her that she indeed did want to skate because skating was the one thing that made her happy. Not only that, skating reminded her of someone she was always close to her whole life.

The girl takes a deep breath before exhaling as she thinks of a response to tell him."Yeah... I guess I would. Now that I feel that the truth has been told about me, there's nothing else that I want to do other than skate. I want to make my mom proud by becoming the best skater in 'S.'" A small smile appears on her face as she looks back up towards the ceiling with her head lying on the armrest of the couch. The thought of winning a race always makes her excited. "Yeah, that's it. I want to beat Adam in a race and prove that he is not always better than everybody." That smile then slowly fades as another thought comes to mind. "I wish I could if I wasn't so afraid of going back out there and acting as if whatever happened to me never happened."

Langa smiles at the girl and he sits up straighter in his chair, feeling like he's opening up more to his little friend."It's normal to feel that way. Sometimes, all you need is a little encouragement to regain your confidence. Trust me on that."

Hearing the tone of encouragement in his voice, (Y/n) giggled as it reminded her of her mother. It was like she missed hearing that in her mother's voice just so it felt real."My mom always did that. She always pushed me to do the things I thought I couldn't do in the beginning, like skateboarding. But now that she's gone, I don't think I'll have that little nudge to encourage me," she says as her hand rests on top of the wooden box she hadn't put down yet ever since she got on that couch.

Langa could understand her reasoning, but he seemed to be getting distracted by the box that the child was holding. His curiosity grew as he realized that he had not seen it with her before. He wondered how important it was to the (h/c)-haired girl.

"What's that you have there?" he asks her with a raised eyebrow.

(Y/n) looks down at the little compartment she had and responds briefly by saying, "It's a box."

Langa laughs at the girl's response, but then clarifies his question."Yeah, I know it's a box, but what's inside?"

The nine-year-old looks back down at the box, thinking of the possibility of what could be inside before shrugging her shoulders."I don't know. It belongs to my mom. I never looked inside, but the only thing I could think of is some of her valuable things in there."

The only thing that could be assumed from her response is that she hadn't looked in the small wooden box before. Now Langa was curious to know why she had never looked inside when all she had to do was open the latch and lift the box lid to see the remnants of what was inside."Why is it that you haven't opened it and see for yourself?"

(Y/n) lets out a huff as she covers her eyes with her hand, already seeing the past images of her mother when she was alive playing in her head. All she wanted to do was shed a few tears, but she had to remain strong. So she replies to her friend in the most reasonable response she could think of...

"Because I don't want to go through her stuff. I even promised that I would keep it safe until we arrived here in Okinawa and that I wouldn't look inside. I don't want to break that promise, so I don't bother looking inside." Her hand then leaves her face as her gaze lands on the sky-blue-haired teen who is still seated on the chair. "Even if I do look inside, it'll just bring back some memories and give me pain all over again. I'm trying not to go through that again."

If there was one thing Langa could understand, it's that (Y/n) has gone through so much pain after the death of her mother that she doesn't know how to get through life without the one person she looked up to. She is still a young girl and more than likely needs help trying to be relieved from all the suffering she's been through.

A small smile makes its way onto the snowboarder's face.

"You know, if you ever want to get through all of the pain and suffering you are feeling, you're going to have to look inside. That's what I believe," he shares his thoughts with his small friend, hoping that what he just said makes sense to her. Yet, he could see the hesitance in the girl's eyes. She was already contemplating what her next actions were but wasn't quite sure if it would be the right thing to do.

Nonetheless, she fixates her gaze back towards the wooden box. "I guess you're right," she says as she pulls the latch open and grasps the lid of the box, slowly making progress in revealing what was inside...







But she stops...









"But I don't want to. Not now, at least. Maybe another time." With that said, (Y/n) gets up from the couch and walks past Langa, putting the box down on the table as she does so. She starts walking to the teen's room, but she stops walking to look back at the small wooden box. With her thoughts in mind, she speaks again. "Heck, I wouldn't care if you looked in there for me. Might as well let you see inside first and then tell me. I'll have to get ready to go to 'S' tonight anyway."

Langa watches (Y/n) walk into his room after those final words. He remembers that she had to be careful if she wanted to go out and go to "S" that night since the others would more than likely be there for the tournament.

"You'll be going a little later after I leave, right?" he asks in a louder tone of voice so that (Y/n) can hear him from the room.

It was silent for a bit, which gave (Y/n) the chance to contemplate a little bit on Langa's question. Not long after, he heard a response from her."Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

The conversation ended abruptly, leaving him with nothing else to say. He cared about the child and wanted the best for them, so he respected his friend's wishes and didn't push the matter further. The tournament was his next priority, but as he was getting ready to leave, he noticed the wooden box on the table and became curious about its contents. (Y/n) had given him permission to look inside before her, so maybe he could take a peek.

He had to know...

~~~~~~~~~~

It was already past midnight, which meant that the gates of "S" had already opened and the race against Adam and Reki had already begun. Like what (Y/n) said, she waited a few minutes after to go into the abandoned mine so that she could easily sneak in. Everyone's main focus will be on the "beef," so no one will bother to look around and possibly spot the nine-year-old walking in.

With her (2/f/c) hood over her head, (Y/n) walks behind every person that she sees, trying not to make herself known in the area. There will be a lot more people watching the big screen by the entrance of "S," so the girl makes her way toward the finish line, which is where she expects either Reki or Adam to be claimed as the winner.

Upon arriving at her destination, she scanned the crowd in search of familiar faces. After a few moments, she spotted Langa, Miya, Joe, and Cherry, all looking up at the screen displaying the race. Shadow was still in the hospital, so he wasn't present. However, (Y/n) didn't bother trying to catch a glimpse of the screen due to the distance and the fact that she was completely obscured by the people around her. She was not bothered by the situation and decided to watch the race on her phone to simplify things.

She took out her device and started watching the race from there. The girl intended to arrive at "S" and watch the halfway point of the "beef" to find out who the winner was. However, to her surprise, she found that Reki was still competing against Adam. The redhead looked practically beat and could give up right then and there if he wanted to. (Y/n) lets out a sigh as she keeps her eyes on the screen of her phone.

"Come on, Reki. I didn't come out here just to see you give up that easily," she says to herself in a low mumble. She could see the look on Reki's face and could tell that he was contemplating how to deal with the race now that he was headed straight towards a sharp corner that was also by the edge of a cliff. One wrong move and he could go tumbling down and hurt himself. Maybe even break a few bones.

And just like how (Y/n) was thinking, Reki was indeed trying to find a way out of the situation. His heart was racing inside his chest as his mind was open the whole time as the wind blew past his red locks.

'Dammit! What do I do?' he thought to himself. 'Would he keep going or bail? If Langa were here... (Y/n) too, what would they do?'

Right after he thinks that, an image flashes before his eyes, one that he's familiar with. It was an image of (Y/n) during the time she first she ever raced at "S." The way she used the ramp to soar through the air like she was a phoenix made it seem like she wasn't afraid of the outcomes. The excitement in her eyes made it clear to him...

She enjoyed skating just for the fun of it.





'Of course.'

'But could I pull it off?'

The corner was coming up as both Adam and Reki were getting closer. At that moment, it was as if his worries just flew out the window.

'No. It doesn't matter if I can or not. Fact is...'

A smirk appears on Reki's face as he bends his knees to obtain balance and gains more speed, all while his thoughts speak out loud in his head.

'... it's gonna be a ton of fun just to try!'

He surpasses Adam and makes his way towards the edge of the cliff, not at all thinking that he is going to turn that corner. (Y/n) sees this on the screen of her phone and her eyes widen in shock at the realization of what the redhead was about to pull. 'What is he doing?' she asks herself in her head as she is filled with worry.

"Is he seriously about to jump off a cliff?" (Y/n) catches the voice of Cherry speaking from a distance as he speaks in Japanese, understanding most of the things he just said. The voice of Joe then follows after him. "What?" the six-pack skater says in disbelief as he keeps his eyes focused on the big screen in front of him.

(Y/n) quickly looks back at her phone without blinking an eye, feeling that she might miss something if she did so. The next thing that happened shocked her completely. Reki jumped over the edge of the cliff and started to skate down it as if he knew what he was doing. And to her surprise, he uses a tree trunk that was sticking out to launch himself up into the air, almost like how she did when she raced against Shadow.

She was so astonished by his actions that it was as if she saw something spark inside of the redhead. At that moment, he reminded her of herself. They may be different in so many ways, but one thing that they both have in common is their desire for skating.

"Just like Langa said..." she mumbles to herself as she watches her friend ascending down back towards the track. "He did change. He finally sees what I've always seen in skating." With that said, a small smile crept onto her face.

"He is now motivated to have fun while skating."

Reki lands safely on the ground but struggles to get his balance on his skateboard as he continues to move forward from then on. The fact that he's ahead of Adam exhilarates him, but the said Matador of Love is not far behind as he easily catches up.

"Honey, you can't win this race on a fluke. We still have a long road ahead of us, Red," Adam says as a way to make Reki lose his hope of winning. But those words coming from a man like him won't stop Reki from accomplishing his goal. His smirk gets bigger as he prepares to perform a trick that he knows will help him out... At least he hopes it will.

'That's what you think,' Reki thinks to himself as he suddenly changes the direction of his board, shifting it so that he is now skating at full speed towards Adam. 'Just keep tellin' yourself that!'

Adam grunts from a sudden impact as Reki makes contact with him and he now has his arms wrapped around the man's torso. He was practically hugging the pro skater, which confuses the said skater as he looks down at the young teen while skating forward.

"What's that supposed to do? I can't tell if you're trying to kill me or proposing marriage," Adam says with a deadpanned look, which clearly can't be seen by the redhead as he is clinging onto him. "I love to entertain others. But what's ironic is that I hate being entertained!" the blue-haired male yells as he lifts his arm out and clenches his fist.

The next thing that happens shocks (Y/n) to the bitter core. She watches in horror as Adam starts to punch Reki in the face, which causes blood to seep down his face and land on his board. Her breath hitches as she tries to find the best way to compose herself from yelling out loud in fear.

"Reki, what are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed if you don't move," she whispers, sounding a little bit exaggerated due to the anxiety she is feeling at the moment. In the crowd around her, she hears her friends saying things that she pays no mind to because her main focus is on her red-haired friend.

(Y/n) then watches as Adam lifts up both of his arms and is about to give one final blow to Reki's back, but what causes her to look away from her phone screen is unexpected... She felt a water drop land on her nose. She was a bit startled by it and quickly wiped it off. She was about to question herself why she felt that in the first place, but then felt another land on her cheek this time.

Being the curious nine-year-old that she was, she looked up at the sky and noticed how cloudy it had started to get. She didn't realize how the weather was looking when she first got here and didn't think that much of it. It started to lightly sprinkle, which then turned into a drizzle. (Y/n) pulls her hood over her head more to make sure that her head is safely covered from the rain and lifts her board over her phone so that droplets don't land on her screen.

But even though she's keeping herself safe from the rain, Reki isn't doing the same thing. (Y/n) knows that the rain can affect skating in many ways and she despises it because of that. She looked back at the screen and was surprised to see that Reki had let Adam go from his lame version of the Love Hug and was now skating ahead of the pro skater.

A turn comes up and the girl watching in the crowd gets worried. Adam can go eat mug for all she cares, her worries were all on Reki. One small mess-up can have a big effect on the race now that the track is wet and slippery. She started to pray to any skating God that she hoped might exist to help Reki get through this.

'Please help Reki win this race. Please don't have him slip off his skateboard and get hurt. Please!' she prays in her mind. Adam does end up gliding a bit off of the track as he makes his turn with his gloved hand scraping against the wet, rocky road, but to her surprise, Reki is still up. Actually, he was gaining more speed through the turn.

(Y/n) was left in shock as her eyes widened at the sight of Reki succeeding. There was nothing in her mind that could explain why this was happening. "What in the... Did the skating Gods hear my prayer?" she asks herself as her eyes never leave her phone's screen.

"He's got wheels for rainy weather," Langa's voice could be heard from where he was standing with the group. "They have special grooves on them so he won't slip through the mud. Unfortunately, they really slow him down when it's not wet."

The only thing (Y/n) was able to hear in his explanation was the first part, putting the pieces "wheels" and "rainy weather" together. She easily understood the concept of Reki's wheels and lost all hope of there being a skating God. Nonetheless, it amazes the girl that Reki was able to predict that rain was going to take place during this time.

'I'll give him credit. I had no thought of checking the weather for that.' That thought runs through her head as she smiles once again. She felt proud of the teen for his success, but would he be able to make it to the finish line first?

Reki seemed to be enjoying himself as he was taking the lead. He looks back at Adam for a brief moment before looking back at the road in front of him. "What's it like trying to hold your grip in this lovely weather we're having?" the redhead asks as he makes another successful turn on a corner.

Adam continues to struggle to keep his balance as he tries to catch up. "Oho, aren't we clever? If you think some rain will keep me from winning, you're sorely mistaken!" the Matador of Love says in a devilish tone of voice.

Just as another left corner was coming up, Reki turned his board to continue down the track with another one-eighty-right turn, but Adam didn't follow after him. Instead, he steps down on the nose of his board, which causes it to flip in the air as he catches it with both hands and runs on the patch of dirt, making a quick shortcut past the trees and back onto the track again. He was now in front of Reki and was ready to swing his board at him.

This scene reminded her so much of the time Adam hit Cherry with his board and that caused her eyes to go wide. She didn't want to see that play out again to someone much younger than the AI skater.

"Reki, get out of there!" she whispers/yells just as Cherry, Joe, and Miya say things in their language, with the cat boy practically yelling at the huge screen he was looking at with a worried look plastered on his face.

"Pucker up, buttercup!" Adam says as he makes a swing with his skateboard and...





It hits Reki...







At least that's what he thought.

To everyone's surprise, Adam's board only hit Reki's black jacket, making that the distraction as the redhead dashes past the pro skater. "What? Brat!" Adam yells as he looks back at Reki. His foot lands on some slippery mud on the track and that results in him faceplanting on the ground with a loud thud.

The sudden circumstance causes a laugh to leave (Y/n)'s mouth, but she quickly covers her mouth with the back of her hand so as to not reveal herself. She also moves a bit closer to the front of the crowd to change locations but also to keep herself more hidden in the crowd of people around her. All the while, she tries to hold in her laugh, but something else catches her attention.

Someone else was laughing out loud without a care of being heard. (Y/n) looks in that direction she hears the laugh and is surprised to see that the one who was laughing was... Cherry. It felt as if time had stopped as her full attention was now on the pink-haired male sitting in a wheelchair. There was hardly ever a time she'd ever seen him laugh this hard before and it made her feel that she was witnessing another side of him that she had never known about. He didn't have that mask that always covered the bottom half of his face and could see how bright his smile was shining.

All of the negative thoughts she felt when thinking about Cherry seemed to have vanished. She felt more at peace now that she saw his face after a while of not seeing him. It was almost as if she missed hanging out with him and everyone else.

(Y/n) doesn't know how long she was staring, but she snaps out of her trance and looks back at her phone to see where Reki is at the moment. From what she could see, it looked like he was about to enter the factory, which is where she quickly went, passing by people who were in her way. The cheers in the crowd have gotten louder now as the girl looks up and sees Reki skating along the catwalk, getting closer to the finish line. Her hopes started to get bigger the closer he got.

"Come on, Reki. You're almost there," (Y/n) says in a low mumble as her eyes sparkled in admiration. But all that hope seemed to have vanished as soon as she saw a familiar figure in red dashing into the abandoned factory at a high rate of speed. She immediately knew that it was Adam. "Uh, oh."

As Adam ollies himself off the catwalk, she keeps her eyes glued to him. He starts to fall towards the crowd, but just in time, he catches himself by grabbing onto a hook that hangs from the ceiling. Swinging over the crowd, he lands back on track, this time skating closer to Reki, catching up. "Now what? Time is up, loser!" Adam yells in rage.

(Y/n) couldn't look at him any longer as she looked back at her friend, who looked like he was struggling to gain speed. She noticed how one of the wheels on his board was loose and that was the most logical reason why he wasn't going fast enough. 'I believe in you, Reki. Win this race.'

Right before the two skaters crossed the finish line, (Y/n) changed apps on her phone to use her camera and moved closer to the front of the crowd, needing to stick her arm out between a few people to get a clear view of the finish line. She snapped a photo just as they skated over the line, meaning that the race was now over.

She looked at the photo she had just taken and was able to see that the one who made it first was...

Adam.

Now Reki was lying on the ground after the loose wheel on his skateboard came off completely and caused him to fall while Adam was on his knees with some parts of his outfit and mask covered in mud. (Y/n) sighs in defeat at the fact that Reki lost, but to her surprise, the people around were cheering Reki's name, almost like he did win.

'Huh, they must have liked how he practically almost won the race against Adam. They're still cheering him on even though he lost. That is quite the crowd,' (Y/n) thinks to herself as the smile she once had comes back. But it seemed to vanish again when she saw that Reki was not moving as his body was lying on the ground, looking defeated. She wanted to go up to him to make sure he was okay, but she stopped herself when Langa ran up to the redhead with a worried facial expression. She thought instead of going out there, she would stay hidden in the crowd and listen to the conversation by using her phone to translate their words.

"Reki! Are you okay? Hello?" Langa says with a pant as he knelt down beside his friend, hoping to get any sort of reaction from him. And to his relief, Reki started to chuckle, which turned into a laugh as he lay on his back with his arms laid out.

"I frickin' love skating! It's so much fun!" Reki yells his heart out in happiness. This was something (Y/n) was glad to hear from him as the expression on his face topped it all off.

The rest of the group comes forward as Langa helps Reki to his feet.

"You gave us all a heart attack!" Joe says with his hands on his hips.

"I guess you're not as bad as I thought you were," Cherry adds with a small grin.

"Not bad, slime! But you could learn some things!" Miya chimes in.

As (Y/n) watches her friends from the sidelines, some part of her wants to run out of the crowd and join them, but she is afraid to do so. She is afraid that things will be awkward between them once she reveals her presence. She's also afraid that things might not go back to the way they were.

But before she can continue to think, she sees Adam slowly walking towards the group in the corner of her eye. She looked back up as people around were whispering some things to themselves, which made it seem like things were about to get messy. Langa stands in front of Reki in a protective manner as Joe stops Adam from walking any further.

"Stop it. The 'beef' is already over," the green-haired male tells his rival. It was silent for a few seconds before Reki spoke up again, this time in a serious tone as he looked at Adam.

"I remember something Joe told me. 'Make sure you never end up alone.'"

(Y/n) reading those translated words off of her phone made her heart skip a beat. Never end up alone. That was something that she didn't want to go through anymore and would rather be with her friends like before. But she ignores that thought for now as she pays attention to the conversation the group is having right now.

"Do you honestly believe that a nobody like you has the ability to successfully defeat a champion like me?" Adam questions with his eyes looking dead even though no one is able to see them through his mud-stained mask.

Out of nowhere, Snake emerges from the crowd and positions himself in front of Adam. Despite his red cap obstructing his view of the person standing before him, he remains unfazed and stands confidently, bracing himself for the imminent confrontation.

"Out of my way! I'll be dealing with you next!" Adam says in a dark tone of voice, but that doesn't bother Snake either.

"I just wanted to tell you I'll be forfeiting the 'beef' with Snow," Snake says without hesitation, which confuses Adam at first. "He seems to be better suited for you and your needs. He deserves your love."

The look on Langa's face while he spoke was blank, almost as if he was contemplating something. His eyes gaze down at the ground as his thoughts are all over the place and he is deciding whether or not he should speak his thoughts out loud.

Adam, on the other hand, had his eyes locked on his target as his heart fluttered in desire. "If you are insinuating I lead a lonely existence, you'd be absolutely correct. I am the only one who can survive in my world. However, there will soon be another. And together we will fall. Infinitely." He lifts his hand up as if extending it out to the one person he was longing to be his equal as his eyes glow a bright red color through his mask. "We will become Adam and Eve for a new age~"

At the sound of thunder crashing in the background, Langa looks back up at Adam with the same blank look as he speaks.

"As much as I would accept that offer, I'd like to pass it on to someone else."

His words confused everyone around, including the (h/c)-haired girl who just read everything that her phone just translated. Her eyes grew wide as she soon realized who Langa was referring to. Her heart rate increased by a second as she looked back up at the snowboarder, not caring about translating his next words.

"If there is anyone who wants the opportunity to make a difference in their life, it would have to be the person who starts taking action now. They are the ones who truly deserve the chance to compete against someone like you. If they want to, that is," Langa's eyes scan the crowd as if searching for a familiar face. And when he spots a little girl in a (2/f/c) jacket, a smile spreads across his face. "Right, Phoenix?"

At that name, everyone, including Langa's friends, becomes flabbergasted. Some people are whispering some things, but the Phoenix skater girl becomes more nervous. But no matter how anxious she was, she had to be strong. With a deep breath, she slowly steps out of the crowd, revealing herself to everyone.

The entire crowd practically gasped at the sight of the child as she took her hood off of her head, revealing her (h/c)-colored hair as she held her skateboard close to her.

Reki's eyes widened as he fixed his gaze on (Y/n)'s small frame, never once looking away. "(Y/n)," he muttered her name to himself as he couldn't help but remember the last time they spoke and felt a pang of guilt. He stopped himself from speaking out loud to her which might cause more tension in the air if he did. On the other side of him, Miya wore a huge smile as he saw his friend standing there, glad that she had kept her promise and come to watch the race. "(Y/n)!" he greeted her in a higher tone than Reki's, obviously happy to see her.

Joe and Cherry's gaze softened as they looked at her. Joe was relieved to see that she was okay after a while of not hanging out with the group and Cherry felt the same way, except his emotions were stronger. There were so many things he wanted to say to her that he didn't know where to start. He also couldn't just get up from his wheelchair to run over and hug her.

Despite all of the mixed feelings everyone had, (Y/n) stood tall in hopes that revealing herself wasn't a mistake. Although she understood little bits of what Langa said in Japanese, she decided to answer back in a neutral tone of voice. "Right," she says in the Japanese language, knowing that most of the things he said were true.

Adam looks at the girl up and down before a devilish smirk slowly forms across his face. "How lovely," he says with a deep chuckle. "It doesn't matter whether it'd be Snow or Phoneix racing me. In the end, I will be getting my prize. Whoever decides to race me will be between them. And whoever meets me at the starting line will be the one who will have the time of their life."

Even though (Y/n) understood bits and pieces of Adam's words, she was able to know that he was expecting either her or Langa to race against him the next time they met. It would be their choice on who it will be, though...

...and (Y/n) felt confident for some reason.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the announcement and revealing her presence to her friends, (Y/n) didn't stay for long. She still felt the need to avoid them since it was so sudden that she saw them again. However, after she practically dashed out of "S," she walked the rest of the way back to Langa's house. Langa was able to catch up with her, and there was a strong silence between the two as they walked along the sidewalk.

The child was still processing everything that happened that night as her hood was back over her head. The cold wind sends a shiver up her spine as she decides whether or not she even wants to race against the Matador of Love or just let Langa do it. She had to know.

"Hey, Langa?"

The sound of (Y/n)'s voice breaking the silence catches the sky-blue-haired teen's attention as his gaze shifts from the ground toward her. "Yeah?" he casually answers as he waits for the girl to say something.

His friend doesn't respond right away as she looks for the words to ask a question, but she does eventually. "Why are you giving me the chance to race Adam in a 'beef'?" she asks as she clutches onto her skateboard, feeling her anxiety come back a bit from her question.

Langa had a feeling that she was going to ask something like that, so he answered truthfully. "Because earlier tonight, when I asked you if you would take any chance to race against Adam, you said you would. You might not have wanted to then, but you needed that nudge to gain your confidence back. If you didn't, then you might not ever do it in the future."

(Y/n) understood what he was referring to in his explanation and didn't say much about it. She looked down a bit to think but then looked back up when she saw Langa stop walking all of a sudden. That causes her to stop walking as she looks at her tall friend. She knew something else was on his mind that he wanted to tell her so badly, so she spoke again.

"Langa? Is there something else you're not telling me?" she asks as she lifts an eyebrow. Langa was hesitant to speak as he seemed to be fidgeting a bit in his stance. (Y/n) lets out a sigh as she walks towards the boy. "Langa, I know you want to tell me something, so just tell me."

After a few more seconds of silence, Langa gulped as sweat started to form on his forehead. "I, uh..."

It sounded like Langa was trying to hardest to say what he wanted to say to the girl, not knowing how to put it to her. But then he said...



"I looked in the box."

That sudden statement caught the girl off guard and a small gasp left her mouth. She couldn't be mad at him since she did give him permission to look inside, so she calmed down as she put her skateboard down on the ground. "And what did you see?"

"Th-there were just pictures of your mother. Most of the pictures of your mother had you in them as well from when you were younger up until now. But... one of them was different."

Hearing that last part gets (Y/n) interested in what Langa was saying. But before she could say anything, Langa reached inside his pant pocket and pulled out what looked to be a photo. It surprised her enough that he brought the picture with him even when he was at "S." He looked down at it before sighing. "This one... shows a picture of your mom younger with, who I could assume is...



...your father."

(Y/n)'s eyes go wide in shock, replaying everything that Langa just said to make sure she was hearing it correctly. "M-my father?" she asks with a stutter, to which the teen nods his head in confirmation.

"That's right. Do you wanna look at it?" he then asks, but the way he said it made it sound like he was nervous for some apparent reason.

This was it... The time when (Y/n) finally gets to see what her father looks like when he and her mom are at a young age. She didn't want to waste any time, so she nodded her head and reached her hand out to the photo. Langa now looked a little more nervous to show her the photo, but he eventually handed it to her. She grasps it and flips it over so that she can see the colored image of the two people standing close to one another.

One of them whom she recognized easily was her mother, (M/n) (L/n). She's never seen what her mother looked like when she was young, but she looked to be around nineteen years old in the picture. The setting around her looked like an airport, which meant that this photo was taken the day her mother left to go to America. It was a bright sunny day, which made everything look so cheerful, including her mother's smile. Some black-inked letters were handwritten on the photo in (M/n)'s writing spelled out the words, "Never forget, the love of my life."

And for the moment of truth, (Y/n) looks to the left of (M/n) in the photo. Beside her was a boy who looked to be around the same age as her. To any other girl, he looked to be like any other hot boy going through a high school phase. He was taller than (M/n) and had a small grin as his eyes were looking at the camera in front of the two. Both adults had their arms wrapped around each other, looking as if they didn't want to let go of each other.

But what really caught (Y/n)'s attention was that the male had long...





















...pink hair.