3rd POV

The next day had finally come and (Y/n) is casually walking down the streets of Okinawa with her skateboard being held under her arm. She is heading to the skatepark because school just ended for most of the kids and teens, which meant that her two friends will most likely be there.

The nine-year-old is wearing her usual (1/f/c) shirt and black leggings, along with the boots that she always wears. That day, she left her skirt on because she felt lazy. Plus, there's no harm in wearing her skirt out in public, right?

Up ahead, there was a bus stop, where a certain black-haired boy in a sailor-looking uniform is looking down at his phone as he reads about the famous Phoenix everyone in "S" is talking about. He hums to himself as he reads out loud what someone posted about the mysterious skater.

"'She's a very young skater, wears a (2/f/c) sweater and an orange and yellow bird tail that connects to her (1/f/c) skirt.' How interesting," Miya Chinen, a well-known racer in "S" and a candidate for Japan's national skateboarding team, says to himself. A smirk forms on his face as he continues to read more about this skater.

Oblivious to him, the same skateboarder he is reading about is starting to get closer to the bus stop the boy is standing by. She seems to be in her own little world, not paying attention to the things around her. She only snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone yell something.

"Aw, crap!!!"

Looking up, she sees a baseball flying toward her at full speed. Out of reflex, she shields herself with her skateboard as she closes her eyes shut, ready for the impact of the ball. But to her surprise, nothing hit her.

Confused, she opens her eyes and uncovers her face, only to see a pair of green cat-like eyes looking down at her. Miya had seen the ball going toward the girl and acted fast. He had stood his board up vertically with the nose of the board up, then stepped on the front wheels as he lifts himself up and off of the ground to reach the baseball.

Once the ball was in his grasp, he lands back down on the ground and throws the ball back to the three teenagers who were playing with it. The boy never took his eyes off of the nine-year-old and her board. He observed her for a few seconds now and (Y/n) was starting to get uncomfortable, so she just speedwalks past the black-haired boy.

This leaves Miya to think to himself. 'Huh, she skates. Especially for someone her age. I wonder if--' Miya cuts his own thoughts off after seeing something that caught his attention, causing his eyes to go wide. There was something orange and yellow that was hanging off the back of the girl's skirt. It was a fake bird tail, like how that Phoenix skater was described in the post he read on his phone.

'I-is that Phoneix? The one skater who beat Shadow in a 'beef'?' he asks himself in his head. Looking back at the girl, he notices that she turns a corner on the sidewalk. Quickly taking a look at the time on his phone, he lets out a sigh and then grabs his skateboard.

"I've got time." And with that, he skates after the (h/c)-haired girl.

Meanwhile, with (Y/n), she's still speedwalking as fast as she can. Something about those eyes made her feel nervous and vulnerable. She was feeling the same way she felt before she raced against Shadow.

Noticing that there was a trail that was surrounded by trees, she decided to go in that direction. It should be a shortcut to the skatepark. But after a few seconds of walking down the trail, she could hear the sound of wheels rolling against concrete coming from behind her.

"What's that?" She asks herself.

Turning around, (Y/n) sees the same sailor boy skating on his skateboard. But what made her freak out the most was that he was skating straight toward her. Not knowing what to do, she jumps on her skateboard and starts to skate down the trail.

"What does that boy want?" (Y/n) asks herself as she starts to pant while using her foot to kick against the ground to go faster. Turning back around, she notices how the boy was able to keep up with her, which made her wonder if he skates at "S."

That was when things started to get into her head. 'Wait, what if he is from 'S'? What if he knows that I'm Phoenix and wants to talk to me?! There's no way I'll understand what he's saying, and he'll most likely not understand what I'm saying... Okay, calm down, (Y/n). There's no way he knows that I'm Phoenix. The only thing that I did bring with me was my skateboard and that's basically--' (Y/n) stops herself from thinking when she looks down at her bird tail that is connected to her skirt.

She looks down at the flailing thing for a few more seconds before she looks back up at the black-haired boy, who is now smirking. Now he knows that this skater is Phoenix due to her reaction after seeing her bird tail.

Letting out a squeak at how his cat eyes are staring at her, she turns back around as her heart rate increases. 'Oh, shoot! I forgot to take my tail off this morning! How could I let this happen?! Now he really does know that I'm Phoenix.'

Focusing back on skating, (Y/n) needed to find a way to lose this boy. Frantically looking at her surroundings, she notices that there was a corner along the trail up ahead. That was when an idea popped into her head. Smirking, she gains more speed as the gap between the two increases.

Miya had a feeling that the girl was planning something, so he was preparing for the worst. Once (Y/n) made the sharp turn on the trail, he followed her exact movement and went down the trail. But oblivious to him, he was no longer on (Y/n)'s tail. Right after the turn, he didn't see the nine-year-old in sight anymore. Stopping his skateboard, he looked around, wondering if she made a quick turn down to the surrounding trees.

"Where did she go?" He asks himself. But before he could go any further, he takes out his phone and looks at the time. He lets out a groan, knowing that it would probably take forever to find the girl now. With an annoyed sigh, he gave up and decided to go back home.

He gets on his skateboard and skates back to where the trail started, passing by a big tree that was by the corner of the trail. Right after he was out of sight, leaves started to fall from the same tree he passed by. A figure could then be seen hopping down a tree branch and landing on the ground with a thud.

It was (Y/n). Looking in the direction Miya left, she lets out a sigh, knowing that she lost him... for now. Who knows if he's going to be looking for her another time? But brushing that thought aside, she gets on her skateboard and skates back towards the skatepark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the skatepark, Langa had placed two empty water bottles next to each other in a horizontal manner. With a determined look, he plans on jumping an ollie over the two objects. With one foot on his skateboard, he kicks against the ground with his other foot to start gaining momentum.

The closer he got, the more determined he felt. But all of that rushed away as he was only able to get the nose of the board to lift off of the ground. When doing so, he runs into the water bottles and topples to the ground, letting out a grunt when he does.

Reki watched this on the side as he drank water from his water bottle. Seeing how he stumbled, he skated over to his friend to check up on him. "Ouch, are you okay, dude?" The redhead asks.

Langa shakes a bit in pain on the ground as he was able to grunt out some words. "I don't get it. Ollies aren't supposed to be difficult," The sky-blue-haired boy said while still laying on the ground.

"Aren't ollies in snowboarding? Or is this new?" Reki then asks.

"Yeah, they are," Langa says as he starts to explain how ollies work in snowboarding. "But your feet are attached and your stance doesn't change, so it's not some kind of advanced move. Even amateurs can pull it off. Since a skateboard doesn't attach, you have to get it to fly with you. It's totally different."



"Be honest with me. How long did it take you to get these down?" Langa then asks.

"For me? Two months!" Reki says proudly as he holds up two fingers. "But that's pretty good considering most people take, like, three." "Three months?!" Langa questions out loud, not wanting to believe what he heard.

Already on his knees, he looks down and thinks back to when he saw (Y/n) do an ollie when they first met. "I wonder how long it took (Y/n) to do her first ollie," He says to himself, but loud enough for Reki to hear.

"I don't know. Maybe next time we see her, you should ask," Reki says with a shrug.

And right on cue, the two teenagers hear the sound of someone panting. The sound of footsteps was then followed shortly after. Looking to the entrance of the skatepark, they see a familiar nine-year-old running in their direction. They both smile at the sight of (Y/n).

"Hey, speak of the devil," Reki says as he crosses his arms over his chest. But what caught both of the boys off guard was when (Y/n) suddenly hides behind Reki, peeking from behind him while looking around, making sure no one else was around. "Uh... (Y/n), what are you doing?" Reki asks, only for him to smack his forehead, remembering that she doesn't understand him. So he looks at Langa for help. "Hey, Langa? Can you ask her why she's hiding behind me?"

Langa nods in response as he stands back up and walks to the girl. "Hey, (Y/n). Why are you hiding behind Reki?" The snowboarder asks in English, which causes (Y/n) to look up at her friend.

"Uh..." (Y/n) was about to answer back, but stops herself. She doesn't know whether or not she should tell the boys that some boy was following her. This would worry her friends and she doesn't want that to happen. Shaking her head, she looks up at Langa again. "No reason. I just... missed you guys so much, I was giving Reki a hug," The girl says as she hugs Reki's side.

Langa nods as he looks back at Reki, ready to translate for him. "She said that she was hugging you because she missed us," The boy says. Reki immediately found this adorable and stars formed in his eyes.

"AWWW!" He awed as he bends down and picks up the nine-year-old in his arms and hugs her tightly. "I missed you, too, (Y/n)! You're so cute!" He says as he nuzzles the girl. Not knowing what he's saying, she only wraps her arms around the redhead's neck as she hugs back.

But now that she was here, now Langa can ask her the question he was planning on asking her. "Hey, (Y/n)?" He says, getting the girl's attention. "How long did it take for you to pull an ollie?" He asks her as Reki is now holding her on his hip.

Thinking back to when she was little, she remembered her mom showing her how to do an ollie when she was only four. "Um... I think it took me... a month and a half," She answers, causing Langa's eyes to go wide.

"A month and a half?!" He questions out loud and then closes his eyes as he thinks. "Can't I be the one person who doesn't know how to do it?" Langa then asks himself, switching from talking in English to Japanese.

"Like... 'No Ollie Guy'?" Reki asks his friend as he places (Y/n) back down on the ground, gets on his skateboard afterward, and skates to one of the halfpipes. "That's fine if you don't wanna compete," Once he was on top, he skates down and starts to pull a few ollies while doing other tricks on the equipment that was around in the park. "Ollies turn a board that glides into a board that flies! Once you can ollie, you can go wherever you want! It's a frickin' revolution! A world of possibility."

Langa and (Y/n) watch Reki do his tricks while standing in one spot. (Y/n) watches with stars in her eyes while Langa had his plain emotionless face. "I mean, sure, boarding's still fun without ollies. But if you don't want to stay in the park with the kids..." Reki makes a complete stop in front of his two friends with a smile on his face. "...you gotta learn to do it!"

Langa seemed touched by his words. (Y/n), on the other hand, didn't know what he said, but she could tell that his words sounded inspiring by the tone of his voice.

"I'm ready to take on that world," Langa says as he goes deep into thought. Reki wanted to make another point, so he looks at the sky-blue-haired boy with a look of, "You better not" written all over his face. "P.S. Ollies don't work when you're taped to the board. So, don't even," He says, causing Langa to let out a sigh in defeat. "You'll get used to it."

"You sure, I get so anxious," Langa says as (Y/n) places her board on her lap and starts to play with the wheels, spinning them around every so often. "And you've been snowboarding for how long?" Reki then asks. Langa uses his fingers to count. "Uh, let's see... Fifteen years, I think," He says, which causes Reki to look bewildered. "What?! Since you were frickin' two?!"

Reki closes his eyes as he places his hands behind his head. "If you've been doing it for that long, no wonder it's hard for you to skate," The redhead says, and then thinks to himself. An idea popped into his head, so he grabs his board and looks back at Langa and (Y/n). "Let's go!"

Langa and (Y/n) look at Reki with a confused look, one of them wondering where they are going and the other wondering what the redhead even said.

(Y/n)'s POV

I don't know where we're going, but all I know is that Reki is leading us somewhere and I hope it's somewhere with not a lot of people. The sun was already going down and Langa was holding my hand as we walked. We soon made it to a house, Reki's house to be exact.

Upon walking in, I noticed that there seemed to be no one home, either that or we just didn't run into someone. We made it to a room and I already knew it was Reki's because of how decorated it was with skateboarding stuff and all.

Reki said something I didn't understand as he started to look for things in his drawers. As Langa was looking at all of the stuff on the walls, I decided to let go of his hand and do my own little investigation.

The first thing I saw was a bed. I like beds. It's been a long time since I've slept in a bed. I almost forgot what that felt like. So, already taking my boots off before I entered the room, I jump on and lay down on the covers, burying my face in them. It smelled clean and that put me at ease. Some places in the Drive-In don't smell as clean as this, so I'll have to enjoy this while it lasts.

Looking over the edge of the bed, I see something on the ground that was poking out from under the bed. Out of curiosity, I reach down and grab onto the object. Lifting it up, the item looked like a phone. My mom had a phone like this, and that was what amazed me.

"Wow," I say to myself, which catches Reki's attention. He must have noticed the phone in my hand because he spoke. ".. ..... .. ... ..... .. .... ... ... .... .. .. ... ...." Yeah, I don't understand what he just said. "Huh?" I ask as I tilt my head to the side.

Langa then looks at me with a smile. "Reki said that that's his old phone and that you can have it if you want." My eyes sparkled at that. Langa then holds his hand out toward the phone. "Here, I'll help you change the settings so that everything's in English," He told me. I nod as I hand the phone to him.

After a few seconds, Langa was able to change up the settings so that everything that was written was in English. Now that I think about it, maybe using this phone can help me to communicate with Reki and Langa in Japanese. With that idea set in my mind, I search on some websites to see if I can find an online learning website for the Japanese language.

All of a sudden, I felt a presence from beside me. Cautiously looking to the side, I see a little girl with light-brown hair styled in a side ponytail. She was just... staring at me. That's what made it creepy.

"Nanaka!" Reki says. Once he said that the little girl ran out of the room and to who-knows-where. Whatever Reki said must have been the girl's name.

Langa seemed confused because now he was conversing with Reki. But not long after, a pretty woman with brown hair and eyes walked into the doorway of Reki's room. That must have been Reki's mother.

She spoke to her son at first, but then looked at me and Langa with a warm smile. It sounded like she was greeting the two of us, which got my heart beating fast because I didn't know what she was saying. Pushing that nervousness aside, I managed to smile at her as I bowed my head in a greeting manner.

Looking behind the woman, I noticed that two little girls-- one of them which I'd already seen-- were standing behind her, one of them looking interested in me and Langa and the other looking really nervous and shy.

As she continued to speak, I looked back at the phone Reki allowed me to keep, trying to see if I can find anything that can translate English into Japanese or vice versa. At some point, Reki's mom left with the two little ones chanting something while leaving.

At some point, I found a website that can help me translate any language into English. Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief. 'Well, at least I know this phone can help me a little.'

Looking up at the boys, I see them both looking at some sort of magazine. Maybe it shows stuff about skateboards or something. I don't know. Humming to myself, I think before looking back down at the phone.

"I guess I could start learning a few basic Japanese words right now," I say to myself, low enough for only me to hear.

3rd POV

The sun had already set by now and the three kids are outside in front of a garage that is just on the side of Reki's house. Reki opens up the garage door and they walk in, with (Y/n) not taking her eyes off of the phone Reki had given her earlier as she walks.

Reki turns on the lights as Langa and (Y/n) look at the equipment and tools all around with astonishment. "I didn't know there was a garage back here," Langa states. As he says that, Reki goes over to a wooden plank that is slightly bent in the shape of a skateboard and picks it up.

"This one could work." "One what?" Langa then questions. "They don't sell the kind of deck you need. So, I'ma hafta shave this one down," Reki explains to Langa.

Reki starts working on the board by using a drilling tool to make a good shape of a skateboard deck. (Y/n)'s poor ears couldn't take the loud noise, so she had to cover them with her hands to reduce the loudness. All in all, Langa was staring at Reki's work in awe. The redhead noticed him staring and looked at him.

"Don't stand there drooling! Start thinking about what wheels you want!" He tells his friend. "What do you mean wheels? For the board, or...?" Langa then asks. "Yes! The bigger ones are faster and heavier than the smaller ones. Just keep in mind you gotta pick out trucks that work with them." "A pickup truck?" Langa questions.

"Oh my god," Reki groans as he turns off the tool he was using, making (Y/n) uncover her ears as she looks up at the two teens. Reki then takes out a magazine and turned to a page that showed three different types of skateboards.



"This is a longboard. Literally a surfboard with wheels and frickin' huge," Reki says as he points to the first skateboard image. He then points to the third skateboard which is blue and had purple wheels. "This is a cruiser for, ya know, cruisin' around." Lastly, he points to the skateboard in the middle. "And this is a street. This is the one I use. Only way to pull off badass tricks."

Reki then pulls out his phone and shows Langa and (Y/n) videos of other people skateboarding and doing cool tricks. "Whoa. How did he just do that?" Langa asks after he watches a skater pull a boardslide on a metal box, to which Reki answers back. "He's a boss!" "Yeah."

The video next shows a skater skating up a halfpipe at a skateboarding tournament. (Y/n) had stars in her eyes because she's never seen a tournament like this before. "Wow," She mumbles with astonishment. Langa gasps after seeing the guy skate up the halfpipe. "That's a street board?" He asks.

"Sure is. Wicked. Only a handful of guys can pull off that trick," Reki replied.

"But still, it's possible," Langa then mumbles to himself. Reki seemed to like his enthusiasm and giggled. In the video, the scenery changed to where it showed two skaters skating inside a tunnel. "Are they skating inside a tunnel?" Langa asks.

"'Course! Why wouldn't they?" Reki then says. Different images popped up showing skaters skating all around the city, whether it was skating down stairs, over rooftops, etc.

"This is amazing!" Langa said with stars in his eyes. "They're everywhere! Nothing is off limits," He continues saying, which confused Reki a bit. "Snowboarding is at its best in the mountains. But only if there's enough snow on the ground, and if there's not a blizzard. The indoor runs are usually pretty cramped."

"That sucks!" Reki says, catching Langa's and (Y/n)'s attention. "You can take a skateboard to school with you!" Langa smiles after what he said.

"And parks and mountains!"

"Morning, noon, and night bro!"

"It doesn't have to be snowing, either!"

(Y/n) watches the two talk with her phone held out in front of her, using a voice recording to record what the boys are saying and then translate it to English.

"Yeah! Anytime, anywhere, under any circumstance! It's the best!" Reki exclaims as he stands up with his arms raised in the air. "No limits, only possibility! Skating is infinite!" (Y/n) had stars in her eyes after translating the last sentence on her phone. She's never heard anyone describe skating as that before.

"Infinite," Langa and (Y/n) mumble, sounding as amazed as ever.

(Y/n)'s POV

It's been hardly a week and a half since Langa and I went to Reki's house. Throughout the week I would go over to the skatepark and help out Langa in doing an ollie. I also found out that Langa used to snowboard when he was in Canada, which I found pretty cool. Snowboarding and skateboarding aren't really that different from each other.

Reki has finally made a skateboard deck that was just right for Langa and made sure to add straps on the board that would keep Langa's feet in place. They would always practice at the skatepark, but whenever they were at school, I would have to wait for them. So, I would usually do my own thing.

During my free time, I would look at a website that teaches me how to speak Japanese. Ever since I got that phone, I've always been wanting to learn the language so that I wouldn't have to keep asking Langa to translate things for me. I'd prefer he focuses on one thing, and that's learning how to do an ollie. So I would go to different stores that at least had some outlets where I can plug in my phone with a charger that Reki had me use because the outlets at the Drive-In don't have any power because of how old it is. Yeah, I wouldn't want my phone dying on me while I'm learning new things.

But back to the present time, the sun is going down and I'm heading over to the skatepark. Langa had texted me saying that he and Reki would be there that late, so I decided to head there as well.

Now I always remind myself to never wear my skirt out in public because of the bird tail that I have. I wouldn't want to attract another skater from "S" who probably knows about me at the time I raced against Shadow.

Upon seeing the skatepark at a good distance, I was able to see Langa skating at full speed. I hum to myself when seeing that. "Hmm, I wonder how long he tried to--" I cut myself short when I see something amazing.

Langa had launched himself and the board up off of the ground. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as I watched my friend pull his first ollie. I had stars in my eyes because it looked as if he was flying.

But once gravity took over, Langa falls off his board and landed on the ground with a loud thud. I once at the impact he made, but I was proud of him. I run the rest of the way to the skatepark and once I made it in, I go over to the teen and go on my knees as I smile at his laying figure.

"Langa, you did it! You did your first ollie!" I say with a giggle. Langa smiles up at me as he laughs. "Yeah. I sure did." I then watch as he gets up in a sitting position while Reki runs up to the said boy.

The two of them conversed with each other in the Japanese language, the only word for me to understand being "ollie." The two then do some sort of handshake, where they high-five each other and then fist bump. Langa winced at the end because of the fall, but I still smile along with Reki, nonetheless.

When the next day came, Reki, Langa, and I were at Dope Sketch. Reki was telling Oka something, probably about how Langa pulled an ollie for the first time. But while he was doing that, I was giving my full-on attention to the little fennec fox that was sitting on the side of the counter, to which I found out his name is Sketchy.

The little creature seems to like my company and cuddles, right now. I'm petting him and scratching him behind his ears as lets out a purr. This causes me to smile brightly. I've always liked pets, they're always so cute!

As I had everything around me blocked out, the sound of the door opening and the entrance bell ringing snaps me out of my thoughts. Out of curiosity, I look up to see who was standing at the entrance of the store and...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

My eyes go wide at the familiar sight of the sailor boy who had chased me about a week and a half ago. Those familiar cat-like eyes of his were staring directly at me as a smirk formed on his face.

"Oh, no."