The Interview

Fun & Fan

It was a sunny and warm day on the day Langa won his first "official" skating competition. S races not counting because of their very first rule. Outside of them, they don't exist.

It was a fun competition but very, very different from S. Apparently, there is a rule in the legal tournaments that the competitors can use any kind of equipment "as long as it has been on sale six months" but Langa's board, made by Reki himself, was not on sale nor bought.

So, Langa, heartbroken, had to use a standard board if he wanted to join in.

Much to Reki's dismay because he would've loved to at least show off his "great mechanic skills" since he was forbidden from joining the competition because of his injury. Courtesy of Shadow when during their beef the self-proclaimed "anti-hero" of S races upgraded from his Haemanthus Bombs to a flash bomb ("Gotta add something new to not get boring" he said later in hospital).

Reki was fine. But his mom was against him joining the competition.

Langa joined on his own with Reki cheering him on from the sidelines ("Yes, Langa, I'm fine with this. No, don't quit because of me. It will still be fun!" Reki assured him.)

His performance in the competition wasn't even remotely impressive as the ones on S but he still won. Langa loved skateboarding and being challenged. He never turned down a challenge, but the competition itself was dull compared to S where the excitement was always in the air and adrenalin in the veins of both onlookers and skaters. It also felt weird to not use his skateboard. It wasn't since he snapped his board in his beef against the Joe that he used a regular kind, and not his own.

But he still won despite Miya "pointing out" he would've won if he joined and now his room holds a small trophy

It was after the competition he was approached by a young Japanese man. He looked a bit younger than him and Reki but was actually older than them both by two and a half years. He introduced himself as a photography assistant. He offered him an interview for an article about skating which Reki talked him into accepting.

And here Langa was, sitting in the skate park a few days later with the man, alone because Reki was still in the Dope Sketch and it was a busy day so he couldn't also go early as Langa did.

The photographer smiled and gestured for him to sit "We can start by you introducing yourself," Langa gives him a hesitant smile

   "Uh... I'm Langa Hasegawa." He said and fumbles with his skateboard. The photographer waits. Langa remembered Reki telling him he shouldn't be spaced out during his interview and he should talk more. "Well... I came here from Canada," he added, feeling a sense of Déjà-vu.

   "Really? That's interesting. So you speak English, right?"

   "Yes." He nods just a little bit "Your Japanese is really good." "Thank you." "Did you learn it in school?" he asks "My mom is Japanese. She taught me." Langa answers.

   "Oh, cool. I have a friend who learned Japanese quickly, he moved here recently. It took me a lot longer to learn English than it took him to learn Japanese. And Japanese is harder than English."

Listening to this man, Langa kept feeling he was similar to Reki. Though he wasn't sure why, because the man - while calming and strangely soft with a sense of confidence around him, he didn't appear as carefree or easygoing like Reki.

   "Where is your friend from?" the skater asked. "America. We met while I was on a trip to New York. He already speaks French too and though he denies it I'm pretty sure he knows both Chinese and German too, at least a little."

   "He must be very smart,"

   "He is. He's a genius." the man declared.

Langa saw him smile softly, but his eyes seemed to grow darker which made the teenager stop. He suddenly remembered when he was the reason Reki had once made a face like that.