Swallowtail: Mariposa Radiante

When Life Gives you Lemons

Swallowtail

Chapter 1: When Life Gives You Lemons

It had taken him a while to get accustomed to Asahiyama, and Japan as a whole. Kaikane hardly remembered the early days but he had been living in the nation of the sun for so long that he felt that it was his home. For all intents and purposes, it was. He was half Japanese, though he had been born on American soil.

He remembered how long it had been until he could speak fluent Japanese, and how much he had been made fun of. He also remembered his father moving from town to town, city to city, until they settled in Tokyo. After that, he got more gigs and ended up moving to Asahiyama. By this point, he had grown tired of the constant moves so he begged his father to stay here. Since he couldn't stay in the city due to work, he made an arrangement to keep his son there so he could go to school. Now that he was a teenager in high school, the arrangement had changed, quite a lot in fact.

It didn't matter to him none, as he continued pushing himself down the street. Unlike in Tokyo, where it was constantly congested, here in Asahiyama, it was a lot calmer, peaceful. It allowed him to skate around without having to stop or having a whistle blown by the Tokyo Prefectural Police. He still got whistles blown at him from time to time but it was less frequent these days. He reached inside his pocket for his phone, changing songs and continuing on.

He liked weekends, Sundays. It was the day before going back to the hell that was high school, and the day after the more hectic Saturday, that was often used to do homework from Friday. Sunday was his favorite because he had nothing to do and that was how he liked it. His life was filled with school work, violin practice, and sleeping. Whenever he had the time, he'd pour it into his hobbies, but he hardly left home on weekdays, and when he did it was to get essentials, food, or other necessities. He desperately needed to head to Akihabara for a few spare computer parts but he couldn't even take the bullet train without worrying about his homework.

Kaikane leaned back, the tail of his board scraping the road as he slowed to a stop, grabbing the nose of it with ease. He continued walking, standing on the empty street corner waiting for the signal to change. Once it had, he sprinted across the road and jumped onto his board, continuing his lazy ride.

"Hmm... where should I go today? I skated the rails near the high school last week, and the week before that I was near the pool. Maybe I should head to the old shopping center before it gets demoed." he thought, as he kept moving through the streets.

As he was skating, he noticed something that he hadn't taken notice of before, a small smile working onto his face. Though he knew Asahiyama like the back of his hand, there were places that escaped him from time to time. He had found just the perfect spot, what looked like an apartment complex, with a good stairwell to gap. He could feel his deviousness growing as he changed course.

He counted the steps in his mind, memorizing them as he walked up, moving toward the entrance of the building. It was at least 10 stories, a modern condo, but it was nothing compared to the Pentagon, the largest apartment complex in the city. He shook his head, making sure his earbuds were secured before placing his board on the ground.

"Kickflip, Heelflip, Hardflip or Shuvit. Decisions decisions." he mused as he tapped his chin. "Well, it's been a while since I did a Hardflip, I'll go for that."

He kicked off, exhaling as he approached the edge of the stairs. Positioning his feet on the board, he flicked his front foot while shoving his back, sending the board into a flip. He landed hard on the sidewalk below, stumbling a bit before falling off, thankfully remaining standing.

"I was a little late there, alright back to one."

The process repeated a few more times, the hard slams on the concrete disturbing the otherwise quiet city street. A few people had seen him, some curious as to what he was doing while some kids were watching, awed that he would do such a daring trick over that many stairs. He didn't mind watchers, he kept listening to his music undisturbed. Which was probably why he didn't hear someone yelling at him to stop.