Sk8 the Infinity; Young Days

Twelve: First Date

Getting to school, I had been crying all night. I sat at my desk, but found Kojiro and Sakurayashiki were waiting there. I smiled seeing them. "Good morning, boys."

"Rin, get over here!"

"What is it?"

Sakurayashiki handed me something. It was a little triangle, attached to a string. "This is a piece of Kaoru's skateboard. He insisted you have a piece of it too. Since you helped create memories with that board."

"Thanks. But I haven't really been here that long."

"It's been four months."

I jumped. "It's been four months already? Where has the time gone?"

"I know. It felt like just a few weeks ago we were on that trip."

"Hey, Kojiro..."

"What is it, Rin?"

I put the skateboard piece around my neck. "Let's do something tonight. Whatever you want, wherever you want. I just want to spend some time with you."

"Oh, I don't know, I'm suppose to have dinner with..."

"You idiot! She's asking you on a date! Take it!"

He looked between Sakurayashiki and I. "A date? Oh, uh, yeah. I know a place we can go."

"Great. I'll pay then. I really don't care what we do, I just want to spend more time with you. And tomorrow night, Sakurayashiki, we should do something too. We can go somewhere and diss Adam and work on Carla, okay?"

"Sounds good to me. And you can call me Kaoru. I think you've earned it."

"Thanks, and you can call me Rin. I'm so glad we're all friends. Oh, and Rozuka and I are going shopping next week. This weekend I'm having a beef with this random guy from S who challenged me. And you guys, I challenge both of you to a beef as well."

"Whoa!"

"Hold up, Rin!"

I stopped as they seemed to both be upset. "What?"

"You're doing way too much. Why challenge us to a beef?"

"Because I want to. I want to create memories. I want to do as much as I can."

"We've got plenty of time to skate. You don't need to challenge us."

I smiled, looking at the floor. "I guess you're right."

Our teacher walked in. "Everyone in their seats! And Hikari, I've spoken with your father. We'll be talking about your plan at lunch."

"Your plan? What's that about?"

"It's nothing to worry about."

At lunch, I went to the teacher's lounge. We talked about me switching schools. "Tokyo. That's nice. Are you looking forward to it?"

"After that, in six months we're moving to Ikebukuro."

"You really move around a lot, don't you?"

"We only came here to speak to another family. We weren't suppose to stay that long to begin with."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but at least you've got a plan now. Only two more months. Good luck on the move."

I walked back and Rozuka met me. "Your eyes are all puffy."

"I'm fine..."

"You're not okay. I've never seen you like this."

My phone rang at that moment. I answered it. "So because you love him so much you're just going to leave? You'd rather protect those two than be the best skater in Okinawa?"