~Tales of the Heart~

Chapter 32

The girl invited me in and I slowly bowed my head as she led me to the living room. 

"Are you here to see my mother?" She asks me. 

"No. I'm here for Reki, your Onii-chan?" I say, tilting my head. Her happy expression drops softly. 

"He hasn't been feeling very well. Not like he is sick or anything...he seemed to be always gloomy and not himself. He is usually very hyper and my sisters and I try being happy like him because we thought that is the key to life....you know being happy and being positive, but,  he hasn't been himself lately...it makes our whole family feel down and weird," She explains to as she sits right next to me. 

I knew how that felt...my whole family felt down when the cheeriest person in our family died...

"Say, what's your name?" I ask her. 

"How rude of me! I-I am Koyomi and these twins are Chihiro and Nanaka!" Koyomi says, bowing. 

"Please, don't. I really don't mind. You don't have to be very respectful and formal near me...I'm nearly like your brother, but I guess you can spot some differences," I say, staring at the twins.

"Yeah, Onii-chan talked about his friend's sister who can't show emotions. I suppose that must be you," Koyomi says, rubbing her arms together. 

"I guess so," I say. "And listen, Koyomi. Don't worry about your brother. I know he is the only male in your family right now and I know how precious Reki is. You're brother and my younger brother are having a little fight right now and I am sure they will sort it out. I just need to talk to him and figure out the problem and how to make Reki become friends with Langa again. Then, he will be his happy self," I explain to Koyomi as if I was going to tell it to a little kid. Well, she was one, so it was perfect. 

"I understand Miss, uhm...," Koyomi struggled not knowing my name. 

"Call me C. No Miss," I say, standing up. Suddenly, I heard someone come down the stairs and I turned around to see who it was. It was Reki and he seemed to have spotted me. 

"Rek-," before I could finish, Reki dashed out the door with his skateboard. 

"It was nice talking to you, Koyomi, but I gotta catch your brother. Cya!" I say, running out the door. I looked around for a redheaded teenager and soon spotted him. I followed him slyly, knowing he would run away if he saw me. 

When he stopped at a skateboarding park and started practicing. He tried doing some moves that were similar to some skiing techniques Langa would do while skateboarding. Reki ended up failing all the time and ended up on the ground. He seemed very frustrated and threw his skateboard.  I crept up behind him as he was on the ground covering his face in annoyance. 

"Long time no see, kid," I say, picking up his skateboard. Reki flinched and turned around to see my face. He attempted to run, but I held on to his shirt. 

"Now, I know my brother has done something, but what have I done? Why are you running away from me?" I ask him. Reki froze and looked down at the ground. I sat on the floor and patted next to me for him to sit. He did as I told him to and sighed. 

"You're brother is really good...he learned really fast and improved!" Reki starts off. "I guess he kind of ready to even beat Adam..."

"Come to the bad part," I say straightforwardly. 

"I taught him how to skateboard and he improved more than me...I have done nothing. I'm still the same, with no improvement...I'm slacking off! And I-I-I," I stopped Reki and I saw his eyes fill with tears. "I have to get better than him!" 

"Reki...relax. Improvement needs motivation and the correct motivation is not for you to get better than Langa," I say. "You have to get better than the person you were before. And you need to have fun or else, you will lose interest."

"How do you know that?!" Reki shoots. I let out a big sigh and stared up at the sky. 

"I was just like you," I mutter. 

"Pardon?" 

"When I was in junior high, I loved anything that had to do with a board. Skateboarding, Snowboarding, skiing, you name it. And I was amazing at it. Best in the town against any kid. Then, one day this new kid came and our parents became friends instantly so, and so did we. I showed her all my passions and forced her to try it and she was a natural first try when she participated in the town competition, I came 2nd and she came 1st. Yes, I was jealous, but I still wanted our friendship, but my friend thought she was better and she was too cool for me. So she completely avoided me. I kept getting second and I was furious about how she has been acting toward me and what has been happening to me. I slowly started getting 3rd 4th and getting going lower because my self-esteem was low and I wasn't Improving," I say. 

"Damn," Reki says, softly. 

"Let me finish," I say. "That is when I kept trying to get better than others but it never worked. That is when my father told me the same thing I told you. 'the only person you need to get better than is the person you were before.' That is what I did and we moved away. When I got into Nationals for states, I saw that girl again... and I won against her. This is because I got my self-esteem up, and got a better motivation...or she just started to suck," I say, trying to lighten up the mood a little. Reki let out a soft laugh. 

"But this case isn't exactly like this. Langa still wants to be with you, he really misses you, Reki," I say, facing Reki and holding on to both his shoulders.