United - S.MG

= 7 =

"Can we go skating, please~?" Lorelei looked at Mrs. Nishimura, her eyes pleading. The kind woman hesitated, but then nodded, eyeing both of her own children as well.

"You may go, but be careful, and I want you back here by 6, okay?" Lorelei nodded, running to her and Konon's room to grab her skateboard. How she had fitted it in her suitcase on the plane, she had no idea. But there had been no security checks because of the importance of the situation.

She quickly got changed as well, trading her training wear for blue jeans, a red crop top and a black jacket. She braided her hair and applied makeup, something she hadn't done in a while because the only place she ever went to was the studio.

Then she ran downstairs, meeting Konon and Riki by the door. Both of them looked ready as well, Konon was holding a bag in which she carried roller skates, and Riki was holding a brand new looking skateboard, playing with the wheels. Sola, who was staying over at a friend's house later that night, wasn't coming along.

"You guys skate?"

Riki immediately shook his head, turning to his sister when she spoke. "I do every once in a while, but Riki just wanted a skateboard because he thought it was cool." Lorelei laughed, shaking her head at the young boy. "Let's go!" Konon said, zipping up her jacket and running out the door. The thirteen year old lead the way, running with a smile on her face.

Lorelei noticed that in the four weeks she had been there, Konon had started smiling more. She was a happy looking girl to begin with, but she had been very quiet and reserved the first few days. Now she had a lot more energy, and it looked like she was shining. And Riki had gotten more confident in talking to her. At first he didn't speak much, instead showing his enthusiasm through big hand gestures and random sounds and screams. Now he told her whole stories, getting the words and grammar wrong most of the time, and speaking with little bits of Japanese coming through, but Kaede usually understood what he meant. Sola was much like her brother, except that her sentences were better structured since she studied English more, having more free time than her older siblings.

"We're here!" Konon shouted, plopping down on a bench to exchange her shoes for the roller skates. Lorelei shivered; it was nearly halfway through December, after all. They had celebrated Riki's birthday two days previously, and the now twelve year old boy grabbed Lorelei's sleeve and begged her to teach him. The air was crisp, it tickled her nose, and Kaede could feel that it was winter. Maybe it would snow soon?

A young boy came up to Riki, and they ran off together somewhere, leaving Lorelei and Konon together. Lorelei's eyes scanned over the park. Not many people were there, just a group of people Riki's age, two boys a few years older than herself, smoking, and a girl who was skating on her own.

There wasn't much special or anything weird about her, but yet, Lorelei couldn't tear her eyes away from her. Only when Konon tapped her arm she snapped out of it, hurriedly looking away. "That's Matsui Yuki, she goes to my school, she's two years above me. I wouldn't say she's popular, but people know her, to put it simply."

"Hm, maybe I'll talk to her later, she seems nice. But I want to skate first." Lorelei stepped on her board, simply going in circles for a while until she felt confident enough. The ground here was different than at the skate park she used to go to every day with Sam, near her house. And she hadn't been on her board in nearly a month now, too shy to ask when she was here, and too busy to go the days leading up to her departure from LA.

Lorelei watched as Konon tried a few simple tricks on the obstacles, keeping it easy. The older could immediately see that she knew how to do it, but wasn't confident enough yet. Herself, she joined Konon on the obstacles, going over them with practiced ease, keeping her balance nearly perfectly.

She had been going to the skatepark nearly every day ever since she got her first skateboard, at the age of 9, which was 5 years ago.

~~~

Lorelei and Konon were laughing loudly at a video playing on the latter's phone. The younger girl had tried doing a trick she hadn't practiced much yet, and asked Lorelei to record it, but she had fallen, in a funny way too. It didn't hurt, but the angle made it look so embarrassing.

  "Sumimasen?" A soft voice spoke up, sounding a little shy.

Konon smiled and spoke up, "kon'nichiwa Yuki, koreha watashitachi, no yujin, Kaede desu."

'What? Why are you talking about me? What are you saying?'

"I said that you're my friend from America. Basically the whole school knows that we have one of the LA children. Yuki, meet Kaede. Kaede, this is Yuki." The two nodded their heads at each other, smiling. "Yuki, Kaede doesn't speak Japanese, so speak English, please."

"You're pretty." Lorelei blushed at that, looking away from Yuki. "I want use better word, but... I don't know better word. I will learn." Yuki smiled, and that made Lorelei smile as well. "I see you skate, you're good."

"Oh, so are you. You're better than me, I'm sure. I saw you skate as well." Yuki smiled, subconsciously shifting more of her weight to the leg that was on the board. "Let's skate together!" Lorelei proposed, and Yuki smiled, nodding her head.

"You guys go, I'm not sure if I'm ready to get back out there after the embarrassment from just now." Konon smiled sheepishly, waving the older two off. "Have fun!"

"You sound like my mom!" Lorelei shouted back at her, laughing, as she skated off with Yuki.

~~~

"Kaede! We have to go! We're supposed to be home in 5!" Riki yelled, getting the girl's attention. She had been laughing and talking with Yuki the whole time, not looking at the time even once. So it came to a surprise to her when Riki, who had been somewhere else all afternoon, called for her.

"Will I see you again?" Yuki asked, and Lorelei unlocked her phone, holding it out.

"I'll text you, but I will most definitely come back here. More often now that I know this place exists. Just maybe not every day." Lorelei smiled as Yuki entered her phone number in her phone. She immediately called the older, "now you have my number too."

The girls hugged, before Lorelei sprinted out of the park, now with three minutes on the clock. Riki was running as well, and Konon was skating, faster than the both of them.