Grape soda

Sometimes, when you least expect it, people will come crashing into your life. Literally.

“Watch out!”

The cry came from a blur of warm colors- a brightly dressed boy with fiery red hair, still going through puberty considering the croak of his voice. Hopefully he wasn’t too heavy, because there was no way in heck Haruka could get up and doge the incoming skater in time.

“EEEK!”

‘This kid sure can scream.’ Haruka felt mildly annoyed as she opened her arms in order to cushion the boy’s fall, completely disregarding her own safety. She wasn’t some sort of self sacrificing saint- far from it. She just had a high tolerance to pain, thing which often reflected in various aspects of her daily life... including her personal skating style.

Speeding into steep, rocky terrain that was bound to make her lose balance and get bruises all over or shredding the skin of her forearms while taking a turn at full speed- these were things she didn’t think twice about. It was an “ugly skating style" no doubt. Her family especially disproved of it.

Unsurprisingly, it was yet another screaming match with her father regarding the subject of skating that led Haruka to sneak out of her house as soon as the clock struck midnight. She had grabbed her skating board too, out of pure spite, knowing full well that, despite her anger, she felt too guilty to set foot on it so soon.

Wandering around aimlessly eventually led her to a dilapidated, empty playground- or at least it was empty, before a certain redhead came in like a wrecking ball and crashed straight into her. In his defense, Haruka had intentionally shielded herself away from view, hiding behind shabby ramp. The collision was unavoidable- and, even if it hadn’t been so, Haruka did not have the necessary mental energy to doge.

“Um, excuse me... could you please let go of me?”

“Ah.” Somehow, she had managed to forget the boy that was still seated awkwardly on top of her, struggling, unable to break free from her strong grip. Her brain had chosen a very bad moment to dissociate from reality and start monologuing. Well, letting go of him later was better than never.

As soon as her grip loosened, the boy jumped to his feet as if electrocuted, scrambling to grab his board, before it could drift away. Haruka glanced subtly at her own board- did this kid know about “S”? Would he recognize her board?... probably not. “Penny” was famous for being a brilliant bettor, enjoying the show from behind the scenes and rarely getting involved into races personally. She was safe. Probably. Hopefully.

“Sorry for crashing into you man! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I have been through worse.”

“Ack! You- you...!”

‘Don’t tell me...’ Her eyes widened, her heart nearly jumping out of her ribcage. ‘There’s no way he could have recognized me!’ Penny always skated with a custom voice changer mask on, in order to hide her identity. This lead to people assuming she was some “ugly boy, whose only positive trait was a keen gut feeling”. The fact the Haruka always shopped in her older brother’s closet might or might have not played a major factor in the misunderstanding. Not to mentions- well, she wasn't exactly gifted when it came to the external part of her thoracic cavity...

“I’m sorry for calling you ‘man’, I thought you were a guy!”

Haruka couldn’t help but let out another unimpressed “Ah.” This wasn’t the first time someone had gotten confused and it probably wouldn’t be the last either. Her voice usually gave it away- that was one of the main reasons she had gone out of her way to find a mask that had a voice modulator included. The thing wasn’t half as impressive as the technology Cherry was using, but it sure came in handy- kept the creeps away.

“Chill. I’m used to it.” And wasn’t that the truth? Haruka scratched the back of her neck awkwardly as she looked around- she didn’t exactly feel like heading back home, but she didn’t feel like entertaining the boy either. What a drag.

“Are you... alright?” The question sounded significantly more concerned the second time around. Was it because he had discovered she was a girl? How irksome.

“As I said before- I’m fine. The crash didn’t hurt. At all.” Haruka spoke, fighting the ever rising urge to grind her teeth. Was it too much to ask to be left alone for just a few hours?

“No, not that, it’s just...” The boy hesitated for a moment, looking at his shoes, before finally deciding to finish his sentence “Skating is fun. For me, it’s the most fun thing in the world! But even with your board in hand you look... sad.”

Cue the third “Ah.” Wow. Now she felt extremely guilty for assuming things. Haruka shook her head, picking up her board. At some point, it had been fun- and then it just... wasn’t anymore. “Fun, huh?” She echoed, unable to deny his remark about her being sad. She was also feeling frustrated, embarrassed, tired- a whole cocktail of emotions- but yeah, “sad” about summed it up.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two skaters, as both avoided each other’s gaze, apparently finding their boards to be the most interesting thing in the world. This continued for a solid few minutes until-

“OH, RIGHT!”

In that brief moment, Haruka’s soul nearly left her body. It was as if a fire alarm had suddenly started ringing in the dead of the night. She had noticed it before, but- the kid really could scream. Was scuba diving also one of his hobbies? Because he had some dang powerful lungs.

“I have it over- here!” As the boy started rummaging through his fanny pack, Haruka also reached in her jacket’s pocket- for her brass knuckle. If anything weird was coming out of there Haruka swore she would send him flying right in the nearest hospital.

“Grape soda!” He exclaimed proudly, before his wave of confidence disappeared without warning, leaving his with a sheepish smile and slightly rosy cheeks. “A friend of mine used to drink it whenever he felt down. I thought you... you might like it?”

Well, that was unexpected. Haruka let go of her brass knuckle, letting it fall inconspicuously back inside her pocket. She just stared at they boy blankly, unable to find an appropriate response.

“It’s totally fine if you don’t like it, I know not everyone does and-“

“I can’t really accept this from a total stranger.” Haruka cut off his rambling, taking a few confident steps towards him.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course.” As he said these words, he looked like a puppy who had just been kicked. Haruka couldn’t help but smile in amusement.

“So- aren’t you going to introduce yourself? My name is Haruka. Nice to meet you kid.”

“My name is Reki- hey, I am not a kid! You’re probably-“ Reki looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his train of thought once Haruka directly in front of him and he realized the girl was half a head taller “-not that much older than me?” Now that was more of a question, rather than a statement.

“I’m 15.” Haruka replied, taking the can of grape soda that Reki had offered and opening it up with a pop, before chugging half of it down in one breath, like the graceful lady she was.

“Oh. I’m 14... but I’m turning 15 in august!” He exclaimed proudly. He was childish alright- just how a child should be. And now that the atmosphere had turned comfortable, he started rambling- yet again. For some reason, Haruka didn’t mind it in the least. The boy’s smile was quite contagious. “So- how long have you been skating for? Do you know any tricks? Want me to show you this trick I’ve been working on?!”

Reki all but had stars sparking in his eyes by that point, as he asked questions after question- all related to skating, of course.

Something told Haruka they were going to be here for a long time... but not a bad time. Regardless, she was going to hear him out- she owned him at least that much.