Matsudo, Japan, 9:30 Am
It's a kind of a sunny day. I am there of course like I've been the last 6 years, out on the streets in a park, well actually it's not a park per se, let me be more specific.
I'm on a skate park with some friends, yep, Sorata Akasaka, age 16, 2nd year high school student, well… will be in a couple of days.
I love to skate and I manage to play the bass, I also have a secret, will it's not a death or life secret, but only a few know. I love anime and consider myself an Otaku but I'm kind of lonely in that matter.
None of my skating friends like those things, they even consider them stupid or childish.
I also like to program in computers I hope one day I can become a game developer or software developer and create my own skateboarding game. Yeah! Like that one of Tony Hawk!
"So, let's see, you guys want to play S-K-A-T-E on the WHOLE park? Are you sure?"
I said this while looking serious, I don't want to boast about myself, but I was the best skater around this places, obviously there are people far better than me around Japan and the world. Take Rodney Mullen as an example.
One of my skateboard friends "Chuck" looked at me with a grin, like if he had been preparing for this day.
"Sorata, I will freaking beat you today. I've been practicing my ass off this past months! YOU WILL GO DOWN!"
He said the last while doing a disapproval sign with this thumb, like the one the old Roman emperors did when a warrior lost in a battle in their arenas.
I just smiled at him and then looked serious directly to his eyes.
"Bring it!"
He stepped back in surprise and he then started his game.
Chuck was a good skater, he was the second best, after me. His strong skate style with the "Vert" style, which consists on skating in a U form ramp. They call it the "Vert" because the walls are nearly vertical, like a U sign from western alphabets. If you were a good skater you could fly incredibly high, and he was good at that. I honestly, was scared of them. But don't tell anyone, they will make fun of me for centuries if they could.
So, Chuck started in a not "vert" place, this skate park was big, it had "Bowls" or well…. Dried off pools, the only difference was that they were all connected together and they never held water unless it rained a lot. There were also rails, yes, like the ones normal people use to get a hold of when going down the stairs. And wooden structures with metal plates in the corners to "grind" them off. I will explain that later. There were also a series to stairs to drop off or jump off them and a big U vert ramp, well it wasn't that big as a pro one, but it gave me goose bumps whenever I had to go up there.
"Ok Chuck, so, you will stay there or what?!"
I teased Chuck a bit, he skated better when he was kind of angry.
Hey! I'm not a bully or something! He started it!
So Chuck got down a bowl and started gaining speed, he started going through one of the bowls and rode of the wall from one of them, this was done to gain more speed.
I knew he was going to jump from one to another. And so he did, he went all the way up a wall and jumped out of it using the impulse and speed he was able to get off there and cross a concrete separation of about 2 meters wide, and he landed on the other side without any issues. He did a Melon grab while doing this.
Ohh yeah! I will use a lot of "Skate jargon" so please bear with me, if you really want to know what they are, just google, it's really simple. Anyways, back to the topic.
Chuck went down the ramp and got out of the bowls. He then rode his skateboard and jumped over one of the wooden boxes and did a Crooked Grind and went off the wooden box with a 360 Shove it! Move. So basically, he jumped off, grinded the metal plate with the front part of his skateboard in a crooked form and then he jumped off and made his skateboard do a 360 degrees flat flip in the air and then landed on the ground.
He stopped by moving his skateboard in a perpendicular manner in the direction he was facing.
He kicked the back part of his skateboard and took it with him. He clenched his hand and raised it to the air in a sign of accomplishment and looked at me while shouting.
"There! I got it Sorata! Better that off! HA!"
He was really pumped up! But well he did something simple, but it was a cool thing anyways.
OH yeah, I didn't explain what this "S-K-A-T-E" game was. Sorry about that.
Well to put it simple. It consisted of two or more participants. One began and did a series of skateboarding moves, like a routine. Then the next player needs to repeat the exact same routine the best he could and add a new move at the end of the routine. If one player failed to repeat one of the moves his turn ends and he will "get a letter", the first player who gets the whole "SKATE" word on them, lose. So you can only fail 5 times, after that, you lose.
"So Chuck! You ready to get beat down again?"
I said this while giving him a big 'you will lose' smile.
He stopped and looked serious, he gave me a killing look.
"Bring it!"
So, off I go!
I started running with my skateboard in my hands, I did this to get more speed than him while going down the bowl. I moved on the same places he did, jumped off the bowl and did a melon grab, land down on the next bowl, got more speed and got off the next bowl into the flat concrete, jumped over the wooden box, and did the exact crooked grind, jumped off with a 360 Shove it! And got more speed and went directly to a handrail, but I wasn't going to grind it down, I was going to grind it upwards, you needed a LOT of speed and also inertia to move all the way up the bar. If I pull that off Chuck will give up since he is not able to do it right know.
I wanted to finish this early, because I had to go home in around 30 minutes. I had to go back and check some info about a package I was expecting.
It's not I don't like to play with them! I really do! It's just, that package….
No one should get it besides me!
So I got a looooooot of speed and skated directly to the handrail.
Everyone watched in awe, as I ollie'd (jumped with my skateboard) and Boardslid the handrail, this things were waxed before we used them so sliding on them was pretty easy.
I then Half-Shoved it my board, and before landing it, I gently kicked it on its left side with my left foot, it did a vertical flip which we call "kick flip or heel flip" depending on how you stood on the skateboard and landed on it.
After that I stopped.
Everyone stood there with their jaw open for a second or two.
When everyone recovered, everyone went nuts and screamed over.
Chuck lowered his head, he knew he was beat because he is not able to do that right know.
"So Chuck! Wanna try? Or you will forfeit?"
Chuck clicked his tongue really mad.
"You suck man! Why do you have to do something that cheap! You know I can't do that right know!"
I pat the back of my head and crossed one leg behind the other while supporting my weight on the skateboard, which I was holding in one hand against the floor.
I smiled in a friendly manner.
"Sorry Chuck! I have to go I needed to end this fast"
Chuck seemed surprised about my answer.
"What? But we just started playing SKATE!"
I got down the stairs and went with him and the crew.
I apologized with my hand like a karate master.
"Sorry guys, I'll be back later, I've gotta go!"
And I left.
They stood there and continued skating.
I rode my skateboard all the way home.
While doing this, my inner skateboarder took control.
I liked to do simple tricks while skating like that, jumping off the sidewalk, or over it, stuff like that. A Kick flip here and there.
While I did this I felt at ease and happy.
Also whenever I saw a good grind place I thought of it too.
Like I saw a new handrail and thought:
Ah look at that! Brand new I'm sure it will be fun grinding it!
And imagined which moves I could do on it.
While doing this I always lost my mind and disconnected from reality.
When I rode my skateboard I felt happy and in a perfect world. Or that's what I thought.
People often told me
"Sorata what the hell are you doing? Look where you go! It's dangerous!"
But I didn't care, I had good reflexes I always responded.
"Well if a car tries to run over me I'll just Ollie it right?"
And then laugh off.
Ohh me, how simple I am.
Well I've been like that all my life.
I never had a girlfriend or anything like that. I've never been interested in that.
I've got my skateboard and that's all I needed.
After 15 minutes or so of skating I arrived at home.
Ahh at last at home!
I opened the front door.
"I'm back"
I said out of politeness.
No one answered, I guess no one is home then.
"Ohh well, what can I do"
I took off my shoes and checked the living room.
So my house was simple. You opened the front door, it had a kind of long hall way. On the left you saw the shoe box and all those things. A little table with some flowers my mom put there and a mirror with an ornamented golden (not gold, just golden colored) frame. Just above that you saw the stairs passing by, so if you walked a few more steps you will find the first stair. My house has two stories.
On the bottom one, we had the living room on the right of the stairs, the kitchen was in the back part of the house behind the living room and the studio my dad used to use to read or such which was on the middle left part of the house, and it was also used as a guest room this room, it had its own whole bathroom. There was also the laundry room and the door to go to the backyard, which was not that big.
So on the top part, there are 3 rooms.
My own room which was just after the stairs, then on the right side my sister's room and in front of that and at the right of the stairs, and taking nearly the half of the second story, my parent's room.
That was one hell of a big room!
And I knew it a lot since I helped my mom to clean it when I was at home and not skating or something.
So, I went to the living room and no one was there, I walked to the kitchen which had a wall dividing it from the living room and it had one of those doors that can be pushed and it will close by itself using a spring on a side. Yeah like the ones on the restaurants and such.
I open the fridge and took a cold water pet bottle and drank the whole thing.
"Man that was good. I felt super thirsty."
I put the bottle in the "plastics" bag.
Ohh yeah! Just to let you know. My mom has this thing for sorting out garbage and such. So in my house we had tree bags and garbage cans. One for organic wastes, one for plastics, and one for metals and glass.
I know right? How freaky!
I'm not an environmentalist or something, and she is not one either. But she likes to do that since I remember. The only thing is when the garbage is collected, they always mix it in the truck! So all your efforts go to waste!
What I've been doing recently, because I want to buy some spare parts for my skateboard and a pair of skating shoes, I like Vans a lot. Is I've been secretly collecting cans from the garbage around the house and sold them in a recycling center near my house.
I've managed to earn 20,000 yens like this in a couple of weeks. Since I don't get too many of them and I don't go every day.
So after I was there I went to my room. Took up the stairs and opened the door.
And I was inside my room.
So my room is also really simple.
I had my bed, a desk with a computer, desktop computer. It's custom made since I needed more power to develop software and stuff like that. I got it last Christmas.
I also had a book shelf with some anime DVDs, and Mangas, and well also Tutorial books on programming and such. And some skateboarding DVDs I got from a friend I met online from USA.
I also had 3 posters, which represented my in a whole.
On the left side almost to the wall where the closet and the door was I had a Rodney Mullen doing a hand stand on his skateboard. Yeah he is great! Just look a video of him on YouTube and enjoy!
I also had a promotional poster of my bass, yeah it was just the name of the bass, the brand (Ibanez) and it had some simple specs about it. Ohh yeah my bass was left handed. I am a lefty by the way. And it was kind of yellow with orange in a combination in the center and blurring out to black.
And also on the right side by the window I had a Natsu-con poster I got last year. It had a lot of anime chars and such, from Dragon ball to Card captor Sakura, to Meruru and also Maschera.
I liked all those animes, Maschera also was one of my favorites.
The guy who gave me the poster told me the whole poster drawing was made by a collage of drawing from a contest they did before the convention, this were the best ones.
Now THAT needed skills!
Well back to the room.
My bass was stored in the closet behind all my T-Shirts and such and I didn't have an amplifier. I just connected the thing to my computer and used the audio card to hear the sound. A lot of friends told me that was bad to do, but I couldn't afford one right now.
Besides that, my room as you can see it's pretty plain. I had no anime figures or anything like that. And even if I had them I had no shelves or anywhere to put them.
"So what now…. Oh yeah! The package!"
I turned on the computer, which was on sleep mode. And logged in to my email inbox.
I checked the UPS confirmation and tracking number. Went to the website and tracked it.
And there it was!
'Your package has arrived at your local UPS office, you may pick it up now'
"HELL YEAH!"
I jumped off the chair and landed on my bed. I don't know how I did that up to today.
So I took my skateboard, and saved the tracking number on my cellphone and I went down the stairs.
When I was rushing down, my sister Ichigo came in the house.
Ichigo Akasaka, my little sister, she was 14 years old. Junior High student she was pretty yeah, slender, well proportioned, with nice "features" you know what I talk about. We had a good relationship I always helped her and she did the same looking for anime to watch together. I mainly became an otaku because of her. But that's another story.
We didn't look alike.
While I had black short hair, she had dark brown hair, with poor lightning it almost looked black. She also had more of a look-alike with my dad, and I do look more like my mom. Or that's what people often tell us.
So she saw me and stopped while taking off her shoes. She was carrying a bag in her hand so I guess she went shopping or something.
"I'm back"
"Yo! What did you buy now?"
"Clothes…"
She lowered her head, I knew she was lying.
"Hey say..."
"Yeah?
I moved closer to her and she stepped back.
"No, really…. What's on that bag? A present?"
"No, I-It's not, just leave me alone!"
She pushed me to a side and rushed up her room.
I just heard how she slammed the door shut.
"Damn what a noisy girl!"
I left out a sight.
Put on my skating shoes and left the house.
"Well I didn't even told her where I was going"
I didn't gave importance to that little detail and continued.
I left the house and started skating off to UPS.
"This is going to be awesome!"
As I was skating down the road.
I had the bad habit of clinging of cars to get more speed and then let loose.
I have been almost run over by a car at least 20 times.
But it was faster to do that than kicking all the way to the UPS office. It was also less tiring.
"So, let's see where this post UPS office is at."
I took out my smart phone, Galaxy S4, got to love android phones! They are so customizable!
And I saw the map on the email. I said I had to turn left on 9th street and head south around 6 blocks.
So I was immerse in my little world looking at the screen of my smartphone that I didn't pay any attention to where I was going.
I was about to get to 9th street. And then I had to turn left and go south 6 blocks.
While I was doing this I heard tires screeching of a car who went full brakes on. Oh by the way I know how to drive, a little…. And I love to skate.
I will not use a car unless I had to travel a long distance or if the things I'm carrying will hinder my ability to skate, and well if my parents don't want to go with me… I'll just have to take a cab since I can't drive by myself right now, age restrictions, they suck.
Well back to my almost deadly encounter with a car.
I noticed the car was coming from my left.
I remembered now. I will go down 9th street the wrong way since it's a one way road.
So, the car tires where screeching and the driver which was a guy honked like crazy.
The car stopped and was in front of me and I was going pretty fast, so I was surely to crash with it.
Lucky me it was a Mercedes Benz E, with no rooftop. And well this cars are kind of low. If it would be a truck or something I would definitely have crashed with it.
So I saw the car and quickly calculated the height of the hood and motor parts, they were low, around more than 1 meter high. It was like the height of a normal desk, just a little higher.
I then kicked the floor and the left side of the skateboard's front side and jumped over the hood of the car.
Just imagine that! In slow motion! Such like a pro skater! Oh I felt so good.
I was afraid anyways, I've only seen this done on skate videos and the cars and streets are closed for the video filming most of the times, and some YouTube people doing it, it's not impossible.
I moved my left hand and arm to take the skateboard and avoid it from hitting the car's wind shield, if I damaged it I will have to work for like 10 years to pay for it.
While I did this I was kind of tuck in the air with my knees almost touching my chest, like when you do squats in gym class. My hand took the board which had already done a 360 flip before taking it.
While I was flying over the car, I looked at the people inside it.
There was 4 persons in it.
One guy, the one driving, black short hair and he was wearing some shades and a cap, he looked like a driver.
The passenger which was a girl, which looked huge! With a plaid shirt and big swirly glasses covering most of her face.
Both of them were already insulting me for what happened.
Well, most insults came from the driver, the passenger girl just looked in awe and kind of said "So cool…"
I just smiled and tried to say.
"I'm so sorry!"
And behind them.
The one sitting behind the guy, which seems to be the most shocked one, was a little girl.
Well not little like a kid or something like that, I guessed she was around my age.
Pure white skin and black long 'Hime-like' hair. She was beautiful! And she wore what looked like Goth Lolita clothing.
I couldn't take my eyes off hers, which were red by the way.
While doing this she kind of stood up off her seat but the seat belt prevented her from getting up.
We looked at each other while I flew over the car's hood.
Her eyes where mysterious, but they showed she was surprised, not as a 'Wow so cool' surprised way, but more of the 'Wow what a stupid brat, he will get killed for sure after jumping' or something like that.
Ouch! She was harsh wasn't she?
I was about to land on the other side of the road, so I took my skateboard and placed it behind my feet and moved it to land.
I landed it and turned left, I passed right beside the girl with the black hair.
I noticed she had a cutie mark on her left eye.
So cute and pretty, she almost made me lose control of my skateboard.
After I passed them I turned back to see her again.
All of them, and also most of the people passing by also was looking at me.
I felt embarrassed.
OH, by the way! Right beside this cute little Goth loli girl there was a girl, pretty cute, brown hair, it looked fake though. Really stylish clothing. Who was also insulting me I think about what just happened.
I took a last look on the Goth Lolita girl and continued my way, while the driver continued driving the car.
"Queen of the Night huh? It looked like it, what an interesting girl"
I said while moving myself out of the cars and stopping my skateboard to go on the sidewalk.
I don't want to die, and even if I was able to jump over a car like that, I'm not superman or something.
And I felt reassured that they will not try to get back at me, since this a one way only street.
I continued skating for around 5 minutes and at last I got to the UPS postal office.
I entered and the lady on the counter looked at me and smiled. I was kind of agitated because of all the exercise I did.
I got near the counter and took out the tracking number.
"Hello, I came to pick up a package. "
"Hello! Welcome to UPS, can I have the tracking number and the name of the recipient?"
She had a really comforting smile, she was a pro in customer service.
"Sure here it is."
I handed over the tracking number and told the lady my name.
"Akasaka, Sorata, let me check"
After a few seconds checking on the computer, the information came up on the screen.
"I see, international parcel post, from England"
"Hold on a moment please."
She left the counter and went to the back part of the store through a door.
After a few moments later, she came back with a box.
"Ok, here it is, check it out please, and ensure that it's not damaged"
I took the package and gave it an inspection; the box had some minor smudges from the regular handling. It was ok, nothing seem to be broken.
"Everything seems fine"
She took a piece of paper with some information and handed it over to me with a pen.
"Please sign here on the line"
'Akasaka Sorata'
"Thanks a lot! Here is your package, have a nice day!"
She said this with a warm smile.
I smiled back and took the box with me.
"Thanks a lot, have a nice day too!"
I left the postal office and smiled.
"At last, I got what I wanted, let's go"
I took the box and put it under my right arm and kicked the floor while on my skateboard.
I got to where I almost got run over by a Mercedes Benz.
I remembered the Gothic Lolita girl and her face, those eyes, they were so mysterious. And I think she was wearing a Maschera cosplay too.
Well it's a cool car at least, my ceremonial plate would say. 'Akasaka Sorata: ran over by a Mercedes Benz'. It's better than a delivery truck or a motorbike.
"What the hell am I thinking, I'm young! I need to live longer!"
I clenched my fist and continued
After around 15 minutes I got home again.
I opened the door and greeted again.
"I'm back"
No one answered.
I took off my shoes and went to the living room.
I opened the door and my sister was there reading a magazine.
A fashion magazine, and on the cover, the girl showing off some really stylish clothing was really cute. She was bent forward doing a "V" of Victory sign and was smiling.
A really appealing smile.
I said again.
"I'm back"
Ichigo looked at me and she looked kind of mad.
I guess she is still mad because of my questioning back there. I'll apologize later.
"Hey, welcome back"
She continued reading the magazine.
I went to the fridge and took another bottle of water and gulped it full.
"Fwah! That was refreshing."
I went back to the living room and looked at my sister.
"Hey, look at this!"
She looked at me and then the package I was holding. She looked curious of what the package contained.
But she seemed to hide her curiosity.
"Don't you want to know what's inside?"
"I don't care, if you don't want to share that information with me"
So cold
I guess she is really mad about not long ago
"Hey Ichigo, don't be mad! I was just curious about what you bought"
I lowered my head.
"Sorry"
She looked at me and got close, she took the box and I looked at her.
Her eyes looked directly into mine
I just smiled trying to show my guilt.
"Oh Onii-chan, you are so hopeless. Ok I will let this one slip, but don't insist too much next time. I have things not even you can see"
"Ohh is that so?"
I poked her cheek and laughed
She blushed a little and smiled with me
Ah she is so cute, I love my sister I will protect her from any harm.
"So, what is in the box Onii-chan?"
I took the box and used the key from the door to break the sealing tape
"This!"
I opened the box and there it was!
"Pr-programmer's Bible: Debugging and Script Tips"
She looked at the book dumbfounded and blinked a couple of times.
"What, what is that?"
"A programmer's book obviously!"
I looked at it and I was so happy!
I ordered it back from internet from a British website.
I am not the best English speaker in the world, but at least I manage to read it well, since it is code I know how to read that.
My sister looked disappointed, and went back to reading her magazine.
"I thought it was something interesting!"
She covered her face with the magazine.
Now that I looked it closer, the girl on the cover looked similar to the super stylish girl I saw on that car that almost crashed with.
"Hey Ichigo, what's the name of the girl in the cover?"
She looked at me with a strange face
"Huh this girl?"
She pointed at her with her left hand
"Yes, that one. I think I saw her before on the streets"
She looked at the cover but her name didn't appear there.
"No name. Hmmm. I guess she is under age, that's a way of protecting her identity. You know, to avoid stalkers and such"
"I see"
She looked at me
"So, you saw this girl on the street? I thought fashion models where surrounded by body guards and such"
Well I wasn't sure it was her.
She just looked like the girl I saw.
I didn't pay much attention honestly.
"Well whatever, maybe I'm confusing her"
"Yeah I guess you are Onii-chan"
"Ohh well. I'll get to read this book a little bit. I'm out to my room"
"Sure"
I left the living room and went up the stairs to my room.
I opened the door and entered my room.
"Ok, so let's see what we have here"
I opened the book and took a look at some of the pages. It had a lot of useful information about how to code faster and avoid any issues with scripts.
Half of the book was about how to debug faster, which was something I loved.
"Well let's try some of this examples"
After using the computer for over 4 hours I felt drowsy so I went and laid on my bed.
"Nice book, it will help a lot"
I fell asleep.
I woke up, it was around 7:10 pm.
"Damn I slept a lot!"
I quickly stood up and went down.
All my family was on the living room, getting ready for dinner.
Most of the times our dinner time was 7:20 sharp.
That was the time my dad usually got back from business.
I went to the restroom and washed my face and mouth.
I entered the living room.
Everyone was on the table waiting for my mom and sister to bring in the food.
My mom made Curry, so I got mine and waited for everyone.
"Thanks for the meal!"
And we started eating.
After a while, by dad looked at me.
And in a really serious voice and with a serious face asked.
"Sorata, you will enter 2nd term at high school right?"
I looked at him while munching some food.
He waited for me to finish it.
"Yes I do, I will do so tomorrow, why?"
He looked at me again with a cold stare, super serious one
I felt intimidated
"Don't goof off, like last year, you are good at programming and also have good grades, join a club or something. Skateboarding will not solve your life and you know it!"
He always said that. He was worried I can see that, since I started skating he felt I was going to become a bad person or a free loader. But I just like the sport that's all.
Well I've known stories of skateboarders or any other Extreme Sports performers who got injured and lost everything, or they even ended on a wheelchair or dead.
That's why I've never run "pro" on it. I've won competitions and such but I don't think I will be able to live from that. I even got a sponsorship offer once, but my dad rejected it.
I know he does this because of my future, he cares.
"I won't dad, I will look for a club or something don't worry"
"Fine, I trust you"
Without anything else, we ended our dinner time, and I went outside to skate a little bit in the local park.
I always had to be careful because if I broke something, injured someone or injured myself I and my family will get in big trouble. So I just skated along, no crazy moves or such.
After an hour of just goofing around on my skateboard I stopped and sat on a bench.
I looked at the city, everything was dark and gloomy, and the streets weren't crowded.
I was able to see around 6 or 7 office workers coming back from the office to their house and such.
I even saw a crew of break dancers, they headed near a park.
I guessed they gathered there and danced for a while.
There were like 15 of them, it looked like a big event.
But my curfew hour was about to expire, so I had to go back.
While I was skating back at the house I saw some other break dancers and such gathering.
I guess there was going to be a competition or something nearby.
So at 9 p.m. I was back in my house.
I entered, left my shoes on the entrance and entered the living room.
No one was there so I guess they were sleeping or in their rooms watching TV or something.
Oh yeah I had no TV on my room, and my sister neither.
Only mom and dad had one.
We read manga or stuff online, and I thought that was the best option.
I got inside my room and looked at the book.
I read it more and continued using it for a while, and I learned a lot honestly.
After an hour or so, I searched the net for skateboarding videos. I loved to do that.
I saw like 20 of them I never got bored of them even if they were the same ones I saw yesterday and the day before.
After that I started to feel drowsy. I check the computer clock. 11:30 PM.
"Wow it's late and I've got to go to school tomorrow. Well I'm off!"
I went to bed, laid down on it.
When I was closing my eyes, I remembered that Gothic Lolita girl and her eyes.
"Wow, she was surely a beauty. I hope I can see her one day again. I will definitely talk to her"
And I fell asleep.
7:00 AM I wake up.
The alarm went off and I turned it, I slapped the clock off the table.
"Bleh, I'm awake already"
I sat on the edge of the bed. I let out a sight.
"Well, let's go"
I stood up and walked to the restroom.
It seems everyone was sleeping, even my sister, although her welcome ceremony was later, she never woke up late.
"I guess she is getting ready or something"
I went in the restroom, washed my face, wet my hair and let it get fixed by itself.
"I will skate there anyways"
Washed my mouth and went down.
My mom left me my breakfast already there.
Some rice balls and green tea.
And a note too, she wrote it later in the morning I guess.
'Good luck on your first day as a sophomore Sorata! Give it your best!'
Aww mom, she is so kind.
I sat down and started eating.
"Thanks for the meal"
After I finished I took the dirty dishes to the kitchen sink and washed them.
I looked at the hour.
7:25 AM
"Well it's about time to leave"
So I went to the door, put on my skating shoes and took my skateboard with me.
"It's not hot at all, excellent weather, no sweat today I'm lucky!"
The weather was so fine, it was sunny but not hot, the breeze that I felt was so nice.
"Well let's go, time to reach school"
I put on my headphones this time and let the shuffle take care for the music.
Just to let you know. I DO hear my surroundings while skating since it's dangerous not to do so. You saw yesterday I almost crashed with Mercedes Benz.
"Ohh this song!"
AWOLNATION Soul Wars.
I loved that song, I saw it on a Red Bull commercial and purchased it in that same moment.
I felt pumped up, so I kicked the floor and went out.
As I started skating I was goofing around with my skateboard.
Jumped over some boxes at the grocery store.
The clerk got mad, he thought I was going to crash on them.
Then I grinded a hand rail.
Nothing too flashy, just a regular 50-50.
I had the last obstacle left.
10 stairs that led to the entrance of the school.
I have jumped them off many times, but on those times there were not people around and I could get someone hurt.
But since it was kind of early, it was not that crowded, there were around 6 persons. All newcomers.
Ohh by the way I'm not using my school uniform. I'm using regular clothes. I don't want to get my uniform all sweaty right?
So here I was kicking the floor and getting more and more speed, two girls where before me, so I moved to the right.
They both got startled and put both hands in front of their skirts to avoid the wind I created lifting them up.
"Kya! What are you doing?!"
One said that with a 'What the heck are you doing?' face
I continued my way to the staircase and I jumped over it with a lot of speed.
And I saw her, again! Really how am I that lucky? Or well she looked a LOT like that Goth Loli I saw yesterday.
I guess it was not her, she was wearing a school uniform and she didn't look like that girl, she had indeed the same hairstyle though.
While I literally flew over her, I looked down and saw her awe face, it was really fast, so I wasn't able to distinguish any features of her, she saw me flying over, and stopped in full.
I continued my descent and finally landed on my skateboard.
"Great, perfect landing. I'm getting better at this"
I rode off the street while some people looked at me.
I got a lot of different looks. From the "wow so cool a skater!" to the "Eww what a useless person, loafing around instead of going to school".
I never paid attention to them.
I didn't have too many friends at school, since most of the time I went in, studied, left, went out to skate and saw Chuck and the other guys.
So at last I arrived at school, the teacher in the gate knew me already, and he let me pass without my uniform on. It took a while for me to be able to do that. But if you treat everyone kindly people will help you.
"Good morning, Mr. Komura!"
He looked at me and smiled, he always told me he preferred that I was outside skating and doing something, than being a shut-in watching porn or playing eroge, or other bad stuff, you know.
So I quickly went to the shoe boxes and took off my shoes. Put on the ones we use at school and rushed to the restroom. Changed into my uniform and then went back to the shoe lockers and left my clothes there.
A lot of people told me that was so unnecessary and a loss of time. But well it was kind of my ritual since I got here.
So I was on my way to the auditorium when someone grabbed me by the sleeve.
"Hey Sorata! Long time no see!"
I looked back and saw a friendly face.
Ryuunosuke Morino, 16 years old, a friend of mine since I got into this school.
He was a super fan of Extreme Sports but he wasn't that skilled on them, so he just rode a bicycle he got from Christmas around 2 years ago as he told me and went with me some times to the skate park.
He was really really good at filming and taking pictures. I'm pretty sure he will become a producer or something like that later on. I always ask him to film myself at competitions when he has time.
He is the only son of a really powerful banker. So his dad was kind of strict with him, that's why he also wasn't able to practice extreme sports. Because he just needed practice that was all.
He was not handsome, not ugly, over average I guess. DON'T tell him I said that. I don't want any misunderstandings.
He is outgoing, he was the class rep last year and has a lot of friends. I always think he is my friend because that's how his personality is.
But well he enough introductions.
"Hey Ryuu! Good morning how are you doing?"
Ahh yeah I call him 'Ryuu' sometimes.
He looked at me with strange eyes, he was kind of worried?
"So, what did you do? You came to school skating right?"
"Haha, yeah how did you noticed?"
I started to get nervous. Did I smell? Please tell me I didn't smell!
"Well… you still have your skateboarding shoes on"
I looked down and indeed! I had them on.
I guess I took them off to change to my uniform but instead of putting them back on I ended up using them. I went back to the shoe lockers and changed them immediately to avoid any issues.
Ryuunosuke let out a sigh.
"Really Sorata, you are hopeless"
I just smiled and pat the back of my head.
"Sorry, it was just a habit!"
"Well it's ok! Let's go, it's getting late!"
"Sure! I guess we are on the same class again?"
He looked back at me with a sad face and let his head drop
"Yeah, unfortunately I have to stick with you another school term. WHY GOD WHY!"
He liked to joke with people, he was a really nice guy, that's why I kept talking to him besides my skate friends out of here. But he was against otakus, so I guess everyone hates them.
"Haha yeah sure! You are mad! Let's just go!"
"Sure!"
We walked to the auditorium and the ceremony began.
It took around one hour for it to end. I almost fell asleep.
It's not that I don't like it or I don't respect it. But well I don't like to stay put while an old guy talks, I just get bored! Everyone who has been on a "welcome to the new term" ceremony will understand me. Right?
So after that we went to our class room. Almost the same persons from the previous one where there. Only around 3 or 4 where new persons. Nothing special.
I still thought of that girl I saw before. She looked like the girl from the Mercedes. But I started thinking about that.
'If she was riding a Mercedes then she must be those super rich girls who can afford one of those and also a driver'
I felt discouraged, even if I find her, there is 0% chance I will be able to even become her friend. She would be super totally out of my league, like that girl from that fashion magazine my sister was reading yesterday.
Well the day passed by and school finished.
"Ohh that was really boring!"
I said this while stretching myself. School is tough!
I looked at my side and my friend Ryuunosuke was there, preparing to leave too.
He looked at me in a serious matter and asked me.
"So, Sorata, are you planning on joining any clubs this year? You can't just skate around all day you know?"
I gave him a relaxed wry and looked to another place.
"Well, I will try to. There are not extreme sports clubs here, so I guess I will have to get into something else"
His eyes widened when I said that. I guess he expected me to just skate this year. I'd love to, but I promised my dad I wouldn't.
"Hey! If you need help with information about that just let me know ok!"
I signaled him with my hand that I got it and stood up from my desk.
"Well I've got to go home, I need some stuff to attend to, see you tomorrow Ryuunosuke"
He made a strange face as if I just ignored him and he did tell.
"Ohh, ok, have fun then Sorata, see you tomorrow"
"Gotcha! Have a nice day!"
I walked outside of the classroom. Went directly to the shoe lockers, picked up my regular clothes, went to the restroom and changed them, still using the inside school shoes to avoid any issues.
Oh by the way I do carry my skateboard with me even in school. I just place it where you can place your coat inside the classroom. No one pays attention to it, everyone in my class are used to it.
I'm pretty sure a lot of them think I'm just a showoff. But I really don't want to leave it in another place, if someone messes up a part of it I could get injured badly.
I finished changing into my normal clothing and left home. Skating obviously.
Well I actually could start skating after getting to the main street, which is over the stair case I jumped down in the morning.
So after I reached that place, I just started skating. I kicked the floor and went on. I wanted to get home, eat something, then read a little more about the book I got and skate a little more.
I mean I know how to develop stuff in computers, but I'm not a true genius. I've noticed in this months that I am better at looking if something is wrong and fix it. So in other words, I'm good at QA Testing code and work around with already created code. I know this is kind of useless information but I wanted to leave that clear. Sorry?
After some time I got home. I entered my house and greeted as always.
"I'm home"
As I entered the house I heard someone talking in the living room. It was a familiar voice, it was my little sister.
I went and entered the living room and repeated my greeting.
"I'm home"
She was talking on the phone with someone. I guess a friend or something, while she was watching an anime DVD. I didn't pay attention to it so I don't know what she was watching. I guess it was some magical girl thing, but I didn't really pay attention to it. Really I didn't.
I went to the fridge, and took a bottle of water, drank it and left to my room.
Before I left, my sister stopped talking over the phone and looked me with a big smile.
"Hey sorry! Welcome home!"
I just looked back at her and smiled too. I guess she smiled like that in a way to acknowledge she missed my greeting completely. She can be an air head sometimes.
"Hey no problem!"
I left and went up to my room. Left my skateboard on the floor and laid down on my bed. I relaxed a little.
After like 10 minutes laying down I got up and turned on the computer. Took the book I got yesterday and read it a little bit more. I loved coding and testing code, I nearly lost my mind when I did this.
After around 2 hours or so. I honestly didn't check the time, I took a short nap.
Woke up at around 7 pm again, and went down to eat dinner. My mom did a hot pot. I know right? It's not that cold, but well that's her, she just cooks what she feels to do.
After eating I went out to skate until my curfew hour.
So, this is basically a normal day in my life. Unless my friends tell me to go somewhere to skate with them. I do this most of the time, but instead of reading this new book, before I just wandered on the net or watched anime or read manga. Something like that. Pretty boring huh?
You might think I'm not that otaku, but well I was at school so I didn't have much time to watch anime. I prefer skateboarding obviously, its fun.
After skating for a while I went back to my house.
Took a shower and then went to bed and slept until the next day in the morning.