Katsuya

As the song stopped again, I turned to grin at Sadie and Lilian.

"That was…that was it! That was amazing. Alright, let's wrap it up there-I don't know about you but I'm sooooooo hungry! Plus we worked way too hard."

"Well, I do want to get it right for the third year graduations performances," Sadie said. "I want to give them a good send-off."

"You always perform well, I do not think there is anything to worry about." Lilian said. "And you dance very well as well, Komiya-san. Do you perform often?"

I laughed and rubbed the back of my head.

"Well, no, not really."

"Why not?"

"Because well, I'm a choreographer. My Talent is about planning the dances we do, not usually performing them." I said.

Both Sadie and Lilian looked at me pityingly. I blushed and waved my hands around, trying to reassure them:

"But that's fine! I like choreographing! It's really satisfying getting to see different movements come together to create a really good dance-just like this one!"

"Even so, that doesn't mean you can't perform from time to time. After all, I, too, often plan dances with my sisters." Lilian said.

"Yes, yes, Lilian-chan is right…but let's rest up now, alright? I'm quite hungry too, actually. Where are you going to have your lunch?"

While I wasn't sure myself, thinking that I'd go find someone to hang out with and get something from outside, it turned out that Sadie and Lilian were going to get something from the school canteen with some of the girls from our class before going to the next scheduled lesson. Which might have been like, maths or something. Not that I needed it. I learnt my maths from the beats in a song, the angles of a spin, the shapes bodies made in service to dance. Normal high school would have been the worst-not just confusing and intense but really, really boring. So it was fine if I had to fit neatly in the box marked 'Choreographer'.

In any case, I would not be attending that maths lesson, so once we'd tidied and changed and taken our sweaty practice clothes to the laundry room, we parted ways. I wandered the grounds for a bit, mostly because I couldn't make a decision about where I wanted to go, and I was hoping to bump into somebody and drag them along too. Failing that I'd go to the canteen and persuade some of my classmates to come along with me. They were always fun. If I could find Rin somewhere, that'd be even better, considering he was my best buddy and all.

Somebody tapped me on the shoulder and I yelped and jumped about three meters before whipping around to see Rin there. He smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Scared ya, did I?"

"No!" I pulled a face. "Just mildly alarmed me, is all, Rin-rin."

"Oh, it's 'Rin-rin' now, huh?"

"Yeah, what, don't you like it?"

"Hmmmm, well, we shall just hafta see. Anyways, you hungry, dude?"

Before I could actually answer, my belly let out a resounding growl, and Rin laughed at me.

…

Rin

I was really hankering after chicken wings and chips-proper French fries, not some half-assed potato sticks-and luckily there was a very good place just a few minutes away. I was surprised by how much stuff Towa City had, even though it wasn't really a big city. Nothing as glittery as Tokyo. But it had produced Hope's Peak, so I guess that was sparkle enough. It was very busy, so rather than hang out there, we just decided to take it and bail to the nearest place with seats. Which somehow ended up being the skate park.

There were a few people there-they looked like they were bunking from their normal high school, much like I used to do before I got recognised as an SHSL Music Critic. There were also a couple of Hope's Peak upperclassmen, one of them being the SHSL Rollerblader, though I couldn't remember his name. He was showing off alongside another kid on a skateboard, and the others were just sort of milling around and watching them. A few were even on the sidelines eating food like we were. They paid no attention to us. So as we ate, we talked a little bit about how our mornings had gone (his: hella successful; mine: hella boring) while watching the kids glide and spin and flip and all sorts.

"So, bud, you ever skated?" I asked.

"Naaaah, too clumsy for that!" Katsuya said. "Looks like fun. What about you? Have you?"

"Perhaps. A couple times."

Katsuya had started eating a chicken wing so what he said next sounded something like: mmmfedhbfbewjhwbdjhbewjhkf, but once he'd finished chewing and swallowing he repeated himself:

"Really? Was it fun?"

"Yeh, it was fun. Just a way to chill, get away from the grind, y'know?"

"AAAAAA!"

We whipped our heads around to see where the sudden scream had come from, and discovered that one of the skateboarders had fallen over. The rollerblader whizzed over to help him up and then said:

"Hey, man, you almost got it! Are you alright?"

The rollerblader held out a hand for the skateboarder to take, which they did, pulling a face as they got up and answered:

"Yeah, fine, fine…just my pride."

"Oh great! Now come on, let's give it one more try.I'll help you."

"Psssh, please, like you'd know how to. You're not the SHSL Skateboarder, are you? Neither am I anyway so like, I'm not gonna bother."

For a moment, the rollerblader looked flabbergasted. Oooh, drama, I thought, and glanced to Katsuya, expecting him to be revelling in it. Instead, he stared with his mouth slightly agape, a French fry in his hand, aimed at his mouth but paused mid-transit.

"Oh don't be such a downer!"

The skateboarder grimaced, but then laughed. Next to me, Katsuya sighed and started eating his French fry, shovelling a few more into his mouth to follow it.

"It's fine, I'm kinda hungry anyway," the skateboarder said. "Let's go get something."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Their little posse gathered, but as they walked past me, the rollerblader stopped.

"Hey, you're my kouhai, right? Both of you?"

"Yup, that's right. " Katsuya said hurriedly, polishing off his French fry.

"Mhm."

"Cool!"

We chatted a little, and then the rollerblader roller-bladed off with his posse. I chomped on a chicken wing and said to Katsuya:

"Should teach you to skateboard. If I remember. Honestly, I'm kinda rusty."

"Me? Why?"

"Eeeehhh, why not? It'd be fun! Somethin' to pass the time when we're really bored."

"I mean, perhaps. But it'd take a long time…."

"Ehhh, tell people that you're going to create a skateboarding dance routine! That'll blow they're socks off!"

Katsuya grinned:

"Won't it just? Maybe I'll actually do that!"

"Yeh, totally-just don't forget to credit me, 'kay?" I winked.

"Well naturally!" Katsuya laughed.

"Well, since that's settled-how about we make that our second year thing? Learn to skateboard?"

"Oooh, so serious," Katsuya teased. "But sure, let's pinky-promise."

He held out his little finger, and I grinned and held out mine, and we hooked fingers. Then, we polished off the rest of our food, and decided to go to a coffee shop and order the most complicated drinks they had.