Chapter Text
Reki reached out, touching his fingers to his toes with one of his legs tucked in. Stretching. Yeah, it wasn’t that cool but it was needed, because today was the big day. It was the recital/competition day where all the actual dance teams at the dance studio will go against each other as well as all the roller dancers. Reki wasn’t a part of a dance team, he just kind of did the casual hip hop class and he was a roller dancer but…
He wasn’t good enough to compete.
He sighed and fell backwards on his back, pulling his legs into a criss cross. Reki needed to get dressed in his hip hop outfit, which was pretty casual -- just a white t-shirt, a black and blue leather jacket, ripped jeans, and some black high tops -- before he went to watch the rest of the show. His performance was going to be right after one of the roller dancing competitions, right after the little kids tap dance, so sure he had a while, but he was going to be watching the show as well and wouldn’t have much time to get dressed. Now was the right time, right before the recital began. But Reki had no motivation.
A girl from his class started kicking at his side, already in her outfit (same thing Reki had to wear), “C’mon Reki, go get dressed.”
Reki sat up and rubbed his side, “Fine, fine, I will Okumura.”
The girl’s name was Keiko Okumura, probably the bossiest, sassiest girl in Reki’s hip hop class. Still, she was pretty cool, but when things were supposed to get done, she made sure they got done no matter what it took, so of course in her eyes, the best solution was to kick Reki. Reki stood up and stretched his entire body and Keiko shoved his costume into his arms, pointing to the changing room. The redhead followed her direction, sticking his tongue out a little at her and then went in to change.
“Go get dressed Reki, Reki go get ready. I know what I’m doing.” Reki complained to himself, slipping his t-shirt on in place of his hoodie.
Grabbing his leather jacket, he looked into the mirror of the changing room and knitted his eyebrows together. He was still stuck on the fact that he wasn’t chosen to compete in roller dancing, because he really loved it, but nooooooo it had to be for the best of the best, because all the people chosen had been chosen by….
Reki shook his head and pulled on his jacket, trying to keep that out of his mind, but there was one real question there. How and why on earth did the studio allow the guy to do this after all those times he had basically beaten his dance partners to a pulp? Well, maybe it was because he was the top dog of the dance school.
And Langa was chosen, but not him.
Reki shook his head, he really shouldn’t be jealous, he should be proud of his best friend, but two emotions took him over as well. The feeling of not being enough, being too low below his friends and the concern for his Canadian friend, who would eventually have to dance with someone dangerous. Reki sighed and tugged his ripped jeans on, almost done with getting dressed. Soon, he was completely ready and he took his signature headband off, huffing as his hair fell into his eyes.
From his other pair of pants, he heard the ding of a message and he grabbed his phone, checking who it was. It was Langa, a simple question: Are u done? Can we meet up outside
Reki replied: Yea
He grabbed his other clothes and tossed them into his bag, exiting the room. Just as he did, he bumped into someone waiting outside and he quickly apologized, looking up and recognizing the person. The man had long pink hair, pulled up into a high ponytail and he wore glasses with his golden eyes.
“Ah! Ch-Cherry! I mean, Mr. Sakurayashiki!” Reki said.
In Cherry’s arms, he held his own bag of clothes, most likely his roller dancing costume, in which his name was Cherry Blossom. He was also, however, one of Reki’s hip hop teachers, or at least he helped Reki’s hip hop teacher. Cherry raised an eyebrow.
“Where are you going, Reki?” He asked, “Because it certainly doesn’t look like the balcony seating area.”
Reki swallowed, “Ehm, I’m meeting up with Langa outside before the recital.”
“Well tell Langa you can’t and he should meet up with the other roller dancers.” Cherry said.
Reki crossed his arms, “With that logic, aren’t you late too Mr. Sakurayashiki?”
Cherry’s eyes widened and he grabbed Reki by the t-shirt, “Why you-” He stopped himself and let go of the boy, wiping his hands off on his pants.
“Fine, go visit Langa. Just don’t make him late.” He said.
“You’re the cherry bomb!” Reki said and left Cherry in confusion.
He found himself running down the halls, trying to find the exit that he and Langa had agreed to leave at together was. After a bit of searching, he found it and raced out the door, noticing his friend standing by a lamp, checking his phone every few seconds until Reki called his name and Langa looked up and smiled. Reki ran over and held out his hand and the two did their DAP, their hands lingering for a moment at the infinity symbol.
“Wow, Cherry didn’t stop you?” Langa asked, shoving his phone in his pocket.
Reki laughed, “He tried to but I convinced him his logic made no sense. Oh! Langa you look awesome! Did you get someone to clean up your clothes real nice? You guys are lucky, being able to wear whatever you want. I’m jealous!”
“Woah, one thing at a time.” Langa said, chuckling, “Oh and your costume is cool too.”
“Heh, you’ll say that about everyone in my group. We all hafta wear it.” Reki said.
Langa cocked his head, a small smile appearing on his lips, “No Reki, I think only you can pull it off this well.”
Reki’s face flushed a little, “Jeez man, you can’t be that blunt ya know?”
Langa looked a bit confused, “But I’m being honest?”
“Eh…” Reki murmured, “Thanks I guess.”
Langa kicked his feet into the ground, messing up his already pretty dirty purple high tops. In his hand he held a bag, his roller skates hanging out from the side and Reki wished he could be wearing his own, up on the rink, skating with Langa in front of the large crowd. Langa’s eyes followed where Reki’s fell and he smiled softly once more.
“It’s fine, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll be safe.” He said.
Reki opened his mouth to say what he wanted to say and closed it again, biting his tongue. Langa’s face became a mask of confusion and Reki finally found better words, trying not to reveal how he actually felt, but informing Langa he trusted him.
“It’s… not that. I know you’ll be safe but I just kinda wish….”
“That you could compete?”
“Uh… yeah, something like that.”
Langa patted Reki’s shoulder, “Hey, after the recital, we can skate together! Just a dance between us! Besides, I wanna tell you something too….”
Reki looked at his feet, “Sure.”
“You seem sad.” Langa replied, rubbing Reki’s arm awkwardly.
Reki laughed humorlessly, hugging himself and rubbing his own arms, “Yeah, just… really wanna skate I guess….”
Langa looked concerned, “Reki, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Well…. I’m a little sad. I dunno, it’s stupid.”
“Tell me Reki, I’m sure it’s not stupid.”
“I’m just a little upset that I’m not seen as enough to skate with you guys, ya know. That’s kinda why I avoided you for a bit during that fight, I wanted to catch up to you and I couldn’t… and I still can’t.” Reki said.
Langa grabbed Reki’s hands, “How many times will I have to repeat? You’re amazing Reki, don’t let the school or Adam bring you down! You introduced me to skating and in all honesty, I can’t skate without you!”
Reki blushed again, “L-Langa, stop being so blunt! You can’t just say stuff like that man!”
“Just know Reki,” Langa said, “You’re awesome, don’t let anyone bring you down! I….” Langa didn’t finish his sentence, looking away.
“Oh crap!” Reki exclaimed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, “It’s almost 4:30, we have to get going or Cherry’ll kill me for you being late! Um, thanks Langa.”
Langa started running towards the exit, ready to use it as an entrance and he smiled, “No problem Reki.”
Reki was trying to find where he was supposed to go, maybe he should have stayed with the group and talked to Langa later, because now he was lost. As he ran around a corner, he bumped into another boy, obviously just as lost. This boy was none other than Miya Chinen, the child prodigy of the dance studio, especially when it came to roller dancing. He stood there in his jazz outfit which resembled a breathable suit and some jazz shoes.
“You lost?” Reki asked.
“Are you?” Miya retorted.
Reki nodded, “Yeah, but I know where the stage is.”
“I don’t need help from a slime!” Miya shouted.
“It’s down the hall and to the left, take a right, go straight, boom, stage.”
“The balcony is to the right then climb the stairs.”
Reki smiled, “Thanks Miya.”
Miya muttered something incomprehensible under his breath and raced down the hall, heading to the stage. Reki turned and went the direction Miya had told him, running up the steps and onto the balcony to watch the show. It was, in fact, Miya’s performance, so it was good that Reki had found the boy or else everything would have gone wrong. He found himself sitting next to Keiko, her long teal pulled back into a high ponytail as she watched the main teacher at the school speaking at the microphone.
“Hello Okinawa! Today we are glad to give you the show of a lifetime! In between amazing performances by our students, we’ll have awesome competitions between our teams! And to add on, we’ll be also having roller dancing competitions, funded completely by the best roller dancer around! Adam!” She exclaimed.
Reki’s fingers curled and his fingernails dug into his hands as he clenched his teeth, his heart beating fast. The man was terrifying, hell, Reki had gotten really badly injured by him and here he was, walking onto stage like a celebrity in that stupid matador costume. He was starting to sweat and he wasn’t even dancing yet. Keiko looked at him in concern and she laid her hand on top of Reki’s, catching the redhead off guard.
“Reki, are you okay?” Keiko asked, eyes full of worry.
“I’m…. fine.” Reki fibbed, slowly removing his hand from beneath Keiko’s.
Keiko wrinkled her eyebrows but turned her attention back to the stage, where Adam stood, microphone in hand. Reki just wanted to block the man’s voice out, but he couldn’t, it was something so recognizable that his ears perked up at the noise despite the fear that filled his body every time he spoke.
“Why hello everyone! It is I, the Matador of Love, here to announce all the fools who love to roller dance and will compete!” He pulled out a piece of paper dramatically and began to list off names, “Miya! Cherry Blossom! Joe! Harry! Shadow! And, oh how grand! SNOW! Of course, me! And….” He froze, staring at the paper for a moment, “Snake.”
Reki was interested now. Who was Snake and why had Adam frozen all of a sudden, like he had lost all of his original personality. Was he some new roller dancer who had never attended any of the classes Reki had been in? Was he from a different school? What was going on?
The teacher took the microphone from Adam’s fingers, “Oh, you noticed! Yes, we have a new competitor, Snake! He’s been training in secret to surprise us all! He is very talented and we’re so glad to have him competing here with us!”
“New competitor…?” Reki mumbled.
Adam crumpled up the paper in his hand, clearly in a bad mood and exited the stage. The teacher was caught off guard and laughed nervously, saying goodbye, leaving everyone either stunned with silence or whispering away about this new Snake guy. After she quieted the rest of the crowd down, she spoke again.
“Okay, now that that’s all over, let’s start with Okinawa’s Grand Compecital!”
Everyone began cheering as the teacher walked off the stage, the lights going dark with only a big spotlight shining down in the middle. Reki leaned a little too close to the railing of the balcony and Keiko had to grab him by the back of his jacket, but he kept his eyes on the stage as the jazz group stepped on stage. In front was, of course, Miya, who stood confidently, staring up at the sky while the others looked down, hands on their hips.
Miya snapped his head to look at the stage, holding his hand out and spinning around, jazz walking to the back of the stage. Everyone started moving, doing twirls and leaps, turning into sassy walks that lead to them rolling on the ground, sitting with their left legs up and their right ones laying on the ground. They reached high into the sky and Miya leaped into a front flip, landing on his feet and doing jazz hands. He then fell into his hips, hands on his sides as he rocked back and forth as the others gathered behind him, kind of freestyling but sticking to the beat of the song.
One of the other girls jazz walked to the front of the stage and grabbed Miya’s hand and the two started line dancing in a way, still shaking their hips and such. The dance went on, but Reki was beginning to zone out, his eyes staring down Miya, only processing a few other leaps and sassy walks and hip shakes before suddenly everyone was clapping and cheering and the whole group was breathing hard. Reki sat up straight and clapped along. Keiko was cheering very loudly, hurting his ears.
“That was amazing!” Keiko exclaimed.
“Uh-” Reki said, trying desperately to remember any part of the dance besides the beginning, “Yeah, it was.”
Keiko was smiling, “Miya did amazing, right!?”
“Er, yep.” Reki replied.
Just as they exited the stage, the tap dancers came onto stage, their shoes clacking on the floor. They all got into stance, waiting for the song to begin but by then, Reki was zoned out again and was staring across the room at another class. It was the ballet class and everyone was pushing each other around, laughing. Oh, so he wasn't the only one who wasn’t paying attention, hurray! He wasn’t alone. He noticed someone shift through the group, sitting next to a random girl. It was Miya. Reki tried to wave at the boy, but Miya had already pulled out his Nintendo and was completely consumed in whatever he was playing.
Scratch that, Reki was alone.
Great.
Keiko shook Reki and pointed at the stage, forcing him to watch. It was a pretty good performance, but the amount of clicking from the tap shoes was annoying, even though they were supposed to click. Keiko was once again cheering and clapping in Reki’s ears which hurt. Now he was waiting for the ballet performance to start before he noticed that they were still sitting in their spot and Reki realized… it was competition time. He didn’t know what it would start with, dance teams or roller dancing, but he still leaned forward, watching intently.
The woman walked up onto the stage again, a huge grin on her face. “Okay everyone, say ‘yeah’ if you’re ready for the roller dancing competitions!”
Oh, so those would go first. Of course, what if someone got hurt and they didn’t have time?
The whole crowd cheered. The whole crowd except Reki. The whole crowd was making bets now on who would win in the end, an uneven line of people who were certain Adam would win and others who were certain Langa would. Heck, there were even bets on who would go against who. Everyone was really serious about this and that made Reki kind of sick.
“Now, for fun, we’ll have pieces of paper with people’s names written on them pulled out of a box by none other than Adam himself!” The woman said excitedly, but god, Reki wasn’t excited at all.
The man walked out on stage again, seemingly himself again. He smiled as he placed the box on a small table and started digging through it, making weird comments about hoping it was Snow and how exciting it would be to dance with such great dancers. It shook Reki to his very core.
Eventually Adam pulled a slip of paper out and exclaimed, “SHADOW!” Then dug around again and took another one out and shouted, “AND HARRY!”
From the crowd below, Reki watched Shadow and Harry scurry from their seats, anxious to begin. Adam set up a big projector, showing the rink across the street where the competition will take place. Shadow and Harry were hurried out of the theater and Adam spun around, grinning his fake grin to the crowd, clearly having stayed there to entertain them. He spoke about random things, calling out to people in the crowd, but Reki wanted to shut out his voice, because now all he could think of was him racing toward him on the roller skates and Reki flying in the air and Reki slamming his head in the ground and those god awful terrifying eyes and-
“REKI!” Keiko yelled, snapping Reki back into reality.
“Eh!?” Reki asked and Keiko moved his head to stare at the projected screen where Shadow and Harry were standing on the rink.
“Uh, well they got there fast.” Reki said.
Keiko smacked Reki upside the head, “No, you were just not paying attention, idiot!”
Reki rubbed his head, “Jeez, sorry I guess.”
His eyes flicked back to the screen where a whistle blew and the two began dancing on the same rink. Shadow was great at what he did, considering he also took some ballet, so his spins were perfectly balanced on his skates. Harry wasn’t as balanced, he tripped up a few times and stuck to the floor while Shadow jumped and leaped and it was… beautiful. A few times, sparkles and flowers were thrown from Shadow’s hands, almost hitting Harry who was now doing several pirouettes, spotting at a poster on the wall. However, this performance ended quickly, because it seemed both Harry and Shadow had no more learned choreography and the winner was….
“SHADOW!” Exclaimed Adam.
“Wow…” Reki said.
Keiko smiled, “If you keep practicing, you can do that!”
Reki smacked at Keiko, “You think I can’t do a pirouette!?”
“Reki, you do hip hop.”
“It’s important for roller dancing, I can do pirouettes!”
“Uh huh.”
Reki huffed and turned his attention back to the stage, where Adam was clapping, “Now that was just a look into what will be happening. A few more team competitions will happen then we’ll get back to the regularly scheduled recital. Just know, more than one roller dance will happen next time!”
Reki clutched the leather of his jacket, sweating again. He knew, he knew, he knew. That’s what scared him. He feared for Cherry and Joe and Miya and Shadow but he mostly feared for Langa.
And he still wanted to know who Snake was.
He swallowed. He would have to find out later.