Incidentally, I fell for you - Renga

Reki, my love

Langa's eyes lost focus on the road ahead of him as heavy, laboring breaths escaped his lips. His trembling legs pushed on the coarse ground, causing his board to lurch forward.

It was as if he had never skated before.

The crowd watched silently as Langa struggled along, noting that Reki was already leading by a large amount. No one made a sound. There was no laughter, no booing. Just pure silence.

Langa increased his speed gradually, though the redhead was still nowhere in sight.

His emotions had distorted his vision like a camera filter. Langa was almost seeing double.

Then, the world slowly faded away. Langa began seeing glimpses of the mountain he used to board on. Flashes of white came to him, an atmosphere so cold you could see your own breath projected itself onto the bare skate track.

Langa nipped at the crisp air, falling into a state of reminiscing. His body went into an almost primitive stance, mimicking his father's old snowboarding stance.

Driving forward, he was soon able to spot an uncontrolled red mane speeding in front of him. Langa accelerated until they were mere feet apart, causing a stir. With this, Reki finally acknowledged his presence, scoffing quietly to himself.

Cheers from the crowd danced between their ears. The distance was now closed between the two as they approached a huge curve that would likely shape their match.

Langa was ready, he had decided on a calm, brisk turn. Forcing himself to focus, he prepared for the race-altering turn.

"Hey, Snow." Langa was broken from his thoughts as his eyes had widened, this was the first time during the race that Reki had spoken to him. Langa immediately looked at the other boy.

It seemed like Reki was meeting Langa with a taunt. His demeanor in the moment seemed to project one message.

His body language beckoned for Langa to watch.

Reki bent his knees, mimicking a stance that someone would use for some type of trick. Then, he kicked up his board, higher than a regular flip would warrant, and dropped down, almost throwing himself onto the board.

Reki knew this was risky. He was told an improper performance of this move would result in broken bones, especially when trying to meet a curve, but all of these thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind.

He had to do this.

He could admit that the drop hurt his chest, pain quickly rose to his torso as he clenched his teeth. Though, he was able to bite past the pain, grasping onto both sides of his board and raising himself into push up position.

This caused his speed to increase drastically. The crowd howled with excitement.

"Was that one of Joe's moves?"

"No, it's different?"

"Oh my god, did you see that flip?"

"That was amazing!"

"Is he going to make the curve?"

"At the speed he's going at, he could crash."

As spectators marveled over the bewildering stunt Reki had pulled, the redhead chose to remain focused. His eyes narrowed, hair whipping in his face as a breeze glided over his body. A cool sweat fell from his forehead as he took in a deep breath.

His senses were heightened, he had never been more 'in the zone' before in his life.

The redhead took in another sharp breath and dove for the curve.