Looking around, Reki can’t imagine not wanting to be a part of something like this. For months before he met Oka, he was desperate for even one person to talk about skating with. Here, he’s surrounded by dozens of people with pins and boards, and there are even more scattered along the course that winds down the mountainside and in the factory below. It’s an entire world he never knew about. The graffiti, the glitz, the excited shouting, the clack of wheels against concrete as people kickflip and bigspin and compete to see who can do the highest Ollie.
It’s everything he ever dreamed of. He could stay here for hours, taking it all in. He had no idea there were even this many skaters in Okinawa. Absently, he wonders if he recognizes any of them from the park he usually goes to after school.
Oka is right. It’s a skater’s paradise.
My piece for the SK8 Bang! I chose to write about my thoughts on how Reki met Oka, started working at Dope Sketch, and joined S. There’s a little unrequited OkaReki in it. My partner was LunaNoctuArts, who drew the scene where Reki is watching Joe skate at Crazy Rock for the first time!