As Akira tilted her head to ponder this, I lost my balance and fell flat on my ass. I crawled my way across the cold ice on my hands and knees back to the edge of the rink. I’d officially decided I never wanted to let go of the wall again.
“Man, you’re hopeless,” said Akira. “Here, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
With that, Akira kicked off and started circling the arena at high speed.
Damn, she’s fast! And yet, her motions were so fluid and graceful that I found it almost hard to believe she was just a casual skater. Her body was slanted so far forward that I didn’t understand how she wasn’t falling over. She did one big semicircle around the rink before weaving through the other frozen skaters like a skier doing a slalom.
“Damn…” I mumbled in admiration—and for a moment, we made eye contact. She grinned at me, then picked up the pace and started skating backward this time. I didn’t even realize that was possible. Then she lifted one leg up, brought it back down hard, and bounded up into the air with the force from the recoil. She did a little twirl in midair before landing gracefully back down on the ice, then skated back over to where I was. She put her hands on her waist and puffed out her chest.
“Heh heh heh… How do ya like that?!” she said boastfully.
“Wow, you’re like a professional skater!” I exclaimed. “You’re so good, I don’t think I can learn a thing just from watching your example! Did you take lessons or something?”
“Nah, gym teacher taught us how back in elementary school. Most of what I know, I just learned from putting in some extra practice after school. Though I’m kinda surprised that I’ve still got it after all these years. Guess I’m just a natural, huh?”
“Yeah, no kidding…” I was so in awe that all I could do was validate her as she tooted her own horn. “With skills like those, you should honestly try to shoot for the Olympics or something, if you ask me.”
“Nah, no way. There were already tons of kids way better than me back in elementary school. And it costs a lot of money if you wanna actually put in the work to try to become a professional skater.”
“Really? Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed…”
“I just wanna skate for fun, and that’s good enough for me. But you’re gonna have to start actually practicing if you ever wanna quit hugging that wall, my friend.”
And on that note, Akira started idly skating around again.
Obviously, we had all the time in the world for me to practice—but I could already tell this wasn’t going to be my cup of tea. I knew full well that my athletic reflexes were abysmal, but I wasn’t expecting to be this much of a hopeless wreck at this. Though I supposed a more positive way of looking at it was that I’d learned my skill level now, and I hadn’t embarrassed myself in front of anyone other than Akira. It was definitely hard to say I was having any fun myself, but getting to watch her skate around with childlike glee was enough to make me glad we came here.
I figured I would just try to do a little practice of my own without getting in her way. I slowly carved a path forward across the ice, pulling myself awkwardly along the wall, though it was clear that I was doing far more work with my hands than with my feet. I didn’t feel like I was improving whatsoever. This was really tough, actually. Akira noticed me struggling like a toddler and skated over to greet me—though she was also carrying a camera tripod in her hands for some reason.
“Where’d you get that?” I asked.
“It was just lying on the bench over there. Here, grab on,” she said, holding out the leg end of the folded-up tripod. She didn’t have to tell me twice; I grabbed on. “Figured I’d take you for a little ride, free of charge. Just don’t let go, now.”
“Whoa!” I said as Akira skated backward—and since I was holding on to the tripod, I got dragged right along with her. My body stiffened as I held on for dear life in a crouched position, and she rapidly picked up the pace. The cold air brushed against my cheeks, which were already feeling flushed after my previous series of tumbles. It felt pretty nice, actually—so nice that my body naturally untensed after a while. When I lifted my head, I could see Akira staring back at me with a triumphant grin. Occasionally, she’d look over her shoulder in the direction we were going, turning as necessary while still accelerating so as not to lose speed.
All of a sudden, a strangely specific fantasy flashed through my mind—of her and me holding hands, spinning around and around in a big field full of flowers. It felt like something straight out of a fairy tale, and I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the image.
“Having fun?” Akira asked.
“Yeah. At least, I think so.”
She smiled. “Cool. Once you get a little better, I swear you’ll learn to love skating too. You’ve just gotta put in the work and practice.”
“Okay,” I replied, nodding. “I believe you, yeah.”
I clutched the tripod tightly with both hands. It was a stupid thought, but I swore I could almost feel just a hint of Akira’s body heat through the sturdy plastic legs.
After skating around for several hours, we were both feeling pretty tuckered out. By the time we left the skating rink, my wristwatch said it was already seven at night. Akira and I agreed to stay at a slightly nicer hotel tonight, so we did some searching and eventually found one that happened to have a buffet-style restaurant attached. Fortunately for us, it was open all day, so there was plenty of food for us to choose from even at this hour.