Reki Kyan/Relationships

### Langa Hasegawa

Even though they only recently met during school, the two quickly became really close and spend most of their time together where Reki teaches Langa how to skateboard which they both find a mutual enjoyment in. Reki cares greatly about the safety of Langa and has nightmares about him getting hurt. He enjoys spending time with his best friend, on the roof of the school, at work, at his house, skatepark or at "S"—wherever Reki is, Langa is too.

Reki notices every detail of Langa and his skating which shows he knows exactly what to do to fix his board. Langa refers to Reki as amazing and Reki doesn't believe it and says that Langa is more amazing. Showing that Reki knows the skill level difference between them and wants to catch up to stand by his friends. Langa shows extra concern for Reki when he was going to try a trick with a hurt arm and scolded him. They deeply care for each other. During the beef skate to the hot springs, Langa realizes that Reki was not there with them and he goes back to find him. He also helps Reki find his balance again after slipping when the Pantu poked his legs.

Reki sees Langa as an amazing genius which he wants to catch up to him in every way. Later on, Reki sees himself in a negative light among the star 'Snow' and he tries to reach for the stars like Langa can but he cannot reach it leading to the fight at the end of the episode where Reki and Langa split their own way. Reki sees himself as not good enough for Langa and fearing being left behind he chooses to be the one to leave. Reki also feels betrayed by Langa going against their promise of facing Adam and is deeply hurt from it.

Reki still hurt by Langa's actions but still continues to support him. Langa and Reki were in class and Reki was looking in the window and caught wind of Langa's face and feels hurt by hurting him. He comes to "S" to support Langa indirectly trying to hide from him; but Langa was excited because he knew he was there from when he stopped by Reki's house and saw the window open. Before his race, he searches for the red head, which leads him to hide.

Langa sees him and feels encouraged and passionate about skating in a way he hadn't when Reki wasn't with him. Reki cannot stand when people bash Langa which is shown in when he yells at the people he's standing with who were talking bad at Langa. When he saw Langa seem so not like himself he took it upon himself to call out for him, to wake him up out of his slump; leading Langa to catch up and win the race. But, it lead to the final breaking point of Reki realizing he wants to stand with his friend rather than be his support and he turned in his 'S' badge at the same time Langa tried to find him to fix his board and their relationship.

After talking to multiple people and having time to rethink everything, Reki realizes that skating is about fun rather than competition and is determined to find Langa to apologize to him. When he returns home, one of his sisters informs him that Langa stopped by and took his board, making Reki immediately run out and look for Langa. When he finally finds him at the skatepark, he's lost for words, and Langa suggests to just skate instead. Langa then proceeds to tell him how he feels when he skates with him, making Reki blush, and say how much more he wants to skate with Langa.

### Miya Chinen

Reki has taken a big brother role for Miya, trying to teach him he has to have fun to skate because it's not worth skating without having fun. He is protective of him seen when he challenges Adam to a beef to defend Miya. Even though Reki lost Miya still upgraded Reki from a 'Slime' to a 'Golem' showing his respect for him grew. They enjoys each others company and teasing each other. Reki promises to always be there for Miya which makes the younger happy due to the lack of consistent friends in his life.

Miya notices the small changes in Reki and voices his concern, when he asked Langa Hasegawa where Reki is. It is seen that Miya's love language is teasing and after the words of others Reki takes Miya's words to heart and degrade himself. Miya is shown worrying about Reki when he hadn't seen Reki come to 'S' for a while and seeing the distraught out of place entity Langa has become in the wake of Reki's absences.

Miya expresses his anger and hurt towards Reki leading towards a confrontation in the elevator of the hospital which lead to Miya being even more angry at Reki.

### Hiromi Higa

Reki starts out the series racing against Shadow, but he becomes one of his close allies. He tends to jump into Hiromi's car without thinking most of the time. When training for the race against Adam, Shadow is seen with the Reki, Langa Hasegawa and Miya Chinen driving them places. They also manipulate him with going on a trip with them, seeing him as an adult figure they can turn to when they want something.

Hiromi accidentally leads Reki to belittle himself, as he doesn't realize that it lead to Reki to notice the words around him. Hiromi continues to slander Reki into his persona Shadow. Hiromi calls him scared to face Adam in why Reki was not there to Miya and Langa.

### Kaoru Sakurayashiki

They are not yet seen together much but there is a mutual level of understanding between them. Reki turns to him when he needs advice. He runs to Kaoru screaming his "S" name in public; to get him to to teach Langa Hasegawa a new move to beat Adam. They both have a mutual dislike and distaste for the way Adam skates. Prior to Reki and Adam's beef, Kaoru breaks down the love hug for everyone to hopefully prevent any major injury Reki could receive from it. Kaoru is not always outright with his feelings but shows he does care towards Reki.

Kaoru displays a parental figure towards Reki by slapping his hand away from reaching for the alcohol. They seem to coexist with Reki's wild personality and Kaoru's calmness they seem to balance each other out.

### Kojiro Nanjo

A big brother type figure for Reki, they match similar energies where they can be serious when worried about someone they care about or playful when they're with people they like. Kojiro show's concern for Reki when he says he's going to race against Adam and tells him not to. Reki turns to Kojiro to teach him a new trick. The older visually saw the distress the younger was in and had a meaningful conversation in which shows that they are extremely similar in nature. Reki finds comfort in Kojiro and talk about if he wants to quit or stay. Kojiro cheers him up and the smile on his face shows his concern and relief of Reki not quitting nor wanting to be left behind.

Kojiro comes to Reki to get him to go to "S", he wants the two boys to rekindle their friendship and for Reki to not isolate himself and be alone. Kojiro often appears when Reki is eating as his love language is food, and confides in him knowledge and the strength to do something and that being alone is not the way to go when you have friends right beside you. When Reki does go to "S" later on, Joe is seen with a smile on his face when he finds out. He also tells Langa Hasegawa to run after Reki and fix what they have and what they have left behind.

### Ainosuke Shindo

Reki initially is excited to see Ainosuke, as Adam, show up at "S", but quickly becomes angry at him when Ainosuke insults Miya Chinen. Reki challenges Ainosuke to a beef in order to make him take what he said about Miya back, which Ainosuke accepts gleefully in order to choose skating against Langa Hasegawa as a prize.

Despite being warned against skating with Ainosuke, Reki decides to see it through because it is something he wants to do.

During their race, Ainosuke slams his board into Reki's and terrifies the boy with dangerous maneuvers. When Reki gets his motivation back and overtakes his opponent, Ainosuke regains the lead and performs a Love Hug on Reki, causing him to fall and get injured. Ainosuke is seen grinning and licking Reki's blood off his face, calling the boy nothing but an appetizer. Reki is left suffering trauma and nightmares about his race with Ainosuke and develops a hatred for the man.

Later, Ainosuke seems to have forgotten who Reki even was until, using a drone, he spies on Reki and Langa skating together and reaffirming their friendship, and sets his sights on Reki since the boy is taking Langa's attention away from skating with him.

Ainosuke sends an invitation to Reki to take Shadow's place in the tournament and Reki accepts, having overcome his trauma after reaffirming his love for skating. Despite taking a brutal beating from Ainosuke in the race, Reki doesn't give up and pulls ahead when rain starts falling, having prepared for it with special wheels on his skateboard. After dodging a Full Swing Kiss from Ainosuke, Reki takes a major lead until Ainosuke barely manages to catch up and snatch the win. Despite losing the race, Reki declares skating to be very fun while the crowd cheers for him. When Ainosuke approaches Reki in a threatening manner, Reki tells him the words Joe once said to him, to not end up alone.

### Tadashi Kikuchi

Tadashi meets Reki in person after hitting him with a car and taking him to a love hotel in an effort to bribe him to keep quiet about the accident in order to not cause trouble for his boss, Ainosuke Shindo. Reki rejects the money, but states he has no intention of causing trouble for Tadashi. Tadashi soon recognizes who exactly Reki is and tries to talk him into giving up skateboarding because Tadashi believes it's an undesirable hobby that ruins lives. Reki argues back and refuses, saying that it's simply really fun and in doing so realizes that he'd lost sight of that idea too.

Later, Tadashi approaches Reki at Dope Sketch with the invitation for him to participate in the tournament as Ainosuke's stand-in opponent. Tadashi warns Reki against skating with Ainosuke, but Reki, having recovered his love for skating, again refuses Tadashi's advice and decides to skate since it's fun for him and that's the only reason he needs to skate. Tadashi bitterly gives up trying to talk Reki out of skating and leaves. After Ainosuke barely wins in a disastrous race against Reki, Tadashi recalls how Reki is similar to a young Ainosuke with his pure love for skating and realizes that forcing Ainosuke to give up skating is the wrong thing to do, and instead Ainosuke must relearn his love for skateboarding.

## References

*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 7.