Langa Hasegawa/Relationships

### Reki Kyan

Reki is Langa's first friend when he moves to Japan and they spend their free time together where Reki teaches Langa how to skateboard. He shows great confidence in Reki as does Reki to him. Reki shows great concern for Langa and forces Langa to promise to not be reckless. They deeply care for each other and will be each other's main hype man when down. We even see Langa say that Reki is amazing and expressing his admiration towards him and his observation skills. Langa always knows where Reki goes when he's in thought. They show great faith in each other. We see Langa become a lot more protective and concerned towards Reki, especially after Reki gets injured while racing Adam. He begins to help Reki with his injured arm, preventing Reki from being reckless, and worry about him more often. We see this when they go to Miyakojima, when Langa is racing in a beef and notices a red statue on the ground, thinking it was Reki. He then goes back to find him and apologizes for leaving him behind with his injury.

Langa deeply cares for Reki and tries to be a good friend for him. However, due to his obliviousness with emotions and distractions made by "S", he does not notice Reki's feelings of inferiority towards him and tries to get his friend back to normal by talking about their favorite topic, skating. We see Langa worried about Reki as he spams his phone asking where he is and waiting hours by his front door. Later, the two get into a fight, causing them to go their separate ways. Langa feels remorse for their fight and wants to fix things. He is spaced out at S and thinks everyone who is not identifiable at first touch or glance is Reki, for example he got excited when Adam touched his shoulder thinking that it was Reki, only to be shown disappointed a few seconds later. Langa also speaks to his mother Nanako Hasegawa about his feelings about Reki, saying he likes him, with a blush.

Langa wants to rekindle the relationship, he doesn't feel the same thrill when skateboarding without Reki by his side. The second day of S races Langa knows Reki is there without seeing him, which makes him excited. When racing against Joe, Reki calls out for him and his passion and thrill comes back. After the race, even though he won, he doesn't celebrate because he broke the board Reki made him; leading to Kojiro telling him that he has to get Reki to fix the board for him, which makes Langa ran after Reki to speak with him.

Langa visits DOPE SKETCH to look for Reki, and when he doesn't find him there, he heads over to his house. After that, he takes Reki's board and heads over to a skatepark where Reki later finds him. The two skate together and Langa feels the thrill again and realizes that he enjoys skating the most with Reki. Langa then thanks Reki for everything that he has done for him; words that make Reki blush.

### Ainosuke Shindo

Langa sees Adam as a formidable opponent; during their race, he enjoys the taste of thrill. Ainosuke has shown interest in Langa, bringing him flowers and calling him his 'Eve'. He is upset about what Ainosuke did to Reki Kyan, but still wants to race and test his skill against Ainosuke. Langa appears to not react much to the obsessive nature Ainosuke fixates him with, although does show interest in skating against Ainosuke again after their race is interrupted, and later imagines himself chasing an image of Adam while skating. Langa's interest in Adam further wanes when Reki and Langa's friendship suffers.

Ainosuke sets up a tournament at "S" to be able to race against Langa again. He was disappointed when Langa's first challenger in the tournament turned out to be Joe, although he was thrilled that Langa won his first race and publicly called Langa the name "Eve." He reviews footage of Langa and sees how Langa looks depressed, spiking his curiosity and later leading to spying on Langa and Reki's reunion using a drone. Ainosuke comments that he does not appreciate Langa enjoying skating with someone other than him. After barely defeating Reki in a race, Ainosuke declares to Langa that they will become Adam and Eve and fall together.

Before his beef with Ainosuke, Langa muses about why Ainosuke is skating, now able to see himself in Ainosuke and empathize with him after having skated without having fun during his separation from Reki. During their race, both Ainosuke and Langa entered the zone until Langa realizes he wasn't feeling anything at all, and pulled himself out of it. When Ainosuke notices Langa isn't behind him anymore, he mourns that he's truly alone until Langa grabs his arm and pulls him out of the zone and back into the race. Langa declares that he is going to teach Ainosuke that skating with friends is fun, something that Ainosuke rejects and claims he doesn't need. Langa points out that if Adam truly felt that way, he wouldn't have tried to make Langa go with him. They clash together and both collapse on the ground before Langa gets up first and picks up Ainosuke's board before holding it out to him and asking him to skate together. Ainosuke and Langa resume the race, skating side by side, and although Ainosuke is resistant at first, he recalls the feeling of how fun it was to skate with Tadashi in his youth, finally accepting what Langa is trying to teach him. Langa wins the race and Ainosuke leaves with Tadashi Kikuchi without causing a scene. Later, Ainosuke arrives at Langa's victory party by parachuting out of his helicopter with roses, crashing into everyone when he lands.

### Kaoru Sakurayashiki

Langa met Kaoru when he was looking for work in his building, although he rejected it. Nevertheless, Kaoru was the first person to believe and see the skating potential in Langa prior to his first race against Shadow and he did not show any doubts during the race. Kaoru saw him skating with Reki Kyan outside of his building and showed interest in him ever since.

During Langa's race against Shadow, Kaoru he noticed that Langa used the skateboard similar to a Snowboard. He is interested in his unique style of skateboarding and his ability to acquire new skills extremely quickly.

After watching Langa race against Adam, Kaoru appears to use his abilities as a research tool on how to beat Adam. Langa can turn to Kaoru for detailed advice and information to benefit himself.

### Kojiro Nanjo

Kojiro sees the skill and potential of Langa. He isn't seen to be as close to Kojiro as Reki Kyan is, but he sees Kojiro as a talented skater. Kojiro snaps Langa out of his trance and has shown concern for the younger boy. Kojiro tells Langa to rekindle Reki and Langa's relationship and supports him by giving him advice to fix their little scrobble.

After Kojiro's loss, he is seen to not be distraught about the loss, but concerned about Langa who is upset about breaking the board Reki made him. He gave the advice to go after Reki which Langa did, showing that Langa trusts and accepts Kojiro's advice.

### Miya Chinen

After the race against Miya, Reki Kyan brings him into their duo. They respect each other and each others' skill. They have a consensus about competition and racing. They become closer; we see Langa translating Miya's comment towards Reki, showing Langa does have some understand towards Miya. Langa and Miya often both cling to Reki and copies similar actions of Reki's such as getting into Hiromi Higa's car when he isn't looking. They both have a mutual understanding of their combined care of Reki which is shown when Reki breaks his arm and they both patiently wait for him to come tell them what's going on and if he's okay.

Miya believes Langa has great talent and potential, in which he gives him no nickname like he gave Reki.

### Hiromi Higa

Like Miya Chinen and Reki Kyan, Langa uses Hiromi as a mode of transportation and he was the first person Langa ever faced off against in "S".

Langa and the boys realize that Hiromi is a lot more calm than his alter ego **Shadow** and use that to their advantage to get him to do things for them like driving them around and going on an island vacation with them.

## References

*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 6.