Memories [KnB] || Kise Ryouta

Chapter 14

The fourth round of the preliminaries soon came but I couldn't attend as Ryouta and I were told to get to the studio. I walk inside with him as I speak on the phone with Riko, "Yeah, message me all the data you can. Sorry I cannot be there," I say.

"Don't worry about it, I'll memorise as much as I can... We'll have anything filmed so you'll be able to see everything. Are you going to be okay today?" Riko asks.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine... I just feel so guilty that I'm not with you guys," I sigh.

"Juricchi, come on we need to meet up with Lulu," Ryouta says and I follow him into the studio room.

"I'll see you later Juri, I'll pop over to yours at the end of the day," Riko says.

"Perfect! Also, if you struggle with anything, just message me and I'll try and answer you straight away. Okay, I got to go, sorry we're running late. Good luck!" I hang up and catch up with Ryouta, "Aren't your team playing?"

"Yeah, but we're in the afternoon," He tells me, "As long as I get their during the second half, I shouldn't get my butt kicked," He chuckles.

"That's good," I nod and we walk into a room.

"We're here~," Ryouta says and I follow after him, I look to see Lulu a middle-aged woman, with black hair and a slightly chubby form with thick big round glasses, "Looking as glamorous as ever Lulu," He compliments.

Lulu looks up at us, "How did Juri put up with you?" She questions and her eyes land on me, "Oh my gosh," She stands and holds her hands out, "Come here you."

I walk to her and place my hands in hers, "Been a while, Lulu," I smile at her and she spins me around, "wow..."

"Looking fabulous!!" She sings and smiles, "I just need you to look over these documents Juri, make sure your information is still correct," She says and hands me a file. I take the file and sit at the table looking through the information and correcting anything that's changed before handing it back to her, "Excellent, okay Juri this is your dressing room, Ryouta yours as usual and the theme is a couple, can you do it?"

"Sure," He smirks.

"Yeah," I nod as the two leave me alone before wardrobe, hair and makeup people walk into the room. All introduce themselves before they get to work, and use me as their dress-up doll, which I never minded.

After 20 minutes, I had natural makeup, my hair curled and I was dressed in denim shorts and a black tank top with my red bra slightly showing due to the low armholes. I giggle a little and shake my head before walking out, I see Ryouta dressed in a light blue shirt, black jacket, black dress pants and white shoes. He looks at me and smiles, "Beautiful," He says.

"Thank you," I smile and I walk to me.

"Okay, so," The photographer says and we look at him, "The theme is a couple, you can be a happy couple, intimate couple, a breaking couple, anything as well as there's the sense of a relationship between the two... Can you do it?" He asks.

"Sure," We both nod.

Ryouta takes my waist, pulling me close to him and leans down. My cheeks fluster on their own as our noses brush together, I place my hands on his shoulders and we begin our photo shoot.

After 3 hours and 1000s photos, it's time to go home. Once I'm back in my usual clothes, I check my home to see no messages regarding help from Riko only scores. 

Riko Aida
The fourth round: 108 to 41 for us
The fifth round is at 5 pm, can you make it?

Juri Kurosawa
I cannot promise anything but finished with the photo shoot. I don't think I'll make it in an hour but I know I can meet you guys afterwards.

Riko Aida
Afterwards will do, see you then.

I walk to the parking lot and see the usual black Tesla, I walk to the car, "Juricchi!" I turn to see Ryouta jogging up to me, "You don't want to look at the photos?"

"No, I'm getting them all sent to me..." I tell him and see him looking down at me, "Need a lift?"

"No... I got one... But you've been distant lately... Because of the kiss?" He asks.

"Have I?" I tilt my head, "I've been focusing on basketball..."

"You and I both know that's half the truth... I thought... You still felt something for me," He asks.

"I do... But I don't know if I'm ready," I tell him and place my hand on his cheek, "Good luck," I whisper and walk off to the Telsa, "Sebastian I need to get to the gym," I hand him a piece of paper with the address, "I'm just going to nap okay?"

"Of course," He smiles and starts the car as I fall asleep for the journey.

Sebastian wakes me up when we arrive, there wasn't any traffic and I walk to the entrance of the gym as Seirin walk out of the building, "So, how'd it go?" I ask with a smile.

"We won! 89 to 87!" Riko gives me thumbs up, "How'd it go?" 

"Yeah, it was alright," I smile and look at Tetsuya, "What?" I ask as he stares at me.

"What happened?" He asks.

"N...Nothing, I'm going, see you at school," I wave at them and jog to Sebastian who's still in the car. I get in the back, "Let's just go home," I tell him.

"Of course," He nods and he drives away, "So how'd they do?"

"We're qualified for the semifinals of the inter-high prelims," I tell him.

"That's great news," He smiles, "Who will you be against?" He asks.

"I'm not sure who will be next but I know we'll be up against Shutoku," I tell him, "Which is Shintaro... The Shooting Guard," I tell him.

"Carrot boy?" He comments and I nod, "Alright, well do you want a lift?"

"Please," I nod and smile.

"Of course," He smiles at me.

***

Next day after school we all gather in a classroom watching a recorded match on the TV. The odds do not look in our favour, "I knew it already, but... Honestly, this is going to be hard," Izuki says.

"Sorry, actually I feel like crying a bit," Koganei says.

"To put it clearly, we'd lose 9 matches out of 10 against either Seihou or Shutoku, but we just have to make those matches the ones we win!" Riko says and gestures to me, "Starting now, Juri will be acting as a coach which we could've used in the beginning but that was before I noticed how far we were getting."

"Juri... Is training us?" Taiga says and I smile sweetly, "Your smile may be sweet but your thoughts won't be."

"You know me so well," I giggle.

"You know..." Hyuga says and we all look at him, "You can't really anything just said a plan, but... I've got an idea," He says.