"Yukicchi~!"

Heads turned to his direction despite them not being the person he just addressed. The girl with the slightly messy silver hair was staring at him with her mouth filled with food, which made him think of an adorable chipmunk. He walked through whispers and muffled fangirl squeals, before taking the vacant seat in front of his Yukicchi. She continued chewing as she stared at him, thought she'd shiftily glance at her classmates, who were watching the two of them as if they were in an incredibly exciting scene in a slice-of-life anime, at least every two seconds. A part of Kise told him that she didn't like being in his presence (like how she avoided him last time), but he threw that painful thought to the back of his mind.

She swallowed, setting her chopsticks on top of her boxed lunch. "What is it, Ryou---" she glanced at her classmates, "---Kise-kun?"

His jaw dropped, the sudden formality pushing him to lean to her closer with a worried look on his face. Why was she pushing him away all of a sudden?! "Did-Did I do something wrong, Yukicchi?!"

He received a quick, almost panicked shake of her head before she leaned closer---his heart just jumped to his throat the second he realized that their faces were mere centimeters apart---and whispered, "I'll explain later," with a small, sheepish smile as her breath brushed against his lips. Blood rushed to his face, prompting him to quickly pull back to his seat to keep his heart and his pretty face from bursting as Yukicchi calmly went back to her former position. 

Mashiro Yuki would definitely be the death of him.

"A-Anyway, what brought you here?" she briefly eyed her classmates again, which made Kise do the same. As usual, he---rather, they were were the object of everyone's attention; he even noticed members of the Kise Ryouta Fan Club staring at the two of them with weird looks on their faces as they tugged on each other's sleeves while covering their lips, their lunches abandoned on their tables. What really caught his attention, however, was the soccer team member (Ogata, is it?) glaring thousands of knives at him. Kise fought the large urge to childishly stick out his tongue to spite his rival in love, so he instead sent the guy the most charming of his smiles, triggering most of the girls in the classroom to erupt into suppressed fangirling. 

Kise - 1; Ogata - 0

He turned back to his target with the same smile. Yukicchi was now staring at him with wide, twinkling eyes, both hands covering the lower half of her face, cheeks flushing, and he could somehow hear her soft high-pitched whirring. The narcissist in Kise told him that his smile just got this dense girl to fall for him, then her revelation on the day the Winter Cup ended flashed in his mind. Ryuumi-nee had given him a crash course on how a fujoshi would think.

Fangirling.

Both hands grabbed onto her arms as he stared into her eyes, his cheeks puffed up and his lips making a pout. "Are you... shipping... me with him right now, Yukicchi?" he asked in a hushed tone, trying hard not to show the disgust in his voice and his expression. He'd actually be happier if she'd ship him with Kurokocchi or Aominecchi instead; he couldn't stand the thought of being paired up with that guy. 

Yukicchi blinked, and dropped her hands to her lap. For a second, she seemed apologetic, but she paused, then stared at him with shock and disbelief in her eyes. Suddenly, she slammed her palms to her desk, making him jump. "...You know what 'shipping' means?!"

He grinned a little, quite satisfied that he remembered that fangirl language. "Y-Yes?"

She looked at him like he was an angel had just descended in front of her.

In spite of being excited at first, the usually certain Kise was now dubious of the look she was giving him.

She quickly placed an octopus hotdog into her mouth, chewed, drank water, and seemed to calm down. As she was about to say something, which he had been anticipating for a few seconds now, she was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Both of them turned to look at the owner, who stood an arm's length away from them, and the three other girls who were beside and behind her. 

"M-Mashiro?" the fan club member stuttered with a grin, her single word shrouding another meaning. 

Yukicchi gave him a sidelong glance. She let out a giggle before gesturing him to the four girls. "Ah, Kise-kun. These are Suzasawa-san, Saotome-san, Misaki-san, and Miyazono-san. They're...," she paused then looked at them with uncertainty. The girls nodded encouragingly at the white-haired with excited looks on their faces. "...friends," she continued tentatively, throwing another look to the girls, who didn't seem to pay any mind on her word choice, "who would like to finally meet the famous and piping hot Kise Ryouta-kun." 

He stared at her, wide-eyed. She wiggled her eyebrows and covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle.

Did she just describe him as 'piping hot'?

He never had a chance to say anything else to her during lunch period; the fanclub members took the conversation from there, expressing how much they support him and how much they admire him for balancing school, modelling, and basketball, while being exceptional in most of those mentioned fields (he was somehow relieved that none of them knew or mentioned how much he sucked at studying, worried that her opinion of him would drop). He entertained them as he always did, though a part of him wanted to politely tell them away while the another hoped that Yukicchi would be impressed on how incredibly well he handled his admirers and maybe she'd wonder why they like him so much and then she'd realize how cool and admirable he was and that'll make her finally jump and fall to his anticipating arms---

When he glanced at her once, her full attention was poured into what appeared to be her current priority: eating her lunch.

Once it was almost time for the next period, one of the girls alerted him, and they enthusiastically escorted him out of the room. He bid a rushed good-bye to Yukicchi, who was already packing her lunch back to its square cloth and simply gave him an acknowledging nod. When the girls said the last of their goodbyes and the two girls at the back turned to leave, he overheard their hushed, excited conversation:

"Guess we have to thank Ogata now?"

"I guess? He did encourage us to approach Kise-sama!"

The blond's head whipped to the direction of his rival. The other male looked at him with half-lidded eyes and a lopsided smirk that Kise saw as smug. He glared at the soccer player with his lips curved into an annoyed smile.

Kise - 1; Ogata - 1

His gaze shifted to Yukicchi, who seemed to have witnessed the whole exchange of the two males. Her eyes were wide with excitement as her fingers were intertwined in front of her chest. Kise nodded at her, smiling, before walking back to his classroom with a larger fire of determination in his chest.

He was so taking back that point.

***

Club activities were dismissed early to give them time to get home for a new anime series that would be aired in an hour, and as Yuki left the club room with the company of two others, they almost had difficulty in opening the door since that particular part of the hallway was swarmed with giddy female students. Taking a closer look, in the middle of the crowd was a certain cheerful blond. 

She heard a soft click of the tongue of her Ryuumi-senpai. At the corner of her eye, she noticed that the upperclassman was also shaking her head. Nanase Mamoru looked at the scene in front of them with a look of vexation mixed with admiration. She thought it'd be better if the model was instead surrounded by several other males. She suddenly became mindful of her slightly taller co-club member. Nanase-kun as Ryouta-kun's uke...? An image of the former being all flustered and red-faced as the latter pinned him against a wall with a seductive smirk on his face---a perfect kabe-don moment---flashed in her mind.

"You were jealous just now, weren't you~?" a dominant Ryouta-kun would ask, inching closer to Nanase-kun, his breath brushing against the smaller male's cheek.

"I-I wasn't!" Nanase-kun would make an unconvincing effort to deny the accusation, their proximity tempting him to close the small gap between the beautiful blond's perfect lips and his quivering ones, fearing that his thundering heartbeat would be heard by the teasing male. "Y-You're always surrounded by girls, anyway! People are u-used to seeing that!"

"I only see you, though, Mamo-chan." Nanase-kun would freeze, face burning red. Ryouta-kun would lean a little closer and chuckle at the adorable reaction, the smirk on his lips growing a little gentler. Nanase-kun would close his eyes shut, much to Ryouta-kun's amusement.

"Do it," Ryouta-kun would urge him, his warm breath now teasing Nanase-kun's lips. "Kiss me, Mamo-chan~"

A trembling hand would reach out, grabbing the taller male's necktie. Nanase-kun would make a weak effort to pull him down, but Ryouta-kun would willingly comply with a grin, finally closing the dis---

"EARTH TO YUKICCHI!"

Yuki snapped back to reality at the sound of the blond's voice laced with a whine as his waved his hand in front of her face. She shook her head, blinking, making a sheepish smile at the model. She looked what was behind him, and found no fangirls glowering at her closeness with the popular male. Where did they go?

"Well!" Ryuumi-senpai interjected, beaming an energetic grin as she wrapped her arm around Nanase-kun's neck. The younger boy flinched, turning pale in his upperclassman's grasp. He sent Yuki a look that was pleading for help. Yuki blinked, unsure what she could do in the situation. "We're going ahead," Ryuumi-senpai said as she took a step back, dragging Nanase-kun with her, "Toodles!" 

And the two were left in an emptying hallway, with the girl staring at the direction the other two disappeared to. 

"So, Yukicchi!" Ryouta-kun suddenly piped up, making Yuki look at him with wide, curious eyes. Recently, with the lack of basketball club activities, Ryouta-kun had been more frequent with walking to the train station with her. It was due to that that she found herself that he'd ask them to go home together again today, only to stop herself. She can't possibly monopolize the Kise Ryouta! He wasn't only the basketball team's MVP, but he's also one of the most popular guys in Kaijou and he's an up and coming model. To be constantly graced by the perfect seke's presence was already a miracle!

"Ryouta-kun," she replied, acknowledging his presence.

"Wanna go home together today?" he asked, a sparkle present in his golden eyes as he made a charming smile that Yuki knew it would be impossible not to make any guy gay once that smile was directed to them. She felt herself feeling glad at the proposition, unconsciously smiling back at him. "I have something to talk to you about!" he added, eyes going off to the side for a moment.

Be his wingwoman?! Introduce him to BL?! Various similar thoughts came to her mind, the thought of being of help in things that interested her and that concerned him making her feel giddy. 

"Sure!" was her quick reply.

If it was possible for Kise Ryouta to become brighter than the actual piece of sunlight he already was, he just did. He hooked his arm around hers, making her a bit surprised, but knowing how impulsive Ryouta-kun could be, she decided she didn't exactly mind.

"Ice cream?" he offered.

She grinned, in spite of the weather that was gradually growing cold.

"Ice cream!"

***

Kise currently had no idea what she was talking about, other than the fact that it was a currently-airing sports anime possibly featuring a homosexual couple. Despite that, however, he liked witnessing how her amethyst eyes twinkled and her cheeks reddened as she talked about the current highlights of the said series. It simply reminded him how incredibly cute the person he likes is, which only accelerated the already sped-up beating of his heart.

Aaah! He screamed internally. In every group of guys Kise's in, he should be the last person to be nervous around a girl. He's always surrounded by them for crying out loud! It took a lot out of him to not clutch his left chest, or at least throw a few gentle punches at it to keep him from being so nervous.

He could only hope that she didn't notice how stiff his current smile was as he was finishing his ice Popsicle. As he was about to throw the stick to the trash bin beside the bench they were currently sitting on, he noticed a familiar word embedded on his stick: ＷＩＮＮＥＲ.

Kise could feel his spirits rise at the sight of the stick. It felt like Kurokocchi's cheering him on!

"And then, and then! When Yuuri performed his Eros, he was totally seducing Viktor! If that's not gay, I don't know what is!"He still had no idea what she was talking about. "So far, that's what happened, so I'm definitely excited for the episode next week! I even have to wake up at 5 a.m. every Thursday just to watch the HD release, you know!" One of the good things that came out of Yukicchi's confession about her interest the day Winter Cup ended, though, was that she was definitely more open with her words around him. He was no Kurokocchi or Akashicchi when it comes to being observant, but he knew that some wall filtering  a lot of her actions was gone when she's talking with him. 

"I'm...," Kise thought for a moment, mind reeling through the pointers that his Ryuumi-nee talked to him about. One important point was that to make her feel validated! "I'm cheering for you! I'm sure they'll end up together!" he replied, not really sure if what he said was right.

She squealed, much to Kise's surprise. "I know it could be just a big BL tease, but YES!"

He nodded with a grin, before deciding to change the topic. "Say, Yukicchi..."

"Hm?"

The usually confident Kise sucked in a large breath, attempting to calm his throbbing chest, before continuing, "Are you free this coming Saturday?"

The expression on her face turned thoughtful, before she looked at him with curiosity. "I have a Touken Ranbu fan event to go to at 10 a.m. in Akihabara, but I'm free in the afternoon!"

Here he goes! He could now pull out one of his secret weapons! "Wanna watch Your Name in the afternoon with me, then?" he asked with his most charming smile, in spite of the small bit of nervousness that was now leaving his chest.

He expected her to become excited, to immediately accept the offer of an ikemen like him, but instead her face turned apologetic. "Ah, sorry, Ryouta-kun!" Did someone else already ask her?! That Ogata, perhaps?! "I've already seen that movie with the Anime Research Club..." 

He wasn't sure what to do now. Of course the club would have already seen that! It would be unlike them to even miss out on the popular anime movie! He had to think hard in the quickest time, reviewing his common knowledge of Akihabara, the otaku district of Tokyo. An idea popped into his head.

"Butler cafe!" Kise snapped his fingers, making her blink up at him in question. "Will you take me to a butler cafe? Then we can have karaoke afterwards!"

Yukicchi looked to the side, the expression on her face falling. "I... don't think I have the budget for a butler cafe..."

"I'm paying for it!" he said, leaning towards her. It should be the guy who pays for the first date, right?! "I'm the one inviting you, Yukicchi, so don't worry about the expenses!"

She rubbed her neck and looked at him, smiling hesitantly. "I don't want to impose, but are you sure...?"

Kise nodded vigorously, seeing the light at the end of the imaginary tunnel he's in. He will definitely get her to go with him! 

She stared up at him now, a small smile of interest crawling to her lips. "If you're that eager, then... why not?"

SCORE! Kise grabbed her smaller hands, making the happiest of his smiles. "You won't regret it, Yukicchi! It's a date!"

Yukicchi raised an eyebrow, but chuckled. "I'll make sure to take you to a great place, then!"

Kise - 1001; Ogata - 1