A YamaShi One-Shot
Christmas Special: All I Want for Christmas is You

“Breath in and breath out… Ryosuke…”

23 years old Yamada Ryosuke tried to calm the pace of his racing heartbeat as he refreshed himself of the plan everyone helped him to put in place.

It was almost amusing to think that a Johnny Idol like him would have an issue confessing but for those who truly knew him, would have known that he was a closet dork, nothing like the confident idol who everyone sees on stage.

“This is it… The moment I have been waiting for… and nothing can go wrong with everyone’s help!”

In midst of his pep talk to himself, the young idol of the popular boy band, Hey! Say! JUMP stepped into a quiet café in Shibuya.

It was late in the night, nearly 12.00am, a time when most would have head home for the last train. But yet he was here, about to make a move which he had been preparing for most of his teenage years. But today, according to his chibi advisers, was the perfect day for the perfect move because it was Christmas Eve, the day which all couples would get together and celebrate this special day.

His disability to confess had been a long-time joke between his fellow bandmates, Chinen Yuri and Nakajima Yuto and coincidentally their high school classmates as well. What made it even more painful was that everyone else, including all their classmates, could easily spot his affection for her, she remained oblivious to every hint he had given her till this day.

But he could not possibly blame her because he knew that she was the kind of person who would never try to read too much into a situation. Unlike most girls, she was more of the kind who viewed herself as a wallflower, despite all her achievements. Even if it was a compliment for her, she would still shy from it because of her humble personality. And it was that personality of hers endeared her to him deeply because despite being widely-claimed as the genius child-actress of their generation, she remained to this day the most down-to-earth person he ever knew.

Yamada Ryosuke could not deny that it was exactly who she was and her larger than life presence in the Entertainment Industry made him grew afraid to approach her. He had wanted to become somebody as good as her before approaching her with the possibility to get to know her. But he had not realised then it would take him that long to prepare.

In a blink of the eyes, it took him a decade to prepare and to be confident enough to make his point across to her. Something which any of their friends have found it to be ridiculous because as a popular idol, it had been part of his job requirement to make anyone swoon over him.

Anyone but her, his first crush at the age of thirteen years old.

Before her, the only females whom he could speak freely with were his mum and sisters. But she had that ability to calm his anxiousness on his first day on the set of the filming of his first special drama, Tantei Gakuen Q SP with an excited smile.

Unlike any other girls, she was not at all concerned that she was the only girl among them, and easily befriended all of them. As such, she became the coolest girl he knew back then.

Looking around, Yamada Ryosuke was trying to spot the table which their classmate, Kawashima Umika and Chinen had setup for the Christmas Special Operation and found it with its intended occupant in the seat.

 As he would have expected of her to reach earlier than planned, the young actress he was looking for was sitting at the table with a book in her hands.

The familiar looking scene made him smiled because it reminded him of the good old days in Horikoshi High School.

Walking over to the table without any greeting, he pulled a chair and sat down opposite her to see how long it would take the oblivious girl from realising his arrival.

Calmly turning a page, the said actress, Shida Mirai kept her eyes on the book but acknowledged the new arrival with a smile, “took you long enough, Umika.”

Knowing her chatterbox best friend, Kawashima Umika, Shida Mirai was simply waiting for her friend to start a new discussion topic to start their conversation rolling. However, she was greeted with a strange silence which perked her curiosity.

Lowering her book, the young actress was met with a familiar looking face which she had never thought possible of meeting again.

Widening her eyes in surprise, Shida Mirai could only gasped his name at the sight of him, “Eh? Yama… Yamada-kun?”

Noting again how she had chosen to address him, Yamada Ryosuke was slightly disappointed because he had thought that she might consider calling him Yama-chan now that they were no longer in school or under constant monitoring. He had always envied their common best friend, Kamiki Ryunosuke, whom she had always retained her childhood nickname, Mikki, all these while.

“It’s Ryosuke,” Yamada Ryosuke offered her a breath-taking beaming smile as he tried to convince the girl, “I think we know each other long enough for you to call me by my name, don’t you think so, Mirai-chan?”

Raising her brows in surprise, Shida Mirai followed his request with a confused tone, “Long time no see… Ryosuke-kun.”

Whenever she thought about Yamada Ryosuke, she could never quite put a finger on that mysterious young idol. He was the cheery fun-loving Yama-chan when they were filming Tantei Gakuen Q series, but when they entered Horikoshi High School together, he became that distanced cool idol Yamada-kun who was always careful not to be seen with any girl.

If there was anything Shida Mirai was good at, it was reading auras. So, when Yamada Ryosuke gave off that ‘keep away from me’ aura during their schooling days, she had respected that decision with a saddened heart.

But that said idol did not stop sending out confusing messages to people. Just as he had been distancing from all the females in their class, he would always make it a point to turn up for school in a messy manner, forcing her to make a move to tidy his uniform for him.

His actions were small but it was enough to cause endless speculations from their classmates, claiming that the Hey! Say! JUMP idol was trying to catch her attention by banking on her duties as a class representative.

It took a year of continuous reprimanding from her during their first year about his uniform before they started talking again in their second year.

According to hearsays much to her amusement, she was once again the first female classmate he had chosen to talk to in the class.

She was not that oblivious to the fact that everybody was trying to link their names together since their names came up together in the class poll about the most talked about students in the class. But she could not see what was the chemistry which they claimed to have between the two of them because they were no longer as close as before.

But still as a note of warning from her management, she was careful to ensure that either Kamiki Ryunosuke, Nakajima Yuto, Chinen Yuri or her Ken-On junior Irie Jingi was seen together with them after the whole incident with Nishiuchi Mariya.

“Ryosuke,” He smiled but repeated his name firmly, “besides, it hasn’t been that long, Mirai-chan. We did see each other recently on the set of DASH or have you forgotten about it again? Sometimes I worry for you and your short-term memory ability. How could someone who can recite long lines without NGs and get good marks in examinations, barely remembers what is happening around her?”

“Eh…,” Still raising a brow at his sudden show of friendly, the young actress groaned at the mention of her poor memory and tried to defend herself, “I do remember that, but it has been a long time since we talked to each other.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Mirroring her reaction, Yamada Ryosuke raised a brow, questioning the actress, “I know you speak to Ryu often and you even went out with him! But you never asked me out, not even a short Hi message from you since we graduated! It is so unfair that we have known each other for a decade and you won’t even say Hi to me on a variety show recording or catch my eyes when I was trying to catch your attention!”

“Ano…” Surprised by his exclamations, the young actress tried to recall more details during the recording of DASH but came up with a