Yamada Ryosuke stared at the small article in the newspaper with a rare dose of seriousness, prompting his bandmates to look at him strangely.

“What is it, Yama-chan?” A concerned Chinen Yuri bounced his way to his best friend and tried to peek at the newspaper for the reason why Yamada was looking so out of it, “was there another article about you?”

“It can’t be! I thought the promotion period for Ansatsu Kyousu has ended?”  Nakajima Yūto blinked his eyes in confusion at the suggestion of Chinen Yuri.

Walking swiftly over to a stoning Yamada, Arioka Daiki almost grinned when he saw that familiar name; he should have known that Yamada Ryosuke had not forgotten about her.

After-all, nobody ever forgets their first crush, especially if the first crush was a celebrity; the young idol offered his bandmate a pat on the head lightly and whispered, “Ganbatte, Yama-chan!”

Taking a deep breath, Yamada Ryosuku smiled at Arioka’s quiet encouragement while deep in thought.

Was that the sign he was waiting for all these while? An opportunity to meet up with one of the oldest but lost friend? That somebody who had always been on his mind but never sought out for in public.

Exchanging a look with Yaotome Hikaru and Yabu Kōta, Arioka wordlessly informed them the topic on Yamada’s mind. As the oldest member and leader of the band, Yabu Kōta was not surprised that Yamada Ryosuke had held onto to his childhood crush till now. As far as he knew, Yamada was a Taurus at heart, and Tauruses are known to be remarkably stubborn about people and things that they held dear to.

Sighing softly, Yabu Kōta wondered if he was right to ask Yamada not to wander down that path. He had been the one who advised the young idol to try to forget the young crush when they were much younger because he did not see much of a future for the seemingly impossible pair. With management giants such as Johnny & Associates and Ken-on on the lookout, it was a mission impossible for them to maintain any form of contact.

That decision became a source of irritation when Yamada, Chinen and Nakajima entered Horikoshi High School. Who would have thought that Nakajima would grow to become close friend with the young actress during their high school years? Much to Yamada’s strange mixture of displease and happiness.

Between Yaotome, Yabu Kōta and Arioka, the three members had been placing bets on the two 1993s youngsters. It was a secret joke between them how obvious it was that Yamada had unconsciously used the young actress as a blueprint to his ideal girlfriend for the past 8 years.

But interestingly, nobody caught on to the subtle hints Yamada seemed to be broadcasting out to the world. Or perhaps they did, but none of them were brave enough to explain the hints to either party. Most of the watchers were simply contented to hide their knowledge behind a secret smile.  

But none of them were pleased to hear from Nakajima then that the young actress was nowhere ready for a relationship due to her unexplained naivety.

“It’s about time I should make a move ne?” Yamada Ryosuke looked up to face his bandmates with a slight smile, “that little baka probably still thinks nothing about all those hints I have given her.”

“Eh?! Little baka?” Nakajima Yūto echoed the nickname his best friend had for their fellow classmate in disbelief. It did not take him long to realize who Yamada was referring to, especially the young idol’s favorite line of questioning for him and Kamiki Ryūnosuke during the Horikoshi years was always about her.

“She is one of the smartest and most talented actresses of our generation and you called her a baka?” Nakajima shook his head in disagreement, “she is a very good friend!”

Chinen Yuri who was watching the exchange, held his hand up to signal a stop and offered his views, “Ne, Yuto~ I agree with Yama-chan on that. Even though I respect her as an actress and classmate, you would have to agree that she is rather slow on the in-take when it comes to relationships. Even her best friends Kawashima-chan and Ohgo-chan have refused to speak to her about relationship issues anymore. They had even said that her views towards relationships are impossibly naivety and unrealistic. It was simply impossible to get her to see the facts.”

“They realized it that too?” Yamada Ryosuke enquired with a laugh and mused out loud, “I wonder if she ever learned how many times she had unknowingly crushed the egos of those who attempted to confess to her?”  

As Yamada’s question was thrown out, everyone in the room could not stop laughing at the image in their mind as they imagined the scenes of the young bubbly actress unknowingly changing the topic as someone tried to confess to her. The image which their youngest members have painted of the young actress have been quite different from what they used to observe from television.

For somebody who acted and looked very mature and grown-up, Yamada Ryosuke found it amusing and precious how she managed to stay innocent and ignorant of the changing relationship around her. At the same time, her endless curiosity about everything and everyone around her was what which allowed her to be a better actress. 

“Ne, Yama-chan! What do you have in mind for your little baka?” Okamoto Keito grinning curiously and tried to press the young idol for more information, “Would it be a romantic shoujo manga kind of confession for her? I thought that she likes shoujo manga a lot… Wait… Wasn’t then the same time when you started to read them when we learned that she likes reading them?”

Yamada Ryosuke offered nothing more than a secret smile to his bandmates as he whistled a cheery tune while he walked out of the room.

“Yūto, you know her best among us,” Chinen turned and rounded up his other bandmate for answer, “what do you think Yama-chan could do to convince her?”

“I heard that she disliked idols,” Inoo Kei added with a troubled shrug, “and Yama-chan is an idol.”

“Nope, Yuto, Yama-chan and I are freed from that horrible idol label in her eyes,” Chinen countered swiftly with a cute smile and earning a nod of agreement from a smiling Nakajima, “the best thing about Shida-chan is that she loves making friends with everyone.”

“The real challenge for Yama-chan would be getting her to see beyond the friends’ label which she gives out freely to everyone,” Nakajima added with a concerned look, “but then again, Yama-chan is probably the only other guy who knows her best aside from Kamiki-kun.”

“And he’s been supporting Yama-chan all these while,” Chinen revealed with a smirk as he held up Yamada’s mobile phone for all to see, “who do you think is the one who gives Yama-chan all the updates about Shida-chan?”

“Ahh….” The rest of the band noted with a laugh at the sneakiness of their bandmates.

Grabbing the fallen newspaper which Yamada was reading earlier on, Arioka Daiki concluded his thoughts with a smile, “Disneyland will be an interesting place tomorrow!”

Hidden among the article was a short update about the upcoming appearance of the cast of the latest Disney Movie, “Tomorrowland” at Disneyland Tokyo the following day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere beneath the same clear blue sky of Tokyo, a young lady sneezed softly for no reason as she was reading the script for tomorrow’s press conference.

A strange feeling of excitement was slowly growing, but the insensitive actress decided to shrug off the instinctive funny tingle felt without a care.

Nothing was more important than work to her now, hence she decided to refocus her attention to the script in her hands instead.

=======================================================================

AN: A scene I have in mind when I heard that Yamada-kun was spotted in Disneyland where Tomorrowland held their press conference. :) Coupling that scene with the recent reveal by Mirai-chan that she has never been in a relationship at all, this muse of mine became a story. XP