The girl had been standing in front of the principal's office for quite a while, practicing her arguments. She needed special permission to even approach any TRAIT students on school ground, let alone talk to them. She had yet to even laid eyes on one, save for that one instance...

...when Yamada Ryosuke confessed.

Now she had to curse herself a thousand times for not asking his email address that day. Maybe she could have had a secret relationship with the most popular JE teenager, nourishing love through email and phone calls. Maybe that could have been possible.

Narumi, you're sinking way too low.

“Harushika-san, you can come in now.”

…

It went better than she expected. The principal seemed to be well aware of her situation, and he was more than willing, if not almost enthusiastically so, to sign her permission form. In fact, he was suspiciously happy. He hasn’t seen drama in a while, she thought. Not wanting to waste any more time, Harushika made her way to the separate building in the west, the TRAIT building.

She thought she’d better tape the permission form on her forehead. She’d been met with no less than 20 bodyguards, all of who decided that she should be evicted on sight. She had to explain herself in lightning speed in the 2 seconds of mercy before they took her by the collar and throw out the windows. It didn’t help that she had no idea which class to look for and had to poke her head in every single room she saw on the way. The number of beautiful faces she caught glimpses of were enough to last her a lifetime.

Arioka Daiki was half asleep. It was rare for him to not have to skip afternoon classes, although his younger bandmates already left. He was going to drop by the studio after school.

“Ah! Arioka Daiki-san!”

That woke him up. He looked around confused. Most everyone in the building called him Dai-chan, including the teachers. Or Arioka-kun.

“Umm, can I talk to you for a sec?”

The girl standing at the door was wearing her skirt a little too short for a chilly April day. She looked a bit restless. Arioka started to get butterflies in his stomach.

Harushika unconsciously played with the hem of her skirt. This would be her first time doing something so bold in public, to say she was nervous would be an understatement. She would have loved to carry out whatever she planned to do next in the library, but it seemed she’d really gone too far to turn back.

“Anoo…You were looking for me?”

She stared at him, gripping her skirt tighter. They were roughly at the same height, his face was arguably younger, but the sight of the boy sent chills to her spine. Fully aware of the eyes following her every move, Harushika’s palms began to sweat. She hastily pulled out her notebook, scribbled a few words on, teared out the page and pushed upon the boy’s chest. Arioka looked at her, wild-eyed, not entirely sure what to think.

Can you please meet me before school tomorrow?

The boy hesitated. He’d been in the entertainment world for long enough to be wary of weird girls that appeared shy at first. He’d been warned a few times ever since he debuted.

He nodded.

“Honto?”, the girl beamed at him, “Jaa, 10 min is enough. Thank you, Arioka-san!”

His name echoed back along the corridor as she ran off. He felt like he just did something amazing.

By that afternoon, words had travelled everywhere about this freshman girl from University class who ninja-ed her way to confess to TRAIT’s Arioka Daiki, but unable to finish the job. She had, however, succeeded in asking him out in private through written message. This girl got through layers and layers of bodyguards, avoided CCTV, singled out Arioka and was gone in less than 5 minutes. Talk about Mission Impossible.

*

Seriously?!

That was Arioka’s internal screaming. Seriously?!

The girl he met yesterday seemed a completely different person standing in front of him right now. She lacked that fidgeting air. Her words seemed to still be echoing, there was that feeling starting to overwhelm him.

He couldn’t help feeling he had seriously made himself a laughing stock.

Harushika's assignment of the week was to outline the best schedule for one idol group of her choice, based on their existing TV appearance schedule and tour dates released on their official sites. This schedule can span any amount of time, with the minimum of one week. Marks would be given on the amount of details and level of efficiency. Managing an idol group was harder than doing so for indie singers and actors, due to higher intensity of workload and demands. More popular groups like ARASHI were surprisingly easier to work on though, since their schedule was usually packed and straightforward. Not that she had a choice.

Her benefactor had specifically appointed Hey!Say!JUMP to be her subject.

Now, Hey!Say!JUMP barely had a year under its sleeves, but being a Johnny's group, the youngest and biggest group at that, meant the group had more to prove in a shorter amount of time. All the members were teenagers, which could be hell to deal with should their work get overwhelming. 

Harushika turned her gaze back to Arioka, who was still hanging on to the safety net, feeling sorry for himself.

“Arioka-san?”

Of course it wouldn’t be a confession. How could it be? Confessions don’t happen at Horikoshi. Everyone is just as self-conscious and conceited at the same time here, and who wants to risk their future for a mere possibility?

How he missed junior high school.

“Arioka-san?”, Harushika impatiently called out once more. This kid sure was a funny one.

“And why should I have to believe you? How can I be sure you’re not one of those stalkers?”, Arioka wasn’t usually mean, but he desperately needed to not look desperate. “I mean, there is just no credible source to what you’re saying, you could be making everything up to get to me, since I’m quite trusting and nice”, big words and stern face would reinforce his superiority in the situation. He hoped.

Harushika wasn’t sure if she should get angry or amused. She sure wasn’t the one hanging on to the net like a total rejected side character in a comedy shoujo manga. And sure he was trusting and nice, more like naïve. And yes she could totally have been a stalker. She would make sure to mention this in her report. Arioka Daiki is surprisingly susceptible to girls’ confessions, please take appropriate actions, she imagined.

“What kind of stalker takes the direct approach?”, she sighed, “I’d be stalking you.”

That took a second to sink in. Then Arioka started to blush furiously.

Harushika let out a soft giggle. “Well, if it helps, here’s my assignment question and a copy of my topic initial report,” she pulled out the prepared papers from her file and gave Arioka, “and these are the discuss notes we made in class. We only have 7 people in this subject so you can ask your agency to verify if you need to.”

That took a while more.

“Anyways, I heard yesterday was your birthday. Omedetou gozaimasu.”

“Ah…Thanks…So what did you say you needed me to do again?” Arioka was still trying to find any sign of forgery in the papers he received. Not that he’d know how the actual paperwork was supposed to look like, they all looked like plain white paper covered in black ink to him.

“Umm….you can keep those to discuss with your management, I had them copied. I just need them back once you reach final decision, they’re going into my portfolio after all.”

Without waiting for an answer, Harushika her feet, leaving a faint “I'll contact you” behind. Not too long after the girl left, Arioka hastily summoned his younger bandmates for a quick conference.

“I think she's a stalker,” Nakajima Yuto didn't waste a second to come to conclusion. His innocent face showed a non-befitting concern expression.

“It's a bit…I mean, giving out our schedule and all…,” Chinen Yuuri also seemed concerned by the news. Usually, their management wouldn't allow them to get too involved with more extreme fans, he was naturally confused as to why Dai-chan didn’t call their manager instead. He glanced at the boy right next to him, looking for a sign of mutual confusion, but he found none. Yamada Ryosuke was wearing a solemn, almost sour, face.

Yamada wasn't in the mood to explain. Questions upon questions flooded his mind. She could have come to me, his brain flared bitterly, I would have helped, I would. If looks could kill through time and space, he would have burned a hole on Harushika’s forehead just by staring at her name.

“Yama-chan, your face is scary,” Arioka poked his friend’s cheek. He was closest to these three bandmates of his, despite them being junior in age. There were occasions he felt like he was the one being pampered by them, that was why he decided to ask for their opinions before escalating the situation.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Yamada handed back the papers to Arioka, “She’s not a stalker, but we still need to let our manager know. Who knows what he’d do to us if he found out we did something like this behind his back.”

“How’d you know she’s not a stalker?” Arioka’s eyes widened at Yamada’s confidence, just as the other two boys turned to look at him.

Shoot, Yamada recalled himself thinking, I never told them, did I.

“Anyways, the bell just rang. Let’s leave this for practice this afternoon, ok?”

Despite them never did ring, he declared himself saved by the bells and ran away.

*

“Moshi moshi”

“Umm…Harushika-san, ore.”

“…”

“Yamada”

“…Konbanwa, Yamada-san”

Yamada started to get uncomfortable. Harushika’s voice sounded strangely distant, he wasn’t sure if that was just how she talked on the phone, or if it was him that she was speaking with on the phone.

“Anoo…”

“Ah, sorry. It’s your assignment. Like, the one you asked Dai-chan…”

“Dai-chan? Ah, Arioka Daiki-san? That. I was wondering how you got my number.”

“Yeah, I’m calling about that,” as if he was actually intending to talk about the topic from the beginning. Yamada wanted nothing more than to interrogate her for not confiding in him instead of Dai-chan, for how he never heard from her for weeks, and for how she never showed up at JUMP’s recent performances like she’d promised. That can wait, I guess, at least he got her number now.

He slowly explained JUMP’s situation to her, guiding her through the first few weeks after their debut, pausing periodically. Harushika made no sound save for a few “Uhm” to fit in the pauses he provided. He chose only a number of the most notable activities to list, along with the names of some TV and radio stations on which they most regularly appeared on. It was quite hard to stay objective, recounting the steps they took as one unit. It was hard not to beam with pride, or to boast the difficulties they overcame. Sure it was ‘work’, but their playground was only to expand from here.

“I think I got what I need. Thank you for your time, Yamada-san,” Harushika put her thumb on the red button, ready to hang up when she heard Yamada’s almost frantic question,

“Won’t you come to The Shounen Club this week?”

“I don’t believe I can get myself a spot this late, Yamada-san…”

Yamada knew she was right, and he wasn’t in any position to offer her a place in the audience.

Harushika started to feel bad. She was one to keep her promises, and she was well aware of her own avoidance towards the boy. He was no doubt a strikingly beautiful kid. Not being able to see his flawless face in a while didn’t sit right with her, but she was every once as logical as she loved his beauty. She knew his interest would wane.

And so would hers.

“Yamada-san…I’m sorry.”

With that, the line went dead.

*** I just had to throw this in here :3