Rio took a deep breath before entering JUMP’s rehearsal room. It’s one of the rare instances when their Manager, Mr Takahisa allows some outsiders (like Rio) to watch their dance rehearsals. It may be Rio’s lucky day. 

She clicked the door open and saw nine boys dancing to their own song - ready for their upcoming concert. She tried her best to stay composed after what happened yesterday. Right! She lost her beloved ‘love letter’ and Ryosuke said whoever reads it will be “unlucky”. Ryosuke’s voice tingled inside her head - repeated like a broken recorder. 

“It’s better this way” She said to herself, dedicated to just forget the whole thing and act like everything is normal. She watched the boys dance to the beat of ‘Shinku’ - Rio’s favourite Hey!Say!Jump song. She smiled at the sight of the nine boys dancing in perfect sync, glistening with their own sweat. 

Meanwhile, being into the ‘zone’, Ryosuke’s gaze suddenly landed on Rio’s figure standing not so far away. “She’s here!” he told himself, smiling internally. He suddenly remembered the ‘love letter’ from Rio which he ‘accidentally’ picked up yesterday. 

“I like you, Yama-chan” Those words flashed before his mind, making him lose focus on his dance steps. He tried his best to stay calm and focused but the sight of Rio smiling and directly looking at him is just too much to handle. He felt a blush touch his cheek while his stomach started to turn. Everything seems blurry… is he getting embarrassed?

“Yama-chan! What’s going on? It’s the first time you messed up this choreography!” Mr Takahisa, their beloved manager shouted across the room after noticing Ryosuke losing his focus. The music suddenly stopped and Ryosuke just scuffled his hair in annoyance, trying his best not to look at Rio right now. She’s too much of a distraction!

The other JUMP members noticed this and just wondered what the reason is behind Ryosuke's unusual behaviour. They then looked at their audience and saw Rio worriedly looking at Ryosuke, and with this, the boys realised, Ryosuke is distracted because of HER. 

“Let’s try it again!” Mr Takahisa signalled one of their assistants to play the music again and soon, the boys started to dance. Ryosuke made sure his steps are synchronised with the rest of the group. However, whenever his eyes land on Rio, his body seems to disobey his commands. This is the first time he felt like this. He can’t focus. Not only that, he’s trying his best to hide his red face. 

Noticing that Ryosuke is not coping, Yabu signalled to have a 5-minute break. He winked at Hikaru, Daiki, Yuya and Kei who seems to be on board on what’s going on.  

—

“Rio-chaaan! What a nice surprise” Chinen clung on Rio’s arm and waited for the other boys to greet the latter. Kei and Hikaru started the teasing after seeing Ryosuke almost avoiding direct eye contact. 

“Rio-chan, I think it’s better for you not to watch our rehearsals. You’re distracting SOME of us” Hikaru stressed out, making some of the boys chuckle while looking at Ryosuke. Ryosuke in turn shot a look at the older boys as if saying: “you’re-dead-meat”. 

Being as clueless as she is, Rio just pouted. Who can blame her? This