courage dear heart | Yuki Ishikawa

55

I yawned and stretched.
"I'm so fucking tired!"

Lowering my arms, I continued eating my lunch. "Doing extra activities for sponsors tires me out more than training all day."

"I think it's fun!" said Ayumu, sitting across from me.

"I wonder when they'll release the content from the past few days," Reira, who was sitting next to me, was scrolling through her social media.

"I'm just happy today's the last day," I said, massaging my temples. Between the interviews full of questions that had nothing to do with snowboarding and the photos with Kaito, I was almost afraid of the final result.

"But during the weekend, we'll be filmed practically the whole time," Reira reminded me, giving me a soft pat on the shoulder with a half-smile.

I had completely forgotten...

I collapsed onto the chair like Patrick Star. "Kill me now!"

Suddenly, Yuki leaned down over me from behind, his face hovering above mine. "Ciao, stellina" (Hi, little star)

I noticed he had trimmed the sides of his hair, and the rest was wavy, just how I liked it.

My gosh, every time he cuts his hair, he gets even more handsome.

He chuckled softly and gave me a quick peck. "Nabi, you're practically drooling."

I sat up straight and turned to him. "Not my fault you're so handsome."

He squatted down to be at my eye level, resting his arms on the back of my chair. I gently touched his hair.

"You're beautiful," he said, leaning into my touch.

"Guys, I'm about to throw up my lunch," Ayumu gagged playfully from across the table.

Yuki laughed, and the sound of his laughter made my heart feel warm.

"Yukii!" A high-pitched voice called out.

We both turned toward the voice and saw Rina Yamada running toward us.

Yuki stood up and waved at her.
"I was looking for you, shall we go?" she said, standing beside him and looking up at him while batting her eyelashes.

Now I'm the one about to throw up my lunch...

"Oh, Nabi-san, you're here too! Your photos with Kaito-san were lovely," she said, smiling.

I glanced down at the hand she had placed on Yuki's arm, raising an eyebrow.

Then I looked back up at her, and finally at Yuki.

I saw him stiffen, trying to subtly pull away, but she wasn't letting go.

I mentally glared at her with disgust.

I stood up and smirked at her. "With me in the picture, it's hard for them to look bad."

Yuki had to press his lips together to keep from laughing, while her smile faltered slightly.

"Anyway, Yuki and I have a photoshoot to get to now! Sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to make it to your shoot today," she said, adjusting her hair and pouting at me.

"Aww, what a shame," I pouted back.

I could hear Ayumu snorting loudly behind me.

Rina looked a little uncomfortable and began to back away, tugging Yuki's arm. "We really need to get going now, see you later, Nabi!" she said, waving as she pulled Yuki with her.