KAIJOU'S SHIRO
Prologue
"Ne, Shirocchi?"
Ichijou Shiro perked up tiredly from her seat, her snowy-white hair tied into her usual side ponytail as she casually flicked through the pages of her research notes. There were several hair stylists and make-up artists flitting and fawning around her, and with all the chatter and movement in the studio, she really felt that it was a miracle that she could even hear Ryouta through all that noise.
"Yes, Ryouta?"
Kise Ryouta, the all-too-beautiful poster boy for Zunon Boy looked like a million bucks. The basketball player had his hair pulled back with a headband so one of his overly excitable make-up artists, one 'Yuri-chan' could touch up on his already fuck me-worthy face. Like Shiro, he was in the Kaijou uniform, donned in his trademark silver earring and amiable smile. He had a bottle of sparkling water in his hand and was animatedly chatting with various people at once. And – again – Shiro wonders how is that even possible.
Because why?
Well, being called up for a way-too-early photoshoot by their agency in the wee hours of the morning on a bloody Sunday honestly did not help matters at all. Shiro is amazed on how Ryouta can look like a god at five a.m. and still has the energy to chit chat with the make-up artists and the extras while wearing an overly formal school uniform.
"Have you joined any club yet?"
Shiro shut her book quietly and shook her head at her friend. She'd been so completely dedicated to her writing career and occasional modelling work that joining a club never really crossed her mind at the slightest. It wasn't as if Kaijou was one of those schools that made it mandatory for all students to join a club, thus she used that to her advantage to dodge time-consuming club activities.
If possible, Ryouta's eyes positively sparkled when she admitted that – until he was promptly probed on the cheek by the bubbly make-up artist, who lightly admonished him for moving too much. Apologies followed.
"Why don't you join the Basketball Club then, Shirocchi?" Ryouta continued, craning his head slightly to stare at the white-haired model. Shiro had to cringe slightly at the sudden power of the blonde's 'notice-me-master' eyes and the excited flutter of his eyelashes. The girl could almost imagine a tail wagging behind the teen.
"You are aware that I can't play basketball right?" Shiro raised a delicate eyebrow, leaning her hair back slightly so her stylist could remove the pale blue scrunchie tying up her hair. It was almost laughable when Ryouta grimaced at that reminder. He had once seen the girl play basketball – and after a brief epiphany – had to constantly repeat to himself that there were actually people who could not play sports even if their lives depended on it. Like – shit – have you seen Momoi in the kitchen? The thought itself almost made Ryouta hyperventilate.
"You can be our manager then ~suu!" Ryouta proposed, golden-yellow eyes lighting up again, muscled arms propped over the arm of his chair in excitement. By now, his make-up artist was already rolling her eyes and moved on to re-fixing the model's hair and given up on putting foundation on his face. It wasn't as if he actually needed it anyway.
"I have no experience, Ryouta," Shiro furrowed her eyebrows, wincing slightly as her hair stylist started curling her hair. Sheesh, what was wrong with her hair that it needed curling every single time they did a photoshoot? "And it would be troublesome, wouldn't it? I mean, like you, I still have commitments to attend to," Shiro added.
This time, Ryouta had a mischievous smile on his face. Which – god damn – looked so sexy on him that it made half of the people in the studio blush a little. They also had several thoughts running into their heads that mostly went along the lines of oh my god it should be illegal to look that hot, Kise-sama.
"Kanacchi told me that she was hoping you'd join the basketball club. Then we could do more photoshoots together!" Ryouta explained his tone eager. Now Shiro could definitely see the tail wagging behind him.
It was a well-known fact that Kise Ryouta frequently appeared in the popular magazine Zunon Boy, which featured mostly of Ryouta's life as a model and basketball player. He was – as she mentioned earlier – the poster boy for said magazine. In Shiro's opinion, without the overexposure of Ryouta, Zunon Boy wouldn't be as popular as they were today. Have you seen him?
If you wanted to compare how long Shiro and Ryouta worked as models, Ryouta was definitely in the business longer than the white-haired girl. She'd only appeared as the 'fresh, new face' in her last year of middle school – while Ryouta had modelled as far back as into elementary school. Shiro's modelling manager – Nakamura Kana – had specifically scouted the girl due to her status as 'teen author' and the fact that the white-haired girl was generally quite attractive – to join the modelling agency as a part-time model. At that time, Shiro's writing career had officially taken off, and the head editor – one Hyuuga Shiina – had made an agreement with the modelling agency regarding Shiro's modelling and writing career. The fact that Shiro would be 'modelling' to increase popularity and awareness of her book was considered very good publicity, and so it was a win-win situation for all three parties.
And with that, Ichijou Shiro became a part-time model and bestselling author.
However, it was by sheer chance that the agency discovered that Shiro would be attending Kaijou in the same year as Ryouta, and Nakamura Kana took it as an opportunity to integrate Shiro with Zunon Boy. Shiro herself wouldn't pass up the opportunity for the world. As much as she enjoyed doing promotional photoshoots for her book, it was really nice to work in a well-recognized lifestyle magazine with a surprisingly friendly and hardworking teen model.
Shiro wasn't featured as often as Ryouta though – much to her disappointment – as she honestly did have fun working with Ryouta to the point where they both hang out in Shiro's studio apartment after work (for one thing because Ryouta will die before he lets a girl go home alone in the middle of the night). She kind of expected it though, considering the only link she had with Ryouta was that they were both models and attended the same school – also taking into consideration that she was also an author under a contract. But what if she joined her friend's basketball club? That technically would give her an opportunity to be featured more often with the blonde, as 'Kise Ryouta's Basketball Manager' and consequently could be very useful in terms of gathering research for her new book…
Her calm façade slowly broke as excitement started to bubble within her. Ryouta must had sensed it too, as he had this overly cheerful look on his face, and – Jesus Christ – imaginary puppy ears appearing on his blonde head. His make-up artist had officially given up styling his hair and walked away in a huff as Ryouta was already starting to tremble in his chair.
Because just like Shiro, Ryouta seriously enjoys working with the typically calm model slash author. She isn't like some of the female models who throw tantrums when something goes wrong and technically wastes the photographer's and their co-workers' time by doing that. Shiro also isn't the type to be unprofessional out of whim despite the fact that she's pretty much an amateur; unlike some of the bitingly more experienced models Ryouta's had to deal with. One time, Ryouta had to ditch a photoshoot because Kuroko's birthday apparently fell on the same day as the shoot. The blonde could practically feel the wrath pour out of his manager Kyouka when she informed him that the girl he would have been working with could not stop crying because she wasn't going to be posing with 'Kise-kun'. She ended up refusing the photoshoot altogether and nearly getting fired by the modelling agency.
And thankfully, fucking thankfully, Shiro is a freaking workaholic to the point where she doesn't even consider having a relationship, much less wanting a relationship with Ryouta. Ryouta was seriously grateful when he met her for the first time and hearts didn't suddenly appear in her eyes when she saw him. Ichijou Shiro is pretty much the closest thing he has to a 'female friend' next to Momoi and Ryouta seriously treasures the relationship they have on and off work. They've only known each other for less than four months and there's never a moment where they can't rely on each other when tension is high.
There had been countless of times where Shiro would readily provide Ryouta an escape route from his fangirls and the stress of his modelling career at her apartment. There would be home-cooked food on the table; Shiro would sit on the couch with a laptop on her lap and a serious look on her face, while Ryouta sat cross-legged on the floor next to her, casually giving his own input on the story while relaxing to the comforting sounds of her typing. Shiro would then sigh in relief after finishing a good chunk of a chapter, set the laptop aside, and they'd both settle down in comfortable chit-chat while eating Shiro's 'vegetarian donburi'.
And there had been even more times where Shiro would be completely stumped while she is writing and become an irritable mess all day. Ryouta would rush over to her apartment after work (or after basketball practice), armed with a Styrofoam cup of black coffee and takeout. Ryouta would then have to placate the girl's frustration with the drink and food and gently discuss her story part by part with her. Ryouta has done this so often that he's developed some sort of 'Editor's Sixth Sense' along the way.
Shiro doesn't know it, but Ryouta finds her to be a comfortable person to be around with and is not doing this because 'he owes her for letting him crash at her place' or anything. And that is why the blonde really, really wants the girl to be Kaijou's basketball manager. Imagine the fun they'd have working together!
"I'll try to apply tomorrow," Shiro told Ryouta, "it'll be hard though, considering I have no experience."
Ryouta waved her off – a little too wildly, I may add – as he nearly fell off his chair doing so. "Don't worry, Shirocchi! I'll make sure your application's streamlined to Coach! We'll be working together in no time!"
Shiro smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Ryouta."
The blonde can't help but feel an almost indescribable, heart-wrenching emotion blossoming in his chest when Shiro smiles at his declaration, her curly white hair flitting around her soft-looking face slightly, a happy glow in her silvery-blue eyes. Ryouta promptly loses his balance at the sight.
BAM!
"K-Kise-kun!"
"Uwaah! Kise-kun, are you alright?"
"H-Hey, R-Ryouta!?"
The blonde model groans slightly as he feels blood coming out of his nose and twenty over make-up artists and stylists and extras freaking out while somebody is screaming to 'GET THE FUCKING ICE PACK!'
And all he could think about for the entire day was wondering whether he'd developed heart cancer.
Author's Note:
Sorry that this chapter is mostly exposition, I'll be writing about Shiro's first encounter with Kaijou in the next chapter! Also, there's no set pairing for this fic yet. So...yeah. Also, I don't own KnB and I'm currently in hospital trying to get some writing in before I start crying hysterically.
