AN: Here is Chapter 25. This is my first time writing a romance based chapter, so I'm sorry if it sucks; I don't consider myself a romance writer in the first place. This chapter is a bit short, but I hope you enjoy it. Remember I do NOT own KnB only my character.
Chapter 25
Movies and Romance
The weekend went by faster than Ryuto had expected, he woke up Monday morning feeling more tired than usual. He lazily rolled out of his bed and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the lights and squinted at how bright everything was all of a sudden. He groaned as he closed the door and stood in front of the mirror. He ran a hand through his hair and quickly noticed it was not as long as he remembered. He then groaned again remembering he had gotten a hair cut the day before. It was now significantly shorter with it being pushed back with some strands falling on his face; it was still as messy as it usually was. He turned on the water for a shower, after taking off his pajamas he entered the shower. He took a long shower and at times let water just run along his body. As he turned off the water, he heard a soft knock on the door.
"Ryu-chan, are you in there?" a voice behind the door.
Ryuto recognized it quickly as Satsuki.
"Yeah. I'll be out a minute." Ryuto said.
He grabbed a towel and began to dry himself off. He then tied the towel across his waist and exited the bathroom and headed to his room. He dressed himself in his school clothes and headed towards the kitchen. No one was there when he arrived, so he went to the refrigerator and grabbed some things to make himself breakfast. He began fry an egg while some rice was heated up. He decided to make a second for Satsuki. As soon as he finished making breakfast, Satsuki entered the kitchen.
"Good morning." She said taking a whiff at the air. "Smells good."
Ryuto nodded and placed the two bowls on the table and placed chopsticks next to them.
"That one's for you." Ryuto said pointing at one of the bowls. "Thanks." Satsuki replied sitting down.
The two ate in relative silence. Ryuto looked through his phone at some of the messages he had received over the night. He found one sent by one of his friends from the States. He laughed at the message he sent, it was detailing an event that had happened.
"Something funny?" Satsuki asked. "Just something a friend sent me." Ryuto said. "I didn't know you could cook so well." Satsuki said changing the subject abruptly. "It's the few things I can cook." Ryuto said.
He felt his phone buzz and looked at the message he received. He sighed and stood up grabbing his bowl.
"I gotta go." Ryuto said placing his bowl in the sink.
Satsuki nodded and continued to eat. Ryuto grabbed his bag, put on his shoes, and exited the house. When Ryuto arrived at school, he took out his phone to see where he had to go. Kuroko had sent him a text that simply read: Get to school soon please. Ryuto sighed as he began to walk towards his homeroom. As he began to walk, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked back to see Kuroko standing there.
"Good morning, Ryuto-kun." Kuroko said. "Why did you want me to get here early, Kuroko?" Ryuto asked as he let out a yawn. "Could you help me with some homework?" Kuroko asked bluntly. "Seriously?" Ryuto asked raising an eyebrow. "I couldn't quite understand how to do one math problem." Kuroko explained. "Ok fine. Let's get this over with." Ryuto said.
After helping Kuroko, the two friends walked to their homeroom. The two sat down and began to talk. Kuroko talked about what he did on the weekend, which was basically nothing. Man this kid is boring Ryuto thought.
"Did you do anything?" Kuroko asked breaking Ryuto from his thoughts. "Not much. Did stuff with my family and got a hair cut." Ryuto said running a hand through his hair.
Kuroko's eyes then moved to Ryuto's head and he noticed Ryuto's head was significantly.
"I'm surprised I didn't notice." Kuroko said. "Well, you got used to me with long hair." Ryuto replied. "In my opinion, your hair is better shorter." Kuroko said. "Thanks. Now to see if Riko likes it." Ryuto said. "I'm sure she will." Kuroko said with a smile. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Ryuto said.
The bell rang for the start of school, and the two boys got ready for homeroom. A few moments later, their classmates began to enter the classroom and settled into their seats. Then the homeroom teacher walked in and began to call out their names.
"Rishihara." the teacher called out. "Here." Ryuto said raising his hand.
The teacher looked up and saw where Ryuto was sitting and was surprised at Ryuto's different appearance.
"Well it seems you no longer have a mop on your head." the teacher said scribbling something.
His classmates began to snicker and Ryuto tried to hide himself to not feel as embarrassed. His classes passed by as they always did and during lunch, he would hang out with his friends. Once the bell rang for lunch to end, he would head to his class. At the end of school bell, Ryuto would go to the library to prepare for his tutoring sessions; he had three that day, so he would not be leaving until after 5 pm. Once he finished his last session, he would meet up with Kasamatsu to tutor him as well. The two were close friends, they talked a lot more since the end of the Winter Cup. Ryuto's friendship with was similar to that of when he first started in middle school with his own basketball captain. He enjoyed talking with him. Those were how his weekdays would go, school, then tutoring, then tutoring Kasamatsu, to finally arrive at his house. He made a decision early on that he would take Friday's off so he could look forward to enjoying the weekend. Friday after school, Ryuto walked out of his English class and met up with Riko in front of the library. When she saw him, she hugged him tightly.
"Sorry for not being around, I've been busy." Ryuto said. "It's fine. I see how much you enjoy tutoring and that makes me happy." Riko said smiling. "Yeah, it's fun actually." Ryuto said with a small laugh. "By the way never got a chance to tell you, but I like you're short hair." Riko said ruffling his hair. "Thanks, glad you like it." Ryuto said with a smile
"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Riko said changing the subject.
Ryuto was taken back by the sudden change. He had worked himself up to ask her to go on a date, but he was feeling nervous.
"Yeah. I was wondering if you were free during the weekend?" Ryuto said as he placed his hand behind his neck and looked down. "I don't have any plans. Why?" Riko said taking a step towards Ryuto. "Well, since we started our relationship we haven't had an actual date yet. So I was wondering if you wanted to see a movie and maybe get something to eat afterwards." Ryuto said.
Ryuto looked up to see Riko smiling. He let out a sigh of relief.
"I'd love to. What movie did you have in mind?" she asked. "It's an American movie franchise. If you don't want to go see something like that it's fine." Ryuto said nervously. "You mean that superhero movie? I don't mind, I kinda like those movies there's something about them." Riko said. "Ok cool. I'll text you the details a soon as I get home." Ryuto said with a smile. "Can't wait." Riko said smiling.
She then kissed him on the cheek and walked away, humming as she did. Oh man that was hard Ryuto thought as he let out his breath.
"Smooth." a voice said behind him.
Ryuto turned to see Kagami exiting the library.
"Taiga! How long were you standing there?!" Ryuto said surprised. "Long enough. Good luck on your date." Kagami said patting his friend on the shoulder.
When Ryuto got home, he turned on the computer and searched up the movie. He found that there was a showing at 6:30 pm. He then sent the time and place to Riko. She responded quickly, saying that she would go. Ryuto smiled, it was their first official date since they started their relationship and he was happy. Ryuto turned off the computer and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
Ryuto woke up the next morning hearing some commotion going on in the house. He looked towards his brothers bed, he was not in it and the door was slightly ajar. Ryuto sighed and rolled lazily out of bed. He looked out his window and saw some frost covering the window. He had forgotten it was still winter and it was only halfway through January. So much had happened in a span of eight months that he felt like school was almost over. Ryuto sighed again and walked out of his room. He looked towards the family room and his sister was there watching cartoon, a dubbed American one, he smiled and walked over to his sister
"Boo!" Ryuto said from behind her.
She let out a startled yelp and jumped up. She looked back to see her smiling brother.
"Good morning." Ryuto said. "Don't scare me Ryu." she said quietly and tugging on her hair. "Come on, we haven't seen each other in such a long time, I think I get at least one chance to scare you." Ryuto said.
"Ryuto, stop scaring your sister and come help your father." Ryuto heard his mother call out.
"Coming." Ryuto said. "See you later." he said ruffling her hair.
Yuki let out a small laugh as she touched her head. Ryuto walked into the kitchen and saw his father putting away plates and other kitchen supplies. Ryuto raised an eyebrow as he could not see his uncle or aunt.
"How come Auntie and Uncle always disappear whenever you're in the kitchen?" Ryuto asked. "They had to leave. Something about the car." his father said. "Is Satsuki still sleeping?" Ryuto asked. "I think so. I haven't seen her yet." his father answered. "Ok then. What did you need help with?" Ryuto asked. "Just putting these things away." his father said handing him a plate.
Ryuto nodded and began to help his father. After finishing, Ryuto had breakfast and headed back to his room.
"Ryuto seems happier today." Rikai said. "Yeah. I wonder what happened." Ryunosuke said.
Inside his room, he checked his phone. Riko had confirmed the time and said she was happy to be going. Ryuto smiled he set his phone down and changed into exercise clothes, Takao had told him he was visiting his grandparents so they decided to meet up and play some basketball. The two boys met on the court and high fived each other.
"How've you been? Since Winter Cup ended we haven't seen each other." Takao said. "All good. I've been focusing a lot on school lately. Our practices haven't started up yet, so I've been taking it easy." Ryuto said. "Same for me. I'm pretty sure we're gonna start up soon though." Takao said. "Likewise. I'm honestly scared at what Riko is going to come up with for training." Ryuto said as he started dribbling the ball.
Ryuto then set up for a shot, but what Takao said caused him to loose focus.
"Isn't the coach also your girlfriend?"
As Ryuto released the ball, it bounced off the rim and rolled to the fence.
"Yeah she is." Ryuto said. "You have to give me details bro. I knew something was up." Takao said as he walked over to the ball
Ryuto placed his hand behind his head and let out a nervous laugh.
"Not much to tell. I met her on the first day of school, I thought she was cute but never said anything. It wan't until later that feeling started to grow, I guess the same was with her." Ryuto said. "Dude you two kissed in front of a whole stadium. That has to mean you two really liked each other." Takao said passing the ball to him.
Ryuto shrugged and set up for a shot. He jumped and released, the ball bounced off the backboard and into the hoop.
"I thought it was a good idea at the time." Ryuto said. "Whatever man." Takao said grabbing the ball. "Why do you care anyways?" Ryuto said. "Sorry, that came out differently from what I was expecting."
"No, it's fine," Takao said with a laugh, "to answer your question, you're my friend we look out for each other. Plus we met on this court, seems like the best place to talk."
Takao then released his own shot and made it without touching the rim.
"You've been practicing." Ryuto said grabbing the ball. "I pick up a ball every once in a while. Unlike Shin-chan, that guy does not take a break." Takao said. "I don't think I'll ever understand Tall, Dark, and Green." Ryuto said shooting the ball from under the basket.
Takao began to laugh loudly after Ryuto finished his sentence. Ryuto let out a small laugh and walked over to his friend.
"Oh man, I remember when you said that to him for the first time. He was so ticked off after that." Takao said as he clutched his stomach while laughing. "It wasn't that funny." Ryuto said quietly. "I needed that. Please call him that again, his face looks hilarious." Takao said. "Jeez, dude you got to chill out." Ryuto said. Ok, I'm done." Takao said taking a breath.
The two then began a one-on-one. They played until one person got to twenty points and the winner was Ryuto, the match had ended close with the score being 20-18. The two boys sat on a bench as they each took deep breaths. Ryuto looked at his phone and read the time, he still had a few hours before his date, but nonetheless decided to head back home.
"Gotta run, Tao. There's something I need to do soon." Ryuto said putting his phone in his pocket. "Sure." Takao said nodding.
Ryuto stood up and began to walk towards the opening in the fence. Takao stopped him when he asked a question.
"Would this thing you have to do be about your girlfriend?" he asked smiling.
Ryuto did not turn to him as his face was bright red. He could hear Takao's laughter behind him and it was getting closer. Ryuto then felt Takao's hand placed on his shoulder.
"Good luck with that." Takao said. "What's that supposed to mean?" Ryuto asked. "Bye, Ryu-chan." Takao said waving.
Ryuto sighed and walked back towards the house. When he entered, his brother was watching television. Ryuto raised and eyebrow, he could not see his parents ore Yuki anywhere.
"Oi Toshiro." Ryuto called out. "Yeah?" Toshiro responded not looking away from the television. "Where are Mom, Dad, and Yuki?" Ryuto asked. "They went out, something about wanting to show Yuki something. I didn't really catch it." Toshiro explained. "Ok then. Have you seen Satsuki?" Ryuto asked. "I think she went out too. Not sure though." Toshiro answered. "Have you even been paying attention on what's going on around you?" Ryuto asked walking to his room.
Ryuto entered his room before he could hear Toshiro's response and closed the door. He set his phone on his desk and placed it to charge. He then went to the bathroom to take a shower, he felt like it would take an eternity for the time to arrive. He turned on the water and after taking off his sweaty clothes, he entered the shower. He let the water soak him for a few minutes and then proceeded to clean himself. He then exited the shower and dried off with the towel on the rack. He then wrapped the towel around his waist and exited the bathroom. As he entered his room, he saw Satsuki exiting hers. He quickly enter his and opened the door slightly so he could peer out his head.
"Hey, Satsuki." Ryuto called out. "Huh?" she said looking towards her cousin. "I need your help." Ryuto said. "With what?" Satsuki asked. "Give me one second." Ryuto said closing the door.
He quickly walked over to his drawer and pulled out a pair of underwear. He quickly put them on along with some sweat pants he had on his chair. He then opened the door again and Satsuki was still standing there.
"What did you need help with?" Satsuki asked. "Well, uh, the thing is, I'm going on a date with Riko tonight and I need your help in picking out clothes." Ryuto answered nervously. "Why didn't you say that, instead of being so cryptic." Satsuki said with a smile.
Ryuto then opened the door fully and let her inside. She looked over the room and seemed not pleased with what she saw.
"You could pick up this room a bit." Satsuki said. "That's besides the point." Ryuto said. "Right, date clothes." Satsuki said walking over to his closet.
She opened the closet and inspected his clothes.
"Well it's still relatively cold out, so jeans should be fine." She said handing him a pair of jeans. "You should also have at least two layers." She then took out a white shirt and a grey sweater and handed them to him. "With that you should be good. So what are you guys going to do?" she asked smiling.
"We're just going to see a movie." Ryuto said. "Have fun." she said as she exited his room.
"That took a lot less time then what I was expecting." Ryuto said a loud.
He got changed quickly then entered the bathroom again. He looked in the mirror and pushed his hair back, but it was still as messy as it always was, he then brushed his teeth. After he finished, he went back to his room and checked his phone. Riko had texted him she was getting ready and Rytuo responded that he was leaving his house soon. He put his phone and wallet into his pocket and walked to the front door. He put on his shoes and grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger.
"Shiro, if Mom and Dad get back soon tell them I went out." Ryuto called out. "Okay." Toshiro responded lazily.
Ryuto then exited the house and began to walk towards the bus stop. He then boarded the bus that headed near to where Riko lived. When he arrived at the stop, he continued his walk towards Riko's house. When he finally arrived, he took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. He waited a few seconds and the door opened. The one that had opened the door was Kagetora: Riko's father.
"Good evening, Kagetora." Ryuto said with a slight bow. "No need for the formalities, but it's nice to know kids nowadays still have manners." Kagetora said with a smile and placing his hand on Ryuto's shoulder. "Right." Ryuto said. "Why don't you come in, Riko should be ready and minute now." Kagetora said. "Thank you." Ryuto said.
Kagetora then opened the door completely and motioned for Ryuto to enter. Ryuto entered and Kagetora told him to sit down while he waited. Ryuto nodded and did as he was told. Kagetora then walked away and in his place, Riko's mother entered the room. She looked almost exactly like Riko, except her hair was a shade darker and longer.
"Oh, you must be Ryuto, the boy Riko talks so much about." she said. "Yeah that's me. The grey hair is a give away." Ryuto said with a slight laugh. "Riko has told be about about you, she said you're from America." she said. "I was born there. I believe I'm the third generation in my family to be born there. My great-grandparents moved there in the early 40's." Ryuto explained. "That's interesting." she said.
"If you don't mind me asking, what do your parents do?" she asked. "Well my Mom works as a university professor, she teaches Japanese. As for my father he works for a real estate company I think, he's never really explained it to me." Ryuto answered. "Riko also told me you're here without them." she said. "Well, yeah. But I live with my cousin and she's practically like a sister to me so it's almost like I never left." Ryuto explained. "And where is it that your from exactly?" she asked. "I'm from Missouri, Cen-" Ryuto said, but he was cut off.
"I thought you were from Los Angeles?" a voice asked.
Ryuto looked up to see Riko entering the room. She wore jeans and a simple white sweater. Ryuto had trouble formulating a response he was thinking only about Riko. He then shook his head slightly and spoke.
"Well no, I've visited the city a couple of time, but Taiga spent most of his summers there." Ryuto said standing up.
"You look nice." Ryuto said nervously. "So do you." Riko said with a smile.
Riko then turned to her parents and spoke to them.
"We're going to go now, be back in a couple of hours." Riko said. "Have fun." Riko's mother said. "Not too much fun." Kagetora said. "Dad." Riko said with her face turing red.
Ryuto let out a slight laugh and smiled at her. He walked towards the door and opened it for Riko. The two then exited the house and began to walk towards the movie theater.
"Did my parents say or do anything weird?" Riko asked. "Not really, your mom was only asking me about how my family is and where I come from." Ryuto said. "Okay, that's good." Riko said breathing a sigh of relief.
Ryuto then smiled and took her hand. She slightly squeezed his before leaning closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Our first date. To think we started our relationship a bit before Winter Cup." Riko said. "We had a lot of stuff going on at the time. Now since we're on hiatus, we can do more dates." Ryuto said. "You're so cliched." Riko said. "It's one of my charms." Ryuto said smiling.
The two then arrived at the movies, they bought the tickets and entered the theater.
"You want anything from the concession stand?" Ryuto asked. "Yeah." she answered.
After they bought food, they headed to their hall and sat down waiting for the movie to start.
"Why didn't you get anything?" Riko asked. "I never really buy stuff at the movies unless I'm really hungry." Ryuto said shrugging. "So anyways, what do you like the most about these superhero movies?" Riko asked. "Mainly the action, but sometimes the dialogue is pretty funny too, that just depends on the type of character the movie has." Ryuto answered. "You sound like a film critic." Riko said laughing slightly. "I can't tell if that's a compliment, but I'll take it as one." Ryuto said.
Soon after the movie began. Riko took Ryuto's hand just as it started. He smiled and began to watch the movie. Every so often, Ryuto would glance over to Riko. She seemed to be watching the movie intently, not taking her eye off the screen. She then glanced over to Ryuto and their eyes met. She smiled at him and he returned it. She then leaned closer to him and kissed him on the cheek.
"It's a good movie." she whispered before resting her head in his shoulder.
Ryuto maintained his smile and turned back towards the movie. He could tell it was about to end since it was the final battle between the hero and the villain. The fight was taking place in a crowded street and there were many bystanders. The hero was running and dodging all the villains projectiles. The hero then saw his opening and punched the villain into a fire hydrant. Water began to rain on the hero, he then cut the power line and the shock caused the villain to go unconscious. The movie ended with the hero being praised by many, but in the background many more villains were to come. The credits then began to roll, he and Riko stood up. Riko stretched her arms and let out a yawn.
"Did it bore you?" Ryuto asked. "What? No, I'm just tired, I guess." Riko said scratching her eyes. "I was going to ask if you wanted to eat something, but it seems you want to just head home." Ryuto said smiling. "Before that, why don't we get some ice cream? Theres a good place nearby." Riko said. "You lead the way then." Ryuto said.
Riko then took his hand again and led him to the ice cream shop. When they arrived, there was short line to order. Ryuto opened the door to the shop and let Riko go in first. She smiled and blushed as she tucked some hair behind her ear. The two then waited in line to be called for their turn.
"Did you like the movie?" Ryuto asked. "Yeah it was fun. I'm just glad I saw it with you. If I saw it with anyone else, who would translate for me?" Riko said with a slight laugh. "There are subtitles at the bottom." Ryuto said shrugging. "Reading subtitles sucks, you're always looking up and down. Read and then watch what's happening, it's too much to do." Riko said. "I guess you're right. The subtitles are a bit distracting." Ryuto said as he place his hand behind his head.
The two then began to laugh as they made more observations about the movie. They would point out the good things and the bad, while making fun of any inconsistencies. They were then called to order and the two stopped talking for a moment to order their ice cream. After paying, Riko and Ryuto sat down at a table and began to talk again.
"I think my favorite part was when the hero figured out who the bad guy was. I wasn't expecting it, he seemed like such a good guy throughout the movie." Riko said while taking a spoonful of ice cream. "Really? I thought the evidence was there for why he was the bad guy, the way he talked gave it away." Ryuto said. "I guess, I wasn't paying as much attention as you." Riko said shrugging. "Probably, since I was translating the whole time, no offense." Ryuto said nervously. "Perhaps you're right." Riko said as she continued to eat her ice cream. "I didn't mean anything bad by what I said." Ryuto said nervously. "Hey, it's fine. Perhaps you could teach me English, it seems like having a handle on two languages gets someone far in life." Riko said. "Sure thing. Whenever you want." Ryuto said excitedly.
When the two finished their dessert, they stood up and left the shop. As the night grew darker, the temperature began to lower as well. Ryuto let out a breath, it was cold enough for him to see it. He grabbed Riko's hand and felt that it was cold. He then took off his coat and planed in on her. She looked up at him, with a curious look in her eyes.
"You need it more than me." Ryuto said smiling.
She smiled back at him and used her hands to tighten the coat around her shoulders.
"Did it ever get this cold in your home?" she asked. "From time to time." Ryuto said.
"We should hurry and get to your house." Ryuto said as he saw snow beginning to fall.
Riko nodded and the two picked up the pace. When they arrived at Riko's home, the two stood in front of the door. Riko took of the coat and handed it back to Ryuto. He grabbed it and smiled.
"You should find something warm." Ryuto said. "I will." she replied. "How was that for a first date?" Ryuto asked. "Good. I could do without the cold though." Riko said. "That's true." Ryuto agreed.
She then got close to him and kissed him. He placed his arms around her and returned it. The two then separated and smiled at each other.
"Good night, Riko." Ryuto said.
He then began to walk backwards watching as Riko opened the door and entered her house. Once the door closed, Ryuto spun around and began to walk forward; smiling as he did so. I love that girl so much Ryuto thought. When he arrived at his cousins house, no one was in the living room. He checked the time and it was only 10 pm. They must've called it early Ryuto thought. He then walked to kitchen to grab a snack before heading to his room. As he opened the fridge, he heard footsteps entering the kitchen. He look up to see Satsuki standing in the door way.
"How was your date?" she asked with a smile. "It was fun. She seemed to enjoy the movie." Ryuto answered. "That's good." she said.
Satsuki then turned to leave and exited the kitchen. Ryuto smiled, all he had in his mind at that moment was Riko.
AN: And here comes to an end this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. This one was a tough one write, as I said before, I'm not very good at writing romance. Anyways, if you haven't seen/follow me on Twitter(you should do that) I announced I was going to be doing monthly updates for all my stories. So once this story ends, I'll be balancing up to three stories at a time each with a monthly update which I'll try to meet. With school on my ass I don't know how things will work out, so be flexible with me. This story is coming to a close soon, with next chapter being the last one. I can't to share it with you and then it's on to the sequel. If you haven't noticed, I've been dropping hints on what the next story is about as well as what's going to happen. Remember to review, follow, and/or favorite if you haven't already and stay tuned for the next chapter.