Otoya straightened his clothes in the mirror one last time. He knew he'd be changing out of them anyway, since the photo shoot had a theme and clothes set out for them, but he still wanted to look nice during the departure.

He wondered what the theme would be. Otoya has yet to have had a photoshoot alone with Ai before.

When he spoke with some of the designers, however, they told him he and Ai complimented each other's looks very well. They stated they looked great together.

Otoya knew fully what they meant, but he still blushed.

He headed out of the dorm to the front of the building, spotting a limo parked at the sidewalk. He wondered for a moment whether if was going to be their transportation.

"Well, that's likely, since Ai-senpai doesn't own a car."

"Ah, you're on time." A voice from behind him says. Otoya jolts a bit in surprise. Ai emerges from behind him, carrying a notepad. The cyanette wore a black shirt accompanied with a red and black plaid, short-sleeved jacket, and dark grey jeans.

"Oh, good morning, Ai-senpai!" Otoya greets him, trying to suppress the nervous shake in his voice.

Ai nods. "Good morning." He glanced at the limo. "We should leave now."

"He's very focused on being punctual." Otoya notes. He smiles. "How cool.."

Ai looks at him curiously, and Otoya snaps out of it. "A-Yeah! Let's go!" He states.

A driver was already on the job when the two entered. Otoya was surprised that Ai didn't feel like sitting in the passenger seat, and instead sat in the second row with him.

"Is it.. Just politeness?"

It was obvious Ai didn't think much of it, with his usual calm yet stoic expression as he opened his notepad. Otoya just stared out the window. It was tough on him to not have a conversation, but it just wasn't the right atmosphere at all for one. Plus, Ai didn't seem like the kind of person to just engage in one.

Thus, the car ride was silent for the most part.

Once the two arrived at the photoshoot and were swarmed by the employees, Otoya was separated from Ai to go into the dressing rooms.

Otoya was instructed to sit in a shiny, tall chair in front of a mirror by a girl with a cheerful smile and bright eyes, who introduced herself as Mei. Once he did, Mei, who he assumed was his stylist, began fluffing his hair. She picked up a makeup brush and lightly brushed his cheek.

"Hey, Ittoki-san." Mei starts. "What's your relationship with Mikaze-san?"

Otoya blinks. "Huh? My relationship with him?"

Mei grins. "Yeah! Are you two very good friends or something? I'm just curious. My coworker brought up that you two looked very good together, and I agree!"

Otoya blushed hard.

"Why is everyone seemingly mentioning that at some point?"

"Ah- Er, I would hope that will happen sometime.. Right now, he's just a cool senior to me.." Otoya confesses.

"Ehh, so you would like to be good friends with him?"

"..Yes.."

Mei lets out a giggle. "That's really sweet!"

Otoya wanted to melt into the ground and die from embarrassment.

Finally, even though Otoya suddenly felt panicky and antisocial (which is extremely rare), he was ready to head out to the shoot.

Mei told him it was a spring-like theme, with soft, pastel colors mostly.

Otoya was now dressed in a white and light-blue outfit that was almost formal enough to be considered a tux, but still had a hint of casualty.

"Be watchful of your step; you're taking pictures in grass." Mei had advised.

Nevertheless, Ai was already there when Otoya arrived. The area of the shoot had large lights set up, though there was no need for a green/white screen since the scenery was already intact.

"You suit that outfit, Ai-senpai." Otoya compliments, smiling brightly as he walks over.

Ai looks up at him, taking a mere second to scan him.

"Oh." He responds. "Thank you."

He really did, and in Otoya's eyes, Ai was certainly fit to be a model of sort.

The shoot began rather normally, which Otoya and Ai posing individually or together. It seemed to be going fine, and Otoya made very few mistakes that he counted, when he noticed the sky seem to slowly become greyer.

"Looks like a chance of rain." One of the photographers muttered.

"We should be fine for another half hour or so." Another responded.

Otoya glanced at Ai, who was staring up at the clouds.

"Ai-senpai? Is something wrong?" The redhead asks curiously at the slightly more serious senior.

Ai is silent for a moment.

"That's incorrect. By the statistics, it'll actually start raining in a few minutes. At the maximum, eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds." Ai frowned. "I should've noticed earlier."

Otoya didn't know why Ai was so perplexed over this, but it worried him.

"We should really head back, then." Otoya says.

Just as he finished speaking, a droplet fell and splashed on his nose.

The photographers and designers looked at each other frantically as the rain collectively began to fall. Quickly, they gathered their equipment.

"You two head back first. We wouldn't want you to get soaked." An employee spoke to Otoya and Ai rather quickly.

Otoya nodded, beginning to quickly head back to the nearby building that held the dressing rooms. To his surprise, Ai stuck unusually close to him, almost like he feared the rain in some way.

Thunder sounded moments after a flash of lightning, and it was honestly going to start to pour. Otoya noticed Ai flinch.

Maybe he has some sort of bad experience with rain?

Ai wasn't wearing a jacket like Otoya; he was wearing a vest. So Otoya pulled off the blue jacket and handed it to Ai.

"Hold it over your head, Ai-senpai." Otoya said as the two began to run.

Ai looked at him, eyes wide and slightly glassy in the light, but he nodded and held it atop of his head accordingly.

At last, the two made it back to the dressing room, breathing hard. It was the first time Otoya's seen Ai straight-up sprint, so seeing the senpai out of the breath was also new.

"Did you get wet from the rain?" Otoya asks after he's regained his breath. Otoya was soaked. Ai peered at him from under the jacket, which he then pulled off his head.

"Not really. Just some dampness on my clothes, thanks to your jacket." He says in the same monotone, but his expression showed gratitude. He folded the jacket and gave it back to Otoya. A slight look of concern flashed across Ai's face. "On the other hand, you're going to get sick if you just stay in wet clothes." He notes, as water noticeably dripped off of Otoya.

"Ah-" Otoya flushed.

"Don't worry about it. Our ride is around five p.m, so we're going to have to stick around here, anyway."

Otoya nods.

Ai glances around. "There's a nice bathroom here with a shower. You can use that."

Otoya smiles brightly. "Thanks, Ai-senpai!"

Otoya, with his original clothes in a bag, closed the bathroom door behind him when he went in, locking it.

Ai sighed. He, himself, headed to his dressing room to change as well.

With a towel still around his neck, Otoya was dressed and stepped out of the bathroom. He was surprised to see Ai already there, sitting at one of the tables pushed against the wall.

Otoya stopped momentarily. The cyanette was wearing his clothes from before, but his hair wasn't tied up. He had this comfortable, soft aura.

The guitarist ripped his gaze away, standing awkwardly there until Ai noticed him (or, he was sure Ai noticed him, but didn't bother to acknowledge him).

Otoya walked over and seated himself diagonal of Ai.

There was two short, rectangular black boxes sitting on the table, and Ai pushed one towards him without looking up from his phone.

Otoya looked at it quizzically.

"I figured you'd forget to bring a lunch, judging from previous group excursions, and I had no way of informing you beforehand, so I just made a second one." Ai explains, his eyes still on his phone.

Otoya blinked. "Eh?! You didn't have to do that.."

"Well, I already did, so I instruct you to eat it."

Otoya sweat dropped. He understood a little bit of Syo's complaints now.

Otoya smiled. "Then, thank you, Ai-senpai!"

Ai paused, his fingers wavering from scroll further down Twitter.

"But now, think of it now as.. A repayment. That's all. It was an error on me to not calculate the weather earlier, because it's what I usually do. Which means it's not entirely your fault for lending me your jacket and ruining it." Ai states slowly.

Was that compliment? An apology? Or an accusation? The redhead wasn't sure..

But still, Otoya gently lifted the cover off the black box, revealing the colorful and very organized bento.

"A bento? That's.. traditional! I'm surprised!" Otoya laughs.

"A bit cliche, as well." He thought.

Ai tilts his head. "Are they?"

"A bit, yes. But it's really cute. I didn't know you liked cooking." Otoya grinned. "It looks expertly made!"

"I never said I liked cooking."

Ai frowned slightly in embarrassment. He didn't respond, and instead opened his box.

The two ate quietly in a comfortable silence once more. Still a bit difficult for the talkative redhead, but he didn't exactly dislike it.

Otoya secretly noticed, as oblivious as he is, the little details on the neatly cut vegetables. Ai even cut small sausages into octopus shapes (he only did this because that's what the instruction page he used stated to do so), which Otoya hadn't seen since his days living in the orphanage.

"Ai-senpai is very cute.. Rei-chan was totally right."

Otoya didn't expect these thoughts at the start of the day.

He was eating until he noticed Ai's eyes constantly shift towards him.

Otoya stopped, setting down his chopsticks. "What's wrong?" He asks curiosity.

Ai was silent for a moment. "The rosary.. Around your neck.. According to my data, you're not Catholic."

Otoya looked down at the necklace dangling from his neck. "Ah- yeah, I'm not."

"Then why do you wear it?"

Otoya paused, searching for an answer. Luckily, Ai seemed to respond to his own question.

"Is it.. Some sort of memory-holder?"

Otoya smiled, "I guess you could say that." His fingers reached up and touched the necklace. "I think it was a gift from my mom."

Ai frowned at the sound of uncertainty in Otoya's voice.

"Even if it might not be, I like clinging onto the thought of it once belonging to my mom. It.. Gives me a sense of comfort. That I still have a piece of her." Otoya explains.

Collecting data wasn't enough to remember that the always cheerful Otoya had such a tragic backstory.

That occurred to Ai.

"Well, the likelihood of the rosary belonging to your mother is.. 93%." Ai looked up at Otoya as he blinked in surprise. "That's what I'd like to tell you."

Ai smiled, and Otoya's heart skipped a beat.

...

He could practically hear Rei-chan screaming somewhere in the distance: "AI-AI SMILING! A RARE SIGHT, INDEED!"

"Eeh? How do you know that, Ai-senpai?" Otoya says, that childish look returning to his face. "Are you some sort of magical being?"

Glad to see Otoya back to being himself, Ai chuckled.

"A DOUBLE RARE SIGHT!" Otoya heard Rei-chan shriek in his head.

"Nonsense." Ai murmured in response, a slight teasing tone hinted in his voice. "Magical beings do not exist."

He looked up at the fascinated Otoya, and devilishly placed his finger against his own lips, as if sharing a secret.

"But there is an alternative to that, but they are not referred to as magical beings, since they already exist."

And that's how Otoya Ittoki swooned over someone other than Haruka, and more importantly, the boy he least expected it to happen towards.

Sorry about the delay! I've been busy with exams. Everyone's a little OOC in this because it's, well, a fanfiction. Although Ai x Syo is my favorite, I ship Ai with EVERYONE. Technically, in UtaPri, I ship everyone with everyone, since it's hard to have a bad ship in this franchise. Anyway, next is Masa's turn.