I guess this is the flip side to the chapter where Karin's the fan. lol

Prompt: Biggest Fan

Rating: T

When he turned the corner and saw her standing there—the Kurosaki Karin, comparing instant noodle brands like it was totally normal—he was so startled that for a few long moments, he was sure he was going into cardiac arrest.

Technically, he hadn't seen her for years. Even though he had long been following her blossoming career—reading articles, never missing a game, and secretly-not-so-secretly keeping the Karakura Lions calendar Matsumoto got him for his birthday and never feeling the need to go to any other page but May—the last time he had seen her in person, she was a child.

He had been in several classes with her older brother, occasionally partnering up with him for projects, seeing Karin and her sister in passing and never paying them much attention. Now, however, she was once again in front of him, in the flesh, and he could feel himself slowly starting unravel.

His first reaction to seeing her there, hair in a ponytail and dressed casually in a tshirt and jeans, was to freeze. Now that he was having heart palpitations, though, his second reaction was to dart out of sight before she saw him freaking out. Unfortunately, a pyramid of beans was unsympathetic to his growing hysteria, and in his haste, a tier of cans toppled to the ground with a resounding crash.

Horrified, he quickly dropped to the floor, hoping he hadn't made too much of a scene.

"Are you okay?"

Fuck.

"Fine," he practically yelled, his voice an octave too high. But it was too late. He saw her tennis shoes in his periphery, and then she was crouching beside him, helping him collect cans. His palms began to sweat.

He was mortified by the reaction he was having to her. Normally, it took a lot to shake him, to get anything other than cool indifference. Yes, she was a bit of a celebrity, but he had seen multiple and it had never mattered to him before. Yet, as he gathered cans, trying not to stare at her, he was appalled to realize that his favorite soccer player had turned him into a prepubescent groupie.

"You were amazing in your last game."

It took a second to realize it was his own voice that spoke, and he wanted to suck the words back into his mouth. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

Karin paused, a look of surprise crossing her features. Then, she grinned, so endearingly lopsidedly that he was sure his heart had stopped. "Thanks!"

Cans gathered, they worked together to put them back into a sad shadow of what they once were. He concentrated on breathing, and, last can in place, she finally decided which brand of noodle she wanted to buy. She fingered the packaging reluctantly.

"I have to run, or I'll be late for practice," she said slowly. "But it was really nice seeing you again, Toshiro. We should catch up over dinner sometime."

His eyes widened, jaw dropped. Dinner? With KUROSAKI KARIN? All he could manage was a mute nod, and then he was watching her stroll away with her noodles.

She remembered him. He felt like he was going to pass out.

Dazedly, he placed a few cans of beans into his cart.

Yup, definitely having a heart attack.