our daily lives | [tsukipro] sakuraba ryota

the friend

"I didn't know you were friends with the Sakuraba-kun." a classmate of yours said as you two were at the university cafe to work on an paired assignment. She saw Ryo hand over a notebook to you after class had ended, the same notebook she once saw you take down notes on. "So he was the one you were taking notes for."

You nodded, not really minding the tone of hers. "We were classmates in high school and got to a routine of taking notes for him when he's busy at work." you stated plainly. You looked up from your phone and saw your classmate looking at you with excited eyes; you can also tell that she's a tad bit curious of your relationship with someone from the entertainment industry.

"What?" you asked plainly.

"Nothing~" she dropped with a playful tone. "It's just that... How did that come to be? Surely you just aren't friends."

You raised an eyebrow, "Why can't we be just friends?"

She points a finger at you, "He's in the entertainment industry. Plus, being friends with a guy IN the entertainment industry? Come on, how does that work?"

"Well it works for us. Besides, we were friends even before he debuted as Tsukipro's Growth."

"But he was already in the industry."

You sighed as you felt that the conversation was going nowhere. "Let's just work on this assignment--"

"Do you like him?" she interrupted you.

You paused from taking a drink from your iced coffee. "...Yes."

"Oh?" she gasped in surprise, "That's pretty truthful of you." she smirked.

You rolled your eyes, "As a friend."

She slumped back on her chair and sighed, "Boring."

You sighed as you wondered why you're telling this to someone who's merely a partner for a class assignment, "Let's just work on the assignment and go."

She let out a groan and a sigh, "Fine." she pulled out her laptop as you took out your notebook when she popped up another question, "Did you confess?"

"What in the 'I like him as a friend' did you not understand?" you asked with a raised eyebrow.

She shrugged, "Just asking~" she waved off with a teasing tone.

You muttered a small whatever before you two started on your assignment.

---

You plopped down on your bed with a sigh, "That was a nice bath~" you let out a relived sigh before hearing a notification ring from your phone.

Thanks again for the notes. Got home safely? How was the paired assignment?

You read Ryo's LINE message and scoffed, "He's really like a mother when he fusses over these things."

"Oh right, he has to do the assignment alone instead of pairing with someone because of his work." you muttered.

Got home awhile ago. Just finished taking a bath. And yeah, it went well.

As you sent your reply, you remembered your conversation with your assignment partner about your relationship with Ryo.

Surely you just aren't friends.

Do you like him?

You heaved a sigh, pushing away a few thoughts and memories that you didn't want to bring up.

"We're fine just the way we are right now... And that's enough." you muttered to yourself as you received a reply from Ryo.

That's good.

Come over sometime okay? Kou wants to cook something for you again.

And it's been awhile since we just had a chat. Good night.

You chuckled at the successive messages he sent on LINE.

What's wrong being friends with Ryo? You smiled as you typed a reply.

I'll hit you up when I'm free. The usual cafe would be nice~

Good night Ryo!

You hit 'SEND' then sent a sticker of SolidS' Sera Rikka saying "Good night"

It's not everyday you get to say you're friends with Sakuraba Ryota after all.