A/N: This story takes place in an AU where they are in a normal high school 'cause I had an extremely hard time progressing their relationship when it is set in the canon timeline. Ya know, the packed events of the canon make it extremely hard to focus on their relationship since this is a romance fic after all. Still gonna maintain elements of the actual manga/anime though. Oh, and since this is a fanfic and all, I decided to intertwine Rindou's first and last name. I always found it weird that her first name is actually the Kobayashi part. Now I feel embarrassed for thinking Rindou was her first name all this time.
Oh, and in regards to their appearances, they will be taking their updated appearance in the manga (as of chapter 264). Except for Soma though, I would like him to look as he did during the Regiment de Cuisine (long-haired cool Soma. But according to the cover I used for this fic, Soma looks like Shinomiya Kojiro, but it is 100% Soma himself who's in the pic. It's up to you guys if you want to see him w or w/o the glasses). If you guys don't know what I'm talking about, refer to the manga. But if you don't like spoilers, just a word of advice: I highly doubt there will be a season 4 so I think you'll miss out on a lot if you stick to the anime. Anyway, oagariyo! (^_^)
Chapter 1: It's Your Turn
…
Yukihira Rindou has always been known as an intelligent but open-minded person. However, when it comes to her brother, all her rational thinking is switched off and replaced by an unconditional (and obsessive) love.
She is a third year student at Tootsuki Academy, Tokyo's #1 private school that has produced Japan's most successful people. From politicians to artists to athletes, Tootsuki guarantees a 95% success rate.
But she is not just a third year student, she is the 2nd seat of the Elite Ten, Tootsuki's de facto student council which houses the top 10 students of the academy.
Meanwhile, Yukihira Soma is her younger "brother". Rindou's mother was the sister of Soma's father, Joichiro, a well-known chef during his prime. When she was 9 years old, her parents died as a result of a car accident. Luckily, her uncle adopted her, making her the adoptive sister of his 7-year old son.
Soma and Rindou immediately became close to one another, closer than two "siblings" could get. Since their "father" [1] was always travelling around the world as a freelance chef, they relied on each other a lot. Hence, when they finally grew into young adults, they were more mature than most… and closer.
Now, Soma is entering high school as the 16-year old prodigy from Sumire Middle School [2], and Rindou's long awaited moment [3] is finally going to come.
…
Soma was running. Running for his life that is.
He was by no means a cowardly person, but given in the situation he was in, he couldn't help but feel anxious of his surroundings.
He seemed to be in a path sandwiched by trees and bushes from both sides. At the end of a path is what seems to be a gate.
He didn't even know if he was just imagining it, but he did know that the fear he was feeling was real.
As he neared the gates, he heard a rustling sound from the bushes.
His heart stopped for a second.
'Probably just the wind or something' he thought as he nervously chuckled to himself.
'Screw that! This is no time to stop' he exclaimed angrily.
Just as he was about to resume his dash for the exit, he heard footsteps. His heart stopped again and proceeded to beat quickly as he started to sweat bullets.
The fast beating of his heart was the complete opposite of his assailant's (?) slow footsteps.
Steeling himself, he resolved to face whoever was there.
'I swear that in the count of three, I'll turn around' he convinced himself.
'1' he began as he closed his eyes, the footsteps becoming somewhat louder.
'2' he continued as the footsteps became faster. Now, he was sweating to death.
'No! If I'm gonna die, I at least wanna know who did it' he thought with trembling legs.
Taking a deep breath…
"3!" he shouted out as he turned around…
.
.
.
To his surprise, there was nothing.
"Huh? There's nothing?" he exclaimed.
'Was it my imagination the whole time?' he pondered. But while he was deep in thought…
"BOO!"
…
Soma woke up with a start, breathing heavily with sweat cascading down his face.
'What was I dreaming of?' he wondered, placing the palm of his hand to his temple.
Snapping out of his stupor, he checked his clock and saw that it was just 6:30.
"It's still early" he said to himself.
"Might as well get ready." Realizing that he can't go back to sleep anyway, he began his preparations to move to Tokyo with his faux sister.
As he was taking a shower, he thought back on his dream.
'Hmm… I remember someone… chasing me?' he pondered, still uncertain of his dream.
'But what woke me up again?' he continued to ponder as he scrubbed his hair.
As he finished taking a shower, he headed to the kitchen to start breakfast… Only to find the back door slightly open.
'A burglar?!' he exclaimed, his heart replaying its actions from his dream.
He frantically searched the first floor, only to find nothing.
'When I went to the bathroom, it was still closed. He must've snuck in then' Soma thought, looking up at the stairs leading to the second floor.
'I already searched down here, meaning…' Soma shivered as he imagined who was upstairs.
'No, I'll call the cops first… but will they get here on time?' Soma continued, his heart beating at an even faster rate.
'Damn, my heartbeat won't slow down…'
'Hm? This seems familiar'
He started to remember his dream, bit by bit…
"BOO!"
"GYAH!" he shouted in surprise as he quickly turned around to find a giggling Mayumi.
"I got you, Soma-kun!" she said excitedly.
"Kurase! I almost died of a heart attack" he said in a scolding tone.
"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help it. Are you mad?" she asked with a cute pout.
"Well, even if you say that..." Soma couldn't look her in the face, but decided to break the ice.
"Anyway, what are you doing here so early?" he asked.
"I was gonna surprise you by making breakfast before you woke up, but when I came here, you were already taking a bath."
"So you took advantage of the situation to scare me, is that it?" Soma said, towering over Mayumi with red eyes.
"Hiyaaah! Soma-kun, you're scaring me" she said backed up into the wall, fake tears coming out of her eyes
"What are you gonna do to me?"
"Punishment." Soma said with a wicked grin in front of her face.
…
After punishing Mayumi (He just tickled her though. It's not what you guys are thinking, pervs), he decided to continue what he was planning to do since he woke up.
"Well, since you're here already, let's make breakfast together" he said with a soft smile, causing Mayumi's cheeks redden.
As they were cooking, Soma thought back on his dream again.
'Thanks to Kurase, I finally remembered what woke me up. But…' he thought.
'Why did it sound like Rindou-nee?' he wondered.
"I probably just miss her" Soma subconsciously mumbled.
"Huh? Did you say something, Soma-kun?" Mayumi asked, unsure if she heard something or not.
"N-no, did I?" Soma nervously laughed.
'Crap! Did I say that out loud?'
"You're leaving for Tokyo today, right?" Mayumi suddenly asked, her eyes foreshadowed by her hair.
"Y-yeah" Soma stuttered, startled by the sudden shift of atmosphere.
Mayumi stopped chopping the vegetables and looked at Soma with a serious look.
"Does it really have to be there?" she asked.
"Huh?" Soma responded, having no clue what she was asking.
"Tokyo. Why do you have to study there? You can study here, with everyone" she said sadly.
"Kurase…" Soma said in a lack of a better response.
"Why does it have to be so far? Is it because we're just country bumpkins, is that it?" she accused Soma.
"No! It's not like that and you know it"
"Then why? Why do you have to study somewhere so far away when you can stay here with us… With me?" she muttered the last part softly.
Unfortunately, Soma heard it.
Not having the heart to tell her that he only wants to study in Tokyo because his sister was there, he made up an excuse.
"Well… you know, the education there is good. I heard they have a 95% guaranteed success rate for its students"
"So that's it?"
"Huh?"
"You don't want to be stuck here with a crappy job, right?"
"T-that's not what I mea-" he said, but was cut off.
"It's okay, Soma-kun. I understand" she said sadly.
"No, I'm telling you, you don't know what you're sa-" he tried to finish but was interrupted again.
"No, it's fine. With your intelligence, it would be beyond cruel to waste your talent on this town just for us"
"Kurase!" Soma snapped, making them both flinch.
Both Soma and Kurase donned a shocked expression.
They stood unmoving for several seconds, not sure how to relieve the awkward atmosphere.
"I-I'm sorry!" Kurase exclaimed with tears in her eyes as she hurriedly exited the house.
Soma stayed rooted to his spot, remorseful for his outburst.
As he moved a foot forward to pursue her, his phone rang.
He picked it up and saw that the caller ID belonged to Rindou.
"Rindou-nee?"
"Yahallo!" [4] she jovially greeted.
"Why are you calling so early?"
"Just had to make sure you'd wake up on time. You wouldn't want to keep your beloved nee-chan waiting, would you?" she said in a teasing manner.
"Yeah…" he simply responded.
"Hm? What's the matter? Did something happen?" she asked, noticing Soma's lack of response.
"What makes you think that?" he asked back.
"Well, usually you would tease me back" she answered.
"Guess you're right" he answered with another lame response.
"There you go again!" she exclaimed, causing Soma to flinch.
"Just cough it up already mister, did you get into a fight with Mayumi-chan?" she asked spot-on.
Soma almost forgot that his sister was good at reading other people.
Taking his silence as a confirmation, she simply said "Bullseye?" and proceeded to cough the information out of him.
…
The ride to Tokyo went surprisingly quicker than he expected… Well, not that surprising since he took a bullet train and all.
Stepping off the train, he quickly searched for the apartment Rindou was staying at through the map she sent him via email.
Since the school dorm was more expensive than the apartments in Tokyo, they decided it was for the best if they just stayed at the nearby Y78,000 apartment and walk to school rather than pay the Y100,000 dorm fee every month (Y200,000 when it's the two of them already). Plus, they get to stay together that way, so it's a win-win situation for them.
As Soma continued to trudge through the bustling streets of Tokyo, he thought back to the farewell his friends gave him.
…
"Good luck in Tokyo, man" Soma's friend said with a smile.
"You betcha" Soma replied cockily.
"Don't forget to introduce us to your future girlfriend" Another one of Soma's friends said.
"Like a city girl will date a country bumpkin like me" Soma said with a carefree expression followed by a self-depreciating chuckle.
"Don't worry. Even if you're weird on the inside, at least you have something going for you on the outside" Another said, eliciting a laugh from the group.
*Honk* *Honk*
"Well, there's the signal for me to go" Soma said, making his friends stiffen.
Everyone watched as Mayumi approached Soma, considerate enough to grant her the last farewell for Soma.
"Kurase…"
"Soma-kun…"
The tension in the air was heavy as Soma's friends looked on in awe.
"Just-just make sure you visit us when there are holidays, ne?" she said, gripping Soma's shirt with one hand.
"You got it" Soma said gleefully, happy that they finally broke the ice from Soma's outburst in the morning.
'Is this a romantic scene or something?' All of them thought similarly with traces of pink present on their cheeks.
"Well, I'm off" he finished as he started to board the train.
Looking out the window, he saw his friends waving at him with smiles on their faces. He waved back, returning their smiles.
As the train departed from their sight, Mayumi's best friend asked "Is this really okay, Mayu?"
"Yeah! As long as Soma-kun is happy, then I'm happy" she said innocently, tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes.
The group stared at her in awe.
"Mayu, don't worry, let's go get some ice cream or something" Mayumi's best friend said as the rest fo the group tagged along.
…
'I'll definitely make you guys proud' Soma thought with determination.
Traversing deeper and deeper in Tokyo, Soma seemed to not be able to find any of the places in the map Rindou sent him.
Tired of walking, he took a break by buying tea at a nearby vending machine and sitting on the park bench.
"Is this map right?" he said to no one in particular, studying the map.
"Are you lost, kid?"
Soma looked up and saw a pigtailed female student with glasses.
'Who are you calling a kid? You don't look any older than me' he internalized, too tired to retort pettily.
"Y-yeah. Hey, do you know where (X) is?"
She saw his cellphone with a map on it.
"Can I take a look?"
"Huh?"
She pointed at the phone.
"Oh, s-sure" he said.
Taking a quick look at the map, a tick mark formed on her head.
"Hey" she said bluntly.
"Yeah?"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she shouted in frustration, pointing at the map.
"It's the map to my sister's apartment. Why?" Soma asked dumbly, causing her to shake in irritation.
"Why? Why?! This is the map of Kyoto [5], no wonder you're lost" she snapped.
"Ehhhhh!" Soma exclaimed, quickly taking the phone from her and looking at the map closer.
"How did you know this is not the map of Tokyo?" he asked, still searching for any signs that may indeed prove her correct.
She grabbed the phone and swiped it into the upper right corner where the words "Welcome to Kyoto" was displayed and shoved it in front of his face.
He took the phone and his jaws dropped.
Seeing him hunched on the ground on his hands and knees, she huffed and walked away in annoyance after uttering "Idiot".
…
"Soooo…" Rindou said awkwardly, fazed by the glare Soma was sending her way.
Soma had finally found Rindou's apartment through the help of local enforcers. Suffice to say, he was definitely mad at the fact that he wasted the whole day looking for it had it not been for her blunder.
"You have the nerve to talk to me after making me walk the whole day, Aneki" he said monotonously, emphasizing the 'Aneki'.
A verbal arrow struck her in the head.
Sweat started to roll down Rindou's face, knowing that whenever Soma addressed her in that way, it would soon be followed by him ignoring her until she finds a way to brighten his mood.
"C-come on now, I already said I'm sorry" she stuttered out, getting more nervous by his increasing glare.
'Damn! The first time we meet after a long time and he's mad at me. Please kill me, Kami-sama' she said with comical tears.
"Oh? And will an apology bring me back the time and effort I wasted today" he said even more menacingly, his bangs foreshadowing his eyes, highlighting the glowing red eyes he was sending her way.
Another arrow stabbed her in the head.
At this point, Rindou was sweating bullets and failed to maintain her composure. She was mentally malfunctioning.
"Y-y-you must be hungry after a-all that walking, r-right?" she started, trying to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
Soma continued his wicked stare, not even fazing a little bit.
"L-let's have dinner, s-shall we?" she tried to say normally, but still failed as it still came out stuttering.
Soma maintained his glare.
Fortunately for Rindou, Soma's stomach growled.
Soma blushed while Rindou took this chance to get out of her present situation.
"I'll get dinner" she quickly said and dashed off to the kitchen.
"Wait! We're not yet done here!" he shouted to no avail as Rindou focused on preparing the food.
Realizing that it would be useless to exert anymore energy (since he barely has any left), he sighed and leaned back, his two hands on the sides supporting his weight (he's sitting on the floor btw).
'That idiot' he said with a soft smile on his face.
…
After the events of earlier, Soma was now unpacking his stuff on the bed opposite Rindou's, his sister pleading him to let her take a bath first.
'That woman, so unreasonable. First, she makes me walk all over Tokyo because of her clumsiness, and now she takes the bath first. What did she even do the whole day?' he grumbled to himself.
Apparently, Rindou got confused and sent the map of Kyoto by accident. She downloaded the map to Kyoto for her field trip the previous year, and when she was browsing through the map of Tokyo she traced for Soma on her phone, her eyes played a trick on her and intertwined the letters of Tokyo to Kyoto.
"I'll get you for this one day" he said with determination.
"Really?" she made her presence known, wearing only a towel… Blushing?
Fortunately for Soma, he is immune to her female charms since they are siblings.
"Yeah, really" he said grumpily, thinking that she's teasing him.
She slowly made her way towards Soma and pushed him down to the bed, pinning him down.
"Well, you can GET me now" she said, playing with his words from earlier, the blush on her face still present.
His immunity to her suddenly disappeared and he now found himself also blushing under her.
'What's with this situation?' he asked himself, but decided to ask something else out loud…
"What are you doing, Rindou-nee?" he said, addressing her as he usually does in an attempt to get her off him.
'She must be mad at me for earlier' he theorized, thinking that she was doing this to have revenge on him for degrading her earlier.
'But it was her fault, so why is she the one mad?' he continued to theorize, not focusing on the proximity of his sister to his face.
Getting extremely uncomfortable, he gave up 'Well, she's isn't normal in the first place. Here goes nothing'
"Ok, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like tha-" he was cut off by her lips.
Soma was surprised beyond words. Failing to push her off because of the shock… Well, that and the tight grip his sister had on his wrists.
Rindou noticed Soma's lack of response and used it to slip her tongue in his mouth.
Soma reacted more actively, but not enough to stop the kiss.
Taking the lead, Rindou manipulated the kiss more aggressively.
For a few minutes, only the slurping sound of their tongues dancing with each other filled the room.
Parting away, a thin trail of saliva disconnected itself from their tongues.
"What was that?" Soma asked with rugged breath, panting for air.
"Can't you tell?" she responded in the same manner as Soma.
"But, we're siblings. Even if I also saw you like that, it won't work out" he said, ashamed to look her in the eyes. When they were kids, he had a crush on his sister. But as he grew up, so did his feelings for his sister. But… in all honesty, he still felt slight romantic feelings for Rindou, but did his best to discard it knowing it can't be... Only for her to do this. But, he had no idea how much Rindou loved him.
Rindou already knew he was gonna say that, but waited for him to finish nevertheless.
"Why? Why won't it work out?" she said desperately.
"…" Soma couldn't respond nor even look her in the eyes.
"Answer me!" she shouted angrily, but Soma already expected it, so he wasn't startled.
"Because…" he began softly.
"Because we're siblings. Is that what you were gonna say?" she finished angrily, earning her a nod from her brother.
"But we're not real siblings, remember?" she said softly.
"…" Soma maintained his silence, still not looking her in the eyes, pissing Rindou off.
"Look at me…" she begged, but still failed to evoke a response from him.
"I said, LOOK AT ME!" she snapped, this time successfully making him respond.
As their gold eyes mirrored each other, tearful eyes met widened ones.
"I know that even if we're not real siblings, we're still related by blood. But, that doesn't matter. Remember our promise that even if the whole world is our enemy, it'll be fine as long as we're together?" she said with a shaky voice.
"Yeah" he finally spoke, prompting her to continue.
"As long as we have each other, everything'll be fine, remember?" she continued, causing tears to form at corner of Soma's eyes.
"Mhm" he nodded, encouraging her to go on.
"That's why it'll be fine if you love me back. Do you?" she asked, smiling with tears still falling.
Soma had on a look of shock at her words. Deciding to be honest with himself, he nodded.
Now, Rindou cried tears of joy. Lots and lots of tears.
She hugged Soma.
"I wanna hear you say it" she said needingly.
"Isn't that kind of-"
"Come on, it won't hurt you to say it, right?" she cut him off.
"Ok, fine!" he said, flustered. He broke the hug by holding Rindou's arms in his hands.
"I love you, Rindou-nee!" he shouted with conviction, surprising Rindou.
Rindou said nothing in response and lay down on the bed, taking off the towel around her body and throwing it on the floor. Naturally, Soma blushed and attempted to cover his eyes.
Rindou was holding his wrists and said "If you really love me, then prove it" she said sultrily.
"Aren't we rushing things?"
"We've known each other our whole life. How could we possibly be rushing things?"
"I mean… You know, as…"
"As…" Rindou smirked, teasing Soma.
"Lovers" Soma whispered softly, but still enough for Rindou to hear.
"That's exactly why I wanna do this" she said confidently.
Soma looked at her questioningly, prompting her to explain what she meant.
"So that we can seal the deal. No one can have you and no one can have me. Right?" she smiled sultrily.
Soma gulped, not really prepared for this situation. Fortunately for Rindou, she had been preparing for this moment ever since she parted with Soma to attend Tootsuki.
"Come on Soma, I took care of you before, now it's your turn" she encouraged.
Soma blushed at that logic. It was convincing to be honest.
As Soma finished stripping himself of his clothes, Rindou stopped him with her hands before they began.
She leaned beside his ear, and said in the sexiest way possible "And it's not Rindou-nee anymore. Starting now, when you shout my name, just call me Rindou, got it?"
This caused a huge blush to adorn Soma's face.
"Now, take care of me" she said invitingly, holding out her arms to him.
And with that, Soma began to "take care" of Rindou.
…
Now why did Rindou decide to claim HER Soma as soon as he arrived? Maybe it has something to do with his argument with Mayumi earlier (Remember that she coughed the information out of him), causing her to feel conscious about her rival (Well, biggest rival since any girl who interacts with Soma is in her eyes, a vermin to be exterminated, including Mayumi) for Soma's affection, making her feel insecure and go on the attack.
Maybe it was because she felt guilty for making him take the brunt of her "mistake".
Maybe it was because she couldn't wait any longer, and to make sure that he'll belong only to her once he enters Tootsuki. After all, there are a lot of beauties in Tootsuki.
Or maybe because she saw a certain pigtailed megane [6] casually interacting with him at the park, even making him willingly give his phone. They couldn't be… involved already, could they? Was she taking his phone to see if any girl was sending him messages. Maybe she's just being too paranoid, but this is HER Soma after all, every threat must be neutralized. Either way, she has a life to ruin once school starts again. The 6th seat of the Elite Ten might need to stay on guard at all times, unless she doesn't want to lose something precious to her.
Highlights
[1] I inserted the quotation marks as reference to Rindou. You know, technically she's still the niece of Joichiro.
[2] According to the wiki, Yukihira diner is located in Sumiredori Shopping District, which is in part located in Sumire Town. I think it's a fictional town, but whatever. P.S. YUKIHIRA DINER DOESN'T YET EXIST IN THIS FIC. MAYBE YOU'LL FIND OUT WHY LATER (IF THERE IS A LATER)
[3] Rindou was waiting forSoma to finally enter Tootsuki with her. Don't know why I included this in the highlights, but it's my fic, soooo…. in your face. (^_^)
[4] Again, another useless highlight, but whatever. the greeting was popularized by the Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru anime. freaking loved 8man 'cause I could totally relate to him. Teehee (also popularized by the same anime/light novel).
[5] According to Google-sensei, Kyoto is a popular field trip destination in Japan. Seriously? Is this right? Well, I'll believe Google-sensei for now.
[6] Megane – Four eyes. A reference to a person with glasses.
So here's the first chapter of my SnS OTP, Soma x Rindou. If you've caught up with the manga at this point, you'll know that Soma x Rindou is impossible now (unless Saeki Shun decides to be generous) since it's pretty obvious by now that the author is pushing for the Tsukasa x Rindou ship. Welp, we can at least try to sink that ship with our fanfics, right? *evil grin* Right?
Well, I just posted this on impulse, not sure if I'll continue this That's why their relationship progressed so quickly. Because this way, even if it's a one-shot, well… there's still something there, right? But if this becomes a story, then I can build on their relationship. A win-win situation for me. But if I see that people like it, then why not? Anyways, osomatsu! (^_^)