On the Road

As unfortunate as it was, Alice knew her Uncle Azami. And she knew that whatever he had promised about the regimental shokugeki that would decide all of their fates, he could not be trusted to play fair. So as they followed Yukihira and Erina's train to the site of the battle to come, Alice and the other rebels were doing all that they could to thwart his efforts.

"Any updates, Hishoko-chan?" she asked as she watched the secretary type on two laptops at once while speaking into a headset.

After placing her call on hold, Hisako looked up with a sigh. "It seems that Azami-senpai has bribed the fishermen to give Yukihira and the others subpar ingredients."

"That again?" she groaned. "Just them we'll double it!"

Nodding, Hisako returned to her call, all the while emailing the hunters and the noodle vendors. Counter-corruption was a harder business than it got credit for. "Is there any way we can—" she trailed off and then heaved a great sigh. "I see. We'll be there first thing tomorrow. Thank you for your cooperation."

"What was that about?" Alice questioned.

"They'll take the counter bribe, but we have to pay with cash in person."

Alice rubbed at her temples and the pen plopped dramatically down onto one of the couches. "Ryo-kun, how far are we from the coast?"

"Far, milady Alice," he replied.

"That's just great." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Hishoko-chan, order a car to intercept us in the morning."

"I don't work for you," the pink haired girl reminded her for the umpteenth time, even as she phoned their usual car service.

The following day, just as the dawn began to dye the horizon in its morning colors, the high speed train pulled into a station. Before the others could wake, Alice, Hisako, Ryo, and Hayama got off and piled into the sleek black car that waited for them.

Settling into the cushioned seats, Alice gave a dainty yawn and rested her head on Ryo's bicep. She had never been an early riser. "Wake me up when we get there."

Sighing, Hisako sipped tea from her travel mug and retread the texts she had exchanged with Erina the night before. Her friend was being so strong, using a terrible situation to learn a different style of cooking, to fall in love with her craft all over again. Watching the snow-dusted landscape zoom by, Hisako tried to muster her resolve. If she wanted to be someone worthy of walking beside Erina, she couldn't let herself fall any further behind.

After about an hour the vehicle pulled to a stop. The driver looked back at the group of former students. "This is as far as I can take the car," he said. "There's too much ice ahead, no roads."

"How far is it from here?" Hayama asked.

"About twelve, maybe thirteen kilometers."

Alice, who was just rubbing her eyes glanced up. "You mean thirteen meters, right?" That was doable.

The driver smiled sheepishly. "No, ma'am, kilometers."

Ryo exchanged a glance with Hayama, the two coming to an unspoken consensus. "We'll go. You two can just wait here," Ryo said. He opened the door and picked up the chrome briefcase holding the ¥2,3000,000 that would counter Azami's bribe.

"That's not happening," Alice said. "There's no way I'm gonna just sit back while Erina and the others are fighting!"

Ryo sighed. "You're going to complain about it later."

"I won't." Alice's cheeks were beginning to puff up. He could see that there would be arguing with her.

"Do you two even understand how how far that is?" Hayama questioned. Given their background, he doubted that either of them ever had to walk half as far.

"It's fine," Hisako snapped before stepping out of the car. "I'd walk all the way back to Tokyo for Erina-sama's sake."

"No one's stopping you," the spice prodigy murmured, but she was already too far ahead to hear it. He got it—he had betrayed Yukihira and the others. He didn't deserve to be there, but Alice had dragged him along anyway. Out of everyone, Arato had been the coldest to him since the rebels assembled, and if he cared just a little bit more he'd be sick of it.

They started to trek through the snow, the cold numbing their feet in their boots, and as was wholly anticipated, about thirty minutes into the journey Alice began to whine.

"Why does it have to be so cold?" she groaned.

"You lived in Copenhagen," Ryo reminded her.

"I was used to it then," she replied. "But now I can't feel my face." And somehow after a few more minutes she was riding on his back, her face buried into his shoulder to protect her from the biting wind.

Hisako watched them with an incredulous expression on her face. She knew husbands who didn't dote on their wives half as much. "It's his fault she's like that," she said, mostly to herself.

"Entirely," Hayama agreed, before he could think better of it. Hisako debated whether or not she would ignore him. Considering the hours of trekking they had ahead, she decided against it.

"It's a strange dynamic." Even after living with them at the mansion for over a year, she couldn't tell if the withdrawn boy was Alice's boyfriend or her butler. Probably both, in some capacity. "Do you think Azami's going to stop at this."

"Probably not," Hayama leveled. "If nothing else that man...knows how to create an impossible situation."

Hisako's eyebrows raised slightly at this. "Then why'd you work for him?" All of the rebels had been wondering since they found out about the battle between him and Souma, but no one had the gall to ask. "Were you that desperate to join the Elite Ten."

"It's complicated—"

"Right." The secretary's tone turned icy. "Someone as limited as me would never understand."

Hayama pinched the bridge of his nose; he really had pissed that girl off back in the fall. He supposed that he should start being a bit nicer to people—redemption arc and all—even though his criticisms tended to be spot on. "Look, back then I didn't mean it that—"

"Yes, you did," she quipped, stuffing her hands into her pocket and suppressing a shiver. "And you were right, so it's fine."

A silence fell between them, only the wind and the wet crushing sound of boots in the snow to be heard for miles. Then, "He threatened the seminar—stole the research."

"Oh." Hisako nodded. She would have done the same thing in that position, if some dear thing of Erina's hung in the balance, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of saying so.

After that the wind picked up. The temperature dropped. Hisako's eyes started to water and she was sure the tears were freezing on her eyelashes.

"You alright, Arato?"

"I'm f-fine," she said in a voice only a touch above a whisper. Her shivers were becoming ever harder to suppress. "Erina-s-sama and the others are giving their all, s-so I can't complain."

Hayama shook his head; he would never understand this woman. But still, he took off his burgundy scarf and held it out to her.

Hisako blinked, surprised. "Don't you need—"

"It'll be a hassle if you get yourself sick while we're only halfway there. Just take it."

A thousand and one retorts—most of them having to do with the how the transmission of viral infections actually worked—ran through Hisako's mind, but in the end she only rolled her eyes. Then she took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck and the lower half of her face. It had a nice scent—spicy, aromatic—but she supposed that was to be expected. If the wind hadn't already reddened her nose and cheeks, she might have blushed. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Hisako didn't, but Alice certainly would whenever she turned around or got down from Kurokiba's back. No doubt she was already planning a way to get them airlifted to the train for their trip back.

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! Have a great day.