Hello everyone!

I'm doing a little experiment on a with this Food Wars! story because there are basically not enough of them. It's a brilliant manga, especially when concentrating on the cooking battle and pearls of cooking wisdom thrown here and there. Of course the bonus recipes too :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – The Girl at the Cafe

'Things are way too quiet without Yukihira. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing'

One thing for sure was that Takumi Aldini should never have let that red-headed maverick make it as far as the campus gates before making him accept one last shokugeki before the summer holidays began.

Takumi had always trained himself to be a patient person. He'd like to think that. He didn't fuss too much over his culinary exams as long as Yukihira wasn't enrolled in the same classes. He always made time to assist his dear fratello to become a better chef. He listened to girls' confessions until the very end before respectfully declining and wishing them happiness all the same. However, Semester One of Tootsuki had been extremely stressful, even more so that he hadn't been able to snag an opportunity to have a duello with that infuriating Yukihira to win his precious Mezzaluna back, and Mimasaka to regain his and Isami's honour. How was he ever going to prove his superiority as chef when Yukihira and Mimasaka kept ignoring or side-stepping his challenges?

How grating!

It was all tossed into the wind now. The holidays had rolled in and Isami had decided that it was his turn to go back to Firenze to spend the holidays. That just left only him to relax and what not. Perhaps he could start cultivating his own basil, oregano, thyme and sage or something. Most of his classmates had gone back to their home towns too.

That included Yukihira. It was probably an excuse to dodge another challenge from him.

The ingrate must be scared.

Students were allowed to come and go from the Tootsuki premises as they pleased. Many students liked to take the courtesy bus down town to go shopping and eating at the local shopping and restaurant districts. Since most of the kitchens in the schools were closed for a few weeks due to a massive health inspection, which was scheduled every six months, Takumi took the opportunity to get away for a bit and explore what local cuisine was on offer.

Takumi straightened his cravat and patted his skinny jeans of the dust from the road. Tootsuki's campus was pretty deep in the forest, half of it encroached on the mountain. That meant he had to take that courtesy bus to travel down to the metropolitan area. If there was one thing he disliked apart from Yukihira's smug face, it was Japanese transportation.

'Traffic in Italia doesn't compare to this'

Traffic in Japan was a complete opposite to the familiar chaos on the roads of Italia. It was weird. So much, that even looking at cars in made him yearn for Italia. Isami had told him over and over before that he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't help it.

He had a confession this morning from a lovely girl. Unfortunately, she wasn't his type at all. Sure she was beautiful and nice, but he didn't sense any substance from her. How could he? He only ever saw her in his fan club and nowhere near a stove or a vegetable knife despite being in an elite cooking school. The girls somehow managed to join in this internationally famous cooking school and he had yet to see any passion in cooking from his fan club, which was a huge turn off. He would rather they be passionate in their cooking rather in himself and Isami. Perhaps he could retell the tale to Isami once he texted about his safe arrival in Firenze.

He had an embarrassing conversation with Isami a long time ago. If he had to guess, it was when puberty for the two fratelli had hit. Which probably made sense why they even had the conversation to begin with. It was about La ragazza.

Girls.

He didn't remember how the conversation went, but he was sure he was embarrassed enough to delete it from his memory though. Isami would probably remember every single detail down to the last word.

He never gave a thought about having a girlfriend or even dating as soon as he was qualified enough to cook in Trattoria Aldini. His world had revolved around making his family's trattoria the best in Firenze and the best in Italia with his brother by his side! Because of that, his mind had always been focused on training to be the number one chef of Tootsuki.

And of course defeating his ultimate rival, Yukihira.

Even as he waited at the bus stop, he could still see his dopey face in his mind.

Soon enough the bus pulled up. Takumi pulled out his pre-paid bus pass and flashed it at the bus driver with a bright smile before sitting in an empty window seat, not too far back and not too close to the front. He stared outside, watching the foliage of the surrounding forest whizz pass, letting his eyelids droop to a relaxed state. It had been a while since he needed some unwinding.

He then focused on his reflection. Girls here found him handsome because he was blonde and blue eyed, the perfect look for a Westerner. Plus, he and his brother were Eurasian born, which according to his classmates was considered to be a good catch for Japanese girls. His brother also had his fair share of girl's squealing after him in Tootsuki ever since they found out his weight drastically dropped during the summer and autumnal seasons. So basically the fan-club was now a combination of his fans and Isami's fans.

He didn't have a massive problem with girls liking his pretty face, it happened everywhere and he was used to it. At times it could be troublesome because it got him unwanted attention, especially in the kitchen, but not always. He remembered there was a kitchen hand who had almost cut her finger off because she was distracted by him whilst he was making risotto. Of course his uncle and Pappa couldn't have that in a cut-throat kitchen. So from then on, the only girls who ever gazed at his face were only customers.

Takumi took pride in his looks and couldn't let a handsome face like his go to waste anyway. Italian men made sure to take care of themselves and looked presentable everywhere they went. Some people like himself put in a bit of extra effort to be more stylish. Excellent grooming was a way of showing 'loving oneself', which was important in his country for young men who will one-day settle down. As the old adage went: 'How could you expect others to love you, if you don't love yourself?'

Speaking of amore…

He had seen plenty of potential couples at Tootsuki. It wasn't hard to miss. Even the dumbest of the dumb would be able to see the chemistry between certain students. Like Tadokoro-san and Kurokiba, Sakaki-san and Ibusaki-san and of course, the pest Yukihira and queen of bitches, Nakiri Erina. The sexual tension that electrified their public verbal spats made his face boil in embarrassment and want to gag.

What about himself, did he even want amore? Not at this stage. It was best to have one goal at a time. His priority was Trattoria Aldini.

Takumi jolted in his seat, coming to realise that the forest had disappeared and they were now in the metropolitan area. Funny, it looked pretty sparse for a Japanese town. He had always thought they were perpetually crowded. He hopped off the bus and noted where the bus stop was so that he could return to Tootsuki at the end of the day.

He felt his face split into a grin. He was excited and he wished Isami was here. It had been a while since he'd last visited Karakura town, the town that Tootsuki was a part of. The other time he'd been out exploring was Central Tokyo and Akihabara with his brother, and then the Promotions Exam in Hokkaidou. Here he was now, a fully-fledged second year. This metro-area was like a town, not like the bustling city of Tokyo that most Italians knew about. In front of him was a quaint, boutique store selling fashionable clothing for women. Using the reflection, he checked that his clothes weren't messed up and trekked his way through the thin crowd to inspect all the shops.

Takumi browsed through pet stores, book stores with adjoining stationery stores, the supermarket and more clothes stores. He also had nice long looks at the local bakery, ice cream parlour, and restaurants. The place was nice. It wasn't too crowded like he had expected. The scenery was nice too, there was a small park in the centre and a fountain. He looked around some more and spotted a café district. It instantly reminded him of Italia so he had to go check it out.

Café, café, café, café, café and a café with rabbits?

He had heard about 'rabbit café's' in Japan but never saw one. He also heard that there were other cafés with small pets like cats and dogs and for some strange reason… owls.

'I don't think I'm ready to try a rabbit café…'

Feeling for some coffee, Takumi settled for a particular café that reminded him of home. It was an Italian styled café which made him smile.

'Cioccolatini... good name for a café' he thought.

The bell rang when he pushed open the door and was welcomed by an outburst of 'Buon pomeriggio!' in broken lingua italiana from the wait staff which caught him by surprise. One step into the café and he almost had a heart attack. He hoped that this wasn't a regular occurrence for cafés and restaurants in Japan. This never happened in Italia.

A smiling woman approached him and gestured to a seat that was further inside. She was dressed in a casual uniform which really suited the café. She handed him a menu and said that she would be with him in a moment. Once he sat down, he took off his fedora and hung it on the back of his seat. With a quick browse of the menu, he concluded that most of the items were typical Italiano café dishes, beverages and desserts. Some of them had a Japanese flare to it like a matcha tiramisu.

"What would you like?" said the waitress when she came back.

"An espresso please" said Takumi.

"Hm? Are you sure? It's very strong..."

Goodness! She probably thought he was too young to handle an espresso. He and Isami could drink espressos fine since they had il sangue Italiano running through their veins.

"Don't worry signorina, I've had espressos before" he said politely.

The young woman blushed and spluttered her apology, a small smile blooming on her lips. She took his menu with shaky hands and darted back to the kitchens. Takumi sighed and enjoyed the café interiors.

It had a nice brick facade on the walls, a mellow rouge that reminded him of the red brick houses of Italia. The café embraced earthen colours and greenery such as the fake vines crawling down the walls which gave it a nice terrace feel. The tables and chairs were similar to garden furniture but not quite so, instead adopting a more minimalist style giving the impression of a larger space in the café. There were a few Renaissance styled paintings on the wall capturing the many places of his birth country and also many of which he and Isami had visited before. Takumi flitted his ice blue eyes to the lighting above which he was most impressed with. He wondered where did they get their hands on industrial styled vintage lighting, because to him, it completed the whole look.

Cioccolatini looked like it could house up to twenty-five to perhaps twenty-seven people, but there were only a handful of patrons around. Two businessman, a family with two kids and right in the corner was a girl with her books and pencil case out.

'Oh yeah... I forgot there was another school around here'

Takumi leaned a bit more to the left to get a better look at her. She looked like she was around his age. She had long, sleek black hair, the colour of midnight, tied in a half pony tail. Her fringe brushed her face on the left side, not long enough to require a bobby pin. Her skin looked pale but bright and suggesting by all those school books that covered her table, she was probably really academic, spending her time indoors studying rather than shopping after school.

Takumi inspected closer, not letting any details slip from him. She had a brilliant shade of verdant in her eyes, the colour of lush green pastures found in the countryside of Italia. She was instantly reminding him of his birth country. Next he looked at her nose and then his eyes dipped to her lips. She had a perfectly shaped cupids bow and thin lips which he knew girls would die for. Her mouth then scrunched into a small pout, looking like she was encountering a hard homework problem. She sat hunched over her school books, so Takumi couldn't see a school crest, which he assumed was on the front of her school blazer. She wore a grey uniform which was very different to the Tootsuki's uniform. This included a female-cut grey blazer with red trimmings, a white blouse, a red bow at the front and a grey pleated skirt. Her legs were slim and crossed at the ankles, tucked underneath her chair. She wore long black socks which reached just below her knee and standard brown school loafers.

Takumi realised he must have been staring too hard because a cough and the aromatic scent of fresh espresso startled him. A fright today!

"Grazie" said Takumi, managing to make his voice remain calm, despite a blush threatening to invade his face.

He hoped he wasn't being too obvious. Worst case scenario, he was and the wait staff were snickering at him. He had never been his badly flustered before except for the other times when Isami picked at his fault in mannerisms or when Yukihira ignored his declarations of rivalry.

He sipped his espresso. It was good.

He chanced another glance at the pretty girl sitting in the corner. She had a victorious smile on her face. It looked like she managed to solve her homework problem and Takumi couldn't help but smile as she smiled. She stretched her arms high above her head and then reached over and plucked a slice of pane di casa with her long slender fingers. She took her time to coat it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar from a small dish. He watched intrigued as she placed it on her tongue to make sure the oil didn't drip before biting the bread. Takumi continued to watch over the rim of his small espresso cup.

He gulped.

Her face melted into pure bliss. She chewed slowly as if savouring the taste with her eyes closed, tantalised by the balsamic vinegar. Her thick lashes fanned delicately on her face as she gave a little hum in delight. She kept the bitten slice of bread close to her smooth lips as she swallowed and he watched her throat bob up and down above the red bow around her collar. Her tongue poked out and licked a bit of the bread crumbs around her lips before it retreated back in. The whole process repeated and Takumi couldn't tear his eyes away.

He had never seen anyone eat bread so sensually...

Takumi found the willpower to quickly avert his eyes just in case the wait staff was watching him. He swallowed again to make the dryness in his mouth go away. He had to admit, he had never been entranced at looking at another girl apart from the girls in his class who were doing some serious cooking, keeping himself in mind that he was entranced at the actual cooking than the actual girls.

She was beautiful.

She was just eating bread.

What was wrong with him?

The buzz in his pocket alerted him to a text message. Merda! He had forgotten all about Isami! He put down his espresso and opened the message.

'Sorry Fratello!

I fell asleep as soon as I arrived home.
I was so jet lagged and forgot to text you.
Talk to you when I'm not dead on my feet.

Until next time!

-Isami'

Of course Isami would forget, it was perfectly understandable. Takumi texted a quick 'forgiveness reply' before placing his phone back into his pocket. The soft jingle of the bell made him look up on reflex, seeing if another customer had entered but, realising it was actually a customer leaving.

It was the girl.

The café suddenly felt less chipper. Takumi resumed enjoying his coffee, thinking about what he was going to do when he got back to Tootsuki. Probably check out the school library to see if there was anything else he could learn from the books. Summer holidays in Italia was so much fun when they were kids. His uncle and Pappa's idea of a holiday was going out drinking with friends and family all day long while Takumi and Isami's idea was to run around and steal fruits from the fruit stalls like a bunch of rascals. Pleasant memories.

Takumi finished his espresso and grabbed his fedora, then went over to the counter to pay. It was a male wait staff this time and he blushed as soon as he looked upon Takumi's face.

'That's new'

Whilst he was processing his receipt, Takumi quickly looked at where the girl was sitting earlier as if his eyes were only drawn to that area. Suddenly something caught his eye. Without a thought he went over and picked it up. It was a high school text book titled 'Japanese Edition: Oxford Dictionary for Physics' It was a pretty thick dictionary. The girl must have overlooked it when she was packing up her plethora of school books. Still, how could someone miss a dictionary as chunky as that?

Takumi flicked it open, looking at the title page.

'In the event that this book is lost,
please return it to Kanda Ayame
from Karakura High School
or my parents will kill me'

So her name was Ayame. Takumi smiled, finally knowing the girl's name. She had a good sense of humour too, he noted happily.

He seemed to be forgetting something important...

"Merda!" Takumi dashed to the door and flung it open, throwing his head from left to right looking for any signs of the girl from Karakura high school. But to his disappointment she wasn't anywhere to be seen. He sighed at his stupidity for not running after her sooner to return her book. How ungentlemanly.

"Umm... Excuse me sir?" The waiter was holding out his receipt and change with a perplexed look on his face.

"Oh sorry about that" said Takumi sheepishly. He received his change and thanked the waiter before exiting Cioccolatini and into the afternoon sun. He placed his fedora back on and checked the time on his phone.

'It's a quarter to five, it's too late. School must be over'.

Uno momento per favore. It was summer holidays now. Why would she still be uniform? Unless not every school operated on the same calendar as Tootsuki. Tootsuki was an elite privatised academy which probably explained why its schedules were different to the normal schools. He never went to a really good school in Firenze. He and Isami were more interested in building culinary knowledge than academic knowledge. He had to admit, being in a la-di-da school like Tootsuki made him feel very different.

Takumi decided he would try and visit Karakura High school tomorrow so that he could return the dictionary. If she wasn't there, he could still just drop it off at the school and they would contact her or something. He felt a worrying sensation in his mind. He hoped he would see her again though. Her smile brought a sense of calmness he rarely had when around Yukihira, the duelli and it made his heart do a small flutter like when his customers enjoy his food. The way she enjoyed her antipasto sent an electrifying tingle in him. He wondered what embarrassing words would Isami say about this?

The blonde teen wondered through the shopping district until it was time to head back to the campus. On his way back, he couldn't help but wonder more about the girl he was borderline ogling at in the café. He felt yet again another blush creep up his cheeks

'No more! Dio mio, I need to focus on beating Yukihira when he comes back. I'm going to need to prepare a dish so good he would be begging to have more of Trattoria Aldini's food!'

Takumi fixed his expression into a fierce battle face, much to the bus commuter's confusion. As soon as he arrived on campus he already missed the little local town he visited. It was greatly contrasted to the opulent wealth the Tootsuki buildings exuded. He casually walked around, absorbing air and listened to the trickling of the fountain.

"Ah Aldini-san! What are you doing out here? Not going back home for summer holidays?"

Takumi awoke from his entranced state and glanced around. He came face to face with the rosette-haired girl that was Nakiri Erina's aide, Arato Hisako.

"Ah Arato-san. No, not for me. Isami hasn't been back to Italia since high school, so it's better if he went this time. I just got back from the local town" he said politely.

"Oh did you now? I haven't been there in a long time with Erina-sama" she said smiling. "Did you buy a book?" She pointed to the heavy textbook in his hand.

"Um, no. Someone left it in a café and forgot to pack it up" he said. "Do you know where Karakura High school is? It says it inside the book. So I thought I'd return it tomorrow"

"Yeah you better, who knows if they have an end of year exam coming up... Karakura High school is in the Gakuenchou ward. You'll have to take another bus from Minamikawase ward to get to the school.

"Ah I see. Grazie, Arato-san"

"My pleasure" she smiled.

Both bade farewell before Takumi entered the main building again. Unlike the Polar Star dormitory, his uncle and Pappa paid good money for him and Isami to reside within the main building residential area for last semester and this semester. There were other students there too, but for them, they spent loose change on it. So Takumi and Isami made sure not to do anything reckless during their stay.

Takumi unlocked the door and entered the spacious room. It was a small communal living area with a small kitchenette tucked to the side. There was small, but fully equipped kitchenette as well. On the right side were the doors to his bedroom and on the left was Isami's. Both bedrooms were furnished nicely with a study desk for each person, two small bookshelves and two night stands each. There was an adjoining bathroom, complete with a shower cubicle, sink, toilet and a bathtub. Isami's room was fairly bare while Takumi's was more cluttered. A bit messy, but clean. He changed his clothes into a more comfortable attire and plopped onto his bed.

'It's so quiet'

He already missed Isami.

He brushed his golden blonde hair from his eyes and rolled over onto his stomach. He opened the physics dictionary out just to see some of the words. As expected all the physics terminology was gibberish to him. However, there were some words and sentences in neat handwriting on the margins with arrows, underlining and circling which explained what the complex terms meant. There were a few sticky tabs too. Her handwriting was neat.

Whoever Kanda Ayame was, she was pretty serious with the science, which was totally different from culinary subjects. Then again, Nakiri Alice used the best of gastro-science or whatever in her cooking to impress people. Takumi opened up his phone and reconnected with the wifi so that he could research tomorrow's bus time-table that would take him to Karakura High school.

Excitement bubbled inside for the next day.

The Next Day

'So this is Karakura High school'.

Takumi didn't experience any difficulties finding his way here. He made sure he took the early bus from Tootsuki to Minamikawase ward and then the bus there to Gakuenchou ward. If he had one complaint, it would be that it was quite a distance from Tootsuki. The last thing he wanted was to arrive when half a day had already gone by, otherwise he would be stuck with the guilt of not being able to give Kanda Ayame's physics dictionary on time.

Takumi made sure he dressed low key, but still good. He wore a simple dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a dark-green casual waistcoat over it. He opted instead of jeans but for comfortable brown pants and a pair of his favourite converse. The summer sun was beating down from the high heavens and the loud incessant chirp of the Japanese cicadas had over-ridden the cheerful chatter of the Karakura students with ease as they walked together in packs, towards the school. He leaned against the brick fence with the dictionary tucked under his arm and one foot lightly bent, resting on it.

He checked his watch and noted that it was past nine o'clock. A sharp 'kyaa!' broke him out of his musings and he pushed himself off the brick fence beside the school gate and looked towards the source. A trio of high school girls were giggling and squealing together a short distance from him, unavoidable charmed by his appearance. Now that he noticed, other students were looking his way.

'They are probably wondering why I'm loitering around here'

Maybe standing outside was drawing too much attention. However, it wasn't a random choice. He had been actively scanning the area from both sides of the school and across the street for any sign of the bella he saw in the café. He had been waiting for fifteen or so minutes itching to see if she would reveal herself from the sea of students. Worry etched into his mind again. Perhaps he was too early and that Kanda Ayame hadn't arrived to school yet, or maybe she'd already arrived earlier than he.

He flicked his blue eyes to his watch again. It was a quarter past nine now. The students were thinning out and Takumi felt his spirit sink. It looked like the last of the students finally made it past the gate. By the manner in which the students were huffing and puffing from their sprint told him that classes was officially about to start and that it was getting late.

He wondered what he should do.

Takumi shifted the dictionary in his arm and decided to walk straight into the premises. Already the blonde Italian felt like he was doing something majorly wrong. He ignored the climbing worry in his mind. Even here he felt so out of place. He prayed to the lord that he didn't get mistaken for a trespasser.

'Dio mio! You're just returning a damn dictionary to a student here' Takumi mentally slapped himself.

Takumi found the school administration office easily. He walked right up to the counter, but to his confusion there wasn't anyone there. He looked around and rang the bell provided but still no office lady or guy appear to ask what he needed.

"Hello?" Takumi tried. Still nothing.

Even school staff had to be early at school, right? Where did they all go? He sighed and took off his fedora. He sat in one of the chairs in the waiting area, crossing his leg over his knee. Once and twice, he saw a few students running in from the entrance, looking so relieved and exhausted like they were lucky to have escaped a teacher on duty for tardy students.

Takumi chuckled. Japanese schools were so strict on attendance. Not like in Italian schools.

Takumi decided to pass the time before the school receptionist decided to show up and do her job by flicking through the school brochure spread out on the small wooden coffee table. It was pretty interesting. The school promoted academic excellence, safe environment for all students, plenty of sport and club activities to build rapport, lots of fun festivals and events and both sport and academic competitions. At a macrostructure level, it was pretty similar to Tootsuki, except Tootsuki was anal. His ears pricked up at the sound of a shrill laughter. He glanced up and caught the eyes of a pair of high school girls carrying a stack of books.

One exuberantly waved at him, a blush adorning her face. Takumi offered a polite wave and an obligatory smile. No one could say he had lost his manners. Italian men were brought up to be charming and courteous towards everyone. They both turned away and squealed at one another.

"Oh wow, he's so handsome!"

"I've never seen him here before. I wonder what he's doing here"

"Do you think he's got a girlfriend?"

Takumi sighed at their fangirling. He had heard them all before. It never ceased to amaze him how many stock phrases those girls can come up with when gushing all over him. He finished browsing through the school brochure and threw it back onto the table and fell back on the seat, both his arms stretch out over the backrest of the two chairs on neighbouring sides. Impatience started to creep into his blood stream

'Where the diablo is that receptionist?'

It was approaching half an hour at glacial pace and the dictionary was still in his hand. He got up without thinking and decided he will find her himself and walked with absolute confidence towards one of the class building entrances connected to the reception waiting room. He walked past rows and rows of lockers until he came to an area that looked like classrooms. As he walked, he was amazed at how big the indoor windows were. The first room didn't look anything like Tootsuki. His classrooms were either kitchens or set up to look like university lecture halls. He guessed that this was what a real Japanese classroom looked like. He could see every single student in there with ease.

That meant they had a full view of him too.

Sure enough students broke away from their conversations when they noticed there was blond boy with blue eyes, dressed in stylish casual clothes looking in through the indoor window. Mortification seeped into his soul when he realised…

He absolutely didn't have a clue to where he was going.

'Stupido! I don't even know where her classroom is or what year she's in' Takumi felt himself getting flustered. He had always been too hot-headed resulting in rushed decisions and this wasn't the best of times to be making those decisions either without thinking through.

"Hi, can I help you?" a male student stood by the door, offering him a helpful smile.

"Uh-Umm yeah. I'm looking for Kanda Ayame-san. I'm returning a textbook she left behind at a café. Do you happen to know what classroom she's in?" asked Takumi after getting over his flustered state.

"Oh, sorry buddy. Can't help you there. What kind of textbook are you returning though? That could give you a clue" said the male student.

"It's a physics dictionary" he replied.

The male student looked thoughtful for a moment. "Kiba! You take physics right? Do you know anyone named Kanda Ayame who's missing a physics dictionary?" he yelled back into the classroom.

"Nope!" the boy named Kiba yelled back.

"Yeah sorry, still can't help you. I think you should try all the classrooms until you find her. Or even easier, just give it to Kiba and he will hand it to the science staffroom and they will return it to her" he said.

"Ah that's ok, I'm sure I'll find her soon. Grazie" Takumi flashed him a grateful smile before continuing on his way to search in all the classrooms.

He left behind a gaping student, astounded by the sudden drop of an Italian word at the end of the conversation.

Sixteen classrooms, two buildings and four dating proposals later, he made it to the last building. Maintaining his courteous persona was so tiring! He barely made it by the skin of his teeth away from gaggles of girls that started following him, but he wondered how long until his luck ran out.

'Is this even worth all the trouble?'

Takumi berated himself for entertaining such a thought. Of course this would be worth it. He wanted to see the bella again and return what rightfully belonged to hers. He reached the first classroom and peeked in through the window from the side. It was a strategy he utilised after encountering the first swarm of girls to avoid drawing attention towards himself.

Finalemente!

There she was, sitting in the middle talking to a girl next to her. Her hair this time was tied up into a full pony tail, revealing the creamy skin of her neck and small tufts of black hair at the nape. She was wearing the same uniform as yesterday except for the blazer. Instead, she wore a knitted beige vest which looked a tad too frumpy for her over her white blouse. Takumi relaxed and walked past the window, keeping his gazed locked on her as he reached the door. He could see her eyes from the side, it sparkled magnificently from the sunshine through the class window. He cleared his throat.

"Exc—"

"Hey man, you're in the way"

Takumi snapped his posture back and shot an alarmed look beside him to see another male student pushing through. He was the same height and had a serious frown on his face. He glared at Takumi.

"What the… Why aren't you in uniform?" he asked after giving Takumi a dubious once-over.

"I don't go to this school, I just wanted to return this book to Kanda Ayame-san" Takumi kept his attitude in check.

"Kanda-san! Someone's here for you!" the boy yelled across the classroom, his voice shattering all the conversation around him.

"Eh?"

Takumi fixed his gaze upon Kanda Ayame as she turned around in her seat. He had always remarked upon her eyes in his mind, but he never actually saw them from a full-front-on profile. Their eyes met, hers trained solely on his blue ones.

His throat suddenly felt tight.

She said a quick 'Be right back' to her friend before walking up to stand in front of him.

"Yes?"

Takumi cleared his throat again, finding her curious stare a smidge unnerving.

"I-uh. You left this yesterday… at the café… I found it" he shoved the physics textbook into her hand and stood off a bit to the side, one hand in his pocket and the other raking through his blonde hair. He curiously inspected her from the corner of his eye.

Her green eyes widened to take up more of her face as she looked down shocked in her hands. Her mouth went from a small 'o' shape to a large one before holding the book up in the air like a mother holding up her baby to the sun.

"Aya! I thought I'd lost it forever. I called the café this morning and they said they hadn't seen it. Thank goodness you've found it! I was looking everywhere for it in my book bag, but then it wasn't there. You see, I've got this test coming up and—"

Takumi drank in every word that left her lips, focusing more on her excited and melodic tone. He peeped back briefly when she abruptly abandoned her sentence.

"Sorry, I was rambling too much. I'm sure you didn't want to hear every sliver of my life-story" she chuckled shyly, and tried to tuck her fringe behind her ear which only flopped back over her eyebrows.

"That's ok. Just be careful next time" Takumi smiled.

"Might I know the name of my saviour of physics exam?" she inquired.

"Takumi Aldini" he said smoothly.

"Aldini…" she placed a slender finger to her lips and her vibrant green eyes glazed over in thought. Takumi tilted his head to the side confused as to what his last name might mean to her. How could he forget, his surname was Italian for Christ's sake.

"Ah! Are you by any chance related to Giovanni Aldini?" she said. Her eyes sparkled, clearly excited for an answer.

"N-no… I don't know who that is" he honestly didn't.

Her eyes continued to sparkle as she rattled off this physicist's credentials to him.

"Giovanni Aldini was an Italian physicist who was one of those who pioneered in galvanism, anatomy and its medical applications, the construction and illumination of lighthouses and experiments for preserving human life and object from fire. He was born in Bologna, the year 1762. One of his most famous public experiments involved using electricity to stimulate the dead limbs of a convicted criminal and—"

"Ayame-chan, I don't think he wants to take a gander at your nerdy side" snickered the girl she was talking to earlier.

"Sorry, I get worked up easily over science… stuff" she sighed, her words petering out towards the end.

Takumi chuckled, earning him a suspicious look from her.

"That's okay. Aldini is a common last name in my home country, Italia. But who knows if my family may be related to him" he said. He felt it was a lot easier to talk to her now that she looked like the one who was embarrassed and not him to his relief.

"Oh gosh! I still need to thank you properly. I don't have a reward for you or anything…"

"No, no! It's perfectly fine. I didn't come all the way here to get something in return" He quickly waved his hands between them, in hopes to dismiss for her to dismiss her notion to give him something material as her thanks.

"Let's see…" But it was too late as Ayame-san trotted over to her pencil case where the smirking girl was.

Takumi panicked, what kind of a man was he to accept something from her for only just returning her book?!

"Here, I want you to have this" Ayame-san presented to him a keychain.

It looked like a very complicated keychain. She smiled brightly at him, pride shining through her grin.

"I made this in one of my home economics class. It's the only one of its design. You see, I'm very interested in mechanical things. So I made this" she said, looking adoringly at her keychain.

Upon close inspection, it seemed to be made of a series of tiny little mechanical gears of all different sizes. The teeth for each gear slotted in perfectly with each other, taking on a simple steampunk design. It seemed to be soldered together in perfect formation on a strip of metal, about the size of USB or a memory stick. She dangled it in front of his eyes, where it hung from a tan leather strap with a red cord attached to it.

"If that's a unique keychain you made, then surely-!"

"I don't want to hear another word" she took his hand in her palms. Her hand was soft and smooth to the touch, contrasting with the many callouses from his rigorous training as a chef.

"Take it or I will start losing my things all over the place" she gave him a cheeky wink and he felt this words caught up in his throat.

"Grazie" was the only thing he could muster.

"Also, at the back it includes—"

"Hurry up Ayame-san, before the teacher comes back" grumbled the husky voice of another male student near the window who sat slumped over his desk, his head lolling on his folded arms. He looked way too big for his desk and it was by some miracle that he could curve his back that far to allow his head to touch it. Takumi frowned at the rude interruption and clucked his tongue.

"Oh, I'm keeping you here for too long. I've better let you go now" a light pink dusted her cheeks and Takumi found it endearing.

Takumi thanked her for the keychain and placed it carefully in his pocket.

"It's fine. I'm on summer break at the moment, so I haven't got anything major on right now" said Takumi.

"Really? You're on holidays a week earlier than us?" said Ayame.

"Sì, I go to Tootsuki Culinary Academy" Takumi patted himself on the chest.

"You mean that Tootsuki over there" the emerald eye bella jabbed her thumb behind her towards the window which had an absolute view of the mountains and the buildings of Tootsuki in the distant.

"Sì. That's the one"

Takumi could hear the sounds of click-clacking on the linoleum flooring in distant briskly getting closer. It must be the teacher returning to class. She thanked him again and he thanked her in return once more for the keychain. He departed the classroom, eventually the school without a hitch and finally boarded onto the bus with her final words ringing in his ears:

'I hope to see you around again, Aldini-san'

Takumi straightened his waistcoat, hoping it wasn't too wrinkled. He hoped so too.

Blue.

They were electrifyingly blue.

Ayame Kanda sighed when the teacher pushed her half-moon spectacles up and pulled out last week's extension-maths exam papers out. Her forehead was riddled with stern creases and her lips was an intimidating straight line. This was going to be a long 'review- session'.

"Kanda Ayame"

"Yes!"

Ayame responded immediately and walked to the front to receive her test paper. She had studied for the past four weeks, down to the last hour to make sure that she aced this exam. She had forgone hanging out with friends, limited her phone use (because her friends kept bragging via text about what an awesome time they were having at karaoke) and stopped keeping up with her favourite TV shows. She nervously took the test paper from the teacher's hands. Oshiro-sensei wasn't pursing her lips.

'Phew, that's a good sign! That means I passed'

She looked down at the percentage mark on top, preparing herself.

92%

Fuck yeah.

She pole-vaulted over that pass-fail line like a boss.

She released a breath she didn't know she was holding and flopped over the back of her seat, feeling all her muscles, especially her brain dissolve into mush. She also felt her brain doing a crash dump on all the mathematical data she had crammed in, in preparation for this god forsaken test. Of course she still retained only the most important and relevant maths concept, equations and procedures so that she could still apply them to her upcoming physics test.

She blushed.

That guy who found her physics dictionary was a life saver. She couldn't think straight at all yesterday and this morning because she was busy fretting left, right and centre for her lost dictionary. She probably sounded like a blubbering mess on the phone with the café owner. The upcoming physics test was going to be the one to make or break her academic track record for the semester. She had been the top of her middle school in the science and maths subjects for three years in a row and she damned well wanted to continue that feat all the way to the end of high school.

It was very important to her.

Ayame sighed, feeling a little bit guilty for not properly rewarding Takumi Aldini. He was from Tootsuki meaning he came from just outside of Karakura town. It must have been a pretty bothersome trip to come this early in the day on a summer holiday.

'At least I gave him something of mine to show my gratitude' she thought optimistically.

"You're not going up to bargain for more marks?" said a voice she knew all too well beside her.

It was Chizuru-chan, her friend. Ayame liked how this school had a system where when receiving the test papers back, students were encouraged to check through their paper to make sure their points were added up correctly and had received proper points for each step in demonstrating the correct working-out to reach their final answer. That way, they could come to the teacher to discuss their test results and see they could scrounge extra marks in specific areas. Of course on the flip-side, the teacher could refuse to give extra-points and explain exactly why the student couldn't deserve extra points as benevolently or harshly as they liked. Or in everybody's worst nightmare, deduct precious points.

Ayame smirked and flashed Chizuru-chan her test paper.

"You bitch"

Ayame gave a hearty laugh.

"And here I thought you were daydreaming about that hot stallion you were chatting with at the door. But I see you are just enjoying being the cream of the crop in maths" Chizuru-chan wiggled her eyebrows at Ayame and sighed as if it was a let-down.

"He isn't a stallion and you shouldn't be calling people derogatory names" Ayame chided her.

"Being called a stallion is not derogatory! It's a compliment of the highest calibre for men" Chizuru-chan countered back.

Ayame sighed and continued staring out the window. Her friend was right in one thing. Aldini-san was very good looking. She was surprised with his last name, being the same as the famous Italian physicist. She must have looked silly, thinking he was related to him in some way. He looked like a hāfu. Perhaps possibly an Italian and Japanese mix. His blonde hair was glossy and sleeked back, except for his fringe that parted to both sides with a long lock of golden hair which rested in the middle. His eyes were the clearest blue she had ever seen. It was the first time she had ever seen someone with blue eyes up close. It was almost eerie. He had the type of eyes she wanted to see again, just to make sure they were actually that brilliant. He was a bit taller than her, probably about seven or so centimetres. He had the defined jawline, high cheekbones from his Western side and a straight pointed nose.

His clothing style was not-bad in her opinion. Most of the boys in her class dressed flamboyantly in their outing or casual clothes which were born from the typical outlandish Japanese fashion, but not him. He wore clean-cut, simple but modern-trendsetting clothes. She couldn't put her finger on it. She might have seen him before, like a passer-by or something.

'He found my textbook duh. He must've been at that café at the same time I was. Obviously I must have seen him from my periphery and that allowed my mind to encode it into my short-term memory. Since my brain decided that it wasn't important information to remember, it didn't bother encoding it into my long term memory. So it transferred into my unconscious memory until facial recognition is activated and dug him out of my subconscious memory when I saw him again… But I was still delayed in recalling…'

"Err… Ayame-chan, are you techno-babbling in your brain again?"

"Hmm?" Ayame looked up startled.

Chizuru-chan shook her head and rolled her eyes. Ayame pulled the corners of her mouth back displaying her famous 'turtle face' signifying annoyance. People always assumed that whenever a person was drifting off into space, ignoring the world around them, they were emptying their minds and letting it fly to whatever. However, that was not the case for her. Her mind was continually chatting away inside her head, recalling and encoding new scientific principles she learnt from class or from her books. Or sometimes as in this case, explaining to herself in great unnecessary details for why she would find his face familiar. Her mind was constantly active and alive. There was not a moment where her brain rested and thought of mundane drivel like the hottest band out there or which celebrity had the most Instagram followers.

She had dreams of algebraic equations doing the samba for goodness sake.

Chizuru-chan knew her inside and out when it came to those things and sometimes teased and poked at her a bit in good jest. Her techno-babble used to grate on everyone's nerves back in middle school. All she wanted to do was share what she'd read and the interesting things she'd learnt and because of that she was shunned. Ayame eventually had to force herself to redirect all that inwards to avoid social isolation. Everyone knew their social life was defined at middle school age. But when she met Chizuru-chan and the others in Karakura high school they weren't bothered by it to her astonishment and then, she felt her old self starting to seep out. But three years of programming that conditioned behaviour in middle school was tricky to break.

"Geez, we're not dumb shits you know? We can handle anything you throw at us. Come on, give Kuchiyose-kun and I your best shot" Chizuru-chan smiled wickedly and slapped the boy behind them on the arm.

He gave her a death glare before turning his attention to Ayame.

"You know the principles of thermodynamics you were talking about on Tuesday? I fantasized about avocados while you were talking" he drawled in a monotonous voice before returning to counting checking his points.

"He's just kidding! He only pretends not to understand so that he could blend in with society" Chizuru-chan threw her a 'V' sign and stuck her tongue out.

"Haha, it's not that. I'm thinking about whether I'll see Aldini-san again. He goes to that elite school Tootsuki. I bet they get pretty busy, even in the holidays anyway" said Ayame.

"Well, Tootsuki is a pretty hectic walk from here. I don't even know why you can be arsed to travel that far just to visit some café, especially in this stinking heat" Chizuru-chan asked nonchalantly.

"See, we finish school at four o'clock which is when the sun had already travelled far enough to the west to allow the heat to dissipate and the glare to disappear. That way we can walk at a comfortable pace without needing to hop near the shadows to keep cool and not have the sun in our eyes. Therefore, it's a great time for me to take a stroll to the café district and it would be a waste if I didn't. You, Chizuru-chan only interpret that the whole day is hot because the sun is hot around ten o'clock, the hottest at noon and still fairly hot around one o'clock which is when your mind is the busiest. Also that Italian café is a great place to study, not like the others" Ayame finished with barely a pause in between.

"Hmm, fair point. But if you do see him again, try not to scare him away with your techno-babble. Guys don't fancy that schtick" Said Chizuru-chan.

"You're wrong. Only dumb good-for-nothing guys hate that" Kuchiyose-kun said out of nowhere.

He straightened his back to his full height which always had both Ayame and Chizuru-chan in awe at his freakishly tall build. He pointed to Ayame's test paper in front of her with a single slender finger, signalling that he wanted to compare maths working-out and answers with hers. She smiled and handed her test paper to her friend Kuchiyose-kun.

"Uhuh, I didn't speak a word to him and I miss him already. He must make amazing food. Kami-sama, I love a man who can cook" Chizuru-chan stretched over her desk and allowed a dreamy look to melt on her face.

"Really?" Ayame quirked her eyebrows. "But you can't even-"

"It's the idea of a man doing something domestic! It's hot!" she cut Ayame off.

"You better hope so, because Kami-sama knows you don't have any basic skills for human survival" Kuchiyose-kun drawled, once again hunching his back, and without breaking his eye contact from his and Ayame's test papers.

Ayame laughed again.

And there we have it, a small (but bigger on the inside) glimpse into the mind of the girl who had caught Takumi's interest :) I miss high school from time to time, especially when I think about how much easier it was compared to uni life.

I hope Ayame, Chizuru and Kuchiyose have also piqued your curiosity!

Shoot me a review, let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from you. Until we meet again, which will be soon. Cross my heart.

Signing off

-Tripwire-dono