Cover image not mine.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shokugeki no Soma.
Nakiri Erina sighed. It had been a long day. She looked through the window, not paying attention as the trees passed by, daydreaming about her comfy queen-sized bed. She just wanted to lay down and sleep until there was no tomorrow but, of course, she couldn't ever admit that out loud - her pride didn't allow it.
Another sigh. The driver looked at her through the rear-view mirror, a frown on his forehead and concern written on his face, and pondered if he should say something, but decided against it. It wasn't his place.
Before she realized it, they arrived at the gates of the Nakiri mansion. Startled by the sudden stop, she grabbed her things and got out of the car without saying a word, her driver still looking at her. She entered the gates and crossed the gardens quickly, not taking in her surroundings until she was inside. The first person she acknowledged, Arato Hisako.
"Erina-sama, some papers about the Elite Ten affairs have arrived earlier this afternoon, if you would look at them…" she asked while handing Nakiri said papers.
"Not now, Hisako," growled the spoiled Tootsuki princess before her aid had a chance of finishing her explanation.
"Of course, Erina-sama," Hisako bowed her head, getting out of the way without insisting. She saw that Erina wasn't up for doing any paperwork at the time. In fact, she could clearly see the bags under her eyes and the exhaustion that her body carried itself through the mansions' corridor.
"You're dismissed. Get some sleep, I'm sure tomorrow you'll feel better," her voice softened while she practically ran to her room without looking back at her. She didn't even hear Hisako's response, her only objective was to finally find her bed and forget about her day.
Because that day, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. She had overslept and had arrived at least, according to her watch, ten minutes late. The professor teaching hadn't been mad, because who could get angry at the best first year in the school? At the tenth seat of the Elite Ten? Nobody. But that hadn't mattered to her. To miss perfect. She had made a mistake, and that wasn't allowed in her life. But her bad luck hadn't stopped there, of course not. After all her classes, which she had passed with A++, she had come across Alice. Yes, Nakiri Alice, her annoying cousin who couldn't stop teasing her.
A shudder went through Erina's body as she recalled that awful conversation.
"Erina! Erina!" the God's Tongue turned around to see her overly happy cousin running towards her. She sighed for the tenth time that day.
"Hello, Alice," she greeted her cordially, stopping walking so the other girl could catch up to her easily.
"Rumour has it that you were late today, my dear cousin," with a twinkle in her eye, Alice teased her cousin mercilessly, knowing that the littlest thing could set her off. Erina huffed, but otherwise didn't respond. The other Nakiri smirked at her reaction, she just loved how worked up the God's Tongue got over such menial and meaningless things. "C'mon, Erina, don't be like that. A little bird told me that Yukihira was also late, so…"
"What are you insinuating!?" countless students walking by stared at her in surprise, startled by the sudden outburst she just had.
"Nothing, really, what are you talking about?" then it hit her. "Oh my God, Erina, get your mind out of the gutter!" Alice began laughing madly, causing even more students to turn to stare at the two of them. By now, the Tootsuki princess was already blushing. Really hard. After a minute, Alice regained her composure, even though she was still struggling not to go on laughing at her cousin. "I would've never imagined that you could think this type of things, since you're so innocent and… well, pure."
"Who are you calling innocent?" great, now she offended her even more.
"Erina… If a man intends to establish a conversation with you, the first thing you do is ignore him because you think he's going to challenge you and that would be a waste of time."
"Well, of course I think that, that's the most logical reason."
"See, that's where you're wrong. If you weren't so innocent, your first thought would be 'Wow, he's cute, and he's interested in me, maybe we could work this out.'"
Erina blushed even harder.
"That doesn't mean I'm innocent."
"Oh, yes it does," she looked at Erina with a smug smile.
"Shut up. I don't have time for this nonsense today Alice, I have a shokugeki scheduled in an hour, so I have to get going."
"You do? And where's Hisako, then? You're always attached to the hip" she looked around for the God's Tongue aid, but there was no trace of her.
"She hasn't been feeling all that well today, so I told her to rest for a while."
"And she listened? She's actually resting right now?" Alice asked incredulously.
Erina rolled her eyes, feeling irritated. "Who do you think I am? Of course she's resting, I made sure of it."
"Sure, how could I forget, you can order around anyone you want" she answered with an eye roll of her own, making her cousin huff in annoyance. "Let's get going, you don't want be late again, do you?"
She only received a growl of irritation in response.
And obviously, because of her cousin's distractions, Erina had ended up arriving late to the shokugeki. Second mistake of the day and the worst part was that it was the same mistake she had already made. Alice hadn't even had the nerve to apologise – when Erina had seen what time it actually was, the murderous look on her face had her cousin running for the hills without uttering a word.
Either way, she had won the shokugeki. As expected. And to make things worse, Alice had been waiting for her at the exit, with Kurokiba.
"Nakiri Alice, I'm going to kill you," growled the God's Tongue as soon as she saw her cousin.
"Ryo, protect me from her, hurry!" she used Kurokiba as a shield, hiding behind him and peeking over his shoulder as Erina approached.
Kurokiba grunted as he felt Alice push his back towards her cousin, but he didn't move.
"I was late. Again! Because of you!" she pointed at her, her face red as a tomato due to the anger running through her veins at that moment.
"Don't blame me for your stuff!"
"Don't blame you!? Of course I blame you! It's your fault! If you hadn't distracted me, I would've arrived on time!"
"Miss, I think she's right…" mumbled calmly Alice's aid.
"What? You have to be on my side, Ryo!" pouted the other Nakiri without any shame.
Erina sighed at the sight. It was the fifteenth sigh of the day, and she was utterly exhausted.
"I'm going home," she announced, already walking and not sparing a glance at the pair behind her.
"Wait, Erina. Let me call a car for you, okay? After all, we don't want you to get lost, do we, Ryo?"
"Fine. It's the least you can do, anyways."
Ten minutes later, a car with Tootsuki's logo imprinted on the front doors arrived.
"Well, we'll be going then."
"Aren't you two going home?"
"No, first I want to investigate some research societies," explained her cousin, already walking away with her loyal aid.
Erina didn't even have the chance to say goodbye, the car was already starting to move and her cousin was too far away. She just leaned on the comfortable seat cars and closed her eyes, resting for a bit.
Not even ten minutes later, though, her rest was disturbed by a loud sound, scaring her, and the car began to slow down.
"I'm sorry, Nakiri-sama, it seems that the car broke down," the driver parked on the side of the road carefully.
"Great," she huffed sarcastically. "Where are we?"
"We have more or less 7 miles left. But don't worry, Nakiri-sama, I'm calling another car immediately," he reassured already taking his phone out of his pocket and dialling a number with his thumb. "I need another car to take Nakiri-sama home, this one broke down on the way. Yes. Five minutes? Okay. Thank you," he turned to Erina. "The car will be here in five minutes miss. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to call a mechanic to start with the repairs."
"Go ahead," Erina sighed for… the seventeenth time that day? She had lost count.
A little more than five minutes later, another black expensive car appeared, but the mechanic hadn't showed up yet. The Tootsuki princess got in, glaring at everyone with those purple eyes of hers, feeling extremely irritated.
In thirty minutes, she was at the gates of the Nakiri mansion.
She dropped on her bed, her purse falling to the floor beside her feet. Eyes closed, she let her body relax for the first time that day. She just was so damn tired. After a couple of minutes, Erina found the energy necessary to stand up again and change her clothes. Now in her comfy pyjamas and not bothering to move her purse, still on the floor, she cuddled with her bedsheets and, in just a few seconds, fell asleep.
Gasping, she shot out of bed and fell to the floor. Pain irradiated from her elbow and up to her arm, one knee bruised because of the fall, but all that didn't matter. Erina looked around the room frantically, her eyes searching every corner and every shadow, looking for someone who wasn't there. Who couldn't possibly be there. But at the thought of him she began shaking uncontrollably and her breathing sped up even more. With one hand fisted in the bedsheet that had partially fallen to the floor, Erina tried to calm down, but the poorly illumination of the bedroom wasn't helping. She needed air. Standing up as well as she could in that state, she stumbled towards the vast balcony, connected to her room by a wide crystal door, and gripped the banister with both hands, trying to stop them from shaking so much.
She drew a deep breath. Her long hair moved with the soft, cold air of the night, and she shivered at the temperature. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on her surroundings – the wind caressing the leaves of the trees, crickets chirping loudly and the distant sound of moving vehicles overwhelmed her sense of hearing and helped her regain her composure. The shaking stopped, even though she was still shivering a bit due to the cold, and her breathing evened.
Before she could open her eyes, though, a sound in the bushes under her balcony broke her peaceful state of mind. More curious than frightened, Erina opened her eyes and tried to adjust her sight in the darkness before her. She could see some lights far away hanging over the road, but other than that, the only source of light she had was the one coming from her bedroom behind her, and it still wasn't enough. Narrowing her eyes, Erina tried to look deep in the bushes below her, but all she got was confusing shadows.
"Hey," a head suddenly popped up next to her hands, which were gripping the banister tightly, and the God's Tongue squealed loudly. "Whoa, no need to wake the whole neighbourhood, Nakiri" laughed a manly voice that seemed strangely familiar.
Without realising it, she had moved further away from the shock that had run through her body, so she stepped, cautiously, closer to the figure that was literally climbing her balcony. And she saw a flash of red hair. Red, spiky, annoying hair.
"Yukihira!?" she all but shouted. "What do you think you're doing here!?"
"Calm down, I just need a favour" he finally was standing on her balcony, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile on his lips.
"Do you know what time is it? And what makes you think I'll help you in any way, commoner?" she could not believe that he had the nerve of invading her house, her room, her privacy. And who did he think he was, anyway, showing up there and demanding favours. The Tootsuki princess didn't do favours. At all. "I'm calling security. Right now."
She turned around, ignoring his stunned expression and started walking towards the inside of her bedroom.
"Wait, wait," Yukihira ran behind and took her hand before she could have a chance to exit the balcony. "Just let me tell you what I want and if you say no, I'll go. I promise," he turned her body so she was facing him. "Please," his voice low and soft but mostly pleading.
The God's Tongue scowled.
"Fine. But it better be quick or else I'll kick you out so fast you won't even have time to blink." Yukihira just smiled at her threat and lifted his left hand, the other still holding hers, showing her a little box wrapped in a dark green cloth.
"For you."
"You came all the way here to give me commoner's food? You've definitely gone insane."
"Just try it. Please?" his hand gave hers a little squeeze. Almost immediately, as if she got burnt, the Tootsuki princess snatched her hand away from his, causing him to stumble a little towards her, their bodies inches apart.
"Get away from me!" Erina pushed his chest and backed away from him until her back touched the bannister, the coldness of it against her skin, making her shiver even more than before.
"Man, I'm sorry. My mistake, Nakiri."
"What were you thinking, cooking at this hour of the night and coming here?" she tried to calm herself down, reassured by the fact that he didn't try to approach her again and stayed where he was.
"To tell you the truth… I don't really know. I just woke up a few hours ago after… Well, I woke up and had this urge to cook. For you. So, I spent two hours, give it or take, improving my dish."
"Improving?" she raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes, I brought my Transforming Furikake. But the improved version. Wanna try it?" he smiled kindly.
"Let's get this over with," she huffed, faking annoyance.
Yukihira's smile widened. He grabbed the box and opened it. Erina could see a bowl of rice, steam coming out of it and, next to it, there was the eggs and the savoury chicken soup in the form of an aspic. He took the last recipient, the one containing eggs and aspic, and poured it all on the hot steaming white rice, just as he did the first time he cooked for her.
The smell of chicken broth and egg filled the air, making Erina blush at the sudden want to taste the dish in front of her. Yukihira handed her the hot bowl along with a pair of chopsticks.
"Go on, try it."
Hesitant, Erina grabbed the bowl and chopsticks, her hands shaking at the thought of eating his food again. She took a little bit of rice, coated in the chicken soup, and a piece of egg and, still trembling, brought it to her delicate palate.
Soma watched her facial expressions with his undivided attention. He really didn't know what to expect, but he couldn't believe his eyes when tears started roll out of Erina's eyes.
"Wha-, what's wrong? Is it really that bad? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" he took the dish away from her and set it down on the floor beside their feet. "Tell me, what can I do? Do you want some water? Do I need to call Hisako over?"
She shook her head, looking at the floor, and fisted both of her hands in his Yukihira sweater, tears still flowing through her face. He dared to step closer to her, his right hand ghosting over her cheek, not knowing if he should comfort her the way he really wanted. When a sob shook her body though, his hesitance shattered. His hand caressed her face while the other grabbed, gently, her hip, pulling her towards his torso and embracing her body. The spoiled princess leaned into his touch, melting into his arms and resting her head on his shoulder, her erratic breath tickling his neck. She could feel his fingers across her cheek, causing a warm and comforting sensation she had never felt before. Said fingers went to trace the outline of her face, down her jaw and, finally, they tangled themselves in her long straight blonde hair. The hand on her hip though, moved across her lower back and pressed all her body even more against his, firmly keeping her there, in that position.
Concentrating on those sensations, all of them new to her, she began to calm down. Her breathing returned to normal and the tears began to dry on her cheeks, but she didn't move. She was far too comfortable to move.
"Nakiri?" Soma's soft voice, muffled by her hair, sounded loud surrounded by the silence of the night. "I'm sorry I made you taste it. I promise next time my cooking won't make you cry. It'll be better, you'll see."
"You are a fool," the boy could hardly hear her, but the words seemed to vibrate against his neck and sent a shiver down to his spine.
"Then… Tell me what happened?" Yukihira pulled his face away from her hair, where it was buried, and detangled her fingers from it as well, resting the palm of his hand against the side of her neck, feeling her pulse. His golden eyes looked down and locked with her purple ones with such intensity that the God's Tongue had to make an effort to maintain eye contact and not look away from him.
"It's just…" her eyes watered again, but she refused to let the tears fall this time.
"You can tell me, you know? You have me worried."
"Your dish. It tastes like… home."
She looked at the floor, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Silence followed her words, the only sound was the wind around them, ruffling the leaves of the nearby trees.
"Well, I'm glad then," he titled her chin up, so their eyes could lock again. "If my cooking brings you any sort of happiness… It's enough for me."
He smiled. His hold on her tightened, bringing their bodies even closer together.
She smiled. One of her hands went to his wild red hair, pulling his forehead against hers, noses touching, their breaths on each other's lips.
"It's delicious."