Pairing: Sōma/Erina
Rating: T+
English is not my first language. I apologize for any grammar errors in advance.
Disclaimer: I don't own Shokugeki no Sōma.
Erina Nakiri was spending day in her office doing the well-known and boring paperwork. Being a third year and the first seat of Tōtsuki Academy was conncected to having hundreds of obligations and resposibilities which Erina couldn't neglect. Even if she really wanted to.
After long holidays which she spent with her friends and closest ones the blonde had a hard time getting used to the actual work and strict life of a leading student. The position of the first seat as amazing as it may seem was actually a really stressful and resposible job. Being the Nakiri heiress wasn't making the situation better so her hands were always full of work. She had to be everywhere; on every event happening in the academy, every contest, taste test or Elite Ten's meeting. As if all these things weren't enough Erina had to deal with her boisterous, uh, boyfriend (she still couldn't come to terms with calling him her boyfriend even if Alice reminded her to do so on multiple occasions). By him she meant no one other than a man named Yukihira Sōma – current second seat and literally the biggest slacker on earth. How could he even think about taking the first position from her if he can't even take care of his own paperwork?! That idiot! He thinks it's all that great and fun and never listens to me when I'm trying to talk some sense into him!
Anyway, she needed to forget about the vacations and get to work... Thinking about Yukihira was only deconcentrating her unnecessarily. The fact that it's been four days since she has last seen Sōma wasn't helping either... it was really hard for her to not think about him a lot during the day. Usually she didn't mind the long separation – his presence annoyed the hell out her mostly because of his constant teasing. But after spending a whole month with the red-haired boy she felt weird not seeing him as often as she used to. It's not like she missed him, obviously (at least that's what she kept telling herself), but she just felt the weird need to see him, to see his annoying grin and ridiculously red and messy hair. She wanted to feel his rough touch on her skin again, even if it was hard to admit.
She sighed deeply to stem the furious red blush creeping over her cheeks and then took a big sip of an aromatic green tea which Hisako prepared for her earlier. The amazing aroma and flavour of the warm liquid calmed her a little as she began to fill next pile of documents. Much to Erina's displeasure her office door bursted open and the amethyst eyes were met with a sight of her white-haired cousin; cheeky smile painted on her pale face. Of course it was her, no one would walk into her office with such noise (she won't mention the fact that Alice didn't even care to knock).
"My dear cousin!" Alice greeted her as she began walking towards Erina's desk.
"What do you want, Alice?" replied Erina not showing as much excitement as the other Nakiri princess.
"Mou, you're cold as aways I see." Alice moaned unhappily and started making circles around Erina whose back rested on her chair.
The blonde sighed again and rubbed her temples. Alice was really getting on her nerves quite often but the Nakiri heiress took it as her mission to be more patient with her cousin in the sake of their sister-like relationship. Especially when white-haired girl was accusing her for being cold. She didn't want to be viewed this way anymore.
The blonde managed to give Alice a smile and apologized, "I'm sorry Alice. I'm just so busy and tired. And there is still so much I need to do."
Alice hummed in response as she sat on the edge of a wooden desk, "Then take a break! You are the first seat, no one will force you to do something you don't want to!"
"Exactly I'm the first seat, not the director of a whole school. I have plenty of things I don't want but have to do."
"But I've already talked with grandfather and he canceled all your later affairs so..." Alice explained with hands behind her back.
"Wha-" shocked Erina raised up from her seat; annoyance appearing on her face. "What are you talking about, Alice? Why are you meddling in my business?!"
"Hey, that's how grateful you are?" Nakiri frowned. "I made you a favour!"
"I didn't ask you to do this! Now all these affairs will be daleyed onto next days and I will have much more work!"
"Jeez Erina, calm down. I just wanted to spend some time with you. I miss you, you know!" white-haired girl pouted and turned her back to the blonde girl. As usual! Erina never took any initiative for them to actually meet and spend a day or so like sisters. They were on holidays together and even then Erina was always busy with Hisako, or even with Yukihira. It's not like Erina ignored her, obviously not, but still she felt brushed aside. She wanted to have her only for herself sometimes too, to gossip with her, have some girls talk. She couldn't do this with Ryō so Erina was her only option left!
"Huh?" Erina asked surprised at the girl's statement. Did she really mean it?
"What? Is it that weird?" red eyes looked into amethyst ones, "We can finally have a big talk, exchange some tips and experiences. Especially that now you have a boyfriend my dear!"
A big blush appeared on Erina's cheeks and Alice let out a small chuckle. The blonde flicked her hair and folded arms on her rather ample chest trying to hide her obvious red face. "Fine! But I won't tell you anything about my relationship with Sōma so don't even concern yourself about it. And don't call him my boyfriend!"
"Oh why not? Yukihira Sōma is your boyfriend, Erina~"
"Shut up!"
"Fufu, don't be embarrased..."
"I am not!" The whole conversation was too iritating for Erina to handle so she decided to end the pointless talk for good, "Anyway, cut it out Alice. I don't have time to deal with you any longer!"
Alice chuckled again and murmuring quiet 'okay' she made her way towards the door. "But remember! At six I want to see you in my room! We will have so much fun!"
With that said Alice exited Erina's office leaving the blonde princess blushing with a pout formed on her lips.
-0-
Tadokoro Megumi walked down the big stairs humming to herself quietly. The sound of her melodying voice was heard through the big hall of Polar Star dormitory. The blue-haired girl suddenly noticed an uneasy sillence surrounding her. Usually at the this hour everyone in the dorm was awake; doing all their suff, talking and cooking. That's weird... Sighing she made her way upstairs again, everyone is probably still in beds.
She took a few glances in her dormmates rooms – Yūki was sleeping loudly, surrounded by bunch of hares, chickens and all wild animals she possesed, Shouji and Daigo both fell asleep in the latter's room as well. She then looked into Marui's chamber and found there Ryōko sitting on boy's bed lazily reading some magazine while the owner of the room was doing something on his computer.
"Megumi-chan!" the purple-haired girl looked away from article and greeted Tadokoro. Marui sent her a quick 'good morning' and got back to his work right after.
"Hi guys." Megumi simply replyed and closed the door. "Why is everyone still asleep at this hour?"
Ryōko hearing girl's question looked at her a little bit confused but then she smiled, "Ah right! You went to bed pretty early yesterday! Isshiki-senpai visited us last night and we had, well, a little party with him. We were talking untill late night hours I guess, that's why everyone is pretty tired-"
"What?!" blue-haired girl shouted, a little too loud as she noted second later, "Isshiki-senpai visited us and you didn't wake me up?!" How could she missed this!?
Isshiki Satoshi graduated from Tōtsuki more than a half year ago. Everyone in the Polar Star dormitory noticed how empty and lifeless the dorm became without him. But that was a natural order of things and they couldn't do anything about it other than remember all fun times they had with their former dormmate.
But still! He came here yesterday and haven't even thought about her! This man... he obviously couldn't visit them during the day, didn't he? But what she could expect from him, he was everything but a normal person.
It still made her a little bit upset; Ryōko seeing her sad expression placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled lovingly, "Oh Megumi-chan, we are really sorry. Isshiki-senpai wanted to wake you up but Yukihira said that you had a really tiring day so you should just make up for your lost sleep. They both were pretty concerned about you actually."
At the name of a certain red-haired boy Megumi's cheek flushed red. Sōma-kun... she shook her head to avoid thoughts that was creeping to her mind, "W-well then, I think I can forgive you guys with this thing. But next time when Isshiki-senpai visits us I want to see him without a fail, okay?"
Ryōko giggled at her huffy expression and nodded, "Sure thing."
Megumi smiled back to her friend and stood up from Marui's bed straightening her dress, "I guess I will make us a breakfast. Would you like anything in particular?"
"Oh no, everything is fine with us, right Marui-kun?"
Dark-haired boy distracted from his work simply nodded, a little bit irritated that his room was again a hangout place for everyone.
Tadokoro smiled at them and as she was exiting the room she couldn't help but ask, "Um, Sōma-kun is still asleep, isn't he?"
Ryōko glanced at her surprised, "Well, I don't know actually. Probably yes, since he was the last one that went to bed yesterday."
"Oh, okay..." Megumi quickly left Marui's room and sighed making her way towards the kitchen. Why was she even asking them about Sōma, she's so obvious! Mind your own business Megumi!, she couldn't help but scold herself for being so bold.
She was really delusional thinking she has any chance with him, didn't she? Sōma had a girlfriend. And this girlfriend was no one other than Nakiri Erina, the first seat of Tōtsuki Academy and the heiress of Nakiri family. As unbelievable as it may seem these two really got together at the end of their second year. She should forget about her feelings toward the red-haired man, it was really inappropriate since both Yukihira and Nakiri were really close friends to her and Sōma seemed to be really serious about Erina as well. And as hard as it was for her to say, Megumi has never seen Sōma so happy. Surely, he always had this big grin on his face even when he wasn't dating Erina, but since she found out about these two she noticed... how his cooking changed. He was even happier being in the kitchen and maybe if it didn't seem that the blonde girl was the reason behind it, she knew it was her. Whatever he was cooking, he seemed like he was making it just for her.
And it hurt. Megumi deeply inside wanted to be this girl. But at the same time she wanted to forget about him. Be happy for him because he found his love and person he wants to cook for. But she couldn't and it was really depressing.
I'm thinking about this again, she shook her head to banish her thoughts away. The sudden noise distracted her and she quickly ran to the place where the sound came from. Apparently it was kitchen.
The blue-haired girl noticed two things. One, as she walked into the room she was greeted by intense smell of ginger and cardamon which tickled her nostrills pleasantly. The second thing was a tall posture, standing before the stove, with a clump of red hair on his head.
"Sōma-kun! What happened?" she asked referring to earliers noise she heard. "And what are you even doing here? I thought you are sleeping."
"Ah, Tadokoro! Sorry for that bump, I threw spatula into the sink and it made bigger noise than I expected." he answered; his voice was raspy and tired, she remarked. It was then when she approached him and saw big bags under his eyes.
"Sōma-kun! Y-you haven't sleep all night didn't you!" she said worringly facing him; her little brows furrowed, "Am I right?"
Sōma grinned at her and scratched back of his neck in humility. It didn't surprise him how well she knew him, "Well, after Isshiki-senpai left I wasn't really tired so I thought I will work for my new recipe."
"But still, you shouldn't neglect your sleep just for that!"
"Okay, okay, calm down will ya?" he said with a smile as he continued preparing his food.
The tiny lips tighten in grimace, "No, I won't calm down Sōma-kun! You're careless as usual and you are abandoning your sleep, I can't allow it. You're the second seat so you have to be well rested and focused." she turned off the stove and grabed him by his sleeve, ignoring loud 'huh?!' coming from his mouth, "Now, go to bed and sleep, you'll finish your dish later."
"But that's for Eri-"
At the sound of the blonde name's rolling off the boy's tounge Megumi couldn't help but feel jealousy and anger. He was talking about her again. "In this state you won't cook anything good anyway, you need a lot of sleep to focus! Now, come with me!"
Sōma still a little bit surprised by her sudden bossy attitude, smiled and closed his eyes. It never ceases to amaze him how caring this little girl can be. Well, it won't hurt if he takes a little nap after all.
-0-
Erina looked at the big queen-sized bed on which Alice threw a bunch of colorful girl's magazines and hundreds of pillows. Really..? This is what Alice wanted to do with her? She sighed and took a look aroud the room; there was some food, plushies, lots of blankets and earlier mentioned pillows. She also noticed a big pile of DVDs splayed on the floor, romances she guessed.
"Help yourself my dear!" Alice said excited as she sat on the bed, dressed in her pajamas. Erina, who was wearing her nightgown as well, sat next to her.
"Then, what are your plans Alice?" the blonde asked.
Red eyes looked at the Nakiri princess carefully and then she laughed, "Aw Erina, there are no plans tonight! We are just gonna do what we want! Act spontanious!"
Annoyance started making their way on Erina's face as she blushed in embarassement, "Then what do you want to do?!" she really started regretting coming here.
When Alice stopped laughing she looked at her cousin, red eyes studying her posture curiously, "Okay then, I know what I want to do. Let's talk about you and Sōma."
Amethyst eyes looked at the white-haired girl with even bigger annoyance, "Stop being a child Alice. I told you I won't tell you anything about us. It isn't really much to talk about either."
"Oh, why not?" she asked, the blonde's statement making her curious even more, "Haven't you had sex?"
"ALICE!" Erina, now furiosly red shouted at her cousin with wide eyes; Alice could swore she almost saw a steam coming from sister's ears and got worried that the blonde could faint any second.
Well, maybe she shouldn't have ask that question, okay? But she couldn't help but tease Erina a little. Her reactions were literally priceless and were always some kind of entertainment; both Sōma and Alice were thinking the same thing.
As Erina was making weird stuttering noises, Alice sighed and placed hand on her shoulder, "My my, I was just kidding, okay? Calm down."
Erina sent her cousin a murderous glare and looked away from her, clearly disgruntled with her sister's behaviour.
"Okay, so maybe let's watch a movie!" Alice suggested as she jumped off the bed. "Are you fine with that?"
Erina, still in a bad mood, nodded slightly. How could she ask such a question so forwardly! So shameless! She really couldn't believe how silly her sister sometimes could be; she was way too similiar to the certain redhead idiot she knew, apparently they both shared one perverted mind. But it looked like Alice changed the subject and won't make any stupid actions anymore since she was now looking through DVDs she had splayed on the floor. The movie will last two hours or so, which means that Erina will have some peacefullness till then. At least she hoped so, Alice was unpredictable.
"Okay then, maybe let's watch this one. It's called Ice Queen." The white-haired princess showed Erina the cover of the movie. "It suits you." Alice giggled ignoring glare from the blonde. The movie soon was placed in DVD player and both Nakiri sisters sprawled comfortably on a bed full of pillows and blankets, with Alice hugged to Erina's side. The latter wasn't a big fan of romance movies but it was probably because she haven't watched many in her life, in fact she haven't watched any at all.
But she quickly got into the story that was played on the big screen, even if on the outside she tried to act like she didn't. She paid a lot of attention to the movie, ignoring Alice's sobbing and constant wetness on her sleeve from cousin's tears. When the bed scene began she couldn't help but feel the growing embarassment, she wasn't used to seeing those kind of things. Especially that now when she was in relationship with a certain redhead she shamelessly imagined doing all these things with him as well (she had no idea why these thoughts were appearing in her head). That purely teenager side of her took over, shadowing all the reasoning of Nakiri Erina that was trying to convince her that doing these blatant things with a man was wrong.
It didn't go unnoticed by Alice, she quickly catched furiously red color forming on Erina's cheeks. "Fu fu, Erina you are blushing." She couldn't help but tease her sister a little.
"S-Shut up Alice." The blonde stuttered back, "That's because you forced me into watching these... intimate scenes. Why would they put it into a movie anyway!"
"Hm, but that's normal you know." White-haired girl replied with an obvious tone.
"Huh?"
"It's normal to do this. When you really like someone, it's nothing wrong with showing it through an act. And I bet you it's an amazing experience."
Erina glanced at the screen again with dreamy eyes. Looking at the two bodies, connected with each other and living their own self. Showing their trust and love through their kisses, moves and touches.
It was fascinating, still dirty, but fascinating. She wondered how does it feel.
When you really like someone, it's nothing wrong with showing it through an act.
She saw herself and Sōma in the place of two lead characters of the movie they were watching. Because at the end of the day, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she liked him. And she knew she would never like anyone else as much as she liked this guy. She knew she would never think about doing it with anyone else than Sōma.
Nakiri felt like she never fully showed her true feeling towards him even if she really wanted to but the strict demeanor the world knew Erina for wasn't allowing her to be blunt about her love and affection. She still wasn't sure how did she got into relationship with someone she hated and despised so much but she knew she wasn't the Erina she was before, and that her feelings towards redhead developed into something true, beautiful and heartwarming.
She really liked him.
-0-
A clump of red hair moved against the pillow in a lazy manner. Sōma's eyes slowly opened revealing golden orbs. After a long yawn he immedietaly noticed blonde figure sitting on the chair in front of his desk scrolling through her phone with focus. He propped his head on the back of his hand looking at the Nakiri princess that quickly catched his stare and locked her phone putting it down on the wooden surface. She turned around on the swivel chair and moved closer to the edge of Sōma's bed. The man kept looking at her in a silence, when he assumed she didn't plan on saying anything he decided to start a conversation.
"Hey," he spoke out with still raspy from the sleep voice. He also noticed the darkness surronding them in his room, huh? she didn't turn on the lights? Taking a quick look at the window he noticed the night sky with a bright moon highly hanged on the starry firmament, "What time is it?"
"9 pm."
Sōma nodded wiping sleep from his eyes. "Well my nap was way longer than I expected it to be. Did you wait until I wake up?"
"I just came here." She answered as a matter of avoiding the question. There's no way she's going to tell him she's been sitting here for the past thirty minutes.
"I see," He replied looking at the blonde girl before him, "what brings you at this hour then? Don't tell me you missed me, huh Nakiri?"
"I did." Erina replied with eyes embedded into the floor. At this hour of the day she didn't have the mood nor the strength to try to be someone else, to deny her real feelings and intetion. And that really stradled Sōma at first, he expected to see her usual Nakiri-like chaotic reaction. His eyes widened for a second and then a smile appeared on his handsome face.
"Huh, so Nakiri Erina misses me after all. What a good time to be alive." He tried to tease the blonde a little more but soon he noticed how she started fidgeting in her seat and biting her lower lip. She looked... nervous? "Hm, Nakiri what's up?"
"Yukihira-kun." The tone of her voice reminded an order.
She looked into his eyes with determination; the blush on her cheeks very evident. "I want to spend this night with you."
-0-
A/N: Part 2 is coming soon!
This story is a remade version of my project i started a year ago. At first it was intended to be a series of one shots but then my mind came up with an idea of several-part story so since the first chapter wouldn't make sense to it at all I decided to delete it and start with this thing.
Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, reviews are highly welcomed!