(reviews addressed at bottom along with AN)
Shafts of afternoon sunlight filtered into the library, dust drifting and catching the light like fairy dust. She swung her small feet from the her huge chair as she flipped to the next page. The only sound amongst the labyrinth of hundred and hundred of cuisine books was the scrit-scrat of her pencil. Eyes glued to the medical reference book, the girl absentmindedly brushed a stray of magenta hair behind her ear.
"'You need to balance the qi, Yin-Yang, and body fluids.' Okaaay… Ack!" A sharp gust of wind blew through the windows and the pages flipped ahead in a flutter of paper, her own page becoming lost. Hisako leapt out of her chair. "I'll be in so much trouble if the books here get damaged," she mumbled as she clambered onto a shelf and shut the windows.
Hisako hopped back onto her chair. As she flipped back the pages to find her own page, she briefly wondered what the girls who invited her to see the new crepe shop were doing. "I want to eat crepe… I want to go shopping with friends..." A twinge of bitterness welled within her, and she gripped her pencil, knuckles white. But as Hisako finally found her page and carefully straightened it, she shook her head vigorously.
"But I don't need anyone, anything, other than Erina-sama."
And the girl continued her notes.
o0o0o0o0o0o
"Here's an empty room." Erina flicked out a set of keys and unlocked the door. She turned on the lights to the kitchen and Souma followed her.
She turned around and folded her arms over her chest. "And? What do you want?" A haughty smile floated over her expression. "Do you need a piece of sensibility?"
"No, actually I have that," Souma deadpanned. "Anyway, I wanted to know if what you said back there was true." His eyes gazed at her searchingly, making Erina feel uncomfortable.
"Of course it's true. Why would I want you to stay at this school?" She managed to laugh. "You, with commoner-skills, cheap tricks, and complete unsophistication? As if. I just never want to see you again. Not to mention, it's always been a mistake for you to be first chair over me."
"That's what I thought you thought of me… " Souma gave her a pointed look.
"...What."
"You know what, Nakiri. Yesterday? Today? What's up with you, you're acting different."
Damn it, he's going to bring that up. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about." Erina swallowed with some difficulty, her smirk wavering. "What do you mean by yesterday, nothing… nothing happened yesterday." She whipped around and stepped towards the door. "And if that's all you have to say to me-"
The words stuck in her throat as a hand grabbed her wrist. Her own hand drooped from the grasp. Heat began crawling up her neck in thrills of prickles.
"W-w-what are you doing, Yukihira-kun? Let me go."
"No," he replied simply. "I'm not going to let go of your hand again. Seriously, what's wrong?"
Erina sucked in a breath as a flood of emotion nearly broke through, like a dam about to burst and explode with a touch of a finger. Her throat was twisting and burning, chockful with coal, and she felt as though she was balanced on the tip of a needle. To fall or to not.
To remain upon the pinnacle or to not remain upon the pinnacle.
"Nothing!" Erina snapped her hand away and whirled around, eyes flashing. "You could never, no, you'll never understand! Stay away from me, imbecile!" She stormed out, slamming the door behind her without bothering to lock it.
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! Erina bit her nails furiously, nearly tearing one apart. Weak, just weak, what am I doing?! No, this is not the time, oh but I hate him! HATE. HIM. Arrrgh, I need to talk to Hisako about this-
Erina stopped mid-stomp. A woosh of energy winded out of her, and the clenched fists at her side relaxed.
Hisako… Hisako…
Erina's shoulders slumped unconsciously, and a coldness began to freeze through her chest. She leaned against the wall, exhaustion scrambling back on her shoulders all over again. I… I need to catch myself. For a moment. Then I'll do the work I have left. At least afternoon classes have already started and no one's in the hallway yet-
"Erina? What are you doing?"
Erina snapped upright, eyes wild and some excuse, any excuse, on the tip of her tongue, before she recognized who it was.
Oh, it's just her. "...N-Nothing to bother yourself about, Alice," Erina huffed, giving her cousin a wary look over. "Rather, why aren't you in class."
The other girl shrugged. "I know everything anyway, why should I go? Right, Ryo?" Alice turned up to her langley attendant.
"Hmm? Yeah, sure," he said absentmindedly.
Alice pouted. "Hey, can't you give me some more energy? You're responding to your master y'know!"
"Eh? But you were the one who wanted me to be the… what's it… the 'cool and silent' type."
"Er… W-well, things change!"
Ryo sighed, but made as much effort in being energetic as he would in levitating potatoes.
Alice made a final pout before turning back around. "Hmph. Anyway…" Alice leaned forward, eyes narrowing as she scrutinized Erina, who took a step back.
"What? Is there something wrong with me?" Why's everyone looking at me like that today?
"Um, maybe the bags under your eyes?" Alice pointed out.
"Again, it's nothing to bother yourself over." Erina waved her hand off, although she inwardly thought, Since when did I have bags? "Sorry, I can't waste any more time on you today, I have work to do."
Before Alice could say another word, Erina walked off briskly. Alice sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
"Is something the matter, Ojou?" Ryo asked.
"Hmm? Yes, I suppose. It's just that I've never seen Erina look that tired."
Alice and Ryo began walking down the opposite direction and Alice continued to think out loud.
"I mean, usually she's more chipper in her verbal abuse to me but today she kinda just… Oh, what's the word… Give me the word, Ryo."
"Dismissive?"
"Ah yes, dismissive, yes. Today Erina's been so dismissive towards me... Hmm?" Alice paused. She held a finger up to her lips.
Ryo blinked. "What is it?"
"...Ojou?" He prodded again, but then stopped when she looked up. Alarm flickered in her eyes and Ryo stiffened.
"Where's Hisako. She'd never let Erina fall into that state. She's never let it happen. Where is she."
"... Well, maybe she's sick or something."
"... Maybe…" Alice replied, still unconvinced. She shook her head, and the two began walking again.
The bell rang, and students began swarming out of the classrooms. Loud chattering filled the broad hallway. Alice tread behind Ryo as he navigated through the crowd.
"But there's no reason why… why would he bother using Hisako like that?... She's helpful, talented… must be sick… would be a waste of talent," Alice murmured.
"Tadokoro," Ryo said suddenly.
Alice glanced up, but Ryo hadn't turned around. "Huh? I don't think I heard you correctly over this crowd-"
"Tadokoro. Tadokoro Megumi."
The two managed to escape the worst of the crowd and Ryo slowed down so Alice could walk beside him.
"Tadokoro Megumi? What about her?" When Ryo didn't respond, Alice gave him another confused look.
"Ryou- Wait a second." Alice's eyes suddenly lit up with glee, and Ryo knew what was coming. He felt one, and only one, word: Dread.
"Eeeeeeeeh, are you interested in her Ryo?! Oh my god, this is great, I knew there was something going on during the Autumn Elections but to think it was that. Ryo, in love?! This is brilliant, I ship it, this is-"
"No, I'm just saying that Tadokoro is a waste of talent."
Alice stopped her huzzahs and hallelujahs. "Oh, is that so," she said dejectedly. "Hmm, I could've supported you two… But wait, waste of talent? What do you mean?" She stopped walking but Ryo continued on, rolling the black and white balls in his hand. The pair of scarlet eyes narrowed into slits.
"... Ryo, you didn't do something unnecessary did you." Ryo paused at the abrupt change in her tone. It was her cold tone.
Her real tone.
"... No. I just compared my cooking with her's a few weeks ago. Asked her to cook for me."
Alice didn't respond but her raised eyebrows said And? Ryo sighed.
"Her cooking was good. My cooking was good. Everything was good," he replied blandly.
Alice gave another long, long look, and Ryo met her eyes steadily, revealing absolutely nothing. Finally, Alice shrugged.
"Well, if all's good then I guess it's just… good. I suppose. But do tell me these things. And hey, don't walk ahead of your master!" Alice ran up to where Ryo stood waiting, and the two continued their daily trapeze around school grounds, if not with a hint of unease.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Souma cocked his head to the side, staring at the slammed door and trying to wrap his head around the situation. I mean, did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong? he wondered, oblivious.
o0o0o0o0o0o
The final bell rang, and the last class ended. Megumi covertly glanced up and down the hallway, before cautiously stepping out. Her ears burned as students gave her strange looks. What am I doing… she thought, embarrassment spreading all the way to the roots of her hair. She clutched her notebooks. But I don't want Yuki-chan or Ryoko-chan to see me, and especially not Souma-kun. Not when I don't know what to say to any of the guys at Polar Star Dormitory… A swarthy cloud meshed her heart as she trod slowly, almost dragging her feet and even bumping into several (pissed off) students.
Megumi paused and glanced out the huge arching windows. The September, almost October, sky was spread with clouds aligned like the scales of a monster fish. Tootsuki's forests carpeted the entire land below with only a few buildings and dorms to be seen from this side of the school. Megumi could barely spot her own, dear, Polar Star Dormitory enmeshed among the slowly reddening trees.
Can I go back? Do I have the right after I expelled Souma-kun…
A/N: Hullo, LavenderIceCream here. Here be chapter 2!This story is not, by all means, going to have scheduled updates. Just a warning! Also, I apologize for OoC-ness and any confusion (my sad attempts at suspense ). But I would like it for reviews to tell me how they would like me to change the story/ clarify it, as then I can improve. Finally, there's going to be a good amount of POV-switching and a LOT of flashbacks. I know this is exemplar of bad writing, but the plot kinda fell away to this format… Sorry. I'll try to be clear in my writing.
Thank you for reading!
And here is to address the reviews:
dotJOKL: I'm really sorry that I didn't capture all of Souma's persona. I figured that I might change him after 3 years, but I might be pushing the limits too far with how i write him (and all the characters in fact). I thought of reasons as to their change in characters to be later revealed in the story, but I do hope that they'll be acceptable and logical. Hopefully I won't screw things over? (cue nervous laughter)
Well, for the Shokugeki part, I apologize that I didn't really take into the actual rules that much and kinda glossed them over. I didn't think that it would be that difficult to find someone for the official witness. But I'm confused as what you mean by the stakes given after the Shokugeki. Megumi and Souma do talk before the Shokugeki what they're "betting" on, but aren't those the "stakes"? And Souma accepting a challenge wouldn't be that much of an issue (yeah, more glossing over) since he did feel frustration at not being able to do Shokugeki's against people so perhaps he feels sympathy.
But thanks for actually taking interest in the fanfic and writing such a comprehensive review. I hope I won't mess everything up and it ends up readable.
Demon Damian: Haha, I tried to write in some suspense (hopefully I can make it work). You may or may not be disappointed in the end pairing (it's all quite vague, and somewhat undecided), but hey, thanks for reading it and reviewing!
Guest: I'll try to clarify, but I guess the suspense isn't working so much as it's confusing… I'll try to write more clearly in the future.
VitaSen: Lol, that analogy. XD Thank you lovely person.
jminator: I'm glad you like it! I'll try to write as best as I can.
epiccface: Thanks! I'm only really good with random plots so I'm glad you liked it.
somebody: Hope you liked this chapter…? But if not, then feel free to drop it.
hate it: Okay. But I'd appreciate it if you told me what part I should change. Thanks. Also, feel free to drop it but I'd like it if you don't spam me.
Zenith Relaxation: Thanks! Well, it's technically not AU I think, but it's a bit like timeskip? 2 years. Sorry, I'll try to keep her from being so OoC.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. :) See you all some time~