Thank you so much for being here! And thank you to Nanalee for leaving such a sweet review the last time. Here is Chapter 1. When you read it, try to go on YouTube or SoundCloud and listen to Chevy's "uwu". That was my inspiration for writing this chapter. Enjoy!

P.S. I decided that I'll be updating this story every Thursday of the week after this chapter. So, hope you guys can stay tuned! :)

Chapter 1 - Day 1

The autumn leaves continued to fall. Red, yellow, and brown slowly showered the garden. Kaori gazed outside the classroom window, daydreaming, as she rested her chin on her palm. She couldn't help but sigh as she tried to layout a plan in her head. How on earth am I going to make him fall in love with me? She thought. But she found her lips curving upwards into a small smile whenever she thought about the possibility of Alice's 99.9%. I wonder what that's going to be like…

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed that her Nutrition professor had momentarily stepped out of the room to attend to a knock on the classroom door. "Hideyuki, Kaori –" Yamamoto-Kyoju called, half in and out of the door. But alas, the brunette sat still. "Hideyuki-san," he called again.

A few students started to murmor at her lack of focus on the situation. But then, the silver-haired boy sitting behind her noticed that sometime in the middle of daydreaming, she had actually fallen asleep.

"Tch," he muttered before kicking her chair to wake her up.

Her eyes instantly shot open. "Hayama-kun!" she whispered angrily, giving him a sharp look.

He narrowed his green eyes at her and gestured his head towards the door.

"Hideyuki-san!" Yamamoto-kyoju called urgently this time.

"H-hai!" she stood up. Her cheeks turned pink as she looked around the room and noticed her classmates have been staring at her.

Yamamoto-kyoju looked displeased. "Please step outside for a while."

Her heart started thumping. She wondered if she was being sent out for falling asleep in class. Guilt suddenly overcame her emotions. "H-hai," she answered and took a glance at Hayama before she proceeded to leave the room.

"Gomenasai, gomenasai, gomenasai!" she fervently apologized to her teacher before stepping out.

She sighed and started to slap herself awake.

"Sumimasen, Hideyuki-san,"

Her neck snapped to the left as she heard that voice. "Tsukasa-kyoju…" she said in disbelief. Then it hit her, "Tsukasa-kyoju!" she greeted, bowing and placing her hands on the hemline of her skirt.

He took a step towards her. "Gomenasai for suddenly taking up your time."

Kaori shook her head. "No, I'm sorry if I took too long to step out."

"I have to attend a briefing with the WGO and rush to the restaurant after this. So, I'm sorry I couldn't wait for class to end."

"Daijobudesu ka, Kyoju?*" she asked.

"Eto…I have a favor to ask," he began, as he slipped his hands in his pockets. "I need Holy Basil."

"Holy Basil?" she clarified.

"Hai, again, sorry to bother you in class, I was actually supposed to go to Shiomi-kyoju to ask her about it. Demo*, Nakiri Alice-san told me to ask you instead."

Nakiri-san, she felt as if her heart had stopped. Just then, she flashbacked the conversation they had yesterday.

'Brace yourself,' she told Kaori.

She didn't fully understand what she meant by that. But now, as she stood there in front of Eishi, she wondered if this was just a mere coincidence, or a clever play made by Alice to make her point. As she started thinking, Eishi continued to babble on about how Alice told her that she's part of the Shiomi RS, how he was getting stressed out because of the last minute need for the ingredient, how he lacked people to help him run errands.

By the time he finished talking, Kaori noticed that he was practically wilting away. "Hai, of course, Tsukasa-kyoju. When do you need it?"

He shyly looked away. "I don't mean to rush you…but I was hoping to get it before the day ends. The Shiomi RS is the only place I know that carries it, and I really need it when the Nakiri International board members arrive tomorrow."

"How much do you need?" she asked, tugging the hemline of her uniform.

"20 grams should be fine."

Of course, she was more than happy to help him out. "Demo, how will I give it to you?"

"Hmmm," he drummed his fingers to his lips in thought. "Is it too much to ask you to bring it to my restaurant after class?"

Kaori froze. Go to his restaurant? She thought, as she felt the back of her neck break into a sweat. She mustered up all the breath in her petite body to say, "Sure, don't worry about it."

"Arigatou," Eishi smiled. "Ja, I'll see you then."

She watched him walk away. Her heart felt like it had leaped out of her chest. Kaori placed her hands over her lips to contain her excitement. After a second of calming down, she clenched her fist and whispered to herself, "100 days, Eishi-senpai."

Maybe there was nothing to regret afterall.

Later in the day, the final school bell rang and Kaori burst out of the classroom. She tried to run as fast as her feet could, heading for the RS. Somewhere along the hallway and in the stream of students, Ryo and Alice stood by the sides and watched her run out the school. Alice squinted her eyes in delight, "Looks like they've already met."

"I've never seen her run so fast…" Ryo, stoic as always, commented. "She's normally so out of it." and he then began to recall all the times he would pass by her, strolling along the hallways.

On the school grounds, Kaori ran past Tadokoro and Yukihira who just got out of their last class as well. "Kaori-san!" Megumi yelled.

She stopped and tried to catch her breath. She looked back, "Megumi-san!"

"Ano…why are you in such a rush?" Yukihira asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"M-Megumi-san…" Kaori heaved. "Tsukasa-senpai…" she continued, trying to catch her breath. "Holy basil…" she added after another breath. "Restaurant…"

"Eh?" her two friends were confused.

She tried to stabilize herself by placing a hand over her chest. "Tsukasa-senpai asked me to bring him Holy Basil to his restaurant."

"Ehhhhh?!" Megumi beamed, balling her fists in excitement.

"Tsukasa-senpai?" Yukuhira asked.

"Hai!"

Yukihira Soma stood there awkwardly as he watched the two girls holding hands and dancing around in excitement. What's with them…he thought. Then he remembered about the meeting they had earlier in the day. It was a conversation between Erina and Eishi, but for some reason, he just happened to be there and they ended up talking. Later on, though uninvited, Ryo and Alice ended up in the meeting room too.

"Is this for the dinner tomorrow night?" he asked.

Kaori and Megumi stopped. "I think so," the brunette answered.

"Dinner?" Megumi asked.

"There's this dinner with the Elite Ten and the board members of Nakiri International tomorrow night."

"Demo…how come I don't know about that?" said Megumi.

Yukihira awkwardly grinned. "Oops," he said, placing a hand at the back of his head. "I forgot to tell you about it, Tadokoro-san."

"Ehhhh?!"

As Megumi panicked and Yukihira cackled at his silliness, Kaori looked at the time on her wrist watch. "Sumimasen," she excused herself and continued running.

Finally at the garden of the RS, Kaori stood there, picking the best basil leaves as she hummed happily. She and Hayama had been tending to them together the past few months. The sweet smell of basil finally relaxed her heart. She checked the time, 4:00 PM. Maybe she still had time to freshen up before seeing him.

Day One seemed to be going well. But for a moment, she wondered if this is how it will end – by just delivering the basil. Alice seemed to help her today, but how about the other days? How will I keep seeing him outside of class? She wondered. That had been her difficulty for months now. She realized that its only now that she's forced to think of a solution because of the bet.

"You ought to stop falling asleep in class,"

Kaori looked up and saw Hayama walking towards her. "I wasn't asleep…I was just in deep thought." She quipped.

"And also the kitchen. I have to wipe your drool off the counter everyday." He commented.

Her smile quickly faded away into a scowl."I don't drool!"

"You do."

Kaori wanted to argue, but she decided to bite her tongue at the last minute. It wasn't that unlikely to happen. "Well…not all the time." She rolled her eyes.

"All the time." He confirmed.

"Tch," she clenched her fist in annoyance. She couldn't stay that way for too long though. There was no time to bicker with Hayama.

"This is for Tsukasa Eishi-senpai." She smiled at the end when she mentioned his name.

He quickly noticed the change in the tone of her voice. "Oh,"

"I'm assuming you're going to the dinner tomorrow?"

He nodded his head. "It's required."

"I think Eishi is going to need this for that."

Hayama picked up a watering can and started tending to the plants. Kaori, on the other hand, continued humming and picking the leaves once silence took over. This was the usual set up they had. At the time she spent in the RS, she noticed that Hayama wasn't really much of a talker. He just seemed to be focused on the daily chores. He's a little bit boring, she thought, the first time she met him. Even she noticed that Kurokiba Ryo was a lot more amusing to observe. But there was one thing she loved about working with Hayama – he was always so considerate.

Kaori watched him win one shokugeki after another in their first year. She realized, after barely making it to her second year, that she needed to work twice as hard to keep herself in the school. Her specialty was fusing medicinal herbs and spices. To keep up, she had to train in a place where she can always have access to them. That's when she decided to join the Shiomi Seminar.

Her daily routine consisted of spending the afternoon in the RS, helping out Shiomi Jun and Hayama with their research proposals. Later on, she would stay up all night studying and perfecting her technique. She knew that unlike Hayama, she wasn't born with talent; she had to develop it. The RS wasn't really her home, but it might as well be, with all the time she spent there. It was her home away from home, next to the Polar Star Dormitory, where she stayed on the weekends because of the weekly drinking party they always had in Marui's room.

She would often fall asleep on the kitchen counter when she studied. When she would wake up, a blanket was already wrapped around her. Her cheeks turned hot as she remembered. "Arigatou, Hayama-kun."

"Hmm?" he turned to her.

"For last night. I did fall asleep in the kitchen…again." She stared at those green eyes as she spoke.

Shiomi had always taken pride in Hayama's kindness. Kaori then thought of the times that girls would come by to ask Hayama to tutor them. He never seemed to decline. Although there was more flirting and gushing instead of actual talks about spices, Hayama remained patient with them.

She felt thankful that his warmth towards others was carried over to her as well. She also hoped that she would be able to return all those favors someday.

Kaori finally zipped the lid of the bag. "Okay, that should do it."

I can't wait, she thought, as she carefully held the bag. "I'll see you later, Hayama-kun." She said and after seeing him nod in agreement, she started skipping away.

The Uptown Area was very different from any other part of the school. Kaori had been here before, but she would always forget that standing in the middle of it made her feel like she was in a whole other world. It was a weekday afternoon, so it wasn't that busy. Still, a handful of customers go in and out of the restaurants and shops.

She made it to Tsukasa's restaurant, which was a perfect representation of the quaint restaurants in Montmarte, Paris. A lot of people had reactions to the way it looked, saying it was too small or traditional. Being the former first seat, they expected it to be grand. But Tsukasa Eishi was very vocal about how he loved the intimacy of it. As Kaori entered and looked at the red and white interiors, the brown rattan seats and bottle candle holders on the table, she immediately tried to piece together why he chose such a set-up. Say whatever you want about it, but she was convinced that he wanted it small because it's more stress-free than managing a huge restaurant.

"Sumimasen!" she called out. The restaurant was empty.

Tsukasa stepped out of the kitchen wearing his crisp, white, chef's uniform. "Hideyuki," he greeted. "Arigatou," he added, wiping his hands on a towel before taking the bag from her.

"Don't worry about it."

He noticed how she overwhelmingly looked at the restaurant. "Have you been here before?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Not yet. Demo…It's lovely."

"Thank you," he said, looking around as well. "Oh, but I've probably caused you some trouble coming all the way here…"

"No, no, don't worry about it." She waved her hands at him.

That was it. She already gave the basil. What now? She thought. She fiddled with her fingers a little bit. There were a million things she wanted to say to him but she assumed that he didn't really have time to talk. "Eto…I really hope it helps you out. Good luck," she finally spoke, preparing to leave.

"Kaori," he called.

Her heart skipped a beat when he mentioned her name. "H-hai?" she hesistantly replied, turning to him.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

I like writing with a few Japanese words in the dialogue because it makes me imagine them really saying it. Let me know if you're like that too! Hehe! The next chapter is going to be very fun and interesting with all of the characters. Hahahaha.

*daijobudesu ka – are you alright?"