A taste of Knowledge


The Polar Star Dormitory was quiet as the tomb. With Yukihira-kun's help, Erina had managed carrying the unconscious Ben to a couch in the dining room. The Dane still looked skeletal, as if lying on his deathbed. Erina and Yukihira gauged for any visible changes to their patient's condition. Benjamin began to open his eyes. Slowly, his gaze went from a bleary mess to the usual, inquisitorial fixation. Though speaking softly there was still a commanding tone in his voice, when he asked what had happened.

"You collapsed for some reason. Luckily it seems like you didn't hurt yourself badly, but it still scared me senseless. I had Yukihira-kun help me carry you."

Ben began sitting up only to be laid gently down again by the headmistress.

"Well it's not the first time this happened, actually. Sleep and I aren't normally the best of friends, so I usually have to exhaust myself to the point of fainting."

Erina was shocked. That sounded horrible to do that to your body. She was just about to raise this argument, but was cut short.

"I get that. Sometimes I can't sleep for hours on end, until I work myself hard in the kitchen."

The blonde Nakiri had never thought Yukihira-kun would pull the same kind of stunt, but then again he was… eccentric to say the least.

"Really, Yukihira-san? Maybe the two of us aren't that different… Sorry to inconvenience you more, but would you be so kind to make me something to eat? I would've done it, but unfortunately I'm bedridden."

Yukihira- kun began rummaging in the kitchen while Erina tended to Ben. He was beginning to look a bit healthier as the minutes went by. She didn't know if it was the right time to question him about the night before. She was afraid if she pressured him too much, he'd collapse again.

"100 yen for your thoughts." He inquired.

Erina didn't know where to start. This could be really dangerous if she played her cards wrong, but she had to start somewhere. "I don't think your services will be needed."

Benjamin made an exhalation of air, which must have been meant as a chuckle. "Is this about what you heard last night?"

That caught the headmistress off-guard, how could he possibly know she'd overheard his conversation. The answer came as if Ben had read her mind.

"If you could hear my steps in the hall, assume I heard yours. As for how I knew you were the one spying on my private business, it's quite simple really. You met me at the staircase, indicating a need for answers."

Though not liking she had been discovered nor that Benjamin called it spying, his argument made sense. "What was that even about? You blackmailed Mimasaka Subaru to work for you?"

The Dane got a mischievous glint in his eye "I like to know a bit about potential clients. He is my best option. Furthermore I'd like to know the happenings of Totsuki when I'm not here… Besides, if he helps me, he'll be able to claim he did it for me. I'm owed a few favors by the Japanese police, and they will not make a fuss."

Erina was horrified by just how much influence Benjamin had on a government agency, of a foreign country no less. "Still you can't make people do your bidding like that, it's inhumane. Mimasaka Subaru looked positively terrified."

A grin began spreading across Ben's face, matching the glint. "I'm glad you liked it. I've always had a flair for the dramatic. I went a bit overboard to really sell it to you. 'The stranger arriving at the school is an evil mastermind!' was my aim. I was often the villain in our school plays… or the wise sage - Well that isn't the point. The point is I wanted to see the reaction my spy would make. You coming to me directly is a bit problematic since you'd most often tackle a problem head-on, but since it took you this long, you still like to think things through."

There weren't a lot of things that could truly creep Nakiri Erina out, but being analyzed as a math problem apparently was one of them. "What does all this have to do with working together?"

Ben quickly adopted a business tone "That you tackle problems head on means you won't you my more covert talents, but the fact you think things through means you want information. All I need in kind is a token payment, plus raw data."

The headmistress raised an eyebrow at the last part. "What do you mean by 'raw data'?"

"I live on my knowledge on people, corporations, nations and everything in between. To get this knowledge I sort through what may seem as trivial tidbits, nut on a larger scale can give a lot of insight… even to find an item I've never seen before. It doesn't even need to be much, just what happens at the school."

"I can just tell you anything at all?" Erina was taken aback. If he could truly give solid advice from menial stories from school, then Ben could prove useful.

"Anything, your grandfather told me of the enrollment of Yukihira Soma-san… as an example, of what he found would suit my interests."

The blonde girl thought this over. She had seen him make astute observations, and unearth lost objects for her fellow dorm mates, but she wasn't convinced - yet.

Ben finally sat up across from her. When he looked at her there was the same frightening aura around him, as the evening before when she overheard his conversation. "I can give you a personal try of my methods, if you want? Do you want me to give you information on someone? Is there something you have lost, that needs finding? Or perhaps you want me to tell a secret about you, you have never shared with anyone?"

Erina nodded mechanically at the last offer; if he could truly tell her a secret she had never told anyone she would accept his deal.


He started by handing her a small envelope, explaining she should open it when he told her to. He then uttered a sentence that would change her life forever.

Erina was shell-shocked. How could he have known? She didn't know it herself until he'd confirmed it. "H- how?"

"It is simple really, the informal addressing in a tense situation"

She was ready to scoff at him. Was that his entire reasoning?

"Then there's the secret you told last night… interesting how the subconscious mind works. It went a step out in generation, and when it happened - and puff now you won't have to spill the beans."

Erina was flabbergasted, but she still managed to say "B- but it's true! I really did!"

Ben furrowed his brow for an instant before saying "fascinating. There is also the simple fact, you kept eyeing in his direction. Do you want me to continue or have I proven my reasoning?"

The headmistress was left speechless she could only gesture with her head, that she'd heard enough. Benjamin then gave her permission to open the envelope. What it contained hit her just as hard. Because what Ben had said could easily have been fabricated on the spot from what he'd heard, but the note had to have been written before he collapsed.

It listed the points he had made to convince her, plus half a dozen other statements to back his claim. The last line on the paper meant Ben might have collapsed on purpose. It read:

If Erina Nakiri calls mr. Yukihira by his given name in a crisis-situation it will prove my hypothesis 'Erina likes Soma romantically'


This concludes the 3rd chapter of 'A Taste of Knowledge' It was quite challenging to write this chapter as I needed Benjamin deducing Erina's blossoming feelings for a certain red-head. See you in the next one

- One-of-Stone out

P.S. I hope the story won't disappoint you, icombal231, but there is a limit to how much SoRina this'll feature. It's more of a story about their feelings growing, that it'll be SoRina fluff.