Chapter Ten: Momo/Bunta/Jackal's Advice – Food

Sakuno sat through the Maths class, almost hitting her head on the table out of frustration. She was actually all right at Maths but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. She hummed along to a tune and doodled absent-mindedly on her page. The class was supposed to be copying down examples from the board while listening to the teacher's lecture but no matter how hard she tried, Sakuno couldn't focus.

It is Thursday already, thought Sakuno as she hummed and wrote at the same time. Ryoma hadn't acted particularly strange during the following two days after the 'smile' episode. He seemed cold and nonchalant as usual but that was just him.

Maybe whatever was bothering him is over now, she thought, smiling, that's good.

When the bell rang, Sakuno was out of her seat fast, eager to get out of the Maths period and go to lunch, especially since she started sitting with her sempai-tachis. It was always the funny part of her day.

As she entered the cafeteria, as usual, she was grabbed by a member of the regulars (it was usually Eiji like today) and taken over to their table. It became a regular habit now after the first couple of times and she didn't feel like screaming, "Kidnapper! Kidnapper!" anymore.

But then, Eiji made a sharp left turn up the stairs towards the roof. Then Sakuno really began to panic, OH MY GOD, IT IS A KIDNAPPER!

But then… it was her sempai and no one could achieve that flippy end red hair. They just couldn't.

"U-Um… Kikumaru-sempai, where are we going?" Sakuno said as Eiji half pulled, half led her up the stairs.

"Well, the roof," said Eiji, turning around and grinning, "I thought that would have been obvious."

"W-Well… yes… b-but… why?"

"Hm… O-Chibi said he wanted to see you there."

"EH?" said Sakuno, starting to blush. The roof was one of Ryoma's favourite places apart from the tennis court and in front of the Ponta vending machine, she knew thanks to Tomoka and he never wanted anyone there with him. Needless to say, it was surprising.

"I'm surprised," mused Eiji, seeming to read her mind, "O-Chibi's never had anyone up there. So you're the first! Hm…" he put his free hand under his chin, thinking, "He must really like you, Sakuno-chan!"

"E-EH?" said Sakuno, louder than necessary and then became quiet, blushing, "I- I don't think it's like that, Kikumaru-sempai…"

Eiji dropped her hand a few steps away from the door leading to the roof.

"What makes you say that?"

"H-Huh? Well, Ryoma-kun is a nice… friend and he has helped me a lot," said Sakuno, surprised she wasn't stammering as much as she thought she would, "But… sometimes, I wonder if I might annoy him or… I don't know, just something. But I don't think Ryoma-kun likes me like that."

"Is this what you've been thinking all this time, nya?" said Eiji. His voice was still light and carefree but there seemed to be a tone of seriousness under his playful tone.

"Um, well, yes?" said Sakuno, being an incapable liar.

"Really?" said Eiji, seeming genuinely surprised, his eyes widening, "Wow, out of everything, I would've thought O-Chibi was the one annoying you! I mean, he's clueless all the time and serious about everything and he has this look on his face all the time like this," Eiji pulled a good impression of Ryoma what with their eyes a similar cat shape for a few seconds before changing back to his usual face, "Really, all the regulars are wondering how you haven't snapped by now."

"…Hontou?" said Sakuno. She never would have suspected the regulars would be talking about HER of all things. It was actually a bit embarrassing, wait… so what have they been saying? How do they know about Ryoma-kun and me?

"Yeah," said Eiji, nodding, "And don't worry, O-Chibi likes you, Sakuno-chan. He's just too stubborn to show it or doesn't know how, either way."

Sakuno didn't really know what to reply to that, so she simply said, "T-Thank you, Kikumaru-sempai."

"Good!" grinned Eiji, seeing her expression lift a bit and opening the door. Then he dragged her up and was about to push her out onto the roof when he said a quick sentence, "Oh yeah, O-Chibi is hopeless at any sort of domestic stuff so just act surprised and pretend to like it, OK?"

"H-Huh?" said Sakuno before she was pushed out by Eiji and straight into something else.

"Ite!" said both people, knocking heads and moving back.

"Ryoma-kun?" said Sakuno, rubbing her forehead. She'd probably get a bruise but she wasn't worried about that; her attention was focussed on the other victim across from her.

"Ite…" said Ryoma, rubbing his head too.

"Ah! Sakuno-chan are you OK?" said Eiji, standing beside her, "Sorry, I didn't see O-Chibi there!"

"I-I'm fine," said Sakuno, smiling, "But, Ryoma-kun—"

"Oh yeah, he's fine!" said Eiji, waving a hand dismissively, smiling slightly threateningly towards Ryoma, "Aren't you, O-Chibi?"

"Sure…" said Ryoma, tilting his hat down.

Is he mad? panicked Sakuno.

Eiji noticed her panic rising and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, he just doesn't want you to see his bruise."

"You can go now, Eiji-sempai," said Ryoma suddenly, taking Sakuno's hand and pulling her towards him, away from Eiji.

Eiji suppressed a snicker and turned around, "OK. Have fun! Remember what I said, Sakuno-chan."

"Bastard," muttered Ryoma darkly, glaring daggers at the door where Eiji disappeared.

He seems a bit angry today, thought Sakuno. Then, since he lifted his head, she caught a glimpse of his bruise, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," said Ryoma. He started walking to the middle of the roof, "Come on."

Sakuno realised just then he was still holding her hand.

Only when they were at the middle of the roof did Ryoma let go of her hand. Then he sat down and unzipped his bag.

What's he doing? thought Sakuno as he reached in his bag. The only things she could imagine him getting out were either a bento or tennis racket. Since there was nothing to hit a ball against, she leaned more towards the bento.

Sakuno sat down opposite him and opened her own bag to get out her lunch. Right then, though, a medium sized, black bento box came in her view. She looked up in surprise and saw Ryoma holding the box and seeming to be very intent on a small crack on the roof, "Here."

"For… me?" said Sakuno, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah," said Ryoma.

"Thank you," said Sakuno, carefully taking the box. She looked at it for a while, wondering why Ryoma was suddenly giving her a free lunch.

"You gave me one a week ago," said Ryoma, "So I had to pay back the favour."

"O-Oh, that," said Sakuno, kind of scared the way Ryoma always read her mind, "That was nothing."

"So… are you going to open it?" said Ryoma.

"Ah! H-Hai," said Sakuno, immediately feeling embarrassed, though out of the corner of her eye, she saw the corners of his mouth twitch slightly. At least she amused him in a way.

She slipped off the lid of the bento box and was surprised by the food in there. Being a cooking expert and having an interest in the area (it was, in her opinion, one of the things she was decent, even good at); Sakuno had a good eye for food and a pretty skilled palate.

The ingredients are very good, thought Sakuno, telling that at first glance.

The base was rice and on top of that, a simple omelette. In the section on the right were small, well-done rice balls in triangle shapes. In the section on the left, were some lettuce leaves with small pieces of chicken inside.

It looks very good, thought Sakuno, kind of confused. She'd never actually thought Ryoma would take an interest in cooking considering… well, who he was, but who was she to judge?

"It looks great," said Sakuno truthfully. Ryoma seemed to smile at this even though his eyes were still shielded by his cap.

Sakuno picked up a small rice ball and bit off a piece, chewing slowly.

Delicious! thought Sakuno, biting off a bigger piece. The rice was not too dry and shaped and tasted perfectly. There was a small piece of something like octopus in the middle which tasted great too.

"Sugoi!" said Sakuno aloud, surprising even Ryoma for a second. He looked up and, seeing her face, he said, "Is it good?"

"Yeah!" said Sakuno, nodding, smiling. Then, realising how over-enthusiastic she looked, she blushed and blurted out without thinking to cover up her embarrassment, "Did you learn from someone?"

Ryoma didn't seem to mind her sudden question. He simply looked ahead and said emotionlessly, "Well, you can say so."

Sakuno was slightly confused by his answer but decided to drop it. She didn't want to annoy him after all.

"It really is delicious," smiled Sakuno as she ate a bit of chicken. That, like the rice ball, was perfect.

"Thanks," said Ryoma. He wasn't one to talk much but Sakuno already knew that. She actually came to like the peaceful silence between them.

"That cloud looks a bit like you," said Ryoma suddenly. He was staring at the sky and in particular, one cloud that had a body-like shape with two tendrils of cloud falling from the top like braids.

Sakuno nearly laughed at the resemblance, "It does. What about that one?" she pointed to another similar shape with a little shape poking out from the top like the silhouette of Ryoma wearing his cap. It was on the opposite side of Cloud Sakuno, "It looks a bit like you."

Ryoma smirked, "Sort of." Suddenly he reached over and stole a piece of chicken, popping it in his mouth.

"Eh?" said Sakuno, surprised at his sudden action. She looked at the empty bento box beside him, he must be hungry today…

Suddenly Ryoma seemed to twitch as if something hurt him. His hand started to go to his ear but stopped halfway and instead just scratched his neck, as if trying to pass the action off as nothing.

"Is something… wrong?" said Sakuno, concerned.

"No, nothing," said Ryoma in his usual monotone.

Suspicious, thought Sakuno but decided to think about that later. Right now, Ryoma was probably hungry and as a devoted chef, she didn't like to see anyone hungry.

Picking up a piece of chicken, she offered it to him, "Here."

Ryoma turned to her and blinked, "Thanks."

Then, instead of taking the piece of chicken with his hand, he suddenly took the piece in his mouth and chewed it, seeming to think nothing of it.

Sakuno, on the other hand, was blushing ferociously, having looked like she just fed him. She was still frozen in position, having two small dots for eyes in shock as Ryoma simply sat there and chewed.

"Ne, I'm still hungry," said Ryoma, looking at her.

"Oh, O-OK," said Sakuno, giving him a piece of omelette.

He ate that from her hand and chewed it while staring at the clouds. Then he turned to her again and she gave him a piece of food.

This is pretty fun, thought Sakuno after a few times feeding him. She smiled happily as she gave a bit of rice ball to him.

He's so cute… like a stray cat, she thought.

The sudden ringing of the bell surprised her as it rung. She remembered the time and was surprised by how quickly the time had passed. The bento box was empty as she had eaten and fed Ryoma at the same time from it.

"The food isn't actually all that bad," said Ryoma, getting up. Sakuno stood up and smiled, "Thank you for the food, Ryoma-kun."

"It's OK," said Ryoma. His cap was tilted back down and he was quiet for a while before saying, "Ne, you didn't eat your bento, right?"

"No," said Sakuno, as they both walked to the door leading back down to the cafeteria, "Why?"

"Can I have it?" said Ryoma, sounding kind of shy, something that surprised Sakuno very much. Also, he asked for her bento!

This is the happiest day in my life! thought Sakuno with her food being recognised by her crush.

"Sure," said Sakuno, slightly in a daze but giving her bento to him, "Enjoy."

"Thanks," said Ryoma as he opened the door, "… You're not annoying, Ryuzaki."

Then he walked down the stairs and left.

"Annoying? Annoying…" Sakuno mused aloud, suddenly remembering, "AH! Ryoma-kun, you baka, were you listening!"

I haven't updated in a long time, I know! :(

Half-Yearly Exams have come! Nooo!

But Maths was done today :D

Anyways, please review.