Hello guys ^^

This chap is super long too because it just didn't want to end and because well, there are lots of characters to talk about now XD So it took some time ^^'

Thanks for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing :D

Disclaimer: I don't own SnS

Chapter 21: Blue flames

The wind blew through their hair as Erina stared into Sōma's eyes, unperturbed by the sudden breeze.

"Saiba-sama is...your father?" Erina asked again quietly as shock filled her entire being.

Sōma's left eye twitched in response as his brain processed the inquiry. Sama...? What's with that? "Saiba Jōichirō is indeed my dad." he said in a clipped tone and Erina could do nothing but stare. This simply was too much for her to process in such a short time.

Her idol, her model, her aspiration just turned out to be her nemesis and current pretend boyfriend's father. How was that even possible? Her idol...Yukihira-kun's father...Saiba-sama...was Yukihira Sōma's father...Saiba-sama...Yukihira...Saiba?

"Wait a second, why don't you have the same surname?" Erina inquired warily. Maybe this was just an elaborated joke after all.

"Well, I don't really know the circumstances but he decided to go under my mom's surname when they married." Sōma explained as he tried to reminisce about that certain fact. He hadn't even known about his original surname before going to Tōtsuki...he really didn't know anything about that man...

Erina's hopes shattered with his answer and her thoughts started to spin in circles once again. So he really was her idol's son...then that meant...

Every single mean thing that she had done or thought about him came back to mind as she realized that it was Saiba-sama's son she had done them to. After that, every recent happening with that whole pretense thing came back to mind and her face started to burn up. She had wished for him to disappear so many times...and they had done some intimate things together...like holding hands, kisses here and there...and all the arguments...and...

POOF

Smoke escaped from Erina's head as her eyes started to spin at an amazing speed. Her brain hadn't been able to withstand all that information and it had ended up leaving the boat before sinking with it as Erina began to lose consciousness.

The second Sōma saw Erina starting to fall, all the previous discussion was forgotten and before he knew it, he had rushed to her side and had caught her before her body could touch the ground.

"Erina?!" he called out worryingly but the blonde didn't even react to his voice nor to his shaking her. Sōma hastily checked her breath and heaved a sigh of relief.

After a while, Sōma let his gaze rest of the unconscious girl in his arms and lifted his right hand to her face to push a strand of hair away from her face and behind her ear.

As he watched her breath in and out, a conflicted expression made its way to his face as a complicated smile stretched his lips.

"Just what are you doing to me...?" he asked quietly and the wind of the night carried his voice away.

A loud gasp resounded in the night as Erina shot up in a seated position. She started panting, completely out of breath as she stared into the moonlit darkness of her room.

After a while, she calmed down and looked at her right where Sōma had last been seen, fully expecting to see him standing there but to her surprise, she found nothing but air in his place.

"It-it was a dream...?" Erina murmured as she let herself drop back into her bed sheets.

"Hum, no, it actually happened." a masculine voice coming from her left replied.

Erina inhaled sharply and immediately looked to her left only to fall into the golden eyes of Yukihira Sōma.

A small shriek escaped her lips as she hurriedly scooted away from him while he imperturbably looked at her.

Wide purple eyes stared into veiled golden ones for a long moment before the heiress broke the silence.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

This time, Sōma actually seemed to register the question and opened his mouth to speak.

"Nothing. I was just waiting for you to wake up. Now that you have, I'll be taking my leave." Sōma answered in a voice devoid of emotions as he stood up and started his way to the door connecting their two rooms.

Erina's eyes widened even more in surprise as she watched him do so. "Wha- wait!" she exclaimed to keep him from leaving but it was useless and a few seconds later, the sound of the door clicking shut behind him resounded in the stillness of her room that even the breeze was now afraid to disturb.

Sōma turned the knob of the bathroom door and entered the room listlessly. It was still as beautiful as it had been earlier but somehow, it had lost all its charm to him...or maybe it was only because he just wasn't in the mood to admire it anymore.

Sighing, he let his clothes drop at his feet as he made his way to bathtub, turning the faucet and allowing the water to slowly fill it before heading to the shower case. Turning on the water, he scrubbed himself clean and let the warm liquid run over him for a while. Feeling it flowing all over his face and being felt incredibly good and was doing wonders in clearing his clouded mind. He hadn't really been able to think straight ever since he had seen that picture.

His hands turned into fists at the thought and he decided that it was enough. The bathtub was probably almost full by now anyway.

Indeed, when he approached the bath, it was full enough so he stopped the water and immediately entered it, completely immersing himself in the warm water for a while before emerging and using a hand to push back his wet red bangs from his face.

Then, propping his elbows on the bathtub edges, he sighed, letting the tension in his muscles disappear in the water.

As he relaxed in his bath, the recent event's memories came back to mind and he let them wander, deciding that now was as good a time as any to ponder over it.

To say that he had been surprised to discover that picture would be the understatement of the century. Well, he had been aware that his father had come into contact with the Nakiri family when he'd been a student there at some point but to think he had met Erina as well - now that he thought about it, didn't that mean that he had come back to Tōtsuki after leaving it? Did he keep in touch with the director ? On that picture, he had been wearing a chef's outfit. Did he have business as a chef with him? And even if he did, that didn't explain why he had taken a picture with Erina...

From the looks of it, it seemed like she had been the one to want it and he knew for a fact that his father rarely refused to take one with someone so it probably had been that way. The heiress had probably asked for one as a reminder...the question was why? Why had the the girl felt the need to have that picture taken? If he had to guess, there wasn't a lot of possibilities...and for some reason none of them made him happy. The first one, and the more logical one, was that she had enjoyed his cooking so much that she had asked for it. The second one was - actually, he couldn't really think about a second reason. Or maybe he could but it made no sense, like her crushing on his father or something like that. That just couldn't be, right? Right.

...but if it really couldn't be like that, why had she snatched it away from his hands like that? It wouldn't matter that he saw it or not if it had no special meaning right? And why did it make him feel like that? Like he had something stuck in his throat and a weight on his stomach? Just what was this feeling...? Just why was the thought of Nakiri possibly having a crush on his father bothering him so much?

The more Sōma thought about it, the more confused he was and so he decided not to think at all and simply enjoyed his bath for a while more before exiting and putting on some clothes for the night and heading to bed.

"Good morning."

Everyone around the table lifted up towards the entrance to see the blonde heiress walking inside the dinner room before replying with their own greeting - or rather, almost everyone. There was only one that didn't and to their great surprise it turned out to be her red-haired boyfriend who quietly continued munching on his food.

They were currently eating breakfast which consisted of delicacies from the Occidental cooking world. They had wanted to wait for everyone to arrive at first but when after fifty minutes the heiress still wasn't there, they had just gave in and started without her. She didn't seem to mind so they guessed it was alright.

As Erina sat down between her boyfriend and her aide on the chair that they had saved for her, something felt off. Sōma barely looked at her and nodded before resuming eating without a single word. Actually, something had been off ever since he came down that morning. The reason they all felt that way was because the lad had been unusually quiet. He had only mumbled a quiet greeting when he had appeared but after that, nothing. That was making his dorm mates worry a little since they knew that he always was very talkative, even after waking up. The Polar Star residents exchanged a meaningful look before deciding to let him be for now and nodding in silent agreement.

However, while most of them went back to their food and engaged in a conversation with others, Megumi's eyes remained fixed on the redhead. There definitely was something wrong with him. She had never seen him that quiet before, not even when they were fighting because of her a few days ago. She had heard about it from other students who had assisted to the scene in the school hallways after class. She still felt bad about it from time to time but since they had made up afterwards, it had lightened her conscience a bit.

But now, somehow, it seemed like something else had happened between the two if the tense air around them was any indication...that and the weird glances Nakiri-san threw Sōma-kun's way from time to time.

Megumi's golden eyes fell onto her plate as she pondered over the events. Just what could have happened between yesterday night and now? They had seemed to be completely normal during dinner...

*Flashback*

"Finally! How long does it take to call someone for dinner?" Alice asked as she threw a 'What took you so long?' look at Sōma as he made his way to his chair with Erina on tow.

"Sorry, sorry." he replied with an apologetic smile, "She was still sleeping so I was wondering if I should wake her up or not when she did." he explained just as the blonde took place beside him.

"Sorry for making you wait." Erina said as she nodded at everyone.

"You really slept a lot." Alice commented as they began to fill their plates. "Were you that tired?" she asked as she threw a curious look at her cousin who sent her a strong glare back which seemed to say 'And just whose fault do you think it is?'.

If Alice got that, she completely ignored it and continued to mess with her cousin. "Oh..." she said with mirth dancing in her eyes, "Were you too excited to spend the whole break with your boyfriend to sleep?" she asked in a teasing voice.

Erina's expression darkened in irritation as blood rushed to her face. It was clear to any onlooker that the white-haired teen was seriously getting on her nerves and it seemed like the blonde would snap any moment now.

Any sane person would have stopped there and prayed for her anger to fall but Nakiri Alice was anything but sane it seemed since she actually continued on her tirade.

"But it's good that you were sleeping actually."

That earned her a confused look from her cousin and she developed her thought.

"Well, if you hadn't been sleeping, that wouldn't have happened." Alice explained with a grin as she shoved her phone up to Erina's face.

Erina took it in her hands and looked at it for a while before her blush was back full force. "Wha-what is this?! When did that happen?" she asked, embarrassed.

"Hmm?" Sōma got closer to 'his girl' and peeked at the phone to discover just what has elicited this reaction from the blonde. Upon seeing the picture, he relaxed and said "Oh that!"

On the phone screen, you could see Erina's head resting on Sōma's shoulder as the girl slept peacefully.

"Your head fell on my shoulder when we hit a bump on the road and since you were sleeping so soundly, we just let it be." Sōma explained with a grin.

Every occupant of the table was reminded of that particular moment which made some flush at the reminder since it was actually rather intimate to sleep on the other's shoulder.

Erina herself blushed a little more before wordlessly extending the phone back to her cousin without looking at anyone, looking pretty much like the girl in love embarrassed at having been caught in the act that she ought to be.

It could have ended there if Alice had just taken her phone back and continued to eat. However, it seemed like the white-haired girl had other plans in mind.

"Oh, don't give it back already! You didn't even see the best one yet!" she exclaimed joyously and a shiver ran up Erina's spine as her eyes widened a bit. This couldn't be good...

Warily, she brought the phone back before her eyes and slid her thumb on the screen to see the next picture.

All of those who previously thought that Erina's face couldn't get any redder were proven wrong as the girl's face turned completely crimson up to her neckline as she discovered her innocent sleeping self being carried by Yukihira-kun in a princess hold as the lad looked at her.

"You were so cute together as he carried you in his arms that I couldn't help but take a picture. It would have been a shame for you not to see it after all." Alice commented as she finally took the phone away from Erina's now trembling hands. Whoever said that ignorance was bliss had been a really wise man and Erina just didn't know where to look anymore in her mortification and had settled for looking down at her plate once again.

The Polar Star girls and Ikumi who had seen the scene and Hisako who had been making some important calls at the moment blushed a little at the mention of it while Houjou who couldn't care less about something like that quietly continued to eat while the boys - except Kurokiba-kun - only looked curiously at the two lovebirds.

"Ah, there was that too." Sōma confirmed before taking another bite from his food. After masticating and swallowing, he added with a serious expression, "You're heavier than you look."

Erina's eyes immediately widened in response as she looked at him in shock along with the other occupants of the room. A silence fell onto all of them as they stared at the redhead either in surprise or shock, not daring to say anything.

Unable to find anything to say back in front of all those people watching them, Erina's face colored itself with discontentment and embarrassment before she shot up and turned to leave without a word.

That got a reaction out of Sōma.

"Hey! Don't get mad! I was trying to lighten the mood?" he tried as he abandoned his plate in favor of chasing after the heiresss and preventing her to leave. "You barely touched your food anyway, won't you eat a little? I'm sure you're hungry." he added as he grabbed her wrist.

Erina stopped in her tracks to send him a mighty glare. "You should have thought about that before! And I'm not that hungry anyway." she hissed stubbornly.

"Come on! I mean, it's not as if you weighed 100 pounds, it just surprised me a bit but you're not that heavy either." Sōma said, trying to coax her into coming back.

Erina only slapped his arm in response with elicited an "Ouch!" from the redhead and a satisfied smirk from Erina.

"Why did you hit me?" Sōma asked in surprise.

Erina's smirk only widened at his question as she simply answered "Because I wanted to."

As Megumi watched the two bicker some feet away from the table, the only thing that she could think about was that they were a perfect example of bickering lovers and somehow, this realization hurt more than she thought it would. It's not as if she hadn't known that they were together beforehand but actually being a direct witness of their obvious display of affection, it just became so...real. When those were only words, she could still have that little hope that they weren't that serious about each other and that she would have her chance but now...

Well, she had seen the possessiveness that the heiress had previously displayed towards her red-haired friend but it could have been faked, right?

...just who was she trying to fool? It was obvious that the two cared a whole lot about each other and this being the way it was, she had absolutely no space to slide in...

Megumi's eyes trailed on them for a while longer until Sōma put his right arm around Erina's shoulders, still trying to get her to get back to the table. The sound of something cracking resounded in her ears and Megumi's gaze rapidly fell back onto her plate.

She shouldn't be watching them anyway...it only made it hurt more than it should.

*End of flashback*

"-mi! ...gumi!"

Eh?

"Megumi!"

"Hai!" Megumi exclaimed as she straightened, stiffening in her seat as her eyes flew upwards. Upon seeing everyone's surprised gaze resting on her, blood rushed to her face and Megumi could feel her face heating up in embarrassment.

Her gaze was already starting to fall back down on her plate in shame when she heard her name being called once again.

"Megumi!"

Lifting her eyes back up and to her left, she discovered an impatient Yūki looking at her with a 'Finally!' glint in her turquoise eyes. Her face heated up some more as she gave her her full attention.

"We were talking about going to the beach today and everyone already said they were okay with it. Is it okay with you too?" Yūki asked, expectantly staring at her,

"Y-yes! It's okay with me as well." Megumi stuttered while silently wishing for them to stop staring at her already.

"Then it's decided!" Alice joyfully exclaimed and Megumi's attention flew to her. "Let's meet in the hall fifteen minutes after breakfast then." she proposed and everyone agreed before resuming their chatting and eating.

Well, almost everyone did. Sōma stayed quiet and silently finished his plate before excusing himself from the table and making his way upstairs.

Something was definitely wrong with him.

The sound of the mattress adjusting to the newly weight added to it could be hear as Sōma let himself fall back on his queen-sized bed. Acting normal had turned out to be impossible that morning since he just couldn't stop thinking about that picture. He still wondered why she had it with her, exactly when it was taken and just why she had felt the need to have it taken. It obviously wasn't just a picture since she seemed to carry it along when she was traveling as well...exactly what were her feelings towards his father?

His eyebrows furrowed in frustration as Sōma stared at the grand ceiling.

Just why did that seem to matter so much to him anyway? She could be crushing on anyone she liked, right? It wasn't like him to be bothered by something like that...

Sōma brought his right forearm over his eyes and closed them, using the resulting darkness to clear his mind of all those unnecessary thoughts.

He was in the middle of it when he heard faint voices coming from the hallway, just in front of his door. Cracking an eye open, he surveyed the door and sure enough, a knock resounded against his door soon followed by a faint shriek.

Sitting up, he schooled his expression before saying "Come in." while wondering just who could be behind the door. Was it her ? He wouldn't have put it past her cousin to force her to go and check on him since he was her 'boyfriend' and all...

A few seconds later, a glimpse of blue hair entered his vision telling him that he had been wrong, soon followed by their nervous owner.

Tadokoro...

The girl slowly stepped in without closing the door and he could see a glimpse of orange and violet hair.

Yoshino and Sakaki huh?

He should have expected that. He had been a bit out of it that morning after all...

"Hum..." Tadokoro's voice brought him out of his thoughts and he focused on the fidgeting girl standing in front of him. "Is everything alright?" she asked as she gave him an hesitant glance.

Sōma blinked twice before pasting a small sheepish grin on his face.

"Ah, yeah, it's nothing." he started with a small laugh, "I just had a bit of a hard morning." he briefly explained, letting his gaze slid on the wall and resting on the clock hanging on the wall. "I'm fine, don't worry about me." he reassured once again before changing the subject. "That said, We should be getting ready for the beach now. It won't be long before we have to meet with the others downstairs."

"Ah! That's right!" Tadokoro exclaimed, glancing at the clock as well. "Then, excuse me!" she added with a bow before hurriedly leaving the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Sōma alone once again.

That's right, I can't make them worry about me like that... Sōma thought with a small smile.

Standing up, he made his way to his closet and started to look for his swimsuit. He had to get over it. Plus, he kinda wanted to hear about how Erina met with his father...maybe he'd learn a little more about him like that - even if a part of him just refused to know anything more about that...

"Woah!" Yūki exclaimed excitedly as she looked all around her, taking in as much as the view as her eyes could.

The beach was truly beautiful. The sea was unbelievably blue in contrast with the sand and its pearly white color. A little farther, she could see multiple groups of people either enjoying the sea water, walking along the shore, playing beach volleyball or just lying on their towel. There seemed to be some vendors as well with some food shops here and there.

Yūki wasted no time in going to explore the beach and the others soon followed behind her, looking for a spot they could get for their group to settle down.

"Okay!" Takumi exclaimed energetically, "I'm gonna find a better spot than you, Yukihi-" he started, pointing his index towards Yukihira but cut himself off when he saw Sōma and the others put down their bag on the shadowy spot provided by some surrounding coconut trees.

"Hmm? You said something Takumi?" Sōma asked, oblivious to what had just transpired.

Takumi's face heated up in embarrassment and Isami started to laugh at his brother's failed attempt to challenge the redhead, earning a small "Shut up." from said brother.

Evading Sōma's gaze, Takumi walked up to them and put down his own bag while muttering a small "Nothing" in shame.

Sōma only shrugged as he took out his towel and laid it down on the sand before taking off his opened shirt, and letting it fall on his towel, exposing his toned body to the onlookers.

To say that they hadn't attracted any attention when they had arrived would be the lie of the century. Every single person present on this beach had at least glanced at their group twice. No surprise there since it was mostly formed by hot guys (Isami was currently in his thin form) and unbelievably cute girls. Add to that the facts that the guys only had open shirts with their shorts and that the girls either wore sweatshirts, summer dresses or nothing but shorts over their swimsuits (Ikumi) and you had people stopping to admire them all over the beach, some even dropping whatever they had in their hands at the sight.

However, most of them remained completely oblivious to the sudden attention or simply couldn't bring themselves to care about it and just ignored it which is why they were acting as normal as they usually would.

"Mou, Erina!" Alice's voice arrived to his ears and he lifted his head towards the direction it had come from. Alice was standing in front of her cousin (he supposed since she was hiding her from view) a few feet away from him, already in her white and red bikini while Erina had yet to take off her cover. "Take that sweater off already!" Alice exclaimed in an exasperated voice.

She waited for a second or two but when Erina made no movement to actually take it off herself, she lost her patience and grabbed the zipper.

"Or do you need some help?" Alice asked, already beginning to pull it down without waiting for a reply.

Erina's hands shot up to stop her as she blushed a little. "Stop it, Alice!" she complained in embarrassment. As the last time she had gone to a public pool, she was feeling a little conscious over exposing her body to people like that.

"Milady Alice!" Hisako called out, coming to rescue her mistress. "Stop looking down on Erina-sama!" she said as her own hand joined the ones struggling over the zipper. "She can take it off herself!" she reprimanded and Alice retracted her hand before pouting.

"Fine!" Alice conceded after staring into Hisako's eyes for a while before making her way to Ryō who had her belongings and asking him her sunscreen block. "Can you put some on my back?" she asked him as she turned around and presented him with her back.

Left with no other choice, Ryō sighed and diligently started to spread the cream over her back in silence while Alice did the same for her front.

"You want some too Erina?" Alice asked, looking up to her cousin who had finally opened her sweatshirt and was beginning to get it off.

"Hmm okay." Erina replied and was about to step towards Alice when Hisako stopped her.

"Ah! Actually, I have taken the liberty to bring some for Erina-sama but thank you for your concern Milady Alice." Hisako stated with a smile to which Alice responded with a nod before resuming her activity.

Turning towards Hisako, Erina extended her hand to receive some cream and started spreading it over her front like she had seen her cousin of before, leaving her back to her dedicated aide.

Meanwhile, Ikumi finished settling down between the Aldini twins and the Polar Star girls and stood back up after taking off her shorts. She had chosen a simple white bikini this time which was contrasting against her dark skin. Feeling a stare resting on her, she turned to her right only to discover a frowning pouty teary-eyed Yūki who seemed to be glaring at her voluminous chest.

Lifting her shades, Ikumi gave her a slightly confused look before glancing at Yūki's own chest and snorting shortly as realization hit her.

"Don't worry, they can still grow." Ikumi smirked as she let her sunglasses fall back on her nose.

Yūki scowled at her before humphing and turning her face away from the dark-skinned blonde which earned her an amused chuckle from said blonde and a sweat drop from Ryōko who had followed the incident.

"Ryōko! Let's go look around the beach!" Yūki exclaimed in frustration as she quickly got up herself, completely ignoring Ikumi's "Oh, I had planned to do that as well."

"Oh, okay." Ryōko uncomfortably agreed before straightening up herself and turning to her right to look at Megumi. "You're coming too, Megumi?"

Megumi threw her a panicky look as she glanced at the Chinese girl crouching next to her, digging some things from her bad. Noticing her worry and correctly interpreting it, Miyoko spoke up. "You don't need to worry about leaving me alone, I'm just going to lie down a little." she simply said to which Megumi nodded in relief before standing up, keeping her summer dress and straw hat on as she made her way to her waiting companions.

Shun calmly watched Yūki's form disappear behind a group of people before letting his eyes slide back to his other side and onto his noisy companions.

A mere feet away from him, Daigo and Shoji were arguing about...something stupid and poor Marui had been stuck in the middle of the two and was presently unable to break free of them. He would have gone and helped him but the perspective of being stuck with him instead wasn't that rejoicing so he let the idea perish and decided to take a small nap instead.

Not too far from him, Hayama was about to do the same when sea water splashed on him. He froze for a second before slowly straightening up into a siting position and cracking his eyes open, revealing the annoyed glare which had been hidden under his eyelids.

The two recipients of this glare were without much surprise two uncomfortable-looking teenagers who were slowly backing away from the obviously upset Akira.

"Yukihira...! Aldini!" Akira shouted as a vein popped onto his temple before springing up and chasing after the two fleeing boys into the sea.

From where they were still standing, the Nakiri cousins only watched the boys fool around and briefly thought that they wouldn't have expected that from them...then again they were at the beach so well, better make the most of it. And after exchanging a brief glance, they both began to make their way to the sea with Hisako on their trail, leaving Ryō behind to watch over their belongings.

A drop of water landed on Erina's face and she groaned from her lying position, not inclined to get up any time soon but then, there was a second one, and a third. By the time the fourth one landed, Erina had cracked an eye open and was half-heartedly glaring up at her annoying cousin.

"Stop dripping on me already and go dry your hair." Erina grumbled before closing her eye again, fully expecting her to retreat.

Another drop told her that she should have known better and she reluctantly opened her eyes and propped up onto her elbows.

"What do you want?" she asked Alice in an irritated voice which made a satisfied grin appear on her cousin's joyous face.

All around them, their fellow classmates were happily chatting away without really paying any attention to the both of them, at least until Alice's next words.

"You said you were going to buy me an ice cream." Alice simply stated, attracting the attention of the others, and Erina stared at her in confusion.

"When did I even -"

...

"Mou~! You can't just take a nap! We're at the beach! Come play with me some more!" Alice complained as she tried to convince Erina to get up from her towel.

After playing for a while in the water, her tiredness had become worse than it already had been because her lack of sleep during the two previous nights. After the brief conversation she had had with Yukihira-kun the night before, her thoughts hadn't stopped to run into circles and sleep had fled away from her tired mind until the early morning. In the end, she hadn't slept much before it was time to get up again. And so, she had gone back to her towel, fully intent on lying down resting a little but Alice had been annoying her and she was looking for a way to make her go away.

"Come on, Erina! And we're gonna go get ice cream afterwards!" Alice tried again but Erina answered without even making a move.

"If you let me rest, I'll buy you that ice cream later, okay?" she had offered in her desperation.

"Erina!" Alice had tried again before humphing and straightening up. "Fine." she had finally said before leaving her alone.

...

"Ah."

Alice grinned as she saw her cousin connect the dots in her mind. "You remember now?"

"...yeah." Erina confirmed half-heartedly as she unenthusiastically got up. "What flavor?" she asked as she looked for her wallet.

"Chocolate!"

Erina stopped searching and turned around. This wasn't Alice's voice. Glancing at her companions, she saw Sakaki-san scolding Yoshino-san and correctly concluded that it had been her voice, and if the looks that the others were giving her were anything to go by, then she wasn't the only one who wanted an ice cream.

She stared silently at the group before sighing and taking a notepad but Hisako beat her to it, having understood her mistress' intention and started to note which flavor everyone wanted. When Erina got the final list in her hands, she realized that she couldn't possibly take back all of those alone and sweat dropped.

Apparently, she had voiced her thoughts because Alice rapidly exclaimed "Yukihira-kun can help you with that!" while giving a 'Let those two go alone.' look at Hisako who sighed in defeat and sat back down.

The moment Sōma heard his name, he tensed and if you hadn't been looking at him at the time, you would have missed it as a resigned expression was on his face less than a second later.

"Fine by me." Sōma simply said before he stood up as well and put his shirt back on.

Erina's purple eyes widened at the perspective of spending some time with the redhead after the recent revelations and she was starting to protest when Alice joined her hands together and exclaimed "Then it's decided!", effectively cutting her off.

Erina hesitantly glanced at Sōma and bit her lip.

Sōma made his way to her and murmured "Let's go, Nakiri." to which Erina nodded before they both began their way to the ice cream vendor under the eyes of their companions who soon resumed their conversations. But a pair of yellow eyes was still trailing after the two.

Something was off. Sōma-kun's behavior...something was definitely off with it.

The blunette stared at their retreating back, deep in thought until cold water splashed against her face. She shrieked a little and spun around to discover the grinning face of a dripping wet Yūki who wasted no time in tackling the previously dry Megumi.

The tickling that this created was soon unbearable for Megumi who started to laugh, only managing to place some words in between her fits of laughter such as "Stop it" and "It tickles!" which went happily ignored by the energetic Yūki.

Laughter filled the air around them all and brought a smile on everyone's face which was a loud cry from the atmosphere currently surrounding our two lovebirds.

Ever since they had left the others, not a word had been spoken by either of them - actually, it almost seemed as if the redhead was completely ignoring his companion. He didn't even try to get a conversation running between the two.

This vaguely reminded Erina of the time when he had been mad at her because of all the punishment thing. Only speaking when necessary while making sure to make the bare minimum to get their act running, that was exactly what it felt like right now as she quietly walked behind him, staring at his back without caring much about their surroundings.

So when Sōma stopped walking, she flew straight into his back.

"Ouch...!" Erina hissed as she lifted her hand to her now aching nose which she had just bumped into Sōma's firm back. "Why did you stop walking?" she asked in frustration as she looked up at him only to freeze in surprise.

There was a strongly irritated glint in his golden eyes but looking closely at him, she noticed that it wasn't directed at her. Sōma seemed to be glaring at the people surrounding them and she didn't get why. None of that was surprising since she had been so focused on Sōma that whole time and therefore missed the lusty stares she had been getting from the guys that she passed by.

Unfortunately for him, Sōma had caught said stares and found himself more and more irritated with them until he couldn't take it anymore and stopped to glare at them - which was when Erina had bumped into him.

Sending her a glance over his shoulders, it finally occurred to him that the blonde was wearing nothing but her bikini and suddenly, it all made a lot more sense.

Hmm...going back to fetch her sweatshirt wouldn't be that much of a good idea since they were already more than halfway there...which left him with only that choice.

Slipping out of his shirt, he put it over her shoulders, ignoring the surprised noises and slight flush it elicited from her.

"Wha-what are you doing -" Erina started but Sōma soon cut her off.

"Put it on." he murmured as he finally lifted his gaze and looked her straight in the eye for the first time that day.

Erina flushed a little more as she frowned in incomprehension. "Why should I? It's yours, keep it." she said while struggling to get it off her shoulders but Sōma maintained it firmly in place and gave her a 'Don't take it off.' look.

"The guys are giving you lewd looks." he eventually explained before retracting his hands and straightening up. "But if you don't want it, then fine, give it ba-"

"No!" a red-faced Erina immediately exclaimed before realizing what she had just done and looking away. "I'll keep it." she murmured quietly, suddenly self-conscious and finally noticing the looks that she was receiving.

Sōma nodded at her and pocketed his hands before turning around and resuming walking, only to freeze a few seconds later when Erina's arm shyly made its way into the crook of his elbow.

Sōma's golden gaze shifted from her arm to her face as he looked at her questioningly. Her face seemed to redden a bit more as she looked back straight into his eyes.

"What?" she asked poutingly, daring him to say anything back.

Golden clashed against purple for a moment before searching the smaller girl's eyes for the answer they seemed to be looking for.

After a while of that, Sōma closed his eyes and faced back ahead. "Nothing." he simply said before starting to walk again with the heiress clutching his arm.

That seemed to discourage some of the guys who whispered more or less discreetly things like What's that...so she has a boyfriend? or Che. And here I thought I'd make a move... and such. For some reason, most of Sōma's irritation vanished upon hearing those words and his mood lightened immensely.

Noticing his mood change, Erina stared at her companion in wonder. Just what had been the matter with him? He had suddenly been in a foul mood for no reason and now it was gone without explanation...or was it related to the gazes she had been receiving...?

Erina shook the thought out of her head (earning a glance of Sōma as she did so) and mentally scolded her brain for coming up with such absurd scenarios. It just couldn't be because that would mean - stop. It was ridiculous and there was no reason to go there.

"We're here." Sōma stated as he stopped walking.

"Huh?" Erina answered, stopping as well and slowly coming out of her thoughts to focus on her surroundings. "A convenience store?" she asked incredulously as she turned to look at him in surprise.

Sōma shrugged before simply replying "There's no way we can bring back that many ice creams in a single trip if we take them somewhere else."

Erina considered that fact for an instant and imagined herself carrying as many cones as she possibly could in her hands and the image she got was plainly ridiculous so she nodded at the lad before entering the store alongside him.

Taking out the list Hisako had written for her, Erina let go of Sōma and started to look around for the ice cream freezer. Having found it before her, Sōma called out to her and they both started to take out the chosen ice creams. They hesitated between cones and cups before going for cones and making their way to the counter.

Just as the cashier started to scan the cones, Erina took out her wallet and took out her credit card to pay for the ice creams.

But just as she did so the cashier said "Ah, I'm sorry, our card reader broke down this morning." That made Erina look up sharply with wide eyes in disbelief. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience." the woman apologized again.

"Seriously..." Erina muttered under her breath.

"You don't have any change?" Sōma asked as he looked over her shoulder.

"I don't know...I don't usually use it so I'm not sure..." Erina replied as she searched her wallet for bills or change.

"Eh...I can't say I'm very surprised to learn that." Sōma said in a half serious half teasing tone.

"Shut up." Erina hissed quietly as she sent him a small glare.

Sōma grinned in response and quietly waited for her to look for it. After a few seconds, he proposed "You know, I got some money too."

"Thanks but it's okay." Erina replied as she finally found some bills and extended it to the cashier who took it and looked for change while Sōma took the provided plastic bag and grinned at Erina who only gave him a halfhearted irritated look and put her change in her wallet.

A small sound attracted both their attention and they found themselves looking at the amused face of the cashier.

"Ah, sorry. I just thought how cute a couple you two were." the woman explained with a small smile.

Erina blushed in embarrassment and even Sōma flushed a little but it was gone as soon as it came only to be replaced by an unreadable expression and a small smile as he answered "It's okay." before turning towards Erina.

"Let's go."

Erina only nodded in response before quietly following him outside without really looking at him. Was that how people saw them - well, that was what they were after but still...it felt kinda embarrassing to have people pointing out how couple-like they looked.

Erina's thought process was abruptly cut off by the warm thing that wrapped around her hand. She instantly identified it as Sōma's hand as this wasn't the first time they held hand but was surprised by the action anyway and her gaze flew up to him only to discover that he wasn't actually looking at her.

Sōma was staring into the distance and she was immediately reminded of the stares she had received on the way there as she squeezed his hand a little, earning a brief glance from Sōma who kept walking without a word.

However after a short while, Sōma spoke.

"...what is my father to you?" he asked so quietly that she would have missed it if there had been loud noises around them.

Fortunately, there weren't any at that moment and she heard it loud and clear. However, she didn't really know how to answer that- or if she'd answer at all for that matter and so silence stretched between them until Sōma spoke again.

"...how did you meet?"

Erina was about to respond that she had no obligation to answer that but the words died on her tongue when she saw the eyes of Sōma who had stopped in his tracks to glance at her over his shoulder. There was just...something in his eyes that told her that her answer was really important to him and so she closed her mouth and took a deep breath as they stood on the beach.

Reopening her eyes, she looked deep into his and spoke.

"I understand. I'll answer that but let's take these ice creams back first otherwise they might melt." Erina said with sincerity and after staring into her eyes for a few seconds, Sōma nodded and resumed walking, still holding her hand.

They made their way back in silence and after a few minutes, they finally reached their group. They were received by a mildly impatient Alice.

"What took you so long?" the white-haired girl asked as she sat up on her towel and lifted her sunglasses to look at them only to smirk satisfactorily at the sight that greeted her.

The two teenagers were steadily making their way towards them, hand in hand as if that was the most natural thing in the world, Sōma carrying the bag and Erina now adorning Sōma's shirt over her swimsuit.

Quickly connecting the dots, her smirk widened and she placed her shades back onto her nose. Alice wasn't the only one to notice that and two of the others avoided their eyes from the scene. The first one aka Megumi simply closed them, wishing that she hadn't had her hopes crushed once again while the second one namely Ikumi glared at nothing, wondering just why Erina-sama had to get with Yukihira.

When Ikumi had first heard about that rumor, she hadn't wanted to believe it. Like, seriously, what were the chances that Erina-sama who only longed after Yukihira's expulsion had actually started to date him? It's true that some say that there's a thin line between hate and love but still...at least, that's what she tried to tell herself until she actually saw them together on Tuesday. They had been so obviously happy to be with the other that you would have had to be blind to not see that they were totally a couple. And so, that had Ikumi thinking and nursing a broken heart. There was just no way that she could go against Erina-sama...but at least, she could still hope to be counted amongst his friends...

Meanwhile, Hisako stood up and made her way to the couple to retrieve the ice creams and start the distribution. She started with the two lovebirds and then began to go around the group giving to each their own. While she did so, Erina and Sōma both made their way to Erina's belongings to fetch her sweatshirt before beginning to walk away from them once again.

"Eh? You're leaving again?" Takumi called out to them and they stopped and looked back at their friends.

"Yeah." Sōma answered briefly before adding with a smile, "We'll be back later." and resuming walking with Erina by his side quietly eating her ice cream.

They quickly disappeared from their sight as their left behind friends exchanged small glances. Most of them had noticed that something had been wrong with the redhead at breakfast that morning but after that, he had seemed more energetic so they figured it was alright somehow. But well, maybe he just needed to spend some time with his girlfriend.

And with that last thought, they all began to enjoy the coolness the ice cream provided in this hot weather.

After walking for a bit, Sōma and Erina saw some rocks not too far from them. They exchanged a glance and made their way to that rocky spot, taking a seat face to face on the bigger ones.

A warm wind caressed their whole body as they slightly scooted away to be able to look at each other during their talk.

While Sōma patiently waited for her to start speaking, Erina looked out at the ocean, gathering her thoughts. Then, letting her purple eyes rest on the quiet redhead, her lips parted and she spoke.

"It happened ten years ago. That day, I was unbelievably bored and was wandering around the mansion while looking for something to do. Alice was already gone at that time so this wasn't an option. And so, I was wondering what to do when I smelled a delicious scent...

I followed it and it led me to a room where my grandfather was sitting and being served by a chef I had never seen before. I planned to stay hidden and observe them in silence but then...my stomach growled. I tried to silence it but it was too late, both of them had spotted me already. After some explanations were done on my part, Ojii-sama asked me to go back to my room but then my stomach growled again...

Saiba-sama then smiled gently and invited me to take a seat. That's when I tasted it, his cooking. It was...the first time that I ever thought that cooking could be fun."

Erina paused and closed her eyes for a second before reopening them letting her eyes fall onto the quiet blue ocean, a light flush now adorning her cheeks.

"So I guess you could say that he's my model and inspiration." she murmured into the wind and silence fell upon them once again.

Sōma sat in silence as his brain took its time to process the words.

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, Erina turned towards the redhead and spoke again.

"So? Why was that so important to you?" she asked, a little perplexed and curious about the reason why the boy had been so serious about that matter. She gracefully answered his questions so she had the right to have him answer hers.

Sōma's gaze slid on the blonde sitting beside him as he scrutinized her purple eyes wordlessly. He guessed she indeed deserved an explanation.

That could be a problem.

Just how was one supposed to explain something that they didn't understand themselves ?

…and cut!

Answer to guest reviews:

Alyanna: Hey :) You know, I'm really happy to see that you like this story so much and all but you know, sometimes it's not that I don't want to update, it's just that life got in the way or the chapter doesn't want to end ^^' So I don't forget about you all :) Also, I'll work on Darkness or Light next ;) Thanks for reviewing ^

Guestsquared: Done ^^' Sorry, I'll be careful about using Japanese words unnecessarily now… Thanks for telling me and glad you enjoyed it anyway :)

Hey: Happy to know you liked it ^^ Don't know how this ending was though lol XD Thanks for reviewing x)

David: I guess XD And well, I guess she suffered a bit though it's more about Soma this time…hmm. Maybe it'll be more about Erina next time ;) Thanks for your review :D x)

HarmoniaFreak: Glad to know that :D x) Really? :D Yay! XD Hmm…probably lol ;) When Soma gets over his jealousy XD You're welcome and thank you for sharing your thoughts ;D

Sergioqsc: Glad you liked it ^^ I'm bad at defining genres lol XD Was that dramatic? If so, I'm glad it took the route you voted for ;D Thanks for reviewing x)

Guest (1): Language XD But same here XD I hate to read them and love to use them apparently XD ^^' Hope you enjoyed this chap too x)

Guest (2 & 3): Happy to see you enjoyed it x) Here is the update ;)

Thanks to the registered reviewers as well WolfKinx, WriterMushroom, raydark182, MidnightRhyme, Keysone, HelL4DAluCarD, FirstStory, JeGosu, Generation Zero, PantherSeraphin, HiragaSaito16, nagitochris, madeyemoody95, Mariafe727, MasterE.N.D, Justinsj5, Eramis8, IceEros, Hinate, OrangeSpark5555, LoveGlutton, Hashtagnalu2021, Skytte, Jerza Fernandes, 2n2kas, Romantic Warrior 1999, edna viibritannia, acpeters, SsinofPride and Dalisay08 :D

Ja ne