"So, uh what exactly are we doing here?" Souma asked. He was literally dragged to a car by Alice and just brought to some kind of amusement park.
"Shouldn't it be obvious? We are here to enjoy ourselves." Alice replied as she once again led him in.
"You know we could have gone to such a place on weekends or something. It feels kinda off to come here with our uniforms still on." Souma said as he didn't struggle much with her hold.
Alice just smiled back at him as she whispered,"This is probably the only way I can be alone with you, without Erina's meddling." Souma didn't hear her clearly and looked confused at what she says.
"Anyways, don't mind it, just enjoy yourself." Alice said as they approached an arcade.
As they went in, Alice immediately went to the claw machine. Souma saw that inside there was an Erina look alike doll. Alice also seemed to notice it as she spoke.
"Souma-kun, look, that doll looks like Erina. I want to try for it." Alice said as she took out change to try. Souma saw her struggle a lot and could tell that she was getting annoyed by the minute.
"Would you mind if I lent you a hand?" Souma asked her as he tried to help her and calm her. Alice didn't say anything but signaled for him to go ahead.
Souma also tried around a bit and finally was able to get it on his 3rd try. Seeing the results, Alice brightened up.
"Hey, you are not bad in this. Thanks." Alice said as she put the doll away in her bag. Souma just smiled at her and the two continued to tour the area. They tried out all the games and by the end of it, both were satisfied.
"Ahh, that was so much fun. You are like an expert on games." Alice praised Souma as they walked out.
"Haha, I was just lucky." Souma replied as he followed her. Once again, Alice took his hand and led him towards a ride.
Alice approached a roller coaster and since the park wasn't packed much, the line wasn't so long.
"Are you afraid of heights. Souma-kun?" Alice asked as they bought the ticket.
"No, not until now at least. I haven't really been on one of those before." Souma replied as he looked over to Alice who was humming at his response.
Soon enough, the two had their turn. Souma and Alice were put in place and the staff put on the safety and Alice looked at her side to Souma and whispered a small good luck. Souma was confused at what she meant as they started to move up. As soon as they hit the top, Souma was doing fairly well and was taken aback when they suddenly started falling, he felt like he had no weight at all. He looked at his side and saw Alice was trying to hold in her scream. Throughout the ride, he was more focused on Alice's reaction rather than himself.
As the two got off, both were kinda shaken.
"Haah, that was so intense, my legs feel all jelly." Alice said as she sat down on a bench. Souma could only nod at her but he seemed to be faring better than her. Alice saw his calmness after a few seconds and got an idea, an almost teasing idea.
"Souma-kun, carry me." Alice said as she extended her arms towards him. Souma thought about it for a while and to Alice's surprise, just picked her up. As soon as he picked her up, Alice started blushing madly. She wasn't expecting him to be so straight forward.
"Well then princess, what else would you like to do?" Souma asked as he carried her. Alice felt her face burning even more and mumbled a quick please put me down to him. Souma did as he was asked and smirked at his victory against Alice in her own game.
"W-We can end it with a ferris wheel." Alice replied as she for once walked in front of him without dragging him. As she was walking she was wondering if Souma noticed her fast hearbeat and couldn't help but be embarrassed remembering the events seconds ago.
'Get a hold of yourself, me. I decided to use this as a way to tell him my feelings. I can't be bothered by such a thing.' Alice thought as she approached the counter. She bought tickets and luckily for the two, there was almost nobody else in that area.
The two soon got in and as the wheel started, there was silence for a few seconds.
"So, um what was that thing that you were talking to the senpai about?" Alice started trying to erase the almost tense mood.
"Don't worry, I promise I will tell you about it when we meet up with Erina-san." Souma replied as he stared out. Alice didn't know what else to talk about as she struggled to be outright and tell him her feelings.
"S-Souma-kun, do you have anyone you like?" Alice asked, hoping the answer was no. Souma wasn't expecting that kind of question and slightly surprised.
"No, I don't really have such feelings for anyone at the moment." Souma said as he kinda felt like he knew where this was going. He wasn't sure about how he should answer her and how he should handle it.
"I-I see... Um, the thing is I-I-Ireallylikeyou." Alice blurted out real fast as her whole body began to heat up. She didn't dare look at him as she just awaited his response.
"Well...I do find you interesting..." Souma started. Alice was already fearing his rejection and for the first time, she felt like really crying out.
"If you are fine with someone like me, I wouldn't mind trying out such a relation." Souma finished as he smiled at her. As soon as he said that, Alice jolted up and looked at him with teary eyes. Before Souma could say something, he felt something soft on his lips. He went wide eyed as he realized what it was.
Alice didn't know what came over her but as soon as she heard his response, her body went on auto-pilot. Before she realized it, she was kissing Souma. The kiss lasted for a few seconds and when the two finally separated, both had heavy blushes.
"T-that was my first kiss." Alice said as she stared at Souma's eyes.
"Same here." Souma replied as he decided to go in for a second one. This time, it was Alice who was taken aback, but she wasn't unhappy. Alice was bursting with happiness on the inside.
"S-So then, we are a couple from now on?" Alice asked already knowing the answer. Souma nodded at her and she shifted a little to sit beside him. She slowly put her head on his shoulder and decided to enjoy the ride the rest of the time. Souma smiled at her actions and for the rest of the ride, the cabin was a quite chamber with a new couple.
As soon as the ride was over, Alice called for a car and the two went to the dorm.
"Do we keep this a secret?" Souma asked as he was unsure if Alice was ok with an open relationship. He himself wasn't worried about it much other than the anger of the fanboys against him.
"For now, we should keep it a secret, though I do have someone to talk to." Alice replied as the two got to the door. Souma wasn't sure who she was referring to but he was fine with it. As soon as the two got in, they started to hear all the rowdy noises. The dorm was loud as usual and as soon as the two entered, the focus was on them for a moment.
"Oh my, Yukihira-kun and Nakiri-san, where were you two? Come, we are playing some card games, feel free to join. Even Nakiri Erina is playing right now." Isshiki said as he went over to the game. The two greeted the people there and at the side, Alice signaled Erina to follow her.
The two cousins went to the balcony and their disappearance didn't seem to bother the members much as they just thought they had some things to talk about. On the balcony, Erina was wondering about where exactly her cousin had gone with Souma as the two came in at the same time.
"I will get straight to the point, Erina." Alice said and Erina visibly gulped at the suspense.
"Souma-kun is dating me." Alice added on and as soon as she said that, it was as if Erina's whole world was crashed. Erina was shaken and started to question if she heard right. She felt so defeated and felt like this was karma for all her past actions. Alice, however, knew how shaken Erina was and quickly went on to the main point she wanted to tell Erina about.
"Listen, I know you have feelings for him too... T-That's why I have decided that I won't try to hog him all for myself." Alice said. Erina looked at Alice for a moment with visible confusion.
"Well, technically we are a couple but hey if you don't mind some sharing, then you might as well try for him as well. I can't say for sure what he would say but I don't think he will just reject you. I will explain things to him as well, so you better be thankful Bakarina." Alice said as she folded her hands. Without a word, Erina was quick to hug Alice. Alice could feel her tears falling on her and couldn't help but smile at that. Erina also was in her own world as she learnt some devastating news followed with some sort of blessing.
"Aaaaanyways, we should go back in and meet up with Souma-kun. He has some news to tell us." Alice said as she separated from Erina.
"W-what do you mean, Alice?" Erina asked as she was unaware of Souma's interaction with Rindou.
"I don't know too, so we will both learn about it at the same time, just come on." Alice said as she dragged Erina in. Erina on the way wiped her face so that it wasn't obvious she had cried.
As they went back in, the group was still playing and from the looks of it Souma was winning. Alice slowly went towards Souma's side and nudged him to come with her. Souma realized what she meant and let the others know that he was dipping for now.
Souma went with Alice and Erina to his room and the two girls sat on his bed. The atmosphere suddenly turned suspenseful and both girls were waiting for Souma to speak.
"...I don't really know how to start this out, but I can tell you that the reason I'm at this school is just for one specific purpose." Souma said with seriousness.
"And that is?" Erina asked as she was curious as to what Souma had to say.
"I'm not trying to be disrespectful but I'm here basically to train the two of you." Souma said. The reaction from Alice was quite different from Erina's. Erina was just confused as she was quite confident in herself and was confused as to what Souma would train them on.
"Um, Souma-kun, you know you shouldn't joke about such things." Erina said.
"He's probably serious Erina. After all, he has the reputation to be better than the first seat." Alice replied instead of Souma. The surprise was so much for Erina that she literally shouted.
"WWHAT?"
Erina was completely shook. She had never expected Souma to be someone of that caliber.
"B-b-but why would someone like you just act like a normal guy? Shouldn't I have known about you if you are such a great chef?" Erina asked, still not accepting what she heard.
"Well, I don't really try to advertise myself. Your grandfather does know about me, after all he was the one to request for this." Souma replied as he saw Erina calm down. Alice was taking it in fairly well compared to Erina.
'Why would grandfather hide such a thing from me? Is there a bigger picture to this?' Erina thought as she wasn't sure as to why her grandfather kept it a secret from them.
"I'm sure you are wondering why he asked for such a thing. Basically the point is really simple, it's to make you better chefs but for you Erina, I was specifically asked to help you with your father." Souma said. As soon as he mentioned her father, Erina froze and was now completely focused on Souma.
"To tell you the truth, your father isn't really a complete asshole. He just had some bad experience and now he is trying to do anything to fix the 'world'. I have known him for some time and well as you are right now, you stand no chance against him." Souma said it bluntly. This just added to Erina's fear of her father but she also wondered as to how Souma had been acquainted with her father.
"But you will help with that, won't you?" Alice replied with a smile. Souma nodded at her and went on talking.
"I will in fact help you with this, though I doubt I will have much of a chance to help with this central situation myself. Your father is very vary of me and so I probably won't be given much of a choice in helping you out myself." Souma said.
"So, what exactly will you help us in?" Alice asked as she wasn't sure how exactly he would help them. Souma got a smirk at that question and for some reason both girls felt a chill up their body.
"You will see soon enough. I will answer your questions as time goes on but we should hold this off for now." Souma chuckled as he finished. Both girls nodded at him and stood up. Erina was still taking all the events in. First she learned her love interest was taken away but she still had a chance and now she learnt that Souma was a hidden gem waiting to train her in defeating her father. At this point, her feelings for him were just growing and she also decided to talk to her grandfather later on about this. Alice on the other hand wasn't really expecting his reason to come to the academy to help them, but she was fine with it as it just meant spending more time with him.