Alice and Ryo are playing a video game, and are challenged by another pair.

"Ryo. The potatoes."

"Got it, miss."

"Next ticket, one order of plain cheeseburger. I'm serving the fries right now."

"Potatoes and fish are in the deep fryer."

"Alice? Hello? Alice? Are you there?" Erina knocked on the door of Ryo's room, in the Nakiri mansion. Alice hadn't been in her room, and as if it was common sense, the next best place to look would be in her aide's room.

"I need these mushrooms chopped, Ryo," Erina could hear Alice's voice from inside the room. "Service ends in 15 seconds."

"That's plenty time, miss."

Given that they were talking about food and were probably not up to something indecent (like holding hands… so shameless), Erina decided to just open the door.

Oddly, Alice and Ryo weren't cooking, but were sat together in front of Ryo's tv set, holding a pair of controllers. Just as Erina entered the room, Alice jumped up.

"Whoo! We did it!" she said, giving Ryo a high-five.

"What are you two doing?" Erina asked, partly curious and confused. "What's this about mushrooms being chopped?"

"Oh, Erina. You're here," Alice said, as if she just noticed Erina there. "We were just playing a video game. Did you need me for something?"

"Well, uncle was calling, he said he couldn't reach either of you, so he asked me to check."

"Oh, shoot," Alice said, looking around the floor for her phone. She'd forgotten it was a weekend, and this was about the time that her parents called to check in on her. "I completely forgot! We'd been so absorbed in the game."

When Alice couldn't find where she'd left her phone-probably back in her room-Ryo handed her his instead, as if it was the most natural thing to do. There were a couple missed calls from Soe on his screen. Alice started quickly typing in a text.

"...What's this game, anyway?" Erina asked, curiously walking into the room and looking at the tv screen, and the cartoonish characters in chef uniforms.

"It's a cooperative cooking game," Alice explained, just as she finished up sending a message to her dad. "It kinda simulates working in a restaurant. It's quite fun, if I may say so."

"You're such a kid, spending time on games like this," Erina said thoughtlessly. "You're better off working on your cooking for real, Alice."

Ryo noticed Alice's eyebrow arch up dangerously. "Oh? If it's such a childish game, you think you can defeat me, dear cousin?"

"Of course!" Erina said, getting ahead of herself. The game looked like such a cartoony kiddie game-it couldn't be that tough now.

"Miss, it's mostly a co-op game. You both need a teammate at least if you wanna have a go at each other," Ryo said, reminding Alice of the game mechanics.

"That's not a problem," Erina quickly said. "I know someone I can rely on for this."

"Oh, hey, Nakiri number two. Kurokiba," to Alice and Ryo's surprise, Erina returned with Soma Yukihira. "Wow, you got a roomy place here, Kurokiba. We should hang out here more instead, Hayama's place isn't this big."

"Of course he has a big room, he's my aide and he deserves as much," Alice said, getting up as if to tour Soma around the place, almost as if it was her own room. "And our rooms connect through the balcony, so I can pretty much bug him whenever I want to."

"That's why we can't hang out here," Ryo said. "Unless you don't mind miss Alice popping in out of nowhere. Sometimes she wakes me up past midnight."

"Sucks man," Soma said. "You must have no privacy."

"T-That seems pretty indecent!" Erina said, looking flustered. "You can't stay around in a guy's room all the time and come in uninvited, Alice!"

"Huh? What's wrong with that? I heard you still sleep with Hishoko sometimes," Alice said.

"Wow! You're such a kid, Erina," Soma remarked, looking surprised.

"Alice! You did not have to say that!"

"Speaking of Hishoko, I thought for sure that you were gonna bring her instead," Alice said.

Erina sighed. "I forgot that she had an appointment elsewhere today, and I didn't want to bug her... So I'm gonna have to settle for Yukihira."

"Settle? What are you talking about?" Soma said, to Erina. "We play this game plenty in the dorm. As long as you follow my lead, we're gonna be just fine."

"Your lead?! What are you talking about? I'm the one calling the shots today! You're going to be my support!"

"I bet you don't even know how to play this game!"

Erina and Soma went on and on. Alice and Ryo looked at each other, as if mentally communicating that they were so going to win this.

"What are you doing, Yukihira?! Why are you tossing the vegetables to the damn floor? That's unhygienic!"

"Nakiri, it's a friggin' game! Pick it up and put it on the stove!"

"Why isn't my character moving?! Why won't she chop anything?!"

"Press the damn button!" Soma quickly grabbed at Erina's controller, showing her which button to press. "I told you!"

"Oh my god, Soma! The pan is on fire!"

"Get the extinguisher!"

"Why are we in the red? We're losing money? Why?!"

Alice, beside the two, looked as if she was almost in tears from trying not to laugh out loud. Beside her, Ryo was just quietly focusing on their in-game orders, but he had a small smile as well. As they expected, Erina and Soma were a trainwreck. Alice was aware that Erina was somewhat technologically challenged, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.

"Hah! You two are hilarious! You aren't qualified to run a restaurant together!" Alice said, finally letting herself speak up and laugh. Despite this, she still didn't miss a beat, working together with Ryo on their own order queue.

"Well, thank God we'll never have to do anything like that in real life!" Erina said. She briefly looked up to Alice and Ryo's side of the screen. "W-What?! How do you two have such a high score? You guys aren't even talking!"

"We don't need to," Alice said. True enough, even without communicating, they flawlessly put out one dish after another. "How long have we known each other now, Ryo?"

"Hmm... Almost ten years, Miss."

"Been a while. It's almost like sometimes, I can just read his mind, you know? Right now, I'm positive he's thinking... Damn, these losers are noisy."

Ryo actually chuckled. "...You're not wrong, miss."

"Nakiri! Dammit, stop dilly-dallying!" Soma howled at Erina. "I told you this would go so much better if you put me in charge!"

Needless to say, Alice and Ryo won that round... And the next one, and the next one, and the next one...

"Ugh, it's no use, Erina! They're way too good." After a few hours, even the usually persistent Soma looked like he was over it. "We gotta recoup and get some practice in if we wanna stand a chance."

Erina was already making mental notes to ask Hisako to buy her this game system. "Damn it! If this was an actual food war, you wouldn't stand a chance against me, Alice!" Erina threw her hands up, lightly tossing the controller to the floor, as if admitting defeat.

"Oh? Is that a challenge?" Alice said, as she put down her own controller, and stretched her arms for a bit. "I'm game anytime, Erina!"

"Don't leave me out of this!" Soma said, his expression immediately shifting to enthusiasm at the mention of a potential food war. "How about it? Two on two, just like the game?"

Soma expressing interest almost immediately got Ryo's attention as well. "Sounds good. But you're going to lose to me and miss, of course." Ryo knew that he and Alice didn't often collaborate on a dish, but they knew each other long enough to know their strengths and weaknesses. The outcome of this match was a no-brainer to him.

"The first floor kitchen should be free right now," Alice said, with that mischievous smile of hers. "You're free to borrow our equipment. Of course it won't be an official food war, but it'll be lots of fun! I get to beat both Erina and Yukihira in one match? So much fun!"

"W-Wait, I didn't say anything about this! That was not a challenge!" Erina protested, as the three got swept away and were already getting up as if to leave the room, and head to the kitchen. "I have a tasting appointment later today, I can't waste time on-WAIT, I SAID!"

a/n: Who would win that battle?! Place your bets nowww. Also I wanted to see Alice and Ryo team up in the Regiment arc gdi. I feel cheated. That's missing in my life rn. I wanted to see it T.T