Alice is asked who her first kiss is.
The bottle pointed right at Alice. She giggled heartily, as if surprised by this. She joined a game of Truth or Dare with the Polar Star girls, Erina, and Mito. They were in another Polar Star "rice juice" drinking party, and the girls kept giggling jovially while the guys were occupied with other concerns-like grilling snacks for everyone.
"Alright," Alice said, thinking of her choices for a moment. "Hmm… Truth."
The girls looked thoughtful, as if trying to come up with a juicy, tell-all question. Finally, Yuki came out with one.
"Who's your first kiss? And like, not your parents! Who's your first kiss with a boy?"
The girls looked on at her expectantly. Erina was expecting Alice to finally come out and say that she actually had no experience with boys at all, and it had been all bluff.
But Alice looked like she didn't even give the question some thought, and she just replied instantly. "That's easy. It's Ryo."
Ryo had been skewering some squid, and only paused as he heard his name. He doesn't remember anything like that happening at all. Soma and Takumi just gave him a curious look.
The girls gasped-scandalized, surprised. So many questions came up at once. How? Why? When?
"Y-You two can't keep insisting that you're not dating if you've already kissed and stuff!" Yuki pointed a finger at Alice.
"A-Alice! You're absolutely shameless!" Erina exclaimed, looking flustered. "I'm going to tell uncle!"
"H-How did it happen?! When?!" Mito asked, looking flushed, but also curious.
"I only agreed to answer one question," Alice said, not at all looking flustered or bothered. "I'm not gonna go and answer extra questions now!"
The girls groaned, but acknowledged that Alice was right. If they wanted to ask her more, the bottle had to stop on her again.
"That was so much fun, Ryo!" Alice said, humming a jovial tune as she walked back into her room in the Nakiri mansion. Unlike the last time, she was only tipsy and slightly buzzed, and not passed-out-drunk, thanks to Ryo's efforts. Whenever someone passed her a shot of rice wine, Ryo took it from them, and deftly replaced it with water. Alice was too tipsy to notice the difference. "Erina looked like she was going to pass out when I asked if Yukihira's food was delicious or not!"
"You're such a troublemaker, miss," Ryo said. Of course, when Soma heard Alice question Erina like that, he too joined in and pressured her to admit it, adding to the riot, and effectively ending the game. Ryo exited Alice's room through the balcony, which linked to his own room. He emerged back to Alice's room to toss her a canned hangover drink, which he got from his mini-fridge. "Here."
"Thank you, Ryo." Alice said, popping open the can and taking a drink. "Your clam chowder is always the best hangover cure though, if I may say so."
"Of course it is. I'll make some in a bit if you want," Ryo said, leaning against the door leading to the balcony. He had a drink for himself too, and was sipping on it.
Something had been on his mind for a while now, though. "Hey, Miss."
Alice was relishing the drink, drinking contentedly as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Hmm? What is it, Ryo?"
"I don't remember us kissing at all." Ryo knotted his brows. "Were you bluffing?"
"Oh! Well, it's been so long ago, so you probably don't remember," Alice said.
"...Care to remind me, miss?"
"Go ahead and make up your mind!" Alice said, crossing her arms as she pouted at Ryo, who just slipped off his bandana from his hair. He had won this food battle with Alice, and he'd been winning a lot more often these days. He improved so much over the years, and was starting to catch up to her.
"Well, there's nothing I really need as of this moment," Ryo looked deep in thought. A rule of their matches was, of course, that the loser owes the winner something. "Can we just add it to the tab?"
'The tab' was a list of Ryo's wins against Alice wherein he couldn't decide on his prize, and so he said he'll just ask her for a favor someday, should he need it. Alice pouted. "If you keep adding wins to the tab, I'm going to be indebted to you for life or something!"
Ryo actually chuckled. "That doesn't sound like a bad thing." True enough, he would end up still bringing up 'the tab' many years later, if he ever needed a favor out of Alice.
Alice huffed. She was always impatient when she was the losing one. "Just… decide on something. Anything!"
"Don't rush me. You're far more indecisive than I am, Miss Alice." Ryo stood there, and looked thoughtful for a minute again. Trying to think of rewards was tough.
Alice finally had enough of waiting, and stomped on over to Ryo. Very quickly, she stood up on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"W-Whoa," Ryo said, backing away from shock. "A-Alice. What-?"
"There," Alice said, putting a hand on her hip. Her face was beet red. "That's your reward, okay? It's done! Stop thinking about it now."
Ryo touched his lip. He could still feel the warmth from Alice's kiss, as if it lingered there, even if it all happened in an instant. "Y-Yeah, sure. No complaints here..."
The air around them was suddenly awkward, as they both just stood there, cheeks burning red.
Finally, Ryo broke the silence. "...Miss Alice. I think you have a crush on me."
"W-What?!" Alice said, turning back to Ryo, fuming. "Excuse me?! What are you talking about!" She went to his side, pounding her fists on his arms and shoulders. "I can't have a crush on my aide now! You're the one with a crush on me! Apologize for saying that! Apologize now!"
"Oh. I remember," Ryo said, his face lighting up in recollection as soon as Alice told him of that story. They were so much younger then. "...By the way, I still think you had a crush on me, miss."
"Excuse me?!" Alice responded the same way she did, years ago. She finished her drink and tossed the can into a trash bin. "You had a crush on me!"
"You're the one who kissed me, miss." Ryo's face remained completely neutral, but deep down, he was having fun teasing Alice. She always went so red and pouty when she was riled up.
"That's because you took forever to decide on something!" Alice said. "Anyway, it's all in the past and we were just kids then! Kids do silly things a lot of times!"
How she was trying to change the topic didn't escape Ryo. "I'm honored you had a crush on me, Miss Alice."
"I don't believe this!" Alice said, getting up with a stomp on the ground. "You had a crush on me and that is the final word on this!"
Ryo let out an amused huff. "Hmph. There's only one way to settle this, miss."
The two exchanged knowing looks. In a shokugeki, of course.
The theme was "hangover food". It was midnight, and an unfortunate Hisako who was already in her pajamas was roped in to judge this battle. Alice, of course, had a lot of knowledge when it came to the components of liquor, and how to break it down scientifically so that it was better dealt with by the body. However, Ryo outweighed her in sheer experience, serving food in a pub since he was five, and having to cook for plenty of drunk sailors. Ryo was no lightweight when it came to liquor-related food, or liquor, for the matter.
"This match goes to Kurokiba," Hisako said, scratching her head a little and wondering where the two get the energy to hold these matches at odd hours. "That's my call. Now, goodnight."
Alice fumed as Hisako left the two of them in the kitchen. But she knew she couldn't contest the results, either. Hisako, specializing in medicinal food, knew exactly what she was talking about when it came to the theme.
Ryo pulled out the bandana from his hair, and started tying it back to his wrist. He had the slightest grin on his face. "So, we're going to agree it was you who had a crush on me, okay, miss?"
"That is so not true!" Alice protested. She was, of course, terribly stubborn. "I am not going to agree with you on that!"
"Huh, I thought that was the point of this entire match," Ryo said. "You're such a sore loser."
"No, I am not!" Alice said. "But I am not going to budge on that, Ryo. Now, just think of another prize so that it's over and done with. Or add it to the tab if you want."
Ryo didn't need to think about it long this time.
He grabbed Alice by the waist and sat her on top of the kitchen counter so that she would be level with his height-and then he leaned in to quickly kiss her.
"R-Ryo!" Alice said with a gasp, as soon as Ryo pulled away from her. Her cheeks were flame red now, as red as his bandana. "What was that for?!"
"My prize," Ryo simply said. "You did it before, so I thought kissing wasn't off the table."
Alice just sat there, hands clasped over her mouth in shock, totally speechless. Ryo chuckled a little, and relished the moment. It was rare to make Alice Nakiri speechless.
When she managed to finally find words to say, she did so with a pout. "T-This establishes that you're totally the one with a crush on me now!" she said.
She intended to tease him and argue with him again, but surprisingly, Ryo just casually shrugged. "Yeah," he said. "Since we were kids."
Ryo's expression and voice hardly changed as he just came out and said that, stating it matter-of-factly, as if he'd expected Alice to know it all along. But she sure acted like she didn't. She put her hand over her mouth again, and she looked completely flustered.
"O-Oh my god," she said. "Oh my god, Ryo! All this time?! You're supposed to tell me that sort of stuff!"
"...You're stupidly dense, miss Alice," Ryo said, poking a finger at Alice's forehead. "I already told you I loved you."
"I thought you were joking!" Alice drummed a fist on his chest. "I can never tell when you have that dumb pokerface on!"
Ryo simply inched a bit closer to her, and kissed her on the forehead.
"...How long have you had a crush on me, Alice?" he asked her. It was almost a whisper, but Alice could easily hear it in that quiet kitchen, where the two of them were alone.
Alice sighed, and was quiet for a moment, until she finally decided to be honest as well.
"...Since we were kids."
a/n: 'First Kiss' Request / prompt from whatermelon. Hope you liked it! Now is the time to review xoxo