Chapter 10: Christmas (part 2)

It had only been about an hour since the event began – sixty-five minutes to be precise – but to Erina, it felt more like an eternity. While her friends were off somewhere in the massive room, drinking champagne and dancing the night away, due to her duties as headmistress, Erina was stuck exchanging pleasantries with the dozens upon dozens of sponsors and benefactors of Totsuki. Making things worse, Soma was nowhere to be found, meaning there was nobody for her to vent her frustration to.

So when she finally spots Soma approaching after exchanging pleasantries with what must have been at least the sixtieth middle aged business woman that night, her frustration is nearing its limit. "Where the hell have you been?!" she demands as he stops in front of her.

"Where you left me!" he responds, his voice uncharacteristically cold.

Erina freezes, her anger instantly evaporating. "You mean this whole time…?"

"Yes," Soma says, his voice sharp. "This. Whole. Time."

Erina averts her eyes. She reaches for his hand, but he swats it away. "Sorry," she says sheepishly. "I was going to come back…"

"No you weren't."

"… sorry."

Erina doesn't look up, but she hears Soma let out a deep breath. "God, your parents are something else," he grumbles, the usual warmth in his voice returning. "Your mom was… well, you know your mom, and your dad was giving me that death stare the entire time. The only reason I got away was because my old man showed up… but my god, I am so tired."

"Sorry," Erina says again, eyes still averted. "I'll make it up to you."

"You'd better," Soma replies, but he reaches out and takes her hand, a clear sign that at least for now, she's forgiven. "You seem to've been having a good time though."

"Better than you probably," she admits, looking up at him. Absentmindedly, she reaches up and fixes his tie.

"Same-old same-old?"

"More or less."

Soma sighs, before reaching out and brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Then let's just get this over with so we can hang out with everyone," he half mutters, half whines.

And so, they do. Erina quickly loses count of how many hands she shakes or how many times she repeats the phrase "happy holidays!" Soma being his usual, joking self helps make things a lot more bearable for her, but the minutes still seem to pass at a snail's pace. After another painfully slow forty-five minutes, it seems that the rounds have been made and there isn't anyone else Erina needs to personally see to. So finally, two hours after the start of the party, the young couple is able to breathe a sigh of relief, share a quick smile, then join their friends who have all gathered in one corner of the room.

"Yukihira-kun!" Kobayashi Rindo more or less shrieks upon seeing her once under classman. "Where have you been?! I missed you so much!" Soma laughs and briefly embraces his senpai as Tsukasa Eishi approaches Erina.

"Nakiri-san," he greets. "Excellent job with the party, as always." Erina smiles, gratefully accepting the glass of champagne he offers her. "You know, considering that you two have been setting up a restaurant in Paris, you really think we'd see more of each other," he muses.

Erina chuckles, raising her glass. "Between your restaurants and Rindo periodically dragging you to the other side of the world, I'm sure you haven't much free time," she reassures him. "How was Madagascar?"

At the mention of his and Rindo's latest adventure, a shiver seems to run up the former first seat's spine. "Hectic," is his one-word response, and judging by his expression, it seems as though Erina won't be getting anymore of an answer out of him. She pats his arm sympathetically; thanks to Soma, traumatic fiascos that occur halfway around the world are something she can deeply relate to.

"Hang in there," she says, trying her best to sound supportive. She goes to say more, but the two are interrupted when a clearly tipsy Kuga Terunori appears in front of them.

"Hey Tsukasa!" he says, his cheeks flushed red. "When are you finally gonna except my shokugeki?" he asks. "Come on, we could do it right here, right no…"

"Absolutely not!" Erina interrupts him, her tone a bit sharper than she had intended.

Tsukasa merely laughs before stepping closer to the Chinese cuisine specialist. "Save it for the after party," he tells Kuga in a lowered voice. Erina rolls her eyes before excusing herself. You'd really think her old classmates would grow up a bit after graduating, but time and time again, this notion is proven false.

Surprisingly, the next person Erina finds herself in the company of is none other than Yukihira Joichiro and a Japanese woman Erina recognizes as Ayuzawa Riko. Formerly known as Ebisawa Riko, the woman was once the fourth seat of the elite ten during the time when Joichiro and Dojima Gin had more or less run the school. Since her second year, Erina had heard quite a bit about the udon specialist from Soma, who had apparently been close to his family since before he could remember. However, ever since Erina and Soma's relationship had gotten serious, Erina had been able to get to know the former fourth seat rather personally due to the fact that the Ayuzawa and Yukihira families had made it a tradition to celebrate Christmas together.

"If it isn't little Erina," Joichiro greets, a familiar smile settling over his features. "How are you?"

As always, being in the presence of her idol proves to be too much for Erina, and she bows her head slightly, both as a sign of respect and as an attempt to hide the slight blush that paints her cheeks. "I've been well, thank you," she says, managing to keep her voice level.

From Joichiro's side, Riko covers her mouth, trying – and failing – to suppress a laugh. "My, after all these years it's still the same reaction," she says, examining Erina closely.

This only serves to elevate Erina's blush further, but her gut instinct tells her that the best course of action in this situation is to play dumb. She frowns. "What ever do you mean?"

The older woman smiles knowingly. "Oh nothing," she responds, her tone playful.

"Riko, don't bother the poor girl," Joichiro breaks in, giving the udon specialist a disapproving look before turning his attention back to Erina. "How's the restaurant coming?" he asks. "I trust my idiot son has been useless?"

Willing her blush away, Erina shakes her head. "No, he's been doing his part," she says, surprised that her knee-jerk reaction is to come to her boyfriends' defense instead of agreeing with his father. "It's been going well, all things considered."

Joichiro regards her for a moment. "You really are too good to that boy," he tells her. "I don't know what my idiot son ever did to deserve a girl like you…" he begins, but he's interrupted when Riko slaps him in the back of the head.

"Don't talk about your son like that," she scolds him. "That boy deserves the world."

"You guys talking about me?" Erina nearly jumps out of her skin at the sound of Soma's voice beside her. "Oh hey! Ayuzawa-sa…"

His words are interrupted when the former fourth seat surges forward and pinches the red-head's cheeks, nearly slamming into Erina in the process. "I'm practically family you punk," she growls.

"I totally meant to say Riko!" he says through his pinched cheeks.

Seemingly satisfied, the woman releases Soma and steps back. "Better," she says, inspecting him for a moment. Then, without warning, the woman steps forward and wraps her arms around Soma in a tight hug. "I've been hearing great things," she says, her voice much softer than before. "I'm so proud of you."

Erina can't see Soma's face, but when he responds, she can hear the smile in his voice. "Thanks Riko," he says. "It's really great to see you."

"Hey Riko! Don't add to the brats ego!" Joichiro protests, but aside from an annoyed expression, the woman ignores him.

"How's Hiroko?" Soma asks once the two pull back. "She just turned six, right?"

"That's right," Riko responds. "Her father and her should be getting in later tonight. She's really been looking forward to seeing you all, especially Erina," she tells them. "She always says when she grows up, she wants to be a princess just like Erina."

Erina smirks, giving her hair the tiniest of flips. "She definitely has good taste." She doesn't even need to see his face to sense Soma cringe from beside her, but instead of the snarky comment or witty retort she expects, when he speaks, it's in an earnest voice.

"Wanna dance?" Under normal circumstances, being asked this question probably wouldn't be a big deal to Erina. It's not like it's the first time he's asked her to dance at a special event, or even the tenth for that matter. However, the fact that he so blatantly asks this question while in front of his father and Riko sends Erina's blush roaring back.

"Well played," Riko comments, watching the two with amusement. "Young love, how I envy it." Soma laughs and, not waiting for an answer, takes Erina's hand and guides her to the dance floor.

Few had been surprised when two years after graduation, Isshiki Satoshi had proposed to his longtime girlfriend and first-love-since-childhood Kinokumi Nene. Even fewer were surprised when Nene turned him down the first time, the second time, all the way through to the fifth time – she had a reputation of somehow being even more of a tsundere than Erina. However, what many did find surprising was that when Soma had arrived late to the wedding - delaying the ceremony by a whole thirty minutes due to him somehow sleeping through five alarms and Erina repeatedly whacking him over the head with a pillow before leaving for breakfast - he had managed to perfectly master the waltz, something that still surprised Erina to this day.

"If I didn't know you didn't flush, I'd say you were drunk," Soma says, snapping Erina away from her thoughts. "Should I be jealous that you still have a crush on my dad?"

Erina glares up at Soma, his amused expression only serving to aggravate her further. "I don't have a crush on your father!" she snaps as the two move in time to the music. "I just…!"

"Have a great deal of respect for him," Soma finishes for her, having heard it a million times before. "I know," he says, that crooked smile she had once found so irritating settling over his face. "I'm just teasing."

Erina tries hard to hang on to the anger that had been all she could focus on only moments earlier, but the boyish grin on Soma's face coupled with the warm hand gently, lovingly gripping her hip proves to make this impossible. "You look beautiful by the way," he tells her. "Didn't have the chance to tell you earlier."

Erina's blush deepens, and she can't help but let the warmest of smiles light her features. "You look…. presentable," she responds, smirking.

Soma laughs. "That all I get?"

"Well, you can only use the same tuxedo that many times before it starts to get old," she responds.

At this, Soma frowns. "I'll have you know this is a brand-new tux actually," he informs her in an offended tone. "But fine, I guess I'll borrow one of your dresses next time." Erina cringes; it would be funny if she knew he wouldn't actually go through with it.

"… you look very dashing," she finally says in a quiet voice. "And I appreciate you styling your hair for once." She looks away, because she knows that her face must be as red as a tomato at this point.

"See? Was that so hard?" Soma asks, his tone once again irritating her.

"It was excruciating," she answers honestly.

Soma laughs again. "You're really never going to change, huh?" he asks, pausing for a moment as a new song begins to play.

Despite the blush, Erina looks back up at him. "Do you want me to change?" she asks, raising a challenging eyebrow. "I thought these 'cute little reactions' of mine are one of the reasons you love me." And the smile she gets as a response is definitely one of the reasons she loves him.

"Change, don't change, I don't really care," he finally answers, and without warning, he pulls her into a sudden dip that leaves her gasping for air. "No matter what, I'll always love you."

Erina had never been one for public displays of affection. Even with her inner tsundere impulses having died down considerably these past few years, at best she moderately tolerated them and at worst she completely avoided them. But between the music, the Christmas charm, and just Soma being his lovable self, the romantic ambiance proves to be too much for her. So right there, in the middle of the dance floor, she pulls him into a soft kiss that reminds both of them of the first time they had danced together, on this same day only as two clumsy teenagers several years earlier.

Author's note: Wow, I've really been on it lately. Anyway, quick explanation for you all: Riko is married with a kid and is pretty much the sassy sister Joichiro never had. She's known Soma since he was a baby, and was there a lot to take care of Soma after his mom died, since we all know how his dad is (lol) - to Soma, Riko is like the fun aunt who always takes his side, and she's practically family to the Yukihiras. I really wanted to see how Soma and Joichiro would interact with extended family, but as far as I know there isn't anything mentioned aside from Soma's maternal grandpa. On the other hand, as far as I know, Riko has no information given about her either, aside for her year and her seat. So I was like "wow, real character from the story who would have a personal relationship to Joichiro while also being a respectable chef that I could more or less write my own backstory for? Thank. You. Very. Much."

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don't worry, I didn't forget about my promise from last chapter ;) so next chapter will be about Soma and Erina spending time with their fam. Hope everyone is staying safe and I will see you all next time.