Wrap up of the "Jealousy" prompt. Ryo's 'fanmeet' finally arrives, but Alice is missing in action.


The first thing Ryo did as soon as that committee meeting was over was to hightail it out of there and look for Kuga Terunori.

The Third Seat was predictably in the Chinese Society clubroom (or mansion, more like). Ryo waltzed in just as Kuga was wrapping up his own meeting with his members.

"I'm not going to do it," Ryo said, to Kuga. "Call it off. Please."

Kuga simply looked confused for a moment, and then realized what Ryo meant. He dismissed all his club members with a simple wave of his hand.

"The fanmeet? And why?" Kuga asked, curiously.

"Alice is upset and she's been acting oddly," Ryo explained, remembering how Alice just made a lame-ass excuse to ditch the meeting earlier. He noticed that for the last two days Alice had been a bit distant, not bugging him as much as she usually did, yet at the same time he'd caught her staring at him a lot, as if there was a problem with him. "I can't stand it."

"I think it sounds like she's actually starting to get jealous!" Kuga said, looking satisfied with himself. "So I think we oughtta keep it up!"

Truth be told, a small part of him was amused by how Alice was acting. It was as if she was getting served a taste of her own medicine, and finally she may be able to imagine what she made Ryo feel. The anxiety he'd feel when Alice pranced around and posted photos of herself in her swimsuit, and the annoyance he would feel when he "accidentally" saw the comments under said photo. The jealousy gnawing at him when Alice was too friendly towards strangers or friends. Ryo couldn't even stand seeing Alice drag Akira around by the wrist.

But at the same time, Ryo knew how Alice was incredibly fragile. Sure, she pretends she's okay right now, but eventually...

"Look, Miss Alice is... You have to be delicate with her," Ryo attempted to explain to the third year. He stopped himself from using that word--insecure. Miss Alice is insecure. "She likes to pretend she's tough but she's..."

"...Hayama was right, you know," Kuga remarked, his expression shifting to genuine concern. "You're way too nice to her. If you coddle her too much, she just learns to take you for granted. Some competition never hurt anyone!"

Ryo stared back blankly at Kuga. He, of all people, loved a good competition. But in relationships? "What's the point if you already know who you like?"

Kuga groaned. "Look, you were the one moping about how you never saw Alice-chan jealous..."

"Yeah. And now I've seen it and I don't like it. So let's just put an end to all of this."

Kuga pouted, looking down at his phone. The registration count for the fanmeet he bothered to organize was off the charts. "Well, Alice aside, it's a shame to call off a fanmeet when so many people have signed up. Just go on with it! Do it for your kouhais!"

"I'm not the teaching type," Ryo quickly said.

"C'mon! I promise you I'll battle you with my Third seat on the line for this~"

Ryo suddenly looked interested. Kuga hasn't given him many chances at a food war, with the third year far too busy at trying to secure everything for his research society before he graduated.

"C'mon!" Kuga chided him on. "Imagine beating me! You get to be a seat higher than Akira-kun! You'll have so much fun rubbing that in his face~!"

The offer suddenly sounded very, very tempting.


"You know, Alice? I think you're jealous."

Alice was shocked, coughing as her coffee caught in her throat. "Excuse me, Akira?!"

"Listen, are you finding yourself kind of annoyed and irritable when you see Kurokiba with others girls?"

"Not all girls," Alice said. Truly, she didn't mind Ryo being in the presence of their other friends, or even around Erina or Hisako.

"Yeah, but what about those fangirls of his?"

Alice didn't answer, and kept sipping her coffee. She didn't really mind them at first--as long as Ryo ignored them. In his berserk state he would even yell at them and tell them to scram. (Which was just about as effective as Kinokuni telling her fanboys to die--they somehow loved it.)

But when he actually gave said fans even the smallest of attention...

"Alice," Akira got up, placing his hands on Alice's shoulders. "Listen to me. You're jealous."

She blinked at Hayama a couple of times. "Yes, of course. Of his fans club. His fans are more dedicated than mine!"

"Not that, you idiot," Akira said. "You're jealous because Kurokiba is surrounded by girls, and he might find one of them interesting."

Alice immediately swatted Akira's arm away, as if repulsed by his statement.

"Ryo would never."

He was taken aback by her response, at the sharp certainty in her voice when she said that. But as the words sunk in, he realized one thing.

It wasn't that Alice was incapable of feeling, as Ryo they had thought.

It was just that her confidence in Ryo's loyalty had always been close to absolute.

"I've known Ryo for a very long time, Akira," Alice said, almost proudly. "He's way too invested in cooking and competing to even give girls a second glance."

"So you're not in the least bit concerned that someone will take his fancy?" Akira asked.

She was a little concerned, truth be told. But Alice was too proud to admit that--that she felt threatened by the thought of being replaced.

"Look, Akira," she explained, "the only time Ryo ever gives a girl a second glance is if they even dare to pit themself up against him. It's like standing on the railroad in front of a speeding train. Girls like that have to be on a different level of insane."

Akira sighed, but realized Alice was indeed right. Deep down, Kurokiba was an intense sort of guy. If you wanted to get his attention, you need to be able to handle the heat...the same way Alice has been able to do all these years.

"...Well, your level of insane is hard to match, I guess," Akira said, with a little sigh as he turned back to his seat. "No wonder you're not threatened."

"Did you just call me insane?!" Alice said, hitting him lightly on his arm.

Akira evaded her just in time. "But anyway, if you're not jealous of the girls as you claim, why not attend the fan meeting?"

Alice looked a little thoughtful.

Attend the fan meeting, huh?


Ryo Kurokiba regret his life choices.

The one other thing he probably loved as much as he loved Alice was cooking and competition. And he regret it at times.

That, and he cursed his bad luck, since he managed to draw 'chili peppers' in the theme lottery against Kuga Terunori, of all people.

Needless to say, Kuga wiped the floor with him, and now he was forced to see this whole "fanmeet" to the end.

Alice had of course given him a mouthful of teasing for losing to the third year, although she did not know what really was at stake for that match. As for the fanclub meeting, she miraculously kept her fingers out of it. It was odd, since Alice usually meddled in his business.

"Hmmm… that fanmeet of yours," Alice said out of the blue one day, as she was busy typing away on her laptop while lounging at Ryo's room. "It's still on, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ryo answered shortly. He was lazily reading a cookbook, racking his mind for what to even talk about during the damn thing.

"Oh. Goodluck then," she said, and then turned back to her laptop, as if that marked the end of the topic for her.


The big day arrived soon enough. Ryo didn't feel any nerves or anything of the sort--he just wanted it over and done with. And hope that with that, Alice returns to her usual self soon enough.

There were some nerves, though, the moment he walked towards the Cutting Edge clubroom and saw the absurdly long line outside. There had to be over fifty students waiting, and this was well before the call time. Ryo suddenly wanted to head back to Nakiri Mansion right now--

The thought was immediately dashed when one of the students suddenly spotted Ryo. "Kurokiba-senpai!"

Shit. That started an avalanche of students calling out to Ryo, the line growing chaotic as Kuga's crew of bald men struggled to keep everyone in line. It suddenly got so damn loud, triggering Ryo's fight or flight response. He had to get out of here--fast.

"Yo!" All of a sudden, Ryo felt an arm grabbing onto him, dragging him into the clubroom. It was Kuga, somehow managing that feat despite being so much smaller than Ryo. He has gotten way too used to Alice dragging him around.

"How the hell am I going to deal with those many people?!" Ryo immediately grunted, as soon as he was safely in the clubroom. "I can't talk to that many!"

"You just, you know, do your thing," Kuga said. "These kids already love you anyway, so there's nothing you can do to disappoint them! I give you full authority to order my club members for anything, as well!"

"You didn't prepare a lecture or anything at all?" Akira asked.

Ryo only raised an eyebrow at him. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to learn from you, of course," Akira said, as if to explain. Ryo saw the smirk on his face though, and was positive that Akira was just there to amuse himself. Ryo resisted the urge to punch that smirk off Akira's face.

Ryo looked around the clubroom for a moment. Kuga's crew had done a good job of cleaning it up, and it was well-equipped for a lecture or a cooking demo. There were coolers of seafood, and an assortment of other ingredients that were suitable for Ryo's type of cuisine. All of the cutting-edge equipment were also in the room, the equipment that Alice had won from when she challenged the previous chief two years ago.

...Alice…

Ryo felt empty and uncomfortable, with Alice obviously missing in this crowd. Alice wasn't nagging him to get everything ready. Alice not meddling and telling him what would be a great lecture or setup. Alice wasn't even here right now, cheering him on like she usually did.

It was pointless to do anything without her, and when he knew he was upsetting her.

"Okay, I was lying," Akira suddenly said, breaking the silence. "I'm here on a favor. Alice asked me to check out how it goes and look after you. Make sure you don't punch someone, she said."

Ryo snapped out of it, just hearing the name. Akira almost chuckled, noticing the slight tell. You just mention Alice, and he gets into it.

"I told her to come here herself," Akira said, "but she's a little too hardheaded for that."

"...Of course she is," Ryo said, sounding the slightest bit relieved that Alice was at the least wishing him well. All that was left now was to get it over and done with.

He reached down to the bandana on his wrist, and quickly put it on.

"What the hell is with all this noise, huh?!" He flung the clubroom door wide open to the sight of the chaos of students awaiting him. They had been disorderly and chatty, but as soon as Ryo came out, flame bandana in his hair, a wave of silence fell on everyone. "Get in line, punks!"

The queue straightened itself almost instantly, as Ryo walked out to examine the crowd, almost like a drill sergeant looking through his soldiers. He couldn't help but scoff, noticing how many of the students looked at him with adoration, or had replicas of his trademark flame bandana.

Copying him or looking up to him wasn't going to get them anywhere, Ryo thought. "Listen up!" Ryo called out, to the crowd. "Looking up to me or copying me ain't going to make any of you into half decent chefs! The only way you learn is by constantly fighting! If anyone wants to challenge me right now, then bring. It. On!"

The crowd was stunned, including Kuga Terunori who stepped out to watch this development. "...This ain't exactly what one thinks when they say fan meet or lecture, huh?"

Beside him, Akira only smiled. "Well, Kurokiba's not the type to shake hands and sign autographs. This is more his style."

"WELL?? ANYONE?!" Ryo yelled, as if looking for a fight. The students were divided in their reaction now, some cowering in fear and shrinking away at berserk-mode Ryo. Some looked like they wanted m to challenge him, but were hesitating, as if waiting if anyone else would come first.

"Oh, sure," a voice from the end of the line suddenly interrupted the tense atmosphere. "I'll take you on."

The students and Ryo all turned around to the enthusiastic volunteer, who had started walking towards Ryo.

It was Alice Nakiri, of course.

It was Alice, with that mischievous smile on her face as she raised a hand up to him, as if to say hi. She was already in her chef uniform, with her knife bag in one hand. "Mmm, go easy on me, okay, Kurokiba-senpai?"

Ryo looked offended at her obvious sarcasm. "What the hell, Alice?!"

"What, I signed up for the fanmeet like every other student here," Alice said, glancing at the other students briefly. "You know I'm like, your biggest fan, Ryo-kun!"

Akira chuckled, remembering what Alice had said a few days ago. That someone had to be crazy to put themselves up against Kurokiba's wrath.

Well, Alice Nakiri was a particularly bad case of crazy.

"I'll even be gracious and pick a theme in your favor," Alice said, wagging a finger at him. "Let's do seafood."

The crowd gasped at the bold challenge, and the even bolder theme suggested. Ryo himself was stunned--half confused of why she was doing this, half relieved that she was actually here right now.

"Tch. Don't cry if you lose," Ryo said.

"Me? Lose?" Alice simply smiled at him, and then headed into the clubroom, humming a little tune.


"Well, that turned out to be quite an educational event!" Alice said, on a leisurely stroll back to Nakiri Mansion with Ryo. Kuga had been gracious enough to tell them to leave the clean-up after the event to his crew. "Did you have fun, Ryo?"

"It wasn't half bad," Ryo said. "Doesn't mean I'm doing it again, though."

Time flew by quickly and the event soon came to an end, the audience leaving quite satisfied. It wasn't everyday that you saw the Fifth and Sixth of the Elite cooking up close, with commentary from the Third and Fourth seat, no less. Alice and Ryo even decided to cook enough of their dishes for the audience, and let them bring who had the better dish to a vote.

"...You forfeited that match, didn't you?" Ryo asked, something that had been bothering him during their cook-off. He thought Alice had a trick up her sleeve to suggest seafood, but it didn't turn out to be the case.

Alice smiled at him. "What, I can't outshine you on your own fanmeeting! That's just rude."

"I want a rematch. And don't hold back next time," he said, unsurprisingly. Alice just nodded.

"Oh, by the way..." She paused for a second, reaching into her shoulder bag that was already on Ryo's shoulder. She pulled out a small container, and thrust it into Ryo's arm. "Here you go. Think of it as like, congratulations."

Ryo stopped in his tracks, and curiously opened the container.

Inside were some cookies.

Ryo blinked at the chocolate cookies a couple of times. Clearly, Alice was upset about the whole cookie incident. "Miss, were you mad that I--"

"I-It doesn't mean anything, okay?!" Alice said, turning her head away from Ryo as her cheeks turned red. "I just made way too much!"

"...Sure," Ryo said. He took a cookie, and had a bite then and there. "...That's a lot of bourbon vanilla, miss," he remarked.

"What are you whining about?!" Alice pouted at him. "That's how you like it, right?!"

"Uh-huh. So you made way too much for me?"

"Don't read too much into it!" Alice responded by mouthing off and pounding her fists on his back.

Ryo stuffed another cookie in his mouth. He glanced at Alice, who was obviously embarrassed, cheeks puffed up and red. It was somewhat satisfying to know that he could have that effect on her, despite how detached she acted. And that she still showed up to the event to support him despite feeling that way...

"...You're cute when you're jealous, miss."

"I'm what?" Alice asked, not quite hearing him. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Ryo-kun!"

"I said, I love you," Ryo said, after chewing thoughtfully. He knew how the thought of being replaced or second best gnawed at Alice's insecurities, so he probably wouldn't pull a stunt like that again.

But it was fun while it lasted.


a/n: You can't make Alice jealous for too long, given her issues with her insecurity/inferiority complex, which I'm sure Ryo knows. Anyway I struggled with this prompt because I didn't want to just write about simple jealousy, and I don't particularly find it healthy in a relationship (despite how "cute" it seems). So I ended up with something like this--Alice does get jealous, but is still supportive of Ryo anyway. In the series I always found it cute how she's always supportive during his shokugekis, she's obviously proud of him HUHUHU SO PRECIOUS