Chapter 6 - Dust Settling

After her argument with her father, they'd had a quiet evening, and gone to bed early. Erina was unable to sleep, only managing short bursts of sleep, each of which ended with her being jolted awake from another nightmare. The rest of the time, she was obsessing over what she'd said, and was struggling to fight the sense of guilt she had for standing up to him like that. Having Soma with her was of some comfort, but he couldn't help her with her vivid dreams.

She looked over at the boy next to her. He was stirring, and had been woken a few times with Erina's movements. She saw the sun beginning to rise and sighed, resigned to the fact that wouldn't be able to get any rest tonight. A low, painful pulse was starting to become more pronounced at the front of her head, a telltale sign of one of her headaches starting.

"Morning Erina" he said, looking over happily at the girl beside him. She was lying down with her arm over her eyes. She lifted her arm a little to look at him, he could see that she looked exhausted. "Oh, morning Soma-kun" she said quietly.

He gently placed a hand on her cheek. "No offense Erina, but you look like hell" he said with a chuckle.

"That's not a nice way to greet someone in the morning!" she snapped, but still at a lower volume than usual. "And please, could you keep it down a little bit, my head is killing me".

"Sure Erina. You rest up here, I'll go and make something if you're up to eating something"

He reached around for the lights, but unfamiliar with the switches accidentally turned on the main lights in the room.

"Idiot!"

"Sorry, sorry.."

He got out of bed, and forgetting where his clothes were, slipped on his t-shirt, and crashed loudly to the floor. Erina groaned loudly.

"Ah, sorry!"

He quietly took his case out with him, and went to shower in one of the different en suite bathrooms to avoid bothering her as much as he could.

He went downstairs to the kitchen. Looking around, he could really admire the place. The living area and kitchen were combined as one large space. At the rear, a large kitchen with a counter, acting as the centerpiece of that end of the room. Clearly this was designed for social gatherings. Some sofas clustered towards the front of the room with a large glass table in the middle, family photos on top of the storage cabinets at the far side of the room. A large glass window looking over the front yard, which was decked, leading to the pool. Ahead of the pool, a nice kept lawn with a few trees pocketed in, and a hedge in front of the front of the fence for some additional privacy.

This place is amazing. Still it all feels so guarded… is that what happens when people get rich? They want to build up bigger walls to keep other people out?

He looked around and spotted that there were small speakers all around the room. I wonder if I can connect my phone to this system?. After fiddling around for a few minutes, he managed to connect, and put on some music. Better keep it down, otherwise Erina will have my head!

He started preparing a dish for her. He'd thought about it briefly, before reluctantly accepting that his dad's breakfast ramen would be really good for this situation. He started chopping the vegetables and preparing the stock.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Erina entering the room from the far side.

"Erina, shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I would be if you WEREN'T BLARING OUT THAT OBNOXIOUS NOISE YOU CALL MUSIC IN MY ROOM"

"Wha..."

It then occurred to him that he'd seen speakers in the bedroom as well. The whole house was connected to that system? He figured that would make sense, given that this house was practically designed for hosting parties.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" he said, scrambling to turn off the music.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO INCONSIDERATE"

"I'm so sorry, this house is all a little too fancy for me" he grinned, hoping he could charm her anger away somewhat. Right now though, he couldn't.

"Why do you have that stupid look on your face"

"I know, sorry I messed up. I'll have something ready for you to eat soon"

"I don't want it - this… I don't need any of this right now" she said angrily, gesturing at her general surroundings.

"Oh… sorry I was just trying to do something nice"

"Then try harder, or don't bother"

"That's a little harsh. I know you're having a hard time, but please…"

"Look, if you don't want to be here, then just say it! Just leave already! Might as well get it out of the way, seeing as you'll get bored of me sooner or later anyway"

"Huh? Wait, what? That's not true" he said, confused at the sudden change. "Where has this come from?" He looked at her with a serious expression. "I don't like you assuming the worst of me like this Erina" he said quietly.

"But it's true isn't it?"

"No. Honestly it's kind of insulting how little you're willing to trust me. Is that really what you think of me? That I'm just still just using you?"

"Well if you're so insulted, why don't you just be done with it and leave, that'll be much simpler!"

She ran off back upstairs and left him stunned in silence.

The hell am I doing? she thought to herself. That's right I'm protecting myself. If I keep him at a safe distance, I won't get hurt by any of this again.

Then why do I feel so bad about this?

She reflected on what he had been doing. He had come here with her. He'd been there to support her through her confrontation with her father, and to comfort her afterwards. He was trying to do something nice for her this morning, even if it hadn't worked out. He had shown her a joy in imperfection, a piece of joy that was suffocated by her father, and that had been brought back to life with Soma.

And now I've pushed him away. He's never coming back after this.

She burst into tears, feeling alone in a way she hadn't in a long time. It felt so much worse that he had been here, and now he was gone.

She messaged Hisako, hoping she might be able to keep her company for a while. She didn't spell anything out, but her message was full of typos, very uncharacteristic of her messages.

She stayed up in the room, exhausted, crying until she finally slept for about an hour. Upon waking, she remembered the situation, and felt utterly miserable. She decided she would shower and dress at least, and headed downstairs.

She could hear someone in the house, and was on guard. "Who… who's there?!" she said, trying to mask her fear.

"Yo Erina! Are you feeling better?" Soma poked his head around the corner, and smiled at her.

"Soma-kun! You scared the life out of me! You're still here?"

"Yeah of course. I'm not leaving you like that"

"Oh… that's very considerate of you. But you don't need to worry, I'll be ok. You can leave if you want to"

"I don't want to", he said plainly. Erina looked confused. "I don't know what you've got into your head Erina, but I don't plan on leaving. Do you remember what I said last night?"

"What? Oh. That... you like me a lot?"

"That hasn't changed. I'm not leaving just because we had one argument. You'll have to try harder than that if you want to get rid of me" he grinned.

"But… you're not angry?"

"Sure I am. I was really upset about what you said, and it hurts that you can't trust me yet. But I also want to stay with you, because I like you and I want to be around you"

"Oh. Ok." She stopped to process this information.

"I'd still like to talk about this, but we can talk when you're ready Erina. For my part, I'm sorry I got heated - yesterday can't have been easy for you, and I could have been more patient with you. And I was really clumsy this morning, I'm really sorry about that"

"Oh… thank you" she said, still piecing things together.

They ate in a somewhat comfortable silence. The breakfast ramen (recipe adapted from his dad) had helped bring her to life somewhat, and she was able to gather some of her thoughts.

"Ok, I think I'm ready to talk". He looked at her patiently.

"I was annoyed that you were aggravating my headache, but I definitely went a little further than that. Last night stirred up a lot of things. A lot of horrible feelings, critical voices from the past that kept coming up in my nightmares". Tears formed in her eyes as she talked. "I think that's why I was nasty to you. But I don't want to use that as an excuse. I'm sorry Soma. I'm sorry that I was horrible while you were trying to do something nice"

"Thanks Erina, that means a lot". He took her hand gently.

"Even if you were very clumsy while doing that nice thing" she smiled a little. "Are you still angry with me?". He looked at the sad girl in front of him, whatever anger he felt had melted away.

"No, I'm not" he smiled. "I think even if I were, I don't think I could stay mad at you for long when you look like that"

"Huh? What look?"

"I dunno. Just… honest I guess. Seeing you looking sad like that just makes me want to see you happy again"

"Oh… I see".

She squeezed his hand and smiled. "I guess I should go and shower"

He sniffed, pretending to smell the air around him. "Ugh, yeah, you should!" he laughed.

"Haha, very funny!". She pulled his hoodie over his head and tightened the drawstrings. Satisfied with her work, she left to get ready for the rest of the day.

She showered, then picked out a white, short sleeved blouse and a long light blue skirt. She dressed, put on her make-up, and headed downstairs.

She saw Soma, who was sitting quietly on one of the couches in the living area, reading something. Time for something spontaneous she thought to herself. She connected her phone to the soundsystem, and found an 80s playlist that she had been listening to since their bad food shokugeki they had a couple of weeks earlier.

"Ohh ahhh! I just died in your arms tonight!". She mouthed the lyrics, dancing towards Soma in a silly style, moving her arms around to the beat. Soma started laughing, and stood up to join her. She looks like she's having fun. I won't tell her just yet… he thought to himself. He took her hand and spun her around. She separated off, and formed a gun shape from her hands and pretended to shoot. Soma pretended to die dramatically, falling lightly into her arms as they acted out the lyrics. He then stood up, and held her, as they danced slowly round in a circle, until out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of pink. Someone was watching them.

"E… eeeeek!".

Hisako looked at her, smiling from the other side of the room. Erina was mortified. "How long have you been there?". She'd forgotten about messaging Hisako - of course she'd come as quickly as she could.

"Long enough" she smiled.

"Oh no… how embarrassing..."

Soma shouted over to her. "Nothing to be embarrassed about Erina! Not with those moves!". He pointed a finger gun of his own in her direction and fired.

"Ugh"

Soma left them to catch up for a little while. He went for a short walk along the seafront. He came back around an hour later, hearing them discussing work matters.

"Enough business, we're on holiday! Time for some fun!" he said brashly.

Soma had found an expensive looking bottle of red wine that was stored in one of the cupboards in the living area.

"When in Rome, as they say"

"We're not in Rome! And Soma-kun, I'm not sure we should do that!"

"What do you think, Arato?"

"One glass couldn't hurt could it Erina-sama?"

"Well, I suppose, if it's only one bottle.."

After more than one glass later, the three of them were all dancing around without a care, taking turns to put different songs on the playlist.

"Hisako, I didn't think you'd be into this!". She was bouncing around enthusiastically to hair metal power ballads - she seemed to know every word and was making a performance out of it.

Erina was putting on cheesy JPop, and loving every second, while Soma was trying to sneak in some singalong indie songs from the early two-thousands.

A few glasses later, Erina was a little worse for wear. She'd been drinking a little more quickly than the others.

"SOma-kUn, you're really pretty." she called over at Soma, who was standing between them. She was draped over one of the couches, facing Hisako. "Have I ever told you that? Well now I have. Oops!" she chuckled. She stumbled over to him, and stroked his face. "But I don't want to tell you that too much, or your head will get so big it'll explode". She ruffled his hair playfully, then lightly gripped the hair on the back of his head and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

"Erina… you know we're not alone right?" Soma was surprised at his embarrassment.

"Oh Hisako's still here, whoops! Never thought I'd see you embarrassed like that Soma", she laughed. She then stumbled towards Hisako who was still quite alert, the only noticeable change of the drink being her eyes being a little less focussed than usual.

"And you're really pretty too Hisako. If it doesn't work out with Soma, we should get married" she said in a loud whisper that was clearly audible. She collapsed onto the sofa that Hisako was on, and put her head in her lap.

"Maybe it's time for bed" Hisako suggested softly.

"Mmmmm".

Hisako and Soma both helped Erina up the stairs and into bed.

"You'd better not take advantage of me, either of you" she slurred, and then winked at them. "I wouldn't mind seeing you take your shirt off again though Soma" she said with a lazy smile, before closing her eyes, and seemingly going straight to sleep.

With Erina fast asleep, Soma tucked her in carefully. Hisako and Soma headed out onto the terrace.

"So it looks like things are going well", she said with a smile.

"Yeah… I guess so"

"I was really worried when I was coming here. I'm happy to see there was nothing to be concerned about"

"She had a really tough time yesterday, but she's handling it really well. I think she really appreciated you coming here today. I did too"

Hisako smiled. "I'm glad that she's enjoying herself. I think that's in no small part down to you"

"Our good friend, wine-san may have helped out as well"

She laughed. "Seriously, I'm glad that this is a thing. It feels like she's coming out of her shell more and more, it's nice to see her just being herself. It's seems like you're good for her"

"That's nice of you to say, but I can't really take credit, that's all coming from her. She's changed a lot, and she's changing things for me as well. She's pretty amazing honestly"

"You're a good guy Yukihira-kun." she said, gently patting his forearm. "That said I'll be watching - if you hurt her in any way..."

"I know, I know, I'm sure you know some people who could do bad things", he said smiling.

"Oh, I wouldn't hire anyone, I'd do it myself" she said menacingly.

He shuddered slightly. "I know you're saying that half as a joke, but I'm a little intimidated!" he said grinning nervously. He gazed out over the ocean. "But yeah, I don't ever want to hurt her. She deserves to be happy"

"Yes, she does"

They stood in silence for a moment, looking out at the sky.

Soma looked over at Hisako. "I'm surprised you're so supportive though - you heard her, if I'm out of the picture, you get to marry her"

She laughed. "That's true! Definitely something for me to consider" she said playfully. "But for now, I'll entrust her in your capable hands. Goodnight Yukihira-kun." she smiled at him, then turned to go back inside.

"Thanks Arato-san. Goodnight"