An impartial observer would not be able to tell that Yukihira-kun was icing her out; in fact, most of their closest friends hadn't noticed at all.

It was usually subtle — an invitation to the Polar Star extended while his eyes were set on Hisako or Alice instead of her; a question posed to the group during an Elite Ten meeting, when before he would have just texted her under the table — to the point that Erina sometimes wondered whether she was just over-analyzing.

However, the situation became painstakingly clear one Thursday afternoon when they were sharing a car back to the academy. Instead of talking her ear off the way she'd grown accustomed to, or at least leaving the atmosphere open to conversation, Yukihira Souma pulled out a book.

Oh. No. He. Did. Not.

Scrolling through his phone would have been a convenient way to seem passively unavailable. Listening to music could have been interpreted as standoffish, but generally acceptable. But the fact that he made the decision to not speak to her so far in advance that decided to bring the copy of Kitchen Confidential that had probably been in the Elite Ten library since the time when Shinomiya Kojirou was first seat was more than Erina could bear.

"Is this really what we're doing right now?" she asked once the academy was within sight again. She hadn't really meant to say it out loud, but sometimes when the same thought was on a constant loop in one's brain, it happened to slip out.

He stuck a bookmark between the pages and looked at her, perhaps for the first time in the past three months, and Erina felt a pang of longing deep within her.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't deny that you've been ignoring me all day," she said, arms crossed in front of her. "In fact, you've been avoiding me for months now. If this is how it's going to be, at least tell me why!"

There was a long pause between them. The driver pulled up in front of Totsuki's Parliament, and Erina swore he was listening in through the slightly raised partition.

"Nakiri, which is it? Do you want me to leave you alone or not?"

Erina felt the knife-tip sharp retort at the gate of her lips — the 'When did I ever tell you to leave me alone?' — but then she remembered that there had been too many times. And what made it worse was the fact that she'd never really meant it.

"I...Well I..." She faltered, flipped her hair, grasped for any acceptable reply other than 'I've been fronting since the day I met you.' She settled on, "It doesn't matter to me either way," and then turned her face away from him again.

"Then why are we having this conversation?"

There were a thousand things Erina might have said in retrospect — most of which probably would have made the situation even worse — but in that moment, all her wit and all her words failed her spectacularly.

He looked at her for a long time, then shook his head, probably chastising himself for expecting anything different. "Look, I don't have time for this anymore." He opened the door on his side and stepped out of the car. "Get home safe. I'll see you in class."

Erina rode back to the mansion with her head in her hands.

Why was she like this?


Erina spent the better part of the weekend in bed, sometimes reading manga or sipping at the rosé she'd "borrowed" from Alice's stash. But she mostly lied facing the wall, clutching a goose feather pillow to her chest.

By Saturday evening, Hisako was convinced she'd come down with some bug, and had taken to bringing her cold towels and hot water bottles and an assortment of teas and medicinal dishes.

Her vigil had been near constant, only letting up when she stepped out to argue with Hayama Akira over Elite Ten matters — "Calibri is a fuckboy font; I'm changing it to Times New Roman...The Dropbox does not make more sense that way...No, it doesn't...Well, then maybe your organizational skills are limited!"

"Is Calibri really that bad?" Erina asked when Hisako came back in after one of the more humorous arguments.

"No, he just makes me angry," she leveled, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. Erina shook her head a little bit as that familiar feeling returned to her, the all-consuming annoyance, the exhilarating rage. But then it fled and left her once again in her despondence.

"Are you still not feeling better?" Hisako asked, probably sensing the dip in her mood in the half-spiritual way best friends had. "Do you want me to clear your Monday schedule?"

"Really, Hisako, I feel fine." She sat up in bed as if to demonstrate.

"Are you sure? Because I know Yukihira-kun would take all of your meetings." She pulled out her phone again. "I'll send a text right now. Knowing him, he'll probably bring over some of that ochazuke he was making the other day."

Erina's eyes lowered as she remembered the time at which that would have been true, her heart sinking leagues further with each memory of him going out of his way for her — with her father and Central, with her mother and BLUE. "He won't. Don't text him."

"What do you mean, Erina-sama?"

At this time, Erina decided to cocoon herself her bedding once again. "I ruined everything, and I'm pretty sure he hates me now."

Hisako shot her a questioning glance. "Why would you think that? If anything, I'd say the opposite is true. I mean, that dish at BLUE was—"

"I know," she sighed, her eyes drawing closed. "I know."

And then she told her everything.

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great day! Our girl Erina is going through it lol. Please review and let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in future chapters!