You idiot,
Pleb,
"Perhaps it would be best not to start your apology with an insult," Hisako offered as she poured Erina a cup of green tea.
"You're right." The first seat massaged her temples. "Force of habit."
She tossed yet another piece of monogrammed stationery into the recycling bin.
Yukihira-kun,
You are so stupid.
No, that wasn't quite right.
You're so goddamn dumb.
That felt better. But she could tell from her best friend's gentle sigh that it wasn't quite the way to fix things.
Why is it that you have to
I dreamt I stabbed you in the eye.
"Erina-sama, be serious," Hisako said, nibbling her bottom lip the way she always did when she was trying to keep from laughing.
"Well, it was good enough for the Academy Awards," she said, balling up the piece of paper and tossing it, only for it to bounce off the edge of the trash can and end up on the floor. "Are you absolutely sure I need to do this?"
Hisako nodded once. "You have to be honest. Just write down how you really feel, and then we can edit it later."
Erina took out a fresh piece of stationary — she'd have to order a new set soon — and clicked her pen a few times, nervously. This should not have been this difficult for a person whose reputation had been built on brutal honesty.
She could be honest, couldn't she?
Yukihira-kun,
I suppose your cooking isn't the worst swill I've ever tried.
I guess I don't mind so much when you hang around me.
It's not like I miss you or anything.
Erina groaned. This was impossible. "I don't suppose I could cook my apology instead?"
Hisako paused for a moment, thinking. Then, "You know, that might actually work. When in doubt, it's always best to stick with what you know. Not that I'm saying you're in doubt, but—"
"No, you're right," Erina said, placing the stationary set back in her desk drawer just a bit too quickly. How glad she was to be done with that. "I'll head out and buy some ingredients. Don't wait up!"
So she wasn't Shakespeare. That was fine — disappointing, especially since Alice had won a food writing contest recently — but fine. She would mend things in a way that only she could. After all, if she had managed to win her mother over with her cooking, how hard would it be to do the same to a cocky diner chef?
For days the recipe came to her in fits and starts — grilled squid and gelatin, fried rice and floating eggs. Some of it had made sense, but other ideas were fever-dream whimsical, more freestyle than orchestra. It was exactly the kind of irreverent cooking she'd wanted to cast out of her gourmet garden not long ago.
She followed the impulses wherever they led her, to outdoor markets for farm-fresh eggs and specialty vendors for spices.
Erina supposed she should have anticipated what would happen when she had her driver pull up in front of the closest conbini to Totsuki's campus, a 7-Eleven across the street from the train station.
But she hadn't, and then when she was craning her neck back to inspect an impossible wall of instant fried noodles, he appeared.
Yukihira was with Tadokoro-san, as he always appeared to be lately. And as soon as she spotted her, the dark haired girl mumbled something about an ingredient she'd forgotten to pick up and then scrambled into the next row.
He watched her go for a moment, confused, before turning to Erina.
"How's it going, Nakiri?"
Her first thought had been, you'd know if you were talking to me, but she managed to hold it back. Progress.
"I've been well," she said. "You?"
"I'm alright," he replied. "I gotta say, it's a surprise to see you in here. What are you doing?"
Erina's cheeks immediately flushed red. "T-that's none of your concern!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." His eyes dimmed a bit. "See you back at school."
He started to walk away, and Erina realized how tired she was of that image — his retreating back. She would have done just about anything to make him face her again.
"Yukihira-kun, wait!" The words flew forth impromptu, without an itinerary. And before she had time to devise a flight plan, his eyes were on her again.
She met his gaze before glancing about the convenience store aisle for inspiration. Finally her eyes rested on the fried noodles, the whim that had brought her to this hovel in the first place. "Um. Which of these are any good?"
He looked at her for a moment longer, probably sensing bullshit, but then came back over. After inspecting the wall for about a tenth of a second, he picked up a pack in a green plastic wrapper. "These are the best, in my opinion."
Their fingers grazed when he placed it in her hand. Erina felt something loosen in her.
"I see," she said, her voice soft.
After that there was a pregnant silence between them, a war of wills, and Erina knew that it could all be resolved right then and there.
"Yukihira-kun, I...I'm—" she glanced away, cleared her throat. Her heart hammered furiously in her chest and she wondered whether this was what the last moments before death felt like. "I'm sure these noodles will taste like a dirty mop." Why? "But thanks, anyway, I guess."
He laughed a little at that, shaking his head. "Dirty mop. That's a new one for you," he observed. Then there was more silence. "Tadokoro's probably waiting."
Erina nodded. "My driver's double parked," she said. "I'll see you on Monday. Don't be late to the Elite Ten meeting."
The apology dish, a checkerboard fried rice — half cooked with squid ink and half without — was finished in three days.
In a rare reversal of roles — the irony of which was not lost on her — she walked her creation to the Polar Star during the noon hour, hoping to convey through her dish what words could not.
But instead of the reconciliation she had hoped for, Erina was met with a disturbing piece of news.
"Souma-kun left the academy," Megumi said, her face a mask of grief and half-concealed accusation. "He's taking a leave of absence to train."
And then the covered plate she had been carrying like a love child slipped from her fingers, cracking against the dorm's floorboards.
Over six months would pass before she saw him again.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone, and thank you for your support of this story so far! After this point in the story, some elements of the epilogue chapter will come into play — big thanks to everybody who pointed out Souma's leave of absence in the manga! As I continue writing I'd love to know how much regular school life — the antics of the Elite Ten and whatnot — you all are interested in reading about? I could take a few chapters to focus on other characters (and maybe other ships) or just skip forward in time to when Souma's about to come back. Please let me know what you think! Reviews are always greatly appreciated!
