The semester break seemed to pass in the span of an exhale, but much had changed by the time the third years returned to the academy—those who left, anyway. Erina had remained at Totsuki, trying to make sense of her grandfather's haphazard records to have the school ready for when Doujima-san took over as headmaster.
Tadokoro-san was the first to return from her overseas jaunt, and if she met with Yukihira-kun on her travels — as Erina suspected she had — she didn't say so.
Then Alice and Kurokiba arrived from Denmark, largely unchanged save for the fact that they now kissed with tongue. Or maybe they had started that before — last year? When they first came to Totsuki? A decade prior as curious children in the Nordic snow?
Nothing was truly surprising where those two were concerned, but the first time Erina saw them sucking face in one of the Nakiri mansion's parlors, she had flushed and fled the room.
Then, three days later, Hisako returned from her conference sporting a slight tan and a high ponytail and an omnipresent look of contentment. She walked around in a blissful daze for almost a week, wearing sleeveless turtlenecks and flowing summer scarves until Alice returned to her senses for long enough to ask, "Who the hell has been sucking on your neck, Hishoko?"
This inquiry, and the shrill denial it incited, seemed to break whatever spell had taken hold of Hisako, and she subsequently returned to the taciturn persona that had long been her default.
Seconds bled into minutes, to hours, days, weeks, months, interviews, tastings, Elite Ten meetings, stacks of paperwork that stretched to the ceiling.
Erina tried not to think about Yukihira Souma, and valued her pride far too much to ever ask after him, but all efforts to put him out of her head were futile. Every time she managed to go a few hours without wondering whose kitchen he was freelancing in that day, or where he'd slept the night before, or if he was ever going to bother making up his end of year exams, Alice or Takumi or one of their other friends would allude to his latest adventure and the cycle would start over again.
It seemed that everything was changing, her friends, her upstart rival, even the academy itself, while she remained in place as though encased in primordial ice. The monotony became so oppressive that one Sunday afternoon, as she sat in her hair stylist's chair for her monthly trim, the need for change became insatiable.
"Just cut it all off," she said, only glancing up from the email she'd been composing for half a second.
The beautician's eyes widened. "A-are you sure, Nakiri-san?" she asked, her tone dyed with hesitation.
Erina nodded once, pointing to the midpoint on her neck, halfway between earlobe and collar bone. "This length."
As her golden locks hit the pristine salon floor, she felt a weight lift off her.
The next morning, Erina arrived to the Elite Ten meeting late — a first — and stunned her classmates into silence with her new look.
"What were we talking about?" she asked, taking her seat at the head of the table.
Takumi Aldini, who recovered first, cleared his throat and said, "Themes for the preliminary round of the Autumn Elections. We're trying to settle on a topic that won't give anyone an unfair advantage."
"Someone always has the advantage." Erina made to flip her hair back. Then, finding that it no longer stretched far enough, she simply folded her palms on the table in front of her. "But we can manage who gets it this time."
"Stop stalling and tell us your idea already, Erina," Alice said, managing the hair flip that Erina herself had been denied.
She rolled her eyes, but wouldn't let herself be deterred. "What about diner food?"
The proposal was met with a long incredulous silence. It seemed that no one wanted to be the person made to determine whether she was joking.
"Think about it," the first seat continued. "A growing percentage of new students entering the academy are coming from family restaurants. What better way to welcome them, and move away from the status quo?"
More looks of confusion were exchanged among the council. Erina suspected that it might have lasted the entire meeting if Tadokoro-san hadn't spoken up.
"I think it's a great idea, Nakiri-san," she said as the shocked expression eased its way off her features. "I vote in favor of the proposal."
Takumi and Hisako quickly followed suit, with Alice and Kurokiba adding their names soon after. Within minutes the council reached a unanimous consensus and actually managed to finish a meeting on time.
"That was unexpected," Hisako said to her as they walked down the steps of parliament.
Erina shrugged. "I've been feeling spontaneous lately."
"You know," Hisako said, opening the door to the black town car that was waiting for them outside. She let Erina slide in first before entering herself and closing the door behind her. "Yukihira-kun might die when this gets back to him."
"Good." Erina rolled her eyes a bit. For over two years she had been giving herself mental whiplash reacting to all the surprises that person had sent her way. Now it was her turn to leave him speechless. "Maybe it'll shock him into coming back here before graduation."
Still, it never occurred to her to wonder what was making her so persistent in this endeavor.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! I think the next chapter will be mostly in Souma's point of view and start to explain his side of things (unless you all would prefer to stay in Erina's perspective). At this point, I have a fairly clear idea of what the end of this story will look like, but I'm definitely open to suggestions about these middle chapters, so please let me know what you think! Anyway, I hope you all have a good day!
