Souma blinked slowly; his head was fucking killing him. Perhaps working back to back ten-hour shifts at two separate restaurants—one in West Village, the other a few subway stops away in Hell's Kitchen—hadn't been one of his better ideas.

Blacking out after the end of his last dinner service had left him with a mild concussion and a hospital bill that would make a serious dent in his prize money from BLUE. He had been getting ready to check himself out and try to make it for lunch service at the West Village restaurant when a member of the hospital staff informed him that his "girlfriend" had arrived.

Despite the vast improbability of it, the first thing he imagined was Nakiri storming in—short haired and scowling—to complain about how he'd wasted so much of her precious time making her haul ass out to North America.

But then reality set in; no way would she ever. He must've hit his head harder than he thought.

Before he could fully contemplate the scope of Nakiri's indifference towards him, Tadokoro came rushing into the room, a few strands of hair escaping her usually neat braid. She flung her arms around him, standing on her tip-toes to hug him properly.

"Souma-kun!"

"Tadokoro...why aren't you at school?" he asked, looking down at her half-shocked.

"The people...they called me and said you collapsed, so I just..." She sighed, resting her forehead against his chest. "I guess I didn't really think things through. Nakiri-san is going to be annoyed that I left without notice."

"You really flew out here from Tokyo?"

Megumi shrugged, glancing down at her shoes. "I mean, why wouldn't I?" she asked as though it were the simplest thing in the world to drop everything and fly clear across the globe. "Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright," Souma assured, grinning despite the dull pounding that persisted behind his temples. "Sorry if I scared you."

"I reckon I'm used to it by now," she replied, each word was drenched in her country drawl. "I swear, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!"

"Let me show you around the city," he said as they started to make their way to the elevator. "There's this Caribbean restaurant out in Williamsburg that you'd really like. If we walk down to 14th Street and get on the L-train we can..." Souma trailed off, feeling the weight of her stare on him. "What's the matter?"

"You never learn," she said with a weary smile.

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't take some time to recuperate, you'll end up feeling worse. You still have a pretty bad headache, right?"

How did she always do that? Souma had seldom been able to get anything past her since the day they met.

"Let's go back to your place for now. You can show me the L-train next week."

Souma glanced at her quizzically. Throughout their years at the academy, he could count the number of days she'd taken off on one hand. "You're gonna stay?"

Megumi nodded once, although Souma could tell from her pensive look that she'd just decided on it. "If you can go backpacking for six months, what's a week or two?"


It was becoming a pet peeve of Erina's, being the last person to find out about things. And when said matters pertained to a certain impertinent redhead, her frustration crested even faster than usual.

Given these facts, when Erina stepped into the Elite Ten lounge to find everyone milling around the french press, talking about how Tadokoro-san had rushed overseas to fuss over Yukihira-kun, it took a herculean effort for her to control her facial expressions as she vacillated between irritation, concern, and perhaps...perhaps a pinprick of jealousy. No, that couldn't be right.

"So she really just started jogging?" Alice asked Takumi. She had been pressing the blond for details all morning.

"Sprinting is more like it," he said, his expression unreadable. "At any rate, she texted me last night and said she wouldn't be back until next Monday."

The white haired Nakiri whistled. "Now that's dedication," she said before glancing at her secretary turned boyfriend. "Ryo-kun, would you do that for me if something happened?"

Kurokiba shrugged. "I mean, I guess."

Her cousin placed her hands on her hips, cheeks puffed up in an exaggerated pout. "At least sound more sure than that!"

The conversation drifted into their official meeting, and Erina found herself so irritated that she adjourned it only thirty minutes in.

As soon as her peers dispersed, Erina retreated to her office and sank into the chair behind her mahogany desk, waiting for her heartbeat to return a normal rate. She left the lights off.

He was so goddamn stupid, pushing himself to the brink like that. And for what?

It was unjust, really; why did he get to run her nerves ragged like this from halfway around the goddamn world?

In a few minutes, Hisako came in, bearing a cup of chamomile tea on a porcelain saucer.

"Thank you, Hisako." She straightened up. "How did you—"

"I could feel you seething from across the room," the pink haired girl revealed. "He'll be alright, you know." She placed a gentle hand on Erina's shoulder. "I just checked in with Tadokoro-san"

Erina nodded. "I'm glad she's with him," she said, mostly meaning it despite the invisible blade the words lodged between her ribs. "Did she say which hospital it was?"

"I can ask," she said pulling out her cell phone. "Do you want me to?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Erina said. "But please be discrete about it. I'm going to pay the bill with one of my Swiss accounts, the one with no names attached."

Hisako began texting away, trying to hide a smile behind the rose gold iPhone. "That's really sweet of you, Erina-sama."

"It's a precaution," the first seat said, cheeks pinking rapidly. "Because if he ends up overworking again to make up the money, I'll kill him myself."

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! I've always been interested in juxtaposing Erina and Megumi's styles of affection, so it ended up manifesting a bit in this chapter. Please let me know what you think, and I hope you all have a good day!