The Elite Ten retreat had been Alice's idea, so Erina probably should have anticipated that it wouldn't be remotely serious.
The rationale had been that a change of scenery would get the team's creativity flowing so they might come up with some event or ritual to leave their mark on the academy. However, as soon as they boarded their charter jet to the all-inclusive beach resort, all pretensions of productivity became lost footprints in the sand.
"You were complaining a lot at first," Alice said she, Erina, and Hisako sat in massage chairs, getting gel pedicures and facials with edible ingredients. "But you have to admit it—we needed this."
Erina scowled, adjusting her complimentary robe. "What we needed was to finish the budget for the spring festival."
"We'll do it on the plane ride back," Alice replied, waving her off. "For now just enjoy Santorini."
"She does have a point, Erina-sama," added Hisako, whose face was still covered in a brown sugar mask.
"See!" Alice said. "If even someone as neurotic as Hishoko says you need to relax, then you know it's true." Then she turned to Kurokiba, who was standing by her side with a tray of hors d'oeuvres, wearing nothing but a pair of athletic shorts. "Babe, can I get another grape leaf?"
With her fingernails wrapped in preparation for her appointment with the manicurist, the white haired Nakiri's hands had been rendered essentially useless.
Kurokiba brought one to her lips and she smiled appreciatively. "Just one question, Alice," he said, ever monotone.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you tell me to come here shirtless?"
She shrugged. "Because I love you."
"You're ridiculous," Kurokiba said, though his eyes told a completely different story.
"Yeah, yeah. Just feed me another mini spanakopita."
Despite all her efforts to look less sheltered and naive in front of her cousin, Erina could not keep her eyes from widening, her cheeks from flushing. How could she be so damn cavalier about saying something like that?
She glanced over at Hisako, expecting that her best friend would be similarly stunned, but she just shook her head. If looks could speak, the pink haired girl's said 'just get a room already.'
Erina was still wondering just how her cousin had become so comfortable with the kinds of words that all but rendered her mute when a member of the hotel waitstaff arrived with an assortment of trays.
"We actually didn't order anything," Hisako said. "You might have the wrong room. There are a number of us here with Totsuki Academy."
The waiter smiled apologetically. "Our chef in residence actually asked that I bring this up to you when he learned you were staying here," he said. "Is one of you called Miss Erina?"
Alice gave a mirthless laugh and pointed to her cousin, fingertips still clad in acetone and tin foil. "I had forgotten what it was like to travel with the god tongue. Everybody always wants you to write them a good review."
"It's so presumptuous," Erina huffed even as she lifted the metal lid off the dish. "Please do tell whoever sent you that there is usually an application process and ten-month waiting period to observe before I try the cooking of chefs with fewer than two Michelin attached to their names. However, I'm feeling gracious today."
It was a dessert, an egg custard mousse topped with fresh honeycomb in a bowl of delicate rice flour pastry.
Of all things...
She studied the dish carefully, weighing the simple presentation against the level of precision necessary it to make it work. She could feel her heart beating double time.
Let the records show that Erina had her suspicions since the moment the hapless waiter walked in, but once she tasted it, there wasn't a doubt left in her mind.
She had never known Yukihira to be a particularly gifted pastry chef, but his mastery over those ingredients — ones that had been the culinary nexus of their ever-changing relationship, or lack thereof, for years now — sent shock waves crashing through her.
"These are actually really good," Hisako said as she sampled the matcha roll cake that he had probably included just for her. "What do you think of yours, Erina-sama?"
Her gaze fell again upon the dessert, the honeycomb glazed and dripping in a way that seemed almost erotic. She couldn't help but take another two bites before she responded. "It's fine, I suppose."
Already, she was planning the excuses she'd use to disappear later that night.
The hotel's restaurant stopped taking orders at eleven and closed promptly at midnight. So at 12:25 am, when the last of the kitchen staff started strolling out, Nakiri Erina could be found pacing the lobby in a striped sundress and a denim jacket, mumbling to herself.
She had just decided — for the twenty-third time in the past ten minutes — to head back to her room and watch rom-coms with Hisako when he approached her.
"Yo, Nakiri."
Hearing his voice after all this time, so casual and warm, sent both rage and affection coursing through her.
"Yo Nakiri?" She whirled on him — noting the couple centimeters he had grown and the fact that his hair was getting longish again — and scowled. "You drop off the face of the earth for almost a year, completely flouting school-wide policies and abusing Elite Ten executive privilege, and all you have to say to me is 'Yo Nakiri'?"
"You know, your hair looks nice like that," he told her, unfazed as ever by her death stare. "How have you been?"
"I mean, as someone with common sense and a shred of self preservation, I've managed to keep myself out of the ER," she said with a pointed look.
"Alright, that's more than I can say," he conceded. "And thanks, by the way. I promise I'm gonna pay you back soon."
Erina crossed her arms in front of her chest. There was no way Hisako would have told him, right? "I-I have no idea what you're talking about."
"C'mon, Nakiri. Who else uses Swiss bank accounts?"
Erina tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, her face on fire. "It could have been Alice," she argued lamely, "or Mito-san."
"Either of them would have just said so."
A valid point, indeed.
"A-at any rate, whoever it is that paid off the bill would be utterly offended at the idea of accepting money from some upstart commoner, so you may as well forget about it."
He gave her a small smirk, and Erina could tell that she'd put her foot in her mouth again somehow.
"What?" she snapped, just wanting to get it over with.
"I never said anything about a bill."
Erina heaved a sigh from the depths of her. "I hate you," she said, unable to meet his eyes.
"I got that the first five thousand times you said it," he told her, the smirk fading slightly. "But if you hate me so much, what are you doing down here at damn near one in the morning?"
Usually a question this direct would send Erina reaching for her worst insults, but this time she was prepared. "How about you tell me why you're sending desserts to my massage room when you said you were going to leave me alone?"
He sighed. "Believe me, I tried. But you're hard to forget about, Nakiri."
"That sounds like a you problem," Erina said with a huff. "Although..." She cleared her throat. "Although I'd be lying if I said you haven't crossed my mind as well. Not often, though. Definitely not often."
"Got'cha." He was smiling at her again, turning her insides to slush. "So where does that leave us?"
"With you booking a flight back to Tokyo," she said. "And a plate on my desk first thing tomorrow."
"And if I refuse?"
Despite her sweating palms and racing heart, Erina made her best effort to appear calm, imperious. "You won't."
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading, everyone! Please note that I wanted to make them kiss so damn badly in this chapter, but then I felt like it wasn't quite time for it yet. There may be some hotel shenanigans in the next chapter, or we can just timeskip back to Totsuki. Also, I saw that some people had questions about this, so I wanted to mention that this story is not in any way a prequel to "On Casual Commitments" or "Between Us"! Anyway, please let me know what you think, and I hope you have a great day.
