Rebellion

Chapter Six

Soma could tell something was up the next morning. If the unusual silence and lack of bickering didn't give it away, the fact that Erina was trying her best not to look at him made it apparent that something had happened to concern her.

'She doesn't look scared or anything, and she's fidgeting a bunch. Maybe she's still nervous about us failing the mission.' Soma thought.

"Hey Nakiri," Soma was briefly interrupted by a small squeak, causing him to raise his eyebrow but nonetheless continue, "you should worry about what happened yesterday, thats all in the past. Let's just focus on hanging out today and seeing the shop! I promise it'll be fun!"

As innocent as Soma's words were, they gave Erina a jolt of electricity. After all, where his day ended and hers ended were much… different.

"Y-y-yea, Yukihira. That sounds acceptable." Erina barely got out, still refusing to meet his eyes lest some of her memories return.

'Get a hold of yourself Erina Nakiri,' Erina yelled in her mind, attempting to steel herself in preparation for a day spent with her companion, 'I've held my own against much stronger opponents than this. Although… he's not really my opponent. Maybe I'll try to be nicer to him today.'

*Flick*

"Ouch!" Erina yelled, her hands raising to her forehead where a small red dot was forming, evidence of a physical attack.

"Ha! Nakiri, you shouldn't get spaced out like that! You could get into serious trouble, like getting flicked!" Soma laughed, obviously the perpetrator of the attack.

Erina sent Soma a glare charged with all the anger and humiliation she could muster, it was effective.

Soma's face went white as a ghost as he was bombarded by the God Tongue's wrath.

"Sorry, sorry. Anyways, you about ready to go? We've been done eating for a couple minutes now. You've just been staring into space over here. Whatcha thinking about?" Soma asked.

Erina's glare subsided as she silently planned to pay him back for that later. She did agree, however, with his observations, she was clearly out of it.

Deciding that getting away from this hotel might allow her to forget last night easier, Erina stood up.

"I don't have to tell you, a mere commoner, what I was thinking. Now, I concede that you are correct, let us leave this establishment. I am eager to see Saiba-sama, if he is truly home and this isn't some deliberate ploy to show me your local diner." Erina didn't even let him respond and began walking away.

"Commoner huh," Soma smirked, deciding to begin her torture now, "I could have swore I was just a rogue yesterday…"

Erina didn't deign that with a response, her pride refusing to allow her to turn around.

Not.

The truth was…

'W-w-w-w-what is he talking about! No, no, no, there's no way he heard… Oh no.. Ok.. be cool.. Just act like you didn't hear him and keep walking.' Erina exploded internally.

Soma's eyes narrowed in satisfaction, his smirk becoming slightly more pronounced. He, of course, had noticed her hands slightly clenching into fists in recognition of his words.

His facial appearance resembling that of a fox on the hunt, Soma began to follow his beautiful friend. He now knew exactly what he was going to spend today doing. He was going to force as many opportunities as he could to rile her up. Normally he did this anyway, but it was usually done innocently, like ignoring her words when she was talking, or making her flustered with outrageous compliments or declarations. But not today.

Today he was going to make her admit she found him attractive.

The walk had been fairly uneventful. After realizing she had no idea where she was, or where she was going, Erina decided to slow down her pace and allow Soma to catch up to her, so that he could guide them to his family's diner.

Once they were about seven minutes away, Soma stopped suddenly and turned to his companion.

"Hey Nakiri, let's go shopping first. There might not be much food at the shop since it's been closed down for a bit."

"Shopping?"

"Yea, you know, for ingredients… at a store…?"

"Oh yes, of course!" Erina replied, her sheltered life once again causing issues because she had always read in her manga that when a boy and a girl went shopping it was usually clothes shopping and it signified that the two were on a…

'D-d-date!' Erina mentally finished, a small blush on her face.

Erina silently nodded at Soma and began to follow him as he led her towards what she assumed was a place where they could buy food.

'I mean, we are two people alone, of the same age. I guess people could infer that this is a date… Even though it most certainly isn't!' Erina's nose wrinkled at that pungent thought.

'As if. Hmph. A date with this obnoxious man would be the last thing anybody would want to do.' Erina crossed her arms over her chest, sneaking a small glance at the young man beside her.

Soma had a determined look as he purposefully weaved them through crowds of people, his slightly muscular stature and impressive presence easily encouraging people to move out of their way. A small group of kids ran by, playing with some action figures in the late morning sun. The sight of them caused a content smile to form on Soma's face, which in return, caused a small smile to form on Erina's face.

Unfortunately for her, Soma chose that moment to turn around and look at her.

Soma was stunned speechless and simply snapped his attention back to the front, a scarlet blush adorning his once intimidating face.

'W-w-why was she looking at me like that! Why did she look so… good.' Soma warred internally, his heartbeat racing.

'Damn, come on body, you've seen plenty of hot chicks before, and even been with a couple. Why is this one different?' Soma's brow furrowed in concentration.

Meanwhile, Erina watched on with malicious glee, 'Oh, so that's how it is, Yu-ki-hi-ra-kun'. Her once innocent and uninterested mindset of real world romance completely ruined by these last few months.

She had matured greatly in all areas over the course of her first year at Totsuki. She learned that she needed to treat her friends as they actually were: friends. She learned that even if people were family, that didn't mean you had to obey them. Most importantly, she realized that she was an attractive teenage girl who had skills, talents, knowledge, cunning, power, and… the freedom to use those things. And now, thankfully, she finally had a target. Someone who she was going to completely destroy and obliterate with all of her assets. Someone she was going to make beg for her attention and perhaps eventually her romantic interest.

She was going to make Soma fall for her and admit she was superior in every way.

First, today, she was going to make him admit she was cute.

With a dangerous gleam in her eyes, and a not-so kind smile, Erina entered the store behind Soma.

If one could see her facial appearance, they would most certainly compare it to that of a hawk circling its prey.

Today was most certainly going to be an interesting day. Who was going to win, and who was going to lose? Unfortunately, love, especially young love, is very messy. But these two were going to go at it with everything they had, as if their very survival depended on it.

Well, I suppose foxes and hawks need to eat huh?