Chapter One: Don't Let the Cat Out of the Hat

"Hinako, save me," Shinomiya pleaded down the phone, his eyes trained on the overhead clock. Two minutes until the little hand hit six and the big hand hit twelve, officially marking the beginning of his evening. Two minutes until Yukihira Souma, first-rate dunce and major pain in the ass, arrived at his house. Two minutes until Shinomiya's mild irritation bloomed into something much more intense. God, that boy really did bring out the worst in him…

"Just go, Shinomiya-senpai! It's not like you have a choice," Hinako assured him. "I mean, you lost your Shokugeki against Yukihira—"

"Shut up! I lost because you're an idiot!" After a pause, Shinomiya amended his statement. "Wait, I didn't even lose! I won 4-1! I don't understand why I have to spend my evening with him."

"The terms were that you had to win unanimously. 4-1 isn't unanimous, is it?" Hinako smugly replied.

"I swear you voted Yukihira just to spite me," Shinomiya growled, eyes still trained on the ticking clock above him. One minute and twenty-three seconds. Twenty-two. Twenty-one. Twenty. Nine—

"Of course not," Hinako sang, breaking the internal counting going on within Shinomiya's mind. "I voted Yukihira because his dish was fun! Chou farci's boring. Sure, Yukihira's temperature control wasn't perfect, but I like fun!"

"No, you like making my life a misery," Shinomiya grumbled, breaking eye contact with the clock when he heard a shrill knock at his front door. "Great. He's here."

"Why are you so miserable about it? Jeez, it's only a couple of hours going door-to-door with the boy," Hinako scolded. "If you hate Halloween so bad then maybe you shouldn't lose your Shokugekis—"

"For the last time, I didn't lose!"

On that note, Shinomiya hung up and flung his phone down on a nearby couch before storming off towards the front door, very much aware that he was overreacting. Okay, maybe he was a little pissed that he'd lost a point to some stupid first year student when he was Shinomiya Kojirou, but he was even more pissed that rather than making him do something simple like apologising to Megumi for calling her a "dunce", Yukihira had quite literally demanded that Shinomiya rescind Megumi's expulsion and spend Halloween evening with him. He'd had the cheek to make not one condition, but two! Two!

"Since you want to fire both me and Megumi, it makes sense that I can make two conditions, right?" Cue Yukihira's stupid smirk. "So, if you win a unanimous vote of 5-0 against me, both of us will leave Tootsuki. But, if you don't, then you rescind her expulsion. And, you spend Halloween with me."

"I can't believe I agreed to that. Ugh," Shinomiya grumbled, looking down at his own attire. He'd decided to wear all black, but he wasn't dressed in a specific costume. Hell, he didn't like Halloween — why would he have Halloween costumes lying around his house?

Yet again, there was another knock at his door. Shinomiya stood in front of the door, sighed and stared at it for some moments before reaching out for the handle and pulling on the door. A rush of cold air hit him as the door slid open, revealing a grinning redhead who was holding a candy bag in one hand and a catsuit in the other.

"Trick or treat, Shinomiya-senpai!"

"Ugh," was Shinomiya's response.

A slight frown pulled at Yukihira's lips. "What? You don't like it?"

Shinomiya allowed himself to appraise Yukihira's attire for some moments. He'd really gone the whole mile with this cat costume of his — he had cat ears, cat stockings, and cat paws for both his hands and feet. From head to toe, Yukihira looked as cat-like as any other cat Shinomiya had ever seen. He also looked surprisingly… good.

"Well… you look like a cat. I can say at least that much," Shinomiya replied.

"So, you like it?"

Shinomiya raised an eyebrow. "Why does my approval matter?"

"Just 'cause," Yukihira responded, a huge grin on his face. "Come on…"

"Well… you don't look as stupid as I would've expected," Shinomiya began, knowing that he was still skirting around his true thoughts. Yukihira opened his mouth, presumably to cajole Shinomiya to tell the truth about what he was thinking, so Shinomiya rushed to fill the silence before Yukihira could. "Anyway, why are you holding up a second one? Is that a replacement catsuit or something?"

"Nope, it's yours!" Yukihira held the matching catsuit up so that Shinomiya could see it even more clearly. "I had to guess your size, but I hope it fits! When you're done, I also got a trick or treat bag for you. We've got a lot of houses to visit."

"First of all, what the hell makes you think I want to dress up as a cat?"

"It's not like you have a choice," Yukihira quipped, an innocent expression on his face. "You lost the Shokugeki, didn't you?"

"For the last time, you lost. Terribly. I crushed you. I crushed your dish."

"Then why didn't you win 5-0? 4-1 means that you only won by a 20% margin—"

"No, you lost by an 80% margin!"

"—so you have no room to complain," Yukihira concluded, pushing the catsuit into Shinomiya's folded arms. "Hey, come on. I'm sure you'll look good too."

"I know I'll look good! But why would I want to look like a cat? Out of all the animals, you chose cats? Besides, why are we even trick or treating? We're chefs," Shinomiya snapped. "We can literally make our own candy. I don't see the point in this, damnit. If you insist on spending Halloween with me, can we at least sit down with some stupid horror films rather than trick or treating?"

Rather than pushing the catsuit into Shinomiya's arms even further, Yukihira withdrew the catsuit from Shinomiya's arms. The smile fell off Yukihira's lips slightly, and while the corners of his lips were still upturned, there was some disappointment lingering in those eyes of his.

"Do you really not want to go trick or treating?"

"No. I don't. I just want to spend my evening alone. On my own. But, like you said, I lost the terms of our Shokugeki. So, I'll go. But I'm not putting on that damn catsuit. I said I'd spend Halloween with you, not that I'd dress up as a cat," Shinomiya grumbled, casting a glare at the catsuit before returning his gaze to Yukihira. "That's final."

"No, it's fine," Yukihira said after a brief pause, taking a step away from the front door before continuing to speak. "I'll just go back to the dorm for tonight. I know I said I wanted to spend Halloween with you, but if you're this mad about it… I'd rather not. It won't be fun."

Shinomiya had been lost in a cloud of his own irritation before — irritation at Hinako, irritation at Abel, irritation at Halloween in general — but now that he could see how he'd impacted Yukihira's feelings, he couldn't help but feel a little bad. Sure, his pride was going to suffer from having to wear a catsuit, but… a loss was a loss. Shinomiya couldn't run away from his duties.

"Wait."

Shinomiya reached out and put a hand on Yukihira's shoulder before Yukihira could begin to walk away from his front door. He quickly retracted his hand, however, when he realised that Yukihira's shoulder felt just as cold as the evening air outside. Yukihira turned to face Shinomiya with a somewhat blank expression on his face, although he soon raised an eyebrow in question after some moments of silence sailed by, filled by nothing but the sound of kids yelling "trick or treat!" in the distance.

"Sorry," Shinomiya continued, letting out a sigh as he gestured for Yukihira to come in. "As you can tell, I'm not in the best of moods."

"I honestly don't think I've ever seen you smile," Yukihira remarked while trotting into his house — for God's sake, he even walked like a cat — with a little smirk pulling at his lips. Shinomiya was smarting a little at the remark, but for once, he was able to refrain from making a snappy comment back at Yukihira. As annoying as he was, the kid was still fifteen. He'd already made enough kids cry during the first years' training camp; there was no need for him to make yet another kid cry.

"I can smile," Shinomiya grumbled, trying to force a smile onto his lips. "See?"

Yukihira looked at his face for all of two seconds before bursting into laughter. This time, Shinomiya felt his cheeks beginning to flush as his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"You call that a smile? You look like you just stabbed yourself," Yukihira said in-between his little bouts of laughter. "Never do that again. Just stick to cooking, Shinomiya-senpai."

Shinomiya might've hurled a few choice words in Yukihira's direction, but after some thought, he rolled his eyes and flicked Yukihira's forehead, earning himself an irritated "nyah" from Yukihira.

"Next time you piss me off, I'm grabbing a spray bottle full of water," he stated bluntly before taking the catsuit out of Yukihira's hand. "Wait down here, alright? And for God's sake, don't touch anything. Don't move. Don't even bother twitching in the direction of my kitchen."

"I suppose I should stop breathing too, right?"

"Yeah, actually. That too," Shinomiya replied, a smirk on his lips as he began to walk over to the wooden staircase. Yukihira had folded his arms defensively, but there was still a gentle smile tilting the corners of his lips upwards, almost as if to draw Shinomiya's attention to those golden eyes which were glimmering in the overhead light. Yukihira had gone as far as to get his eyes made up, although Shinomiya was fairly illiterate when it came to talking about makeup. All he knew was that there was shimmery stuff on Yukihira's eyes and then some more stuff on his eyes which looked cool. Now that Shinomiya thought of it, Yukihira had a really nice eye structure. And that eyebrow scar of his was so unique. Shinomiya couldn't help but wonder how he'd gotten that scar…

"Are you going to stare at me all night, Shinomiya-senpai?"

Shinomiya flushed bright red upon realising that he'd just been staring at Yukihira without a care in the world and blurted out a "shut up, brat" before speed walking his way upstairs. He could hear Yukihira snickering as he went, and for some reason, Shinomiya couldn't help but feel a weird mix between irritation and… excitement. He'd never been a fan of holidays like Halloween and Christmas, and that was because he'd never had anyone to spend those holidays with. He'd spent Halloween nights with his lights off and his earphones in to keep the knocking trick-or-treaters out of mind, while his Christmas days were spent testing out dishes for the New Year. He'd wanted to remain in that routine of his — cooking, sleeping and cooking even more — but tonight, Shinomiya couldn't help but think that it would be nice to break that routine for once. Maybe Yukihira was doing him a favour.

Then again, Yukihira wasn't the most sophisticated company to have.

Shinomiya shoulder-barged his bedroom door open — his hands were a little occupied with the costume that Yukihira had handed him — and sauntered over to his full-body mirror. After placing the catsuit down on top of his dresser, he began to pull off various clothing garments. The shirt went, then the belt, then the jeans. It wasn't too long before Shinomiya was stood there in nothing but his boxers, surrounded by a sea of his own clothes.

"Alright, then. Looks like I'm really dressing up as a cat," Shinomiya muttered, peering at the furry catsuit on the dresser for some pensive moments. It wasn't exactly going to go down in his top ten outfits, but at least it wasn't overly flashy. It was all black, meaning that he could just blend into the shadows. Plus, if he added a cape, he could pretend to be Batman rather than a cat. Batman was cooler, right?

Okay, maybe cats were cool in their own right. Shinomiya still didn't understand why he had to be a cat out of all the Halloween costumes out there, but Yukihira had gone to the trouble of finding him a catsuit to wear. Lifting it up, Shinomiya could see that it seemed to be pretty close to his actual size. Either Yukihira was good at guessing, or good at stalking. Shinomiya sure did hope that it was the former option…

"Wait, large? That brat…"

Shinomiya's eyes had latched onto the size tag which had 'Large' in bold letters, almost as if to taunt him. Large? Shinomiya had always prided himself on being a medium. What the hell made Yukihira think that he was a large?

Even as Shinomiya pulled his legs through the catsuit and slipped into the fabric without a hitch, he was still trying to convince himself that the catsuit was too big. By the time he'd zipped it up, however, he'd reached the conclusion that this catsuit was a perfect fit. The thing practically fit him like a second layer of skin. He couldn't help but sulk to himself about that, although when he pulled on his cat ears and looked at himself in the mirror, he found something else new to frown about: his glowing cat ears. He'd gone from being an inconspicuous guy in a catsuit to a very conspicuous guy with glowing ears. What was next, a moving tail with swishing sound effects?

"Real subtle, Yukihira," Shinomiya muttered, glaring at his own reflection in the mirror. "Real subtle."

After some moments of silent staring, Shinomiya continued to scrutinise his outfit. The catsuit stopped at his knees, leaving his calves at the mercy of the cold October evening. He didn't have any fancy cat stockings like Yukihira, so he grabbed a pair of knee-high socks from a nearby drawer and pulled them on before lacing on a pair of black trainers. He still felt like an idiot, but at least he was a stylish idiot.

Some more moments of silence passed before Shinomiya heard Yukihira calling out his name from downstairs, followed by a question. "You done yet? I want to see how you look!"

"He's loving this, isn't he?"

Shinomiya let out a snort of laughter as he walked over to his lamps and turned them off before leaving his room and walking across the landing. Even while standing at the top of the stairs, he could see Yukihira standing at the foot of the stairs with an eager look in his eyes. Shinomiya raised an eyebrow at Yukihira's eagerness, but otherwise proceeded down the stairs as normal. By the time Shinomiya made it to the bottom, Yukihira seemed to have recovered from his bout of eagerness — but not for long, since he was soon thrusting a candy bag into Shinomiya's face with an ungodly amount of enthusiasm.

"There's a piece of chocolate in there to get you started," Yukihira informed him with a happy grin on his face. "Hope you like toffee!"

Shinomiya might've been as standoffish as he usually was, but…

"Yeah, actually. Toffee's my favourite," Shinomiya admitted, reaching into the bag so that he could retrieve the toffee.

"Wait! You can't eat it until the end of the night," Yukihira insisted, reaching for Shinomiya's wrist to stop him from eating the chocolate. "There is another reason why I wanted to spend Halloween with you, you know."

"Let me guess, you want to convince me to let you work at my SHINO's? The answer's no," Shinomiya grumbled, pulling his wrist out of Yukihira's grasp before folding his arms in his usual standoffish manner. "I would never let a brat like you step past my doors—"

"You know, you need to stop pretending to be such a cold guy," Yukihira interrupted, eyebrow raised as he regarded Shinomiya with those golden eyes of his. "I saw the way your face looked after you ate my dish at our Shokugeki. You liked it, didn't you?"

"No. I hated it," Shinomiya vehemently responded. "Still do."

"Jeez, first Nakiri and now you," Yukihira said, shaking his head as he began to stroll over to the front door. "But, not the point. I won our Shokugeki terms, but yeah. Like you said, I still lost to you. So, tonight's going to be the night I avenge my dish! Ready to hear what we're doing tonight, Shinomiya-senpai?"

Shinomiya stared blankly at Yukihira in response.

"At least acknowledge me," Yukihira grumbled, his eyebrows furrowing together as he reached a hand behind him. It was resting on the door handle, although he hadn't yet pulled it open.

"Get on with it, then," Shinomiya said with raised eyebrows. "What are we doing tonight? Apart from killing my street cred?"

"Street cred," Yukihira repeated, letting out a snort of laughter. "You know, you're pretty funny."

"That wasn't a joke! God, why do I feel like I'm hanging out with Hinako?"

Shinomiya began to frown, but it only seemed to amuse Yukihira even further. Shinomiya watched as Yukihira laughed, leaning his back against the door as the laughter bubbled out from his lips. While Shinomiya had originally been watching with the same stoic expression on his face, he couldn't help but let a small smile pull at his lips. It was gone just as soon as it had appeared, but it had still been there. Even if only for a brief moment…

"Sorry, sorry," Yukihira said, regaining his composure as he righted himself once more. "So, tonight, here's what we're going to do. We're going to go door-to-door, and we've got to charm whoever opens the door. Whoever's able to make the most candy wins!"

"Well…" Shinomiya's eyes scanned over the door, then Yukihira, then the candy bag in Yukihira's hand. "That was surprisingly anticlimactic."

"What? Come on! It's cool," Yukihira insisted, gesturing wildly with those cat paws of his. "The guys over at the dorm helped me plan it out! We get a rematch and we get free candy! You can't tell me that's not exciting."

"So, you didn't even come up with it yourself? How boring," Shinomiya commented, a smirk crossing his lips as he came closer to the door. "But, oh well. I'll accept your challenge, idiot. Let's go."

Yukihira pulled the door open as told and trotted out into the cold air, looking as happy as anything. Shinomiya might've sighed, but instead, he settled for a roll of the eyes as he stepped out and shut the door behind him. It wasn't too long before he was walking side-by-side with Yukihira, who was looking around his environment with a sense of wonderment in his eyes. He really did look like a stray cat, a stray cat eager to learn more about the world around him.

"So, Yukihira," Shinomiya began, drawing Yukihira's attention away from the environment and towards him, "why'd you choose me specifically? I'm pretty sure you've got lots of rematches pending… well, if you can call this a 'rematch'. We're not even in a kitchen."

"Well, we'll have a proper rematch soon, and I'll thrash you 5-0," Yukihira confidently stated, earning himself a forehead flick from Shinomiya. "But… right now, it's not really about rematches. I feel like there's more to you. When I tasted your chou farci… it was really, really good—"

"Duh, idiot. I made it."

"—but it was so good that it didn't really feel 'human'," Yukihira continued. Shinomiya had been about to interject, but when Yukihira made eye contact with him, Shinomiya shut his mouth. The look in Yukihira's eyes was serious, so serious that even Shinomiya could sense that it was better to let Yukihira finish speaking (at least, until Shinomiya's self-control ran out).

"When you cook, you seem to shut your emotions off entirely, and… well, that Shokugeki has made me improve as a chef," Yukihira murmured, looking down at his paws as they pattered against the ground. "It taught me my weaknesses, and I know what I need to do to make them my strengths. So, I want to help you too. That way, when we have our rematch, I know that I'll be battling against you at your strongest."

"Wait, wait, wait," Shinomiya said, holding a hand up to keep Yukihira from speaking any further. "So, just to clarify… you think my cooking's detached from me?"

"Not from you," Yukihira hesitantly replied, looking side-to-side before crossing the road with Shinomiya by his side. "But… like… it's not generic cooking. I know it's your cooking. Cooking that only you can do. But, as it is right now… it speaks to the taste buds rather than the heart. It ticks off the boxes with all your fancy French techniques, but I think you forget about the heart when you cook, Shinomiya-senpai. So, there's no better way of finding the heart than Halloween!"

"Wouldn't Valentine's make more sense if we're talking hearts?"

"Yeah, but it's a little weird if I ask you out on Valentine's," Yukihira replied, bumping Shinomiya's shoulder. "Unless you want me to?"

"Believe me, I don't."

"Yeah, sure," Yukihira commented, snickering to himself as he sauntered over to the first door of the night. Shinomiya had been about to insist that he had no interest in spending any more time with Yukihira than was necessary, but Yukihira was already knocking on the front door with much more vigour than was required.

"Idiot, stop knocking so hard," Shinomiya chided, reaching out to yank Yukihira's fist away from the door. "Also… those paws of yours are really soft. It's kind of creepy."

Shinomiya held on for a while longer before releasing Yukihira's fist — those paws were just as warm as they were soft, alright? — and turning his attention towards the door which had opened to reveal an old lady with a bowl of candy in her hands.

"Trick or treat," Yukihira sang, even going as far as to add a "nyan" onto the end of his sentence. Shinomiya might've rolled his eyes, but he knew that he had a competition to win. So, he turned towards the woman and let out a "trick or treat", although it sounded flat in comparison to Yukihira's peppy sing-song voice. The woman seemed pleased and doled out the candy, although she paused to stare at Shinomiya for a while longer than was natural.

"You're a bit old for trick-or-treating, aren't you?"

"Tell that to him," Shinomiya said, tilting his head in Yukihira's direction before continuing to speak. "He dragged me out of my house, so…"

The old woman chuckled and reached a hand into her bowl, tipping some extra candy into Shinomiya's bag before continuing to speak. "Well, I hope that this pawsome candy will make you feel a little less catty about being dragged out of the house. It should be purrfect, right?"

She shut the door while chuckling even harder at her own jokes. Yukihira was laughing as well while Shinomiya regarded him with a raised eyebrow — come on, cat jokes really weren't that funny — and plucked a piece of candy out of Yukihira's candy bag since Yukihira was too busy laughing to pay attention to his candy.

Once Yukihira recovered from his laughing, the two jaunted their way over to a variety of other Halloween-themed doors, Yukihira buzzing with energy at every single one of them with his peppy "trick or treat!" greetings while Shinomiya somehow made those three words sound like a business agreement rather than a cheery greeting. Shinomiya was still getting candy, sure, but Yukihira's cutesy "nyan" and his detailed cat outfit was winning him almost double the candy in Shinomiya's bag.

By the time they finished up on the first street, Yukihira's bag was half-full while Shinomiya had barely scraped a quarter.

"Hey, Senpai," Yukihira said as they began to stroll over to their next street, "you need to have a little more fun with this if you want to win."

Shinomiya frowned. "I'm in a catsuit. You're telling me that's not 'fun' enough?"

"You're in a catsuit, but right meow, a dead cat would have more personality than you do when saying 'trick or treat'. You need to give it more oomph," Yukihira insisted, reaching up to Shinomiya's shoulder to stop him in his tracks. He removed his hand once Shinomiya paused in his steps, the two of them ignoring the trick-or-treaters who were blazing by in ghost costumes, witch costumes and of course, the popular vampire costume.

"Say trick or treat with me," Yukihira said, looking up at Shinomiya with an insistent look in his eyes. "On three. One, two, three…"

"Trick or treat," Shinomiya said, his tone somehow managing to be even flatter than before. When Yukihira's only response was a blank stare, Shinomiya could feel a deep frown beginning to form on his face. "What? I said it, didn't I? Why didn't you?"

"Do you only have energy when you're yelling at kids in the kitchen or something?"

"Eh?" A tic formed in Shinomiya's temple as he began to glare down at Yukihira. "Are you really trying to argue with me right now? Don't think I won't stomp on your candy, because I will."

"See? That's the kind of energy you need," Yukihira said, grinning triumphantly as he gestured over to Shinomiya's irate expression. "Give it some oomph. Get in touch with your emotions, Senpai! Use them."

Shinomiya wrinkled his nose at Yukihira's enthusiasm. "What are you, my personal therapist? I'm not trying to get a pep talk from a fifteen-year-old with cat ears."

"Well, you're getting it," Yukihira said, slapping Shinomiya on the shoulder before continuing on to the next house. He tapped on the door with varying amounts of pressure before easing off and turning his head to regard Shinomiya, who was standing off to the side. "By the way, you're the one with the glowing cat ears. You can't criticise me."

Shinomiya opened his mouth to start yelling at Yukihira, but at the same time, the door opened to reveal an old man with a huge bowl of candy. So, rather than yelling "don't tell me what I can and can't do, idiot" at Yukihira, Shinomiya ended up yelling out a "trick or treat!" at the innocent-looking old man. The old man had been expecting a "trick or treat" — after all, it was Halloween — but Shinomiya had made those three simple words sound like the scariest lecture in the world. He jumped at the sheer volume of Shinomiya's voice, the candy bowl flying out of his hands and landing at Shinomiya's feet. The old man tried to regain his balance, but instead ended up falling back onto the foot of his staircase, staring out at the door with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Take the candy! Take it all!"

"Wait, sir, I wasn't trying to intimidate you—"

"Please, don't hurt me! I—I'll give you my wallet," the old man stammered, scrambling in his pockets to try and find his wallet. Shinomiya stared in dumbfounded silence, eventually deciding that it was best for him to shut the door and learn how to say "trick or treat" with a little less anger. Before Shinomiya could shut the door, however, Yukihira's paw was pressing against the door and pulling it shut with a resultant 'click'. Then, Yukihira proceeded to laugh at Shinomiya, shaking his head as he looked from the full bowl of candy to Shinomiya, who still had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"I said give it more oomph, not give old men heart attacks," Yukihira said, his eyes softening as he continued to regard Shinomiya with that same old smile on his face. "You really are a lost cause outside of the kitchen, huh?"

"Shut up!" Shinomiya scooped up his candy and poured it into his candy bag, only feeling more annoyed when Yukihira continued to laugh at his reaction. "What's that meant to mean, anyway? 'Lost cause'?"

"It means you can't even trick or treat without scaring people off."

"Well, guess what?" Shinomiya slowly rose to his feet with his candy bag now weighing him down, all the while regarding Yukihira with a competitive glint in his eyes. "This 'lost cause' is going to get more candy than you."

"Heh."

A smirk traversed Yukihira's lips as he spared a glance in the direction of their next house. It was swarming with trick or treaters and there was practically candy flying out from the front door. For sure, it was a candy hotspot.

"In that case," Yukihira declared, taking the first step towards the house, "bring it on."

"Oh, trust me," Shinomiya replied, now matching Yukihira's every step. "I will."

Two hours later, Shinomiya and Yukihira had amassed a similar amount of sugary treats in their candy bags, although Shinomiya was willing to bet that his scare tactics had been more than enough to win this 'rematch' of sorts. He was surprised that he'd been able to use his scare tactics in the first place, considering that he was dressed up as a cat with glowing ears. He wasn't going to complain though. Candy was candy, and victory was victory.

"Hey, Senpai. You think we should head back to yours? My bag's full of candy now," Yukihira said, a boyish grin on his face as he looked up at Shinomiya. "Plus, I'm scared you're actually going to give someone on this street a heart attack. We want candy, not hospital bills."

"Whatever," Shinomiya replied, switching his candy bag to the other hand. "Stay still a minute though. Your ears are wonky."

Yukihira stood there, blinking up at Shinomiya as Shinomiya's hand slid into his bright red tufts of hair, gently tilting the cat ears back into place. Shinomiya was brisk and steady with his actions, but he couldn't resist the urge to brush a few stray strands of hair out and away from Yukihira's face.

"Really, I don't understand how you can just let your hair go all over the place," Shinomiya scolded as he began to slick it all back into place, strand by strand. "You should consider a haircut."

"Now you sound like Takumi," Yukihira said, snickering to himself as he shook his head up once more. With that one motion, he'd reversed all of Shinomiya's efforts — his hair was messy, the strands were flying and he'd knocked the cat ears out of place once more.

"Idiot," Shinomiya grumbled, rolling his eyes as he took a step back. "Don't expect me to fix that for you again. You're on your own."

"Meh. It's fine. The ears were a bit tight around my head anyway," Yukihira admitted, crouching down to retrieve the ears from the floor before bounding over to walk in step with Shinomiya. "It's cold, don't you think? Maybe we should go as vampires next year—"

"Next year? What makes you think I'm giving you another night of my time?"

Yukihira let out a cheerful hum before replying. "All I have to do is insult you and get you to have another Shokugeki with me. You're easy to provoke, Senpai."

"Ugh, shut up. Next time, I'll make sure you get expelled," Shinomiya grumbled, his gaze falling upon Yukihira's innocent face. Despite still being irritated by the mere sight of Yukihira, he was able to resist the urge to reach out and go 'karate mode' on Yukihira's head. Mainly because he knew that he'd only be proving Yukihira's point if he did that.

"You were stupid enough to challenge me once," Shinomiya continued. "What makes you think you can challenge me again?"

"The fact I'm still standing here," Yukihira quipped, playfully flicking Shinomiya's cat ears. The glowing ears flickered for some moments, but they were soon glowing as brightly as the stars which were hanging up in the sky above them. The ears themselves were black, but in the dark October evening, they seemed to be emitting a moon-like glow. They were perched atop Shinomiya's styled mane of pink hair, almost as if they belonged there. They even matched Shinomiya's dark glasses, a dark pair of Gucci glasses which had a pink stripe running through either side.

"You know," Yukihira murmured, his eyes glued to Shinomiya, "those ears really do suit you. Much better than I imagined…"

"Do you have a cat fetish or something?"

Yukihira flushed bright red at the question. "Cat fetish?"

"Well, you've been checking cat-me out all evening," Shinomiya pointed out, a smirk on his lips as he began to pounce on the opportunity to embarrass Yukihira even further. "You keep touching me for no reason. Also, your attire. That's more than enough explanation."

When Yukihira's face only flushed a deeper shade of red at Shinomiya's observations, Shinomiya couldn't help but snicker to himself in amusement. "Sorry, did I let the cat out of the hat?"

"I don't have a 'cat fetish'," Yukihira replied, sounding mortified at the very idea of it. "I just like cats! They're my favourite animal. That's why I chose cat costumes for both of us. Man, you really are a lost cause…"

"Ooh, so you got me dressed up as your favourite animal?" Shinomiya smirked and reached a hand out to ruffle Yukihira's hair, all the while scrutinising Yukihira's flushed cheeks through his lenses. "What's your motive here, Yukihira?"

"Nothing," Yukihira insisted, defensively slapping Shinomiya's hand away. "If anything, you're the one with a motive. You brought up Valentine's."

"Well, you brought up hearts," Shinomiya countered, holding out a hand to stop Yukihira from walking out into the road without a second thought. Once the traffic went by, the two crossed the road and continued on with their conversation.

"You went all soft on me when I tried to leave."

"Because sulky kids are irritating as hell. Besides, you keep on trying to convince me to hang out with you again," Shinomiya pointed out, gently nudging Yukihira with his elbow. "I'm not an idiot. You realise I'm basically your mentor, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Yukihira said, turning a corner and setting his gaze straight ahead in front of him so that he didn't have to look at Shinomiya. "Anyway—"

"No, no, no. I'm not letting you change the subject," Shinomiya interjected, letting out a snort of laughter at Yukihira's rushed attempt to try and diverge from the main point. "Come on, Yukihira. You've been spending all night acting like my mini therapist. It's my turn."

"Your turn to do what?"

"Ask questions," Shinomiya replied. "So, you've got feelings for—"

"No."

"Alright, alright," Shinomiya snickered, a smirk still lining his lips as he looked down at Yukihira with an amused expression on his face. "Just wondering, does this happen with every person you lose against or is it just me?"

Yukihira didn't respond.

"I'm your mentor, dunce. But, it's true. I do have a soft spot for you," Shinomiya continued, his voice warm as he reached out to ruffle Yukihira's hair. "You're probably the most persistent dunce I've ever come across. That's admirable, in a way."

"Whatever," Yukihira grumbled, still refusing to look Shinomiya in the eye. "I still don't know what you're on about."

"Sure, sure," Shinomiya replied.

"I'm telling the truth!"

"I believe you."

"No you don't!"

Shinomiya continued to poke fun at Yukihira despite Yukihira insisting that there was nothing to poke fun at. As the stars in the sky became more visible, laid against a stygian canvas, their laughter only became more boisterous. There were many trick or treaters out on the street, but Shinomiya and Yukihira were by far the loudest. Yukihira was soon able to divert attention away from his flushed cheeks (it was cold, alright?) and towards a brand new topic, inspired by a little trick or treater who had just run past them dressed head-to-toe in a clown-inspired costume.

"Hey, Senpai. You heard about the 'killer clowns'?"

Shinomiya's laugh eased off his lips as he gave Yukihira a look of confusion. "Eh?"

"Killer clowns," Yukihira repeated, a more ominous expression on his face. "They dress up in clown suits and run after people with knives and baseball bats. In America, they even have guns…"

Shinomiya's facial expression was unsure for some moments, but before he could respond, the sound of barking filled the air. The two stopped in their tracks, Shinomiya stiffening up at the barking while Yukihira's face lit up with excitement. He quickly turned to face a small dog who was yipping away with a rainbow wig on its head and a coloured torso.

"Who's a good boy?"

Yukihira crouched down and began to ruffle the dog's fur while answering his own question with a "you're a good boy!"

Shinomiya took a step back, letting out a sigh as he watched Yukihira fawn over the small animal. He'd never been a huge fan of animals. Or people, now that he thought of it. He only ever really thought about cooking…

"Hey, Senpai! Come stroke him," Yukihira said, looking over his shoulder to usher Shinomiya over with a hand. "His fur's really warm."

"I don't make a habit of stroking strange dogs on the street," Shinomiya dryly responded, looking up at a shadowy figure in the distance for a couple of seconds before looking back down at the dog which had let out a cheerful yip at Yukihira's touch. "By the way, you'd better start walking, otherwise I'm going to leave you behind."

"Don't be boring," Yukihira complained, pouting in Shinomiya's direction. "Come on. Ooh, look at this bow as well. It's so adorable!"

Yukihira held a polka dot bow up for Shinomiya to admire. Before Shinomiya could tell Yukihira to give the dog its bow back, a loud, gruff voice broke through the silence.

"Get away from my dog!"

The shadowy figure was now running, the shadow of a baseball bat visible as a male voice continued to yell "get away from my dog" with every step he took. Yukihira and Shinomiya quickly exchanged glances before Shinomiya pulled Yukihira back up onto his feet and began to leg it despite Yukihira's attempts to get Shinomiya to stop running.

"Wait, stop! I need to give the b—"

"Shut up, idiot! That's a killer clown!"

Shinomiya continued to yank Yukihira forwards as he sprinted forwards, soon getting the bright idea to cut across a field so that he could lose the killer clown. He hadn't even managed to get three stars for his SHINO's yet; how could he just lie down and let a killer clown beat him to death?

Shinomiya sharply tugged on Yukihira's arm as they took a sudden left into the field. Shinomiya could still hear frantic barking behind them, along with the persistent 'squeak squeak squeak' of the killer clown's shoes. If Shinomiya hadn't been terrified for his life, he might've been able to laugh at the situation. But instead, all he could do was yell at Yukihira to keep running as their feet pressed into the ground, the dog hot on their trail.

"Senpai, you realise I've got cheap paws for feet? I can't keep running—"

"Well, you have to! Don't think I'm turning back for you if you fall," Shinomiya snapped, breathing heavily as he continued to focus on running. "Come on, Yukihira. That dog's still after us for some reason."

"Just let me drop the b—"

Before Yukihira could finish speaking, he slipped on the grass and lost his footing, almost hitting the ground. Shinomiya dropped his candy bag and reached out to grab Yukihira, stopping his body from making contact with the grass. It was dark and shadowy and Shinomiya could barely make anything out, but all he knew was that they were being chased by a killer clown and Yukihira's stupid costume wasn't letting him run as fast as he needed to.

"S—Senpai…"

"Hurry up, get on my back," Shinomiya ordered, crouching down and latching onto Yukihira's legs as Yukihira wrapped his arms around Shinomiya's neck. "Hold on. I mean it this time."

"Wait, your candy—"

"I don't care about the damn candy! Can I please just make sure we're both safe?"

Yukihira was silent for some moments, the silence filled by Shinomiya's feet thundering against the grass while the killer clown's shoes continued to squeak in the distance, but at last, Yukihira let out a small hum in response.

By the time Shinomiya had cleared the field and made it to the other side, the dog had stopped chasing them and the sound of squeaking shoes had faded out into the distance. He was breathing heavily as he steadied himself on a nearby fence, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead as he waited for his heart rate to revert to its usual rhythm.

"I think you jinxed us," Shinomiya said in-between heavy breaths. "Jesus Christ, it's as if that was planned… I wonder why the dog stopped chasing us though. I was getting tired. It could've gotten us if it had really wanted to…"

"Actually," Yukihira began, "I was trying to tell you that the dog only wanted its bow back. It slipped out of my hand when I fell and you caught me, so… yeah. It stopped chasing us after that."

"Wait. You're telling me that this is all because you can't keep your hands off strange dogs on the street?"

When Yukihira let out a hum in response, Shinomiya dumped Yukihira off his back just as quickly as he'd allowed Yukihira to get on his back in the first place. Yukihira let out an "eh?" as he stumbled to his feet, although he refrained from complaining when he saw the look of sheer irritation on Shinomiya's face.

"You're an actual dunce, Yukihira."

"Sorry," Yukihira sheepishly responded, holding out his bag of candy. "I'll split my candy if you want."

Shinomiya flicked Yukihira's forehead, but said no more in response as he settled into a brisk walking pace, knowing that his house was right at the end of this street. Cutting through the field had cut the journey time down a little, so at least the field run hadn't been completely useless. Plus, his sweaty forehead was more than enough evidence that he'd done enough exercise for the day. Running on uneven ground while carrying a dunce on his back wasn't exactly light work, after all…

"Just so you know, I'm never spending any time with you again," Shinomiya announced while slinking over to his own front door. "Dunce."

"Oh, come on. You had fun," Yukihira said, nudging Shinomiya playfully. "Just admit it."

"No. Go home," Shinomiya grumbled as he wrenched the door handle open. It took a few seconds of fumbling, but soon, the door was bursting open to welcome him inside. Shinomiya stepped into his house with a sigh of relief, thinking that Yukihira had gone. However, when he turned to shut the door, he saw that Yukihira was still standing at his doorstep with that same old smirk on his face.

Shinomiya raised an eyebrow. "You deaf or something? Skedaddle, dunce."

"Senpai," Yukihira prompted, dragging out the last syllable for a couple beats longer than was necessitated.

"Go home," Shinomiya urged. "Jesus Christ, you're like a stray cat…"

"Not until you tell me the truth," Yukihira replied, just as persistent as usual.

"Ugh, fine. I guess tonight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Shinomiya said, letting out a heavy sigh as he leaned against the door. "Save for your dog shenanigans, you're alright company. But don't take that as an invitation to rock up to my front door every weekend, because I'm not going to answer the door."

"No worries, Senpai," Yukihira said, dumping a handful of candy into Shinomiya's hands before moving off the doorstep and turning to walk away from the house. "I'll just come on the weekdays instead. See you Monday!"

"Idiot, wait," Shinomiya called out, trying to grab Yukihira's attention. "Come back here! Don't come to my house, you hear me? Yukihira!"

Yukihira strolled off without a care, almost as if he'd turned his ears off. Even as Shinomiya yelled out that Yukihira should focus on trying to take the first seat rather than bothering him, Shinomiya soon realised that it was a lost cause. Yukihira had disappeared around a corner and away from his field of vision.

"Ugh, that brat…"

Shinomiya grumpily pulled the front door shut and stomped off towards his living room, throwing himself down on the couch before opening his hand to see what candy Yukihira had decided to leave him with. The candy tumbled down to his stomach, and while he'd been left with some generic-looking chocolate bars, he spotted a half-opened pack of Love Hearts.

"Jeez, the dunce could at least give me a full pack," Shinomiya grumbled, tilting the pack into his hands until a Love Heart fell onto his palm. A small smile appeared on his lips, however, when he saw the text emblazoned across the heart.

SMILE

He chewed into his 'SMILE' Love Heart while reflecting over how his night had gone. It really hadn't been as bad as he'd been expecting. There had been quite a few amusing moments tonight, but scaring that old man had been the most amusing in Shinomiya's eyes (although he'd been more puzzled than amused at the time). That dog situation was also pretty funny, even if he'd lost his candy in the progress. Hell, for the sake of his teeth, it was probably a good thing that he'd dropped his bag of candy.

The only thing that was puzzling him now was the speed at which he'd leaped to Yukihira's rescue even despite convincing himself that he wasn't here to 'save' anyone. Sure, a bit of hesitation might've been normal, but that had practically been a reflex for Shinomiya. A reflex.

"Since when did I become a knight in shining armour?"

Shinomiya snickered to himself as he kicked his trainers off, tipping his pack of Love Hearts into his hand once again once his trainers were off and his sock-clad toes were out.

MY HERO

That was the next Love Heart to appear on Shinomiya's palm, much to his amusement. He began to chew on that one as well, the heart crumbling to a sweet, delicious powder inside of his mouth. It was a strong flavour which engulfed his taste buds, and though it was nothing more than cheap candy, Shinomiya couldn't help but find himself enjoying it. There was only one Love Heart left in the packet, annoyingly enough…

"Wait, heart?"

Shinomiya stared down at the final Love Heart in his left palm, the one which bore nothing but a heart. It was at that moment when Shinomiya realised that the ordering of these Love Hearts was deliberate. Yukihira had left it half-open on purpose. Maybe the whole point of tonight had been to allow Yukihira to make a small confession in the most Yukihira-like manner possible.

"This idiot," Shinomiya murmured, continuing to stare at the Love Heart. "I'm his mentor…"

Shinomiya knew that, but… these Love Hearts did taste pretty damn good. So, he popped the piece of candy into his mouth, a smile crossing his lips as he shut his eyes and proceeded to relive today's events in his mind.

Singing in the shower.

Styling his hair.

Struggling to find an outfit.

Phoning Hinako.

Then, Yukihira showing up at his front door with that stupid smirk on his face. Somehow, Shinomiya couldn't help but feel that Yukihira showing up at his door was going to become a recurring event. One that would probably end up spilling into his weekends as well as his weekdays.

"Hmph," Shinomiya murmured, his eyelids sliding open as he reached for a bar of chocolate on his chest. "Well, I guess it can't be that bad. He'll probably get bored of coming to my house after a couple of weeks… right?"