"We're the last ones left," Souma said drily.
It was a few weeks after he was finally able to start moving around properly (although his activities were stiffly supervised by one obsessive god tongue), and they were sitting next to each other at the bar, fulfilling their latest duties as best man and maid of honor — history seemed to love repeating itself as much as Alice did.
"Literally," Erina noted, her voice equally as laconic.
The newlyweds—a certain doctor-CEO pair—had bolted to Bora Bora to start their honeymoon, and to be quite honest, nobody had any idea when (and frankly, if) they'd be back. Four hours after their departure, Souma and Erina were the only two guests still present in the hotel ballroom.
He rested his chin on his fist and said, "You know that's not what I meant, right?"
She hid her smile behind the rim of her Dom Perignon and gave a neutral nod. "Yukihira, what are we? Are we going to keep doing… this?"
Souma's eyebrows knit together. "You're Nakiri Erina. I'm Yukihira Souma. We are the two pinnacles of the culinary world."
"I guess. But there can only be one pinnacle," she said, so quietly she barely heard herself.
But as luck would have it, he caught every word.
"Then I'll give it to you."
Erina looked at him for a long while. "It'll be a tight fit, but I'll make the accommodation, Yukihira. You belong at the top of the world just as much as I do, and we both know it. Come over tonight."
"Thought you'd never bring it up," he said. "We're moving to Seoul."
"We'll open in two years. This has to be perfect," Erina reminded him, like he didn't already know it. "The world expects way too much from us now."
"Yeah, but you and I are beyond this dimension, remember?"
"Not you and I, Yukihira. We."
8 years post grad
"God, I can't believe we actually got our shit together long enough to actually follow through with this," Souma said from the floor of what would soon be their Seoul restaurant. It was a testament to their days on the Elite Ten that it was four in the morning and they were still wide-eyed and fresh-minded.
Erina was chewing on a fried chicken leg dunked in sriracha. "Mmh," she agreed. "Since when have you owned a building in the financial district?"
"I bought it before you opened Kiralyno," he mused. "Because I saw on your calendar that you were coming here pretty often for interviews and you made a few appearances with that cooking show. I guess I just wanted to see you. Or at least… be nearer so I could pine from afar."
She hid her grin. "Well, I'm thankful that you chose Korea, because I love having, like… 37 bars of service at all times."
"Have you ever been to an internet cafe?" Souma smirked. "This is nothing." He stopped typing for a moment and rested his chin on his fist to stare at her for a long while. "Nakiri, where are we?"
"Seoul, idiot," she said. "The fuck were we talking about five seconds ago?"
"Not that. I'm asking, where are we."
Erina leaned back on her elbows. "I don't know. Everything's so complicated. We've been doing well as friends. Coworkers. Associates. I don't want to risk losing that again."
"Back when I was in the hospital, it was like being at the edge of a cliff. To stay was to remain unconscious. And to pitch myself off… I didn't know if I'd die or wake up. I took a chance and jumped, Nakiri, because I thought there was a possibility that you might be at the end of the fall. Don't think I've ever told you this properly, but you're like glass to me, Nakiri. I'd hurt myself a thousand times over if it meant you were broken and I could put you back together. If we are not meant for each other, and all I can do is dream about the future we can never have, then so be it."
She smiled gently and nudged him. "If you're not my soulmate, Yukihira, you can at least be my boyfriend. That's how life is, you know."
"What?"
"I mean, your soliloquy seemed like a confession just now so I thought I'd do the same. Do you want me to apologize?"
"Don't even think about it."
"As if I would. Now hurry up and finish that draft so we can go back to your place and I can stream K-dramas with your 539-bar service."
And it would take another five hours of blueprinting and eating fried chicken on his living room sofa for either of them to realize what they'd just said.
"God, I can't believe we actually got our shit together long enough to go on a date," Souma said, running a hand through his hair.
Erina shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her Pyeongchang long padding as they walked down the sidewalk, both near exploding from the sheer amount of KBBQ and shaved ice they had consumed. "Now I'm going to remember our second first date as a literal icicle."
"Sorry," Souma cringed. "I'm regretting the snow cones. D'you want my jacket?" He was wearing a suede trench coat over a black turtleneck and what was probably at least two more layers of Yukihira Diner t-shirts underneath.
"It's fine," Erina said through chattering teeth. "But I should've brought a scarf."
Souma chuckled. "Be right back." He veered from her side and stopped in front of a conveniently located street vendor.
"What makes you think I'd buy anything from a vagrant pop-up like that?" she called after him, but it was already too late. He pulled a plush bunny hat over her hair, one of those with the air pumps in the hands to make the ears flip up. Before she could protest at how stupid she felt, he snapped a pair of bunny earmuffs over her ears and took a picture.
"I fucking hate you," she hissed. "That had better not go anywhere."
"I sent it to the sorinakisakiryoali trinity group chat," Souma said apologetically. "Woops. You're warm now, right?"
"How the fuck did you even come up with that? You can't even name a dish without using your own name in it."
Souma smirked. "Alice helped."
"Besides, why would I need these when I have you?" Erina slid her gloved hands around his waist and pressed her face to his chest. The top of her head just barely grazed his jaw. "You're warm, Yukihira."
"I'm hot," he joked.
"Shut the fuck up," she growled, but she didn't pull away from him. The last time they'd been like this was… seven years ago already. God, they'd wasted so much time circling each other like stars. But if it was any consolation, they both knew that all this wouldn't have been possible before.
And they were both helpless to the truth — it was each other or no one at all.
a/n also hi guys ik i must seem like i j came back from the fucking dead to post all the remaining chapters lmao (full explanation will be on tumblr momentarily)
