A:N/ I decided to do you readers a service! This chapter would ultimately explain the chemistry that's going to build up between Sōma and Hisako, while also delving in some real-life experiences that happened to me/people that I've asked advice on how to make this chapter more realistic and believable. Tell me your thoughts on it after you're done reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shokugeki no Soma

Chemistry

Sōma hummed to a tuned when he walked back from Alice's house.

'It was a weird night…' he thought back, recollecting the obvious sexual tension in the air earlier between his two friends. Luckily for the red-haired chef that he got out of there before things 'transpire' too much.

One moment he was changing diapers and making baby formula when all of a sudden he received a call from Alice saying that Ryō was missing. Sōma got onto the last trip on-board the train back to their district. It had been a while since he was in that vacation home. He thought about the last time they went there as a group, Erina and all the other people on their gang were also present at the time.

Sighing back into his seat, he looked into the window and onto the night sky filled with stars, illuminated by the thousands of soft glows that various street signs and neon lights covered.

'Erina wouldn't have stopped gushing to me about this…' he remembered his late wife's love for the sights seen at night. It was something that he dearly missed, Erina's childlike wonder whenever she would see the pretty sights with him. Sōma frowned and shook of the thought.

'I can't mope around like this forever…' he struggled to get Erina out of his mind since he's been seeing her everywhere and remembering the little details about them. It wasn't wrong for him to grieve, but it was unhealthy of him to not learn how to accept her passing.

"You mind if I sit next to you? Or are you still lost in the moment?" asked a familiar voice in front of him. Sōma looked up and found a familiar head of pink that was standing in front of him with a playful grin on her face Hisako had been aboard the train as well. Sōma chuckled and patted the seat next to him for her to sit onto.

"What's gotten you up so late?" he asked, unsure of the grey bags under her eyes and the backpack that she carried. Hisako huffed and placed her bag down at her feet before taking a deep breath of relief.

"I want to try my luck being a radio talk-show host." she replied, expecting him to either laugh or think that she was joking. Surprisingly, Sōma just smiled back at her.

"That's nice, what made you want to do it?" he asked. Hisako then wondered herself, what made her to want to do it? She recollected her thoughts and before finally forming a reply.

"It was something that I tried out secretly at middle-school back then." she admitted, drumming her fingers and bobbing her head while listening to the beat of the song that played on the train.

"Your middle-school had a radio talk-show program?" Sōma asked, bewildered and gave her a funny look. Hisako chuckled and nudged him on the shoulder.

"One of the perks I enjoyed from being Erina's aid. Plus, I think I'll take a short break from cooking professionally, too much stress from the kitchens, you know?" she replied cheekily, grinning at him. Sōma crossed his arms and leaned back onto his seat, agreeing with her.

"Tell me about it… The last time that I went to work for a professional kitchen, the owner wanted me to do exclusive fancy dinners with his clientele. Too much noise if you ask me, I'd rather work in my own kitchen than with those guys." he sighed into his hand. It was surprising though, Hisako never really planned on pursuing a career in being a radio talk-show host, she pondered about it for a little bit before laughing at her own unique pursuits in life.

"How did your family take it? Did they discourage you or something?" Sōma asked curiously. Hisako shook her head and told him that it was all good on her family's part.

"Don't worry about me. You should really be more worried about your daughter, Yukihira. Why in the world are you out this late?" Hisako asked back, crossing her arms with a scowl on her face.

'Is he neglecting Etsuko?' crossed on Hisako's mind, Sōma wasn't exactly the most responsible out of the two of him and Erina. Good thing that her friend was receiving help from them in teaching him the ropes on caring for a child, none of the gang has a kid yet, but most of them apart from Sōma knew how to take care of one.

"Ohh its fine, I asked Pops to look after her while I was gone. Alice was really worried about Ryō so I figured why not lend her a hand?"

"Why? What happened to Alice and Ryō?" Hisako asked.

"Can't tell, it's all fixed now so you don't have to worry about it"

"If you say so"

"You know, I think that you'd be a great nurse or teacher if you didn't take up cooking. Plus, you'd totally rock those looks." Sōma nonchalantly brought up, looking at her and tilting his head to try and imagine Hisako working as a nurse or a teacher.

"My, my, look at you trying to insinuate that you want me to dress up in a cute nurse's outfit or a skimpy teacher's uniform." Hisako fired back laughing at the flustered Sōma who covered his face in embarrassment upon realizing what he said was kind of insinuating that he was really hitting on her.

"That's not what I meant!" he retorted back. Hisako poked fun at him before leaning back to her seat.

"Would you like to?" she then asked with a playful grin on her face. Sōma coughed into his hand before searching into her eyes, he immediately started nervously laughing when he saw that she was dead-serious.

'What the fuck am I getting into…' he gritted his teeth before agreeing.

"Sure, how about we go on a date, kind of like a dress-up date. You wear your nurse or teacher outfit while I wear something you want." he tested her to see what her reaction would be Hisako put a hand on her chin for a moment before replying.

'Hmm this went south really fast… Erina, what would you do?' she asked herself, pondering that she shouldn't ruin the friendship that they have right now. This was a bad idea, but maybe it could help Sōma move on.

"Before we do this, are you really sure that you want to go 'out' with me, Yukihira? No offense, but you're just recently widowed." Hisako asked back, a little bit harsh on her tone. Sōma chuckled sadly and turned his head to the other side, trying to find the answers himself.

"Maybe in a way, our 'date' would help me you know… Move on? I know it's a bit too soon, but I also think that I shouldn't be moping around all my life." He answered back, unsure if he said the right words. Hisako had a thin line forming in her lips.

"Alright, but let's drop the whole 'dressing up' date thing, we're not kids, Yukihira." Sōma sheepishly turned his head away out of embarrassment from his earlier suggestion, as his heart skyrocketed. He winced as he realized that he shouldn't have tested Hisako that way.

"You really took me up on the offer eh?" he asked. They got off the train and went to walk to somewhere to get a bite to eat after that.

"Don't think much about it. I'm only doing this so that I can help my best friend's hopeless husband." she shot back with a haughty look.

They went for some fast food along the way Hisako sat down while Sōma went to place their orders. He got a few burgers while Hisako went with a medium sized burger and fries, they ate and conversed, mostly talking about what's been troubling Sōma lately and how Hisako's been doing in her rehearsals.

"You're kidding? Me in a suit is like dressing up a monkey to look like a lemur..." he grumbled while taking a few sips from his soda, Hisako chuckled and poked fun at his weird line.

"Where did that came from? Just now the whole, 'dressing up a monkey to look like a lemur?'" she asked, the line was so original and well-put that it was hard to believe that he came up with the sassy reply on his own.

"Heard it once when I went to the movies with Erina. It was on some cheesy chick-flick from what I remembered." he replied, wrapping up the discarded wrappers from the burgers before throwing them out on a nearby trashcan.

"Just to throw this out, you look handsome either way with or without the suit." Hisako looked at him and grinned. Sōma wondered what had gotten into her, there was this unspoken chemistry between them that he had the urge to test out, but it felt somewhat -

'Wrong.' Hisako finished her thought feeling a little bit guilty.

For one he's still trying to get over Erina and two, it felt like the two of them were just looking for an excuse to hang out with each other.

'Hisako is a good friend. I owe her so much.' He replayed in his head, counting the number of times that Hisako saved his behind from Erina or in the kitchen. She was a close friend, but he couldn't help but realize that after being with her for many years, her personality and his really did mix well.

'Maybe that's why her parents thought I was dating Hisako…' he thought back, remembering the time that Hisako came to their house to introduce Sōma as Erina's boyfriend. It was a riot, her family had been so charmed by Sōma that they didn't expect that he was Erina's boyfriend, not Hisako's.

"Don't you think all of this is already wrong?" he asked seriously as they walked out of the place. Hisako hummed in response before replying something.

"Well... When you think about it, dating you this soon would be kind of being unfaithful to Erina, correct?" Sōma nodded and crossed his arms, leaning back onto a storefront.

"I'm really confused myself you know? But I for one think that we don't have to take it too seriously. Just think of it as like we're taking another stagiaire." she replied cheerfully, before walking off into somewhere. Sōma followed her and wondered what she had met.

Upon catching up to her, Sōma realized that they were going to head towards another shopping district nearby. He looked to her and saw her with her arms in her back and she was still humming that song from the train.

"Oi Hisako, where the hell are we going?" he asked, she smirked back at him and crossed her arms.

"Sōma, ever since you came back from your trip overseas and had that 'fiasco' we were all worried about you." she sighed and walked inside the stores. Sōma still followed her and asked her questions.

"Hisako, I know you were all worried about me, but come on, my wife just died! What the hell do you guys want me to feel?" he groaned out. Hisako smiled and bought some caramel ice cream for the two of them. They sat down onto a nearby bench and ate the cold treat in silence.

"I want to help you, Sōma. I really like you, I don't know if I should be saying this. Honestly? I brought it up to Erina years ago I told her that I was feeling some things for you." Hsako was asking herself why she opened up to him, it was unnatural of Hisako to do that, but she the fact remains that she was secretly hurting inside as well.

It was something that would ruin their friendship and she didn't want to jeopardize what they had now for anything, but Hisako still wanted to help Sōma heal. She wanted him to feel that he was still capable of love, so she set her bounds inside of her head and suggested another idea.

"How about we just hang out tomorrow?" she teased back, having made up her mind that she would subtly help Sōma realize that he can move on with his life.

"Well then, I can't say no to that offer now can I?" Sōma laughed back at her, giving a look that would challenge and playfully tease Hisako at the same time.

The two of them would be lying to themselves if they admitted that they wouldn't want to try dating. But they both knew better, one of them was still hurt pretty badly, and Hisako still hasn't gotten over her feelings over Sōma. Try as she might, the young woman still felt for her friend, even if the stars didn't align for the both of them, they've found solace and peace in each other's company.

'Erina please help me heal Sōma's wounded heart…' Hisako sighed after parting ways with Sōma.

When Sōma got back to Yukihira he saw Yohan talking with Joichirou, the two men conversing about something in between their drinks, they cheered and sang a funny song. Sōma cleared his throat and knocked on the door to get their attention, earning him two lopsided slightly-drunk grins and laughs from the two older men.

"Oh, you're back kiddo! Come come! Join me and yer father for some drinks!" guffawed Yohan while he held out a glass for Sōma offering the younger Yukihira with a cold beverage. Sōma took him up on the offer and sat down with the two elder men who crunched on peanuts and exchanged stories with him all the while checking up on Etsuko from time to time to see if his little daughter is sleeping soundly.

Yohan noticed the doubt that settled within Sōma's gaze on his drink. He had his fair share of these moments when he was younger, noticing that his nephew was looking conflicted he stroked his white beard before humming and tapping on Sōma's shoulder to get the young man's attention.

"Tell me… There's something botherin' you ainni't kiddo?" Yohan asked, wiping some froth of beer from his mouth. Joichirou tuned in to the both of them and looked at the two with a small smile on his face.

"Well there is..." Sōma muttered back, setting down his beer and looking down on his crossed legs.

"What is it then?" his father, Joichirou asked. Looking over with curiosity, Yohan did the same and waited for the younger Yukihira's reply.

"Pops… Did you ever try to date again after Mom passed away?" he asked his father, looking at the older man with a soft gaze. Taking a sip from his beer, Joichiro shook his head.

"No. I never met another woman quite like your mother. She was like this summer storm that breeze passed my life. I never stopped chasing after her and loving her way before her death." Joichirou smiled, lightly running his thumb over the damp glass of beer he had.

'Oh Meiko… If only you were around… You'd know what advice to give to our son…' Joichirou quickly wiped a stray tear from his face and turned around so that Yohan and Sōma wouldn't see his tears. His son put a hand on his shoulders while Yohan kept quiet and gave him a small smile.

"You know, kiddo, I think I should tell ya 'bout that time that your o'l Pop her and your mother met." Yohan chuckled, looking over to Joichirou and asking to man if it's alright to tell Sōma. Joichirou leaned back and relived the memories of him and his wife as Yohan told them about the day that Joichirou and Meiko met.

*Flashback*

A young woman with short bobbed hair and cute blue eyes stared at awe at the new regular that helped around at her family's restaurant. Meiko pouted at the young man that quickly took the attention of her friends and family. The young man helped in cooking for the day since earlier that day, her father had other business to attend to, leaving no one to cook for that day.

'Stupid guy… If he wasn't so arrogant I'd think he's actually good-looking…' Meiko mumbled as a bowl of warm food was served in front of her by the young man with red locks and a wide grin plastered on his face.

"You haven't eaten yet, and you've been staring at me for a while. Here, eat this." Joichirou smiled back at the cute girl in front of him. He'd been coming secretly to Yukihira's on his off days serving as an Elite Ten Council member, sneaking out every once in a while to eat at the small family diner.

'Come on… Eat it and tell me I'm the best chef there ever was!' Joichirou waited for Meiko to eat his dish, he anxiously anticipated for her reaction. Meiko was annoyed at the young man and scoffed, she quickly took a spoonful of the food and gulped it down in one go.

"There's something missing…" Meiko muttered, Joichirou sighed and withered back down.

'Great… First time cooking for her and I blew it.' He face palmed, seeing that Meiko had already finished her bowl with a small flush on her face.

Joichirou smirked at the cute girl with stunningly beautiful blue eyes, walking over to her and crossing his arms, waiting for his compliment with a smug grin on his face.

"You started to hate cooking… Didn't you?" Meiko eyed at the young man with a frown on her face.

'What the fuck…?' Joichirou felt an icy stab through his chest as Meiko found out his secret. He hated cooking ever since no one proved to challenge him. He started to become arrogant in his skills because all that it took for him to get the approval of critics was simply gave half of his effort. There was no real passion anymore in Joichirou's cooking. All of his bravado melted away at the sight of the beautiful girl that frowned onto his dish.

"H-How did you know that?" Joichirou asked her again, still not taking his eyes off of Meiko who shuffled in her place.

"I felt no love or joy went into making your dish…" she admitted while twiddling with her thumbs and looking away at the young man's intense stare.

He felt relieved to have someone call him out. He felt relieve that for the first time in such a long time, someone found something wrong with his dish that he didn't particularly sabotaged or made to be disgusting. His gaze softened upon the young woman in front of him as he took a step back, clutching his heart with his hand and gently smiling onto the floor.

W-Wait I-I didn't mean it like that! It was still really good! I think I just made a mista-" Meiko trailed off, panicking at the silent young man that had served her breakfast. Joichirou felt warmth spreading through in his chest as he was renewed with a drive:

'I will make you say that you love my cooking.' He thought with a smile, reassuring Meiko that he wasn't upset at her criticism.

"Saiba… Saiba Joichirou." He stuck out his hand and introduced himself with a grin on his face. Meiko's heart skipped a bit at the audacious young man that wouldn't admit defeat, she shook his hand and introduced herself properly as well.

"Yukihira Meiko…" she said back, feeling a sudden jolt of static from the handshake. The two of them were inseparable from that day on. Joichirou and Meiko found out that they were pregnant after three years into their relationship and the rest was history.

*End of Flashback*

Sōma stared at the ceiling of his bedroom he was amazed and happy that his father loved his mother that much when she was around. He was only three years old when she passed away, not knowing too much about the comfort of having a mother would be. Often times back then, he would catch Joichirou looking through old photos of them with a fond smile on the older man's face.

"Someone to cook for…" he remembered his father's advice from way back then at the start of his first year in school. Ever since that day, he dedicated his life into proving Erina wrong and that his cooking being praised by Erina was all that he longed for.

Peering over to the side of his bed to see the little cot where Etsuko was sleeping, he kissed the young girl goodnight and went to bed.

'Erina… I still wish that you would say my cooking is great…' he dreamt of those days wherein Erina and him would be intimate and cook breakfast together, whilst everyone else in the Polar Star Dormitory was still fast asleep. They'd kept their relationship a secret for the first few weeks they'd been together officially after they saved Erina from the Nakiri mansion.

*Dream Sequence*

"Honey… It's time to wake up now…" he heard her voice, he felt her touch, he saw her beautiful shimmering amethyst eyes, most of all he saw his beautiful fiancé in bed with him after just proposing to her last night.

Erina snuggled up to his chest and buried her head, lightly giggling and rubbing her face onto his muscular chest.

"You were so cheesy and bold last night, so forward and embarrassing…" she mumbled, trying to hide the blush from her face that seeped through. Sōma pinned her down and kissed her neck lovingly, gazing at his fiancé with a stupid grin on his face.

"Ew I can taste your morning breath…" Erina teased him, causing Sōma to flung back onto the ground and rush over to the bathroom while denying his morning breath.

"I do not - have - bad morning - breath! – Haaaaach ~" after brushing his teeth with his fiancé, they both headed into the kitchen and wondered who would cook today's breakfast.

'How about some plain old bacon and eggs today…' Sōma chuckled, waiting to hear Erina's horrified plea that he wouldn't waste good ingredients on such plain food. Surprisingly, the former Nakiri heiress didn't mind at all and smiled along the way as she watched a shirtless Sōma cooking her breakfast.

'He's looking like the main dish already…' she drooled a little bit, looking at her fiancé with a sultry look and winking at him from afar.

'Yikes… She's really become daring since we've met. Now where did all that innocence go-to I wonder…' he chuckled as he served her plate of bacon and eggs.

After finishing up eating, the two went to do the dishes. It was their off day for today, but the two twenty-one year olds were going to be busy for the next few days after today. Thankfully for them, they had the rest of the day to enjoy.

They eventually settled on snuggling at the couch while watching a movie for the rest of the day. Erina resting on his chest while they would often do turns making snacks as they went on with their movie marathon. Sōma threw a loose fitting shirt on with his shorts while Erina changed into a more comfortable oversized shirt that Sōma wore frequently, causing him to arch and eyebrow towards his cheeky fiancé.

"I wish we could stay like this forever…." Erina muttered, burying her head into Sōma's chest causing the young man to be a little bit worried. He lifted her chin up to bring them to eye level, light pecking her on the lips and forehead after that.

"Hey… We'll be alright." He reassured her, setting her back down onto his chest as the two seemingly became increasingly sleepy.

"I love you… Please don't ever go away again…" Erina clutched his shirt and sobbed onto his chest, still fearing about the day that he would be forced to leave her. After his whole fight with Azami, the tyrant dictator didn't stop at nothing to separate the two of them. He even went as far as trying to have Sōma beaten up by his men in order for him to stop seeing Erina. That was when the two of them fled and ran away as far as possible from her father, the cruel father that never once showed an ounce of love towards her.

"I'm never going to leave you ever again." Sōma once again reassured her, patting her gently on the back while humming her to sleep.

*End of Dream Sequence*

He was awoken by the chirping of birds and the sunlight that gently hit his face. Sōma watched the clock and saw that it was '7:00 AM' he smiled and jumped out of bed to tend to Etsuko as well as getting ready for his day out with Hisako.

'This is gonna be so much fun!' he fixed up his shirt before making Etsuko some baby formula, cradling the small girl in his arms with a proud smile on his face.

"Etsuko… Guess what? Papa's going to hang out with your aunty Hisako. You be a good girl now eh? I'll have uncle Takumi watch you while I go out, I'll be back soon you hear me?" he chuckled melting at the sight of his daughter cooing as if she understood what he said.

Finding his blond Italian friend's number, he dialed up his friend and asked if he was going to be busy today.

[What is it now Yukihira?] asked an annoyed Takumi from the other end of the line.

"Hey there dude, are you busy today?" Sōma asked back, hoping that he wouldn't be much of a nuisance to his already annoyed friend.

[Not really, why do you ask?]

"Well… I'm sorta going to go hang out with Hisako today. Would it be alright if you watch over Etsuko while I'm gone?" Sōma winced, waiting anxiously for his friend's reply on the other line. Takumi was confused himself at first, wondering why he and Hisako would suddenly hang out.

[Okay? But what's on the agenda, Yukihira? You gotta tell me something.] Takumi teased.

Sōma cleared his throat and fumbled with his phone, wondering what he should say. Over at the other line, Takumi was laughing like a maniac while Isami looked in confusion to his brother.

"We're just going to go hang out, really. Lately I've been bothered about Erina's you know… But yeah, I was hoping that Hisako and I could go hang out and share something, help each other out you know?" Sōma finished, trying his best to explain the purpose of him and Hisako hanging out.

[…] there was a slight pause in Takumi's line, knowing Takumi like the back of his hand, Sōma knew that his Italian friend was worried and at the same time annoyed at him.

[Oi, let's hang out too! What am I, chopped liver? Anyway I'll go by your house in a little bit. I'm just waiting for Megumi to come along, she said she'll help me babysit Etsuko.]

"Thank you so much dude! I'll bring you back something when I get home, alright?" Sōma chuckled, getting a hum in response from his friend. They ended the call soon after, and the young man was already on his way out of the door.

"Pops! I'll be going out now!" he called out to his father who peeked from the kitchen with a smirk on his face.

"Oh… So that's why you were asking me about trying to date again. Did you get a sitter for Etsuko already? I'm going to be busy for the rest of the day." Joichirou asked with concern, Sōma nodded and waved off his father a goodbye.

"Yeah, Takumi and Megumi will come by a little bit later, see ya Pops!" he smiled before closing the door behind him and heading off to meet with Hisako at the mall.

'I wonder why I'm all so excited…' he slid a hand over to his chest and felt the thumping of his heartbeat getting faster and faster as he got closer to the mall.

"There goes our little idiot running off, Meiko…" Joichirou chuckled, getting back to his prep work on the ingredients.

~ End

A:N/ Yeah so fun fact: Joichirou and Meiko are going to get a spinoff series when I'm done with this story, I'm currently planning it on the side so be sure to check it out when it comes. Thanks again for reading! Don't forget to favorite and review!