Chapter 8 – Saying the Unsaid


Takumi loved Isami's constant reminder text messages that he was returning to Tootsuki. He missed his brother. Granted, meeting Ayame-san and her friends made his time in Japan more… hectic and busy for a summer holiday, thus less home-sick. However, he still longed for his brother to be by his side. Even after five years residing in Japan, he still missed seeing the chaotic traffic of Italia and the chatter of lingua Italiana whether it be nonnas gossiping or men chortling over soccer scores. Most of all, Trattoria Aldini, his home and his family. Isami's return excited him and he couldn't wait to welcome him back in open arms and drink in all the news from home which Isami would bring back.

And limoncello. He had to bring back limoncello.

He counted that it was exactly one week since Isami's first reminder text and exactly three days until his plane's touch down. He would arrive in the morning. Takumi walked down the steps of the apartment block that he and Isami would soon return to and the breeze caught his hair.

The end of August was approaching meaning his monthly rent will be rounding up, so it was best that he moved all their stuff out of the expensive dormitories and back into their apartment fairly quickly. He was so relieved when his landlady broke the news that the rent wouldn't change, that would definitely be easy on his family's bank account. Their Trattoria did very well, but they weren't a rich family, so he and Isami always did what they could to make things financially easier for everyone whilst studying at Tootsuki.

Takumi sauntered down the street. His landlady had shown him the kitchens and the bathrooms, the final product of her renovation and he was pretty pumped. There were new tiles in the bathroom, black marble pattern with a fashionable feature strip of glass. The bathroom cabinet had a modern sheen and the shower stall was larger and she had spent an extra couple of thousand yens to include a niche in the shower stall designed to house shampoo bottles. The new kitchen looked brilliant. Everything was soft closed. He could try and slam every kitchen cabinets and drawers all he wanted and it will automatically pressurise and close gently against his will. Pretty nifty. The kitchen island had been replaced with Caesar stone which was great and overall, it was nice modern look.

Takumi took out his phone and was ready to text his fratello good night as Isami would likely be going to bed around this time but stopped when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Takumi-kun! Hi!"

'Ayame-san?'

He looked up. It really was Ayame-san. She looked especially lovely today. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a few locks framing her beautiful face. She was wearing a sleeveless white blouse and a simple black Western styled bow tie. She was also wearing a black short-shorts and white sandals. Takumi tried really hard not to stare at her legs. Had they always looked this smooth and creamy like the froth on a café latte? She stopped in front of him and Takumi smiled, admiring how her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"What are you doing in Minamikawase?" she asked jovially.

"Ah, I was just visiting my landlady. I need to let her know that I'll be moving back into the apartment. My brother and I've been temporarily living in Tootsuki's dorms while she was renovating some of the apartments she owns on this block." He said, pointing back towards the apartment block he exited and dangled his old apartment keys for her to see.

"Oh wow" Ayame-san looked up, making sure to partially cover her eyes from the bright afternoon glare as her gaze swept the building "So this is where you usually live? When are you moving back in?"

"Not sure. I'm hoping maybe by the end of this week. I want to get things ready for Isami's return" said Takumi. It wouldn't be fair to get Isami to help him move their things back into their apartment as soon as he got back when he would still have jetlag to wrestle with. As the older twin, he needed to take care of the bigger issues.

"How are you going to do that?" asked Ayame-san.

"Hire a removalist" Takumi pondered aloud.

Ayame-san screwed her face in concentration, doing that lip-biting she did often when Takumi knew the gears were turning in her head. It looked adorable, making him slightly blush but it also annoyed him because he didn't want her to ruin her lips.

"Removalists are quite expensive and you would only have a few boxes each to bring over. It wouldn't be practical to use the bus back and forth either. I know! Maybe Kuchiyose-kun, Chizuru-chan and I could help you?" she flicked her finger up to the sky as if pointing to a light bulb above her.

"N-No, seriously you don't have to. I'm confident I can manage on my own" Takumi waved his hand in front of him, hoping to get her to change her mind.

"Nonsense. What are friends for? Think of this as thanks for helping me cook pancakes and fish, also for letting us come to Tootsuki" She winked at him.

'Oh my heart…'

"Kuchiyose-kun has a car and can drive to Tootsuki to transport all your things in one trip" Ayame-san continued.

Car? Drive?

"Umm… But Kuchiyose-san is only in second year high school like us. How is it possible he has a driving license already?" said Takumi in disbelief.

"…"

"…"

"Don't worry about that! The most important thing is that he has a car and knows how to drive!" Ayame-san laughed in such an unusual manner, high pitched and slightly broken making Takumi's suspicion sank deeper.

'Madre Mariadi Cristo!'

"Are you saying he doesn't have a license?! Your father is in the police force isn't he?! Does he have any idea about that?! Won't we get in trouble?!" Takumi shrieked.

His mind rattled at the thought of being in association with an illegal driver and even more so that Ayame-san was perfectly dandy with it! There was not a speck of worry on her face by the fact that her friend drove without a freaking license.

"Kuchiyose-kun is a safe driver. Trust me. His family owns a tofu shop and he's been driving since he's twelve everyday early in the morning to deliver tofu to various restaurants. So it won't be anything different to what he's used to"

Takumi felt sweat beading on the back of his neck and it didn't have anything to do with the summer heat. She didn't deny his accusation. It looked like Kuchiyose's been driving illegally for four years and nobody but him seemed to have a problem with that. The way Ayame-san beamed up at him made it really hard to say no. Not to mention that she was right. Removalist costs were quite pricey, especially when he and Isami only had a few boxes each to bring over.

"If you trust his driving skills, then I guess I could too. Are you sure he'd be alright with this?" Takumi scratched the back of his head, something he learnt Japanese people do to mask embarrassment after copying his Pappa when he was younger.

"I could ask him and I'm sure he'll say yes. He's been humouring Chizuru-chan by following her to buy manga, so he's in the mood to do anything to distract himself from…" Ayame-san 's sentence trailed off.

"That's the thing" Takumi said cautiously, filling in the information gap for Ayame-san "He would need to drive to Tootsuki, where Nakiri Alice lives. I don't think he'd be willing to go there the second time around and I wouldn't want him to do something he's uncomfortable with, especially for me"

Ayame-san 's face fell a bit "I suppose but you'll never know. Kuchiyose-kun is tougher than he looks. I'll ask him anyway and see what happens" she cheered up slightly. "How is Alice-san by the way? Is she ok?"

Takumi thought for a moment "Um, I did visit her a bit today. She seemed… fine" he said. He would sooner die than tell Ayame-san that actually, Nakiri Alice threw an expensive smoothie blender at his head the first chance she got.

Takumi had spent a chunk of time thinking about what happened between Kuchiyose and Nakiri Alice in the past. Meeting Ayame-san was full of strange coincidences! The lilac-haired giant and the Danish Nakiri were together at one point? Well... he remembered sharing most classes with her and Kurokiba in middle school but hardly knew her story aside from her family background. He commended her for keeping her 'secret boyfriend' a secret very well for so long. Kuchiyose was a local kid, a non-Tootsuki student who played soccer and went to a normal public school about thirty minutes away from the Nakriri manor. So it might be plausible for them to bump into each other often enough to initiate a romantic relationship as ridiculous as that sounded. But the Nakiri's weren't the type to associate themselves with anyone in the lower classes, much less outside their social circle... So he found himself wondering about the unusual circumstances on how the Danish Nakiri princess and the commoner boy met. What kind of chemistry bloomed between the two in the first place? And what ended their relationship so badly? There was so much mystery behind this and his thoughts were flooded with questions. But alas, it was none of his business so he tried to expel it from his mind.

"Oh that's good" Ayame-san seemed to cheer up a bit more.

Takumi felt the conversation was coming to a close and he didn't want her to dwell on the things she shouldn't worry over "So what about you? What are you doing here in Minimikawase?" he asked.

"Me? I'm just running an errand at the local kendou dōjō. After work, Otou-san trains the students there on a casual basis. But since his investigation, he's been coming home a lot less so he needed me to drop something off" she said.

"Oh I see" Takumi smiled.

"Well, I need to get going. I've got some grocery shopping for dinner tonight. Okaa-san still isn't back from her business trip yet" she said, checking the time on her phone.

"It just so happens I need to get a few things for dinner too" said Takumi "We could go together"

"I'd love that" she smiled brilliantly at him.

'She said she'd love that' Takumi repeated over and over in his head.

They started walking together down the street, looking towards the beautiful blend of orange, red and pink hues of the setting summer sun, commenting on it as they enjoyed their walk together. Takumi listened happily to Ayame-san recounting what she'd learnt from some sort of military engineering exhibit she ventured to sometime after her visit to Tootsuki. Takumi felt he could never get tired from listening to her. In fact, he could listen to her forever. He'd thought whether or not it'd be impertinent if he were to surreptitiously ask a few more questions about Kuchiyose, only to make sure if he did or didn't engage with other illegitimate activities, but thought better of it. He trusted Ayame-san.

Soon both were sitting on the bus routed for Karakura honchou. It seemed like the supermarket there was her favourite. Takumi made sure she boarded first with him close behind and that she sat at the window seat first before he settled beside her.

"So what are you making for dinner?" she asked from beside him.

"Just something simple like pappa al Pomodoro. It's a Tuscan bread soup"

Takumi relaxed against the seat thinking of what other things he could add. He had a lot of left over bread. He could probably make garlic bread out of some of it too. He hadn't had that for a while. He was about to ask her what she was having for dinner, but paused when she was giving him a seriously weird look. She stared at him as if his face was the moon and she was a moth. Eyes wide and unusually shimmering and glazed over, filled with some sort of yearning or craving. Her face was slightly red and her mouth was slightly agape and he swore she looked like she was about to drool. Perhaps… Oh hell, he went ahead and asked.

"I… don't suppose y-you'd like to join me for d-dinner instead, would...you?" he said hesitantly, feeling his cheeks reddening and his heart rate increase suddenly, scrutinising for any sign and praying to the Roman Gods that it wasn't the wrong move.

"Can I? Can I really?" she leaned closer to him, her face almost in his. Takumi gulped and leaned away, averting his eyes because he couldn't stand how cute she looked up close.

'So that was what she wanted…' he internally sighed with relief.

"Of course, I wouldn't invite just anyone…" he mumbled, hyper aware that she was fidgeting around in her seat. She must be really excited. Takumi counted off the times he cooked with her. He made Aldini style American pancakes with her but he guessed that it didn't really count as because it was more Americano. He also helped her with fried fish, but it wasn't particularly Italian either since the seasoning wasn't anything special. He thought about it, he never actually made her Italian food. So this would be the first.

Takumi's blood started heating up and anxiety gripped him.

'Get a hold of yourself! You're just making god damn soup!" he sighed internally.

"Wait, you still need to have a Tootsuki pass to get into the grounds" Takumi realised. Stupido! Why didn't he think of that before he asked her to dine with him!

"Hmm? No worries, I always keep the passes in my wallet." Ayame-san whipped out the last pass out from her little travel wallet and showed it to him, grinning from ear to ear.

He released a relieved sighed. Phew, he saved himself a whole lot of embarrassment. Soon they made it to Karakura honchou bus stop. Takumi got up and allowed Ayame-san to alight the bus first before himself. It was around rush hour traffic and there were many housewives flocking into the supermarket to get groceries to feed their families. Also there were some teens around their age who were loitering around, guzzling soft drinks or ice-tea by the carparks too. Again, it reminded him of the Italian markets in twisted sort of way.

"Oh damn, there must be a discount sale on right now" said Ayame-san.

Both teenagers squeezed themselves through the growing crowd and made it to the very centre of the supermarket. Takumi quickly nabbed the last of the shopping basket and quickly turned around to tell Ayame-san that he was going over to the vegetable section to get the vegetables he needed for pappa al Pomadora.

But she was gone.

'Where did she go?' he began to worry a bit.

"Aya!"

Takumi spun around towards the sound of her voice. It was sharp and distressed. He quickly scanned the area and caught sight of her floundering in a sea of Japanese women battling for the discounted meat. She looked panicked and was promptly knocked to the side by an impatient, burly looking woman. Takumi dropped the basket and skidded forward just in time to catch her before she knocked over a palette of cream soda and hurt herself.

"Thanks Takumi-kun… I can't believe I was silly enough to get myself caught in between a pack of short ribs and a feisty menopausal woman" she grimaced.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Takumi asked as he pulled her back to her feet, carefully checking her over.

Ayame-san shook her head and was blushing heavily and Takumi looked into her eyes to find out why. Then he realised that both his hands were on her forearms, whilst he was trying to check her over for bumps and bruises.

Oh.

"I-I was just checking if you were okay!" he flew back, throwing a big distance between them and waving his arms in the air as if they were burning and hastily picked up the basket he had abandoned. Embarrassment soaked into him. How could he be blatantly touching her like that in public! Sweat poured out from the back of his neck again.

She chuckled.

"It's okay, I'm all good"

'You most certainly are' Takumi then mentally backhanded himself after the thought.

"Avanti!" he yelled.

The noise at the front of the supermarket rose as more and more people flooded in, pushing into the discount section. Without thinking twice, Takumi quickly grabbed Ayame-san 's hand and dragged her along with him over to the vegetable section where it was a lot more breathable. Ayame-san followed close behind and securely squeezed his hand back, giving him another appreciative smile. He flushed red and muttered some of the things he needed to get for their dinner, but didn't make a move to let go.

Takumi and Ayame-san spent their whole shopping expedition holding hands.


"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Ayame.

"No that's okay, make yourself comfortable. I just need to change. I won't be long" Takumi-kun said as he disappeared into the backroom of the kitchen.

So Ayame did, just that. She took one of the kitchen stools and sat at the metal counter. So this was kitchen twelve. Ayame looked around and was still impressed at how pristine everything looked. It was the same as the other kitchen Takumi-kun had showed her on her first visit. All the stove tops were spotless, unlike her own. All the dishes were stacked neatly on the side and so were the pots and pans, unlike her own. Not a thing was out of place, like a military establishment… definitely on like her own. Ayame pulled out her phone and texted Kuchiyose-kun if he was available any time this week to help out Takumi-kun move his and his brother's things to their newly renovated apartment in Minimikawase. He was probably having evening soccer practice now. It was worth a shot anyway. After her message sent through, she pocketed her phone without bothering to check the ones sent by Izumo-san few days before and laid her hands on the metal countertop. Ayame flexed her fingers back and forth. Takumi-kun's hand had been so warm, almost clammy as they went shopping together, but that didn't bother her at all. Just as he predicted, the supermarket got even more packed, if it were possible, and he made it a point to never let her hand slip from his. Their palms fitted perfectly together.

He was firm and gentle at the same time. Reassurance.

Ayame stared at her fingers. When she held his hand, it made her heart beat faster in her chest. It reminded her of the time he grasped her hand over the handle of the frying pan when they made pancakes at her house. It felt intimate. Surely he was just performing the duties of a gentleman. He would probably do it for any other person. Only she hoped he didn't.

'Get a grip Ayame, he was only being a polite'

She chewed on her bottom lip, something she did when she was deep in thought. Suppose that maybe he actually did like her. What clues did she have? He blushed and he stammered sometimes when she was being cheeky with him. So what? They were circumstantial evidence. Maybe he did that with others too.

'He was very… tactile…when teaching me how to make pancakes and fry fish'

Perhaps that was just the way Italians taught cooking. Ayame quickly scolded herself. Even to her, that excuse sounded lame and stupid. The more she thought about it, the more she drove herself into a frenzy. Ayame brushed her hair to the side with her fingers and sighed. Chizuru-chan's pearls of wisdom included screaming 'Just go for it girl and see where it takes you!' to her face, whereas Kuchiyose-kun's advice was sent through texting: 'Follow your heart'. Both were saying the same thing, from two completely different minds and in two completely different ways. That's got to say something.

For a while now, Ayame had been toying with the idea of Takumi-kun liking her back. It was exciting and frightening at the same time because she would day-dream about the two of them together but always return back to reality that this idea was Schrödinger's cat. He could both be interested and not interested in her until she or he confessed. The not knowing part... The percentage of the likelihood of Takumi-kun liking her back fluctuated every day and it drove Ayame nuts. She was definitely smitten with him.

"I'm going to start cooking now" said Takumi-kun from behind her.

Ayame whipped around and her jaw was practically on the floor. Nobody told her that a guy in a chef's uniform looked smoking. If she thought men in uniform looked appealing, they got nothing on a half-Japanese, half-Italian guy in a chef's uniform. Takumi-kun was making her feel weird things on the inside again. It was the standard uniform except with chrome-orange trimmings. It fitted him really well and made him look utterly professional. The more she stared at him up and down, the faster her heart beated in her chest. The kitchen started to feel hot. Was it her or did the thermostat dial magically twist itself?

There was an odd silver dot on the front of his uniform.

"Umm. What's that there in the middle of your chest?" she pointed, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Oh that? Well… I told you about it. It's the keychain you gave me. I took it apart and pinned it to my uniform… for luck" said Takumi-kun, looking a bit flushed.

"But why is it backwards?" she got up from her seat and approached him. Takumi-kun suddenly started fiddling with the sleeve of his uniform, looking a bit anxious.

"So it doesn't get dirty or collect oil" he simply said, averting his eyes.

He was just so, so, so adorable. She was touched.

Ayame didn't bother suppressing the smile that invaded her face. The way he cared for a silly old thing she made, made her feel giddy. She felt the need to tease him to make that blush she loved come back.

"I'm glad you're taking really good care of it. It says a lot about a man" she stepped forward and prodded him in the chest.

Ayame smiled cheekily and expected him to get embarrassed, stammer and get flustered or hastily make his escape to the cooking station to start preparing their dinner. But he did none of that as he stood there, his face and body was unmoving. His ice blue eyes pierced down to her own. He was looking at her so heatedly and with such intensity that it made her mouth go dry and her cheeky smile disappear. Those feelings were returning, and she couldn't techno-babble it away to herself without blushing crimson. Why was he looking at her like that?

"I suppose it does reveal what kind of man I am" he simply said before walking past her and over to the ingredients he had already set out.

Ayame quickly rubbed her ears to make sure she heard that right. He did not say what she thought he just said. Was he returning her teasing remark?

"Do you want to watch me? You might learn a few things" he said as he began washing the cherry tomatoes he bought in a colander.

"Uh... y-yeah sure" Ayame stammered as she retook her seat, accidentally slipping as she hopped on.

"Careful there, wouldn't want to fall down a second time today" Takumi-kun chuckled as he began slicing garlic and some washed basil.

"Would you still catch me?" Ayame verbally prodded back.

"I would leap over this countertop if I have to" he said as he began chopping more tomatoes.

It was Ayame's turn to flush completely red.

'Aya. Who knew he could be this suave'

She didn't learn a damn thing while he was cooking.

"Buon apettito!"

It smelt heavenly, like the divine radiance from the angels themselves. Ayame sighed dreamily, allowing herself to be whisked away by the blend of the basil, pepper and tomatoes. She was already salivating. The well-known Tuscan dish was just begging to be eaten with gusto! Her hands itched to snatch the spoon from Takumi-kun before he could set it before her and just dig into the famous 'bread and tomato soup'. It looked more like a stew, but either way, it was going down her gullet. The glimmering sheen of the bread coated in the thick soap was calling out to her.

Takumi-kun sprinkled the finishing touches of handful of basil and some Parmesan cheese. Ayame said 'Itadakimasu' whilst Takumi said grace in Italian before both dug in. She scooped up some bread in the soup and was amazed at the way it simply melted in her mouth to a flavourful mush. It slid slowly down her tongue and throat, satisfying her senses as it went.

The ingredients were so simple. He only used cherry tomatoes, bread, basil, garlic, onions and bread and with it he created this fantastic piece of rustic, home spun Aldini-style soup. She grabbed some garlic bread Takumi-kun also made and bit into it, licking around her lips to catch the crumbs

She groaned. THE best garlic bread she ever tasted. She was NEVER eating store-bought garlic bread again.

"It's not fair, why can't I cook this well?" Ayame sighed.

Takumi-kun ate quietly on the opposite side of the metal countertop, not even looking up once. Ayame looked on with a bit of confusion. Perhaps he wasn't really a talker during dinner or meal times so much. Otou-san didn't talk much during dinner either, claiming it was bad for digestion. Now that she thought of it, she did most of the talking when they had fish and pancakes together.

"Y-you like it?" he barely whispered, not even lifting his head.

"Are you kidding me? I love it! I'm jealous. Remember how you took over the kitchen at that Italian café we went together? I was hungry from just serving your food to the customers. I was tempted to stick my finger in it and have a taste of it myself before handing it over" said Ayame exuberantly.

"I'm glad" he smiled across from her, like a kid that won a merit certificate.

Her heart fluttered.

Ayame busied herself with continuing to eat the pappa al Pomodora and relishing in its flavourful but simple taste. She wanted to weep from such deliciousness. Ayame took another spoonful and lapped it up. She gingerly touched her own throat with the tips of her fingers, feeling the exquisite warmth as it travelled down her throat. Its flavour absorbed throughout her body. She continued to trace her fingers down to her collar bone where the warmth disappeared just behind it. Her heart beated heavily against her rib cage, this dish satisfied all her senses and more. She closed her eyes and relished her next spoonful. A bit of the soup dripped from the spoon like jewel droplets and she caught it just in time with the back of her fingers. She lifted it to her lips and slipped her tongue out and lapped it up, making sure not waste a single drop.

She suddenly felt a warm shiver up her spine.

With a shy glance, she almost choked at the way Takumi Aldini was watching her like a hawk, with a slice of bitten garlic bread dangling from his fingers as he rested his elbow on the countertop.

It was quite unnerving. What had she done to warrant this amount of attention from him whilst eating? Ayame's face felt a bit heated and her hands suddenly trembled when she scooped another spoonful of the delicious thick soup. She took a quick peep at him and almost dropped the spoon back into the bowl.

She'd seen that look before deep in his ice blue eyes.

It was at her house, when his face was dipped so close to her that their lips almost touched…

This was getting awkward… Was he trying to tell her something with his eyes? Did the aroma of basil paint her a hallucinogenic picture? Did the seasoning for the fish last time contain basil? Basil contained 'eugonal', a chemical component that gives it its sweet aroma. Maybe there was a correlation if it were hallucinogenic. Ayame's techno-babble ceased.

"Umm, is everything…okay?" she quietly asked, keenly observing his expression to decipher his odd behaviour. She followed Takumi-kun's gaze as it dipped a bit and then back to her eyes before he clenched his eyes shut and turned his head to the side. He looked very tense.

'Did I do something wrong? I don't think so… or maybe he's missing his brother so much' she wondered anxiously.

That had to be it.

Ayame put on her best comforting smile and leaned over to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. A soon as her hand crossed the invisible midline across the plate of garlic bread between them, it happened all at once. Takumi-kun snatched her hand from mid-air and pulled her forward. Ayame yelped in surprise. Her hips bumped into the metal counter stopping her from falling onto the food.

'What the hell!'

Something soft and moist was pressing against the back of her knuckles. Takumi-kun was pressing his lips to her knuckles.

"Non posso resistere più voi..."

Ayame's thoughts were bouncing around in an out-of-control carousel. He was murmuring some Italian things, its clarity obstructed by pressing her knuckles to his lips, quite firmly. Ayame panicked.

'What is he doing? What is he saying?! What am I going to do? What's going on?! IT MUST BE THE HALLUCINOGENIC BASIL!'

This definitely had nothing to do with his brother. Her basil theory looked more and more attractive by the second. Ayame licked her lips to buy some time to think of what to say.

"H-Hey-"

Suddenly, he pulled her hands away from his lips, but didn't let go. He stared at her and parted his lips "Ayame, I—"

Vorp!

"AYA!" she squeaked.

Ayame sprang back and wrenched her hand from Takumi-kun's whilst he looked like he snapped himself out of a witch's spell. She fumbled through her pockets for her phone, distracting herself from the sounds of Takumi-kun clumsily clearing their empty bowls and almost-finished garlic bread.

'When and where'

-KB

She sighed. It was just a harmless text message. Kuchiyose-kun was fine with coming over to help Takumi-kun after all. That was a relief. Ayame turned around and was about to tell Takumi-kun the good news, but the atmosphere had gone frosty. He was already halfway through washing their dishes. How the hell did he wash the dishes so fast? It must be the fast-paced kitchen environment he grew up in. Time was money, and money came from a lot of customers.

Ayame opened her mouth to speak, but found it more difficult than she thought.

"Uh… K-Kuchiyose-kun said he could come to help you move. I-Is this weekend alright with you?" Ayame stammered. Nerves and anxiety gripped her. She prayed to kami that the awkward situation would just lift because she couldn't bear Takumi-kun to suddenly be cold now.

"Si. That's fine with me" he said in such an eerie and calculating way.

Ayame's worry heightened. She crept around the side of the kitchen countertop to where the sink was. Takumi-kun didn't seem to notice her as he was obsessed with rinsing the already clean dishes. His hands were as red as boiled lobsters from the steaming water he was forever rinsing the dish under, it didn't even look like he was feeling the hot water. That couldn't be good for the skin. Ayame promptly shut off the tap.

Takumi-kun stopped and turned rock solid still. He didn't remove his eyes from the dish he was still holding in his tight grip, water continued to drip into the sink with loud pitter-patters. Ayame gently pried it out of his hands and placed it onto the drying rack with everything else.

"Please forgive me for what I did" Takumi-kun slid backwards and pressed both his hands onto the rim of the sink and leaned forward with his head bowed.

It was as if doing the dishes had exhausted him and he needed to catch his breath. His golden hair obscured his eyes so she couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking. She frowned. This wasn't like him at all. Blushing and stammering, yes, but silent and tense, no. She admitted that his actions while dining together was indeed peculiar, but he wasn't doing anything wrong.

On the contrary. It felt right.

It was now or never. She had to know. Time to find out if Schrödinger's cat was alive.

"There's nothing to forgive. What were you going to ask me?" she said resolutely.

'I think I know what you were going to say'

Takumi-kun looked away sheepishly and straightened himself up. He began fiddling with the sleeves of his uniform, like he did when he got changed before cooking. Ayame stepped forward so that she was in his personal space and softly touched his hands, making him stop fidgeting.

"Uh… Umm, j-just. Nothing… it was nothing important" Takumi-kun turned his face away, his brows crinkled together and his lips in a dead-set line, but Ayame was having none of that.

She reached up and gently placed her palms on his cheeks and swiveled his head to look at her, startling him. She wanted to see his eyes more than ever.

"No, don't be like that. Everything you say is important… to me" she said as calmly as possible.

'I need to hear it…'

Takumi-kun sighed after a momentary silence and took her hands from his cheek and just held it in front of him. "Once I say it, know that I won't take it back. Alright?"

Ayame held her breath, captured by the raw spirit in his eyes. Her ears were wide open.

"I like you, Ayame. I l-like you a lot. I-I've never felt this way with anyone else before. Your every action makes me feel hot and cold all the time, my heart beats so hard or not at all when I'm around you, I can barely stand it. Your smile steals my b-breath away, even from the first moment I met you. You're absolutely beautiful, you're smart, funny and I love listening to you talk… even about wormholes, robotica, you name it… Whenever I see you eat or even the times we cook together, It drives me mad for you and I feel like I want you to be only eating my dishes! I want to know heaps m-more about you. And s-so umm… Would you allow me the honour of courting you?"

Ayame could have been knocked over with a feather. She had a massive inkling that he was going to say he liked her and a strong dose of doubt that came along with it. No way in all the multi-verses that she ever expected him to pour out everything he just said… about her. Ayame was enraptured from happiness all the way to fright. She was spellbound by his delivery and such earnest and passion in each of his words. He had looked absolutely frightened. But then his gorgeous blue eyes finally dropped his final guard and revealed to her the hidden passion deep within. She couldn't believe it! There was someone on this Earth who really thought this way about her and was sincere about it. In all her sixteen years of life, she had never met anyone as gifted, kind-hearted, ambitious and amazing as Takumi Aldini and here he was gripping her hand tightly between them, searching for an answer somewhere on her face. So far she could only offer him her jaw lying on the floor and her eyes in need of deflation.

Ayame snapped herself back to reality. Her response. She remembered she had to give him a response. Ayame launched herself at him.

"OAAH!" Takumi-kun stumbled back at the sudden weight she threw at him and caught her around the middle, holding her tight to stop both of them from crashing to the floor.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that. Because I've always liked you too" she mumbled into his shoulder, trying to contain her happiness from combusting them both. She embraced him with all her energy around his neck, pressing herself flush against him. She drank in the smell of his cologne, mixed with his natural scent creating the distinct smell reminding her of cedar that only Takumi-kun could pull off.

After a few moments Takumi-kun hugged her back tightly before letting her go, but still keeping his hands on her forearms and not letting her step back too much. He was sporting the biggest and cheesiest smile on his face and it melted her insides. There was something cheeky in them and she felt the need to put up some sort of guard.

"I-I don't know wh-what we really are now. I d-don't think I've thought th-this far ahead. Uh… well, I should I be looking up d-d-dating things on the internet, journal articles or from a thesis? U-uh, or buy a book about—Mmmphf!"

Ayame's lips were swiftly captured by the man in front of her. They were firm yet gentle, tenderly moving against hers like the bow caressing a violin. He tasted like the citrus of yuzu with a heady blend of basil. Takumi-kun settled his hands on her waist, holding her hips close. She relented and melted into his arms and poured herself into his sudden kiss, letting him know exactly what she felt for him. She slowly wrapped her arms over his neck, being shyly coaxed further. He filled her with a raging passion she never knew she was capable of and she felt a burning ember behind his actions, as if waiting to be let loose, but restraining. Then he pulled back slightly, letting his full lips linger against hers a bit as they parted from their sweet, single kiss. Only the small puffs of air between them.

Ayame felt out of this world.

"Mio bella" he whispered sensually against her cheek.

Ayame clutched at his uniform for dear life, she didn't trust herself to stand and support her own weight now, not when the boy who made her world spin was whispering wicked Italian magic to her. She couldn't think, all she could see, feel, hear, smell and taste was him.

Takumi-kun carefuly stroked his thumb across her lower lip and dipped in for the second kiss of the night.


I'm giggling. A sweet confession after dinner was what these two weirdos deserve. Finally, Takumi bucked up and confessed, and got the chance to court the girl of his dreams. And finally, Schrödinger's cat became Ayame's golden Italian kitty :3

The road trip doesn't finish at the confession! There are still a whole bunch of characters that need to make their appearance and the school semester for Tootsuki and Karakura high school is ready to recommence. Of course Food Wars! isn't Food Wars! without a certain red-headed diner chef who's been traipsing around Japan :D

Until next time, I hope everyone gets their Christmas shopping done and dusted and avoid the maddening rush. See you in 5 days' time!

Signing-off

-TripWire-Dono