"Dammit!" Soma hissed, grabbing a rag to impede the blood pumping from a fresh cut. He had been slicing curry leaves into paper-thin slivers in his kitchenette. Since he returned to his room, he'd been trying to forget the image of her in the passenger seat of that upperclassman's car, but he was in a pissy mood. At first, he tried but couldn't sleep because Erina's face was all he saw behind the folds of his eyes, so he decided to cook. He needed to use the rest of his summer wisely anyway, so he was glad to be nose-deep preparing for the Fall Selection.

He glanced at the clock. Four a.m. He grabbed his first aid kit and tended to his wound. He should've gone to sleep after that, but curiosity tempted him. He grabbed his phone and noticed that Ikumi had texted him a few times to ensure he got home safely. She beat him to it, but truth be told, he completely forgot about her on his walk back to the dorm. His mind was fogged with the nasty feeling of jealousy. She asked if he needed her to come over every day to ensure he stayed focused on Fall Selection prep by himself. He read her last text.

"I can keep you company if you'd like."

He liked her message, but he didn't need that from her. What he needed was to not think about who Erina Nakiri was dating. Clearing her messages from his home screen, Soma opened a social media app he rarely used and clicked the magnifying glass icon. He knew he should have just forced himself to sleep, but his fingers proceeded to type.

A colorful ring glared at him. He knew he was playing with fire, but still, Soma's finger hovered over Eishi's profile picture. He stared at it, mind racing, and then it stopped at a random thought. He scrunched his nose at the cartoon picture of Bambi, the young deer. "Why on earth would a guy like him have that as his profile pic?" Soma mumbled. His mother used to play that Disney movie all the time for him when he was a child.

Then he did what he knew he shouldn't have. He didn't care for the gossip-teeming social media apps, but after what he'd seen at the Polar Star house party, even a Luddite like him couldn't resist a bit of juicy gossip now and then.

Eishi Tsukasa had posted so much to his Stories that the top of Soma's screen looked like a never-ending dotted line. The first pic was of food he cooked. It looked so good, Soma thought he could taste it. He clicked through more mouth-watering food pictures—Tohtsuki's First Seat was a beast in the kitchen. "Seriously?" Soma scoffed incredulously. He couldn't believe every picture looked like a photo shoot for a gourmet food mag. He never took pictures of his food unless it was for Yukihira Diner.

He'd been clicking through the dots for at least ten seconds when he found what he didn't know he was looking for but had a feeling he would see.

The screen was pretty dark, with only ambient red lighting crowning its edges. The music was loud and symphonic. A disembodied booming voice trilled through the music. "Erina, we should be on our way. The concert starts in an hour." So it was an opera the pretentious pretty boy took her to? Huh. Soma's thumb slipped.

It happened so fast. Erina's smile flashed across his screen, her dazzling teeth filling the camera lens, and then the dickwad panned the camera down to capture them holding hands. Soma felt a wave of nausea overwhelm him. The video slid to the next Story: Eishi was in the camera this time, making a silly face as he dramatically pulled out a gray handkerchief to hand to someone out of the frame.

The next Story was a still shot of Erina wiping a tear with the same gray handkerchief. Soma sped through the rest of the slides, but he shouldn't have. His thumb stopped at a picture that he just blankly stared at.

Erina was facing Eishi. Eishi was facing Erina. Their lips were puckered and touching. It was the only post with a caption. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? E=mc²? So he's a nerd? Erina Nakiri likes nerds." The white and yellow hearts and couple kissing emojis under the caption didn't help. Soma groaned and threw his phone to the corner of his bed. He grabbed his pillow and screamed into it.

He should've listened to his brain. This was not learning all he could about curry for the rest of the summer without any distractions. But now the images were termites eating away at his thoughts. He screamed in mute frustration into his pillow and did not hear the ceiling tile be removed.

"Soma, buddy? You okay?" Isshiki sprang from the hole in the ceiling into a pile of Soma's clothes, walked into the kitchen, and grinned, chewing a sliver of curry leaf. "Soma, I must say, I love seeing you hard at work."

"Isshiki, bro! What the fuck! It's too early to be breaking and entering!" Soma gripped his shirt collar and tried to slow his breathing. "But, thanks…did you expect something different?"

"No, young Soma, I can't say I have…"

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you know something I don't know."

"Because I do."

"Is it about me?"

"It is."

"Alright, then. Tell me."

"Mmm…" Isshiki pressed his finger to her lips. "I don't know if I should, Soma. I'd hate to be the reason you became distracted."

"Okay, so why are you here?"

"Oh! Well, I was on my way to ask for your help with dawn gardening, but then I heard your cries—"

"I wasn't crying," Soma insisted. Isshiki side-eyed him and then nodded.

"...Okay…your screams, then, through the pipes. Pretty early to be so frustrated. Want to talk about it, my little underclassman?"

"Not unless you want to share that secret you're hiding from me first."

"I will while you help me pluck the tomatoes. I'm really excited to see how they turned out."

-8-

Soma was beginning to appreciate Isshiki Farms. He'd even gotten used to seeing the guy in that ultra-revealing loincloth. The garden side of the vast plot land had been so well tended that Soma still found it surreal that these were the vegetables stocking the dorm's kitchen. He also respected Isshiki's dedication to it. He picked up a tomato from his basket and took a giant chomp. His tastebuds exploded with sweetly acidic flavor. His eyes widened at the juice dripping down the fruit's flesh, then shifted to his resident assistant.

"Satisfying, isn't it?" Isshiki beamed with pride. Soma would've thought the eccentric second-year was proud of himself and his hard work when they first met, but he was starting to know better than that.

"Isshiki, how do you find the time to cultivate such sweet tomatoes? This starts in the soil!"

Isshiki shrugged. "I don't go to class." Soma gagged on the last mushy chunk in his mouth, and they laughed. "You can use some in your curry dish if you'd like."

"Really?" Soma's eyes lit up. Flavor pairings populated his brain.

"Sure thing! All the produce from my vegetable patch is available for all my dear dormmates to use to succeed. Winning the Fall Selection will bring great pride to Polar Star Dormitory, so anything that I can do—that doesn't violate Council guidelines, of course—to help, I'm all for it!"

"Speaking of the Council…"

"Ah, yes. I did say I'd tell you the secret."

"Wait- you didn't say the secret had anything to do with the Council of Ten!" Soma gripped the tomato a little too hard. Isshiki blushed, his face a pale tomato juice hue.

But then he winked.

"...Did you just wink at me, man?" Soma cracked up.

"I did. Soma, can I ask you an intrusive question?"

"You're scaring me, but sure. Ask away!" Soma nibbled on some tomato seeds.

"Did you…" Isshiki hesitated. His face suddenly grew concerned.

"Did I what?" He eyed questioningly, spitting out the seeds.

"Did you and Erina Nakiri get into a tiff recently of some sort?"

"A tiff?" Soma racked his brain. He hadn't seen her since school let out for summer break...until last night. His mind drew a blank. "No…"

"Hm," Isshiki hummed. He stared Soma down, then bent down to feel the soil beneath them. "I figured as much. So I don't know why she won't stop talking about you." He stood up to clap the dirt off his hands, but his attention was stolen by a half-eaten tomato rolling toward his bare feet.

"Erina won't WHAT?"

a/n: a week later than anticipated BUT we are back with a new chapter! if you're a reader of this story and my other (Comfort Food), you'll be eating GOOD for the rest of the autumn season because this is my favorite season! so please follow and favorite this story to be notified about future updates! review and share with someone you think would enjoy reading!

-You're Welcome!-

8.20withlove