It had been nearly four days since they were placed at Western Cuisine Mitamura, and Miss Secretary refused to bring up Erina Nakiri once. It was odd to Soma. Back at Tohtsuki, it seemed like all the bright pink-haired girl could do was talk about her boss, dote over her, answer her every beck and call…and keep her far away from Soma.

So it was surprising that whenever he even breathed a word around her that could relate to Erina, Hisako clammed up and shut down. It bothered him because they didn't have much to discuss during their breaks. And call him nosy, but yes, he wanted to know more about Erina's inner life.

The regular Mitamura staff had forced them to take a late lunch, having been astonished by the stamina and determination the aspiring culinary elite students possessed for a restaurant they'd never be caught dead in after they graduated. Pushing them out of the restaurant at the end of the lunch rush with two takeout boxes of hot food in hand, Soma and Hisako found themselves on the now-desolate train station's street. Apart from Mitamura, there was no other restaurant or main attraction on the street. Except for a quaint boba shop that Soma had a sneaking suspicion was experiencing the same customer service dilemma Mitamura was. The line would stretch down to the train's platform during busy hours because no indoor seating was available. But right then, only a couple and their baby carriage sat under an umbrella in the limited outdoor seating area.

It was a temperately warm and sunny afternoon, the kind of day that paired well with a large coconut and matcha boba tea, so Soma figured it was worth a shot.

"Hey, Miss Secretary! Wanna grab some boba with our lunch?"

"I told you don't call me that! My name is Hisako Arato!"

"Yeh-I know what your name is, Hishoko! I've been screaming it the past two and a half days down the pass."

"That is not my name! Don't get smart with me, Yukihira, and don't let Alice Nakiri get you strangled. And if you know it, why don't you call me by my name?" She demanded. Soma pondered her question, tapping his chin with a ridiculously pensive look for him, and shrugged.

"I don't know, I just like it. It suits you. You're always so, 'Rah! I take my job so seriously! Rawr! Leave Miss Erina alone!'"

And like a balloon just popped, carelessly mentioning her name caused Hisako to deflate instantly. A shadow covered her eyes, and her shoulders dipped in sorrow.

"I told you not to mention her name, Yukihira."

"But why?"

"I told you already. I don't want to talk about it, ok?! Especially not with the likes of you."

"Okay, harsh," Soma noted. "But it sounds like you actually do. And I don't see anyone around here who would care to listen." He turned his head around the empty street and smirked.

"Soooo…boba?"

Hisako released a heavy sigh of relenting and shuffled toward the tiny drink shop beside him.

The service was surprisingly fast and pleasant, and it was a good thing they came when they did because as soon as the bored twenty-something operating the front line gave them their drinks, a surge of mid-afternoon train passengers bombarded the station.

"Glad I grabbed these seats for us. These people are nuts!" Soma commented on the bustling crowd, grabbing his light green drink from his Stagiaire partner.

"Yeah, it's wildly unserious that they expect so much from shops so small," Hisako replied. They could barely hear themselves think over the rushing noise of people calling out orders, demanding expedited service because "I'm in a rush!" like everyone else (but the two teens seated under a large umbrella mystified by the scene) wasn't.

"No wonder Mr. Mamoru always looks on the edge of life," Soma laughed.

"I know, right? I don't know how the entire Mitamura staff has lasted this long!"

They shared a few giggles and took a few sips, discussing their culinary impressions of the boba recipes.

"It's…delicious," Soma gaped. "I see why they're in such high demand, too."

Hisako could only nod in enthusiastic agreement, too consumed by her lychee and chewing her boba pearls. After a few seconds, she swallowed and smiled. "Uh, yeah. I'm definitely coming back here every day until we leave this place. Maybe even after that."

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Hisako stopped and looked at him. "Oh-I didn't…"

"What? You think I'm going to ignore a spot that lets you mix up to four flavors of syrupy sweets in a cup of milk? You must not know me!"

"You know, Yukihira? You're right. I don't. What's your story?" Hisako opened her lunch and took in the fragrant aroma of the freshly prepared basil fried rice. It was an off-menu dish at the Western Cuisine restaurant, and she'd had her eyes on it since a customer she was waiting for had secretly requested it. She took one bite and moaned at the savory explosion of flavors. Soma popped open his box of the Mitamura Special Neapolitan and inhaled a whiff of the saucy dish.

"Now, that's a special!"

"Tell me about it!"

They both bowed their heads for a quick, silent prayer before grabbing their chopsticks to dig in. Soma shrugged a little, slurping up the largest mouthful of spaghetti noodles.

"My story is nothing much, really. Everything I know, I show." Well, almost everything. "What you see is what you get."

"Is that so…"

"Mhm," Soma nommed.

"Hm."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." Hisako spooned another serving of rice into her mouth.

"Well, that sounds like something."

"No, it's just not surprising."

"You're being pretty vague right now, and if I had low self-esteem, I'd be a little self-conscious."

For some reason, beyond Soma's awareness, that comment stung somewhere deep inside her. "It's just that I totally believe you. You've been pretty straightforward—maybe too honest—about who you are, what you want, and how you plan to go after it."

"Yeh?"

"And…I don't know…I think I'm starting to respect that about you. You are who you are. There are no pretenses about you."

"Aw, jeez! Thanks, Hisako! I'm touched!"

Hisako snapped her head up at him, and a wink of a smile curled up the corner of her lip. He pulled out the magazine he had tucked in his back pocket since he hopped off the train that morning. He placed it face down on the table, a bent and twisted mess.

"Yeah, well, don't get used to me complimenting you."

"Don't worry, I know I'm wearing you down. You'll be my friend before the end of this week," he said, flashing a toothy grin.

"Don't count on it." She gave him a smug look.

"So, what about you, Arato? What's your story?"

"My story…? "Hisako blushed as pink as her hair. "I don't-" She noticed that he casually flipped over the magazine and thumbed through it. "Hey! Don't ask me such a personal question and not listen to me!" He leaned back in his chair and opened the magazine wide. He was engrossed in the center spread. She caught sight of the front cover design. Her throat closed.

"Wh-where did you get that?"

"Oh, this? I grabbed it from the newsstand at the Tohtsuki train station. I like this magazine."

Hisako's face twisted. "Soma, you like Vogue Japan?" Soma snatched the magazine shut in feigned offense and held it close to his chest, unwittingly placing the cover over his heart.

"Hey! You don't know everything about me, Miss Secretary," Soma said emphatically.

"Whatever, Yukihira." Hisako started to roll her eyes at him but couldn't peel away from the cover model. "Even crinkled and bent, Miss Erina looks absolutely stunning."

"Huh?" Soma glanced at the girl with star-filled eyes like he had no clue what she was talking about.

"Don't you agree?"

He flipped the front of the magazine over, feigning newfound awareness. "Oh! That is Nakiri! Heh, would you look at that?"

"Oh, please! You're not fooling me, Soma Yukihira!" Soma 'bout shat his pants at her accusatory tone. Was he that obvious? "You think I don't know what you're doing?" Dammit, he's been caught. Of course, the girl closest to Erina Nakiri, more than anyone else at Tohtsuki and possibly the entire world, would see past his ruse of trying to pry for more Erina intel. He didn't think his crush on her was that apparent.

"You bought that magazine to make me talk about Miss Erina-" Shit! "So I can tell you why I'm not talking to her. You're not slick!"

Soma's chest deflated as his lungs took their first breath in thirty seconds. Okay, she was still focused on her own issues. Soma's spirit finally settled back into his body. He snapped his fingers.

"Dammit, Miss Secretary, you got me. Now fess up."

"I said I don't-"

"Yeah, yeah, wanna talk about it. I hear ya'. But, yes, I do agree. The photographer snapped. The Tenth Seat looks killer on the cover." Now, that was the truth. Erina looked breathtaking in her cover photo. She was in nothing fancy—just her standard white chef's uniform, pristinely white and, apart from the crinkled paper, wrinkle-free. Her arms were tightly crossed around her busty chest, and she had her signature stoic glare plastered on her face with the faintest hint of a smug look that exuded 'Yes, I am that bitch, been that bitch, still that bitch, and I'm gon' forever be that bitch' energy.

"I was at that photoshoot," Hisako petered out, stirring her straw around her last few boba pearls. Finally! Something he could work with. Soma closed the magazine and slid it between them.

"Oh, for real?"

"Yes, for real. She had just come from the interview for the cover piece. But before that, she had just wrapped up a menu tasting with the planning committee for the Nobel Prize in Literature awards dinner and whipped up something last minute for the editors-in-chief of Vogue and Vogue Japan. She was dog-tired, desperately desiring a bath, but came in poised and professional, as always. I don't think she even ate before getting in the makeup chair."

Soma leaned forward, hanging on to every detail Hisako shared. He couldn't help it; the fangirl tone in Hisako's voice made Erina sound more glamorous than usual. It made him feel like he was basking in her undeniable radiance.

"But no sooner than she took her seat, the queer photographer took one look at her and shouted, 'No! Do not touch her. No hair, no makeup! She is perfection as is! Let us begin. No time must be wasted!' The entire shoot took an hour."

"Dang, it's like that with Nakiri?"

"Wanna know the wildest part?"

"Tell me."

"That picture"—Hisako poked the magazine cover— "was the first test shot."

Soma fell back in his chair. "Say word?!"

"I know!" Hisako squealed. "I gagged when we saw the mockup in June. Mind you, this photoshoot happened last spring. Come to think of it, the day before your transfer exam."

"How did Erina react."

"The same as always," Hisako shrugged, packing up. "Unfazed. Unbothered."

"No shocker there. Sounds just like Nakiri." Soma shook his head, both marveling at the girl of his dreams and unsurprised by her pretentious air at the same time. She knows who she is. He liked that—a lot.

"Indeed. That's Milady Erina for you. It's just a privilege to stand beside her."

Soma understood Hisako's point. He loved having his station next to Erina's at the Training Camp. It saved his hide to be able to steal her endless customers. To be in her company on the daily must be thrilling. "Is that why you're sad? Because you didn't get paired with her for the Stagiaire?"

"What? No," Hisako sheepishly laughed. "That's not it at all. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, we should get back. I'm sure they could use our help right about now." He disposed of their trash, and the two walked back to their Stagiaire to prep for the dinner service a little closer as people, possibly even coming close to being friends.

(With everything going just as planned, Phase One of 'get Hisako Arato to open up about Erina Nakiri' was complete, Soma smiled to himself.)

a/n: we are now in the stagiaire arc and moving full-steam ahead *winkwink* and i'm getting soooo excited because the chapters to come?! whew! just thank me now. you're welcome! but seriously, how do you feel about where soma is now with his crush on erina? is it moving how you'd hope? is he surprising you, or exactly how you'd expect? this hisako chapter is the beginning of her story in this universe (you can find another chunk of it in Comfort Food), so i hope you enjoyed our most loyal mamas and our bestest boy connecting on a multiple mutual levels! the next chapter will be dropping much sooner than later. like, next week. drop a review and share it with someone in the fandom you think would enjoy reading this novel, too!

-My pleasure! Hope you enjoyed!-

8.20withlove