Soma zipped up his track jacket and laced his dirty kicks. He put in his Airpods and pressed shuffle on a monster playlist before grabbing his chef tool bag holding all his favorite knives and spices. He had to come with the heat. Ryo had been talking shit all morning in the Fall Selection Finalists group chat that was only Soma, him, and Akira, and Soma threw down the gauntlet. Ryo made it a point to claim he was first-runner up every chance he got, and since Akira had no reason to argue over it, it left Soma with no choice but to defend his honor. That's where he was headed. They'd taken to challenging each other to informal Food Wars, alternating between their residences.
Even though their competitiveness had been fierce, Soma appreciated the fire his rivalry with Akira and Ryo lit under him. He even was beginning to consider the two formidable student chefs his friends. It was a bonus that he'd also spend the rest of his Saturday in the Nakiri mansion's test kitchen.
He was very excited to be going back there. He wouldn't have even been a finalist if he hadn't thrown caution to the wind and knocked on Erina's front door during the semi-finals. But when he got to the mansion, Ryo quickly mentioned that they had the entire mansion to themselves.
"Miss Alice and Miss Erina went shopping with Ms. Leonora, so boys, we don't have to worry about being bothered by any Nakiri demands!" Soma's heart sank. He wanted to be bothered.
"Should you be saying that so loudly in their mansion?" Akira said, turning around the large foyer. "Damn, their front entrance is bigger than the entire Shiomi research building."
"Yeah, no kidding." Ryo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, let's go. I'm ready to kick both your asses." Soma instinctively walked toward the kitchen. Ryo and Akira eyed him suspiciously. He stopped and turned around. Then it hit him. They didn't know he'd already been in the mansion, and it was for the best; they didn't know why, either.
"So, what you're saying is, they left you off your leash for the day, huh?" Soma cracked to distract them.
"Oh, shut the hell up, Yukihira! I do what I want." Ryo tied his bandana around his head and ran ahead of him. "C'mon already!" Akira shrugged and strolled behind the fired-up do-boy. Soma lagged. His attention was stolen. Why didn't I see this last time? He stared at a large gilded framed photograph perched on the wall across from the front doors. Erina Nakiri is so damn fine— wait.
He stared at the two finely dressed people in the frame. His eyes darted back and forth.
A buried memory flashed through his mind. Alice? He remembered that platinum hair from the dorm's house party last spring. And there it was, standing right beside Erina in the family portrait.
Why didn't I make the connection back at the training camp?!
Realizing that Erina's cousin spread the first dating rumors about her and Eishi Tsukasa made Soma uncomfortable. Of course, it turned out to be accurate, but it didn't feel right that she'd air out her family's business like that as school gossip.
"Yukihira! What the hell are you doing back there? Beating your—"
"Shut up, Ryo! I'm coming, I'm coming!" Soma ran down the hall to catch up.
"That's what she said," Akira smugly replied. The two boys high-fived as Soma shoved them in their backs.
-8-
The three boys decided to take a break from battling to eat the spoils of their efforts. It was their first time sitting down all day, and Soma was happy for the break; his dogs were barking, though they sat comfortably in memory foam kitchen clogs provided by the Nakiri kitchen. It was like bowling shoe rentals but for cooking. No wonder Erina and Alice were so posh.
"So, do they let you keep the shoes?" He jokingly asked Ryo as they sat around the lounge area right outside the test kitchen. He couldn't stop moving his feet around the soft padding; they felt like clouds.
"No," Ryo said with a gruff. "And don't even think about stealing them." Soma's face dropped in offense and turned to Akira with an expression that said, 'Can you believe this guy!' "Trust me, I've tried," Ryo concluded. The boys burst out laughing.
"But seriously, Ryo. What's it like living here?" Akira asked. He took a swig of the drink in his cup. Ryo reclined in his seat and exhaled.
"It's not too bad, actually. I mean, it's home, for better or worse. The Nakiris are good people and good to me. The adults don't treat me any differently than blood relatives, and I don't have to ask for money or anything else. I wouldn't even if I needed it because a man's gotta keep his pride somehow."
"And you've lived here since you and Alice moved from Norway?" Soma was trying to ease into what he really wanted to know.
"Denmark," Ryo corrected. "But, yeah, since we started middle school. It was definitely a culture shock. Even though my pops was Japanese, I'd never been to the island and honestly, never thought I would. But Miss Alice insisted."
"You still call her 'Miss' even when she's not around? Man, how whipped are you?" Akira sneered.
"Watch your tone, Hayama," Ryo warned. "That girl means the world to me. Not that you would understand that."
"Says who?" Akira shot back. The other boys eyed him curiously.
"Oh?" Soma asked, taking a massive bite of the carpaccio Ryo made and leaning forward. "Do say more."
"We're not doing this," Akira said, rolling his eyes.
"I mean, why not? No girls are here. Tell us, Akira. What do you know about girls?" Ryo asked, folding his arms as a challenge to his biggest rival. Soma nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Akira's face flushed pink as he averted his gaze.
"Well…" Akira took another drink. This time, it was more deliberate than necessary. He placed his cup down and cleared his throat. "Don't we all have that one person we cook everything for?"
Soma nodded thoughtfully in agreement. Erina had snatched the top spot of his cooking intention since day one. But would it be safe to admit that to them? He decided just to listen.
"I'm sure we do. I can admit that's Alice for me."
"Yeah, my dad said the moment he met my mom he only wanted to cook for her," Soma said. His memory dragged him back to the fondest memories of the three of them cooking together in the kitchen.
"Okay, then. So, it's settled. I understand what it means."
"Nah, nope. That's a cheap cop-out." Ryo shook his head, mouth full of the tender Chaliapin steak Soma made. "If you understand, who is she? What's her name?"
Soma gagged. Is this where their conversation was going? His eyes fixed on Akira, hoping the brown-skinned boy would take his time to answer the probing question so that he could avoid answering it himself.
"That's for me, alone, and my cooking to know." And that settled the matter.
"So…" Soma sang, changing the subject. "Ryo, what's it like having a swimming pool right where you live?"
"Two," the gruff guy corrected. "An Olympic-sized pool on the roof and a hot-water infinity pool underground. Not to mention the grotto and hot spring right next to it."
Soma choked on his braised pork belly skewer. "What the?! How rich are these people?"
"Bro, you don't even want to know," Ryo laughed. "Hell, I don't even know, but the way Aunt Leonora and Miss Alice shop must be filthy because I've never seen them check a price tag. They just pick up and buy."
"No way…" Soma said in awe.
"Must be nice," Akira said with a whistle, shaking his head with envy. That was when the three boys from varying levels of meager means took in their surroundings. Soma noticed that the lounge's indoor-outdoor positioning caused the most glorious midway breeze to waft through the space. They were in a courtyard that doubled as a nature observatory, almost like an open resort space for guests to wine and dine in the middle of natural beauty. From where they sat, Soma could see the edge of the woods he and Erina met in, but this was nowhere near the path they took to the front of the mansion. How big was this place? Soma asked himself.
"Even Miss Erina," Ryo continued, and Soma's ears perked to attention. "She's not really a shop-til-she-drops girl like her cousin and aunt, but that means nothing when she sees something she likes."
"Oh, yeah?" Soma tried to casually inquire, "Like what?"
"Well, check this. She once had the old man buy her this crazy expensive telescope just so that she could see this rare meteor shower or something like that. I mean, like, it was well over fifty million yen!"
Soma choked on his water. "HUH?!" He couldn't even afford the cheapest spyglass from the planetarium's novelty gift shop in Sumire District.
"Yeah, man. She spends her money on weird shit like that, food, of course…oh, and books. That girl has so many books and manga sets I don't know how she can even read them all. Kicker is, she has! Alice once told me that Erina's personal library holds some of the world's rarest book copies and collections. Books on cooking, world history, religions, art, and philosophy, like so much smart shit." Soma hung onto every word that left Ryo's lips. "Both of them. They look like models and act like stuck-up rich girls, which—don't get me wrong, they absolutely are—but those Nakiri girls got some big ass brains."
"Really?" Akira asked thoughtfully. "Hm. I never took the Tenth Seat for much of a bibliophile. She truly is impressive." Soma couldn't agree more.
"Bro, a what?" Ryo asked.
"A lover of books, doofus," Soma chimed in. The other two boys stared at him like he'd just sprouted a third eye and another pair of arms and legs.
"Look at Poindexter over here! Yukihira, who knew?!" Ryo mocked.
"What?! I know things!" Soma protested.
"I mean, I truly thought your only working knowledge began and ended in the kitchen. Not even going to lie," Akira laughed, lifting his hands in surrender.
"Anyway," Soma said, rolling his eyes, trying to coolly get back to talking about Erina. "So, Ryo, wealth and smarts aside, what does living with two girls feel like?" As an excuse for his atypical interest, he added, "I'm an only child."
"Yeah, me, too. An orphan, at that. So, I'm curious. Clearly, you and Alice don't act like siblings…or do you? A little incestuous role play?" Akira lifted a suggestive eyebrow. Soma was so glad Akira was there and more openly nosy than he ever imagined.
"Bro! Don't be gross! Alice is not my sister. We used to fool around exploring each other as kids, and that is definitely not something I would do with my sister."
"Oh?" Soma and Akira said in union.
"Yeah!"
"Okay, and what about Erina? Have you two ever…?" Soma cautiously probed.
"THEE Erina Nakiri? Ha! No. Never. Ever. Besides the fact that Miss Alice would literally kill me, no, she is like a distant cousin you don't talk to often, but who's also a pretty cool person to talk to when you do."
Oh, fuck it, Soma thought. Now was not the time to play coy since Ryo was spilling tea. Just rip the bandage off. "Isn't she dating the First Seat or something?" He made the question sound like a leaf in the wind that he'd barely noticed. "I think I overheard some girls on campus giggling about it."
"Bro, is she?! Tsukasa is here damn near every day! If he's not speeding through to take her out in that nice-ass Maserati, he's hanging around here like a shy ghost for family dinners and whatnot. I mean, I like the guy. We've even talked about one day having a Food War in that kitchen, but his nose is so far up Erina's ass I don't see that happening anytime soon. Matt'o'fact, they left not even thirty minutes before you guys showed up to go to some fancy influencers networking brunch this morning. And the gifts this guy brings her each time?!"
Okay, Soma'd heard enough about how Tsukasa was serenading and swooping Erina off her feet. It made him feel prickly knowing Tsukasa'd been inside the mansion so much and that he'd just missed Erina by thirty measly minutes. He could've been there forty minutes earlier! But who knew Ryo was such a gossip?
"The director must be happy at least one of his granddaughters is with someone with a bright future."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ryo ground the question through his teeth. Akira shrugged cavalierly.
"I'm just saying, Tsukasa is the First Seat, winner of the Fall Selection for his year…and you? Well, you're maybe second-best to Yukihira here. Definitely to me."
"Now, why am I in it?" Soma laughed, glad not to be the focal point of Ryo's fuming ire.
"Oh, shut up, Akira, before I make you shut up!"
"And how are you going to do that, huh? Because it's surely not with your cooking."
"What did you say to me? Wanna bet!"
And just like that, their break was over.
-8-
Six hours later, as the sun set below the horizon, Soma walked through the front gates of the Nakiri mansion, feeling bittersweet. He won the best two out of three, which was satisfying. But he didn't see Erina. He tried to wait as long as he could for her to come home, but he couldn't handle judging another hour of Ryo aggressively demanding a rematch. The half-Scandinavian Tasmanian devil was such a sore loser he had to get out of there.
He'd made it just outside the compound's grounds, and the breathtaking scene of the first signs of the changing autumn leaves enraptured him. He loved this season. As the fresh early autumn air filled his nose and lungs cleared his mind, Soma mindlessly walked back to the dorm, thinking about the new information he learned about Erina. He knew she loved to read, but something was endearing about finding out she was a voracious reader. It made him remember how calm his mom made the night in their house after their busy and chaotic days in the restaurant. She would brew a hot pot of dandelion tea for herself and his dad, warm milk with a healthy dollop of raw honey for him, and cozy up in a thick blanket on the couch with her legs stretched across her husband, reading a different novel every other night. Soma envisioned his little self lying on the carpet beneath them, reading his comic books and shonen manga, content to be their only child—a symbol of their love.
Suddenly, his ears heard a fast car zooming around the bend on his left. His heart rate immediately spiked, thinking it would be the very car he wanted—and would've hated—to see in that moment. Instead, it was an emerald green Range Rover.
And it nearly ran him over.
The driver screeched to a halt, nearly ramming the truck's silver grill into Soma's chest. He was too shocked by the suddenness to move, but he could hear the sound of an automatic window drawing down.
"Yukihira?! What the hell?! I almost killed you just now!"
"Meat-Meat?"
"Yeah, you nitwit! What are you doing in the middle of a winding road?!"
Soma's head turned in the direction of the mansion. Her head followed.
"Oh. Well, get out of the way!"
"Oh, right. My bad." He stepped to the side of the road and began his descent down the hill. Ikumi put her car into drive and sped up. But then Soma saw her reversing to his side. She rolled down her window again.
"Uh…you…want a ride?"
Soma looked up at her sheepish expression. "Um? Yeah, thanks!" Then, he hopped in. "I didn't know you could drive."
"My grandfather in the States taught me on his tractor when I was a little girl."
Soma nodded, eyeing her arm extending to the steering wheel. She had such a firm grip on the thing; he was glad she was twisting the rubber, not his neck. Then his eyes drifted from the steering wheel down her driving arm until Soma realized something. "So, where are you going without any clothes on in this weather?"
Ikumi looked down at her voluptuous chest, barely covered by its flesh-toned lace bralette and blue denim pleated mini-skirt, and shrugged. "Perfect attire for herding cattle. Besides, my truck has a heated leather interior, and I have Ugg boots on."
"Herding cattle in late September?" Soma asked, flabbergasted.
"No," Ikumi giggled. "I'm coming back from an outing with the Don Research Society. We went bowling to welcome in the new members, and Kanichi ripped his pants and flew down the lane, but no one wanted to give him a jacket to cover his shame. So now that dumbass has my favorite hoodie in his possession."
"Uh oh, you better be careful. You might not get that back!" Soma couldn't contain his laughter.
"Ugh, you're not wrong, but trust me, I will." Ikumi seemed to pick up speed at the irritating thought. (At the very moment, Kanichi could be found grinning in his bedroom, pulling on a particular mocha brown fuzzy teddy bear hoodie over an inflatable life-sized doll.)
"So, how bad was the rip?"
"All I'll say is that boy doesn't wipe well enough."
"Nooooo!" Soma gasped.
"Horrifyingly, yes. Please change the subject, or else I'm going to have nightmares."
"Yeah, of shit stains chasing you in your hoodie!" This time, they both erupted in a fit of laughter, but that only made Ikumi drive faster. "Woah, lead foot! Easy!"
"Sorry," Ikumi blushed. "So, what were you doing at Nakiri Manor?" Her voice was small and shy.
"Kicking Ryo and Akira's ass in a Food War."
"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes too aggressively. "Why'd I even ask?"
"Iono," Soma innocently replied. Ikumi pulled up to a fork in the road. The road to the left led to the forest nestling the Polar Star Dorm, and the road to the right led off campus. She stopped and turned to Soma.
"Hey?"
"Hm? Oh, it's to the left." Soma said, glancing up from his phone. He'd just received a picture from Ryo. It was of Erina. She was standing in a room Soma couldn't recognize, holding a large, dusty vintage book with the most dazzling twinkle in her eyes. Eishi stood off the side, smiling like a mother on Christmas morning.
"I know that! I've lived at Tohtsuki longer than you."
"Oh, okay," Soma murmured. He could barely hear her against the blood rushing in his ears. Ryo had texted the group chat.
Ryo: See what I'm talking about?
Who gets this excited about an old ass book? Erina Nakiri does.
Akira: Wait! Is that the first edition of Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare?!
Ryo: Dude, speak Japanese! I don't know!
But she just came home giddy as hell because lover boy over here bought this crappy book for her.
Akira: Shut up, you moron. That book is nearly 500 years old and costs over three times its age!
There's supposedly only one known copy of this book in existence! And that looks like the Bodleian Library's copy…brooooooo
Ryo: Hell nah!
Akira: HELL YES!
My brain is exploding right now. I must show this to Jun!
How the hell can the First Seat even have access to such a worldly treasure?!
Soma didn't know and didn't care.
"Soma, so do you?" Ikumi shouted.
"Sorry, what?" Soma shook his head and looked at her for the first time.
"Do you wanna grab ice cream with me?" She asked, a mix of annoyed and awkward. His phone lit up in his hand. Another message from Ryo. He shut the screen off.
"Yeah, sure. You drive," Soma said, shoving his phone in his pocket.
Ikumi turned right, hiding a smile out the driver's seat window. "I already am, dummy!"
a/n: okay, I lied about there not being a chapter until february. i was inspired by finishing the latest chapter of Comfort Food and couldn't resist serving up a new chapter's dish here, too. so here is a nice treat to get you through the last few days of january. you're welcome ;) and don't worry; february will bring its own teenage love affair and romantic angst. chef's honor, chef's kiss.