Soma never expected their nightly rendezvous in the dorm to continue on the train. Yet, there he was, waltzing into Erina's private train car unannounced like he owned the place for the second night in a row.

"You know I own this train, not you, right, Yukihira?" Erina scolded as he nearly slid the door off its hinges. She'd been staring out of the train car's window.

He smirked with a piece of dried squid hanging limply out the corner of his mouth like a joint.

"Nuh-uh! For real? This is an Erina Nakiri train and not a Tohtsuki Academy? I never knew!" But Soma did know she couldn't tell if he was being serious or facetious, which was good. He liked how she acted when she was frazzled.

"Same difference, you dolt! Everything Tohtsuki is Nakiri, therein, everything Tohtsuki belongs to me!"

"Well, aren't you possessive," he grinned, walking to the area across from her.

"And what of it?"

"Ooo, and feisty, too!"

"What do you want, Yukihira?"

Soma stopped mid-sit. "Woah. Who crapped in your caviar?"

Erina sighed. "I-I apologize. That was unbecoming, even to you." She rolled her eyes. It made a nerve snap in his brain.

"You're ri—hey!"

She giggled. "I'm sorry. People just keep coming to check on me."

"Of course they are," Soma noted, rubbing her head as he sat across from her.

"Soma, stop it!" She fussed, her fists pounding the miniature coffee table separating them. "But, seriously. Why is that?"

"People are grateful to you, Nakiri. You're giving us a fighting chance against Central. We all owe you a lot." He noticed her face blossom red. His eyes softened, and he placed his hand over her fists.

"Oh."

"I mean it. Thank you, Nakiri. For everything you've done to whip us into shape for this battle. I promise we'll make you proud." Soma gave her hand a gentle squeeze. He felt drawn to her, wanting to touch more than just her fingers, but chose to sit across from her because they were just friends.

"You're all on your way," she let go to grab her teacup. "But the road ahead will be difficult for us. So, no one can let their guard down." She purposely grazed his hand with her pinky as she drew the cup to her lips. "I know my father."

"So, what are you thinking your Pops will throw at us first?" Soma leaned back on his folded arms and crossed his legs.

Erina looked out the window at the fast-racing countryside and sighed. "I'm not sure, but knowing him, he may put us into teams to weed out the herd in bunches. Then again, he enjoys humiliating people, so he might go the individual elimination route."

A chill ran down Soma's spine. This is the person who raised her? He followed her gaze into the night sky, where a shimmery veil of stars lined the void.

"Damn, now I'm craving salmon roe!"

Erina slipped her playful eyes at the guy she was smiling at more and more as the days dragged on and nights flew by. "You are so incorrigible, Yukihira!"

Soma scrunched up his face, still staring into the sparkling open range. "Tell me what that means?" Erina rolled her eyes so hard he was sure he'd never see them again.

"Just Google, 'define utterly hopeless.'"

"Nah, you don't believe that."

"Says who?"

They held a staring contest.

Soma didn't know how to answer just as a friend, so he chose silence. He wanted to say, "Me." But how would Erina Nakiri—the girl who'd hated him, held pinkies with him, kissed him, dissed him, called him a friend, then rejected him until they found their way back to each other again a week ago that night in the woods—respond to that answer?

His heart was racing, and it squeezed his chest just looking into her deep, wide eyes, which reminded him of the sky above them.

"About that roe?" He broke through their emotional tension to keep himself from folding.

"Is food all you think about?! Like, this is the second night in a row. And by the way, where did that even come from?"

"First, when I asked who crapped in your caviar, then seeing the night stars came out to say goodnight."

Erina giggled and shook her head. "Silly, baka."

"Look-" Soma pointed to a distant star right between them. "That bright, shining one matches your eyes."

Erina shot him a bewildered look but followed his finger bedazzled.

She furrowed her neatly arched brows. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Say the most inappropriate things just to say exactly the perfect thing next?"

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm an honest man."

She picked up the train room's tablet and quickly pressed a few buttons. Three minutes later, there was a knock on her room door.

"Special Reserve Kaluga Huso Hybrid, Tsar Imperial Beluga Hybrid, and Special Reserve Ossetra Caviar, and an assortment of buttered and water crackers for the Lady of the train," a staffer announced and left the room service cart at the door. Soma's heart and eyes melted.

-8-

Two cans of caviar emptied, a bottle of sparkling water fizzling out, a slow migration to the private car's couch, and several giggles and playful kisses later, Soma and Erina had settled into a unique comfort they developed when no one was around.

(Yes, even though they were 'just friends.' The blurred lines in their relationship made his head dizzy, but the butterflies in his stomach refused to make him draw a clear line. He enjoyed being present in the moment with her. He'd willingly take that experience in any form Erina would give it.

So when she approached him in the woods five nights ago and apologized for their conversation that afternoon, he found his lips pressed onto hers before he could tell her he'd accepted her apology. But truthfully, there was nothing for Erina to apologize for, and even if there were, Soma had already forgiven her long before she asked. Besides, feelings are confusing, and a kiss is just a kiss, right? Even among friends, yes?)

Erina spooned the final dollop of the fish eggs into a bowl-shaped corn chip and fed it to him.

"By the way, I never thanked you for what you did for me, battling Eishi."

Soma was busy rubbing her feet with an expensive bottle of fragrant oil. Erina insisted it was solely for her scalp, but he used it anyway. He stopped, chewing as he waited for her to finish her thought.

"Oh, that was you saying thank you?"

"You're welcome," she smugly replied, cackling like she'd just run off with treasure.

"Hey, that's my line!" He reached over to tickle her sides. She gasped with laughter. He let her go. "But, it's cool. He chose the wrong side. I hate I didn't definitively win, but a draw is not a loss."

"And you cannot lose, Yukihira," she ordered.

"I won't, Nakiri." He kissed the top of her foot. "So…"

"So…" Erina echoed.

He switched feet. "So, speaking of losses. What happened between you two?"

Erina pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself. He could barely see her face, the way she leaned her cheek on her thighs away from him.

"Did I step on a landmine?"

Erina only shook her head. "Soma, I'm cold," she whispered like a helpless child. Soma was out of his favorite gray Yukihira hoodie in a flash and pulled it down her head.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, Nakiri. I know you said I've been too nosy about you and Ei-"

"He was plotting with my father this whole time."

Soma's chest iced. "To overthrow the old man?"

"Yes. But mainly to date me."

A sucker punch rocked that ice to bits. "W-What?"

"My father started his plan to infiltrate the Ten to get them to vote for the coup and take over Tohtsuki long before the Moon Festival. He groomed Tsukasa to be his protege and planted a seed in his mind to date me back when I was in middle school. All to make me his wife. Apparently, my father told the impressionable First Seat that a marriage between us would create a 'holy rare pair' in the culinary world he was creating. The King and Queen of Gourmet," she snarked, using air quotes to mock both useless men.

"So, Tsukasa was using you?" He leaned back. His heart was thumping with anger. He knew not to trust that snake!

"Mm, more like my father was using him to get to me." Erina traced an invisible circle on her kneecap.

"Well, yeah, sure, but that couldn't happen if he truly had feelings for you!" Soma growled. "He toyed with your heart as a power play!"

Her voice was hollow. "Funny enough, he didn't." Soma's eyes slid over her. She looked like her mind was in the past. "He may have been motivated by my father to pursue me, but Eishi fell for me hard. He confessed to betraying my confidence right before the coup's finalized paperwork dropped in our Elite Ten emails, because his anxiety couldn't take me finding out from someone else."

"So, the night I overheard your conversation…"

"Yeah. That slap you heard came from me. Tsukasa would never lay a sharp finger on me. He tried to pull me in for a kiss, but my flesh crawled just thinking about him touching me again. He knew about my relationship with my father. I was so broken."

"And that's when you two broke up?"

"No, because, like I said, Eishi really loved me." She let a wistful smile slip.

"You…didn't say it like that," Soma grumbled. They were 'just friends,' so he wouldn't lie or hide his petty feelings. He probably looked childish to her, fussing and folding his arms like that, but he couldn't care less. It sickened Soma just a tinge that she looked remorseful about how things turned out between them. It almost made him wonder if...

No, that did not matter anymore. They were just friends.

"Okay, but it's the truth. Though it was short, we had a pretty cute and serious relationship. Or, so I thought."

"Serious, like how?"

She scowled at his question. "Soma, you're prying." A hint of guardedness filtered over her glare.

He put his head down and clasped his hands together. "Sorry."

Erina sighed but scooted closer, wrapping her legs around his thigh. She took Soma's right hand and interlocked their fingers before resting her head on his shoulder. "Just know he spent the entire Moon Festival season desperately trying to win me back. But all I wanted was for him to give me space."

"Makes sense why I stopped seeing you two together as much. Even though it was annoying seeing him everywhere at first, it was weird when he stopped."

"I mean, we really were both terribly busy in our separate careers and studies, but I know I made sure of that, at least for myself. It was too painful to look him in the eye. But he wouldn't leave me alone until I threatened to challenge him for his seat."

"Whoa, Nakiri. You challenged the First Seat for his seat?"

"Not officially. But I knew just the thought would make him panic. Eishi and I are neck-and-neck in Shokugeki victories, even between us."

Soma quietly gagged. "Neck-and-neck?" Was Erina casually implying that she could easily steal the First Seat?

"Yeah, so he stopped harassing me, but when I ran to Polar Star, he started spamming my phone with sad love songs and concerned messages for my welfare. So, I blocked him. Because, honestly, the audacity! I'm in this mess because of him!"

"Yikes. So, what was the final straw?"

She lifted her gaze to meet his. "Your unofficial Food War." Soma let her words sink in. It confused him all the more about what they were to each other. Eishi won. She judged the battle and said so herself. Soma remembered that she didn't even acknowledge him after the verdict, but she did stay behind to talk to Eishi that evening.

Could that have been the moment they broke up?

"Hm." He was trying his best not to sound pressed again. "How come?"

Erina leaned away from him. "Ah…it's not something I feel comfortable discussing right now."

"With me?"

She hesitated at first but slowly began to nod with watery eyes. "Just…not yet. When we're closer, okay?"

…When we're closer…?

Soma folded. He folded like origami.

"Nakiri."

"Hm?"

"Can I hug you?"

She nodded as her bottom lip trembled. Soma could tell she was daring her tears not to fall, forcing herself not to cry. He pulled her into his chest and settled his head on her shoulder. He held her tighter, not caring about the rigid posture she initially assumed when he touched her as she shuddered into his white tee, though he felt her tears rolling down his neck. He looked at her tearful face and pulled her hair behind her, knowing then that he'd carry the weight of the world on his shoulders if it meant Erina never had to cry at the expense of another man again.

"Take your time, Nakiri. Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

He didn't know he would say it. He hadn't even thought of saying it until it came out of his mouth—but he meant what he said. Soma Yukihira would wait his whole life for Erina Nakiri if he had to.

"Kiss me?"

a/n: who do you think made the final request? your guess is as good as mine lol. jk i know who, but i won't tell...yet. ;)

in other v. imp. news!: the next chapter is a major milestone for Twin Flame! i honestly can't believe we're finally here bc it brings us to the point of this story where my standalone one-shot ["lightning in a bottle"] from the SnS ff-"what if" anthology sits. (so feel free to read that twinkle, twinkle little star that was released two months ago.)

however! since that was a tease for this story/arc with a word count limit, i couldn't write the story how i wanted to without a lot of TF: SS spoilers, though i did drop a few easter eggs in there [special s/o to alecks454 for peeping game in the reviews! (_) ]

soooo...for the people who didn't read that one-shot for lack of spoilers or for whatever reason, never fear! i've decided to remaster it for the next chapter. it keeps much of its content but is written differently and told from both sorina's pov (ooolala!), making it longer with more/new details and not ending where LiaB does. more importantly, it is well worth the read for this story. may even be my favorite chapter written yet.

lastly, it occurred to me while drafting that chapters 28-30 are a mini-arc within the final arc, and i have thusly named them "Hokkaido Nights" in my head. [i might even do something further with that in the future...so do with that as you will.]

p.s.: as always, i love reading your comments, so pls leave a review, follow, favorite, and share this novel with someone in the fandom you think would enjoy reading it, too! while you're at it, i have two new my hero academia ffs up. and show my shonen 'n spirituality substack some love [all three links are in my profile!]

-You're Welcome!-

8.20withlove

-i don't own the rights to Shokugeki no Sōma, wah wah wah

\_(ツ)/