Notes:
Hey Everyone! Zancrowe Here!
And I'm back! Thank you so much to the Guest Writers for the assist (they may return, who knows, you guys tell me and I can ask), but for now, it's me back in the writing chair. Do note, FFN is being a buggy mess right now, with New Stories & New Chapters sometimes not even showing up despite them being posted / updated. So, if you can read this, please let me know!
Something BLUE: The final part of the Nouvelle Trilogy is now out! Go read the sequel to Classique, Something BLUE! Next Chapter Drops March 28!
Couverture (A Nouvelle Story): Have you checked out the Married Sorina / Next-Gen story Couverture?!
Genshin Impact?! Are you a fan of Genshin Impact & / or The Legend of Zelda? Go read my newest short fic Age Of Calamity posted here in FFN & on AO3!
Disclaimer: Don't own Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma.
Drabble #25 / 101: "Excuse me if I don't believe your psychic friend."
Pairing: Isshiki / Nene
She found herself at a local diner, much like the much-celebrated Yukihira's except she wasn't quite in the mood to go and visit that famous locale just quite yet, if ever. Genuinely, this wasn't a place she would have ever looked twice at, given the cheapness of it all and how utterly lackluster the staff was and how unappealing the dishes looked. But, for once, she just wanted to get away. After she returned form Spain, she had expected things to go back to normal, but her mind kept doing what it did best, overthinking. Repeating her actions, or worse, her inactions again and again, until she felt like she was drowning.
"Is this seat taken?" a young male voice asked, and Nene just rolled her eyes. She was in no mood to deal with anyone with any intentions of flirting with her.
"I have a boyfriend," she said, coldly, without even looking at the guy, but when she heard him laugh at her response, she almost glared, recognizing the laugh even if he had changed his voice a bit earlier, "…Do you find this humorous Satoshi?"
Isshiki did nod, and took a seat next to her, "Somewhat. It is good to know I am a priority in your mind at least."
"Hardly," she replied, "I've used that excuse to get rid of unwanted men hitting on me before you and I were ever a thing. I tried saying 'I have a girlfriend' instead to show how incompatible we would be, but they asked for details instead. Pigs."
"…You've always been beautiful, so it makes sense you'd be much sought after," Isshiki noted, "But it's not like you to just walk out in the middle of the night and head into a place like this."
"What do you know about me to even claim that," she shot back, finally looking at him, "Our childhood friendship, if you can call it that, was a mess, and our relationship was based on adrenaline and the fear of losing our careers. We're not Erina and Soma. We didn't build anything up."
"…I am aware you have your doubts Nene," Isshiki noted, and she frowned. She knew he knew, "Every day I feel you more distant, and I do not want us to end in that position, where after everything is settled, we just drift apart."
"Maybe it is inevitable," she countered, "You… never did quite understand me."
"Because you never let me. You formed a wall, and saw me as a rival from the start, when all I needed and wanted was a friend," he argued back, and she said nothing. She knew, "You are, and always will be, my muse. I'm just sorry I can't be it for you as well."
"That's not…" she tried, utterly unsure of how to voice the conflicting ideas in her head. Not to him. Not even to herself. "…I'm not a good person Satoshi. If you truly try to be with me, you'll end up being hurt."
"A pain I'd wear with pride, because it means that even for the briefest moments, I was with the crown jewel of Tootsuki itself," Isshiki noted with a trademark smile, and it just made her frown. As always, he wasn't taking this seriously, "Besides, my latest client is an astrologist. Mona, is her name, and she read my future. Very spectacularly, might I add. And she said we'll find a way to make this work."
"Well excuse me if I don't believe your psychic friend," Nene replied.
"But it doesn't take a psychic to know what you're afraid of… Nene," he added, and she turned to him, almost glaring, "…And it's not hurting me. That is something you wouldn't lose much sleep over. No, the Nene I know, cold and ruthless, what she fears is anyone getting so close they see behind the façade, and for once, I'm the closest that's ever gotten, and that… freaks you out."
At this Nene said nothing, merely pushing her plate aside, her appetite gone, but she didn't quite refute him. There was some truth to his words, and she both hated and… liked that, for as conflicting as it was. All she did offer, of course, was naught but a threat.
"You've been warned."
"Since the day we met."
-0-
Drabble #26 / 101: "I'll sleep under the sheets; you sleep on top of them."
Pairing: Ryou / Alice
Dating Alice Nakiri was not something he would ever classify as simple.
And usually, he meant this in the best way. She was, as he had declared to Keelan and the world itself, sunshine incarnate. He loved this girl, with everything he had, and then some. But at the same time, she was so, so frustratingly stubborn that he genuinely had no clue how he had managed to keep himself sane for so long when you love someone whose emotions seem to depend on the whimsy of the wind.
Hence… she was mad, for some reason. And yes, she was his Lady. And more than that, his girlfriend. And he loved her. But also… he still had his own sense of pride so he wasn't going to apologize for something he had no idea what, if anything, he had done wrong.
So, the problem now, since this quarrel began today and this trip they were taking was planned last week, the two Elite Ten members found themselves in a pretty resort room with only one bed…
"I'll sleep under the sheets; you sleep on top of them," Alice instructed, clearly sounded very pissed off, and also pouting, while not even looking at him. It was an improvement, at least, since she didn't direct him to the couch or the floor in any case.
He looked at her, his tired eyes scanning the beautiful mess of a girl he had with her, and gave a hard sigh. "…Can I at least know what's wrong with us now?"
Alice seemed to pause, her sharp eyes shifting around the room for a second before she turned to him, "You really don't know? Really?"
"It's not your birthday, not the date we met, nor a date associated when we started dating, and it is not any sort of holiday with romantic undertones," Ryou summarized, and Alice's pout just grew, "And quit pouting like that. I've told you before, you don't look imposing. You look cute at best, stupid at worst."
"Stupid?!"
Okay, wrong choice of word given the situation. That was on him.
"…I meant it in an endearing way."
She scoffed, and just sat on the bed, her legs crossed, eyes still on him, "Nice save," she said, sarcastically, "But, ignoring that…" she added, and he raised an eyebrow. She was letting that slip? That was a first, "…Do you love me?"
…And now he was confused.
"Why… is this a question you feel the need to ask?"
"Just cause," she replied nonchalant, "So, respond. It's a simple yes or no question."
"Yes," he replied, "What the hell did I do to make you question it?"
"You never say it."
"…Seriously?"
"I witness, on the daily, the most romantic stupidity imaginable with Soma with Erina, or Takumi with Hisako, or Akira with Megumi, or, hell, Asahi with Dove, but yet, you and me, who have known each other longer than any of them have, we… we rarely ever just have moments. Is it too much to ask for you to show some appreciation without me having to order it?!"
"Ah, I see…" Ryou noted, "Those assholes are making me look bad, hmm?"
"Is that your takeaway?"
"Not just that," Ryou noted, and sat down on the bed, next to her, and she turned her bright eyes to his, "…I have loved you since we met, pretty much. Like you said, we have years on them all. And I'm not the romantic type, but… I will call your bluff."
"Bluff?!" she exclaimed, sounding offended, "I mean it!"
"Yeah, says the girl that blushed and stammered when I dedicated that dish back during my duel with the lesser Akintola; so much so that Milady Erina still teases you about that."
"That's different!" she tried, "It was on the world stage!"
"And you couldn't handle it," he argued, "And imagine that, but more. More intimate. More passionate. More romantic. Don't…" he noted, using his index finger to gently lift her by the chin and making her eyes widen and her blush deepen, "…ask me for things you and I both know you can't handle… Alice."
And there it was. Just her name. Such a dumb, basic level intimacy, and she was paralyzed. She bit her lower lip, gripping the bedsheets, and cursed both her immaturity and her own dirty mind, since now she was very conscious of the fact they only had one bed… and a lot of built-up tension between the two that she wasn't sure he or she could keep at bay for that much longer…
-0-
Drabble #27 / 101: "Why are you lying?"
Pairing: Asahi / Dove
In their new home, fit for a Queen, because she would never settle, Asahi had to make sure to prepare everything just as Dove would demand it, and when that wouldn't do, how Baby Ruth would demand it. Granted, Ruthie would do so with giggles and pranks (she was behaving too much like Loren and that scared him), while Dove got her way by being, well, herself.
A smile.
A wink.
A drop of her towel once she finished bathing…
There were numerous ways she could make him bend over backwards to please her, and she knew it, and it irked him that she did. He loved her, dearly, but she was bossy as can be, and he was wondering where the line between boyfriend and slave was drawn. But, his exaggerations aside, storing several boxes of stuff into their new attic, Asahi stumbled onto something he hadn't seen before, and taking a glance at it, he got curious. So he took it down, and went towards where Dove was, which was of course, sitting her ass on the couch watching television. So much for a team effort, eh?
"Hey babe?"
"Yeah?" she asked, turning to him.
"This yours?" he asked, showcasing a photo album, which made Dove turn her attention to it.
"Oh! I think that's one of my mom's!" she replied, quickly snatching it from his hands with glee, before he just smiled and sat down next to her, as she opened it up to see, "But… I'm here, most likely. You didn't peek at it already, did you?"
"Nope," he replied honestly, "Boundaries, correct?"
"I mean, yeah…" Dove noted, as she began to look at the pictures with Asahi, and they saw a younger Milka (or so Asahi assumed, since that woman did not seem to age at all), and soon enough, a young Dove. First as a baby (which was just… Baby Ruth but with messier hair), then a little girl, to which Dove pretended to blush as she covered her face with her hands in mock embarrassment, "Kyaa! Don't look! I'm naked in these ones!"
"…Dove, you're like five," Asahi just noted, eyes narrowed, "Adorable, yes, but don't act like that turn me on. Please."
"Bah! You're no fun!"
"That's not something fun!"
"I meant to play along, obviously I don't expect you to jerk it to my baby pics," she said with no shame whatsoever, and Asahi just sighed, since yeah, he knew what he had signed up for. This girl had no… well, a lot of things weren't part of her programming, let's just say. But, the moment she was flipping around the pages, he caught sight of one set of photos he had never seen, and the moment he opened his mouth to speak, barely having caught a glimpse, she immediately shut the album.
"Hey… Dove?"
She was silent for a second, her eyes shifted, as she just hugged the album against her chest, "…I'll keep this and store it. Go back to setting the rest away… please."
"Dove, hey, I saw… what it was," he noted, and she seemed to flinch, "Hey! Don't give me that. There's absolutely nothing wrong there!"
"Of course there is!" Dove cried out, eyes flaring, "This is from before… us. Before even Azami. No, I don't want you to see that side of me. I look hideous."
"Why are you lying?" he asked, and she just glared, "Do not! You are. You are beautiful now, and you were beautiful then. It doesn't matter if –"
"Please…?" she just begged, so softly, that his argument died down, and he just sighed. He stood up, seeing his girl holding onto that album tightly, before he bent down and gave her forehead a kiss, which she didn't even react to.
"One day you will finally see yourself as I… and Ruthie… and Loren… and the whole world itself sees you," Asahi softly told her, and she just wanted to cry, "But I'll be patient. It'll be your call when, or if, you decide to share that part of your life with me…"
And as he left her alone, she couldn't quite understand why he didn't see it like she did. Like it really was.
The photos taken at her school…
With her heavily pregnant.
"And I am so scared…" she muttered to herself, "…that one day you will all see me how I see myself. For the vile, mess of a girl I truly am."
-0-
Drabble #28 / 101: "I need you to peel five pounds of potatoes!"
Pairing: Soma / Erina
Between Tootsuki and Yukihira's, Soma and Erina were never busier.
But one thing was just business as usual, as Erina would say, but to have Soma take her down to Yukihira's, decide to open up shop on a holiday, on a whim, and expect the two of them to handle that despite how damn popular the two were in the Sumire District was just outright insane. But, hey, she tried, it was what a future wife should do, no? But, of course, her future husband, was, well…
"I need you to peel five pounds of potatoes!"
"I am not your prep Soma!" she cried out.
"Come on!" he begged, "We just got a whole bus of tourists that stopped by. The orders went up by, like, ten times!"
"Call in an assist then!" Erina almost begged, "Best chefs as we are, we can't just handle so many orders just the two of us! I'll call Hisako, or Ikumi, or Julio…"
"Come on, they're all busy," Soma just waved off, "Besides, this is fun! I've never seen the line at Yukihira's circle around the place. If we manage this, even my dad won't be able to brag about being the top seller here!"
"And if we screw up we'll ruin your mother's legacy!"
"Oh, as if you would ever screw up," Soma just noted, "We've got this."
"Call someone!"
"Everyone's busy…" he muttered, pouting, "Although, maybe Nao could…"
"What? No, not her," Erina quickly protested, "I want someone productive, not someone staring at my ass during the entire thing."
"…I genuinely can't blame her for it."
"Soma!"
"Just saying!"
"Call her boyfriend then!"
"Loren is the last person I want cooking here!" Soma shot back, "I like the kid, and yeah, he's actually putting in the work, but if I ask him to peel potatoes for me, he will legit break a window when he just throws them all at me at once."
"Oh for the love of… Fine! But you get in here too! Let's get all these orders out posthaste, and of the utmost quality!" Erina demanded, and Soma gave her a firm nod, and got to work. Soon the engaged couple got the rhythm down, and in a very rough time, managed to get most of the orders in check and have many happy patrons all around. Soma even took one of the last dishes to the table, and with a smile, offered Erina's and his dish towards, what he assumed was, another young couple.
"Sorry for the wait, you guys enjoy this!" he told the two with a smile, before he turned and left, going back to cook with Erina, which, despite the rush and the stress and the sheer chaos of it all, being in there, in that hot kitchen, with just her, the golden girl with the prettiest eyes and loveliest smile… it really was the best moments of his life so far, and he hoped, so much, that these days would last forever…
Except…
"That's them, right?" Mickey Robert Jr., who Soma had just given the dish to, asked his wife, his sharp eyes on the cooking couple.
"Indeed, the couple that cost our family so, so much," Minnie Roberts replied, a noteworthy smile on her lush lips, "And I've decided. For BLUE, I want her with us. You can make it happen, for me, can't you my love?"
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Relationships Can Be Oh-So Fragile…