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“I can’t believe him!” Takumi exasperatedly shouts as Isami makes his way inside their apartment, “He has the gall to actually make something like that and not listen to me?!"
The blond-haired Italian paces back and forth vigorously ranting at Yukihira’s performance at their joint class today. Of which he would have been totally fine with if not the fact that instead of having Isami as his partner, the professors deemed it a good decision to pair Yukihira and Takumi together. Saying that and quote —"Takumi-kun will be a good influence to you Yukihira-kun."
And well, it escalated into a mess. Not really, but Takumi was not used to working with a storm like Yukihira.
“Well you got to work with him didn’t you nii-san?” Isami sits on the couch munching on a box of Every Burger.
Takumi stops his pacing and glances at his brother, “You don’t understand Isami! He just won’t listen to anything I say!”
The other Aldini nods his head prompting for his brother to continue and that he did.
“I told him to sauté the garlic first. What does he do?” Takumi raises his hand in irritation, “He goes and does something entirely different! He does the onions first! The nerve!"
Truthfully, Isami thinks that his brother has been reacting too much to anything that Yukihira does lately.
"To be fair nii-san, the two of you did get a high grade,” the younger of the two points out.
“Still!” Takumi complains, "If he would have just listened to me.”
Isami watches as his brother sinks onto the couch next to him. The older blonde grabs one of the throw pillows and hugs it close to his chest.
“…I don’t know why but I feel weird whenever I see him.” Takumi mumbles, “It’s like I can’t stand him but at the same time I need to make him see me. Do you know what I mean, Isami?"
Isami sighs, his brother could be so oblivious sometimes, “Maybe this just means you like him, nii-san.”
“W-well, I do consider him to be my friend!” Takumi protests
Isami shakes his head and his gaze is at his older brother, “No, what I mean is, you like him more than just a friend.”
Takumi looks scandalised at the words that his brother utters.
“That’s not true!” Takumi counters, “There’s no way I would like someone like him. Not in a million years Isami!”
Isami shrugs, “Well think about it nii-san. You mostly talk about him. During the camp, you told me you were worried that Yukihira was going to fail and that you would never settle the score with him. You also told me that you wanted to face Yukihira at the finals for the Autumn Selection. When you lost to Mimisaka, you were so depressed about it. And then you heard about Yukihira’s shokugeki with Mimasaka. You got so angry when you found out that Yukihira bet his cooking career for your mezzaluna and everyone else’s tools," Isami listed, "Bottom line is nii-san, I think you like him. Maybe more than a friend should."
Isami watches his brother’s face morph in confusion, then his brother’s cheeks redden in embarrassment, and finally, blue cerulean eyes widens in horror at the realization that he makes.
“Dio,” Takumi's face was absolutely terrified at his discovery, “I-Isami... Maybe I do like Yukihira. W-what do I do?”
Isami smiles at his brother and shrugs, "I don't know nii-san, what do you want to do?"
Later that night, Isami makes a very important phone call to Yuuki who then tells Ryouko, who then tells Megumi while brushing their teeth, who then passes it down to Marui while going to get for a glass of water, who then happens to see Ibusaki, where Ishiki-senpai happens to overhear, who then tells Fumio-san about this "fool-proof plan we have to get two cooking idiots together."
Megumi notices that Souma-kun has been in good spirits lately. She notices his enthusiasm whenever they're in class and especially when their professor starts to talk about Italian cooking.
She has a pretty good idea why Souma-kun's in a great mood. And it's not because of the pile of Shokugeki's that he's gotten lately. More so, it had to do with a certain blond haired Italian.
And of course, Souma-kun isn't the only one in their grade to like Takumi-kun. He's one of many, but he does have the advantage at this point. A very big advantage to what she's observed. She's fairly sure that Takumi-kun likes Souma-kun as well.
Back at home, her mother always told her to trust her instincts. And her instincts tell her that getting those two together would be the best thing.
There was a burning need in her to succeed in getting Souma-kun and Takumi-kun together… as embarrassing as that sounds!
Is this what Yuuki meant by 'shipping'?
Souma's noticing that his friends have been acting weird lately. He's noticed that whenever they get together, they're purposely making him sit next to Takumi. Not that he minds in the slightest.
Actually, he likes it. He likes being this close to Takumi. The Italian was so fun to tease and his reactions were adorable.
Yes, he'd said adorable, don't judge him!
Ikumi actually frustrated for once.
Well, she's been frustrated many times, especially during her time in the Don RS (but she did like that club to an extent. It would crumble without her good graces).
Anyways, she's never been this frustrated before. She's quite irritated as well.
Today, the first years have been gathered for an activity for one of their many cooking subjects. The assignment was whipping something up the Elite Ten would approve of.
Which is not that big of a deal actually. Well not exactly, it's a very big deal having the Elite Ten taste their food. Nevertheless, Ikumi's not that flustered as everyone else is.
It all started when the professors announced that the first year students would be shuffled into groups of three, deciding that it would be a good experience for students to be well acquainted with each other. Blah blah.
With her luck– who was she kidding? Since meeting with Yukihira, she'd had no luck at all, she finds herself paired with both Yukihira and the older Aldini twin, Takumi.
She doesn't have any problems with Takumi. If anything, the older Italian was very reliable. Yukihira was too, to an extent.
Okay let's get this straight, she might have feelings for Yukihira, but when Yukihira blatantly tries to flirt up Takumi, she knows she's lost her chances. Not that she minded at all. A woman of her calibre would have any guy or girl falling to their feet with a snap of her fingers. Have you seen the way she fillets meat? Exactly.
There was no use crying over spilled milk.
Anyways, back to Yukihira flirting. It was repulsive looking at him.
He has no game. Ikumi thinks to herself as she starts to flip the sirloin steak. She cringes at how Yukihira tries– keyword tries, to get Takumi's attention with useless jokes and cringe-worthy pick-up lines.
"So," Yukihira tries to be smooth but fails at it, "You sure know what you're doing Takumi."
Are you an idiot? He's a freaking chef! Ikumi shakes her head in disbelief.
"I'm a chef Yukihira," Takumi dismisses and if Ikumi was paying more attention, she would have seen pink dusting Takumi's cheek, "What'd you expect?"
"Well then Chef Takumi, why don't you spice me up?"
Oh god. Did he just--
Collectively, the two blondes turn to Yukihira looking at him as if he's lost his mind.
"What?!" Takumi screeches so loudly that the other people near them turn to look at what the commotion was about.
Yukihira points somewhere behind Takumi's back, "The rosemary's behind you. I was asking if you could, you know, give some to me."
"Oh…"
Ikumi mentally slaps herself, thinking why in the hell the meat gods hated her and gave her these two bean heads to work with. Takumi is an idiot. Yukihira is an even bigger idiot. They're both idiots.
Oh god, please let these two be together. They're perfect idiots together.
Fumio has never seen idiots like this in her life.
And to be honest, she's seen idiots in the span that she'd been working in the Polar Star Dorm
Jouichirou is one, Isshiki is another, heck everyone in the Polar Star Dorm was basically idiots, but they were her idiots nonetheless.
And like a doting mom that Fumio is, she just can't stand two particular idiots.
Yukihira Souma and Takumi Aldini to be precise.
The Takumi boy, blond hair, gorgeous eyes, and equally as gorgeous face came by again. This time, with the prospect of trimming Yukihira's hair.
She'd heard them from the hall. She'd heard Yukihira come up with a lie that she had gone with the others grocery shopping when in actuality she was just sitting in the kitchen having a nice cup of green tea.
"That kid," Fumio muses at the lie spewed expertly from Yukihira's lips. She sips the cup of green tea, "If he wanted to be alone then he should've told me so."
Not a few minutes later, Yukihira comes down to the kitchen.
"Hey, Fumio-san," Yukihira greets moving over to the pantry to no doubt serve the guest they had.
"Ya didn't have to lie, 'ya know?"
Yukihira lets out a good-hearted snort.
The older woman stands up and reaches for a jar of cookies. She hands it to Yukihira, "Megumi's baked some cookies, better to share some with your guest."
"Thanks, Fumio-san," He says as he grabs a plate and pours out some of the cookies.
Fumio waves her hand dismissively, "Ya better get your head straight, boy."
Yukihira gives her a confused look as he puts everything in a tray.
"I mean, go on and ask him on a date already," Fumio chuckles, "Everyone knows you two like each other."
The blush on Yukihira, albeit a little one, confirms everything that she needed to know. He moves to exit the kitchen but Fumio will not let him leave just like that.
"No sex in the dorm ya hear?"
"Fumio-san!"
Alice has no interest in the prospect of Yukihira Souma-kun's personal life.
But she does understand why one would go for Takumi Aldini. He's no match for her beauty, of course, but his looks were far from average. He was very good looking and his eyes were as clear as the Caribbean seas. Which Alice found really a redeeming quality.
Alice, with her trusted companion, Kurokiba watch waiting to see what happens next.
"My lady?" Kurokiba speaks up, "Why are we up here again?"
"Can't you see Ryou-kun?" Alice huffs, "I'm trying to see what else those two do!"
"Ahhh…"
Alice has no interest if those two get together or not.
No interest at all.
…
Though, Kurokiba would beg to differ.
Mimasaka, on the other hand, is very interested in Yukihira Souma's personal life. Since his loss at the Shokugeki during the Autumn Election, he's refrained from 'stalking'–as many would call it, but he'd like to call it 'extensive research'.
Though, old habits die hard. When he caught wind of a rumour that Yukihira Souma harboured feelings for Takumi Aldini, he was intrigued, very much so.
To be honest, he didn't 'research' at first. He minded his own business and just wished the two well. But the more the days passed, the more he wanted to see proof of this 'blooming love' that they had.
Soon enough, he was following both Yukihira and Takumi after school, closely watching them.
At first, Mimasaka didn't notice anything. Just random bickers and teasing (mostly from Yukihira) here and there. But the more he watched, he started to notice little things. Like when Yukihira smiled at Takumi like he was the most interesting thing in the planet. The way Takumi's eyes brightened when he caught sight of Yukihira. The way Yukihira ruffles the back of his hair when he's said something embarrassing. And most of all, he noticed how Yukihira and Takumi would give longing stares when no one was watching.
"You're busy."
Startled by the sudden voice, Mimasaka almost lost grip on his binoculars. He steps back, hiding behind the bush and looked next to him were found the same cerulean eyes–only a shade darker, that belonged to Takumi's younger brother, Isami.
"Oh," Mimasaka sighs "It's just you."
The younger Aldini hums, "Just me."
"So what do you want?"
"I was about to ask the same question, Mi-ma-saka-kun," Isami sings.
"I-I was just curious, is all," He plays with the hem of his uniform.
"Hmmm," There's a calculating smile on Takumi's face and Mimasaka takes back what he'd said about the younger Aldini before, he's definitely terrifying, "Maybe if you're so curious, you'll lend a hand?"
"On what?"
"You'll see."
Erina is quite busy. Being an Elite Ten Member is very taxing indeed. She had a packed schedule every day but she did enjoy the time off when she had.
Usually, when she had a free day, she would spend it in a hot bath to relax her aching muscles and that was currently what she was doing.
Too many things had piled up at the moment and having this time to herself was heaven.
But heaven was cut short when Hisako called for her, "Erina-sama, there are some guests for you today."
Erina waves her hand elegantly, "Send them away Hisako, I'm not in the mood to entertain guests."
Hisako looks reluctant but she replies, "Erina-sama, Tadokoro Megumi-san is here as well, she says that she needs to speak with you immediately."
Erina perks at the sound of Tadokoro Megumi's name. She stands up and grabs the bathrobe hung on the handle and gracefully puts the garment on, "I will be down immediately."
Hisako bows at her. The assistant making her way through the corridors to announce Erina's arrival.
Upon Erina's entrance, she's faced with more people than she anticipated. One of those faces that she recognised was her very own colleague, the seventh seat, Isshiki Satoshi.
Erina's eyes widen in surprise, "Isshiki-san!"
Issiki gives Erina a bright smile, "Erina-chan!"
Erina tries to calm herself, this is such a shocking moment and in her bathrobe too! "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Tadokoro Megumi stands and bows to her, "I'm so sorry for randomly dropping by on you Erina-san!"
She waves her hand, "It's alright Megumi-san," She surveys the room. She sees Mito Ikumi, members of the Polar Star Dorm, and the younger brother of Takumi Aldini, "Why have you all gathered here might I ask?"
"We need to ask a favour of you, Erina-sama," Mito Ikumi stands.
Erina raises an elegant eyebrow, "And what is this favour?"
"Well," Isami Aldini steps forward, "You see, Erina-san, my brother and Yukihira-kun are… well, for the most part, they like each other."
"I don't see what this has got to do with me. I don't care about Yukihira Souma's love interests in the slightest." Though she did pity Takumi Aldini for having such a human being like Yukihira Souma like him. She did see the appeal to Takumi Aldini, he was by far one of the most attractive people in Tootsuki. Certainly, his current fan club could prove that.
"We don't want to bother you either Erina-san," A member of the Polar Star Dorm provides, "But, please help us out!"
Erina isn't convinced, she was about to decline when a desperate look from Tadokoro Megumi has her ice wall crumbling. She sighs, "All right what is it?"
"We want you to serve as a judge for a shokugeki."
"You want me to what?!" Yuuki and the rest of the Polar Star dorm are in from Yukihira, whilst the young man sat on his bed.
"Come on!" Yuuki whines, "We know you like him!"
A slight tinge of red on Yukihira's face gives him away, but the contemplative look on his face stays.
"We know how much you love shokugekis too, Souma-kun," For once Megumi is the one to push the idea of shokugekis to him. Which, if Yukihira was paying attention long enough, he would have noticed the utter out of character behaviour, but it seemed that he didn't.
"Well…" Yukihira sighs.
"Come on!" Yuuki enthusiastically shouts, "It's like killing two birds with one stone. You get to cook and win a date with Takumi!"
Yukihira seems reluctant all of a sudden, "The last thing I want to do is to push my feelings for him."
"I doubt it," Ibusaki mumbles under his breath.
Marui sweat drops they can't fail, not now, not after countless sleepless nights to get this to work. Not after they got Erina Nakiri do be a judge for the event. With an uneasy breath, Marui says, "You won't know until you try."
At the comment, Isshiki-senpai stands, apron glory and all, "Yes!" he agrees, "Where is the Yukihira-kun that won't back down from a challenge?"
Isshiki-senpai places his hands on Yukihira's shoulders, "This is but a challenge Yukihira-kun! One must court his love! One must get his love to know how much you want them!"
"How do I win his heart by beating him in a shokugeki?"
"It's a start?"
Souma crossed his arms and contemplated the idea, "Well, we do love to cook."
"That's the spirit!" Megumi chanted.
Yukihira Souma issues an official shokugeki against Takumi a few days later.
Takumi isn't one to back down from a challenge.
And so, not even three hours since the shokugeki has ensued, he accepts it.
A week later, they find themselves at the stadium, many people came to witness a shokugeki of the Autumn Election candidates. Upon hearing the shoukugeki match, Mitsuru Sotsuda made an article about it that had been published on the front page, which garnered the grand audience in the stadium. Many of Takumi's fangirls were also there rooting for him to win. The Polar Star on the other hand…
"YOU BETTER WIN THIS!" Yuuki, with her fans and her headband, shouts across the stadium, "YU-KI-HI-RA."
Yuuki chants, beckoning Megumi to follow her and reluctantly Megumi does. Inwardly she's praying the Yukihira wins and that Takumi-kun would finally realise his feelings for Yukihira and go for it.
"Prepare to get your butt beaten by me Yukihira," Takumi intimidates Yukihira though it was lacking of any venom.
Yukihira, as dense as he was to the atmosphere that he's in, isn't pressured at all, it was almost as if he was enjoying the attention that Takumi gave him.
"Who even says 'butt beaten' anymore?" Yukihira teases, "Are you a kid?"
Flushed like a ripe tomato, Takumi retorts, "Anyways! I'll settle the score once and for all."
The time limit was one and a half hour, the instructions are given as was a shokugeki from Yukihira was that they could cook whatever they felt they were comfortable in. Definitely a Yukihira move alright.
Two can play that game, Takumi thinks.
What better way to beat Yukihira in his game.
Yukihira, on the other hand, knows exactly what to do.
Which is why he would give Takumi his best.
Takumi would skin him alive if he didn't take this seriously.
"Go get your man!" Yuuki hollers from the stands, the whole Polar Star Dorm cheering on with her.
The world, Yukihira thinks, is full of clichés.
Maybe, just possibly, it was ironic.
Because, just as he was finishing his plate for a risotto, he looks over his shoulder and he could see Takumi plating a bowl of ramen noodles.
Yukihira had cooked Italian thinking that Takumi would beat him with his own expertise, not knowing that Takumi was doing the same.
God, they were idiots together.
"Thirty seconds!" The speakers blast.
It was a landslide win.
It didn't help that Erina was one of the judges. Just made the defeat sting a little bit harder.
His ego deflated.
Humiliated.
In big bold letters flashing on the screen said, 'Winner: Takumi Aldini'