Hidden Beauty [Shokugeki no Soma]

~two~

Mikoto watched as the red haired girl eat the shared food and moaned in delight. Mikoto had already calmed down after the initial shock, and now sat down on her seat drinking the tea she had prepared. There was an awkward silence, saved from the only sound of eating and drinking (but the only person who was awkward was Mikoto).

Mikoto tried to stay indifferent when the mysterious girl was staring at her, pretending that she didn't notice the curious gaze.

"You're the transfer student right?" The girl asked after swallowing the last of an onigiri.

Mikoto made a sound of affirmative but said no other thing.

Her indifference should scare away any attempts for friendly questions by now. Mikoto thought as she stared at the plastic cup, eyes hidden behind her glasses.

"Humph?" The girl by now was staring intently at Mikoto, her arms on the table and supporting her face. She was smirking in amusement, still unaffected by the cold demeanor from the black haired girl.

"I'm Kobayashi Rindou, first-year student. What's your name?"

Feeling uncomfortable by the intense stare (and realizing that this Kobayashi girl wouldn't go anytime soon), Mikoto mumbled. "Shiraishi Mikoto, first-year student."

Mikoto was uncomfortable by the stare. Her face slowly became red due to the attention, and her glasses couldn't hide her reddened cheeks. Kobayashi snickered and laughed out loud, finally making Mikoto snap. "Why are you laughing?!"

"Ha-ha-ha! Sorry! It's been a while since I met an interesting person like you." Kobayashi said, but she still grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Mikoto wondered what had she got herself into today. Interesting? No one said that about her at all. They either lost attention due to her average appearance, or just stopped by her indifferent demeanor. On her face was the 'are-you-joking' expression directed towards Kobayashi, but the cat-like girl only laughed harder and said.

"Ok, I have decided! We'll be friends!"

The redhead nodded in satisfaction, pleased with her own decision.

"Wait! Who said I'm agreed with this 'friend' thing?" Mikoto protested with raised voice. "Don't go decide things on your own!"

"But you shared your food with me right? Isn't that what friends do?" Kobayashi replied.

Mikoto had to admit there was definitely something wrong with that logic, but she couldn't find a reason to retaliate.

'Deep breath, Mikoto.'

"So, Mikoto-chan, I want to have something sweet for tomorrow lunch as well!" Kobayashi said with a bright smile.

Mikoto couldn't check her face in the mirror, but she was sure there was a large tick mark on her face. She stood up abruptly. 

"I don't have to make you anything. Find your own friends and ask them to cook for you!"

Then, the raven haired girl walked away, almost running from the red head, leaving the latter still grin in amusement as though she wasn't affected by the outburst at all. She noticed the basket that was forgotten by Mikoto, and took it with her when she too left the area.

...:::::...

Mikoto was tired, and the reason was none other than the destruction in human form called Kobayashi Rindou.

She had thought she had cut the red head from the idea of them being friends, but the cat-like girl had shown up during her class, 'demanded' to be on the same team in the morning's class, then dragged her to the same place yesterday for lunch.

And now Mikoto sat down with a solemn expression on her face, looking as the red head gulping down the cupcakes Mikoto had baked in class.

Oh how she regretted having lunch outside yesterday.

It made her shudder when she recalled all the looks and attention she had got when Kobayashi showed up. She could hear from the murmurs from the fellow students that some of them begin to wonder if Mikoto was a worthy person that a talented chef like Kobayashi had decided to accompany. Mikoto could read from some students' eyes that they couldn't wait to challenge her to a shokugeki.

How had it come to this? Where was the normal, smooth and problem-free school life she had predicted?

Mikoto decided to trace back all the things she had done when she had got to this school, and immediately realized the problem was right in front of her.

Yes, Kobayashi Rindou. But why? Why did this girl seem so interested in her? She was sure she had not done anything extravagant to attract the feline-like girl.

Wait a second. Food. It was food.

For some reason, Kobayashi Rindou seemed to be very interested in what she cooked. Gears turned and worked in Mikoto's head, and she thought of something to get rid of the persistent red head.

'I can't believe I will do this.' Mikoto grimaced, but she still looked straight at Kobayashi and began to speak.

"Kobayashi-san, I would like to talk."

The serious tone in Mikoto's voice successfully divided Kobayashi's attention from the cupcakes, since she looked up at the glasses girl.

"Huh? What is it Mikoto-chan? And you can call me Rindou, you know." Her tone was happy and playful, despite how Mikoto tried to make things serious.

Mikoto sighed, and continued with what she got to say, "I notice that you really like my dishes..." she paused for a second to receive a happy nod from the red head, "...so I can always make you something you want..." Kobayashi's eyes shone and became more similar to a cat's eyes, "...but you can't do anything to attract attention to me in front of others, including speaking and calling out for me."

Kobayashi frowned after hearing that. She seemed displeased, but Mikoto held her stance and showed no room that she would change what she'd said.

The red head finally accepted. "Fineeee." But then she stood up and ran away with loud and clear laughter. Before she disappeared in sight, she turned and yelled to Mikoto, hand waving cheerfully.

"I want pudding for tomorrow! Here at noon! See ya, Mikoto-chan!"

And again, Mikoto wondered if she had made another wrong decision.

A/N: Mikoto just sold herself to be Rindou's personal chef. XD