Isami x OC

"Y-You... You know..." she mumbled "I... I... hum..."

Isami didn't know what to think. It's been almost a minute since she came up to him and asked if she could talk to him. But he knew Eliza wasn't supposed to be the type of girl who can easily be disturbed. She was usually so confident, especially when they were doing pastry. She was the best student in their class, she was okay with just cooking normal things (or at least what Tootsuki considered as basic) but she was excellent at doing all kind of dessert: either Japanese, Korean, American, French and inevitably Italian. Isami thought his brother could never be beaten in a dolce dual as they call it (except for Mimasaka).

But she did beat him.

Eliza heard about this Italian teenager who managed to create a new condiment even though he was on a weak position against his opponent. He lost but she was intelligent enough to think that this guy was superior to Mimasaka, the one who steals recipes.
After the automn tournament and training session they had, they were going to prepare the Gekkyo festival. Among Eliza's friend, one of them said to her:

"Hey hey you know? Takumi is going to have a booth call The Trattoria Aldini! We must help him."
"Nah... Not really interested in that." replied Eliza
"Are you sure? Maybe he is going to ask for another Shokugeki against you, it might help you to be around him and watch how he works."
"That's not gonna help me, he has his way of working and I have mine."
"Please... You're the only one in our class that I can get along with. I don't want to be alone with all the other girls who can stare his eyes for litteraly 4 hours. They are kind of... creepy..."
"I'll just come to decorate the booth if you want... I don't really want to spend hours at the same spot, knowing that I could be free from any responsibilities."

But as she looked closer to her friend, she noticed how nervous she was.

"Are you... okay?" Eliza asked. "Seems like you're gonna confess to him or something."
"M-Me..? C-Confess to him? W-What are... you... No..."
"Okay... You're lying! I know!"
"No... I-I'm not..."
"When you start stuttering like this, I KNOW you're lying, don't you?"

Her friend went all red and covered her face with her hands.

"I-I... I didn't tell you because I thought you were gonna laugh at me..."
"Why would I mock you? It's love you know." she shrugged.
"But... You said to me you never fell in love with anyone.."

Eliza blushed for a few seconds and looked away.

"I-I... I never said that..."
"So you actually love someone???"
"N-Not «love» but..."
"A crush??? Hi yah!!! I'm not the only one!!"
"Kaoru!! Not so loud!!" Eliza hushed her.

For Eliza, anyone aware of her feelings for a certain person would definitely try to spread this rumor and destroy her. She worked so hard to have a good image, she didn't want to waste that.

"Can you at least tell me who it is?"
"Not now... And to be honest, it's better if you don't know it..."
"Okay fine, as you want. But remember, I will psychologically make you remember about «this» person until you tell me." said Kaoru with quotation marks.
"Screw you!"

Some day passed and Eliza indeed helped her friend but never crossed the path of any Aldini brother. Weird... she thought to herself. The day before D-day, Eliza went to the booth to put up the last decoration to make it looks like a real restaurant.

"I think you're doing great!"
"Oh Takumi! Haven't seen you these last few days."
"Sorry! Had to improve my last recipe so I could beat Yukihira!"
"According to Kaoru, you're only thinking about that."
"Not really..." he said quite softly
"Huh?"
"Nothing, sorry. Could you just remind me your name? There is so much people helping us that I can barely recognize everyone."
"Sure! I'm... Wait... You don't remember my name?"
"Sorry..."
"I'm the one that beat you in a Shokugeki! Eliza."
"Oh, you're that girl right! Yeah, I should've challenge you into a new Shokugeki too!"
"You're not the guy I beat." she laughed "He was more competitive."
"I'll make sure to challenge you again, don't worry!"