Passion || Shokugeki no Soma

Who to Trust?

"Soma. Can I ask you about something?"

"Sure. What's up?"

They stood next to each other on the balcony beneath the night full of stars. His sister gave him a small smile and her eyes twinkled like the stars above. She hugged her bubble tea pillow close to her chest as if she was craving some kind of comfort, some kind of reassurance. He raised a brow and watched her carefully.

Soma had no idea then, how much this question meant to her.

"Can...can you tell me what Mom was like?"

________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey-OOF!"

Soma got attacked.

"You idiot! How could you do something so reckless?!" The hyper orange haired elbowed him in the stomach before she pulled him into a hug. She was bawling her eyes out as she mumbled a word of thanks every few seconds.

"Thank you...thank you Yukihira." Sakaki too wiped a tear as she congratulated him. Tadokoro smiled brightly as happy tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Welcome back, Soma."

"Honestly...you are way to reckless. Tell us next time." Marui heaved out an exhilarated sigh while he pushed up his slightly cracked glasses. Soma only grinned in response and wondered how many pairs of glasses his dorm mate went through because of them. Probably countless number of them.

"Nice one Yukihira!" An arm hooked around his neck into a choking hold. Soma looked up to see Aoki, who also gave him a thumbs up in congratulations.

"You definitely showed Eizan-senpai who's boss! I mean the look on his face!" The others chuckled and sniggered at Sato's attempt to imitate Eizan's infuriated face. Soma won't lie that it was funny. A surge of pride swelled in his chest as he grinned in response.

He beat the Ninth Seat of the Elite Ten.

He's getting closer and closer to his goal of becoming the First Seat...soon, he will be able to beat his old man in a Shokugeki. Soma clutched his fists and pumped it into the air. 

He couldn't wait.

His short lived enthusiasm died when a sudden frying pan made contact with his head with a bang. The redhead clutched his head in pain.

"You're just like Joichiro, reckless and so out of control!" Fumio yelled at him, but with a proud smirk on her lips. "Honestly, Polar Star is full of strange and stupid people."

"Hey! Says the lady who gets drunk on Sakaki's rice wine every day-"

"Shut it Sato!"

"Oi oi oi, Miss Fumio, you're a crazy one too-OW!" Fumio chased and smacked the poor teenager, also known as Aoki Daigo, around the huddled group with a pan. Everyone laughed and chuckled while the poor teenager was getting chased by a mother hen. 

Even the Tenth Seat was happy about his victory, even if she gave a stubborn scoff. 

"I w-wouldn't expect less from you." She looked away with her arms crossed. Hisako gave him a thumbs up with a smile. Soma only returned a cocky grin as he approached the two.

"Yo Arato, thanks for holding down the fort with us!" She returned a nod with a brief smile. "Of course, I won't let this place go down either." Satisfied with her friendly response, Soma turned abruptly to the blonde.

"C'mon Nakiri, just say that I was amazing~"

"S-Shut up! Just so you know, I still h-haven't approved of y-your cooking!" Soma only brushed aside her stubbornness.