Hey guys, happy new year, I hope you guys achieve your goals and have a successful year. So moving on, I realised this story is moving a little too slowly so... yeaaah I'm gonna move on. Also please have a look at a blog me and Demon Damian have started, I haven't got many posts, but please do visit and comment on the blog, I really want to know what you guys are thinking or what you guys want us to talk about. You can check out our blog on my profile, don't be shy~

Anyways enjoy!

The Polar Star dorm was peacefully quiet, no rampaging animals, no lamps illuminating any of the student's rooms, everyone was resting peacefully. The clock hands moved, tick-tock-

"Not good enough. Again" Ryou inspected the butterfly cut of the prawns that Megumi had been practicing.

"H-hai" Megumi's sighed in disappointment, looking at the clock and her soul fell deeper into the pits of exhaustion.

"Do you have a problem?" Ryou looked at Megumi, watching her depressed form

"Neh, Kurokiba-kun can we take a break please, I never stay up past two am, and I'm feeling quite tired."

"No"

"Eh~ But I feel like I'm going to pass out, please Kurokiba-kun, I'm begging you." Megumi protested earnestly, clasping her hands tightly.

"Tch-" Ryou glanced at the clock, and trying to cool his face down, for some strange reason, Megumi saying " I'm begging you" made his face feel hot. As well as not trying to fall for the guilt trip. Megumi looked down at the floor in despair, she just wanted to curl up under her thick fluffy blanket and fall asleep. But Ryou was being such a demon, working her to the bone.

"I'll let you rest when you do a better butterfly cut" Ryou reinforced, he inspected the prawns again, it wasn't bad, but he knew he could push her a little further to make the next improvement. In addition, he didn't admit it, but he enjoyed watching her do her preparation, and if he watch her for a little longer he would do what he could to stay that little bit longer.

"Hai" Megumi sulked, as she slowly turned back to the chopping board, begrudgingly picking up the knife, her inner self was on the floor crying, her tears flowing out like a leaky faucet.

"You can go if you call me the title you're supposed to call me by."

"Ehhh!" Megumi felt like her soul slipping out

"It's not such a big deal, just call me, Ryou."

"Eh. But buttt-"

"It's not that hard Megumi"

"..." she was biting her lip, it was such a simple thing, but she was so terrified of offending people, she always made sure she was extra polite. Now she had to learnt to be informal, with one of the scariest people she had ever had a shokugeki with. And lost to... "Ryou-kun"

"Not what I wanted, Megumi. I guess we're gonna be here for longer." Ryou commented, hopefully trying to force her to say it faster.

"Mhmmryou-" She mumbled.

"I didn't catch that" he knew he was teasing her too much, but it was well worth it.

"R-ryou" she let out in a quiet whisper, looking away in shy embarrassment.

"... Say it in a sentence, so you get used to it" his ears were feeling hot, looking away, because he knew it was a stupid excuse.

"Eh, you said I only had to say your the preferred name, it's unfair for you to change the rules!" Her eyes going wide, her tears welling up in her eyes. She just wanted to go to bed so badly. Ryou was floundering, he wanted her to say it again, he knew it was weird, but he knew this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and had to take his chances.

"You called me by the wrong title all throughout this week, which I find disrespectful since I'm here to help you, so just simply do as I say and we can go to bed" his heartbeat seemed to beat a lot louder in his ears, waiting for Megumi to whisper his name again.

"..." Tears welling up in her eyes, she looked up at Ryou desperately and whispered in her soft, tired voice "I'm begging you, Ryou~" that was all Ryou had heard, unfortunately he didn't hear "let me go to sleep, I'm going to pass out soon", he just went deaf. He grunted and motioned to the direction of the door, watching the blue hair leave his sight, and was left standing there.

"I'm begging you, Ryou~" was running through his head. She was begging him, begging him in her sweet whispery voice. Maybe he was asking for too much from her. One thing Ryou had learned about Megumi she never did her job half-ass.

Megumi had passed out from the strenuous and rigorous training with Ryou, only waking up in time for dinner. However she had to be woken up by Yuki, for dinner, otherwise Megumi would have slept through dinner as well. Megumi yawned, at the dinner table, as she sat next to Ibusaki san, who was quiet as always.

"Megumi-chan, maybe you're taking your training a little too seriously, it seems to be taking a detrimental effect on your health. I think you're pushing yourself too hard again~" Isshiki senpai suggested, worried for his underclassman.

"No, it's okay. As a chef I have to get tougher." she defended herself, whilst yawning.

"Maybe you should wake up earlier instead of staying up earlier. You might be more adapted to learning in the morning, Megumi" Yuki suggested, trying to help her comrade out, she adored Megumi and would help her any way possible.

"Megumi?" She had propped her head against Ibusaki's shoulder, quietly sleeping. He seemed unfazed by Megumi's weight, and picked up a salted vegetable, chewing in his usual quiet demeanor.

"Ibusaki-kun do you want to swap seats so Yuki can sit next to her, to make you both more comfortable?" Isshiki senpai suggested wisely.

"No. I'm not uncomfortable" he simply replied and they all left it at that.

After dinner had finished, and a group effort to lift Megumi to the couch, the students left for their rooms, attending to their own problems.

The clock had struck twelve, and a random owl was hooting, notifying the animals and anyone listening that the witching hour had arrived. A dark figure slipped in the shadows that were cast by the Polar Star dormitory. Luckily it wasn't a delinquent, it was Ryou, slipping into the dorm with the key that Megumi had lent him. He prowled round the downstairs, the kitchen, the hamper, and then slowly upstairs to Megumi's room, to see if she was waiting in her room as she always would.

However when he turned on the light, he was slightly surprised and confused as to why Megumi was not on the bed, waiting for him. Perhaps she went to the toilet and he just happened to come in when she left, so he just waited in her room, looking at her wall, examining her room. Feeling her luxurious fluffy duvet cover, and enjoying the warm atmosphere of Megumi's room. He looked at the photo she had propped up, he picked up the photo frame, smirking a little as he noticed the large amount of fisherman. It reminded him of home, and also smirked that Megumi had not changed the slightest from this picture, despite it being taken a long time ago.

Jeez she's taking her sweet time, maybe she's taking a shower

Ryou continued examining her photo, then placed it back on the desk. He hummed as he waited for her return. Surprisingly she didn't have a lot of books, which he thought was odd, since he thought her culinary knowledge was from books. He knew he shouldn't pry into her life, but he was bored, so he opened one drawer, that had a wad of paper and some pens. How like her, to be so organised, he didn't expect less from her. He closed the drawer, and waited a bit longer, but since Megumi was taking her sweet time, he was going to write her a note to tell her if she didn't come down in the next fifteen minutes he would leave, and they would have to do a double session, which is definitely not what he wanted. He could only tolerate a certain amount of Megumi. He was picked up a sheet, but due to his rough handling, he managed to spill the top pieces of paper, so he pushed the sheets back into it's original place, when he noticed a red mark on the bottom sheet that was an off white colour. He pulled it out, and it was a report, that had her name on it, and an E next to it in big red writing. He looked down to see more of these off white, report sheets that had failing grades next to her name. Ryou analysed her report, the comments that they said, how she failed. He saw the ink had been smudged, his thumb grazing the paper, he could imagine Megumi crying her heart out over these reports.

Strangely it made his heart pull, he wouldn't know what to do with Megumi if she cried. He continued reading through her reports, flicking through, he wanted to tear up the reports, because in Ryou's mind, Megumi didn't need to listen to why she was making mistakes, she had blossomed a lot more since she had met Souma. Since she had met Souma... It made his heart sink, Ryou realising that he didn't help Megumi when she needed it, Souma had helped her, and it was natural that-

"Ryou-kun?" Megumi opened her door and wasn't too surprised to see Ryou in her room at this time. She woke up suddenly on the couch downstairs, looked at the clock on the mantle and ran up the stairs to check if Ryou had come yet.

"I. I was waiting for you"

"I'm sorry I fell asleep downstairs and-" her eyes caught the extremely papers in his hand, and out of instinct she snatched them away from him, shoving them into the drawer and slamming it shut

"Megumi, I don't care that you got a failing grade the first few times you were here. You were in the semi-finals of the autumn election, that shows how much you've improved. Later on when you're successful, they will be part of your story. Take pride in your failures, and show them that failure is just as useful as winning Megumi." Ryou said. In his mind, since his mouth wouldn't listen to his mind, and his mouth was open as if he was trying to catch flies.

"You must think I'm pathetic right?" Megumi suggested quietly, her back to Ryou.

"N-no"

"Everyone says that, but I know what people say behind my back, I know what people think of me. They think I'm out of place here, and that I owe my success to Souma, I do. I don't deny Souma's influence, I'm extremely glad I met him, I wouldn't be here because of Souma-kun. But it doesn't change people's perception of me. They think I'm just a little country bumpkin who was here by a fluke and doesn't have an ounce of talent. I know you all think that I'm not special, I don't have extra special senses, I don't have creatively, I don't even have a type of cooking I specialise in."

"Megumi-"

"Kurokiba please leave." Megumi asked politely, and all Ryou could do was agree mutely and do as he was told.

Shit. I fucked up so badly.

Alice was scampering around the grounds, she was bored and Ryou had left to run an errand.

"Maybe I should see what Souma-kun is up to. Maybe we can both bug Erina to come and play with me. Eheheh" she snickered. She walked in the direction of the Polar Star dorm. She hadn't been to this part of the academy, even though she was Erina's cousin, so she explored the vegetable garden, said hello to the cute little chickens. She was in awe that the scrappy part of the academy managed to make a beautiful garden, she picked a ripe tomato and bit into it, enjoying it thoroughly.

"Hey if you're going to eat our produce at least give us some compensation" Ryoko came up behind Alice, she had come to check on her fermentation room, and saw a strange white haired person walking though the garden.

"Fine fine, where is Souma-kun?"

"I don't know, he's not my brother or anything"

"Ehh, so disappointing"

"If you weren't Erina's cousin I would kick you out of here"

"Well if I had Ryou here he would fight instead of me"

"Speaking of your aide, he's been coming here a lot recently. I caught him sneaking in. "

"Ehhh do you think him and Souma are planning a revolution?"

"What do we have to rebel against?"

"Erina's reign of terror"

"I don't think so. Hey isn't that him there?" Ryoko pointed at Ryou staring straight ahead of them. They both ducked down behind the tall tomato plants.

"Why is he here in broad daylight?"

"I don't know"

"For a Nakiri you don't know much do you"

"Why is he staring in front."

"I think that's where Ibusaki and Megumi are taking care of the garden."

"How cute, Tadokoro-san and smoking guy are a cute couple! Maybe we should match-make!"

"Stop interfering with stuff you shouldn't interfere with!

"Why is Ryou staring at them?"