A/N: Lord have mercy—sorry for such a late update!

Thank you all for being so patient with me, but here's the final chapter!

Erina can practically feel her soul exiting her body

Is this a joke?

'Welcome to Yukihira's my foot!" She huffs, spinning around and doing a U-turn back towards the direction of the train station, but Sōma's grabbing her hand and pulling her back towards him with an easy-going grin

"I'm not going to challenge you to a shokugeki"

She narrows her eyes towards him, considering.

"…Probably"

"Why're we even here?"

Her tone is sharp and leaves no room to be questioned but her body language and facial features express curiosity as she gazes around the diner

Sōma just smiles as he makes his way past many of the tables he'd served several times in his lifetime and heads towards the door "Just grabbing a few things from my room"

"Your room?" Erina almost blanches "You live here!?"

"Sure do!"

Sōma unlocks a 'Staff only' door as Erina peers over his shoulder "The diner's connected to my actual house" he explains before motioning her to follow as he heads up the staircase.

Erina's eyebrows raise up towards her hairline in surprise as she goes up, behind him

"I can imagine that the journey to work wasn't difficult then?"

He laughs at that, and switches on a light "Yeah. I wasn't late to work, but my teacher's hated me since I could never show up on time for classes"

Erina's face softens as she comes across family photos hanging against the wall before almost walking straight into Sōma's back.

He flashes her an apologetic look before an unsure expression takes over "Uh…do me a favour and wait here for a sec"

Erina gives him a questioning look with her eyebrows furrowed but he's already zipped into his bedroom and she's left standing outside of it listening to the sound of metal clanging, glass breaking and a large bang before he's swinging the door wide open for her with a nervous grin

"Sorry—just had to clean up a bit"

She just stares at him bewildered before rolling her eyes and following him in

Sōma raises an eyebrow towards her, waiting for her verdict.

"It's…cosy"

He just snorts as Erina looks around the room with a small smirk on her face "I think this is just about the size of my purse closet"

"Oh, shut up!" He barks out a laughs and Erina can feel the tension in her bones melt away as she steps towards the desk against the wall

"This looks like it's never been touched—did you do any studying here at all?" She asks, raising an eyebrow at the sprawled out average, middle school books across it.

He makes a face and puts his backpack onto the bed, unzipping it open "Eh, maybe…twice?"

Erina hums in interest as her eyes trail towards the shelves before she stepped towards them to eye the small Eiffel tower statue on the top shelf

"You've been to France?" she asks softy, surprise coating her tone and Soma just snorts

"Nah, that's from pops" he grins, making his way over so close she can practically feel the heat radiating off of him as he reaches up to grab it

Erina finds her cheeks flushing

He's gotten taller

Twirling the object around, Sōma handed it towards her "He used to get me souvenirs pretty often whenever he went off travelling" To further prove his point, he grabbed a snow globe with the leaning tower of Pisa inside.

Although Erina had been across the globe plenty of times in her lifetime, she couldn't help but hold the memento of the Eiffel tower with a soft expression as Sōma went and explained where the rest of his collection were from.

They're talking for hours, from sitting crossed legged on the rug where there's photo albums and other nick-knacks sprawled across the floor to the living room to watch a movie.

She doesn't actually know how they ended up like this—and she's pretty sure her grandfather and Hisako who were back at Tōtsuki academy were probably on a frenzy trying to find her.

It finally dawns to her just how late it is and he's scrambling to find her phone from her purse, but she's left pleasantly surprised at the lack of missed calls and texts.

"Yukihira—" she starts, when he arrives with two steaming bowls and chopsticks, placing them down onto the coffee table in front of the couch "Did you tell anyone I was with you?" she tilts her head towards him in question, the smell of Tonkotsu ramen filling her senses and almost making her mouth water.

She can already tell that the broth is rich—which is rather unusual seeing as the diner hadn't even been opened in a while. Erina blinks, realising that if he had indeed just cooked them both ramen, then the ingredients couldn't have possibly been fresh and—

"Yeah," Yukihira smiles, sitting down beside her and pulling his bowl towards himself "I texted Hishoko—"

"Hisako"

"—earlier. She kind of had a go at me but she knows you're with me" he shrugged, balancing the bowl on his lap in a way that was starting to give Erina anxiety as he flipped through the channels in attempt to find something that they'd both enjoy

She hums, knowing that she'd likely have an earful from her assistant too but leans forward to grab the bowl

"Careful," he pipes in "The bowls really hot"

Her lips twitch upwards at the warning before she carefully picks it up along with the chopsticks and leans back "When did you have the time to make this? You couldn't have possibly made the broth so fast."

Sōma laughs "That's because I didn't" he flipped through the channels before his eyes brightened "Oi, Nakiri, you like horror movies right?"

"Absolutely not"

He pouts towards her but changes the channel anyway "So what do you want to see?" a thought occurred to him "Oh! Hishoko—"

"Hisako" she corrected absentmindedly as she stirred her noodles.

"—says you love Shōjo anime"

Erina's cheeks flare "Yes, well," Lord Jesus help her now, "I'm not really in the mood for Shōjo right now!" she states, eyes comically wide and staring holes into her ramen.

"Huh. Alright, if you say so."

Sōma flips through a few more channels before finding a western movie to watch "Oh! It's Larry Rotter!"

"Harry Potter," Erina says, exasperated "How can you possibly be this bad with names?"

"I'm Japanese, not white"

"What about Hisako's and Ikumi's names?" Erina raises an eyebrow

He gives her a blank look "What about them?"

"You don't even say their names right!" she cries, indignant

"I seriously have no idea on what you're talking about"

Erina doesn't really remember falling asleep, but somewhere in the night she knows she's gone from leaning against Sōma's shoulder to suddenly ending up sprawled across his chest in a very undignified manner.

Two bowls of finished ramen lay on the coffee table and the tv screen was still playing.

They both had separate blankets on the couch to begin with but hers is half on the floor and she's somehow ended up stealing his. She's so, so comfortable that she's already shifting and ready to head back to slumber.

It takes Erina about twelve seconds to process all of what she's just realised before horror strikes her and she's screeching loud enough to wake up the town, (and permanently damage Sōma's eardrums).

Sōma's eyes snap open as Erina screams louder and shoves herself off of him on the couch, successfully landing on the wooden floors and staring wide eyed and flustered.

"What—Just what do you think you were doing to me!?" She screeches, face as red as his hair while Sōma just groans and buries his face into the couch cushion.

"It's way too fucking early for this Nakiri" he mumbles, already dozing off.

Erina's jaw drops as she stares at him, clutching onto a blanket as if it was her lifeline and feeling as though her heart was about to give out—

Dear God, she needed to call Hisako.

It's strange

Being in Yukihira's kitchen was rather odd, because the kitchens that she had grown up in had always felt cold, precise, sophisticated.

The kitchen that was in Yukihira's diner felt warm.

Despite the thin layer of dust which had appeared from months of neglect—the kitchen itself felt more homely than she had ever anticipated.

Finishing wiping down the surfaces of the kitchen left Erina wondering; the equipment was adequate but it was nowhere near Tōtsuki's standards.

The seating was average but she would have never been allowed within a five mile radius to an establishment like this one.

So why—what was so special about this place?

After finally deeming the kitchen clean, Erina found herself wondering to the sinks to thoroughly scrub at her hands—ugh, she'd need a good three hour shower after all that grime work.

It sort of made her realise how spoilt she was.

"Mornin' Nakiri." Soma greeted, yawning and rubbing his faced tiredly as he made his way into the diner.

Erina found herself pausing, cheeks flaring at the reminder of how she had been woken before scoffing and flipping her hair behind her,

"It's almost two in the afternoon."

Sōma blinks "Oh really?" he doesn't really seem that surprised "What time did you get up?"

Rolling her eyes, Erina grabs some paper towels and dries her hands "Since nine—I originally went out and bought some groceries for breakfast until I realised your kitchen is absolutely filthy."

"Oh, yeah makes sense—" he paused, processing what she said and stared stunned, "Wait you did what?"

Not realising the sudden look of awe that occupied his face, she continued "Well, you didn't expect me to cook in an absolute pigsty did you?" she scoffed once again, "I had to clean this place top to—"

"Erina," Sōma starts off, staring at the floor and feeling positive that he was seeing his reflection "How long have you been cleaning?"

"I don't know! It's bad enough I have to cook in a low rated diner—but I'm not cooking in a place deemed as a health hazard!" she found herself becoming flustered.

"No one asked you to cook in the first place" he blinked, holding his hands up in defence before stepping further into the kitchen.

"Whoa" he opened the fridge to see it stocked with a few fresh groceries—enough for a lunch "You really took the time to do all this?"

"I was hungry" she snapped, "I wasn't about to eat more take out—"

Sōma says nothing for a while and just stares at her.

"—What!?" she glared, having just about enough of—

"You're really sweet, you know that?" he smiled brightly and Erina found her jaw dropping, cheeks heating up.

"Whatever" she mumbled.

"So, why were you on those swings when I found you?"

Erina almost spits out her water before she turns around to gawk at him.

"Excuse me?!"

To Sōma's credit, he's eerily calm as he walks side by side with her down the streets, after exiting the train station.

She's already called Hisako and they're sending a car over to pick them both up once they've reached the same place he found her in.

"The swings. You know, the ones from the park—"

"I know what swings you're talking about, you idiot!"

Sōma just laughs and Erina finds herself wanting to pout but he's not Hisako or Alice- he's Yukihira, so she needs to display some form of superiority towards him.

Flipping her long hair back, Erina rolls her eyes "I was taking a break"

"Uh huh,"

"I was!"

Erina scowls and it isn't really all that long before they make it towards the park gates.

Sōma finds himself constantly raising his hands to defend himself when it comes to Nakiri Erina, and this instance wasn't any different "I believe you!"

This time, Erina actually does pout before she walks on ahead and is automatically making a beeline for the playground, and Soma finds his lips quirking upwards at the action.

She just seemed so much more human

"So, what's the problem with me taking a break?"

Sōma hums, "I suppose that itself isn't a problem—"

"Exactly." she huffs, ready to storm ahead once again but he's already grabbing her hand and forcing her to turn around to look at him

Her eyes narrow dangerously and Sōma just frowns towards her "—but you being unhappy kind of is a problem."

She falters at that, and Sōma sighs before letting go of her hands and nodding towards the swings,

"C'mon. I'll even push you while we wait for Hishoko to pick you up."

"Hisako" she automatically corrects him before doing a double take.

She gawks "Excuse me? I can push myself!"

Laughing, Sōma grabs her hand and pulls her in the direction of the swings once again "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

"It's embarrassing!"

"So what? There's barely anyone here"

"I don't want too!"

"Weren't you literally storming towards the swings like, a minute ago?" He raises an eyebrow and Erina's cheeks are aflame once again.

"I can't wait until I get away from you" She grumbles and Sōma throws his head back and laughs.

Setting herself down onto a swing (the one that doesn't squeak when you use it), Erina's hands automatically reach out to grip the chains on either side of her. But before she's so much as been able to let out a breath, Sōma's grabbing the bottom of the seat.

"Hold tight, Nakiri"

Erina freezes "Wait, wha—"

All she hears is cackling when he pulls her backwards, ridiculously high before she's being pushed forwards and screeching for her life.

"YUKIHIRA SOMA!"

He's still laughing, and she's half worried that she'll fall flat on her face if she lets go, and half ready to throw Sōma into an active volcano.

Instead though, after getting over her initial trauma, she's squealing and laughing along with him.

She doesn't even realise that Sōma's suddenly stopped laughing, even when she turns her head to beam brightly towards him while he's still pushing her.

His expression has softened and he can feel his cheeks heating up—

Fuck

"I felt claustrophobic" Erina says once they've tired themselves out and they're laying down on the grass.

She's sitting and ripping random clumps of grass out before dropping them back down and repeating her actions.

Sōma pauses in his cloud gazing to turn his head towards her, furrowing his eyebrows "You're claustrophobic?"

"Not really," she shrugs, avoiding his eyes and focusing all her attention onto her task of tearing every strand of grass out of the ground. Turning her gaze forward, there's a large amount of children in the playground they were previously occupying and Erina's gaze turns into longing.

She exhales softly "It's dumb," she piles up some batches. "I think I go to the swings a lot now because I wasn't allowed to before." She admits

"You weren't?"

"I mean—my training started when I was super young, remember?" she glances back towards him and he feels himself go cold.

"Because of your God's tongue" he realises dumbly and she smiles wryly.

"It's not like me. I've sort of overgrown all that childish nonsense. But they're just—they're all like vultures."

He frowns "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Erina flicks some grass towards his him and Sōma makes a face "It's just, I'm only seventeen and they just all expect so much from me. They always have— which is fine. I can handle it."

"Uh huh?"

"I just never realised how socially deprived I was" she mumbles, "You know my dad used to hide away letters Alice would take the time to send me?"

Sōma's eyes seem to darken as she continues "Can you imagine? I was a child—we were both just kids."

"Nakiri—"

"It's not even just the letters— I'm frustrated. Meeting you all at the polar star dorm made me realise how unhealthy my mental state had been. I didn't realise how much I isolated myself from other people. It wasn't just bad for me—I was being a horrible friend to those who cared about me."

By now, Sōma finds himself seated upright "You were never horrible. If you were, don't you think Alice and Hisako would've stayed trying so hard to look out for you?"

She takes a moment to process his words "To be fair, Hisako's my assistant and Alice is related to me. They're both sort of obligated to look out for me." She smirks

Sōma rolls his eyes, gently smacking her arm "Doesn't matter. Hisako could've quit long ago and Alice wouldn't have tried so hard to get you to acknowledge her if you really did act as bad as you think you did towards them."

"Yeah." she agrees, tucking a loose piece of her behind her ears "But I still push them away. A lot. Even when I don't mean too."

For once, Sōma stays quiet as he mulls things over "You've improved"

"What?"

"I mean it" he says, staring straight at her "You've improved. You're better at talking to people, you're not as stiff and uncomfortable anymore and it shows—Alice and Hisako can see it too."

Erina finds her eyebrows furrowing, "Really? It doesn't feel like it."

"But you have!"

She flinches at his tone, eyes wide

"You don't see it but you really have changed. You used to never want to be seen with people who came from lower rated backgrounds—your mindset expanded. You learned to accept new possibilities and instead of turning back towards your sheltered lifestyle, you decided to branch out."

Erina pauses, feeling the heat in her cheeks arise as she averts her gaze "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

She smiles and redirects her attention back towards the playground "It's a shame this place got mobbed so quickly"

"Why's that? You wanted to play on the swings some more?" he tilts his head and there's a sudden fluttering in her chest at the notion.

She shoves it down.

"No," Erina snorts "I wanted to see you try out the jungle gym and see if you would break another tooth."

"…You're a riot, Nakiri"

She grins, brightly towards him in response and he knows for a fact his heart has probably just stopped.

Jesus, Nakiri

Sōma's groans loudly, falling backwards to lie back down against the grass and covers his eyes with his arm.

He really needed to stop getting so worked up every time her face would light up. It was going to send him into fucking cardiac arrest if he didn't sort his emotions out.

"What?" she asked, concerned

"Nothing, Sorry." he says, cheeks aflame "I just remembered something."

She pulled a face at that before rolling her eyes and laying down beside him (not too close though. She hadn't abandoned all rationality).

"Was it a bad something?" she asks, staring up into the clouds feeling a lot lighter than she's had in years.

"I'll let you know when I figure it out." He mumbles, removing his arm away from his face and letting it lay down, onto the grass.

The blonde goes quiet for a moment "Is it bothering you?"

"No," he says quickly before sighing "I mean—I don't know. Its distracting but it's also another reason to be the best."

"The best?"

"At cooking, duh"

She smirks "You've still got millions of years left before you can even think about catching up to me."

"Yeah? We'll see about that." he grins towards her, already feeling himself getting fired up and unintentionally brushes his hand against hers.

The two of them freeze and for the first time, he looks at her as if silently asking 'Is this okay?'

It's strange

They've practically been joined at the hip for over a day now—they've held hands more than they really should have.

Her thoughts of him were once cold and cruel but now they've shifted into something entirely new and warm.

The old Nakiri Erina would have screamed and filed a restraining order.

The old Nakiri Erina would have tried to publicly humiliate him.

The old Nakiri Erina wouldn't have so much as been okay with allowing Sōma to breath the same air as her—

There's still a part of her that's afraid.

But she's done listening to that voice and finds herself reaching out to tentatively hold his hand.

He holds hers back securely and intertwines their fingers right away.

Erina bites her cheek to stop herself from smiling as she turns her vision back towards the clouds.

"Hey, Nakiri"

She hums, feeling somewhat lightheaded

"It was a good something." He grins cheekily towards her and Erina can't help but bark out a laugh.

A/N: So—I started this thing back in 2017 and I only just finished it.

Yikes.

Thank you so much for all the reviews, the favourites and the follows! You guys really kept me going!

I think I'm going to go ahead and rewrite/edit the first two chapters a little. There's a lot of mess in them ugh.

Thank you again for reading! Take care my lovelies!