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“Takumi wins.”
Megumi’s announcement was simple, but they caused two different reactions from the other two teens in the room.
Soma let out a dramatic groan on her left, slumping over the counter. He pouted further when he and Takumi locked eyes, the latter sporting a shit-eating grin from his victory.
“Thank you, Megumi.” The blond was more civil with his response.
“Yeah, thanks.” Soma mumbled.
Megumi let out a small sigh, a hand reaching out towards Soma’s head.
“Maybe next time, Soma.” She lightly scratched his head as if she was a mother comforting her child.
Soma could feel his anger ebbing away as he relaxed under her ministrations. Of course, he was still sore about it. After all, not only was he regretting the choice of dish he had settled upon but his best friend had also “betrayed” him by choosing his rival’s meal over his, But Soma was never really the kind of person to let a loss keep him down for too long. He would be thinking about solutions soon enough.
However, right now his brain was occupied with the thought of how nice Megumi’s fingers felt against his scalp.
His half lidded eyes saw Takumi staring back at him. No longer was the blond smiling. Instead, he was regarding Soma with an expression that seemed to be a mix of thoughtfulness and…something else that he couldn’t quite place.
“Does this mean that Takumi gets the mezzaluna now?”
Soma’s response was another groan as he buried his face in his arms on the table. Megumi paused her actions from the movement.
“I already have it.” Takumi answered for them. Soma couldn’t see him but he knew that the blond was still smiling as he continued. “Which means that this is Yukihira’s third loss in a row to me!”
“I know, I know…” Soma whined, his anguish returning in full force.
“So, what is your prize, Takumi?” The bluenette asked.
“Ah. Hmmm...”
Soma lifted his head in curiosity when Takumi failed to provide an answer, resting his chin on an arm.
It was then Soma could tell that Takumi had kinda expected to lose this time. Neither of them had planned for this outcome.
Their wins would usually alternate, the prized knife going back and forth between their dwellings like a child passing between separated parents. Two wins in a row were already uncommon for them. The last battle they had wasn't even for a prize. It was to decide who would do an E10 errand neither of them wanted to do. Soma, unfortunately, had lost that one. It was more the reason why Soma had really wanted to win this time.
Of course, things don't always go the way that he wanted them to.
“Well, it can’t be our chairs.” Takumi ruled out.
Chairs could only be challenged in front of a panel of school teachers, faculty, VIPs, and other E10 members. Though Megumi was an E10 member herself, this had not been an “official” Shokugeki.
Besides, the boys were content with other things to challenge other than their positions. The mezzaluna just became their default bartering item.
“But…” Once again, a smirk appeared on Takumi’s features as he held Soma’s gaze. “I don’t want to go empty-handed after a consecutive win.”
Soma huffed, earning himself another sympathetic head scratch from Megumi. He leaned into the touch again, savoring the few seconds before Takumi cleared his throat.
“I guess we should finish cleaning up.” The blond suggested.
The prize issue still wasn’t solved when they left the room. They tossed around ideas their whole walk to the main E10 office, but none of them seemed to be appealing to Takumi. When they were discussing it as they were picking up their stuff to go home, Alice overheard them.
“Why don’t you have Soma at your beck and call?” She suggested with a devious grin once she was brought up to speed. “Like a servant?”
“Not a bad idea.” Takumi mused.
“I think you should pick something else.” Soma commented.
“Oh? Are you scared, Soma?” Alice hummed.
“I’m not scared.” He folded his arms and looked Takumi in the eye. “I just think it would not be a “punishment” for me. I know I can take whatever command he would give me.”
“ Anything ?” Alice asked.
“Anything.” He doubled down.
“You hear that challenge, Takumi?” Alice chuckled.
“It's just the copium.” Takumi replied, his gaze going to the female. “He just can't deal with losing so many times in a row so he's attempting to do another competition. He's not going to win anything from this, so I don't even know why he's trying.”
“Screw you.” Amber eyes narrowed.
“However,” Takumi ignored the outburst. “This is supposed to be more of a reward for me and having Yukihira as my personal servant seems fun.”
“When are we doing this then?” Soma exhaled, knowing that the blond had decided on it.
“Any plans coming up soon?” Takumi asked. Soma shook his head.
“We can start tomorrow, then. Three days, one for each win.”
“Fine.” Soma agreed.
“And, Takumi! You can request anything from him.” Alice reminded him. “He said that he can take it!”
The next day started out normal.
Soma had expected a text or phone call from Takumi that morning with a list of requests, but the other male was strangely silent. Soma briefly thought that Takumi had forgotten about the agreement but he dismissed the thought. He knew Takumi would attempt to take full advantage of it.
Maybe he was trying to decide the “best” commands for him. Takumi had brushed off Soma’s words at the time. However, no matter how graceful Takumi was starting to take the redhead’s challenges, Soma knew that the blond would stew over them later on. He probably was up all night thinking about it.
Conveniently, he ran into Takumi at the lockers when he got to school. The blond was taking a swig from his thermos when Soma appeared and he nodded in greeting.
“Yukihira!” Another voice called out to him before he could say anything. Soma looked over his shoulder to see a first -year approaching him. He didn't know their name but he greeted them politely.
“Please accept my request for a Shokugeki.” The teen bowed after introducing himself.
“Sure!” Soma immediately replied, as he always did. “We can do it-”
“In a few days.” Takumi interrupted him, giving Soma a pointed look. “You have something to do, remember?”
“Y-Yeah.” Soma replied, his gaze returning to the challenger. “I'm sorry. Can you send the request to Polar Star and I’ll reach out to you when I'm free?”
“I-I can do that.” The teen affirmed.
“Right then.” Takumi spoke after the first year left. “I guess that can be my first request. No Shokugekis for the next three days.”
“What?” Soma gaped at him.
“Well, you can't be serving me in the middle of a battle, can you?”
Soma hummed a reluctant agreement.
“Also, my next request is that you stay over at my apartment until this is over. Starting tonight.”
“Okay.” That request was easier to accept. He has spent the night on the Aldinis’ spare futon many times already. “I will have to swing by the dorm to pack, though.”
“That's fine. I know it's Saturday tomorrow, but please don't come too late.”
“Got it. Anything else?”
Takumi took his time to answer, taking slow sips from his thermos. Soma was able to confirm that it was coffee in there by the smell wafting towards him.
“Not at the moment.” He finally said.
Soma never paid attention to how many Shokugekis he would receive on a daily basis until today. Usually he would just accept them as his brain would have ideas running in the background. It wasn’t until he had to repeat the rejection over and over again did it hit him.
“Is it always like this?” He asked Megumi after what felt like the 50th one.
“For a Friday.” She confirmed.
Other than those refusals, nothing really happened the rest of the school day. Takumi seemed no different than he usually was. Then again, they only shared one class today and lunch so there wasn't much of an opportunity to command Soma around. After school, Soma went back to the dorm to pack. He let Fumio know where he was going and sent a text to Takumi that he was going to arrive after dinner. There was no rush on his end as he was going to stay over at the apartment for a couple of days. He also had a feeling that Takumi probably wouldn’t do much tonight.
He was proven right. After riding his scooter to the apartment, Takumi had let him know that he just wanted to chill for the night. The redhead dropped his stuff off in his host’s room and showered before settling on the sofa. Takumi had already been dressed in his sleep clothes when he had welcomed Soma in. Isami was not at home, as he had been sent out on an E10 mission.
“So, you can’t sleep alone in the apartment or something?” He teased his friend as he selected something for them to watch.
“Hmph.” Takumi side-eyed him, clearly not impressed by the words. “I can sleep alone just fine.”
“Doubt.”
Takumi glared at him briefly before dismissing the topic with a shake of his head.
“So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Soma asked in-between episodes.
“Shopping.”
“ Shopping? ” At Takumi’s nod, Soma let out a whine. “That’s boring.”
“Your opinion doesn’t matter.”
“But-But I thought this was supposed to be a reward for you.”
“I love shopping.” Takumi declared. “So I am doing something fun. You coming along is just a bonus, especially since I know this counts as a punishment for you. I get two pigeons with a fava bean.”
The redhead huffed.
“Fine. It’s going to suck, though.”
“Again, your opinion doesn’t matter.”
The trip was worse than Soma expected.
Well, at least from his view.
The first stop wasn’t bad. Takumi had dragged him to a barbershop so both of them could get haircuts. Well, it was more of a trim for the blond and an actual haircut for the redhead. Soma had no say in the style it was cut, but after the barber had showed off the finished result he found that he liked it a lot.
They went to one of the bigger shopping districts in the city after that. He had expected Takumi to go look for whatever he wanted while he was allowed to look around for things to entertain himself and meet up later.
However, right before Soma was about to walk off, his friend grabbed his arm.
“You’re staying by me.” Takumi told him.
At first, the plan seemed to be for Takumi to search for stuff for himself while a dejected Soma tagged along.
Then Takumi’s mother happened to call.
Soma had spoken to her a few times over the years through calls. Not in-depth conversations, as she spoke very little Japanese and either Takumi or Isami had to translate for them, but she knew well enough. Takumi pulled up a video call so they could wave at each other in greeting before Takumi placed an earbud in to continue the conversation a bit more privately. Soma heard his name a few times and was able to understand a couple of the words Takumi said, but nothing else. He pulled out his own phone, needing something to distract himself. He was on his phone for like a minute or two before Takumi grabbed his sleeve.
“My mom wants to know if you plan on buying anything.”
“No.” Citrine eyes looked down at the woman still on video call. “Can you tell her that I have been dragged here against my will?”
Takumi scoffed. Soma could see his mother was speaking, her voice barely audible from Takumi’s earphone. His friend replied back in Italian, and she laughed. Takumi said something else that caused her to have a thoughtful expression. She then said something that caused Takumi to act surprised. He glanced at Soma as he spoke to his mother, piquing the redhead’s curiosity. He watched the back-and-forth between them, watching the expressions morph into similar calculating smiles.
Soma had the feeling that he was in danger.
Finally, Takumi addressed him.
“My mom wants to buy you clothes.”
Yup. He was in danger.
Soma gaped at the two of them as he processed the offer. He shook his head, a refusal slipping out of his mouth-
“I already told her that you would say no.” Takumi stated. “ And she knows of the deal that we have right now so she asked me to use that power so you can’t get out of it.”
“ Are you serious? ” Soma gave the woman an exasperated look, hoping that she could understand how he felt about this. The other two spoke.
“She’s serious.” Takumi confirmed. “And we’re picking out the clothes.”
Soma mumbled out a curse. He’s seen the clothes Takumi picks out. He’s even borrowed those clothes. He knows how expensive they are and it gave Soma a bit of anxiety to see his friend spend money like that. In fact, it was one of the main reasons he didn’t like shopping with Takumi. And now his mother wanted to pay for him?
He could draw the line right here. This seemed like way too much.
I know I can take whatever command he would give me. Anything.
But his pride was not going to let him.
Soma’s defeated nod sealed his fate.
The Aldinis went wild.
Takumi would go through clothing racks with his mom on the line, showing the outfits to her for her comments before deciding to give them to Soma to hold on to.
“Yukihira, stop looking at the price tags.” Takumi ordered him once he caught the redhead’s expression. “ You’re not paying for this.”
Once they had reached the maximum amount of clothes they could bring into the fitting rooms, Soma would be pushed into one of them to try them on. He would then come out to show them how everything fitted and the Aldinis would decide if it was a keeper.
The cycle would continue for a few stores. The redhead noticed that Takumi was looking into the more formal sections of the stores. It made sense since Soma only had one formal outfit in his closet and it was from middle school. It was a bit faded and small on him so he started to heavily rely on Takumi’s clothes for formal events. He was starting to worry that even Takumi’s clothes were starting to feel a bit tighter due to his growth in both height and muscles, but it hadn’t been too much of a concern yet.
It seemed to be a concern for Takumi, though. Soma was sure his mother knew that he borrowed his son’s clothes because there was no other reason why she would offer to buy him some.
Soma had three new outfits by the end of the shopping trip, even a pair of shoes. He thanked the deities that Takumi’s phone had died because he probably would have had more. They ate at a food court before heading back to the apartment. Soma immediately flopped on the couch face down with a groan.
“Out of all the things that you have been through, a shopping trip is what takes you out?” Takumi snarked.
Soma turned onto his side and flipped him off.
Takumi scoffed before squeezing himself in the little space of the couch that Soma wasn’t occupying. He switched on the TV.
“Can we have a Shokugeki?” Soma asked a few minutes later.
“...I don’t feel like having one this weekend.”
“This weekend ? The whole weekend?”
“Yes.”
Soma exhaled deeply.
“So you banned me from accepting challenges this weekend and you’re not going to have any shokugekis with me? And you forced me to go shopping?”
“Yup.”
“This suuuucks.”
“Punishments are supposed to suck, Yukihira.” Takumi hummed. "What's the matter? Is this too much for you?"
“No..." Soma defended himself. "B-but I wasn’t expecting this! I was expecting you to try to humiliate me or make me work for you as a servant or have me act like a dog or-or making me say or do something embarrassing or having me eat terrible dishes or something like that!”
“You already do half of those things willingly, so there’s no point in commanding you to do them.” Takumi pointed out. “The stuff we are doing now, the shopping and the breaks? These are activities you wouldn’t have done willingly. I know that because I have been telling you to do this exact stuff for weeks.”
Soma just frowned in response. He was going to do all that! …Eventually. But he only had less than a year before he graduated and he wasn’t going to be able to do challenges or have opportunities to freely go places and his friends were going to be scattered-
“Fine.” Takumi’s voice cut into his thoughts.
“Hm?”
“Sit up a bit.” Takumi demanded of him.
Soma lifted himself up instinctively, the thought to cheekily deny him coming two seconds too late. Takumi had already filled some of the space that he had taken up before. The blond then pulled at his friend like he wanted him to come back down. Confused, Soma looked at his face for clarity. The host nodded, pulling at him again. Soma lowered himself carefully, adjusting himself until his head was lying comfortably on Takumi’s lap. The other male hesitantly placed his hand on the fiery hair.
“What are you doing, Takumi?” Soma asked in curious amusement.
“Taking your punishment suggestion and treating you like a dog.” Takumi tried to sound confident but Soma could feel his hand trembling against his head. The guest smiled, a puff of air betraying his efforts to hide a laugh. He didn’t say anything, though. He wanted to see if Takumi would actually continue.
And Takumi did. He started off with cautious pats before letting his fingers slide into the red locks.
In general, Soma adored when his head was touched. His father was the only exception, as he was always rough and it would always be at times when he would basically dismiss Soma’s worries. The other people who did it were just fine. Megumi was the best so far. Not only because she was the one who did the most, but her touch was always comforting.
“...Is this okay?” Takumi asked as he continued to run his fingers in his hair.
“Not bad for your first time.” Soma let him know. It did feel different, mostly due to the less hair he had in some parts, but it wasn’t unbearable. Just new. He could tell Takumi was still hesitant about it, though. However, before Soma could tell him that he didn’t have to take this suggestion and he could continue doing whatever else he wanted, Takumi mumbled something.
“I wanted to do this for a while.”
“...Oh.” Soma was taken by surprise by the quiet admission. “ Er…why didn’t…why haven’t you done this until now?”
“You don’t sit still long enough.” Takumi retorted.
Well...he couldn’t argue with the blond there.
“And…” Takumi continued when Soma didn’t reply right away. “I was scared of your reaction.”
“I would have let you done it if you had asked.”
“I didn’t want to ask in front of people. That’s embarrassing. And the times we’re alone we end up competing.”
Soma hummed in thought. Takumi’s requests were starting to make sense now.
“Well, Takumi,” Soma propped himself up to look at the blond’s face. “We’re alone now. And I’m all yours for the rest of the weekend.”
He watched Takumi turn red before the blond brought both hands to his face, causing his yelp to be muffled.
“Don’t say it like that!”
“No…” Soma whined, gently shaking Takumi’s leg. “Your dog wants more scratches.”
“ Dio …do you have no pride?”
“Not until Monday.” Soma replied with a grin.