Special To Me ¦ Shokugeki No Souma ¦ Yukihira Souma X OC ¦

C26. Surprise Visit

About a week has already passed since Ayano and Souma's previous conversation over the phone, and also a week since Ayano left Tootsuki to take over the restaurant that was owned by her parents.

Recently, she's been staying at the restaurant. It was closed for the mean time, and it will have a grand opening when Ayano is done with her short training there.

Ayano also made a few changes at the restaurant. She had removed some dishes she thought would be best to be removed, to add new ones to the menu. They were mostly desserts and appetizers, but there were some meals as well that Ayano had placed there.

A lot of things had happened only in a week, and Ayano was proud to say that she had changed. She also got to bond with her parents, since they were teaching her the ways of their own restaurant, and Ayano had also spent her time wisely with Saito and Krista. Both siblings made up since last week, and they became a bit more closer than before as well.

"You can have the rest of the day and tomorrow off," Aiko notifies her daughter when they were done cleaning Ayano's private kitchen. "You've been working hard, and I heard from Saito that tomorrow is the first day of the Elections. You may go and visit your lover and friends," the last bit of her suggestion made Ayano flush red.

".." Ayano blinks, still registering the words that left the mouth of her mother. Then, a small and sheepish smile appeared on her face, "Thank you, mother. I'll be packing now!" Dusting her chef uniform, she makes a run for it, dropping whatever cloth she was holding and dashing out of the kitchen and into her room, all with a smile on her face.

In her room, Ayano took awhile to prepare an outfit for tomorrow. Of course, she didn't know why she would dress up so suddenly when she isn't usually like that, but she just doesn't want to admit that she wants to make an impression that she's fine, that even though she left school, she still is in good shape.

After several minutes, several stressful minutes, Ayano was finally done with picking out her outfit for the following day. She went with a cute white blouse and a blazer to match, with a skirt so that she won't be too much out of place, and black stockings with flat shoes to go with. The set of clothes were definitely different than usual, but it's not so bad to change every so often, and Ayano even made a mental note to try to change her tastes of outfits now that she's out of school.

Everything was set, all the brown haired female had to do was wait for the next day to arrive; which was pretty nerve wrecking for her, somehow. She didn't inform anyone else, but she thought of sending Fumio a message that she'll drop by.

"You going out tomorrow?" Came the voice of Saito from the door, he stood leisurely by the door, arms crossed and his hair in it's usual messy state, his glasses by the bridge of his nose.

Ayano hums, sheepishly smiling, which was something Saito got to see quite often since last week, it was quite a sight to see because Ayano used to rarely smile before, but now his sister just beams a smile as if it was natural for her. ".. I'm going to watch the Elections. Mother has given me permission to go," the older noted to Saito, being sure that she didn't stumble with her wording of explanation.

"Alright," Ayano noticed that Saito didn't make a move or give a hint that he was going to go with her, "Be safe, then. Tell Souma-nii and the others good luck for me," that was all Saito says, before he yawns and waved his hand farewell and goodnight as well.

The older of the two didn't do anything to catch up with the younger, only closing her door and laying on her bed, phone at hand. She held it, the screen blank, thinking if she was really going to do whatever she was going to do. It took her a few more seconds to make up her mind, and she unlocked her phone, going to her contacts.