A Spice in Life (Shokugeki no Soma x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 22- Preparation Revelation

"Not particularly, but I am saying I'm the superior fighter between the two of us."

"Hey!"

I laughed mirthfully at this and he joined in good-naturedly, and it took us a moment to calm down enough to continue our previous conversation.

"But really, you didn't have to do that. What if you had gotten in trouble?" I raised a brow and tapped my chin at the thought.

"Knowing Yanagawa, he'd probably cry to his parents and get them to sue you or whatever."

"He... doesn't live with his parents." Hibiki muttered half-mindedly before realizing what he'd said and speaking louder, "B-But besides that! I wasn't just going to stand by and let him call you profanities! If it were anyone else I wouldn't have..." he trailed off and glowered slightly at the floor.

"...Well, thank you, Hibiki, for doing that. As violent and brash as it may have been, it was very thoughtful of you to do that for me."

I allowed an appreciative smile to pass over my face, and Hibiki noticeably stiffened and froze for a moment before responding, "O-Of course! I—er, anytime! Um—"

I cut off his rather cute stuttering with a giggle, and he paused once again before joining in, albeit nervous-sounding.

"Shy as always, aren't we, Hibiki-kun?"

He sputtered and removed the ice pack from his face, allowing me to clearly see the pink tainting his tan complexion. "S-Shy?! I'm not shy!"

"Mhmm. You might want to keep that ice pack on your face, by the way." I winked at his confused expression. "You're face is quite red."

"W-Wh—?!"

Yet another charming snort escaped my throat and graced ourselves with its presence as the teen jittered embarrassedly in a rush to cover his obvious blush.

He's so fun to tease...

"So you don't have the time to play with us, yet you have time to flirt with your boyfriend!?"

We both jumped at the sudden accusation and looked over to where Miu and Shuu peeked through the window, the latter pointedly glaring at us.

"Shuu, shoo!"

"B-B-Boyfriend?!"

"Shuu, stop that! They were just about to touch lips!" Miu scolded my brother before turning back to us rather excitedly.

"T-Touch lips!?"

This time, I couldn't help the heat that rushed to my face at the mention of face-fighting with the unconscious male across from me.

Wait,

unconscious..?

"H-Hibiki-kun?!"

*~*~*~*

"Ryou, you're still awake?" Kiyoko yawned as she descended the stairs and entered the kitchen.

Rubbing the grogginess from her eyes, she blinked as she was met with the sight of her cousin hunched over the counter, his head in his hands. Piles of dirtied plates and cooking utensils surrounded him, and numerous pieces of crumpled and ripped papers littered the floor around him.

He looked up at the sound of her voice. A disoriented and somewhat surprised look passed across his face before quickly turning into a scowl.

"What do you want, Kiyoko?" he asked rudely, an irked tone to his voice.

Kiyoko's eyebrow twitched slightly at this as she stood beside the slumped boy, her hands on her hips. "I want for you to go to sleep, Ryou. It's 2 AM for crying out loud!"