Sweet Dreams

Semi-Final Secrets

"Yuki, stop it, I'm awake, I'm awake!" Asuka cried, trying in vain to throw the hyper girl off her back.

"We're gonna be late! Wake up, wake up, wake up!!" Yuki cried.

Exasperated, Yuki threw off her covers and started to mercilessly drag her out of bed.

"I get it, I get it! Yuki, stop, I'm awake!!!" she yelled, arms wrapped tight around her body, trying to retain what little heat remained.

Ten minutes later, a very disgruntled Asuka and a beaming Yuki showed up downstairs.

"Fumio-san! Good morning, everyone!" Yuki called out to the rest of the dorm, seated at the dining table. Asuka followed her to the table, and sat down next to her.

"So, the sleeping dead finally woke up, huh?" Yukihira teased.

"Shut up. Unless you want me to stab you with this fork," Asuka replied, brandishing the wicked utensil she had picked up by her plate.

"Oh, someone's in a testy mood today! What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" he said with a grin.

Asuka didn't say anything, instead just giving him a death glare before digging into the eggs in front of her.

After a light breakfast of eggs, eggs and more eggs (what, a girl can't love her eggs?) Asuka and the rest of the dorm made their way to the academy, after waving goodbye to an almost-naked Isshiki who was getting ready to garden.

The school day passed without anything out of the norm. Classes were boring. Even though she acted like she was struggling through her school work, in reality she found nothing able to engage her interest for long. She had long since learned this stuff, and anything she hadn't taught herself through bookwork, she learned from trial and error.

In fact, there wasn't much that she didn't understand. Italian cuisine? Boring. Japanese dishes? Yawn. Gastronomy? Been there, done that.

Even French cooking was normal that day. Everybody seemed to have forgotten that she had been cooking yesterday. Today was just one other boring day amongst a string of monotonous months.

However, she had promised herself at the beginning of the school year that nobody could know her abilities. The Autumn Election had been a close call because she let herself become too absorbed in her cooking. After that, though, she kept a closed lid on her mind.

After school, when everyone was back at the dorm or one of the practice kitchens doing their homework and testing out new techniques, Asuka grabbed her bag and sped away to the school orchard.

She had found that place a few months earlier. It was secluded, and near the dorm, but still close to the school. Nobody ever went there, except an old gardener who didn't notice her. Ever since, it was where she went to get a breather.To let herself relax amongst the flowering petals and soft, fruity scents, and act how she wanted to act. To act like a teenage girl, not a shadow of the queen she used to be.

She rummaged through her messy bag before pulling out her phone and her trusty pair of earbuds. Scrolling through her playlist, she picked a song and lay down against a tree, the stuffiness of the day leaving her head instantaneously.

Lost in her own little world, she didn't notice when an unwelcome intruder crept up between the trees.

~OOO~

Hisakawa Asuka. Where have I heard that name before?

That was all Tsukasa could think about during the school day. He spent hours in the council room, digging through old files, but yet he couldn't find a single thing.