BiTTER (Shokugeki no Souma Fanfic)

20. Lost and Found

Eda picked up a can of sprite from the vending machine, popping it open and taking large gulps. It's a hot day out, so it's refreshing, and really cheers him up from the dreadful mood of the rest of the day.

They had a long weekend, so they spent it traversing the shopping district nearby. They'd come here once to get tea leaves, but never quite looked around well.

Shinomiya grimaced.

He had his own can of juice in his hand, but he seriously didn't understand Eda's apparent obsession with soft drinks. They were essentially bombs of carbonated gas to him, but Eda enjoyed it like the only thing he thought was worth drinking.

"When you drink soft drinks, soft drinks eat you back," Shinomiya sneered. "Work o'the devils, them things."

(Sometimes when Shinomiya speaks, he mixes in his dialect halfway through, and Eda would be left wondering if that was Japanese for half a moment.)

"Isn't that pineapple," Eda muttered back, starting to walk again.

(Like geez, let him drink whatever he wants. At least he can feel a soda on his tongue.)

He knew the road back to that one waffle store from a couple weeks ago, but Shinomiya, like the aimless moron he is-- needed to be tugged back in the right direction about thirty times throughout the trip.

"It's that way."

"Are you sure?" Shinomiya would stare at him skeptically, like he doubted hard. "Like very sure? Super sure? A hundred percent? Without a doubt or dime in a dozen-- wait that's the wrong quote, nevermind. So, you sure?"

"Stop asking that!" Eda threw his hands into the air, genuinely frustrated at this point, "I'm gonna start questioning my sense of direction, too!"

Shinomiya scoffed. "What, so you weren't sure?"

"I am sure about it but stop making me think it isn't!" Eda snapped. At this point, Shinomiya was really annoying him for the sake of it and he was about eighty percent sure that was the intention. "Stop talking and let me focus!"

Seriously, he hated walking around with this guy.

"Wimp," Shinomiya spat with a scowl.

Eda crushed the can in his hand. Oh, that is it.

-

After a few punches, a whole ruckus, and getting a security guard called on them for disrupting the relative peace of the town park, they sat on the bench, facing away and bickering lightly while trying to pretend they weren't cussing each other out.

"Dickhead."

"You can't even get the right amount of salt for an egg sometimes."

"Shut the hell up, you burned water last week."

"I did not burn it, it just boiled over!" Shinomiya hissed sharply, turning around. "And you're the one that didn't notice."

"Don't blame me for your mistake."

"You were literally next to it, and I was outside!"

Eda turned around, ready to give this brat a piece of his mind again about that one incident-- Shiomi got cranky all of next week because the gas stench was everywhere and they had one hell of a lecture-- but they're interrupted.