Zephyr might've been lightly prodded to write another Shokugeki story... and this was the result. In other news, I should really stop titling things at three in the morning (but the working title wasn't gonna work for this, and I'm impatient).

The day after the entrance ceremony marks the first time Takumi asks his brother, "What's the best way to make a strong impression on someone?"

For once, he's not blurting something out absentmindedly. His voice is quiet and contemplative, and Isami, who doesn't respond right away, stares back at him with an equally contemplative expression. The kind of expression that Takumi decides instinctively that he's better off avoiding.

"Forget I asked. It's not that important," he covers up his mistake quickly, then turns on heel in the kind of disgruntled way that gives Isami something else to tease him for instead.

X

"B-but it's important!"

Takumi's silent resolution not to ask Isami only lasts until about the middle of the night. All factors considered, it was probably inevitable – they share a room, they spend most of their day together, and the number of people whom he can ask for advice from is surprisingly small, despite his popularity.

He isn't thinking about that though. The only thing that's been on his mind lately is, well...

"You can't just tell me you don't want to talk about it right now, because–"

"Can I tell you to go to sleep then?"

There was no arguing with Isami after that. He gave Takumi another goodnight in the form of an "if you wanted to talk about this, you should've just said what you wanted to say earlier", then he rolled onto his side and fell back asleep with such ease it left Takumi feeling jealous.

The room was dark, but the only thing he saw was the color red.

X

Attempt number three resulted in Takumi backing out again, too quickly to be stopped. By the fourth, Isami was finally getting sick of dancing around the subject. "What's so hard about admitting you have a boy crush?" he asks.

The bluntness of his words hits akin to a sledgehammer, especially in regards to their heritage – prejudiced Italy and and ultra conservative Japan.

"E-everything!" Takumi squeaks, before he's had time to really consider it.

Isami just sighs, like he's once again seeing some part of the full picture that Takumi is completely blind to. "If you want someone to notice you..."

X

"Pffhaha – I didn't think even you would actually do it, big bro!"

"Sh-shut up, it was your idea!"

Takumi would like to remind his brother that he's equally responsible, but Isami has already decided he's not. Even worse, he almost has a point when he says, "You came up with the foot grinding thing all on your own, big bro. The only thing I said was to 'stand out through your actions, not your words'."

"And–"

"And that nice guys finish last, but I still didn't think you'd take it seriously."

"I also want to be his rival! What's the point of being nice if we're also going to be rivals?!"

Takumi's emotions are a bundle of contradictions, even he's aware of that. What he feels for Soma is more than simple, skin-deep attraction – he wants to be noticed, to manifest himself into Soma's life in every way possible.

At the time, his methods had seemed a lot cooler. In his head.

What started out as a stupid crush and attraction to talent has been more like water over a stove top lately, heated to boiling point. The realization only hits him full force now, as the irony of that metaphor is sinking in – Takumi had thought he was acting cool. In reality, he was currently anything but cool.

Now that he's perfectly aware of this, Takumi expects this would be the perfect time for Isami to break out in another loud peal of laughter. Too flustered to even try and resist, Takumi looks away – it causes him to miss the soft smile that graces his brother's face.

"It worked though, didn't it? He's never going to forget you now, huh?"

X

There's nothing Takumi loves more than cooking – he finds it clears his mind, that he's at his best when he's holding his mezzaluna or is looking at a bottle of Aldini's special olive on a kitchen counter – but occasionally Isami finds a way to distract him from even that.

In a span of mere minutes, he manages to learn a few things:

Apparently, it had already occurred to Isami that Soma was never going to take his "bad guy" facade seriously. But he'd played along anyway and even managed to make it as far as he had without laughing because he'd thought it would be fun.

The second thing is that he's suddenly annoyed by how much more insightful Isami is, because Takumi, acting on his emotions, hadn't extended a single thought towards what would've happened if Soma had taken him seriously.

And finally, Takumi will be overwhelmingly grateful on the day Isami finally stops applying the words "judge impartially" as a joke in every available opportunity.

According to Isami, these are all parts of his job as a younger brother.

X

"By the way, on the bus ride back from the training camp... Where did you go? I had to sit next to Soma, of all people!"

"Yup."

There wasn't a hint of remorse in Isami's voice. Even worse, as Takumi quickly realized, was the growing amusement in it. He barely has time to register how the grin on Isami's face splits even wider before his brother continues, "Must've been pretty embarrassing for you after all those uncool things you said to him, right?"

It's out of sheer embarrassment that Takumi yells back "Are you trying to help your big brother or not?!" and accidentally attracts the attention of several girls down the hall.

"But that was weeks ago! Shouldn't it be okay to joke about that now?! Besides, you're the one bringing it up again all of a sudden...!"

X

Takumi is nothing if not persistent. Although it doesn't seem to matter how many times he challenges Soma, because each challenge ends more or less the same– and it bothers Takumi more than he'd like to admit.

Even though their Autumn Election invitations seems like the perfect excuse to challenge Soma again, it ends with him yelling at Isami to stop laughing instead.

"What's so noticeable about that girl anyway?" Takumi grumbles afterward, wallowing in what feels annoyingly similar to defeat. He can come up with no other emotional response to being treated like an afterthought next to Nikumi, not that he particularly hates her or anything, but Isami certainly isn't being helpful about it.

"...A couple of things."

There's an awkward pause that follows, until Isami adds, "She has the guts to actually talk to him, for starters."

"To be honest, I thought you were talking about something else..."

"Hm."

X

"Wait, you don't think Soma likes that Nikumi girl, do you?!"

Takumi asks in Italian, partly because it's way too easy to respond vaguely in Japanese. Somehow, Isami finds a way to do it anyway:

"They're friends too, aren't they?"

X

"I think Soma is taking over my life," Takumi mutters in the dazed sort of tone that comes from being half asleep.

"Yep," Isami replies bluntly.

It's obvious that they're both in the early stages of planning their Autumn Election dish and therefore busy, but... "Couldn't you sound at least a little concerned?!"

"Not right now. Can you stop waking me up in the middle of the night to talk about this?"

When Takumi looks at their clock, he realizes that he shouldn't be surprised to find it's past midnight already. But it's probably okay with Isami if he gets in a few last words before going to sleep, because all of a sudden he's decided, "I'm definitely going to make an impression on him this time!"

"Okay."

"I will make Soma see me as an equal! I'll come up with a dish so impressive, even Soma will have to acknowledge we're rivals! And then I'll–"

"Can't you do that in your dreams?!"

X

Really, it's nice having such a supportive twin.

Isami is my crutch character – as soon as he leaves the plot, I run out of ideas. I intended to write fluff between Soma and Takumi, and came up with this instead (had to cut a couple of jokes I wanted to write as a result, ex: Takumi staying up at night talking was originally a longer/better running gag).

For some reason, I'm publishing this story anyway...

That's why I want to try taking some fanfiction requests, if anyone is interested?

I want to work on my characterization; any characters allowed and I don't really ship or not ship anything in this series, so I'm not particular about pairings either. Although I'd probably recommend either lots of Isami or no Isami... because I'm clearly still struggling with the in between.