Takumi Aldini

Takumi, for all he was worth, tried his best (and failed) to hide is crush on one Yukihira Soma. So much that Soma had noticed the moment he had told her that she should keep the mezzaluna until he had defeated her in a Shokugeki to take it back while blushing. Soma was not alien to romance, no matter what the others said about her being as dense as a rock. It was just there was no one worth liking in her circle of friends. That is, until Takumi Aldini had taken her by surprise.

When she first saw Takumi, she was a bit impressed that he had the guts to declare himself as her rival in cooking. To her, his small bout of bravery and nerve was endearing, especially his own goal of inheriting his own family restaurant back in Italy. The problem was, he was not doing anything to catch her attention except for challenging her.

That had to change.

Now Soma stood at the kitchen, gathering her pen and papers regarding on experimenting on a dish that was supposed to be their assignment to Chapelle-sensei's class next week. She took a glance at her current class partner, who happens to be the Italian boy that she had been thinking about. He was just beside him, looking at his recipe notebook that he has been looking at for the past few minutes. When she was done with placing her things in her bag, she approached him.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" Soma asked.

Takumi almost jumped as he stared at her who was already a few meters close to him. His cheeks plastered a light shade of pink as he stared at her. It didn't go unnoticed by Soma though. "D-Don't sneak up on me like that!" he complained as he increased the distance from her.

"What are you doing? You've been ignoring me the whole time and staring at your notebook." She asked as she peeked at the notebook.

Takumi sighed and tried to calm his heart as he explained to her, "I was thinking of using a recipe that my mother taught me from before." He said as he slid the notebook towards him and away from Soma.

She knew instantly what he was trying to do, and she was not liking it. She needed to up the ante. She stepped even closer and invaded his personal space by leaning in front of him while looking through the notebook that he has, making sure that her head was as close to him as possible. "Well, looking at these recipes, I think some of them fit the theme that Chapelle-sensei told us, don't you think?" she asked as she turned her head so that her face was mere inches from Takumi.

The look of shock and embarrassment in his face was golden for Soma, and it ensured that whatever she was reading into him was accurate. "What do you say we try cooking some of them?" she asked innocently.

The Italian turned beet red at the closeness of their faces and retracted himself and rushed to the cabinets. "W-Well fine! I…I need to get some spices then!"

Smirking, she followed the Italian towards the cabinets. "Hey, why are you always avoiding me when I try to talk to you properly?" she wondered, carefully masking herself with her neutral face that seem to annoy most of the people who she doesn't like.

"N-N-Nothing!" Takumi said as he fumbled through the cabinet. "You were a little too close, that's all." He mumbled.

"Hmm…" she hummed as she followed him to the cabinets. "You know, Takumi, if you feel like your personal space is being invaded, you should have said so. I never knew Italians could blush like virgins." She teased.

Takumi turned to her, cheeks still red. "W-Who said I was embarrassed?!" he demanded. "This has nothing to do with my Italian heritage! I'll have you know that Italians are notorious for being romantics!" he defended weakly.

"Heh, is that so?" Soma said as she smirked at him and went for the one move that would definitely rile him up. She approached him step by step, and Takumi found himself unconsciously stepping back in her every step forward. It was going so well until his back it the wall, trapping him between the kitchen counter and the spice cabinets. "You know Takumi, with the way you're acting, you don't sound Italian." She teased with a smile.

Ire rose through Takumi's head and growled, "How dare you! I am Italian!"

"Really?" she said as she did the one thing that would make this scene totally worth it. She slammed her hand on the wall, landing just beside Takumi's head. When she saw the Italian's eyes widen in shock, she towered above him, glad that she was three centimeters taller than him. "You know Takumi, you look so cute with that excessive red on your face. Will I be seeing it more often now that we are partnered together?"

If anything, Takumi's face became even redder than before at the sight of her face just inches from his own. "T-That's…that's…!" he mumbled, at a loss of words as he was forced to look into Soma's brown eyes that seemed to dare him to lie to her face.

Soma chuckled. "If you really are Italian like you claim yourself to be, then prove it to me. I will not be someone who is first to ask someone out." She said in a low voice that made Takumi shiver, and Soma saw his spine tingle at her words. It satisfied Soma so much that she wanted to just get on with it and kiss him—but then, where would be the fun in that?

Pulling back, she made sure that Takumi's eyes was following her every move and grabbed her bag from one of the tables. "I'll see you tomorrow so we could work on the dish again. I'll bring in some of my own recipes to see if we can do anything for a compromise." She said normally as she approached the door. Before she opened it to leave, she turned back at Takumi who was still frozen solid against the wall. "Think about what I just said, eh Takumi?" she said with a wink and closed the door, leaving a blushing Italian who now covered his face with his hands and slid down on the ground in embarrassment while he squeaked.

…

Soma smiled to herself at a job well-done. Sure, she might have gone overboard, but what else could she do to make him make a move? She would definitely not be the one who would ask someone out first. That was not how she was taught.

"Remember Soma, if you like a guy, make him make a move. You can do every drastic measure that you could do to make him flustered. You can even Kabe-don him and cockblock him afterwards."

She never knew that an advice from her old man would really be useful in her life.

Now all she has to do was to wait.

…

"So Yukihira-san likes you, what's the matter Niichan?" Isami wondered as he stared at his brother who was lying on his bed and hugging his pillow like his life depended on it, face beet red. "You've been planning how to get her to notice you, and now that she wants you to make a move, you're getting all flustered."

"You don't understand Isami!" Takumi squeaked. "She caught me off-guard and the next thing I knew, she turned into a very forward woman!"

"What did she do that would make you speechless?" his brother dared ask.

Takumi looked at his brother in the eye, "Isami. She Kabe-don-ed me!"

"Kabe-oh…!" Isami said with a grin. "I have to say, Yukihira-san knows how to get them going." He teased. "And you got all flustered and couldn't do anything but stare and squeak?"

"ISAMI!"

"So I was right."

"What do I do now?!" he asked him.

Isami held up his hands in surrender, "Why are you looking at me? You're the one who was Kabe-don-ed. What did she say?"

"She said…she said…she said that she's not someone who would be the first to ask someone out…" Takumi squeaked as he grumbled on his bed, face still half-hidden by his pillow.

"You sound more like a love struck schoolgirl than an Italian, Niichan." Isami said with a sigh. "Poor Yukihira-san."

Takumi took his face off the pillow and hit Isami, "Whose side are you on?!" he questioned angrily.

"Right now, I'm on your side, but really, Niichan, why not just do the Italian thing and ask her to go to some places that involves going around the city and spending time with her like a normal and proper Italian teenager would? If you want, we could call Mamman and Papa for some courting advice." Isami said as he started to scroll through his contacts to find their parents' numbers.

"No!" Takumi shot up from his bed. "I…I'll do it myself…"

Sensing that his job is done, Isami stood from where he sat beside the bed and left the room, "Make sure you tell them everything, especially the Kabe-don!" he teased. He closed the door before the pillow his older brother threw at him reached him.

END

Haha! This just came out of my head when you guys requested for Takumi. I would say it's a double chapter today, but since my timezone is +8:00, it's already March 24 so I wouldn't call it that.

I loved the idea of Kabe-don the moment I read it on a Yuri on Ice! Fanfic in AO3. I forgot the title and the author, but it's there somewhere. It was weeks ago, and I just remembered it, and then I read your comments that you wanted a Takumi chapter and…it just clicked!

I hope you guys liked it!

See you soon~!