"Souma-kun? Are you awake?" Megumi opens the door cautiously, so as not to disturb Souma in case he were sleeping. But after hearing his drowsy but friendly "Hey, Tadokoro," she smiles and pushes the door open all the way.

"Did you rest well?" Megumi sets the bowl of classic chicken soup she prepared on his bedside table, then drags a chair over. "How are you feeling?"

"Nn, a bit better now that I've rested. But my throat still feels like acid." He chuckles as if to assure Megumi it's no big deal, then reaches clumsily for the bowl of soup—she hurriedly places it in his hands. "I'm sure this'll help, though, Chef Tadokoro," he says, savouring the warm smell of her cooking.

"I put in a lot of carrots and sweet potatoes for extra vitamin A. My mom used this recipe all the time when I got sick, and it always worked." She savours her pride in her family for a second, but then notices how laboured Souma looks as he scoops the soup into his mouth.

She steels herself, then ventures, "A-Are you okay with that, Souma-kun? Do you want me to..."

"Nah, I'm fine, Tadokoro," he says, but Megumi shakes her head and eases the bowl from his hands.

"No, no, let me. Just relax. You'll get sicker if you wear yourself out." She raises the spoon and, blushing to the roots of her hairs, floats it into Souma's mouth.

After swallowing, Souma smiles sarcastically. "You think me that weak? Too weak to even feed myself?"

Her blush creeps wider. "No, of course not! I just don't want you to push yourself!" Then she adds, "You're certainly fine if you can still make smug comments like that."

He grins, weakly from his sickness but still every bit as bright. "It's okay. I always take care of you, so I'll let it go the other way around for once."

Something in her twinges at those words, causing her to poke the spoon a bit too deep in his throat.

He gags and starts coughing like crazy.

"Ah, ah, Souma-kun! I'm so sorry!"

"All right, now that's done," Megumi says as she feeds Souma the last of the soup. "What do you say I bring up some tea now?"

"I'd like that," Souma says, then hesitates. "Actually though, I'd hate to take up so much of your time like that. Why don't you leave me to rest again and go hang out with the others?"

"No, no, it's really fine!"

He can see in her smile that she genuinely doesn't mind, so Souma, endeared as usual by her sincerity, offers a thumbs up.

"Alright then. Bring up some tea and maybe we can catch something on TV later."

She'll probably never get used to his pure charisma. It's nothing but unfair, really. "O-Okay! I'll be right back!"

But when she gets to the kitchen, Tadokoro Megumi encounters a dilemma. There are no more tea leaves.

She bites her lip. She could run down to one of the other buildings to restock. Sure, the Polar Star dorm is quite a ways off, and the walk to the main buildings isn't one she usually makes this late at night, but she promised Souma tea, so what else could she do? Go back up to his room and say, "Sorry, Souma-kun, but we ran out of tea leaves"?

What a ludicrous idea.

So she puts on a light jacket and heads out. The chilly night air feels nice on her skin, and as she walks, she enjoys the scent of the wind through the trees.

About halfway there, though, she hears something from off the path.

A faint voice, calling for help.

Her heart starts. Without stopping to think, she stumbles through the bushes off the path in the direction of the voice. As she gets closer and the voice gets clearer, her panic also amplifies. Who would be wandering the forests of the academy grounds this late at night? What kind of danger could they be facing? Sure, weird things happen all the time at this school, but this time, it feels different—like the stakes aren't just advancement or expulsion, but life or death.

The voice is distinctly female, but it couldn't belong to a student—it has the crinkle of old age. It couldn't be Fumio-san, could it?! Megumi's heart beats even faster.

Finally she comes to a clearing, and the voice is completely clear. The person is somewhere around here. But where?

She turns on her smartphone for light and flashes it around the clearing.

"Hello? Where are you?" she calls.

The voice sighs as if relieved to have been found. "Over here!"

It sounds like it's coming from her left. So she steps in that direction… only for her foot to land on empty air.

She's going to fall.

"Ah!"

She scrambles madly to fall back on her other foot, and thankfully, she manages to throw herself backwards onto her bottom. The ground is wet and mulchy, and she winces as the cold moisture seeps through her leggings. Quickly rising to a squat, she shines her cellphone in front of her and sucks in a breath.

It looks to be a deep ravine. From what she can tell, it's deep enough that the consequence of falling in would range from a two-hour setback to a twenty-year coma.

Her heart is pounding. She almost fell in there.

"Over here!"

Snapping out of her spell, Megumi hurries to a stand and, watching her step, continues towards the source of the voice. As she gets closer and the voice gets louder, she finally understands why the person is calling for help, and a chill travels down her spine.

Finally, she stops. She shines her light at the ground and, extremely cautiously, steps to the edge.

From the small light, Megumi can make out a dark figure, clothes billowing loosely in the wind, hanging onto the cliff's edge barely by her fingernails. Her stomach drops.

"O-Oh my god! Hang on—" (literally), "—I'll help you!"

She doesn't stop to think. She grabs the woman's sticklike wrists and yanks as hard as she can. But, for all Megumi's panic, the woman is unusually light, and comes up as easily as plucking a flower from the side of the road. Megumi finds herself almost wondering why the woman couldn't just fly herself out of the ravine, she was that light. Her light petticoat flapping in the wind makes Megumi think of bird's wings.

The woman seemingly floats back to solid ground, landing cleanly on two feet. To be safe, Megumi pulls her back away from the edge. Then a moment later, when she's caught her breath, she pulls her phone back out to study the woman.

Her face is so severely wrinkled, Megumi finds herself wondering how this woman hasn't died of old age yet. Then she slaps her cheeks for thinking such a rude thing.

"I... Are you all right?"

At Megumi's voice, the woman bows deeply, and croaks, "Young child. I was convinced today would be the day that I die. I am eternally grateful to you for saving me. I am forever in your debt."

The wind blows. The woman holds onto her hood to keep it draped over her eyes.

Megumi waves her hands in refusal. "No, no, ma'am, not at all. I just did what anyone would do."

"You have saved my life," the woman says, apparently not listening. "I must repay you."

Megumi smiles reassuringly. "Really, it's—"

"Young girl, what is it that you wish for?"

"...What?"

"Anything that you wish for, I will grant."

"Erm." Was it just Megumi, or was this night turning out to be a little crazy? "I, uh…"

If she squints, it almost looks like the woman is… smirking? "Is it wealth? Fame? Wisdom? Something more profound?" And in her voice is a cackle of amusement.

"Umm, I'm sorry, ma'am, but I really, um—"

"Love?"

Megumi clutches her phone to her chest. The uncanniness of the situation is only just starting to sink in. Just what's going on? She thinks back to where Souma is waiting for her in his room, waiting for her bring tea so they can watch game shows together. He's probably realized something's gone wrong by now. She hopes he didn't get out of bed just to check on her.

She fixes her eyes on the woman, still uncertain. "There's nothing I need right now, unless you have tea leaves."

The woman smiles.

Megumi pushes into Souma's room, a cup of tea in either hand. "Sorry for the wait."

"Jeez Tadokoro, what took you so long? I was about to go down there and see if you burned yourself on the stove or something."

She flushes as she sits down and hands Souma one of the cups. "Oh no, Souma-kun, you know you shouldn't leave bed. It was nothing. I just, um, dropped one of the teacups. I had to clean it up."

Souma's eyes widened. "Man, don't tell Fumio-san. She'll get pissed that you broke her china."

"A-Ah, really?" Megumi feels sweat on the back of her neck; she's never been comfortable with lying, and Souma is the last person she'd ever want to lie to. "I didn't, uh, know she held those dishes so dearly."

"I just know because I broke one of her plates before. She got so damn mad, oh god. I couldn't sleep for a week 'cause I thought she'd take one of those kitchen knives and slit my throat."

"Whoa. Really?" It just seemed strange that a cook as good as Souma would fumble up like that and break a dish in the kitchen.

Souma, as if reading her mind, grins and puts a finger to his lips. "Shh. I didn't break it while cooking. I was actually washing the dishes, but we both know how boring that shit gets, so I was trying to wash 'em Yukihira style."

"Yukihira style?"

"Yeah. I guess you'd call it juggling."

Megumi gapes. Souma is amused by her reaction.

"I know what you're thinking, Tadokoro. You're thinking, 'oh, that's why Souma-kun isn't listed for dish duty anymore.' And you're right." He laughs.

"Souma-kun, that's..." So brave, she wants to say, but in the end, she can't bring herself to. "So dangerous..."

"Yeah, that's why you shouldn't do it," Souma says blithely. "Anyway, I'm sure Fumio-san will be easier on you, so don't worry. You'll be fine. She likes you better."

"O-Oh, that's not true!" Somehow, Megumi doesn't feel bad about lying anymore. "But, thanks, Souma-kun."

He smiles in reply. "So how about you turn on the TV?" he says, bringing the teacup to his lips.

"Sure." Megumi walks to the TV, sipping her own tea as she turns it on. The tea leaves the strange woman had given her were very odd—Megumi didn't recognize the variety at all. But tasting them now, they're actually quite pleasant—soothing to smell, soft on the throat and sweet in aftertaste.

Megumi flips the channel to a game show and returns to her chair. She notices Souma's teacup on the bedside table, completely empty.

"Oh, you've finished your tea already? That was fast. You should savour it more, you know. Tea is meant to be drunk slowly, to relax your senses… Souma-kun?"

He's staring at her.

Unexpectedly, her heart stutters.

"What's wrong?"

He's in a sort of daze. His eyes are hazy, lips slightly parted, and he looks wistful, like his mind is somewhere up in the stars.

Megumi suddenly feels alone in the room, like Souma's left her. "Um..."

"Tadokoro." The way he said her name is uncanny. Not like him at all. It's too quiet. Too vulnerable. Too sweet.

Her cup of tea feels very warm to the touch, like she's holding between her hands the heart of someone she loves.

"S-Souma-kun...?"

He stands up, with strength he shouldn't have in sickness. He brings himself close to her, face level to hers, and freezes as if to take in her scent. Then slowly, without breaking eye contact, he takes the teacup from her hands and sets it on the bedside table.

Then, he pulls her into his arms and before Megumi realizes what's happening, he's kissing her.

a/n: yooo so Megumi is the best girl, and erina is trash, and megumi HAS TO WIN

ahem. hi this is my new story. I'm writing this because I love megumi too much oops

do note I've only watched the first season of anime (haven't started the second season as of yet, though I will soon) so there will be no manga info used in this story. please don't give me manga spoilers in reviews! (i.e. anything past the qualifiers for the fall selection.) thanks!

and because I'm anime-only, my experience with these characters is rather limited. (literally who are the other characters besides souma and megumi. who tf is erina. (I'm joking.) oh but I love takumi, he's adorable.) if you notice any ooc-ness that bugs you, feel free to let me know!

my prompt for this was "a character knows they're going to lose something." so. yeah. I don't think megumi really thinks of him that way yet, but eventually she will, and then I'll fit in some of that DELICIOUS UNREQUITED LOVE CRAP MMM

sorry for this bad/short intro thing, I would've made it longer (I hate making chapters less than 3k words plsss) but I just wanted to end it there lol. do review if you want me to write faster! :D