The Aftermath
Chapter Rating: K+

"One, Two!"
"Cheers!"

Cue the music, the whole hall suddenly got lively as spotlights began to envelop the beautiful night sky. They have made it. They've actually made it.

After the whole Central ordeal and the Dark Age of Tootsuki, things are starting to get livelier now after Souma and The Rebels finally managed to take down Central's rule over Tootsuki, change the minds of many students to join them against Central, and return the position of Headmaster from Azami back to Senzaemon.

Never there was any party so terrific here in Tootsuki, not because of the Strict curriculum, but now… things are different.

The ones hosting the party is none other than The Elite Ten. No, not the old one, The New Elite Ten.

After finally working their way up, they reached the finals where The Rebels would have to face against The First and The Second Seat of The E10, as they are the only surviving members of The Central Side. However, as with The Central, The Rebels also only had two remaining members left to face off against the Ultimate Opponent.

The Redhead Chef, Yukihira Souma and The God's Tounge, Nakiri Erina were to face off against Tsukasa Eishi and Kobayashi Rindou on a two-versus-two battle.

It was a close-call battle, one wrong move and they are out. However, Souma and Erina managed to greatly improve their teamwork on the fly as if their minds are synchronized with each other. Souma wants this, Erina will do it for him. Erina wants something, Souma will spontaneously gives it to her.

With that they won the fierce battle and gained the Nickname, Invincible Duo, due to their great synchronization in their moves whenever they're paired on a tag Shokugeki.

Back to present day, the Rebels, all of them, have graduated and continued towards The 2nd Year. The whole 1st years are here, including the ones that had their mind changed after witnessing Central's defeat. Some have even managed to graduate themselves.

Although the party's mostly geared towards the Rebels.

"I'm so glad…" The Blue-haired girl said as she wiped her eyes. "Why are you crying?" Sakaki said as she handed Megumi a pack of tissue.

"B-Because, if we had lost the Regiment de Cuisine, everyone… everyone will…" She stuttered as she still cried her happiness tears. "There, there. Most importantly everything's all out of the way now. It has passed, the hellish final exam has finished." Yoshino calmed the seemingly gracious Megumi.

"Unbelievable, huh?" The Italian chef, Takumi said as he handed a drink to Megumi.

"It's mostly thanks to those two. Without them we probably won't be able to attend this party tonight, let alone step inside this Academy ever again." The Meat-themed Chef, Mito Ikumi said.

"Hey don't say scary stuff like that, but now that you mention it, it is because of those two." Yoshino responded to Ikumi's sentence.

"Speaking of them, where are they? Haven't seen them since the party started." Marui asked.

"Well… who cares? Knowing (hic) them… they are probably somewhere… (hic) private…" Megumi suddenly exclaimed whilst having her face redder and redder every second. "What? What happened, Tadokoro-san?" Takumi suddenly bursts before he realized that he just gave her a Wine.

"Has she really been this intolerant to Alcohol?" Isami asked one of her friends, to which both of them responded with a nod.

Whilst staring to the moonlight, Nakiri Erina found herself unable to take her eyes off the beautiful night sky up to the point of not noticing someone walking closer to her.

"Yo, Nakiri!" A familiar voice called out to her, she immediately turned her head in response to his voice.

"Yukihira-kun." She responded softly to his call. "What're you doing here? All alone in the balcony by yourself. It's dangerous, you know?"

"And how does that concern you?"

"A Guy might come and hit on you."

"Like what you're doing right now?" She asked teasingly. "Haha, maybe you're right." He chuckled.

Ever since the regiment de cuisine, Souma and Erina's relationship is getting closer than ever. Although, Erina is still and probably will not admit that Souma's cooking is good, and Souma is also still trying his better than best to please her tounge. Their relationship is not antagonistic anymore, not like what it used to.

"What about you? You're not going to chat or play around with Polar Star?" She asked him, before he takes a seat right in front of her. "Nah, I could do that later. I prefer talking to you first, you're pretty nice to talk with after all." He replied.

Erina blushed lightly at his statement, but still maintains her cool. "Oh, so you think of me only as a talking friend, huh?"

He just chuckled at her statement, "No, of course not. Maybe I took the wrong choice of words. Sorry, I meant that I prefer talking to you because it's more fun to talk to you. That's all."

"Hmph, talking your way out doesn't solve all of this, Yukihira-kun." She said cockily, which made Souma slightly worried. "Oh, come on Nakiri. I said sorry, didn't I?"

She got a pretty good giggle out of his reaction. "I was just kidding, dummy."

Although Souma and Erina got off in a pretty rocky start, they eventually come together and fixed their relationship that was broken from the start. Mainly cause of Souma's attitude, which at first made Erina annoyed. But now, whenever he put up that cocky attitude of his, instead of getting annoyed, it made Erina… happy? Heartwarmed? It's very complicated, she doesn't even know what she feel.

To tell the truth, she started feeling this way ever since they shared a moment in that train. Whilst chewing on a salmon roe, Souma jokingly stated that the night sky, which she tought was beautiful, looked like a salmon. If that was the old Erina, she would probably snap at him and called him an idiot, but she felt differently that time.

Until then, she always put up with Souma's attitude, but right then, she didn't feel that way, instead… she didn't feel displeased, even in the slightest.

"Hey, Nakiri." He called out to her. "What is it?"

"Care to go for a friendly shokugeki? Just you and me? Maybe in my room, if you want to."

"Mhm, what about we invite the whole Polar Star as well, to show that I am better than you." She replied. "Hey, but I said just the two of us."

Erina always find it amusing to see his reaction, and she is not going to stop teasing him whenever she feels like it.

In the distance, a man once known as the successor of The Nakiri line is standing, looking over the big party that he will never be able to attend.

Formerly known as Nakiri Azami, he has just reverted his name back to Nakamura after Senzaemon officially kicked him from the Nakiri family.

Suddenly, a rustle from the grass could be heard behind him.

"Huh, I thought that The Headmaster should attend the big party." He said with his usual sinister voice.

"What are you doing here?" Senzaemon said with a gruff voice. Azami didn't respond, instead he looked over the party while a faint but honest smile found its way to his face.

He turned around, ignoring his father-in-law and making his way towards where he last parked his car.

"You didn't answer my question." Senzaemon called him once again, demanding an answer this time. "Is it wrong for the former Headmaster to look over his students?"

"You had only been one for less than a year."

Ignoring his father-in-law's sentence, he glanced over his shoulder to look once more.

"Yukihira Souma… He is… No, every single one of them. The 92nd Generation, they all have a bright future in front of them… And it's your job to keep it that way… Father."

"Don't worry, I won't screw it up like you did."

"Farewell, you may never see me again in your life. Also take care of my daughter and… my future son-in-law."