Hello there! Did you all forget about me?
Truth be told, I'm still trying to work my head around what to do with Her Ani, His Imoto and at the moment I'm working on a complete rewrite of it. I want it to be almost fully written before posting, and hopefully it will feel much more concrete than just a retelling of the series, but we'll have to see. I have to really reread the entire manga all over again as well. Anyhow, that's neither here nor there.
At some point in the past couple of years, I was reminded of the Story of Evil, a tale spawned from Vocaloid songs written by mothy from around 2010-2016, if I remember correctly. It seemed like an interesting story to pose as an AU of Shokugeki, and here we are. I hope you enjoy this extremely long one-shot!
*This story has been almost completely unedited and unbeta'd. If there are any inconsistencies, that's why. I got a bit tired of editing halfway through and just decided, to hell with it, put it on the internet.
夕焼けを二人で
半分ずつ分け合おう
私は昼
僕は夜
手をつなげばオレンジの空
"We'll share the sunset, one half each: I'll be the day, I'll be the night. Together, the sky is orange."
(Twiright Prank)
Takumi had always loved the sea. Erina had always hated the sea. Such were the nature of the two twins.
Erina would hold her brioche to her chest as she grumbled about the sand between her toes and the sun in her eyes. She would complain loudly as she protested the waves lapping at her feet, even as Takumi ran into the surf, eyes bright, his cannoli forgotten on his towel and left to melt.
Once, as the sun sank into the sea, they noticed Alice's aide approaching them. The boy towered over them, even at their young age, and he stared into the sea with a guarded longing.
"I'll tell you a secret about the ocean if you give me some of your pastry," he offered.
Erina protested loudly; her brioche was all that made coming here worth it, and it was all hers.
Takumi looked at his half-melted treat and shrugged, offering it to the other boy.
Ryō took it before leaning in to Takumi's ear. "If you write a wish in a bottle and throw it to the ocean, it'll come true. That's what the old ladies used to say."
さあ、ひざまずきなさい！
"Now, bow to me!"
(Daughter of Evil)
Since her ascension as the Princess of Tōtsuki, there was very little that first-year Nakiri Erina couldn't demand for herself. Whispers of her talent filled the school's buildings, sending fear through many students and faculty alike. Rumors emerged of the blonde child, armed with the God's Tongue, systematically working to dismantle RS's and associations if they had even a speck of something that she wanted. Of course, it wasn't as though she worked by herself to carve her way through the academy that was her birthright. Always at her side stood her aides, Arato Hisako and Aldini Takumi.
Takumi's position at her side was the source of much the chatter about the school. Aldini wasn't a well-known name, and the boy had appeared from what seemed like thin air, claiming a heritage of working at a neighborhood restaurant prior to being accepted to Tōtsuki. It all felt like something from a fairytale, and the other students whispered that Erina had put him under a spell, desiring his talents as her own. His strange resemblance to the blonde princess wasn't without note either, but Takumi neither affirmed or denied the rumors, instead moving through the school with a decisiveness tainted with an almost feverish loyalty to Erina herself.
Erina and her eternal shadows had been admiring Hisako's latest work, the acquisition of a small greenhouse from the Herbal Studies RS, when Konishi Kanichi approached them. She had seen the older student around before; his large pompadour and dramatic reactions were notable, and he had somehow kept the Don RS afloat by himself before recruiting a couple of members, including Takumi for a brief period. For once, he seemed serious, a nervous but determined grimace on his face.
"Speak," she commanded without preamble, looking away from him and examining a sprig of mustard growing in a pot in front of her. She could feel Takumi tense slightly besides her; she didn't understand why, as Kanichi had not and would never be a threat to her.
"With all due respect," he began, "we can't accept your challenge."
"Oh? I was under the impression that you were at the very least a mid-rank RS, with your longevity and the amount of supplies you request from the school. Clearly, you would be prepared for such an encounter." She straightened, rolling her shoulders behind her.
Kanichi seemed flustered. "We don't have the resources to have even a chance of challenging you, let alone beating you! And our RS has so few funds already, and—"
"Save it," Erina snapped. "I made my decision, but for this insolence you will have to pay a higher price. If you want to keep your funding and possibly even gain a new kitchen, as I stated prior, you will accept my challenge. If you fail, you will be leaving this academy."
Kanichi pleaded for a longer before his shoulders slumped and he accepted the challenge, marked to be in a week's time.
At the arena, Erina herself didn't even cook against him, sending Takumi in her stead to quickly and efficiently defeat him and disband the Don RS. Upon decimating the second-year, Takumi took the MC's microphone from her, stared up at the assembled students, and said, "Now, no one can stand in Nakiri-sama's way." He looked over everyone, a challenge in his eyes, before dropping the mic on the ground and leaving the arena.
Whispers of another first-year student, a girl with short, fair hair and tan skin, sobbing in the defeated student's embrace reached Erina soon afterwards.
たとえ世界の全てが
君の敵になろうとも
僕が君を守るから
君はそこで笑っていて
"Even if all the world became your enemy, I'll protect you, so just be yourself and smile."
(Servant of Evil)
Takumi had been young—three years old, maybe just on the cusp of four—when his father sent him away to Italy. "For training," Nakiri Azami had said when Takumi had demanded why he was being separated from his sister. It hadn't been a very peaceful separation—Erina's usually impeccable manners had been completely forgotten as she sobbed in her mother's arms, struggling in vain towards the equally broken boy that reached his arms out towards her even while he was being dragged into a sleek black car, destined for the airport. Takumi remembered pressing his face against the window, trying to stop himself from hiccupping as he watched the small figure of his sister vanish from sight. The car soon rounded a corner, and she was gone from him.
Italy wasn't the horrible hell that Takumi originally thought it would have been. At the restaurant he was sent to, there had been another boy around his age, Isami, who idolized Takumi for his heritage, refusing to call him by his given name as Takumi insisted and only really settling for calling him "fratello" after the blond boy practically threatened him into doing so. He had worked in the kitchens of a trattoria, which wasn't something that he'd ever imagine someone of his bloodline doing, and he found himself surprised to realize that he was slowly but surely enjoying the work. Still, Takumi's dreams were filled with laughter and flower crowns and companionship in the form of a small girl with dancing purple eyes and long blonde hair to enjoy it all with, and he yearned for that life again.
It had been close to ten years before Takumi proved his worth and fought back into Tōtsuki, immediately returning to Erina's side. She didn't seem to recognize him at first, but she kept him at her side always and never seemed to use the family name Aldini that he had hidden behind both while in Italy and now, at the school. He was always "Takumi-san," even when Hisako was still labelled "Arato-chan," and their relationship defined as such. Takumi noticed how Erina would lean on him for her dirty work, to go into the arena and take care of the RS's that dared to challenge her over the land that was her birthright. For years Takumi did as he was asked, effortlessly striking against all who dared to challenge his sister, his princess. He was but her loyal servant, and though whispers began of their similar hair colors and facial structures her loyal servant he remained.
That is, until the unfortunate souls to stand in Erina's way were Tadokoro Megumi and Saiba Sōma.
あなたとの違い だけど惹かれ合った
守ってあげる だからそばにいて
"We differ, but I'm drawn to you. I'll protect you, so stay by my side."
(Tree Maiden ~Millennium Wiegenlied~)
Megumi didn't think she quite understood why she was drawn to Tōtsuki for so long. While it was true that she wanted to expand her horizons, it was so far from what she was used to that it felt almost silly to even hope that she could become someone new the way that she wanted to, even now that she was there, taking classes and avoiding being noticed.
All of that changed with Chapelle-sensei's first task and her forced partnership with Nakiri Alice. She had wondered about the white-haired girl who seemed to be burdened by her name rather than uplifted by it, with Erina so outright claiming her place as the school's royalty, leaving her cousin at the wayside. Alice didn't seem to think of it the way that Megumi did.
"I just wanted a friend, but now I've got one, right Tadokoro-chan?" she had said with a chuckle when Megumi asked. The blue-haired girl felt more at peace when Alice confirmed their closeness with such a label, seeing how cheerful Alice was now. Even her aide, the towering figure of Kurokiba Ryō, had taken Megumi to the side and muttered out a thank you for raising his mistress's spirits. Their friendship was strange and unexpected and good for both of them; Alice would teach Megumi exactly why her homey combinations of foods would appeal to the palate, and Megumi would inspire Alice to look past the cool-cut chemical composition of the ingredients in front of her.
A few weeks later, Alice didn't show up to class. Family things, she had cited, apologizing fervently to Megumi who quite understood and tried to get her to stop genuflecting. She had been standing awkwardly by herself at her station when a boy with bright red hair and shimmering golden eyes approached her.
"Hey, Tadokoro-san, right? Do you want to team up?"
She recognized him immediately as Saiba Sōma, a carefree boy with a tall legacy. She hadn't really met him before; he lived in his own apartment like the other upper-class students, and she was just a country girl from Polar Star. Megumi uncertainly accepted his invitation and soon found herself laughing at Sōma's antics, whether he was painstakingly examining his eggs to ensure that no shells had snuck in or arguing with the cooking food itself when it started to congeal rather than loosen. She noticed his glancing to her, beaming every time she giggled as though she had done exactly what she had hoped.
After the class ended, Sōma extended a hand. "I don't think I've ever had this much fun cooking with someone," he declared. "Would you want to join me in my kitchen later? We can test out some things. I've been dying to see what peanut butter and squid would taste like together."
Megumi felt herself turn slightly green at that concept. "Perhaps not that, but yes, I'd love to join you," she said.
"Cool! Let me just tell Nakiri-san that I'll have to meet up with her tomorrow, then," Sōma said casually, taking his phone out to send the text.
嫉妬に狂った王女様
ある日大臣を呼び出して
静かな声で言いました
「緑の国を滅ぼしなさい」
"The princess, mad with jealousy, summoned her cabinet minister and quietly said, 'Ruin the Green Kingdom."
(Daughter of Evil)
Takumi watched Erina pace angrily, the text message open on her phone.
"Damn him, damn him, damn him!" she snarled under her breath. "He dares to spit in my face—and for a country bumpkin! A child of a maid, a child of nothing, and he chooses to spend his time with her and not with me!"
Takumi remained silent, biting his tongue against the flurry of words he wanted to say, for he knew that Tadokoro Megumi was far more than that. She was helpful and kind, even to those who didn't deserve it. He himself had benefited from her golden heart; she had taken a moment to help him transport the groceries that Erina and Hisako demanded, and when he asked why she had merely smiled at him. It had been enough to enchant him to her golden eyes and blue braids, and he felt an unfamiliar drive to protect and shield her from Erina's wrath.
And yet, even as he thought that, he saw Erina's eyes flicker over to him and a solution arise in her mind.
"Destroy them, Takumi-san," she said through gritted teeth. "I want all of Polar Star kicked out of this school. Do whatever it takes, employ whoever you need to. They cannot be allowed to exist in Tōtsuki, and I want you to take down this Tadokoro yourself."
Takumi stiffly bowed. "It will be done, Nakiri-sama," he said, turning to leave Erina's office and triumphant grin.
He felt a drop of water slip down his cheek. Why was he crying?
Facing the blue-haired girl in the arena was harder than he ever imagined it could be. Facing the terror in her eyes as he stared at her down the blade of his mezzaluna was even worse. Facing her, knowing that she had witnessed her compatriots fall to his, to Hisako and Julian and others he barely knew, all directed by him, weighed his stomach down until it reached the bottom of an abyss, sinking into his knees as he effortlessly flew across his station.
The unanimous votes towards him, the shock in her eyes mingling with the resignation; none of these were nearly as bewildering as the tears that continued to fall from his eyes, the bow of his head, and the strange feeling of loss as he watched Tadokoro Megumi slowly walk off of the stage, having lost her place at Tōtsuki.
誰かのための行いだとしても
それを「正義」と呼べるのか
"Even if you're fighting for someone else, is that considered 'justice'?"
(A Hero's Armor is Always Crimson)
Mito Ikumi had seen enough of Nakiri Erina's reign of terror in Tōtsuki. Within the first few months of school, she had convinced the entire student body that everyone lived in the palm of her hand and that she could simply clench it and wipe them all out. While Ikumi was once enraptured by the headiness of Erina's power, she knew that the blonde heiress had gone too far with her decision to empty out a dormitory simply because Saiba Sōma didn't make her one of his priorities.
Erina's plan had gloriously backfired, really, if it had been her plan to ensnare the boy by eliminating the competition. She had driven Sōma away by throwing his new friend out on her head, and now he sought to prove to her that her way of running the school was wrong. He had approached Ikumi in the hopes that she would be willing to be one of the ones spearheading the campaign against Erina, and the tanned girl clawed at the opportunity like Tantalus in his pool of water.
Sometimes, Ikumi wondered if she was taking it too far, what with the grandiose plan she and Sōma had crafted of expelling Erina through the very methods she employed. It was idealistic and would require so much more luck than planning or strategy, and if it failed it would no doubt lead to her own expulsion from both the Academy as well as the cooking community at large. Her doubts and uncertainties sometimes became too much, and she would be just one phone call away from telling Sōma to call it off, but then she would think back to the senpai that found her toiling away at a flavor combination after losing a Shokugeki with it and helped her redefine it into something simultaneously plainer and richer and her will would solidify again. She would think back to the gentle but uncertain peasant girl whose only fault was to accept another's friendship and the white-haired girl who once walked around with a happy bounce in her step and now moved like a ghost, stoic and emotionless. She would think back to all of the lives that Erina had destroyed on whim alone, along with her aides and the other chefs at her disposal, and she would feel that hatred burn within her again, and she would set out reinvigorated on her mission of justice.
Ikumi stormed up to Hisako one day, catching the other girl alone. She practically shoved a packet of papers into her hands. The pink-haired girl gave her a mildly confused look before paging through some of the paperwork and clearing her throat.
"Are you insane?" the girl asked.
Ikumi stiffly shook her head.
Hisako smirked slightly. "I'll see you at the stadium, then," she said, nonchalantly signing the Shokugeki paperwork. "Let's see how you do with vegetarian cooking, Mito-san."
"And let's see how well your don comes out, Arato-san," Ikumi responded through gritted teeth. She snatched the signed papers back from the girl and stormed away, that nonchalant smirk fueling the flames further in the pit of her stomach. She held onto the rage more firmly as she set off down the hallway to finalize everything, and it burned bright within her until the moment when she could finally let it go in peals of girlish but victorious laughter as Hisako stared at the results of their clash in horror.
3-0. A landslide of a win.
"I guess you can't rely on your princess forever, Hishoko-chan."
ほら僕の服を貸してあげる
これを着てすぐお逃げなさい
"Take my clothes and run, you must escape before they come."
(Servant of Evil)
Takumi watched Erina break down at her desk. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and embrace her, hold her up and support her, but he knew that if he did it wouldn't help a single thing and now he was merely helpless in her grief.
Ikumi and Sōma had been ruthless in tearing them down. All of the students that Takumi had mobilized to get all of Polar Star expelled had been equally cut down by others that followed those two. Names that Takumi had heard but never truly registered—Hayama Akira, Mimasaka Subaru, even Nakiri Alice at one point—now haunted him, and they had managed to first cut down the certainty that the rest of the Academy had in Erina by getting Hisako expelled and then follow-up on their rather obvious threat.
It was a dangerous group that Sōma and Ikumi led, Takumi could at least acknowledge that, but he wasn't sure why they affected Erina so strongly that she was sobbing at her desk over another Shokugeki challenge.
"Forgive me, Nakiri-sama, but isn't this a golden chance for you?" he asked, putting his hands behind his back. "You could show these miscreants exactly who it is that they're dealing with, and we could cut off this threat at once. You could persuade your grandfather to reinstate Arato-san, and—"
"Stop," Erina commanded. Takumi couldn't quite keep the grimace off of his face but he managed to stay quiet nonetheless.
Erina let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea where to even start with this challenge. I don't know what to do or who to rely on anymore. There's only you left, and this challenge could take that away as well." She shook the paper helplessly. "They know that. Saiba-san knows that. They know that my first reaction would be to accept this and ask someone else to take care of it, but they want me against them and there's no way that I can say no to that."
"Let me take care of this for you, Erina. You need to escape this unscathed."
Silence for two beats, and then a jerky nod. Takumi walked out of her office silently, contemplating his next move.
革命で王女が死んだと 風の噂\で聞いた
"They say that the queen died during the revolution."
(Daughter of White)
When Takumi walked out onto the stadium stage, Alice could see the momentary annoyance in Ikumi's expression. She didn't really like the fiery girl, but she knew that they were friends with Megumi and that she had to show her cousin somehow that the way she pranced around the school was disgusting and had to change.
When Takumi walked out onto the stadium stage, Alice could also see the way his eyes were set in resignation. He knew what the result was going to be, she realized. He had been Erina's main strategist, the one that instructed specific students to target others, the one that told them how to cook. He knew how this revolution of sorts was going to be set up.
He knew that Ikumi had been long preparing for this match, far before the themes of the Shokugeki were set.
Takumi moved with his usual grace, but there was a robotic quality to his gestures. Alice had seen the boy cook before, and she had before seen an underlying happiness or perhaps just contentment that was now absent from his gaze. He worked with an alacrity that spoke of years in the kitchen, not passion or love of the craft.
Ikumi was much more intense, though Alice could liken her movements to that of a slavering dog going in for the kill. She moved with brash gestures that threw things into pans before setting them aflame, burning ever on, just like the emotion that had been controlling her this entire time. Ikumi was dangerous, especially to a boy who didn't seem to care anymore.
He had turned to walk away before results were even called, though he looked at his watch first, smiled slightly, looked up to where she knew Erina was sitting, and said aloud, "Oh, it's tea time."
君はいつも私のために なんでもしてくれたのに
私はいつもわがままばかり 君を困らせてた
"You did everything for me, but all I could do was trouble you."
(Regret Message)
Erina had left the Shokugeki when she saw Takumi's actions. She had seen the defeat in his posture already, and though she couldn't help but hope that he was merely being pessimistic, she didn't feel optimistic herself about the results. She wanted to run down, to find him, to scream at him that he hadn't helped her at all, to demand to know why he didn't try harder, to cry into his shoulder because she didn't want to lose him again.
She was descending a flight of stairs when she glanced up and noticed her white-haired cousin standing there. Alice was holding a familiar packet of papers. Erina just stood on the step and stared at her.
Alice could see the defeat but the still smoldering pride in Erina's gaze. You've taken it all from me, they screamed at her. There's nothing more for you to take, and everything for me to gain.
The white-haired girl let the papers drop from her hands and scatter on the ground. Forget Ikumi's plans. Forget Sōma's goals. All that Alice could do was let Erina see the tears fall down her face and merely dwell in the grief of losing a friend who didn't see her for her stature for once, who didn't just follow her around because of her last name.
Alice was startled when Erina walked forward and shakily took her hand. When she looked up, Erina just smiled slightly and said, "I think I'm done with this Academy for a little while. I'm going to go find Takumi and find out what he's going to do next. If you want I can track down what happened to Tadokoro-san afterwards."
Alice just blinked before cautiously smiling back, nodding, and following after her cousin, who seemed to have shrunk in size overnight. Perhaps this was a new chapter for her, after all.
Well. That was a weird fic to finally get out of my head. Good grief. If the Japanese is a bit off, sorry about that; I tried to translate into things that structurally flowed a bit better. If I accidentally grabbed the wrong song lyric altogether, that's entirely my fault.
It'll take me but a little while longer to try and get HAHI restructured and rewritten. Sneak preview: it's not going to start at the beginning of the school year anymore. I have full plans of writing it out before posting it, and then we'll see if this manga continues to capture me or if I move onto a different series for a little bit. Maybe I'll write more of these little jaunts into one-shots, who knows.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I'll see you guys soon c:
~Shriayle