Summary: Tootsuki academy is known to produce the best chefs in the world. Erina Nakiri was known as the Queen of Gourmet thanks to her God's tongue, what if she met a boy who found her cooking to be bland and boring. How far will she go to prove him wrong?
This will strictly be Souma x Erina no harem so don't bother asking. The story will begin during the Entrance Ceremony. Erina met Souma when they were six but forgot about him until the entrance exam
Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Shokugeki No Souma
"Souma," - Person Speaking.
"Souma," - Person Thinking/Flashback
"Souma," - Phone calls
Chapter 1: Entrance
Flashback
"Why is she just standing behind that pillar?" A little boy no older than five of six years old asked. He has a beautiful shade of red hair and bright gold that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, they had all heard the girls stomach growl and he was curious why she didn't just ask to join.
"Souma I've told you to stop judging people, she's probably nervous." A man with long Maroon colored hair that was tied in a ponytail said while ruffling his son's hair making him pout.
"I know but if she's hungry why doesn't she just come out here and just say that she's hungry?" Souma asked her again, he looked at the girl and saw her honey brown hair and violet colored eyes peeking out from a pillar that was in the garden of her mansion.
The man walked up to the young girl and squatted down so he was at her level and offered her a gentle smile. "How bout you come join us for lunch Erina-chan." Joichiro invited as he gently ruffled her hair.
"Does she have to join us? I mean I tried her cooking earlier and I found it bland and boring." Souma whined as he looked at his father while she glared at him.
"My food isn't boring, you're too stupid to understand gourmet Baka!" Erina yelled while puffing out her cheeks in annoyance.
Flashback end
"... Next, we will present our academic emblem. New 1st-year representative, Erina Nakiri!"
Souma could be seen awaiting his while inside a tent to go make his speech, he was in a nervous trance, pacing back and forth, "What should I say, what should I say?" he thought to himself while rubbing the back of his head, a habit he had, it was passed down from his mother whenever she was nervous about something.
"Hai!" said Erina, walking up to the stage to accept her badge with a smirk on her face.
"Ah, Erina-sama, she's as lovely as ever! She's beautiful AND at the top of her class. She's the perfect superwoman! If I could go on one date with her, I'd die happy." said a student in the crowd with a dreamy smile on his face, letting everyone know he was daydreaming.
His friend smacked him, whispering, "BAKA! Careless talk like that will get you thrown out of school! She's the granddaughter of Senzaemon, the don that heads the mafia of the food world!"
"Yeah, but still…" he started saying but couldn't continue as he was cut off by the class representative on stage.
"And now, we will have our ceremonial address. The academy's director… Senzaemon Nakiri-sama!" she said, and the crowd gasped at the name's mention. They looked up to see an elderly man, who has long spiky gray hair with a mustache and a beard. He also has a scar on his right eye running diagonally from the middle of his forehead down to just above his right cheekbone.
Despite his advanced age, Senzaemon was in incredible shape showing he regularly worked out. Senzaemon has a very intense and intimidating look when most students looked at him, though he could sometimes have a comical and softer expression as seen the day before with Naruto and Souma when he had passed them.
"I-I'm scared!" said one random student in the crowd.
Another student next to him pushed his glasses up, speaking, "He's the embodiment of fine dining, and has Totsuki Academy… no, Japan's whole food industry is under his thumb!"
"He's the devil! The Devil of Cooking!" shouted another in fear.
Senzaemon coughed into his hand to get everyone's attention and began his speech. "All of you… Congratulations on reaching the high school division. In our middle school division, for three years, you learned the basics of food preparation and furthered your knowledge of ingredients.
"While, of course, there were drills in which you had to prepare food, there were various lectures, including cooking theory, nutrition, public health, introductory cultivation, and business administration. Now, as you stand at the entrance of the high school division, what you will be tested on next will not be technique or knowledge. Rather, it will be your resolve to live as a chef! Ninety-nine percent of you will sacrifice yourselves in order to hone the final one percent!"
A young male student in the crowd with very sharp teeth grinned in what one would think was scary, but in actuality, he was laughing and had what looked like a sadistic smile. He looked over to his blonde twin brother and spoke. "Sacrifice? That sounds pretty awesome, huh, Nii-chan?"
"Yeah, you got that right," he said, returning his eyes to the stage where Senzaemon continued his speech.
"Of last year's 812 new 1st-year students, the number of those who moved on to become 2nd-years was just 76! The mediocre and the inept are cast aside without mercy. Out of 1,000 1st-years, only 100 will remain to advance, and one hand will probably suffice to count those who will remain until graduation. A mere handful of chefs. But you! You can do it!... Study Hard. That is all."
That seemed to motivate most of the students. Lighting a fire in their eyes as they pumped their fists to the sky. Erina Nakiri watched all of them, slightly amused by their antics. "The source of the Totsuki's brand's strength is that it educates a select few chosen through fierce competition. If you can make it to graduation, you'll attain lifetime stardom in the cooking world. Still, I feel sorry for all of you in the same generation as me because, from the moment you were born, you were fated to battle for second place. The only one will reach Totsuki's summit and reign supreme over the Japanese culinary world: ME, Erina Nakiri." she thought to herself smirking cockily like always.
The Class Representative walked back up to the center stage and took the microphone from Senzaemon. "Finally, I'd like to introduce one transfer students," she said with a smile on her face, motioning Souma to walk on stage.
Erina's thoughts interrupted when she heard this. "Hmm is it seems someone was able to pass an entrance exam." She thought to herself as she looked up to the sky in remembrance of the redhead that pissed her off. She immediately got mad and smashed those thoughts down, she didn't care about his cooking since he was annoying her.
Back on stage, Souma began his speech. "Uh, well, sorry to be up here in the spotlight and all," he chuckled while scratching the back of his head nervously.
The Class Representative ushered him in a loud whisper. "Never mind that, just please hurry!" she said waving her hands in the air frantically.
Souma nodded, giving her a small smile causing her to blush and look away. "Okay, I'll make this short. Just a few words. Um, my name is Souma Yukihira. To be honest, I think of this school as nothing but a stepping stone. My transfer here was kinda unexpected, but I don't plan to lose to people who've never even stood in front of a customer. So, what I wanna say is… In a nutshell, now that I'm here, I'm taking the top spot."
The crowd erupted in anger after his speech, like a child throwing a fit when it doesn't get what it wants. It was mainly the men who had gotten mad by what he said. Annoyed by the redhead's antics. A lot of the men at Totsuki Culinary Academy had a large ego, Naruto noticed. He chose to add to this fire once they got over their hissy fit.
"This guy!"
"Bastard!"
"HEY!"
"DIE!"
"Man, that was brutal I mean I've always been nervous to give a speech since I was a kid and never knew what to say." Souma said while releasing a breath of air that he didn't know he was holding.
"You said you were going to take the top spot? Don't make me laugh Yukihira-kun, I'll be the one to take the top spot no matter what." Erina declared while looking at Souma, she didn't know why she had a memory of him when they first met in her garden.
"We'll see about that Nakiri." Souma challenged.
"Look at him. Yeah, isn't that the transfer student that made a ruckus at the entrance ceremony?" Some students whispered to each other while glaring at Souma while he was tossing a potato up in the air carelessly not paying attention to the other students.
"Well, to think I would cook in class last time I did this was in the cooking self-study of my Home Economics class. Your name is Tadokoro-san right, um why are you eating the kanji for a person as if you were avenging your parents?" Souma asked while tossing up a potato in the air and looking at the girl with blue hair in front of him.
The girl had blue hair that reached her shoulders that was tied in two braids; She was wearing a typical chef outfit while looking at Souma like she was scared or nervous. "Ah! Th-this is so I don't get nervous or so I thought. Because if I get another E… I will be expelled!" Megumi said while gently holding her hair hoping he wouldn't judge her. "The quality of your cooking is graded from A to E, though it might differ from class to class." Megumi finished.
"I heard this was an elite school, but there are people like you too," Souma said in a deadpanned voice as an arrow pierced through Megumi's heart at Souma's words making her feel smaller.
"Uh… just when I was trying to survive peacefully and securely of all people I had to be paired with him, I'm getting pierced by the surrounding stares!" Megumi thought to herself while trying to disappear from everyone's glare.
"I'm Yukihira Souma you can call me Souma, nice to meet you." He said with a smile while looking at Megumi and not noticing the death glares he was receiving from everyone around him.
"Attention, good morning young apprentices." The teacher said while looking at them with small glare in his eyes.
"You're responsible to make delicacies from the moment you stand in the kitchen, for that neither your experience nor position matter. In my classes, any dishes that can't take an A will get an E remember that." He said while scaring the students in the class.
Everyone knew he was serious this was Roland Chapelle the French Cuisine Division Chief, he was as strict as Yumi Akko the Dessert Cuisine Chief.
"I'm too unlucky to have Roland Chapelle-sensei for my first class, last year an entire class of 50 people got an E. Amongst them 18 got expelled because of that class, a lecturer that's specifically strict with his evaluations even for Totsuki his nickname is the 'Chef that doesn't smile'." Megumi thought to herself as a chibi version of her cried anime style tears.
"Today's menu includes 'Boeuf Bourguignon.' It's a standard French dish, just in case I'll write the recipe on the whiteboard. The time limit is two hours! Submit your dishes as soon as you finish. Then let's start, Commencez à cuire!" Chapelle shouted as he watched the students rush off to get their ingredients.
"For now, I just have to do it, calm down let's go steady! Souma-kun seems to be confident, surely his cooking skills are…" Megumi thought before looking at Souma.
"Boeuf… Bour-What?" Souma asked in confusion.
"Souma-kun, have you ever cooked that dish?" Megumi asked with concern in her voice.
"No, I haven't. It's something like a cow line stew, right? Well, we'll do it somehow. I'll go look at the recipe." Souma said while walking away, leaving a scared and nervous Megumi behind.
Standing in front of the pot Megumi looked at it while the ingredients were cooking. "I'll take the beef out in 40 minutes. I'll take the beef out in 39 minutes." Megumi thought to herself while watching the pot like a hawk.
"Tadokoro, look they have an amazing variety of seasonings!" Souma shouted while waving over at Megumi.
"I look like an idiot being the only one nervous. I have to go take a dish." Megumi thought to herself while running off never noticing the evil smirk of two of her classmates.
Making his way back to his section Souma noticed the lid was slightly off and looked confused. After asking Megumi if she had removed the lid, they checked on it. They both noticed a white powdery substance on the beef, after tasting it Souma found out it was salt, it seemed someone was trying to sabotage them; they had thirty minutes left before they had to present their dish.
It only took Souma and Megumi twenty minutes to remake their entire dish and present it to Chapelle he looked at them curiously and knew they had a problem with their dish earlier and wondered how he could recover so quickly. Souma went on and explained how he used honey to help break down the meat since honey had a protease that had effects on hard beef by making them tender in a short time.
"Interesting choice to use honey Yukihira and Tadokoro," Chapelle said before taking a bite and smiling after tasting the delicious dish in front of him.
"SENSEI SMILED!" Were the thoughts of everyone in the class, they had never thought they would ever witness their sensei smile before.
"Yukihira and Tadokoro, I'll give you an A, but it's a shame I don't have the authority to give you something higher." He said with a smile on his face while looking at them both.
"It wasn't much," Souma said while removing his headband.
"A student dormitory? I never knew we had one of those." A man said while handing Souma back his papers.
"Ehh? You're kidding me. My notice of admission said that there was a dorm guide here." Souma said while looking over the paper again.
"So there is, let's see. Polar Star Dormitory."
"Erina-sama, is everything alright you seem annoyed?" asked a girl with a pink bob cut hair style, looking at her master with concern evident in her bright peach colored eyes.
"Hmph I'm just thinking about what that redheaded Baka said about my cooking. How dare he say my cooking is bland and boring, not once but TWICE!" Erina shouted while a rain cloud appeared over her head as she squatted down and brought her knees to her chest and while drawing circles on the ground Hisako could hear her muttering something but couldn't put the words together.
"Hisako, yo-you don't think my cooking is bla-bland or boring do you?" She asked while looking at her with huge puppy dog eyes as tears started to form. She needed to hear that her food was delicious, and she knew Hisako would tell her it was since she was the one who ate it the most.
"OF COURSE NOT ERINA-SAMA!" She yelled while comforting her one true friend. She was going to make Souma Yukihira pay for what he said about Erina-sama's cooking one way or another he was going to pay.
Erina had made a decision that day, she was going to make Souma admit that her food was delicious, one way or another. No matter how long it took or how many failed attempts she might face she was going to have him admit that her cooking was delicious.
FLASHBACK
"IT'S DISGUSTING!" Erina yelled while slamming her hand down in the counter with a blush on her face. She couldn't admit that his food was actually good, not even if he was the son of the chef she admired the most.
"Fine let's see how your cooking is compared to mine." Souma challenged while looking at her. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about her, well he couldn't blame himself when they first met it was ten years ago and they were only five at the time.
"Fine I'll make you something like I did all those years ago and this time you're going to ADMIT that my cooking is better than yours in every way!" She yelled at him while shocking her assistant.
Hisako looked at her shocked, why would her master cook anything for him? Did they have some type of history that she didn't know about, or maybe she wanted to beat him so badly that he'd quit cooking forever.
Either way she knew that he'd regret those words he said to her, she was going to make him regret ever insinuating that his cooking was superior to hers.
"Fine Yukihira-kun I'll enlighten you, it'll be the last time you ever get to taste my delicious cooking, so make sure that you enjoy every bite." Erina told him while she prepared her ingredients.
Souma stood back and watched as she maneuvered her way around the kitchen, he knew she was skilled but he also knew that her cooking lacked something and that was passion and failure.
He watched as she set down a plate, "here Yukihira-kun, a dish that I made just for you, I hope you regret those words. Now you're going to try my Coco Meurette(A)!" Erina shouted while handing Souma a fork.
The dish looked beautiful he had to admit that, but the question for him was 'how did it taste?' He looked over and saw her aide or secretary drooling while looking at the food, it looked like true gourmet.
Taking his fork he cut a piece off and slowly brought it up to his mouth, he could smell the seasonings and the caramelized onions and the scent of sweet red wine. He brought the fork to his mouth and took a bite, his face immediately turned paler than a ghost as he forced himself to swallow the food.
Erina looked at him as her eyes went wide as saucers and hung her hands in front of her while her jaw dropped. Why did he make that face for, her food were considered delicacies, people who ate her food were always left speechless and praised her for how delicious it was. Yet here was a man who found her food disgusting, why, why did he find her food to be disgusting!
Hisako was shocked that he had the audacity to make such a disgusted face while trying Erina's food. No one rarely ever had the chance to taste something so perfect, in her eyes Erina made the food to perfection. The right flavors the right combinations never once did she see her master make a mistake while cooking, mistakes and failures were excuses that weak chefs made up so they wouldn't be judged.
"It's like I told you ten years ago, your food is bland and boring, but for some reason it's even worse now than it was back then." Souma said before putting his fork down and walking away. "Your cooking is lacking something, and it's your job to find out what it is."
Flashback End
Hope you all liked my new story.
A Coco Meurette is a French bistro-inspired eggs Benedict, offering two poached eggs on grilled English muffins with bacon bits and onions cooked in a red wine sauce.
I want to expand my writing so this is why I'm also going to be writing fics for Shokugeki No Souma as well as Naruto.
Until Next time Ja Ne!
