I love Food Wars and it really needs more love so I decided to write this. I love the whole Soma, Ryo, and Hayama relationship so I decided to focus on them. Three-way rivalries are so rare and also so much fun. I really hope they get more spotlight in the future.
When Erina has woken up that day, she already knew that the day was going to be sour. Perhaps she had woken up that way. The food tasted worse than usual, which she didn't even know was possible, and the flowers in the garden didn't smell as nice and the birds chirping was being more annoying than charming. Now, here she was, being prepped for what she needed to do today by her lady in waiting, Hisako.
"And at 2 pm you will knight three people, each has a thirty-minute slot for their knighting. The order will be Ryo Kurokiba-" Erina jolted.
"Hisako.,. why does that name sound so familiar?"
"Well, he is an up and coming name. He might have already started to become quite popular. "
"No, it's not that… Ryo Kurokiba. I believe I remember Alice talking about him? Granted, she does talk for an awfully long time. She can be so annoying sometimes."
"Yes, Princess Alice did mention him. In fact, it was on her recommendation that he is being knighted."
"Isn't he the bandit she met on one of her journeys? Honestly, what was my cousin thinking? A bandit as a knight! Anyway, who are the others?"
"Next will be Akira Hayami-" Erina jolted again. Akira Hayama. He was the ward of Lady Jun Shiomi, the kingdoms best tracker. Despite the fact that he was a boy from the slums, rumors traveled that he had already surpassed Lady Jun in tracking, and was even on par with her swordsmanship abilities. To make things worse, he had even challenged her the last time Lady Jun had visited the castle, saying that he was going to surpass her. What an utter fool. Rumors may spread like wildfire, but they will never stop the cold hard truth.
"What is it now, Princess Erina?" Hisako asked, bringing Erina out of her fog.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. The name just annoys me. This list can't possibly get worse though, can it?"
"Well, the last name is… Soma Yukihira."
"Soma Yukihira!"
"What? That's impossible! He should have given up by now!"
"Well, he was the squire to Sir Shinomoya."
"Sir Shinomiya took him as his squire? But... he's never taken anyone as his squire. Why!"
"Milady, Soma Yukihira isn't that bad."
"Not that bad? Hisako! What did he do to you!"
"N-Nothing milady. Forget I said anything." Hisako said. Erina sighed.
"Well, if I have to knight them, then I will. But, I'll be knighting them all at the same time. If I have to waste time knighting peasants, it better be all at the same time."
"Of course, milady. I'll get that set up right away." Hisako stood and bowed before leaving Erina to her own devices.
"What a pain," Erina said to herself, before leaning back against her seat.
"Soma Yukihira. Your night of silence is over. Follow me to your knighting ceremony." Some turned and looked to see a woman in plain brown garbs. He nodded and followed after her until they reached the castle and proceeded into a large room, where he saw two familiar faces.
"Hey, guys. Looks like we're all getting knighted together." The two turned to look at him.
"Seriously? I have to share a knighting ceremony with not one, but two other people?" Ryo asked, his voice was monotone, but he was clearly annoyed.
"We all decided to become knights at the same time. It only makes sense that we'd be knighted at the same time." Soma noted.
"Not at the same ceremony though. It's because we're all peasants. Her lady doesn't have time for each of us," Hayama said. Soma took his seat next to Ryo.
"It must have been very hard for you to break your night of silence," Hayama said to Soma.
"What? I don't talk that much. You talk about as much as me."
"No way."
"You both talk more than me."
"Not with your bandana on."
"You're basically all yelling and growls then." Soma pulled a face at him, even growling a bit for effect.
"You call that growling?" Ryo pulled his bandana off of his arm and tied it around his head.
"I'll show you fucking growling!" Ryo started growling ferociously, his teeth showing and eyes wild.
"I guess he's not called 'Mad Dog' for nothing."
"It's seriously disgusting though," Hayama said, as he shielded his face from the spit.
"You wanna fight? I'll fight you right here, right now for who's going to be the better knight!"
"We don't even have our swords with us. A common brawl wouldn't do much in the way of proving who is better."
"Look at you, already talking as if your rich eh?"
"Of course not, I would never forget where I come from. Besides, you two are just uncultured morons."
"Let's go! Fist to fist!" Rio paused, "Unless you're scared, pretty boy?"
"Of course not. If a brawl is what it takes to prove that I am the best than a brawl it is."
"Hey, wait a minute, it is I who will be the best knight!" The three started to argue with each other, not noticing that the princess had entered the room.
"Excuse me." The three didn't hear her and kept arguing with each other.
"I will be the very best!" (Like no one ever was).
"No way, I'll knight circles around you guys!"
"Both of you are fools. I rise above all… for Jun!"
"Ahem. Excuse me!"
"Gross dude. Isn't she like your mom?"
"She's more like an older sister... And it's not that kind of love!"
"You're a weirdo."
"Freak."
"Degenerate."
"Lazyass."
"Tool."
"Fool."
"Mule."
"Unco-"
"Stop talking and listen to me!" Erina commanded, raising her voice to almost an annoying screech. The three paused and stared at her in surprise.
"Listen here! You bit-" Soma pulled the bandana off and Ryo sort of slumped and quieted down. The three kneeled down before Erina and she began the knighting process. The first to be knighted, Ryo Kurokiba.
"Rise, Sir Ryo."
"Finally. It took long enough…"
"Just be glad that Alice wanted you to be knighted or you wouldn't be here, bandit." Ryo merely shrugged.
"That woman always gets what she wants."
Then Akira Hayama.
"Rise, Sir Akira." Akira looked up at her, straight in the eyes.
"I'll be coming for you." Erina raised her head to look down her nose at him.
"Don't forget who is knighting who, here."
"I could never forget."
"Good."
And lastly, Soma Yukihira.
"Rise, S-s-Sir! Soma."
"Thanks. It wasn't much." At that moment, Erina thought a very common thought when around Soma Yukihira. I'll kill you! She did have a sword already in hand… no! She sheathed the sword and turned back to the three.
"Don't screw up." And with a flip of her hair, she left. The three watched her go for a bit before Soma turned to the other two.
"Maybe we'll work together sometime on one of our knighting quests."
"No."
"Of course not, collaboration is only a weakness on the battlefield."
"Yeah, I didn't really wanna work with you guys anyway. Can't prove you're the best if you're on a team!"
"I'll be the best."
"No, I will." And thus, three new knights were appointed to make the kingdom a better place, hopefully.
Meanwhile, Hisako and King Senzaemon stood in a private box in the wings of the great hall.
"Your Majesty? May I ask why you are Princess Erina knighting those three? Two have literally no qualifications and the third seems to make her very uncomfortable." Hisako asked while the two watched the knighting ceremony from above. Hisako also wanted to add that there were other people just as qualified to knight people, including the exact one she was talking to.
"What? Do you not think she is enjoying it?"
"Of course not. Why would she enjoy watching them argue like wild animals?"
"I don't know. I think it's good for her to go and meet people her age. Maybe she can make some friends."
"I do not mean to offend you, but those three are far below Princess Erina. She would never want to be friends with them. To make it worse, they are also completely uncivilized."
"Perhaps. But, I would more so call them diamonds in the rough. I believe that they all have great futures in front of them. Even the ability to lead the kingdom into a new era."
"A better one?"
"We'll see."
Hi, this is my first Food Wars fanfiction so please tell me what you think! I hope that the characters aren't too OOC. It was surprisingly hard to try and get into all of the characters' headspaces and try to make them do things they would logically do, only in a medieval setting. Also, now the trio is going on quests and etc. so if you have any ideas for what kinds of quests they could go on, then leave your idea in the comments! Thanks and I hope you liked it.