Title: Peerless

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

Type: OneShot/Drabble Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 3122

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Shokugeki no Souma belongs to Tsukuda-san.

Summary: To be peerless is to be unrivalled. Standing at the highest peak, unchallenged and without equal. To be peerless is to endure; the pressure of the world clamoring at your feet, the stark bite of loneliness clawing at your back. …Or is it always?

Loosely interconnected one-shots/drabbles exploring the curious relationship between Tsukasa Eishi and Kobayashi Rindou. Updates may not be in chronological order.

Verse: Canon Divergent AU

Chapter Last Revised on: 16/05/17


A plot most fowl


The problem with growing up was the…fangirls.

Puberty came swinging at him with a vengeance during his first year in Tootsuki's high school division. He remembered being miserable; all croaky with lanky limbs and a body that seemed to never stop developing, resulting in a lot of chagrin and awkwardness that more or less boiled down to him basically walking around with two left feet all the time, or at least it had seemed that way to him. All that rapid growing was also taking its toll on his physical reserves, the cherubic softness of youth melting away to reveal the hard, lean muscles and a sleek, wiry, toned form as he started to come into his aquiline good looks.

And so, practically overnight, Eishi suddenly found himself the bewildered inspiration of a Tootsuki-wide fanclub and more ardent admirers than he knew what to do with.

The whole experience was quite traumatizing, truth to be told.

He had only ever wanted to be left alone to improve on his cooking and strive towards his goals of reaching the Elite Ten, but all of sudden, girls were everywhere and they squealed at just about everything he did and constantly got underfoot of wherever he happened to be. It was extremely distracting and disconcerting; he was often startled by their actions and frequently had small panic attacks especially when they started ambushing him everywhere in school…and it was…distressing.

It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with receiving admiration from the members of the fairer sex; back when he was still in middle school, even he had been hard pressed not to notice the gentle fawning that some of his female classmates were wont to lavish on him…but this extreme level of escalated aggressiveness in high school was something else altogether.

Women were scary. Period.

And a whole gang of them pitted against him was akin to setting a pride of hungry lionesses against a quailing, cornered buck. Women were very scary. Had he already mentioned that?

Rindou, much to his aggravation, had been absolutely no help at all in that department. The redhead had cackled her behind off once she figured out why he was being jumpier and more wild-eyed than usual, and instead of helping him out like a good friend should, she had barked some more with laughter before nonchalantly exposing all of his secret hiding places to the slavering horde, mercilessly leaving him to his doom as the masses descended upon his catatonic and shell shocked form.

…For the next month or so, that brat had been his public enemy number one. He had never been so mad at her before in all the years he had known her, but what she had done to him was a clear breach of trust as well as cruel and unusual torture, all rolled into one grave, horrible offence. He had almost died! Who else would struggle with her to reach the top of the Elite Ten if he kicked the bucket first, and in such an ignoble manner?! Death ala stampede by fangirls, really?

She, however, seemed to view the whole thing like an incredibly humorous jest. His newfound sense of hostility towards her served to only tickle her funny bone more than induce actual upset, and for the reminder of that term, any class with the both of them in attendance became really interesting, to say the least, as tension sizzled and they clashed in all the practicums with every ounce of skill and (wounded) pride each possessed, duking it out through the best medium they knew how.

Rindou had been disgustingly cheerful that month, he remembered, whereas his sour mood had been hardly improved by having to put up with his stalkers, er, admirers 24/7. Suffice to say, his…displeasure ensured that he was just a tad sharper and less tolerant to the antics of his more overly zealous followers. Somehow, he had always managed to remain unfailingly polite regardless of the situation forced upon him, but at the same time, he was also starting to firmly draw the line to indicate where it should never be crossed, ardent fan or not. And surprisingly enough, Eishi soon discovered that if he became assertive enough, his wishes were almost always heard and obeyed unquestioningly.

What was this marvelous power that had been handed to him?

Rindou had beamed at him like a proud mother. "Good, good. Yer learning~" she singsonged, meeting his surly glower with an unaffected, fanged grin. She had even tiptoed to ruffle his hair! Later on, he would realize that she had taught him how to deal with his problem in the only way that she knew how – by forcing him to face it head on, whether he liked it or not. She had always learned – and thus, taught – by the school of hard knocks, and though Eishi could not deny that her methodology was certainly effective (traumatizing too), he would have appreciated some warning and explanation before she just upped and sicced his entire fanclub on him.

Then, life sort of returned back to normal, more or less. He was still a bit miffed at his friend but grudgingly decided to forgive her all the same, though this was likely more for his own sake than for hers, since Rindou certainly had not felt like she had done anything wrong that needed forgiving in the first place.

The carefree girl went about life as she always did, with enthusiasm and great vigor, skipping classes every now and then especially when that notoriously short attention span of hers was caught up by something else altogether, constantly getting into trouble with the lecturers and even with some of the other students from the other years, much to everyone's consternation. But no matter how much trouble she got into, she would almost always be able to get herself out of it fully unscathed, like a cat landing instinctively on her four paws. She was cheerful and mischievous and seemed to float effortlessly through all the grueling classes that almost everyone was struggling with, and she also largely marched to the beat of her own drum. While she could not be considered 'popular' by the usual definition, there was not a single soul in the entirety of Tootsuki who did not know of her name. Rather than popular, the more appropriate term to describe her would probably be 'infamous.'

Answering challenges and multiple Shokugeki seemed to stoke her blood and get all that adrenaline rush pumping, and so Rindou went around scraping with many amongst their cohort and even from those from the upper years with an almost feral joy for the competition. She didn't always win all the fights she picked, but she won most of them and derived great pleasure out of all of her experiences all the same. That utter willingness to throw herself headfirst into the most challenging battles and pit herself against the most difficult of opponents, just for fun, caused her skills to evolve exponentially as she went along. Her growth accelerated at a phenomenal rate; by the end of their first year in the high school division of Tootsuki, her record winning streak for Shokugeki victories was only (barely) eclipsed by his own.

Their year mates called her a monster to her back for the decisively brutal way she squashed her opponents, but sang his praises and hailed him a genius for doing the exact same thing. The double standard and level of hypocrisy was staggering, but she had never let that sort of thing bother her. If she had, she had certainly never given any indication of it. That was the thing about her; all the things that people said about her, she always seemed to be able to shrug them all away like she had never cared about those opinions in the first place. He would never have been able to do that in her position.

That unshakable level of confidence of hers was intimidating to many, the way she wore it so casually and brazenly. In hindsight, perhaps their peers would have gone easier on her if she was more the type to show more vulnerability, like a shrinking wallflower, but the mere thought of Rindou shrinking away from anything was a laughable one. That girl had always been bold and fearless and he had never seen her scared of anything. It took certain chutzpah, or strength of character, to behave the way she did. That self-possessed, easy saunter, that twinkle of barely veiled impishness and carefreeness in those golden, cat slit eyes, her fanged grin flashing across her pointed, almost vulpine features…

To date, he had never met anyone else quite like her before.


"Quick! Tsukasa, hide me!"

He barely had any idea what was going on before a familiar streak of red darted right up to him and dive bombed between his legs, successfully tackle sliding right under the partitioned desk which he had been occupying in the library. It was an impressive display of agility for someone who was wearing the skirt of her school uniform cut so high up her thighs as was the norm these days, and not only had she somehow managed to preserve her modesty despite her wildly unladylike action, she had also managed to avoid incurring any road rash in the process. She disappeared out of sight so neatly and quickly that he still had a good moment to look nonplussed before her pursuers arrived on scene seconds later. Those burly seniors looked dangerously angry as they thundered up to him, but he reschooled his expression, rising from his seat to meet them, a faintly enquiring expression on his face.

"Oi. Did you see a redhead run past just now?"

He had no obligation to abet her, truthfully speaking. This was especially so since he still hadn't forgotten her role in that incident with his fangirls a month or so back. This would actually be a great opportunity to get her back for the stunt she had pulled that time, but…

Eishi wordlessly pointed in the direction down the hallway, and apparently, that was enough of a confirmation for those hotheaded, flustered students. With a grunt of thanks, they were soon stampeding off on a fruitless wild goose chase that the white-haired boy had set them on. It was just as well that he had not had to say a thing, because if confronted about it later, he would claim that he hadn't technically lied, per se…

"Psst. Are they gone?"

Eishi glanced down in consternation, where Rindou had popped her head out from her hiding place and was carefully surveying the surroundings to make sure that they were indeed alone. It was a miracle that the attending librarian had not come bearing down on them earlier what with the ruckus that they had raised just now. He also wondered why he had just done what he had. The lavender-eyed fifteen year old had been quite certain that the most logical thing to do would be to open his mouth and out Rindou there and then, but instead, he had automatically covered for her before he even knew it.

"…What did you do this time?"

She crawled out from beneath the table and stood up, absently dusting herself off as she did so. He blankly noticed that she had her school blazer zipped all the way up to her neck, which was unusual in itself since it wasn't even that cold today…

"Mou! Why d'ya always automatically assume that I've done something?"

Eishi said nothing to that, merely lifted his brow and moved to the next seat over. He had been doing some research for an extra credit class, but doubted that he would be allowed the peace and quiet to continue now that Rindou was around. He rather optimistically cracked open the reference book which he had intended to peruse, all the same…but sure enough, his companion plopped onto the chair which he had just recently vacated, curious as a cat and just as determined not to be ignored.

"Hey, hey. Whatcha doin', Tsukasa?" She leaned right into his space fearlessly and unabashed, peering at the page he was looking at. He had to lean back slightly into his seat to keep from getting a faceful of her hair. She pulled away soon enough, nose wrinkling at the amount of dull, bone dry text printed on what appeared to be every available surface on the paper.

"Shucks, you're studying?! Aw! The weather's so nice outside and you're stickin' yourself in this dusty library and wastin' the day away! C'mon; let's go play instead!"

He was about to open his mouth to retort that he was quite content where he was, thank you very much, when the vicinity of her jacket covered chest twitched with visible movement…and then crowed.

He turned his head mechanically to look at her, his expression growing deadpan. Meanwhile, whatever it was that she had smuggled under her clothes crowed again, louder and more indignantly.

"…I don't want to know," he sighed. But of course, his admission must have been akin to a bleat of defeat to her, for her features brightened and she proceeded to undo the buttons of her blazer, and out promptly popped…a chicken.

It wasn't even a dead one, feathers plucked, blood drained, expertly cleaned and prepared, ready to be cooked. No. This was the sort of chicken that Eishi would rather have nothing to do with, unless he had to personally prep it himself for a class. The feathered avian looked about as pleased to see him as he did it.

"…Did you steal this chicken from those guys? Is that why you're running away from them? Because I can't say that I approve of this sort of fowl play-"

"They were gonna kill this 'lil guy and cook him up for dinner, Tsukasa! Look at him; look!"

He really didn't know what she thought he was already doing. She had shoved the scrawny rooster right up to his face; he couldn't not look even if he wanted to. The bird, an adolescent Jidori if he correctly recalled that lecture on domestic poultry breeds, awkwardly flapped its wings in his face. He flinched away, gazing warily at the bird, and then to its strangely earnest abductor, sparkling eyes and all.

"We're in a cooking school. Killing things to cook is part of the curriculum."

"Yeah, but does this fella looks like food to ya?"

He gingerly lifted one hand and nudged the chicken away before she started to push it right in his face again. "This is certainly not the best Jidori specimen I've ever seen… I hope they remembered to vaccinate him properly at least."

Thinking of vaccinations made him think of antibiotics for poultry, which promptly led his mind straight down the dangerous valley of avian flu and other related viruses. And Jidori were free range chickens, weren't they? Oh god, what if this bird was a carrier of some disease-

He was turning pale from his thoughts, though meanwhile, Rindou had already taken his silence for agreement. The good thing was that she had retracted her new feathered companion from his immediate vicinity and was tucking the chicken under her arm instead.

"I need to find a place to raise him!"

"You need to get rid of it before it dooms us all," he muttered, eying the animal like it possibly hosted some bird version of the Black Death. "Rindou, return it to those guys. We're not allowed to keep pets on Tootsuki grounds in the first place."

He might as well have been talking to himself for all the amount of attention she was paying to him. Her eyes lit up as an idea came to her.

"I know! A Shokugeki!" she crowed. "I'll go challenge those guys for their 'lil research clubhouse!"

"And what are you planning to stake in return?" he asked, vaguely curious, also wondering why he was still humoring her by continuing with this line of conversation.

She pointed to her chicken.

"I'll stake him!"

"I don't think anyone'd be willing to wager their entire research society in exchange for one measly chicken…which, if I may add, originally belonged to them in the first place before you saw fit to liberate it," Eishi pointed out slowly.

Rindou frowned a bit – dang it, he was right.

"I'll put up the chicken…and myself?" she asked, though speaking aloud more to herself than actually to him. She nodded, making up her mind there and then. "Yep. If I lose, those guys will get the chicken and I'll join their little boys' club – that's more even now, right? But if I win, I'll get the chicken and the clubhouse to raise it in!"

All this fuss for that scrawny bird. Eishi was flabbergasted, but he knew better than to try to get in her way. He also had no doubt that she would win her duel, watching as she skipped right out of the library now that she had a good idea of what she wanted to do next. He almost felt sorry for those poor chumps – they were going to lose their research group to her whims, and to further add insult to injury, their place was going to be used to raise the chicken which they had intended to turn into dinner.

Rindou waved cheerily at her bemused friend in farewell.

"Thanks, Tsukasa! Smell ya later!"

The next day, he would learn that she had indeed won her battle (no surprise there), and that she would happily get to house her chicken, whom she had decided to name Yakitori. (Really?) She would proceed to raise the young bird to a robust adult within the next few months, and then, one day-

"…What do you mean, 'you ate it?!'"

She shrugged, not the least affected by his incredulous question.

"He's a chicken! Of course he's for cooking and eating!"

He just looked at her, dumbfounded.

"In that case, why even did you save it those months ago?"

"'Coz he hadn't reached his full potential back then, of course! Yakitori's a good bird, very very good, yummyyyy bird~" …Was she salivating? "It'd be a waste to eat him before he's fully grown! He had to level up first!"

He wanted to facepalm. Her sense of logic was making his brain do loop de loops. And more importantly…

"…Did you at least deworm it first? Are you really sure it's rated for human consumption?"

"Oh geeze, I already ate him and nothing happened! You're soooo weird, Tsukasa. Always worrying about the strangest things! Heh."

"…I really don't want to hear that coming from you."


::owari::


Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Oh-ho. I was really pleasantly surprised by the unexpected number of readership (and fellow fans) for this pairing! Good going! This ship is not dead in the water, after all!

To all the readers (as well as the lovely anons whom I cannot PM privately to respond to your reviews), thank you so much for your kind and encouraging feedbacks. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter as well, since this upload can also be partly accredited to you guys for motivating me to write (and post) it at light speed, haha.

Do let me know if you have any questions about the plot, and I'd be delighted to address/discuss them!

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Last but not least, the timeline for this installment is set during their first year of high school, FYI. I wanted to establish/explore this comfortably companionable, easygoing nature of their friendship, since everything really starts evolving from there, after all.

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And yes. Rindou made yakitori out of Yakitori, just in case some of you really needed/wanted the confirmation. It was really delicious!

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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-sllebswap