Hello guys!

Oh my gosh. Thanks to every person who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed! I can't even express how happy I was! I've been on an adrenalin rush for some time after posting it... You guys are really awesome! Also, I'll answer to the reviews at the end of the chapter. :)

I really hope you will enjoy this chapter as well because I really enjoyed writing it. I tried to correct all the grammatical mistakes as well. I tried to find them all but some may have passed through my vigilance. I apologize if there are any.

Disclaimer : I don't own Shokugeki no Sōma


Chapter 2 : The ignition


Monday

Erina had been feeling uncomfortable all day long. Never had a Monday been so tiring before. Every time, she moved, she could feel people staring. Usually, she wouldn't mind but today, it was unnerving for some reason. Plus, as soon as she looked at them, they turned away. Under normal circumstances, they would just look at her with dreamy or fearful gazes. But now she could feel that something was different in their looks. She didn't know what but something had changed. And she was going to discover what.


Erina was regretting her earlier determination to figure out what was wrong. Maybe she would have been better off not knowing. Was there some way to erase memories? ... Please?

Seriously! What was wrong with them?! How could they even believe that -

Wait, scratch that. Alice had been thinking the same up until yesterday.

Well, she wasn't so sure if she had succeeded in convincing her that she wasn't in love with Yukihira-kun but her cousin had at least accepted not to tease her about it 'until she opened her eyes'. Whatever this was supposed to mean. She still remembered asking her what she was talking about since she was really perceptive. But the red-eyed girl had only smiled mysteriously before leaving her alone in the gardens.

And so, what was supposed to be an hour of peace had passed in the blink of the eye with interrogations going on a merry-go-round in her head. So much for her free time.

But anyway, they couldn't possibly know of the facts Alice had exposed the day before, right? At least not the most important one according to her cousin...

So how did they even come up with that conclusion?

*Flashback*

Erina was hurriedly walking down the halls to get to her car when she heard her name being spoken in a conversation. She instantly stopped in her tracks and listened in - Nakiri Erina didn't eavesdrop, she just listened without people knowing she was there. Completely different.

Now that this is clear, let's focus on the conversation.

"Man, I can't stand this transfer student!" A deep voice said.

"Neither can I. If you ask me, he has nothing to do here. He should just go back to wherever he came from!" Another slightly higher voice exclaimed.

She couldn't help but nod in agreement to that statement. Even if her chest constricted slightly at the thought of him leaving. Deciding that deciphering this feeling could wait until later, she dismissed it and resumed her eaves- listening. Of course.

"But he was a runner-up in the Autumn elections. He's got to have some skills." Another more composed voice interjected.

"Whose side are you on? I thought you couldn't forgive him for stealing Erina-sama away?!" The first one exclaimed.

What? Stealing me? Erina thought. She must have heard that wrong. She must have.

"This and that are two different matters. I'm just recognizing he's got some skills. But I still think he's not worthy of Erina-sama's attention. She must be mistaking about her feelings." The third replied.

"Yeah right." the first replied sarcastically. "The article was pretty clear about the fact that she was head over heels in love with him!" he elaborated.

She was what?! Were those guys crazy?! She wasn't in love with Yukihira! How did they even come up with such a ridiculous idea?!

Wait.

They had talked about some kind of article right? ...

As comprehension dawned on her, the air around her darkened and the atmosphere suddenly felt heavy and tense.

The boys seemed to sense it because they quickly got away from this dark atmosphere, forgetting all about their argument.

Somewhere in a small room, someone shivered. 'Is the AC too strong? I better be careful. Wouldn't want to catch a cold when we are this busy.' And with that thought, they resumed scribbling.

*End of flashback*

That was how it came to this. A bloody article was the cause of this... Who dared to write this... thing... How did they come up with that? She wasn't in love with Yukihira-kun! She didn't even like him... Not that she hated him but he really was a nuisance. But this was beside the point. She wasn't head over heels for him! And whoever had dared to write the contrary will have to pay.

Erina was walking purposefully, surrounded by a murderous aura in direction of the newspaper club room, fully intending to find out the author of this thing until Hisako caught her and reminded her that she still had some tasting to do for some famous restaurant and very little time to get there. Then, she proceeded to drag her - ignoring her complaints - to the car waiting in the parking lot and off they were.

Looks like Erina's revenge would have to wait.


Tuesday

Was the universe against her?

That's what Nakiri Erina was currently wondering. Maybe she had done something bad in her life. Well, she did some things that could be considered bad by other people like destroying Research Societies to build a new kitchen building for herself or stuff like that, but hey, something useless is something useless. No need to keep it. So really, they just didn't realize that it was for their own good. Yeah.

So, once again, why did God allow that to happen?

This morning, she woke up alright, her trip to school was relatively calm, and she made it to the classroom without any incident. Well, the stares and whisperings were still there but since she was going to crush those false rumors as soon as possible, she paid them no heed. Hisako had told her reacting would only make it worse when she had first snapped at them. So she simply sat in her seat and waited for the professor to arrive while thinking about how she was going to punish the person responsible for all of this mess.

Then the door opened. That's when everything went downhill.

Standing in the doorway was the one she wanted to see the least at that moment - or any other moment really, but that was a given (her increasing heart pace when she saw him had to be a sign that this guy wasn't good for her health) - with his infuriating grin and flaming red hair. And to make matters worse, he locked eyes with her.

Great. This was probably one of the few classes she had in common with him. With this rumor and all, she really wanted to keep her distance from him. Even more than before.

But apparently, he had something else in mind. Grinning even more, he walked purposefully towards her and she just knew she wasn't going to like what was going to happen next. She should have stayed home.

"Yo Nakiri!" he said with this stupid grin on his face "I didn't know you liked me that much..." Sōma said with the air of someone flattered surrounding him as his index finger made its way to the tip of his nose and started to rub it. "But you could have told me directly, you know. Though I admire you for proclaiming it to the whole school."

"..." Erina goggled at him, speechless. Seriously, what kind of crap was he spluttering?! How could he even believe this bloody article full of trash... He should have known her enough not to believe this kind of shit. And what was this flattered look for, anyway? Was this guy even sane? Not that she doubted that he was not - he had to be insane to dare go up against her after all - but, seriously?

"You know, I already knew you liked me. Though I didn't think it was that much." Sōma stated, grinning sheepishly.

She couldn't do anything but stare with disbelief written all over her face. But either he didn't look at her properly or he just ignored it because he continued to blabber nonsense.

She could hear the whispers again. Are they going to date now? and Is he that dense not to notice it before? She has loved him for such a long time... Deciding that she no longer wanted to endure this foolishness, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the classroom with her. He started to inquire about her sudden action but she shut him up with a glare that promised pain if he uttered another word.

They passed the professor on their way out and the man fully intended to stop them but after seeing the look on her face, he thought better of it and decided to let it slide.


After rounding one last corner, they finally arrived in the safety of her office - it really was her grandfather's but she had been given permission to use it however she liked when he wasn't there, which happened to be the case right now. He had left on an errand this morning and announced he'd be back the day after. So his office was free for her to use.

But this was beside the line. What mattered right now was deciding what she was going to do with this guy now. She had prevented him from saying any more nonsense by taking him away but this didn't resolve her problem. Actually, it might have worsened the situation.

Locking the door behind them, she let go of him and plopped down on a chair before starting to rub her temples. All of this was starting to give her a headache. This definitely wasn't good for her health she decided as she closed her eyes.

After a little while, she started to feel better. Thankfully, this idiot had been quiet for once. Which wasn't really a good sign actually. This guy just couldn't stay silent. Usually, he would have tried to start a conversation by now. Just what was he doing?

Cracking her eyes open, she threw a look around the room.

Oh, there he was. Admiring the view from the window behind the grand wooden desk. Keeping her eyes on him, she vaguely wondered what was so fascinating about it but then again, even if he explained it to her, there was a high chance she wouldn't get his reasoning as always. This guy was just that weird.

As if he had sensed her gaze, Sōma turned towards her and grinned brightly.

"The view is just awesome Nakiri!" he declared enthusiastically.

Badump

Badump? Erina thought confused for a second.

But she rapidly dismissed it. The fact was that he was the one responsible for all of this mess. If he had never entered Tōtsuki and defied her, she wouldn't have tried so hard to expel him and then people wouldn't have misunderstood her!

Her temper rose with this thought and her heartbeat accelerated. She could even feel her face heating up.

And the guy actually had the nerve to ask "Huh? Your face is really red you know... Are you okay?"

The sound of something snapping could be heard as Erina's eye twitched.

"Am I okay?... You're seriously asking me if I'm okay...?! Of course I'm not! Someone actually published an article about how I'm supposedly head over heels for you and here you are asking me if I'm okay?! And the worst is that you actually had to go and say all this crap this morning! Are you okay in the head? Do you ever even think before doing something? How could you even believe what that article said?! Heck, how did you even hear about it?!"

Immune to her mood swings by now, Sōma didn't even flinch during her explosion. He just had a blank face when he answered calmly "The girls were talking about it this morning while reading the newspaper. And I read it over their shoulders." Then, bringing his hand to his chin, he took a pensive stance "Speaking about it, they didn't seem all that happy... Tadokoro seemed to be on the verge of crying and Yoshino and Sakaki were trying to cheer her up about something..."

This guy is an idiot.

Not that this was anything new - she had known this fact since their first meeting - but still...

Momentarily forgetting her anger, Erina felt sorry for Megumi. Only this idiot had yet to notice that the poor girl was in love with him. Everyone who had seen the two interact knew but this guy was completely oblivious to her feelings... This was really pitiful...

"But I can't understand why she was so distressed over an article about you liking me..." Sōma finished, cocking his head slightly to the side.

All the pity she previously felt flew out the window as annoyance took its rightful place once again. This guy really had a talent for infuriating her with minimal efforts.

"Stop talking about that already. All of this is just a big misunderstanding. They just wrote whatever they wanted." Erina stated sternly. "Which reminds me that I still have to find this poor excuse of a journalist and actually read this article..." she mumbled to herself.

She had been so busy that she hadn't had the chance to yet... Yeah, it's kinda hard to believe but well. In fact, all she knew about it was what she had learned from the boys' conversation the day before. But it was enough to put her in this mood. Seriously. Her? Head over heels for Yukihira-kun? They had to be delirious. And really not attached to life to dare publish that. And she'll help them get sane again or get in a place where they won't ever need to go out of their delirium again... Erina thought as an evil grin spread onto her lips.

"Nakiri, I'm going back. You coming?" Sōma asked suddenly enthusiastic.

Looking at him, she was slightly taken aback by the sight greeting her. All his previous seriousness seemed to be a lie now. He was practically glowing with excitement and could barely stay still, as he clutched his phone in his right hand. Probably a text. Raising a well-defined eyebrow at him, she vaguely wondered what could get him in this mood but soon decided she didn't want to know. She just couldn't get him anyway so why bother. This man was a mystery...

Not bothering to answer, she made her way to the door with him in tow. Unlocking the door, she stepped out of the office and waited for him to step out as well. Once she made sure the door was locked, they started making their way back to their class.

Upon entering, Erina briefly told the teacher she had had to discuss an urgent matter with Yukihira-kun and took her seat when he nodded without waiting for a verbal answer. When she looked at the board to see what the assignment was about, one word caught her attention. Squid. No wonder he was in such a hurry... She thought as she threw a glance over her shoulder. But she had better things to do than think about this lad who was already talking with his fellow dorm mates animatedly.

And so, she resumed reading the assignment. The sooner she was out, the sooner she'd be able to fulfill her duties and the sooner she'd be free to look for the culprit. And actually read this infamous article.


Hisako was actually starting to worry.

Erina was shaking quite violently as she read the newspaper. She had it in a death grip and if it could talk she didn't doubt it'd be crying for mercy right now. A little more and the pages would surely be torn. Not that Erina seemed to care.

Maybe she shouldn't have given her this newspaper after all, she thought as Erina stomped angrily towards her room, retiring for the night. If fury had a face, it would be hers... And she hadn't even told her about the newest rumor yet... Hisako thought as she glanced at the corner of the newspaper sticking out from the trash can. It almost seemed relieved now...

Tomorrow. She'd tell her tomorrow.


Dear grandfather, I hope you'll find it in yourself to forgive me for not having a behavior fit of the Nakiri household and actually come visit me when I'll be behind bars. I'm going to kill someone.


And cut!

I hope you enjoyed it. :) In next chapter, I will write this infamous article. I'll try to update next week though it will depend on my inspiration. I already have it pretty much set up in my head but I still have to write my ideas down.

Anyway, thanks for reading! :D

Answers to reviews :

Guest : My bad. I made sure to correct it. :)

Theblackbird123 : I'm glad you liked it :) Hope this was fast enough. Thanks for the review!

Justinsj5 : I hope this chapter was to your liking as well ;) Thanks for reviewing

Exercariver : Thank you so much for your review :D I hope you liked this chapter as well. Thanks again!

| Hypocrisy | : Hey! Thank you sooo much for the review. She sure will XD Sōma is just like a trouble-magnet XD Trouble rise all around him and he's always caught in the middle of it all. I hope the wait was worth it ;) Feels like we switched roles XD

Japonis : Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Skyyy209 : I hope you liked this development. Thanks for reviewing :D

raydark182 : Thank you! I just love Sōma x Erina. I can't really picture him with anyone else. Though, everyone's free to like another pairing better. I hope you enjoyed it :D Thanks for the review!

Eramis8 : More denial coming up next chapter! This one was to set the... setting lol. Thanks for reviewing :D

Sorina : I can't say this one was that cute but well. Maybe it was? Lol XD Anyway, Thanks for the review!

Till next week! (Hopefully)

Ja ne