(A/N: There won't be a introduction scene where Souma challenges everyone, gonna skip that since the setting is at evening.)
As Souma was walking, a building came into view. The best way to describe it would be maybe haunted, it didn't seem like a place anyone would imagine to live in. Souma approached the building and went for the door soon after standing in shock at how the place looked. However, before he could grab the door knob, lots of animals burst out of it. Souma had to dodge to the side to avoid them and he had a sweat drop after seeing a girl chasing after the running animals. After the brief scene, Souma continued going inside and was met with the face of an old lady, who seemed to be rubbing her head, no doubt because of the scene before. After awhile, the old lady noticed Souma looking at her and approached him.
"And who might you be, young man?",she asked with a thinking posture. Souma without sparing any time replied quick,"Um, I was told this would be my new dorm for my time here at the academy so I was hoping to meet the warden. Am I correct to assume you are the warden?"
The old lady seemed to observe him for awhile, before replying with a simple nod. After that she added on,"I'm Fumio Daimido, the warden. Before letting you go to your room, I would like to test your abilities, don't worry it is simply something I like to do. It will in no way decide whether you live here or not." Souma smiled at that and asked her for the directions to the kitchen.
"Pick out any ingredients you want, just make something that won't take long." Fumio motioned to him as soon as they arrived at the kitchen. As Souma looked over at all the available ingredients, he noticed that most of them were leftovers. After thinking for some time, he started getting the stove ready, having his dish in mind already. Meanwhile, Fumio was closely looking at him as she expected him to complain about having no ingredients, but was pleasantly surprised to see him quietly get to work. After some time, the dish was done and Souma approached Fumio.
"Here you go, I call it the Improvised Mackerel Burger Meal. Hope it satisfies you." Souma said smiling. Fumio was impressed to see such a meal made just from leftovers and could already tell that it would be good just from the looks of it. She then proceeded to take a bite, instantly she was in her own fantasies, imagining her younger days.
"I must say this is quite impressive, I didn't expect it to be this good. You are quite the surprise, um... what was your name again?", Fumio asked, realizing she still hadn't gotten his name. The boy replied with a short,"Yukihira Souma, pleased to meet you."
Fumio then went for her pockets and brought out some keys, then she handed Souma one of the keys. "Your room number is 303, don't make too much noise or cause any troubles. I already have had enough with Yuki and her animals."
Souma nodded at her before going up the stairs, all the while Fumio had only one thought in mind "Who are you really, Yukihira Souma?"
As soon as Souma reached his room, he went on his bed laying on his back. He was staring at the ceiling recalling everything that happened today, before he heard a knock on his door. He sighed and got up to see who it was and was shocked to see a man wearing only an apron. The apron boy was smiling at him and Souma just stayed still, not knowing what to do.
"Hello, you must be the new resident. I'm Satoshi Isshiki, and I thought about inviting you for your welcoming part.", said Isshiki with his hands stretched in for a handshake.
Souma shook his hand before telling him to lead. They soon arrived at room 205, as soon as Isshiki opened the door all eyes were now at the two who entered. Souma looked around the room, and could see that the party which was supposed to be for his welcome supposedly, had already started. A girl then approached Souma, and he remembered her as the girl who was just a moment ago out chasing some animals. "Yo, I'm Yuki Yoshino, we were uh, having a party for you, though it seems we already started but don't worry, just relax and join in." said the girl.
Souma sweated a little at that but went ahead and took a seat. On the side he could hear a guy whispering something along the lines of "why is it always my room?" but he chose to ignore it. He was then bombarded with questions by Yuki. "Sorry about that, Yuki let him relax a bit, one question at a time." interjected a fuchsia haired girl.
"By the way, I'm Ryoko Sakaki, nice to meet you." she added on. Souma smiled at their interactions and shook his head,"Ah no its fine, I'm Yuikihira Souma, I look forward to working together with all of you." As they talked, Isshiki attracted their attention and started speaking.
"Ok everyone, since we have a new member. We will take turns bringing out our dishes and let the newbie enjoy it.",he announced with too much enthusiasm. Everyone in the room cheered at that, and Souma could just smile at how excited they were.
"I'm surprised you don't find Isshiki senpai's outfit creepy. We all are used to it but I would imagine that someone new would have questions about it.",said Ryoko nudging at Souma. Souma laughed at that before replying,"Ah it did creep me out when I first saw it but now I'm weirdly enough used to it. It doesn't bother me much any longer."
"Well then, Yukihira try this out, it's one of my best",said a blonde boy. Before Souma could do anything, a black haired boy came in and started talking,"No,no, try mine out first, if you eat something like that for your first memory, it will just leave a bad mark." As soon as he said that the two started headbutting arguing their dish was the better one. Ryoko just sighed at the scene, before informing Souma of who they were. The blonde was Shoji Sato and the black hair was Daigo Aoki. Quietly out the corner of his eyes, Souma saw Isshiki approaching with a dish in his eyes. Isshiki placed it in front of Souma and told him to dig in.
As soon as Souma took a bite of it, he was thrust into his fantasies, the dish was very good. He looked at Isshiki and asked him,"Senpai, this is absolutely amazing, who are you really? Are you in Elite 10?"
Isshiki smiled at that,"Well I'm surprised you have heard of Elite 10, but yes I'm the current 7th seat. If I didn't cook at least that good, I wouldn't even make it to the Elite." Souma smirked at the answer. He was honestly surprised to meet one of the Elite 10 so fast, but he was also at the same time impressed. He was thinking internally about how the old man didn't seem to be lying about the Elite 10 being very talented.
After some talk here and there, he met the other members. The timid blue haired girl was Megumi Tadokoro, the boy with glasses was Zenji Marui and lastly the one with his bangs covering his eyes was Shun Ibasaki. After about hour or so, the party was over and everyone went back to their room. Once Souma arrived back, he looked at the clock and saw that it was still 8. He thought about what he could do for one hour before going to the Nakiri Mansion. After a few minutes, he decided that he could rest for 20-30 minutes. He made sure to set up alarms and went a quick nap, hoping that the old man made sure to keep the coast clear.
[25 minutes later]
Souma woke up to the sound of his alarm and quickly dismissed it. He got off the bed and stretched. He was thinking of taking a shower, before realizing that he had no idea about where it was. He decided against going to ask others as they may already be asleep. With that thought in mind he walked out his room and down the stairs. As he got closer to the door, he saw Fumio-san was still awake, reading some kind of book. Fumio also noticed him and asked him,"Oya, you are still awake? Do you have somewhere to go?"
"Yes, I had some matters to attend to so I had to leave. I apologize if I disturbed you." said Souma with a slight bow. Fumio just waved it off,"Don't worry, just make sure to not stay awake for too late. It's your first day tomorrow, you wouldn't want to be tardy now, would you?" After hearing her say that, Souma left. He then took out his phone to make a call.
"Hello. Ye I will be coming there right now. Have you made sure that no employees will be there to notice me?" asked Souma to the one he called.
"Don't worry, I have told them that they weren't allowed to be around certain areas, so no one will know you came to visit me." replied Nakiri Senzaemon. Souma sighed at that, thinking how it could be seen as just plain rude to tell them such a thing, but he didn't voice it out loud. "Ok then, I will be there in like... hmm, lets see like 20 minutes at most." Souma continued on and ended the call.
Souma then got on his bike which he used to go to most places. It wasn't the coolest looking or expensive but it did its job.
[19 minutes later]
Souma arrived at the gates of the mansion and saw Nakiri Senzaemon waiting for him. He approached him and followed Nakiri Senzaemon. On the way Senzaemon decided to start a conversation. "So what can I expect from you tonight? Is it a new dish or just one of your previous dishes? Either way I won't mind." Souma hummed in thought.
"It will be a new dish, its something that came to me when I tasted the 7th seat's dish." replied Souma, making sure to credit who his inspiration for the dish was.
"Oh, so you have already met and tasted one the Elite 10's dish huh. So how was your first impression?" asked Senzaemon, curious of the young man's answer.
"It was good, definitely top tier but it still isn't what I would classify as best of the bests. Though I shouldn't be quick to judge, after that was just a quick dish he made." Souma replied with a smile on his face. Senzaemon was honestly glad to hear that, and he just nodded at his words.
After a few seconds of silence and walk, they arrived at their destination. Senzaemon's private room, which was highly out of bounds, even for his granddaughters. There was a balcony with tables and chairs, giving a perfect view of the moon and stars. The room itself was more of a kitchen, with all the materials in it. Senzaemon went towards the balcony, while Souma went to prepare his new dish. Senzaemon could only stare as the boy worked his magic, the smell was slowly getting to him. He started remembering the past, the time when he first met the boy.
{Flashback starts}
Senzaemon was at a business party, when all of a sudden a little boy with red hairs bumped with him. The boy fell on his butt and was looking up at him. "I'm sorry about that mister." said the kid, standing up and brushing away his clothes. A second later, a man Senzaemon knew very well came into view. Jouichiro Saiba. Jouichiro looked at the kid and then at Senzaemon and smirked a little.
"Oh what a surprise, Senzaemon-dono, I wasn't expecting you to bump into my son, maybe this is destiny." said Jouichiro laughing a little. Nakiri Senzaemon suddenly was at a loss for words, he hadn't heard that one of his best if not the best student was married and add onto that had a son.
"Jouichiro, I didn't hear anything about you having a son. Don't tell me you just didn't invite me to your wedding." Senzaemon stated with a thinking posture.
Jouichiro composed himself before waving his hands,"Calm down old man, I didn't even invite Gin, my marriage was a small scale one and well this kid, he's only 4. Cut me some slack." Senzaemon smiled at that and then looked towards the kid who seemed to be staring at him and his father. He smiled at the kid and the kid did the same back, and then all of a sudden the boy seemed to have an epiphany.
"Dad, hurry I had to cook, Its your fault for engaging in a conversation with others, and now we will be late."the young Souma grabbed his dad's hand and started to drag him.
"Wait a second Souma, Senzaemon-dono, wanna come see how talented my son is? He might just be better than your granddaughters, you know." Jouichiro told Senzaemon with pride. Senzaemon just smirked at that before replying,"Ha, no matter what my granddaughters will always be the best for me. But, yes it is interesting, I wouldn't mind seeing just how talented the son of "Asura" is."
As they proceeded past the guests and to the kitchen, Souma went ahead first and getting the ingredients and such ready. He started cutting and Senzaemon could only stare in awe as the kid seemed to be extremely talented and a fast one. Senzaemon was mesmerized by the kid's cooking, the smell, the way he handled it, it was all top notch. After some time, the dish was ready and waiters started coming in, taking out the plates for the guests.
"Here mister, you can have some too." said Souma giving Senzaemon some of the food. Senzaemon went to take a bite and was completely stunned by the level of talent this little boy possessed. It wasn't the top of the top yet, but with a few more years, give or take 7-8 years, the boy could potentially reach the top of the cooking hierarchy.
"So, impressed by my son?" asked Jouichiro with a cheeky smile. Senzaemon finished the meal and smiled at the father son duo.
"I must say young boy, even at such a young age, you are already so talented. I have great hopes for you. And Jouichiro you have done well to raise such a talented son. May I get his name?" asked Senzaemon, to make sure he marked his name for the future. "Its Yukihira Souma, he takes his mother's surname, I suppose he likes it better." Jouichiro replied, but only for a brief second, Senzaemon could see a look of sadness in his eyes.
"Souma, can I talk to your dad for a minute, you can continue on with the cooking, I'm sure the guests would love it."Senzaemon said, sending the boy off, before motioning for his student to follow him. They went outside and Senzaemon looked at Jouichiro,"So how long have you been alone?" Jouichiro got what he meant and looked up at the sky.
"His mother passed away just last year, She was his main motivation, not just his but mine too. I suppose its because he wants to feel closer to her that he takes after her surname, but I'm glad our son hasn't given up on cooking. I'm sure she is happy in heaven.", Jouichiro said it with sad look in his eyes and Senzaemon could only nod at his words.
"I see, I feel bad for your loss, but don't let it get to you. Though I didn't have to say that after all her son is doing so great. Your son might one day be the man to change cooking and take it to the next level.",said Senzaemon. Jouichiro looked at him before he got a big smile on his face.
"I can't wait to see his and your granddaughters meeting will go. Though knowing my son, he will most likely impress her God's Tongue.",replied Jouichiro, before going back in to help his son.
Senzaemon looked at his back, also wondering the same thing as him. Since that day he started to meet Souma time from time, sensing his growth. He had also made it his goal to make sure he met his granddaughters, who knows maybe they could fall in love with him and marriage could happen. However, he brushed the idea of marriage aside, not wanting to force them to do so, but it was still a tiny little piece of hope left in him for that to happen.
{Flashback ends}
"Here you go, Senzaemon-san, I haven't named it yet, looking at it, it didn't turn out to be as good as I had in mind but go ahead.",said Souma, bring the old man back from his thoughts. Senzaemon then took a spoonful and tasted it, he was absolutely blown away by it. The taste made him want more, but at the same time he didn't want this 'heaven' to end so quickly. Souma's skill like the last time he remembered was top notch. He finished his meal, all the while Souma made one more dish. As soon as it was done, Souma brought it out to him.
"So old man, what did you wanna talk about? You don't just call me out to cook most of the times. So, spill the beans.",said Souma looking at the man who was eating the meal he made with a satisfied face. Senzaemon, hearing the question, wiped his mouth and then stared at Souma.
"I want you to teach Erina and Alice for me. They both think that they are unbeatable, Erina more so than Alice. I simply wish for you to tone down their arrogance and show the difference in your skills, maybe that will make them try harder.",requested Senzaemon, with a slight bow.
"Hmm, even then old man, I can't have people finding about me, I want to live a simple life. If word got out, that I meet up with the two Nakiri princesses, then forget my secret instead all their fanboys will also be after my head.",replied Souma with a sigh. Senzaemon also thought about it, and it was indeed true, his granddaughters were extremely famous for not just their talent but beauty too and having one boy secretly meeting with them, it would cause a lot of havoc.
"Don't worry, you don't have to do it so soon, and as for meeting with them, you can just meet up like with me. I'm sure those two won't tell others as long as I warn them. So, can you please hear this old mans selfish request.",Senzaemon once again requested, Souma could only sigh. He was thinking about it, to be honest, he didn't completely dislike the idea, but he also didn't want more people to know of his talents. He was a man who didn't like too much attention.
"Fine, fine I will help them, since I have known you for long, I will accept it. However, if my secret gets out to someone other than the two, I will have to leave. As for when I will start, I will have to look over them to find out.",replied Souma, giving into the old man's request. He then looked at his clock, it was already 11.
"Well then old man, I will be taking my leave. Also, I'm looking forward to the other Elite 10, especially the 1st seat.",said Souma, with a smirk on his face as he left. He was looking forward to it a lot, what the best in the academy had to offer. As he got on his bike, he started thinking about his first day, and couldn't wait to see how it played out.