Title: Peerless

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

Type: OneShot/Drabble Collection (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 4017

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: 08/06/17


Please do not feed the dragon


It was said that for every human being, each would experience in their lives at least one period of time where they would enjoy great popularity amongst their peers.

For the case of Kobayashi Rindou, that period crept upon her during the later years of her high school career in Tootsuki, and then never really went away. Sometimes it ebbed, other times, it surged, but whether she actually sought the attention or not, it was always never too far away from her. Some would say that the redhead led a charmed life, but for the most parts, she was more bemused than flattered by all the interest heaped upon her over time.

Popularity had always been something that puzzled her, just a little. In the first place, she had never been the type to form up in groups, meekly adhering to the natural 'herd' mentality that would ensure safety in numbers so long as one did not do anything to stand out. But she had always been the odd one out, from her blazing red hair to her pointed, striking features to her generous, exuberant personality. She relished in the company of others for sure, was friendly and sociable and liked having fun and enjoying herself, but she was also a free spirit who always did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and that alone ensured that she would never be able to comfortably settle within the narrow expectations and attitudes of social cliques.

To have to conform, to have to follow the trend, to go with the flow, just because everyone else were doing it…that sounded so boring and unbearably tedious to her. She liked to venture down the path least traveled, the road not taken, and that made all the difference.

But sometimes, different did not always mean good.

When she was very young, the other children around her could not comprehend her motivations and why she was like this, what made her tick that she would behave so outrageously. Hence they branded her strange because they could not quite grasp her nature, and things that could not be quickly labeled and easily understood were instinctively regarded as potentially dangerous and promptly avoided. So they kept away from her. It wasn't exactly bullying per se, or a deliberate sort of social isolation – she was too headstrong and irrepressible to stand for that sort of thing, anyway. It was more to the point that the others simply did not know what to make of her, and therefore they gave her a wide berth, the way one would a wild, exotic animal in a zoo, observing from a safe distance away, behind the protective barrier of their social bubble.

Children could be so cruel sometimes, even when they hadn't actually meant to.

But Rindou did not pay them too much mind, nor did she bitterly resent anyone for (inadvertently) contributing to her unique situation. No, she had better things to do, rather than wasting time feeling sorry for herself. To her, the world was her oyster and there were no lack of adventures to embark on, her natural, voracious curiosity constantly seeking to be sated. She was an inquisitive creature and her persistent need to know often landed her in all sorts of situations. But she wandered, and she learned, and she thrived.

And Time chugged along.

Then, when she was twelve, she met Tsukasa.

And immediately knew that she had to make him her friend.

Truth be told, Tsukasa also thought that she was strange…but the thing about him that made him stand out from all of the others was that…he, too, was a weird one.

Birds of a feather, flock together…right?

That restless, hungry quality in him that simply refused to be quelled, that refused to accept anything less than perfection…it struck a deep chord of recognition in her.

A-ha. I know you.

This was a guy who was earnestly, frantically, pursuing that glimmer of light in the far horizon, not content to settle for mediocrity or the ordinary. This was an interesting guy. This was a guy whose motivation she understood all too well.

He might seem deceptively mild and meek, but deep within him welled the insatiable, relentless appetite of a monster.

He was a freak like her too.

He just hid it a lot better than she did, or rather, he at least tried to be more subtle about it…though perhaps that was just his low blood pressure masking his actual personality and intent. Unlike her…who never really bothered to hide or pretend to be otherwise. Strangely enough, they made a great team, and their mutual promise stuck them together as they strove for the top. Growing closer, knowing each other inside out, becoming best friends, those were but only an expected, natural progression of their ever evolving relationship.

He still thought her as peculiar and as bewildering as the first day she had barged in on him and insisted that they would be friends. He still thought her something mysterious and something that he would likely never really quite understand. She was downright impossible for him to ignore, and after a while, he simply resigned himself to the fact that this girl-woman possessed a very unsettling, strange influence over him. But she was his friend though, and she always worked in tandem to support his endeavors – they were partners and no matter how outrageous she got…she didn't give him anxiety.

That alone meant something, even though he had not quite understood it himself…

Then third year came, they finally ascended First and Second Seats respectively…and Rindou suddenly became very popular.

To be more accurate, it wasn't that the people around them suddenly woke up one day and discovered all of Rindou's…uh, virtues. No, it was more like she came back from spring break with an unexpectedly developed appearance that was also very pleasing to the eyes, and abruptly, she became a lot more likeable and enjoyable to be around.

By their basal nature, human beings had always possessed such vain, superficial desires and yearnings…


That day after the meeting with the other Elites, Rindou was in a noticeably cheery mood. She had been that way throughout the entire discussion, actually, even when she usually found this sort of thing quite dull and not entirely to her tastes. Eishi really envied her sometimes. She always seemed so energetic and he really wanted to know where she got all that vigor from so that he could steal some of it for himself. He probably needed it more than she did, since it seemed to him that he was doing most of the work out of two of them, anyway.

"What's up with you?" he had asked with halfhearted curiosity as he shuffled some papers around and tried to get everything into some semblance of order. The others were slowly making their way out of the conference room, though some like Isshiki, Kuga and Kinokuni were still at the table.

"I've got a Shokugeki~" the redhead sang, her slit gold eyes sparkling with excitement. It had only been one month into the school year and already she was bored silly. Not a lot of people wanted to challenge the members of the Elite Ten for obvious reasons and there were virtually none who were willing to take on the top Seats. That left Rindou with pretty much nothing to do…well, other than paperwork, that was, but those she tended to dump on Tsukasa as often as she could. He was starting to wise up faster to her antics lately though, unfortunately…

Eishi wanted to groan at her gleeful reply, already regretting that he had asked.

"…What? And you accepted?" he sounded betrayed. "Why are you always generating even more work for me?"

She just rolled her eyes a bit at his complaint, though before she could speak, Nene interjected, looking at a piece of paper that she was holding.

"Are you sure, Rindou-senpai? I don't see your name on any of the approved Shokugeki battles on the pending list."

"Yeah, that's the mysterious thing!" Rindou commented happily. "I think the guy forgot to put in the request through the proper channels – I'm gonna look for him in a bit to find out. He asked to meet up first."

Eishi looked vaguely hopeful.

"You know, since the request for Shokugeki wasn't made officially, you're well within your rights to ignore it…?"

She snorted at him.

"Fat chance! Have you any idea how bored I've been these past few weeks? There's a whole crap load of nothin' to do and I can feel myself slowly aging and turning grey; that's how hopeless my life is! No way in hell am I turnin' this down!"

The white haired First Seat frowned faintly at her.

"If you're that bored, you may want to consider actually doing your share of work and not foisting them off on me first chance you get!"

It was as if she was completely deaf to his comment. Eishi groaned and barely resisted the urge to plant his face onto the desk. Why did he even bother. She never listened.

"Ahaha," Isshiki chuckled, glancing between the First and Second Seats. "Was there anything about this particular challenger that interested you, Rindou-senpai?"

She shrugged.

"Huh? Not really, I guess. But I s'pose it'd be fun to pass the time or somethin'. 'Sides, he even took the consideration to write me a nice letter of challenge so it'd be really rude not to respond!"

"What nice letter?" her friend demanded, still peeved over the fact that now he was going to have more documents to file. "What does that have to do with cooking in the first place?"

In response, the redhead dug an envelope out from the side pocket of her school jacket. It was slightly crumpled, but on closer inspection, one could see that it was made of a really nice material, obviously chosen with care. Rindou pulled out the letter nestled within its confines, and the creased piece of paper looked just as expensive. She unfolded it to reveal the penned writings within.

"Dear Kobayashi-san," she read aloud for all of them to hear. "You're amazing. I've quietly admired you for quite some time already, but had never actually possessed the courage to approach you until now. Even as I write this letter, I'm filled with nervousness… but if you're willing to respond to my feelings, please meet me at the courtyard after school today. I shall be hopefully awaiting your answer. Sincerely, yours."

Before anyone had the chance to say anything, Rindou slapped the letter on the table.

"See? This has gotta be the nicest, most polite request for Shokugeki I've ever received! How can I not go?"

She stood up and turned to Eishi, sticking her hand out to get something from him.

"Aight, I'm not gonna keep him waiting any longer. Gimme the papers for the Shokugeki, I'll make sure he signs it for sure!"

Eishi protested rather unhappily.

"Will you at least please reconsider? Can't you just write him a letter back and say 'no thanks?' I'll even write it for you?"

The white haired First Seat was just really, really intent on avoiding another stack of paperwork if he could, hence his rising desperation level. He held onto the folder with the proper Shokugeki documents in a death grip, not too willing to relinquish them to Rindou, so they had a brief tug-of-war over the file while the other members of the Elite Ten watched with varying levels of amusement and apathy.

"Let go, or you're gonna be sorry!"

…He let go, mainly because she was the kind who would do exactly as she said and he wasn't foolhardy enough to push his luck. She snatched the necessary forms and scooched off before he could change his mind.

"I'll be back later with the completed paperwork, seeya!"

Eishi sighed in depressed defeat, looking rather grey in the face. Was he going to be able to go home tonight at this rate…

The whole situation looked rather misleading.

The relationship between the First and Second Seats of the current Elite Ten was something that the others tried not to speculate on. Those two obviously knew each other very well and were very good friends…though sometimes one could not help but wonder if there were anything else going beyond the veneer of their platonic friendship.

Terunori finally spoke after a pause, looking a bit incredulous as he did so.

"…Really? Is nobody gonna comment 'bout how Rindou-senpai had just ran off to pick a fight with some poor schmuck who gave her a love confession?"

Isshiki seemed quietly amused, his aquamarine eyes twinkling. Kinokuni was as deadpan as ever. Their First Seat eyed the three, politely confused by the conflicting responses.

"…What do you mean?" Eishi asked, brow furrowing. "It wasn't a Shokugeki challenge?"

Now, everyone was just staring at him.

Five minutes and some thorough explanation later, it became very clear to all in the room that the latest generation of the Elite Ten was being headed by a pair of oblivious individuals who, while extremely powerful and knowledgeable about the culinary arts, knew next to nothing about how the rest of the world operated…

"…Is it really fine to let Rindou-senpai go off on her own like that?" the Sixth Seat asked.

Eishi looked blankly back at the other three, wondering why they were all still eying him like they were expecting him to do something about it. He speared his hand through his hair, already hassled enough with work.

"Yes. Rindou can take care of herself." There was no hesitation whatsoever in his response. No doubt whatsoever. Question addressed, the white haired seventeen-year-old started to flip papers again, mumbling under his breath. "Now, is anyone willing to help me sort out all these stacks of requests from the student body?"

His hopeful question cleared the room out in a hurry. The other Elites were quick to murmur excuses and make their exits, much to his consternation.

Half an hour later, Rindou wandered back into the meeting room with a visibly bewildered expression on her face. Eishi lifted his head from his work to eye his Second Seat curiously, and she passed him the sheaf of papers which she had stolen from him earlier.

"Here – the Shokugeki forms. You just need to sign 'em. Everything else has already been done."

He took the file somewhat reluctantly and slowly flipped through the pages, making sure that all the relevant sections were filled in accordingly.

"So, it really was a challenge?" he asked her. "…Not something else?"

The young woman appeared briefly surprised by his question.

"Oh, you knew?"

…No, actually he hadn't until he had been enlightened by the others, but she did not need to hear about that.

"It wasn't a challenge?" he continued to query, brow furrowing. "Then what are these forms for?"

She shook her head, still looking rather mystified by the situation that had just occurred to her.

"…He said that he liked me. I was expecting a Shokugeki…" Rindou actually sounded a bit put out and baffled.

"…" Eishi set down his pen and gave the other third year his full attention. "…So you went right ahead and asked the guy for one, anyway?"

She nodded and gave him a 'duh' look. "What else was I s'posed to do? I did also thank him though. For liking me, that is…"

He sent her a faint look of disbelief. This woman really was a piece of work. But yet, perhaps a part of him had already guessed as much that she would have more or less responded as such. There was simply no corralling Kobayashi Rindou into anything she did not want to do. No way. No how. If she hadn't even known what was going on, then the likelihood of her accepting a confession was next to nil. Eishi knew her well enough to peg her reaction by now.

"He has an interesting demand though, if he wins," she sounded vaguely fascinated. Eishi's brow lifted.

"He's not challenging you for your Seat?" That was about the sum total of Shokugeki demands constantly thrown at them back when they first climbed up the ranks of the Elite Ten. Those who had barely made the cut all wanted to challenge them for their positions, though it did not take long for that bunch to finally come to the conclusion that their strength as the top best of their level was nothing to laugh at – they were that overwhelming.

"Nope. He's not after my Seat – that's the funny part." Those curious golden eyes of her showed her intrigue. "Ne, Tsukasa, exactly what does a girlfriend do?"

Eishi stilled. He stared at Rindou incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"I know that there's handholding and going home together and whatnots. What else?" she asked, plopping down on the seat beside his to look at him as if he was the foremost expert on the subject…which he was most assuredly not.

He was beginning to turn an interesting shade of greyish purple in shock, stammering the entire while. "…E-Eh? Why are you asking me?"

She shot him a faintly impatient look. "Well, you're a guy, aren't ya? Surely you have some opinion 'bout what a good girlfriend should be like. So spill it!"

He was starting to turn the color of puce. What. The. Hell.

"This is not exactly a one-size-fits-all type of question," he spluttered, trying in vain to stall. "And why do I have to discuss this sort of thing with you?"

But Rindou crossed her arms before her chest, huffing. She wasn't having any of it. "You're the only guy I know whose opinion matters, though mainly 'coz you're so fussy and nitpicky. The sorta girl you'd accept as girlfriend material is probably gonna have to be a perfect angel or paragon of virtue, or something even better. You're the most ideal person to ask!"

His mouth opened, but he had no words. He also felt vaguely offended by her assumption. Where on earth did she get all these strange ideas from? He closed his mouth, and then tried again. Nope. Still not computing. "What?"

Really; he was being about as useful as a chocolate teapot right now. She sighed. "Tsukasa, focus! Oh geeze. How hard can this be?"

"I don't spend my time thinking about girls!" he burst out in protest, a bit ruffled by her hassling. She stared at him curiously.

"Oh, you think about boys instead?" she asked, matter-of-fact. He choked. "Because that's fine too. Whaddya think about?"

Eishi desperately wanted to extricate himself out of this conversation. He felt like an animal trapped in hunter's snare, and was willing to gnaw off his own stuck limb in order to escape. He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Oh, god. Why.

He opened his eyes suddenly and pale lavender hues glowered at her.

"Rindou. Relationships are the least of my concerns right now. I don't think about girls or boys, okay? I think about how to further perfect my cooking, and then I worry about all the work and responsibility I have to take care of as First Seat. Do you think I still have time to ponder other extraneous things?"

Welp. He had a point there. She settled back down, grumbling.

"You're being no help whatsoever, I hope you know that."

He was not the least sympathetic to her complaints. He picked up his pen and started to sign his consent in recognizing this Shokugeki as an official event, wanting to get this whole thing over with as quickly as possible. "Why even are you suddenly so interested in this topic, anyway?" he muttered under his breath. She had never been the kind to bother about this sort of thing in the first place, in as far as he had known her.

"'Coz if I lose this Shokugeki, I agreed to become his girlfriend. So I was kinda wondering exactly what I've signed myself up for."

His pen cracked between his fingers.

"What!?"

Rindou was just frowning at him, none too amused by his reaction. "You seriously need to clean out your ears more, Tsukasa. Are you suddenly hard of hearing or something? Quit reacting to every other thing I say like a half deaf grandma."

He ignored her disgruntled commentary.

"Why would you even agree to this sort of terms-"

"Because I don't intend to lose, of course! I'm gonna win this thing for sure!"

He flipped to the page on the form to see what the offered reparations were. Sure enough, the challenger was requesting for Kobayashi Rindou to be his significant other should he win the culinary battle against her, redefining the meaning of 'to the victor, goes the spoils.' Eishi's temple twitched. In return, he was offering to feed her and bring her anything she wanted to eat for the entire year if she won – basically availing himself to sate her desires, then.

…Somebody had obviously done their homework. It was a fail proof strategy, designed for the sole purpose of capturing the flitting, elusive attention of the Second Seat.

If he was that guy, Eishi knew exactly which option out of the two he would actively influence. He had no doubt that Rindou would win this Shokugeki for sure.

That swell of gnawing irritation grew. The idea of someone else appealing to his best friend was not sitting too well with him, now that he was being forcefully confronted with it.

"C'mon, Tsukasa!" Rindou urged. "Just sign it, quick! Time's a tickin'!"

"As you wish." Looking visibly aggravated, Eishi picked up his pen – the ink cartridge had survived – and wrote something over the document in swift, bold strokes. He flipped the file shut and passed the whole thing back to Rindou. "Here."

The redhead eagerly opened the document only to be met with a sobering sight.

"What?! Tsukasa Eishi, what's the meaning of this?" she screeched.

Written across the front of the document in the neat, flowing script of the First Seat, was just one word.

REJECTED.

"Why?!"

Eishi was reaching for his next folder, slowly returning to his previous state of composed semi-apathy.

"The terms of the challenge are unacceptable," he pointed out. "The demand he made has nothing to do with fulfilling the spirit of Shokugeki, whereas yours is representative of nothing more than plain greed." He raised one hand and lightly flicked her brow in faint reprimand. She wrinkled her nose.

"Oooh, you just wanna ruin this good thing for me!" she complained, rubbing at her forehead. "This was a fine deal! Free food for a year! Everything I want!"

"I'm already feeding you for free, aren't I?" he interjected blankly. "Just how exactly are you intending to test taste my dishes if you're off stuffing yourself elsewhere?"

"And what am I s'posed to tell that guy now?"

"You may tell him that if he insists on pursuing this, then I shall be left with no choice but to respond to his challenge…and my demands for compensation will be certain to make yours look like a walk in the park."

While she was busy frowning at him in displeasure, he swiftly moved to close the subject matter once and for all by setting a stack of paperwork in front of her for her to deal with.

"Here; this is your share. You ran off before I could hand it to you. Just sit here and finish this. Don't think about going anywhere until you do."

She looked at him like he was the most terrible person she had ever met.

"Huh?! You just want me to never have fun and turn into a boring, withered paper pusher like you. I refuse!"

His brow throbbed at her accusation, but otherwise he maintained his calm.

"I don't mind you mouthing off, but please start doing your work or neither of us are going to go home tonight."

"Meanie! Spoilsport! Killjoy! Wet blanket Tsukasa! Boo!"


::owari::


Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Okay, so this is the continuation for the previous chapter…or more like I originally wanted to explore the ideas on here in 'Lean on me,' but as previously mentioned, I never really got the chance to do so because the plot puttered off elsewhere instead.

Like some of you have already pointed out, yes! My Rindou is a (somewhat) innocent cinnamon roll…which is really hilarious to me because everyone just expects her to be some sort of sexy femme fatale obviously. Not that Eishi is any better, mind you. These two are both extremely brilliant in their chosen field…but because they are so very focused in what they do, they sometimes get completely lost when it comes to other supposedly 'normal' functions of life, lol. Now you know why Peerless is a slowburn-ish fic – this couple really takes their time to come around, haha.

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Title for this chapter was inspired by an amusing mental imagery I had of chibi!Eishi picketing stakes with signs saying 'Do NOT feed my dragon' around chibi!Rindou. Some of you wanted more jealous!EiRin so I hope this hits the spot. Jealous!Eishi is really fun to write because he's rather oblivious of his own feelings – well, at this stage of his life at least. Let's hope that he gains a clue sometime soon because Rindou might as well be orbiting in outer space right now for all the situational awareness she has in this matter.

Isn't it great when your OTP is in love and oblivious? Lol.

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Main leads' ages in this chapter: 17 y.o.

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

-sllebswap