Chapter 50: You Lie in April


Regiment de Cuisine, Final Round

"We shall judge the rebel's course first" Anne announced. Charme and Historie nodded, pulling up Soma's stir-fry appetizer.

"Hrm!" Charme exclaimed, "What is this harmony of spices? I've never tasted such a thing!"

"Garlic, Ginger, Korean Chili paste and flakes, soy sauce, seaseme oil and curry powder" Hayama mentioned while taking in the smells.

"Correct, but you missed one thing" Soma beamed, "One bottle of..."

"My proprietary Apple IPA" Trina finished in shock, "How did you..."

"You left a case in the shared refrigerator" Soma smirked, "And Satoshi brought it with him."

"Hmmph. No matter, it's still a David against my choice of whiskey" Trina dismissed. In reality, she knew that IPA would fair well against her single barrel scotch whiskey.

As the judges continued to eat, they were brought to a scene of Soma playing a violin on a grand stage.

With grace, he played through the "Four Seasons", which was further enhanced when Erina joined in on the piano. Her Peanut Butter Squid course brought in deep and rich notes, adding more complexity to the piece. As the duo, they were on sync; hilarious, since it looked like they were competing with each other when cooking.

Next it was Central's turn to present. Unlike the Rebels team course, Megumi's Ginger Squid and Apple Colesaw clashed in a rap battle with Trina's Wild Boar Rack and Whiskey Apples. A heated contest, yet both were also in sync with each other.

But their course was edged out by Soma and Erina's, losing one vote to two.

"By the narrowest margins, the Rebel Team wins the Regiment de Cuisine!" the announce stated. The rebels cheered in victory, tackling the duo. The rest of the arena was in anguish, thinking of the possible outcomes that would hurt them.

"Fuck, are you kidding me?" Eizan lashed out, "I thought you carpet munchers had this in the bag!"

Slap!

"Watch your mouth, Eizan" Rindou scolded, "You should learn to be graceful in defeat."

"Thanks Rindou" Trina smiled, "Although I didn't expect Eizan to use homophobic slurs, especially when you clearly have a thing for Kuga."

"Wait, what?" Kuga shouted in horror, "Are you pulling our leg, Trina-chin?!"

"I mean, it's kind of obvious that there is-" Trina began to counter before being interpreted.

"Shut up" both Eizan and Kuga shouted in unison. Trina just laughed before she felt a familiar presence.

"Trina Nakiri" Azami said, "I see now that I made a mistake in trusting you."

"For what? Playing a game of chess with you?" Trina raised an eyebrow, "Is it that hard to admit defeat, Nakamura?"

Azami frowned before laughing, "So long as the matriarch supports me, I'm still rightfully a Nakiri."

"Well, the current matriarch is incapacitated" Trina countered, "That means the matriarch pro tempore would be Erina."

There was an awkward silence in the arena, as everyone was confused to what was going.

Except Erina.

"Can I do that?" Erina thought, "Can I really disavow my own father?" Looking towards Trina, she noticed her giving a challenging smile.

"Father" Erina steadily said, "You don't have my support at the present time."

"I see" Azami frowned, "So my own daughter disavowed me in public. No matter, I can always try again with the famed 'Devil's Tongue'."

"What are you saying?" Trina questioned.

"I'm your legal guardian" Azami reminded, "I can pull you out of Tootsuki if I desire. I am taking you back to America."

"Like hell" Trina gritted her teeth. Azami leaned over to whisper to her, discreetly touching her in a way to make her docile.

"I know how to force you under my thumb" he whispered, "If you come willing, I won't break you like I did my own daughter." Trina lowered her head, her eyes were dark. If even she could easily kill this man, she knew she was slowly falling into his trap.

"Get your hands off my pregnant fiancee!" Megumi screeched. That caused a lot of buzz in the arena, with Alice and Erina in shock.

"Trina's pregnant?" Alice whispered, "How?"

"Don't worry about it, Alice" Erina answered, "Right now, our cousin is in danger of being put in a cage."

"Hmph, and what are you going to do Miss Tadokoro?" Azami challenged.

"Shokugeki" she whispered.

"Shokugeki? On what terms?" Azami challenged.

"If I win, Trina gets to stay at Tootsuki. If you win, you get me and her as your personal chefs for life" Megumi countered. Azami smiled at the prospect, but a third voice called out before he could agree to the terms.

"You know Nakamura, I've always known you to be a sore loser" Jouichirou laughed, "If you can't admit defeat so easily, then how I about show you?"

"Meaning?"

"If I beat you in a shokugeki, you allow me to become the girl's legal guardian. If you win, I will become your personal chef."

"..."

"Yukihira-senpai" Trina gasped, "Why would you risk your freedom so quickly?"

"Trina" Jouichirou said in German, "I can't permit that man twisting you like he did to Erina. What you've already gone through is bad enough, it shouldn't get worse."

"But...it was my father's will to have Azami be my guardian" Trina frowned.

"I understand, but I believe your father would've decided differently had he known more" Jouichirou countered, "So Azami, do we have a deal?"

"Of course" Azami smiled, "I've been waiting to surpass you as a chef."

Unfortunately for Azami, today wasn't his day. In an impromptu shokugeki with Jou, Azami was easily beaten. After the dust was settled, the Rebels and former Elite Eleven members met up to pass the torch.

"As of this moment, the Rebel team participants are the new Elite Eleven. Have you agreed on interim seats?" Senzaemon asked.

"Yes" Erina answered, "The first seat shall be myself, the second seat shall be Tosuke Megishima, the third seat is Satoshi Isshiki, the fourth seat is Soma Yukihira, fifth seat is Kuga Terunori, sixth seat is Sango Tadokoro. 7th seat is Akira Hayama, 8th Seat is Alice Nakiri, 9th Seat is Miyoko Hojo, 10th Seat is Nao Sadatsuka, and 11th seat will be...Rindo Kobayashi."

"Oh? I get to remain in the Elite Eleven?" Rindou prodded.

"To finish off the year, yes" Erina sighed, "The selection system for the new Elite Eleven will begin in two months, of course."

"Well, it looks like we will have to work really hard, Megumi" Trina teased.

"They got a lot of work to do" Megumi hummed, "I was thinking of lending them a hand by compiling all the clubs and Research Societies that I beat under the Southern Cross Dormitory banner."

"That means renegotiating again" Trina sighed, "Guess I will need to open my coffers up."

"Not to prod into your discussion, but what are you two talking about?" Soma prodded.

"Nothing much, just what we will do in the next few months leading up to our second year" Trina answered, "Including moving to the new Southern Cross Dormitory."

"Ah, not planning to rejoin the Polar Star Dormitory?" Soma tilted his head.

"Soma, Trina and I burnt a lot of bridges" Megumi shook her head, "We feel its better off starting our own thing then pretending none of this happened."

"I see" Soma thought, "Oh! We can have inter-dormitory cooking contests now with a second dorm! You know, like two sports teams going at it?"

"I didn't think about that, but I'm gain" Trina smiled. And so, everyone in the room began discussing about the future ahead of them.


A/N: And concludes the first part of this three part series. For better or worse, it's been a tremendous journey to get to this point.

Now a few things. First, the creepy bit with Azami is kind of a reflection of my feelings about him in the canon. Dude comes off as a predator with his interactions with Eishi. So the middle bit is a call out. Secondly, Megumi spilled the beans out of anger, since she saw her fiancee being cornered. You don't trespass on Megumi's territory. Finally, I know the pregnancy bombshell was treated rather light, but I didn't want to make it a focus point in the final chapter. Her pregnancy and motherhood will be up and center in the next two installments.