Welcome back to chapter 7 everyone. Thank you all for reading up to now. Chapter 7 will start the biggest deparcher from the source material yet. I hope you all enjoy reading. I was going to start this chapter with a Q&A section, but I have not yet received questions to answer. If you want to know anything about me, or the story, either post a question in the reviews or PM it to me and an answer will be at the beginning of the next chapter.

Also, thank you to my Beta Reader: Rafaael20

Chapter 7: Old Wounds

In the intervening days, things calmed down from the hectic chaos of the Autumn Elections. The residents of Polar star settled back into a rhythm of the days. Soma, being the winner of the elections, had no shortage of Shokugeki requests from jealous first years. He only had time to win two of them before the next major challenge of their first year. It was time for the Stagiaire.

"What's that?" Soma asked Erina

"The Stagiaire is the next step of our training. For the next two weeks, we will be sent to different places in the food industry to get practical experience."

"Oh, so we just have to perform well in the kitchen? Piece of cake."

"It's not that simple. We will be judged on our ability to leave 'a lasting mark' wherever we are sent. Remember, we represent the school."

"A lasting mark huh…" Soma trials off

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Right!"

The time came and Soma was given his first Stagiaire location. As Soma was waiting in the train station, he was greeted by someone he didn't expect.

"Yukihira?"

"Oh, hey Hisako! Been a while."

"Why did it have to be you?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"You're still close with Erina-sama. I couldn't be around her after my failure."

"Don't be like that, Erina is worried about you."

"She is? No. It doesn't matter. Erina-sama demands perfection, and I failed."

"She doesn't care about that. You're her friend. She cares about you."

The two continued to talk on their way to their destination, a restaurant called Mitamura Weastern Style Restaurant. Once they got there, they weren't exactly impressed by what they saw. It was a little diner, which made Soma excited to get back to his element, but it also had the important feature of a hoard of customers leaving angrily. They had to figure out what this was about.

"Hey! What was that all about? They didn't look too happy." Soma asked

"Oh, hello. Welcome to Mitamura. Sorry about that. With the new train station opening up, we have been swamped with people looking for quick food between trains. We've really been having trouble keeping up with the workflow."

"Well, We're here from Totsuki, and we'd be happy to help you out." Hisako added

"You're the Totsuki students?"

"Yes, I'm Yukihira Soma."

"And I am Arato Hisako. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Totsuki students… CAN I HAVE YOU"RE AUTOGRAPHS?!"

"Huh, our autographs?"

"Yes! You guys are Totsuki students! You're bound to become world famous chefs one day!"

'Uh, sure, I guess."

The two sign an autograph for the excitable chef owner and it was time to get to work. The two young chefs changed into their Mitamura uniforms and were getting ready to get started when it began. The lunch rush came in and the battle began.

It wasn't easy, but they managed to get every served. They were recovering from that and cleaning up, when they heard the next rush about to arrive. When they finally did, Soma shocked everyone by taking charge of the situation immediately. Eventually they got through the hectic day, much to everyone's relief.

The next couple days went by just like the first, with very hectic days of barley getting orders done on time. At the end of the 3rd day, during cleanup time, Hiasako noticed Soma staring out the window.

"Hey, who said you could slack off?"

"Is this enough?" Soma responded, ignoring her question.

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"We're supposed to leave a visible accomplishment while we're here. Will this be enough?"

Soma just went back to cleaning up, He was just going about the motions, lost in his musings. The next morning, Hisako was doing the sales reports as per Mitamura's instruction. She was looking at the reports thinking how great Mitamura was doing since they showed up. That's when the realization hit her: What would happen after they left? As if On queue, Soma appeared behind the pinkette.

"You realized it too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we have to do something to get this place in shape."

At that, Hisako called an emergency staff meeting. They talked about how they could get the restaurant back onto a more workable track. After scraping the idea to cut down on the menu, they arrived at the decision to make the restaurant reservation only. This had the desired effect and the restaurant could continue on, but better.

After the last day was over, Soma and Hisako exited to find a woman dressed in a black suit. She congratulated the pair on passing the first Stagiaire location and that they'd get their next location in the morning. With that, the two headed back to their hotel to await their next challenge.

Soma rolled up to his next location. To say he was surprised when he received the information would be an understatement. He was assigned at Shino's Tokyo, Chef Shinomiya's new restaurant. He remembered how strict he could be from training camp. Soma would certainly need to watch himself here. As her entered, he was greeted by the man himself.

"Good morning Monsieur Yukihira. Looks like I got the winner of this year's Autumn Elections. Lucky me."

"Good morning Shinomiya-sama. I count myself lucky to be able to learn from you."

"Flattery gets you nowhere kid. Now start cleaning this place up."

"Yes sir."

Soma got to work sweeping the place up. After some small talk, Soma got to know the rest of the staff. Able, the head chef of Shino's Tokyo, Gao, the service manager and Lucie, the meat manager. Able seemed to be pretty tightly wound, while Gao and Lucie were pretty nice and chill. After a few hours finishing up the interior of the new location, it was time to get ready for the pre-open that would start that night.

Once the pre-open started, Soma was immediately caught off guard by how quiet the kitchen was. The only sounds that could be heard were that of pans sizzling, and vegetables being chopped. Soma made the mistake of being just a little two loud when setting down some mixing bowls.

"No unnecessary sounds in the kitchen. You do that one more time and you're fired." Shinomiya scolded.

"Yes chef, sorry."

This was totally different from the kitchen chaos that Soma was used to in the diner. Every movement was perfect, and everyone there was a well oiled cog in the machine that was the kitchen. Well everyone except for Soma. Instead, he was the squeaky cog holding everyone back. Able made his disdain for the redhead clear that night.

After closing, Soma was instructed to sleep on the couch in the staff room. While laying down, he had plenty of time to reflect on just how he had messed up. That night, Soma slept very little, instead, he used this free time to study French cooking and the recipes for the pre-open. He was determined to stop being a liability.

The next morning, when Able and Lucie came in, Soma has some questions about French cooking.

"No! I don't have time to be answering all of your stupid queations. And you don't have time to be asking them. We need tonight's ingredients washed and prepped. Get-"

Able was cut off when Luciepointed behind Soma. All of the day's ingredients had al;ready been washed and prepared. Able was surprised to say the least. This kid had done all this himself?

"Fine. Lucie, answer whatever questions the kid has."

"Oui."

Soma had all of his questions answered during the time before the pre-open. He had been a little better today than yesterday, but it still wasn't good enough. This same routine played out for the next couple days, with Soma getting better and better in the kitchen. By the last day of the pre-open, Soma had the techniques he needed almost mastered. He had even been allowed to finish one of the recipes. He had really come into his own that week, and Shinomiya was impressed.

"Chef Shinomiya.'

"What is it Monsieur Yukihira?"

"Could you do me favor?"

"And just what might that be?"

"I want to present a dish for the new menu item competition tonight."

"Oh really? I suppose I might allow it. You've impressed me this week."

"Thank you chef, you won't regret it."

Later that night, after everyone had gone for the night, it was time for the competition. The cooking began and it was heated. Everyone really wanted this, but Soma needed this. This was his only chance to fulfill Totsuki's requirement. It was about an hour and a half later when everyone except for Soma had given their dish to Shinomiya to be judged. When he walked out of the kitchen, the smell hit everyone instantly. Shinomiya was intrigued when Soma presented a whole roasted quail. It was true that quail was a popular French food, but what had this young chef done to it?

Shinomiya finally took a bite and was even more surprised when he found it was stuffed with risotto. This was a very unexpected turn of events indeed.

"You've surprised me Yukihira. This is an exceptional dish, however, it's too pedestrian the way it is. Let me show you how i'd make this."

And so he did. He spent the next couple of hours refining the dish for the menu with Soma. Once they were done, Shinomiya saw the fiery young chef off."

"I know you can make the first seat kid. Go for it, and don't stop until you make it."

"Thank you chef. I'll see you next time."

Some left that night, having passed his Stagiaire, even after it seemed he would fail under the French master. Soma also picked up a lot of new styles and techniques he could use to hone his cooking even more. Soma would truly be a force to be reckoned with.

With the Stagiaire finally over and everyone back at Totsuki, things settled back down for a bit. This being totsuki though, the next challenge was just around the corner. After a brief lull in the battleground that was the world's most prestigious culinary school, it was finally time for him to meet his next challenge to overcome. The Elite 10 Council, so he could finally make sure Erina would want to be seen with him.

"Ok Soma-kun, today is the day you meet the entire Elite 10, and I know you want to make it into the 10 as soon as possible, but please, DO NOT start anything. No challenging them."

"You know I can't promise that."

"Please. I'm working on a plan to get you onto the Council. Please, for me, Don't challenge them yet."

"Tell me what this plan of yours is, and I might go along with it."

"I'm still working out some of the details, but the basic plan is for me to move up to 9th seat, then get you to the tenth."

"But I wanna be ninth. You can stay tenth."

"As if Yukihira! I'm still better than you! Learn your place. Besides, you have to start somewhere, and I've been meaning to move up on the council."

"So you plan to challenge the ninth seat?"

"In due time, yes. The problem is finding a way to get him to accept your challenge. You don't have anything worth him risking his council seating over."

"Who is the ninth seat anyway?'

"His name is Eizan Etsuya. He's a 2nd year and a real slippery snake. He is easy enough to beat as long as you know how to get around his dirty tricks."

"Tricks?"

"Yes, he likes to add ingredients to his dish that will consequently cause his opponent's dish's flavor to be messed with. There are a few ways around this however. One would be to simply finish first so that his dish can't really mess with yours. The 2nd is to include a palate cleanser as part of your dish. The last is a bit trickier, but it's to know ahead of time how he is going to mess with your dish and adjust the flavors accordingly so that his dish ends up enhancing yours instead of ruining it. "

"Huh, fascinating."

"Come on, it's time to go."

Finally, it was time for the meeting. In a field of cherry blossoms, the eight students that got passed the Autumn Elections preliminary round met with the Elite 10.

Tenth Seat: Nakiri Erina

Ninth Seat: Eizan Etsuya

Eighth Seat: Kuga Terunori

Seventh Seat: Isshiki Satoshi

Sixth Seat: Kinokuni Nene

Fifth Seat: Saito Somei

Fourth Seat: Akanegakubo Momo

Third Seat: Megishima Tosuke

Second Seat: Kobayashi Rindo

First Seat: Tsukasa Eishi

The meeting went rather smoothly. They had some tea along with some pastries that the 4th seat made. Soma actually listened to his girlfriend and didn't start trouble, despite really wanting to as Kuga's arrogance was starting to annoy him. The meeting ended with the Elite 10 welcoming the new generation to Totsuki.

Once everyone was gone from the field, only Soma and Erina remained. They stood around for a while, making sure no one was around, before Erina spoke.

"Come to the mansion later, I'm making dinner."

"Ooo, a dinner cooked by THE Erina. What's the occasion?"

"I'm thanking you for bringing Hisako back, and celebrating that Hisako is back. Just come to the mansion and don't back talk me."

"Yes your highness." Soma said with all the sarcasm he could muster.

Later that night, Soma showed up to the mansion as he was asked. At this point, he's been there so many times that the guards don't even question him anymore. Walking into the large mansion, he is greeted by Senzaemon.

"Good evening young Yukihira. Once again, congratulations on winning the Elections. I would expect nothing less from the person Erina has taken a liking to."

"Thanks Gramps. Where's Erina at?"

"She's just finishing up dinner. Come, we'll go to the dining room and wait."

And so they did. In the dining room, he found Hisako, Alice, and Ryo waiting too. Before long, Erina had come out with a wonderful dinner of Coq Au Vin. Having been cooked by Erina, of course it was amazing. The Dinner went by pretty uneventfully, mostly just idle chatter in between foodgasms. After dinner, Erina brought Soma into a sitting room to talk.

"Listen Soma-kun, I'd like your help on my booth for the Moon Festival."

"Really, you want MY help? Are you sure you're really Erina?"

"Yes, idiot! I just want my boyfriend at my booth. Is that so wrong?

"Well no, but won't people get suspicious if they see me at your booth?"

"That's why you'll be in the kitchen. No one will see you. The only Kitchen staff are going to be me, you, and Hisako. If anyone does see you, Well, I don't know. I'll come up with some excuse."

"Hmmm." Soma thought for a few moments.

"I got it. If people ask, I challenged you to an unofficial Shokugeki with the conditions being that I I won, you'd have to give me an official shot at the 10th seat, but If I lost, I'd have to agree to work at your booth. And people can draw a conclusion as to the result since I'm working there."

"I guess that could work if I don't come up with anything better. So I guess that means you'll help?"

"Of course."

"Ok, can you do me one more favor?"

"Anything."

"Could you give your dad a call and see if he can come to my-... our booth?"

"Yeah, of course, this'll be a great opportunity to show him how much I've improved.'

"No, how much I"VE improved." Erina corrected

"People are coming, and paying good money to eat MY cooking. You and Hisako are there to support me."

"Oh whatever. Fine, I'll call the old man,"

Moon Festival: Day 1

With preparations for the booth finally complete, day 1 of the festival was here. The tasks were relegated as such; Erina was the head chef, Soma was the sous chef, and Hisako would wait tables thanks to her newfound experience from the Stagiaire. Normally, Erina would make Soma wait tables, but he couldn't be seen, So she had to have Hisako do it. They had a few hours until their first reservations, which despite the festivals starting at 9am, weren't unti; 4:00 that afternoon. They spent that time prepping ingredients and setting table placements.

The time comes to start serving guests as 4:00 rolls around. After greeting some of her guests, Erina goes back to the kitchen where Soma is waiting to begin.

"Get ready, orders should be coming in soon. Remember, this won't be like Yukihira's. I'm in charge here, and you do what I say, got it?"

"Of course Princess." Soma says, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Before Erina could banter back, Hisako entered the kitchen with a short list of orders.

"You remember the recipes I gave you?"

"Yes boss."

"Good, Let's get to work."

The pair moved through the kitchen with grace. Soma was surprisingly quiet, much to Erina's delight. Must be from his time at Shino's she figured. But that was a good thing, it let her focus on the sounds of her cooking. The only sounds that echoed through the kitchen were the sounds of knives on cutting boards, and sizzling pans, with the occasion request for prepped ingredients from Erina. The two worked together masterfully, making short work of day one.

Over with some of the others, Takumi and Isami's pop up Trattoria Aldini was doing great, Ryo and Alice were fighting each other most of the day leading to below average sales for their booth, and the Polar Star dorm's booth lead by Isshiki was doing fine. The first day of the Moon festival went by, and Erina and crew were cleaning up the booth.

"Great Job today, you acted much more professionally than I expected."

"Yeah, Chef Shinomiya really made sure that was drilled into my head. I figured that since this was a gourmet setting, I'd use my Gourmet kitchen practices."

"Well keep it up then, that was some good work. By the way, when is your dad coming?"

"He said that he should be able to make the last day of the festival."

"Perfect. I'll be ready for him."

"By the way, that reminds me, you haven't really told me about your parents."

Erina get's visibly uncomfortable at his words. She really didn't want to think about him right now.

"I… I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"That's fine. If it's painful for you, you can tell me when you're ready."

The rest of the night passed in relative silence. Hisasko finished up calculating their profit, of which they made a pretty good amount of, but of course they did, this was Erina after all, and Erina and Soma finished cleaning the kitchen and the dining area.

Moon Festival: Day 2-4

The next few days of the moon festival went by very similarly to the first for our favorite young couple. The two were as in sync as ever, getting preparations done and getting food out to the important guests that would come to Erina's booth. Erina was also enjoying the time spent with Soma. Cooking with him was quickly becoming her favorite activity.

With her booth's success guaranteed, The next day would bring the biggest challenge, to impress her boyfriend's father.

Moon Festival: Day 5 (Final)

The long and arduous week of the moon festival was finally coming to a close. On the final day, Erina would face her biggest challenge. That night, her idol would be coming to eat at her booth, and it was up to her to impress him. The day went by as usual, with Soma and Erina impressing with their team tactics. Towards the end of the night, there is only about an hour left until the festival closes.

"Soma-kun, where is your father? At this rate, we'll have to close before he gets here."

"He actually just texted me, he said he'll be here soon."

About 15 minutes later, Erina is out in the dining area when she hears the front door open. Thinking that it must have been Soma's father because there was no one else on the guest list that hadn't shown up yet, Erina starts walking over to greet him. The sight she sees instead is one that instantly horrifies her. Nakamura Azami, Erina's father was here.

"Hello Erina. It's been a while, hasn't it."

Erina couldn't even respond. She was frozen in fear, The man that had tortured her as a child was back. Suddenly, the night that was supposed to be a dream come true for her, turned into a living nightmare. Hisako, looking over, see's what's going on and rushes over.

"Nakamura-sama, I'm sorry, but this is a reservation only booth."

Ignoring her, Azami walked into the dining area and began to speak louder. '

"Look at these fools. None of these cretains are worthy of your cooking. Only those with the most distinguished of palates can partake in your level of true gourmet cooking."

He continued to monologue, ignoring the protests from the patrons asking just who in the hell he thought he was.

"Erina, your father is hungry, fetch me a menu. This table looks open."

He walks over to the table reserved for Joichiro and takes a seat.

"That table's for-" Erina says quietly, but her words die in her throat. She still can't cope with this man being here.

Back in the kitchen, Soma wonders what all the racket is about. He isn't supposed to l;eave the kitchen, but he is intensely curious. Soma reasons that he has already needed to use the excuse the couple came up with, so it would be fine. When he leaves the kitchen, he can hear Erina quietly sobbing to his left, and to his right, he can see a man he doesn't recognize sitting at the table reserved for his father. He didn't know what happened, but he had a feeling the mystery man was the cause, so he walked over to confront him.

"What exactly happened here?" Soma asked him with a tone of anger

"And who might you be?" Azami asked backed in his usual unamused tone

"I'm the sous chef here, now, I asked you a question, didn't I.?"

Ignoring Soma, Azami speaks to Erina.

"I've lost my appetite. You really should be more discerning in your choice of friends, Erina."

Azami walks out, leaving the whole room in stunned Silence. Soma rushes over to Erina to see if she's ok, completely throwing out any sense of pretending they weren't close, this was far more important than that.

Outside, Azami is met by the Director, Senzeason. There is a very stern look in his eye.

"Azami, you have been exiled from the Nakiri family and were banned from ever entering Totsuki grounds again. Leave at once!"

"But you see old man, I can't do that. You remember that the Elite 10 Council holds most of the power here right? Take a look at this here." Azami says, holding out a piece of paper.

"This is a resolution sponsored by 6/10 members of the council. It says that you should be relieved of your position and I should be installed as Totsuki's new headmaster. That's where you failed. You were so foolish and arrogant that you never considered the fact that the Elite 10 could turn on you. It becomes official tomorrow. Totsuki is now mine."

Azami once again walked away, Leaving the elder Nakiri stunned. How could he let this happen? His own Elite 10...turned against him?

It was 10 minutes later when Joichiro showed up. By then, Azami was long gone, and Senzaemon had left to God knows where. He entered the booth with a wide and goofy grin, completely oblivious to what had transpired just minutes earlier. He then noticed all of the gloomy faces and Erina sitting with her head in her hands, seemingly crying.

"Now what happened here? Soma, what did you do?"

Erina quickly looked up, her red, puffy eyes giving away that she has in fact been crying.

"S-Saiba-sama!"

"I thought I told you years ago to knock it off with that 'sama' stuff. I'm not anybody that special. It's been a while, hasn't it kid?"

"Y-yes."

"Now, what happened here? Did my stupid son do this?"

"Hey!" Soma interjected

"N-no. This is s-something else. C-can we talk in the k-kitchen please?"

With that, the quartet of Soma, Erina, Hisako, and Joichiro head into the kitchen. There will be no more service tonight, and the guests are OK with that after what just happened. Back in the kitchen, the group got to talking about what happened. Erina gave her full story to Soma and Joichiro about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Of course, Joichiro knew all of this already. But Erina couldn't have known that he knew. What none of them yet knew though, was that Azami would soon be the director. Soma was shocked at what he had heard.

"That bastard. Erina, I promise you that I will NEVER let him do anything lie that to you again. I will protect you, no matter that cost."

"Thank you." Erina says as she pulls Soma into a tight hug.

Normally, Joichiro would have teased the couple relentlessly, but this was not the time. This was a serious matter.

"So dad, how long are you staying in Japan?"

"I leave again on Monday."

"Care to stay at Polar Star until then?"

"Sure, why not."

"Erina, would you like to come back to Polar Star too?"

"No, not tonight. I have to talk to my grandfather about this. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Ok, Love you."

"I Love you too."

It took everything Joichiro had not teased his son. No, there would be time for that later. For now, he would go back to his old dorm and talk to the old man in the morning.

The next day was rough. That's when Azami announced that he was the knew director as per the Elite 10 Council. Soma was beside himself with rage, Joichiro was worried about the kind of damage he could do in such an influential position, and Erina was terrified. Since he was now residing in the Nakiri manor, he had already taken control of Erina's life once again. Soma tried to call erina only for someone else to answer saying that she wasn't available, and the gerd wouldn't let him in to see her.

Over the next couple days, things got crazy. Azami started a faction that he called "Central" in order to take full control of the school, 3 of the 4 that voted against Azami's rise to power were removed from the Elite 10, and Soma hadn't heard from Erina at all. At least Joichiro had elected to stay for a while to help stop Azami,

That night, at the mansion, Erina was laying in bed, still lightly sobbing. Earlier that day, Azami had dismissed Hisako from Erina's service, and Erina was already feeling the effects. Being cut off from contact with her boyfriend and her best friend when she needed their support most was very tough for her. Just as she was beginning to accept that she wouldn't have anyone but him anymore, she heard a faint knock on the French style double doors leading to her balcony. She walked over and opened the doors to see if anyone was there.

"Alice!?"

"Shhhh!"

"What are you doing here?" Erina asked, whispering this time.

:"Ryo, Hishoko and I are here to rescue you"

She looks over the balcony to see Ryo holding the ladder steady, and her loyal aide keeping watch for guards. After thanking the heroic trio, Erina wastes no time in getting down the ladder and then bolting into the nearby woods with her rescuers.

Back at Polar Star, Soma hears Fumio call for him through the elaborate speaker system.

"Hey, Soma! You have a visitor!"

Soma comes downstairs to see who could be visiting him at this hour. When he arrives at the front door, he is greeted by Senzaemon. No one had seen him since he "retired" as director, but now he was here to see Soma?

"Oh, hey gramps. What's up?"

"Young Soma, I wish to speak with you in private, if you would come with me please."

"Oh, uh. Sure, I guess."

Soma follows the old man on a short jog through the woods. Short as it was, Soma was not used to doing cardio like this, so he was kind of beat. They came to a small playground where the jacked old Nakiri started doing some pull ups.

"So why did you bring me out here gramps?"

He stops his exercise to address Soma directly.

"Has Erina told you what her father did to her?"

"She did, yes."

"Then I'm sure you know how bad it is that he's back and controlling her again?"

"I am, yes." Soma said with a pained expression on his face.

"You really have changed her, you know. I haven't seen her as happy as she is now since she was a little girl. But now I'm afraid. I don't want her father's influence to revert her back to who she used to be before you showed up. Please, save Erina! Save my granddaughter!" With those final words, Senzaemon goes into a deep bow.

"Get up gramps. No need to beg. I already promised her that I'd never let that bastard hurt her again. Don't you worry. I'll find a way to get her out of that mansion."

"I thank you. You're a good man. Just know, that when the time comes, you have my blessing."

"I appreciate that gramps."

Soma and Sezaemon then part ways. The former director heading for a Nakiri vacation home to unwind, and Soma heading back to Polar Star to formulate a plan.

When Soma arrives at Polar Star, he sees Erina sitting in the foyer with the rest of the residents of Polar Star surrounding her. When she sees Soma, she pushes past everyone else and runs into Soma's arms, eager to embrace the man she loved once again.

So that was chapter 7. How will Joichiro being here a lot earlier change things in the next arc? Tune in next chapter to find out. Don't forget to submit questions for the Q&A!

And one last announcement. I have decided that if this story gets to 500 followers by the time I'm finished, I will do a narration of it in its entirety over on YouTube. I will be making a channel for that later today, So I'll probably post the channel at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if I don't reach 500 followers, I'll still narrate stories I like from right here on Thanks again for reading!