background: Renaissance features the next generation of jewels at Totsuki. i have absolutely no endgame ships in mind. please feel free to ask qs or provide insight about any of my ocs and potential endgame headcanons. i'm also drafting a post-grad story for the 92'ers to provide context for what happens in this one, but writing two fics in different time periods at once is a bit of a doozy. if this goes well the pieces should all fit together, but we'll see lol

At fifteen years of age, Marui Sena already had the World Gourmet Organization wrapped around her pinkie finger. Born with her mother's imagination, her father's erudition and a generous serving of her own ingenuity, Sena's mind was always above cloud nine.

In the mornings, she attended Yoshino Yuki's evolutionary bio and biochem seminars at UTokyo. After lunch, she cheerfully waved goodbye to her mother and then took the subway to the WGO building downtown, where she would spend the afternoon with her father and laugh silently when people referred to him as bookmaster. Sena doubted she'd ever heard any of his subordinates call Marui Zenji by his actual name.

Now, being the daughter of two highly accomplished individuals with eleven degrees between them was an enormous blessing by any means, but for Sena, there was no need to use her family's prestige for clout. She'd already proved her prowess a hundred times over with her cooking.

The Totsuki high school division transfer test was painfully easy on so many different levels. She aced the written portion with her eyes closed, because after spending her whole life either cooking or reading about cooking, absolutely nothing could faze her. And besides, the only reason why she hadn't enrolled in the middle school division at Totsuki was because she'd been working as a WGO data analyst for the last four years.

Then came the actual dish.

Sena mentally scrolled through the dozens of recipes she'd developed and carefully evolved in her parents' kitchen. Forty-five minutes later, the overseer was prostrate after a single bite of her duck coq au vin. Tucking her acceptance letter into her purse, Sena chewed on the stem of a mint leaf and weaved through the depressingly untalented crowd of rejected heirs.

Before long, she had bypassed the main academic complex and stopped in front of Legislation. The current eighth seat and a childhood friend of hers had mentioned the existence of a library whose contents were privy only to the members of the council and that he would get her into the archive if she wanted. She figured she'd just take a look around before she was invited to join the Elite Ten, because there was no way her name wouldn't be on one of the ten wooden boards in the lobby before the end of her first year. Sena entered the dark building — all stainless steel and glass — but she was stopped no more than five feet past the double doors.

"What're you doing here?"

She peered into the shadows, trying to identify the figure lurking in front of her. The boy took a step forward and his features were thrown into relief.

He was tall and ridiculously good looking, with a swimmer's broad shoulders and narrow hips. His short raven hair was windblown into a careless side part, a few locks jutting off his angular hairline. The boy took another step and Sena stared straight into his narrowed vermilion eyes, the left a few shades darker than the right. He glanced her up and down, gaze lingering on her Converse CdG's, and yet she felt as if his eyes had never left hers.

"I thought I'd check out the archive," Sena explained.

"You know that's only for the Elite Ten, right?"

"I don't really care."

The boy regarded her with a bemused expression. "You transferred into 120th gen today, didn't you?"

Sena nodded.

"You're fun. Well, come on then." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his ripped jeans and turned, beckoning with a tilt of his head for her to join him. As he did, she involuntarily observed how his uniform blazer stretched over the muscles of his wide back.

Surprised that she hadn't been interrogated further, she followed the boy down the long corridor. He paused and unlocked the last door to the right. "Knock yourself out. Welcome to Totsuki."

The boy pivoted on his heel and began walking back in the direction from which they'd come.

"Wait," Sena called out. "I didn't catch your name."

A smirk stretched the corners of his lips. "I never threw it."

She gave a pronounced eye roll. "Seriously, you're just like Seijuro."

Interest piqued, the boy asked, "How do you know Sei? He's my homie."

"Yeah, we grew up together. Our parents are friends."

The boy laughed. "What the hell? That's amazing. What's your name?"

"Marui Sena."

"Oh, so you're the bookmaster's kid. Sei talks about you all the time. Nice to meet you. I'm Auden." He stuck out his hand and she shook it. There was a red bandana tied around his wrist. His skin was soft and warm, nothing like the rigid contours of his face, and it reminded her vaguely of sitting with a book and hot chocolate in front of a fireplace during a winter storm. "If you ever need anything, you can ask me," he grinned.

Blushing just a tad, Sena nodded.

Then he was gone, slipping back into the shadows, and as she drifted into the library she briefly wondered when they would next cross paths.

thanks for reading!