A Lesson in Defeat for Erina Nakiri

Por Fox McCloude

Disclaimer: Food Wars! And all related characters belong Yuuto Tsukuda and Yuki Morisaki. All rights reserved.


Tootsuki Culinary Academy, Dean's Office…

Erina Nakiri was sitting in front of her desk, with a huge stack of papers she should be reading and signing. Normally, she'd be occupied and focused on her job, since it was her duty as the dean of this prestigious institution, but at the time her mind was in a daze, wandering aimlessly to even think about that.

In fact, there was only one thing, or rather, one person occupying her thoughts at the moment. The boy who more than once turned her life, her world and everything she believed in upside down. That redhead whose sole presence was capable of lighting up the darkest of places, the first person who openly defied her… and the first to ever inflict her a defeat in what she took the most pride in, cooking. Soma Yukihira.

Although two weeks had passed since then, the memory was still vivid in her mind. Both the image and the name of the dish still resounded strongly in the blonde's head. "Eggs Benedict fit for a Queen, Yukihira style". It was ironic that the boy beat her with the same dish she'd prepared in the concentration camp. But rather than just copy it, he modified it to his own style, taking it beyond in a way that would have been unthinkable for her.

'One chance in a million. Had he missed one cubic millimeter in the ingredients, the results could have been disastrous. But he succeeded.'

So it was. Although she tried to deny it, just like the day they met, the pulse that she and her mother created, which shook the entire place and destroyed the clothes of everyone in the event's surroundings had given her away. The redhead had taken her cooking, making it his, and had surpassed her with it.

Was there as far as her natural talents could carry her? She'd done everything effortlessly, because it was too easy, so much that it was boring not to have any challenge, or a rival capable of standing up to her. That is, of course, until he showed up.

'No matter how hard they try; nobody will ever surpass me. That was what I promised myself.'

Since she was a child, she was fully aware of the gift she'd been born with, which would set her one step above any other chef of her generation, and that no matter what they did, nobody would ever be on her level, let alone surpass her.

And that was her biggest mistake. While she continued to rely on her gift and natural talents, like she'd always done, Soma Yukihira worked hard to close the gap between them. Said gap was certainly abysmal when they met, but while he kept going forward, getting closer and closer each time, she'd gotten stuck.

In the last two weeks, there was no other topic of talk in the academy. It was logical: she, the great prodigy of her generation, heiress to the Nakiri Clan, had suffered her first defeat to the least expected person. The youth who came from below, from a humble family diner in a working-class district, the one she refused entry because she couldn't acknowledge her mistake in judging him, and with no clue whatsoever of the blood he carried in his veins and the legacy he carried behind. The boy the entire school took to hate because they thought he was nothing but a smug talker saying he'd reach the top, and then hated him upon realizing that he wasn't just talking big game. The boy who'd vowed to defeat her and dethrone her one day, and eventually succeeded.

No matter how many tries it took, Soma Yukihira would always succeed at whatever he set his mind into.

She still remembered the boy's face when he was announced as the champion. She thought he would rub it in her face, laughing at her and showing off the first place trophy while she had the second place one. And to be honest, she would have preferred that a thousand times over seeing that solemn and disappointed expression in his face. Anybody would have thought he was actually the one who lost the competition, hadn't they seen it right then and live.

That wasn't the Soma Yukihira she knew. The one who captivated her with his charisma and cheerful attitude, despite that irreverent attitude of his.

'He completely beat me. Then… why isn't he happy about it? Better said… why am I not angry for losing to him?'

Erina wouldn't admit it out loud, but there was something she envied of him. A quality she lacked and Soma had to spare. She'd grown as an extreme perfectionist, someone who couldn't make mistakes or show weakness in front of anyone, someone who had to be above everyone. As a result, she also became an arrogant person of who everyone, barring few exceptions, would keep their distance from, for fear of getting their culinary career ruined with a single bad comment. She was so used to people fearing her, she mistook fear for respect, though that was partly her father's fault, whom she equally feared and respected, and she projected that on everyone else. Something she didn't come to realize until that attitude affected the only person she considered a friend, and drove her away for a while.

But under the surface, deep down she was an emotionally fragile person, like any teenager her age. She was afraid of failing, of not fulfilling the expectations that everyone, her grandfather, her parents, and the culinary world had dropped on her. She was forced to stay on the top to prevent the image she and everyone else had created from shattering, and she couldn't let it crack one bit.

Soma, on the other hand, didn't fear failure at all. In fact, he didn't mind admitting that he had more defeats than victories in his record, even if most of those were against his own father, the chef he (just like herself) wished to emulate. But Soma wanted to go beyond, as he never spoke of matching Joichiro Saiba, but of surpassing him. He would benefit from his failures, he learned from them, and then came back stronger to try again. And he didn't care what everyone else though: he did whatever he wanted, however he wanted, until he got it right. And he would have fun with his failures on the way out. Something she would consider unthinkable for a chef.

He was an irreverent boy, rough around the edges and not one for formalities, but he had many qualities of a true chef that she lacked, such as that creativity and a drive to satisfy his customers. Things that, as much as she hated to admit it, she'd lost sight of for a long time.

'In many ways, he's a better chef than me. And not just that, he brings out the best in other chefs while he improves himself.'

That was another trait she admired and envied of him. Maybe he wasn't the best when it came to skill or talent, but he had the charisma to win people over, to encourage them to follow his lead and go beyond. Something that neither she nor the rest of the old Elite Ten members had, because they were a bunch of arrogant pricks, watching the rest of the student body from a pedestal as if they were mere, insignificant maggots.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her doors brusquely opened, and a girl with blue hair tied in a side plait over her shoulder entered the office, looking quite shaken.

"N-Nakiri-san!"

"Tadoroko-san?" Erina stood from her desk and ran off to see her. It looked like she'd run a marathon, sweating bullets and gasping for air. "What's the matter?"

"You… need to come… to the Polar Star… Soma-kun…"

"Yukihira-kun? What's wrong with him?"

"No… time… just… come…"

The girl barely had any breath to speak, but the message was clear. Something was going on with the Yukihira boy, and she had to go immediately. Her duties could wait; if Megumi Tadokoro had come in such a hurry to tell her, it had to be something urgent.


Polar Star Dormitory, shortly after…

In order to get there faster, and so Megumi could take a rest, Erina had her chauffer take them to the dorm in her car. That allowed the young Tenth Seat to explain what was going on, and needless to say, the blond was left in shock before getting very, very furious. She'd known the Yukihira boy long enough to not be fully surprised, but she never thought he'd be capable of pulling a stunt like this.

'That idiot… how does it occur to him to do this, and right now?'

As soon as the car stopped in front of the Polar Star building, Erina didn't wait for her door to be opened. She leapt out of the car herself and ran towards the entrance as fast as she could, not even stopping to greet the residents working on the garden at the time.

"Ah, Nakiri-kun! Good morning…"

"I'm sorry, I don't have time now," she said as she ran past Isshiki, ignoring once again that he was working only with his fundoshi and straw hat. She had only one goal in mind.

She pushed the residence doors open and ran upstairs, towards the boy's room. It was fortunate that she'd been before in it, that way she knew where to look for him and he wouldn't escape her. Maybe it wasn't too late, with some luck.

And sure enough, when she opened the door number 303, there he was, packing his last things in his suitcase. The room had been completely cleared except for whatever was property of the residence, very different to that time she visited him to talk on that fateful night.

"Yo, Nakiri," he said upon seeing her. "What's up?"

"Don't 'what's up' me!" she exclaimed out loud. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Packing my stuff, what else?" he replied, in his typical carefree tone, never dropping that smile of his that was on equal parts so irritating and charming.

"That's not what I meant! What I meant was… why do you think you can leave just like that? And were you planning to do it without telling me?!"

"Ha, well, I've never been good for farewells," he said as he put his favorite knife in its case, before stuffing it in the suitcase. "I also knew that, if you found out, you'd try to stop me."

"Of course I would!" she yelled, still angry. "You're the First Seat, you can't just up and leave the academy like that! Have you forgotten your responsibilities?"

"Aw c'mon, you can manage without me. You've done well so far, haven't you, Miss Dean?"

Erina bit her lip to avoid unleashing another scream of anger, trying to keep her composure. Why did he have to be this way? It was a trait of his that captivated and angered her all the same, and she had no idea how to deal with it.

The Nakiri girl breathed deeply, trying to regain her cool. Anger didn't work, so maybe asking calmly would give her answers.

"Why did you decide to leave?"

"Well, I've been thinking; after the BLUE, I feel this academy's gotten a bit small for me," he replied. "So I told myself, I'll do the same as my dad. Travel around the world, expand my horizons, learn new stuff to improve my cooking."

Erina was unable to refute that. He was the son of Joichiro Saiba, no doubt, and now he was trying to follow his father's example. Albeit in his own way, obviously.

"And then, after I've gotten better, I'll come back so you and I can have our rematch."

Erina's eyes widened briefly. Nothing could have prepared her for that statement. Who in their right mind would re-challenge someone they'd just defeated? That made no sense.

"Rematch?" she aked. "I don't understand. Aren't you satisfied with beating me in the BLUE, in front of my mother and everyone? Or do you want to humiliate me more?"

"Humiliate you? On the contrary. The one who feels humiliated… is me."

His friendly and carefree tone was gone, making way for a cold and serious one. The one he reserved for his most despicable opponents when he was ready to put them in their place. Except that this time there wasn't a shred of mockery in it, and that, combined with the sharp, piercing look in his amber eyes, made a chill go down her whole spine.

However, just like he didn't let her intimidate him when they met, she couldn't allow herself to be intimidated by him, so she fired back with her own words:

"Why would you feel that? Wasn't that what you wanted, since you entered this academy? Didn't you promise to defeat me to become number one?"

"That's what I said," he replied. "But what happened at the BLUE… that wasn't what I wanted. It was not the way I wanted to defeat you."

Erina was left dumbfounded. What did he mean? To her, a victory was a victory, regardless of how it was achieved. For that same reason, in the Fall Classic semifinals, despite the questionable methods and dishonorable attitude of Mimasaka against his opponents, she was hoping to see Soma lose that match. The academy only judged cooking, anything else was irrelevant.

But of course, Soma Yukihira was not that kind of chef. More than once he'd proved that, for him, there were no rules, implicit or explicit, about what was good and what was not. Let alone about what was weird, if she counted his 'experiments'.

"Dunno if it was because you were tired, nervous, pressured, or whatever. But what I do know, is that the Erina Nakiri I beat at the competition wasn't the one I expected to defeat. She wasn't the one who made us win in the Regiment de Cuisine, the one I appointed as this academy's new dean. The one who earned my respect as a chef, when I saw how above me she really was."

Erina's heart skipped a beat. She never imagined that Soma held her in such a pedestal. She always thought that his irreverent attitude, which at first she took as an insult towards her, was because he saw her as just another of his friends, like an equal, except maybe when it came to cooking. After all, he'd always been very casual when treating other people, regardless of status, connections or anything else.

Something she came to appreciate, when she realized how lonely she was at the top. Everything she had, and no one to share it.

"Look, maybe I don't know what's the whole deal with your family, or why you're so obsessed. But I'll never understand why you're so afraid of failure. My mom would always say that failure is the mother of all great success, and I believe those words. I'd never made it this far if I hadn't clung to them."

"That's easy for you to say," she crossed her arms. "You know already what happened to my mother, or have you forgotten?"

"So what? Are you giving up because you failed one?"

"Who told you that I want to give up? You know nothing about me! Nothing about the pressure I have to carry because of who I am, because I bear the Nakiri name! Because everyone always expects the best from me, to be perfect and nothing less!"

Silence fell between them. Oddly enough, she felt liberated after she let all that out. Those feelings she'd been bottling for years, she could finally vent them all out. Just like when she confronted her father, openly challenging him instead of being a good, submissive daughter who'd always obey without question.

Soma finally smiled again, which only made her even more irritated again. Why did he always have to be like this?

"No, I don't know. But bet anything you want my dad does. What it feels to be on the top, all alone, and try to stay there. One of the perils of being the best is the fear of losing everything over one failure, isn't it?"

Erina didn't answer, but he'd pretty much nailed it. That was what she felt. That her entire world would crumble, that her life would fall apart if she failed only once, and thus she sought to avoid failure and imperfections at any cost. But she was still here. Even though she lost to him, she was still the academy's dean, and the respect and admiration everyone had for her hadn't diminished one bit. In fact, it could be argued it had gone up. Even when she lost, her mother praised her dish, saying that 'with a little more of work' she could have won.

"I wonder… should I have said something then? Something to snap you out of that trance. Because you weren't focused. You weren't there. And that's what bothers me, you know?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know better than anyone how much I hate losing. But do you know what I hate more? To know that I won only because my opponents didn't give everything they had. You could have done better than that, and you know it."

Erina lowered her head. She had no defense against that. The best sign of respect for an opponent was to give your all, something that she didn't because she was too focused on her fear of failure. It was understandable that Soma felt so insulted; she would have felt the same way if she hadn't seen him pour everything he had, like he'd always done since they met.

"Here's something my dad told me. He said the secret to be the greatest chef, is to find a special person to offer all my cooking to. The dish I made in the BLUE, I wanted to dedicate it to that person, the one who pushed me to break my limits like never before. I'm sure you too have a special person you want to cook for, am I right?"

Erina felt like a lightning struck her right then and there. A special person? Was he talking about… her? He did say once "Nakiri and her God's Tongue belong to me", but she never imagined he was saying it in that context. Also, what did he mean when he said that she too had a special person to cook for?

Soma grabbed his suitcase and hung it on his back, walking towards the door. As he walked next to her, the Nakiri girl felt her heart clutching. The boy was leaving and there was nothing she could do to stop him, even though she wished with all her power that he didn't go. And not just because he was the First Seat, but because at the time, there was nothing that she wanted more than have him by her side, as her biggest supporter… and something else she couldn't explain.

"See ya, Nakiri. You better be ready, because when we meet again, I'll be even better than I am now. If you don't work hard… I'll surpass you again."

And with those words, he walked out of the room, leaving behind the residence, and her. For an instant, looking at the boy's back made her see the image of Joichiro Saiba, just like that time he bid farewell to her. She didn't bother to run off; she was in too much of a shock to do so. She just dropped to her knees, clutching her hands on her chest. She shut her eyes as hard as she could, trying really hard to hold back those tears that were coming out. Even though nobody was seeing her, she couldn't allow herself to express those feelings. Neither here, nor anywhere else.


A few days later, at the Nakiri household…

"I want you to give me another chance."

It wasn't in her nature to beg for something. She was more the type to bark orders or demand things to be delivered to her immediately, and she was used to be given everything she wanted. But the person in front of her wouldn't be easily swayed.

"Why do you think it will be different this time, Erina?"

"At the time I wasn't focused," Erina replied. "I'm not asking you this as the WGA's Bookmaster, but as my mother. Please."

Almost two weeks had passed since the Yukihira boy left. During that time, she'd had plenty of chance to think about what he said. He was completely right: Erina too had an important person to cook for. Her own mother, Mana Nakiri.

But her mother wouldn't give in to her request so easily.

"Honestly, I don't understand why you're so insistent now. In the BLUE you were a complete chaos, you didn't look like yourself at all. It didn't seem like you had the necessary drive to win."

"And whose fault is that?" Erina spat. "Who was the one who set the obstacles to wear me out? But you must admit it; not everything went as you expected, did it? You didn't expect Yukihira-kun to be able to defeat Asahi Saiba."

The woman's smug smile vanished instantly. She'd hit the nail and that naturally annoyed her. That was an inherent trait of the Nakiris; their pride would always get hurt whenever someone proved them wrong, and they would never swallow it to admit it out loud. Erina herself took a few blows from that redhead, after all.

"I've had enough time to think it over, and now I get why I lost. Do you know what makes Yukihira-kun and me different?" Erina asked. "Do you know why he defeated Asahi Saiba despite your expectations?"

"I said it in front of everyone, didn't I?" said Mana. "Asahi took other chefs' cooking, but never truly made it his own. Deep down, it was empty."

"Yes, you are partly correct," said Erina. "But also, did you know they'd faced each other before? It was unofficial, obviously, but I was there. At the time, Yukihira-kun was completely crushed."

Mana raised an eyebrow. It seemed like she had nothing to say about that. Now that she had her mother's interest, it was time for Erina to get her points across.

"But that didn't discourage him one bit. Whenever he loses, he'll pester his rival until he gets a rematch, and he won't rest until he gets it," Erina explained. "And whenever he gets up, he comes back stronger, and more determined than before."

"Hmm… and I assume now you want to try, harder?" The woman gave her daughter an inquisitive glare. "Do you think you can do better now, even after your failure in the BLUE?"

"I'll do far more than that, Mother." She raised a hand and flicked her hair backwards. "I'll make you taste a dish that'll make Yukihira-kun's seem repulsive in comparison."

"Well, isn't that interesting?" said Mana. "Show me what you're capable of, Erina."

Mana snapped her fingers to call the servants, who showed up instantly, and ordered them to prepare the kitchen and all ingredients and equipment available. She'd accepted the challenge, and Erina wasn't going to waste her chance. Just like Soma told her, her mother was an important person for her, someone she wanted to dedicate her cuisine to.

As she waited, Erina went out to the courtyard for a bit, gazing at the sky. That day, the air was warm and relaxing, quite nice for the season, but it was too quiet for her taste. At that moment, she felt something was lacking. Or rather… someone.

It was true what they said; you don't know what you have, until you lose it.

'Yukihira-kun… I'll never forgive you for leaving me like that. When you come back… I'll give you a lesson you'll never forget. If you surpassed me with your hard work, then I'll have to surpass you with my talent and my own hard work.'

She had no idea when it happened, but after they faced her father together, she took for granted that he would be always by her side. Without realizing, Soma had done much more than satisfy her palate. He's also begun to feed her heart, making her taste for the first time something she'd never though she would find.

Until the redhead returned, she would wait for him. For him and his cooking. And just like he dedicated a dish for her, she would do the same for him, one day.

FIN.


Author's notes:

What's up, people? Well, here's a little oneshot I'd written a while ago, though I didn't get the chance to translate it to English up until now. Basically, think of this as an alternative conclusion to the BLUE arc, had Soma not snapped Erina out of her trance to get her to cook seriously.

I know very well that Erina is a very divisive character in opinions, and the arguments of both her fans and detractors are pretty valid. As for me, at first I really hated her arrogant attitude, but she gradually grew on me as I got to know her better and saw that she didn't really want to be mean, and I grew to like her to the point I jumped ships from Team Megumi to Team Erina for Soma's pairing almost halfway through the story. I was enjoying her development, until unfortunately the final arc gave her a total regression that, while momentary, took me back to the time I despised her. One of the things I hated the most in the final arc, which weren't few and I won't bother to list them because I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what I mean.

I think that, narratively speaking, Erina would have benefited from being defeated at least once, if only because she wasn't focused. That way, Soma would technically succeed in the goal he'd set at least in part, and she learns the lesson that one defeat or failure isn't the end of the world. Even in those conditions, and seeing that Soma wouldn't be satisfied beating her that way, it would give her the push to get back up and work harder to become the chef she can and aspires to be. That way, when they face once more, she'll give him the rematch he deserves.

Anyway, I've got nothing else to say. Hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, drop a review. Until next time!