Disclaimer: I don't own Shokugeki no Soma, just this story.


The sky sure is nice, isn't it?

At night, the way the stars seem to sparkle so brightly in the usual darkness of the night. They're like a lighthouse or a beacon, bringing everything around it together, protecting them from the harshness that is this world.

Or in Sōma's case, an excuse to have some salmon roe.

I silently giggled again at the joke he just told that in all accounts, should have failed. Under normal circumstances, him comparing the stars to fish eggs would have been horrid, and something I would have scolded him harshly for. But with us appreciating the scenery for a bit, before he brought it up because of his salmon chips somehow made me laugh.

In the silence that followed his joke, I thought about the events of the day, and the past couple of days, actually.

I'm glad that everyone passed the first part of the exams. I felt even better that the lessons Hisako and I taught were not in vain, as Sōma, Alice, Ryō, Megumi and Yuki were able to apply the lessons to create a dish to exceed the expectations of the obviously biased supervisor. It was not surprising that they were able to. Alice and Ryō know these techniques from the bottom of their hearts, and Yuki and Megumi were engaged in every class.

Even Sōma's progress was something to behold. The late-night lesson I gave him (as well as an additional one a few days later) really seemed to stick with him, as he, Alice and Ryō led the charge.

Even so, there was still something that was bugging me. The lack of sound made me think about the night of his first lesson.

"… Yukihira?" I asked a bit muted, worried that I would break the nice silence that befell us. A hum of agreement gave me the signal to continue my question, and hopefully get an answer.

"That first night I taught you… when did you go to sleep?" I couldn't shake the fact that so early in the morning, Sōma was awake, when we stayed up until almost two as I taught him. That, combined with his claim that cooking helps get his mind off of stuff made me worry for my once enemy.

Not that I cared for him more than the others, mind you, but I was still worried that his lack of sleep would haunt him later on.

My question got a chuckle from my redheaded ally. "I guess you noticed, huh."

I knew something was up, so I decided to press further, looking at him with a stern expression.

"Yukihira."

"I… I didn't really sleep." He finally said, and I let out a sigh of discontentment.

"I know that you like to cook, Yukihira, but seriously? You stayed awake the entire night?" I asked disapprovingly. That was both illogical and unsafe.

"Oh, don't worry, I did get some sleep." I flicked his forehead, and crossed my arms.

"Yes, during the middle of my lesson. Again." I don't know why I accommodated his second lesson, when he does something irresponsible like this.

He sheepishly smiled, rubbing the spot where I hit his head. "Yeah… sorry about that."

I sighed once again. "Whatever. And the second night?"

Sōma waved his hands in front of him, which confused me a bit. "Ok, I can tell you that I did go to sleep that night."

Sure, him going to bed was fine and all, but we ended late once again, and even without classes to worry about, he would need an adequate amount of sleep to not be at risk of harming himself.

"Alright then. How long?" I persisted, making him sigh.

"Maybe 2 to 3 hours." He said, and I shook my head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you. You do know sleep is important, right?" My question came out a bit rudely, but I wanted to let him know that his health is more important than cooking, something I wasn't sure he understood.

"Yeah, I know. Tadokoro and everyone from the dorm tells me so all the time." He smiled, then looking back to the sky. "But I can go without much sleep. And…"

I heard the hesitation in his voice, which confused me a bit. It was the first time I've ever heard him not be fully confident in his words. He's normally a ball of positivity, being able to spin anything into something good. All with that stupid grin on his face.

I looked to him, the uncertainty in his voice raising a flag, and his face reflected the tone. No joking look, no grin. It was a look of melancholy, and for the life of me, I couldn't understand why.

"Yukihira?" I asked gently, and he let out a small sigh. A tired sigh.

The sigh led to nothing, however, leaving an uncomfortable silence. Before I could say anything, Sōma shook his head.

"… It's nothing."

Before I could even question anything, he got out of the seat in front of me, and like a switch, he was all smiles again.

"Well, I'll leave you to whatever you were doing. I'll just keep going around the train. Your family sure is rich, Nakiri. Whenever I look around, there's always something cool to see!" He had a grin again, and I was at a loss for words.

"… Alright then. Good night Yukihira." I said a bit flatly, still confused and a bit worried.

"Night Nakiri! See you tomorrow, probably." He said as he walked off.

As he left, I reflected on what just happened, and noticed something.

He avoided the subject. He's hiding something.

And also, after I brought up his lack of sleep, his cheeky grin before he left didn't annoy me as much. I think… because it wasn't as energetic as usual.

Something was going on with my ally. That much was easy to see.

But what could it be, that just the thought of it can subdue his positivity?


Chapter End


A/N: Hello everyone!

I know it's been a little while, but I wanted to write something, and with this story still not done, I wanted to continue it.

So, this chapter is nothing too big, just an extension of chapter 175, with the story stuff from last chapter being a part of it. I don't know how this chapter feels, honestly. I don't know if I like it or not. But ultimately, it's up to you readers.

So, please leave a review! I know this isn't like my usual chapters, but I still want to know how you guys feel about it. I don't know if I'll be responding to everyone, but I do read every review, and keep everything in mind when I want to write. If you want to tell me anything, I'm all ears.

But not too much else to talk about so, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again soon!

It Was You Ch 2: A Concerning Ride - Uploaded 09.23.2018 - Mini update: Title of chapter updated to Eccentric (Nov 30, 2020)

(Bonus A/N - Just "behind the scene" stuff so to speak. If it doesn't interest you, you can stop here.)


So, like I said last chapter, I don't expect this story to have a consistent schedule, and well... I pretty much nailed that.

I've actually come to a dilemma in terms of writing over the course of that last few months. On one hand, I've lost a lot of the motivation for writing, due to the manga taking a direction I'm not a fan of (I read some of the recent chapters to see what was going on, and I didn't feel gravitated (probably due to me falling out of manga/anime stuff)) and just a general lack of interest. On the other hand, I would hate to leave a story unfinished, because of the promise I made to myself that I would finish every story I write.

And not to mention, most of the chapters are written, and they just need to be edited. The content I chose to write about is still stuff I enjoyed about the manga, but my lack of reading it might be getting in the way.

So I'm stuck. It wouldn't be hard to edit and finish this story, and I really want to. But the schedule would be super inconsistent, pretty much whenever I want to do so, and I don't know how often that would be.

I'm sorry to talk about these things, but I want to be honest, and at least have some justification for these gaps without anything.