A:N/ Here there! Anyway so this marks the 7th chapter that I've already edited (The prologue counts as a chapter so I kinda get confused sometimes on the number xD) If you have read the beta-versions of these chapters (I call them beta versions since they were unedited) You'll appreciate these more since it's better to read. Like seriously, the amount of difference that I made was night and day. Review if you can!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shokugeki no Soma

Days in Saint Gallen

Sōma wandered around the city on his first day. He stopped by on numerous little trinket stores, examining the knick-knacks that were being sold. The young man chuckled when he saw matching sets of trinkets, buying them for his friends when he gets home.

'I haven't eaten yet haven't I?' he thought to himself, looking around for anything that sells food. On the other side of the street, he saw numerous food stalls, little carts that sold bread along with other pastries and hot drinks. Sōma couldn't help but smile whenever he would see small food stands like those, it reminded him of the time that he and Megumi along with their friends, rushed like crazy to catch up with Terunori and his Chinese RS's stall.

"Let me get two, croissants and a hot coffee please." He spoke in English towards the baker. The old man smiled warmly at him and handed him his morning breakfast, nodding to Sōma before the young man would leave.

Sōma walked along the streets of Saint Gallen, utterly amazed at the European style of the buildings that were covered with snow. Sōma would occasional stop over when people ask to take a picture with him, the here people have recognized him as the winner of B.L.U.E. He finished his breakfast and made his way towards the tourist attractions there.

First off on his list was the Saint Gallen Cathedral, just in time before the oración would start. He gasped upon entering the humungous cathedral, paying his respects by bowing and sitting silently by the numerous unoccupied seats there. Light had peered onto the tainted glass of the church, illuminating the whole place and giving off an enchanting feeling, it was almost as if Sōma was inside a magical castle.

"Enchanting isn't it?" asked a woman with short dark pink hair and striking verdant green eyes. Sōma yelped a little, but was dumbfounded when the woman beside him smiled in a way someone would when they meet their significant other. He was captivated by her beauty that he didn't noticed himself that he was already staring. The distinct hair, her kind smile and also those breathtaking verdant green eyes that stared at him back, twinkled with curiosity. He snapped out of his reverie and quickly covered his mouth to hide the creeping blush on his face.

"Sorry, I must have startled you. I'm Atra Iwatani. I frequently go to this church whenever I feel down or need to take a break from all the negative stuff that keeps on happening." She smiled and outstretched her hand towards Sōma's.

"Oh, I'm Sōma Yukihira! Are by chance also Japanese, Iwatani-san?" he asked.

"Oh my, it's been so long since I've spoken to another Japanese." She giggled, replying back in Japanese. Sōma scratched the back of his head and had a goofy grin on his face.

"So what brings you here in Saint Gallen, Yukihira-san?" she tilted her head, trying to think up of reasons why he would take a vacation there.

"To find peace-" Sōma replied back with a confident smile on his face. Atra looked dissatisfied with his answer, only bringing to her another confused stare towards the red-haired young man.

"To find peace?" she repeated, still lost at his words. Sōma put a hand on his chin and sat in silence for a minute, debating on whether he should tell the whole story to this stranger that he just met.

"My mind's just bugged up with plenty of things. I wanted to take a break here for a while… So here I am."

There was a tug in his chest that he felt tightening. He imagined how impressed Erina would've been if she had only been here. She loved quiet and mysterious places like the cathedral he was currently in. The tainted glass shimmered with the light and illuminated the place with various pretty colors.

"Well, I hope you find peace in our quaint city, Yukihira-san. I'll be going now." Atra bowed to him, pulling out her phone to answer the call that was ringing through. Sōma didn't get a chance to properly say goodbye to her, realizing that he just hummed in response to her previous other questions earlier when he spaced out.

Sōma was in silence again. He overheard some tourists, but paid them no mind while he was sitting there, praying silently.

"Maybe if somehow, things work out and I do find peace… I hope that I can be the best father to Etsuko…"

Outside the cathedral, it was lightly snowing. Sōma let out a breath of relief when he exited the large building, looking around for the next stop on his tour in Saint Gallen. A strong gust of wind and snow filled the air and it sent chills down Sōma's spine. He looked around for a nearby café to go to, wanting to take shelter from the chilling cold bite of the weather.

"Chocolaterie Koelbener Café Pelikan…" he read out the sign of the café in front of him, a quaint shop that he saw being featured years ago in various magazines. Sōma went inside the store and immediately, the smell of roasted coffee along with freshly baked pastries filled his nostrils.

"Yikes, I just ate and now I'm feeling hungry again." He muttered, heading over the counter to place his order. He looked over their menu and wondered what he would get.

'Something light… But filling enough so that I wouldn't get too hungry later on…' he then opted to go for the shop's apple strudel.

"One apple strudel and a cappuccino please" he smiled at the cashier. He was lucky enough to get the last piece of the famous apple strudel. After looking around for a table to sit on, he saw Atra hunched over her seat looking as if the world around her was crumbling.

'I probably shouldn't…' Sōma debated on whether he would sit next to her or leave her alone.

"Ahh screw it." Eventually after much thinking, he decided to quietly place down his tray beside her and waited until she noticed him, grinning while he heard her ranting and muttering.

"Honestly! How incompetent can you be to not even know your own staff!" she whined out, suddenly surprising Sōma when she slammed her hand down onto the table in frustration.

"Woah there… Easy now, Iwatani-san, people are staring." Sōma teased, immediately getting a yelp and a hard slap across the face. It was a good thing that only a few people were left in the café, but it didn't wipe off the look of surprise from both Sōma and Atra who stared at each other with their eyes wide open. Sōma whistled to ease the tension, rubbing his cheek and looking around awkwardly then back at Atra who was red in embarrassment.

"I didn't expect to see you here…" she muttered, Sōma arched an eyebrow towards the woman while silently judging her as he ate his apple strudel.

"I didn't expect that you wouldn't apologize after that hard slap." He deadpanned, hearing her light giggling and eventually uncontrolled laughter.

"Oh my goodness where are my manners, I am so sorry!" she wheezed out in between her laughter. Sōma couldn't take her seriously and influenced by her cute laugh, he even found himself laughing along with the woman.

"Is that your usual way of greeting people here? Or is surprising you out of nowhere cause those reactions?" Sōma asked lightly, finishing his apple strudel and taking a sip from his cappuccino.

"You'd be surprised with how many people I've slapped previously. There was this one time when I was interning for my Dad's company, I slapped my senior so hard that I partially knocked off his toupee." Sōma laughed out loud while imagining the look of surprise from that guy's face.

The two of them exchanged stories, laughing at each other's misfortunes. Probably the weirdest story that Sōma heard from Atra was when she was cooking, she nearly burned their house down when she tried to bake a pie.

"Seriously? I mean is it that hard to cook?" Sōma teased, earning him a playful slap on the shoulder in retaliation.

"Hey! I was fourteen! That was my first time trying to bake…" Atra defended.

"Yeah, and I was nine when I started helping my Pops in our family Diner." He shot back with a grin. Atra put two things together and realized that he was a chef, it explain his calloused hands and stories from his school that seemed to have focused on cooking.

"Ohh! So that's why you went to that culinary school when you were fifteen…" Atra murmured, seeing a thumbs-up from beside her.

"That's right! I eventually reached the first seat on the Elite Ten council on my freshmen year." He bragged, remembering the grueling match wherein he and Erina were pitted against Eishi and Rindō.

"What's that? I mean what does getting the first seat mean?" she asked, utterly lost at his terminology.

"It basically means that I'm the best chef in the whole school. You see, in our former school, things worked differently." He explained to Atra, earning him a head tilt and a confused stare.

"What do you mean? Like you're the student council president?"

"No, much more than that. I used to have power to control what happens in the school, I could even expel students or request for an immediate delivery of a rare ingredient that has to be flown from around the world."

"Wow, but isn't that a little bit too crazy? I mean, would the board of directors or something limit your foothold on the power?" Atra asked. Sōma had a bitter scowl on his face when he heard the word 'director' eliciting bitter memories from Azami.

"Well, on my freshmen year we had this crazy guy that wanted to take over the whole school and reform it. He wanted us to follow his cut-out recipes and techniques. We were glorified prep-cooks! There was no room for creativity!" he whined out and complained like a child. Sōma was still angered whenever he would recall those chefs that have decided to stick to the rules so that they wouldn't get expelled.

They continued on with their exchange of stories until it was already time for Sōma to go.

He was supposed to meet up with Victor and Taiga later on at a pub. The two of them soon exited the café after a few hours of chatting, thanking each other for their company.

"How long will you be staying in Saint Gallen?" Atra inquired, wanting to exchange more stories and go to places with Sōma. She was captivated by his bravado and his confident smile that screamed 'I'm going to do what I want, when I want.' He was a person that was living his life to its fullest, doing what he loves. She couldn't help but envy the man in front of her in all his bravado and charming good looks.

"Just until Friday, I need to get back before Christmas. By the way, aren't you going to be late for a meeting or something in your office?" he asked back, looking at his wristwatch to check the time.

"Oh! You're right! I'm going to be late if I don't go right now! I'll see you later, Yukihira-san!" she waved off after breaking into a sprint to catch the bus back to her office.

Eventually nighttime arrived, Sōma went to the place that Victor and Taiga told him to go. It was a tavern, full of tough looking guys that drank beers in large pints while arm wrestling each other. Sōma was greeted in front of the pub by a large man with a large scar on his face that stretched across his left eye that was milky white and blinded.

"Welcome to the pub of the Crusaders! I see you are one of us now, Kleiner Fuchs!" the old man guffawed and whistled amongst the men of the crowd to introduce their newest member.

Sōma was intimidated by the burly men there, thankfully they were all friendly an accommodating to him when they saw his special bracelet that was given previously by Taiga.

"Yo Little Fox! Over here!" Victor hollered out to Sōma who realized that the old man earlier already gave him a nickname.

"I see you've already met my brother, Tsubasa." Taiga teased Sōma, sliding over a pint of beer towards him and a small plate of meat on skewers.

"It's a good thing that the people here are nice. I could've sworn some sneered at me earlier before they saw my bracelet that you gave me, Asakura-san." The two men beside him fist-bumped and told him that it was only natural to be intimidated by veteran soldiers.

"You see, Kleiner Fuchs, the crusader's pub is a sacred place where men of great ambition and dreams gather to exchange stories! And we also serve the best beer in the city!" explained Tsubasa who cleaned up the counters as a passed out drunk guy was carried off by his friends.

"You're right it's really good. But damn is it strong!" Sōma wheezed out, feeling the surge of heat from his face.

A laugh of cheers and a rowdy crowd filled the pub that night. Sōma played cards, downed a pint of beer, sang karaoke with the other drunk men, downing another pint of beer, and eventually capping the night off with an arm wrestling completion from a guy that was about two times as muscular as he is.

"You think you can handle me, Tender Foot!" taunted by the drunk guy in front of Sōma with a huge grin of confidence in his face.

'How about we make this a little more interesting…' Sōma grinned evilly and ordered them both a pint of beer.

"Alright, we drink and arm wrestle at the same time."

Tsubasa, along with Victor placed bets on the two men. Plenty of people where on bulkier guy's side while Victor and Tsubasa sided with Sōma, Taiga couldn't bet since he was busy doing the dishes.

"Gentlemen, I want a good clean match. If there's beef afterwards, take it outside the pub, I will officially referee the match of this drinking completion. Place your bets lads!" Tsubasa encouraged, by then, more and more of the men spectating betted on Sōma's opponent.

No more than three seconds later, the man was passed out drunk on the table as Sōma slammed his arm down. The men cheered even though some of them lost, praising Sōma for noticing that the other guy was one drink away from passing out. After they split their winnings, Sōma and the other guys were quietly sitting down. Only the four of them were left in the pub after Tsubasa was closing down. They gulped down glasses upon glasses of water after a hard time of drinking strong beer.

"So… I heard that you were recently widowed?" Tsubasa asked out of nowhere, eliciting a groan and head bang from Sōma's side of the counter.

"She was the one…" Sōma muttered, earning well placed pats on the shoulder from Taiga and Tsubasa.

"You are a man in pain and in need of forgetting, aren't you, Kleiner Fuchs?" Sōma nodded from his seat, his head pounding from the hazy thoughts that plagued his mind.

"I don't know what the hell I'm doing here to be exact… Me and my wife wanted to go here back then together as a family as soon as our daughter was born…" he recounted the times where he had the chance to refuse on the invitation from B.L.U.E. But he couldn't help but not blame himself for his wife's death for not being there for her. The guilt still resided inside Sōma's mind.

"Hey man, I know it isn't much to hear it coming from me… But you'll find your answer eventually, just focus on yourself for now and live life in the moment." Victor offered a glass of water towards his friend and smiled.

The drive back to his hotel was a quiet one. Taiga was asleep in the car while Victor drove them to Sōma's hotel. After climbing out of the cab and thanking his friends, Sōma got back inside his hotel room with questions still fogging up his mind.

"I guess I'll call her…" he went over to his phone and dialed up Hisako's number.

[Hello? Are you there Yukihira?] Hisako asked on the other line, wondering why Sōma had called her.

"Yeah… I'm just really drunk and confused at the same time." He confided, hearing her groan.

[Yukihira? Are you alright?] she asked worriedly.

"I was never 'alright' after Erina died. I know I kept on telling myself that I'm fine, but I'm really depressed now that she's gone." He caved in, wiping away his tears.

[Hey… You go out there and find yourself, don't think – just do what you feel like and follow your instincts.] Hisako advised.

Sōma had a dopey smile when he recalled his meeting with Atra earlier. Her hard slap across his face brought a wince and light chuckle from him. It was so unusual and random how the two of them met.

"Hisako… Earlier today I've met this wonderfully crazy girl that slapped me across the face when I surprised her." He chuckled, earning a curious hum from Hisako.

[Oh, so you did find another girl. Do tell, Yukihira. Is she cute?] Hisako smiled, getting a hum in response from Sōma.

"She's cute, though she's really quirky and crazy." He added, eliciting a whistle from Hisako.

[Then date her, dummy! You still have plenty of days left there, don't you?] she groaned out.

'Your husband is a real Cassanova, Erina…" she sighed, wondering how hopeless can Sōma get.

"Well that's the thing, I forgot to get her number…" he muttered, getting a loud 'what' from Hisako on the other line.

[Alright so just wander around the places you've been to today for the next couple of days until you see her again.] she suggested, rubbing her temples.

"Ohh that's a great idea, thanks Hisako! I owe you another one!" Sōma grinned, remembering to go back to the café and cathedral for the next few days.

[Alright, I'm going to hang up now. We're going to go live in a few minutes.]

Sōma shut off his cellphone and went to bed. He was satisfied with how the day went, something about Atra was off-putting though, he wondered why the woman was so stressed in work.

"Maybe she's a really powerful figure or something like that…" he muttered before drifting off to sleep.

*Dream Sequence*

Sōma woke up and suddenly he was back in their small room in the Polar Star Dormitory. He was once again fifteen, and in his arms was the sleeping figure of Erina. He reveled in her scent and hugged his sleeping girlfriend at the time.

"What's gotten you so cuddly this early in the morning…" she murmured while her head buried into his chest. Sōma sighed and kissed the top of her head.

"I just missed you too much." He admitted with a small smile on his face. Erina pulled away from him and had a confused look on her face while she arched an eyebrow towards her affectionate boyfriend.

"What're you talking about? It's not like we haven't seen each other, we just made dinner last night?"

'I guess she doesn't know yet…' he grimaced, being transported out of the room again in a blink of an eye.

"What the-" he was suddenly transported into a small white room in front of a mirror while sharply dressed in a tuxedo. Takumi suddenly burst into the room along with Isami and Akira, Kuga was leaning on the door frame when Sōma realized that he was on 'that' day.

"Sōma! What the hell are you still doing here?! Your damn wedding is starting!" scolded out his blonde Italian friend. Sōma had a small smile on his face and reminisced this day in his mind.

'This was a week before our graduation…' he had a small smile on his face as he exited the small room as the ceremony commenced. All their friends in the Polar Star Dormitory were present. Fumio along with Shinomiya and Hinako were also present was also seen in the crowds of people in the church.

Sōma couldn't help but feel the sweat seeping out of his palms as he anxiously waited for Erina in her breathtakingly beautiful wedding gown. Soon enough, he saw her walking down the aisle, dressed in an immaculate white dress and looking at him with a smile on her face that shames the most beautiful of goddesses there ever was.

"You look rather ravishing today, my dearest." Sōma faked a fancy accent and kissed Erina's hand. Their guests gushed at the cute soon-to-be weds, they were already taking pictures and cheering from the sidelines. Erina huffed and turned away from Sōma's sudden gentlemanly comment towards her.

"Honestly… You couldn't save it until later could you?" she quietly complained to him, stepping on his shoes with her heels. Sōma bit down hard on his lip to prevent the priest from noticing that they were fooling around.

While absent mindedly saying their vows, Sōma couldn't help but grin and stare on the look of his blushing bride's beautiful face. After getting the 'go' signal from the priest, he wasted no time lifting up her veil, revealing small tears from Erina's face.

"How's about we get really freaky tonight, eh missus Yukihira?" Sōma teased out, getting a slap on the face before being pulled from his collar and kissed square on the mouth by Erina. The two broke off their kiss and was greeted by the multitude of cheers coming from their friends. Sōma carried Erina in a bridal-style as they took numerous silly pictures with their friends.

Again, Sōma was transported out of that day and into another one. He was back at Yukihira in a bathroom with Erina who was vomiting.

'Ahh… This was the day that we found out that she was pregnant…' he smiled, caressing Erina's back while holding her hair. He went downstairs to fetch Erina a glass of water, being met by Joichirou who had a worried look on his face.

"How long do you think you can keep on holding the past, son?" his father asked, being out of place in his dream.

"So you're aware… I don't think I can ever let go of her, Pops." Sōma admitted with a sincere smile on his face, accepting his fate of forever regretting his wife's death.

"Son, you need to let go of the past." Jochirou patted his head, ruffling his hair in the process before lightly jabbing his fist into Sōma's heart. Sōma turned away from his father with a small frown on his face, Joichirou having suddenly vanished into thin air after that.

Sōma got upstairs to give Erina her glass of water.

"Honey, I think I'm pregnant." Erina said with a twinkle in her eyes. Sōma gave her a big hug, twirling his wife around and planting soft kisses onto her neck.

"I love you…" he whispered into her ears before being transported again out of that room.

Now, Sōma was walking aimlessly around an empty cemetery the day before his flight in Saint Gallen. He stopped over to the cemetery to talk with Erina before he left. He lit up an incense stick and placed it into a small bowl there before praying on her grave.

His eyes were then covered for a moment. He wondered who it was, he was alone when he came there, so who could it possibly be that was covering his eyes?

"Guess who?" Erina's voice spoke. He took off her hands and surprised her with a kiss. Erina kissed him back and they held hands.

"So… I heard that you're still giving everyone a hard time?" Erina pouted. Sōma embraced her from behind as they sat on the soft grass, humming in response.

"I never want to let you go." He replied, desperately holding onto Erina as if she'd go away again for a second time. Erina turned around to face him, cupping his cheeks and looking at him straight in the eyes.

"I'll always be here…" she whispered, pulling him in for a kiss.

*End of dream sequence*

Sōma's blissful dream and memories of the past left a smile on his face when he woke up. He couldn't help but long for Erina more when he kept on dreaming about their times together, there was still something in him that couldn't ever let her go. Maybe the answer isn't here right now, but he's still growing as a person. There were still plenty of things that he's going to learn. In his mind, he knew that there will come a day where he will eventually let the past go, but for now, Sōma held onto it. Those precious memories that he held onto were forever his to keep and cherish.

~ End

A:N/ So here's the more accurate representation of a man who couldn't let go of his past. I wrote Sōma as humanly as possible. We are all faulty humans, full of imperfections and misunderstandings having misinterpretations. But that is part of growing up, here I wanted Sōma to fully realize that he's not going to let Erina go anytime soon, which is why he's accepting that it'll take time and understanding before he could accept what had happened. Tell me in the reviews if you think that was a good call!

P.S: Kleiner Fuchs or Sōma's nickname is a nod to the Webtoon: Super Secret. It means 'Little Fox' in German since Sōma reminds me of those red-tailed foxes. I thought it was a cute reference so I added that in for kicks.