Thank you to those who took the time to read the first chapter. I didn't want to keep you waiting, so here it is. I will try to update ASAP.
Please let me know what you think!
"And not just any mermaid. It's Nakiri Erina."
Everyone was looking at Soma, but Kurokiba's statement did not produce the expected reaction. Soma tilted his head slightly and blinked wondering what was so special about this Nakiri Erina. Sure, he had heard of mermaids and their especially delicate senses and it probably would be quite interesting to have his cooking judged by a mermaid, but it wasn't really that big of a deal.
"Don't tell me you haven't heard of Nakiri Erina?" Takumi directed the question to Soma.
"No clue."
"Where have you been living? Under a rock?" Hayama piped in sarcastically.
"Should I have heard of her?" Soma paused for a moment, trying to rack his brains, but the name really did not ring any bells. Then he added, "Nope, I really have no idea who she is."
Hayama, Takumi, Kurokiba, and Isami looked at each other and then all shook their heads, once again resigned to Soma's ignorance of some important things.
Takumi started to explain, "Nakiri Erina is a legend among all the mermaids. She is known to have the most delicate tongue – to this day, no human had been able to serve anything to her that she deemed absolutely delicious… although there were some that got 'satisfactory' marks. In every event where she is chosen to judge, student participation is very low because usually, only 10% of the original participants pass."
"Are you saying you're backing out because of this Nakiri girl or whatever she is? Huh, Takumi?"
Takumi quickly turned red, "Of course not! No one said anything about backing out."
"All I can say is it's going to be very interesting. I can't wait to bring her to her knees with my spices. Although technically that's not possible, with her being a mermaid and all."
Then everyone laughed and no one noticed that Soma had already gone out the door and left.
Soma did not stop running until he got to the Mermaid's Cove. He approached the nearest one, who was sitting on the sand busily braiding her blue hair.
"Hello there."
When the mermaid looked up, he noticed that she had big eyes, golden like his.
"Oh, hi." She shyly looked down again.
"Do you know a Nakiri Erina?"
She blinked a few times and looked at him curiously.
"Yes. Of course."
"Do you know where I can find her?"
She turned her body to face the shore and pointed at the other end of the beach towards the north. The northern shore was noticeably empty.
"You can't see her from here… but… that's where she usually goes."
"Thank you for your help." He took several steps way already before he turned back and asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
"Umm... Tadokoro Megumi."
"I'm Yukihira Soma. Nice to meet you, Megumi-chan." He gave her a big smile before he left and headed to the northern shore.
He couldn't find her at first but when he got nearer to the water, he watched her flame-colored hair as it moved with the water's surface.
She seemed to be asleep, and a part of him did not want to disturb her calm state. But he continued to walk towards where her body was floating and without realizing it, his steps made quite an uproar in the waves.
Her body moved slightly so he asked, "Are you Nakiri Erina?"
"What an impudent human being!" Erina thought.
She didn't answer him, closed her eyes again, and instead asked, "And what is a human like you doing here?"
"I'm looking for Nakiri Erina."
Her curiosity got the best of her so she raised her upper body and changed to a sitting position and laid eyes on the red-haired, golden-eyed boy who just stood there and waited.
"And what could be of such importance that you come running here and disturb a sleeping mermaid?"
"Is it true that you are judging the Totsuki Shokugeki next week?"
It was true. Her grandfather had recommended her to judge the upcoming Shokugeki. However, she was about to talk to the Judging Committee about it this afternoon to refuse. It was such a tedious task - human cooking is just not worth her time and palate.
He spoke first, "Well, if it's true, I'm just here to tell you that I will serve you the most delicious food you've ever had, and you will have no choice but to say, 'Delicious!' or you'll just be speechless."
"How presumptuous!" She blurted out.
He only laughed.
Her cheeks were now flushed with anger. But she forced herself to sound composed, "Words, words, words. Proofs are what counts, human."
He laughed again, and she was infuriated. She decided that she would accept the judging position if only to watch this impudent and presumptuous human squirm and to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face when she declared his food "Undeserving."
They were in a staring contest for several seconds before he said, "And by the way, we humans have a name. Yukihira Soma. That's mine."
She broke off the eye contact first, crossed her arms, and snobbily moved her head to the side and her nose up in the air.
Although she thought that he was not worth any more words from her, she was about to make another remark, but before she could, he said, "See you next week, Nakiri," and just left.