Classique

by Zancrowe

{Soma / Erina} As rival schools attempt to crush Tootsuki in the biggest Tournament Arc; Azami finally attempts to retake control of his daughter; while Asahi decides it's time to usurp the Nakiri Throne from that very heiress. Only problem? Erina's boyfriend. [ft. Asahi/OC; OC/Nao; Ryou/Alice; Isshi/Nene; Taku/Hisa; Akira/Megu] ((38: Finals! Unlimited Cross Knives))

5. The Ones Called Noirs

Notes:

Hey Everyone! Zancrowe Here!

This story. This… story. Why is this story so hard to write? And I don't mean to plot out, since even before I finished "Nouvelle" I already had this story mostly set in my mind (and my writer's bible), which includes every named character, all the chapter titles, pairings' list, and so much more. But actually writing it is proving quite the challenge. I have entire scenes (sometimes 12 pages worth of content) that I have removed from this Chapter alone because it didn't feel like it was of the best quality. I had to rewrite scenes twice and even thrice. Fun!

Disclaimer: Don't own Shokugeki no Soma.

---

It was her father.

It was her father.

It was her father…

Her hand was quivering as she moved towards the window's control panel, as she saw how the man clad in all black motioned for her to open said window. She bit her lower lip, trying, somehow, to keep her emotions in check and hide the fact that she was feeling terrified.

Why was here? Why now? She needed her uncle and her aunty.

Or Alice, or Hisako.

Or Soma…

She couldn't encounter him like this, not by herself, not in this darkness with the rain pouring so hard that it made it difficult for her to even read his expressions properly.

She lowered the car's window slightly, just barely enough to be able to hear him, but not enough that he could fit his arm though it. Would he even try something like that? She hoped not, but she was too scared to think properly. If he noticed, he didn't show it, as he simply stood there, umbrella in hand, as the droplets began to slowly fall into the insides of the limo, wetting her hand slightly as it lingered near the control panel, finger still resting on the controls, ready to close the window right up if he tried anything.

"Erina…" he voiced, and she tensed up further. It all came flooding back to her. In a moment, she was a scared child again, with this imposing man before her, a man she was insanely frightened by; and, at the same time, a man she loved and who she wanted nothing more than to finally make proud. "It's awfully late for you to be out, much less in this dreadful weather."

"I-I'm…" she tried, her head spinning and her senses failing her, but she bit down once more, trying to outright force herself to act properly. "…I'm returning from an important school event," she explained, her tone somewhat resembling her usual ice cold demeanor she was desperately trying to mimic. "Not something that should be so surprising, as it is related to everything you've set in motion."

"Ah, I see," Azami replied, and Erina was finding it difficult to even breathe. "I've been informed you've been promoted to the Fourth Seat. Just one seating shy of my own seat when I myself competed in the first Intercontinental Shokugeki."

"I'm aware," Erina firmly stated, but added nothing else. She wanted to send a clear message, despite how much willpower it took to keep herself from shaking, that she had no interest or intention on conversing with him in the slightest.

Azami lowered himself against the limousine's door, placing his sleeved arm against the window's frame as he peered inside from the small opening his daughter had allowed. She stiffened, but kept her eyes fixated on his, a tactic that she had long ago learned from the man himself.

"I don't much see any reason for us to have such a distant relationship Erina," he told her, and his tone sounded almost warm, just like it did way back when after he had hurt her and had come to apologize. "I want you to know that this challenge I've set up, this fight, it has nothing to do with you. I do not wish to inconvenience you in anyway. And, after it's all set and done, regardless of the outcome, you will still have your place within these halls."

"How utterly kind of you," she scoffed, which if he found surprising, he did not convey. Instead, he merely looked on.

"I'm sensing some sort of displeasure in your tone," he voiced after a brief pause.

Her eyes sharpened into an almost glare, but she refrained from voicing her honest thoughts. The last thing they needed was to rile up this man any further. Her friends, and even her boyfriend, were not aware of just how dangerous Azami Nakamura could be, and she did not want to give him any openings. "I'm simply tired," she voiced instead, "There have been too many… changes, as of late. Makes it somewhat hard to keep track of everything."

"I see," he voiced, and his tone still remained composed. She was still on edge, however, despite how much she tried. She had no idea how'd she'd even react if he raised his voice at her. Would she stand up to him like she liked to imagine she would? Or would she cower away and cry like she used to do? It was not something she enjoyed thinking about. "Then, please, allow me to assist," Azami continued, and before Erina could voice her confusion, Azami signaled to the men at the gate; the guards who clearly were utterly unsure of what to do in the scenario before them. "Let's speed up the process here gentlemen. My daughter wishes to be indoors, if you so kindly."

They paused, albeit only briefly, before they nodded and began to work. Much to Erina's surprise, within moments, the gates were fully opened and the vehicle before hers was moved aside. It only took mere minutes before she was driven to the front entrance of her home, and she could only look on, in plain uncertainty, as her father reappeared and motioned to the driver to assist her in exiting the limousine.

The driver motioned to open her door, but upon being unable to do so, meekly voiced a "…ma'am?" at her, which caused Erina to realize she had been gripping the door's lock firmly and tightly. Since when had she been holding on to it?

"I…" she tried to say, but she wasn't certain what to say, much less what to say.

"If your concern is my very presence, rest assured," she could hear her father say. "If you much prefer, I'll remain right here, and not move towards you. But, you must know that we will have to interact at some point during this month-long event. And I genuinely wish we could at least try to reestablish our relationship in some way, shape or form."

"How can you even say that?" Erina said, for the first time since this conversation had started without thinking it first. She released her grip on the locks and opened the door herself, surprising her driver who simply stood back as the princess exited the vehicle and stood firmly before the black-clad man before her.

Azami looked on. He seemed like someone who wanted to voice something, to question her sudden outburst, but he refrained.

"It's always the same thing with you father," Erina said, her sharp eyes now fully glaring his way. "You're gone for so long that I almost forget that I even have a father and then you come back, like nothing's wrong, like you never left. Like nothing ever happened between us. That's… That's not how a father should act. I-I can't just-"

"You're not wrong Erina," Azami cut in, and the softness in his voice caught her off-guard in the worst way. "I've made many mistakes. In the process of achieving my goals, I've hurt you."

No.

"…I pushed you further than I should ever have," he continued. "And in turn, I pushed you away. Similarly, I failed in being there for your mother. I know this better than anyone…"

Stop.

"…But my return here is not to force you to be something that you don't want to be," he explained. "My goal now, what I intend to do is save this place. You, the brilliant young lady that you are, must have felt it too. Tell me, just how many times has this school and its outdated philosophies let you down?"

'Don't lie to me again!' she screamed at him and at herself in her head.

"Please, all I ask Erina, is for just one more chance to –"

"No!" she shouted a little bit louder than she wanted to, but she wasn't feeling all that in control of the situation as she wanted to. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to mask all this greed of yours into some sort of ploy designed with my best interests in mind. I've heard this before. If you forgot, I have not. You always came back, promising to be better, and you were, but it only lasted weeks before you reverted back. I cannot –"

"I know I've hurt you," he spoke up, and it hurt just how genuine it sounded. He sounded hurt, in pain, like if he was truly trying to own up to his mistakes.

And with each word, it slowly broke away at the walls Erina had spent years setting up. It would be so much easier to shut out someone who is screaming at you or pushing you or anything. But, against someone who sounds so…

"One chance, that's all I ask for," Azami continued. "My biggest regret will always be treating both you and your mother the way I did, and driving you both away from me. I no longer have the option of fixing my relationship with Mana, but please, allow me the chance to at least try and be a father to –"

"No!" Erina screamed out, and she pulled back and rested herself on the limo's door. "I'm not the same little girl from before. You can't just come back with excuses and expect me… I-I shouldn't even be talking to you without Grandfather here, and you know that. You shouldn't…"

Then he broke her with just four little words.

"Have you seen him?"

"…what?"

"Have they taken you to see Senzaemon?" her father asked, and again, she could almost hear concern in his voice. It made her tremble. But much worse than that, it made her… hopeful. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth. That he had changed. That years apart had made him genuinely miss his daughter.

"I've… only learned of it recently," she replied, still unsure if she should be saying anything at all. Her heart and her mind were contradicting themselves at every point, and neither was winning.

"Would you like me to take you to him?"

"Father… I… You couldn't possibly…"

"Senzaemon is a proud man," Azami expressed. "He would be caught dead before he allows any of you kids see him in anything but an ideal state. A character flaw, granted, but not one without merit. He is still, even for me, a frightening individual, and while our views are hardly ever aligned, I still owe him an unpayable debt for taking care of you when both Mana and I failed."

Erina felt her throat clenching, making it hard to breathe or swallow, but she still looked on, never losing that eye contact which was crucial in times like this. Or so she had been told.

"Still, you are no longer just a kid," Azami continued. "As the heiress of Tootsuki, one of its top students, the God's Tongue and one of the ten pillars currently defending what's left of the very Academy he founded, Senzaemon owes it to you to tell you of his condition personally. You deserve a chance to speak to him, and if Soe and Leonora will not take you, if you wish, I can."

"He wouldn't want to see you," Erina voiced.

"And he shouldn't have to," Azami replied. "But he won't forbid you from doing so once you're there. And if he tries, well, if you're half as tenacious as your mother, well, he won't have much say on the matter then."

"…That's not for me to decide," she countered, and she pushed herself up, to stand up a little bit more firm. "Grandfather will talk to us when he is ready. I can't… won't just show up without my family's consent when –"

"They are keeping details from you Erina," Azami voiced, and Erina came to a sudden halt. Her voice left her, and her eyes widened. And for a brief moment, all of her doubts and concerns regarding how secretive her relatives had been lately came flooding back. She closed her eyes, trying her best to drown it all out. "Not out of malice, I'd imagine, but I don't think this is the moment that you should be treated like an ignorant child. Not when you are the one who's out there in the frontlines. You deserve to know everything, as does Alice. I will not push this topic any further, but just remember, if you ever need to get clear answers, just ask me and I will take you to him, and I in no way will request anything from you in turn."

"…Am I supposed to believe you'd do that just for my own wellbeing?" Erina asked, but she utterly despised how soft her own tone had grown. It didn't help that, with each second that passed, she was starting to grow numb. Her finger tips had grown colder, and her vision was starting to blur ever so slightly.

"Only you can decide what it is you believe in," Azami simply replied. "Just know that the offer stands."

The silence that followed was not as much awkward as it was depressing. Erina had no longer the strength to try and say anything else, and Azami looked as if he had said what he had come out to say. The aides, standing nearby but afraid of approaching unless called upon, just looked on, wondering if they should intervene regardless, but they were saved such a decision when the front doors slowly opened and out came Gin Doujima with the last group who came to challenge Tootsuki right behind him.

Gin seemed to pause, not expecting the sight before him. "Erina, is everything alright?" he asked, and he was someone who she could at least properly read and know that he was genuinely concerned for her.

"Y-Yes, I'm alright Mr. Doujima."

"Seems like my presence still makes her a bit… uncomfortable. Nothing that should overly concern you Gin," Azami added, and Gin turned him attention from the young lady to his once upon a time teammate.

"I'm certain there is enough precedence for her to feel that way, wouldn't you?" Gin asked, and while she was certain it bothered her father greatly, the black-clad man remained coy.

"Never said she does not," Azami clarified. "If my intentions of reestablishing a connection with my daughter are to be fruitful, I am well aware I need to offer her ample amounts of both distance and time. But please remember, this is a family matter, I would appreciate the privacy she and I both require."

"Very well," a clearly not happy Gin replied, then added, "But as an instructor, among other things, in this academy, I must remind you that parental visits are not accepted at this time. So, unless it is an emergency, please allow Erina here to get back into her quarters. She has had a long day and much needs to be prepared for the coming days for the match-ups to come. I would appreciate your understanding."

Her father said nothing, but he did smile at the statement, the closest Erina had ever seen to him being taken aback by a reply all night. It made her honestly impressed with Gin Doujima, even if she had to remind herself that the man had been the First Seat when her father had become the Third, so he was probably used to putting Azami in his place.

That thought made her smile a bit, but just as sudden all of her father's words and promises came back, and for a moment, she didn't want her father to feel bad. To be pushed aside. Then she shook her head, because that's what she always felt before she got vulnerable again. It was a cycle she had long thought she had broken.

As Gin and Azami seemed to come to an "understanding", Erina took notice that she was being stared at. She looked to the side, right behind Gin, as four other teens (young adults?) were all gathered and had quickly set their sights on her. While it wasn't that hard a guess to imagine that those four were amongst the groups brought in to compete against them, she was surprised when she did recognize one of them, from that Showcase all those months ago.

"…Julius?" she voiced softly, unsure if she was asking him or herself.

"Miss," Julius replied politely, bowing his head ever so slightly. Next to him Ashitaro said nothing, as he merely took one glance at Erina before he shifted his attention elsewhere. Dove, on the other hand, took her time eyeing Erina form head to toe, slowly, almost outright undressing her with her eyes much to Erina's utter bewilderment, before she meet her eyes with hers, smiling throughout.

"The God's Tongue herself, how very thrilling," Dove voiced as she licked her lips, which under any other circumstance, would have caused Erina to scoff and threaten to end her career right there and then, but she didn't not have the strength for this now. But, before she could even begin to try and excuse herself, the last member of that group actually approached her. A young man, whose hair reminded her of her father, and whose smile reminded her of… Soma…

"You have no idea how long I've waited to finally meet you," Asahi said with a hint of nervousness in his voice, as he extended his hand towards her. Erina looked on, her mind still processing it all.

"I… I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities during the Intercontinental Shokugeki," Erina replied as professional as she could.

"Ah? Oh, yeah, that too," Asahi meekly replied, retracting his hand when he realized she was not in a greeting mood. "But that's not what I mean, I mean, this might come out as a bit of a surprise, but I'm actually –"

"Asahi," they heard Azami call out, and both Erina and Asahi flinched a bit, before they both turned to their father. He was smiling, and while Erina believed he was mad at her, Asahi knew he was mad at him. "If you'll excuse us Gin; you do raise a valid point. Children, we must be going. We cannot abuse of the hospitality given to us. Let us all get back to the Resort," then, he turned to Erina. "And, again, I'm sorry for causing you any distress. I'll keep my distance, just know that if you need me, I am here for you."

Gin just stared, but he said nothing, as Azami led the group away. Julius was the first to move back onto their car, him being the most used to following orders to a "T". Ashitaro followed suit, but more because he no longer had any interest in remaining in this place. Dove went afterwards, with the brunette turning one last time not to glance at Erina but at Asahi. She stuck out her tongue at him with a smirk, one which clearly caused the boy to frown.

"I'm starting to hate her," Asahi muttered, even if in his mind he felt he should probably just say "them" and count them all as one big, annoying headache.

"I…" Erina's voice caused him to return his attention to the blonde heiress, who seemed not all that there. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. We'll look forwards to facing off in the matches," she told him, in the most monotone and practiced tone he had ever heard anyone use. He placed his hands in his pockets, unsure, as she began to walk pass him and towards her home.

With Azami watching him like a hawk, Asahi knew he couldn't do much, not now, but he did have time to whisper at least something more. For her ears only.

Then he broke her with just four little words.

"Do not trust him."

She didn't know what part of the night haunted her more, but she could no longer even think straight. She knew it was not a polite thing to do, but she didn't even thank Gin for his assistance, or say a farewell to anyone. She walked inside her manor, headed straight to her room, and as soon as she closed and locked her door, she could feel her senses betraying her. Vision blurred, heart racing, body cold as ice. She motioned to the bathroom, towards her sink, searching and searching until she remembered.

'…I lend them to my mother.'

She bit her lip, stepping back right out and tossing herself onto the bed. She began to toss and turn, finding little comfort in constant motion, but remaining still was still worse. Finding it hard to breathe, she moved again, crawling through her bed and reaching the edge, before she extended her arm and pulled in the little plush she had discarded less than twenty-four hours ago. This time, she pressed it close to her chest, hugging it as hard as she could.

In her mind, the thought of calling Soma flashed. She acted upon it, motioning to her phone and unblocking it. But, mere seconds from sending the call, she stopped herself.

'…I shouldn't burden him with something as stupid as this,' she told herself the biggest lie without realizing it. 'He's preparing for the match-ups, as are the others. I… This is just me being overly emotional, nothing more. I can't let him get to me. No matter how much I'd want it to be true, I cannot trust my father. I can't. There is not a world in which my family can be unbroken…'

So the princess laid in her big bed in her expensive room, surrounded by the ghosts of the past and the phantoms of the future, as she clung onto her plush, screaming at herself a lie masked as a truth.

'Be a big girl! Power though this! J-Just suck it up and carry on…'

Then she cried herself to sleep…

-0-

The rain wasn't letting up, which made his trip back towards his dorm a little bit more time consuming than he had anticipated. Driving his small bike through the damp streets was not something that challenging, but it did still require him to go about it a little bit slower. Still, not one to waste time, Soma had used that opportunity to call his father, and using his headphones, explained, in his way, what was happening at Tootsuki right now.

"– I mean, the news gets out that the old man isn't feeling well and then everybody just happens to have a team ready?" his father voiced with a scoff. Soma nodded even if his old man couldn't see it. Jouichirou, where ever it was he was, was pretty busy from the sound of all the talking and noise making in the background. Then again, a chef of his stature could take a few minutes to speak to his son without anyone complaining. "Bunch of cowards. Ganging up like that. When I participated in that big Shokugeki, it was just two schools, eight students, that's it. No need for all this complexity."

"I think I heard about that somewhere," Soma recollected, as he parked his bike at the dorm's parking lot and stepped out, landing right on a massive puddle. He frowned, annoyed by how it seemed like the rain was getting only harder. "How you were part of that team. Gin Doujima too, right?"

"Yep!" Jouichirou replied. "Gin was our First Seat after all, he took it way too seriously, ended up being the first out of all eight of us in completing his meal. Not the most elaborated thing I've seen, but I can't argue with results, his dish tasted divine. Better than most of the stuff he used against me, the jerk."

"Seems like he didn't take you seriously…" Soma teased, and he could hear his father let out a laugh.

"Yeah, guess Gin was actually concerned for Tootsuki. Not the rest of us though," his father explained. "We just played along, itching at the chance at going against the top from another school. See how we measured up and all that. And they were good, just… just not that good."

"Seems like the other schools now claim otherwise," Soma said, as he walked through the sidewalk towards the front doors, deciding against an umbrella as he couldn't be any wetter. "Speaking of, the guy behind all of this, Erina's dad, he was also with you guys, right?"

"Yeah, Azami was there," Jouichirou replied. "It was Gin, Azami, Riko and me. And, if memory serves, that's the order in which we each completed our dishes."

"…Wait, Riko," Soma muttered, recalling the event he had gone to with Erina a few days ago. "I remember her, or rather, I met her recently. Very nice woman, spoke fondly of you."

"You met Riko?" Jouichirou asked, and for once, Soma heard genuine surprise from his father. Jouichirou was not a man to take things very seriously, so even something like the possible fall of Tootsuki was not enough to cause him to outright worry. But mentioning the Golden Age Fourth Seat seemed to take the man back. "I haven't heard from her in ages, well, I've hear off her, with all her business dealings and the like, but I haven't spoken to her. Gin told me she had not visited Tootsuki either, despite being invited back almost every year."

"She spoke pretty chill with me and Erina," Soma noted. "Although, you're one to talk about going off-grid for years, no?"

"…I can't argue that," Jouichirou said, then laughed. "Still, it's just weird to hear your son mention your ex-girlfriend, that's all."

"Ah, yeah, I guess it is…"

"Still, kiddo, you should study up all these other schools, because these guys will –"

"She's your what?!" Soma blasted into Jouichirou's ear so loudly that the people surrounding the elder man heard it clearly. As the head chef had to make sure he wasn't deaf, he could only offer a weak smile at the confused coworkers of his before he turned his attention back to his son.

"I take it she didn't mention it?"

"No!"

"I'm sure I at some point must have mentioned…"

"You did not!"

"Oh? Well, yeah, she and I dated back at Tootsuki," Jouichirou explained in the most calm manner, which caused Soma to childishly pout. "Oh, and before you go thinking anything, this was obviously before I had even met your mother. Tamako was probably still perfecting her craft at Yukihira's while this was going on, or killing someone alongside her biker gang, not sure of the timeline, but –"

"…Dad," Soma interrupted, and his tone was soft, and while his father couldn't see him, he knew Soma was smiling. "I know how much you loved mom. How much you still do. I'm not a kid, it's not like I expected that you and mom were the only ones in each other's lives. You've… shown me how it is to be a good and loyal man. So you don't have to explain yourself at all."

"Huh… That's very mature sounding for a brat like you."

"Oh yeah?" a slightly irked Soma replied. "Well, I've matured plenty. Not only am I confident that my cooking can now clearly beat yours –"

"Ha!"

"– but I'm also – I heard that! – also part of the team in-charge of taking on seven invading schools," Soma said with pride, then added, "Not just merely one like some old timers just barely managed to do."

"Of that I'm certain," his father replied, then both father and son laughed. Soma reached the front door, but before he opened it, he paused.

"…And dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think it would be wrong for you to start dating again," Soma said, catching his old man completely off his guard and saying words he never expected his son to say. Words he had not even expected to hear from himself. "It's your call, granted, but don't go thinking I'm gonna see it as a disrespect to mom or to me. Besides, you ain't getting any younger."

"Okay, that last part was uncalled for," Jouichirou spoke a bit irate, but it was clear from his tone that they were both used to teasing each other. "…Not the words I ever expected to hear from you. Who knows what the future will bring…?"

"You should give that Riko a call."

"Oh, wow, first time the conversation's getting awkward on my end, alright Soma, got to get back to work," Jouichirou was quick to speak, as he heard Soma just burst out into laughter. The kid, while almost a clone of his mom, still had that mischievous streak from himself, and he was way too good at it sometimes.

"Right, right, whatever you say – the heck?" Soma voiced, as he paused, mid-entrance, glancing towards his side to one of the many trees that surrounded the Polar Star Dormitories. Or rather, to something that seemed to be moving on top of one.

"Hmm? Something wrong?" his father asked.

"Oh, no. Just something weird I wanna check out," Soma replied. "Don't worry about me, get back to your stuff. I'll call you later."

As Soma hung up with his father, the redhead stepped right back out of the dorms, back to the pouring rain, as he tried his best to decipher what it was he was seeing clinging onto the tree's branch. Was it an animal, like some sort of sloth or overgrown owl? Or was it some sort of monster? While frightening in a way, Soma found it likewise exciting, so he edged closer. Plus, the last time he ignored a gut feeling saying something was off he missed Mimasaka hiding in his very room, and he wanted to avoid another situation like that. Not from Mimasaka, who he knew was not against him anymore, but now that Tootsuki had been effectively invaded, he couldn't be too careful.

His gut feeling had proven correct, as Soma, upon closer inspection, was able to make out a person, wrapped in towels as if they were camouflage gear, using what appeared to be binoculars to spy directly into the Polar Star dorms. It didn't… quite sit right with Soma.

"Hey, the Open House tour ended quite a bit ago," Soma called out, giving the tree a swift kick to draw the invader's attention, which worked a bit too well, as no sooner had he done so than had the spy outright freaked out, tried to move, got caught up in all the towels and gear, and came tumbling down onto the wet grass. Soma stared blankly for a moment, hoping he had not just murdered a person, but was relieved when he heard a pained groan come out of the defeated spy. "Pretty dangerous stunt you're pulling there guy."

"I'm not a guy you damn fool," barked the fallen spy, which Soma quickly realized was (a) not a guy, but a girl, and (b) one of the Polar Stars themselves. More specifically, one of the new ones, Nao Sadatsuka. "What's the big idea scaring me like that?!"

"I feel like I should be the one doing the questioning here…" Soma said with a hint of snark, which caused Nao to glare at him with her one visible eye. The bewitching girl looked twice the part now that she was soaked to the bone, as her hair clung onto her face and covered most of its features. "Why were you even up there?"

"There is no rule that I have to report anything to you," she voiced back, fully defensively. "Even if you are now one of the Elite Ten, and even if you are dating the Goddess herself, a result I still find insanely ludicrous but let's not get into that, you have no authority over me. Got it?!"

"Oh yeah, that's true," Soma cheerfully said, much to Nao's confusion. "That said, I'm very protective of this dorm, so I feel like I should probably tell Miss Fumio about, well, whatever it is you don't want to tell me you're doing –"

"What?! No! That's blackmail!" Nao screamed out, getting right up from the cold grass and into Soma's face, glaring all the way. "How can you be so damn blind and think I'm the one that wants to hurt this place! I was clearly trying to see if he was plotting something! I'm not the one that… Damn it! You made me say something!"

"Heh, heh," Soma gave out a short laugh and rubbed the back of his head a bit. "I learned that from Isshiki, he's pretty good at getting people to spill without pushing. And yeah, relax, I won't tell on ya. You do seem pretty distressed and all that, and despite Hisako's warnings about you, I don't find you all that creepy."

"…Sis just doesn't understand my devotion to her," Nao said with a solemn tone, before she shook her head, which caused her already messy hair to get even messier. Now Soma could no longer even see her face at all. He was just talking to hair. "But that's not important right now! Until I can be sure of what's going on, you can't tell anyone I'm stal-following him, got it?"

"Following who exactly?"

"You haven't noticed?" the hair said. "The new boy, Loren! That kid has connections, very scary connections. People I do not want anywhere near me. I knew from before this all began, before they arrived, my mama warned me that he was coming over, but I never thought that they'd have that kid keeping tabs on us here!"

"Loren?" Soma asked, and while he didn't know the kid much, his mind flashed to what little he did. The kid mostly kept to himself, very tech inclined, loved listening to music while he cooked, and that dish he had made against Soma tasted insanely good. More on par to someone attending Tootsuki rather than someone trying to enroll. "Well, he does keep to himself a lot, but… even if he has some kind of relationship with anyone from these other schools; that really shouldn't matter. Not much he can do when we engage against them in the Shokugeki proper. If he steps out of line, then we could intervene, but for now just ignore him."

"Seriously…?"

"What?"

"…That's the same response Isshiki gave me," the bundle of hair replied, sounding ever so displeased. "You two seem to be cut from the same cloth; thinking just because he's a member of this dorm now that you have to protect him or some dumb stuff like that."

"It's not exactly like –"

"I get it that for all of you this is just an academy of adventure and to further your careers, but I came here to get away," she said, and the seriousness in her tone made Soma flinch a bit. "I'm certain my brother is already here, within this campus, and if there's a slim chance that that blond twit has anything to do with him, then either he leaves or I do."

"…Your brother that bad a guy?"

"The worst," was all she replied, as she began to walk back to the dorm, leaving the now concerned wet boy out alone in the pouring rain. She didn't clarify anything else, just walked right in, likely leaving a mess across the halls as she made a beeline towards the bathrooms. Soma remained, his eyes turning from the girl towards the window she had been trying to look into. It was indeed Loren's room, but the lights were off. Was he already asleep? Or was there some truth to what Nao had been saying…?

Nao, for all her quirks, knew that she wasn't in the wrong here. If she could do anything to ensure that she would not come face to face with her brother, she would do so. And if Loren made their would-be reunion any more likely, then she had to uncover him. She had to learn everything about this infiltrator and make them all see it.

So, with her body drenched in mud and her mind even muddier, Nao made her way towards the bathrooms, hoping that she could at least wash her worries away if only for tonight. She had not learned anything anyways. The boy, either knowingly or out of sheer luck, had not entered his room once during the time she spent looking in. And, of course, he carried his phone with him at all times, so she couldn't even catch a glimpse of that.

"I need to expose him completely, somehow," she muttered to herself as she swung the bathrooms doors open…

…only to actually run into Loren of all people.

They both froze in place, their respective eyes wide, her hand still gripping the door and his hands still gripping the towels drying his hair blonde hair with those blackened tips. He had nothing else on his body, as she could quite clearly see, her red eyes accidentally following the droplets of water that went down his torso all the way to the very tip of his…

Then they both screamed.

"Why didn't you put a –?!" she tried, but his scream drowned out hers.

"It's Sadako!" he shrieked as he quickly covered himself, as she felt a vein pop.

"I'm not a vengeful ghost you moron!" she barked back, before the reality of the situation hit her fully. As her face turned outright crimson due to the embarrassment of what she had just seen and the situation she found herself in, she flipped around and ran out the bathroom, shouting a final "make a note of when the bathroom's in use!" at him before she ended up slipping with her own puddles and landing face-first onto the cold, hard floor.

'…Why me…?' she asked herself, on the verge of calling it quits right then and there. 'Who has such horrible luck as running into the worst possible person in the bath of all places…?'

…

Megumi sneezed, blinking for a moment, half asleep, before she shrugged and returned to sleep, blissfully unaware.

-0-

Morning came by quickly, even if not everyone managed to get a good enough rest. Despite it all, Tootsuki was in full swing, so everyone had to get their asses to their classes. Soma awoke to some concern, as his "good night" text to Erina had been left on read, and a follow up to it, reading "good morning, everything okay?" was not even offered that courtesy.

He wanted to call her, but he also knew she needed space, so he decided to wait a little and then give the call. Relationships, he had grown to learn, were insanely confusing, but he was slowly learning. Or at least he hoped he was.

So, he got up, put on his uniform, since as an Elite Ten student he was being pressured even more-so into using it, despite his complaints. He walked out, greeted everyone, was told Isshiki was already out, found Megumi rushing and worried because she had overslept, found Loren and Nao glaring daggers at each other from across the halls and was told by Fumio to be on guard, as the visiting challengers were going to be allowed to visit Tootsuki starting today.

"They can go anywhere they want from three in the afternoon until eight at night," she had told him before he left. "So long as they don't interrupt any class, or act improperly, they have free reign. Or course, places such as faculty areas or the Elite Ten meeting spots are off limits. Also, starting today, any Tootsuki student can challenge them to a Shokugeki, just like Soe said, but… well, I wouldn't advice it. At least, not yet."

Because of all of this, even before three, during their regular classes, the air around them felt thick. No longer were the students actively competing against one another or challenging each other. Instead, the halls were filled with nothing but chatter and murmurs of the incoming invasion, on how utterly frightening it must be to be an Elite Ten student and have the entire academy in your shoulders. Soma would disagree, but getting reminded of the stakes every two minutes was not overly pleasant either.

Still, despite his claims at being relaxed and ready for anything, the stress still caught up with him, as he got caught lost in thought in class, whereupon Miyazato Takao had asked him something which he honestly had not even heard properly. He shrugged and excused himself and, Miyazato being the kind man he was, allowed Soma the time to reread through the textbook and find his answer, something someone like Chapelle would never have allowed.

The class gave out a soft laughter at this, the thought of seeing the new Seventh Seat caught off-guard by a trivial question was equal parts funny and worrying, but Soma tried to play it cool. He noticed, that out of all the students taking that class with him, only Nao didn't join in on the laughter. The little witch didn't even look his way, her eyes fixated elsewhere, her mind deep in thought.

The rest of the school day moved at a snail's pace, and a single hour felt like three as everybody began to dread the upcoming "visit" from all these other students, a far cry from all the excitement and thrill they felt from the Open House a few days prior. But, as time waits for no man, three in the afternoon came, and with it, a Tootsuki Resort sponsored school bus drove right through the streets of the campus and arrived at the main gathering area, at the utmost center point of all of Tootsuki.

Several students gathered, either purposely or those who just happened to be passing by, all to witness as the school bus came to a slow stop and out began to exit the challengers, all sporting their distinctive school uniforms, a sign of pride evident in their display.

"Look at this place!" the littlest competitor shouted out as soon as the group began to exit the bus. The young Aisha Akintola marveled at the sights, grinning from ear to ear at finally being allowed to roam throughout the "dreaded" Tootsuki Academy. "Ever since we crossed the gates we've been inside Tootsuki, right?" Aisha asked. "We drove quite a bit since then. This place must be huge, eh?"

"Just don't get lost," The eldest brother of the four, Hakeem, said as he exited the bus. "We have to meet up back here at eight sharp. If we break the rules, we risk getting eliminated from the competition, so I expect you three to take this completely seriously."

"There you go again with that damn stick up your ass," one of the two middle brothers, the eldest twin, Keelan, snarked. "This is recon, we need to find out what our competition is planning. We are in their home turf after all, ain't that right Dakarai?"

The other twin brother, the ever quiet Dakarai, said nothing; only stared out into the massive crowd of Tootsuki students that had gathered around them.

"Quite the sea of beauty, ain't it?" another competitor interjected, standing right beside the still pensive Dakarai. Ever the admirer of the female form, as he eloquently puts it, Gautier Pierre was ever so eager to get up close and personal with all the school girls that he could. "As you can see, we are like celebrities to them. This would be an awful thing to waste if-"

"Keep it in your pants," another one of the French students, Lumiere Dubois, quickly cut in after smacking Gautier right across the head. "This is a pretty major thing we're competing in, read the room. Stop making us look back in front of the African division."

"We're actually from Nigeria," little Aisha voiced in, swinging a bit to the sides. "Don't know why everybody seems so intent on making us represent an entire continent."

"Oh, my apologies," Lumiere quickly added with a light blush, but all Aisha did was smile and shrug, clearly not insulted.

"There we go again, amazing first impressions everybody," a blushing Camille Le Gall added as she exited the vehicle. "Two minutes in and we already look like total fools."

"~How very embarrassing, no?" another voice cut in, belonging to the Russian competitor Sasha Yelchin, who gave the group a playful smirk, which caused Camille to frown but Gautier merely offered the girl a wink.

"Sasha," called out the Russian team's leader, the ever strict Ekaterina Antonova, who alongside the brick wall of a partner she had in Aleksei Ozerov, gave off an air of authority that even the other teams felt. "No games. We have places to be."

Sasha merely laughed but quickly bounced from next to the French team and landed right next to her leader, as the Russian team were the first to move and begin their exploration of the Tootsuki grounds. Camilla was left irked by it all, as was probably most of her team, expect, of course, Gautier. Why was he made leader? She'd never understand.

"I'm glad we're facing off against Tootsuki and not them," Timonthy Humphries offered as his team excited the bus. "That Aleksei fellow scared me."

"Aleksei? Why, cause he's tall?" Victor Slingby asked, half serious, as he glanced at the retreating team. "Considering the choose Ekaterina as the team leader, I'd be more worried about her. Although, given our own team leader, maybe it's not talent that decides who does what."

"I heard that!" the United Kingdom's leader, Van Autumn, cried out, quickly reaching the couple and pouting at them. "We had this conversation already! I didn't want to be the lead! But you both said no!"

"Of course we said no!" Timonthy said with a grin.

"Too much paperwork," Victor added.

"I hate you both!" Van cried, as only his twin sister, Bridgette Autumn, walked over and patted him on the head, feeling his pain but not wanting to do any of the paperwork either.

"These people are quite the characters," the Italian Valentino De Luca mused as he stepped out, his eyes narrowed at the quirky displays before them. Next to him, their team leader exited, as she seemed to scan their surroundings and the Tootsuki students gathered. "Anything on your mind miss?"

"…He's not here," Lucrezia Russo said, sounding a mix of angered and disappointed. "Come, I'm sure it won't be too hard to track them down."

"They seem to be in a rush," Christina Jusino, from Spain, noted, as she saw the Italian team quickly move through the crowds and towards Tootsuki proper.

"So what? So are we!" Linda Montes quickly chimed in, turning to their team captain and her boyfriend Alex Franco in the process. "Wanna hit the cafeteria?! I'm so craving something salty right now!"

"You really only think with your stomach, don't you?" Alex mentioned, patting his childhood sweetheart on the head, which caused Linda's forming pout to turn into a smile.

"Not my fault, blame the pills," she retorted. He nodded. Then he noticed their fourth member on the move.

"Hey! Beto? Where you heading off to?" he asked, as their teammate, Alberto Rodriguez, seemed to pause and turn to face the other three with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Nature calls," he replied, and the other three felt a sweat drop. They were at the resort less than half an hour ago. They wanted to complain, remind him they only had less than five hours to explore, but before any of them could say anything, he was already gone, rushing through the crowds like a mad man.

"Must be quite the shit."

"Linda…"

"What?"

The last group to exit the bus, while all the others began to quickly move on and about, was the one made up of the ever so infamously dubbed Noir Chefs. At the behest of Azami, the foursome was made to also wear a tailor made uniform, one sporting Azami's own brand, something that didn't sit all that well with three of the members that made up that little group.

"…I should have stayed at the hotel," complained Ashitaro, who wore his uniform jacket like a cape, draped over his shoulder, not really caring much about it. "I have no interest in what these students do during the day. I just want to duel them and get this over with."

"How can you be so doom and gloom all the time?!" Dove quickly chimed in, the only one amongst them loving her new uniform, as she twirled around to purposely show off her new skirt. It did not go unnoticed to the crowd, who, while greatly disliking the invaders, found her much less unlikable than the rest. "We've never been to a culinary school before, this is a one in a million chance we have to live a school-life drama! Imagine it, excitement! Rivalries! Risqué interactions and forbidden romances! What's not to like?!"

"You expect to live all of that in just a month?" Julius asked, half interested, half agreeing with Ashitaro at not wanting to be there. Unlike the other three, he had already interacted with his fair share of Tootsuki alumni to last him a lifetime.

"Don't burst her bubble there Julie, let the girl dream," Asahi chimed in, taking a long look at the gathered crowd, noticing that not a single one of the Elite Ten students were present. "…How utterly insulting, not even going to offer us a proper greeting."

-0-

"And they've landed," Kuga announced as he took a glance at his phone. Several of his peers had sent the Third Seat quite a few notifications and even a video clip of their arrival; which just caused the young man to scoff playfully. He pushed himself back onto his seat, turning his attention to his fellow Elite Ten members. It still felt a bit weird, he admitted, to have so many new, fresh faces present.

"Don't concern yourself with them just yet," Nene replied, the First Seat currently scanning past the documents before her, still getting used to being the one in charge of these meetings in the first place. "It's the Tootsuki staff's job to keep them in line. Plus, they can't come in here, lest they risk elimination. Our focus should be on our upcoming first match this Wednesday. You guys ready to start…?"

As Nene asked, the other Elite Ten students seemed hesitant to nod, as they were, but they were still missing a member. All the others turned their heads to the side, at the empty seat at the table, where they were missing one Fourth Seat. Nene sighed, expecting such behavior from half of them, but not from her.

"Okay, any idea where the princess is?" Nene asked, turning to the Eight Seat, who quickly pouted at the insinuation.

"Why should I know where she is?" Alice quickly protested. "If you want to ask anyone, ask Soma!"

"But he's not family, so…" Nene argued, weakly.

"He is the boyfriend," Isshiki offered, as he turned to Soma. The boy gave out half a smile, not being able to argue that point but not really having an idea of where she was anyways.

"Why does it matter who I ask?" a blushing Nene argued, still not openly comfortable with the fact that it seemed like everyone she knew was getting hit by the love bug. One glance at a still smiling Isshiki made her blush even harder, to which she quickly shook her head. Also, as if that weren't enough, she felt that they were getting way to off topic and finally understood why Eishi hated this role so much.

"Making it very obvious you've never had a boyfriend there pigtails," Kuga teased, which cause Nene to outright growl at him.

"Oh? Have you?" she tried to save face.

"What if I have? Its twenty-twenty girl, get with the times," he teased again, and she wanted to slam his face against the table.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Kids, settle down now," Isshiki offered. "Despite how we clearly don't feel like it, we are the older kids at the table so to speak, so we should act as such. Plus," Isshiki added, "We seem to be making Shouko a little uncomfortable."

The group paused and turned to the Sixth Seat, who shifted her baseball cap a bit to the side at the sudden surge of attention. She gave the group a little smile. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just listening in. I find it charming how you all joke around so much. It's good, I gather, that way we don't let this situation consume us. Isn't that right, First?"

"You don't have to address me like that…" a still blushing Nene muttered, but she realized that Isshiki was right. They weren't the low level seats anymore. They needed to take this seriously.

"So, Soma, any idea where Erina is?" Isshiki asked, bringing the conversation back to where it should be, but the boy merely shook his head.

"Wish I knew," Soma replied, his tone sounding as if he were disappointed at himself. "I haven't spoken to her since yesterday. She's not one to play hooky like this though."

"Nakiri girls are like that," Ryou offered, before he was kicked on the shin from the side. "Hey!"

"No one asked for your opinion!" Alice argued. "And besides, I'm here. Whatever it is, it must be important. Don't any of you forget! While this may be our school, this is her home, so don't go thinking she has any other priority right now."

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," Nene clarified, as she blushed again and fought the urge to bury herself within the paperwork. 'Good job! I think you just offended a fellow Seated Member. Fantastic First Seat you are turning out to be!'

"Can you not give her a call Seventh?" Shouko asked, turning to Soma, who took a few seconds to process she was talking to him. She stared at him until he did, which he found somewhat off-putting in a way he couldn't quite describe.

"…I've tried," Soma offered weakly.

"Just let her be," the Fifth Seat, Akira, cut in. "We can give her whatever information she needs later. We only have so much time to prepare, best we use it properly. Nene, if you would, just start the meeting."

"…Ah, right," she replied, swallowing down the shame of being told what to do by a lower seated member. "Like we said, our first match is this Saturday. According to our match-ups, our first Shokugeki will be against the La Aca… Academia Real Cocina from Spain, hope I pronounced that right… whose members total four."

"Shouldn't that be "Real Academia de Cocina"?" Alice asked, raising her hand as she slouched on the chair, sending very mixed signals as someone who is both proper and lazy at the same time.

"I-I don't know, I'm just reading what it says," Nene replied, frowning at Alice then at the documents. She didn't know a lick of Spanish after all.

"Just sounds grammatically incorrect…" Alice added, "Like if you were saying The Academy Real Kitchen instead of The Real Kitchen Academy, right?"

"We didn't name the damn place!" Ryou blasted, his bandana somehow on, increasingly annoyed by how much time they were wasting.

"Then the translators did shitty job!" Alice countered. "And don't you bark at me!"

"A-Anyways," Nene tried her best to continue. "We have our first match against them. Their team is led by Alex Franco, with Linda Montes, Christina Jusino and Alberto Rodriguez making up the rest of the team. Three of them are graduates, while Linda is a Third Year, like us," she said, signaling to four of their team. "Shokugeki will be best three-out-of-five, and of course, if any of us loses, we are eliminated completely. So…"

"If they have four members…" Takumi said, having kept quiet most of the time and actually paying attention. "That means we can only challenge them with four as well, right?"

"That's right!" Isshiki replied.

"Stop sounding so happy about this, this is serious!" Nene argued, before she turned to the Tenth Seat and nodded. "But, yes, only four of us will be allowed to compete. We'll keep on dueling against them until we manage three wins, even if that means some of us repeating… Which we have to avoid at all costs, we can't risk getting one of us eliminates in our first match-up."

"Alright, awesome!" Soma cut in, clapping his hands together. "I call dibs, I'm on that team!"

"You don't make that call!" Takumi countered, frowning at the redhead.

"Oh, I suppose that means you want to be part of the team?" Soma asked with a knowing smirk.

"But of course," Takumi replied, flashing his trademark grin.

"I don't think either of you are being considered for this one," Shouko mused, as both Soma and Takumi turned to her, wondering what she meant. "Isn't that right First? You already have a team in mind, no?"

"…Well, I suppose I do…" Nene awkwardly voiced, as the entire team turned to face her with very serious expressions present. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! I had to prepare this beforehand! And like I said, I can't risk us losing any members in the first round, so…"

"You picked the top four seats," Akira said, and Nene could do little else but nod.

"Hit them with the big guns early, huh?" Kuga noted, smiling. "I like that approach."

"Feels like we are underestimating our underclassmen," Isshiki offered, and Nene shook her head.

"It's not like that, don't take it personally," she explained. "This is how Eishi and Rindou managed stuff. You guys will come right after. You'll see firsthand how these matches go, and you can properly prepare yourselves for what comes next."

"Still feels like we're being pushed aside," Ryou muttered.

"Does Erina know?" Alice asked, realizing why Nene was so worried at not seeing the heiress present.

"…Not really," Nene replied. "No one knew, not even me until a few hours ago… Shouko just guessed, somehow."

"It is the perfect plan," Shouko explained, resting her head on her arms on the table. "We don't want to look weak in front of the other schools, best attack them with all we got," she said, then added, "That said, I suggestion, if I may."

"Sure…"

"Allow me to be part of that team," Shouko said, her eyes on Nene. "While I know both Fourth and Fifth surpass me in ranking, I am a Third Year, and I want to support my underclassmen as best I can."

"How kind of you," Akira spoke in a tone that could be mistaken for polite. "But I can manage just fine. If Erina is unavailable, I can more than make up for her."

"Never said you cannot Fifth," Shouko responded with a soft smile. "I just want to prove myself and be useful. Can't you allow me this teeny-tiny favor, pretty please?"

Akira was going to argue against it, but seeing Shouko offer him a pout and a plea that seemed too similar to Jun's own attempts to sway him to do her bidding made him stand down and simply add a "Whatever" and be done with it. Shouko smiled brightly at this, and Nene took that as decision making in their part.

"Alright, that fixes that. First team we sent out will be made up of Isshiki, Kuga… against my better judgment –"

"Hey!"

"– Shouko and myself," Nene said, ignoring Kuga completely. "Also, I think it's worth pointing out that all the other schools have been placed in order. After this match, come next Saturday, we face off against Ada Akintola's Culinary Academy. Then the Wednesday after, we face the… I'm going to become a linguistic expert after this… the S-Scuola Dotata di Arti Culinarie."

"Wonderful pronunciation I bet!" Kuga teased, as Nene glared at him.

"She did a good job," Takumi offered, to which Nene offered the resident Italian a smile.

"Thanks Takumi," she said, sticking her tongue out at Kuga and then continuing, "Next comes, the Saturday after, our duel with… École des Plats Cuisinés. Then Moscow International. Then Lestrade International Academy of Culinary Arts, and lastly, the… are they serious?"

"What?" Alice asked, her head turned to the side. The others also gave Nene a puzzled look, as she frowned at the paper before her.

"Our last opponent would in turn be the place formerly known as Sadatsuka's Premier Culinary Institute," Nene began, her eyes narrowed.

'Sadatsuka…' Soma repeated to himself, his eyes narrowed. 'Isn't that…?'

"Now under different management it seems," Nene continued, her eyes shifting from the paper to the Elites. "It's now called Azami Nakiri's Neo-Noir Academy."

-0-

"I can't believe you get to keep the office," Julius spoke up, breaking the silence that had remained ever since he first entered said office. It was well kept, as he had expected it, everything in display, a show of dominance if there ever was one, as no matter where you looked, there was something more expensive than the last thing you had seen. A family trait, he surmised. "It does have a nice view."

"Are we really at the point of friendly visits?" a clearly irked Etsuya Eizan asked, taking off his glassed in frustration and placing them on his desk. He moved his laptop a bit to the side, and turned his attention to Julius, who for whatever reason, wanted his damn attention. "What do you want?"

"That's cold Etsuya," Julius voiced, taking hold at a nearby trophy Eizan had on display. If it bothered the boy he had grabbed it, he didn't voice it.

"Why are you even here?" Eizan ignored his comment and continued, "I haven't spoken to my father in months. Don't think I have even the slightest interest in whatever he gains from doing this."

"You're not worried about Tootsuki closing?"

"I couldn't care less," Eizan replied, "And put that down."

So now he was bothered. Julius just laughed.

"Actually, you may not have any interest, but your father did ask me to reach out to you regardless," Julius admitted, and for a brief second, Eizan eyes widened slightly. "A father worries, after all, even Mr. Eizan."

"Now wouldn't that be something?" Eizan sort-of asked, scoffing at the thought, "Is this really your aim, or is this your pitiful attempts at getting back at my sister's good graces."

"I do care about her," Julius replied, utterly unbothered by the accusation.

"If you really wanted to help us," Eizan voiced, and his tone got a lot rougher, the mask of politeness now fully off. "You would have helped me crush that damn Yukihira and the princess back at the Showcase. You cost my family millions, if not more."

"Did I?" Julius asked with a slightly harsher tone, before he turned to face the youngest Eizan. Despite his entire demeanor, even Eizan couldn't help but stiffen himself a bit before the Noir. "I played my part, cook down to their level, nothing more. Had I wanted to, I could have out-cooked them both, easily, but what would that have accomplished? Just proved that Tootsuki is not worth keeping around, which was not what we needed back then. Now… on the other hand, well, I don't have to hold back anymore."

"Only now it matters not to me," Eizan replied.

"You wanted me to bail you out, I get it," Julius said with a soft smile. "You should have asked. Or rather, you should have admitted, that you couldn't handle that Yukihira kid by yourself. I would have worked something out."

"Get the hell out of here Julius," Eizan warned, putting his glasses back on and turning his attention back to the screen.

"Do give your family a call sometime," Julius said as he walked out of the office, as Eizan only offered him a scoff. The elder boy did pause, however, adding, "Oh, and if you ever feel like wanting to save your reputation and getting back into your father's good graces, remember, our team only has four members. We'll happily welcome one more."

Julius then left, leaving Eizan to his thoughts, which quickly turned sour as the once-Elite shut his laptop with a slam and inwardly cursed to himself, knowing that sooner or later he was going to get pulled into his mess, whether he wanted to or not.

-0-

The first thing he noticed during his not-so-little stroll was that Tootsuki was indeed massive. Multiple buildings with halls that seemed utterly endless, crowds of students everywhere, trying to catch even the smallest of glimpses at any of them, and multiple maps that made him even more lost than he had been before. It was annoying, but he supposed rich people were always like this, overcompensating with everything except for the stuff that really mattered.

It reached a boiling point when he reached a rather empty hallway, where not a single student could be seen, and he no longer had any idea of where or what he was seeing. But, he noted, it wasn't just the maze-like academy that was irking him at this time, but also the fact that as a Noir, he was used to stalking his prey, not being the prey himself.

"Must you follow me everywhere?" Asahi voiced, stopping in his tracks, as he half-heartedly turned to face the fellow challenger walking a few steps behind him. Dove just smiled.

"What? I'm just probably going to the same place you are?" she said ever so innocently.

"I find that highly unlikely," Asahi responded, "Unless you're as utterly lost as I am."

"Ah, that explains why we've been through this exact same hallway thrice now," Dove mused, taking a look at the posters on the nearby wall. She clearly wasn't taking this at all seriously.

"Did Azami put you up to – wait? We've been through this hallway already?" Asahi switched mid-sentence and raised his eyebrow at the girl, who quickly nodded.

"Yeah, three times."

"…You know what? Who cares?" Asahi said, throwing his arms up in defeat and turning around. "I'll find my way, eventually, somehow."

"…You're trying to find Erina, aren't ya?" Dove voiced, bouncing forwards and landing right next to the peeved Noir. When his expression didn't seem to change, Dove offered him a small smile in turn. "Is it true then? Are you really Azami's…?"

"What? You don't believe it?" Asahi asked, turning back to face the girl. "The man has been around. I mean, aren't you…?"

"His daughter?" Dove asked, cocking her head to the side. "No, I'm not."

"See, if you…" Asahi began, then paused, his eyes narrowing a bit. "…Wait, you're not."

"Nope," Dove replied as if it were utterly obvious. "Azami took me out of a very bad place. Which is why I fight for his ideals, and frankly, he is the closest I'll ever get to an actual father, but that doesn't mean I don't see what I really am."

"And that is?"

"Now why would I go sharing something so personal with you?" Dove went back to her cheery tone, which sounded both fake and genuine at the same time to an eerie degree. "But you, a son he's never heard off who just pops out of the blue when he makes his biggest career move, now that's fishy."

"I gave the man a genuine test result," he argued.

"That can be easily forged," she shot back

"I look like him!"

"Studies say there are multiple people with the same face who aren't related at all!"

"My name's just two damn letters different than his!"

"Oh that's – huh?!" Dove paused, eyes slightly wide and mouth slightly agape. "…Holy shit, you're right! I never noticed that. Wait, so your mom actually named you after him? Then they must have been somewhat close. You made it sound like it had been a one night stand or something."

"…It was just that," Asahi corrected, to which Dove cocked her head to the opposite side. She liked overacting her reactions he noted. "She probably didn't even know his name until after she was several months pregnant with me. Probably named me after him out of spite. Why she never managed to get money out of him I'll never know, then again, she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box."

"That's… not a nice way to talk about your mom."

"Well, yeah, my mom was not a very nice lady," Asahi explained, his hands now firmly in his pockets, a defensive body reaction if Dove ever saw one. He didn't feel like saying anything else after that, and Dove knew it wasn't probably the smartest idea to keep pushing him too much. If he was saying the truth, and he really was Azami's son, then he could outright ruin everything Azami had set up. Everything she had fought so very hard for.

So she tried to lighten the mood, but before she could even get one word out, she got tackled to the ground so unexpectedly that it knocked all the air out of her lungs. Asahi just looked on, utterly baffled, wondering if the Tootsuki alumni had grown so desperate that they were actively attacking the challengers on the spot to try and eliminate them.

Also, he wondered whether or not he should step in. He wasn't fond of abuse against women, even against girls he didn't like, like Dove, but before he could try, Dove smacked her own head against her attacker, her eyes shooting the "attacking" boy a very sharp glare in the process.

"Ouch!" cried out Loren, as he stumbled back. "What was that for?"

"Ouch is right you little gremlin!" Dove shouted. "What's the big idea of toppling me over like that?! We're not kids anymore! Besides, you heard Azami! You can't be seen with me yet!"

"Oh come on!" Loren argued as he sat down on the floor, right next to her. "You've got to get me out of here! I can't understand a single thing in these classes, I just started and I already have three tests for next week, the people at the dorm are utterly insane, they don't ever sleep, one keeps showing up in my room from the roof tiles, and I'm being followed by this very creepy girl who even came in while I was bathing!"

"…Loren, please, you have the easiest job out of all of…" Dove tried, only paying half attention to what the boy was crying on about. "…Wait, a girl came in while you were bathing?"

"Yeah," he cried. "I can't get married anymore!"

"Was it accidental or…?" Dove, while knowing he was making a show, like he usually did whenever he didn't want to do anything, was still not fond of the idea of anyone actually harming him.

"Kid, you should have just flaunted it," Asahi offered, hands still in pockets, looking down at the two Azami underlings still seated on the floor. "You're a pretty handsome boy, the girl is probably daydreaming about you as we speak."

"Thanks! – But who the hell are you?" a still teary eyed Loren said as he turned his head to face Asahi. "…Man, you really look like…"

"That's the guy I told you about, from the photo I sent you," Dove replied, getting herself back on her feet and brushing the dirt off her new skirt. "Asahi Nakamura? Nakiri? Saiba? Something or the other."

"Just Asahi is fine," Asahi replied, his eyes on Dove before he turned to Loren. "And you must be Loren, which, judging by your Tootsuki uniform, means you're another one of Azami's failsafe plans."

"…I guess," Loren answered honestly. "But I think he's just punishing me," Loren then turned to Dove. "Please, get me out! We can even make it look like I challenged you or something and I lost so I got kicked out."

"No, none of that," Dove told him firmly, as Loren proceeded to pout. "You have a job to do. So go do it. And stop coming to see me, if we are seen together people are going to suspect something."

"They already do!"

"Then don't give them more reason to!" Dove shouted back. "But, if that girl tries anything, you let me know, okay? I'll take care of it, and of her."

"Man, that's a surprise," Asahi cut in, which caused both Dove and Loren to turn to him, the former with a small frown and the latter still pouting. "What? Didn't peg you as the motherly kind."

"Hey!" Loren quickly cut in, the pout gone and in its place a glare, which was not a reaction Asahi had been expecting. Kid seemed awfully defensive of Dove; that was for sure.

"Loren, relax, he's one of us," Dove said as she patted the blonde boy on the head. "Loren and I may not be related either, but he's my baby brother, so if someone messes with him, I take care of it," she said, and Loren just smiled proudly, before his smile turned into a squirm as Dove grabbed one of his cheeks and began to pull, "Except, said little brother is horrible at following instructions and he is going to ruin everything we have set up. So go back to your dorm!"

"Oh come on!" Loren tried, but Dove just shot him a glare and the boy kept quiet, only mumbling something unintelligible before crossing his arms in defeat.

"You two are actually kinda adorable –" Asahi began, but got cut off when he felt someone bump into him from the back, at a rather strong pace at that, which nearly caused him to topple over. Knowing he didn't have any underlings currently hiding out at Tootsuki that would greet him like Loren did Dove, he turned around waiting to find someone with a bone to pick with him.

He couldn't be further from the truth.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Erina voiced as she picked up the documents she had been holding on to that she dropped when she bumped into him. Asahi's eyes widened at the sight of the girl, the one person he was looking for, actually bumping into him. He could feel Dove getting pissed off behind him, before the girl had no choice but to push Loren away so Erina would not see him and connect the dots herself.

"Oh, don't worry, I was standing in the middle of nowhere spacing out," Asahi offered, as he bent down and assisted her in picking everything up. As he did, he couldn't help but just look at her. She was every bit the princess everyone made her out to be, prim, proper and outright beautiful. But, she also looked exhausted, which he imagined had to do with everything that was going on around them.

"Thanks," she offered, as she got back up, brushing herself off and trying her best to get her hair back into place. "I… Wait, you're from last night. You're…" she trailed off, realizing this was the boy from her father's team. One glance behind him confirmed it, as she could see the girl from last night standing there two, her expression unreadable. 'Wait?' Erina asked herself, 'Weren't there three people here just now?'

"I am a member of Azami's Neo-Noir Academy," Asahi finished for her, offering a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "But I'm not in it for that. I just wanted to finally meet you. Get closer to you, Erina."

"Ah… okay, I-I'm," Erina tried, her face flushing as she tried to put her thoughts into words. Alice had warned her that she was going to get more confessions the older they got, but she was not ready for this, not now. "I'm flattered, really," she replied, trying to repeat the words she knew shoujo heroines used to let people down gently. "And I'm sure you're a nice guy, but I have a boyfriend, so…"

"Huh? Wait, what?! No, not like that!" Asahi quickly waved his hands around, wondering how the conversation had been misunderstood so much. Dove's laughter wasn't helping, as the boy tried again. "What I mean, is that we –"

"I'm very busy," Erina cut in, her patience, which was usually minimal, now borderline nonexistent. "We can converse all you want on the arena. For now, I'm late for a meeting. Plus, you two shouldn't be here. This is the hallway that leads to the Elite Ten meeting area."

"Is that where we…?" Asahi noted, looking around for a bit before he realized he should focus on the other matter first. Erina's tone had grown ice cold, which did not make it for the best surprise secret siblings meeting. "I'm not confessing to you princess, I'm trying to –"

"Whatever it is it can wait," Erina cut in again, and Asahi felt a vein pop. Was every member of this family so hard to deal with? "If you please?" she asked, or rather, ordered, asking him to move out the way so that she could be on her merry way.

Asahi wanted the surprise to be a little more, well, meaningful, but she wasn't giving him many options. So he would just blurt it out. But, funnily enough, he wasn't given even that.

"He's trying to tell you he's your brother you twat!" Dove called out from the back, with a bright little smile because of course, and now Asahi hated them both.

"Wait, what?!" Erina quickly shot up, her eyes flaring. "Did you just call me a twat?!" she demanded of Dove, shooting the girl a glare. Dove merely shrugged.

"Is that really all you picked up in that?" she practically sang back, which caused Erina's frown to deepen. Then, upon revisiting Dove's words, her eyes widened, then, slowly, she turned back to Asahi.

The two locked eyes for a moment, and Erina felt a thousand questions hit her at once.

"…You can't be…"

"Half-brother," Asahi corrected. "My mother had… something with our father, before you were born obviously… I only found out recently myself. Not sure if he knew it or not, but, here I am… And I wanted to meet you ever since."

Erina was hearing his words but they were not really connecting. How could this even be? A half-brother she never knew, now of all times. Not only had her entire family decided to reappear, mother, then father, and now even a new member materializes out of thin air. "…How could this even be possible…?"

"I know it's a lot to take in," Asahi said, taking a step closer to the confused blonde. "And I don't expect you to welcome me with open arms, I'm not a Nakiri anyways. But I can prove that I am related to you at least. And I wanted to tell you, because you deserve to know just as much as I did."

"You're my…" she voiced, and as she did, she took a good look at the boy before her. His skin tone, his eyes, his hair, everything screamed her father, just younger… just warmer. It was as seeing her father through her child-self's eyes, how she wanted to remember him rather than how he really had been. And, because of that, she couldn't deny it. This boy, Asahi, whose name alone should have been enough of a clue, was undeniably who he was saying he was.

"Erina?"

A voice cut the reunion short, as Erina, Asahi and Dove turned to the side, down the hallways, where they were met by the sight of the other nine Elite Ten students, walking right up to where the former three stood. In front was the First Seat, who had just called out to Erina, more surprised than anything, at the sight of their missing Fourth Seat just standing minutes away from the meeting she missed.

"Nene, everyone, I…" Erina tried, but this was turning out to be another day where she was just being pelted by information she just wasn't equipped to handle.

"Are you okay?" Nene asked, "You missed our meeting."

"I know, I was on my way, and…" Erina tried, but she didn't know what to actually say.

"Oh, that was my bad," Asahi cut in, turning to the group, offering them a smile and a wave. "I distracted her here for a bit."

"Asahi Saiba I imagine," Isshiki voiced, and Asahi offered the young man a nod.

"That is correct Satoshi Isshiki," Asahi replied. "I'm honored the Elite Ten know of me by just my visage alone."

"So he's one of those Noirs, huh?" Kuga voiced, before he shifted his view from Asahi to Dove, who offered the Third Seat a playful wink. "I wanna bet she is too, right?"

"That's right!" she playfully answered. "Dove Dillinger, at your service! Or, well, the actual opposite of that, really, but who cares?"

"And what exactly gave you the right to distract Erina!" Alice quickly cut in, bypassing the other Elite Ten members and reaching Asahi, arms crossed against her chest and shooting him a glare. "That's sabotage, you know? You could get eliminated for that."

"I can?" Asahi asked, acting surprised, "By gosh, I wouldn't want that."

"Alice," Erina voiced, causing the cousin to turn from Asahi to her. "It's fine… I'll fill you in later. Just trust me, okay."

"…If you say so," Alice replied, unsure.

"We'll talk about this later too," Erina said softly, turning to Asahi. He nodded.

"Sure thing, I know that you must have a lot of questions," Asahi voiced, as he motioned to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know you've been through a lot, maybe we can meet up back at the Resort and –"

Still, unexpectedly, his hand never did quite manage to reach her shoulder.

"You seem bothered Erina," Soma cut in, his hand holding onto Asahi's own as he turned from taking a glance at the young man to facing his girlfriend. "You sure everything's alright?"

"Soma!" Erina was outright taken aback by his sudden appearance right next to her. It took her several seconds, but upon seeing his body language, she couldn't help but come to the conclusion, that maybe, just maybe, she was seeing a very rare instance of jealousy in Soma. It felt… good. It did make her a little giddy. But she'd never admit to it, and she really needed to explain to him that it was not needed at this point.

"Soma Yukihira, the boyfriend," Asahi greeted, taking the opportunity that Soma had held up his hand to turn it into a firm handshake. "Asahi Saiba, nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, wait, Saiba?" Soma asked, having not fully grasped that introduction, his attention having been elsewhere. On his girlfriend to be exact. But now…

"Yep, just like your pops!" Asahi cheerfully read his mind. "But, don't worry about it, I just use it as a homage to the man. It's not like I'm secretly your older brother or anything like that," Asahi said as he gave out a soft laugh, which earned him a confused chuckle from Soma and a nervous one from Erina. "Now that would just be silly."

"Right…"

"Everything's okay Soma," Erina voiced, gently pushing Soma away from Asahi, which she found a bit harder than she thought, as Soma seemed harder to move than how she was usually used to pushing him around. 'Since when is he this built?' she couldn't help but ask herself, then, blushing, she shook her head. "Come on, I missed the meeting and you need to fill me in. I'll tell you everything… promise."

Soma seemed to glance at Asahi a little bit longer, both boys smiling but not really, before he turned to Erina. He wanted to argue, to let her know firmly that they had gone through this before and that they had promised, just two nights ago even, that they would stop hiding stuff from one another, but one look at her face made him realize he shouldn't. She, despite how beautiful she always looked, looked tired. But more than that, her eyes were a bit swollen, not like when one loses sleep, but more like she had been crying. It worried him, but if she wanted to get away first, then that's what they would do.

He'd deal with Asahi that's-not-your-last-name later, he supposed.

When Soma moved away from her newly discovered brother, Erina, against her very character, clung onto his arm and pressed her body against it. It was scandalous, in her eyes at least, much more so in front of so many people, but for once she didn't care. She felt happy to see him there, and she needed him close. She could feel him stiffen at her touch, but he said nothing, he just kept close, and the rest, while most of them noticing, said nothing.

The rest of the Elite Ten said a few more words, but Erina paid them no mind. They weren't directed at her anyways. They spoke to Asahi and Dove for a bit, gave them proper directions, and soon enough, the parties where on their respective way, with Erina still holding on tight to Soma.

-0-

What once felt like it would take an eternity came by so suddenly they felt ill prepared even despite all their prior efforts. Wednesday had arrived, and both the Elite Ten and the challenging school, Real Cocina, were summoned to show up at the main arena, the very same place that the Autumn Elections were held. The seating was filled to capacity, and this time the crowd was not made up entirely of students. Ex-graduates, professionals and the like all made up the majority of the spectators, all with active interest in the wellbeing of Tootsuki, and others… not so much. The event would be televised, all seven matches, or as many as it took to bring Tootsuki down, as some would add.

The WGO had already sent their best judges, and their station was being finalized by the time the Elite Ten were led through the halls to the waiting area. Soma walked alongside Erina as their group was separated, the four who would compete sent away to the waiting room, while the remaining six were given access to the VIP area reserved for them.

The air in the arena felt thicker than it had felt back at the Autumn Elections, ominous even. He did catch a glimpse, as they climbed up the stairs, of Urara getting prepped for the event. Urara quickly waved, which he returned, smiling at the fact that she had managed to land this gig after all. It was impressive honestly.

Then he felt his hand get tugged. It was Erina. They had been holding hands for a bit now during their walk, how long he didn't notice, but that pull he felt from her he realized it meant something. So he glance up, following the line of sight she was actively avoiding, and he saw him.

Azami was perched at the top, higher than the area they were assigned to, hand against the rail, watching them go. Or rather, watching her.

Soma pressed her hand in return. They still had not had the opportunity to talk like she had wanted to. But she had not shut away, which was all he asked for.

"Ignore him," Alice whispered, as they reached their area.

"Maybe he'll fall," Ryou offered, noting how close to the ledge Azami was standing. Erina couldn't help but laugh.

"That's pretty dark," Akira noted, but could be seen struggling not to laugh as well.

"You are the princess here," Takumi added, turning to Erina. "I'm sure you can choose were you want to watch this thing. You can even squeeze Soma into a bag and smuggle him through. Wouldn't be the first time we smuggled him into somewhere he doesn't belong."

"He's right," Soma said, his eyes on Erina. "Except the bag part. Let's not do that."

"…No, it's okay," Erina replied, and she forced her tone to sound as close as normal as she could. "He will not intimidate me. Not on this stage. We're the Elite Ten, and we'll cheer on our team from here."

"Atta girl," Soma replied with a smile, and, knowing Azami was looking, pressed his lips onto Erina's with a quick kiss. She flinched, her fist clenched, half surprised, but completely not against it, but blushing all the same.

The cameras once again caught it all, at the pre-show talk shifted from the set-up of the event to the power couple that had just been seated.

And Azami hated it all.

"That kid couldn't offer you the middle finger more even if he climbed up the rails at pressed it against your face," Mana Nakiri spoke up as she walked into the area where Azami was standing, and her ex-husband turned to face her. If he was surprised to see her again after all this time, his expression did not show it.

"A father has to get used to his daughter's rebellious phase," he offered. "This little adventure she's having won't last long. Nothing to concern myself with."

"Oh?" Mana voiced, smiling at the thought of how his face would contort if she told him she had caught Soma inside Erina's bedroom. But she would hold onto that for now. "I suppose there is some truth to that. We Nakiri girls have the habit of pairing up with the worst possible guy."

"Ouch," Azami voiced, clearly not at all hurt. "Don't tell me you actually approve of this… whatever that's supposed to be."

"I can't really say either way," Mana admitted, stepping right next to her ex-husband, as the both glanced down towards the massive crowds, particularly at the now seated Elite Ten students. Erina was still blushing, and Soma was still all smiles. "I like the kid and dislike him in equal parts."

"That's because you don't know him well," Azami explained, turning to face her. Even now, even after all these years, she was still stunning. And when she turned to him, he felt a little… nervous? Impossible. "You've lost weight."

"You are the only man I know that can make that sound like an insult," Mana replied with a slight scoff.

"Are you eating well?" Azami continued, ignoring her remarks. His eyes glanced downwards, as if examining her, before her hand blocked his view and brought them back to her face.

"It no longer concerns you," Mana simply stated. "And don't think I'm too happy at getting dragged out here just so that you can continue your attempts at clashing your ego with my father's."

Azami said nothing, taking a good, long look at the woman he once called wife and simply turning away, knowing there was nothing more he could add. Mana frowned, wondering why she had even approached him. She took one last glance downwards, at their still flushing daughter, and wished Erina would just look up and see what these romances really ended up like. Broken homes, broken dreams and nothing more.

"There you are Milady!"

Both Mana and Azami turned as another voice cut through their silence, as a young woman who Mana quickly recognized power walked towards her, with Soe and Leonora not that far behind. The Second-Class Examiner of the WGO, one Lanterby Santander, quickly reached the forced to be on an administrative leave Mana and offered her a soft bow. "I've been searching for you throughout Milady. You could have told me you were going on ahead, I'd have accompanied you."

"I'm no longer your boss Lanterby," Mana told her, which caused the girl with the overgrown jacket to frown.

"You'll be back once this all settles," Lanterby said matter-of-factly.

"Quite the aide you've got here," Soe cut in, approaching the group. "She was very… insistent that she had to be by your side."

"She's one of my finest," Mana replied with a smirk.

"I see…" Soe voiced, then turned to the black-clad man in the room. "…Azami."

"Soe," Azami returned the greeting with a nod. "And, as always, a pleasure to see you Leonora."

"Well…" Leonora began, before Soe pinched her side to keep her in check, which caused the woman to frown and just say, "It's a pleasure too."

Then the background music began, and as the lights began to flash, the adults in the highest room all turned their attention to the stage. The event was set, the cheering crown was silent, and the hostess of the event walked right up the stage, dressed way fancier than she ever had been, courtesy of the WGO itself. The Elite Ten, the remaining six of the at least, looked down from the right, while the other challengers from the other schools sat on the far left. The few Tootsuki students who could seats, usually those helped by Elite Ten members to do so, sat haphazardly around the area. Even the Polar Stars, who Soma secured seats for, where scattered throughout the arena.

None of them ended up even remotely close to one another.

…Except Nao and Loren.

They ended up seated together. They both hated it.

Urara, despite how much she loved the attention, and boy did she love the attention, was for once, actually nervous, having to swallow hard to keep it from showing.

'Just a bigger stage, nothing more,' she told herself, then smiled. 'Besides, Kotaru is watching, can't let him catch his girlfriend getting stage fright here of all places!'

"Are we ready to begin this?!" Urara roared, and the crowd roared back. The stadium seemed about to collapse in on itself out of the sheer energy in that place, and Urara was going to milk it dry.

As Urara began to work the crowd, the judges of the entire event, selected for the duration of the Intercontinental Shokugeki, walked up to their now prepared seating area. Five judges, just like the Autumn Elections, except all of them members of the WGO.

"This can be considered a career highlight, right?" the First-Class Examiner Anne Waltz commented, taking a glance at the cheering crowds.

"Well, today could very well be the last day Tootsuki opens its doors, so… yeah, I'd say so," the Second-Class Examiner Charme Gabler expressed.

"You really don't think Tootsuki is going to fall that easily, now do you Charme?" the Second-Class Examiner Histoire Oakley quickly asked, turning to the blonde. Charme shrugged, honestly unsure.

"It is as they say, the bigger they are, no?" the First-Class Examiner Courage Summers added, a soft smile in place as she turned towards her friend and the last of the judges entering the stage. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just soaking it in," the First-Class Examiner Decora Sinnerfield replied, her eyes glancing upwards, towards where Azami stood. Their glances only met briefly, but it was enough to cause her to smirk. "It is a historic event after all."

With the judges in their places, Urara at the mic, and the crowds gathered, the cameras all turned towards the entrance hallway, where both teams should be coming out from within minutes. The suspense kept on building, and as everyone looked on with baited breathes, the sheer sensation of it all seemed to outright reach the contestants currently preparing.

"I can feel the expectations from here," Kuga mentioned, already prepped, utensils on hand. He turned to his other three teammates, who were all also prepped and ready to go. Their uniforms now sported an added numbered insignia on their chest and a larger one on the back, the number being the same as their respective seating, provided by Tootsuki of course. "Big crowd, whole world is watching. We lose, the school closes down… so, no pressure, right?"

"Don't over think it," Isshiki offered, patting his classmate on the shoulder. "We'll do fine."

"You're shaking a bit yourself, you know?" Kuga noted, smiling at Isshiki as the latter let out a laugh.

"Do as I say, not as I do," Isshiki added, still laughing because he knew, deep down, just how unnerving this entire event really was. It had come out of nowhere, and here they were, days into their Third Year now forced to fight just to keep their school open, their Headmaster nowhere in sight.

"It's okay to be nervous," Nene added, fixing her glasses for the umpteenth time. "It keeps us from forgetting how important this really is."

"First?" Shouko voiced, and Nene turned, already prepared to tell Shouko to stop addressing her like that, but Shouko soon motioned to the other team, and it appeared that they were approaching them.

"This is in no way meant as an intrusion," the team leader of the Real Cocina, Alex Franco, told the four. Then, after a little hesitation, he extended his hand. "I firmly believe we are amongst professionals here, despite what our respective superiors think on that matter. So, may the best team win."

Nene was a bit taken aback by the sudden act, but extended her hand nonetheless and shook it firmly, offering Alex a little smile. "Right back at you all," she offered. "May we all cook to the best of our abilities. And, I must note, I have heard great things about the Real Cocina. I cannot wait to see it in action."

"Likewise," Alex replied. "Kinda do wish it were under different circumstances."

"We're just grunts," Kuga joked. "The old people bicker about whose better and we're forced to duel like this. No hard feelings, trust me, we're used to this. We kick out our own on a daily basis, actually."

"Kuga!" Nene quickly reprimanded, but Kuga shrugged.

"He's not lying," Isshiki added, which caused Nene's glare to shift from Kuga to him. "But we're still a family, deep down, and I can see that you guys are as well."

"You're Satoshi Isshiki, aren't you?" the trans girl Linda Montes quickly cut in, edging a little closer to the Second Seat. "Believe it or not, you're the one I've heard about the most these past few days we've been visiting Tootsuki."

"Me?" Isshiki asked, a bit surprised. "I would very much expect it to be about Erina or Alice, or, depending who you ask, maybe even Soma."

"I just heard a few things," Linda said, as she eyed the numbers on their uniforms, glancing from Isshiki's to Nene's. Nene felt the stare, and she felt slightly slapped by the look she gave. "Seems I got the order wrong."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nene said, not at all amused.

"You shouldn't edge the First Seat on Linda," another teammate, Alberto Rodriguez, called out, all smiles. "Don't pick on the strongest, aim lower."

"I'm not picking on anyone," Linda quickly corrected, "And I don't want to hear that from you Beto! You barely made the cut!"

"Hey!" Alberto quickly shouted.

"By lower, do you mean me?" Shouko's voice cut in-between the two, as they turned at the baseball cap wearing girl, who was by all accounts and purposes all smiles.

"Please don't take my teammate's words the wrong way," Alex quickly cut in, offering the team a small bow. "We shall put any questions to rest in the field. So, as I've said, may the best team win."

"Indeed," Isshiki replied, now being the one to offer one last handshake to Alex, who firmly took it. "Let's give them a show out there."

-0-

"And now, in our first day of the Intercontinental Shokugeki! And I-really-hope-it's-just-the-first-day-and-not-also-the-last!" Urara said, adding that last part so quick that not many people fully caught it. "Let's welcome our teams into the arena! All the way from across the pond, from Spain, La Academia Real Cocina!"

The screens overlooking the arena flashed the names of the challengers, as several members of the crowd, notably those not affiliated with Tootsuki, began to cheer. Their names in full display:

Alex Franco

Linda Montes

Christina Jusino

Alberto Rodriguez

"And, of course, defending our very way of school life, from our very own classrooms and halls, the members of the Elite Ten who will defend our academy!" Urara roared into the mic, and the crowd went wild. The students, the faculty, and especially the other Elite Ten students, all roared alongside her. And, on cue, the screen flashed their names across the board:

Nene Kinokuni

Satoshi Isshiki

Terunori Kuga

Shouko Kaburagi

The eight competitors made their way onto the stage, each saluting the crowds and the cameras, who ate it all up. Then they made their way towards their respective sides. The four Tootsuki members quickly got together and got their equipment out. The prep had been done before hand, handled by the WGO itself, and was meant to be used by both competitors, so that the participants could fully focus on bringing their unique dishes to life.

"So it's going to be random selection, right?" Kuga asked, looking at the screens.

"Yeah, both for the participants and the theme," Nene answered, trying to stop herself from shaking.

"That's a shame," Shouko muttered, the only one amongst them seating down, legs crossed. "I somewhat wanted to be paired up against that Beto guy."

"You took offense to that?" Isshiki asked, to which Shouko just smiled and answered with a simple "No." that he wasn't sure was true or not.

"Now! Let's start!" Urara blasted as soon as she got the go ahead. With her voice ringing in everybody's ears, the screens began to flicker, the names of the competitors flashing briefly as the machine matched them up randomly. The crowd, and especially the contestants, all held their breaths, and what was probably just a few seconds felt like minutes. Until…

Nene Kinokuni vs. Linda Montes

"You're up first, First," Kuga said, as Nene frowned.

"Don't you call me that too," she muttered, before she turned to the side, at Isshiki, who nodded with a smile.

"…Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut," Linda inwardly noted, frowning at the screen, karma be damned, before she turned to Alex. "This is it. This is happening… So...?"

"So you'll do great," he replied, pressing his hands on her cheeks and kissing her firmly, which caused the girl to stammer and blush. "We're not here because we look pretty. All four of us made the cut because we're the best our school has to offer. And I don't buy it for a second that our school is less than this place."

A still blushing Linda narrowed her eyes further, and after a deep breath, nodded. "Damn right!"

Within seconds, both Nene and Linda were staring each other down, with the entire world watching.

"Representing Tootsuki Academy, from the Elite Ten!" Urara began, "We have our newest First Seat, Nene Kinokuni!"

Nene just stared Linda down, and did her best to ignore her obnoxious fanboys and all the screaming they were doing on her behalf. They should have used that when she made the "Tootsuki Strong" announcement, damn it.

"And on the opposite end, representing Real Cocina," Urara continued her announcement, signaling to Nene's opponent, "We have Linda Montes! Now then, judges, what will our theme be?!"

The theme was quickly chosen…

Pork Ribs

A fairly simple and basic selection, one which Nene felt she could work easily with, but one that she would have to make simply extraordinary. Thankfully, they had long brainstormed many dishes during their meetings, so she already had an idea in mind. With a firm breath, she began to move, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Linda had as well.

Two hours. That's how long they had for each match. It was the reason as to why these events were held earlier than usual. To give them ample time for all the fights.

As Urara offered up her witty commentary, and with everyone in the audience speculating about everything, biting their nails, stammering in their seats, the two hours seemed to pass rather quickly. With fifteen minutes to spare, Linda finished up her dish, a very peculiar looking piece, which smelled gloriously, but thankfully, not something Nene could not match. But then again, she wasn't supposed to simply match it. She needed to exceed it, by plenty.

Show them all why she was the one wearing the uniform with the number "1" on it.

So, five minutes later, Nene finished up. She was sweating quite a bit, her hands shaking slightly. It was still nerve wrecking, but she managed, she was done. She placed her plate on the judges' desk, right next to Linda's, who while trying to keep calm kept dancing in place every so often.

The WGO Examiners took their bites, and the decision was made quickly.

Nene Kinokuni… had lost.

"W-What!?" Nene couldn't help but blurt out as soon as she saw the scorecard. Her eyes were wide as can be, her mouth agape not being able to recognize that display.

All five votes had been given to Linda. A five to zero defeat.

The other Elite Ten members just stood there, most of them shocked, and even the hostess was at a loss for words. It took some signals sent her way to get her to react, as she did her best despite the results. "…A-And we have a winner, Linda Montes, from Academia Real Cocina! One point for them… and…"

"What the hell is going on Isshiki?!" Kuga asked, crossing his arms to hide his trembling hands, his eyes as wide as Nene's.

"This…" was all Isshiki could muster. He was just as lost, and seeing Nene's expression, her eyes at that moment, was just breaking him.

The other team could be heard cheering. Linda, as soon as she finally realized that she was not seeing things, and that she had in fact won, unanimously at that, began to jump up and down and bounce all around, rushing towards Alex and jumping into his arms, as the team celebrated the first victory. Two more wins, and Tootsuki went down.

The other challengers felt a slight sting, cursing themselves for not going first after all.

While the Tootsuki alumni had never been more quiet.

"…With this…" Urara continued, finding no right way of saying what she was about to say, "…The First Seat, Nene Kinokuni… is eliminated from the Intercontinental Shokugeki…"

---

%

Crushing Defeat…