Hello guys ! Sorry, I had the chapter almost finish for few days now, but school started again, and to be honnest it's haaard. I wasn't expecting this much work that early.

Well anyway, i hope you'll enjoy this chapter, i'll try to be a bit faster for the next one, but i can't promess anything. As always, sorry if there's some grammar error, i checked once, but it's (FUCK I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION) 5am and i'm exhausted. I'll run through it again tomorrow, to remove addtionnal fault. As always,rate and reviews, means a lot to me ! Enjoy !

"Yukihira Soma...how could you leave without a word. You stupid stupid stupid third class dinner boy. How could you leave without even texting me, how could you leave me, as my first seat... Stupid boy stupid boy. How are you supposed to cook for me if you are not here, how dare you leave your castle without telling you own Queen." she had started. Her eyes shined with pride as her cheeks were getting redder by the minute. For few second, she forgot that the rest of the Elite 10 and her grandfather, brother, mother, mentor and best friend were there, with her. She looked at the reminiscent image of that idiot, grining at her remark. I will kill you she thought. She was trembling in anger as everyone was staring at her, they knew how Soma had the gift of getting under her skin. "I should expell you, you idiot." she mumble to herself.

"Well, you technically could, or at least demote him from his first seat" answered Joichiro, reminding her that she was not alone. She blinked, and took posture.

"Sorry, I let that news take the best of me. It was a long day for me." she started, trying to recompose herself, even though she knew they all were aware that Yukihira and her had a rather difficult relationship. "However, I can't take his first seat that easily. He obtained it by vanquishing central. He also had hundreds of duels, putting his seat at stake and never lost it, I'm not sure that any student in this school could actually beat him, and I don't think anyone in the elite 10 wants to take his seat right now. As the headmaster of the school, I assigned him the seat, and demote him could be seen as a weakness from me, and I don't want students to believe that. Furthermore, with this crisis coming up, I don't want to deal with constant noises about where the first seat, or ex first seat, is. So as strong as I want to demote him, I can't just yet... But when this crisis is over, and when he'll be back, he better be ready. I'll have him make a century worth of paperwork. You just wait, stupid dinner boy." she finished, as a hint of hanger still perceptible in her voice. The atmosphere in the room was light however, as they all admired the way she handled the case. At that young age and despite her personnal feeling, she was mature enough to treat this case. 'She really is a good headmaster', thought her grandfather.

"Well, I don't want to be bearer of bad sight and oracle of misfortune but we have to consider. Do you think that the young Yukihira could had been..."kidnapped" as I would say, in lack of a better word ? We must admit that the timing is weird. Don't misunderstand me, I saw with my own eyes what this kid is capable of and I know what he has done. As I saw him fight against my dauther, I had to arcknowledge his strengh and his stuborness, aswell as his willpower. Leaving after a loss a the BLUE is not impossible to understand for a random chef, even a good chef, but for him ?..." asked Mana, as she glanced at the boy's father.

"I don't know, he's kind of a stupid boy, but I can't help but think that he is not the kind to be easily manipulated. If what Nakamura said was true, I doubt that he could be controled that way, not that quickly at least. That being said, I wasn't the best dad in the world, I was absent most of the time, and to be honest, I know what I saw in him through his food and his behavior in a kitchen, but for the rest, it was his mother mainly. It's hard to me to say that but... I think he'll be fine. As he is, he might just though he needed more training in order to be a better cook." He then smiled slowly " His cooking is close to mine, as we are a popular, familial restaurant, and maybe... maybe he's looking for that gastronomic aspect that he learned throught his stagiaire and scolarship here. He's young but he still a pro, in the first sense of the term, he is a cook, formed in a kitchen and maybe he felt like he was better at learning on the field than here. The main difference between him and me, is that I started at Totsuki, and finished at the Yukihira, and he has done the exact opposite. He maybr felt that these two years were not enough to compensate the years of lessons here."

"I see, the apple never falls too far from the tree after all. Well, it is a good news if his disappeareance have nothing to do with the current events. To be honnest, we kind of need him now, and if we could tell him to come back, it would help us a lot." Sighed Mana "What do you think headmaster ?"

The godess bited her inferior lip, as she was thinking through wath both her mother and mentor said. She knew that Soma wasn't weak, and that he had a strong willpower, but she could'nt help thinking about this feeling she had during the BLUE. It was so hard to put a word on that, but first seat seemed so far. Not physically, as it was obvious, but she had the feeling that it was deeper, she wasn't able to put a word on this. She closed her eyes, she knew that she had to take a decision, the best for the school.

"As we are now, we don't have any chance to find him by luck, if he indeed have transferred his money to an international bank, he could be anywhere. This foolish boy could be trying to go fly to the moon, in search of a new kind of unique salt. We know too litlle about our ennemies for now and we can't waste any ressources on a random research. I think we can all agree that the chances of him, being abducted between yesterday evening and today are infinitesimally low. He must have left by his own purpose, and for now, all we can do is hope for the best. Hope that he is safe. As he was a major actor in both downfall of Father and Asahi-brother, they might eventually come to him, but he will manage, I believe in him. Even with all the ressources we have, we have no idea about where to begin to find the threat we're facing. Moreover, he's the first seat and a finalist to the BLUE, he's not an unknow chef anymore, rumors could be spreading fast, and we could get information about him any times. It is a tough call, and I know that you might be against that, but I, as the headmaster of Totsuki will not spend any time on searching him for now and as I can't order you to do so, I would advice you to do the same thing." finished the queen of Totsuki, a glimpse of determination in her eyes.

They all noded, as they knew that it was the best solution, and that it was not easy for Erina to say that.

"Well, that's settle that. I will now take my leave. We, WGO, will focus on Europe, and France more specifically. As my actual condition does not allow me to travel too often, I will use Anne, as my agent of liaison. I trust her entirely and I know that you are familiar with her, as she was one of the judge during your battle against central. The lines of my husband seems to be safe, but we don't know if any of our public, private or secret lines are, so i'll advice you too also chose a messenger, it would be safer."

"Hm... Mo...Mother" stammered Erina shyly "Why... Why don't you use the Nakiri mansion, or even the... the Nakiri residence ?" Mana smiled gently, thinking of the residence in the deep forest of Totsuki. "Well, I could, in a near futur, but I have to set thing with my agents first, beside, I don't really like the mansion, and for the residence, I will go there only with both my daughter and my husband." she simply said, as she was leaving.

Erina eyes widened a bit, as she watched her mother leaving. Did this really happened ? She felt that her cheeks were getting red, and that few tears appeared in the corner of her amethists iris.

"Well, I guess i'm gonna leave too, I will work with Nakamura to see if we can't get something in the USA side, come with me Asahi." said Joichiro "And Erina... Don't worry, you've made the right choice about my nutcase of son." He gently beam at her, then left the room, followed by Asahi.

"Well, that leave us the Japan Area" declared solemnly Senzaemon, his deep voice filling the void in the room." I will seek Dojîma Gin for help. I let you in charge of the search, I know that you will do perfectly fine. I will however stay at the mansion, so come by me if you need to get rid of any pressure off your back. Erina smiled at the idea of having her grandfather back, close to her, she knew all the effort he made for the entire family. That he never really gave up on her father, that he always believed in his daughter and in her. His presence itself made her feel so much safer. He was the rock of the family, the pillar that was maintaining the Nakira clan together. She had so many thing she wanted to discuss with him, so many unspoken word. She smiled as he left the room, leaving her with her own team, the Elite 10.

"Thank you for being so silent during all that, I know that you did not understood anything during that long conversation. I will tell you everything now, what happened, from the start."

She explained what she knew, what she guessed and she was thinking and finally said.

"I... I am really sorry for Yukihira-kun, and I know what I said to my parents and to Saiba-sama but... I can't actually force you to anything. I know that your friendship with Yukihira-kun is strong, and..."

"Don't worry, Nakiri-san" interreputed Megumi, with a kind voice "we don't need any apologies, you had to make a tough choice as a leader. I would had collpased if I had to take the decision. Everyone in the room knew how hard it was for you to pick a side, and i'm sure even Soma-kun would had agree."

"Tadokoro-san is right, you have done the right choice, we knew it from the start, but having the whole context made it even clearer." added Takumi Aldini.

"This silly boy can take care of himself anyway, he's a grown man now. " chuckled Alice.

She looked at them, her friends, smiling, caring, reassuring her. She truly was lucky. She took a moment to appreciate this warm feeling.

"Thank you... Now that you know everything, it's time for me to explain our strategy. We are at the very first stage, we need to gather informations, and our action will be similar to the previous we had with the ryokan case. . Listen to me carefully, and let me explain everything without interrupting. First, you are not allowed to talk about everything related to the case in the whole campus, except here, in this building. Not even in the polar dormitory or the nakiri mansion. We don't know if Totsuki itself is safe and I want you all to understand that. To begin with, all the third year council members are not in Japan, thus Isshiki-kun, Kuga-san, Eizan-san and Kinokuni-san won't be available for the moment. As stagiaire was, in first year, this step of their course might the most important of the third year, therefore I don't want to trouble them. That being said, Alice, Kurokiba-kun, I want you to go back to Denmark, and investigate from there. That way, you will be able to inform uncle Soê about the current situation, provided he's not informed already. Furthermore, the nothern Europe is the whealhiest part of the continent, and with the absurd amount of money the opposite side seems to be able to spend, as we saw it with central, you might found something there. It's also the siege of Nakiri International, and if they want to make a revolution, they will have to break this instituion one way another. You'll both departure as soon as you can. Hayama-kun. As an ex-member of central, I know that you received funds for the Shizumi lab, could you pair up with Hisako and try to trace it ? I know it's a long shot but with the little he have, we can't close our eyes on any possibilities. Takumi-kun, Tadokoro-san, for now, I don't have anything to ask you, but you have to stay ready for an immediat departure, as soon as we get any information, you'll be in charge of the field investigation. It might be the most dangerous part, but you both successfully passed many BLUE's trials therefore I trust you completely.
Finally, I have to order you to not take any inconsiderates risks, do not act lightly, do not jump to provocation. Do not accept any duel yet, we don't know their strenght, except for their boss who outmatched Asahi. If his associate are as sadistic as this unknown man, we can't let ourselves manipulated into duels; " finished the Heiress, with a low voice. Her anxiety was visible.

Each Elite ten member smiled at her, they knew how it was hard for her, to ask them to go when she had to stay here, in Totsuki. She smiled at her back, gently,
"Dismissed" finally said the Heiress.

"Erina-sama...I" started Hisako.

"I'm good, Hisako, don't worry, I just need to rest a bit, this had been a long day. I will take some time to think and I will head home."

"Take care, Erina-Sama"

She was upset. Upset at him and most certainly upset at herself. As her feets were kicking the air, she pouted, and felt the anger growing in her. It had been a long time since she had felt this irritation, this anger in the dept of her guts. She clenched her fists, her fingernails almost pervading her skin. The light pain helped her to not just fell into total exesperation. She looked at the papers she had in front of her, and the mountain of other files she had to process. She was ahead of schedule anyway, but burrying under tons of work was her solution to not just panic.

As the secretary closed the door, the Godess sighed before sitting in her chair, contemplating the deep dark sky.

'"I mean... they kind of similar... the stars above and salmon roe. They both glitters"'

The headmaster couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Yes, it was during a night like this one, when they were together, in that train that she had noticed, once for all, that Yukihira Soma wasn't that annoying for her.

'Why did you left, Yukihira-kun ?...'

She did not liked that, she did not liked the fact that, for few minutes, she had been helpless, lost, disorientated. Anger wasn't a problem, everyone present in the room at that moment knew that the first seat and her had constant fight about nothing and everything. But this feeling of emptiness... Why, why did she had theses knots in her stomach. The only time she had had a similar feeling was when she suffered the absence of her mentor, Saiba-sama, and even this was not as strong as the pain she felt at that very moment,for theses few minutes. Erina took her phone, and stared at the notification

Message deleted.

What was this message, if she had answered, maybe he would have stayed ? Maybe he needed a word from her ? She sighed again, deeply. It was useless for her to rehash it now. When the first seat had an idea in his mind, it was impossible to convince him to do anything else. With a sad smile, she turned back on her chair, facing her office and reached he lowest drawer, which was lock. She used her key, and withdrew a book. Large, with a leather cover, french words written on it "Grande Cuisine." When she opened it , a picture fell on her desk, it was her and Saiba-sama. This photo had helped her a lot during her childhood, and had carried on, improving her morale during her scolarship. The book itself was a birthday present, the only one she received during the "happy" part of her childhood. She started to turn the pages of the book, almost too hastily in her mind, and finally reached the chapter "L'ingrédient secret ?"*. The Heiress blushed slightly, as her eyes fell on a second picture, a recent one. She was standing, embarrassed, as her eyes were avoiding the camera lens, and to her right, a young boy with a huge grin on his face. They were both sporting the yellow ribbon, symbol of the rebel team. No one, except Yukihira Soma, knew about this picture, as she had asked the photographer to take it at the very end. She didn't even had the time to send it to the first seat. If she had to be really honest, she also wanted to have a picture after the BLUE but he had left so quickly... Thinking about the BLUE made her sigh again, this feeling stood there. Saiba-sama was Soma's father, and sure, he knew him way more than she did, but still... Did he really left just to train ? Was she really innocent here ? What if... What if he had enough ? Enough of their fight, their competition, their rivalship... Enough of her ? She wasn't the textbook definition of a good and caring friend. She always had critized him, and maybe she took the first seat's attention for granted ?

'I'm overthink this... It's Yukihira-kun, he's strong, and both his friend and father think the same about him, leaving.'

She took a last glance at the picture before putting everything back in the drawer and as she promised, she left for her mansion.

Yukihira Soma was walking in the busy street of Sao Paulo. Face hidden in his hood. He never really cared for celebrity and fame, he appreciated the recognition of his pairs and a bit of love from people wasn't to bad too, but for now, he only wanted a quiet and discreet trip. He didn't even had chose brazil, It was only the earliest flight he found, and he naively though that he had no chance to be recognized there. He under estimated, however, how BLUE was popular in the world. He had been fingerpointed few time in the airport already, and he did not wanted to take any risk. He did not even knew why he had left so suddenly, but it was an urge, a deep and strong need to have a change of pace. He felt bad, of course, leaving his friends but he knew that they'll forgive him, eventually. Strolling through the shambles of the longs alleys of the city, the young chef felt his stomach shouting at him. He indeed had not ate for the last twenty four hours. After few minutes, he found a small restaurant, discreet, but somehow welcoming. His english, which was far from flawless, was good enough to pass by, and he was actually grateful to his father, who forced him keep practicing english.

The restaurant was indeed, as he thought, welcoming. Sober decoration, simple, but classy. The place was empty, but not suprising as it was pretty early. A waitress came to Soma, she was young, maybe a bit older than the chef, but still young nonetheless. A bit smaller, with long black hair. Her skin was pale dark, and it she was, overall, beautiful. She took the redhead order and went to the kitchen.

'I need to find a work over here... or maybe I should move to a smaller village... But I have to stay hidden... Discreet. Now that I think of it... There were these... Silent chiefs or something like that...I remember reading something like that in some paperwork Nakiri forced me to. Working in underground, not the noirs, nothing illegal, but definitively not in the spotlight either. '

They were chef that wanted no attention, reclused chef, exiled chef. The report he had to check was noticing the increasing of ex Totsuki students, who had failed in the second or third year, becoming silent chef. It was true that falling from Totsuki was hard, but some student still had some real talents, and they prefered to work in the shadows, rather than assuming the fact that they were fired from the school. It was a good idea. He could say that he was an ex student, or just an amateur. Lost in his though, he did not noticed that the food has arrived, in front of him.

"Sir, you good ?" asked the waitress.

"Oh, yes, sorry, thank you, it looks delicious." answered the dinner boy.

"Ahah, thanks, It's my recipe, you can always count on travellers and wanderers to surprise us ! No one really want to taste my food."

"Oh really ? But it's really good." reacted Soma, as he took his first bite. It was a variation of a plate he knew already, a Bobo de Camarao, a mash manioc with shrimp and several other ngredients. He felt that she however used some europeen spices. It added a good kick to the dish, as it allowed the shrimp to release its full potential.

"Well yes... You know, as a young chef and women, it's hard for me to make my place to a world of shark like the culinary world. Here in brazil, being in a kitchen means that you're in war, you have to take risk, you have to please the client. It's not rare for chef to being assaulted because the food wasn't good enough. It's actually a chance that they let me cook here."

"I see... But, believe in you, your cooking is good, your technique needs more practice, but you have guts, and I can feel that you can go further."

She genuialy smiled at the redhead "Thank you sir ! Can I ask you your name ? "

"Er..." started Soma

"ahaha, I'm joking, you did not even removed your hood, I guess that you want to keep your identity around here. It's not surprising, it's a city with mischief, with criminality, and if we had to refuse schemy people, we'll loose half of our customers."

"Do I look schemy to you ?" wanted to answered Soma, but it would had been stupid, as he were indeed hiding his face.

"Th...thank you. Perhaps I will tell you, eventually, but i'm not ready yet... I have a question however... You said that it's not that surprising... Do you know if, by any chance, I could find a place to cook ? If there's some need for a private chef or something like that ? I'm a... amateur chef myself and want to cook, but I don't want to be seen... It's weird I know but..." mumbled the young chef.

"Well... Hum, there's solutions, you can always find a way here in Sao Paulo, but at what cost... Both client and owner of restaurant could try to harm you. As I don't know how you cook, I can't decently give you information which would definitively gets you to the hospital..."

"Well... I guess... I guess I could try to cook something for you and the other employees ? It's still early so I guessed you haven't ate yet ?"

"Hum... well... I'm alone in here today, until tonight as we don't have many customers during the noon shift... But I can't really let someone gets in the kitchen...But...Ok. You can use it" She wasn't able to explain it, but Soma, even under this hood had an aura, a strong aura.

"Thanks, then sit here,i'll be back soon."

The dinner boy came back twenty minutes later, with some fried rice, brazilian style, using mostly the same ingredient the girl used for his plate, replacing the mashed manioc by basmati rice, as they was no japanese rice there.

She looked at the dish, carefully, and kept her eyes on it, as if it could disapper if she stop examine It. Her hand was shaking, as she brought the spoon in her mouth. She wasn't ready for a dish of that quality, Soma knew it, and he first wanted to restrain his talent a bit, he just needed to show her that he could cook after all, but he wanted to thank her for letting him use the kitchen. Plus he was not the type of cook who could really miss on purpose. If someone wanted to eat his food,the chef had do be grateful and give the best he could.

On her side, the brunette was experiencing something she never witnessed before. The explosion of savor was impossible to control. Her whole mouth was a battlefield, where each ingredient tried to outshine the other, but then a spice revealed a new taste for the other ingredient. It was an endless war, and there was only one loser. Her. Every inch of her body reacted to the dish. She looked at the man

"Who are you ? How can you produce that ? You're not a chef, or a good chef, or even a grand chef, your far above that, you had less than half an hour... It's not just that is an amazing dish, it's just that... its outclass everything, it's not food at this point, it's truly art. Well... at least now I know your skills... I will not ask you why you want to work in here, while you could reach the sky with you talent but really it's a shame. Anyway, I will ask around, but you have to stay careful, if you're too good, you could attract dangerous clients. There's a huge crime syndicate here, and they always looking for new chefs."

"I know, noires chef, I don't fear them."

"No... not noires, I know what noire chef is, but word on the street says that they dissolved now. It's a new kind... or maybe an old kind. It's mainly chatter but here, you can believe chatters more than newspappers. From what I understood, these chefs were the one who helped the noires to rise. From the deep shadow of the underground world."

"Hm... That's strange... Well thank you. How much do I owe you for the food ? " finally asked Soma.

"Are you joking ? You don't owe me anything, I should pay you for what you made me. Come back in a couple of day, I'll found you a job." answered the cook; smiling.

"Thanks... I guess, i'll make you something to eat again then."

He smiled slighty and left the restaurant.

'A figure in the shadow who helped Asahi... An organization ?... Weird'

*The title of the french chapter in the cuisine books means "secret ingredient" ? The book itself is the book Erina have, as we can see it in the season 1. Hope you enjoyed it and sorry again !