Soma never understood why his peers could not bear to be near Erina Nakiri without falling apart. Ignoring her sharp and pretentious rich girl attitude, she was pretty easy to get along with—at least, that's what Soma was determined to do. It confused him whenever people made a big deal about how casual he was with her—including the culinary princess herself. But Soma was casual with everyone, so getting along with the prima donna of Tohtsuki shouldn't be so difficult.

"Do not stare at me like that, you peasant!" Erina snapped after a beat of awkward silence. Soma didn't realize he'd become lost in her jewel-toned eyes until her voice shattered his eardrums like broken plates.

"Oh! Erina! What are you doing here? Missed the bus, too?"

"Do you really think I rode in a charter bus back to Tohtsuki, dummy? Disgusting!"

They stood oppositionally in an empty Tohtsuki Resort parking lot. As Soma took in her poised beauty, he noticed that Erina's little attitude spells no longer stung like they used to. Besides, right now, she looked too good even while being annoyed with him. "Hey, save that judgment for the next time you taste my dish," he laughed, impressed by how quickly her face soured.

"As if, Yukihira!" Erina rolled her eyes and turned around. She must've realized that she had nowhere to go but back inside the hotel resort's lobby, a football field away from where they stood, because she began walking but stopped and pulled out her phone. Soma knew he couldn't be afraid of her if he wanted to beat her in the kitchen, so he closed the distance between them and stood at her side.

Erina was just another rival to conquer at Tohtsuki. She was a first-year, just like him. So what if she was already on the Ten, had supernatural taste buds, the granddaughter of the academy's director with every connection in the culinary industry, and was the academy's heiress—so what? In Soma's eyes, they were equals. He had been excited to see her work for the first time this past week. Yeah, of course, he was stunned to see her culinary skills up close; it was intimidating to see how skilled she was with a kitchen knife, especially after Chef Dojima's story about her, but he was not intimidated by her. Where other's revealed their insecurities in her presence, Soma felt energized by the competition. The 406 eggs benedict Erina made during the training camp snatched the judges' souls and proved that she was on an entirely different level than all of them.

But that didn't mean she was untouchable.

He grabbed her hand. "Wanna figure out a way home...together?" His lowered register startled her, but she held his gaze. Soma's heart did something close to a cannonball in his chest.

"You two! Did you both miss the bus?" An employee from the concierge service rushed toward them, and the automatic doors of a minivan slid shut behind her.

"Uh...y-yes," Erina spoke up, snatching her hand away and scowling at Soma. He shrugged and faced the worried woman. She looked like another Tohtsuki student in her crisp work uniform and foggy glasses, but Soma remembered he ran into her at the hotel lobby earlier that week when he returned a deck of cards.

"I'll get you a car to take you both back to campus," the lady said. She immediately whipped out her phone and ran back to the van.

"Oh, no! I will not ride with him," Erina scoffed, but the woman did not stop to listen. Soma clapped his hand on her back. "Would you look at that! I guess we'll be heading back to Tohtsuki together after all!" Soma smiled with all his teeth. Erina had yet to be dethroned from her lofty tenth seat. Soma was ready to be the one to do; every step necessary to catch up to her, no matter how far she went, no matter how long it took he would take. He knew he would win over Erina's taste buds. If Tohtsuki were the training ground and the battlefield, he would train til he bled to be good enough to challenge her.

Yup. Soma was beginning to enjoy the competitive rush she awakened in him.

-8-

"Selection?"

Soma sat beside Erina in her excessively flashy limousine. Seeing wealth up close so much all of a sudden was still jarring. Between Erina adamantly insisting that her driver pick her up and the miscommunication with the resort concierge canceling the other car for Soma, the ride back to Tohtsuki was agonizingly awkward. Soma wanted to nap while Erina took a phone call, but sleep had left his eyes halfway through her conversation. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but his interest was piqued. She had such serious conversations to only be fifteen.

Erina abruptly ended the call and spat, "Why are you listening to my private conversations? But, yes. The Autumn Selection. But with your commoner, rush-to-the-very-last-second cooking, you'll never be chosen. So don't even press your luck." Soma smirked, just like Tohtsuki, to not even allow them a second to catch their breath before throwing them into another gauntlet. But what really bothered Soma was that Erina was, again, doubting his cooking skills. Even after he stole her customers with his fluffy omelet soufflé at the eleventh hour, she still didn't think he had what it took to be there.

Soma laughed in her face with excitement. Erina didn't like that, but after she explained their newest conquest as first-years, Soma just couldn't help it. A festival of fine cuisine! Competing against the best first-years in Tohtsuki and in front of the entire academy? He couldn't help but get revved up to show what he could do on a grand stage. He liked the pressure of performing. It drove him to be creative and discover a better version of himself. So what better way than in front of all of Tohtsuki? He didn't even have the time to agree with Erina's cynicism and doubt that he'd be in on the action.

Erina scoffed and looked out her window, watching the green mountains blur past them. "You are such a peasant. You know that, right, Yukihira? You seriously know nothing about the elite world you've fumbled into. For a chef, failure is unacceptable. Only exceptional dishes should grace the judges' table. This is no ordinary cooking competition. You will lose, Soma Yukihira, and I will laugh when I see you go."

Her blasé tone confused Soma about what she truly meant. He'd quickly learned that her vicious tongue was always at attention, and it annoyed him to no end when it was aimed at him, which for some indiscernible reason lately, always seemed to be the case. But he liked playing with fire. What kind of chef could be afraid of the element and call themselves a good chef? So he leaned into the open flame of Erina Nakiri and her impressively short fuse every chance he got. "Uh oh, does that mean you'll be looking for me?" Soma said, flashing his trademark rascally grin. "I thought you just said I wouldn't be selected?" He knew he was egging her on, but eggs were their thing, no?

Erina looked about two seconds away from a volcanic eruption at his suggestion. After their bump-in earlier that week, something changed between them, or—as Soma restlessly tossed and turned a few nights at the camp feeling—within himself. After she didn't show up at the impromptu party the first-years threw to celebrate passing the training camp, he knew he needed to start paying attention to whatever this change was. He couldn't put his finger on it, but suddenly, he looked for Erina around every corner. For some strange reason, his brain scrambled, searching for reasons to speak to her. Even stranger, she had become more willing to engage.

In fact, he was beginning to enjoy their banter. She would hurl a pompous insult at him. He would call her out on it with another cooking challenge. Of course, she would reject it, but that was Soma's favorite part of their new mercurial dance because he was impressed by how she never backed down. He liked how she'd double down on her superiority. Confidence seeped from her pores. Erina Nakiri knew who she was and how good she was at cooking. That only put a battery in Soma's back to prove himself to her as a chef. So, if Erina Nakiri wouldn't back down when they spoke, he would stop at nothing, too. Never mind that he currently seemed to be on a losing streak with her, teasing her felt natural, like they'd been rivals their entire life, and proving her wrong only felt right.

"As if, Yukihira!" She scoffed incredulously, crossing her arms in a huff, and returned to looking out her window. It had been a brief conversation, but as Soma turned to look out of his window, too, he couldn't stop smiling to himself. Here he was, in the same limo as the first girl who'd ever made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with him. She didn't even want him there at that moment, yet he still was there. Sitting side by side, once again.

-8-

That night, as he sunk into the steaming hot bath at Polar Star dormitory, Soma silently promised to win the Autumn Selection. That would prove to Erina that he was good enough to challenge her.

The long days at the Tohtsuki, enduring endless culinary challenges, longer classes to catch up on missed assignments, and even longer nights staying up late cooking, studying, or partying were beginning to take a toll on his sleep schedule and growing body. Good thing summer break was just around the corner because that was precisely what Soma Yukihira needed. He sunk deeper under the hot water, drowning out the vibrations from his phone.

He exited the bath to find his phone lighting up with a new notification.

Nikumi
-Please forget about what happened at the celebration party.
And stop calling me Sweet Meat!

Soma read it and shrugged. Better to do what he was told.

-Ok, have a good night, Ni- I mean, IKUMI. ;)

Didn't mean he couldn't have a bit of fun poking at the ridiculousness of all this. Girls were complicated.