He came back from his second Stagiaire fired up. Master Shinomiya whipped him into the kind of shape that would've burnt even the most formidable chef to crisps.

But Soma Yukihira was forged by fire.

So the minute he put his bags down in the foyer of his dorm, he was presented with a Food War challenge from a hulk-sized second-year named Tetsuji Kabutoyama. And he accepted it on the spot. Soma wanted to battle everyone and anybody at Tohtsuki to climb his way to the top. He had an enthroned seat to claim and a particular goddess to prove his herculean worth to. And he was dead set on doing so when he declared his school-wide Food Wars challenge.

He'd just finished making an utter fool of the president of the Skewer Research Society, accepting a year-long lesson of skewering techniques—which he took without shame, though he had a feeling it wasn't going to take him that long to master in his style—when he noticed a domineering energy swarming around him, and it felt directed at him. He searched around the arena for where the powerful presence was coming from, and his eyes landed on Isshiki. And the youthfully chill chef wasn't alone, though he was in his uniform for once. Soma didn't know any of the other people clustered around his dorm leader but assumed them to be the other second-years of the Elite Ten—except for one person.

He peered up the bleachers and found a pleasant surprise scowling him down.

Her.

"You're next, Nakiri!"

"Yeah, not in your wildest, poorest delusions, Yukihira. And I have warned you about talking to me so casually." Soma forgot that when the sun was up, she could never be seen melting around him. She flipped her hair, and the long train of golden silk trailed behind her like a surfer riding a wave. He almost thought the end would smack him from where he stood on the floor level. He wouldn't have opposed it.

Then he saw a third familiar, but the only unwelcome, face enter the tunnel. He smiled at Erina and took her hand, pulling it to his mouth for a kiss. She cupped his face to kiss him on the cheek, and they left with Eishi's arm around her shoulder.

"When will that relationship end?" Soma grumbled, storming to his dressing room, the thrill of a unanimous victory a distant memory. Maybe he should just forget about that random night in the woods.

-8-

After he beat fifteen second-years in back-to-back Shokugekis in five days in a row, Soma lost his relationship with sleep for the third time this year. There was no time for more than an hour of power naps and snoozing through lectures. You have to understand that Soma just wasn't a lecture kind of student. He was a doer, a hands-on, experiential learner. If his hands weren't moving, his brain wasn't thinking. He knew he was only managing to pass his classes due to all his experiential knowledge, so, in his defense, he was learning. And he knew he had much to learn—reading, researching, practicing, drafting recipes, and studying his newly won techniques—he just did all of that outside of class and Tohtsuki's textbooks.

When Erina wasn't consuming his thoughts, cooking was. When cooking wasn't demanding his attention, he could only focus on her. So, when the invitation to the semi-formal meeting for all nine of the 92nd generation's Fall Selection semi-finalists to meet the Elite Council of Ten arrived for him and Megumi, he could only wonder which side she would sit on.

-8-

They sat side by side. They were at the Momoji Meet and Greet, waiting for the Elite Ten to arrive with the rest of the highest-ranking first-years. The trees' leaves, now taking the various colors of the apples hanging from their branches, filled their surroundings with a sweet mid-autumn scent that only added to Soma's excitement for what was to come. He was happy to see everyone back from their Stagiaires and looked forward to testing out their newfound skills in the Food Wars he was counting down to challenging them to very soon.

"Soma Yukihira! I challenge you to a Food War!" Takumi Aldini declared, standing demandingly.

Soma looked down at the end of the row on his left. "Hisako! Good to see ya again, pal!" The dutiful girl gave him a small smile and nod.

Takumi deflated and took a humbled seat between Megumi and Subaru Mimasaka. "Why does he always ignore me?" He softly complained to the compassionate bluenette rubbing his back. Soma heard none of that and leaned forward after greeting his Stagiaire partner behind Erina's back, shifting to face his left. "Hey, Nakiri! It's been a while. Gotta admit! I missed ya! How was your Stagiaire?"

A tint of blush dotted her cheeks, but she quickly shook it away. "Please refrain from further speaking to me, but…" Erina started, then furrowed her brows and nibbled a bit on her bottom lip, and Soma just couldn't help but steal a glance. She looked adorable, fighting her thoughts and the words on her tongue. He wanted to pinch her cheeks so badly but knew that would leave him cruisin' for a bruisin', and that was not the stellar first impression he was trying to leave on the Ten's minds.

"Erina-sama, it's rude to begin a sentence and not finish it," Hisako whispered earnestly on Erina's other side. Erina snapped her head to her assistant-best friend, betrayed and surprised that she was speaking in defense of Yukihira of all people.

Soma softly smiled at Hisako from behind Erina's back.

If Erina sensed this new camaraderie between the two, Soma wouldn't be surprised because he found her cool amethyst irises dilated on his cowering face. He'd forgotten how barbed her attitude could be. He shuddered and turned to his left. (Missing the utterly disappointed scowl he left on a pouty Erina and a snickering Alice pushing Hisako out of the way to teasingly poke her cousin's side with her index finger.)

"It was going to finish it," she fussed at her secretary.

"Oh, I apologize for interrupting, Milady," Hisako blushed, returning to being beside her best friend and béguine.

"So what were you gonna say, Nakiri?" Soma asked, unfazed but glad to see Hisako back to her usual self.

"It no longer matters, Yukihira," Erina said with such a huff, Soma figured it best to leave her alone. Soma turned to his right.

"Tadokoro! How ya' feeling?!" It was more a question to get her talking than to really know the answer. Soma and the other invited semi-finals in the Fall Selection (plus Erina) could tell how she felt. She hadn't stopped her superstitious palm-tracing and pretend symbol-eating practice since they got off their mopeds. He was beginning to worry.

"I-I-I…"

"Oh, girl! I feel like you're never going to finish that sentence!" Alice shot out, annoyed, from four seats away. "Out with it already! It's not like we can't all tell."

Soma had to admit— it was cold but direct and called for. Those Nakiri girls sure didn't mince their words. Ironically.

Megumi sighed, and it sounded like she had just released all the air in her lungs. "No, you're right. I just…don't feel like I belong here."

Soma motioned to speak an uplifting word to his ever-self-doubting best friend. "What are you saying? You stole the show in the prelims and had Ryo sweating in the second bout!" But Takumi bested him. Ryo growled but said nothing.

The towering Mimasaka silently nodded in agreement on the Italian debonaire's right. Soma noticed he had yet to say a word since arriving. Even the stoic Akira Hayama gave her a soft smile of belief. Megumi trembled at all the positive attention, looking mystified at the passionate blond Italian as she absorbed his words. They met eyes from the opposite ends of the row, but only after she unexpectedly caught a heart-skipping glint of encouragement in Ryo's glare at her on Mimasaka's right. What was that?

Soma saw it too and turned to her, his voice soft and sincere. "Looks like you belong here more than you realize, Tadokoro. No more doubting yourself, you hear? You worked hard to be here. You deserve to be here." He put out his fist and slowly pushed it toward her, smiling directly into her eyes.

Megumi looked down at her best friend's large balled-up hand, tears welling up without hesitation, and then met him with her petite fist.

Then she looked up and met his golden eyes with her amber, and they shared the same kind-hearted smile he gave her whenever he picked her up from falling or doubting herself.

And then they met their foreheads gently in the center of the small space between them and stayed there.

It was intimate.

And…

For everyone else sitting there who sensed a glance down the row and saw just how incensed Erina Nakiri was seated just to the right of Soma Yukihira, it was…

Awkward.

"Hey, you two lovebirds! Get a room!" Alice cried out.

"It was rather…intimate, Yukihira," Hisako blushed, her voice as mousy as Megumi's. The two girls glanced at each other, flushing their countenances even more.

"Hey, it's not like that! We're just-" Soma tried to correct, but Erina's admonition cut through like crossed knives.

"Or, at the very least, be mindful of proper decorum while awaiting the highest governing body of this elite institution on my family's grounds." Her tone was as frigid as the Arctic. Soma felt his insides freeze solid and could have promised he saw Megumi's soul float right out of her body. He focused on Erina, who he sensed was deliberately avoiding acknowledging his presence. Even when he obnoxiously leaned forward to eyeball her, she refused to make eye contact and only 'hmph'ed her head away from him.

Why was she suddenly so mad?

The sound of drums and an invisible announcer cut the tension. All nine first-years sat at attention with varying degrees of nervous excitement on their faces.

"The Tohtsuki Elite Council of Ten has arrived!"

Now, Soma reveled, Now I get to have a good look at my toughest opponents.

That is, until he realized one critical thing:

Eishi Tsukasa, the 90th generation's child prodigy and Tohtsuki's current First Seat, walked through the outdoor arch first. Soma totally forgot he would be showing up and leading the pack, no less. He couldn't even deny that the guy was at least seemingly nice; he knew better than to accept food from your enemy, but those squid fries and alligator kabobs were sublime and saved him from hypoglycemia after his semi-final match...plus, they also gave him two more hours around Erina. Still, he couldn't help but stare down the highest-ranking third-year/student. How foolish of him because no sooner had he steeled his sights on the First Seat turning the corner with the fresh midday autumn breeze blowing his hair like a love interest entrance montage did he notice the wannabe BTS idol make eye contact with the Tenth Seat and wink.

Soma didn't even have to look to his left; he could feel Erina's steaming blush on his own cheek.

Yuck.

a/n: a new arc means new fun and mess! i hope you're as ready as i am for what i've got cooked up for your viewing pleasure :)

p.s.: as always, i love reading your comments, so pls leave a review, follow, favorite, and share this novel with someone in the fandom you think would enjoy reading it, too!

-You're Welcome!-

8.20withlove

-i do not own the rights to Shokugeki no Sōma, wahwahwaaaah

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