Kiralyno Haza was the crown jewel of Nakiri Erina's culinary empire. At one point it had also been the sanctuary from which she could do all that pensive cooking shit overlooking the river separating Buda from Pest, because her relationship with Yukihira Souma had been a fucking drain back when she debuted.

But now it was her pride and joy, and she spent the most time there over any other location in any given year. She'd never admit it, but her mindset had been corrupted enough by her husband that she would seize the opportunity to dip all interviews, consultations, and critical events to visit Kiralyno Haza whenever she felt like it.

Erina was sitting outside the kitchen with her phone and a glass of sauv blanc during a brief lull following the lunch service chaos when she heard a knock at the front doors.

It was that time of year again.

She swung open the door to greet her stagiaires, knowing that they were the finest gems Totsuki's 120th generation had to offer; Hayama had explicitly assured her that he'd be sending her the Autumn Elections finalists.

The first girl was a Marui-Yoshino through and through. Her teal eyes were sharp with all of her parents' acute intelligence, her amber hair tied in a high ponytail. She was wearing the type of chic cashmere and jeans outfit that probably made all the boys go wild for her—and if Erina's informant wasn't wrong, this girl and her nephew were absolutely nuts for each other and yet neither had made a move. Classic Marui. Erina thought back on her third year, when it had taken seven hours of partying and a correspondingly tremendous amount of Sakaki Sake for Marui Zenji to finally work up the guts to ask Yoshino Yuki out on a date… to the Polar Star garden.

Needless to say, GODDAMMIT, MARUI! had been the general response to this.

The next day, when they'd all gotten their hangovers moderately under control, Marui had sacrificed his perfect attendance record to hop on the Nakiri jet with Yuki and take an afternoon jaunt in Kobe… and the rest was history.

Next to their prodigiously genius daughter was a girl with raven hair and a bemused expression in her icy blue eyes.

The dark horse of the 120th generation, Isshiki Tetsuko.

Behind them was said informant. Arato-Hayama Hikari was in her trademark black leather jacket, black tank top, ripped black jeans, and white Doc Martens, carrying an ergonomic Montblanc briefcase and sipping a trenta iced Americano from Starbucks.

Erina grinned as Hikari laughed and whooped, "Auntie Erina! It's been so long!"

The first years gawked as they embraced and their catching up probably would've extended for a couple years, but then Erina realized that she was supposed to be introducing her stagiaires to her kitchen.

"Hikari, what are you doing here?" Erina asked once Sena and Tetsuko were out on their first grocery run. "Do you have business in Hungary?"

Hikari frowned. "I don't, actually. I had free time so I thought I'd hang around."

Erina rolled her eyes. "Are you making Auden do all your work again?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "Give the poor kid a break, Hikari. You know Alice called me and said the only effect of Auden wearing Kurokiba's bandana was that he returned to normal function? I'm quoting her, by the way. You've completely worn him out."

Hikari cringed. "I did hear about that fiasco at the board meeting. It wasn't me, though! I delegated to Seiya but he must've sent all the work to the second years."

"Your Elite Ten is even worse than the 92nd gen version," Erina sighed.

The silver-haired girl shrugged and finished off her coffee. "Maybe that's true, but at least Auden gets our work done. I'm going to give him first seat next year."

"Hikari, don't tell me you've made the Elite Ten seats exclusive to members of the Nakiri faction."

"Hah! As if, Auntie. Don't worry, all the Polar Star kids are in it, too."

"Good lord. You're a dictator; you know that, right?"

"Damn straight, Auntie. It's fine. Pops and Uncle Ryo are good with it as long as all the reports hit the printers before they're due in the boardroom." Hikari boosted herself atop the counter and began fiddling with the hooks on her briefcase. "But, hey, Auntie, I've been meaning to ask. Is Kaede going to transfer into Totsuki next year with the rest of the 121 babies?"

"She's pretty set on architecture," Erina said, checking the edge of one of her knives. "I think she's working on a concert hall commission in München right now, actually."

"Damn, that's amazing. I was just wondering, because if she transfers in I'll have to convince the second years to accept her onto the council. Auden doesn't know, right?"

"Know…?"

Hikari chewed on her lip. "Her tongue."

Erina shook her head. "You're the only one, unless she told people of her own volition. Do me a favor and don't tell your dad, please. Or anyone else for the matter."

"Of course, Auntie. If word gets out they're going to do whatever it takes to get her into the culinary industry. Isn't Kaede ridiculously good at cooking?"

Erina sighed. "You want me to be honest? Kaede could bring the school down."

"To be honest, I already know. She visited me once," Hikari mused.

"When?"

"It was for a night last year. She texted me fifteen seconds before she reached Legislation and then she spent an hour talking about how shitty the building design was before we got to have an actual conversation. I have a kitchenette and a spa in my office — why am I even telling you this, you're the one who put them there — so we just cooked and chilled out for a few hours." Hikari set her briefcase and Starbucks cup aside. "Her cooking is beyond human, Auntie. She knows aromas damn near as well as I do. Kaede is literally you multiplied by Uncle Souma."

Erina smirked. "Please don't tell me you just implied that a thirteen-year-old architect is a better cook than both of her chef parents."

"I didn't imply anything, Auntie. I just straight up said it. I've never smelled anything like her dish in my entire life. Not even from you."

"Is that so?" Erina raised an eyebrow. "When she cooks at home it's always Kraft mac and cheese so I wouldn't know, to be honest. I have no clue how her god tongue handles all that peasant garbage."

"I think it's because she doesn't care her god tongue even exists, Auntie. Nothing about her would change even without it."

"Maybe that's true," Erina laughed. "I'm just glad she isn't burdened with all of that shit."

"Me too. I love Kaede to death."

Erina sighed. "She gets all of that from her father. If I'd been as laidback as she is back when your mother was running my life for me, we both would've probably died."

Hikari nudged Erina with her elbow. "Aw, come on, Auntie. You did pretty well for yourself, didn't you? Aside for not getting with Uncle Souma sooner. Kaede could've been in my year, dammit."

"Let's not go there," Erina warned. "And for the record, I did even less work than you did when I was first seat."

"I've heard that, Auntie. Many times. Also, I'm bringing in Tsukasa Akechi into Legislation next year."

"Rindou's kid?"

"Yeah. He's definitely more of a Kobayashi than a Tsukasa. He gives zero shits about anything but he hasn't gotten less than an A on a single practicum or theoretical so far."

Erina tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What seat are you thinking of giving him?"

Hikari brightened. She tucked a lock of her silver hair behind her ear before opening the briefcase and pulling out a crumpled paper. From an inner pocket of her leather jacket, she produced a red pen and quickly scratched out a few marks before passing the sheet to Erina.

"Auden, Ibusaki. Marui and Isshiki. You're giving three and four to second years?"

Hikari nodded. "Seiya said I should. Their Autumn Elections scores were higher than everyone currently at Totsuki aside for Auden and Ibusaki."

"You put a first year as fifth seat!?" Erina gaped at the list. "Nobody's going to be happy about that, honey."

"I'm happy with it," Hikari pointed out. "And to be fair, Auntie, my opinion is all that matters. Dad already approved. If Marui and Isshiki pass their stagiaires, I'll invite them to fill out applications to officially join Nakiri-PSD and give them seats on the Ten in second semester. I don't like some of the people that are on the council right now."

Erina snorted. "Since when has the faction required an application system? And even if these kids deserve to be on the Elite Ten, you can't open seats for them just because you dislike the current occupants."

Hikari frowned. "Why the hell not? Even Luc is alright with it and he doesn't dislike anybody."

"Tadokoro-Aldini, right?"

"Yeah. Although he'd agree with anything I proposed. Seiya hates him."

"Because…?"

"Because Luc's been wanting to date me since before I got with Seiya," Hikari said flatly, and Erina almost choked on her spit at how indifferent this child — turning eighteen in a few months, but a child nevertheless — could sound. Back when Souma first asked her out, Erina had damn near exploded.

The shoujo-reading side of her weaved its way to the surface of her consciousness, and the supreme sovereign of the international culinary sphere asked with glittery eyes, "Soooo, honey, how are things going between you and Seiya?"

Hikari seemed to be in thought for a moment and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. "We hit two years last month."

"Adorable. You know, considering the fact that I've known you since you were a conceptual attraction, you've grown a lot, Hikari. I'm so proud of you. You have all of your mother and father's best qualities, mutant nose and ridiculous loyalty and all."

Hikari wrapped her arms around Erina. "Thanks, Auntie. It means a lot coming from you." Her voice was unreserved, nothing like her typical, dangerously soft drawl.

Erina returned the embrace. God, she loved this badass cinnamon roll.

Just then, Sena and Tetsuko returned bearing ingredients Erina had purposely forgotten to buy, and Hikari was all fire and brimstone again.

"Why don't you kids change into your uniforms?" Erina suggested, directing them to the staffroom. "Your sizes should be available. If not, I'll fire you for lack of flexibility."

This sent the unfortunate first years into a frenzy. They threw themselves past the door and slammed it shut so fast Erina swore she saw cracks form around the doorframe. She had zero doubts that the best friends were probably asking each other just what the fuck was up with that crazy woman outside. And she also had zero doubts that these kids would pass their stagiaires with flying colors — if Hikari was contemplating bringing them into the faction, totalitarian application system and all, they must've broken the fucking scoring system back at the Autumn Elections.

"Hikari, if you're just planning to hang around with me this week while these kids do their stagiaire instead of being a responsible first seat and doing your work, do you want to join us in the kitchen? I'll give my regular staff a vacation and your uncle's flying in tonight so he can manage the house."

Arato-Hayama Hikari was already pulling off her jacket, revealing toned shoulders and bronzed arms, scarred from years of cooking and all the trials and tribulations that came with.

"Of course, Auntie. I won't let them into the faction and give them seats just because they pass your stagiaire. I'm gonna shove their noses even further into the grindstone."

"Honey, you talk as if it's easier than it is. Souma was just unusually lenient with you when you stagiaired with him."

"Relax, Auntie. I didn't mean it that way. It's just… last year when this freshman came back alive from your stagiaire he started acting like he was the god tongue and he barged into Legislation demanding a spot on the council and saying he should've been your child instead of Kaede. It fucking pissed me off so I got him expelled and asked Uncle Asahi and Uncle Ryo to make sure he couldn't get employed with anyone remotely connected with the Nakiri-Totsuki Group. It's an insult to you and to Kaede, you know?"

Erina grinned. It seemed Hikari was also born with Hisako and Hayama's shared brutal streak. The kid was absolutely vicious. "Thanks, Hikari. He really was getting on my nerves, to be honest, but Souma told me to keep him."

"Stop listening to him when he's being soft, Auntie. Better to be feared than to be loved."

"Good lord, isn't that Machiavelli?"

"Chapter 17 from the Prince," Hikari affirmed. "I had to read it in an Italian language and culture seminar. Actually, it was more like Seiya read it for me, but whatever. Now let's go give them hell."

"Damn straight we will," Erina replied, and cracked her knuckles.

The poor freshmen had no idea what was in store for them.

as always, thanks for reading!