Oh boy, this is going to be a wild adventure.

While this story was started with the latest update being Ch. 139, it will keep up with the manga as much as possible. It will end after first year, I think.

Now, I typically write by myself, but for this story, I've enlisted the help of the lovely l Hypocrisy l for his sage advice in all things editing and preventing-OOC-ness! All thanks go to him for making this chapter sound coherent~

I hope this story gets just as much support as Welcome to Hell has been getting, but hey, we'll just have to see~

Oops, nearly forgot. Shokugeki no Soma does not belong to me. All characters belong to their creators. All I own be the alternate universe.

It was a pleasant, spring day. The leaves rustled cheerfully in the wind, blowing a fragrant scent across the scene. Tall, imposing buildings were interspersed between the trees, standing firm against the light breeze. It was a peaceful scene that the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy walked up to.

At least it would have been, were it not for the groups of teenagers about the same age as him bemoaning their fates, and their parents or guardians curled up on the ground begging on their hands and knees to uncaring guards to let their child back into the Academy.

For this was the Tōtsuki Tea Ceremony and Cooking Academy the blond approached, where the high-class elites, those children who might be capable of standing at the pinnacle of the food world, came to train and excel. Out of the thousands of students enrolled each year, only a handful would graduate while the rest buckled under the pressure or were drawn away by better prospects. Anyone who even enrolled and managed to survive to second year was known as one of the shining stars of their generation, but graduating? It was the highest honor, one practically unrivaled in the cooking world. The blond boy knew of this and just now was gaining a growing sense of trepidation upon seeing the despair that Tōtsuki caused, even before the year started.

Biting his lip, the boy clenched the precious case in his left hand and readjusted the bag slung over his shoulder. He felt himself begin to breathe faster and faster, getting dangerously close to hyperventilating as he panicked at the sights before him.

'This isn't what I expected when I left Isami and Father behind.' The thought was numb, disjointed.

It didn't come with an additional sense of fear, but with growing nausea. The boy quickly controlled his breathing, taking a deep breath to force his heart rate to slow back down, before he steeled himself up and walked up and into the buildings.

His father's challenge rang in his mind in a distant echo: graduate Tōtsuki or hand the reins over to Isami.

His brother was to be trained in the kitchen, with experience in the fast-paced setting so that he could serve the patrons more effectively.

He however was to be trained in the Academy to learn more refined skills to elevate the restaurant even further. They were going to be a team, just like they always were. The concept was just enough to make the boy steel himself further and walk up to the school, more resolute than ever.

'I won't disappoint you,' Aldini Takumi thought with a grimace, walking onto the campus and hoping to god that the worst would never come.

A single water droplet sent ripples through the gently flowing water. A blonde girl was relaxing in the warm steam of a bath, her eyes closed in mild bliss. A faint blush seemed to form on her cheeks. She let out a soft sigh, reveling in the feeling.

A single eyebrow twitched. Something was wrong.

She opened a single amethyst eye to see a giant, grey-furred beast sitting in the bath with her, its knees held close to its chest, its beady black eyes staring directly at her. She sat in befuddled silence, the beast staring at her blankly.

"THIS IS GARBAGE!"

The blonde girl snapped her real eyes open, violet eyes flashing in rage, her hand already moving to slam the boiling hot bowl of barely eaten soup on top of the head of the groveling boy in front of her. She stood up in a quick dart-like motion, her anger a palpable aura about her. The boy fell backwards, whimpering against the high temperature of the soup now running down his head, but the girl paid him no mind.

"I'm amazed at your impudence," she sneered, crossing her arms across her chest. "Each and every one of you! Your dishes were disgusting! I can only assume that you decided to skip one of the pre-cooking steps."

The face of the boy in front of her exposed his fear at her revelation.

Her eyes softened slightly, making him hesitate. "I know that you are trying to expand more, optimize your cooking. I understand." Her voice had gained a slightly sympathetic lilt, one that promised of possible mercy. The boy looked almost hopeful.

Immediately her face grew hard again, her eyes pieces of purple flint. "Even then, do you think I can forgive you for daring to grace my palate with this utter trash?!"

The boy, as well as the forty-or-so others behind him, immediately kowtowed, avoiding eye contact with the regal girl. "WE'RE TERRIBLY SORRY!" they screamed in a failed attempt at unison. The girl paid their actions no mind, already turning away to glance at the pink-haired girl kneeling beside her, eyes staring at the ground. The blonde girl frowned before walking over.

"Hisako." The pink-haired girl glanced up at the blonde.

"Yes, Erina-sama?" she asked.

Erina said nothing, choosing instead to grab Hisako's shoulder and pull her up slightly, much to the pink-haired girl's surprise.

"Get up. This crouching is beneath you," Erina growled at her. Hisako nodded quickly before standing next to Erina. She maintained a stiff posture, one that made Erina sigh slightly before shaking her head and continuing on.

"What's my next appointment?" she asked. Wordlessly, Hisako handed her a sheet of paper with a list of instructions that Erina perused quickly, her lip curling in response to the message.

"Who gave this to you?" Erina asked sharply.

"B-Botchan, Erina-sama," Hisako said, eyes staring at the ground again.

"Tch," Erina tsked, sneering at the paper before folding it neatly and handing it back to Hisako with a slight flourish in her wrist. "Well, if he says so, I guess I'll have to go." She turned around and walked off in as stately a manner as possible, Hisako hurrying to stay up with her.

Takumi felt himself suppress a growl as his peers sneered down at him. They were all dressed in the classiest of clothes, silken chef's uniforms that weren't stained at all, and lovely satin pieces that looked more like a doll's clothes than any kind of actual apparel.

Takumi looked down at himself. He was wearing his worn jeans and white t-shirt, along with a faded leather jacket. Not the best of his casual outfits, yes, and he felt even more scruffy in comparison to these obviously novice wannabe chefs because of it.

They were all standing in a fairly large room, one that was filled with stainless steel apparatuses from stoves to devices that Takumi had no idea how to even start using. The other children, obviously richer than the diner boy that Takumi knew he was, were milling about, boasting of their family's high standing in the culinary world and of how they were expected to graduate with the highest of honors. Takumi internally snorted at their claims, seeing their soft, unmarked hands and spotless clothes.

'They have never been where I was.'

These children had never had to suffer through a dinner rush, their hearts pounding as orders piled in with no one else to take them; they'd never burnt their hands and ignored the pain as they continued to serve patrons because what the customer wanted was always what he had to provide. They would never understand that failing to provide what was expected was the highest form of dishonor that Takumi could ever even consider. They hadn't felt the blood, sweat, and tears shed in the kitchen, where your enemy was yourself and you had to fight through with every last remnant of your soul. All they saw was the fame of being a famous chef, just a mere benefit to being known as an alumnus of Tōtsuki itself. It sickened Takumi.

"Listen up! I was entrusted with running this entrance exam this morning."

Takumi jumped slightly. He hadn't heard the other person enter, and he began to look around for an older woman, one maybe in her twenties judging by the voice that had called them to attention.

Instead, he saw a blonde girl around his age in the Tōtsuki student uniform and another girl standing dutifully behind her.

A lump rose in Takumi's stomach. He recognized the girl's icy visage, her emotionless purple gaze, her sharp tone. Standing in front of the mass of prospective students was Nakiri Erina, the bearer of the legendary "God's Palate", part of the legendary family that ran Tōtsuki and, by extension, the culinary world. Erina was known for tearing down chefs' nascent careers with sharp words about lack of preparation, disgusting flavors, and apparently incredibly odd metaphors to fully explain her disgust for their dishes. She was feared amongst the finest of gourmet chefs, and those she approved of saw profits skyrocketing while those she pushed away were soon left for the streets.

She was going to be the one evaluating them?

Erina flicked her hair over her left shoulder with a careless twitch of her wrist. She turned to the girl who had come with her. "Hisako, please read for me the requirements of this transfer exam."

The pink-haired girl nodded before taking out a sheet of paper from the stack in her arms and clearing her throat. "We will first conduct an interview, separating all candidates into groups of ten based on application. Afterwards, you will be required to cook three different dishes to judge your practical cooking skills. The third part is―"

"Hmph! Onii-san must have made this test specifically to annoy me," Erina sneered lightly. She took the paper out of Hisako's hand, glared mildly at the messily scrawled writing on it, and crumpled it in her hand, tossing it behind her for Hisako to catch hurriedly. "Forget that. I have a better idea. Bring out the kitchen tables!" She clapped her hands together three times as a signal.

Hisako put the papers in her hand down and left the room. She came back in later, pushing out a table of ingredients in front of her. She wheeled in the table until it was placed behind Erina, who smirked at the nervous transfer prospects before turning around and perusing the table. She grabbed something from one specific area, revealing the ingredient in her hand to the other teenagers.

"You will prepare one dish with this as your main ingredient," she declared, making sure that everyone saw the egg in her hand. "This is your only chance. If you can please my tongue, then you're in. And you have... let's say, one minute to rescind your decision to transfer in, starting now."

A flurry of feet and terrified shouts accompanied the exit of every single prospective student, frightened off by both Erina's reputation and her challenge. All of them, that is, except for Takumi. The blond chef snorted to himself, as he stood alone, everyone else having abandoned the challenge. He wasn't frightened by her task; rather, he was invigorated. He felt ready to conquer the challenge and get into Tōtsuki!

"Excuse me," Takumi tried to say. "I'd like to clarify something about the challenge."

"They all left. Good riddance," Erina said with a sniff, apparently ignoring Takumi. She turned around. "Looks like we won't be admitting anyone this year. My schedule's been freed up; looks like I can work on that new dish of mine now."

The pink-haired girl with her began to water at the mouth, swallowing daintily at the thought of tasting Erina's newest dish. The motion wasn't lost on Erina, who observed with a coy grin.

"Oh? Do you want to come taste my newest dish with me? We'll just have to tell Onii-san that this year there will be no transfer students, and then we'll go off to the kitchens, just the two of us." She leaned closer to Hisako, smirking slightly now. Hisako looked dazed, still stuck on the idea of being the first to try Erina's newest dish.

"O-Oi!" The two girls froze and turned to see Takumi, who was slightly fuming. Having caught their attention with his slightly louder than necessary shout, Takumi blushed slightly at their intent gazes. "So, anything with eggs, right?"

Erina blinked, struck by this teenager's boldness to take her challenge on. "Yes, anything that features the egg as a main ingredient."

"Ah, grazi!" Takumi said, slipping back into his native tongue. "Nakiri Erina-san, I'd like to ask you to please wait while I prepare for you a dish you will enjoy!"

"Get started," Hisako snapped. "Erina-sama doesn't have the time to deal with low-class chefs like you every day! You're lucky this time!" She was more than a little irate that she couldn't leave and try Erina's new dish.

"Hisako," Erina admonished quietly.

Takumi blinked, caught off-guard. He half expected Isami to appear behind him, laughing at his misfortunes as his chubby brother was partial to doing, but the abnormal silence cut into Takumi more than the chuckles ever did. The blond Italian glanced behind him almost instinctively before remembering rather forcefully that Isami wasn't there. Takumi nodded to Erina, back into her world, and walked over to the kitchen table, glancing at the ingredients there. His eyes went hooded in concentration before they lit up in recognition and he began to work, his fingers flying across his ingredients.

Erina privately marveled at Takumi's knife-work. While one hand whisked together a combination of eggs and cream, the other was flying through stalks of green onion and asparagus, chopping them up into impossibly precise slices and setting them aside. He apparently finished the egg mixture and began to throw in herbs and salt while also preparing a pan with oil and butter. Takumi moved with an intensity that seemed almost unbalanced, as though it needed another to help him work it out, but he was still shockingly efficient and as well-trained as any of the top performers from her year.

"È fatta," Takumi declared, setting out a portion of something in front of Erina. She looked at it, eyebrows raised. "Asparagus quiche."

In the silence that ensued, Takumi could have dropped a fork and it would have been heard throughout the kitchen.

"What." Erina responded, inwardly seething. This boy had intrigued her so much, and now just presented her with a simple quiche? Not even one elevated, one that would satisfy her tongue?

Takumi faltered slightly. "I mean, it was going to be a frittata, but I felt that it would be better in quiche form..." he said, backing away from Erina slightly.

Erina harrumphed at him before snatching up a fork and viciously stabbing the piece of quiche, releasing a small plume of fragrant steam that made Erina's traitorous mouth water, though she tried to fight the urge. Swallowing slightly, she slowly put the piece of food into her mouth.

It was an explosion of flavor.

Buttery egg and fresh asparagus enveloped her in an embrace so rich and warm that she felt herself tremble unwillingly. The richness of the flavor was balanced by the light fluffiness of the egg, all tied together by the clean taste of rosemary and other herbs that Takumi had carefully folded into the egg. Erina felt her tongue leading her on an adventure through a woodland glen, her entire form buffeted by the light touch of feathers everywhere. Birds flew down to chirp into her ear as they brushed past her, dropping slivers of asparagus on her and bathing her in a rich egg-and-butter flavor.

Her eyes opened again. She saw the disgraceful food in front of her, yet she couldn't even bring herself to sneer at it again. She heard herself give a tiny whimper and immediately flushed bright red from embarrassment. Before she could snap something about how disgusting the food was to make up for her mortification, she heard three voices in the doorway of the kitchen.

Three laughing voices.

Oh no... Erina slowly turned to the doorway to face the three chuckling teenagers there. Hisako hastily bowed to them, and Takumi looked over curiously, not recognizing their faces.

"Hey there, Imōto-chan," one said casually. He was leaning against the doorway, his lanky form practically taking up the entire space of the door, with the other two standing behind him. He had a slash on his left eyebrow and long and shaggy red hair that stuck up in spikes all over his head. His golden eyes were filled with a devilish mirth that was tempered slightly by the softer smile playing on his lips. His left ear was pierced, a single golden earring piercing its lobe and hanging down from it.

"Ani," Erina said in a monotone. Hisako had stood up by then but hung back from entering the conversation.

Takumi was confused as all heck.

"You seem to be enjoying the food," the boy continued on, his smile curving into a feline smirk now.

"Of course not," Erina snapped back, her face turning red again. "It's plebeian fare. I couldn't possibly enjoy something as lowly as this dish."

The girl standing behind the red-haired boy smiled kindly at that, though the placement of the smile made it seem all the more menacing for it. Her glowing topaz eyes, just a shade different from the red-haired boy's, shone with a benevolent yet unamused light. Her left hand was playing with one of her navy blue braids while the other was behind her back, and Takumi could see a golden ring glimmering on her pointer finger.

"Come now, Erina-imōto-san," she said in a bell-like, singing voice. "We've been here for quite some time. We could see just how much you enjoyed that dish."

The third member of the newcomers, a brunet boy with glimmering light blue eyes, only slightly shorter than the first boy, had approached the quiche still sitting on the counter, his hands nonchalantly shoved into his pants pockets. As he leaned over to examine its cooling smell even further, Takumi noticed a silver chain with yet another golden ring hanging on it slide out from under his shirt. He inhaled the scent before sighing and standing back up.

"Senpai, this food is more than enough to allow any student into the Academy," the boy said rather serenely, closing his eyes in satisfaction. That announcement pushed Erina to the edge; why were they taking her power away from her, right in front of the transfer student in question?

"What is the meaning of all of this, anyhow?" Erina snarled. "Those instructions? This test? Why was I assigned to do this? As heir to the name Nakiri and, by extension Tōtsuki itself, I do not need to debase myself with this menial task! And why is Isshiki-senpai here! He is only the seventh seat, not even worthy of overriding my opinion!"

"Why, I thought you were looking for another aide, Imōto-chan. You've been talking about it for quite some time now. I thought you would appreciate a first look at the newcomers. Also, you aren't even on our level, Imōto-chan, so don't try and overrule us," the red-haired boy chided, pushing himself away from the doorway to stand fully in it. "Megumi-san, Satoshi-san, go on. Maybe our little Imōto-chan can accept that even the lowliest of foods can please the best of palates." He gave Erina a stern look before gesturing for the other two with him to leave as he walked into the kitchen. The girl nodded to Takumi in approval before heading out, and the second boy smiled kindly at Takumi before following her, leaving the red-haired boy behind.

"Ani, please leave me be," Erina said through gritted teeth, feeling even more frustrated than ever.

The boy said nothing to her, merely looking at her up and down, his eyes softening somewhat. He reached out a hand to tousle the top of her head, messing up her hair slightly and getting a surprised squeak and a smack on the hand for his troubles. He smiled lightly at that before turning to Takumi.

"You. Kid. What's your name?"

"A-Aldini Takumi, sir."

"Cut the sir out of what you just said," the boy said lightly. He held out a hand, one that was marked with knife scars, healed burns, and calluses. Takumi glanced at the hand before looking back up at an expectant face and hesitantly taking the hand and shaking it.

The red-haired boy smirked, and Takumi felt as though he either passed or completely failed a test. "Saiba Sōma," the boy declared, releasing Takumi's hand before winking at him teasingly and walking away from the now speechless blond boy. "I'll see you around, Aldini Takumi-kun. And Hisako-chan?" A squeak came from the pink-haired girl, who was staring at the floor with wide-eyes, her face turning bright red. "Keep an eye on Imōto-chan for me, will you?"

He left out of the same door as the others with him had gone.

Silence stretched out between the remaining teenagers.

"So..." the two girls stared at Takumi. "Did I pass?"

Erina's eyes lit up in an indignant fury.

Takumi immediately regretted asking the question.

"Saiba-san! You can't just run off like that!" said a harried-looking white-haired teenager who was waving his arms about in the same manner that a chicken fluttered around its coop, his white eyes now wide and distressed. He nervously tugged at the silver chain around his neck, muttering about not getting any breaks from the stressful life he led.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," the red-haired teenager said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. He yawned obnoxiously. "Had to check up on something."

"Or someone?" This remark came from a girl with raspberry-colored hair and yellow, feline eyes, a silver earring with a tiny pearl embedded in it luminously glowing from its place on her right ear, piercing the cartilage. Her normal dog-toothed smirk was stretching across her face.

Sōma smirked right back at her. "Who else?"

"She'll have to learn that even though she's the heir to Tōtsuki and practically the younger sister of the First Seat, she has to earn her own reputation," another voice said. Sōma glanced over to the speaker, another white-haired teenager, though her eyes were not icy in color but appeared to be a deep blood red hue. She had a single finger on her chin in a fake thoughtful pose.

"Oh? And the fact that her cousin sits Fifth Seat doesn't mean anything for her?" Sōma shot back.

"She hasn't had to fight for her place yet," a final teenager added in. His dark form contrasted well with the pure whiteness of the girl next to him, from his ink-black hair to the apparently genetic black marks under his eyes, though he did share a pair of blazing crimson eyes with said girl next to him. The two teenagers both had golden rings inlaid with rubies on their right pinkies, and the male teen was playing with a couple of balls as he stared at the wall with some semblance of boredom written on his face.

"Unfortunately, no," Sōma said with a sigh, shaking his head. By then, Megumi and Satoshi had caught up with him and were flanking him as usual. He gestured for the other teenagers, including a few that hadn't spoken, to sit down at the table they were standing around. "Now, it's time to get to business."

A girl farther down the table with green hair twisted into braids and large round glasses cleared her throat briefly, a tiny glint of silver glimmering from her wrist. She picked up a sheet of paper and began to recite the words printed on it.

"The first meeting of the Elite Ten in the graduating year of the 90th Generation has commenced today at 13:47. This year's Elite Ten:

Saiba Sōma, third year, First Seat;

Tsukasa Eishi, third year, Second Seat;

Tadokoro Megumi, third year, Third Seat;

Kobayashi Rindō, third year, Fourth Seat;

Nakiri Alice, third year, Fifth Seat;

Kurokiba Ryō, third year, Sixth Seat;

Isshiki Satoshi, second year, Seventh Seat;

Kinokuni Nene, second year, Eighth Seat;

Kuga Terunori, second year, Ninth Seat;

Lastly, Eizan Etsuya, second year, Tenth Seat."

"Thank you, Kinokuni-san," Eishi said, his frazzled expression settling into his serious demeanor.

"Let's start," Sōma declared, leaning back as the preparations for the new school year began.

Yep. I went there. Sōma-niichan is a go xD

Let me know what you think so far~ Updates will be few and far between seeing as college is still a thing in my life.

-Shriayle