Disclaimer: I don't own Shokugeki no Soma, just this story.

5 Years Later…

Erina Nakiri.

At the age of 30, she has been recognized by the culinary world as the best chef of her generation. Her restaurant, La Belle Vie, has been the best restaurant in Asia for the past 8 years, according to the Miele Guide. And even so, she takes a lot of time to add more high-class cuisine from all locations to her menu, making it a great place to eat for the rich and famous.

She is still asked to do tastings by over 50 of the best chefs of previous generations, as her God's Tongue has not faltered in its 30-year life. And if a cocky upstart chef tries to flaunt their skills, a review from Erina would instantly bring them back to reality.

She is seen as one of the most powerful women in the world by many. In addition, her stunning looks captivate any man who sees her. She is recognized as one of the most beautiful women in Japan, which leads many to be disappointed when she is pictured with a very noticeable and extravagant wedding ring.

Everyone wonders who the lucky man is, the man that gets to call Erina Nakiri his wife.

Erina however, was living a life without a husband, to the knowledge of only her closest friends. Her husband was in the sky, living without the limits of reality.

Sōma was unnaturally somber today. After first going into the afterlife, he found his mother. After a tearful reunion, Sōma was left to his own devices. Of course, that led to him still cooking, as one day, his fiancé would join him. He still had to impress her, of course.

He was enjoying his time in the afterlife, but at times, he felt alone. Sure, his mother was there, and of course he made friends, as that was only natural to the redhead.

But… without his princess, he couldn't find the joy he had before his death.

Today was an important day in both of their lives, as well as many others.

April 21. The day he left the world. What should have been a simple plane trip to Turkey turned out to be the last time he would see Erina in his life.

Because of the traditions of the afterlife, anyone who wanted to see the changes that's happened in their absence would be allowed to walk around areas of interest every year, on the anniversary of their death. Sōma, like usual, took that chance, so he was walking around the streets of Tokyo, headed to an important place.

After a while, Sōma finally found his destination: his grave. It was on the right of his mother's grave, and just had a simple inscription.

'Sōma Yukihira.

November 6, 20XX – April 21, 20XX.

Inspiration. Friend to all.'

It never made Sōma happy to see that, as while the feeling was fading, he was a bit bitter that he had to die in the first place. He wanted to come back, see his smiling girlfriend, and propose to her. But fate had other plans.

As he was looking at the grave, he heard some footsteps. Looking to his left, he saw something that made him smile. A sad, wistful smile.

His lover, the princess of the culinary world, Erina Nakiri, was holding a small bouquet of flowers, wearing all black clothing, the same outfit she wore to his funeral.

As he couldn't walk up and give her a hug, he decided to stay beside her, as she put down the flowers in front of his grave.

"Hey Sōma. How are you today?" She started.

'It's been alright. Would have been much better if I was with you however.' he thought to himself.

"The last year has been good. I was the maid of honor at Hisako and Hayama's wedding a few weeks ago. It was amazing, both of them looked great. They even thanked you, for helping bring them together." Erina had a small smile, most likely thinking about what their wedding would have been like.

Sōma was happy for the newlyweds. While the fact that he couldn't be there to celebrate with Hisako, Akira and the rest of their friends saddened him, he was still overjoyed that the two of them were able to marry.

It was similar to the rest of their friends. Hisako and Akira were the last of the seated members of the gem generation to get married. Alice and Ryō first, Takumi and Ikumi second. Erina didn't marry for obvious reasons, and Megumi, while she could choose from many potential suitors due to her high standing as a chef, was still single, waiting for someone that she could connect strongly to. Erina always kept him up on what was happening between their friends with these annual talks. Though she didn't know it, all of her words were getting to Sōma.

"Alice and Ryō also had a kid early this year. His eyes were red… just like theirs. They called him Sōma. I guess you'll always be a part of our lives, huh?" Erina asked, a bit of tears forming in her eyes.

Sōma wished that he could wipe the tears away, but unfortunately, he couldn't. So the only thing he could do was stand there, and see his heart breaking in front of him.

Erina wiped the tears herself before continuing, a lot shakier than before.

"Uh… um… I-I-I don't have much more to tell you. I-I got number 1 again… as much as I love the attention, it would've… it would've been great to share it with you." She continued, breaking bit by bit. It hurt Sōma every year, that his lover, the strong and confident Erina Nakiri, would always break down in front of his grave, and what hurt more was how helpless he felt. He couldn't say anything to her, couldn't hold her… He couldn't be there for her.

"It would've been nice… to see us get married, have a child. And we would've been together through all of it, ruling the culinary world. But… but…" Erina slowly fell to her knees.

"I miss you Sōma. So… so, so much. You know that. Besides," She brought up her hand. "You proposed to me after all." And Erina cried.

Sōma wanted so badly to do something, anything, to make Erina feel better. But unfortunately, he couldn't.

So he had to watch, defeated, as Erina mourned. A few tears started to fall from his eyes, but he quickly wiped it away. When he saw Hisako and Megumi walk over and comfort Erina, he started to leave. While he wasn't there for her, she was still in good hands.

"I'm so sorry, Erina. I'll make it up to you. Someday."

A/N: Hey everyone!

So... this is it. This is the end of I Promise You. It's weird, it's so odd to think that I wrote a finished piece of writing. I don't know if I've said this before in one of these notes, but all this stemmed from a desire to make a tragic Sorina story, and an outlet for me, a place where I could get out the frustrations of a rough year of school.

This story isn't perfect, but it's something I'm proud of, that I'm happy I made. I don't expect this to open the floodgates, this be the story that makes people think "huh, this fandom can use more stories like this." But still, I'm happy that I got out the first Sorina death fic out. I love tragedies, no matter the fandom. As long as something clicks, it's great.

Also, I'm so glad that so many people took the time to read this. Over 50 reviews, 70 follows, and 60 favourites. It's something that I'm also proud of. When I look at this story in the future, I'll think to myself, "Wow, it's amazing that something I created was liked by so many."

I thank you guys so much for reading this. Whether you were here from the very start, or you're from the future, where you saw this and decided to read, thank you. All the reviews I've gotten are great, and they gave me a big inspiration to keep going, to finish this.

But enough with that! Onto other stuff!

This epilogue... I don't know. I think it's alright, but it definitely could be better. I was originally planning for this to have a much lighter tone. Soma would have been able to interact with Erina at his grave, and they would've had a small heart to heart for the few minutes that Soma would have been given. But, that would go entirely against what I said in the last chapter. If I went with that, Soma's words about never being able to talk to Erina again would have been hollow.

So instead, it changed to what you see here.

So, leave reviews about anything! Like always, I'll always PM anyone who leaves one.

Criticism, compliments, future ideas for stories, anything! As long as it's constructive, I'll answer! (Not guests though. Sorry. ¯\_ツ_/¯)

And if people want to see it, I might add in a bonus chapter. The idea? What would have happened if chapter 2 didn't happen? I could even do another bonus: what if Erina didn't wake up to talk to Soma? If you do want to see that, I'm totally open to it! Again, it'll be added on as either bonuses of this story, or separate oneshots. Just leave your thoughts in a review if that interests anyone.

Also, school will be starting in 2 months for me. I actually have to select courses tomorrow (as of: July 5th, 2017), so I'm pretty swamped with that and other school related stuff. So, I'll try and get my oneshot out before then as my final big project before school becomes that. If you have any ideas for future stories, they would be small oneshots, nothing like this, or my long oneshot in the making. But leave ideas anyway, it might get inspire me to create short stories. You know, some time spent before uni takes up all of it...

So, after 8 chapters of grief, loss and closure... thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again, wherever that may be! :)

[I Promise You, A Shokugeki no Soma story. Main pairing: SomaxErina. Word count: 26,945]

P.S. Shoutout to nagitochris! She helped give me ideas for this epilogue, as well as many more ideas for stuff! (I don't know if this is what you meant in your messages, but it's something.)