"Listen well, Sōma, the secret to becoming a great chef is... meeting a woman that will make you want to give all the food you make to her..."

Sōma had never been one to pay too much attention to his father's words... unless they involved cooking of course. But these words had left a resounding impact on him ever since they had been said over a year ago. Whether that was because his old man had muttered the words with an intensity he had never seen before, or because of the wistful look in his eyes as he had looked up towards the sky for a split second he did not know, but Sōma had been trying to figure out the meaning of those words ever since.

Sōma, along with all the friends and rivals he had made through the Autumn Elections, the Moon Banquet and of course the Regiment de Cuisine, had now progressed onto their second year, and he knew this year would be no short of challenges, whether in the form of Shoukugeki's or the ever-present risk of expulsion from the grueling culinary course at Totsuki high, but what he hadn't been expecting emotional challenges, especially concerning a certain blonde-haired, purple cat-eyed princess.

As Sōma trudged towards the main school building after parking his small bike, he steeled himself, mentally preparing himself for the year ahead before walking into the assembly hall confidently, a certain air of confidence surrounding the newly crowned 1st Seat of Totsuki's Elite Ten. As he walked into the hall, he took a look around the students who had managed to graduate the first year at Totsuki. While he hadn't really paid attention to any of the students outside of the Rebel group, he could see a large number of the students he had seen at the first assembly of last year were gone.

Most of the students had already filed themselves into lines starting from the stage backward, so Sōma skirted around the side of the group to make his way towards the Elite Ten area. As he approached the group, his fellow 2nd years began to berate his lax attitude as he had gotten used to over the past year.

"Sōma-kun, where have you been?! Nakiri-san was looking so angry you weren't here, I was worried about your safety!" Tadokoro said to Sōma with a fearful look on her face, "Well, it's good you're here now, I think it's customary for the 1st seat to give a small speech at every first assembly," she said with a small sigh as she thought back to Sōma's infamous speech when he had first joined the academy.

"It's fine Tadokoro, don't worry about me," Sōma said with his usual laid-back tone, "Nakiri doesn't scare me, never has!" he said as he fiddled with the bandanna wrapped around his wrist. "Besides, I'm basically a pro at giving speeches after my declaration last year, and I kept the promise I made to my old man and the rest of the school," he said with a crooked grin.

Honestly, I've never managed to understand how he can stay so relaxed all the time. He's like the complete opposite to me! Tadokoro thought as she listened intently to Sōma.

"… And now that I've finished briefing you all on the main components of this year, your new 1st seat will give you all some words," Erina said confidently into the microphone. No one except the Elite 10 had dared to speak during her speech, in fear of what could happen to them if they got onto the new Headmistresses' bad side so early into the new year. "Let's just hope he doesn't cause as much trouble as he did last year," she muttered as she walked down the steps of the stage.

"Hey Nakiri, thanks for the great introduction!" Sōma exclaimed to Erina as he passed her on his way to the microphone, a cocky grin gracing his features as per usual, "You know I heard what you just said," he said in a much lower voice, moving closer to her now stationary figure.

"Hm-hmph, I have no idea what you're talking about!" She shouted at him, trying to create some sort of distance from the redhead, a blush creeping its way onto her cheeks. "Anyway, I hope you have something good to say. Wouldn't want to be threatening your 1st seat position so early would we?" She told him, feeling a little braver to stand up to his antics as she moved her figure slightly towards his in return.

"Man, you never fail to fire me up Nakiri! I've got no intention of losing this position, especially considering I still need to get you to say a few words for me." He was going to get flustered at her sudden change in behavior, but he knew he couldn't let her win.

"And what exactly would those words be, diner boy?" She said cockily, flipping her hair over her shoulder as the Totsuki princess had been known to do for years now.

"Come on, you know exactly what both me and you have been wanting you to say for a while now, E-ri-na," he had almost been caught in a trance when she had flipped her hair, but he had no clue why. After all, he'd seen it a thousand times before, why was he feeling so flustered all of a sudden?

Neither of the two had realized the entirety of the Torsion 2nd years had been staring intently at the interaction between the headmistress and the 1st seat, and a sudden voice on the microphone pulled both students out of their little bubble.

"Honestly, you two should just get a room already. We're all waiting to go home, so Yukihira-kun please get this over with already," Alice spoke with disinterest, but Erina could sense the slightest bit of mischief in her words, and after reading all those shoujo mangas she knew exactly why.

Sōma on the other hand was completely clueless as to what Alice had meant. "Huh, wonder what Alice is talking about. Does she mean a kitchen, because I'd gladly take you on in a shoukugeki Nakir."

Erina broke out of her flustered state caused by her cousin's words and gave Sõma a shove towards the stage. "Clearly, you're denser than I thought. Just get up there already!"

Sõma wasn't used to feeling clueless, and quite frankly, he didn't really enjoy it. Had the rest of the hall been as confused as he was, perhaps he wouldn't have minded. Instead, almost the whole of the Totsuki second-year student body was busy laughing their heads off at Alice's supposed funny comment, while Sõma was left to wonder what on Earth was going on.

Honestly, what the hell did she mean by getting a room? Even Erina seems to understand the joke, but I don't get what's so funny about what the other half of the Nakiris said. Man, maybe I'll have to call my annoying old man later. Sõma was stuck in thought as he slowly made his way up the stairs to see his fellow students still stuck in their laughing fits.

"Eh-hem. As you all probably know, my name's Yukihira Sõma, your new Elite Ten 1st seat. While at last year's assembly I had a bold proclamation to give to everyone already in mind, I don't really have anything particular to say to you all. To anyone who was part of the Central group and still managed to graduate, I hope there are no hard feelings between us Rebels and all of you. To those who challenged me to Shoukugekis over the summer and lost, I again hope for no hard feelings.

The only way for us to improve our cooking skills further is through competition, and if a day comes where someone beats me, I will step down from my seat with pride knowing I fought to the best of my ability. And finally, to my fellow members of the Rebel group. We had a tough time last year fighting against Azami-senpai and the former Elite Ten's regime, but we managed to overcome the obstacle presented to us through our cooking skill. If there's one person we can all thank, it's none other than our new headmistress Nakiri Erina, and I hope everyone in the audience understands all she has done and will continue to do for the benefit of our school.

One last thing. My father, as some of you may know as an absolute nutcase, told me something a while back. It didn't seem significant back then, but ever since I've spent my time thinking over his words. I didn't really understand what he was trying to say, but I know it was important. So, I'm just going to ask you guys to keep challenging me, keep pushing both my and your cooking abilities further towards perfection, because this is the only way I know to get closer to my goals.

Anyways, that's been me, your 1st seat, I look forward to the Shoukugeki challenges coming my way over the next year. Let's all do our best!" After flashing his famous grin at the crowd, he begins to walk down the stage with the audience giving him a huge round of applause.

Man, that was stressful. Didn't think I'd end up talking about dad but I guess his words really have been on my mind a lot lately. I still need to know what he meant, and I know he'd never tell me even if I managed to beat him in a battle. As he was walking down the stairs, his Polar Star friends wanted to talk to him but noticing the normally bouncy boy deep in thought, they gave him his space. Maybe I should talk to Tadokoro about it, she is my best friend after all.

With a plan in mind, Sõma absentmindedly walked out of the hall and mounted his bike before anyone could initiate a conversation with him. He really needed to talk to someone about this and fast, or he knew his cooking could suffer. Getting out at the Polar Star dormitory, he heard a commotion inside the building.

Huh, weird. Everyone else should be on their way back, and there's no way in hell Fumio-san has actual friends to invite over. I wonder what's going on. Parking his bike next to the door, Sõma knocked on the door and was met with none other than the man he had been hoping to talk to;

His father.

Hey guys, sorry about the changes I've made to the story over the last couple of hours ':) I was planning on just posting the prologue today but got oddly excited after posting my first fic ever and it evolved from 200 words to close to 2000 words. For anyone who's followed, thank you so much and I'm so glad you've taken an interest in this weird little piece of writing I've started. I'm in my second last year of high school, but exams are a few months away so you can expect regular updates, at least for the time being. A special thank you to writer LauryRose who's been a huge help in getting me on my feet after starting this and giving me some basic ideas that helped me write this stuff down in the first place. Check out 'Misunderstanding' which is arguably one of the best SoRina fics on the site 3 Anyways, endless gratitude aside thanks again for checking this out and I hope you all stick around for the chapters to come