#eishirin

title: the secret

souma is out of his depth [hints of ryoali, eishirin, isshinene]

ooo

Many would say that Souma always acted before thinking. But that wasn’t right at all. Sure, he could be impulsive, and he was often more a man of action. If it got into his head to do something, then he’d do it. But he could get lost in his thoughts like the rest of them.

But maybe not like this.

It’s been a couple of days since Nakiri beat him at BLUE. He can’t say he regrets any of his actions, but in the aftermath, he finds himself restless. He’s not in any sort of slump - in fact there’s an undercurrent of energy pushing him to do something. If only he knew what that something was. So no, it’s not for a lack of inspiration or motivation, but until he gets to the bottom of it, he can’t set his direction. No mater the circumstance, he’d have been pushing forward anyway, but why is it that after BLUE, the expanse suddenly seemed so vast that he could go anywhere, and yet at the same time he felt that everything at this point had only been wandering. Only now he’s itching to go somewhere?

What his old man and Asahi said keeping ping-ponging at the back of his mind. He’d be cooking like normal, but then it’d creep up on him, so much so that he was getting annoyed.

Well as he said, he’s a man of action. If there’s something that niggled at his curiosity, then he’d satisfy it

Though Souma doesn’t get rankled easily (preferring to do the teasing actually), it grates on him to remember Asahi treating him as if he was such a child. It  wasn’t like he was that much older than Souma. 

ooo

He decides to ask Hayama first.

“And why exactly have you come to me about this Yukihira?”

“Well,” Souma drawls, “I figured you’d be an expert since you have Shiomi-senpai and all.”

He gets treated to the rare sight of a flustered Hayama. He can’t tell if the other chef is blushing due to his dark skin, but he’s sure he doesn’t imagine him coughing after inhaling too much of the spices he was mixing.

This is only the second time he’s seen Hayama like this. The first, as if he could ever forget, was when the other boy won the Autumn Elections. The sheer relief he had on his face as he hugged the petite professor stuck with Souma for some reason. And the lack of that same professor during their own battle was probably a large factor in the other boy’s loss. People could say what they wanted but Souma wasn’t as blind as they thought he was. (He waves an image of a jeering Suzuki-sensei, no Asahi, saying ‘how dense’ away in irritation.) 

“Sorry,” Hayama coughs, “I guess I was just surprised, and coming from you.” He shakes his head, and Souma tries not to feel offended.

“I always thought there must have been a reason why Kurokiba and I lost to you. We were missing something back then.”

Before, Hayama would have said it was because he was better than them, but that’s isn’t so true now. For a while, he actually thinks about what Yukihira is saying. 

“I guess you’re right. Ever since I could remember - when I started to actually want to remember when life was suddenly worth living - Jun was there. She gave me purpose, and I just wanted to make her proud of me. More than anything, i wanted to see her happy eating my dishes.” 

Yukihira snorts. “Every time I feed her a dish that I think ‘this is gonna be it’, she only ends up crying.”

"So what brought this on-” But Hayama does a double-take. “Wait, who exactly are you talking about Yukihira-oi!”

But with a wave and a ‘thanks Hayama’, Yukihira is gone. 

ooo

“How long have you and Nakiri known each other?”

Kurokiba is in his off mode and so only raises an eyebrow lazily, as if asking. 

Souma thinks it’s pretty obvious which Nakiri he means. “Your Nakiri.” He can almost fool himself into thinking there are no implications in that statement whatsoever. 

“Oujo? I don’t really know how long. We’ve been battling each other since we were kids.”

“And what, you just decided to follow a random girl halfway across the world for some cooking battles?”

Kurokiba raises his brow again as if asking ‘your point?’ or maybe it’s along the lines of ‘like you can talk’. Whichever it is, he has to shrug in agreement.

“I’m just curious why someone like you who hates being ordered around ended up pledging lifelong service to a girl your age you even call ‘my lady’ unironically.”

Kurokiba looks at him like he’s grown a second head, and maybe he has. Even he has to admit that it’s out-of-character for him to be pushing the issue. In fact this whole venture has been something he’s been second-guessing, suddenly talking about feelings of all things. 

Kurokiba shrugs. “You wouldn’t get it,” He then stares at him like his boring holes into Souma that Souma just might actually end up fidgeting, “Or maybe you would.” “I thought I was some big hot-shot, the alpha of the pack. But then she made me realize that I was just a frog in a pond. I would’ve stayed like that, thinking my cooking was the best it could be, not even knowing I could still push my limits, if I hadn’t met her. She decided to take me with her to see the world. She put me in my place, when I thought I already knew it, and then I put her in hers, and that’s what we’ve been doing ever since. She cries and whines when she loses, but I’ve been the one staying by her side all this time so I’ve seen her at her loneliest.”

It’s the longest Souma has ever heard Kurokiba speak in his off mode. He sounds a bit angry at the last part, a bit like when he has his bandana on and Souma realizes he must be thinking of Azami separating the two cousins. 

It should surprise him, but it doesn’t, that he feels the same. It’s the same as the cool anger that sometimes gripped him towards Asahi in BLUE.

“So you have it backwards Yukihira, she was the one who did me a favor, and calling her ‘ojou’ is the least I can do for her. The rest is always staying by her side and continuing to push each other to our limits.” 

Kurokiba suddenly smirks and it’s such a rare sight on his normally droll face that it surprises Souma. “Anyway, you’re one to talk. You call your Nakiri-ojou a jouou.” 

There is absolutely no way Souma is suddenly feeling hot under the collar.

ooo

There is absolutely no way Souma is desperate.

But somehow, he even ends up phoning Tsukasa-senpai for advice.

“Rindou? Well she is a gourmand. She’s always eating interesting dishes, so if I don’t step up, she might grow bored of me.”

Tsukasa-senpai laughs and it is plain to Souma that he is as confident in his skills as ever. Clearly his senpai doesn’t imagine a situation where Rindou-senpai could ever grow bored of his cooking, and from what he knows of the brave barbarian, Tsukasa-senpai obviously has nothing to worry about on that front. How lucky. 

“If I didn’t see this world like she did I wouldn’t have even discovered all these tastes she’s tasted. After the regiment, I realized I’ve actually been really selfish when it comes to her. She always took care to experience my world, and I want to do that for her this time around.” His senpai chuckles warmly, sounding a completely different person from that nervous and self-centered elite he’d battled with what seems a lifetime ago. “It was actually seeing you and Nakiri-san together that made me realize that. So, thank you Yukihira-kun.”

For a moment their situations are reversed, and it’s Souma who ends up stuttering a ‘you’re welcome’ before the older boy hangs up. 

ooo

For some reason, Souma is exhausted, but he might have a masochistic streak in him (someone who constantly throws his dishes at the god tongue to get verbal tongue-lashings must have) because he also asks Isshiki-senpai. 

“Weren’t you I don’t know, a bit ticked off when Kinokuni-senpai was so sure you couldn’t win against Tsukasa-senpai?”

Isshiki-senpai is slicing eel at the Polar Star Dorm, and a lesser chef might have messed up on the cut with the sudden inquiry, but the slice is as straight as a ruler. His smile when he turns to Souma though is more enigmatic than usual to make up for his surprise. Souma has only ever seen him like this once, when Tsukasa-senpai interrupted the conversation he was having with Kinokuni-senpai. It had seemed important. 

“What brought this on Souma-kun? 

Isshiki-senpai to his credit doesn’t deflect in the many ways Souma knows he could have. He wonders if this is what Tadokoro feels like, playing ping-pong with him. 

“Just curious.”

Isshiki-senpai hums as if he knows more than he lets on, which of course he does. Souma ends up spilling since it’s not as if it was a secret. 

“Oh, so that’s what Jouichiro-san said. ‘A woman you want to give all your cooking to.’ If that’s the case, then Kinokuni is probably that person for me. She is the reason I started to enjoy cooking after all.” 

Souma feels second-hand embarrassment at how his senpai can say such things so casually.

“You actually reminded me of her Souma-kun. Kinokuni Nene gives her all to her passions. She doesn’t let anything distract her. That Kinokuni was always beautiful to me. When it seemed like she was lost, I just wanted to show her how fun cooking could be again, like she did for me. Little did I know I was the main cause of her despair. She was my life-saver and that’s how I repaid her,” he says rueful and with regret. 

“So it doesn’t bother you that she rejects you time and time again?” Souma asks genuinely curious and without admitting to himself (there’s been a lot of that going on lately) that he’s invested. 

“How harsh Souma-kun! Even I’m starting to get a little hurt. But, yes even then. At first I thought not giving my all would make her happy-”

“Senpai, no one would have been happy with that.”

Isshiki senpai seems to be, dare Souma say it, embarrassed. “Yes, well I know more than I did before. Now, I hold nothing back and it’s a bit like old times. She just gets this adorable furrow in her brow and pout when she loses.”

As Isshiki-senpai laughs, Souma starts to sympathize with Kinokuni-senpai a bit more. He means he always knew it, but his senpai really did have a sadistic streak huh? And though with everyone else, the soba master is as cutting as ice, with the heir of the West, she fumes in indignation. His senpai, brilliant though he may be, has his quirks, and seems to relish being treated differently than the rest, even if it is with more vitriol. 

Souma has to stop fooling himself. 

“So after all that, what now Souma-kun?”

He may still not fully understand his father’s and Asahi’s words (or he does but he isn’t ready to admit it yet), but he does know what he has to do. 

His world is still far too small for a girl who has tasted everything from every corner of it. 

He knows what he has to do, but he still expects the tongue-lashing. 

part 3 of snapshots in the life of an ice-queen and a demon king

next; not goodbye

Summary: Sir Eishi and Lady Rindou are called away from their country estate once again. (Original AU posts here and here)

After the hunt, Eishi prayed over the deer he had killed, and butchered it himself before handing it over to the kitchens at his estate. He then soaked in the bathhouse, admiring the dragon mosaic on the ceiling and missing the gold Rindou had spent on its installation less and less. He had never expected to live the life of a lord, but he’d be lying if he ever said it didn’t agree with him. 

After the bath, he walked the grounds of the estate, checking in with the farmers and taking stock of the ripening crops. The lemon trees were coming along nicely; Rindou would like that. She always managed to acquire new tastes and cravings whenever they traveled. 

Eishi had just been discussing the possible addition of a fountain to the gardens with the landscaper when the messenger arrived. He could tell just by looking that it was one of Azami’s men. 

“Just me, or both of us?” he asked with a sigh. 

“Our lord requires you and the lady both, sir.” 

He ran a hand down the length of his face. “Head to the manor house and our servants will see you fed. I’ll go tell her.” 

He found Rindou in her menagerie, heating dragon eggs in a kiln while she fed tiny strips of meat to the fledgling griffin perched on her left shoulder. A gaggle of the manor’s children stood around her, listening with rapt attention to her stories of collecting kraken ink on the eastern sea and pixie pollen in the vale. Eishi stood in the doorway for a moment, memorizing her wolf grin and open posture. The news he brought would sour her mood, and he needed a smile to remember before they entered the fire of battle again. 

The wolf grin broadened when she spotted him, and she kindly sent the children back to home and field. “There you are. How was the hunt?” she asked, bouncing over to him. “Will there be something yummy for dinner tonight?”

“I think I heard one of the cooks mention venison stew.” 

She licked her lips at the thought. “Wonderful! I hope they make a cake as well. Or maybe a pie. They had lemon pies in that town we captured last year and maybe when the trees are ready—”

“Rindou,” he said, filled with regret for having to tell her and wanting very badly to be over and done with it. “Lord Azami has called on us again.” 

At once her mouth became a hard line. She rolled her eyes. “What does he want from us now?”

“The citadel, and the free mage city.”

“The mages have done nothing,” she said, crossing her arms. “They have not brought arms against him. They’re not even a kingdom. Why should we interfere with them?”

“Because the Lord Azami asks it,” Eishi replied with a sigh.

Rindou scoffed. “The Lord Azami can hang. I will not do it.”

“Rindou, the life we’re living now comes with a price, and we both know it. Before Azami found us, we had nothing. We were nothing.”

“And now he is nothing without us,” she said. “How long are we supposed to serve him? Do you not wish to be your own man?”

Eishi took her hand in his, and rubbed at the center of her palm with his thumb. “With luck, soon he will retake Totsuki Kingdom and be satisfied, and if not, we will break our ties with him when the time is right.” 

Rindou raised an incredulous eyebrow. “I hear the talk at his court. If Azami retakes Totsuki, he will have you married off to his daughter and rule through you both.”

“He may try,” Eishi leveled. His lord had alluded to it once or twice before, and always tried to dissuade him from formalizing things with Rindou. “But I will refuse him.” 

“You’ll need a backbone to do that.” Her tone was still sharp, but her eyes had softened to him. She wouldn’t stay angry for long. 

He smiled at her then. “Good then that you have enough for both of us.” 

“When are we to leave?” she asked, conceding. 

“He wants us there in a week, and it’s six days’ ride to the citadel. We’ll feast tonight and leave at daybreak.” 

Rindou shook her head at him. “Six days’ ride is an afternoon on dragonback. We’ll fly.” 

“Rindou,” he groaned. Each time he made her get near that infernal beast, he swore he’d have an apoplexy and keel over once and for all. 

“We fly or I’m not going.” Her voice had taken on the tone of a stubborn child and he knew there’d be no dissuading her this time. 

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL COVER! I’m tempted to get my hands on the tankobon just for this (and yes I am feeling nostalgic for Shokugeki no Soma, and yes I am looking forward to the fifth season because I am a shamless shipper)

And because I am a shameless shipper, just look at the ships, RyoAli and EishiRin looking like they be on a double date (sorry Kuga), and ISSHINENE, I think the IshiNene might be my favorite part, look at how happy Isshiki is! Smiling a wide smile unlike his senpai smile or inscrutable smile. And he’s seriously just wearing a fundoshi while bringing Nene close, different from the space he gave to her before. It’s cute how they regained their old friendship and even developed it.

And though I don’t like them, Asahi cooking with Jouchirou is cute, as is Azami with Mana (but Senzaemon is missing? Maybe he’s coming over later like Shinomiya, Mizuhara, and Hinako).

This is me basically rambling, in honor of the release of the first episode of San no Sara and all the SouEri goodness. Ok, so SnS is not a shoujo manga, and unlike other chapters (specifically the chapter where Souma cooks for Erina), this chapter doesn’t have any outright shoujo vibes that would make your heart go ~kyun!<3~, but it still made my heart go ~kyun!<3~ because of all the implications.

SOUMA AND ERINA COULDN’T MAKE THEIR SPECIALTIES WITHOUT EACH OTHER!

In Souma’s case, it’s pretty obvious. He certainly wouldn’t be able to make his dish without Erina’s god tongue, and he says so himself. In Erina’s case, I don’t think she’d be able to surpass herself without Souma challenging her. It’s the exact same dilemma with Eishi. Because of their perfection and their heavenly abilities, no one would ever dare to say anything they made was less than perfect. But perfection is the end of innovation and the beginning of stagnancy. But here we have Souma, a simple diner brat, he’s certainly no gourmet, and yet he dares to say to Erina, your dish is not enough, you can do even better. That’s amazing to me. His audaciousness and cheekiness are exactly what Erina needs. 

THIS CHAPTER IS AMAZING BECAUSE IT RESOLVES THE ASS-PULL WE THOUGHT WE WOULD GET AND SUBVERTS COMMON TROPES.

It wouldn’t be a lie to say that the past few chapters have been average. Not necessarily bad, but they didn’t have the same feel that early SnS chapters had. Here’s the thing, everyone thought that if it fell down to a showdown between Eishi-Rindou and Erina-Souma, no matter how our main characters won, it would be an asspull. 

And yeah, I thought so too. I mean Eishi and Rindou had such overwhelming strength. They wouldn’t be able to win with just the god tongue. But this chapter blew that out of the water and answered all my questions. See, Eishi and Rindou are top-notch. Their teamwork is amazing. Rindou knows how to maximize Eishi’s spotlight (it seems to me that’s what she’s been doing for their whole friendship, silly hc that she’s sorta hostile against Azami since he gets to call Tsukasa, Eishi), but they are not co-dependent on each other like Erina and Souma are now, precisely because of their skills and their experience. They aren’t as desperate either. 

And thus this is the beauty of Souma’s plan. If Rindou’s dish was 90% to give way to Eishi’s dish being 100%, Souma made his appetizer 100% to equal Eishi’s. But then the dilemma of the whole course meal. However, Souma expects Erina to bring out a dish which is 110% to blow his dish out of the water. It’s a simple analogy, but that’s how I see they could win. 

And that plan is just so Souma, unconventional and crazy. It makes me laugh, because the thing is, Souma really was planning to make a main dish no matter if he lost jankenpon. This is because his partner is Erina. Any appetizer Erina would have made would have been fantastic, thus he would have to make a main dish equal to it. The same logic applies the other way around. But he became lucky since with this, he had a chance to challenge Erina to even greater heights. This chapter goes to show how much he trusts her.

SOUMA TRUSTS ERINA SO MUCH AND RECOGNIZES HOW MUCH BETTER SHE IS THAN HIM. 

Do you know how sweet his trust in her is? From the outside, their teamwork seems to have a lot of cracks, but this chapter shows how absolute Souma’s faith in her is. 

He believes Erina can make a dish more amazing than Eishi’s, even better, he believes that Erina can make a dish even better than HIM. 

He can word it in any way he likes to provoke her, but the bottom line is he created a scenario where Erina beating him would mean their victory over Eishi and Rindou, as well as saving their friends from expulsion. For a guy with so much pride, for a guy who hates so much to lose, it means SOMETHING that he would do it this way. 

He has always liked to take over the responsibility for saving Polar Star, for saving their friends, but this time around he entrusts this responsibility to Erina. 

‘Don’t disappoint me’, he seems to be saying to Erina. Do you know how rare it is to have this equal rivalry-relationship between two characters in shonen or shoujo? Where both of them inspire each other? Especially a scenario where it’s the girl who’s better, and the guy recognizes it? The closest I can think of is maybe ‘The Devil is a Part-Timer’. 

This chapter is indeed a perfect appetizer which is a prelude to Queen Erina kicking ass and taking names. How can’t she when her husbando challenges her like this?

SouMegu

Two week long honeymoon 

They go to Peru and stay at an eco-lodge 

They spend a lot of time exploring Machu Piccu 

Nature hikes and mountain climbing!!!

Glorious selfies 

Souma builds rapport with Llamas (and gets spat on a lot)

They run into Jouichirou, who had no idea they were honeymooning close by, cooking at a restaurant in Lima 

Naturally a cooking competition ensues 

Jouichirou claims he let Souma win so he wouldn’t embarrass him in front of his wife

Takumi x Ikumi

Week-long honeymoon in Barcelona

They are constantly on the move

Museums, cafes, walking tours, dancing under the stars

They’re both very good dancers (although it took Ikumi a little while to get over her embarrassment)

They spend a large portion of their trip at varying levels of wine drunk 

While wine drunk, Takumi proposes to Ikumi again b/c he forgot they were already married

She still says yes, though 

Erina x Hisako

They spend a week in Milan

ALL LUXURY ALL THE TIME 

They spend the entire first day getting pampered at their hotel’s internationally famous spa

They spend a few days pursuing art museums and admiring the city’s architecture

Then they hit up all the high fashion boutiques and go insane

#TreatYourself, #TreatYourWife, #TreatYourFriendsBackHome

Hisako had to stop herself from calculating the expenses (she did it when they got home, though, and might have cried a little)

Isshiki x Nene

They take a two week long honeymoon 

Nene questions whether she’ll be able to spend fourteen days with this man without strangling him. Ugh, she has to stop thinking that way, they were married now. But old habits die hard.

They go to Bora Bora and basically live on the beach

Nene calmly sits under her umbrella, enjoying the scenery

Oh look, her husband’s coming over

Now he’s picking her up...and tossing her in the ocean

That’s IT. Nene is drowning him. 

She doesn’t, though. They actually have a really good time together.  

Eishi x Rindou

Eishi and Rindou have a destination wedding (x) in the Amazon 

Rindou essentially kicks everyone out after the reception so they can start their week-long honeymoon

They love their treetop vacation bungalow that allows them to feel at peace with nature 

When all sorts of colorful birds come around, Rindou doesn’t know if she should admire their beauty or cook them

Nah, definitely cook them. She has to know what they taste like. 

Eishi is able to distract her though 

Ok, I got this lol. 

Soueri

These two are both extra, so their wedding would have to be over the top. I imagine their budget would be damn near unlimited, so there would be no cap on how creative we can get. Color Scheme: Black and gold (black velvet tablecloths topped with gold center pieces, invitations on black stationary with the writing in gold cursive, pale flowers wrapped in sheer gold cloth and tied with black ribbons etc.)Food: Gourmet French food, probably. Erina would only trust a Totsuki alum to cater the wedding, so Shinomiya or Eishi would probably end up doing the honors. Also, a seven layer cake would be absolutely mandatory. Theme: There wouldn’t be a specific theme, but Erina’s wedding aesthetic would be informed by the high baroque era.Location: I could see them renting out a baroque palace for the ceremony and reception (maybe Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna)The dress: Erina would wear a full on ballgown with some subtle embroidery on the bodice and skirt. 

This Sophia Tolli gown would be the template for Erina’s wedding look.