Hello! This fiction is set before the Azami's arc. I've always wanted a story like that so here it is! This is going to be a multi-chap story though I don't really know how many chapters there will be yet. I hope you'll enjoy it :)

Disclaimer : I do not own Shokugeki no Soma

Chapter 1 : The Spark

As she was standing outside her classroom door, Erina could hear people talking animatedly about the new hot subject. However, as soon as she slid it open, all of this came to a stop and a complete silence greeted her. You could even hear a bug fly.

Feeling incredibly annoyed, she came in proudly with Hisako in tow and took her seat in the front row. As soon as she sat down, loud whispering started with people glancing her way. She could feel it, and it was unnerving her to no end. True, one could think she'd be used to it since it really was nothing new to her, but not in those circumstances.

Before, they were either fearing her and her God's tongue since she could get them expelled in no time if she put her mind to it - that infuriating man being the only exception - or admiring her for her beauty. Now, they were spreading some gossip which was both completely untrue and horrifying.

As more whispers made their way to her ears, a vein pulsed against her temple. She was going to kill her cousin. And then, that journalist who dared to publish that trash. But the first on her to-kill list was the man who was the cause of all of this.

Speak of the Devil... Here he was, that damn redhead with his scarred brow and his lively golden eyes, stepping in without a care in the world. Just seeing him was enough to make her murderous aura multiply ten fold. She could almost literally feel her blood boil and her face heat up in anger. And he actually had the nerves to grin at her, oblivious to her mood.

At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face and, if possible, wipe his entire being from the Earth. But of course, she couldn't. Cursing under her breath, she blamed her bad luck because while being the cause of her present turmoil, he was also her only way out of it.

Why? That's a good question, but let's explain it from the beginning. It all started a week ago...

Nakiri manor, a week ago, Sunday

Erina was enjoying one of her rare free moment in her tight tasting schedule. For once, she had one hour to spare. I know. You'd think one hour is really little time but for Erina, it really was a lot. Lately, things had been piling on her and she could only take a short breath before going to another appointment. Her only 'free time' reduced to the moments she spent in the car getting from one place to another - while being briefed about what she was expected to do - and when she was finally home, she was greeted by a mountain of papers. Desk work. How hateful. But necessary, unfortunately. She hadn't had a minute to herself.

So now that she had time, it was no wonder she didn't want to spend it indoors. Deciding to take some fresh hair, she took off in direction of the gardens, intending to enjoy the silence and calm it provided.

That was without counting Alice in the equation.

As she was turning the corner which granted access to the kiosk in the middle of the gardens, she saw a flash of white and she instantly knew that if she took one more step, she wasn't going to have the peace she longed for. Turning around slowly to avoid attracting attention to herself, she started to make her way back-

SNAP!

-only to step on a branch as her foot touched the ground. Great. Just. Great. Maybe her having free time to relax just wasn't meant to be... But maybe God was on her side for once. Daring to hope that she could still escape, she slowly took a look behind her, and sighed in relief when she found the space empty. Allowing a small smile to make its way to her lips, she faced forward and jumped back in surprise at the sight that greeted her .

There, standing one step away from her and leaning forward so that her face was inches away from hers, was Nakiri Alice, her curious red eyes examining her.

"Don't scare me like that!" Erina reprimanded, her hand flying to her chest as if it could ease her now racing heart. She swore, this girl would be the end of her.

Alice stayed quiet for a while and then nodded, as if satisfied with her examination. "Erina! It's been so long since I last saw you!" she exclaimed, her voice dripping with excitement.

"Yeah, it's been a while." Erina agreed. "I had no free time at all until now after all."

"You poor thing. It must have been hard for you. So you had no time to spend with your crush either..." If her voice had been compassionate at the start of her sentence, it now was downright teasing.

Surprisingly, Erina just sighed and glared at her cousin in annoyance instead of yelling that she was wrong as she had in the past. She was tired. And annoyed. But mostly resigned.

Since some time, Alice had decided that she had a crush on that man and had been teasing her about it at every opportunity she got. At first, she had yelled in indignation, denying it loudly, but now, she was used to it, as sad as this was. So what if her face was getting a little redder every time she saw him? It was obviously because of her temper rising. She just couldn't keep her cool when he was in the immediate vicinity. There was that time at the Autumn Selections in the private seats but it was irrelevant.

Anyway, she couldn't even find it in herself to correct her anymore. This has been going on for way too long in her opinion. But, she had quickly remarked that her opinion on the matter didn't seem to interest Alice in the slightest.

Sighing once again, she looked up to meet her cousin's red eyes with her purple ones.

"Just why do you think that I have a crush on Yukihira-kun of all people?" she asked.

It was as if she activated a button ON because as soon as the question had left her tongue, Alice went into a tirade about how she supposedly stared at him with a longing look (the only thing she longed for was his disappearance from her world...), how she blushed when he was near (that was her rising temper!), how she always made plans to get to see him when he was in a shokugeki (she didn't want to miss the moment where she would finally success in her effort to expel him!), how she smiled so brightly when he came to visit -

Wait. What ?

Rewind

"... And that time when he came to visit you, you opened the door with such a bright smile! I had never seen you smiling like that before! It was full of anticipation and happiness. Such a wonderful smile, really..." Alice remembered, wiping fake tears from her eyes.

"...!" Erina's shocked silence was the only reply she got that time. She hadn't been aware that someone had seen her at that time - other than him and that journalist. No wonder she was so keen on the idea that she liked him. She was expecting Hisako at that time! So, of course she had been happy! It was all a misunderstanding... But of course, Alice didn't care enough to listen to her explanations. So instead, she asked "Is that why you believe I like him?"

"Yeah! It opened my eyes and then I started to notice all those other little things. I had noticed before but it all made sense when I saw you like that! You must really like him a lot, right?"

"Yeah right." Erina replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She didn't know it at that time, but soon, very soon, she'd do anything to take back those words and stop them from ever being said... "Alice, I think we need to talk. Seriously. And please, I beg you, listen to what I have to say..."

With that said, they made their way to the kiosk to discuss. As they were walking, Ryō who had been watching the exchange from the start, caught movement in the bushes. He eyed it suspiciously and was making his way to it when a rabbit suddenly came out of it.

"Ryō! What are you doing? Come here!" Alice's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned to join his lady, lazily answering with an "Hai."

Unbeknownst to them, the person who was hiding in the bushes released the breath they had been holding in relief. They thought it had been over for them when Alice's aide had noticed them. It had been really hard to infiltrate the Nakiri gardens but it was worth it. With that scoop, their journal would relive! They grinned before carefully beginning their journey to go out of the property. Well, this is going to be hard...

Well, that's it for chapter 1. If you feel like it, drop a review. Feedback is appreciated :) I'll try to update once a week…

Ja ne