Silence filled the stadium before his fellow classmates exploded. Not literally, unluckily. "The Rebels won the Shokugeki?!"

Said Rebels were hugging their cage and crying a whole lot.

Soma covered his rattling ears. "They sure seem surprised."

Isshiki laughed and slapped his shoulder. "It's not everybody who has your steely stomach."

Anne, Miss your-diner-is-not-in-my-holy-book, cleared her voice with a pointed look at the rioting students. She winked at his team when the students settled down. "I, Anne, of the World Gourmet Organization hereby declare the Rebels faction's wi-"

The rest of her sentence was drowned by the students' roars. His team was acting weird again. Erina was smirking victoriously, Tadokoro was crying and smiling, Isshiki was definitely taking his clothes off and the rest were hugging and covering each other with their snot.

Soma glanced at his shokugeki opponent. Tsukasa stood, alone, hunched over his dish. It was a compilation of all that Soma had learnt put together in one plate. His father's teachings, Tadokoro's hospitality, Nakiri's classes (though he didn't remember most of them), master's training and Takumi's cheese. The last had been really nice. He was so going to meet Takumi's family to learn how they made it.

Maybe he would get some casu marzu too. Feeding it to Nakiri with carrots and cuttlefish after boiling it in orange juice could be nice! Ideas, ideas...

"The depths of cooking are impenetrable." Tsukasa whispered as he looked up. Soma blinked. The older teen bent his waist in a bow. "It is my loss, Soma-kun."

Soma replicated his movement, only to hit his head against the counter and somehow hit Takumi's little brother with his left fist.

The half-Italian fell to his knees, hands guarding his jewels. "Soma, you bastard!" The downed teen shrilled. His brother patted his quivering shoulders. "Don't worry bro, I will continue the family's line."

Soma washed his hand. Sanity care was important for a chef.

"Polaris cook." The White Knight of the Table (or whatever his nickname was) suddenly stood so close his breath caressed Soma's standing hair.

Their hair touched and the soap sticking to Soma's hand made bubbles on the silver-haired boy's skin.

It seemed Tsukasa wanted to play. Eh, if his senpai wanted to try the name game, Soma would happily play along. "French infected senpai."

His senpai moved away with a chuckle and crooked smile. His tie had stopped defying gravity. His hair looked less shiny and knightly.

Tsukasa was not a sore loser. Soma knew the look of one. He saw one everytime he looked in a mirror. His old man had, after all, given him the nickname of 'Ultimate Sore Loser' for a reason. It wasn't a look of defeat either that adorned the first seat's too perfect face. It was... the look of an unhappy customer? Was his dish not up to Tsukasa's palate?

As Soma opened his mouth to ask what could be upgraded in his Yukihira-style omelette, Tsukasa's hand wandered up.

He eyed something. Soma turned his head to see what had attracted his attention. He only saw his father and Nakiri's father talking in a corner, water running out of their eyes. Sweat, Soma mused. Salty sweat mixed with snot. Takumi was still on the floor. Nakiri was stonily starring at her father while Alice was laughing. Yuki and Ibusaki were exchanging saliva. Marui's soul was dancing around.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Tsukasa's hand had moved strangely in the air, as if he had touched something.

Everything faded into nothingness.

[Game Reset]

Soma's eyes snapped open.

No forceful kiss or dancing soul surrounded him, the only thing he could see was a wall and the drool stain on his pillow. It was wet and sticky against his cheek. He blinked. Soma crawled out of the burrito blanket he had been in to find himself in his bedroom. Kitchen knives in perfect state decorated his messy desk, ready to slice, stab, cut, chop, draw and carve. The poster about meat cuts was still half-hanging over them. The coincidendly well positioned mirror on the wall showed him the reflection of a boy. He had spiky red bed hair, yellow eyes, tiny hands and no scar on his left eyebrow.

Soma sagely decided to tuck himself back in his bed. Sleep helped growth, right? When he would wake up, his team would beat him and tell him to spot being so clumsy. Man, he had hit his head against that counter pretty hard to have hallucinations.

As he closed his eyes, the mouth-watering aroma of 'omelette; Yukihira style' wafted near his nose.

"Soma, breakfast's ready!"

His stomach growled, ready to digest delicious food. He pushed his blanket away. "Coming!"

His father was putting their first feast of the day on the table. Soma tilted his head and squinted. "You're less wrinkly, old man." He announced.

Joichiro halted his movements. He passed his hand on his face. "You sure?"

"Uh-huh." The boy nodded. Soma sat down and joined his hands to pronounce the words of this sacred moment. "Itadakimasu."

The first bite tasted like memories and awesomess. Just the way he remembered it to be.

His father laughed, round eyes and big grin in place. "That's because your dad is awesome!" He ruffled his son's hair. "One day, you might be as amazing as me."

Soma hummed, nibbling on his fork. It was true. He had more time to improve and make his customers happy now.

He could also find 'God's tongue' and force her to eat his new combos. Go see Tadokoro's ryokan and eat the vegetables she always low-key boasted about. Bother his master until he accepted to train him some more. Learn about fishes alongside Kurokiba. Do weird stuff with Alice. Win against his father. Find Tsukasa and ask what the hell was happening.

When Soma was done eating, his plate was sparkling white. He looked up from his plate. His father was washing his knifes, creating a new recipe under his breath. His white headband was laying on the counter, calling him.

"Old man, I want a cooking match!"

casu marzu: Italian cheese (the one with maggots!). Soma really like Nakiri :)

Hello dear readers! This fic is nothing but comic relief for me and you. Prompt me with your ideas and adventures for our favorite mini chef (and the weird recipes he will concoct for his friends!).

Gamer stories appear everywhere these days. I wanted to try something different. What if the gamer was not the main character? What if the main character had to adapt to a world where such a cheat exists? So here we are, reading Soma's story, the Gamer's sidekick.