Fact of the day: Somerset is the most radioactive part of Britain, hence the myth that anyone who lives there has six-toes.

Got another chapter for ya, enjoy- RustedTank

Chapter 12: A new part begins

Rindō yawned and stretched out on her bed, the soft rays of dawn shone through the curtains and gently nuzzled her face. Her scarlet hair was spread wildly over the sheets, she blew a strand out of her mouth and sat up. With another yawn she jumped out of bed, it was the most refreshing sleep she had experienced in ages, she slept with total easiness, nothing disturbing her and so she felt utterly renewed. She walked slowly and sleepily over to the red velvet curtains and drew them open, the stunning view of Tokyo in the morning greeted her amber eyes. Rindō had decided to live in her own bungalow outside of Totsuki in the start of her third year, after an incident involving kerosene and a swan, she had been banned from all the good living residences. The money being an elite ten-member brought her gave her more than enough to afford a small living space so she decided to move out of the academy grounds and take the local bus every morning, well every morning she decided to go home. She usually stayed up late with Eishi cooking or filling out elite ten paperwork.

She looked around her room, even she was starting to realise it was a mess, clothes lay scattered and draped on almost every surface, drinks cans lay stacked in a pile in the corner, the only thing that was absent from the chaos was cobwebs as she absolutely hated spiders.

'I'll clean it up tomorrow' she thought.

She made her way down the corridor and into the kitchen diner, it was modern and sleek, a large skylight was in the roof, the island at the centre of the room was pearl white and had the reflectiveness of a mirror, showing a clear view of the emerging blue sky on its surface through the skylight. In the corner of the room lay a large equally white cupboard, Rindō pulled on the shiny steel handle and opened the cupboard, without thinking she grabbed the nearest cereal box, just because she was one of the world's greatest chefs didn't mean she had to cook a gourmet meal every time she wanted to eat. She put the box on the white countertop and grabbed the kettle of its stand, she filled it up in the deep modern sink and flicked it on. The soft whistle and hiss of the kettle provided ample background noise to make her cereal, she began by pouring the milk in first, followed by the cereal, Rindō relished being an agent of chaos at every opportunity she got. Once she heard the mechanical click of the kettle finishing boiling the water, she grabbed a sachet of instant coffee from the cupboard and made herself a mug. Despite her usually loud and energetic demeanour, she enjoyed the brief moments of quiet and peace she had on her free mornings.

While she ate and drank, she recapped over the last few days, the team shokugeki, her 'fallout' with Eishi, trying her best to get on everyone's good side, the other team shokugeki, 'making up' with Eishi, the events of the mansion and her new 'job' working at Yukihira's. She smiled at how fun and exciting they had been, despite attending the most unique and bizarre school in the world, things had started to get stale, so the change of pace wasn't entirely unwelcome. On the other hand, the stress and turmoil she had experienced were certainly unwelcome, she was usually very care-free and didn't care too much about things. Lately she had been taking things more seriously and it was starting to alarm her. She sighed and placed her metal spoon back down into the plastic bowl with a clink, she could only hope that the worst of the trouble was over and that her new objectives would be only fun, not stressful.

She moved over to the sink and began to wash the bowl, spoon and mug, she absolutely had to keep the kitchen tidy, it was necessary for cooking. While she scrubbed the bowl down with warm water, she thought about the day ahead, she was due to meet everyone at Yukihira's by 10 in the morning, it was earlier than she would've liked but she knew that time was not something they could afford to waste. She turned to the clock that sat above the window, it read 8:30am, she smiled knowing that she still had some time before she had to meet everyone. One of the advantages of living where she was is that she was halfway between the centre of Tokyo and the academy. Meaning she could live in a quiet suburb and still be close to the city. It was only a twenty-minute bus journey to where Yukihira's was, so if she left the house at nine-thirty she would make it on time.

Finishing up the cleaning she began to walk to the corridor, then a knock on the door was heard. Rindō wondered who it could be this early in the morning until she heard a voice call for her.

"Rin, are you awake yet?"

It was the voice of Eishi, she wondered why he would come at this time but she was too excited to care. She ran down the corridor and opened the door to his seemingly refreshed face.

"Good morning ri-... why are you!" He suddenly exclaimed when he looked at her. His face was quickly becoming bright red as he turned away to face the quiet street. Rindō looked confused for a second until she remembered an important fact.

She slept topless.

Her face became redder than her hair as she slammed the door closed, she cursed herself for forgetting to put a shirt on and ran into the bedroom to get dressed. She spent at least a full five minutes on deciding what to wear, she usually just grabbed whatever was closest her. So, she knew it must've been important. After a panic filled five minutes, she returned to the door wearing a casual shirt and some trousers. Inhaling sharply and nervously she grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open. Eishi was still facing the road, shaking nervously, muttering incomprehensibly under his breath. Rindō stared at him with her yellow eyes for a second, wondering what she had done to the boy. She extended one of her delicate hands out to him in hope of pulling him back into reality.

"Hey, are you oka-." She asked before getting cut off.

"I'm sorry, forgive me!" He exclaimed suddenly, still refusing to turn around.

Rindō retracted her hand, the boy was still shaking profusely and muttering to himself. She re-centered herself and tried again, she decided a different angle of approach was needed is she was to get through to the nervous wreck on her front patio. She took a deep breath and smiled.

"It's okay Eishi, I have a shirt on now." The boy didn't turn around first and then instantly glanced at her and back again. He did this a couple of more times before deeming it was safe to look at her. Rindō was quickly becoming amused at how awkward the boy could be, he was like a seven-year-old at the mention of the word kissing.

Now face to face an actual conversation could begin, which relieved Rindō as she thought she was going to have to spend all morning trying to get the boy to look at her.

"Okay...good, good morning Rindō." He said with an uneasy smile, she responded by pulling him into a gentle hug.

"Good morning Esh." She said into his ear, they stayed in this awkward embrace until she pulled away.

"So, what brings you here?" Rindō said with a hopeful smile, her reasonable side was actually stronger for once, she knew he had probably come for business to do with their new positions as Yukihira 'employees'.

"Ummm, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out around the city centre for a bit before we have to meet with the others. "He said timidly as he scuffed his feet while looking down at the floor.

If there was a perfect thing that he could've said it would've been those exact words, she couldn't contain her excitement at the idea.

"Yes!" She exclaimed like she had just accepted his marriage proposal.

Eishi smiled back as some resemblance of confidence returned to him. He stood up straighter and extended his hand, she took it and skipped down the path with him. Rindō thought he could be really attractive when he tried to be.

"Wait I forgot to lock the door!" She realised out loud as she ran back inside to grab her keys...

"You know I never expected you to work for some place that isn't the restaurant back home bro." Isami Aldini said to his brother, he had a smug smile on his wide face, he was clearly enjoying being able to tease his brother for unofficially working for Yukihira.

"I'm not working for Yukihira's, just volunteering to stop Azami." Takumi retorted to his brother, although he would never admit it to anyone, he did enjoy the back and forth banter they had.

"But aren't you getting paid?" Isami countered his brother.

Takumi, mentally cursed his brother, he knew exactly what to say to beat him.

"Yes, I am." Takumi reluctantly admitted, he grabbed his jacket from the bedpost and adjusted it in the giant mirror that lay in their room.

"So that means you work for him." Isami finalised with a smile.

Takumi grabbed his comb and started to tidy up his blonde hair, even if he was just going to a street diner, he had to look his best. His attention was brought back to Isami when he noticed his smugger than usual smile.

"I work at Yukihira's, not for Yukihira." He argued, trying to put particular emphasis on the for to ensure his brother didn't twist his words.

"Doesn't Yukihira own the restaurant you now work at?" Isami said slyly, Takumi put down the comb and stared at his brother, he knew he had been defeated. Nothing he could say now would convince his brother otherwise.

"Yes, he does." Takumi said, admitting his defeat.

"So that makes Yukihira your employer, you work for him." Isami said triumphantly. Takumi just sighed and nodded; he had lost.

Takumi rolled down his sleeve and looked at his silver watch. It read 9:00am, he still had an hour before he had to be at his new 'workplace'. He and his brother lived in an apartment not far from the academy or the city centre, they decided it would be better if they didn't live in the academy unless some untimely incident such as the one they had experienced resulted in them having to leave, meaning they would have nowhere to live if they couldn't get a flight back to Italy soon.

Their apartment was homely, it had light wooden floors and cream walls, there was a small kitchen, a decent sized bathroom and a large bedroom which they shared, it had a decently sized living room in case they brought guests over. As if he was psychic Isami answered his brother's thoughts.

"We should bring Yukihira and the others around sometime." He suggested.

Takumi secretly liked the idea; he had thoroughly enjoyed the parties he had attended at the polar star dormitory and one in his house on a smaller scale would be quite nice. He smiled at his brother, forgetting his character in preference of companionship. They walked down the corridor as Isami prepared to say farewell to his brother. When they arrived at the door at the end of the corridor Isami patted his brother on the back.

"Good luck in your first day of working for Yukihira bro." He chuckled.

"Thanks." Takumi responded sarcastically with a reluctant smile on his face. He grabbed his hat and left without another word.

Takumi made his way down the communal staircase; he was aware that he was going to be early in showing up to the restaurant but he felt obliged to show up early, despite being friendly with mostly everyone he still had to look his best. It would also give him time to stop by his favourite coffee shop on the way.

Erina Nakiri had experienced the strangest night of her life, it started off by being rescued from her father and ended with the most awkward sleeping arrangement she had ever experienced, compared to the cold stone floor of the cellar any arrangement would've seemed better. But the upper-class part of her still expected better than sleeping on the carpet floor of her idol's bedroom. After realising that the rest of the cast had nowhere to live, considering her Alice, Hisako and Ryō all lived in the Nakiri mansion and Ishikki and Yukihira both couldn't return to the polar star dormitory so they all had to sleep in the restaurant. Erina recapped over the conversation about the arrangement.

Joichiro taped a line down the corridor, on one side Yukihira's bedroom and the other Joichiro's.

"This line represents a barrier you do not cross under any circumstance." Joichiro gestured to the line of masking tape on the carpet.

"Now boys on the left, girls on the right." He marshalled, shepherding the teenagers to the correct side.

"Sleep in the respective room on your side, now remember you cross this line, you step on the line, you look on the other side of the line, you so much as think about crossing the line, I will know." he said very ominously.

"Who do you think we are dad!" Sōma exclaimed.

Shadows formed over Joichiro's eyes as he loomed menacingly on the line.

"Savages." He murmured menacingly.

"Not you Ishikki you're fine...well goodnight." He said, suddenly very cheerful, he waved to them as he took of down the hallway.

Erina looked at the trio of boys opposite her. A plethora of confused and disgruntled expressions lay on the younger two's faces, Ishikki still had his calm smile, he seemed to have taken Joichiro's...compliment, to heart and seemed to give off the impression of beaming.

"Well that was certainly interesting." The hazel hair boy said as he went into the room behind him.

Erina wondered how he could stay so relaxed in almost any situation. She focused her attention to the red-haired boy across from her, he had an adorably confused look on his face as he stared down the corridor where his dad had left. She let out an amused giggle, she couldn't contain herself at the boy's agape face. Soon enough the other two girls had joined in on laughing at him, Sōma's confusion only increased once he realised what they were laughing at.

"Huh?" he asked, his face contorted into an even more amusing expression, Erina was laughing even harder now, light tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Yukihira it's just...you look so funny." She said through laughter. Sōma looked slightly annoyed at the comment, he put on a poker face to reduce the ridicule sent his way.

"Just ignore her Yukihira, the Nakiri women tend to ridicule the ones they love." Ryō said, fully aware of the bombshell he just dropped, he smirked while looking at Alice and walked into the room behind him.

It was Alice's and Erina's turn to look confused as they grasped what Ryō just hinted at. Erina felt warmth in her cheeks as she realised, she was blushing. She quickly glanced at Sōma to gauge his reaction. He had somehow managed to keep his poker face, this annoyed Erina slightly as she secretly wanted to know how he felt about it. Erina knew this for a fact, she definitely did not love Yukihira, it was preposterous, he annoyed her way too much, he always wore that infuriating smirk and cocky grin, what's worse is his cooking was awful to. Her reassuring internal rant was disrupted by that annoying smirk appearing on his face again. It was directed at her, she could only redden further under his gaze and started to anxiously wait for his response.

"Welp goodnight, Nakiris and secretary." He said, completely ignoring the prior statement and joined the others in the room. Erina was left slightly disappointed at the response, she wondered why, it's not like she had wanted him to respond with teasing. She looked back down on her wrist and the proof she was lying to herself lay on it. His ragged cloth still adorned her wrist. If he didn't like her, why would he have given it to her? Tiredness started to grab her as she tried to comprehend the enigma that was her feelings about Yukihira.

"I do not ridicule him." Alice scoffed; her face slightly red as well. She went inside Joichiro's room and closed the door behind her.

So that was how Erina spent her first night at Yukihira's diner. She looked at the plain looking clock that sat above the entrance, it read 9:00 AM. It would be an hour before the others arrived, she looked around the restaurant, it was larger than she expected a decent sized kitchen and enough tables to seat at least fifty people. It had a surprisingly warm feel to it, the soft lighting and cosy tables gave it a comforting atmosphere, it was a far cry from the rundown diner she had expected.

She was currently sat on one of these tables with Hisako and Alice while she ate her breakfast, cooked by Saiba-sama himself, so of course it was delicious. She had wondered why he had extended the gender segregation rule to breakfast as well, if she was being completely honest it annoyed her, it wasn't like they were twelve. She looked over to the boy's table and sighed before returning to her eggs and toast. Alice was still ranting on about Ryō's comment from yesterday and how he was wrong and stupid, Erina had mostly drowned out her rantings, only Hisako was paying any attention to her, out of politeness not interest.

"He annoys me so much; you understand what I'm saying don't you Erina?" Alice asked her. Erina dropped her fork on her plate and gave Alice a confused look.

"Understand what?" She asked cautiously, knowing her cousin it was some trap.

"Ryō, he annoys me so much. Don't you feel the same way about Yukihira, doesn't he annoy you?" Alice clarified, shooting a mildly irritated look at the black-haired boy in question.

Erina thought about the question, it was either a trap or a geniune point of annoyance for Alice. Judging from her tone it was probably the latter.

"Well yes, he's Yukihira, he is very annoying." Erina said with a slight smirk, she realised she was staring at the boy when she said that and quickly turned to her cousin.

On the other side of the room, the three boys sat on the table, eating their breakfast and having conversations of their own.

"They're talking about us again." Ryō said, it was evident he was irritated from his face and tone.

Sōma agreed with his irritation, all morning he had heard Alice constantly talking about Ryō and it was starting to get on even his nerves. Sōma wasn't really one for gossip so he returned to his toast.

"I'm sure it was because of your comment last night, perhaps you should apologise." Ishikki said gently, he was always the voice of reason in any situation and now was no different.

"Apologise for what exactly?" Ryō asked, still sounding irritated.

"Well you did suggest that she loved you and that Erina loved Sōma-kun." Ishikki replied bluntly.

Sōma dropped his fork onto his plate and looked at Ishikki in disbelief. There was no way that Erina actually loved her, he suddenly began to wonder if he was as oblivious as Eishi.

"Well it is quite obvious Yukihira." Ryō said in response to his reaction. Sōma started to sweat nervously as his heart rate began to increase slightly.

"Is what?" Sōma asked, he decided it was good time to feign obliviousness if he could keep his secret crush secret, he could maybe avoid a lot of ridicule from multiple members of his team. Ishikki let out a warm chuckle.

"Oh Sōma-kun, it is obvious that you two clearly like each other, may I remind you who you gave your signature cloth to and who Erina immediately stood near during the meeting with Azami?" Ishikki sided with Ryō, this left Sōma feeling outnumbered as he prepared for a wave of embarrassment.

"Personally, I'm jealous of you Yukihira, Erina seems a lot more straightforward than Alice." Ryō said to him. Sōma felt slightly irritated at the statement, it offended him how he called Erina straightforward.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sōma asked, trying his best to hide his own irritation.

"Don't get me wrong Yukihira, what I meant is it's obvious that Erina cares, she shows it. Alice never gives off any indication that she cares unless you really look for it." Ryō reassured. Sōma's irritation evaporated instantly, he felt slightly touched and surprised by the softer side Ryō showed, maybe he wasn't the only one who held feeling towards a Nakiri.

"Well let's try not to be like Eishi, I don't think Rindō could come on any stronger and he's still oblivious." Sōma joked as a sentiment to try and console with Ryō, the usually gloomy boy gave a small smirk and Ishikki laughed slightly at the statement.

"You should've seen them at elite ten meetings, the agenda for her was how close she could sit next to him until he got uncomfortable and called the meeting off." Ishikki added, causing suppressed laughs to come from the other two.

Takumi strolled down one of the numerous streets of Tokyo, he was taking his usual route to his favourite café il posto tranquillo.. He had become quite fond of Tokyo and Japan; its tradition and culture were thoroughly interesting to the European but there was times when he needed a taste of home and on one of his strolls he had encountered this café, it was ran by an old Italian couple who moved to Tokyo after their son got a job opportunity there. They originated from the same region of Italy as him, so naturally Takumi enjoyed the oddly familiar feel the place brought.

It was located on a quieter street of Tokyo, incidentally it was only a ten-minute walk away from Yukihira's ,so it wasn't much of a detour to stop by for a quick break. Takumi looked up and admired the art decor style of the sign along with the many illustrations of Italy and its regions that adored the windows and walls, it was a much larger café than the rest of the surrounding ones and is very popular despite its out the way location. Takumi smiled and entered the building; the soft chime of the bell was heard as he opened the wooden door.

Immediately the rustic smell of wood and coffee filled his nose, the soft whirr of the coffee machine and gentle clinking of plates, spoons and mugs could be heard. The old man stood at the counter smiled at him once he saw him. He was a slightly larger man, sitting over 6 feet, he had a large welcoming smile on his face along with some scruffy grey stubble. Despite his age he still had impressive locks of grey and black hair which sat atop his once chiselled face that had been smoothened out over years of lessened activity. The man had a very relaxed way of working, he could sometimes take up to twenty minutes to make a drink while he and the customer just chatted, there was a saying that you didn't come there for a coffee, you came there for a conversation. It was one of many things Takumi liked about the place, without him and his wife the place just wouldn't be the same.

"Ah Takumi." The man greeted behind the counter, his smile broadening, he held his arms up as a gesture of happiness at his entrance.

"Good morning Angelo." Takumi greeted back to the man with a nice smile of his own.

"What can I get you my boy?" the man asked Takumi as he approached the bar, Takumi took his jacket off and hung it on one of the brass coat hangers.

"Ah just a long black today, nothing fancy." Takumi replied with a smile, Angelo nodded and pulled out a white mug from under the bar.

"Good choice, not like that scarlet haired girl over there who ordered a triple-doppio." Angelo said with an amused smirk and pointed inconspicuously at a table which two very familiar looking people sat. Aldini looked over and swore he recognised them; he only saw the back of the girl's head who was covering a boy who seemed to have white hair. He pondered it no further as he turned back to Angelo.

"Tripple-doppio? What is that, six shots of espresso?" Takumi asked the man; he nodded in response and began to refill the machine with water.

"Yup, I don't know what job she has to do today but it must be exhausting, either that or she's just weird. "Angelo said with a small laugh. Takumi narrowed his eyes at the couple he swore he could recognise them. The girl moved to the left and revealed the face of the boy, Takumi looked a bit taken aback as he realised, it was Eishi, then that must mean...

"Ayy, Aldini!" Rindō called out to him, she was waving an arm to try and get his attention, it certainly worked as they made eye-contact and Takumi immediately turned back to Angelo.

"Nah she's just weird." Takumi said to the man who was currently filling the mug with hot water.

The man laughed again and stirred the mug, he let it brew and then handed the white mug filled with steaming black liquid to Takumi. The boy nodded in thanks while he grabbed a sachet of black sugar.

"So, what is she, a friend, cousin, classmate?" The older man asked him., he looked over the girl who looked like she was about to stand up and walk over. Takumi smirked as he grabbed a spoon and began to stir the sugar into his drink.

"No, no, no, nothing like that, she's one of my new co-workers actually." Takumi corrected, Angelo raised an eye-brow, his interest had increased.

"Co-worker? You got a job, what about school?" Angelo said, he stood behind the counter with disbelief, his mouth agape. Takumi removed the spoon and tapped it on the side of the mug, he then lay it on the counter and began to explain the story.

"So, there was this new headmaster to the school, really evil guy, he started imposing stupid new rules, so I became part of a rebellion along with a few other students, we had this massive cooking battle-thingy and we lost, so we all got expelled." Takumi explained. Angelo gasped at the explanation but his mind was filled with so many questions.

"You found a job in that time since you were expelled, where do you work?" He asked Takumi, the boy took a sip of his coffee and another breath.

"Yukihira's you heard of it? The diner a few streets down?" Takumi answered. The man's face lit up at the mention of the diner.

"Heard of it? I love that place! Me and ol' Anna visit there every anniversary of coming to Japan, it was the first place we ate when arriving here, Joichiro is such a good chef, can you ask him how he's doing for me, we haven't seen him in a while." Angelo said with a massive smile. Takumi took another sip of his coffee and smiled at how wonderfully it was made.

"What is that? Aldini works for Joichiro now?" An old feminine voice called from upstairs.

"Yeah along with some other girl." Angelo called up to her.

"Congratulations, that's wonderful news!" She called down. Takumi chuckled and returned to his drink, he lifted up slowly until he pressed the hot liquid against his lips, savouring it until...

"Aldini!" A voice shouted in his ear, causing him to spill the coffee over the counter. He looked at Rindō with annoyance. Did she get the concept of personal space? He looked at the coffee spilt over the counter and sighed.

"Don't worry about it, just go and talk to her." Angelo chuckled after seeing his slightly guilty expression.

Takumi sighed and followed Rindō to the table that Eishi was sat down on. A couple of plates sat on the table along with two mugs. Eishi looked up at Takumi and smiled, he returned it as he sat on a stool at the head of the table.

"So, what brings you two here?" Takumi began by asking the other two.

"Oh, we were just walking around town and Eishi said he knew this place." Rindō answered truthfully.

Takumi looked at Eishi with a newfound eye, he didn't expect Eishi to come to street cafes like this, a more important thought crossed his mind, and that was why they were just walking around Tokyo this early in the morning.

"Why were you just walking around?" Takumi asked, his eyes narrowing slightly, he tried his best to pick apart the two.

"Date." Rindō answered bluntly, a cheeky grin was on her face. Eishi looked embarrassed again and tried to keep silent. Takumi had come to accept these two as a couple, especially after the whole dessert thing and thought nothing more of it.

"So, no comment, you're just going to act like that's normal." Rindō said, a small bit of frustration was present on her features, as if she wanted a reaction out of him.

Takumi shrugged.

"Well yeah, you are a couple after all." He stated even more bluntly than Rindō, it was her turn to look shocked, a deep crimson blush appeared on her face, Eishi looked like he was going to explode.

"We are?" Eishi asked, clearly troubled yet curious about the statement.

"I always assumed so, you two were never seen without each other so I put two and two together." Takumi clarified. From that point onwards he may of just not existed as the other two gave one another nervous and embarrassed looks.

"W-well, I guess we should go then, it's almost time." Rindō said. She gestured to the brown clock that read 9:45. Takumi nodded and stood up, he waved goodbye to Angelo, grabbed his jacket and left with his co-workers.

When they arrived at the restaurant they were greeted by a yellow and red sign and surprisingly large building, it was still mid-morning, so deep shadows cut into the frame of the building. Takumi was surprised by how nice the place looked; he wouldn't ever admit that either.

"Doesn't look too bad, eh Aldini." Rindō teased as she jabbed him lightly in his side. Takumi could only grunt a little and stay silent, he was starting to realise the best way to shut her up was to give no reaction. Rindō gave a small humph, her ears seemingly perked up when she heard the sound of conflict coming from inside.

"You're so annoying! Do you ever shut up?" A feminine voice was heard coming from inside.

"No Erina, I'm not, I just need you to admit the truth. "Another feminine voice could be heard shouting.

"Admit what?""

"That you love Yukihira!"

At that point Rindō couldn't restrain herself as she barged into the restaurant. The room turned silent and looked at her, the heated coversation died out as everyone stopped looking at her, turning away and pretended to be busy, Takumi and Eishi followed her in, the awkwardness of the room only increased.

"So, you've only been back for a few hours and you're already arguing again." Takumi sighed, he argued with his brother but these cousins were on another level.

"She started it." Alice pointed accusatorily at her cousin.

"Grow up." Erina hissed.

"Make me." Alice hissed back.

Takumi could've resolved the argument logically, the chances only increased when Ishikki walked into the room, but an unaccounted variable caused the plan to go off the rails. The variable was a scarlet haired cat-like girl.

"Now Erina if you like Yukihira you're going to have to fight Alice for him, the old-fashioned way, now grab a knife from the kitchen and settle it." Rindō smirked at them, she was talking condescendingly to the girl, like how a mother would to her child.

Alice looked at her almost appalled.

"A, that's horrible and B, I don't even like Yukihira!" Alice exclaimed, Erina looked alarmed at the statement as if she was genuinely going to have to fight her cousin.

Rindō smirked and was about to continue teasing before she felt soft breath on her soft cheeks. She could tell someone had violated what little she considered personal space and it made her very uncomfortable.

"Now, now, Rindō-senpai I can't have you causing disruption this early on." Ishikki breathed down her neck, he said it in such a friendly manner that it was threatening. She squeaked and jumped back, scared by the boy and wondered how he had somehow teleported across the room.

"S-sorry." Rindō stammered, wondering if his gentle gaze was somehow a mind control method. He smiled and then greeted Takumi and Eishi a good morning before returning to the two girls. Ishikki could've resolved the argument if another red-haired variable didn't walk in.

"Yeah I heard my name being mentioned." Sōma asked as he walked down the dark stairs of the restaurant. A curious expression was on his face, he was still holding his toothbrush in his mouth, he leaned against the wall and awaited a response.

"Yukihira!" Erina exclaimed, flustered. She put her wrist behind her back, she was in her chef's uniform again but it had been washed from the night before., so the slightly dirty rag stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Yeah Nakiri?" Sōma asked, he cocked his head to one side, his toothbrush dangled out slightly as he did so.

"What time do you call this Yukihira, you were supposed to be down here at ten you unpunctual buffoon!" Hisako tried to save Erina, she had caught onto her plan and was doing her best to save her friend.

Sōma rolled down his blue sleeve and looked at his watch. It read 9:55AM, he was early. He laughed slightly.

"Good joke Hisako, but why was my name being mentioned?" Sōma completely cut down Hisako's attempts, she turned red and shimmied of into a corner of the room.

Eishi for once came up with a resolution, he had become very used to clearing up Rindō 's chaos, it was his second biggest talent after cooking.

"We were just talking about how you're technically our new boss." He had remembered Rindō saying how weird that was earlier and so decided to use it against her. Hisako, Ishikki and Takumi immediately caught on and nodded in agreement.

Sōma thought about the answer and deemed it satisfactory, he walked back upstairs to finish brushing his teeth. Erina gave a sigh of relief and regained her composure, she gave a thankful smile to Eishi and Hisako and a scowl at her cousin, she stuck her tongue out in response.

A few minutes later all nine of the new Yukihira employees were ready to discuss potential plans for the restaurant, Joichiro lay sat in the back, while his son took centre stage along with Ishikki, the other seven sat on tables awaiting what they had to say.

"Now first order of business, Yukihira uniforms." Sōma said joyfully, some looked interested while other's groaned.

"You work here now, you wear the uniform, at least you get a choice on the look." Sōma said firmly.

He pulled out three t-shirts, one was blue, one was light green and the other was blue and gold. The green and blue t-shirts were identical to Sōma's own shirt with the logos and markings, just a different colour.

"We can have the green ones for girls and the blue ones for boys." Sōma stated, Erina scoffed at what the restaurants obsession with segregating by gender was.

The other t-shirt was different, it had a dark blue base, but elaborate golden patters lay on it, swirling and highlighting the edges of the shirt.

"This is an old design, but they look good." Sōma said with a grin.

"Well let's cast it to a vote." Ishikki said with his usual smile.

It was a landslide 9-0 vote for the blue and gold design, that settled the first issue without much complaining, Sōma thought.

"Okay next issue, what events can we attend? " Sōma said while looking at the list, he was amazed at how quickly Ishikki had managed to find a plethora of events that would accept them with nothing more than a landline phone and a computer. He decided to write down the options on a whiteboard, they read as following.:

The Tokyo international innovation race- 2 weeks' time

The élégante fashion show- 1 weeks' time

The global technical achievement showcase festival- 4 weeks' time

Tokyo food festival- 6 weeks' time

"These are the options that count as major, so we have a street race, a fashion show, a display of technology and a food festival. All of which we can hold a stand." Sōma said while deciphering the expressions of his audience.

"Where do you want to go?"