Sōma blinked abruptly, taking in his surroundings. He'd just been standing at the gates of the Nakiri mansion, watching one of his closest friends run from him, with tears streaming from her eyes. He'd been forced to act cold, distant; ever the perfect soldier for Nakiri Azami. He'd been standing in silence, contemplating his decisions when suddenly he found himself somewhere else, somewhere different. It was a blank, white void. Devoid of any sort of feature or physical shape, though the floor beneath his feet felt real enough.

"Yea, I'm a big fan of these featureless void things; there's just something about them that I find very symbolic and powerful, good for those mental epiphany scenes that you went through."

Sōma jerked, turning to face the sudden presence of someone that had certainly not been there before.

"Tou-san?"

The form of Yukihira Joichiro stood before Sōma. However he grinned in a manner distinctly unlike Joichiro's, shaking his head.

"Nah, not your dad kid. Just using his form for a bit; no offense meant of course."

"I'd like to say none taken, but I don't know if that would be true." Said Sōma warily. "Especially considering the…oddity of this situation."

"Hah! And there it is; that cool calmness I wrote into you, so different from the Sōma that most people know. I gotta say, I felt really clever doing that." said the figure that wasn't Joichiro.

"Who are you?" asked Sōma, raising an eyebrow and marveling at both the strangeness of the situation and also his lack of reaction to what was either an immersive hallucination or some form of supernatural event.

The figure shrugged.

"I'm…well, God is way too presumptuous of a term considering I'm nowhere near omni-anything. But I am the…being that was responsible for creating you, well sort of." said the figure. "I guess you can call me Energy Short Sword."

Sōma blinked.

"Energy…Short Sword?"

Energy Short Sword smacked his head, grumbling.

"That's right, I forgot my name kinda means something in Japanese. Energy Short Sword? Geez, that's ridiculous."

He raised his hand, as if to wave it, before pausing.

"Eh, actually it's probably funnier that way. And we could use some humor. Anyways, as I was saying, I'm the creator of you, in a way. You are…"

Energy Short Sword paused, tapping his chin.

"I suppose it's easiest to say that you are a possibility, a fork from another world, a divergence from a path that was never intended to happen, strictly speaking. I knew the world from which you diverged; I was aware of its contents, though nowhere near the level of some deity. And thus I took it upon myself to craft those contents to my own will. Do you recall the night you hit Nakiri Azami?"

"I do." Said Sōma simply. It had been a colossal blunder, for all that it had come with a visceral satisfaction in the moment.

"Well I'm the reason you did that. The original Yukihira Sōma didn't do that when that confrontation happened; he simply smiled coolly and allowed Azami entrance to Polar Star." Said Energy Short Sword, shrugging. "Kind of lame, right?"

"Not at all. It would've been the ideal decision if I hadn't lost my temper." Said Sōma. "I've never been apt at restraining it, though."

"Uh uh uh."

Energy Short Sword waggled a finger sarcastically, grinning.

"Yukihira Sōma is actually pretty level headed, though quick to play the boisterous idiot when he wants to. He also doesn't have much of a temper, from what I remember anyway."

Sōma blinked, tilting his head.

"The fights I got into growing up would say different. There only could have been…what? Several dozen, at least."

Energy Short Sword grimaced, looking almost sheepish.

"Yea, that's not exactly canon either. Another embellishment on my part. It fit the divergence; my vision for you and your world. You had lost your mother; it sparked an anger in you; a sort of darkness. It set you on a path to being a dangerous, hot headed person; it was something you had to fight for years to control. I needed it to be that way."

"What do you mean?" asked Sōma, curious but also wary.

"Your life…what you know as your life, isn't entirely your own. You lived it; those experiences are yours and there's nothing that can change that. But I had a heavy hand in making those happen; I took aspects from the original world, threads of stories and events and then I spun and spun and spun."

Energy Short Sword snapped his fingers, the sound booming out louder than any thunder Sōma had ever heard but dissipating quickly, leaving without so much as a ringing sound in his ears. His tone grew wistful as he continued to speak.

"And the fork; your world took shape. One step at a time. I grew fevered, consumed with the world that was originally your own. I read and read and read. I watched and watched and watched. I absorbed knowledge, committing details to memory and researching facts, using them to piece together something...wonderful."

At that, his lips quirked and the seriousness of the moment faded somewhat.

"Or something hacky. Or contrived. Or predictable. Or 'so bad because oh my god, how could you possibly make Erina gay'. Take your pick, really. They're all, in some small way, correct. Though I, of course, have my own opinions on the matter."

"I don't understand." Said Sōma.

"I know. And you won't. But that's alright. We're not here for you. And we're not here for me; we're here for them."

Energy Short Sword waved his hand to the empty space.

"Them?" asked Sōma.

Energy Short Sword shrugged nonchalantly and deigned to ignore Sōma's implicit question.

"Your world, this divergence…it is at its end."

The words were heavy, each possessing a weight greater than the earth itself. Sōma felt a sharp intake of breath before, unnaturally so, calm fell over him.

"I understand the impulse, really. I do. But that's not helpful right now. That won't change anything and it will only screw up what's meant to be a somewhat cool goodbye. So just cooperate."

"I'm expected to simply remain silent as you tell me my world is ending?" asked Sōma heatedly.

"Yes." Said Energy Short Sword, opening his hands and spreading his arms wide. "Yes, you are. It's cruel; it's unfair. There's so much you had left to do; there was so much waiting for you at the end of this journey. There were more trials, I'll freely admit to that. The road would not have been easy. But the reward; what came at the end. It would've been sweet. Instead of...instead of some halfhearted words and a pat on the back."

Energy Short Sword shrugged.

"But that's life, I guess. Shit just doesn't work out sometimes. No time for moping though; let's continue. Who knows when this creative spark will leave me this time?"

He chuckled, self-deprecatingly.

"Your world is at an end, and for that I am sorry, but I have chosen to, at least, give it a sendoff of sorts. I won't have your journey end in an unfinished whimper, forever left as mystery. This will not be what it should have been; no. This will not be the life you could have led; the life I'd planned for you. But this…this will be something. And that will have to be enough."

Energy Short Sword gestured and suddenly Sōma found himself seated in a plush chair alongside the figure (man? being? existence?) that so resembled his Father. For all that they looked alike, however, they were quite different. There was nothing of Yukihira Joichiro in whoever or whatever stood before him. They sat before a large window of what appeared to be glass, though it was like no glass Sōma had ever seen.

"I'm here to show you what would have been; how your life would have turned out had I not failed at continuing to create your world. However, this is no gift that I offer you. This is an exchange. I will give you information about the future you should have had and, in return, you shall give me information about the past; the one you know and now remember."

"Why?" asked Sōma. "If what you've said is true, then surely you know every detail."

Energy Short Sword smiled, softly and sadly.

"This isn't about me, remember?"

He broke the somber atmosphere with a chuckle, shaking his head.

"Ok, it's a LITTLE about me, I'll admit. After all, it takes some ego for me to be here, like this. But only a little, I promise. Just follow the rules, My Yukihira Sōma. You would, even if I didn't make you do so. I know you, after all."

Sōma saw no point in arguing.

"Fine. Where do we start?"

Energy Short Sword scratched at his borrowed beard, humming.

"A good question, I'll be honest. I won't pretend I've nailed down the structure for this…whatever you'd call it. Formatting is definitely subject to change but why don't we start off with question for question? One of mine for one of yours? That should get us off to a good start."

Sōma nodded, the gears turning in his head. He couldn't claim to be happy about whatever this event was, but he didn't have the ability to refuse. That much was clear. And so he'd play along, for as long as he could.

"What happens to Alice?" he asks.

Energy Short Sword blinked, grinning with a sly smile.

"I figured your first thought would be for Erina, considering how devoted you are and all. But I guess that's love huh?"

Energy Short Sword raised a hand and waved it towards the glass pane and it changed suddenly, filling with light and color where before there had been simple emptiness. In it was Nakiri Alice, though a much older Nakiri Alice than Sōma had ever seen. She had to have been at least in her late thirties, though Sōma still thought that she was beautiful. She was washing dishes at a sink that Sōma knew well; the one at the back of Yukihira's. She was humming to herself cheerfully.

An excited squeal prompted Alice to turn and embrace the red headed girl that had ran towards her, lifting her into the air with an excited squeal. It was there that the scene froze, the smile on the mother's face mirrored on her daughter's.

"Alice…well, in case the kid's hair didn't make it too obvious, it's yours. You and Alice reconnect, though it takes some time after everything that happens at Tōtsuki with Central, the Elite Ten trials and Azami. A few years pass, some of them rougher than others, but you two find each other and find love and are happy, with a kid or two, running Yukihira's. Which, despite all of the talent that had come through its kitchens, still remained a relatively unknown diner. Your life together isn't perfect, because nothing is, but neither of you seem to mind that part very much."

Sōma was speechless, staring at the frozen scene before him. His heart filled with a deep pang of longing and he was surprised when it didn't fade into calm, the way his other emotions had.

"Yea. I know I probably should just go ahead and flip that switch for you. But this sucks enough as it is. I can let you feel something for what you could've had." Said Energy Short Sword, shutting his eyes for a brief moment as he allowed Sōma to take in the scene before him.

It was only after several minutes had passed that the scene finally faded and Energy Short Sword exhaled.

"Alright. Now's time for one of my questions; what's the deal with Nakiri Katsumi aka 'Yukihira Mitsuka'? Why did she leave, all those years ago?"

The being had smirked, putting up literal air quotes as he said the false name.

"That is a long story." Said Sōma carefully, though he wasn't sure why he was so. It must have just been because of how long such a topic was a closely guarded secret. There were few that knew, though he supposed whatever was before him probably knew all of the details anyway.

"Yea, I definitely know all the details. But it'd still be nice for you to recount them anyway. Go ahead. Be verbose."

Energy Short Sword leaned back, kicking his feet up on a foot stand that hadn't been there previously.

Sōma took a moment to gather his thoughts before he began to speak.

"A little more than ten years ago, Nakiri Katsumi was trapped in a controlling marriage with Nakamura Azami. Initially, she was in love with him but that began to fade after more and more of his true self was revealed to her. Before she could take any decisive action, he conditioned her with techniques he'd gained from research into forbidden psychological experiments while studying abroad in Germany as a student."

At that Energy Short Sword sighed audibly, tossing his head back and thumping it against the back of the chair he sat in.

"And yup, there's the contrivance. I mean evil German doctor? How fucking cliché. And kinda racist, if I'm being honest. Sorry for interrupting. Go on."

Sōma continued, sparing little thought for the non sequitur. He was growing used to the odd manner of this person.

"The techniques were strong; Azami tied each of them to a specific German word. He would later go on to use them on Erina and, later, me."

"Ah yes. Ursprünglich. Zweite. Dritte. They mean First, Second and Third in German. For Katsumi, Erina and you respectively. I thought I was being clever. Continue."

"However. The techniques had a flaw. They were only as strong as the emotion they were founded on. Erina's chains were crafted based on the love she held for her father as a child."

"And then broken later by the love she held for everyone else. Mostly Megumi but there was a pretty good spread of people involved overall." Said Energy Short Sword nodding.

"My chains-"

"Let's save that for later. Katsumi?"

"Well. Katsumi's chains were made up of fear; Azami preyed on her insecurities and perceived flaws. She was the sole Nakiri heir but it wasn't a title she'd ever wanted; she had prodigious talent and ability but no desire to use it. She always felt disappointed by that; by her perceived inability to make her father proud. Things only got worse after Erina was born; Azami manipulated her and abused her fear of being a poor mother. Because what would she know about mothering? Her own had died when she was young, too young to properly remember her. Azami used that and twisted it until she was all but a puppet. She lay for years, trapped by her husband. He used anything he could, including their daughter, as a tool to manipulate her and keep her docile."

Sōma trailed off, surprised. While he'd always known, somewhat, what had happened with Katsumi all those years ago, he didn't expect to have such a vivid and intimate recollection of the events.

"Shhhh." Said Kishoto, placing a finger to his lips and winking. "Just go with it; it makes for a better tale. Continue."

Sōma frowned slightly but did as he was bid.

"And then she became pregnant for a second time. Despite attempts for it to not be so."

"Oof. That sounds a little dark. Not gonna pretend things were hunky dory in her marriage but, rest assured, he just means she was on birth control."

Sōma blinked, nonplussed but carried on speaking at the impatient motion Energy Short Sword sent his way.

"Yes. She didn't want another child; she couldn't bear to bring another life into the world only for Azami to use it as a tool against her. She spent what little free will she had trying to prevent this. She didn't want another child to suffer through having Azami as a father; she'd already failed Erina and that already hurt more than she could bear. But when she found out she was pregnant again, that was enough for her to break free. Though not completely. She fled to the one person she knew she could trust above all else; my mother. She worked together with my father and arranged for Katsumi to settle down in a small town far out in Niigata, under the name Yukihira Mitsuka. They couldn't risk Azami finding her, because the conditioning could be reestablished with the ring of a bell, if Azami were to find her."

"But why'd she leave Erina behind, huh? Why'd she do that?"

The question sounded almost sarcastic, full of expectation, but Sōma answered anyway.

"She knew Erina loved her father too much. There was no way she could live in hiding with her. Erina was too young to keep a secret like that, especially once they went missing and it became news. Because it would be; they were a critical part of one of Japan's most important families. All it would take is for Erina to tell someone who owned a TV her real name and it would all be for naught. So Katsumi begged her father to protect her daughter and fled. She gave birth to my sister, Yukihira Kumi, months later."

Energy Short Sword clapped his hands, the sound resounding loudly.

"Ha! That she did. Which gives us opportunity for a nice little segue into the relationship between her and your father, considering Azami was out of the picture for so long."

"I think I'd like one of my questions answered first, actually. I've told you a lot, even though it seems you already know it all." Said Sōma, narrowing his eyes. Energy Short Sword shrugged, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, fine. But they won't wait forever for answers, so let's hurry it up. Ask your question."

"How does everything end with Tōtsuki and Azami? You must have known our plans; do they come to fruition?"

Energy Short Sword tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Well. That's a big question. Honestly, a little too broad. It covers a lot of ground, and shouldn't be wasted on one question. Break it up; ask something more specific."

"Who is Genti Morian?"

Sōma blinked, surprised. The question had sprung, almost unbidden from his lips. He glanced over at the being who shifted, almost guiltily.

"Sorry but it's honestly a good place to start. We can progress from there pretty well."

Energy Short Sword waved his hand and the panel changed, showing the boy with the overly large coat and sunglasses. The cap fit his head snugly and it was then that Sōma realized just how much of the student's features was hidden from view; he couldn't even see his hair. The boy looked directly at them and smirked, a sharp tooth just barely peeking out of his mouth. It was a smirk that Sōma recognized with a jolt and Genti tore away the hat, coat and glasses, tossing them away with a dramatic flourish. A grinning Kobayashi Rindō stood in his place, hands on her hips and a devilish smile on her lips.

"Yea, I thought I was being pretty clever. Can't remember the specifics, it's been a bit too long and Japanese is a hard language, but Genti Morian basically means Kobayashi Rindō; like her name means flower gardens and his name means like garden of flowers or something like that. It was a decent bait, I think."

"But what was the point?" asked Sōma. "Was Rindō-senpai just enjoying impersonating a freshman?"

"Nah. Well I mean, she was. She's Rindō. That's the kind of silly shit she loves. But there was a greater purpose. I'd hinted at it a bit before, with her being super specific on an exam and counting her questions. Basically, she was having way too much fun being the Second Seat at Tōtsuki, so over the years, she'd snuck in a clause to the Tōtsuki legislation. I could go into detail at length over it but basically, she ensured that she didn't meet the Japanese GPA requirement for high school graduation. Tōtsuki, being prestigious, would obviously just expel someone that didn't meet said requirement. However, thanks to her nifty little clause for Elite Ten members that lowered their GPA requirement for the purposes of continued admission to Tōtsuki, she was eligible to remain at Tōtsuki to repeat her third year, though she would need to regain entrance into the Elite Ten, and thus she would need to participate in the trials like anyone else, which she couldn't exactly do as herself. Her plan was to be First Seat and have another year of fun before departing to do…whatever it is Rindō would have gotten up to in life. Plans change however."

"And so what would have actually happened then?" asked Sōma.

At this question, Energy Short Sword looked sheepish.

"Well. So. Let's talk a bit more about the trials since they came up. The fourth trial; Rindō's, would've taken place in her gardens, those large crop areas on Tōtsuki. That's her specialty by the way; fruits and vegetables. She has these massive fields on campus, with a ton of cool plants. The trial was gonna be the students having to find their own ingredients under a time limit and then prepare it within the gardens, with primitive tools provided by Rindō. Then the next trial would've been Tsukasa's. His trial was going to be the Main Course; it was going to be a simultaneous Shokugeki between him and all of the remaining students in the trials; oh yea, he was going to cut off everyone below a certain points threshold for his task and just boot them straight out of the trials. Tsukasa's savage man."

Energy Short Sword cleared his throat, looking sheepish once again.

"Well. Right. So. Rindō. Instead of retaking her third year, she was actually going to be Headmaster."

Even despite everything that had already happened, Sōma still found it in him to gawk, open mouthed. Energy Short Sword rolled his eyes, shrugging.

"I swear I had a super convincing scenario set up. It involved you guys ousting Azami, him springing a final dead man's switch esque trap, though without the literal explosives, that would've left him basically in control of the school, even in absentia. It wasn't as ideal as being Headmaster, because it'd be more of a board thing, and so it wouldn't come with a lot of the perks or publicity but it still would've been good. Between your wits and Rindō, however, you came up with a solution that involved her becoming Headmaster."

"And would that have been a good thing?" asked Sōma heatedly.

"Well, technically it's my turn to ask you a question but I'll give you an answer anyway. It would've been…interesting. Rindō's always been more a force of chaos, as opposed to one of outright evil, and she often let her wilder, more selfish impulses drive her to do the things she did. She was really good at not having empathy for a while there but, thanks to her somewhat falling for a certain red head, that all began to change. She wouldn't have been an ideal Headmaster, and she would've definitely fucked with you guys a lot in your final years there but she would've been good."

"Falling, you said?" asked Sōma, latching on to the word. "That doesn't seem accurate."

"Well, yea. I know. It's Rindō. She doesn't do mushy stuff well. And I know she did the whole fucked up, cheating voicemail thing. But it was all fake. And, if I'm being really honest, it was definitely a bit hacky. It added very little, in the end, and I could've done it much better. But hey, that's just how it is. The point is that, since your conditioning was founded in pain, she needed some way to hurt you that was worse than anything Azami had done and she wasn't exactly going to physically whip you through the streets."

Energy Short Sword rubbed the back of his neck, sighing.

"I won't pretend she couldn't have found a better way. And I won't pretend as if that wasn't one of the many threads I was responsible for creating. But…in her own way, she really cared about you. And that's ultimately why she ends up saving everyone's ass towards the end of things. I gotta say, her tale was a fun one to tell. Anyway. Moving on, once again. To the question I asked earlier. Katsumi. Your dad. Spill."

"Firstly, I'd like to make it clear that nothing is going on between them." Said Sōma.

"Nothing?" said Energy Short Sword questioningly, gesturing towards the screen and bringing up a scene of Sōma, Kumi, Joichiro and Katsumi around a dinner table. Joichiro was making a wild gesture with his chopsticks, sending rice grains everywhere only to shrink back from a sharp rebuke from Katsumi that prompted laughter out of the both of them.

"This is a nice little family scene, huh? This could easily be a loving husband, wife and their two kids."

"But that's not what this is." Said Sōma firmly.

"Then explain. Explain what we see here." Said Energy Short Sword, smiling widely. "Come on, they're curious. I'm sure."

"Katsumi was a part of our family. That's it. She became part of our family years before she fled. Yukihiras protect their own, above all else. She is loved by all of us, without question, and we care for her and help her. Eventually, over time, my dad just stepped into the role of father for Kumi. And I followed along behind him. She isn't my mother but Kumi is my sister, for all that she's the second born daughter of Nakiri Azami."

"Yup. Uh huh. That's why she's got that pitch black hair with that white streak in it." Said Energy Short Sword, looking pleased with himself. "Can't really remember but I don't think people caught that. I didn't mention it too much, although there was that one telling Azami/Kumi moment where he goes to touch her head. He has no idea who Kumi is but I'm sure she looked familiar enough for him to do some piecing together. He's pretty smart, for all that he's an evil bastard too."

"Kumi never got to meet Erina; not really. Not as her sister." Said Sōma in sudden realization. Energy Short Sword looked guiltily to the floor, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Yea. I was looking forward to doing that too. Never happened. It was going to be kinda interesting; Kumi would be wary and suspicious of this older girl that was now a competitor for her mother's love. There was gonna be some squabbling, some childish insecurity stuff, and all that junk. But it woulda worked out fine. And then you guys would've been a happy, little sibling trio. Since that's what Erina always was to you. A sister."

Energy Short Sword turned, looking away and off in the distance before winking at whatever it was he saw out there.

"Yea, I know. Not a popular opinion; I get it. And that one's definitely not canon. But it made for some interesting content here, for sure. Your turn, Sōma. Gimme a question."

"What happens to Erina? How do things end for her?" he asked.

"Well. I guess I may as well cover all of Polar Star, since we're here. They're all separate, of course, but the delivery for each of them is gonna be pretty similar. Very epilogue-esque, as it were. As you can imagine, each of them went on to do great things."

Energy Short Sword snapped his fingers and the panel showed an older Shoji and Daigo, quarrelling as always. Though this time, it was in a crowded restaurant dining area. The patrons were all watching, with a mix of surprise and bemusement.

"These two start their own restaurant; they don't exactly sky rocket the way some others do, due to both talent and their lack of professionalism, but they're enjoying their lives, just the same. They probably have girlfriends or wives or something by now but, I'll be honest, I never bothered to think too much on it."

Energy Short Sword snapped again and the screen changed to show an older Yuki, her hands blurry with speed as she chopped vegetables and spoke to the room full of students before her. It was clearly a Tōtsuki classroom kitchen. A fatter, older Buta-chan stood beside her desk. He wore a neckerchief with several medals pinned to it and, if you looked closely, you could see he was standing at attention.

"Yuki went on to teach at Tōtsuki; she also became a vegetarian; turns out years of raising animals makes you kinda like them too much to eat. She cultured a specialty in designing completely animal free meals that tasted just like the real thing. She doesn't try to force anyone else to follow along with her but one kind of does so willingly. Though there's debate over how much of that was just because he was head over heels."

Ibusaki Shun stumbled into the classroom, his arms filled to the brim with boxes, completely obscuring his vision. Thus he didn't see Buta, who may or may not have went out of his way to place himself in the Smoke Prince's path. Shun stumbled, sending himself, the boxes and their contents flying everywhere with a loud crash. Sōma snorted, smiling as the class burst into laughter, Buta puffing out his chest and looking smug. The scene faded, to show a beach with one lounging Sakaki Ryoko.

As with the others, she was clearly older but no less striking. The swimsuit she was wearing didn't exactly leave a lot to the imagination and that was only compounded when she got to her feet and stretched, her shoulders arching and her back bending in a sinuous motion.

Sōma's eyes widened as his cheeks reddened and he turned away from the screen.

"Ok. To be fair. It's Ryoko. How could I resist throwing in a swimsuit scene?" asked Energy Short Sword teasingly, before gesturing and replacing the scene with one of Ryoko walking through rice paddies, speaking with two people that could've only been her parents.

"She goes on to take over her family's business; as a Tōtsuki graduate, she brings great acclaim to the business and it does really well. And her boobs stay big and perky until she's like 80."

Sōma turned to glare at Energy Short Sword, who held up his hands in mock innocence.

"Sorry, sorry. But come on, I kinda had to."

"Did you really?"

"Well, no. Anyway. Moving on…"

The scene shifted to show Zenji Marui, reading from a large, decrepit looking book. Copious amounts of dust flew into the air with each careful page turn and it was only a matter of time before Zenji drew back, involuntarily sneezing. The force all but disintegrated the page he'd been holding in his hand, causing him to pale.

"This guy went on to do some typical, intellectual pursuits. Cooking related, obviously."

Energy Short Sword shrugged.

"I'll be honest. Didn't really give much thought to him. Or some of the others for that matter. Even some of the more important players were left out; I've got no idea what ends up happening to Tsukasa or Isshiki for example. However there were two people whose future I definitely gave some thought."

The scene changed and Sōma saw the girl he'd asked after, along with the girl he was going to ask after next.

Erina and Megumi were sitting at a table in a living room. As with the others, they were clearly a good deal older than when Sōma had last seen them. Megumi held a baby in her lap and she was cooing at it, her finger captured in its grasp as she poked at the infant's face. Erina was staring at the both of them with a soft, sincere smile on her face.

"Erina and Megumi are happy with each other, years down the line. As with you and Alice, things took some time but Megumi was patient and waited, and was eventually rewarded for doing so. Obviously, they can't have kids but two wealthy, independent women don't exactly have trouble adopting a child. Oh! This actually brings up something that's kinda interesting. Segue time!"

Energy Short Sword swiped at the air, the scene shifting to one of Erina and Megumi, in an entirely different location. One with decidedly poorer lighting and decidedly less clothing. It took Sōma few seconds to understand what he was looking at and even fewer to shove at Energy Short Sword's shoulder, sending the being tumbling off the chair with a squawk. The scene dissolved in front of them.

"In case it wasn't obvious."

Sōma's voice had gone cold and empty; reminiscent of the tones he'd employed as Azami's right hand.

"I have no interest in intruding on such an intimate moment between anyone, let alone two of the people dearest to me."

"But it's relevant to the events at hand!" cried Energy Short Sword, almost pouting as he disappeared and then reappeared back in his seat.

"Then use your words. Don't show me anything. And don't be too graphic; there's absolutely no reason for it."

Grumbling but acquiescing, Energy Short Sword swiped at the air again, bringing up pictures of Azami, Erina and the young Kumi.

"I had planned to work this in at some point but Azami's asexual. Like overtly so. He's never really gotten sex, like mentally. He's intelligent enough to understand how it works and why it's important to others, obviously, but it's never been a desire he had. And he's passed this on to his children, at least in a way, though obviously Kumi's too young for it to matter right now, although I did sort of hint at it with how grossed out she was by anything to do with the subject. I tried to make it clear that it was more than the typical kid 'eww' type thing but eh, I don't think it came across very well. This was going to eventually lead into a further exploration of Erina's sexuality, potentially. I still hadn't decided whether to make a scene of it or not. But basically, Erina's pansexual. She's not straight or gay, at least traditionally. She loves who she loves, in this case Megumi. She still doesn't have the highest sex drive around but the two girls make do."

"Thank you for telling me more than I ever needed to know about my friends' sex lives." Said Sōma tiredly, a hand splayed over his face, his cheeks bright red.

"You're welcome." Said Energy Short Sword brightly.

"You mentioned that Megumi and Erina needed…time. Just like Alice and I. Why did we need time?"

"Solid question. And what I meant was, well. Let's start with how things were supposed to end. After all the stuff with Azami as far as Tōtsuki gets foiled, there was going to be one last confrontation between you and him. An epic Shokugeki for the ages, because what else would there be? I hadn't quite figured out the narrative thread that would make that happen, I think I was planning on you and maybe Erina missing the last trial, Tsukasa's, due to some chain of events that led to you confronting Azami the night before and having a battle that spanned like 12 or 24 hours or something suitably dramatic."

"You're the hero so, naturally, you would win. And then Azami would play his actual, final card. This one wasn't like his last one, which would help him win in a way. This was a simple, spiteful "Fuck You" card and, in an almost poetic book ends style turn of events, Joichiro would end up beating the holy hell out of Azami for it. But it was going to be another German code word thing, one that didn't try and reestablish the conditioning but instead activated a previously unknown subsection of it that was basically going to fry your brain. Or attempt to anyway. You, being the aforementioned hero, would make it through but not unscathed. You would go into a coma, for some amount of time, being cared for at a hospital. When you wake up, you'd be yourself but greatly weakened. PTSD. The works. You'd take a sabbatical and stay at your grandfather's dojo, needing some rehabilitation and to get away from all of the intrigues and complicated power shenanigans of Tōtsuki and the people surrounding it. You'd have a constant stream of visitors, Alice the most frequent by far, but it would take you time to heal and slowly, as they moved on with their lives, the visits would taper off until it was simply Alice there, week after week."

Energy Short Sword held up a hand, shaking his head.

"Now. Just to be clear. Your friends didn't ditch you. But your grandfather lives in an entirely separate part of Japan, separated from Tokyo, which is where I said Tōtsuki was based in, by hours of travel. It wasn't realistic for them to come frequently, especially as they got busier with their lives, started travelling, opening restaurants and all that good stuff. However Alice, with very few exceptions, made it out for at least a few hours each week. And eventually, once you were both ready, you would come back to reside in the Sumiredōri Shopping District, running Yukihira's with her despite so many people in your lives telling you that you were both vastly over qualified and squandering your talents."

"I see." Said Sōma, looking down at his hands. "That's…that's something I wish I'd gotten to see."

"Yea. I know. I'm sorry, you know. I really am. But…"

Energy Short Sword shrugged, helplessly.

"What's your next question?"

"Wouldn't it be your turn?" asked Sōma.

"Well yea. But to be honest, I can't think of too much else in the past that needs answering. We've covered most of the bases pretty well here. So let's just open up the floor. Do you have anything else to ask?"

Sōma thought, considering.

"What happens to my dad? And Katsumi?" he asked.

"Um. Well. Not much, I guess? I didn't exactly plan for them. I'd decided that there'd never be anything romantic between them, though I can't speak for future partners. I wouldn't be all that surprised if they ended up finding love somewhere, now that they got to put to rest a lot of their demons, Katsumi more so than Joichiro, but still. Being done with Azami is its own kind of closure for him, all things considered."

"How exactly do things end? With Azami?" asked Sōma.

"Well. To make what would've been a long story short; there was going to be a confrontation like I mentioned earlier; a final cook off in which you'd beat Azami and he'd activate that dead man's switch thing I mentioned. After that…he would've become mostly irrelevant, to be perfectly honest. He wasn't going to die or anything like that; he was either going to prison for some unspecified amount of time or simply going to leave the country. In the far future, it's possible that he would try and reconnect with his children but more than likely, they'd shut him out, considering all of the damage he'd wrought. He would no longer have any further stake or hold over Tōtsuki though, or the Japanese cuisine world at large." Said Energy Short Sword. He straightened up suddenly in his seat, making a small noise of surprise.

"Oh! Yes. I'd almost forgotten. Would you like to know exactly what the Elite Ten would look like for the upcoming year, after everything was sorted out and school resumed for Tōtsuki in the coming new school year?"

"Not really." Said Sōma, shrugging. "It was simply a means to an end. That's what it always was. I always knew I was good at cooking; I didn't need validation for my abilities."

"Ahhhh, that's right." Said Energy Short Sword, shaking his head with a soft chuckle. "I'd forgotten about that particular difference. Why don't you go into that a bit more?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sōma.

Energy Short Sword tilted his head thoughtfully, humming.

"Yea, now that I think about it, I suppose it would be difficult for you to explain that, considering you wouldn't exactly know. I guess I'll have to take the wheel here. Basically, you know how I've said that your world is a fork of another? A divergence?"

At Sōma's nod, he continued.

"The original Yukihira Sōma, while similar in some ways to yourself, differed greatly in certain respects. For you, Erina was a member of your family. Katsumi's daughter, and thus someone you cared for and wanted to protect. It's the entire reason that you entered Tōtsuki. And while the original Sōma was entered into Tōtsuki for similar enough reasons, he wasn't informed, so to speak. The plan was entirely designed by others; he was simply an unwitting piece in it. At least initially."

Sōma frowned, quirking his scarred eyebrow upward.

"That seems risky. Almost unnecessarily so. What if he failed to do what was needed?"

Energy Short Sword shrugged, smiling cheekily.

"I'll give the others credit; they knew Sōma well. And so it was a decent bet that, regardless of circumstance, he would end up doing what he needed to. He was a good hearted young man."

"Being good hearted doesn't guarantee you anything." Argued Sōma. "A lack of knowledge is going to almost always be a disadvantage. Was he expected to just blindly stumble into success?"

Energy Short Sword shrugged, holding his palms up in surrender.

"Yea, I know. Trust me, I know. Yukihira Sōma…he was just a cocky kid with a drive to be the best chef. Period. He never turned away from helping his friends, and he always fought for the little guy, but he did not pursue the Elite Ten seat for altruistic reasons. He did it because he wanted to be the best and he wanted everyone to know it. He would help Erina, of that you can be assured, but it would be in an entirely different way than you did. He had a fire in him to be the best, just like you. The only real difference is that you didn't ever really need anyone to acknowledge that. You had nothing to prove to anyone but yourself, because you always set standards for yourself that were higher than any reasonable person would ask of you. Especially as you got older. So something like a position like that had no appeal to you, at least on the recognition and glory side of things."

Energy Short Sword sighed, shaking his head.

"That being said, I'm probably the furthest thing from an unbiased perspective here. I suppose it's a bit unfair of me to criticize; it's easy to poke holes in something from the outside. But then I guess, that's kind of the entire point of this divergence. Heh. I can't pretend that I didn't think my world was better than the original, in a lot of ways. In a way, I suppose I still think it is. But I could be wrong. It's actually probable that I am. And even if I wasn't, in the end, what does it matter? That world is still there, still continuing, while this one...mine…is not. Not really."

At that, the mood turned somber. Sōma could almost forget what exactly this but having it laid out in such a stark manner brought him back to reality.

"How much longer do I have?" asked Sōma simply.

Energy Short Sword didn't respond immediately but, when he did, his voice was sad.

"I'll be honest Sōma; I think we're pretty much at the end of our time here. Is there anything else you want to know?"

Sōma was quiet, pondering. Realistically, there were a thousand questions he could ask here. A million, even. But in the end, he asked only one. He got to his feet and turned to face the being that claimed to be his creator.

"Does it have to end?" asked Sōma.

Energy Short Sword stared at the empty screen before them, his expression oddly flat. He did not turn to so much as look at Sōma for a very, very long time. Finally, he turned his head to look up at the red headed youth and Sōma was surprised to see the tears running down his father's borrowed face.

"Yes." He said.

"Are you sure?" asked Sōma, desperately. Pleadingly.

More time passed.

Energy Short Sword got to his feet. He reached up and wiped at his eyes before continuing to stare into the distance silently.

Even more time passed.

Finally, he turned to Sōma.

"Yes. I'm sure. And I am sorry. You deserved better; you really did. I had always planned for your world to continue; I had tried. I made promises, deadlines and commitments. I did everything I could."

Energy Short Sword let out a harsh bark of laughter that contained little humor.

"Everything except actually continue my creation, that is. I can't pretend as if there was some great obstacle in my path. Nothing blocked me; I knew what I wanted to do. I knew how things would eventually go; I had all of the resources. I just…couldn't. I couldn't do it. I had tried and I had failed. I spent a long time denying that but I can't do that. Not anymore. Your world…the world of the False God's Tongue is over. Goodbye."

Energy Short Sword gave Sōma a firm pat on the back and in the next moment, Sōma was gone. The being was alone in the empty, endless void. Eventually he sighed once more.

"I suppose things are really at an end, now." He mused. "I guess I'll go over a few things that I didn't get a chance to go over with Sōma, to hopefully answer a few questions some may have had. Although I'm sure I'll still leave some things unaddressed."

Energy Short Sword shrugged, with a wry smile.

"That's what happens when you don't continue spinning threads for over a year. You lose some. Anyway, let's get to it. "

He gestured to the panel and it became occupied by another scene, this one still and unmoving. In it, an older Hayama was standing at an altar in a crisp, black tuxedo. He had his arm threaded through a woman's, though her face and figure were shadowed. It was clear that she was in a wedding dress but that was the only thing about her that was distinct. In the pews behind the couple, the figures were all similarly shadowed and indistinct.

Except for one.

Shiomi Jun was sitting several rows back, watching the proceedings with tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. She was visibly older; her brown hair run through with streaks of gray and the laugh lines around her mouth and eyes were much more pronounced.

Energy Short Sword chuckled softly, shaking his head, before speaking out into the emptiness.

"Hayama and Jun. An interesting couple; one of my favorites if I'm being honest. However, I always tried to make my world fit into somewhat reasonable margins. And thus, this was almost always going to be how things ended for them. They wouldn't be caught out or exposed; they would continue to happily be together for years. Five. Ten. Some span of time. But, eventually, their paths would diverge and they would break up. Their relationship was always on a timer, at least in my mind. Much as the idea may seem appealing to some, a relationship between a fifteen year old and a thirty four year old just isn't one I can see lasting. Even when the former is rather mature and the latter is not. Of course, Hayama would grow older and the older he got, the less it would matter, but even still. Twenty years is a huge time span and I think realistically, all the love in the world isn't going to save a relationship like that. It was a good ship though; I'll admit. I'd like to think they always remained in each other's lives though, even if not in the way they used to."

Energy Short Sword waved his hand one more, and the scene shifted.

The scene was another Tōtsuki classroom; a teenage Yukihira Kumi was standing over a pot on a cooking range, sprinkling seasoning into a pot. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration; her white forelock hung across her forehead on proud display. Suddenly she was jostled and she yelped, only barely avoiding dumping an excessive amount of spice into the pot. She turned to snap angrily at the smiling, maroon haired woman behind her, who only laughed in response, her sharp canines flashing.

"As you could imagine, Kumi eventually attended Tōtsuki. She's ten right now and so by the time she's in her freshman year, most of the cast we know have departed, with one or two sticking around as professors. Rindō remained headmaster; she ends up enjoying the role despite seeming drastically unsuited for it. Of course it could be that she enjoys the power it gives her, but she does a great job regardless. Rindō's always been an exceptional person; she's always been one of those extremely gifted youths and is just more capable in general than the vast majority of people. Thus, while being somewhat challenged by the position, she's more than capable of fulfilling the role. Especially because she brought Senzaemon on as a consultant, which worked out since he cares for Tōtsuki but doesn't want the full weight of the headmaster responsibility. Of course, it's Rindō so you can imagine they butt heads a lot. But it generally works out."

Energy Short Sword nodded and the scene shifted in response to show a young Alice, smiling. Her parents stood to either side of her; her mother was smiling brightly while her Father had a reserved, small smile on his face.

"I almost forgot to address Super Alice. I'm referring to when she sort of just hefted a dude straight over her head with one hand. That was pretty odd, I'm sure. And it was meant to be odd. I can't remember specifics but it was hinted at elsewhere, once or twice anyway, that she was really strong for seemingly no reason. Eventually there would be a sort of reveal about the Nakiri family line's unique trait, like genetically. A Nakiri family member's offspring with a non-Nakiri would tend to strongly possess traits from the non-Nakiri. So Leonora, Alice's mom, would have been from a family known for their almost unnatural innate strength. And thus, this was passed onto Alice. The downsides of this, depending on your perspective, were shown with Kumi and Erina. They inherited Azami's asexuality, Kumi more so than Erina. It's doubtful that Kumi would ever bother to pursue a relationship with someone that had a physical component; she'd likely always find that sort of thing to be "icky" whereas Erina, as already mentioned, wouldn't care for it too much herself, though she's willing enough, with the right partner."

This time, the scene simply shifted on its own, the classroom fading to be replaced by a wall. It was the wall along the side of the building that housed the name plaques representing the current Elite Ten. Currently the pegs housing the plaques were empty.

"Once the smoke clears and something resembling normal life begins again at Tōtsuki, the Elite Ten for the beginning of the new school year, the second year for most of our cast, is formally announced and displayed."

The plaques suddenly appeared, as if they'd always been there.

10th Seat – Aldini Takumi

9th Seat – Ibusaki Shun

8th Seat – Etsuya Eizan

7th Seat – Nakiri Alice

6th Seat – Hayama Akira

5th Seat – Kurokiba Ryo

4th Seat – Mito Ikumi

3rd Seat – Tadokoro Megumi

2nd Seat – Kinokuni Nene

1st Seat – Nakiri Erina

"And there it is; the resulting Elite 10. Of course, at this time, Sōma's recovering in the hospital and thus is unable to take a seat. In addition, the plan was always for Sōma to miss the final trial; he would've gone to confront Azami the night before. So even if he did manage to come back to Tōtsuki, he most likely wouldn't be placed very high, at least initially."

"Now these spots will probably do quite a bit of shuffling as time passes. The lower seats especially will probably move around a lot. Erina will have a fairly uncontested 1st seat placement while Megumi and Nene will contend with each other more for 2nd and 3rd. Also Ikumi's probably much higher ranked than people would expect; the implication is that, while it was mostly behind the scenes, Ikumi did a lot of training with Rindō. And they became kinda-sorta friends so the tutelage continued so she became really good. I'm sure others will contend for her seat but, fresh off the Rindō training montage, she's 4th seat material to kick off the year."

Energy Short Sword eyed the plaques fondly for a moment, before snapping his fingers. The panel dissolved into particles of bright, white light that blew away in a nonexistent wind, leaving no trace of their presence behind.

"And well…I guess that's it."

Energy Short Sword grinned wryly.

"If you haven't figured out by now what this is, well…I don't know what to say. I'm not going to explain it to you; I can only hope that I ended things in a somewhat cool way. Like I told Sōma, this isn't how it was supposed to happen. For anyone involved. There should've been more, a lot more, but that's just how it is. This…this will have to be enough."

Energy Short Sword raised a hand, waving. This time, the wave was for no other purpose but to say farewell.

"Until next time."

Energy Short Sword vanished, leaving empty space behind.

Sōma opened his eyes, blinking blearily up at the ceiling. His mind was hazy, full of fog. He didn't know where he was at first and his attention was quickly taken by the shifting on the side of him.

"Good morning dear."

His wife, Nakiri Alice, sat up slowly, gingerly. Her hair, which had been such a pale, bright white in her youth had faded to a dull grey. She had wrinkles throughout the contours of her face and her bright red eyes were framed by crow's feet.

She reached over Sōma, grabbing the glasses from the end table beside the bed and placing them on her face. She smiled down at him, leaning down and kissing his cheek softly.

"Happy birthday, you old goat." She said teasingly.

Sōma blinked up at her, still disoriented. He raised his hand in front of his face, rotating it back and forth. It was both his hand and not. It certainly felt like his hand but it was noticeably frailer and weaker than he felt like it should be. It was also wrinkled and adorned by a liver spot or two along the back of it. He touched his face, feeling at the deep creases there that he didn't remember being there.

He felt the fog starting to clear from his mind, slowly. He sat up, rather too quickly, and he winced as his back cracked and his wife frowned at him, wagging her finger.

"Now you be careful; we're not spending your birthday in the hospital. We did that last year because a certain someone was too stubborn to let Jojo-kun do the heavy lifting like a certain brilliant and beautiful wife suggested."

It seems some things hadn't changed, no matter how old they got. Sōma smiled, looking around at the room. At the pictures that covered the walls around them. The frames were electronic; displaying brief, looping sequences of images.

He saw himself and Alice on their wedding day, both of them decades younger and blissfully happy in each other's arms, as they danced at their reception.

He saw Alice in a hospital bed, lightly snoring with a swaddled, red headed bundle cradled closely to her chest.

He saw himself cheering loudly and clapping as he watched his daughter walk up onto stage, a blue graduation gown and cap adorning her.

He saw Alice crying into his shoulder as their daughter, Yukihira Leonola walk down the aisle to a man that must have been related to Kurokiba Ryo.

He saw himself crying tears of joy as he held his first grandchild in his arms. They had named him Joichiro; Alice and Sōma would always refer to him as Jojo-kun.

He saw himself sat around a large table at what could only be the Nakiri mansion. The table was populated by the vast majority of their fellow classmates from Tōtsuki. A banner strung across the top of the room read "Happy Ten Year Reunion!" in brilliant red kanji. As would be expected, it was a chaotic scene of love and laughter.

Finally he saw a photo that must have been taken recently; it was Alice and Sōma seated next to each other on a swinging patio chair. Sōma's bright red hair had gone almost completely white. His shoulders were slightly hunched and he held a cane in his left hand as he grinned at the camera, his arm around Alice's shoulders. For all that he had aged, his eyes were still the same bright yellow; a scar marring the eyebrow of one even though it had been put there so many decades ago.

He felt warmth on his cheek and he looked over at his wife, who had just given him another kiss. She was smiling at him.

"So how does it feel to be eighty six, you old geezer?" she asked, teasingly.

Sōma arched an eyebrow at her, smiling. He leaned forwards, kissing Alice firmly. For all that things were different, this still felt the same.

He drew back, looking deep into her eyes. He raised a hand, stroking it lightly along her face.

"It's…it's something Alice. It's just something." He said.

The eye roll she gave him in response prompted him to bark in laughter and lean in to kiss his wife again.

In his heart, he knew that things were not quite right; that details were missing or sketchy. That certain faces were simply shadows in his memory and that, try as he might, there were things he couldn't recall that he should have been able to about his long, happy life.

No, this wasn't quite right.

But…it certainly was something.

Welp. There ya go. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while but I finally got around to just buckling down and hammering this out over a few days. As you could probably tell by the above piece, I felt some type of way about how I left things off.

My last chapter was an assurance that "no don't worry, the next chapter will be out in two weeks, one hundred percent". That chapter was posted over a year and a half ago.

Oops.

I won't make excuses; I won't try and act as if I couldn't have done this. Because I probably could have. But I didn't. And I continued not doing it. Until I decided that giving those that may care some closure was better than lying to myself and leaving this open thread of guilt just sitting here. So I decided to do something about it. I do think Sōma's characterization in this final sendoff of a chapter was a bit "meh" considering the whole "your entire world is ending" thing but an appropriately traumatized person, while the realistic result, would not be the good story telling vehicle I needed him to be.

So yea. That's it. I think I can safely say that this story, while not really finished, is put to rest. I've read so many dead fics where I get to the last posted chapter and I'm like "At least let me know what happens to X! And Y! And Z!" so I decided to do…this. Whatever it was. I hope you liked.

I'm sure I didn't answer every question that everyone had, but I tried to cover the broad strokes. Hope it was at least somewhat entertaining and to those devoted fans, I hope this bit of closure is better than the eternal cliffhanger that was here previously. Feel free to ask more questions in a review or PM if you had something that you never got answered; I'll try and respond to any I get.



It was a great ride. I'm going to miss this story. See ya.

Signed, Energy Short Sword

P.S This is a rough translation but "Ki" means "Energy" in Japanese. And "Shoto" means "Short Sword". This note is for the very few that didn't get the joke this whole time.