It was morning. The rising sun's rooms began to seep into the room leaving the room incongruously spotted with light and dark. Feeling neither rested nor relaxed, Erina lay in her bed wearing her silk, pale colored nightgown observing the light strip away the murkiness of night. Compared to the opulence of the Nakiri estate, the decor of her room was remarkably spartan. The curtains were rather simple, too thin to block out the sunlight and too sparse to be considered ornamental. Her room was devoid of mementos or photos that could help identify the resident. With Souma and Megumi's rooms one and two doors away respectively, the room's location could be described as peculiar.

Thinking of yesterday's events, she recalled that the fish that she had cooked for dinner was supposed to be used for class today. She got of the bed with a faint sense of worry begin to grow. Not that the ish was hard to come by, but the Chilean sea bass was an exotic fish and needed to be ordered ahead of time. A day's advance would normally be enough, but they needed the fresh fish for today's project evaluation in class. She resolved to call her supplier to see if she could still buy more. In any case, she would have to tell Souma about this blunder - a confession that she dreaded. Even simulating the scenario made her uncomfortable as she could see his bright amber eyes peer down on her.

Erina got out of bed and quickly got ready. As she made her way back to her room from the washroom, the door to Souma's room opened. There, Souma dressed in a hoodie and track pants, exited also appearing to be ready to go out.

Noticing Erina, Souma turned towards her direction. "Oh, morning Nakiri," yawning more than actually speaking.

Erina, a little flushed to see him up this early, replied, "G- good..morning Yukihira-kun,".

"Up early today, aren't you?" he said coyly.

"The same could be said for you," she snapped back. Remembering the predicament that she found herself in, she opened her mouth to tell him about it. "Yuki-"

"Yeah. See ya Nakiri. I'm going to see if we can get fish for today's class," Souma interrupted.

Surprised, she asked "You knew?"

"Well yeah, you sure treated everyone well last night" Souma said with a yawn. "Dinner was delicious," he trailed off as he began to make his way downstairs.

"Wait, Yukihira-kun. I should be the one getting the fish, it was my turn to."

"Nah, it's all right. The market's only a half hour ride with my bike," He replied nearly downstairs at that point.

Erina followed him. Displeased with his complacent attitude, she snapped back, "Hold on, I said it was my fault, right? I accidentally used it for dinner, so I'll be responsible for getting it!". She put her right hand on her mouth after hearing the volume of her own voice so early in the morning.

Souma, now at the foot of the stairs, turned around. Erina was perched up five or six steps looking down upon him. "Well, I still want to check out the fish they have. So let's go together…." He replied and then after a short pause "Erina-chiii".

Not leaving her with much choice, Erina replied, "Fine. But we'll be going by car." She pulled out her cellphone and with only a few words, ordered for her driver.

"Sure is nice being rich, huh?" Souma remarked.

She asked herself how he could remain so talkative that early in the morning. The two remained in silence until the car pulled up in front of the Polar Star Dormitory a few minutes later. As they got in, Souma recalled the time where they shared the ride from the training camp. "This reminds me Nakiri… Of the time we came back to Tōtsuki together. Remember?" He asked.

"Yes." she replied curtly, unsure what else to say about that experience. How could she possibly reply? 'Tell him that she missed the busses because she had forgotten her only picture of his father?' she thought to herself somewhat bitterly.

"Something about this time is different…" Souma mused.

"Different?"

"Maybe this car is a different model? The car's a bit smaller, isn't it?"

Erina hadn't noticed that until now. The two of them were sitting noticeably closer, although not by choice. Their elbows were only a few centimeters away from brushing each other, far closer than last time as he had enough space to place his bags next to him.

"Not that it's bad or anything," Souma added.

Erina couldn't bring herself to say much afterwards. For all of his words he spoke, none of them were used to put blame on her. Erina asked herself why he was up to cover for her misstep. He was all too confusing, yet kind to her.

"Yukihira-kun, I'm sorry for -" Erina said hesitantly.

"Oh look, we're here," Souma interrupted.

Again, her attempt of an apology was deftly swatted away. Is this kindness just a front? she asked. Is he truly displaying compassion or is this simply a different way of humiliation? Rather than forgiveness words of forgiveness, her words were simply ignored. The car pulled up to the curb by the fish market.

"I said to not worry about it, didn't I?" he said just before they both got out of the car. She wasn't able to see his face at the time, but something about his words expressed annoyance.

The two went through the door headed to the stands. "Have you been here before Nakiri?" he asked while waiting for her to catch up.

The unfamiliar bustle of the market overwhelmed her. All sorts of fish were loudly being sold off and men with large crates went up and down the market. Erina replied, "I have secured contacts here on behalf of the Nakiri family in the past. But personally, I have never shopped here,"

"Oh yeah, you just order everything you need and it gets delivered, right? That's pretty convenient," Souma said with a chuckle. "Well, I've been here plenty of times with my pops. I think I was here a few times with Tadokoro too."

On the rare occasions Souma mentioned his father, Erina's interest would be piqued and she would listen closer than usual. But the only words that slipped out of her mouth were "Tadokoro Megumi?"

"The one and only," Souma grinned. "She's a pretty good seafood chef, ya know?"

An old man from one of the larger stalls cried out, "Hey! Yukihira, m'boy!"

"Good morning, old man!"

When Souma approached him, the man whispered into Souma's ear "Who's that with you? Don't tell me you're a two timer!"

Souma decided to ignore the fishmonger's joke and replied, "Got any Chilean sea bass today? The fish from last time was pretty good!"

"Today? You should know better! The local restaurants buy it all up in the morning. You need to tell me ahead of time!" the man replied in what seemed to be a rough Okinawan accent.

"I know, it's my bad. It's just a bit of an emergency,"

"Either use the frozen fish or some other kind. I know you gourmet types will never touch frozen though when you can buy my fresh fish!"

"I guess it can't be helped" Souma said. Turning to Erina, Souma asked, "Well? You know this stuff better than me. What should we do?"

"We can't. Our recipe is specifically catered for Chilean sea bass. I'll see if we can have Chapelle-sensei move back the evaluation to tomorrow" she replied.

"Halibut is close enough, isn't it?" Souma asked her.

"The previous recipe was the best use for the sea bass, not halibut. That means we have to take on an entirely different recette, which we don't have the time to make up,"

"With you, that shouldn't be an issue. 'Scuse me, old man! I'll take 10 kilograms of halibut!"

Erina told the man to put it on the Nakiri family's account, which led to the man to instantly change his demeanor. Quickly and quietly, he chose and prepared the freshest halibut and put it in their ice chest. WIth the fish in tow, they headed back for the car.

"Thank you very much for your business, Nakiri-san," the fishmonger said while he bowed his head.

Souma waved goodbye with his free hand. Seeing Souma struggle a little with the chest filled with ice and fish, "Is that not heavy? Let me help you with it," she asked while motioning to take a hold of one handle.

"It's fine, it's fine. Wouldn't want to overexert yourself Nakiri, you're already helping a lot," Souma said smiling and waving her off.

Souma loaded the chest in the trunk of the car. Now with both of them back in the car, Souma said, "I don't have the sharpest sense of smell like Hayama or affinity to seafood like Kurobika, but we really scored this time with fresh fish, didn't we?". Erina then understood. It was no surprise that her name was what secured the best fish for them. Under his smile, she realized that Souma possessed a greater sense of cunning that she didn't expect. She couldn't decide if it was underhanded or clever. Either way, she couldn't see a reason to be mad with him. Away from the chaos of the market and relieved from her self-imposed crisis she felt herself relax. Still tired from waking up early, she closed her eyes.

Souma felt a tap on his shoulder. While in her sleep, Erina's head tilted towards his direction and found its way on Souma. Souma, unsure what to do with ten minutes left in the ride decided to let her stay in that position. Something about this time was decidedly different than the last time they shared a ride. Somehow, Souma could sense they were closer, beyond than just the physical distance between them. Thinking back at their ride two years ago, both of their arms were crossed with their eyes fixed the moving scenery outside the car window. To Souma, today wasn't bad at all but even he could notice something that troubled her.

Souma caught himself with his eyes on Erina more than he would have cared to admit. The sun now shining brighter than they had last seen it, shined on her golden hair, an angelic air graced the cramped rear seat. Yet, her face proved that he was anywhere but heaven. Her lips were slightly pursed, and curved almost resembling a frown. Beneath her stiff upper lip and beautiful exterior, there was a layer of vulnerability that exposed itself in her sleep. "I guess even the beautiful need their beauty sleep," Souma gently mused to himself. Was this truly the face of his greatest rival? he asked.

The car now pulled up at the French cuisine hall, where their class would be later in the day. "Psstt… yo, Erina-chi. We're here," he said as he gently tapped her shoulder.

"Huh?" she said sleepily, eyes only half open.

"You've gotta be pretty beat to be able to sleep like a rock,"

Erina, realizing that her head was on Souma's shoulder, promptly straightened herself out and pretended not to hear him. Souma, noticing that it was probably best to not push it further got up and opened the door and put one leg out. "I'll be going ahead, Nakiri, I have to pop the halibut in the fridge."

Souma's aloof attitude now began to annoy her, "What makes you think that I can trust you to make a dish with my name on it?" she snapped. "We only have a few hours before class."

"You're not hungry or anything? You haven't eaten breakfast yet, you know?"

"Do you realize that it would be an embarrassment if we produce a subpar dish?"

"I guess you're right. In that case, let's cook!"

Once the two were in the kitchen, Souma began to clean and filet the fish.

"I think we could just sear the fish a little less to suit the halibut a little better,"

"It would be much more suited to steam the fish en papillote,"

"In papirote?"

"Have you been not paying attention to Chapelle-sensei's lectures?" Erina scolded. "We could use the same recette, but halibut has a different texture. Cooking it using en papillote would be much more suited for this fish,"

"It means to steam the fish within a paper pouch. Are you even awake in class?"

"Oh, that!" he replied. "It's like chimaki!"

"Chimaki?"

"You know, those sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves that are eaten on Children's Day. This lady next to our diner would always treat me to some on that day,"

As knowledgeable about food as she was, she lacked a favorite after school snack or favorite festival food. Erina reflected on her childhood and could see no such familiarity between food and happiness. All she could remember was plate after plate of food to taste and critique. The fondness in Souma's voice for something as common as chimaki had a strange effect to her ears.

"In any case, I will be preparing this dish then," as she took the filet and laid it in the paper. Souma, having already cut the vegetables, laid it under the fish. Souma observed a trance-like state when she was cooking. Equally adept with her hands as Souma, her knife swept quickly across the board. Her eyes seemed to be fixated on her dish alone. She grabbed a bunch of various spices and herbs, but each addition was added methodically. Just like her knife skills, all the other aspects of her cooking were executed with exacting precision. She sealed the paper shell and the fish was ready to cook.

"Now we'll cook it and see,"

"All right!"

After cooking the fish in the oven for a few minutes, Erina pulled the fish it out and laid it on the table. Opening the seal released a divine aroma, even stunning Souma.

"Wow…" Souma gasped.

Erina and Souma both took a taste. "It still needs more a few more drops of the lemon juice. A sprig of rosemary would be a more suitable garnish than thyme. Also, the fish is slightly overdone, we should cook it for less. Other than that, I cannot find any other major deficiencies" she said mechanically.

Souma, however, could not remark on the specificity of the dish. The fish was unbelievably tender and the juices caressed his tongue. The aftertaste was a gentle dream, light enough to leave one mellow, but had enough presence to be remembered. "Wow, Nakiri! I don't know about you, but I think this is perfect!"

"Perfection is not a detail" she said quietly. "There is no such thing as a perfect dish…"

Erina remembers that the sea bass she was supposed to use for class the next day she accidentally cooked

"Huh? What do ya mean?" he asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Anything we create can only be made so it can no longer be criticized. 'Perfection' is simply an illusion,"

Souma couldn't find the right words to reply. He had expected a proud reaffirmation of her talent as a chef. After a short pause, he said, "All right, let's clean up. I'll see you later in the day Nakiri!". But her words still lingered on his mind.

"Perfection, huh?"

TO BE CONTINUED