𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 ⤿ 𝘵. 𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪

• Chapter 1 •

~ When reading, please keep your screen at a distance to avoid eye strain ~

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"Didn't I tell you? That's Japan's top culinary school, the graduation rate is less than ten percent. It's a super elite school."

You sighed at Joichiro's last minute announcement to Soma. "Ok, stop gawking at the school. We'll be late for the entrance exam." You shook Soma to grab his attention. He momentarily stopped breathing and looked at you with a sheepish grin "We definitely don't belong here."

"Yeah, tell me about it." You grab onto Soma's sleeve, gently pulling it so he would follow. "Hey dad, I don't get why the other students-" You notice Soma still talking to his father on the phone, later screaming into it saying how he'll surpass Joichiro.

Joichiro irked you to no end. Why would he only tell Soma about the entrance exam at the last minute?!

With that thought in your head, you immediately grab Soma's phone screaming to the person on the other end. "Hey, Joichiro-san! How dare you leave Soma here and not even tell him that he's taking an entrance exam to Japan's leading culinary school!"

"Oh (N/n)-chan! You-"

"Don't you '(N/n)-chan' me while I'm lecturing you! Next time I see you, I'm gonna cook you alive!" You immediately end the call and harshly gave Soma his phone, tugging him to sit on a nearby bench. "Remind me to never piss you off." Soma said jokingly as he put his phone in his pocket. He casually leaned on the bench with his arms on the back of his head.

"What did you and your dad talk about?" You asked, genuinely curious about Joichiro's whereabouts. "Well he-" Soma suddenly sit up straight as if he was gonna tell the best story ever. "Hey Soma!" You shouted as he nearly elbowed a stranger's cup of tea. "Be more careful." You scolded Soma and looked at the stranger. "I'm very sorry, we didn't realize that someone was already sitting here." You apologized with a slight bow, Soma following along "Yeah, I'm sorry too." Soma said sheepishly.

"Don't worry, it's not a big deal." The stranger said, emitting a very welcoming aura. Soma and Nikaido, as he introduced himself, started talking to each other. Mostly about the businesses their family runs and things of a similar caliber.

You slowly detached from Soma and the stranger's conversation, trying to find something more interesting to focus on. Looking around the crowd of people, only a few caught your interest.

First was a tanned male with white hair sitting under a tree. He seemed to be sniffing... cinnamon? You two made eye contact for a few seconds. He quickly broke it and went back to sniffing the cinnamon. Weird...

Second was a guy with black hair and a red bandanna tied on his wrist. This reminded you of Soma, whom you gave a sideward glance. When you looked at the guy again, he was glaring right at you. You awkwardly stared back, waiting for something to happen. The guy clicked his tongue and looked away with a scowl present on his face.

"That was mean..." You muttered to yourself.

Next were brothers, twins perhaps, one blonde and one with brown hair. You noticed some girls coming over to the blonde one and starting a conversation with him, squealing about how handsome he was.

Your thoughts were soon cut off when you felt Soma being kicked off the bench, taking you with him in the process. "Lowly commoners?" Nikaido asked, his welcoming aura was gone.