Waifu Wars: A Food Wars Fanfic

Ch. 60 The Elite Ten's Two Cents

            The tension in the arena lingered long after Azami had left. No one had any idea what to say to Torrey, so instead they waited for him to speak first.

It took him awhile to put any sort of coherent thoughts together. When he finally spoke, it was a release of all the frustration he'd endured in the previous months.

"What the hell is going on at this school?! I came all the way to Japan so that I could learn how to cook, and it's been nothing but madness here since day one! Spur of the moment Shokugeki's, bribed judges, girls tripping over themselves left and right just to get my attention...well that one's not really an issue, I'm still just having a hard time wrapping my head around it. What else...oh, there's an evil supervillain who just threatened my mom so that he could use me as a pawn for his schemes. No offense, Erina, but your dad's kind of an asshole."

"None taken; I don't think anyone in this room would disagree with that statement," said Erina, with a sad look in her eyes. After working so hard to find her own purpose and to break free from her father's clutches, it hurt her to see Torrey falling into a similar trap.

"Torrey, we all understand how you feel, but..." started Ryoko.

"The hell we do! No one could understand how he feels! If that creep said something like that about my mom, why I'd...I'd..." said Ikumi, her passion faltering quickly.

"She was just trying to be supportive," said Yuki, defending Ryoko.

"Ikumi's right, though. Uncle Azami's, like, the biggest creep," said Alice.

"Maaan, this sure puts a damper on things...I guess we're done here?" said Soma.

Erina looked down at the plate that Torrey had served her. She still hadn't taken a bite, but it had long since grown cold.

"I guess we are," she concluded.

"Well then I'm gonna head back to the dorm and fine-tune a few more recipes," said Soma, moving towards the door.

"Soma-kun! That's really insensitive..." said Megumi, her amber eyes welling up with tears.

"No; Soma's got the right idea," said Torrey. Everyone turned to him with looks of confusion (except for Soma, who simply nodded). "I appreciate your concern, but you all need to be focusing on your exams, not worrying about me. I chose to do this..."

"Torrey..." said Erina.

"Erina, you did great, getting everyone this far. Make sure you see them through to the end," said Torrey. "I'm pretty tired, so I think it's time for me to head home."

Once he reached the door, Torrey turned back to see everyone's eyes still on him.

"Oh, there's one more thing. I hope everyone passes their exams. But if we end up facing each other in Hokkaido...I won't hold back. Night."

On that note, he was gone.

Facing each other? Is there something he's not telling us? thought Erina. And just what is Father plotting...

***************************************************************

While walking up the stairs to his apartment, Torrey noticed a small figure on his balcony. It was holding a cup of tea, with wafts of steam drifting off into the night sky.

Hearing his steps, the figure turned to face Torrey.

"Tor-myan."

Momo was almost unrecognizable, as she was wrapped tightly in her Totsuki coat, with an extra layer of blanket bundled over that. Torrey immediately noticed that she wasn't carrying Butchy, and for a moment he wondered if he was dreaming.