Fanfic / Nouvelle

Nouvelle is a Food Wars! AU fic by Zancrowe that branches off starting from a slightly different result of the semi-finals of the Autumn Election.

The fic starts with the announcement of the results of the final match of the Autumn Election between Soma Yukihira and Akira Hayama, with Soma as the runner up and Akira as the champion. Having wagered a Shokugeki that he would be an assistant chef for Akira's next match Soma waits for the day he can have a rematch, but that day comes closer than he imagined with Akira, emboldened by his victory, immediately challenging Erina Nakiri for her position as the Tenth seat of the Elite Ten with Soma as her assistant chef.

Has a sequel titled Classique currently ongoing; and a one-shot collection set in-between both works titled Something Borrowed.

---

Tropes Within Both Works

• Ascended Extra: Characters who only appeared in one chapter or scene in the manga are given more prominent roles within in the story. Some more prominently than others. Examples include:
  • Nouvelle:
    • Yoshiaki Nikaido, the snob who mocked Soma’s diner background, is coincidently on the cruise ship Erina and Soma are on because he’s meeting his girlfriend Ava for the first time.
    • Kanon, the cold pigtailed grade-schooler from chapter 61, is also on the cruise with her cousin Yoshiaki as her chaperone.
    • Urara Kawashima is Erina’s partner for the Stagiare, and gets a much larger role in the events that follow.
  • Classique:
    • Nao Sadatsuka goes from a bit-character in the manga / anime, to having a few scattered cameos in Nouvelle, to outright becoming a major character in Classique with easily one-fourth of the plot revolving around her or her family.
    • Shoko Kaburagi, Central's Fifth Seat, is given a lot more prominence as a villain, as well as being Etsuya Eizan's love interest.
    • During the second year, the Polaris Dorm gets several new members: Madoka Enomoto, Mitsuru Soutsuda, and the twins Cilla & Berta.
    • Riko Ebisawa, the Fourth Seat while Gin and Jouichirou were students, shows up to help protect her daughter Nao, and stop her son Ashitaro.
• Gotta Ship 'Em All: Almost everyone of note is teased with someone. Whether it be with OCs or other canon characters; almost all characters get a significant other.
• Related in the Adaptation: Some obscure characters become related to each other. Reference Ascended Extra as needed. This includes:
  • Yoshiaki and Kanon are cousins in this story.
  • Riko Ebisawa is Nao Sadatsuka's mother through a second marriage.
• Shout-Out: Much like the Fandom it spawned form, the duology has a multitude of references to anime.
  • In chapter 18, Hinako has her employee Diogo say the infamous "But it was me, Dio!" line.
  • Multiple during Chapter 27 alone:
    • During Mea's Imagine Spot brought on by Soma's Taco Ramen, she is surrounded by music-playing skeletons. One of them has an afro and asks to see her panties.
    • Eizan's dish during the Sudden Death Shokugeki causes the judges to imagine themselves in front of the Gate of Truth.
    • Near the end of the chapter, the cast of Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts are shown watching the match on TV. They return again in Chapter 33 of Classique, this time for an extended cameo interacting with Soma and Erina, connecting this story to one of the author's earliest fanfics called Romance Academy.
  • One of the new characters introduced in Classique is a Casanova Wannabe named Gautier.
  • Of the several Midnight Chefs that make up Asahi's army, a duo who cooks in a pair are straight up cosplaying as The Paradox Brothers.
  • Chapter 31 of Classique features a host of several musical talents at the Grand Ball, including a certain genius idol.
  • Chapters 33 and 34 of Classique feature several cameos serving as patrons for Yukihira's, amongst them including Marin Kitagawa and Wakana Gojo, Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya, and Kousei Arima, Kaori Miyazono, Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryota Watari.
  • In Classique chapter 35, the featured cooking duel is presented as a battle between samurai, with Isshiki and Ashitaro being portrayed as Kenshin Himura and Makoto Shishio, respectively.
  • Classique’s Chapter 37: The cooking duel there gives us the imagery of Ichigo vs Aizen’s fights. With Erina as the former and Dove as the latter.
• Take That!: Does this towards the manga on occasion, especially directed at the final arc.
  • Nouvelle chapter 24:
    Soma: How do I inject more flavor into a dish without ruining its composition? Maybe with a claw filled with... no, that's just stupid.
  • In Classique chapter 12, after Azami's abuse of Erina comes to light, one of the online conspiracy theories is that everything was a plot started by Asahi to marry his sister Erina and enter into the Nakiri family that way. Megumi finds it gross.
  • Classique chapter 15:
    Asahi: I call it... Cross Knives. The way it works, is if I can see a chef use their tools, and I beat said chef and take them for myself, I can then use them just as proficiently as the original chef could. Then, if I have two different tools in my possession, I can merge their power, and create a new, never before seen ability, a whole greater than the two halves. It's a superpower, leagues greater than even the God's tongue itself!
    Soma: Wha-?
    Asahi: (laughing) I'm just fucking with you! Like, can you imagine if I could pull something like that out of my own ass?! I couldn't even explain it properly before even I had a hard time understanding it. Nah man, I beat you just cause I'm better, that's it.
  • Classique chapter 34 offers this gem calling out a very polarizing line from Erina during the BLUE arc:
    Erina: I'm preoccupied with... weird thoughts. Some part of me wants... wants you to lose to [Asahi], Soma. Beat Can you imagine if I actually meant to say something like that to you?

Tropes pertaining to Nouvelle

• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Hisako's insecurity about her relationship with Erina is practically nonexistent in this universe, understanding completely that Erina meant no offense when she started berating everyone who participated in the Autumn Election.
• Always Someone Better: The beginning of the story starts with Soma losing to Akira in the finals of the Autumn Election.
• Berserk Button
  • For Erina, anything to do with Soma is basically one.
  • Insulting his family restaurant is shown to be a reliable way to piss Soma off.
• Battle Couple: During Soma’s Sudden Death Shokugeki with Etsuya, he partners with Erina. Everyone watching them can’t help but notice their synergy and how they were practically dancing with each other as they were cooking.
• Big Damn Kiss: Two in fact.
  • Once Isshiki's motivational speech shakes off the last of Soma's fears and doubts, Soma finds the resolve to act on his feelings for Erina and steals a kiss from her.
  • After winning against Etsuya and securing his readmission into Totsuki, Soma pulls Erina into his arms and makes out with her with everyone watching the Hiei tournament, from the audience in the stands to everyone seeing it on tv, as a witness.
• Book Dumb: It's mentioned that Tootsuki also provides regular education for its students such as history, math and PE and that Soma is barely scraping average in those classes.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • During the closing ceremony of the Autumn Election, after all the other members of the Polar Star dormitory have several sentences each dedicated to describing how dressed up they are, Daigo and Shoji complain on not getting a description.
  • As Hinako panics inwardly about the stakes of Shinomiya’s challenge and how she should’ve taken charge and had them cook one of her specialties before realizing that the manga hasn’t revealed her specialties yet.
• Break Them by Talking: A positive example. Isshiki does this to completely call Soma out for his lack of resistance towards his expulsion in an attempt to remind him of his old self and restore his fighting spirit.
• Buffy Speak: When Soma tunes in to round 2 of the restaurant Shokugeki, his hometown friends need Soma to give context, who to his credit does a decent job but they don’t understand. Soma sighs and offers this alternative explanation. Which proves much more effective to his exhasperation.
  Soma: "Master Roshi won the Tenkaichi Budoukai, then challenged Yammy Llargo for his position in the Ten Espada, and the only way to win is to best him two out of three times."
• Butt-Monkey: Marui as per the norm. Not only do the others in the Polar Star Dormitory continue to gather in his room when they're bored, Soma even uses his phone number as his contact number.
• Call-Back: After Erina makes Soma her busboy, he vows to earn her respect and work his way up to her assistant chef so he can fulfill the promise he made that one day he would make her admit his cooking was delicious. Rather surprisingly, Erina is shown to take his declaration seriously without any sneers or contempt.
  • When 2nd year begins Soma is once again given the podium to give a speech as the only one to ever get back into Totsuki Academy after being expelled. After a few genuine thanks and grateful sentiments, he ends the speech on the exact same note he had back in his Entrance ceremony speech declaring his intent to use the student body as his stepping stones.
• Closet Otaku: Erina still reads Shojo manga and one of her offhand lines in the first chapter implies that she also reads Dragon Ball.
• Crazy-Prepared: As in canon, Totsuki Academy proves that it is willing to go above and beyond to test the limits of the students. One prominent example is a customer ordering multiples of one dish to force its ingredients to run out, forcing Soma to run out and buy some more. But lo and behold, the Academy grocery stores are also jam packed with actors playing the part of a slow line, forcing Soma to leave the academy grounds to buy what his team needs.
• Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: In chapter 4, Erina accidentally hits Soma in the face with a skillet (lucky for him it was only being unpacked and not been just used to cook with) when he tries to get her attention by grabbing her shoulder.
• Drives Like Crazy: Takumi and Hisako learn that Hinako Inui is quite the maniac behind the wheel. To quote the story: “She cut corners way too tightly, changed lanes without so much of a signal, and sped up on a moment's notice if it meant catching the light a millisecond before it turned red.” And she also has no objections from taking her eyes off the road to talk to them, much to their increasing horror.
• Eating the Eye Candy: When the boys go shirtless during the “Charity Basketball event” Erina takes the time to notice how built Soma is.
• Exact Words: Akira's terms for the Shokugeki between him and Soma were that Soma would be acting as a cooking assistant, not necessarily for him.
• Gilligan Cut: After the Shokugeki between Erina and Soma against Akira and Ryou is formally established, Soma mentally vows that the next time he meets Akira he will defeat him. Cut to the next scene and he's paired up with Akira for mathematics. The fact that this is normally something that happens to Takumi is lampshaded.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her usual snobby attitude it's shown that Erina takes her cooking duties seriously and has no problem getting down and dirty and performing grunt duties if she has to. Soma outright states that he surprised by how hard she works, remarking that he would have expected her to be the one to give orders and see menial labour as beneath her.
• Hypocritical Humour: While being exasperated by Takumi's Honor Before Reason in refusing to take back his Mezzaluna, Soma recommends that he stop being a stubborn loser despite being something of a Sore Loser himself.
• I Miss Mom: In chapter 5 Soma is shown to have a pretty big case of this when, after eating Erina's cooking, he finds that it's identical to his mother, who in this story has already passed away, causing him to cry at an old memory of when his mom cooked for him.
• Indirect Kiss: Soma does this unintentionally after he shuts up Erina's usual speeches on food quality by stuffing some kaarage into her mouth and eating the rest himself. Erina ends up being the one who notices while Soma remains clueless to what was riling her up.
• Innocently Insensitive: During Erina's attempt to put Soma down she genuinely doesn't realise that she's also pretty much insulting every other person who didn't win the Autumn Election by proxy, including Hisako who happens to be in earshot. That said she does quickly try to apologise to Hisako once this is pointed out to her.
• Ironic Echo
  • In the first chapter Erina throws out how Soma once said that he learns from his losses after he loses in the finals of the Autumn Election.
  • In chapter one, Soma notes how Akira's Shokugeki conditions if he won were for him to serve as a cooking assistant and lackey with Akira insisting he didn't say "lackey". In chapter 4 we get pretty much the same exchange reversed, only with Erina and Soma instead.
• Loophole Abuse: The exact terms that Erina was given were that she was allowed to use Soma however she sees fit. This being the case she refuses to let him cook at all and instead makes him her busser (i.e. a waiter/garbage boy basically) and since she is his "employer" for the duration of the Shokugeki Soma has no choice to obey lest he give her a reason to fire him.
• Mistaken for Junkie: Played for Drama. Eizan has Subaru plant meth in Soma’s room. Senzaemon believes the “evidence” has merit on account of Soma 1. Going through round 1 of the restaurant Shokugeki, 2. Dropping erina off at her house at 4 am, 3. going on a jog instead of sleeping, and 4. playing a 15 minute basketball game the next day, all without a wink of sleep and not even the slightest signs of exhaustion. Eventually Soma is given a urine test but a paid goon under Eizan’s payroll falsifies his urine test.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: It's shown that Hisako isn't entirely comfortable with some of Erina's bitchier tendencies towards Soma but doesn't say anything out of respect for her.
• Mythology Gag: Julio Rossi Saotome is one of Erina's assistants that will be helping her with her Shokugeki. He also happens to be Erina's original assistant from the pilot chapter.
• Never Heard That One Before: "[Hisako] was starting to wonder if everyone mispronounced her name [as Hishoko] on purpose. A secretary, she got it, it wasn't funny."
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: This is Erina's response when Hisako jokingly suggests she use tong zi dan ^Note For those who don't know tong zi dan, or virgin boy egg, is a traditional Chinese egg dish whereupon the eggs are primarily soaked and boiled in the urine of prepubescent boys. for her Shokugeki.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Senzaemon and other Nakiris continuously make reference to an event known as “The summer of ‘59.” Not much is known aside from the fact that it apparently ended with a Nakiri being dominated in some way, with heavy emphasis on the buttcheeks tightening.
  • Discussed. During a car ride to the Hiei tournament, The Elite Ten members of the 91st generation talk about the crazy Totsuki school assignments they had to endure before the events of the story that, to this day, still induce a cold shiver of dread from them. Such incidents include “The Blindfold Challenge” and “The Flame Trails”.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Discussed. After Isshiki brings up Eishi and Rindou’s relationship, Kuga tells everyone his suspicions on how Eishi and Rindou are having a falling out based on how Rindou actually delivered a report on time. All of the Elite Ten members present, from the stern by-the-book Nene, to the unreadable Isshiki, and even Erina gasps in shock at that that information.
• Opposites Attract: Discussed. As the 91st Generation of Elite Ten students congratulate Soma and Erina on their relationship, Isshiki notes that a lot of the students currently attending Totsuki are attracted to people who are completely unlike them citing Eishi and Rindou as an example.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: As Soma and Erina make out on live television, Lenora begins to reminisce about “how much they remind [her] of herself”. Then she starts going into detail and Alice desperately siccs Kurokiba on her to make her stop.
• Persona Non Grata: As it turns out, Erina's wised up from the last time Soma managed to get through security and had him blacklisted from entering the Nakiri grounds. He gets around this by claiming he needs to see Alice Nakiri instead.
• Running Gag: The various moments of Insistent Terminology whenever it’s brought up that Akira had won the right to use Ryo and Soma as “Lackeys”. Akira or someone else, would then reply how “[He] never said ‘Lackey’.”
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When Nene asks why Isshiki would risk his academic career and his future on Soma, he retorts that it wasn’t fair that someone of Soma’s ability was expelled on false charges after braving everything Totsuki Academy threw at him. He concludes his point thusly:
  Isshiki: “If Soma fails and is unable to right this wrong, and if word gets out and I'm to blame [for trying to help him], then so be it. Getting kicked out of Tootsuki because I attempted to help a friend, well, I'd leave those walls without a single regret.”
• Second Place Is for Losers: Erina invokes this as part of her "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Soma. While Soma rejects this, pointing out that everyone who participated in the Autumn Election were the cream of the crop out of the student body, later on we're shown that privately he, to an extent, agrees with Erina's assessment.
• Self-Deprecation: After Soma chickens out from kissing Erina during the dance on the cruise, the backlash was somewhat fierce. Said backlash was referenced through Kazune Nishizono a stagiare observer who’s reading a novel going through a similar event while waiting in the lobby to report to Senzaemon.
• Self-Made Man: It's revealed that Senzaemon is this, having raised the Nakiri name from that of an average family to be among the top in the culinary world. It's implied that this is one of the reasons why he gave Erina a limited budget so that she could rely on herself instead of her connections.
• Shirtless Scene: In attempt to recover the budget lost from the disastrous first round, Soma starts up a “Basketball Showdown” between Hayama and Ryou (later including Takumi) to raise funds. Eventually it gets so hot the participants take their shirts off to the joy of many females (notably Erina, Hisako, Alice and Megumi) and, presumably, some males too.
• Sore Loser: Zigzagged with Soma. Much like in canon, while he doesn't throw a tantrum over it (at least in public) and thanks Akira for a great match it's obvious that he's extremely frustrated at being the runner up in the Autumn Election.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The dynamic between Soma and Erina pretty much. Senzaemon actually enforces their working together as a lesson for Erina to learn how to deal with employees that are competent but you don't get along with due to personality and culture clashes, a necessary skill for working in a kitchen.
• Third Wheel: Urara Kawashima is on the cruise taking the Stagiare as Erina’s partner. The poor girl is forced to listen to Erina and Soma’s “playful” banter while she just sits there awkwardly.
• Tiebreaker Round: In an attempt to handicap Soma and give Etsuya an edge in their climactic battle, Fukuzawa proposes a “Sudden Death” Shokugeki with a 30 minute time limit. Then offers Julius’ services to both sides to “compensate” for the small time limit.
• Title Drop: In chapter 3, Erina's theme for her match against Akira is Chinese-American, new flavours that are born from working different cooking styles together, or Nouvelle cooking.
  • Also the original series' title is slipped in:
  Senzaemon: Goodness, this isn't even a normal Shokugeki, no Soma, this is something bigger.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Alice if the fantasy sequence she imagined in the first chapter is any indication.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Megumi tells Soma this after realising how frustrated he was at losing to Akira. Stating how much he managed to help her, raising her from dead last to one of the top students among the first years.
• Wham Line: Ever since he first tried Erina's cooking, Soma was noted to be having odd reactions completely different from his usual shenanigans. Then the end of chapter 5 gives us this line.
  Soma:How can Nakiri cook just like mom?
• Wild Teen Party: After Soma is accepted back into Totsuki, the Polaris dorm throws a party in celebration, even inviting the Elite 10 (sans Eizan) where everyone’s antics are on full display. (Save for Isshiki’s nudity which Nene keeps a tight leash on.)
• Worthy Opponent: Aside from Soma and Ryou, it becomes obvious that Akira considers Erina to be one given the way he splits Soma and Ryou between them, even though it is technically within his right to use both of them as his assistants, to make their Shokugeki fair on the grounds that she would lose if she only used Hisako as her assistant.

Tropes pertaining to Classique

• Africa Is a Country: Discussed at one point:
  Lumiere (to Gautier): This is a pretty major thing we're competing in, read the room. Stop making us look bad in front of the African division.
  Aisha: We're actually from Nigeria. Don't know why everybody seems so intent on making us represent an entire continent.
• Amicable Exes: Jouichirou and Riko used to date during their time at Tootsuki, and are still on friendly terms with each other.
• Badass Boast: Soma delivers a pretty epic one during Chapter 25 of Classique. He is directing this at the four Neo-Noirs and all the other Noirs under Asahi's rule mind you.

  Soma: Twenty. If my dad could take out fifty opponents, what's a measly twenty then?!

• Bad Guy Bar: "Con Calma, Don Calma", which the Noirs use as their base of operations.
• Bait-and-Switch: In chapter 28, Jouichirou gets word of Azami baiting Soma into a Shokugeki and goes to protect his son. However, he arrives at the wrong address. Fortunately, Shinomiya shows up to challenge Azami instead after Megumi accidentally sent him a text.
• Becoming the Mask: Loren, who was sent to Tootsuki as The Mole for Azami, starts off as utterly bored and uninterested with the school. Eventually, he grows to genuinely befriend his fellow Polar Star members.
• Beta Couple: Takumi and Hisako are basically this to the much more drama heavy Soma and Erina pairing.
• Big Brother Bully: Ashitaro Sadatsuka. His little sister Nao is terribly afraid of him, and for good reason. So far we've seen him burn Nao when she was 6 years old, corner her while she's using the bathroom, break into her room to steal her photo of their mother (the only memento Nao has left of her), and attempt to punch her when she finally tries to stand up to him.
• Brick Joke: Combined with Breaking the Fourth Wall, Chapter 30 has one that goes all the way back to the very first chapter of Nouvelle. As everyone is preparing for the Grand Ball, Daigo and Shoji are finally given descriptions of their outfits after not getting them during the closing ceremonies of the Autumn Election, causing the two to shed Manly Tears. Cue the rest of the Polar Stars being utterly confused on what they're talking about.
• Butt-Monkey: Ken Dakekanba has not had a single appearance where he is not being made fun of or ignored.
• Call-Back:
  • Chapter 22 of Nouvelle, "The Commoner, The Delinquent (I)", involves Eizan offering Soma a deal to become an employee of the former's family. Chapter 21 of Classique, "The Commoner, The Delinquent (II)" involves Soma actually being made to work together with Eizan in a tag team match against Lestrade in the Intercontinental Shokugeki.
  • Chapter 21 of Nouvelle is titled "Floating, Sinking" and features Erina opening up to Soma about her past involving her father after she runs out of their restaurant while crying. Chapter 22 of Classique is called "Floating, Sinking, Drowning" and deals with Soma comforting Erina again when her God Tongue starts acting up, this time during their Intercontinental Shokugeki match against Lestrade.
• Cast Herd: This story has a much larger cast due to the Intercontinental Shokugeki bringing students from all over the globe each of them the greatest in their respective schools and sorted by the schools they represent.
  • Representing Spain’s La Academia De Real Cocina, we have “Alex Franco, Linda Montes, Christina Jusino, and Alberto ‘Beto’ Rodriguez”
  • From Nigeria, Africa we have the “Akintola Brothers” of Ada Akintola’s Culinary Academy. From eldest to youngest Hakeem, Keelan, Dakarai and Aisha.
  • Italy’s Scuola Dotata di Arti Culinarie sends in their top five students who are ranked much like the Elite Ten are. Ranked from One to Five respectively, Lucrezia Russo, Alessandro Costa, Aurora Costa, Valentino De Luca, and Macro Giordano.
  • École des Plats Cuisinés from France sends Gautier Pierre, Camille Le Gall, Lumiere Dubois, Joseph Estel and Kitsch Sionis.
  • Russia’s Moscow International institute sends Ekaterina Antonova, Aleksei Ozerov, Luka Vetrov, Sasha Yelchin, and Grigory Kholod.
  • The Eldest of all of them, United Kingdom’s Lestrade International Academy of Culinary Arts sends in their three greatest pairs. Twins Van and Bridgette Autumn, Sickeningly Sweethearts Benjamin Bracken and Emilia Bailey, and the significantly less sickening but no less in love, Victor Slingby and Timonthy Humpries.
  • And last but certainly not least, Azami has his own team from “Azami Nakiri's Neo-Noir Academy” with The Neo-Noirs. Four of the greatest Noir chefs in the world. Dove Dillinger “The God Slayer”, Julius Beldam “The Godfather”, Ashitaro Sadatsuka “Warlock Supreme”, and Asahi Nakamura “King of Noirs”.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The Neo-Noirs (aside from Julius, who did appear) were mentioned in Nouvelle, but don't make their appearance until Classique.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Ryou Kurokiba and Alice Nakiri are a textbook example of this.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 20 is this for Megumi, as it features her finally stepping up and taking on Shouko for the paper-thin opportunity of assisting the Elite Ten in remaining in the competition.
• Did They or Didn't They?: Just after Isshiki goes to comfort Nene, the emotional damn bursts and the two make out. The scene cuts as if they were about to have sex, but next we see them it turns out that all they did was make out all night. Later on in the story it's made clear that, yes, they did.
• Did You Just Have Sex?: Julius can clearly tell that Asahi and Dove had sex after the two start acting noticeably different around each other.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: This is how Isshiki ends up being eliminated during the final round of the Intercontinental Shokugeki. Just as the judges are about to award him the victory over Ashitaro, Azami steps in. He reveals that Isshiki placing the finishing touch on his dish caused him to go two seconds over the time limit, disqualifying him and allowing Ashitaro to continue in the competition.
• The Ditz: Subverted with Dove. She acts like this, but is clearly a lot sharper than she let's on.
• Dragon Their Feet: Asahi functions as the de facto leader of the Neo-Noirs. After Soma defeats him, and then Soma himself is forced to withdraw from the Intercontinental Shokugeki due to badly injuring his hand during the match, the final battle of the competition takes place between Erina and Ashitaro.
• The Dreaded: The four Neo-Noirs (Asahi, Dove, Julius, and Ashitaro) are this to all of Tootsuki and the rest of the culinary schools participating in the Intercontinental Shokugeki.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: Baby Ruth is initially introduced as Dove's younger sister, but chapter 32 reveals she's actually Dove's daughter from a Teen Pregnancy.
• Family Theme Naming: Dove Dillinger, her mother Milka, and her little sister "Baby" Ruth are all named after brands of chocolate.
• Foreign Queasine: The theme for Isshiki's match against La Academia de Real Cocina is testicles. While most of the Tootsuki students are disgusted, his opponent Alex notes that the dish isn't too uncommon in his home country of Spain.
• Four Is Death: The Neo-Noirs.
• Heel–Face Turn: After being the Big Bad of Nouvelle, it seems Etsuya Eizan is slowly being pushed in this direction. He comes full circle after his match with Julius during the Final Round of the Intercontinental Shokugeki.
• Heroic BSoD: Erina Nakiri practically spends the latter half of the story in one, as the stress of the Intercontinental Shokugeki, alongside the abrupt return of her father, mother, a surprise brother, and his father's pupil all at once make the poor girl's life a living hell.
• Important Haircut: Just like in canon, Erina also cuts her hair to just short bangs, but here it's more of a conscious statement to look less like her mother Mana.
• International Showdown by Proxy: The main plot point of Classique. Seven different cooking schools from all over the world send their best students (or graduates) to take on members of Tootsuki's Elite Ten.
• Invincible Hero: Averted. Erina Nakiri, who in canon never lost a single match, is defeated twice over the course of the story, first against Dove during a family gathering, the second against Ekaterina of the Russian team.
• Invincible Villain: Played with. Just like with his sister above, Asahi is shown not as in control of the situation as he was in canon. His very overconfidence leaves him utterly shocked when he learns that Dove and the other Neo-Noirs are actually just as good as he is; and he has to take great pains to keep himself in the three-way war between Tootsuki, Azami's Neo-Noirs, and his own Noirs.
• Kissing Under the Influence: When Akira takes Megumi back from the Tootsuki resort after the latter drank too much spiked punch, she tries to kiss him. Instead, she vomits all over him, subverting the trope.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Soma and Erina have Their First Time on the floor of the restaurant they used as the venue for Akira's challenge for Erina's Tenth seat.
• Master of All: What Isshiki trained to become after the course meal round, fully embracing his talent to learn things easily and using it to it’s full potential by training himself in his teammates’ styles to great proficiency in such a short time.
  Isshiki: If a genius I am, then I need to hold myself to even higher standards than [my teammates] do. All so I never fail them again.
• Mentor's New Hope: Dove Dillinger is this for Azami after he was exiled from the Nakiri family. Her nickname of "God Slayer" was given to her due to being hailed by Azami as the "answer" for the God Tongue.
• Naked People Are Funny: Happens a lot:
  • In chapter 5, Nao heads to the bathroom to clean up, only to walk in on Loren as he's exiting the shower.
  • In chapter 23, the eliminated team leaders, Urara, and Yua meet in Van and Bridgette's room to discuss challenging the Neo-Noirs. Unfortunately, Van is taking a bath when they arrive, and exits the bathroom just in time to come face-to-face with all of them.
  • In chapter 29, Soma's childhood friend Mayumi gets out of the bath just as Shoji is stepping into the bathroom, which leads to a freakout since she had no idea her little brother had brought him and Daigo to her home in the first place.
  • In chapter 34, Mana ends up visiting her Hiroto Arato, Hisako's father, and after bathing in his shower goes into the room wrong by accident and undresses right as he walks in. She is humiliated, but a part of her feels this is still deserved after what she did to her own daughter.
• New Old Flame: Jouichirou and Riko seem to be moving in this direction as the story goes on.
• Not Just a Tournament: The Intercontinental Shokugeki may be the main driving force of the plot, but there's clearly a lot more going on just beneath the surface.
• Not What It Looks Like: In chapter 4, Soma runs into Mana as he's walking out of Erina's room after spending the night with her. While the two genuinely didn't do anything beyond kissing, Mana doesn't buy it.
• Overcomplicated Menu Order: During Kurokiba's second match against École des Plats Cuisinés, the theme is word for word; "A Gluten-Free, Shellfish-Allergy, Vegetarian-Based Dish with No Mushrooms, no Tofu and low in Sodium." Everyone present is baffled on the theme's existance with many wondering why it's even there.
• Paper Tiger: Loren. His cooking appears to be on another level compared to the rest of the Polar Star members, but it turns out he's actually just reheating food Dove made. In reality, he's incapable of cooking a simple dish made of meat and vegetables.
• Parody Sue: Loren. He seems to hit most the standard cliches of one (relatively good looking with quite a few girls attracted to him, far and away the best cook in his year, nearly everyone likes him immediately with the one character that doesn't being seen as wrong by the others, enters a relationship with a canon character), but he's actually a terrible cook, The Mole for Azami, and sees the other Tootsuki students as idiots. At least, until he Becomes the Mask.
• Perky Female Minion: The Noirs' Bonnie “Bunnyhair” Harriet seems to fit this trope to a "T".
• Puppy Love: Aisha Akintola and Kanon Nikaido, which is basically a kid-friendly version of Soma and Erina's romance.
• Rank Up: With the 90th generation graduating from Totsuki, a new line up for the Elite Ten needed to be decided with the remaining members being promoted to the top ranks. The Promotions are as follows:
  • 6th Seat Nene Kinokuni is promoted to 1st Seat.
  • 7th Seat Satoshi Isshiki is promoted to 2nd Seat.
  • 8th Seat Terunori Kuga is promoted to 3rd Seat.
  • 9th Seat Erina Nakiri is promoted to 4th Seat.
  • 10th Seat Hayami Akira is promoted to 5th Seat.
• Respected by the Respected: Satoshi Isshiki is not only highly regarded by pretty much every student (past and present) of Tootsuki Academy, but even the Neo-Noirs themselves are wary of him. And as shown throughout the Intercontinental Shokugeki, that respect in fully warranted.
• The Starscream: Asahi Saiba is this to his father Azami, and for the Neo-Noirs as a whole.
• Tag Team Twins: Van and Bridgette Autumn, the quirky twins from Lestrade, work together as a cooking duo.
• Taking You with Me: In the Eizan vs. Julius duel, after Etsuya utterly fails to surprise or outmaneuver Julius even once, he simply spikes his dish with an obscene amount of Miracle Fruit extract so Julius’ dish is absolutely ruined when the judges taste it. As both dishes fail to meet the standard of the WGO, both chefs are eliminated.
• The Tease: Dove Dillinger is this in spades, especially towards Asahi.
• Teen Pregnancy: Dove is revealed to have gone through this in chapter 32, having given birth to Baby Ruth when she was just 15 years old.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Soma and Eizan are paired together in the Intercontinental Shokugeki match against Lestrade, and argue with each other throughout the match. They end up weaponizing it by making two parts of the same soup dish, in order to make up for the shortcomings of each.
• Their First Time: Soma and Erina have theirs at the end of Chapter 31.
• Tournament Arc: The main plot of Classique, as the Intercontinental Shokugeki features the Elite Ten against seven other schools.
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Chapter 28 features Soma and Loren uttering their declarations to protect Erina and Nao, respectively.
• Underestimating Badassery: Discussed. When Camille Le Gall of École des Plats Cuisinés is pitted against Takumi, the 10th seat, one of her teammates flippantly comments on how lucky they are. Camille however is scared shitless since this “Lowest seated member” single handedly took down the Italian Representatives’ Ace. Lumiere, her teamate, agrees with the sentiment.
  Lumiere: “Less we forget, that were this [event] to have taken place about a year ago, that Tenth Seat would have been filled by the Erina Nakiri herself. We cannot underestimate any of them. Elite Ten means Elite Ten, seats be damned.”
• Victory by Endurance: What Erina and Dove’s final showdown boils down to. The two are simply too evenly matched. Neither dish superior or inferior. The sheer frustration of seeing their best dishes do nothing for them, the desperation to win at all costs… causes the deciding factor be which chef’s dishes will decrease in quality first. And so Erina is the victor. Because her burdens have been recently alleviated while Dove’s still cling to everything she does.
• The Worf Effect: The Six Team Leaders come together to challenge the Neo-Noirs in a Régiment de Cuisine, and during the first three vs. three round, they are utterly stomped by the Neo-Noirs. Downplayed during the second round, where the Neo-Noirs still win, but the opposing team manages to score a few points against them.
• Worf Had the Flu: Nene loses the first match of the Intercontinental Shokugeki and quickly figures out there was something wrong with the Tootsuki team's equipment. Turns out Shouko tampered with it as part of her plan to curry favor with Eizan's father.

---