After trying to explain to everyone about their relationship, Isshiki manages to save both Soma and Megumi from the crowd as they are asked to come to a kindergarten to help out some kids.

After a while, Soma is now taken to the Elite 10 area as he is going to be told about the theme of the first match in the main Autumn Elections.

As he gets there, he finds that Erina, Eizan, and even Isshiki are there. Isshiki says, "Sorry for having you come all the way here, Soma-kun."

"It's a bit unusual to see you outside the dorm."

"As a result of the lottery, Soma-kun is going to participate in the match, your theme is-" Isshiki says.

"I know, Bento, right? The Phantom already told me." Soma sighs, and the first one to yell is Erina. "What is that Phantom thinking! How can he just spread the news to you like that!"

"Maybe because he didn't know that we are going to tell him eventually." Eizan sighs. "Then again, he is very mysterious."

"Though I'm a little taken aback, to think the theme is "Bento"...this school as a surprisingly plebian side to it." Soma says.

"What are you talking about? Your knowledge couldn't be more superficial. Bentos are a unique culture that developed in Japan. You could even call it a field where our country leaps worldwide. Bento catered with high-class ingredients from all four seasons is loved by gourmets. The leading foreign chefs have even taken notice of it, and the word "Bento" is even in French Dictionaries. This theme is befitting for a gourmet festival. It's something clearly disparate to that vulgar B-Class Gourmet you're so proud of."

Soma is listening to this and he says, "I think I'm good at holding conversations with other people. But Nakiri, you really are something."

"What's wrong with you? I can't see where you are going with this!" Erina yells.

"How odd, to think Nakiri-kun would raise her voice like this..." Isshiki says.

"Whoops, it seems the other participants have arrived, I'll head over there." Eizan says. "Well, that's it. Yukihira Soma. Give your all and try to win your way up. It won't be any fun otherwise."

After Eizan leaves, Soma is waiting for the opponent and he says, "So my opponent is you?"

The opponent turns out to be Nakiri Alice. "Oh? Yukihira-kun? I never thought we'll be facing each other very soon."

"Yeah. Even though you're a friend of mine, I am not going to hold back." Soma says.

Erina is a little twitched at how Soma is talking to Alice so causally and the girl doesn't even mind, but she isn't saying anything.

Alice says, "I really look forward to your dishes, I mean, we were in different blocks during the preliminaries, weren't we? But what a shame...it's the long-awaited big stage. And I'll only be able to see one of your dishes."

"You'll be able to see them from the audience for the second round onwards, won't you?" Soma asks with a smirk.

"I don't think that will be possible. Artisan skills that rely on acrobatics and old-fashioned ideas won't be enough to surpass the wisdom of Gourmet Food." Alice says.

"Maybe, but I'll like to try that limit." Soma says with a smile as he leaves.

As the first match begins, the crowd notices that Nakiri Senzaemon is on the seats. But everyone is also shocked to see that the first match is no other than Yukihira Soma, the transfer student, against Nakiri Alice, the granddaughter of Senzaemon.

"Yukihira-kun. Today, I'll bewitch you with my food." Alice says as she shows her new cooking machines, causing the students in the stands to get shocked. Soma is just yawning and Alice asks, "Oh my? You don't look all that well. Were you able to sleep last night?"

"Well...you see, I was up late trying things out, and before I'd realize it, it was almost dawn. But don't worry, for me, this feels just like any other day. We have customers who are really particular about food, the gleam of a sharpened knife, and a set of ingredients. If there's anything different...that is a tough business rival facing me."

After that, the match starts, with both Soma and Alice working in their own stands. Alice is seemingly using a lot of machines as if she is making a Chemical experiment, and Soma asks, "Well, you said that the era of Artisan Skills is over, but you're pretty skilled yourself."

"Of course I am, this is just the basics." Alice says. "Geez...to think you're staring at others, how rude..."

"I remember someone staring at me too, you know." Soma sighs.

Soma remembers what kind of bento he tries to make back in Polar Star Dorm, and he also notices that his girlfriend is concentrating hard for the elections, and with Sakaki Ryoko's help, Soma manages to learn about what kind of Molecular Gastronomy dishes that Alice is making, and what he should do to win against her.

Once the time is up, Alice goes first as she presents the bento with mist inside the transparent domes. Alice says, "I also made some for you, Yukihira-kun. Maybe you'll know which is better after tasting it."

"Oh? What a coincidence, I have made some as well." Soma says.

After opening the domes, they find that the bento is the Temari Sushi, which displays much like an elaborately-designed Jewel box.

"This is a Temari Bento in which I concentrated the best of my techniques." Alice says.

And they also find out that the mist is used as a mechanism to control the sushi's temperature, as they consist of Liquid Nitrogen.

"If you don't mind, please eat this bento in order, starting from the upper-left corner." Alice says as they all do it. The top row is similar to a seafood course of abalone, sea urchin roe, salmon roe then slices of cured bonito. For the middle row, it's a salad with vegetables that have been cut paper-thin, they have been topped with legumes and the rice was infused with tomato jus extracted with a centrifuge. For example pumpkin with vegetable sprouts, beetroot with edamame, nozawana, and zucchini with corn. And for the bottom row represents the main course with the first three are cured beef fillet topped with wasabi but the last sushi is a sea bream chazuke.

After tasting them, they feel a lot of things just from the bento box. Senzaemon suddenly stripped during the match, causing every student to be shocked at it.

Soma thinks, "That was the same thing when I presented him my dish for the first time...I admit, Alice's bento is good. But that won't stop me."

Soma takes the five bentos towards the judges, and Senzaemon asks, "Yukihira Soma, what's your dish?"

"It's Nori Bento." Soma says, causing everyone to be shocked.

Alice is confused as she asks, "What is a Nori Bento?"

"Eh? You've never heard of it? But this isn't a normal Nori Bento." Soma says, causing Alice to get interested.

One of the judges, Seishu Saotome, notices the box and says, "When he said Nori Bento, I was expecting a flat square container, but I never thought he'd bring out a layered bento box! That's quite innovative."

The other judge, Kakinoshin Ōizumi, says, "And this is a so-called "Lunch Jar" You can keep the rice and the soup hot with this stainless heat-insulating container."

"Hm...Japan's bento boxes sure have advanced. The newest ones can keep most of the heat even after half a day..." Alice says.

"The rice is able to keep itself warm for a longer time, if you put it in after the piping hot soup." Soma says.

"Oh my, that's clever." Alice says, and everyone is shocked to see how Soma and Alice are causally talking like they are good old friends.

The first box contains three side dishes: Isobeage, fried cod, and dried tuna. The judges really like how they taste, even though they are deep-fried, they are not heavy. Next is a bacon and onion miso soup, and they also warm up the judges.

"By the way, there's a hidden trick to use on soups that make full use of this BentoBox's properties. By putting the Dashi ingredients and spices inside the heat-insulating container and carrying it around, after a few hours, the vegetables are carefully cooked and the soup gains a sweet taste. This was to be eaten right away, so I've already cooked everything, though." Soma says.

"Hmmm...that's convenient, you're really knowledgeable about Bentos." Alice says. "But that's good, Yukihira-kun. All of your schemes are too normal. Even if it's a Bento, it must be one full of gorgeous surprises like my Temari Bento, for example."

"I admit yours are really good, but you know, your dish...is it really amazing as a bento?" Soma asks, which shocks Alice. "I mean, what are we supposed to put inside those boxes, that's what I'm talking about."

As they open the last lid, they find the rice and Nori which shocks every judge in the room. There are black drops spread all over the rice, which is the Nori bursting open like salmon roe.

"Delicious! The tasty saltiness from the burst-open nori envelops each grain of rice! I can't stop! I'm getting addicted to this!" Kakinoshin says.

"You extract the Nori's flavor and shape it into spheres by using Sodium and Alginate and Calcium Chloride..." Alice says as she remembers the past.

(Flashback)

"Yukihira-kun, what are you doing?" A nine-year-old Alice asks Soma, who is eating candy.

"It's a candy from my home, do you want to try it?" Soma gives her the candy, but after she tastes it, she says, "This is not candy! This is salty..."

"Because I made it with Miso Soup." Soma chuckles. "After learning all the techniques here, they reminded by of those Educational sweets in my hometown. So I tried to create Artificial Salmon Roes."

"You could do that?" Alice asks while tilting her head. Soma asks as she drags the girl, "Yeah, do you want to try it out?"

(Flashback Ends)

"I still remember how we have been doing this..." Alice mutters, and Soma says, "I'm glad you do."

The others are confused as to what they are talking about, and Saotome notices that there are Tsukudani made from Dried Tuna in the rice, which means that the rice has four layers. They think that if Nakiri Alice's dish was a systematically-arranged Jewel Box, Some's Nori Bento is just like a treasure chest.

"Your food always tastes amazing, Yukihira-kun." Alice says as she eats Soma's food. "But my Temari Bento even had the sea beam Chazuke Shshi for the end. Projectiles that come from Alginic Acid...in the end, that's just a superficial extra, isn't it?"

Soma says, "Oh, Alice, please leave about 1/3 of the rice, and so does all of the judges. Under the lid of the outer layer of the bento box, there's one more container."

They open it and find out that there are Kudzu Sauces inside, and Soma says that he added three times the normal amount of the dried Tuna and Rishiri Konbu into the sauce, which gives rise to one subtle flavor after another the moment they put it in the mouth.

After the judges try it out, they are all feeling satisfied with the dish, and Alice asks, "Yukihira-kun, is this what you mean? Are you trying to tell me that what we should put into our bento is the Heart? The point is whether or not it tastes good, isn't it? Saying it's the heart is more of a spiritual problem, isn't it?"

"No, this is no spiritual problem, Alice." Senzaemon says as they realize that the old man strips again.

"What do you mean?" Alice asks.

"Alice, your bento made great use of cold." Senzaemon says. "But Yukihira Soma wasn't fixated on that. That's exactly why he firsts took a look at the box at the Bento's outer part. Adding entertainment which makes the best use of deliciousness derived from "Warmth"...that's what this bento is about. On the other hand, you most likely have presented the same dish if this were a Sushi Contest. Naturally, your dish was extremely delicious, but in fact, you only adapted your techniques to fit in that box. A flavor that's conveyed precisely because this is a Bento. A way to advance Bento Culture. The fun and Novelty of the bento itself. Did your dish have any of that?"

Alice is now speechless as Soma gives her the rest of the bento. "Well, what's important is whether it's good or not, I have no objections on that."

Alice tries out the rest and she starts to remember the days when everyone has more expectations for Erina than her, which drives her to go to Northern Europe to learn the Molecular Gastromy to defeat Erina. And then how Soma becomes her first Japanese friend after she got there.

"The winner is decided. With the 5-0, the winner goes to Yukihira Soma!" Senzaemon yells.

"It wasn't much." Soma says as he takes off his headband.

And this is the first chapter of the Main elections, I have decided to give Soma and Alice some moments, but this is still a Soma and Megumi pairing, and I don't plan on changing that. I hope you like this chapter.