At the end of the very first chapter, Jouichirou divulges to Soma that the secret to reaching your greatest ability as a chef: find a woman to dedicate your cooking to. Cue the introduction of Erina.
After showing Erina his skills, Soma starts teasing her and force her to admit she was wrong. She reluctantly tells him it was disgusting.
Erina, despite saying a lot that Soma is beneath her, gets easily annoyed whenever they are in the same space. Once, Soma was so distracted that he didn't even noticed that she was in the same desk, which irritates Erina.
Senzaemon, humbly, begs Soma to save Erina from Azami's influence. Soma refuses, since the family feud is not his problem, but still states that his main goal is to have Erina say his cooking is delicious. That seems good enough for Senzaemon.
After finding out the shocking revelation that Soma is Joichirou's son and all the times she was rude to him, Erina gets a mental breakdown and still doesn't know how to feel about him. Soma, on the other hand, explains to Erina that he is just acting accordingly and that bit of information shouldn't be in his way, which leaves Erina thinking about Soma.
Later on, Soma offers Erina his dish as revenge on the first day. She has an intense foodgasm. Erina thinks to herself that this was the kind of cooking she always wanted to do and is motivated to help the Polaris Dorm. Unfortunately for Soma, Erina purposely avoids telling him how the food was.
In Chapter 172, Erina makes it very clear to Souma that she expects him to pass her father's exams and become a second year along with the Polar Star Dormitory. A far cry from her eagerness to have him expelled at the beginning of the year.
Chapter 175 have the two share a moment underneath the night sky after passing their first exam. Soma sort of ruins the moment by thinking of a new recipe because of the night sky, but his attitude causes Erina to laugh, something she rarely does. Erina then internally notes how before she rediscovered her passion for cooking, just seeing Soma's face before irritated her and how him being Jouichiro's son almost ruined her ideal image of him. However, after the recent events she finds herself not minding the amount of time they've been spending together.
First thing Erina does in Chapter 192 is to check Souma if he won. And she was worried enough that she forgot to fix her hair.
The shokugeki between Erina and Momo ends with Erina stealing Soma's catchphrases and tweaking it to her own style. Before that, she glanced at Soma and remembered about their first meeting
When Soma and Erina team up face off against Eishi Tsukasa (the First Seat) and Rindo Kobayashi (Second Seat). Soma uses Erina's God Tongue to enhance his appetizer to its highest level. Erina, much to Soma's annoyance, uses one of his disgusting experiments to create a hybridized version of Oyakodon, which is very different from her usual style. Soma calls her out on that and Erina simply flashes a huge grin. She even uses Soma's Transforming Furikake.
Come to think of it, the only times Erina has intense foodgasms are when she tastes Souma's dishes. In the shokugeki between Souma and Eishi, even though Erina declared Eishi to be the winner, she had a foodgasm only when she had Souma's dish.
In chapter 273, after the latest villain reveals his plan to defeat Souma in a Shokugeki and marry Erina, Souma declares that he's not going to let him have Erina and that "Erina (and her tongue) are mine". Upon hearing this, Erina turns bright red, mumbles incoherently, and faints. Later on, Erina is still reeling from the shock that Soma would admit to having feelings for her.
Chapter 276 has Asahi see Erina reacting to Souma promising to surpass her and isn't pleased by it. Later Erina states that while she isn't that interested in dating, she describes the person she would be interested in. Megumi realizes that sounds like Souma.
Chapter 278. Soma is disturbed by Asahi's threat that Erina would be gone. That evening, Soma looks for Nakiri and finds her at the balcony, gazing at the moonlit beach. Soma tells Erina she looks beautiful and she starts blushing furiously. Later she expresses confidence in Soma's abilities and smiles at his antics.
At the end of Chapter 304, Asahi is sure about his inevitable victory, but Soma defies him and tells him upfront he won't be able to make Erina happy. Subsequently, he completely defeats Asahi in that match.
During the BLUE final round, convinced that she can never fulfil her mother's wish, Erina starts floundering and is in tears. Soma prepares a special egg delicacy just for Erina and she immediately succumbs to its taste. It also activates Erina's gifting pulse for the first time.
Soma's first dish to Erina is rice with egg (in both the original pilot chapter and in the series proper). Soma's second dish to Erina is rice with egg. And since Asahi figures impressing Erina's mother is as good as securing marriage to Erina, Soma's dish to her is rice with egg. Also helps that one of the first dishes Soma learned from his mom is fried rice, which usually involves eggs. Fittingly, towards the final chapters of the manga, Soma serves the same egg tempura combined with egg Benedict to Erina.
Le Dessert Chapter 1: Erina instituted many changes within Tōtsuki in Sōma's honor. She is waiting for Sōma to return from his World Tour and is furious that he hasn't replied to any of her emails. Sōma had skipped the advancement exams to enter the third year, but Erina refused to expel him.
Le Dessert Chapter 3: It is implied that Soma and Erina may have developed feelings for each other. Soma views her as a special someone to give all his best cooking. Despite her busy schedule, Erina always makes time for Soma whenever he visits Japan. She does silently admit to enjoying his cooking and the prospect of seeing him again and again.
Takumi × Megumi
During the Moon Banquet, Takumi scolded Soma when Megumi almost fell while carrying boxes by herself, by citing that a gentleman should never let a lady carry heavy stuff.
After Megumi lost her match against Momo, Takumi praised her performance yet, despite her defeat, credited her cooperation with Soma is what helped him win his round.
During the Helipad confrontation with Azami, Megumi is the first person to back up Takumi's Badass Boast- this unexpected piping in from usual Shrinking Violet Megumi Tadokoro evokes on Takumi's side a highlighted reaction panel of surprise and joy.
During the red vs white battle with Soma and Erina, they are noted to have excellent teamwork from the very beginning despite not being allowed to speak with each other. This is especially impressive considering even restaurant staff who've known each other for years would find it hard to pull something like this off.
In Erina's imagine spot for Team Dojima's Hachis Permentier, Megumi and Takumi are visualized as sharply dressed jazz musicians. Their outfits, coupled with the fact that Takumi is intently staring at her, has led to the theorizing of romantic undertones in the scene. The mention of a "quiet harmony" also helps.
In the canon Drama CD, Megumi is paired up with the Aldini twins for a cooking practicum, wherein Takumi states that he was impressed with her role as Souma's sous chef, and trusts her enough to make her responsible for the most important part of the recipe. This makes Takumi one of the first people in the narrative to recognize Megumi for the incredibly capable chef she is.
Also in the Drama CD, when Takumi's fangirls get jealous and speak rudely of her, he deliberately diverts their attention away from Megumi so that she can focus on her work, knowing well that any detractors will change their minds once their dish is done. Megumi is visibly taken aback by his effect on the girls around them, stating that this is "an Italian boy at his most influential!"
Lastly in the Drama CD, Isami says in turn that while Takumi has his devout admirers, he has never received the same affection despite also being Italian (and Takumi's twin). Megumi speaks to Takumi about this insecurity while Isami is away, stating while Takumi may have his fans, she's sure many other people find the younger Aldini admirable, given how calm and reliable he is. It marks one of the first and only times that a character speaks of Isami favourably in comparison to Takumi, and he is seemingly moved by this, considering how protective he is of his younger brother, and concludes that Megumi is a "wonderful judge of character."
In the first OVA, Megumi states that she's always thought of Takumi as amazing, from the very first time they've met. Takumi is seemingly taken aback, asking if she truly believes so.
Soma × Megumi
When Megumi gets expelled by Shinomiya during the Training Camp, Soma goes in her defense and almost starts a fist fight with Shinomiya before Megumi stops him. Seeing her trying to smile while repressing her tears is what really gets him mad enough to challenge Shinomiya to a Shokugeki.
During the Autumn Election preliminaries, Megumi tries to calm herself and joins her hands, remembering how Soma calmed her during Training Camp and starts cooking with confidence while thinking on what he would do.
After they both make it to the Tournament, Soma and Megumi have a very calm talk by the balcony under the moonlight. Megumi thanks Soma for making her stronger and more confident, while he praises her and expresses his newfound admiration for Tootsuki and the culinary world in general.
After working together for some time, Megumi starts to associate her appreciation for Soma and his influence in her cooking, maybe starting to feel more than friendship at this point.
Knowing that Soma would be alone during Full Moon Banquet, Megumi declined to help Polaris and her RS to help him. She immediately gets flustered once she realized because she suddenly realizes she just assumed he wouldn't be able to handle it by himself, but he's glad because he was thinking the same thing.
In Chapter 166, Megumi defeated Shigemichi Kumai to save the Regional Coking RS, and her main motivation was that she also got inspired by Soma defending the dorms all by himself, wanting to do the same herself.
While working together to solve the mystery at the local hot springs closing down, Megumi gets flustered over the thought of having to sleep in the same room as Soma
Chapter 266, Megumi has a borderline erotic dream of Soma feeding her his cooking.
Soma × Ikumi
Ikumi starts to have her crush on Soma after he tells her that "Nikumi" would look cute when written in hiragana. After that, she gets annoyed by the nickname, but only allows Soma to call her that.
The first person Soma thinks would be a great help to counter against Mozuya Karaage is Ikumi. After asking her number to Kanachi, Ikumi gets out of her surprise and tells him that she will put aside her busy schedule to give him a hand. During the miniarc, Ikumi starts to feel jealous of Mayumi, who has been his childhood acquitance.
Despite her denial, Ikumi got jealous of Soma and Megumi talking by the balcony, while Ryoko and Yuuki started to tease her about her obvious crush on Soma.
Soma runs through half of the campus to find Ikumi and ask her a very important question... if she could teach him about curating meat. She is less than amused after that.
In chapter 166, Ikumi defeats Mea Yanai, saving the Don RS. She admits that she protected the club not only to protect the members of it, but also because Soma got her there in the first place.
Chapter 278. During the Beach exams, Ikumi angrily rebuffs some guys who are hitting on her. She does that because she has feelings for Soma.
During Soma's rematch against Asahi at BLUE, Ikumi purchases tickets for the Polar Star dorm students. They are the only group cheering for Soma.
Soma × Hisako
Hisako started off hating Soma as much Erina did. She eventually grew to like him after their experience at the first Staigiere week, where she learned to step up and try to be Erina's equal, which she tearfully thanked him for.
The next time they see each other, Hisako greets Soma nicely and Soma casually has a conversation with her, shocking Erina.
When Soma tried to get a tasting of his Mapo Tofu from Erina, instead of shooing him away, Hisako conceded him just one hour from Erina's time, which also confuses Erina.
After Erina stays at the Polaris Dorms, Hisako starts to talk about Soma, making Erina wonder if her friendship with Soma has become closer than hers with Hisako.
From the first moment Alice set her eyes on Ryou, she insisted her mother to take Ryou with them, like asking to keep a stray dog. After their first match, Alice told Ryou to be her pet and suggestively told him to bark for her. Ryou eventually wins, and just then he starts treating her as "Milady".
After Ryou gets into the main Tournament, Alice encourages him to win for her.
During the Autumn Elections, Ryou is at home, doing push-ups in preparation for the next rounds, only to have Alice come in and demand he clean her room. Ryou's first reaction is to provoke her by mocking her loss to Soma. After pretending she's above that, she immediately decides to have a Shokugeki with him... at night. Does This Remind You of Anything?
During Stagiaire week, Ryou uses one of his breaks to have a chat with Alice over the phone. Knowing him well, Alice asks him if he already chewed out his boss (not yet) and, knowing also how both feel, encourages him to succeed and vent their frustrations for losing the Tournament.
Ryou gets a sad expression when he also remembers Alice's disappointment for not getting any reply from Erina. He was by her side all those years, even under the rain while Alice was still looking for a letter in the mailbox.
In the Shokugeki no Soma ~à la carte~ novels, when they were kids, Alice had suitors looking to be potential marriage candidates. Ryo beats them for her so she'll have the freedom to choose who she marries. Afterwards, Leonora gifts them matching gloves and comments about how well they get along, drawing a blush from Ryou.
When a bunch of fangirls fawn over Ryou, Alice crosses her arms with a pout.
Soma × Alice
Soma's first encounter with Alice had her staring at him to make him nervous. Soma, while initially startled, couldn't help but noticing how pale she is.
During the main Tournament, Soma and Alice spent some of their cooking time chatting and teasing each other very friendly, ignoring all the tension placed in their duel.
Soma gets Erina to taste his stew because Alice joyfully let him get to the mansion.
Alice's main motivations to participate in the Moon Banquet Festival was to defeat Erina and Soma in particular. She gets dissapointed when she finds out that both of them are in separated areas from hers.
Alice is the first to accept with glee one of Soma's pepper buns. She again teases him playfully while munching on them.
Moments before Soma's rematch against Hayama, he has a phone chat with Alice to tell her about the news. Just as they both head off to their respective duels, Alice wishes Soma good luck so all of them will pass the exams.
Akira × Jun
Akira teases Jun for not doing her chores and how often he has to carry her in his arms whenever she falls asleep in the floor.
Despite his outside arrogance, Akira is really pushing himself for Jun, to the point of rejecting Natsume Sendawara's offer at her company.
When he finally wins the Tournament, the first thing he does is to hug Jun in front of the whole audience, which gets her flustered and everyone else confused. Yuuki is the only one who sees a romantic subtext between both.
Akira was willing to offer himself to save Jun by accepting Azami's offer to join Central, reminding himself several times that all he does is for Jun's sake.
The fanbook reveals that Akira did indeed get married in the Distant Epilogue, and that he is one of the very few people with a canonical love interest (The others being Soma, Erina, Shinomiya, Hinako, and Mizuhara). The book and final chapter never say who that love interest is, but all hints point towards Jun.
Isami × Megumi
Megumi gets amazed by Isami's flawless movements while cleaning duck meat. Then he pauses for a moment to ask her if she needed something, with a completely goofy face, only for her to awkwardly start explaining herself.
Isami, while still confused about the fans, still took one from Yuuki to cheer for Megumi in the Tournament.
Isami is the first to save Megumi from falling while carrying a lot of heavy boxes.
Ryoko × Shun
Ryoko uses every chance she gets to tease Shun about his stoic façade, which he tries to deny fiercely.
Shokugeki no Soma ~à la carte~ gives a bit more of this, as Ryoko seems to be the only one who can see through his cold exterior.
Rindou × Eishi
When Rindou eats at Eishi's restaurant at the Moon Banquet Festival, she admits that the food was excellent but tells him she wants to eat a dish with more of him in it someday.
When they first meet as children, her face lights up as soon as she sees him and she immediately declares that she wants to be his friend.
Rindou decided to try to be the second seat specifically because Eishi wanted to be first seat and they could conquer the school together.
After the second Regiment de Cuisine round is over, both Eishi and Rindo are burnt out by the match and need time off. Eishi expresses his concern for Rindo's well-being. Later, Rindo is shown to be leaning on Tsukasa for support, despite her initial insistence that she's fine.
In one cover page, Rindou is shown handing out gross-looking chocolate-covered lizards as Valentines. Eizan and Somei are repulsed, but Eishi is eating his with a big smile in the background.
Flashbacks showed that Rindou and Tsukasa have traveled together many times for the latter's cooking demonstrations. Rindou is also very protective of Tsukasa's feelings, immediately dismissing Azami for his comments. It is also implied that she only voted for Azami because Tsukasa also did.
After they graduate, Eishi is shown returning the favor by helping Rindou on one of her jungle fishing expeditions.
When Rindou is stripped to her underwear by Azami's Bestowing, Tsukasa glaces at her in concern then quickly looks in the opposite direction, sweating.
Only in the anime: during the BLUE arc, Tsukasa reveals that Rindou also got an invitation, but she's out searching for a group of hunters apparently connected to the Noirs, and he says to Soma that he wants to win BLUE for Rindou's sake too.
Kojirou × Hinako
Briefly shown in the main manga and expanded in Etoile, Hinako was the most upset one when Kojirou told his friends that he would leave for France, and tried to make him stay in Japan. When she runs away from Kojirou with tears in her eyes, everyone tells Kojirou to go after her. She only finally lets him go after he beats her in a shokugeki (though it's later implied that she didn't give it her all).
Both in the past and the present, the two of them tease each other and bicker Like an Old Married Couple.
In chapter 34, when Kojirou declares after the training camp that he would aim for three stars for his restaurant, Hinako offers her help to him.
In chapter 113, Hinako comically gets jealous of Soma, since he was able to help out Kojirou during the pre-opening of his branch restaurant in Tokyo, and is upset that Kojirou didn't ask her for help.
Isshiki × Nene
It turns out that Nene is Isshiki's "reason to cook", as he reveals in the Regiment de Cuisine's third round, bringing back the very teas-y concept Jouichirou teased in the beginning. The speech he gives her, which concerns how much he respects her after giving him back his love of cooking, is pretty much one word shy of a confession.
Said speech nearly makes Nene cry after hearing about how much her hard work means to him, given that she's always seen herself as inferior and Isshiki slapped all those worries away by calling her his equal.
Isami × Ikumi
They started to get ship tease when Ikumi ran away embarrassed after confessing her admiration for Erina. Isami quickly offered to keep her company while Erina and Megumi continued their walk.
Alice × Akira
The ship started during the Moon Banquet. Alice already knew that convincing Jun was the only way to take over the Shiomi Seminar booth. What did she say? That she wanted to make precious memories with Akira.
Akira is the only person who managed to get through Alice's whims by being blunt with her about her selfishness, despite Ryou constantly telling him to humor her. Alice actually takes his advice to heart, saving their team from expulsion.
After Akira goes throught his Heel Realization, Alice didn't give any second thoughts and forgives him instantly, despite Akira still feeling guilty about it.
In their Second Year, Alice starts challenging Akira as much as she and Ryou compete with each other, to the point the three of them keep alternating between the 4th, 5th and 6th seats.
