So, they had a fake out, but went for it at the end anyway. Great.
Oh look! Souma may have finally started to be attracted to Erina.
This is honestly happening too fast. The editor should honestly be telling them to slow down, unless they were the idiots telling them to speed it up.
What was even the point of the last few chapters if they were going to kidnap her anyway? Is this the outcome of negative feedback from the previous chapters and the editor is forcing them to rush through it to get to the exciting parts? It's bad enough the arc itself is not that compelling but it's made worst by rushing through it.
Neither route looks like a good idea for the manga, as it makes Erina the damsel in distress again, making the entire past two years of enduring Azami pointless.I can see two possible routes, one where Erina is brainwashed with some awesome cooking (because why note) or manipulated using some other method, and they use her to control the school, or they genuinely keep her kidnapped and she's a bloody princess that needs rescuing. With both routes requiring her to be rescued by Souma.
Seriously hoping neither paths are taken and the mangaka has something original or atleast interesting planned, but ever since the end of food festival, the manga has taken a nose dive that you wondered if a someone else is writing the manga or a new editor was forcing changes, I don't hope for the best.