honestly? the story is a solid 8, maybe an 8.5. To be honest, I stayed for the characters, and not so much the story. It was interesting to see how the characters developed as people - although sometimes the character development seemed forced or whatever, but I think this storyline was at least on the better side of the anime and manga. There was at least a clear plot like "oh souma wants to be first seat aka the very best." Though the plot did deviate from the central plot a ton, it was bearable. I'm a bit sad to see all the comments bashing the manga/anime (even if I didn't like the ecchi scenes at all, and wasn't the biggest fan of the blue arc) but you do you.
Thank you for the translations!