Summary: Second Seat of the Elite Ten Rindou Kobayashi has always marched to the beat of her drum. Unconventional, unorthodox, and with a playful persona - Rindou could never find the appeal of a rather boring, cooking school. Nothing held her attention for long, that is, until a particular transfer student came along…

Doesn't it make your Heartbeat Flutter?

Shokugeki no Souma

Chapter Three

A Competitive Spirit

"Food! I smell food!"

Rindou Kobayashi was never one to respect the boundaries of one's property. So when she barged into the Polar Star Dorm Kitchen the morning after the camping venture, she was not surprised that she found two occupants caught in the midst of something interesting.

By the looks of it, they were having a cooking competition.

Which meant…

She could get a chance to taste some good food!

"Oh, Miss Kobayashi. Good morning," Satoshi Isshiki greeted. He was wearing his casual attire consisting of nudity and an apron. The Seventh Seat of the Elite Ten council was perhaps the most normal out of the current roster, but he was also perhaps the most perceptive.

Satoshi Isshiki, friendly his true motives have yet to be revealed, was a person she could trust.

Rindou barred a fang slightly towards him, a gentle gesture asserting her dominance over him.

"Eh? Kobayashi?"

And the other occupant was Souma Yukihira. Rindou puffed her cheeks before taking her hands and pinching the cheeks of Souma Yukihira. With comedic pout, the Second Seat betrayed all expectations of her station and began to berate Souma Yukihira like an older sister would to a misbehaving younger brother.

"I thought I told you to call me Rindou-nee! Say it with me: Rinnn-douu-neee. See? Simple simple!"

"Yesh, Window-ree," Souma said through pinched cheeks.

"Good good," Rindou said in satisfaction.

"How interesting. You know Miss Kobayashi, Souma?"

"I only met her a short while ago. She even gave me a tour of the campus… even though we got lost. We camped out half the night but then Fumio found us." Souma glanced towards Rindou and smiled. "But I had a fun time. She seems like a neat person."

Rindou giggled. "Oh stop it you."

"Miss Kobayashi got lost on campus?" Isshiki brought a hand to his chin. "How strange. True there is often a lot of construction projects going on but Miss Kobayashi usually has an excellent sense of direc-"

"So I smelled there was some cooking going on!" Rindou interjected with her cat eyes lasered in on Isshiki.

"Oh yes," Isshiki nodded, taking the hint. "The theme is mackerel. We were actually just discussing the judges but it seems everyone else is still asleep. How wonderful! You can be our judge, Miss Kobayashi."

Rindou flipped her hair before crossing her arms in a haughty manner. Doing her best to raise the seriousness of her tone, she growled in a deep voice, "well, if you insist I must do it… then it's part of my Elite Ten Council duties after all…"

Isshiki covered his mouth to hide a slight snicker.

Souma looked confused. "Am I missing something here?"

"That was a very poor impression of Miss Nakiri, Miss Kobayashi."

"Aw whatever," Rindou said waving off her hand. "The girl's got to lighten up someday."

"Ohhh, so that was an impression of Nakiri." Souma nodded, finally getting the joke.

"Took you long enough," Rindou sighed before plopping herself onto the kitchen chair and sat expectantly. "Alright, I'm ready for breakfast. Feed me, feed me, feed me," Rindou pouted waving her arms up and down in an exaggerated fashion.

"Very well, I'll go first," Isshiki offered.

Placing his dish before her, Rindou took a deep whiff.

"This is my pepper mackerel with a spring cabbage puree garnish. Please enjoy."

How strange, Rindou thought. For the Seventh Seat, this is rather tame.

Taking a fork, Rindou took a delicate piece of mackerel off and mopped up a bit of the garnish before taking it all into her mouth. An explosion of white spread throughout her lips and surged down her throat, like a flavor that blowing in.

The midsts of the forest, the freshness of green, and the babbling brooks teeming with mackerel fish.

Rindou let out a soft moan.

"The taste of spring bursts with every bite," she said taking another bite and another. Before long, the sizable piece of mackerel had been reduced to nothing. "Another!"

"I do believe you need to save some room for Yukihira Souma's dish, Miss Kobayashi."

"You know my stomach can handle it."

"Ah, but anyways-it seems Yukihira is restless."

"My turn!"

And with that declaration, Yukihira Souma presented his dish.

"My my…," Rindou muttered in delight. "This is…"

"My revamped Mackerel Onigiri Chazuke!"

A rice ball made of mackerel topped with seaweed was finished a kelp tea. The salty aroma of the tea drifted into the air, reminding Rindou of the soft sea breeze. The warmth of the dish only reminded Rindou more of how cold the mornings had become recently and as her soft hands reached towards the bowl, she felt her blood excite and anticipation rise.

Taking the bowl into her hands, she took a sip. A wave of warmth washed over her.

It was like the chilly morning was all a lie, scrubbed clean the kelp tea's refreshing taste. Nibbling on her tongue was the light undertone of mackerel.

"What a refreshing taste!"

Taking a bite of the rice and mackerel, she found the flesh fish to have been cooked with a unique texture not normally found in Japanese cuisine.

"Is this poele?" Rindou wondered aloud before taking another bite.

"What's poele?"

Of all people you should know, Rindo thought bemused. After all, you made this dish using a French technique did you not?

"It's a French technique," Isshiki explained seeing that Rindou was still eating. "It's where you hold the fish skinside down to make it extra crispy."

"Oh, it's just something I picked up from my pop's"

Isshiki tilted his head and smiled. "Your father must have been well travelled then."

As Rindou finished Yukihira's dish, she placed it down.

"How wonderful…," she smiled.

Patting her belly, Yukihira looked on expectantly.

"So…"

"So…?" Rindou replied, not sure what he was waiting for.

"Who did you think was better?"

That's right! I was supposed to be judging! Rindou immediately began thinking of which dish was better. Well Isshiki's dish was definitely more refined but Yukihira's had a certain rustic charm… then again the spring cabbage puree was brilliant but the kelp tea was so much better at waking me up in the morning… ugh… ugh...

"That's it!"

Yukihira leaned closer. "Who won?"

"It's a draw!"

Rindou smiled. There, with that she didn't have to make a difficult decision! Classic Rindou tactic to avoid responsibility.

Yukihira looked slightly disappointed.

Then, a girl with braids peeked in.

In a soft voice, she called out, "S-Souma! W-We're going to be late for class! We have Chapelle-sensei this m-m-mo-"

Rindou gave the female newcomer with a deathglare. The girl began stuttering with blanked eyes and shrunk to a quarter of her size under the scrutinizing gaze. Rindou had developed a lot of experience with the look using it on the First Seat to bully-no, persuade-him into doing favors for her.

Whoever she was, Rindou didn't take an instant liking to her.

The reminder from the girl suddenly made Souma's mind clicked.

"Oh shoot," Souma cursed. "Tadokoro's right, I think I'm late for class. Got to go! Bye! I'll talk to you later, Kobayashi!"

And with that, Souma ran out the door with the girl trailing him.

"Call me Rindou-nee!" Rindou shouted after him with a bright smile that showed her fangs.

And so, the two seniors classmen were left alone.

Rindou's smile vanished before turning to Isshiki.

"So, why didn't you just make one of your specialities and crush him?" Rindou asked nonchalantly. "It's pretty rare for anyone in the Elite Ten Council to show any mercy. You never know when one of those kids might topple you and take over your seat."

Isshiki chuckled.

"I think I'm a bit tired of living in fear."

Rindou narrowed her eyes. "Cooking determines everything in this school. The strong merely survives here. But only the best gets to use this school's wealth and prestige to enjoy any pleasure of the gourmet world can offer."

"You seem to be taken quite the liking to Yukihira Souma though. Perhaps is he is someone rather… important to you personally?"

Rindou's serious tone dropped and her heartbeat accelerated.

"N-No! Nothing like that! He's just a pet project is all. Just like a dog or a cat! Yeah, like a cat, a little cat! He's just someone I keep around to amuse me and help me get through the boredom of my last year here."

Rindou growled. Leave it to Isshiki Satoshi to make people feel extremely uncomfortable!

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, and what about you? What's your interest in him?"

Isshiki gave a curious smile.

"This school's ideology is that we are here to polish gems and make aspiring chefs realize their true worth. I just thought he was someone worth guiding along."

"Hmphf. As long as you pandering him doesn't interfere with how I play with my pet, it doesn't matter to me," Rindou declared. She swung around and began making her way to the door. "I trust you understand I won't tolerate interference with my playthings lightly."

"Of course. Everyone's heard of Rindou Kobayashi's famous possessiveness. The Can-I-Borrow-A-Pencil story from your first year is still talked about by the second years."

Rindou sighed.

"Yeah, everyone's heard about me… I'm famous alright…"

Opening the door, Rindou left without saying goodbye. Isshiki waved her off from a distance as the morning sun shone brightly under the blue sky. The bird songs and morning butterflies graced the gardens flanking the paths back to the main road.

And during her descent, Rindou kept pondering a single thought:

Everybody knows all about me... except for him.

And that was how she wanted it, Rindou thought quietly to herself.

Chapter Three Fin

A Competitive Spirit