Souma was sleeping peacefully, until a loud noise filled the dorm. He was jolted awake by it. After waking up, he looked at his phone and saw that it was still 7, he still had a hour and half before school started. Sighing, he stood up and began to stretch. Thinking of taking a shower, he started heading downstairs to ask Fumio-san about where it was. As he was heading down, he saw that Fumio-san was reading some newspaper. Fumio noticed him.
"Fumio-san, do you mind telling me where the shower room is?",asked Souma as he waited for his answer. Fumio told him that it was upstairs and he would see the sign on the door. As he went back up, he noticed some other members waking up and coming out of their rooms.
"Yo, Yukihira-kun, so when did you return back yesterday?",asked Isshiki with curiosity. Souma was, slightly shocked that Isshiki knew that he was out, but he regained his composure as it wouldn't be weird for someone other than Fumio-san to see him leave.
"Oh, I was back before 12, the thing I had to take care of took longer than I expected. I was just about to go take a shower, if you don't mind I will excuse myself.",Souma replied smoothly. He couldn't exactly tell what it was, but he felt like Isshiki was more interested in him than he let on. Isshiki nodded at the answer and let Souma continue to the shower room.
After finishing with his shower, Souma went back to his room. He still had a hour or so left. With nothing to do, he started coming down, as he started smelling something tasty. Isshiki seemed to be making something, and he eventually noticed Souma.
"Ah, come sit down, Yukihira-kun. I was just making some breakfast for everyone.",said Isshiki, still with his apron only outfit. Souma sweat dropped at the idea of getting served breakfast by a guy wearing just an apron. As he took his seat, he heard others coming down. Among everyone, he didn't see Yuki and got curious.
"I don't see Yuki-san anywhere, is she still asleep?",asked Souma. Just as he said that, some noise at the front door attracted his attention. It was Yuki with a chicken in her arms. From the looks, it seemed she had been chasing it. He inferred that, her chasing was the noise that jolted him awake.
"I'm back. They ran quite a bit, gave me quite the exercise.",Yuki said with some chuckles. Souma looked at everyone's reaction and saw that no one was affected by her behavior. That made him conclude that, this was a normal everyday thing here. After a few seconds, Isshiki brought plates to the table and began serving them. Souma quietly ate the breakfast, whereas the others were busy talking. After finishing his meal, Souma went to wash his plate.
"By the way Yukihira-kun, do you know your schedule?",asked Ryoko. Souma then realized that he still hadn't gotten his proper schedule. He looked back at them with a small laugh with a hand scratching his cheek.
"Don't worry, you can still go early and ask for the schedule. You still have some time. You can go to the headmaster's office and ask.",added Isshiki, trying to help Souma relax.
"I see, thank you Isshiki-senpai, I will be on my way. ",said Souma as he proceeded upstairs. Once he got in his room, Souma started taking out the package with his student uniform, and started dressing up. He waved a bye to everyone and started making his way to the academy on his bike. As he reached the academy, he saw that some students were already there, probably for their club activities. He approached one of them and asked where the headmasters office was. After he got the directions, he once again started walking. On his way he saw how the academy was, it had everything top notch, the designs, the scenery, it was all amazing.
Once he got to the office, he knocked on it twice, before hearing a call to come in. Sitting on the desk was Nakiri Senzaemon, who was smiling at Souma, as if he had been expecting him.
"Once again, welcome to the academy, Souma-kun. I'm assuming you are here for your schedule. Here.",said Souma as he handed Souma some papers. "It has all the information you need for the academy. The blue one has the rules and such listed. With that said, if you ever need something done, just contact me.",Senzaemon added as Souma was looking over his schedule. Souma was partly listening, he saw that the courses were mainly culinary but there were some normal ones like math and language.
"Okay, thanks old man. I will be taking my leave now.",Souma gave a slight bow.
"Wait, its headmaster to you inside this academy.",said Senzaemon with a small smirk. Souma just waved at him and went off.
Souma was currently looking for his class, as he was walking in the hallway, he passed by a silver haired girl, with a black haired boy at her side. The two boys shared a glance for a few milliseconds, before they went their own way. Souma then arrived at his class, after getting lost a few times. His first class with the "chef that never smiles", Roland Chapelle. He had once seen the guy before, though he hadn't made any contact with him. From his first impression, he seemed like the strict guy. Soon the bell rang, and the classes started.
"Well then everyone, we will get right down to business. All of you will choose a partner. You have 30 minutes to make a dish that can satisfy me. With that said, your time starts now.",announced Chapelle-sensei with no breaks. As soon as the words left his mouth, the students started getting into groups. Souma, being the new kid was left alone, when it seemed like he would be alone, a hand tapped him on the shoulders. He turned around and saw that it was the black haired boy he had seen in the hallway.
"You don't have a partner, do you? Mind if I join you? Since we both need one.",said the boy in a lazy-like way. Souma smiled at that before replying,"Yes, I would love that, I'm Yukihira Souma and you are?"
"I'm Ryo Kurokiba.",replied the boy. After their short introduction, they shook hands and started to discuss what they could make.
"How about a Bouef Bourguignon. We should be able to finish it in time.",suggested Souma, meanwhile Kurokiba just nodded at the idea. After getting the materials, both went to work. As soon as Kurokiba put on his headband, his personality did a complete flip. He seemed to be aggressive and his looks got sharper. Souma was shocked to see how a guy who appeared so lazy, could turn into that in an instant. He shook his head and just did his part, he glanced at Kurokiba from time to time, and from what he saw, Kurokiba was good. He was definitely one of the best in first years, is what Souma inferred from looking at his skills.
All the while, other students were looking at the two. Especially one group of boys. "Hey, how about we mess up Kurokiba's dish. He needs to learn a lesson, we can't let him win all the time." said boy #1. His partner just smirked at the idea,"Heh, you are quite the smart man. Sadly the new student will also suffer but he should blame his own luck for being partnered with him." As both Souma and Kurokiba were working, with the pot left unattended, the two unnamed boys took the chance and sabotaged their dish by putting salt in the pot. As Souma and Ryo came to look at it, both were shocked to see salt sprayed all over. Souma looked around and figured that someone sabotaged their dish. He did partly blame himself, as he had left the pot alone.
"Oi which one of you bastards did this, I will kill you.",roared Kurokiba as he appeared demonic. Souma on the other hand was thinking of how he could save the dish.
"Ryo Kurokiba, be quiet. This is my classroom, if you make another disruption like this, I will give you a straight E.",Chapelle-sensei said it while glaring at Kurokiba. At the same time, Souma was silently without attracting attention from anyone, taking out the excessive salt and using honey as they didn't have time to soften it. Souma then without any notice took off Kurokiba's bandana. All of a sudden, Kurokiba returned to his normal lazy self. Kurokiba was about to ask Souma why he did that, but he was interrupted.
"Don't worry, Kurokiba-san, our dish is done. What happened can't be changed so all we can do is hope this is enough.",said Souma trying to relax Kurokiba. Right at that moment, Chapelle-sensei indicated that time was up and asked the pairs to bring up their dish.
After about 4 pairs had been given an E, it was finally Souma and Kurokiba's turn. As they went ahead, the two boys who messed with their dish had smirks on their faces, waiting to hear Kurokiba get an E. Chapelle-sensei looked at the dish, before picking up the fork and touching it, it was soft and tender. He was honestly surprised, he had actually seen the pairs sabotaging the dish. He had kept quiet as he wanted to see how they would handle it, and from the looks of it, the dish was restored. He simply didn't know how. After some thinking, the teacher proceeded to take a bite. As soon as he took the bite, he was thrust into his fantasies swimming in honey. Meanwhile, outside his fantasy, all students were shocked, except Souma, the chef was smiling, Roland Chapelle was smiling. It was a first for everyone. After a few seconds of shock, Chapelle-sensei came out of his fantasies and put his fork down.
"Weren't you the group whose dish was messed with? You didn't have enough time to make it so tender so how did you do it?",asked Chapelle-sensei with curiosity in his voice. Since Souma was the only one with answer he spoke up.
"We used honey. The enzymes in it help speed up the softening process. It would also add onto the taste so I went ahead and made the addition.",Souma replied with a smile. Chapelle-sensei was amused by this new students answer. Kurokiba also was interested, but he didn't openly show it. Both simply thought of Souma as a normal student, but were completely left impressed by this act.
"I see, I will give you two an A, but sadly I don't have the authority to give you a higher grade.",said Chapelle-sensei with the smile still on his face. Everyone was shocked at his words, Souma seemed happy about it and Kurokiba was too, but he didn't show it on the outside. As the boys who had messed with the Souma's dish came, they were immediately given an E.
"I will be reporting the two of you to the school. You might as well expect an expulsion letter later on today. With that said, the lesson is over.",announced Chapelle-sensei. All the while the two boys were clutching their heads, and trying to appease the teacher. Souma saw them begging but Chapelle-sensei seemed to just ignore them. He could only sigh at this act of karma. As he was about to leave, he heard Kurokiba call out to him.
"Yukihira, how about having a shokugeki with me, do you have time?",asked Kurokiba. Souma was kind of in a pinch as he didn't want much attention, but he had gone and done it. Thinking about it, now everyone in that class, knew he wasn't just average at least. Souma could only sigh at that and thought up what he could do to get off Kurokiba's radar. His wish was granted with the interruption of a silver haired girl.
"Mou, Ryo-kun, you were supposed to come to me as soon as you finished with class. What are you doing here?",asked the girl, as she noticed Souma. Souma observed her as he wondered what her relation with Kurokiba was.
"Ah, Milady I was just talking to someone. In fact, we just finished. Well then Yukihira, I will be waiting for your answer.",said Kurokiba as he followed the girl. Souma just stood there for a second, before sighing. He had gotten away for the moment, but sooner or later he would have to deal with it. He could only hope that Kurokiba didn't tell everyone about what he did.
