As refreshing as it was to take a break, I'm ready to go back to writing now :) So here, have a task not really run by any one specific alumni~

REPLIES:

NefCanuck: Satoshi is a wonderful character because all of his stupid ideas and actions are canon and it's great :P Aaaand yep. Sōma is extremely chill except when he's around Erina and when someone brings up his mom, insult or nah. Erina managed to do both and in the worst way possible. Good job, girl. | XD (Guest): Ahhhh let's just say it's been building up for a while since there were earlier hints about why he blew up. It was rather out of character for him, I will say. Which is why Erina is more than a little scared/confused by it. | FieryDarkWraith: agh even 3000 words dedicated to Sōma/Erina wasn't enough? darn it. I only work on one story at a time, usually, so it's much easier for me to dedicate my time to sit down and write about this world I've come up with. Satoshi as a cat only works for his quirks and personality, I will admit. He does what he's passionate about best, I guess :P and awwwww thanks for liking this random idea so much! I appreciate it :D | Demon Damian: Satoshi is leaving that trick for a later date. (coughcoughspoilerscoughfifthdayfinaltaskcough) The next tester? *evil cackles* And YES SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED THE BRAVE NEW WORLD COINCIDENCE. Erina needs actual soma to deal with Sōma, to be completely honest. | Cat McHall: Erina knows that Sōma's opinion of her has probably changed a bit when she said what she did. | hugp1x: Sorry 'bout that. To be fair, they've grown up now, so having any of them completely unchanged would kinda ruin the purpose of the fic idea. | Anonymous (Guest): They haven't had the tasks that showcased them the best yet. I know that sounds confusing, but you'll see. I have around eight students to get to, and the tasks that I chose to be earlier in the story ended up featuring only the female students. | Agnew (Guest): ahhhh i try with the fast updating ;w; that intense word-count will probably not be replicated until much later, though. | Neroj: What you say is true :D I'm not sure if Erina is going to even consider getting that drunk or if Sōma would feel comfortable going 'too far' when both are in that state. He was taught well by his dad :) And yep, that teapot thing was one of a few hints I dropped about his mother. I will say that there is at least one more I hid away in a previous chapter, but it was a throwaway and not really something you would associate with a maternal figure ^^" Satoshi is my favorite character, hands down, to write and to just see. He is the most ridiculous person in the entire bunch, doesn't care what others say even when he walks around practically naked, and jumps out of ceilings in his spare time. Technically, he came out of the ceiling wearing only the apron, but somehow threw the rest of his clothes on as he fell from the tiles. I'm not actually sure how he did it, but if he can magically lose all of his clothes within seconds, he sure as heck can put them back on with just as little difficulty. I am in no way a master chef xD I'm not even in culinary school, nor do I plan to go. I usually look up recipes by specialty in Google, Wikipedia cultural foods (that's where I got the korokke idea tbh), or ask my friends who like cooking/my mother how certain things are made. Surprisingly, they don't question why I want to know. Some recipes are partially made up though; I have no idea about how Umiko's sauce turned out, but since all of the squid-ink based pasta I saw online had no sauce, I feel like she would try adding one on as an experiment and then just go from there. That's how the Shokugeki no Sōma universe seems to work, anyhow. But most of the recipes are based on real ones I found posted on random websites, yes.| Laury Rose: Sōma lost his temper. Scary scary. Erina has no idea what the word 'apology' even means, unfortunately. I think Nene's expression on the last panel of 118.15 sums up all of the alumni's collective opinion of Satoshi's antics. Just a face of literal DEATH BE UNTO YOU. | Ken18 (Guest): ahhhhh thank you! | Hinoiri Lwin: Thank you for reading it! This was such a spontaneous thing on my part, so I'm happy that people like it ;w;


Before the next challenge (one of the two bigger ones that the students were subjected to, actually), as he stood behind a counter with a few other alumni, Akira noticed that he had received a new email. Wondering if Jun needed help with explaining her latest lecture topic, he nonchalantly glanced at the screen of his phone, trying not to draw attention.

His heart started thudding. It was from a woman, yes, but not the one he thought it would be. Strangely, he didn't mind who it was that had sent it.

"Yo, Akira-san! You doing okay over there?" Sōma walked over and made to sling his arm around Akira's shoulders, but the dark-skinned chef hurriedly locked his phone again and batted the errant arm away.

"Leave me alone, Yukihira-kun," he grunted. "And since when did you use suffixes, anyhow?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Akira," the red-haired chef responded, giving up on trying to grab Akira's shoulders and just crossing his arms across his chest. Akira prayed that he would turn around and maybe heckle the other alumni more, but as luck would have had it, his phone lit up in another email. Before he could hide the name from Sōma, the Japanese-born chef blinked and gave him a sly grin.

"Lookit you, Akira, scoring with the girls," he chortled.

"Leave before I make animelles out of you," Akira said in a threatening monotone. Sōma's grin just grew wider as he held his hands up in a 'surrender' position, backing away from his irate colleague.

"Alright, listen up!"

The students in the room looked over at the alumnus that had shouted over their conversations. The blond man suddenly looked extremely nervous, but he soldiered on after recomposing himself.

"Welcome to your first 'large' challenge!" Takumi said, holding his arms open in a grandiose gesture. "This task won't take you a couple hours. Rather, it will last until you complete it or until the rush is over."

"Rush?" "What is he talking about?" "Who is he, again?" "You're serious."

The quiet murmurs that started up again made all of the nervous adrenaline rush back through Takumi, and he coughed once in irritation, feeling an embarrassed blush begin to creep across his face. A snigger drifted from somewhere behind him, but all Takumi could do was mutter a "Shut up, Yukihira," under his breath and try yet again.

"For those of you who are unaware, I am Aldini Takumi, one of the co-owners of Trattoria Aldini and a member of the 92nd Generation. This task is what we alumni have been affectionately referring to as the 'Dinner Buffet' challenge."

Murmurs arose from the crowd of students again.

"You are in charge of four different dishes that will be served here for the patrons," Takumi explained. "Each have different preparation times, cooking times, and serving times. You must ensure that your food is always available and always fresh enough to eat. I have three of my alumni colleagues with me to make sure that you stay on task. Two of us will be in the kitchen supervising you while the other two will be watching the patrons outside. Be warned; we aren't the only alumni taking part in this task."

Upon seeing the startled and confused looks, Takumi glanced over to the final of the four alumni. Noticing his signal, she stepped forward.

"Hello everyone," she said with a wave and a warm smile. "My name is Tadokoro Megumi and I will be the final judge this evening. I am not one of the alumni that agreed to come in the beginning of the week, as I'm still training under another's tutelage, but I have come here to judge how well you know how to serve the patrons the food they are looking for. Now, what Aldini-san said about the other alumni is not as complicated as you all seem to think."

Her golden gaze, complete with their typical comforting warmth, swept over the students' faces. "Mixed in with the patrons will be the other alumni. If they come across something that they believe isn't satisfactory, you will be issued a strike. If you earn five strikes, I'm afraid you'll have to go home. However, if a customer mentions to one of the staff that they liked a particular student's dish, or if a customer is seen going back more than three times for one specific student's cooking, that student shall be awarded a merit. This merit can neutralize a strike and, if you had no strikes to begin with, it will be taken into consideration in any rankings after the Camp ends. Finally, if you haven't finished preparing at least twenty of each recipe item by the time the last customers go home, you will be dismissed."

Takumi cleared his throat loudly as the murmuring (again) began to rise. "We are very fortunate that Tadokoro-san was able to come out here, and we are hoping that you will capitalize on this opportunity to show us what you can do."

"The dinner rush will start in approximately one hour," Sōma said. "You have that time to analyze the recipe cards we've laid out for you and begin any kind of prep work you think you need. If you have any questions, do not be afraid to ask any of us."

"You have been assigned plates to use as well," Akira added. "You are not allowed to use any other students' plates in this time. These plates will be used to take note of your merits― as well as your strikes."

"If there aren't any basic questions now," Takumi said as a last note, "then please look at the recipes distributed to your stations and begin your preparations."

The students immediately snapped out of their lecture-induced semi-comas and began to pour over the recipes. Most were stumbling, grabbing the wrong plates and utensils before giving them back with long-winded apologies and taking the correct ones. The ones at the pantry were scrutinizing the tiny font that dotted the recipe cards.

"Told you we shouldn't have given such long speeches about rules and stuff," Sōma grumbled.

Takumi felt himself begin to grow redder with each passing second. "Yukihira-kun, that's not any of your concern. If they didn't want to listen to our instructions, then they don't deserve to graduate."

"Graduate? They're first-years, Aldini-san," Megumi said with an amused expression.

"First-years or no, they need to aim for the top," Takumi said, feeling himself getting worked up over the situation. "We started our journey to the Elite Ten in first year! They need that same level of dedication!"

"I thought you went to Tōtsuki as a middle-schooler," Sōma deadpanned.

"He did," Megumi and Akira confirmed in unison.

"Th-that's a minor detail," Takumi said, trying to play it off.

They lapsed into silence, watching the students cook and wincing as some managed to burn themselves on splashes of boiling water. "Why did you have us memorize the things we had to say, Aldini-san?" Akira asked, breaking a three-minute long quiet.

"Because I wanted to make sure that we all remembered everything we had to say," Takumi said firmly, standing by his former decision.

"Why did you give me the longest part?" Megumi asked with a slight, uncharacteristic grumble. "I had to memorize it on the airplane here from Paris. That wasn't fun at all."

"How's your thing with Shinomiya-senpai going, anyways?" Sōma asked, leaning back in his chair and balancing on the two back legs to look around Takumi at her.

"Oh, it's fantastic," Megumi said, her eyes lighting up in excitement. "Do you remember the recette that I made for him in first year, Sōma-kun?"

"The one from the Shokugeki?" Sōma asked, not sure where she was going.

"Yes, that one. So I found out when I started working that he took some of my ideas and incorporated it into his dishes for Shino's! I had to teach the entire cooking staff how to sun-dry tomatoes to retain their sweetness. It was hard work, since some of them had never even tried sun-dried tomatoes before, but it was completely worth it, in my opinion. And now, we're including more traditional vegetables and preserves in our menu! I'm so excited to be there to see the world of cooking open up to small-town flavors. And Paris is a beautiful city; I've been to the Louvre so many times already! The art would inspire someone like you, Sōma-kun, and I think Akira-san would like the open-air markets."

Takumi blinked. "That's the most I've ever heard you say at once," he commented.

Megumi just smiled at him in confusion.

"Excuse me?"

All four alumni glanced up in unison to see an unknown boy in front of them. His skin appeared to be a pale tone that had been tanned from working in the sun all day, and his hair was a jet black that seemed to absorb all of the light in the room. He wore the usual chef's uniform that many Tōtsuki students wore, and his wide eyes were a shade of hazel that seemed at once memorable and easily forgettable.

"Yes, ah, Shen-kun, right?"

"Yes, chef," the boy said. "Are we allowed to personalize our dishes, or are we forced to follow the recettes?"

" 'Recettes?' Man, Shinomiya-senpai is really spreading his influence this year," Sōma muttered.

Megumi giggled at his antics.

"You may do whatever you wish to the recipes if you feel it will make them taste better," Akira clarified for the confused student.

"I-I see. Thank you, Chef Hayama," the student said, bowing to the white-haired chef before walking back to his station and pulling out another bowl to start mixing something up.

"So now they can butcher our dishes," Takumi grumbled. "Great."

"Hey, you should have answered first, oh 'leader-of-the-task'," Sōma said lightheartedly, not needing to mark his quotation marks with his fingers.

"I trust Hayama-san's judgment," Takumi muttered to him, rolling his eyes.

"I hope you do," Akira responded in the same tone of voice, his eyes distracted by the lit up screen of his phone in his pocket. When he looked back up, Sōma was giving him a very suggestive look accompanied by his signature smirk. Akira then muttered something about eavesdropping idiot artists who don't appreciate privacy under his breath.

Takumi checked the watch he had on his left wrist. He stood up and clapped loudly to get the students' attentions for a few seconds.

"Alright, everyone! You have fifteen minutes until the predicted dinner rush. If you have any dishes already prepared, please place them on the white counters for the waiters to pick up and distribute across the dining area."

On cue, about twenty or so employees in waiter uniforms appeared from stainless steel doors and began walking through the rows, collecting dishes as they went. Akira and Megumi had slipped out into the dining room at that point, leaving only Sōma and Takumi behind to make sure that all of the dishes were correct.

"Please give these back to the student in question," Takumi said, gesturing to about four dishes with the same red borders. "The portions are off."

"Of course, sir," the waitress promptly responded, passing the tray with the other food to Sōma, who duly walked out with the other waiters and distributed the food on the buffet counter-slash-table that the Tōtsuki Resort had before handing the tray back to the waitress.

"Do not become complacent," Sōma called out as he reentered. "Dinner rush in restaurants are usually around thirty minutes long, but don't forget that you are in Tōtsuki Resort. The dinner rush is much more intense here, and is projected to last anywhere from sixty to ninety minutes."

The students all buckled down to work even harder, determined to survive the task. Takumi quickly told Sōma that he was going to walk around the kitchen and watch the students and that if the red-haired chef even thought of being helpful once, he would do the same. Sōma just rolled his eyes, laughed it off, and proceeded to do exactly what Takumi suggested. As Takumi began to berate a student in the east half of the kitchen loudly enough for all of the students to understand that he had forgotten to add just enough garlic to produce a tangible bite in the sauce of his special parmesan dish. Sōma just sighed before moving on, and his nonchalant attitude at Takumi's blow-up seemed to reassure students and let them continue working.

Just as Takumi demanded that the student start over, Sōma called over to him. "T―er, Aldini-san, you're not the one judging the food this time. Let the patrons expel him."

The student gaped openly at Sōma, obviously despairing at what Takumi seemed to construe as his failure, but when Takumi turned back around, grumbling as he stalked off to terrorize another student, Sōma gave the student a discreet thumbs-up, giving him the encouragement to plate the dish.

Sōma continued his rounds, watching students fumble and warning them of possible fire hazards. He didn't see any reason to criticize their cooking. After all, if they couldn't succeed, the resulting punishment would be the same anyhow. When asked about how to complete a specific step, Sōma made sure to just shrug and give the vaguest instructions possible so that none of the students had any advantage over another. After about fifteen minutes of the students plating and starting new servings, a waiter approached Takumi and whispered in his ear.

The blond chef turned and called out, "Shen Adrian! You have earned the first merit of the Challenge."

The black-haired boy froze in his work, his eyes widening as he realized what the alumnus was saying. He didn't make an audible sound of joy, instead choosing to nod his head, determined to continue the streak.

Sōma wandered back over to Takumi. "Which method?" he asked, making it look as though he wasn't speaking at all.

Takumi didn't even glance at him, instead training his stare on a hapless student who was currently burning something and frantically turning the stove off and back on in an attempt to regain control of the situation. "One of the others approved. Wasn't told who."

"Makes sense," Sōma said as he casually walked away.

It was no surprise to any that Adrian ended up being the first to finish his servings and left a good thirty minutes before dinner rush even showed signs of slowing.

"Looks like Dojima-senpai will have someone to talk to this year, too," Sōma commented to Takumi.

"Does he still do that?" Takumi asked, blinking.

"Well, I haven't seen him out there yet" (he gestured towards the door leading to the dining room) "and since he's usually all whatever about doing his own thing when we're in charge, I'm going to guess he's off bathing, as he usually does around this time."

"That makes sense, I think," Takumi said, grudgingly accepting Sōma's logic. "I wonder how the others are doing."


"That's the fifth dish with that border that's been sent back."

"Hayama-san, are you only complaining because that's your recette?"

The white-haired chef glared slightly at the blue-haired woman next to him. "Of course not. It's just a disgrace."

"Well, that same student has excelled in at least two other dishes. I believe they are mine and Takumi's recettes. They won't be getting expelled today."

Akira watched with unabashed anger as yet another of the dishes based on his recipe was taken away for sitting out too long. "What's so hard about cooking glazed chicken with the proper proportion of spices?" he muttered under his breath. "It's a waste of food. And none of the aromas are strong enough to draw patrons in, the way the dish is supposed to be."

"Probably the fact that your nose is a lot better than theirs. You can't expect too much from the students, even if they're enrolled in Tōtsuki. We've had years of experience to build up our repertoire while they learned how to debone a fish," Megumi replied.

"Tadokoro-chaaaaaan!" Megumi had five seconds to look up before Inui, dressed in an extremely fashionable white dress, ran up to her and grabbed her hands. "I heard that you were working for that pink-haired demon! Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he make you cry? I'll make him cry if he did. Oh, your hands! They've got scars and calluses all over them! Is he making you cook too much?"

"Inui-senpai," Akira mumbled, glancing around at the confused patrons that were staring in their direction. "You're making a scene."

"I don't care!" Inui responded in what was practically a shout. "My little Tadokoro is being abused by that evil man and I will sto―AI!"

Shinomiya had approached them and, as usual, smacked her swiftly across the back of the head.

"Kojiro-senpaaaiiiii," Inui groaned as she held her pounding head. "You always hit me in the same spot..."

"Stop being annoying to my apprenti and I'll stop," Shinomiya responded with a roll of his eyes. He glanced back over to his latest apprentice, who was watching the exchange with a guarded amusement. "Tadokoro-chan. I trust that the flight wasn't too much of a hassle."

"Of course not," Megumi said with a friendly smile. "No jet lag as of yet. I'll probably find myself struggling later on tonight, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem, since I'm due back to Shino's by tomorrow at noon, CET."

Shinomiya nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. "I'm glad to see that you're not shirking your responsibilities and staying around."

"Of course not. I'll be returning here in a few days, once you're arrived back at the restaurant, so there's no purpose in delaying."

"Good work. I'll see you then."

Megumi bowed to her boss as he dragged Inui away, checking his cufflinks as he walked off.

"There's an... interesting dynamic between those two." Akira felt like he had to say it.

Megumi giggled. "Yes, it's quite amusing, isn't it?" She sighed slightly. "Well, too bad we're not here to analyze my boss's odd friendships, but to make sure that the students who deserve to pass do."

"Do you remember going through this Camp yourself?" Akira asked as they observed the dining patrons enjoying their meals.

"Of course. Every moment of Tōtsuki passes my mind almost daily," Megumi responded. "I was terrified for my life, my reputation, and my cooking. I was so unconfident that I hid behind one of my friend's cooking rather than letting myself blaze my own path. It took nearly getting us both expelled for me to realize that I had something worthy of the world to see, and even after I got back to Polar Star, I still didn't believe I could do it."

"And now that's all changed," Akira finished for her.

Megumi smiled up at him. "Of course. All things must change as time passes," she said serenely.

Akira was about to respond to that when he noticed a hand waving in the air. He casually walked over and bowed in deference to the person waving.

"Ah, Hayama-san!" the flustered man said as his face flushed slightly. "You don't need to bow to me! I'm not that great! I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well, that's all!"

"Tsukasa-senpai," Akira muttered, shaking his head slightly at the frazzled alumnus. "Is that all?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" He waved his hand through the air as if trying to calm himself with the action alone. The other three alumni at his table (Ikumi, Satoshi, and Terunori) all just ignored Tsukasa, but the other patrons sitting elsewhere were visibly amused at the man's flustered motions. "I just wanted to award a merit." He gestured to the plate of barely eaten food in front of him. Akira noted the fresh vegetables, the tart cheese, the round, tanned bread. It was an elevated flatbread of sorts. After about ten seconds of analyzing the dish, Tsukasa's words finally registered in Akira's mind.

Akira blinked. "It's been ten minutes into rush."

Tsukasa immediately lost all of his apparent nerves. "Whoever has made this dish knows what they're doing when it comes to bending the recipe and utilizing all of their power to bring forth the best in what they use in order to convey the flavors they want to. The vegetables are still crunchy and fresh, even though this obviously didn't just leave the kitchen, and the hummus has what I believe are pine nuts ground into it as well. The composition and presentation are practically flawless, though the chef could have used more salty ingredients to heighten the experience further." He immediately snapped up as soon as he finished talking, his eyes growing wide with worry again. "O-of course, that's just my opinion! It might not even be right! Hahaha..."

It took Akira an inordinate amount of willpower not to start an argument with Tsukasa on how his opinion was one of the most valued among all of the alumni, since he was a former First Seat.

"Lighten up, Tsukassan!" Terunori chirped, leaning over to steal some of Tsukasa's food, ignoring the older man's protests. He put a morsel into his mouth and immediately his face lit up. "Wow, this kid really knows what he's doing! It's practically perfect in every way!"

"Have you been watching American movies again, Kuga-san?" Satoshi asked, smiling benevolently as usual.

Ikumi didn't know what she could add onto the statements about the food or the movie, so she just quietly kept eating.

"Erm, I'll inform the others in the back to let the student know," Akira said uneasily.

"Thanks, Haya-kun!" Terunori called out, oblivious to Akira's irritation at the pet name. As he walked away, he let one of the waiters know to tell Takumi about the student's dish. He was stopped by a few non-alumni patrons as he walked back to his post, and he made sure to exchange casual words with all of them before he made it back.

"I'm assuming that went well," Megumi said, smiling.

"Extremely. Two different alumni approved of one student's dish."

"Ooh, lucky student there. Do you think Tsukasa-senpai or Kuga-senpai will try to recruit them?"

Akira snorted. "Tsukasa-senpai or Kuga-senpai? The dish was based on your recipe. There wasn't any semblance of spiciness added, so I'm sure that Kuga-senpai doesn't really care for their style. I'm not even sure how Tsukasa-senpai managed to organize his own restaurant and doesn't just work as a private chef somewhere."

"He's probably working to build up his résumé," Megumi concluded.

Akira blinked a couple of times. "I never considered that."

"The only reason I thought of it is that many of Shinomiya-bosu's chefs work under him for the same reason," the woman responded. "Oh, looks like another patron has something to say. I'll go see what it is this time."


On Akira's threat: animelles are a variant on the dish 'mountain oysters'. Mountain oysters are pretty much bull testicles. Yep. That's a thing.

yes I ship Akira with someone but it'll probably just become more of a formal partnership-friendship thing. no, it's not Jun. frankly, that pairing kind of intimidates me since Jun was like thirty-something when Akira was fifteen. that's just a big no-no in my brain. By the way, I'm not sure how people will like the way my brain works, but in this fandom, I've noticed myself pairing people together by how well their cooking harmonizes with one another's. Sooooo a lot of the 'ships' are more pseudo than anything and form out of admiration for another's work. Just getting that out there before I get anything negative about the pairings I chose.

Also, in case you're wondering, Megumi uses the word 'recette' because she's been around Shinomiya for years now, Adrian just picked it up because his class before the Challenge happened to be Shinomiya's, and no one else says 'recette' because why would you speak French if you aren't in France. That's the only reason why everyone else is saying 'recipe'. Another technicality is that I do not know for the life of me how to name someone in a Japanese style if they are 'above' you in your work position. I think Shinomiya-bosu is the closest I can get? If someone could clarify that I would be very grateful.

As usual, I will be answering any questions from your reviews :D Also, if I ever get more than 15 reviews in all, I'm going to start PMing responses because typing them out here increases the word count wayyy too much. I'll still answer to Guest reviews on chapters, though~

-Shriayle