The typically mandatory info-dump chapter here. This will most likely be the most boring chapter of this entire story. I don't really like putting these in, but there's barely any way for me to give you the knowledge of this universe without doing one of these. Next chapter will be guaranteed to be both longer and much more interesting, as one of the alumni of our favorite Generation will be leading the next session :D
Also! Announcement: I will now confirm a prequel for this story and offer to you a possible sequel, making these stories into either a series of two or a trilogy. The prequel will cover the 92nd Generation's third year, including the record number of Shokugeki which I'm sure you want to see, and also go into some of the relationships that have already been established by the time this story started (i.e. Megumi working with Shinomiya, what happened with Akira and Jun, etc.). The possible sequel (threequel?) will cover the next generation of Tōtsuki students (AKA their children). I'm still uncertain about this because it will probably be exclusively OCs and I'm not really supportive of that, but we'll see if that idea morphs over time.
REPLIES:
Demon Damian: That book is one of the few that I enjoyed reading in school :P The Sōma/Erina is slowly petering down mostly because Sōma is kind of avoiding Erina now in a sense? You'll see what I mean later. I never really thought about shipping Takumi with anyone because he's a pain in the butt in my opinion, and Ikumi's infatuation with Sōma is still hilarious to me xD Though she has long since outgrown it in this story! I slid a little Sōma/Erina because you asked for it :T Not really anything profound, though. | C-san: I update as fast as I can write n_n Sometimes that's super quick, sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks to muster enough inspiration to start up writing again. And Erina's task is far in the future. Sorry~ | NefCanuck: I don't know what made Takumi so annoying. I always preferred Isami :T And I imagine Megumi gave the speech with a warm smile that made everyone ignore the very decent threat that was underlying her words. It's her secret weapon of sorts, I guess. | Agnew (Guest): I keep up however I can. Erina is a hard girl to capture, I'll say that much. | Cat McHall: I draw inspiration from Inui not making Megumi do the 'I'm a loser' thing from the original canon Camp xD | Neroj: I see your critique and thank ye for the input :D That section will be edited as soon as there is a canon showing of how Eishi reacts to others' cooking. He has complete confidence in his own flavors, yes, but I can easily see him doubting his own opinion or the way he expresses his opinion when it comes to judging others' food. I just can't write Shinomiya-sama with a straight face, especially coming from Megumi xD Aaaand I've been taking more requests for this chapter because I had no idea what else to put in it, so here's Sōma with yet another disgusting dish! I also didn't mention this, but the strikes can be for literally anything and they're considered valid because usually it's the alumni that are dealing them out. Each strike also doesn't count in the dish counter, so they had to serve eighty servings, all of them perfect by the alumni's standards, all within the dinner rush with no buff guys to help them eat all of the food. It's a rather intense assignment, I'd say. | Just a guest (Guest): Ahhhhh that anime is on my queue :'D I have no time to watch the anime I want to... And I don't think Sōma's going to be getting a sibling in this story, sorry! It's a bit too hard to weave it in, at this point. Maybe another time? | Hinoiri Lwin: I'm going to have to disagree with you on that ship xD I haven't been able to catch up on Etoile yet, but I always thought of Shinomiya being Inui's grumpy big brother that's actually really protective of her on the inside but acts ornery and grumpy whenever she does something airheaded. (i definitely ship shinomiya with another character though) (cough cough my pairings are so weird) (i don't think anyone else ships them) (apart from sōma/erina) | Laury Rose: You will get an answer to your question about Megumi in this chapter! Everyone's pointing out Erina's absence, but there's both a logical and storyline reason behind that. Takumi has no back-up plans, which makes it hard for him to recover when someone points out a mistake. Like Sōma loves to do. And Akira isn't really *dating* said person but he's just more than slightly interested in her ;) I always saw Jun as Akira's older sister that's always supporting everything and occasionally needs him to fix her messes for him with slight motherly worry because he apparently has no friends his age. | Ken18 (Guest): Megumi has changed quite a bit, actually, though I'm not getting into that quite yet. | Gallian Squad 7: Thanks for your enthusiastic honesty :D If at any time you think I'm failing at everything you just said, go ahead and tear me apart so I can go back and fix my errors~ And I feel like everyone except for the authors of the actual manga ships Sōma/Erina. And EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD was made so I could go back and change tiny things to make it more waterproof. I hope it's working .-. | FoulIceQueen: WHOO! WRITING! | Blond Dude 42: Welcome back to the insanity and overdramatic foodgasms that is the Shokugeki fandom :D This story is definitely going to be a lot longer than just 9 chapters, good sir. Aaaand I don't want to say anything about their third year quite yet, but I'll say one thing: Sōma has more than a sturdy foundation for his affection towards Erina and is even more determined than ever to prove himself to her. He's just oblivious to the first part of that statement. Erina's a stubborn girl who doesn't want to give Sōma what he wants. It's complicated and ruled by teenage hormones.
"Maaaaan, I'm pooped!" Terunori groaned as he threw himself onto a sofa in the lobby area. "We were there for HOURS!" The cushion of the sofa muffled his outburst slightly as he buried his face into the plush couch.
"We were only supposed to be there for about thirty minutes, Kuga-san," Satoshi tried to placate. "It's not anyone's fault that all of the patrons wanted to talk to the alumni at some points in time. It's almost something to be anticipated."
Meanwhile, a more excitable alumnus was in the middle of a self-induced nervous breakdown. "Ahhhh, I can't just talk to people about what I'm going to do! It just stresses me out so much. How am I supposed to focus on how I want to run my own restaurant when everyone else wants to know the details I don't know yet? I don't even know what kind of glasses I want to get! I need to choose between three different types of glasses! And is there a way to get personalized heating and cooling for each table? I can't live up to their expectations if I tell them huge plans I can't achieve right now," Tsubasa fussed, turning paler than his already practically white complexion as he pulled at his hair and paced around the room.
"Tsubasa-senpai, that shouldn't be too big of a deal," Akira tried to placate. "They don't need to know whatever it is you're planning. They shouldn't expect that from you."
The pale man just walked off towards his room, muttering about preparing more paperwork and getting ready for the next day.
"Lazy munchkin," Nene muttered to Terunori as she walked past, followed by a few of the other younger alumni. "Too bad you can't have the same work ethic as Tsubasa-senpai."
"What was that?" The sprawled out chef slowly raised his face up and out of the chair to give her a death glare. Nene ignored him in favor of going to her room without talking to anyone else.
"Wow, this is nice," Megumi commented, looking around the expansive room with wonder in her eyes. "I can't believe that Dōjima-sama was thoughtful enough to give you such a nice floor. I remember just being in a hotel room, with no meeting spaces on the actual floors, as a student when we came here. And is that a perilla plant?" She practically ran over to the innocuous potted plant, one that the others had all ignored. She carefully lifted a leaf to her nose and inhaled deeply, sighing in pleasure at the fresh scent of the herb. "This must be well-kept! The leaf is healthy and the smell is just perfect."
"Yeah, Dōjima-san pulls out all of the stops when it comes to the alumni," Shinomiya commented, walking up behind Megumi. "So, any insanity happen after I left?"
"Hmm..." she turned around as she thought about the craziness that was Shino's. "Oh, that's right! Lapointe was trying to be you and order everybody around, but no one listened because they weren't sure whether to listen to your instructions to 'stay out of trouble and don't mess up' or to listen to him since he's the sous chef. The other chefs almost split in half out of their difference of opinions."
Shinomiya sighed. "That moron Lapointe. I'll have to straighten him out after this week," he grumbled under his breath.
"If you fire him, that's the fifth sous chef in the past three months you've gone through, sir," Megumi pointed out, ignoring the glare that Shinomiya then fixated her with and countermanding it with an innocent smile. "You should be careful before your reputation begins to take hits for it."
Before he could respond, Megumi heard someone call out her name from behind her. It was Sōma, who had immediately dashed into his room and reemerged with something in his hand. Why would he have a plastic container, a pair of chopsticks? Wait, this situation looked way too familiar for her liking.
"Heeey, Megumi-san! Do you want to try my newest dish?"
Yep. Exactly how she remembered.
"What's in it?" the woman asked cautiously.
"Am I really that bad?" he wondered rhetorically and aloud. He gave her a sly grin. "Come on, just try it out!" He shoved the container over towards her, conspicuously not answering her question.
"Sōma-san, we've known each other for almost a decade now, do you really think I'm going to fall for―" her words were cut off as Sōma picked up one of the unidentifiable ingredients, shoved the food into his own mouth, calmly chewed, and swallowed the morsel.
"See, not dangerous! Come on, just try it!"
"Don't do it!" Terunori called out dramatically from the couch. "Save yourself, Tadokoro-hida!"
Megumi decided to trust Sōma's judgment over Terunori's.
She immediately regretted her decision.
"YUKIHIRA SŌMA, WHAT THE HECK!" Megumi screamed, the food still barely chewed and sitting on the tip of her tongue as she frantically searched for a tissue to spit it out in.
Somehow Sōma managed to swallow another bit of it without flinching. "The dirt really adds a nice texture, don't you think?" he said conversationally, gritting his teeth in a forced grin.
"D-did you say... dirt?" Takumi stuttered out, staring at the container with a renewed disgust.
"Yep! Freshly harvested from the flowerbeds! I made sure that there was no fertilizer in it, don't worry about that," Sōma said while hiding a snigger behind the heel of his hand.
"Well, how are you eating it so easily?!" Takumi asked, staring in disbelief at the food in the container.
"There are some ginger pieces in there to clear your palate," Sōma explained. "I call it 'Roots in the Soil, Yukihira-style!'" The others didn't know whether to smack themselves or smack Sōma.
"Are you terrorizing everyone with your food again, Yukihira-kun?" Everyone in the room turned to see Erina walk out of the hall leading towards the baths. She was wearing a long yet simple bathrobe and had her hair carefully folded into a towel on her head, arms crossed across her chest. Sōma stiffened at the sight but had the decency to look her in the eyes and not elsewhere.
"Come on, Erina, it's not that bad," Sōma said, holding his arms out in a placating manner and nearly knocking the barely-food into the wall.
"Dirt?" she said, elongating the syllable to emphasize her disdain.
"It's full of essential minerals for the human body's development!" Sōma rattled off, beaming at her and giving her a thumbs-up. Erina shook her head, muttered something that sounded like "plebian boy" under her breath, and walked away. Sōma shrugged at her obvious indifference before turning back to his other peers, grinning somewhat sadistically.
"It's also full of worm crap," Ikumi commented, looking unimpressed and taking a fearful step back when Yukihira approached the small group while holding his food.
"You guys have no inspiration," Sōma complained loudly, holding the container in front of him in a way that should have made the food seem more enticing if it were anything but one of his concoctions.
"You have no taste buds," Akira retorted, pushing Sōma's hand out of the way in order to get to his room.
"Spoilsports, all of you," Sōma muttered, not bothering to hide his gleeful expression any longer. "I still got you to try it, Megumi. What're your opinions?"
"Never again will I eat anything you offer me," she responded earnestly, using the napkin in her hand to carefully dust off her tongue, minutes after she had spat it out.
"Even the good food?" Ikumi asked with some surprise.
"Even the good food." She checked her watch and gasped, saying, "I should get going. My plane will arrive in a couple of hours."
As the blue-haired chef waved her good-byes and left the lobby, only Sōma noticed the light that flashed off of her hand for a split second. The observation made his face split into a huge grin as he waved to Megumi with even more vigor than before.
"FINALLY!"
The pink-brunette flopped onto her friend's bed, groaning as she did so.
"Are you okay, Minami-san?" the friend in question asked.
"Do you know how long it took me to get that one chicken recipe down?" the girl bemoaned. "I'll tell you: too long! I'm sure whichever alumni assigned that one was ready to smack me across the face when he saw another one of my dishes get pulled off of the table because it wasn't fresh anymore!"
Meanwhile, a couple of floors away, Akira was inhaling the sharp, sweet scent of one of the cinnamon sticks that Sōma had given him when a cold chill ran up his spine. He shivered violently, nearly falling off of his chair as he did so. Akira squirmed for a second longer before glancing across the room, wondering what had made him feel so uncomfortable all of a sudden.
"We all struggled with that dish," the friend reminded her. She ran a hand through her dark hair, sinking deep into thought.
"You didn't," the pink-brunette grumbled. "I'm ready to die now," Umiko continued rambling on. "It's only been two days, and I don't think any of the chefs even acknowledged me. I mean, look at you! You've got at least two alumni in your corner! They love your cooking, Mun-san!"
Seoyun giggled at that. "Well, I will admit, I was surprised with how many of them seemed to genuinely like what I make."
Before Umiko could answer, someone knocked on the door. Seoyun didn't seem surprised by the interruption. She merely got up and opened it, glancing at who was outside.
"Oh, you guys are finally done," she said in an upbeat conversational tone.
"Speak for yourself, Mun-san," a boy muttered as he shoved past her. "I'm beat. The kid next to me got a strike because his plating was unbalanced. Who judges on that? Isn't it the flavors? I don't understand the alumni."
"Yamaguchi-san, you're not falling asleep in here or I'll have to tell one of the staff," Seoyun deadpanned.
"Don't be a spoilsport, Mun-san!" a girl said as she bounced in after him. Two other boys followed her silently, mischievous expressions decorating both of their faces. "I'm sure that you would be just as tired as Yamaguchi-san if you had to redo a bunch of dishes as well."
"The alumni are tough!" Kaede sighed out, flopping onto the ground and rolling over onto his back. His bright orange hair slumped on the carpet as well, as if physically exhausted. "Especially the younger ones. The Jewels."
Immediately, the tone of the room shifted.
"Tell me about it," Seoyun said with a serious expression. "The final nine students believing that their numbers would decrease even more and fighting practically every week or so over their positions so they weren't outdone. I can't believe that they even survived."
"You know, that Yukihira guy wasn't always the 'Son of the Devil' the way that the critics all say. They say he had a different name at school, though practically everyone's forgotten it except for the alumni in his class," another boy offered to them.
"He sure acts like it," Umiko said with a shudder. "He's expelled a lot of students. I think he expelled more than all of the other alumni. And for the oddest reasons, sometimes. People not wanting to cook? I mean, I can't imagine that, but it seems kind of harsh to me."
"He has high expectations," Seoyun said stubbornly. "He treated us like actual chefs. The others are treading on eggshells around us, letting some people slide when they didn't exactly hit the mark."
"That new one, the one that came today, was a total babe though!" one of the other boys said with a dreamy sigh. "Can't believe she's almost nine years older than us!"
"I'd let her be my goddess of the harvest," the last boy agreed. "She sure is bountiful enough to be called Japan's Demeter, as well."
"Well, it sucks for you two, since she's already taken," another voice at the (still open) door piped up. All six children in the room glanced over to see a boy with dark hair standing outside of the door.
"Hey, Shen-san! Come on in!" Umiko called out, waving at him. He blinked before awkwardly stepping into the room, eyes trained on the floor.
"Come on, first finisher, have some more confidence in yourself!" the third girl said with a foxy grin.
"I'm not that great," Adrian muttered, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. He tried his hardest to push the conversation with Dōjima that he had in the bath to the back of his mind. The older man had spoken of how the last person to manage to meet him at the baths was Yukihira Sōma himself, which made Adrian freak out because he didn't want to be compared with one of the food giants and such. Dōjima had been rather confused by that.
"You finished first out of all of us," Seoyun pointed out, bursting his unwelcome memory. "That's great enough."
Adrian just shook his head morosely.
"Anyhow, more importantly, what do you mean by 'taken', dude?" one of the other boys said impatiently.
"I mean that she's got a partner already," Adrian responded. Their collective responses were blank or incredulous faces. "You didn't notice the engagement ring on her left hand?"
"Damn," the two boys swore at the same time, deflating.
"How did you notice?" Umiko asked curiously.
"I went up to them to ask a question and she was openly wearing it. They're all surprisingly friendly to one another, the Jewels are. They were in the middle of heckling Chef Aldini over the fact that he apparently wrote out the speech that they collectively gave. Chef Yukihira seems to be the most relaxed of all, which directly contradicts the focused attitude he adopts in the kitchen. Chef Hayama is always serious, though he seems more than absorbed in his own thoughts rather than disliking the others. I don't know about Chef Nakiri or Chef Mito, since they weren't judging us today, but I'd wager that they have just as close a relationship with them. I think that some of the other alumni are close as well, since they all had to survive Tōtsuki. I would think that being in the final handful of students in the Academy requires you to get closer, especially if you're in the Elite Ten the way they all were."
A moment of silence passed as the other students slowly comprehended how Adrian, who had been the quietest person in the room, suddenly rattled off so many observations that had simply passed the others by. Adrian noticed their amazement and immediately began to squirm under the unwanted attention.
"That's impressive," Seoyun said, leaning back, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Didn't really expect that from you, Shen-san."
"Thanks..?" Adrian said carefully, not sure whether to construe the comment as a compliment or criticism.
"That Chef Isshiki though!" Umiko burst out. "Coming through the ceiling at us! That was ridiculous!"
"Through the ceiling?" Adrian and the third girl asked, blinking.
"He found a tile that was retractable and travelled via the ceiling, jumped through the tile, and landed on his chef's table today. I could have sworn he jumped out just wearing his apron, but he landed wearing surprisingly formal clothing underneath the apron, so I'm not sure what I saw there."
"You're not alone in seeing just the apron," Umiko piped up. "He confuses me."
"That guy is my hero now," Kaede said from the ground. "Imagine if you could just walk around with just an apron on! That would be the best prank ever!"
Satoshi, clad in only his fundoshi as per usual, sneezed violently in his room. As he recovered from the explosive sneeze, blinking rapidly, someone knocked on his door. He opened it to see Sōma on the other side.
"Oh, hello there, Yukihira-kun!" Satoshi said happily.
"Just asking if you wanted any tea," Sōma said. "Also, bless you."
"Ah thank you to both, but no for the tea. It's strange. I don't think I'm getting sick."
"Odd. Alright, good night, senpai."
Seoyun rolled her eyes. "The day you do that is the day I use your skin and liver in my stock."
Kaede shrank away from the threat. "Mun-chaaaaaan, you're so scaaaaaryyyyy," he groaned.
"Yaaaaaamaaaaguuuuchiiii-kuuuuun, if you weren't an idiot, I wouldn't have to be," Seoyun responded in the same tone of voice.
"Is this normal?" Adrian asked Umiko, gesturing between the two of them.
"Unfortunately," Umiko said with a sigh.
"Anyhow, I can understand how Mun-san was the next to finish, since she's got practice serving others and working as efficiently as possible, but how did Yamaguchi-san manage to stay right on my heels?" Adrian asked the pink-brunette.
"Yamaguchi-kun is actually quite the smart boy," Umiko said as the other two boys leapt onto Kaede and started wrestling with him while Seoyun and the girl tried to pull them apart frantically. "Actually, strike that. He's not smart at all. He's adaptive."
"Adaptive?" Adrian enunciated.
"Mhmm. Maybe you can't tell by looking at him, but he's American. Half-Japanese, half-French-American. He grew up in Los Angeles and was surrounded by all types of different cuisine, as well as the nascent movement towards fusion cooking. He's a master of thinking on the spot, gradually getting better and better at whatever he was doing until he has perfected it to the point at which it's become instinct. He's worked at Ethiopian, French, Chinese, Thai, and Mexican restaurants since he was eight, and now he's trained at blending any two of them together. Kind of scary, really."
Adrian looked at the orange-haired boy who was cackling maniacally beneath a pile of other bodies. "I wouldn't have guessed at first glance."
Umiko huffed. "No one would. He's a doofus."
"That's one way to put it."
"Yes, I'm at the airport now." Pause. "No, I didn't get into that much trouble."
An angered voice on the other side of the line. The woman smiled gently as she leaned back into the stiff seat she was sitting in. "He didn't do anything crass, love." The voice on the other side quieted down, sounding almost embarrassed. "Why would he? It wasn't ever anything more than an infatuation, and even then, it was one-sided on my part."
A calmer voice greeted her now. "Yes, I've got about fifty minutes until my plane is due to come in. I'll sleep on the plane." Pause. "You don't have to worry about me. I can manage."
The woman smiled, playing with one of her trademark navy blue braids. A light blush dusted her cheeks at the voice's final words. "I love you too. I'll see you soon."
The line went dead. The woman put her phone away quietly before glancing at the sapphire ring on her left hand, gently kissing it, and waiting for her plane to arrive.
...I'm really grabbing at straws with Kuga's nickname for Megumi. According to Google, 'hida' is 'plait' in Japanese. I am ashamed that that was the best I could come up with orz
also thanks to adrian for explaining the glint because i didn't want to wait a few chapters to reveal that plot thing :) yes, megumi is happily engaged. and yes, you know who her fiance is. that is all. Adrian's also completely wrong about Erina in terms of the Jewels xD can't get it all right. If you're confused, Adrian doesn't live at Polar Star. He just overheard the conversation, offered his two cents, and was invited into their little gang's discussion. That be all.
Also! I'm going to need a few more OCs to fill Polar Star. That's the only reason why there are generic girls and boys in the students' section. I'm planning to come back to this chapter and their descriptions with names and characteristics.
Sorry for this extremely boring chapter! The next one will be eons more entertaining (and a lot more ship-happy)
-Shriayle