A/N: Well it's been ages since I updated this… I'm sorry. I was all Shokugekied out after the Halloween Special, which I hope you enjoyed.
I think this fic may go all the way until the end of the series now. Which, well, I think is possible by the looks of things.
Also, attention, I have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"
Disclaimer: I do not own Shokugeki no Sōma. And every time I read this manga, I get hungry.
"Hm… What should I pack…?" Alice asked herself as she walked around her walk-in closet. The closet was packed with designer clothing and different styles of accessories from several different areas all over the world. One wall was devoted entirely to jewelry. She wasn't paying any attention to those though. No good chef would wear jewelry while cooking. She was focused on the wall dedicated to shoes. Behind her, Ryō was leaning against the door and looking at his feet in defeat. "Any ideas, Ryō-kun?"
"Hm?" Ryō took a quick glance around the room before shrugging indifferently. "Does it matter, ojou-sama? You look good in everything."
"Obviously," Alice huffed and turned to glare at Ryō. "But I can't take everything, now can I? Now get in here and help me look. Then carry it all downstairs to the limo. Oh, and be sure to make lunch too, ok?"
"Right…" Ryō slowly trudged into the closet and started to look around. Or at least, he pretended to be giving some consideration. He had long ago learned that no matter what he picked, Alice would pick something else. As it was, it wasn't worth putting thought into his choice. Alice would pick something totally different regardless. All he could do now was pray that it would end soon.
"As it is, we have a lot of work to do," Alice continued, happy to see that Ryō was finally proving useful. "The training camp schedule is out. Everything will be done by dinner every day, except for the last day for some reason. So that gives us quite some free time after the challenges to do what we want. We'll need some entertainment while we're there. I may order a big screen TV to my room so I can watch some of my shows. You can come watch too, Ryō-kun."
"Thank you, ojou-sama." Ryō said dutifully. He wouldn't be taking her up on that offer though. If he came, he would be forced to watch nothing but her shows. And there was only so much Korean Drama that he could handle.
Alice hummed thoughtfully as she continued to look at her clothing options. She needed to make sure that she looked good during her off time while at Tōtsuki Resort. Even if it was for the purpose of a training camp, it was still being held at a very expensive resort. It would definitely be in her best interest to be dressed up at every possible opportunity, just in case. Still, it was harder than she thought it would be picking clothes for this. Even if it was only for a week, it would be their first week away from school as high school students. Plus, it was a chance to show off her cooking skills to Erina and Sōma.
'What?' Alice stopped and thought back. 'Why did I think of showing off to Yukihira Sōma-kun?'
That was new. Usually, she only thought about Erina whenever she thought about showing off her cooking skills. Sometimes she thought about the other Elite 10 members too. But Yukihira Sōma? He was just a passing interest for her. Why would she care what he thought of her cooking? Well, it did matter a bit to her. After all, she wants everyone to recognize that her cooking is the best. Sōma cooked really boring food anyways. It may be really tasty, but the presentation is so boring.
Alice bit her lip at the reminder. Sōma did cook pretty well. He was definitely above and beyond most of the other students in their year. It was obvious he wasn't a mere rock. It was too soon to say if he is a jewel or not. But at the very least, he wasn't like the rest. It bothered her that he was so plebeian yet he managed to somehow cook so well. He was from a small diner, he shouldn't be so competent. And yet, he had managed to impress teachers and beat Ikumi like it was nothing. Alice saw the effort that he put into his work, but others thought that he wasn't even trying. It was pitiful how the other students looked down on him even though they were so obviously beneath him. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't put them in their place. If things progressed like this, she would need to do it for him. And when she did…
"Ojou-sama?" Ryō asked after realizing that Alice had just spent a few minutes standing still and doing nothing. "Are you alright?"
"Peachy!" Alice lied smoothly, blinking rapidly after being dragged from her train of thought. "Never better. You know what, Ryō-kun? I think that I will think on what I want to bring. Let's forget about packing for now. We still have a few days. I'm going on a walk. Goodbye."
And with that, she quickly left. She barely managed to remember to grab her phone before she all but ran from her room, leaving Ryō alone.
Ryō stared blankly at her quickly retreating figure before looking back at the pile of clothes on top of her suitcase. Sighing to himself, he decided to walk over and finish packing it for her. She could bitch at him later if she didn't like his choices. He was sure that these choices would suffice though. After all, no one knew her better than him. Unfortunately.
Alice browsed through her messages as she walked around campus. She decided to just stay outside since it was such a good day. Also, it would lessen the chance of her seeing people she would rather not see. Like Sōma. Well, that was a lie. She did want to see him, but not right now.
"Hey!" Sōma's voice called out from a distance.
Of course, the universe wasn't that kind.
"Good afternoon, Yukihira-kun." Alice greeted once Sōma was close enough to hear her.
"What brings you out here today, Alice-san?" Sōma asked, not used to seeing Alice outside of class. Actually, aside from his first day at Tōtsuki, he had never seen her outside of class. That was a bit weird. Well, then again, it was a gigantic campus. He had gotten lost quite a few times already when Tadokoro wasn't around.
"Can't a girl enjoy some fresh air?" Alice retorted with a shrug. "But what about you, Yukihira-kun? Shouldn't you be preparing for the training camp like the other students? It's pretty difficult, from what I have heard."
"Eh?" Sōma scratched his head thoughtfully. "I've heard that half of this generation may fail. But that's no big deal, right? I mean, we just need to be in the half that passes. That shouldn't be too difficult."
"What a simplistic outlook," Alice commented with a slight smile. "But you're not wrong. I was actually just deciding what to bring there earlier. I'm on a break now."
"Same here," Sōma laughed at the coincidence. "I figured that it would be proactive to bring some of my own entertainment along."
"You're bringing games?" Alice's eyes sparkled. "Oh, which games? No, don't tell me. I want to be surprised when we're there."
"If you say so," Sōma grinned. "You should totally come to Marui's room. We'll probably be playing games there every night."
"Really?" Alice tried to picture who Sōma had just mentioned. If she recalled correctly, he was the one with glasses who tired easily. "I didn't think he was the type to be into partying late at night."
"Oh, he's not at all." Sōma agreed, recalling how Zenji was always the first to lose consciousness during the parties at the Polar Star Dorm. He was sure that eventually Zenji would become resilient enough to last the whole night and not get tired. It would just take some more parties until it happened. Well, they had three years to work on it.
"Riiight," Alice nodded, getting where Sōma was coming from. "He'll get used to it eventually."
"That's what I was thinking!" Sōma exclaimed excitedly. He was glad that someone else agreed with his thought process. "So it would be great if you'd stop by. Oh, and you can bring your aide too if you want. The more the merrier, after all. Do you two like card games?"
"We like all kinds of games," Alice fibbed. She actually didn't have much practice with playing regular games. Most of the time, she would play high society games with her mother and father. Activities like horseback riding, cricket, etc. But regular games with regular kids? There weren't any kids in the lab at Denmark. The only other kid she had known was Ryō, and he didn't count that much. Besides, their whole interaction consisted mainly of cook-offs. As such, she was almost as clueless as Erina when it came to social interactions, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. "So we'll be up for anything."
"Great!" Sōma said. Now he definitely had to bring some cards along. It would be fun seeing how good Alice was. Tadokoro was practically an open book with no poker face at all. Satoshi was… impossible. It would be nice to have some new blood to play with them. "I'll text you the room number after we find out."
"Right…" Alice murmured. She was actually going to see if she could figure that out beforehand. If possible, she'd move her room and Ryō's room to the same floor as Sōma's to make things easier. She would be annoyed if she had to go up or down a few floors to go there and then get back to go to sleep. It shouldn't be that difficult. All that she had to do was sweet talk her grandfather into allowing it. Easy.
"So what should we do now?" Sōma asked.
"Excuse me?" Alice blinked and turned to stare at Sōma.
"Well neither of us seem to be in the mood to pack," Sōma explained after seeing her perplexed look. "So let's do something fun. Got any ideas?"
"Oh," Alice turned and looked around. There were a bunch of things they could do. But unfortunately, most of it needed her power as a Nakiri. She wanted to avoid that in front of him as much as she could for now. "I suppose we could find an empty kitchen and make some test dishes?"
Alice turned to check Sōma's reaction. Seeing his wide grin, she smirked back in response. "I guess you're ok with that."
"I'm more than ok with it," Sōma said positively. If there was something that he would never be bored with, it would be cooking. "I've been wanting to see you cook for ages now anyways."
"Really?" Alice rolled her eyes at his response. Although inwardly, she was pleased that he appeared to be almost as curious as to her cooking as she was to his. "Don't expect too much though. My specialty is reserved for matches."
"So what you're saying is that we should have a Shokugeki?" Sōma asked after a moment.
"Someday," Alice laughed at the thought. It was way too soon for something like that. Besides, she wanted to see if he was worth it before challenging him. And even then, she would probably only fight him over a seat in the Elite 10 Council. Anything else wouldn't really be worth it. "For now, let's just get some practice in before the camp starts. It should be enough to keep us occupied for a while. I doubt the two of us need much practice, after all."
"Fine," Sōma untied his headband in preparation. Even if it was practice, he would do his best to cook something better than her. He had a feeling that she would do the same too. "Lead the way."
"Gladly." Alice smirked and led her towards a secluded kitchen that Ryō was fond of. She was sure that they wouldn't be disturbed there. In addition, she would be able to see Sōma's cooking up close again. She only hoped that he showed the same promise that he did in his match against Ikumi. If he didn't, well, she would just have to show him why it was a bad thing to disappoint a Nakiri.
OMAKE
"… What the Hell?" Sōma asked out loud as he looked at the training camp.
It was said to be a training camp, but it looked an awful lot like a boot camp. A boot camp from Hell, that is. It seemed to be straight out of the Army's unofficial handbook. There were trenches, tires, walls, and ropes. The obstacle course looked like some sort of a torture device. That was the best part though. The hotel looked to be a bunch of carved out trees. The tables and seats were all rocks of various shapes. And the ingredients they would use? Sōma was pretty sure that they would have to be caught if the traps and spears leaning off to the side were anything to go by.
Beside him, the rest of the students looked around them in shock and confusion.
"GREETINGS STUDENTS!" The loud voice of Nakiri Senzaemon bellowed as he stood above them all on a platform overlooking the area. "Welcome to the Tōtsuki Training Camp. Here, your bodies will be trained to be able to handle any situation that may come up in a restaurant. Whether it is a rowdy customer causing issues to a bull on the loose causing property damage. Here, you will all become strong!"
Sōma suddenly heard something shatter. He didn't bother to turn to see what it was. He was pretty sure that it was either Zenji Marui's heart or mind that just broke. Maybe both.
A/N: So there we have it. It looks like Alice is starting to think a bit more of our dear Sōma.
I'm wondering if I should wait and have Alice's mom show up when she did in the manga. Or if I should have her show up sooner, like in a phone call. Well, at the earliest, she'd call before the preliminaries for the Autumn Election.
The training camp will be starting in the next chapter. How do you think Alice will react to seeing Takumi greet Sōma? Haha, well you'll see soon enough.
Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.