Sleeping soundly with a pleasant smile a Japanese chef with a scar over his left eye was having a deep dream when it was interrupted by a booming voice "Good morning Souma-kun! Today's a nice morning right?"

Rising from slumber the chef wondered why he was being called "I want you to help me with something! Can you come outside once you're dressed?" Souma turned to the speaker and sighed.

Souma fell back onto the bed "I stayed up late last night, call someone else…" he began to snore.

"Don't say that!" the ceiling tiles moved revealing the hazel haired senpai.

"You were there!"

Getting changed Souma headed out and saw Yuki dressed as well "Yukihira! You got called too?" she yawned.

"You too? What are we helping with anyway?"

"It's harvesting time out in the vegetable fields behind the dorm" she explained smiling.

"Oh… So he even grows his own ingredients"

"There's a lot of people who do that kind of thing here" she grinned "Ibusuki cuts the wood he uses for smoking himself, Ryouko's specialty is cooking using 'Shiokouji' so, she has her own workshop close to the dorm" She pointed in the direction where her own pen should be "Like France has Bresse chicken, I've been trying to make 'Polar Star Chicken' so I've been grazing and raising them myself"

Slowly they got behind the dorm "And now, The field managed mainly by Isshiki-senpai!" widening her arms she showed him the field "A plantation where ten different species of vegetables grow!"

Gazing around in fascination Souma caught sight of a figure plowing away at the ground.

"Good morning, Souma-kun, Yoshino-kun! Doing manual labor in the morning makes your heart healthy!" standing tall and proud with with only a Fundoshi over his lower half "Let's work up some sweat together!"

"I don't know why but that suits the guy" Sai sighed making the pair jump out in surprise.

"Shiokawa-san! When did you get there!" Yuki cried.

"A few seconds ago senpai asked me to come out here after I finish running with some light breakfast" in his hand was a paper bag.

Seeing them, Megumi came over "Look, Souma-kun! We could pick this much" she said happily.

"Tadokoro, you were here too?" Souma asked and looked over her appearance "This time… it suits her in a relieving way"

"Megumi is the polar star's refreshment" Yuki agreed confusing the farm girl.

"Now, My friends come here!" their senpai gathered them in one place "Knowing how ingredients ripen is part of the study of cooking. This is the polar star field or you can also call it Isshiki field if you want!" he said "Here, have a bite" he handed Souma and Sai one of his products.

Taking a bite out of it Souma's face filled with delight "It's firm and really sweet! I would really like a stock of this back home!" he grinned "It's amazing you can get this kind of quality!" he smiled.

Sai took a second bite and licked the juices off his lips "The peel is pretty easy to penetrate but it's still just enough to contain and grow the vegetable" he looked around the field. Even though he ran around them a number of times he never actually took a good look inside.

No fruit trees but that's to be expected but there was still a chance they had water melons or something. I wonder if this place grows potatoes.

"Well, I've been so devoted to this, I haven't had time to go to any of my classes lately"

"That doesn't sound right for an elite ten member" Sai sighed wondering how he picked a fight with guy.

"Besides, Shiokawa I've been wondering what's in the bag" Yuki asked.

"Breakfast. It's hard to do stuff in the morning without a wake up call right?" Sai took out a semi-flat cylinder.

"Hey is this…" Souma took one.

"Breakfast burrito" they stared at him "I was in a rush okay? You said as soon as possible" they each took one and bit into it.

Their eyes widened tearing out a chunk of flavor "What is this? It's really good!" Yuki exclaimed. Inside was the juicy texture of lightly grilled meat supplemented by the sweet melting flavor of scrambled eggs, a light salsa sauced was mixed in with parsley and mushrooms. But there was still some deeper texture inside.

"The wrapping is kinda sweet don't you think?" Souma asked taking another one.

"I kneaded the it with some dried peaches I found" Sai replied "I also added some onion and garlic to balance out the sweetness variables"

Yuki finished hers and gave the aluminum wrapping back to him "Now let's get to to the harvesting!" Satoshi declared after they finished eating.

With the sun blaring overhead the group began simple farming work when Shuu and Ryoko came over to held.

Getting up Souma patted his back "Ah my hips hurt"

"Are you an old man?" Sai commented while Yuki was complaining about food.

"Everyone! Lunch is here!" Megumi called everyone together.

"Oh you made something Tadokoro?"

She nodded with a bright smile "I woke up early to make it" she put down the wrapped box and opened it.

Looking inside they Souma grinned "After working in the fields we eat Onigiri huh?"

Yuki enthusiastically put her hands together "Itadakimasu!" she grabbed one and took a bite "Delicious! It's Negishiodare, right?" with a delighted smile Yuki took another bite "By dressing the boiled chicken breast in negishiodare the sauce spreads all over the surface of the onigiri!"

"It's well known that after working the human body craves salty flavors" Sai remembered biting into it.

"This one has Konbu! It's pretty standard for Onigiri" Satoshi took the next one and took a bite. Widening his eyes the Fundoshi-senpai exclaimed "Konbu tsukudani and cheese?"

"Yes! Tsukudani's rich sweetness unexpectedly goes well with chess"

"What's the last one!" Souma couldn't hold back and grabbed it "Amazing! I can't get enough of this garlic taste!"

"You see, that one is pork pickled with garlic and honey!" Megumi explained "I boiled pork back ribs until the meat got soft, then I lit it pickle for one day inside a mix of miso,sake, and honey. It goes really well with rice so I cut it into small bits and made Onigiri with it" With a expression of bliss she took out drinks "I also have barely tea and roasted green tea so drink the one you prefer"

Everyone took a cup and entered a calm tranquil state of mind "To bring peace to the people who eat it, this is the charm of Tadokoro-chan's cooking" Satoshi exhaled.

"The Chicken breast isn't dried out and the pork's softness is just right! These were all carefully done!" Souma complimented but then gave Megumi a curious look "Why can't you do this in classes?"

Megumi shot back as if hit by an arrow "I… have stage fright… when I get nervous I can't think and make mistakes…" with gloom hovering above her Sai patted Souma's shoulder.

"You really hit it where it hurts, don't you"

Souma shrugged "Don't worry, you just have to relax with you cook Tadokoro!"

Yuki shot up her arms "Yeah! Megumi-chan will become a great chef and if not a great wife!" she cried out but the cloud of gloom remained.

While they were laughing to each other Sai bit into the second onigiri "Cheese… maybe I should try some new mixture for the breakfast dish" Sai remembered that dish he made for Erina. He always thought cheese would work really well but tried a bunch of different methods and still didn't get a satisfactory result.

"Come to think of it I haven't worked on it for a while" he was going to have to get back to that.

After finishing out in the field they all brought in vegetables and Sai grabbed a packet that was at the front gate "Hey! The school sent us something!" he gave them the folder and Yuki's eyes fell.

"It finally came…" dred couldn't be hidden from her voice.

"What's this?" Souma asked seeing the packet.

It was a stapled packet with a funny looking cartoon character and a dog of some kind, pointing out to the future.

"Training Lodging? I kind of heard about it" Sai never did get the details.

"You guys had them in primary and middle school too, right? It's an outdoor trip for a few days" Yuki explained.

"American kid here" Sai pointed out.

"Oh! So Tootsuki even has events like this too" Souma smiled but then pointed at Megumi "If that's it, why is Tadokoro trembling? The smile she had before seems like a lie"

Pure white with an expression equivalent to death standing before her eyes. Gloom and negative weren't enough to describe the aura of hopelessness coming from her.

"Well you see, this training camp is the first hell the freshman students are thrown into!" Yuki's eyes shook "All of the first year students are assigned with rigorous cooking trials everyday on the training lodging, located in the middle of mountains people say that anyone that doesn't get a passing mark are instantly expelled right there!"

The people who knew what it was trembled "It's called the friendship and rapport training lodging but in reality it's the 'Cruel elimination' training lodging!"

"This is Tootsuki's competitive education. The academy director would probably say, the 'jewel' selection has now begun!" Satoshi warned them having already gone through it.

"Right you're a senpai" they forgot for a bit.

"Yes" he nodded still wearing only a Fundoshi "Even in my generation, every day dozens of students were expelled it was truly a tragedy"

"It seems that a few years ago the number of first year students was less than 50% after this training camp" Shuu recalled a rumor.

"Everyone…" they heard a low voice "Thanks from everything you've done for me" Megumi's body couldn't take it anymore and fell down onto Yuki's arms

"She finally fell!" Yuki panicked "Megumi!"

Reading through the packet Souma looked over the rules "We can bring card decks and board games… portable game consoles are no good though" he flipped the page "Isn't the bath time a bit short?"

"Hey! Yukihira! Aren't you getting a little to careless? Megumi is even speaking her last words!" Yuki screamed as Sai gave her some warm tea and a towel he grabbed.

"I've never been on a school wide camping trip" setting those things down Sai went over and looked over Souma's shoulder "Does it say anything against fireworks?" they began discussing the trip.

"These two transfer idiots!" Yuki couldn't take it.

"What are you talking about? Half survives, right?" Souma turned the page "We just have to be in the surviving half" as if stating an everyday fact Souma wasn't fazed at all.

"You said we can be expelled at any moment right? Isn't it always like that here?" Sai pointed out taking the packet.

They looked at each other utterly stunned "I'm confident too" Satoshi smiled "That the polar star dorm will come back safely. Until then leave the house to Fumio-san and I" with a charismatic smile he spoke again "You all should just do your best!"

Ryoko smiled "He's right"

"These guys can actually say some pretty useful things!" Yuki's eyes burned in anticipation "We are the polar star dorms members! We'll clear that training camp with ease!" she decided.

That night after putting the few things he needs in a bag Sai sat on top of the roof right above his room reading the copy of the packet Fumio made "Expulsion on the slightest mistake… this would be the perfect time to leave" he muttered listening to music "Man… I really don't want to go just yet" he cursed to himself wondering what everyone back home was doing.

Over the preparation time everyone slowly got themselves ready for the trip and when it finally came "Aren't there just a few too many busses?" Just from seeing them and simple math clearly showed there was a lot of free space on each bus "It couldn't just be to show off, right?" there was definitely another reason but he couldn't figure it out.

"Doesn't matter" Souma grinned "It's time! Let's go to the Friendship and Rapport Training Camp of Hell!" he declared leading the polar star dorm.