Chapter 26: Sweet Dreams
Uptown Area, Moon Festival Day 1
Today was Wednesday, the first day of the Moon Festival. Every club and chef that chose to participate were making their final preparations, including Momo "Le Génie Doux" Akanegakubo and Trina "Der Weisse Fuchs des Aromas" Furman-Nakiri. Currently, they were doing a final inventory check.
[A/N: I apologize to anyone who speaks German or French for my Google translate work. But the nicknames are "The Sweet Genius" and "The White Fox of the Flavor" respectively.]
"Do we have 7 pounds of saffron?" Momo typed on her iPad.
"Check" Trina texted back.
"All the strawberries have been accounted for?"
"Yes Chef"
"All the flour, sugar, and salt organized and stack?"
"Yes Chef"
"Did you get Momo a step ladder?"
"Hold on, it's still in my car" Trina typed. She immediate walked out to the booth area, which was located in the French-style vineyard owned jointly by the Nakiri family and the Monet family, another food mafia located in France.
"Hmm, it seems everything is in order" Momo thought to herself.
"Alright, I got the step ladder" Trina said vocally, "What do you want to next?"
"Can you get started on making the Strawberry and Saffron cupcakes? This will be our most popular item for the week." Momo texted.
"Right away, Chef" Trina typed back. Without haste, Trina began creating the batter. These particular cupcakes were split into two ways: The cupcake was laced with bits of strawberry while the frosting contained saffron. As a decoration, edible gold powder is scattered across the frosting. Now since running a pastry booth in the middle of the uptown area was a bit difficult, a tailored wine menu was crafted by Trina and she paired every single item with a wine. On a side note, the fact Trina was one of the best sommeliers on campus made her highly sought after, but most requests she declined so she could focus on being a proper sous chef for Momo, Nene, and Soumei.
[A/N: A sommelier is a wine steward and is responsible for tailoring wine menus for high class restaurants]
Anyway, the tailored wine selection would help the booth circumvent the 5,000 yen sale minimum requirement of the uptown area; this is where food and drink cost between 5000 yen to infinite yen. In addition, having wine with dessert caused a natural slow down in consumption as people loved to consume sweets and wine at the same rate. This meant Momo only needed one or two sous chefs with her, which was Trina for today and Xavier Bouchard for the rest of the festival.
"Can you check the batter?" Trina texted. Momo nodded towards her sous chef and glanced at the stirring bowl.
"Looks fine" Momo typed back.
"Danke" Trina texted, "May I ask you something?"
"Ummmm...ok?"
"How do you get along with Xavier Bouchard?"
"Oh? Momo has known him since middle school. He and Momo are good friends, since he's one of the few people who can truly respect Momo's craft."
"Ah, I see" Trina typed before pausing for a bit, "Yeah, I can empathize with you on that point. Not a lot of people can appreciate and understand the sophistication of the confectionery profession."
"Indeed. It's one of the reasons Momo voted in favor of replacing the director" Momo typed while sending an angry emote.
"You want to teach the whole school your craft?" Trina typed with a smirk on her face.
"Exactly, Momo wants her specialty to be praised and known by all the students" Momo typed before pausing a bit, "And to do away the wasteful shokugeki system."
"Oh? You're not a fan of shokugekis?"
"No, Momo is not a fighter. Rather be left alone to cook in peace. And some...chefs are very, very scary in shokugeki" Momo shuttered at some memories.
"I see" Trina typed. For the next hour, Trina and Momo cooked in silence as most of the uptown patrons hadn't arrived yet. By the time people arrived to the both, the cupcakes were already in the cooled display. Other treats included chocolate dipped fruits, an array of mousses, and delicate doughnuts.
"Trina, can you work on the gelatos and the cakes, especially the Gelato Black Forest Cake?" Momo typed.
"Yes Chef"
"Good, Momo will work on the tarts, custards, and puddings. At 5 o'clock, Momo will need your help with the glass candy demonstration."
"Aye Chef" Trina typed back. She quickly went to work on Momo's Gelato Black Forest Cake, which used blueberry and pomegranate gelatos. This gave off a bolder flavor, like being in the redwoods of California. It was paired with a light white wine to contrast with the deep flavor. Time seemed to flow quickly as the two worked diligently and before they knew it, the clock reached five.
"Trina, can you start prepping the glass candy in the order Momo listed?" Momo texted.
"Yes Chef" Trina typed back. Glass Candy was a delicate procedure and took a lot of skill to pull off, particularly at the cooling stage. One minor mistake could ruin an entire pot's worth of sugar cane. It was an art that Momo outclassed everyone in, gaining international recognition.
"The clear glass is ready!" Trina shouted after 15 minutes of boiling. She passed the pot to Momo, who poured the contents in champagne glass molds and pushed them aside. As time went on, Trina melted a whole range of glass candy, varying in color and flavor. In turn, Momo made most exquisite art pieces with them; as the entire candy making process took a lot of time, the candy art was auction off to the highest bidders.
"Alright, we've hit the closing hour of the first day. Time to put out the last desserts and begin cleaning up" Momo typed.
"Yes Chef" Trina answered. After the hour was complete, the two chefs grabbed the glass molds and opened them up.
"Huh, these really do hold up their shape" Trina noted aloud.
"Yes, that particular glass candy recipe and those molds make it so they will last longer than normal" Momo typed, "Momo made them in case my booth hits number one tonight."
"Oho? For celebration purposes?" Trina typed.
"Yes, as is tradition whenever Momo hits a new milestone" Momo typed with a Bucchi emote.
Bzzt! Both Momo's and Trina's phones buzzed in unison.
"Oh! The festival rankings are out" Trina murmured. Tapping the Uptown Area link, Trina began reading the list.
"Ah, so your booth came in first for day 1, then Erina came in second. 3rd and 7th seats are their respective ranks, while Eishi is below Tosuke and Nene, but above the 5th seat." Trina read allowed.
Pop! Trina's thought process was interrupted when Momo opened a bottle of champagne and poured into the glasses made of sugar.
"H-Here" Momo struggled to say to her sous chef. Trina gently took the glass from her.
"Cheers?" Trina playfully asked.
"C-Cheers" Momo mumbled while tapping her glass with Trina's. Trina took a sip of the champagne, which jolted her eyes open.
"Oh! This is an extra dry champagne" Trina exclaimed.
"Yes, a Monet family special. It pairs well with the slight residue of the glass candy" Momo texted.
"Indeed" Trina replied in a relax tone. She drank her glass in slow bliss, taking in the unique flavor.
"Now let's see how everyone else did" Trina chuckled. Unsurprisingly, Kuga took first in the central area. However, the fact that Yukihira, Megumi, Ryou, Alice, and Akira were in last place in their respective areas AND in the red nearly caused Trina to spit take all over Momo. Putting her glass down, she began to rub her temples.
"?" Momo texted.
"A couple of my friends are in the red after one day, including my girlfriend...probably Soma's fault if I think about it."
"Momo sees -.-" Momo typed back.
"Yo, Trina! Everyone is meeting in the Central area! Want to hang out for a bit? :D" Soma texted to Trina.
"...Sure Tch" Trina texted.
"What's with the tch :D?"
"Nothing, I will be right down" Trina texted before pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Hey Momo, I will be heading down to the Central area to meet up with friends. Catch you later" Trina verbally said to Momo.
"Alright, have a good evening" Momo texted. Moments later, Trina was gone.
Central Area, 10pm
"How is it that everyone in the red are all Autumn Elections Finalists?! Do you want to disgrace the honored Elections?" Erina scolded. She was in a fowl mood after the rankings came out.
"I'm sorry..." Megumi stuttered.
"That...That wasn't directed towards you Tadokoro.." Erina sweat dropped.
"She's right, Megumi. It isn't your fault that Yukihira's booth is in the red" Trina spoke up.
"Trina!" everyone shouted at the sudden arrival of the Eleventh Seat.
"Speaking of Soma, where is he? I want to chat with him" Trina feigned a calm question.
"Heyo!" Soma shouted, "I've made some extra Hujiao Bing if anyone wants a late night snack!"
"SOOOOOOMMMMMMAAA" Trina shouted while rushing to get in his face.
"Hey, Trina! Want one?" Soma nonchalantly asked while holding out a Hujiao Bing to her face. She snatched it out of his hand and then properly consumed a chunk of the snack.
"Soma! How the hell are you in last place AND in the red? If you don't fix this by day five, both you and Megumi will be expelled! If Megumi is expelled because of your risky behavior, there will be hell to pay" Trina ranted.
"How was it?" Soma casually asked.
"The Hujiao Bing is delicious of course, but that's ignoring the problem here" Trina retorted in a calmer manner.
"Relax, we will make it through somehow" Soma reassured. Trina took a deep breath before taking a seat next to Megumi.
"So how was working with Momo?" Megumi asked.
"Oh? It was an interesting experience" Trina noted, "Albeit using my tablet to communicate with her was difficult."
"Hmm?" Megumi piped.
"Momo's an extremely shy person, it takes a month or so of knowing a person before she will speak verbally to said being. Texting is a clever loophole around this, apparently" Trina explained.
"I see" Megumi softly said, "Tomorrow you're working with Nene, correct?"
"That's right. Apparently she's more of a science type chef, earning the nickname 'Chef Who'" Trina replied.
"Actually, it's just 'The Chef'" Erina corrected.
"Right, I forget that her nickname is a reference to the famous time lord with thirteen lives" Trina sweat dropped.
"Now I am confused" Megumi laughed a bit.
"Well, she's a..."
Nene is a what?
A/N: Sorry folks, but you're getting a cliffhanger since I will reveal what kind of chef Nene is in the next chapter! However, I think you can figure out where I am going with this! Also, I am now working on a new SnS fic called "The Dark Heart and the Lantern". It's plot bunny fic on the what-if Azami personally trained Megumi after a devastating loss in the promotion exams. Also, I will be writing the second chapter of "Shokugeki no Saiba" soon(tm). Tchau!