Good evening my koalas!
My poll for choosing your favourite OC characters (Ayame, Chizuru and Kuchiyose) in this story is still up on my profile :D Swing by and have a vote and see what others have picked!
As you know, this time it's another shokugeki for the Elite Ten Reshuffle competition, so get ready for some foodie goodness!
On with the show!
Chapter 29 – Elite Ten Reshuffle Competition: Ryou vs. Isami part 1
Today was the day.
Isami had triple checked all the ingredients he needed for this match twenty minutes beforehand and he was extremely satisfied with its quality. The brunette Italian had gone to great lengths to ensure everything was ready. He even bought a new sharpening stone and sharpened his tools especially for this match. Isami rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm as he sat in the waiting room. He couldn't stop jigging his knees up and down as he sat on the hard and cold sofa, anxiously waiting for President Kageura's new assistant Hiroka Sekito-san to come and fetch himself and Kurokiba-kun to bring to the stadium entry. What he remembered from Fratello was that he and Kurokiba-kun had to be in the contestant waiting room at least thirty minutes beforehand and someone will come and retrieve him. Next he would be brought to the entry under the bleachers and wait for his and Kurokiba-kun's name to be called out and walk to the assigned kitchen stations on the stadium.
Isami clenched and unclenched his stomach to ease the butterflies shooting around inside.
Speaking of Fratello…
The young, brunette Italian had come home last night to the greatest shock of his existence. The first thing he had seen was Ayame-chan's and Fratello's school bags abandoned by the sofa and a mess of uneaten snacks on the table. So far… it wasn't too unusual or caused the greatest shock, but definitely had warranted a questioning raise of the eyebrows. The next thing he had seen was Fratello's bedroom door wide open on his way to his own room. Fratello had a childhood habit of closing his door when not in use… so… this was fast becoming intriguing. Then the last thing he to had graced his vision made his jaw drop.
Fratello and Ayame-chan… fast asleep… under the sheets… their clothes discarded on the floor…
HE WOULD REMEMBER THAT AFTERNOON UNTIL THE DAY HE DIED.
FRATELLO AND AYAME HAD DONE THE DEED.
Isami couldn't contain himself when he scuttled back to his bedroom. He had buried his face in his pillow and laughed, and laughed, and laughed like a crazy person! For Fratello and Ayame to take that giant leap into their relationship was something Isami had always dreamed of! Whenever he saw Fratello was anywhere near Ayame-chan and Isami, he could almost swim around in the sweet romantic love they had for each other because it came out in waves. He had never seen any other couple, aside from himself and his Bianca, which looked so happy together, so perfect for each other, so destined to be with one another. He remembered giving out a fist pump and chanting 'Sìì! Sìì! Sìì! Sìì! Sìì! Sìì!' under his breath and danced in his bedroom just one room away from the sleeping couple. The younger Italian had only wished the best for his elder twin and to be happy and he was always over the moon with Ayame-chan. So it was perfect that those two dorky and clumsy tortore had taken that brave new step in their relationship. Isami had been in a fantastic mood that afternoon. He couldn't stop humming. Thankfully, Fratello and Ayame-chan were deep sleepers and he had just closed their bedroom door with a soft click.
Isami had a choice. He could have incessantly tease them both when they woke up, good naturedly of course, and watch their faces ripen like raspberries. Or he could have preserved their privacy and dignity, and speak not a word of it, and take the secret of seeing them together with him to his grave.
It was a tough decision.
But he had made his decision that night. He made a delicious dinner for the three of them, all set out and ready when they finally woke up in the evening just like an ordinary dinner they shared. Fratello was this time wearing his usual home clothes and Ayame donned Fratello's baggy jumper and track-pants. They both still had looked still sleepy and they had even both yawned at the same time and rubbed the sleep in their eyes at the same time. When they had spotted him, they had begun to sober up, but not fast enough as they both had looked utterly confused like they were rousing from sleep walking. Isami remembered grinning at them from ear to ear until his face hurt, thinking it was an incredibly joyous occasion and he remembered feeling tears of happiness for Fratello and Ayame-chan threatening to spill! He was excited. Isami had pulled out the pizza he had made and left to warm from in the oven. In little slices of olives, he wrote-
'Congratulations and Welcome to the Family, Ayame!'
-and they both promptly fainted.
Isami chuckled under his breath at the memory, putting aside the nerves he felt for today's match.
"What's so funny…" Kurokiba-kun inquired blandly from the other sofa.
"N-Nothing… I just remembered something wonderful" he said.
Kurokiba-kun blinked slowly before resuming his attention on the large television screen mounted on the wall in front of them. It depicted four separate screens for different view of the Shokugeki hall. One screen was for the judging panel, two for the two kitchen stations and the other for the emcee of the day. Isami listened intently as the emcee reintroduced the judges from yesterday. Uchiha Sasuke, the CEO of Igakono Senbei corp. Uzumaki Naruto, the CEO of TopRamen Limited. Finally Doctor Haruno Sakura, Chinese medicine specialist and tenure professor of Tokyo University. The thought of them trying out his food made him queasy again. They were such… he couldn't explain it… 'gods' in the commercial food world! Also doctor Haruno, it was such an honour to be in her presence. He'd heard so much about her achievements from Arato-san, whom she clearly idolised, and he couldn't believe she was here to taste-test too.
Suddenly, the door knob twisted with a small rattle, and the plump and jovial face of Hiroka Sekito-san came into view. He was really bald and jolly like a Japanese Santa Claus. He smiled widely and patted his stomach as he greeted both himself and Kurokiba-kun.
"Are you kids ready to go?" his low and bellowing voice boomed.
"Yes!" Isami got to his feet and picked up his knife case with gusto.
"Ousu" Kurokiba-kun got up in one swift motion.
He picked up his knife case also and swung it over his shoulders like it was a sack of potatos and stuffed his other hand in his pocket. His face was still deadpanned, but Isami could still see there was a fire sparking in his coal black eyes. Hiroka Sekito-san lead them out into the wide corridor under the bleachers. Isami could already here the muffled, but deafening cheers of the whole school getting closer and closer. It vibrated in his chest and made his breath feel shallow. He tightened his grip on his knife case. He worked so hard to get to where he was now. It was time to show the school that he wasn't the same shadow of Fratello anymore. That he was good enough to stand equal with even the best of them.
"The contestants for today is Kurokiba Ryou and Isami Aldini!"
Soon the dimness of the tunnel erupted into bright stadium lights and Isami's ears pounded with the whooping and cheering all around him. With guised confidence he strode straight up to his assigned kitchen station. He placed down his knife case right next to his crate of ingredients and took a deep breath.
He listened to his heart.
Thu-thump… thu-thump… thu-thump… thu-thump…
He watched as Kurokiba-kun took strong and purposeful strides to his area. The bandana on his wrist swaying with each stride. He turned around and looked at Isami straight in the eyes.
They didn't blink.
Then he turned back to the front.
Isami turned around and looked straight up into the private viewing box accommodated by only the competition's contestants. He saw Fratello, Megumi-san, Yukihira-kun, the Nakiri cousins, Arato-san, Hayama-san, Isshiki-senpai and finally Mimasaka. The other Elite Ten probably deigned it not worth their time to watch the first round, but that didn't matter. His friend's believed in him, especially his elder twin. He didn't want to disappoint. He didn't want to disappoint himself. He turned back around and refocused. In front of him were the three esteemed judges. He was seeing them up close for the first time and their magnitude was immense. They had tasted both Megumi-san's and Hayama-san's dishes yesterday and had awarded them very high scores. They clearly have raised the bar for the rest of the competition and Isami geared himself up. Their eyes were probing and anticipating, waiting to be shown a dish no less great than yesterday's.
Thu-thump… thu-thump… thu-thump… thu-thump…
"The theme today is Decadent Desserts. You may begin cooking… NOW!"
The gong rang.
'SAVOIA!'
As the piercing buzzer sliced through the air, Ryou went to work immediately, like a dog commanded by the whistle. His time spent in Mi'lady's private kitchen consisted of hours and hours of slaving away to mastering his skills. His berserk mode in cooking knew no limits and Ryou continued to taste blood as he cooked dish after dish after dish, his mind clouded by a haze of fire as his passion for cooking exploded within him in the confines of Mi'lady's clubroom.
That unmistakeble sense of absolute chaos and battle.
People whispered his title whenever they passed him in the corridors, the heard of bleating Tootsuki sheep splitting around him like he was the Biblical Messiah Moses, parting the Red Sea. Their eyes would avert from his body as he would calmly walk to wherever he needed to go. Their annoying voices would hush until they sounded like conspirators. He heard them all with his keen hearing. Every single word. Nothing escaped him. He could smell it all. That fear for him. Pure and unadulterated fear. He loved it. Craved it. They shouldn't be anything but fearful and intimidated by his cooking prowess. He was far from being the Messiah like that Golden-Boy Yukihira Souma. They saw him as the Guardian of Hell.
The Cerberus of Tootsuki.
He never cared for the nickname everyone thrusted on him. But in this case, it was quite fitting, he indeed had two split personalities. The 'Berserk' and the 'Container'. The 'Container' was what he was now and every other day, as he quickly and silently organised his ingredients and equipment onto the counter top. The deadbeat looking, slow and lackadaisical self. Ah… Mi'lady will be disappointed if he didn't get cracking and start going berserk today. She wanted a good show.
He was sorry to disappoint her.
As The Cerberus of Tootsuki supposedly had to have three heads or three split personalities… well he did… only… not even Mi'lady Alice had ever seen his third personality. He kept it locked and hidden away only for the most opportune moment. She would today though. He hoped she wouldn't go into berserk mode herself if she was disappointed in it. Then again… did he give a damn? Not at all.
For this match, he did not require his 'beserk mode', no matter how much it snapped, snarled and goaded him to unleash it. Venomous saliva dripped within his mind as the berserk beast of himself clawed around its mental cage. As long it was tethered by the wrist, it couldn't dominate him. But this time, he had trained hard enough that he could contain it just a bit more, even when the tether was removed. This was what this moment was for.
His third personality.
Once Ryou decided he had prepared everything before the actual dessert making, he sighed like it was a total chore. He tugged his bandana off from his wrist with a sharp snap and fluttering fabric, and tied it securely over his head. He heard the unmistakable sound of the audience sucking in their breaths as they anticipated his most famous personality. Before the berserk beast could bound out from within, he locked it in place surround by many mental pylons and thick iron chains. He could feel it lashing out, fighting against him, growling menacingly and snapping his maw in absolute spitting defiance and frenzy.
He internalised his berserk mode and let it churn from within, searing his insides.
This was a dessert competition. It had no place for the berserk beast. So he had released a third personality.
The Cerberus of Tootsuki snapped his eyes open, his pupils dilated and constricted with abandoned restraint.
'Come forth… Andhrímnir mode!'
Alice leaned closer to the floor-to-ceiling glass window. Ohhh… so that's why Ryou-kun wouldn't let her near her own clubroom for the last few weeks. What a sneaky dog. He was practicing taming another side of him. Alice had her suspicions that something fishy was going on with Ryou-kun and she was glad that she was right. She watched as his body tensed and his muscles rippled as he began tackling his dessert recipe. The whole stadium eyes were on him. They had never seen anything like it. It was like he was holding himself back from going berserk, at the same time it looked like he was letting it seep through enough to get the job done with a palpable sense of bloodlust.
"What an odd thing to do…" she murmured excitedly.
"There is something off with Kurokiba-kun…" squeaked Tadokoro.
"Yeah, he ain't trying to violently kill his ingredients this time. What's up with that?" Yukihira contributed.
"You guys don't understand anything at all…" Alice sighed exaggeratedly. She shook her head in mock disappointment and placed her hand on her chest in mock hurt. All eyes turned to her, blinking up at her and looking for an explanation. She smirked and cleared her throat.
"See here, desserts is a very delicate business. Ryou can't just start going bestial on this theme here where all elements for his dish require absolute precision, pin-point accuracy, the delicate touch and meticulous care to produce the perfect decadent dessert" said Alice.
"Delicate touch? That's not something you hear every day regarding Kurokiba-san" said Aldini-kun.
"No you don't, and that's what makes him ever the more formidable and dangerous" she laughed lowly. "Everybody loves an act of absolute abandon and thrill in murdering and killing from those massacre movies, the murderer reigned by madness. But nothing comes close to as scary as a murderer in control of his own mind…" whispered Alice on the glass. Right now, Ryou-kun was not the berserk beast… he was something more.
She returned her attention to her trusty aide in his kitchen station. After one of his practices in her clubroom kitchen, she had went off to see if he was still there. The doors were closed, so she had thought he was still busy. So when she had pressed her ears to the door, listening the sounds of cooking, there were none. To her surprise the door opened easily when she pushed it, and she had realised that he was no longer in the kitchen. She had remembered feeling peeved because she explicitly ordered him to stay there and she would meet him, but he had gone and disobeyed her and left somewhere. She was close to smacking him on the head so as this behaviour didn't become a habit. When she had walked around her clubroom kitchens, making sure he had put her kitchen appliances were clean and put away properly, she had spotted something on one of the benches.
It was his recipe.
Alice had not remembered seeing so many things crammed onto four sheets of paper. 'Ryou-kun actually wrote down the recipe he was going to use for his theme?!' was the first thing she had thought. That was a bit creepy in her opinion because Ryou-kun's command of the Japanese written language needed a lot to be desired, mainly due to laziness. She was the one who had to edit one of his assignments from Shiomi-sensei this year because his writing skills were appalling. But the recipe that was in Ryou-kun's handwriting was absolutely detailed and on-point! It was like another person had forged Ryou-kun's handwriting and written out an incredibly complex dessert recipe that was so precisely thought out, it put her own to shame. Every element was explained and instructed in detail. It was nothing like what Ryou-kun would ever write in any recipe assignment. He must have worked extremely hard today to force himself to write something like this. Alice had memorised all four pages as best as she could and placed it back on the bench for Ryou-kun to figure out he had forgotten it and find it on his own time. Whatever personality he was he had developed in that very kitchen wouldn't have appreciated her taking his recipe without permission.
'Eight- textured chocolate cake'
That was what he was making for today's match. The name itself already had decadence filling her mouth and when she was skimming the recipe itself. When she imagined the taste in her mouth, it was so hardcore that she should have recommended him to serve it with a side of insulin! Chocolate was the equivalent of the culinary S&M and Alice thought this dessert recipe from Ryou-kun was going to drown those judges in chocolate sex. Alice watched closely, ignoring the other Aldini completely. Right now, Ryou-kun was a hell of a lot more interesting.
She followed his intense movements as she recited the recipe in her mind so she could track where he was up to. As far as she could tell, the end result would include eight layers and the order of his recipe actually had the layers expertly jumbled to suit the flow of his cooking.
Ryou-kun started with layer two. The chocolate mousse layer. Alice watched, mesmerised as he whipped the cream at break-neck speed until it was perfectly soft peak. Next he made his sabayon of egg yolks, half his sugar and the vanilla seeds, cooked over a double boiler whilst whisking continuously with a manic grin. Saboyan was an Italian based dessert. From up here, she could see how glossy his saboyan was before he removed it from the stove. He carefully poured his melted chocolate into his saboyan like a thick river of brown goodness and whisked it as fast as possible, channelling his inner berserk. She watched as glee shone through his eyes, but his face remained utterly calm and concentrated. She wondered what he called this new personality of his. Before the chocolate could seize, Ryou-kun spooned in half of his whipped cream, one by one, and continued to whisk until it softened under his intense ministrations. His mixture should become more stable and workable now according to his recipe sheets. Next he snapped his attention to his egg whites and whisked them vigorously until they were perfect soft peaks too, then dumped in his remaining sugar. Finally he folded his whipped egg whites and remaining cream into his chocolate mixture delicately and quickly, as to not knock out the air. The chocolate mousse in Alice's opinion was going to be the most important layer to hold the body of the cake. It must be perfectly done and be on-point and he had to have a fast and delicate hand, something the berserk beast would have struggled with. She had no doubt that Ryou-kun could make it happen either way. He placed it into the fridge to let it set and slammed the fridge door closed.
This was so exciting.
He quickly moved onto layer four. The caramel, vanilla and chocolate ganache. He began making his caramel and Alice could see through the large stadium television screen that the sugar transformed into a honey golden caramel colour. He slowly poured some cream with such controlled care and she internally hummed in delight at the dramatic chemical reaction of the caramel and cream bubbling dominated the screen. Those chemical reactions never failed to turn her on. Ryou-kun then grabbed a wooden spoon without looking and stirred the saucepan until the reaction settled and the caramel dissolved into heavenly cream and then he added his vanilla beans. He took it off the heat and poured over another bowl of chopped dark and milk Swiss chocolate and Alice licked her lips as the chocolates hopelessly melted under the unyielding waterfall of hot caramel cream into glistening puddles in the bowl. He stirred the bowl slowly until it was fully incorporated and then added a pinch of salt and softened butter. When Alice knew the ganache had cooled completely, she smiled as she watched Ryou-kun spoon it into a piping bag.
"…Andhrímnir mode"
"What was that, Alice?" said Erina by her side.
"It's something I remembered from a storybook I bought for Ryou-kun a really long time ago back in Danmark. It was about Norse mythology. I found it sitting on his desk in his sleepy quarters yesterday. I haven't seen that book in years. There was a God in there called Andhrímnir. He was the chef of the gods in Norse mythology. He killed a mighty boar named Sæhrímnir, cooked it, and fed it to the gods and fallen warriors of Valhalla. At night the boar would return to life and he would kill it again and cook it. This way, the gods and fallen warriors would eat well until Ragnarok" said Alice, smiling at Erina.
"… okay…?" Erina looked at her dubiously.
"Well, I think this is what I should call Ryou-kun's new mode! Andhrímnir mode. It suits him well. The simmering intensity is like the strength of the god as he repeatedly conquered the boar over and over without batting an eyelash. This is akin to how Ryou-kun's Andhrímnir mode is born in my opinion. He had to conquer his berserk mode over and over again like that mighty boar, to harness his chaotic strength fully to complete even the most delicate of tasks" said Alice.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Erina nod.
Ryou-kun was well on his way into layer five now. The chocolate and hazelnut dacquoise. Dacquoise was traditionally a dessert cake made with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue and whipped cream or buttercream. However his recipe involved his own modified version. He combined the ground almonds, finely chopped roasted hazelnuts and sifted cocoa powder in a separate bowl and then in a spate bowl, whisked some egg whites and sugar until they formed stiff peaks. He delicately folded his dry ingredients into the egg whites with strong and controlled movements. She could imagine his nostril flaring and his eyes brimming with intense concentration. Then he quickly sprayed a baking tray and spread his mixture over it with a pallete knife, which Alice remembered the dacquoise layer had to be at precisely three millimetre thickness. He only baked it for five minutes before taking it out and cut-out three small discs from the dacquoise sheet. He placed it all back into the oven which Alice knew would come out crispy after two minutes. Once it was done, Alice could see on the screen that it was toasted beautifully and the colour was perfectly even. Ryou-kun placed it to the side and moved onto his next layer.
A whistled punctured her ear.
"Crikey, Kurokiba is powering through a lot of small but complex tasks isn't he?" said Yukihira. "I'm really pumped to see what decadent dessert he's coming up with"
"Well, it's an eight-texture chocolate cake, so expect the very best" she smirked and flipped her silver side lock elegantly.
"Wh-What!? Eight textures?" spluttered the Aldini-kun.
Alice laughed at his stunned face.
"You mean there's going to be eight separate components he has to make to his cake in two hours?" he asked.
"Well, he's assembling seven layers actually" her eyed darkened into a blood-red ruby hue "The final eighth layer will actually be performed when it's in front of the judges"
"P-Performed?" stuttered Tadokoro.
"You'll see…" she left them hanging in the air as she refocused her attention on her aide. The Cerberus of Tootsuki.
Ryou-kun had already moved onto his layer one. The sponge cake base. As he melted some more chocolate, he creamed the butter and sugar in the electric mixer until he was a beautiful pale yellow before gradually incorporating the eggs one at a time. When his melted chocolate was finally cool, he beated it into the butter mixture. Next he sifted the flour in and folded it without breaking a sweat, lightly and swiftly until it was perfectly blended through, brown and smooth. Next he spread the mixture with a pallete knife again to a thickness of three millimetres on an oiled baking tray, just like he wanted in the recipe and popped it into the oven. When it was perfectly baked, he then cut out small round disks of the cake base using a larger sized cutter compared as the one for the dacquoise.
'Ryou-kun… you continue to amaze me. Isami Aldini will choke on your dust. This is no competition for you'
Next was layer three. The chocolate praline discs. He melted more chocolate over the double boiler and added the hazelnut and almond praline into it. He made a sheet of the mixture again but to two millimetre thickness this time. He placed it in the fridge, but took it out again after two minutes. Alice watched intently as he made circular cut-outs again in the semi-hard chocolate-praline mixture and cut out another smaller hole in each disc, making donut shaped chocolate-praline discs. He placed it back into the fridge to set. Right now the crowed was stunned at the miniature tasks Ryou was setting himself and watched with disbelief as components after components were building to the side or in the fridge. Most importantly, the crowd was shocked Ryou-kun wasn't in his berserk mode at all, just a shadow of it.
Now he was up to layer six according to Alice's memory of his recipe. The chocolate cream caramel. He made a fresh batch of the caramel cream just like in layer four. Once the bubbling settled he allowed it to cool slightly before he poured it over some more finely chopped chocolates and Alice sighed as she watched the chocolate melt. He placed it in the fridge immediately to let it cool completely.
Finally, layer seven. The dark chocolate top disc. Tempering chocolate was a tricky business and even the most experienced of chefs could still make it go horribly wrong. Everything had to be absolutely precise. Ryou-kun went about his way tempering the chocolate and spreading the glistening and shining melted chocolate out onto the tray. Alice's eyes lit up at how smooth it was. It had to be one and a half millimetre thick at the most. Ryou-kun was really going to have to test his ability to be delicate and gentle amidst all the internalised berserkness in him. She wouldn't be surprised if he threw up a diamond after all this from compacting and compressing his berserk beast into his hell fire which could be synonymous to thousands and thousands degree heat of fighting spirit. He placed it into the fridge for three minutes before taking it out again. This was so that it was half-hard. He made another three donut shaped disc just as he had done with the chocolate praline discs with the tempered chocolate. He made sure to wipe the cutters of stray chocolate between cuts. He placed another layer of baking paper on top of his tempered chocolate and then another backing tray on top to sandwich it. Alice knew this was to stop the chocolate from 'ballooning'. He then placed it all back into the fridge to set.
Next he started making a small pot of hot chocolate sauce.
'Thirty minutes remaining!' blared the announcement.
Goodness! Time went so quickly.
Now that Ryou-kun had finished the cooking part, he had half an hour to assemble his eight-texture chocolate cake. She smirked. Well, the audience will see a seven-texture chocolate cake for the time being. Half an hour should be enough for Ryou-kun to successfully plate his decadent dessert. Imagining the steps to create this herself was nothing compared to watching Ryou-kun do it. The command he had as he swept through the crazy amount of steps like a silent storm was breath-taking. She was proud to say that she had lost to her well-chosen aide in the many cooking battles they shared.
Now time to assemble. Ryou-kun gently placed the chocolate sponge discs in the centre of three round white dish. Next he placed circular aluminium moulds around it. They were the exact same size he used to cut the sponge cake discs. This will hold his cake. Then he spreaded the chocolate mousse he made in the beginning over the bottom and up the sides to make the walls of the mould of his cake, to the rim. This was crucial, he had to do this quickly before the cold refrigerated mousse started to warm too much. Then, Ryou-kun placed the smaller chocolate and hazelnut dacquoise disc into the centre of the chocolate mousse body and pressed it down very gently.
Alice held her breath as he assembled his cake so meticulously, focus brimming through his dilated pupils on the television screen, but his berserk mode was fighting to break free from Ryou's Andhrímnir mode and she could tell that from the flaring of his nostrils. Then he piped a thin layer of his caramel, vanilla and chocolate ganache around the outer area of the praline disc in a perfect and even circle. His muscle tensed and relaxed as he did so, his muscles bulging to maintain control to delicately pipe the smooth ganache. Once he was done, he found his milk chocolate praline discs and carefully placed it on top of the ganache circle and pressed it down gently again.
"Ten more minutes!" screamed the emcee on top of her lungs.
Alice could see his nostrils flaring again and she could tell he was annoyed at that bint of an emcee, but maintained his absolute concentration. Then he whisked his reserved double cream to his chocolate caramel cream until stiff peaks formed. Next he place a large tablespoon of the chocolate caramel cream on top of the praline disc and used a palette knife to spread the cream out to form a flush layer against the top of the ring. Alice's excitement mounted higher as she watched Ryou-kun's decadent cake coming together. He grabbed a spoon and very carefully scooped a small spoonful of that caramel cream from that centre of each of his three small cakes and discarded it.
'How dare he?! That was a waste!'
Before Alice could further complain in her mind that he was wasting good dessert, The Cerberus of Tootsuki brandished a kitchen blow torch.
"A blowtorch?! What does he plan to do with that? He ain't going to flambe anything is he? Not that I can tell" said Yukihira. He pressed his face to the glass as he stared at Ryou-kun checking the potency of his kitchen blow torch.
"That's for the mould, Yukihira" Aldini-kun stepped forward. "It's a technique in order to remove the mould completely. He needs to heat it just enough to expand the metal and not warm the mousse" said the blonde Italian. "That way, the cake will be perfectly in shape".
"Oh right. That's a really neat trick" he gave a toothy grin.
Alice smirked and returned her attention back to Ryou-kun. He began lightly swaying his blow torch around the side of the mould, the blue flames only kissing the metal surface as he quickly and evenly spun the white dishes in circles. Finally, after waiting a couple of seconds, he slid the circular moulds out with the meticulous care of a surgeon and Alice grinned when she saw the perfectly round, smooth and small cake. Finally, he topped each cake with the tempered dark chocolate discs, flush with the edge of the cake. For one last touch, he flashed the top of the chocolate with kitchen blowtorch to create a nice mirror-like sheen on top.
Ryou-kun then went back to his chocolate sauce just warming on the stove and poured it into a small copper saucepan with a lid and spoon. His eyes flamed with its own decadence.
'Done'
Then the gong rang and it swallowed all other noises from the audience.
"Times up! First to finish is Kurokiba Ryou! Please present your dish!"
Alice straightened her back and flicked the hair out of her eyes. Pride oozed from her. Ryou-kun kept his bandana still around his forehead. He wasn't done yet. He was truly done when he served his dessert to the judges. Alice turned her attention to them. Their facial expressions pretty much said 'bring it' as they looked straight at Ryou-kun and his own reflected back 'Get some!' as he breathed deeply, having accomplished a gigantic feat.
Alice reviewed the recipe again for the eight-textured chocolate cake.
Layer one was the sponge cake base.
Layer two was the chocolate mousse.
Layer three was the milk chocolate praline disc.
Layer four was the caramel, vanilla and chocolate ganache.
Layer five was the chocolate and praline dacquoise.
Layer six was the chocolate caramel cream.
Layer seven was the dark chocolate disc on top.
Layer eight? Well, Alice was just going to enjoy watching it unfold.
"Alright, this is Ryou-kun's eight-texture chocolate cake everyone. You all better gird your loins" laughed Alice.
Ryou continued to sooth the berserk beast within him as he expertly balanced his tray of his desserts and the saucepan of chocolate sauce to the judges. He took perverse delight in watching them tense their muscles as wariness and apprehension flickered through their eyes.
'They will submit to me'
"So Kurokiba-kun. Those cakes can't be any more than ten centimetres in diameter and three centimetres high. Are you sure this will be decadent enough for us dattebayo?" said the blonde judge.
"Taste it and you'll find out" he sneered.
The cake he presented was indeed only ten centimetres in diameter and three centimetres high. It was perfectly round, sitting on the white dish in all its chocolate glory. Chocolate whipped in eight different ways. It couldn't get any better than this. There was no garnish. Just the light, medium and dark brown hues against the stark whiteness. It was like a void, drawing in the eyes of the judges and not relinquishing them like a black hole sucking in all the light.
"What's the name of your dish?" asked the pink haired doctor.
"It's my eight-texture chocolate cake" he said, grinning manically. He watched as the pink haired doctor gulp. "You can figure it out that it has eight layers" he said cockily.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I was watching you, you only made seven components and assembled only those seven components into you cake" said the deep voice of the dark haired judge. He had his arms crossed leaning back against his chair. "Where's the eighth layer?"
Ryou's pupils dilated upon his comment. His smirk widened like a mad canine out for blood.
He pointed to his copper saucepan.
"This is my eighth-layer"
Kurokiba has a really complicated dish. I also hope it sounded decadent enough and I that you guys weren't bored with the recipe writing. It was hard to imagine Kurokiba going berserk mode for such a delicate but utterly complex dessert feat. So the Kurokiba we all know and love can't really fit into this theme. I had to find a way to make it work and came up with Andhrímnir mode. Now he will live up to his Cerberus of Tootsuki title!
Isami, we are all just as happy has you are that Ayame and Takumi finally had SEX! I wonder what Chizuru and Kuchiyose will say about it... OR HER FATHER! and how will their relationship change now? In case you're wondering, the Karakura students aren't here because they their own school to attend, of course haha :P
Let me know what you guys think and I'll see you really soon!
Signing-off
-TripWire-dono
