"Speaking"
"thinking"
On with the story
The next day came as everyone was seated in the dining room of the Polaris dorm and was looking at an envelope in the middle of the table
"it came," Yuki said while gulping down nervously "the dish theme of the Autumn Election"
Prior to this meeting, everyone went to school and found out that the participants of the Autumn Election Competition as some got chose while some were not lucky
"I wonder what it's going to be" Ryoko said a bit nervous
"if it's the Autumn Election, I think it'd be like French Dish or any high-level dish" Marui said while adjusting his glasses
"anyway, let's see it" Ibusaki said while Megumi was shaking and trembling in fear
Soma reached for the envelope as he opens it and takes out the content
"the Dish them is…." Soma said as he reads the first letters on the paper before seeing the whole thing "…Curry dish?"
"Curry?" everyone said in unison as they were confused
"so they want us to make curry rice?" Megumi said
"no, Curry doesn't just mean only Curry rice but rather other curry dishes out in the world like Naan from India and many more" Yuki explained
"Curry, huh?" Soma said while rubbing his chin "there are other dishes made with curry in them but to make it delicious we have to use the right amount of spices"
"using spices requires high knowledge in knowing each one's effect on the dish" Ibusaki commented "now I see why they chose Curry"
Soma started thinking of a curry dish, he should make before he remembered Hayama Akira
"there's that guy" Soma said as he started thinking
After leaving the Polar Star Dorm, Soma and Megumi was walking in the school's forest as the man had a piece of paper in his hand
"Hayama Akira, member of the Shiomi Seminar" Soma said as the two find a rather strange looking club house or a damn shed in the middle of the forest
"um, is this really the right place?" Megumi said as Soma looks at the paper again to make sure that they were at the right place
"it is" Soma said before the two entered into the shed
As they entered into the shed, they find the room empty as no one was in
"hello?" Soma called out before hearing something behind the door
They look behind the door and find a rather young looking girl on the floor and was in the middle of grinding some spices in a bowl
The girl looks up to see them and then quickly jolted to her feet
"GUESTS?!" she shouted as she looks to be starting to panic "Um, I-I'm sorry. I'll go get some tea right away."
Megumi quickly apologizes back as Soma sweadropped.
Apologies after apologies before the two stopped when Soma comes in the middle
"sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing but can you tell us if Hayama Akira is in the building?" Soma asked
"eh, Hayama-kun?" the girl said before the said man came in
"hey, Jun. I went and bought the stuff you asked for-, Hm?" the teen said before noticing Soma and Megumi within the room with the young girl
A few minutes later, Megumi and Soma sat across on a sofa with the young girl as Hayama made them tea
"nice to meet you, my name is Shiomi Jun" the young woman introduced herself with a smile as she shakes hands with Soma and Megumi
"Yukihira Soma and she's Tadokoro Megumi" Soma told her "we're from the Polaris Star dorm
"oh! The Polaris Star Dorm! That sure brings back good memories" Shiomi said before her face went angry "but also bad ones!"
"um, is something wrong?" Megumi asked while a bit afraid to the angered professor
"I'm sorry, it's just that when I remember the past, I can't forget a certain dorm mate back then" Shiomi said while holding in her anger
"so Shiomi-san used to be a Polar Star Resident?" Megumi asked as Shiomi nodded
"now that we're acquainted with each other" Hayama said before he sat down beside Jun "mind telling me on why the two of you are here?"
"I remembered you having faint smell of spices and thought that you might know a thing or two about them. And since Shiomi-sensei is also a teacher of spice, maybe she could teach the both of us about spices since the Autumn Selection's dish them is Curry Dish" Soma explained
"I guess I could teach you a thing or two. I mean, it is technically not against the rules for students to ask teachers for help when preparing for cooking events." Shiomi said before turning her attention to Hayama "Now that I think about it, Hayama-kun, weren't you selected for Autumn Elections too?"
"Ya're'a first-year student?!" Megumi exclaimed in surprise "I thought you were a second-year student! Since you were-, I mean, ya seem ta be... I thought ya had ta be a second-year student to attend any of the Totsuki seminar classes..."
Hayama chuckled before replying
"No, you're right, and I am a First-Year Totsuki student. But you see, Jun here sucks at anything that isn't messing with spices, and she NEEDS my help." He explained to her as Shiomi puffs her cheeks at him
"That's "Shiomi-sensei" to you! Also, don't call me "Jun"! Y-you're in a special position as my personal assistant, Hayama! You need to show me the respect due a-" Shiomi nagged at him before she was cut off by Hayama
"Jun..." He said as Shiomi's attention was to him in an instant "You forgot it was your turn to water the plants today."
Shiomi looks guilted before she kneeled down in a dogeza
Hayama then said, "And who was it that forgot to water them last week, nearly letting a very rare spice wither?"
Shrinking, Shiomi-sensei said in a meek voice, "Me, sir. I'm sorry, sir."
Then Hayama stated, "And remind me, who was it that took care of the guests you completely forgot about last month?"
Still shrinking, the professor said, "You, sir."
"she's shrinking even more" Soma and Megumi said as it was such an interestingly weird scene to them
"man, I can smell a whole lot of different spices here." Soma said as he stands up and looks to the window where they are a lot of spice plants near there "you have curry leaves here, huh?"
"correct" Hayama said with a smirk "what you see there is one of our fresh Curry leaves"
"Curry leaves!?" Megumi exclaimed as she went to the plants and saw the spice "how could anyone have such rare spice here?! And a fresh one, especially in japan!?"
"cultivation and extraction techniques" Soma said "you guys used some preserving techniques so that the leaves can live here, huh?"
"correct again, you have rather far knowledge of spices, don't you?" Hayama said
"been to India before, the spices there are on another level" Soma said as he looks to all the spice plants in the room
"mind showing us how you cook with the spices?" he asked Hayama who nodded as everyone went to the kitchen
After a few minutes, the first curry dish was done. It was a Kozhi Varutha Chicken Curry.
Soma and Megumi tasted the dish as the spice within the dish, exploded in their mouth
"amazing! the spices mixed so well in it!" Megumi said in amazement
"the spice and the ingredients must be reserved in the right temperature and it will mature in the right level" Shiomi explained the fundamental of the spices as Hayama made another dish
All the dish he made, mixed with the spice so well that it tastes so amazing
After spending some time in the Shiomi Seminar, Soma and Megumi walk their way back to the Polar Star Dorm
"Hayama-kun was amazing" Megumi said "the way he uses the spice with his dish was unbelievable"
"yeah" Soma said in agreement "but he never checked the pot when he's cooking"
"eh?" Megumi looks confused to Soma's statement "really?"
"maybe or I'm just hallucinating things" Soma said before the two continued walking back to the dorm
"Hayama Akira" Soma thought of the man before he smirks "this is going to be one hell of a competition"
After a few days in the dorm, one by one; the residents went back home for the holiday while Soma stayed behind to plan his dish
Fumio and Isshiki were out of the dorm while Soma stayed behind as the man was lying down on the floor with dozens of small bowls filled with spices all around him
"never thought that I would say this but making a curry dish is kinda hard" Soma said as he looks to the fan on the ceiling above "no matter what spice combination I make, none of them can top of the spice explosion, Hayama made"
"Haaa, maybe I should stop for the day" Soma said before he heard knocking coming from the front door
He gets up and went to answer the door. Soma opens the door and sees Erina
"hey" Erina greeted him with a smile as Soma replied with his "do you have some time?"
"yeah, why?" Soma asked as he looks behind Erina to see a black limo parked in front
"Alice wanted to go to a pool and invited me along" Erina said "wanna come too?"
"sure" Soma said as he joined in on the ride while taking some things with him
After 30 minutes of driving, the limo arrived to a water amusement park
"we're here!" Alice shouted out like a kid as she jumps around with joy
"are you sure that you two are related?" Soma asked Erina who nodded
"I did a blood test a year back and it came positive" Erina said before they entered the water park
Soma and Ryo gets out of the changing room as they only needed swimming trunks on
"so you're speciality is Seafood, huh?" Soma said conversing with the man
"yeah…" Ryo replied lazily
After a short chat, Erina and Alice came out of the changing room
"we're done!" Alice exclaimed in her bikini while Erina was wearing a jacket over herself
They then went to the pool as Ryo set up the umbrella
"come on Erina! You can't swim with a jacket on!" Alice said as Erina just blushed
"i-I know!" Erina said before she unzips her jacket and revealed her purple bikini
Soma felt a smile creep up his lips as he can see Erina so beautiful in her swimsuit
"pervert…" Ryo said lazily
"who are you calling a pervert?" Soma said "and your tone doesn't match it"
They spent some time in the water park as Alice and Erina slides down a water slide and splashed into the pool
"let's go again!" Alice exclaimed with a big and excited smile
"no thank you! I felt like my chest was about to explode when we splashed down!" Erina exclaimed
"look out bellow!" Soma shouted out as he and Ryo were sliding down the slide
"Kyaaaa!" the two Nakiri screams as Soma and Ryo splashed down upon them
As the water splashed everywhere, Erina was blushing hard and so was Soma as the man's face was directly on her chest
"oh my" Alice said while Ryo was floating in the water in the background
The two quickly separates as they look away from each other
"I'm sorry!" Soma apologized with his face red from embarrassment
"i-it's fine" Erina said while blushing hard
The two didn't speak a word as they get out of the pool
After spending the whole day in the water park, they were back in the car and on their way back to Totsuki
"it was such a nice day in Japan's water park and there's so much fun!" Alice said on her cell as she was talking excitedly to the person at the other end
Ryo just sits lazily in his seat as the man looks bored
Soma and Erina was sitting side by side but the two haven't spoken a word ever since the little accident
Erina was fidgeting her hands a bit as she took glances of Soma who was watching out the window
"S-Soma.." she muttered out his name as Soma tensed up a bit "about the thing at the pool…."
Erina fidgeted a bit before Soma holds her hands as she looks to him
"let's just put that aside….for now" Soma said as he caresses Erina's hand gently
Erina looks to him with a little blush before looking down and nodding a bit
The two stayed silent all the way but for Alice, well she took a quick photo of it
"wait till Grandfather sees this" Alice thought with a snickering giggle
the care drives away as it drives the street that would lead it back to Totsuki
That's a wrap!
Bye bye