"Speaking"
"thinking"
On with the story
A few days later
"setting up your booth? Are you serious, Soma?" Erina asked the man as they were heading to the booth's registration tent that was located near the Shokugeki Arena
"yup, cause it's the only way for me to get him riled up for a Shokugeki with me" Soma said with a grin "been thinking it a lot and it's a 100% full proof plan!"
They reached to the place where they see a commotion of some sort
"let's Shokugeki for it!" it was Ikumi and she looks to be in a debate battle with Sadatsuka Nao
"fine by me, hehehehehehe" Sadatsuka replied with a creepy smile
"Excuse me, Ikumi, can I get through?" Erina asked the Meat Master
"oh, Erina-san! Sorry, please go ahead" Ikumi said politely
"Move out of the way Sadatsuka Nao." Hisako said pushing away the Boiling Witch who seems to blush hard
"Hisako-Oneesama spoke to me!" the girl cheered as this made Hisako felt creeped out
"Here you go." Erina said handing the paper to the aid.
"Wonderful, we now have received all the paper work for Erina-ojousama's booth."
"Thank you." Erina said before Soma applied for his
"will this plan to challenge Kuga-senpai really work?" Erina asked Soma as he handed over the applicant his paper
"Yeah." Soma said with a smile as the applicant looks in shock
"WHAT?!" the assistant yelled "Are you…sure? In such a place!?
"what's wrong?" Erina asked the man as she looks to the paper and reads the info within
"in front of the Chinese research society?" Erina read out before realizing it "WHAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
"Yeah, it's still open right?" Soma asked
"Yes but…the Chinese R.S is very tough, no one ever takes the booth by them." The Applicant told him
"It's fine." Yukihira shrugged "By the way my cooking genre will be Chinese."
"What the heck are you trying to pull here, Soma?" Erina asked the man "putting a booth directly in front of the enemy's own is like going suicide!"
"ah, it's fine" Soma said with a nonchalant shrug "I got this handled well"
"but what's the theme of your booth?" the applicant asked as Soma left that bracket unfilled
"oh" Soma looks to the man and grinned "it's going to be Chinese"
Erina looks at him surprised as so did the others
"Chinese? That's what Kuga-senpai specializes in!" Erina exclaimed
"Erina-Sama!" Hisako ran over holding a small book "Look at this."
Hisako opened the book as she showed Erina the content of the middle page.
"Soma! What's the meaning of this!?" Erina exclaimed as in the middle page is some info of Kuga's and that of Soma's as their page was right next to each other
"oh! just something I asked Sotsuda to do" Soma replied
"don't you remember the risk of doing such things?!" Erina exclaimed "failure in the Festival would result in immediate Expulsion!"
"this is my Declaration of War to Kuga-senpai" Soma said with a smirk "this is the only way to go against him head on!"
"t-then I will process your paperwork right away" the Applicant said as he signed Soma's request paper
"thanks sir" Soma thanked the man before getting a call on his cellphone
"hello? Oh yeah, it's me" Soma said to the caller "yeah…uh huh….yeah…that's right….hmmm, maybe some appetizers and some Chinese noodles should be good….yeah, and remember to lock the door…..ok, bye"
"who was that?" Erina asked curious
"some friends who are going to help me out" Soma said with a grin before grabbing a blank paper and start writing something on it
"mind giving it to your grandpa, Erina?" Soma folded the paper as he gives it to Erina "I got a plane to catch"
"eh?" Erina said in confusion as Soma started running away
"see you guys at the opening ceremony of the Festival!" Soma exclaimed as he runs off to the distance
Erina and Hisako looks in confusion before looking to the content of the paper within
"Yukihira Soma, Permission to leave Campus for Two weeks and will return on 21st August on the Festival's first date of the opening ceremony"
Erina and Hisako looks in shock to what they had just read
"SOMA! COME BACK HEREE!" Erina screamed out as she swore that she would kill the man once she sees him
Soma was on a taxi as he was in the middle of a phone call while holding a suitcase
"yeah…see you there…uh huh….thanks a lot, man" Soma said before hanging up the phone
Soma looks in front as he was heading to the town and directly to an airport
"wait for me, Kuga-senpai!" Soma said with a grin "my cooking is going to blow yours away!"
For 2 weeks, Soma was out of the campus as everyone was preparing for the Festival
"he hasn't come for 2 weeks straight! Where on earth he went to!?" Erina said fuming as she and Hisako were heading to the front entrance of the festival where every student was gathered around
"he did mention catching a plane before going" Hisako said with a sweatdrop
As they walk by, a large truck drives by with a big cargo behind it
"a late preparation?" Erina said as the truck stopped to a corner before the content was being unloaded
"that's not possible, all the booths were prepped up and late preparation is not allowed," Hisako said as they see the workers were unloading many sacks of flour and then a Chinese sell cart
"isn't this place near Kuga-senpai's booth?" Erina asked as Hisako nodded
"this could mean that…" Hisako said before she and Erina started running to the front entrance
"he has to be there!" Erina exclaimed
After running for a good 10 minutes, they've arrived to the front entrance where thousands of students were waiting in lines and awaits the opening arch ceremony
"Erina-sama, he's not here" Hisako said after looking around as there was no sign of the redhead chef anywhere
"he has to be here, that late prepped up Booth proves it" Erina said looking around before the opening ceremony soon began
Senzaemon appeared on stage as he grabbed a mic and tapped it a few times
"the time has come! I hereby declare!" Senzaemon announced out before a staff came to him and tapped his shoulder while holding a cellphone that has the caller being on
"forgive me, we have a late student in" Senzaemon said as everyone looks confused to what he meant
"a late student? Stopping because of one late student?" Erina said before realizing on why would her grandfather paused an opening ceremony for a single student
Everyone then heard the sound of a fighter jet from above as they all looked up and sees one flying in the sky high above
They watched the fighter jet before someone ejected out of it
"YAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!" everyone heard a loud howling shout as they see someone sky diving down
"is that?" Hisako said as Erina nodded with a sigh
"that fool just likes to make a dramatic entrance as always" Erina said as the one sky diving was Yukihira Soma himself
Soma pulled the parachute as he was now gliding down to the entrance
Many students made room as the man landed near Erina as he detached his parachute from his backpack
"phew! Sorry I'm late! Getting from china back to japan took way longer than I expected!" Soma said with a grin before getting his ears pulled by a furious looking Erina
"do you have any idea how many precious seconds you have wasted on your little drama action?" Erina asked pulling his cheeks apart
"abu Dowbt wow" Soma replied while his cheeks were pulled apart
"-sigh- but lucky for you, you still managed to make it in time" Erina said before looking to her grandfather who nodded
"now continuing back! The Moon Festival has officially begun!" Senzaemon announced out as many visitors come and many students came running to their stalls
"alright then! See you guys later!" Soma said as he ran off
"hey! Wait!" Erina exclaimed but the man just ran off "-sigh- he always heads off when his head gets hot"
"Erina-sama, let's go" Hisako said as Erina nodded before the two heads off to their booth
The first day was packed as many visitors visited many stalls and booths and dozens of tickets were stacked up high
As the day goes on, the night came as it was time to announce the winners of each area's
Main Street
Third Place; Don RS
Second Place; Skewer RS
First Place; Trattoria Aldini Branch
Center Street
Third Place; ~~~~ RS
Second Place; ~~~ RS
First Place; Kuga Restaurant, Chinese Food Research Society
Everyone felt like this was going to happen as Kuga would win first place in the sales
Erina, however, looks in furious to the news of the ranking
Two booths were landed on the red zone and those two happened to be Shiomi Seminar and Soma's Chinese Stall
"EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS A TOP FINISHER IN THE FALL CLASSIC!" Erina yelled out at the group as Soma was in the middle of the game of Uno with Ryo and Akira
"oh, Erina. Did your booth do well today?" Soma asked her while placing a plus draw card on the stack
"Tch!" Hayama clicked his tongue as he had to draw two more cards into his hand
"don't change the subject! And don't play UNO!" Erina yelled at the man "you left for two weeks! And came back late for the Opening Ceremony! Where on earth were you?!"
"oh, I went to China" Soma replied before putting another card into the pile
"CHINA!?" Erina and Hisako exclaimed in surprise
"yup, visited an old friend and got some good lessons from him personally" Soma replied before he gawked as Ryo put two plus draw cards on the pile and Soma had to take four cards into his hand
"you learned a lot of Chinese spices, didn't you?" Akira asked as he puts another card onto the pile "I can smell a lot of Chinese spices coming off from your hands"
"man, Akira you're really are a bloodhound" Soma said before he wins the game of UNO
"but still, this is all part of my genius plan" Soma said with a grin
"by Genius, you mean idiotic" Erina told him
"oh yeah, I got lots of Chinese souvenirs for you guys!" Soma said as he pulls out a plastic bag out of nowhere
"where did that come from?" Takumi said with a sweatdrop
"dunno" Ikumi replied
"our booth would've not been in the red zone if it wasn't for this crazy girl" Akira said while referring to Alice "she burns a lot of our budget and keep ordering tons of useless stuffs!"
"but you were the one who was supposed to do the final check to all the orders!" Alice whined at him
"something tells me that's a lie" everyone thought the same thing as they knew Alice's behaviour
"What is with your master." Akira asked Ryo who got a souvenir from Soma "She changed the menu everyday and we burned the budget on ingredients we can't even use!"
"She'll just do it again tomorrow." Ryo replied
"Relax we can make up the losses tomorrow." Alice said "so let's relax and change gears!"
"this was your fault in the first place!" Akira exclaimed before thanking Yukihira who gave him a jar filled with Chinese spices
"oh and I also made some Hujiao Bing as well" Soma said while taking out a plastic bag filled with the Chinese delicacies "anyone want some?"
"me! Me!" Alice raised her hand as Soma started giving everyone some Black peppered pork buns
"now is not the time for you to relax" Erina told Soma who gave Akira a pork bun to which he thanked "you still have to make a big comeback against Kuga-senpai or you'll get expelled on the final day"
"it's fine! it's fine!" Soma told her before feeding a pork bun into her mouth "when I do something, I never do it to disappoint, right?"
Erina looks to him with a judging look while munching on the pork bun as it tasted good
"oh, and can I come to your booth sometime? I want to taste some of your cooking as well" Soma said
"I'll make reservations" Hisako said while munching on some Pork buns
"now then, I got to go and do some little planning" Soma said as Megumi followed him
"will that guy be able to beat Kuga-senpai or not?" Akira asked as he and Ryo were in the middle of an arm wrestling match, seeing that both lost in UNO
"seeing how he has a plan, maybe" Alice said munching on the Hujiao Bing
The second day came for the Festival as the Center Area's first place was bestowed upon Kuga's Chinese Restaurant yet again
"another win in a row!" "looks like no one can beat us this time!" "hahaha! Kuga's Chinese Restaurant is unstoppable!"
Kuga's underlings cheered as Kuga himself smirked proudly for the win
"man! I'm sorry for Yukihira-chin already! I hope he hasn't been expelled yet before I get to gloat into his face!" Kuga said as he grabbed the ranking newspaper and looks for Soma's booth but was surprised that it moved up to 34th place
"it went up?" Kuga said looking to the ranking before looking outside and sees that Soma's booth was gone
"what is Yukihira-chin up to?" Kuga thought as Soma's plan somehow made a comeback against Kuga's restaurant slowly yet progressively
The third day came to the Festival as Kuga's restaurant was packed with customers as usual
Kuga was in the middle of cooking with his underlings while his customers were screaming from the extremely spicy mapo tofu and was breathing fire out of their mouths
"still no sign of Yukihira-chin's booth, huh?" Kuga said looking out to see the empty booth location as there was nothing at all "from what I've heard from Isshiki is that Yukihira-chin is not the quitting type and always finds a way to make a comeback, there is something going on here, I know it"
"Captain Kuga! It's them!" one of Kuga's underlings shouted out as Kuga turns his attention to him before following him out of the restaurant
What Kuga's eyes see widened them so large as wide as plates
Soma's small Chinese booth was up and running as it was getting packed with customers, not passing by customers, but his customers
"w-what!?" Kuga exclaimed as Soma was cooking Mapo Tofu, Mapo Noodles, and Hua Jiao Bing as well and Megumi was serving them to the customers "he's stealing my customers!?"
"looks like I'm making a big come back, Senpai" Soma said in the middle of cooking "your restaurant seems to be not so perfect after all"
Kuga got a tick mark appearing on his forehead as he ran back to his restaurant and back into the kitchen
"let's get this done!" Soma exclaimed as a giant figure joined him in cooking
Kuga went back to his restaurant's kitchen as he and his underlings started cooking double time
"I won't lose, Yukihira-chin! I'm going to keep my promise to him!" Kuga exclaimed as he was cooking Mapo Tofu at twice the speed
"Captain! Our customers!" one of Kuga's underlings came running to the kitchen with a look of surprise "they're all going to Yukihira Soma's booth!"
"what!?" Kuga looks in surprise and in anger
Soma's booth was getting filled with more and more customers as the cooking chef was not only just Soma at all
Mimasaka Subaru; the King of Stalker, Mito Ikumi; the Meat General, and Takumi and Isami Aldini. All of them cooking the Chinese dishes while Megumi served the customers
"at first I thought he was just a pussy cat!" Kuga looks in anger as he sweated a bit
(Food Fantasy scene: Kuga was a giant lion while Soma was a small kitten, but that kitten transformed as it turned into a giant fricking lion, the Soma Lion roars at Kuga as the smaller lion got intimidated by it)
The hours go by before the announcement time came
"second place, Kuga's Chinese restaurant" the speaker announced out as Kuga looks in shock and so did his underlings
"YUKIHIRA!" Kuga growls in anger as he clenches his fist tight
"in first place, Yukihira Soma's Chinese cart!" the first place winner announced as Soma and the others high fived each other
"IT WASN'T MUCH!" They all shouted as they won on the final day
Erina was in the middle of cooking in her booth before she overheard the winner of the center street is Soma's booth
She smiled before she served up some dish for her customers
"looks like Yukihira proved his words after all, Erina-sama" Hisako said while being a waitress in Erina's booth
"seems like I was in wrong too" Erina said with a smile before looking to one table that was reserved but empty
"is it going to be empty again?" Hisako asked Erina as every year, the same table in the same spot would always be empty while being reserved as none came and sat upon it
"maybe not today" Erina said in a hopeful voice before hearing the front door being opened
"eh? All of the guests should be here already?" Hisako said "let me go and see who it is"
Hisako left but for Erina, she looks in anxious but with excitement
"did he come? Did Soma invite him!?" Erina thought with an excited smile
Soma was finishing up his booth as he ran out of ingredients and got a lot of profit out of it
"now then" Soma wipes off some sweat on his forehead "time to go and visit Erina's booth"
"mind if I join ya?" a voice spoke from behind Soma as he turns around and looks surprised
"you're…" he said as behind him was the Elite Ten's Second Seat; Kobayashi Rindo
Rindo looks with a smile while in her hands was dozens of foods from every booth in the festival
"are you eating all of those?" Soma asked while pointing to the many plastic bags
"sure am!" Rindo replied while munching on some food in her hands
That's a wrap!
Bye bye