"Speaking"
"thinking"
On with the story
Soma was in the kitchen as he was in the middle of cooking some bear meat
He grilled it, fried it, steamed it, baked it,… he did everything to the meat but the taste was still bad
"even with some spices, the bear meat is too tough" Soma said as he tasted another failure bear meat dish
He stopped cooking as he started thinking and thinking of anything that would help him cook the dish
"hard thoughts?" a voice spoke as Soma looks to the side and was face to face with Kuga Terunori, the former 8th seat
"are you in with central as well?" Soma asked as he stared at Kuga with a dark glare
"hey hey, no need to glare at me" Kuga said with a cheekish smile "I'm not with central at all, I'm here to help"
"why?" Soma asked as he went to grab another bear meat to cook before he realized that he had used them all
"because Central's way makes me sick" Kuga replied as he sat on the counter "and doing cooking as usual makes it way more fun than that"
"well then" Soma said as he placed all the dirtied dishes into the sink and started to clean them fast before he finished in matter of 1 minute "let's start hunting"
Kuga smiled before realizing his words "hunting?"
10 minutes later, Soma and Kuga were hiking through the snowy mountain of Hokkaido as they were followed by Kuga's underlings
"brrrrrr! This place is so cold!" Kuga exclaimed while his snot was frozen in the cold
Soma looks around the snow before he saw tracks and it was bear tracks
"a big one, male, and probably a few thousands pound at the most" Soma said as he looks at the track before standing up and following it
"you know how to bear hunt, Yukihira?" one of Kuga's underlings asked as Soma nodded
"learned how to do it in America" Soma said before he showed them his wallet that has dozens of cards in it "and got a lot of license to do so"
"what kind of a childhood did you had?" everyone thought as Soma had fishing license, hunting license, driving license, sky diving license, and many more as it made everyone think that Soma was a true inhuman being
Soma looks around before he spotted a patch of brown fur moving in the forest far away
"I found him" Soma said as he takes a shotgun and aimed before firing
BANG!
The loud gunshot was heard as it made the birds in the trees fly away
Soma approached the forest where he finds himself a giant forest bear that looks like the size of 2 people combined
"h-he killed it with one shot!" one of Kuga's underling said in shock as Soma took down a large creature like a bear with just one shot
"five of you, tie it up and start dragging it to a butcher shop" Soma ordered out as he gave one of Kuga's underlings his shot gun "while the rest of you are going with me"
Kuga looks at Soma as the man was digging through the snow
"and what might you be doing?" Kuga asked Soma who pulls out dozens of frozen acorns
"ingredient gathering" Soma replied before he found some wildberries in the snow
2 days then passed after the hunting period as Soma was now face to face with Hayama yet again
"looks like you've been testing many spices the past few days" Hayama said as Soma was in the middle of sharpening his knives
"and if I was?" Soma asked as he lifted up the black knife as it glints from the sunlight
"hmph, no matter what you do, it won't give you a winning chance" Hayama said with a prideful smirk
"is that so?" Soma asked
"now then, I shall be introducing the judges" Dojima said as two albino looking girl came to the station
They started conversing to each other as they commented on Soma's looks and then Hayama's look
"hey hey! Is this okay, Dojima-san!? They're both literally kids!" Kuga exclaimed before he got into a cat fight with the two girls
"they may look little but they're personal subordinates of Leonoro-dono, and they are very keen and detailed on cooking gastronomy as well" Dojima said before he turns to the side to look at the final judge "and then the head judge would be the founder of Totsuki's institutes research and development arm, Nakiri International"
A man in suit came as he stood in front of Dojima Gin and the others
"Nakiri Senzaemon's son, Nakiri Soe-dono" Dojima introduced as the son of the Food Demon Mafia adjusted his glasses
"hehehe, Berta let's go to Nassan" the girls said to each other before leaving Kuga who got scratch marks all over his face
"it's been long, Dojima Gin" Soe said as he shakes hands with Dojima
"my thanks for coming here, Soe-dono" Dojima greeted him
"so he's Senzamon's son, huh?" Soma asked "are you also with Central?"
"Yukihira-chin is right! If he's related to Azami! Wouldn't he be like his supporters or something!?" Kuga exclaimed
"no and yes" Soe replied "I am a neutral individual in this sort of tyranny of my brother in law"
"I am a judge and I will give absolute impartiality to this match, even if it was my own daughter who is the participant of this match then I would judge the match with fairness even if my decision makes her the loser!"
Nakiri Soe's expression was serious before it changed into a very soft marshmallow smile as he was looking at the picture of his daughter before to his wife
"talk about a doting dad and husband" everyone thought the same thing
Soma stood in his kitchen station and waits for Soe to finish with his whole smothering fathering love
"now then" Soe said coughing into his fist for a second "Yukihira Soma and Hayama Akira, behold the bear meat for today's theme"
Everyone witnessed the bear meat as it glistens and had beautiful cuts all around it
"it is time to start" Dojima said as Soma takes off his headband from his hand before wrapping it around his forehead "COOKING! START!"
The cooking starts as Hayama instantly takes his bear meat and started to prepare it
He whisked egg and starch into a batter, he heated up oil, he prepared flour. And that made everyone knew that he was prepping a deep fried dish
"he's preparing to make a fried bear meat" Kuga said as he watched them cook "and I believe that he would use spices to improve the bear meat's flavour and everything"
Kuga watched as Hayama takes many assortments of spices as he added them into the bear meat and started to mash the spice within the meat to heighten its flavour
"how are you going to defeat him, Yukihira-chin?" Kuga thought as he looks to Soma's station and sees that the young chef was doing the same as Hayama
"they're both going to make a deep fried dish?!" one of Kuga's underlings exclaimed in surprise
Soma takes his meat before he throws it in the air
He swings his hands back before cracking his fists
The meat fell on top of his counter before Soma sends blurry of punches at the meat as It started to get tenderized
"b-boxing?!" Kuga looks in surprise as Soma was prepping his dish in an unusual yet unique way
Soma finished tenderizing the meat before he cuts it into chunks with his black knife
He dropped all of the meat into a metal bowl before he threw in some soup stock into the bowl and then add spices and then herbs before he started mashing the meat up
"they're both using the same technique but only one dish can be superior then the other" Dojima noted as both chefs cook their dish with the best skills that they have
After waiting for 2 hours, Soma and Hayama finished their dish as it was nearly identical yet different in a way
"Bear Menchi Katsu" Soma said as It was the name of his dish
"Southern Fried Bear" Hayama proclaimed to his dish as the judge watched both dish with amazement in their eyes
"now dear judges, please taste" Dojima said as everyone tasted each dish and in an instant, both Berta and Cecily were sent into space by a giant golden fried bear
"both taste amazing, but only one can be the winner" Soe said as his top suit was gone and exposing his abs
"Hayama" Soma called out as he had one plate of his dish in his hand "this one is for you"
"what are you doing, Yukihira? Trying to prove something?" Hayama asked as Soma nodded
"the one ingredient that you forgot to put within your dish" Soma said as Hayama looks at the dish before taking it
"I'm voting for him!" "him!" Berta and Cecily place their vote as it was a split vote between Soma and Hayama
"every dish you made during the autumn classics were more better than this one, you forgot one thing that you always put in your cooking, Hayama" Soma said as Hayama tasted Soma's dish
Hayama's clothes exploded as the flavour of the bear meat sends him soaring into the air
"the flavour! The texture! They're mixing in harmony!"
Hayama sees a giant fried bear appearing in front of him before the bear strikes down Hayama with its claws
"he made this dish….with the most powerful ingredient of them all" Hayama thought before he fell down to his knees in front of Soma
"it's my loss…..Yukihira" Hayama said as Soe's vote was for Soma and that made the redhead the winner of this match
"happy to serve" Soma said as he takes off his headband
Hayama tasted again the bear meat dish, Soma made as it reminded him of all the fun times he had in the seminar, with the others in the autumn fall, the memorable time with Shiomi
"I'm sorry, Yukihira…..for being such a disappointment," Hayama said to Soma who looks at him before walking away
"the one who you should be apologizing isn't me" Soma said as Hayama looks to him before turning around to see Jun standing behind him "it's her"
Hayama looks at Jun before looking down as he was a huge disappointment to her
He thought that he would be a shame for her to see but Shiomi just patted his head while smiling
Soma had a small smile as he watches Hayama and Jun smiling to each other before Soma left the match to check on the others
That's a wrap!
Bye bye