Chapter 30: Fusion

Isshiki was nervous.

He had already known that Sōma wanted to test his skills against a member of the Ten; hopefully beating them and taking their council seat. And without a doubt, Isshiki supported Sōma's desire to a face off, someday... but as of now the seventh seat was was unsure of what would happen if he lost.

Isshiki knew that Kensuke was extremely adverse to being the centre of attention and really did not enjoy defeating opponents, going out of his way to avoid any situation that may lead to food war. Not that he had much experience of socialising or even taking part in food wars to begin with.

Yet, with his new and sudden transformation from quiet introvert to a slightly more socially conscious, still slightly awkward student. Isshiki found himself unable to properly gauge Kensuke's goals and standing when compared to Sōma.

This was what worried him, something that he had not expected. He had expected some kind reaction from Kensuke, upon learning that Sōma was Megumi's boyfriend but not in the not in the way that had come to pass. To accept Sōma's challenge at the Meet and Greet was radical, especially for someone who had always never really felt comfortable being the centre of attention. And cooking in full view of hundreds of gawking onlookers, would most certainly be that.

To be honest, If Isshiki had expected anyone to semi go along with Sōma's wish for a fight, then he would have put money on Kuga. The eighth seat had a similar temperament to Sōma and held the same-ish culinary views, as well as an iron will to strive onwards and upwards. Right now, Kensuke was a complete unknown. Everything Isshiki thought he understood about his friend was now upended.

"Are you frickin' kidding me!"

Yuki screamed exasperatedly, distracting the seventh seat. "Why did Sōma choose whale as the topic? Doesn't he realise that could potentially fall into the third seat's hands!"

From the seats on her immediate right, the girl was backed up by Ryōko and Hisako. Hisako's presence had surprised the group, along with Erina, who herself looked extremely tense but had begun to unwind after awhile. "I'm sure he's got an idea in his mind", the god tongue murmured. "He may be an idiot, and an outsider to fine dining, but his ingenuity is... I suppose an admirable quality".

Hearing such words from the God Tongue was unheard of, so unlike her, and judging from Hisako and Alice's gaping mouthes, they too were equally blindsided. As if suddenly realising what she had said, Erina blushed bright red and turned her head away from the gawking faces of Alice and Hisako.

"Wow, Erina," Alice praised moving forwards and hugging her cousin. "I'm so proud of you".

"Don't patronise me!" The god tongue stuttered, "I don't need pitying". Grabbing ahold of Hisako's arm Erina buried her face into her friends jacket, whilst Alice simply continued to smile. Whilst Erina had imagined her cousin was taking pity on her, in actuality Alice was genuinely happy that she was beginning to be like her old self again.

"Yeah", Yuki suddenly exclaimed. "You're right Erina! Sōma is inventive! He'll come up with something that will outshine Megumi's brother..." The orange haired girl veered off upon hearing Ryōko's fawning over Kensuke. "He's soo handsome... and broody" Ryōko purred and heaved her breasts, before she was dragged away by Alice and Ikumi.

"Calm yourself, Ryōko", the white haired Nakiri girl frowned, "besides he's older than us".

"Yeah...he's a second year", Ikumi added, blushing. Yuki moved forwards and attempted to get her friend see the futility of her crush on the older boy but no matter what she said did little to distract Ryōko from gazing adoringly towards the third seat.

—

Turning his attention back to the cooking, Isshiki looked down towards the stage to see what both chefs were planning. However, to his consternation, he saw that his fellow council seat hadn't made any such move to even look inside the box containing the different cuts of whale meat. Instead, Kensuke's attention was focusing on the contents of a large lidded pot resting atop the stove, whilst also tending to a small simmering saucepan.

Whereas, in contrast, Sōma seemed more on point with the task. And judging from the aromas emanating from the large cast iron pot simmering of spices and red wine, to which he was adding a variety of chopped up and diced vegetables, the food he was going to present would be delicious. The aroma of spiced red wine and dried fruits in one pot filled the air with sumptuous aromas of delectability.

Atop another stove top, and within a second pot were a collection of simmering vegetables:

Aubergines, courgettes, peppers, carrots and tomatoes all cooking in olive oil and spices.

The scene became even more confusing and anticipatory, when Sōma began adding honey, soy sauce, garlic and saffron to the pot, but then the redhead shoxked then again by adding dried apricots, sultanas, dates and flaked almonds...

"Is he mad!" Erina spluttered. "Those ingredients... they'll never work all altogether!" She drawled as the aroma suddenly hit her. Isshiki smirked, he didn't even have to open his mouth to tell Erina to 'think again'. The beaming smile on Megumi's face, as she watched her boyfriend from the side lines, was all Erina needed to see to realise that Sōma was not the chef she had pegged him to be.

With Mimasaka at her side, cheering on Sōma as well, Megumi was completely absorbed in cheering on he boyfriend. 'She knows him too well...' he mused. "Erina", Alice retorted, "you should heed your words. Sōma's greatest strength, even I'm loath to admit, is his perseverance". He saw a half scowl-grimace on the god tongue's face, as she leant in the railings, with her cousin and best friend either side of her, watching the cooking below.

For the first time, seeing Erina like this, made the penny drop for Isshiki, for he realised in that moment just how pretty she was. 'She's stunningly beautiful...'

Quickly shaking his head he remembered his bond with Nene, and his vow to someday tell the girl how he felt. Dispelling any further thoughts about Erina from forming, the seventh seat grinned as he watched Sōma suddenly reveal a large cut of smoked venison, and proceed to slice it into quarters. 'I see... so you're doing that... do not forget who you're facing Sōma', he mused to himself.

—

Meanwhile, as his friends watched the food war from the stalls, Sōma was keeping calm. He was focused on the work in front of him, and he was not letting anything distract him. Not even when Kensuke instead chose to focus on the stove: with a simmering pan and a boiling pot, did Sōma move away from the task at hand. Even if he was curious as to why he hadn't yet taken up any particular cut of whale meat yet, Sōma didn't dare divert his thoughts from his set dish. He was loving every second of this food war, his first battle with someone of the Ten, and he was determined to heed Chef Kojirō's advice.

'There are many chances at Tōtsuki to learn... you just need to grab them as they present themselves'.

He hadn't realised it then but what Kojirō had been talking about, once he had returned from his Stagiaire, he had been talking about the food war system. Learning from the students immediately around him. Grinning, the red haired boy allowed himself a momentary glance up to his friends and another towards Megumi, to show his appreciation of their support.

Seeing the looks of profound exasperation on Takumi and Ikumi's faces compared to the jealous scowls of Ryo and Akira, was almost comical. He was sure that they would all yell and shout after this was over, but as of now, he didn't care.

This was simply too much fun.

Turning back to his work station, Sōma made his way over to the now screaming pressure cooker wherein were chickpeas. Taking the cooker of the heat and running cold water over the lid as he released the pressure, Sōma smiled satisfied with the cooked chickpeas.

Leaving the peas in a sieve to drain, the boy chef returned to another lidded pan which he then revealed to contain couscous. Moving over to a large frying pan, he added the sautéed mushrooms to the spiced vegetable pot before leaving that to slow cook. Sōma then refilled the large pan with copious amounts of butter and then letting it gently melt before adding diced whale meat.

Browning slowly, until the meat was a pleasant chestnut colour, Sōma grinned as he looked up to see the five judges, from behind the desk, all staring at him with equal looks of intense anticipation etched in their faces.

'Not much longer now...' his internal monologue smirked. 'Kensuke, eat your heart out!'

Pouring a bottle of red wine into the pan along with a jug of lamb stock, Sōma noticed that Urara Kawashima was drooling. Beckoning her over, he allowed the battle emcee to taste the sauce which resulted in Urara dropping to her knees and cooing. Smiling as he saw the shocked reactions from the room of the sauce, Sōma removed some small venison shank from the oven and allowed it rest before dicing it and added it to the vegetables.

Beaming with pride, as a his timer began chirping, Sōma made his way back towards the workstation to start bringing everything together on the plate. Using a to spoon he ladled the chickpeas into the spiced vegetable-fruit before using chopsticks to pluck diced whale meat from the adjacent pan and add that too.

Leaving the pot to stew for a final five minutes, Sōma walked over to a side bench where he picked up three earthenware dishes and brought them over to where he would be soon plating up, and within each dish he placed the couscous; that had sultanas running through it.

Placing the meat and spiced fruit-vegetables into another larger earthenware dish, and covering it with a fitted conical lid, Sōma noticed that the atmosphere of the room had suddenly gone silent. No doubt everyone had realised that he was ready to present his completed dish.

"Ohh it looks like Sōma Yukihira is about to showcase his dish to the judges", Urara stammered, still having not re-centred herself. As he walked up towards the judges, he found himself thinking back to his previous time in this room and the loss against Akira. Placing the large lidded dish down on the table, and then handing out the five smaller dishes of couscous, Sōma noticed the drool around Chef Hinako's mouth.

Removing the lid from the earthen ware dish, the arena was filled with the aroma of paprika and honey. "Judges", Sōma grinned. "For you today, I have prepared my own Japanese take on a popular North African dish: Yukihira Style - Moroccan Whale Tagine!"

—

Quite quickly, the startled looks on their faces vanished as the first tasting commenced. Turning around, Sōma walked back over to his workstation and picked up a single solitary dish, and so moving towards Kensuke, the redhead handed his fusion Tagine over.

"You are a curious chef, Sōma", the third seat responded, taking ahold of the dish, and taking in the aroma. "I do not understand you... but at this point in time... I-I'm happy to let the food do the talking".

As the melancholic look in his eyes faded away, and as the flavours began to overflow his brain, Kenosuke allowed a gentle smile to creep onto his face. The fusion Japan-Morocco Tagine was obviously an eye opening path forwards for Sōma but more importantly it showed that the first year chef was able to extricate some emotion from him, the third seat.

Sitting behind the judging desk, Gin Dōjima was simply smiled as he allowed himself to be enveloped by the whale tagine. "This is... amazing", he announced. "The sweetness of the honey and the spiciness of the paprika... and then the accents of cloves and cardamom against the whale's oiliness".

With his face reddening with every mouthful he was enjoying, Dōjima found himself almost at a loss for words. Luckily, he was spared the embarrassment of repeating his earlier praise by the heaving an incredible sensual sigh of pleasure from madam Sendawara.

"I-I feel soooo satisfied..." Natsume Sendawara cooed quivering in her seat. "Now I know how Jonah felt... the power of a whale baring itself upon you! I've been swallowed whole!"

Standing up from her seat, with a glaze in her eyes, she pushed up her breasts and pointed at Sōma. "Chef Yukihira, I'm sorry I ever looked down upon you at the Fall Selection. I like you, so... please be mine", she spoke silkily. Running her tongue across her teeth, and reaching her hand towards Sōma's face.

"Natsume..." Chef Hinako coughed, narrowing her eyes. "You do know that you can't ask that of a teenage boy..." Brought back down to earth, and thoroughly embarrassed, the Curry Queen returned to her seat. Mollified. "I'm sorry..." she stuttered. "The food... the food got to me". On the other side of the desk, Sōma was desperately trying to ease his red faced embarrassment, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Megumi was openly glaring daggers straight at madam Sendawara.

"Whilst I admit that my fellow judge should recompose herself", the gourmet food critic Shigenoshin Kōda stated, running a hand across his face. "I have to say that if I was served this dish in a restaurant I would be one very satisfied customer! Perhaps a bit frugal with the sauce but that's just me being pernickety".

"Oui, Monsieur Yukihira", Chapelle murmured, before grinning and giving Sōma a thumbs up. "Truly a remarkable sight", Dōjima spoke, "you have made Professor Chapelle smile at your food, twice". Hinako Inui had scoffed down the food in mere minutes and as she placed her plate back down, Sōma noticed her whisper something to Dōjima. Which made the head judge incredible uncomfortable.

Looking back toward Kensuke, the red haired boy saw that his opponent was once again wearing a reserved expression on his face. "Your good... Sōma Yukihira", the third seat spoke calmly. "But... if you can wait for just twenty more minutes. I'm sure that I will win. Unanimously".