Chapter 44: The Completed Stall

- Combined Forces

Day Four

"You sure do run a tight ship, Sōma".

Had he not declared himself a rival, and then them becoming friends, Sōma might have been offended by Kuga's words. Instead however, the redhead simply grinned as he raised his fist to the spiked blonde eighth seat, to fist bump before wishing each other good luck for the penultimate day of the Moon Festival ranking days.

"As much as I would like to take credit for this..." Sōma replied, "it's really Takumi and Ikumi's organisational skills that are responsible for my booths seeming fluidity". Kuga smiled a genuine smile and threw an arm around the redheads shoulders, "I have a feeling that there is more to it than that... but anyway I digress. Good luck Sōma-chan!" Waving as he walked towards his Szechuan booth, Kuga remembered his words to Tsukasa.

'Promise me... If I can equal your festival ranking last year, then will you accept another food war from me'.

He knew it was a long shot but Kuga had managed to get close to other Tsukasa records, and this one was the pinnacle. If he could get another food war challenge then it would allow him to get another chance at making the first seat actually take note and remember him. Taking a last look back towards his newest rival, and friend, Kuga suddenly felt as if a great weight lifted from him, it was almost as if his constant wish to prove himself to Tsukasa was now superseded by Sōma Yikihira. And for the first time ever, Kuga felt genuine relief.

From his spot, standing by the two ovens and a medium sized portable stove, Sōma grinned at seeing the smile upon Kuga's face as he disappeared into his own booth. So happy and content.

"You should have told him that it was your incessant 'winging it' sensibility, that drove us to take charge!" The exasperated voices of Ikumi Mito and Takumi Aldini uttered from their respective places, cooking hujiao bing and danzi noodles. Raising a quizzical eyebrow at his two friends simultaneous announcements, Sōma blushed a small amount in embarrassment. Smiling, he returned to his own job; mesmerised at how quickly he and Mimasaka quickly fell into synch with each other as they cooked the curry mapo tofu.

"Huh..." Takumi mused. "You're actually managing to keep up with Sōma's unpredictability". The large copy chef smirked back, "don't underestimate my copying". Then in a quieter tone, missed by Sōma and Takumi but picked up by Megumi and Ikumi, he added: "I owe you two a huge debt that I will never be able to repay. So anything I can do to help either of you, I will do".

Smiling at how far Mimasaka had come; from his infamous food war with Takumi, then challenging Sōma in an attempt to show him up from which he was then offered redemption by Sōma. Megumi and Ikumi once again couldn't help but silently express their awe at the level of compassion and determination within the redheaded boy before them.

As Ikumi recommenced her station at the stone ovens, Megumi caught Sōma winked at her, resulting in her heart fluttering. With heat racing to her face, the blue haired girl smiled back to her boyfriend before she began oversee the hospitality of customers.

"Here let me clear this rubbish away".

"There is a low table over here's that is suitable for your wheelchair, whilst the other low table is for the young family with a stroller.

"Here are some napkins and, if you would like, some cutlery, if you want them instead of chopsticks".

"If you're finding something too spicy, then here some cool yoghurt raita".

Watching the blue haired girl wander around the customer tables, as well as the customers at the front line, Mister Tomita was stunned by her poise and the calm expression she was wearing. Which was probably anything but what she was actually feeling, yet to keep showing her willingness to help was such a strength that it brought Tomita to tears. Simultaneously, hearing a crying coming from his left, he turned around to see who it was and was met by the sight of a man with a pompadour haircut crying onto his sleeves and smiling.

"Oh Sōma, Meat-Meat... Megumi! You three are so well in-tune with each other".

Raising an eyebrow, Tomita was about to ask how this man knew the three Tōtsuki chefs, when he was suddenly struck by a strange sense of déjà vu. Moreover, as he stood and stared, the other man looked up at him. And in one conjoined breath, as they looked at one another, the two men spoke at the exact same.

"You don't seem like a stranger to me?"

Holding back a peal of laughter, as he watched the two older males before him, Sōma bit the inside of his cheek to ensure that he remained focused on his cooking. More so, he could tell from the look on Ikumi's face that she too was struggling to hold back her laughter, the meeting of Tomita and Kenichi was simply too funny.

Megumi, on the other hand, was simply staring blankly at the two of them thoroughly confused about why her friends were stifling their laughter. Lost at the seeming inside joke that they possessed. Sōma blew a kiss to his girlfriend from where he stood, and mentally made a note to tell her later about the character similarity of the two men.

Receiving a nod, and a blushing smile from her, the redhead boy then felt a nudge from his immediate right and as he inched around a to look at the two friends beside him, he couldn't help but grin. Takumi and Mimasaka were both smirking at him. "Hey!" Takumi coyly spoke. "You can make eyes at Megumi later, right now we're in the middle of a competition with Kuga restaurant now".

"I... wasn't..." Sōma spluttered, only to stop when he heard their chuckling continuing at a higher pitch. Thoroughly embarrassed, he simply murmured 'lets just cook' before his friends could mess with him again. A slap across the back made him abruptly look back towards Takumi only to see that Kuga was, once more, standing by them. "Come on Sōma! You challenged me to a festival competition, and I'm still in the lead", the playful smirk on the spiked blondes face was enough to bring him out of his embarrassment and grin.

"Not for much longer Kuga-senpai! I will beat you!" Fist bumping the redhead boy, the eighth seat turned to face the frowning Italian boy. Kuga grinned as he placed a hand on the blondes boy's shoulder. "Takumi-chan! You may be here helping Sōma but I extend my rivalry to you as well, I hope Isami can work without you".

A look somewhere between a snarl and a smirk, mixed with confusion, arched its way across Takumi's face as he directed his outstretched hand and pointed straight at Kuga. "Don't underestimate Isami! He will do the branch Trattoria Aldini proud, even in my absence I know he will have our booth working to a T! And me and Mimasaka will assist Sōma in beating you, Kuga-senpai!"

Grinning as he began to move off, the eighth seat tried to hide the joyful grin on his face behind a facade of stoicism but instead he simply couldn't find it within himself to return to being the absolutely steadfastly determined chef he'd once been. Kuga still wanted to face off with Tsukasa but ever since he had met Sōma Yukihira, the eighth seat had discovered something that he now understood Isshiki had been trying to tech him for two years now.

The fun of being a competition with a rival, who actually saw you as an equal. And that was enough to make Kuga's heart soar.

For the next seven hours, the five first years all cooked their proverbial socks off to ensure that they could outsell Kuga restaurant. And so, by the time the voice of Urara Kawashima announced over the campus wide tannoy system that the festival was now over, and that the total number of sales by every stall and pop up restaurant in the three school areas were being tallied up, Sōma and Takumi practically draped themselves over a bench in exhaustion.

The two boys had been so busy, not wanting to be out done by each other, that they'd run themselves ragged cooking. Mimasaka, however, was currently seated comfortably beside the others, yet Megumi and Ikumi could both tell that he was just as tired as the others were. "Thanks guys!" Sōma panted, before drinking from a water bottle handed to him by his girlfriend. "Keep the thanks coming Sōma", Takumi grinned, boyishly. "I helped you out but I bet I still served more of your customers than you did".

"Huh... no way in hell! I cooked more than you did". The petulance displayed by the redhead, was only further increased by Mimasaka stating that whilst he had been cooking; he had also simultaneously counted how many times each of them had handed her food to paying customers. "I'm sorry Sōma..." the large copy chef stated, "but Takumi is right. He served more than you today".

"I won't loose to you again, Takumi!" The redhead boy yelled jealously. "I will get to the top of Tōtsuki before you!" Instantly, both boys were on their feet and jovially shoving each other, Mimasaka simply chuckled at their childishness. "Really..." he mused. "You two are more sibling-like than Isami and Takumi really are". Megumi and Ikumi both walked forwards and stood, hands on hips, before Sōma and Takumi. Frowning.

Yet before they could admonish the boys a familiar voice was heard over the tannoy, breaking everyone's attention away from the previous topic and straight into anticipation for where they were, sales rankings-wise.

"The results of sales are in folks", Urara's voice excitedly chirped through the tannoy system. "On the main avenue, in third place are... the Skewer research society. In second place is... Bowl club, and in first place is the Shiomi Seminar! Moving on to the central plaza... in third place are the Spanish research society El Fuego. Following them, in second place is China Society, led by chef Terunori Kuga. A shocking result for them indeed! And in first place is Sōma Yukihira with his little... stall!

Now for the Mountain area, although I will state that the members of the Ten who chose to participate in the mountains will be cooking for two more days, but those customers will not be counted beyond today.

In third place is the tenth seat, Erina Nakiri, in second place is the third seat, Kensuke Tadokoro with his South American-Mesopotamian restaurant 'Mindfulness'. And in first place with her Sweet Tooth restaurant, is the fourth seat Momo Akanegakubo".

Then just as the five chefs began celebrating a victory over Kuga, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound hurrying footsteps and loud playful laughter. Turning around: Sōma, Takumi, Megumi, Ikumi and Mimasaka all saw the grinning face of, second seat, Rindō Kobayashi as she raced past them and immediately grabbed Kuga in a headlock before playfully teasing him.

And judging by the string of expletives they heard, it was clear that Kuga was not appreciative of his senpai's actions, especially the noogie that Rindō was applying to his head but was unable to overcome. Yet, that only made Sōma and Megumi giggle as they leant against each other, watching as Kuga send pleading eyes at them to intercede in his struggle with his senior chef.