Chapter 62: Unofficially Recognised
The mood of the room became mixed as the first seat of the Ten stepped through the doorway, showing himself to be the substitute teacher that was going to be in charge of the lesson. Whilst Sōma remained impassive to Tsukasa being their teacher, Megumi on the other hand turned quite pale and began to carry out her hand exercises in an attempt to lessen her nerves.
"Good morning everyone..." Tsukasa announced walking to the front of the class. "I'm Eishi Tsukasa first seat of the Council of Ten, I'm not certain if anyone of you as heard of me before". Either a show of ignorance of his reputation amongst the school or an attempt to big himself up, Sōma openly scowled at Tsukasa's words. However, the other students in the room seemed to be perplexingly frightened; them all pale faced and with a look in their eyes that asked:
'Is this guy serious? How can we not know who he is?'
"Today I will making a number of dishes, which from now on Central expects you to make the exact same way" Tsukasa explained before turning to face the whiteboard and attaching five recipes by blu-tack.
"We tasted his food at the Moon Festival. It was high level cuisine" Sōma whispered to his girlfriend, and culinary partner, inadvertently making them both blush as they realised their close proximity. Getting her breathing under control, Megumi turned her head a fraction nodding in agreement. "He was amazing... everything we had was simply divine".
It was then that Tsukasa spoke again as he regarded the class once more. "So... erm, for today's recipe then, I will need one student to act as my sous. I need someone to come and support me up here. Is there anyone who'd like to volunteer?"
With a childish smile on his face, the first seat raised his hand expecting people to come forwards. However as if turned out the majority of the room were too either intimidated by his presence, whilst the minority were content to stew in their own silent resentment.
"Err... anyone? Is having to cook with that unpleasant?"
No sooner than Tsukasa spoken, Sōma bolted forwards and stood beside the first seat; arms neatly folded in front of him. "Sōma!" Megumi gasped making her way towards the front of the class for a clearer view of her reckless boyfriends actions. "Okay then..." the first seat stated moving over to the teachers kitchen work surfaces. "You'll be learning five different French amuse-bouche. Sōma you'll be handling all the necessary preparation".
Upon seeing a subtle wink, the blue haired girl knew that Sōma had the situation under control. Or as controlled in the manner that he cooked. Sighing, she stood still and watched on smiling as Sōma expertly took on the role of sous chef for Tsukasa.
"Place the semi dried figs... food processor and then prepare a quenelle".
"Then slice the shallots and then julienne the carrots. Next mix egg yolks, sugar, cardamon and milk and warm them up for a creme anglaise, then pout into a ramekin and then place in the fridge".
Watching Sōma cook even in an assistant position still felt like an incredible moment, and Megumi couldn't help but share in the brilliant grin that spread across her face. 'He's... he's so confident' she internally mused reminding herself that she no longer had to hold back her feelings to the redhead boy. Twirling one of her twin pigtails in her fingers, the girl noticed the widened eyes of Tsukasa; himself in awe of Sōma.
"Then next..."
"Coat the Ayu in whole wheat flour and deep fry them right?" The look of utter surprise at being preemptively deduced by a first year was genuine and infinitesimal, before Tsukasa smiled and nodded his head. "Right, please do", he smiled turning back to the stove.
"Courgette and almond remoulade is ready!" Again Sōma's speed and accurate timing with each preparation was delivered to the first seat with seamless precision. "Whipped cream with firm peaks will be ready in about ten more seconds". A lot oohing and awing was suddenly elicited by the other students chefs in the room as they watched Tsukasa begin final plating.
Smiling as she wrote down notes on the actions of how to prepare these five amuse-bouche, Megumi was reminded of her mother's words to her that she'd found her "soulmate" in Sōma. Moreover, according to both Yuki and Ryōko the redhead and the bluenette completed one another.
"Okay guys" Tsukasa announced, as the room of wide eyed student chefs began gawking at him. "It's time for you all to go to your work stations and get cooking. It should take you two same amount of time that Sōma and I took" he continued nonchalantly, missing the way that nearly everybody wilted at the knees in response to the time limit imposed on them. 'No fricking way!' was the combined, non verbal expression being held by the class, as only those whom possessed a monster stamina could compete the recipes in twenty minutes.
Elsewhere, in a classroom down the hall, Erina had decided to return to classes with Hisako by her side. As the god tongue finished off, by pouring, an oyster and miso sauce garnish onto her plate of mushroom risotto, she saw Hisako staring at her; blushing. A sudden feeling of wanting to wrap her arms around her friend surged through the god tongue, yet before she could do so she suddenly found three of the schools newest central aligned teachers standing before her. Smiling and clapping.
"You're skills are always so impeccable to witness Miss Nakiri" a middle aged woman spoke politely, followed by the two men behind her bowing their heads in deference. "You're father must be very proud to have you as a daughter. For the sake of Tōtsuki Academy and Central, we expect great things from you as a chef". Remaining impassive in the face of people whom she knew approved of her father's methods, almost made Erina vomit fortunately Hisako bounded forwards and grabbed her by the hand and lead her away. "Please excuse me" the god tongue replied to the teachers, as she and Hisako left the classroom.
After Sōma had pulled on his jacket but before he had packed his note books and pencils back into his rucksack, he and Megumi shared a passionate kiss. They only broke apart when the sound of a ringing phone permeated their lustre. Unfurling their arms from one another, Megumi pulled her phone from her pocket before looking at it's screen, and immediately blanching. "No way... the Regional Cuisine Society is taking part in a food war against Central!"
Spinning around, the redhead seethed at Central for now going after the second place on campus where Megumi felt like she belonged. Placing a soft kiss to her forehead, as well as feeling her arms tightly holding onto him, Sōma couldn't help but feel disappointed by Kensuke's continued supporting of Central. "I-I-I have to go call the chief" Megumi continued. "I need to support the place which gives me a place to work on my cooking!"
Grinning as he watched her run out of the room with her satchel slung over her shoulders and her pigtails slightly messed up, Sōma again knew that she was the girl whom he would always dedicate his cookery for. "Good luck!" He yelled out after her, "although I know you've got this!" He could just imagine the awkward embarrassment flushed across Megumi's face as she disappeared down the corridor, she really was adorably determined.
Sōma was just about to leave the now empty classroom he heard a groaning coming from behind the teachers workstation, and so looking over his shoulder he expected to see on of the school janitors mumbling about dirty floors or something along those lines. However, the sight he saw made him facepalm. For pushing himself to his feet as he steadied himself on the countertop and sweating nervously was the first seat: Eishi Tsukasa.
"Huh... chef Tsukasa! What are you still doing here!" Sōma asked incredulously. "I would have thought that you'd have returned to the councils administrative building".
The first seat looked pale and wobbly even after he had managed to stand at full height. "Ugh... once the class finished" he explained, "all the nervousness I had been holding onto decided to overwhelm me. I seriously can't handle cooking in front of the eyes of so many students. Just the thought that I might forget to tell them something important makes me absolutely sick".
As Tsukasa ran a hand through his hair explaining how Rindō would "blow her top" at his weak and pathetic behaviour, Sōma held his breath whilst internally realising the difference between the first and third seat's. Kensuke was afflicted by extreme social anxiety whilst Tsukasa had issues with 'extreme perfectionism'. The redhead was jolted back into reality upon hearing his name being positively mentioned.
"But I have to say your cooking was excellent today. You are far better than I gave you credit for earlier, and I think I can see the 'greatness' which Kensuke sees in you". Grinning at being acknowledged by the first seat, and the third by means of proxy, Sōma brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Same here man! I really enjoyed working with you and I learnt quite a bit from you..." Alas the redhead was interrupted by firm almost cold response from the white haired chef.
"I think you'll prove quite useful..."
With an instant frown gracing his face, Sōma narrowed his eyes as he listened. "Do you have any interest in becoming my sous chef? Would you like to join me and Kensuke in Central?"
"Am I hearing this right..." Sōma replied half quizzically, half curiously. "You want me to be apart of Central?" Seeing the first seat respond with a simple nod of the head made Sōma's frown even more pronounced, "you're not very good at making jokes, Tsukasa. Why would I ever do that?" Immediately the first seat became hunched over, deflated and dejected. "I-well-see... I knew you wouldn't agree to it..."
Resisting the urge to face palm yet again, the redhead boy moved forwards and placed a hand on the first seat's shoulder. "Oh come on you don't have to be that depressed about it. I'm just pleased as punch that you've acknowledged my cooking skills. That said, I've no intention of ever letting Central get its hands on the Yukihira family cooking style".
The hard line appeared on the first seat's face as he spoke again. "Oh that's easy then, we have no need for it"Tsukasa abruptly interrupted. "We don't want the Yukihira style. I simply want your abilities, I think that with by my side, as an excellent support chef, my cooking will get even better. So that's it the gist of it anyway, would you at least give it some honest consideration?"
With his frown giving way to a smirk, Sōma unfolded his arms and pointing the name on his jacket. "You're being pretty nonchalant about a blatantly selfish request, but at the same time I've never met a single chef who wasn't, in some way, obsessed with themselves".
Outside the classroom, unbeknownst to the students inside, crouching down below the hallway windows, were Erina and Hisako. "Is that Tsukasa with Sōma? Why are those two together..." Erina murmured. "Erm guys, why are you down there?" Another voice sounded from their right, startling them. Before Megumi knew what was happening, Hisako grabbed her hand and pulled her down beneath the level of the glass. "Get down, Tsukasa is talking about Sōma possible joining Central".
Immediately brought up to speed on the situation by that one sentence, Megumi crouched down and peered over through the bottom of the window; trying to meet her boyfriends eye and mentally commune to him to walk away. Unfortunately, she and the other girls heard more of the first seat's explanation.
"You stand to gain a lot from this too. If you join Central and pair up with me, you'll be able to cook at a much higher standard than you do presently..."
"But I'd still be stuck as your assistant, there's no point to me joining Central if I'm not able to cook how I like", Sōma interjected before frowning upon seeing the dejected expression overtake the first seat once again. 'You really have no capacity for thought outside of yourself...', he mused.
"Anyway you've never seen anyone of my dishes, much less tasted one!" He exclaimed pouting, "Isn't it conceivable that my skills might surpass yours in every way?"
"Interesting?" Tsukasa opined. "Do you wish to test that theory of yours right here an now? Which of us deserves to sit at the top, I'll even put my spot as the top of the Council of Ten on the line". Gawking at the suddenness in conservational direction, Sōma blinked momentarily unsure of how to proceed. "However..." Tsukasa added, "if I win then you will join Central and serve under me. Do you accept my challenge? Sōma Yukihira".
Exhaling a deep breath and then unfurling his arm band from his wrist before wrapping it around his head, the redhead boy's grinning acceptance was wholehearted. "It would be my pleasure. This is a battle for the first seat!"
R.I.P - the Inestimably funny, Sean Lock.