Chapter 71: Sapporo Udon

As the first year students continued to travel across Hokkaido towards the location of their second test, back in Tokyo the current members of the Ten; minus Kensuke, were boarding a plane at Haneda airport bound for Sapporo.

Nene being the punctual girl she was, had been the first to arrive at the airport and quickly found herself a seat in the first class section of the plane. Seat in the adjacent bay next to her was Rindō Kobayashi, who was busy looking at her phone and tapping impatiently on the table next to her. "Tsukasa... you better not be late", Nene heard the second seat grumble under her breath.

Further inside the airport but at the correct gate were Saitō Sōmei and Momo Akanegakubo being sent to by boarding crew. Yet, as their documents were approved the forth seat huddled over and clutched her stuffed cat doll tightly to her chest, her face red with anxiety. "Please... please don't make me get on this metal death trap! I'm scared of airplanes!"

Peeking over the top of her doll, Buchi's, stuffed head the Forth Seat whimpered as she met the steely gaze of the fifth seat chef Saitō. Not giving way for any room to negotiate, the fifth seat leant down picked up Momo slung her over his shoulders, like a bag of potatoes, and marched past the embarrassed looking boarding crew into the boarding tunnel. "Don't be so selfish. Let's move!" He grunted offhandedly, "we of Central are on standby just in case the instructors fail to oust the rebels".

Despite the forth seat's continued whimpering protests, Saitō continued through the jet bridge until they both were onboard the plane, and were met by their colleagues of the Ten. Yet as he took his seat, after making sure that Momo had taken the right number of sleeping pills for the flight, Saitō was almost bowled over by an out of breath and red faced Tsukasa racing past him and collapsing into a seat nearby. Coincidentally, he noticed an equally out of breath looking Eizan sprawled across only the first class beds, and being scowled at by Nene.

Seeing the impatient 'tap-tap-tapping' of Rindō's finger on her seat table, the forth seat didn't even need to ask what was bothering the red haired girl. 'Kensuke Tadokoro'. Flicking his eyes over to the green pigtailed Saitō expected to find her equally visibly impatient and worried, it was an open secret amongst the Ten that Nene deeply admired Kensuke, and was furiously jealous of Kensuke's sous chef Chise Nakata as she was the sole person whom he allowed in the kitchen with him whenever he cooked.

"Ahhh, getting a free trip to Hokkaido! This is the ultimate life" Rindō sighed practically melting in her massage chair, apparently giving up her impatience in favour of her usual chirpy self. Selecting a magazine from the hostess, whom was offering newspapers and things to read, the second seat let out an squeal of excitement as she read from a culinary journal. "Ieee!" Holding aloft the page she was reading, Rindō pointed out the article to the others. "Hey guys, check out this insane recipe! It looks super delicious!"

"Settle down..." Tsukasa attempted to ease his friends eagerness. "Remember we're maybe going to be judges the advancement exam..." "Yes, I know" the red haired girl sighed loudly, flopping back into her seat. "I wonder where Kensuke is at the moment..." Nene interjected, trying not to blush. "I wonder if he's managing on his own?"

"Besides that... I think we should focus on furthering Central..." Eizan cut in, "We all know that it is the way forward. Kensuke may be a great chef but his social anxiety is a sever handicap to the Azami Doctrine. If he could overcome that then maybe he wouldn't be as much dead weight..." The moment those last two words exited his mouth Eizan found himself on the receiving end of three vicious glares. "You take that back right now!" Rindō yelled springing to her feet, her hands clenched into fists. "Ken is trying his best to overcome his social anxiety, and he's come along way from when we all first met him..."

"But", Eizan interrupted, "it's not enough. I admit I had wanted to beat him in a challenge of my own but I guess that won't be happening anytime soon". As he waved his hand through the air dismissing the angry glares as if they were flies, the ninth seat rolled over in the bed readjusted his blanket and pulled his hat down over his eyes. "You're all far too sentimental".

Smirking to himself, Eizan ignored the pain that thundered up his leg as a large hardback book crashed into him. "Shut up! Eizan", he heard the Nene reply, without any of her usual curtness. He was about to kick the book onto the floor, as a minor annoyance to the sixth seat, when the voice of the pilot came over the speakers.

"Travellers, please make sure that your seats and tray-table are in the upright position, as this Sapporo bound plane is ready to take off. And those of you in first class please ensure that you are belted in.

I hope you all enjoy this long-haul flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Sapporo. Thank you".

Deciding to hold back her anger until the plane had arrived at their destination, to get back at Eizan, Nene reached into her blazer pocket and grabbed her phone and headphones, to start listening to music, when she noticed a single recently received text message from Isshiki.

Anger immediately coursed through her as memories of her childhood friendship, turned rivalry, resurfaced. Gritting her teeth, Nene was about to delete the text when she saw the subject of the message.

'Nene,

I know we've drawn apart in recent years, since our childhood, but please don't follow Director Azami. I think he's purposely trying to destroy Kensuke.

All the work that has been issued to him is heavy duty documents, all of which have traditionally never been allocated to the Ten. Normally the Director would talk to industry bosses, scout for gourmands and find good investments for Tōtsuki.

However by sending Ken away, with nought but one Central staffer - loyal to Azami - and tasked to do directors duties, I don't know how much of this he can manage.

Your friend,

Satoshi Isshiki

Blinking, surprised as she read and then reread the message, Nene suddenly felt unsure of herself. She even began to feel unsure that her own envy towards Isshiki was warranted.

Gently tapping Rindō on the shoulder, she handed over her phone and gestured to the message. The response she got from the second seat was an instant gnashing of teeth and a swathe of angry obscenities many of which had to be muffled out by Tsukasa placing a hand over the redheaded girls mouth, to prevent the other passengers in economy class from hearing.

"Dammit! Isshiki better not be right about this!" Rindō screamed loudly, as Tsukasa tried to calm her down. "We knew that by working with Director Azami we could continue to all be together... but if he has decided to go another way" Tsukasa mused. "Then what would happen to the culinary world where Kensuke wouldn't ever feel anxious about people".

"Ha! I told you", Eizan stated, sitting upright and frowning at them all. "Ever since he stopped Kyokusei dorm from being shut down, maybe even earlier, Ken seems to be slipping away. And now his future at Tōtsuki is in limbo".

"All I'll say is this..." Rindō growled, clenching her fists tightly together. "If Azami's actions lead to any harm or suffering to befall Kenny, then I'll run a knife through Azami Nakiri!"

Meanwhile, in the mountains above the city of Sapporo, all of the first year students had arrived at the site of the second test, a mountain hotel owned by a Anwar Pali - a supporter of Central, and a huge investor in Nakiri Industries. Currently all first years were gathering in the hallway of the main hotel reception area, awaiting the arrival of the head examiner.

"Urgh! Our train arrived at Sapporo station but we weren't given a chance to see the city" Yuki bemoaned, lugging a heavy suitcase behind her into the hotel lobby. "It's a shame. The city is such a famous tourist spot" Ryōko added, "and now we're stuck up here in the mountains".

As the lobby became increasingly packed with first years, the collective feeling was one of nervousness. Yet, as per usual, Sōma was grinning as he held his crossed his arms over his chest before reassuring his friends thanks to Erina's study lecture they would all "pull through". However, it was then that a short brown haired man dressed in brown and white stepped chef's whites and a neckerchief around his throat stepped forwards and began announcing the layout of the second rest.

As he spoke however, the rebel first years could all hear the condescension in the instructors voice as he spoke in glowing terms of the Azami Doctrine. Biting the inside of his cheek, as a means of controlling his anger, Sōma narrowed his eyes at the way Mister Endo seemingly wasn't holding back any disdain for the chefs 'earmarked' for failure.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Endo and I'm going to be your acting examiner for this second section. This stage will consist of competition where you'll be limited to noodle based dishes only. Hokkaido is quite well known for is wide variety of ramen styles: Sapporo, Hakodate and Asahikawa. There are also many soba and udon restaurants as well. Today you will be stepping up to the plate to challenge these well designed cultures".

Then with a sly smirk on his face, the examiner, continued with his explanation.

"The only catch to this challenge is that we've only supplied the bare minimum of ingredients for you to use. We have every variety of noodle for you to choose from, a generic selection of vegetables and the fundamental dashi and soups. Any missing ingredients you require will be up to you to find, and to pass this exam you must create a noodle dish that I approve of within three hours".

As the room of nearly two hundred first years descended began murmuring about how they were going to proceed with this test, four additional suited men appeared and stood either side of Mister Endo. "For the purpose of this test, you will all be split up and sent to one of four kitchen sites..." of the the men spoke holding up an electronic tablet. "When your name is called, please head to your assigned kitchen venue immediately and and begin cooking straight away".

Out of the corner of their eyes: Sōma, Megumi and the others all saw Erina being ushered out of the room towards "venue A" as they overheard the guides saying. Turning back to listen out for their own names being read out, Sōma scowled at the smirk on Endo's face as he glared at them.

"What was that for?" Yuki asked, pressing herself up close to Shun, making him blush, whilst Ikumi, Hisako and Ryōko all grinned. "It would appear that they are taking their time and in getting to us rebels" Alice responded frowning at the suited man reading our names from his tablet device.

"Shun Ibusaki, Zenji Marui and Isami Aldini. Please go to venue A"

"Ryōko Sakaki, Hisako Arato, Alice Nakiri and Ryo Kurokiba. Venue B".

"Yuki Yoshino, Ikumi Mito, Shōji Sato and Daigo Ioki; please go to venue C. The remaining three shall be in venue D".

As they watched their friends vacating the hotel lobby for their respective kitchen venues, Sōma, Megumi and Takumi made sure to send supportive thumbs up before to their fellow rebels before they went out of sight. Although Sōma and Megumi pretended they hadn't seen Takumi and Ikumi each adorned by a blushing smile.

As they entered their assigned kitchen the three first years found that the table where all of the selected noodles that had been laid out for them had been stripped bare by other students for their own exam dishes. Leaving Sōma, Megumi and Takumi with nothing to work with.

Raising an eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder at the acting examiner, the red-haired boy couldn't help but chuckle. "So... it's come to this has it? Your not even gonna give us any ingredients to use". With an arrogant smirk across his face Mister Endo simply waved away Sōma's exclamation with the same thing he had said before.

"As I said earlier, you're responsible for finding any missing ingredients. That is the purpose of this exam".

Deciding that they didn't want to hear any of the conceited examiner spouting Central's doctrine, the redhead boy, Italian boy and blue haired girl all spun around and raced out of the kitchen making their way back to the hotel lobby. "I'm sure we can find the stuff we need in three hours" Sōma exclaimed nudging Takumi with his elbow. "Yeah, Sapporo is a big city we should be able to find noodles somewhere..."

However, the two boys optimism was short lived when Megumi showed them the weather forecast for the hours it come on her phone, whilst gesturing to the ongoing blizzard outside. Racing back from the main reception desk with tears running down her face and clutching a marked map of Sapporo, and her phone in her hands, the girl explained that all taxi services were suspended up the mountain due to the storm for the time being.

Extremely pale faced and almost falling into anxiety levels like her brother, Megumi was swept up into Sōma's arms as he reassured her that they were going to be fine. "Hey guys...", Takumi interjected. "Back in the outer lobby where Mister examiner his lackeys were, didn't you see those sacks of potatoes! And remember Erina and Hisako's lecture back at Kyokusei dorm".

"Yeah! Your right..." the blue haired girl said, firmly wiping away her tears. "We need to hurry back and start cooking". Squeezing his girlfriends hand, Sōma grinned as he also fist bumbled the blonde Italian boy.

"Let's use potato starch as well", he exclaimed. "That will really shock the examiner into pieces". With defiance smiles upon their faces, the three first years made their way back towards their designated kitchen to begin cooking their noodle dishes.

As luck would have it, or unwelcome as was evident from the looks of disgust on Central's black suited acolytes, they found all the ingredients that they needed to cook. Sōma and Takumi both tried desperately hard to hold in their laughter at the irate staffers, as they called the examiner on the phone.

"Rebels are somehow... well they've, just come and see".

Rolling her eyes, Megumi blocked out the childish snickering coming from the two boys cooking either side of her station and turned her attention to the final plating of her ramen noodle bowl.

At that moment the kitchen doors were thrown wide open as Mister Endo came stomping into by the room looking extremely peeved. "Dammit, dammit dammit! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Marching over to one of the suited men, the examiner grabbed him by his jacket and started yelling at him. However, the yelling stopped when Sōma approached them holding out the bowl of the ramen he had just made for judgment.

"For you, mister examiner", the redhead boy grinned. "Now would you mind eating it before the noodles go soggy?" Sōma scoffed as he noticed the two men scowling at him, yet their expressions vanished as they noticed one of the specific toppings used.

Against his better judgment but unwilling to resist turning away so thing that smelt this good, Mister Endo reached out and took the ramen bowl from the boys hands; swirling his chopsticks through the soup and noodles.

'I thought they only had green onions for toppings but thats... there's no way'.

In mere seconds, the look of disdain was wiped clean away and replaced by utter and complete enjoyment. Mister Emdo's face was red from stuffing his face with ramen and smiling as he ate.

"Ahhhh! What is this mellow tasting soup? It's deliciously thick and coats the tongue perfectly! Oh god! This topping its... it's potato mochi!"

Grinning in triumph, Sōma made way for Takumi and then and then Megumi to present their ramen dishes, which went roughly the same as his had gone. Mister Endo, and the two other men had all dropped of their knees quivering as the food shocked them. Bumping fists, acknowledging their victory and rivalry Sōma and Takumi watched as Megumi strode forwards and above the downed examiner.

"Whilst I don't really know how to describe my style of cooking", she stated plainly, "I will fight like hell for a chef's right to cook whatever they pleases. And against those who try to say what I'm doing is wrong! To that end central is utterly indefensible! Trying to censor a independent culinary expertise!"

Looking up at the three students before him, Mister Endo refused to let up with his disdain for the students before him but at the same time his expression showed how conflicted he was with his decision. Gritting his teeth, biting back his growing fury, the instructor gave his verdict. "Damn you!"

"Against my will... but in accordance with the Advancement Exam Passage Criteria: Sōma Yukihira, Takumi Aldini and Megumi Tadokoro you all pass!"

R.I.P:

- Stephen Sondheim, A Master of Musical Theatre

- Sir Frank Williams, F1's Greatest Team Manager

- The Countess of Avon, Lady Anne Clarissa Spencer-Churchill [wife of Sir Anthony Eden, and niece or Winston Churchill]