A week later...

Toutsuki Resorts

A certain district in a certain prefecture, all of the first years of Toutsuki Academy's High School section set foot on the land that aspired to be like Mount Fuji and Ashinoko, and is well-known for being a high class area for villas and summer resorts. Yukihira Souma and the rest of Polar Star Dorm's residents has arrived at where the training camp will be held, Toutsuki Resort. In front of them, a big, tall, luxurious hotel stood up.

"As expected from a rich school. They even have a great hotel like this one." Souma said without looking away from the giant building in front of him.

"Toutsuki is the parent organization of all the hotels and ryokan of this area." Ibusaki continued with the well-known information.

Souma looked back at Ibusaki. "Heh... I see, nothing I hear surprises me anymore." He said it, but it was so opposite with his expression. Then he got back his attention to the luxurious hotel as well as his surroundings.

"Dozens of inns are managed by a brand named "Toutsuki Resort". There are a lot of cases of the academy's graduate finding employment on the cooking department of these resort. Only during this season, they don't accept guests and they're used for the training camp." Ibusaki kept on narrating the explanation, which is not only for Souma but to the rest of his dorm-mate too. "I've heard that on normal days, one night cost 80,000 yen." He finished with the shocking fact, which made Souma and friends got more surprised.

But then, Yoshino Yuki, being the ever cheerful member of Polar Star Dorm has transformed her shocked face into a dreamy face when she realized something amazing. "Eem, we're really staying here?! I'm getting excited!"

"If only we survived today's assignment." Ibusaki simple note crushed the happy mood of Yuki, also gave upcoming alarm to the rest of his friends.

"Ibusaki! You just whisper things that ruin the mood." Yuki sent a dislike look to the ever calm boy.

"I'm a realist. Look... we have to gather soon."

So, their little chat about Toutsuki Resort came into halt as they started moving, went inside the big hotel which gave them unforgettable experience. Once they have put their belonging into their assigned room, they got gathered in a large hall of the hotel. Being the part of the first year student, Nakiri Karen didn't give so much excitement into that training camp. She even didn't hide her bored look since the departure at Toutsuki Academy till they arrived at Toutsuki Resort. Thought about spending the whole week into cooking training already ruined her mood. With uninterested look, Karen run her sight all around the corner of the hall. There wasn't only one or two whom have their anxious gesture. It can't be helped, they hasn't known yet how many of them who will come back 'alive' after that training camp. But, among those anxious kids, Karen's eyes caught an exception, which only came from the one and only Yukihira Souma. From her place, Karen can saw that red haired boy even has a leisure talk with the said meat master girl.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Pay attention to the stage. I'm going to explain the outline of this training camp." The senior French cuisine instructor, Chapelle Sensei, with his strict toned voice succeed in caught the attention of all the freshmen. "The friendship and rapport training lodging, it's scheduled to be 5 nights and 6 days. Every day you'll be given an assignment related to cooking. The content of these assignments vary every year."

Karen chose to sit leisurely on one of vacant chair near the corner of the hall. The long speech brought by Chapelle Sensei still running. In conclusion, if the student's evaluation is below the standard given by the lecturer, they will got expelled. And to add more surprise, the judgment itself will be conducted by the invited guest lecturers. Almost all the student held their breath once the said invited lecturers came into their sight. One by one appeared then stood in lines on the stage, faced the freshmen with proud posture. Those invited lecturers are Toutsuki Academy's alumni. They are the geniuses that won through the one-digit passing rate.

"Hmmm... you, on the 9th line starting from the front, the boy with the scar on the eyebrow." One of the invited lecturers, the one who have coral pink hair, wore a glasses. His sudden calling made all the student paid their attention on the said boy. While the one who got called, Yukihira Souma, pointed himself with a questioned look on his face. "Oh, sorry. The one next to him." That man corrected. The boy next to Souma pointed himself as if to confirm. "That's right, you." That young chef voiced again. "You're expelled." He finished with the most unexpected line which made the student frozen. The one who got expelled even has his face went blank. "You may go home." The coral pink haired chef said, broke the frozen atmosphere there. "Your hairdressing product has a citrus smell that may overshadow the food's aroma. Being stylish is a must. If the person who makes food is out of fashion, the food won't have any sensuality. But, next time you should pick a scent-free hair liquid." That chef spoke his reason of expelling that said student calmly.

The student whom got expelled tried to argue, he can't accept that reason. "Wa-wait, expelled?! Just because of that..."

But he has no lucky in that, as the next sentence got spoken by the chef was succeed in shutting his mouth completely. "You can lose clients just because of that. Do you want to shut down my shop?!"
The chill was spread all around the hall just because of that words. Karen who also became one of the spectator of that tragic scene just could feel pity for the expelled student. For the first event in that training camp, he really looked stand out than the other. As expected of him - Shinomiya Kojirou - the owner also chef of French restaurant, Shino's. Karen narrated inside her head. Karen also spotted some famous chefs behind those coral pink haired chef. The one with short, teal hair is Mizuhara Fuyumi from Italian restaurant - Ristorante F. The man with black hair and dressed in Japanese chef uniform is the owner of sushi restaurant - Ginza Hinowa, Sekimori Hitoshi.

"I might have been born to meet you. Don't you want to talk all night in my auberge?" Then, out of sudden all the student's attention focused on the blonde haired chef which holding Megumi's hands with his gleaming eyes. He is Donato Gotouda from Auberge 'Tesoro'.

"Let go of her hand, Chef Gotouda." A female chef dressed in traditional Japanese cloth interrupted that blonde haired chef.

"Oh, Hinako~"

"I'm sorry, he made you have a scary experience." This time, the woman who got called Hinako hold Megumi's hands. "By the way, you're cute. You look very filling..." Hinako even caressed Megumi's cheek, made the blue haired girl got more flustered. That female chef is Inui Hinako, the owner of Japanese restaurant - Kirinoya.

"Hinako! Chapelle Sensei is glaring at you! Come to the stage right now!" Another male voice butted in, with a bit teasing tone.

The student's attention got back to the stage as they spotted two chefs of Kimura six siblings being on the stage. The one who called Hinako is the younger from the two, Kimura Ikuya. While the older one also the oldest of Kimura siblings - Kimura Ichiya, just stood there in silent. And the one who stood in front of those famous chefs is a man with the most outstanding chef. He was the man that manages all of the Toutsuki Resort's cooking by himself. Being the one with graduation exam's highest score in the history, had rejected more than 800 offers from high class restaurants all around the country and chose his current position. That man is Doujima Gin, Toutsuki Resort general head chef and member of the board of directors.

"Welcome to Toutsuki Resort." Doujima Gin greeted all the audience in that hall once he got the mic from Chapelle Sensei. "All the alumni that gathered today are all chefs that have their own shops. For this night day of training camp, they will be treating you as if you were employees at their shops. Do you understand what this means?" Doujima got a short pause before announced the terrified fact to the student. "People whose work can't satisfy us, are fired." He continued with a hand motion over his neck. "As you could see, you may be forced to leave immediately depending on the lecturer's discretion. I wish you the best lucks!"
The last part of Doujima's words didn't seem pleasing in Karen's ears. Little did she knows how hard worked under Doujima chef as she has experienced not only once, even just for a little advisory thing.
"Start moving!" Doujima's voice rang all around the hall, commanded all the student to start going to their group for the first day's assignment.


"Ren!"

Karen who barely got up from the chair looked at the man who called her nickname just now. The second son of Kimura siblings run towards her place as he waved his hand and has his face full of smile.
"Hisashiburiii... Ren." Kimura Ikuya greeted the jet-black haired girl with his never ending smile then ruffled her hair, his old habit whenever he met Karen.

"Hisashiburi, Iku-nii." Karen greeted back as she tidied up her hair to its original shape. "Ichi-nii too." She added once she spotted the older Kimura. The latter just nodded his head, his usual greet to Karen.

"Okashii... to see you without Haru." Ikuya spoke out as he came closer to Karen, put his left hand over Karen's shoulder as if she is Ikuya's sister.

"Then, you wish Ruki-nii to be here as well, Iku-nii?"

"Of course not." Ikuya replied back as he fanned his hand over his face. "I agree to be a part of the invited guest here just because I won't judge Haru's dish in my class. You know how irritating him when he butted in between my lecture back then." Ikuya said the last sentence in whisper alike.

"Just how long you want to hold Ren-kun, Ikuya?" Both Ikuya and Karen looked at Ichiya who have stoic look on his handsome face. "She needs to get going too or you want to take responsibility if she failed because of you?" Ichiya added, this time with a rather sharp look to his brother.

"Heh~ ja, let's have a date tonight, right, Ren?"

"Just ignore him. Better you get going now, Ren-kun." Ichiya pulled his brother and asked the girl to go for her first assignment.

Each group has gathered in the training cooking classroom, already dressed in their chef uniform. The scene around the building where the first assignment got held are beautiful hills panorama, with the natural rivers and forest.

"Everyone is here, right?" A female voice rang all around that training kitchen, took all the attention from the student in that room to her. She is Inui Hinako. "For my assignment, I'll have you form pairs. I want you to be with your partner in Chapelle Sensei's class. Each pair must go to their assigned kitchen." Hinako continued then the student in that room began moved from here and there, looking for their partner, except for Karen. She just stayed in her place. Just for an information, she has skipped Chapelle Sensei's class on the first day of high school, so she didn't with whom she got partnered.

"It seems that we end up each other." A boy voice caught Karen's attention. "Please to have your guidance in this assignment, Ren." That boy added as he gave the rose gold eyed Nakiri girl his smile. A rare thing he did especially to his classmate.

"Ah... is that so? I think I'm the one who have to say those line, Kira-kun."

The room which previously noisy with the partner searching, got shifted with murmurs which talked about the two well-known chefs in that generation whom got ended up together.

"It's Hayama."

"That Hayama?"

"I never thought that he will be partnered with Karen-san."

"They will definitely get the highest score in this assignment."

"Ne, Kira-kun. Don't wish too high to me in this assignment. As you have known our lecturer in this assignment, maybe she will asked us to cook a traditional dish." Karen spoke once she caught those annoying murmurs spread like uncontrollable wild grass grew in rainy season.

The boy - Hayama Akira, shuffled a laugh at Karen's warning. "That's go with you too, Ren. As you have known me, I'm not good in those stuff."

"But, this group is really interesting." Karen spoke without looked at the white haired boy.

Hayama Akira followed Karen's sight and found a small group in that room whom involved in the small quarrel. "Oh, that half Italian twin chefs, and... transfer student?" Akira stated, then looked at Karen who still looked so amused by those three, or maybe four. "Ne, Ren. What about your opinion about that transfer student?"

"Interesting? Also... a bit mysterious." Karen answered then held her bang back using a pin. "You'll know it once you saw his dish."

Hayama who heard that words, didn't take so much credit about it. He just got interested with Karen's movement. Once the girl held her bang back, it was the sign that she will get ready to work for something. Then he looked at the lecturer who sat calmly on the couch which got placed in front of the workstations. "Oi, Ren. Why I got a bad intuition about this assignment out of sudden?"

"Ah... since the first place I stepped into this place, I have a bad feeling. Don't you think, this room is 'too spacious' for a cooking training?"

"Okay, then everyone... I'll be sitting here. So, if there's anything you don't understand about the assignment, go ahead and ask."

All the student have their confused look when they heard that. Chef Hinako just tore her snack and has had a tea set next to her.

"Heh? Ano, Chef Inui, you haven't given any explanation yet..." One of the students asked, which made the female lecturer realized something she has forgotten.

"Ah... is that so? Then, I must explain! My assignment for today is... use the ingredients you can find here to make any Japanese cuisine main dish." Hinako said as she pointed the vacant steel table which placed near the clear windows. The youngsters got more confused with that statement, as they can't see any kind of the said 'ingredients' there.

"There aren't any ingredient avail-"

"But they are there..." Hinako cut the words spoken out by other student who tried to give a reason. Once again, Hinako pointed at the clear windows which showed the mountain type of panorama. "The splendorous nature, the clear stream goes by is a wonderful treasury of ingredients." Another confusing clue came from her, for some students. But for Karen, it's almost 75% she has understood the meaning behind Hinako's words. "The area that contains this building has been Toutsuki Academy's private land since ancient time, and it got surrounded by a fence. If you go past that fence, you're immediately disqualified." Hinako took a sip on her hot tea once she finished the first explanation. "You must gather ingredients inside this limited area and cook them. If you can make a dish that can satisfy me, you pass." Hinako said it with her smiley look and soft voice, as if she just told a lame joke to the students in front of her. "This room has seasonings, oil, and cookware. You can also freely use the tools like fishing rods that are inside the storehouse. The time limit is two hours. Well then, ready, set, go." Hinako clapped her hands, marked the race of the first assignment has started.

"Huuuh?! It's already started? I even can't tell it!"

"Fi-first, we have to investigate if we can fish-"

"Sweetfish! Sweetfish can just be grilled with salt."

"But, is it sweetfish season right now?"

"At any rate, we only have two hours."

"HURRY!"

Noisy footsteps like marching steps of soldiers got heard in all direction. Most of the students rushed to the storehouse to get the tools they needed.

"Let's have a match, Yukihira!" Those challenge got announced by one of the twin half-Italian chefs, Takumi Aldini. Only his brother - Isami Aldini, Souma, Megumi, Karen, Akira, and Hinako whom became the witnesses.

"A match, you say?" Souma asked back, with a bit surprised tone in his voice.

"Let's see who is better." Takumi made his challenge got clearer. "Between us. It was what I've planned before, but..." Takumi paused then turned around and faced other pair whom watched the show from the beginning in silent. "We got a 'best opponent' for the match in this assignment."

Souma followed Takumi's sight and found the said 'best opponent' which got mentioned by the blonde haired Aldini. Souma can't disagree to Takumi's call as Souma already has tasted Karen's cooking before, but then he took a brief look on Karen's partner. A boy with shoulder-length white hair and dark skin. He hasn't met that boy before, it was the first time encounter.

"It's really a rare occasion, as I want to challenge Yukihira Souma into a match, and you ended up in the same group as me, Nakiri Karen. I've promised you a match, if you didn't forget it, Nakiri Karen. Then, let's have a match... between the three of us, and see who is better." Takumi Aldini re-declared his challenge, this time not only to Souma but Karen too. The rose gold eyes got closed once its owner heard that challenge. Nakiri Karen, whom previously wished to spend those annoying training camp in peace began cursed in her mind. It's such a ridiculous wish.