Chapter 26
The Dragon Flies Across the Heavens

At the restaurant Hojo-Ro in Yokohama Chinatown, Miyoko Hojo is working on her dish as she flashbacks to what happened one year earlier.

"Oh give me a damn break." says one of the chefs who isn't happy. "I don't care if she is Head Chef Hojo's daughter, there's no way some daddy's little girl gonna run this kitchen. Once she step foot in this place, we'll knock her on her ass and get her outta here."

However, the man isn't aware that Miyoko is eavesdropping and overheard the conversation.

The at some point, Miyoko strikes back with a Chinese dish that impressed the other chefs.

"Delicious!" one chef says with a spoonful in his mouth. Then says to the chef next to him, "She's getting better. Her cooking is far beyond a third year middle schooler."

"Yeah." says the other chef, "She might already be as good as you are, sir. You better watch out for her."

The chef that insulted her is looking at the dish and is full of dread.

"Head Chef." Miyoko says behind him.

He looks at her with the corner of his eye.

"In three years, I will graduate from Totsuki and return to lead this kitchen." She smiles, "Can you keep it warm for me, senpai?"

Behind her a fiery background with brown silhouettes of male chefs appear.

"One day, I will have to enter a battlefield stacked deep in bullheaded men. I'll earn prestige, the type of power would have them stop looking down on me because of my gender."

Then we have a fiery background with the Totsuki emblem and the words, 'No. 1 Seat on the Ten'.

"First, I'll win the Fall Selection. Then I'll snag the first seat on the Council."

Back in the present, "I will make this happen. No one can stop me."

While everyone is heading home for summer break (except for Satoshi), Saiba stays behind as he experiments on a spice blend. Yet in a dark room full of candles and pictures of Erina, something wicked in brewing with a witch-like laugh. This is Nao Sadatsuka's room as she is boiling something in a cauldron with foul purple vapors emitting from the top as she stirs with a wooden staff while wearing black robes and hood. She takes a spoon and scoop up the black and bubbly mixture and taste test.

"Perfect." she says in her sinister tone. "This is the right flavor." She pulls out a kitchen knife, "Now is your time. You've had it." and throws the knife at a ruined picture of Hisako.

Yet the knife ricochet off the wall and landed near her feet. She nearly lost her composure but gets back to work.

"Just you wait... Hisako Arato... Hehehehehehehehe."

In a kitchen at the school, Hisako felt an unpleasant chill going down her spine as she was about to mix the spices. Erina is behind her while reading a book and noticed something is wrong.

"What's the matter, Hisako?"

"Um, nothing. I just felt a chill for some reason."

"Oh no, are you okay?" Since Erina has nothing to do, she is bored and is willing to help Hisako. So cue the comedy routine. "Shall I turn down the AC for you?"

"Um, I'm fine. Don't worry, Miss Erina."

"Is there anything I can get for you?"

Hisako panics, "No, please! You've already done enough for me by letting me use your amazing cooking area."

Erina's eyes sparkle, "Tea? Would you like me to put some tea on for you?"

"No, um, I'm just fine. I promise I'm really alright."

Outside the window, Alice and Ryo are watching them.

"Erina, I swear." Alice is a bit annoyed, "She's not competing in the Fall Selection so she has nothing but time on her hands!"

Ryo doesn't wanna be there. "True."

"Since I pretty much decided what I'll be making, I got time on my hands, too."

"Um, madam? I'd like to experiment with my curry recipe."

Alice looks at Ryo, "Oh no! Your duty is to keep me entertain."

Days went by as Saiba tries to think of a good recipe combination for his curry dish. He spent every waking moment and a few sleepless nights working on a recipe that might guarantee a success in the Fall Selection. He tried mixtures, the taste and quantities in his head before he made a few of his own blends until it became August 25th.

Isshiki enters the kitchen before noticing Saiba as Saiba let out a yawn. He sees some plates that have a variety of spice combinations along with some used spoons and opened jars. Saiba has some bags under his eyes as evident of him staying up late.

"Hey, Saiba." Isshiki greets him. "Were you up all night?"

Saiba finishes his yawn and notices Satoshi. "Oh, hey there, Isshiki. Morning."

He steps forward, "Ah. Look at all the new dishes you've made." He picks up one of the plates and go, "Huh. This one's interesting. Yes! It's very interesting! Saiba!"

Saiba rubs his eyes, "Yeah, but it's not there yet. What I do need is..." It was at this moment, Saiba realizes something. "Hang on."

In his room, Saiba goes through one of the boxes his mother sent and found something. A jar full of what looks like some form of fennel seasonings.

"This would work."

At the Shiomi Seminar building, Jun checks in on Akira.

"Oh, Akira? Were you up all night again?" Jun asks as she is halfway through the door.

Akira holds a jar of spices close to his nose. "Yeah. And I've almost perfected it. The blend that will be my secret weapon."

Jun fully enters, "That's no good!" She's worried about his health, "It's not healthy to keep pushing yourself like this, Akira."

Akira puts the sample down and looks down at Jun. "You're one to talk. I've seen you work at night all the time, Jun."

Jun gets angry, "Don't call me Jun! It's professor Shiomi to you!"

"And you have a bad habit of falling asleep on the floor. You know, you're pretty heavy for a little pipsqueak."

Jun's face turns red with both embarrassment and anger as she blares, "I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU! I HOPE YOU LOSE THIS THING!" Then she slams the door and runs off.

"I'm not going to lose." Akira sounds sure of himself. "Jun and I together form an unbeatable combination. We will show them all."

Thus August 31st arrives as many students return from their summer break. It is now time for the Fall Selection to begin! Everyone has gathered at the venue, a large area where one of the blocks will be taking place after an announcement from Senzaemon Nakiri.

"I thought the colosseum was huge." Saiba says as he looks around at his surroundings. "This is new."

"What's going on, Saiba?" Megumi greets Saiba.

"Hey, Megumi!" he greets her with a cheerful smile. "How was your summer vacation back home?"

"I wanted to try and get ready in my own way but-"

"Megumi!" Yuki does a surprise hug attack. "It's been a while!"

Ryoko approaches, "You're looking well."

"Hey, Saiba!" Yuki greets him. "How ya doin'?"

"Better now that the gang is all here." Then he notices Ikumi to his right. "Oh, hey Ikumi!"

Ikumi gets startled. Her face is flushed, "Uh, hey. Hi."

"We're in the same block. Glad to know we're together again."

"Together?" her face is now even more red with steam coming off of her. She shakes it off, "You idiot! We're trying to compete against each other!" and runs away, "AND THIS TIME I'M NOT GONNA LOOOOOOSE!"

Saiba just chuckles, "Someone's full of energy."

"Hey~." Alice greets everyone with Ryo behind her. "It's a shame that we don't get to compete in the same group as you."

"Oh, hey Alice. Ryo."

"The two of us wish you good luck in the tournament regardless. Come on Ryo, say something deep."

"'Sup dude."

"Yo."

Akira is standing behind Saiba, "The feint scent of spices are still on your fingers. Yet there is one I've never smelled before."

"Hey, Akria."

"I take it that you're gonna use some Special Region spice rather than some other ingredient. Good idea."

"That, and I'm not gonna tell you what it is. And I'm gonna have you taste it when I make it."

"Hmph." Akira then walks away.

"Saiba!" Takumi appears.

"Hey, Takumi! How was your break back in Italy?"

"Um, I'm gonna tell you this once again." Takumi seem to be uninterested as he points his finger at Saiba. "This time, your true rival is non-other than-"

"Hey, Isami. Still on the thin-side, huh?"

Isami chuckles, "Yep. But don't worry, I'll be my plump self once it gets colder."

Everyone froze for a moment as they see Isami being a skinny young man.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Yuki shouts.

"Take it easy!" Takumi explains, "It's the summer heat. He always slims down when summer comes around."

Saiba points his right thumb at himself, "And I was shocked as you guys were."

Isami chuckles a little, "Yeah. It was quite a shocker to you. But it's normal for me. Once fall and winter roll around, I'll go back to my big, beautiful, normal size."

"Really?" Megumi is shocked, "This happens every year?"

Takumi then continues, "As I was saying, Saiba."

But his proclamation of war was cut off when the room got dark. Yet the little stage lights up.

Urara speaks, "Attention all attendees. We apologize for the wait. Please direct your attention to the stage in front of you."

"Oh." Saiba takes an interest. Yet looks at Takumi and whispers, "Good luck and I hope to face you after the preliminaries."

"Oh, um, thanks?"

"The competition will kick off with a few words from our principle, Senzaemon Nakiri!"

Yet when he enters the state, he looks quite intimidating with his eyes glowing bright white.

"I can't believe he's really here." says one of the male competitors.

All the other students go, "WHOA!"

Senzaemon is at the podium as he takes in the air around him before coughing...which ruined the intimidation.

"Um, sir?"

"There's no need to worry." Senzaemon regain his composure. "A little something in my throat." He then now addresses to the competitors. "Breathing in the air of this auditorium, one can sense both embodiment and spirit that drive in this building."

Yuki makes a goofy looking face, "Even though it made him coughed."

"Shhh." Ryoko went.

"This venue is also known as, the Celestial Room. Originally this room was only be allowed to be used for the epic Food Wars between the members of the Ten. It has become tradition that to honor their outstanding achievements we hang portraits of those who have the number one seat."

Above the auditorium, the portraits are light up as everyone can recognize some of the members of the Ten that hold the number one seat.

"He's right." Saiba is amazed as he recognizes the two portraits. "There's Chef Dojima. And there's Kojiro. He was a number one seat, too?"

"Many battles were fought and won in here and many specialties were born and nurtured in this place. Even now, they linger like grains of sand. They bring back the memories of unbroken chain of battles. As was said, the final battle for the Fall Selection will be held in this auditorium."

Shinji says, "In other words, those who make it through prelems will come back."

Shun speaks, "Yeah, there's gonna be vicious cooking ahead."

"However, in celebration of the founding of the Special Region, we also have two new judges. One in each block from the Special Region and both of them are expert curry eaters."

Isami says, "I wonder what they're gonna be?"

Takumi says to Isami, "If they're anything like Saiba, we're gonna be in for it. Top culinary experts in their fields."

"Back about the Fall Selection, this is your moment to shine! The place where you will carve out your part in history! And so we meet here once again, eager participants have toiled at Totsukis Academy's 43rd selection!"

The students cheer as they are pumped up to begin.

Urara then goes, "Moving on, I would like to go over the preliminary rules. Like it said in your letters, the theme will be, curry cuisine made with one ingredient form the Special Region. The time limit is three hours. Out of the sixty people chosen for the preliminaries, a total of eight will move on to the final round. Leaving the rest behind, will only be allowing four students from each block to proceed."

"So it will be four that is moving forward?" says one of the worrying male students.

"They're gonna get rid of that many all at once?" another male student worries.

"A and B block contestants, please head to your respected venues at this time. The preliminaries will begin at about one hour."

Everyone heads out with some being confident yet others are even more nervous now than ever.

Yuki slaps herself, "Ugh! I'm so nervous, I can't stand it!"

"Uh-huh." Shun agrees.

"Yeah." Megumi also agrees.

"Saiba!" Takumi points his finger at Saiba.

"Hmm?"

"I'll see you here again! At the final tournament!"

Saiba grins, "You gotta get one of the four spots on your block first."

In the A Block Venue, the clock counts down to the final second on the screen. When it does, Senzaemon appears.

"TIME TO BEGIN YOUR COOKING!"

Everyone in all the blocks start their prep work and getting the ingredients needed for their cuisine. Erina Nakiri is watching over Saiba in the VIP seats in A Block in anticipation.

Yet in the judge panel, a woman with two female secretaries started to walk in. She is an attractive young woman with long and wavy, dark blonde that is separated into two sections at the roots, which fall to either side of her face, orange eyes under her sunglasses, a beauty mark on her right cheek, a curvy body, and wearing a high-profile, silky dress. She is one of the five judges as she takes the center seat.

Etsuya Eizan says to the woman, "Glad you can make it. I believe I told you that the cooking will begin at eleven a.m. on the dot."

The woman takes the sunglasses off and sounds unimpressed, "Really? You say that knowing how difficult it is to find one minute of free time. Are you just oblivious to fame. Sooo... What do you have to say?"

Many of the students are wowing at the woman that is head judge as one student says, "That's Natsume Sendawara."

"She's known as the Queen of Curry around Japan." says the male student next to him, "She rules the curry trade here."

Natsume notices the old gentleman next to her right as she takes a seat. This elderly man has a beard with a scar on the right side of his face, hazel eyes, hair that is tied on the back of his head, what is best to describe as a colonial naval uniform that is blue with gold trimmings and white areas while also wearing a white cape and white ascot.

"Hello there." she says to him, "You must be from the Special Region."

He nods, "Indeed. My name is Alphonse Flugel, former admiral of the Duchy of Samanark. I'm also known by my nickname, Curry Rice, and I'm also known to be a curry connoisseur."

"I find that hard to believe that someone like you to be a curry expert." She does find it hard to believe, but then she notices one of the participants having fox ears and a tail. "Is that a fox person?!" she is surprised.

"Indeed. That there is Saiba Yukihira. The young heir to the restaurant I go to once every seven days."

"Having a student from the Special Region, let alone a non-human, is incredible." She smiles, "Well, this will be entertaining."

Eizan smirks.

The students continue to gossip.

"I can't believe he was able to bring out such a major player. That guy is a stud."

"Yeah, and if we got Natsume Sendawara, then venue B must have..."

"I bet you're right. Her twin sister, Orie Sendawara."

Over at B block, a woman with long and straight, dark blonde hair that has bangs styled in a hime-cut, softer orange eyes, an innocent appearance, a beauty mark on her left cheek, just under her eye, and a curvy figure while wearing a simple blue blouse is looking at Isshiki.

"Hey Isshiki," Orie Sendawara, head judge of block B, says tenderly at Isshiki, "my beautiful boy. When will you finally leave this place and join our company." She acts all innocent yet full of desire, "I want you to hurry up and be my little play toy."

Isshiki just chuckles and smile, "I'm still just a young student, madam."

"Oh that's alright. You can just drop out of school now and I make sure to look after you forever."

Next to her is Osaji Kita, an obese businessman with a bald head and a beard around his chin wearing a dark yellow suit and red tie as he is embarrassed by Orie's behavior. He is a renowned entrepreneur and a founder of his own Gastronomy Club.

"Think about it, Isshiki."

And on the opposite side of her who is just as embarrassed about Orie's behavior is, Shingo Ando. A man with business-style black hair, rectangular glasses, and a red professional suit. Yet next to him is an elven woman with long black hair, golden eyes, and wears a gray blouse with puffed sleeves and a high, frilled collar secured with a back ribbon underneath a black frock which has a full skirt where a similarly gray frilly apron is wrapped around her waist. And I think we all know who this is.

"Imagine all the scrumptious things we can do together."

"Well, for today, I hope you can enjoy the cooking from our brightest new freshman students."

Orie is turned off, "Ahhh... So be it." She turn her gaze at the competitors. "Takumi Aldini. Is he Italian?"

"He is." Kuro relays via telepathically.

"Whoa!" Orie and the other judges freaked out. "Was that you?!"

Kuro bows her head, "I do apologize. I have read his mind and he is, as you say, Italian."

"Well that's handy." Isshiki is impressed, "Reading minds and all that."

"Next to him is his brother, Isami Aldini."

"Hmm..." Shingo went. "Looks like he filled his pot with...cubed tomatoes?"

"You may call them tomatoes here in this world, but we call them marzetes back home. However, the difference is the shape. But those aren't ordinary marzetes he's using."

"Oh?" Isshiki is interested.

Isami tosses the spices into the pan and the aroma hits Orie.

"Mmm! This aroma is enveloping my entire body! He's cooking the spices in duck fat!"

"Woo-hoo!" says Daigo and Shoji up in the audience.

Yuki looks up and see them both holding the Polar Star Dorm flag with Miss Fumio standing next to them.

Both of the boys cheer, "GO, YUKI!"

Yuki smiles at the two and gives them a V for victory.

"Well," Osaji says while looking at Hisako's cooking as she pours a powder in the pot, "what is she tending to make? It's standard practice to throw spices in oil, but she suddenly decided to add water into the mixture. Very interesting."

"Check her out." one of the male students pays attention to Alice's cooking.

"Alice Nakiri is a completely different cook from the others."

Everyone notice the equipment she is using.

"What's all that huge equipment?"

"A blast chiller? And a centrifuge?"

"I can't imagine what she's making with those crazy gadgets."

Behind Hisako, Nao is making something nasty.

"Speaking of, I have no idea what Nao Sadatsuka is making either."

"What's in there, I can't see it?"

"It's all black!"

"It looks like witchcraft than cooking."

Then we focus on Miyoko's cooking as she just cleaved a pineapple in half. But all the boys are focusing on her bouncy and curvy figure than what she is actually cooking.

Urara gets upset, "Ugh! Sounds like someone is grabbing all the attention from all the stupid boys."

Shingo notices, "So that's the successor to Hojo-Ro. The famous restaurant in Fukuhama's Chinatown. You know, several of the spices in Chinese cooking overlap those used in curry."

Osaji is excited, "I look forward to she how she'll utilize them."

Orie makes a statement, "I agree that these youngsters are rather intriguing."

Isshiki says, "If you love them, then you should've been judges in block A. We got a transfer student from the Special Region cooking there."

"What?!" the three went and look at Isshiki.

"Sorry, but you're all stuck here in block B."

Orie pouts, "Then my sister gets to have all the luck."

Shingo asks, "What's the student's name.

"Yukihira. Saiba Yukihira."

"Saiba Yukihira? Saiba..." Shingo realizes, "Wait. Is he related to Joichiro Saiba?!"

"He is." Isshiki just spilled the beans, "But he goes by Joichiro Yukihira now."

The four judges are shocked to hear that.

Shingo grit his teeth, 'Dammit! Wish I was in block A right now!'

Osaji sighs in regret, 'I can't believe that Joichiro has a son and is now a student. Wish I can try whatever dish the son of the genius has made.'

Yet Orie ponders, 'I wonder if he's a non-human like those adorable beast people with cat ears and fluffy tails.'

Isshiki says, "Cheer up. You get to taste Special Region food first hand made by Tosuki's own talented students."

Osaji smiles, "I guess that makes up for it."

Then Orie notices that Megumi is being clumsy, "Yet I'm not sure about that pigtailed girl. She's a bit unrefined and clumsy. I highly doubt that she can make anything good with the Special Region ingredients."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure."

"Hmm?" Orie looks at Isshiki.

Now we head over to block A as Roland Chapelle notice what Ikumi is using as a spice in her pan.

"She's using hua-jiao as an ingredient in her recipe. Its a spice that is used to draw out the meat's natural aroma."

Jun also commentates, "On top of that, she grounded, coarse and retain its rich aroma. Excellently done."

Kanichi cheers from the audience, "Ah man. You're so damn good. WOOO!"

Ikumi is embarrassed.

"MEAT-MEAT! YEA-HA!"

'He's like an obnoxious parent cheering at his kid at a ball game! Just ignore him.' She then turns her attention to her competition, 'I wonder how the others are doing.' Ikumi spots Ryo as he seems a bit dazed while grinding his spices with a mortar and pestle. 'Alice Nakiri's little helper.'

Ryo stops, "I'm just about done prepping everything. Very well."

He takes the red flame bandana off his arm and puts it on. His attitude suddenly change from dazed to fierce as he slice up a lobster with viciousness and precision.

'He's completely different than he was before!'

Ryo laughs as he slices like a madman, yet...

"Such refine knife work that young man is displaying." says judge Makito Minatozaka, exclusive producer of a popular television program called Is That A Kitchen?.

Judge Shigenoshin Koda twirls his mustache, "Yes indeed. But compared to him, that other fellow seem rather subdued."

He is referring to Zenji as Zenji is cutting up some dough.

"Is he making udon noodles perhaps?"

Ikumi then looks at Ryoko, 'That girl always intend to use rice malt in her dishes.'

Ryoko pulls out a jar of a black and sticky substance.

'She is Ryoko, right? It's black?! And what is that sticky stuff?!'

Ryoko is calm as she thinks, 'I can do this. Even if he is a favorite to win the preliminaries.' She is referring to Akira.

Akira has a plate with a blue fish head that has numerous array of colors.

"Fish head curry, huh?" Chapelle says. "It uses the entire head of white fish, giving it a tremendous amount of flavor. However, he is using a fish I have never seen before."

"That's Mermaituna. A very special species of tuna with a bubbly sensation on the tongue." Shiomi explains.

Then Akira makes some naan dough.

Someone in the audience say, "Rather than rice, it is accompany by naan."

"These dishes seem kinda routine."

But Chapelle and Shiomi notices that's no ordinary naan Akira is making.

Shiomi says after noticing a unique smell, "That naan. Could it be?"

"Shhh." Akira said to Shiomi silently before turning his attention towards his pot. 'That's right Jun. My dish...is just getting started.' He then toss in a few more spices with the aroma permeating all over that cause the students to drool over.

"It's like a pinch of heaven added to the richness of coconut milk that makes a dreamy blend." One of the male students comment. "It makes me wanna start stuffing my face."

Makito commentates, "Mmm! That scent to suddenly fill this venue. It's easy to tell what that aroma is doing to his pot."

"I say he's utilizing an excellent spice blend to its fullest potential, hasn't he."

Then Shun lift the lid off of his pot that produces some sort of smokey scent that Shigenoshin takes a whiff of.

"Well his one has quite a different aroma all together. Roasted spices?"

"I get it. He's taken the approach of using smoked spices to bolster the aroma of his dish. The atmosphere in this building has taken another turn!"

"Wow." Natsume sounds impressed. "This is gonna be more interesting." She looks at Eizan, "So, who's your favorite little freshman, Eizan?"

"Well... You know, uh... It's hard to narrow it down. There's only one cook out there who's skill I wish to see."

Everyone that knows Saiba look at his station and notice that he's in a meditative state as he floats over his chair like some Zen grandmaster.

"Eh?" Ikumi speaks, "Saiba? He's meditating? ...while floating in the air?"

Saiba is taking deep breaths through his nose as he waits for his pot to finish. Despite all the smells in the air, he is only focusing on one particular aroma.