Kyandi: Greetings, my lovelies!
Ariadne: Today's chapter is going to be featuring an actual recipe that Kyandi-sama loves to make.
Kyandi: It made my mouth water just writing about it.
Ariadne: Of course, with the state of things these days, she can't buy some of the ingredients without breaking bank.
Kyandi: Yeah, that's the sucky part. Anyway, I have some other news.
Ariadne: Is this about my potential love interest?
Kyandi: Yep. When I started this story, I had a guy in mind, but now that I've finished the manga...well, I have another guy in mind. All I'm going to say is that, in a way, he still plays into the title of this story.
Ariadne: If you've read the whole manga, you should be able to figure out who it is.
Kyandi: Best of luck to that. Now, let's get on with this. Everyone, please enjoy and review.
Ariadne: Kyandi-sama does not own Shokugeki no Soma.
Chapter 7 Egg Breakfast
Ariadne woke up at five the next morning, just to check on something she had left to sit over night. She had changed and had just checked on the final element of her dish when there was a chiming noise over the PA system, making her look up from the four huge pots she was loading onto a trolley.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Please prepare for the judging, starting now!" came Doujima's voice exactly at six.
Pushing the trolley ahead of her, Ariadne reported to the employees assigning people to their locations in one of the different halls. Ariadne found herself in Hall E. Setting up at her station, she stopped long enough to take a look around her. She didn't see any of her dorm mates from where she stood, but she easily spotted Mito at a station behind her and across the way. Catching the dark skinned girl's eyes, Ariadne smiled and waved, Mito tensing in surprise, her face turning a little red when Ariadne gave her a wink.
"Ariadne!"
Ariadne turned, coming face to face with the widely smiling one of Alice. Apparently, the white-haired girl had the station directly behind Ariadne. She approached Ariadne cheerfully, her smile only growing when her eyes landed on the huge pots sitting on a trolley by her station.
"Good morning, Alice." Ariadne greeted, smiling back at the girl as Alice leaned around her to peer at the pots.
"Oh, are you making a soup or stew of some kind for your breakfast item?" Alice asked.
"Oh, no. Those are merely a topping."
Alice looked up at Ariadne's face, Ariadne giving her a wink. It made Alice curious what Ariadne had up her sleeve that four huge pots were merely toppings for her dish, and her curiosity showed on her face. Reaching out, Ariadne ran a single finger tip under Alice's chin, making the girl turn her face completely towards her. The beginnings of a blush painted Alice's fair cheeks as Ariadne's face closed in on hers, her nose just a mere inch from hers.
"If you're so curious about my dish, Alice, I can save you some to try after this is over. Can you be a good girl and wait until then?" Ariadne asked.
For a moment, "stunned" didn't come anywhere close to describing how Alice felt. She could only stare into the icy blue depths of Ariadne's eyes, silently surprised by the other girl's obvious flirting to respond. Then she snapped herself out of it and pulled back away from Ariadne, presenting the French girl with her back as she crossed her arms.
"Of course I can!" Alice retorted.
"Parfaite! Then I'll be sure to set aside a plate for you. We best get back to our stations, then."
Ariadne gave Alice a wink when she peered over her shoulder at her, and turned to head back to her station. She quickly got to work setting up her assembly line, getting everything ready to go. She had just gotten everything ready when the doors to the hall opened and Doujima's voice sounded over the speakers set up around the hall.
"First of all, I'll introduce the judges! They are food suppliers in partnership with Totsuki Resort! As well as their families! Every year they are entrusted with judging at this training camp, and they have already been informed of the "Egg dish with a surprise" theme. The test will be conducted in an extremely precise manner. And from our very own Totsuki Resort, staff from the cooking and service divisions will join the judges. There will be two criteria for this test...whether or not the professional suppliers and staff here approve of your idea, and the second one is...from now, you have to accomplish serving two hundred meals within two hours! Those who meet that will pass! Now, everyone, please enjoy this breakfast time to your fullest. Begin the judging!"
Two hours and two hundred plates.
It wouldn't be an easy feat if the people didn't like the dish, and they would stop to try the dish if it didn't look and smell good enough to them. So, not only did they have to appeal to the judges' sense of taste, they had to first attract their attention.
As a girl who always attracted attention, both good and bad, Ariadne didn't think she would have a problem with that.
Especially not with what she did when she took cooking seriously.
For not, she would save that for another time.
With the judges now spilling into the hall, Ariadne got to cooking, moving easily down her assembly line to turn out trays covered in her dish. She was just setting up to dish out her toppings when someone approached her station.
"What's this?" Ariadne looked up, finding Doujima's sous-chef, Sena Hiromi, standing before her, looking down at the dish before him. "Is this French Toast? And what's this on top?"
Ariadne grinned as the man picked up a plate looking down at the food.
On the plate sat a single, thick slice of bread topped with what looked like a folded omelette, fresh sliced strawberries and blueberries topping that. But there was something different about the omelette. Instead of a rich, yellowish color, there were swirls of brown within the egg and the pleasant scent of maple and cinnamon filled his nose.
"It's a French Toast Omelette." Sena turned his eyes to Ariadne, who smiled back at him brightly. "It's a specialty of mine. You take a single slice of a nice, fluffy Texas toast and dip it in a mixture of eggs, milk, vanilla extract, sugar, and cinnamon, and fry. Taking the left-over egg mixture and a square pan, you coat the pan in a little butter and pour in the eggs, preparing them almost like you would an omelette, but without any other added ingredients apart from a little salt."
"An omelette made with cinnamon and sugar?" Sena asked.
"Yes, but there's even more to that dish than what you see. Here, allow me to add the final topping for you and then you can try it for yourself."
Ariadne held out her hand for the plate he was holding. Sena, curious now, and with several people gathering around behind him to see his reaction to the dish, handed the plate over to Ariadne. The girl quickly turned to one of her pots and opened the lid. Dipping a ladle down into it she drizzled the top of the dish with a layer of amber colored syrup that seemed far too light to be an everyday syrup. Turning back to Sena, she presented him with the plate.
"Volia! Please enjoy."
Sena took the plate from her and picked up a fork. He was surprised to find the whole dish, bread and all, easy enough to cut through with his fork. Making sure to get a little bit of everything in a bite, he stuck it into his mouth.
The instantly onslaught of flavors washed over his tongue in a rush, making him pause in order to process the taste. There was the fluffiness of the french toast, carefully seasoned with the sugar and cinnamon, followed but the equal fluffiness of the eggs, the sweetness and tanginess of the fruits, the sweetness of the dish taken even further by the rich and subtle sweetness of the syrup.
But there was something else between the toast and egg.
Looking down at the dish in his hand, Sena peered between the bread and egg, his eyes widening.
"Between the toast and egg...is that..."
"A pork sausage, crumbled perfectly and seasoned with white pepper, sage, a little cayenne pepper for kick, and maple syrup. It's where the maple smell is coming from." Ariadne told him.
"If you put maple syrup in the sausage, then what did you drizzle on top? It doesn't taste like a normal syrup. It's far too light, the sweetness far more subtle than any other part of the dish." Sena remarked, unable to stop from taking another bite, making Ariadne's smile grow.
"It's a special syrup made by your's truly using Blue Agave Nectar." Ariadne replied.
"Blue Agave Nectar!?"
Sena looked up from the dish, unable to believe his ears.
"Yes. It contains about fifty-six percent fructose and tends to be between one point four to one point six times sweeter than regular sugar. I substituted it into my syrup because while the rest of the dish and distinctively sweet, the Blue Agave Nectar I chose has a mild, almost neutral flavor, allowing it add to the dish, without overpowering the taster with sweetness. Not everyone has my level of sweet tooth. By using the Blue Agave Nectar instead of a normal syrup, I can appeal to the sweet tooth in everyone, give them a little pick-me-up early in the morning and give them a burst of energy to carry them through to lunch, all without over loading their taste buds. By using a Texas toast verses normal bread and adding in sausage, it also gives the dish a little more bulk, insuring that the customer doesn't walk away with only a half-filled stomach."
Sena was taken by surprise. Normally, sweet dishes were meant as appetizers or desserts. They weren't actually meant to fill a person up, or pass for a main dish. Ariadne, though, had taken a dish that, normally, wouldn't have been something presented as main course, and had filled it out to be just that.
"I had to be very careful with the type of Blue Agave Nectar, I used, though." Ariadne went on, moving on to start serving more plates to the people now crowding around her station. "I chose a Light agave syrup, simply because of it's mild flavor. An amber agave syrup has a more medium-intensity caramel flavor. Because of that, it's used in a lot of dishes and drinks with stronger flavors. Not something I needed in this dish. Then there's dark agave syrups with have stronger notes of caramel and imparts a distinct flavor to dishes, such as some desserts, poultry, meat, and seafood dishes. To be honest, amber and dark agave syrups are typically used out-of-bottle for waffles, pancakes, and french toast, but given my dish, it would have been too much, and besides...I have no way of knowing if anyone here has fructose intolerance, so I went with the easiest to digest."
All that, and Ariadne still had considered more about her costumers than the average chef when she had been creating her dish. Sena was forced to admit that her dish was a good one, putting a wide grin on Ariadne's face as she thanked him. After seeing the sous-chef bow his head to Ariadne and her dish, more people swarmed her station, wanting to try the dish. It was no surprise to Ariadne, but the dish was really popular with the children present, but thanks to the subtle sweetness, even the older adults seemed to like the dish.
Ariadne quickly cleared the two hundred plate marker, taking that moment to pause long enough to turn and check on Mito and Alice. Mito, it seemed, had hit a bit of a snag at the one hundred and fifty plate marker, but Ariadne had no doubt that she would manage somehow.
And then there was Alice.
At first, no one had really approached her station, but now, the girl's station was just as over flowing with customers as Ariadne's. Both of them, even after clearing the two hundred plates, continued to serve a steady stream of people. Ariadne, as she promised, set one serving aside to give to Alice afterward, and went back to serving, humming to herself as she moved down her assembly line.
It looked like the girl was about two second away from starting to dance.
Peeking back over her shoulder when she had a spare moment, Ariadne met Alice's eyes, the two girls grinning at each other when they saw the amount of dishes they were both starting to stack up. In the end, it would just be a matter of which of them ran out of ingredients first. The two moved as fast as they could, flying around their stations as they cooked and served.
With ten minutes to spare, after serving three hundred and eighty plates, Alice ran out of ingredients. Waving to Ariadne, she left the hall to go see how Erina and Souma were fairing with their dishes. She arrived in time to watch Souma race to a finish, finishing his two hundred plates with only five seconds to spare.
Covered in sweat and out of breath, Souma gave Erina, who was in the next station over from him, a thumbs up.
"What's with that "did you see that?" face!?" Erina scolded. "Finishing at the last moment isn't something to be proud-"
"That was surprising!" Erina cut off as Alice popped up between them. "I thought you would get stuck at about eight meals! But, to think you'd get through by pulling off that stunt. But, cooking while relying on reckless stunts like that won't let you reach the top, what's need is a work constructed with an approach based on cutting-edge theories. Like my cooking...for example. Okay? I haven't given my name yet, right? I'm Nakiri Alice. That's the name of the one who will stand on top of you, make sure to remember it."
"Nakiri...Alice...Nakiri?" Souma repeated.
"That's right, Erina and I are cousins. We lived in the same mansion until we were five." Alice confirmed.
"Milady." Alice turned when she heard Ryo call out to her. The boy approached, looking about as dazed as he normally did. "You were here...what are you doing?"
"Oh my, you have perfect timing! Now, explain it." Alice ordered.
"Huh?" Ryo questioned.
"Give Yukihira Souma-kun an introduction to my personal history!" Alice ordered.
Not that Souma had asked for that.
"Ermmm...Milady Alice and Milady Erina are cousins and-"
"I said that already!" Alice retorted, cutting Ryo off. "Enough! I'll say it! My father founded Nakiri International with my mother's homeland, Northern Europe...Denmark, as it's headquarters. There they first researched on new cooking techniques based on molecular gastronomy. And not they also research the mechanisms of the senses of taste and smell, and they even include brain physiology in their research. it's an integrated research facility for gourmet food! I lived there until I was fourteen and then came to Totsuki. All that to defeat Erina and stand on the top of Totsuki!"
"Hmph. To a cook that only appreciates new techniques, my cooking will never lose." Erina replied.
"Oh my, such hatred! Erina, you're always like that! When we were three, you took my toy away. You said that the cake I baked for your fourth birthday was horrible. And I will never forget that when we were five-"
"Th-that's unrelated to this!" Erina snapped, getting flustered.
Alice merely turned to Souma and ignored Erina's outburst.
"And you, too...! Yukihira Souma-kun. You sure talked big at the entrance ceremony, but the era where artisan skills were highly praised is over. You don't have the caliber to stand on Totsuki's top, to prove that you barely finished an assignment that required to make only two hundred meals." Alice told him.
"Right!? I panicked a bit there! I really failed there." Souma admitted easily, smiling a goofy, sheepish smile. His admittance completely took Alice and Erina by surprise, making the two look at him strangely. "But, now I've got the experience of failing."
Alice, having hoped to poke him for his near failure, puffed a cheek out in annoyance.
"Mm...what a cunning man. Anyway! I won't lose to you people, okay!? I'm waiting expectantly for the moment I get to defeat you personally." Alice told him, turning to leave.
"Alice~!"
Alice jolted forward a step when arms suddenly wrapped around her shoulders from behind, weight pressing into her back. Twisting to peer over her shoulder, Alice was confronted with the smiling face of Ariadne.
"Ariadne?!" Alice gasped in surprise.
"Come on, Alice, call me Ari." Ariadne insisted before holding a sealed container out in front of Alice's face. "And you forgot this. You wanted to try my dish, remember? But then you just ran off, even though I finished not long after you."
Ariadne gave Alice a playful pout, feigning an expression like she had truly been wounded by Alice's actions. Taking Ariadne's expression for an honest one, Alice quickly explained that she had wanted to check out Souma and Erina's progress before the whole thing was over. Ariadne revealed she was teasing her by laughing, making one of Alice's cheeks puff out again. Taking the dish from Ariadne, Alice waved a farewell, and walked away with Ryo, Ariadne grinning as she waved back.
"So you finished with no problems?" Souma asked Ariadne.
"Yep. I ran out of ingredients after serving three hundred and eighty-six plates. Wish I could have kept going, though. It would have been nice to break the four hundred marker." Ariadne replied.
Having only barely cleared two hundred, himself, Souma could only awkwardly chuckle.
"This is a message for those who completed two hundred meals!" Everyone looked up as another announcement sounded over the speakers. "The next assignment starts in four hours. The time until then is free time."
"Oh, boy. Here we go again." Ariadne said even as a grin curled her lips and the people around her started freaking out.
"That's right...the training camp isn't over yet!" Souma agreed.
Ariadne and Souma gave each other a knowing look. A simple nod passed between them before they took off their separate ways. It was going to be another full day of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
Ariadne really was starting to have fun.
-0-0-0-0-
By the time they reached four p.m. on the fifth day of the camp, what students remained, were exhausted. Even Ariadne was starting to feel it. She hadn't felt this exhausted in three or four years. Gathering up with the rest of the students, Ariadne laid a comforting hand on the shoulder of a nervous Megumi.
"What can it be? They suddenly told us to gather in the lobby." Megumi fretted.
"There's nothing written on the guidebook either." Ryoko added.
"Eh...wait a sec, this pattern...!"
Yuuki started freaking out that the pattern was awfully similar to the egg breakfast challenge. Ariadne heaved a sigh as Yuuki dived into her chest, already crying that she couldn't take anymore. Lightly petting Yuuki's head, Ariadne turned her eyes to the others.
"No matter what it is, we've survived this far. We'll handle it as we have thus far. So take a breath and calm down." Ariadne assured them.
They just hoped she was right.
As Doujima entered the lobby, taking a microphone in hand, everyone tensed, ready for the worst.
"Before getting to the issue in hand, a brief comment...currently, three hundred and fifty-two students have dropped out and the remaining student number is...six hundred and twenty-eight. It might seem cruel but the cooking profession isn't but a microcosms. To survive as a chef every single ability and readiness is necessary. You must not lose your cool in unknown situations, and keep an interaction with the ingredients. As a chef, you'll always be under heavy pressure. You must resist the nights where you are tormented by anxiety and hesitation, and be able to deal with and conduct yourself on diverse situations. Living as a cook is similar to roaming about alone on the wilderness under a storm."
Ariadne could definitely see that. It was a path that could blind a person if they weren't aware of themselves and their surroundings at all times.
"The more you master cooking, the more your feet will tangle and your objective blur. There might be people that lose even the way back and get stuck on the summit by the time they notice. However, I don't want you to forget that on this place called Totsuki, you had comrades that left their footprints together with you on that same wilderness. Because ti's that fact, what will encourage you eventually on your lonely travel. I wish you the best of luck! Well then...let's proceed with the final program of this training camp."
Ariadne could feel the tension around her peak. The melt down that rippled through the students, was intense. As the doors to the hall opened, several students even looked like they would faint.
But then they were greeted with the staff ready to serve them.
"This is a message fro the six hundred and twenty-eight students that survived this far...congratulations on clearing all the assignments of this lodging training! The last program is a modest banquet to celebrate the completion of this training camp. Enjoy it to the fullest!" Doujima announced, cheers of relief and giddy excitment, exploding from the students. "Now, everyone to the tables! Starting now we'll have you taste a full course made by the alumni!"
Relieved that they had all managed to make it through, Ariadne and her friends took their seats, enjoying the food presented to them, all while laughing and enjoying each other's company. It had been a long week, and Ariadne was sure that it wasn't going to be the hardest thing she would have to do before the school year was out, but that was part of the reason why she had come to Totsuki in the first place.
The challenge.
Whatever came next, she would enjoy her time with her friends while she could.
-0-0-0-0-
The next morning, the students packed up and reported to the lobby, getting ready to head back to the school. It was there that Souma and Megumi ran into Shinomiya.
"Oh...Shinomiya-senpai!" Souma called out.
Shinomiya, suitcase in hand, looked up as Souma called his name, coming to a stop.
"It seems you managed to survive." Shinomiya remarked.
"Well, somehow, thanks to you!" Souma replied.
Shinomiya merely snorted deep in his throat, his eyes scanning the area around them, as if in search of someone. Not seeing who he was looking for, Shinomiya turned his eyes back to Souma and Megumi.
"Where's your mouthy friend from that night? Did she not make it through?" he asked.
Souma opened his mouth to reply, but another voice beat him to it.
"Aw, are you worried about me, Shinomiya-senpai?"
Face twisting in a half annoyed, half angry expression at the sound of the teasing, slightly mocking tone coming from behind him, Shinomiya rounded on a grinning Ariadne, her bag in hand.
"I'm not concerned about the likes of you!" he snapped at her, his voice rising.
"Oh, come now, Shinomiya-senpai," Ariadne purred, her lips curling even further into a grin as she leaned forward to peer up into his face. "You don't have to be so shy. I won't tell anyone."
Shinomiya didn't even know what to begin to say to her, and his inability to get something out of his mouth only had the girl's grin growing. He knew she was only teasing him, that the girl seemed to thrive off teasing others, but that did nothing to stop him from responding to it none the less. Megumi decided to have mercy on him, and changed the subject before Ariadne could really start poking at him.
"That suitcase...yo-you're already going back to France?" Megumi asked, looking down at Shinomiya's suitcase.
"Yeah, I can't keep my restaurant closed forever. Besides...I've decided my next objective." Shinomiya replied, turning away from Ariadne.
"Well, that's good." Shinomiya looked down at Ariadne, as, dropping her teasing grin, she stood up straight. "A good chef like you...It would be a shame if you stayed in that rut for too long."
It seemed the girl could be less teasing and more serious when she wanted to be.
Shocker.
Not that he said that out loud. She might go right back to teasing him.
"I'll make Shino's Paris' most famous restaurant and get three stars. The Purusupooru isn't enough for me now." Shinomiya declared.
"Good luck with that. You'll have to get past Devil's Food first." Ariadne told him.
"What's Devil's Food?" Souma asked, as Shinomiya made a face.
"It's currently the number one, top ranked restaurant in all of France. It even has branches in seventeen different countries across three continents. It's so huge a name that it has even dipped it's fingers into several other fields within the culinary world. If he wants to make Shino's the most famous restaurant in Paris, he'll first have to topple Devil's Food." Ariadne told him.
"I'm a little surprised you haven't heard of them before, Souma-kun. They're a huge name. Several people say that their food is so good, you'll sell your soul to the devil for some." Megumi added.
"Hence the name Devil's Food." Ariadne added. "But if anyone can surpass that monolith of a brand, it'll have to be Shinomiya-senpai."
Shinomiya looked down at Ariadne, who gave him a grin. He couldn't tell if she was teasing him, or if she actually thought that. He didn't get the chance to ask, or say what he was about to say before they heard the loud voice of Inui as she made a dash for Shinomiya's back.
"Wait! I won't let you steal a march on us, Shinomiya-senpai!" Inui insisted.
"I don't understand what you mean." Shinomiya told her, but Inui simply pushed him aside, her, Gotoda and Sekimori approaching Megumi while Mizuhara approached Yukihira.
Apparently the four had their eyes on Megumi and Souma. Ariadne hid a laugh behind her hand, watching the confused looks that feel on her friends' faces. She was snapped out of her laughing, though, when Inui turned to look at her.
"You must come to me!" Inui insisted, latching onto Ariadne's hand.
"Now, now, Inui-senpai. If I did that, it would make others jealous. Are you asking me to be cruel to others?" Ariadne teased, making Inui pout at her.
Ariadne reached out to pat the older woman's head as she cried about Ariadne's vague reply. It was then that Doujima and his sous-chef, Sena, showed up.
"To think they're already calling out for students who are still enrolled. I guess they have recognized their skills." Doujima remarked.
"Chef Doujima! Wh-what is this?" Megumi asked.
"For the sake of coming to this training came, they have closed their restaurants temporarily or left them to their sous-chef. Doing that much for free wouldn't really be worth it, right?" Sena replied.
"You have a point." Souma conceded.
"Ultimately, this training camp also serves to look for potential recruits before they graduate. A cook gets more training as he moves from one restaurant to another. Depending on your talent you'll move to new stages. That's precisely why for an owner chef getting trainees is a matter of the highest priority. How hard getting the "right stuff" needed in a kitchen, is something that the alumni know best. That's why they come to evaluate Totsuki's enrolled students. This training camp is beneficial for both the academy and the alumni." Sena explained.
"Basically, it give all of the alumni the chance to see which of us they might be interested in hiring later on down the road." Ariadne said.
"Exactly." Sena agreed. "Yukihira-kun...you could prove successful even in Totsuki Resort, you're always welcome to come here."
"That sounds pretty nice, but I have Yukihira." Souma replied.
"Right...your home is a restaurant." Doujima remarked.
"Yes, it's the restaurant my old man and I managed. I don't know where he is or what he's doing now though." Souma replied.
"Well...the offer stands for you, too, Sinclair-chan." Sena said, turning to look at Ariadne. "You could do wonderfully here at Totsuki Resort."
Ariadne smiled more to herself as all eyes turned to her. Gripping the handle of her suitcase in both hands, she clasped her hands behind her back, giving Sena a bright smile.
"I wonder about that. I still have plenty of time to think about that because I don't plan to be dropped from Totsuki anytime soon." Ariadne said. "Besides...I have my goals too."
Ariadne didn't clarify on that in the least, leaving them to think and guess whatever they would. She gave Inui another pet of the head in goodbye and followed Megumi and Souma, waving to the other chefs as she spun on the spot to head for the door.
Ariadne wasn't inclined to share with anyone what her future plans were. She knew what she had to do and what path she wanted to take to get there. Until she was good and ready to share, she didn't see the point in telling anyone the reason why she had enrolled in Totsuki in the first place. It wouldn't serve her any purpose, after all.
Let others spin their wheels trying to figure her out.
That was what made it all fun, in the end.
END
Kyandi: I just love how much you tease people! It's so much fun to write.
Ariadne: I've noticed. It's just showing how much of a tease you are, deep down.
Kyandi: I don't know about that.
Ariadne: Do I need to bring up all the times, in just the last week, that you've teased your family?
Kyandi: No, no. I think we're good.
Ariadne: My point exactly.
Kyandi: Meh. Okay, so you might have a point.
Ariadne: Might?
Kyandi: That's all I'm going to concede, so deal with it. Anyway, everyone, please enjoy and review.
Ariadne: We'll return as soon as we can!
Kyandi: Bye-bye!