Kyandi: Hey, Kyandiacs!

Ariadne: She had fun with this chapter.

Kyandi: Just a little.

Ariadne: She ended up doing something while writing this chapter that I actually do in the chapter.

Kyandi: If you can't figure it out while reading the chapter, I'll tell you what I did at the end.

Ariadne: It had her sister laughing at her.

Kyandi: Eh, I don't care. It was fun.

Ariadne: Same!

Kyandi: And that is something she inherited from me.

Ariadne: Just one of many things.

Kyandi: Right. So, everyone, please enjoy and review.

Ariadne: Kyandi-sama does not own Shokugeki no Souma.

Chapter 11 Sinful Sweet

A month later, after many trial dishes and several late nights, the Autumn Election dawned on those who had been chosen to take part. Ariadne found herself waking early that morning in order to prepare her necessary ingredients and tools. She would go into the event fully prepared to what she had to do. Whether or not that was what the others had to do, was yet to be seen. She had never claimed to be there for the same reasons as the others and was pretty sure that her approach to "curry cuisine" was going to be different from the others. Maybe even vastly different than the others.

The morning of the Autumn Election found Ariadne arriving at the large arena where the competition would be held with her ingredients and tools in hand. Walking into the arena, the tension thick in the air hit her and washed over her like a wave in the ocean. There was a definite air of apprehension thick around her. She might have choked on it…if she had been any other chef but herself. As it was, Ariadne shrugged it off, refusing to let the over seriousness of the other taint her oddly happy mood. Some even shot her weird looks as she strutted by, humming to herself. Ignoring those looks, Ariadne spotted Souma and the others from her dorm that were taking part in the Election.

"Mes amies!" The group turned, spotting Ariadne approaching them with a bright smile on her face. Yuuki ran to greet her, Ariadne catching her flying hug with open arms. "Yes, yes, I missed you too, Yuuki." Ariadne half carried Yuuki back over to the others, giving everyone a greeting. "Long time, no see. I trust you all have an informational month?" Getting back favorable answers, Ariadne finally separated herself from Yuuki, patting the girl on the head.

"How were you?" Ryoko asked, turning her eyes to Ariadne.

"I've been good. I spent the time trying out a few different dishes before I settled on one." Ariadne turned to Souma. "And you? How did you fair?"

"Oh…well, not bad, I guess."

Ariadne leaned to the side, peering past Souma before someone spoke from behind him. "Your fingers are dyed with the faint aroma of spices." Souma whipped around, finding Akira standing behind him, hands tucked into his pockets.

"Hayama!"

"It seems you've worked quite a bit." Akira's eyes cut over to Souma.

"Yeah, I wanted to let you eat an extraordinarily good curry."

Ariadne grinned at Souma's reply, not noticing at first when Akira leaned towards her, giving her a sniff. Ariadne raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, rude much?"

Akira ignored the comment, his brow furrowing. "That sweet smell…is that wine?"

His brow furrowed even further when Ariadne pressed a finger between his eyebrows and pushed him back away from her. When she deemed him far enough, she pulled her hand back and shook her finger at him. "I don't know how it is done in your country, but in France it is rude to sniff a lady like that. She will never look at you seriously if you do not work on your manners."

While the others looked on confusion, Akira let out a small "hmph" and walked away, soon vanishing into the crowd of students milling about them. Ariadne merely grinned and waved after him, triumph on her face though her friends had no idea what she could have just won. They were unable to question her as Takumi made an appearance then, his voice loud despite not needing to be. "Yu-Yukihira!"

Souma turned as Takumi's voice lashed out. "Oh, Takumi! Long time no see."

"I…I'm going to say it once more! I'm your true rival-"

"No, wait a second." Souma cut Takumi off, his eyes going to the tall, slender boy behind him. "Who's that guy next to you?"

Takumi turned to the boy next to him, confusion written on his face, but before he could say anything, Ariadne flew forward, reaching out to cup the tall boy's face in her hands. "Isami! What happened to your pleasantly plump body?"

Silence deafened them as they all stared at Ariadne. It was a delayed reaction when they all suddenly exploded with the same "You're kidding me!?" response. Ariadne didn't pay it a bit of attention as she released Isami's face and begun circling him, concern written on her face. Takumi glanced in her direction before turning to Souma. "Wha…?! What is it? Isami loses weight when he gets fatigued due to the summer's heat."

"This is because of summer heat fatigue!?" Souma gasped.

Ariadne was back in Isami's face then, cupping it once more. "Are you okay? Should you be here?"

Isami chuckled at her concerned reaction. "I've stabilized already, so it's okay. My body goes back to normal through autumn and winter."

Ariadne didn't look convinced in the least. Even Megumi's shoulders deflated as she understood the implication behind that. "I…it happens every year."

"I'm surprised you don't die from that." Souma remarked.

"It can't be healthy for you." Ariadne agreed, releasing his face, her expression still one of worry.

"I'm fine, I swear." Isami assured her. Ariadne wasn't completely sure about that, but she let it go for the time being.

"Y-you understand now, right? That is Isami!" Takumi insisted, clearing his throat so that he could pull them all back to the original subject. "Well then, let's start anew. Yukihi-"

Ariadne fought back a snicker as Takumi was cut off once more, this time back the lights cutting to draw all attention to the stage at the front of the hall. "We'd like to thank all of our attendees for waiting. Please pay attention to the stage in the front of the hall. We'll have some opening words from the academy's director." Ariadne turned her full attention to the stage as Sanzaemon made his way out onto the stage to take over at the microphone. Sanzaemon took a deep breath, everyone falling silent in anticipation of this words, only for Ariadne to fight back a laugh when he started to cough.

"D-Director?" came the worried voice of one of the attendants behind Sanzaemon.

"No need to worry, I just choked."

"You're already old, so don't overexert yourself."

Ariadne had to bite her bottom lip in order to fend off the laugh threatening to burst free from her. Sanzaemon waved off the concern before refocusing his attention on students gathered before him. "When I breathe in this place's atmosphere, I can feel my heart and body being surrounded by vitality." It was a funny statement from a man who just had a coughing fit, but Ariadne let it slide. "This venue is also known as "Chandra's Room". By and large, it is only used for Shokugeki between members of the elite ten! To honor all of the people who have been in possession of the first seat, it's our tradition to hang their portraits here. Many great matches and many specialties were born here. For that very reason, they linger here like sediment. The continuous memories of battle! And the Autumn Election's "main tournament" will be held here."

Ariadne didn't miss the meaning behind those words. In short, Sanzaemon was saying that only those who could pass through the preliminaries could stand a chance to proudly walk on that stage. It made Ariadne hum lowly to herself, Souma peering at her out of the side of his eyes to find a mischievous grin on her face. "Ladies and gentlemen, you will make history here! Let us meet again in this place. Cooks of Totsuki Academy's 92nd Generation!"

With that word from Sanzaemon, an assistant took over. "We will now explain the rules of the preliminaries. The basic regulations are as written in the letters sent to you: The theme is curry dishes. You may use the ingredients inside the venue…or you may use any ingredients you brought with you. The time limit is three hours and, regarding the number of passing students…out of the sixty participants, the number of students that will advance to the main tournament is a total of eight."

A thick sense of tension, dread and competitiveness fell over the students around Ariadne, making the girl look around her. Eight students in total would move on. That meant that four students from each group would be picked. Ariadne could already tell that this was going to get even more tense than it already was. She thought this was they were directed to split up into the two groups, each group being sent to a different location. Ariadne joined Souma, Ryoko and Mito in heading to the location for Group A while Takumi, Isami, Yuuki and Megumi went with Group B. She waved to her friends as they went their separate ways. Reaching her venue, Ariadne changed quickly into her personalized chef garbs and reported to her station. As the clock ticked down the remaining minutes until the start, Ariadne hummed cheerfully to herself while those around her psyched themselves up.

Right at eleven o'clock the Autumn Election started.

Taking the whole thing at a relaxed and cheerful pace, Ariadne got to work on her dish, only barely noticing when Sendawara Natsume, the head judge for A Block, made her appearance. Of course, Ariadne had heard of Natsume and her sister, Orie. The two were dubbed the "Curry Queens" and had a reputation for being extremely hard to please. Ariadne knew this, but she didn't seem bothered by it in the least. She was one of the few who didn't pay attention when Natsume took a microphone from Eizan to speak. "Listen well. This country's curry industry went through a great expansion during the post-war period. By now, curry has completely matured and become something loved by all citizens! This current state…bores me. I'm looking for it! As a manager, as someone who loves curry, I'm looking for an idea that will open up the future of Japanese curry. Now, show me a curry dish that will make me shudder."

Natsume watched as many of the students bulked in the face of her statement. It was through this crowd of scared chefs-to-be that Natsume's eyes found the few students who didn't seem the least bit bothered. "Oh…it looks like we have some courageous kids here." Already, both Mito and Ariadne were at work preparing their dishes. Mito already was working on the meat for her curry while Ariadne was swaying to whatever she was humming as she laid out several different ingredients across her table; onion, ginger, garlic, a jalapeno, olive oil, chili powder, cardamon, coriander, a couple of unlabeled bottles, and a few other ingredients. Then she pulled out a sealed container. Opening it, she revealed chicken that she had marinated beforehand. She transferred the pieces of chicken to a roasting pan and popped it into the oven before turning to her onion. Her hands flew in dicing the onion, the girl easily scooping up and dumping the onion into a small bowl with a practiced flick of her wrist.

Ariadne twirled the blade in her hand, still humming, as she moved over to a pan. Placing the knife down, she put the pan on the burner, heating it before adding butter. As the butter started to sizzle and melt, she dumped the onions in. The whole time she sautéed the onions, cooking them slowly and carefully, some part of her body was in motion, her humming never ceasing. Many other students stopped to watch her as she worked, adding minced garlic and freshly grated ginger, letting that cook for a minute before she poured in a mixture of spices the others didn't know. Akira, who was watching from a station over, lifted his nose and gave a sniff. He could pick up the sweet smell of the sauteed onions, the garlic and ginger, but he could also smell ground coriander, cumin and garam masala. Ariadne's hips swayed lightly, side to side, as that cooked, the aroma growing stronger by the second.

Just as the spices hit their peak of aroma, Ariadne's hand shot out, grabbing a bowl of crushed tomatoes she had set aside. As she poured that into the pan, Akira caught a whiff of chili powder and salt that she had obviously added to the tomatoes while crushing them. She gave the whole thing a stir pulling one of the unlabeled bottles towards her. Uncorking it, she added just a splash of what was inside before quickly corking it and putting a lid on her pot. It was as she set the bottle aside that she looked up and spotted Akira watching her with a curious look on his face. Giving him a grin, Ariadne treated him with a wink before she moved on about her work. While she left the pan to simmer, she went back to the box she had carried her ingredients into the venue in and pulled out another sealed container. From that container…she pulled a large blob of dough.

Sprinkling a patch of her cutting board with flour, she sat the dough down and separated it into five smaller pieces and got to work rolling them out flat. It was as she finished that and moved to start heating a skillet that everyone figured out that she was making naan bread. She went through the process of frying the bread quickly, brushing each circle with spiced buttered. For the most part, it was normal. Just as the others started to think this, Ariadne surprised them all by pulling out what looked like a device used to hold ice cream cones upright. Using two pairs of tongs with an ease that spoke of practice, Ariadne quickly folded each circle of naan bread before it could cool into the shape of an ice cream cone, folding in the bottom to seal it. Ariadne gave a nod of approval when she had each one situated to her satisfaction. She stood there for a moment, hands on hips, her head lightly bobbing side to side to some unheard tune. Now and then, her lips moved as if mouthing the lyrics to a song. Then, when a firm nod of her head, she was moving once more, pulling a blender out.

Getting the blender ready she turned to her pot, pulling the lid off. The wave of aroma that filled the air caused many people's mouths to water. Akira even stopped to sniff the air, finding himself pondering what she had put into the pot to cause a smell that was such a wide array of spices, but still sweet. Ariadne didn't even look up from her work, pouring the mixture into the blender to puree. She had to split the whole pot into a few batches to get it all, but once it was pureed, she returned it to the pan and started stirring in what looked like cream, sugar and, to many people's surprise…honey. She gave it all a good stir before fetching her chicken out of the oven. She added the chicken to the pot, making sure to scrap off the little pieces of cooked marinade from the pan. Ariadne added another splash of the liquid from the mystery bottle before popping the lid back on.

Attention was pulled away from Ariadne then as other people started presenting their dishes to the judges. Each one was shot down with low scores, Natsume not giving a single student even one point. The brutality of how she completely crushed each student had those left wondering what it would take for the woman to be moved by a dish. After ten students, it became a discouraging pattern.

"Sendawara Natsume gave 0 points again, huh." Ibusaki remarked from where he stood with Ryoko and Souma.

"It's amazing…she's judged around ten people and she's yet to give a single point." Ryoko mused, a trickle of sweating dripping from her brow.

"All those dishes looked pretty good, too." Souma added.

Just as the students were losing heart, thinking that none of them would manage to get a single point off Natsume, Kurokiba Ryou stepped forward to present his dish. With a single bite, he blew the judges away, earning a solid ninety-three points. As the first to not only get a point from Natsume, but to obtain a high school, Ryou turned to the others, grin on his face, the look on his face a challenge to the remaining participants. The only one who didn't rise to the bait, or even act like she noticed the challenge, was Ariadne, the girl still puttering around her station, humming to herself as she worked.

Mito was the next to step up, giving the judges a surprise when she submitted her curry in the form of a don bowl. The thick-sliced pork belly with its rich juices earning her eighty-six points. While it wasn't as high as Ryou's score, with two students showing that it was possible, more students stepped forward. Ryoko went next with her natto curry, tying with Mito with eighty-six points. Zenji followed behind her with his white potage curry udon. The judges awarded his beautifully prepared, creamy curry a total of eighty-eight points. Ibusaki quickly delivered his dish next, placing before the judges his special smoked curry. The dish allowed him to tie with Zenji with eighty-eight points.

Ariadne didn't even look up when Akira stepped forwards with his dish. Something that only mildly annoyed Akira since she didn't seem to slow her pace in the slightest to see what he had to give to the judges. Not even the explosion of aroma that came from the dish as the judges started to eat seemed to gain the girl's attention, her focus solely on her dish. That was fine with Akira, though. To Akira, his real rival was Souma alone. Ariadne was merely a steppingstone at best. Not worth the annoyance he felt when she failed to pay his dish any attention even when it scored a ninety-four.

With that it left only Ariadne, Souma and one other to present their dishes.

Seeing that Ariadne was still humming to herself, adding final touches to her dish as she plated it, Souma went first. To the surprise of all who had been watching Souma, the boy removed the lid to reveal, not the risotto everyone had thought he had been making, but an omelet. Once again, the bang of aroma that filled the air failed to gain Ariadne's attention but served to surprise Akira with its intensity when the first cut into the omelet was made. The flavor of the risotto curry omurice was like a punch in the face for the judges but, when compared to Akira's dish, it fell just slightly short, earning Souma ninety-three points. The judges dissolved into an argument when they disagreed one which dish had been better.

An argument that was quickly silenced when a sweet voice cleared its throat.

All eyes turned to Ariadne who now stood behind a cart loaded down with five metal boxes that contained her dish. "I still need to present my dish. If you will allow me, that is." Ariadne gave them all a sweet smile, the judges clearing their throats before gesturing to her to proceed. Akira and Souma both watched as Ariadne placed a box before each judge. "May I present my dish…Sweet Butter Chicken and Waffles."

Hundreds of incredulous looks stared at Ariadne as she lifted the boxes, one at a time, to show what looked like a crepe in the metal ice cream cone stand, the top sealed closed with more baked dough. The judges stared at the dish for a long moment before looking back at Ariadne's still smiling face, one male judge speaking. "Sweet Butter Chicken and Waffles?"

"Yes. Please, take a bite." Ariadne made no promises on how the dish would be received, merely gestured for them to try.

Picking up the dish, much like they would hold an ice cream cone or crepe, the judges took a bite. The wave of smell and flavor that hit them took them all by surprise, but what shocked them more was the sweet taste that spread throughout their mouths. Curry, usually known for its spices, wasn't a dish one thought of and connected to sweetness, but the dish in their hands had them taking another bite to see if they might have tasted something wrong, but no. The mouth-watering sweetness of the dish filled their mouths once more, leading a few of the judges to moaning their delight in the dish.

"This sweetness…!"

Ariadne let out a giggle. "I made quite a few changes to a tradition Indian chicken curry. For one, the traditional dish calls for chicken breasts, but I found the thigh meat is more tender and has more flavor. Then I went through and substituted a few ingredients. The sweetness your tasting is a mix of using palm sugar instead of white sugar and adding in just a touch of honey. It makes the dish sweeter without making it sickeningly so."

Natsume took another bite, noticing something she had overlooked in the first few bites. I made her pause for a moment. "Is that…coconut!?"

"Oui, tres bien!" Ariadne clapped her hands together happily. "I used coconut cream instead of heavy cream and then topped with grated coconut and couverture chocolate before I sealed it. While chocolate is a common enough ingredient in curry, coconut is not, but when I was looking for substitutes to create a sweeter dish, coconut cream came to mind. I found the contrast of the coconut with the other spices is quite pleasant."

"One would think it would be a strange flavor for curry, but it works so well! I feel like I'm eating a dessert but with the substance of a fully course!" one judge exclaimed, making Ariadne's smile just a little bit wider. "But there's something else here that I can't quite put my finger on."

"Oh! That would be this." Ariadne turned to the cart and pulled out the non-labeled bottle Akira had seen her use while she was cooking. "The real secret behind the blending melody of the dish is this."

"What is it?" one judge asked, adjusting his glasses to peer at the bottle.

Another giggle slipped free from Ariadne, the girl then holding a finger to her lips as she gave the judges a playful wink. "Mes excuses, but this is a family secret. I can't reveal all of my tricks. What kind of chef would I be if I didn't give you something to look forward to solving the next time?"

Though Natsume pouted at being denied the secret, Ariadne merely leaned in close to the woman, one perfectly manicured nail running along the underside of the woman's chin. "No need to pout, Natsume-nee-chan," Natsume blinked when Ariadne purred that pet name. "If you ask real sweetly, I might relent and tell you. Behind closed doors, of course." The sultry wink Ariadne gave Natsume, with barely a few inches between their faces, managed to put blushes on each of the judges' faces. After seeing how fluently Ariadne had swung from sweet to sinful, the judges dubbed her Sinful Sweet. Ariadne gave Natsume one more playful wink before backing away. In the end, Ariadne was awarded a solid ninety points, knocking both Zenji and Ibusaki out of the running for the main tournament. Ariadne, after surprising many with her display, gave the three contestants above her in score a kittenish waved of her fingers, a wink following it.

She enjoyed the grin and thumbs-up she got from Souma, but not as much as she enjoyed the looks on Akira's and Ryou's faces. She especially enjoyed it when Akira approached her, sniffing towards the bottle in her hands. "What is that? It smells sweet. Almost like liquorice." Akira jolted when Ariadne's finger appeared in his face, booping his nose to make him back up. She grinned at him as she wagged the finger in his face.

"Now, now, no questions from you. Due to your…circumstances, you can't entertain me. Therefore, I'm not inclined to share the secret with you. Sorry. I may be a horrible, unrepented flirt, but I'm no home-wrecker."

"Wh-what are you talking about!?" Akira could feel his face starting to heat, but Ariadne just grinned at him.

"You'll figure it out some day." Ariadne reached out to pat his head like he was a child, despite him being taller than her. "Naïve virgins, like you, are so adorable."

With that, Ariadne walked away, humming to herself as she returned to her station, passing the last student who was heading towards the judges in order to present his dish. Ariadne looked over her shoulder as he passed, one corner of her mouth twitching, as if she was fighting back a smile. It was almost like she knew what was about to happen before it did and wasn't worried in the least. The last student, a boy introduced as Mimasaka, placed his dish before the judges, a smug smirk on his face. Ariadne merely shrugged as she was beaten by one point and eliminated from the running. Ariadne merely waved it off, not the least bit upset by the end result. She congratulated both Souma and Akira before gathering her stuff to leave the venue. As she was walking out the doors, humming lowly to herself, she found the last person she expected to see, waiting for her, a smirk on his smug face.

"Oh, Eizan-senpai…can I help you?" Ariadne asked pleasantly, tilting her head to the side in an innocent manner.

Eizan was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed as he peered over at her. "You know, for someone with a lot of big talk, you fell short when it counted. And here I thought you were going to start your "upstart". I'm disappointed."

Eizan's head whipped around when Ariadne giggled then. Seeing the look on his face, she waved a hand in front of her face. "Sorry to laugh, but…I never said I was going to start my upstart. Only that I hadn't yet." A frown fell on Eizan's face as he realized she had a point. It only served to make her giggle again. "I am grateful for your concern, Eizan-senpai, truly I am."

"I'm not concerned."

"Nevertheless," Ariadne grinned when his frown deepened as she easily waved away his statement, as if it didn't matter. "When I start my upstart, you'll know."

"If you make it long enough to do so. You put up a good show today, but that's all it was. You gave your best and fell short. Must be saddening."

The blinking stare that statement got him was not the response he had been hoping for. Then Ariadne's head tilted to the side. "Oh, are you done? Was that supposed to be some kind of an attempt at humor? I'm afraid to tell you, senpai, but…your humor sucks." Eizan puffed up at this, but Ariadne kept him from saying anything by stepping close to him. "Let me let you in on a secret." Ariadne took hold of his shirt collar, pulling him down until she could whisper into his ear. "No one said that was anywhere close to being my best." Ariadne pulled back, smirk on her face as she straightened his collar. She gave it a pat and booped his nose. "Have a nice day, Eizan-senpai." With that, she slipped around him and walked away, leaving Eizan to silent fume where he stood. She was silently giggling as she rounded the corner.

"Sinclair Ariadne."

Hearing her name being called, Ariadne came to a stop and turned. She blinked in surprise when she saw the person who had called her name. "Oh! Hello, Headmaster." Walking her way was none other than Nakiri Sanzaemon. "Can I help you, sir?"

Sanzaemon remained silent as he approached her. Even when he stood before her, staring down at her, the girl blinking back in questioning, he didn't say anything. He scanned her face, his eyes dropping down to the case she was carrying before he released a sigh and finally spoke. "I don't believe I have to tell you that I'm disappointed."

A smile cracked Ariadne's face as she finally understood what he was getting at. "Ah, yes, I know, sir."

Sanzaemon pegged her with a stern look. "Sinclair Ariadne, we both know you preformed just well enough to pass but to still fly below the radar. You could have scored much better if you had actually tried."

Confronted with the fact that Sanzaemon had caught her in her act, Ariadne smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders. "Perhaps, but I'm merely biding my time, Headmaster. I'm not ready to reveal myself just yet. Please, don't spoil my fun." Ariadne turned puppy dog eyes on the old man, silently pleading with him not to out her to the masses.

Sanzaemon sighed, reaching out to place a hand on Ariadne's head. "One of these days you will be forced to actually preform at your best. When that day comes, I do hope you will take it seriously."

"Of course, sir." Ariadne smiled brightly at him. "I wouldn't want to let down my parents, now, would I?"

Sanzaemon nodded, giving her head a pat before giving her a farewell and walking away. Ariadne watched him go, her smile dimming once he was gone. Heaving a sigh, she rocked back on her heels. "Clever man. No one else noticed when I purposely diluted the flavors and aroma of the dish, and he didn't even taste it." Giving her head a shake, Ariadne turned and continued on her way. She knew that, from there on out, she would have to be careful about her acting. She wouldn't want the others catching on just yet.

That would just ruin the fun.

Grinning to herself at the thought, Ariadne added a little skip to her step. She had made it through the preliminaries as she had wanted and now, all she had to do was sit back and watch the others stress over their performance. She'd let them stress over how to be best. For the time being, she would just continue to have her fun.

After all…what was life without a little flirtation with the dark side?

END

Kyandi: In case none of you got it….I was dancing while writing this.

Ariadne: Not very well.

Kyandi: Shush! It's hard to dance while sitting on my bed with a laptop in my lap.

Ariadne: Okay, you have a point there.

Kyandi: Thank you! That aside…yes, Ariadne is playing everyone for a fool.

Ariadne: I have my reasons, though.

Kyandi: That you do. I don't know why, but I really like the last line. "Flirtation with the dark side"? I just couldn't help but laugh when I wrote that.

Ariadne: Yeah, well…it's fitting for me.

Kyandi: It really is. Anyway, I have another project to work on, so everyone enjoy and review.

Ariadne: We'll be back as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye-bye!