Chapter 02. Moving In
No One's POV
Everyone was silent as they all had their attention to Shinomiya Kojiro as he was the only one who haven't casted a vote yet. Nakiri Leonora and Dojima Gin voted for Ryou, while Nakiri Sōe and Inui Hinako voted for Megumi. As expected from both Ryou amd Megumi, they both served a seafood dish but their approach towards combining it with the theme chili are different. Ryou made an aggressive version of seafood spaghetti with chili-based sauce that knocked off the judges as they surrender themselves to heavy seafood flavor accompanied with extra heat. Megumi, on the other hand, made the ultimate comfort food as she served a soothing chili clam chowder that is fused with her region's flavor that made everyone recovered from the attack of Ryou's dish. All of the audience got to taste both dishes that made them realize how determine are the two in winning the match.
"Shinomiya Shishō," Sōma whispered as they can barely breathe in anticipation.
"Tch," the judge hissed. "I can't believe the four of you voted at the same time that made the attention centered to me."
"Just vote already, Shinomiya-senpai!" Hinako glared at him. "The winner's my Megumi-chan, right? Her dish made us feel home and comforted, like always."
"No, no, don't use your relationship with him to influence his vote," Leonora objected. "My boy Ryou expressed himself harder towards his dish today. I'm sure you tasted it, he's clearly the winner."
"Yeah, but Madam, your husband don't agree with you," Hinako teased that made Leonora pissed.
Both women started arguing and the attention got to them. The male judges just shook their head in disapproval, but both of the contestants are on nervous wreck as Kojiro tried their dishes again.
"Inui-senpai," Takumi shook his head. "Does she not realize that even if Tadokoro-san wins, Kurokiba will still stay near her since he had to cook her lunch?"
"But Tadokoro-san is a disciple of Chef Shinomiya, right?" Isami questioned. "I can't imagine him picking Kurokiba over her."
"Troublesome," the judge put down the spoon. "I can't decide between the two of them."
"What? Senpai!" Hinako complained. "Pick my Megumi-chan, then! She's your disciple!"
"Shut up, Hinako," Kojiro glared at her. "Try eating Tadokoro's dish again, and then the other one. You'll know what I'm talking about."
Ryou was the one who served his dish first, and then followed by Megumi. Because of such transition, the judges felt the attack of the chili seafood pasta and then felt the comfort of the chili clam chowder. For such reasons, they deemed Ryou's dish as extremely aggressive, while Megumi's dish to be extremely hospitable. The aftermath of the two dishes will wake you up to reality as how it represents that life has a lot of aggressive and comfortable times. But Kojiro, being himself, felt the need to know what would happen if Megumi's dish was served first. And the results shook him, that made him indecisive about picking between the two.
"What will happen if it ends up draw, Takumi-senpai?" Hanzo asked.
"They either compromise their terms or nothing at all," Takumi answered. "Either way, whether it's a draw or not, whether it's Kurokiba or Tadokoro-san's victory, the only thing for sure is that the two of them can never go back to their friendship and arrangement before Kurokiba confessed."
"In simpler things, it all depends if Megumi gave him a chance and if Kurokiba persists to pursue her," Yuki concluded. "If they don't, they will be forever be awkward to each other."
Because of Kojiro's suggestion, the four judges tried their dishes again, but on that arrangement. The audience gasped as they saw each of the judges shock expression.
"Did the arrangement matter that much?" Souma frowned.
"So, can you guys tell me to vote now?" Kojiro raised an eyebrow at them. "Tadokoro's dish is only comforting if you ate Kurokiba's dish before consuming it."
"Indeed, but if you eat it first, it becomes aggressive like it'll take fly you away like you got pulled into a tornado," Gin agreed that confused the audience.
"And the one that will hold you to the ground will be Ryou's dish!" Sōe added. "What harmony! It's as if both dishes are made to compliment each other!"
"Not to mention, the level of both aggressiveness and comfort of both dishes are equal," Kojiro concluded. "This one's a draw. You can never tell which one is better or worse."
"What?"
It was a draw.
Whispers began to fill the room, but both Ryou and Megumi were just looking down. Souma, sensing the need to give the two space, he dismissed the crowd and left the two inside. Hinako and Gotoda wanted to object on leaving the two alone, but they got dragged by Fuyumi and Kojiro. A lot of the alumni who came to watch left but all of them demanded Souma about what's going to happen to both of them. Most of them went to Polar Star Dorm as Souma offered to cook dinner for them. Eisuke and Hanzo found themselves being dragged again by their senpais, but they did not mind. They left Yuki and Alice in the Chandra room as they wanted to wait for the two.
"How long do you think the two of them will talk, Alice-cchi?" Yuki asked the Nakiri. "By the way, aren't you jealous? I thought for sure you'll be with Kurokiba."
Alice frowned and responded, "It's Ryou-kun's fault for not hiding our relationship to public for you to think that way. Ryou-kun is my adopted brother! We weren't gonna date, we are siblings!"
"What?!"
"He didn't want to use our surname because it attracts too much attention, but he's on our family registry!" Alice explained with a pout. "He's just acting as my aide because I wanted one and I usually boss him around, but he's letting me do that. He's also free to what he wants, some of those don't involve me."
"So, what do you think about them?" Yuki asked genuinely.
"If Megumi-chan can make him happy, why not?" the lady responded with a shrug. "Besides, I got to get Megumi-chan as a sister-in-law! That'll be awesome!"
Takumi's POV
It was like hypnosis. I was lying on a hammock in front of a barnhouse. In front of me was hectares of beautiful vegetable garden and green fields where cows are roaming free. It was peaceful, but it felt so empty. I stood up as I saw a woman in a distant, waving at me. When I ran towards her, she also ran away from me.
"Wai-!"
"Niichan! Onii-chan!"
"Totsuki Elite Ten Seventh Seat, Takumi Aldini-san!"
I was awakened from my thoughts and saw Isami, Ibusaki, Mito-san, Eisuke, and Shiratsu-senpai looking at me in worry. We just finished holding the transferee admission exam earlier, and so we came here at my office for lunch since I asked Isami to bring us lunch. Shiratsu-senpai and Eisuke are also here because we're suppose to have a meeting about the opening of our RS building next Monday.
"Are you okay?" Shiratsu-senpai asked me. "You seem to be out of it. We've been calling your name for three minutes now. Are you not feeling well? Should we postpone our business for now?"
"Did something happen during the admission exam?" Isami asked that made Mito-san smirked.
"Your brother was bewitched, that's what happened," I glared at her response but even Ibusaki hold back a smile. "Well, you aren't the only one. That was one impressive pizza."
"Pizza?" Eisuke asked.
"Well, I guess telling you guys wouldn't hurt," I started explaining. "Among the sixty applicants for the transferee admission exam, only two of them passed. That means, including Bryle, there will be three transfer students in your batch."
"You guys took it too far, didn't you?" Isami asked the three of us who conducted the exams. "I knew Nakiri-san we can't approve of them all, but isn't two a little too much? It's not even five percent."
The three of us just shrugged but Mito-san continued the story.
"Well, only nine of them managed to pass to the second phase where they got to cook us a meal," Mito-san explained. "As for the mechanics, they got to draw their main ingredient, and another draw to find out what should be the type of cuisine they will be serving us. One of them draw beef and Eastern Asian cuisine, so we were served a beef pizza, Korean style. It was probably the best pizza I had in a while, and it goes really well with the fizzy drink she served us the pizza with. And that girl, she's cute, right, Aldini?"
I glared at her because of the last question. She was indeed, but they didn't need to know that! She had the silkiest dark red hair I knew and her sharp golden eyes looks so beaut- what the fuck, Takumi Aldini!
"Oh, Niichan, did you finally find a potential girlfriend?"
"I didn't know you like your juniors, Takumi."
"She'll be in my class, right? What's her name? I'll befriend her and then I'll your bridge."
I can only glared at their teasing. I just dismissed Ibusaki and Mito-san for today after giving them invitations for the event next Monday. Shiratsu-senpai was the one in charge for most part since I've been busy. After finalizing the event proper and everything, they left my office around four in the afternoon. The Elite Ten have a meeting at six because of the transferee admissions. Ibusaki and Mito-san already affixed their signatures as proof of their approval for the two, along with mine as the Head Facilitator.
My thoughts went back to the pizza I had earlier. It was great, but something about it felt so wrong. I could taste the intentions of the chef to please the consumer, I also saw her impressive knife work, and how completely focused she was on what's she's doing. But after the peace and soothing effect of first bite, everything seems to disappear. It was as if it was never there.
It was the first time I ate something that tasted as if it's only an illusion. Her name was Akagi Rie. She looked polite and shy, but I could feel the emptiness in her aura. She looked beautiful, but she also looked as if she didn't want to be here.
I got the applications and left my office to go to the meeting room. It was just five, but I already finished all of my works today that I don't have anything to do left.
I wanted to see her again.
As expected, I was the first one to show up in the meeting room. The meeting room has a big round table with ten seats. The only thing that is in here is a side cabinet where refreshments can be found. I just went to my seat and put the envelop in the table. I was just playing on my phone to let the time passed by when I heard the door opened, and it revealed Nakiri Alice and Hayama.
"Good afternoon, Takumi-kun!" she greeted me. "You did a good job today!"
"I heard you only passed two," Hayama smirked at me as he took a seat directly in front of me. "How merciless of you, Aldini."
"Well, at least someone passed?" I tried to reason out. "Also, where's Kurokiba?"
I saw Alice rolled her eyes as she responded as she took the seat on Hayama's right side, "He's hanging around Megumi-chan, of course. It's been two days since they both decided to compromise, get used to it already!"
Oh, right. After their match ended up in a draw two days, they decided to compromise. Tadokoro-san made him choose between his terms, whether the mandatory date every week or having her food for breakfast everyday. He chose the latter, and in return, Kurokiba is also cooking her lunch everyday. Because of such, they are growing closer everyday. They are not an official couple yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. To be honest, I've never seen the guy so soft until now. But of course, Yukihira and I are still getting a lot of texts from Inui-senpai and Gotoda-senpai to protect Tadokoro-san from the Mad Dog.
"I'm surprise you're okay with that," Hayama told Alice. "He's been beside you for as long as I can remember."
"He will always be beside me," Alice replied with a shrug. "We're siblings, we ain't gonna get rid of each other. Besides, if it all works well, I got Megumi-chan as a sister!"
"They are not even an official couple yet, and you're already thinking about having Tadokoro-san as your sister-in-law?" I sweat dropped at her.
"Oh, you guys are early!" our chat was interrupted when Kuga-senpai and Eizan-senpai entered. "By the way, Takumi-chin, I heard you took things too far earlier. You only passed two?"
Alice greeted them as they took their seats. Kuga-senpai took the seat on Hayama's left, and Eizan-senpai also took the seat beside his classmate.
"Am I gonna get attacked by all of you for today's meeting just because I only passed two?" I frowned at them and they laughed.
"Yup," Alice giggled. "I'm betting even Yukihira-kun and Ryou-kun would comment on it when they enter."
True to her words, even Isshiki-senpai and Kinokuni-senpai questioned the fact that only two passed the transferee admission test out of the sixty applicants when they arrived in the room. I can only groan in annoyance as they all teased me for being merciless. Yukihira was the last one to arrive with a Kurokiba who's obviously in a bad mood and a blushing Tadokoro-san. I'm willing to bet Yukihira interrupted them on something, but I'm better off not knowing what. But of course, both them still managed to tease me for not giving the applicants mercy.
"Can't you guys just affix your signatures on their application so I can submit them to Arato-san already?" I asked them in frustration as I pushed away the envelop away from me to the center of the table.
Isshiki-senpai was the first one to reach out for it as he was sitting on my right. On the other side of him was Kinokuni-senpai, Eizan-senpai, Kuga-senpai, Hayama, Alice, Kurokiba, Tadokoro-san, Yukihira and then back to me. Alice used to seat on Tadokoro-san's left side, but she switched seats with Kurokiba to be considerate for the two. We all had our attention to Isshiki-senpai as he opened the envelop and took the papers out.
"Wai- Midorino Hodzuki?!" he suddenly exclaimed as he read the papers. "Kinokuni-kun, it's Zuki-chan!"
"Eh?" Kinokuni-senpai was puzzled as she took the paper from him and read the contents. "Oh, you're right. It's Zuki."
"You know one of them, Senpai?" I asked them.
"Ah, Zuki-chan is my younger cousin," Isshiki-senpai responded with a smile that surprised us. "Her mother is an Isshiki. She used to visit me when I was training at Kinokuni-kun's, and they became close."
Your cousin who visited you when you were training at Kinokuni-senpai managed to be friends with her, and you didn't?
"I thought she have no plans in coming in here," Kinokuni-senpai stated. "I just called her last week to ask where she's planning to attend for high school, and she told me that she plans to attend the school nearest to her. When was the last time you saw her, Isshiki?"
"Ah, last week, when I visited the main house," he responded to her. "I'll call her later to ask where she is. She's probably around the area now. Anyway, how did she pass, Takumi-kun?"
"Ah, well, she passed the first phase from Ibusaki's group. For the last phase, we had the applicants drew a main ingredient and a type of cuisine they'll be cooking," I started explaining. "Midorino-san served us a vegetarian Thai meal with carrots as main ingredient. It was really good and intimidating. Her cooking felt like a combination of Tadokoro-san's handling of vegetables and Tsukasa-senpai's expertise in maximizing the attributes of the ingredients."
"Well, she is an Entremetier," Kinokuni-senpai stated. "I guess it was lucky for her to draw carrots. She's not really good at handling other ingredients, especially meats."
"Just by that, I can already say that she's a great addition to the school," Alice commented. "It's not common for us to encounter someone who can handle vegetables that is a combination of how Tsukasa-senpai and Megumi-chan do it. She made the right decision to enroll here to widen her knowledge about other ingredients. I look forward to more of her."
"And how about the other applicant?" Tadokoro-san asked me. "What did she do?"
"Ah, she easily passed the first phase of the exam as she even got the highest score," I responded nonchalantly. "At the second phase, she drew beef and Korean cuisine. She served us beef bulgogi pizza and fizzy drink. According to Mito-san, it's the best pizza she had in a while. The whole meal is harmonious. It was quite an experience, especially to me since I am not that familiar with Korean cuisine."
"Pizza, huh?" Hayama raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. "Another interesting transferee, I see."
I looked at him, confused and asked, "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"I get what he's saying, Aldini," Kurokiba told me. "No one here has earn your approval in regards with our pizza recipes, but this applicant did?"
I froze on what he pointed out. It's true that when it comes to making pizza, I am currently number one in the school. I have never acknowledge their pizza creations, but here I am admitting that I passed someone because of their pizza.
"It's not everyday that someone can impress you with pizza," Isshiki-senpai added to their comments. "Including Bryle, that's three interesting transferees for our freshmen. As Alice-kun said, I'm excited to see more from them."
They asked a lot on what I did this morning as they passed the papers around the table so they could sign. When the papers reached Yukihira, he suddenly got up shocked as he read the paper in disbelief.
"S-soma-kun?" Tadokoro-san asked him as he got all of our attention. "Is there something wrong?"
"Akagi Rie," I froze in my seat as I could feel familiarity on his voice when he read that name. "What's she doing here?"
"Y-you know her?" I asked him with wide eyes.
"She's my cousin."
Say what, now?
No One's POV
A lady was on her hotel room reading a book about the basics of French Cuisine. She closed the book and leaned back as she recalled what happened to her these past months. She was almost there, but the next thing she knew, she was on a flight back to Japan, her birth country. She arrived three days ago, and it was her aunt's husband who fetched her in the airport. She's been living in this hotel since then until she can find a place to stay near the school she applied for.
Akagi Rie never saw herself enrolling in a culinary school. It was never her plan to enter the food industry since her passion was on something else. But she was a pretty decent cook, considering her both her parents have a history of being involved in restaurants. Her maternal grandfather owns the best diner around the Sumire Shopping District, while her father's family owns a chain of fast-casual dining restaurant called Tiger's Den, which are found in various countries across Asia and Oceana. Because of that, she is familiar with the professional kitchen. But even if she grew up in the kitchen, the girl never had passion for holding a knife.
The transferee admission exam that she participated earlier this day was memorable. She did hear from her father and uncle that it's best culinary school in Japan, but she didn't expect such merciless examiner. She still feel the shivers that that gave off as he entered the room, with two other examiners.
"Elite Ten Council, Seventh Seat, Takumi Aldini," she recalled his name. "He was handsome, but what the hell, it's as if he didn't want anyone to pass."
The sixty participants were called in a hall where they met him, along with two other junior students Ibusaki Shun and Mito Ikumi. They were divided into three after the introduction, and she was assigned in the group that Aldini took in charge of. For the first phase of the exam, they were told in the beginning that only a maximum of five of them will be moving on. It was a taste test, that some of her fellow participants seems to think will be easy. But boy, were they wrong. They were only given three minutes to taste and list down the ingredients present in the dish, but most of them couldn't even hold a pen to start writing after one sip of the Italian soup the examiner served them.
Rie never tasted something so heavenly on her life. It was too delicious that most of them just continued eating instead of getting the task done. It was hard for her to snap out the desire that she had to consume all of it and start writing. Out of the twenty participants including her in her group, only four people managed to write down ingredients as the three minutes went by too fast for those who just ate. Out of the four participants who actually manage to write something, two of them wrote wrong ingredients and that means they are out. Out of the sixty applicants, only nine managed to pass the first phase: two from Takumi Aldini's group, three from Ibusaki Shun's group, and four from Mito Ikumi's.
For the next phase of the exam, they were taken to a cooking classroom where each of the had their own workstation. There were two ballot boxes in front, one to draw your main ingredient, and the other was one for what type of cuisine you'll use the ingredient for. It was luck on her side when she drew beef and Korean cuisine. But if there was something weird earlier, it's that the Seventh Seat was staring at her, as if there was something about her. Rie was praised by the three for her dish, but she took a notice that Takumi's eyes were looking at her with a lot of questions earlier.
"What did he want to ask?" she shook her head and went to get ready.
The girl is supposed to go to the branch of Tiger's Den two streets away and help out for the night. It was something her father requested her to do when she came back here, but only until the school year at Totsuki starts. It's the third night, and she didn't mind at all. She was used to it, since whenever she was free, she would also help out in the branch of their restaurant in Gangnam. Rie left her hotel room around five in the afternoon and walked to the restaurant with her purse, containing only her wallet and her phone that she bought when she arrived in the country. It was a habit she got in Korea since walking is also a form of exercise.
Tiger's Den is a restaurant that opens at six in the morning and closes at nine in the evening. They serve a variety of Eastern Asian cuisine, which is why Rie's knowledgeable in such field. She starts helping out at six in the evening until they close up. Since it's the only kitchen she was exposed to, Rie only knows the basics of other cuisines. She knows that if she starts on this track, she need to have firmer foundations such as more than the basics of Western Cuisines. That's why she started reading books.
It was already quarter to nine in the evening when she got out of work, and then opened her phone as walked back to her hotel. She frowned as she saw a lot of missed calls and texts from an unknown number. She was about to read some of them when the number called again. She hesitated but she answered it anyway. But before she can even say anything, she heard a familiar voice from the other side.
"Rie! Thank God, I finally got a hold of you!" it was her older cousin, Yukihira Souma. "I've been trying to call you since I got your number from grandpa. Where have you been or what have you been doing?! You didn't even me tell you're back! Where are you right now? I'll come and get you."
"It was supposed to be a surprise," the girl giggled. "How did you know I was back? I told Joichiro-ojisan not to tell you."
"Your transfer application," she was surprise by his response. "Let's talk more when we meet, where are you?"
"I'm on my hotel," the girl replied and told him the name and address of where she was staying. "We don't have a house in Tokyo so I guess I'm stuck here for a while."
"Pack your things and check out," Souma instructed. "I'll pick you up in thirty minutes."
"Wai-!" before she could even react, Souma dropped the call.
Without any choice, she started packing her things and waited for her cousin. He arrived less than half an hour, and she was surprise to see him with the examiner from earlier.
Rie's POV
How did it came to this? It's so embarrassing! Of course, Souma-nii would know about my application, he's the current First Seat! Why did Joichiro-ojisan leave out that part when he told me that Souma-nii is also in Tōtsuki? I wanted to surprise him by showing up to school and meeting him, but I was more surprised! Souma-nii has the highest seat of the highest decision making body of the school! What more is that Souma-nii actually asked someone to come with him to help him carry my luggage, and I almost peed my pants when I saw the examiner from earlier. To think the Seventh Seat of the Elite Ten is here just to help my cousin carry my things is embarrassing!
"Rie, do you think you can cook one more time?" I was awakened from my thoughts when I heard my cousin's question. "You're in for another admission exam today."
"What?"
Before I knew it, we were leaving the grocery to go to wherever he is taking me. It turns out that their dorm warden only allow students who can pass to her standards to stay at that place for free. Because of it, after leaving the hotel, they took me to the grocery store to buy ingredients for whatever dish I will be cooking.
When the car came to stop, I got out to see an old western-style mansion. The sign was read as Polar Star Dormitory. I was nervous walking behind Souma-nii and Aldini-senpai as they enter the building.
"Ah, Souma-kun, Takumi-kun, welcome back," I turned to the one who called him and saw a lady with blue hair in braids and gold eyes. "You must be Akagi Rie-san. I'm Tadokoro Megumi, your cousin's classmate/dormmate. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, Tadokoro-senpai," I shyly bowed at her.
"Where are the others? I thought they'll be around to meet Yukihira's cousin," Aldini-senpai asked the girl.
"Oh, they are in the dining hall. Chef Dojima sent us burgers for dinner because it's apparently the birthday of Bryle's mother," she explained. "I only went back to put my phone back to my room to charge it and then I saw you guys arrive. Let's go to the kitchen, Fumio-san is waiting."
Meeting the dorm mother made my heart pound. What if I fail? Will Souma-nii need to take me back to my hotel? Won't that waste Souma-nii and Aldini-senpai's effort in carrying my luggage? Will they withdraw the approval of my transfer application?
"Calm down, Rie," I felt a hand on my shoulder as I heard Souma-nii's voice. "Even if you fail tonight, you can still sleepover as my guest and try again tomorrow. Don't pressure yourself too much, you tend to get clumsy when that happens."
"O-okay," I took a deep breath. "I got this."
Before I knew it, I was being welcomed by the others. My room is at 275, and they even have a late party for me. It turns out that my cousin is friends with all the examiners earlier, and when the Elite Ten had a meeting, that's when he found out I'm one of the two applicants the Seventh Seat passed. I also met other freshmen: Hanashoubu Eisuke, Katasaki Hanzo, and a dormmate of us named Bryle Dojima.
According to them, three members of the Elite Ten currently resides in this dorm: Souma-nii, Tadokoro-senpai who turned out to be the Tenth Seat, and Isshiki-senpai, the Second Seat. However, it won't be weird to see all of them hanging out here, considering I also met the current Fourth Seat, Kurokiba-senpai, and Sixth Seat, Nakiri Alice-senpai.
"I also managed to convince Zuki to take a shot of the admission for her to move in tomorrow," Isshiki-senpai told us. "Ah, freshman cuties are moving in, that's youth!"
"Why is he naked except for an apron?" I asked but Bryle, who was near me just shook his head.
"He's an exhibitionist," he bluntly answered me. "I got used to it, you will, too. He's a weird senpai, but don't worry, he cares about this dorm and the tenants more than anyone."
"I want to move in, too," Hanashoubu commented and then turned to his friend. "Hanzo, should we take the admission exam, too? This dorm is much more fun than in the apartments."
"You two live together?" I asked them and they nodded.
"Our dads got us a unit in a condominium nearby," Katasaki explained. "We actually live in the same building with the Aldini-senpais. But seriously, Ei-chan, moving around is so troublesome."
"You're so lazy," Hanashoubu frowned at him.
"Eisuke, Hanzo!" our chat was interrupted when Isami-senpai called for them. "Our ride is here. Are you both coming or are you going to pass?"
"Speaking of, we'll see you guys around! Takumi-senpai always bring us around, anyway. Good night," Katasaki bid goodbye. "It's nice to meet you, Akagi!"
The four of them left the dormitory after bidding good night to us. Since I was also tired, I excused myself to rest. It's been quite a day. The good thing about this dorm is that we all have our own rooms. Unlike where I used to live, I tend to share my room with at least two more girls.
Surrendering to my exhaustion, I fell asleep rather fast. I don't know if I will last here since I am aware of the fierce competition that takes place in this school, but I do feel safe here in this kind of environment.
I'll last. I'll have to.
