The next morning there was a car to bring Megumi and Ryo to the markets. It was an awkward ride because even after they finished their prep and rejoined their friends, a cloud hung over them that no one dared breach. If the Polar Star dorm members didn't know better, Megumi seemed angry with Ryo!

Alice was frustrated. She was certain that her plan had been working, but then the air between Ryo and Megumi went frigid! Ryo wouldn't even look at Alice on the way home. And for the first time that Alice knew of, Megumi was resolutely mute and standoffish. She wanted to ask her aid what he did to upset the bluenette, but there was no approach that felt right. As much as she hated it, Alice was at a loss, and she'd have to just wait and see how things played out.

Once Megumi and Ryo returned and stored the last of their ingredients, the morning lessons began. Despite everyone being acutely aware of the tension simmering between the two port town chefs, Erina took command of the group and pushed on with her topic. She was as curious as the rest about the shift in Megumi's attitude, but they couldn't afford to dwell on personal matters.

"Psst! Hey!" Yuki leaned back in her seat and tried to get Alice's attention. When Alice looked over Yuki gestured towards Ryo and Megumi trying to ask what was happening. Alice could only shrug and shake her head. Erina cleared her throat and shot her cousin a look. They all needed to focus. Yuki pouted but turned back to Erina's lesson plan.

By 10:30 Erina wrapped up her lecture and let everyone break into groups to review while she walked around answering individual questions. At this point it was also time for Megumi and Ryo to head to the kitchen and conclude their battle. Ryo put on a show of looking as nonchalant as possible as he passed Megumi who bristled at his proximity. Megumi had a couple questions for Erina before following Ryo. The tension followed her out of the room, and everyone exhaled as the door closed behind her. No one knew what to expect when their cooking time was up, and it left everyone on edge.

Megumi paused at the threshold as the door closed behind her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking up to see her opponent leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. She grit her teeth and stalked to her own station to begin pulling out her tools and ingredients. Chancing a glance towards Ryo, Megumi clenched her fists to find him unmoved from his position against the counter. Just watching her. The jerk hadn't even started! Megumi looked away to keep herself from crying. She'd done enough of that the night before.

After she realized that Ryo hadn't been taking their battle seriously, Megumi had excused herself from her friends as soon as possible and retreated to her room where she fell onto her bed and cried her frustrations into her pillow. He wasn't the first chef to not take her seriously but being dismissed by Ryo hurt more than being dismissed by her other classmates. Gradually, her pain morphed into rage, and she gasped out the last of her tears as she decided that she would show him. If Ryo thought that she needed pity, she would make sure he regretted it!

And now, not only was he not taking her seriously; he wasn't even trying! Did he plan on humiliating her by beating her with a fraction of the time she needed?! Megumi's mind was trying to focus on the task at hand, but her thoughts kept turning to the fact that Ryo clearly didn't think very highly of her.

"Hmph" Megumi glared at Ryo for breaking the silence, "I still don't know what crawled up your butt yesterday, but at least this beats your scared little girl routine."

Megumi scoffed and was about to tear into him, when Ryo dropped his arms and pulled his signature red bandana from his wrist. Once it was secured around his head, Ryo fixed his gaze on Megumi with his most vicious predatory smile. This was the look that most of his competitors saw in their nightmares, and yet as Megumi's eyes went wide taking in the sight before her, she had to bite her lip to suppress the smile that wanted to burst across her face. Her heart shot into her throat and she didn't think she'd ever felt happier in her life! The anger that she'd armored herself with evaporated on the spot and she felt like she was walking on air!

Megumi cleared her throat to try to regain her focus, "It's nice of you to join the fight." Despite trying to maintain her coldness from earlier, her joy was obvious. Ryo was surprised by her reaction, but he found that he greatly preferred it over her being afraid of him.

"Just make sure you give me your best shot, Megumi Tadokoro." A shiver shot up Megumi's spine as her name rolled off Ryo's tongue. She happily turned back to her preparations with a light blush staining her cheeks. Her intention was still to crush Ryo with her cooking, but the warmth had returned to her efforts. More than just showing him her skill, Megumi wanted her cooking to make Ryo happy.

As Megumi pulled her breads from the oven to cool, she chanced a look at Ryo. He was in full battle mode, and she couldn't deny that he looked spectacular! Having shed his jacket and over shirt at the start of their battle, Megumi realized just how muscular he was. In the past, she'd always been too nervous about her own performance or focused on the details of his battles to just look at Ryo. When she did finally take in the way his sleeveless shirt clung to his torso, showing off a toned back, what she was sure were six pack abs, and the way his biceps stretched and recoiled with his movements she thought that he could definitely be cast as the hero of a romance novel. Whimpering to herself, Megumi realized that this would probably lead to more "un-lady like" dreams. She'd never really thought about what type of guy she preferred, and she certainly never imagined being with someone so sculpted, but it was undeniable that Ryo stirred something in her. Shaking her head Megumi scolded herself, she'd been angry with him less than an hour ago! How could she stand here ogling him in the middle of a battle?! Though the blush refused to leave Megumi's cheeks, she put her head down to focus back on her work.

Meanwhile, Ryo was eager to see what Megumi would come up with. He still didn't know what had upset her before, but he was going full force with his own cooking while staying acutely aware of Megumi's movements. She seemed to have a lot of components and he was anxious to see how they would come together. For the millionth time he wondered why he'd asked her to cook with him in mind, but there was no point in dwelling on that now. Checking his stock, Ryo lowered the temperature and turned his attention to his hard-boiled eggs and separated the yolks from the whites. As he whipped his ingredients together, he kept remembering the way Megumi's face lit up when he tied on his bandana. It certainly wasn't the reaction he was used to, but it had felt nice. Plus, the way she bit her lip was so tempting! The plating and judgment of their dishes couldn't arrive soon enough.

At the stroke of twelve the rebel study group gathered just outside the door to the Polar Star kitchen. After that morning's scene, no one knew what to expect and everyone was reluctant to find out.

Alice was the first to break from the anticipation and charged through the door. She was eager to see what was left of the two chefs and could only hope there would be something of their budding relationship to salvage. She was brought up short by the scene waiting for her. Ryo was pointedly looking away from everyone, but she could see a faint blush on his cheeks. Megumi was fussing over her plating and jumped as Alice burst into the room, but she was clearly back to her usual happy self, in fact she was practically giddy! Clearly, they had resolved their earlier animosity. Looking to their dishes, Alice was surprised that Ryo's offering seemed simple by his standards, though she was certain there was more to the bubbling crocks and plate of deviled eggs than she could see. Turning to Megumi's spread, Alice's eyes went wide, and she squealed…

"Smørrebrød!" Alice rushed forward to get a closer look at Megumi's table. "Are you trying to bribe your judge with this?" Megumi became flustered as she protested Alice's attention.

"You're not a judge, Alice." Erina corrected, "We determine a winner by a group consensus."

"A smoogash-what?!" Yuki peered around Alice to see what was so exciting to her. The rest of the rebels filled the kitchen and began looking over Megumi and Ryo's plates.

"Well. I should lead the tasting." Erina flipped her hair and approached Ryo's lunch first. It looked like a normal cup of French onion soup and deviled egg, but Erina knew to expect more. She picked up a spoon and broke the barrier of cheese and crouton to scoop up and taste Ryo's dish. As the spoonful touched her tongue, Erina was overwhelmed with wave after wave of umami. In addition to the expected layers of different cheeses and tender onions, there was a meaty texture and savouriness that shocked Erina. Ryo grinned and suggested that she follow up the soup with a deviled egg. As she bit into the egg there was an unexpected crunchiness which was very satisfying after the softer textures in the soup!

Erina retained her composure, but there was no doubt that Ryo's dish had been phenomenal. Erina ruminated over the flavours for a moment before dissecting his dish.

"You opted to promote a soup course to entrée by adding mushrooms. This turned a rich and warming appetizer into a meal. French onion soup is usually based on a beef stock, but in this instance, you opted to use a little bit of miso with rehydrated mushrooms to underscore your onions which had been sauteed with herbs and cognac. These mushrooms boost the umami and give the diner the idea that they're eating meat. Furthermore, you addressed the question of texture, which is usually lacking in a soup course, by folding panko and parmesan into the filling of the deviled eggs. And speaking of texture, in addition to the usual swiss and gruyere cheese, you added mozzarella to the topping to give it more elasticity."

Ryo nodded in acknowledgment of Erina's critique. Next up was Megumi's table.

Erina raised an eyebrow as she looked Megumi's spread over. It was certainly a departure from her usual style! The components of Megumi's smørrebrød were arranged on platters and in small bowls to be combined by the diner, but there was also a large plate with a selection of combinations already put together. Looking over the table Erina took stock of all the work Megumi had put into this lunch. There were two types of fresh bread, a light rye and a dark multi-grain; herring fillets had been prepared two ways, smoked and pickled; for the theme ingredient there was an herb infused soft cheese, a gouda, and an aromatic hard cheese; additionally, there were several toppings to choose from such as pickled egg slices, thinly sliced cured ham, shaved fennel, microgreens, pickled onions, jam, and mustard.

"Considering the variety of options you've presented, we will be judging you based on what you chose to pair." Erina decreed and made her selection from the platter of prepared bread. The slice she chose was a dark multigrain bread topped with jam, a slice of gouda, and smoked herring. Biting into the morsel unleashed layers of flavour! Earthy bread, tangy jam, creamy cheese, and rich, smoky fish intermingled on the God Tongue to create an impression of cozy warmth and brightness at the same time. Erina let out a squeak of surprise before reaching for another combination. This time a blend of rye with soft, herbed cheese, pickled herring, and fresh shaved fennel graced her taste buds leaving her with visions of a fish port in spring. Bright and salty with a peppery quality that rouses the appetite.

Clearing her throat, Erina instructed the rest of the rebels to sample both offerings so they could reach a decision. After a full morning of lessons, it didn't take much prompting to unleash everyone on Ryo and Megumi's cooking.

"Oh, wow! I've never had French onion soup like this! Did you really not use any beef stock?!" Ikumi asked incredulously.

"Hey, is this the cheese we started making the other week?"

"The umami from the parmesan in these eggs are amazing!"

"I think there's something else in this gouda, boosting the flavour…"

Both Ryo and Megumi had plenty to be proud of in their dishes. They answered as many questions as they could, but the entire time, they mainly wished to taste the other's dish.

Once their classmates had had a chance to taste everything, the competitors were given the chance to try each other's food.

Megumi blew on the spoonful of molten cheese and savoury soup before slipping the mouthful between her lips. She was unprepared for the layers of flavours coursing over her tongue and down her throat, but the experience was pure euphoria! Her eyes glazed over as she enjoyed the moment before turning her attention to the deviled egg that Ryo had paired with his soup. The subtle crunch was disorienting while the parmesan provided an umami that Megumi couldn't escape! But the nail in her figurative coffin were the re-hydrated mushrooms intermingling with sweet and tender onions. Megumi had never tasted anything like it, but it all felt familiar! By using her typical ingredients, it was like Ryo had created a version of the classic western dish just for her.

At Megumi's table, Ryo scanned the selection and chose a piece of dark multi-grain with the herbed soft cheese, thinly sliced ham, capers, and microgreens. The flavours took him straight back to his childhood. He was reminded of the anxiety he felt as a kid, wondering if he had a future. Yet, as the components spread across his tongue and merged to create something delicious, he also felt grounded, and remembered why he wanted to be a cook in the first place. Stealing a look at Megumi, Ryo wondered how she could possibly have come up with something that spoke to him so personally!

Ryo paused after finishing a couple of Megumi's smørrebrød offerings. He let his bangs fall over his eyes while he reflected on what Megumi had accomplished in under 24 hours. He knew how precise some of these ingredients could be, but everything tasted perfect! Ryo'd made up his mind.

"Megumi won this battle."