Chapter 2: The God Tongue

In some other part of Totsuki Academy, Erina Nakiri, the girl with the 'God Tongue' and the granddaughter of the director of the academy, taste test some sort of soup. The soup is somewhat transparent and white with some green garnish in a black bowl that is on a red tray with some red chopsticks in front of the soup.

"And this is the last item." says a male student.

"Hmm." Erika gives a subtle sound before tasting it. She takes the bowl with both hands and taste the broth.

In Erika's mind, she is at some sort of hot springs resort out fresco and enjoys the hot water with a towel on her head. She seems to enjoying herself...until she noticed a silverback gorilla is there with her. They stare at each other for a few moments before Erika stands up and freaks out.

Back in reality, she slams the bowl with all of its contents on the head of the person that made it and shouts, "DISGUSTING!"

The poor student falls onto his back while in pain from the hot temperature of the soup. Around them, in some Japanese-style courtyard, there are plenty of male students in their chef outfits that are stained from the soup dunked on them and bowls on their heads.

Erika look at them all with great displeasure and her arms crossed, "Now seriously? I can't believe that you all made it this far by putting out such nauseating slop." She speaks in a harsh and snooty tone, "Especially that oyster porridge. Uck. It was...like taking a bath with a sweaty western lowland gorilla!"

"Uh?" the failed chefs went. They don't get what she is describing.

"That's uh...obscure." one of the students say silently.

"Her sense of taste is quite different from ordinary people." another one commented silently.

"Start over." Erika orders, "It looks like you took a shortcut or two with the mise en place." (Mise en place is French for "putting in place" which she refers to the organization of the ingredients a cook will need for the menu items to be prepared.)

The look at the fallen student's face looks like he did do some shortcuts.

"Listen: I know your group is tying to expand it's business, so you are looking to make things more efficient and everything." She gives them all a cold, intimidating stare. "But even so, it does you no good to violate and pollute a person's tongue like this!"

All the failed chefs bow to her and apologize in unison, "WE ARE SO VERY SORRY, MISS ERINA!"

Outside of Totsuki's Academy's main gate, Saiba is standing outside and is in shock with his jaw dropped with the inside of his head screaming, 'WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!? I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!' Saiba slaps himself to snap out of it. 'Right. Made it this far. No use backing out now.' Saiba walks forward with a determine look on his face and press on.

As he heads in, he notices that he sticks out like a sore thumb. 'This place is like a meeting place for nobles or something. These guys have bodyguards and personal attendants. I know dad told me that it is the most prestige school in this country, but damn.'

On the airplane, Joichiro is in his seat as the plane takes off. He smirks, 'The thought of my boy graduating from that school is comical. But I'm sure he'll be fine.' But then his smirk disappears, 'Yet maybe I should've told him that the secret to good cooking is finding the right woman. A woman that would make him into a better man. Better at cooking. Better at everything.' He smiles again, 'But I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner or later. He's a bright kid and very creative. Plus with his looks, he might end-up with a girlfriend in a week or less.'

Over at a Japanese-style building, Erina Nakiri is walking with her secretary and dear friend, Hisako Arato. She stops as she says, "Well, what do I have next?"

Hisako hands Erina a clipboard and bows respectfully, "This, ma'am."

Erina turns around to take the clipboard. She reads it, "Judging the transfer exams?" She gives a bored and silent sigh as she gives back the clipboard. "I didn't know joining the council would mean doing this kind of menial labor. I guess I'll head over there after I get changed."

Somewhere else, Saiba is taken in by all the sights until he bumped into a bench. "OW!"

On the bench seems to be some rich boy in blue sweeter with a buttoned shirt underneath with a red bowtie and grey slacks enjoying tea. He sees Saiba hopping up and down on one foot as Saiba rubs his left leg.

"Ow-ow-ow!"

"Are you okay?" the boy asks with a smile and his eyes closed.

"Sorry. I got distracted."

"Not to worry. You're trying to transfer here as well are you? Please have a seat."

Saiba sits on the bench, "Thank you." He rubs the pain on his left leg until it feels better.

The boy next to Saiba says, "Totsuki's middle school division is announcing their advancement exam results today. Plus, students from other middle schools like us are here for the transfer exam. I'm Yoshiaki Nikaido. My family runs a prominent French restaurant."

"Wow. That's a bit of a coincidence." Saiba is impressed, "My family runs a restaurant too. But share it with a business partner."

"Yeah, well, it may not be a coincidence." Yoshiaki then turn his attention towards the transfer students with Saiba looking in the same direction. "That boy over there, he's the heir to a nationwide restaurant chain. The other is the son of a major wholesaler that distributes fish throughout Kanto. Most everyone here works in food. All on the path to become restaurateurs."

"Oh." Saiba looks around.

Yoshiaki looks at Saiba, "What about you? What's the name of your restaurant?"

Saiba looks back at Yoshiaki, "Oh, mine? It's called, Yuki-Neko."

"Yuki-Neko? Gourmet I presume?"

"It's a small restaurant back in the Special Region."

Yoshiaki opens his eyes wide open when he heard that, "Wait, you're from the Special Region?!" He is shocked to hear something like that.

Saiba just smiles and nod, "Yeah! Although it may not be fancy, but we do get some very nice guests once a week. Like an imperial princess, a half-elf duchess, a gladiator champion, some well renowned heroes, a fairy queen and her fairies, two royal siblings from a desert kingdom and even dragon gods." What Saiba didn't realize that he is bragging about his restaurant. That is because he is still naive about where he is or still trying to get use to modern society.

Yoshiaki's jaw dropped and spills tea on his lap and too shocked to notice. His right eye twitches after hearing that.

"What's wrong?" Saiba tilted his head a little.

"'What's wrong' you ask?" Yoshiaki looses his composure, "EVERYTHING! YOU GET TO WAIT NOBILITY AND GODS WHILE ALSO HAVING ACCESS TO FOODS THAT DON'T EXIST HERE IN THIS WORLD! I ONLY JUST HEARD ABOUT THE SPECIAL REGION FROM THE NEWS AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU'RE FROM THERE!?"

Saiba is still confuse as he just say, "Yeah. Born and raised."

Some of the other transfer students overheard the conversation.

One say, "That guy is from the Special Region?"

Another say, "That means that guy has access to ingredients that we can't."

Another student say, "I bet the school enrolled him here because of his talents with those dishes."

"Or maybe just to piss us off!" another say with anger and jealousy in his voice.

"Oh and by the way." Saiba says to Yoshiaki, "I heard a student is gonna be the judge for the exam. Is that true?"

"Wait, a student being the judge?" Yoshiaki thinks about it for a few moments until his face shows abstract terror when he realizes who the judge is gonna be for the exam. "You mean...Erina Nakiri!?" he says in horror.

"WHAT?!" the transfer students say in surprise.

They murmur with one of them saying, "The God Tongue is gonna be the judge for our exam?!" in surprise.

Another says in horror, "We don't stand a chance!"

"RUN!" one of the female transfer students screamed.

So all the transfer students, including Yoshiaki, runaway in terror along with their bodyguards and servants. Because they know that if Erina Nakiri says your food is no good, it will be known throughout the culinary world. Although Saiba doesn't know that.

"Another Nakiri?" Saiba says his thoughts out loud. Then he remembers how terrifying Akami was and shivers. "Just hope she isn't as terrifying as that other one." But he shakes it off and stays focus. 'No! I'm not backing out! I must move forward! No matter what!'

He steps inside the building and is in a great hall the place looks fancy that even impress him. Saiba looks at the room with a naive and amazed look on his face. If his tail is out right now, it would be wagging with amazement...that is until he comes across Erina Nakiri with Hisako Arato in their school uniforms.

Saiba stops and says in a formal and polite tone, "Hello, nice to meet you." He gives a respectful Japanese bow, "My name is Saiba Yukihira." he then straighten his back, "So it is true about a student being a judge for the exam."

"Are you kidding?" Erina says with the look of disapproval. "You're the only one?"

Saiba rubs the back of his head with his right hand, "Afraid so. When I told them about a rumor that a student will be the judge, they ran out screaming for some reason. Somebody called, Erina Nakiri, was it?"

"That is right." Erina then introduces herself (and full of herself), "I am Erina Nakiri, the God Tongue and a member of Totsuki's Council of Ten."

Saiba tilted his head a little in confusion, "Yeah, the 'God Tongue' thing, I don't get it." Then he takes a good look at her and thinks, 'So she's a Nakiri? She doesn't look all that scary like that one guy. I thought she would look like a female grim reaper.'

Erina gets pissed-off, "What? You mean you never heard of me?!"

"No clue." he shrugs, "Sorry, but I'm not exactly from this world." Saiba explains his ignorance.

"What do you mean by that?!" Erina is getting very upset.

Hisako looks at her clipboard and flip a few pages to find Saiba's file. She reads it and is shocked. She shows it to Erina, "I have his file."

Erina looks over and sees Saiba's file. Her eyes widen when she reads where he is from. She looks at him, "You're from the Special Region?!"

Saiba does a few nods.

"That would explain it." Erina calms down a bit. "I'll let it pass for now. But to be honest, I was expecting something less human. You know, like an elf or dwarf or something."

Saiba clears his throat as he goes, "*cough* Right. *cough*" He's hiding the fact that he isn't human and gets a little nervous.

"Although..." Erina takes a good look at Saiba, "Are you sure you're a boy?"

"HEY!" Saiba yells out of embarrassment.

"What-ever." Erina gives the clipboard back to Hisako and orders, "Bring the cooking station here."

"Yes, ma'am." Hisako takes the clipboard and wheel out a cart full of different ingredients ranging from corn, lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, eggs, green pumpkins, onions, cabbage, a wheel of cheese with a slice removed and other such ingredients.

Saiba look at all the ingredients. 'Those ingredients look...normal. This is gonna be a lot easier than I thought.'

Erina smiles as she approaches the cooking station full of ingredients. Among them all, she chose an egg and shows it to Saiba. "You're main ingredient will be eggs. Make me three proper dished. If your plates impress me, you may transfer. Failure will result in you being banned from the academy."

"That's a little harsh." Saiba speaks his mind and is being nervous.

"It's part of Totsuki." Erina gives a prideful smug, "Failures have no place in this school. If you fail, then you can return to whatever backwards peasant house you are from. Yet there is one more thing to add." She looks at Hisako, "Bring it out."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hisako went back to where she got the cooking station and brings out a large egg the size of a football (rugby in England). She hands it to Erina.

Erina takes the egg and shows it, "In one of your dishes, you have to use this!"

"A roc egg." Saiba pointed out what it is. A roc is a giant size bird of prey that can carry large elephants that have Middle-Eastern origins.

"Of course you know what it is."

Saiba places his knife case, that seems a little longer and larger than normal, opens it up to reveal a bunch of shiny kitchen knives of all types. They glisten as if they have been sharpen and polished with such great care to the point that you can see reflections. He wraps his headband on his head, get his apron on and started cooking. First, he examines the eggs to see which ones are good enough through scent, sound, and through the light. He places the good ones in one bowl and those he judges not good in another. Saiba preps everything at a fast speed yet with great precision and care for each of the ingredients such as the eggs being stirred up and something cooking in a large pot where he placed all of his diced up ingredients.

Erina looks at what he is cooking. 'What the hell is he cooking? I can't see the finished product at all.' Erina looks at Saiba, "Saiba Yukihira, what in god's name are you making?"

"An appetizer." he responds as he continues to cook without looking at her or taking his eyes off of what he is cooking. "Now please be quiet." he says in a monotone, emotionless tone, "I'm almost done."

Erina thinks, 'Saiba Yukihira. Just what food card trick do you intend to make?"

"Almost there...and done!" Saiba presented three small bowls of what looks like scrambled eggs in little pieces next to three bowls of rice. "Please enjoy."

Both Erina and Hisako are not impressed.

'Yep.' Erina thought, 'As I thought. He has nothing to offer.'

"Hold on." Saiba says with his right hand raise. "Before you judge, you might wanna take a closer look."

Hisako and Erina give it a closer examination. They both notice something glistening under the scrambled egg bites.

'Something is underneath the egg.' Erina realizes.

Saiba pours the contents of the furikake onto the rice as some fluffy eggs get bounced along with some strange, golden cube gelatin that slowly melts onto the rice and spreads among the rice and eggs.

Erina thinks to herself while witnessing the transformation, 'The heat of the rice is melting it. And as it melts, it coats more and more of the rice.' But then she smells something. 'What is this aroma? Is that chicken?' Erina smells the aroma of the furikake and starts to feel something...strange. 'The delicant scent of slow simmered chicken is gradually building?' She realizes, 'I get it! This is transforming furikake rice! It is completely different than it started.' She gulps a little, 'I got to find out what it taste like.' She says to Saiba in her usual attitude, "I will grant you this: I will go ahead and take a bite. One."

But Hisako says, "But why are there three?"

Saiba explains, "One's for Erina, one's for you..." He point his finger out the door, "And one for the old man that is eavesdropping."

"Old man?" Erina asks.

Then they hear a hearty laugh at the door. "So, you knew I was there the whole time." the voice definitely sounded like an old man. The old man walks in and is Erina's grandfather, Senzaemon Nakiri!

"Grandfather?!" Erina says in surprise. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?!"

He smiles as he stroke his beard, "I'm only checking on your progress in the exam."

Saiba adds the garnish, "It's ready!"

Erina, Hisako and Senzaemon sat down and look at the bowls. Erina takes the first bite of the egg and is already on cloud nine.

She enjoys the taste until she realizes, 'Wait a minute! I forgot to judge the flavor!'

Hisako tries a bite and felt something on her tongue while blushing. As for Senzaemon, he shows his muscular chest and laughs.

"AAAHH!" Saiba freaks out. "Did I do something wrong?!"

Senzaemon smiles, "There is nothing wrong, boy!"

Hisako keeps on eating in a daze with the blissful look on her face. Almost like someone that is hypnotized.

Erina explains, "Whenever my grandfather eats something delicious, he strips."

Saiba thinks with a giant sweat drop, 'Seriously?!'

"This is nikogori, isn't it?" Senzaemon asks.

"That is correct." Saiba says with a smile. "I simmered chicken wings, bonito stock, ginger, onion, sake, mirin, sugar, light soy sauce, salt and broth all in one pot. Breaking the ingredients down and later put them in the fridge to cool until it turned into a gelatin-like substance. Thus, transforming furikake rice."

Erina takes another bite and is experiencing ecstasy. 'Oh god. I can't believe that something this good is made by someone from another world. It...it feels like I'm getting lifted by some buttery wings.'

In Erina's mind, she is in some place with a golden colored sky while flying on wings made of eggs. She flies across the sky with an ocean made of nikogori with the sun being a giant yolk. She flies on down to scoop up some of the nikogiri and drinks it which cause her to be in pure bliss.

'Oh yes. This is delicious. I feel like... I feel like...'

Erina, in reality, started to feel weak in the knees and unable to say anything with her head looking down. Saiba is starting to get nervous on whether or not he made it too good. Hisako snaps out of it and realizes her bowl is empty.

Senzaemon already finishes his. He looks at Erina, "Your judgment? But be honest."

Erina's jaw is a little shaky, "It's...delicious. The best I ever had."

Hisako is surprised to hear that, 'She actually admitted it!? She actually admitted that it was delicious!? Erina, the God Tongue, admitted something like this is good!' She looks at her bowl, 'But then again. It was good.'

Saiba sighed in relief. "Okay. I'll get to work on the next dish."

Saiba gets to work on the next dish as he uses heavy cream, eggs, and a few other ingredients. He mixes the egg whites and flour together before making a cream made of heavy cream, egg yolks, salt and black pepper with an electric hand mixer.

'Is he making a souffle omelette?' Erina wonders what is Saiba making. 'Seems to be a bit weaker than the transforming furikake rice. So what kind of trick is Saiba up to?' Erina seems to be anticipating on what Saiba is cooking. However, she started to remember Joichiro Saiba and the picture she has. '...Joichiro Saiba...'

"Almost done." Saiba says as he waits for the timer and finishes chopping fresh parsley. The timer went off and he flips all three omelettes into the plates. The omelettes are all bouncy and fluffy as they made it on the plates. Then he adds the sauce and parsley. "And done." He presents the dishes to the three. "Order up!"

"Hmm." Senzaemon takes a spoon and taps it a little. The omelette wiggle a little by the slightest movement in the air. Much like jello but more sensitive. "I see. A mini souffle omelette. It vibrates to the slightest motion before being touched."

"This is almost as simple as the furikake rice yet that had more to it." Hisako stated.

Erina stares at it before trying to get in. 'A bit more simple indeed. But it's done perfectly well. If it is almost as perfect as the appetizer, then it should be good...right?'

The three take a spoonful and take a bite.

Erina thinks after tasting, 'The omelette is so fluffy and it melts in your mouth!'

Hisako thinks, 'This omelette taste like magic!' She is on cloud nine again.

In their minds, Erina and Hisako are little kids that are treating the omelette like a trampolining. They enjoy having fun jumping up and down like they don't have a care in the world. Senzaemon joins in on the action and jumps up and down with them.

Then the three slide down the sauce side of the omelette and go, "WEEEEEE!" until they ended up covered in tomato sauce. Despite that, they laugh and smile. Enjoying the time of their lives.

The three snapped out of it and realize that their plates are empty. Not to mention that Senzaemon is topless again.

Erina is surprised that her omelette is already gone. "But when did... How... I didn't realize that..."

Hisako says while looking at the plate, "We were in a daze that we didn't realize we ate it all."

Senzaemon looks down and realizes his muscles are exposed again. "The omelette was delicious that I didn't realize that my chest is exposed."

Saiba starts to get timid with half his face behind a tray and asks, "Was it okay?"

Erina thinks about it for a moment, 'I can't believe I ate the whole thing without realizing it.' Then gives a glance at Saiba, 'Saiba Yukihira, who are you? Who trained you? There is no way a fourteen-year-old would make something like this with no training at all. These dishes are far superior for any amateur from any restaurant.' But she put that in the back of her head for now. "It was good."

Saiba smiles and lowers the tray.

"However."

Saiba smile faded.

"There is one last dish you still need to make." Erina points at the roc egg, "Using that!"

Saiba goes to work immediately, "I'll see what I can do. And I know exactly what to make. I'm gonna make custard pudding as a dessert."

Erina waits in anticipation, 'Custard pudding made from an egg of a mythical creature?' Her mouth starts to drool a little yet wipe it off. She smiles, 'I can't wait.'

'Custard pudding made from a roc egg?' Hisako seems to be just as eager as Erina, 'I wonder what it would taste like.'

"However." Saiba says to everyone to get their attention. "It maybe a little late, but I will make a very special pudding that has some spices in it."

"What?" Erina says in surprise.

After Saiba mixes the ingredients, he added black pepper, cinnamon and cloves to the pudding. "This is Winter Season Custard Pudding. We usually eat these around autumn or winter time and it always kept us warm." Then he makes the caramel that is mixed with red chili peppers.

Sometime later, Saiba finishes.

"And done!" Saiba removes his headband, "I hope you enjoy."

What they see before them are three custard puddings that look like they have little speckles in it with a red caramel sauce on the top along with red chili peppers on top.

AN: For those that don't know, the pudding is from the ending of the first season; Spice. If you watch through the end, you can see it.

"Okay." Erina is unsure about it. "So like, we have a cold egg dessert with hot ingredients thrown in."

"Hmm." Hisako is a bit curious.

"I see." Senzamon says in intrigue, "A dessert made of an egg of a mythical creature from another world made into some sort of spicy pudding." 'Yet this boy. Can he be...'

Erina takes a spoon and take a little off the top. She slowly moves it into her mouth and taste it.

In her mind, Erina is in a middle of a whirlpool made of the pudding and caramel sauce moving at fast speed while she is screaming.

She screams out, "THE COLDNESS OF THE PUDDING MIX WITH THE HEAT OF THE SPICES IS SWIRLING OUT OF CONTROL ON MY TONGUE! MY BODY CANNOT HANDLE THIS! IT'S TOO FAST! AND YET, WHY DOES IT FEEL SOOOO GOOOOOOD!" she later drowns in it with her eyes rolled up and tongue sticking out.

In reality, Erina scarfs down the pudding and leave nothing left. Before Hisako has a piece, Erina swipes it and chows it down which scares Hisako. She did the same with his grandfather's. Saiba is a little freaked out.

"More..." Erina says as if she has found a craving that she longs for. "I want more..." She looks at Saiba with an ahe ago face, "GIVE ME MORE!" Her eyes are rolled up, have her tongue completely hanging out and gives a creepy smile. "MORE! NOW!"

Saiba screams before Erina comes at him like some sort of Japanese demon. She slip her left hand and falls on top of Saiba. Kissing him. When she realizes she is kissing him with her tongue inside his mouth. In her mind...

Erina is in a typhoon where she is drowning in Saiba's saliva and the waves keep on hitting her.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" she screams out. "I'M DROWNING! BUT FOR SOME REASON, I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT IT! I..." She is later submerged into the ocean.

That is until a merman version of Saiba comes to her rescue. Saiba gives her mouth to mouth and they suddenly appear in a realm full of hearts as she blushes. Once done, they both stare at each other with Erina having an overwhelming sensation.

Erina stops and get off of Saiba. After that, she twists and unable to control her body as her legs look like they are all wet. Saiba scoot backwards and is nearly traumatized. Then suddenly, Erina grabs one of Saiba's ankles.

"You're mine." she says in a crazy, obsessive tone of voice. "I want you." She leaps onto him and starts licking his right cheek.

"EEEEWW!" Saiba shouts by how disgusting it feels to be licked. "THAT'S GROSS!"

Erina then forced him to face her as she says "Give me more of your spit!" Then she is knocked out by her grandfather by a chop.

"Miss Erina!" Hisako runs up and try to get the unconscious God Tongue onto her shoulders.

"I do apologize." Senzaemon apologizes to Saiba while bowing to him. "I have no idea what has come over my granddaughter. I have never seen her act that way before nor has she taken an interests in anyone else's cooking." He offers him his hand to help him up, "Due to my granddaughter's...state of mind, you pass. You can now transfer to Totsuki Academy."

Saiba takes the hand and gets pulled up to his feet. "Thank you. But can I ask one thing?" He point at Erina, "Keep your granddaughter away from me!" Saiba feels violated and refuse to go anywhere near Erina Nakiri every again.

Saiba exits out of the building around sundown. He pulls out his smartphone and tries to figure out how to use it. "How do I use it again? Is it contacts then find 'Dad' on the list? Oh hey, it worked." Saiba place the phone close to his ear and can hear ringing.

After a few moments, the phone answers. "Hello?"

"Hey, dad! It's me!" Saiba walks away from the building. "Guess who made it in?"

"What?! You got in!?" Joichiro is surprised to hear that.

"I sure did." Saiba smiles with the look of relief.

"Way to go! I was expecting you to fail but I'm proud you made it in."

"Where in this world are you now?"

"I'm in a country called India, located on the continent across the Sea of Japan. Right now I'm heading to a monastery that a friend and I are heading towards so I will loose contact real soon. Oh, did anything happened?"

Saiba told Joichiro everything that has happened to him.

Joichiro laughs over the phone, "Looks like you found yourself a woman in a new world already!"

"Don't laugh!" Saiba is infuriated, "That Woman is a complete nutjob! She kept on licking me! Gross!"

Joichiro laughs some more, "Ah man! Wish I could've seen it! But that doesn't sound like the Erina Nakiri I knew."

"Wait, what?" Saiba is shocked to hear that. However, their phone disconnected. Saiba looks at his phone, "What did he mean by that? Also, how come these things aren't that good with those magical communication devices back home? Those use the air itself with no break-ups."

AN: Hey everyone! I know that I uploaded it early, but I got lucky to get chapters for three stories done. Hope you enjoy!