Chapter 17
The Magic Chef

The breakfast buffet challenge is in high gear. Saiba's table has gotten popular and peaked the interests of many customers with his egg tempura bowl.

Saiba has another tray out, "Okay! Who wants more?! Gah!"

Saiba realize he is in deep trouble with a huge crowd have gathered around him and many wanting to try out his dish. He looks down and see that all of the bowls have been taken.

'Crap!' Saiba realize he is in a tight spot, 'I'm in trouble! I only have like two dozen frozen eggs left. Looks like I have to do plan B early. Yet I have so many people. Looks like there is one choice left. I have to use magic.'

While planning on doing so, Gin announces, "Erina Nakiri, you have served two-hundred!"

After serving the next tray of egg tempura bowls, he immediately get to work on making his omelette souffles. As everyone watch, they start to see three identical duplicates of Saiba getting the pans as the real Saiba give them the eggs. Everyone is amazed by what they see.

"Is this kid a magician?!" one of the adults asks.

One kid sound excited, "Yay! A magic show!"

The Saiba clones immediately start making the souffles at rapid speed as the real Saiba make the sauce.

"Wait, is he making something else?"

The timer goes off, and the omelettes get flipped with perfect pacing and synchronicity. The customers are amazed by the speed, technique and grace as the real Saiba pour the sauce on the omelettes. He gives one to the little girl in pink and twintails.

"Here you go. One magically made souffle omelette." one of the clones say.

She taps the omelette and notice how perfectly bouncy it is. Once she takes a bite though...

In her mind, she is in a magical world where she is bouncing on the giant omelette before sliding down on the sauce. Laughing and cheering all the way in enjoyment.

Back in reality, the girl says, "This really is like magic!"

Now everyone is interested in the omelettes. Saiba and his clones kick things up a notch as they move at super fast speeds as Saiba made two more duplicates of himself that continue to make the egg tempura bowl. Erina is stunned by what she sees as her customers are being taken away to Saiba's table.

Over at Assembly Hall E, Ikumi Mito is having a bit of trouble.

She slams her fist on the table, 'Dammit! I haven't gotten a single customer since my 150th plate!'

Not too far, Alice makes an announcement to the customers, "We have mo-oore!~"

Ikumi glances over at Alice's station and see a bunch of people already gathered.

Alice waves, "Over here! No pushing in the front, please."

Ikumi bites her lower lip, 'Ever since her first customer, she has gotten more and more busy. She even started poaching people from other tables. Those can't be normal eggs. To think, her dish holds a powerful secret.'

One of the resort staff members try slurping an egg in a bowl and get some sort of shiver. "This... This isn't a raw egg!" She takes a good look at the egg and realize that there is something different. "The white gelée is of diluted sea water. The yolk is salmon roe that has been firmed up with gelatin."

"Uh?" a male staff member notices something, "At first glance, this looked like a hard-boiled egg. But the whites are a mousse made from white asparagus and the yolks were used as a base for hollandaise sauce." He takes a bite and is in pure delight with chili peppers, peppercorns, white asparagus flying around and an egg yolk background, "Balancing the egg with the slight bitterness of the asparagus is exquisite!"

Another female staff member asks about one egg that looks like it might be soft boiled, "So then, what is this egg gonna be?"

Upon further inspection, it looks like there is a hole on the egg shell with something preventing the contents from spilling out with a straw next to the egg.

Alice holds up a straw, "I'm so glad you ask that. Watch." and stabs the egg with it.

Both employees go, "She stabbed it!"

Alice holds it up, "It's a milkshake you drink with a straw. I emptied the shells, then mix eggs, milk and caramel to create a drink that is piped back into the shell."

The first female staff member tries it and is in total bliss, 'I-Its delicious! Its so smooth with a lingering after taste. Its like she recreated a brisk morning.'

"And there you go!~ All together, its eggs prepared in three of its most glorious forms."

The female staff member is in delight, 'This dish is astonishing! Each egg opens the door to a different world!'

In her mind, she is in different spots, 'On a single plate: The ocean. The forest.' Then she is out in space where she is holding a transparent egg that has the Earth in it yet also has giant size salmon roe, white asparagus, a giant cow and a giant salmon in it while her body is an ethereal white with golden hair. 'The plains. The deliciousness of all three are condensed right here!'

Back in reality, everyone wants to try out this amazing dish Alice made with empty plates stacking high.

Ikumi watches in disbelief, 'Is that girl for real?! At this pace, she'll end up clearing more than three hundred plates easy!'

In the other halls, Gin make some announcements, "Takumi Aldini, you served two-hundred!"

"Yes!" Takumi is glad he has succeeded. But when he look over at Saiba's station, his eyes widen, "What the-?!"

Five Saibas are already working hard making two kinds of dishes. Yet there is a sixth Saiba using ice magic to freeze the eggs faster in order to make more egg tempura bowls.

"Megumi Tadokoro, you served two-hundred!"

Megumi sighs in relief. But she looks over at Saiba and goes, "What the-?!"

Some of the other students are falling behind.

One male student goes, "Man, my lack of sleep has caught up to me."

Another says in despair, "Erina and Saiba have taken all my customers from me. I'm done for."

The Saiba using ice magic starts to feel pain, "Gah!"

The real Saiba says, "Not good!" His eyes started to get baggy and looking pale, 'Looks like I need to cut my magic back! My clones are reaching their limits!'

Gin announces, "Saiba Yukihira, you served two-hundred!"

But Saiba isn't paying attention, 'Looks like I have to rely on my stamina and speed. I haven't moved super fast in a while, but this is an emergency!' He calls back all his clones after moving at super sonic speeds where he makes after images of himself as he makes two dishes at once while also freezing some of his eggs.

Back in Saiba's past, when he was seven, he is knocked down to the ground inside some sort of dojo while fighting against an old man with muscles and his body is littered with scars. His face and upper torso are covered in shadows yet has fox ears and a tail.

This man takes into battle position, "Come on, Saiba!" he says in a demanding tone, "You must move faster! Strength is good, but you need speed as well if you want to survive in the new continent!"

Despite being bruised and scraped, he gets back up and rub his chin. He takes a fighting stance before charging in. They both traded blows as Saiba moves as fast as he can to avoid and block. When he sees an opening he thrust in with a punch. Only to fight against an afterimage. Saiba receives a kick to his back, but he quickly grabs him by the leg and elbows him right in the knee.

"Going after my leg joints is a smart move to slow me down." He gives Saiba a compliment right before palming him in the face, "But you're still too slow!"

Saiba is knocked right into the wall and create a hole.

Saiba's grandfather turns around, "You're improving. But your improvements are just like your speed; slow." He walks away, "Now fix that hole and we'll continue training."

Back in present day, Gin and Sous Chef Hirome Sena watch the monitors in a dark room.

"What is he doing?" Hirome asks, "He already cleared two-hundred plates, so why is he still going?"

Gin notices, "He's probably too focus on his cooking than anything else. He would be a dedicated man in a work environment no matter the crisis."

"Even though he's done?"

"Hmm..."

Over in another hall, the smell of spices takes over the air as a young boy from India serves a very special egg dish.

'Akira Hayama, you served two-hundred!'

Over at Ryo's station, he serves some sort of soup-like dish that is red in coloration.

'Ryo Kurokiba, you served two-hundred!'

Yet at Alice's station, she realize she is out of ingredients.

"Oh my. What a shame." she puts on her innocent act.

All of her bowls, pans and plates are empty with only a few sauce stains and one bowl still containing diluted salt water.

She turn to her customers, "I used up all of my ingredients that I've prepared for today. I never thought so many people would be so brave enough to try a dish so innovated."

Chef Hitoshi looks at a clipboard handed to him, "Mm-hmm. Okay. You can call it quits then."

"Thank you very much, sir!~" Alice happily walk by Ikumi's station while also humming.

Ikumi notices and looks back and see Alice waving.

"Toodaloo~."

This upsets Ikumi, 'I don't believe it. She's already finished.' She looks at the huge stacks of plates, 'That tramp already cleared three-hundred freakin' plates!'

Alice walks down the hall, "Now I don't have anything to do. Maybe I can peep on her majesty's table. Hmm... Came to think of it, I wonder what happened to him. Mr. Saiba Yukihira." As soon as she enters Assembly Hall A, she see the huge crowd of people where Erina is at. "Looks like she has everyone on her hand and foot."

Yet one kid is running with another, "Check out that guy! He's doing magic tricks while cooking at the same time!"

"Huh?" Alice is confuse. When she looks over at Saiba's station, she can see duplicates of Saiba making two kinds of dishes. "WHAT THE HELL?!" she shouts, "I know that guy is from the Special Region and they have magic and whatever, but that's just cheating! There has to be a rule that prohibit the use of magic!"

As Saiba continues to move faster and faster, the audience watch with anticipation. He put the lids on the pans while the omelettes are cooking while also covering the frozen eggs with the shells removed in batter. Then proceed to prepare the next batch of omelettes.

One male customer goes, "Holy cow! Is he moving super fast or make duplicates of himself?!"

A male staff member rubs his eyes, "My eyes must be playing tricks on me."

Another male customer admires, "This kid got some serious skills! I wonder where he's from and where did he learn to move that fast!"

Saiba waste no energy as he continues to fluff up the egg whites, fry the shiso leaves, add fresh cream along with salt and pepper to the yolks, and retrieve the eggs that were frying. Once the timer pings, he remove all the lids at once and flips the omelettes at blinding speed.

"Wait." one female customer shakes her head, "I blinked, what happened?"

The customers watch the omelettes in the air as Saiba manages to catch each and every one of the omelettes while also catching the egg tempuras into their bowls. He adds the tomato sauce and garnish to the omelettes while also adding the sauce to the bowls, and ready to serve.

"Order up!"

Everyone is astonished by how fast the food was prepared and how Saiba did it. Even Erina is in total awe as the last of her Eggs Benedict are eaten by what little customers she has. Everyone else went over to Saiba's station to see him in action. Saiba continues to make more and more with blinding speed despite being mana depraved and running low on stamina. Yet he also not noticing something else. His necklace is starting to wear to the breaking point.

In the monitor room, Hirome says, "Even though he has two dishes to serve, his cooking preparation keeps on getting faster. Well, more faster than the average human. He's even more so and even under pressures he put himself in. Despite being done, he continues to cook as he starts to blur out of sight. It's even attracting more and more of the crowd. Word has been spreading across the floor. Even attracting customers from other halls."

"Great for this style of contest." Gin says, "I love live cooking. Raw ingredients brought to the table. Chefs and cooks prepare everything in front of the customer. This increases the anticipation, creating excitement as ingredients are transformed into a completed dish."

Hirome starts to worry, "But don't you think he's over doing it? He already reached over five-hundred plates." But when he looked at the plate counter, "He made it to six-hundred?!" This was a shock to him, "Nobody has ever reached that many plates! And Erina Nakiri has reached five-hundred and one plates!"

Gin finds it hard to believe as well, but there's no mistake.

Yet when Saiba tries to make more, he realizes he is out of ingredients.

"Oh." he says while sweating and catching his breath. He looks at his customers, "Sorry, everyone, but I'm out of ingredients." And then he collapse face forward.

Everyone freaked out and gasps from Saiba's collapse.

"Saiba!" Erina hops over her station and into Saiba to help him.

Over at Assembly Hall B, Hirome's voice is heard, "Ryoko Sakaki, you scored two-hundred!"

Ryoko sighed in relief yet looks over at Shun. Shun nods as to confirm he made two-hundred.

"Yuki Yoshino, you served two-hundred."

When Yuki heard that, she relaxes and stops what she's doing, "I did it."

Shun has also served two-hundred but looks as white as a ghost along with getting closer to death's door.

Shoji and Daigo give each other a high-five and celebrate their passing grade.

Isami cleans up after serving two-hundred as he looks at the screen to Assembly Hall A, "I wonder how Takumi is doing."

"There are five minutes remaining."

As the timer counts down, Takumi and Megumi head over to Saiba's station as Yuki, Shun and the others from Polar Star head on over. Gin is also there trying to help Erina wake Saiba up.

After five minutes have passed, "Time's up, utensils down!" followed by a loud buzzing.

In Saiba's perspective he has his eyes shut as he hears voices.

"Is Saiba okay?!" Yuki asks in a worried state.

"I don't know!" Erina sounds worried as well.

Megumi is even more so, "What should we do!?"

"Let me give him mouth to mouth." Erina suggests.

That is when Saiba opens his eyes and see Erina trying to give him CPR but is actually trying to kiss him again. Despite being in a weaken state, Saiba places his hand over his mouth as Erina kisses.

He says in weak voice when Erina realizes, "Not in your life, girly."

Alice is over Saiba, "That was a shocker! You collapsed after you realize you ran out of ingredients."

Everyone around him are relieved as they voice their relief at the same time to make an incoherent noise. Yet Saiba points at his bag close to the fridge with his hands shaking.

He says in a weak voice, "Bag...potion...purple..."

Megumi runs through Saiba's bag and found a glass flask with a purple liquid inside. She runs up, uncorks it and gives it to Saiba. "Here!" and have Saiba drink it.

After drinking the potion, the bags under his eyes are gone and his skin is no longer pale.

"Thanks for that." Saiba has been completely restored, "It has been a while since I moved that fast." He starts to get up.

Gin says, "Did you hear me say that you served two-hundred plates?"

"You did?" Saiba looks confused.

"I did."

"Whoops. Guess I should've paid-"

SNAP! Something snapped. What snapped was Saiba's necklace as it starts to fall apart. Once that happened, Saiba's ears and tail were revealed, much to everyone's shock.

Saiba realize that he is in trouble, "Uh-oh."

Shoji screams, "He's a fox!?

Daigo also screams, "Saiba's not human, bro!"

Takumi shouts, "You mean my rival is a demi-human?!"

Yuki isn't as shock at everyone, "You know, it makes a lot of sense."

Ryoko asks, "What do you mean, Yuki?"

"Whenever Saiba approach some of the animals, like the chickens and rabbits, they all get scared and try to run away."

Isami thinks about it, "Oh yeah. I guess that would make sense."

Takumi shouts at Isami, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT MAKE SENSE!? HE'S A FOX FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Megumi is still in shock while Shun is just chill about it. Zenji is lying on the floor and slowly dying.

Alice pets Saiba's ears, "Aww. Such a cute otherwordly species you are."

Erina furiously slap Alice away, "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM, ALICE!"

"Whoa now! What's gotten into you!?"

Ryo is there as he says, "Cool. Something our school will brag about."

Saiba look at Erina and Alice, "Wait, you two know each other?"

Gin just walks away, "Well, best for you all to get to know each other."

Alice then introduces herself, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is, Alice Nakiri. That's a name with far more prestige than any of you. Remember it well."

Saiba raises one eyebrow as Erina holds him right, "Another Nakiri?"

"Yes." she points to Erina, "She is my unfortunate cousin. I lived in the same manor as her until I turned five." Then she introduces to Ryo, "And this is my assistant, Ryo Hakuba."

Ryo says, "Sup." and nodded.

Saiba just go, "Uhh...hi?"

Alice continues, "My father is sentimental. He chose my mother's home town in Denmark as the prime location of his innovated company, Nakiri International. You may have heard of it. There, they studied cutting edge cooking techniques and molecular gastronomy."

"Nope." Saiba just answers bluntly.

Alice realizes, "Oh, that's right! You're from the Special Region and have no concept of our world." she acts all innocent, "Silly me.~"

"So what exactly does-"

Before Saiba can asks, Erina gives him a kiss. When she did, she notices something is different.

In Erina's mind, she is submerged in water in a dark abyss.

'What is this?' she mentally asks, 'What's happening to me?'

A hand appeared before her at the surface as light starts to shine. When she grabs the hand, she is taken to the surface. Holding her is Saiba, in his true form, dressed in all gold and white like a Japanese prince with a blue Japanese dragon as his mount. They are in a Japanese mountain side yet have a mystical air about it as the sun rises. She is in a white sundress after being pulled from the water. Erina stared at Saiba's eyes and feel all warm and filled with bliss. The two kiss as the dragon take them high into the air. Among the clouds, there is a golden tori gate.

'This feeling... It feels like I've been elevated! Into a new plane of existence! Even more so than I have beyond Saiba's human form!'

From the tori gate, the sun shines brightly, in a flash of light.

Back in reality, Erina keeps on Frenching Saiba as he tries to get away.

"Oh my.~" Alice sees Saiba's predicament and enjoys the view, "Looks like my dear cousin is a woman after all."

Saiba finally breaks free and spits and cough as he rubs his throat. "Gross! You nearly licked my uvula! Are you trying to eat my vomit or something?!"

Nearly everyone went, "EWWW!"

Erina quickly grabs Saiba by the shoulders with her eyes red under the shadow of her bangs, "Come on! One more kiss!"

Saiba says, "I'm filing a sexual harassment complaint to your grandfather!"

Then Gin makes an announcement, "Attention! Everyone who cleared two-hundred plates, get some rest. Because your next challenge will take place in four hours."

Many of the students are confused by what is going on.

"He's kidding, right?"

"No. No, no, no."

"That just gives us just over three hours of sleep!"

Saiba gets excited, "I like training camp. This is my kind of fun." and does a menacing chuckle.

All the students run in a panic in order to get ready for the next challenge. Nearly everyone is at their breaking point as they try to finish whatever the next challenge is with Zenji nearly dying and Yuki being upset by the whole thing. But many pulled through with many about ready to collapse from exhaustion.

Around sunset, many had to attend to the assembly hall. Everyone complain about the pains that they have but Saiba appears to be fine with the exception of a few stares he is getting after his secret is revealed, which help dull the pain a little.

"What's this?" Megumi asks while standing next to Saiba, "I don't like it."

Ryoko checks the guide, "Well, there's nothing written in the camp itinerary."

Yuki starts to panic, "Huh?! Wait just a minute! This pattern is looking familiar. Don't tell me we have to stay up all night again!" Yuki tries to put on her smile but can't hide the gloomy aura around her.

Then Gin stands on the stage with a microphone in hand, "Very well. It seems your all here."

Zenji whines, "Please not this again!"

"Just a few words before we get started. So far, three-hundred and fifty-two students have failed. Leaving six-hundred and twenty-eight remaining. Though it may seem cruel, this is a taste of what its really like to be a working chef. You must keep your cool in unfamiliar situations, always retaining a dialogue of ingredients. If you become a chef in the real world, you'll face far greater pressures than this. There will be nights where you have to endure anxiety and indecision while dealing with various situations. Being a chef is like living in a wasteland. And having to brave the storms and trials all by yourself. The longer you endure it, the more difficult it becomes and you can lose sight of your goal. Even when you reached the summit, you may very well forget the way back. HOWEVER, I want you to remember this: Know that there are comrades here at Totsuki who left tracks in that wasteland with you. You traverse it together and that fact should comfort you when you one day set foot on your own! From the bottom of my heart; I wish you the best as you fight on. Now then, let's begin the final segment of this training camp's program."

Nearly everyone gets scared and fear for the worse. Saiba, on the other hand, cracks his knuckles and smiles with Megumi freaking out by both what is to come and from Saiba's attitude.

Yet the doors to the dining hall open with all the staff saying, "WELCOME!"

"The final act is to congratulate you on completing your training and offer you this humble meal. Please enjoy a full course dinner served up by our highly esteemed graduates. To all of the six-hundred and twenty-eight who remain standing with us: you've cleared this camp and congrats! Enjoy your dinner everyone!"

All the students cheer as they've reached the end goal of the training camp from hell. They all sit down and enjoy the dinner made by the graduates of Totsuki with Yuki crying over the deliciousness of her meal. They all sat down and enjoy the not-so-humble meals and enjoy them to the fullest. Saibe reflects on his decision on coming to Totsuki and is happy. Happy to enjoy the new experiences that he can never get back at the Special Region...despite some...'complications'.

Megumi asks Saiba, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Saiba replies, "I just realize that coming her...is the best idea ever."

"Really?" Megumi is confused.

"Of course! I got to meet all of you guys, learned some new cooking techniques, got to challenge myself to my limits." Saiba raises his head in pride, "I love it."

Yuki says, "That's great an all, but what about your appearance?"

Saiba just shrugs, "Meh. I'm cool with it. Because I get to be myself, truly. No more hiding who I really am. I'm a chef from the Special Region and a foxboy."

Backstage Hirome and Gin have a conversation.

Hirome says, "This is a very exciting year. So the matter we discussed?"

"Yes, I am looking forward to it. The grand stage where a select few will battle with everything they have." Gin smiles, "The coming Fall Selection."

However, somewhere else, Joichiro is riding on a plane sits back with his chair reclined.

He smiles, "Hope my boy is sharpening his skills as well as his knives. Time for a rematch. And oh boy, I got something for him to taste if he fails." He chuckles a little as he imagines the expression his son will make. "I can't wait."