Chapter 36 Moon Banquet Festival Part 2
As the announcer states the rankings of each area, Soma and Megumi find themselves in 6th place with the sales, and Kuga's is the first one. They also heard that there is one booth that went into the red, much to their surprise.
As Soma and Megumi are walking with their portable stall, they hear Erina's yelling, "All of you participated in the Autumn Elections main tournament! How can even two participants of the final be in the red? Do you want to depreciate the reputation of the honored Autumn Election?"
Soma and Megumi walk into the room and Soma says, "Geez, Nakiri, your yelling is too loud."
"Yukihira and Tadokoro-san?" Erina asks.
"Are you two alright?" They also notice that Ikumi, Takumi, and Isami are also there, and Ikumi asks them. "I mean, we heard that you got the sixth place."
"Yeah, we have a plan sorted by the Phantom, so everything is going to be fine." Soma adds. "By the way, I made some of my dishes with the leftovers, how about you guys eat them as your supper?"
"I want to try some." Alice says as she picks the Oyster fritter, she says, "Wow, there are oysters in it and they are not that bad."
Ryo tastes the Turnip Pastry and he mutters, "I could do a lot better."
"By the way, how was the uptown area? Nakiri, you set up a booth with Arato and such, right? What rank were you?" Soma asks.
"Second place." Erina says.
"Oh, so you're second, huh?" Soma says.
"What's with that face for!" Erina yells after seeing his smug look. "It seems your objective is having higher sales than Kuga-san...however, the same doesn't apply for the rest of the participants. There are many students who don't fixate on increasing their sales and pursuing their own cooking. My restaurant only accepts customers who make a reservation and we deny entrance to customers who come in without one. Isshiki-senpai also sets his booths price quite low for the uptown area standards."
But Soma isn't listening to Erina as he is asking Hisako to make reservations on the final day, causing Erina to be yelling, "Listen to me for once! And Hisako! Why are you letting him get the reservation?"
As Erina is talking to his secretary, Soma looks at the newspaper and finds that Rindo and Eizan are not on the list, and they also find that Alice and the others are in last place.
"By the way, I have been wanting to ask something." Erina says, "You have been trying to beat Kuga-san to even get help from the former Elite 10 member who is also the authority of the Taiwanese food in Japan. You must concentrate only on defeating him in the final area."
"Of course." Soma says.
"What? You got help from the former Elite 10 member?" Takumi yells. "Interesting. Now I'm firing up."
But after the day is over, Soma is seen by Megumi that he is lending his keys to a stranger, and Megumi asks, "Soma-kun, who is he?"
"Oh, a friend of mine that is going to help me something tomorrow." Soma says. "Now we should go onto the next phase."
The next day, Soma decides to add some meals, such as Danzi Noodles, Pork ball Soup, and even Oyster omelette, with these three things, they get a much more sales, and Kuga looks at the newspaper to see that Soma is already in the second place with him being the first.
"Oh, he worked hard today. Hey! Hey! Did any of you see Yukihira-chin today?" Kuga asks his staff, and one of them says, "Come to think of it, he might have had more customers than yesterday. They added some new dishes, it looked like noodles, a soup, and some sort of omelette."
That night, Soma is walking around with the stall, and they meet up with Nao Sadatsuka. Both of them share their interests in bad smells and disgusting food, causing Megumi to sweatdrop.
Soma reveals to her that they are just scouting to see what kind of dishes that the customers like, and he and Megumi are making them for free. A lot of people are delighted to see how they transform the Pepper Buns into the Danzi Noodles, and how they use the filling to make Pork Ball soup, and then the Oysters for the Oyster omelette.
Soma turns to Megumi and says, "You know, this happened yesterday when I took out the cart too, it was just like this. First, people came in sporadically since what we are serving is unusual, and then the reaction of the people eating brought more people in, and eventually, we couldn't cope with the crowd around us. Well, with the Chinese RS showy booth in front of us, it might just be natural that things aren't the same there. Our stuff lacks impact in itself."
Megumi says, "I understand, How our food is made...it's interesting and eye-catching. But it might be difficult to imagine the flavor unless you see someone eating it. People who don't know our food beforehand don't even know what's inside them."
Soma says, "On the other hand, Kuga-senpai's Sichuan Cuisine, just by looking at it, you can imagine the flavor. Just remembering it is making me drool."
"Give the customers a dish where they have a strong image of the flavor or something?" Megumi asks.
"That, or something with enough impact to draw the customers' attention away from the spiciness." Soma says with a smile. "And that will be what we are doing tomorrow."
The next day, Yuki and Ryoko are visiting their booth, and Yuki says, "It's just like the rumors said. The Chinese RS really packs a punch."
Soma and Megumi notice the two of them and Soma asks, "Yoshino and Sakaki! What happened with the Imonikai?"
"We're taking breaks in shifts." Ryoko says.
"More importantly, what are you guys doing right now?" Yuki asks.
"We have some new recipes with Megumi's help." Soma says as he hands over a cup. "Want to try some?"
"Is this...the Bubble Tea?" Yuki asks. "It is a popular drink originating from Taiwan as well."
"But you guys are making all these dishes, aren't you feeling tired." Ryoko asks.
"Yes, we were testing dishes until late yesterday." Megumi says.
"Ah, then, you can take a break and go take a peek at the other booths. Megumi." Soma says. "We don't have this festival every day, you're missing out if you don't enjoy it."
"But..." Megumi asks.
"It's ok. I can handle everything by myself. They are not that hard to make after all." Soma says.
"Yukihira-chin." Kuga comes and Soma says, "Oh, Kuga senpai! Want to try some of my food?"
"Nope. It seems you've been working sneakily during the night, you've added more dishes to your menu, and people have been taking those bubble teas into our restaurant." Kuga says with a little angry aura behind him.
"Oh, I just think that your food is a little too spicy, so I was just doing this for the customers. So that they will still feel delicious without spiciness hurting them." Soma says.
"If you keep doing such bad business in front of our restaurant, you'll be nothing but a bother to us. Can't you just close the booth, like right now?" Kuga asks.
Soma isn't fazed at his words, and he says, "Maybe you really should calm down, how about a bubble tea?"
Before Kuga can retort, some customers are going inside Kuga's restaurant as he goes to treat them.
Yuki and Ryoko are angry at how Kuga is treating Soma, and Megumi says, "It's fine, you see, yesterday, Soma-kun said this. "Do you think the Chinese RS deserves perfect points for everything as a restaurant?" Like that."
"I mean, their business has been flourishing, hasn't it?" Ryoko asks.
And in the end, Soma's booth is still in second place, but they are about to catch up to Kuga because of their drinks. Soma also asks Megumi to think of some things around the booth, and she agrees to help it out.
And then the fourth day has finally arrived, as Qiu decides to see how their stand is doing. Kuga says, "Well if it isn't Qiu senpai. So you were helping Yukihira-chin all this time."
Qiu turns to Kuga and says, "Kuga Terunori. It sure has been a while since I see you learning some Chinese techniques. And it is true that I've been helping Soma-kun before the Moon Banquet Festival."
"Why will you go this far to help him? And what is his relationship with you?" Kuga asks.
"He is the son of two of my best friends, that's why I'm helping him out. However, all I ever teach is the basics of Taiwanese cuisine, what he will make is still up to himself." Qiu says.
"What? He's making Mapo Tofu?" "He's directly challenging Kuga Terunori?" "And he is adding noodles for the Mapo Tofu?"
Their conversation is cut off as Soma says, "Qiu senpai, for all the hard work, I want you to try this." Soma says as he hands over the bowl. Qiu looks at it and asks, "Soma-kun, what is this meatball?"
"Oh, about that, please try eating the noodles without crumbling the meatball." Soma says as Qiu decides to do it, Kuga doesn't want to stay for more as he already leaves. She says, "The noodles are from the Yukihira Diner, that's good, but still, it lacks impact compared to Kuga's dish."
"But completely satisfying all your customers is tough even for a pro with more than a decade of experience." Soma says as they notice how a lot of people are tired waiting to eat Kuga's dishes, and they only have to sit for 20 minutes in the restaurant as they have to switch the customers. Not even the Bubble Tea made by Soma can help them with that.
"I've been observing them all this time. Kuga's Chinese Restaurant's weakness is something that just wasn't plainly visible yet." Soma says.
Then he asks Qiu to cut open the meatball and dip it into the Mapo Tofu, which causes a smell to explode. "What? It is curry..." Qiu says in shock, and everyone starts to gather around to see what the dish is about.
After tasting the dish, Qiu feels in heaven as she says, "The spices...they're very stimulating yet mild and gentle...it's as if they are carefully wrapping around me...There are some curry restaurants in Taiwan that make this kind of dish, but this is the most amazing one that I've ever tasted."
And then a lot of Kuga's customers are gathering around Soma and Megumi, Kuga says, "Calm down! We have more than 10 people serving! There' just no way that small stall can serve so many dishes!"
As they continue to make dishes, Megumi panics, "We got so many orders at once! We can't keep up with them!"
"Don't worry, he should be coming any time now!" Soma says, and it turns out to be Mimasaka Subaru, who decides to help him out.
Qiu says, "That meatball...it reminds me of one dish that came from Taiwan and parts of China...its name is Lion's Head."
Kuga notices this and he thinks, "Just after three nights, what seemed to be a weak kitty has turned into a ferocious lion..."
As they are preparing food, Mimasaka's speed is the same as Soma. Soma says, "You're a real lifesaver. But I never thought you'd accept so easily."
"I owe you big time after all." Mimasaka says.
"Are you saying something?" Soma asks.
"It's nothing. We don't have time to be gossiping. We're going to get even more customers from now on." Mimasaka says. "After all, you are the Phantom, I trusted you."
Soma nods as he remembers how he manages to persuade Mimasaka into this, and he also reveals to him that he is the Phantom in exchange, but he has to keep this a secret, to which he agrees.
After the evening arrives, the Local Cuisine RS came to help out by giving them a full paper lantern collection from all across the country, and more people come to visit since it resembles a place in Taiwan called Jiufen.
But Megumi is now stressed as he has too many things to do, Soma is worried for his girlfriend and he says, "Mimasaka, I'm leaving things to you just for a sec!"
"You big idiot!" Just then, Ikumi arrives and she says, "Yukihira, you won't win anything if you leave the stove! Megumi, you can concentrate on serving the customers, I'll take care of baking these things."
"Nikumi! What about the Donburi RS?" Soma asks.
"Don't worry, I left things to our underclassmen. Isn't this the moment of truth for you, Yukihira?" Ikumi asks.
Soma nods and thanks to the girl, and then Takumi also arrives, he says, "It seems you are having a hard time, I can't keep watching this. I won't mind helping you out if you insist, you know!"
Soma is delighted that both Isami and Takumi are helping out as well. Takumi says, "Listen well, Yukihira. You challenged Kuga Terunori. I won't forgive you if you lose disgracefully without doing anything."
"It's time for the last spurt, Takumi." Soma says as they start working on the meals, and even Mimasaka is surprised to see Takumi almost catches up to his perfect trace.
Kuga is watching this and he thinks, "I see, Yukihira Soma spent four days and finally complete his booth..."
Qiu smiles at the sight as she knows that this is the power of the Phantom, no Yukihira Soma.
And finally, the announcements are here as Kuga's restaurant is in Second place, while the Soma's stall is in the first place.
"Yukihira-chin..." Kuga is now very angry at this while the others are high five with each other.
Here is the second part of the Moon Banquet Festival, and as you can see, Soma manages to get first place on the fourth day. I hope you like this chapter.