Author's Note:

Oof, as always...Sorry for this utterly late update, ahh. But still, a huge thanks for everyone who waited and who's enjoying this story. It means a ton to me.

I hope it will be at least slightly worth the wait (probably not but ahhh)

"BEGIN COOKING"

The two Elites didn't have to be told twice and the moment the bell echoed through Hall Chandra both Ran and Hiraku made a quick turn to get to the cooking stations assigned to them.

The thrill and anticipation of the audience was more than evident as many could not sit still and leaned forward in fear they could miss anything. Amongst those indicted audience members was Mika Aldini, blue eyes full of radiating stars and cheeks slightly flushed. Her gaze was pinned to Hiraku Yukihira who was in the process of unpacking his ingredients right now.

Her cousin next to her however seemingly could not care less about the match as he wasn't even looking into the direction it was taking place in. Instead of looking downwards, his eyes were searching the upper part of the hall: the lightened viewing-boxes meant for the big personalities. "I hope Kimiko-san is gonna be alright." He absently spoke.

"Tadokoro." Chieko's voice emerged near him. "Kimiko-cchi is a brave one." As Hiroshi turned his head to her, she tried giving a smile. "I'm sure she'll survive a couple hours with Shigeo-senpai. Also it's not his style to attack people directly, let alone this quickly."

Hiroshi pressed his lips together before he gave an answer, uncertainty more than evident in his voice. "I'd have just liked if someone had come along with her, I think...Everything happened so quickly." He scratched his head and looked back to the VIP-viewing boxes. "The thought of anyone being on their own with Shigeo-senpai, Umino-senpai and Yamada-senpai...it frightens me."

"Same, honestly." Daisuke brought up and shook himself at the memory of Umino and Yamada right in front of them earlier. "Yukihira has guts to follow them."

Lastly Yasu decided to make a point in this discussion as well. "We should have stopped her." He nodded upwards to the viewing boxes. "That sleazeball of upperclassman is utterly incapable of ever acting with good intentions. And people continue making it easy for him." He grit his teeth.

"For heaven's sake." Chieko huffed and crossed her arms. "Stop acting like Kimiko-cchi is one of those easily-persuaded weaklings! We told her what kind of person she's dealing with and she's not intimidated easily from what we saw! Besides..." The bespectacled girl turned her attention back to the thing that was actually supposed to be the main attraction. "I have a bit of a feeling that this is more about Yukihira-senpai, than Kimiko-cchi."

—

The Sixteenth Plate - The Holy Tongue's Aim, the Snooping Spy's Grace and the Godfather's Warning

—

Kimiko had blinked several times already but every time she opened her eyes, her older brother was still down there dressed in a cooking attire that was unfamiliar to her and working on some sort of dough.

And she was still sitting in one of the best possible viewing spots in the whole arena. In complete privacy.

"You think Yukihira's new ponytail will make the girls gush less or more 'bout him?"

Well maybe not exactly complete privacy. She was sharing the superb VIP-room with two buff thugs and their dubious head honcho after all.

Taichi Yamada scratched the shaved portion of his hair. "If chicks dig ponytails maybe I should let my hair grow out?"

Katashi Umino frowned at that. "I don't think you would work a ponytail very well, Yamada." He glanced back down to the cooking station and the redhead that no one ever shut up about from the looks of it. "But yeah from what I know and heard Yukihira's popularity increases by each day." He let out a snort. "And so does the stack of love letters that Hayama has to check for him."

Yamada sulked. "Damn, what do the ladies all see in him?! Yukihira should leave some for-" All it took was one mildly irritated sigh coming from the third young man present in the room for Yamada to shut up instantly.

"If you two keep talking our guest might gain a headache from the rubbish that's coming out of your mouths." Shigeo Eizan griped calmly before turning his head to Kimiko. "Pardon, Small-Yukihira. For reasons that elude me these two desperately wish for a female companion and at times they have the misconception that the rest of the world thinks of their courtship-adventures as just as interesting as they do."

Kimiko didn't quite knew how to reply. She had been way too busy trying to adjust to this situation as a whole than paying much attention to Umino and Yamada. In the end she settled on. "It's...fine."

In the meantime Hiraku had finish kneading his dough and was now in the process of rolling it out.

"Pizza." Mika identified the sight. "He's making Pizza." As if he thought he needed to create more things Mika could love about him.

"Pizza?" Daisuke repeated with a head-tilt. "It's not far-fetched." Chieko's let her finger glide towards the bridge of her spectacles. "Cheese is a base ingredient for pizza." She commented while pushing her glasses up her nose.

Once Hiraku was done rolling out his dough, he went to the cardboard box he had brought with him and began pulling out four sorts of cheese. "Hiraku-sama is taking out the cheese it seems. Not just one but four at that!" Hideyoshi's voice accompanied the process.

A moment later Hideyoshi slid closer towards Hiraku. "The crowd is thrilled to find out, Hiraku-sama..." He casually spoke on behalf of over 200 students. "What sorts of cheese are you planning to use for today's battle?"

Hideyoshi's microphone was held right in front of Hiraku's mouth very quickly. However, it took nearly an entire minute for Hiraku to give the anticipated answer. And to top it off, it was an not all too satisfying one. "I forgot what they're called."

Before Hideyoshi, who wore an expression as if he had been slapped in the face, could say anything else, a snort was heard coming from the judge's table.

Jacqueline Ambroise eyed Hiraku darkly while crossing her arms. Then she announced. "Mt. Tam, Delice de Bourgnone, Brillat Savarin and Neetle Meadow Kunik." Her tongue clicked disparagingly. "Those are the cheeses he chose."

While seemingly being deaf for Hideyoshi's "Thank you for you identification, Mademoiselle", Jacqueline rather went on to rant in a manner as if Hiraku was not in the room with her right now. "I was told this Yukihira-person would be a god-like chef and unlike anyone else in his generation. Now please tell me, what sort of chef does not know the ingredients he's using?"

Miyoko refrained from making a comment on that but Ryo felt a sense of protectiveness dwelling in him. "Hiraku does not necessarily need to know the names of stuff he's using to cook something that will taste good." He said flatly. "But you'll see soon enough."

Jacqueline's teeth gnashed while she balled a fist. It was taking all of her self-control to not jump right at Ryo and scratch his face red with the help of her long fingernails. To distract herself from her violent, unladylike fantasies she rather chose to focus on the other warrior of today's fight.

But as soon as she let her gaze travel to Ran Mimasaka, a gasp of shock escaped her. "Mon Dieu! Is that-" Before the sentence was finished she suddenly chose that covering her nose was more important than whatever she wanted to say. Quickly she pulled out a tissue to do so.

Hideyoshi blinked, confused over her reaction. But when he sniffed the air to figure out what had lead to that action of Jacqueline's pure disgust suddenly spread on his face. He took a sharp turn and his eyes landed on the sight of Ran pulling out her cheese.

"My weapon of choice for today is Époisses." Ran said with an almost angelic kind off smile, while around her more and more students began to close their nose and utter all kinds of curses and pleads for mercy.

"And this is why, in my humble opinion, your brother should have arranged a VIP viewing box for you, Small-Yukihira." Shigeo dryly commented before taking another sip of his coffee. Part of Kimiko wanted to laugh because there was exactly nothing about Shigeo that seemed in any way humble. But the part of her that was genuinely curious over what he meant by that was a little stronger. "Huh?"

"Époisses," he began and Kimiko felt his pronunciation of French sounded a lot better than Hideyoshi's, "Époisses de Bourgogne is a cheese famous for its potent bad smell. It's so unpleasant that the cheese has allegedly been banned from the public transport system of Paris once." After he drunk from his Espresso once again he began making slight gestures with his hand as he elaborated further.

"It's a kind of washed rind cheese produced in the French village Époisses. During their maturing-process their rind gets washed with a blend of brine and the local pomace brandy Marc de Bougnogne. This makes the so-called Brevibacterium linens collect on the cheese's surface. These organism play a part in the maturing process of various cheeses, such as Limburger or Livarot. They release volatile sulfur-containing compounds in the process of breaking down amino acids, but it results in bad smell. Brevibacterium linens are also present in the human body where they cause foot-odor." Shigeo turned his head to meet Kimiko's eyes, a slight smirk present on his face. "Hence the infamous stench of Époisses."

Kimiko could only give a couple of eye blinks back, her brain still trying to put the flood of information she just received into order. "So the cheese smells like sport-socks, basically?" She heard Umino question behind her.

"If you want to put it like that." Shigeo sighed with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He then let his gaze travel back to the cooking stations and Ran. "However single individuals might describe the odor of Époisses, everyone is in agreement that it smells off-putting which makes it an ingredient for Mimasaka Ran to use."

For the first time in what felt like a little while Kimiko spoke up and said more than two words. "She's got the same gimmick like her little brother, Mimasaka-kun, right? The usage of stinky ingredients?" Kimiko felt like the smell of Kazuo's noodles in Trainings Camp came tickling back into her nose once again and she almost wanted to shake herself.

For a short moment, surprise wandered over Shigeo's face as he turned his head back to Kimiko. But it was gone quickly and made way for a slight grin and an appreciative nod. "Well combined, Small-Yukihira. That happens to be the case."

Shigeo lifted his glass cup of Espresso up to his lips one last time in order to take the final sip. Once having done so, he immediately held out his empty cup to the left and ordered. "Yamada, get me a new Espresso." The answer came instantly, Kimiko knew so much already. "Aye, Boss." And just one heartbeat later Yamada took the cup out of his dark lord's hand and left the room hurriedly.

"But as delicious as Mimasaka-senpai's cooking may be, her chosen food forte makes me personally rather glad that I can watch her Shokugekis behind a glass window." Shigeo continued once the door was shut again. "Aha." Kimiko replied with a frown.

She began to focus on Ran and her preparation-process. It didn't took Kimiko long to notice how precise yet quick her movements were. She had a wholly different aura than anyone else she's seen on Totsuki so far. So serene, yet so ominous at the same time.

Kimiko started to nibble at one of the exquisite cheeses Umino had given to her earlier while following Ran's cooking with her eyes. More and more she felt the fuss made over the Elite 10 was justified.

"Look what Hiraku-sama is pulling out!" A bedazzled cry was suddenly echoing through the arena.

"Boss, i...is that...?" Kimiko heard Umino somewhere near her. "It is." Shigeo's answer followed quickly, with a hint of surprise in it.

"I thought he was making pizza?!" Daisuke exclaimed elsewhere. "Is he not anymore?" Yasu, who had been focused on Ran, looked at his dorm-companion.

Daisuke replied by pointing downwards to Hiraku's cooking station. "With chocolate?!"

Indeed, Hiraku was pulling out a package of the much-beloved sweet while being completely unbothered by all the gasps that went through the crowd.

"A ne...new player has entered the match." Hideyoshi stammered overwhelmed with the sudden sight of chocolate in Hiraku's hands. "Époisses versus four different cheeses and chocolate, it seems. The plot thickens."

"I mean..." Hiroshi mused. "Chocolate pizza does exist...But I mainly know it as dessert." Chieko next to him gave an agreeing nod and added. "The idea of combining pizza and chocolate has its origin in the West, I believe. Several companies and chain restaurants have emerged to sell it as dessert..."

"...I've seen it in New York a couple times." Shigeo elaborated up in the VIP-lounge. "It's very marketable towards children, given that both products separately are very popular with the youth. But I've also heard of it being a beloved treat for various holidays such as Valentine's Day." He began to frown. "But a chocolate pizza with four different sorts of cheese...?"

Umino made a strange noise which Kimiko could only interpret as a sort-off shriek. "Boss! What if Yukihira's serving one of his disgusting fail-dishes?!"

Kimiko nearly choked on her cheese as she heard that her chaotic brother's classmates knew about that abstruse hobby of his. Couldn't he leave people alone with that?!

Shigeo meanwhile let his sharp gaze travel back to Hiraku. His eyes narrowed and he began to subtly rub his chin.

Then, after a wordless minute had passed, he took his mobile phone into his hands and once he had done a bit of scrolling and tipping he held the device next to his ear. Umino and Kimiko could only watch.

"Kato." Shigeo spoke in imperious tone. "Get up to my viewing box. Umino will sent you further details by text." Then he hung up. "You've heard what I said." He plainly told Umino after a couple seconds of silence.

Umino gave a nod and took out his phone. "Of course, Boss." Kimiko could do nothing more than to sit in-between them, utterly confused.

"Boss, I'm back!" Yamada entered the room with a new Espresso in his hands. After his delivery was given into the hands of the recipient, Yamada wandered back to Umino. "What did I miss?" "Yukihira's making some weird variant of chocolate pizza." Umino replied without looking up as he was still typing on his phone.

"For real?!" Yamada gawked, but before they could do the whole chocolate-pizza discussion all over again, Ran Mimasaka downwards announced: "I'm finished."

Calm and collected the fourth seat made her way to the judging table, professionally carrying three plates with her. The closer she came, the more sour went Jacqueline's expression at the stench of the Époisses. Ryo and Miyoko meanwhile were doing a wonderful job at remaining stoic and unreadable.

"Mimasaka Ran-senpai is the first one to serve up!" Hideyoshi announced with his nose closed as Ran placed down the plates in-front of each judge. "What has our fourth seat put the infamous, stinky cheese to use for? It's time to find out!"

"If you believe the legend, Époisses was first produced by a community of catholic monks, the Cistercians. They passed the recipe to the farmers later on." Chieko gave one of her infamous rambles within the audience. "They say that Napoleon called this cheese one of his favourites!" "But it stinks horribly!" Mika shook herself. "I can't imagine amount of willpower the judges will need to bite into that thing."

"No matter how often I eat Époisses..." Jacqueline muttered, while lowering the tissue she had been holding in front of her nose the entire time. "...Overcoming the smell always remains a challenge." She raised her head a little to meet Ran's eyes. "But I see, you settled on making a quiche?"

Ran folded her hands and smiled sweetly. "Precisely. As expected of the chief editor of one of France's most successful food magazines."

On each of the three plates that Ran had given out was one cake-like treat. The surface was burnt gold-brown, but in-between a bit of green was shimmering through. "Today I serve you, Quiche with salmon & spinach - Époisses Edition."

"Blocking out the smell...", Miyoko spoke up for the first time throughout the entire match, "...It does look appealing. But that's what I know you for after all, Ran." She gave a brusque, yet still somehow appreciative, nod.

"Then let's see how it tastes." Ryo said in his usual dry, tired-sounding manner. "That's what matters the most after all."

Each of the judges took a fork and a knife into their hands and began to slice individual-sized bites from the quiche.

Once the three tasted the warm French delicacies, they felt themselves falling.

It was as if they were drown out of a plane or some sort right in the sky. Backwards they fell, with no parachute in sight, passing a large amount of fluffy clouds.

The ground came nearer and nearer, yet none of them felt any sort off fear in them. And their instincts proved them right as, once they reached the ground, they felt themselves landing in large, soft pillows that were laying on a green, blooming field.

Jacqueline and even Miyoko couldn't help but to release a contented sigh, while Ryo gave a single, short but approving hum.

"Fantastique!" Jacqueline was the first to squeal, back in reality. "The creamy texture is a blessing." She took another bite to underline her satisfaction, this time without even a slight sign of displeasure because of the smell.

"The ingredients balance each other out wonderfully." Miyoko praised. Next to her, Ryo had already taking three more bites while monotonously saying. "I can barely hold myself back."

"That makes me glad to hear." Ran made a slight bow. "And I apologise for the inconveniencing smell of my main ingredient."

Jacqueline of all people was the one to wave her off. "Non, Non. There's no need to apologise for that! The Époisses has been used exquisitely."

Impressed murmurs went through the crowd as these strict judges gave such high praise. "That's Mimasaka-senpai for you..." "I heard her dishes are so delicious that they make the customer instantly forget all about the smell!" "She's not the 4th Seat for nothing huh...?"

"You've been improving rapidly." Miyoko gave a rare, small smirk towards Ran. "And your cooking is as unique as it was when I met you."

Ran laid one hand on her chest. "Thank you so much." Then she suddenly took a turn, the friendly smile remaining on her lips while doing so. "Yukihira-kun, I presume you want a taste?"

Hiraku was caught off guard, evident by how his amethyst eyes slightly widened. "How did you know?" He scratched his chin before adding. "I didn't even have a chance to walk over to you yet."

Ran's answer was a mere chuckle. Then she walked back to her cooking station from which she took a fourth plate.

"There you go." She said with such a warm voice that it felt out of place in this arena of challenge and battle.

As the quiche's extravagant fragrance hit Hiraku fore-front, he couldn't help but to wince a little. Nevertheless he took the plate out of Ran's hands. He sunk his fork into it and brought a piece of it to his mouth, trying his best to ignore the stench in his nose.

Instantly the redhead was met with the same vision of falling that the judges had been through.

"It's really good." He commented after the imagery had faded. "Though everything I could say has already been said." "Thank you regardless." Ran replied gently. "Saying that it's good is more than enough for me."

"But mine will still win." Hiraku said then, rather abruptly. His emotionless voice sounding quite curt in comparison to Ran's kind, motherly tone.

Ran feeling offended by this would have been more than understandable to many, but her face remained completely serene and friendly as Hiraku made his way to the cooking station.

Just then, Kimiko heard the door of the lounge she was sitting in.

Torn between continuing to watch her brother and seeing who it was that entered for about three seconds, she ended up turning her head in the end.

It was a girl Kimiko had never seen before. The first thing she noted about her was how insanely pale she was. Her nearly paper-white skin was a contrast to her hair which was as dark as the night. She wore it in a braid and also had put a couple of white hair clips in the thin bangs that covered her forehead. Her eye-color was a pale, icy blue and they matched the blueish shadows she had underneath her eyes. Said lifeless-looking eyes were covered by glasses.

All in all, she looked like an extra from a Zombie-movie. Or an actual ghost.

"Boss." The girl said, or rather whispered. "You called me up."

"Ah, Kato. There you are." Shigeo stood up from his armchair. "Small-Yukihira", he made an hand gesture towards the girl, "this is Kato Akiko, one of my subordinates. You two are in the same year."

Kimiko unsurely lifted a hand and gave a little wave. "Hi there, Kato-san." Akiko politely nodded back. "Good day, Yukihira Kimiko-san."

Before Kimiko could ask where Akiko knew her name from, Shigeo already began talking again while also taking a few steps towards Akiko. "I believe your instructions should be clear", he said with a side glance to Umino, "the only thing left is this." While speaking, he pulled out a little folded piece of paper. When close enough to Akiko he laid it into her hands which she had already been holding out in preparation.

"Yes, my task is crystal-clear, Boss." Akiko then said and nodded once again.

"Splendid." Shigeo has already turned around again. "Then get going." "Of course, Boss." And just like that the door was closed again. Just in time apparently.

"Now then", Shigeo smirked at Kimiko when he sat back down onto his chair, "let's see if your big brother ends up being our new fourth seat, no?" "Sure." Kimiko gave back, a bit of exhaustion in her voice. She was tired of his mystery-games.

Downwards, Hiraku opened his oven. While watching him, Mika's heartbeat accelerated a little while her eyes begun to yet again radiate.

"It looks a little bit like...cow spots." Daisuke commented while blankly staring at what Hiraku took out of the oven and on his plates: a yellow-brown pizza. Cow spots was probably the best way to describe the imagery on it. Chieko, who adjusted her glasses once again, and Hiroshi wore flabbergasted expressions as they watched Hiraku make his way to the judging table. Yasu tilted his head. "...What a strange idea."

The arena was almost completely silent as everyone watched in awe and wonderment. Even Hideyoshi gave his commentary delayed, because he had been busy being entranced.

"Uh...Uhm...A-And now serving up! Fifth Seat Yukihira Hiraku!"

Wordlessly, Hiraku placed his plates in-front of the judges. Only when he was finished doing so, was when he talked again. "I present to you Four-Cheese-Pizza with melted chocolate."

Jacqueline had worn a frown ever since Hiraku had tasted Ran's dish. "I believe you meant to say Quattro-Formaggi!" She hissed.

Hiraku only blinked in return. "Oh yeah, right. Hayama kept telling me that that was the name. Yeah Quattra-" "QUATTRO" "Quattro-Formatschi-Pizza with melted chocolate, then."

Kimiko swore she heard Shigeo mutter "...moron" under his breath.

Ryo remained motionless, but even Miyoko had begun to slightly frown as well. Jacqueline meanwhile just let out an exasperated sigh. "It looks like junk food!" She spat when looking down at the pizza.

"I fairly understand where the Mademoiselle is coming from." Shigeo then spoke up loudly again, a grin building up on his face. "But I've been thinking", he lifted up his pointer finger and began to explain, "pairing cheese and chocolate is not a new idea of Yukihira's, although I've personally only saw it being done separately. Regardless, both are widely popular food and many consider them a sort-off comfort food in a sense. Cheese contains an amino-acid called tyrosine, which can increase dopamine. Chocolate meanwhile contains tryptophan, a building block of serotonin which is a brain-chemical at play for sexual arousal, and also phenylethylamine. Now, there's also a few similarities in how both of these delicacies are produced. Both are product of fermentation after all, where microbes play a major part in the process..."

Shigeo took a quick sip of his Espresso before coming to a close. "Basically, the idea of pairing these two might not be as far-fetched as it first might sound. But, given the large variety to both chocolate and cheese the true challenge is to find which cheese will go well with what chocolate."

"I see.." Kimiko spoke before even truly processing that she had even opened her mouth. Adding to that she heard an impressed tone in her voice. Shigeo was undoubtedly knowledgeable, that much was clear to her.

As if he read her thoughts, Umino also took it upon himself to confirm it to Kimiko. "You see, Yukihira's lil sis, the Boss is one of the best students of our generation!" Instead of appreciating the nice compliment however, Shigeo just muttered , "Well, it's not like that's a very hard thing to achieve given how the 114th generation mainly consists of morons", into his coffee cup, while rolling his eyes.

Kimiko couldn't help but to wonder though how a person like that might cook.

"Well we are here to taste aren't we? Not to trash-talk." Miyoko meanwhile sternly spoke, a little barely noticeable side-glance to Jacqueline. Then she met Hiraku's eyes. "I've heard quite a bit about you already, lad. I am interested to see if you live up to the reputation that precedes you", she laid a lot of stress in her last words, "Yukihira-kun."

Jacqueline gave a huff, but ended up taking her fork and knife in the end.

The whole hall went dead-silent as the judges took their bites. Some even held their breath as everyone eagerly awaited the result.

Finally, after what must have been several minutes, Jacqueline was the first one to speak.

"Je...Je...ne peux pas y croire..." She stammered in her native language. "C'est magnifique!" Her head sunk downwards and so she needed to put her elbow on the judging table in order to support it with her hand. As if the bite had exhausted her.

"Uh..." Hideyoshi unsurely mumbled into his microphone. "Translation please?"

"She said that she can't believe it and that it is wonderful." Shigeo informed his companions up in their private viewing-space. His smirk grew a little. "Well, would you look at that."

"Whatever she said." Miyoko sent a jolt through Hideyoshi as she slammed her hands on the judging table out of nowhere. "It couldn't have meant anything but that this pizza surpasses the very word 'delicious'!"

Gasps and cries of amazement were heard all across the hall at that high praise. Mika could not suppress a little squeal escaping her.

Ryo lowered his fork and even in his usually so monotone voice the astonishment was evident. "Goddamn, Hiraku. I've eaten your cooking plenty of times now but it never fails to punch me right into the fucking face!" He took another bite as if wanting to confirm yet. "It tastes perfect."

"To...To combine cheese and chocolate...so excellently..." Jacqueline seemed close to faint. "I'm at a loss for words..."

"That's not all yet." Hiraku plainly said, but sharp eyes could see a mischievous little glimmer in his violet eyes. "There's one more thing that will intensify the taste-experience even more."

He went back to his cooking station and took out a bottle out of his cardboard box.

Ran and Shigeo likewise identified it instantly. "Port!"

Within the ranks of the audience, Chieko hastily exclaimed. "He brought out Port-Wine, a widely known and popular fortified sweet wine from Portugal, mainly served with desserts!" "It will pair excellently with both the cheese and the chocolate!" Yasu murmured in slight awe. "The Port he brought seems to be a ruby red one...and it seems to be of high quality as well..."

"I'd say the wine's price definitely goes beyond 122.804,64 Yen..." Shigeo mused while adjusting his glasses. Next to him, Kimiko got the cheese she had been eating stuck in her throat and went into a coughing fit.

"That is NOT a real price for a bottle of red grape juice!" She yelled, after Umino had patted her back a little to stop the coughing.

Shigeo shot her a look while frowning. "Small-Yukihira, there's red wine that is worth a lot more than that..." "But that's not anywhere NEAR Hiraku's price range!" Kimiko went on, interrupting him. "He can not afford that! Where does he even have that from?!"

"Oh, he didn't bought that himself...You're absolutely right in saying he can't afford it." Shigeo informed her, calm and tranquil as a little lake in a windless summer. "He most likely got it as a gift from someone."

This was all getting too unreal for Kimiko. The entire day had been a rollercoaster already but her brother, the guy who had spent his entire life in the same humble surrounding as her, pulling out such an expensive bottle of wine, most likely gifted from some rich chick that wanted to get into his pants, that was the final blow to her.

Hiraku didn't know a thing about the outburst his little sister was having, or that she was here to begin with. Rather, he calmly filled the glasses of the judges with the wine.

"His straying away from your shared path bothers you, I presume...?" Shigeo looked at Kimiko with a calm but unreadable expression on his face. "You feel estranged over the role he's taking on this school? You condemn his pursue for riches and glory?" He phrased all of these as question, but Kimiko felt he was actually rather certain that it was exactly the way he described it.

And well, he was right.

But right before she was about to give a positive answer and then follow it up with a long lament on how frustrating Hiraku had been lately, she remembered all the warnings various trustable sources had given her about Shigeo and that it was probably best to not honestly open up to him.

"Why does that interest you?" She therefore said instead. "You barely know me."

"I might not know you very well yet but I've got to spent quite some time with your older brother already." Shigeo retorted quickly and smoothly. He met her eyes then. "If his current path bothers you as much as I presume it does..." Once again he smirked, while something gleamed in his yellow eyes. Something...dangerous. "...I might be able to do something about it."

Down at the judging table, the three judges tasted the pizza yet again. This time gulping down their bites with a sip of port-wine.

To them, it felt like being taken to heaven.

"You?" Kimiko frowned. "Excuse my doubt on that Shigeo-senpai but I've heard a good number of things about you already. And 'helpful' was not mentioned once."

"The Boss is capable of a whole lot of things." Yamada chimed in and looked at Umino afterwards. "Right?" Umino gave a nod. "Absolutely." He turned his head to Kimiko then. "The Boss can grant you any sort of wish."

A loud, hearty exclaim of Hideyoshi's was heard throughout the arena and possibly even up in space.

"AND THE WINNER IS..."

"You see, Small-Yukihira..." Shigeo gave a nod towards the cooking stations, while Kimiko's eyes went wide over the votes having been casted already.

"...YUKIHIRA HIRAKU, OUR NEW FOURTH SEAT!"

"It's at exactly this moment that Yukihira has become a problem for me as well." Shigeo concluded.

Thunderous applause and loud cries of admiration and worship emerged afterwards. The audience was in a straight up ecstasy. It heavily contrasted Hiraku's stoic, unshakeable - yeah, almost lackadaisical - expression.

"Congratulations, Yukihira-kun." Ran approached him, her smile still as warm as ever before. "You won fairly and made a truly excellent dish. It was my honour to fight against you."

"...She's taking it with a lot of grace." Hiroshi noted. Yasu agreed by giving a nod. Chieko, once again pushed her glasses up her nose. "They don't call her one of the most reasonable and mature members of the Elite 10 for nothing..."

Hiraku gave his senior a nod. "Thank you, Mimasaka-senpai. I had fun, you're a really good cook as well." He tilted his head upwards then to look at the ceiling. "But I need to reach the top spot, so I had no other choice."

Shigeo had his back turned to Kimiko now. "I will put a halt to Yukihira's rise to power either way, Small-Yukihira. I herewith give you the offer to side with me and I promise I will get your brother back to you without hurting him in the process." He gave a small pause before continuing. "If you think you don't need my help, that's your call but take one thing from me...Yukihira Hiraku will go down and if I have to do it without you...", he made a half-turn and when his eyes met Kimiko's she felt a chill running down her spine due to his cold, piercing stare, "...just know that you might get hurt in the process yourself." His threatening smirk grew once again. "That's nothing personal towards you, just business."

Kimiko's brows had sunken more and more downwards throughout his little speech and she balled her fists.

"I'm not afraid of you, you Espresso-addict." She said sharply. He might have caused her a few chills with his frosty stare, but it was going to take him a lot more than that to make her feel any true fear.

Challengingly she took a step towards. "If you have a problem with me, we can gladly settle it with a Shokugeki!"

Umino sharply breathed in air at that, while Yamada gasped.

Shigeo just chuckled. An amused, dark chuckle. "You and Yukihira truly are related."

Before Kimiko could ask what he meant by that, he raised an eyebrow and continued. "To challenge an Elite Member to a Shokugeki. Tsk, Tsk, Small-Yukihira, you have to be more careful." He looked rather amused. "Luckily, I am such a kind guy who's going to ignore that little, suicidal challenge of yours."

Kimiko's face only darkened even more. "You're telling me they let some Al Capone-Wannabe sit in that massively important council?"

"They do." Shigeo retorted, his glasses glaring. "And I already had a feeling you wouldn't quite grasp who exactly you're dealing with, so I arranged a little presentation of my reputation within this school just for you."

He made a presenting gesture towards the glass-window.

Not knowing what he meant, Kimiko looked back to the stage downwards where Hideyoshi was just congratulating a massively disinterested-looking Hiraku.

However just then a figure made her way onto the stage and Kimiko recognised her instantly: Akiko Kato.

She had her course set straight on Hideyoshi and tapped him on the shoulder once she reached her. Hideyoshi instantly disparagingly eyed the insignificant-looking girl from head to toe as he turned to her.

Akiko appeared not the least bit bothered by Hideyoshi's judging stare but rather just placed the little piece of paper that Shigeo had given her earlier into his hands.

Hideyoshi opened it and raised the microphone back to his lips after having read the first word. "Announcement...'Herewith I congratulate Yukihira to his newly acquired seat. Additionally, I would like to inform our newly crowned fourth seat that I took it upon myself to invite his little sister to watch the match in my private viewing box. I am certain she is filled with nothing but pride for her big brother. Signed..." Hideyoshi's heart stopped for a second as he read the following line. "...the Eighth Seat of Totsuki's Elite 10 Council'- but wait a minute, Eighth Seat...that's...?!" He looked up, eyes wide and shock in his voice. "Eizan Shigeo!"

The shift that occurred within the hall as those words were spoken by the host was more than evident to Kimiko.

Instantly a zillion alarmed pairs of eyes landed on the the viewing box that they were in.

Anxious murmurs and mumbles were going through the crowd.

Ran's smile had actually disappeared, as she looked upwards. Meanwhile Hiraku's amethyst eyes were wide in shock and horror.

Kimiko knew what Shigeo had meant. His reputation wasn't just that he was a little unpopular and untrustworthy. He was dreaded. And he had utilised the crowd's reaction to just his name being said to show her so.

Shigeo noted that Kimiko had connected the dots and purred. "Let this just be a warning for you to keep in mind. My offer is still on the table. Ah, and one more thing..."

He leaned a tad bit forwards to meet her eyes better. A grin that Kimiko could only describe as evil formed on his face. "Welcome to Totsuki, Yukihira Kimiko."

Shigeo backed back off then and made a turn to leave the room. "Well then, if you would excuse me I still have a call to make."

Right in-front of the door he halted.

"Bring Small-Yukihira back to Polar Star." Shigeo gave one last command towards Umino and Yamada before leaving the room.

—

Kimiko remembered that Chieko had said she knew Shigeo a little better when Umino and Yamada had approached them as a group earlier.

So late at night, back at Polar Star, she found herself knocking at the bespectacled girl's door.

Chieko was quick to open. She was already dressed into a blue nightdress and as she saw how Kimiko still wore her school uniform, she was fast to scold. "Kimiko-cchi...Why are you still awake? You've had such a long, eventful day behind you!"

Kimiko shrugged. "I suppose that's exactly why I can't sleep." She softly sighed before continuing. "You said you knew that Shigeo-senpai-guy a little better when you offered to come with me.."

"I did?" Chieko squeaked and Kimiko was sure to see her cheeks getting a little red.

"Can you tell me some of it, please?" Kimiko just tiredly continued. She wasn't in the mood for any teases or much discussion. But thankfully to her Chieko noted her tone and after she did a bit of thinking, she finally gave a nod with her lips pressed together.

"Shigeo-senpai is one of Totsuki's current big personalities." Chieko began once the two girl had neatly sit down on her floor with two cups of green tea, that Chieko had quickly made beforehand. "Elite 10 members always gain much of a celebrity-image on this school, but Shigeo-senpai was a notorious personality even before he got his eighth seat."

"I think I saw..." Kimiko murmured before taking a hearty sip from her green tea.

"Shigeo-senpai's family name is a widely recognised one in the culinary industry." Chieko then said and raised a finger as she explained further. "Shigeo-senpai is heir to a big, influential consulting company, which his father is currently leading. As rumours go, Shigeo-senpai had already criticised his father's employees as a young child which showed his sharp understanding of business very early on."

Kimiko was left a little stunned. She had gotten at least a bit used over how Totsuki students loved to make huge deals out of this or that, him or her; but to hear that Shigeo was not the heir to yet another high-end, famous restaurant she had never heard of before but a company certainly took her a bit off-guard.

People from restaurants were familiar opponents to Kimiko, food-businessmen, however, were not.

"Shigeo-senpai's family is very wealthy, even for Totsuki's standards. He's practically made of money." Chieko informed further. "I've felt so, but now I'm sure of it." Kimiko commented and took another sip. "A rich prick is what I'm dealing with."

"Shigeo-senpai never attacks directly, Kimiko-cchi." Chieko stressed with a frown. "You won't get very far with Shokugekis when it comes to him. He'll decline your challenges." "Seriously? Cowar-" "The thing is.." Chieko adjusted her glasses. "...that he has his large network of thugs and other henchmen to get back on." She made a little pause before saying. "He's a crafty tactician, Kimiko-cchi."

As Kimiko only replied with lightly pressing her lips together, Chieko continued. "He pulls his strings in the background while his worker bees do the action for him. Makes you see where the Mafia-nickname comes from..." Another pause and a little sigh interfered before Chieko finally reached the finish line.

"Back when the 114th Generation had their Autumn Elections, Shigeo-senpai gained a nickname for himself", Chieko spoke in final tone, "They call him: 'The Godfather'."

—

Later back in her room, after Kimiko had thanked Chieko for the tea and all the info she had given her and the two had kept on keeping a little bit of small-talk, Kimiko replayed the memories of today on loop.

There was just so much to analyse about it.

Her phone was full of notifications from Hiraku, which she ignored ever since she had picked up the first call up of his and the two had ended up in a little argument over two different things.

"What did he say to you, Kimiko? Whatever it is: Don't believe a word he says!" Hiraku had urged. "I know that myself! Rather you could tell me where you got that wine from which cost an arm and a leg?!" Kimiko had retorted.

What she had gotten from analysing all of Shigeo's words from earlier, he didn't had much of an actual problem with Kimiko but with Hiraku instead. She was sure that if she had entered this school, not related to anyone, he wouldn't have spoken a threat to her right after coming back from her first true Totsuki challenge.

Kimiko sighed.

It all came down to one question again: What the hell had Hiraku been up to this past year?