Silence. The remaining competitors sat at their station standing before their dish and took a moment to think. Nikumi, who was once an afterthought in this competition could have ended the Shokugeki in one fell swoop. She didn't need to stop Soma from eating but she did, she did it to get her feelings across and because of that, she allowed the other competitors a chance to prove themselves to Soma. It may have not been her intention but the other girls felt like Nikumi was taking pity on them.
"That Ikumi…" Hisako spoke first. "She thinks she's so clever. Who does she think she is?"
The Shokugeki for Soma. Was it a battle of the best dishes? A battle of conflicting feelings? Nikumi's philosophy believed it to be both. She pulled out all the stops.
"She even went as far as to sabotage my dish…" Erina held her plate of lamprey eel and tilted it from side to side just to see the sauce dance around the plate. "It's not as if my feelings in this dish aren't present. But should I start over? This dish…it's ruined. How would Soma get out of this predicament?"
"I know! She saved all the hassle for me!" Alice had a bright wide smile on.
"What?"
"I mean…" Alice avoided eye contract by staring off into space like an innocent airhead.
"You were planning to mess with my dish too?" Erina asked in a threatening manner, slowly reaching over for the table salt.
"To be fair…I think everyone here had plans with your dish."
"Alice, WHY?!" Megumi and Hisako felt chills as Erina's expression changed.
Erina darted her eyes around the room, rotating between Alice, Hisako and Megumi. Holding the salt like a grenade. Which ever dish she decided to throw it at, that person would have to start over from the beginning, the ultimate sabotage of highly unethical proportions. Alice, Hisako and Megumi all shared a glance and nodded in agreement before they all tackled Erina to the ground.
Nikumi stood beside Soma who was no longer tied to his chair. Nikumi's face was all red as she slowly tried to inch ever closer to Soma. Their moment together was interrupted by grunts and screams coming from the Polar Star kitchen.
"The hell's that sound?" Soma picked his ear with his pinky as he patiently waited for the next contestant's meal.
"D-dunno." Nikumi shyly answered him. "But I'm glad that I'm not a part of that."
Nikumi had opened Pandora's box with no consequences of her own actions. Instead, she had been rewarded with some alone time with the person she loved. She had all the time in the world before the second dish was ready to be served. The time had opened up, Nikumi's plan had reached phase 2.
"So, is there anything that needs improvement in my brisket?" Nikumi shuffled her shoulders as she played with her hands.
"Nope. Not that I can think of. Maaaaaan just thinking about it makes me drool."
"Then, I bet you can't wait to see what everyone else makes. You know, considering they may be better cooks than I am. I would expect their meal to beyond our comprehension. I expect Hisoko's medical cooking to stimulate our senses to its' limits. Or Erina's dishes to be incredibly creative, as a former Elite Ten she had all the opportunity to train with the other Elite Tens like the first seat, Eishi. Or Alice to make a dish so crazy that every bite feels like a scientific experiment."
"You're totally right Nikumi. I would really like it if Alice made something that allowed me to play with my food."
"Haha, right?" "Got him!" "Anything lower than that and I'd be pretty disappointed."
Nikumi knew it'd be difficult to convince Soma of a poorly made dish from her competitors. Nikumi took things to another extreme and decided to hype up her competitors to the best of her ability only to have their dish not follow through with Soma's expectations. Phase 2 was a double-edged sword, if the dish was able to live up to the hype, it'd only double Soma's reception of the dish. Which is why she decided not to mention Megumi, she sure as hell was not going to underestimate someone in the same dimension as her.
"Sniff, sniff."
Soma and Nikumi turned towards the direction of the sniffles. Before them stood Ryoko hugging and patting Yuki's head, however, both of them were in tears.
"W-we…we wanted to be in the Shokugeki too!" The two of them began to bawl like babies
Yuki loosened her grip of Ryoko and then hugged Nikumi's legs. "Who? Nikumi-cchi, tell me…who stole my eggs?! Who stole my chickens?!"
"What? S-someone stole them?" Nikumi stopped resisting Yuki and just accepted that Yuki was determined to hug her legs. "Was there anyone who was using chicken and eggs?"
"What about you, Ryoko?" Soma asked her.
"Someone stole all my koji! My natto, my sake, my rice…all…gone." Ryoko took this opportunity to cry and cling onto Soma's back which irritated Nikumi who couldn't help but look on as her feet were bound by Yuki's grip.
"Did they make this excuse up? No, their tears look genuine…" Nikumi couldn't help but feel sorry for them. "They have feelings for him too. They probably wanted to convey their feelings on the plate as well…"
With the ingredients of their specialty no longer accessible, Ryoko and Yuki had given up before the battle started. It didn't matter if the prize was exclusive rights to Soma, there was no way they'd win. The competition was too stacked and they were at a huge disadvantage. At all costs, by the end of the competition, they wanted to learn who had sabotage them to the point of no return.
"Restrain her!" Megumi commanded as Alice and Hisako gripped Erina's wrist tightly. Megumi had managed to get Erina's cousin and personal attendant to turn on her.
"Let me go!" I swear, I'll get you all back!"
"But Erina, we didn't do anything yet." Hisako hugged her best friend in order to calm her down and gain her trust.
"Hisako…" Erina returned the embraced before taking this chance to aggressively push her off. "I won't be falling for that one!"
So much for that.
"Sheesh! This is what happens when a sheltered child learns what a prank is for the first time." Alice had to restrain Erina herself while Hisako recovered. "Hmm?"
Erina, Hisako and Alice all stared as calmly Megumi headed back to her station and began to fix up her soup despite all the chaos going on in the room.
"Megumi, what are you doing? You have to help restrain-"
"There's no need. I don't plan to do anything to anyone. I'll place my trust in Erina and everyone else. Can't you see? If this is what Nikumi wanted, then I'm not falling for it. Yes, causing mischief can occur during an unofficial Shokugeki such as this but can I truly say I deserve Soma if I win with underhanded tactics?"
Megumi's words struck a chord with each and every one of them. Sure, ruining the dishes may have been a plan for Nikumi but that didn't necessarily apply to the other competitors. It was a good thing Megumi strayed them away from the path of darkness before they obtained a tainted victory.
"I-is it possible?"
"Are we seeing…?"
"An angel!?"
The three girls stared on at Megumi and pictured her with wings and a bright light descending upon her.
"H-how can we hope to match up someone like her?"
Their wills crumbled at the mere thought of Megumi's angelic personality and housewife features that were clear as day whenever she cooked. Suddenly the tables had turned, suddenly it wasn't Erina or Nikumi but Megumi who had become the strongest competitor. But how? How could they hope to stand up to this goddess that stood before them? That fact was only reinforced as Megumi gave them all a close-eyed smile.
"Please, you're making me blush~!" Megumi clapped her cheeks which now were flushed red. "FOOLS! I don't need to sabotage your plates to win. All I need to do is lower the possibility of someone sabotaging my dish and this match will be as good as finished. Because, I still have other tricks up my sleeve! Do you know how long I've been preparing for this Shokugeki? I was the first to learn what a great person Soma is. I could never tell Soma my feelings and as time went by, more and more girls began to learn just who he truly was. And so, I knew this day would come. A day when I'd be forced to let my feelings be known. So…I can't lose here!"
No matter how dark Megumi's heart was, her words rung true and the other girls accepted what they heard. Things had settled down and everyone was back to cooking. Though they neglected their dish for quite some time, nothing bad occurred, everyone just picked up where they left off. However, Hisoko and Alice couldn't help but smile. A smile that they hid from everyone.
"Kukuku, I have to thank you Megumi, now I don't have watch my back anymore." Alice sighed a breath of relief and then set her dish into the oven and waited for it bake.
"I hope you've lowered your guard. Because, I'll strike when you least expect it." Hisako reached into her pocket and sprinkled what could only be assumed as a secret seasoning into her meal.
"What a relief. Maybe I'll stand chance since we're fighting fairly now." Poor little naïve and innocent Erina. She may have been the best chef here, but on this culinary battlefield she was a mere unsuspecting deer in the headlights.
"You know, Nikumi could sugarcoat it all she wants…but deep down, she's a bitch."
"Haha, that's spot on Hisako! Salting Erina's dish, pitting us against each other. All under the guise of being desperately in love with Soma. Bitch move."
"She thinks she can manipulate us? In my kingdom? After this Shokugeki is said and done I'll have both her and Soma submissive and groveling at my feet. Don't worry, I'll allow everyone to do what they will with the one they call Ikumi Mito."
"Ha…haha…" Megumi awkwardly laughed as she began to feel sorry for throwing Nikumi under the bus. She may have just potentially destroyed any chance for Nikumi to maintain her friendship with the girls.
Nikumi sneezed. As if she didn't have enough problems herself. Ryoko was clinging onto her man and Yuki prevented her from doing anything about it.
"I-I…I wanted to make something for my beloved Soma too."
Yuki finally let go of Nikumi and crawled over to Soma's legs, and hugged him around the waist. Her face was full of tears, her nose was also oozing out some sort of clear liquid, both of which had dripped down to her lips and then onto the floor.
"I wanted to make something for my beloved Soma that I love so much!"
"Geh!" Soma had no idea how to respond.
"That has got to be one of the ugliest confessions I've ever seen." Nikumi didn't even feel threatened, she only pitied Yuki that that is how Soma had to find out.
Soma was absolutely flustered. He didn't respond to Nikumi's words before but there was no ignoring Yuki's confession.
"I'm sorry? You're slobbering everywhere. I couldn't catch that. Maybe you should go clean yourself up first."
Ryoko nodded her head, agreeing with Soma who she continued to cling onto, "Yeah, clean up Yuki. By that time, Soma will be all mine-"
Hisako walked through the door, plate in hand. Erina, then Megumi, then Alice followed soon after.
"Ah, sorry Ryoko! Hisako's made something for me." Soma smelled the aroma of ginger teriyaki sauce wafting gently through the air.
At first glance, it was completely different from Nikumi's dish. But that was obvious, Nikumi made enough for a family of four. Hisako simply made enough for Soma.
"I have before you, stir-fried noodles. The noodles were substituted and instead I used spaghetti. I cooked it in truffle oil and then doused the entire meal in a ginger teriyaki sauce."
Soma spotted other components in the sauce such as garlic, and greens such as green onions among the dish. It lacked the same overwhelming intensity as Nikumi's dish but that was fine. That was never what Soma expected of Hisako. He took a bite of the plate set before, slowly slurping as the everyone in the room just stopped, stared, and waited for his reaction.
"This is exactly something I'd expect of you, Hisako. Something clean, pure, radiant and good for my body. Heh, am I describing my dish…or was I just describing you?" He imagined Hisako waiting for him under a cover of bed sheets. "Wait…what?"
Soma suddenly caught himself thinking perverted thoughts and stopped himself. His breathing grew louder and louder until it sounded like he was panting. It worried everyone in the room with the exception of Hisako.
"This sauce is very…you. But why the spaghetti? Why use an Italian ingredient with this sauce?" And then it hit Soma.
Soma noticed it immediately after looking at Hisako who he found to look incredibly cute as she used her hair to hide the expression in her eyes. The Mitamura Special Napolitan, a dish that is featured in the menu of Western Cuisine Mitamura was a spaghetti dish. During the stagiaire, the two of them were paired up and worked at Western Cuisine Mitamura. It was a far reach to connect the dish with the history the two had, but Soma had caught on.
"It appears you've noticed. It is the very location where my heart began to falter. Where I realized that everything Erina had said about you had been wrong. During our time together, You and I ran that restaurant and I thought that in the future, it wouldn't be so bad if we ran Yukihira…together."
"Not fair…you can't smile and wink at the same time after saying something like that!" Soma's chest tightened and he began blushing, his cheeks were visibly pink. "Something's wrong here…was Hisako…always this…cute? Now that I had some time to look, everything about her is top-notch too. I don't know why, but I think at this very moment, something like this is acceptable."
Soma slowly brought his fork up, wrapped full of spaghetti and offered it to Hisako.
"Say, ahh."
"Heh." Hisako grinned at the very opportunity before her. "Ahhh~"
Hisako leaned over towards the fork. Soma was in a daze. He was only focusing on her lips and when she leaned over, a clear view of her cleavage had entered his field of vision and in the state he was in right now, he couldn't just ignore that view. Soma stuck the fork in her mouth and she moaned seductively as she took a bite.
"God damn. One more time please."
Hisako closed her eyes and took another bite but the weight of this spaghetti string was a lot heavier than usual. In fact, it felt like Soma was tugging it away from her. But why? She wanted him to personally feed her more. She opened her eyes and found that her and Soma were both slurping on the same piece of spaghetti and as they both slurped, their faces inched closer and closer.
"Please, just a bit more, Soma."
"Our faces are so close. If I continue on…then we're gonna…I can't allow this!"
The other contestants had just stared on, in both fascination and fear. It was incredible to see intimate romance blossom before them but…it was Soma. They all wished they were Hisako, oh how lucky she was to be that close to kissing Soma. Soma bit down, disconnecting the spaghetti between the two. He regained control of his body and backed away from the table, from the plate of ginger teriyaki spaghetti and away from Hisako.
"S-Soma, what's wrong?!" Hisako cried out as she felt like she missed a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"This dish is what's wrong!" Soma was still gathering himself after he had a very intimate moment with Hisako. "Hisako…" Soma's voice lowered as he dragged on. "What did you put in this dish?"
"Huh? Looks like a perfectly normal dish to me." Alice kept tapping her lips with her finger as she observed from afar.
"Smells normal too." Megumi quickly backed away from the dish. This was the dish that had intoxicated Soma and now he was being extra wary.
Erina swiped a bit of the sauce and licked it. "Ah, is this what they call an indirect kiss~? Wait…why would I care about anything like that?!...Hmm?" Erina kept blinking at the dish, everything tasted as it should have and yet…with her God Tongue she was able to tell there was something…off.
"Erina-cchi? You're all red."
"Do you have a fever or something?" Megumi touched Erina's forehead with the back of her hand.
Erina shook her head, "No, that's not it. How can I describe it?"
"Oh oh!" Alice was ready to take this opportunity to tease her cousin to her heart's content. "I bet you feel like doing lewd things~ Hehe."
Erina's eyes opened widen as she nodded her head and pointed at Alice for being correct.
"Yes! Exactly that."
"HUH?!"
The room was silent. Everyone just stared on as Erina, the ice queen who had everyone bow down to her every whim, admitted to thinking perverted thoughts. But this change in personality only happened after Erina licked the sauce of Hisako's plate. Which begs the question. What in the world did Hisako put in her dish? All eyes were now on Hisako, who was shaking. She curled herself in a ball, ready to face her punishment but refused to let up on her secret ingredient. At that point, there was only one thing to do.
"Restrain her!"
"No, wait. We can talk about this!"
Megumi had commanded of everyone. Hisako was struggling mightily, kicking, flailing and then turtling to defend whatever was this so-called secret ingredient which was on her person. Soma thought it'd be harassment if he helped restrain a female classmate of his. But that was fine to him, after all, he had a good view of his other female classmates pouncing on Hisako who was sprawled out across the floor. But then he caught himself in more perverted thoughts and tried to stop thinking about it immediately.
"What is going on with me right now?"
After doing a body search of Hisako, they discovered a crushed white powder in a clear prescription bottle.
"Hisako, what is this?" Erina gave her a stern look. Perfect, Erina was the best person to interrogate the medical cook. Erina just dangled the bottle in front of her. "Tell me, before I feed you all of its' contents."
"Ummm, Erina…I'm not quite sure if you know this but too much medicine could kill someone." Megumi meekly warned her before cowering away.
"Oh? Then she better speak up fast."
"Geez, that's terrifying…" Ryoko and Alice backed away from the entire situation. After that statement, Hisako was no longer being held down by anyone. Erina's death stares were enough to make Hisako weak at the knees.
"It's…an aphrodisiac. An incredibly potent one at that."
"Wait, so you mean to say…"
Everyone looked over at Soma who was still panting and blushing heavily. As a boy going through puberty, the aphrodisiac only made things worse. He was a pent up ball of hormones. His hormones were out of control but he put all his willpower into resisting temptation. And it was lucky that he did, if he hadn't, the Shokugeki might have ended right there with him and Hisako kissing and her being declared the winner.
"And I was so close too!" Hisako's eyes squinted, sad at the thought of being unable to succeed in her ploy. She touched her lips, disappointed that it never reached Soma's.
"Kukuku." Alice laughed to herself.
It seemed Megumi had the same thought as she too laughed to herself. Hisako was the only one to notice the devious laughter from the two and felt unsettled.
"Thank you…Hisako!" Megumi and Alice continued laughing to themselves.
The Shokugeki had progressed. Soma had been forced to become an aroused teenager in a sea of women that surrounded him and it would only further distract him from being able to properly judging each and every dish. Alice and Megumi's laughter had indicated their intention on using Hisako's aphrodisiac to their advantage. But they had other tricks up their sleeves to win over Soma. Poor Erina, relatively new to the concept of love and war was unaware of it all. And worse for an unsuspecting Soma, what was originally supposed to be a nice, quaint Shokugeki for Soma had just evolved into the Suffering of Soma.
AN: This chapter may not have been a battle of wits like the first one, but it goes to show that this Shokugeki can take all sorts of shapes and forms. It was always my intention to have a dense Soma hopefully this chapter gave insight on why that is. Also my intention to have Ryoko and Yuki unable to participate due to someone stealing their ingredients (The side story mystery) I just didn't know where to include that in the first chapter after this changed into a multi-chapter fic. However, any other girls of the 92nd generation, were afterthoughts to be honest.
Each trick/sabotage when presenting the plate is in-character for them. (Nikumi: Large portions of meat, Hisako: Drugs) Which made timing when someone would present their plate difficult! Order doesn't foreshadow the result, just means I already have everyone's tricks in mind and had to think about the domino effect each one would have. RIP Soma.
Thank you for reading, until the next time!