Kyandi: Hey guys. So sorry it took me so long to get back to writing.

Ariadne: She hasn't really been doing so great.

Kyandi: Yeah, sorry. My mother recently passed away and I've been having a hard time bouncing back.

Ariadne: So be patient with her. She's trying to get back to normal.

Kyandi: Not sure if that's going to happen, but I'm trying to get as close to it as I can.

Ariadne: Until then, we'll try to get chapters out as we can.

Kyandi: I'll be cutting this interaction short, so please enjoy and review.

Ariadne: Kyandi-sama does not own Shokugeki no Souma.

Chapter 27 All The Stops

Come the day of the promotion exams, Ariadne and her friends found themselves in Hokkaido, Yuuki and Souma diving face-first into the snow. Ariadne had received permission to bring Taliyah with her and stood there, watching as her sister flopped into the snow to make a snow angel.

"Be careful, Tali. Trust me, you don't want to get it into your clothes." Ariadne called to her sister.

"This is my first time in Hokkaido!" Yuuki cheered.

"Same here!" Ryoko added.

"Ari! There's snow everywhere!" Tali exclaimed as she flopped through the piles of flurries.

"I see that." Ariadne laughed as she watched her friends excitedly build a snowman, the boys helping Taliyah to pile up the balls. "Taliyah, don't you dare leave your scarf on that snowman. He'll be just fine, but you'll catch a cold."

Taliyah grinned guiltily as she stopped unraveling her scarf and tucked it back around her neck. From beside her, Alice silently laughed at the animated way in which their friends played in the snow. Coming from countries and areas where it snowed, Ariadne, Alice, Ryou, and Megumi found it amusing to watch it.

"I understand Tali, she's a child, but the rest of you are acting like children in a candy store." Ariadne remarked. She went unheard.

None of them, though, missed Erina when she spoke. "This isn't the time to be so carefree!"

Yuuki flinched before she turned to Erina, whining like a child. "Erina-sensei…"

"Did you come here to play? Is this really the time to be frolicking about in the snow?" Erina demanded, the others begging for forgiveness while the rest of the first years watched with weirded out looks on their faces.

Something that only amused Ariadne more. She had to admit that her group of friends was…unusual, but that was what made it all the more fun for her. Especially when Erina then obsessed over whether or not she was too hard on them, Hisako assuring her that she had been perfectly awesome. After a week of Erina-styled lectures about Hokkaido and the ingredients one could find there, Ariadne would think that she would be past worrying about it.

With her friends wrangled, they all boarded their buses, Tali sitting in Ariadne's lap while someone spoke to the first years over the intercom.

"Tootsuki Academy first years. Welcome to Hokkaido. This year's promotion exams are now upon us. As the exam involves a trip through this northern country, it is often called by the following nickname. Tour du Nord! A name that almost symbolizes the harshness of this land of the north. Now, if you look to your right…those who fail at any stage of the examination will be taken by the bus you see there directly to the airport. They will be returned to Tokyo, where they will be summarily expelled from the academy. We wish you all the very best of luck in the battles you will face from here on out. Thank you for waiting. Our bus has just reached the venue of the first examination!"

Ariadne, her sister hanging off one hand, looked up at the building they had arrived at, the other first years spilling out around them. She could see many people who worked for Azami all around them and peered down at her sister. "Stick close to me, Tali."

Taliyah moved closer to her legs, grabbing Ariadne's hand with both of hers as she nodded. She stayed as close to Ariadne's legs as she could as Ariadne followed the direction of the workers to where she would be taking her first exam.

They were told that the first exam would take place in several different rooms and locations, the students assigned to groups of six. Ariadne found herself paired with Souma, Ryou, Alice, Yuuki and Megumi.

"So, this is our group, huh?" Ariadne remarked, looking around.

"Damn, I guess they really aren't pulling any punches with their groupings, huh?" Souma asked.

"Haha…they've really singled out us "rebels", haven't they…" Yuuki fretted.

"Even Alice-san is…" Megumi trailed off, looking at Alice.

"Fufu…this is how it should be. This should be an excellent chance to give Uncle Azami a taste of his own medicine!" Alice remarked. "By the way, you all…I heard that Erina gave you a special lecture on Hokkaido in preparation for the exam! You should have asked me! I'd have taught you much more useful information!"

Ariadne pat her head, her eyes cutting over to where Taliyah was sitting in a chair nearby. Her eyes then scanned the room, looking for the rest of their friends. Something that Souma and Megumi were doing, too.

"I guess the other dorm members and Takumi, and all are in other rooms, huh…" Souma remarked.

"Looks like you're right…Mito-san and Arato-san, too." Megumi replied.

"They probably ended up all grouped up like us, too." Ariadne remarked, her eyes turning then. "All of us except Erina, that is."

The others turned to where Erina had been paired with a group of Central followers. Yuuki fretted all the more. "So, they've separated Erinacchi away from us…to ensure that she'll make it safely to her second year, eh?"

Ariadne laid a hand on top of Yuuki's head. "No fear, Yuuki. We'll all make it to our second year, one way or the other."

A teacher, an older lady, spoke then, drawing all of their attention to her. "Everyone, your attention! You can call me Ms. Hiori. I am a Tootsuki Academy lecturer. I will be the examiner for this room. The theme ingredient for this room will be salmon! If you can make a salmon dish that I deem to be sufficiently delicious, you will pass!"

"Salmon, huh…" Souma remarked.

Yuuki excitedly cheered at the sound of that, though Ariadne had a sense of foreboding. "Oooh! Salmon! Th-that's pretty lucky, isn't it? After all, we've got a fish cuisine specialist, Kurokiba-kun, on our team! He even managed to beat a Central second year in a Food War! And Megumi too, she's from a port town, isn't she? With this theme ingredient, we've definitely got a chance at passing!"

"I have a feeling that it's not going to be that simple, Yuuki." Ariadne told her.

"What do you me – "

"I trust all of you attended Headmaster Azami's special preparatory lesson, right?" Hiori said then, Yuuki freezing on the spot. "Simply reproducing the dishes the headmaster taught you there should be enough to reach the passing standard. Be calm and cook with confidence! Sound good?"

"And there it is." Ariadne said with a sigh.

"Hmm…so that's how it's gonna go, huh…what brazen harassment." Alice agreed.

"F-fine! We'll show you!" Yuuki declared.

"Yeah! All we've gotta do is make something delicious to pass, right? I'm sure if we try, we should be able to!" Megumi agreed.

"But why salmon, of all things?" Souma asked.

"It is suspicious." Ariadne agreed. "I mean…salmon isn't really in season right now, is it?"

"No matter how you look at it, the season for salmon is fall. Now that we're well into winter, the yields will have fallen considerably, as will the quality of the flesh." Ryou confirmed.

"And yet, the theme is salmon. I smell a fox in our chicken coop." Ariadne remarked.

"Indeed!" Alice proclaimed.

"Ah, come to think of it, you're right…" Megumi trailed off as Yuuki called their attention.

"But there's no need for us to worry! Look!"

All of them turned as cared were wheeled in with high-quality salmon packed in ice. The fish, even from a distance, looked good, but one glance at Hiori told Ariadne that something was amiss. She was proven right when their salmon was sat before them. One look was all it took for them all to understand what was going on.

"Sometimes, I hate when I'm right." Ariadne said on a sigh.

"Come on…these won't be of any use. These are hocchare." Ryou added.

"Of course, they would give us the worst quality fish." Ariadne muttered.

"Wh…why do only we get these?!" Yuuki demanded. "Wait a minute! Examiner! These salmon – "

"Everyone have their ingredients? Good!" The examiner completely ignored Yuuki. "Right now, it is a little past noon. You have until sunset today. Begin cooking! Make me the best salmon dish you can!"

The other students got right to work, leaving Ariadne's team to wonder what they were going to do with the poor ingredients they were presented with.

"I see…" Souma said thoughtfully. "I guess, even in the other rooms, the "rebels" are being given this sort of treatment!"

Hiori snickering from behind them, made them turn to her. "If you have any complaints with the ingredients we have provided, you are more than welcome to go procure ingredients of your own. We have no problem with you using fish that you catch yourself. But, as you know, the season for salmon is long over! The only reason the academy was able to assemble such top-of-the-line quality ingredients today is because of the immense influence it exerts over Hokkaido, and even Japan's, food-stuff exchange markets! Which means…now, finding salmon yourselves that could ever hope to meet passing standard will be all but impossible!"

A sense of doom fell over some of Ariadne's friends. Yuuki looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack. "Wh-wh-wha-what do we do?!"

"Well," Souma heaved a sigh before turning towards the countertop. "We should at least make a snack or something out of these salmon. They'll go to waste otherwise."

"Oh. Yeah." Yuuki whipped around to glare at Souma. "Yeah right! Is that it? Is that all we've got? Isn't there some way to make these taste amazing, like how you always do with cheap ingredients!? There should be some way of cooking that'll make even these salmon taste excellent!"

"Yuuki," Yuuki looked at Ariadne when she spoke. "That's a pretty big ask. These salmon have the least amount of fat of any harvested any other time of the year. Even curing them like Souma did during the Fall Election wouldn't work. No matter what you use in the curing process, it would still take a few days and we only have until sunset. So…six hours, at best."

Horror dawned on Yuuki's face. "No way…so then what…?"

Snickers drew their attention to the other students around them. Several comments reached them. "Look…they're freaking out."

"Yeah…fufu. That's what they get for going against Headmaster Azami."

"As the headmaster says, those who do not follow the ways of Central must leave Tootsuki."

"No…this can't be…Are you telling me that this is the end of the line!?" Yuuki asked, slamming her hands on the counter. "This…this can't be! For us to be unable to pass cause of the way they've distributed the ingredients…this is beyond unfair! And now we're gonna get expelled. This is just horrid!"

"Oh, ye of little faith." Yuuki just to fix tear-filled eyes on Ariadne, who didn't look the least bit worried.

"Nakiri did say something during the study session. It was called…" Souma trailed off, Ariadne, Alice and Ryou catching on to what he meant. "Say, Nakiri. That stuff, if we look for it, we should be able to find some, no?"

"Most definitely." Alice replied. "I can tell you, as someone that trained in Scandinavia, that it'll be there."

"Kurokiba. If we're gonna have to go looking for it now, we'll only barely have enough time to complete the actual preparation. It'll be close." Souma added.

"What're you trying to imply, eh? You think I'd actually be slow when it comes to cooking fish?" Ryou asked, insulted.

Souma ignored him. "Ari, think you can secure what we'll need?"

"Oh, yeah. No problem." Ariadne replied.

A grin curled Souma's mouth while Yuuki and Megumi watched the four in confusion. "There's no need to resign ourselves to expulsion just yet, guys. Just you watch. The most delicious dish of this room will be served by us!"

"What did you just say? You'll serve the most delicious salmon dish of this room?!" Hiori exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah…we've gotta rush, though." Souma told her. "Scatter, guys!"

As her teammates scattered, grabbing their coats, Hiori watched them in befuddlement. "Wha…? Are they really going to go looking for salmon now? The academy has already obtained all the top-class salmon that are available at this time of year! How in the world do they think they'll – "

"You shouldn't count us out, just yet." Hiori turned to Ariadne as she came to a stop, Taliyah at her side. A sly grin curled the girl's lips. "After all, I'm a Sinclair with connections around the world." Ariadne waved her cellphone in the teacher's face. "You supporters of Central want to play hardball? Well, that's fine. I'll be pulling all the stops too, then. Don't pout too much when I win, though. It's unsightly."

With that, Ariadne turned, already punching in a number in her phone. She had it pressed to her ear as she and her sister rushed out the door after her teammates. They weren't going to let Central get away with this. If Azami wanted to play it this way, then she would have to step up to the plate and show that she wasn't just talk. They would see.

It took longer than Ariadne thought it would take, her whole squad rolling back into the exam site just thirty minutes shy of sunset with their ingredients in hand. Hiori turned to them with a smug look on her face as they headed towards their station. "It looks like your little tantrum is over. I wonder, may I ask how your search went? Although I already know you've only managed to scrounge together some lean, out-of-season fish, rig…"

Hiori trailed off as Ariadne sat the cold box she had been carrying on the counter, opening it to reveal the fish inside. She gasped at the sight of the salmon they had been able to get their hands on, same as the rest of the students in the classroom.

"Wha…what the! Those salmon are top-of-the-line! The firmness of their flesh, the sparkle of their scales…no matter how you look at it, they're exquisite!" one student exclaimed.

"These are…tokishirazu!" Hiori added.

All of the students were shocked. The type of salmon Ariadne's team had managed to get were fished from spring to summer, instead of fall, leaving them with the usual nutrients that formed roe and milt still in their meat. They were, by far, the most delicious salmon one could get their hands on.

"Fufu…you've heard of it, haven't you, sensei?" Alice asked with a sly grin. "The brine method!"

"Listen closely, my lovelies." Ariadne called to the other students. "It's a quick freezing method that uses brine liquid brough to below zero degrees Celsius. Because food frozen this way reaches its freezing point in an incredibly short amount of time, tis cell membranes remain undamaged. In short, the food can be frozen without affecting its quality. A sort of technique that stops time if you will."

"Science and haute cuisine…the wisdom of each field is crystalized in this technique!" Alice added.

"Man, it was thanks to Ari's connections that we were able to find a place that uses brine freezing in the few hours we had!" Souma cheered.

"I'm just glad they still had some tokishirazu in stock!" Megumi added.

Ariadne flipped her hair over her shoulder. "It's no sweat. An old friend of my mother's hooked me up as quick as he could."

Hiori couldn't believe what she was hearing. To think that they had managed to get their hands on such a thing at the very last moment. No one had thought that they would have such a detailed knowledge of ingredients in the area in order to pull it off. But Hiori wasn't concerned about it. As far as she was concerned, the group would never be able to pull off a dish in under thirty minutes.

"Were you paying attention to the rules of the examination? You have less than thirty minutes till sunset, the predetermined end of the exam! Tokishirazu? Brine freezing? At the forefront of the gourmet world, all that is but common knowledge! I'll admit that I was a little surprised that you managed to get your hands on some ingredients, but if you're unable to present a cooked dish, it was all for naught! None of this will affect whether or not you pass the exam!" Hiori laughed.

None of Ariadne and her group were listening to her though, Souma checking on the unfreezing of the fish while Ariadne got her sister situation and then pulled her hair back. Souma and Ryou tied on their headbands, Ariadne and Alice grabbing their tools.

"Let's get to it, then, shall we?" Ariadne asked her teammates.

"Don't order me around!" Ryou yelled.

"My bad, my bad."

The four got to work, all of them working at the fastest pace as they could, surprising the others with how quickly they flew through the prep work. Yuuki and Megumi joined in, the six of them moving as an unit without a single second wasted. Ariadne, humming some tune that her sister joined her in humming, dancing around her friends, handing off ingredients as she finished prepping them. In the little time they had left, they managed to serve up their dish to Hiori.

"Yuan-style grilled tokishirazu!"

Hiori was sure that it would never hold up to their standards, but one bite was all it took to reduce her to her knees. She had been wrong in thinking that presenting them with a disadvantage would be enough to make them crumble and now, she had them looking at her with smug looks on their faces.

"Now, then, Ms. Examiner. Don't you think you spoke a little too ill of us?" Souma asked. "I can tell you that I, at least, won't throw in the towel at stuff like this."

"I don't think any of us will, Souma." Ariadne added.

"It's all part of a day's work. Fighting with the supplier to ensure the best quality ingredients, and making sure to put out a well-made dish are both the job of diner chefs!" Souma added.

Though it made her grind her teeth, Hiori passed them, unable to deny the deliciousness of the dish. With the exam passed, all of those who had made it through, were told to report to the train. It was there that they were relieved to find that all of their friends had managed to pass as well. Ariadne was glad to see they had managed to pass this task, but with five more to come, she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be too happy with whatever tricks Azami could throw at them.

She was still lost in that thought process when she put her sister to bed that night.

"Ari," Ariadne looked down at her sister as she tucked the blanket in around her. "Are you feeling alright? You don't look like you feel well."

Ariadne gave her a smile, touched by her sister's concerned. "I'm fine, Tali. Just thinking. These tests might end up being harder than your big sister thought."

"Yeah, but, you're Ari. You can do anything!" Taliyah cheered, a serious look on her little face.

Ariadne chuckled at that one. "As happy as it makes me to know you think that, I'm human, too, Tali. I make mistakes and mess up just like anyone else."

"Well, yeah, I know that." Taliyah sounded like she was offended that Ariadne might think otherwise. "But you work hard and never give up. Grandma says that what makes Sinclairs special."

Ariadne leaned against the side of the bed, propping her elbow on the mattress to drop her chin in her hand. "Oh, really? What else has Grandmother told you?"

Taliyah's face lit up. "Grandma says you're the most special of us all, because you got an extra dose of the Sinclair Touch."

Ariadne smiled. Sinclair Touch…Ariadne remembered all the times her father had told her of the story passed down through the family of special talents of each of the family heir's. Each one, the story said, had a talent for cooking, all of them able to bring out ingredients' full potential with a flare that most others didn't possess. It was like every piece of food a Sinclair touched was suddenly bestowed with a sinful flavor that only a being of heaven, or in their case, hell, could bring about. Thus, it gave birth to the name Sinclair Touch.

"Did she now?" Ariadne prompted.

"Grandma says that you'll be the best of us all and that you're super reliable. I think she's right." Taliyah added.

"Oh?"

Taliyah rolled over so that she was facing her sister. "You're always there for me, Dante, and Grandma. Even when you're super busy. I always know that I can count on you when I'm in trouble. So, I know you won't let your friends down. You're the best friend out there and you'll prove it to everyone, I just know it!"

Ariadne couldn't help the big grin on her face. It was hard to be apprehensive when she got such praise. It made her feel better about going forward from that point. "Well, thank you for believing in me. I can't possibly go and mess up now, can I?"

"No!"

Ariadne tapped her sister's nose. "Right. I'll do my best. Now, go to sleep. Tomorrow is an early day."

"Okay. Love you to the moon and back."

"Love you to stardust."

Ariadne watched as her sister sank beneath the blanket up to her nose and closed her little eyes. Soon, the little girl was sound asleep. It always made Ariadne happy to just watch her sleep, knowing that if no one else did, Taliyah would always believe in her and support her. She couldn't, on good conscious, let her little sister down, now could she? Tomorrow, she would have to prove, once again, that Azami would have to go to hell and back in order to beat her and her friends.

Good thing that Hell was her homefield.

The next day, they found themselves in the location of the second exam, Sapporo. They were quickly relocated by bus to a hotel in the mountains. Yuuki complained the whole way about not being given the time to look around, but all of them pretty much ignored her. When they were gathered for the exam, the next examiner explained what their next task would be.

"How was your long train journey? I hope you all slept well! My name is Endo; I'm the lecturer in charge of administrating the second phase of the exam. Let's begin with the rules! This phase of the exam will be completed individually. What's more, the limitation this time is not one of the ingredients, but of genre."

Ariadne and Souma shared a look, the two wondering where this was going. Personally, Ariadne was sure they could handle any genre presented to them. It made her wonder what the examiner would do in order to put them at a disadvantage.

"In a word, the theme is "noodle cuisine"! All told, the most famous noddle dishes in Hokkaido are indubitably the many kinds of ramen we have here. Sapporo ramen, Hakodate ramen, Asahikawa ramen…the list goes on and on. Of course, that's not all! There are quite a few famous udon and soba restaurants here too! Did you all know that Hokkaido is far and away the largest producer of soba in all of Japan? We have no shortage of land here, and therefore each area has been able to develop in relative isolation its own sort of noddle culture. Today, we'll be having you try your hand at making dishes from these cultures!"

"So, we can make whatever we want, huh?" Souma mused.

"Makes me wonder how they're going to mess with us this time." Ariadne added.

"With so many options, it's actually a lot harder to decide." Megumi pointed out.

"Perhaps, but something tells me that there's more to it than that." Ariadne remarked. She could just feel it in her bones.

"However," And here it came. "Here, at the venue, we have prepared for you all only the most basic of ingredients! We've certainly got many varieties of noodles. Those types which require a night of rest have been given it. In addition, we've collected extremely general ingredients like onions and the necessities for making stock. Of course, just these are not enough to make true haute cuisine! Any ingredients you lack you will need to procure yourselves. And with those ingredients, you must create a dish that adheres to the standard of gourmet as laid out by Central. The clear condition for this phase of the exam is creating a noodle dish that impresses me! You have three hours!"

"And there's the big "f you" in the face." Ariadne remarked, heaving a sigh as they were assigned to the halls they would be cooking in. Once more, she found herself assigned to the same hall as several of her friends, including Souma, Megumi, and Takumi.

"Let me guess…all of four of us are gonna be in the same hall, huh?" Souma asked.

"They certainly aren't trying to hide their intent." Ariadne said with a sigh.

"Fu…why don't we make a competition out of this, Yukihira! You too, Sinclair. Let's see who can make the more delicious dish!" Takumi insisted.

Ariadne didn't even bother to reply. Her attention was drawn to the pairs that kept being called, four at a time. Her friends slowly caught on to it, too. All of them that had been labeled as the "rebels" were being saved for last. Ariadne had a pretty good idea why. By the time they were called, Ariadne found she was right.

Souma turned away from where the ingredients sat to look at the examiner. "Um…staff? The theme's noodle dishes, but...there aren't any noodles left."

The examiner turned a wide, malicious smile on them. "I made myself clear, didn't I? "Any ingredients you lack you must procure for yourselves". That is part of this phase of the exam."

"L-look!" Megumi drew their attention to the bags of wheat and rice flour. "The wheat and rice flour…there's barely any left! Anything that can be used to make noodles is almost totally gone!"

"Oh, ho. I see. So that's how it's goin' down." Souma remarked. "Can't believe they won't even give us ingredients at all this time around."

"Hmph….I guess this is why they made us wait till the end. But this shouldn't really be a problem, should it?" Takumi asked.

"I doubt it. Unless they want to dump something else on us." Ariadne mused. "After all, Sapporo is a huge city. It shouldn't be that hard to find a noodle maker somewhere."

"Once we get together the ingredients for the stock and seasonings, with our skills, we should easily be able to finish our dishes in the allotted three hours!" Takumi agreed.

"And if we aren't able to get our hands on any well-made noodles, we can just buy some wheat or soba flour." Souma added. "No matter whether we choose to make ramen, udon, or soba…if we have to, we can use handmade noodles."

"If we just think up the proper flavorings that'll compliment unrested noodles…we should be okay!" Megumi added.

"Then let's get a move on." Ariadne gave a clap of her hands, turning to her sister. "Tali, get your coat on."

Stepping outside, they found out the true reason for why they had been left for last. Outside, a blizzard was brewing. Ariadne stared at the quickly piling up snow before them. "Well…leaving the hotel is out of the question. There's no way any taxi would be able to make it up here with all of this." Megumi started to panic, but Ariadne waved it away. "No fears, mon amie. There are many different types of noodles out there, and not all of them are made with flour."

Her three friends turned to look at her. A grin curled Souma's lips when he saw a matching one on Ariadne's. "You have a plan."

"I have a plan." Ariadne twirled a strand of her hair around her fingers. "Let's get to work."

The five of them returned to the hall, Ariadne setting Taliyah up with a coloring book while they got to work. The examiner came rushing back in while they were in the middle of prepping their ingredients. Needless to say, he was surprised to find them continuing on as if nothing had happened. Souma looked up to see him watching them from the door with a shocked look on his face.

"What's with that face, Mr. Examiner? There's no way something like this would make us quit. What we did before coming here was a hundred times harder than this."

"Tell me about it." Ariadne sighed as she walked past, a pot in her hands. "Those study sessions were no joke."

Souma grinned as he looked at their examiner. "Just you watch. We'll serve up the best bowls you've ever seen!"

As more reports came in from the other halls about the others passing, the examiner got more and more anxious. It had Ariadne laughing, the man turning to look at her. Ariadne held a single potato in her hand. "Honestly, if you didn't want us passing, you shouldn't have left these here. Back home, we have several gluten free regulars who like their noodle dishes. Naturally, we had to find a way to serve them what they wanted."

"Don't tell me…could it be?" Endo exclaimed.

"Yep." Souma smirked. "It's gousetsu udon!"

While he was surprised they had managed to come up with a way to get their hands on some noodles, Endo was sure they would still fail without anything other than garnishes at their disposal. Ariadne hated to break it to him, but they were far from being out of the race.

"Hey, Takumi, pass that over here." Ariadne held her hands out for the bowl in Takumi's hands. He passed it to her, Ariadne pulling out a small bottle from her pocket. She added a splash to the bowl before handing it off to Souma.

When they placed their dishes before the examiner, he couldn't hide the shock on his face. All he could do was stand there and stare at the bowls, as if they had suddenly started talking to him or something.

"Think you could take a bite before the noodles get too soggy?" Souma asked.

The man gulped and picked up the first bowl, taking a healthy slurp of its noodles. They knew, from the first bite, that they had succeed, the man forced to pass them. When Erina showed up, Yuuki ran to her, happily cheering about her lecture helping them to pass.

Endo turned on Erina. "Erina-sama! If you didn't go and do the unnecessary, this group would have been easily failed! They're a bunch of pushovers! They've only managed to make it through because of your mercy! If not for your hints – "

"That isn't true." Erina cut him off quickly. "I only taught them about the special characteristics of the potato. They managed to think up using the gousetsu udon as a means of taking advantage of these characteristics all by themselves. You would do well to remember this. These people are not the kind of cooks you will be able to push around."

As Endo dropped to sit on the ground, Ariadne leaned forward to look him in the eye. "You and your lot can try to disadvantage us with your dirty tricks, but don't think it'll be that easy to take us down. After all," Ariadne grinned, her eyes narrowing in a look of mischief. "I haven't even begun to take this seriously. Tell Headmaster Azami that if he wants to twist our deal, then I'll be taking off my kiddie gloves."

She gave the man a wink before she turned to follow her friends, calling for her sister. Leaving the hall, they were all given their train tickets to the next location. With the departure time set for late that night, they were all given time to just be tourists. Ariadne and Taliyah joined her friends in a wild but fun rush through the streets, enjoying all kinds of foods along the way. Since it was a special occasion, Ariadne lifted Taliyah's usual diet restrictions and allowed the girl to have as many sweets as she wanted.

Ariadne had to say that just having the time to hang out with her friends without having to worry about anything was nice. She was able to run about with them and enjoy good food and fun with her sister at her side. For her, it was over all too quickly. What awaited them was something none of them had thought about. Upon arriving at the train, they found that the rebel group…had been spilt up.

"It's nothing to be that surprised about ya know?" Hearing the voice, they all turned to find Rindou behind them. "We knew it from the beginning." Rindou let out a sneeze. "Yo – Geez it's cold."

"Um…what are you saying?" Megumi asked.

"You know right? The route splits. From the third stage onwards the route splits and coincides repeatedly. Everyone gets split up…and in the worst case meet in the final stage. That is if all of you manage to survive." Rindou told them. Having dropped that bomb on them, she pulled something out, holding it out to Souma. "Oh, right and this is an explanation for the next exam." In her hands, she held a satchel of knives. "All the rebels including you guys are to compete with the Elite Ten. Let's enjoy the trip, eh? Yukihira?"

Ariadne had thought it might come down to something like this, but she hadn't expected it so soon. It seemed that Azami really was pulling out the big guns. That was fine with Ariadne. The whole thing was really starting to stroke her competitive nature. It had the most devious smirk curling Ariadne's lips as she looked at Rindou. It surprised them all when Ariadne next spoke, her words falling into agreement with both Souma and Takumi's thoughts.

"Well, then, I do believe I'm getting excited now. Come hell and high water…bring it."

END

Kyandi: I really like Rindou.

Ariadne: She's hot.

Kyandi: I suppose. To each their own, right?

Ariadne: Incredibly right.

Kyandi: I'm kind of tapped out on motivation now, so I'll leave it here.

Ariadne: She's kind of suffering from a lack of will.

Kyandi: Yep, so, everyone please enjoy and review.

Ariadne: We'll be back as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye-bye.