A/N: We're getting to the training camp. A lot of fun will be had there. So much fun.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Shokugeki no Sōma. And every time I read this manga, I get hungry.

"What the…" Sōma murmured as he gazed at the sight in front of him in shock. Even after everything that had happened to him at Tōtsuki thus for, he couldn't believe that there were still things shocking him. This school was really over the top, too much so.

'There's gotta be like a couple hundred buses here!' Sōma thought, not bothering to voice this obvious observation aloud. He mutely looked around, trying in vain to hide his shock. Beside him, the other students took this in calmly as though it wasn't much. To them, it probably wasn't. A few people around him glared at him when they noticed him, but he ignored them in favor of looking around some more.

The buses were all lined up and the students were starting to get into their assigned buses. Sōma looked around trying to find his. Unfortunately, he had lost sight of his dormmates in the crowd and wasn't sure where exactly to go now. He looked around a bit more before catching sight of a familiar pale head and smiled before starting to jog over. There was someone who could help.

"Hey Alice-san!" Sōma yelled once he was close enough for her to hear him. "Wait up!"

Alice froze for an instant before smiling and quickly turning around to wave at Sōma. She subtly looked around to see if anyone else had noticed Sōma's greeting. It seemed that quite a few people had. She made a motion discreetly behind her back at Ryō.

Ryō sighed and untied his bandana resignedly. He would rather not use it for situations like this, but he put it on his head anyways. Instantly he gained a bloodthirsty grin on his face before turning to glare at the people who were staring at Alice and him. Within seconds they had all looked away in fear. A few even ran into their buses, some even ran into the wrong bus. Once they had all either looked away or left, Ryō took off his bandana and retied it to his wrist slowly. He glanced at Alice briefly before looking ahead at the nearing Sōma who hadn't noticed a thing that had just happened.

"Is that ok, ojou-sama?" Ryō asked uncaringly.

"Perfect," Alice smirked minutely. "Well done, Ryō-kun."

"Ah," Ryō cracked his neck and turned around. "I'm going to head over to the bus and drop this off. I'll see your there, ojou-sama." The sooner he could put down his and Alice's combined luggage, the better.

"That's fine," Alice said uninterestedly as Sōma neared them. "Go for it."

Ryō nodded and walked away. He would wait to see what happened with the transfer student later. It was obvious that Sōma was definitely above most of the other students in terms of cooking skills. There were probably just a handful of students in their year on the same level as Sōma if he had to guess. If Alice wanted to scout him out, that was her problem. He wouldn't interfere. Either way, it probably wouldn't affect him much. If Alice got her claws into the guy, he would have someone to help shoulder her… issues. If Alice couldn't get her claws into the guy, then that would mean that things would continue as is. A minor let down, but oh well.

Alice glanced at Ryō, confused as to why he was in such a hurry to leave. She quickly put that out of her mind though as Sōma walked up with a sheepish expression on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms. "How can I help you today, Yukihira Sōma-kun?"

"Ahaha…" Sōma laughed awkwardly. "Um, we're on the same bus, right?"

"That's right," Alice said, trying not to laugh at the reminder. She had actually snuck into Erina's office a few days earlier in order to fix it so that she and Sōma would be sitting in the same bus. She was surprised at how easy it was. Then again, Erina could be really oblivious at times. Regardless, she wouldn't be telling Sōma how that seating arrangement came to be anytime soon. "I told you that before. Why bother with asking me again?"

"I was just making sure," Sōma shrugged uncomfortably. He looked away, clearly embarrassed. "I kind of forgot what bus we're supposed to be on though…"

"Follow me," Alice said. She rolled her eyes at his obvious forgetfulness when she was sure that he couldn't see. "You can remember complex recipes but you can't remember what bus you're supposed to be on? That's kind of sad."

"They're not even remotely the same thing," Sōma complained. "Besides, I can remember the important stuff at least."

"And the bus that will take you to the training camp isn't important enough for you to remember?" Alice said, gesturing around them in response to Sōma's answer.

"Whatever…" Sōma grumbled. He looked away from Alice to show his discontent, although he had to fight not to smirk at her quick retorts. She was as good at comebacks as she was at cooking. And that was definitely saying something.

"I guess it doesn't matter that much," Alice laughed Sōma's obvious annoyance. "At least you can cook."

"Why does it sound as if you think that that's the only good thing about me?" Sōma asked in a deadpan tone. His eyes glowed with mirth though at the thought of that. It wasn't that bad of a thing to be honest.

"There are other good things about you?" Alice asked jokingly. She looked him up and down intently. There actually were a lot of good things about him. His randomness was interesting to behold. It was always fun to hear how he would twist and improve recipes to the shock and discontent of other students and teachers. The way that he was always so open and friendly was very refreshing. Other people were always either walking around egg shells with her or only talked about her to get to Erina. Sōma was neither of those types. And his looks? Well, he was good there too she thought with a slight blush.

"Are you ok?" Sōma asked innocently after she kept did nothing but stare at him for a few minutes.

"Fine!" Alice said hurriedly before quickening her pace. "Let's go. We're almost there."

"Seriously?" Sōma looked forward and stared. Even after all of the walking they had done they still weren't at their bus. There were seriously too many buses here. Or too many students. It was hard to tell. "This is such a drag. Why can't they just drive up to us?"

"That would make things easier," Alice agreed with Sōma's logic. "But you should look on the bright side."

"What's the bright side exactly?" Sōma asked interestedly. It was really hard to think of one unless the training camp was a lot more fun than the others had made it sound.

"After the camp, there will be fewer students in our year," Alice said with a wicked smile. "Who knows? Maybe after the training camp, the next trip will only require one bus."

"That's harsh." Sōma commented idly. He couldn't imagine that happening no matter the level of the other students.

"You say that now," Alice retorted with a careless shrug. "But it could happen. There is a precedent, after all."

"Seriously?!" Sōma asked incredulously. That was hard to swallow. "What kind of training camp could cause that many expulsions?"

"This one, obviously." Alice said callously. "Don't worry. I know that we'll both pass. Oh. Here's our bus."

Sōma was about to respond until Alice mentioned that they were finally at the bus. "Finally! I wonder why I got separated from the usual group I'm with though."

"Beats me," Alice said, trying to keep a straight face. When she felt that it was starting to fail, she hurried onto the bus. "Come on, Yukihira-kun. I had Ryō-kun save us some seats." That was a lie. But if need be, she could easily have Ryō convince another student to vacate their seat.

"Right." Sōma followed after her.

As soon as they both walked on board of the bus, the conversations that had been going on immediately stopped. The other students were either making sure to not look at Alice or glare at Sōma. The only person not doing either was Ryō, who was staring out of the window impassively in the back. Alice and Sōma both ignored this and walked over to the back of the bus where Ryō was and sat down. Alice sat in the middle while Sōma took the other window seat.

After Sōma put his bag in the overhead compartment, he sat down and turned to check his seatmates for the rest of this trip. Alice was once again on her phone as she usually was. Ryō, on the other hand, was fiddling with his bandana and staring out of the window restlessly. Sōma half wondered if Ryō didn't like buses. He decided not to ask though. Instead, he focused on Ryō's bandana. It was a dark crimson color with a flame design on it. It reminded Sōma of his own headband. He would bet anything that it was really important to Ryō. He sniffed delicately, smelling something that seemed out of place. After a moment, he realized that the smell was coming off of Ryō's bandana. It smelled like seafood. Really strong sea food. Sōma's mouth started to water. He swallowed roughly, trying to reign in his growing appetite. He looked back at Ryō's face only to see crimson eyes looking back at him apathetically.

"Can I help you?" Ryō asked lazily.

"Nah," Sōma grinned, seemingly unperturbed by the other boy's stare. "I was just admiring your bandana. It's pretty cool."

"Oh?" Ryō looked down at it before looking back at Sōma. This time, his expression was a bit more focused. "Thanks."

Alice chose this moment to put her phone away and check on the both of them.

"Are you two doing ok?" Alice asked, making sure that Ryō hadn't said anything unnecessary like he usually did.

Ryō shrugged coolly and turned back to look out of the window.

Alice glared at him lightly before turning towards Sōma. "I'm sorry about him. He's usually a good boy."

"It's no big deal," Sōma said, glad for the distraction. The way Ryō had been looking at him was starting to get unnerving. It wasn't unlike Alice's stare. Ryō's stare was a bit more primal though. "I was just wondering if Kurokiba cooked seafood or something."

Ryō stiffened before turning to look back at Sōma appraisingly.

"He does," Alice said, somewhat surprised that Sōma figured that out despite never talking to Ryō before. "How on earth did you guess?"

"His bandana," Sōma replied, pointing towards it. "It smells like sea food. Really good seafood, actually."

"Good guess," Ryō said, sniggering slightly at Sōma's response. "And what are you good at then? From what I can tell, you're a jack of all trades kind of guy. Am I right?"

"I suppose you could say that," Sōma said in agreement after thinking it over for a minute. It was a pretty apt description. He really had no preferred style or specialty. He only did was made the most sense and seemed the most fun. It hadn't failed him yet. "Good guess."

"Hn," Ryō snorted. A quick glare from Alice made him sigh inwardly. It looked like he would have to play a bit nice with the transfer student. That was fine though. The guy wasn't a total loser from what he could see. The scar on Sōma's brow and the callouses on his hand were very telling. Sōma had worked in a kitchen for a very long time, maybe even as long as himself. He doubted that last part though. "Thanks."

They stopped talking for a moment when the bus finally started to move. They looked outside and saw that every bus had started and now they were finally on their way towards the camp. The whole bus quieted down as reality set in. It was finally starting to sink in that there was a high chance that some of them may not make it back. An uneasy atmosphere settled upon everyone.

"Well, wake me up when we get there," Sōma said before yawning. "I think I'll take a nap."

With that, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Alice and Ryō both looked at him incredulously. Alice was about to ask him if he was sure before the sound of snoring reached her ears. She fought the urge to yell at him. After all of the trouble that she had gone through to make sure that he was on the same bus as her, he fell asleep? That was so insulting.

"Was this a part of your plan, ojou-sama?" Ryō asked with a small smirk. Luckily, Alice didn't notice his amusement at her ire.

"Not quite," Alice admitted. "Still, there's time."

"I see," Ryō nodded in understanding. "It won't be long until he finds out your relation to Erina. I'm surprised that you didn't tell him already."

"I'm waiting to see how long it will take him to find out on his own," Alice said hesitantly. "It's fun seeing how clueless he is."

"If you say so, ojou-sama," Ryō said disbelievingly. "He's got the right idea though. I'm going to take a nap too. After all, we're going straight to the kitchens after the welcoming speech once we arrive. It pays to be well rested."

With that, Ryō followed Sōma's example and leaned back before closing his eyes.

Alice groaned, seeing that the two sources of entertainment that she had been counting on for this long ride were already asleep.

"So unreliable…" Alice muttered. After a few minutes of silence, she pulled out her phone and made a call. "Hey! Hello, Erina? Hey cousin… do you mind entertaining me? I'm sooooo bored."

OMAKE

"Hey, transfer kid!" Ryō growled as he angrily made his way over towards Sōma.

"Huh?" Sōma stared at the angry guy walking towards him. "Aren't you Alice-san's aide? What do you want with me?"

"I'm challenging you to a Shokugeki," Ryō said with a vicious smirk. "Are you in?"

Sōma's eyes widened before he grinned enthusiastically. "Of course I'm in!"

"Good," Ryō nodded approvingly. "As for the wager, if I somehow manage to lose… I'll teach you some of the original recipes that I learned while training in Denmark. Is that good enough for you?"

"That's fine with me," Sōma declared. He was sure that that those recipes would be worth it. Ryō is one of the best cooks in their year, after himself, of course. "And what if I somehow manage to lose?"

"If I win, then you will replace me and become Alice's new aide." Ryō said unhesitatingly.

A/N: So in the next chapter, they will be at the training camp. Will Alice keep Sōma in line or will she egg him on while they're there? My bet is on both.

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