A/N: And here's the next part. Not much to say right now. We're getting into the night before the egg dish challenge.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Shokugeki no Sōma. And every time I read this manga, I get hungry.
Alice tilted her head in befuddlement as she walked around the main banquet hall. After being unable to see Sōma all day because of the increased work load, she thought she'd be able to find him here. A part of her wondered if he had lost the Shokugeki with Kojirō. She knew that wasn't the case though, since she heard some people complaining about the transfer student in-between lessons. Apparently they still thought Sōma wasn't worth anything despite all that he had accomplished without going through the middle school section like the rest of the students. She chuckled at the hilarity of it.
Ryō glanced at Alice weirdly but decided not to ask what she thought was so funny. Chances were, he didn't want to know. He kept walking behind her dutifully while inwardly scoffing at how weak and tired everyone else looked.
"YUKIHIRAAA!" Two angry voices yelled out at the same time.
'Speak of the Devil,' Alice thought smugly as she walked in the direction of the scream after motioning to Ryō to hurry up and follow her. The students quickly moved out of her way as she walked by. 'Bingo.' She smirked at the sight of the red-head she had been looking for.
Mito and Takumi were both standing in front of Sōma and were yelling at him. From what Alice could tell, they had also found out about the Shokugeki. It seemed like they believed it, something which marginally surprised her. The few students she had heard talking about it seemed to believe it was just a false rumor. It wasn't without merit though, since no one could believe another student would be stupid enough to challenge an alumnus to a Shokugeki. She would have most likely not believed it herself had she not been there to see Sōma do pretty much the same thing when he took over the Shokugeki for the Don RS
Their conversation continued, and Sōma started to look bummed out as he shook his head at the two. It looked like they really wanted to know what had happened. As Alice got closer, she was about to speak up before everyone paused and looked towards the door in surprise. Following their line of sight, she pursed her lips at the obvious reason for their lack of attention to her. Erina had entered the room. Alice rolled her eyes at the sight of everyone's blatant staring, which turned into a glare at Erina after seeing her share a glance with Sōma.
"It seems like everyone has arrived," Gin's commanding voice said, instantly bringing everyone's attention to him. "If you will all please look towards the stage. The reason I asked for all of you to come here is so that I can inform you all about tomorrow's test."
Around the banquet hall, whispers broke out as everyone wondered why Gin was telling them this ahead of time unlike with the other tests. A sense of foreboding filled the hall.
Alice quirked her eyebrow as she listened on with marginal interest. It didn't matter what she had to do tomorrow. She would pass no matter what.
"So we need to make a dish for breakfast?" Sōma asked. "That sounds like fun."
Alice's eyes widened as she turned to look to her side.
Sōma stood there nonchalantly as he listened to Gin. After noticing Alice's staring, he looked over and grinned at her. "Hey, Alice-san. It's good to see that you're still here."
"Likewise," Alice managed to reply. She looked past him. His friends were looking at him, and her, in shock. Even Erina had the same look on her face. She turned away to hide her smirk from them. "So what bring you here, Yukihira Sōma-kun?"
"Eh," Sōma shrugged. "They were getting pretty nosy over there, so I thought I'd come and hang out with you."
"And you think that I'm not curious about your Shokugeki with Shinomiya-senpai?" Alice questioned lightly, not betraying her inner thoughts on how angry it had made her that he had done something so foolish. Although the other side of her was touched that he had decided to come and talk to her.
"Are you?" Sōma asked curiously. "And wait, how'd you know about it?"
"I have my ways." Alice said smugly.
Ryō sighed quietly from his spot behind the two of them.
"Ah," Sōma snickered at the vague answer. "I see. I'm pretty sure that you can use those same ways to figure out what happened then."
"So you're not going to tell me? Your project partner?" Alice stepped a bit closer and bit her lip sadly. She sniffed a few times for good measure, making it look like she might cry.
"M-maybe later?" Sōma said, stuttering at the sight of Alice's out of character behavior.
'That's going to come back to bite him.' Ryō thought morosely as he watched Sōma get easily played by Alice.
"I guess that'll do." Alice said with a mock sad sigh.
"That main ingredient will be eggs!" Gin said loudly, holding one up as an example. He had a fierce smile on his face as his gaze slowly swept over the students. "It doesn't matter if the dish is Japanese, Western, or anything else. Keep in mind that the format will be a buffet-style breakfast. The exam will start at 6 A.M. tomorrow morning, have your dishes prepared for tasting by then."
"I guess we'll be going to bed a bit later than usual tonight." Sōma said, looking towards Alice with a wry grin on his face.
"I suppose." Alice yawned. Already, ideas were forming in her head. There were lots of things she could do to show off in this challenge. Things no one else would ever think of. It was already an easy pass. All she needed to do was decide on which dish would be the best.
Almost everyone else in the hall didn't share their lax opinion on the challenge. Pandemonium had erupted as soon as the time of the challenge had been announced. The announcement that they could use the kitchens as they pleased in order to prepare for the challenge didn't help at all. As soon as Gin gave the dismissal, almost everyone made a mad dash for the nearest kitchen.
"Huh," Sōma looked around as he kept pace with Alice and Ryō as they left the hall with the main crowd. "Where did everyone else go?"
"Who?" Alice asked distractedly as she pushed Ryō in front of them to clear a path for them to a decent kitchen.
"My friends," Sōma scratched his head. "I guess we left them behind."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Alice said. She really wasn't. This worked out in her favor. The less distractions around, the better. And the sooner he was away from Erina, well, the better off they both were. "You can cook with Ryō and I though."
"Hn." Ryō grunted.
"That's means yes." Alice explained to Sōma.
"Sure," Sōma finally stopped looking around and started paying attention to where they were going. "Aren't we going kind of far?"
"The less people around, the more ingredients for us," Ryō said before Alice could give a lengthy explanation. "And there will be less people making a mess around us."
"Pretty much what Ryō-kun said," Alice said in agreement. "So, have you thought of what you're going to make yet, Yukihira-kun?"
"I have some ideas," Sōma said carelessly. "There's one that I used for the entrance exam."
"Oh!" Alice's eyes widened in delight at the reminder of the dish. "That Furikake Gohan?"
"You know of it?" Sōma asked in surprise.
"Somewhat," Alice said coyly. "I've never had anything quite like that before."
"I'd have been surprised of you had," Sōma grinned at the acclaim. "It's actually called a Transforming Furikake Gohan. It's a secret menu item, #8."
"I can see why," Alice thought back to the dish. It had definitely been a surprise, especially from a transfer student. She was beginning to wonder about his home life. His diner would need to be looked into. "It was really good."
"You think so?" Sōma asked.
Alice paused at the tone of Sōma's voice. It sounded a tiny bit insecure. It was strange, to hear him sound like that. He sounded a bit like her in the past, before she left to Denmark. It wasn't a welcome reminder. She turned and looked at him curiously. "Yes. It was delicious."
"I see," Sōma nodded to himself, some tension leaving his shoulders. "It was delicious? That's good. You know, Nakiri said that it tasted awful."
"Figures," Alice clenched her fist tightly. That was just like Erina to say something like that. She would know, she had been on the receiving end of that word from Erina a lot when they were kids. Even now, it ground on her nerves. It wasn't too much of a surprise to hear that Sōma had been told that to, but it still annoyed her. It annoyed her a lot. "Don't feel too bad about it. The only cooking that she likes is her own. That's all."
"That sounds petty." Sōma said, not understanding how anyone could possibly view food that way.
"That's Nakiri Erina." Alice replied stonily.
"Oh." Sōma stopped suddenly.
"Hm?" Alice turned and saw that Sōma was staring at something ahead of them. Looking, she smirked at the familiar sight. "Oh look, speak of the Devil, and she shall appear."
Ryō stepped back, standing on Alice's other side while idly playing with the hard black and white balls Alice had given him. It was annoying, but it was even more annoying to hear her bitch about him not having them out when she wanted him to be intimidating. He glanced over to see how Sōma was reacting to this. Ryō had to hand it to him, he had quite the poker face. Sōma's expression was completely blank.
'Then again, he could just not care at all' Ryō thought at seeing Sōma glance over at a clock on the wall.
"Don't get too comfortable on that high horse of yours," Alice said as she walked by Erina. "You won't be sitting at the top for much longer. Got that?"
"Hmph," Erina smirked coldly. 'Thanks for the warning. I'll heed your advice… as a practical joke from a commoner."
Erina spared an oblivious Sōma a quick glance before making her leave.
"So what was that about?" Sōma asked tactlessly after Erina was out of sight.
"Nothing much." Alice and Ryō replied at the same time.
"Hmmm." Sōma crossed his arms and stared at the two of them for a moment before shrugging indifferently. It wasn't that big of a deal.
A few minutes later, they had arrived at their kitchen. It was definitely out of the way from all of the others. But thanks to that, they were the only three people occupying it. A welcome change of pace since now they would be able to think in peace. And for Alice, well, she would be able to see a bit of Sōma cooking.
Speaking of Sōma…
"This probably goes without saying, but don't make that Transforming Furikake Gohan. Ok?" Alice said, staring hard at Sōma. She had seen him start grabbing familiar ingredients. Ingredients that could be used to make that dish.
"Huh?" Sōma stopped what he was doing and stared back at Alice. "Why? I thought you said that it was good."
"It isn't bad," Alice said nonchalantly. A bit of an understatement, but it didn't matter. "But this is a buffet-style breakfast at a high class resort. A dish like that has no place here."
"I guess you're right," Sōma nodded in agreement. "So this buffet thing that Doujima-senpai said is like a smorgasbord, right?"
"Close enough," Alice said carelessly as she opened a nearby fridge. She was examining the eggs in front of her, making sure that they were right for her dish. "So make sure that it tastes good and it gives a high-class feeling. This is a Tōtsuki resort, after all."
"There sure are a lot of things to think about," Sōma laughed despite the parameters of this assignment. "Well fine then, let's get started on this new egg dish for Tōtsuki resort."
Sōma tightened his apron and looked at the ingredients in front of him.
'I still have no idea what to make…' Sōma thought cheerfully. 'So for now, I'll just have to make all the egg dishes that I know.'
Within several minutes, he had managed to make a few dishes. Some Japanese, and some Western. He eyed them both carefully before taking a bite out of each. "DELICIOUS!" He couldn't help but shout out loud.
Alice and Ryō glanced over at him and checked out what he had made. Alice frowned a bit while Ryō snorted and looked back at his own area.
Sōma frowned after he finished eating both of his dishes. They were good, but they weren't good enough. He decided to test out a few more ideas.
Alice watched over Sōma carefully. Thus far, he didn't seem to be doing anything very promising. Then again, like with his Shokugeki with Mito, he could just be warming up. She hoped that he was. Nothing he was currently making seemed worth eating even at a mediocre restaurant. Was that many test dishes really necessary? She had a hard time believing that it was.
A quick glance at Ryō showed that he was on track with what he needed. As assumed, Ryō was making a fish dish using salmon roe. It looked to be a kind of soup. As normal, Ryō was working just enough to get it done. While this may be a challenging exam, it wasn't a contest. Thus, he wouldn't get heated up over it.
Looking back at her own station, she double-checked her ingredients. She didn't need much; eggs, white and spear green asparagus, shallots, cream and whipped cream, diluted seafood jelly, salmon roe, gelatin, milk, and a few other things. Simple, yet refined. That was what she was going for. Nodding in satisfaction, she started to work on her dish. It didn't take long for her to finish. A bit longer than she would have liked, but she couldn't afford to screw up this close to the end. After taste testing her dishes, she quickly threw the leftovers away and yawned. This wasn't as hard as she had thought it would be.
The sound of something heavy falling brought her attention over to Sōma. She walked over and checked out what ingredients he had brought to his station.
'Eggs, sugar, heavy cream, salt, black pepper, tomato sauce…' Alice listed off the ingredients in her head until her eyes fell upon a bowl with an egg beater in it. 'No… he can't be…'
"Woah!" Sōma yelled out, causing Alice to look up at him. "I didn't realize you were here. Are you done already, Alice-san?"
"More or less," Alice said, still looking at Sōma's ingredients in disdain. "It looks like you'll be making something pretty interesting, Yukihira Sōma-kun."
"Uh, thanks," Sōma said, laughing weakly. His heart was still beating fast at seeing her appear so close to him without noticing. Although she seemed to be focused intently on his ingredients for some odd reason. He glanced at her weirdly. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Alice nodded and waved. "I'm heading to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow, Yukihira-kun. Come on, Ryō-kun."
"Yes, ojou-sama." Ryō said, walking up towards them. He passed them both, sparing a glance at Sōma's station before continuing on. Once he got to the door, he opened it for Alice.
"Good luck with your test runs." Alice called back without looking at Sōma before leaving the room.
Sōma watched them leave curiously before turning to look down at his ingredients.
"That was disappointing." Alice lamented immediately after they had both left the kitchen.
Ryō glanced at Alice but didn't respond. It went without saying, what she was talking about.
"Compared to everything that has happened so far with him," Alice continued, biting her lip angrily at the thought. "What a disappointment. I can't believe he's going to make that, of all things. I guess that we won't be seeing him after tomorrow. What a waste."
OMAKE
"I hope you're all ready for this Shokugeki!" Urara called out, winking playfully at the audience.
The guys cheered.
The girls booed.
It was a normal Shokugeki at Tōtsuki Academy. Or at least, it would be were it not for the two people who were about to fight in the Shokugeki.
Kurukiba Ryō vs. Yukihira Sōma.
"We have the three honorable judges," Urara said, pointing towards the judge's corner. "The famous Chef Gordon Rams-"
"What the %^&* am I doing here?!" Gordon yelled out.
"The culinary expert, Andrew Zimmern!" Urara continued, undeterred.
"I will eat pretty much anything." Andrew said, laughing boisterously.
"And last, but certainly not least, the current first seat here at Tōtsuki Academy… Tsukasa Eishi!" Urara finished excitedly.
"I-I'll do my best." Eishi waved hesitantly at the crowd.
Everyone cheered louder.
'I hope I don't screw this up…' Eishi thought glumly. 'What if I say the wrong thing? What if my taste buds suddenly stop working? Then what do I do? What will I say? Why am I even a judge?'
"The theme is bizarre cooking!" Urara said. "Now, from each corner, both contestants may enter the stage!"
Sōma and Ryō both confidently strolled up towards the stage.
"If Yukihira-kun wins, Kurokiba-kun will teach him some of his specialty dishes. If Kurokiba-kun wins, Yukihira-kun will… become Nakiri Alice-san's slave." Urara finished with a heavy blush.
An uproar broke out throughout the stadium.
"Huh?" Sōma looked at Ryō. "I thought you said that I would become her aide if I lost the Shokugeki."
"Tomato, tomato (to-may-to, to-mah-to)," Ryō said with a shrug. "It's pretty much the same thing."
Up in the stands, Alice leaned against the railing and looked down upon the stage with a wide grin.
In another part of the stands, a very red Erina was trying to not faint.
In another part of the stands, Megumi fainted.
A/N: So now, the next chapter will have the 200 dish challenge and the banquet. Things will be a bit different then, since Alice doesn't want Sōma to get fired. And, she has some, uh, payback to deliver to some people. You'll see what I mean when you read the next chapter.
And of course, the finale of this OMAKE arc will be done with the next chapter. Who do you think will win? Yukihira Sōma or Kurokiba Ryō? Be sure to include a why you feel that way in your response.
Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.