Chapter 80: Team Building

"And so the regimental food war against the rebels will be held on Rebun Island. How does that square with everyone?" Tsukasa asked as he stood over a conference phone talking to the other members of the Ten, whom we're onboard a train and heading north.

The first seat was currently travelling in Sakhalin recruiting a certain person; whom Director Azami had wanted to become Tōtsuki's new deputy director.

Meeting this young man had been a somewhat shocking experience as he had been surrounded by masked chefs - all dressed in black - inside a building used for underground crime gatherings; whom all stared at him jealously.

"I'm fine with it..." Sōmei Saitō remarked casually. "An event like this involves a lot of pomp and circumstance but it's not a bad way to show up those who defy Central".

Handing the phone over to Nene, Saitō retuned his attention to the checkers board match he was presently engaged before him against Momo, to which he let out a groan at being checked again.

"Dammit! I loose again".

Opposite him, sat the petite purple haired forth seat, Momo Akanegakubo grinning as she cuddled and cradled her soft cat doll to her chest.

"I think we'll do just fine!" Momo grinned cattishly clicking her tongue as she spoke, "together we'll beat those insipid rebels black and blue", although not directly into speaking into the phone, Momo's voice was still loud enough that Tsukasa heard what she said.

"Well I think this is fucked up!" Nene yelled into the phone, inadvertently making the first seat flinch on the other end of the line. "We all joined central because we get something out of it. Director Azami promised us that his revolution would be quick but every attempt to remove obstacles has failed..."

"Exactly right..." Momo interjected swiping the phone from Nene's grasp. "We shouldn't have to step in just because his professorial acolytes failed to complete the purge!"

Clenching her fists Nene Kinokuni didn't notice that her nails were cutting into the palms of her hands until Rindō patted her on the shoulder and gestured felt her to towards a seat. Just as the second seat was about to ask a follow up to Nene's comment; specifically about wether or not Kensuke would be recalled back to Japan, Eizan grabbed the phone out of her hand and started furiously shouting down the phone.

"I'm fighting too! That redheaded son of bitch humiliated me! Azami has to give me the opportunity to get my revenge, you must give me Sōma Yukihira! I will crush that bastard myself!"

"About that Eizan..." Tsukasa mused back, his voice sounding both churlish and innocent at the same time as he spoke. "The thing is it would problematic of you lost again".

Stepping forwards before the new eighth seat would have exploded into an expletive fuelled rage that would have left Tsukasa and; and the rest of them mentally scarred, had Rindō not retrieved the phone from Eizan and berated the first seat for his obliviousness. Even though her words were also churlish.

"What the hell Tsukasa! Other than with Kenny, do you have any tact in dealing with your underclassmen?" Rindō excoriated, oblivious to the increasing scowl of anger and hatred on Eizan's face.

"Eizan was totally and pathetically beaten by a snot nosed first year; whom he had unsuccessfully been trying to bait. You should choose your words more carefully!"

Growling as veins throbbed in his temple and as he clenched his fists, trying his best to shut out hearing his prior defeat to Sōma; as well as his failure to have him beaten by Mimasaka, Eizan hurled the phone across the train carriage. "Fucking hell!" He screamed loudly, "when I see Sōma again I'll break his neck!"

Bolting forwards, Nene rushed past and jumped slightly to catch her phone before it made contact with anything that could damage it. As she landed, gracefully, the seventh seat pushed her glasses up her nose and scowled at Eizan. "You are truly an uncouth nasty Individual" she stated plainly before speaking down the phone to Tsukasa.

"There aren't many rebels left right? Four at the moment, so does that mean we only have to field four members of the Ten as well, Right?" She asked. From the other end of the phone call Nene heard Tsukasa grumble slightly before signing.

"That would be the best case scenario, and whilst I did poset that idea to Director Azami, arguing for hours, however, it would seem that he wants to do things differently. Instead of four of us... he wants us all to be involved. He's already having someone fly out to Italy to recall Ken".

"That's bullshit!" Nene and Rindō yelled together in absolute horrified disgust. "Azami is gonna make him face off against his own sister! We may have tried to ignore Isshiki's warning before but now it's clear that Azami is trying to mentally damage him!"

"Of course that's what's fricking happening!" Tsukasa growled, "but we can't prove anything. To the WGO and the Tōtsuki ethics board, this food war is legitimately founded and those on each side have role to play. They won't exempt Kensuke unless we can prove that it benefits him to not be involved..."

"But that would give Azami the chance he needs to oust Ken from Tōtsuki and instal on of his acolytes! It's our word against Azami!" Nene kicked the table in frustration, "if only Isshki were here. He'd know what to do".

"Well he bloody isn't!" Eizan retorted. "Not that I care about that imbecilic cretin, also I still don't understand why you care so much about Kensuke. He's dead weight..."

Instantly, two sets of fists struck the alchemist in the face knocking him out the ground as both the viscerally angry forms Nene and Rindō stood over him glaring above him.

"Shut. Your. Mouth you little shit!" Both girls growled attempting to strike Eizan again, only to be blocked and ushered away by Momo; whom shook her head disdainfully at him as she led away both her fellow female chefs out of the one train carriage into the next adjacent one.

Once they were alone Saitō immediately began bemoaning Eizan's crass insinuations, vulgar language and sadistic methods, even though he knew that his words were not being listened to.

"We don't know anything about Kensuke... only Tsukasa and Rindō do". Taking a breath Saitō laid his large sushi knife, within its wooden sheath, down upon the table before him and placed both hands on Eizan's shoulders. "The truth of the matter is Kensuke is a really good chef; yes he may be socially awkward and culinary unpredictable but he is a genuine star of Tōtsuki. Therefore we need him to be with us in this Team Food War".

"He may be talented but he's useless if he can't cook before an audience..." Eizan retorted with a scowl, "let alone meeting cooking for judges and clientele alike".

Brushing down his clothes and straightening his glasses, the newly promoted former ninth seat, now eighth, sat down in a vacant seat and pulled out a notebook containing cooking ideas. As well as scribblings of a vengeful nature pertaining to Sōma; plotting his vengeance against the first year transfer student was Eizan's newest hobby.

Ignoring the loud exasperated sigh that escaped Saitō's lips, as the fifth seat returned to his own seat, Eizan couldn't help but imagine himself Sōma defeated and destitute outside Tōtsuki and living on the streets.


As the Ten discussed the soon to be final battle taking place on Rebun Island in a matter of weeks; Sōma, Erina, Takumi and Megumi were frantically cooking against one another in a mock team food war led by Jōichirō Saiba and Gin Dōjima respectively.

And they all quickly came to the realisation that culinary ingenuity meant nothing if you could not read the behaviour of the chefs who created said food. Currently Team Dōjima appeared to be slightly ahead in the kitchen thanks to Takumi's quick reading of Dōjima's cooking behaviour and realising that he needed to create a sofrito with white wine vinegar and olive oil to go alongside what his team leader was presently making.

Glancing over his shoulder the Italian boy narrowed his eyes, as if saying to his rival, encouragingly, 'what are you doing! Get cooking! I'm not loosing to you, even if this is just a practice'.

Seeing Takumi glare, as well as his slightly red cheeks, Sōma instinctively knew that the Italian boy was trying to non-verbally psych him out in order to beef up their training. Nodding, as he noticed the glare turn into a smirk on the blonde boy's face, Sōma returned to his place and leaving Takumi to continue following Dōjima's cooking.

"Huh... is he making crêpes?" The voice of one of the trains waitresses mused, interrupting the two boy's mental joust. Watching in confusion at Jōichirō's peculiar approach to Hachis Parmentier, the waitresses, stewards and compartment chef all bore quizzical expressions.

"It's no wonder why his support staff is bewildered..." the trains older porter stated running a hand through his greying hair. "The older redhead is being completely unorthodox".

However, at that precise moment, meeting Takumi and Megumi's gaze, Sōma grinned untying his arm wrap around from his wrist and placing it around his forehead before moving away, from a still confused Erina, over to the worktop and immediately began peeling potatoes before then layering them with cheese, milk and dried sardines in a gratin dish.

With a wry smile on his face, as he began to understand his father's plan, Sōma glanced back at Erina trying to encourage her to think outside the parameters of her culinary perfectionist style.

Shuddering at the unorthodox cooking occurring before her, Erina shook her head several times whilst remembering the similarly unusual cooking styles of her friends at Kyokusei. Hardening her eyes into a look of determination, Erina moved forwards and grabbed a bag of onions.

Peeling them all, then dicing and frying them in a pan with butter and garlic with an Entrecôte streak placed on top; to the shock of the train's staff, she began to pan-fry the meat beginning to forget about her unhappy childhood and feeling her passion for cookery relit by having her idol; and his son, cooking beside her.

Patting his teammate on the shoulder, as to not break the no taking rule, Sōma grinned before whispering "Hisako would be proud" in her ear. The smile that he received from the god Tongue was enough for him to know that she was now utterly resolved to win against her father and take back control of Tōtsuki from Central.


An hour and a half later both teams were ready to present their versions of Hachis Parmentier to Master Senzaemon for judgement. And as anticipated both dishes were complete opposites of each other. Team Dōjima had gone 'traditional with a twist' whereas Team Saiba were totally 'avant-garde'.

"Crêpes filled with dried sardines and steaks..." the porter gawked, stunned, "I can't even imagine how that would taste!"

"Aah!" The two waitresses cooed as they stared lustily at the plate made by Team Dōjima. "The cheese is nicely browned, and so aromatic... with a hint of tarragon amidst! And the mash potatoes appears soo silky and the overall aroma is lustrous!"

As the two teams placed their competed dishes on the countertop, Senzaemon couldn't help but smile as he saw the fiery determination in his granddaughter's eyes. 'It would appear as though you are finally walking the path of culinary self-improvement' internalising his observation, the former director walked towards the two competed Hachis Parmentier.

However, instead of tasting them he swiftly turned around and faced the four first years.

"If this was a normal food war the judges would commence judgment, but for this competition the victors shall be decided by your four instead. Each team will eat the other dish and cast judgment yourselves".

With confusion on their faces the first year chefs stared at each other before Erina took the lead, picked up a knife and fork and cut into the pomme-purée of Team Dōjima's Shepherds Pie. Following the god tongue's lead, Sōma took up a fork and tried a mouthful of the dos for himself.

Watching the others eat their food, Megumi and Takumi turned towards Team Saiba's served food and began to eagerly sample it. "Now then..." Senzaemon exclaimed, "point to who you believe is the winning team".

Sighing, all four first years raised their arms, extending their index finger and pointed at their opposing team; stunning the train staff yet resulting in grinning sighs from Dōjima and Jōichirō.

"So its a draw then" Jōichirō mused ruffling his son's hair, to Sōma's increased annoyance.

"I take it we're still going to have our own food war, Gin?" Jōichirō grinned at his best friend, "after all we I still owe you for the comment about me being where Sōma gets his reckless streak from".

Sighing but with an intense smile on his face Dōjima nodded his head before shaking Jō's hand before they both turned back towards the judging.

"Each team is acknowledging their own defeat..." the two waitresses awed. "Even mistress Erina, the god tongue, is pointing to the other team!"

"That sofritto was rich and sweet, Takumi that was ingenious. And the meat sauce was worthy of being in a five star restaurant or hotel!" Erina exclaimed. "Every ingredient worked with each other, it was like a band that was so in synch with its component players creating improvised music... it's jazz!"

Frowning, Takumi shook his head objecting to the glowing praise heaped on him and Megumi by Erina. "I cannot agree with that..." he stated firmly, "you and Sōma took the traditional format of Hashis Parmentier and totally flipped it on its head! You created a brand new interpretation of that dish...!"

He was interrupted by Megumi rushing forwards and wrapping Erina in a tight embrace. "Don't overlook your importance Erina..." she gleamed. "You took the entrecôte, an already high grade cut of meat, and fired it well done and then simmered it in a whole bottle of red wine with garlic and onions!"

"If I had to describe your food" Takumi spoke up, "it's like three strong minded artists all vying for dominance but then being convened by a leader into creating a collaborative expression of colour!"

Shaking her head Erina stated that she believed the sauce in her teams food was 'unbalanced', yet Takumi furiously countered her by saying that it was expertly thought out and didn't need to be reformed in any way.

"You were smiling the whole time you were cooking" Megumi grinned embracing the god tongue one last time before turning towards her boyfriend and kissing Sōma fervently; making Erina and Takumi blush from second hand embarrassment.

"Yeah it looked like you were having a great time" Takumi replied.

Flustered and embarrassed by all the prior praise being given to her, as well as witnessing Sōma and Megumi kissing, Erina, red faced and blushing, reverted to yelling that her being the god tongue gave her the right to name 'Takumi and Megumi the victors'.

Which only further increased the blonde boy's repudiation by saying that her being on Team Saiba was furthered the ingeniousness of their completely avant-garde Hachis Parmentier.

"If anything is extraordinary it was how Megumi worked in the background to support all your dishes elements!" Erina countered frustratedly. "She was ten unsung crucial part of your team!"

Watching the four first years grinning and frustratingly yelling at each other about how they had worked and cooked - denying that their dishes weren't as good as the other one - Dōjima and Jōichirō couldn't help but smile knowingly at the former Tōtsuki Director. Glancing towards Senzaemon, the former first and second seats smirked; realising that the task given to them and the first years had all followed the old man's plan.

'It would appear that they have acknowledged each other's skills and embraced their proficiencies. The results of this special training are a resounding success' Senzaemon mused to himself stroking his beard and humming.

Walking forwards and whispering to the former director, Dōjima chuckled, "you are one hell of an educator my friend".


R.I.P:

Sir Harrison Birtwhistle. Contemporary classical composer.

Mimi Reinhardt. Holocaust Survivor who typed Oskar Schindlers list.

Andrew Woolfolk. Saxophonist; for Earth, Wind and Fire.

Ann Davies (wife of Richard Briers), and Actress in Doctor Who, Eastenders and Grange Hill.