Hello everyone! I just thought I would let everyone know that I don't plan on an intro and ending commentary for every chapter – only when I feel it's needed.

I've decided to get everyone started with two chapters at the outset, so I hope everyone continues to read and enjoy!

Also, I'm not doing the disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter – I think once at the beginning (and at other points when necessary) is enough to cover me.

As they approached the school, Soma received a call from his dad, who was already in New York on his first job to give them more details about what they were about to enter. Apparently, the school was so tough that it had a passage rate of less than 10 percent – and that was just among the first years! He emphasized his point by telling Soma that if he couldn't graduate, there was no way he could surpass Joichiro as a chef, which only fueled Soma's determination. The enormity of the challenge also became apparent when they approached the gates and saw the opulent buildings that were scattered across the campus. Although Daniel was still determined to push forward with Soma, he did begin to think to himself, 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?'

It also didn't help matters when they were insulted by a blond-haired boy with a butler when they told him that they weren't the scions of some wealthy or famous restaurant or food company. To make things even more uncomfortable, they could hear the sneers and insults being whispered by many of the other transfer applicants. Soon enough, however, they made their way with the others to the kitchen where the exam was to be administered.

Minutes later, a girl around their age entered the room, and her appearance got the attention of everyone else there with gasps of horror and murmurs of fear. She was wearing a white chef's coat and had long, blonde hair. Following closely behind her was another girl around their age with shorter rose-pink hair who was carrying a clipboard and some file folders. The blond-haired girl then stood before the transfer applicants as everyone anticipated what she would stay. She then addressed her assistant, who was named Hisako from what Daniel was able to hear, to inquire about what the exam would entail.

As Hisako began to explain the exam, the blonde decided to change things up and took an egg from the giant basket beside her, telling everyone that they were to make a single egg dish for her to taste. "If your dish satisfies my palate, you will pass," she said. As everyone else looked around nervously, she added, "Oh, and you have exactly one minute to withdraw from the exam if you wish to reapply in six months."

At that, everyone else, save Daniel and Soma, raced out of the room, though not before Soma grabbed the blond-haired boy from before and had him explain about the girl. Her name was Erina Nakiri, and she was the scion of the most important family in the Japanese culinary world, and possessed something called the "god tongue" which allowed her to dissect every single flaw in a dish. Her word alone would make or break a chef's entire future in the culinary industry. While Daniel wasn't sure how it was possible for someone his age to have that much power, he now felt that this challenge needed to be approached with a certain level of care.

When everyone else was gone, Erina and Hisako began speaking to each other, unaware that two other people remained in the room. As they were discussing reporting that no one had passed as well as what to do with their sudden free time, Daniel cleared his throat and called out to them to get their attention, which startled them as they looked at Daniel and Soma standing before them. 'What!? I have challengers? Two of them?' Erina thought to herself. Soma then asked, "We just have to cook something that tastes good, right?" Erina looked at him with a slight glare before answering, "As long as you use eggs, you can make whatever you want." Soma then beamed as he placed his hand on her shoulder and stated, "Thank goodness! I thought this might be some weird challenge, but it sounds pretty normal!" Hisako then got in between them and shouted, "Don't you dare touch Miss Erina! Do you even know who you're speaking to!?"

Seeing the blank look on Soma's face, Daniel decided to do something to diffuse the situation before the conversation went any further. He wrapped his arm around Soma's shoulders as he asked the girls while he sweat-dropped, "Can you please give me one minute to talk to my friend here?" As they nodded suspiciously, Daniel took Soma aside and whispered to him so the girls couldn't hear, "Look, Soma. I know that you like to be very casual and even a bit cocky with everyone, especially if they're our age and particularly when it comes to your cooking skills, but I think you may want to tone it down a notch or three with this one. Remember, she will be deciding whether we go to school here or not, so until we're officially in, we really don't want to piss her off more than she is already."

Soma then gave a slight sigh and said, "Fine." Daniel then replied, "Just let your cooking do the talking and you should be fine as long as you keep the outward cockiness to a minimum. I'm saying this as a friend." They then turned back to the girls and indicated that they were ready to begin, after which Erina instructed them to do so. While Soma seemed to already have something in mind, Daniel went to the other end of the room where his coat was hanging and took out a black, faux-leather bound notebook from the inside pocket. He had taken to writing down recipe ideas and notes over the last year or so, and if he came up with something he felt was a real winner, it ended up in the notebook. In addition, he took his Irish coin from another inside pocket and put it in his right front pants pocket to keep it with him while he cooked.

As he was trying to think of something to make using eggs, everything at first seemed too simple, which Daniel knew wouldn't cut it here with this person. He then came across a recipe for chocolate pot de crème that he had made for his father's birthday only a couple of months ago and had been a big hit with his family. For this, he decided he would put a little twist on it. He then went to the pantry and refrigerator to get his ingredients. He got eggs (of course), as well as dark chocolate discs, sugar, butter, cream, cream of tartar, and Biscoff cookies. He then turned to go back to his cooking station when something else caught his eye. 'Yes – that will work nicely,' he thought before grabbing it and heading back to begin cooking.

When Daniel got back, he started by cracking and separating the yolks and whites of a dozen eggs. He then pulverized the Biscoff cookies in a food processor and put the crumbs in a pan with melted butter. He next melted the chocolate using a makeshift double boiler along with some more melted butter before slowing adding them to the egg yolks, which he had beaten together (so that it all blended together instead of turning into chocolate scrambled eggs). He then added the cream and some of the extra ingredient to the mix and set it aside.

Daniel then took out four ramekins and put a thin layer of the cookie crumble mixture at the bottom of each ramekin. After a few minutes he then put the chocolate custard mixture into each ramekin, making sure each one had approximately the same amount. He then put them in a pan that he had put a water bath into and put it into the oven to cook. While the custard was cooking, he took the egg whites and whisked them, adding sugar and cream of tartar to make a meringue, only stopping when stiff peaks had formed.

As he was putting the mixture into a piping bag, the two girls approached him as Erina asked in a harsh tone, "Why would someone of your limited culinary background even think about trying out for this academy?" He then replied calmly and sincerely, "I enjoy cooking, and I thought it would be fun to attend a place like this and be around peers my own age." The girls looked at him in confusion before Daniel added, "Take a closer look at my application and you'll see what I'm talking about." As they looked, their eyes widened as they saw it. "Wait? You already graduated from high school? And you decided to apply here?" Hisako exclaimed. If anything, they were even more confused.

Daniel just kept his cool and stated, "Look, I know I'm not the prototypical applicant for this academy, but from what I understand, as long as I can show you that I have the ability to do this properly, I can get in, right?" Although they were giving him a slight glare, they slowly nodded. Daniel smiled and said, "Great! All I want is a fair shot at getting in. As long as you judge me by the skills I show and the food I present to you, and not my perceived background or lack thereof, I can accept whatever judgment you give. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?"

Although the girls were annoyed that Daniel wasn't backing down, they couldn't argue with his logic as they nodded again, seeming to indicate that he would at least get a fair judgment. As Erina and Hisako then walked over to Soma's station, Daniel looked over and caught his eye, taking the opportunity to send Soma a non-verbal cue reminding him, 'Remember, take it easy on them.'

Not long before time was up, Daniel took the ramekins out of the oven and checked on the custard. Satisfied that they were done to the level he wanted, he put them in the blast chiller to cool for a few minutes before taking them out and setting them down on the counter. He then took the meringue mixture and piped a swirl on top of each ramekin of custard before taking a mini blow torch to the meringues, giving them a campfire vibe. Finally, he finished each of them off with a bit of the remaining cookie crumble.

Soma presented first, with one of the secret dishes from the diner's secret menu – Transforming Furikake Rice. At first, the girls weren't impressed with it and began to turn away when Soma poured a scrambled egg and aspic cube mixture onto the hot rice, which caused the aspic to melt and coat the eggs and rice. After grudgingly admitting that it had piqued her interest, Erina took a set of chopsticks and tasted it. Although it appeared for only a split second, Daniel could see on her face that she was enjoying it. "Well?" Soma asked, "Is it delicious…or not?" At this, Daniel gave another gentle reminder to Soma. "Easy there, buddy," he said calmly.

After a few moments, Erina still wore an annoyed look on her face before she finally spoke. "I suppose you were able to show some level of uniqueness with this dish and the taste is not bad. I guess I can say it is passable." She then put down the chopsticks as she, Hisako, and Soma came over to Daniel's station. "And what have you made?" Erina asked Daniel. He then replied, "S'mores Pot de Crème." Erina then blinked as she muttered to herself, "I see. A somewhat interesting take on a classic French dessert. It certainly looks like it could be good. Let's see how it tastes."

As Erina reached for a ramekin, Daniel grabbed one of the other ones and handed it to Hisako. "Miss…Hisako, right?" Hisako then nodded in surprise as she clarified, "Yes. Hisako Arato," before Daniel added, "Here. There's one for you, too." He then turned to Soma and handed him a third ramekin, saying, "And one for you, as well, dude." As Soma beamed and looked ready to dig in, both Erina and Hisako looked at Daniel with a bit of surprise. Inside, Daniel was grinning. He came up with a pretty sneaky plan if he said so himself. He wasn't sure if Erina would keep her promise of a fair judgment, so in order to tip the scales in his favor, he made sure her assistant got one, too. If she liked it as much as he thought she would, he figured it would be that much more difficult for Erina to potentially lie and keep him out.

As both Erina and Hisako took a spoonful of Daniel's dish and put it in their mouths, they were instantly taken by the fact that the custard was done wonderfully – so velvety and smooth. And the meringue was toasted perfectly, reminding them of a summertime campfire. In addition, the cookie crumble on top and the layer on the bottom reminded them of the graham cracker portion with a gingery tone to it, which went well with the rest of the dessert. They also noticed the presence of another ingredient in the custard – something giving it an extra kick as well as an enhancement to the chocolate. Erina could instantly tell what it was. "Kahlua liquor," she stated.

Daniel grinned and said, "That's right. I figured that Kahlua would be perfect for giving the custard an extra flavor boost. Plus, the coffee goes so well with the chocolate, it was a perfect match." Erina had to admit, Daniel may not have had much practical experience, but his knowledge of flavor combinations seemed to be on point. And judging by how much Hisako was enjoying the dish, he definitely showed the ability to cook at a level expected of a Totsuki student. However, she would never openly admit that much, only saying grudgingly, "It seems that you do possess enough adequate skills. You pass."

As Daniel and Soma were high fiving each other on getting through the exam, Hisako came up to them with a couple of papers for each of the boys. "Take these to the main office," she explained. "Show these to the people there and they will give you a set of uniforms, a class schedule, and other information you will need." She then began to walk away and towards Erina before turning back one more time. "Opening ceremonies are next week," she said. "You'd better show up on time!"

Later, as Daniel and Soma made their way home with their uniforms and other papers in hand, they reflected on the day. For one, Daniel reminded himself to add the meringue and cookie crumble parts to his pot de crème recipe. Also, while they had been able to pass the first obstacle, Daniel had a feeling that the hard part was yet to come.

Hi again, everyone! I just thought I would let you know that for the recipes I come up with for Daniel to cook, they will be a combination of seeing it done elsewhere, doing a little experimenting myself, and a good amount of very educated guesswork based on culinary knowledge I've gained over time. Unless I'm way off on something, I ask that you not be harsh with me regarding the dishes I come up with for Daniel, and also keep in mind how hard it is to come up with all of these different dishes.