AU University – Between Lessons -
"Okay! One down...Four to go…" Momo said once checked the livestream of the Cooking Challenge I-Island hijacked from Yamato's control.
"Your boyfriend is really attacking a cooking school?" Mina asked.
"Their five best students, their four best teachers and then their Rector, a Three Michelin Star Level Chef. Yes," she answered.
"You...You did not deny the boyfriend thing." Jiro said, unsure.
"Because he is. He just got my father's blessing." Momo answered, a tiny smile surfacing on her face.
"NO WAY!" Mina yelled with wide eyes.
"Congratulations, Yaomomo!" Tooru squealed in happiness for her friend.
"NOOOOO!" At the same time Mineta was heard yelling from the back of the class while rushing towards Momo in tears.
"What is it to you?"
"It's unfair! HE doesn't even have a Quirk! He doesn't deserve your tits or ass! I am a better man than that useless Loser and I'll show you by plowing you until you love me! Let's FUC-"
BOOOOOOOM!
The class became dead silent once seen the classy and elegant Momo answer to that disgusting request by UPROOTING HER DESK FROM THE FLOOR to bash Mineta's skull with it hard enough to dig a perfect imprint of the boy's entire body on the concrete floor.
"I don't know what kind of sordid pornography you constantly drown yourself in, but there is NOT A SINGLE WOMAN on this planet that can be converted to ' Love' by having sex with her, EVEN LESS LIKELY IF AGAINST HER WILL! Especially with a sub-human pervert like you. Drop this ' Cuckolding Crusade' of yours for everything female in a thirty meters radius or I will personally see to it to have you neutered! I won't forgive your Sexual Harassment against me or my friends anymore!" the young woman declared while repositioning her desk back down with a low thud .
Had Izuku seen that, he would have understood why the System insisted in him enriching Momo's food in Vitality and Gourmet Energy that much after the USJ Incident, the other students though only saw an amazing feat of strength from somebody without a Strength-Related Quirk, but any comment about it went forcefully put on hold once seen the blood dripping from the desk right where it had almost split Mineta's skull open. Even Katsuki decided to not say a thing.
"...Y-Yes." the boy managed to say before blissful unconsciousness mercifully embraced him.
"Jesus…" Kaminari whispered.
"What happened?" Ochako chose that moment to enter the class accompanied by Nemuri.
She had been talking with the woman about her dubious feelings for her ' Boss' at her part-time job, and she still didn't have an answer to her dilemma, not even knowing he was in a relationship with Momo already seemed to make her heart stop beating wildly when with him.
"Mineta finally got on Yaomomo's nerves, he tried saying he was her ideal man and pretended to show it by demanding her to have sex with him, probably meaning ' right here and now ' in front of the entire class. I think that's the gist of it." Tooru answered, still a bit shaken.
"And that was all it took for you to somehow uproot a desk anchored on the floor with concrete to almost flatten him?" Midnight asked.
"That and the Sexual Harassment me and my girl friends are targeted with daily." Momo answered.
"And the panties thievery." Mina added.
"And his attempts to put cameras in our showers and locker rooms." Tsuyu said.
"And the crass jokes about any of us just missing out without... Sucking him off ." Jiro said with a scowl of disgust.
"I am invisible, but he still tries to take pictures under my skirt." Tooru said.
"...I did find him sniffing my shoes after Gym practice a couple of times…" Ochako said with a small voice.
"I think I saw him take a couple of pictures of his...Penis…Right before asking us if we had the phone number of any of the girls. Luckily none of us actually gave him one, I managed to alert everybody just in time." Mezo admitted with a low, unsure tone of voice.
"Those are serious allegations, why has nobody said anything before?" Nemuri said, pinching the bridge of her nose and groaning.
"I don't know if it is a proper excuse, professor, but at the beginning his jokes and mannerism were just ' Tasteless' and ' Annoying' , but nothing too extreme. We boys did ask the girls if they needed help in dealing with him and so we usually kept him grounded, then serious schoolwork started and none of us could spare enough time to keep him on a leash , shall we say. I fear that he then saw it as a green-light of sorts to go all out and enjoy his depravity." Tenya said.
"Few of us also thought that sooner or later the Teachers too would have started reigning him in." Tokoyami added, sighing.
"Fucking unlikely. The midget thinks with his dick only! How I don't know since we boys shower together and I happened to see only misery down there, a bit of trivia I could have easily lived without gaining." Katsuki answered, scoffing.
"Even Bakubro had to take counseling rounds for his Anger Management. I thought Mineta was getting similar counseling for his libido." Kirishima admitted with a shrug.
"No, unfortunately he hasn't. But he will, if he really was that bad, but you all will need to testify and bring proof of his demeanor."
"Do broken hidden cameras, stolen socks and panties and blurry pictures clearly taken from unaware girls mid-changing do?" another teacher said from the door.
"Ectoplasm?"
"One of my students found a hidden camera in her bedroom, we tracked the IP and Power Loader found-out it connected with the laptop of one of your students. Once we entered his room we found a lot of trophies clearly stolen from female students of several classes of every year along stacks of pornography in clear violation of the Campus' rules. Where is Minoru-san?"
"...He's on the floor with a concussion." Nemuri answered, groaning even louder.
"Who was it that smashed him?" Ectoplasm asked.
"I did. He demandded that I have sex with him following some deranged fantasy of me falling MADLY in Love with him thanks to that," Momo admitted.
"...If they ask, I gave you a very harsh punishment followed by a lecture about excessive force. For this one time I say we let it slide as we teachers obviously had ignored a Pervert harassing every girl in our school while hoping this mess would fix itself. Do not make it a habit, any of you."
"Yes, professor!" the entire class answered.
"Good. I'll take the little idiot to Recovery Girl , then we'll talk about his punishment, his future in UA IF he will have a future here and very harsh Counseling Meetings that will start immediately after he recovers, we will curb this idiocy of his or he will die trying!" The Pro Hero answered before unceremoniously dragging Mineta away from the class.
"Goddamnit, I so do not need this." Nemuri admitted with a groan.
"Sorry, teacher."
"Don't be, Yaoyorozu. It was partly our mistake as well, like you others, we too hoped he would have calmed down by himself. Whatever, let's focus on our lesson now."
"Yes!"
"...Ah! Did your friend win his little challenge, Yaoyorozu?"
"He just defeated the first King , he will now go against the second." she answered, unsure.
"Good! Me and few others have a betting pool ongoing about that, I bet he would win every fight, and since I don't want to lose my paycheck, he better sweep the floor with them!" Nemuri answered, smirking.
"You have a bet about him?!"
"Shota and I have him as a total winner, same for Lunch Rush, Toshinori and Nighteye instead said he will win against everybody except the University Rector, and Mic didn't think he will actually win against the first Teacher. He did bet the most between us, so I think he is now VERY AFRAID of losing." she answered.
"Tch!" Momo hissed in contempt.
"Something tells me Professor Mic dropped LOW in Yaomomo's scoreboard." Mina muttered, smirking, and getting an amused snort in answer from Jiro sitting next to her.
"Yep!"
Meanwhile – Inoshiki Chef Academy – Classroom -
Yamato was still fuming for the defeat of the Meat King , the last of the Top 5 students of Inoshiki University, while King Number 4 , Sadao ' The Fish King' took position at the workplace at the opposite side of the room from Izuku at the front row of the class.
The other Kings were once again sitting next to the Rector Yamato and her son in front of both Contestants, but instead of aloof all of them looked tense since the old woman in a bout of anger had kicked-out the Meat King as a punishment for his defeat.
"The next Fight will be Midoriya Izuku VS Umikage Sadao , The Fish King . Both contestants are you ready?" Minato, son of Yamato, asked once he saw both Chefs finishing checking their instruments.
"Yes!" both Chefs answered.
"Good. Just like before, Chef Midoriya has left the choice of Ingredients to us, and following Sadao's own request, we prepared this: Pacific Saury. " Minato said while taking out of a near fridge a wide tray covered by a cloth with Inoshiki Insignia on it, once removed, the class and Izuku saw a dozen shining fishes neatly put on display, all of them so fresh they looked like they had been just pulled out of the water an instant before the challenge.
The fish all had a long body with dark green/blue cycloid scales on the dorsal side and silvery scales below, they also sported small, bright blue blotches distributed randomly on the sides.
Their mouth was small, and there was a series of small finlets between the dorsal and anal fins, they also possessed a small forked tail.
"Wow! They are all so fresh!" Izuku admitted in surprise.
"Got delivered this morning, barely an hour before your arrival, actually. For an instant we thought we would have had to postpone Sadao's own challenge until they arrived." Minato admitted with an uneasy smile.
"It would have been worth the wait, Mister Minato, they are gorgeous! They will be our Ingredients?"
"Yup! We will use Pacific Saury as the main Ingredient. Compared to Toshio, though, I am giving you the freedom to choose first which one to use. We can also use different side Ingredients instead of the Saury only. I want you to give your best, just like I will!" Sadao showed her more bubbly personality while tying her ridiculously-long hair in a ponytail so as to free her eyes from the long fringe normally covering them and fully displaying a pair of amazing eyes the color of pure emeralds.
"Thank you." Izuku answered, shy, but his eyes did turn extremely sharp once focused on the big display of ingredients in front of him, once again attracting the attention of a few other girls in the class.
" He looks so hot when focused…" Many thought while looking at him in newfound interest thanks to his show of ' Worth' after the defeat of the Meat King , they now knew he was not exactly a nobody.
"I will use these ones." he finally said once selected the still whole fish from the dozen Yamato prepared for the Challenge.
"He actually chose some of the best ones...He really does have amazing eyes…" Minato muttered, once again calling on himself his mother's ire.
"Good choice! I am glad to see you are not an amateur! Good coloring and state of the eyes, it means that we both choose the absolute freshest ones of the bunch!" Sadao complimented him with a small clap while cutting a few pieces of parchment paper into squares, he instead covered his fishes with a finely-grated spice mixture.
"Where did you get the Saury? Now it's not exactly a good season for them," Izuku asked while he started mixing some Dashi ( Traditional Japanese Fish Broth ) with soy sauce, sake, sugar and some Mirin ( Sweet and thick Japanese Sake with low alcohol content) to slowly boil it into a thick sauce.
" He is making Kaeshi Sauce? Why? That is usually used for Ramen and other noodle dishes… " Yamato thought, confused, unaware that her precious Kings too were having the same thoughts as her.
In the meantime they all watched as the young Chef also removed the fish's innards while keeping most of its fat aside he then cooked with some Extra-Virgin Oil and Wine Vinegar to create a secondary sauce giving off a mesmerizing fish scent.
"Hehehehehe! Inoshiki Academy is special! We have our own personal Ingredient Providers, these Saury are not exactly from around here, they come from a private breeding specialist overseas and were delivered by air this morning just for this challenge! Those guys have a very special breeding method, so we can have them perfectly plump whenever we want!" Sadao answered, she instead was mixing butter with black pepper, garlic, parsley and thyme to create a dense and aromatic cream.
"Cool! But, hey! You too make your own Herb butter? " Izuku asked, impressed.
"Ufufufufu! I like mine with juuuust a bit more pepper than normal, I like strong tastes." she answered with a giggle and a wink.
"Nice! I usually make it with a bit less thyme."
"Do they know they are supposed to be enemies? " the other students thought in dismay at Sadao's overly-friendly attitude.
"STOP FRATERNIZING AND DESTROY HIM!" Yamato shrieked in fury.
"You are starting to worry me, mom." Minato admitted, sighing.
"SHUT UP!"
With Izuku -
"Why does our Rector hate you?" Sadao asked.
"I made a plate of rice that made a dear friend of hers feel inadequate."
"That's it?"
"Yes. I still find this hatred she and her other friends have against me a bit overblown, but I don't pretend to understand what happens in the heads of Egomaniacs, I am just defending myself." he admitted with a helpless shrug.
In the meantime his sauce had evidently reached the right thickness as everybody saw him pull it off of the fire to let it cool down by itself while he focused on the fish proper.
"What did you use to season the Saury?" Sadao asked once to see him clean away the spice he had covered the fish with.
"Dried Pimenta Dioica Fruit. I had some with me, luckily, since I could not see any in your spice cabinet. I would have been in trouble without it." Izuku answered.
" Pimento? You carry that stuff with you?" King number 2 asked, confused.
"Not only Allspice , I came full of other spices too." Izuku answered, briefly opening the jacket of his Chef attire to show the six or so small jars of spices strapped in the inner area.
"I didn't know if you would have let me use YOUR condiments, so I brought some along by myself." He then said,
In truth he could easily retrieve every spice he needed from the System's Dimensional Storage, or whatever the name was, but just saying he had hidden pockets with spice jars inside was easier to explain compared to having access to the powers of an Extra-Dimensional Entity..
"That's...Very paranoid…" the Dessert King admitted, taken aback.
"I am in enemy territory, I could not just wing it." the Young Chef answered while cutting some garden radish into cute little circular slices he then carved into small flowers.
"...Is that overly-detailed carving necessary?" Minato asked.
"You tell me, isn't a good plate supposed to also be good looking? Eyes too play a part in the enjoyment of a Dish! Either building a dish in a manner simple, complicated or minimalist , a Chef should always put great care in the final product!"
"Well said!" the man answered, smiling pleased.
"Stop praising him, Minato." Yamato hissed between clenched teeth.
"Hahahaha! You sound like a philosopher when you talk like that! Not a Chef! Taste is important in a dish! Nothing else," Sadao countered, laughing in amusement while finishing preparing a few mussels, deveined shrimps and steamed clams she then added to the Saury on top of the parchment paper.
"We agree to disagree then! But still, you are making quite the adorable Cartoccio. Pot meets kettle, perhaps?" Izuku answered.
" Bleh!" The girl replied by just pulling out her tongue, she then added cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to the seafood mix, and once topped each Saury with a spoonful of her herb butter she wrapped everything inside the parchment paper and moved the wrapped fishes in the oven.
"Done! What about you?" she asked.
"Technically I am done too, the last part to finish my dish can be done just before serving, so I will wait for you to be done before getting through with it, in the meantime I will prepare a Baby Spinach sauce as a side dressing...Normally I would leave the spinach just steamed a bit so to use the leaves as a decoration, but if I don't do something to pass the time while we wait I will go insane." Izuku admitted.
"We can play cards if you want!"
"It's okay, I'll keep myself occupied with the sauce," he answered, smiling gratefully.
"Okay!" the other answered, more than happy to just whip-out her phone to watch some funny videos online.
"...That's it, it's official, she is physically unable to take anything seriously!" Mako, King Number 1, declared with a groan of disbelief.
Twenty Minutes later -
DING !
The sound of the egg-shaped alarm cut through the silent room like a searing-hot blade, causing Sadao to almost drop her phone in surprise.
"Ready?" Izuku asked while giving a last filtering to the baby spinach sauce to make sure it was extra smooth and free of lumps.
"Yes! This is my Special Pacific Saury Flavor-bomb Cartoccio ! What about you? You done?" she answered while opening the cartoccios and inundating the room in a pleasing scent of cooked fish.
" HOLY SHIT! The scent of the sea! " a student gasped in wonder while her nose greedily sniffed the air.
" That's the Fish King for you! She is the greatest fish expert of them all! Second to Mako-sama herself by just a tiny margin! " a boy answered, just as amazed.
"Wow! This smells great!" Izuku admitted, impressed.
"Thank you! When the Rector Yamato told us about your Challenge I just KNEW I had to make this dish! Saury is among my favourite Ingredients because it is just so versatile! And between Cartoccio and Acqua Pazza , I knew this would be a killer!" Sadao answered while decorating the cooked Saury Cartoccio with a slice of lemon each.
"Good to know! I was afraid I misread your intentions after all!" Izuku admitted with a wide smile as he cut the Saury he seasoned into thick slices he positioned on a wide plate in a flower-like shape, then he used a brush to cover the pieces in a generous quantity of brown sauce before taking a burner and turning-on its flame.
"What are you…"
FWOOOOOSH!
Many gasped in surprise at watching the green-haired Chef mercilessly scorching his plates without a hint of fear, but many more turned shocked at the intense amazing scent the dishes started emanating once he was done with the burning.
" HOW THE FUCK DOES BURNING FISH RELEASE THIS AMAZING SCENT!? WHAT JOKE IS THIS?!"
"It matches the scent of Sadao's dish! How?!"
"Many usually use Kaeshi for ramen and noodle dishes only, but that really is a multi-purpose seasoning that can be used in a myriad different recipes, it truly is a staple of Japanese cooking! AND the right trick to use to make Scorched Carpaccio , isn't that right, Chef Izuku?" Minato said with shining eyes and a smirk once seen the young man give a rapid 'Fire Bath' to the Saury Carpaccio once finished brushing the sauce on the surface of all the plates he prepared.
"Huhuhu! Correct! Even with a powerful burner like yours, burning the surface of fish in the proper way is difficult, but using Kaeshi it becomes easy thanks to its sugar content! And it also acts as an insulator of sorts and protects the Saury from most of the heat, preventing loss of freshness from the continued influx of heat since I only need to scorch the fish surface fat, not the meat inside." Izuku answered, smiling proudly at himself.
Once satisfied with the scorching, he also added the Saury Fat Dressing sauce and the Baby Spinach sauce on top and around the fish slices before topping everything with the flowers of radish.
" Scorched Saury Carpaccio , my dish is ready." Izuku declared once every plate was composed.
" This aroma. Sadao's dish is literally an explosion of flavor as the name implies, but Midoriya's own is just as strong, but instead focused like a blade. I wonder who between them complimented best the delicate taste of the Pacific Saury." King 2 muttered with his eyes narrowed and focused fully on Izuku's face.
"Miss Yamato was right, that guy is a Monster . We should not underestimate him, IF he wins against Sadao-chan as well!" Dessert King answered, thoughtful.
"Where does he come from? Knowing Miss Yamato, a Talent like his would normally be something she would do everything to snatch...Then why is he here as our Enemy?" Mako wondered with a low voice.
"You heard him, he-"
"That is not a good-enough excuse, there must be something else behind this!" she interrupted the other girl with a hiss.
"We will proceed with the Taste Test. Sadao, you first." Yamato said once seen both chefs deliver their plates to her, Minato and the other Kings.
"Oh, my. It does look nice." Takeo, Vegetable King, admitted once pried open the fish meat with his chopsticks.
"Yes, she did an acceptable job, this time." Mako conceded, huffing.
"Tone it down a little, nobody likes Frosty Bitches , Mako-chan!" Dessert King Michiko jokingly warned her.
" MAKO-SAMA!"
"WE LOVE YOU!"
"QUEEN MAKO! " Many boys yelled in rapture at seeing the Soup King show a tiny sneer of annoyance.
"Except those guys…" Michiko added, sighing.
"Focus!" Yamato barked angrily, silencing the other Kings while studying the wobbly piece of Saury she grabbed from the plate.
"I must admit the cooking method chosen was excellent, it does put on display the natural taste of the Pacific Saury. You also managed to control the natural Oily feeling of its meat and diminish its intense fishy smell down to almost zero while leaving just enough to maintain the feeling of Sea evoked by the scent. Good choice of supplementary Ingredients too, the Acqua Pazza made with the mussels, shrimps and clams helped supporting the main Ingredient and are all a pleasure to eat, especially the steamed clams, that even if cooked in two different methods, remain pleasantly springy and flavorful. You gave your Dish the perfect name, it's a real Sea-Flavor bomb while remaining melty sweet and tender at the same time. Congratulations!" Minato said with a pleased tone.
"I second the judgment. You used the Pacific Saury almost perfectly, especially its thick meat. I could chew this forever and never get tired." Takeo confirmed with a dashing smile. Several girls swooned again, all for Izuku and the other Kings' chagrin.
"Sadao-chan is a bona fide Fish Expert, always a pleasure eating what she makes!" Michiko added with a thumbs-up.
"Good it's good, but the Ingredient was the Pacific Saury , nothing else, you gave too much importance to everything else. The Saury should have ruled supreme...It is still good, though." Mako said, uninterested.
"Hey! Cheer up a little! What your friend made tastes amazing and it's also very nicely presented! Do not be a stick in the mud and enjoy it, this dish is good!" Izuku answered, annoyed a little, he had already finished his portion and was not ashamed to show he liked it.
"Thank you, maybe in the end I DID make it a bit cute too, other than good tasting!" Sadao said with a mischievous smile while eating her own Cartoccio .
"That you did!" Izuku answered, smiling.
"Then this is obviously a win for Sadao. I am sorry, boy, but your defeat was a given! Get out and do not bother us anymore." Yamato said with an evil smile.
"…"
"…"
"...What?" she asked.
"Mom you are becoming annoying, we have not even tried his dish yet." Minato said while massaging his forehead to push back the incoming migraine his mother caused.
"Tch! It's just some raw fish slightly burned with fire! You can't expect it to be better than...Than...Than…" the old woman tried saying while despondently shoving a slice of the Scorched Carpaccio in her mouth, and growing unhealthy pale while her eyes bulged-out.
"T-The Sauce of Pacific Saury innards! He prepared it just by adding oil and vinegar to the fish's fat and part of the innards and yet the taste is permeating my tongue! And is making the sweetness of the Fish meat stand-out so much it's making me drown in its taste!" Michiko admitted, shocked.
"How many spices did you use?!" Takeo asked, just as surprised.
"Only the Pimento , or Allspice. Depending on which name you want to use . Those Pacific Sauries were already good by themselves, adding more sounded like a waste, so I just tried enriching and polishing that flavor with a couple small pushes from the sauces and the spice." Izuku answered, shrugging.
"If Sadao created a bomb of flavour, yours was a single bullet from a sniper rifle: no waste, no fanfare and no collateral damages! One Strike, One Kill! Only pure Pacific Saury Flavor, marvelous!" Minato admitted, clapping a little.
"Thank you. What do you think about it, Sadao-sa-"
"Ummm…" Izuku's question died a messy death when he saw Sadao eat with zero manners her own portion of scorched carpaccio and even licking the plate over and over until it SHONE.
"Glad you liked it." he said, unsure.
"You are a lady, show some manners!" Mako chastised her while mid-lick of her own plate.
"...I give up..." Takeo muttered in dismay while trying to ignore her.
Cough! "We will proceed with the vote, who do you think won?" Minato asked, fake-coughing to cover his own embarrassment.
"I vote for Midoriya...Sorry." Takeo said, smiling uneasily.
"It's okay, Take-chan! I'll do better next time!" Sadao reassured him with a thumbs-up.
"I vote for Sadao-chan!" Michiko said with a wink.
"Thank you!"
"Midoriya, at least he used the Pacific Saury ONLY." Mako said.
"You are a picky eater." Sadao answered, pouting.
"I will have to vote for Midoriya as well, my apologies, but I must recognize the ability needed to bring-out such amazing flavour with so little Ingredients." Minato said with a sorry expression.
"No harm done, Sir! I loved it too!"
"…"
"Yamato-san?" Sadao asked.
"Get out of my school." the old woman answered with a low, defeated voice.
"Go back to your seat, Sadao. You are still a student here." Minato subverted the order.
"I-"
"SILENCE! You are already giving a sad spectacle! Don't think I won't reign you in just because you are my mother!" the man roared , shocking his mother.
"But-But-But…"
"I am saving you from yourself. Sadao gave her best and that's all that matters. She is still a first year student, she can still get a lot better if you give her a chance! Wasting talent just to appease your tantrums won't help nobody, not them and especially NOT YOU. Now calm down and be a proper, professional Chef, or else I will take over and select a new Judge to take your place." Minato said with narrowed eyes.
"Okay…" Yamato conceded with a small voice, her body losing every ounce of fight she had at the beginning.
"Good, I will still keep you grounded, because I know you are not a bully, but a great Chef, and I want to preserve THAT part of you. Michiko, you are next, are you ready?" he asked.
"Of course! I need to avenge Sadao-chan!" the short girl answered.
"My Hero!" Sadao answered with an exaggerated swoon while retaking her seat next to Takeo once delivered one of her knives to Izuku with her name written along the blade with a permanent marker ( she also added a cute little heart next to it, apparently a fixed part of her signature) .
"...That guy is tearing through us like a tank." Takeo muttered with a low whisper and his eyes fixed on the wooden cabinet Izuku brought along now containing two Knives belonging to their fellow Kings .
"This time Miss Yamato tickled a dragon's nose once too many times, and now we have to deal with the catastrophe." Mako answered.
"...I will use my Secret Weapon , you?" he asked.
"Me too, conventional dishes won't cut it this time... Flavor Demon ."
"As you said, he deserves our worst, Molecular Devil. " Takeo answered, eyes narrowed.
"Very well, we'll have a ten minutes pause to clean everything and let young Midoriya catch his breath a little." Minato declared, nor he or anybody else heard what Takeo and Mako said.
"No need to worry, but I will use these ten minutes to recover an Ingredient for my Dessert Dish, since I can see apples being washed and prepared to be our chosen Ingredient." Izuku answered with a grateful smile.
"Something we can get for you?"
"No, no. I have those already ready back to my place." he answered before motioning Whitey to come closer.
" Host?" the robot asked.
"I need…" what the young Chef whispered to the robot, nobody heard, but they all saw the big chubby robot scratch his round bald head with one of his big hands before nodding.
" Understood. " Whitey answered, before opening the door of the classroom and-
BOOOOOM!
Tear a new one to the Sound Barrier while running to the Green Cloud Restaurant and back in the ten minutes of pause Minato gave him and carrying a small jar of dull glass.
"Perfect! Thank you!" Izuku said with a grateful tone.
"That thing ran back and forth between here and your personal kitchen in ten minutes? Where do you live?"
"Yavin Street."
"AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE CITY?!"
"Whitey is very fast." Izuku answered, smirking.
"Even too much!"
In truth Whitey only covered half the distance before the System summoned the glass jar in his hands, Izuku insisted on secrecy so this little lie had to be organized.
"I am eager to see what you will come up with, but rest assured that it will still be useless! Your defeat will be sweet, though, so don't feel too bad!" The bold claim came from Michiko as soon as she started slowly preparing a pot filled to the brim in boiling caramel.
"I admit I am not exactly a dessert-oriented Chef, I prefer to branch out as much as I can and cook following as many different styles possible, but this doesn't mean I won't give my all!" he answered.
"Good! Because I want to SMASH that smile of yours into dust!" the Dessert King answered as she took out more plates and pots.
" Hn ?" Izuku uttered, confused.
"Watch and be amazed! I will now prepare a cheese mousse, apple jelly, blue cheese cream and a sponge cake made with crushed walnuts, AT THE SAME TIME!" the short girl declared with a crazed smile.
"How do you plan to do all that, alone?" the young Chef asked.
"By going all-out, you Quirkless Loser!" she answered while throwing away her own bandanna and unfolding the tentacles on her head.
To everybody's shock Michiko's tentacle hair then sprang to life and divided into two groups: six held a plate each while the others held the utensils, meaning that together with her own hands, she could prepare seven different parts of her dish at the same time.
A duo of tentacles was already boiling the apples for the jelly, another was holding up a pestle to crush the walnuts they will then mix with eggs, two were expertly preparing a pot-full of Matcha Green Tea leaves she will soon put to boiling while others were mixing the two kinds of cheese until each turned into a fluffy cream.
Michiko herself instead was mixing Cranberry Juice with Gelatin to create a Cranberry Nappage ( Nappage is a kind of glazing used when preparing sweets. )
"THIS IS MY SECRET TECHNIQUE! THE Seven-in-One Cooking Frenzy ! " Michiko said with a maniacal laughter.
"T-There it is! They say she can challenge an entire Team by herself thanks to her Quirk!" a student gasped in awe.
"...So you all have decided to leave behind any sense of decency and will start using your Quirk? Fair enough." Izuku answered with a tone of disappointment.
"Why should they limit themselves? It's not their fault if you don't have one!" Yamato answered, happy to ridicule him.
"As you wish, if that's how you see things, I have all the more reasons to wipe that smirk off your face…" the Young Chef said, giving a twirl of the knife in his hand and...
SWIIIING!
With the loud and sharp sound of a blade cutting through air, his hand became a blur that moved in a straight line through the apples still untouched in front of him.
Plop! Plop! Plop!…
And one after another, every fruit lost its peel in an instant and got sliced into perfectly-identical slices thin as a hair while a small amount of extra-thin apple peel appeared right next to Izuku.
"…" Astounded silence fell in the room as Yamato's mouth hung slightly open.
"I don't like Quirkists as I believe people's value is not measured on the Power of their Quirk, but in the strength of their beliefs, and if I have to fight everybody in order to teach you fools a lesson, then so be it!"
"H-H-Hoy! What happened?!" Sadao asked with a shriek.
"He peeled and cut all those apples at the same time...With just one swing…" Takeo answered, unsure.
"That is impossible! Do you know how many Laws of Physics would need to be ignored for that to happen?!" Mako answered.
" Will Host start infusing Gourmet Energy in his Dishes? " the System asked.
" No need. I didn't do it before, and I won't do it now either! I will just up the level of Skills I will show! " Izuku answered, it was a matter of principles, if he used that Power to increase the flavor of his dishes, then he wouldn't be different from somebody using their Quirk, and the Challenge originally stated that no Powers were to be used, sure it was an unspoken Rule , but that didn't change its value!
While Michiko was finishing her outrageous preparation of several Ingredients at once, the young Chef had instead just reached the final stage of his kneading of two different kinds of dough he had mixed by hand, he was in fact giving the last slaps to the smaller ball of dough of the two.
Both finished spheres were whitish in color and almost unnaturally smooth, looking more similar to balls of marble than actual food.
"The first part is done, now I need to add my Secret Weapon to both and knead them again…" Izuku muttered with a shaken breath.
"He made both Bread Dough and Tart Dough, what is he planning to do?" Michiko muttered with narrowed eyes, and watched with bated breath as he finally used the mysterious jar he sent his robot bodyguard to recover.
POP ! FWOOOOOOSH!
When the young Chef opened the jar, there was no apparent scent coming out of it, but then he poured a minuscule deep-red drop of liquid from it into the two types of dough he was kneading and an explosion of aroma washed over the entire room with every student standing rooted on the spot, the boys only felt an amazingly-sweet flower scent assault them, but the girls had another reaction altogether.
"ROSES!" one girl squealed, as she unknowingly had the same daydream of her friends.
Each girl saw herself as the main character of a Fairy Tale: A Princess standing on a long path of white cobblestone with at both sides an endless field of red roses cut in half by that small road, red petals flying everywhere around them bringing along the flower's delicate scent, and at the opposite end of the pure-white path there was their ' Prince Charming' flashing a heart-melting smile and wearing a majestic silver armor, with his hand stretched-out as if beckoning them to reach him.
( Momo would also be miffed to death at knowing how quite a few of those girls were also unashamedly putting Izuku in the role of the Prince Charming .)
"Rose essence? And one so strong? If he is not careful, that much aroma will make everything inedible!" Minato muttered, surprised.
"How can you make a rose extract so strong?!" Michiko asked with wide eyes.
"Secret Recipe." Izuku answered, unconcerned, too focused on preparing the dough properly to summon enough brain-power to properly answer or even just look at her.
With the Rose Extract provided by the System, Izuku needed to focus fully on the quantity and flavor distribution, because it was not Normal Rose Extract one could ideally make home or buy! This one had been purified by him using his knowledge as Zaus and the System's own help, a serum purified enough times it was now 99,99% pure, any misstep would be a catastrophe! Just a spoonful contained the essence of several hectares of red roses, he HAD TO be careful!
At the same time he added some Rose Extract to a big pot of water as well and soaked the apple slices together with some extract from the apple peels, and left the slices to rest untouched to the side before returning to focus on the dough.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
The Scented balls of dough were then continuously slapped and kneaded until they all became faintly pink and utterly smooth spheres, done so that he simply kept them neatly separated in smaller parts on a side.
"Now...The rest of the apples…" once satisfied with that, Izuku started to simmer some of the remaining apples with apple cider vinegar and water, and once turned them into a cream, he added normal butter and tirelessly mixed everything until perfectly fused together.
" Apple Butter and apple confiture ...Can he really balance both roses and apples in a single dish?" Minato muttered while studying every movement of Izuku.
" Creating pure Rose Extract with that level of aroma is already ridiculously hard, but actually managing to slowly soak that rose flavor into the apple slices in the right amount, together with the extra apple flavor from the apple peel extract to reach the right balance, is even more insanely difficult...Where does this brat come from? " Yamato thought in anger while biting down one of her nails, her own blood-shot eyes were fixated on Izuku's.
And a tiny feeling of fear of the boy started blooming in her heart.
With Michiko the Dessert King -
" Damnit! That thing is a scent bomb! But there is no need to worry, he is using two Ingredients only, I am using EIGHT!" the young woman thought while creating small disks of sponge cake batter she then moved into the oven to cook.
"You may use the Young scent of roses, but I will use the nostalgic taste of Autumn ! Let's see which one will come out as the winner!" she declared.
"So it will be Spring (Youth) VS Autumn (Maturity) ? Okay, I accept the challenge!" Izuku answered.
"You will regret challenging me, Quirkless ." Michiko muttered darkly.
Some time later -
As soon as the Dessert King saw her sponge cake turning golden in color, she took the disks out of the oven and rapidly cooled them down and then giving the final touches to her side Ingredients, like the extra leaves of Matcha green Tea she was powdering at high speed thanks to her hair-tentacles handling extra knives.
"Her Dessert is clearly not simple." Minato muttered, impressed.
"She is preparing her infamous 'Autumn leaf viewing entremet', the Dish that cemented her position as the Dessert King here in this school." Yamato answered.
"Oh!"
"She is going all-out as well," the Vegetable King muttered.
"I am glad to see she is taking this seriously at least." Mako answered.
"You know she hates being Challenged, it was a given she would not show mercy."
"If her self-esteem is frail as glass, it's her fault only." the young woman answered.
Uninterested in the Judges scrutinizing stares, Michiko had finally started assembling her dish, using the sponge cake disks as the middle layer while carefully creating several layers above and under it with the various cheese creams and fruit jellies she made previously until a vaguely-spherical shape was created, she then covered the whole thing with the cranberry gelatin to turn it in a perfectly-smooth red sphere as big as a golf ball.
"Finally done! Get ready to lose, Quirkless !" the girl declared with a mocking tone while preparing a few more spheres she then moved to the fridge.
"Eh! If all your insults revolve around my lack of Quirk, sorry but you won't go far in making me feel under pressure." Izuku answered while shaking his head.
" Tch! "
While ignoring the fuming short girl brushing her caramel on an anti-adherent sheet of parchment paper to create thin perfectly-transparent shards, Izuku took note that the Apple butter was finally ready along the apple slices having been soaked in the scented water long enough to satisfy the Green-Haired Chef's requirements for his own Dish.
" Hn !" The tiny, satisfied grunt escaping his throat almost managed to freeze Michiko's blood in her veins.
"What?" she asked.
"Just that time's up and I too can now finally build my Dish!" the young man answered with an adorable eager smile while first collecting several spheres of rose-scented bread dough to knead them back into a single, bigger blob to which he then added part of the apple butter too.
"First, the Basket! " he then said while pinching the giant ball and pulling aside a long string of it while twirling it gently between his pointer and thumb.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
" WHAT THE?!" the students behind him cried in shock as they watched the young Chef pick-up insane speed once again to create dozens of finger-thick strands of dough he then started waving together to create an actual basket with a twirly handle arching above it, and no matter the intricate design, he was building it so fast many felt dizzy by looking at him.
"Done the basket, The Tarts! " done with the creation and decoration of the basket, the following move was building the base of the desserts: tiny cup-shaped empty tarts, those too made at ludicrous speed.
"Aaaand, in the oven!" Izuku said while carefully putting the basket and the empty tarts inside the oven to cook.
"I wonder if the apples...Yep! Perfect!" he then said once given a taste test to the soaked apple slices, now dyed into an eye-catching pink color, and since he was evidently satisfied with the results, he carefully removed them from the aroma bath to dry them.
"I-I-I have no idea what you are doing, b-but I'm not afraid of you!" Michiko said while pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Good! I am not here to scare anybody!" Izuku answered with a happy smile.
"M-My dessert will soon be ready! Then we'll see who is the winner!" she answered.
"Of course!" he replied with a thumbs-up.
Some time later -
Ding! Ding! Ding!
As if it was planned ahead, the kitchen timer Michiko had set for her dessert in the freezer rang just a minute before Izuku's own for the oven, signaling both were now in the final leg of their challenge.
" YOU CAN DO IT, DESSERT KING! " the students cheered for her.
" DESSERT KING! DESSERT KING! DESSERT KING! "
" SHE WILL WIN THIS!"
Emboldened by the loud cheering, Michiko positioned a sphere in the middle of each plate she then decorated with a tiny pinch of the powdered matcha green tea leaves and two wings of caramel shards at both sides of the shining red spheres, she had even created small maple leaves with some remaining sponge cake she had then positioned around the plate, closing the Dish there was a warm cup of green tea as a side drink for the dessert.
"Done! You are finis-"
Swooosh!
Michiko's taunt she tried delivering once finished assembling her dish went interrupted by Izuku's hands once more moving fast enough to disappear as he started grabbing the apple slices one by one with a duo of pliers to build the tarts after he used a brush to paint the inside of the empty tarts with the apple butter and then the apple confiture.
"...She is screwed…" a boy blurted-out in dismay as a Rose bloomed inside each tart, and not just a rose-like shape, but a Perfect replica of a big rose made with thin pink apple slices recreating the flower's petals with ludicrous precision of details.
"A couple minutes in the oven to make the apple slices extra crunchy, and the tarts are ready!" Izuku declared while moving the tarts back in the oven after brushing some apple peel essence on top of them.
What came out of that oven once done that bombarded the students and judges in the sweet scent of cooked apples and the alluring fragrance of roses, the insane balance of the two scents though worried Yamato: she once again saw Izuku thread on the thin line between success and failure without a hint of doubts in his steps, and the tiny feeling of fear in her own chest grew a tad bit more.
"Here is my dish! A bit on the feminine side, but nothing says that I can't make a Cute Dish if I feel like it! Queen Apple Tart, with Damask Rose Aroma. Thank you for waiting." Izuku declared as he walked towards the judges by actually grabbing onto the basket's handle and using two long pliers to deliver a small tart to each one of them.
"By the way, the basket too is edible: it's made with fragrant Apple and Rose bread. I have put aside some extra Apple confiture if you want to add it to the basket bread." he then added, with a more cheeky smile.
"To put both rose aroma and Apple butter into the bread, the required balance of quantities to make sure the bread won't break down and still be flavorful would need to be calculated down to the micrograms...Did you really have to risk it so much?" Mako asked.
"You want me to lose, I want to win. I have too much to lose from this Challenge, so I can't hold back, but be ready to bet all of myself at every step." Izuku answered, sighing.
"We'll start with Michiko's dish since she finished first." Yamato decided.
"Please help yourself." the Dessert King answered with a cocky smile.
"Nothing for me?" Izuku asked, honestly hurt.
"Sorry, but I don't expect you to have the right palate to truly enjoy it, so I prefer to not waste Ingredients." she answered, huffing.
"Host? " Whitey asked, and even his normally robotic voice sounded annoyed , somehow.
"No, Whitey. Down." Izuku ordered while shaking his head a little.
"...Look at the cross-section! Simply perfect!" Yamato was heard exclaiming with a proud voice.
The red sphere Dessert in her plate had been cut cleanly enough one could still see the various layers of the different creams and sponge cake forming the inside of the dish, all neatly separated without even the smallest smudge.
"The Sponge cake is incredibly soft, like a cloud, and even its positioning is not casual, by forming the middle of the Desert it can perfectly mix with every other taste used. You did study the position of each layer, isn't it?" Minato asked, very impressed.
"Correct! I spent an entire year experimenting with both position and thickness of every layer, even their density is not a chance! I tested over and over every possible combination to make sure every layer of taste would mix with the others to perfection when bitten! Nothing is left to chance!" Michiko answered, her smirk reeking of smugness.
"It shows. Even such a strong cheese like Gorgonzola has been carefully nestled between the apple jelly and the sponge cake, you can almost tell every taste apart at each bite. Well done." Minato declared.
"And it goes well with green tea, even if I am not exactly a tea person." Takeo added, taking a sip of tea every few bites of Dessert.
"...Fine! I admit it: it makes you taste the Autumn. Happy?" Mako admitted, annoyed.
"You know I don't have a fondness for sweets, but you're always a good exception, I love it!" Sadao the Fish King said.
"Thank you. What about you?" Michiko answered.
"Besides saying you have a wonderful technique, I can't say more since I have not tasted it." Izuku answered with a shrug.
"Then be born with a Quirk in the next life." she countered, smirking.
"Be thankful I was born a gentleman still, many of my old acquaintances would have kicked your teeth-in a LONG time ago with that attitude. Zebra would have directly eaten you alive." Izuku answered with an annoyed sigh as even his LEGENDARY ' Cinnamon Bun Patience' was starting to run thin under her constant verbal onslaught.
" Tch! You don't scare me!"
"It was an extremely good Dish. Now we will proceed with the tasting of Chef Izuku's dish." Yamato declared.
Said that, every judge grabbed the tart from their respective plates and took away a piece of the basket handle along with a bit of apple confiture, and judging by Minato, Sadao and Mako's expression, the three of them actually found it a pity to break apart such a cute bread basket.
Sigh! "Here…" Izuku begrudgingly handed a rose tart to Michiko himself.
" Bleh ! Take that thing out of my sight, I won't eat that." she answered with a scrunched nose.
"Sucks to be you. Well, to our Challenge! AND to your future as a lonely old woman surrounded by cats." he answered while eating the thing himself.
"HEY!" the girl growled back in answer.
Crunch!
"...HOLY HELL!" Takeo the Vegetable King yelled in amazement once given a BIG bite to the tart.
" Uhu ?!" the Dessert King gurgled-out in surprise.
"Judging by your reaction, it's good?" the Soup King asked.
" Damn amazing, it feels like biting a very juicy apple while sitting next to a rose bush, it's sweet and almost refreshing ." Takeo answered, still chewing with a big smile on his face.
"I see." the young woman answered while giving a big bite to her own rose-tart.
"…"
"...Mako?" Takeo asked, worried at her petrified expression.
" Agk …" The onlookers knew people were not supposed to clench their legs THAT HARD while eating, but the King Number 1 did look like she had a damn ' Big O' at eating that dessert, no matter how insane that sounded.
"Right, you and I both have a very sensible palate, should have warned you." the Vegetable King admitted with a grimace.
"Ah! This is so nice! And this Dessert too goes well with your green tea, Michiko-chan!" Sadao admitted while shamelessly gorging herself without a shred of manners.
"Yes...It's good…" At the same time they heard Yamato admit that with enough pain in her voice she scared them.
"When you bring one to your mouth, the first thing you feel is the sweet and delicate aroma of roses, but then you bit into it and you get submerged into a sea of apple fragrance and taste: from the crunchy and sweet petals of the Rose to the homely feeling of butter and confiture of the filling, he put in there just a thin layer of both, but those two together with the crisp tart dough base fit each other like a dream...The rose scent and faint taste stimulate the nose and relax the spirit, while the apple taste massages the mouth and warms the body. It's unreal…" Minato admitted while studying the half-eaten tart in his hand.
"The secret is in the balance of Taste, as you said. My rose extract has a strong scent and even stronger taste, so redistributing that immense concentration of flavor everywhere equally is a real pain, but once done properly, it is simply amazing." Izuku admitted, sheepish.
"The damn basket is tasty too, alone it has the subtle taste of cooked apples and fresh butter, but if you add the apple confiture too it becomes a knock-out punch of apple taste I can't get enough of. Do I also feel a twinge of cinnamon in it?" Takeo said with narrowed eyes.
"Just a bit, I added that to the confiture along with a tiny amount of lemon peel. Correct." Izuku answered.
"Impressive." the Vegetable King was forced to admit with a groan.
"What?" the Dessert King demanded with a frown.
"I...I don't know how to say this…" the Second King admitted with a low tone.
"Wha?!"
"I am sorry, Michiko-chan...I know you voted for me before...But…" Sadao admitted with an ashamed expression.
"You two are too soft . A defeat is a defeat, we should not sugar-coat it, we have our Pride as future Chefs to defend!" Mako chastised both with a huff, clearly unafraid of casting her vote for the winner.
"No…" the Dessert King whispered, horrified.
"You were amazing, Miss Hideyoshi, so at least my vote is for you, even just for the complexity of the Dish itself." Minato offered with a kind, albeit uneasy, smile.
"…" Yamato instead simply stood in silence and avoided meeting the King's eyes at all cost.
"NO! I CAN'T ACCEPT IT!" Michiko roared in defiance.
"Uh?" Izuku uttered in confusion.
"You can't win this time too! I won't accept it! You just made a tart! I had to come up with a method to make a layered dessert of different tastes while making it as small as a golf ball! I REFUSE TO BE DEFEATED BY A SLOPPILY-MADE CHEAP DESSERT!" the short girl yelled.
"Sloppily-made, you say?" Izuku asked, eyes narrowed.
"Yes! Everybody here can make that dessert! I am the Genius here! I AM THE PRODIGY OF DESSERT-MAKING! Not a Quirkless nobody like you!"
"…" a tense silence fell into the room.
" Troublemaker! You will be-"
"Stop, Whitey! There is no need!...Here, taste this. Just a drop." Izuku answered, unfazed, while handing her the jar of rose extract he used.
" UHU ?!"
"This was my secret weapon, taste it raw and tell me if YOU would have been able to handle it like I did." he asked.
"FINE!" she answered.
"Just a drop."
"Yeah, yeah." Michiko answered while pouring a single drop of the rose extract inside her mouth-
SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET! ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!
SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES SWEET!SWEET!ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!
ROSES! SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!ROSES!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!SWEET!-
" GUAAAAAAAH !'' The Dessert King could barely reach the classroom garbage bin in time before vomiting, and heaving heavily for a couple of seconds while hugging the thing with all her strength all the while hiccuping non stop.
"MICHIKO!" Sadao yelled while running at her side to gently rub her back.
"So? Can you use that to make a tasty dessert? Can you handle its intense flavour to make something edible? Something good?"
"Uh?"
"Don't look down on me just because I am a Quirkless." Izuku was heard saying with a grave tone while grabbing one of her knives and handing it to her.
"I take cooking very seriously, as it is the only field where I KNOW I can put you all Elitists in your place and stand toe-to-toe with you. A Mutation won't automatically make you a better Chef, never. It takes hard work to be good." he declared.
"Your name on the blade, please."
"…"
"Your name."
"…" tears started falling from her eyes.
"Michiko?"
"I-I-I-I-" Hic! "I can't lose against a Quirkless! You people are inferior!" she answered while crying.
Sigh ! "Forget it, you Elite are hopeless." the young Chef answered with a sigh while writing Michiko's name on the blade himself and putting it with the other two inside the cabinet.
"That's mine!"
"Michiko-chan...Please." Sadao begged with a sad expression.
"No! My mom always says that a Quirk makes us special! Like Gods! He should just go die in a ditch somewhere! There is no place for Quirkless in this world!" the girl raved madly, forgetting that there was a Livestream ongoing and that MANY were growing more disgusted the longer she talked like that. And the live Chat soon filled in insults aimed at her.
"I can't believe there is somebody so bitter like you around. Kind of ironic since you are an expert in Dessert," Izuku said with a sad smile.
"SHUT UP! GIVE ME BACK MY KNIFE! I WON! I WON! NOT YOU!" Michiko yelled while making her hair-tentacles snap forward to grab Izuku.
CLAMP!
"KYAAAAH!" the short girl though shrieked in pain as soon as Whitey intercepted the attack and his big hand grabbed the tentacles to lift her from the floor.
" Troublemaker, cease the attack or you will be stripped as an example to others! " the robot ordered with his round eyes shining in an eerie red light.
Many also shrieked in fright at the sight and the strange threat the big chubby robot delivered with his thundering monotonous voice.
"FIGHT ME YOURSELF, COWARD!" Michiko shrieked.
"...Take your damn knife, I don't need it to know I won. But try to grow-up already, you are twenty, not five." Izuku simply answered with a sigh, and put the knife back on her workstation while shaking his head.
"I-"
"Get back to your seat, Michiko. You already ashamed yourself and our school enough, and I am not talking about you losing." Surprisingly, it was Yamato who silenced the girl as soon as the robot dropped her.
"But! Rector Yama-"
"I SAID TO BE QUIET AND SIT DOWN, CHILD! NOW !" The woman roared, and Izuku finally saw the woman's Quirk when a long prehensile tail with an actual human hand at the end of it whipped out from behind the old woman to grab the Dessert King and slam her on her seat.
"…"
"...Yes?"
"Take her knife, Midoriya. A deal is a deal, she lost fair and square." the old woman said with a heavy sigh.
"Why do you hate me so much, Yamato-san?" Izuku asked, saddened.
"Personally? I have nothing against you. There is not even Quirkism or the like behind it, I swear. But me and the others, together with Samui, go way back, all the way back to middle school. We are a tight-knit group of friends, and since one of us needed help in dealing with you, we all grouped together to avenge him. Sorry, but between you and Samui, I will stay by his side. If you want me to step back and stop bothering you as you said I was doing? Then you will have to win this Challenge of yours, and it won't be easy." she answered.
"I am ready."
"Good, because neither I, or my students, or my teachers will show mercy."
"I never asked for it, I just want to be left alone, I never had anything against you. I am just defending myself."
"Fair enough. Takeo, you are up next. Defeat him, please." Yamato asked, sounding exceptionally tired all of a sudden.
"Yes, madame." the Vegetable King answered while stepping forward.
"Want to know why you lost?" Mako asked.
"Uh-hu?" Michiko, still crying, muttered.
"Here, try it." Mako explained while handing her a tart.
Crunch!
"O-O-Oh!…" the Dessert King muttered in surprise once tried it.
"You used A LOT of Ingredients, and while it is exemplar that you could mix them all together in a very ingenious way to make an astounding Dessert, the main Ingredient, the Apples, were just a small part of it.
He instead used only Apples and Roses, and even then, the Apples were still the Main Protagonist of the whole thing, and he cooked them in different ways too: in the bread, in the butter, as a confiture and soaked in flavorful water. He gave Apples facets , and all of them worked splendidly together once he made them fit in place." the young woman explained.
"I-I see." the Dessert King muttered, sniffling.
" And judging by your puking fit, he was also very skilled in turning a flavor bomb of roses into a frame to enrich the apple taste."
"Don't remind me, I had to rinse my tongue a lot to relieve myself of the taste. I have no clue how he managed to handle that thing like he did." Michiko answered, gagging.
"Glad to see you understand. Have no fear, though, the next match will be his last. Takeo will use his secret weapon ," Mako declared, enjoying the look of horror flashing on the Desert King 's face at her words.
"Both of you are ready?" Minato asked after the working station had been fully cleaned.
"Yes!" both young men answered together.
"Good, you can start whenever you are ready."
"I am ready. Choose your Ingredients, Takeo-san." Izuku said.
"We'll use Beef as the main Ingredient. Your small war against Inoshiki Academy ends now." the other answered with a dark tone.
"Beef?" Izuku muttered, confused as to why the so-called Vegetable King chose Meat for their fight.
" I see! Good job, Takeo! The boy is finished! " Yamato instead understood what her student was doing, and her smile turned into a fearsome mask of putrid malevolence.
