UA University – Cafeteria -
While the students were happily gorging themselves, with more than a few actually following the Livestream showing Izuku's ongoing Massacre of Inoshiki Academy's best students at the same time, the University's Boss Nezu was showing the school's own Chef a collection of video snippets both from the Challenge itself and from the database the guys from I-Island felt generous enough to share with the rat-bear-man chimera.
"…" the Chef Pro Hero Lunch Rush silently watched each and every video in silence, sometimes rewinding back whenever a particular scene attracted his interest.
"So? What's your verdict?" Nezu asked once given to the Pro Hero what he felt was enough time to study the videos.
"…" In answer Lunch Rush removed the tube from the gas-mask-like mask he was wearing to talk with a whisper of voice.
"I want to meet him." he said while returning the phone to Nezu.
"I can try to make him come here if you want." the other answered.
"…" A thumbs-up was all the answer the Pro Hero gave.
"Do tell me, though. Could you replicate what he does?"
"If I cut an Ingredient, they die, I can't make living skeletons."
"Yes, that Food Honor thing is kind of a middle finger to the Laws of Nature. What about the rest?"
"Hard to say."
"Uh?"
"He is holding back. I can tell." the Hero answered, and his re-connecting the tube to his mask meant he had already talked ' enough '.
"Okay... Sign Language it is then!" Nezu muttered with a groan.
" You know why I do this ." Lunch Rush signed with a shrug.
"I know, I know. You said the boy is holding back...Can you guess how much he is hiding ?" Nezu asked, sighing.
"... Hard to say, I can give you a wild guess based on personal experience. " The Pro Hero took a moment to think then his hands moved like a flash to give his answer.
"It would still be a start." the rat-man chimera conceded with a sigh.
"... This is a normal Chef. One of the kids he is fighting with, for example. " the Pro Hero said while filling a teacup with water.
"Okay."
" This one is that old woman, Yamato ." Lunch Rush then said filling a big pot in several liters of water.
"...Okay?" Nezu muttered, unsure.
"... This is your boy ." The Pro Hero then simply opened the kitchen faucet and let water run in the sink without putting-in the cap.
"…"
"…"
"... Lunch- "
" A Minute ." the Pro Hero signed.
"…"
"…" The water just kept running.
"…"
"…"
"... There. This should be a good estimate, but I may be wrong and the kid could be better still ." the Pro Hero said once FINALLY closed the faucet.
"I see...And where would you put yourself compared to him?" Nezu asked, unsure.
" I don't know, That is why I want to meet him."
Sigh! "I'll see what I can do." Nezu answered, sighing.
" If Recovery Girl asks, I called dibs before her. " Lunch Rush added.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY, YOU IDIOT!" the short woman roared once barged inside, showing clearly she was spying on them.
" He cooks well, I can make him shine! " the Chef Pro Hero signed with a growl, his hands were moving fast enough to put a Ninja from Naruto to shame.
"His Dishes heal people! I want to study him!" Recovery Girl hissed back in answer.
" You are just jealous he healed Toshinori while you couldn't! "
"Jealous?! JEALOUS!? I am not jealous, you, walking food dispenser!"
" GASP! "
"There they go again…" Nezu muttered with a groan.
While this was happening, a bit of Drama was also taking place at one of the tables in the cafeteria, in the section housing the tables of the older students.
"THEN MARRY HIM IF YOU LIKE HIM THAT MUCH! WE ARE DONE! FINISHED!" the full conversation had been missed by everybody in the cacophony of the every student there either eating or talking, but ALL OF THEM saw the tail-end of the duo's quarrel, because it was not everyday they saw somebody ' Ever-smiling' like Nejire Hadou roar like a furious beast before storming out of the University in tears.
Mirio, with his head still dripping broth from the big plate of ramen the young woman emptied on his head at the apex of her heart-broken rage, merely sighed and removed plate and noodles from his hair without saying a word.
"You fucked-up." his childhood friend, Tamaki, muttered with his head glued to the tabletop, and barely moving his head to the side enough to avoid the puddle of broth now drenching his friend and his section of the table.
"She...She will come around. She will understand that I am doing this for the well-being of everybody." Mirio answered with a new sigh.
"I think she is tired of waiting for you." Tamaki muttered.
"She will come around...She will come around." Mirio answered, maybe more to reassure himself than his friend, though.
"If you say so."
" All Might's Legacy is too Important! If my body hurts so much while using his Quirk it means I am not strong enough yet! I need to train hard, Nejire. Just be patient, I need to put you aside only for a little while, once sure I will be worthy of being All Might's successor, I will return to you. Just wait for me! " Mirio thought in determination.
Meanwhile - Inoshiki Chef Academy – Classroom -
"I may understand using Beef as our Ingredient considering how 'Versatile' it is...But are you really sure you also want to use so many artichokes with it?" Izuku asked, looking on curiously at the INSANE amount of artichokes the Vegetable King was cleaning and preparing.
Izuku had expected a 'Vegan Style' recipe from the young man, considering his Title as the VEGETABLE King, but instead Takeo had surprised him by choosing Beef as the main ingredient and then starting to clean way too many artichokes to use with it...He could tell there was some serious smell of bullshit coming from the guy now.
"Of course! You see, I understand where Sadao and Michiko went wrong: you played on the sole Main Ingredient strength every time while they added other Ingredients as a support to their main one, with the final result of it being overshadowed.
Either the Apples or the Saury could have worked perfectly well alone, like you showed, but in their haste to show-off and suppress you instead, they failed to fully grasp the very Ingredient THEY personally choose, like you instead did.
I plan to unleash the Full Power of Artichokes on you instead, and I need some good beef to properly do it. Both will be the key to your defeat!" the second King answered, while still cleaning more artichokes and only using their ' heart' to cook.
"Then why did you not choose Artichokes as the Challenge Theme?" he asked, confused.
"That's a secret!" Takeo answered with a wink, making the girls in the class swoon HARD .
Izuku instead merely looked at the Vegetable King with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful expression.
"That sounded like an insult to my skills!" Sadao said with a whine.
"I am just saying yours was a big oversight. You just didn't have the right focus on your chosen Theme, that's all." Takeo answered, smiling sheepish.
"Toshio actually did things properly and used Bear Meat only, he just wasn't able to match his tricks." Mako, Soup King , added with a huff.
"I just followed the rules! I was given an Ingredient and I used it the best I could! You make it sound like I cheated!" Izuku answered, appalled.
"Nobody said you cheated, Midoriya. Relax." Yamato answered, rolling her eyes.
"…"
"…"
"What?" the woman asked.
"You defended him." her son, Minato, muttered in shock.
"I am not a broken record, Minato, I can have mixed opinions about somebody." she answered.
"So you-"
"I want him broken and defeated, but I can also recognize his skills. The two things are not mutually exclusive."
"NOW I recognize you." Minato answered, sighing in dismay.
With Izuku -
"Using so many artichokes...I see…" there seemed to be a strange flash in the green-haired Chef's eyes, as if witnessing a memory of his past being reenacted a second time.
"Uh?" Takeo muttered in confusion as his Enemy discarded the Ingredients he had chosen before for a new batch.
"I am switching recipes, I hope you don't mind." Izuku muttered while creating a small mound of flour he then emptied in the middle to form a volcano-like shape.
"Is he…" Minato muttered with wide eyes.
"PIZZAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sadao squealed LOUDLY in excitement as the flour soon turned into dough, Izuku then started to masterfully spin it around, slap on his workstation and then flatten and spin around again above his head at ludicrous speed.
"You want to defeat my roast-beef...With Pizza?" Takeo asked.
"You focus on boiling those artichokes and adding lemon juice to not make them lose color, I will deal with my own Dish by myself!" Izuku replied with a cheeky smile.
" Tch!"
Done with the kneading, and twirling, Izuku once more flattened the dough into a thin circle he moved aside to rest so as to shift his full attention to his own cut of beef, to the ginger and the onions he had chosen as new Ingredients.
SWIIIIING!
Once again ignoring what was and what was not Possible for a Quirkless Human to do, the young Chef gave a single slice that instead cut beef, ginger and onions into slices of exactly the same thickness, at the same time: half an inch-wide stripes for the meat, ' Human Hair Thin' slices for the vegetables.
A big skillet was then put on the fire, inside some oil and the ginger that was cooked until fragrant.
The beef and the onions were then added and cooked until both turned a pleasant brownish colour, with the smell produced already embracing the nose of the people present.
" Daaamn...This smells nice!" a girl from the back admitted in awe.
"He is simmering all that? Is he making Beef Shigureni? As a topping? " Mako muttered, uncertain.
"Toshio's meat expertise would have helped a lot now…" Sadao admitted, sighing.
Satisfied with the meat's state of cooking, Izuku added to the skillet 1 tablespoon of Mirin Sauce , 5 tablespoons of Sake, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and kept simmering everything at a low flame and moving the skillet's content around gently so to not make anything stick or burn.
The 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds Izuku prepared beforehand went then rapidly toasted on a side pan and then added to the meat once most of the liquid in the skillet had been absorbed by the beef to properly coat it.
Left the meat to rest as well for a moment, the circle of pizza dough was recovered and gently brushed until a light layer of sauce covered its top, Izuku then added on top of it the Beef Shigureni and some white scallions along a generous amount of mozzarella, and moved everything into the oven to turn the dough into a crispy-looking golden-brown colour.
"Done?" Takeo asked with a malevolent smile while removing his roast-beef from the fire.
"For now," Izuku answered, unfazed.
"Do you know how a King is selected?" the Vegetable King asked, and the more he talked, the more his eyes turned sharp and malevolent, like a carnivorous animal's.
"I suspect it is about skills, isn't it?" the other replied while preparing a big selection of cheeses he carefully divided into groups and then cut into tiny cubes.
"Exactly! Miss Yamato personally selects only the best students to create a new formation of Kings every year and lets both Old and New formations battle to see who remains and who is kicked-out, so if you don't keep your abilities sharp, you get switched with a new Candidate."
"Uh-hu?" barely interested enough to listen, the Green-haired Chef briefly removed the pizza from the oven to add the wide array of cheeses to the thing, for the confusion of the students and judges watching that could not properly see what the hell he was doing due to his body obscuring the pizza, and then put it back into the oven.
"Well, I was still in High-school when I was selected as the Vegetable King !" Takeo declared with savage pride.
" Kyaaaah! Takeo-sama is so cool!" a female student yelled in amazement.
" Takeo-sama is the best! He's Invincible! " another girl squealed right after.
"I-I-I didn't know that! How strong is he?!" a boy screamed in Horror.
"Good for you." Izuku instead answered while checking his watch to see how long before his pizza was ready.
A saving grace of his perfectionism/Semi-OCD mentality when cooking was that any form of nervousness usually plaguing him would always take a backseat so to not disturb him while working his Magic.
"I have kept this position for YEARS! Unmatched! Undefeated! Do you know why?"
Sigh! "No." Izuku answered with a sigh, immediately filing the guy under the kinda-negative ' Katsuki-Like' label.
"Because I can manipulate the taste of Dishes! Both mine and of my Enemies! Every time a fool tried challenging me, my Dish always, Always made theirs inedible! For example this roast-beef is one of my many Trump Cards! All thanks to-"
" Cynarine . A natural component that makes Artichokes have their characteristic bitter taste, but a substance also able to scramble the taste buds of who eats them, causing everything eaten AFTER that to taste Sweeter by virtue of their tongue's state of ' confusion' . I guess people usually focus on the Beef and ignore the artichokes when you propose this Theme for your challenges." Izuku finished the guy's speech himself while rolling his eyes.
"…" a tense silence fell into the room.
"I've already seen a strategy like that being implemented. Last time it was inside a 'Torta Rustica', a salted ' cake' of Italian cuisine where a cake-like dish is prepared with salted dough and vegetables in place of cake dough and fruits.
Your using beef for this kind of trick threw me for a loop for an instant, then I saw the ridiculous amount of Artichokes you were boiling for your sauce and I remembered the Power of Cyarine. You yourself pretty much told me you planned to use that by quoting the ' True Power of Artichokes ' during your speech ." Izuku explained, nailing the young man with a sidelong glare that rooted him on the spot.
(Example of Torta Rustica )
Vegan Emperor Gohan was an up and coming Chef back in Zaus' world, at his first appearance at the same Cooking Tournament Zaus had already taken part in several times when making his official debut, but unfortunately Gohan had tried that tactic against Setsuno of all people, trying to trick her with a vegan version of that Torta Rustica dish filled to the limit in artichokes; the old woman took only a glance at the guy's Ingredient spread to literally guess the full recipe and counter it.
The Vegan Emperor's defeat that year had been so devastating the guy almost stopped being a Chef altogether. And that incident actually cemented Zaus' friendly Rivalry with Setsuno.
"So sure of yourself...Then let's see how sturdy your conviction is!" Takeo answered with a chilling smile.
His giant slab of roast-beef he had just finished cooking while Izuku was focused on kneading the pizza dough and preparing his own Beef Shigureni topping, and once moved onto a plate it mesmerized both Judges and students.
The Vegetable King's beef was releasing endless thin strands of smoke, and when the young man did cut through it, the cross-section of the meat actually amazed the onlookers into a frenzy.
" T-That cross-section! The meat has such a brilliant shade of pink inside!"
"That is not mere surface roasting! He made the heat permeate down to the core! That's amazing!"
"Back in the days I was the Meat King of the formation, then I learned of the power of Vegetables and how they can subtly change and manipulate the taste of my dishes, it was then that I switched focus. The area of expertise does not determine the Number, skills do, and as my skills soared, so did my place in the formation."
"I am sorry...B-But I did not ask you about your Backstory . Can't we just cook?" Izuku asked, unsure.
"…" a growl decidedly NOT human escaped Takeo's throat at that.
"Pray that your pizza will be enough, because my Dish will devour you." Takeo growled with chilling eyes.
" Kyaaah! Takeo-sama is so cool! Devour me as well Plea- "
"QUIT YOUR YAPPING!" the Vegetable King roared with his eyes turning golden and his teeth becoming sharp fangs.
" Eeek!"
"Anger doesn't make a good dish. Neither does Hubris. " Izuku said, looking at Whitey's red eyes in worry since it meant the robot had started sensing ' Violent Hostility' coming from the young man.
"But savagery does! And my Savage, World-ending Roast-beef will dominate you!" Takeo answered, brandishing a knife with a wide blade to start mincing vegetables at high speed.
"Once I've chopped some horseradish and added some fresh cream and anchovies, the base for the artichoke sauce for my beef will be ready!"
"..."
"…" Izuku simply stood in silence, sitting on a stool with both arms and legs crossed while looking straight at the pizza he was preparing, his eyes unblinking as he followed every minute change of the thing through the glass panel of the oven.
"Speechless in terror, eh? I can't blame you." Takeo said in cruel amusement.
"Once the artichokes are added my Dish will be ready, while you will need AT BEST five more minutes for the pizza to be done properly. By then the judges will have already tasted my Roast-beef and the Cyarine in the sauce will have bewitched their tongue and manipulated their sense of taste. Even after cleansing their palate the effects will still linger, and your precious pizza will at best taste like an overly-sweet cake! Even your precious countermeasure will amount to nothing!"
Groan! "I already know that they won't cleanse their palate enough to avoid the effects of Cyarine . Now get back to cooking, we are here for this, not for talking." Izuku answered with a sigh while massaging his temples to avoid a headache from overcoming him.
"Uh?!"
"Your voice is grating, like the voice of an old acquaintance of mine. He too loves to hear himself talking, and that kind of person always gives me a headache. Too annoying." Izuku admitted, groaning again, and unknown to him Katsuki that was looking at the Livestream actually looked hurt at his words instead of angry, to the surprise of the guy's classmates.
"We'll see who will laugh last! The artichokes are ready!" Takeo hissed in answer with a scowl, and once finished boiling all the artichokes he wished to use, he rapidly chopped them all and added them to the sauce.
"My 'Roast-Beef: Artichoke Heaven Style' is ready. It's over for you!" the Vegetable King declared with a fanged smile while preparing a dish for everybody.
" That's it! The Dish that made him become one of the Kings ! W-We can finally taste the Legendary Dish! " a student gasped in awe from the classroom's back.
The meat looked otherworldly tender and covered in a smooth sauce glittering a little in the room's light, on top of each dish Takeo had also added a poached egg, making its golden color stand-out in stark contrast with the pale colour of the sauce and the pinkish one of the meat.
Judges Table -
"Impressive, the center of the meat has a perfectly-rosy colour, pleasing to the eye but still cooked properly. It's rare to find such a balance in a dish prepared by a student." Minato admitted, impressed.
"Me and Takeo Spar often, the current score is 27-27 , he is the only one I deem worthy of being my rival." Mako added, she too looked pleased by the dish's looks.
"Hahahaha! THIS IS MY Vegetable King! The bitterness of the cream matches the thick taste of the Beef to perfection! And even the meat's juices become an integral part of the flavour that turns everything into a never-ending dream! Ah!" Yamato declared, proud beyond belief.
"I see! So THIS is how it works!" To everybody's surprise, Izuku's voice was not filled with despair, but in childish curiosity.
"Uh?"
"You didn't just boil the artichokes! You actually removed most of the dish' innate sweetness so that it would only come from the Artichokes themselves and made the cream sauce subtly more bitter than usual as a base to preserve your own dish' taste. All to counterbalance the huge amount of Cyarine you wanted to add and not put yourself in danger, not bad." the green-haired Chef said while enjoying his portion.
"...You figured that out with a single bite?" Takeo whispered in horror, he too had been eating his Dish to bask in the taste of his Victory .
"Why, yes! I needed confirmation you actually did prepare the recipe the way I envisioned, otherwise my counter-strategy wouldn't have worked like I needed! I only missed the sauce base being extra bitter, but that will actually help me as well."
"The Cyarine now is sitting on our tongue and overshadowing every other sweet taste, when the judges will eat my dish, the Cyarine on their tongue will be ' washed away ' by their chewing and return the taste buds of their tongues to normal, curiously though, those receptors of sweetness will remain over-excited, making every sweet taste following your Beef seem even ten times more intense. You planned for that to happen to ruin my Pizza, isn't it?"
"M-My Dish' Recipe...The taste...Like you...E-Envisioned?"
"Yes, I know I should have focused on my Dish alone, but in order to make sure I was countering you properly, I had to prepare a copy of your Roast-beef too!" Izuku answered with a shy smile.
"Y-Y-You prepared MY DISH? When? Where?!"
"Here. While preparing the Beef Shigureni Topping I also prepared the same Roast-beef you made." he answered while tapping the side of his head.
"You made a copy of my Dish while making yours? W-Without looking at me...Who are you?!" Takeo asked in abject horror.
"I thought you knew! Nice to meet you, I am Izuku Midoriya, owner and Chef of Green Cloud Restaurant ." he answered with a formal bow.
"WAIT! YOU OWN A RESTAURANT?! You are not just a minor Chef from a run-down eatery?!" Sadao and Michiko yelled as one in shock.
"Yes I own a Restaurant, why? Yamato-san didn't tell you?"
"NO! Our Rector failed to give us some Key Details about you!" the Dessert King answered, appalled.
"We only knew you worked in a minor restaurant…" Sadao added, faintly.
"...His ' Minor Restaurant ' has a dedicated full-page on FoodieAdvisor with 200 Reviews, all 5-Stars, and the Forum's rarely-awarded ' Platinum Ribbon' right next to the Restaurant name...Fuck…" Mako muttered, paling a little after checking Izuku's restaurant on her phone.
"I just wanted you to face this Challenge with a clear mind," Yamato answered, sniffling haughtily.
"YOU TOLD US HE WAS A NOBODY! " Michiko screeched.
"Technically, he is." Yamato answered, huffing.
" Technically my ass, mom…" Minato muttered in dismay while face-palming, a sentiment unanimously shared by the Teachers that will soon face Izuku and where secretly watching.
As an added insult, in the Livestream Chat the guys from I-Island, together with Momo and Ochako, started shamelessly spamming the link to that forum page AND the Restaurant Location for everybody to see.
"T-This means nothing! You can't have imagined just how many artichokes I would have used as well! With all the Cyarine in my dish, even plain water will taste sweet like sugar!" Takeo said with wide eyes, almost sounding desperate instead of smug.
"You would be amazed by how strong my Imagination is,"
"Uh?!"
" Cyarine , Miraculine ...There are many ways to manipulate the taste of your own Dish and the Dishes of others. You only need to know what fruit or vegetable to extract them from, and how to use them.
If I wanted, I could have done the same to you with my own rose extract and the glycoproteins in it right from my challenge against Michiko-san. But I preferred to make sure the judges would clean their palate properly before our match. Contrary to you, I want to win on MY Merits, not with tricks." Izuku answered, finally taking his pizza out of the oven.
"Tricks?!" Takeo hissed.
"This is fine and all, but now that your pizza is ready, we will either cleanse our palate and have it turn cold, or eat it as it is and have its taste ruined by Takeo's Dish." Yamato said, smirking.
"Right! You have no chance to win this! My other name is ' Flavor Demon' , my real domain is in the manipulation of taste. Bravado won't help you!" Takeo declared.
" Flavor Demon ? Then I'll be called the King of Chefs , if you don't mind. And as such, I won't let somebody using underhand tactics come threatening my Kingdom ." Izuku answered, nonplussed, while presenting his dish: a pizza with two kinds of topping turning it half black and half white , only created to form a perfect Tao Symbol.
" Yin-Yang Pizza : Half with Beef Shigureni as topping and half Quattro Formaggi ( In Italian : Four Cheeses. ) Please start by tasting the beef slice, THEN the cheese one." Izuku instructed after distributing two slices of the big pizza to each judge and then Takeo and himself.
"The Shigureni has a sweet undertone in its own taste, one may think you are basically committing suicide by making us start from that…" Minato muttered.
"Please, do humor me," Izuku asked, sheepish.
"Your funeral, boy...Even if it is a very nice Shigureni I am seeing. It's a bit of a pity to have its taste ruined by Takeo's Artichoke sauce." Yamato admitted.
"Right! I can still defeat you! To my victory! Itadakimasu ! " Takeo declared with a wide smile and then gave a HUGE bite to his pizza slice…
The room was once more plunged into an absurdly-thick silence as every judge's eyes snapped open wide.
"T-This doesn't taste sweet...This Pizza is damn amazing!" Sadao was the first to snap out of her stupor, and her first words were full of astonishment.
"...How…" Takeo instead was looking at the slice he had just tasted in horror.
"For a start, it was not any normal sauce that I used on the pizza dough, I basted it with Yuzu Miso sauce." Izuku answered, clearly enjoying his own slice and talking with bulging cheeks in an utterly-adorable scene. ( Yuzu is a kind of Japanese citrus ).
"Y-Yuzu Miso?!"
"Uh-hu! My home-made Yuzu Miso is also extra-bitter thanks to the grated Yuzu Peel I normally add to it to give it a more sophisticated taste. And since I knew Cyarine would have increased any sense of sweetness, I had to drastically decrease the quantity of mirin sugar and white miso I used to prepare the beef as well."
"But-But...T-The Shigureni Recipe you followed…"
"Oh! That, I actually used more beef than required when using those quantities of condiments."
"Then why does it taste this good?" Michiko asked, confused.
"...He used Takeo's Dish to increase the taste of his pizza…" Yamato answered with a low tone.
"Wha?"
"Exactly! This version of the Dish would never work without somebody consuming that much Cyarine beforehand! Takeo-san, thanks to your sauce, my own Beef Shigureni had the chance to shine for real. No! Even better! Thanks to your Cyarine Bomb Sauce my Shigureni is actually even tastier than its ' Normal Version' . Thank you." Izuku explained, smiling proud of himself.
"Y-You…" Takeo muttered while his body seemed to grow bigger.
"You were fast in pointing-out your friends' mistakes, but you too made a glaring one. Had you NOT declared those vegetables to be the key factor of your Dish, had you not boasted about Artichokes being basically your Secret Weapon , I would have gone through with the first Dish I had decided to make, and your victory would have been almost certain. I learned on my skin to be humble and careful, I hope this will help you too." Izuku said.
"You…" Takeo said again, now silver fur could be seen rapidly covering his body while he kept getting more buff until he took a slightly hunched posture.
"Also: your biggest Mistake was actually making Beef not Artichokes the Theme of our Challenge, your wish to keep your tactic a secret gave me the key to defeat it too."
" Grrrr!"
"By the way, to truly enjoy my Dish' full taste, I suggest you eat the cheese half now, your palate should be properly ready after the beef shigureni." Izuku said, unafraid and personally taking a bite of the quattro formaggi side of his portion.
"The cheese...A Quattro Formaggi , one of the most common toppings of Italian Pizza…" Mako muttered while giving a bite to the second slice of Pizza on her plate.
"Midoriya…" In the meantime Takeo had subconsciously fully activated his Quirk to turn into a feral-looking Werewolf with silver fur.
"A-Amazing!" Minato gasped in wonder.
"I kind of had to modify the original recipe, though, since Ricotta (soft cow/goat cheese ) is not exactly an official part of the Quattro Formaggi ." Izuku explained.
" Mozzarella, Parmiggiano, Ricotta and Gorgonzola . Simple cheeses mixed together to perfection...and the taste is simply unreal...How?" Michiko asked.
"They all are cheeses rich of Salty flavour , their mellow richness and that salty feeling goes in stark contrast with all the sweetness your tongues have been bombarded with thanks to Takeo-san's roast-beef and my Shigureni. It was a royal pain to balance it, but I knew that all that sweetness would have made the cheeses taste stand-out amazingly if I managed to pull it off. And I believe I managed."
"Not only the saltiness! You used black pepper to add extra tingling to the dish too!" Mako answered, amazed.
"The bitterness of the Artichokes paved the road to the Sweetness of my Shigureni, enriched by the Cynarine, and both acted as the introduction to the final part of my dish: the Saltiness of my Quattro Formaggi. And if you taste the Shigureni again, you will find the taste transformed, now having turned pleasantly bitter. This is the Yin-Yang Pizza: Sweetness and Saltiness neatly separated and yet with a bit of each other in them still, all thanks to my 'Flavor-Transforming Beef Shigureni'." Izuku explained.
"And all this wouldn't have been possible without you, Takeo-san. Your Dish made mine reach an even greater level. I did not just counter you, I used your own Secret Weapon against you."
"Midoriya … " Takeo's voice was now a growl with drool flowing down his fangs-filled lupine mouth.
"It was an amazing display of abilities. I am sorry, Takeo, but I must vote for Midoriya." Minato said, sighing and showing a sad smile.
"Midoriya. Sorry, Takeo." Michiko.
"You…"
"Midoriya. You were amazing, Takeo, but I have to." Sadao
"You … "
" He used your Cyarine against you, that in itself was impressive, but I can't even tell how he made the same Dish have two different shades of Flavor, but don't worry, I will avenge you." Mako said with a merciless smile.
"Sorry, Takeo…" Sadao muttered with a low voice.
"Midoriya! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" The Transformed Vegetable King howled in madness while jumping Izuku with the rest of the class screaming in fear.
"Troublemaker!"
"Whitey! Stop!" Izuku yelled while jumping back and watching the stool he was sitting on getting bitten to splinters by the Mad Werewolf .
BUMP! BUMP!
As soon as his feet touched ground again, a duo of needles appeared in Izuku's hands and he used them on the Knocking Pressure Points of his own shoulders to enlarge his arms' muscles and fists to thrice their sizes.
"COME HERE!" Takeo roared.
"STOP!" Yamato yelled with wide eyes at seeing one of her Kings fully lose his cool and assault the green-haired boy a second time.
"Idiot…" they all heard Izuku mutter with a sigh, both his hands raised high and fists clenched tight.
" Bodhisattva Tenderizer!" the green-haired Chef declared with blazing eyes as both his fists came slamming down on both shoulders of Takeo to fully interrupt the werewolf ' charge and slam him down face-first on the floor with an extremely loud BOOOM! And the entire school shook heavily.
( In Buddhism , a bodhisattva (/ˌboʊdiːˈsʌtvə/ BOH-dee-SUT-və ) is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood . In short an attack that hits you so hard you almost reach Buddhahood !)
"Ugh… " Takeo groaned weakly from the crater on the floor his body created under the weight of Izuku's attack, and the young man was already returning to look human as soon as he fully lost consciousness.
"..."
Sigh ! "That was fairly pathetic." Yamato commented bitterly while watching one of her prized students lying on the floor unconscious.
"That is Assault, mum, a crime ." Minato answered.
"Yes, and a fairly pathetic one: you don't throw away your future just because you lost a challenge, but I guess that for somebody as prideful as Takeo, losing to anybody else besides Mako was too much to bear." The old woman said while walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Her son asked.
"I need to make a couple calls: one to the Police Force to report the attack, and one to Toshio's family, after Michiko's outburst and Takeo moment of madness, we are short of judges."
"Will I go to prison?" Michiko asked, afraid.
"That is up to the police to decide, I will have to suspend you for a while though. You are unfit to judge for the same reason: after your attempted attack your judgment can easily be put in question, you should have considered this before Takeo's challenge even started." She answered, sighing.
"Yes, madame." The girl answered with a low sigh.
"I am surprised you are not covering for them," Izuku admitted.
"There isn't much to cover since we are streaming all this Live, and even then, while I may like to see you lose, I don't want to see you drop dead. I am a Chef, not a murderer, same going for my students. Takeo and Michiko will face the consequences of their actions." Yamato answered.
"I understand." He replied.
In the silence that followed that exchange, the old woman quietly left the class with a somber expression.
"...I know that asking this is foolish, or even hypocritical..." Minato tried saying once seen his mother leave.
"Yes?" Izuku asked.
"Both Takeo and Michiko will have a lot to deal with once we are done here, can I at least ask you to not press charges? Adding a court visit on top of all this could really ruin their future." The man begged.
"I am sorry..." Michiko added, already crying.
Sigh ! "Apologizing after the deal means very little, you know?" Izuku answered with a heavy sigh.
"Please," Minato begged.
"If they get away with this, it will set a precedent, and these things will happen again."
"But it won't happen again!"
"You have the power to instantly change how Society thinks and acts against the Quirkless, Mister Minato?" Izuku asked.
"N-no..."
"Michiko's attack didn't even start! You can't know if she only wanted to scare you instead of strangling you!" Sadao tried saying.
"Were you just trying to scare me, Michiko-san?" He asked.
"...Yes?" The girl answered with a tentative smile.
"..."
"...No. I really did try grabbing you," after a long war of stares though Michiko deflated and told the truth.
"And then?" He pressed on.
"I don't know...I was not really thinking." She admitted.
"That is what I meant."
"Just...Just consider it, please." Minato pleaded.
"Let's finish these challenges first, then you all will be free to beg him for forgiveness. Even if in his place I would have none." Mako answered, unfazed, and carelessly threw away everything she found on Takeo's workstation to make room for her own equipment.
"Okay," Izuku conceded with a new sigh.
"Few agents will be here shortly to collect Takeo and our testimony. They accepted my request to let Michiko see the final Challenge against Mako, but then she will have to follow them back to the police station for further questioning. An agent will wait outside for her." Yamato informed everybody as soon as she returned.
"Thank you, Madame." Michiko answered.
"Did you take Takeo's knife, Midoriya?"
"Not yet." He answered.
"Here, as far as I know, this was his favourite. I'll write his name on it for you." Mako said while collecting said utensils.
"Thank you. But...You don't seem very sad about your friend's situation."
"Me and Takeo are GOOD friends, but I also recognize that his Ego has always been a huge problem. I guess it was only his one-sided crush on me that made sure losing to me never bothered him. He probably saw it as me being worthy of him or some similar nonsense. It was only a matter of time before Karma caught up to his stupidity, ' you reap what you sow ' and all that." The woman answered.
"One-sided crush?" Izuku asked.
"You knew about it?!" Sadao chorused right after.
"I pride myself to be a bright woman, Takeo was wearing a neon sign declaring his interest in me, as far as I am concerned."
"Oh! Surprising!" The Fish King answered.
"I know. While we wait for the Police to arrive, I say we organize our own Challenge, Midoriya. Are you up for it?" Mako asked.
"I am ready, what is the Theme?" He answered.
"Soup."
"..."
"...Okay? And?" He asked once she did not elaborate further.
"That's it, we will both make soup, and there won't be restrictions on Ingredients...Mostly." she answered with a predatory smirk.
"Mostly?"
"We both will need to use as many Ingredients as possible AND make it so their taste won't clash. I saw you win while using one or two Ingredients tops, I want to see if you can handle lots more! For example I will use: Bear Meat, Pacific Saury, Beef, Apples, Salmon, Chicken and various vegetables."
"So your Dish will double as a Revenge for the fallen Kings?" Izuku asked with his eyebrows almost shutting up all the way to his hairline.
"What can I say, I have a soft spot for theatrics!" she replied, laughing.
"Fair enough, I will use the same ingredients then, plus a few others." Izuku answered.
"Good!"
Sigh ! "I think I know what you are planning for, I will ask our janitors to bring the machines here." Yamato said.
"Machines?"
"You'll see, Midoriya." Mako answered, smiling mischievous.
- Twenty Minutes Later -
Just as two agents of the Police Force finally arrived to cuff Takeo and slowly drag the still unconscious young man away, Toshio the Meat King entered the room to accompany the school janitors rolling inside two bulky and complex-looking machines the size of a fridge.
"I am glad you accepted returning here for this," Yamato said.
"I am doing this as a favour to Midoriya, after Takeo and Michiko screwed-up he needed a proper judge, I am already looking for a new school." The plump boy answered, huffing.
"Fair enough." The old woman replied with a sigh of dismay.
"While we waited, have you thought about what soup you will prepare?" Mako asked.
"Sort of, I think I know which one I will make to face you." Izuku answered.
"Good to hear."
" Is the Host aware of the main problem with his choice? " The Voice of his Sponsor though made its presence known soon after.
" Problem? " He asked.
" In order to prepare a perfect Century Soup , the Host will need a drop of saliva from the Ingredient known as Wall Penguin. Does the Host wish to purchase some from the System? " The Entity asked.
" So THAT was the last Ingredient? No wonder nobody else could replicate it! Setsuno probably knew and did not tell me either…Damn her! " Izuku thought in amusement.
" No need. My 'Imperfect Version' is still an extremely good Soup. I will use that to defeat Mako. " The young Chef answered.
"So you say there won't be a Theme or chosen Ingredient, the only requirement is that we prepare a soup with as many Ingredients as we can handle…" Izuku said with a mischievous ( and still adorable ) smile.
"…Yes?" Mako answered, with a rather big chunk of ice spontaneously forming in her stomach out of worry.
"Good to know! Whitey, please bring me all the Ingredients they have in storage. Here are the quantities I need." The Young Chef asked while rapidly jutting down a note on a piece of paper.
"Understood." The plump robot answered and immediately ran out of the room.
"Every Ingredient we have in our storage?" Minato asked with a faint voice.
"Exactly! Should be many, right?" Izuku asked.
"We…We will soon have a feast to celebrate the Anniversary of the Founding of our school, so the kitchen storage has been stocked to capacity…" Yamato answered, just as unnerved.
"How many?" Izuku pressed on just as Whitey barged-in with a HUGE pair of burlap sacks filled to the brim in Ingredients on his shoulders…And the school cafeteria's Chef desperately clinging to his leg to stop the robot.
"Two hundred and fifty-three different Ingredients have been collected, Host." Whitey declared.
"More or less that many…" Yamato confirmed with a tiny voice.
"Rector! Stop this monster! This thing has beaten-up and undressed the entire kitchen Staff! Not even the women were spared!" the guy cried-out in horror.
"Disciplinary Stripping cares not about Gender! All Troublemakers in the way to the Host's Mission shall be stripped as an example to others!" the Robot answered while delivering the Ingredients to Izuku.
"Monster!" several girls shrieked in horror.
"I care not about your feelings. Your " Respect Wahmen" shall be used to shine this Unit's backside." The System answered through Whitey's mouth, merciless as usual and making Izuku chuckle.
Many outraged gasps echoed in the room, at that.
"Small matters aside, I will start my own Soup if you don't mind." The green-haired Chef declared.
"You can't use that many Ingredients together!" Mako said with wide eyes.
"I have watched the others use many Ingredients in every fight I had with you Kings …What's wrong with me doing this now?"
"At best I used less than ten! Not over two hundred!" Michiko screeched in shock.
"I know, unfortunately the Century Soup does require a lot of Ingredients to be done." Izuku answered with a helpless shrug.
"Century Soup? Never heard of it." Mako admitted.
"Imagine it as a VERY clear consommé. It will take a couple hours to make, but it will be oh so worth it…" Izuku answered, showing an eager expression.
"A couple hours? Good! At least I will have plenty of time to make my own " Flavor Pearls Soup ". We both will use our best dish, good!" the woman said with a feral smirk.
"It's not really my best Dish, but whatever floats her boat, I guess…" Izuku muttered to himself in answer.
"Both contestants ready? This is the last Challenge between Midoriya Izuku and the 5 Kings , this time against ' Soup King ' Mako Yarikami. The Theme is simply Soup and will be the longest of them all as both will have two hours to complete their Dish." Minato said with a tense tone.
"I ask again, are you ready?"
"We are ready!" Both young Chefs answered at the same time.
"Then…BEGIN!" at the signal, both contestants moved at the same time.
While Izuku pulled-out the biggest pot he could find, Mako was already attacking a fat salmon so fresh it looked still alive.
Putting the fat fish on the chopping board, she slashed downward with her customized Knife branded with Inoshiki Academy insignia on the handle to fillet and skin the salmon at high speed.
"That is some impressive knife technique," Izuku admitted, he had instead started with the beef and bear meat, cleaning both at high speed and then seasoning them.
"That's not the only thing I am impressive at! Now you'll see why I remained the First King ever since I was selected!" Mako answered, her feral smile showing a sinister edge that still gained her loud simping cries from the students behind her.
"Those guys are hopeless," Izuku commented with a sigh as his knife moved in a burst of speed that gave the illusion of three blades chopping down at the same time and slicing the saury he was working with into thin stripes in an instant.
"How can you cut that fast?" Mako blurted-out, awed by the sight.
"Hard and merciless training, both my old Teacher and my current Sponsor are slave-drivers." The young man answered, sighing.
"Well, it matters not! It won't be the Fastest Chef to win, but the Best!``On the notes of that answer, Mako finished separating the skin, scales, meat, and bones of the salmon she was working with neatly, each movement of hers swift and extremely precise.
Once finished dealing with the fish meat, the young woman sent Izuku a challenging glare and pulled-out a metal rack with a big funnel on top and a tiny hole on the bottom under which she positioned a big bowl filled in a clear liquid with a light gelatinous consistency.
"What's that?" he asked.
"My secret weapon! Custom-made to help my ' Heat Parasite ' Quirk show its Full Potential while Cooking!" Mako answered in glee.
" He is finished! Queen Mako is also known as the Molecular Devil ! Nobody can match her expertise! " a girl exclaimed in reverential wonder from the back of the class.
"Molecular Cuisine, eh? I have dabbled in it a couple times…But in the end, I always return to more Mundane cooking methods." Izuku admitted with a thoughtful expression.
He actually remembered a Chef from his lifetime as Zaus that specialized in that branch of cooking: ' Mad Scientist Nanachi '…But no amount of amazing Dishes could help Izuku stomach the guy's obnoxious manners he displayed whenever out of a kitchen, that man was just too rude and annoying!
"Ahaha! Then let me show you how a Master does it!" Mako answered.
One of the machines she had asked for and had been moved into the class was soon turned on, and each container on the front of the bulkiest machine went filled by the fish parts: skin inside the first, the meat in the second and the bones in the third.
"This is what we jokingly refer to as " Taste Extractor ", it will forcefully extract every drop of essence from whatever is inserted into the containers and pour the resulting liquids into separate vials." Mako explained, and loud shredding noises rang out as soon as she started the thing.
"That poor salmon is not exactly enjoying it…" Izuku muttered, unheard.
Hearing the Voice of Ingredients helped him and many of his colleagues learn that not every Ingredient liked being used in molecular gastronomy, it was actually very polarizing opinion, but it was clear to Izuku how THAT PARTICULAR salmon didn't appreciate being treated like that.
Once collected the vials of Salmon Essence, Mako switched containers with clean ones to repeat the process with her own seasoned bear meat, and doing it again over and over with every Ingredient she had chosen.
"What now?" While slowly stirring the soup stock he made until it started to boil gently, Izuku watched the wide collection vials now filling Mako's workstation.
"Now I will turn all this into beautiful Pearls of flavor thanks to a solution of sodium alginate and calcium chloride , pearls I will then freeze." She answered.
"I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man or even a 20th century Boomer …But I still find all that a bit too extreme as a way of Cooking, too many chemicals involved." Izuku admitted, sheepish.
"To each their own." Mako answered with an annoyed huff.
It was a curious sight indeed, on one side they watched Izuku carefully cut pork meat into identical tiny cubes barely an inch big, while at the opposite side Mako was instead using a syringe to collect the content of a vial of Essence and pouring it a drop at a time into a small basin containing the chemical bath that turned each drop into a small gelatinous ball the size of a pea.
"One Chef is cooking in the traditional way, the other is using the most modern equipment of the 22nd Century. It's literally a battle between Past and Present!" Minato muttered, intrigued.
"Like watching a Samurai fighting a Robot?" Sadao asked with starry eyes.
"Exactly!" The man answered, excited.
"Honey you read too many Light Novels..." Yamato commented while rolling her eyes.
"I am still going to say that 'Samurai VS Zombie VS Robot for the love of the Takoyaki Princess in the Kingdom of Dancing Squids.' is neither Trashy nor Cringe." Minato answered, huffing.
"Minato, the title alone made my skin crawl..." the woman answered, sighing.
"Hater."
- With Izuku and Mako -
The contestants were luckily too engrossed in their cooking to notice the strange by-play between Mother and Son, so did the audience both in class and following the Livestream.
Once every drop of Essence from the various vials had been turned into gelatinous spheres, all neatly separated into different dishes, Mako grabbed one of the handles of her contraption with one hand, rapidly covering the entire thing with a thin layer of frost once absorbed into herself every ounce of heat thanks to her Quirk.
"Here it is! My secret weapon! I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR NICE ASS, PRETTY BOY!" and as expected, the downside of her Quirk as well showed-up with all the absorbed Heat making her self-control slip.
"W-Wha?!" Izuku shrieked at the comment about his ass.
"YOU HEARD ME! I DON'T CARE IF YOU CAN BOUNCE A COIN ON THAT MASTERPIECE OF YOUR BUTT! YOUR BEING A HOT PIECE OF ASS TEASING EVERY GIRL IN A THIRTY METERS RADIUS WITH YOUR MERE PRESENCE WON'T SAVE YOU THIS TIME! YOUR ' PLEASE MOLEST ME, ONEECHAN! ' SEX AURA WON'T WORK ON ME!" Mako roared with a savage roar.
" Eek !"
"Mako becomes way too forward when Overheating " Michiko commented with a sigh of dismay.
"Not that she is wrong..." Sadao added, she, just like the other girls in class, was now avoiding Izuku's eyes when the unnerved Chef tried looking at them.
"True."
"I am not like that! I don't have that Oneechan Aura or whatever...At best I am an average plain boy..." he muttered with a pout. A supremely adorable pout.
" Bullshit !" The girls in the classroom thought as one at the same time, the same answer momentarily swarmed the Livestream Chat as well as every female user typed that.
The same thought also crossed the minds of the fans of the original manga.
" That ass belongs to me, kindly keep those dirty paws away from it ." Momo thought in distaste while scowling at the Livestream.
Still glaring at the green-haired Chef, Mako kept one hand on her contraption to keep it cold, while with the other she delicately poured the content of a Dish to let the drops of Essence gently roll into the funnel.
"Thanks to my Quirk, I can freeze these drops instantly! Even better than a bath into Liquid Nitrogen ! You are finished, pretty boy!" Mako, still under the effects of her Overheating , declared as the tiny pearl-like frozen grains started dripping down from the funnel and filling-up the porcelain bowl under it.
Once repeated the freezing with the content of every vial, soon pearl-like grains of different colours filled the bowl to the brim.
"The Pearls are ready, now I can focus on the soup proper." The woman said with a sigh, moving the bowl of pearls into the fridge with a more relaxed expression.
"Feeling better?" Izuku asked with a whisper.
"Yes, I will be. Luckily the effect doesn't last long once I stop absorbing heat...Sorry about what I said. It was distasteful." Mako answered, ashamed.
"No harm done, don't worry,"
"Thank you."
"You're done making pearls?"
"Yes, I will start preparing the soup proper, how about you?"
"I am a third of the way, to make a proper consommé two hours will be barely enough, but I'll manage." Izuku answered.
"Give it your all, then. I hate Chefs who slack-off!" Mako answered, nodding.
Said that, the young woman started preparing a chicken bone stock since the bird's meat will be the main element of the soup.
"Chicken Soup as a base, making a tasty soup that is also Clear and without oil or grease suspension will be of essence to make a successful dish..." Yamato thought with narrowed eyes while studying both contestants' handiwork.
In the meantime Mako had finished cleaning the Knife she used to prepare the Ingredients for the Essence Extractor and was now cutting the meat, skillfully piercing through the chicken skin right above the articulations connecting the wings to the body and cleanly separating them from the breast.
Done the same with the legs, and after quartering the chicken breast, she delicately removed the bones to prepare the stock and rubbed every piece of meat in butter and placed the now-shining cuts into an earthenware pot.
"Good, now...the herbs and the pepper grains..." the young woman muttered, thoughtful.
While the bone stock was slowly starting bubbling gently on the stove, a colorful mix of herbs and spices, along with a small pinch of black pepper, was gently sprinkled above the meat until every piece was covered uniformly, then the pot went sealed by its lid and put above the fire.
Having now her hands momentarily free of work, she moved a bit closer to see what Izuku was doing.
"This Century Soup..." she asked.
"Yes?" He answered while removing the last traces of scum floating to the surface of the meat he was blanching, meat that went then added to the main pot boiling at low flame.
"Do you really need all those Ingredients to make it?"
"Yes. To be fair, though, a Proper Century Soup should be left boiling for up to ten hours, but with the Ingredients I am using, two hours will suffice." Izuku answered.
"Is it a very complex dish then?" She asked while peering into the bubbling pot.
"Very, I might lack a key Ingredient that is still fermenting back in my personal kitchen, but I have experimented enough with this recipe to know how to cover for most of this problem. This I am preparing is what I call Proto-Century Soup , but done here I plan to make the real one back at my Restaurant."
"Ten hours even, impressive. "
"Impressive and a slog to prepare."
" Of course the Original Recipe requires many hours to be done, the Ingredients needed are so out of ordinary compared to the ones of this world that it's not a surprise the requirements are just as crazy! " The green-haired young man mentally added with a sigh.
"Uh! You said that the missing Ingredient is still fermenting...What's that?" Mako asked, curious.
"Home-made aromatic winegar. Secret Recipe." Izuku answered with a cheeky wink, and using the lie suggested by the System.
"So you are fighting me with an Imperfect soup?" Mako asked with narrowed eyes.
" Imperfect implies it will be a bad soup, I am preparing a different version of the original dish, please don't insult it. It will be exceptionally good, I know." Izuku answered, sending her a side glare.
"...We'll see..." the young woman answered as she marched back to her own workstation.
- Some Time later -
While Izuku's dish was nearing the final phases of preparation, Mako's own soup was almost ready as well.
As she waited for the soup to be ready, she recovered her Pearls of Flavor from the fridge and started collecting a few of each Flavor to create a small selection of colorful beads she then poured into small dishes, one for each Judge plus two, one for Izuku and one for herself.
In her pot, water boiled and steam rolled forth while the soup was constantly bubbling, filling the room in the homely scent of cooked chicken.
Looking as if unsatisfied by something, Mako actually grabbed a few Pearls from the ones remaining from her selection and tossed them into the soup where they melted instantly, causing the scent to change slightly while the soup bubbled even more violently.
Bubbles constantly rose and popped at the surface of the soup the more pearls she added.
Plop! Plop! Plop!
"This will add a bit of Body to the soup taste. I added some essence of herbs, beef and pork to it, enough to add facets without overshadowing the gentle taste of chicken." Mako explained with a smirk.
Using a steel ladle to scoop-out the soup and show it to the people present, Izuku and the others saw that the thing was extremely clear, without a single trace of oil, which made it look pleasing to the eyes.
The dense meat fragrance of the chicken intermingled perfectly with the delicate scent of the bone broth it was submerged in, with the mixture of scents wafting everywhere to tease the noses of the spectators.
Swish !
Pouring the delicate chicken meat soup into the various white porcelain bowls, Mako then took the dishes containing her Flavor Pearls and delivered everything to the judges table.
"Here it is, my Flavor Pearls Chicken Soup is ready! Please try the meat and soup by themselves and then pour the Pearls in the remaining broth, then you can either wait for them to melt or eat them as they are and enjoy the feeling of Hot and Cold they provide. Please enjoy your meal." Mako explained with a deep bow.
Although the judges all thanked her for their portion, their attention kept gravitating towards the other soup still cooking, and Mako could not exactly blame them either.
The Soup kept bubbling and bubbling, with Izuku's ladle never stopping moving to gently squeeze out every drop of taste from everything he used.
"He keeps adding Ingredients…" Sadao muttered, shocked.
"And the scent still remains amazing…" Michiko chorused, looking at the big pot with unblinking eyes.
" Beef, pork, veal, bear, shrimps, calamari, salmon, carrots, potatoes…I can tell each Ingredient apart by smell and they are not in conflict…HOW?! " a student shrieked in horror from the back of the room.
"And he keeps adding more! What the fuck?!" the girl's friend added.
"The preliminary preparations are done…Now…The filtering." Izuku muttered with narrowed eyes.
" Filtering ?" everybody else thought, growing extremely confused.
As if to answer them, they watched Izuku prepare a second big pot he topped with an extremely fine filter Whitey pulled out of the opening on his stomach, the thing was so fine the 'holes' of its net almost could not be seen by naked eye.
"Now…If I did it properly, three times should be enough…And I will only need to make it finish cooking for a couple minutes more after that to be done…" Izuku muttered while pouring the entire content of the first pot into the second once removed the cooked Ingredients from it.
"Why Filtering it? To make sure the broth is extra clear?" Minato muttered, unsure.
"Maybe he wants to avoid any particles to float in it?" Yamato answered while watching Izuku clean the first pot thoroughly to repeat the Filtering a second time with a brand new and even finer filter.
When the third round of Filtering happened though, every whisper died down abruptly to let absolute silence take over, because NOBODY could comprehend what they were actually seeing…
The Soup that poured down from the filter now was absolutely invisible.
Clearer than water, transparent to the point of absurdity, a Soup they could HEAR sloshing about in the pot, but that they were unable to see.
"Perfectly done!" Izuku declared with an elated smile.
"HOW?!" Mako demanded.
"It's part of the recipe! Unfortunately I lack the ingredients to finish it properly, so the 99.9% version will have to do this time." He answered.
He honestly could not tell them the missing Ingredient came from an animal of another world.
"While you finish your preparations, we will start judging Mako's Soup." Minato said.
"Please go ahead, I will be done in a minute." Izuku answered, nodding.
"Good. Let's see...This soup does look delicious." Yamato admitted, sounding extremely impressed.
Mako's dish could only be described as beautiful, a soup with enchanting color and luster.
Under the light of the room, the dish seemed to be as dazzling as a starry sky with the clear soup emitting an enchanting fragrance as steam rose from the surface of the bowl, constantly rolling around and scattering.
The soup was clear with a light yellow tinge to it, and the tiny grains in the small bowl next to it looked like small pearls emitting a hazy luster when light shone onto them.
The meat had been cooked a little by itself before being cut into small round slices Mako then added to the soup, just enough for the butter and the mixture of herbs and spices to properly enrich its taste, not being fully cooked in the broth also meant that the meat did not break apart once scooped-up with the spoon.
It was a warm taste that gently warmed the heart of the eater, with the buttery-soft pieces of meat giving further body to the dish.
"Simply wonderful." Yamato declared with a proud tone.
"Just by sight, this soup has already exceeded every expectation we had, but now is time to see if the taste too was a success." Minato declared.
"I am confident in my dish, I promise you won't be disappointed!" Mako answered while puffing-out her chest in pride.
"I know I won't be, I know you well." Yamato answered, she was the first to taste the dish.
When the judges took their first mouthful of soup, the look in their eyes changed from sharp and focused into a more relaxed expression, as if reminiscing few fond memories of days long past.
In the next moment, they constantly moved their spoons, scooping more and more spoonfuls to their mouths with an eager expression.
"Try the Pearls too, those are a wonder of Molecular Cuisine." Mako suggested with a smirk oozing unbearable amounts of pride as she pointed at the small dish of pearls next to the soup plate.
"Aah! I remember your Pearls! Pure taste and essence condensed into minuscule bombs of flavour!" Yamato answered, eagerly collecting a few pearls of each color in her spoon she then briefly dipped into the soup before eating them.
When the essence grains entered her mouth, their cold shell formed a sharp contrast with the hot soup that further highlighted their taste.
These essence grains were frozen, and the cooling sensation when they entered the mouth together with the warm soup made the judges risk swallowing their tongue in their haste to eat more as soon as the grains taste mixed with the broth's.
"Salmon tastes in chicken soup, it's a surprise the two don't clash. Is it because of their being spheres?" Sadao admitted.
"What she did, Spherification , changed the flavor of the Ingredients, didn't it?" Izuku answered.
"Pretty much. It is still a chemical reaction, not every Ingredient can take it and maintain 100% of their original flavor. In this case it helped because it took away some edge to the salmon taste, enough for it to work with a bone broth base." Mako said.
"You still took a daring gamble,"
"You have been doing this since the beginning, don't be a hypocrite." She answered.
"Touche." He admitted with an amused chuckle.
"It was indeed surprising, the Pearls were good eaten alone as well, actually refreshing the palate after eating the warm soup. Simply amazing. " Minato declared with a wide smile.
"Mako-chan has a bit of an attitude, but she does make awesome soups." Sadao added.
"Never was a lover of soups, but this was admittedly nice to eat, I guess." Michiko said with a shrug.
"I don't really like watching meat get destroyed and transformed like that, but it was good all the same. I just wish Takeo was here to taste it too." Toshio said with a sigh.
"Takeo had a choice in taking the defeat with dignity or even making a fool of himself and whining about it. He instead choose to attack somebody in blind Fury to avenge his wounded Pride like a common hooligan, and Assault is a crime." Yamato answered, scowling.
"It is still so surprising to hear you say that,"
"I might have a personal reason to dislike you, Midoriya, but even that is not a good enough excuse to let one of my students go unpunished after an attack on your life. He broke the law and as a proper educator it was my duty to clean-up the mess and contact the Police Force to see him properly punished. When he will be released, if ever, he will face the consequences of his actions, and being a promising Chef won't spare him that." The old woman answered.
"Oh, thank you." Izuku answered with a small smile.
Sigh ! "To be perfectly honest, had things been different I would have tried snatching you as a student here with all my might." Yamato admitted with a sigh.
"It can still happen..." Minato whispered to her with a smirk.
"Hush!" She hissed back in answer.
"Uh?" Izuku uttered, confused.
"Nothing, Midoriya. It's nothing. Are you ready?" Yamato answered.
"Oh! Of course! I will serve it immediately!" The green-haired Chef said filling several big bowls in transparent soup.
" I can't see shit! How can soup be invisible?! The plates are empty!" A girl in the back yelled.
" That guy keeps pulling bullshit like that! Can't he cook NORMAL Food at least once?! " Another roared in defiance right after.
Many in fact started loudly declaring him a Cheater due to the Soup's appearances.
"Please be quiet, and don't curse." Izuku asked with a calm and yet cold tone, he didn't actually look back at them, he just raised his right hand and slowly closed it into a fist on the notes of its cracking bones.
When a flaming red Aura covered his body and the arm's muscles bulged-out, a loud chorus of jaws snapping closed echoed behind him as the Students in the back instantly fell silent.
They all remembered the one-hit KO that downed the Berserkering Takeo, and didn't wish to try their luck against Izuku AND Whitey that was already glaring at them with red eyes.
"That's better. Here is my Proto-Century Soup . Please enjoy." Izuku said with a bow once delivered the full bowls to the judges and Mako.
"And one for myself too," he then poured a bowl for himself to enjoy.
"I...I don't actually know how to judge this..." Minato admitted with an unnerved tone.
"I mean, it is a clear soup, and it does smell nice." Toshio muttered, puzzled.
"Is this edible? He used so many Ingredients," Michiko added.
"Taste it and you'll see. It came out pretty nice, if I can say so myself." He answered while eating.
"Taste it, '' he says, ''how can a Soup so transparent have any taste, I wonder…" Mako muttered unsure while studying the spoon in her hand.
If not for the fact she felt its weight on the spoon and heard it fall back into the bowl once poured it back in, she would actually believe there was nothing in her plate…But even the sound the Soup made whenever she stirred it with her spoon was abnormal, it sounded too crisp, too clean.
"The scent is hard to describe, while gentle and delicate, at times you feel the meat, at others the fish and then the vegetables…" The former Meat King commented.
"And yet there is nothing here…Clear like crystal…" Sadao answered.
" I wonder how you would react to the small aurora a proper Century Soup generates above the plate. That is the hard part to explain! " Izuku thought while rolling his eyes, and coming-up with AT LEAST a hundred different Ingredients from the Gourmet World out of the top of his head that would blow their minds way harder than the Soup he made.
"Please taste it before it gets cold." He begged.
"Right. Let's see what you did." Mako answered, shoving a big spoonful of the thing in her mouth all at once.
Munch !
" Ah! I bit into it! The flavor almost felt solid! Like biting onto a giant steak! " Mako thought in shock as her entire being went assaulted by the Soup True Taste.
She could see it actually! Hundreds of cows resting in an endless grass field and peacefully basking in the sun with her sitting among them.
Then the Flavor changed…
"The salmon! The Saury!" Mako was now deep into the bottomless sea as giant schools of fishes swam all around her!
The flavor changed again!
She saw a giant field bustling in vegetables, all juicy and ripe and with the warm and earthy scent of watered soil permeating the air.
And the taste changed again…
"The Squid Meat!"
And again…
"The pork meat!"
And again…
"Shrimps!"
And again!
And again!
And again!
Each bite, each spoonful had a different taste!
ALWAYS CHANGING!
ALWAYS TRANSFORMING !
The Judges too were drowning in that taste, just as awed as Mako was.
"The bear meat…" the plump Meat King muttered with teary eyes as he once again came face-to-face with the same Bear of his own Challenge, right in the middle of the animal's beloved woods, but this time he didn't feel hostility, as if the female bear had already forgiven him, making weep harder.
"The Saury's fat and meat in this soup taste so goooood!" Sadao moaned in bliss while still playing around with those fishes in her own little fantasy.
"…Apples and roses again…He is twisting the knife in the wound…" Michiko muttered while eating her bowl of soup, she too was crying faintly.
"Impossible…You can't pile-up so many flavors on top of each other like this…Food doesn't work like this…" Yamato muttered with a weak tone, each syllable trembling in badly-restrained horror.
"I can taste both Takeo's roast beef with artichokes and the pizza that defeated him…Toshio's Bear mincemeat katsu and the Red Braised paws…The Cartoccio of Sadao and the scorched Carpaccio…Even Michiko Entremet and the Queen's Apple Tarts are faintly present…The same tastes of the dishes he and the Kings made in the various Challenges are all present and then many, many more!" Minato said while looking at Izuku in disbelief.
"The Century Soup is not just a Dish, is a testament of the greatest Ingredients of the current Century AND a Thank You to the Ingredients of old. A taste both Ancient and Fresh and pretty much a complete Full Course Menu condensed in a single Dish.
My only regret is that this is the Incomplete Version , unable to showcase the full scope of its taste. But I plan to make it properly and add it to my Restaurant Menu." Izuku explained.
The revelation that the " proper " version of the soup could be leagues better still in taste threw the entire room into a deep silence of disbelief.
" Analysis…Host Izuku can add the Century Soup to the Menu, but will still be forced to purchase the Wall Penguin Saliva as an extra until he reaches level 3. Then the Ingredient will instead be stocked like every other condiment. " The System answered.
" Fair enough. " He thought in answer.
Mako in the meantime had finished her plate of soup and had fallen on her knees with the spoon still in her mouth, the dish taste had kept changing again and again until she lost count, and every time becoming more delicious still, beyond her comprehension.
"How?..." she asked with a faint voice.
"Years of trial and error and countless sleepless nights. No superpowers involved, only hard work." Izuku answered, and offered his hand to help her stand back up with a gentle smile.
"Why does everything you make taste this good?" Mako asked once back on her feet.
"Lots of love for the Ingredients, perhaps. I too can't really explain it." He answered, shy.
"I think I understand…" Mako answered.
"It was simply amazing, I feel no shame in admitting it. We will now proceed to vote-"
"There is no need, Mister Minato." Mako interrupted him with a sad smile.
To the others surprise she took one of her knives and wrote her name on the blade, she then grabbed Izuku's hands and gently closed them around the handle, with her hands covering his.
"I have never met anybody with such skills before, you may have hidden it well, but I can tell: This wasn't even the tip of the iceberg of what you can do. And it's amazing." Mako declared with a tiny smile.
"Ehm…Thank you?" Izuku answered, uncertain, the girl was still holding his hands in hers.
" NOOOOOOOOOOO !" The numerous male Simps in the room cried in horror at seeing the green-haired young man ' Cuck them all ' at the same time with a bowl of soup.
And while the Livestream Chat looked ready to explode with all the messages of the ' IzuMako ' Shippers flooding it, the Students of class 1A stood in fear-induced absolute silence once seen Momo clench her phone so hard in her hands the thing snapped in two.
She was clearly against watching some random Bimbo make Doe Eyes to her boyfriend, especially with lots of strangers even endorsing it!
" HOW DARE SHE?! " The Hero Student roared in her head.
Back to Inoshiki Academy –
"I…I have a girlfriend, you know?" Izuku tried saying once his hands were freed from their warm prison.
"I don't mind sharing, and I am sure you won't either." Mako answered with a mischievous smile.
"And what about-"
"Your girlfriend will come around, eventually. She won't have a choice." She answered, unaware that Momo DID hear that shameless claim from Mina's phone, and besides ALMOST snapping in half that phone too, a feral roar did escape her, making even Aizawa dive for cover once heard that.
"I-I can't accept!" he tried saying.
"Huhuhu! Sooner or later, you will. I am a patient woman, and one day I will drink you up…Like a delicious cinnamon soup." She answered, boldly kissing his cheek before returning to her seat, unaware of how screwed she was.
UA University – Dormitories – Common Room
The assembled students of Class 1A and their Homeroom Teacher Aizawa, all brave Heroes in Training and a Pro, stood huddled in a corner to watch in silence Momo sitting alone at a table while watching the Livestream through Mina's phone, and while the girl's expression was neutral, in a classy sort of way, a thick and dark Miasma kept rolling-off from her body in huge waves of darkness.
"This can't continue." Aizawa said.
"Yeah! Please Teacher, do something!" Toru begged.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," the Pro Hero Eraserhead answered with narrowed eyes, making the students cheer silently for their Brave teacher.
"Here goes nothing…Bakugo, go talk to her." The teacher then said,
"Why me?!" Katsuki answered with a low, whispered shriek.
"You are the Top Dog, right?"
"Yeah! I am the Top Dog, not the Sacrificial Lamb! Send the grape-headed moron, nobody will miss him if she tears him in half!" the blond punk replied.
"Mineta already escaped." Aizawa answered.
"Fucking useless midget!"
"Todoroki?" the Pro Hero tried asking.
"I am the class Kuudere , not the student with suicidal thoughts." Shoto answered.
"I-I'll go!" Ochako said with a trembling voice as she rose to her feet.
"…That reminds me…" Momo's hissed answer at that made her turn chalk-white pale, though.
"You work with Izuku as his Waitress…Meaning that you actually spend more time with him than me…I hope you are not developing feelings for him that will create a Love Triangle Situation that will culminate with me having to share him with you so to not see a dear friend of mine suffer from her broken heart after several chapters of headache-inducing Love Doubts that will plague everybody involved…" Momo asked with utterly Soulless eyes drilling a hole in Ochako's head.
"…I won't go." Ochako answered by sitting back down on the floor behind the couch, the group's chosen hiding spot.
"Tokoyami, is up to you! You are the guy with suicide thoughts." Tsuyu said.
"I don't have those! I am the stereotypical Goth Character ! There is a difference!" the bird-headed young man answered with wide eyes.
"Sorry then. Croak !"
"Okay…Plan B." Aizawa declared while whipping-out his phone.
"Mic? I am cashing-in that favor! I need you to come here and placate a Jealous Teenage Girlfriend."
" FUCK! Can't I just go fight All for One and his Nomu army alone and naked?"
"No. Be a man, wear a Kevlar vest and come here! Also, bring some Gold Imperial Leaf Tea, it should appease the Demon long enough for me to talk her into calming down."
" Goddamnit…Give me five minutes to update my Last Will and I'll be there… " Present Mic answered with a defeated sigh.
"Done, we'll have somebody to bear the brunt of the first explosion and give us an opening to fix this." Aizawa declared with a sigh.
"What about Shinso? Can't we ask him?" Kirishima asked.
"I tried that already, apparently Female Fury makes her immune to my Quirk. She also did not appreciate my meddling,I've got to remember that if I really join this class of psychos." Shinso answered while adjusting the ice bag over his recently-gained black eye.
"Oh! So that's how you got that…"
"Class 1A is not for pussies, Grape Head is the only anomaly." Katsuki answered.
Said that, all of them stood in silence as they waited for Mic to come and save their lives.
Back to Izuku – Inoshiki Academy-
Sigh ! "This is the last one," Izuku said once, putting Mako's knife inside the cabinet as well.
"Should I call my teachers now?" Yamato asked.
"No no, there is no need. Five challenges are more than enough for one day. If I hurry back I will be able to organize the dinner service, so I will save some energy for my job." He answered.
"I understand. Shall we do it tomorrow then?"
"Uh? No need, I don't want to interrupt your lessons. Next week at the same time?"
"Next week...Yes, it's feasible, just enough time to take care of both Ingredients and equipment. But, can I add something to the Challenge?" The old woman answered.
"What is it?"
"Nothing extreme, just a matter of Theme. You want to challenge me and my four best teachers, that would be 5 themes: Boiling, Steaming, Frying, Stewing and Carving . Is it acceptable to you?"
"It's okay for me, who will do which?" Izuku asked.
"I will be the one facing you in Carving, I will send you a letter detailing the other names tomorrow." Yamato answered.
"Good for me. If this is all, I will be going. Thank you for accepting my Challenge," the young Chef said with a deep bow.
"Had I known you were like this, I wouldn't have accepted," the old woman replied with a sigh.
"This isn't over! I want a rematch!" Michiko said from the sidelines.
"Me too!" Sadao chorused.
"Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! I will be the first!"
"I will have my revenge as well, so beware," Mako added, smirking.
"Whenever you want," Izuku answered with a wide smile, and under to shocked look of the Students of Inoshiki Academy, the green-haired Chef walked out of the private school closely followed by his Robot Bodyguard carrying the ornate wooden cabinet now holding the knives of the ' Legendary ' 5 Kings everybody thought were invincible inside their school.
"My beloved Samui...I wonder if you have any idea who you have put us against..." Yamato muttered to herself with a sigh, unheard by the others.
Later that day - Park -
"One bus stop down...God why I had to challenge a school at the opposite side of the city." Izuku said, sighing, while making his way through the park towards the bus stop at the opposite end of the place to catch the second bus that will take him back to his Restaurant.
Crackle !
A loud rumble and a brief flash of light was all the warning he got before a deluge started rattling everything with raindrops the size of golf balls.
T- Clook !
"Thank you, Whitey." Izuku said with a grateful tone as the plump robot promptly pulled an umbrella out of his stomach and opened it above the Chef's head.
Now safe from the freezing rain, the curious duo made their way through the rapidly-emptying Park...
"...Awesome...It rains too..." until Izuku saw a tall girl with extremely long hair sitting under a tree while hugging her knees tight to her chest, and judging by her red and puffy eyes, she had been crying for a while.
"You okay?" Izuku asked in worry once near her.
"Uh?" Nejire blurted-out in answer, surprised to see somebody as strange as him near her.
A young Chef clad in professional uniform accompanied by a tall robot with a big belly was not something one saw every day.
"I asked you if you are okay." Izuku said again with a warm, gentle smile.
"I...I will be...probably." Nejire answered, still with downcast eyes.
"Need an umbrella?" He asked while handing her his own, and seemingly uncaring of the rain drenching him completely in a matter of seconds.
"What about-"
T- Clook !
"You."
"My helper Whitey is very resourceful." Izuku answered with a grin as a new umbrella appeared in the robot's hand to protect him.
"Thank you," the girl whispered, grateful, now at least able to walk away from under the tree.
"That Robot...Does it mean you are that Chef people talk about? The one that challenged a private school for Chefs?" She asked.
"Yep, that's me, just finished the first round. Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you." He answered.
"Hadou Nejire, pleasure is mutual."
"Can I ask what happened?"
"I...I don't want to talk about it," Nejire answered.
"Fair enough, I won't pry in somebody's personal matters,"
GORORORORO !
A LOUD thundering sound, similar to a sink getting unclogged, rumbled free from Nejire's stomach, and with her face turning bright red the young woman dearly wished for the earth to open under her feet and swallow her whole to hide her shame.
"...On the contrary though I would be remiss if I ignore an empty stomach crying for help." Izuku added, smirking, and watching amused as Nejire's face did the impossible and turned redder still.
"Oh, God..." the woman groaned in shame while burying her face in her hands.
"Come along! I am going to my Restaurant to start preparations for the dinner rush, I will give you some appetisers to keep you occupied until proper dinner starts." Izuku said, walking forward and motioning her to follow him.
"I-I-I don't..."
"Today's specialties are Beef Wellington, Takoiaki, Katsudon and Oden and today's special desserts are Angel Fruit Cake and Sacher Torte . Or else you can choose from the Traditional Menu, I added the Dishes I prepared during my Challenges in Inoshiki Academy as well. " Izuku answered, mercilessly, without turning to look at her.
Guiiiiiiii !
What came from Nejire's stomach in answer could only be described as the whimper of a dying animal.
"W-Wait for me!" She finally caved-in and followed him to the bus stop.
The ride towards Green Cloud Restaurant was silent, with Izuku and Whitey standing and clinging to the bus railing while Nejire sat nearby, the girl silently appreciating the Chef not pushing further to know what was wrong with her, last thing she felt she needed was somebody using her sadness as an opening to flirt with her.
- Green Cloud Restaurant -
Once arrived, she watched as Izuku rapidly unlocked the door to let her in while he himself opened the drapes and turned-on the lights.
"Take a table you like, I will be with you in a moment with a light snack. Soon it will be dinner time and I don't want to spoil your appetite."
"Thank you," Nejire answered, watching him disappear inside the kitchen while she sat at the table under one of the small trees at the very end of the Restaurant, near the small window connecting the two rooms.
"...You have a dog?" She asked, trying to strike a conversation after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"You mean Blackie? Yes, he is my guard dog, a very amazing one!" She heard him answer.
"I can tell he knows that," she answered, surprised to see a very human-like smirk appear on the dog's face at the praise.
Both the girl and dog were resting under the same tree, and Nejire could guess why the animal didn't seem willing to leave once she sat at that table, for some reason sitting there was making her feel calm, relaxed and ' Safe ', in a sense.
The Restaurant, she surmised, was clearly the young man's pride and joy, just by looking at how spotless it was and at the insane amount of dishes carved in the four tall wooden tablets by the door she could feel the love the green-haired Chef put in his job.
The room possessed a very welcoming feeling, and with the ample windows showing the storm raging outside in all its merciless glory, Nejire felt even more glad she was safely inside, even if she also felt awkward at seeing the scarce people running-by look at her in envy while they braved the freezing-cold downpour.
She was unaware of how long she just sat there in silence, but she ended-up welcoming the " Privacy " the young Chef offered her with his silence, she just looked at the strange leaves of the plant above her while deep in thought...Still unable to find an answer to her " Mirio Problem ".
"I don't know how you are doing this, Plant-chan , but you are helping me think about him without crying again. But I still don't know what to do..." Nejire muttered with a sigh of dismay, as if hoping for the plant to actually help her.
"If you are wondering, those plants are called ' Soul Appeasing Trees ', my Sponsor got them from a Chinese botanist, my guess is that the guy named them like this because he likes Wuxia too much." Izuku explained once, finally surfacing from the kitchen to present her a small tray with steamed buns on it.
"So they really help people relax?" Nejire asked with a tiny smile finally resurfacing.
"Pretty much, it's their Quirk, shall we say. Here: Baozi , steamed pork buns." Izuku proudly declared.
"Oooh!"
"Luckily I had made some in advance, so I only needed to cook them, please enjoy." He explained.
In truth those were supposed to be his snack, but he decided to ' sacrifice them ' to help an empty stomach in need, luckily he did not add the usual insane quantity of chili he normally added to his personal portions.
"Thank you!" She answered, grateful.
"IT'S GOOOOOD!" Then came a happy squeal as soon as she gave one a bite, the wrapping while thick was as soft and fluffy as a cloud, the pork filling instead was flavourful and with just the right amount of chili spices to tingle the nose and perfectly frame the meat flavor.
"Huhuhu! I am glad you like them!" Izuku answered, amused, and watched her wolf down the buns at insane speed.
"Wow! Somebody was hungry!" He then said,
"Yeah! I missed lunch altogether since..." Nejire had started answering with a wide smile while still eating, until she remembered why she was alone in that park crying her eyes out.
"..." she now just sat there looking at the last and half-eaten baozi still in her hand.
"You don't have to tell me anything. But you can stay here as much as you want, or at least until it stops raining." Izuku offered with a kind smile, and simply collected her empty dish to take it back to the kitchen.
"...I." when the Chef was halfway to the door, he heard her mutter something.
"Yes?"
"I argued with my boyfriend."
"I am sure things will get back to normal soon, a moment of disagreement happens to everybody." He answered.
"Not this time," Nejire answered, sighing in dismay.
"We all think that, but you two will soon make peace, just you wai-"
"I AM TIRED OF WAITING!" Nejire roared while slamming both fists on the table.
" Eeek !"
"Troublemaker, cease making a scene or you will be punished!" Whitey immediately came out of the kitchen as soon as he heard Izuku's surprised shriek.
"Ah! Oh, God I am so sorry! I-I just...I am just so tired..." Nejire answered, hiding her face in her hands with a groan.
"I see..." the Chef answered once sent Whitey back.
Sigh ! "Sorry, but ' Wait ' is the last thing I want to hear now."
"Oh."
"It's just...I have been a good girlfriend, you know? I pretty much changed my lifestyle so that my ' schedule ' would fit with my boyfriend's, I was understanding, I accepted the numerous times he canceled our dates because his Mentor suggested a new special training regimen...I even accepted dates getting interrupted halfway because he got a call from his Teacher insisting on revising his Special Quirk Training! Believe me, I am the damn most accommodating Girlfriend ever!" Nejire said all in a single breath.
"I can tell..." Izuku tried answering, understanding that he had just been elected as the girl's confidant even if he never proposed for the job.
He just took a seat and readied himself for the LONG rant that was clearly coming his way.
And a long rant it was once her floodgates went smashed open! Failed dates, canceled or even forgotten dates/anniversaries, handmade lunches abandoned or eaten in a rush and phone calls cut abruptly, among other things.
Whoever the girl's boyfriend was, he seemingly took his Quirk Training way too seriously, especially by hurrying to obey whenever either his Teacher or his Mentor called and abandoning Nejire with just a hurried " Please wait a second! " thrown her way.
Even Izuku with his workaholic tendencies did leave himself enough free time to spend it with Momo, sure between her Hero Training and his job ( and the System constantly breathing on his neck ) both young man and woman had to fight HARD to spend some time together, but they managed at least!
"It's always ' Wait !' With him! Wait! Wait! Wait!" She hissed.
"Then came the last straw...Last night we were supposed to make love for the first time..." Nejire finally said with a depressed tone.
"I don't think I need to hear this," Izuku tried saying.
"I had it all planned-out, you know? I booked a nice and expensive Love Hotel, and I bought various boxes of condoms..." Nejire kept saying, unperturbed.
"I really don't need to hear this."
"I had bought some kinky, see-through lingerie too! The very obscene and edible kind!"
"I don't want to hear this."
"And scented candles! I put scented candles everywhere! I was fully ready to unleash my inner slut! Honest! I was ready to act like a Bona Fide whore!" Nejire said with an angry tone.
"Why are you telling me this..." Izuku said with a miserable groan.
"And then, as he was going to FINALLY put it in...The phone rings, and instead of ignoring it and making true to his boyfriend's duties and pounding me into the mattress, he answered! He took the damn call! He answered and listened as his Mentor asked him if they could talk and he damn left! He simply dressed back and left! He didn't even take off the condom! HE LEFT ME PENT-UP! And with just some Cherry-Flavoured panties to eat alone to calm down!" The girl yelled, obviously frustrated beyond belief.
"..." hearing only silence coming in answer, she finally noticed Izuku leaning forward and burying his face in his hands, a poster picture of misery.
Once again Nejire's face turned bright red in shame as it downed on her how much she said.
"Please don't-"
"I will keep this part a secret, don't worry. Just stop with the sordid details if we talk more, I am trying to erase from my memory that Love Hotel thing." Izuku cut her off, face bright red himself.
"Okay." She answered, meekly.
"Good, with your permission, I will finish dinner preparations, then we'll talk more if you want."
"Thank you," she answered.
"But to be honest, besides listening, I don't think I can help you. What you will do about your boyfriend depends on you only, I won't nor can suggest a thing. But I know that Love is never a one-way road, one has to give other than take , so I am sure your boyfriend will soon return all your patience with interests, " Izuku offered.
Sigh ! "I hope so." Nejire answered with a hopeful sigh.
"Have faith," he answered as he got up.
Falling again into silent contemplation, she watched as he rapidly prepared his Restaurant for the so-called Dinner Rush , soon filling the Restaurant in a mishmash of amazing scents of Ingredients being worked on.
And when the time came, she watched in wonder as he managed to follow every single table, delivering and recovering plates at high speed, all the while still managing to talk a bit more with her.
The food was damn amazing too, and Nejire was unashamedly ordering dish after dish from the menu and piling-up empty plates at a steady pace, she was more hungry than even she knew.
The real drama for her though came when he brought the bill...It was then that Nejire noticed that in her haste to storm out of UA she had left her wallet behind.
"I will bring the money tomorrow morning, I swear!" She cried-out in horror.
"It's okay, don't worry. You will pay me tomorrow, I will just add your breakfast to the total." He answered with a gentle smile.
"You sure?"
"Aren't we friends? I can do a favour to a friend whenever I want!" The Chef answered with a wink.
"Thank you." She answered.
To be honest, after what she told him in blind anger, Upgrading his Rank to Friend was the least she could do, especially since he didn't comment on her Love Hotel story, that was a small blessing.
- The next day -
The following morning she was the very first customer entering as soon as he opened the Restaurant doors.
"Good morning! How do you feel?" He asked.
"A bit better than yesterday." Nejire answered.
"That's good! I knew you would bounce back, nothing can stop the Amazing Nejire-chan!" He said with a thumbs-up.
"Hahaha! Amazing even?" She asked with a touched expression.
"The very best!" His smile was mischievous and friendly at the same time, a combination Nejire actually liked to see him with.
"I have some time before lessons, can we talk some more?"
"Of course! I am always happy to talk with my friends!" Izuku answered, leaving her table briefly to prepare her breakfast.
"Friends, hu?...Why not?" She muttered, watching him work tirelessly to serve his other customers and drawing a rather impressive picture of the boy in her head the more she studied him.
Gentle
Honest
Hard-working
Modest
Well-mannered
Shy to praises
"... Aren't you a Sweet guy? " The young woman thought, and seeing his warm smile up-close when he brought her a cup of coffee finally cleared her doubts.
"Yes, I think we can be very good friends, Icchan!" She said to herself with a wide, happy smile.
Thus the Green Cloud Restaurant gained another regular customer, and Izuku a new friend.
