Secret Location -

"So it's official. That buffoon has recovered…" a masked man bound to a chair connected to a complex array of tubes hissed in contempt.

"That is what our spies said. He no longer uses his true form to go around under the fake identity of All Might's secretary, only the Pro Hero is seen around now, even during conferences lasting way longer than his Time Limit, and since we know he is at least smart enough to not waste time in frivolities when using his Quirk, that makes it certain: All Might is back." the old man in scientist attire working next to him answered without ever lifting his eyes from the computer he was working on.

"AAAAAH!" With a loud smashing sound and a roar the masked man's fist snapped one of the arm-rests of his life-support chair in two.

"Who was it?! You were certain that the tumor was impossible to remove!" the legendary Villain All for One demanded between clenched teeth.

"And it was. I personally engineered it to be high-adaptable and self-regenerating, even the location you injected it in had been studied to the millimeter to have the greatest impact while making it inoperable. Nothing in this world was supposed to remove or heal it." the doctor, Daruma, answered, unfazed.

That was how deep AfO's hatred for Toshinori ran: he didn't want the man to just die a swift death, he wanted All Might to wither away, to rot a piece at a time and feel every day a tiny part of him die and decay until the day came that only a dried-up and deformed black husk remained of the Hero's corpse.

Not to die in a blaze of glory, but with a pathetic weak whimper.

All for One had tasked Daruma to create an artificial Tumor-like growth that would have sapped Toshinori's energy slowly, day after day after day; he had then absorbed the thing inside his arm thanks to one of the many Quirks at his disposal he had stolen inside himself through the years.

At the climax of their fight, as a last insult to the Number 1 Hero of Japan, All for One had injected the tumor inside All Might's body, but now that very same secret weapon he had used had been defeated as well, and the Villain was furious.

"Was Recovery Girl the cause of this?!" he asked.

"No, I took care of covering for her Quirk and similar ones as well, the Tumor was programmed with immense regeneration and growth abilities, I studied the rate of healing Recovery Girl can produce with her Quirk in detail, so beside slowing it down a little, even daily infusions would have not stopped it." Daruma answered.

"Then why does he look just as healthy as he was years ago? BEFORE I POISONED HIM?!" AfO bellowed.

"Of that I have no clue." the Doctor admitted.

"Well, then find out who did it! Find out who was the miserable worm that dared to get in my way and bring them to me!"

"I will get Kurogiri and our spies on it." the other answered.

"Good. I want whoever is responsible here in front of me, I will skin them alive one strip at a time...I will break them, in body and mind, and then deny them the merciful death they will beg me for." All for One muttered with a dark tone, it had been a while since he had felt such intense hatred towards somebody that was not Toshinori or Nana herself.

"It will be done." Daruma answered, and at that answer silence once again fell into the empty lab, interrupted only by the bubbling of the tubes containing a new batch of Nomu waiting for competition and deployment.

At the same time - UA's "Height Alliance Dormitories" – Class 1B section - Rumi's room -

The young Hero Student was giving the finishing touches to herself in her morning routine, but every time she looked at her bed through the mirror reflection, she saw a giant pink ball of thin fluff with long bunny ears on top and a tiny rabbit face on the front staring back at her, a plushy big enough she could actually hug it with both her arms and legs.

"..."

With a loud puffing sound Rumi threw herself on the bed and buried her face deep into the plushie while hugging it tightly, rubbing her nose a little in its fur to find the few traces still there of the scent of the boy that won it for her.

"...The date was good…" when her face finally resurfaced, her cheeks had an adorable dusting of red.

She knew that beside Whitey, Momo and Ochako as well were following them from afar as she went through with her date with Izuku, but the young woman was too stubborn to let the two girls' misguided attempts at keeping the Chef safe ruin her chance.

The movie part had been a success already, with him not arguing about Rumi leaning her head on top of his while watching, he even regaled her with a cute little chuckle and a knowing look she was more than happy to answer with a smirk and a wink, secretly glad he was feeling better after his down moment during his visit in UA.

Then came the trip to the arcade where she destroyed him in Dance Dance Revolution, and besides showing great sportsmanship by congratulating her instead of getting angry, he actually decided to "get back at her '' by winning that giant bunny plushie he then gifted her. One she had him carry for her for the rest of the date both for him to be a gentleman...Aaand to maybe have a bit of his scent remain stuck into it.

She blamed her 'Inner Rabbit' for that, or that was the excuse she decided upon should somebody ask.

The closing act of the date was a visit to the ice-cream parlor, that he insisted on paying for, to her shame, and then accompanying her back to UA University…

"...Then I ruined everything." her expression darkened considerably when she remembered the last thing she did before hurrying back to her dorm.

Flashback -

"It was an amazing date." Rumi admitted while recovering the giant plushie from Izuku's arms, an hilarious sight as the thing was pretty much as big as his whole body.

"It was, I had a lot of fun," Izuku admitted.

"Even if I took a bit too many liberties?" she asked, unsure.

"It was all in good humor, I saw how Ochako and Momo were tailing us, so I imagine you did all that just to annoy them. Even if it was not very nice." he answered with a kind smile.

"...I...I did not do all that just for fun," she admitted with a low voice.

"Uh?"

"At the beginning it was all a game, a way to get under Yaoyorozu's skin to have some fun...Mean fun, that I can admit, but now things have changed." Rumi explained.

"Changed? Changed how-" Izuku's question was stopped by Rumi's mouth covering his in a searing kiss, a move he actually never considered her capable of.

"I know I can make you happy. Happier than Yaoyorozu does. I just need to help you realize it as well." she said before leaving rapidly for her room at the Dormitories.

Izuku was thus left there standing in a daze while Momo ran past him with an expression that screamed psychotic rage, followed closely behind by Ochako desperately trying to stop the young woman from killing Rumi.

Present day – End of the flashback -

Ever since then Rumi, actually recognizing she fucked-up, had avoided Izuku and his Restaurant because afraid he would be angry at her, unfortunately she could not do the same with Momo or even Ochako, as both girls had rightfully marked her as their sworn worst enemy.

"Damn it…" Rumi muttered, still with half her face pressed deep into the plushy.

"Rumi-chan? Can I come in?" Pony asked from outside.

"Door's open."

"How are you?" the girl asked while sitting next to her friend.

"Awesome…" the other replied with a low voice.

"Still moping about your cutie Chef?" Pony asked, rubbing the rabbit girl's head gently as she talked.

"I am supposed to be the cool bitch nobody can get. The unreachable badass." she replied, annoyed.

"And I can attest you are all that, you are a true hardened Bitch with a capital B."

"...Then why do I want him to reach me?" Rumi asked with her rabbit ears pinned against her head.

"I guess that's the price to pay to be in Love: to have that one special somebody you can relax or even lower your defenses with."

"I don't like it. I want to be a Lone Wolf!"

"Kind of hard with a Bunny Quirk!" Pony quipped with a smirk.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Rumi roared in anger.

"I know, I know." Pony said, still patting her friend's head.

"I don't want to feel like this,"

"Then don't, you just need to forget about that boy and just go on with your life."

"...I don't want to do that."

"You can't have your pie and eat it too, Rumi-chan,"

"Who says I can't?!"

"That little thing in your chest pumping blood."

"All this happened just because Yaoyorozu got to him before me," Rumi said with a petulant tone.

"They are in a relationship, yes. That usually means he is off-limits. You can't have him,"

"BUT I LIKE HIM! MAYBE EVEN LOVE HIM!"

"…"

"That's a bold claim," Pony admitted, surprised.

"...It doesn't make it less true." Rumi muttered with a bitter tone and once again fully burying her face deep in the giant plushy.

"You still have to face Momo-san to get to him,"

"I am sure it can work, I just need a couple more dates to make him recognize that too."

"You stole a kiss, you admitted it yourself, that is not a good start,"

"I can fix it. I can still fix it," Rumi muttered.

"You will have to actually meet him to do that. You are still avoiding him and his restaurant like the plague, don't you?" Pony said.

"…"

"Tomorrow he will face the teachers of Inoshiki Academy, why don't you go there as well to cheer for him?"

"And how do you know that?" Rumi asked with her ears shutting straight up in surprise.

"I overheard Momo-san and Ochako-san discuss the possibility of going there themselves with Momo's parents, along with Midoriya's own parents, as a show of support."

"What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"He did not strike me as somebody holding a grudge, maybe if you explain he will listen."

"…"

"I can accompany you, if you want." Pony offered with a kind smile.

"I don't need a nanny! I am strong and can go there alone, I don't need somebody holding my hand!" Rumi hissed.

"Beside Chef Izuku." the other answered, smirking.

"...Beside him," the bunny girl admitted with a low voice full of shame.

"Come on, let's go ask Professor Vlad if tomorrow you can skip class and go cheer for your crush." Pony said, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door.

"Okay...I am not a shallow woman for chasing a man already in a relationship, yes?"

"You might appear to be a bit of a bitch to do that, yes, but if you do this not for Lust but for Love...Maybe you can argue your role to be the Love Rival instead." Pony answered, amused.

"You read too many fucking Love Novels," Rumi grumbled in annoyance while following her friend.

"But it is actually helping you now!"

"Tch! Even a broken clock gets it right twice a day! Don't brag!"

"So you are going?"

"Of course I am! I still have a Chef to catch, and if I have to snap Yaoyorozu in two to get him, so be it!"

"Oh, God...If she tackles Love as she does with everything else, I am scared of what will happen." Pony thought in misery, since a strong-willed woman like Rumi with a very abrasive personality didn't translate well into relationships or even just courting somebody.

Meanwhile – Inoshiki Academy – Yamato's Office -

The old woman acting as the rector of Inoshiki Academy was at the moment looking at the phone in her hands with an expression of confusion, having finally contacted Izuku to define the last details for the challenge she and her best teachers will have with the young Chef the very next day.

"Miss Yamato?" the monster at the other side of the call said, sounding worried at her lack of response.

"Sorry, it's just...Too insane. You...You want to face me and my Teachers at the same time?!" Yamato shrieked in surprise, almost dropping her phone.

"Some of the dishes I decided to make need between 2 to 3 hours to be ready, we all are busy people, you and your teachers have a University to manage and I have a Restaurant to run. Like this we will at worst spend four hours together, meaning that I will have enough time to take care of dinner service and you others to organize lessons and everything else for tomorrow." Izuku answered.

"What do you plan to cook?"

"That is a secret, of course. But they all are "Simple Dishes" that still require lots of time. From all around the world: China, France, America, Philippines and India."

"I see…" Yamato muttered, and her mind rushed through every dish she knew of those schools of cuisine to try guessing what he had planned for, and making herself dizzy because all of them had a large amount of typical recipes, and each recipe came with at the very least a dozen of variations as well.

"So? Can we make it a 5v1 fight? I only need my five workstations to be built close to each other and in a circle, I will then take care of using them."

"...You are not planning to cook every dish at the same time, do you?"

"What part of me asking to face you all at once did not suggest that?" Izuku asked with a tone so full of disbelief Yamato would have preferred to hear him downright insult her.

"It's insane."

"No, it only takes guts and skills. I know I have both."

"I'm still going to call it insanity, but if it is how you want to do this, then so be it. Me and my four best Teachers will face you at the same time. Remember: we all will be focusing on one of the Themes we agreed on, I myself believe in my Carving Skills, and so do my Teachers in their own field. It won't be easy."

"I know that. People used to call you Moonlight Sculptor after that moon-shaped white chocolate cake you made in celebration of your first Michelin Star." Izuku answered.

"You researched that?"

"A 3D cake made in a perfectly spherical shape divided in six horizontal layers: topmost, bottom and middle layer were made in butter biscuit, other layers in sponge cake slightly bathed in tangerine-flavoured liquor you personally made.

As for filling, in order from bottom to top: Custard with tangerine slices, custard with strawberries slices and custard with coconut shavings. All covered by a hard shell of white chocolate you carved to show several pictures of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. I guess that in order to serve it you then had to cut it in half in the middle and slice the two resulting domes. It would explain why the middle layer was the largest."

"…" Yamato could not answer that, she was too stricken.

"Yes, I researched that."

"It happened almost twenty-five years ago."

"Then you are an even better Chef. I accounted for that as well."

Sigh! "Fine, we'll do it your way. You will have your 1v5 insanity." the old woman finally conceded.

"Thank you."

"We'll see you here tomorrow then, we will prepare everything."

"Perfect. Good day, Yamato-san." Izuku answered.

"Good day, Chef Midoriya…" Yamato answered before closing the call.

"…"

"...Samui...I may love you still like I did when we were both teens, but I fear this time I have bitten more than even I can chew in the name of those feelings…" she muttered in dismay.

"Madame?" the woman's assistant asked, having been summoned by Yamato once she closed the call.

"I have the last details for the challenge. We will use the gym for this since we'll need lots of space for this, we will also have some guests as well. Here is everything we need, see to have everything ready by tomorrow morning." the Rector instructed while jutting on a piece of paper the long list of requirements both she and Izuku agreed on.

"...O-Okay." the assistant muttered, unsure.

"Me and the chosen teachers will go through a last-minute training session, just in case."

"Yes, Madame."

"And see if we can somehow get some publicity out of this, I suspect there will be a Livestream again, may as well try to advertise Inoshiki Academy."

"As you wish, Madame."

The next day – Inoshiki Academy – Gym -

Once again flexing the big budget behind the Private Academy, Yamato showed how their gym as well was a top-of-the-line wonder of modern equipment and construction, with the main giant room being spacious enough two volley courts easily fit in it close to each other with still enough room around them for other equipment to be used by other students during P.E.

That day though the entire place had been vacated and sanitized thoroughly, so to leave the entire giant space for the cooking challenge: on one side there were five separate workstations positioned in two rows, while at the opposite side other five had been installed in a circle with just enough space for a person to walk between them.

A long line of fridges had been also installed not too far and stocked in a huge amount of Ingredients, since both Izuku and Teachers won't reveal their chosen dishes until the very start, the Academy tried to cover every possible angle by amassing every possible kind of Meat, Fish, Vegetables, Spices and so on. From the most common to the most absurd.

Pretty much the entire school was sitting in front of the workstations and waiting in hype for the absurd Challenge to start; Izuku's parents, Momo and hers, Ochako and her mother and Rumi were sitting in the front row, with Rei, Inko and Miss Uraraka acting as natural barrier between Rumi and the girls to avoid acts of violence.

The judges were once again the 5 Kings, with the Meat King returning once again as student of Inoshiki after much pressure from Minato himself on Yamato, and Michiko avoiding actual juvenile prison by sheer dumb luck thanks to Izuku's own intervention, fate that instead befell on Takeo that got expelled and arrested, with a new student taking on the mantle of Vegetable King that was now looking at Izuku's own area in great interest.

"Will he really cook five dishes at once?" she asked.

"Insane as it sounds, I expect no less from him." Sadao answered.

"Be happy miss Yamato won't try to have him join Inoshiki, you wouldn't be a King for long otherwise, Number 5." Mako added, huffing in annoyance.

"She still can't replicate Boss Izuku's Century Soup, she has been trying to make it ever since she tasted the complete version and keeps failing. Just ignore her for now." Toshio the Meat King, now Number 4 of the group, explained.

"Oh! Okay, Senpai." the new King answered.

Every noise in the giant gym stopped abruptly when Yamato entered the place to address the audience with the mike in her hand, and watching appalled as a swarm of drones immediately entered the gym from the open windows to cover every possible angle and make sure whoever watched the Livestream could not lose a single instant.

"...Who the hell has this much interest in that boy?!" Yamato mentally shrieked in shock.

At the same time – I-Island – Secret Underground Lab 8: ' Darlings Research Branch' -

A full team of twenty researchers was watching the monitors in front of them while a giant one covered by the combined feed of the various drones in Inoshiki's gym towered over the big room from the opposite wall.

"Cameras 1 to 8 in position!" a man said from his station.

"All drones are recording! Video and audio feed is optimal! We are both streaming this for the civilians and recording this ourselves with no issues!" another woman chorused right after.

"We got a clear view of Subject 37's station, ready for the 3D mapping of his body!" a third researcher added.

"I saw those videos you sent me...There is no way that boy is Quirkless." a very old woman, the one directing the entire Darlings Initiative and the Boss of Hisashi's Boss, admitted.

"I repeated the Tests with a hair sample we managed to get in secret, and you saw the results yourself: he IS a Quirkless." the old man answered, secretly glad the mutation Hisashi talked about did not show-up in the results, and unaware that The System actually removed the Gourmet Cells from the hair the agents of I-Island had stolen.

"I am not convinced yet. I assembled this team just to get to the bottom of this, I want every single movement of that boy recorded and analyzed." she answered.

"I would gladly tell you he had an Isekai in another world and got Special Skills from that, but then you would convict me in an Asylum…" the old man thought in misery, sometimes Truth was even more incredible than lies.

"Start recording! If this still does not answer any doubts we have, I want that boy here in person!" the woman barked.

"YESSIR!"

"...Ah, yes...Because the stripping robot will let us kidnap his Master just like that…" the old man muttered in dismay.

Inoshiki – with Izuku -

"Welcome to our challenge between we of Inoshiki and Chef Midoriya, this special event is being streamed Live and has been sponsored by Inoshiki Academy itself." Yamato said to the audience, and I-Island registered the huge spike in visuals once the Livestream went live, with the Teachers of UA that had bet their paycheck on the Challenge's outcome watching it in rabid attention, especially the now terror-stricken Pro Hero Present Mic that had bet the most among all of them and will lose everything if even just one Teacher lost to Izuku.

Class 1A and 1B (and Nejire) as well had collectively bet on Izuku's total victory against the teachers and Rector of Inoshiki, meaning that if they won every other student of UA University will find themselves with an empty wallet, and they could not wait to swim in cash…

Except Mirio, he had bet Izuku would lose against them all. But that was not because the Chef and Nejire were very close friends and she had dumped him, because Mirio was TOTALLY not Jealous!

"I will now present to you the four Teachers and the Theme they will represent," Yamato said, pulling on herself the attention of everybody watching, either in the gym or in the Livestream.

"For Steaming: Professor Kuroi!" she said, and on cue the lanky, glasses-wearing tall teacher entered the gym to take position at one of the workstations behind Yamato.

"For Boiling: Professor Monoi." Then came a tall woman with long blond hair, and Momo could swear she heard her mother growl menacingly, but she also saw her glare at the woman in pure hatred.

"For Stewing: Professor Sasaki." The third member of the Team was a very old man walking with a hunchback posture and eyes closed in a perpetual slit, he too took his place behind a station under the roaring applause of Inoshiki's students.

"For Frying, and returning just for this Challenge: Professor Minato." Yamato introduced her own son with a tone dripping with pride, with the man actually exchanging a friendly fist-bump with Izuku before entering the gym.

"And finally, myself for Carving." Yamato finished saying, a bit shy still at the loud applause of her beloved students.

"Now the Challenger: Owner and Chef of Green Cloud Restaurant and up and coming legend of Yavin Street. A young prodigy and the one that actually defeated the 5 Kings in a cooking duel: Chef Izuku Midoriya!" the old woman declared without an ounce of hatred, having finally recognized the young man's skills as the real deal.

When Izuku entered the gym, though, he was welcomed with absolute silence from the students of Inoshiki, and a thundering applause from his friends and supporters.

"GO, ICCHAN! BREAK THEM!" Hizashi yelled with a feral roar.

"SHOW THEM THE MIGHT OF GREEN CLOUD RESTAURANT!" Saito yelled as well.

"That's my son! The King of Chefs!" Inko declared, proud beyond belief.

"AND my future son-in-law, HA!" Rei added, smirking.

"Mother!" Momo gasped in shock at the admission, face burning red.

"So that's him?" In the meantime, Ochako's mother studied the young man's every detail as he took his place in the middle of the circle of workstations.

"Hu-uh…" Ochako admitted, looking down.

"Cute, he is cute, and hard working too since he has his own Restaurant to run. Are you aware that he is already taken?"

"Yeah…"

Sigh! "Just like it was for me with your father. Contrary to me though you may be forced to admit defeat and step back, you know this?" she asked.

"It hurts."

"It always does, my little Ocha, it always does. Maybe you should really consider your options, you know? Before it will hurt even more."

"…"

"Just consider it, okay? I just want you to be happy." her mother whispered in her ear and gave her a one-arm-hug of encouragement.

"Okay, he did not scowl when he saw me, he just waved at me with a smile...Maybe I can salvage this after all!" Rumi thought in apprehension once seen him wave at her like he did with everybody else.

"As per our agreement, whenever one of us loses you will receive the loser's knife with their name written on the blade. As a show of good faith, I actually had my teachers choose what knife to give you in case of defeat and had their names engraved on it. It will serve as a reminder both in case of defeat or of victory. We will give our best, so I hope you will do the same." Yamato explained.

"Of course." Izuku answered, shaking the woman's hand properly, with no ill-thoughts on either side.

"Had things been different, I would have killed to have you here." the woman admitted with a whisper, nobody besides Izuku heard her.

"I actually did try to come here, but your assistant made it clear I had to have a Quirk to get in," he admitted.

"Ah?! That guy is sooo fired!" the old woman growled with a low voice while walking to her own station.

Once everybody was in position, Mako herself took the mike and acted as both Host and head judge.

"Good morning! As you can expect since Madame Yamato and Mister Minato are contestants themselves, somebody else will have to act as Host. I hope I will meet your expectations." the young woman declared with a bow, and basked herself in the roaring applause of the students.

"We will be proper judges, though, being students of this school won't mean we won't be impartial. Our honor as Chefs forces us to not play favorites...I hope our teachers will forgive us!" she then said, causing a wave of laughs to echo in the gym.

"Oh, dear! Now I regret giving you all that long essay as homework!" Professor Sasaki admitted with an exaggerated loud sigh of regret, and renewed the laughs from the audience.

"Don't worry, we will close our eyes this time, Professor. But please! Tell us what you all will make." Mako answered, amused.

"With pleasure! As the one tasked with the Theme of Steaming, I will prepare the steamed buns known as Chicken Momos, an appetizer from Nepalese cuisine."Professor Kuroi answered with a collected tone while adjusting his squared glasses.

"Hohoho! Since I have drawn the Stewing straw I decided I will prepare some Beef Stew following the same recipe of my dearest mother. It may be an inside joke of Inoshiki that I treat that woman as my greatest inspiration to become a Chef, but this little Challenge will help me show that yes, she was that good." the very old man answered with a chuckle and a fond smile.

"As the representative of the Frying Theme, I will go with something festive yet complex: Banh Cam: they're gelatinous rice flour balls filled with sweet mung beans paste, flavoured with jasmine flower essence, covered in sesame seeds, and deep-fried. I have a friend of Vietnamese descent that would hate me forever if I don't use this occasion to showcase this dish from his homeland!" Minato answered with a loud laugh, and laughed even harder at one of the other teachers from Inoshiki yelling 'Damn right I will!' from his seat between the audience.

"Since I will have to show-off my Carving skills, I will reprise my 'Moonlight Maria' cake, only in the form of croquembouche, a cream puff tower." Yamato declared, to the awe of the audience and judges.

"So you will create small cream puffs you will then encase in white chocolate, carve on the shells of each one of them a small portrait of Mary and Jesus and then manage to pile them all into a tower?" Mako asked, not even trying to hide her shock.

"Precisely, it will be my new masterpiece: Evolved Moonlight Maria." Yamato confirmed, stealing a glance at Izuku and gaining a nod of respect from the young Chef.

"...Rector Yamato is taking this damn seriously." Sadao muttered with wide eyes.

"I wish the other teachers did the same. I guess their hubris stopped them from doing it." Michiko answered, grimacing.

"Do not underestimate Mister Minato just because he chose a simple dish. He is the Master of frying…But what about Boiling?" Toshio the Meat King said, unsure.

"Yes, what about Boiling?" Mako asked Professor Monoi.

"I will boil an Egg." the woman answered.

"…"

"…"

"...And?" Mako asked.

"That's it."

"Why?" the young woman asked, and the other teachers, Yamato included, looked at her as if she was utterly insane.

"I have a secret plan!" Monoi said with a mischievous smile that seemingly irked Mako into maddening rage.

FRRRRRZZZRZZZRRRRFFRRRRR !

Suddenly a loud sound of static surged from the gym's speakers loud enough nobody could avoid covering their ears in pain.

"Glad you accepted to meet me, it's good to know you three are actually smart enough to understand the situation" Monoi's voice echoed from the speakers.

"What?" the blond woman uttered in confusion.


"Why did you want to meet us, Professor Monoi?" Mako was heard asking.

"It's about that ridiculous Challenge that an upstart cook forced us through. You will be part of the judge panel, yes?" everybody heard Monoi answer in annoyance.

"Yes?" that was Sadao.


"No...It can't be…" Izuku saw Monoi grow unhealthily pale once understood what the recording was about."


"Tomorrow we will be the judges, yes. What do you need?" Michiko asked.

"Let's be honest, I did not want to take part in this FARCE, but there is the need for some sacrifices sometimes." the Teacher answered, and in the gym pretty much everybody looked straight at her with wide eyes.

"Cooking is a world full of inspiring new talents waiting just for the right occasion to shine. And I personally can't let a Quirkless come stealing the spotlight from more worthy people." Monoi then said.

"This is a world of Quirks now. Those Quirkless Losers are just a page of history that should be canceled as we move forward as a species. We have surpassed the concept of Normal, and should not be held back by an inferior version of humanity!"

"I find that kind of talk disgusting." Mako answered.

"Feel free to defend that idiot brat, if you have to, but the fact remains that he is wasting everybody's time in a useless cry for attention, and I won't second him. He doesn't deserve it." Monoi answered, scoffing.


"She reminds me of those guys preaching the Villain Destro's ideals, she is literally repeating their spiel verbatim." Sasaki commented with a grimace, he was clearly recalling several unpleasant memories of his past.


"Insults to him and the Quirkless population aside. Why did you call us? I bet it was not just to have somebody to vent to about Chef Midoriya's Challenge?" Michiko asked, grumbling.

"It's quite simple, actually: We only need one victory to force that little pest to close his Restaurant forever, and since everybody here is being so stupid as to play along, I instead will take proper measures to put a stop to this nonsense! That boy is Quirkless! There is no place for people like him in this world anymore! So this is my answer to his foolishness: If you 'Kings' do not vote for me as the winner, I will make it my mission to make you all fail!" Monoi declared, to the shock of everybody.


"Are you damn insane?!" Surprisingly, it was Yamato who screamed that.

"I...I...I…" The woman stuttered, unable to form a proper answer.


"You are in your last year at Inoshiki, isn't it, Mako?" The woman addressed the Soup King.

"Tch!" the student replied in disgust.

"And you...Michiko and Sadao...Next year you will have your final exams, do you? It would be a shame if you failed them, isn't it? I also have powerful friends, I can make it so that you will at best work in fast-food. I will destroy your future!"

"HEY!" both girls roared in anger.

"You don't want that? Just vote for me, we only need one of us to win to teach that useless brat his place. I will even sweeten the deal! Do it and I will put a good word in the same restaurant I will work in once I leave this cesspool of a University! Consider it! Your future or...That piece of garbage pretending to be a Chef."


"HOW DARE YOU?!" Rei could not take it anymore and gave a bestial roar of anger.

"Shut up, Katsuragi!" Monoi snapped, finally reaching her breaking point.

"Yes! I said that! And I stand by what I said! He does not deserve to be here! He is an insult to Chefs everywhere!"

"You always were a bitter hag, and finally you are showing your true colors! Who the hell do you think you are?!" Rei countered.

"SILENCE! I am a damn prodigy of cooking! You instead are a thief just like him! You both are just spoiled brats whining for attention and believing to be big shots just because you were lucky once! I never forgot how you have stolen Saito from me. How, I don't know, but I guess you managed to trick him into knocking you up and then marry you to achieve that!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Saito himself now looked apoplectic in rage as he jumped to his feet.

"Be quiet, you moron! You wasted an opportunity by choosing a useless brat like her instead of me, and I even heard you are championing that Quirkless! What happened to the bright young man I knew, uhn?!"

"YOU!" Rei bellowed.

"We Quirked Chefs are the future! And I personally am the one that will revolutionize the world of cooking! I am teaching the new generations how to be the greatest Chefs ever! I will-"

SLAP!

With a sharp sound, Yamato surprised everybody by slapping Monoi hard enough she sent a few of her teeth actually flying off from her mouth.

"I heard enough useless drivel for today. You are fired. We are Chefs, not Villains! I too may like to see Chef Midoriya defeated, but contrary to you, I will defeat him with superior skills and no under-hand tactics! Not because he is a Quirkless, but because we are Rivals!

I am ashamed to admit I used to think like you about Quirkless, but after meeting a very talented one like him, I recognized their value and I felt disgusted by my old self. Now I decided I won't condone such blatant racism in my school! Especially in front of everybody and during a Livestream, you idiot!" Yamato said with a tone of pure hatred.

"People like you are dragging us down! Society needs to look forward! People like Him are a relic! And I know that whoever is watching agrees with me!"

"You are the relic, Monoi! You are stuck in the ideals of old!" Rei countered.

"Oh, shut up! You can't even boil an egg! You are useless."

"Ugh!"

"How many cooking teachers have thrown the towel with you, hn? Ten? Twenty? I heard so many nice stories from them, you know? You can't cook and you can't look after your daughter without nannies either! Besides looking pretty, managing some spoiled models or sex, you are useless as a woman." Monoi said.

"I-I-I…" Rei tried saying, tears already mounting in her eyes.

"How dare you!" Momo, furious, jumped to her feet as well.

"Be quiet! You are 100% her daughter, meaning that beside some nice tits, there is nothing useful or meaningful about yo-"

"MONOI!"

The sound-wave and air pressure generated by that inhuman scream was immense, it caused the gym windows and lights to explode, almost deafened the people present and went close to frying the drones above, and when every eye in the room turned to look at the source, they saw Izuku himself glare at the former teacher in fury with a red flaming aura covered his body.

It had been years since the last time it happened, but now the young Chef was PISSED, and his Appetite Devil had made its appearance to growl at Monoi as well, and even if everybody else was already on edge by feeling only a small fraction of the anger lingering around Izuku, Monoi herself was instead petrified under the full weight of it, and for an instant her heart actually stopped.

"You can insult me all you damn well want, I don't care. But you have no right to badmouth the few people that believed in me!"

"O-O-Or else?" she tried saying.

In answer the Appetite Devil grew to huge sizes, so much it looked ready to burst out from the gym's roof, and with a deliberately slow movement its giant hand gently landed on top of the woman's head and started slowly pushing down on her whole body ready to squash her.

"I only challenge Chefs. When it comes to Troublemakers like you instead, I can easily get my hands dirty and break their bones." he answered, and behind him Whitey immediately turned red-eyed and cracked his knuckles.

"EEEEEK!"

"No need to get down to her level and become a mere ruffian, Chef Izuku." Yamato said with a calm, but cold tone.

"If she is so sure about her superiority, she can easily show it by competing in this cooking Challenge."

"I-" Monoi tried saying, but the threat of another slap silenced her.

"IF she wins, I will actually give her a chance to keep her job here, if this 'cesspool' is up to her standards...but if she loses, not only I will fire her with as much shame as I can add to it, she will still give you her knife and she won't get through with her threat."

"Fine! I accept the terms, it's not like I expect him to win against my delicious-"

"Boiled egg." Mako said, smiling cruelly.

"Eh?!"

"You said it yourself: you will prepare a simple Boiled Egg, that's all. We can give you a freebie and let you add some pepper, but that is still the dish you will prepare."

"NO! I will-"

"You can't change the dish once you declare it, Monoi, those are the rules we and Chef Midoriya agreed on. Everybody here and the ones watching the Livestream can testify you already choose a boiled egg as your Dish. So get to cooking and hope it will be better than anything the Challenger will make. Somehow." Kuroi interrupted her with a blood-freezing glare, behind him the other teachers as well were looking at Monoi in disappointment.

"You should have taken this seriously instead of trying to make a mockery of this event by cheating behind the scenes. Now go to your station and be quiet." Yamato ordered.

"You can't be serious! You are defending him?! Instead of me?!"

"Not everybody treats the biography of the Villain Destro as the bible, some of us actually have common sense, child." Professor Sasaki chided her, mercilessly.

"Have it your way, nothing will change even if you heard that recording! Because those brats better vote for me or I-"

"You won't do a thing."

"Uh?! Saito?!"

"I remember fondly our time as friends in High School, but if you think for just a second that I will let you talk to Rei like that, you are sorely mistaken.

I will have my lawyers eat you alive in court for what you said to my wife, for the threat to those students and for the disgusting hate speech you used against a dear friend of my family! I will ruin you!

And with you so openly admitting all this on video, you'll see how those powerful friends of yours will gladly throw you under the bus to save themselves. So get on with the Challenge and hope to win by some miracle to at least have some nice memories to fall back into, but I wouldn't bet on your victory if I were you." Saito explained, eyes burning in rage.

"I will judge accordingly, I won't play favorites." Mako declared.

"We too! If you win it will be because your boiled egg was better, no threat will force us to vote unfairly!" Michiko added.

"Yeah!"

"...Let me guess, when it comes to Professor Monoi, you all will vote for Midoriya-san regardless?" the new King asked with a whisper.

"Honestly? Speaking for myself, Chef Icchan can even shit on the plate and I would still vote for him instead of Monoi, but I know he will make something amazing, even just to shut her up and win fairly." Sadao answered.

"Oh!"

With Izuku -

"System? Was that you?" Izuku asked.

"Correct, Host. While The System imposes Challenges and Missions on the Host to test his skills and help him improve, those challenges and missions still fit into the category of 'Difficult, but Fair' as no Host has ever been forced to go through an impossible task. What that simpleton did was a threat to the fairness of the Task the System gave to the Host, and that is unacceptable. A 'Stepping Stone' should not dare to take initiative, only fulfill its role in the script. Transgressors will always be punished accordingly." the Entity answered, merciless.

"Good God…" Izuku muttered, shocked by the coldness of the answer.

"The Host should not worry, while The System will not help the Host fulfill his Tasks, it will still assure the tasks' fairness: you will either succeed or fail based solely on your skills and hard work, not because somebody cheated in your favor or against you."

"Very well, I guess. But I need some Jewel Meat for my Pot-Au-Feu. Is it possible?" the young Chef asked.

"The Host wishes to answer in kind to the provocation? Request accepted. That fool dared insult the future God of Cooking and his family, this Sin must be punished! With the premise of her trying to cheat, the woman called Monoi is no longer considered a Chef by The System! The usage of different Ingredients from the ones imposed by the Challenge has been permitted. Any specific on the quality of the Jewel Meat?" the Entity answered the mental inquiry.

"I want the absolute best part of it, in both taste and texture. For once I will crush my opponent with all my power since she believes herself to be above everything with her Quirk. If she thinks to be the greatest Chef to have ever lived then I will treat her accordingly and show her what it used to be like to have a high-level cooking battle against Zaus."

"Understood. At the moment the Host will start preparing his dish, the meat will be switched with a piece coming from the Jewel Meat in secrecy, nobody and nothing will notice." The System answered.

"Good, thank you."

Once Monoi took her own position under the heavy booing of the crowd, Mako tapped gently on the mike to ask for some silence from the audience and then addressed Izuku.

"Shameful display of stupidity aside-"

"Hey!"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP!" the Soup King roared loud enough to silence the woman.

"As I was saying, please tell us what you plan to make, Chef Izuku."

"With pleasure:

For Steaming: Emperor's Herbal Chicken with Siopao steamed dumplings as a side dish. A dish from Chinese Cuisine and one from Filipino Cuisine.

For Boiling: Pot-Au-Feu, boiled beef and vegetables. (French Cuisine).

For Stewing: Rogan Josh, spicy lamb stew. (Indian Cuisine).

For Frying: Salt Fried Yin-Yang Beggar's Duck (Cantonese Cuisine).

For Carving: Baked Alaska "Miladies". A personal variation of mine of the famous baked ice-cream cake." he answered. (American Cuisine)

"YOU SAID YOU HAD PLANNED FOR SIMPLE DISHES! IN WHAT UNIVERSE A BAKED ALASKA IS SIMPLE?!" Yamato shrieked.

"To me they are simple!" Izuku answered with a cheeky grin.

"Come on! Salt fried? That's stretching the rules!" Minato added with a childish whine.

"There is my Restaurant on the line, I won't hold back!" Izuku answered.

"That is understandable, but come on!" the man replied, pouting.

"There isn't a simple dish in there...He played with us…I told you it was a bad idea to leave the dishes a secret to the very end." Kuroi admitted with a sigh.

"Hohohoho! Youngsters these days!Always so ready to show off! I say we give our best to show that we old guard are not push-overs! Let him flex a little, we might actually be the ones laughing in the end!" Professor Sasaki commented with a jovial laugh.

"God, how I envy you optimist people…" Yamato admitted with a groan.

"It seems like the Challenger did play a bit dirty. Can't say we did not deserve that, considering our past together!" Mako admitted with a chuckle.

"Two can play that game!" Izuku answered, sticking-out his tongue.

"Debatable! But now...Everybody ready?" the young woman asked.

"…" in answer the teachers and Izuku looked ready to bolt towards the fridges.

"...AND GO!" as soon as Mako screamed, both young Chef and Yamato with Kuroi and Minato ran to the fridges to collect the Ingredients for their Dishes, Sasaki instead had already given them a list of what he needed (old age and running don't go well together) while Monoi just needed an egg that Mako herself was more than happy to handle the woman herself.

"Choke on it." she also added, scowling.

"You don't know who you are messing with."

"You are a second-rate Teacher, not a Messiah of cuisine. Jump down from that pedestal, you are making a fool of yourself in front of thousands of viewers." Mako replied, uncaring, and then focusing on the other challenges.

"Samui...You better keep your promise and give me that Sous-Chef role in your main restaurant, I threw my credibility down the drain for that job!" the teacher thought in dread.

With Izuku -

"Pot-au-Feu…" Izuku thought, having already quartered a large onion and cut several large leaks in stripes of two inches, and added them to a large pot together with celery and carrots.

"Beef Meathas been substituted successfully with Jewel Meat, the System has selected pieces equivalent in texture to beef shanks and rump roast following Host's specifications." the System notified Izuku promptly.

"Perfect!" the young Chef answered, pleased, while positioning the cuts of meat on top of the vegetables.

Wrapping the parsley, thyme and bay leaves in a piece of moistened cheesecloth, Izuku tied them together and added the bundle to the pot along with the peppercorns and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt.

"I will use two marrow bones of the original beef too, it still deserves to take part in the dish, it's not his fault Monoi tried cheating. I will still pay him my respect." he muttered, adding that and some water to the pot.

Waiting for the thing to boil, since between boiling, simmering and skimming he will need around about 2 hours to be done with the recipe's first step, he switched his focus to another Dish of his list.

"He is really doing them all at the same time." Saito muttered in awe.

"He can really do that?" Miss Uraraka asked.

"Madam, he can do it and then some, honestly I still can't tell what's the limit of his abilities, even if it is basically my job to study Quirks and their limits." Hisashi answered, knowing well how the guys in I-Island were going to react once seen Izuku in action for real.

Izuku Side -

Following Izuku's instructions, Whitey positioned a large basin filled in shining white salt on top of the biggest flame he had at his disposal, and the young man was now mixing the salt around to make it warm-up uniformly with slow and steady movements of a big spatula.

"The salt will take a while to become hot enough and the Lotus leaves are almost done soaking, in the meantime I will take care of the duck itself," Izuku muttered, taking an entire duck he had emptied of it's organs and covering its inside and outside in a mixture of salt, wine and soy sauce for seasoning.

"Done! Perfectly covered, in half an hour it will be ready for cooking, just in time for the mushrooms to finish their bath...Good." still mumbling to himself, he preheated the second oven and prepared a big stack of vegetables he started shredding into thin slices at absurd speed.

Not satisfied yet, at the same time he moved one of the woks on his workstation on the fire to heat some oil.

"The vegetables are ready, now it's the pork's turn." thrown the vegetables into the hot oil to stir-fry, a big chunk of pork meat was rapidly diced and added as well to the wok, where the young Chef kept stirring everything at high speed nonstop and when the meat lost its raw look, Izuku finally added the mushroom caps he had previously left to soak in water (and then squeezed dry and sliced) and a handful of bamboo shots to mix their flavour into the meat as well.

When everything was almost done cooking, soy sauce, wine, salt and a pinch of sugar was added as well and everything was then stirred thoroughly; done with that the wok was then finally removed from the fire, covered and set aside to cool.

"Filling for the duck is done! I still need to let the duck itself season for a little while longer, I can start the preparation of the white chocolate ingots while I wait, then I will move to the Stew and the Emperor Herbal chicken and Siopaos…"

Teacher's side -

"I am surprised he is not tripping over himself to prepare everything, he is way too calm." Minato admitted while preparing himself the rice flour he will turn into a paste for his fried dish.

"I wanted to say something about hubris, but he has not made a mistake that would justify that speech, yet." Kuroi answered, adjusting his glasses a little to study in great detail his own version of the flavoured rice flour he was making for his steamed dumplings.

"Tell me again, Yamato, why is he not a student here?" Professor Sasaki asked, taking a small taste of the broth acting as a base of his stew, and showing a satisfied smile right after.

"Because a dear friend of mine got his feelings hurt by him and overreacted, I had decided to help along in avenging his honor even knowing first-hand that the kid was good. I just underestimated how good he actually was. Now I am regretting it." Yamato admitted, and the way she was stirring her custard got just a bit more wild due to her annoyance.

"So we are here because your childhood friend has thrown a tantrum?" Minato asked.

"Just keep cooking, before I think more about this mess and start feeling the need to drown myself in custard."

"I used to tell you that Samui was bad news when we were kids, but you still wanted him to be our friend, and it looks like I was right. He hasn'tchanged a bit since our days in high-school."

"Not now, Kuroi!"

Challenge Time: 1 hour – Izuku's side -

"The duck is frying along nicely! Time to start building the Baked Alaskas!" Izuku was heard declaring with a happy tone after checking the stuffed duck he had wrapped in Lotus leaves, encased in clay and then submerged in the hot salt.

What the audience saw was him recovering four boxes of hand-made ice-cream from the fridges Inoshiki Academy had prepared for the Challenge along with several eggs.

"Egg white...Lots of whisking…" the young Chef mumbled while rapidly whisking the whites of a few eggs until the mixture turned into a foam thick enough to for8m a stiff peak, he then slowly added sugar to the foam until it became thicker and creamy with a very gorgeous glossy look.

"The biscuit base is ready too, I can use it for the bases…" After that, a big square plate holding an inch thick crunchy biscuit base was recovered from a slightly warm oven for the young Chef to rapidly cut into several identical circles.

"Vanilla Ice-cream, strawberry ice-cream, chocolate ice-cream and hazelnut ice-cream. Perfect!" What followed was Izuku grabbing a giant block of frozen ice-cream of each flavour and positioning them next to the stack of biscuit disks he prepared.

It was then that the old woman of I-Island watched in amazement as the boy's knife moved through the ice-cream bricks with a single barely-seen horizontal slice that instead managed to cut those four big frozen ingots into tiny cubes, all in the span of a second.

"I will make them perfectly checkered, a block at a time!" Izuku said, a pair of pliers in each hand, while grabbing cubes of ice-cream of various flavours and piling them up in a pattern creating a vaguely spherical shape on top of the biscuit disks.

The dozen of small domes of ice-cream cubes were covered by a thick layer of meringue right after, a cover Izuku then spent several minutes working-on with a spoon to create folds overlapping from top to bottom, but not even Yamato could tell why he was doing that much work on the meringue.

I-Island -

"Madame, you will catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that." the old man muttered with a sigh.

"Did we record what he did with that knife just now?" the woman asked with a faint voice.

"I think so?" one of the technicians answered, unsure.

"Find me his medical history, and repeat the Quirk test again!"

"Yessir!"

"Is it really so hard to believe somebody can be good at something without a Quirk?" the old man muttered, rolling his eyes.

Challenge time: 2 hours – Teachers side -

"The cream puffs are ready, now I need to build the tower. The most annoying part." Yamato muttered as soon as she was done carving the last stylized picture of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms on the front of the small sphere of white chocolate encasing a cream puff.

"Be careful and do not make it collapse." Kuroi answered, checking the seasoning of the ingredients he will soon use for his dumplings.

"I know! It's not the first time I made a croquembouche!" she hissed in answer.

Once the teachers recognized the complexity of the dishes Izuku had planned to prepare, all of them had immediately came to the silent agreement that they too will 'Stretch' the rules a bit and add their own spin to the recipes they had chosen upon, like extra seasoning or a more throughout preparation of the base Ingredients. Or in the case of Minato and Kuroi, making the rice flour themselves to add extra flavouring to it.

"I am almost there, just twenty more minutes and my stew will be ready." Sasaki declared after giving a new taste test to his dish.

"By the looks of it, Chef Izuku's Rogan Josh too is almost ready." Minato answered.

"We'll go as planned then, as soon as one of us is ready they will deliver the dish to the judges, the others in the meantime will continue working, luckily contrary to us Midoriya will have to stop cooking to deliver his own dish."

"And what about Monoi?" Kuroi asked.

"Screw her, she called my Inoshiki Academy a cesspool, she's on her own." Yamato answered, not even sparing a glance at the depressed blond woman behind her.

Monoi had long since brought her egg to the Judges that simply swallowed it and declared it to be well cooked and kind of tasty...There wasn't much else to say about a simple boiled egg with some salt and pepper on it.

"I saw the boy bring out some small ingots of white chocolate, what do you think will he do with-"

Swooosh!

"Them...Wow…" Kuroi's glasses slipped down his nose a little as he and the others watched with wide eyes the young Chef move his knife fast enough to disappear from view and attack the dozen small blocks of hardened white chocolate to produce tiny female busts a couple inches tall, although none of them could see how detailed those actually were from their workstations.

"Shit!" At the same time Yamato gave a soft shriek as she almost made her half-done tower of cream puffs collapse due to the distraction.

"He seemed slower on video."

"Shut-up, Sasaki!"

With Izuku – Some time later -

"How's it going?" Momo asked, nearing the young Chef workstations circle.

"Kind of hectic, but nothing I can't manage! How about you? Must be pretty boring to sit there for two hours," he answered, giving a last stir to the Rogan Josh stew and lowering the flame a bit to let it simmer.

"I guess it is what the audience of a cooking show goes through compared to who sees the edited version back home, but it's not so bad considering the amazing scents we are bombarded with." Ochako answered with a small smile.

"I made a bit more than necessary, actually. You can have a taste too if you want, as a way to thank you all for coming." Izuku admitted, sheepish.

"...For me too?" Rumi asked, unsure, and stoically ignoring the glare the other two girls sent her way.

"Of course!" he answered, smiling brightly.

"Thank you…" she muttered.

"Why did youmake this a 5v1?" Momo asked.

"Like this in a little more than four hours we will be done, both me and them are busy people and I did not want to take too much time from their schedules. I already left things half-ready back in my Restaurant, so once done here I will be free to get ready for dinner hour with no problems. Hopefully." he answered.

"It's a risky maneuver," she replied, worried.

"I know, but I needed a bold move to finally impose myself as a difficult target. Even though now I see how Yamato-san has changed her mind about me, at the time I came-up with this plan I still thought she hated my guts." Izuku admitted, sighing.

"And now?" Ochako asked.

"Maybe she just sees me as a Rival now? Somebody to surpass, but in the proper way? I don't know, I never asked for this, I just want to manage my restaurant." he said.

"I really hope so," the girl answered.

"Anything ready to be served?" Rumi asked, trying to change the topic once seen him develop a slightly depressed look.

"Uhm...Three things, actually. The Rogan Josh, the Emperor Herbal chicken and the Beggar's Duck, with the latter two needing just another forty minutes to be done." he answered.

"Forty minutes?" the bunny girl asked.

"Both Minato-san and Kuroi-san took their time to make the rice flour themselves, just so as to adjust the taste to what they needed. That needs a bit over two hours to be done, adding that to the normal preparation time for their dishes to be ready, they will need around 2 hours and thirty minutes to be done, they will actually finish five to ten minutes before me...Luckily the Challenge is about the final product, not speed." Izuku answered, sighing, unknowingly surprising the two teachers in question with his near-exact guessing of their dishes' time of preparation.

"Really?! What now?" Rumi asked.

"It's okay, it's not really a problem, like that the judges will have enough time to taste the Teachers' dishes without rush and then cleanse their palate a little, that way the taste of those dishes won't interfere with mine." Izuku answered, flashing her a reassuring smile.

"That's a relief,"

"You done?" Momo hissed with narrowed eyes.

"I kissed him, Yaoyorozu, yes. Deal with it. I am your rival, I am not going anywhere until he drops you and chooses me."

"Please don't argue, I am not worth it." the young Chef commented, unfazed, while turning off the stove under his stew.

"I beg to differ, Izu." Momo answered, arms crossed and glare directed straight at Rumi.

"Had you not been worth the effort, I assure you we wouldn't be doing this," Rumi added, unaware that she had to look slightly upward to meet the eyes of the other girl.

Sigh! "Help me, Ochako-chan?" Izuku asked with a tired sigh and his hands moving fast to prepare the various portions of Rogan Josh for the judges and his friends and family.

"Sorry, Boss, besides taking the plates back to the seats, I can't help you this time," Ochako answered, smiling weakly.

(Rogan Josh Stew)

"Why me…" the young man muttered, leaving behind the war of glares to join Professor Sasaki at the Judges table.

"Amazing, Professor. That really tasted like something straight out of my mother's kitchen, it felt homely, informal and very familiar. It actually had the taste of a mother's cooking." Mako admitted, impressed.

"Hohoho! Thank you! I must admit my beloved mother used this recipe to bribe me into behaving! So in a sense I acted-out mostly to eat it as much as possible, and once grown-up she never stopped reminding me of that!" the old man answered, laughing amused at the memories.

"She sounds like an amazing woman," Izuku admitted, distributing a plate for each King and one for Sasaki himself, while behind him Ochako, Rumi and Momo brought the other plates to his parents and the others.

"Nothing for you?" the old man asked, hurt.

"Too nervous! And not enough time! I need to get back soon to check on the Herbal Chicken." Izuku answered, chuckling.

"Just go then, we will vote once done tasting every dish: red for you, blue for each Professor." Sadao answered.

"Thank you!" not waiting for another second, Izuku sprinted away to check on the two dishes that were the closest to be ready.

In the meantime, both judges and Sasaki had started tasting the young man's creation, and growing pleasantly surprised at the divine taste.

"I'll be damned, this lamb is melting in my mouth! So soft!" the teacher admitted.

"He had marinated the lamb meat in yogurt to make it softer, and added a touch of cream to the sauce that has actually rounded the edge of the spices he used. The curry and the chilly are in perfect balance too!" the new King said in awe.

"Told you! That bastard is a Monster," Michiko answered with a loud sigh.

"He actually used real Kashmiri Dry red chilies to make it, he has hidden spices jars in his coat again! AH! He knew that had he asked for those to us we would have tried guessing his recipe." Mako said, laughing.

"Cardamon, cloves, bay, onion, peppercorns, coriander, cumin...So young and yet so skilled he managed to mix this many tastes and keep them in balance...Who are you, boy?" Sasaki, having used his Quirk to analyze in detail every taste individually, muttered while looking at Izuku in confusion.

Inko and Co. Seats -

"Jesus, this is amazing," Miss Uraraka said in-between mouthfuls.

"Mom, I have a Staff Discount, you and dad can come eat where I work whenever you want, you know?" Ochako answered.

"I forgot about that, we'll come visit then!"

"I want to taste something carrot based, I bet he can make a carrot cake to orgasm over," Rumi muttered.

Cooking Challenge time: 3 Hours - With Izuku -

The Herbal Chicken was ready, so were the siopaos, and when the big bamboo canister of the steamer had been finally opened Izuku's dish showered the entire gym in the gentle scent of steamed meat accompanied by the faint undertone of the dried herbs and spices the chicken had been filled with together with the chinese wine that had been lightly drizzled on the meat mid-cooking, a scent both spicy and sweet, yet mellow and aromatic.

The meat was still rosy in colour and even by look alone one could tell it was a very delicate dish as the meat came off from the bones with zero effort.

"Emperor Herbal Chicken. It is said that a Chinese Emperor in ancient times used to eat that constantly to stay healthy, each herb or spice that boy used actually has medicinal properties." Yamato muttered with narrowed eyes, her dessert was still in the fridge ready to be taken out.

"Red dates replenish the blood, Wolf berries help to promote clear eyesight, Tung Shen promotes salivation, aids ingestion and counters extreme mental and physical fatigue and so on with every Ingredient...It's basically Chinese Medicine made into a Gourmet Dish, and he pulled it off the proper way, without using store-bought ingredients." Kuroi answered, fixing his glasses.

"I am ready!" Minato asked, having finished plating his dish.

"Go then, they already evaluated my dish, once done with his chicken, it will be your turn." he answered.

"The salt fried duck!" and in answer a blur ran past the teachers' stations as Izuku flew back to his area to prepare yet another dish, and gained some friendly chuckles from the audience at his adorable worried expression.

Judges' table -

"Daamn! And this is healthy food? I can go on a diet if it is all like this!" Toshio admitted while giving a big bite to the siopao, then to the chicken leg he had been given and then taking a spoonful of broth in his mouth and chewing everything together in a single giant mouthful.

"Calling this healthy is a stretch, but Hell will freeze over the day you go on a diet!" Sadao answered, still with her mouth full.

"Oh, take a room you two! Let me eat in peace!" Michiko growled, annoyed.

"This is too good," the new King muttered, shocked.

"Not surprising, he is my Rival after all!" Mako answered, smirking.

"He is?!"

"Pretty much, but it's just a matter of time before I surpass him,"

"Unlikely." Toshio commented.

"Shut up!"

Once done polishing their plates, and washing their mouth a bit to reset their palate, they welcomed Minato's dish with a wide smile thanks to its cute appearance.

"Up for something sweeter?" the man asked, smiling.

"I am always up for some sweets!" Michiko admitted with gleaming eyes.

"Good to hear. What did the police say? Community service then?" he asked.

"Yes. Assault is a heavy crime, but since he did not press charges and I did not actually manage to lie a finger...Or tentacle...On him, the judge was a bit more lenient. I will have to do community service and take Anger Management classes, along with visiting a counselor...I am just happy I am still a student here, and I was told I can only thank you for that, Mister Minato." she answered, sighing.

"You have a great talent, Michiko, and I did not want to see it go to waste yet, so I talked my mother into giving you a last chance, don't waste it." he answered.

"I won't, sir."

"...You won't feel obliged to vote unfairly, yes?" Minato then asked.

"No, I am a Chef, we have dignity! So I will give my vote in total fairness." Michiko answered, eyes ablaze.

"Well said!" he answered with a thumbs-up

"Mister Minato, these buns are amazing! So sweet and soft!" Sadao declared in amazement.

"Damn fragrant too! And the filling is soo, soo tasty!" Toshio admitted, shamelessly talking with his mouth full.

"I followed the original recipe! I was tutored night and day to make them properly under threat of bodily harm, so please, tell your teachers I did a good job or they will beat me up!" Minato answered, making them laugh by casting a worried look towards the other teachers watching the Challenge.

"Will do, will do, sir." Mako promised, chuckling.

Crack!

Under the sound of Izuku's mallet breaking the clay shell hiding inside his salt-fried duck, both Minato and the judges fell immediately silent, they all knew that sound meant that it would be soon time for them to try the third plate of Izuku's insane menu.

When the last browned giant leaf was carefully open and the entire bundle unfolded, the stuffed duck resurfaced to proudly display its crispy brown skin shining slightly under the gym's lights thanks to its thin layer of grease.

"Uuuuhm! This smell is amazing…"

"Mom, please, you are making a scene!" Ochako groaned in shame at the half-moan of her mother.

"You think you can ask him to make it again back home if we invite him for dinner?" Rei whispered.

"Maybe if we make Momo ask, he will." Saito whispered back.

"You won't use me to get some salt fried duck, man-up and ask him yourself." Momo countered, huffing.

"Aaaw!"

While this happened, Izuku had already divided the dish into equal portions, taking care of also distributing in a fair manner the duck's filling that had now taken a slightly gelatinous consistency.

"Ochako? Please?" he asked, sheepish.

"Coming, Boss!" the girl replied before moving to deliver the extra portions to her mother and the others.

"It's unfair that they get to taste everything he makes." a student in the back muttered, displeased.

"Apparently they are his parents, his fiancee and her parents, a friend and his waitress and her mother. They came all the way here to cheer for him, it's only fair." the girl's friend answered.

"I still want to try that too." the other replied, huffing annoyed.

Judges table -

"The heat from the salt seeped deep inside the meat still no matter the leaves and the clay encasing it, and the clay itself gave to the meat's flavour a faint earthen note that goes amazingly well with the filling," Toshio said, having the deepest expertise in meat dishes among the Kings.

"That is normal, the lotus leaves are mostly there to separate the meat from the clay, not to insulate it from the heat. Also, if properly bathed they also add flavour to the duck, other than helpingmanage the temperature. But you changed the recipe a little, didn'tyou?" Minato explained.

"Busted, I added a tiny amount of honey to the mixture I used to season the duck's inside, only a tiny bit, but it helped make the meat just a tad softer and added a bit of sweet smoothness to the overall flavour, I am impressed you noticed!" Izuku admitted, smirking.

In fact, the duck, other than being flavourful, possessed a delicate, springy meat hidden under the crispy skin, it was pleasantly spicy and felt smooth like silk inside the mouth; the pork filling instead was buttery soft and the jelly-like sauce around that meat melted back into a thick liquid once swallowed, giving the impression the judges and the others were actually eating a very thick, delicious soup, something Mako found mildly infuriating as it was yet another dish of his she felt the need to match and surpass to protect her pride as Soup King.

"Impressive...Hey…"

"Yes?"

"If something does not work in your own restaurant...Wanna come work in mine?" Minato asked.

"Minato!" Yamato was heard screaming in shock, an expression mimicked perfectly by whoever managed to hear.

"I am honored you offered that, even just as a joke-"

"It's not a joke." Minato said, dropping his friendly smile in favour of a more solemn expression.

"Then I am even more touched, but I have to refuse." Izuku answered, once again causing a new round of shocked gasps to resound in the gym.

"My Restaurant is and forever will be the Green Cloud, I want to show the world that I can make it to the top even without a Quirk or a famous name backing me up, to say 'I did it' to whoever doubted I could achieve anything. But thank you all the same for the offer." the young man said with a deep bow, and then returned swiftly to his workstations circle to finish cooking.

"Too bad, but I am not backing down." Minato muttered with a devious, and yet still friendly, smile.

"Host?"

"You gave me a chance, System. You offered me the occasion to chase my new dream when everybody else tried to smash it, and I am not ungrateful, I will return the favour by becoming the best God of Cooking I can be. It will be my way to thank you for saving me from losing yet another dream." Izuku answered.

"Well said, Host. The role of the God of Cooking is more meaningful than the position as a Sous-Chef of a random Restaurant, and the System knows the Host will fulfill the role perfectly." the Entity answered, still monotonous, and yet Izuku could swear there was some tiny spark of gratitude buried deep.

"Almost done?" Surprisingly, the next to move near Izuku's side of the gym was Yamato herself.

"Forty more minutes and the Pot-au-Feu will be ready. Shall we go through our Carving Challenge in the meantime?" he answered once checked the state of his boiling dish.

"May as well. Why go through with it, though? Monoi had clearly done enough to be disqualified, she chose to boil a mere egg and tried threatening the judges. You could have easily switched dishes for something way simpler and still won...Why doing this instead?" the old woman asked, curious.

"Can I be honest?" Izuku asked.

"...I am listening." Yamato muttered while leaning closer.

"It is all to send a message to whoever still believes I am easily bullied, to show that I will always fight back and never take everything lying down. And also, I had already chosen to make this dish, I promised the Ingredients I would have prepared them this way and didn't want to disappoint them."

"You didn't want to disappoint the Ingredients?" Yamato asked, confused.

"Yes, believe it or not, I would have never heard the end of it." he answered, smiling.

"If you are so sure. Let's prepare our dessert in the meantime, you still have to cook the Baked Alaska's meringue top."

"It's okay, if you take yours out of the fridge now, by the time I am done, your croquembouche will be ready to be served as well."

"Well said, get to work then! Contrary to my colleagues, I did decide to take this Challenge seriously. It's a pity that even with video proof, they underestimated you." the old woman answered, walking back to her fridge.

"It's hard to gauge somebody's skills on video without tasting, I can't blame them. Especially since I did cheat a little by downplaying the difficulty of my chosen dishes...Or stretching the meaning of frying...But come on, I too can be a bit mean once or twice…" Izuku muttered, cheeks reddening a bit.

His embarrassment though lasted very little as soon as his mind focused on the new task that was giving the finishing touch to his Baked Alaska, he had in fact rapidly took them out from the fridge together with a special alcoholic mixture with a faint orange flavour he used to gently cover the meringue top of the numerous small desserts he had prepared using a very soft brush.

In front of him now stood his small desserts, one for each judge, Yamato herself and his friends, ready to be decorated.

"The oven is hot enough. Ten minutes should be enough." Izuku muttered as he moved the small domes of meringue inside the thing to bask in the angry red light of the heat.

"Ten minutes? Just enough for me as well," Yamato answered while pulling out of the fridge the small pyramid of cream puffs encased in white chocolate.

Each sphere had been engraved by hand to have four stylized pictures of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms with a very minimalist style, even if Mary's dress still presented few lines representing her clothing. The chocolate itself was perfectly smooth and had a faint shine to it giving to the spheres the appearance of smooth balls of precious stone.

"Wow...Rector Yamato has not lost her touch…" Mako, admitted in worshipful awe, once received a few spheres of her portion.

"It's all about experience, Ishikami-san, all the years I spent in the kitchen were to better myself," Yamato answered, proud.

"Do you mind if your friends try this too? I actually made more than enough," she then asked.

"Uh-hu. Go ahead." Izuku, eyes glued to the glass panel of the oven, answered.

"He keeps opening the thing to move the desserts in there. I wonder what he is doing." Michiko, the sweet enthusiast of the five, wondered aloud.

"Thank you, Madame." Saito said with a grateful tone once received his portion from Yamato.

"Think nothing of it, it's part of my apology for the idiocies spouted by one of my teachers, if you really want to take her to court, count me in as a witness." she answered.

"Will do, thank you." he answered, grateful, while the others already moved to attack their cream puffs.

Crunch!

"Oh my!" Inko gasped in amazement.

The chocolate casing, while fairly thick, still broke apart easily, and the home-made white chocolate held a very rich taste of fresh milk, with a very faint buttery tone, and not overly sweet like the cheap one found in stores.

The puff itself too was good, with a slight vanilla aftertaste, but the real star was the custard cream itself: sweet, fluffy, smooth like nothing the tasters had ever felt before and still proudly displaying a tiny part of the taste of the fresh eggs used to make it.

In short: the cream-puffs looked gorgeous and tasted amazing.

"This is one hell of a contender! Madame Yamato really did give her all for this!" Michiko admitted.

"Rector Yamato made this to fight him...Wow…" the new King muttered in awe, looking at both the old woman and Izuku with eyes full of amazement.

"They liked it, it's your turn now!" Yamato said with a mischievous smile and a thumbs-up.

"Fingers crossed!" Izuku answered as he finally took out of the oven the small domes of Baked Alaska he made...And both the audience in the gym and the ones following the Livestream (and the guys from I-Island), grew slack-jawed at what they saw.

The browning of the meringue had clearly followed the pattern the young Chef planned for: the folds were slightly darker than the meringue under them, and when Izuku uncovered what he had sculptured the ingots of white chocolate into, their shock grew tenfold.

Baked Alaska Miladies, the name was literal. He had sculptured by hand each ingot so to give it the look of a woman's bust wearing an intricate dress, and when he put each and every bust on top of its respective dome, the folds of the meringue became the folds of the women's dress; both dress and hairstyle of each milady held a level of detail one could only describe as insane, especially considering how fast he had been at actually carving them. Even declaring all of that Impossible didn't fully make it justice, only a Chef from another world could actually achieve that.

"Perfect, just a bit of perfume, and the Miladies will be ready for their debut…" Izuku muttered, peeling an orange at lightning speed and gently squeezing the peel to drip some aromatic oil on top of the meringue, and the last vestiges of heat from it helped that oil release a faint and very pleasant citrusy aroma.

Yamato accepted her own Baked Alaska in stricken silence, and her brain had categorically refused to admit that the dessert she was about to eat had her face carved on it with way too many details, like the crow's feet at the eyes, it was simply too absurd to be real.

"You know?...I-It turns out I would look nice in a Victorian dress…" Toshio was heard saying with a weak laugh once seen his own face on the body of the Milady in his plate.

"He used a 3D Printer to make this, right? Right?!" Michiko, ready to burst to tears out of broken Pâtissier Pride, asked.

"...No, he made it all by hand…" Mako answered, unsure.

"BOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!" the awful wailing of the Desert King did wait long to come and echo loudly in the entire gym.

"The inside is also amazing, checkered to perfection…Each cube of ice-cream too has been cut with maniacal precision. Does he suffer from OCD?!" Sadao once took a slice off her portion to check the inside.

Easy to say, beside the outrageous Carving involved, the taste too was amazing: the ice-cream Izuku had personally made and brought along fully displayed his talent as well, the Vanilla Ice-cream was amazingly delicate in taste and fluffy; the strawberry ice-cream was so fresh you could almost tell apart each and every strawberry that had been used, as if eating them straight from the plant; the chocolate ice-cream was dark and intense counterbalancing the sweet taste of the strawberries while the hazelnut ice-cream instead perfectly framed the vanilla one without overpowering it. It was clear, in a frightening way, that Izuku had even studied the position of each cube of ice-cream so as to pair the flavour in a positive manner.

"Rei-san?"

"Yes, Miss Uraraka?" Rei answered.

"...You say he gives you cooking lessons for free...Can I join?" she asked.

"MOM!"

"I don't think he will mind, but we better ask, just in case."

"Thank you."

When the time came for the Pot-au-Feu to be served, Monoi accepted her portion with hatred shining in her eyes, but before she could try anything with her Quirk (she possessed a second set of arms sprouting from her hips with the two extra hands also possessing creepily-long fingers), Whitey appeared behind her to grab her shoulder as a silent threat.

"This is a small glimpse of my abilities, never again try to make a joke of a cooking competition. Food is sacred, and a Chef Pride is essential, you spat on both with your attitude and should be ashamed of yourself," Izuku muttered harshly once left her a plate.

Monoi's anger evaporated as soon as she tried it, the meat was simply Divine, a texture she had never felt before, and a taste that seemed not of this world as no matter how many times she chewed, the meat's taste did not diminish by an iota.

Spicy.

Tender.

Warm.

Somber.

A taste that encompassed her very soul, and she had to stop herself from trying to eat the bones in her plate as well together with the marrow inside them, the vegetables too had been cooked to the point they offered very little resistance to the bite without losing a bit of their fresh taste, but the meat, that was the jewel of the entire dish. Something she recognizes she will never be able to match.

Thump!

With a soft sound Monoi's legs gave-in under her and she fell on her knees, her face was pale and her eyes unblinking, she just looked at Izuku as if he was an Eldritch Abomination.

"W-W-Who are you?" she asked with a whisper of voice.

"Me? I am Izuku Midoriya. But for you? I am the King of Chefs." he answered, back straight and head held high, and for an instant Monoi caught a glimpse of what he meant with that answer: a towering figure, an unreachable Chef at the very peak of the world of cooking able to look down on the rest of them.

She saw Zaus, and she saw the bottomless depths of his talent only Setsuno could surpass and only Komatsu could match, and she grew afraid.

"Simply amazing, we tasted food of a quality we all didn't know was possible, but it is now time to vote. I will call each name separately and we will cast our vote: Red for Midoriya and Blue for each Professor. Are the contestants ready?" Mako asked.

"We are ready!" they all answered, except Monoi, she was still looking at Izuku in fear.

"Good. For the Stewing Challenge between Midoriya and Professor Sasaki…" Mako asked.

Four red-coloured disks and one blue were lifted, with Mitchiko being the only one voting for Sasaki.

"Oh, dear! Looks like I lost! Hohohoho! I hope we will have a rematch someday!" the old man answered with an amused laugh.

"Whenever you want, Mister Sasaki." Izuku answered, shaking the man's hand.

"We have cast our vote. The winner for the Stewing Challenge is Chef Midoriya!" Mako declared, and while his friends and the audience roared in amazement, in UA University Present Mic' scream of anguish exploded the windows and deafened students and teachers alike since that first victory meant the Pro Hero lost the ongoing bet on the results, both his savings and his next paycheck will thus go straight into the pockets of somebody else.

"Next is the Steaming Challenge. Who won between Chef Midoriya and Professor Kuroi?" Mako then asked, making the audience there and watching the stream observe the Kings' discussion with baited breath.

Five red disks rose next, and the people watching roared again in awe.

"A total defeat, I am ashamed, but not surprised." Kuroi answered with a chuckle, and shaking Izuku's hand with not a trace of anger to be seen on his serene expression.

"Sorry." Izuku answered, sheepish.

"Don't be, that herbal chicken was a work of art, I liked it."

"Glad to hear that!"

"Another victory for Chef Midoriya! An applause for the amazing show of sportsmanship both Professor Sasaki and Professor Kuroi showed us!" Mako said, and the two teachers actually did look a bit flustered at the loud praise and applause of their students.

"Next will be the Frying Challenge! Mister Minato vs Chef Midoriya, please cast your votes, fellow judges!" Once again the five spent several minutes whispering, and arguing, between themselves before giving their score.

4 red and 1 blue, this time it was Sadao to vote against Izuku.

"In my defense, it was not specified what kind of Frying was permitted and what wasn't!" Minato answered, laughing thunderously, and giving Izuku a friendly fist-bump and a high-five on the notes of the Audience applause.

"We are three on five, nice results, Chef Izuku! What about the Boiling Challenge?" Mako asked next.

"And you need to ask? It was a boiled egg against the best boiled meatI have ever tasted in my life!" Toshio answered, scoffing, and without even a second of thought, 5 red disks rose in the air to declare another absolute win for Izuku.

"Your life is over, Monoi. And you won't even have some good memories to fall back onto, you brought this on yourself." Yamato muttered, making the former teacher of Inoshiki burst into a loud, desperate crying fit.

"Another win! Only our beloved Rector remains! Madame Yamato for the Carving Challenge! It's time to vote!" the Soup King declared with a loud scream the audience was more than ready to answer in kind.

This time it took way longer for the five Kings to reach an agreement, but still, four Red disks went up, with the girl taking the place of Takeo being the only one voting for Yamato, and the gym seemed about to explode with how loud the audience cheered.

"MI-DO-RI-YA! MI-DO-RI-YA! MI-DO-RI-YA!" The audience chanted over and over as they watched the teachers and Yamato deliver their knives to the young Chef one by one.

"I hope you realize this doesn't mean I won't come back for a rematch," Yamato said with a small smile.

"I will be waiting, Yamato-san!" Izuku answered, smiling wide.

"...Izuku…" when the old woman moved close enough to whisper in his ear, though, his smile dropped instantly.

"Uh?"

"Samui is a very vindictive and dangerous man, his sense of pride is his biggest weakness. I helped along due to my past for him, but even then, I soon learned what I was doing was wrong...The others won't care instead, they will come." she whispered.

"The others?" he asked.

"The judges that were there that day in the park. They are Chefs and Food Critics, yes, but we all also used to be a tight group of friends. Problem is, contrary to me, now Samui has leverage on them that will force them to do his bidding and get revenge on you...Very dirty leverage. You must be careful, they will come after you soon." Yamato warned him.

"Thank you. They will find me ready," Izuku answered, grateful.

"I hope it will be enough, unfortunately I fear I won't be able to have them see reason, as I suspect the skeletons Samui discovered in their closets are way too dangerous to bring to light for them to be talked into backing down. I can only give you a heads-up when one of them will start to move, so as to give you enough time to prepare." the old woman offered, grimacing.

"Are you sure you can risk it?" Izuku asked, worried.

"Between them all, I am the only one without dirty secrets, and my own reputation is solid enough even Samui won't be able to attack it. I'll be fine, promise." she answered, showing him an encouraging smile.

"Okay, thank you for telling me." Izuku answered, shaking the woman's hand.

When everything was said and done, the five knives joined the ones of the Five Kings inside the wooden cabinet Whitey then strapped to his back, and accompanied by his friends and family, and the last applause of the audience, Izuku and Co. made their way back to Green Cloud Restaurant for a celebratory party between them all while everybody else celebrated as well in their own way.

I-Island -

"Find me a table in that Restaurant! I want to talk to that boy in person!"

"Yessir!"

"This won't end well…" Hisashi's boss muttered with a sigh of dismay.

UA University -

"Twenty...Thirty...Forty...Fifty…" Aizawa was heard counting bills after bills aloud with a wide smile on his face.

"I'll buy those shoes I saw yesterday, then those fancy glasses! And then I will visit the SPA…" Nemuri in the meantime started organizing her next expenses after finishing collecting the money of her colleagues.

"My paycheck! My savings! The money for my new bike! Booo-hoooo!" Mic instead kept crying and wailing like an angry ghost while on all fours.

"There goes the money for the new leather seats of my car…" Toshinori just gave a defeated sigh once seen Aizawa tearing off the money in his hands to add them to the pile.

"I knew I should have not followed your example and just bet by myself." Nighteye muttered with a frown.

A similar scene was taking place between the students of Class 1A and pretty much everybody else in the University.

"Easiest money of my life!" Mina declared with a wide smile, there were fat stacks of bills overflowing her pockets, sprouting from her cleavage and the sides of her school skirt and few bills even peeked-out from her wild hair, she had seemingly stuffed her clothes in money.

"Remember to set aside Yaomomo's part and Ochako," Tooru said while still counting her own big stack of money.

"Of course! Of course!"

"I am going to have Boss Izuku's name engraved on my new guitar, as an homage to who made it possible for me to buy a new one!" Jiro declared, with a bit of a cackle.

"This greed is unbecoming of future Heroes!" Tenya said, frowning.

"Here is your part, Tenya-chan!" In answer Tsuyu delivered him what looked like several thousands of yen divided into various high stacks of bills tied together with rubber bands.

"...I will let it slide this time." the bespectacled boy conceded while rapidly pocketing the small fortune.

But not everybody was rejoicing from Izuku's victory…

With Monoi – Apartment complex - Later that night -

The woman had finally entered her place after several long hours spent with Saito's Lawyers, and those had apparently joined forces with Inoshiki's own legal team to eat the former teacher alive, leaving no dirty detail untouched and painting Monoi's future of misery following the lawsuit they slapped her with with sadistic glee. If she actually managed to avoid prison after the trial, her life and career as a Chef was still over and done.

"I just want to go to bed and sleep forever…" she muttered with a tone of desperation.

"Not before your punishment." a monotonous and slightly metallic voice echoed in her apartment.

"WHO'S THERE?!" Monoi shrieked.

"You tried to cheat and ruin the fairness of the Challenge the System had set for the Host, this meddling shall not be forgiven." the System replied.

"System? Host? What are you blabbering about?!" Monoi asked, still looking around wildly.

"Never before has a Challenge been put in danger by somebody moving behind the scenes to actively sabotage the results, you have committed a cardinal Sin that put at risk the Ascension of the Host to the Echelon of God of Cooking, and this warrants the harshest punishment!" the Entity said, and immediately a splitting headache forced Monoi to double over in agony.

"AUGH!" It was after the first bout of pain that the woman saw something resembling pale smoke leave her body.

"What...What are you doing?!"

"The System would have accepted you manipulating the choice of dishes and Ingredients in your favour, would have accepted you sabotaging the instrumentation given to the Host and even forcing the Host to use sub-par Ingredients. But the System won't accept the insult of minor characters like you cheating with drugs or trying to threaten judges into voting for them.

You tried to manipulate the ones called to judge your dishes to vote in your favour and even pretended to win with a mere boiled egg. For your insolence the System decided to bestow on you the worst Curse: You will be stripped of your ability to cook and of the ability to taste. Forever." the System answered, mercilessly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the scream of anguish that tore its way out of Monoi's mouth scared to near-death whoever heard her, and the next day, when somebody finally came to check on her, they will find the woman lying in fetal position crying hysterically and surrounded by ruined food from failed cooking attempts, and no matter how much she wanted to, she was also unable to tell them about the System as part of her Curse.

At the same time, at the opposite side of the city, Shigaraki had just finished disintegrating yet another stray dog, leaving behind barely a handful of ashes, but his sense of hatred had not diminished at all.

"It's not the same thing...I want to kill the real deal…That fleabag and his shitty owner!" the young man muttered with a dark unhinged tone as mental pictures of Blackie and Green Cloud Restaurant filled his head fueling even more his thirst for revenge.

But Izuku was unaware of all this, he was too occupied being giddy at the unlocking of the new bone-made kitchen knife as promised by the System for defeating the guys of Inoshiki: the so-calledSilver Sea Dragon kitchen knife, and the young Chef was eager to train in using such a Divine Knife for his future dishes. That and that special cabinet where Time moves faster.

Chapter finished! A very super long one! WOOOO!...Don't get used to it, please, it was a pain for me…

Author Explains corner!

1 - A bit of trivia! The Baked Alaska dessert is an Ice-Cream cake covered in meringue that is baked in the oven to produce its famous brownish color, and if the ice-cream doesn't melt once put in the oven it's all thanks to the meringue itself, scientifically recognized as a very effective heat insulator. The Chef that created the dessert is believed to be Charles Ranhofer (1867), but the actual discovery of the cooking method was accredited not to a Chef, but to a Physicist: Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. The same man that invented the cooking method known as Sous Vide...Among other things.

2 - If you think I am making Izuku's skill too outrageous, you have seen nothing yet! He used to be a character from the Manga Toriko, those guys do NOTHING that is not insane, either when fighting or cooking! Ask the other readers here that actually know the manga well enough, they will second the notion.

For example:

In Toriko, a kitchen knife can be so sharp a faint swing can cut a mountain in half, literally.

One of the top 100 Chefs in the entire planet managed to cook gravity to win a challenge (Zao Yuda, known as Yuda of the Millimeter for his fixation of cooking everything with millimeter precision).

A Chef can skin and remove an Ingredient's meat so fast and delicately the thing remains alive.

High Level characters in Toriko can run on water just by lifting each foot to take a step fast enough they simply do not break water's surface tension…

Trust me, if ever, I am making Izuku hold back when cooking!