It felt like Takumi had just settled into a routine when it was suddenly upturned by the appearance of a flier printed on fluorescent orange paper taped on Polar Star's door.

"Eek!" Yūki stared uncomprehendingly at the flier. "It's starting already?! We've only been in school for like three weeks!" She melted to the floor. "These are the rigors of high school that every manga warns you about…"

Ryōko took the flier down and brought it into the kitchen, where the rest of Polar Star was cleaning up from breakfast. Satoshi noticed the paper and perked up.

"Oho, so it's been officially announced, has it?" he asked.

"What is that?" Takumi asked, glancing at the flier over Ryōko's shoulder.

"It's the flier announcing this year's Friendship and Rapport Camp," she said uncharacteristically somberly. "It's the first big hurdle that all first-year high school students face at Tōtsuki Academy. Historically, hundreds of students have been expelled for their conduct at the Camp. Among the more worried students, it's called the Hell Camp for the grueling tasks that are set upon us."

"Surely, it can't be that bad," Takumi said. "Isshiki-senpai, could you tell us what this Camp will be like so we can prepare for it?"

"Oh, yeah!" Yūki suddenly perked up and she whipped around. "You're a second-year! You've been through Hell Camp yourself!"

"As a member of the Elite Ten, I also helped organize it this year," Satoshi added helpfully.

"Yeah! So you can tell us what it's like, right?"

"Hmm…" Satoshi cocked his head to the side. "I could. But I don't think I will."

"What?!" Surprisingly, the scream came not from Yūki but from Zenji, who looked pale as a sheet and sick to the bottom of his stomach. "Isn't that your duty to us as our senpai?"

"In any other case, I would say so," Satoshi said. "However, Tōtsuki Academy's Friendship and Rapport Camp is designed to test students' abilities to adapt to harsh conditions seen in the food world. I can't give you a leg up any more than any of my peers can."

"I'm sure that every Elite Ten member with a first-year Trainee is currently drilling their charge with everything they need to know to survive this week," Shun muttered from his perch on the kitchen counter. "You're just too morally straight for that."

"I can see the draw in setting your kōhai up for success," Satoshi said serenely. "Personally, I believe that all of the residents of Polar Star will succeed in the camp whether or not you get anything from me. Who am I to hold you back by changing the circumstances?"

Takumi wandered over to Shun as the others began to badger Satoshi for whatever information he was willing to give. "Has he really told you nothing?"

Shun snorted. "Of course he hasn't. Isshiki-senpai isn't one to set double-standards, no matter if it isn't fair to a different set of eyes."

"Now, calm down, all of you," Satoshi said, holding his hands up placatingly. "If you managed to meet Fumio-san's standards before any form of training, then you'll easily breeze through the Training Camp! There's no need for you all to panic; just do your best and show off what you've learned. I have every bit of faith in all of you!"

"He's very optimistic," Takumi muttered.

Shun sighed. "I think he's refusing to believe the alternative is possible," he said. "There's so much that could go wrong, and Tōtsuki is far too exacting to let a small mistake off without severe punishment. This is thought of as the first stumbling block of the high school experience for a reason: scores of our classmates will be sent home for their errors. One year, the class was culled by almost half. This school is going to look a lot emptier without them."

"You seem just as confident as he is," Takumi noted.

He got a shrug in response. "I know I won't fail," Shun said calmly. "There's no other option."

Who's the one believing the alternative isn't possible, now? Takumi kept his thoughts to himself.

A small booklet about the Friendship and Rapport Camp arrived some days later. Yūki immediately commandeered it, trying to parse through the admittedly quite empty words printed on it to find the secret to surviving the experience, though her depressed wallowing after a few days implied that there was nothing to be found. When Takumi finally got his hands on the manual and read through it, he didn't see anything that stood out too much.

"Do you think cell phones count as portable electronics?" he asked the room at large. "I didn't expect to see a bath time listed either; I suppose that's a Japanese thing."

"You don't seem to be very worried, Aldini-san," Ryōko commented.

"Well, there's not much to worry about, honestly," Takumi said, turning a page. "Sure, we could be sent home. That would suck. That's not our decision, though; all we can do is show ourselves off and be better than everyone else. Worrying about something that we can't control isn't worth it."

"That's very pragmatic of you, Aldini," Shun said.

"And he's right!" Satoshi piped up. "The Friendship and Rapport Camp is meant to be challenging, yes, but I know that Polar Star can easily rise to the occasion. The trials will be great, but you will return even greater having gone through them! And when you do return home, I'll have a whole feast waiting for you in celebration."


The fleet of buses parked in the center of Tōtsuki's campus emphasized to Takumi just how rich the Academy was. It was one thing to see all of the equipment that each test kitchen was stocked with. It was another to see ten top-of-the-line tour buses lined up neatly with students slowly pouring into them. Takumi noticed Momo squinting at him dangerously before turning with a hmph! when she saw him looking at her.

Before he could linger further on that, Sōmei and Ikumi found the Polar Star group fairly easily and joined them on the bus. Sōmei's expression cracked slightly upon realizing how pumped up Yūki was so early in the morning, but Ikumi just laughed and drew her into an excited conversation. Takumi briefly imagined the monstrosities of game and wagyu they'd brainstorm on the bus ride together.

"Should those two have been introduced to each other?" he asked, gesturing at the duo.

Shun shrugged. "As long as they don't start in on me."

"We'll be inundated with mediocrity and business proposals within the hour," Sōmei muttered.

The bus ride was otherwise anticlimactic. Sōmei had spent a while trying to persuade Shun to drop whatever details he'd been told (Takumi didn't realize that Shun's position as Satoshi's protégé was so well-known, but it made sense) and refused to accept that he hadn't been told anything extra himself.

"Isshiki-senpai really didn't tell us anything," Takumi added when Sōmei visibly got frustrated at Shun's lack of answers. "He just told us that he trusted us to get through the Training Camp without help. Also that he'd make us dinner to celebrate when we all came back."

"What's the point of dorming with an Elite Ten member if he doesn't give you a step up in these sorts of tests?" Sōmei grumbled.

"Isshiki-senpai wasn't the only one who was so close-lipped," Ikumi commented, leaning over the back of their bus seat to poke into their conversation. "When I asked Eizan-senpai, he just snorted and gave his usual spiel about 'making connections wherever I went'." She scowled slightly at the memory. "It's the most useless he's ever been."

"Do you think the Elite Ten are all in agreement to keep certain big events secret, even from their trainees?" Yūki asked, peering over herself. "It feels suspicious that both of your mentors are being so quiet about it."

Shun snorted. "Probably not. I'd bet that Akanegakubo-san knows exactly what's going to happen here. I can't imagine Kobayashi-senpai letting all of the paperwork she had to do go to waste."

"That sounds about right," Ikumi sighed. "Aldini-san, why'd you have to go and piss Akanegakubo-san off? We could have probably asked her for more info."

"You can't blame me for that," Takumi said. "Go ask her yourself. Don't even mention me."

A strange glimmer entered Ikumi's eye before she straightened up. "Yo, Akanegakubo-chan!" she called out over the bus seats, startling the students in front of her.

Takumi could feel his face redden. He immediately slammed his head down into his hands. Shun chuckled quietly beside him.

"Hey! No standing while the bus is moving!" the teacher-chaperone called back.

Momo ignored him, standing on her seat to turn towards Ikumi. "What is it, Iku-nyan?"

"Did Kobayashi-senpai give you more info about this Camp than we got?" Ikumi called back. The students still muttering around them went silent and wide-eyed, glancing between the two Elite Ten trainees to see if either would accidentally leak some detail of their week to come.

Momo's eyes darted over the students staring at her before narrowing. "Rindō-nee may have given Momo something extra, yes."

The teacher attempted to shush their conversation again, this time citing it as cheating. The two students ignored him. "Well, spill, then," Ikumi said. "Eizan-senpai was just as useless as he usually is."

Momo's expression curled into a smirk. "Boys are always useless," she said dismissively. "Momo would love to help, but Rindō-nee swore me to silence. You wouldn't want Momo to break a promise to Rindō-nee, would you?" She fluttered her eyelashes in a manner clearly mocking Rindō.

"Ugh, I guess," Ikumi said with an exaggerated eye roll. "Suit yourself, Akanegakubo-chan." She glanced back down at Shun and Takumi, who was still hiding behind his hands. "She doesn't know anything."

"We heard, Mito-san," Shun said drily. Takumi groaned into his hands.


The students were ushered immediately off of the bus as soon as they arrived at Tōtsuki Resort, busboys hurrying to unload luggage and get it sent off. Takumi understood Yūki's loud appreciation upon seeing the Resort, even if he didn't echo it; the hotel housing them was an opulent building of steel and glass, the floors immaculate and the furniture tasteful. Every single detail was polished and pristine, adding to the overall level of class that exuded from the building. Even as chattering students wandered through the halls, the waitstaff of the Resort simply bowed and waited for them to pass before continuing on with their own tasks. Takumi blinked as he glanced over at them; some of the waitstaff seemed to be around his age, but he didn't get a good enough look before being directed to a grand ballroom.

"They say that it costs close to 80,000 yen to spend a night here," Takumi heard Yūki whisper to someone, "and we get to stay here for a whole week. Such luxury!"

A tension sat in the air as they entered the ballroom; some students sat down at chairs that were scattered intermittently throughout but most chose to stand and murmur to each other. When Takumi voiced that, Ikumi just glanced up from her email inbox and shrugged. "Makes sense," she said. "There's almost a thousand of us here, right? After this week ends, almost half of the kids you see right now won't be here."

Takumi balked slightly at that. "I didn't think about it that way," he said faintly.

"Welcome to Tōtsuki," she said. "Don't think too hard about it."

Sōmei was irritably shuffling from side to side, having not had time to grab his maguro bōchō before leaving the bus. Shun stood perfectly still in stark contrast. They caught Takumi giving them a weird look, but before he could say anything, Chapelle walked out, tapped on a mic to test if it was on, and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Students, I ask for your attention," he said, quieting the lingering whispers. "I'm sure you read the pamphlet that was sent out to you last week, but in case you haven't, I'll be summarizing your experience at Tōtsuki's Training and Rapport Camp.

"This is the first major hurdle of your high school career. The full camp is to be six days and five nights long. We will be separating you into approximately twenty groups. Every day, you will attend a workshop on some aspect of cooking. These assignments will not overlap in scope, and you will be expected to excel at them all. If you fail to complete the task laid out to you, your lecturer for the day has the right to punish you as they see fit with anything up to and including expulsion.

"Your lecturers will not be the teachers you may be used to back on Tōtsuki's campus. We are honored that these guest lecturers agreed to return to this Camp to lead it as they were once led."

"Return?"

"Wait, that means they went through this too—"

"Who could it be?"

Takumi didn't bother humoring the speculation. Instead, he, Sōmei, and Shun all exchanged a quick, startled look before people began walking out from backstage and stood in rank behind their instructor.

"I'm going to kill Isshiki-senpai," Shun said nonchalantly.

"Understandable," Sōmei replied.

"They're all so young, still," Takumi muttered. "Why do they seem so much more menacing?"

"They're the successful ones," Shun pointed out. "They made it. Up until now, the Tōtsuki 'alumni' we've met all dropped out for one reason or another."

Before Takumi could say anything else, one of the alumni, a tall man with glasses and hair dyed pink, took a step forward and held out a hand. Chapelle immediately handed him the microphone.

"You there," he said, pointing generally towards where Takumi, Shun, and Sōmei stood. The three of them glanced at each other in a slight panic.

"No, not any of you three. The boy next to them. Longish hair, cut in a shag." Takumi glanced back to see the student described standing stock-still.

"You're expelled. Please head back to the parking lot so a bus can take you back to Tokyo."

"What?" the boy croaked. As quiet as his voice was, it carried in the silence of the ballroom.

"You're tens of meters from me, but I can still smell your hair product from here; it's some sort of generic citrus scent, correct?" The man's expression shifted to a slight humorless smirk. "It's important to keep style in mind as a chef, both in personal grooming and in cooking. Sensuality and the experience you deliver are as important to food as taste is. However, wearing a scent so heady is bound to mess with your sense of smell. Maybe try to find a scentless product if you plan on pursuing this career." He handed the microphone back to Chapelle.

"You can't expel me just for that!" Takumi winced at the panic in the boy's voice. "Please, just one more chance— I'll throw out all of my product—"

"One more chance?" Even without the microphone, the man was audible. "One more chance? One failure in the kitchen leads to one dissatisfied customer, which leads to countless missed opportunities to cook for that lost client and any they warn away from your establishment. Now, multiply that by however many dishes one person in a high-end restaurant prepares in one night. You could ruin me in one night by acting like that. Do you want me to close down my restaurant for you, boy, just so you can go around smelling like an overripe lemon for one night?"

The boy wilted.

"That's Chef Shinomiya Kojirō," Shun muttered to Takumi as voices began to bubble nervously around them. "The 79th Generation's First Seat. He's the first Japanese man to have won the Pluspol medal. His focus is French cuisine, specifically vegetable dishes."

"Is there anyone else on that stage we should care about?" Takumi asked.

Shun tapped his lower lip with a finger before gesturing at a woman with a pixie cut that briefly stepped to the side to let Kojirō rejoin the alumni. She gave the man a flat look before rolling her eyes at whatever he said to her. "That's Chef Mizuhara Fuyumi. Also 79th Generation, Second Seat. She specializes in Italian cuisine on a high-end level. Chef Gotōda Donato"— he gestured towards a blond man further down the line— "is also an Italian cuisine specialist, though he's the owner and head chef of an auberge rather than a gourmet restaurant like Chef Mizuhara."

"And for Saitō-san?" Takumi asked.

"Chef Sekimori Hitoshi, probably," Shun said, nodding towards another man that stood by Donato. "78th Generation, Second Seat. Head chef of Ginza Hinowa, generally regarded as the sushi specialist of his time. I'm not sure if Saitō-san would learn anything new from him, but sushi is one of those fields where experience means more than technique, isn't it?"

Sōmei scoffed quietly. "Experience is a lot of it," he admitted, "but experience must be tempered by an equal amount of skill. My skill currently makes up for my lack of experience, but that doesn't mean I can lie fallow until my years catch up to my talents."

"Ooh, do me next, Ibusaki-cchi!"

"No."

"Eh?!"

"Yoshino-chan, quiet down," Ikumi hissed at her, glancing embarrassedly around as other students stared at them. "Another alum is about to speak."

Takumi glanced back at the stage to see that one of the men who had stepped out with his peers was reaching for the microphone as well. He wore an immaculate suit in stark contrast to the other alumni, who all wore chef jackets with their restaurant affiliations proudly displayed on their chests; even the way he stood with his back ramrod straight and his chin slightly lifted stood out in a sea of chefs who were openly appraising the students in front of them.

"Hello, students," the man said. "My name is Dōjima Gin of the 69th Generation. Welcome to Tōtsuki Resort— my Resort. Though I am usually in charge of running the kitchens here, it seems I'll be handing my duties over to you all for this next week. Please, hold yourself to the standards you might expect from me."

Takumi winced at the spike of anxiety that began to mill about him.

"The alumni that have gathered here for this Training Camp are all leaders in the field: award-winners, critic beloved head chefs, restaurateurs whose reputations precede them. Naturally, our expectations are set high. In a typical high school setting, one might be able to look to us as mentors in your chosen career path, people to fail in front of and be helped along by.

"However, you are not typical high school students. You are students of Tōtsuki Academy, and as such, our standards for you are quite different.

"The alumni will be leading activities that you will be taking part in, as Chapelle has already stated. They have been asked to treat you like a head chef training a newly hired employee. What does that mean for you? Remember, employees can and will be fired for negligence, disobedience, and any other reason a head chef might see fit. And when you're fired from your post, there's no way to have that retracted.

"So good luck! Impress us, if you can, and do your best. Your first task starts in an hour; please check into your rooms for your schedules."


Bit of a weird cut-off because this chapter and the next one were originally one giant chapter that I had to cut into two pieces somewhere. Apologies for the delay in this arc starting! Turns out, when you take Sōma out of the plot of the Training Camp arc, most of it falls apart. Takumi isn't going to have a secret Shokugeki against an alum for nearly expelling his friend, and Sōmei is less interested in French cuisine or vegetables and wouldn't be singled out for it. I'm going to be writing more workshops and other interactions with the alumni to make up for that, of course, but planning all of it took more time than I anticipated. I hope you're excited to get weekly updates again!

If you'd like to help support my writing financially (which I would be deeply grateful for), please consider supporting my ko-fi! It's under the same username as the one I use for this account (Shriayle). I've got comms open for drabbles, if you're interested in seeing me write for character you specify. Obviously, I'll be posting the story here anyhow, but I'll probably post things like first drafts and progress reports on upcoming chapters on there. Thank you for your consideration!