Soup 1.2

⸻1⸻

Totsuki Culinary Academy, that was what Dana Alouette assumed the kanji chiseled on the wooden plaque read. The sign was nailed next to a heavy wooden gate. If it weren't for the modern buildings dotting the forested scenery on the other side, he would have thought he was trying to enter some kind of feudal castle rather than a cooking school. All it was missing was a drawbridge and moat.

Was this even the right place? Dana wouldn't put it past Alice to randomly drop him off somewhere for a prank. She and Ryo were supposed to escort him directly to the testing facility, but that didn't happen. Instead, he was shoved unceremoniously out of her family's black car, had his luggage tossed in his face, and barely got his feet out of the way as they sped off.

The whole thing was really strange.

The academy's parking lot was full of luxurious cars with tinted windows and dark, lustrous paint jobs. The people exiting the vehicles were no less dapper, dressed in fine cashmere sweaters and suit coats. They gave Dana a wide berth with disgust in their eyes, like he was a bug or a piece of dirt, as he picked himself off the ground and collected his things. It looked like he had just gotten robbed and then dumped on the sidewalk. They were probably thinking, who let this homeless guy onto school grounds?

It wasn't entirely their fault; Dana actually was dressed like a vagrant. His jeans were frayed and worn, and his flannel shirt had holes near the sleeves plus the thread was coming undone along the bottom. The piercings bedazzling his ears didn't help his image either.

Their contempt was palpable.

Dana adjusted the straps of his large hiking backpack. The bulky bag was filled to the max with clothing and notebooks and whatever else he could fit inside and still legally bring into the country. A tightly coiled sleeping bag was affixed to the top. He wasn't sure what the living arrangements were going to be, so he wanted to be prepared. It's not like he could just stay in the Nakiri Manner. Well, he probably could but that was a can of burnt bridges that he didn't want to open.

Lumbering like Quasimodo under the weight of his cumbersome pack, Dana followed the string of well-dressed children through the wooden gateway. The brick path opened up into a spacious courtyard with expertly trimmed hedges and a field of viridian grass. Tall trees framed the path, their shady canopies creating a respite for the hot mid-morning sun.

Coming straight from Greenland to Japan, the change in climate was a shock to the system. He was also being crushed by an eighty pound backpack, which may have something to do with how much he was sweating.

He was the last one to reach the testing facility. Letting the pack slip off his shoulders with a meaty thud, Dana stretched out his back. He nodded a greeting to a fellow examinee, but they rolled their eyes and pointedly looked away.

It was fairly crowded; there were more than fifty people crammed into that one room. A murmur rustled through the crowd—an anxious chattering that rattled like dead leaves in an autumn breeze. Someone was standing at the front of the room, but Dana couldn't see who it was drowning in the sea of nervous children, sweating cologne in their pressed suits and fancy dresses.

Whoever this mystery person was, they were likely the judge of the transfer exam. And they sounded like a pretty big deal too, to get all these people quaking in their dress shoes. Their voice rang out loud and confident. It was a voice that Dana hadn't heard in over five years, but there was no way he wouldn't recognize that level of haughtiness.

"Attention transfer examinees, I'll be overseeing your transfer exam. My name is Erina Nakiri."

Dana knew she attended this school, but he never expected to run into her so soon. This was incredible. He was a really lucky guy.

The girl accompanying Erina began to read the docket for the impending exam, but Erina scoffed, "Seriously?" She commanded the other girl to bring forth the cooking station—and in a matter of moments—a long stainless steel cart gussied up with a myriad of produce and other ingredients was wheeled in.

Erina strutted over to a bowl of eggs, her honey-blonde hair swishing behind her, and plucked one off the top. She held it aloft for everyone to see, pinched gently between her thumb and pointer finger. "You'll be making one dish with egg as the main ingredient. If it impresses me, then you pass, and if it doesn't… you will forever be barred from Totsuki Academy. I'll give you a minute to decide whether taking this exam is still something you want to do. You are all free to give up and leave."

She might as well have given them only ten seconds instead of a full minute, since as soon as the words left her mouth, a stampede erupted. Faces straining with desperation, the applicants shoved their way past Dana and squeezed out the door of the exam venue. With the room cleared out, he noticed a nice painting of fruit hanging on the far wall.

It was a large painting too, taking up a bulk of the wall space. It must have taken someone a really long time to paint. Dana wondered if there was an art club…actually, were there any non-food related clubs?

"Excuse me," a nondescript voice of a boy, broke Dana out of his thoughts, and he focused once more on his surroundings. Despite what he initially assumed, he wasn't the only person left willing to take on Erina's challenge. The other boy had tomato-red hair and a scar across his left eyebrow, but apart from that, he didn't stand out all that much. He stood next to Erina, interrupting a private conversion between her and her secretary. "So, we just make whatever we want?"

Erina blinked, surprised that there was anyone foolish enough to still take the exam.

"Is it really such a shock that not everyone was chased off?" Dana asked, joining in the conversation. His eyes sparkled, amused by Erina's stunned reaction. "Puh-leaz, Eri, I flew halfway around the world to be here, do you think I'm just going to run away? Heh. You're not that scary."

"Dana! What are you doing here?" Erina said, crossing her arms.

She sounds annoyed already, Dana thought, and I haven't even done anything yet. "Gramps didn't tell you? He sent me an invite to come to Totsuki. I was kinda worried when I learned I would have to take an entrance exam. I'm…not actually all that smart. But this is great! I'm so relieved, all I have to do is cook. If I had to do that interview and written test, I might not have passed. Thank you, Erina!"

"Yeah, this sounds much more fun," added the red-haired boy.

"Fun? Who do you think you are?" Erina's secretary, a mousy pink-haired girl, brassly stepping between Dana and Erina.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Dana Alouette."

"And my name's Soma Yukihira. How's it going?"

"I wasn't asking you to introduce yourselves!" barked Miss Secretary, "This woman is none other than Miss Erina Nakiri, the 10th Seat of the Elite Ten Council. She's the youngest member in the history of Totsuki. Not only that, but she possesses the God Tongue, the world's most refined palate. You both need to treat her with respect."

"The God Tongue?" Dana echoed, a bit out a laugh in his tone, "Is that what you've taken to calling it? Wow."

"It's fine, Hisako," Erina said, putting a hand on her secretary's shoulder. The girl, Hisako, blushed from the touch, her anger melting away like butter in a hot skillet. Ignoring Soma, she looked over Dana with calculating eyes, a small smirk gracing her beautiful face, "If you are willing to take my exam, then I guess I'll go along with it. It's my job as the proctor after all. Though, I wonder if you'll regret this decision in the end."

Dana rubbed his chin in thought. The Elite Ten Council… Dad was a member, wasn't he? I wonder what they're like.

⸻2⸻

Two students sat at a long conference table illuminated by a luxurious chandelier. Sunlight peeked through the drawn blinds, leaving streaks of light on the red velvet carpet. Eishi Tsukasa was hard at work sorting a stack of papers, occasionally biting the end of his pen as he read report after report, signing his name as needed. In the plush seat to his right was Rindo Kobayashi.

Rindo tapped her finger against the mahogany table, her head resting on her arm. She released a long exasperated sigh. They had been in this room for over an hour already. "Hey, Tsukasa, I'm bored. Let's go do something else."

"I'm afraid we can't. This paperwork has to get done as soon as possible," Tsukasa said, not even sparing his friend a glance, "You see, we're already behind schedule. It would be nice if you could do your share of the administrative work too…" Rindo suddenly became very interested in the regal wallpaper. "...or not."

"No way, that's even worse than just doing nothing," Rindo replied, flopping her face down onto the table, "I joined the Elite Ten because I thought I'd be allowed to do whatever I want. So, that's what I'm gonna do."

"This was what we wanted," Tsukasa reminded her, looking over at the name plaques hanging on the wall. No matter how many times he saw his name under the label '1st Seat', it didn't feel real. "Just like you said, we became the top two students in all of Totsuki."

"I'm glad we achieved our goal and everything. And it was fun to chase. Now that we've gone and done it though there's nothing left for us to do. Except graduate, I guess." Rindo leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her long red hair.

"Well if you're looking for something to do I believe Erina Nakiri is administering an exam for the incoming transfer students today. I'm sure she'd appreciate the help. It will be at least more exciting than watching me fill out forms and read budget requests," Tsukasa reasoned, "Who knows? There might be some interesting new students."

"Hmm, Okay, fine," Rindo said, getting up from her chair and stretching her arms above her head. "Try not to get too lonely without me, Tsukasa."

She wasn't really expecting much from the transfer student applicants, but left the room with a skip in her step regardless.

Alone in the big conference room, Tsukasa glanced at the mountain of papers he had yet to look over and took a deep breath. He flipped his striped Totsuki tie over his shoulder, grabbed his pen and went to work.

⸻3⸻

Erina, and by extension Hisako, led the two Totsuki-hopefuls to the kitchen located in the back of the exam venue. It was a fully stocked, restaurant-quality kitchen. Various pots and pans hung along the wall and the cooking equipment looked state of the art.

The two boys wandered around the room, getting a feel for the kitchen. On one side, Dana studied the stove. It had actual buttons and dials—a far cry from the wood-burning stoves and campfires that he usually had to cook over while traveling with Hana. At the other end, Soma was busy rummaging in the different cabinets and compartments.

"You are free to use any ingredients or equipment you please," Erina explained, "As long as you make the egg the star of your dish."

"This academy sure has some fancy stuff. Some of these things I've only ever seen on tv before," Soma commented, holding up a long boning knife with a rubber grip handle.

Dana walked over to the prep station. Common produce like lettuce, onions, and carrots had been laid out on the stainless steel surface; the bowl of eggs was there too. He cracked one of the eggs onto a small plate. "It's too bad that our main ingredient is soooo boring. I mean, chicken eggs? They're in practically everything."

"That's the exact reason why I chose the egg," Erina said, "If you can't even cook eggs then you truly are hopeless as a chef. There is no way someone like that would even survive to the end of their first year at this academy."

"At least they're fresh." Dana swirled the egg on the plate gently, paying attention to how tightly the yolk clinged to the whites. "I'm guessing that these were probably laid this morning or yesterday at the latest."

"Huh, so you can tell just by looking at the egg yolk," Soma said, picking up an egg for himself, "Have you decided what you want to cook yet?"

Dana ran a finger across his bottom lip, his brow furrowed. "I think… I want to take a look at their wine selection."

"Oh yeah?" Soma pushed up the sleeve of his dark jacket and grabbed the hand towel he kept wrapped around his wrist. With a flourish, he tied it on his head. "I hope you don't mind if I get started first then."

He tossed off his jacket, showing off a black shirt with the words Yukihira written on it in white letters. He glanced at Erina. "I think I'm going to make you something from my family's restaurant. Just give me a few minutes please."

His family's restaurant? Erina looked at the name Yukihira on the boy's shirt, but couldn't recall a prominent restaurant by that name. It's certainly not one that she had ever consulted for.

"Here is his file, Miss Erina," Hisako said, handing her a piece of paper.

Erina briefly skimmed the application and smirked. Soma Yukihira worked at a local diner. It was almost cute that he thought he actually had a chance at getting into Totsuki. The pieces all fell into place. It wasn't courage that Yukihira took on this challenge, but ignorance. He simply didn't know who she was.

"I'm sure it will be a meal fit for a trucker," Erina commented. Like pearls before swine, he was going to have his food tasted by the God Tongue with no clue how valuable her sense of taste was.

"What about him?" Hisako nudged her head in Dana's direction. He was perusing the bottles in the wine cooler before finally selecting a rich burgundy from the top shelf. "Forgive me for being presumptuous, but it sounded as though you knew him."

"I do," Erina said, curtly, "Though it had been several years since we last spoke."

Curious, Hisako dug out his file as well from the stack of applications. Aside from his name, the information was fairly sparse. "What? There is no restaurant experience listed here. It doesn't even say what middle school he attended."

"Probably because he didn't attend middle school." Erina crossed her arms. "He's had an…unusual upbringing. Don't let that sheet of paper fool you, Dana is not someone to be taken lightly. I'm actually sort of interested in what he's planning to make. His cooking style has always been unorthodox, to put it nicely. Hopefully, it's nothing too revolting this time."

She looked over at Dana and noticed him pouring himself a glass of red wine and taking a long sip. "Hey! That's supposed to be for cooking, not drinking!"

"Relax," Dana said, swirling the wine in the glass, "I'm just making sure it's authentic, eh? Honestly, I think you could use this more than me. You're so high strung."

All of Erina's past memories of dealing with Dana came rushing to the forefront of her mind at once. The vein on her head pulsed with annoyance. "Ugh! Just get to work! Soma Yukihira has already started!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Dana dismissed Erina with a nonchalant wave of his hand and sauntered over to his half of the kitchen, leaving her and Hisako fuming in his wake.

Swiftly dicing a few carrots, mushrooms, and onions, Dana scraped them into a sauce pan with a pool of melted butter at the bottom. Giving them a stir to let the butter coat all the produce, he left the pot to cook on the stove.

Once the vegetables started to sweat, Dana walked over to his backpack and pulled out a package of preserved meat. Erina eyed the strips of flesh with trepidation as they were dropped in the saucepan. It almost looked like beef jerky. She had no clue what he was making.

Dana then added half a liter of the burgundy red wine and let it reduce, using a skimmer to scoop and discard the purplish foam cresting on the boiling liquid. Wafting the steam, Dana sighed, "I do love cooking with alcohol. These fumes are intoxicating."

Erina clicked her tongue and redirected her focus to Soma Yukihira. She didn't have high hopes for the glorified fry-cook. He had two pots cooking on the stove and was scrambling several eggs with a pair of chopsticks.

"What are you making, Soma Yukihira?" Erina asked.

Soma snickered, "You haven't figured it out?"

Erina slammed her fist on the kitchen counter. "I could fail you right now! You're lucky to even have the honor of me tasting your churned gruel. I taste high-end egg dishes from countless chefs nearly everyday. Remember, this dish needs to be suitable for my divine tongue."

"Okay, I'll tell you," Soma said with a smile, "From our secret menu… Yukihira-style Furikake Rice!" His proclamation was met with a trio of blank stares from Erina, Hisako, and Dana.

"Don't play with me, Soma Yukihira!" Erina slammed both her hands on the counter this time. "I have better things to do then let you deliberately waste my time."

Dana sidled up to Hisako and whispered behind his hand to the young secretary, "Psst, what the heck is furikake rice?"

"It basically refers to a mix of dry seasonings that commonly contain ingredients like fish, eggs, or seaweed that is used as a topping for white rice," Hisako explained, "It is something that is typically sold in ready-to-use packets at convenience stores. Furikake rice is a dish so far below Miss Erina's station that it is insulting."

"Gotcha, thanks, fam."

"Normally that would be true," Soma said, ominously, "if this was ordinary furikake. What I'm making is transforming furikake rice."

"Welp," Dana clapped once, "Let me know how that turns out for you. I ought to be getting back to my own dish."

Back on his side of the kitchen, Dana grabbed a few slices of bread and punched out holes in the center with a circular cookie cutter. Painting a coating of oil and garlic on them, he placed them in a pan of melted butter to toast.

To his red wine reduction, he poured in a bit of beef soup stock and added a handful of aromatics—namely: parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf.

In a separate saucepan, Dana mixed water, vinegar, and about a cup of red wine; and let it simmer. One at a time, he gently slid the eggs into the liquid and gave it a soft swirl. After a few minutes, Dana was sitting pretty with three plump, purple, perfectly poached eggs.

With the red wine concoction reduced to a thin syrup, the vegetables, meat, and aromatics were strained out. Butter was then whisked into the purple sauce. With the sauce finished, the dish was nearly complete.

He strutted over to the rack of plates stacked at the back of the kitchen. There was some kind of commotion going on behind him—Erina was at it again slapping the counter, likely berating Soma about something arbitrary—but he tuned it out, selecting three pristine soup plates while whistling "Waltz no.2" by Shostakovich.

In the center of each plate, Dana placed the hockey puck shaped croutons that he had toasted in a fry pan and rested the poached eggs on top. Taking the rich red wine sauce, he not so delicately poured it all over, filling the dip in the plate and turning his crouton into an island.

"Alright, I'm done you guys…" Dana said, "Huh, where'd that other guy go…Soma, that was his name, right? I made a plate for him too." The only other people in the kitchen were Erina and her secretary; the red-haired boy was missing. Nothing left of him but a few dirty dishes and a single plate of food with like two bites taken out of it. "Is that his dish there? What exactly did he make?"

"Do not worry about that. In fact, don't even look at it," Erina said, sliding the plate of rice and scrambled eggs down the counter and away from Dana, "It was a failure anyway. And the failure who made it? Yeah, I sent him packing. This academy does not need riff-raff like Soma Yukihira. If your dish doesn't impress, you will be gone just as fast."

"That was almost too fast. Like, the dude just straight up vanished. Poof."

"He left a few minutes ago," Erina stated, grabbing a fork, "You were too busy whistling and daydreaming to notice. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get this stupid transfer exam over with already. I am not in the best mood right at the moment and could do without any more interruptions."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the door to the kitchen swung open with a bang.

⸻4⸻

As Rindo walked down the hall towards the exam venue kitchen she saw a man leaning against the wall and listening through a crack in the door. He was tall, taller than her, which was saying something since Rindo herself was over 170 centimeters, and was dressed in a dark colored yukata. This man was Senzaemon Nakiri, the Director of Totsuki Academy.

He was nicknamed the Devil of the Food World and looked every bit like the culinary yakuza that people said he was. There was always a tense grim expression on the old man's face every time Rindo saw him. Combined with his long hair, beard, and the scar across his right eye, people found Director Nakiri quite intimidating; although to Rindo, it just made him more interesting.

"What the heck are you doing, Director?" Rindo asked, approaching the man, "Why are you creeping outside the door?"

"Ah, Rindo, it's you." Senzaemon stroked his beard with his free arm, the other one was tucked away in his yukata. "I was curious to see how the transfer exams were coming along, though I didn't want to interrupt. I suppose you could say I'm biding my time and waiting for the right moment to make my presence known."

"Got'cha." Rindo nodded, confirming that she understood, and then threw open the double doors to the kitchen and practically burst into the room. Senzaemon softly sighed and padded in after her, albeit, in a much more subdued manner. "Hey, Erina, is there room at the judges' table for me and the Director here?"

The fork dropped from Erina's hand and she spun around. "Chef Kobayashi and Grandfather!? What are you two doing here? Overseeing the transfer exam was my responsibility."

"Erina, Erina, Erina," Rindo said, shaking her head in disappointment, "We're like comrades, so call me Rindo, okay? I'll put you in a headlock if you don't."

"I… would rather you didn't," Erina said, taking a step back from the taller girl.

"Long time no see, old man." Dana gave Senzaemon a curt wave and a smile. He then paused and scratched his cheek, raising an eyebrow. "Er, wait, does that mean you were creeping outside the door this whole time?"

"Ahem, of course not. I was—"

"He totally was," Rindo said, cutting off the old man's explanation.

"I fucking knew it. I thought I sensed a strange presence lurking in the shadows, and I was right." Dana folded his arms and nodded to himself, like he just solved a grand mystery. "Too bad it wasn't a ghost. I've never cooked in a haunted kitchen before. Well, not in the traditional sense. When it comes to food, I've certainly seen my share of horrors. Let's just say there are definitely some dishes out there that should be put to rest. Permanently."

"Right?" Rindo said, "When I was in Sweden, I came across this dish called surstromming and the smell alone was enough to make my eyes water."

"Lightweight. Surstromming is a delicacy. Now if you want horrifying, try some balut next time you're in the Philippines. It's way worse than some smelly fish. It's like literally biting into a tiny baby bird."

"Lightweight? I'll have you know that I've eaten food from around the world, surstromming is definitely the most pungent!"

"If you have traveled the world then you would know that you're wrong. Despite its horrendous smell, the taste of surstromming isn't so bad. Balut almost made me puke, the way the guts spill out onto the tongue. Ugh!"

Rindo and Dana butted heads, growling.

"Um, Miss Erina," Hisako whispered in the other girl's ear, flipping through the pages on her clipboard, "I swear there weren't any additional judges on the schedule. I'm not really sure what's going on anymore."

"I…don't really know either," Erina replied, watching Rindo and Dana argue back and forth in a strange and asinine contest of 'who had eaten the world's most disgusting food'. They were getting along swimmingly until about thirty seconds ago; the mood whiplash made Erina's head spin. She wasn't particularly close to the older girl, but it was weird seeing Chef Rindo so riled up. And with the way Dana was acting, it was like he forgot about the transfer exam entirely.

"Perhaps we should continue with the transfer exam before the food gets cold," Senzaemon suggested.

Thank you, Grandfather, thought Erina.

"Oh, right. I knew there was something I was supposed to do today," Dana said.

So he actually did forget!?

"Here." Dana set down one plate for Erina and another for Senzaemon. "Luckily, I made enough servings for three people. I was going to share with Soma, but the guy went MIA. As you can see, I made Oeuf en Meurette."

"Looks good," Rindo said, eyeing up the last plate that had been set off to the side.

"Wait, that serving was supposed to be for me!"

Dana's call went ignored as Rindo, with fork in hand, took a bite. The wine sauce soaked crouton audibly crunched and the yolk of the poached egg flooded her mouth: Rindo was floating. No, that wasn't quite right. Rindo was riding on top of the circular crouton as it flew over a deep purple lake, making ripples in the liquid. She reached down and dipped her fingers in the rich lake of sauce. The earthy essence of mushrooms, carrots, onions, and twinge of musk ox, traveled up her arm and enveloped her whole body. A beam of light crested over the horizon like the rising sun. It was an egg, brilliant and bright, giving birth to a new day.

"Yummy!" cheered Rindo, her yellow eyes sparkling.

"Yes, it is a very well put together dish." Senzaemon dipped a spoon into the red wine sauce and took a sip. At some point, the old man had shrugged his yukata off of his shoulders and was baring his unexpectedly muscular chest. "The sauce has a complex depth of flavor and nice earthy aromatics throughout. Some recipes call for the use of bacon, but you used something different didn't you?"

"It's musk ox," Erina answered.

"Not just musk ox," Rindo added, "The meat had been cured."

"Exactly. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a Totsuki student and a fellow world traveler picked up on that. You really know your meats," complimented Dana, "It's musk ox biltong. I made it when I was back in Greenland. I wasn't really sure how well it would keep when traveling. I used a dry rub of toasted coriander, black pepper, and salt; spritzed it with red wine vinegar, and let it hang in the chilly arctic air to dry. Technically, true biltong takes like weeks to fully develop, but I just couldn't help myself. I thought it would pair super with the red wine sauce."

"Based on the dishes you've made in the past, I wouldn't have thought you'd prepare a classic French dish like Oeuf en Meurette," Erina said, "Although, you did use musk ox. That part of you hasn't changed."

"Either way, it was delicious," Rindo said, quickly cleaning her plate. She was glad she came to help out Erina. The dish was much better than she thought it was going to be. And she got to eat musk ox. She might just have to keep an eye on this first year. Maybe it won't be so boring after all.

"I think we're in agreement." Senzaemon looked from Rindo to Erina, who turned her head and reluctantly nodded. "Dana Alouette, welcome to Totsuki Academy."

"Cool," Dana said, and then after an awkward silence, "Uh…Now what?"

⸻5⸻

Dana trudged down one of Totsuki's countless winding paths deeper into the heart of the campus. He squinted at the map in his hands, his brand new school uniform—neatly folded and wrapped in plastic—tucked under one arm. The forest surrounding him was thick, blotting out the last light as the sun slinked below the tree line.

"Where the hell is this Polar Star Dormitory?"

⸻6⸻

Senzaemon Nakiri was alone in the exam venue kitchen. Rindo, Erina, and Hisako had long since left. Taking up a pair of chopsticks, he tasted Soma's Yukihira-style Transforming Furikake Rice. Laughing uproariously, he ripped open his yukata.

End of Chapter

⸻Author's Note⸻

In all honesty, I'm not super stoked how this chapter turned out. I didn't want to rehash Soma's furikake rice scene with Erina, calling it disgusting and all that, but I couldn't really think of a way around it. So Soma just vanishes, like, halfway through the chapter. Sorry, but I kinda suck at writing. Whoops. I also wasn't sure about introducing Rindo and Senzaemon in this chapter either. And I didn't really know how to end the chapter, so it just sorta ends. Abruptly. Oh well, I'm not going to tear my hair out over it.

Thanks for reading. See ya later!

Obstinately Yours,

A Horseshoe Crab

Chapter Word Count: 4986

Arc Word Count: 8883

Story Word Count: 8883