Chapter 2: Tōtsuki A La Carte

Time passed by quickly since the Karen incident, mornings turned to nights, days to weeks, months to a year, and now Santi's parents had finally saved up enough to send him to Japan in order to take the Tōtsuki entrance exam while also paying for him to study Japanese from a tutor.

And that is where he currently was, Tōtsuki, after a few mishaps with the trains in the city, and a ten kilometer (6 mile) skate followed by a five kilometer (3 mile) walk so as to not need to be skating up-hill, he had finally arrived at the gates of Tōtsuki, massive wooden structures that walled off a forested mountain from would be trespassers.

Alongside him were what he assumed to be other applicants getting out of limousines with their bodyguards and servants.

"Please I beg of you! I'll donate ten, no, twenty million!" A man said pitifully as he begged one of the Tōtsuki staff members. "So please! Take back my son's expulsion!"

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaa! I failed the promotion exam!" A brown haired student said as what was presumably his friend muttered how his life was over multiple times.

Santiago didn't question it, he knew that getting kicked out of Tōtsuki pretty much destroyed your life in the culinary world, just like graduating from it nigh guaranteed you success. Still tough, to be faced with a reminder of just how important this exam is, and the fact that everyone else taking the exam was someone of prestige given their bodyguards and servants was demoralizing to say the least.

Still tough, he couldn't give up without at least giving it a shot, not when his parents had sacrificed so much just to give him this opportunity. He had to try his best so he wouldn't have any regrets, and so, with those thoughts in mind Santiago readjusted his backpack, and walked through the gates.

XxX

He recognized her right away, Nakiri Erina, the "God Tongue", 15 years old standing at 162cm (5ft 3in), with long golden blond hair that reached past her hips, and purple eyes. She was wearing the Tōtsuki girls uniform, consisting of a pleated brown skirt, white dress shirt, blue blazer, red bow with blue stripes, blue thigh high socks and brown dress shoes.

Next to her stood another young lady, this one with short pink hair, matching eyes, a tie instead of a bow, and wielding a clipboard. She stood at around the same height as Nakiri Erina, and had an air of formality around her. They both seemed unimpressed by the applicants in front of them, and it showed.

"Greetings, transfer applicants." She said with a commanding voice. "I am Nakiri Erina, and I have been assigned to judge today's transfer exam."

It was no wonder that she'd been chosen in Santiago's opinion, he was from out of the continent and even he'd heard of her. A woman feared and respected by every chef in Japan with a palette so precise that she could tell exactly what was wrong with a dish. She was the poster child for young promising chefs and even appeared a few times in the culinary magazines that he followed.

"What do the instructions from the exam department say?" Erina asked the other girl who was presumably her assistant.

"I'll read it now." She replied evenly. "Examinees will first undergo interviews in groups of ten based on their applications. They will then complete a practical, in which they will cook up to three dishes. Those who pass wi-"

"Hmph. What a waste of time." Erina interrupted as the metaphorical lightbulb went off in her head. "I have an idea, bring the lab table here!"

The pink haired assistant went off to do just that, and after a few seconds she brought in an absolutely stacked table of food. With things ranging from vegetables to different cuts of meat, and fish, countless types of cheese, there were even a few perfectly ripe tropical fruits that Santiago knew for a fact didn't grow anywhere near Japan.

Erina then calmly approached the table and gently grabbed a chicken egg from one of the bowls. "The main ingredient will be eggs, make one dish. Only those whose creations impress my palate will be allowed to transfer into this academy."

Santiago, like many of the other applicants, felt extremely nervous at the proposition. One chance, that was all they would get to join Tōtsuki, not to mention that they'd have to go up against the God Tongue, someone who was known to tarnish the reputation of even master chef's.

"Furthermore, anyone who wishes to withdraw their application has exactly one minute to do so." She said sadistically, and, like horses off to the races, absolutely every single applicant started to run away from the room.

Santiago almost ran as well, but then he remembered why he was here, he remembered the sacrifice that his parents made to get him to take the entrance exam, he remembered the truck that he swore to one day turn into LA's most popular restaurant, he remembered how much he dreamed of going to this school. And he remembered her, Abuelita, the woman who'd taught him how to cook, and the person whose tools he currently carried in his backpack. He couldn't give up, not now when he wasn't even at the start line.

"I figured most of them were hopeless incompetents." The blonde said smugly. "I can't be bothered to waste my precious time on such fools. I believe that clears my schedule for the day? If so then I will be testing new dishes in my private quarters."

Testing dishes? Precious time? She had almost caused him to run away because she'd rather be testing new dishes? Because she viewed her time as more worthy of someone's chance to enter the school? Who the hell was she to make those calls? She may have had the God Tongue, but that didn't make her any less human than he, or anyone else that had fled the room was. And the fact that she thought so pissed Santiago off. It pissed him off to no end.

"What's the matter, Hisako?" Erina asked while cupping the other girl's face. "It looks like you wish to ask me something. Would you like the privilege of trying out my cooking?"

"I-I would…" Came the assistants quick but meek reply.

"Alright then, but first we'll need to report that no one passed, under-"

"Screw that!" Santiago said with a rough accent as he interrupted her, his hands in his pockets and his angry eyes shadowed by his hair. "I'm still here!"

"Hey, so are there any other restrictions on the dish?" Came a twin reply from a red-haired boy who had a scar over one of his eyebrows, he stood at around his height, maybe a few centimeters shorter. He was wearing a blue shirt and gray jacket and pants,curiously there was a white bandana tied around his left arm.

'What?' Ernia thought 'I… have a challenger? Two of them no less?'

XxX

As the four of them stood in the kitchen, something was clear to Santiago, all of them were chefs. As they all kept a perfect amount of distance between each other, enough room for anyone to get past each other, while also tightly packed enough that should more people enter the kitchen they could easily do so.

"As long as you use eggs, you can make anything that you want." Erina said. "But are you sure about this? This is your last chance t-"

"Phew, man I was so worried!" The guy with a scar said as he casually placed a hand on her shoulder. "I thought you might fail me before I even got the chance to cook!"

"Get away from her!" Hisako shouted as she pushed the red hair back. "Do you have any idea of who she is?!"

"Nope, who is she?"

"The top of her junior high class, and the youngest member ever to join the Elite Ten Council, who are the highest decision making body in all of Tōtsuki." Hisako glazed. "The possessor of the best palette known to mankind, the God Tongue, it's Nakiri Erina-sama!"

"Woah!" The red haired said, not paying any attention as he looked through one of the knife drawers, and pulled out one of said instruments. "This is a magnificent knife."

"Don't wander around!" Both girls told him off as Santiago chuckled at them both being ignored.

"Why not?" He asked after taking a few seconds to calm himself down. "If we're going to be cooking here then we should familiarize ourselves with the layout of the kitchen."

Erina seemed surprised by the assuredness in Santiago's tone, but asked away regardless. "I'll ask once again. Are you both really going to take my exam?"

"Huh? But…" The redhead said, throwing the knife into the air, and letting it spin a couple of times before catching it by the handle as it came back down. "I just need to make you say it's good, right? Of course I'll take it, the test I mean."

"Yeah," Santiago replied "I didn't come all of this way just to be shooed away before I could cook."

'These two,' Erina thought with a frown as she looked upon the pair of young men.

"Erina-sama" Hisako said, pulling out both of the applicant's forms, and handing them to Erina.

"Yukihira Soma, his family runs a dinner." She read only loud enough for herself and Hisako to hear.

"Salah-Águila Santiago Kareem?" Erina butchered the name in confusion. "What kind of name is that? Even for a foreigner it's weird."

Hisako nodded in agreement before reading out the rest of the report "His family owns a food truck in Los Angeles, it seems."

"Hmmm, it's clear to see that they are both second-rate cooks." Erina said in a hushed tone as Santiago and Soma inspected the ingredients that they'd be working with today. In her mind both of them were akin to stray dogs fighting over a gemstone, not knowing its value, but wanting to have it regardless.

"Very well, if that is how you both feel, then I shall taste your cooking." Erina called out to the two smugly. "I cannot guarantee that either of you will pass however given where your culinary expertise hail from."

"In that case." Soma called out as he and Santiago took off their jackets, revealing that both of them had the names of their businesses on their shirts. Santiago's backpack had been placed on one of the work stations while he and Soma had been inspecting the ingredients.

"We will be happy to." Santiago continued from where Soma left off, retrieving a leather roll bag from his backpack and opening it to show an absolutely massive collection of blades as the red-head tied the bandana on his left arm around his head.

"Serve you our specialty!/ Prove you wrong!" Soma and Santi called out at the same time before they rushed off to wash their hands and collect their ingredients.

XxX

Soma was the first to start as he rapidly turned on a pair of the stoves, and started cutting a few green onions with the utility knife that he'd been previously gawking at. Santiago meanwhile decided to take a few seconds and calm down, no matter how angry he was at his current examiner he knew that this wouldn't be as simple a task as making ceviche arepas to win over a rude customer.

He had to think about his options because one wrong move in this dish could make it so that his dream of attending Tōtsuki, and the sacrifice that his parents had made would be for naught. So after a deep breath he decided to ask his fellow cook a question.

"Hey, do you mind if I play some tunes?" Santiago asked Soma, barely aware that Hisako was saying something to Erina. "I always cook better when there's music around me, but I don't want to distract you, you know?"

"Huh?" Soma asked as he tasted what seemed to be some sort of broth. "Yeah, fine by me I guess, I'm used to dealing with a lot of sound in the kitchen, so it won't bother me."

Santi nodded in thanks before pulling out his phone and putting on a song that always made him happy as it reminded him of his father, and his childhood struggles learning arabic.

(Play (حسين الجسمي - بشرة خير (فيديو كليب) | Hussain Al Jassmi - Boshret Kheir | 2014)

After washing his hands a second time Santiago took out a nakiri knife and started to mince a white onion, four ripe tomatoes, a red bell pepper, before mincing three cloves of garlic, and a pair of jalapeños.

Once done cutting all of his vegetables he turned on one of the stoves at his workstation putting a pan on it, and dropping roughly a tablespoon of olive oil, letting it heat before sauteeing his onions in it for about five minutes all the while bobbing and humming to the song he was playing on loop.

While Santiago then went on to prepare his homemade harissa paste, he noticed that Soma had finally started beating his eggs, and that Erina was looking at both of them oddly.

"Both of you." She said while getting closer to the two young men. "What are you making?"

"Huh? You still can't tell at this stage?" Soma mocked as Santiago chuckled, paying Erina's question no mind as he continued to work on his paste, adding water to the sun dried chillies and letting them rest for an hour as he continued to make his dish by adding the tomatoes, red bell peppers, and jalapeños to his sauteed onions.

"Do you want me to fail you right now?!" She bit back before turning to Santiago. "And you, don't just keep working on your dish and answer me!"

"Listen! I don't have time to waste on ill-conceived food." Erina said matter of factly. "I'm asking if either of you have any intention of making a dish that is suitable for my palate!"

"Fine, I'll tell you." Soma said, only to be interrupted by Santiago before he could continue.

"Don't bother." The dark skinned teen said "The examiner's job is just to taste our food, not to judge it based on preconceived notions of whether it's good or not."

"Huh?" Erina called out in outrage. "And since when do you know what my job description entails?"

"Since around the same time you could tell when food was good before tasting it." Santiago said simply as he pulled out another food processor before starting to make some tomato paste. Needless to say, Nakiri was outraged.

"Now, now, no need for us to be at each other's throats." Soma said in a placating tone. "I'll tell you what I'm making Nakiri, it's the Yukihira Diner's secret menu item number eight."

"Secret menu?" Erina asked with a bit of trepidation. "What sort of complex dish are you going to serve me then?"

"Rice with seasoning!" Some replied easily making Santiago bark out in laughter as he strained his dried chillies, while Erina and Hisako looked shell shocked at the information of what Soma would be serving.

"Cut the crap!" Erina said lividly while banging her fist upon one of the tables. "I knew you were a good-for-nothing cook, you aren't even worthy of being called a chef, what a waste of time."

"Hey," Santiago said as he brought both food processors to life, catching the blonde's attention. "Take that back."

Erina was about to retort when the glare that Santiago placed on her shut her up. "You don't just insult someone like that without first tasting their food, take it back."

"It's fine." Soma said to him, clearing the air as Santiago turned off the food processors, and started to dilute both of the pastes that he'd made into water before adding them to his pan. "Anyways, as I was saying, my seasoning isn't your average one, what I'm making, it's rice with transforming seasoning!"

"Transforming seasoning?" Erina parroted in confusion as Santiago placed the spices into his pan making the room explode with wonderful smells and bringing the focus of the two girls towards him. "And you, will you finally just tell me what it is that you are making?!"

"Shakshuka." Santiago replied clearly as he placed some cooked fava beans and water into his pan, then covered it with a lid to let steam for a few minutes. "Specifically my families Egyptian shakshuka."

"Shakshuka?" Soma questioned, having never heard of the name before. "What's that?"

"It's a dish that's originally from either Tunisia or Yemen but has since spread all over North Africa and the Middle East." Santi explained. "It uses tomatoes and eggs, as the main ingredients, though the Egyptian version adds a few more things like fava beans, and the need to cook it in an oven."

After saying that he then proceeded to stuff the shakshuka paste into a ramekin, opening a small hole into it to crack and drop a pair of eggs into it, and then stuffing it into the preheated oven.

"Now then, I believe that your first dish is ready to be served." Santi said as he noticed Soma putting rice into a bowl.

(Song End)

XxX

"Thank you for waiting!" Soma said as he placed the steaming hot rice and a small bowl filled with egg sorbo's next to it.

'No, like I thought, he's just messing with me.' Erina thought before sighing in disappointment while her assistant looked it over and confirmed that it was just an ordinary dish.

"In the end, it's still the work of a second-rate cook." She said with finality making Santiago's eyebrow twitch again at the insult to his fellow applicant. "It fails to arouse my appetite."

'My palate has been called the God Tongue. Only the most elaborate and refined haute cuisine graces my dining table.' Erina thought. 'Indeed, I reside in a gourmet paradise! How dare he serve something like this to me?'

"This examination is over." She said with finality. "Águila-Salah-kun, how much longer until your dish is ready? Not that I expect much from it of course, but it should prove to be better than this rabble."

However before Santiago could snap, Soma interrupted him. "But you haven't seen its true form yet."

"What could you possibly mean?" Erina asked, only to have Soma give her a better look at the sorbo bowl, and make her realize that there was something hiding beneath it.

"Well, keep your eyes peeled." Soma said as he flipped the sorbo bowl and let its contents spill all over the rice with a grin on his face. "The true value of a rice seasoning is only revealed when it's served on rice."

The aroma was heavenly in Santiago's opinion, he could smell rice and, oddly enough, chicken in the air as what appeared to be little cubes of gelatin melted from the heat of the rice and coated the egg sorbo's and rice in its contents.

"I suppose I can take one bite of it." Erina said bashfully much to both Santi's and Soma's delight. "So hand it over!"

"Dig In!" Some said as he threw the chopped green onions onto the dish for decoration, and then handed it over to the examiner.

Erina took a single bite and moaned in pleasure, her mind going blank as she forgot to even judge the meal that she was supposed to, not caring for it's texture, and only indulging herself in the flavor, she then went to go for seconds, before what Soma said stopped her.

"Oh? You're going in for a second bite?" He asked smugly. "I thought I heard you say that you'd only spare enough for one bite."

"Well I need a second bite!" She exclaimed while slamming the table repeatedly. "Do you have any complaints about that?!"

"I'm just kidding." Soma said calmly. "Take your time and eat up."

Erina then calmed down and asses the food presented to her, finding the texture exquisite as the fluffy eggs and rice melted into her mouth while she discovered what the secret ingredient in the dish was.

"It's aspic, isn't it?" She stated more than she asked.

"Bingo!" Soma replied excitedly. "The cubes are made from aspic made from chicken wingtips."

Aspic is formed when meat of fish broth with high gelatin content congeals into jelly Santiago recalled as a few of his own recipes called for the use of it. Still, making it melt over rice was really innovative in his opinion, and if he had to hazard a guess, probably made the dish taste delicious.

"I simmered chicken wing tips with bonito stock, sake, and light soy sauce then finely chopped the aspic once it cooled and solidified." Soma explained. "When that's sprinkled over hot rice, the aspic melts and the gelatinous broth coats the egg sorbo."

'In effect, this aspic is a rich soup infused with the umami of chicken.' Erina concluded. 'The rich flavor and saltiness of this broth… enhance the fluffy egg sorbo's subtle sweetness.'

Erina felt as if she was floating in an ocean of flavor as with every bite, the fluffy and gelatinous textures caressed the slides of her mouth. The melted aspic truly was elevating the eggs to entirely new heights in her opinion. It was unlike any dish that she'd ever eaten, an entirely new world of flavor.

"So, how is it?" Soma asked smugly. "Good thing that you didn't completely disregard my dish earlier isn't it?"

"S-Silence!" Erina said, caught off guard by the sudden question. "The examination has yet to be completed!"

"Even if the menu item is humble in the extreme, we use our creativity to transform it into a masterpiece!" Soma said. "That is Yukihira cooking."

'Even so.. How can I, a denizen of the gourmet paradise, accept this?' Erina though as she struggled not to go in for another bite of food. 'What would father say? Me, accepting a dish made by the personification of all things déclassé!'

'I can't… accept this.' She told herself even as she took another bite of the food. 'I just… can't.'

Yet, despite her protest, once she put the food into her mouth, her body reacted as she let out a moan of pleasure, and her knees went weak.

XxX

The flavor was as if she was being stroked by angel feathers.

In her mind, it was as if she was a goddess of the gourmet, resting upon gourmet heaven, wearing a white toga, and various small cherubs with Soma's facial features started to fly in and tickle her with feathers, stripping her of her clothing and tickling her, the feathers were soft and ticklish. She didn't want to accept it, not at all, but her tongue, her body, they couldn't help but react.

XxX

To Santiago and the other outside observers it looked as if Erina, overwhelmed by the flavor, went weak at the knees and had to lean against the kitchen table for support, seemingly kneeling to the dish.

"Sure, we may be a small diner, and I'm sure you're one of the elites of the culinary world." Soma lectured the Nakiri heiress, either unaware or uncaring of the tearful glare that was sent his way. "But you know, I bet there are some things that you can't make if you get too comfortable sneering down at people from your throne."

"Well, what is it? Yukihira-style rice with seasoning." Soma asked while pointing at the downed Erina. "Is it delicious, or disgusting? Tell me!"

"It's…" Erina said, struggling to finish the sentence. "IT'S DISGUSTING!"

"Huh?!/What?!" Santi and Soma both asked in shock, they saw how she had reacted to the food, and there was no way that it had been disgusting, yet despite that, she had said that it was.

"Erina-sama…" Hisako said, unconvinced by the lie from the person she served.

"Hmph!" Erina scoffed before approaching Santiago "You, it's time for your dish to be tasted, take it out of the oven once it's ready."

Santiago glared at the proctor, but did as instructed and placed on a pair of oven gloves before opening said instrument and retrieving the ramekin from inside of it. It looked beautiful, a deep velvety color with a perfectly yellow circle in the middle that was surrounded by a ring of white looking almost like a sun to the students.

Santi then threw on a few more jalapeño slices, and some crumbled feta to top off the dish, and served it to his smug examiner with a glare. "Enjoy!" He said darkly, already knowing that she'd take a bite and then fail him afterwards out of spite.

However, before Erina could take up the spoon that came on the tray with the shakshuka, the doors to the kitchen flew open as a different person made their appearance.

Standing at 178 centimeters (5ft 8in), with long, spiky gray hair, a scar going over one of his eyes, and an absolutely ripped body more fit of a bodybuilder or a yakuza boss than that of an academy director, Nakiri Senzaemon stepped into the kitchen.

Wearing a green yukata and black haori with traditional geta sandals, the absolute beast of a man called out to the teenagers in a deep baritone that commanded respect. "I shall test the dishes from here on out, Erina."

Taken aback Erina looked ready to protest but was simply silenced by a look from the man, instead simply nodding her head with a "Yes, grandfather." and letting him go about his business.

The old man walked over to the dish of the still shell-shocked Soma and grasped a pair of chopsticks before ingesting a bite of the transforming rice seasoning bowl. Chuckling as he felt the same great taste and sensations that Erina did but to a lesser extent, he then proceeded to rid himself of the haori that he was wearing before declaring the dish was "Delicious!" much to Erina's shock.

The elder Nakiri then walked over to Santi's table, dining his haori once again as he walked towards the young chef's dish, grabbed the spoon that was on the tray, and dug into the meal.

XxX

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest Egyptian pyramid known to mankind, truly a marvel of engineering, construction, and dedication.

In his mind, Nakiri Sezaemon was dressed as an explorer, his yukata and haori replaced by a white dress shirt whose top two buttons were undone, a pair of khaki pants, a leather jacket and a high-crowned, wide brimmed sable fedora. In his hand was a whip and he was exploring said pyramid of flavor, with each bite he too he sprung a trap of spiciness, the heat from the jalapeño, followed by the hot harissa paste that permeated the dish, it was as if he were scaling the pyramid with the heat of the sun upon his back.

It was spicy as it was delicious, yet it was still balanced. The fava beans, tomato paste and especially the pair of eggs in the middle helped to combat the heat of the spices, jalapeño, and harissa.

About halfway through the dish now, and ready as ever to face another challenge, the director of the academy finally broke into the yolk of the egg, somehow still velvety smooth despite having been baked in the oven. It was too late when he realized his mistake however, as he had sprung another trap of deliciousness, with the egg yolk permeating the dish and making the eggs subtle sweetness contrast with the spicy dish, elevating both flavors as they fought for dominance.

A truly terrifying dish that only those who were not faint of heart and eager to explore moe of the culinary world could undertake in the pleasures of eating.

XxX

To outside observers it seemed as if the elder Nakiri had gone mute upon eating Santiago's dish, only for him to suddenly and with no warning strip off both his haori and the top part of his yukata as he laughed like a demon lord, his eyes gaining a fire to them that wasn't there before.

"DELICIOUS!" He cried out in his deep baritone as he began to re-dress himself, and exit the kitchen. "Both of you pass, the entrance ceremony is in three months, I hope to see all of you youngsters there."

XxX

AN: Hello, I am back! This chapter is a bit all over the place, I can admit that, there's a lot of jumping around so I hope that it's not too hard to follow and read. But I really wanted to get it out within 10 days of the last chapter. That being said, I hoped that you all enjoyed it! As always I'll answer reviews in my AN, so if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Brent Moose Skil: Lmao, yeah, that's a funny coincidence now that I think about it, but no, Santiago was chosen as the name because it could be shortened into Santi, no other reason. Fun Fact: the original name for Santiago Kareem Salah Águila was instead Diego Águila, and he was supposed to just be Colombian instead of being of mixed heritage.

Guest: I'm glad that you liked the first chapter! Hopefully you find this one to be even better! As for the pairing, well, to be entirely honest I haven't decided yet, though I have narrowed it down to five options: Megumi, Nikumi, Hojo, Alice, or Hisako. Not sure who's gonna be the one that end up with him yet, but those are the options, hell I might even let you guys decide if I can't come up with anything by the end of the Autumn Elections.

PS: As always thank you all so much for your continued support, please leave a review, any and all criticism is accepted (so long as it is constructive criticism, please don't just insult my existence) and I'd be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have during the AN of the next chapter