Author's Note:
Hello and welcome back to this fan fiction here, glad to have you.
I'm gonna be honest, the struggle for this chapter was real. That's why it took so long. I don't even know what was so off, but I started over and over and over. The beginning was intentionally something completely different than it is now, but well.
I'm glad I could finally update and next update is probably (?) going to be way more faster actually.
But well, before we start...I'd like to reply to some reviews I've got.
DrHarleyQuinzel: Well that's nice to hear, thank you very much. I'm very glad to hear, that the pacing is rather better now...as this is one of the things I am always a little unsure off
Guest: Oh! Thanks for that info, I'll edit it in right away. You see, I myself actually don't have any first-degree cousin and just two second-degrees and I actually always wondered what to call them, so thanks again. And well, I am really glad you like the story, thanks for reading it.
Anon: Well, glad you like the FF. Hm, actually I don't really want to set how often I update. It's rather irregular and in the future it defiantly will be possible that I don't update for months sadly. But recently I got some time on my hands. So updates will be rather fast.
Thanks for the Reviews!
And now, let's start, I guess...
Author's Note End
The fingertips of the man stopped typing, as his nose smelled the welcoming fragrance of cooked food coming from the kitchen and reaching his room. With a smile, he finished his e-mail and stood up to make his way downstairs.
"Rainbow Terrine, Tenerezza?" The brown-haired male questioned happily. His blue eyes were closed, he was very tall and build rather corpulent. On his lips was a wide, loving smile which was dedicated to the woman who flinched a little at the sudden voice.
"Huh? Oh! Well yes..." She laughed and turned her head to the man. The woman had deep blue hair and warm, yellow eyes to contrast the cold colour of the braid she had tied her hair into. She was notably shorter than the man infront of her and build rather petite.
"It's his absolute favourite dish. Seeing as this is his last day here till the next holidays, I wanted to do something special." The woman explained further and drew her attention back to the ingredients. But the man was already beside her and let out a hum. "That's very kind of you and a nice idea. Shall I help you?"
The soft chuckles and laughter of the two spread trough the rather silent house. So they also reached the room of a boy, who sat on his bed and watched the snow slowing falling trough the night sky from his window.
The boy's wild hair had the colour of the ocean and his dreamy eyes the colour of the sky. In his arms he held a light blue bunny plush and squeezed it so tightly as if he was afraid someone would rip it out of his hands.
A sigh escaped the young boy and he rested his head against the cold glass of the window.
He muttered. "I wish I could just stay here, forever."
The Third Plate - Enter Hiroshi Aldini-Tadokoro! The Boy with a Voice as sweet as Honey
Pink Cherry Blossoms danced trough the winds and disappeared in the clear blue of the sky.
On their way they passed a young teenager, dressed in a royal blue school uniform, who slowly walked towards the huge gates of Totsuki and pulled luggage with him.
His face didn't showed an all too happy expression and his blue eyes were attached to the ground.
However, the yelling of a female voice let him lift his head. "Hiroshi!"
Instantly Hiroshi started to smile and fastened his walk, to reach the girl standing in front of the enormous gate to the even more enormous school.
"Itoko-chan!" He called out and waved.
The girl, he was referring to, was blonde and had tied her shoulder-length hair into a lower ponytail. Her skin was tanned and her body well developed. She wore the female uniform of Totsuki. Sort off. As Hiroshi knew his cousin, she preferred her own interpretation of the school attire: While wearing the checkered skirt, she left ribbon and blue jacket at home. The white shirt, that the students wore underneath, was unbuttoned in her case to showcase a top with the Italian flag on it and the girl's bare belly.
Her eyes had the same colour as Hiroshi's, blue.
With the arrival of Hiroshi a grin had played itself on the full, round lips of the girl. "Ciao." She greeted him.
Hiroshi laughed. "Good day to you too, Itoko-chan! But remember, you're back to Japan now..."
"Non so cosa..." The young girl stopped herself and her cheeks reddened, realising that she was speaking in a foreign language. After she cleared her throat, she stated in perfect Japanese. "I know that."
Hiroshi smiled. "Well it's nice to see you again, Itoko-chan! But come on, we wouldn't want to miss the entrance ceremony, right? Let's search the others."
"Sure thing!" His cousin responded and together they walked trough the gates.
-.-.-.-
"Where the hell are they?!"
Hiroshi's cousin had never hesitated to let out a swear.
The two were walking around the place where the entrance ceremony was held and while a lot of students had already entered, they were searching for their friends.
"I can't see them either." Hiroshi sighed, after turning his head left and right. She grunted. "Unbelievable! This is so typical."
"We'll see them later for sure, so let's just attend the entrance ceremony now." Hiroshi optimistically smiled after one last look around.
"I guess." The girl responded and so the two turned around, to head into the direction where the entrance ceremony for the new highschool was held.
They found it to be already very crowded. The students of their generation stood perfectly lined together and faced the stage in front.
"A lot of people got expelled, huh?" Hiroshi's cousin commented, while he dragged her to a free space. "Come on, Itoko-chan." Just as they had found their place between all the other fresh first years, a boy stepped on the stage.
He had black, proper hair and violet eyes, he wore the school uniform and a cocky expression. He was not all too muscular, but not lanky either. In his hand he held a microphone.
"Hey look! It's Kawashima!" Hiroshi exclaimed and pointed to the host. "Ah! Yes, of course! That makes sense." His cousin next to him retorted, while around the two a lot of girls started to swoon and squeal, much to the annoyance of the boys.
"Good Morning and Welcome back to school, 115th Generation of Totsuki!" The Host in front announced trough the microphone.
A long program followed, celebrating the students for making it into highschool. Some speeches were held and some instructions given. As his cousin started to complain that this was taking too long, Hiroshi hushed her.
"Now let's get the valedictorian on stage, shall we?" The host at some point cajoled. "Please welcome, Hayama Kaori!"
A girl entered the stage and around Hiroshi the whispers and gossips began.
"Hayama Kaori. They call her the 'Gatekeeper to the Fountain of Eternal Youth' or 'Youth Preserver' for short."
"She's the daughter of the duchess of Medical Cooking!"
"Her brother is Hayama Akio! The assistance to Yukihira Hiraku!"
"Not to mention, she looks gorgeous. I'd love to date her!"
Kaori Hayama's skin was brown. The soft, light purple of her hair was comparable to the colour of lilacs. She had tied her hair into an elegant bun around which she also had laid a braid. The calm, focused eyes were brown. Kaori wore the standard uniform, but had chose to wear a tie instead of the ribbon, which was intended for girls.
"AH yes, a date with her would be wonderful." A guy next to Hiroshi sighed. "Oh please..." His cousin mumbled from the other side, not noticing how many male students actually glanced her way with reddened cheeks.
In front Kaori had left the stage again and made way for a woman, who's presence alone got everyone to shut up immediately.
Out of fear and respect, Hiroshi's shaky hand grabbed his cousin's. The rest of the crowd was shivering and staring at the woman with widened eyes.
She had medium-length hair which was as white as snow. The left bang was longer than the other one and she had tied it to a little braid. Her skin appeared to be very pale and her eyes were red. She wore quite a lot Jewerly and was dressed pretty fashionably.
Nearly everyone trembled in fear.
"Please welcome the headmistress of Totsuki, Nakiri Alice-sama!"
"It's her!" Someone gasped.
"D...Dubbed 'The Darling of Molecular Gastronomy', she's an absolute genius when it comes to chemical cooking!" Another one stuttered. "She and her husband are pretty much dominating the culinary world!"
Hiroshi clutched his cousin's hand harder. He felt like the others. The presence of Alice Nakiri sent shivers down his spine.
"Good morning!" Alice cheerfully beamed trough the microphone. "Gratulation for your step into high school, dear 115th Generation. Let me speak a few words to you, before you take on the three left over years."
Alice Nakiri did not hesitate. "We will loose more than half of you during those three years. I am not going to sugarcoat anything. This school can only be described as a merciless battlefield and only the absolute best are able to make it trough that battlefield."
She lifted a finger and the smile didn't left her lips. "Middle school was nice, wasn't it? I really hope you remember everything you got from there, because now the real fun will start. These three years of highschool will test your will to live and work as a chef. Competition and challenge are the keywords here and I am going to repeat, that the most of you won't make it."
Now she pointed at the students and raised her voice a little. "But those who do survive, will have all gates to the culinary world opened for them. You will be known as the highest Elite and as incredibly talented. If that's what you dream of, then I suggest you to crack your knuckles and enter the battlefield without any fear. Study hard..." She giggled. "But don't forget to have fun. At last, this is still your passion we're talking about. Enjoy it to it's fullest."
The crowd was silent and watched Alice turning away. "That's all."
As the headmistress had disappeared, whispers began. Alice's words had planted some extra motivation into the students and confidence started to spread on their faces.
I'll be one of the few, who will make it! Nearly all of them thought.
More than half will be expelled. Was what Hiroshi thought.
"Lastly..."
"Huh?" Hiroshi and his cousin turned their heads to the stage in perfect unison as the host spoke again. "What's left?" Hiroshi's cousin questioned and crossed her arms.
Her question was answered. "We'd like to introduce a student who came here from another middle school." The host made a presenting hand gesture. "Please welcome transfer student..."
The Host looked on his sheet of paper, nodded and faced the crowd again.
"Yukih...Wait what?!" In disbelief he took a look on his notes again and stared at it for quite some time, not minding the confused, expecting looks the crowd was giving him. But at some point he got a clear mind again.
"Y...Yukihira Kimiko..."
Whoever this Kimiko was, she didn't even enter the stage yet as there was already a uproar from the students.
"Yukihira?!"
"Like, Yukihira Hiraku?!"
From the side Hiroshi could note that his cousin's eyes had widened a little as well and she defiantly had not expected that to happen.
Finally a girl stepped on the stage. She was as well developed as Hiroshi's cousin and had wild, honey blonde hair tied into two pigtails. Her eyes were golden as the sun and she wore a grey, sailor-esque school uniform. Around her neck laid a white neckerchief and her face showed a confident smile.
"She does look quite like Yukihira Hiraku, doesn't she?" A girl commented and became the starting gun for a heated discussion. A discussion that was only stopped by Kimiko speaking. "Greetings!" With that, immediately all the attention was on her again.
"Well, don't worry I am going to keep myself short. Hm...but give me a second...Ah yes!" She put her hands on her hips and smiled widely. "I am going to be honest with you! I don't expect too much of this school and I am not planning to fall behind some rich kids who never stood in a restaurant's kitchen once."
Hiroshi's cousin stiffened. "Cosa?!" Hiroshi himself was way too caught up into the speech to drive his cousin's attention to her language switch.
What kind of talk was the transfer student giving?
To be that confident?
Or was she just dumb?
"Without further ado, now that I am here, I will claim the top spot as mine."
Silence. Dead Silence. Hiroshi's cousin clutched her fist, while everyone else tried to come up with what to think about this.
On the one hand, what the girl in front was saying there was absolutely angering and provoking but at the same time, she could be a relative to the newfound genius Hiraku Yukihira. Something that made the most students, who were easy to impress, shut up. However not everyone was like this.
Lola Nakiri for example. She let out an amused giggle and shot a glance to the girl in front. "We'll see, Kimiko, we'll see. But challenge defiantly accepted."
Despite the rather negative reaction Kimiko received, she friendly laughed. "But don't worry, the second place is honourable and admirable as well." The young girl bowed. "I look forward to study with you all for the next three years."
Then she left the stage.
Hiroshi's cousin exploded.
"E 'stata una sfida! Solo aspettare..." She was right about to run on to the stage and throw a tantrum of rage over there, in Italian. Luckily for the other students, Hiroshi held her back.
"I...Itoko-chan, p...please calm down. Also you're speaking Italian again."
"But haven't you heard?! This clearly was a challenge towards me!"
"Itoko-chan...I...doubt that she has any idea of you..."
Meanwhile, Kimiko Yukihira had stepped behind the scenes where she was met by a girl who had crossed her arms and looked at Kimiko almost despising.
The valedictorian, Kimiko recalled.
"You're Yukihira Hiraku's sister, aren't you?" Kaori Hayama asked with a voice that lacked all emotion.
Surprised Kimiko tucked her head. "Hm? Yes I am. I also heard his name in the audience time to time, what's the deal?" Just after these words left her lips, a realisation hit her and a grin spread on her face. "Is he that good?"
For a second Kaori's brown eyes got bigger, but then she immediately closed them and let out a "Tch".
"Listen here, Yukihira. I am not like those other failures in this generation that we call our classmates. I couldn't care less about your brother or his oh-so-amazing tongue. But let me tell you this..."
Her cold, brown eyes pierced trough Kaori's golden ones. Then Kaori decided to leave this place and walked past the blonde transfer student.
"...the first place is mine."
Kimiko spun around to retord something to the walking Kaori, as this had clearly be a challenge. But Kaori didn't let her speak up.
"And if you get into my way, you leave me no choice but to use all of my cooking to make sure your place will be the 'honourable second.'" And then Kaori was gone.
"Oh please..." Kimiko muttered, while she clutched her fist.
No way, I am gonna loose to anyone here.
-.-.-.-
Madoka Enomoto was known as the kindest teacher on Totsuki. It's not like that she didn't expelled students, but she was said to be friendly and tried her best to avoid expulsion.
She defiantly was the student's favourite.
Next to that Madoka had also been a student of the infamous 92nd Generation of Totsuki and even tough she never graduated, being part of the Jewel Generation alone was worthy of admiration. After Madoka had been expelled back then, Takao Miyazato had offered to take the girl under his wing and make a teacher out of her. And now here she was.
"Lucky, Lucky." Lola had pouted as she took a look on Kimiko's school plan. "Enomoto-Sensei is the absolute gold catch."
She defiantly looks like a nice woman. Kimiko noted, now that she stood in her first cooking class and looked at the brown haired woman in front, not minding all the glances she herself earned.
It was the first lesson for the fresh high schoolers and of course Totsuki started with a cooking lesson. "Welcome back to school, everyone." Madoka smiled in front. "I'll be your teacher for this year and I wish you the best of luck for it, as well. Give it your best and show everyone what you're made off! Let's start doing so, by starting our lesson, shall we? Firstly, I'd like you to form pairs."
She sat down on her chair, symbolising that she was giving her students some time to search a partner.
And so they did.
While everyone else immediately stepped to their friends, Kimiko stood there alone, looking left and right. She also noted how all of her classmates avoided talking to her. Kimiko could not think of a single reason why tough.
Just as she wanted to ask Madoka if she could just simply pair Kimiko up with someone, Kimiko spotted a boy standing all alone. He had wild, deep blue air and bright, light blue eyes. His chef uniform was a standard pure, white one and he was pretty tall. The boy stood there and fiddled with his hands, looking to the ground.
Kimiko walked up to him.
"Hi."
Surprised by the sudden noise, the boy flinched before turning to face Kimiko. Judging by how his eyes got a little bigger, he immediately recognised her. "H...Hello.." He then stuttered in a warm, light voice.
"Yukihira Kimiko, the transfer student." Kimiko reintroduced herself, even tough it was clear that the boy knew. "Want to partner up?"
"Y...Yes why not?" He then held out a hand and gave her an unsure, little but cute smile. "I am Aldini-Tadokoro Hiroshi. The most just call me Tadokoro tough, but Hiroshi is totally fine as well."
Kimiko took Hiroshi's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you then, Hiroshi-kun!" "Pleasure is on my side, Yukihira-San."
Kimiko giggled. "You know, Kimiko is okay as well." But before Hiroshi could add anything, Madoka Enomoto stood up. "So, seems like you all found a partner. Well then, let's get to the task alright?" Hiroshi and Kimiko watched their teacher going to a closet. Madoka opened it and revealed it to be full of glasses which all contained a thick, golden liquid. The students gasped.
Honey.
"As you can see, our school received a lot of honey recently. Let's put it into use! Your task for today is...making a dessert using this honey."
Relief spread on the faces of her students. "That's not very hard, we'll just serve Greek Yogurt." Kimiko heard a boy near her saying. Very creative. She sarcastically retorted in her head.
"So..." The voice of Hiroshi interrupted Kimiko's thoughts and she turned her head to face him. "...what are you planning to do, Yukihi...Ki...Kimiko-San?" "Don't know yet, let's look at the Honey first." Kimiko responded and the two started moving.
Hitoshi felt all the eyes burning on him, Kimiko in front of him didn't seemed to mind. "Aldini-Tadokoro?" She suddenly asked, without facing him. "Y...Yeah?" "Well, that's not a full Japanese name...are you..." Hiroshi knew this conversation too well, he had thousands of those. Out of instinct, he immediately answered. "Yes, I do have family in Italy. However, I myself am just quarter Italian, as my father is half Italian and my mother is full Japanese."
For a second it was silent. Then Kimiko swirled around and looked at Hiroshi with a bright grin, giving him a light heart attack. "That's great news actually!"
Even tough they already were near the closet with the honey inside, Kimiko grabbed Hiroshi's hand and pulled him back to their workstation.
"Italians are great with Ice-Cream, aren't they?" Kimiko seemed to be quite excited, as she had reddened cheeks. "Huh? Gelato? Yes, that's quite popular in Italy." "Perfect! Then, Hiroshi-kun you'll be in charge for the Gelato! I know what we're going to make."
While Kimiko elaborated her idea to Hiroshi, Madoka watched them trough her round glasses.
Yukihira. Wasn't that the transfer student who challenged the whole school back then? I heard he became the first seat in the very end and then vanished together with God's Tongue Nakiri Erina.
...could it be?
Madoka didn't had much to do with either Soma Yukihira nor Erina Nakiri, in her school days. So she didn't knew a lot about them. But the feel, that Kimiko Yukihira was connected to them, didn't left her.
I am curious about what she will serve.
-.-.-.-
Hiroshi ran to one of the cooled rooms. While doing so, he only had one simple word on his mind.
Ice Cream.
Kimiko had given him one task and he'd make sure, he would not mess up. Hiroshi would act as a great sous chef! Like he was to his cousin!
Of course, they didn't had that much time for Hiroshi to make ice cream himself, but Madoka allowed him to use some of the ice cream of the Academy. For sure, Hiroshi knew that he needed yogurt flavour and then he would just take other flavours with him as well to let Kimiko decide.
Finally the young boy reached one of the cooled rooms and gathered what he needed, to rush back into his class.
"Kimiko-San!" He called out. The honey blonde turned around. "Oh Hiroshi-Kun! Back already?" "Y...Yes." Hiroshi placed the ice cream on the table. "I got an idea for the yogurt, I will take care of that. But I also brought you some other flavours, in case you have some other ideas."
Kimiko inspected the ice cream and said. "Thanks, but you know...you can also choose the other flavours if you want." Hiroshi just let out a nervous laughter. "Oh no, I'll pass that choice on to you, if you're okay with it. It's your idea after all and I don't want to mess up." Kimiko shrugged. "Okay then, if you say so."
-.-.-.-
The thing with Madoka Enomoto was, that she looked way more on how well the food was cooked than on the creativity behind it.
And so the simple Greek Yogurt with Honey made it to a B. Something Monsieur Chapelle, another teacher on Totsuki, would never have given.
On other schools, Madoka's kindness probably would be mocked by the students, but on Totsuki it was a welcoming diversity.
However, some students did not want to simply benefit from Madoka's ways and go the easy way. They wanted to take risks and show what they really could do. One of them was Kimiko Yukihira.
"We're ready for judgement, Enomoto-Sensei!"
The brown haired teacher looked up and met the sight of a confidently grinning Kimiko next to a more timid Hiroshi. A bowl with ice cream was placed in front of Madoka.
"Mixed Ice Cream with Tarts. Let it hopefully satisfy you!"
Madoka gave the pair a warm smile, before taking the spoon in her hands. "Thanks for the food."
As soon, as the cold ice cream melted in her mouth, the teacher found herself in a ball gown. The dress had black and white stripes on it and she felt wings spreading on her neck. Around her waiters and waitresses, also in a black and yellow attire, brought her tablets with an Middle Eastern dessert on it.
The Middle Eastern dessert which was cut into small pieces and mixed into the ice cream.
"Baklava!" Madoka exclaimed back in the real world. As the head of the Miyazato-Seminar, she of course knew what the so called Baklava was. "A sort of small cake from the Middle East. It uses sirup and nuts."
Kimiko nodded. Her grandfather loved these things, so she memorised the recipe perfectly. "We worked with honey except off sirup and as nuts we used walnuts."
"The ice cream pairs so well with it, what is it?" Madoka asked. "Well one is lemon flavoured and the other vanilla. But the last is Yogurt, into which Hiroshi-kun also mixed Honey." "Inspired by the popular combo of Greek yogurt and honey." Hiroshi mumbled a little unsure.
Hiroshi's and Kimiko's classmates were staring at the duo. Whispers had begun. "The transfer student's skills...they're good..." "Maybe she really is..."
In front Madoka gushed. "This dessert is so sweet but somehow brings royalty with it as well. From all the dishes, I have eaten today, this truly is the best. It's the Queen Bee of Honey Dishes! You two get an A."
Gasps went trough the crowd. Madoka had never proclaimed a dish as "the best she had eaten today".
"Glad you liked it." Kimiko laughed, while Hiroshi bowed next to her and stuttered. "Thank you very much."
The two returned to their workstation, lots of eyes burning on them.
"She is related to him...I am sure now..."
"Amazing!"
"...too bad that the lame one of the Aldini Cousins got to work with her first."
Kimiko either didn't heard or didn't wanted to hear, whatever it was, she normally talked to Hiroshi. "Good work today, Hiroshi-Kun. It was nice working with you, we should do that more often." "Ye...Yeah.." Hiroshi stuttered way to fast. "You're amazing Kimiko-San! What a splendid idea you had. It was a pleasure working with you."
Kimiko laughed. "Seems like we make a good team."
As the lesson was over, the two separated. Hiroshi went to search his cousin, Kimiko went to search her next class in this huge school.
While doing so, she suddenly remembered something and hit her head. "Damnit! I should have asked Hiroshi-Kun, if there's any supermarket around! I still have to do that entrance test or so this evening." She sighed.
"Well I guess, I just have to find the supermarket myself then."
Author's Note:
Yeah, Takumi and Megumi didn't ended up in this fan fiction, as you probably figured out already.
The reason I bring this up so early, is because people actually suggested to me to go with a TakuMegu Fanchild when revising the story. And I gave it some thoughts, but did not end up actually doing it for a few reasons:
1. I just don't ship Takumi and Megumi that much. They're cute and all and I know they're probably each other's end game. but there are just many more Takumi-ships and Megumi-ships that I enjoy way more and have way more fun to write. Sorry...
2. Hiroshi and his cousin were already created, before Takumi and Megumi showed serious signs to sail. And it's also very hard to let go of these characters, as they are designed to be fanchilds of other certain pairs. And even if I would make Hiroshi a TakuMegu fan child; I had to make some changes in his characters...that would be...eh...for me?
3. I really tried, but I somehow find a TakuMegu Fanchild quite hard to write? (Probably because I don't ship them so much) And I just couldn't find my fun in it, so sorry.
Really, I am sorry to some of you, who might be disappointed now but well. Maybe there will be another Next Gen Fanfiction someday.
By the way, other important notes.
Hiroshi's cousin's name is not "Itoko", that's just Japanese for "cousin". Her name isn't revealed in this chapter (even tough many of you probably know it already), inspired by typical early SnS Manga ways. (Remember Ryo's and Hisako's names weren't said until the Autumn Election Premlins)
Onto the Italian! I am not Italian and I do not speak it. However, I will chim in some Italian here and there, simply because I find it to be such a beautiful language.
However, my only source is Google Translate...so if there's something off and you actually do speak Italian, please tell me qwq
Onto the translation to the Italian in that Chapter:
Tenerezza - Tenderness, Fondness, Sweetness (something in that way, I read it to be some sort of nickname you can give your beloved ovo;;)
Non so cosa... - I don't know what...(her next words would have been something in a way of „...you're refering to?")
Cosa - What
E 'stata una sfida! Solo aspettare... - It was a challenge! Just wait...
By the way, the dish in that chapter was thought up by me, so I can't state any sources today qwq
I hope it was not too strange
Also Madoka is not an OC of mine, she's an SnS Character. If she doesn't rings a bell in your head, just look her up, I guess...if you want.
Well, now that this long long Author's Note is over
I thank you for reading and I hope that I can greet you in the next chapter again,
have a wonderful day and bye.
Author's Note End