Isekai'd: Shokugeki no Soma / Food Wars

23 二十三

Chapter 23: Champagne

“So kiddo, are you going to join?” the guy beside Hayama asked.

  
“Well... I am pretty confident in my skills.” Hayama replied making the guy laugh. He then tapped Hayama’s shoulder.

“That’s great, you should meet my young apprentice.” he said and a girl with silverish-white hair stared at Hayama. She had an eyepatch covering her left eye but her right orb was black.

  
‘I wonder why she’s not wearing any mask.’ Hayama thought.

“Shiro.” the girl said stretching her hand out. Hayama took her hand and was about to say something but Shiro pulled him. “I will win against you. Hayama-kun.” she whispered making Hayama gulp.

‘How... How did she know my name?’ Hayama was confused and didn’t notice that his target, ‘The Queen’ had already made her way to the underground basement.

“Well then~ The banquet will proceed in 5 minutes. As what we usually do, those who are competing for the generals’ position; should know where to head.” a guy with black hair and spectacles said. His name was Yunosuke. Hayama looked around to spot Queen but she was nowhere to be found.

“Scram.” Shiro told Hayama who frowned in return. A guy with blonde pushed back hair and a mustache led them. He was one of the generals, Don Calma.

They've been walking for a few minutes in an eerie hallway until a guard opened a trap door. Don Calma giggled before turning to look at the participants.

“Are you noirs prepared to satisfy our Queen’s taste buds?” he asked with a tone of warning. “And to what would happen if you fail?” he asked staring menacingly at the participants.

Some murmured while some snickered. “Hayama-kun, we can’t back out now!” Erina said through the earpiece. Even though he was scared, Hayama kept calm in the circumstance and silently watched.

One of the generals named Claude Ville was wearing a peculiar machine on his back. He was writing down the names of those who had backed out.

Once Don Calma received it he let out an amused giggle. “How delightful~ We have 41 noirs remaining out of 101.” he informed as he scanned through the remaining crowd.

“Why are you keeping The Queen waiting?” Sarge asked as soon as she emerged from the trap door.

“What can we do? The other wimpy noirs backed out and we need to wait for that crappy general to finish.” Shiro replied making Hayama shocked as the other noirs sneered at Claude Ville.

Sarge glared at Shiro, “Are you saying that Claude Ville isn’t suitable to be one of the Queen’s generals?”

Shiro shrugged her shoulders as she scratched her brow. “Well, out of 41 and 3 of us wins... I will gladly replace his seat.” She said pointing a finger at Claude Ville. “Or yours?”

Sarge kept staring at her so Hayama shielded the girl. “What are you doing?” Shiro asked obviously irritated.

“By your attitude, I’m sure Queen would surely take an interest on you.” Sarge replied as she smirked at Shiro who grinned. Then they followed Sarge as she entered the trap door.

 
By then, Hayama who had his calm facade on panicked a bit. He lost his only connection to Totsuki. A certain something interrupted their connection.

 
They arrived the underground kitchen, it was a bit chilly for Hayama.

“Ojou-sama~ what would be our topic for tonight?” Don Calma asked as he clasped his hands together.