A Spice in Life (Shokugeki no Soma x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 63 - Osteoporosis

(Name)'s POV

"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining me today," Erina greeted us, exuding an air of authority not unlike that of her grandpa.

The young Nakiri had called the four of us into the kitchens early this morning, claiming she had a 'team-building-exercise' for us: turns out it was another Team Shokugeki. This was all her doing, too, for we still had our regular training afterwards.

For this exercise, Soma and Megumi would face off against me and Takumi. I knew the two worked well together as they did in past matches, but this was my first time cooking solo alongside Takumi (not counting our match with Dojima as the leader). He was a sharp and capable chef—I'd have to be at my very best if I was to keep up.

And as with any competition, there was the pre-match trash talk.

"I trust you are at your best, Yukihira? I'm finally going to win back my Mezzaluna today." Takumi focused on his rival, but Soma seemed more interested in trash-talking me.

"Hey, hey, Homura. Betcha a box of biscuits Tadokoro and I will win." He grinned, no doubt talking about my favorite biscuits. How'd he know I brought some with me?!

I narrowed my eyes. So he was serious about this match. If biscuits were at stake, I had no intention of losing. "In that case, I bet you a week's worth of pretzels. Hope you've got your biscuits ready."

"Deal." We shook on it.

"Oi, Yukihiraaa!" Takumi protested to being ignored. As he continued to nag our opponent, I sent Megumi an encouraging smile. I was physically incapable of trash-talking her.

"Let's do our best!"

Erina signaled the start, and we hurried to our stations. Our topic was broad, for Erina required that we cook something with fish and provided little else than a time limit.

"Fish, huh..?" Takumi mused as we stared at the fish before us. I thought it was dead until it gave a little 'flop', causing us both to jump and scream.

"Don't worry!" I grabbed the knife and chopped off its head, then turned and sent him a thumbs up. "It's dead now."

Takumi cleared his throat, embarrassed after being startled by the now-dead fish. "E-er, right. But how did Nakiri-san manage to procure a live fish on the train?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was an entire aquarium car dedicated to raising fish. I've learned not to question it." I made quick work of gutting the fish while he pondered this.

"True. As for our dish..." Takumi rubbed his chin, and I chanced a glance towards the other team. I wasn't surprised to see Soma and Megumi were already at work.

I drummed my fingers on the countertop. "Fish." Takumi looked up at me. I furrowed my brows and squinted at him. "Fish?"

"Uh..." Takumi sweatdropped, not following my thought-process (or lack, thereof). But then he stood taller and looked me in the eye, serious. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking..." I turned and grabbed an orange, smiling as I noticed how his familiar look of focus returned. He wasn't nervous, nor shaky. There was the Takumi I knew. "We make a dish that expresses our raw talent."

And to my excitement, it took him only a second to catch on to what I was saying (and my pun, based on the way his eyes twinkled). "Do you mean...?"

I nodded. "Crudo."

Takumi smiled and took the orange from my hand. "Excellent choice."

Crudo, which meant 'raw' in Italian, was an Italian dish similar to sushi in that it consisted of raw, thinly-sliced seafood, often drizzled with olive oil and citrus. It was the perfect Japanese-Italian dish for Takumi and I to set our knives to. And so we set to work.