Devotion (Shokugeki No Soma X Male OC)

Chapter 31: Beast Devouring Each Other

(Last Night)

Akira was sitting in a chair with his eyes covered and his hands tied up. Jun put multiple plates with spices on the table.

Akira: That dish has turmeric, pink peppercorns, cumin, coriander, and cloves. The right dish has amchoor, cardamom, dill, bay leaf, and savory. The left dish has star anise, fennel, wild yams, and lemon balm.

Jun: You're amazing, Hayama-kun! You identified all of them without being able to see or touch them!

Akira: Yeah, I'm perfectly ready.

(Meanwhile)

At Polar Star, Yusuke was in the kitchen, sitting on a chair with multiple ingredients on his table.

Satoshi: Yusuke-kun, are you ready for tomorrow's match?

Yusuke: .....

Yusuke was too focused to listen.

Satoshi: (He's perfectly ready.)

(Flashback ends)

Yusuke and Akira were facing each other directly.

Yusuke: I must say, I wasn't expecting to go up against you of all people.

Akira: Heh, don't get all cocky just because you won against somebody else's assistant.

Yusuke just rolls up his sleeves.

Yusuke: Well, either way, this will be a good warm up before I meet up with Soma at the finals.

Akira: *Cold glare* Don't worry about it, you won't be meeting anyone at the finals. 'Cause I'll be sure to crush you here and now.

Soma: Hm, so Yusuke's up against Hayama. I wonder how the match will go.

Soma was watching from the VIP room right next to Erina.

Erina: Why are you acting like you belong here!?

Soma: Well, it seemed like the match'd start without me if I didn't get my ass in gear. Since I'll be facing whoever wins this round, I need to get a good look.

Megumi: Huh? Look who's with Nakiri-san...

Ikumi: Huh?

Megumi: Soma-kun?

Ikumi: What?

Ryoko: Is Kudo-kun going to be alright? I mean, what's his game plan?

Yuki: He does have one, right?

Megumi: Yusuke-kun...

Miyuki: We'll now have round two of the Semi-finals! The theme is the same as in round one: a Western-style main dish. Let the cooking commence.

Both chefs got to their stations and began working.

Daigo: Oh, Hayama's bringing out his ingredients.

Shoji: Is that chicken?

Ikumi: No. That's...

Yuki: Duck!

Sonoka: His dish will depend on how well he takes advantage of duck's unique flavor profile.

Taki: So he's Hayama, the master of spices. He knows exactly what he's good at.

Hinako: A chef's sense of taste is a compendium of all the flavors they've experienced in the past. It's cumulative.

Fuyumi: Yeah. If you can add a sense of smell that's keen enough to tell apart individual ingredients of various spice mixtures, you've basically gained twice the impetus as a chef.