Food Wars: Welcome to Culinary World

Chapter 45: Same Path, Different Goals

(2nd Person's POV)

The next morning, the sun beamed in your dorm room which caused you to wake up. A groan escaped your mouth as your eyes peeled open. You sat up, feeling a headache and a turning stomach, and rubbed your eyes. The sun rays were shining inside your room like it's telling you to get up.

You forgot to close the curtains before you went to sleep.

"Ugh, shit! I shouldn't have drunk too much of that rice juice" you thought, holding your head with one hand and the other hand on your stomach. Your hair was everywhere around your head that half of your face was covered.

After the struggle to get out of bed without throwing up, you groggily walked out of your room to the bathroom to wash your face, brush your teeth, and fix your hair. Once you were done, you walked down the hall, to the main staircase and make your way to the kitchen.

"Coffee...Coffee...I need coffee..." you mumbled with a grumpy voice. Suddenly, a nice smell of food barged into your nose and made your stomach growl. Though you were still a little nauseous, but maybe putting food in you would help.

As you entered the dorm's dining hall, you saw Soma sitting in the middle of the room. You blinked twice in confusion, as he was sitting with crossed legs and arms, headband is tied to his head, and a challenging look drew his face. When did he even get up?

"Do I dare ask?" you raised a brow at the red head.

"I wanna challenge Isshiki-Senpai to a Shokugeki!" he replied with a cheesy grin plastered on his face.

You let out an exaggerated sigh, "Again? Look, I don't think you get this Shokugeki thing, Soma".

He looked at you with a confused face, "Whaddya mean?".

You scratched the back of your head trying to put simpler words for explanation. Recalling the time during your training with your mom.

*Flashback*

"A Shokugeki?" you asked.

"Yes. A Shokugeki is an official cooking battle held between students of Totsuki academy in a closed arena. It's the most appropriate way for students to settle their differences and arguments through a formal cooking battle" Mayumi answered with a smile.

"Does it happen all the time?" you asked. "Not exactly. Shokugekis can be initiated by any student, regardless of what grade they're in. And both competitions must propose things that are equally significant. However, there are 3 conditions to let this Shokugeki actually happen" Mayumi continued.

"Really? What are they?" you inquired, listening for more.

"One, is having an authorized individual present in the same place, either a Totsuki instructor, a member of the elite ten, or the director. Two, having odd number of judges, let's say three judges. If there were four judges, there's a chance that the score would end up as a tie. And all judges must be from a neutral party to promote fairness in the judgement of dishes. And lastly, both competitions must agree to have the Shokugeki. If one of them refuses, then the challenge won't happen" Mayumi finished.

You hummed, nodding after hearing that information. You then remembered something and looked at Mayumi.

"Did you and dad do Shokugekis back then??".

"Haha, of course! But mostly, your father did. There were a lot of students who wanted to challenge him, and he won every single Shokugeki held in Totsuki" she chuckled. You were astonished, there was a feeling of excitement inside of you as you smiled because of it.