ᴍᴇᴛᴀɴᴏɪᴀ | ꜰᴏᴏᴅ ᴡᴀʀꜱ x ᴍᴀʟᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 16

[Y/N] pursed his lips to best hide his disgusted and disturbed expression from any of the few people in the exam hall with him. [E/C] eyes gazed at the blonde girl in the room before looking away and down at his dish that he made for the examiner.

Unfortunately, that very same examiner was on the floor and making near-to pornographic noises from the food that was served by none other than Soma Yukihira.

'Why', was the only thought repeating in the [H/C]-haired boy's mind, closing his eyes to shield himself from the seemingly shameless girl.

His friend, however, completely ignored her state of self and grinned, egging her on to say that his food was delicious and not second rate, as the examiner claimed it to be.

"It's..." Nakiri stammered, barely being able to catch her breath.

"Delicious?" Yukihira tried to smugly answer the girl.

If it were possible, her face became redder in anger at the audacity of the boy. Of course, it tasted good, the worst part about it is that it was served by an annoyingly smug and cocky chef!

"It's disgusting!" she screeched, slamming her utensils onto the counter.

[Y/N] sighed, staring at his own dish in disappointment.

'I'm definitely going to fail this test now,' he internally groaned, heavily despising his future in the [L/N] restaurant until he legally becomes an adult. 'If she failed the redheaded idiot, I might as well walk out the door and start unpacking.'

Finally acknowledging him, the blonde snapped her head towards the [H/C]-haired boy, almost looking at him condescendingly. The way she looked at him made [Y/N] think that she was judging him for the casual way he was dressed, clearly posing as an average everyday citizen of Japan.

The [E/C]-eyed boy wouldn't exactly be wrong, in her mind, Nakiri was thinking about the fact the teenager in front of her likely had a middle class standing and couldn't ever hope to reach up to her standards.

Of course, she wouldn't exactly be wrong, but his cooking wasn't that terrible, right?

Even a child could say that [Y/N]'s food was amazing and a rarity to personally taste. Despite still having so much room for improvement, the boy was likely on a higher standing than his best friend, Yukihira. Not that either of them knew it or tried to prove it, that is.

[Y/N] figured it was a thing best left to be unknown, as he thought being aware and knowing of who was the 'better' chef would put a strain on their relationship. The [H/C]-ette knew fair well that he couldn't ever bear to have a wall in between the two, but Yukihira wanted nothing more than his closest friend to become his greatest rival.

The many refusals of the awaited food battle led to now, the two best friends standing side by side as allies in the examination hall of Totsuki Academy, watching as Nakiri critiqued [Y/N]'s dish.

Shakily exhaling as to ground herself from her profound stupor, the blonde cleared her throat from her not very safe for work display upon tasting the [H/C]-ette's well-crafted serving. The girl nodded, setting down her culinary utensils.

"Congratulations," she spoke in a way as if she hadn't meant the notion. "You're the transfer student representative for next week's assembly."

[Y/N] drew in a slow breath, calming his raging nerves. This girl had just expelled Soma from Totsuki for the rest of his life like it was nothing! Getting over his irrationally placed frustration, he slowly nodded and sent her one of his ingenuine smiles that he had perfected over working in the restaurant industry.

"Thank you very much," he beamed in a way that Yukihira could easily see it was fake. "I look forward to it, Nakiri-san."

With a bow exclusively sent from [Y/N] himself, the two boys left the room, beginning to make their way off the campus. Silence befell the two as they walked through the empty courtyard, the sky now dim and cloudy compared to its earlier bright and sunny counterpart.

"Shit," the [H/C]-ette cursed, gripping the exam syllabus tightly within his grasp.

Beside him, the redhead clenched his jaw, temporarily forgetting the fact they had agreed to have a designated swear jar. That one foul word summarized their entire predicament, their feelings towards it, and the result.

Now that Yukihira failed the once in a lifetime test, what were they to do now? 

A/N: i feel like this chapter could've been better but like, lore? lore anyone?