Hearts in Twos

Chapps 12: Prelims are Over

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Three kids were unusually quiet while sitting in the living room with fair distance from each other, and all of them were holding a drawing book. If one of the workers in the manor would happen to walk in on them, they would think that a fight has ensued between them

The atmosphere was tense in the room with their lips pressed in a thin line, eyebrows furrowed and hands moving frantically across the paper

"And done!" The redhead was the first to finish with what they're doing, raising his arms in the air and showing off his masterpiece. "Behold, my amazing work!"

The other two looked at it with an unamused expression, judging the drawing harshly in their minds

"What is even that supposed to be?" They both asked at the same time

Soma then explains that it's him cooking in the kitchen when he grows up. It was a picture of his kitchen in the diner, a hand holding a spatula while in front of what seems to be a stove

Erina and Alice still could not comprehend it

"You guys just don't appreciate my art! What about yours? I bet mine is better." He said with a smug smile

And when it was his turn to judge theirs, he was left dumbfounded

"Mine is a sketch of my parents and I!" Alice proudly said. It was by no means an art that a well-known artist does but it was better than the redhead's that for sure as they can easily tell what they're looking at

Erina shyly showed hers. It was a drawing of them three together playing around with smiles on their faces

It was also better than Soma's which made him frustrated and vowed that he'll be better than them in some way even if not in a drawing contest

"Why don't we have a cooking match seeing that you want to be a chef?" Alice proposes the idea while pointing to his art, enjoying the way her friend reacts

"Bring it on!" Despite having a small amount of knowledge about cooking at the moment, they still wanted to go through with it and raced towards the kitchen, leaving Erina to run after them

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The Preliminaries were set to start in an hour in order for the participants to have enough time for additional preparations

Soma and the others were directed to stay where in a waiting room near their respective venue, eager for their time to shine in front of everyone and surpass the contestants to qualify for the main tournament

The host for Block A and Block B started the event by explaining again the theme which is Curry and introduced the 5 judges that are widely known and feared in the Culinary world

While in the middle of preparing their curry, the redhead was seen dozing off. He sat crossed-legged on a chair he found somewhere, confusing the spectators on why he's sleeping

The participants around him took it as a sign that the preliminary is of no challenge to him and would rather be doing other things than face them

Then Soma suddenly smelled the aroma of the pot in front of him and that woke him up and stimulated his senses

'I still wanna sleep.' He thought which is fun in his opinion, 'But beating others is great too.'

They saw the contents of the pot and was amazed by the fragrance wafting around the redhead

Hayama became more wary of his rival, looking at Soma from the corner of his eyes while cooking

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