Finding My Special Ingredient

Chapter 11- Calm Before The Storm

3rd person's pov

"That this challenge is a draw." Hinako said before rushing the students into the bus. 'She teased and teased and then decide to not decide at all.' Soma and Takumi thought as they look at her rushing the students to the bus. "Well, uh, you heard her." Soma said, not knowing what to say. "Yes but who can accept that result?! There will be a day of reckoning between us, Yukihira." Takumi said, looking as if he was about to fight with Soma. "Sure whatever. But how do you want to do it?" Soma asked, looking at him. "A Shokugeki. One day I will challenge you. Don't try to get out of it. Accept it like a man and on that day I will stomp you flat. Look forward to it, Yukihira. And do try to get better." Takumi said, pointing at him before walking away. 'Until we meet again, Yukihira Soma.' Takumi thought as he walked further away only to realised that they needed to walk together to the bus. "You know, even though the two of your match ended in a draw, you are still much stronger than the rest of the class." Hinako said as she found them and walked beside them. As expected, they both continued to walk with her to hear what she was implying. "Both of you definitely dominated the class if not for her." Hinako said, not caring of their confusion when she said that. "Mimanoya Aika. She in definitely stronger than both of you combined. If the competition you guys initiated is not just between you two, I will definitely name her as the winner. She is in a league of her own. You can't compare to it." Hinako said as she walked in front of them. "Mimanoya is strong huh?" Takumi asked, looking at the women that is walking in front of them. Her red hair shining in the sun. "You bet it. Aika is far stronger than me and you. That can't be mistaken at all." Soma said as he turned silent after that. "For now, I can't care of her. My only intention is to defeat you first, Yukihira." Takumi said as he also went off.

Who knew that inside the bus they would be sitting with each other. "Well well, hey there. Looks like we meet again." Soma said which in return was answered by a embarrassed Takumi covering his face with both hand. "What? Aren't you going to stomp me flat now?" Soma teased, finding what he said hilarious. "I said don't talk to me!" Takumi said, hearing his brother continue to laugh while Tadokoro just smiled nervously. After the teasing though, Takumi went to a state of seriousness. 'That assignment made me use every single skill I had to the fullest. When I hit the idea of using duck, I thought I would won but he somehow managed to match me. Damn it! The challenge ended in a draw. So why do I feel like I lost? To two people as well. Mimanoya Aika. From what the teacher said, she didn't even try her best and she was still able to top all of us without a partner. With what she just cooked, even though it was simple, I still felt inferior to her. If she had used a better dish, that would mean that she could totally crush everybody in the same generation. She wasn't joking with what she had said in the assembly ground. But this isn't the end. One day, I swear I'll...' Takumi thought as he leaned his chin on his hands, thinking. 'Takumi from Trattoria Aldini. There is someone else my age that is just as good as I am except for Aika. If I had stayed holed up in Yukihira, I would have never found that out.' Soma thought as he looked out the window. 'Soma-kun and Aldini Takumi, if excluding me from this glass's generation, both of you would be one of the most powerful cooks here. I wonder what you have in stall for me." Aika thought a small smile on her face as she continued to read her book she brought.

When they reached the hotel, the first thing Aika, Soma and Tadokoro did was finding and gathering together with all the others from Polaris Dormitory and check whether anybody is left out. "Where is everybody else?" Tadokoro asked, not seeing a few people. "Ibusaki's checking on that right now." Yoshino said as she and Ryoko gave Tadokoro a hug. "Right, good job. It's confirmed. Everybody from Polaris survived day one." Ibusaki said as he hang up on the call and Tadokoro was elated. "Um, does Marui really counts as survived?" Soma asked as he sees a paled Marui lying down on the floor. "I heard that he spent forever running around in the mountains." Ibusaki said which made Soma exclaimed that Marui's assignment was somewhat similar to theirs. "Today was exhausting." Ryoko said, sighing. "Yeah. I'm so bone tired that I can hardly move." Tadokoro said as she sighed along with Ryoko. "What are you talking about? Tired? Now is when the fun really starts, ladies." Yoshino said as Aika questioned what she was thinking. "Dinner and a bath, and then our own guest rooms. I'm sure each and every one will be as luxurious as the other. I intend to enjoy every last second of it." Yoshino said as she thought of everything. "I don't think it will go as you plan it to be, Yoshino-chan. We are training right now so there is an even lesser chance that it will come true. This is Totsuki we are talking about." Aika said, trying to bring Yoshino back before her dreams shatter but Yoshino doesn't seem to hear her. 'Oh no. This is going to go bad for her later.' Aika thought as she made a small prayer for Yoshino's heart in the near future.