Serenedipity

Chapter - 13

Nighttime was already here. In Polar Star Dormitory, in the dining hall, a few students were sitting together. They were talking about the most recent, hottest and the topic that was currently spreading like an epidemic. Yukihira Soma's Shokugeki with the Meat Master, Mito Ikumi. The students who were in the dining hall were Yuki, Ryoko, Isshiki and Megumi.

"What's Yukihira thinking? Everyone in the academy's talking about it!" the amber haired female said in an angry tone, crossed her arms over her chest as her gaze remained on the newspaper. Totsuki Sports. Transfer Student to be in a Shokugeki. His Opponent is the Meat Master, Mito Ikumi.

"Calm down, Yuki!" Ryoko smiled at the female who was seated beside her.

"Hana-chan is doing her best to assist Soma. I'll do my best to help too, but we have too little time!" Megumi stated. Isshiki raised a teacup towards his lips and thought to himself. 'So what's going to be your move, Soma-Kun, Hana-chan?' With that, he sipped the hot green tea.

On the other hand, Soma was inside Hana's room discussing the upcoming Shokugekis and asked her for her advice. Both of them discussed it for a few hours and looked through some books for information. Something that might give the pair an upper hand in this situation, Soma decided to sleepover in her room since he was too tired to move to his own room. But what them both didn't discuss was what Ikumi would use for the Shokugeki. Well, even if they knew, it probably won't do them any good. They were still going to discuss with Konishi and Megumi the next day.

Shokugeki T-minus 2 days.

After school, Hana headed to the Don RS with Soma and Megumi. The four of them were holding a strategy conference, thinking of what dish was best to beat Ikumi.

"We've all slept on it. I've given it a lot of thought. Nikumi's a specialist in meat. Beef, in particular. Then I don't think we need to go for beef. For example, we could go for chicken and egg don. Chicken still fits the theme. We should try to differentiate ourselves from Nikumi as much as possible." Konishi explained. Hana stood beside Soma who was sitting with his arms crossed.

"Okay, so an offbeat choice," Soma said, understanding everything that has been explained.

"What don do you like, Tadokoro?" the red-haired male inquired. It was best to ask for people's opinion of what they think was delicious.

"Well, I don't know if you can call it a don, and it's not meat-based, but I like taking scallops that has been lightly grilled in the shell, then seasoned with a bit of butter and soy sauce. It's godly on piping hot rice!" she said, almost drooling from just imagining it.

"You're right. We could've gone with a seafood don, but you just had to go ahead and say we'll do meat." Konishi said, his hair dropping.

"It's a done deal. Quit complaining!" Soma directed his yellow orbs towards the male.

"You don't know how strong Nikumi is. If we get slammed with her A5 beef, we're done for!" he said, Soma's eyes showed slight disinterest, mostly confusion.

" 'Eigo'- what? English?" Soma tilted his head.

" 'A5' is a meat grade for beef, right?" Megumi questioned.

"Yeas, that's right. 'A' refers to the yield grade: the yield ratio from a beef carcass, which ranges from A to C. Then, there's the marbling! The firmness and texture of the meat! The lustre of the fat, and so on! Those characteristics determine the quality grade, which ranges from 1 to 5! Only beef that meets the highest qualifications for both grades receives the A5 rating! I've eaten one of Nikumi's steaks at an academy event. At that level, you can.....you can drink the meat!" he explained the rating of beef using a marker to draw a table.