The Lilac Sage | Shokugeki no Soma

Chai and Milk Tea

A certain red-haired Yukihira had been busy experimenting and working on his dish in one of the spare kitchens. He had been getting ready for the upcoming test that he had. Watching him along the sides,  was Akane who had been munching on a piece of jerky. She had a bored look on her face as she sat slouched over the back of one of the chairs. 

"Hayashi, aren't you supposed to be with the other regular students?" Soma asked as he was seasoning the bear meat. He had been planning to grill it in order to see what flavor does bear meat really have. 

"Hmm?" The lilac-haired girl hummed before looking at the pair of golden eyes that were focused on the piece of meat. "I already finished my tasks for the next three days. Plus your test sounds more interesting." She shoved another piece of jerky into her mouth and continued to watch with boredom.

'For someone who said that this looks interesting, she looks extremely bored.' Soma sweat dropped at the action and proceeded to grill the meat, he began to inhale the savory scent that had come from the meat.

"Hmm, it doesn't smell bad at all, it actually smells pretty great!" He commented as he watched the meat begin to cook, he grinned happily while Akane looked at him with an amused expression. He noticed this and looked over at her and raised an eyebrow, "What's up?" The girl shook her head and muttered, "Nothing." Soma simply shrugged at this and continued to focus on the meat. 

A couple of seconds later, he turned down the heat and transferred it to a plate, "Yosh! And done~" He turned over to Akane who had been looking at the different spices in the cabinet, very limited actually, and called out to her, "Hayashi, would you like to try?" 

"Pass." Was her curt response earning another shrug from the male which gestured a 'suit yourself'. He picked up a piece with his chopsticks, blew on it, and excitedly plunged it into his mouth. He chewed it slowly and nodded approvingly at what he had made.

"It's sweet and rich! The fat is so melty. I can see what they meant, but it definitely isn't that ba-" Before he could continue praising the taste of the meat, a sense of disgust pulled over him causing him to nearly gag. The giggling of his companion caught his attention, causing him to turn to wherever she was.

"What were you saying, Yukihira? Is it good?" She teased while crossing her arms and sitting down in front of him. He sighed and managed to swallow the rest of the meat.

"It has this creeping flavor... And a different sort of smell, it's gross. Ugh." He groaned in frustration. "I did just cook it up with some salt, the best way to get rid of the smell is-"

"Spice." The girl in front of him finished his sentence for him, "But how are you going to pull that off? Did you forget who you're up against?" She smiled snapping him back to reality. Soma ignored her and began to cook again, this time adding garlic, but he his frustration only grew when the stench still hadn't gone away. 

"This is going to work! I need to gather a bunch of usable ingredients first. i just can't jump blindly into cooking." He began to announce the kinds of spices that he may need and grew even panicked realizing that he doesn't need enough time. Akane could only watch in amusement at the alarmed chef. 

"Sei! Sei! Sei! Sei!" Both had turned their heads to the door after hearing a bunch of people making noise, they tilted their heads in curiosity when the door swung open to reveal a bunch of bald men coming in one by one.

"Yueguishuu!"

"Diang xiangi!"

"Ba jiao!"

"Xiao Hui Xiang!"

"Gui Pi!"

"La Jiao!"

They announced one at the time, they all wore Totsuki Uniforms and had been striking random poses as they walked in.