Fire and Ice

Morning Shall Come Again

The next day, it was the day of the semi-finals as everyone from the Polar Star came to support Soma. Tsuki was daydreaming about what had happened two days ago, as all she remembered was sleeping on Tsukasa's arm and being woken up by the chauffeur when they arrived nearby the Polar Star Dorm that both of them were holding hands and Tsukasa was resting his head on the girl's head.

Tsuki blushed as she felt her heart beat faster, she shook her head, trying to focus on the stage. Her brother was going to be going against Mimasaka soon, with their futures as a chef on the line.

"Now, Candidate Yukihira Soma is entering the arena!" Urara announced as Tsuki saw her red haired brother step out onto the arena. "The Autumn Elections semi-finals will kick off with yet another Shokugeki! Candidate Yukihira and his sister Yukihira Tsuki have offered to give up their careers as a chef, as well as their knives!"

The crowd was cheering as Soma walked out with a calm look on his face. Tsuki gripped the edge of the balcony as she had a worried look on her face. "Nii nii..."

"Next in is Candidate Mimasaka Subaru!" Urara continued. "Will his terrifying, perfect profiling take the stage by storm yet again? In addition, joining us are 5 judges who are all Totsuki graduates and former Elite Ten!"

In front of the judging table were 5 judges, 3 of which Tsuki were familiar with as they introduced themselves. The strike of the gong indicated the start of the match as it got underway.

"Hm... both are making beef stew. I don't like that guy who supposedly spat gum on someone's knife, but the other guy comes from a downtown diner." Taki looked at the two competitors as they were cooking. "And I heard he's only been here for 6 months. There's no hope for him. Sonoka you agree don't you?"

"Yes..." Sonoka agreed. "I think it'll be... difficult."

Erina was watching from the VIP gallery as she had a smirk on her face. "Today is the day I finally get to see your humiliated defeat." Erina smiled. Next to Erina, Tsukasa was sitting on a chair in the VIP lounge, a regal look on his face as he put an elbow on the arm rest, looking down at the match.

Tsuki watched as her brother was cutting up vegetables and searing oxtail, smiling to herself. "I'm going to negate about what you said about my not understanding the topic, Nakiri!" Soma turned around to the VIP lounge where Soma was as he pointed to the honey blond with a smirk on his face.

"Here's my twist!" Mimasaka declared as he pulled out a meat on a chain as the scent wafted throughout the entire stadium as he started to fry it on the pan. "Yukihira Soma, your recipe for beef stew calls for it to be strained. That'd make the dish a dull one, consisting of only sauce and meat."

"He used mesquite wood to smoke the bacon." Ibusaki explained. "Because of it's sharp smell, it's used to smoke meats with strong flavor, and imparts a bright golden color.

"Is that so?" Tsuki looked to the bacon as she took a sniff. "Even for a beginner, this brine smell would be much too hard. It's like he took a page out of Ibusaki-kun's book..." Tsuki looked to the mussy haired boy as he gritted his teeth.

"Asshole..." Tsuki heard Ibusaki mutter.

"Ahaha... I'm assuming he did then..." Tsuki nervously laughed.

"Yukihira-kun doesn't seem to be going for anything unusual with his garnish." Sonoka observed.

"He probably didn't think of it as anything other than something on the side." Taki said. "The garniture is a critical component in beef stew. How disappointing."

"Leaping to conclusions before even tasting his dish... oh, how distasteful." Hinako chided her underclassman. "Having someone like you as the head chef must make the kitchen very tense."