Ageha [A Shokugeki No Souma Fanfic]

Difference

"Nii-chan, problem!" Isami ran into Takumi's room.
"What is it?" he answered, still lifeless, uninterested. His soul came back rushing on him when he heard the news.

"That is definitely a beautiful knife but it doesn't work like that."
"What do you mean? This is a very nice knife. I ordered it from Germany. It costed me a lot if that helps."
"You're so naïve. If you understand the circumstances of a Shokugeki, the essence is that you cannot bet something you're not afraid of losing."
"Hey this is a pricy knife of course I'm afraid of losing it," but Mimasaka's face was not changing. To most chefs their knives are their souls, but when he sees Ageha he knows she has no attachments to her cutleries.
"Other than that I don't really have anything on me. Is there anything you want?"
"Hmm let's see...What about you never talking with Takumi Aldini again?" Mimasaka's words struck Ageha sharper than her well made knives, and for a second she was actually afraid of losing him.
"That is my condition if you want the mezzaluna back, else just forget it entirely."
"I accept," Ageha said. Mimasaka grinned, his bait bitten.
"I accept your condition of the Shokugeki."

Takumi took off from his apartment as quickly as Mimasaka announced his Shokugeki challenge to the school newspaper crew. In less than seven minutes he was already in front of Ageha's door, knocking furiously. Ageha eventually opened the door with an annoyed look.
"What do you think you're doing? I was piping cream. If it wasn't because I was a precise person the cream would've gone everywhere. For short, you startled me. Big time."
"Well I don't know, what do you think you're doing? You think it's funny challenging Mimasaka like that? You think his stalking skill is a joke? A really funny one? Heck he might even be watching and listening to us right now! For short, I am angry. Big time!" Takumi couldn't contain himself.
"Well if you came to my apartment and start yelling at me because I was trying to help you, you might as well leave."
"Hey, you think it's funny what you put on the line? You actually think that our friendship is less valuable that what is of a mezzaluna? Well if you think so then we might as well not be friends since the very beginning."
"If you are going to say things like that with your thankless self, furthermore imitating my choice of words, you might as well not come to talk at all since the very beginning," and Ageha closed the door. Her face red, tears started streaming down from her ducts. Takumi left. Despite the barely audible sobs that he heard, he left.

It was the day of Shokugeki and Ageha came with calm demeanor and cold eyes, that's her fighting mode anyway. Not many people came to watch, but some spectators were present.

As expected, Mimasaka stalked Ageha to the fullest and had the exact same ingredients and hand utensils but Ageha looked far from worried. The most surprising thing is that after the match was announced commencing, Erina and Alice Nakiri appeared.

The small crowd was surprised. What business do the Nakiris have in such a small scale Shokugeki? Were they watching Ageha, or were they observing Mimasaka? Questions flooded the audiences' minds.

As expected, Mimasaka copied Ageha's recipe thoroughly and went two steps ahead of her. Ageha was making a jelly, a soft cake, two different types of cream, and a curd. It was a complicated dish and everyone could see that Mimasaka copied it with hard work. The battle was intense, as Mimasaka copied Ageha's recipe perfectly. It was impossible for a novice to make such complicated dessert in such little time, but Ageha was a pro and Mimasaka was a master copycat.

Mimasaka finished first. He handed his prettily plated dessert to the judges. The dessert resembles a small rolled cake with pretty colors. The jelly in the middle was tiny and violet colored, wrapped with golden layer of lemon curd on the outside. Another layer is a really pale shade of purple that came from the cream while the outer layer is a beautiful yellow colored soft cake served with a tiny glass of lemon and cream. Art. That's what everyone in the auditorium thought. Mimasaka, no, Ageha's dessert is truly a work of art.

The judges took a spoonful of Mimasaka's dessert. Silence. The three judges went silent, doesn't mean that the dish had no effect. What reflected from their eyes were pure bliss.

"The lavender jelly is just beyond words. The suffocating aroma of lavender goes really well with the tanginess of the lemon curd."
"Wait! This lemon curd, something is different! Honey lemon curd! Oh my God. I can barely taste the honey but it gives off the different kind of sweetness to the curd!"
"Your creme diplomat is wonderful as well, not too heavy and not too light-" the judge stopped talking.
"This isn't just mere lavender creme diplomat! Although it's really well made on its base, that's not all. There's a hidden flavor in here!" he continued enthusiastically.
"Lemon zest. It's lemon zest. I found that it would connect each layer of this dish. The cake on the outside isn't a regular jelly roll as well," Mimasaka proudly explained.
"Biscuit gioconde! This is biscuit gioconde spiced with lemon zest and lavender as well! It unites the entire dish into one!"
"Lemons and cream as the side, huh? Let's see if they go together," but their faces explained everything.
"Honey sweetened lemon! And this cream is sabayon!"
"I lightly sweetened the lemons for a day with honey instead of serving it on the spot, I believe the extra effort will win my dish from yours, right Provoust-san?" Mimasaka grinned a really huge grin at Ageha while she just stood there with unforgiving eyes.
"Even copying my dessert plating Mimasaka? I'm surprised you could go this far. The lavender and zest gioconde sounds like a really good idea as well. I'll try it next time, but for now-"
Ageha took something out of the oven, a dough shaped like an oversized cigar that has been resting in the oven was a gorgeous golden colour.
"Time to crush you flat."

Mimasaka grinned. Ageha grinned back. Both opponents were grinning at each other in an unfriendly manner. Ageha completed the final steps in making her cake by inserting it in the cigar. She took a kitchen torch and started burning her lemon and sabayon, plated it, and served it in front of the judges.

"Bon appétit messieurs," Ageha smiled.

Mimasaka had copied Ageha's previous plating, but as a pâtissiere she couldn't possibly plate her dessert the same way and let her pride be stained. She arranged her plate in another way using the same ingredients and surprised the juries.

"Amazing, what an art. It looks like an entirely different dish!"
"Let's see how it tastes though," the other judge said and they dug in.
"This! This is not some mere tuile biscuit!"
"I thought the difference was only on the outside, but no-"
"This is a really well-made dessert. It's even better than the one I ate in France."
"No! Do you even grasp the concept of this dish? It's not just some regular original dessert. This dessert has a story, has a soul."
"It's a cannoli! This dish is a cannoli! An Italian cannoli! With French touch!"
"It's not the same. At the end, a copy is a copy. Points for Ageha Provoust!" said the first judge.
"Me too!" second judge raised his hand.
"Ageha Provoust, no doubt," the third judge nodded.

Mimasaka stood there, dumbfounded.
"I don't get it. Explain to me how I just lost like that," Mimasaka demanded.
Ageha smirked, "Oh of course you lose. This dessert was constructed by four people. I don't blame you for losing. Four people, Mimasaka. Three of them were the Aldinis. Isami taught me what cannoli was, Takumi's uncle taught me how to utilize the sabayon and the olive oil lemon curd, I think you know. This is the power of the Aldinis that you made fun of."
"But I can't lose just like that! I don't understand! My dish is united into one while yours is a mixture of so many random things. Your dish couldn't have won against mine!"
"Sadly, you just aren't smart enough to notice where you went wrong hmm?" Erina Nakiri stepped in. The small crowd gasped.
"And do you really think that your honey infused lemon could've really had defeated that caramelized lemon and the really fine sabayon that was made by Ageha-chan? Look at the texture." Alice Nakiri added.
"And if this can fit into your small mind, your lavender is too strong for such a small volume dish."
"To sum it up, you lost completely to her. Not just in terms of ideas, but also in techniques."

"And the winner is Ageha Provoust!"

There, in the small crowd, lips that belong to a certain blonde haired guy curled up for the first time in the last few days.