The Expert Among the Chefs | Yukihira Souma

Shokugeki in the Basement

Sakura felt a little bit sorry for Soma. However, she was the one who came up with the idea of having Tadokoro as the head chef and Soma the sous. But she believed that Tadokoro needed to learn that she couldn't rely on Soma all the time, and this was the perfect way to do it. Sakura, of course, was aware that their learning at Totsuki was on the line. But she could do something about it, right?

All she could do was hope.

* * * * *

The smell of Kojiro's Chou Farci permeated in the basement and Sakura's stomach was eating itself away. The last time she had eaten was nearly five hours ago. Kojiro smirked. He was off to a great start. There was absolutely no way that a dimwit like Tadokoro could possibly win against him.

Or so he thought....

Tadokoro on the other hand, was shaking vigorously. Her gaze was blank and Sakura felt rather worried for her. But as a judge, she wasn't allowed to help her. Suddenly, Soma walked up to Tadokoro and Sakura felt her lips twitch into a small smile.

"Oi, Tadokoro." he called loudly. Everybody turned to see what was going on, including Kojiro. "Put your hands together."

The blue haired girl whimpered something incoherent. Reluctantly, she attempted to put her two hands together. But whenever they got close to each other, Tadokoro's hands would repel from one another as if they were positive to positive magnets.

"Tadokoro!" Soma called again, louder than he had before. "C'mon, put your hands together. You can do this, Tadokoro!" he said encouragingly.

Sakura sighed in a melancholy tune. What was happening in front of her was so sweet, yet still very sad and rather heartbreaking.

Finally, Tadokoro clasped her hands together tightly. Soma grinned. Time seemed to stop. Every single pair of eyes in the room was on the two high school freshmen chefs. Everybody held their breath, waiting for what would happen, until-

SMACK!!

A few people winced at the loud sound. Soma had just slapped Tadokoro's hands. So now, if it was even possible, the girl's hands were clasped together even tighter than they had been before.

Tadokoro flinched. Not only at the sound, but also at the searing pain on her hands. Rubbing them, her eyes widened as she realized something crucial. She was no longer shaking like a mad girl! Looking around at herself in disbelief, Tadokoro smiled.

Kojiro snorted and went back to cooking his Chou Farci (even though he was also mesmerized by the scene in front of him).

Sakura could tell that it was taking a lot of Inui's all to not stand up and cheer for Tadokoro. Though it was physically impossible as Kojiro had tied her up and gagged her as well. Sakura had to fight her own urge to do the same as well.

Soma's grin grew wider. "C'mon, Tadokoro. Now that you've stopped shaking, you can start thinking about what you wanna cook. Y'know, the rice balls that you made for us back at the dorm were great! Try doing something like that."

Tadokoro opened her mouth to speak but Soma cut her off again.

"Actually, you should completely forget about your opponents skills for a moment." Sakura smiled. Soma was on the right track. Though, Kojiro snorted loudly again and began to laugh. But Sakura shut him up by sending him one of her infamous death glares. The redhead continued. "And you should cook something that enhances your specialty. Forget about the opponent and think about how you're going to cook. What you're going to cook. You should cook with a passion, that's why you're here at Totsuki. And if you do this, you should be fine, Tadokoro. After all, with your education on the line..." his voice trailed off as he realized that his own education at Totsuki was on the line as well.

Tadokoro mumbled something among the lines of, "Thank you so much for helping me, Soma."

The boy smiled. "Then lets do this!"

And they began to cook.

A.N: This'll be the last update I make for this fanfiction before I go on a (brief, hopefully) hiatus. If you haven't read the message I posted on my feed a few hours ago, then....uh....you should check so you get filled in. On another note, I am very sorry I haven't updated for the past three weeks as I broke my arm and....well, yeah. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please keep your faith in me because I promise, promise, promise (!) that an update will come as soon my break of taking off writing is over. I'll still be on Wattpad, though. But thank you very much for being flexible with my on-and-off writing schedule. All you have to do is wait, and yes, I know that's going to be very hard. ;)

Word Count: 1,381 words

Ja nee~

-Lady Catherine Griffin of Somewhere Over the Rainbow