Serenedipity

Chapter 6

"So tender.....The fork's practically springing back."

'What?! Impossible! There's no way they were able to braise it long enough!' the two mischievous students thought to themselves as their gazes were directed towards the three of you.

"Your team had an accident if I recall. How did you manage to finish the assignment?" he questioned in a somewhat curious tone. Soma grinned and revealed a jar filled with yellow, orange-ish liquid.

"We used honey! I kneaded it into the meat before the braise, and it was also included in the seasoning."

"Honey has protease, which breaks down proteins. The protease went to work on the tough beef flank, allowing you to tenderize it in the short time you had left," he stated and started to cut a piece of the meat for tasting.

"B-But how'd you know that you could use honey this way?" Megumi suddenly questioned.

"A long time ago We read this cookbook that said pineapple juice tenderizes the meat. We couldn't think of a reason why we'd get an entire pineapple just for that, so we experimented with a bunch of different stuff to see if anything had a similar effect. Honey has a long shelf life, so it's much more versatile." Soma explained to the blue-haired girl as he held to honey jar with one hand.

"Well, you'll see once you try a bite, Megumi." Hana raised a fork in front of her. The slice of beef was already at the fork the moment she raised it towards Megumi's mouth. Moving the slice of meat closer, Megumi parted her lips and leaned forward to take a bite. Her eyes were closed for a while as she savoured the meat.

Her eyes snapped back open. It felt like she was in a vast forest, the sun was also shining brightly. The colour of green, the scent of sweet honey and the scent of fresh air, like the air at the mountain top. The wind blew on her skin and made her hair flutter. Bees buzzing and carrying a pot of honey with them as they floated towards the bluenette. Without warning, the tilted their pot and let the honey stream down until it made contact with Megumi's skin. It felt divine. 'I'm melting.....' Honey started to overflow around her. It was as if there was a whirlpool from honey sweeping her away. 'Melting.....' The texture was so tender and perfect.

"C'est merveilleux!" Chapelle exclaimed. Megumi sighed happily, her face slightly flushed. For the first time in forever, the students in the class gasped. The dish aside, they were even surprised at something else. The chef who was nicknamed 'The Chef Who Never Smiles' finally....

"Chapelle-sensei.....smiled!" The thoughts of all the students in the class united. The said teacher placed down the utensils and glanced at the three of them, his smiled had already faded, now there was a serious expression written on his face.

"Yukihira, Hana and Tadokoro. I'll give you an A rating. However.....I regret the fact that I do not have the authority to grant you a higher rating." Chapelle stated with a smirk. Megumi gasped happily at the fact that she was not going to get expelled from Totsuki. Hana grinned widely and patted Megumi. Soma swiftly untied the headband while Hana tied the ribbon back around her neck.

"Glad you liked it!" he grinned.

"That transfer student's cooking....." a student said in pure shock.

".....got a higher rating than ours?" there was nothing that they could say, all they could do was stand on their stations in pure shock. Unbelievable. Unexpected. Those thoughts crossed their minds for a brief moment but their focus which was once directed onto the red-haired of a transfer student suddenly broke. The scent of burning, more precisely the scent of slightly overcooked meat and sauce filled the air, followed by smoke rising from the stainless steel pot. One of the two mischievous students who pulled tricks on them hurriedly lifted the lid of the pot.

"H-Hey!" he exclaimed, his voice wavering slightly as worry struck his mind. Unlike his partner, his mind was more focused on their dish rather than on Soma.

"The sauce's getting burnt!" the male half yelled, successfully catching the attention of his partner.

"Shit!" he unconsciously cursed and instinctively turned around, when he turned around and fumbled with the salt container on his hand, accidentally dropping the salt container onto both the beef and sauce. But there was no choice left but to serve this dish. Chapelle's smile faded quickly as he saw the dish in front of his eyes. A vein was literally popping out of his head, making them gulp as they prepared for the worst.

"E rating!"

Failure was expected.

Hana and Soma were putting back the spices to their designated place. Opening the cupboard, Soma placed back the jar of honey back into the cupboard and closed it by sliding the partition. Megumi walked towards both of them after noticing that they were almost done putting away everything.

"Soma-kun, Hana-chan," she called out.

"Hey, good work back there!" Soma smiled at the bluenette. Hana slide opens another cupboard and glanced at Megumi while placing back the other spices.

"Thanks for helping!" She smiled at the girl.

"Thanks for today! It's all thanks to you two that I....." Megumi said in a low voice and glanced at both of them.

"Never mind all that! We're both looking forward to working together from now on, Tadokoro!" the red-haired male raised his thumb and flashed her one of his wide grins. Megumi looked at both of them with slight admiration in her yellow eyes. 'Maybe I've gotten myself paired with someone really special.....' she thought to herself, referring to both Hana and Soma. The red-haired male then glanced at Megumi.

"Oh, by the way. Want to try my new recipe to celebrate our team-up?" he questioned with a smile. Hana was too busy searching for the right cupboard for the salt, she was too busy to listen to what kind of conversation Megumi and Soma were having. Megumi smiled at the red-haired male, slightly eager to taste his new dish.

"Oh, really? I'd like to try," she said. Though, she didn't think about it that well. First, how was he able to make a dish when he was busy keeping the stuff? What kind of dish can be created in a short amount of time? She didn't have time to think about it. Soma, using a pair of chopsticks, raised calamari from the small metal container he carried around.

"Huh?" Megumi didn't know what to say, let alone how to react. The dish was certainly not an edible dish, well it was edible but just from the look of it, it would clearly upset your stomach. Soma raised the calamari slightly higher as a twisted grin made its way to his facial features.

"It's honey pickled squid." Without asking for Megumi's permission, he shoved the honey-covered squid into the poor girl's mouth.

'The flavour of squid had been taken in the wrong direction, making it as disgusting as it'd feel to be groped all over by it. No!' Megumi shouted to herself as the taste of the squid entered her system.

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A/n: Hey~ Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!

Random Fact: Is there any sugar in Tic Tacs?
Tic Tac® mints do contain sugar as listed in the ingredient statement. However, since the amount of sugar per serving (1 mint) is less than 0.5 grams, FDA labeling requirements permit the Nutrition Facts to state that there are 0 grams of sugar per serving.

Random Fact about food: The stickers on fruit are... edible! The stickers that are placed on our favourite fruit are actually fine to eat. Now you don't have to freak out when you accidentally take a chomp of one! Although, just because they are ok to eat, doesn't mean you should eat them.

Random Riddle:

You put me in hard.
But then I become soft.
Blow me hard and I will get bigger.

What am I?

Love,

Unwritten_Angel