~~~~Soma~~~~
The entire dorm was sitting in the dining room staring at a little blue pamphlet with a picture of a happy chef and a peaceful background.
"Huh? A training camp?" I asked.
"So, it's that time, is it?" Yuki said as my sister took the pamphlet and started flipping through it.
"So, what's the deal with this training camp?" Hikari asked, "You all look like it's a kick to the gut."
"We had training camps back in elementary and middle school." Ryoko explained, "It's where you camp outside for a few days."
"Oh, okay. So this is one of those wilderness adventure schools or whatever." I said.
Just then, I saw Megumi's face turn whiter than a ghost and her entire body was shaking uncontrollably.
"Yo, Megumi, you all right over there?" Hikari asked.
"She knows." Zenji answered ominously, "This trip is like a trip to hell, and we all have to face it to survive."
"All of the freshmen students get sent to the mountains and are subjected to a whole bunch of brutal tests." Yuki continued, "If you don't manage to pass everything, you'll be told to leave the academy. They say it's for the spirit of friendship, but the truth of it is... THIS TRAINING IS FOR THE SPIRIT OF PAIN AND TORTURE!!!"
"It's not that bad." Isshiki said casually, "Just a little competitive education. In the words of the principal 'This is the process that reveals the best of the best among us'."
I glanced over at my sister and saw the stars in her eyes shining even brighter than normal.
"Sounds like a lot of fun!" She exclaimed and rushed over to Isshiki, "Say, tell me everything you can about the training camp? Was it fun? Was it tough? What kind of things can I expect from it?"
Isshiki smiled at my sister, "It was very grueling, and the only way I survived was being very careful in every single decision I've made. Even back then, dozens of students were forced to leave the premises, and few others were even expelled."
"What? Expelled?" Shoji said shocked by the revelation.
"At the camp a few years ago, they apparently got rid of more than half the students?" Shun added.
All of a sudden, Megumi collapsed onto the ground, whispering her last words to the world. Yuki cried by her side at the same time.
But was I was muttering about bath times.
"Hey Soma!" Yuki shouted at me, "How could you be worried about your bath schedule at a time like this? Did you just not hear Megumi say her last dying words?"
Hikari laughed and pat Yuki on the head, "Calm down for a minute, Yuki. Half of the students get out of the camp, right?"
"so, we'll just have to make sure that we're in the percentage that doesn't get kicked out." I finished for my sister.
Everyone was quiet for a minute until Isshiki broke it by chuckling.
"I have faith in all of you." He said, "I'm sure that everyone at Kyokusei will make it back with grand smiles."
We all went to bed with a new sense of determination in us. But before I went to bed, I followed my sister to her room to help her pack.
"You know, big brother, you don't need to help me pack. I'm not a little kid anymore." She said as she grabbed a few sets of clothes and put them in her duffle.
"I know you don't need me to help you. I just want to double check some things in your bag. Don't want you forgetting your meds and papers."
I grabbed her papers from her desk and carefully put them in her carryon bag. It caused a few problems back in middle school when the teachers didn't believe her story about her condition, so she was required to start carrying her medical papers with her to show them proof of her condition. As I put the papers into her bag, I noticed a new one on her desk. A paper signed by the headmaster himself.
"Hikari, what's with this one?" I asked holding up the paper.
"Oh, that? That's something the headmaster sent over to the dorm yesterday. It's to help me explain my medical situation with the teachers. The headmaster signed it himself apparently so there's no confusion."
I nodded and also put her headache pills in the bag as well, along with a few other things that would help her senses if they got too overwhelmed.
When we were done, I gave her her bag, "There you go, Hikari. Everything you need for your senses."
She turned and smiled at me before taking the bag from my hands, "Thanks a lot, Soma. And don't worry about me so much. You know that these kinds of assignments are my specialty."
I laughed and nodded, "I know, I know. But if anything bad happens, you come straight to me, you got that?"
"Yeah, yeah, I understand. Now get going. You still need to pack."
I left and went back to my room to get ready for the training camp, all the while being pumped up for the challenge.
~~~~Hikari~~~~
After three days of anticipation, our training camp trip began. We were loaded onto the buses at exactly six o'clock in the morning and driven to a private location in the mountains. I don't remember much about the ride up there, since I was sleep for most of the drive, but when I woke up, all I saw were trees and forest.
As soon as we got to the training camp, everyone was stunned by the beautiful resort standing in front of us. And it was all owned by Totsuki Academy.
"This is where we'll be training?" Megumi stuttered.
"The school sure has money, all right?" Soma said.
"Do they seriously own this entire resort?" I wondered.
"Well, it might shock you, but Totsuki runs all the hotels around here." Shun explained.
"Ha! That doesn't shock me at all." Soma said, but from the look on his face and how much he was shaking, I could see that he was shocked.
"I heard that a dozen or more are actually functioning under the Totsuki Resort brand, and that many of their graduates are working in their kitchens." Zenji added.
"If you stay the night, I heard it could cost up to 80,000 yen."
"That doesn't... shock me at all." Soma strained to hide his shocked tone.
I sighed and reached into my carryon bag, pulling out one of my homemade snack bars to help him calm down.
"Here, bro, snack on this and calm down before you blow a vein in that big head of yours." I said. Soma took the snack bar and took a bite, calming down from the sweet flavors.
"Okay then. We get to stay here the whole time, right?" Yuki asked with hope in her eyes, "It's time for some luxury."
"If you can survive each day's agenda." Shun added.
"Shun! Can't you let a girl live in her dream world?"
I laughed, "Don't worry, Yuki, you'll get a chance to live in luxury as soon as the day's activities are over. For now, let's drop off our bags and head off to the assembly."
We all went inside the hotel and gave our bags to the staff, except of course for my smaller bag, which was instructed for me to keep on my person after I showed them my papers and the signed agreement from the headmaster.
We went into the assembly hall, but as soon as we went inside not a single person made a sound. It was more silent than a mime convention in the room. Just then, I spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.
"Nikumi!" I called out.
"Hey, it is is Nikumi!" Soma added.
She turned around and stared at us with a flushed expression.
"H-Hey Hikari Soma." She stuttered. I couldn't help but smile and give her a hug.
"I'm really glad to see you here, Nikumi." I said pulling away from her, "It would've been a little more boring here without the famous Meat Master to put on a show."
"Hikari! Don't fraternize with the enemy!" Yuki shouted from behind me.
"And should you really be calling her by that nickname?" Ryoko asked.
"Why not, she's fine with it. Right, Nikumi?" I asked Ikumi, but she only nodded at me.
"Take a look, it's those transfer students." One of the other students muttered.
"They'll flunk this camp for sure."
"I can't wait to see that little tramp fail."
"Who do they think they are, sporting around their smiles like that?"
I growled and looked towards the group talking behind our backs. It was a group of boys and from the scent they gave off, they were wearing expensive cologne. Just disgusting.
"Soma, think I can talk with them for a little bit?" I asked my brother.
"All right, but try not to scar them too much, okay?" He said.
I nodded and walked over to the group of boys.They turned to me and all they could see was my annoyance and anger towards them.
"And what do you want, transfer?" The brown haired boy asked with a sneer.
"Just wanted to know why the heck you're wearing such a disgusting scent." I said.
"What? How dare you?! Do you know how--"
"Popular the scent is? No I don't and to be frank, I don't care in the slightest. What I do care about is how you're bad mouthing me and my brother behind our backs. It's just sad that you don't have enough courage to say what you want to our faces."
The boys glared at me, but they didn't say anything since they knew I had a point.
"The next time you want to talk about me and my brother, say what you want to our faces instead of hiding with your words in the dark." I added and smiled wickedly at them, "And if you say anything vicious about my big brother, I swear on my favorite blade that you will regret every single syllable you utter out of that big mouth of yours. Do I make myself clear?"
The boys gulped, "Crystal." They said.
I smiled and walked back to my brother and the rest of our friends.
"So, how tough were you on them?" Soma asked.
"Oh, I was just fine. I gave them a little reminder of how they shouldn't be so cowardly as to talk behind others' backs." I answered with a laugh, but it threw a few of my friends off just a bit.
Before we could do anything else, a voice echoed from the stage.
"Good morning everyone." A French voice announced from the stage. I looked up and saw Chef Chapelle, an expert of French cuisine from what Soma said, "I will now go over the details of this required training camp. You will be staying here for six days and split into groups. You will tackle various food related challenges, as well as test the limits of your stamina. Any student who falls below the standards of their instructors will receive a failing grade. You will be returned to the academy and be asked to leave. We have invited some guest instructors who will act as judges for your challenges."
Everyone was confused, but I was even more excited to see these judges.
"Though they are very busy, they have taken time out of their schedules just for this event. Please welcome the graduates of Totsuki Academy."
Slowly, several chefs came onto the stage and all of the other students were freaking out. No one said a single word as the chefs stared down at the students.
"You there." One of the graduates, a man with glasses and salmon colored hair, pointed towards my brother, "The young man in the ninth row with the cut over his brow."
Soma pointed to himself, but the chef gestured to the brown haired boy I talked to earlier.
"Yeah, you. You're expelled. You may leave now."
The boy's eyes widened in shock as the chef who expelled him walked off the stage and up to him.
"Your hair product has a citrus aroma to it. That would mask the smell of your cooking, yes? Obviously, I know it's important to look good. A good looking chef would lessen the appeal of his food. Perhaps next time, you should use an unscented hair product."
"I'm expelled, just for something like that?" The boy cried out.
"Something like that can be enough to lose customers. You little troll, are you out to destroy my restaurant?"
The boy looked at the chef in terror, and ran out of the hall in tears. And even though the kid was rude to me and my brother, he didn't deserve to be called out like that so harshly.
"And what good is looking good and great cooking if the hands that make the food belong to such a sour man?" I said without thinking. There a silence in the room yet again as the man looked over at me, Soma clutching my hand in worry for me being expelled.
"You..." He said, looking at my hearing aids, "What are those things in your ears?"
"Hearing aids, to help me hear properly."
Just as I said that, the chef reached to my ears and ripped out my hearing aids. Immediately I was drowned in a never-ending echo from the silence. All I could hear were the breaths of the students and my brother's erratic heartbeat as he held me closer.
"Sis, are you okay?" He whispered as softly as he could, but to me, it felt like he was speaking loudly.
"What do you think you're doing?" I whispered to the chef.
"Speak up, kid." He said loudly, "There's no room for chefs that can't speak loud and proud."
I sighed and took out my papers before giving it to the chef. My brother glared at the chef.
"If you'd look at my sister's papers, you'll see that she a condition called Hyperesthesia, which in plain terms is extremely increased senses. And that includes her hearing." Soma said.
"There's also a letter from the headmaster himself confirming this condition to be accurate." I added.
The chef swiped the papers from my hands and looked them over. For a second, I could see a little bit of embarrassment in his eyes.
"It seems to be in order." He said and flung the papers back at me.
"Gee, thanks for telling me that buddy. Now, can I have my hearing aids back so I don't die of this major headache?" I said.
The chef scowled at me and dropped my hearing aids into my hands. I didn't hesitate to put them back in and set the setting to normal before taking a headache pill to help with the pain.
At that moment, I barely heard Zenji call the chef Kojiro Shinomiya. I was just focused on getting myself back to normal. I would definitely have to take another pill before bed.
Then, I looked up and saw a single man on the stage. He was tall, wearing a brown suit with an air of authority surrounding him. I remembered reading about him in the staff section of the school books we were given earlier in the year. He was Gin Dojima, the executive chef of the Totsuki Resorts chain and member of the board of directors.
"Welcome students to the illustrious Totsuki Resort." He welcomed us warmly, "All the graduates you see before you are chef owners, masters of their domain. For the six days you are here, we're going to be treating you exactly like as if you were employees at our restaurants. Do you know that that means? Anyone who does not perform up to our standards... is done. Meaning, you're expelled. As you have seen, your teachers have the right to send you home whenever they please. I wish you good fighting. Now, you know your groups. Get moving."
All of the students split up into the assigned groups, Soma, Megumi and I being the said group: Group F to be exact.
I enjoyed the smell of the fresh mountain, a clean scent that just made me feel calm and collected.
"Well, it looks like everyone is here." A sweet voice said as we entered the secluded shack near the mountains. I turned to see the chef judging us today. She was a fair woman with a sweet smile and long brown hair tied into a low ponytail that sat over one of her shoulders.
I remembered her from the school handbook and some other books I read in my free time between classes. Her name was Hinako Inui, and even though she looked sweet, she was terrifying when it comes to cooking.
"Now then, for this exercise, I would like for you to pair up and work in teams. You'll be in the same pairs as in your first lecture, so please head over to your labeled stations."
I looked around for my name on the assigned tables and saw that I was paired with a very entitled princess. Mirai Matsui, a girl with the face of a doll, but the soul of a screeching demon. She looked at me as if I was the bane on the butt of humanity.
"Seriously?!" She screamed, "Chef Inui, can I please switch with someone else? It's bad enough that I have to be out here in the middle of nowhere. But now I'm partnered with her?"
"Sorry, but those are my rules." Chef Inui said with a calm smile, "If you don't like them, I can push the paperwork for your expulsion, Ms. Matsui. Would you like that?"
Being threatened with expulsion, Mirai didn't say a single word more. Honestly, I don't mind being partnered with her, but if she was going to be complaining like this all of the time, I might as well power up my hearing aids to the max and go deaf.
"Sis." I heard Soma say as he walked over to me, "This chick giving you issues?"
I chuckled and pat his shoulder, "Nothing I can't handle."
My brother laughed and was about to say something, when another student decided to start trouble.
"You two are Soma and Hikari Yukihira, aren't you?" A voice said behind my brother.
"Yeah, that's us." We said and turned around and saw a familiar student standing behind my brother.
~~~~Soma~~~~
I felt a foot plant into my toes and crushing them to bits. I recognized the blonde kid as the one who helped my sister when Mirai yanked out her hearing eyes, and the brown haired kid behind him was there as well.
"Uh... that's over ten seconds of foot grinding." I said, "I'm guessing that you're trying to get our attention."
"If it's an accident, that's fine." Hikari glared at the boy, "But it would be in your best interest that you get off my brother's foot. Right now, please."
But he didn't lift his foot, "Well, I've been hoping to cross paths with the two of you. And on our first challenge nonetheless. I look forward to crushing the both of you."
Hikari scoffed at him, "And who do you think you by saying that you'll be crushing either of us?"
"Are you seriously that stupid?" Mirai shouted at my sister, "He's one of the top students from the middle school division. Takumi Aldini!"
"I'm really happy for you." I said, "But if you don't move your foot, then I won't be able to save you."
"Save me from what?" The kid, Takumi, asked. My sister walked up to Takumi and gave him a cold hard stare.
"From me." She finished for me.
"Okay everyone!" Ms. Hinako said, opening up a small bag of rice crackers and taking a seat on the raised stage seat, "I'll be sitting right here and watching the entire time. If you have anything you don't understand, please feel free to ask me."
"Um... Chef Inui, you still haven't told us what the challenge is." One of the other students asked.
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot." Chef Inui gestured to the empty table nearby, "You're challenge is to use these ingredients here to emphasize traditional Japanese cooking."
"But there isn't a supply of ingredients here." Another student said.
"Well, of course there is." She pointed out the window, "The bounty of nature is at your disposal, and there is a clear stream with a wealth of options. You have seasonings, oil and cooking utensils. Feel free to also use the fishing equipment. The surrounding area is our own private land. You can go as far as the fence. Venturing outside the fence will be an automatic failing grade. You'll get your ingredients solely from the designated area and then cook with only them. As long as you create a dish that satisfies my pallet, you will pass. You have two hours to complete your meal."
There was a bit of silence for a second, but that quickly faded away with the students rushing out the door to gather ingredients. Before I rushed out with Megumi, I turned back to my sister.
"Good luck, Hikari." I said smirking.
"I should be saying that to you. This is my element." She shot back and rushed to out the door with the other students and her assigned partner.