"Fancy hearing your voice again, Jiro-kun." Kakono teased. "Would you like to talk to Haru-kun?"
Joichiro's voice crackled. "Nah, it's fine. I heard the old man appointed Kura-chan as a professor. She must be younger than Soma!"
Kakono laughed. "She is. I wonder what she's doing right now..."
Joichiro chewed on his trademark squid. "I'm guessing she met my son already. Probably talked big at the opening ceremony. It must've been love at first sight!" his voice switched to that of a love sick teenage girl.
"I was wondering what she might be doing right now, Jiro-kun, there's no need to be so weird." she deadpanned.
"Ah," Joichiro continued, abandoning Kakono's words. "Probaby dating my son."
"Oh, forget it, for crying out loud!! Haru-kun, get over here and talk to your big and lazy-assed friend!"
________________________________________
"Kura-chan," Eishi had said through the phone. "When would you like to meet with the current Elite Ten?"
Sakura laughed. "That's all your going to say, Eishi-kun? Your not going to say how much you missed me or whatever?" she teased him. "Oh God, I'm sounding like Dad, now!"
"Tomorrow after classes sounds good. Maybe around 3 hours after, I'll be having my class take a cooking test with some writing included...I'll need to grade them.... Okay! I'll meet the current Elite Ten at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to get going. I bet Oba-chan is just waiting to taste my food again! See you later, Eishi-kun!"
"Good bye, Kura-chan. Let me taste your cooking again."
She laughed. "I will, if I can taste yours."
She hung up.
Sakura sighed as she walked through the trees on the narrow path that led to the Polar Star Dormitory. It had been a while since she had seen Tsukasa Eishi. It had been four years.
"I wonder how Rin-chan is doing?" she wondered to herself.
A few minutes later, she founds herself at the porch in front of the dorm.
Banging on the door, she yelled, "OI! OBA-CHAN LEMME IN!"
An instant later Fumio Daimido opened the door. Her eyebrow twitched uncontrollably and an irk mark appeared on her forehead. "What did I say about calling me 'Oba-chan,' Kura-chan? My name is Fumio Daimido and you are to call me Fumio-san!"
The Madonna of the Polar Star Dormitory continued rambling on and on about how rude Sakura was being when footsteps approached. A cute girl who had her hair in space buns appeared from behind Fumio.
"Nee, nee, Fumio-san? What's going on?" Her eye caught Sakura and she immediately bowed at a 90 degree angle. "Nakiri-sensei! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Fumio raised her eyebrow. "Nakiri-sensei? Is that what you're asking them to call you?"
Sakura scratched her cheek. "Eh....I may or may not have given them a short presentation on myself and-"
Sakura was cut off by Fumio's laughter. Leaving her "Oba-chan" there, she stepped into the house. Sticking out her hand for a polite shake, Yuki took it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yoshino-san." Sakura greeted, smiling.
Yuki nodded as well. "Mmm!! Wait, how do you know my name?"
She gave Yuki the same answer she gave Soma.
"Minna! Look who I have?" Yuki dragged her to the kitchen where everybody was enjoying a dinner's meal.
Sakura figured they would be overly formal with her but she didn't think everybody except Isshiki and Soma would bow at a 90 degree angle and greet her with very formal honorifics such as "sama"or"sensei."
"Yo, Nakiri-san!" Soma asked with his mouth full as everyone sweat dropped at his informal greeting. "Whaddya doing here?"
Sakura giggled. "I'm going to be part of the dorm. Nee, why are you guys bowing? I'm just a previous first seat and professor..."
Isshiki laughed. "It sounds so common if you put it that way, Kura-chan."
Sakura grinned. "Oh, Satoshicchi, you're here too!"
Soma "Huh? 'Satoshicchi?' 'Kura-chan?'"
His question was left unanswered with all the confusion due to Sakura's "professional investigating skills." ("Nice to meet you Sakaki-san!" "Eh? You know my name?")
The Polar Star group enjoyed a good meal and welcome party (*cough cough Sakaki's rice ruice*) that night.
____________________________________________
The animated chatter died down and rose up at the same time as soon Sakura set foot in the room.
"Look, it's our instructor, Nakiri-sensei!"
"I wonder who's better: Erina or Nakiri-sensei?"
"Nakiri-sensei, of course! Passing the high school division entrance exam at age six! I'm older than her by four months and it took me that much time to be accepted."
"Okay, class! Chatting time is over, it's time to cook!"
The students listened with rapt attention.
"Since this class is going to be 2 and a half hours long...." Sakura paused and put a finger to her lips. "Oh, I'll just ditch the class plan and wing it!" she muttered to herself.
"Okay, your first assignment today is to cook your very own recipe of this simple egg frittata." she wrote the standard recipe on the board. "Use any ingredients you want that the pantry provides. The time limit is 2 hours. When you're done I will test the dish and see whether or not it receives an A rating or not. Be aware that your introductory stance also decides whether or not you get a failing grade. Head to your stations, you may begin!"
The faint aroma of egg wafted in the air while other students screamed orders at one another across the room.
The door flung open.
A girl and a boy walked in. The girl had dark scarlet hair and cat-like features. The boy had snow white hair and silvery blue eyes.
"Eishi-kun, Rin-chan!" Sakura got up to hug them endearingly. "What brings you here?"
A boy in front sighed dreamily. "The top three of the Elite Ten, in front of me. I can finally die happy!"
Sakura sighed. "Igarashi, quit ramming your mouth and get to work! Your frittata is burning! The boy, Igarashi looked fearfully at his frittata and let out a yelp before he quickly turned down the flame.
"Oh, Kura-chan! We just wanted to see how well your first class is." Rindo explained, sounding a bit condescending. "You were a good teacher back then." she smirked.
"Are you saying I'm still not a good teacher now?" Sakura hissed testily. Rindo could anger her easily but the two adored each other very much.
A girl in the far left corner of the classroom was beating her eggs slowly, her eyes too occupied on Eishi. He seemed to notice and tracked his gaze down to her. They held eye contact for a single second before the girl blushed furiously and averted her gaze.
Sakura clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Eishi-kun, stop distracting my students."
(A series of Eishi-Pessimist-Apologies of disrupting Sakura's class follows.)
After Rindo terrified a few students they both left leaving the entire classroom incredibly happy that they were able to witness the first and second seat talk to arguably the best chef in the world.
The first student came up. "My name is Matsuzaki Koichi. Taste the frittata and give me an A!" he smirked in an obnoxious way.
Sakura gave him a distasteful look. Naturally, she would've given him an E rating. But food came before introduction standards. She took the bowl and lifted a chopstick full of rice and egg frittata. By now the whole class was watching to see what grade he would get.
Her eye twitched.
"Matsuzaki Koichi," she began, opening her eyes and looking him straight in the eye. He shuddered but stood up taller, looking hopeful.
"E rating."
Matsuzaki widened his eyes. "What do you mean E rating?! I was the first one to finish!"
"Yes, but speed isn't everything, Matsuzaki-san, is it?" she retorted. "Listen, you rose the flame half a centimeter to high and overcooked it by 4 seconds. You didn't beat the eggs enough which leaves the frittata too bumpy and rough. Is that enough to explain why you didn't get an A rating?"
Matsuzaki whimpered, nodding and cowered to the back of the room.
"Next!" Sakura called.
"E rating."
"Next!"
"E rating."
"Ne-"
A silky Italian voice spoke up. "Ciao, m'lady. Per favore godetevi questa frittata di uova fatta da me, Chef Takumi Aldini. Godere!"
Sakura looked up to be met by the bright blue eyes of an Italian blond. Then she spoke in Italian. "Congratulazioni, Chef Takumi Aldini. Hai superato gli standard introduttivi."
Takumi smiled. "Grazie."
The students gave them all questioning looks at their Italian while the girls gave Sakura envious looks.
Taking the knife and fork and cutting the egg frittata, Sakura gave it a taste.
"Takumi Aldini." she announced. "A rating. Or, Una valutazione."
Takumi smiled again. "Grazie, m'lady."
After the rest of the class finished (Takumi and Isami were one of the few who passed Sakura's test), she had them take a personal test. "This test will let me know where your talents and specialties lie. Just specify your opinion on the following scenarios and questions on the test. There will be no right or wrong answers. You have 30 minutes to complete this test. You may begin."
Takumi and Isami Aldini walked out of their class and cracked their knuckles. "Good," Takumi said, encouraging himself. "I'm ready to face that transfer student!"
Isami grinned at his older brother's fieriness. "Nee, Onii-san, wasn't Nakiri-sensei's Italian spot on?"
Takumi nodded. "I agree. I wonder where she learned it from. She blends her words together fluently."
"I read that she was taught to speak six different languages fluently after her early career started, Onii-san." Isami said flashing his sharp teeth in a smile.
"Wow, that's amazing." Takumi complimented. "To learn six languages that quickly..."
"I agree, Onii-san." said Isami.
_______________________________
A.N: So here it is, the second chapter of "The Expert Among the Chefs!" Please tell me what you think in the comments below! Thanks!
Word Count: 1,667 words
Ja nee~
~Lady Catherine Griffin of Somewhere Over the Rainbow