"Hey, I saw you come out of his room this morning," Izumi brought this up during breakfast out of nowhere causing Yumi to spit out her drink. He pointed at Yumi then at Isshiki. "Care to explain."
Yumi never got a chance to restock her potable fridge (or wherever she puts all her food) and had no choice but to eat outside. Not to mention she missed way too many classes, any more missing grades and she'd be expelled. But that not important right now.
"This," Yumi pointed at Isshiki while chewing her slice of bacon. "Kidnapped me to his room to talk, and shoved a plate in my face. I probably fell asleep at some point, and I guess he decided to just let me sleep there instead of waking me up." She glared daggers at him. "like a normal person."
Izumi eyes them suspiciously, "So you two didn't do anything?"
"Of course not!" Aiko gasped while giving him a hard chop on the head. "If they did, we would've heard it."
"Enough spouting nonsense and finish eating or we're gonna be late." Isshiki frowned.
"I dont understand?" Yumi said cutting her sunny side eggs, in no hurry at all. "What's so strange about me talking and eating with him? Were we talking that loudly? I didn't realize the walls were that thin." She blinked innocently.
They looked at her oddly for a second.
"Wait, wait, ok, hello, random question. What do couples do when they are alone?" Izumi asked.
"... hold hands? Kiss?" She answered blankly then started panicking. "Wait, What are you implying! We're not-"
'oh god, she's pure.' All of them thought at the same time. Then stared at Isshiki like he just kicked a puppy.
"Well would you look at the time, we're truly late," Aiko exclaims dragging Izumi out of the dorm with her.
"We should go too. Come on let's go," Isshiki took away Yumi's empty plate, despite her protest that it's still another hour before her class.
****************
The campus didn't exactly stay quiet about Yumi defeat, and my two-week absence only cooked up more gossip for her peers to exaggerate and twist.
The gossips are something along the lines of:
-The undefeated champion is finally dethroned
-I heard she joined the Polar Star Dormitory
-She was probably so ashamed and just went home
-She is a witch, her kitchen literally just exploded out of nowhere.
Lots of this floating around, showing her face around just added more fuel to the flames, like dont they have anything better to do like prepare for the next exam. But for Yumi, she was pretty used to people talking behind her back, during her endless shokugeki phase, this happened so often that she got used to it. She learned that it was best to just ignore it because correcting the rumors will only make things worse.
The class didn't change, the same as always. The whole time Yumi just sat on auto-pilot, managing to get through the class without remembering anything. How she pass any of her class is a mystery.
How thing however did change. Nothing she makes tasted... right, she swears she didn't change the seasoning on any of her dishes. Normally if Yumi is eating the food she herself cooked then she would eat it regardless if it was edible or not. But now she finds herself sitting in her private kitchen sighing at the plate in front of her, disheartened. "He spoiled my taste."
***************
"Get out of the kitchen! I'm using it." Yumi shouts upon entering the dormitory, storming into the main kitchen. Poor Saito scrambled to gather his stuff and fled out of there like he just set the place on fire.
"She sure is in a bad mood," Izumi said.
"Wow what gave that away. Was is her scowl, the yelling, or was it the storm that just passed by." Aiko said rolling her eyes. He glared at her in response.
"Well, I dont feel like dying today." Saito shook his head, barely able to carry his stuff. "And I left my spatula in there." He then turned towards his senior and in a hopeful tone he asked, "Care to retrieve it for me."
Isshiki smiled bitterly, "Sorry you're on your own."
"I figured as much..." Saito sighed dejectedly.
Izumi just patted his shoulders, "I hoped you said your goodbye, 'cause you're never seeing it again." Aiko also decided to comfort her poor junior.
***********
"Is this the best I can do?" Yumi frowns in disappointment, glaring at her creations. "These are pathetic."
"So this is why you monopolize the kitchen." Ms. Fumio spoke appearing out of nowhere picking up a spoon for a taste. "Not bad."
"I'm taking that as an insult." She scoffs, then stared at her hands. "I just dont know what's wrong with me, I can cook just fine before. But now I..."
"I'll tell you what's wrong with you," Ms. Fumio said pointing her spoon at her, "You lack motivation."
Yumi just stared blankly at her.
"Sure anyone can whip up a dish as good as this one. Granted not just anyone can do it as fast as you." Ms. Fumio shrugs. Yumi nodded with a faint smug look on her face. "But you..." Fumio continues to scold her with a spoon, "You don't seem to have any motive for cooking."
"..." Yumi averted her eyes and shifted uncomfortably.
"well it's not for me to pry," Ms. Fumio waved her hand dismissively and made her way out of the kitchen.
She was left alone, again glaring at her dish. "I already know what's wrong with me... and my 'motivation' is my problem."
***********
Later that evening, Yumi finally gave up trying to solve the problems that prick at her ego and decided to do some light reading. In her nest that's carefully weaved using pillows and blankets, she sat with a thick textbook on her lap, something about cooking theories.
"So this is where you are," Isshiki popped into her view of vision out of nowhere.
"You need to stop doing that its not good for my heart." Yumi gasped brandishing a pillow towards him, which he caught before it hit his face. "And why were you looking for me?"
"No reason I thought you were still monopolizing the kitchen, but it was too quiet so I went to check on you." He answers. "I heard you talking to Ms. Fumio."
Her movement paused for a moment before glancing away from her 'light reading'. "How much did you hear."
"Enough to blackmail you." He jokes.
"... Is that so," Yumi sighs. "I dont think any of the stuff I said is good enough to gossip about much less blackmail me with."
"Guilty." He raised his hands in defeat. "Though what Ms. Fumio said was interesting, why are you cooking? What is your reason."
She averted her eyes from him then flips another page of her textbook. "Food is a necessity in life."
"Then all you would need is an abundant amount of instant food."
"I prefer something healthier." She flipped another page without even reading it.
"sure, but why go through the trouble of becoming a chef?"
"because I'm an idiot and want to waste my time?" She faked a smile. "Don't you already know the answer? My family runs a diner."
"Why did you agreed to all those shokugekis?"
"The first one is because they insulted my family's diner, all the other time was just me letting off some steam." She rolled her eyes. "Well I suppose that wasn't the only reason, they helped me gain lots of valuable experience. But alas, that's all they're good for, I have no use for them after our battle."
'I won't say it out loud but I'm glad that he put an end to my rampages.' Yumi thought, tossing the textbook to the side. "Is that all? I kind of want to get back to researching my next dish."
"you're one scary lady, you know that," Isshiki told her. "Able to say something like that without batting an eye."
Yumi liked a few times then cracked a smile. "Everyone in this academy is my personal stepping stone, if I feel the need to I will go and gain myself some experience."
*************