[3rd person's Point of view]
"Well! What a beautiful morning!" Isshiki who was wearing his loincloth said. He was looking at the blazing sun and was holding his hoe. "It's a perfect way to start the first day of summer break!" he said.
Soma and Megumi were pulling out weeds then they stopped when they heard someone yelling.
"Oi!! Come take a look at this!" it was Yuki, she was currently holding a paper.
"It arrived." Megumi said and stood up.
"It's from the Autumn Elections office!" Yuki said showing the paper.
"Okay, let's open it." Soma said. Isshiki was just standing there looking at them. Soma then slowly took the paper inside.
"Curry..." then he slowly pulled it up. "...dish?" they asked in unison.
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"So, we just have to make curry rice?" Soma asked; his hand on his mouth.
"It says 'dish' so it doesn't have to be curry rice." Ryoko answered as she placed a tea in front of Soma.
"So basically, it's any dish that uses curry in some form." Shun added.
"Right, Isshiki-senpai?" Yuki asked their upperclassman who was currently drinking his tea.
Isshiki chuckled and looked at them. "Well, I wonder."
"Aw, you're redirecting!" Yuki exclaimed.
"Sakaki-kun, you make good tea." Isshiki answered; obviously avoiding the question.
"May I have seconds?" Shun asked.
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Soma was just thinking what curry dish would be best. Then he remembered what his father said. 'Her name's Shiomi. I heard she became an instructor at Totsuki.'
'If you ever meet her, mention my name. I used to look after her back then. I think she'll look after you.'
"That's what Dad told me." Soma said while walking beside Megumi. "I guess that's the place."
"Huh?" Megumi muttered as they stared at run-down building.
"It's more ragged that I expected." Soma said looking disappointedly.
"Maybe she's scary like Chappelle-sensei." Megumi added as they enter the building.
"Excuse us!" Soma yelled as they opened the door. He looked around just to see an empty room. "Huh? No one's here." then they heard someone grinding. They looked at their side and saw Shiomi there.
"Holy crap!" Soma looked surprised. The girl looked up at them. "Hello?"
"A visitor? Um.. Um... Sorry! I'll make tea right now!" she said panickingly. Then Megumi and Shiomi apologized to each other.
'They're apologizing to each other for making the other apologize.' Soma thought.
"Um, who is the instructor in this lab? If you could inform her that Saiba Joichiro's son c-" he was stopped as Shiomi landed a punch on his cheek.
Soma flew to the other side of the room; knocking both of the books and him. Megumi who was now scared looked at Soma.
"Saiba Joichiro's son please leave, right now!" Shiomi yelled.
"What? Um... he just fainted so I think that would be hard." Megu said.
"I don't even want to think about Saiba-senpai!" Jun cried out then a guy entered the room.
"Hey Jun. I got what you wante-" but he stopped when he saw the mess in the room.
"Oh, Sorry for the intrusion." Megumi said and bowed her head.
---
"Don't call me Jun! Call me Professor Shiomi! Hayama-kun you're my assistant! You should show me some respect." Shiomi ranted.
"Jun, you were supposed to water the plants today, you forgot." Hayama said which made Shiomi stop. "I did it for you."
"I'm sorry."
"You forgot last week too, and the spice almost died."
"I'm sorry."
"And who helped host the guest-"
"Yes, I'm sorry! I should call my rescuer." Shiomi said which made everyone look at her fiddling with her phone.
"Rescuer?" the three muttered in unison.
{MEANWHILE}
** phone ringing **
You groggily reached for your phone and squinted your eyes. The sun was shining brightly, as you looked at the caller's id. It was Jun.
You groaned before answering the call. "Yes?"
; (Reader)-chan!! Hayama-kun is bullying me!" you heard Jun cried out.
; Hey why are you calling (Nickname)!" you heard Hayama asked.
"Alright, I'll be right there." you said before ending the call.
{Jun's laboratory}
You opened the door and saw everyone sitting on the sofa. Soma and Megumi looked at you surprised.
"Eh!? I thought I was mistaken but the (Reader)-chan you were talking about is Yamaguchi (Reader)?" Megumi asked.
"Oh? Megu, Soma! I didn't know you're both here." you greeted acting surprised as you entered the room. Jun ran to hide behind your back.
"(Reader)-chan!" Jun called out as you shot a glance at Hayama.
"Aki you shouldn't bully Jun-san." you said as Hayama sighed.
"I didn't bully her, and did you just wake up?" Hayama asked looking at your currently soaked hair. You replied with a nod.
"Ohmy! I'm sorry for waking you up!" Jun cried out as you laughed it off and assured that it was fine.
"You guys how did you know (Reader)-chan?" Soma asked.
"Hmph I won't talk to any of Saiba-senpai's relative." Jun said which made Hayama sigh.
"We met her during the second week of class." Hayama replied which made Megumi and Soma surprised.
"Soma-kun look." Megumi said while looking at the jar of spices.
"Yeah, there are a ton of spices." Soma replied as they stopped at a leaf. "Oh, this smells a lot like curry!"
"It's called kari patta." you replied as Jun pulled you to sit on the sofa.
"Yeah, it also goes by the name 'curry leaf'." Hayama added.
"Huh? Is this fresh?" Megumi asked.
"You know this, Tadakoro?" Soma asked looking at Megumi.
"Yeah, the tree is very susceptible to cold weather, and will die in winter. So, in Japan, you usually only see dried curry leaf." Megumi explained, "It's very difficult to get fresh leaves."
"It's one of Jun's research projects." Hayama replied while sipping his tea. "She devised a way to reliably cultivate tropical spiced in Japan. She's also successful in finding long-term storage methods with freezing technology and in extracting new flavor compounds."
"Huh, you're more amazing than you look, Sensei." Soma told Jun. You thanked Jun before sipping your tea.
"B-being flattered by you gives me no joy." Jun replied looking away; obviously happy at the praise being thrown to her.
Suddenly Jun started her lecture. "Man, when she gets this way, it'll be a while." Hayama said as you replied with a nod, knowing well that it'll take an hour or two.
"Why don't you show Soma and Megu then?" you asked. Hayama looked at you and after hearing your idea, he smiled.
"Come have a taste. I'll show you how deep the spice world goes." Hayama said as he led the three of you to the kitchen.
"Here's the first dish, Kolivartha curry." Hayama said. "It's a traditional southern Indian dish. I used the curry leaf you saw earlier to flavor it." he added.
"Wow, it looks really good!" Soma said as he took a spoonful of it to his mouth.
"That's the power of fresh curry leaf. It's ten times more potent than the dried version." Hayama said while smelling the curry-leaf.
You, who didn't want to bother them, silently put some rice on a plate before pouring curry on it.
"All right, here's the next dish." Hayama stated and presented another plate. "Goan fish curry, which uses whitefish such as marlin and salmon!"
"Two serving of curry?" Megumi asked as a familiar smell tickled your nostrils.
"They both have the same ingredients and spices." you pointed out as Hayama nodded.
"How did you know that?" Soma asked so you pointed Hayama.
"Aki taught me how to use my nose." you replied.
"Compare how they taste." Hayama commanded Soma.
"The second one I ate tastes much better." Megumi exclaimed after tasting the dish.
"That's right, for that dish, I toasted red peppers and coriander in the frying pan. I used dry-roasted spices." Hayama replied. "Here's the last one." he said and placed a plate of curry in front of Soma and Megumi.
"It looks just like the Kolivartha curry we first tried." Megumi pointed out.
"Right, but it's totally different!" Soma exclaimed.
"I just used water instead of stock to simmer the ingredients." Hayama said. "I applied what Jun said earlier, the more flavors you blend together the less pronounced each flavor becomes. This is it in reverse: by removing the flavor from the stock, I magnified the flavor of the spices in this curry."
"I told you she needs me. I transform her principles into actual cooking. That's the role I play here." Hayama said.
"(Nickname) was right, I laughed when I saw what the preliminaries' topic was." Hayama added and placed his hands on his waist. "Who knew it'd be a curry dish?"
'Actually, I know...' you thought to yourself.
"You're in the autumn elections too?" Soma asked then you peeked behind Hayama. You were currently stuffing your mouth with the dishes Hayama just served.
"I'm in the same Group A as you, Yukihira Soma." Hayama answered.
"Huh? Did I say my name to you?" Soma asked confused.
"Gee Soma everyone in Totsuki knows about you." you replied after swallowing your food.
"Really?!" Soma asked surprised while looking at you.
"Your cooking's interesting." Hayama said. "Even with all kinds of restrictions, you use inspiration to overcome them." Soma then looked at Hayama.
"But that's not good enough to climb to the top of Totsuki. There's something that reaches the diner before flavor and appearance." Hayama said while walking towards Soma.
"It remains after the diner chews and swallows, that's fragrance. The one who dominates the field of cooking is the one who dominates its fragrance." Hayama then removed his apron and ponytail.
"In other words, the one who'll take the top at Totsuki is me, Hayama Akira!"
"Well, thanks for the food. Your curry was seriously good. I'll repay you for that next time." Soma said clapping his hands together.
"Next time?" Hayama asked and looked at Soma.
"I'll let you taste a curry better than yours at the prelims." Soma replied.
"You think you can defeat me at curry? You didn't figure out anything out from eating my curry?" Hayama asked looking shocked.
"I did, it was scary. Here's a guy who can make something I can't. Of course, I'm super jealous. Thanks for teaching me a lot." Soma said waving then went to the door.
You took your phone out as Hayama looked at you confused. You smiled at him and opened the camera then started recording. 'Here it comes!!' you thought smirking.
"I'll see you again at the prelim--" Soma was interrupted when the door busted open. The doorknob hit Soma directly in the gut.
"Hey!" Jun yelled. "I was still in the middle of my lecture!" you laughed hard at seeing the scene. You focused the lens at Soma who was crawling on the floor.
"The doorknob... stabbed me in the gut." Soma muttered, obviously in pain. While you on the other hand, was laughing hard.
"That's so hilarious! Good thing I caught it on cam." you replied still laughing before turning your camera off.
"I was wondering what you'd do with that." Hayama said and sighed before turning to Soma.
"Yukihira Soma, facing curry means you have to face the spice. You have to face the fragrance. My nose is very special. You don't have a snowball's chance in hell of beating me." Hayama said.
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{You Have a Message!}
"Keep safe (Reader)-chan!" Alice said and hugged you tight.
"You too Alice!" you beamed.
"K-Keep safe (R-Reader)-chan." Erina said while blushing.
"Ehe~ Are you also worried about (Reader)-chan?" Alice teased as the two continued mocking each other.
You sweat-dropped at their childishness before stopping them, "Wanna play cards?" you asked as the two immediately stopped fighting and turned to smile at you.
'Works everytime.' You thought before shuffling the cards.