Chapter Text
'This is Thinking'
The story begins with the view of the sky, the birds singing and flying around, and then...
"DISGUSTING!"
Yukihira Souma, the only daughter of Yukihira Jouichiro and Yukihira Tamako, had tried to make a new disgusting dish, and she had succeeded. Still, it was just so appalling that she had to laugh at the awful taste that now lingered in her mouth. Before she could die, she heard her older brother, Yukihira Asahi, call for her.
"Souma! Your friend's here." He popped his head out and saw his little sister and the ingredients next to her. He sighed before shaking his head with a smile on his face. She smiled sheepishly before standing up, taking the cloth wrapped around her arm and tying it around her hair. Asahi walked back inside the restaurant, and Souma said,
"Well, let's do this!" She was confident that this time, this time, she would beat her brother and dad. Rushing inside the building, she got to work with her brother and dad there. They were all making the same thing, fried rice, a dish Souma had been taught to make since she was little. The three worked in perfect sync, but her dad finished first with her brother second, and she was last. There were loads of people in the store, many of who attended her school. One of her best friends in the entire world, Kurase Mayumi, would be trying the fried rice.
"Please enjoy," her dad said as he untied his hair.
"Hope you enjoy it," her brother said.
"All done!" She said, her tone as cheerful as always.
Mayu had a smile on her face as she said, "Thanks for the meal!"
Though very few people noticed, the door opened, and two of Souma's classmates entered the diner with excitement in their voices. One of them said, "They're doing it! A cooking battle!" They walked over to Souma's other best friend, Koganei Aki, and asked her, "So, Kurase is the judge today, huh?" She nodded her head. The three looked over and saw Mayu trying the dish before thinking. The other boy asked, "Could it be? Today she-" Aki stopped him from speaking, knowing that Mayu would need quiet to think.
Back over with Mayu, she had reached her conclusion. "This one is first, this one second, and this one third." She had pointed to all three dishes. Souma's dad and brother were first and second, while she had landed in third, again. She sighed as she proceeded to sit on the floor, not liking that she was defeated again. People were cheering that her brother and dad had higher places than her, while Mayu looked at her with a look that said sorry all over it.
"Looks like you still have some learning to do, huh?" Her dad said, helping his daughter up from the floor. She huffed, not liking how he was right.
"Seems like it was my loss today, she said while walking away, a slight pout present on her face. Her dad laughed. He knew his daughter was always a sore loser, and he decided to tease her, knowing that that would make her laugh, but his son beat him to it.
"So, it that 500 loses now?"
"Huh? Like you have the right to talk! You haven't beat dad yet either!" Asahi smiled at her before sticking his tongue out. While the two argued, everyone present had gotten their bowls of fried rice. When everyone tried it, they all had the same thoughts. 'This is awesome!' Some people were vocal about their happiness by exclaiming, "I'm so happy I get to eat this type of food so close to home!"
Mayu had, at this point, walked up to her friend, completely forgetting how Souma acted at times. "Regardless, you still did amazing, Souma-chan!" Souma gave a little hum of acknowledgment before slowly turning around, the bowl of squid and peanut butter in her left hand, chopsticks in the other. She walked closer to Mayu before saying, "Try this." Before Mayu could protest, the squid was already in her mouth, and she felt like throwing up. Aki, who saw this, quickly made her way over to her friends and saw that Mayu was dying. She then heard Souma say,
"There is an endless wasteland in the cooking world, and I'm gonna explore all of it." She smiled afterward, and Aki responded in the only way she knew how "Explore it on your own! Mayu, you good?" Mayu was very expressive and openly stated her distaste for what she ate. Souma was still smiling proudly, but two boys looked at her and whispered, "She's happy, making people eat her failed dishes?" The other boy nodded, "If it weren't for that, she would be a proper chef." The first boy nodded.
Jouichiro walked over to his daughter and said, "In any case, the 'dried sardines with strawberry jam' was even worse, right?"
"Yeah, that was horrible, but I think mine is worse." She retorted, and Asahi could only stare. It was at times like this that he questioned the sanity of his family. The patrons also stared, thinking, 'She's her father's daughter, alright.'
Later that day, when the patrons left after a full day, Souma was helping clean the place up for the next day. She was lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear her dad talking to her. The only thing that snapped her out of her thoughts was the door to the diner opening. She turned with a smile on her face, but it vanished before she could speak. A woman walked in with her bodyguards.
'Landsharks.' Souma's mind supplied as she glared at the group.
"Apologies. Once again, I'm Minegasaki, an urban life planner." She said as she walked to Asahi, who was next to Souma. The woman bent down, and Souma rolled her eyes at the woman. She quickly stepped in between the two and said,
"What would you like to order?" The woman didn't expect it, but Souma didn't care.
"Ah, it seems you misunderstood. I'm here today to talk about the plan I brought up the other day." She set a pamphlet down, which showed a large apartment complex. She continued by saying. "We would love to follow the 'Garden Residence' concept and bring a comfortable and luxurious high rise to this-" Souma cut her off by placing the hand-held charcoal grill on the pamphlet.
"So, you're saying you want to drive us out of this place. We've heard this before, and the answer is still the same. No way. So go home. We won't close up this place, and we won't be bullied into it."
The woman smiled. She knew what to do. "Very well then. I'll leave my card." She turned to Jouichiro, now completely ignoring the son and daughter. "You know that small businesses have it hard these days, right?"
"We-" Asahi said, standing in front of his sister, "are fortunate enough so that we don't have it that hard. We serve our customers what they want, and we haven't gotten any complaints."
"Wow, how wonderful!" The woman said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "What if you couldn't serve what the customer wanted?"
Before Asahi could answer, Souma piped up, "We would close up and go out of business." Souma knew what this woman was doing, and she wasn't pleased, but she could form a plan and win in a small fight if she had to.
"You won't take that back?" She asked, leaning a bit too close to Souma for her comfort. Souma nodded, her eyes full of honesty and determination.
"Then I shall return later." She said as she leaned away from the more petite girl and walked out of the store, her bodyguards following suit. From the outside, one would hear:
"Dad! Salt! Let's throw salt out!" The response would be, "No, that would be a waste." Souma would get a small lecture from her brother for making such promises, but she knew what to do. As she went to bed that night, she smiled. Her plan was foolproof.
The next day was long and tiring. Souma had told her friends all about the events that transpired throughout the night, and they agreed with her. She should show that Landshark that Souma was the superior out of the two. After school ended, Souma made her way to the grocery store, bought what she needed, and headed home.
While she was walking home, her phone rang. She checked it and saw it was her dad.
"Hello!"
*Hey, you back yet?*
"Nope! Had to stop by the grocery store. I'm heading back home now. You there?"
*No, Asahi and I had to go somewhere, so we aren't there. You don't have to open up today, ok?*
"Eh? Ok."
*What will you do when you get out of junior high?* Souma stopped walking and answered the question.
"I'll work at the restaurant. What else would I do?"
*Oh, I see. Ok, well I have to go. Bye*
"Huh? Bye?" Jouichiro hung up. Souma was very confused. She shrugged and walked back to the restaurant, but her mind was elsewhere. 'What would make dad and onii-chan close the shop for the day? Oh well. I'll figure out what it was later.'
As she came up to the backdoor, she had a feeling something was up. Quickly unlocking and opening the door, she saw a huge mess. The meat was all over the floor, with flour and other ingredients. The fridges were off, and the food was going to spoil. She didn't know what was happening until it clicked in her brain.
"Those little..!" She ran to the front of the store and saw the door open. Running out of it, she saw no one but heard something fall to the floor. She turned around and saw the banner with 'YUKIHIRA' on it, completely covered in white paint.
"Oh my! This place looks tidier than yesterday, and it must be because that eyesore of a sign is covered up!~" Souma didn't turn around, too shocked by this blatant act of vandalism.
"It seems I'm in the mood for some meat!~ I have always loved the times I've had marbled steak in Rongponni." She had put a chair down and sat on it, turning to Souma and saying,
"Hey girl, make me a juicy meat dish." Looking over at Souma, her head was down, and she wasn't responding. "Oh?~ Can you not make it? If I remember correctly, you said that you would close the shop down if you couldn't make it, right? Looks like you have no choice now." Minegasaki said before laughing. Of course, she would laugh. She thought she had won, and she didn't expect this to enrage Souma.
"Juicy meat, right?" Souma said, removing her long white cloth from around her neck and tying it around her hair. Souma smiled, and she would prove this b*tch wrong and win this battle. "If I make a dish that satisfies you, will you promise to never return?"
Minegasaki stared at Souma, not expecting her to fight back. She nodded slightly, purely because she was underestimating Souma. "It's a challenge then!" She said with a wicked smile on her face.
Souma quickly cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the place as well. She grabbed the bag full of her groceries and thought for a minute. 'I have vegetables and other things, as I didn't know what she would want. Maybe, this could work.' She nodded her head before getting to work. She worked quickly, and by the time she was done, she had made a potato dish with bacon wrapped around it. It looked very similar to roast pork.
"How did you make such a nice roast pork?!" Minegasaki asked in shock, her bodyguards echoing her question.
"It's not pork. It's potato. I just wrapped it in thick-cut slices of bacon. Here try it."
"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?! I asked for a meat dish! This isn't a meat dish! This place is a failure to the cooking industry. The chefs that have truly prospered aren't those such as yourself. It's those that work in high-end restaurants. Because of that, admit that you have failed and hand over this shop!" Minegasaki snapped. Souma sighed. She knew this would be difficult, but she didn't expect it to be this difficult. She was pissed. Of course, she was. This place was her home, but she pushed those feelings down and put the dish on the table, right under Minegasaki's nose. Minegasaki gulped. She didn't expect the dish to smell as good as it did.
She grabbed the fork and took a piece off before trying it. It was heavenly! Minegasaki reached for more, but Souma picked up the plate before she could. "I'll only give it back if you promise you won't come back!~" Souma said in a sing-song voice. Minegasaki gulped. She had a job to do, but...
"Fine. I promise I won't come back." Souma smiled before placing the dish back down. She then handed the three bodyguards forks and watched them eat.
Once they were done, she kicked them out of the restaurant. She sighed before getting ready and going to bed.
The next day came, and Souma had gotten up early. She got out a ladder and began cleaning the banner. She was about halfway done when she heard footsteps. Turning her head to the left, she saw her dad and brother.
"Dad! Onii-chan!"
"What happened here?"
"Just a few rude customers. Nothing I can't handle." She said before getting back to cleaning the banner. Jouichiro sighed. He looked at his son before looking at his daughter. He didn't want to, but he had to.
"Souma,"
"Yeah?" She said, looking at the two from above.
"I have to close the shop." He dropped the bomb. Souma processed what she heard before falling off the ladder, and Asahi quickly ran and softened her fall by grabbing her.
"What?!"
"Yeah. A friend of mine called up yesterday, and I met up with him. He wants to work together for a while, and I owed him."
"What about onii-chan! Can't he keep the place open?"
"Dad thought it would be good for me to go with him."
"Then why can't I go?"
"Cause you're gonna be in high school. Don't worry. I applied you to a cooking school."
"Huh?" She said. This was not ok.
Asahi put her down before giving her a slightly apologetic look. She sighed and ended up giving in.
She was now walking in the direction of the school. 'How can they be so selfish! Not apologizing and leaving so soon!' She sighed. She was just going to have to get used to this. She knew her dad had strange tendencies, but she didn't think it would get this far. She sighed again. She was getting closer to the building, and she had to be prepared for anything. As she walked, she heard a boy cry out:
"Damn it! I failed the advancement exam!"
"My life's ruined!"
She looked to the other side and saw an older man and woman begging someone.
"Please. We'll pay you anything! Just let our son pass!"
She was very nervous now. She saw a board with 'EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE TOTSUKI FINE DINING ACADEMY' She grabbed her phone and called her dad.
*Guess I didn't mention this. It's one of the best cooking schools in Japan. It has less a 10% of graduates each year.*
My Wattpad Story to find drawing: Female Yukihira Drawing