Chapter 19: 「 Snow White 」
( Totsuki Summer Camp | Day 2 )
The second day of the Summer Training Camp began, Akira's task on the second day will be held in a building near the big meat storage warehouse, the alumni who will be his supervisor today is Mizuhara Fuyumi.
And as he entered the kitchen, he saw a familiar white haired girl.
"Yo, Alice, it looks like we are in the same task today." Akira said, Alice who heard Akira's voice immediately snapped around as a bright smile appeared on her face.
"Ara ~, Akira-kun! Good morning~" Alice said as she waving her hand.
"Good morning, how's your first day?"
" It was the worst, imagine running around on the mountain the whole day. " She said. But Akira just gave her a stoic gaze and opened his mouth cynically.
"You don't seems to be tired at all though..."
" Well, let's just say that my partner is a very kind guy to do all the work for me. " She said with an innocent smile.
And Akira just sweating when he heard that.
' This girl is definitely forced him... What a poor soul.'
After that, the Alumni in charge of supervising Akira's and Alice's tasks this time entering the class, she was a bluish-gray-haired woman with a deadpan expression on her face, she was wearing a white chef's uniform with a blue handkerchief wrapped around her neck.
And instead of sitting normally, she crouched on the chair.
Her eyes looks spiritless as she looked around before opened her mouth.
"My name is Mizuhara Fuyumi, I'm the one in charge to give you the task for today."
The woman said as she introducing herself as Mizuhara Fuyumi.
Mizuhara then took out a piece of paper from a small box on the table before showed it up to the whole class.
"Today, you have to cook one of the dishes in my restaurant, the recipe is here, you can move forward to pick it up," Mizuhara said.
After that, the students immediately stepped forward to get the recipe from that small box. When Akira take a look of that recipe, he frowned and thought.
'Hmm? More Italian dishes? '
Its a recipe of a very classic Italian dish, " Abbachio Alla Romana." Abbacchio, or milk-fed lamb, has been a Roman springtime delicacy since ancient times, and it is no different today. This festive dish is traditionally prepared for Easter, usually accompanied by some roasted potatoes.
Mizuhara then continued her words.
"This is an individual task, you can choose the lamb meat by yourself in the cold room next to this room..." Mizuhara said.
Cold Room, as the name suggests, is a special place for storing cooking ingredients such as meat, fruit and other cooking ingredients, which require a room with a certain temperature to stay durable and maintain freshness. Cold Rooms are usually found in Supermarkets, Restaurants, and Hotels.
This task is pretty much more relaxed than yesterday. All of the students go to the cold room to take their lamb meat by themselves, of course Akira and Alice too.
After everything is ready, the cooking process begins. The recipe is defenitely very helpful, because as long as you follow the recipe and did not messed up anything, you aced this test easily.
Time went on quickly, a lot of students has finished their dish and stepping forward to be judged by Mizuhara herself. And even though this is very easy for Akira, but that's not the case for other students. Abbachio meat is very different from you regular meat, and even with the recipe, there are still some of the students who failed to satisfy Mizuhara.
Alice also has advanced and her dish is passed easily, now it is Akira's turn. Akira then handed Mizuhara a plate of a beautiful Abbachio, with a nice crust and a crispy, charcy roasted potatoes on the side.
"Please enjoy it," Akira said with a smile.
Mizuhara just nodded and picked up the spoon, she then took a knife and cut Akira's meat. It is very tender, perfectly cooked, and as she put his meat in her mouth, the crispy crust on the outside, juicy tender meat on the inside and the beautiful glaze, Its all combined into once. Creating a beautiful harmony in Mizuhara mouth.
But she widened her eyes as she could taste a very unique, distinct flavour.
"Mmmhhm, Abbachio cooked to perfection, Hyoujou Akira you passed." Mizuhara said.
Akira who heard that just nodded.
"Glad you like it, Mizuhara-senpai." Akira said, but before he could walked away to put the unused ingredients back to the cold room, Mizuhara's voice stopped him.
"Wait a minute,"
"Hmm? What's wrong, Mizuhara-senpai?" Akira asked.
"I myself unsure but did you change the recipe? Cause the meat is taste quite different than how it should taste." said Mizuhara.
"ls that a bad thing, Mizuhara-senpai?" Akira asked, basically an indirect confirmation.
Mizuhara shook her head.
"Of course no, on the other hand, it gives the meat a completely different approach of flavour, very unique while essentially the same. What did you do exactly?"
"I just make a small change. So i decided to use non-pareil caper that has been soaked in kalamata olives oil for 15 minutes instead of anchovies. Its not much since they serve the same purpose after all." Akira shrugged as he turned away and then left just like that without waiting an answer from Mizuhara.
While Mizuhara couldn't help but silent.
'Small change he said? I mean anchovies itself is a modern replacement of garum that commonly used in Ancient rome. But its still a tradition, and not only he change it just like that, he also improved the dish with a different direction. Genius? That's a meaningless word, but this guy... No wonder he caught Sekimori's attention. ' Mizuhara thought, she then began to stand up from his chair and leave the room immediately.
While Akira returned back to his table to clean it up, he saw Alice who struggling to lift her things from the table, complaining with an irritated face.
"Mou ~ Why is Ryo-kun still not here!?" Alice said.
Akira then approached her.
"Ya need some hands?" Akira said to Alice. Alice who heard that immediately snapped around. She smiling and her face turn bright.
"Of course, thank you Akira-kun." Akira then took half of Alice's things and brought them at once.
The room was also empty because the students had come out of the class while Akira have a conversation with Mizuhara. Then both Akira and Alice walking together to the cold room, and actually Its pretty awkward since no one start a conversation.
"Fiuuh ~, did the temperature lowered, Its not this cold 2 hours ago. You seems to not bothered by this coldness at all." Akira muttered as looking at Alice.
"I used to this kind of cold temperature." Alice said proudly.
"Oh that's right, you've told me that you live in scandinavia for years. Well, i supposed Its very cold there."
"It will easily to get frozed up, sometimes the temperature even dropped down to minus 10 degree celcius. So this is nothing for me." She explained.
Then after a few minutes of putting their stuff back to the initial place, Akira and Alice were prepared to go out but as they're go back to the door, its already closed. Akira who saw it immediately tried to open the door.
* Krek *
That's not a good sound. Akira knew what kind of situation he was facing now. And as he still trying to open the door, Alice's voice came from behind.
"What's wrong, Akira-kun?" Alice asked.
Akira snapped around before looking at Alice with a serious face.
"It seems like both of us are locked in this room," Akira said.
"Hah? If you're joking that's a very bad one, Akira-kun. Open the door and let's go out." Alice said as she stepped forward and tried to open the door. But the sounds come back.
* Krek *
Alice who heard that immediately widened her eyes and muttered in shcok. Still couldn't believe what kind of situation that they're in right now.
"You're right." Alice murmured, she closed her mouth in disbelief before she banged the door multiple times.
"Don't fucking with me! Anyone, please open the damn door." Alice yelled as she keep banging the metal door so that the people outside could hear it.
Akira didn't just stay silent, he immediately reached into his pocket to took his cellphone and call seomeone. But its not there.
Akira just cursed in his mind and smiled bitterly.
"Fuck me, I left the phone in my room." Akira said, he then spoke to Alice who was still trying to bang on the door.
"Alice, are you have your phone or did you have any communication device, just anything?" Akira asked, Alice who heard it turned around and shook her head.
"If I bring my phone with me, I had call someone since earlier." Alice said as she keep banging the metal door. While Akira racked his brain to find a way out of this cold room.
'Think about something Akira, is there a way to get out, this room is an airtight room, with very low temperatures, maybe around 0 to 4 degree Celsius. And if we are here for too long without any special equipment, we are going to freezing to death...' Akira thought about the worst scenario.
Alice keep banging the door desperately before she stopped as she realized that her effort is useless and its just increasing the risk of freezing to death.
"Did you find a way to get out of here?" Alice asked seriously.
Hearing that question, Akira just shook his head, which immediately destroyed all of Alice's hopes.
Absolutely no fucking way out. Both of them trapped in this cold room with no way out. Alice then slumped and sat leaning against the wall, cold air slowly seeping into her skin, because she was only wearing her usual uniform with a skirt, which made her bottom wide open.
Alice then sat down while hugging her knees to keep it warm, but Its freezing inside. Akira who saw that then took off his Blazer and handed it to Alice.
"Take this and cover your feet." Akira said while handing over his blazer to Alice.
Alice immediately took Akira's blazer then covered her legs with it. She then said.
"Thank you." Alice said with a thin smile, Akira just nodded before he took his black headband from his pocket, and then wrapped it around his head.
He also then sat next to Alice. As for Alice, she raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Why are you wearing your headband, Akira-kun." Alice asked, Akira looked at Alice before he opened his mouth. He has a cold expression on his face.
" Because by wearing this, It's not only my focus and concentration that is improved significantly, but also my physical ability. You can say it something like a natural doping, that's happen to everyone whose in the middle of their Zone." Akira said. The usual Alice would be curious and surprised if she heard that from Akira's mouth. But she just nodded.
Cold air didn't help at all.
And as he said, Zone is a state of peak performance. And Akira is doing that to maintain his body and keep it in the peak level. 5 Times stronger than normal human.
Even so, the current situation is very bad, at temperatures like this any human body will not be able to withstand this cold temperature for too long, even Alice who is used to cold temperature will freezing to death if she's here for too long. Especially wearing that clothes.
It had been around 35 minutes since the two of them were locked in this room in silence, no one spoke a single word until suddenly Alice opened her mouth.
"You know, Akira-kun," She said.
" Hmm ? "
"At first when I just moved to Scandinavia with my father, I really hated how it always cold there throughout the entire year." Alice said, Akira was just quietly listening without interrupting.
Alice then continues.
"At that time, I thought about going back to Japan, I thought ' Why would i wasting my precious childhood in this cold place'. However, I recalled the reason why I decided to go to my father's research laboratory there." Said Alice, Akira was still silent without saying a word.
Alice keep talking as her voice even more shallow for every word she said.
"That is to prove myself to Erina." Alice said, even though Akira heard the familiar name and curious about their relationship. He remain silent and let Alice continue her story.
"Since childhood, Erina has always been a talented girl, she's better than me at almost everything, she even said that my cooking was very bad and my dish is digusting at that time, I was very upset but weirdly happy at the same time. I was upset because I wasn't as good as Erina, but happy to have someone to cooking with. But it Can't be just like that, i need to caught up and walking beside her, so I strengthened my will and decided to go to Scandinavia, I learned a lot of things there, including Molecular Gastronomy, my speciality. The thing that i learn as a weapon to beat Erina's God Tongue, but ... " Alice stopped for a moment there.
"When I returned back to Japan, the distance between me and her was even farther than ever. Not only in cooking, but also as a cousin, our relationship is ruined. And that made me even more upset, the weapon I had prepared to go against her in the end is useless and i can't even talk to her normally as we used to. It really pisses me off." Alice said.
Alice then spoke again.
"Am I really not that talented after all?" Alice murmured slowly, however, Akira heard that opened his mouth for the first time.
"Are you actually dumb?" Akira said in a flat expression, he couldn't believe that she just said something so full of bullshit like that.
"Didn't i told you that you're one of the most talented person I've ever met? You are underestimating your potential as a chef, Alice. I don't like it when you do that. You shouldn't feel inferior to anyone. Not even to me who has the biggest cooking talent in this world." Akira said as his orange eyes looking at those beautiful red eyes.
"Why?" Alice asked. They're looking at each other in silent for a moment.
Akira then answered.
" That's because i, Hyoujou Akira acknowledge your cooking." Akira said in his arrogant, but truthful tone. Alice widened her eyes before a sweet smile spread across her face.
She then said.
"Thank you, Akira-kun"
Akira just silent and Alice chuckled.
" And also Akira-kun, did you just said that you have the biggest talent in the world. "
" Of course i am. "
Alice laughed before she smiled and said.
" Haha, you cant stop bragging aboy yourself, don't you? But... i do believe that... you're... "
. However, before she could finished her words, Alice lost her consciousness and fainted on Akira's shoulder. Akira who saw that immediately touched her pulse to check her body temperature.
"Tsk, she's freezing, if she doesn't get out from this room for another 20 minutes then..." Akira don't want to think about the worst scenario.
And as he trying to find a solution ib silent suddenly a voice could be heard.
*Fiushhhhhh*
Then, right after the sounds of metal door opened, a woman's voice could be heard.
"Hyoujou Akira, Nakiri Alice, are you here?" Said the voice frantically, Akira recognized the voice, it was belonged to Mizuhara Fuyumi.
Akira who heard that immediately yelled.
"Mizuhara-senpai, here!" Akira said as he took Alice's body and carried her in a princess style.
Hearing Akira's voice, Mizuhara immediately entered and rushed towards the sound, and she saw Akira carrying Alice who unconscious in his hand.
"You two, thank god both of you are alright.b" said Mizuhara.
However, Akira immediately walked past her and said.
"There is no time to have a conversation, we must immediately adjust Alice's body temperature and bring her to the medical staff." Akira said with a serious looks on his face.
Mizuhara nodded.
"Let's go!"
After that, Akira and Mizuhara bring Alice body to the medical staff to be checked if she's okay. And that's how day 2 of Training camp is ended earlier for the Queen of Molecular Gastronomy.
_______________________
Akira is currently sitting next Alice who's lying on the hospital bed. Its not too far from the building where the second day task is held.
Alice has also been checked by the doctor, and she said that her body is fine and there is no complication. Akira sighed in relief when he heard that, and now he is still waiting for Ryo who is on his way here.
*Tok*
Heading the knocked door, Akira immediately snapped around.
"You took too long, Kuroki-" Before Akira could finished his words, he stopped as he saw that there are also two other people that came with him.
It was a burly man from the beginning and an old man that he knows pretty well.
"Looks like you didn't come alone, Kurokiba." Akira said with an interested smile.
The burly man is the owner of Totsuki Resort, Dojima Gin. And the Old Man in front of them are the Director of Totsuki Academy, as well as Alice's Grandpa, Nakiri Senzaemon.
After he entered the room, Senzaemon immediately approached Alice to check on his granddaughter's condition. Akira who did not want to interrupt their family moment, immediately stood up and walked out of the room, and no one stopped him.
When he came out, he saw two familiar face, Erina and Arato. But Akira just casually walking pass them, because the next business was not his responsibility. He just smiled and thought.
'Well, they are still cousins after all. '
As he walking, he then opened his mouth.
"Ahh ~, this is the perfect time for Onsen ~"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone