Event 45: Memories of the distant past (1)

"Eh? Do you know her Haruta?" Asuna asked slightly surprised to hear Haruta's question, but to see that Haruta's expression was not the same as always, but now he seemed more irritated and angry.

"Wow Haruta, you know a lot of girls nowadays" Rei said hitting Haruta on the shoulder as a joke but Haruta did not reply instead Komuro and Hisashi motioned for him to leave the serious Haruta man alone.

You could feel the tension between Erina and Haruta who kept their eyes on each other, as if they were waiting for the moment to attack each other.

"I'll ask again what are you doing here Nakiri?" Haruta asked looking at Erina directly as if she were her mortal enemy, the tone used in Haruta's voice demonstrated the seriousness of the situation.

Erina kept looking at Haruta a few more minutes until she looked away "You changed too much Haruta, half a year ago you called me Erina-sama and you followed me everywhere" said Erina

Everyone's expression changed to one filled with surprise "Erina-sama!" Rei, Komuro and Hisashi shouted at the same time, imagining Haruta following the beautiful blonde everywhere as if he were a faithful man.

"Quite a long time passed between our separation" Haruta said without changing the expression on his face, Erina's words seemed not to cause him any harm "But if you know me well enough you should know that I don't like rodeos and I always want to get straight to the point"

Erina nodded to Haruta's words "Right, you never liked waiting or listening before doing what you wanted, in that I see that you did not change, I am glad to hear it" Erina said relieved of the situation "Director Senzaemon wants you to return to Tootsuki and take your place as one of the ten counselors "

When Erina finished the sentence everyone looked at Haruta quickly, the three girls already knew about Tootsuki due to their conversations and according to what they investigated they had a partial knowledge of what a counselor was, as well as the prestige they have within the Tootsuki school.

"Sigh ....." Haruta sighed as he scratched the back of his head "Since I saw you here I had some doubts about your visit, but I should have imagined that old Senzaemon would ask you to come back" Haruta's words were accompanied of a tone impregnated with annoyance.

"Did you have everything planned?" Erina asked staring at Haruta but he shook his head.

"No, I really didn't have any plans from the start, it's just that I was waiting for the moment when they would ask me to come back" Haruta said walking to the kitchen as usual, taking off his jacket and folding the sleeves of his shirt to be comfortable "President, I want have a calm chat with Nakiri-san so I don't have in mind to open the club "Haruta made the request without dedicating questions.

"Do you want us to leave them alone?" Asuna asked worriedly as she gave a glance to those present who nodded.

Haruta shook her head from the kitchen "No problem, I really have nothing to hide so it is not a personal conversation, you can stay and try one of my best recipes, not to say the best of my recipes"

Erina crossed her arms staring at Haruta's back intently "For me it's not a problem, I'm curious to try Zao Shen's food and what is its improvement"

"Zao Shen?" Rei asked upon hearing the way Erina called Haruta.

Erina was sitting at the kitchen counter where she heard Rei's question "I guess Haruta didn't tell you anything about Tootsuki did she?" Erina asked what everyone denied including Asuna "Typical of Haruta" sighed Erina remembering how reserved Haruta was when they were both in Tootsuki "Is there no problem in telling you a bit?"

At Erina's question, Haruta hesitated for a moment but in the end shook her head as she focused on her work so as not to make mistakes.

"Well, since Haruta has no problems I suppose I can tell you a bit about Tootsuki" Erina said, adjusting herself a little while keeping her index finger on her chin as if she was thinking "where should I start? ....."

"Start by explaining how Tootsuki works" said Haruta interrupting Erina and correcting her

"You don't have to interrupt me Haruta, you don't need to tell me what to do" Erina snorted angrily as she got up from her seat.

"It will take a millennium if you think about it, but now that I think about it I shouldn't interrupt you after all now it will take much longer" Haruta said in a soft voice.

Erina didn't say anything else and turned around annoyed "Well, before I tell you about our relationship I will start by explaining how Tootsuki works" Erina said making everyone understand.

"Tootsuki is one of the best cooking schools worldwide, each of its graduate students is chef who can make people's palates twist with happiness, that is the general level of teaching.

To enter Tootsuki you have to do it through a recommendation which is made by students and graduates, associated companies or by restaurants of a certain quality, another way to enter Tootsuki is by invitation, these are made by Tootsuki observers who are looking for young talent, while finally there are the tests and these are carried out by exemplary teachers or members of the students.

Most of Tootsuki's students enter secondary looking for where they reinforce their knowledge and create the bases for their own styles, in the case of Haruta he entered a year before me, we both started in secondary.

When you enter high school you are considered part of the talents of the school, here the students have a greater weight in the system since the power of the school is divided into two parts, half of the power rests with the principal while the other half of Tootsuki's power belongs to a select group of students called elite ten or ten counselors "

Everyone looked at Erina as she calmly explained Tootsuki's system "Was Haruta one of the members of the ten councilors?" Kiyoko asked in a soft voice drawing everyone's attention.

"No, Haruta decided not to be part of the ten councilors but he certainly had more talent than any member of the ten councilors, he was even nicknamed Zao Shen, Tootsuki's second greatest prodigy just below the kitchen legend, Asura "Erina remembered a certain person who helped her in her childhood.