Chapter 6- Comeback

Soma was inside the classroom, balancing some chopsticks on his hand, waiting for the instructor to enter.

"Has everyone found a partner yet?" a school aide spoke out as there were thirty students and twenty-eight of them glared hard at Soma and his partner. A girl with blue hair was shaking and trembling at the hard glare but Soma was not the type of man who played around

"I'm Yukihira Sōma. You said your name was Tadokoro Megumi, right?" the redhead asked the blunette beside him once their class had made its way into the test kitchen. He looked down when he realized the girl was squatting on the ground drawing the kanji for man on her hand and eating it.

"What are you doing? Writing the kanji man like that? Is it some sort of stress relief?" Soma asked the girl. She looked up toward him and nodded glumly. "Why so stressed then?"

"It's because of my grades, if I get another E rating in class, I'll be expelled," she told him straight.

"Well if you're always nervous, of course, you're going to make mistakes. It's bound to happen." He shrugged lightly and smirked as he eyed the room around him. "I bet the stares everyone is sending me doesn't help".

"N-no, Not really"

"Well don't worry, you know why? Because I AM HERE!" Soma said with an award winning smile.

At that exact moment doors were swept open, revealing Roland Chapelle old gentleman with a stern face, piercing blue eyes, and swept back blonde hair.He generally is seen in a standard white chef's uniform with a red neckerchief. And one of many Soma's teachers before he entered Tōtsuki

He eyed Soma for a moment, it's been 6 years since he last saw him, he then nodded at Soma.

'Who would've thought that I would see you within Totsuki and in my class' Roland thought to himself before he cleared his throat and began. "Good morning, my young apprentice."

"Good morning, Chef" the entire class chorused, though Megumi more or less mumbled it in fright.

"Oh! Roland-sensei! Long time no see!"Soma greeted the man with a big smile and waved his hands.

"Soma-kun! Don't act like that to Chapelle-sensei!" Megumi frantically told the boy and panicked hard, thinking that the young man acted so rudely to the teacher as she doesn't know the two of them know each other.

"Hmm, it's alright" Soma just waved off Megumi's concern,"He might look all grouchy and all outside, but trust me his soft as a marshmallow inside".

'Sigh* this boy never changes' Roland thought before he started the class.

"-in my class, any dishes that can't take an 'A' will receive an 'E' make sure to remember that" Roland said with a menacing look on his face.

"I'm so doomed," Megumi mumbled quietly as tears streamed from her eyes once Roland told all of the students how the grading for today would be going. "Of all the teachers to get, I just had to wind up with Chapelle-sensei."

"Well Tadokoro-san if I was you I wouldn't worry about that now" Soma said.

"What do you mean Soma-kun?" Megumi asked with teary eyes.

"See it like this, If this is gonna be your last time cooking here in Tōtsuki, why don't you just give it your all, that even if you fail at least you wouldn't regret." Soma said, giving advice to Megumi.

"Y-you're right Soma-kun, if I'm going out, I'm going out with a bang" Megumi said, eyes filled with the flames of determination.

"Boeuf Bourguignon. That is what you'll be cooking for today's class," the blonde Frenchman told his students as his aide wrote the instructions up on the whiteboard. "You have two hours to complete the dish. I would recommend that you serve it once you complete the dish."

He then raises his hand up before he pulls it down. "Begin."

"Boeuf Bourguignon, hmmmm. I wonder why he wanted us to make that?" Soma said all loudly while having a cheeky grin on him

Roland sweatdropped as the man sat down in front of his class 'this young man..'

"Ok then,.. Tadokoro, you're in charge of getting the ingredients, and I'm going to get the utensils, can you do that?" Soma asked his partner who nodded

An hour and half passed and nearly everyone finished their dish as they presented it to Roland-sensei.

"A, you two passed," Roland said to the two students and used a napkin to wipe his mouth.

Roland continues to taste dishes made by him students, before his eyes spotted two students poured a bunch of salts on Soma's dish, 'Dumb kids begging to be expelled...Let's see how your going to overcome this young Soma'

"What's this white stuff on the beef?" Megumi said as she found a large amount of salt on their beef.

Soma then checks their dish and tastes the white stuff, "it's salt…"

"What do we do!? It takes half an hour to cook it and there's not much time left! What do we do!?" Megumi panicked out

While Megumi was panicking, Soma was furious right now, "To whoever did this I will find you, and if you manage to pass this test I'll make your life a living hell here in Tōtsuki!" Soma said out loud as it sent shivers to the spines of everyone including his assailants and Roland.

He was pissed that someone actually had the audacity to sabotage him and waste perfectly good food.

"Tadokoro, let me take care of this," Soma said while his eyes were covered by a dark shadow.

Soma's hands turned into blurs as the man poured in so many seasonings into the beef as he takes a jar and poured golden yellow liquid within it

Soma then presented the Boeuf Bourguignon "Oagari yo!" He Exclaimed

Roland then took a fork and pushed it against the beef and found it to be very soft yet it bounced back.

'The meat is softened yet my fork bounced from it' Roland said,"Didn't your team encounter an accident and nearly fail? How were you able to make a comeback?" Roland asked the red headed man who takes out a jar of honey

"Honey is the key to that" Soma said

"I see, Honey has protease in it that gives it the ability to break down proteins." Roland said before he saw Soma who suddenly grins so smugly "w-what is it?"

"Hmm, I wonder why Roland-san? I wonder why we all had to make a certain French dish" Soma said as Roland gulps nervously "Was it because it's the same dish I made for you back in Paris? or is it because you wanted to taste it again?"

"Taste it again?" Megumi said as Soma gave a hefty laugh to Roland "Soma-kun, did you make this dish before?" she asked the man who nodded

"Sure did and I also made the so-called 'never smiling chef' smile before." Soma said to Roland who sweatdropped

"R-really!?" Megumi said surprised before Soma gives her a fork

"Taste it and you'll know why" Soma said

The two then took a bite of the meal as the honey and beef attacked their tongue and caused an explosion of honey upon them.

"C'est tellement incroyable" (A/N: This translates to "It's so amazing" by Google translate)

The two exclaimed with big smiles as the taste instantly won over their minds

"He smiled," a student muttered out in shock. "Chapelle-sensei smiled?!"

All of the students looked in shock to see their teacher who never smiled.

"Amazing, the flavour of the beef and the honey, it just exploded in my tongue" Roland said as he took another bite of the beef

"It tastes good right? It's a new recipe of mine: Sweet Honey Barbecue Boeuf Bourguignon," Sōma revealed, shocking the other students who had drool coming from their mouths as the smell of the redhead's dish permeated the kitchen. "Honey, if used to tenderize meat, gives it a distinctive barbeque flavour as it caramelizes."

"This receives an A marking." Roland said as Megumi smiled happily, "However."

The brunette froze at Roland's tone of voice, worried something bad was going to happen. "I regret that I do not have the authority to give you a higher grade."

"Osomatsu!" he said as he gently untied his headband and wrapped it around his hand.

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(A/N: You guys must be wondering why I still made somebody sabotage Soma. Well it's because if I didn't then he wouldn't be able to use honey, and I'm too lazy to research a new recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon.)