7 「 Autumn Leaves Dormitory 」

On the seemingly endless road in Totsuki, an orange-haired young man seen walking while holding a piece of paper on his hand. A suitcase full of spices and cooking tools on his other hand.

The young man is Hyoujou Akira, he is currently looking for his dormitory. He has been doing this the whole hour after his last class, the sun already set and still can't find where is it.

"This school is too big... I can't with-- ah ~ I'm dying of the thirst, my throat is drier that leftover chicken." Akira complained as he continued walking.

After a while, he finally arrived at the point where the dorm was located, of course that's according to the map in his hand.

"Ah ~ Finally." After a happy sigh, Akira then looking at the large building in front of him.

"Is guess this the place? It's huge, but i'm not surprised no more."

Akira muttered as he still observing the building in front of him, the design and overall exterior is very modern, and as you can imagine, it is huge. It seemed like it was one of the dormitories that were crowded with residents.

In front of the Dormitory, there is a giant sign that says " Autumn Leaves Dormitory. "

"Autumn Leaves Dormitory, this thing is probably even better than a 5-star hotel and i'm going to live in here for the next 3 years hehe. "

Akira chuckled as he imagines the luxurious life with a full service waiter ready to serve him everytime he needs something. And as he approached the door, the door opened automatically which made Akira screamed in surprise. Bumpkin.

"Uwooh, this is freaking cool!" Akira fascinated as his eyes glowed.

"Hey Boy ... What are you doing???"

When Akira heard that voice came from behind, with a quite unfriendly tone. He turned his body around and in front of him, there is an orange-haired douchebag looking guy with a big ass black tribal tattoo on his left cheek and a piercing next to his right eyebrow.

He looks like a punk with that appearance. Except for the fact that he carrying a bunch of groceries in his hand.

"Oh you are... -" When Akira said that, the man smiled because he thought Akira knew who he was. But...

" -The Janitor of this building!?" Akira said innocently, it makes that douchebag looking guy facepalmed.

" If you dont know who i am just say it, you fucking idiot." The douchebag looking guy yelled.

"Ah my bad, so who are you?" Akira said politely while approaching the man.

"Oh ~, i know you, you are that famous transfer students. No wonder you don't know who i am." said the man with an arrogant tone.

"Man stop wasting my time, just said who are you?" Akira asked again as he scratching his hair with an annoyed face.

"Huh!! Introduce, I am one of the top people in 91st Generation of the Totsuki Academy, Kusunoki Rentaro, you should call me Rentaro-senpai from now on." Said the Douche looking guy who introduced himself as Kusunoki Rentaro.

"Aight~, Then Rentaro-senpai, I got a brochure to join this Dormitory however, I didn't see any students here, or you were one of the residents in this Dormitory?" Akira asked, showing the brochure in his hand to Rentaro.

"Where tf do you get that brochure from... Well anyway, that's indeed true that I am one of the residents of this Dormitory. And also, the reason why its so quiet here is because there are only 5 people living here, including me." Rentaro said with a fierce smile.

"Really!? This big dormitory is only occupied by 5 people including you!? Aren't you guys really yourselves here, let me join too!!!" Akira said with glowing eyes, holding Rentaro's hands in excitement.

"Heh, You Sh-" Before Rentaro could finish his words, suddenly a woman's voice cut him off.

"Ren-chan!!! You're finally back, eh.. why are you just standing there like an idiot, we've all been waiting for you, you know~"

Then Akira and Rentaro turned their gaze towards the entrance, and saw a pink-haired girl with a twintail.

Rentaro who saw the girl immediately his face turned irritated before he yelled at her,

"Insolent you Mea !!! You just chilling in the Dormitory while I bought all the ingredients for all of you, and you still have guts to complain!!!" Rentaro yelled at the girl, but she did not take offense and just patted Rentaro's shoulder while smiling innocently.

"It can't be helped, Ren-chan. You've lost in Janken to us. You sucks, Ren-chan. " Mea said.

" Shut up, Mea!!!" Rentaro yelled back, but Mea just ignored him as she turning her gaze to Akira who just stood there watching the bad bloods between two of them.

"Ara ~, and who are you?" Mea asked, tilting her head.

"Don't ignore me!!!" Rentaro yelled but he getting ignored.

"Ah, I am Hyoujou Akira, I just moved to Totsuki, and got a brochure to join this Dormitory." Akira replied politely.

"Oh!~ I see, my name is Yanai Mea, i am in 2nd year just like Ren-chan, so you can call me Mea-senpai." Mea said, introduced herself to Akira.

"Then please take care of me, Mea-senpai." Akira said politely.

"Hmmm~, that's very polite of you, if only Ren-chan has that attitude, there must be a girl who wants to be with him, hihi~" Mea chuckled while Akira just nodded in agreement.

"What did you just said!?" Rentaro yelled again, and he getting ignored once again.

"So you really want to join this Dormitory?" Mea asked with her typical smile.

"Aye," Akira nodded.

"Thennn~ if it's the ca—" Before Mea could finish her words, suddenly there is a voice.

* Growwwl *

"Eh?" Mea said spontaneously as she heard the voice, it was a growling sound that came from Akira's stomach. Akira shamelessly stratching his head and said.

"I'm starving... Do you have some food inside, senpai?"

"Geez, Akira-kun, let's just go in, I'm the one whose gonna make the dinner today, you too Ren-chan. We needs to make a decent welcoming party for Akira-kun in case he is joining us. " Mea said, smiling mysteriously to Rentaro.

Akira who heard that just raised his eyebrows without saying anything.

No yells this time, Rentaro just sighed as he followed Mea and Akira entering the Dormitory. Akira knows there is something wrong when he looking at Mea's smile and her words earlier, but decided to ignored it for now.

____________________________

Right now, Akira is sitting in the dining table while waiting for the diner that will be cooked by Mea. She's still in the kitchen.

However, he is not alone, there are 4 other people who sat there, One of them is Rentaro.

They have introduced themselves, there are 3 people besides Rentaro, 2 women and 1 man.

The first woman is a quiet woman whose eyes were covered by her bangs, the woman introduced herself as Rui Kofuru.

The other woman is a supervisor of this Dormitory, she is still in her 20s, brown-haired with a mature looks, her name is Kazune Nishizono.

Meanwhile, the man besides Rentaro is a big man with a muscular body, and a slightly creepy face, he introduces himself as Shigemichi Kumai.

The atmosphere there is pretty awkward because the loudest of the group which is Mea isn't there.

After waiting for a while, the nice fragrant aroma spreaded all over the room.

"Hayyy~, sorry for keeping you guys waiting, Mea special diner is ready!!" Mea said as she came out of the door while holding a tray of food and putting it in front of everyone.

"Woah! What are you cooking tonight, Mea." Kazune asked while looking at Mea's dish in full hunger, and the dish in front of her is a beautiful slice of meat, perfect medium rare with green, red, and yellow things on the side.

"Ah! This is the Quinoa Meat Salad, Enjoy!" Mea said, smiling with her typical smile.

Hearing Mea's words, everyone took a fork and knife, then began taking a piece of meat with the Quinoa Salad on top of it before say the thing in unison.

"""Itadakimasu ~"""

* Augh *

And right after they put the meat into their mouths, the combination of very tender slice of meat and a refreshing Quinoa salad complementing each other, creating a perfect taste in their mouth.

"Ahh ~, amazing as usual, Mea. And what a perfect dish for dinner, low-fat Quinoa with a perfect medium-rare steak on top of it, and some cherry tomatoes. Simply perfection." Kazune said as she holding her cheek and making an expression of ecstasy.

"Umh, this dish very light and low calories but it still make you full and have tons of proteins in it. It is perfect for people who are on a tight diet." Kofuru Rui said, devouring Mea's dish.

However, Akira just nodded without any change of expression, it seems like he wasn't too impressed with this dish.

'The bitter taste of this dish are derived from the content of Saponin in Quinoa itself, because it is commonly cultivated in the Andes mountain region in South America, Quinoa is often referred to as a superfood, because it does not require the protection of pests like other plants, while also has a very high protein in it. This is perfect to be combined with meat, and the complexity of this bitter, sweet and savory taste is not bad actually. Though i'm not a big fan of it. 'Akira thought as his eyes turned to his Senpai.

"You use canola oil, Senpai," Akira said, Mea quiet surprised when he said that.

"Looks like your tongue is pretty sensitive, Akira-kun. Hihi ~, that's right, I use canola oil to cook the meat, along with broccoli and paprika, so that it reduces saturated cholesterol levels in the body, as Rui-chan said, this is a low-calories dish suitable for people who are on a diet. And of course, diner. "Mea answered, smiling confidently.

Akira just nodded as he continued eating his food, before he remembered that Rentaro hasn't answered his question.

"And also Rentaro-senpai, you haven't answered my question earlier, what should I do to join this Dormitory?" Akira asked as he keep eating, but everyone stopped when they heard Akira's question.

Rentaro then smiled fiercely and answered Akira's question.

"Oh ~ that, you only need to do one thing to get into this dormitory," Rentaro said.

"Hmm~, and what is that?" Akira asked nonchalantly as Rentaro grinned.

"All you need to do to get into this dormitory is to defeat one of us in the cooking battle... "

"..."

" A Shokugeki."