"How is he doing that!?"
"He's too fast!"
Soran's movements were almost a blur to those who were watching, the cold expression never leaving his face as he moved. His hand blurred as he chopped up his ingredients in preparation.
He uncovered the lid of the large sauce pan that had been on the stove. Adding some oil, he fried the mushrooms for a few more minutes.
He immediately took out another pan, tossing some peeled shallots to fry. He added some carrot, thyme leaves and garlic, letting it fry a bit more. Adding some tomato purée and flour, he mixed it and allowing it to cook for a minute more.
He turned back to the saucepan of mushrooms, taking it off the heat. Taking off the lid, the golden color of the mushrooms could now be seen.
- [Soma] -
"Did you see that?" Soma asked out loud, his eyes wide, drawing sounds of confusion from the members of polar star.
"See what?" Megumi asked in confusion.
"He didn't even look inside before taking it off the stove but he got it out at the perfect time!" He explained as their eyes slowly widened in realization of what he said.
"Come to think of it, he has barely looked into any pan or pot that he's used so far." Marui pointed out.
"Soran…what did you learn when you left?" He muttered, his eyes wide.
- [Soran] -
Pouring in the vegan vegetable stock, he let it cook for about twenty more minutes as the the shallots and carrots slowly grew tender. Returning the mushrooms to the pan, he let it cook until everything cooked through, the liquid almost evaporating and the sauce thick.
Removing it from the heat, he set it to the side as he went over to the oven, heating it up. Spreading some flour on the counter, he cut out some vegan puff pastry blocks, rolling it out on the counter.
"Hey, transfer student. You'll soon understand why you shouldn't have messed with our club." Shido threatened lightly with a menacing chuckle.
Soran barely glanced at him, letting a cruel smirk show on his face. "Ho? In that case, you're welcome to try your best…no matter how futile it may be." A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he turned back to his work.
- [An Hour Later] -
*Ding!*
The sound of the bell signified the end of time allocated to allow them cook as the female host announced. "Finish!"
On the large screens on the ceiling words written boldly for all to see. 'Cooking Complete' it read.
"We'll now begin the judging! Shido-san's dish will go first." She announced as Shido strutted confidently to the judges' table with a tray holding three portions of his dish.
At the table, there were two males and one female, all of whom were looking forward to tasting and judging the food.
"My dish is Vegetarian Mushroom Stew with garlic mashed potatoes!" He said, placing a plate in front of each judge.
Upon looking at the dark stew along with the visible vegetables assortments, the female judge let out a gentle smile.
"It looks so delicious. I can almost taste it. I expect nothing less from the head of the research society." She commented, the other two agreeing with her.
"""Thank you for the food.""" The three of them echoed as they scooped up a piece of it to eat.
Upon taking a bite, they let out groans of satisfaction. "It's so delicious! It's invigorating!" The woman exclaimed in satisfaction.
"This is it! The strength of this dish is the mushroom, you used cremini mushrooms!" The other male judge concluded.
"I could take another bowl of this right now." The last judge said, taking another spoon as Shido smirked.
He turned to Soran, giving him a nasty grin, drawing a raised brow from the boy. The crowd began murmuring as the judges continued eating.
"It's over."
"I just want to see that transfer student's expression when he loses."
Their voices were eager to see him lose. He would be lying if he said he wasn't amused by it.
"Let's have the judges evaluate Yukihira-kun's dish next!" The hostess announced as Soran carried three servings with him to the table.
"Cremini mushrooms, kosher salt, dinosaur kale, oregano, coconut milt…" he said with a chuckle as he passed Shido whose eyes seemed to widen with each ingredient he named. "You really think that's enough to beat me? Cute."
He arranged the plates in front of the judges, ceremoniously removing the lid as the dish was revealed. "Mushroom bourguignon pithivier! Eat up!" He announced with a predatory grin.
"Bourguignon?" The woman wondered looking at the content of the plate. It looked like a pastry dish, a pie to be exact.
"Isn't that usually used in more…meaty cuisines?" One of the males asked.
"That's right." Soran answered.
"The word bourguignon refers to a recipe that is prepared in the style of the French region of Bourgogne." The female host announced helpfully.
"But will it measure up to what we just had?" The other male spoke up with a somewhat dismissive tone.
"Just shut up and eat." Soran said rudely, shutting him up. The man looked taken aback, reeling from the outright disrespect but remained quiet other than gritting his teeth as he took up his cutlery.
The other judges followed suit, cutting out a small piece of it. "Inside…!" One of them exclaimed as the delicious innards of the dish were now on display.
A tantalizing scent wafted from it, invading their noses as their mouths watered, a hint of taste appearing on their tongue as it neared their mouths.
The couldn't restrain themselves from gulping as they took a bite. At that moment, confusion broke out as the woman practically moaned loudly, her face twisted in pleasure before she continued shoveling the food down her throat, the expression not leaving her face.
"This is heavenly! I can't get enough!" She literally moaned out as she ate.
The two males had disturbing looks of pleasure on their faces, smiling obscenely as they practically inhaled the food.
"What!?"
"What happened to the judges!?"
"They suddenly started acting like this!"
Shido had a look of absolute shock as he looked at the judges who were too busy ravaging the food to care about the watching eyes. "What's going on!?"
"Allow me to explain it to you…the many reasons why you lost." Soran said, turning to Shido who looked livid at the infuriating smirk on his face. "First off, you used cremini mushrooms because they are easier and smaller to manage rather than going for optimum taste."
"Had you used portobello mushrooms like I did, the flavor would have been enhanced at least four times over. Secondly, the stew you made is supposed to be allowed to simmer for at least 2 hours. You did that at high heat, hoping to speed up the process with the little time that you had. You did the same with the potatoes, reducing the time you were supposed to spend."
"You effectively burned through most of the flavor that slow cooking was supposed to preserve."
"Shut the hell up!" Shido screamed in the middle of the Soran's explanation as the younger boy smirked, walking towards him.
"And thirdly…" he continued as he reached him. "…you're just not on my level." He said cruelly, Shido's eyes widening in horror as he walked past him.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
That was the sound of the judges smashing the button to vote for their preferred dish. He didn't need to turn back as Shido's cries of anger were enough to tell him the results.
"In a shocking twist, the victor is Yukihira Soran!" The host announced, the crowd exclaiming in shock and anger.
'Shocking? It wasn't even a close call.' Soran thought, looking at the female announcer in a strange manner.
- [Soma] -
"He did it!"
"Yukihira!"
They cheered him on for his victory, all of them showing excited faces. Soma wasn't excluded, rejoicing as well.
"He's amazing, isn't he?" He exclaimed proudly.
"He is!"
At that moment, Soma's face cramped up in panic. "Oh crap! This is bad!" He exclaimed.
"Soma-kun? What's wrong?" Megumi asked, the others also curious as Soma pointed to the stage.
Looking to the stage, they say Soran grab the mic from the female announcer.
"Hey! What are yo-!" She was cut off as the mic was taken from her hands.
Soran turned to the raging crowd who was booing and cursing at him with a smirk on his face.
"If any of you are dissatisfied with the results here, get down here let's settle it. I don't care how many you are or which year you're in. I'll take all of you on at once. Come at me…" his grin turned dangerous.
"I dare you!"
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Author Note: Since my other RWBY fic was a flop in my opinion, I started a new one. Check it out if you're interested.