章節 316: Shooting for the 1st Seat!
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Give me your stones, Or I'll over throw the government and run a campaign of conquest through North America before eventually taking over the Eastern portion of Asia and slowly splitting my forces to Europe before finally taking over Russia and subsequently the rest of the world.
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Hiro was on a train with Zerotwo, Joichiro, and Gin, looking out the window.
A month ago, Terumi, the 2nd Seat challenged him privately in Polar Star and he beat her with an extremely close call.
Out of 5 Judges, only 3 gave him the thumbs up.
Hiro was severely disappointed, but still won in the end and took Terumi's knife. She stomped around and complained, gave him puppy dog eyes, tried to seduce him, but ended up leaving in tears.
Hiro wasn't going to give her knife back at any rate. He didn't know who she was really, but the judge was clearly on the fence before giving Hiro his vote.
Hiro was sweating the entire time. It was really stressful.
Terumi was an excellent chef and maybe even a little more than that. She kept mumbling about Fuji-kun, and how Hiro ruined their romantic moment. Hiro didn't know what Terumi was on, but he at least recognized that she was in some way, shape, or form, connected to Fuji.
He rubbed his eyes in frustration, now she was going to complain to him and he would come avenge her? Is that the plot? He really hoped not.
At any rate!
The 4 of them were progressing at an astonishing rate! Forget about the fact that they had practically steam rolled through the Elite Ten, Joichiro challenged Terumi after Hiro beat her and won!
He secured his place as the 3rd seat on his own instead of it being handed to him with 'no other choice' Gin went to challenge Mei and beat her and Zerotwo challenged Terumi and tied. The whole Nanamori fiasco made it hard for the group to accurately estimate their skills.
So far, Hiro and Joichiro interchanged 2nd and 3rd seat with every inner competition. Gin and Zerotwo joined with the 4th and 5th seats. Sometimes, Hiro would end up at the 5th seat, sometimes 4th, 3rd, and 2nd.
It was basically a fluid seat for the 4 of them. Under 1st and above 6th was constantly changing everyday. They swapped who would tell Senzaemon every night, who was getting really annoyed and helpless.
These damn kids kept changing seats like they were eating chips!
They continued to compete on the way to the Promotion location, the entire week they were constantly swapping.
Somehow!
When they ended up at the location, Zerotwo was in the 2nd Seat, Gin was in the 3rd Seat, Hiro in the 4th, and Joichiro in the 5th.
Hiro and Joichiro's faces were pitch black while Zerotwo and Gin's faces were bright and happy.
How long had it been like this?
This only happened once in a Blue moon!
Hiro and Joichiro grumbled as they checked into the exam venue.
The next day
The groups were split up and in singles and had to cook for proctors.
It was quite simple actually.
They give you ingredients and a dish and you just have to satisfy them alone, without the stress of having peer pressure, but the Proctor is usually a famous chef, meant to put pressure on the student and incite them to either overcome it or fail.
It was not a problem at all for Hiro, but his attention wasn't on the famous chef or his cooking. It was solely on the challenge against Fuji. He was extremely serious and constantly preparing for the challenge.
He cooked for the proctor to above and beyond their expectations and passed easily. There was no competition against 'Central' so it was quite un eventful. It was just like normal final exams but just with cooking.
Hiro was actually completely in his own head and cooking instinctively after deciding on a dish. After he fought against Terumi, he was slapped in the face with reality and realization.
He had made LEAPS AND BOUNDS of progress since coming to Totsuki. That's basically only because, he was constantly grinding himself against Joichiro, Gin, and Zerotwo, even Mana, who still wasn't a student, but showed up anyway, since she was Senzaemon's daughter and did what she wanted, she was quite cute actually, she was the designated 'Little Sister'.
Joichiro and Hiro teased her happily, but Gin was frustrated because Mana beat him a few times, whenever he teased her she would fire back "Remember that time that my risotto was better..." Gin just gave up and clicked his tongue whenever she was around.
Anyway!
Hiro was constantly improving along with Joichiro, Gin, Mana, and Zerotwo, which allowed the group to jump up the Elite Ten rankings when they should've only bee able to get in on their second year!
Of course, they were much better than they were in the anime.
Even Hiro had trouble keeping up with Joichiro. That was the crazy talent Joichiro had. Hiro practiced for days and nights, even secretly staying up all night to practice, just too keep up with Joichiro, who seemed to be even above the system.
His talent was incredible and inestimatable!
Hiro finally understood why Joichiro felt trapped and lost his passion for cooking. He was too talented. The pressure to be the absolute best, when you just wanted to cook because you loved it, was really a lot to bear.
Even considering that they were only equals because Hiro continued working and working by himself, pushing himself over the limits most of the time.
If not for Hiro's drive and determination to win and be the best, he would've fallen behind. Even Gin was spectacular! He might not win a lot but he was with monsters, even Zerotwo had a better talent in cooking that Hiro.
It was like, innate, not provided by the system.
Hiro's talent in cooking before he died was abysmal. Try and make toast and end up blowing the house up abysmal.
Not that exaggerated, but it was really bad.
The cooking talent helped but he still had to work and work to get to where he was today. He liked to cook, only because the satisfaction he got from watching his wife eat his food with a smile. If not, then he wouldn't care at all.
But even before he died, if he was going to do something. He was going to be the best or fail trying. Despite his previous lazy attitude and self proclaimed genius, he was incredibly determined. There was always a driving force to be the best, but the laziness often over took his thoughts. It was quite tragic, having 0 self-control.
Normally, when incited with peer pressure and competition between his team mates, he would push himself beyond his limits and try to be the best. It was not healthy. That all changed in this life.
He worked hard because he didn't want to be useless anymore.
Beating Fuji and claiming the 1st Seat and Best Patissier in Totsuki was a self goal, forget about the Quest.
It was irrelevant.
He wanted to be the best because he was different and he worked hard to get to that point. The Final Exams were of no importance to him because, if he loses to Fuji, he would be expelled anyway.
Finally, a week later.
Hiro passed the Final Exam and clenched his sweaty palms, carrying his cabinet with him.
Today was the day.
Whether he 'lives or dies' depends solely on his ability.
He took a series of deep breaths and pushed open the doors to the Shokugeki arena, striding in with calm and confident steps.
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