Waifu Wars: A Food Wars Fanfic

Ch. 34 The Love Potion (Finale)

"Hisako, your hair looks great today. Did you do something different?"

            "No; it's the same as always."

            "Huh...something seems different about you."

            "I see. Well, you're just not used to working this close to me."

            "True, that explains why it's taken me so long to realize how perfect you are."

            "Oh stop, you don't mean that..."

            "And you're modest too! See, it's like I said. Perfect." Bdump Bdump. Hisako knew that Torrey's words meant nothing, but that didn't stop the jolt of a feeling in her chest.

            "I-in any case, our dish is f-finished, so it's time for us to p-present it." Fully confident in her preparation, and Torrey's taste-test, Hisako was still nervous as they approached the front of the room with their dish. She worried about how their instructor would react to the potion.

            Several pairs of students had finished before them, so their instructor was wide awake. The first pair had to deal with the repercussions of prematurely ending her nap. Torrey set the pot down in front of her.

            With a bored expression, the instructor picked up her chopsticks and took a bite-full of noodle and chicken. There were so many ingredients in the butternut-squash apricot chicken noodle curry that it would have been impossible to judge on one bite alone.

            "Superb! You pass with shining colors. Ms. Arato, you've outdone yourself this time. I always knew that you were a great student, but this dish..."

            "It's true that I took the lead on this dish, but Torrey still did most of the prepwork and..."

            "Ah yes, Mr. Waldenpond. You did just fine, but the star of this team was clearly Ms. Arato. Look at her grace. Her elegance. Her beauty! She'll go far in the culinary world, no doubt about that."

            "Umm...thank you," said Hisako, clearly uncomfortable.

            "You're right, Ma'am. No one will be able to compete with her skill, or her wonderful figure."

            "She does have a fine figure, doesn't she? If I weren't her instructor, I'd be tempted to..."

            "Thank you again!" said Hisako, quickly performing a bow before running back to her seat. I suspected as much, but it's still disappointing...

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            Erina, working with Jonny, could hear the instructor's conversation with Torrey and Hisako from her table. Hisako was right...that potion's made everyone delusional. She's wonderful, of course, but they were speaking about her so brazenly.

            "I think it's done now, Ms. Nakiri," said Jonny, who'd learned the hard way that he had to treat his partner with a certain degree of respect.

            "I'll be the judge of that," said Erina, shooing him away so that she could try a bite. "Not bad, your senses have improved after working with me just this once. Perhaps there's hope for you yet."

            "Really? Gee, thanks Ms..."

            "Now carry this to the front of the room."

            "Right away, Ma'am!"

            They were one of the last pairs to finish. Even though Erina was the head chef, she'd been forced to make Jonny restart on his prep work several times.