"And now, we will have our ceremonial address." Urara Kawashima announced and pointed to the other side of the podium "Master Senzaemon Nakiri."
Senzaemon gracefully walked up to the podium and skimmed his gaze over the visibly nervous students. He could see a variety of emotions on the faces of the students, fear being the dominant one. He wasn't that scary, was he? Of course not!
"I welcome you. You have reached the High School Division, congratulations!"
His eyebrows twitched in annoyance when the students gave him surprised looks as if he had said that they all passed the upcoming exams without any effort at all. It's not like he didn't congratulated his students when they passed. It wasn't his fault that his face was scary!
"For three years, you have learned the basics of food preparation while attending our middle school division. You have furthered your knowledge of ingredients, you have undertaken numerous drills in which you had to prepare dishes, you have heard a wide variety of lectures such as cooking theory, nutrition, public health and cultivation. But now as you stand at the precipice of the rest of your cooking lives, you will be facing challenges, not only just techniques or knowledge but your resolve to see if you can live as a professional chef."
Visibly narrowing his eyes, the old Director raised his index finger and moved it over the nervous crowd. "And that my young children, means that 99% of you will sacrifice yourselves to unveil those who will move on…"
Standing amidst the anxious crowd, was a bored Haru who was doing something productive instead of listening to an old man go on and on above sacrifices and what not. That productive activity was … flirting with a girl.
Said girl was blushing so furiously that the blond teen could see steam coming out of her ears like a steam engine. He had to admit she was a beautiful one. Purple hair cascaded down her back like a purple waterfall, beautiful violet gem-like eyes shined in her eye sockets and a gentle expression on her face.
Even though she was probably around the tender age of 15 to 16, she had a body that could rival the Kunoichi of his time. Curves in all the right places and exceptionally busty for her age. Ryoko Sakaki was her name, if he heard right.
Apparently she was staying in the same dormitory he was assigned to as well. Polar Star Dorm, a dormitory dedicated to those students whose homes were far away from the academy.
"C-can you please stop doing that, everyone is watching!" Ryoko stuttered, her cheeks burning from embarrassment as she tried to remove Haru's muscular hand from around her shoulders and ignore the glaring looks from the rest of the girls.
She was not going to deny it; the teen was quite handsome and charismatic. She would have loved to get to know him better. He was surprisingly well muscled and tall, the traits she liked in a man. He was gentle, straightforward and above all strikingly charming.
But at the moment, his arm nonchalantly draped over her shoulders, the murderous stares from some of the girls, jealous glares from the male students and her friend Yoshino Yuki's gaping expression was too much to bear.
A simple arm slung over her shoulder wouldn't have been much of a problem, but he was holding her tight to his muscular chest and tenderly rubbing her arm, all the while smiling a heartwarming smile! It was too much!
"You don't like it?" Haru asked with a cute pout.
The purple haired beauty shook her, her cheeks tinged red from embarrassment as she lowered her head "N-no, that's not it…"
The blond Balance Keeper grinned at the cute girl and gave her a sideway hug, earning a surprised yelp from the first year student. "Aww you are so cute!"
Despite her embarrassment at Haru's insistence to continuously call her cute, she couldn't help but sweat drop when she felt the murderous glares intensify ten folds. Sure, the handsome blond was showering her with his undivided attention and all but it's not like she was forcing him to do so!
The glares from the female students were so murderous that they were literally drilling a hole through her head. They looked like she was trying to steal their husband!
Lightly reducing the force of his hug, Haru turned his attention to the stage just in time to see Soma walk up the podium and stand in front of the microphone. Guess his fellow transfer student was about to commence with his introduction.
"So… umm… my name is Soma Yukihira and to be honest, it's an honor to attend this school as a stepping stone in my career. Let me put it simply…" Soma declared with a nonchalant smile. "I don't plan on losing to a bunch of chef-wannabes who have never stood in front of a customer before."
"That's my boy!" Haru shouted loudly, gaining the attention of the crowd, as he pumped his fist into the air and gave Soma a "thumbs up" for good measure. Feeling the stares of his fellow students, Haru turned around and flipped them the bird, prompting some of the more… sensitive students to glare even harder.
Ryoko on the other hand, being a socially withdrawn and slightly timid girl, tried to hide behind Haru's muscular arm as said blond's shout gained the attention of the already enraged crowd. He was handsome and all, but the guy really needed to work on his people skills!
Gaining some semblance of courage from his fellow transfer student's outburst, Soma grinned in appreciation and dropped the last bomb. "Anyway, since I am here and all, I might as well take the first place!"
"HUH!?"
"OH YEAH!?"
"YOU THINK SO, PUNK!?"
Walking from the stage, Soma ignored the enraged shouts and death threats, nonchalantly sidestepping a few thrown bottles as he walked off to his previous spot, not the least bit phased by the glares.
"He just had to ruin it, didn't he?" Haru announced with face-palm.
"Now, we have another transfer student, Haru Uzumaki"
Ryoko could feel her head boiling up from embarrassment as she felt a pair of wet lips on her left cheek as Haru leaned in to her ear, hot specks of air tickling her delicate flesh. "See ya later, my cute purple princess."
The blond teen walked up to the podium with a wide grin, leaving a furiously blushing Ryoko to deal with her gaping friend who was shaking her like a madwoman and demanding answers. Walking through the crowd of students, Haru smirked triumphantly when they parted away to make a route for him up to the stage.
His tall height and muscular body mass always came in handy!
Reaching the stage, the blond Balance Keeper tapped the small microphone a few times and took a deep breath. "IS THIS DAMN THING WORKING PROPERLY?"
The gathered crowd grabbed their ears in pain as the loud yell reverberated through the school yard, causing an instant and obviously enraged response from the student body.
A confused Ryoko looked around the crowd, wondering why everyone was clutching their ears in pain and cursing Haru. It was a simple question and the voice wasn't loud. It was uttered normally.
Surprisingly, even her friend, Yoshino was also wondering the same thing.
A sheepishly grinning Haru scratched the back of his head. He had purposely prevented Ryoko and her friend from hearing the loud shout. "Sorry guys and gals, you were looking at me like a bunch of morons ready to collapse from lack of sleep. I had to wake you up somehow."
"JUST GET ON WITH IT!" the crowd, except Ryoko and Yoshino, shouted in unison.
Pleased with their reaction, Haru dramatically coughed into hand and looked around the students, playfully winking at a blushing Ryoko in the process. "As you morons may have heard, my name is Haru Uzumaki, but you can call me daddy!"
"WHAT!?"
"Just kidding, sheesh!" Haru muttered as he rubbed his aching ears "Anyway, just like cherry head over there so arrogantly proclaimed his intentions, I am gonna do the same, except not so politely. A special shout out to cherry head, if you are aiming for the top spot, what do you think I am gonna be doing, selling tacos?"
"STOP CALLING ME CHERRY HEAD!"
"Ignoring certain hormonal teenagers with no sense of humor…" Haru stated with a wide grin and blissfully ignored said teenager's glares. "I will be taking the top spot and waving at you from there while scratching my balls."
Some of the more shy students could feel their cheeks burning from hearing his crude word while the others resorted to glaring daggers at the disrespectful blond.
"You have some weird tastes in men, Ryoko." Yoshino deadpanned while said purple haired girl face-palmed.
"Anyway, if anyone has a problem with that announcement, feel free to meet me face to face but do remember to bring a cup of ramen with you, otherwise your complaints will be gleefully ignored."
With his introduction done, Haru sent one last playful wink at Ryoko and walked away with an extra spring to his steps, cheerfully disregarding the curse, profanities and threats of death thrown at him.
Man that felt good! He really should do that again!