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// Dish 12: What is a Food Duel? 
// Story: Food Wars! The Advent of Sunset Shimmer! 
// by ratedoni 
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The night had changed several times already; it was as if every member of the Polar Star dormitory had been traveling across Japan in just mere minutes. It was the feeling of spring, but it came in different shapes and through different lenses. It was a mosaic of colors and feelings that none of them were quite sure what to say, they could just enjoy it.

Soma’s dish, it brought the image of spring that was barely beginning; it was the warmness that arrived as winter lost its grasp on the land and everything was beginning to grow and thrive. It was perfect rendition of those days that left the boys and girls happy and content, but the night wasn’t over yet.

Sunset’s dish took them by surprise, even more to Soma who had been struck slightly by Sunset’s words and demeanor. Back at the exam, Soma had seen the redhead manipulate her sister, but beyond that, she reminded him of, well, himself. She had experience on a restaurant; albeit the time she had spent there was just a fraction of Soma’s. Still, the girl had guts and showed amazing quick thinking and held techniques and knowledge that Soma did not know. Her dish was a testament of that.

Many people would have been surprised about what Sunset had done; it was true that it may not look impressive, but it was the way the flavor exploded in their mouths that truly captivated them. Unlike Soma’s onigiri, Sunset showed the other extreme of spring, to the days when spring was transcending into summer, to the hot days where promises of fun and freedom kept everyone active and hopeful. It was as if they had been thrown into the ocean and for the first time they were able to see the marvels of it.

Isshiki was surprised too, but for different reasons than the rest of the people present on the room. His plan was to see Soma’s determination and talents, to see how he reacted to pressure and challenges. Considering how the school worked, both Soma and the other first years would be mixed on the strange, but effective, rituals and challenges at the school. In his haste, he had forgotten the true wild card on the table and he was afraid of what could happen.

He had already read about Sunset and how the school board had been all but throwing the red carpet at the feet of the redhead since the first day. From the moment she had been found on the American continent, she had been causing a small ruckus on the right circles and now that Isshiki had seen her in action he could see why.

The ability that she had was intriguing; already he could see the parallels with Erina and he understood the director’s desire to bring her to the school. God’s Palate was a gift that very few people in the world had or could even awaken, but to have a similar trait from the beginning and to be able to use it without any kind of training? Well, you could only refer to Sunset as a genius.

It had been a mistake to left her outside of the equation; maybe it would have been better to do the informal duel on a day Sunset wasn’t present because he stirred a wasp’s nest. Sunset had taken what Soma and he had done very personally and he had been on the front and center of the Devil’s Palate and it was not pretty. It felt as if he had been in the presence of a bigger predator, ready to tear him apart if he moved a muscle. If this was how her opponents felt, then he would not want to be them, no matter the prize.

She was a true chef, a true Totsuki student, ready to jump at the challenge with everything she had and with enough aplomb and arrogance that could irk smaller opponents. She was a natural at the school and that was a problem. In a way, he had put two predators on the same arena and had woken them up. Maybe next time Isshiki would jump at the lion’s den at the Zoo, it would be less dangerous than this.

“This is a very simple recipe, isn’t that what you said was the idea behind your restaurant Soma? Simple to the extreme? Well, this takes a little bit of that,” Sunset said already missing her black eye, making Isshiki give thanks to whatever deity was looking after them. If any of the other dorm students saw her with that strange eye, he was sure they would have started screaming as if they were on a horror movie.

“Where did that entire flavor came from? It was like an explosion,” Shun asked with his usual almost monotone voice, thankfully helping Sunset relax after waking up the demon side of hers.

“I truly love your mayo, is so different from American ones, thankfully, since it is smoother and less pungent than the ones I’m used to, so with that creaminess and flavor it was easy to mix chipotle sauce in it.”

“Wait, what? What’s chipotle?” The girl with the buns, one Yuuki Yoshino asked, getting her answer from her schoolmate Shun.

“It is a dried and smoked jalapeño; it is widely used in Mexican cuisine."

“Well, that the smoke expert in the dormitory knew that is no surprise, but yes, chipotle is a Mexican type of chili you could say, thankfully I got some at a store a couple of days ago,” that was another important part of Sunset’s style of cooking. Everyone at Polar Dorm -with the exception of Megumi, who still was extremely nervous to try to use hers- had a special way to cook; an idea, an area and technique that separated them from the average student. While Soma used the everyday cooking of Japan and gave it a spin, thanks to his years cooking on his family eatery; Sunset used a broadened look at cooking, using street food apparently and with such confidence that did not fit someone that only had a couple of months cooking professionally.

“It is so fluffy and so flavorful! This is so good,” Ryoko and Yuuki were truly enjoying the fresh and creamy flavor of the taco. It was quite amazing that with such simple ingredients Sunset could bring the feeling of fresh water and the end of spring to their plates. Both Soma and Sunset will have an interesting time at Totsuki and Isshiki will not miss any of it.

So with the food ingested, beverages terminated and the feeling of satisfaction from a great party, the students quickly left the room and went in search of their own beds in search of some rest. Except for Sunset Shimmer who quietly cursed, being the only witness of that a passed out one Zenji Marui.

The redhead was angry, but it was at itself. For the third time since she arrived at the school she had felt the pull into the dark pit that was her repressed anger. It was a dangerous place that had been shown to her by that annoying guy. Back when she was still the terror of Canterlot High, she had been the witness of probably the greatest cook in the world. Or so it seemed at the time to Sunset.

Even to this day, Sunset wasn’t quite sure how he did it, but with his cooking he had shown Sunset what was incubating in her heart and that had terrified her to the core. Sure, it awoke the Devil’s palate as others called it, but it also showed how rotten she was at the core. No wonder Princess Celestia was so scared of her and didn’t want to tell her about the true function of the mirror. Now, after finally getting control over that side, here she was, once again exploding in anger at people that didn’t deserve it.

Sure, Soma was obnoxious and cocky, but so was she to a point, so what was it that brought that demon to the front? It was not something that will be answered by the night and the silence that’s for sure. So with no more words uttered, Sunset took care of the bottles and rest of the garbage that littered Marui’s room. Sure, it didn’t exactly make her feel better about her anger management problems, but it was a start in the right direction. Poor Marui didn’t deserve having his room trashed like that.

Everything will be better in the morning, she thought, not realizing how she jinxed herself. She blamed how tired she was the next morning once she saw Soma sitting down all ready for something.

“Okay, is too early for this kind of situations, can someone explain to me what are you planning?” Sunset asked as everyone else shuffled into the table, waiting for Fumio’s breakfast to be done. Sunset was also like them, until her brain finally processed Soma’s next words “wait, what? You want to challenge him?”

“That’s right, I will win that seventh seat,” it would have been a pretty heroic and bold declaration if it wasn’t so shocking to hear him say that.

“Ah, Soma? Just one question, did you read the school rulebook?”

“Well, yeah, the small pamphlet was rather short.”

“Soma, that pamphlet was only the school ground rules; I meant the Food Duel and Club Battles rulebook,” by the way he leaned his head to the side, Sunset knew he didn’t even know what she meant by it “do you want to explain it or should I?”

“No, I’ll like to hear your explanation, that will show how much you know about the topic,” Isshiki’s smile was back on its place as the rest of the dorm members took their seats.

“Alright, let me put it this way; Food Duels are basically the way to decide basically everything in the school. Do you have someone you don’t like? Challenge him to a duel. Does your club have been offended? Make a duel. Basically, instead of fighting, students show their worth in front of the school body and with unbiased judges, but there is one catch; students can also gamble their positions as seats or even their clubs, but they must gamble something in return, something of equal or higher value,” Sunset’s voice had a cadence and rhythm that entranced the others; it was a voice that had been designed for a teacher or a singer, it was that beautiful.

“Gamble something in return?”

“Yes, for you Soma to get a match against Isshiki for the seventh seat, not even your expulsion from the school would be good enough; now that I think about it, your restaurant will have to be a part of the duel,” watching Soma’s shocked look at what she had said made it clear for her that he understood the importance of the Food Duel.

“Wait, really?”

"Yes, the Elite Ten are that important in this school; they are after all the highest decision-making body in the school,” Fumio said with a cup of tea on her hand as they all enjoyed the cooking of the dorm mother.

“The only one higher than them is grandpa, so not even teachers or other academics can touch the Elite Ten.”

“Wait, you call Senzaemon-sama grandpa?” a shocked Yuuki asked as the rest of the Polar Dorm members looked at Sunset with eyes wide open; well, with the exception of Shun who had his bangs perpetually covering them.

“Well, yeah, I mean, he is my grandfather,” adopted grandfather, but it still counted, right? So with that out of the way and Fumio’s reminiscence of the old days when several Polar Star members were in the Elite Ten, the students got ready to attend another day.

Just as they were leaving, with classes to attend and more insanity in their curriculum, Soma was stopped at the door of Polar Star by Sunset. She seemed contrite and also embarrassed by something.

“Look, Soma, what happened last night… I lost my cool and let a part of myself that I’m not proud of take control of the situation, so, for that, well, I’m sorry,” she said, knowing that letting the demon out again will probably led to disaster if she wanted to make any friendship in the school. Sunset was then surprised by the sound of Soma laughing.

“Nah, is okay, I would have been that pissed off if I had been ignored, so I can understand you. Anyway, you said something last night about ways in which my onigiri can be done better?” Sunset just looked at Soma in complete shock before a smile appeared on her face.

“Yeah, it is quite simple really, you need to make the green tea better; you left it for too long and the flavor could not be maximized for the rice,” Sunset began to explain her ideas as Soma and the redhead joined Megumi on their trek to the school.