A Mutant's Ascension

[POV Momo]

"So this is Totsuki Alumni? I am disappointed… he doesn't even know that this isn't his small-time restaurant…" a voice rang throughout the hall… the temperature in the hall dropped by several degrees.

Everyone's head robotically turned towards the stage… that is from where the voice came from. Everyone noticed a dark-skinned, silver-haired woman in a business suit standing in front of the impressive line of Alumni.

She was looking down at the pink-haired man with clear disdain in her eyes… all the Alumni were giving the woman uncomfortable looks. Even Dojima Gin kept his mouth shut with a blank look on his face.

Even Roland Chapelle had a neutral look on his face but his hands were clenched tightly. Oh… this is truly golden. Now, let's see how Rumi handles the situation.

Wow, Rumi… that's a badass entrance!! It was clear that none of the Alumni were happy with Rumi's words. The pink-haired man gritted his teeth as he glared at Rumi..

"What did you say?" the pink-haired asked Rumi in a menacing tone.

"So you have hearing problems too? I said this isn't your small-time restaurant" Rumi said slowly while looking at the pink-haired man in disgust.

Before the pink-haired man could say anything, Rumi decided to continue humiliating the man. "This is Totsuki Resort and you have no powers in here… at this moment, your power is equal to that boy you just expelled" Rumi bit out.

"As I have previously said, you will oversee the tasks…" Rumi said and turned around to look at the rest of the Alumni. "Did any of you assign any task?" Rumi asked and tilted her head.

"...We are yet to assign any tasks" Dojima Gin said after a few moments of silence.

Then Rumi turned her head back towards the pink-haired man who was hatefully glaring at Rumi… if glares could kill then Rumi would have died several times over.

"Then who gave you the authority to expel a student?" Rumi asked in a calm tone but everyone around Rumi flinched in fear.

"...He was sim…" Dojima Gin began to speak but Rumi's glare shut him up.

"Did I ask you anything?" Rumi asked in a simple tone and Dojima Gin shook his head in denial.

"No" Dojima Gin said and clenched his fists tightly as there was nothing he could do now.

"Who do you think you are??!!" the pink-haired man exclaimed loudly, unable to hold back any longer.

"Your boss… Your superior. The person who could ruin you and your pathetic small-time restaurant… What is your restaurant's name?? Yeah… Shino's" Rumi said as she looked down at the pink-haired man.

"With one word, I could close down your pathetic restaurant and you won't be able to do anything about it… I could make your life so miserable that you can't even imagine… Tell me, do you understand your situation now?" Rumi asked with a sneer on her face.

The pink-haired man simply gritted his teeth and looked down at the floor. No one said anything… Everyone was still reeling in shock. An Alumnus has never been humiliated in such a manner.

"Ma'am, it is almost time" Dojima Gin said, and after a second Rumi nodded her head in understanding.

"Ok… quickly wrap this up. You…" Rumi said pointing towards the kid, the pink-haired man had just been expelled. "I am going to overturn your expulsion, good luck" Rumi said and once again her eyes narrowed on the pink-haired man.

"I hope that you are more careful from now on… for your own sake, of course" Rumi said as she walked off the stage. The pink-haired man silently stood where he was while gritting his teeth…

The Alumni were clearly uncomfortable but none of them dared to say anything and we were finally dismissed so that we could be divided into groups.

"Rumi was totally badass!!" I gushed out excitedly as soon as we walked out of the hall.

"Yeah… I hate men like him, they are simply disgusting" Fleur bit out as she gave another look towards the pink-haired man.

"I have never thought that I would see a day when Rumi would use words instead of her fists…" Ororo pointed it out and all of us laughed.

"His name is Kojiro Shinomiya if any of you are wondering" Nat said when we finally arrived in front of one of the many notice boards.

"Looks like all of us are going to be together for this training camp" Jean said in a cheerful tone… that is definitely good news.

"So… where do we have to report?" Ororo asked from the back.

"Fuyumi Mizuhara is going to be our judge…" Luna's voice rang out from the side…

"You heard her… let's go" I said and everyone nodded their heads as we left the reception hall...

******************

"I wonder what our task is going to be…" I thought out loud when we finally arrived at our appointed location.

"I think it will be something related to fish… with the waterway and all" Nat said as she pointed towards the small waterway which was filled with various kinds of fish.

I looked around and found that most of the place was already crowded with students. This was an open area… I could see several small packets of spices and cooking utensils placed under the shade of a tree but there was no cooking equipment anywhere around us.

After a few minutes, Fuyumi Mizuhara finally arrived as she looked around scanning the crowd of students.

"First of all let me introduce myself… My name is Fuyumi Mizuhara, I specialize in Italian Cuisine… unfortunately, your assignment is going to be something completely different" Fuyumi Mizuhara said as she approached the shade of another tree…

She pulled out a folding chair from behind and sat down. "Fuah…" she released a relieved sigh as she sat down. "Now, all of you must have noticed the waterway?" Fuyumi asked as all of us nodded our heads. I already had some idea about where this was going.

"You might have also noticed that the waterway is filled with fishes… you are going to cook fishes… that is going to be your assignment… and your time starts… now" Fuyumi Mizuhara said but everyone simply kept staring at each other with dumb looks on their faces.

That is when Fleur raised up her hand. "Yes?" Fuyumi asked.

"How are we going to cook? We don't have any equipment" Fleur asked and Fuyumi nodded her head.

"Chefs like us face various types of problems… lack of cooking equipment is such a problem but that doesn't mean that we are exempt from cooking… a chef must serve his customers" Fuyumi said as she pointed towards a stack of wood.

"There is your cooking equipment…" Fuyumi said with a smile and most of the students shuddered in fear. Nowadays, now one uses wood to cook food.

"Oh… the fishes in the waterway are kind of slippery… Good luck!!" Fuyumi said and she pulled out a magazine from her handbag.

"Ororo looks really determined" Jean pointed out as Ororo was already rummaging through the stack of wood.

"This is going to be a long day…" I said while shaking my head and Fleur was still frozen stiff in shock.

Quite understandable as she had no experience with wood… most of us didn't. Can't say anything about Luna… she is simply Luna and Ororo is the only one among us who has ever cooked food using wood…

"Fleur… don't worry, we will help you" We said and Fleur unconsciously nodded her head…

[A Couple of Hours Later]

"My shoulders are aching…" Fleur muttered under her breath while rolling her shoulders.

"Fleur you are a Phoenix… I don't think something trivial like this should have been a problem for you" Jean quipped while munching on some fish fry… Fuyumi Mizuhara never said that we can't cook for ourselves during the tasks.

"I don't think you have any right to say anything when you were using Telekinesis to make the wood lighter" Fleur retorted and Jean simply shrugged with a grin on her face.

"And I am not tired but a lady shouldn't carry odds… this isn't the medieval era" Fleur bit out in an annoyed tone. All of us simply snickered after hearing her words…

"...Fleur it wasn't that bad… it could have been worse" I said and Fleur reluctantly nodded her head.

"We can't laze around, remember… we have to report to Hitoshi Sekimori" Luna reminded us with a cheerful look on her face. Just like I had thought, Luna didn't have a single problem in the last task.

"Tsk" Fleur clicked her tongue. Yes… this is going to be a long day.

We finally arrived inside a giant hall and we found that Hitoshi Sekimori was already waiting for us there. I looked around the hall and found that all the remaining students from the initial 20 groups were here.

"My name is Hitoshi Sekimori and I will be the judge of your next assignment… each of you will be cooking 50 beef steak meals for our hotel's guests" Hitoshi Sekimori's words rang throughout the hall like thunder and many students collapsed after hearing his words.

"I along with several other Alumni will be keeping an eye on your dishes… so, if the meal isn't properly cooked or if the portions are lacking then you will have to prepare the meal again until it is perfect… I wish all of you good luck, you will need it" Hitoshi Sekimori said as he started to walk out of the hall.

"Oh… after finishing your task you can make your own food" Hitoshi said as I heard several breaking noises from around the hall.

"Where is our promised deluxe meal?!" Yuki's voice was heard from the other side of the room.

"There will be nothing like that" Hitoshi Sekimori said in a bland tone and walked out of the hall.

A shriek of terror was heard from the other side of the room… Yuki seemed to be going through a comical breakdown… are those tears of blood?! I wonder if she is fine…

"Ok… let's get this over with" Ororo called out and cracked her knuckles.

"I simply want to soak in warm water…" Fleur said with a scowl on her face but she didn't complain anymore.

After that, we made our way towards our stations as the assignment was about to start…