The day of the Stagiaire arrives, and according to what they have learned, they have to go to three stores or companies, and there will be 1 to 2 people in the same restaurant or company.

Soma is walking to the meeting spot, and he says, "So my first one is going to be with another student, but who will it be?"

Just then, he turns around and notices a pink-haired girl with him, and she is no other than Erina's secretary: Arato Hisako.

"Yukihira Soma?!" Hisako gasps with dismay.

"Oh, erm...It's Hiskoho." Soma says.

"Who's Hiskoko! Me name is Arato Hisako!" Hisako yells at the boy, who shrugs and says, "Anyway, let's do our best."

"Stop joking! I have no attention of cooperating with you. I'll show you I can clear this Stagiaire Assignment on my own!" Hisako yells.

"Is that so? Come to think of it, a while ago, Nakiri..." But just as Soma mentioned the name, Hisako just lowers her head. "What's wrong?"

"After suffering defeat in the first round, someone like me is unworthy of serving Erina-sama..." Hisako frowns.

As they continue to walk, Soma decides to raise the atmosphere and he says, "I wonder what kind of place we're being sent to."

"Don't speak to me!" Hisako yells, but Soma continues to talk, "It's a place Totsuki Academy told us to go, so it might be an incredibly extravagant restaurant."

"Are you even listening to me?" Hisako yells, but they arrive at a small family restaurant, and there are a lot of customers rushing out of it, and the owner of the restaurant seems to be apologizing to other customers who are very angry.

"Are you perhaps Totsuki's students?" The owner asks. "Well, I showed you a rather pathetic scene. Hello. I'm the third generation owner...my name is Mitamura."

"Nice to meet you! I'll be a stagiaire here for the next week. My name is Arato Hisako. I think I'm still far from being perfect, but I'm looking forward to working with you."

"I'm Yukihira Soma. I'll be under your care." Soma adds.

But much to their surprise, Mitamura asks them to sign the autograph, as the two can't help but do it. After changing their uniforms, Soma says, "Arato, that apron looks good on you."

"What was that for?" Hisako yells.

"Come to think of it, this is our first time talking alone. You're always with Nakiri." Soma adds. "By the way, next time you meet Nakiri-"

"I can't go back to Erina-sama's side. Since I lost...in the first round of the Autumn Election, I'm not qualified to do so."

"Oh, right. You lost to Hayama. I saw the moment you lost from the waiting room." Soma says, "He is also a formidable opponent."

"Don't you laugh at me!" Hisako yells. "She is absolutely flawless. If a loser like me stays by her side...Erina-sama will lose her status."

"Even so, just because you lost once, doesn't mean that it is the end of the world." Soma says but turns out that Hisako is not listening to him.

"Alright, let's do our best. For the time being, I'll take the orders, so Arato, you-" Soma says.

"Don't order me around! Listen well! Don't get full yourself because you have some real experience! I've also taken classes where you have to cook in teams of many people, and I cleared all the assignments which required speed in the training camp! This Stagiaire period or anything else, I won't have any problems!" Arao demands.

"But you know, those weren't situations where you had an unknown number of orders, were they?" Soma asks.

And just then, a lot of customers come into the restaurant in just two minutes, causing Hisako to be surprised. After a group of people is done, another group arrives and Hisako feels like it is a battlefield.

But Soma, on the other hand, knows what to do as he does things very swiftly, but when the dishes are still in a mess, Soma decides to stop taking orders as he goes into the kitchen.

"Arato! The communication between the kitchen and the hall is a mess. Could you take a look?" Soma yells.

Hisako wants to yell at Soma for bossing her around, but she knows that she has to do it, so she clicks her tongue as she rushes to do what Soma asked.

After it is over, Mitamura thanks Soma and says, "You were incredible! We wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you. We had 0 canceled orders, thanks to you!"

"Yeah, I'm amazed. Totsuki's students really are different." Another staff member says.

"Yes, he experienced working in another restaurant, so it's just to be expected." Hisako says.

"What are you saying? The same goes for you. By dinner time, you worked with almost no delay. You learned quickly and you've got the knack for it. You really helped us." Another staff says.

Soma says, "See, Arato? We're doing a good job. Now we should continue like this from tomorrow on."

"Don't you order me around!" Hisako yells back at Soma, who sighs.

At the same time with Megumi, her partner is Erina and she refuses to listen to the chef to wash the dishes, and it causes Megumi to panic a lot.

"Soma-kun! How are you doing? The air around here is filled with a sense of foreboding...I'm sure you're doing just as fine as a Stagiaire..." Megumi thinks while almost passing out from the shock of what Erina is doing.

As the third day arrives, Hisako notices the picture and she asks, "Is this a picture of this restaurant?"

"Yes, that's right. It's the exterior from when my Dad was the chef. I can still remember it. All of our regulars from around here loved this place. We have many things on the menu, so we had a lot of people coming with their families or as couples." Mitamura says.

"You're right, this restaurant has a great variety of dishes. The seasoning is done really carefully. It shows the chef's personality." Hisako says.

"Well, that's all I can take pride in. We're having a lot of trouble right now, but I want to work hard with how this place was back then as my ideal..."

But Soma is just thinking as Hisako yells, "What are you doing? You're not done cleaning the hall yet! We are you not doing anything, Yukihira Soma! Good grief! You're just so...!"

"I wonder if things are really fine like this." Soma says. "Leaving visible results...is what we're doing really ok?"

"What are you talking about? Our trainee period is going extremely well." Hisako says.

"Well, you're right, but come to think of it, how are the others doing? Especially Tadokoro..." Soma thinks. "I wonder what kind of place they were sent to?"

"Are you talking about Tadokoro Megumi? Is she your girlfriend or something?" Hisako asks.

"Yeah, why are you jealous?" Soma asks, which causes Hisako to angrily yell at him, "I'm not!"

Tomorrow morning, Soma and Hisako are walking on the road, as Soma is still thinking of what he just said, and he finally says, "Hey you, are you really ok like this? That isn't the place where you really want to be, is it? I think that restaurant has to change and...well, it's ok. See you tomorrow."

Hisako is listening to Soma's words as she also starts to wonder what he means, it is until the next day she realizes that if they leave, Mitamura would be back to the way it was, and the complaints will still be there again. Hisako now fully understands what Soma means and she asks for an emergency meeting.

Hisako asks if they want to slim down the menu because of the burden, but they refuse as a lot of the dishes are popular dishes. And they argue more until Soma asks the owner what kind of restaurant he wants this to be.

As for Megumi, she is cleaning the dishes as she tries to talk to the main chef, she says, "About the second dish in the course, the fish dish dressed with salad-"

"What? Even you? Just shut up and wash those dishes!" The owner yells at Megumi, who gets scared again.

"No, it's okay. Voice your opinion." Erina comes to her rescue and Megumi sighs, "I thought it might be a good idea to let the customers choose the amount of sauce to pour on the dish."

"Why do you think so?" Erina asks, after ignoring the head chef's words.

"Looking at the dishes to wash, sometimes they have plenty of sauce left, and sometimes the customers put the sauce on the bread and end up leaving the vegetables." Megumi says.

Erina is surprised to hear that the girl reaches the conclusion just by washing the dishes, Megumi adds, "But that's difficult to do, isn't it? It would create more work for the hall and the kitchen..."

"Not really, serving the sauce in a "Sauciere" is something that's been done all around France since long ago. This traditional idea might actually become a novelty." Erina adds.

The chef is now mad at them for ignoring him, but when a waiter comes to tell the chef the customers' opinions, he knows that he can't get out of this.

As for Soma and Hisako, they change the restaurant into a reservation-only restaurant, it was a risky move, but in the end, it works well with the restaurant as some old customers are coming back for lunch.

The two of them are approached by the staff of Totsuki as they pass the first Stagiaire. So they will be receiving the next training place tomorrow.

Soma says, "By the way, Arato, you'll be going back to Nakiri sometime soon, right?"

Hisako lowers her head again, she says, "I'm so pathetic...I still...just can't be confident...I think I felt safe until now. I thought I just needed to walk behind Erina-sama...I never bothered to think any further..."

"If that's the case, just don't stay behind Nakiri. You should just become someone who can walk "Beside" her." Soma says. "I too have lost to someone who is stronger than me as well."

"But I lost once, I've not qualified to-"

"If there's something you want to go through with, you should stick to it without caring about keeping up appearances! Weren't you the one who said that just a while ago?" Soma asks, and Hisako realizes what he means.

"And about what I want you to do, Nakiri has been wanting to have a Shokugeki against the Phantom, right? Then please tell her that the Phantom accepts her challenge, and he will arrange a time to set the theme and the Shokugeki deals after the Stagiaire." Soma says.

"Yukihira Soma..." Hisako says, "I have been wanting to ask...are you really...the Phantom?"

Soma turns to her with shock and he sighs, "Great, another one who knows my identity..."

"No, it is just...I accidentally saw the mask in your bag...but it isn't true, right?" Hisako asks.

"It is true, but I will need you to keep this a secret, not even to Nakiri, okay?" Soma says, and Hisako sighs, "Fine. I won't. And thank you."

At the same time, Megumi is now sitting at Erina's car as she says, "Thank you for what you did this week. If you weren't there, they would've never listened to my opinion, Nakiri-san. Thanks to that, I um...managed to pass."

"You don't need to be so nervous." Erina says. "Your brother was a former first seat in the Elite 10, and you were one of the best 8 students in the election, why don't you show more confidence? I fail to understand why someone as good as you has gone unnoticed all this time. How were your grades for the high school division entrance exam?"

"Erm...I was in the lower part of the ranking..." Megumi says. "But I wouldn't have managed to turn things around from there all by myself. Surviving the training camp and participating in the election, those were all thanks to everyone in the dorm, and to my boyfriend..."

"Your boyfriend?" Erina asks in surprise. "I never thought you have been dating this early...can you talk about it?"

"Well, when I first saw him, I tried to do everything I could to not get near him, but before I realized it, we were already good friends, and he has helped me a lot..." Megumi says.

"Don't tell me your boyfriend is that Yukihira Soma..." Erina suddenly flares up, and she says, "What's wrong with it?"

After Megumi notices the flare in her eyes, she says, "But you're always with Arato-san, right?"

Just then, Erina lowers her head with a frown, as she mutters, "Hisako hasn't talked to me for days..."

Here is a new chapter, and in this chapter, Soma and Megumi pass their first Stagiaire, and Hisako also notices Soma's identity as the Phantom. Now there are four people who know the identity of Soma as the Phantom, what will happen if everyone knows about it? I hope you like this chapter.