Italics indicate thinking

Clint's POV

"Whoa." I looked around at the snow fall covering the town.

Before the next portion of the exam we had a free day to relax in town. It was all set up for winter with lights and snow, reminded me of Christmas back home.

"There sure is a lot to do." I looked around and felt my boots crunch the snow under them.

I sat down on a bench and watched the others talking and splitting into groups, I was in no rush I was fine taking it slow for a bit.

"Clint-kun?" Hisako walked up "Everything alright?"

"Huh, yeah I'm fine." I pushed my hat up with my thumb "Just taking a break."

"I see, is there anything you want to do while we're here" she asked.

"Hmm nah I think I'll just relax." I smiled "If you wanna go have some fun with the others go ahead I'll just relax here."

"Oh you don't wanna do anything together." She frowned "I'll…okay then."

Hisako sighed a bit and went off with Sakaki and some others to see some things. Everyone was off having fun but I just wanted to relax by myself, cool off after all the heated stuff that's been going on lately.

I got up and just walked around, I don't get to see snow much back home so I like to take every chance to enjoy it, the soft coolness of the flakes as they float down and tickle your skin. With all the stresses, this exam, Azami and everything else…just having one moment of peace for once where no one was picking a fight, arguing or feeling like their life was about to end.

I stopped for snacks and sat around a little stand eating funnel cake.

"Hisako sounded kinda sad that I didn't wanna do anything, hope I didn't upset her. Maybe we'll do something on the train to the next location so I can make it up to her."

After just sitting around for a few hours I headed towards the train station to meet up with Erina-sama.

"Hope I didn't make anyone late." I walked up.

"DeMister-san!" Todokoro yelped "The-The Train-it-!"

"One thing at a time." I said calming her sporadic stuttering.

"Clint." Erina-sama turned back "Hisako said the train left thirty minutes ago."

"Hmm." I dusted off my coat and looked at her ticket "Nah, ours definitely hasn't left yet…which means we must have different times for a reason."

"Of course, everyone gets split up at this stage." Rindou-senpai walked out "Achoo-stupid cold. If you're good enough you'll just meet them again at the final stage."

"Oh right I'm supposed to tell you about the next part." She reached into her jacket and pulled out a long cutting knife "You'll get to compete against the Elite Ten!"

"Hmm." I lowered my eyes to glare at her "You just don't know when to quit do ya."

"Let's enjoy the trip." She licked her lips.

AN

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Pick up- Ch 179

So I just wanted to take a sec and let you know, I still like this story, I just don't update it much. If you follow my Tumblr (snakebit1995) or occasionally see me pop up on r/manga discussion threads, you'll know I HATED the Central Arc. It's some of the worst material ever and by far the worst arc in Food Wars, Azami is a bad villain, the pacing is garbage and too reputative, the Elite Ten are over hyped, almost none of them have satisfying motivations and the resolution is completely unearned (Again all just my opinion)

Still, I want to write about it so this story is still gonna tackle the arc and wade through all it's bad parts.

Till Next Time!