The hallways of the school are usually filled with different noises, like the chatter of students and the sound of steps while they move from one class to another. However, the simple presence of the prime heir of the Nakiri family, the founder group of Totsuki academy, was enough to bring all conversation to a quick murmur.

Of course, just having an important family wasn't enough to make this much of an effect: virtually every student that was admitted to the school was the son of a fairly important figure in the culinary world.

What made her stand out were other things.
One was for sure her angelic appearence, from her slim but womanly body that looked almost flawless, her pale skin, her golden long hair, to her piercing but beautiful nonetheless violet eyes.
Another was her composed aura of almost nobility, that made her look unapproachable by the masses.
But what really made the difference was her title.

Since she was an infant, she showed an extremely sensitive and refined palate that in time became a world-famous tool that could weigh a dish or an ingredient to the most precise degree. With this unique ability, she gained the title of The God's Tongue.

Right now, she was simply strolling through the hallways, in company of her trusted assistant, the purple-haired Arato Hisako.
She didn't really need to come to classes, as she far surpassed the ability of her classmates, so she had more time on her hands than most.
At the same time, she had her schedule full of tasting tests that world-famous culinary companies would commission to her.

"I wonder what game i should play with Hisako this evening" she absent-mindedly thought, mentally choosing between different board games.

As the normal students simply moved out of the way, another figure instead hastily  stomped to meet the pair.

When they finally went face to face, Erina noticed her:  "Oh, Kobayashi Rindo-senpai, i didn't expect to run into you. Do you need something?"

The third year red head smiled and giggled "Eheh, Erina-chan, i actually do. Do you have a sec?" So Erina turned to her assistant, who already had her block notes in hand and her glasses on.
"Actually, we were going to meet an important company manager in order to..."
"Well then CANCEL IT, this is just too important to pass! Come with me!" said the second seat of the academy as she basically dragged Erina by her hand.

Hisako was so surprised that she just stood there for a moment before coming to the rescue of Erina, which ultimately was fruitless: when the second seat set her mind to something, nothing short of a bulldozer would stop her.

After a few minutes, the two first years were brought to an empty kitchen. The curtains were closed, and the only light source were the white lamps that shone on the metal surfaces of the counter tops

On one of the tables there was a white plastic bucket, closed with a plug, which reminded Erina of some of her past encounters with Rindo.

"Rindo-senpai, i hope you're not planning to make me taste another of your bizarre ingredients that you found in your travels, are you?" she said.

At which, the third year grinned, slightly squinting her intense yellow eyes "You're perceptive, my dear Erina-chan! It's exactly as you said, but at the same time, it's not. This one is truly something else, you'll see".

Hisako stepped up "As i said, Erina-sama can't be bothered with your tests! We have an important meeting..." but was interrupted by the tantrum of the previously mature-looking senpai "Oooh geez why do you always need to be so strict! It's gonna be fine, it'll take a few minutes trust me!"

Then Rindo recollected slightly, with a confident smile "Besides, i never brought anything that was unworthy of the God's Tongue, right?".

Erina was still unsure, but she knew how stubborn the second seat could be.
She sighed, while tying her hair "Fine, i'll humor you for a few minutes. Hisako, notify the guests of our tardiness" to which her assistant responded "Understood".

Rindo's smile brightened her face "Yay! Now, if you would, i need you to sit down on this chair, facing me. You too Hisako-chan!" she said gesturing towards said chairs.

When the two younger girls were seated, she got from her pockets a couple of blindfolds "I know it sounds strange but i need both of you to judge this ingredient as objectively as possible, and knowing what it is might alter your judgement" she said

Erina stiffened for a second, wondering what ingredient could have such an effect, before finally nodding, choosing to trust the Second Seat.

While she was blindfolded, the most strange ideas popped in her mind. Frog meat? Crocodile meat? No, she already tasted it and she never made a fuss about it. A refined product of animal feces? Despite sounding ridiculous, certain cocoa seeds that were partially digested by certain animals are actually an expensive treat. Mud? That's ridiculous.

While she was still thinking about it, she felt Rindo standing in front of her, and heard the lid of a plastic bucket open. 
"Please say -Aaaaaaah- Erina-chan!" Rindo said in her poor impression of a doctor.

Beneath the blindfold, Erina rolled her eyes at the weird behavior of her upper-classman, and slowly opened her mouth, extending the tongue that people described as divine, to accomodate the treat that was waiting to be tasted.

A moment passed, and she heard "Actually before that, i suggest you not to chew on it, it preserves some of its... peculiar properties. Don't worry, it's plenty small so you can swallow it whole with no-problem. So without further ado, let's go ahead..."

At that moment, she felt something being gently placed on the tip of her tongue.
She was instantly interested in the taste, and felt it indeed was pretty small, but she needed more information, so she slowly and retracted her tongue inside her mouth, hearing at the same time that Rindo was repeating the prosidure with her assistant.

As the "thing" entered into her mouth, she was instantly flooded with an explosion of a complex and rich flavor, something she had never felt before.
As her tongue rolled and shifted, moving the sample around in her mouth in order to expertly place it in the most sensitive places, her exceptional talent made it possible to obtain a huge amount of information from it: it was roughly three cm long, weighed 3.7 grams, its acidic pH was 5.2, and a lot more specifics.

But the flavor was truly the most interesting factor of them all! It was so singular, so authentic, so original and exotic, that she couldn't even imagine the ways this ingredient could revolution the current world of gastronomy!

She stopped herself just in time, as she noticed she had unconsciously placed the sample on her molars and was just about to chew on it. She lightly nibbled on it, appreciating the soft, tender but firm texture, and noticed that even this minimal handling caused the sample to release even more flavor, with a slightly different taste.

After a few minutes, she noticed that what she was doing wasn't anymore tasting, but genuinely enjoing the flavor, no different from a child sucking on a piece of candy.
Slightly embarrassed by this lack of professionality on her part, she begrudgingly decided to put an end to it, and slowly placed the sample at the back of her throat.

With a powerful gulp, she swallowed the thing whole, and felt it fall down her esophagus. At this point, her other senses came to her, since she was not focused anymore on the taste, and she could hear Hisako at her side, slightly panting.
Erina's breathing was slightly faster than usual as well.

She slowly undid her blindfold, and looked up to see the smiling face of her senpai.
"So how was it? Pretty neat huh?" she asked smugly.
Erina sighed, trying to regain a bit of composure, and asked "What is it, and where did you find it?"
Rindo answered, slightly annoyed "I found it in the Amazon Rainforest, but i still need your honest thoughts on it. Then i will tell you exactly what it is"

Erina thought a few seconds about it, then said, slowly "It's the most promising ingredient i've ever tasted. Just a tiny portion of it, raw, without anything done to it, is much superior to many of the dishes that famous chefs from all over the world had brought to me. 
I believe that it has the potential to completely revolution the culinary world, but i would still need to experiment.
Now i'd like to know exactly of what we're talking about"

A smile slowly crept up from the corner of the mouth of Rindo Kobayashi "Homo Pigmeus" she just said.

Erina looked at her, unsure if she was messing with her. She had never heard of anything like it, and she had never studied latin, but she was pretty sure that Homo meant, in fact, Human.

"What do..." and before she could end her sentence, she felt something move from inside of her. She istinctively touched her belly, roughly in the position of her stomach.

"It appears that the little guy has woken up. Probably didn't expect to wake up in the stomach of a high school girl. Well not that it matters now, he won't last long" giggled the red-headed senpai.

"I found a tribe of this tiny little men in the rainforest. Apparently, i'm the first human that has seen them, so they were pretty scared when i stepped onto one of their homes before i could notice the village. They look just like us, only very very small. I tried talking to them but what they say is pretty much gibberish, so i stopped trying. Then i remembered that i had come to find new ingredients, and they potentially were, so i tried one" she explained, slowly removing the lid from the bucket, as Erina was still coming to terms of having a living being inside her stomach.

"and it was... amazing" she said licking her lips, and looking at the contents of the bucket "So i picked up and brought them to Japan, all 1642 of them".

Then she looked at Erina, who looked like she was having a panick attack, touching her belly and breathing heavily, and murmuring "oh no... oh.. no...".
Rindo gently gripped Erina's chin and brought her face to match hers "So... NOW what do you think?"

"I... I have a HUMAN inside of me and it's being digested... we need to save it!"

"We'll save it if you tell me that you don't find any pleasure in the sensation of having it inside of you" she replied smiling

"I... I..." Erina swallowed "... It actually feels good" she realized, sitting back down and looking at the floor. 
She was deep in thought as Rindo spoke again "And to correct your previous statement, they're not, biologically, humans. Their DNA is different, so they aren't just shrunken humans. This makes them no different from very little monkeys. And the issue of consuming live animals, is not really an issue right? It's actually pretty widespread, but you already know that right?"

The red-head walked behind Erina end hugged her from behind.
"So what will it be? Will you use this to heighten further your cooking, or will you continue knowing that you wasted the greatest chance of your life because you cared for the life of tiny monkeys that nobody knew they even existed?" she asked 

After a few seconds, Erina looked at Hisako, who was already looking at her. In the eyes of her assistant, she could see a burning curiosity, the desire of knowing how the brilliant Nakiri Erina could use this new ingredient in her cooking. This was convincing enough to her.

Erina took a deep breath, and said "Hisako, cancel all the appointments for today"
"Understood, Erina-Sama"
"And Rindo-senpai, i'll need that bucket for experimenting. How many are in there?"

The second seat smiled victoriously, and said "500. Actually, now they are 498, the other two are in your stomachs"

"Very well, they shall be enough for today. Follow me, Hisako" said Erina, walking with determinate steps, quickly followed by her assistant.

When they finally got out of the room, Rindo Kobayashi giggled
"It was almost too easy to convince her" she commented, sliding her right hand inside her pocket, to seize quite an unwilling object.
She raised it to eye level to observe the tiny frame of the miniature human as it was twirled between her gigantic fingers, and said "Now onto the next part" and threw the screaming thing in her open maw, before swallowing it alive.

Then she got out of the room as well, in search of another Nakiri family member...