"Damn it, damn it!"
"What's with that guy Hikigaya!"
"He can't even hold a knife properly, yet he made something like that… and even had the nerve to seriously comment on my cooking." Just thinking of that scene, Erina's face turned red like she had remembered something utterly shameful.
She had even, without realizing it, handed him the spoon she had used…
The more she thought about it, the faster her steps became, her hands curling tightly into fists she couldn't control.
"What the hell, what the hell, what the hell! How dare you say something so arrogant in front of me, and even dare to judge my cooking? Unforgivable!"
"Bang!"
Erina, fuming with anger, couldn't swallow this insult and slammed her fist into the wall.
Seeing this, Hisako quickly ran over and asked worriedly:
"Lady Erina, are you alright?"
Erina's face was dark, and she seemed completely speechless. She slowly crouched down, looking like she was about to cry.
"Hikigaya Hachiman... Totsuki Academy has no place for someone like you!"
Hisako: "...."
At the same time, back in the hall, when Nakiri Senzaemon appeared, Hachiman began to understand the situation more clearly.
The man had a huge scar over his left eye, white hair, and an overwhelmingly strong-looking build.
He didn't say a word. After noticing Hachiman, he didn't even acknowledge him, just walked straight to the dish Hachiman had made earlier.
Even though it had gone completely cold, he acted like none of that mattered and scooped up a bite with a spoon.
"That dish is cold now. If you want to eat it, I can make you a fresh one," Hachiman said, only to realize the man had already eaten every last bit of the egg wrap.
Even though the man gave a strange name earlier, Hachiman had no clue who he really was. Hiding there this whole time made him seem like some kind of creepy stalker.
The man turned and stepped toward Hachiman. Standing before that massive figure, Hachiman felt an overwhelming pressure.
"Hikigaya Hachiman, that's your name, right?"
"Yes."
"Is this really your second day cooking?"
"If I have to be honest, I've watched others cook since I was a kid, but if you're asking about actually doing it myself, yeah—second day. Actually, second dish."
The man looked shocked by the boy in front of him. His face clearly showed disbelief. Soon after, he gave a small nod.
"Good. Good..."
"I'll remember you."
After saying something so cryptic, he turned to leave. But before walking out, he looked back at Hachiman and said: "Oh, and—welcome to Totsuki Academy."
Before Hachiman could ask anything else, the man was gone, leaving him alone in the hall.
"That old man is definitely weird... But since he said that, it means the girl who just tested me is really a troublesome one."
Even so, there was no denying Erina's skill. If this school decides rank by cooking, then she really is someone admired by everyone. Hachiman was sure he couldn't make that kind of dish in such a short time.
Still, after this entrance exam, Hachiman realized something important: for a real chef, speed and presentation matter just as much as taste. He could already tell he'd face more and more of these problems in the future.
If the time is limited and you need to make something that looks appealing at first glance, Hachiman would definitely be at a disadvantage.
So... for Komachi's sake, he had to keep honing the secrets of cooking.
Taking a deep breath, Hachiman decided to leave for now. To understand this school fully, he needed more information.
If what that old man said was true and he could enroll, then he'd probably start as a first-year. After all, he still knew very little about this legendary school.
At first glance, he only knew it was a culinary school in the mountains. But looking closely at the map, he found the campus was insanely huge. Inside, there were all kinds of families passing down culinary traditions, plus organizations that specialized in certain cuisines. And most importantly, even the farms were inside the school grounds.
As Hachiman looked around, he noticed a crowd gathered ahead. Curious, he pushed his way through to see what was going on.
But there was nothing special around—just a stunningly beautiful black-haired girl standing in the middle of everyone's attention.
Of course Hachiman knew her. She was the legendary girl from his middle school, Sobu Junior High—Yukinoshita Yukino. But Hachiman didn't know her because of her beauty. It was simply because her grades in the humanities were even better than his.
Still, even if he knew her, they never had any interaction. They weren't in the same class, and they didn't share any club activities. Meeting her here was probably just pure coincidence, something Hachiman himself never expected.
Either way, whoever she was had nothing to do with him. Even if it was Yukinoshita, it was the same.
At this school, most students study both junior high and high school together for six years, so most first-year high school students had already spent three years training in Totsuki Academy's junior division.
But then… the voices of the onlookers started to rise.
"Hey, you know who that is? That's Yukinoshita Yukino. I heard she only started cooking in her first year of high school. She's a real genius."
"Not only that talented, but also so pretty. If I could date a girl like that for just one day—no, even half a day—it would be worth dying right after."
"Idiot, you think just anyone can get close to a genius like her? From what I know, Yukinoshita started cooking less than half a year ago, and she's already planning to challenge the Elite Ten. She just doesn't have the qualification yet."
"For real? Is your info correct? Wow, now I'm really curious. Two beauties in Totsuki, two geniuses—Erina and Yukinoshita. What kind of sparks will fly when they face each other?"