Huh?
Ryouzan Etsuya was stunned.
The Ten Elite, due to their many business activities, only needed to pass periodic assessments and were not required to attend regular classes.
For example, the famous Nakiri Erina often had to participate in tasting events at various renowned restaurants worldwide.
Ryouzan Etsuya had originally planned to use this opportunity to develop his network, but he didn't expect to encounter such a situation.
Students who were severely disheartened at school were at a low point in their lives. Just a few words could turn them into loyal followers. And this was Totsuki Academy; he might even pick up a future heir to some century-old restaurant or the son of a major food supplier.
But he didn't expect, damn it, that he seemed to have run into a teacher?
Ryouzan Etsuya took off his glasses, wiped them with a cloth, and confirmed Keli's badge.
No one dared to blatantly fake things in a place like Totsuki Academy, so he quickly changed his demeanor.
"My sincerest apologies, this… teacher, I am a Totsuki Ten Elite, and I am currently in the midst of culinary research, so I don't have regular classes scheduled."
Keli frowned.
"So what if you're a Ten Elite? You need to have a good learning attitude. How can you be like this?
Alright, teacher will test you. In Japan, where are there no century-old restaurants?"
"Uh…" Hearing Keli's question, Ryouzan Etsuya was stunned. Although he was confused why a test suddenly started, this question truly stumped him. As a chef who specialized in business, he genuinely couldn't think of a place in Japan without century-old restaurants. After all, Japan didn't experience a revolution and transitioned directly to what is called modern society, and many lands are permanently privately owned, so century-old establishments are indeed ubiquitous. He searched through a vast amount of information in his mind and still tentatively replied.
"Is it Hokkaido?"
"Of course, it's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Honestly, how did you study culinary history?" Keli reprimanded with a straight face.
Ryouzan Etsuya choked, wanting to say something, but he truly couldn't refute, so he could only apologize repeatedly and then dejectedly left.
Only when he reached a corner did he frown.
Something was wrong. Totsuki Academy didn't used to have separate grade deans. Could it be that the previous incidents had grown big enough to attract the school's attention? He had to go back and talk to his subordinates properly.
After a perfunctory farce, Keli walked around the teaching building for a while longer, but still found nothing. So, as agreed, he met Kazuma in the high school division cafeteria.
Being a culinary academy, the cafeteria was unusually large, but there were few students to be seen, with teachers from various grades being more numerous.
And occasionally, a few students would rush in, either buying some items from the ingredient market next to the cafeteria and leaving, or grabbing some seasonings and rice balls from the convenience store at the entrance and quickly hurrying off again.
It seemed that even during lunch break, these students were busy with their studies.
"How was it? I didn't find anything on my side."
Keli and Kazuma met at the cafeteria window. Kazuma seemed to have arrived earlier than Keli and had even ordered his meal.
Keli shook his head, indicating that he hadn't found anything either.
After a very good lunch, since they had already visited the teaching building in the morning, the two split up again in the afternoon to search the various culinary research clubs located throughout the school.
As Keli was cruising around the campus on his scooter, he unexpectedly found a clue approaching him.
"Huff, huff!" Panting heavily, a girl with long black hair covering her eyes blocked Keli's path.
"Student, is something wrong?" Keli looked at the strange girl with some confusion.
The girl in front of him was somewhat disheveled, with some twigs clinging to her clothes and mud on the tips of her shoes.
Her unkempt black hair covered her face, making her look like Sadako crawling out of a television. Keli could vaguely see that she had a pair of blood-red eyes.
"I am Sadatsuka Nao, a 92nd-term student, and a member of the academy's security guards."
The girl first introduced herself, then looked left and right, confirming that no one else was around, before leaning close to Keli and whispering.
"Teacher, there's something I want to tell you. Can… can we talk over there?"
The girl pointed to a small hut not far away.
As the girl approached, Keli didn't smell any body fragrance that seemed to defy biological common sense. Instead, he detected a slightly foul odor.
The smell was so strong that even Keli couldn't quite bear it and turned his face away.
However, the girl seemed a bit nervous and didn't notice Keli's displeasure; instead, she nervously clenched her fists.
Keli was a little confused. What kind of inner world development was this?
A newly appointed teacher, suddenly stopped after school by a strange female student. Would the next episode tell him that as a teacher at the school, he needed to satisfy certain young ladies' special fetishes within their academy?
However, seeing the other party's expressionless face, Keli didn't refuse but nodded.
Then Keli followed the girl, who introduced herself as Sadatsuka Nao, all the way to a small house. Keli noticed that she kept looking around the whole way.
"Whew! Those guys shouldn't come near here."
The girl seemed to finally relax after Keli got out of the car.
She took out a key and pushed open the wooden door. Keli didn't go in but waited at the door, only stepping inside after she turned on the light.
The smell that Keli had noticed earlier grew stronger and stronger, but he confirmed that it wasn't a special stench, just a plain bad smell.
Because as soon as Keli entered the house, he immediately saw a few things at the entrance of the small house that made him frown.
Herring cans, blue cheese, large jars of fermented stinky tofu, and a large pot on the kitchen counter bubbling with green foam.
Sadatsuka Nao's first action upon returning to the house was to close the door, then rush to the kitchen counter to stir the iron pot, and then sprinkle in some pre-prepared powder that Keli couldn't identify.
Only then did she sigh in relief.
"So... sorry..."
Sadatsuka Nao seemed to just realize that she had brought a stranger and locked herself in with him, becoming even more nervous, but she still spoke tremblingly.
"Um, excuse me, Teacher, are you the one the school hired to deal with those people?"
"Those people?" Keli was very curious to hear something interesting.
Sadatsuka Nao pursed her lips, took a deep breath in this ghastly place where Keli almost wanted to stop breathing, and with some determination, pushed open the door at the back of the house.
"Teacher, please look."
Keli initially thought nothing of it; he had seen all sorts of scenes, but the sight before him still surprised him.
In the small room of the wooden house, all sorts of photos were densely nailed to the walls. The core of all those photos was the same person—Nakiri Erina.
The clarity ranged from blurry to clear, seemingly indicating the photographer's improving skill, but the angles of the photos were very strange, not at all like normal photography.
And Keli also saw a large number of things similar to voice recorders, an already sculpted but unpainted figurine, and various magnifications of binoculars.
Looking at the scene before him, Keli couldn't help but exclaim.
My goodness, if a Tsukinomori female agent had this kind of initiative, never mind why she left the Cult, she would have long figured out the origin of the beer Saki's dad bought.
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