"If he really went to recruit you for Tōtsuki personally, there must be something remarkable about you!"
Erina Nakiri's eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on Megumi Tadokoro's face, trying to size her up.
"I… I'm not that amazing…"
Facing Erina Nakiri's intense stare, Megumi Tadokoro couldn't help but feel anxious, her little face blushing as she dared not meet her gaze.
"Alright, it's rude to stare at people like that. Megumi, do you have a place to stay in Tokyo? If you don't mind, you can go to the hotel run by Tōtsuki. They provide free accommodation for candidates who pass the entrance exam. We'll be heading there later as well."
Noticing Megumi Tadokoro's evasive eyes, Okabe couldn't help but interject, which finally made Erina look away. He then turned his head to ask.
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for Tōtsuki…?"
"What trouble? It's Tōtsuki's duty to provide a place to rest for candidates who have traveled from far and wide. You should enjoy it with a clear conscience."
Hearing Megumi Tadokoro's words, Erina Nakiri's expression held a hint of doubt.
Tōtsuki had these candidates come from all over the country. If they didn't provide relevant food and lodging, their peers would laugh at them.
"Um…"
Erina Nakiri's words silenced Megumi Tadokoro. She hung her head, her fingers unconsciously fidgeting under the table, her expression betraying a certain awkwardness.
"Hisako, I'll leave this to you. Arrange for Megumi to have a room near ours. We can keep each other company."
Seeing Megumi Tadokoro's conflicted look, Erina Nakiri instantly guessed her thoughts and turned her head to speak to Hisako Arato.
"Yes, Lady Erina."
Hisako Arato nodded slightly in understanding.
"Megumi, let's exchange contact information first. That way, it'll be safer staying at the Tōtsuki hotel, so no accidents happen while you're waiting."
"Ah, okay, thank you."
Taking her phone out of her skirt pocket, Hisako Arato and Megumi Tadokoro exchanged contact details.
Afterward, Megumi Tadokoro didn't immediately put her phone away. Instead, she looked at Okabe beside her, her expression a little hesitant: "Okabe-kun, I… can we add each other on LINE?"
"Of course."
"Count me in, too."
Hearing Megumi Tadokoro's words, Okabe nodded lightly and added her as a friend. Seeing this, Erina Nakiri, not wanting to be left out, also handed her phone over.
Soon, the four had exchanged contact information. Megumi Tadokoro then looked at Ikaros.
Ikaros was currently devouring her food, a look of bliss on her face from tasting the delicious meal. Sensing a gaze on her, she immediately lifted her head in confusion.
"Miss Ikaros, could I have your contact information?"
"Okay."
At Megumi Tadokoro's request, the two successfully exchanged contact details.
Just like that, Megumi Tadokoro had four new friends on her phone. Looking at the new avatars in her friends list, an unnatural smile crept onto her lips.
She had found good friends as soon as she arrived in Tokyo. Life at the academy in the future should be quite interesting.
"Speaking of which, this chicken katsu don and miso soup taste pretty good. The owner must be at least a First-Grade chef. It's rare to eat something this good in a small shop."
The crust of the chicken cutlet was thin and crispy, while the chicken inside was thick and substantial.
As Okabe picked up the chicken cutlet with his chopsticks, the juices slowly trickled down the edge of the meat, releasing a rich and enticing aroma that made one's mouth water.
"This shop was opened by a student who was expelled from Tōtsuki. It's said that before he was expelled, he was the president of the Crop Cuisine Society at the time, a very influential figure. He was defeated in a Shokugeki during a turf war and expelled."
"Counting the time, this shop has been open for nearly fifty years. Because of its good quality and low prices, it's very well-received by the surrounding residents."
Hisako Arato picked up a piece of tonkatsu and put it in her mouth. Feeling the ultimate crispiness burst between her lips and teeth, an expression of immense satisfaction appeared on her face.
Then she revealed the results of her investigation.
"A student of that level can also be expelled?"
Hearing Hisako Arato's words, Megumi Tadokoro couldn't help but cry out in alarm.
As she spoke, she looked at the chicken cutlet on her chopsticks. This perfect texture couldn't be achieved without three to five years of practice; it required the chef to have an extremely high understanding of heat control. And a student who could make a dish of this level was actually someone who had been expelled from Tōtsuki?!
"This place is a real hidden gem!"
Okabe rubbed his stomach, a satisfied expression on his face.
He didn't care who opened this shop; what he cared about was whether he could eat and drink his fill. Filling his stomach was the most important thing to him.
"The competition at Tōtsuki… is just that cruel. At Tōtsuki Academy, 99% of students fail to graduate each year. Even if you're a genius in a small town, you might just become someone else's foil here."
Erina Nakiri used her chopsticks to play with the remaining pork cutlet on her plate. Her voice was calm but carried a heavy weight.
Being a genius is just the threshold for entering Tōtsuki. Which of those who enter Tōtsuki Academy isn't a genius? The key is their growth afterward, whether they can stand out.
"And because of that, studying there is all the more meaningful, isn't it?"
The sudden retort made everyone pause for a moment.
Okabe turned his gaze to Megumi Tadokoro beside him and saw that although her fists were clenched, her face was filled with determination.
"Interesting. It seems you're much stronger than you look."
Hearing Megumi Tadokoro's words, a smile appeared on Erina Nakiri's face, and her eyes held a bit more approval.
Many who enter Tōtsuki can't figure out why they came to study but face the crisis of expulsion despite not making any major mistakes. But the truth is that expulsion is just a means to create a high-pressure environment, allowing students to evolve and grow at a faster rate.
And those who are expelled aren't beyond saving; it's just that they aren't quite suited to Tōtsuki's education. Finding another path might be a more suitable choice for them. This is a two-way process.
And just as they were chatting, a white-haired but spirited old man walked out from behind the cooking station, holding a plate of tempura.
"This is on the house. You must be this year's new students at Tōtsuki, right? Speaking of which, it's about time for the entrance exams. Looking at you all, it seems things went smoothly."
He smilingly placed the plate in the center of the table. Thinking of their earlier grand discussion, he guessed they had all passed the exam.
"I vaguely heard from the kitchen just now, you all seem to be discussing the matter of my expulsion back then?"
Everyone was at a loss for words.
Clearly, they hadn't expected the old man to be so blunt.
"It's alright, that's all in the past. I was indeed too arrogant back then, thinking my crop techniques were second to none, and that I could win any match related to crops. However, the result was losing to the then-Ninth Seat of the Elite Ten in a Shokugeki, ending in the tragedy of expulsion. That was a crushing defeat with no suspense at all."
The old man stared at the tempura on the table, a hint of sadness in his eyes. The youth of his past was arrogant and reckless, only to have his spine brutally broken by reality.
"But that failure also made me understand one thing: cooking is something that brings people happiness. There's no need to compete to see who's better. It's laughable that I only truly understood this at the moment I was expelled."
"It's never too late, after all, life is long, isn't it? But for me, besides making my loved ones happy, competing with others is also essential. After all, competition brings progress."
Okabe's voice rang out, saying something that surprised the old man.
"Well said, young man. Everyone's understanding of cooking is different, but it changes with experience. I was full of fighting spirit just like you when I was young, yet the result is as you see."
The old man's eyes narrowed slightly, and then he spoke in a heartfelt tone.
"If you're not high-spirited, can you still be called young?"
"It's precisely because I'm young enough that I have more chances for trial and error. Even if I fail, I can start over. This is the courage that allows me to keep challenging."
Okabe heard the underlying meaning in his words and responded head-on.
"Then I wish you a smooth journey."
Looking at Okabe's eyes, the old man fell silent. He wanted to retort, but then he remembered his younger self, who seemed just as fearless.
So he lowered his head and, after a long while, finally spoke.
"Clang~"
"What a bunch of useless fools, lazing around like that! The likes of you won't pass the Tōtsuki entrance exam even in your next life!"
At the site of the fourth batch of exams.
A man, looking annoyed, knocked the curry chicken in front of him to the ground. He looked at the anxious girl before him with a condescending and disgusted expression.
She was born into a culinary family, with both parents being Second-Grade chefs, yet the daughter they raised was such a waste, making food that was only slightly better than a beginner's. Such a person couldn't even touch the edge of Tōtsuki!
In previous years, Tōtsuki even recruited such trash. It was too lax, no wonder the teaching pressure has been increasing lately. It's inextricably linked to those people in the admissions office.
Fortunately, the academy's Director came to his senses early and had them, the front-line teachers, personally oversee the education this year, to prevent such untalented individuals from slipping in.
"I'm so sorry, examiner. Please give me another chance, I'll definitely make a dish that satisfies you."
Despite being treated this way, the girl still hung her head and begged bitterly, tears and snot streaming down her face, crying and pleading for another chance.
"Sorry, even if I gave you another chance, you definitely wouldn't be able to make a dish that satisfies me. That's it, you have no talent, you're not suited to be a chef."
The man ignored her cries, instead stating his judgment very decisively, stamping her personal file with a 'fail' seal.
"Wasting food like this is not good."
Picking up a piece of chicken that had been knocked to the ground but hadn't touched it, he put it directly into his mouth and chewed. As the rich flavor spread in his mouth, he commented:
"In the curry chicken you made, the chicken was cooked in the pot for too long. You probably didn't grasp the heat well and weren't paying attention, right? The final texture was old and tough. The correct method is to marinate it for half an hour with a little salt, cooking wine, starch, and egg white, then pan-fry it until the surface of the chicken pieces is golden brown. The pan-fried chicken pieces can absorb water better. Putting them in the curry will allow all the flavor to seep in, thus achieving a better taste."
Feeling the texture of the chicken, the man succinctly pointed out the problem and proposed a solution. When he finished speaking, he raised his hand and made a one-handed prayer gesture.
"Ah… Tha-thank you."
Hearing the man's words, the girl turned her head and saw a tall, bald man.
His eyes were tightly shut, a string of prayer beads that reached his chest hung around his neck, and he was holding a brown clay pot, queuing up behind her.
Seeing this, the girl immediately stepped aside, letting the bald candidate and the examiner face each other.
"Who are you? What are you here for?"
His narrow eyes squinted slightly. Looking at the bald man who was even taller than him, the man asked with confusion, a strange feeling rising in his heart.
"Xia Sheng, Chinese, twelve this year. I'm naturally here to take the Tōtsuki entrance exam. This is my dish, freshly made Huadiao Chicken!"
As he spoke, the tall, bald man, Xia Sheng, placed the clay pot in his hand on the examiner's table, then made a one-handed prayer gesture and stood aside to wait.
"He's twelve years old?!"
Looking at Xia Sheng, who was taller than him, the male examiner's mouth twitched slightly. His assistant saw this and immediately brought over the bald man's file.
[Xia Sheng, from Guangdong, China. Abandoned by his parents at the gate of a temple as a child, he was adopted by the abbot. He left the mountain at ten and won second place in the Guangzhou Junior Chef Competition.]
Looking at the background information on the file, the male examiner's mouth twitched. How did this guy look twelve? People would believe it if he said he was twenty-two!
"Can you monks eat meat?"
Looking at the file and smelling the meaty aroma wafting from the clay pot, he couldn't help but ask the question on his mind.
"Buddhism teaches not to kill or abuse living things, not to abstain from meat. As the saying goes, wine and meat pass through the intestines, but the Buddha remains in the heart. No one has ever forced us not to eat meat."
Xia Sheng made a one-handed gesture of respect, then reached out and opened the lid of the clay pot before him, revealing the fragrance of Huadiao wine and the savory aroma of chicken.
The chicken in the pot was an enticing soy-sauce red, the broth thick but not greasy. Shiitake mushrooms, red dates, and other ingredients could be vaguely seen at the bottom, providing an extremely complex aroma.
"Gulp."
Looking at the Huadiao Chicken in the clay pot, which was perfect in color, aroma, and taste, the male examiner swallowed hard, reached out to grab the chicken leg, and tore it off.
A rich sauce immediately dripped down from the torn section, the dark, glossy sauce incredibly tempting.
The chicken was extremely tender, as if it melted on the tongue, and the aroma of the Huadiao wine had completely penetrated the flesh during cooking.
"Delicious!"
As the chicken melted in his mouth, releasing its own fresh sweetness, the male examiner's face became fervent, and he began to eat the dish faster.
One bite, two bites.
The Huadiao Chicken disappeared at a visible rate.
"How can this be?! This teacher, who only ever tastes one bite of any dish, is now devouring this guy's food like a wild beast, completely without reason!!"
"Exactly, just now he was complaining that our dishes were terrible, that even one bite would taint his palate, and now he's acting so crazed…"
"Who on earth is this guy? How delicious must his cooking be to make such a harsh examiner show that kind of expression!?"
Looking at the examiner's blissful face, the candidates he had failed, who were preparing to pack up and go home to study for next year, showed expressions of shock.
The same script played out at different times.
Because Senzaemon Nakiri had traveled to various places to recruit geniuses, their arrival times were different. In almost every batch of exams, one or two prodigies with powerful culinary skills would appear, standing out from the crowd.
Some presented proper, formal dishes, while others chose to take a different path.
The next evening, during the eighth batch of entrance exams…
"A bunch of pampered swine. Like the most wretched livestock, fight for it on the ground!"
Watching the examiner and students fighting over the fried rice he made, even coming to blows, the boy with bandaged hands left the examination site with contempt.
The setting sun left only a long shadow behind him.
A tall, upright old man stood on the second floor of the examination site, staring blankly at the chaotic scene below.
Then, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, a hint of excitement in his eyes. He picked up the 'pass' stamp and pressed it onto the departing candidate's file.
The thirteenth batch of entrance exams.
The nineteenth batch of entrance exams.
The thirty-fifth batch of entrance exams.
One genius after another passed the exam. Their files piled up into a thick stack on the Academy Director's desk.
"A total of eight hundred and thirty-five students have been enrolled this time. Of the admission notices sent out, more than seventy percent of the people came. The remaining thirty percent didn't come for various reasons. Two-thirds of them actively contacted us to explain the situation, while the remaining one-third gave no response."
A middle-aged man with a scar by his eye, dressed as a secretary, stood by Senzaemon Nakiri's side, efficiently reporting the current situation.
"Thirty percent didn't come? That's normal. Not everyone trusts Tōtsuki's faculty. Let's let the bullets fly for a little while."
Flipping through the files on the desk, Senzaemon Nakiri nodded lightly.
Tōtsuki Academy isn't considered top-tier in the world, and it has been on a downward slope in recent years. It's understandable that some people don't trust them and are unwilling to send their disciples or descendants over.
None of that matters. Once this class of Tōtsuki students makes a name for themselves in the culinary world, those who refuse him now will be begging to send their disciples over.
"Three days from now, have Okabe and Erina give a speech as the representatives of this year's new students. Let them say whatever they want. Faced with these arrogant geniuses, only an even more talented powerhouse can keep them in line."
Writing the numbers 1 and 2 on Okabe's and Erina Nakiri's files respectively, Senzaemon Nakiri spoke to the middle-aged man standing beside him.
"Yes, I'll notify them by phone right away."
Hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, the middle-aged man nodded solemnly.
As he spoke, he left the director's office, went outside, and called Okabe and Erina Nakiri to explain the duties of being a new student representative.
Inside the office.
Senzaemon Nakiri held the students' files, looking them over and over. Then he pulled one out and wrote the number 3 in the upper right corner of the file.
Tōtsuki's principle is competition.
To stimulate the pride of these geniuses and make them better acknowledge each other, besides the Tōtsuki Elite Ten, he was going to create a separate ranking for this year's students. The top three would have the same rights as the Tōtsuki Elite Ten and could hold concurrent positions.
And those who entered the ranking could receive a monthly scholarship ranging from 100,000 to 10,000,000 yen, with the scholarship amount increasing with rank. In addition to that…
This plan is named, the Jade Sequence.
"Have you all heard? This year's entering class will all be taught using a new model. A hundred of the most talented students will be ranked right at the start of the school year."
"What's the point of ranking a bunch of freshmen who don't know anything? The rankings will just change after a while anyway. It's completely unnecessary!"
"You can't say that. I heard the quality of this year's freshmen is very high. Apparently, this is the first time Tōtsuki has openly recruited from all over the world. As long as you show enough culinary talent, you can get an admission notice."
After the entrance exams, the school year was about to begin.
Upon hearing that the newly enrolled junior students would be using a new model, the students who had returned to school early couldn't help but gather in groups to discuss it after their classes ended.
"No matter how talented, they're only twelve. Untrained wild chefs definitely can't compare to us who have been at Tōtsuki for a year."
"I think so too. I heard there are a lot of idiots this year who couldn't even pass the entrance exam."
"For real? They can't even pass such a simple entrance exam? I can't imagine such people exist. This year's class can't be that bad, can it?"
Hearing that countless people had failed the entrance exam, a few girls couldn't help but complain.
Because in their year, as long as you got the admission notice, you could basically pass the entrance exam smoothly. No one would deliberately block you.
"I heard this year's entrance exam was really hard."
A boy muttered quietly.
"How hard can it be? If you're bad, just practice more. Think about whether you've been working hard at your cooking. I think it's just that the quality of this class is poor, so they created a new model to prevent them from embarrassing Tōtsuki."
"Exactly. They can't even pass the entrance exam, which shows how bad the quality is."
Another boy deliberately raised his voice after hearing him, a look of arrogance on his face. And such exaggerated remarks actually received a lot of support.
Compared to relatively rational and neutral statements, they preferred to hear what they wanted to hear, fundamentally because such statements were advantageous to them.
"Is today the freshman entrance ceremony…?"
Not far away, Momo Akanegakubo, holding a kraft paper bag and just happening to pass by the Italian cuisine classroom, overheard their conversation, her voice tinged with curiosity.
"Yeah, the freshmen start three days later than us. I saw the entrance exams happening down there a while ago. No exaggeration, it was a scene of utter devastation."
A girl walking beside Momo Akanegakubo spoke, her face filled with emotion.
When she was dragging her luggage up, she happened to pass by that area and saw a freshman who failed the entrance exam being chased and beaten by their family, who were cursing as they did it.
"I know, I know, I saw it too. I heard this year's entrance exam was super difficult, and the number of people who came to take it was more than five times the usual. The exams alone lasted for half a month, yet they accepted fewer students than in previous years. To be honest, it's a bit scary…"
Another girl with pink hair spoke, her voice full of awe for this year's entrance exam.
"Indeed, if our year had this level of difficulty for the exam, probably no one except for Momo could have gotten in. It would have been good if we had two hundred students in the end."
A tall girl behind the three couldn't help but complain.
With the culinary talent they currently displayed, if Tōtsuki had been as strict in previous years as it was this year, probably none of them would have been able to get in.
"I'm not going to the club later."
Her steps gradually slowing, Momo Akanegakubo ignored their conversation and suddenly stopped to speak.
"Eh?!"
"Did something happen?"
Seeing Momo Akanegakubo stop, the other three girls also stopped. After hearing her words, their eyes showed some confusion.
"Momo has something to do. The opening ceremony is that way, right?"
Momo Akanegakubo pointed to a small path not far away and asked the tall girl.
"It is that way, but why are you suddenly interested in the freshmen? Could it be you know someone there, like a little brother or sister?"
Looking at Momo Akanegakubo's expression, the tall girl rubbed her chin and guessed.
"Oh oh! A childhood friend? How romantic! So Momo has that kind of close relationship too, my heart is beating so fast, I never would have imagined it!"
Hearing the tall girl's words, the pink-haired girl covered her face with her hands, as if imagining something, and many pink bubbles appeared above her head.
"Mmph… Don't say any more!"
Seeing the pink-haired girl's voice getting louder, even attracting the curious gazes of people around them, a blush appeared on Momo Akanegakubo's face. Then, with a dissatisfied expression, she stood on her tiptoes and pinched the girl's face, pulling it outwards.
"Oww! Okay, okay, I won't say any more. Momo, you're so violent~"
Feeling the pulling pain on her cheek, the pink-haired girl immediately begged for mercy. Seeing Momo Akanegakubo let go, she rubbed her cheek and complained softly.
"You deserved it, Koi. You clearly know Momo doesn't like people making those kinds of jokes about her, yet you kept going. Now you've been punished."
The first girl who spoke laughed out loud.
"Because that kind of setup really has a school romance feel, you know? A younger childhood friend being pursued by a cold, tsundere loli senpai. Just thinking about it is so nice!"
As she spoke, the pink-haired girl covered her nose, as if imagining some R-rated scene, afraid her nose would start bleeding at any moment.
"You should read fewer comics and more cookbooks. I remember if you get a few more E-grades, you'll be expelled, right? Aren't you nervous at all?"
Looking at the pink-haired girl's expression, the tall girl couldn't help but retort.
"Not at all. I'm not cut out for cooking anyway. I only asked my dad to send me to Tōtsuki because I like baking Western pastries."
"Who knew the education here would be completely different from what I imagined? I thought it would be happy baking, not a mix of cultural and cooking classes, with endless homework every day. This place is simply hell."
As if remembering something painful, the pink-haired girl held her head in her hands, her briefcase swaying, looking like she was about to have a breakdown.
Waking up at six in the morning, then attending nutrition science, basic theory, Western pastry theory, ingredient pairing class…
Every class was painful for her. Sometimes she really wanted to just drop out and be done with it.
But considering she was the one who begged her father to let her come here, she was too embarrassed to say she wanted to drop out just because she didn't want to attend class. So she could only hope to be 'optimized' and expelled.
"That's true. You don't like professional cooking; you just enjoy the leisurely pleasure of cooking. Tōtsuki's intensity is too high. For you, expulsion is indeed the best solution. Unfortunately, the Junior High Division has quotas; they generally don't let people drop out."
Thinking of the pink-haired girl's attitude towards cooking, the tall girl nodded in agreement. Some people are indeed not suited for professional cooking.
Constant competition, competition, competition. For some people who aren't very talented but love cooking, it brings enormous pressure.
"It's fine. The High School Division is the peak period for expulsions. When the time comes, it probably won't be realistic even if I don't want to leave. I'll just enjoy the club activities for the last year!"
The pink-haired girl said carefreely.
"Wait, where's Momo?"
"She already left. Help her ask for leave from the club later, otherwise the club president will get angry."
The girl who spoke first was holding the kraft paper bag Momo had been holding, which contained milk, vanilla, and other dessert-making ingredients.
"I guess that's the only way."
"But who on earth could it be, to make Momo give up club activities just to see them?"
"I don't know. We'll ask her later."
The voices faded into the distance, while Momo Akanegakubo, filled with anticipation, strode towards the freshman auditorium.
At the opening ceremony.
"Next is the presentation of the school year badges. New student representatives, Okabe, Erina Nakiri."
"Here."
Dressed in their school uniforms, Okabe and Erina Nakiri, who were waiting in the waiting area, exchanged a look and walked side-by-side towards the stage, meeting countless scrutinizing gazes.
"New student representatives? When was that decided?"
Watching the two figures walk onto the stage, this thought surfaced in countless people's minds.
They cast their gazes over, silently watching Okabe and Erina Nakiri, as if trying to see through their thin figures to the deeper essence hidden beneath.
"I don't know, but I heard that beautiful girl is the granddaughter of the Gourmet Demon King, Erina Nakiri. As for the boy, I'm not too sure."
Gourmet Demon King? Our academy's director? Isn't this just nepotism?
"Keep it down, are you trying to get yourself killed speaking so loudly!"
As Erina Nakiri stood before the teacher presenting the school year badges, the discussion below gradually grew louder, and everyone soon learned her identity.
The granddaughter of the Gourmet Demon King, Senzaemon Nakiri.
Also the inheritor of God's Tongue. As a new student representative, although no one had seen her skills, no one felt too resentful.
However, the boy standing next to her…
"I'll accept the girl having connections, but what makes that boy worthy? To be able to stand next to such a cute girl, I'm so jealous!"
"Damn kid, he's so lucky to be in the spotlight like this!"
"If I could walk side-by-side with such a cute girl, I'd be willing to give up ten years of my life!"
Countless envious and jealous gazes fell upon Okabe, yet his expression remained unchanged as he calmly accepted the badge from the teacher.
_____
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