Encounter

Polar Star Dormitory, all passed!

After the bus returned to Totsuki Palace and dropped the students off, the Polar Star Dormitory members gathered together and happily announced that they had made it through the first day.

"Ah~ Now we can enjoy warm hot springs, delicious dinner, and luxurious rooms."

Yoshino Yuki showed no ambition whatsoever, wearing an adorably enraptured expression that made people want to take a bite out of her.

But the appearance of a group of muscular hulks shattered her beautiful dream.

Then Sekimori Hei, one of the Elite Ten graduates from past years, a sushi specialist with perpetually narrowed eyes, came before everyone.

"You’ll have to serve them before you can rest. They’re the bodybuilding club, training nearby. The rugby club and basketball club will be coming afterward. Each person must prepare at least fifty servings of the dinner on the menu. Every serving must meet the passing standard. If you fail in either quantity or quality, you’ll be expelled. You have one hour."

They had just gone through a "wilderness survival" trial, and now they were immediately facing an extremely demanding, one-hour physical task.

The name Hell Camp truly lived up to its reputation!

The menu they had to serve was a Steak Set Menu. While it was not especially difficult, producing fifty servings within an hour was not something ordinary people could accomplish, especially after being exhausted all day.

"Then, sir, what about our luxurious dinner?"

Still unwilling to give up, Yoshino Yuki asked.

"There’s no such thing. Once you finish the fifty servings, make it yourselves."

That bolt from the blue instantly crushed a certain young girl’s heart.

Then all the students who had passed the afternoon’s assessment plunged into another round of frantic overtime work.

Without question, the difficulty of this purely physical task posed no problem whatsoever for Xu Yue.

When the notification of 300 × 2 Reincarnation Points arrived, telling him those two guys had fallen into the trap again, Xu Yue used his extraordinary hand speed and reaction time to control five cooking stations at once.

In less than ten minutes, he completed the task at an outrageous speed. Every steak was a perfect medium-rare, with nutritional value ideally suited for athletes who expended such immense physical energy.

When Xu Yue displayed that terrifying speed, even the Elite Ten graduate overseeing this stage was profoundly astonished.

Fast cooking did not necessarily mean superior culinary skill, but a cooking speed even he himself could not achieve was enough to prove that this kid was anything but ordinary!

The other students still struggling to cook had barely set up and begun adapting to the pace when someone over there had already finished.

It was simply unbelievable—completely unacceptable.

"Well then~ I’m going to take a bath first. Keep it up, everyone. We’ll gather in Marui’s room tonight."

Xu Yue casually waved to the others. Under the gazes of a crowd looking at him like he was a monster, he left the kitchen without the slightest pressure and headed for the bathhouse.

Dojima Gin… the highest-scoring graduate in Totsuki Academy history, the man in charge of Totsuki Resort.

It was time to meet him.

"Hm?"

The instant Dojima Gin entered the hot spring pool, a trace of unexpected gravity appeared on his face.

He rose from the water, revealing the powerful, sharply defined body of a bodybuilding hulk.

At that moment, the rustling sound of someone changing clothes came from the changing room outside.

Before long, the changing room door opened, and a handsome man dressed in a hot spring robe walked in.

"Looks like Senior Dojima Gin enjoys soaking in hot springs too."

Xu Yue looked at Dojima Gin’s body, which resembled that of a professional bodybuilder. Without the slightest embarrassment, he stepped directly into the hot spring pool.

"A freshman?"

Dojima Gin was completely uncertain.

If he was a freshman, he should have been completing that high-intensity cooking assignment right now. It should only have begun not long ago!

If he had failed, he should have been sent straight back to the academy to process his expulsion. Since he had come here, did that mean he had succeeded? Had he already completed fifty dishes?

This task was not meant to test how delicious your food was, but how much intensity you could endure.

Stamina and reaction speed were both incredibly important factors.

But to finish cooking all the dishes by this point in time… was that truly something a human being could accomplish?

"Truly impressive. Of everyone I’ve seen, you’re the fastest person to clear this stage."

Normally, Dojima Gin would calculate the time and leave before the students arrived. Last year, Satoshi Isshiki had entered early.

He had already been quite impressed then, but compared to this year’s student, he could not even bring himself to mention Isshiki’s name. There was simply no comparison in speed.

"Is that so? Then I’m truly honored."

Xu Yue wore a smile, but neither his expression nor tone conveyed the slightest hint of feeling "honored."

Xu Yue had no need to conceal much from Dojima Gin.

"Senior Dojima Gin, you may know my culinary mentor. His name is Yukihira Seiichiro now."

As soon as Xu Yue finished speaking, Dojima Gin’s presence changed noticeably.

"You’re Seichiro’s disciple? No wonder. I’m afraid only he could have taught a student like you."

Dojima Gin ranked above Seichiro among the Elite Ten, but in terms of actual ability, he had been utterly crushed by Yukihira Soma’s seemingly unreliable father. Out of 120 matches, he had lost 101!

If not for Seichiro’s "minor flaws"—being late, leaving early, neglecting his duties after becoming an Elite Ten member, skipping work, piling up paperwork, poisoning people with dark cuisine, and even using those dishes in Food Wars!—the First Seat would definitely have been his.

Both Dojima Gin and the later boss, Nakiri Azami, held Yukihira Seiichiro in extremely high regard.

Xu Yue first used his ability to complete the assignment so quickly as a calling card to draw Dojima Gin’s attention, then appropriately got straight to the point and brought up Yukihira Seiichiro. He had fully achieved the effect he wanted.

"Senior Dojima Gin, before becoming a chef, I was a real estate developer. My own little business is nothing much, but my father and older brother have some connections. They were also approached for investment by a mysterious fellow named Nakiri Azami…"

The space had arranged things too tightly at the beginning. The moment he entered this Punishment mission, he had first needed to consider how to enroll, then how not to be expelled.

Only now, after his culinary skills had become sufficient for him to gain a firm foothold in Totsuki, could he find opportunities to make use of his advantages and start stirring things up.

Space, you may not be giving me achievement missions, but there’s nothing stopping me from farming my evaluation, right…

Whether it was interpersonal relationships or the level of strength he displayed in defeating opponents through cooking, all of it should count toward the final rating.

Dojima Gin, Yukihira Seiichiro, and Nakiri Azami—none of them were simple characters. But the more so they were, the more valuable they became.

Unfortunately, they were all men. Otherwise, if he could add them all to his collectibles achievement, getting an SS rating from this mission might even have been possible…

____

Two chapters~

Ahem, since I’ve started writing this mission, I’ll definitely finish it. I even opened a separate arc for it~

All right, the slow update speed is indeed Integrity-kun’s fault, but Integrity is suffering too. I really have to cultivate immortality every day just to guarantee two chapters a day!