Chapter 18: The Food Overlord
The long yet short summer break had ended, and today marked the long-awaited start of the new term.
Staring up at the school gate that somehow felt nostalgic, Shogo was hit by a wave of drowsiness.
"…Haa. This sucks."
Of course, the end of summer break meant returning from the family estate to the academy. After a month of carefree living with no inconveniences, the dorm life where he had to handle everything himself had begun once again.
His daily rhythm had completely fallen apart during that month of laziness. The strictly scheduled academy life was poison to his current body. Even so, he had to attend Totsuki Academy. Not to improve his cooking skills, not for his future career after graduation.
To obtain Nakiri Erina.
In this world—in the original Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma—the best girl in Shogo's eyes was Nakiri Erina and no one else. For the sake of claiming that supreme woman, he was willing to endure the restrictions of academy life. She was worth that much and more.
And today, the biggest event of the year for the first-years of the high-school division was finally taking place.
The festival that students who had spent the entire summer break on recipe development would now challenge—the Autumn Elections.
Its scale was overwhelming, as befitting the academy's greatest event. The mere fact that they held a preliminary round before the main tournament showed just how extravagant it was. The sixty participants had been chosen based on their regular grades and performance during the training camp.
The first day—today—was the preliminary round, split into Block A and Block B to weed out the weak. Only the strong would advance to the main tournament. To prove to everyone that he was the chef worthy of Erina, Shogo could not afford to be among the weak. This was the perfect stage to show off his skill in a clear, undeniable way. He also wanted to raise Erina's favorability toward him even further.
"—Good morning, Shogo-san."
"…Hm? Oh, morning."
A large male student in a black tracksuit suddenly greeted him. It was Mimasaka Subaru—one of the original-story characters Shogo had recently turned into a pawn.
Mimasaka was the type who thoroughly stalked his opponents to steal their techniques, then added a single twist to their own dishes to win. In other words, he was a copycat. Frankly, Shogo considered him a cheat-tier monster who stood out even in the original story.
"I'll carry your bag."
"Yeah, thanks."
Mimasaka was extremely useful, so he was the only male Shogo had decided to turn into a pawn.
After defeating his own father with an arranged dish, Mimasaka had essentially been disowned and enrolled at Totsuki. With his twisted personality, he had run wild in Shokugeki, taking pleasure in stealing his opponents' knives. So during summer break, Shogo had beaten him senseless and forcibly reformed him. By crushing him with real cooking and then offering kind words, turning him into a devoted follower had been simple. Especially with someone like Mimasaka—originally pure-hearted but acting tough—who was easy to handle once broken.
"It's finally here, Shogo-san."
"Yeah. Well, it's probably going to be a boring festival for you because of me."
To avoid drastically changing the original story, Shogo had asked Mimasaka to lose in the preliminaries. Only eight students—four from each block—would advance to the main tournament. With Shogo as the irregular factor, it was cleaner to keep Mimasaka out.
"That's not true at all! I owe you for saving me. …After all, you saved a rotten guy like me."
"Just make sure you repay the favor, got it?"
"Yes! Of course!"
He was less of a pawn and more of a loyal underling, but a useful ally was still a useful ally.
He would make Mimasaka work hard for him. After all, returning all ninety-nine knives Mimasaka had stolen in Shokugeki had been a real pain at the end of summer break.
"…First is the opening ceremony. Feels like a sports festival."
"Shogo-san! I'll be watching and learning!"
It was an important tournament. Time to get fired up.
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"Whoa~ As expected, they spared no expense. This venue is luxurious."
After finishing the opening ceremony for contestants only, Shogo arrived at the Block B venue.
He had exchanged a few words with Soma and Tadokoro, but he had been half-asleep and only gave vague responses, so there wasn't much to talk about.
The familiar faces in the same Block B were Hisako, Alice, Tadokoro, and Miyoko. To stay true to the original story, he needed to advance alongside the three except Miyoko. It was a relief that Takumi was in Block A. As for Miyoko, he had always planned to crush her anyway, so no problem there.
"…Ryoko's in Block A, right?"
If things followed the original story, the Block A main-tournament qualifiers would be Soma, Hayama Akira, and Kurokiba. Without Mimasaka advancing, the fourth spot would probably go to Takumi. Well, the exact adjustments didn't matter. What mattered was that Shogo advanced.
"—All contestants, please move to your assigned cooking stations."
Following the announcement, he took his place at the assigned station.
After taking a breath, he looked up at the spectator seats. A large crowd of students had gathered. In addition to the first-years who hadn't been selected, there were second- and third-years as well. To the upperclassmen, this was basically a festival.
He also spotted Hisako and Miyoko. He thought he made eye contact with Hisako for a brief moment, but she quickly looked away. Cute. It looked like she was properly focused on cooking.
Miyoko, on the other hand, was glaring at him intensely. She didn't seem to realize that her real opponents were the judges, not him. At this rate she would definitely lose just like in the original story. He would make sure she lost as miserably as possible—so thoroughly that she would never dare challenge him with cooking again.
In that sense, Tadokoro's presence was crucial. Being stabbed in the back by someone she had completely ignored was the most effective blow—especially for someone as prideful as Miyoko. Thank you, Tadokoro-san.
"—Good morning, Shogo-kun."
"Oh, Alice. Been a while."
Even though cooking was about to start, Alice approached him with her usual carefree attitude. She showed not the slightest hint of tension. This was the attitude of someone with absolute confidence in her own skill.
"To be precise, it's been two weeks."
"Has it been that long already? The break flew by."
This was the first time he had seen Alice face-to-face since the day they went to the pool with Erina and then spent the entire night fucking at his villa.
He had been busy with family business and returning all the knives Mimasaka had stolen, and he didn't want to risk the Nakiri family growing suspicious by sleeping with Alice too often. There was no need to rush. Alice was already his.
"You won't beat me, you know?"
"Same here. Let's have a good match."
"Fufu. I'll be looking forward to seeing you at your best. —But I'll be the one who wins, of course!"
Ever since that day, Alice had been openly affectionate toward him. It felt good to be liked by a beautiful girl, but since the whole thing had started from lust, there was a slight lack of pure maidenly innocence. She was blindly, mildly dependent on him as the one who had given her the taste of sex for the first time. For Shogo, it was convenient—he planned to sink her deeper into the swamp.
He watched Alice walk away humming, then turned toward his cooking station.
The theme for the preliminaries was "curry dishes." A very broad theme. Precisely because of that, it would test the true skill of the chefs presenting their dishes. They had also had the entire summer break as preparation time, so excuses about lack of time would not be accepted.
It was a pure, uncompromising clash of flavor against flavor.
"…Watch me."
The huge monitors broadcasting the venue. Erina was surely watching the footage. In this preliminary round, he would plant the name Santoku Shogo even deeper into her mind. If he could make her want to taste his dish, it would be perfect.
Ingredients: ready.
Cooking tools: ready.
Flavor vision: ready.
At eleven in the morning, the exact start time, the headmaster of Totsuki Academy—Nakiri Senzaemon—gave the command.
"Cooking… begin!!!"
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The countless kitchens gleamed silver under the lights covering the ceiling. The chosen chefs wielded their skills, creating dishes that represented the culmination of their summer.
The judges were no ordinary people either. They were all professionals when it came to food.
The two sisters who reigned over Japan's curry industry—the Senba sisters—were serving as the de facto head judges. Any evaluation given here would undoubtedly have a massive impact on the contestants' future careers as chefs.
The challengers were the young candidates for the "Jade." The receivers were the battle-hardened gourmets.
Each of the five judges had a maximum of twenty points, for a total of one hundred.
For the "stepping stones" meant to polish the Jade, low scores were only natural.
"33 points! 27 points! …6 points!"
The score announcements from the emcee Urara Kawashima caused a stir in the venue. Some students who received devastatingly low scores burst into tears and fled the hall.
The difference in experience with flavor was overwhelming.
Satisfying guests with refined palates was difficult even for professional chefs. The level expected from students was, frankly, too high.
But this was Totsuki Academy.
The chefs who possessed the caliber of the Jade—not mere stepping stones—were making the judges moan in approval.
"Here it is! Nao Sadatsuka! —84 points!"
The "Boiling Witch" who used the magic of off-flavors to corrupt her opponents.
"This is incredible! Arato Hisako! —92 points!"
The "Expert of Medicinal Cuisine" who healed those who ate her dishes.
"Another high score! Hojo Miyoko! —87 points!"
The "Iron-Arm Fire Dragon Girl" who cooked with the flames of rage.
"An unexpected dark horse! Yuki Yoshino! —86 points!"
The "Little Red Riding Hood of the Beast Forest" who captured prey with her charm.
"Yet another high score! Isami Aldini! —87 points!"
The "Seeker of Flavor's Horizon" who continued to chase after his brother.
"…And now, Nakiri Alice! —95 points!"
The "Global Innovator" who brought cutting-edge techniques to the world of taste.
"What's this?! An unexpected intruder! Tadokoro Megumi! —88 points!"
The "Girl of Hospitality and Consideration" who had broken out of her shell.
The young chefs presented the best dishes they could create, and the rankings updated one after another. Only the top four from each block would advance to the main tournament. The weak fell, and only the strong rose, their combat strength visualized through points.
1st place: [95] Nakiri Alice
2nd place: [92] Arato Hisako
3rd place: [88] Tadokoro Megumi
With only one contestant left, the advancement of these three to the main tournament was now confirmed. The two remaining chefs—Isami Aldini and Hojo Miyoko, tied for fourth—would have to pray.
If the final contestant scored higher than 87, they would be eliminated. If not, the two would face a tiebreaker vote. All they could do now was believe their scores wouldn't be surpassed.
But that wish would never—ever—come true.
"The final contestant, Santoku Shogo, has finished serving. We will now begin the judging."
Instead of the emcee, it was Shogo himself who reacted to the announcement. With cold eyes that regarded the judges as less than human, he whispered something to them. Like magic, the judges who had been shouting frantically rushed back to their seats.
The five breathless judges delivered their scores.
Just like before, they operated the switches in front of them and displayed their individual scores (out of twenty) on the monitor.
[19] — [19] — [20] — [19] — [19]
The scores were totaled.
The emcee, looking bewildered but determined to do her job, gripped the microphone tightly and raised her voice.
"Santoku Shogo! —…96 points!!!"
The rankings updated instantly.
The two who had been tied for fourth were mercilessly dropped, and Santoku Shogo's name shot straight to first place. At the same time, the Block B preliminaries came to an end. The battle among the thirty young chefs had concluded.
Shogo checked the score, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
With a satisfied expression, he looked at the judges, pointed at the cooking station he had used, and jerked his chin upward as if to say Hurry up and get over there.
"Move it! That's mine! I'm eating all of it!!"
"Get your filthy hands away! A crude pig like you has no right to demand this dish!"
"My…! My curry…!"
Shogo paid no attention to the judges fighting over the curry. He walked straight toward a single girl.
Hojo Miyoko stood frozen, unable to accept the humiliating reality that she had failed to qualify for the main tournament. Even though the boy who had provoked her, taunted her, and picked a fight with her was now standing right beside her, she couldn't move. She couldn't glare at him or shout. Doing so now would only make her look like a sore loser. She suppressed the urge to punch him, bracing herself for whatever the victor would say.
Shogo leaned in close to her ear and left her with a single sentence.
"—In the end… you were just a weak little girl."
Something inside Hojo Miyoko broke.
Strength left her legs and she collapsed on the spot. The sight was so frail it was hard to believe she had once swung a Chinese cleaver with such ferocity. Her eyes, now empty of light, were deeply engraved with the word "despair."
Santoku Shogo—Block B, 1st place—had secured his spot in the main tournament.
A member of the Santoku family, whose name was known not just in Japan but around the world. Today, a chef from the family that always lagged behind the Nakiri family in the culinary world had delivered a shock to Totsuki Academy.
The ultimate stage had provided the ultimate proof. Many of the spectators present had witnessed the exact moment a person's spirit shattered.
To create a dish that completely surpassed the opponent's specialty and reached a level of perfection no one else could touch.
It wasn't a match. It wasn't even a contest. It wasn't a fight.
It was domination.
The Food Overlord.
On this day, the chef who would one day be called by that name made his presence known to the world.
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Another chapter coming soon. New goal is 800 power stones, dont forget to drop your ps!!
For early access to 10 chapters: p@tre~~.com/Demonic_Fiction (Link is in the synopsis and my profile).