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Time quickly reached the evening. For the Polar Star residents, a new "course" began.
"Whose turn is it tonight?"
At Polar Star, Asahi Nakiri looked at the students before him and asked.
"ME, ME, ME! It's my turn!" Zenji Marui immediately rushed up. Besides him, there were also Daigo Aoki and his companion.
These days, Polar Star held informal Shokugekis every night. Asahi Nakiri would face off against three different people each evening.
During these duels, Asahi would use his unique ability—Cross Knives—to perfectly replicate his opponent's cooking style. It created this bizarre sensation for them, like battling a mirror image of themselves.
Under such circumstances, it was easier to discover one's own shortcomings. Everyone who had tasted the sweetness of this now looked forward most to competing with Asahi.
As for Asahi himself, he also used this opportunity to continuously digest these copied things.
This was the method Yuuki taught him: not to blindly copy others—but to thoroughly master the techniques embedded within them.
Although the special ability couldn't be retained forever, those techniques were very useful for his growth—
—Asahi had taken Yuuki's advice to heart...
Previously, he did so to improve his Culinary skills as quickly as possible and then defeat Jōichirō Yukihira.
But after thinking things through, he was no longer so obsessed with increasing his knife collection.
After starting to try and learn the techniques within the knives, Asahi was like he had opened the door to a new world.
This feeling of continuous learning and growth made him addicted.
The current Asahi Nakiri had also entered an explosive growth period.
It looked like he'd genuinely become a First-Class Chef very soon—and he'd probably hit Special-Class pretty fast after that.
At that point, even without relying on his Cross Knives, he'd be able to crush his opponents easily.
....
Of course, there was one person in Polar Star who wasn't exactly thrilled with Asahi Nakiri—Alice Nakiri.
It wasn't because Asahi had officially joined the Nakiri family ranks or anything.
He was, after all, Erina's biological brother, and after joining the Nakiri family, he wouldn't compete for any power.
So, that wasn't Alice's issue...
Her problem was that Asahi doted on Erina very much. Which, fair enough—she was his only sister, and one who cared about him a lot.
This led to Asahi thinking about his younger sister in every aspect.
Even after arriving at Polar Star, he was constantly trying to create opportunities for Erina and Yuuki to spend time together...
And he often gave Erina special treatment, copying Erina's Culinary skills to help her improve rapidly.
The current Erina Nakiri had entered a rapid growth period.
After all, she had the God's Tongue. Previously, sending her to school was to suppress the growth rate of her God's Tongue.
Although the eventual loss of control of the God's Tongue couldn't be avoided, delaying it for some time was still good.
But now there was no need to worry about this problem, so Erina could improve her Culinary skills without restraint.
This made it very difficult for others to catch up to her. Plus, with Asahi's special treatment, her improvement speed was like riding a rocket.
Asahi was always engineering "alone time" for Yuuki and Erina.
That's why Alice was a bit hostile towards Asahi.
As for Asahi, he couldn't care less. Compared to his sister's happiness, other people's animosity meant nothing to him.
Although strictly speaking, Alice was also his cousin, this cousin was only in name.
....
"By the way, are you guys planning to participate in the School Festival?"
The conversation suddenly shifted.
The Tōtsuki School Festival was a massive event—a really big deal for the academy, and this year, it would be open to the public.
People from outside the school would enter the campus to taste various delicacies.
Students participating would naturally also start simulating business operations. If the previous Stagiaire was to let students adapt to various environments—
—then this event was true simulated business operation.
This wasn't an easy task for the students. After all, in the original story, many people's stalls were basically losing money at the beginning.
This was normal; it wasn't that good Culinary skills necessarily meant good business.
These elites in the original story perfectly demonstrated this point. Compared to Soma Yukihira, they weren't skilled at it.
Even if Tōtsuki found people to specifically explain the tricks of this aspect, it was still very difficult in actual operation.
This was why many students could only break even in the end and couldn't make a profit.
Many didn't control their costs well from the beginning.
The food they made might taste amazing and look incredible, but for paying customers, it was a different story.
Customers usually preferred food that was delicious and cheap.
They weren't looking to spend a fortune on tiny portions of weird, expensive stuff that wouldn't even fill them up...
Alice Nakiri got last place in the main avenue area at first. Soma was also last in the Central area, but that was because he was affected by Terunori Kuga.
Doing business, wanting to make a profit—one needed to consider various costs. And how to attract customers—these were the keys.
"How about we at Polar Star form a small group to operate?" Yoshino Yuki proposed.
While not everyone would participate, as long as those who participated gathered together, it shouldn't be a problem.
"That's a good idea! I'm in!" Ryōko Sakaki chimed in. This was a prime opportunity to get her name out there—
—Students who weren't Elite Ten members, if they wanted to become famous, had to participate in these activities. Only this way could they be seen by people from the outside world.
"I won't participate. After all, if I were to get involved, it would be a bit too much like bullying—" Yuuki stated.
He was an expert in this aspect, so he wouldn't participate.
After that, others chimed in—some were in, some were out.
Among them, Elite Ten members Satoshi Isshiki and Erina Nakiri would be participating, but they had to work the High-End Area, catering to important guests.
So, they couldn't participate in the team. Besides them, Soma Yukihira didn't participate this time.
Yuuki wasn't surprised. In the original story, Soma joined to beat Kuga Terunori. Right now, there was no rivalry between him and Kuga.
So, he preferred to go taste others' dishes, learn, and grow. As for doing business—he had already done business for many years at his family's place.
Seeing Soma not participating, Yuuki felt that these guys might come asking for help later.
Besides Soma here, the others had no business experience.
"Since we've decided, then let's determine which area we'll operate in next." Yoshino Yuki called everyone to discuss together.
Ultimately, the Polar Star residents placed their operating location in the Central area.
After the School Festival opened, it was divided into three areas.
First was the main avenue area. This area extended from the school gate inwards, somewhat like a snack street.
Although one could reach customers at the first opportunity, due to the number of stalls, the stall area was very small, and competition was very fierce.
Generally, the stalls here sold some simple snacks because to compete here, speed was essential.
Reaching the Central area, this was often where table service and similar preparations were made—
—Various kinds of dishes, and those appearing here were often students with decent abilities.
This was where most customers eventually gathered.
As for the final High-End Area, only a very small number of customers gathered here, but they were all wealthy individuals.
Because the people operating here were basically all Elite Ten members, and these people came for the Elite Ten.
The Elite Ten's charges were naturally very high—average people wouldn't consume here.
The Polar Star residents naturally couldn't place their location in the High-End Area, so they ultimately placed it in the Central area.
"The Central area is pretty good. But you guys need to be careful—Kuga-senpai is also in the Central Area. Your cooking skills might not be weaker than his, but you can't compare to his reputation," Erina Nakiri said.
Terunori Kuga, just like in the original story, didn't place his operating area in the High-End Area but in the Central area, and he found people from the Chūkaryōri RS to help—
—Originally, the Chūkaryōri RS was going to participate, so they simply joined forces with Kuga.
With Kuga leading the charge, at least they didn't have to worry about publicity.
"I remember now! Last year's first place in the Central area was Kuga-senpai, right? At that time, many people in the Central area were affected; the results were TRAGIC."
Back then, the Central Area was pretty much Kuga Terunori's one-man show; no one else even had a chance to shine.
"That's right. That time, Kuga-senpai made a bet with the current First Seat of the Elite Ten, Eishi Tsukasa-senpai. As long as he got first place in the Central area, then Tsukasa-senpai would give Kuga-senpai a chance to challenge him."
Erina Nakiri knew the inside story and directly revealed the bet between the two at that time.
"And then? And then? What was the result?" Yoshino Yuki asked somewhat curiously.
"There was no suspense in such a matter. Kuga lost. The gap between him and Tsukasa-senpai was still too large."
"But this year they made another bet, so your opponent in the Central area will be Kuga." Satoshi Isshiki said with a smile.
Kuga was somewhat similar to Soma Yukihira in certain aspects.
Even if he lost, and knew the gap between himself and the other party was large, he still wouldn't give up.
This year, he started chasing Eishi Tsukasa for a challenge again.
Helplessly, Eishi could only offer the same conditions as last year to shut Kuga up.
As for whether Kuga would succeed in the end, that wasn't something Eishi needed to consider.
Even if Kuga won, he would just compete with him once.
Anyway, he would be the one winning in the end. Otherwise, if Kuga kept pestering him endlessly, Eishi would feel quite helpless.
Last year was fine; Kuga wasn't an Elite Ten member at the time, so he couldn't keep targeting him.
But this year was different—Kuga became an Elite Ten member and could find him anytime.
Helplessly, Eishi could only agree.
"In that case, then let's set a goal: defeat Kuga-senpai!" Alice Nakiri proposed.
Her words received everyone's agreement.
Yuuki also found this somewhat amusing. Next, it was up to these guys' performance to see if they could win. He felt the probability was likely not very high.
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