“Totsuki’s survival of the fittest rule makes it more like a small society than a school.
There are students here who genuinely love cooking and are dedicated to studying it, but there are also many who only see cooking as a tool to make money and become social elites.
To gain the attention of Erina Nakiri and the favor of the Director, it means you truly have strength.
Coupled with the financial ability to casually provide high-grade dream ingredients to support a friend's food battle, it's not surprising that they consider you the descendant of a culinary prestigious family.”
“Those who are offering rewards for your information aren't necessarily all trying to defeat you as a stepping stone.
Many of them are probably trying to understand your background and then curry favor with you.
Some girls might even be thinking of throwing themselves at you, after all, Seiya, your looks aren't bad, are they?”
After hearing Isshiki Satoshi’s words, everyone present, except for Seiya and Yukihira Soma, did not show overly strange expressions, even the charmingly clumsy Tadokoro Megumi and the energetic Yuki Yoshino.
This is Totsuki Culinary Academy, where the strong prey on the weak. Compared to ordinary schools, the students here are much more mature than their peers due to their growth environment and other factors.
Everyone present, except for Seiya and Yukihira Soma, had advanced from Totsuki’s middle school, so they had seen a lot and were now accustomed to it.
“Unfortunately, those girls who want to curry favor and throw themselves at me will probably be disappointed.
Although my family can be considered descendants of a culinary prestigious family, it's a fallen one, and I am certainly not some scion of a large conglomerate; my family is just ordinary chefs who run a popular restaurant.”
Hearing Seiya’s self-deprecating remark, the Polaris Dormitory residents, who already knew Seiya’s background, were unfazed, but Nikumi, who was invited to the banquet, showed a surprised expression.
“Wenren, your family just runs a popular restaurant? But if that’s the case, how did you help Yukihira Soma find such a dream ingredient as the "Frozen Wild Bull"?
You should know that even our family’s Mito Meat Products, which has a certain reputation in the meat ingredient industry, cannot easily find meat dream ingredients of that caliber.”
On this point, the other members of Polaris Dormitory, including Yukihira Soma, were also quite curious.
Seiya did not reveal the truth that he was a Gourmet Hunter, but instead took out a silver membership card from the Gourmet Association and said, “For certain reasons, I helped an important figure in the dream ingredients Gourmet Association, so he gave me this membership card.
As long as I need them, I can order dream ingredients from the Gourmet Association at a 10% discount.”
When they heard Seiya’s explanation, the eyes of everyone present, looking at the membership card in Seiya’s hand, instantly burst forth with a light that almost blinded Seiya.
A Gourmet Association VIP who can order dream ingredients at a 10% discount—this is much more valuable than being a scion of some conglomerate!
dream ingredients are expensive, but for most chefs, they aren't unaffordable.
The main issue is that these items are rare and hard to acquire; ordinary people without certain channels simply cannot buy them, often only being able to purchase them at inflated prices through black markets or auctions.
The VIP status of the dream ingredients Gourmet Association is held by only three people… or three organizations in all of Tokyo to date, with Totsuki Culinary Academy being one of them.
However, the VIP level of the entire Totsuki Culinary Academy seemed to be not as high as Seiya's.
Frankly speaking, no matter how down and out Seiya becomes, as long as he has this VIP status from the Gourmet Association, he will be treated as an honored guest wherever he goes.
Those giants in the food industry would even go so far as to marry their family's women to Seiya to forge connections with him.
“Seiya, I didn’t expect you to have such a status. Since that’s the case, I won’t be polite. There’s actually a dream ingredient I’ve wanted for a long time, but I’ve never had the channel…”
“And me, and me! The training camp is in a few days. I don’t know if we can bring our own ingredients this time, but just in case, it’s better to bring some trump cards.”
Previously, the Polaris Dormitory members thought Seiya got dream ingredients through connections, so although they asked Seiya, they didn't hold much hope in their hearts.
They even avoided bringing it up again to prevent Seiya from feeling embarrassed.
But now that Seiya had revealed his silver membership status with the Gourmet Association, what were they still hesitating about?!
Sakaki Ryoko and Yuki Yoshino, who had become familiar with Seiya, unhesitatingly rattled off several dream ingredients they had long desired.
As for the shy Tadokoro Megumi and Nikumi, who had just met Seiya, they were initially a bit embarrassed, but ultimately, they too could not resist the 10% discount on dream ingredients.
dream ingredients are already hard to come by; now, being able to buy them at a 10% discount—where else could you find such a good deal?!
Yukihira Soma, who had experienced the delicious and magical taste of dream ingredients, originally opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly realized that with the high price of dream ingredients, even with a 10% discount, he simply couldn't afford them…
A few days after Yukihira Soma and Nikumi’s food battle, the 92nd generation first-year students’ annual event at Totsuki Culinary Academy, the so-called training camp, officially began.
For this training camp, everyone in Polaris Dormitory, except for Isshiki Satoshi, who was a year ahead of Seiya, had made preparations.
Seiya had been holed up in Polaris Dormitory for the past few days, not going out, due to the commotion caused by Erina’s challenge.
As a Special Student, Seiya could skip regular class assessments without any issues, except for important annual events like the training camp.
This special advantage of being a Special Student also made Tadokoro Megumi, a fellow Polaris Dormitory member, incredibly envious.
Because she had advanced to the high school division with the lowest score from the middle school division, even a single D grade in a regular class assessment would put her at risk of expulsion.
Because of this, Tadokoro Megumi was always on thin ice during every class assessment.
However, the members of Polaris Dormitory who had tasted Tadokoro Megumi’s cooking all knew that her culinary skill was actually not low, even better than most at Totsuki.
She simply got nervous easily, which caused her to underperform at critical moments, leading to consistently low evaluations.
Therefore, to avoid being eliminated from this training camp, Seiya prioritized ordering many dream ingredients for Tadokoro Megumi.
For the same dish, food cooked with dream ingredients tastes much better than with ordinary ingredients, which could be considered a physical cheat.
However, it was regrettable that when the prepared Polaris Dormitory members went to the meeting point to board the bus, they were informed by a Totsuki teacher that all students were prohibited from bringing any personal belongings, including clothes, for this training camp.
