In the evening, the setting sun dipped towards the west.
In the main hall, Fumio Daimidō rarely took to the kitchen herself, but today she had prepared an incomparably sumptuous "Farewell Banquet" for this group of newly enrolled freshmen.
"Cheers!"
The young boys and girls raised their drink cups and clinked them together, excited smiles hanging on their faces.
"Here, for you few brats who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth."
Fumio Daimidō brought the final miso soup to the dining table. Looking at the few people making toasts, she stood with her hands on her hips, her tone as sharp as ever: "When you get to that whatever island, don't you dare lose face for our Polaris Dormitory."
She had heard that the training this time was extremely strict, and the Director had invited many seniors from the culinary world. If they couldn't hold on and were sent back with their tails between their legs, they shouldn't even think about entering her kitchen in the future!
Although she said this, a trace of imperceptible pride was hidden on her face.
The freshmen of this batch had given her too many surprises.
If Okabe and the others strove to grow until the end, perhaps they could truly restore Polaris Dormitory to its past glory!
"Don't worry, Auntie Fumio! We will definitely be able to persevere!"
Yuki Yoshino guaranteed, full of energy.
"Exactly, we are members of Polaris Dormitory."
Ryoko Sakaki echoed with a smile.
Shun Ibusaki gave a soft "En," which counted as stating his position.
Megumi Tadokoro whispered: "I... I will do my best..."
Soma Yukihira shoveled rice into his mouth in big mouthfuls, saying indistinctly: "Sounds very interesting, Island Special Training!"
Okabe and Erina Nakiri looked at each other, and both saw a trace of anticipation in the other's eyes.
They were clear that heading to the island to participate in the Residential Training this time would absolutely not be relaxing. However, this was precisely the opportunity they currently needed to break through their existing bottlenecks.
The dinner banquet proceeded in a lively atmosphere.
Everyone discussed their imagination of the island, exchanged the fragmentary information they had each inquired about, and cheered each other on.
After the meal, everyone left one after another.
"Is the luggage ready? Ikaros."
Returning to the room, Okabe looked at Ikaros, who had finished eating a step ahead and was currently helping him pack his luggage. He stepped forward and rubbed her head as he spoke.
"I brought a week's worth of change of clothes, as well as some daily necessities, Flying Chess, playing cards, and then some things that might be useful..."
Hearing Okabe's inquiry, Ikaros immediately opened the suitcase and turned out the things inside, then looked at him and introduced them one by one.
"Alright, I got it. Thank you for your hard work."
Looking at the change of clothes in the suitcase and the various daily necessities, such as toothpaste and toothbrush, and a fully charged shaver, Ikaros had considered every aspect.
Although there were many unimportant things inside, considering it was a piece of Ikaros's heart, and adding that it wasn't completely impossible that they would be used, Okabe didn't take them out.
"I've also prepared the kitchenware side. Bringing these two boxes tomorrow will be enough. I don't know what kind of journey it will be; I'm starting to look forward to it!"
Placing the kitchenware case and the suitcase together for convenient access at any time tomorrow, Okabe lay down on the bed.
"Do you want me to accompany you? Master."
Ikaros came to Okabe's bedside. Although she was asking, her eyes held a craving.
"Sorry, the training intensity this time is a bit high; I can't take you with me. Wait for me obediently at Polaris Dormitory. I'll bring you a souvenir when I come back."
Hearing Ikaros's words, Okabe froze for a moment. Understanding her thought but only able to refuse, he rubbed her head and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Okay. Then, can I sleep with Master tonight?"
Although Ikaros was disappointed, she was not dejected.
She had calculated long ago that the probability of Master agreeing was 0.15%, so she just said it to try.
"Of course you can. I was just wondering why my bed was so empty; turns out it was missing my dear Ikaros~ Come in quickly, I've already warmed the bed."
Seeing Ikaros lower her head 'dejectedly' after hearing his answer, Okabe hurriedly lifted the quilt and said.
Ikaros didn't stand on ceremony upon seeing this. She took off her shoes and drilled in. Immediately, she felt a wave of warmth hit her, and Okabe's hand naturally rested on her waist.
However, she did not resist.
Instead, she buried her head deeper into his embrace.
"Sleep. But because of tomorrow's trip, I'm a little too excited to sleep."
Feeling the force coming from his embrace, Okabe rubbed Ikaros's head again. The fluffy texture was very nice, like stroking a well-behaved kitten.
Facing Okabe's large hand, Ikaros didn't say anything either. She just closed her eyes obediently, enjoying this leisurely time alone together.
Okabe looked at her appearance, his technique softening a lot. He just gently stroked her hair like this, coaxing her to sleep like the vast majority of boyfriends coaxing their girlfriends.
Until later, when he entered dreamland himself.
During this period, Ikaros opened her eyes a few times, and after watching him quietly for a moment, she closed them again.
On the day of the training.
Okabe and the others dragged their suitcases to the site.
Twelve buses were parked here, arranged in a three-by-four square formation, for students to choose freely.
"My stomach hurts."
Looking at this posture, Megumi Tadokoro couldn't help but clutch her stomach, her expression subtly becoming somewhat sickly.
"I feel like I'm getting more and more used to this kind of battle array."
Soma Yukihira was also somewhat surprised. As the child of a common diner chef, his scope of acceptance in the past was very narrow. Coming to Tōtsuki these few months had truly broadened his horizons.
"It's actually not bad. Let's set off, advance towards the Hell Camp of friendship and exchange on the island! However, since there are so many vehicles, let's simply all sit in one!"
Okabe's face was also full of excitement.
One hundred students using twelve vehicles meant an average of eight to nine people per vehicle. There were exactly seven of them here; adding Ikumi Mito and Alice Nakiri, it would be exactly nine, allowing them to occupy a complete vehicle.
"Soma Yukihira."
Suddenly, a voice rang out behind the group.
Okabe and the others looked back out of curiosity, only to discover that the speaker was a blonde youth standing together with his younger brother, dragging a suitcase.
The other party was currently staring tightly at Soma Yukihira, his eyes seemingly about to spew fire.
"You won by a fluke in the last Sequence duel. You won't have that luck when we meet next time. Wash your neck clean and wait for me to defeat you!"
He appeared aggressive and menacing.
However, his words could not change the fact that he was the underdog.
"Yukihira, you guys competed before?"
Yuki Yoshino stood beside Soma Yukihira and asked somewhat curiously.
"Seems to be my opponent from the first match, called Tashanmi? Or something?"
Looking at the blonde youth, Soma Yukihira couldn't help but reveal a pondering expression. Before he could continue speaking, he was interrupted by the other party who was frantic with anger: "I am Takumi Aldini, you fellow who knows no manners!"
"Oh right, it's Takumi Aldini. My defeated opponent, did you run over now preparing to talk trash? It's a pity that the competition isn't about whose mouth is sharper."
Hearing Takumi Aldini's words, the good expression Soma Yukihira originally had toward him also sank. Subsequently, he waved his hand, revealing a mocking expression.
Seeing this situation.
Takumi Aldini became even angrier.
"Hahaha, Big Brother is being mocked, super funny!"
Beside him, Isami Aldini couldn't help but cover his mouth and snicker upon seeing this situation, which eventually developed into laughing while clutching his stomach.
"Truly youth."
Seeing this scene, Okabe nodded in deep agreement, while Yuki Yoshino beside him retorted:
"What youth, they are clearly just two little brats."
"Hurry up and get on the bus; it's getting late."
Ryoko Sakaki glanced at her watch, and at the Sequence List members who were successively placing their suitcases under the bus and boarding, and couldn't help but speak up to urge them.
"What a coincidence, Okabe. Sitting in the same vehicle?"
At the same time, Ikumi Mito arrived at Okabe's side. She looked at him and greeted him, only shifting her gaze away in slight panic when the other party looked over.
"Sure, then let's sit in one..."
"Ohayou (Good Morning)! You guys came so early. Is it departure to the accommodation site next!"
Okabe had just started to answer when a white figure rushed over from not far away. She familiarly hugged his arm, her eyes looking at him filled with jubilation.
"Nonsense. If not heading to the accommodation site, could they be taking us for a joyride on the streets?"
Looking at Alice Nakiri who affectionately hugged Okabe's arm and swayed it, Erina Nakiri couldn't help but retort, her words carrying a subtle acidity.
She only discovered a few days ago that Alice Nakiri had participated in the Transfer Student Assessment and enrolled. At the same time, she also learned that the person she was originally supposed to proctor that day was her.
If she had known earlier, she would have postponed the appointment with Hisako and gone to make things difficult for her back then.
Too late for regrets!
"That's not impossible either. As long as I can be together with Okabe-kun, going for a joyride on the bus is also quite romantic. It has the feeling of a teenage couple, doesn't it?"
Alice Nakiri seemed not to hear the sarcasm in Erina Nakiri's words. She was looking obsessively at Okabe, revealing an innocent and brilliant expression.
"Cough cough, everyone get on the bus first."
Looking at the chaotic appearance of the scene, Okabe coughed twice with a headache. Subsequently, he placed his luggage at the bottom of the carriage and was the first to board the bus.
Soma Yukihira followed closely behind.
Then came Alice Nakiri. As soon as she got on the bus, she sat beside Okabe and even leaned her head on his shoulder, putting on a posture of a little bird relying on a person.
And as the group boarded the vehicle, the bus also slowly started up, speeding away toward the distance.
Along the way, everyone saw quite a few sceneries.
The cityscape, the soil of the fields, and finally the straight and wide cement road disappeared, turning into a potholed mountain path that made them unable to help but vomit.
Two hours later, the bus's speed gradually slowed, finally stopping slowly on a relatively open clearing. Subsequently, the group got off the bus one after another.
"Alice, is it necessary for you to stick to Okabe-kun like this? It's better for girls to be a bit more reserved."
Looking at Alice Nakiri who still held Okabe's arm even after getting off the bus, Erina Nakiri began to complain. She had observed the whole way and endured the whole way!
This guy kept finding opportunities to talk to Okabe. Even if the other party didn't respond much, she talked incessantly. This couldn't help but generate some sense of crisis in her.
"You really don't feel back pain while standing and talking (it's easy for you to say). You accompanied Okabe-kun for three years at Ryōzanpaku yourself; these three years I was suffering in Northern Europe. It wasn't easy to come back; what's wrong with saying a few more sentences to Okabe-kun? Could it be that you are jealous? If you are jealous, I could actually say a bit less."
As soon as Erina Nakiri's voice fell, Alice Nakiri couldn't help but fight back.
This guy ate and lived together with Okabe for three years, and it was still the same after arriving at Tōtsuki; naturally, she wouldn't understand her loneliness over these years.
"Hah?! Jealous? What kind of jealousy would I feel!"
Hearing Alice Nakiri's words, Erina Nakiri was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. A layer of redness rapidly dyed her pretty face, and her speech became stuttered.
"Not jealous? Then why do you manage so much."
Once Alice Nakiri dropped this sentence, she directly choked Erina Nakiri into speechlessness.
The levels of the two were obviously not in the same tier.
"Is this really the place for the Residential Training? Why does it feel even more old and shabby than my home area..."
At the same time, Soma Yukihira's voice rang out, breaking the subtly awkward atmosphere at the scene. He gazed at the small fishing village in front of him, his expression carrying inquiry.
"Shouldn't it be a luxury hotel?"
Yuki Yoshino also pulled a long face.
According to what the seniors from the 'Game Cooking Research Society' revealed, the place for the Residential Training should be at the Tōtsuki Resort, inside a super luxurious hotel.
Why did they come to this kind of place...
The small fishing village before their eyes nestled against the mountain and the sea. The houses were mostly old-style wooden structures, distributed randomly along the winding stone slab road. Many roofs were covered with dark gray tiles, and some had even grown moss.
The sea breeze blew over carrying a faint salty fishy smell, and the crashing sound of waves hitting the reefs could be faintly heard.
Fishing nets by the roadside were dried casually on bamboo frames, with a few pieces of withered seaweed still hanging in the mesh.
Several old wooden fishing boats were stranded on the beach. The paint on the hulls had peeled off, revealing the original color of the wood, presenting a scene of dilapidation.
A mottled wooden sign stood at the entrance of the village, with the three characters "Shiomiura" written in ink on it. The handwriting had been eroded by wind and rain to become somewhat blurry.
Under the old pagoda tree beside the archway, several old men were sitting and chatting idly. Seeing this group of young people dragging suitcases, they immediately got up and walked over.
"Youngsters, you must be the students of Tōtsuki Academy. We have been waiting for a long time."
The leading old man held a leopard-head cane. Looking at the hundred or so people coming down from the buses one after another, he revealed a genial smile.
"Who are you? The person in charge of this Residential Training? Why is it an old geezer with one foot in the coffin? Can this kind of person really teach us?"
Continuous questions came from the mouth of a lean-bodied male in the crowd. His face carried anger; obviously, he felt he had been deceived by Tōtsuki.
"I am not your person in charge. I am the Village Head of this Shiomiura Village, responsible for receiving you here and sending you to the island three kilometers away."
The old Village Head explained simply with two sentences, eliminating the majority of the doubts in everyone's hearts, replaced by curiosity.
"Since that's the case, then don't delay. Hurry up and take us to board the boats to the island! We can't wait anymore!"
There were those very confident in their own strength who couldn't wait to train at this moment, so they stepped forward two steps and urged the elder before them.
Although the others didn't speak, they meant the same thing. Standing here all the time wasn't a solution; better to arrive at the training site early to rest a bit.
"Relax, take it slowly.
We signed a contract with Tōtsuki; we will absolutely send you safely to the island on the other side."
Seeing someone speak up to urge, a faint smile surfaced on the old man's face.
Unknown if it was an illusion.
They could feel that the smile with which the old man looked at them carried a trace of pity, as if where they were going wasn't an island, but a hell of no return.
After some coordination, all the fishing boats of the small fishing village were mobilized. Each household provided a young adult, barely managing to transport the 100 students simultaneously.
Okabe and the others sat on the boat, shoulders rubbing against shoulders, appearing somewhat crowded. Looking at the boundless seascape and the surrounding fleet, their faces couldn't help but reveal subtle expressions.
Responsible for taking them to the island was a youth with dark skin. He held a grass stalk in his mouth, gazing into the distance, rowing the oars quickly and steadily.
Occasionally, when glancing at this group of well-dressed students, a smear of envy would flow from the bottom of his eyes. However, the time this envy appeared was extremely short; more of it was indifference.
"Little Brother, that island we are going to, what kind of place is it?"
Yuki Yoshino clung to the edge of the boat and asked curiously.
The youth spat out the grass stalk, not turning his head: "Seagull Island. A small island with very complex biology. The area is large; it is said that brown bears still survive on it. Previously, lighthouse keepers lived there. Later, the lighthouse became fully automatic, and there have been no traces of human activity here for over a decade."
"Br-Brown bears?"
Megumi Tadokoro's face turned pale.
"What about food?"
Soma Yukihira was more concerned about practical problems.
"Resources on the island are abundant. It can even support a creature at the top of the food chain like the brown bear; it won't lack a bite for you guys."
The youth's tone carried a trace of gloating. While speaking, he observed them with the corner of his eye, seeming to want to see expressions of madness on their faces.
However, he was disappointed.
Except for Megumi Tadokoro whose face turned pale again and again, the other few people all had an appearance of being eager to try, as if the entire island was just ingredients in their eyes.
Such an attitude couldn't help but make him somewhat puzzled.
"Truly a group of strange fellows..."
Ultimately, it could only be attributed to Tōtsuki students being freaks; otherwise, how could they not reveal shrinking expressions on their faces when hearing this kind of thing.
The fishing boat moved forward, swaying slightly in the waves. The salty and wet sea breeze blew against everyone's cheeks.
The outline of Seagull Island in the distance was gradually revealed.
That was an island covered by dense vegetation; steep cliffs and a winding coastline were faintly visible.
"Looks... indeed very primitive."
Ryoko Sakaki narrowed her eyes to observe, her originally reasonably relaxed mood becoming uneasy.
"Primitive is good!"
Yuki Yoshino instead became excited: "This means there are more fresh wild ingredients to explore! Hope I can become friends with them."
"Reuniting in the stomach?"
Okabe gazed at the coastline getting closer and closer, a wave of strange anticipation surging in his heart, so he couldn't help but tease.
Just then, he noticed the boatman youth secretly glancing at them several times. In those eyes, besides gloating, there seemed to be something else hidden.
"Little Brother, have you sent other students from Tōtsuki to this island before?"
Okabe suddenly opened his mouth to ask.
The youth's hand rowing the oar paused, then he said nonchalantly: "Sent a few times, but those were all things from seven or eight years ago. I was still a teenager at that time."
"How were the students... at that time?"
Erina Nakiri keenly captured the ambiguity in his words.
The youth fell silent for a few seconds, the sea breeze blowing the broken hair on his forehead: "They... well, anyway, they all came back alive in the end."
He shut his mouth and didn't speak after finishing, concentrating on rowing the boat.
This answer plunged everyone into a brief silence.
"Came back alive?"
Soma Yukihira frowned, unable to help murmuring: "Doesn't sound like a good evaluation."
Shun Ibusaki spoke up rarely: "The training intensity might be even greater than we imagined."
The fishing boat finally docked, stopping on a rough beach. The students got off the boat one after another, their feet stepping solidly on this fine soft sand.
Several people wearing Tōtsuki staff uniforms were already waiting by the shore.
"Everyone assemble!"
A voice rang out through a megaphone.
Everyone looked toward the sound, only to see a tall middle-aged man with a buzz cut standing on a reef.
He was wearing capable field training clothes, muscles all over his body bulging high, and his eyes were sharp as an eagle's.
"I am the Chief Person in Charge of this Residential Training activity, Gin Dojima."
His voice was loud and powerful: "From now on, for the next seven days, you will conduct comprehensive culinary and survival training on this island."
He paused, scanning the hundred young students before him.
"First, I need to tell you a cruel fact.
In previous trainings, an average of 30% of students could not persist to the end. There were those who withdrew midway, those injured, and even those who had mental breakdowns."
A burst of uneasy commotion sounded in the crowd.
Everyone gazed at each other, all seeing unease in the other's eyes.
The words the accompanying boatman said to them on the way over by boat just now surfaced at this moment; the difficulty of this Residential Training was concretized.
"But that was before."
Gin Dojima continued speaking, a smile akin to a demon surfacing on his face: "This year, the Director specially instructed to raise the training standards, so I can tell you, this time, the elimination rate might be even higher!"
Megumi Tadokoro's face became even paler; she subconsciously grabbed Ryoko Sakaki's arm beside her.
"Now, I give you ten minutes. Aside from the most basic change of clothes, you are to select three essential items from your respective luggage.
Only three items. All remaining luggage, including the kitchenware cases you brought, must be handed over."
Looking at the reaction of the students offstage, Gin Dojima revealed a satisfied expression. Subsequently, he extended three fingers and stated the first directive for their arrival on the island.
"What?!"
Exclamations rose one after another.
"This is unfair!" A student shouted: "How do we cook without kitchenware?"
Gin Dojima looked over coldly: "In the true wild, do you have the right to choose kitchenware?
A chef must adapt to the environment, not let the environment adapt to you.
You still have nine minutes. If you feel you cannot accept it, you can go back now; the boatmen shouldn't have gone far yet."
The scene instantly became chaotic.
The students frantically opened their suitcases, hesitating indecisively in the face of a full box of items.
Okabe thought rapidly.
He looked at his own two boxes, the kitchenware case and the suitcase. The things Ikaros prepared for him seemed too comprehensive now, instead becoming a burden...
____
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