"Quiet, you. Let him finish cooking first."
As soon as Yuki Yoshino's voice came from the doorway, Fumio Daimido blocked her from entering the kitchen.
According to Megumi and the others, Kael's skill was already Three-Star Chef level, so passing the dorm entry test should've been a breeze. But a single distraction could still cause mistakes, and Fumio wasn't about to risk that.
"Got it, Mrs. Daimido!" Yuki replied quickly. She wasn't being scolded often—Fumio usually treated the dorm residents with warmth and patience—so whenever she spoke seriously, everyone listened.
After Yuki arrived, the rest of the dormmates trickled in one after another.
"Huh? Isshiki-senpai, you're here too? Don't you have work today?" someone asked when Satoshi Isshiki appeared, looking as relaxed as ever.
He was one of the Elite Ten, and everyone knew how busy that group usually was. The council handled a huge part of Totsuki's management work—it was the academy's way of grooming them as leaders.
"Well, most of the opening preparations were already discussed in the Elite Ten meeting," Isshiki said with a calm smile. "The rest's being handled by Eizan. We just need to assist him when necessary."
In the current Elite Ten, the best chef was Eishi Tsukasa, the most gifted was Erina Nakiri, but when it came to paperwork and logistics, no one could touch Etsuya Eizan.
His talent for management was unmatched. Once the others decided on the broad plans, they'd just toss the details to Eizan—and he was perfectly fine with that.
In fact, he liked it. To him, that kind of work meant connections—valuable ones. Eizan had big ambitions, and every contact he made brought him one step closer to his goals.
As the Polar Star residents chatted about academy gossip, Kael finally stepped out of the kitchen, carrying a pot in both hands.
"My dish is ready, Mrs. Daimido. Please have a taste."
He placed the pot down and ladled a bowl of steaming soup for her.
"A soup, huh? Let's see what you've got, then."
Fumio took the spoon and sampled it carefully. The broth was milky white, but tiny dark fragments floated within—minced pieces of some unknown ingredient.
"What a delicate sweetness... It's definitely a mushroom soup," she murmured, eyes widening. "But I've never tasted this kind of mushroom before!"
Her trained palate could easily recognize the distinct umami of fungi, but this particular flavor was entirely foreign to her.
"Even Mrs. Daimido can't identify it?" someone whispered.
That stunned the others. Fumio might not have possessed Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue, but her taste was still top-tier. If even she couldn't tell what ingredient he'd used, that said a lot.
"Everyone, come try it," Fumio said, gesturing them closer. "This flavor's unfamiliar, but the soup itself is excellent. You've passed, Kael."
The room brightened instantly.
"Awesome! Looks like Polar Star just gained another powerhouse! Hey, I'm Yuki Yoshino—nice to meet you!" Yuki chirped, introducing herself before anyone could stop her.
The rest quickly followed, one by one giving their names. The Polar Star residents had always been open and friendly—if someone could make it through the entrance test, they were instantly family.
Soma Yukihira had experienced the same warmth. Despite how he'd managed to tick off half the school during his first speech—Polar Star included—once he passed the test, they welcomed him without hesitation.
The dorm's atmosphere really was something special.
Kael introduced himself as well, then joined the others around the long table as they began tasting his soup.
The reactions were unanimous—wide eyes, surprised murmurs, a few stunned laughs. Just like Fumio, they all found the flavor incredibly fresh and sweet, but none of them could pinpoint what kind of mushroom it came from.
Seeing their reactions, Kael's smile deepened. He was satisfied.
In this version of the World of Food Wars, certain strange tropes—like drug-like flavor effects—simply didn't exist. Nor did the Nakiri family's "food transmission" ability from some of the wilder fan rumors.
He'd read the data before entering this world: the Nakiri family only had two special abilities—God's Tongue and Clothes Bursting.
Honestly, that suited him just fine. The "transmission" concept had always been ridiculous—and potentially dangerous for him, especially if he ever got close to a girl. Having that ability not exist here was definitely a blessing.
"Kael, could you tell us what ingredient you used?" Isshiki asked curiously. "The soup's got fragments of something, but they're minced too finely to tell what it is."
It was a perfectly normal question. Asking for the main ingredient wasn't the same as prying into his cooking methods.
"You probably won't recognize it," Kael replied with a faint smile.
He disappeared briefly into the kitchen, returning with a single, strange-looking mushroom in his hand.
Its stem was pure white, and the cap spread wide like an umbrella. The top was also white—but darkened gradually toward the edges, ending in a deep, inky black. Around the rim of the cap, tiny droplets of black fluid hung like beads of rain.
"This is what I used," Kael said.
"What the...?" Yuki leaned in close, frowning. "That thing looks creepy as hell. I've never seen it at any market. And that color—there's no way it's safe to eat, right? Marui, you're the walking encyclopedia here. Any idea what it is?"
All eyes turned to Zenji Marui, the dorm's resident theory geek.
He wasn't the best cook among them, but when it came to food science and ingredient knowledge, there was no one more reliable.