Beyond Tōtsuki's main gates stretched an extremely broad avenue lined on both sides with row after row of festival tents.
Beneath them, enthusiastic students loudly advertised their food to passing visitors, and during the Moon Banquet Festival, every student effectively became the owner of their own little restaurant, preparing dishes on the spot and trying to draw in as many customers as possible.
In practice, it was not all that different from the food trucks and stalls found at ordinary festivals.
Yuto walked leisurely down the avenue with Tohru, Kanna, and Shouko, smiling as he looked over the countless stalls surrounding them.
The constant calls of vendors, the clatter of cookware, and the lively noise of customers stirred a surprising amount of nostalgia in him.
The vitality of cooking was perhaps never more obvious than in a place like this, where chefs prepared food directly in front of crowds and people simply ate whatever happened to catch their interest.
As he watched the students working around him, Yuto quietly sighed.
Once upon a time, when he had been around their age, he had also run street stalls with his fellow apprentices.
Back when he was still learning to cook, whenever there was a long holiday or some local event, he and his senior and junior apprentices would occasionally set up a simple stall and sell snacks to earn a little extra spending money.
They had been young enough back then that making even a few hundred yuan in a single day felt like an incredible achievement.
Now, those days were gone for good.
"Yuto, I want that!"
Kanna tugged on the hem of his shirt, pulling him out of his memories.
Yuto followed the direction of her finger and saw an ice cream stall.
Considering the midsummer heat, it was hardly surprising that a long line had already formed in front of it.
He smiled and gently rubbed her head.
"Sure. Let's go line up."
Kanna's eyes immediately lit up.
Watching her excitement, Yuto smiled as well.
Bringing Kanna and Shouko to the Moon Banquet Festival today might actually have been an even better choice than taking them to the amusement park.
...
They continued eating as they walked, sampling whatever caught their interest until they eventually reached the end of the main entrance avenue.
Beyond it lay the second area Tōtsuki had designated for the Moon Banquet Festival.
The Central Area.
Compared with the entrance avenue, the food here was noticeably more specialized and refined.
The main avenue, which served as the festival's first area, was primarily filled with broadly appealing dishes designed for ordinary visitors.
The Central Area catered to customers willing to spend considerably more.
Most of the stalls and restaurants here were run by Tōtsuki's more accomplished students, and both the quality of the ingredients and the techniques being displayed were clearly a level above what they had seen near the entrance.
"There are a lot fewer people here."
Tohru sounded slightly surprised.
"That's because the food here is much more expensive than the stuff along the main avenue."
Yuto looked around as he explained.
Compared with the students outside, the ones running stalls here were noticeably calmer and more composed.
Some of them already carried themselves like experienced restaurant owners, and once they graduated from Tōtsuki, they would almost certainly be capable of running professional kitchens on their own.
Yuto quietly admired them as he continued looking around.
Then his gaze suddenly stopped.
Curiosity and anticipation appeared in his eyes.
He had spotted a venue marked Chinese Cuisine.
Now that immediately caught his interest.
Yuto wanted to see what kind of Chinese cuisine was being taught at a culinary academy in another country.
Had the dishes been adapted to suit Japanese tastes?
Were there any interesting innovations or unusual interpretations?
"Let's go take a look over there."
He pointed toward the Chinese Cuisine venue, and Tohru followed with Kanna and Shouko.
A large crowd had already gathered around it.
That alone said quite a bit about how popular the food being served there had become.
"Are you all waiting in line?"
Yuto casually asked one of the nearby visitors.
The person nodded before immediately turning back around.
Yuto did not mind the curt response.
If this many people were willing to stand around and wait, then the restaurant was clearly doing extremely well, which only made him more curious about what was being served inside.
After nearly half an hour in line, Yuto's group finally entered the venue.
The moment he stepped inside, however, his brows drew together slightly.
Almost every customer he could see had a flushed face and was breathing heavily.
Sitting in front of each of them was an intensely red dish, and Yuto recognized the style immediately.
Sichuan cuisine.
His confusion only deepened as he looked around.
Why did every single table seem to have Sichuan food?
Did this place only know how to make dishes from one region?
"Please, have a seat."
A staff member led them toward an empty table and handed Yuto a menu.
"Please take a look and let us know what you'd like."
Yuto glanced over it.
Then he almost laughed.
There were only three dishes.
Mouthwatering Chicken.
Braised Water Spinach.
Chili-Oil Dumplings.
Yuto pointed toward the menu.
"This braised water spinach—is that prepared in Sichuan style too?"
The server hesitated for a moment before nodding.
So it really was all Sichuan cuisine.
"You don't serve any other styles of Chinese food here?"
Yuto could not help asking.
The server paused again before shaking her head.
"In that case, we'll take one of each."
There was nothing else to order, so Yuto decided they might as well try all three.
The server acknowledged the order, collected the menu, and hurried away.
Yuto sighed softly and waited.
If Sichuan cuisine was all they offered, then he might as well find out how good their Sichuan cooking actually was.
The dishes arrived shortly afterward.
Yuto needed only one glance before his brows tightened again.
They had somehow managed to turn bright-green water spinach almost completely red.
Just how much chili had they used?
Tohru, unsurprisingly, was the first person unable to resist trying something. She picked up a piece of Mouthwatering Chicken and took a bite.
Her eyes immediately widened.
"SO SPICY!"
She hurriedly grabbed her water, looking as though she might start breathing fire.
"That looks scary... I'm not eating it."
Shouko gave up immediately.
Kanna, on the other hand, calmly picked up a bite and ate it without any visible reaction.
She swallowed, considered the taste for a moment, and then delivered her verdict in her usual flat tone.
"Not as good as Yuto's."
Yuto laughed helplessly.
Just as he was about to try the food himself, a burst of cheering suddenly erupted from farther inside the venue.
He instinctively looked up.
At some point, a young man with yellow-brown hair had appeared in the dining hall, and the crowd's cheers were clearly directed at him.
The boy stood there smiling as though receiving that kind of attention was completely natural.
"Kuga! Your Chinese food is as intense as ever!"
"As expected of the chef specializing in Chinese cuisine! Today's dishes really hit the spot!"
"Kuga! Want to come work at my restaurant after graduation? I'll open an entire Chinese cuisine section just for you!"
Listening to the crowd, Yuto immediately understood who the young man was.
Erina and Hisako had mentioned him at the restaurant before.
One of the Tōtsuki Elite Ten.
A chef who specialized in Chinese cuisine.
Terunori Kuga.
For a moment, Yuto felt disappointed.
He had originally assumed that someone ranked among the Elite Ten would possess an impressive understanding of Chinese cuisine.
Judging from what he had seen here, however...
He had been completely wrong.
Yuto quietly sighed before turning toward Tohru and the girls.
"Let's go."
There was no real reason for them to stay any longer.
But before they could leave, Terunori Kuga started walking directly toward their table.
Yuto frowned slightly, wondering why the boy had singled him out.
Kuga stopped in front of him with a smile.
"Hey, were you just sighing because you were disappointed with my food?"
He was still smiling, but there was now a subtle pressure behind his voice.
Kuga had come over because he happened to notice Yuto's reaction.
For a skilled chef, reading the expressions of the people eating their food was one of the most basic abilities.
Kuga could tell at a glance that Yuto's sigh had come from dissatisfaction rather than simple boredom.
And Kuga was proud of his cooking.
Naturally, he could not tolerate someone reacting that way to a menu he had created, especially when the person doing it looked around his own age.
That was exactly why he had come over.
He wanted to know what Yuto thought was wrong.
"Hey! You—"
Tohru immediately noticed the hostility hiding beneath Kuga's smile and was about to snap at him.
Yuto quietly pressed a hand down, stopping her before she could say anything more.
"That's right. I was sighing because I was disappointed with the food here. Is there a problem?"
Yuto met Kuga's gaze calmly.
Anger flickered across Kuga's face, though he maintained his smile.
"Oh? Then which class are you in? I don't remember ever seeing you around Tōtsuki before."
He had instinctively assumed Yuto was another Tōtsuki student.
Yuto simply shook his head.
"Sorry. I'm not a student here."
The corners of Kuga's mouth dropped, and the anger in his eyes became considerably more obvious.
"You're not even a Tōtsuki student, yet you think you're qualified to criticize the menu I created?"
Yuto gave him a faint smile.
"Does food need to be judged by someone from Tōtsuki before people are allowed to say whether it tastes good?"
Kuga's expression stiffened.
"If it tastes bad, it tastes bad. What's wrong with saying so?"
Kuga's anger immediately flared.
Tastes bad.
For a chef who genuinely loved cooking, those words came very close to the ultimate insult.
Ever since Kuga first picked up a kitchen knife as a child, no one had ever dared tell him so bluntly that his food tasted bad.
"That's right!" Tohru immediately added, pouring even more fuel onto the fire. "Boss's cooking is way better than yours! These dishes aren't even close!"
Kuga's eyes burned with anger.
At the same time, however, a spark of interest appeared within them.
His attention locked onto Yuto.
"You're a chef too?"
"That's right."
A smile slowly returned to Kuga's face.
"Well, that makes things simple."
His expression cooled, and when he looked at Yuto again, every trace of warmth had disappeared from his eyes.
"You. I challenge you to a Shokugeki."
Issuing a Shokugeki so casually against a complete stranger would probably sound ridiculous if word spread outside, but after being told that his food tasted bad, Kuga had no intention of letting the insult pass unanswered.
No chef who cared deeply about their craft would easily tolerate words like that.
Least of all him.
The entire restaurant fell silent as everyone turned toward the two of them. Surprise lasted only a moment before excitement began spreading through the crowd.
Watching a Shokugeki was far more interesting than simply sitting around eating lunch.
Yuto remained quiet for several seconds.
The last person who had demanded a Shokugeki with him had been Erina.
Back then, he had refused.
There had once been a time when Yuto obsessed over competing with others and proving whose cooking was superior, but those days belonged to the past.
He had already learned the lesson that came with that kind of obsession and had no desire to return to it.
Today, however, the situation was different.
This was not about proving that he was better than someone else.
Yuto wanted to teach the young man standing in front of him what Chinese cuisine really was.
Not for his own pride.
But for the cuisine he genuinely loved.
"All right."
Yuto agreed calmly.
The entire venue instantly erupted.
They were getting a show after all.
Kuga's lips curled upward arrogantly as he looked at Yuto with open disdain.
"Good. At least you've got some courage."
Yuto chuckled.
"Hopefully your food won't make me call it bad again."
Kuga's face immediately darkened.
Every second he spent talking to this guy only made him angrier.