Chapter 282

Faced with Haruto’s unequivocal refusal, the smile on Nakiri Azami’s face faded slightly.

"That’s unfortunate."

Azami leaned back in his chair, his voice revealing neither anger nor disappointment.

A faint chill, however, flickered through his eyes.

Haruto understood perfectly well what that meant.

Now that Azami’s attempt to recruit him had failed, he had almost certainly been placed firmly on the opposing side.

Haruto did not particularly care.

He rose from his seat and gave the two men a slight nod.

"Then I’ll be going."

With that, he turned, opened the private-room door, and left.

By the time Haruto returned to Polar Star Dormitory, he had already put the entire conversation out of his mind.

What he did not expect was for Azami to make his next move almost immediately.

Early the following morning, Haruto received notice that an emergency meeting of the Elite Ten Council had been called.

After breakfast, he made his way leisurely toward the Elite Ten’s meeting building.

The conference-room door had been left slightly ajar, and faint voices could be heard from inside.

When Haruto pushed it open and entered, the other nine members of the Elite Ten were already present.

At the head of the table sat First Seat Tsukasa Eishi, silently reading a document with no particular expression on his face.

He merely glanced up when Haruto entered, then returned his attention to the papers.

Beside him, Kobayashi Rindō had a lollipop between her lips and was idly spinning a pen between her fingers. The moment she saw Haruto, she grinned and waved, a hint of amusement in her eyes as though she were already looking forward to whatever drama was about to unfold.

Across the table, Kuga Terunori was slumped over his seat, impatiently tapping the tabletop.

He barely reacted to Haruto’s arrival.

Isshiki Satoshi, meanwhile, wore the same mild, composed expression as always.

Haruto walked straight to his seat, sat down, and simply closed his eyes to rest.

After they waited for a while, Kuga finally lost patience.

"Hey, what’s this about? I’ve got cooking to do."

At his question, Tsukasa put down the document and looked around the table.

"This emergency Elite Ten meeting has been called to elect a new Totsuki director."

Unsurprisingly, the announcement left Kuga and several of the others completely bewildered.

Haruto alone showed no reaction.

Before the confused members could begin asking questions, the roar of multiple engines suddenly came from outside the building.

"Looks like everyone’s here."

Tsukasa stood and headed for the exit first.

Rindō and the others who already knew what was happening immediately followed him.

The remaining members exchanged confused looks before hurrying after them.

Outside the building stood Nakiri Azami.

More than a dozen black luxury cars were lined up neatly in front of him, completely blocking the road.

One of the doors opened.

Nakiri Senzaemon, the current director of Totsuki Academy, stepped out.

His gaze locked onto Azami with such fury that it seemed almost capable of catching fire.

The moment Senzaemon learned that Azami had appeared at Totsuki, he had rushed over immediately.

"It’s been a long time, Father."

Azami bowed slightly, wearing a smile that appeared respectful on the surface.

"I had intended to visit you personally after finishing my business here. To think you would come all this way to see me yourself... I’m truly honored."

In truth, Azami had expected Senzaemon to appear from the beginning.

One could even say he had deliberately waited here for him.

"Leave!"

Senzaemon glared at Azami, veins bulging at his temples as he struggled to contain his rage.

"You were forbidden from setting foot in this country again! Get out. Now!"

He had already learned some time ago that Azami had secretly returned to Japan.

He also knew Azami had been approaching members of the Elite Ten behind the scenes in an attempt to seize control of Totsuki.

By the time Senzaemon discovered the plan, however, six members of the Elite Ten had already been brought over to Azami’s side.

Combined with his concerns about Erina, Senzaemon had been forced to hold back and watch for the time being.

Haruto’s appearance had disrupted that entire arrangement.

Now that Azami had already lost the initiative, Senzaemon had no reason to continue tolerating him.

Haruto and the others emerged from the building just in time to encounter the two men locked in their tense standoff.

Tsukasa and four others naturally moved to stand behind Azami.

But Nakiri Erina, who had been following behind them, froze the instant she saw Azami’s face.

All color drained from her complexion.

Her lips began trembling uncontrollably, and even her breathing turned shallow and broken.

"It’s been a long time, Erina."

Azami’s gaze passed over Haruto and the others before settling on his daughter.

A seemingly gentle smile appeared on his face.

To Erina, however, that smile was more terrifying than the grin of a demon.

"F-Father..."

Erina staggered backward, nearly losing her balance.

"Erina-sama!"

Arato Hisako immediately noticed something was wrong and rushed forward to support her trembling body.

She looked worriedly at Erina, then raised her eyes toward Azami with complete confusion.

She had never seen the normally proud and commanding Erina-sama look so vulnerable.

So frightened.

Haruto silently stepped half a pace forward.

His body happened to block Azami’s line of sight toward Erina.

Looking at Haruto’s back, Erina inexplicably felt some of the panic gripping her chest begin to ease.

Azami’s eyes shifted toward Haruto.

A trace of coldness flashed through them.

He said nothing and turned back toward Senzaemon.

"I am the one who refined the God Tongue Erina was born with into what it is today."

"Even if you exiled me all those years ago, blood and education are things that can never truly be erased."

Those words dragged Erina back into memories of her childhood.

Her body began trembling even harder, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms.

Senzaemon’s anger reached its peak.

"My greatest failure in life was entrusting Erina to you when she was still a child!"

Back then, Senzaemon had been overwhelmed with the countless responsibilities involved in running Totsuki Academy.

That was why he had entrusted the young Erina’s education to Azami.

Never could he have imagined how much damage that decision would inflict on her.

"A failure?"

Azami’s eyes flickered, and the smile on his face faded.

"Then I suppose we agree on something."

"If I had remained at Totsuki, I would never have allowed this Academy to degenerate into the disgraceful state it’s in now, overflowing with garbage."

Kuga, Isshiki, and several of the others immediately frowned.

They had all grown up within Totsuki and naturally felt a deep attachment to the Academy.

With Senzaemon present, however, none of them felt it appropriate to interrupt.

They could only suppress their irritation.

"At this Academy, cooking is everything."

Senzaemon answered firmly.

"Anyone with sufficient skill can rise to the top. That has always been Totsuki’s tradition."

"Everyone here has value."

True geniuses might be rare, but that did not mean less gifted students were worthless.

Perhaps some of them would never reach the summit of the culinary world no matter how hard they worked.

Even so, their passion and effort became the whetstone against which raw talent was polished. Their presence challenged exceptional students, inspired them, and helped them grow.

It was precisely this enormous variety of people that kept Totsuki vibrant and alive.

To Azami, Senzaemon’s words sounded utterly ridiculous.

"Boring."

He gave a dismissive laugh, contempt plain on his face.

"A chef’s goal should be the creation of genuine cuisine."

"But what does Totsuki do?"

"It wastes enormous amounts of time, effort, and resources on inferior students who possess no meaningful talent whatsoever."

"It’s idiotic."

"No matter how hard those mediocre students struggle, most of them will never reach the highest level in their entire lives."

"So why waste resources on them?"

"Their existence does nothing but slow the Academy’s progress and sully the refined art of cuisine."

"Only students blessed with truly exceptional talent deserve to be cultivated."

"Only they possess the ability—and the right—to explore the vast unknown frontier of the culinary world."

Fanaticism burned openly in Azami’s expression.

In his ideal world, only a select few would be qualified to research cuisine.

Only a select few would be qualified to judge it.

Everyone else merely needed to follow in their footsteps and reproduce the successes those elites had already achieved.

There was no need for the masses to waste time developing cuisine for themselves.

Senzaemon looked at Azami’s obvious obsession, and deep regret passed through his eyes.

"You’re wrong, Azami."

"And neither you nor I have ever had the right to decide where Totsuki’s future should lead."

"That belongs to the young chefs who possess both the talent and the strength to shape it."

"No matter how loudly you proclaim your ideals by yourself, you cannot change that."