Chapter 315

Sesshōmaru landed in front of Haruto, his expression as calm as ever.

"I brought them."

Haruto inspected the ten daiyōkai corpses and nodded in satisfaction.

Their meat quality was even better than he had expected.

After storing all ten bodies inside the Gourmet Restaurant, Haruto immediately began awakening Sesshōmaru’s Nen.

With the experience he had gained from Kagura and Kanna, the process went much faster this time.

The moment Sesshōmaru’s aura nodes opened, an enormous surge of Nen poured from his body.

"That’s an incredible amount of aura."

Haruto could not help being impressed.

Then again, considering Sesshōmaru had lived for centuries and was already an extraordinarily powerful daiyōkai, such reserves were hardly surprising.

While Haruto was still examining his aura, Sesshōmaru had already completed Ten.

Less than half an hour later, he had grasped all of Nen’s fundamentals.

Feeling the new and powerful energy coursing through him, a faint glimmer of satisfaction appeared in Sesshōmaru’s eyes.

He rose to his feet and, without another word, turned to leave.

"Sesshōmaru."

Haruto suddenly called after him.

Sesshōmaru stopped.

"What?"

Haruto looked at him seriously.

"If you truly want to surpass your father, Tōga, then I think you should give up on Tessaiga."

Sesshōmaru’s body stiffened.

The atmosphere around him changed noticeably.

Haruto ignored the pressure and continued.

"If you remain obsessed with Tessaiga, then you’ll spend your entire life walking in your father’s shadow."

"At best, you’ll only become another Tōga."

"If you want to surpass him, you need to carve out a path that belongs to you alone."

Haruto paused.

"Of course, if surpassing your father has never mattered to you, then forget I said anything."

Sesshōmaru fell silent.

’Surpass Father...’

Until now, he had always followed in his father’s footsteps.

That was precisely why he had been so fixated on Tessaiga.

But he was Sesshōmaru.

Not his father.

After a long silence, Sesshōmaru slowly turned his head and gave Haruto a deep look.

At the same time, the aura surrounding him became subtly purer, as though something that had weighed on him for years had finally begun to loosen.

Then Sesshōmaru turned away and shot into the sky as a streak of light, disappearing beyond the horizon.

Haruto watched him leave and quietly relaxed.

Inuyasha had helped him before, so if possible, Haruto naturally preferred not to see Sesshōmaru continue trying to take Tessaiga from him.

Fortunately, it seemed Sesshōmaru had actually listened.

Otherwise, Inuyasha would probably have had plenty of trouble ahead.

Of course, Haruto understood that his words were only a push in the right direction.

The person who would truly help Sesshōmaru abandon his obsession with Tessaiga and find a path of his own was Rin.

It was Rin who taught him what it meant to protect someone and what gentleness truly was.

After seeing Sesshōmaru off, Haruto also began thinking about leaving.

Over the past several weeks, he had traveled across mountains, rivers, forests, and lakes alongside Kagura and Kanna, capturing enormous numbers of yōkai and greatly expanding the ingredient reserves inside the Gourmet Restaurant.

Even Myriad Worlds had undergone subtle new changes after absorbing large amounts of yōki while Haruto processed those ingredients.

It was time to return and properly digest everything he had gained from this trip.

Haruto turned toward Kagura and Kanna.

"I’ve collected more than enough yōkai for now, so I’m planning to leave this world."

Kagura’s fingers froze around her fan.

Snap.

The ribs folded shut.

She instinctively looked toward Kanna.

Their eyes met.

Kanna said nothing, but her fingers tightened slightly around her mirror.

When they had first begun traveling with Haruto, Naraku had sent groups of yōkai after them more than once.

Because Haruto was so strong, none of those attempts had succeeded. If anything, Naraku had simply delivered more ingredients straight into Haruto’s hands.

Eventually, even Naraku had stopped trying.

Kagura knew perfectly well that this restraint was largely because Haruto’s strength made Naraku wary.

The moment Haruto left, that deterrent would disappear.

Naraku knew Kagura and Kanna’s abilities extremely well.

He knew every weakness they had possessed.

Although both of them had grown much stronger recently, Kagura still had no confidence that they could defeat Naraku outright.

And with Naraku’s cunning, there were countless ways he could arrange their deaths without ever confronting them directly.

Kagura was not exactly afraid of dying.

But that did not mean she wanted to die.

She had only just gained her freedom.

She had not yet seen every landscape beneath the sky or felt the wind of every distant land.

More importantly, she had Kanna.

Kanna was the only family Kagura had in this world, and the one person she wanted to protect.

She could not allow Kanna to die alongside her because of Naraku.

They needed somewhere Naraku could never reach.

During the time they had spent together, Kagura had learned quite a bit about Haruto.

She knew he was not from this world.

She knew he possessed the ability to travel between worlds.

And more importantly, she knew he could take other people with him.

If they left this world entirely, then no matter how persistent Naraku was, he could never find them.

Once Kagura made up her mind, she stepped in front of Haruto.

"Haruto-sama... would you be willing to take us with you when you leave this world?"

Haruto looked at her, understanding immediately what she was worried about.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?"

After a brief pause, he offered another possibility.

"You could also travel with Inuyasha and the others. If you stayed with them, I doubt Naraku would dare attack carelessly."

Inuyasha’s group was already quite powerful.

With all of them together, even Naraku would have to think twice before making a move.

Kagura shook her head almost immediately.

She had considered that option before.

But she was free wind now.

She had no intention of tying herself permanently to another group simply because she needed protection.

And more importantly, Inuyasha and the others could not guarantee Kanna’s safety.

Kagura glanced toward her.

Kanna was already looking back.

She gave a small nod.

Kanna did not say anything, but Kagura understood.

Whatever choice she made, Kanna would follow her.

"Please, Haruto-sama."

Looking into Kanna’s resolute eyes, Haruto nodded and smiled.

"All right."

"If that’s what you both want, then you can come with me for now."

"Afterward, you can decide which world you want to live in."

In truth, Haruto had already been considering taking them with him. Otherwise, he would not have specifically told them in advance that he was preparing to leave.

Kanna’s abilities could be extremely useful for his research into soul cuisine.

A talent like that was difficult to pass up.

Still, he had no intention of forcing either of them.

Nor did he plan to keep them traveling with him indefinitely.

His current idea was simply to take them somewhere else for the time being.

Kagura and Kanna were both fairly powerful.

Now that they were free from Naraku, neither had any reason to harm innocent people either.

That meant most of the worlds Haruto had visited before would be perfectly suitable for them.

Of course, some were still far too dangerous.

The world of Toriko, for instance, was completely unsuitable.

When Haruto agreed, the tension finally left Kagura’s body.

She released a long breath, then turned toward Kanna with a brilliant smile.

It was as bright as sunlight breaking through after a storm.

Kanna stared at her.

Then, almost imperceptibly, the corners of her mouth lifted.

Haruto raised his right hand and opened the Gourmet Restaurant.

"Then go inside for now."

Kagura took a deep breath, reached for Kanna’s hand, and walked into the Gourmet Restaurant without hesitation.

Once they were safely inside, Haruto closed it.

A moment later, his figure vanished from the world of Inuyasha.

He returned to the world of Food Wars!

It was nighttime here.

Haruto switched on the lights and looked around the familiar room.

The familiar surroundings immediately made him relax.

A short while later, he opened the Gourmet Restaurant again.

Kagura and Kanna stepped out.

Both of them froze almost immediately.

Kagura stared around the room in open curiosity.

She crouched slightly and ran a hand across the smooth flooring, then tilted her head back to examine the glittering crystal chandelier overhead.

Everything seemed new to her.

Kanna, meanwhile, walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window.

Beyond the glass, streams of cars moved through brilliantly lit streets beneath towering buildings that disappeared into the night sky.

For once, obvious emotion entered her eyes.

Neither of them had ever seen a world like this.

There were no crumbling thatched houses.

No muddy dirt roads.

Instead, there were brilliant lights, spotless streets, and countless strange objects whose names they did not even know.