Chapter 376

After returning to the world of Food Wars!, Haruto let Kagura and Kanna spend their time however they pleased while he headed back to Totsuki Culinary Academy.

The moment he pushed open the doors of Polar Star Dormitory, the warm aroma of freshly cooked food greeted him.

Following the scent into the kitchen, Haruto found Megumi Tadokoro wearing an apron and bustling around the counters.

Hearing someone enter, Megumi turned around. The instant she saw Haruto, her face lit up.

“Haruto! You’re back!”

“Yeah, I’m back.”

Haruto smiled and nodded before naturally stepping forward to help her.

It wasn’t long before the rest of Polar Star’s residents gathered in the kitchen as well.

…

Haruto’s life became remarkably relaxed over the following week.

Every morning, he ate breakfast with everyone at Polar Star before dealing with whatever work required his attention as a member of the Elite Ten.

His afternoons were largely devoted to researching the various monster ingredients he had brought back.

He was particularly interested in the pollen produced by the Tranquility Princess and Tranquility Girls. Its ability to relax the body and soothe the mind had considerable culinary potential, and Haruto spent quite a bit of time experimenting with possible applications.

Just like that, a peaceful and enjoyable week passed quickly.

Before long, the day of Totsuki’s Promotion Exams arrived.

Haruto wasn’t particularly concerned about passing.

Without Azami Nakiri interfering with the school, this year’s Promotion Exams were nothing more than the standard version. With Haruto’s current culinary ability, passing them would be effortless.

Compared with the examinations themselves, he was far more interested in the journey.

The first-year Promotion Exams were also known as the Northern Expedition, during which the students would travel by train through Hokkaido, passing through cities such as Sapporo, Asahikawa, and Hakodate.

They would complete different examination assignments at each stop before eventually reaching an island at the northernmost end of Hokkaido for the final test.

Hokkaido’s natural scenery was spectacular, especially in winter, when the land disappeared beneath endless snow and ice.

On the morning the exams began, everyone at Polar Star was awake and packing before sunrise.

After breakfast, they brought their luggage to the plaza inside Totsuki Academy.

A long line of buses was already waiting there.

First-year students arrived one after another, filling the square with the noise of conversation and nervous speculation.

Haruto carried only a simple backpack and stood with the rest of Polar Star.

Soon, the staff began organizing everyone into groups and directing them onto the buses.

Haruto and the other Polar Star residents boarded the same vehicle, which slowly pulled away from Totsuki Academy.

After several hours on the road, they finally arrived at the starting point of the Promotion Exams.

The moment everyone stepped off the bus, a bitterly cold wind struck them head-on, immediately sending shivers through more than a few students.

As far as the eye could see, the entire landscape was buried beneath thick snow.

Distant mountain ridges rose and fell like white waves. Trees along the roadside were coated in glittering frost, and every step through the snow produced a crisp crunch, crunch beneath their shoes.

“Whoa! It’s beautiful!”

Yuki Yoshino stared at the snowy landscape in delight before spreading her arms and throwing herself directly into the soft snow.

“So refreshing!”

She rolled around happily, quickly covering her face and clothes in snow.

The others from Polar Star were just as captivated by the scenery.

Zenji Marui pushed his glasses up and immediately pulled out his phone to take picture after picture.

Daigo Aoki and Shoji Sato had already started building a snowman.

Shun Ibusaki wandered quietly off to one side and stared into the snowy distance, seemingly lost in thought.

And it wasn’t only the Polar Star students.

Many of the other first-years were equally taken by the sight and temporarily forgot the pressure of the Promotion Exams as they began playing in the snow.

Haruto casually scooped up a handful, compressed it between his palms, and formed a perfectly round snowball.

Then he looked toward Zenji, who was crouched nearby and concentrating on the snowman in front of him.

A mischievous smile appeared on Haruto’s face.

He weighed the snowball once in his hand, took aim at the back of Zenji’s neck, and threw.

The snowball struck perfectly.

It burst apart on impact, and freezing snow immediately slipped beneath Zenji’s collar.

“COLD!”

Zenji jolted violently and sprang upright.

He whipped around and found Haruto standing a short distance away with a thoroughly unapologetic grin.

“You bastard, Haruto!”

Zenji immediately bent down, packed together a snowball of his own, and hurled it back.

“You ambushed me! I’m getting you back for that!”

“Missed me!”

Haruto casually sidestepped, allowing the snowball to sail past him.

Then he spread his hands smugly.

“Didn’t even come close.”

“Damn it!”

Zenji gritted his teeth at Haruto’s expression and hurriedly made several more snowballs, throwing them one after another.

Haruto avoided every single one with ease.

Unfortunately, when Haruto dodged one particular shot, the snowball continued past him and struck Shun Ibusaki squarely in the face as he happened to walk behind him.

Shun froze.

Then he slowly raised his head and stared expressionlessly at Zenji.

“Uh… Ibusaki, that was a misunderstanding. Completely accidental.”

Zenji gave him an awkward smile.

Shun said nothing.

He simply bent down, calmly packed together a snowball, and threw it directly at Zenji.

Noticing the commotion, Daigo and Shoji immediately shouted.

“A snowball fight?! You can’t start one without us!”

Two snowballs came flying toward Haruto at once.

Haruto reacted by grabbing Soma Yukihira, who had been standing nearby enjoying the show, and pulling him directly into the line of fire.

Caught completely off guard, Soma took both snowballs head-on.

“Haruto!”

Soma wiped the snow from his face, immediately formed a snowball of his own, and joined the battle.

Before long, more and more students were dragged into the chaos.

Snowballs flew in every direction as shouts of surprise and bursts of laughter rang out whenever someone was hit.

The tension and anxiety surrounding the Promotion Exams gradually dissolved amid the ridiculous battle.

The snowball fight lasted almost half an hour before everyone finally called it quits.

By then, most of the students were sweating despite the cold and had snow clinging all over their clothes, but almost every face wore a broad smile.

The nervousness that had been tightening everyone’s shoulders had eased considerably during the brief moment of fun.

Eventually, a staff member in a black uniform approached.

He cleared his throat, raised a megaphone, and began explaining the basic structure of the Promotion Exams.

“Good morning, students. Welcome to Hokkaido and to this year’s Totsuki Academy Promotion Exams.”

“These exams are also known as the Northern Expedition, a name that reflects both the harsh northern landscape and the difficulty of what awaits you.”

“Over the next ten days, you will travel by train through multiple cities across Hokkaido and complete a series of examination assignments.”

“Anyone who fails an assignment will be expelled immediately. I strongly advise all of you to give every examination everything you have.”

“On this unforgiving northern land, only students with genuine ability will make it all the way to the end.”

As the staff member finished speaking, the atmosphere changed immediately.

Many students turned pale, fists tightening as nervous sweat gathered in their palms despite the freezing weather.

The staff then began directing everyone toward the location of the first examination.

The first venue was a resort hotel on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by a dense forest of fir trees.

It was one of the many properties owned by the Totsuki Group.

Once all the students arrived, staff members quickly distributed numbered metal tags that determined which kitchen each student would use.

Haruto accepted the tag marked 7 and headed into Kitchen Seven.

The other nineteen students assigned to the same room soon arrived as well.

Haruto swept his gaze across the kitchen.

The ingredient shelves contained little more than basic flour, salt, sugar, and a handful of other elementary seasonings.

That alone gave him a fairly good idea of what the first examination might involve.

Before long, the instructor assigned to Kitchen Seven entered.

Shinsuke Asakawa walked to the raised platform in the center of the room, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly surveyed all twenty students.

“When you hear the word Hokkaido, what comes to mind first?”

“The endless snowfields? The exceptional seafood? Or perhaps its rich dairy products?”

He paused, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

“To me, however, Hokkaido’s most compelling cuisine is its noodles.”

“Sapporo miso ramen begins with a rich broth made by simmering pork bones, chicken frames, and kombu for twelve hours…”

“In the middle of a Sapporo winter, holding a steaming bowl of miso ramen in your hands can make even the snow and wind outside seem gentle.”

“Asahikawa shoyu ramen offers something entirely different. Its soy-sauce-based broth draws tremendous umami from bonito and kelp, while the thin, straight noodles remain firm and springy between the teeth.”

“Then there is Hakodate shio ramen, with its clear broth prepared from kombu and seafood. Light without ever becoming bland, it carries the pure flavor of the sea.”

“Udon has its own appeal as well, with thick, rounded noodles that are soft yet satisfyingly chewy.”

“And beyond ramen, Hokkaido is famous throughout Japan for its soba.”

“The rich black soil of the Tokachi region produces full, aromatic buckwheat grains of outstanding quality…”

As Shinsuke Asakawa continued enthusiastically describing one noodle dish after another, Haruto had already guessed the theme of the first examination.

Judging from the expressions around him, so had everyone else.