[77] - Autumn Election Begins, Polar Star's Stage (BONUS)

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For the next few hours, Yuuki was like a tireless machine, continuously hauling in all sorts of seafood.

This stunned the captain and crew; Yuuki's stamina was mind-boggling.

They knew just how much strength throwing a harpoon and pulling it back with a fish attached would require—and also how much stamina such actions would consume. Yuuki could keep it up for several hours amazed them.

Actually, they were only seeing the surface. Yuuki's actual energy expenditure wasn't that high.

Thanks to Food Honor, Yuuki barely used much strength when throwing the harpoon—same when pulling the fish up.

Moreover, Yuuki's physique was quite good. That's why he could do it so effortlessly. After spending so much time fishing, Yuuki hadn't really used up that much stamina.

However, Yuuki decided it was enough. He had caught more than enough already.

....

"If I had skills like that, whenever I went out to sea, all I'd need is a few harpoons and I'd come back with a boatload of fish!"

The captain was shocked by Yuuki's performance, but he also knew he couldn't learn it.

He was stuck at the first step—how to even clearly see the fish in the sea?

After that, they moved to a more suitable location for diving. After suiting up with their equipment, and with the assistance of several diving instructors, they started their descent—

—The underwater world was truly beautiful, a sight to behold.

Since diving consumes a lot of energy, after less than an hour, they decided it was time to head back.

....

For the next few days, they explored places near Shōkeien Ryokan.

After they had their fill of fun, everyone returned home.

Yuuki returned to Polar Star to prepare for their upcoming plan.

Fumio Daimidō, after learning about this plan, although she thought it was a good idea, also reminded Yuuki not to push it if it wasn't working.

It was the first time she'd heard of such a plan. If it worked, then this year's Autumn Elections would become legendary.

But if it failed, it could backfire spectacularly.

With Yuuki's Culinary skills, even failing wouldn't have any impact on him.

But that wasn't the case for the others.

Regarding this, Yuuki stated that with his abilities, achieving such a plan was incredibly easy.

However, he didn't intend to carry this plan on his own but have everyone contribute their specialties.

He would then make further adjustments and plans based on the dishes they made. This was also a pretty good experiment for Yuuki.

....

Ten days before the vacation ended, everyone returned to Polar Star and showed their results to Yuuki.

Thanks to Yuuki's help, plus their own hard work, the dishes everyone prepared were all very good.

Now, Yuuki had to finalize the details of their plan based on these dishes.

Incidentally, before the end of the vacation, Yuuki had also obtained another Large Bait. This time, his fishing yielded the Secret Technique "Arhat Crystal Slash," which was completely useless for the current Yuuki.

As for the Small Baits, his chances of catching anything good were even smaller. On average, he only caught a few useful ingredients a month.

Yuuki was used to this by now—

While most of the time the Small Bait yielded useless junk, there were those rare occasions when he caught ingredients from the world of Toriko.

So he pretty much had a continuous supply of top-notch ingredients.

....

Time flew by, and the Autumn Elections began on schedule.

Students participating in the Autumn Elections gathered in the designated venue.

Other students, and those from higher years, became spectators.

Actually, participating in the Autumn Elections had both its pros and cons.

The advantage was that it was proof they were among the elites of this year at Tōtsuki, and a chance to show off to the world.

The disadvantage was that this public appearance could very well become an embarrassment.

The grading standards of the Autumn Elections were the same every year. They naturally knew that most elites would only score around twenty or thirty points, based on international standards.

Only a very few could score above sixty. The current second and third-year students were like this. The best among them barely reached eighty.

Most students' scores lingered around thirty.

So, most students participating now felt somewhat apprehensive. The probability of getting a high score was too low; they didn't dare be too confident.

Naturally, the ones who got the most attention were those from Polar Star, especially Yuuki, who was in Group B—his presence there was like a king playing in bronze rank.

....

"Having him participate in the Autumn Elections is practically a nightmare for the other students!"

Where the Elite Ten members were located, looking at Yuuki in Group B, the Elite Ten present all felt somewhat speechless. After all, Yuuki was stronger than them, yet he was participating in a selection for Elite Ten candidates!

"There's nothing we can do about it—as long as they're not Elite Ten members themselves, they are eligible... This is an event related to Tōtsuki's reputation, so they naturally have to include him." Eishi Tsukasa shook his head helplessly.

There was no need to apply for the Autumn Elections; all first-year students were included.

Their job was to select students who met the standard. So even if they knew Yuuki was ridiculously strong, they still had to let him participate.

"This cohort is really unlucky! Not only do they have Erina Nakiri constantly dominating them, but now there's the even more scary Yuuki!"

"What do you guys think the scores this year will be like?" Rindō Kobayashi shook her head and asked.

"Scores? With this guy here, even a perfect score wouldn't be surprising." Terunori Kuga rolled his eyes.

Unlike their two cohorts, where the highest score was around eighty points, and most Elite Ten members had scores in the seventies—

—This year's first years were different. This generation had many talents, and with a boss-level figure like Yuuki around...

Knowing Yuuki as well as he did, Kuga would be surprised if Yuuki DIDN'T get a perfect score based on the Autumn Election standards.

"That's true. Yuuki's too strong. The Autumn Election standards are brutal for other students, but for him, they're basically nonexistent."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They believed this Autumn Election was destined to be Yuuki's solo performance.

Little did they know—the Polar Star residents had a plan in place, ready to unveil their performance.

....

As time passed, all the students were at their stations, and the judges were also in their places. However, what surprised Yuuki somewhat was that, Natsume Sendawara, who should have been at Group A, actually appeared in Group B.

Yuuki pretty much guessed that she appeared here because of him. As for Group A, it should be Orie Sendawara now.

Yuuki hadn't met Orie Sendawara last time; he only talked about the collaboration with Natsume Sendawara and then didn't bother with anything else, just waited to collect the money.

"Please, say a few words to start us off!"

After Natsume Sendawara sat down, Etsuya Eizan handed her the microphone. After all, her status was much higher than the other judges.

Originally, he thought inviting these two would cost quite a bit, but unexpectedly, this invitation went incredibly smoothly. They agreed immediately, which was rather surprising to him.

....

After taking the microphone, Natsume Sendawara immediately launched into some lighthearted mockery.

This wasn't unusual—her status justified that level of sass.

"Well, although these competitions bore me a bit—having Yuuki-kun here does make things interesting. I'm quite looking forward to his dish!"

At the end, Natsume Sendawara also specifically mentioned Yuuki.

This was her true thought; she was indeed only interested in Yuuki, having already tasted his special seasonings before.

She was certain that Yuuki would surprise her again in this competition, and it was precisely because of Yuuki that when Eizan asked her, she agreed without hesitation.

Otherwise, even if she agreed before, she would have squeezed a hefty reward out of Eizan.

Although Eizan was just a student, he was an Elite Ten member, after all, and he held quite a few of Tōtsuki's resources.

Upon hearing this, Etsuya Eizan finally understood why these two sisters had agreed so readily—they were here because of Yuuki.

The other students also collectively looked at Yuuki. Clearly, among the students present, only Yuuki was valued by her, which also made them very envious.

But they also knew very well that it was only right for Yuuki to have such treatment.

Yuuki was someone who had even defeated an Elite Ten member.

The only reason Yuuki would appear here was because Yuuki wasn't an Elite Ten member himself.

With Natsume Sendawara's words, and the host's announcement, the Autumn Elections officially began.

All the students present began working, except for Yuuki, who found a chair, sat down, and did nothing.

This action also greatly puzzled everyone; they didn't know what Yuuki was up to.

The reason Yuuki was doing nothing was that he was too fast. He needed to wait for the others this time. So, he'd just sit down and rest for a while, waiting for the other students' cooking to reach a certain point before he started.

Sometimes, being too fast wasn't a good thing...

As time passed, aromas started to permeate the venue. After all, the theme this time involved using various spices, so the fragrance naturally couldn't be compared to that of ordinary dishes.

The aromas from the Polar Star residents' dishes weren't very strong. This was because they were planning a "scent bomb" attack; only after the dishes were complete would the aroma be at its peak.

At that time, the aroma would have already been sealed within the dishes.

"What the hell is that guy doing?? Why is he still just sitting there?!" Erina Nakiri looked at Yuuki with some confusion.

Yuuki's action of sitting motionless made her rather baffled.

Not only her, but the other students and even the judges were also confused.

Just as everyone was puzzled, Yuuki, seeing the time was almost right, also started to move.

At the same time, some students had already finished their dishes, but their results were quite disastrous.

Although they had already spent an entire vacation preparing this dish, some had even used their family connections to get help from skilled Chefs—

—In the end, the ones who had to cook were still themselves. So even with these people's help, their scores wouldn't be very high.

After the first score was revealed, the scene fell silent. Although everyone had mentally prepared themselves, seeing this score still left them speechless.

Because the score displayed was only in the twenties. Group A was slightly better; the first to finish there had a score of thirty-three.

But whether it was thirty or twenty points, these scores had already left everyone speechless.

And the most important thing, they had thought this was already rock bottom, but unexpectedly, this score was actually considered average, even slightly above average.

Because the students who followed continuously lowered the bar, from twenty-something to ten-something points. An embarrassment even appeared with a single-digit score.

The appearance of this fellow also dumbfounded all the students watching. Even the judges couldn't help but take a second look at this individual.

Keep in mind, this competition gave students an entire month to prepare in advance, and those who had been selected to participate in the Autumn Elections were undoubtedly the top performers among the first years.

Yet this guy managed to get a single-digit score. In a way, this was also quite incredible...

Even the judges were speechless by him. Originally, they had wanted to say a few sarcastic remarks, but in the end, they held back.

After all, this score was already more impactful than any sarcastic words.

This student clearly made some operational error, and the remaining time didn't allow him to make another dish, so he could only accept his fate.

....

After a bunch of super low scores, some capable ones finally appeared. Nao Sadatsuka and the others from the original story—although they didn't have many scenes, they were at least Elite-level students.

The sixty students here were all elites among the first years, but there was still a considerable gap between elites.

Most had scores around twenty or thirty, but Nao Sadatsuka and the others could directly push their scores above eighty.

And after one person broke the ice, high scores in the eighties, and even above ninety, appeared successively.

"This year's students are really something. The Polar Star kids haven't even shown up yet, and we've already seen such high scores!"

The Elite Ten were also very aware of Polar Star; they knew this group was the cream of the crop. But they never expected to see other surprises before these elites even took the stage.

"Much better than us, huh? Back then, the highest score in our year was also just in the eighties. Same with your year, Isshiki, right?" Terunori Kuga said.

In their two cohorts, eighty points was already the peak.

But in this year's first-year cohort, eighty points was only considered elite. It could only be said that the quality of this Jewel Generation was really high.

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