After finishing Kael's dish, everyone moved on to Joichiro Saiba's. His cooking wasn't as bizarre or shocking as Kael's, but Joichiro was one of the true titans of the culinary world.
If this were the world of Chuuka Ichiban!, Joichiro would already be classified as a Special-Grade Chef.
He hadn't even gone all-out this time, but his dishes had a special trait — they came from all over the world. Every dish used a completely different set of techniques. Preparing this entire table of food clearly took serious thought.
He probably did it to broaden his son's horizons. As for everyone else… that was just a bonus.
Only two people were exceptions: Kael and Erina Nakiri.
Back in the kitchen, Kael had already recorded every one of Joichiro's techniques using his Divine Hearing and Divine Sight.
Even though the Kaiyu inheritance granted him massive knowledge, Kael had never once grown arrogant — he firmly believed you could learn something from anyone, even someone weaker.
Joichiro's techniques couldn't compare to Kaiyu's — not even close — but right now, Joichiro was far stronger than Kael. Kael knew that once a person started getting inflated, the consequences were never good. No matter what achievements you gained, arrogance would only hurt you.
So he copied Joichiro's techniques as reference material. Erina, however, still had to eat the dishes to analyze them herself.
"Ara, this dish looks strange… is this snake meat?"
Alice Nakiri was the first to notice one dish that looked completely different from the rest. Judging from the texture, it really did seem like snake.
Its appearance was downright creepy, but nobody believed Joichiro would ever serve something truly bad.
"You guys better not touch that dish. The taste is awful. I'm pretty sure he made it on purpose to mess with someone."
Kael spoke calmly. The moment everyone heard that, they turned sharply to look at Soma Yukihira.
"As expected of father and son… both of them love making these weird dark dishes!"
Everyone groaned. Ever since Soma moved into the Polar Star Dormitory, he continued experimenting with and spreading his dark cuisine. Back then, nobody knew his background, so they kept getting tricked by him.
Kael was one of the few who never got caught — he could tell at a glance whether Soma's cooking was edible or not. No chance of tricking him.
But the others were not so lucky. Now that they learned Joichiro also did the same thing, everyone stared at him in horror.
"Figured you'd notice. With your hearing, you must've known exactly what I was doing in the kitchen. Really enviable talent."
Joichiro showed no embarrassment at being caught. He had been doing this since his school days, if the stakes weren't high, he would absolutely bring out dark dishes even in Shokugeki matches.
After avoiding the "poison" dish, everyone continued tasting the rest. Kael also analyzed the chef's heart within them. Joichiro's was very special.
Tasting it gave a warm, comforting feeling—gentle, like a dish made to soothe someone.
But only Kael could perceive it clearly thanks to the Four Divine Senses.
Yet the more he analyzed it, the more he realized something was off.
That warmth… was a disguise.
Joichiro had already reached Six-Star Chef level when leaving Totsuki. At that stage, a chef would have fully established their own chef's heart. Joichiro was called the Shura precisely because his chef's heart was brutal — when it clashed with others, he would utterly overwhelm them.
But after meeting Tamako, his wife, he wrapped his chef's heart in a layer of gentle warmth.
If Kael didn't have the Divine Senses, even he would've been fooled.
After the meal, Senzaemon, Erina, and Hisako left. The rest were Polar Star residents, and Joichiro planned to stay for the night.
The next morning, just like the original story, Soma and Joichiro had a friendly Shokugeki.
As expected, Soma suffered a brutal defeat. But Joichiro was experienced, he always showed just slightly more strength than Soma.
That way, Soma would believe he could catch up someday, while never receiving a blow harsh enough to crush him.
Over time, Soma developed his fearless attitude toward failure — something Joichiro had done absolutely right. Someone who isn't afraid to fail and can learn from failure is terrifying.
After the unofficial match, Joichiro left. He had already confirmed Soma's growth and was satisfied. So he continued wandering elsewhere.
Soma returned home for vacation, where he would once again clash with Etsuya Eizan just like the original storyline.
Kael didn't interfere. Eizan wasn't personally acting yet, so he posed no real threat.
Time passed quickly. Kael entered a period of intense training. He was determined to complete the first stage of the Dark Cooking Society's inheritance. To do that, he had to reach Seven-Star Chef level.
He trained constantly. Joichiro's visit earlier had been a huge boost — the growth of Kael's chef's heart skyrocketed.
For months, Kael practically lived between the dorm, classrooms, and the Chinese Cuisine Research Society. Almost nowhere else.
His physical strength also increased rapidly thanks to medicinal baths. With the Dark Cooking Society's enhancement, he far surpassed a normal person. He was only a little short of meeting the requirements to learn the secret physical techniques.
By July, Kael's cooking ability had transformed dramatically.
He finally broke through to the Seven-Star Chef level.
His Kaiyu Character Inheritance reached 10%.
And most importantly — Kael finally completed the first stage of the Dark Cooking Society.
There were five stages. Finishing the first required becoming an Upper Chef, equivalent to a Seven-Star Chef. Then he had to pass the Dark Society's basic trial.
For others, this would be extremely difficult.
For Kael? A complete breeze. With Kaiyu's talents, basic skills were trivial.
Passing the trial unlocked the second area.
The second area required reaching Special-Grade Chef level — in this world, above Nine-Star.
Unlike the first area, the second focused on the chef's heart. It was just one room with a single set of pristine utensils. Ingredients could be summoned just like before.
But dishes made inside would amplify the chef's heart by ten times.
Basically… another cheat tool.
Understanding the chef's heart was normally extremely difficult. Even sensing someone else's chef's heart from a dish only worked briefly. Not everyone had the Divine Senses like Kael.
But with this amplification… everything became easier.
From now on, Kael could train basic skills in the first area and refine his chef's heart in the second.
Upon completing the first area, Kael also received a reward — something that could be brought to the real world.
This time, he received something very familiar:
The full set of Seven-Star Knives.
The exact set used by Rēn — but upgraded, formed from combining two full sets into a superior version.
Despite being from an ancient-world setting, these knives possessed properties modern technology couldn't recreate.
The original story even had a soul lingering inside them. Modern science could not forge something like that.
And their sharpness? They were said to handle any ingredient. Exaggerated, but not by much.
In the Food Wars world, they were unquestionably legendary.
Freshly cut ingredients could even reconnect afterward—not fully healed, but recovering quickly. Even so, the Seven-Star Knives were absurdly powerful.
"With this set… the Hundred-Hole Knife can finally retire."
Kael had been using the Hundred-Hole Knife for a long time. But now, the Seven-Star Knives made it unnecessary.
Not that anyone else could use it — even Joichiro would need years of training just to operate it at a basic level. Kael's mastery came from Divine Touch.
But the Seven-Star Knives were also incredibly difficult to handle. Each blade was unbelievably sharp and unbelievably heavy.
A single mistake could cut more than just ingredients.
Kael tested them and realized the control requirement was insane. Thankfully, his Divine Touch and improved physique made it possible.
Even so, a normal person would have wrist cramps within seconds.
Kael took two days off from school to pick up the knives and commission a storage case. Carrying seven huge blades in the open would absolutely get him mistaken for a criminal.
Especially because the largest blade was over one and a half meters long.
The box required to store it was enormous. When Kael walked around carrying it, people kept staring at him like he was carrying a coffin.
When he returned to Polar Star, everyone stared at the giant case.
"Kael, what's inside that thing? It looks really heavy!"
Alice Nakiri leaned forward curiously as Kael gently lowered the box to the floor.