After Fumio Daimido went through the old grudge between Joichiro Saiba and Shiori Shiomi, everyone's looks toward Soma Yukihira changed.
"So that means Soma really deserved that punch, huh!"
Alice Nakiri chimed in.
"Hey hey hey, that was my dad's doing — how is that 'deserved'? I didn't know anything about it!" Soma protested immediately.
He'd been an innocent bystander in that mess; his rotten dad had set him up on purpose.
"You're not off the hook either. You forgot all the terrible dishes you tricked us into eating when you first came to Polar Star Dorm? You and Joichiro are a perfect pair — like father and son carved from the same block."
"Good thing Megumi had us watching her, or who knows how many of those gross dishes you'd have conned her into eating!"
Yuki Yoshino rolled her eyes. To her, Soma getting blamed for that was no injustice at all.
Soma was left speechless. Even someone as thick-skinned as him couldn't come up with a comeback — they were right. If Megumi Tadokoro hadn't had Kael and the others watching over her, she might've actually been tricked.
Who knew — someday Megumi might throw a punch at Soma's descendants the first time they crossed paths.
Don't be fooled by Megumi's present-day shy, gentle look; people like Hinako Inui and Jun Shiomi weren't so different once. Jun Shiomi might still be ditzy, but she did fairly well. Hinako had changed completely — she'd turned into a shameless schemer.
Everyone laughed when Soma had no reply. Embarrassed for a moment, Soma soon shrugged it off — his thick skin made him forget quickly.
They finished prepping the ingredients amid chatter, then moved on to discussing the theme for the upcoming autumn selection. Everyone knew curry to some extent; the differences were just who was better at it.
Soma had benefited a lot from his trip to Jun Shiomi's place. Jun and Kael's knowledge of spices was truly deep.
Of course, neither of those two knew how to turn their knowledge into wealth, so while the inside was stocked like a proper lab, the outside of the house looked worn and neglected.
Soma opened up about what he'd seen at Jun Shiomi's and pulled out some spice blends he'd been researching over the past few days to share.
"Chili, white pepper, dried ginger, cassia, star anise… not bad. Aside from the common ones you've added some rarer spices, but the ratios are a bit off."
Kael glanced at the formula and immediately diagnosed it, then offered his adjustments.
"You really are something — you figured out my curry formula at a glance and gave a fix in no time." Soma's mouth twitched.
This recipe was the result of his days-and-nights research. Maybe not spectacular, but it could be a signature at a small shop. Yet Kael saw straight through it in a moment.
"It's mainly because your pairing is a little too simple."
Kael said, not boasting — he meant it. In the world of Dark Cuisine, one of the Phoenix Eight's pros, Mila the Blue-Eyed Tiger, had a special technique called the Spice Inequality.
Each of the Five Star Warriors had their signature moves: Rēn's Seven-Star Knives, Mila's Spice Inequality, Akan's Heavenly Flame Wheel, and so on. Kael had learned most of those techniques, especially everything Mila and Rēn had — they were cultivated by Kaiyu, after all, so their skills were tied to him.
The Spice Inequality showed up in Kaiyu's teachings too, but it was a forbidden Dark Technique; Kael could only learn the basics. Even those basics, though, were more than enough for him.
Spice pairing isn't just mixing a bunch of spices together — that's the most basic level. The real mastery comes with other conditions: two spices might need heat to a specific temperature to create a flavor that's nothing like a simple blend; a third spice might be mixed, then frozen, or added to a liquid and stirred before being re-dried — those processes can completely change the resulting flavour.
Some secret recipes took generations to perfect. The Spice Inequality could ignore many of those prerequisites and allow adjustments mid-cooking. It was an utterly unreasonable Dark Technique.
All Dark Techniques went beyond normal comprehension — like the Bull-Dragon Slash that could split a cow in an instant without a drop of blood. Impossible by normal logic: even with dozens of cuts in a flash, how could you avoid cutting blood vessels? Dark Techniques simply ignored such logic; the Spice Inequality did the same.
So even if Kael only knew the surface, he could easily develop secret blends.
Soma's formula was, to Kael, elementary — so tweaking it was simple.
"Simple? That's only simple to you!"
Soma grumbled, then, following Kael's guidance, made another batch.
They all sampled the new version. Compared to the first, this one was softer and better — if the previous effort scored sixty, this one deserved an eighty.
"Soma, you hit the jackpot. Those few words from him are enough to keep you experimenting for a long time!" Yuki looked at Soma with envy.
Kael's brief advice contained enough substance to fill at least a month of experimentation. Spice pairing demanded relentless trials — tiny changes required many tests; it couldn't be solved in a day or two.
"If you have questions, come ask me. I'm not bad with spices." Kael smiled. He was confident he was the best, so why not teach? If it brought more recognition to Polar Star Dorm, all the better.
"That would be great!" Everyone brightened.
They knew Kael was willing to teach, but they also knew not to lean on him too much. They had to try themselves or they'd get dependent. Kael was careful about that too — he only gave lessons now and then, and only on the most serious issues. The rest, they had to figure out themselves.
Then Kael demonstrated a special fused spice in front of everyone. Watching him manipulate the spices so they rapidly fused and unleashed an overwhelmingly dominant aroma, the group widened their eyes.
No one expected Kael to conjure something so amazing so easily. Even before tasting, the aroma alone was intoxicating. When they finally tasted it, each person was stunned — it was insanely good.
This was Kael's quick handiwork, yet it outclassed them all. That was the Spice Inequality: even the basics produced astonishing results.
They discussed spice applications while Kael added comments now and then. Not because he didn't want to join the conversation, but because as soon as he spoke, the others couldn't follow. When he mentioned some spice names earlier, they'd all been baffled.
That was the gap in knowledge. With WGO and the Nakiri family's backing, Kael had access to rare ingredients. His super senses had recorded those flavors; others might have touched a few of those ingredients once, but a single encounter wasn't enough to imprint the taste. They didn't have Divine Senses or a God's Tongue.
So much of what Kael said sounded like divine scripture to them. Kael could only step back and listen while they talked about what they did know, chiming in occasionally.
He felt helpless — being too skilled wasn't always a blessing. He'd sensed the loneliness of being at the top.
That night Senzaemon Nakiri arrived as promised. With him were two unexpected guests: Nakiri Sōe and Gin Dojima.
"Is that Alice's father? The head of Nakiri International — wow, those eyebrows are something!"
The arrivals surprised and intrigued the Polar Star residents. Only Soma had met Gin Dojima closely before; the rest hadn't.
Sōe Nakiri, who'd stayed at Nakiri International for years, was an even bigger surprise.
"Alice, long time no see. You seem to be doing well!" Sōe smiled at his daughter.
He'd come back rarely and wanted to see her. She'd become even more beautiful since leaving Nakiri International, which pleased him — it meant she was doing well in the dorm. He'd worried she wouldn't get used to dorm life; after all, Alice had been raised in comfort.
"Father? When did you get back?"
Alice beamed and launched into conversation with him. Gin Dojima went to speak with Fumio Daimido — he visited Polar Star Dorm every year. Usually he came back during holiday so the students weren't around; this time they happened to be there.
"Long time no see, Gin!"
Fumio and Gin caught up while Kael and the others returned to the kitchen — they still had to cook bear paw. Kael planned to make orchid bear paw this time.
While everyone was busy, Alice told Senzaemon and Sōe about the eyesight-enhancing medicine Kael had prepared for her — with Kael's permission. Kael allowed her to tell family but forbade public spread.
"You mean Kael hunted a brown bear and used its gallbladder to make a special medicine to improve your sight?!" Senzaemon Nakiri was stunned.
Alice's story had been interesting enough, but Kael's operations left him baffled. He'd lived many years but never met anyone like Kael.
What was more astonishing was that Kael's medicine could enhance sight to the level of Hayama's olfactory prowess — not a Special Ability, but far more useful than some worthless Powers.
"This is ridiculous, and the medicine has no side effects? Alice, are you sure it's safe?"
Sōe Nakiri asked worriedly — it was his daughter's welfare after all.
"Don't worry, Father. Kael never makes mistakes with this stuff. If you don't believe me, ask Grandpa."
Alice trusted Kael absolutely. They'd eaten Kael's 'poison cuisine' plenty of times and nothing bad had happened.
"That's true. Although his specialty is poison cuisine, each dish has nutritional benefits. I feel healthier than ever."
Senzaemon nodded; he believed in Kael's creations.