AYANOKOJI-KUNNNN IS SO IMPRESSIVE, WOWWW!
OMG, HOW DID WE NOT NOTICE THIS?!
KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
TOO MUCH DIALOGUE, TOO MUCH!!!
ARGHHHH, THESE THREE/FOUR (ONE WAS PLANNED!) CHAPTERS MADE ME GO MENTAL, SO I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT.
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the cringefest. See you.
Oh. And also, go read AlcoholicKoji—I bet some of you will like it!
-
Ayanokoji stepped forward, out of the tunnel, into the light, and onto the stage.
At ANHS, the atmosphere was filled with excitement and confusion. Many wondered why Ayanokoji would transfer from a prestigious school like ANHS, where one would be able to choose the profession they wanted to pursue, to a cooking academy like Tōtsuki. Those were two entirely different pairs of shoes.
One person who asked herself this question was Horikita Suzune.
Why? The question burned through her mind. Why are you there? Why did you leave us?
As she asked herself those questions, Sudō shot from his seat, the cushion bouncing back. "THERE HE IS!" he shouted, pointing at the screen as if anyone could have possibly missed it. "HE'S ACTUALLY DOING IT!"
"We can see that, Sudō-kun," Horikita said, though her own voice was tighter than usual. Her eyes hadn't left the screen since the tunnel lit up. "Please sit down. You're blocking the view."
"How can you be so calm?!" Sudō demanded, but he dropped back into his seat anyway. "That's Ayanokoji!"
"Yes, I know. I can see."
Kushida, meanwhile, who sat beside her, didn't engage in the conversation but instead looked at the young man who was calmly walking onto the stage.
"He looks good in that outfit..." she quietly muttered to herself, but it wasn't as quiet as she thought, as Horikita beside her glanced over. Not only her, but also Matsushita, Satō, and Karuizawa, who were seated nearby.
Kushida noticed the looks and turned around. "What?" she chuckled darkly. "Can't I admire him? You aren't together with him anymore, are you?"
Satō looked on the verge of falling for the bait, but Karuizawa stopped her with a gentle tug.
Meanwhile, Kushida wasn't the only one to admire Ayanokoji. Ichinose, seated with her own group, stared quite openly at the screen, to the amusement of Amikura, who was right beside her.
"Oya, Honami~ You are staring quite intensely~" she teased her friend.
Ichinose blinked and immediately straightened in her seat. "W-What? No, I'm not!"
Amikura's smile widened. "You haven't looked away once."
"Aren't we supposed to pay attention?! I'm just paying attention," Ichinose insisted, though the faint pink spreading across her cheeks betrayed her.
Mako only looked at her in amusement but then returned her attention to the screen.
Ayanokoji walked with calm steps, a knife case tucked under one arm and a neatly folded black apron draped over his shoulder. The arena stretched vast before him, and the stands were stacked high, filled to the brim with students and faculty. Hundreds of faces watched his approach.
For a moment, silence lingered, but that didn't last long.
"BOOOO!"
"YOU FUCKER! GET OUT!"
"WE REMEMBER YOUR WORDS AT THE ENTRANCE CEREMONY!"
"YOU'RE DONE FOR! EXPELLED!"
The jeers rained down, louder than even those Yukihira had faced earlier. A wall of hostility pressed from every direction.
Ike flinched. "Holy shit... they really hate him."
Mii-chan seemed to shrink even smaller than she already was, despite only watching through a screen. Her shoulders hunched inward as if the hostility could reach through the broadcast and touch her directly. "W-Why are they treating him like that...?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Inogashira Kokoro, seated right beside her, had a similar reaction. The shy girl with her timid personality could never imagine being thrust into a situation like the one Ayanokoji now faced. The mere thought of hundreds of hostile eyes boring down on her made her feel faint. "Poor Ayanokoji-kun..." she murmured, her fingers twisting nervously in her lap. "Why are they being so cruel to him...?"
"It's like watching a public execution," Mori Nene muttered from nearby. "Except... he's willingly walking to the gallows."
Similar reactions unfolded from other students across the cinema.
"What the hell has he done to receive such hatred and anger from the other students?!" Shibata asked incredulously.
"They mentioned the entrance ceremony..." Kanzaki started, also shocked by the reception of the crowd. "What could he have done at the entrance ceremony to cause the crowd to react like that?"
Ichinose wasn't pleased by the way Ayanokoji was being treated right now. Not pleased at all. Her usually warm and gentle expression had hardened into something colder, and her eyes narrowed as they tracked the loudest faces in the Tōtsuki crowd.
Himeno, beside Kanzaki, muttered, "He managed to make the entire school hate him by the end of the first week of school... I-I don't know if I should be impressed or not."
In Class A's section, Sakayanagi let out a small chuckle that made Hashimoto shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"Oh my," she said, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "It seems Ayanokoji-kun has done something quite amusing at this new school of his."
"Amusing...?" Hashimoto quietly muttered to himself, shooting her a sideways glance.
Ayanokoji's expression didn't change. He continued walking as if the roar of the crowd was nothing more than mere background noise.
Ryuen let out a low laugh from the back. He had one leg stretched out, arms folded behind his head, looking entirely too entertained.
"Kukuhaha. That bastard's face hasn't changed at all. Hundreds of people are screaming at him, and he doesn't even care one bit."
Ishizaki swallowed hard. "Man... if that crowd yelled at me like that, I'd probably mess up before cooking anything."
"You'd mess up even without the crowd," Ryuen said dismissively.
"Oi!"
"Probably even worse than Ibuki," Ryuen added.
"Oi!"
"What have I done to get dragged into this?!" Ibuki shouted, whipping around to glare at him.
Albert said nothing. His gaze remained fixed on the screen.
"But damn," Ishizaki exclaimed, turning back to the broadcast. "That crowd is incredibly pissed! What did he do to get them that mad? Did he shit on their food or what?"
"Language," Shiina said from behind, her soft voice carrying a mild reproach.
Amasawa laughed, the sound bright and amused. "Well, you can't blame him for that thought. Senpai did something truly interesting to get that reception from an entire elite school. Shitting in their food isn't far-fetched at this point."
"Ichika..." Shiina sighed but dropped the matter. She herself was curious about what Ayanokoji could have done to provoke such universal hatred.
Ishizaki sent a grateful prayer toward Amasawa for the unexpected backup before turning away and refocusing on the screen.
Ryuen's grin wasn't fading. If anything, it was growing wider by the second. "Kukuhaha. That bastard has been there one whole week, and he's already got an entire school gunning for his head." He leaned back further in his seat. "That takes real talent. Real talent," he repeated.
"You sound almost proud," Shiina noted from behind him.
"Proud?" Ryuen's grin stretched even wider, showing teeth. "Nah, no. I'm jealous I'm not at that school right now. That would be incredibly amusing!"
Katsuragi, still nursing the sting of his earlier humiliation by being compared to a very famous figure, was mulling over what Ayanokoji could have done to provoke such a reaction.
"The entrance ceremony..." he said slowly. "Did he hold a speech there?"
Ryuen was more entertained than he'd been in months. That grin wasn't leaving his face anytime soon. "Finally using that head of yours, Johnny? So you plan on pursuing a different career from what we all thought. What a shame."
Katsuragi's eye twitched at the nickname, but he refused to rise to the bait. "If the students are referencing the entrance ceremony specifically, it suggests he said or did something publicly memorable. Something that offended the entire student body."
"Like what?" Ishizaki asked.
"You think he insulted them?" Ibuki asked, her irritation at Ryuen temporarily forgotten.
"At least that, yes, but I think he did something worse," Katsuragi said. "I don't think simply insulting them would've resulted in such a reaction... he must have somehow attacked their pride. After all, this is an elite school."
"That doesn't sound like something Ayanokoji would do," Ibuki said, crossing her arms skeptically. "The guy I remember spent two years avoiding attention. Why would he suddenly start picking fights with an entire school?"
Ryuen looked at her as if he were looking at a complete imbecile. His grin twisted into something between amusement and exasperation.
"Ibuki..." He let out a long sigh. "Here at ANHS, that bastard hid himself almost the entire time. And now, one week into his new school, he's hated by almost the entire student body." He leaned forward, counting off points on his fingers. "How can you explain that level of hatred? And how do you explain him challenging seven students at once? Is that what you call 'hiding'?"
He spread his arms wide, as if presenting obvious evidence.
"The Ayanokoji there has stopped hiding himself behind Class D. He's done playing the bum. Whatever mask he wore for two years, he's thrown it away." His grin returned. "We're finally seeing the real one."
Ibuki's expression shifted as the logic sank in. She nodded slowly, reluctantly accepting his point. The others around did the same.
Then Ryuen's grin faded into a frown.
"Wait." He looked around, then back at Ibuki. "Why the hell did I waste my time explaining that to an idiot like you?"
The agreement vanished from Ibuki's face in an instant, replaced by a familiar fury.
"RYUEN—!"
She lunged, but Ishizaki and Albert grabbed her arms before she could reach him.
"Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"
"Calm down, Ibuki!" Ishizaki grunted, struggling to hold her back. "We're in public!"
"I don't care!"
Ryuen just laughed, utterly unbothered by her rage.
"Both of you, please," Shiina interjected softly from behind, though there was a hint of exasperation in her usually placid voice. "We're missing the broadcast."
That, more than anything, seemed to cut through the chaos. Ibuki stopped struggling, though she continued to glare daggers at Ryuen. He, for his part, simply turned back to the screen with that infuriating grin still plastered on his face.
"She's right, you know," Ryuen said casually. "Right now, I want to see what that bastard does next."
Ibuki seethed silently but settled back into her seat. Ishizaki and Albert released her carefully, ready to intervene again if necessary.
Meanwhile, in Class A's section, an all-too-familiar situation was unfolding. Morishita Ai tilted her head, watching the scene with a calm expression. "Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seems pretty popular over there."
Hashimoto snapped his head toward her, eyes wide. "Popular? Are we... wait... I am not falling for that bait again!"
Morishita remained expressionless. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Hashimoto Masayoshi."
"Sure you don't," he muttered, turning back to the screen.
Beside them, Sakayanagi calmly watched the scene and the ongoing rain of insults.
Across the stage, his first opponent straightened. The smugness on Okumura's face sharpened, bolstered by the crowd's venom.
"Yo!" His smirk widened as he raised his voice. "Take in the view, transfer student. This stage, this audience... enjoy it while it lasts. Because after today, you won't even belong to Tōtsuki anymore. You're nothing but a fraud who—"
"Kiyotaka!"
The shout cut him off.
The camera swung to the sidelines, where Yukihira Sōma stood grinning, waving broadly. Beside him, Tadokoro Megumi clutched her hands nervously to her chest, and Konishi exhaled sharply.
Ayanokoji's gaze found them. He held the look for a brief moment, then began walking toward their side of the stage.
"O-oii! Don't ignore me!" Okumura barked, his voice cracking in frustration.
Ryuen burst into laughter. "That's humiliating. He didn't even bother responding and just walked away like the guy wasn't worth his time."
"Ouch," Ishizaki winced. "I would've dropped out..."
"That's brutal," Ike from Class D's corner said, with something approaching admiration. "That's absolutely brutal."
In Class B's section, Kanzaki was studying the interaction. "Notice how Ayanokoji didn't even look at his opponent when he walked away? He didn't give any acknowledgment whatsoever. A response back wouldn't have hurt like that."
"That's the kind of disrespect that breaks people," Shibata quickly agreed.
Meanwhile, those who had been closer to Ayanokoji at ANHS picked up on a detail that others missed or seemed to ignore entirely.
"'Kiyotaka?'" Hasabe Haruka repeated softly.
Beside her, Akito stiffened visibly. Yukimura's fingers tightened slightly around the armrest of his seat. The three of them exchanged glances.
"He called him by his first name..."
They were split. On one hand, a part of them was glad that Ayanokoji had found friends in this new environment, friends who seemed to accept him.
But on the other hand...
The observation spread through other parts of the cinema.
Horikita felt the same unease settle somewhere in her chest.
Normally, she would not have cared about something as trivial as whether someone called him by his first name or not. She had never been the type to obsess over closeness through forms of address, and in most situations, she would have considered it meaningless.
But this time, it was different. She had spent two years beside him.
Not always willingly and not always honestly. But still, he had been there. From the very beginning, when she had looked down on others, convinced that allies were unnecessary and that she alone could climb upward, he had been the one standing nearby. Sometimes pushing her. Sometimes correcting her. Sometimes quietly arranging things behind the scenes while she was too inexperienced to notice.
He had watched her grow from someone who rejected the idea of companionship into someone capable of leading a class.
And yet now, someone he had known for barely a week called him by his first name so naturally.
It seemed dramatic to feel like that just over a first name, but...
Horikita's fingers tightened faintly over her lap.
It stung... even for her.
As Ayanokoji closed the distance with the trio, his voice carried through the stage's amplification system. "It seems the crowd loves us."
Megumi blinked rapidly, too stunned for words. Konishi let out a strangled laugh. "Damn... you and Yukihira aren't nervous at all? That's insane."
Sōma only grinned wider, raising a hand toward the stands in a casual wave. "You're right!" he said, almost cheerfully.
The crowd, hearing every word and watching his carefree gesture, erupted again. Their fury boiled over, jeers doubling in volume.
In the cinema, Hasebe stared at the screen with her mouth slightly open.
"Did he just make a joke?" she asked, incredulous.
Akito, sitting beside her, frowned faintly. "It sounded like one."
"From Kiyotaka?"
"It was dry sarcasm. He used that kind of thing occasionally." Yukimura stated.
"Not like that," Hasebe muttered.
Her gaze stayed locked on the screen, where Ayanokoji and Yukihira stood beneath a storm of insults as if it were nothing more than rain.
Not like that at all.
Hirata, seeing the interaction, chuckled softly. Even though he wasn't a fan of people antagonizing each other, or in this case, humiliating each other, he found himself appreciating the dynamic between Yukihira and Ayanokoji. There was something genuine there.
The red-haired boy laughed openly, waved at the crowd, and stood beside him without hesitation. Their exchange was short, almost careless, but that was exactly why it felt genuine.
"They're comfortable with each other," Hirata observed. "Really comfortable. Look at how naturally they interact."
Ike stared at the screen like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or be horrified. "They're both insane. Completely insane. The crowd is screaming at them, and they're... joking around?"
Sudō's mouth twitched. "Yukihira's kinda funny."
"I mean, yeah," Ike said, gesturing wildly at the screen. "But he's also making them angrier! Why would you wave at a crowd that wants you dead?!"
"Because he doesn't care," Sudō replied, almost admiringly.
Kōenji, who had been seated with a relaxed elegance as if the cinema itself existed for his convenience, finally let out a small laugh.
"A beautiful stage requires beautiful performers. Those two seem to understand that well."
No one knew what to say to that and ignored him.
Meanwhile, Ichinose was experiencing a similar feeling to Horikita's, though hers was far easier to read.
She was happy. That much was true.
Seeing Ayanokoji standing there, calm as ever, yet surrounded by people who called out to him, worried for him, and joked with him despite the hostility of the arena, eased something inside her. He did not seem isolated. He had found people who stood by him.
And yet, beneath that relief, a selfish frustration quietly took root.
She was not the one standing there.
She was not the one calling him by his first name.
Ichinose pressed her lips together, her expression still gentle, but her eyes had grown complicated.
"Anyway," Ayanokoji continued, "you're all allowed to watch from here? Even you, Sōma?"
"Yep," Sōma replied without missing a beat. "They gave us front-row seats—better than the VIP booth you were hanging around in. Speaking of..." His grin turned sly. "How'd you manage to stay in there without getting thrown out?"
"Who knows?" Ayanokoji answered.
Megumi's timid voice broke through. Her fists pressed nervously to her chest. "K-Kiyotaka-kun... w-will you be okay? The themes were only introduced yesterday, and you... you didn't even prepare!"
Ayanokoji shifted his gaze toward her. "Don't worry, Megumi. This will be over very quickly."
"She, too?" Hasebe muttered, her voice carrying surprise.
At that, several girls who had been close to Ayanokoji frowned visibly. They could accept a boy calling him by his first name. Male friendships, after all, developed quite quickly, and often there was no sense of distance to begin with. You can meet someone new, and it already feels like you've known them for a lifetime.
But a girl? A girl using 'Kiyotaka-kun' with such natural familiarity?
How did that happen?!
Meanwhile, a few students had noticed something else entirely.
"Hmm?" Matsushita leaned forward, squinting at the screen. She was seated next to Karuizawa and Satō, and her eyes had latched onto a detail others seemed to be overlooking.
"Don't they look a bit young?" she murmured.
"Chiaki, what do you mean?" Satō asked, turning toward her.
"Like, they don't look like third-year students at all," Matsushita elaborated. "Yukihira and that girl, Megumi. They look more like... first-years? Maybe second-years at most?"
"Now that you mention it..." Satō said slowly, studying the figures on screen. "You're right. They do look slightly younger than us."
Karuizawa, hearing her friends discuss this, also looked more closely at the blue-haired girl named Megumi. The one Ayanokoji had addressed with her first name.
She was small and timid-looking, clearly nervous. And young, definitely not a third-year student by appearance.
Her eyes narrowed slightly at that realization, and in her head, a familiar suspicion began to form.
Kiyotaka... what have you done again...
The class leaders, too, had noted that something was amiss.
Horikita's eyes sharpened as she watched Megumi's face on the screen. Earlier, she had been too distracted by Ayanokoji himself, by the absurdity of seeing him in another school, by the hostility of the crowd, and by the way he interacted with Yukihira. But now that Matsushita had said it aloud, the inconsistency became impossible to ignore.
Sakayanagi, seated in Class A's section, smiled faintly.
"So that is how it is," she murmured.
Hashimoto glanced at her. "You figured something out?"
Sakayanagi still had that knowing smile on her face, but she didn't bother answering. Some realizations were more satisfying when others arrived at them on their own.
Hashimoto noticed that and sighed. "Right. So it's one of those things where you already figured something out and aren't going to explain it."
"You are free to think for yourself, Hashimoto-kun."
"That's cruel."
Morishita Ai tilted her head. "Is thinking cruel?"
Hashimoto looked at her, then immediately turned away. "Nope. Not doing this right now."
Before Sakayanagi could add anything, Ike suddenly shot forward in his seat.
"Oi-oi-oi!" he blurted out. "Aren't we missing something?! 'The themes were only introduced yesterday, and you didn't even prepare'?!"
His voice carried far enough for not only his own class but also several surrounding students to hear.
A short silence followed before the realization spread.
"Wait..."
"He's going into seven matches with themes he only learned yesterday...?"
Sudō stared at the screen, his earlier excitement twisting into disbelief. "Hold on. So he challenged seven people and didn't prepare?"
"That's what that girl said," Matsushita confirmed.
"Isn't that just arrogant?" Shinohara asked, frowning as she looked at the screen. "I mean, seven matches, and he didn't even bother to prepare? He's just looking down on everyone."
Her words earned agreement. Even among those who knew Ayanokoji, or at least thought they knew him, the situation was difficult to defend.
Yukimura adjusted his glasses. "From a purely rational standpoint, yes. It is arrogant. This is not like a written exam where you can rely on general knowledge and try to improvise, especially if, as Horikita-san elaborated earlier, you consider the seven different themes. There are too many variables, and going in without practice... I don't know."
"Then why would he do it?" Satō asked, still glancing between the screen and Karuizawa, as if she knew more. "He's not stupid."
"No," Horikita replied instead. "He isn't."
And this was the problem.
Horikita had seen Ayanokoji do many things that seemed irrational from the outside. He had hidden his abilities when revealing them would have solved problems faster. He had taken losses, allowed misunderstandings, and accepted disadvantages that made no sense until much later.
So when she saw him standing there, facing seven matches with themes given only the day before, she could not bring herself to dismiss it as simple arrogance.
"There must be a reason," she continued.
Shinohara crossed her arms. "A reason to make things harder for himself?"
"Hmph! I look forward to seeing him fail," Miyamoto muttered, his voice carrying farther than he likely intended. "I want to see that calm face and that arrogance wiped away!"
The words landed very poorly.
Horikita closed her eyes for a moment and let out a quiet sigh, her expression turning visibly exasperated.
Of all the things to say, and at this time no less, Miyamoto had chosen the worst possible one.
Kushida, seated beside her, slowly smiled.
It was a smile full of amusement. She understood people better than most. She understood insecurity, envy, resentment, and the ugly little thoughts people tried to keep hidden. And right now, Miyamoto had failed to keep his hidden.
The attention Ayanokoji was receiving had been bothering him for a long time. Back in their first year, Miyamoto had placed Ayanokoji somewhere near himself. Quiet, unimpressive, not particularly popular, and easy to overlook. Ayanokoji had that small group of friends, sure, but beyond that, he had been just another invisible student in the class.
Someone ordinary and someone safe to compare himself to.
Then the second year came, and small cracks began appearing in that image.
First, the math exam.
Ayanokoji had scored first in the entire school, and while the shock had been enormous at the time, it had eventually faded, and people moved on.
But then came Karuizawa.
Karuizawa Kei, one of the most popular girls in their class, had somehow started dating him.
That was when Miyamoto's irritation had really begun.
How did a guy like Ayanokoji get a girlfriend like Karuizawa?
That question had festered quietly, and jealousy started brewing, but things didn't stop there...
Then came the cultural festival, where Ayanokoji had taken charge of the maid café, where all the beautiful girls in class were following his lead.
Then came more special exams in which he performed... too well, far too well. So well that rumors started to appear.
There was the growing suspicion that Ayanokoji was far more capable than he had ever let on.
And finally, that day. The day Ayanokoji announced that he would be leaving ANHS.
The reaction had been wrong, too wrong. Completely wrong.
Horikita, Matsushita, Hirata, Karuizawa, and even their teacher, Chabashira-sensei, reacted with shock and utter disturbance to that news. It was as if the ace of the class had suddenly chosen to leave... but it was Ayanokoji and not some ace!
To Miyamoto, that had made no sense. It made absolutely no sense!
It was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and not someone important like Horikita!
It was someone who should have been on the same level as him.
But it wasn't over at that point.
Rather, that had only been the beginning.
Ayanokoji not only possessed enough private points to remove the class penalty tied to his withdrawal, but he had apparently discovered a 'loophole' in the point system that allowed him to reduce that penalty in the first place.
Normally, overturning an expulsion required twenty million private points. How much it would cost merely to remove the class-point penalty attached to a voluntary dropout was something most students had never even considered. And yet, Ayanokoji had not only considered it, but he had also found a way to reduce that burden entirely.
Four million private points.
That was the amount he had paid to remove the point damage his departure would inflict on the class.
And even that had not been the end.
Afterward, he transferred another four million points to Horikita.
Then another four million to Ryuen.
And Ryuen, being Ryuen, had stormed into the classroom soon after, attacking Ayanokoji in front of everyone. The violent leader of Class C, feared by most of the year, had been avoided with ease and then brought to his knees with a single strike.
That scene had been impossible to forget.
But even that spectacle was not the final blow.
One after another, the other class leaders had arrived as well. Ichinose, Sakayanagi, and their followers had all appeared, each drawn there by Ayanokoji's departure as if something far more important than a single student dropping out had happened.
That day changed everything.
To the students who had never paid him any attention, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was no longer some quiet, nameless student from their class.
He was someone who could physically bring Ryuen Kakeru to his knees.
He was someone who could casually hand four million points to Horikita, then Ryuen, then Ichinose, then Sakayanagi.
At the time of his withdrawal, he had possessed over twenty million points.
That fact alone carried terrifying implications.
It meant that, had he wished to, he could have transferred to Class A at any moment.
He could have left them behind whenever he wanted.
After that, of course, Ayanokoji had become the talk of the entire school. People who had once overlooked him now acted as if they had always known something was strange about him.
And now, even after leaving ANHS, even after disappearing from their daily lives entirely, Ayanokoji was still the center of attention.
He was on the screen.
And again, everyone was looking at him.
Again.
It was ridiculous.
It was unfair.
That resentment, built up over more than a year, finally slipped out of Miyamoto's mouth before he could stop it.
But the moment it did, the atmosphere changed.
Even Shinohara, who had criticized Ayanokoji only moments earlier, looked uncomfortable. She was emotional, quick to complain, and certainly not immune to jealousy, but even she had enough sense not to openly wish failure on a former classmate in front of everyone.
Several students turned toward Miyamoto with visible frowns.
Satō's expression soured. "That's going too far."
Matsushita gave him a flat look. "You said that out loud, you know."
Miyamoto stiffened.
Only then did he seem to realize how many eyes were on him. His mouth opened, but no proper excuse came out.
Before anyone from their year could continue, a voice rose from the first-year section.
"Weren't you classmates?"
The voice belonged to a first-year boy who had been watching the exchange with open confusion. He looked at Miyamoto without any hesitation.
"You're seriously that jealous and petty that you want a former classmate to fail?" he asked bluntly. "I'm glad I'm not in your class."
Miyamoto's face flushed red.
"What did you just say, you little—"
"Enough," Horikita said sharply.
Her voice cut through his anger at once, and he froze.
Horikita turned toward him, her expression colder than before. "You are free to dislike Ayanokoji-kun. You are free to criticize his decisions. But saying you look forward to his failure only makes you look small."
Miyamoto clenched his fists, humiliation twisting across his face.
"That's not—"
"It is," Horikita interrupted. She did not give him room to escape. "And if you have time to resent someone who has already left this school, perhaps you should use that energy to improve yourself and help the class instead."
A few students visibly winced.
Even Sudō muttered under his breath, "Ouch..."
Kushida's smile widened. She was enjoying this.
"Horikita-san, that was a little harsh," she said sweetly.
"You're one to talk," Karuizawa muttered under her breath.
Kushida heard it. Her smile only grew brighter.
Hirata quickly stepped in before the atmosphere could deteriorate any further. "Everyone, let's calm down. We're here to watch Ayanokoji-kun, not fight among ourselves."
His tone was gentle, but firm enough that most students looked away.
Miyamoto sank back into his seat, his face still burning. He didn't apologize, but he also didn't speak again.
From Class C's section, Ryuen chuckled.
"Kukuku. Pathetic."
Ibuki glanced at him. "You're not helping."
"I'm not trying to."
Ishizaki scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Still, man... saying you want him to fail is kinda lame."
Ryuen's grin widened. "Even Ishizaki understands. That's how bad it was."
"Oi!"
At the teachers' section, Chabashira sighed and lowered her head, placing a hand over her eyes.
She didn't want to be seen right now.
Even though she was proud of how far her class had come, the past month had been painful. They had been so close to Class A. Only one special exam remained. One final push remained, and they would have reached the place she had chased for so many years.
And then everything collapsed.
Now, they were back down at Class D.
Worse than that, their morale had crumbled.
The most important students, Horikita above all, had been shaken badly by Ayanokoji's departure. Some were trying to recover. Some were pretending they had recovered. Some, like Miyamoto, had never truly understood what they had lost in the first place.
That was perhaps the most painful part.
There were still students who had barely changed since the beginning. Students who had been dragged forward by the class's momentum, by Horikita's leadership, by Hirata's support, and, above all else, by Ayanokoji's unseen work.
Miyamoto was one such example.
Beside her, Hoshinomiya was smiling broadly. Far too broadly.
"Sae-chan~" she sang softly, leaning closer with obvious delight. "It's exactly like I said back then. It was so unfair of you to have such a giant Joker card hidden in your class."
Chabashira's shoulders lowered slightly.
Hoshinomiya noticed, and her smile became even more pleased.
"But now..." she continued, voice light and cruelly cheerful. "Now your class doesn't have its joker anymore, and it already shows."
Chabashira said nothing, and Hoshinomiya's smirk deepened.
"And not only that. The other classes are starting to understand the real reason behind your rapid ascent. Even your own class is beginning to realize it." Her gaze drifted toward Miyamoto. "Well, except for a few clueless ones. Or maybe they're not clueless. Maybe they're just living in denial."
She stretched her arms above her head, relaxed and pleased, while Chabashira remained still beside her.
"Ahhh," Hoshinomiya sighed happily. "School has become so fun lately, hasn't it, Sae-chan?"
The scene finally continued.
Her lips parted as if to protest, but the speakers crackled to life.
"Ahem—cough, cough! Sorry to interrupt your little reunion!" The announcer's high-pitched voice rang out across the arena. "But the match is about to begin! Competitors, please gather at the center!"
"Well then," Ayanokoji said quietly, "it seems I need to go."
"G-Good luck, Kiyotaka-kun!" Megumi's voice rang out, trembling but louder than before. She clenched her fists tightly, forcing herself to shout despite the hostile stares from the crowd.
Konishi exhaled sharply but managed a firm nod. "Yeah... good luck, man."
Sōma, unfazed as ever, grinned wide and lifted his hand. "Don't humiliate them too much."
Ayanokoji met his raised palm. The sharp sound echoed, clear even over the restless crowd.
He gave a single nod, then turned on his heel and walked toward center stage.
"T-They high-fived?!" Karuizawa blurted out.
Her voice came out louder than she intended.
Until now, she had managed to keep most of her reactions under control. The way Megumi called him by his first name had irritated her slightly. But this was different.
Ayanokoji wasn't the type to do something like that.
At least, not the Ayanokoji she knew.
He didn't casually exchange high-fives in front of hundreds of people. He didn't openly display camaraderie like that. Even during their relationship, even when they were alone, he had always felt restrained.
And now, on that screen, he had done it so naturally.
Satō blinked, then gave a small, awkward laugh. "Wow... hehe. I could've never imagined Ayanokoji-kun doing something like that."
There was no need to talk about Ayanokoji's former friend group. They stayed silent.
"Damn," Sudō muttered from the side.
Ike turned toward him. "Ken?"
Sudō's gaze didn't leave the screen. "Now I kinda regret not getting closer to Ayanokoji."
The comment made Ike confused.
Sudō scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable with his own honesty. "I mean... he saved my ass more than once. I knew that much, but seeing him like that..." His voice trailed off as he looked at the scene. "That dynamic between those two. It's amazing. It's great to see."
Ike nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's like those two have been friends for years."
"And it's only been a week," Matsushita added quietly.
Kanzaki, sitting with Ichinose's class, had his arms folded as he stared at the screen.
"'Don't humiliate them too much,'" he repeated, recalling Yukihira's words. "He has tremendous confidence in Ayanokoji's ability."
Shibata frowned. "You think he's already seen Ayanokoji do something crazy?"
"He must have," Kanzaki replied. "Or at the very least, he has sensed enough to believe that Ayanokoji winning is not the question."
Himeno's eyes were fixed on the broadcast. "Then I guess we're about to see what gave him that confidence."
She said it casually, but the slight tension in her voice betrayed her. She was curious too. Everyone was.
The entire school had been pulled into the atmosphere of the match.
Ayanokoji had left ANHS. But, in this very moment, he held the attention of the entire school more than he ever had while attending it.
Then Shibata spoke again, more quietly this time.
"But man... I barely ever talked to Ayanokoji-kun, but whenever I saw him, he always looked bored. Kind of... lonely."
That remark hit harder than he probably intended.
Ichinose's fingers tightened in her lap.
Ayanokoji had always been calm and polite enough when spoken to. He was helpful when he chose to be. But there had always been a certain distance around him. There was always an emptiness that made it difficult to tell whether he was enjoying himself or merely existing in the same space as everyone else.
But here, the moment he first appeared on the screen, she could tell that he was more at ease. He seemed far more content.
The thought hurt.
What if he had been in our class?
The question appeared before Ichinose could stop it.
If Ayanokoji had been in Class B from the beginning, would he have enjoyed school more? Would he have smiled? Would he have let someone stand beside him without that invisible wall between them?
Could she have been the one to bring out that side of him?
The answer did not and wouldn't come.
Amikura glanced at Ichinose, noticing the way her friend's expression had dimmed.
"Honami."
Ichinose turned toward her.
Amikura smiled faintly. "Don't make that face. He's still Ayanokoji-kun, you know?"
Ichinose's eyes softened, but her smile was fragile. "I know."
Kanzaki noticed their exchange but did not comment on it directly. Instead, he looked toward the screen and spoke in a low voice.
"I wonder how his old class feels."
A few students turned toward him.
"Seeing their former classmate find a companion like that in one week," Kanzaki continued, "while they had spent two years beside him and still never managed to truly draw anything out of him."
Ryuen, not far away from them, laughed, "Kukuku. Kanzaki said it well."
Ibuki frowned. "You're enjoying this way too much."
"Of course I am," Ryuen said. "Look at them. Half the room is realizing they never understood the guy sitting next to them for two years."
Ishizaki scratched his head. "But did anyone understand him?"
Ryuen's grin sharpened. "No."
"Then isn't that not their fault?"
Ryuen looked at him in silence.
Ishizaki slowly looked away. "Never mind."
Katsuragi spoke with a calm tone. "It is not entirely about understanding him. They were closer to him than anyone else, yet he remained beyond reach. Now, in another school, that distance appears to have shrunk very quickly."
"That's what makes it humiliating," Ryuen said.
On the screen, Ayanokoji had already returned to the center of the stage.
Okumura glared with fresh anger.
"Alright!" The announcer's voice chimed, brimming with excitement. "Contestants, to your kitchens, please!"
The arena hushed at once.
Inside the ANHS cinema, the conversations slowly died as well.
Anticipation spread through the whole cinema.
She raised her microphone high. "The first match's theme will be—Philippine Cuisine!"
The screen above blazed to life with the words, sharp and bold.
"Let the Shokugeki... BEGIN!"
The gong rang out, reverberating through the vast hall.
"Philippine cuisine..." Horikita muttered. There was uncertainty in her voice.
Sudō turned toward her. "Suzune, can you tell us something?"
Horikita's eyes stayed on the screen for a moment before she answered. "If I'm being honest... no. I haven't explored many cuisines outside of the Japanese cuisine. I know the basics of some popular cuisines, such as Italian and Chinese, but I'm not familiar enough with Philippine cuisine to comment properly."
Kushida placed a finger against her lips in thought. "Hmmm... there's a Southeast Asian restaurant in Keyaki Mall that opened not too long ago, right? It doesn't specialize only in the Philippines, more like the region as a whole, but if I remember correctly, they have chicken adobo and pancit on the menu."
"Oh! That place?" Mii-chan reacted before she could stop herself. "The food there is really good!"
The moment the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize who she had responded to.
An awkward pause followed.
The relationship between Kushida and the rest of the class had become strange after her true nature had been exposed. She didn't actively drag the class down, but the old, easy atmosphere around her was gone. The girls who once clustered around her no longer did so naturally, and casual conversations with her now carried a faint tension.
Kushida looked slightly surprised by Mii-chan's response, but only for a moment. Then she smiled and nodded as if nothing unusual had happened.
"Adobo..." Mori murmured, tapping her chin. "I think I've seen that before. It's served with rice, right?"
Mii-chan nodded, her nervousness easing now that the topic had shifted back to food. "Mhm. At least the restaurant in Keyaki Mall served it with rice. I didn't order it myself, but I saw someone else have it, and there was a picture on the menu. From what I remember, it's simmered with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, and pepper."
Satō's brows rose slightly. "That sounds pretty simple."
"Simple doesn't mean easy," Horikita replied at once.
She kept her eyes on the screen as she continued. "If a dish uses only a small amount of key ingredients, then the balance between them becomes even more important. One small mistake would stand out immediately."
Yukimura nodded, adjusting his glasses. "I have almost no culinary knowledge, but that logic makes sense. With fewer components, there are fewer ways to hide errors."
Sudō scratched his head. "So it's like basketball basics? Dribbling, shooting, footwork. Simple stuff, but if you mess up, everyone notices."
Horikita gave him a brief glance.
"That comparison is surprisingly accurate."
Sudō straightened a little, looking pleased despite himself. "Heh."
From another section, Kanzaki seemed thoughtful.
"Filipino cuisine often emphasizes balance between sour, salty, sweet, and savory flavors," he said. "Adobo would be a logical choice if someone wanted to represent the cuisine through a well-known dish."
Shibata looked at him with faint surprise. "You know about it?"
"Only generally," Kanzaki answered.
Himeno crossed her arms. "'Only generally,' but that's still more than most people here."
Kanzaki didn't deny it.
In Class C's section, Shiina watched the screen with quiet interest. "I've read about adobo before. It seems to be a home-style dish with many variations."
Amasawa, seated beside her, leaned closer with a playful smile. "Oh? Hiyori, do you read cookbooks too?"
"Sometimes," Shiina replied calmly. "Food often appears in novels, so I become curious about it."
"That's cute."
Shiina blinked, caught off guard by the sudden comment. "Cute?"
Amasawa's smile widened, clearly enjoying the reaction. "Yes. Very cute. Reading about food because it appeared in a story sounds exactly like something you would do."
Shiina lowered her gaze slightly, though she didn't look displeased. "I simply think stories become more enjoyable when you understand the details behind them."
"That answer only makes it cuter."
Above the stage, the countdown ignited in red digits. The enormous display showed both names and faces, split across the screen.
And in the center, the clock ticked down.
Both contestants briefly left the stage to retrieve their ingredients. When they returned, the cameras tracked their every move.
Ayanokoji returned with a plain cardboard box tucked under one arm. His opponent pushed a cart with a metal tray.
Under the cameras' glare, they unloaded their ingredients onto their counters.
A ripple of surprise ran through the arena.
Apart from branding, their ingredients were nearly identical.
Soy sauce. Distilled white vinegar. Garlic. Bay leaves. Light brown sugar. Whole peppercorns. Jasmine rice. Scallions.
Mii-chan's eyes widened. "Wait... those are the ingredients I mentioned."
Mori's brows furrowed. "Their ingredients are almost identical."
Satō looked between both stations. "Is that normal?"
Kushida furrowed her brow and joined the conversation without waiting for anyone to invite her in. "Even if they're making the same dish, this is too similar to be a coincidence. Even the brands look the same."
Horikita said nothing, but her eyes narrowed at the sight.
There was only one clear difference.
Their choice of meat.
Okumura had brought chicken legs.
Ayanokoji set down a slab of pork belly.
Murmurs swept through the audience. Even without the announcer saying a word, everyone understood what this meant.
"They're both making adobo..." someone whispered, and the realization spread like a wildfire.
The announcer's voice came alive through the speakers. "Ooooh~! It looks like both contestants have chosen to prepare adobo! One of the most iconic and beloved dishes of the Philippines!"
The crowd's tension shifted. The jeers dulled into anticipation. Everyone at Tōtsuki knew what it meant when two chefs chose to battle with the same dish. It would come down to the contestants' precision and mastery.
"Oho, interesting."
A rough laugh came from the second-year section.
It was Hosen.
Until now, he had remained mostly quiet. Cooking did not interest him at all. He had watched Yukihira Sōma's match earlier with mild amusement, and while he had admitted, if only internally, that the red-haired boy had guts, that was all.
But now, with Ayanokoji on screen, things were different.
A wide, brutish grin formed on Hosen's face. "Now the other guy won't have any excuse if he loses."
Nanase Tsubasa, seated beside him, nodded calmly. "Okumura-kun chose this theme himself. That means he must have confidence in it. If he loses in a theme he personally selected while preparing the same dish, it will send a very clear message."
"That he sucks?" Hosen asked bluntly.
Nanase gave him a troubled look. "That is... one way to phrase it."
Tsubaki, seated a little farther away, rested her cheek on her palm. Her half-lidded eyes stayed on the screen. "It's worse than that. Losing with your own specialty hurts more than losing in an unfamiliar field. If the ingredients are almost the same, the comparison becomes unavoidable."
Utomiya nodded slowly. "It's going to be a humiliation for him if Ayanokoji wins."
From another section, Kanzaki seemed in thought. "Hmm? So I was right..." he muttered. "Ayanokoji chose the obvious dish after all."
The students of Class B remained quiet.
Himeno's eyes stayed fixed on the screen. After a moment, she opened her mouth.
"You know what bothers me?" she began.
That drew the attention of her classmates.
"We already talked about his calmness before, but even now, there's not a single trace of nervousness. Most people, even if they're confident, would still show something. For example, a slightly clenched jaw, a tightened fist, stiff shoulders, or even the smallest sign of tension. But no matter how hard I look at him, I can't see anything."
She slowly shook her head.
"It's like watching a vending machine prepare to dispense a drink."
Kobashi Yume had been about to tease her friend about how intently she was watching Ayanokoji, but the thought vanished the moment that comparison came out.
"That's a creepy way to put it," Shibata muttered.
"But it's accurate," Himeno shot back.
Nearby, Watanabe scratched his head. "I dunno, man. I think it's kind of cool. Imagine being that unbothered. I'd kill for that kind of confidence during exams."
Shiranami, seated beside Minamikata Kozue, tightened her fists on her thighs. "It's a little scary, honestly. He's our age. How does someone our age end up like that?"
Those words spread over their little cluster.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
"You're exaggerating," Shibata finally said. "Wasn't Yukihira-kun the same? He had that confidence too, and he didn't look nervous at all."
Kanzaki opened his mouth, but Himeno was faster.
"Yes, that's true, but Yukihira looked serious. He joked, smiled, provoked people, and reacted to what was happening around him. Ayanokoji, on the other hand, has only shown that blank face since the beginning."
Ichinose, though seated with them, didn't say a word. She simply listened to what her classmates had to say.
Amikura looked at her friend from the side.
As the crowd realized the dishes that would be prepared, on stage, Okumura swallowed hard, forcing a laugh that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Adobo, huh? I don't know whether to admire your guts or laugh at your stupidity for picking that dish against me. But hey, what a coincidence that we ended up with the same ingredients, right?" His voice cracked slightly on the last word.
Ayanokoji looked at him without a change in expression. "Coincidence?"
That single word sent a ripple through the audience. It was like the air dropped a few degrees in temperature.
— End of Interlude I (Part Three) —
A/N: Hehe. The next chapter comes within the next 24 hours. Go read AlcoholicKoji in the meantime ^^