He was referring to Soma Yukihira's father.
This was also the person Lexon had initially wanted to sign-in with.
The man currently known as Joichiro Yukihira, formerly known as Joichiro Saiba.
As mentioned before, Gin Dojima was once the first seat of the Elite Ten... and in the same generation, Joichiro Saiba held the second seat.
But it wasn't because Joichiro Saiba's skills were inferior to Gin Dojima's...
In their culinary duels, Joichiro Saiba won more often than not; his strength was clearly superior.
It was only because Joichiro Saiba frequently arrived late and left early, failed to fulfill his administrative duties as a member of the Elite Ten, and often served 'dark cuisine' during Shokugeki for others to taste... This collection of bad habits led to him being ranked second.
However, Gin Dojima understood the truth.
That's why Gin Dojima held him in such high regard. Moreover, the corruption of the future major antagonist, Azami Nakiri, was also related to Joichiro Saiba.
Due to his extreme idolization of Joichiro, seeing him lose his passion for cooking and eventually drop out caused Azami to despair over the culinary world, leading him to plot its transformation.
"Wait... isn't that the student from yesterday?" At that moment, Hinako Inui, one of the Totsuki alumni standing behind Gin Dojima, noticed Lexon's arrival and spoke up in surprise.
"You know him?" asked a petite, beautiful woman with short blue hair among the alumni.
Her name was Fuyumi Mizuhara, the second seat of the 79th graduating class of Totsuki Academy.
She was also a character of considerable skill.
"Yeah," Hinako Inui nodded slowly. "His cooking is on a completely different level compared to the other students."
"Is that so?" Fuyumi Mizuhara was somewhat surprised.
To receive such praise from Hinako was enough to prove that this student was far from ordinary.
She scanned Lexon from head to toe.
'His face is quite handsome... but those hands don't look like they belong to someone who has spent years in the kitchen...'
'They're far too delicate and fair...'
'Can the owner of such hands really be capable of fine cooking?'
Doubt began to sprout in Fuyumi Mizuhara's mind.
However, she didn't voice her thoughts. She believed that both Mr. Dojima and Hinako would have noticed this as well...
The fact that they weren't questioning it meant the boy truly possessed culinary talent.
"Senior, you can still consider my request from yesterday," Lexon said to Hinako Inui with a smile.
Although he could be selected by an alumnus during the Stagiaire period... Lexon didn't want to wait that long if possible.
It was better to obtain it as soon as possible.
"Ah... sorry... I still think it's a no. But I'll definitely invite you once you're in the Stagiaire phase or when you graduate," Hinako Inui replied softly.
"I see. That's quite disappointing," Lexon remarked with a hint of regret.
"What did he ask of you yesterday?" Fuyumi Mizuhara couldn't help but ask curiously.
Beside her, two other alumni—Hitoshi Sekimori with his squinted eyes and the blond Donato Gotoda—also pricked up their ears, curious about the answer.
"He challenged me to a Shokugeki," Hinako Inui chuckled, resting her chin on her hand.
"What?"
For a moment, the alumni were all visibly stunned.
"Oh? Lexon, you challenged Hinako to a Shokugeki?" Gin Dojima also looked at Lexon with some surprise.
"Yes," Lexon nodded.
"What are you thinking?! She's an alumna who held the second seat of the Elite Ten! There's no way you could win!" Erina Nakiri shouted at Lexon.
She was resentful of the fact that Lexon refused her Shokugeki challenge only to go and challenge an invincible alumna instead.
Lexon didn't respond, simply offering a shrug.
"Haha, how interesting... Including him, that makes two people who have challenged alumni to a Shokugeki today..." Gin Dojima laughed as his gaze drifted toward Soma Yukihira, who was focused on assisting Megumi Tadokoro with her cooking.
Hearing this, Erina Nakiri also looked over, then exclaimed in shock, "That transfer student, Yukihira... is in a Shokugeki with Chef Shinomiya??"
'What is going on?'
'Are my cousin and his friend both insane?'
'How can they be this reckless?'
"It's not exactly a Shokugeki between him and Shinomiya. It's Tadokoro versus Shinomiya; Soma is just acting as her sous-chef," Lexon explained while watching the scene.
"Exactly," Gin Dojima nodded. "Even though Soma Yukihira was the one who requested the Shokugeki, Shinomiya intended to expel Megumi Tadokoro, so naturally, she must be the head chef in this match."
"But if they lose... Soma will also be expelled, right?" Lexon added.
"Yes," Gin Dojima nodded again.
"I see..." Erina Nakiri muttered.
It made sense that such an unreasonable and lopsided Shokugeki would come with such terms.
After all, as a head chef, Shinomiya could have simply refused the challenge and expelled them anyway according to Totsuki's regulations.
'But... even so... doesn't accepting just mean certain defeat?'
Erina thought to herself.
Megumi Tadokoro... Erina knew who she was.
She was the student who could only serve as an assistant to that transfer student, Soma Yukihira, during the first exam.
Her culinary skill was visibly mediocre.
There was no way she could win.
That was Erina's conviction.
Although, she felt that even if Soma, herself, or her cousin stepped up, they wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance.
Their opponent was the first seat of the Elite Ten from the 79th class, a top-tier chef who became the first Japanese person to be awarded the Pluspol Medal...
'How could there be any chance of victory...'
The cooking process soon came to an end.
Kojiro Shinomiya was the first to finish his dish.
The duo of Megumi Tadokoro and Soma Yukihira followed shortly after.
"You two take a seat and watch," Gin Dojima said to Lexon and Erina before clapping his hands. "Both sides have finished. The cooking is complete. First up, Shinomiya's dish."
At the prompt, Kojiro Shinomiya brought four servings of his dish to the judging table.
The actual judges were Hitoshi Sekimori, Fuyumi Mizuhara, and Donato Gotoda.
Gin Dojima was merely an observer and evaluator; he had no voting power.
Nevertheless, both sides had prepared a portion for him.
As for Hinako Inui...
Because Hinako was biased toward the "cute" Megumi Tadokoro and tended to tease Kojiro Shinomiya, she didn't even get her own plate and had to steal bites from the other judges.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]