Chapter 181
The hour passed in the blink of an eye.
News of a Food War with the Ninth Seat of the Elite Ten at stake spread throughout Totsuki Academy almost immediately.
From the high school division to the middle school division, practically every student was talking about it.
On one side stood Eizan Etsuya, the Ninth Seat of the Elite Ten.
On the other was Suzuki Haruto, champion of the Autumn Elections.
And with an Elite Ten seat itself being wagered, there was no chance a match like this would go unnoticed.
Long before the Food War began, the arena was already packed.
Everyone wanted to witness the outcome.
Standing at the center of the venue, Kawashima Urara could barely contain her excitement.
She adjusted her microphone, cleared her throat, and raised her voice.
"Now, let’s welcome both contestants into the arena!"
Footsteps sounded from the entrance tunnel as Haruto and Eizan emerged.
Haruto walked with both hands in his pockets, looking completely at ease. He even raised a hand and waved toward the section where the residents of Polar Star were sitting.
Eizan found Haruto’s relaxed attitude deeply irritating, though he made sure not to show it.
Once the two contestants took their places, Urara enthusiastically announced,
"Welcome, everyone, to today’s Food War!"
"This match pits Autumn Elections champion Suzuki Haruto against Totsuki Elite Ten Ninth Seat Eizan Etsuya!"
"The wagers are Haruto’s special-ingredient supply source—and Eizan’s seat among the Elite Ten!"
The arena exploded with deafening cheers.
"And now, please welcome the three judges for today’s match!"
At Urara’s announcement, three figures entered the arena one after another.
Leading them was Totsuki Academy’s Director and the man known as the Food Demon, Nakiri Senzaemon.
Behind him came Roland Chapelle, head instructor of Totsuki’s French Cuisine Department and the famously severe "Chef Who Never Smiles."
The final judge was Anne, a First-Class Bookmaster of the WGO.
Haruto raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He had not expected a First-Class WGO Bookmaster to serve as a judge for this Food War.
More than anything, he wondered why Anne was even at Totsuki.
What Haruto did not know was that because of the special ingredients recently appearing at the academy, Anne had practically become a semi-permanent guest at Totsuki.
Senzaemon had simply invited her to join the judging panel.
Once all three judges were seated, the noise throughout the arena gradually died down.
Every gaze focused on the center of the battlefield.
Urara took a deep breath.
"Next, our head judge will draw the theme for today’s Food War!"
Two staff members carried a sealed box to the judges’ table.
Inside were more than a hundred cards, each bearing a different culinary theme.
Senzaemon reached inside and pulled out a folded card.
After opening it and reading the contents, he handed it to Urara.
She looked down at the words, tightened her grip on the microphone, and announced at full volume,
"The theme for today’s Food War has been decided!"
"The category is—Western pastries!"
The audience immediately erupted into discussion.
The category was extremely broad.
Eizan, however, smiled with complete confidence the moment he heard it.
He knew that Haruto primarily specialized in Chinese cuisine.
Eizan, on the other hand, had studied Western pastry-making in depth while developing several of his business projects.
This theme heavily favored him.
He glanced toward Haruto with undisguised satisfaction.
Even luck was on his side.
He was going to win this match.
Once the audience quieted somewhat, Urara continued,
"You now have thirty minutes to enter Totsuki Academy’s ingredient warehouse and select everything you’ll need for the match!"
"Thirty minutes from now, the Food War will officially begin!"
The moment she finished, Eizan turned and headed toward the ingredient warehouse without hesitation.
He knew Totsuki’s inventory almost perfectly.
More importantly, he had already prepared several complete strategies in advance for different possible themes.
Now that the category had been decided, his dish was already planned.
All that remained was collecting the ingredients.
Haruto followed at a leisurely pace, showing no sign of nervousness.
Once inside the warehouse, he first selected several ingredients he thought might prove useful.
As he continued looking around, his gaze suddenly fell on several cans of yellow peaches.
An idea immediately formed in his mind.
Thirty minutes passed quickly.
When Haruto and Eizan returned to the arena, both of their carts were filled with carefully selected ingredients.
The spectators leaned forward curiously, trying to identify what each contestant had brought.
Senzaemon looked down at Haruto and Eizan from the judges’ table.
His powerful voice echoed through the arena.
"You will have two hours."
"Food War—begin!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Haruto and Eizan moved.
Up in the audience, the residents of Polar Star watched Haruto intently.
"Isshiki-senpai... Haruto’s really going to be okay, right?"
Ryoko looked visibly worried.
His opponent was one of the Elite Ten, after all. It was impossible not to be nervous.
Isshiki watched Haruto’s busy figure below and answered seriously,
"Don’t worry, Ryoko. Haruto wouldn’t have accepted this Food War unless he was completely confident."
Isshiki had always found Haruto difficult to read.
But one thing he knew for certain was that Haruto would never have agreed to wager against Eizan without absolute confidence in his chances.
"Exactly! Haruto’s definitely going to be fine!"
Yuki immediately agreed.
At the same time, however, her hands were clenched tightly into fists.
She was clearly far more nervous than her words suggested.
"This is great... I want to have a Food War like this against one of the Elite Ten too."
Soma showed no concern whatsoever.
Instead, he stared at Haruto and Eizan with open envy.
If anything, he wished he were the one standing down there challenging Eizan.
Isshiki turned toward him.
"Then you’ll have to work hard during the Moon Festival, Soma-kun."
"If your sales can surpass Kuga Terunori’s, he agreed to accept your Food War challenge, didn’t he?"
Of course, actually beating Kuga’s sales would be anything but easy.
"Don’t worry, Isshiki-senpai! I’ve already got everything planned!"
"I’m definitely going to beat Kuga-senpai!"
Soma’s confidence was overflowing.
When it came to running a restaurant, he had grown up helping at Restaurant Yukihira.
Attracting customers and developing dishes people wanted to come back for were things he had been learning since childhood.
He had no intention of losing to anyone in that regard.
Isshiki smiled at Soma’s confidence and asked nothing further, turning his attention back toward the arena.
Below, Eizan moved quickly, but every motion looked as though it had been practiced thousands of times.
He combined cake flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and eggs, whipping the mixture until light and airy before pouring it into a mold.
The sponge baked at 170°C for twenty-five minutes, emerging as a soft, deep-brown chocolate cake.
Once cooled, Eizan carefully sliced it into two even layers.
Next, he toasted hazelnuts, almonds, and cashews together before grinding them into a smooth nut paste.
He folded in melted dark chocolate and cream whipped to soft peaks, creating a silky nut mousse.
The mousse was spread over one layer of chocolate sponge and smoothed evenly before being placed in the freezer until partially set.
Eizan then covered it with the second sponge layer and returned the cake to the freezer to firm up completely.
While it chilled, he washed fresh mint leaves and simmered them with water and granulated sugar.
After straining the liquid, he added gelatin and stirred until it dissolved completely.
Once the mint infusion had cooled slightly, Eizan poured it over the frozen cake, creating a translucent jelly layer roughly one centimeter thick.
The entire dessert was then chilled again until fully set.
On the other side of the arena, Haruto worked just as methodically.
He combined butter, cake flour, almond flour, and a small amount of sugar, kneading them into a crumbly pastry dough.
After allowing it to rest in the refrigerator, he rolled it into a round sheet and pressed it into a tart ring.
He pierced the base with a fork and baked it at 160°C until it became a firm, caramel-golden tart shell.
Once finished, Haruto removed it from the oven and set it aside to cool.
While the shell rested, he added egg yolks, granulated sugar, cake flour, and fresh milk to a saucepan.
Then he opened a can of yellow peaches, added them to the mixture, and cooked everything down into a thick, fragrant peach custard.
Haruto piped a generous amount of the peach filling into the center of the cooled tart shell.
Using a round piping tip, he formed evenly sized spheres of the same filling around the outer edge in a neat circle.
Next, he covered the peach layer with a thin caramel tuile ring made from sugar, butter, and flour, baked until crisp.
Small pieces of yellow peach were placed in the center.
On one half of the caramel tuile, Haruto piped four more round dollops of peach filling.
He topped them with delicate crescent-shaped pieces of tempered white chocolate.
Finally, Haruto placed a single drop of his specially prepared red sauce onto each white-chocolate crescent.