'He could easily be a superstar... he'd definitely be a world-renowned celebrity...'
Every time Megumi Tadokoro saw his face, she couldn't help but think that.
So, this was merely an inferiority complex born from such a massive gap.
"Cut the nonsense, Soma," Lexon spoke up immediately.
He didn't want girls in this world to start "relentlessly pursuing" him either.
"Hahaha..." Soma Yukihira laughed, showing no remorse.
"What do you think you're doing!" A heated voice suddenly erupted from up ahead.
"Want to check it out?" Soma asked the other two, clearly piqued.
"Whatever," Lexon replied nonchalantly.
"If you want to see, Soma-kun, then let's go," Megumi Tadokoro answered obligingly.
The three walked toward the source of the noise and entered a clubroom with a sign that read "Donburi Research Society."
"You're just going to dissolve the Donburi RS like this?! I won't allow it!" The president of the Donburi Research Society, a second-year student with a pompadour named Kanichi Konishi, shouted frantically at a beautiful woman before him. She had a hot figure, tan skin, and was wearing extremely revealing clothes.
Her T-shirt was loosely tied in a knot at her chest, leaving her smooth midriff and vast amounts of skin exposed... it was incredibly bold.
Her name was Ikumi Mito, a meat specialist who was exceptionally skilled in cooking meat dishes. Her culinary prowess was considered outstanding even among the first-year students.
Ikumi Mito had come here on the orders of Erina Nakiri to abolish clubs that Erina deemed worthless or incapable of improving the students' culinary skills.
Usually, club abolitions were carried out by Erina herself through Shokugeki. This way, even if the presidents of those "worthless" clubs tried to prevent the order by challenging her, they wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against a member of the Elite Ten like Erina.
But as for the Donburi Research Society...
This club was incredibly weak.
After the Donburi Research Society was put on Erina Nakiri's dissolution list, every member except for the president had already fled.
Erina Nakiri felt that she didn't even need to step in personally; Ikumi Mito alone would be more than enough to handle it with ease.
"You won't allow it?" Ikumi Mito looked at the posturing Kanichi Konishi and let out a sneer. She backed him into a corner until all his bravado vanished, leaving him looking like a small, helpless puppy.
"If you want to oppose the dissolution, a Shokugeki is your only option. But your opponent will be me... Do you honestly think someone like you can defeat my high-grade meat dishes? Do you really think you have what it takes?"
Ikumi Mito's loud voice was thick with disdain. Her repeated pressure made Kanichi Konishi afraid to even look her in the eye.
"No matter what kind of ingredients they are... before my premium meat... they have no choice but to bow down!"
"But... but..." Kanichi Konishi wanted to argue, but the words wouldn't come.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." A voice suddenly rang out from the entrance of the Donburi RS, interrupting the conversation between Ikumi Mito and Kanichi Konishi.
"Who's there?" Ikumi Mito snapped her head toward the door.
Three figures came into view.
The moment she saw the two males, Ikumi Mito remembered exactly who they were.
The two transfer students who had made those arrogant speeches at the entrance ceremony...
Soma Yukihira and Lexon...
"Getting cocky just because your ingredients are expensive... that's not how a chef acts."
Given Soma Yukihira's personality, there was no way he would just stand by and watch after hearing Ikumi Mito say something like that.
Naturally, he voiced his disagreement.
"Huh? What would a big-mouthed transfer student like you know?" Ikumi Mito immediately countered loudly.
Soma didn't answer. He simply walked up to Kanichi Konishi and asked, "Senior, tell me what's going on here."
"Junior..." Kanichi Konishi looked at Soma Yukihira like he was a savior, his heart filled with emotion.
At the same time, Lexon and Megumi Tadokoro also approached Kanichi Konishi.
"It's like this..." Kanichi Konishi gave the three juniors—who seemed like gods descending to help—a brief rundown of the situation.
"So, just because you haven't produced enough results lately... and because donburi is considered 'low-class'... they're shutting the club down?" Soma Yukihira muttered, sounding a bit annoyed.
Every club was originally permitted because it benefited the students. However, because the Donburi Research Society hadn't produced satisfactory results recently and was deemed "uncultured" by Erina, the order to dissolve it had been issued.
Soma Yukihira found this impossible to understand.
"This is everything the seniors worked so hard to research..." Soma picked up the club's recipe compilation and flipped through it, taking in the rich and vibrant world of donburi as he spoke.
"So what!" Ikumi Mito, who had been quiet for a while, shouted. "Worthless things should be abolished! There's no need for third-rate garbage to exist!"
"I don't think so!" Soma Yukihira slammed the recipe book shut and stared at Ikumi Mito with sharp eyes.
"Heh... so what if you don't think so..." Ikumi Mito said dismissively. "If you're so unhappy about it... why don't you have a Shokugeki with me on behalf of that loser? If you win, the club stays. If you lose, you're expelled!"
Because Lexon had limited Soma's outbursts during the entrance exam and shared the heat at the ceremony, Erina Nakiri didn't hate Soma as much as she did in the original timeline. While it was a good thing she wasn't actively plotting his expulsion, the first-years who hated transfer students still hated them.
Ikumi Mito was one of those who despised transfer students.
Being confident in her own abilities, she naturally couldn't stand these arrogant fools who had just entered Totsuki and declared that everyone else was just a stepping stone.
In her heart, only Lady Erina, whom she served, was fit to stand at the peak of Totsuki.
And she herself would follow Lady Erina to the top, becoming her esteemed right-hand woman.
"Fine!" Soma Yukihira agreed to Ikumi Mito's demand without a moment's hesitation. However, he immediately changed the subject. "But we're going to have a little change in the roster for this Shokugeki..."
"What?" Ikumi Mito didn't quite understand what he meant.
"Hehe." Soma chuckled a few times. His gaze suddenly shifted to Lexon, and he raised his arm, pointing his finger right at him. "The one you're going to have a Shokugeki with is him!"
Huh?
Huh??
Huh???
Lexon was confused.
Megumi Tadokoro was confused.
Ikumi Mito was confused.