Mana Nakiri's decision to waive Kael's assessment didn't exactly follow the rules, but rules are made by people—and with Mana's authority, she could legitimately override them.
It wasn't favoritism either; Kael's cooking had already reached that level. Mana simply cut out the tedious testing steps.
Just like that, Kael's profile on the WGO website was updated to Five-Star Chef. The certificate itself was mailed to Senzaemon.
They could have sent it directly to Kael, but who would pass up a chance to win more favor? Senzaemon would personally deliver the certificate to Kael.
At the resort, Kael still didn't know his rank had just increased by one star.
On the fifth afternoon, the students gathered in the hall again.
They were in a very different state than when they'd first arrived. At the start they'd been nervous but energetic; now fatigue showed in almost everyone.
After the breakfast assessment yesterday, they'd had hardly any time to rest, and the late-night steak service had only piled on more work.
By today they were worn out—though everyone expected a big meal at the end, most assumed it would come only after all assessments were finished, so they braced for more tests.
Although the overall schedule for the residential training hadn't changed, the content of the assessments had been shifting constantly.
Who knew if another surprise exam might pop up? That uncertainty had been wearing on them.
Then, as if at just the right moment, Gin Dojima brought good news and started warming them up with encouragement. Once the students heard the current assessment was over, the lethargic mood snapped back to life.
"Finally done. These past few days nearly killed me!" Yoshino Yuki clapped, relieved.
"That should be Marui's line, but Marui—you really need to train. If we do this a few more times, you'll collapse first." Kael looked at Marui Zenji's exhausted face and teased. The guy's endurance was worse than several of the girls'.
"I know. I'll cut back on reading time and train after we get back." Marui forced a smile.
He'd noticed the problem—if the school kept up this intensity, he'd probably give up on his own.
The graduates' dishes tasted good, but Kael could tell most hadn't gone all-out.
With hundreds of students around, even if each graduate made one item, the workload was still large, no one pulled out their trump cards. A sniff and a glance were enough for Kael to figure out the real level behind each plate.
Without special abilities or cheats, even the talented struggled to raise their chef rating. It was simply hard.
Night was for relaxing. Tonight everyone could enjoy the same services as ordinary guests—an earned perk. A balance of pressure and reward: high pressure pushes people to grow, but constant pressure breaks them.
A little sweetness after the stick was meant to keep everyone sane.
"This is nice—too bad it's only for one night."
The folks from Polar Star Dorm lingered, enjoying the pampering, but tomorrow they would return to school.
The resort had to reopen to regular guests, and a few hundred students staying in the rooms was a lot to occupy.
"Next time we come during a longer vacation. I'll cover the expenses."
Alice said casually—used to this level of service as the Nakiri's heiress.
No incidents overnight. The next morning everyone packed up to leave. Kael had sent a group message reminding people to double-check their belongings, so Soma Yukihira didn't leave anything behind or miss the shuttle.
The group returned to Totsuki and went back to Dorm.
But when they entered the hall, everyone froze—someone unexpected was sitting there.
"Grandpa? What are you doing here?"
Alice looked genuinely surprised to see her grandfather, Senzaemon.
"I came to deliver something to Kael. I didn't expect to run into anyone I know." Senzaemon smiled.
"Here to see Kael? Any acquaintances—like Aunt Fumio?" Alice asked.
"Not my command's acquaintance—he's in the kitchen." Daimido Fumio laughed, and everyone turned toward the kitchen. Sure enough, someone was busy inside.
"Soma, since you're back hurry and help!" The person in the kitchen called out.
Soma felt his reflexes kick in and started for the kitchen—but he stopped.
This wasn't his home restaurant; they were at Polar Star Dorm.
"What are you doing here?" Soma's temper flared—only his father could make him react like this.
"Joichiro, didn't you tell Soma about this?" Senzaemon's face turned oddly strange.
He knew Soma was the son of Joichiro—someone Senzaemon had personally helped train, but he hadn't known Joichiro had kept things from his son. Why hide it so thoroughly?
"No—he never asked, so I didn't bother telling him."
Joichiro's offhand answer silenced the room. Really, if the son never asked, the father just didn't say anything?
"What do you mean, how are you related to this place?"
Soma ranted. Everyone else spoke in riddles.
"You two are father and son, But given Joichiro's personality it's not surprising you didn't know. To be clear: your father was a student at Totsuki—he was the Second Seat of the Elite Ten in his days."
"And you just came back from the resort, right? The head of the Totsuki Resort, Gin Dojima, was First Seat at that time." Daimido explained Joichiro's background in a few words.
"So that means Soma's father is from the Golden Age. But wasn't the Second Seat supposed to be Joichiro Saiba? Why is the family name Yukihira now? Did he marry in?" Yoshino Yuki asked, then stopped when she realized that sounded rude.
In Japan, a surname change usually meant a man had married into a family—like how Erina's father had married and become part of the Nakiri family.
"Enough—skip the surname talk. Just know he was the Second Seat."
Daimido waved it off, and everyone wisely let the topic drop.
At that moment the doorbell rang. Standing at the door were Erina Nakiri and Hisako Arato. They'd come after Senzaemon called his granddaughter: when she learned Joichiro was here, Erina rushed over.
"What's going on today? Not only did the director come, Erina and Hisako came too!" Everyone looked surprised as Erina and Hisako greeted them and stepped into the kitchen.
"Jo… Joichiro-sama, long time no see!"
Erina's usual ice-cold, tsundere air vanished. Seeing Joichiro softened her instantly.
"This is the first time I've seen Erina act like this—what happened?" Alice blinked.
"When you went abroad with your father you didn't know. After that incident, I asked Joichiro to teach Erina for a while." Senzaemon explained: to help his granddaughter recover from trauma, he'd asked Joichiro to tutor her.
It helped, though it couldn't fully restore her to how she'd been before.
"I see—no wonder she's so docile around him." Alice nodded.
Everyone understood—only Kael's expression remained a little odd.
Erina's affection toward Joichiro looked more like a daughter's love for a father. Coupled with the Asahi incident, Kael suspected Joichiro might have some special talent. Asahi took him as a father; Erina treated him like a father too—what a born "fatherly" saint body!
"Kael, this is for you." Senzaemon handed a small booklet to Kael.
"Huh? That's a WGO rank certificate, isn't it? Wait—how many stars are on the cover? Ryoko, look—am I seeing things?" Yoshino Yuki recognized it at once and gasped when she saw the stars on the cover.
The number of stars on a WGO certificate's cover shows the rank; the inside contains the holder's information.
"This… this is a Five-Star certificate!" Before Ryoko could answer, Megumi Tadokoro cried out.
"That's right—Five-Star. Kael's cooking has reached Five-Star level, and Gin himself authorized it. WGO waived Kael's assessment and issued the certificate directly." Senzaemon smiled.
"Waived the test? Issued the certificate straight away?!" The news was like thunder.
Even Erina and Joichiro in the kitchen were stunned.
"Waived the exam? That's great—please thank her for me."
Kael knew who'd pulled the strings behind this; only someone like Nakiri Mana could brazenly ignore the rules publicly.
"I'll pass it on." Senzaemon nodded.
He wasn't surprised Kael guessed who was behind it—the Nakiri family's influence wasn't a secret.
The certificate's sudden arrival made it clear who'd made it happen.
"So you're Kael, huh? The reports about extraordinary hearing were true—otherwise it'd be impossible for someone your age to reach Five-Star." Joichiro had traveled the world and heard rumors.
Learning about Kael's ability, he was impressed. He hadn't expected Kael to improve so fast.
He believed Soma Yukihira could one day break cooking's current limits, but that would come later—the boy still needed time to grow. Right now Soma was only a Three-Star cook.
"A Five-Star chef—how did you manage that? I still haven't found the direction of my chef's heart!" Erina said, stunned and bewildered.
For her, finding the direction of the chef's heart was the hardest thing; she'd been stuck on it for a while. Seeing someone her age surpass her made her restless. Though she knew Kael was strong, they were supposed to be on the same level—now he'd overtaken her.
Erina's problem ran deep: distorted training and psychological scars made grasping the chef's heart harder for her.
She was only now searching for the direction, but the further she went, the tougher it would get— like what had happened to Shinomiya Kojirō at a certain point.