It had to be said that, as graduates of Totsuki's Elite Ten, Shinomiya Kojiro, Fuyumi Mizuhara, and the others truly had impressive culinary skills.
Gin Dojima's dishes at the banquet in particular—after merely taking a few bites, Seiya could tell that, with his current abilities alone, defeating the man would still be quite difficult.
The same went for Shinomiya Kojiro's cooking. Seiya could clearly sense that after breaking through his own shackles, just a day or two later, the feeling Shinomiya's dishes gave him was completely different from before.
Is this what they call accumulated experience finally bearing fruit? If I faced him in another Shokugeki, I'd probably be the one who lost this time...
As he tasted Shinomiya Kojiro's French vegetable dish, Seiya could not help shaking his head with a sigh.
"This is the level Shinomiya should have had all along. Ever since he fell into self-doubt, he'd been standing still for many years.
"But if it's you, I don't think it'll be long before you catch up to where he is now, right?"
The one who approached Seiya and spoke to him was Gin Dojima, carrying a glass of red wine.
Gin Dojima had come over to speak with Seiya partly to thank him once again for helping Shinomiya Kojiro, but also because he wanted to recommend that Seiya participate in this year's Autumn Elections.
The Autumn Elections were a major competition held by Totsuki Culinary Academy every year at the beginning of autumn. Students with outstanding usual performance were selected as contestants according to that standard.
Unlike ordinary competitions, Totsuki's Autumn Elections invited VIPs and leading figures from the culinary world to form the judging panel, and the Shokugeki was held in one of Totsuki's important buildings, Moon Heaven Hall.
For this event, Totsuki also invited