Totsuki Resort / Erina Nakiri

Corresponding to that was the exorbitant spending. It could be said that the people who came here were basically all wealthy.

Other than Luo Yu and Tsumugi Kotobuki, the other three members of the Light Music Club would normally have no chance of coming to a place like this.

Luo Yu opened the trunk and took out his and Mashiro's luggage. Looking at the girls excitedly observing their surroundings, he reminded them, "Have you looked enough? Aren't you going to come get your luggage?"

Hearing Luo Yu's voice, the girls came back to their senses and hurried over to retrieve their luggage.

After everyone had taken their luggage, the driver closed the trunk and, before leaving, said to Luo Yu, "Just give me a call whenever you need to head back."

Luo Yu nodded to show that he understood.

Then, Luo Yu led the curious girls toward Tootsuki Resort.

The girls certainly lived up to their title as curious little babies. They followed behind Luo Yu, looking around everywhere along the way. After all, they had never been to a place like this before.

This probably won't get banned, right?.jpg

Tootsuki Resort

Led by Luo Yu, the group arrived at the front desk. Luo Yu directly handed his invitation and VIP card to the receptionist.

You were asking where the VIP card came from?

I, Luo Yu, am the young master of the Luo Family, and I even studied cooking under Senzaemon Nakiri. So what if I have a VIP card for Tootsuki Resort!?

The receptionist accepted the items Luo Yu handed over and opened them for a look. He then stared at Luo Yu and the others in surprise, as he had never expected a few high school students to possess such things.

Those who received invitations like this were all genuinely wealthy people, let alone people with VIP cards. They looked like some rich young master taking his friends out to have fun. Still, none of that had anything to do with him. A VIP guest like this was not someone he could receive himself.

The receptionist explained the situation to Luo Yu, asked them to wait for a moment, then made an internal call and reported the situation to his superior.

Not long after, a middle-aged man came before Luo Yu. He bowed respectfully and said, "Excuse me, sir, are you Luo Yu?"

"I'm Luo Yu."

Although he did not know why the man before him was asking about his identity, Luo Yu did not hide it.

Upon hearing Luo Yu confirm his identity, the middle-aged man's expression became even more respectful.

"Dear guests, please follow me."

With that, the middle-aged man began leading Luo Yu and the others toward their accommodation. Clearly, that was the main reason he had come.

After following the manager for a while, Luo Yu and the girls arrived at a separately built villa district.

It seemed this was where they would be staying for the next few days.

After bringing Luo Yu and the others to the entrance of the villa, the middle-aged man handed several key cards to Luo Yu. He explained where they could dine and briefly introduced the surrounding area.

Once he had finished saying everything he needed to say, he tactfully left. Meanwhile, the girls from the Light Music Club were still excitedly looking around, clearly very fond of the surroundings.

Luo Yu ignored them and simply used the key card he had just received to open the villa door, taking the lead as he walked inside. The girls hurriedly followed.

After entering the villa, Luo Yu discovered that the interior was lavishly decorated as well. Ritsu Tainaka and Yui Hirasawa had already begun wandering around with sparkling eyes, looking here and touching there.

Mio Akiyama covered her face, indicating that she did not know those two embarrassing fools.

Luo Yu temporarily ignored the two troublemakers and handed the four key cards to Mio Akiyama.

"Mio, Tsumu-tsumu. You hold onto these key cards for now. Give them to those two idiots later."

After Mio Akiyama accepted the key cards, Luo Yu brought up the room assignments.

"I'll stay on the first floor. You girls can stay on the second." After saying that, Luo Yu picked up his luggage and headed toward an empty room, only to be stopped halfway by Mashiro.

"Mashiro, is there a problem?"

"Want to stay with Yu."

Mashiro said those words expressionlessly.

Yet those words dealt a massive blow to Mio Akiyama. Her face turned red as she stammered,

"L-L-Living together!"

"Nani, nani? What living together?"

Ritsu Tainaka and Yui Hirasawa had finally finished messing around and returned to the group.

"Mashiro, do you want to stay in the same room as me?"

Although Luo Yu knew that was Mashiro's intention, he still wanted to confirm it.

Mashiro nodded, confirming that was indeed what she meant.

"Fine."

In the end, Luo Yu agreed to Mashiro's request to share a room.

As for Luo Yu and Mashiro staying in the same room, the other four girls were either shy or shocked.

Yet not one of them objected. After all, they already believed that Luo Yu and Mashiro were a couple. Perhaps it was even more than that, considering someone had not only met the parents, but had even started calling them Mom and Dad.

Once the rooms had been assigned, Luo Yu and Mashiro carried their luggage into their room. The girls also took their luggage upstairs to the second floor.

After setting down the luggage, Luo Yu briefly tidied up the room, mainly helping Mashiro organize her belongings.

Then the two of them came to sit on the sofa in the living room. Luo Yu picked up a Tootsuki guidebook from the coffee table and began reading it while waiting for the girls to come downstairs.

After all, it was only noon. They still had to go eat lunch together later.

According to the guidebook, Luo Yu found many interesting places. What caught his attention the most were the places where ingredients were cultivated. The guidebook said that those ingredients could be used freely, as long as one paid for them.

But after giving it some thought, Luo Yu gave up on the idea of cooking for himself. He was here on vacation, after all. Cooking himself felt like putting the cart before the horse. Besides, who wasn't a lazy bum? Why cook when there was free food?

Still, their timing today was pretty good. It was exactly the first day of Tootsuki's residential training, so he might even be able to mooch a meal.

After all, Erina was the same age as him, which meant this residential training was the one from the original story.

Erina would probably be happy to see me.

Speaking of which, Luo Yu and Erina Nakiri could be considered childhood friends. During the three years of middle school, Luo Yu often went to Tootsuki to study cooking under Senzaemon Nakiri, so he naturally saw Erina Nakiri often as well. Over time, the two became familiar with each other.

The two often competed in cooking, and the result was that Erina Nakiri's number of victories remained at zero. But there was nothing to be done about that. Luo Yu had Wind Spirit Moon Shadow on his side. While he could not reach the level of "Deep Blue, add some points!", beating an Erina Nakiri who had not yet fully grown was simply too easy.

After all, he had painstakingly grinded experience to level up every single skill. Erina Nakiri was just an ordinary person with only the God Tongue. What could she use to beat him?

Thinking back to the miserable three years he had spent grinding experience in middle school, Luo Yu became more annoyed the more he thought about it. Damn it! Why did his system make him grind experience so painstakingly? He wanted to say, "Prometheus, let me see where your limits are! Add some points for me!"

Prometheus: "..."

When faced with Luo Yu's occasional bouts of craziness, Prometheus could only respond with silence.

Damn, I got sidetracked again. Luo Yu pulled back his thoughts, which had wandered off to who knew where,

and continued reading the guidebook in his hands.

For the next few days, Tootsuki's first-year students would be cooking for the guests. Of course, that was merely part of their training. Tootsuki Resort could not possibly let students handle all the cooking. Aside from the first-year students, everything else at Tootsuki Resort continued operating as normal.

It was only that the food prepared by these students was free, while the other food required payment.

Erina Nakiri

For most people, free things were too good to pass up. But this was Tootsuki Resort, and the people who could come here were basically either rich or noble. They did not care about that bit of money.

The people who ate the students' dishes either wanted to try something new or were judges specially invited by Tootsuki.

Those who could study at Tootsuki were not lacking in skill. Plenty of people were willing to sample the dishes made by these first-year students.

Luo Yu had originally planned to take the girls to have a taste as well, since there were quite a few talented people in this year's class.

But he discovered that the first-year students' food was only available every morning or evening.

Luo Yu thought carefully and realized that was indeed the case. During the day, these students were either taking exams or on their way to take exams.

Looks like we'll only have a chance tonight. We'll just find something to eat later.

The girls also came downstairs one after another. It seemed they had already picked their rooms. After coming downstairs, Yui Hirasawa flopped directly onto the sofa opposite Luo Yu, then rolled over and let out a satisfied sound.

"Ahh~ So soft. It's as soft as the big bed upstairs..."

The others each found a place to sit. As always, Ritsu Tainaka was the first to raise a question. "Luo Yu, where do you think we should go have fun first?"

Hearing that, Luo Yu tossed the guidebook in his hand onto the coffee table and said, "Don't you think you're hungry?"

"Grrr~"

Whose stomach had growled?

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw Yui Hirasawa holding her stomach with one hand and scratching her head with the other, smiling foolishly.

"Sorry. I didn't feel anything at first, but once Luo-Luo mentioned it, I suddenly got hungry."

"Huh? Today is the first day of Tootsuki's residential training? What a coincidence." Tsumugi Kotobuki picked up the guidebook Luo Yu had tossed onto the coffee table and exclaimed in surprise after reading it.

Hearing Tsumugi Kotobuki's words, the other girls gathered around as well. They were very curious about Tootsuki, that famous culinary academy.

The girls huddled together and looked through the guidebook, letting out cries of surprise from time to time.

"Alright! I've decided! We're going to eat the food those students make!" Ritsu Tainaka's eyes sparkled as she clenched her right fist, as if she had made some wise and mighty decision.

"Give it up. Those students only cook for us in the morning or evening." Luo Yu mercilessly shattered Ritsu Tainaka's fantasy.

"Huh! Really?" Ritsu Tainaka looked toward Tsumugi Kotobuki for help, hoping to get a different answer from her.

But Tsumugi Kotobuki merely nodded with a smile.

"Aww, what a letdown." Ritsu Tainaka snatched the guidebook and flipped through it. Then, as if she had discovered something, she excitedly said, "They provide ingredients and kitchens here too! Luo Yu, how about you cook lunch today?"

At that, the other girls also looked toward Luo Yu with sparkling eyes. They had not forgotten how delicious Luo Yu's cooking was.

Especially those two dishes called Essence-infused Pan-fried Fish and Essence-infused Shark Fin Rice. Though the names sounded a little strange, they truly tasted delicious.

"Don't even think about it!"

Ignoring the girls' expectant gazes, Luo Yu directly rejected Ritsu Tainaka's suggestion. He was here on vacation. Even if immortals descended from heaven, they could not change his identity as Big Ben for these few days.

"Tch, stingy. I was really looking forward to your cooking." Ritsu Tainaka curled her lips in dissatisfaction.

"Alright, let's go eat first. That one over there looks like she's about to starve to death."

Luo Yu pointed at Yui Hirasawa, who had already slumped over from hunger, and suggested that they eat first. Seeing Yui Hirasawa in that state, the girls agreed.

"Then let me lead the way!" Seeing that everyone had decided to go eat, Tsumugi Kotobuki said, "I've been here a few times before. I remember there's a restaurant that tastes really good."

Since Tsumugi Kotobuki had volunteered to lead the way, Luo Yu said nothing else and followed behind her. He was rather looking forward to the delicious restaurant she had mentioned.

The other girls in the Light Music Club were not surprised by Tsumugi Kotobuki's words. After all, they had long known about Luo Yu's and Lady Tsumugi Kotobuki's backgrounds.

Before long, everyone followed Tsumugi Kotobuki back to the main hall they had first entered, but at some point it had become packed with people.

Everyone was somewhat surprised. They had only left this place a little over ten minutes ago.

But after seeing the uniforms those people wore, they understood what was happening. Those were Tootsuki school uniforms.

It seemed these were Tootsuki's first-year students. Although the appearance of so many people had surprised Luo Yu's group for a moment, it did not stop them from heading to the restaurant. No matter what, these people had nothing to do with them.

Luo Yu's group also caught the attention of the Tootsuki students. Although there were other guests here, none of them drew as much attention as Luo Yu's group.

After all, there were five girls and one guy, and every one of them was extremely attractive. Honestly, it would have been difficult for Luo Yu's group not to attract attention.

What Luo Yu did not see was a blonde girl among the Tootsuki students staring intently at him.

Erina Nakiri had never expected to see that person here. Luo Yu—she would never forget that name for the rest of her life!

Three years, three whole years! She had never won a single cooking match against him, and every time that bastard won, he wore an expression as though it were only natural.

Grandfather had also constantly praised that bastard's talent in front of her. Though she did not want to admit it, she had no choice but to acknowledge that his talent really was better than hers. Even with the God Tongue, she could not beat him.

And the further things went, the more absurd his progress became. Gradually, she could not even see his back anymore.

She had already prepared herself to be suppressed by him for the rest of her life. Yet one day, he suddenly told Grandfather that he would not be attending Tootsuki Academy and would no longer come to Tootsuki to study cooking under Grandfather.

Erina Nakiri remembered that she had frozen on the spot after hearing the news. Later, for reasons she could not understand, she had directly sought out Luo Yu and challenged him to a Shokugeki.

Only so that he would stay.

Unfortunately, she still lost. Even after giving it everything she had, she could not make him stay. She had sworn that she would surpass him in cooking someday!

From then on, Luo Yu truly did as he had said. He never came to Tootsuki again, not even once. Nor did he ever come looking for her.

Although she had now become the Tenth Seat of the Elite Ten, she still had no idea what level Luo Yu's cooking had reached by the time he left.

And the red-haired girl standing behind her also recognized the conspicuous man walking past with several girls.