Only a few people are truly intelligent.

Aruchi Yuzu happily patted the cut chicken.

Only their group and the Aldini brothers’ group brought back main course ingredients other than fish.

Amidst the envious and regretful gazes of everyone, Aruchi Yuzu quickly assigned tasks.

“Mame, you grill the chicken, I’ll make the dipping sauce. I’m not very good at controlling the heat. You’ve tried the method of smoking the chicken with yuzu peel in the lower part of the oven, using two layers of wire racks, so the chicken will have the aroma of yuzu peel.”

“The yuzu I have is an ornamental variety, with particularly thick peel.”

Kasegawa Mame said no problem; she knew that method.

Aruchi Yuzu peeled the yuzu with peace of mind. It was a special ornamental variety. Its ripening period is long, fruiting as early as early autumn, with many large fruits, but half the volume is peel, and the flesh is extremely sour and bitter, with large seeds that take up half the space of the pulp.

But Senior Isshiki once taught her that sourness is also a source of flavor in cooking, so Aruchi Yuzu planned to use it as the base for the dipping sauce.

The stream actually contained not only fish but also shrimp, but the shrimp were too small to be used as the main ingredient. Using them as a garnish would only add a fishy smell, so Aruchi Yuzu was the only one in the class who spent most of her time searching for ingredients to catch shrimp.

She dried the shrimp, ground them into shrimp powder, and added it to the crushed yuzu flesh. The sourness and fishy smell of the seafood suppressed each other, and also enhanced the freshness of the seafood, making a perfect match.

Yukihira Soma couldn’t help but make a joke: “Yuzu pounding yuzu, puhahahaha.”

Kasegawa Mame shooed him away: “Hey you kid, are you done with your cooking already? Stop bothering Yuzu-sama!”

Aruchi Yuzu shook the small black fruit in her hand: “Do you need me to share some ingredients with you?”

Yukihira Soma looked at her table full of recognizable and unrecognizable, but probably edible ingredients, and decisively refused.

Worthy of a young person with ideals, ambition, and aspirations, Aruchi Yuzu sent him back to his cooking station.

Aruchi Yuzu was quite surprised when she found this small black fruit. Worthy of a restaurant affiliated with the Totsuki Resort, even this rare jaboticaba was available.

Jaboticaba, scientifically known as Myrciaria cauliflora, is a small wild fruit with a naturally high sweetness. Aruchi Yuzu had once made jam from this fruit for desserts, and had almost blinded herself trying to peel this little thing to remove the astringency and make a jaboticaba tart.

Compared to sweetness derived from refined white sugar, this natural sweetener has its own unique flavor, making it a better choice.

The ratio still needs experimentation. Aruchi Yuzu checked the time and quickly started working.

Although she is still not good at cooking other than desserts, Aruchi Yuzu can find her comfort zone: sauce preparation.

She is very skilled at making jams, and suitable jams can be the soul of a dish. Lately, Aruchi Yuzu has been self-studying and researching the most on adding umami to sauces based on jams.

She has researched that specializing in sauces can turn most unfamiliar ingredients into dishes that can pass the exam, which is much more efficient than researching various cooking methods.

To be honest, Aruchi Yuzu thinks it’s very unreasonable that desserts aren’t a separate specialization in this world.

This is a society that values talent, a society that values qualifications. She submits to Totsuki Academy, but that doesn’t mean she wants to master cooking unrelated to her career planning; that would waste a lot of energy.

Aruchi Yuzu casually threw a jaboticaba into her mouth. The plan in her mind has taken shape, but it still lacks an opportunity.

Speaking of which, I heard that the fourth seat of the Elite Ten also specializes in desserts.

I need to find a chance to meet them.

“Congratulations, you passed.”

Aruchi Yuzu and Kasegawa Mame’s group were the first to pass. She glanced at the busy Tadokoro Megumi and Yukihira Soma and left the cooking classroom.

She thought she could go back to her room to rest and organize her thoughts, but they were kept in the lobby.

A bad feeling.

Before all the successful students arrived, Aruchi Yuzu saw a group of muscular young men.

The teachers in the lobby didn’t speak, and those who arrived could only watch each other show off their muscles.

The bad feeling intensified.

Aruchi Yuzu changed back into her school uniform, but her hair wasn’t down yet. She had originally planned to take a shower first. Her refreshing and clean appearance, coupled with her exquisitely beautiful face, attracted the attention of the young men full of youthful vigor.

Men, especially men who have worked hard to build muscle, can’t help but want to show off in front of beautiful women.

What’s the point of building muscle?

—To show off.

The university bodybuilding club members said in unison.

Aruchi Yuzu even saw the bouncing of breasts larger than hers.

Kasegawa Mame took a deep breath and resolutely stood in front of Aruchi Yuzu, her face clearly saying, “Protecting the world’s most beautiful Yuzu-sama.”

Aruchi Yuzu patted her shoulder and pulled her onto the car that took them back. It was a car provided for VIP guests by the hotel. She was happy not to have to wait for the bus to fill up, but unexpectedly, she still had to wait at the hotel. Fortunately, the car was privately assigned to her and hadn’t left yet.

In front of them, how could she say something like “only the face is edible”?

Sure enough, handsome men didn’t flow into fields other than tennis, cooking, and idols.

In the car, Kasegawa Mame, although embarrassed, still commented, “We girls like muscular men, but that’s the kind who look slim in clothes and muscular when they take them off. They’ve trained too much; they’ve already surpassed the threshold of a girl’s heartbeat.”

Aruchi Yuzu expressed her strong agreement: “My heart rate is higher for pretty boys than for exaggerated muscular men.”

Kasegawa Mame couldn’t help but gossip when she heard the word “heartbeat” from Aruchi Yuzu’s mouth: “Yuzu-sama, do you have someone you like? Or a type?”

Aruchi Yuzu’s eyes flickered in the shadows of the car, then she pondered: “Hmm—”

“Of course, I like handsome boys. My brother, my childhood friend, my classmates, one is more handsome than the other, I won’t wrong my eyes.”

Aruchi Yuzu laughed again: “Everyone should like handsome boys, otherwise, how would otome games make over 100 million? Hahaha.”

Laughing and chatting, the two waited until the sun set, the setting sun casting a warm golden glow on the approaching school bus, and birds returning to their nests flew over the car.

When they received a text message from Iwakura Jun asking about the results, Aruchi Yuzu and the other got off the bus, practically demonstrating: We passed a long time ago.

Then, the bad feeling came true.

Those who finished early were better off. Aruchi Yuzu had already rested in the car for a while, but Tadokoro Megumi and the others didn’t get a moment’s respite and entered another round of exams: making 50 servings of beef steak rice each.

The diners were the male university students they had seen before, so that didn’t need to be mentioned. Aruchi Yuzu breathed a sigh of relief.

50 servings were a small problem; the point was that she had practiced beef steak.

Thanks to the off-field guidance of Supervisor Shi, she would send him warmth when she got back and give him her treasured jaboticaba jam!

The exam was only one hour long. After it ended, Aruchi Yuzu couldn’t even lift her hands. She immediately prepared to go back to her room to take a hot bath.

The elevator to the top floor rooms was independent. When Aruchi Yuzu dragged her tired body over, someone was already waiting for the elevator there.

It’s strange; it’s been the school’s chartered exam these days.

A haughty female voice: “This buffet is for the Totsuki Academy students’ exam; you can try all kinds of chefs’ dishes at once. The tickets were only distributed to Totsuki’s cooperating food suppliers, but because our family is a super VIP, we got extra tickets. We can definitely have a full meal!”

A cute child’s voice gave an insincere compliment: “Sonoko-neesan is amazing!”

A gentle female voice: “Thank you so much, Sonoko. Conan came along too.”

A haughty female voice: “It’s okay, it’s okay. How boring it would be to come alone. It’s a good chance to see the future star chefs in advance. Totsuki always produces a few in each generation. It’s a good chance to guess who will be the leader of the new generation of Totsuki!”

Suzuki Sonoko was super excited: “Most importantly, Totsuki Academy is famous for being a gathering place for handsome boys and beautiful girls! Two years ago, I saw a handsome guy with white hair. It was amazing. He was handsome, and his cooking was delicious. Now he’s already the top of the Totsuki Elite Ten. Ah!!! Give me another handsome guy this year!”

Mouri Ran smiled helplessly: “Didn’t you already find a handsome guy on the school forum, Sonoko?”

Conan bluntly criticized: “Yeah, you’ve been giggling at your phone since you got here. You clearly have a target, yet you pretend to be looking for a chance encounter.”

Suzuki Sonoko gave him a hammer: “Shut up if you can’t speak nicely, you brat!”

Conan, with a “I’ll do it again next time” expression, covered his head, then felt someone approaching behind him.

Huh, those clothes…

It looks like Totsuki Academy’s uniform.

Haha, Sonoko found the person she’s gossiping about.

But it’s strange. Why would a Totsuki Academy student be at this elevator?

Conan is short. He was still covering his head, but when he looked up to see who it was, Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko had already turned their heads.

Wow, a super beautiful girl.

Eh, a Totsuki uniform.

Silence fell for a moment.

Aruchi Yuzu felt the scene was somewhat familiar; it was just like her last embarrassing experience.

Suzuki Sonoko quickly identified the popular figure on the Totsuki Academy forum and confirmed that she was a real Totsuki Academy student.

She strategically drew out the sound of “ah”: “What a coincidence, classmate.”

Aruchi Yuzu nodded to them in a friendly gesture. You guys continue talking; don’t mind me.

Suzuki Sonoko saw her rubbing her hands and changed the subject: “You must be tired, your exam.”

“Yeah, we just made 50 servings of beef steak rice for male university students in an hour. I don’t know what will come next.”

The elevator arrived.

Suzuki Sonoko was startled: “Oh, did we accidentally reveal any information about the exam?”

Edogawa Conan smiled: “It’s okay. We don’t know the topic anyway. Just revealing that we’re diners means the exam can’t be prepared for in advance, so it won’t affect the exam.”

Aruchi Yuzu looked down at him: “You’re so smart, kid.”

Looking at him, Aruchi Yuzu realized that the kid looked a little familiar.