Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 112: Ceremony in Progress

Chapter 112: Chapter 112: Ceremony in Progress

"Mr. Xia Yu, Mr. Xia Yu..."

The faint call pulled Xia Yu out of the Chef God Space.

Opening his eyes, Xia Yu found the classroom empty with only him left sitting at his seat. At that moment, the school’s broadcast announced:

"All students and teachers, please proceed to the auditorium for the opening ceremony."

Opening ceremony?

Xia Yu was momentarily dazed, then gave an apologetic smile, stood up, and said, "Sorry, teacher, I was catching up on sleep. I worked late last night."

"Work? Mr. Xia Yu, are you doing a late-night job?" The pretty female teacher, who had brown hair, delicate features, and seemed just past college age, asked with a frown.

"No, no, I’m helping out at home." Xia Yu didn’t mention that he was the manager and head chef.

"I see."

The female teacher showed a hint of a troubled expression, "You probably didn’t pay attention to the morning class either. My name is Saito Yui, I teach Japanese language and I’m also the homeroom teacher for class 2."

"Teacher Saito." Xia Yu called again.

He was well aware that in front of the homeroom teacher at this moment, he absolutely had to show the appearance of a good student, or else it would be tough being under scrutiny later on.

Moreover, this female teacher seemed somewhat familiar. Xia Yu couldn’t help but scrutinize her.

Besides her brown hair and delicate features, those eyes were watery like cat’s eye stones. Although wearing glasses slightly concealed their charm, upon close inspection, there was an electric feeling.

Her long hair was tied with a flowery hair accessory, naturally falling on her shoulders.

She wore a light gray teacher’s blazer with long pants, neither an over-the-knee skirt nor stockings.

"Alright, let’s go to the opening ceremony!"

The female teacher, half a head shorter than Xia Yu, pushed him from behind, "If we don’t go now, we’ll be late."

"Wait—"

Xia Yu grabbed his phone and earbuds from his bag. Saito Yui, seeing his experienced demeanor, couldn’t help but shake her head with a smile. Opening ceremonies at schools often involved long-winded speeches from the leadership. White Seagull High School was a public school in Tokyo, yet it had a quite open atmosphere, unlike other public schools that were so rigid.

At the auditorium, nearly all the teachers and students had gathered.

White Seagull High School was considered a renowned institution. Each grade had about ten classes, with each class having about 40 students, amounting to a total of around 1,200 students. In neon’s context of low birth rates, this was already a large number for a high school. So Xia Yu was quite surprised to be in the same class as Boss Sakamoto again this year; the ’fate of apes’ really was mysterious.

Finding his class’s designated area, he was thankful for Boss Sakamoto’s aura. Even though he was late, he didn’t stand out much. He had just sat down when the school’s leaders began speaking on stage.

Like some of the students, Xia Yu skillfully took out his phone, plugged in his earbuds, and was about to listen to some music. Unexpectedly, a notification from a chat app called ’line’ popped up.

It was a message from Morioka Makoto. Xia Yu opened the app, and an image unfolded on the screen.

The main focus of the picture was, of course, this childhood friend of his. She waved and smiled at the camera. Xia Yu let out a sound of surprise and noticed Tiqie Helinai sitting cross-legged on a chair behind her.

The Divine Tongue was side-glancing at the camera with a look of confusion.

"Ha!"

Xia Yu chuckled. No wonder high schools were holding opening ceremonies around this time.

Stroking his chin, White Seagull High School’s opening ceremony was quite dull, but Far Moon’s opening ceremony seemed much more interesting. So after a brief thought, Xia Yu sent a video chat request to Makki via the line chat app. He didn’t use the auditorium’s public network, opting instead for his own 4G network.

Beep-beep.

The request was accepted within a few seconds, and the screen showed a picture.

The phone’s front camera focused on Morioka Makoto’s fair and delicate face. This young girl appeared a bit shy, quickly moving the camera away. She was in a waiting room backstage at the Far Moon ceremony site, where Xingping Chuangzhen and Tiqie Helinai were also present.

"Hi—"

Thankfully, the earphones had a built-in microphone. Holding the transmitter near his mouth, Xia Yu greeted softly and turned his phone in a circle so that Morioka Makoto could clearly see the auditorium of White Seagull High School. "We’re having an opening ceremony here too."

"Are you in the same class with Mr. Sakamoto again this year?" Morioka Makoto’s shoulders shook as if suppressing laughter. She knew of Sakamoto’s reputation from their time at the same school from elementary through junior high.

"Yeah, there’s nothing bad about having the boss watching over me."

Xia Yu shrugged, "Let me see the scene at Far Moon’s opening ceremony."

"Sure!"

Morioka Makoto promptly agreed and stood up, hiding behind the curtain and extending her phone outwards from the waiting room, turning on the rear camera. The clear image was transmitted, showing Xia Yu nearly a thousand freshmen in Western-style uniforms, lined up neatly on the lawn at Far Moon.

Suddenly, a sweet and clear voice came from the scene—this was the female host Kawashima Reika speaking.

"Next, we will begin awarding the year badges..."

Tiqie Helinai stood up in the waiting room, adjusted her appearance, exuding the full aura of a goddess, preparing to exit the waiting room and take the stage. She was this year’s representative of the freshmen as well as the top of the elementary department and the tenth seat of the ’Ten Masters of Far Moon,’ fully draped in a halo.

However, as she passed by Morioka Makoto’s side, Helinai glimpsed the young man’s moving face on the phone screen and was stunned.

"Please welcome Tiqie Helinai to the stage to receive the year badge!" urged the female host Kawashima Reika.

Tiqie Helinai averted her gaze, took a deep breath, and ascended the ceremony stage.

There was an undercurrent of commotion as the murmurs of the male students reached Xia Yu’s ears through the earphones:

"Ah... Miss Helinai, you’re exceptionally beautiful today!"

"A perfect combination of beauty and talent, and she’s even the top of the intermediate department. Truly a flawless superhuman!"

Listening to the extras’ discussion, Xia Yu almost burst out laughing. Behind the goddess’s mask, she was actually a spoiled, very willful, and tsundere little girl.

Similarly, at White Seagull High School, the freshman representative was also called upon.

Boss Sakamoto ascended the stage to give a speech amid murmurs.

"Everyone, congratulations on advancing to the high school department!"

Suddenly hearing a steady and serious voice, Xia Yu quickly had Morioka Makoto focus the camera—it turned out that after Tiqie Helinai’s speech, the Far Moon Commander was next to speak.

The speech content, as per the original work, involved an explanation regarding "jade."

"...99% of you are here merely to refine the 1% of jade among you!"

"Of the 812 freshmen in the high school division last year, only 76 successfully advanced to the second year! The incompetent and ordinary will be ruthlessly eliminated!"

In just two sentences, the harsh competitive environment of Far Moon was vividly depicted.

Perhaps because of her past encounters with the Far Moon Commander and accepting his invitation, Xia Yu noticed that Morioka Makoto was very calm and wasn’t daunted by Senzaemon’s words.

"Next, let’s introduce two transfer students in the high school division..."

The host Kawashima Reika’s voice rang out as Xingping Chuangzhen walked over, hands in his pockets, greeting Morioka Makoto with, "Our turn, Morioka!"

He was brimming with enthusiasm.

"Miss Helinai, please hold my phone for me!"

So, Morioka Makoto hastily handed the phone to the Divine Tongue who had just come off stage, then followed Xingping Chuangzhen to ascend the grand stage of the ceremony.

Returning the camera to the front.

The two in the video stared at each other intensely, glared like knives at each other, holding each other’s gaze for a whole minute before turning away from one another.

"Hmph!"