By the time Bai Mo returned to his rented apartment, he noticed the night light in the living room was still on.
On the sofa in the living room, Kasugano Sora, dressed in a white nightgown, was curled up in a ball, seemingly having fallen asleep while waiting for him. Seeing that she had dozed off, Bai Mo didn't disturb her. Instead, he first cleaned up the pizza box and snack bags on the table.
Perhaps because Sora was a light sleeper, she opened her eyes upon hearing Bai Mo's voice. "Onii-chan~ You're back~"
"Mm~" Bai Mo gently ruffled Sora's silver hair as she rubbed her eyes. "You don't have to wait for me in the living room next time. Just go back to your room and sleep, okay?"
Sora hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.
Bai Mo understood that this was because Sora still lacked a sense of security, so he didn't press further. Instead, he pulled out a black rabbit plushie and placed it in her arms.
"I bought this just now. I noticed you seemed to like plushies at the mall festival earlier. This rabbit can keep you company from now on. How about it?"
"Mm~" Sora hugged the black rabbit plushie and nodded, then looked up at Bai Mo. "Onii-chan has to stay with me too!"
"Of course~"
After smiling and patting Sora's head, Bai Mo successfully coaxed the little girl and sent her back to her room.
The next day passed uneventfully, and soon, another opening ceremony awaited Bai Mo.
After dropping Sora off at Nanamori Middle School first, Bai Mo rode his bike to Sakuragaoka Private Academy for the opening ceremony.
Upon checking his class assignment on the school bulletin board, Bai Mo ignored the curious, fearful, and awed gazes around him and headed straight to his designated classroom.
Standing at 185 cm tall with a straight posture, the muscles on his arms visible through his summer uniform, and a deep, sharp gaze, Bai Mo was someone ordinary people couldn't bring themselves to look at directly.
However, the current Sakuragaoka Private Academy was formed by merging five schools, three of which were originally all-girls schools. As a result, the male-to-female ratio was an astonishing 16:1. Among this year's first-year students, there were only 48 boys.
Even including some transfer students from the second and third years, the total number of male students barely exceeded a hundred.
Due to the merger of five schools, Sakuragaoka Private Academy had over a thousand students, which was normal. However, this number would likely decrease in a couple of years.
After finding his assigned seat in Class 1-C, Bai Mo sat down, noting the name tag on the desk.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the protagonist's seat, but at least it was in the back row, so he wouldn't attract too much attention.
Because of the large student population, each class now had around fifty students.
Once all the students had arrived and settled in, a pink-haired woman in a small suit walked in and wrote her name on the blackboard.
"Hello everyone, I'm Tojo Kiriya, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for Class C this year. If you have any issues, feel free to come to the staff room to talk to me!"
After a round of applause, Tojo Kiriya had everyone introduce themselves one by one.
Bai Mo was seated second-to-last in the row by the hallway, so his turn came quickly.
"My name is Bai Mo. My favorite thing is eating delicious food, and my least favorite is people who waste food. My dream is to one day complete my life's Western-style full-course meal—or even a full-course Chinese banquet!"
In Toriko, a life's Western-style full-course meal consists of eight dishes: appetizer, soup, fish dish, meat dish, main course, salad, dessert, and drinks.
In Chinese cuisine, a banquet's full course is divided into tea, cold dishes (appetizers), hot dishes, main courses, soups, dim sum, staple foods, and post-meal fruits—also eight categories.
Beyond that, the number of dishes served in Chinese cuisine isn't fixed. There are also folk traditions like "four cold plates, four hot plates," "four large dishes," or "eight great bowls."
And if one wanted to be even more extravagant, they could go all out with a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast of 108 dishes!
Bai Mo's goal was precisely that—108 dishes, symbolizing the stars of the heavens. If he really couldn't narrow it down, 365 dishes representing the celestial constellations would work too!
Though the class didn't fully grasp the meaning behind his terms, no one dared to ask.
However, upon seeing Bai Mo, one girl in the classroom suddenly stood up excitedly and exclaimed, "Ah! It's you! H-Hey, you're the one who helped me catch the thief and get my phone back!"
"Yui, sit down! We're still doing introductions!"
"Oh, right, right..."
But thanks to Hirasawa Yui's outburst, the gazes directed at Bai Mo in the classroom shifted to curiosity and admiration.
After all, someone who'd help a stranger catch a thief probably wasn't a bad person, right?
The classmates who had initially been intimidated by Bai Mo's physique now relaxed a little.
Tojo Kiriya didn't mind Yui's interruption and motioned for Bai Mo to sit down before continuing with the next introductions.
"Hello everyone, I'm Kato Megumi. Nice to meet you."
"Huh?" Bai Mo turned to look at the girl behind him, feeling like she seemed somewhat familiar.
Wait, wasn't this the "Saint" Kato Megumi, the heir of the Assassin lineage?
Wasn't this world supposed to be the Shokugeki no Soma universe?
Now Kato Megumi was here too—did that mean this was a large, multi-world fusion setting?
Come to think of it, Hirasawa Yui and Kasugano Sora also seemed familiar. Weren't they heroines from certain anime?
If only he'd awakened memory enhancement instead of taste memory. After over a decade in this world, he'd nearly forgotten most of the anime plots he'd watched before!
Noticing that her deskmate in front was staring at her with a frown, Kato Megumi asked curiously, "Is something wrong, Bai Mo-kun?"
"Ah, well... Kato-san, since I'm pretty tall, how about we switch seats?"
Megumi didn't refuse Bai Mo's offer. "That's true. I was just worrying about it earlier. Bai Mo-kun's back is quite broad, but it does block part of the view."
"Still, switching seats would require asking Tojo-sensei for permission, right?"
"Don't worry, she'll agree."
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T/N:
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