"Mutou... Mutou!"
With a pleasant female voice, Mutou Judai slowly opened his eyes.
He had just taken a nap and had a dream.
Then when he woke up...
A classroom with rows of wooden desks, the aroma of food floating in the air, and... a girl standing in front of him with a displeased expression.
This was definitely not his 1DK rental apartment.
This was more like a scene that would only appear in dreams.
"You finally woke up... Although I don't expect you to be of any help, even if you can't help, at least a chef shouldn't be sleeping in the kitchen during work!"
—Nakiri Erina.
The name of this girl looking down at him from above floated up in Mutou Judai's mind... He had memories of this young lady from the Nakiri family, who was also the famous 'God's Tongue' in the culinary world.
But...
He could be certain these memories weren't his.
He was just a college graduate who worked part-time at a convenience store to make ends meet and was still sending out resumes to various companies.
Let alone any young lady - as an orphan with no relatives, he didn't even have a single female friend.
Being in a cooking classroom with a young lady, even being in the same group...
—Wasn't this a scene that would only appear in dreams!?
So... am I still not awake?
Mutou Judai still felt somewhat dizzy, and seeing his reaction, Nakiri Erina sighed helplessly.
"Fine... As long as you don't sleep, just stay here. This is Totsuki's field study trip after all, and the examiner ahead is a former Totsuki graduate. Even if you might be expelled soon, please maintain your dignity as a chef during the final moments of your student life."
Leaving these words behind, Nakiri Erina began working on her dish according to the assignment given by the examiner named Shinomiya Kojiro, while lamenting that Hisako couldn't be assigned to the same group as her this time.
—Although I couldn't get the best ingredients earlier because of this guy beside me, with a little handling, this kind of thing can't stump me!
Nakiri Erina started cooking with such confidence.
Meanwhile, Mutou Judai finally realized:
—I'm not dreaming! I've transmigrated!
Or rather...
He felt like he had fallen asleep, then dreamed, and afterward his consciousness entered the body of himself in the dream, becoming what he was now!
Did I sleep myself to death?
He remembered reading in ancient books about Zhuangzi dreaming of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi, but those weren't things to think about now.
Based on the extra memories in his head, the now-clear-headed him quickly understood the situation.
This was part of Totsuki Academy's field study trip.
Totsuki Academy was the world's top culinary school... famous for its extremely high dropout rate and extremely low graduation rate, but students who could graduate from here would all become capable chefs.
And naturally, such an academy's field study trip wasn't simple sightseeing—it was hellish training with daily exams where failing even once meant immediate expulsion!
However...
—It seems fine for me.
Mutou Judai blinked. After accepting the fact that he had transmigrated, his mind became much clearer.
—From the memories, it seems I'd be expelled if I got one more E-grade evaluation in regular school courses.
The reason he was still participating in the field study trip was because... there weren't enough school courses left~!
The last class before the field study trip was his second-to-last E-grade evaluation that would meet the expulsion criteria.
Then this field study trip, which could be considered hell for other students, might actually be a disguised extension of his academic life. Plus, for the first assessment, he was paired with a genius like Erina—meaning he could pass this first assessment of the field study trip by relying on the diligent, talented Erina.
However, while this exam might be passed, there would be more than one assessment just today. His luck wouldn't be so good for the second round later—pass in the morning, celebrate at noon, happily get expelled in the afternoon~
Hmm...
Understanding this, Mutou Judai wasn't nervous at all.
After all, he was now a transmigrator. With memories from his previous life, he felt—getting expelled was getting expelled, whatever!
Why would I want to become a chef after being reborn?
The current year was equivalent to ten years ago for him—using these ten years of foresight, wouldn't doing anything else be better?
With such thoughts, the nervousness Mutou Judai felt from just transmigrating completely disappeared.
He was even curiously watching Erina's cooking movements without any tension.
After all, he didn't want to be a chef anyway.
Cooking...
—His culinary level in this life, which could get E-grades in every assessment, was actually stronger than his cooking skills in his previous life!
Before transmigrating, he could only make instant noodles, and even adding an egg would stump him.
The memories he carried after transmigrating... seemed to have decent theoretical knowledge, but he wasn't good at practical application at all. The only thing he seemed skilled at was a snack called grilled cold noodles.
He wouldn't cling to the chef profession in this situation unless he had ten years of brain congestion.
—Why stay here instead of getting expelled?
To lower the overall standard of Totsuki students?
Just as Mutou Judai was treating this with a sightseeing mentality, feeling he had a bright future ahead, a voice rang in his head.
[System activation...]
[Activation successful]
[Information injection]
Along with this notification sound, before Mutou Judai could react, a massive information stream was injected into his brain!
Then he gained a special understanding.
—It was an introduction to this so-called system.
According to the introduction, this seemed to be something like the cheat functions in emulators when playing games in the past.
In online game terms, it was basically a hack.
The function was particularly simple—he could sign in every day.
Then receive a completely random sign-in reward.
After learning this information, Mutou Judai tried today's sign-in with a testing mentality.
[Sign-in reward: Skill - Curse]
[Curse: When used on living beings, can randomly inflict a random disease buff lasting one hour. When used on non-living units... please try the effects yourself~]
Hiss—
Could he actually sign in for supernatural abilities!?
Then why bother with stocks or business!
—Wouldn't it be better to sign in until becoming a god among humans!?
As for this curse...
Mutou Judai selected the curse skill. He had that kind of feeling—just obtained supernatural power, not really wanting to do anything with it, just wanting to try it out and see...
But he didn't expect this curse to be instant-cast.
Although he realized it in time and didn't let the curse fall directly on Erina—the curse ability fell directly on the dish Erina had already completed.
This...
Mutou Judai looked at the dish in Erina's hands.
It looked the same as before, smelled... seemed to have changed a little, but the difference didn't seem very big...
His sense of smell wasn't particularly sharp either, and the dish Erina made according to this assessment's theme wasn't the type that emphasized aroma, so this might just be his imagination.
Thinking this way, it should be—no problem, right?
Mutou Judai thought this way, then followed behind Erina as she placed the plate in her hands in front of the examiner for this test, Shinomiya Kojiro.
"Nine-treasure vegetable French terrine, Chef Shinomiya, please try it."