The Door of My Bathroom Leads to the Comic World!

Eishi Tsukasa, Isshiki Satoshi, and the others were equally puzzled. They were used to taking increasingly difficult exams each year, so why were Sui and his peers facing something so strange?

"This is really odd," Alice mused, raising a finger to her lips in curiosity.

"The weirdest part is you, Alice. Your name wasn't called right?" Erina said, looking at her in exasperation.

"Can't I just have a look?" Alice retorted, clearly annoyed.

At this moment, Dojima Gin descended, addressing everyone, "As per tradition, the Elite Ten are assigned more challenging tasks. Now, please split into groups according to your grade level."

"But isn't Miss Erina the only Elite Ten member in the first grade?" Kuga raised his hand, questioning, "Wouldn't that be unfair to her?"

In every other grade, there were multiple Elite Ten members, but first-year Erina stood alone.

"That's why we've kept the top first-year students," Dojima responded with a smile. "Besides Sui, the other members are the top four from the Autumn Selection and the next year's Elite Ten candidates."

A look of realization dawned on Eishi Tsukasa and the others. If the top students from third, second, and first grades were grouped together, wouldn't that make this a joint exam for all the grades?

In previous years, exams were taken separately by each grade, but this time, they were being combined. It was an unprecedented move.

"So, will the exam content be the same for all three grades?" Akira Hayama, the Autumn Selection champion, asked.

"Of course," Dojima replied with a smile. "You're all future Elite Ten members, so the exam content will be the same."

"Does that mean that first-years like us will be competing against the second- and third-year Elite Ten members?" Sui asked, but before he could finish, Erina cut in.

"Direct competition."

At this, Megumi's face paled, and she nearly fainted.

"Thank you all, and Sui, for your support thus far," Megumi said with a smile, as if giving her final words.

Sui remained speechless. Combining all three grades into teams for the same exam would naturally lead to differences in their performances. Was Totsuki purposefully trying to incite competition among the Elite Ten?

"Um, can I join the first-year group?" Alice suddenly asked, raising her hand.

Dojima was momentarily taken aback. It was unusual for someone to voluntarily request a more difficult exam. After a pause, he nodded. "If Miss Alice insists, I have no objections. But, just to be clear, if you join, the difficulty will increase."

"Of course!" Alice said proudly.

"Alice, what on earth are you doing?" Erina asked, incredulous.

"I'm serious!" Alice pouted and then threw a quick glance at Sui.

"Alright, then. The teams are set," Dojima declared. "Regular students will form teams of five, and you will group according to your grade."

With that, the teams were finalized.

The third-year team consisted of Tsukasa Eishi, Rindō Kobayashi, Tōsuke Megishima, Momo Akanegakubo, and Saitō Sōmei.

The second-year team had Isshiki Satoshi, Kuga Terunori, Nene Kinokuni, and Eizan Etsuya.

The first-year team, meanwhile, included Sui, Erina, Alice, Megumi, Akira, and two others.

In terms of numbers, the first-year team had the most members, but their strength was undoubtedly the weakest.

Though the exam results wouldn't be directly compared across grades, everyone knew there would be unofficial comparisons.

"Even if they're second- or third-years, we can still beat them!" Sōma declared confidently.

"That's right," Akira nodded, exchanging a glance with Sui and Erina. He thought that while most of their team might be there to fill numbers, with these two present, they still stood a fighting chance against their upperclassmen.

"Great! This is getting exciting!" Soma added enthusiastically.

Following that, Dojima led the group to the convenience store on the first floor of the hotel.

Other students had already begun their exams, working in teams of five.

"The task for this exam is simple," Dojima Gin explained. "You'll each have two hours to prepare a dish using only ingredients from the convenience store. The judges will taste the dishes and assign a selling price."

"For first-years, the combined price of your dishes shouldn't exceed 15,000 yen. For second-years, the standard is 18,000 yen, and for third-years, it's 20,000 yen."

Everyone began to think seriously. For the first-years, this meant that each dish would need to be worth at least 3,000 yen. Considering that the average dish in a typical restaurant costs around 1,000 yen, they were being asked to use cheap convenience store ingredients to create dishes worth three times the normal price. It was a daunting challenge.

"As for you Elite Ten candidates," Dojima continued, turning to Sui's group, "your requirement is to triple your grade's standard."

"As expected... this really is an Elite Ten challenge," Megumi muttered, looking like she was on the verge of fainting again. Sui quickly moved to steady her.

"Hehe, tripling the standard? This is getting interesting," Alice grinned confidently.

"Hey, kid," Eizan said coldly, his glasses gleaming menacingly. "Do you really think you can surpass us with just your little group of nobodies?"

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are," Nene added icily. "You'll never surpass us."

Akira Hayama remained silent, knowing that despite their greater numbers, they were no match for the second-years if skill alone were considered.

"Let's get started, then," Sui said calmly, a faint smile playing on his lips.

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