Chapter 55: Final League!

Totsuki Academy has a different summer break than most schools, lasting only a week, while most schools in Japan have around 40 days.

The main reason for this shorter break is to prevent students from losing their touch by being lazy at home.

Being a student at Totsuki already speaks of their talent, so the academy has more reason to keep them in the kitchen.

The Interhigh Championship preliminaries are held in the summer, with the playoff stage beginning in autumn. This schedule allows most students participating in the event to avoid missing classes and falling behind compared to regular students.

However...

Smack!

Smack!

Thud!

The loud sounds of smacking followed by a thud and growling echoed through the massive gym at Totsuki Culinary Academy, indicating a ferocious fight.

"That's why, even though we're supposed to be having time off..."

Amidst the chaos, a calm voice reverberated, cutting through the noise.

"..."

Sakamoto adjusted his glasses and fell silent, turning to Sato and Aoki, who were busy fighting among themselves.

He then noticed Marui, who looked like his soul had left his body, muttering to himself, "...Curry? Curry? What should I cook?"

"You little bastards!"

Sakamoto felt his veins bulging as he immediately jumped into the fray.

Before long, the two beaten-up freshmen were separated, and Sakamoto calmly coughed before continuing, "Ahem... as you can see, we're gathering here today for an important reason..."

"It's time for us to finally show that Totsuki isn't all about cooking!"

"Whoaa!"

The Polar Star Dormitory students were in awe at this declaration as Sakamoto smiled. "So, let's go, my friends! We're going to be playing in the Interhigh preliminaries today! I'm sure you've prepared yourself throughout this week, right?"

"Whoa... Huh?"

"Wait a minute, Sakamoto-senpai... Is it today?"

"...I didn't know it was today?"

Marui, Sato, and Aoki looked confused.

Sakamoto adjusted his glasses again, his finger slightly trembling as the atmosphere swiftly turned colder, "...You didn't know?"

In the corner of the gym, a red-haired teenager sneakily tried to make her way out.

"Rindo! You idiot!" Sakamoto shouted. "Why didn't you tell them?"

"Te-hee!"

"Don't 'te-hee' me, you son of a beach!"

"Mou! It's not my fault! Blame it on Tsuna. I forgot to text them because he banned me from his restaurant!"

Rindo's voice grew fainter as she hurriedly left the building, escaping Sakamoto's wrath.

"...Blame it on Tsuna?"

Sakamoto mumbled, confused, as he turned to look at their last member, who wore a speechless expression at the whole fiasco.

"Oh?"

The Polar Star Dormitory trio watched with intrigued expressions.

"Ahaha, there you are, Ito-kun..."

However, Sakamoto's face brightened at the sight of Tsuna.

"Of course, we don't have to worry about losing when we have you," he said, beaming.

"..."

Tsuna sighed deeply at his situation.

Just what did he get himself into? Why would he be around these clowns? He couldn't help but question his decision to join the club.

"But there is something I need you to know..."

Sakamoto suddenly spoke with a serious tone. Everyone turned to him, a bit tense. He sighed as he announced, "We're up against a strong opponent in our preliminaries..."

"We're in block C, and there's this strong basketball group from..."

Sakamoto's serious expression slowly crumbled as he blinked his eyes before adding, "Umm, from Masey? Messi?"

"...?"

Everyone was baffled at Sakamoto's cracked voice as his expression suddenly hardened into a stony face as he spoke, "I don't even remember the fucking name!"

"We're going to lose..."

Everyone thought the same thing as Tsuna sighed tiredly. Even the captain was somewhat like the rest of the club members.

With such a lousy start, Totsuki Culinary Academy stepped into the preliminaries round held over the next couple of days.

Contrary to their expectations, they breezed through block C quite easily with Tsuna on their team. Sakamoto was now practically worshipping Tsuna, and the rest of the members couldn't help but feel slightly speechless at him.

"Ah, so it was Meisei High..."

"Yeah, thanks to Tsuna, they didn't pose much of a threat, haha!"

"I guess Tsuna's on a different level. He didn't even break a sweat the whole game!"

The Polar Star dormitory students mumbled among themselves as they made their way toward Yayogi Gymnasium, where the final league was held.

"Well, Meisei might not have been much, but our next opponents will be quite formidable..."

Sakamoto spoke as Tsuna turned to him with a death stare, implying that if he was joking again, he'd be dead.

This made Sakamoto nervously adjust his glasses and cough, "Ahem, well, we're in the same league as Too Academy, currently in their strongest form with the Ace of the Generation of Miracles."

"They're our main concern, but the other two are strong as well. One being one of the Kings of Tokyo, and the other is Seirin High."

Sakamoto sighed as he continued, "I heard they have the sixth man of the Generation of Miracles. I don't know the details, but it must be true."

"..."

Seeing the freshmen suddenly go quiet, Sakamoto thinks they are in disbelief and feels slightly speechless. "What? You don't believe me?"

"It's not that we don't believe you, it's just that I have a different concern right now," Marui said with a pale expression.

Sato and Aoki laughed it off, putting their hands over Marui's shoulders, "That's fine, Marui! It's just the Totsuki Autumn Election, I'm sure you've got this!"

"Ah, that's right, you are participating in the election, huh?"

Sakamoto nodded in realization.

No wonder Marui had such an unfocused expression the whole time.

As for the other two, Sakamoto turned toward Sato and Aoki, who had an 'I don't give a fuck' playful expression.

He sighed, "...I guess so."

"Ito-kun, have you prepared the curry dish you want to present later?"

Marui turned to Tsuna, who was looking around confusedly while casually answering, "Well, yeah, I do have something in mind. What about you?"

"...I don't know, I think I'll fail immediately," Marui replied depressively. Tsuna just chuckled before turning to Sakamoto, "Anyway, where's Rindo-senpai?"

"Oh, that..."

Sakamoto blinked before smiling and adjusting his glasses, "Our sports drink is the official sponsor of the championship, so she's representing us and mingling with some higher-ups."

"I see..."

"Hehe, prime your senses, prime your life..."

"...Shut up, senpai."

"Understood, our ace!"

"..."

As they made their way into the arena, they were greeted by loud cheers from the crowd for the ongoing game.

"Whoaa! That's him!"

"Finally! The Ace of the Generation of Miracles is here!"

"Haha, it's over for Seirin!"

The spectators roared as Aomine finally showed up and was about to play, even though he would start in the second half.

Tsuna and the others immediately took their seats as the game continued, with Aomine dominating Seirin despite their new ace combo of Taiga Kagami and Tetsuya Kuroko.

"Well, I guess Sakamoto-senpai's concern isn't just all talk, huh?"

"Yeah..."

Sato and Aoki spoke among themselves as the game finally ended with a score of 112-55.

"...That guy seemed to be playing around," Sakamoto said, looking at Aomine with a serious expression.

He then turned to Tsuna, who was nowhere to be seen, "Huh?"

"Guys, where's Tsuna?"

"Ah..."

The Polar Star dormitory students pointed to a corner where Sakamoto saw Tsuna casually doing one-handed push-ups.

His lips twitched, but he couldn't help but smile, thinking, "We have a chance!"

"Alright, let's get prepared, everyone."

Sakamoto spoke as they all stood up.

He waved at Tsuna, gesturing that they were about to leave. Their opponent today was none other than Senshinkan High.

"Let's go and show our might!"

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