Chapter 16: Alice Nakiri!

"No... I'm pretty sure it's you..."

"...Who?"

"Of course, you!"

"Who asked?"

"..."

Alice blinked at Tsuna, feeling annoyed by his stony expression.

She then pouted, "I'm talking about you! Tsunayoshi Ito!"

"Ah, I see..."

"...!"

Tsuna replied casually, before ignoring her and turning his attention to Dojima like everyone else.

"Mou! You're so mean!" 

She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to the tall student with long, unkempt brownish-black hair beside her while grumbling, "Ryo, help me out here. This guy is making fun of me!"

"Oh... I think you need to try harder, young lady," Ryo replied, his voice devoid of emotion as he looked at both of them with dead fish eyes.

"Hmph, I've tried already. You're not helping at all!"

Alice huffed and then approached Tsuna, leaning her face closer to his, "You! Why are you so casual in front of me? A beautiful girl is talking to you; you should be grateful and a little shy!"

"I'm not interested in a little girl you. If it's your mom, then sure," Tsuna rolled his eyes at her.

"...?"

Alice blinked, rendered momentarily speechless by his response, "You... are weird..."

"Hmph, whatever. I heard your arrogant speech in the opening ceremony. Taking the first seat of the Elite Ten Council? What a laugh! Do you think you're skilled enough to defeat even me?"

"Only you? It's too simple. I can even defeat your father..."

"...A-are you even talking about cooking!?"

Alice was flustered, her cheeks flushing at his words.

"This guy... is definitely making fun of me!" she silently exclaimed angrily in her mind. Alice was now thoroughly annoyed by Tsuna.

She had only wanted to tease him, but now he was the one teasing her, which was not what she had in mind at all.

"...!"

Alice felt her veins bulging out of her forehead.

She then pointed her finger right at his face and said, "You've annoyed me! Why don't we settle who's better here!"

"...Why should I even care about that?"

Tsuna was feeling a bit speechless at the sudden challenge.

"Oh? A challenge, that's quite an idea. How about I help you guys and be the judge?"

However...

Dojima suddenly joined in, offering his hand to be the judge with a smile on his face.

Tsuna just rolled his eyes, noticing Dojima was, in reality, just trying to press him to agree to the challenge.

"Oh? He's getting into trouble..."

"I've been waiting for someone to beat the crap out of this cocky guy."

"Hehe, it's quite fortunate it was Alice Nakiri this time. I'm sure he'd be embarrassed."

The whole classroom murmured among themselves, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Seems like he's not well-liked among his peers..."

Dojima's eyes flashed with interest as he silently contemplated while looking at Tsuna. A smile crept onto his face as he muttered to himself, "Now, what are you going to do, Tsunayoshi Ito?"

"Hah..."

Tsuna heard the remarks and scoffed. His expression remained calm as he spoke slowly, "That's boring..."

"Huh? Are you going to refuse the challenge?"

"Hey, hey, Tsunayoshi Ito is a coward!"

"No way he refused that, does he have no pride?"

"What do you mean by this, Ito?"

Alice's tone turned cheerful in response, her eyes gleaming with delight as if she had finally found a way to make fun of him.

However...

"Like I said, I don't want to beat you..." Tsuna declared, turning to the whole class and continuing, "...I will beat every single one of you."

"Huh?"

"What did he just say?"

"...Beat all of us?"

"Hmm?"

Dojima's pupils were slightly shaken by Tsuna's words as it was totally unexpected.

"Totsuki Culinary Academy wants the best of the best, right?" Tsuna grinned at Dojima, who seemed to have guessed what Tsuna was about to do.

He then added, "So let's do this... I'm sure you'd probably pass anyone who can satisfy you, right? I'm giving you a better option..."

"Rate our cooking from 1 to 100, then rank us based on it..."

Tsuna's eyes flashed with a ruthless light as he then added, "...that way, you can just expel whoever ranks below and filter out the good seedlings!"

"We have 40 students in this class. Why don't we take 20 of those out? It's quite efficient, I would say..."

"..."

Silence suddenly permeated the whole class, as they weren't expecting to get caught up in all of this mess, and they suddenly felt sweat rolling down their foreheads.

On the side, Alice widened her eyes in shock at the proposition.

Her playful expression was gone as she looked at Tsuna seriously, "This guy... He's using my challenge as an excuse to spite those students..."

Even Ryo, who usually couldn't care less about anything, seemed to have his attention fully on Tsuna, who then turned to Dojima and asked, "So, what do you say, Dojima... senpai?"

"...!"

Dojima couldn't help but feel a slight shiver at those eyes staring at him.

He couldn't help but smirk in response as he could feel everyone in the classroom looking at him with hopeful expressions.

"He's more ruthless than I thought," he silently thought as he looked at the rest of the students in his class.

"They want me to refuse his offer, huh?"

His smirk widened as his eyes flashed with a cold light.

Tsuna was right!

As someone who cared about the legacy of Totsuki Culinary Academy, Dojima couldn't help but find Tsuna's proposal fitting for a better new generation!

That's why he couldn't help but crush those hopeful gazes directed at him as he slowly opened his mouth, "That's an interesting idea, Ito-Kun. Let's do it!"

"My assignment is simple. I want you to cook Japanese cuisine for me on your own, but you have to find your own ingredients in this massive resort..." Dojima pointed out a river and woods where wildlife seemed to be preserved in the resort.

However...

"Wait, Dojima-senpai!"

"You can't be serious, right?!"

"P-please reconsider!?"

The whole class erupted into an uproar as most of them shouted in panic, trying to make Dojima reconsider his decision.

"..."

Tsuna calmly let those students speak their minds, knowing it was futile since someone like Dojima wouldn't be swayed by such lousy excuses.

In fact, Dojima would only look at those students with contempt because, in his view, protesting out of fear of being ranked below was a sign of incompetence.

This would only make Dojima more inclined to agree with Tsuna's idea.

"Good, at least from today onwards, no small fry will dare to give me trouble..." Tsuna silently thought as he looked at Alice, who was staring at him seriously.

All that happened here would surely spread throughout the academy, and that's exactly what Tsuna wanted.

"I'm thankful for you Alice. Thank you for being annoying..."

He flashed her a gentle smile.

"..."

However, Alice just stood in silence. She hadn't expected things to escalate to this extent, and she didn't know how to respond to it.

Still, she tightly gripped her fist, silently declaring, "I'll take the first rank!"

"Quiet!"

Dojima raised his hand, instantly silencing the entire room. They gulped nervously, awaiting his next words with bated breath.

Unfortunately, what followed was not what they had hoped for.

"My decision is final! But don't worry, I will only expel 10 people from the lower ranks..."

"..."

His words did little to reassure them; instead, they plunged the room into a heavy silence.

Usually, only four to six students would be expelled for failing their assignments from a specialized class like theirs.

Expelling ten at once would be unprecedented!

With a chill running down their spines, they could only accept the situation, casting uneasy glances at Tsuna who flashed them a smile.

"...He's a demon."

A smiling one at that...