Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

"This is……"

She covered her mouth in surprise, savoring the refreshing sweet and sour taste in her mouth.

The refreshing tangerine jelly complements the natural sweetness of the vegetables.

The herb pesto also gives a refreshing feeling while chewing.

What surprised her even more was the special taste, like a warm current slowly flowing down her esophagus into her stomach, gently soothing away the fatigue of the whole day.

Fuyumi Mizuhara suddenly found herself in a forest, surrounded by snow and freezing cold. She wandered through the forest but couldn't find her way out. Just as she was about to lose consciousness from the cold, a cozy little house radiating warm light suddenly appeared in front of her.

Pushing open the door, you see seven dwarfs wearing hats of different colors dancing around the fireplace.

It's the little elf from Ainu mythology—Krupokuru!

"Try it! It's delicious!"

The little elves laughed as they stuffed vegetables with citrus jelly and vanilla pesto into her mouth. The warmth from the allspice spread from her stomach throughout her body, dispelling the chill and fatigue.

"Delicious!" A rare blush appeared on Mizuhara Fuyumi's usually expressionless face.

"Ah...so cute! Just like the legendary Zashiki-warashi who brings happiness to others!" Kikuchi Sonoka cupped her flushed cheeks in her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. "The seven layers of vegetables were prepared perfectly, and with every bite you could feel the chef's care for the diners...Aww, it's so delicious..."

“Two different sauces, a sweet and sour lime jelly and a refreshing and clear herb pesto…” Donato forked a piece of vegetable jelly and dipped it in both sauces. “French jelly with lime and basil… No wonder they’re the two I admire, what an interesting idea!”

"I see! With seven layers of filling and two kinds of sauce, you can have 14 different flavors, which makes you want to try different combinations!" Guan Shouping nodded repeatedly, his eyes narrowed. "Not only are they beautifully colored, but they also taste excellent!"

“Tadokoro Megumi,” Dojima Gin put down his knife and fork and looked at her, “why did you think of using this method to prepare vegetables and pair them with sauce?”

Xiao Hui paused for a moment, then mustered her courage and replied, "I... I live in the countryside where the snow is very heavy in winter. To prevent spoilage, people dry vegetables for preservation. When making this French jelly, I roasted some of the vegetables in the oven and then coated them with salt. This evaporates some of the moisture and increases the sweetness of the vegetables... Also, the chefs must have had a hard day today, and their stomachs must be very tired, so I thought... adding a little allspice powder might make it more comfortable for everyone to eat."

After she finished speaking, the kitchen fell into a brief silence.

"I see... This dish contains your most sincere care for your diners."

Dojima Gin laughed. "Shinomiya's 'Nine Treasures Vegetable French Jelly' is a dish that allows people to enjoy fresh vegetables."

"And your 'Rainbow French Frozen' embodies the unique flavor of fresh ingredients that develop after being left out for a period of time..."

"Although both are French-style frozen dishes, they explore vegetables from two different perspectives: fresh and aged."

"An excellent dish. Although the basic skills are still somewhat lacking, the heart and soul contained in this dish are enough to make up for all the flaws."

Hearing Dojima Gin's praise, Xiaohui's eyes welled up with tears that flowed uncontrollably.

'It's unbelievable that my cooking, which I always failed at and lacked confidence in, and which was at the bottom of my class in school, was actually praised as delicious by these seniors I admired and whose work I saw in magazines…'

"Thank you... thank you all, chefs..." she said, wiping away tears and choking back sobs.

“Alright, the tasting is over. Now we’ll move on to the judging.” Dojima Gin took out five coins. “Each judge has one coin. Shinomiya and Tadokoro Megumi each have a bowl in front of them. Whoever you think has the better dish, drop the coin into their bowl.”

The judges began voting.

Clang.

The first coin fell into Kojiro Shinomiya's bowl; it belonged to Seki Morihei.

"I'm sorry, Tadokoro-kun, your kindness truly touched me. However, as a chef, I cannot deny that Shinomiya's 'French Cabbage Rolls' are still perfect in terms of cooking time and seasoning. From taste to technique, it is a flawless masterpiece." Seki Morihei squinted and shook his head.

Then came the second one.

Fuyumi Mizuhara walked forward expressionlessly and tossed a coin into Shinomiya's small bowl.

"Although Megumi Tadokoro's cooking is very innovative, Chou Farci of Shinomiya is definitely a cut above in terms of technical skill."

The third coin also landed in Shinomiya's bowl.

Kakuzaki Taki gritted his teeth, stared at Tadokoro Megumi for a second, then turned his head away, closed his eyes, and slammed the coin in his hand into Shinomiya Kojiro's bowl.

"Damn it! I really don't want to vote for this arrogant bespectacled jerk. But... that's the cruel survival rule of the culinary world!"

Three votes to zero votes.

Three out of the five tickets were in the four-court bowl, and the outcome was decided at that moment.

When Shinomiya Kojiro saw the result, a smug smile appeared on his lips.

"What a pity."

He stood up, preparing to take off his apron. "This is the inevitable end. Trash is trash. Pack your things and get out of Totsuki."

Just as Shinomiya was about to turn and leave.

Clang.

A coin fell into Tadokoro Megumi's bowl.

Shinomiya suddenly turned around.

Donato smiled and withdrew his hand: "Shinomiya, your cooking is indeed technically superior. However, I prefer Tadokoro Megumi's rainbow terrine. It gave me a long-lost sense of warmth... Moreover, the seamless teamwork between Chen Yuxing and Tadokoro Megumi in the kitchen was also very impressive, and I look forward to their future development. So, I'm casting my vote for them."

Clang.

Another crisp coin-snap sound.

Kikuchi Sonoka blushed and tossed her coin to Megumi as well: "I... I also think Megumi's cooking is better... The taste of home and the warmth of her heart, it feels like it heals my whole being."

It's now three votes to two.

Shinomiya Kojiro turned around, his brows furrowed, and looked at Dojima Gin: "Mr. Dojima, what does this mean? Shouldn't this farce come to an end?"

However, Dojima Gin ignored him and instead tossed the coin in his hand into the bowl in front of Tadokoro Megumi.

Three votes to three!

"Mr. Dojima! What are you doing?!" Shinomiya Kojiro finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst out, "This ridiculous vote is completely meaningless! Those three votes just now have already decided the outcome, haven't they?! And you're not even a judge! You're just a notary watching the show from the sidelines! I don't understand why?"

Dojima Gin simply looked calmly at Shinomiya Kojiro.

"Shinomiya, do you really not understand?" Dojima Gin asked rhetorically.

"The answer lies in Tadokoro Megumi's cooking."

"You've probably noticed it yourself, haven't you? You've earned the medal, but you don't know what to strive for in the future. You stand at the top, unable to move forward even a step..." Dojima Gin picked up Megumi's dish and handed it to Shinomiya. "Try it, Megumi-san's cooking—"

"Why should I taste this stupid dish..." Shinomiya stared at the rainbow jelly in front of him and fell silent.

His inner pride resisted the dish before him, but he also knew that Dojima Gin was right. Ever since he received the Order of Purusspool, he had slowly lost his way and was afraid of being discovered to be stagnant, so he did not bring out his signature dish.

After all, for a chef, stagnation is tantamount to regression.

In the end, Shinomiya picked up a fork, forked a piece of vegetable jelly, and put it in her mouth.

"The heat control is completely off..." Shinomiya Kojiro nitpicked as he tasted it, "And the plating too, the filling isn't connected at all... Mr. Dojima is getting senile..."

But soon, he could no longer speak.

As the vegetable jelly was swallowed, a warm current began to spread from the esophagus.

The tangy and sour flavor of the sour orange jelly, the concentrated sweetness of the vegetables roasted with coarse salt, and the gentle warmth brought by the allspice powder.

Despite its shortcomings, one could feel the care and concern for the diners conveyed in the dish, and Shinomiya's tense heart seemed to gradually relax.

Kojiro Shinomiya felt as if he had returned to his childhood home in Hokkaido.

He found himself not wearing his chef's uniform, but instead in a dirty little shirt, standing on a muddy country road, with the fields around him still covered in unmelted snow and ice from early spring.

He had just gotten into a fight with the bullying kid who had been picking on him, and now his face was covered in bruises, and his knees were scraped. He was hiding in a corner, secretly wiping away tears, feeling like the loneliest person in the world.

"Kojiro? How come you're covered in mud again after getting into a fight?"

A gentle voice, carrying a familiar local accent, called out from behind him.

Kojiro Shinomiya suddenly turned his head.

Bathed in the warm, yellow glow of the setting sun, is his mother in her youth.

"Kojiro, you're always so stubborn, which makes you easily misunderstood. But I know you're a gentle child." His mother didn't scold him for the fight. She knelt down and gently brushed the dust off Kojiro's clothes.

"Are you hungry? I made your favorite dishes tonight, come back and eat."

"Look, Kojiro!"

"A rainbow appeared! It's so beautiful, Kojiro!"

My mother's voice was so gentle and full of love.

Kojiro Shinomiya felt as if he had become a carefree child again, nestled in his mother's arms.

Kojiro Shinomiya stood there blankly, slowly lowered his head, and covered his face with one hand.

"This taste...why...even though it's flawed everywhere...it has this warm feeling inside..."

Before he knew it, two lines of clear tears had already slid down Shinomiya Kojiro's cheeks.

He finally understood that Dojima Gin was right.

During his years in Paris, he transformed himself into a ruthless culinary machine in his quest to reach the top.

He pursued perfection and could not tolerate the slightest flaw. He treated everyone as an enemy, and even fired his own employees without mercy.

He received the medal, but lost the soul of his cooking.

“Shinomiya…” Mizuhara Fuyumi looked at Shinomiya Kojiro, who was in tears, with a complicated expression.

"It seems you've found the answer." Dojima Gin walked over to Shinomiya and patted him on the shoulder. "Though not exquisite, it has a lingering aftertaste... Take this kind of cuisine, for example. Don't you think that this kind of cuisine is an important step for someone who has already reached the top, in paving a new path?"

Shinomiya Kojiro took a deep breath, wiped away his tears, and walked up to Tadokoro Megumi.

Clang.

To everyone's astonishment.

Kojiro Shinomiya placed the coin, representing his approval, into the bowl in front of Megumi Tadokoro.

Three votes to four!

Shinomiya Kojiro glanced at Tadokoro Megumi, then turned around and walked towards the gate without looking back.

Just as he was about to walk out the door, Shinomiya Kojiro stopped and turned his back to Tadokoro Megumi.

"Hey, slowpokes... Keep trying, even if it's just to stay one more day. You guys have passed."

Chapter 33 The Concern of the Crowd

When Kojiro Shinomiya's words, "You guys have passed," echoed in the kitchen, it meant that this private food battle was finally over, and the huge weight that had been hanging over Xiaohui's heart was finally lifted.

The 79th class chief, who was notorious among the graduates of Totsuki Academy, no longer had that aloof feeling he had before.

With his hands in his pockets, he turned around and strode straight toward the kitchen door. With a loud clang, Kojiro Shinomiya disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Shinomiya still has that stubbornly arrogant temper."

Mizuhara Fuyumi jumped off the chair, rubbed her sore knees, and a rare smile appeared on her usually expressionless face.

"Ughhhhhh!!!"

Hinako Inui, who was tied to the chair, struggled even more fiercely, and even bounced around on the spot with the chair. Gin Dojima sighed helplessly, went over and untied her ropes, and also took out the cloth stuffed in her mouth.

"Finally saved!" Hinako Inui gasped for breath. After resting for a moment, without even straightening her disheveled clothes and belongings, she pounced on Megumi Tadokoro like a hungry tiger.

"Xiao Hui—!!!"

Tadokoro Megumi was still stunned by Shinomiya's last words when Inui Hinako's sudden hug knocked her back half a step.

"Chef Inui... Chef Inui..." Tadokoro Megumi was almost out of breath from being hugged so tightly, her hands hanging in mid-air, unsure of what to do. She could only blush and stammer, "You're hugging me too tightly..."

"That's great! That's really great! Waaaaah, I knew you could do it, Megumi!" Hinako Inui pressed her face against Megumi Tadokoro's, rubbing against her and sniffling, occasionally letting out a silly, lecherous laugh. "That clumsy, hard-working look of hers just makes me want to squish it! Ah... that soft little face, it feels so good..."

"Hinako, could you please pay a little attention to your image as a judge?" Mizuhara Fuyumi complained, looking at the scene that seemed like harassment.

“That’s right, Hinako, you’re going to scare people like this.” Donato Goto straightened his slightly disheveled suit collar and walked up to Chen Yuxing.

"Chen Yuxing, your composure and your unwavering trust and support for the head chef as a sous chef have shown me the qualities a mature chef should have."

Donato pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it over. "I'm really looking forward to your future performance. If one day after you graduate from Totsuki Culinary Academy you feel bored and want to experience the true Tuscan style of Italy, you're welcome to visit my 'Tesoro' restaurant anytime with this business card. Of course, if you'd like to work for me directly, I'll offer you a salary that will definitely satisfy you."

Chen Yuxing took the business card. It had a string of Italian words and an address printed on it, and a faint scent of lemon and oak mixed together.

"Thank you for your kind words, Chef Donato." Chen Yuxing put away the business card and nodded politely. "If I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely visit you."

"Tch, what a cocky brat."

Kakuzaki Taki pursed his lips and flicked his dark purple ponytail behind his head.

Then she looked at Tadokoro Megumi: "Hey, you blue-haired girl, your knife skills and cooking technique are still a bit immature, but your consideration for the diners is somewhat presentable. Don't think you can get cocky just because you beat Shinomiya once. Keep gritting your teeth and surviving in Totsuki!"