Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

"I'm Rei Kawashima, the host of today's food battle! Welcome to the Moonlit Night!"

"Today, we will witness a food war here that could determine the highest authority in the far moon!"

"But first, let's introduce the three judges for today's food battle!"

She raised her hand and pointed to the judges' panel, and the spotlight followed her finger.

"The first one is our Totsuki Academy High School's tenth seat of the Totsuki Elite Ten, the one with the title of 'God Tongue'—Ms. Nakiri Erina!"

Sitting on the far left of the judges' panel, Erina Nakiri arrogantly raised her chin and did not respond to the cheers of the audience.

Standing next to her was Hisako Shinoto, who was holding a laptop.

"Our second judge!" Kawashima Rei continued, "is our 73rd graduate of Totsuki Academy, the youngest professor at Totsuki Academy, and hailed as the 'spice authority'—Professor Shiomi Jun!"

The spotlight shone on the middle seat.

A petite woman, who looked like a middle school student, was sitting in a chair. However, she seemed to be somewhat socially awkward, gripping the armrests of the chair tightly with both hands as everyone stared at her.

"Ugh... Why did I get tricked into becoming a judge? I really want to go back to the research lab..." Shiomi Jun muttered softly.

"The third one! That is, our last judge!"

"That's our legendary lecturer from Totsuki Academy, the one students respectfully call 'The Chef Who Never Smiles'—Professor Roland Chappell!"

In the seat on the far right, Roland Chappell still had a stern face. He crossed his arms and scanned the crowd below the stage, and the originally enthusiastic atmosphere cooled down slightly under his gaze.

"Wow, this year's judging panel is just too amazing!" Daigo Aoki slapped Shoji Sato next to him. "God Tongue, Professor Jun Shiomi, and Professor Chappelle, how terrifying."

“Yeah, and…” Sato Shoji gasped and slapped Aoki Daigo back, “Next time you slap me, could you please not hit me so hard? It hurts!”

Meanwhile, in a private room on the second floor of the Moonlit Sky Pavilion.

Several figures in different uniforms stood in front of the glass, looking at the stadium below.

"Oh my, that kid Kuga really knows how to stir things up. He's made quite a fuss this time." Isshiki Satoshi, dressed formally in his uniform, looked down with a smile. "But I'm really looking forward to seeing what Hoshi does."

"Hmph, it's all just a pointless monkey show." Eizan Etsu sneered from the side. "Even if Kuga is a fanatic, with his expertise in Sichuan cuisine, even if that transfer student has some skill, Kuga will still win in the end."

“That’s not necessarily true.” Standing on the other side, Kinokunori Nene looked at the arena below. “That Chen Yuxing showed quite good strength in the previous Food War and dormitory training. I feel that Kuga Teruki, that shorty, will definitely lose.”

"It's no use talking about this now, let's wait and see," Isshiki Satoshi said with a smile.

Apart from that, Kobayashi Rindou, Tsukasa Eishi, and the others on the side did not participate, but focused on watching the field below.

Chapter 56 The Competition Begins

"After introducing our judging panel..." Kawashima Rei shouted on stage, once again drawing everyone's attention, "Next, please welcome our two main characters for today!"

"First to enter is the one who proposed this food battle! He is our 91st class member of Totsuki Culinary Arts University, the current eighth seat of the Totsuki Elite Ten, and the captain of the Chinese Cuisine Research Club—Senior Kuga Terunori!"

Accompanied by a burst of rousing music, the contestant passage on the right opened, and Terunori Kuga strode out dressed in a Chinese-style chef's uniform.

"Kuga-senpai! Kuga-senpai! Chinese cuisine is the best in the world!"

When all the members of the Chinese Cuisine Research Club in the stands saw Terunori Kuga come out, they all waved their support items in unison and shouted at the top of their lungs.

Terunori Kuga walked to the kitchen counter and waved to the people on it.

"Now, the second contestant!" Kawashima Rei pointed to the passage on the left and continued, "is our undefeated first-year dark horse since the start of the semester! He also shone brightly during his residential training—transfer student Chen Yuxing!"

On the left side of the contestant's passage, Chen Yuxing, dressed in an ordinary chef's uniform and carrying his knife case, walked out.

"Is this the transfer student? He doesn't seem as amazing as they say..."

"I feel like Senior Kuga has completely won just by his aura."

"Can he really defeat the Elite Ten?"

Unlike the enthusiastic cheers when Terunori Kuga entered the arena, most students had only heard of Chen Yuxing and had never actually witnessed his performance, so they all doubted his abilities.

However, it wasn't all skepticism.

"Go Chen Yuxing! Crush that guy on the other side!"

"Go, Ah Xing! We believe in you!"

"Don't lose here, you can only lose to me."

The people from Polar Star Dormitory, Hojo Miyoko, Takumi, and others were all cheering Chen Yuxing on.

Looking at everyone on the stage, Chen Yuxing turned around, smiled, made a winning gesture at them, and then walked to his own cooking station.

Just as he opened the knife case, Chen Yuxing's demeanor changed. He was now like a drawn sword, exuding a sense of oppression.

On the judging panel, Professor Xia Peier narrowed her eyes slightly as she stared at Chen Yuxing, while Isshiki Satoshi in the second-floor private room smiled as she watched this scene.

Standing opposite Chen Yuxing, Kuga Terunori sensed the change in Chen Yuxing and also toned down his posture somewhat. "Not bad, Chen Yuxing. Let me see your full strength."

Chen Yuxing took a kitchen knife from the knife box and twirled it in his hand. "Then please give me your guidance, Senior Jiuwo. I'm also very curious to see how you'll bring out your full potential in Sichuan cuisine."

"You will." After saying that, Terunori Kuga suddenly lifted a cloth covering the side of his kitchen counter.

"hiss--"

The audience gasped.

All that could be seen under the cloth that Terunori Kuga had lifted was a variety of spices.

The bright red, even somewhat black, facing-heaven chili peppers; the bright-colored Erjingtiao chili peppers that resemble thorny branches; the Hanyuan peppercorns with their rich numbing aroma… and many other different kinds of Sichuan spices.

Just looking at those piles of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns was enough to make one's mouth water and feel numb; the spiciness even spread strongly into the audience.

"My God, what are we going to do with all this chili peppers?! Make bombs?!"

"This is too exaggerated! Just looking at it is enough to make me feel like I'm going to die from the spiciness!"

"Kuga-senpai is really going to get serious this time!"

Erina Nakiri frowned as she looked at the spices on Terunori Kuga's table. She was now regretting becoming a judge; the spicy stimulation was torture for her God Tongue.

Professor Shiomi Jun, who was sitting in her chair with some social anxiety, suddenly changed after seeing the spices. Her eyes were fixed on the peppercorns and chilies as if she had seen some kind of treasure.

In contrast, Chen Yuxing's side was much simpler, consisting of Chinese cabbage, chicken, ham, pork ribs, dried scallops, and some common ingredients.

"Alright, now that both teams are in position!" Kawashima Rei raised her right hand and announced loudly, "Then, let's begin this food war where the spots for the Elite Ten and the affiliation of our clubs are at stake—"

"The match will last three hours!"

"The match begins now!!"

As soon as Kawashima Rei made the announcement, the two people on the platform quickly sprang into action.

With a loud bang, Terunori Kuga's cooking counter turned on high heat.

He grabbed a handful of chili peppers, chopped them open with a knife, and put them into the pot. An intensely spicy aroma exploded like a bomb, rushing towards the audience.

The audience in the front row were so choked by the smell that they started coughing and had to quickly cover their noses.

"Cough cough cough... My God! This is so spicy!"

"I can't take it anymore, tears are already streaming down my face. Is Senior Jiu trying to kill us with the spiciness first...?"

The same goes for the Polar Star Dormitory; because they were at the very front, everyone faced the spiciness head-on.

"Is this guy crazy?" Daigo Aoki said, covering his nose. "Just smelling this makes my tongue feel numb. I can't imagine what it would be like to eat it."

Shoji Sato nodded repeatedly, choked by the spitting and unable to speak, constantly sneezing.

On stage, Terunori Kuga continued his work, taking out the tofu and quickly cutting it into small cubes with a kitchen knife.

Then he soaked the cut tofu in the prepared hot salt water. This helps the tofu retain its shape while removing the beany taste and making it more tender.

On the other side, unlike Terunori Kuga's enthusiastic demeanor, Yu-Hsing Chen appeared very quiet.

He leisurely rolled up his sleeves and arranged all the ingredients on the table.

"No, what are the transfer students doing?"

"Is he not in a hurry at all? Does he know he's bound to lose?"

Not only were the students in the audience confused, but even the top ten on the second floor couldn't figure out what Chen Yuxing was doing.

Eizan Etsu pushed up his glasses and said with a hint of mockery, "What an idiot. Did he smell the spiciness from Kuga's place and realize he couldn't make a dish that could compare, so he gave up?"

While snacking on the side, Kobayashi Rindou leaned out with great interest to watch Chen Yuxing's operation: "But he doesn't seem flustered at all. It's really interesting. I'm starting to look forward to what dishes he can make. I wish I had been a judge this time."

Chen Yuxing, sitting in the audience, ignored the discussions among them.

He picked up a cleaver and quickly cut up the hen and the duck, then cleaned them. After that, he started boiling water in a pot.

After the water boiled, Chen Yuxing put the dried scallops, ham ribs, chicken and duck into the pot to wash and blanch them.

Remove the blood foam, then take it out and rinse it clean again.

After doing all this, Chen Yuxing poured all the cleaned ingredients into a large soup pot, then added water, scallions, and ginger.

After the water boils, add some cooking wine, then reduce the heat to low and simmer.

After doing all this, Chen Yuxing leaned against the kitchen counter and started to stare blankly.

"No, why did he stop moving?"

"Are you kidding me? Food battles have time limits. Isn't he going to deal with other things?"

The audience was in an uproar when they saw his performance.

Professor Roland Chappell on the judging panel squinted and carefully looked at the pot in front of Chen Yuxing. He felt that the soup in the pot was not so simple.

Hisagi Terunori continued with great enthusiasm.

He took out a piece of beef and quickly chopped it with a cleaver, soon mincing the beef into slightly granular pieces.

He spread all the minced meat on a plate and took a small jar from the spice rack, which contained his own homemade fermented soybean paste.

Kuga Terunori scooped out a large piece of fermented soybean paste with a spoon and placed it on the cutting board. Then he crushed it with the flat side of a cleaver. The resulting paste spread on the cutting board and emitted a fermented aroma. The sour and salty flavors mixed with the spiciness of the chili peppers created a rich and complex taste.

He poured the oil into the pot and started heating it. When it was almost done, he pushed all the fermented soybean paste into the pot. With a sizzle, the originally yellow oil in the pot was instantly dyed red.

Hisagi Terunori stirred the pan with a spatula, and the aroma of the fermented soybean paste was repeatedly aroused and spread by the hot oil.

“This smell…” Erina Nakiri is very sensitive to all kinds of smells, let alone this kind of pungent spiciness. She doesn’t really like this smell, but she has to admit that Terunori Kuga’s control over this smell is indeed extraordinary.

Add the scallions, ginger, and garlic to the pot in that order, and finally the minced beef. Once all the ingredients are in the pot, turn the heat down to low and sauté slowly.

The minced meat tumbled in the chili oil, its original pink color slowly turning brownish-gray, and each grain of minced meat was coated in the chili oil.

At this point, Terunori Kuga took the tofu out of the salt water next to him and drained the water. Then he carefully put the tofu pieces into the pot and used the back of a spoon to push them so that the tofu pieces could absorb the flavor in the red oil without breaking apart.

"This Mapo Tofu is perfect." Professor Shiomi Jun couldn't help but praise Kuga Terunori as he watched his movements. "The way he stir-fries the spices, prepares the ground beef, and now lets the tofu absorb the broth... he controls the heat perfectly at every step. No wonder he's one of the Elite Ten."

“After all, it’s his area of ​​expertise,” Chef Chappelle rarely spoke up, “and he’s very confident in his dishes.”

Even while interacting with the judges and the audience, Terunori Kuga did not stop moving.

He added cornstarch slurry to the pot for the third time and then stirred it continuously. The broth in the pot became thick and shiny under the action of the cornstarch, and every piece of tofu was coated with sauce.

Terunori Kuga scooped the Mapo Tofu out of the pot and put it in a bowl. He sprinkled a layer of Sichuan peppercorn powder on top and drizzled a spoonful of chili oil. With a sizzling sound, the Sichuan peppercorn powder burst out with a numbing aroma under the hot oil, and the dish was officially completed.

He looked up in Chen Yuxing's direction.

Chen Yuxing was still standing in front of the soup pot.

"No, it's been almost an hour and he's still staring at that pot of soup?"

"What on earth is he doing?"

Some people in the audience couldn't hold back any longer.

"What kind of dish is this?"

In fact, it wasn't just the audience; even the Polar Star Dormitory members were starting to lose their composure.

Yoshino Yuuki leaned on the railing, straining to see what Chen Yuxing was up to, but still couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then she turned and tugged at Tadokoro Megumi: "Megumi, did Yuxing tell you what he was going to do? So much time has passed, and it seems like Yuxing hasn't done anything except make soup. Is there any dish like that?"

“Ah-Xing didn’t tell me exactly what he was going to do.” Tadokoro Megumi shook her head, indicating that she didn’t know either. “However, Ah-Xing makes soup in the kitchen every night, and the soup always looks very clear, but it tastes very rich. I believe Ah-Xing must have his own ideas.”

“If that’s the case, then this soup is definitely not simple,” Daigo Aoki said, shoving his head in.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Sato Shoji shoved his head back down. “When has A-Xing ever done anything simple?”

Chen Yuxing, who was sitting in the audience, glanced at the time and finally got moving. He put the lid on the soup pot, walked to the cutting board, and took out a chicken breast and some lean pork.

"Bang bang bang bang bang."

He took two cleavers and frantically pounded and chopped two pieces of meat. With his movements, the meat was slowly broken down into minced meat.