Capítulo 53: A Meal and a Mystery
"Enjoying your summer break?"
"I guess. What about you, President?"
"Yeah, same. I feel like I'm using my time productively, at least."
Two guys were sitting on their beds and facing each other in the boys' room on the second
floor of the vacation home. Normally, there would be so much more two guys could talk about
when they were alone like this, but they weren't putting any effort into the conversation.
As a result, they ended up basically talking about nothing, even though their mouths were
moving. It made sense, though, since they—Touya, mainly—couldn't think about anything
except for the kitchen on the first floor.
There was a spacious kitchen on the first floor of the Kenzaki vacation home, and right
now, five girls were in the middle of a battle. Although this may have sounded like an
exaggeration, they were, in fact, having a cook-off. It all started because of an idea that Yuki
came up with on the train there. Yuki suggested that the girls in the group should all prepare
one dish for dinner, but since that alone wouldn't be fun, she proposed that they have the
two boys taste each dish and pick which one they liked the best. The only catch was that the
girls wouldn't tell the boys who made what dish. Although Chisaki seemed to be the most
enthusiastic about it, they all ended up agreeing to go along with the idea in the end.
As a result, the two boys in the group were forced to wait in their room to keep things
fair while the five girls were cooking. Unfortunately, the spacious kitchen still wasn't big
enough for five people to cook separate dishes at once, so they had to take turns cooking,
with one group of two and one group of three. However…
"Uh… Yep."
"..."
Touya continued to stare at the door, meaninglessly grunting words and obviously
feeling uneasy. It was understandable, though. Unlike Masachika, who would be able to rate
the food with ease, Touya was only concerned about which dish was cooked by the girl he
loved most. What was important to him was not the taste. All he cared about was figuring
out which dish Chisaki made.
"So, uh… By the way…"
"Hmm?"
"Have you ever eaten Chisaki's cooking before?"
"…Never."
"Cool…"
Of course, only one dish could be the most delicious, but it was possible that they'd
be asked what dish was their second favorite, especially if Touya accidentally didn't pick
Chisaki's dish on his first try. And if he picked the wrong dish again—… The thought alone
was terrifying. Even Masachika didn't want to see their relationship sour. After all, who
would want to see such a beautiful blue sea stained dark red?
"Uh… I don't mean this in any kind of rude way…but is Chisaki not good at cooking?
Or does she just not like to cook?"
"Good question. She has never really talked about it…so I guess, maybe?"
"And yet she's seemed really fired up about the cook-off ever since Yuki brought it
up…"
"…Chisaki has developed a Pavlovian response to accepting competitions. That's all."
"Oh…"
Masachika thought back to how riled up Alisa got whenever there was a competition, and
it started to make sense to him. After collecting himself, he spoke up in a more encouraging
manner and claimed: "This might actually be a good thing, though! All you have to do is
choose the dish that looks like it was obviously made by someone who doesn't cook!"
"Hmm… I have mixed feelings when you put it that way, but maybe you're right."
Masachika firmly nodded back at the student council president, who had his head tilted
back so he was looking up at the ceiling.
"First off, Ayano can cook. And according to Alya, Masha is good at cooking, too. Alya
isn't a bad cook, either, and Yuki…doesn't make bad food, despite messing up from time
to time. Honestly, I'll probably be able to figure out which dishes Yuki and Ayano cooked.
And…Alya has a habit of cutting vegetables and whatnot absolutely perfectly, so you should
be able to tell just by looking at it what dish she cooked."
"O-oh, interesting… Wait. You've eaten their cooking before? All three of them?"
"W-well, I mean, Yuki and Ayano are childhood friends of mine, and I tried a little
of Alya's cooking the other day…," Masachika mumbled somewhat ambiguously before
clearing his throat and adding, "Anyway, I'll give you a sign if I figure out who cooked what
dish. If you know what the other three cooked, then you'll have a fifty-fifty chance of picking
the right dish. Even if you mess up at first and choose Masha's dish, you can still fix things
pretty easily, right?"
"W-wow, I really appreciate it, Kuze."
"…The only thing we need to worry about is Yuki or Ayano trying to be original and
deliberately cooking something they wouldn't usually."
Masachika lowered his tone and expressed this concern right as Touya was beginning to
see a ray of hope in the darkness. After all, it was Yuki who'd proposed this cook-off. It was
very possible that she was going to make something she had never cooked before, since she
knew that Masachika would be able to pick out her dish if she cooked what she usually made.
It was also possible that she ordered Ayano to make something new and unique as well.
"…Are you sure you're not overthinking things? Would she really go out of her way to
cook something new when she was the one who proposed the cook-off? It's too risky."
"I really hope I'm overthinking things…"
Touya made a very valid point, but Masachika knew his sister. He knew that she was
more interested in making the cook-off "fun" than winning.
"By the way…I heard on TV that Russians love mayonnaise," Touya commented,
looking up to the side as if he was trying to remember something.
"You what?"
Masachika tilted his head in a puzzled manner.
"A show said that Russians put mayonnaise in basically anything they make, so I was
thinking that maybe this could help us figure out which dishes the Kujou sisters made."
"Russians using mayonnaise in most of their cuisine? Not sour cream? I've never heard
that before, and my grandfather, who has been to Russia before, never mentioned anything
about mayonnaise, either…"
"Maybe they don't use it in cuisine they serve to tourists, but they use it at home when
cooking for family?"
"Hmm… I don't know if we should be putting so much faith in some random TV show…
Besides, Russia's a big country. Even Japan has vastly different food culture when you
compare Kanto with Kansai, so I imagine a country as massive as Russia would be far more
varied, right?"
"Hmm… I guess you're right. If someone told me that Japanese people loved soy sauce,
I'd agree, but that doesn't mean it's used in every Japanese dish…"
"Right? So I don't know if we should put too much faith in what you heard on that
show…but if there is a dish completely covered in mayonnaise, then maybe we should
consider the possibility."
"That just sounds awful," said Touya grimly, then laughed, which was followed by a
few chuckles from Masachika as well. After that, Masachika stared at the door to the room
in silence for a few moments before glancing at Touya once more.
"…Want to go see how things are going?"
"What? But they told us not to step foot in the kitchen or—"
"We're just going to the bathroom. Hearing them talking might be able to give us some
clues, right?"
"I see. Interesting."
After exchanging firm nods, they decided to crouch for some reason or another and left
the room. Cautiously descending the stairs, they tried to listen for any voices coming from
the kitchen or living room behind the closed doors, until they could somewhat hear the faint
sounds of people cooking coming from the kitchen.
The steady rhythm of something thumping against a hard surface must have been a
kitchen knife. The sizzling hinted that something was cooking in a frying pan. But it was
Maria's sudden voice that made both of them freeze and strain their ears.
"It smells so good. ♪ The longer you cook vegetables, the better they taste, don't they?
Maybe I should add some pepper and give it a little kick?"
"I know what you mean," replied Ayano.
"Add some pepper…and give it a little kick? Interesting…," muttered Chisaki. A few
heavy thuds and smacks followed their conversation for some reason. Both Masachika and
Touya began to wonder what was causing those mystifying sounds…when all of a sudden,
there was silence. Another brief moment went by…
Clang…
The gratifying sound of something hitting metal echoed from the kitchen, followed by
silence. After a few seconds went by, the sound of cooking resumed, like background music
slowly fading in.
"…Did Chisaki cut something?" whispered Touya.
"…With what? A katana?" Masachika whispered back.
They stared off into the distance while standing in the middle of the staircase together
until Ayano's voice finally snapped them out of their daze.
"It's usually better if you roast them a little."
"Really? …You're pathetic. I've never seen weaker vegetables in my life. You didn't
even put up a fight when I cut you."
"Chisaki…? Why are you insulting the vegetables?"
…For some reason, chaos could be heard coming from the kitchen, especially when it
came to whatever Chisaki was doing. When Masachika looked back, Touya was staring into
the distance in a daze…which was incredibly understandable.
…Don't let it bother you. It'll be okay.
When Masachika sympathetically placed his hand on the student council president's
shoulder, Touya looked back up the staircase with a philosophical gaze, then crouched aslow
as he could for his massive size and returned to their room. Meanwhile, Masachika decided
to head over to the bathroom to make their potential excuse more credible, so he stood…and
found Alisa glaring at him with a chilling gaze from the side of the staircase.
"..."
"..."
They exchanged glances for a few seconds until Masachika slowly descended the stairs,
briskly walked straight over to Alisa, and crossed his arms.
"Let's remain calm," he whispered in a consoling voice as he guided Alisa away from
the living room. "It's not what you think," he claimed with a pointlessly smug expression.
"What do you mean? It's exactly how it looks. And who gave you permission to touch
me?"
Wearing a look of disgust, Alisa smacked the wrist holding her bare upper arm.
"Oops. My bad."
Didn't she tell me in Russian the other day that she didn't mind if I touched her? he
thought in the back of his mind, promptly letting go of her. Alisa then rubbed her upper arm
and grouchily muttered:
"<You need to be gentler.>"
"I'm really sorry."
All Masachika could do was genuinely apologize after that, but at the same time, he
couldn't help but wonder if that meant he could touch her aslong as he was gentle. He bowed,
lowering his head…and found himself accidentally staring at a beautiful mountain range.
Yep. I mean, thisis awesome, but when compared with the sensation of actually touching
her…
The thought naturally crossed his mind. Oh, she's actually wearing a bra this time, he
simultaneously noted as well.
"You creep…"
Alisa's lips twisted with pure revulsion while she glared at him with a reproachful gaze
as if she could read his mind. She immediately took a step back, covering her chest.
"Not only were you eavesdropping, but you're a degenerate as well. There's seriously
no hope for you," she hissed, her voice brimming with disgust.
"Hey, come on. I'm not a degenerate or a creep."
"Hmph! You didn't deny eavesdropping."
"Oh, uh… That's…"
After stammering out a few words, Masachika briefly sighed and decided to tell her the
truth.
"I might not have anything to worry about, but Touya has to say the best-tasting dish is
whatever Chisaki makes, right? So I thought I could do a little scouting. That's all."
"Oh?"
Alisa stopped covering her chest and raised an eyebrow as if she was somewhat satisfied
with his reasoning.
"Anyway, I get it. But I don't think Chisaki would be happy if she figured out one of the
judges was simply trying to guess which dish is hers. She's serious about winning."
"Y-yeah, that's… Yeah…"
"Besides, even if she loses, all she has to do is practice and win next time, right? Having
a judge guess and choose which one is hers without considering how good the actual dish is
robs her of that chance to grow and improve."
"Er… You have a point." Masachika groaned because she was absolutely right. With
that being said, nobody wanted to be depressed at the beach, and a mistake like this could
certainly ruin the mood…but Masachika didn't mutter a single word of this, and he grinned.
"Anyway, you don't have to worry about me. I'm going to honestly pick whichever one
I like best. Even if I can guess which dish you made, I'm not going to let it influence my
decision."
Alisa smirked provocatively back at him.
"Oh, wow. You honestly believe you can figure out which dish I prepared? Though
you've only eaten my cooking twice?"
"Yeah, probably. I've already picked up on some of your habits."
"Oh? Have you?"
She smirked while raising an eyebrow asif to say, "I'd like to see you try." Nevertheless,
Masachika doubled down and smugly smirked back at her. Before he realized it, he had
challenged Alisa to a game where he would have to guess which dish she made. Regardless,
he was already on a mission to figure out which dish Chisaki made, so adding Alisa to the
mix was no big deal to him.
This is getting kind of exciting, though. This is my chance to correctly guess whose dish
is whose and look like a badass.
Although this new challenge may have deviated from the whole purpose of the cookoff, Masachika was fired up, and Alisa could see that.
"Whatever. If you do figure out which dish is mine, you don't need to worry about
hurting my feelings, okay?"
"You got it. I'm looking forward to it."
Masachika then turned his back to Alisa and began walking up the stairs to the second
floor…
"<Because I'm going to make you choose me.>"
Hnnng?! She's talking about her dish, right…?
…He was struck from behind by her provocative Russian whispers, causing him to
stumble the entire way.
An hour had passed, and Masachika and Touya were now sitting in front of a table.
"President Touya, Masachika, please enjoy your meal," requested Yuki on behalf of all
the cooks. Her words, however, were followed by complete silence. It seemed like the girls
were not going to comment or react to anything so as to not give any hints to the two boys
while they ate.
""Thank you all for cooking this wonderful meal.""
Masachika and Touya clasped their hands together to express their appreciation, then
shifted their gazes to the dishes lined up on the table as five girls across from them stared
eerily at them in silence.
Well, there don't seem to be any dishes covered in mayonnaise.
There wasn't a single dish that looked like a complete failure, contrary to what the boys
were led to believe when they overheard all those chaotic noises.
Thank goodness none of the food is so grotesque that it has to be censored like they do
in comic books…
But on the other hand, it wasn't obvious who made what. From left to right, it looked like
the dishes were fried rice, fried chicken, boiled pot stickers, hamburg steak, and…a mystery
soup.
I wonder what that is?
Not only Masachika, but Touya was also mesmerized by the dish on the far-right end,
where a large bowl wasfilled to the brim with some sort of dark-red soup. Seeing asthere was
sliced French bread lined up by its side, the bread was probably supposed to be dipped in the
soup and eaten. There seemed to be diced tomatoes in the soup as well, which might be why
it was so red…but it was still a mystery. There were even lemon slices floating on the top…
Is this a cold soup? I mean, there are lemon slices in there… Wait. Is that steam? More
important, how is it not going to be sour with both tomatoes and lemons in it? …Yeah, I don't
have the courage to dig into that one just yet.
The instant Masachika came to that conclusion, he and Touya exchanged glances and
briefly communicated with their eyes. As if there was some sort of mutual understanding,
Touya pulled the large plate of fried chicken toward himself and placed a few bite-size pieces
on smaller plates for them to share.
They look normal… Looks like…they're garnished with lettuce and tomato. Yeah…
Traditional Japanese fried chicken like this doesn't really have anything that makes it stand
out visually.
The fried chicken looked good, but the lack of unique characteristics was going to make
it hard for Masachika to accomplish his goal, which was discerning which dishes Chisaki
and Alisa made.
Well, I guess I'll just have to try it first…
He decided to take a bite of the fried chicken alone. Rich flavors of soy sauce and garlic
graced histongue when he bit into the crispy skin, and the savory chicken itself almost melted
in his mouth.
"Mm-hmm… This is good."
"Yeah, it really is."
Their impressions naturally rolled off their tongues…while they immediately glanced at
the five girls across from them to see how they'd react. But unfortunately, not one of them
even blinked.
I should have known they wouldn't give themselves away that easily… Anyway, this
chicken is legitimately good.
Next up wasto try it with the onions and lettuce, which also ended up tasting outstanding
together, since the fried chicken was especially rich.
Like, I'm sure the taste is thanks to some store-bought fried chicken mix, but it isn't easy
deep-frying chicken and getting it to be this perfectly crispy, so whoever made this has to
be pretty good at cooking.
Masachika's chopsticks naturally reached for a second and third piece of fried chicken,
but he caught himself before things got out of hand and decided to move on to the next dish.
The next large plate that Touya reached for ended up being the fried rice on the left.
It looks like there's egg, scallion, cabbage, fish cake… There isn't any meat? It's pretty
simple as far as fried rice goes.
On the other hand, whoever made this probably had to be pretty confident to go with
something so basic for a cook-off.
I'm actually looking forward to this one.
With a dash of excitement, Masachika scooped some of the fried rice off his small plate
and into his mouth.
It's pretty good…but it's kinda bland…
It was honestly a little bit disappointing. Maybe it tasted so bland because he ate such
rich fried chicken first. You could say it had a very refined taste if you wanted to look at it
positively, but for someone like Masachika, who usually stuffed his mouth with garlic fried
rice when he cooked at home, it was slightly underwhelming.
Well, I guess it's good that I can keep eating it without getting sick of it…but I'd kill for
some yellow pickled radish on the side.
Although he personally wasn't a huge fan, that didn't mean the fried rice tasted bad, so
he simply reported that it was good and left it at that. Regardless, none of the girls reacted.
Touya grabbed the plate of boiled pot stickers following the fried rice. These weren't
particularly garnished. In fact, it was basically nothing more than pot stickers being around
70 percent submerged in soup. What stood out was the fact that there weren't any creases
in the edges.
It sounded like Chisaki was using vegetables in her dish when we were eavesdropping,
so this most likely is not hers.
With that in mind, he brought a single pot sticker to his mouth—
"Mn…?!"
The ingredients inside the pot sticker took him completely by surprise.
Th-this isn't ground beef… It's mashed potatoes!
The soup tasting like consommé caught him off guard, but even then, the flavor of the
pot stickers absolutely blew his mind. The sweetness of the soup-flavored mashed potatoes
tickled his meat-expecting taste buds.
What the…? But…this is actually pretty good.
After exchanging stunned glances with Touya, Masachika simply uttered, "This is
good," which he truly believed, and that was why he also started to doubt that Chisaki was
this dish's chef. On the other hand, if Chisaki was cutting and mashing potatoes, it would
explain all those mystifying sounds, thuds, and smashing they heard earlier.
This is bad… This is a lot harder than I thought. If only Alya and Masha went with
something easy to pick out, like Russian cuisine…
That was when Masachika was hit with an epiphany from the heavens.
W-wait…! Is this…? Now it makes sense!
He didn't pick up on it at first because they genuinely looked like pot stickers, but he
was almost sure of it now. These weren't pot stickers.
These are pelmeni! These are Russian dumplings!
Pelmeni was a popular Russian dish even in Japan. Although Masachika had heard of
it, he had never eaten it before, but he was able to figure out what it was due to the thought
of Russian cuisine crossing his mind.
I vaguely remember Grandpa mentioning that pelmeni can have various different
ingredients for the filling… So…this…
This meant that there was a high chance of this dish being either Alisa's or Maria's. The
taste was nothing like anything Masachika had ever experienced before, so it would be hard
to believe that Yuki or Ayano had anything to do with it.
These are…surprisingly really good.
He only grew more excited with the taste of something new on his tongue as he felt like
he was one step closer to finding out which dish Alisa cooked. However, the instant he saw
Touya reaching for the next dish, his burning excitement was doused with a cold glass of
disappointment.
Oh… He's going for it.
The dish Touya grabbed next…was the mysterious soup on the right. Inside the soup
was tomato, bacon, and finely cut vegetables here and there…
The green powder floating on the top… Is that basil? …I seriously can't imagine what
this is going to taste like.
After staring hard at the soup in his bowl for a few moments, he decided to come back
to the French bread later and take a sip of the soup first.
"…?!"
Immediately, a chill ran down his spine; Touya's eyes opened wide in astonishment as
well. That was just how dumbfounded they were. If they could describe the unexpected taste
in one word…
"It's pizza…"
"Yeah…"
Masachika took another sip…and the rich flavors of pizza…margherita filled his mouth.
A pizza-flavored soup? …This is seriously puzzling.
But it was good. It was actually good. Masachika took a piece of bread, dipped it into
the soup, and tossed it into his mouth.
"This is good, too…"
Every bite was packed full ofsoup thanksto how spongy the French bread was. Although
the soup itself was somewhat on the sour side, the sweetness of the bread really helped bring
synergy to the dish.
This is incredible… Hold on. Is this also…?
Another tidbit of knowledge popped into Masachika's mind. Russians often had soup
and bread for lunch. In fact, he had also heard that there was a lot of soup in Russian cuisine,
so it wouldn't be a complete surprise if this was one of their traditional dishes.
But we're having dinner now, and I think traditionally Russians mainly eat black
bread…
Even if this was Russian cuisine, would Alisa or Maria serve this for dinner? If anything,
it was probably more likely that someone who had little knowledge of Russian culture simply
looked up the recipe and made this dish in order to throw the judges off…
Hmm… I guess I should reserve my judgment until after finishing the last dish, though.
After reaching that conclusion, Masachika decided to hold off on a decision for now and
moved on to the next plate. The final dish was a Japanese-style hamburg steak with grated
radish on top, doused in a thick sauce that was garnished with mushrooms, broccoli, and a
variety of colorful bell peppers. A single hamburg steak was a little too much for one person,
so he and Touya ended up cutting one in half and sharing it.
This is like the fried chicken. There aren't really any visual characteristics or clues that
make it stand out…
There wasn't even any cheese inside. It appeared to be an ordinary hamburg steak, which
proved to be just as tasty as it looked.
"I usually have mine with tomatoes and demi-glace, but this is great, too."
The grated radish, which had absorbed a lot of the thick sauce, was perfectly sweet and
went surprisingly well with the hamburg steak. The steak itself was decent, as one would
expect by how it looked, but Masachika's tongue was really enjoying the new combination
of flavors.
But if you asked me who made this…
He wasn't confident,since he had never had something like this before. His curious mind
continued to consider all the possibilities until he finished eating and placed his chopsticks
down.
"I think it's time to hear what our judges thought," Yuki suggested gleefully as soon
as Touya finished eating. The moment of fate was upon them…but Masachika still hadn't
identified which dish was Chisaki's.
The only one that was obviously not hers was the pelmeni. That had to be Masha's
or Alya's. That mystery soup could have been their creation as well…but I can't deny the
possibility that Yuki made that to throw me off…
Regardless, Chisaki most likely didn't cook either of those, which Masachika let Touya
know under the table by using the hand signals they had come up with. Nevertheless, they
still had to worry about the fried chicken, hamburg steak, and fried rice, which were all dishes
that countless young men from all over the world enjoyed. In addition, there wasn't really
much of a gap in the level of perfection among the three dishes, even though Masachika
personally wasn't a huge fan of the fried rice.
Was the fried rice made bland on purpose, or did it just end up bland due to a lack of
skill in the kitchen? Because that would change a lot…
If it was the latter, then it was highly possible that Chisaki made it. However, if it was
the former…
"…All right, I've made up my mind," muttered Touya, catching his fellow judge off
guard. Although Masachika still hadn't narrowed down his choices, Touya's eyes were
brimming with confidence and determination as he faced forward and clearly stated:
"I liked the fried chicken the best."
A moment of silence swallowed the room. The air was so tense that it felt like an eternity
had gone by, until eventually…
"Yesss!!" cheered Chisaki with an elated note in her voice, jumping out of her chair
while throwing her fist in the air. Despite the other female members' furrowed brows due
to her eliminating one of Masachika's choices, they still congratulated her from the bottom
of their hearts.
"I'm so happy for you, Chisaki. ♪"
"Congratulations! You two really are meant for each other."
"Congratulations."
"I'm happy for you. Congratulations."
But amid the applause, Masachika found himself smiling wryly for a different reason.
Heh. You didn't need my help, after all. Ha-ha… Unbelievable.
He felt his fellow judge was full of something for being so nervous, and it wasn't food.
"Touyaaa, come on. Was it really that good?"
"Yes, it…really…was…delicious."
"Really? I'm so glad I've only been focusing on practicing how to cook fried chicken."
"Hmm? 'Only'?"
"Giggle! If you really liked it that much, then I guess I could make it for you every so
often."
"O-oh, really? That'd be awesome."
Chisaki wasn't even trying to hide how joyfulshe was asshe repeatedly slapped Touya's
back. On the other hand, Touya seemed to be struggling to talk as he desperately tried to
swallow something back down that he coughed up due to said slapping. Meanwhile,
Masachika bitterly narrowed his eyes at the happy couple.
Incidentally, Touya's dietary habits were going to change permanently in the not-sodistant future, for he was going to be blessed with fried chicken for lunch almost every day.
And in a way, it would be the ultimate fried chicken lunch box of…only white rice,
vegetables, and chicken. But that was another tale for another time.
"That only leaves you now, Masachika. The floor is yours."
"Hmm? Oh…"
After Yuki urged him to go on, Masachika faced forward, where he saw Yuki's amused,
ladylike smile; Ayano's blank stare; Maria's bubbly grin; and Alisa's serious, smug
expression, as if she was trying to make it seem like she wasn't interested in what he had
to say.
"I liked the soup," he honestly admitted amid the stares.
"Oh my. ♪ Really? Hooray! ♪" shouted Maria with delight, clasping her hands together
after a moment of disbelief. Immediately, Masachika noticed a crease appear between Alisa's
eyes…but he didn't have a choice. Alisa said this was a serious match,so he treated it assuch.
"That was your dish, Masha? It was really good. I've never tasted anything like it. By
the way, was it some kind of Russian cuisine?"
"Yep. ♪ It's called solyanka."
"Solyanka? I've never heard of that."
"Hmm…"
Maria placed an index finger on her chin as though she was deep in thought for a few
moments before nodding firmly.
"If borscht is the Russian equivalent of miso soup, then solyanka would be kind of like
the Russian equivalent of pork miso soup, I guess?"
"Seriously? This is equivalent to pork miso soup?"
"Come on. It really is similar." She pouted, shaking her fists up and down in frustration.
Yuki suddenly asked, "By the way, do you have any idea who made the remaining three
dishes?"
In spite of her ill intent, Masachika's expression was filled with confidence. He was
always planning on identifying who cooked what, so he became convinced he had it all
figured out after learning who the chefs were behind two of the dishes.
"Let's start with the fried rice. You made this, Ayano, didn't you?"
When he pointed at the fried rice while looking at Ayano, she lowered her gaze and
nodded.
"Yes."
"I figured. You purposely made sure it was only lightly seasoned because everyone else
was making something very rich, right?"
"Yes… I figured it would complement the other food better this way."
"Ha-ha-ha. Even during a cook-off, you prioritized the judges' enjoyment of the overall
meal. That's so like you," said Masachika with a gentle smile, making Ayano jump slightly
in embarrassment. Masachika then pointed at the next dish. "And Yuki made this hamburg
steak."
"…Yes, you got me. I am impressed."
"I figured you were serious about winning this time. That much was obvious when I
tasted it. I did notice you used a little camouflage, though."
The fact that it was a proper, traditional dish made the fact thatshe seasoned it differently
than she usually would stand out all the more. But even then, Yuki continued to feign
innocence and merely replied:
"I decided to give it a more refreshing taste when I seasoned it. It is summer, after all."
As if he had been waiting for this moment his whole life, Masachika put on the biggest,
smuggest grin he could and pointed at the pot stickers.
"And this…was yours, Alya."
"…Yes," Alisa replied with a grumble, and yet she seemed somewhat happy when she
nodded. It was a difficult expression to describe, but she was most likely thrilled that he
picked out her dish correctly and, at the same time, annoyed that he saw right through her.
But, well…it was all thanks to that mystery soup. Solyanka, was it? I was only able to
figure out what Alya made because I realized that was Masha's dish…
"Incredible. You really have a wonderful talent and exceptional taste buds,"
complimented Ayano genuinely, unaware of how he'd really done it.
"Hmm? Oh, I guess. Alya's dish was really obvious, though."
As if Ayano's sparkling eyes had given him a confidence boost, Masachika looked smug
as he shifted his gaze to Alisa once more.
"I thought they were pot stickers at first, but when I tried one… Pelmeni, right?"
He said this while trying to look like the coolest, smartest guy in the room…but Alisa
knit her brow and replied:
"No, it's varenyky."
"The hell is that?"
An astonishingly awkward silence followed.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder