I Am Not Great Cook

"Chef Dojima, see, I told you so."

Erina looked at Dojima Gin frowning and completely unable to understand the result of this match, and slowly smiled.

"In terms of culinary skill level, Chef Shinomiya probably crushes Mutou Judai... but when it comes to Shokugeki, that guy won't lose."

Saying this, Erina walked forward a few steps, then looking at Mutou Judai who was slowly walking back after winning, she handed him the towel she had prepared earlier.

"Good work..."

Mutou Judai took the towel from Erina—it had been soaked in warm water and had a slight fragrance—and smiled while nodding at her.

"Not bad... this way you can return to Totsuki now."

"Mm."

Hearing Mutou Judai say this, Erina was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

Mutou Judai had been firmly determined from the beginning not to return to Totsuki. He didn't want to be a chef either, so after understanding Mutou Judai's resolve several times, Erina wasn't planning to say anything more at this point.

However, Dojima Gin slowly walked over.

"What about you? Mutou-kun, aren't you planning to return to Totsuki?"

"Of course I'm not planning to go back."

Mutou Judai shrugged.

"Dojima-san, you should have seen just now that my Shokugeki methods are different from others—having me return to Totsuki, I might be invincible in Shokugeki, but aside from that, my talent in cooking is really... hard to describe."

In his previous life, Mutou Judai couldn't even crack an egg properly.

He could break the egg, but either the egg white would spill out or shell fragments would remain in the egg liquid—if you made him practice for a while, he could definitely learn simple cooking skills.

But speaking of talent—

Heh.

He was like this in his previous life, and the same in this life—although he had practiced in this life and knew simple cooking skills.

But ultimately they were simple things. You could tell from how he listened carefully in class, practiced seriously, yet still got all E grades.

His cooking talent was desperately poor.

So why become a chef?

"But in Shokugeki you..."

Dojima Gin still wanted to say something, while Mutou Judai raised his voice and interrupted what he was about to say.

"Dojima-san—although in this world, basically as long as you lose, then you lose. No matter why you lost, losing is losing. Only by winning can you have a future, dreams, and so on..."

"But precisely because it's such a world, it's not enough to just keep winning... This world is so complex, and victory and defeat aren't purely black and white, but an extremely muddy gray..."

"So just having the talent to achieve 'victory' isn't enough. If you really want to accomplish something, you need at least the talent to carve out a future..."

"Since you're at your age now, you definitely see these things more clearly than I do—so let's not talk about it. I don't plan to return to Totsuki, and I don't plan to become a chef."

Mutou Judai left these words, then left through the contestant passage together with Erina.

Dojima Gin was left standing there in a daze.

You couldn't really say Mutou Judai's words deeply moved him—but they made him think of his friend, that man called Shura.

If it was just about victory and defeat, probably even now few people could defeat him—he undoubtedly possessed the talent to achieve victory.

But such a man had fallen on the path of carving out the future...

Sigh.

Thinking of these old matters, Dojima Gin couldn't help but sigh.

Then, no longer concerning himself with Erina and Mutou Judai, he walked toward the venue.

After all, the purpose of proposing this Shokugeki was not only to let Erina return to Totsuki, but also to wake up Shinomiya Kojiro.

However, judging from this Shokugeki, he felt the effect was probably not good, so he still needed to think of a way.

That's what he thought before finding Shinomiya Kojiro.

But when he walked onto the stage, he saw Shinomiya Kojiro with a mask of pain on his face, features contorted, having eaten all three plates of vegetable rolls he had made.

If he remembered correctly, that judge earlier had only taken one bite before spitting it out...

Although he didn't know what method Mutou Judai had used, Shinomiya's dish should have become very unpalatable under his influence.

This...

"Shinomiya..."

Dojima Gin instinctively reached out his hand, somewhat worried.

Although Shinomiya Kojiro's face was contorted and tears were streaming, when he turned around, Dojima Gin saw the smile at the corner of his mouth.

Seeing Shinomiya Kojiro like this, Dojima Gin's tone became gentler.

"Even though it's a dish you made, is it really that unpalatable..."

"Unpalatable, unpalatable to death!"

However...

Although what was in his mouth made Shinomiya Kojiro nauseous, his mood at this moment was incredibly relaxed.

"Since I made something like this, it means that I'm still far from enough..."

Ever since Shinomiya Kojiro achieved what he considered his highest accomplishment, he had lost his goal.

And having lost his goal, he gradually lost his passion for cooking, and his culinary skills hadn't improved for a long time.

Yet he felt anxious about his culinary skills no longer improving.

It was precisely this conflicted emotion that made his temper worse and worse.

But today he finally woke up.

The vegetable roll in his mouth was unpalatable to death, but this thing that was unpalatable to death came from his own hands—this feeling was truly long-awaited for him.

The moment he first tasted it, he was confused.

But in that confusion, he also remembered.

He had never learned cooking for what he considered his highest achievement. He... had started learning cooking to let his mother eat delicious, authentic French cuisine.

But since he went abroad alone, how long had it been since he returned? How long since he personally cooked a meal for his mother?

So...

"Dojima-senpai, I might be coming back to open a restaurant recently~"

...

The Shokugeki between Shinomiya Kojiro and Mutou Judai had ended.

And because of this Shokugeki, the Shokugeki between Eizan Etsuya, the current ninth seat of Totsuki's Elite Ten, and Mutou Judai was also exposed.

—Mutou Judai had made six bowls of instant noodles throughout!

But he won!

Such two Shokugeki were destined to be legendary in terms of entertainment value. If it were normal times, Totsuki Resort would definitely be discussing this already.

But now was obviously not the time...

Wearing sunglasses and a black suit with a Toyo Electric label on his chest, the man looked coldly at the second-in-command of Totsuki Resort in Dojima Gin's absence.

"So you're saying you refuse this Kengan match?"

The second-in-command of Totsuki Resort was somewhat trembling.

"If possible, could we wait until Chef Dojima returns before..."

Before he could finish, the force in Meguro's hands, who was wearing a black robe in the distance, increased a bit.

At this moment, he was gripping the necks of two students with his hands.

He had the clear intention that if you don't agree, he would dare to strangle them to death right here.

And in fact, he really would dare to do so!

Meguro Masaki—this guy was a lunatic.

Born with murderous impulses and feeling pleasure from killing, also feeling pleasure from most pain—he was such a person, a 'monster' who couldn't integrate into human society.

His father had died at his hands.

If he were just such a lunatic, then the weapon of law could still be used to punish him.

But behind such a lunatic stood Toyo Electric...

Toyo Electric had already protected him for twenty years, and obviously protecting him for another twenty years wouldn't be a problem. Moreover...

The second-in-command of Totsuki Resort couldn't possibly watch students who came to Totsuki to study die for Totsuki's sake.

Plus, this Kengan application wasn't between Toyo Electric and Totsuki, but with Totsuki Resort...

If Dojima Gin were here, he felt Dojima Gin would probably have a better way to handle this, but right now he had no solution.

So he sighed, then lowered the hand he had raised when he saw Meguro act.

At this moment, he lowered not just his hand, but also his future, the position he had worked so hard to obtain—he was prepared to possibly face punishment and understood that what he was doing might be devastating for Totsuki Resort.

But he still made this decision—

"Release the students. The matter of Totsuki Resort fighting Kengan with you... I, I agree!"

...