Chapter 5: Special Move (Patreon)

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the room was so quiet that all that remained was the sound of their steady breathing.

Mana Nakiri lifted her cool gaze and fixed it squarely on Ramsay. There was no trace of perfunctory politeness in her eyes. Ramsay looked right back, calm and unflinching!

Just a few seconds of staring.

But it was enough. Mana read it easily in his clear, steady eyes.

What he had just said, about facing her God's Tongue's judgment with his cooking, was no impulsive joke. He had really thought it through!

Off to one side stood Azami Nakamura.

He had watched the whole exchange, and a surge of resentment rose in his chest.

Every eye in the room, and all of Mana Nakiri's attention, had landed on Ramsay. He himself had been reduced to a throwaway extra, a random passerby.

The humiliating sting of being upstaged welled up inside him!

So. He stopped keeping quiet.

He strode forward and bowed to Mana Nakiri, eager and earnest.

"Miss Nakiri!" "Please give me one more chance!" "I want to cook another dish... This time, I'll pour every bit of my skill into it, and I'll make you take back every negative word you said about my food!"

Hearing that, Mana Nakiri flicked a glance at him. Her eyes were flat and still, without a flicker of sympathy.

Then. She turned her gaze back to Ramsay.

Her red lips parted, and her cool voice slowly rang out, every word sharp, no mercy in it.

"Are you truly planning..." "to face the judgment of my God's Tongue?" "Aren't you afraid I'll tear apart whatever you make, and leave nothing standing?" "I don't go easy on someone just because they're a novice. With me, the only standard for judging a dish is flavor. There's no room for personal favors."

Ramsay answered with a faint, composed smile.

"Heh." "Hearing that from you, Miss Nakiri..." "actually makes me happy. If you tasted my dish with even a shred of pity, that would be the worst insult of all." "So go ahead. Be as harsh as you like." "I'll make a dish with my own two hands that leaves you with hardly a word of criticism!"

Mana studied him in silence for several seconds. A flicker of interest, barely noticeable, passed through her eyes. Then she turned and walked unhurriedly back to her seat among the guests.

She glanced at the clock on the wall, her fingertip idly stroking the rim of her wine glass. Ripples spread through the red wine as her voice sounded again. "You two..." "have thirty minutes in total."

"Fine!" "Half an hour is plenty."

With that, Ramsay turned and walked straight into the kitchen!

Azami Nakamura stared after his back, dazed for a moment, then hurried in behind him.

---

He didn't know. When it had started.

But whenever he caught sight of Mana, so cool and elegant, Azami Nakamura felt his heart flutter, beyond his control.

At first, he had clung to the idea of cooking again only because he couldn't stand the defeat and wanted to prove his skill. Now, though, a very different obsession had taken root in him!

Yes. He wanted to conquer Mana Nakiri, the owner of the God's Tongue, with a dish made by his own hands!

---

Then. He shot a deep look at Ramsay, who stood at the neighboring stove.

A hidden competitive fire burned in his eyes, but he said nothing. He quickly sorted through the prepared ingredients, picked what he needed, and settled his mind into the cooking!

On the other side, Ramsay had also taken his place at the stove. He arranged his tools methodically, ready to begin.

To be honest. Ramsay's cooking was nothing world-shaking.

In his previous life, he had been alone with no one to lean on, and had handled every meal himself.

He could only manage ordinary, tasty home cooking. His level had never gone beyond common family dishes.

But. He dared to face Mana's God's Tongue.

And not without reason. He was hiding one signature dish, polished over more than ten years.

---

As a child. He had watched the first movie of his life, The God of Cookery.

The bowl of Sorrowful Rice in that film had been burned into his heart.

From then on, he'd wondered countless times what astonishing flavor that dish held. Day after day he experimented and adjusted, spending more than a decade until he finally grasped every bit of its essence!

And so. The dish he would serve today was... that very bowl of Sorrowful Rice.

He closed his eyes and ran through the whole process in his mind.

It looked like a simple bowl of char siu rice, but its essence rested entirely on the char siu pork and the secret char siu sauce.

Pork with perfectly balanced fat and lean.

Marinated just right.

Then a sauce, simmered until thick, with a lingering sweetness on the finish.

Blended thoroughly with the rice, it bursts into layer upon layer of rich texture, a wonderful flavor that strikes straight at the diner's heart.

And besides. Thirty minutes was more than enough to cook a bowl of char siu rice.

So Ramsay hesitated no longer. He opened his eyes and got to work, prepping ingredients and lighting the fire!

---

Time. Slipped away, second by second.

In the dining room, Mana Nakiri sat quietly, fingertips resting lightly on the table, waiting patiently for the two dishes.

At the twenty-fifth minute, footsteps sounded from the kitchen. Azami Nakamura came out first, carrying a plate. On it was the same French Fish Paupiette.

Rise where you fell.

That was the creed he had always lived by. He had stumbled here in the last round, and this time he was determined to fix every flaw.

He set the plate gently in front of Mana Nakiri and bowed slightly, composed. "Thank you for granting me another chance, Miss Nakiri!" "This is a revised French Fish Paupiette. Please, taste it."

---

Looking down. At the dish on the plate.

Mana Nakiri said nothing. She quietly picked up her knife and fork and began to taste!

The moment it touched her tongue, she could tell the paupiette's layers of flavor had improved markedly over the last round. The imbalance in seasoning, the dry fish, the thin sauce, all the problems she had pointed out...

Azami Nakamura had taken every one of them to heart.

In just twenty-odd minutes, he had found ways to patch each flaw and refined them one by one.

Hm!

To absorb criticism and improve this fast...

It was proof enough that Azami Nakamura had real culinary talent!

Last time, Mana had taken a single small bite and set down her utensils. Today, she made an exception and went back for three bites in a row, carefully savoring how the fish and the sauce came together!

"Compared to the paupiette from before, this one has certainly improved quite a bit." "It seems..." "you really did think over every problem I pointed out." "And adjusted each of them."

She paused, then her tone turned, severe and brooking no argument. "Even so..." "your dish still failed to stir my God's Tongue. It couldn't give me that long-lost thrill, that sense of anticipation!"