"Giving his knife to the opponent at the start was cool," Hinako Inui said slowly, frowning, "but was that really a good idea...?"
Hinako Inui-second seat of the Eightieth Generation Elite Ten-had temporarily returned to Totsuki for this incident.
She was one of the five judges.
And she was worried.
Kojiro Shinomiya and Gin Dojima sat beside her.
Silent.
Expressionless.
They looked like warriors about to walk onto a battlefield.
Neither of them had planned to serve as judges for this match, but at this point, refusing was impossible.
So this was how it ended up.
Kojiro Shinomiya and Gin Dojima knew exactly what was about to happen.
They just didn't know how to explain it.
Their faces were grim.
On the opposite side, however-
Senzaemon Nakiri and Joichiro were completely relaxed.
Joichiro was even smiling.
Hearing Hinako Inui's concern, he casually lifted the corner of his mouth.
"I've heard that a true master surpasses his previous self with every passing second," Joichiro said lightly. "As for Jaden..."
He glanced at Jaden, who was currently cooking noodles.
"...You felt it just now, didn't you? His presence."
Joichiro spoke with absolute certainty.
"Don't worry. My intuition tells me he's a monster far beyond our imagination."
Senzaemon Nakiri nodded in agreement.
"I feel the same," he said calmly. "After all, he's the person Erina trusts enough to call in to save the situation."
"The God's Tongue wouldn't make a mistake."
As he mentioned the God's Tongue, Senzaemon Nakiri sighed inwardly.
He had no intention of interfering in Erina's personal relationships.
Totsuki might be a massive conglomerate, but he would never interfere with her private matters.
I only hope you can solve Erina's God's Tongue problem...
Senzaemon sighed internally.
And at that very moment-
Jaden placed five bowls in front of the judges' table.
"I'm done!"
"Five bowls of instant noodles. Please enjoy."
Huh!?
Senzaemon Nakiri froze.
Joichiro froze.
Hinako Inui blinked.
She genuinely wondered if she was hallucinating.
Instant noodles?
Kojiro Shinomiya and Gin Dojima, however, reacted instantly.
Without hesitation.
With darkened expressions, they picked up their chopsticks, grabbed their bowls, and began eating immediately.
They ate fast.
Very fast.
They had experienced Jaden's methods before.
They knew.
Once judging was over, their appetite for the entire day would be gone.
If they didn't eat now, there would be no chance later.
While Kojiro and Gin were rapidly finishing their bowls, Joichiro, Senzaemon, and Hinako stopped after just one bite.
They stared.
They couldn't understand what those two were doing.
But-
They didn't dare ask.
Erina had called someone in to save the situation.
And the result was-
Five bowls of instant noodles.
This...
For a moment, Joichiro, Senzaemon, and Hinako were completely speechless.
Jaden glanced at Kojiro and Gin.
Then smiled.
He shook his head slightly, leaned against the nearby wall, and waited quietly.
Several hours later-
Asahi Saiba finally completed his dish.
"I'm done."
He seemed to be deliberately imitating Jaden.
He also presented five bowls of noodles.
But at a glance, the difference was obvious.
The soup base.
The toppings.
The texture of the noodles themselves.
They weren't instant noodles.
They had been meticulously crafted.
"Five bowls of instant noodles," Asahi Saiba said with a smile. "Please enjoy~"
Then he explained confidently.
"Although I made them look like instant noodles, the soup base, meat, vegetables, egg, and noodles were all prepared from scratch."
"I also added some special seasonings~"
He stopped there.
Completely confident.
Jaden, who could see the dish's status, understood why.
Asahi Saiba hadn't used his own knife.
He hadn't cut off his arm out of pride.
He had still used Joichiro's and Gin Dojima's knives to perform Cross-Blade.
As a result-
Those five bowls carried three buffs.
[Brilliant Pioneer: Adds an unimaginable taste beyond the dish itself]
[Accumulator of a Thousand Refinements: Brings the taste of the dish to perfection]
[Dimension Transcender: Enhances the dish's overall and most prominent flavor]
Jaden could clearly sense how terrifying these noodles were.
And then-
Five curses descended.
Begin your performance.
After Jaden finished, the judges picked up their chopsticks.
"Special seasoning..." Joichiro muttered. "Then we'd better taste carefully."
He lifted the noodles.
He intended to slurp them.
Drink the soup afterward.
But the moment the noodles entered his mouth-
He bit down instinctively.
Sticky.
The noodles clung directly to his tongue.
That was why he bit them.
Then-
A foul stench surged straight from his mouth into his nasal cavity.
Joichiro's eyes turned red instantly.
Tears flowed.
Snot followed.
The smell was overwhelming.
Intoxicating.
He wanted to gag.
But he knew that wouldn't be appropriate.
No matter how he moved his tongue, the sticky substance wouldn't come off.
Unless-
He used his hands.
For a moment, Joichiro was stuck.
Hinako Inui wasn't.
She reached into her mouth without hesitation, scraped the noodles off her tongue, and threw them straight into the trash can by her feet.
She gagged.
Rinsed her mouth several times.
Wiped the tears from her eyes.
Joichiro watched this.
Made his decision.
Dignity be damned.
He scraped it out.
Asahi Saiba stood there.
Completely stunned.
Joichiro took a breath once the taste faded slightly and chose his words carefully.
"This..." he said slowly. "You and Jaden both made instant noodles, so why..."
"...is your instant noodle so special..."
He paused.
Then gave up.
"Forget it. I'll be blunt."
"How did you make instant noodles taste this awful!?"
He was exasperated.
Asahi Saiba hadn't been like this during their previous Shokugeki.
How could he fall apart this badly?
And poison himself in the process?
He even claimed to have added special seasonings-
That was why Joichiro had tried so hard to analyze the flavor.
Senzaemon Nakiri had also recovered.
He steadied himself and frowned.
"What exactly did you add to produce such a taste...?"
Before Asahi Saiba could answer-
Hinako Inui snapped.
She had been mentally shattered.
Image forgotten.
"It's sht!" she shouted. "He added sht to the noodles!"
The word hit Kojiro Shinomiya like lightning.
His mind instantly replayed that French aspic.
The one he ate when he expelled Erina.
That was sh*t.
So when Hinako Inui yelled in complete mental collapse, Kojiro responded instinctively-
"Sh*t doesn't taste this bad!"
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