"F-Father."
Hearing the voice, Erina Nakiri's body stiffened as she turned her head. When she saw the familiar figure clearly, her eyes trembled slightly.
Although she had not yet been imprisoned in the basement by Azami Nakiri, nor had she endured that inhumane potential development program for the God's Tongue.
But, because Azami Nakiri controlled her thoughts and interfered with her decisions so often in daily life, being caught after sneaking out now, she couldn't help but feel afraid.
"Mr. Nakiri."
Seeing this, Hisako Arato, who was beside her, immediately stepped in front of him and bowed.
This seemed like a gesture of respect towards Azami Nakiri, but it was actually to protect Erina Nakiri. Although she too was a little scared of the man before her, she had to step forward now.
"Erina, have I not told you not to touch this fodder that the lower classes eat? It will only defile your God's Tongue and cover it in dust."
Azami Nakiri paid no mind to Hisako Arato's greeting, nor did he look at Erina Nakiri. Instead, his gaze fell upon the leftover Shredded Pork in Sweet Bean Sauce and the half-eaten bowl of fried rice on the table next to them, a look of disdain appearing in his eyes.
He doesn't even have the skill to make a customer finish his cooking. This fellow's level is nothing special.
Thinking this, Azami Nakiri turned his head and saw Okabe just as he finished stir-frying, serving a plate of Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes to a customer before walking straight over to stand beside Erina Nakiri.
After taking it all in, Azami Nakiri spoke coldly: "Okabe-kun, I have heard your name many times at the Nakiri estate. To be honest, it has left a deep impression on me. However, as for a formal meeting, I believe today is the first time."
Setting aside the few times they had seen each other from a distance at the Nakiri home, this was indeed the first time they had a formal, face-to-face, confrontational conversation.
In the past, he couldn't be bothered with Okabe, especially after learning of his obsession with making Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes, at which point his disdain reached its peak.
In his view, a person obsessed with a low-class dish was destined to be a third-rate chef making fodder for commoners on the street. He, and Erina Nakiri, should have been two parallel lines that would never intersect.
And that was how it had been. After he had arranged a sufficiently full schedule for Erina Nakiri, the number and frequency of her visits to Okabe had noticeably decreased. In the last few months, she hadn't visited at all, as if she had forgotten him.
Logically, as the gap between them continued to widen, Erina Nakiri would one day look down on her former playmate and they would go their separate ways.
However.
When he saw from afar Erina Nakiri eating Okabe's Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes and revealing an incredibly cheap, happy smile, Azami Nakiri's composure broke.
For the past two years, in order to cultivate Erina Nakiri's ability to appreciate fine cuisine, he had constantly arranged for her to visit famous Western restaurants around the world.
These were all restaurants that had earned his approval.
Had she not tasted hundreds of high-class dishes?
But he had never seen the happiness on Erina Nakiri's face that she showed when tasting the Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes. This was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
"I believe so, Azami-san. May I ask what guidance you have for me by gracing my humble stall?
If you are here to eat, please sit down. There happens to be an empty seat over there. If you are not here to eat, then you are disturbing my business."
Looking at the gloomy man before him, Okabe's expression didn't change much.
He was not an ordinary child. As a reincarnator, he had seen faces far more hateful than this in his past life; naturally, he felt nothing.
"I want you to stop corrupting my daughter. She possesses the God's Tongue and is destined to stand at the pinnacle of the culinary world. She should only taste the world's true delicacies, not your kind of commoner cuisine.
You have no talent for cooking. You are fated to spend your life here, frying shredded potatoes. If not for your good luck in being taken in by the Nakiri family, you would not even be qualified to meet her.
Her being friends with you is a complete waste of her time. After all, there is no meaning in being your friend. You will only be a stumbling block for her."
Azami Nakiri looked with disgust at the brat before him. He had only one goal now: to make this guy stay away from his daughter.
As long as Erina Nakiri stayed away from Okabe, she would no longer be influenced by his cooking and would live wholeheartedly under his control, becoming the ideal God's Tongue!
"To say that even being friends is a waste of time... aren't those words a bit too harsh?
Erina, what do you think? Are you happy being my friend? Or do you, like your father, believe I am unworthy of being your friend?"
Okabe didn't rush to explain anything, but instead turned his gaze to the utterly conflicted Erina Nakiri beside him. Some things she had to decide for herself.
"I..."
Seeing Okabe suddenly turn the topic to her, Erina Nakiri opened her mouth but didn't know what to say, her eyes darting back and forth between the two.
On one side was her father, on the other was her friend since childhood. How could she choose?!
No, that's not right.
Okabe had done nothing wrong. It was her father who was being aggressive.
They were just having a normal discussion about cooking. The Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes he served were genuinely delicious, something even her God's Tongue could perceive. It was not at all like the fodder for commoners her father claimed it was.
"Father, I think your theories about cuisine have always been flawed!"
Although she didn't directly answer Okabe's question, the words she spoke now, and her body subtly leaning towards Okabe, already revealed her thoughts.
She did not think that being friends with Okabe was a waste of time.
Liu Anqing's early teachings, the deliciousness of Okabe's cooking, and various small details had formed a force within her heart, beginning to counter the things Azami Nakiri had been brainwashing her with.
Her gaze became increasingly clear.
Her once-dull eyes now seemed to hold a different kind of light.
"Oh?"
Hearing Erina Nakiri's words, Azami Nakiri's eyebrows rose slightly. There was no warmth in his narrow eyes; they seemed to be coated in a layer of ice.
"Erina, what did you just say? Where is Father's theory... flawed?"
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried the oppressive feeling of a coming storm, causing the courage Erina Nakiri had just mustered to drain from her face, making her pale again as she subconsciously wanted to retreat.
Hisako Arato felt the suffocating atmosphere and nervously clenched the corner of her clothes. At this moment, she too was powerless and could only stand by her side.
However, just as Erina Nakiri was about to be crushed by Azami Nakiri's intimidating presence, Okabe silently moved to stand in front of her, significantly calming her panicked heart.
She turned her head, her gaze sweeping over the plate on the table with a little bit of Golden Fried Rice left over because they were full, her nose still seeming to catch the savory-sweet, tempting aroma of the Shredded Pork in Sweet Bean Sauce.
The ultimate deliciousness created from the most basic, ordinary ingredients formed a stark contrast with the countless high-class dishes she had tasted in the past.
An unprecedented courage, mixed with her acknowledgment of Okabe's cooking, quietly grew within her heart.
"I... I said, your theories are flawed, Father!" Erina Nakiri took a deep breath, a trace of determination flashing in her amethyst-like eyes. Though her voice still trembled slightly, her words came out clearly: "The value of a dish shouldn't be measured solely by the expense of its ingredients or the complexity of its presentation!
Okabe-kun's cooking, although it uses ordinary ingredients and the techniques are nothing special, its deliciousness is real! It can make the person eating it feel happy. Isn't that the most important meaning of cuisine?!"
These words seemed to exhaust all the strength in her body. After she finished, her chest heaved slightly, but her gaze stubbornly met her father's.
Azami Nakiri fell silent.
This silence was more terrifying than his previous rebukes.
The low pressure emanating from him nearly made the surrounding air stop flowing.
He slowly shifted his gaze from Erina Nakiri, focusing once more on Okabe, his eyes scrutinizing him as if he were a stain that had sullied his perfect creation.
_____
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