"The match is decided!"
After devouring a large bowl of rice mixed with the Yuxiang Shredded Pork, Senzaemon Nakiri showed a look of satisfaction and then stood up from his chair.
"The winner of this match is... Okabe!"
He declared the final victor of this Shokugeki with a grand wave of his hand, and no one from either side raised any objection.
"That's great! Brother Okabe won!"
"Yes, Okabe-kun is amazing! To think he could win against a dish created by Mr. Azami and Lady Erina working together... it's just incredible!"
Hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, an excited Alice Nakiri grabbed Hisako Arato's hand. Hisako was also beaming with joy; if not for the many important figures present, she probably would have jumped up and down.
The reason was simple. No one knew better than her, who had always been by Lady Erina's side, just how miserable Erina Nakiri's life had become under Azami Nakiri's oppressive control.
She remembered when they first met; Erina was a girl who always had a smile on her face.
But under Azami Nakiri's "care," the smile on Lady Erina's face grew rarer and rarer, replaced by a mechanical indifference that sometimes made her seem like a stranger.
The original Lady Erina would offer objective and gentle critiques of the dishes she was asked to judge, pointing out their flaws while also highlighting their strengths. But later, her evaluations consisted only of a dish's shortcomings.
It didn't take a genius to know this was undoubtedly Azami Nakiri's doing. However, she was merely Lady Erina's aide and couldn't interfere in her master's affairs. She could only watch helplessly as Erina suffered alone.
Now, Okabe had won the match.
Erina Nakiri would no longer be shackled by Azami Nakiri. She could freely set foot into the culinary wilderness and advance on the path of her own choosing.
"Erina, your dish..."
Listening to the surrounding voices, Senzaemon Nakiri spoke after a moment of silence, all eyes fixed upon him: "was flawless in every aspect."
"Whether in its technical skill or the balance of its flavors, it reached your current peak."
"This Five-Flavor Scallops brought out the full potential of the God's Tongue. But I wonder if you noticed—this dish has not an ounce of warmth. It is like a machine executing a program."
"Your dish showed me a perfectly tranquil bay, evoking a sense of beautiful serenity. But that bay had no waves, none of the passion associated with life!"
Senzaemon Nakiri looked directly into Erina Nakiri's eyes and saw the confusion within them. "The kind of order your father pursues may seem perfect, but in reality, it strangles the most precious things in the culinary world: the love and surprise that a chef pours into their food!"
After saying this, he turned to look at Okabe beside him. "This kid's Yuxiang Shredded Pork, on the surface, is an ordinary home-style dish. But within, it is a revolution of taste.
He used the lively acidity of hawthorn to tame the wildness of the fish chilies, and the refreshing crispness of peach to carve out an oasis in the storm. This isn't a simple layering of flavors; it's a premeditated combination, a symphony meant only for the palate!"
"But more importantly..."
Senzaemon Nakiri's voice suddenly deepened. "In his dish, I felt the ardent desire 'to make people happy.' That sentiment pierced through my taste buds and struck my very soul!"
"While tasting this dish, I could clearly feel the joy it contained—an emotion the chef, while cooking, hoped the taster would experience."
"And that emotion is what your dish lacks. If you cannot find a way to infuse emotion into your cooking, you will never have what it takes to be a Special Grade Chef!"
At this point, Senzaemon Nakiri's voice grew passionate. He truly hadn't expected that Okabe could grasp the true meaning of the Heart of a Chef at such a young age.
The Heart of a Chef.
This wasn't some grand, high-level skill.
It was so common that even a woman in charge of her family's meals could potentially acquire it.
As long as one cooks with heartfelt consideration for the person eating, they can create a dish infused with emotion, allowing the taster to experience the feelings conveyed by the cook!
"Infuse emotion into a dish, allowing the taster to experience the cook's feelings..."
Hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, Erina Nakiri mumbled to herself, only half-understanding, just as Okabe walked toward her carrying the Yuxiang Shredded Pork.
"Actually, I didn't understand it at first. In fact, before today, I'd never made a so-called dish infused with emotion. I think... perhaps only when I met someone for whom I was willing to give my all, unconditionally, could I pour my feelings into my cooking.
"And you, Erina Nakiri, are the person I wanted to give my all for with this dish.
The real reason I made this dish was to help you escape your fate, but I also wanted to make everyone happy eating it. It's precisely because of that that the emotion in my heart responded to me, pouring its power into this dish."
Okabe's words were a bit clumsy. To be honest, even he didn't fully understand this profound and mysterious feeling.
But one thing was certain: before today's competition, he had made countless dishes in the kitchen, and not a single one contained the same ardent emotion as today's. This was a dish that could only be created when facing someone truly worthy!
After his speech, Erina Nakiri stared blankly at the plate of Yuxiang Shredded Pork Okabe offered her—a dish that looked ordinary yet had conquered everyone.
The complex yet harmonious aroma still filled the air. She hesitantly picked up a clean pair of chopsticks nearby, took a piece, and brought it to her mouth.
She instinctively closed her eyes. It was as if the world around her had been stripped away in an instant, leaving only a well-defined storm between her lips and teeth, erupting thunderously upon her taste buds.
The bright acidity of the hawthorn first awakened her slumbering palate, followed by the domineering yet mellow fish-fragrance of pickled chili. Salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and umami—the five flavors unfolded layer by layer, yet were perfectly unified by an invisible force, showing no sign of chaos.
But what was more important...
...was that deep within that wild yet harmonious storm of flavor, a warm and solid power, like sunlight piercing through haze, shone directly into the depths of her heart.
It wasn't just a taste, but an... emotion.
She heard it.
Amidst the searing wok hei and the vibrant dance of sour and spicy, she clearly felt a clumsy yet incredibly sincere concern.
It was a boy, standing before the stove, having cast aside all thoughts of victory and glory, left with only the simplest, purest idea.
He wanted her to be happy.
He wanted her to break free from the shackles that bound her and rediscover her own initial love and smile for food.
This sentiment was so ardent, so unreserved, that it penetrated the God's Tongue's precise, instrument-like network of taste analysis and struck a chord deep within her soul.
She could almost see the focused profile of Okabe as he cooked, see her own lost and repressed figure reflected in his eyes.
For the past two years, under her father's philosophy of elite cuisine, her cooking had pursued absolute precision and flawless order, like a cold jewel—brilliant, but utterly devoid of warmth.
She had locked her heart away layer by layer, arming herself with indifference and severity, thinking that was strength.
But it wasn't until this moment, tasting this Yuxiang Shredded Pork infused with the wish 'to make her happy,' that she was struck by a sudden realization.
What she had been missing all along was precisely this warmth, the kind that could touch a person's heart and convey the warmth within.
The fortress of solid ice began to melt, inch by inch, before this ardent emotion.
Her eyes welled up uncontrollably as an indescribable mix of sorrow and warmth surged through her heart.
It wasn't sadness, but the profound feeling of being understood, cherished, and forcefully pulled from an abyss.
She had always thought she was walking a predetermined path alone. But it turned out, someone had seen her pain and was willing to give everything to light a lamp for her, a lamp to guide her to freedom. And that person was standing right in front of her now.
"Waaaaah!"
In the end, Erina Nakiri couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into tears.
All the pent-up emotions and grievances burst forth like a river breaking its dam, flooding her heart. She stepped forward and hugged Okabe tightly, shamelessly wiping her tears and snot on his clothes.
_____
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