"Azami Nakiri, it's time to fulfill your promise.
Sign this contract, and you will have no further connection to us, the Nakiri family. Furthermore, you must swear an oath to never again interfere with Erina's culinary path."
Watching the sobbing Erina Nakiri, Senzaemon Nakiri felt a pang of heartache.
Without hesitation, he tossed a parchment scroll, which he had prepared long ago and which emanated a faint golden glow, in front of Azami Nakiri.
The scroll unrolled, revealing golden text that flowed like tadpoles across the parchment.
"Is this... a Writ of Banishment?!"
The usually calm Azami Nakiri turned even paler the moment he saw the parchment scroll.
He had assumed that Senzaemon Nakiri's intention to expel him from the Nakiri family was merely a formality—after all, he was still Erina Nakiri's father.
But he never expected Senzaemon Nakiri to produce a Writ of Banishment, stripping him of all the fortune and destiny he enjoyed as part of the Nakiri clan.
This was a move to sever ties with him completely!
"What? After committing such an act, did you really think you could walk away unscathed?"
Looking at Azami Nakiri's grim face, Senzaemon Nakiri gazed down on him, his calm voice belying a towering rage.
From the moment that man began to disregard Erina Nakiri's physical and mental well-being for his own selfish desires, he had already forfeited his right to remain in the Nakiri family.
"Father... Grandfather."
Hearing the conversation between Senzaemon Nakiri and Azami Nakiri, Erina Nakiri stopped crying. She rubbed her reddened eyes and trotted forward. Looking at the two of them locked in a tense standoff, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
"Don't worry, Erina. Even if he leaves the Nakiri family, he is still your father. No one will take that right away."
"It's just that, from this day forward, he will no longer have the status of the Nakiri family as his personal capital."
Because Erina Nakiri was still young, Senzaemon Nakiri didn't want to add to her psychological trauma, so he bent down, stroked her head, and explained.
"Thank you, Grandfather."
Hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, Erina Nakiri's heart was finally at ease. She looked at Azami Nakiri before her, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
He was her father, someone who should have felt close to her.
Yet, at this moment, she felt a certain fear.
Just meeting his gaze made her want to look away. She had to carefully choose her words when speaking to him. For a father and daughter, this was clearly not normal.
Across from them, Azami Nakiri held the Writ of Banishment, his fingers trembling with inner turmoil. He raised his eyes to look at Erina, who was hiding behind Senzaemon Nakiri.
"Erina..." he began, his voice hoarse. "Do you really want your father to leave?"
Erina Nakiri subconsciously tightened her grip on her grandfather's kimono sleeve, her small knuckles turning white.
Seeing this, Senzaemon Nakiri took a step forward, shielding her like a mountain. "Azami Nakiri, even now, you're still trying to pressure her?"
"Father, I've already made up my mind."
Seeing this scene, Erina Nakiri took a deep breath. Thinking of her life over the past two years and the feeling Okabe's cooking gave her, she took a step forward.
"The essence of cuisine is freedom, not being bound by the shackles of rules. For this purpose, I am willing to endure any suffering."
Placing a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat violently, Erina Nakiri felt truly alive for the first time.
"To speak to me of freedom and determination...
The pain brought by such things will drive a chef's heart to the brink and ultimately cause them to break down, just like that person in the past."
The towering figure of Joichiro Yukihira appeared in his mind, and Azami Nakiri's brows furrowed so deeply you could kill a fly between them.
He didn't want his daughter to walk the same old path as the senior he admired most, which was why he had instilled the 'correct' philosophy in her from the very beginning.
Only by traveling together according to the rules can one avoid loneliness in the wilderness of gastronomy, and avoid self-destruction from getting lost in that wilderness.
"True gastronomy should exist in a world where those who cook can also live beautifully and healthily—a world where no one feels pain and everyone can be saved. That is the great revolution I desire!"
"Discard all those stupid pigs and trash chefs. Anyone who deals with such people with passion will eventually break down."
"Therefore, I cannot acknowledge your so-called pouring of passion, or any other emotions, into your cooking. It will all become the trigger for your future collapse."
"You can understand me, can't you? Erina?"
After speaking, Azami Nakiri looked at Erina Nakiri with a hopeful expression. This was the secret hidden deep in his heart.
Ever since the senior he admired in high school got lost in the wilderness, he had been constantly thinking about how to build a sanctuary for all the chefs in the world—a utopia where they could truly live happily!
"Utterly boring."
After hearing Azami Nakiri's speech, Okabe couldn't help but scoff before striding forward.
Hearing Okabe's words, Azami Nakiri's face twisted in disgust. It was precisely because of this guy's appearance that he and his daughter had been driven apart. "What did you say?"
"Your so-called chef's utopia, which seems so beautiful, is actually nothing at all." Okabe's voice was clear and calm, echoing in the quiet Japanese-style room. "It is nothing more than a cage you built out of your own fear."
Hearing Okabe's assessment, Azami Nakiri's pupils contracted sharply, as if a sensitive nerve had been struck. "What do you know? Have you seen a true genius lose themselves in the wilderness of gastronomy? Have you seen the tragic state they're in when they break down?"
"I have not." Okabe shook his head, then continued, "But I know that a bird imprisoned in a cage will never fall in love with its life in that cage. Even if you give it plenty of food and water, it will still want to soar in the blue sky.
Even if it means they might not have enough to eat or stay warm, even if it means they risk being killed by predators, at least in the moment they soar through the blue sky, they are free!"
Okabe spoke these words with genuine feeling. In his previous life, he had been confined to a hospital bed. Although he just lay there every day, the hospital provided him with free care and meals.
But if given the choice, he would rather return to those years of struggling in society, when he often didn't have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear.
Although it was incredibly tiring, and sometimes he didn't even feel like he was living like a person, at least there was hope. He could obtain everything he wanted with his own two hands, and he could see and experience the world.
"Father..."
Just then, Erina Nakiri spoke softly, her voice quiet but loud enough for everyone present to hear. "I've tasted Okabe's cooking. That feeling... it was like the first time I truly opened my eyes to see the world, full of the unknown and the novel."
"I don't want to stay in a world without any pain. I want a world where I can feel the true charm of cuisine."
Azami Nakiri stared at his daughter in shock. Under his oppressive tutelage, he had never heard Erina express her own will with such a firm tone.
"You've been bewitched, Erina!" Azami Nakiri's voice trembled with agitation. "All of you have been blinded by that false passion!"
"No, Mr. Azami." Okabe shook his head, his gaze sharp as he looked at him. "You are the one who has been blinded by the shadows of the past. Just because you witnessed one person break down, you assume everyone who pursues freedom will meet the same end. Isn't that too arbitrary?"
Senzaemon Nakiri watched all of this quietly. He saw a light ignite in Erina's eyes—a will that was uniquely hers, something he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Azami Nakiri." Senzaemon Nakiri spoke in a deep voice. "You've always thought you were protecting Erina, but in reality, you were just running away from your own fear. True strength is not building walls to hide from danger, but facing it head-on and continuing to move forward."
Okabe watched Azami Nakiri's struggling expression, his voice quiet but exceptionally clear. "It is never the culinary path that breaks down, but the loneliness in the hearts of those who walk it. And your method for trying to eliminate that loneliness is to sever the true connections between people."
Azami Nakiri's body swayed slightly. He slowly lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the tadpole-like golden text flowing across the Writ of Banishment.
After a long silence, as if using all his strength, he raised his hand. The next moment, a complex light gathered at his fingertip, and he lightly touched the bottom of the parchment.
"I, Nakiri... Azami Nakiri, hereby swear..." His voice was deep and hoarse, each word seemingly squeezed from his chest with great difficulty. "...to voluntarily leave the Nakiri clan and never... never interfere with the culinary path of my daughter, Erina Nakiri."
As his words fell, the golden text on the parchment suddenly flared brightly, then gradually faded, finally disappearing into the paper.
A faint light rose from the scroll and dissipated into the air.
The contract was sealed.
Azami Nakiri raised his head and looked deeply at Erina Nakiri, his expression complex and hard to read.
There was pain, there was resentment, but there was also an imperceptible trace of relief.
"I hope you won't regret today's decision, Erina," he said softly, then turned, slid open the door without looking back, and disappeared into the shadows of the hallway.
Erina Nakiri watched the direction her father had gone, tears streaming down her face once more.
This time, however, her heart felt completely at ease. Senzaemon Nakiri gently placed a hand on her shoulder, patting it in silent support.
Okabe stood quietly to the side.
He knew that for Erina Nakiri, while this was a painful parting, it was also her first step toward true freedom.
The gentle night breeze blew through the open sliding door, caressing everyone's cheeks, carrying with it the scent of new life and hope.
_____
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