The aromatic fragrance of pan-seared A5 beef immediately began to spread, making everyone's appetite soar.
Even the three judges on the panel were fixated on Ikumi Mito's cooking process, eagerly anticipating the ultimate flavor of her A5 beef dish.
Meanwhile, Lexon seemed to have become an invisible man, with hardly anyone paying him any mind.
"The temperature is right..." Ikumi Mito used a disposable needle to pierce the searing beef, then touched the needle to her lips to judge the internal temperature. After repeating this several times, she finally spoke.
It seemed the dish was very close to completion.
"That transfer student looks like he's finished!" someone suddenly shouted.
Ikumi Mito snapped her head up, only to find Lexon already walking toward the judges' table with a tray holding three covered bowls.
'He was actually faster than me?'
As a meat specialist, Ikumi Mito felt a flicker of doubt.
"Did any of you see what that guy actually did?" a spectator asked.
"I wasn't really watching..."
"I just saw him whip up a sauce, taste it a few times... then add a few things... then sear the meat briefly after pouring the sauce over it before serving it on rice."
A few audience members had indeed caught glimpses of Lexon's cooking process.
"Is it really that simple?"
"Isn't he guaranteed to lose?"
Some voiced the thoughts shared by everyone in the crowd.
"Soma-kun..." Megumi Tadokoro's voice was laced with worry, as if she believed Soma Yukihira's expulsion was already imminent.
"I'll remember your contribution, Soma-kun," Kanichi Konishi said with teary eyes.
"I believe in Lexon," Soma Yukihira said seriously, watching Lexon's back.
...
"Please, help yourselves." Lexon placed the three bowls of donburi in front of the judges.
"A dish made in such a short time using discount supermarket beef..." One judge frowned as he looked at the covered bowls.
If he could help it, he really didn't want to taste this dish...
He would much rather be eating that A5 beef dish...
However, out of professional courtesy, the three of them lifted the lids.
As the lids were removed... a burst of aroma suddenly hit their noses!
"This is..." The judges' expressions shifted, and they put away their contempt slightly.
'The chef's skill is exceptional...'
'To be able to create such a fragrance...'
But while it smelled wonderful... when they considered the quality of the ingredients and the simple steps taken...
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
The moment the food entered their mouths, all three of them let out strange cries.
'What?'
Ikumi Mito, who was in the final stages of her dish, couldn't help but turn her gaze toward the judges' table.
She saw the three judges acting as if they were possessed, raising their bowls to their mouths and frantically shoveling food in with their spoons.
They didn't stop until the bowls were empty.
Finally, they slumped back in their chairs with blissful smiles.
'Why is this happening...'
'Are these three judges just incompetent? How could they find food of such quality this delicious?'
Utterly perplexed, Ikumi Mito brought her three bowls of A5 beef donburi to the judges.
"Please taste this! A dish made from A5 beef... it's on a completely different level than what you just ate!" she declared with a confident grin.
The three judges glanced at each other, seemingly hesitant about something...
"Let's eat..." one of them said.
Ikumi Mito's brow furrowed.
'Why do they sound like they don't even want to try it?'
The three judges lifted the lids, appearing unmoved by the visual impact of the A5 beef. They picked up their spoons, took a single bite of the meat and rice, and then stopped.
They immediately put down their spoons, refusing to taste any more.
'This...'
Seeing this, Ikumi Mito grew concerned.
'In the past, judges would be ecstatic and take multiple bites of my A5 beef dishes... so why now...?'
"Let's vote," one judge said.
The others nodded.
Without hesitation, they pressed the voting buttons.
The final results flashed onto the massive screen.
3-0.
It was an undisputed outcome.
"Did Mito win after all?"
"No... it's the transfer student!"
The crowd erupted into a din.
"Mito actually lost? In a meat-themed battle?"
"And her A5 beef lost to discount supermarket beef..."
Disbelieving voices echoed throughout the arena.
"Whoa! The final result is completely unexpected! Ikumi Mito didn't even get a single point! It's a total landslide defeat!"
The announcer's voice continued to ring out.
"Alright!" Soma Yukihira cheered. "That's Lexon for you!"
"Soma-kun doesn't have to be expelled now..." Megumi Tadokoro said with a happy smile.
"The Donburi RS doesn't have to disband either!" As the captain of the Donburi RS, Kanichi Konishi was overjoyed.
"I don't believe it! There's no way my A5 beef dish lost to discount supermarket meat!" Ikumi Mito slammed her hand onto the judges' table and screamed.
"Just taste it and see." Lexon had expected this reaction. To make her accept the result, he had already prepared an extra portion.
He returned to his station, took the spare bowl, and held it out to her.
"It's just a dish made with cheap supermarket beef... how could it possibly beat my A5 beef!..." Ikumi Mito continued her stubborn protest, but her body was honest. She took the bowl Lexon offered, and looking at the enticing aroma and the steaming rice, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.
"How could..." Ikumi Mito tentatively touched the meat with her spoon.
The moment she touched it, the solid slab of beef covering the rice suddenly fell apart.
It separated into thin slices that draped perfectly over the rice.
As the beef separated, the prepared sauce and juices locked inside the meat were released, soaking into the rice and releasing an even more intoxicating aroma.
Instantly, a flush of red spread across Ikumi Mito's face.
"How... this knife work..." Looking at the meat sliced as thin as a cicada's wing yet still connected, she couldn't hide her shock.
'That flash just now... it seemed like he did nothing...'
'Did he really finish such intricate slicing in that single instant?'
It was terrifyingly proficient.
She felt that even with another ten years of training, she might not be able to pull off a feat like that.
"Eat," Lexon said simply.
She didn't respond. She scooped up a few slices of beef and rice and put them into her mouth.
Delicious! Delicious! Delicious!!!
In an instant, her mind was flooded with that single, simple thought.
Everything else vanished; her consciousness held nothing but those two words!
It was as if her very ability to think had been stripped away.
She couldn't even begin to describe the flavor explosion in her mouth, the meat that was more tender and refined than A5 beef, or the indescribable complexity of the sauce and meat juices...
Only the thought of 'delicious' remained in her mind.
Her only physical response was to mindlessly shovel the rest of the bowl into her mouth until it was gone.
"Do you understand now? Why I won..." Lexon asked with a gentle smile, looking down at Ikumi Mito, who was slumped on the ground, staring blankly with a dazed expression.
"Burp..." Still lost in the afterglow of the meal, the only response she could manage was a hearty, warm belch.
"3 to 0! A massive victory for Lexon! The Donburi Research Society is saved!"
The announcer's final words signaled the conclusion and Lexon's triumph in the Shokugeki.
The winner was Lexon.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]