"I'm sorry, Lady Erina... I failed..." Ikumi Mito stood before Erina Nakiri with her head bowed in apology.
"It is only natural that you failed," Erina replied, sounding as if she had expected this outcome all along.
"Huh? Lady Erina?" Ikumi Mito looked up, clearly confused.
"I have a general understanding of the strength of your Shokugeki opponent, so your loss was within expectations," Erina said.
"Lady Erina..."
"However..." Erina Nakiri's sharp gaze fell upon Ikumi Mito as she continued, "I didn't expect you to lose so utterly... and so disgracefully."
At this time, due to her father's strict upbringing, Erina had been indoctrinated with the idea that poor cooking was nothing but trash, which had shaped her current abrasive personality.
"I'm sorry... Lady Erina..." Ikumi Mito bowed her head even lower.
"Don't follow me anymore," Erina Nakiri delivered her cold, final ultimatum.
"Yes..." Ikumi Mito's voice was filled with visible despondency.
After Ikumi Mito left the room...
Erina Nakiri pulled out her phone and dialed a specific number.
After the ringing stopped, a deep and powerful voice came through the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Grandfather..." Erina said.
"What is it, Erina?" Senzaemon Nakiri asked.
"Did that cousin of mine really never study cooking before?" Erina inquired.
"According to my investigation... it appears he hasn't," Senzaemon replied.
"Then the rate at which his culinary skills are improving is terrifying..." Erina's voice wavered slightly.
"You'll get used to it... there are always geniuses with extraordinary talent who improve at light speed during the early stages of learning... but they eventually hit a bottleneck where their progress slows. After all, much of culinary knowledge requires time to accumulate," Senzaemon's steady voice explained through the phone.
"Is that so... Grandfather..." Erina reluctantly accepted the explanation.
Otherwise, if the other party continued at this current pace, Erina really wondered if this guy—who reached such a level in just two months—would simply rocket ahead and leave everyone in the dust. In another two months, he might kick her off her Elite Ten seat, and by the end of the semester, he'd be gunning for the First Seat...
Although she was an undisputed genius in the eyes of others, encountering someone like Lexon made her feel as if she were actually quite ordinary.
Especially since Lexon was technically her cousin.
It made her compare herself to him even more.
"Don't be discouraged, Erina. Your potential is still vast," Senzaemon encouraged.
"I won't lose heart, Grandfather," Erina Nakiri said proudly, her confidence returning.
"That's my granddaughter! Hahaha!" Senzaemon couldn't help but laugh.
"I'll let you go then, Grandfather. I have work to do." With that, Erina hung up and walked out of the room.
In the bright hall, Senzaemon Nakiri set down his phone and turned his gaze toward a monitor.
Displayed on the screen was the footage of Lexon's Shokugeki against Ikumi Mito.
"While those 'uncut gems' I brought in to polish Erina into a true jewel haven't made much of a move yet... I've discovered a 'royal gem' that surpasses them all..."
Watching Lexon on the screen—whose blade strokes could only be tracked when the footage was slowed down several times—Senzaemon murmured to himself.
"Lexon... I wonder how far you will grow... Perhaps with you, no other uncut gems will be needed, and there will be no need to force Erina to become a jewel herself..."
He seemed to hold great expectations for the young man on the screen.
The reason for this was that those who possessed the 'God's Tongue' would gradually become impossibly picky as they tasted more dishes. Eventually, they would reach a point where they could no longer eat or swallow anything that didn't reach a certain level of deliciousness, ultimately being swallowed whole by the vortex of gourmet food.
Erina Nakiri's mother—Senzaemon Nakiri's daughter—had met such a fate.
Because her palate was too refined, she could only survive on nutritional injections.
Senzaemon Nakiri did not want his granddaughter to suffer the same fate.
That was why he invited so many talented chefs to join Totsuki Academy; Joichiro Yukihira's son, Soma Yukihira, had been invited for this very reason.
These many chefs would serve as 'uncut gems' to eventually complete Erina Nakiri's training, allowing the owner of the 'God's Tongue' to become a true 'jewel'—attaining the pinnacle of culinary skill so she could be self-sufficient and not require other dishes.
This was Senzaemon Nakiri's 'Uncut Gem Generation Project.'
However, what he didn't know was...
Lexon was just a passerby in this world, the type who would leave immediately once his mission was complete.
Even if his skills reached a high level, he wouldn't stay here to cook for Erina.
...
"Why are you following me?" Lexon asked the dejected girl with the tanned skin and voluptuous figure in front of him.
"I've been abandoned by Lady Erina..." Ikumi Mito said sadly.
"Oh." Lexon could guess why, but...
"What does that have to do with me?" Lexon asked.
"It's all your fault..." Ikumi Mito stared at Lexon, looking as if she wanted him to take responsibility.
What a pain.
Since this was a restricted world, Lexon really couldn't think of a good way to deal with this stubborn fifteen-year-old girl.
Though, to be fair, she didn't look like a fifteen-year-old at all.
If it weren't a restricted world, a single Kotoamatsukami would have solved the problem instantly.
"Senior Konishi, didn't you say you were short a captain for the Donburi RS?" Lexon turned his gaze toward the pompadoured Kanichi Konishi.
"Yeah, I was planning on having you do it! You've got a bright future, Lexon!" Kanichi Konishi's eyes lit up as he looked at Lexon.
Like Ikumi Mito, this guy had also been pestering Lexon after the Shokugeki.
"Then she'll be perfect for it," Lexon said, pointing at Ikumi Mito.
After all, this was how it played out in the original story, so he might as well go along with it.
"Eh? Her?" Kanichi Konishi was clearly hesitant.
"Huh? Why should I..." Ikumi Mito retorted unhappily.
Obviously, she had no desire to be the captain of something like the Donburi RS.
"You lost the Shokugeki to me," Lexon said flatly.
"What? That wasn't in the terms of the Shokugeki!"
"You lost the Shokugeki to me."
"Like I said! The terms didn't mention..."
"You lost the Shokugeki to me."
"Fine, fine, fine! I'll do it, okay!" Ikumi Mito replied, sounding completely exasperated.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]