Among the Elite Ten team, Yukihira Soma was the first to finish his dish.
"Please try it. Yukihira-style, Egg Meat Roll!"
He wrapped meat filling in an egg crepe, rolled it into an egg roll, then sliced it into pieces and steamed them in a pot. The fragrant steam rose, making it look very appetizing.
"It's that transfer student."
"Yeah. It's really lucky for him to get into the Elite Ten team and be grouped with Erina-san."
"Exactly."
The nearby students all looked over.
Then, Gin Dojima began to taste it.
Ryo and Hayama Akira were also paying close attention, and even Erina Nakiri looked over.
"The taste isn't bad."
Gin Dojima tasted it and said lightly, "The egg crepe is soft and delicious, full of the light flavor of egg, and the meat filling is tender and juicy."
"Hehe."
Yukihira Soma chuckled and asked, "How is it? It should sell for six or seven thousand yen, right?"
Their standard was three times that of the first-years, which was forty-five thousand yen, averaging about six or seven thousand per person.
"Minus one thousand five hundred."
Gin Dojima said.
Yukihira Soma's eyes widened instantly.
Hayama Akira, Ryo, and the others were also stunned.
After a while, the surrounding students all started laughing.
"Hmph, as expected, he's just an arrogant brat."
Eizan Etsuya snorted disdainfully.
"Is this all the first-year brats are capable of?"
Nene Kinokuni also glanced at them indifferently.
"Huh? How can it be negative?"
Yukihira Soma was also puzzled; he thought his dish should be very delicious.
"Because you completely misunderstood the question. You were just doing addition."
Gin Dojima said, "But simply adding ingredients together is useless."
"Huh?"
Yukihira Soma was a bit confused, "Why do you say that?"
"Tch, first-year brat, move aside."
At this moment, Eizan Etsuya clicked his tongue, unceremoniously pushed Yukihira Soma aside, then presented his own dish, saying, "Steamed Lemon Fish."
On the plate was a whole steamed sea bass, covered with red chili peppers, with yellow lemons and green cilantro placed beside it. The colors were rich, the appearance was magnificent, full of the fish's freshness, and a faint fragrance of lemon.
"Was this really made with ingredients from a Convenience Store? It looks like it was brought out from the back kitchen of a high-end restaurant!"
"As expected of Eizan-senpai!"
"Yeah."
The nearby students exclaimed in admiration.
Gin Dojima immediately began to taste it.
"Thirty thousand yen."
When they heard this price, all the students present gasped in amazement.
It should be known that the standard for third-years was only twenty thousand yen. This meant that Eizan Etsuya alone had exceeded the standard of five third-year students, and by a significant margin.
"The sea bass in this dish is frozen sea bass, not fresh enough, so the texture of the meat would definitely not be very good. So he used chili peppers to mask the shortcomings of the ingredients with spiciness, and then used the sourness of lemon to enhance the fish's freshness."
Gin Dojima said, "Whether it's lemon, chili, or frozen fish, they are all common ingredients, but he extracted and combined the ordinary characteristics of these ingredients to create a high-class taste. You merely added ingredients, but this dish multiplied them."
"Hmm."
Yukihira Soma fell into deep thought.
"If you were to sell your dish at your family's diner, Yukihira Restaurant, how much would it cost?"
Gin Dojima asked in return.
"Well... that would probably be about a thousand yen. If the price is set too high, it wouldn't be a diner anymore."
Yukihira Soma scratched his head and said, "But even so, it shouldn't be minus one thousand five hundred, right?"
"Because this is diner food."
Gin Dojima smiled, "Although your dish is delicious, just by looking at its appearance, would a customer pay seven thousand to buy it?"
"No."
Yukihira Soma shook his head.
"If it can't be sold, then its value is zero."
Gin Dojima said.
"See that, brat?"
Eizan Etsuya smiled faintly, looking at Yukihira Soma, Hayama Akira, and the others, and lingered on Satou for a moment.
"Damn it!"
Ryo was filled with indignation, glaring angrily at Eizan Etsuya and saying, "You're just trying to provoke us!"
"It seems we need to work harder."
Hayama Akira also said.
"Haha, sorry about that."
Yukihira Soma scratched his head, laughing somewhat awkwardly.
"It's alright, Yukihira-kun, you just didn't understand the question."
Erina Nakiri said calmly, "There's still time, you can make another one."
"Thank you, Erina-san."
Yukihira Soma thanked her.
"Yukihira, you specialize in diner cuisine, so you'll definitely be at a disadvantage in this kind of test."
Satou also said, "Just don't make this mistake again next time."
"I understand."
Yukihira Soma nodded, then sat on the ground, cross-legged, and began to ponder.
At this time, Satou was also cooking. He finally chose a very common ingredient in Convenience Stores: tofu.
He decided to make Eight Treasures Tofu Pot, cooking squid, shrimp, chicken, cured meat, green beans, mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and water chestnuts—eight ingredients—together with tofu. The appearance was exquisite, and the taste was very luxurious, which should meet the requirements of this exam.
At this moment, the other Elite Ten members had also completed their dishes and received their prices.
"Kuga Terunori, thirty thousand yen."
"Nene Kinokuni, thirty thousand yen."
"Saito Soumei, thirty-five thousand yen."
...
Hearing these prices, all the students present were in an uproar.
Normally, they couldn't directly perceive the strength of the Elite Ten, but now they had a genuine realization.
The gap was simply too vast; any one of them could meet the third-year standard and far exceed it.
"Damn it, my price is more than ten times less than the Elite Ten's, right?"
Many students felt a wave of disappointment.
Just then, Eishi Tsukasa presented his dish.
"The Competition of Chicken and Beef with Demi-Glace Sauce."
As soon as Eishi Tsukasa's dish was presented, it caused a stir of admiration.
"So magnificent! It doesn't look like it was made with Convenience Store ingredients at all."
"Yeah, it totally feels like a high-end restaurant."
Gin Dojima immediately began to taste it.
Then.
"Fifty thousand yen!"
-------------------------------
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