Night fell, growing deeper.
Nakiri Mana, emerging from the office, turned to the General and said, "Father, let's leave it at that for now."
"You're leaving again so soon?"
General Senzaemon Nakiri's eyes held a hint of reluctance and helplessness; he wanted to persuade Mana to stay: "You haven't even met your own daughter, Erina, yet!"
"There are some things I'm not yet ready for."
"And I'm afraid the longer I stay here, the more regret I'll feel in my heart!"
Nakiri Mana's tone, however, was calm.
"Actually, that girl Erina still has feelings for you. During the time you were gone, she was listless all day long."
The General sighed softly, his gaze suddenly distant, as if recalling something.
Seeing the General in this state, Nakiri Mana was certain he was thinking of the joyful family scenes from the past, and her heart couldn't help but feel a pang.
Finally, she could only shake her head and softly replied, "I believe that the outcome of all things will eventually be beautiful, but the time to meet her now might still be too soon."
"So, please forgive me."
"Since things have come to this, I can only respect your choice."
The General sighed again.
"It's getting late, I must go. Father, please take care!"
With that, she no longer paid attention to the General's attempts to make her stay, and quickly left the office with Anne.
…
"Young Lady Erina."
"The headquarters building of the Sumo Hot Pot Cuisine Research Association has been completely demolished."
On a winding path, Hisako, dressed in her Totsuki Academy uniform, exuded the vibrant charm of a youthful girl.
At this moment, after receiving a call, she quickly reported to Erina ahead of her.
"Good!"
"It seems."
"The efficiency of this demolition team is quite high."
Upon hearing the news, Erina paused for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction.
Although the demise of the Sumo Hot Pot Cuisine Research Association was nothing in her eyes—if she wanted to, she could even rebuild a culinary building on its foundation overnight!
However, thinking about Alice Nakiri's actions today, she felt annoyed.
Striving forward is always a good quality!
Wanting to compete for everything and win everything isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's just that Alice Nakiri's rash actions, in her eyes, were ultimately too impulsive.
"I hope she can see reality clearly. If a Shokugeki victory makes her lose her head, then she'll have a lot of hardship to face later."
Finally, Erina murmured to herself and continued walking along the path.
…
Suddenly, a black car brushed past her.
During this process, Nakiri Mana, who was sitting inside the car, met eyes with Erina, both unintentionally glancing at each other.
Erina couldn't help but tremble, murmuring to herself as she stood rooted to the spot.
After a while, she finally came to her senses and, without caring about anything else, quickly turned around, wanting to chase after the car.
But seeing that the car had already vanished in a flash, she could only stop, her bright eyes filled with deep helplessness.
"Young Lady, what… what's wrong?"
Hisako, seeing her reaction, approached her with a strange expression, staring closely at her for a long time before finally asking with concern.
"Nothing!"
"You don't need to worry about me."
Erina returned to her senses and said faintly.
"Did you mistake someone for someone else?" Hisako seemed to sense the heaviness in Erina's expression.
"Hmm!"
"Something like that?"
Erina gave a bitter laugh.
Hisako Arato looked at Erina's helpless expression with sympathy, and finally, she could only reach out and pat her on the back as a gesture of comfort.
Even though it had been a full 10 years since they last met, her impression of Nakiri Mana was already very blurry.
But what was certain was that the face she had just seen greatly resembled her mother, Nakiri Mana, and that feeling had also flashed through her heart.
Therefore, Erina had been eager to chase after her.
"Her?"
"Could it really be her?"
"Sosuke once told me that she had already come to Japan, but Mother… why doesn't Mother dare to come find me?"
Erina felt a little hard to accept in her heart.
She had naively believed that she would probably never see Nakiri Mana again in this life, and she had gradually given up any hope for her mother.
However, in her heart, she still couldn't let go!
…
"Ding dong!"
"The Host has successfully signed in once."
"Ding dong!"
"Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the special recipe Noodles That Aren't Noodles, the recipe Lohan's Delight, ingredients catfish * 10, sea bream * 20, squid * 50."
With Rindo's departure, the Izakaya finally closed!
As usual, the system's voice once again rang loudly in Sosuke's mind.
This time's sign-in rewards were quite generous.
Leaving aside the catfish, sea bream, and squid ingredients for now, the Lohan's Delight recipe alone was enough to make Sosuke feel surprised.
Lohan's Delight, also known as Lohan Vegetable.
Its name implies "Eighteen Arhats gathering together," similar to the "Four Joys" in Four-Joy Meatballs.
Therefore, this dish contains blessings for many beautiful things, and of course, the "eighteen" here is actually an indefinite number.
This dish has no fixed main ingredient restrictions.
As long as they are fresh seasonal vegetables, such as shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, leafy greens, etc., they can all be stewed in one pot.
According to common understanding, vegetarian means no meat, and no meat is because it's bad to take lives.
Vegetarian meals are the food consumed by monks in temples, so this dish named Lohan's Delight should be considered a type of temple vegetarian dish!
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