Inside the little restaurant, Tohru and Hisako became the temporary judges.
Of course, Hisako acted as the main judge, while Tohru's role was closer to being cute decoration.
Yuto and Erina walked into the kitchen.
Because he had agreed to a match, the ochazuke and grilled fish he promised Hisako were put on hold.
Hisako did not mind.
In fact, she felt a pleasant surprise.
Watching Erina and Yuto compete was far more exciting to her than eating first.
Besides, as a judge, she would be able to taste both of their dishes at the same time. For the girl, that was a delightful prospect.
In the kitchen, Yuto still looked relaxed.
Erina, by contrast, was tense as she took several deep breaths.
"Fifteen minutes. The ingredients are anything in the shop," Yuto stated the rules.
The only thing he limited was the time.
Strictly speaking, the ingredients should have been limited as well, but this was not a formal competition, so there was no need to be strict.
"All right." Erina agreed.
She tied up her hair.
Her golden hair, which had fallen loose, was now gathered into a ponytail over her back, giving her a clean, spirited air.
"Mm." Yuto nodded.
In an instant, Erina's expression became solemn.
Totsuki's young lady had entered full-power mode. Because she understood the gap between herself and Yuto, she took this match to heart.
Beyond her stern expression, a sharp fighting spirit radiated from her.
This was her battle!
She had to bring out everything she had against him.
After glancing at Erina, Yuto began selecting his ingredients. His relaxed expression shifted into seriousness.
He respected Erina and would not go easy on her.
Although this was a simple match, focus was required where it mattered.
That was respect for his opponent and respect for the path of cooking.
Erina chose a small piece of beef and took out an egg. For vegetables, she selected a leaf of lettuce and some broccoli.
Up until now, the dishes she excelled at tended toward gorgeous, dignified banquet cuisine.
Those dishes suited Erina's identity and personality.
A proud young lady had to possess the bearing that pride deserved. Although people often claimed to dislike the proud, everyone longed to become someone capable of pride.
That was true of Erina, and even more so of Gilgamesh.
The brilliance emitted by true pride was dazzling.
Works and actions born from such a bearing naturally carried a unique charm.
The banquet cuisine Erina specialized in possessed a sense of nobility because of the pride that shaped her.
Its flavor was enough to leave people enchanted.
But right now, banquet cuisine was not suitable
Most banquet dishes required too much time, and fifteen minutes was not enough.
She could only adapt to the current match.
This had nothing to do with fairness, it was a test of an excellent chef's ability.
She cut the beef into slices half a centimeter thick, then turned on the heat and set a pan over it.
After drizzling oil, she placed the beef inside and began frying it.
It looked like the method for making steak, but Erina was not making steak.
In the brief window after placing the beef into the pan, Erina seized the gap in time and filled a small basin with water.
The hotel-style stove she had brought with her had two burners set close together, making it easy to switch between them.
That was an advantage Yuto's side could not match.
She placed the small pot of water onto the second burner and began heating it.
At the same time, Erina turned back and flipped the beef.
The side facing down had been seared—neither scorched nor crisped, with the right amount of springiness left in the meat.
Her control over the heat alone showed how solid her fundamentals were.
After flipping the beef, Erina scooped a small bowl of rice from the rice cooker and placed it into the freezer.
Compared to the refrigerator compartment, the freezer was close to minus twenty degrees Celsius.
Erina turned around, her golden hair sweeping through the air in an elegant arc.
She took out a small bowl and brought over several seasonings.
The dish she was making required a sauce, but the restaurant did not have the one she needed. In that case, she would make it herself.
For someone with the God Tongue, recreating the flavor of a particular sauce was an easy task.
She only needed to make a small amount, which made it simpler.
There seemed to be many steps, but Erina arranged them in a pleasing and efficient way.
It never felt chaotic.
Every action had been drafted in her mind; she knew what she needed to do at each stage, and there was no hesitation in her movements.
Every step forward and backward was calculated.
Because of that, Erina's movements were orderly, clean, and easy to follow.
Combined with the fact that she herself was a beautiful young girl, the sight drew the eye.
Unfortunately, there was no audience in the kitchen. The only person watching was Yuto, her opponent.
Compared to Erina, who was treating this like a serious battle, Yuto was focused as well, but he maintained a relaxed demeanor.
He spared a brief glance at Erina, and admiration rose in his heart.
Beautiful.
That praise was not directed only at the girl herself. It was also praise for that smooth, flowing sequence of movements.
After that moment of admiration, he returned his focus to his own dish.
A small portion of broth simmered over the burner in front of him.
Not every soup needed to be simmered for a long time.
Slow simmering was meant to draw out the deepest umami hidden inside the ingredients.
It suited ingredients whose flavors were tightly locked within, where time became the key that opened them.
But if the ingredient itself was fresh and flavorful, simmering it for too long would be harmful.
A prolonged boil would cause those ingredients to age too quickly.
Fish, shrimp, crab... And on the cutting board in front of Yuto were shrimp shells and crab shells.
With the soup simmering over low heat, Yuto moved to the other stove.
There had always been two burners in the kitchen, but they were placed far apart, making them less convenient than Erina's large hotel-style stove.
Yuto opened the freezer and took out a small bowl filled with white meat.
The meat was piled high inside the bowl. He had placed it there a short while ago.
Yuto stirred the meat in the bowl, revealing the ice underneath. Beneath that high mound of meat, there was ice.
He moved the meat from the bowl onto the cutting board.
It had not been obvious while it was still in the bowl, but once spread out on the cutting board, one could see that the meat was loose and separated.
Yuto picked up his knife and minced the meat into a filling.
Once minced, it became sticky, and he pressed it into small flat pieces.
They were not large, only about the size of half a palm.
Next, Yuto would begin pan-frying them.