Fifteen minutes was not a long time.
Yuto and Erina both completed their dishes.
Meanwhile, Hisako and Tohru had long since become impatient.
The fragrance drifting from the kitchen was too tempting.
It was already early morning, and since Hisako and Tohru had not eaten much all night, that aroma stirred them even more.
Hisako could still maintain her elegance and composure.
Tohru, however, was different.
Although she was a dragon princess, her personality would occasionally reveal a childlike side. On top of that, dragon education was rather loose by nature.
When the already-hungry Tohru smelled the fragrance, she could no longer stop herself from drooling.
This was not an exaggerated figure of speech; she was genuinely drooling!
Her tail swayed back and forth, fully expressing her anxious impatience.
At last, Yuto and Erina came out, each carrying their own dish.
Both of them had prepared two portions.
Erina's dish was an exquisitely arranged platter.
On a thick black stone plate sat a serving of rice crowned with an egg.
Beneath the light, the egg trembled slightly, and within the white, a faint yellow glow could be seen. It was an onsen egg.
The rice beneath it was not plain white rice either.
It had been stir-fried with diced beef. The beef, first seared and then stir-fried, was mixed with the rice in a scattered yet orderly way.
Natural fat coated the grains, giving them a golden sheen that made one's appetite stir just from looking at it.
A lettuce leaf had been placed beneath the fried rice, while several cucumber slices were arranged around it.
Beside the rice sat a whole piece of pan-fried beef.
Next to the beef was a thick sauce. Broccoli was used as garnish around the edge of the plate.
Erina's dish looked simple at first glance, yet it carried a grandness born from restraint.
It combined elements of Western cuisine and Japanese cooking, giving new vitality to something rooted in tradition.
Even while based on simplicity, the plating had been given a gorgeous structure.
It was a dish that matched Erina's style.
Even under rough conditions, she refused to abandon elegance and splendor.
This was the culinary path of Totsuki's Elite Ten, Nakiri Erina.
By comparison, Yuto's dish was much simpler.
His dish was divided across three plates: one contained a milky-white soup, one held a plain bowl of white rice, and one held pan-fried slices of meat.
It could not be called gorgeous.
But it was very much in Yuto's usual style.
Simple and ordinary.
Judging purely from appearance, Erina had won.
However, the girl herself was not thinking about that.
Her eyes were fixed intently on Yuto's dish, her heart filled with overwhelming curiosity and impulse.
She wanted to taste it.
"You go first," Yuto smiled gently at Erina.
Erina's expression shifted slightly, then she nodded.
The order in which dishes were tasted was extremely important in judging food.
The dish tasted first, being the initial experience, created the strongest stimulation for the taste buds.
Its aftertaste would also linger longer.
That was very disadvantageous for the dish that came afterward.
The mark left behind by the first dish would influence the judge's sense of taste at every moment, and there was a very real possibility that it would prevent the later dish from showing its true flavor.
Yuto's concession stirred Erina's heart, but she did not intend to refuse it.
Now that she understood the difference between them, stubbornly insisting on small details would only feel unnecessary.
She also believed in Yuto's cooking.
Being unwilling to lose did not mean avoiding reality or refusing to acknowledge it.
Besides, if Yuto could afford to yield the first position, that meant he had confidence.
She wanted to see whether her dish could truly affect the impression of Yuto's.
Erina carried her plate over to Hisako and Tohru first.
"Onsen egg rice with special pan-fried beef." Erina softly announced her dish, then handed chopsticks to the two girls.
Hisako naturally understood how the dish before her should be eaten once she held the chopsticks.
Tohru, however, did not.
She planned to switch to a spoon and swallow everything directly!
Erina stopped her. "If you want to taste it properly, you should first break the onsen egg and let the yolk seep into the rice before eating it."
Tohru looked confused.
How would the dragon girl know what an onsen egg was?
Seeing Tohru's bewildered expression, Erina sighed helplessly.
"I'll do it."
She took Tohru's chopsticks and with a slight movement, she broke the onsen egg.
A puff of white steam rose from within. Then the yellow yolk slowly flowed out.
The yolk pouring down looked like a tiny waterfall draping itself over the grains and diced beef.
Following the gaps between rice and rice, and between the rice and the beef, the yolk gradually seeped into the dish.
The sight was indeed worth admiring.
Tohru looked as if she had discovered some fascinating new toy, her eyes shining with curiosity!
"All right, now you can eat." Erina set down the chopsticks and straightened back up.
Tohru nodded and switched to a spoon.
Eating rice with chopsticks was not Tohru's style.
The dragon girl mixed the rice, letting the egg yolk flow between the grains and beef cubes.
With each movement, the bright colors shifted beautifully. Tohru scooped up a spoonful and placed it into her mouth.
"Mm— Delicious!"
Asking a dragon whose usual role was mostly "being cute" to evaluate a dish was honestly making things difficult for her.
It tasted good, and that was enough!
Tohru's face filled with happiness, while Hisako beside her showed all kinds of emotion.
As a professional chef, she could taste many things from it.
The heat control was extremely precise.
The diced beef had been seared before being stir-fried, and while fully cooked, it still retained a tender texture.
The onsen egg had been cooked to exactly the point where its raw smell was removed, leaving behind only a pure, mellow fragrance.
The intertwined flavors had also been handled with great care.
The flavor of the meat, the fragrance of the rice, the richness of the egg. They overlapped, supported one another, and advanced layer by layer, like waves rising one after another, each stronger than the last.
A simple dish had been given an extraordinary flavor. This was what it meant to be an excellent chef.
Hisako slowly closed her eyes.
As she savored the dish, she seemed to faintly see Erina in the form of a noble queen.
Her fingers were like royal decrees, commanding every flavor within the dish.
Hisako felt a surge of excitement.
This dish was even better than Erina's previous cooking!
It meant Erina had become even better at cooking.
Although this dish was appearing for the first time, it could already be called one of Erina's signature works.
As the person closest to Erina, Hisako was sincerely happy for her.
"How is it?" Erina asked.
Although she tried to keep her tone calm, the nervousness in her eyes could not be hidden.
"Delicious!" Tohru's answer was clean and direct.
Her response merely made Yuto smile.
He had known the dragon girl would say something like that.
"Th-that's good, then." Erina felt a little awkward.
She had not expected Tohru's evaluation to be so... simple.
After steadying herself, she turned toward Hisako.
"This is a dish that surpasses your previous work, Erina-sama. You... have become stronger once again." Hisako sighed softly, then spoke with a smile full of emotion.
Erina froze slightly, but in the next moment, surprise and delight appeared on her face.
She knew Hisako would not lie to her!
For any chef, a level up in their cooking was a joyous thing.
Moved by excitement, Erina tasted her own dish. Her expression paused, then faint excitement and joy appeared in her eyes.
Indeed. Her cooking skill has just become better.
Her thoughts turned over and over, returning to the process of making the dish just now.
Facing a "powerful opponent" she knew she could not yet match, she had abandoned thoughts of victory or defeat, leaving only the dish before her in her heart.
Perhaps it was because her feelings at that moment had been so pure that she managed to surpass her previous limits.
Thinking of this, Erina let out a soft sigh.
If she traced this level up back to its root, it was still because of Yuto.
"Congratulations." Yuto spoke to Erina with genuine happiness.
As a fellow chef, he understood the joy that came with a breakthrough in skill.
"Th-thank you..."