"Announcement: Due to unexpected circumstances, the judges for this match will be temporarily replaced—the new judges are: Osako Tohei, Akagi Eirai, and... Nakiri Azami!"
Huh!?
When hearing about the judge replacement, Mutou Judai didn't think much of it. He hadn't even heard the first two names, so he didn't care at all.
But when he heard the last name, he was obviously stunned for a moment.
Nakiri Azami... wasn't this Erina's father's name!
And... Erina was very reluctant to mention her father. She had only mentioned him once, and her expression wasn't good afterward, then she quickly stopped talking about him.
It seemed the psychological trauma was quite serious.
This guy... had he returned to this country?
Mutou Judai looked toward the judges' entrance.
Then he saw Nakiri Azami walking out with two men, and at the same time he looked over, Nakiri Azami was also looking at him.
They made eye contact like this.
Then Nakiri Azami smiled at him, and afterward went to the judges' table.
Mutou Judai thought about this and finally looked away.
This guy...
After the Shokugeki, he should tell old man Senzaemon about his return—as for capturing him or something... from the fact that Senzaemon had only driven him away back then, that would probably be meaningless.
And this matter mainly concerned Erina's side. As long as Erina overcame her psychological trauma, this guy wouldn't pose any threat.
However—
Although Mutou Judai looked away, he still felt it was quite strange for Nakiri Azami to suddenly appear here.
Changing judges... and if it was changed to this guy, he probably actively requested to come judge his Shokugeki.
Tsk tsk...
Did he really like the taste of cursed cuisine that much?
—Then he surely won't be disappointed~
...
Mutou Judai at least appeared to quickly stop caring about the judge change, and Hayama Akira could even see a slight smile at the corner of his mouth as he skillfully unwrapped instant ramen packaging.
This made Hayama Akira slowly frown.
Suddenly changing judges, and it was Nakiri... this Mutou Judai guy seemed quite close to the Nakiris. So compared to the previous three judges, this time you're not even pretending and directly changed to your people?
In an instant, Hayama Akira imagined the previous three judges having a change of heart and being forcibly dragged away by Mutou Judai's people.
This situation made Hayama Akira exhale.
It didn't matter.
He had prepared for his opponent to use dirty tricks from the beginning anyway.
However...
Hayama Akira casually flicked his wrist, and various spices were brought out and placed on the table—those bottles and jars totaled probably over fifty types. The area looked nothing like a chef's cooking station, but more like a scientist's laboratory.
Hayama Akira prepared on his side, then watched as Mutou Judai's instant ramen was already cooked and served to the judges, shaking his head slightly.
—Mutou Judai, your tricks end here.
I told you.
—My weapon is beyond your reach!
...
At the judges' table, since Nakiri Azami had heard that Mutou Judai was now the world's number one chef, even though he came in a hurry, on the way here, he still tried his best to adjust his condition to optimal.
Sense of smell, taste, mental state...
He tried to adjust all these to their best, and he hadn't eaten anything else today, so there wouldn't be any lingering tastes in his mouth to affect his taste perception—then he came to receive the world's number one chef's cuisine.
So.
—When he saw Mutou Judai serve three bowls of instant ramen, he was confused.
This...
It smelled like ordinary instant ramen...
With this thought, he picked up chopsticks and took a bite...
Yeah, this was ordinary instant ramen!
Couldn't say it was delicious or terrible—if judged by what he taught Erina, this thing was complete garbage.
So after just one bite, Nakiri Azami pushed the bowl aside.
The two judges beside him did the same.
None of the three could understand the current situation.
World's number one chef, this!?
But before they could ask questions, Hayama Akira also served his dish.
His dish was a plate of sashimi, then an amazing number of various spices were placed on the sashimi. It looked like a cold dish—couldn't say it lacked character, but it didn't seem particularly special either.
The two judges beside Nakiri Azami were somewhat disappointed.
Nakiri Azami himself looked at Hayama Akira's dish and twitched his nose slightly.
"Very impressive cuisine..."
Nakiri Azami was still Nakiri Azami. Just by looking and smelling, even before the stink bomb exploded, he knew the essence of Hayama Akira's dish.
Thinking that a stink bomb was probably coming next, he leaned his face forward and concentrated more attention on his nose.
"It'll probably be very fragrant shortly."
Hearing him say this, the two judges beside him were stunned, while Hayama Akira proudly picked up a flame gun.
"You can tell—that's right, this is my cuisine."
"—Flame-seared autumn saury sashimi!"
Hearing Hayama Akira say this, Mutou Judai blinked.
The curse was naturally already applied.
And Hayama Akira's dish had a very impressive buff.
[Stink Bomb: Will perfectly allow every emitted scent to maintain its independence while combining, and mix into an even more powerful, bomb-like explosive flavor]
So-called cuisine was about color, aroma, taste... Previously, the opponents Mutou Judai had seen were all accomplished in taste. This time it was finally someone very skilled with aromas.
Thinking this, Mutou Judai reached under his cooking station and put on a chef's mask that others had prepared.
No one paid attention to Mutou Judai's action, but Hayama Akira moved under everyone's attention.
He held the flame gun and directly performed the final step on the flame-seared autumn saury sashimi in the plate—searing!"
As flames fell on the sashimi, the flavors of countless spices were directly activated by the fire.
The moment he pressed the flame gun's trigger, Hayama Akira also showed a very confident expression.
Bribing judges was useless against me.
Because my weapon could be felt by the audience even without tasting—could you bribe all the audience!
With my fifty-plus spices...
I—
Hayama Akira's thoughts stopped there.
Because.
The moment he pressed the flame gun's trigger, that bomb was detonated!
He had fifty-plus spices, but why, why...
"—Why does it smell so terrible!"
The two judges beside Nakiri Azami quickly covered their noses, while Nakiri Azami—who had been closest before—was now directly leaning back in his chair.
The two judges beside him saw Nakiri Azami wasn't responding and looked over, then...
"—Oh no, Azami-sama has been knocked unconscious by the smell! Call an ambulance quickly!"
As for Hayama Akira...
His sense of smell was naturally more acute than ordinary people's, so the moment the smell erupted, he collapsed.
Mutou Judai walked to the judges' table during this chaos, looking at the two judges who were very panicked about Nakiri Azami being knocked unconscious by the smell. Wearing his mask, he slowly smiled.
"By the way, I won this Shokugeki, right?"
Ah, this...
Those two judges were stunned—they hadn't eaten yet...
As they had this thought, Mutou Judai brought Hayama Akira's flame-seared autumn saury sashimi closer to them.
That intense smell like herring canned fish smeared with blue cheese, then fermented for 365 days wrapped in black garlic approached, instantly making the two judges step back.
Mutou Judai chuckled.
"How about you two try it? Maybe it's like stinky tofu—smells bad but tastes good!"
No no no no no!
—Don't come over here!
Seeing Nakiri Azami knocked unconscious by the smell, they shook their heads repeatedly and directly gave Mutou Judai their precious two votes.
So whoever got Nakiri Azami's vote next didn't matter anymore.
Mutou Judai.
—He had already won!
...