Emiya sighed and grabbed Loki by the shoulders.
"Calm down, Loki. You're scaring her. Recruitment can wait. Let's judge the food first. Don't forget why we're here."
Loki clutched Megumi's hands and refused to let go.
"What's there to judge? Megumi-chan is the cutest person in the world!"
"We're judging cooking, not looks. You old- ahem." Emiya cleared his throat in time. He'd almost said something dangerous.
"Anyway, it's about cooking. Cooking."
Loki waved him off impatiently. "Even in cooking, Megumi-chan wins."
Emiya turned to the others. "What do you all think?"
Nyanko-sensei spoke up. "I think the four-eyes guy is a bit better."
Kojiro Shinomiya: "..."
If Hinako Inui had called him that, he would have corrected her on the spot.
But the speaker was a great spirit.
So he endured it.
Four-eyes or not, it didn't matter.
Takashi Natsume thought for a moment before speaking. "Mr. Kojiro Shinomiya's dish was very delicious. But I truly felt Miss Tadokoro's heartfelt intent. I vote for Miss Tadokoro."
Hinoe shrugged. "If Natsume's voting for the girl, then I'll vote for the girl too."
Kojiro Shinomiya's heart sank.
Three votes.
He hadn't expected that.
Losing to a student?
And what was this talk about heartfelt intent?
Emiya looked at Haruhi Suzumiya.
She hesitated. "Both Mr. Shinomiya's and Tadokoro's dishes were great. It's hard to choose."
"Think again."
"...Fine. I'll vote for Mr. Shinomiya."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Emiya nodded, then turned to the last person. "Erina, what do you think?"
Erina Nakiri answered without hesitation. "I vote for Kojiro-senpai."
Emiya clicked his tongue.
He'd expected a landslide.
Instead, it was a tie.
Megumi Tadokoro: Loki, Takashi Natsume, Hinoe.
Kojiro Shinomiya: Nyanko-sensei, Haruhi Suzumiya, Erina Nakiri.
Three to three.
The final vote fell to him.
Instinctively, Emiya leaned toward Kojiro Shinomiya. Purely in terms of technique, Shinomiya's dish was better.
Then Loki spoke.
"Emiya. I order you, in the name of a goddess, vote for Megumi-chan."
"...That's an abuse of power."
"So what?" Loki snorted. "I'm your superior god. Are you going to disobey me?"
Emiya fell silent.
Then his gaze shifted to Kojiro Shinomiya.
An idea surfaced.
"Mr. Shinomiya," Emiya said, "you're confused, right? Your dish was clearly superior. So why hasn't this been a landslide? Why did it end up like this?"
Kojiro Shinomiya didn't argue.
He only nodded.
A heavy breath was trapped in his chest.
Especially that great spirit, Hinoe.
She hadn't even cared about his dish. She voted purely because Natsume did.
That wasn't judging.
Emiya continued, "Go taste Megumi Tadokoro's Rainbow Terrine again. Then you'll understand why 'heartfelt intent' matters to some people."
Kojiro Shinomiya paused.
Then he walked over, picked up his knife and fork, cut a piece of the terrine, and put it into his mouth.
He immediately began listing flaws.
The cooking time wasn't perfect.
The presentation was average.
The flavors weren't clean.
But as he spoke, his voice broke.
Tears fell.
Seeing this, Emiya finally relaxed.
He hadn't expected to resolve this shokugeki using a method straight from the original story.
"Now you understand," Emiya said calmly. "For some people, heartfelt intent is ordinary and insignificant. For others, it's everything. Right, Loki?"
"Of course," Loki replied. "Do you have any idea how many delicacies I've eaten in the God Realm? Food researched by humans for a few decades can't compare to what gods have refined over tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years."
She continued casually, "Even that little one, Hestia, cooks better than most humans. When you've eaten too much perfection, heart becomes the most important thing."
Emiya immediately retorted, "Stop badmouthing Goddess Hestia. She's the goddess of the hearth. Ordinary gods can't compare to her cooking."
"Hah?" Loki shot him a glare. "Whose Familia are you in? Why are you defending that little one?"
"I'm just being objective."
"You're always defending her. What, planning to defect?"
"If I wanted to, I wouldn't have joined your Familia in the first place."
Loki snorted. "That's true. After all, I'm Orario's strongest Familia. How could that little freeloader living off Hephaestus compare?"
"A freeloader?" Emiya paused. "So Hestia's Familia hasn't been established yet?"
He remembered.
After descending, Hestia hadn't immediately formed a Familia.
She arrived too late.
Orario already had too many established Familias. No one wanted to join a blank slate.
Joining her meant starting from nothing.
So people chose stability instead.
Even the future protagonist hadn't joined her at first.
He'd been rejected everywhere before meeting Hestia.
That came later.
At this point, Hestia couldn't form a Familia.
With her divinity sealed, she couldn't even support herself.
So she lived with Hephaestus.
As a parasite.
Eventually, Hephaestus would throw her out.
Only then would she meet the boy who'd been rejected just like her.
Only then would the story truly begin.
Which meant-
Hestia was still freeloading.
The plot hadn't started yet.
~~~~~
Support me with Powerstones, Reviews, comments
Add to your library