Shinomiya Kojiro looked at Erina and Mutou Judai in front of him and slowly furrowed his brow.
Just from the smell, he knew that the nine-treasure vegetable French terrine Erina made wasn't prepared according to his recipe.
If possible, he wanted to expel this group directly!
But he also knew that wouldn't work with just this.
His approach was fine for ordinary students, but it wouldn't work against Erina, the young lady of the Nakiri family.
Regarding this, Shinomiya Kojiro sighed inwardly, then picked up his knife and fork, deciding to just taste a little and let this group pass.
As for whether the taste would be acceptable?
Don't be ridiculous—would a dish seasoned by the Nakiri family's God's Tongue be unacceptable?
Anyone could figure out with their knees that it was impossible!
This was what Shinomiya Kojiro was thinking at the time.
Meanwhile, Mutou Judai looked at the nine-treasure vegetable French terrine that Erina had served, feeling somewhat curious.
—He was curious about what this thing actually tasted like!
Because after awakening his system, he found that when looking at dishes or people, he could see something like a status bar from online games.
Of course, things like life and stamina involved idealism and basically couldn't be completely quantified.
What he could see wasn't these things, but an abnormal status bar.
And it was the kind where only particularly obvious abnormal states would be visible—normal people generally had empty status bars, and only very special states could be seen.
At this moment, on the nine-treasure vegetable French terrine that Shinomiya Kojiro was cutting with his knife and stabbing with his fork—there were two abnormal states!
First was the curse he had added.
Then...
Following the curse was a buff called "Taste Bud Explosion"!
After clicking on it, there were thoughtful descriptions of these two buffs.
[Curse: When applied to food, it won't harm the human body, but you can look forward to the taste~]
[Taste Bud Explosion: Food prepared with far more refined seasoning than ordinary people can achieve. Normal human taste perception will be stimulated, and even normally imperceptible tastes and slightly perceptible tastes will all be stimulated, maximizing a dish's flavor]
Seeing this, Mutou Judai thought of Erina's God's Tongue.
This was probably something unique to dishes seasoned using God's Tongue.
Flavor maximization, huh...
Seeing this, he became even more curious about what taste effects the curse would bring to a dish!
He even felt a bit of anticipation watching Shinomiya Kojiro put the food in his mouth.
Then...
—Shinomiya Kojiro ate it!
Shinomiya Kojiro had thought that this bite would allow him to perceive the exquisite taste seasoned by God's Tongue, which would ease some of his inner irritation.
But actually...
Ugh—!
With one bite, even this guy who usually had a perpetually sour face couldn't help but have his expression contort!
If there really was such a thing as a mask of pain, Mutou Judai felt it would definitely look like what he was seeing now!
—Was it really that bad?
Mutou Judai was very curious, and if Shinomiya Kojiro knew that the seemingly mischievous kid standing in front of him had such thoughts, he would definitely push the plate directly to him!
Let him taste it himself!
This taste...
Shinomiya Kojiro was certain this taste had definitely been refined using God's Tongue!
Because every flavor in this dish was combined just right!
Sour, astringent, bitter, plus a little salty, spicy, and sweet. The French terrine melted slightly upon entering the mouth, and he didn't know what was put inside, but after the outer layer dissolved, the inside was sticky and directly stuck to his tongue, so that Shinomiya Kojiro instinctively opened his mouth but couldn't successfully spit it out—
All the various flavors this dish carried were ones Shinomiya Kojiro knew.
There wasn't any flavor he didn't recognize.
But this combination... he was experiencing for the first time!
If he could speak right now, Shinomiya Kojiro really wanted to ask Erina:
—Did you use God's Tongue to lick shit before this!?
Otherwise...
Otherwise this taste you recreated... besides shit, Shinomiya Kojiro really couldn't find any better or more vivid descriptor for the moment!
Realizing this, Shinomiya Kojiro widened his eyes, staring at Erina in front of him, opening his mouth several times but unable to say anything!
Was this a prank?
—But if this was a prank, the cost was too high!?
Erina's dish had definitely been carefully tasted using God's Tongue.
Even if she hadn't used God's Tongue to lick disgusting things to disgust him, she must have tasted her own cooking, right!
Her sense of taste must be even more acute than his!?
Injure the enemy by one thousand, damage yourself by ten thousand!?
No... he hadn't provoked her, had he?
Did she think that being from the Nakiri family meant she really wouldn't be expelled!
Shinomiya Kojiro reached into his mouth and spent a long time finally scraping off the French terrine stuck to his tongue, throwing it in the trash.
Then after several mouthfuls of water, rinsing!
Even after this, he dry-heaved for quite a while before looking at Erina and Mutou Judai with eyes already bloodshot from dry-heaving.
Hm?
Seeing Shinomiya Kojiro's reaction, Erina couldn't help but frown.
She had been cooking since childhood and didn't know how many times she had cooked for people—but this was the first time she had seen Shinomiya Kojiro react like this.
Moreover...
—This was also the first time someone had been so disgusted after eating her cooking that they needed to scrape things out of their mouth!
Was her cooking really that bad?
Impossible!
So... Erina began to doubt Shinomiya Kojiro's ability as a chef to judge food!
Meanwhile, after reacting for a long time, Shinomiya Kojiro looked at the French terrine in front of him, thinking that whether he gave this dish to Dojima Gin or the Director, they would definitely have the same reaction!
So after recovering, Shinomiya Kojiro's face turned cold as he pushed his glasses.
"You two, fail!"
Hm!?
Nakiri Erina's face also turned cold, but before she could say anything, Shinomiya Kojiro pushed the plate toward her.
"If you're not convinced, taste it yourself. For God's Tongue, this should be a very simple thing!"
Hmph.
Erina snorted coldly.
"I'll taste it, but if I don't find any problems, then..."
Erina picked up a piece of French terrine. Mutou Judai had originally wanted to stop her, but just as his hand started to rise, Erina had already put the food in her mouth...
Then.
—Taste bud explosion!
Shinomiya Kojiro had already been stimulated so obviously, so naturally Erina was even worse off.
It took her an hour before she could barely speak.
Then she and Mutou Judai stood at the entrance of Totsuki Resort, each holding an expulsion notice.
Erina still felt her tongue was a bit numb and her body somewhat weak.
Meanwhile, Mutou Judai scratched his head and smiled at Erina.
"Nakiri, it seems we've been expelled~"