Meanwhile, in venue B, Hayama Hayato and Ibusaki both achieved a score of 83, putting them at the top of the ranking together.
However, with only five spots available for advancement, neither of them felt complacent. Although they couldn't directly influence what would happen next, the harsh competition on the field quickly led to them being overtaken from from their first-place position.
Compared to venue A, the judging in venue B was equally strict. Failing to achieve a high score meant failing to advance, so everyone put in their all without holding back.
However...
Ibusaki noticed the drastic change in the guy who had been almost wild earlier. It was hard to comprehend.
That's right, it was Kurokiba Ryo, Alice's sidekick. Everyone thought he was uninterested, but after he put on his bandana, he showed a completely different side of himself. At that moment, Ibusaki definitely felt a huge amount of pressure.
As the announcer's voice echoed through the venue, constantly repeating Kurokiba Ryo's name, he just stared around with his intense eyes and brought his dish to the judges.
"No way... the base is made with American lobster bisque, a French sauce made from shellfish shells, and then... this deep forest fragrance, what is it... Cognac brandy."
"That's a high-end brandy made around the town of Cognac in western France."
"I see, the brandy absorbs the fragrance of the wooden barrels during aging, which is why the curry has such a strong scent of cedar and sandalwood."
In response to the judges' comments, Kurokiba replied:
"You're right, but just so you know, I also used the finest Napoleon Cognac to add an even richer flavor."
Judge: "I never imagined that you could use the aroma of cognac to enhance curry! This is truly an outstanding French-style Japanese Lobster Curry."
Alice seemed very satisfied with Kurokiba Ryo's performance. She nodded in anticipation and then focused her attention on the venue.
Then, noticing something, she pouted in displeasure and muttered, "It's all because there's not much competition in venue B. There aren't many spectators either. I really wanted Erina to see my cooking."
"I wonder how things are going over there?"
Just as Alice was complaining, Kurokiba Ryo seemed to have prepared everything in advance and placed the final touch on the table.
It was a dropper filled with cognac-based flavoring. All the essence was concentrated into this small vial.
Ryoko: "What is this guy going to do..."
Ibusaki: "It seems this dish isn't going to end so easily..."
Kurokiba Ryo: "Drip this inside the shell, then suck the shrimp tomalley. That's the best way to eat it."
"This will make it even more flavorful than before."
The judges didn't dare argue under that intense pressure. Hearing that it would be even more flavorful than before, they didn't hesitate and did exactly as Kurokiba said...
However, once they started taking action, it was impossible to control themselves with reason. The delicious flavor of seafood and the deep forest fragrance completely merged together, until the world exploded and the universe was destroyed.
"Kurokiba, 93 points!"
Even in venue A, this score would be the second highest after Yukinoshita. It was nothing short of a miracle. As soon as the score appeared, a burst of applause erupted in venue B, and Alice just smiled lightly, saying, "This guy is actually using his full power."
"I can't lose to my own lackey."
Inside venue A, after Marui finished getting his dish scored, the screens only displayed the scores of three people who were way above the rest.
Yukinoshita Yukino: 95 points
Mito Ikumi: 82 points
Marui: 80 points
Although the scores of the two contestants behind her and Yukinoshita at the top were a little bit far, no one would doubt his ability as he'd been able to break through the 80-point mark. At least in this competition, passing 80 points already meant gaining a chance to get to the next step.
Following Marui's explosive performance, the next contestant was also a well-known figure: Shinoto Hisako, who was always in charge of taking care of Erina.
As she slowly walked to the stage, Hoshino Ai quickly recognized her:
"She's the contestant who filled the entire hall with the aroma of medicinal cuisine!"
The other judges also added, "She's really impressive. This should be interesting."
The attention on Hisako was high, and Erina was especially focused on her. As the person closest to her, Erina knew her best. She believed that with her skills, advancing in the Autumn Elections wouldn't be difficult.
Erina was also eager to see what kind of dish Hisako would present, as she had been keeping it secret until the start of the competition.
Meanwhile, murmurs began to spread through the venue:
"Hisako is really good, too. What kind of dish will she make?"
"It's sure to be a super luxurious dish."
"Well, it has to be something to represent Lady Erina's image."
Before everyone's eyes, Hisako carefully opened her dish. However... it wasn't what everyone expected. It wasn't a luxurious meal, and the judges might even say it had a lot of flaws.
"The sauce isn't thickened enough, too much water."
"Is it a curry soup? But that meat is mutton, right? Although it's called mutton, the meat of a sheep that's just over a year old will be more gamey than lamb. Dealing with that kind of mutton..."
The judge picked up a spoonful of mutton, and the spices were immediately revealed. However, would just relying on these spices be enough to eliminate the gamey smell of the mutton.
In any case, from its appearance, this dish definitely wasn't anything special.
But...
Hoshino Ai, "Let's try it first!"
Her cute smile eased the other judges' hesitations. As judges, they needed to taste the dish before giving their opinions, so…
One of the judges, a man with receding hairline, picked up a spoonful and gently put it in his mouth...
"Cough cough cough..."
"Anton, what's wrong?"
Seemingly unable to hear the other judges' calls, that judge named Anton instantly grew hundreds of new hairs. His hairline, already impossible to describe, seemed to have moved forward in that moment.
Hachiman, "Hey, this isn't just food, it's something that can bring new life!"
The other judges were completely shocked by the scene. Anton was usually timid and mumbled to himself like always, but at this moment, he was like a dead tree that had grown into a massive tree. Although they didn't know what was happening, what did this have to do with taking a Viagra pill...
"That unique aroma... it's a dish that combines medicinal cuisine with curry spices."
Hachiman's words quickly enlightened the others. This dish, that seemed so ordinary, was actually a combination of medicine and spices from a certain point of view.
Judge Anton:
"Angelica, Chuanxiong, Rehmannia, Peony... a herbal dish made with a combination of these four plants."
"Si Wu Tang (Four-substance decoction)..."
Hoshino Ai's eyes lit up when she heard the name Si Wu Tang. Although she wasn't a professional judge, she had heard about the legends of Si Wu Tang somewhere.
Hoshino Ai: "That's the magical medicine that can revive a dying traveler!"
After Hoshino Ai said that, the other judges finally realised:
"I understand now, she was simmering the spices at that time, which is why it let out that amazing smell of medicinal herbs."
Needless to say, at this point, the taste of the dish and the effects of the medicinal cuisine combined, and their effects in real life could improve the score a lot.
Seeing that the judges were already too busy to comment, Erina in the VIP room gave a faint smile:
"Good job, Hisako..."
"Using the fundamentals of oriental medicine, using fried raw herbs and Chinese medicine to nourish life through food, a cuisine that combines food and medicine... that's medicinal cuisine."
Hachiman stared intently at Hisako's simple dish. It may seem like a simple process, but the effort needed to be done would be something that regular people couldn't even imagine.
Most importantly, besides those four raw herbs, combining turmeric, star anise, fennel, and other spices into the medicinal cuisine would require hundreds if not thousands of attempts.
"89 points!"
Arato Hisako's score was revealed. As Nakiri Erina's lackey, the score she got definitely would be at the top. If it weren't for a monster like Yukinoshita, she definitely could get first place at the end.
The longer the time went on, the more the dish texture would perish and so this test was about seeing how well the contestants were able to overcome this problem. Most people felt like they were in a rush, hoping to get named soon.
The options for these kinds of situations were few. They could have put the dish in the oven to keep it warm or they could have preserved it by putting it in the fridge. Besides that...
Even an excellent chef who's able to cook well would've been at a loss.
Upon seeing this inconvenience, Yukinoshita seemed to be a bit worried. But after a while, she overcame her negative thoughts, only giving her full attention to the judging process.
After Hisako's dish, the scores seemed to stall, only those 4 people's scores remained on the screen.
Until...
"Next to come up on stage is the Italian brother! The first one up is Isami!"
As most of the people would expect, his dish was made with Italian influences, wrapping the ingredients with an egg to make it mysterious.
Anton:
"So this is a pizza pocket, right? Folding a pizza into half and wrapping it with ingredients inside, cooking it in many ways! Like baking it or deep frying it!"
"Of course, most people usually would use mozzarella cheese and pizza toppings. So in this case..."
As a well known idol that tried many types of foods around the world, but when she tried to tear the egg wrapping open, the curry inside startled her, since she had never tried making an ingredient like this. Integrating the Italian pizza into the curry and egg.
Hoshino Ai: "Yes! This is completely different from what I would've expected. So let me take a try!"
In just a simple bite, the broken tomato flavor burst through the other ingredients. With the curry, the ingredients that stood out the most was the tomato's flavor. But...
That won't do, if you look at the requirements, that would've been an automatic fail and the panel would deem his dish invalid due to being too dissimilar from the prompt. Even if the food was good, the dish would be deemed unworthy.
Just as the panel was about to say the scores, an influx of flavor emerged into the panels mouths.
Hachiman: "I see now... so the bread inside the egg was made with tomato juice, putting so many tomatoes inside a pot and let it boil. And adding it with those acidic flavors, which helps to blend the taste it gives.
Yukinoshita: "I can't deny, that he was bold for taking a decision of this sort..."
Hachiman: "I might find that a bit offensive if you say that, who knows the difficulty you need to be able to get 95."
Yukinoshita: "The contest hasn't ended yet. At least I don't think that I'm going to stay like this at first place."
Hachiman was at a loss for words; the difficulty of getting a score of 90 was definitely no joke, and trying to supersede Yukinoshita's skills required getting at least a 96-point average, which meant one of the panels had to score a maximum of 100, which was definitely not easy.
Isami 87 points!
Isami, who has been chasing his brother's trail, ultimately was able to get a really awesome result. In that period, the scores of the top 5 contestants was finalized.
Besides the lead contestant, Yukinoshita with a score of 95, the other 4 contestants were Hisako, Isami, Mito, and Marui.
But...
The contest was still up to halfway in.
Due to many people that were getting a lot of attention hadn't arrived yet.
Even the 9th seed was waiting for Hayama Akira, the true spice master. The atmosphere that Hayama Akira carried would definitely be a blast.
The next contestant...
The older Italian brother, Takumi.
Fully unlike his younger brother with what he did, he displays the traditional Italian cuisine with recipes of the past.
Hachiman:
"Bacon with bell peppers and mushrooms? Using curry sauce instead of tomato sauce..."
Yukinoshita: "Not only that, the pasta used in that dish is also from Italy, but other than those, I don't notice anything too interesting."
Hachiman shook his head. If I just looked at the dish with my eyes, the only pieces of info would that I was only able to gather the surface level of that information.
But...
Giving a closer look at what the air surrounding the stage was, could help him picture a taste of chicken and beef. As such, that was a telltale sign that the dish wasn't that simple.
Indeed, the taste that Isami's dish emitted didn't cause them to feel weird or repulsed.
Anton: "No, that's not it!"
Pasta could've been defined as an easy and quick meal, but the pasta that Takumi makes isn't that.
"That's dark soy sauce, which is mostly harvested from the East Sea region. Compared to regular soy sauce, the umami texture definitely is different, same with its sweetness, almost at the point of becoming similar to cheese."
Hoshino Ai! "Huh? Why does that pasta have 3 flavors?"
She suddenly grabbed the pasta which revealed the flavors the pasta gave out.
Takumi: "That's right, the outside portion used turmeric, and the second layer used parmesan cheese, both of which helped the dark soy sauce which created that savory taste."
The insides of the flavor could make you taste a taste similar to a cream, but with the flavors in the ingredients, this could be the start to the new era of Japanese styled Italian Dishes.
Takumi, 90 points!
"Check this out, someone was able to supersede Lady Erina's assistant!
"What's going on, is this A show rigged?!"
"Something, isn't adding up!"
"Hayama Akira hasn't appeared yet..."
"Another 90... really is too extreme"
"You're a great chef Takumi"
Enjoying the spotlight, Isami remained as he was.
Being the little brother Isami, he played a role as someone to chase his older brother's back, since the journey was not easy at all.
But...
Takumi patted his shoulder:
"Isami, you're really good."
Being the older brother, hoping his younger brother grows and overcomes him might be Takumi's ideal goal.
One day both of them will understand what they mean and grow to greater heights.
Taking Marui's last bit of stage, he was removed from it. However... being a part of the Polaris dorm, he was not fully a failure.
The current contestant was Tadokoro Megumi.
Still running around from here and there, in front of many people, she showed signs of unease.
Worried, unease, afraid, etc. all compressed into her, which meant that she was already in a losing battle, since she failed to give the ingredients she did for the dish towards the judges.
But looking towards her, Hachiman couldn't stay emotionless.
Hoshino Ai: "That kid, looks very cute"
When everyone mostly didn't focus on her, Hachiman instantly went to her side.
"Tadokoro, if you don't what to do, look around you, Marui's right there and cheering you on."
To be fair, Hachiman didn't like being the target of many, but if the situation was ignored, the result would lead to some regret. Ever since he started going forward, he decided to stay with Tadokoro's direction.
Hachiman: "Now just take a deep breath, and do what you need to do. For the current you that has been studying curry for a month, I bet you understand what I mean.
Inspired by Hachiman's speech or Hachiman, not much more could be told, but her body instantly went lighter. The sound around her turned faint, showing nothing but Hachiman's figure.
Ever since that day, no matter what, she was set on growing forward.
Erina: "The aura she is radiating seems to be different from before."
Etsuya: "Never spoken about before, even if she overcame that fear, there's no way she could surpass these contestants. It looks like she's just up to participate."
Isshiki: "No no, she's great. She's the first person who was able to make me feel like that."
Etsuya: "Are you just saying that just for kicks?"
Isshiki: "Do I ever lie to you?
Erina stayed silent as she never cared about her. Then, when she checked the comfort she gets from Hikigaya, she had hopes for her.
What was the answer an unimportant person could provide.
From the start, there was nothing great about the dish, not from the smell or cuisine, or if the presentation was more than enough.
When she showed her dish, every other person but Hoshino only had this in mind.
Common.
Also the feeling that Hoshino only gave.
Cute.
Tadokoro:
"Um, I am going to be showing off a dish called 'Fish Curry'."
"All of the judges, please eat without haste..."
'It's okay, just keep on trying and see where you go.'
On the back of the venue Tadakoro was making his dish, commenting on how they think they're unique from the world, but also thinking how different the dish might seem.
Yukinoshita: "I'm starting to think, Hikigaya you're getting too close with the girl"
Hachiman: "Ah, that must be a hallucination, right?"
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